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Russia has launched its biggest aerial attack on Ukraine in some time, targeting power plants and energy infrastructure in Kyiv and many other locations.

The strikes were launched as temperatures dropped below minus 20C (-4F) overnight and have left more than 1,000 tower blocks in the capital without heating once again and damaged a power plant in the eastern city of Kharkiv beyond repair.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was "choosing terror and escalation" rather than diplomacy to end this war and called for "maximum pressure" on Moscow from Ukraine's allie.

The attack comes after a so-called "energy truce" agreed by Donald Trump with Vladimir Putin expired at the weekend.

It also came on the day Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte was in Kyiv to meet President Zelensky and to address the national parliament.

Donald Trump's initiative was meant to give diplomacy a chance. Negotiators from Russia and Ukraine are due to meet in Abu Dhabi for another round of talks co-ordinated by the US later this week.

It is clear that Russia has other ideas.

And in fact, there is always a gap between Russia's massive strikes which makes Ukrainians doubt there was ever any real pause at all.

We heard the first explosions in Kyiv soon after midnight and the air raid lasted more than seven hours. There were several subsequent blasts.

Residents spent the night sheltering in metro stations, with some pitching tents on the platforms to protect them from the freezing cold.

President Zelensky has said more than 70 ballistic and cruise missiles were fired - significantly more than usual - together with 450 drones which are used to overwhelm Ukraine's air defences.

Ukraine's Air Force said it had intercepted only 38 of the missiles, which means many reached their target.

Officials here have complained repeatedly of a shortage of missiles to protect the skies. Ukraine relies on US-made Patriot missiles, in particular.

"Timely delivery of missiles for air defense systems and the protection of normal life are our priority," Zelenksy wrote on X this morning. "Without pressure on Russia, there will be no end to this war."

Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Moscow of using the coldest days of winter to "terrorise people".

The private power company DTEK has confirmed that two of its power plants were hit again overnight, in what it says was the ninth massive attack on the sector since October.

State-run facilities were also hit in Kyiv and elsewhere, adding to serious damage caused by the series of previous targeted attacks.

Each time makes it harder to carry out repairs and leaves the system more fragile, and prone to blackouts.

Teams of engineers have been working through the night for weeks to fix things - drafted in from all over the country and hailed as heroes.

But there are not enough workers to keep up with demand.

We have met residents who have had no heating in their homes for days, in some cases weeks. They sleep in hats and coats, and under piles of blankets, but it is still bitterly cold.

Many use soup kitchens to get free hot meals because there are also power cuts here for hours on end.

People believe these attacks are intended to turn them against the authorities in Kyiv, to make their lives so miserable they submit to Russia's demands - including to hand over land in the eastern Donbas region that Moscow currently does not control.

Instead, there is a lot of anger here at Russia for attempting to freeze civilians in their homes as well as resistance to any form of compromise with Moscow.

"Russia won't get what it wants," Vera told the BBC this weekend, as she queued for a bowl of stew served by volunteers. "We are stronger than them in any case."

Volodymyr said he planned to sleep in a local school for a few days, which has a generator to keep it warm. "In the daytime you move around a bit," he said. "But at night it's really cold."

He was furious with Russia. "They are bombing civilians. They want us to freeze and die," he said.

Several residential buildings were damaged in the latest attack and set on fire by falling debris as Ukraine shot down missiles and drones. Several people were injured.

Thousands of Epstein documents taken down after victims identified

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn0k65pnxjxo, today

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has removed thousands of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein from its website after victims said their identities had been compromised.

Lawyers for Epstein's victims said a lack of redactions in the files released on Friday had "turned upside down" the lives of nearly 100 survivors.

Email addresses and nude photos in which the names and faces of potential victims could be identified were included in the release.

Survivors issued a statement calling the disclosure "outrageous" and said they should not be "named, scrutinized and retraumatized".

The DOJ said it had taken down all the flagged files and that mistakes were due to "technical or human error".

In a letter submitted to a federal judge on Monday, the DOJ said: "All documents requested by victims or counsel to be removed by yesterday evening have been removed for further redaction."

The department said it was continuing to examine new requests, as well as checking whether there are any other documents that may need further redaction. A "substantial number" of documents independently identified have also been removed, it added.

Under the terms of the release, which was mandated after both chambers of Congress approved a measure compelling the DOJ to publish the documents, the federal government was required to redact details which could identify victims.

On Friday, two lawyers representing victims asked a federal judge in New York to order the DOJ to take down the website hosting the files, calling the release "the single most egregious violation of victim privacy in one day in United States history".

Brittany Henderson and Brad Edwards said there was "an unfolding emergency that requires immediate judicial intervention" due to the DOJ "failing to redact victims names and other personally identifying information in thousands of instances".

Several of Epstein's victims added comments to the letter, including one who described the release as "life-threatening" and another who said she had received death threats after her private banking details were published.

Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday, Epstein survivor Annie Farmer said: "It's hard to focus on the new information that has been brought to light because of how much damage the DOJ has done by exposing survivors in this way."

Another of Epstein's victims, Lisa Phillips, said that many of the survivors were "very unhappy with the outcome" of the release.

"The DOJ has violated all three of our requirements," she told BBC's Newshour on Tuesday. "Number one, many documents still haven't been disclosed. Number two, the date set for release has long passed. And number three, DOJ released the names of many of the survivors."

She added: "We feel like they're playing some games with us but we're not going to stop fighting."

Gloria Allred, a women's rights lawyer who has represented many of Epstein's victims, previously told the BBC that numerous victims' names had been disclosed in the latest release, including some who had not been identified publicly previously.

"In some cases... they have a line through the names but you can still read the names," she said. "In other cases, they've shown photos of victims - survivors who have never done a public interview, never given their name publicly."

A spokesperson for the DOJ told the BBC's US news partner CBS that it "takes victim protection very seriously and has redacted thousands of victim names in the millions of published pages to protect the innocent".

They added that the department was "working around the clock to fix the issue" and "to date 0.1% of released pages" had been found to have unredacted information that could identify victims.

Millions of files relating to Epstein have been released by the DOJ since a law mandated their release last year, including three million pages, 180,000 images and 2,000 videos last Friday.

That release came six weeks after the department missed a deadline signed into law by US President Donald Trump under bipartisan Congressional pressure that mandated all Epstein-related documents be shared with the public.

Epstein died in a New York prison cell on 10 August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

Jill Biden's ex-husband charged with murdering his wife

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20zw5z669no, today

Former US First Lady Jill Biden's ex-husband William Stevenson has been charged with murdering his current wife, Linda Stevenson, officials said.

William Stevenson, 77, faces first-degree murder charges over the death of his wife Linda, 64, following a weeks-long investigation, New Castle County Police in Delaware said in a statement on Monday.

Stevenson is being held at a facility in Wilmington, Delaware, after failing to post $500,000 (£365,000) in bail, police said.

On 28 December 2025, police responded to a report of a domestic dispute at the Stevensons' home, where they found Linda Stevenson unresponsive in the living room, officials said in earlier statements.

Police said they attempted life-saving measures that failed. They said they were conducting an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

The BBC has contacted former First Lady Jill Biden and former President Joe Biden for comment.

Biden was married to Stevenson, a former college football player from 1970 to 1975. They wed when Biden was 18 and Stevenson was 23.

Stevenson is a businessman and owns the Stone Balloon college bar near the University of Delaware.

Jill Biden met Joe Biden in March 1975 and married in 1977.

An obituary for Linda Stevenson said she was survived by her daughter, granddaughter, and sister.

"Linda was deeply family-oriented and treasured time spent making memories, especially on family vacations with her daughter and granddaughter," the obituary said.

Bill and Hillary Clinton to testify to congressional Epstein probe

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c14r685mne4o, today

Former US President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Clinton, the former Secretary of State, have agreed to testify in the congressional investigation into late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Bill Clinton's deputy chief of staff confirmed the news on social media, writing: "The former President and former Secretary of State will be there."

It comes as the Republican-led US House of Representatives was preparing to vote on holding both Clintons in criminal contempt for defying legal summonses.

Bill Clinton's photo appears in Epstein files released by the Department of Justice, although the former Democratic president has denied any wrongdoing.

It will be the first time a former US president has testified to a congressional committee since Gerald Ford did so in 1983.

The House Oversight Committee, led by Republicans, approved the measure to hold the Clintons in contempt late last month, with the support of several Democrats.

In a statement at the time, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said "no-one is above the law".

Lawyers for the Clintons had called the subpoenas "unenforceable", and said they had already provided the "limited information" they had on Epstein.

The Clintons had dismissed the legal summonses as "nothing more than a ploy to attempt to embarrass political rivals, as President Trump has directed".

On Monday evening, Clinton spokesman Angel Ureña posted on X confirming the couple would appear before the panel.

"They negotiated in good faith," Ureña wrote in a tweet directed at the House Oversight Committee. "You did not.

"They told you under oath what they know, but you don't care."

He added: "They look forward to setting a precedent that applies to everyone."

Bill Clinton has never been accused of wrongdoing by survivors of Epstein's abuse, and has denied knowledge of his sex offending.

Bill Clinton appears with Epstein and at the late financier's estate in photographs that were released by the justice department after Congress passed a law requiring the agency to release material related to investigations of Epstein.

One picture shows the former president swimming in a pool, and another shows him lying on his back with his hands behind his head in what appears to be a hot tub.

Ureña, Clinton's spokesman, said when the photos were released that they were decades old and Clinton had stopped associating with Epstein before his crimes came to light.

The House Oversight Committee chairman previously noted the subpoenas to the Clintons were approved in a bipartisan manner.

"We communicated with President Clinton's legal team for months now, giving them opportunity after opportunity to come in, to give us a day, and they continue to delay, delay, delay," said Comer, a Kentucky Republican.

The Clintons wrote a letter to Comer last month criticising his handling of the Epstein investigation.

"The decisions you have made, and the priorities you have set as chairman regarding the Epstein investigation, have prevented progress in discovering the facts about the government's role," the letter said.

They added: "There is no plausible explanation for what you are doing other than partisan politics."

US says it shot down Iranian drone flying towards aircraft carrier

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3dmjn7n985o, today

An Iranian drone was shot down as it "aggressively approached" an American aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea on Tuesday, a US military spokesman has said.

An F-35C stealth fighter jet which took off from the USS Abraham Lincoln warship shot down the drone "in self-defence" to protect the aircraft carrier and its personnel, US Central Command spokesman Capt Tim Hawkins said.

The ship was approximately 500 miles from the Iranian coast when the drone approached it with "unclear intent".

No US equipment was damaged and no service members were harmed.

It comes as the US continues to build up a military presence in the region, with tensions high between Washington and Tehran.

US President Donald Trump has threatened to take military action against Iran if it does not negotiate an agreement to restrict its nuclear programme.

He previously raised the prospect of intervening during Tehran's deadly crackdown on anti-government demonstrations.

Speaking after the downing of the Iranian drone, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that negotiations between the US and Iran are still scheduled for later this week.

She said Trump "remains committed to always pursuing diplomacy first", but added he "has always a range of options on the table, and that includes the use of military force".

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has previously warned that any attack on the country would spark a "regional war".

Tehran has not commented on Tuesday's drone incident.

Also on Tuesday, Leavitt said US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump's most senior overseas envoy, will attend the talks on behalf of the White house.

US media has previously reported he would meet Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Istanbul on Friday.

But US news website Axios has since cited two sources as saying Tehran wanted the venue moved to Oman.

Chappell Roan says revealing Grammys outfit wasn't 'that outrageous'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2w3ldex3no, today

Chappell Roan has laughed off the reaction to the revealing outfit she wore on the Grammy Awards red carpet on Sunday.

The US pop star removed her red chiffon cape on the red carpet to reveal a matching draped dress hung from nipple rings, leaving virtually all of her top half exposed.

The Mugler ensemble was one of the most talked-about outfits at this year's ceremony.

"Giggling because I don't even think this is THAT outrageous of an outfit," the star posted on Instagram. "The look's actually so awesome and weird. I recommend just exercising your free will it's really fun and silly :D."

She added: "Thank you for having me @grammys and those who voted for me!!"

Some fans praised Roan's style, describing her as "a goddess" and "an icon" in response to her own Insta post.

Referencing Justin Bieber's performance on Sunday wearing just boxer shorts, one wrote: "If Justin can perform in his underwear without anyone batting an eyelid, you can rock pierced pasties diva. Misogyny."

Nipple pasties are prosthetic nipple covers, which provide both protection and coverage.

Others found her outfit was not to their taste, however.

Responding to Billboard's video of Roan on the red carpet, one post read: "I love her but this is too much. Is she gonna get banned?", while another responded: "I don't know what people have against wearing clothes."

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, fashion writer and stylist Alex Fullerton said: "What this label (Mugler) has done consistently since the 80s has worked a lot with transparency, bare breasts, so she's honouring the legacy of the designer.

"But at the end of the day... she's got them out!"

Roan was nominated for two Grammys on Sunday - record of the year and best pop solo performance, both for The Subway, but she came away empty-handed.

Known for her individual style and hits including Pink Pony Club, Hot to Go and Good Luck, Babe!, Chappell is actually the alter-ego of the more reticent Kayleigh Amstutz.

In an interview with the BBC's Mark Savage in 2024, she described Chappell as a "larger-than-life, drag queen version of myself", who allows her to be rebellious and risqué.

"I couldn't be Chappell all the time," she admitted. "I'd be absolutely exhausted."

Her latest outfit continues the trend of celebrities wearing sheer and revealing looks on red carpets and at award ceremonies.

Charli XCX wore a see-through black dress at last year's Brit Awards, and addressed the controversy over her outfit during one of her speeches on the night. "I heard that ITV were complaining about my nipples. I feel like we're in the era of 'free the nipple' though, right?" she said.

Kanye West's wife, Bianca Censori, arrived at last year's Grammys wearing a sheer body stocking that left little to the imagination.

Trump says Republicans 'should take over the voting' and 'nationalise' US elections

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0mke841zj0o, today

US President Donald Trump has urged Republicans to "nationalise" elections and repeated his false claims of 2020 election fraud in a new podcast interview.

American elections are primarily run by state law, and voting has long been administered by local officials across the country.

"The Republicans should say: 'We want to take over. We should take over the voting in at least 15 places.' The Republicans ought to nationalise the voting," Trump said during an appearance on the podcast of his former deputy FBI director, Dan Bongino.

His remarks come days after the FBI raided an elections office in Georgia to examine voting records from the 2020 election.

In the interview, Trump did not name the "15 places" where he thought Republicans should "nationalise" voting.

The president tied his desire to federalise voting mechanisms to his key agenda item of deporting undocumented immigrants from the US. "If Republicans don't get them out, you will never win another election as a Republican," he said.

While speaking to Bongino, Trump also referenced the FBI's raid in Georgia's Fulton County, saying that "you're going to see some interesting things come out".

Trump narrowly lost the state to Joe Biden in 2020. He has repeatedly said his loss was due to fraud - an unsubstantiated claim.

Trump faced two criminal indictments related to alleged election interference in Georgia; a federal case that ended after he returned to the White House last year, and a Georgia state racketeering case that fell apart. He denied any wrongdoing.

In the new podcast interview, Trump said he won the 2020 election "in a landslide" and said, without evidence, that people "vote illegally".

The FBI said last week it was conducting a "court-authorised law enforcement activity" at the Fulton County Election Hub. Fulton County officials said that the government's warrant "sought a number of records related to 2020 elections".

Some local officials expressed anger at the raid.

"This is an assault on your vote," Fulton County Commissioner Mo Ivory said.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has confirmed that she was present for the raid, saying that Trump personally asked her to be on-site.

Gabbard's first comments on the matter came in a letter that was sent to a group of senators on Monday, saying her presence was "executed under [her] broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate, and analyze intelligence related to election security, including counterintelligence (CI), foreign and other malign influence and cybersecurity".

In the letter, Gabbard also confirmed that there had been a call in the wake of the raid between FBI agents on the ground and Trump. The call, which was first reported by the New York Times, raised some eyebrows as it is unusual for a president and law enforcement handling a case like this to be in communication.

Gabbard said she "facilitated a brief phone call for the president to thank the agents personally for their work. He did not ask any questions, nor did he or l issue any directives".

'I don't think I am a hero': Boy, 13, describes 'superhuman' swim to save family

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly3ezj3rg3o, today

The 13-year-old Australian boy who swam for hours to get help for his family after they were swept out to sea has told the BBC "I didn't think I was a hero - I just did what I did".

Austin Appelbee didn't know if his mother Joanne, brother Beau and sister Grace were still alive when he finally reached the shore, four hours after he left them clinging to two paddleboards.

Miles out to sea off Australia's west coast - the waves getting bigger, the light beginning to fade - his mother feared he too may not have made it.

Only hours later - after Joanne finally spotted the rescue boat in the distance - did she know he was safe. By that time she and the children had drifted 14km (8.5 miles) offshore.

"I had assumed Austin hadn't made it," Joanne, 47, told the BBC News channel.

In the end though, "it was an absolute perfect ending to have them all well and happy and sore but no injuries".

'A tough battle'

The family had been due to head home to Perth last Friday and were having "a bit of fun" with two paddleboards and a kayak in the shallow water off the beach, Joanne explained, when the children "went out a bit too far".

"The wind picked up and it went from there," she recalled. "We lost oars, and we drifted out further.... It kind of all went wrong very, very quickly."

Finding themselves drifting further and further out from Quindalup beach, in Western Australia, Joanne realised she needed to do something - but she couldn't leave Beau, 12, and Grace, eight, alone.

"Early on, we sent this young man back in to try and get help because it didn't look like we were that far from the shoreline," she said.

Austin took the kayak, but no one realised it had been badly damaged and was already taking on water.

"It started flipping, and then I lost an oar and I knew I was in trouble," he recalled. "I started paddling with my arm."

At one point, he managed to get the kayak to work - before it threw him for the last time.

Clinging to the capsized kayak, Austin - who swears he "saw something in the water" - realised he needed to do something.

"It was getting dangerous now - I had been out for a couple of hours."

He had lost sight of his family, who had also lost sight of him. As Joanne and the children drifted further out to sea, the waves got bigger and bigger, making it harder to stay on the boards, while visibility had also got worse. They were all wearing life jackets - but they had no food or water.

"I had assumed Austin had made it a lot quicker than he had," she said. "As the day progressed, no vessels and nothing coming to save us.

"If he hasn't made it, what have I done, have I made the wrong decision, and is anyone going to come and save my other two?"

Austin, meanwhile, had started to swim the last 4km (two nautical miles), abandoning his own lifejacket after a time because it was not helping him.

Throughout the next two hours, it was prayer, Christian songs and "happy thoughts" which kept the "really scared" 13-year-old going.

"I was thinking about mum, Beau and Grace. I was also thinking about my friends and my girlfriend - I have a really good bunch of friends," he said.

"When I hit the floor I thought, how am I on land right now - is this a dream?"

Then he had another thought: his family "could still be alive out there - I have to go save them".

It was about 18:00 local time (10:00 GMT) when he finally reached his mother's bag and rang for help.

The call sparked a huge search, police said in a statement on Monday.

Austin - who had passed out after making the call - was taken to hospital where he called his father, bawling his eyes out. He still didn't know if Joanne and his siblings were alive.

Then, minutes later, he got a call to say they had been found. Everyone - doctors and police officers - were jumping up and down with joy.

"It was a moment I will never forget," said Austin.

Out at sea, Joanne had been struggling to keep hold of her younger children. They were freezing cold, and it was now dark. She now feared the worst had happened to Austin.

"We couldn't see anything coming to save us," she said. "It was very much getting to that point where we are on our own."

Joanne couldn't even relax when she saw the boat approaching: the children had fallen into the water and she was desperately trying to reach them.

"It was an absolute nightmare," she said.

Back on dry land, they were treated at hospital for minor injuries. The same ambulance worker who picked up Austin was able to confirm - finally - he too had survived.

He's even been back at school - admittedly on crutches, as his legs were so sore.

Now, less than five days later, Austin is still trying to process what happened. He certainly doesn't see himself as a hero, despite what people keep telling him. It was, he acknowledged, a "tough battle".

His praise is reserved for the "lovely ambulance crew" and the "really quick response" from triple zero, the emergency services.

Others, however, have been effusive with their praise for Austin.

Naturaliste Volunteer Marine Rescue Group's commander Paul Bresland described the efforts of the teenager as "superhuman".

Meanwhile, Insp James Bradley said his actions "cannot be praised highly enough - his determination and courage ultimately saved the lives of his mother and siblings".

BBC joins Colombian commandos fighting 'never-ending battle' against drug gangs

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04105ywkkqo, today

The Black Hawk helicopter was ready for take off – its rotor blades slicing through the air in the deadening heat of the Colombian Amazon. We ducked low and crammed in alongside the Jungle Commandos – a police special operations unit armed by the Americans and originally trained by Britain's SAS, when it was founded in 1989.

The commandos were heavily armed. The mission was familiar. The weather was clear. But there was tension on board, kicking in with the adrenaline. When you go after any part of the drug trade in Colombia, you have to be ready for trouble.

The commandos often face resistance from criminal groups, and current and former guerrillas who have replaced the cartels of the 1970s and 80s.

We took off, flying over the district of Putumayo - close to the border with Ecuador - part of Colombia's cocaine heartland. The country provides about 70% of the world's supply.

Just ahead two other Black Hawks were leading the way.

Down below us there was dense forest and patches of bright green – the tell-tale sign of coca plant cultivation. The crop now covers an area nearly twice the size of Greater London, and four times the size of New York, according to the latest figures from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), published in 2024.

President Donald Trump says Colombia's left-wing President Gustavo Petro is not doing enough to prevent cocaine from his country winding up on America's streets. Last month he called him "a sick man who likes selling cocaine to the United States" and said "he could be next" for US military intervention. But that threat appears to have receded.

President Petro counters that his government has seized the largest amount of drugs in history. But on his watch cocaine production has also soared to record highs, according to the United Nations 'World Drug Report 2025. Petro disputes the UN's method of counting.

The fight against drug production and trafficking from Colombia will be high on the agenda when the two presidents meet in the White House on Tuesday.

After 20 minutes, we land at a clearing in the jungle and see the first stage of a global drug trade. The commandos lead us to a crude cocaine lab, partly hidden by banana trees. It's little more than a shack but it has the key ingredients – drums of chemicals and a mound of fresh coca leaves, ready to be turned into a paste.

Two women and a man emerge from the trees, probably workers at the lab – willing or unwilling. One of the women is in torn clothing and all wear wellington boots. The commandos question them briefly but make no arrests. Colombia's anti -narcotics strategy targets those at the top of the cocaine trade, not the dirt-poor farmers at the bottom.

Minutes later we are rushed away as the commandos prepare to set the lab alight – destroying the crop, and the chemicals.

"There are 50 or 60 more labs in this area," says one officer, who does not want to be named.

Dense black smoke rises from the forest as we take off. An energy drink is handed around among the commandos, who could soon be doing this all over again. Weather permitting, it's rinse and repeat. They carry out these operations several times a day.

Back at base, Major Cristhian Cedano Díaz takes a few moments to unwind with his men. He's a 16-year veteran of the war on drugs, standing ram rod straight, with a handgun in a holster around his neck - and with no illusions.

When asked how quickly a drug lab can be rebuilt, his response is immediate.

"In one day," he says, with a rueful smile. "It's just a matter of changing or moving a few metres. We have seen it before. Sometimes, when we return to areas where operations have taken place, we find structures have been rebuilt just a few metres away. "

But he insists that destroying one lab after another serves a purpose.

"We are affecting the profitability of the criminal groups," he says. "They can rebuild countless times, but they are losing the coca crop, and the chemical precursors they need."

His enemy is evolving. Colombia's drug gangs use drones and bitcoin and bring chemists into the jungle to create ingredients on site. Major Cedano Díaz, 37, admits the cocaine war may not be over his lifetime.

"I dream of the day [when that happens]," he says. "I imagine our descendants see it and will remember those we lost to achieve that goal."

His losses include several colleagues of different ranks, in different parts of the country.

"Sadly, we had to bring flags to their families, and say they were no longer with us," he says. "I remember them with pride for continuing to fight in a never-ending battle."

Under attack from Donald Trump for not doing enough, Colombia's Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez has defended his country's record, politely.

"The president has been misinformed," he told us. "We destroy cocaine factories every forty minutes. And over the past three and half years we have seized 2,800 tonnes of cocaine. That amounts to 47 billion doses of cocaine that never reached foreign markets."

He argues that the demand for cocaine is also a problem, not just the supply. "With cocaine use rising in Europe, it's very difficult to eradicate the supply here," he says.

Cocaine is the second most commonly used illicit drug in Europe – after cannabis – according to the European Union Drugs Agency. It says the availability and use of the of the drug continue to increase, "resulting in greater costs to society".

We followed the cocaine trail from the Amazon to the Colombian Andes, bordering Venezuela. Here the peaks extend into the clouds, and the beauty is matched by the hardship.

We changed vehicles – to a car owned by a trusted local contact - before beginning the step climb up the mountains in Catatumbo. You don't come here unannounced.

There are two guerrilla groups in this area – the National Liberation Army (ELN) and dissidents from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), most of whose members demobilised after a peace deal in 2016 ending half a century of civil war.

We met a local farmer – we are calling him "Javier" – who insisted that growing the coca plant was the only way to feed his family.

He showed us his latest crop, some of it shoulder high. When we wanted to get some footage with a drone he warned us to stay low. "Otherwise, guerrillas will see it," he said.

Home for Javier is a bare breeze block house, with no glass in some of the windows, and the sound of children's laughter coming from inside. He has five daughters - "the most beautiful thing God has given me", he says. His eldest is in college, studying to be a teacher.

His two youngest girls play, in a discarded bookcase – the nearest they have to a dolls house. Javier speaks with regret about not being able to buy his daughters presents at Christmas, and about his struggle to feed them.

I point out his crop could kill someone else's children. Does he ever think about that, I ask.

"The truth is yes," he says. "Sometimes you do think about that.

"But if you want to survive, you don't. There are no opportunities with this government. I have children, and of course I think about other children who could be harmed. It's not about whether you want to [grow coca] or not. You have to."

He shows us his makeshift lab, down a muddy track. He cooks up cocaine paste here, when he has the chemicals and the fuels.

But these days he says the local guerrillas aren't buying because of a turf war. When he risked a journey to a local town to make a sale he was robbed of his crop and his phone.

Javier is thinking of going back to his old job – coal mining – for economic reasons rather than moral ones. But he says the mines have also been hit hard by the government. "Insurance went up," he tells us, "so wages went down."

He's had no trouble with the authorities, so far. "I believe they know what's happening here," he tells us, "but the truth is they don't come around – maybe because of the armed groups."

He has a plea for President Trump: instead of threatening Colombia, consider why farmers like him grow the coca plant, and send economic help.

Javier is 39 – just two years old than Major Cedano Díaz. Both men are on opposite sides of this country's drug war, and both are hoping their children will inherit a different Colombia.

Additional reporting by Wietske Burema, Goktay Koraltan, Jhon Jairo Jácome, Lina María Sandoval

China bans hidden car door handles over safety concerns

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp37g5nxe3lo, today

China has banned hidden door handles on electric vehicles (EVs), becoming the first country to stop the use of the controversial designs that were first made popular by multi-billionaire Elon Musk's Tesla.

It comes as EVs are facing scrutiny from safety watchdogs around the world after a a number deadly incidents, including two fatal crashes in China involving Xiaomi EVs in which power failures were suspected to have prevented doors from opening.

Under the new regulations, cars sold in the country will be required to have mechanical release both on the inside and outside of the door, according to state media.

The new rules are due to take effect on 1 January 2027.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology rules require the outside of every passenger door except the boot, to have a recessed space measuring no smaller than 6cm (2 in) by 2cm by 2.5cm to allow access to the handle.

Inside the car there must be signs measuring at least 1cm by 0.7cm to show how to open the door.

Cars that have already been approved by the regulator and are in the final stages of launching in China have another two years to update their designs.

Hidden handles are widespread in China's new energy vehicle (NEV) market, which includes EVs as well as hybrid cars and those powered by fuel cells.

They feature in about 60% of the top 100 best-selling NEVs, according to data cited by government-controlled newspaper China Daily.

Although the measures will only apply to EVs sold in the Chinese market, the country's huge presence in the global car industry means the move is likely to have an impact around the world.

Tesla's door handles are already being investigated by US safety regulators and authorities in Europe are considering their own rules.

In November, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened a probe focused on Tesla's electric-powered door handles, responding to reports that they suddenly stopped working, leaving children trapped in the cars.

The NHTSA said it had received nine complaints about the handles in Tesla's 2021 Model Y cars, the company's flagship model.

In four of the cases, the car owners resorted to breaking the window to resolve the issue.

Sarah Ferguson emails to Epstein show increasing desperation

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpdyg117gl2o, today

Sarah Ferguson's image was once about her good-humoured ability to bounce back from misfortunes and embarrassment, but the latest Epstein emails appear to cast her in a different light.

She comes across as a needy figure, chasing money and support, more desperate than duchess - apparently describing herself to Epstein as "very traumatised and alone", and seeming to suggest she could be employed to "organise your houses".

But there are also glimpses of a life of privilege, as the same email mentions she's in the south of France with the "perfect butler".

The BBC has contacted Ferguson for comment on the latest release. Being named among the Epstein files is not an indication of wrongdoing.

The messages between Ferguson and Epstein almost seem like he's talking about someone on his payroll, such as asking her to show business contacts round Buckingham Palace - and her daughters get included too.

In a message to "Ferg" in March 2010, Epstein writes: "Thank you Sarah, could you are (sic) one of your daughters show (redacted) buckingham thanks."

An apparent reply from "Sarah" reads: "Of course."

That July, referring to a separate occasion, she apparently writes to Epstein apologising that "the girls were not around this weekend".

"Shows I don't crack the whip when I am not in the country!," the message continues. "Actually eugie was in france and beatrice was out with dave."

Epstein also messages to say a friend will be in London, adding: "Any chance of your daughters saying hello."

As more emails emerge, there's a growing impression of how much Ferguson seemed to depend on Epstein, telling him he was her "pillar" and confiding "I have been so so sad".

Some of the emails date from when Epstein was still serving a sentence for soliciting sex from a minor, according to the documents. He was released from prison on 22 July 2009 after serving 13 months of an 18-month sentence.

There are emails in the files from that June and earlier in the July from "Sarah".

An email from August the following year reads: "I am feeling very traumatised and alone. I am wanting to work for you at organising your houses."

The next month she appears to ask "when are you going to employ me", and the same day "phew.. you still love me".

In another exchange in 2009, she jokes with Epstein about another woman: "You can marry her too. She is single and a great body."

Referring to her former husband, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Ferguson writes later in 2010: "So you have not forgotten about me. I do know that my handsome Prince is a saint.. And you worship him, I do too.

"But then I did marry him. And still love him."

Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently and strenuously always denied any wrongdoing and his office has been contacted for comment on the release of the files.

There are also messages behind her back between Epstein and his associates: "Getting financials for fergie is painful. Incredible mess. I'm on it but for sure completeness will always remain questionable."

Ferguson also seems to take aim at the UK press and Royal Family in an email from July 2010 - the year tabloid reports said she had offered to sell access to ex-husband the then Prince Andrew.

She appears to tell Epstein that "the British press is ready to exterminate me" and that the Palace is "not equipped to deal with all of this huge wave of negativity".

"I am now 1000 percent being hung out to dry, just as I predicted you will see, the Press will have me exiled," the email continues.

"I am totally on my own now. This is beyond scandalous and nobody can do anything. I cannot believe what this is all coming to."

She adds that "no woman has ever left the Royal Family with her head, and (they) cannot behead me, therefore they will discredit me. Totally to obliteration".

This latest round of Epstein emails, released by the US Department of Justice, could remove her even more from public life.

On Monday evening, Ferguson's charity, Sarah's Trust, announced it would close "for the foreseeable future".

The yachting industry searches for alternatives to teak

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clygdez8d41o, today

Tech titan Jeff Bezos's $500m (£366m) superyacht, Koru, delivered in 2023, uses teak in its interior and for its decking.

The dense and heavy tropical hardwood is prized for its remarkable properties such as rot and salt resistance, as well as its beauty and as a symbol of status and prestige.

The highest quality teak comes from old-growth trees, which are harvested from natural forests almost exclusively in Myanmar.

But sold by the country's military-linked sector, with little regard for sustainability, the timber is illegal to import into the UK, EU and US.

Trade sanctions were imposed on the sector in 2021 following the coup there, though imports were already heavily restricted under longstanding laws.

Netherlands-based shipyard Oceanco, which built the Koru for Bezos, was fined in late 2024 by the authorities there for using Myanmar teak in the yacht's interior.

Whether the Koru's deck is also illegal Myanmar teak – or comes from legal plantations elsewhere – is under investigation in Germany, where the first importer of the deck's wood appears to have been based.

Another luxury yacht maker, UK-based Sunseeker, was also fined in late 2024 for the use of Myanmar teak. Both Sunseeker and Oceanco have described their breaches as unintentional, with Sunseeker citing a lapse in due diligence.

It is a well-known problem that Myanmar teak continues to find its way into supply chains, passed off for example as plantation teak from other tropical countries.

Alternatives to the wood in the yacht industry are gaining traction.

They range from thermally-modified woods, to fully synthetic materials, to engineered teak laminates – and while options have been around for years, recent innovations, say the companies and some users, are making them better.

While prosecutions doubtless have an impact, driving the trend to alternatives is the exhaustion of pre-sanctions stockpiles of old-growth timber.

Meanwhile, plantation teak from younger trees is widely seen by high-end shipyards as inferior, rarely coming in the long, wide, dark-brown boards associated with quality.

Other natural woods that could serve as teak substitutes often struggle to meet the industry's exacting standards or are limited in supply. Cork is sometimes used, but its appearance doesn't appeal to everyone.

"Alternatives to natural teak are very welcome," says Walter Kollert, a Portugal-based forestry consultant and member of the steering committee of TEAKNET, a non-profit international teak information network.

"We are in danger of losing old-growth teak forests which are part of a valuable ecosystem," he says.

While the furniture and housing industries also use old-growth teak, they have generally found it easier to substitute plantation teak than the yachting industry, he adds.

Last October major luxury yacht maker Sunreef Yachts, based in Poland and Dubai, announced it was transitioning away from teak decking altogether.

"Teak is no longer an option anywhere in our range …[and] I believe we are the only ones to do this," says Nicolas Lapp, the company's co-founder and chief technical officer.

The decision, he says, was driven both by the difficulty of sourcing high quality plantation teak and the company's push for greater sustainability.

When you buy plantation teaks, you have a lot of wood that's just not usable, says Lapp.

After testing alternatives to teak, the company now offers two thermally-modified woods – in which a different natural wood is enhanced through heat to resemble teak – though it is not divulging publicly yet which those products are.

Meanwhile, some small boat models use a recyclable synthetic deck.

The thermally modified woods not only match teak's visual appeal but are easier to clean, and offer better thermal performance – staying cooler in the sun and insulating the cabins below, reducing the need for air conditioning, notes Lapp.

One newer, thermally-modified wood product on the market is Tesumo, launched by a company of the same name in late 2021.

The operation is small, but business is booming, says Arne Petersen, its managing director, adding it is working to increase output.

There have been some examples in the past of thermally-modified wood which haven't been successful which can cloud perceptions of newer materials, but Tesumo is a viable alternative, Petersen argues.

The product, made in Germany, emerged from a research project involving the University of Göttingen and Lürssen shipyard – one of the world's most prestigious yacht builders – after it struggled to find a good natural alternative to old-growth teak.

It starts with a fast-growing undisclosed African hardwood which is heat-treated and then further processed, including with resin impregnation.

High-profile installations so far include one of the helipads on the Lürssen-built superyacht Dragonfly, reportedly owned by Google co-founder Sergey Bryn, and the complete deck of Boardwalk, another Lürssen-built superyacht linked to US businessman Tilman Fertitta, owner of the Houston Rockets basketball team.

Synthetic alternatives, including plastics, are also evolving. Among the earliest was Flexiteek, a UK-made PVC teak substitute introduced in 2000 and which is widely regarded as the market leader in its category.

In late 2024, the company launched its third-generation product.

It is easier to clean than real teak, retains its color as teak greys over time, and has improved thermal performance compared to earlier versions says Steve Moore, the company's marketing manager.

A different approach still is making better use of real teak.

Laminated teak is an engineered solution in which plantation-grown teak, that would normally be rejected for high-end decking, is thinly sliced and glued together to form a strong, stable material.

"You are kind of tricking the eye…[and in the process] using far more of the log," says Richard Strauss, CEO of Florida-based Teak Decking Systems.

The company fits decks using either plantation teak mostly sourced from India, or a small handful of alternatives it has had good success with. The laminated wood product it uses, Green Teak, comes from Thailand.

Meanwhile old habits die hard. Strauss notes that plantation teak is still the most popular among his customers.

Lapp of Sunreef says what's really needed is a wider culture shift away from teak altogether.

Customers typically start with wanting teak until they learn the problem and that alternatives can offer benefits.

"Then we show them… and they realise they can't tell the difference," says Lapp.

However, small UK family yacht building business Jeremy Rogers is sticking with teak for now – sourced from older government-managed plantations in Java that it is confident are authentic and harvested sustainably.

The firm's past experiments with alternatives mostly fell short, says Jessie Rogers.

"The problem for the alternatives is there is nothing quite like real teak," she says.

Hope and uncertainty as India and US strike long-delayed trade deal

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpwnlwj80p8o, today

US President Donald Trump's decision to lower reciprocal tariffs on India from 50% to 18% has been met with a sense of relief in Asia's third-largest economy, even as precise details on the agreement remain sketchy.

India paid the highest tariffs in the world after Trump raised import duties on Indian goods from 25% to 50% in August last year, saying Delhi's purchase of discounted Russian oil was helping fund Moscow's war effort in Ukraine.

After his call with India's prime minister on Monday, Trump claimed Narendra Modi had "agreed to stop buying Russian oil, and buy much more from the United States, and potentially Venezuela".

India has not commented on these exact claims, but Modi thanked Trump "on behalf of the 1.4 billion people of India for this wonderful announcement", saying he hoped to take the partnership with the US to "unprecedented heights".

The patch-up comes after Trump's trade war soured carefully cultivated relations between Washington and Delhi, with exports from India to the US falling sharply across key job-creating sectors such as textiles, seafood and jewellery.

Trump's tariffs also forced a notoriously protectionist government in Delhi to expedite a flurry of other trade agreements and diversify its export markets.

Last week, India and the EU announced "the mother of all trade deals", eliminating tariff lines on 80-90% of goods. It was Delhi's ninth free trade agreement in four years, as the deal with Washington showed no signs of progress.

The long-delayed announcement by Trump was expectedly, widely welcomed by Indian industry.

"While the devil is in the details, it removes a hanging sword over the rupee, equity and rates market. Let us hope that it is a win-win deal for both the countries," said Nilesh Shah, a fund manager.

Tariff-related uncertainty was one of the many reasons for India's rising trade gap, falling rupee and a flight of foreign money from the country last year. The 18% tariff now brings the rate in line with India's peers in Asia such as Vietnam, Thailand and Bangladesh who pay duties between 19% and 40% on US exports.

"This greatly boosts India's appeal as an alternative to China for the reconfiguration of supply chains. Indeed, India still offers many other advantages that other manufacturing hubs can't, including low labour costs, political stability and a large domestic market for MNCs to sell to as a hedge against future tariffs," Shilan Shah of Capital Economics said in a note.

India's textile exporters also cheered the announcement, with the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry saying the deal will allow them to "compete effectively in the US market, the single-largest market for India's textile and apparel exports".

But trade experts warn that there's much that's still in the realm of speculation, and Delhi should not rush to celebrate just yet.

"The Truth Social post [by Trump] leaves major questions unanswered - what products are covered, what the timelines are, and whether India has really agreed to zero tariffs and zero non-tariff barriers, especially in sensitive areas like agriculture and regulated imports," said Ajay Srivastava of the Delhi-based Global Trade and Research Initiative (GTRI) think-tank.

GTRI also cautioned against Trump's claims that Modi had committed to "Buy American" and purchase more than $500bn worth of energy, technology, agricultural and other goods, given that India's current annual imports from the US are under $50bn.

"Until there is a joint statement, negotiated text, and clarity on enforceability, this should be treated as a political signal - not a concluded trade deal. Caution, not celebration, is warranted," said Srivastava.

But the breakthrough in talks after a long impasse is being seen as directionally positive.

"Both governments have made clear that this is only the beginning, with additional phases and negotiations anticipated in the months ahead," The US-India Strategic Partnership Forum said in a statement, calling it an important first step.

From a geopolitical lens too, the announcement holds significance, say analysts.

Over the past year, Beijing, Delhi and Moscow had deepened ties after Trump's sweeping tariffs came into effect.

In August last year, China and India had pledged to be "partners not rivals".

In September, the leaders of India, China and Russia displayed rare solidarity at the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation Summit in Tianjin, smiling and posing for photographs in what was seen as clear signalling of a new bonhomie to the US administration.

And in December, Modi and Putin met again, to further their "no limits partnership".

India's foreign policy has always had to do a juggle between these important relationships. But some reckon that the thawing of the relationship with Trump could now mean that Delhi leans back more quickly towards the US.

"Many in India would like to remain strategically unaligned, but if this rapprochement proves durable, India would likely gravitate back to the US bloc," said Shah.

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Shanties in a Lagos lagoon: Bulldozed and burnt

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3epxznyzzo, today

A mother of five, Anna Sobie's wooden home is one of many that has been demolished in a shanty town in a lagoon in Lagos, with critics describing it as a "land-grab" by the authorities to gentrify the prime waterfront spot in Nigeria's biggest city.

Lagos State government officials deny the allegation, saying they are demolishing parts of Makoko - the country's biggest informal waterfront settlement - because it is expanding near high voltage power lines, posing a major health and safety risk.

Sobie and her children now sleep on the narrow broken platform where their house stood until a few weeks ago on Lagos Lagoon. This is the biggest of 10 lagoons in a mega-city that is facing an acute housing crisis - and where life is becoming increasingly expensive, pushing more people to the margins of society.

As Sobie spoke to the BBC, canoes - steered with paddles or long bamboo poles - moved through the narrow waterways, carrying mattresses and sacks of clothes belonging to the displaced people.

Residents say the demolitions began two days before Christmas, when excavation teams accompanied by armed police moved into sections of the waterfront settlement facing the Atlantic Ocean.

In a joint statement last month, 10 non-governmental organisations said that "armed thugs, security personnel and demolition teams with bulldozers descended repeatedly on the community" to tear down homes, and burn them.

"Homes were set on fire with little or no notice, in some cases while residents were still [inside]," the NGOs added.

When the BBC visited Makoko, smoke, from the rubble of torched homes or from fires that people had lit, burning damp wood to dry their clothes, was hanging in the air.

Excavators were at work along the shoreline - houses built on wooden stilts over the lagoon were still being pulled down, their planks collapsing into the water below. Corrugated metal sheets were falling from roofs and drifting between boats.

Makoko was founded in the 19th Century by fishing communities who have lived in the settlement ever since, along with other low-income families and migrants who come to Lagos in search of better opportunities.

Ownership of the lagoon is fiercely contested. The state government claims ownership of it under federal law, saying Makoko has been built without planning permission or occupancy rights.

Older residents dispute this, saying the settlement predates modern Lagos, and they have what they call a customary right to it.

Estimates of Makoko's population vary, from 80,000 to 200,000, but much of the settlement now lies in fragments.

The NGOs said that more than 10,000 people have been displaced after the destruction of more than 3,000 homes, as well as schools, clinics and churches. The state government has not given any figures of the buildings demolished.

Sobie's home was among those that have been destroyed.

"I was inside when it started," she says. "The noise was very loud. When we came out, we saw the excavator."

She says there was little time to move her family's belongings.

Her son Solomon's school in Makoko was demolished the same day.

Sobie's family moved briefly into a building nearby. That, too, was later pulled down.

"We're sleeping in an open space under the rain, and they're currently setting properties ablaze," Sobie says, adding: "We don't have another place."

Like many other children, Solomon no longer goes to school. He now helps his mother gather firewood from collapsed houses, pulling loose planks from the debris to sell.

Even as the excavators work, canoe-borne business activities continue, with traders peddling their way between the remaining homes to sell fish and goods.

But many other traders can no longer do business, as they lost their goods when their homes were demolished or torched.

With the lagoon central to their lives, they have protested against the move to force them out of Makoko.

More than 1,000 angry residents marched last week to the state legislature, the House of Assembly, demanding an audience with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, whose offices are nearby.

But police responded by firing tear gas, with protesters saying that at least one person was injured in the ensuing chaos.

Community leaders and residents say that tear gas was also fired during the demolitions a few weeks ago, causing the death of five people, including children. 

"Children were weeping, some died, some were unconscious, and were taken to the hospital as a result of the tear gas," Sobie tells the BBC.

The Lagos State government says it is unaware of their personnel using tear gas or of deaths linked to the demolitions.

Speaking to the BBC, the state's commissioner for information, Gbenga Omotoso, says that any such claims would be investigated.

"We would determine the actual cause of death," he says. "Our personnel will not knowingly kill anybody."

Lagos lawmakers said that community leaders have been invited to a meeting on Tuesday to discuss their concerns.

The state government has defended the demolitions, saying they are targeting homes built beneath high voltage power lines.

"No responsible government anywhere in the world can allow people to live directly under high-tension cables or obstruct vital waterways," the governor's special adviser on urban development, Olajide Abiodun Babatunde, said in a statement.

Governor Sanwo-Olu said that affected families would be provided with financial grants and other assistance, and it was wrong to accuse him of "destroying" Makoko.

He raised concern that shanties were "sprawling" at an "incredible speed", getting closer to the Third Mainland Bridge, the longest and busiest of three bridges connecting the mainland to the islands - the commercial heart of the city and its wealthier neighbourhoods.

For the governor this spells danger.

"There are high-tension power lines right underneath there. I am not going to sit down, and something will drop off, and in one day, over 100 to 500 people will die," he was quoted by local media as saying.

"So, what we have done is that we just pushed them back," he added.

Lagos-based real estate developer Peacemaker Afolabi tells the BBC that demand for land in the city is huge.

"Everywhere in Lagos is prime land," he says. "And waterfront is always prime."

Some residents suspect that the demolitions are aimed at clearing the area for private developments, including luxury homes.

This has been repeatedly denied by the state government, but suspicion remains.

In an article published in the US-based Atlanta Tribune, Nigerian journalist Emmanuel Abara Benson argues that Makoko stands as the "most painful symbol" of the gentrification of Lagos.

"This is not the slow, decades-long gentrification often seen in Western cities. It's a rapid, almost violent reshaping that is already forcing millions of residents to the margins," he writes.

"In the next few years, Lagos may look more polished and globally appealing. But for many of its people, it will also become profoundly unliveable."

In their joint statement, the NGOs said that demolitions in Makoko, and other settlements last year, were part of a "sinister agenda to grab land".

"These actions against thousands of peaceful, hardworking residents represent a deliberate pattern of state-enabled violence against the urban poor, carried out to clear valuable land for elite interests and private mega-developments," the NGOs said.

An official report released last year showed that while the city's "housing supply improved significantly from 1.4 million units in 2016 to over 2.57 million units in 2025, it has not kept pace with demand".

"The housing deficit has thus grown from approximately 2.95 million units in 2016 to 3.4 million in 2025, a 15 per cent increase," Nigeria's Punch newspaper quoted the report as saying.

Rapid population growth, rising rents and limited access to formal housing have pushed many low-income residents into informal settlements, particularly along waterfronts and transport corridors.

The authorities have demolished homes in Makoko in the past - most recently in 2017, when residents obtained a court order to prevent forced evictions without adequate notice, compensation and resettlement.

Megan Chapman, co-director of the Justice and Empowerment Initiatives campaign group, says the government has failed to provide residents affected by the latest demolitions with alternative accommodation.

"They have to identify everyone who will be affected and make arrangements before homes are lost," she tells the BBC

"When people are removed like this, it affects livelihoods, family structures and how communities function over time."

When the BBC was in Makoko, boys were sitting along the lagoon, repairing their broken fishing nets. Children moved between piles of debris, collecting firewood from collapsed structures.

A tractor pulled away from what was once a house. Only a small number of buildings remained standing, including the homes of traditional leaders.

Elizabeth Kakisiwe says she sleeps nearby.

Each evening, she lays wooden boards on damp ground for her children and packs them away again in the morning.

"We were at the market when it started," she says. "When I came back, my house was gone."

She says there was no clear warning and no time to remove belongings. Clothes, cooking utensils and mattresses were lost. When rain fell days later, they were drenched.

"At night, we sit in the cold," she says. "If the children feel sick, we give them paracetamol."

Cooking has become difficult, she says, because rain has made the ground wet and rats move through the debris.

"Yesterday, we only drank garri," Kakisiwe says, referring to a popular cassava-based meal that is often made as a drink. "There is nothing to cook."

Expressing a similar view, Sobie says: "The suffering is much. A lot of people have been dying. We just don't know what to say. It's only God that can help us."

Additional reporting by Gift Ufuoma

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Texas delivers stark warning to Republicans in critical election year

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgk85kjk8lzo, today

Voters in Texas have sent another warning to Republicans that they may be facing fierce political headwinds in a critical election year.

A special election for a state Senate seat on Saturday saw the Democratic candidate, union leader Taylor Rehmet, win by a 14-point margin. But that doesn't tell the full story.

Rehmet defeated a Trump-backed candidate in a district the president won by a 58-41 margin in 2024. It means the result represents a huge 31-point swing towards the Democrats from that presidential election.

The major upset is likely to unnerve Republicans ahead of November's midterm elections. Dan Patrick, the Republican Lieutenant Governor of Texas, said it was a "wake-up call".

"Our voters cannot take anything for granted," he said.

His comments echo those from other Republicans, who had become increasingly concerned that they would lose this race in recent weeks. The president posted two messages in the final days encouraging his supporters to cast ballots for the Republican, conservative activist Leigh Wambsganss.

"The Radical Left Democrats are spending a fortune to beat a true MAGA warrior," Trump wrote, referring to his "Make America Great Again" movement.

It was Republicans, however, who poured considerable resources into the race, spending a combined $2.5m between the campaign and affiliated political committees, according to campaign filings. Rehmet reported raising just over $380,000, mostly in smaller donations.

During the campaign, Rehmet focused on education and affordability issues. Polls have indicated that concerns about the cost of living continue to rank high for Americans – and dissatisfaction with Trump and Republicans contributed to the party's defeats in off-year state and local elections last November.

According to research by the website Downballot, Democrats overperformed 2024 results by nearly 14 percent in special elections held in 2025.

When asked about the Texas election results on Sunday, Trump downplayed their larger significance, calling it a "local Texas race".

"I'm not on the ballot," he said. "So you don't know whether or not it's transferable."

Democrats, however, have been buoyed by the results and view it as further evidence that the party is poised for success in the midterms, where control of Congress is at stake.

"This victory is a warning sign to Republicans across the country," Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin wrote in a statement. "Tonight's results prove that no Republican seat is safe."

Because of the timing of the special election, turnout was down significantly from the 2022 race – from 277,000 to 94,000. The electorate was still majority Republican, however.

Democrat Rehmet prevailed, political analyst Ross Hunt posted on X, because he won independents and some Republican voters.

The surprising result in the Texas legislative race overshadowed another special election in Texas on Saturday, a run-off that determined which Democrat would fill the Houston-area US House of Representatives seat vacated when Congressman Sylvester Turner died in March 2025.

With Christian Menefee's victory, the Republican margin in the House of Representatives has narrowed to 218- 214 with three remaining vacancies.

The results, however, paint a worrying picture for Republicans.

While the president may play down the significance of these elections, his name won't be on the ballot in November, either. And the outcome of those midterm elections will be critical to determining how the remainder of his second term plays out.

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.

Victim of 'Celtic Curse' spent years blaming herself for poor health

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cew89er2jw5o, today

A woman who believed it was her fault she was always tired and in pain has said it is a relief to learn in her 80s that her life-long health problems are caused by a genetic disease linked to her Hebridean ancestry.

London-born Anne Campbell took early retirement from teaching when she was 44, after doctors were unable to explain why she did not have the energy to work.

A test two years ago revealed she has haemochromatosis - a genetic disorder nicknamed "the Celtic Curse" that she inherited from her Lewis-born father.

"I spent a lot of time blaming myself and I always felt I was letting people down," said Campbell, 83. "It was an amazing relief - I wasn't imaging it and it wasn't my fault."

Haemochromatosis is a hereditary disease that causes a dangerous build-up of iron in the body and if left untreated can lead to liver cancer and arthritis.

In a new study, published in the journal Nature, scientists suggest people from the Western Isles and north-west Ireland are at the highest risk of developing the disease.

Campbell was diagnosed with haemochromatosis just before her 81st birthday, after her GP did a genetic test while investigating the cause of stomach pains.

The test showed she had a gene mutation which had been passed down from her Hebridean father - and that her mother also had it.

"I got a double dose of the Celtic Curse," said Campbell.

She has suffered fatigue and muscle pain since childhood but specialists were unable to identify the cause.

"I got used to living with pain, got used to not being able to catch up with my peers," she said.

"If we went for a walk by the time I arrived with the group they had already had their packed lunch and were leaving.

"I was always that one step behind and I spent a lot of time blaming myself for that."

Mystery illness

Campbell later worked as a teacher, but found it hard to get through the working week.

When the school holidays came she spent days in her bed in a deep sleep.

Campbell said her health took a toll on relationships and then her professional life, when finally one morning she was unable to catch her train to work.

She was again referred to specialists but they remained mystified by the cause of her poor health and recommended she change her lifestyle.

Campbell felt she was left with no choice but to give up her job and she moved to her father's home island of Lewis where she worked in the voluntary sector.

She is fascinated by the fact her disease is closely associated with her adopted home.

"I have travelled all round the world and thought 'could I live here?' And I would say to myself: 'No, I don't belong to this beach, or I don't belong to these mountains', but here I thought I was in the right place," she said.

Haemochromatosis symptoms can evolve over decades as high iron levels in the body cause damage to organs.

Early diagnosis and treatment to reduce iron levels can prevent liver and kidney damage and arthritis.

The disease is caused by small changes in DNA, known as genetic variants, which can be passed down through families and the most important risk factor in the UK and Ireland is a genetic variant called C282Y.

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh analysed genetic data from more than 400,000 individuals in the UK BioBank and Viking Genes studies to determine the prevalence of C282Y.

They found that people with ancestry from the north-west of Ireland have the highest risk of developing haemochromatosis, with one in 54 people estimated to carry the genetic variant.

This was followed by people from the Western Isles - one in 62 - and those from Northern Ireland at one in 71.

The researchers said mainland Scots, particularly in Glasgow and south-west Scotland, were also at increased risk of the condition, with one in 117 people estimated to carry the variant.

Prof Jim Flett Wilson, chairman of human genetics at the University of Edinburgh, said: "We have shown that the risk in the Hebrides and Northern Ireland is much higher than previously thought, with about one in every 60 people at risk, about half of whom will develop the disease.

"Early detection prevents most of the adverse consequences and a simple treatment – giving blood – is available."

He added: "The time has come to plan for community-wide genetic screening in these high-risk areas, to identify as many people as possible whose genes mean they are at high risk of this preventable illness."

Western Isles MP Torcuil Crichton was diagnosed with the disease in 2008 and has called for screening for the disease.

"There is more iron in my blood than on the Forth Bridge," he said.

"The good news about haemochromatosis is that once diagnosed it is very easy to treat.

"You just go and give blood once a week, a bit like giving a blood donation, and you do that until your iron levels are reduced."

Crichton said the Western Isles' population of about 21,000 people might be small enough to be screened for the disorder, as well as other potential health conditions.

The UK National Screening Committee has been approached for comment.

Why is it called the Celtic Curse?

The gene mutation that causes most cases of hereditary haemochromatosis is believed to have originated in the Celtic population of Europe.

DNA analysis of the genomes of a Bronze Age farmer on Rathlin Island off the coast of County Antrim showed that it was already established by that period.

Earlier still, the remains of a Neolithic woman found at Ballynahatty near Belfast show that she carried a different variant also associated with an increased risk of the disorder.

US House expected to vote on ending partial government shutdown

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cew8e1259wko, today

The US House of Representatives is poised to end a partial government shutdown after President Donald Trump urged Republicans to press ahead with a vote despite concerns with the new spending plan.

Democrats and Republicans disagree over funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which is under intense scrutiny after federal immigration agents shot and killed two US citizens in Minneapolis last month.

The proposed deal, brokered in the US Senate at Trump's urging and now before the House, would fund the government and buy lawmakers more time to haggle over the future of DHS.

The deal keeps DHS running for two weeks while lawmakers consider future funding and reforms to the agency.

The DHS encompasses multiple subsidiary agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Coast Guard and Secret Service.

Democrats want changes to DHS immigration enforcement operations, including requirements that agents record on body cameras and not wear masks to conceal their faces.

They have also demanded changes in funding to DHS in light of the fatal shootings in Minneapolis of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, and have advocated for changes to protocol.

Both chambers of the US Congress – the House and Senate – must vote to approve legislation before it can be signed into law by the president.

Senators had agreed to a package of five spending bills, but stripped out a sixth bill funding DHS.

The Senate instead approved enough money to keep DHS running for two weeks while lawmakers work out disputes over its long-term budget.

On Monday, the third day of the shutdown, the House Rules Committee cleared a key procedural hurdle, sending the legislation to the entire US House for a full vote.

Trump called on lawmakers to send a bill to his desk "without delay".

"We will work together in good faith to address the issues that have been raised, but we cannot have another long, pointless, and destructive Shutdown that will hurt our Country so badly," he wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.

Some conservative members of Trump's party suggest that they may vote against the spending package if it hits House floor on Tuesday. Republicans only have a one-vote majority in the House, which gives dissenters significant power.

The limited shutdown has affected numerous government services, forcing thousands of Federal Aviation Administration and air traffic control workers to either stay home on furlough or work without pay.

It will also delay the Bureau of Labor Statistics' monthly job's report. The report is used by political leaders, investors and everyday Americans to understand how the economy is faring.

Son of Norway's crown princess goes on trial in tense moment for royal family

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgn8dnxjgwo, today

A year and a half after Marius Borg Høiby was arrested by police over a violent episode at a woman's flat's in Oslo, the son of Norway's crown princess is going on trial in the biggest case to come to court here for years.

The seven-week trial opens at Oslo district court on Tuesday against a backdrop of almost daily revelations surrounding him and his mother, Crown Princess Mette-Marit.

On the eve of the trial it emerged the 29-year-old had been detained again, in circumstances not unlike his initial arrest, on suspicion of assault, making threats with a knife and violating a restraining order.

As police have placed him on remand for four weeks, he begins the trial in custody.

His defence team intends to appeal against the decision.

The crown princess is facing increasing criticism after it emerged that she was cited in hundreds of emails showing extensive contacts with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. She has admitted showing "poor judgement", but the fallout has already begun, with one organisation dropping her as patron for its annual prize.

Heavy court restrictions have been imposed on the trial, with a ban on any pictures of Marius Borg Høiby inside or outside court. There is also a ban on any detail that might identify the four women who he is alleged to have raped.

The royal family will not attend any of the proceedings in Courtroom 250 at Oslo district court, where the trial has attracted enormous interest throughout Norway and beyond.

Commentators do not see that as particularly surprising, with King Harald V and Queen Sonja heading to the Winter Olympics in Italy later this week, but it adds to a sense of isolation surrounding Crown Prince Haakon's stepson.

Marius Borg Høiby was born four years before Mette-Marit married the crown prince, and although he is seen as a close member of the family he is not part of the royal family itself and not a public figure.

He faces an array of 38 charges which include:

* rape with sexual intercourse while a woman was unconscious in October 2023

* three counts of rape by sexual assault on incapacitated women - considered rape in Norway - in December 2018, March 2024 and November 2024

* six counts of sexually offensive conduct without consent - including filming of victims

* causing bodily harm

* repeatedly abusing a current or ex-partner through threats, coercion or violence

* violating a restraining order

* transporting 3.5kg of marijuana

* speeding

His defence team has said he denies any wrongdoing in most of the cases, especially the cases regarding sexual abuse and violence. He has admitted some of the lesser offences, and after his initial arrest admitted physical abuse and destroying objects.

He is expected to give evidence for the first time on Wednesday. If found guilty he could go to jail for at least 10 years.

His mother suffers from a serious lung condition and has difficulty breathing. But it is not her health that has become the talk of Norway in recent days, rather her name cited in more than 900 emails published by the US Department of Justice late last week.

The tone suggests a future queen of Norway exchanging messages with her guard down, even though she knows she is talking to a registered sex offender who had spent time in jail. It has also emerged she spent four days at his home in Florida when he was not present.

The Sex and Society foundation, which focuses on sexual and reproductive rights, has said it no longer wants Mette-Marit to act as high patron for its annual Shameless Prize, because what had emerged was incompatible with what it stood for.

The crown princess is Norway's future queen, and the decision will come as a blow to her reputation.

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre urged Mette-Marit to "explain the extent of the contacts that have taken place".

Caroline Vagle, who is royal expert for celebrity-magazine See and Hear, believes these revelations will follow the crown princess for the rest of her life.

"The Norwegian public is shocked and disappointed, and I have to say I agree," she says. "The only right course of action now is to put all the cards on the table."

Ole-Jørgen Schulsrud-Hansen, a historian and royal correspondent for Norway's TV2, believes the princess's advisers and wider royal court should have known she was exchanging messages with Epstein and stopped it happening.

"In extension of that you also ask the foreign office. They are in place to protect Norway's standing internationally, and this is hurting that image internationally," he told the BBC.

Norway's royal family remains very popular, with a Norstat opinion poll not long ago suggesting 73% were in favour of it.

However, the leader of Norway's Green Party, Arild Hermstad, who is a republican says the email exchanges point to a monarchy that is not working: "It really puts not only the royal family in a big squeeze, but also for Norway itself, how do you actually solve this? At least she has to be very honest and frank."

By coincidence, Norwegian MPs vote on Tuesday on a motion that republicans submit by tradition every few years, although no-one expects it to attract much support.

Nevertheless Hermstad believes many MPs are sensitive to the future of the royal house. "It's hard to imagine how they're going to get out of this really big scandal."

Burglar who 'targeted' Taylor-Joy's bedroom jailed

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crkry26z8m8o, today

An armed robber who tried to prise open the bedroom door of Hollywood actress Anya Taylor-Joy while she was staying at a London mansion has been jailed.

Kirk Holdrick, 43, was one of two masked men who smashed their way into the luxury property, in what may have been a targeted raid, Wood Green Crown Court heard.

In November, Holdrick was jailed for 12 years for a home invasion in Dorset where a mother and daughter were tied up and threatened with violence. He was handed a further three-year custodial sentence after admitting burglary of the London home.

Holdrick, from Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, was described in court as a career criminal with convictions dating back to his teenage years.

Taylor-Joy and her husband, Malcolm McRae, were staying at the London property on 12 February 2023 when they heard the glass of a side window being smashed.

McRae confronted the intruders before barricading himself and his wife inside a bedroom, which they then tried to prise into.

Armed only with a lamp, he managed to scare off the men by bluffing that he had a gun, causing them to flee the scene empty-handed.

Prosecutors suggested that because the burglars did not simply steal expensive items and implied they had intended to target the celebrities personally.

The couple told police they had been traumatised by the ordeal and feared being targeted again.

The Golden Globe winner known for The Queen's Gambit, the Dune films and Peaky Blinders, appeared on the Baftas red carpet just a week after the ordeal.

Holdrick was arrested on 18 April 2023 after stepping off a ferry from Belfast to Liverpool.

He claimed he had been to the property previously as a guest at a party and suggested that was how his DNA had been left behind.

He later abandoned this defence and pleaded guilty to burglary in mid-December last year.

Nine days after the break-in at the London mansion, Holdrick took part in a second home invasion in which a mother and daughter were held at gunpoint, tied up and threatened with violence.

Holdrick and his accomplice, Ashley Fulton, disguised themselves as police officers during the break-in at a property in Sandbanks, overlooking Poole Harbour, Dorset where they targeted the home of wealthy businessman Mark Aitchison.

Aitchison's wife, Kerry, was told she would be killed if she did not open the family safe.

When their daughter Emily arrived home unexpectedly, she was also restrained and threatened.

The intruders told her they would shoot her in front of her mother and demanded to know where the iron was, saying: "We want to burn you."

The pair escaped with £200,000 worth of luxury watches, designer handbags, jewellery and cash, but left a trail of DNA behind.

Police traced the getaway car and recovered vapes from the vehicle.

Holdrick, who previously briefly dated one of the cast members from The Only Way Is Essex, was jailed for life in 2005 for armed robberies on a security van.

He was recalled to prison to continue serving his life sentence after his latest offences.

In November, he was jailed for 12 years for the Sandbanks robbery and a further four years on licence if he is released, after pleading guilty at Bournemouth Crown Court to two counts of robbery, possession of an imitation firearm and fraud.

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

US judge temporarily blocks lifting of deportation protections for Haiti migrants

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yxn7kqww8o, today

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration's attempt to end deportation protections for more than 350,000 Haitian immigrants, who are allowed to live and work in the US legally under Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

A day before the TPS was set to lapse, US judge Ana Reyes said the Department of Homeland Security boss doesn't have the facts or law on her side.

"Plaintiffs charge that Secretary [Kristi] Noem preordained her termination decision and did so because of hostility to nonwhite immigrants. This seems substantially likely," Reyes wrote.

The administration has argued that TPS schemes attract illegal immigration and have long been abused and extended by Democrats.

TPS prevents US officials from deporting immigrants to countries deemed unsafe whether from natural disasters, armed conflicts or other crises.

In a scathing 83-page ruling, Reyes denied the Trump administration's motion to have the lawsuit dismissed, granting the plaintiffs' request for the deportation protection to remain while the case makes its way through the courts. The plaintiffs in the case are five Haitian TPS holders.

"They are not, it emerges, 'killers, leeches, or entitlement junkies,'" Reyes wrote, quoting missives by Noem.

Haiti was designated as eligible for TPS after the Caribbean nation suffered a devastating earthquake in 2010. The status has been extended repeatedly, most recently in 2021 under the Biden administration.

The Trump administration has argued that TPS for Haitians has transformed into permanent residency and has become incongruous with Congress' original intention in creating the program.

The Trump administration has pushed for the dismantling of most TPS programmes, raising the possibility of deportation for hundreds of thousands of migrants in the US from Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Honduras, Myanmar, Nepal, South Sudan, Syria and Venezuela, among others.

Meanwhile, the administration has also moved to end deportation protections for around 2,500, Somalis. Starting 17 March, they will lose their work authorisations and legal status, making them eligible for deportation.

Trump seeks $1bn in damages from Harvard

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crkryely657o, today

Donald Trump announced he will be seeking $1bn (£730m) in damages from Harvard University in his administration's ongoing feud with the institution.

The news comes after the New York Times reported that the US president's administration had to backtrack from its demand for a $200m payment in negotiations with the university.

Trump cited the story in a Truth Social post late on Monday, blaming Harvard for "feeding a lot of nonsense" to the New York Times.

Trump officials have accused Harvard of not doing enough to tackle antisemitism during pro-Palestinian protests. Harvard has rejected the accusation.

Harvard has been a central target in the White House's campaign to stamp out what it calls "woke" and "radical left" ideologies on American campuses.

In April last year, Trump revoked around $2bn in research grants to Harvard and froze federal funding.

The university sued the Trump administration over the move, saying no government "should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue".

A US federal court later overturned the billions in funding cuts, ruling the government had violated university's free speech rights.

The White House vowed to immediately challenge the "egregious decision", saying Harvard remains "ineligible for grants in the future".

Before Monday's announcement, the government had been in discussions with Harvard over a potential deal to unfreeze federal funding.

"We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University," Trump wrote on Monday.

He accused Harvard of "serious and heinous illegalities", but did not clarify how he believed it had broken the law.

Trump has previously threatened to revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status and take control of the university's patents stemming from federally funded research.

Three other Ivy League universities, Columbia, Penn and Brown, struck deals with Trump to preserve funding that was at risk due to similar claims by the administration, rather than go to court.

Paris prosecutors raid France offices of Elon Musk's X

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3ex92557jo, today

Offices belonging to Elon Musk's social media platform X in France are being raided, the Paris prosecutor's office says.

Its cyber-crime unit is conducting the searches, it said in a statement on X.

It added it was related to an investigation in opened in January 2025.

The BBC has approached X for comment.

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.

Restored angel fresco resembling Italian PM Meloni sparks investigation

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwygrkm7k0yo, today

Church and government officials in Italy have launched an investigation into claims that the face of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was painted on an angel during the restoration of a fresco in Rome.

Italy's culture ministry has sent officers to inspect the artwork in a chapel of the Basilica of St Lawrence in Lucina, while the Diocese of Rome expressed its "disappointment" and said it would determine who had been responsible.

The artist, Bruno Valentinetti, said he had simply restored the fresco he painted in 2000 and denied modelling the angel after the prime minister.

Meloni responded in a post on Instagram saying she was "definitely not like an angel", accompanied by a laughing emoji.

The apparent likeness was first reported on Saturday by Italian newspaper La Repubblica, which ran before-and-after pictures of the fresco and claimed the angel holding a map of Italy had previously looked like a "generic cherub".

The parish priest said the paintings had simply been touched up following recent water damage - but said he did not "understand the fuss" in any case.

"Painters used to put all sorts of things in frescoes," Monsignor Daniele Micheletti said.

Valentinetti, 83, denied the claims. "The restored face is the one that was painted 25 years ago," he said, in remarks reported by news agency AGI.

"Who says it resembles Meloni?"

Opposition parties were quick to urge an investigation. Irene Manzi of the Democratic Party called the situation "unacceptable" while the Five Star Movement said art must not become "a tool for propaganda", whether or not it depicted Meloni.

Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli ordered "technical officials" to inspect the painting "to ascertain the nature of the intervention" and determine next steps.

The Diocese of Rome, meanwhile, said it knew about the restoration but that it had been told nothing would be added or changed.

"The modification of the cherub's face was the decorator's initiative, not communicated to the competent authorities," it said in a statement shared by news agency Ansa.

It later said the Cardinal Baldo Reina - the Pope's Vicar for the Diocese of Rome - would immediately investigate "to determine the possible responsibilities of those involved".

It said the cardinal "distances himself from Monsignor Micheletti's statements and expresses his disappointment over what happened" and stated its "commitment to the protection of its artistic and spiritual heritage" against misuse or exploitation.

Billionaire Frank Stronach faces sexual assault trial in Canada

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62ree2p6q0o, today

Austro-Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach is facing a sexual assault trial this week in Toronto that will be decided solely by a judge.

Stronach, the 93-year-old founder of an international automotive parts company and one of Canada's richest men, has been charged in relation to more than a dozen historical sexual assault allegations that span nearly a half-century.

Prosecutors have split his case into two separate proceedings, with a second trial in nearby York Region is scheduled for the spring. The Toronto trial was set to begin on Tuesday, but has since been delayed to Thursday.

Stronach has pleaded not guilty to the 12 Toronto charges, and has denied all of the allegations against him.

He faces a total of 18 offences involving 13 complainants, according to prosecutors.

The trial was delayed after his lawyer, Leora Shamesh, asked for more time to prepare.

Numerous Canadian media outlets reported on the sexual assault allegations against the billionaire.

In 2024 CBC investigation, former employees alleged that Stronach had raped or sexually assaulted them. Stronach denied the accusations in an interview with the Canadian public broadcaster.

"My friends know me, and a lot of people which worked for me, they know who I am," he said. "That's totally against what I stand for."

The BBC has contacted Stronach's lawyer for comment.

Superior Court Justice Anne Malloy, who is presiding over the Toronto case, is expected to hear evidence from the Crown as well as the testimonies of complainants in court.

The case is unique as Stronach is facing charges that are no longer in Canada's Criminal Code, due to the historic nature of the allegations, which date from 1977 to 1990. Judge Malloy will have to rule on whether the accused is guilty based on the old definition of the charges.

There is no statute of limitations for prosecuting sexual assault in Canada.

The renowned billionaire businessman was born in Austria and founded what later became his company Magna International in 1956.

He is also known for his brief stint in Austrian politics, where he founded the now-defunct right-wing populist party Team Stronach in 2012.

Prince Edward says remember victims after Epstein files released

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0410rzz03qo, today

The Duke of Edinburgh has said it is "really important" to remember Jeffrey Epstein's victims as his brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, faces growing pressure to give evidence over what he knows about the late sex offender.

Prince Edward's comments are the first from a senior royal since Andrew was pictured in the latest tranche of documents relating to Epstein.

The images appear to show Andrew kneeling on all fours over a female lying on the ground, while other files repeatedly reference him and his former wife, Sarah Ferguson.

Being mentioned in the documents is not an indication of any wrongdoing.

Prince Edward made the comments at the World Governments Summit in Dubai after being asked by a CNN journalist how he was "coping" with the fallout from the files.

The duke replied: "Well, with the best will in the world, I'm not sure this is the audience that is the least bit interested in that.

"They all came here to listen to education, solving the future, but no, I think it's all really important, always, to remember the victims and who are the victims in all this."

Andrew, formerly known as Prince Andrew and the Duke of York, was stripped of his royal titles in October after increasing scrutiny over his links to Epstein.

He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Emails released on Friday showed a number of exchanges between Epstein and Andrew in the years after the US billionaire pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor.

The files also show there have been multiple unsuccessful approaches from US authorities for Andrew to help with Epstein inquiries.

Calls are now growing for Andrew to give evidence of what he knows about Epstein in the US.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been amongst those calling for him to testify, and told reporters over the weekend that "anybody who has got information should be prepared to share that information".

"You can't be victim-centred if you're not prepared to do that," he said. "Epstein's victims have to be the first priority."

Disney names Josh D'Amaro as new chief executive

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4qxdq2147o, today

Walt Disney has named Josh D'Amaro, the head of its amusement park business, as its new chief executive.

D'Amaro, a 28-year veteran of the company, will replace current boss Bob Iger. He is due to start in the new role on 18 March.

In selecting D'Amaro, Disney has turned to the leader of the part of its business that has delivered the most reliable profits in recent years, as the company works to find its way in the world of streaming.

The decision ends a succession puzzle for the entertainment giant, which Iger has led for roughly two decades, except for a brief interlude that ended in 2022 when the board ousted his successor and asked Iger to return.

Iger quickly set about restructuring the firm, aiming to tackle ballooning expenses in the streaming and film business, regain momentum for sports-focused ESPN and expand its parks and cruise lines.

In the announcement, Iger said he was "proud to step away at a moment when Disney's future has never been brighter".

D'Amaro joined the company in 1998 at Disneyland Resort, before rising to his current position as chairman of the Disney Experiences division, which oversees 12 theme parks and 54 resorts globally.

The 54-year-old has stewarded projects including adding new developments at the parks such as World of Frozen and Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge.

In an interview on CNBC, Disney board chair James Gorman said D'Amaro brought not just financial discipline but "great creative touch".

As chief executive, D'Amaro will be taking on the top role at a moment when media companies in the US are facing increased political pressure.

Disney itself has been a prime target, blasted in recent years by Republicans such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for promoting "woke" values.

The company most recently drew headlines when it temporarily suspended comedian Jimmy Kimmel, a decision linked to comments over the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Walmart becomes first retailer to hit $1tn market value

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgp7ry9evwo, today

Walmart has become the first traditional retailer to hit a $1tn (730bn) market valuation, propelling it into a small group dominated by tech firms.

The milestone reflects the US retail giant's booming e-commerce business and its success in drawing in price-conscious shoppers. Wall Street has also responded enthusiastically to its investments in artificial intelligence (AI).

Walmart joins an elite club of mostly tech firms, including Nvidia and Alphabet, with valuations over $1tn.

The company's share price, which has soared in recent months, rose by more than 3% on Tuesday.

Walmart is the biggest brick-and-mortar retailer in the US and is known for its low prices. It has benefited from a trend of higher earners trading down to lower-priced items, as the jobs market cools and inflation persists. Its speedy home delivery offering has also enticed shoppers from households across income brackets.

It reported strong sales across key sectors in its most recent earnings update in November, including grocery and clothing.

"Walmart is better insulated than just about anybody given the value proposition we have," John David Rainey, Walmart's chief financial officer, said at the time.

Walmart executives have said the effects of US President Donald Trump's tariffs have been more muted than initially expected. While tariffs have raised prices for items like electronics and toys, the retailer's scale has allowed it to weather the import taxes better than some rivals.

Walmart's online business has helped it emerge as a competitor to Amazon. E-commerce sales in the US jumped 28% in the three months to 31 October, propelled by online orders and advertising.

Still, Amazon's market value currently stands at $2.6tn - more than double Walmart's.

Wall Street investors have embraced Walmart's adoption of AI, helping push the company's valuation to new highs.

The firm reached the $1tn milestone during chief executive John Furner's first week at the helm of the company. Furner has been a vocal backer of its AI investments.

The company in October announced a partnership with OpenAI, which it said "allows customers and Sam's Club members to plan meals, restock essentials, or discover new products simply by chatting".

Walmart's decision late last year to move its stock from the New York Stock Exchange to the tech-heavy Nasdaq reinforced the retailer's push to be seen as a digital company.

Walmart is the first traditional retailer to join the $1tn market capitalisation club. The group is still dominated by tech giants, though investment firm Berkshire Hathaway reached the milestone in 2024.

Drug-maker Eli Lilly also surpassed $1tn late last year before falling back below the threshold.

PepsiCo to cut some US snack prices after backlash

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2y38v4prvo, today

PepsiCo is to cut the prices of some of its snack products in the US, following backlash against previous price hikes and pressure in the face of appetite-suppressing GLP-1 jabs.

Products including Doritos, Lays (known as Walkers in the UK) and Cheetos will be cheaper in the US from this week.

The snack conglomerate said it was "listening closely to customers" who are "feeling the strain" of the rising cost of living.

Food companies are also reckoning with changing consumer appetites as GLP-1 weight loss jabs such as Wegovy and Ozempic grow in popularity, leading users to eat less.

The products in line for price cuts will not see their packaging size, ingredients or taste changed, PepsiCo promised.

But the conglomerate stressed that product prices are only recommendations, with shelf prices are ultimately set by retailers.

The price-cutting drive was deliberately launched ahead of the Super Bowl on February 8, traditionally one of the most lucrative days of the year for snack makers.

The company, which also owns Quaker Oats, Gatorade and Lipton iced tea, reported revenue of $29.34bn (£21.14bn) for the three months to 27 December.

Its chief executive Ramon Laguarta said it was "betting a lot on portion control".

Many GLP-1 users have reported that their spending on food decreased considerably after starting the jab, as they felt a lot less hungry.

Laguarta said PepsiCo would focus more on multipacks as customers prioritised portion control. More than 70% of its food products in the US are single-serve.

The firm is also pivoting towards health-focused products, with the launch of Doritos Protein later this year.

But the company said its biggest challenge at the moment is affordability.

"We've spent the past year listening closely to consumers, and they've told us they're feeling the strain," PepsiCo's US food chief, Rachel Ferdinando, said.

"Lowering the suggested retail price reflects our commitment to help reduce the pressure where we can."

PepsiCo shares rose nearly 4% in early trading on Tuesday. They fell about 5% in 2025 and have lagged behind rival Coca-Cola for the last five years.

The company said 2026 will be a "record year of productivity savings".

Although US inflation is easing, food companies are still facing higher costs from tariffs on materials like aluminium.

Beyond tariffs, rising labour costs and extreme weather are also pushing prices up.

Consumers have expressed ire at "shrinkflation", where products are made smaller but the price stays the same.

Several PepsiCo products were hit with shrinkflation "warning" stickers in French supermarket chain Carrefour in 2023.

The following year, Carrefour said it would stop selling PepsiCo products in several European countries due to "unacceptable" price rises.

'You don't feel judged': Why we buy more at self-service terminals

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy9y1wvq3pdo, 6 days ago

On an industrial estate on the outskirts of Birkenhead on Merseyside, an English company is helping to shape the future of shopping.

These are the offices of Evoke Creative, which makes self-service terminals, the sort of things you see popping up everywhere from McDonald's to your local library.

One of the reasons those large touchscreens, also called kiosks, have become so popular with restaurant chains is that they can significantly increase sales.

And that is down to behavioural science, the study of how humans behave, and what drives people to make the choices that they do.

Dean Ward is the founder and chief product officer at Evoke Creative. Among the companies his business has built terminals for are Travelodge, McDonalds and JD Sports.

He says there's a number of reasons why the machines drive sales. "Firstly, you are removing the psychology of speaking to someone and feeling judged, we think that is a key factor," says Ward.

"Would you like extra fries? Would you like to go large? Not all people, but I think there's definitely a large proportion of people who may feel judged in those instances, and may say no.

"Plus, there's really good product imagery on the terminals, so you can see the product, you can see what's in it, you can see all the other products linked to it as well. So there's that.

"And also around upsell. At every opportunity within the customer journey on the terminal, you are asked would you like to add this, would you like to do that? Because you've got more time and you're not being judged, you're very much more inclined to actually say yes to these things."

The data backs up what Ward says. Some 61% of customers spend more at a terminal than a till, according to another provider of the technology, Vita Mojo. The London-based firm's clients include fast-food chains Leon and Honest Burgers.

The increased amount that people spend per order is said to be as much as 40%.

Before it was even known as behavioural science, companies were using the psychological tools it taps into to shape our choices.

Back in the 1940s, the US tobacco company RJ Reynolds ran a famous cigarette campaign lauding the fact that "more doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette".

Today you can see echoes of that campaign in ads for toothpaste, with dentists recommending a particular brand.

Ben Jones is from UK and Australia-based business consultancy The Behavioural Architects, which looks at behavioural science and how it can be used by companies.

He says that in both the tobacco and toothpaste examples, the firms were tapping into something known in behavioural science as "authority bias".

"Authority bias is the tendency we have to align our opinions, or our behaviours, with someone we see as an authority or an expert on something. When we're unsure, we don't know what to do, it's kind of easy to follow the lead of those who we think are credible or knowledgeable.

"Some businesses can draw on this through things like endorsements. dentists recommending toothpaste, athletes endorsing sportswear, nutritionists with food."

If RJ Reynolds were amongst the first to use behavioural science techniques, now everyone from big brands to the United Nations (UN) is getting in on the act.

In the UK one of the most successful applications of behavioural science has been the introduction of auto-enrolment in work pensions from 2012. It's led to more than 10 million more people in the UK saving for a pension than before it was introduced.

The reason it has massively increased pension take up is what's known in behavioural science as "default bias". If you've never changed the ringtone on your phone, or your computer wallpaper. That's default bias in action too.

"Generally, it's our tendency to go with the option that's already selected, or the option that's already presented to us as the default setting," says Jones. "We make thousands of decisions every single day, and defaults are one of those things that just helps us manage that overload of choices we're always having to make.

"They let us act quickly. And one of the big success stories for defaults is the automatic enrolment in pension schemes, because many of us procrastinate saving for retirement. And the default really helps overcome the inertia we have and supports a positive long-term outcome."

Behavioural science can also impact your choice on more sinful things too. For example, your choice of wine. It may sound like an urban myth, but there's real science behind it.

In one experiment, Adrian North and his colleagues at Leicester University alternated the music in a supermarket between French accordion and German oompah tunes.

On the days French music was played, French wine sales dominated, on German music days the German wine sold far better. But the effect was subconscious. When asked, customers weren't even aware of the effect, but the numbers were clear.

The World Food Programme (WFP), part of the United Nations (UN), provides food aid and advice where needed around the world.

In Tunisia the WFP worked with the marketing giant Ogilvy to create a TV drama called Salla Salla, which aired last year.

They used behavioural science to help shape the script, with the aim of getting messages around healthy eating and food waste across in a way that was palatable to viewers.

"We tried to use some innovation and some creativity to change behaviours," says Takwa Khelifi from the WFP.

"Because, if you know the facts only, it doesn't change people and doesn't change behaviour. We all know better, but we don't do better."

The show was the fourth most-watched on Tunisian TV when it was broadcast. It led to a 22% drop in bread consumption.

Brands, governments, the UN. They're all using behavioural science to help shape your choices in ways you might not have previously been aware.

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Door is open to customs union talks with UK, EU says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn56dnrvq03o, today

Brussels would be "open‑minded" about discussing closer trade ties with the UK, including the possibility of working together on a customs union, the European Commissioner for finance has told the BBC.

Valdis Dombrovskis said the bloc was "ready to engage" if the UK wanted to explore the move, an idea Labour has faced growing pressure to consider.

Speaking after high-level talks with ministers including Chancellor Rachel Reeves, he also said Britain and the EU could remove "most" food checks between the UK and the bloc.

He also opened the door to Britain entering the EU's €150bn ($177bn; £130bn) defence loans scheme after talks on an agreement broke down last year.

Dombrovskis's intervention marked the strongest comments yet from Brussels about its willingness to re-engage with Britain amid mounting global uncertainty.

At an event with Dombrovskis in London on Monday, Reeves argued stronger ties are increasingly important as "we are sliding towards a world where the rules are less clear".

A customs union would eliminate tariffs or taxes on some or all goods between the UK and the EU, reducing bureaucracy.

But critics point out that it would also severely curtail the UK's ability to strike bespoke global trade deals, as the EU would place a common tariff on all goods from outside the customs union area and would expect the UK to conform to common standards.

Labour's election manifesto ruled out signing up to the existing EU customs union.

The party also said it would not rejoin the EU's single market, where countries adopt common laws in some areas to make it easier to trade goods and services.

Calls for a customs union with the EU have been growing among Labour MPs, while Justice Secretary David Lammy said one could boost economic growth.

Asked by the BBC whether Brussels would welcome talks on Britain rejoining the customs union, Dombrovskis said: "I cannot jump to conclusions, but I can say that we are ready to engage with an open mind and seek those areas of cooperation."

He said it was unlikely Britain will return to the single market, stressing that access would require the UK accepting freedom of movement.

The single market relies on a country accepting "the four freedoms": freedom of movement, goods, services and capital.

Reeves hosted Dombrovskis and European Commissioner for Trade Maroš Šefčovič, alongside cabinet ministers Peter Kyle and Nick Thomas Symonds.

The group - dubbed the "Quint" by diplomats - aims to meet regularly to coordinate responses to the drastic changes to the trade and economic environment in recent months.

While the group will not formally negotiate a Brexit reset, its existence signals a desire on both sides to cooperate given global uncertainty.

At the meeting, Reeves told the group the UK and EU "share values and objectives when it comes to the economy, to trade, and to security".

She also emphasised the "need to work together and as far as possible speak with one voice".

Labour has already struck several side deals with the EU, including a major agreement on food standards which is yet to be finalised.

Dombrovskis said that, once in place, it could end almost all checks on goods moving between Britain and the EU - something which has led to chaos for firms trading across the border - provided the UK aligns with EU sanitary and phytosanitary rules.

He also said talks on a youth mobility scheme were "very advanced".

But one area in which progress has stalled is Britain's participation in the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) scheme, a massive programme of borrowing to help EU countries buy defence equipment.

British companies would currently be limited to supplying 35% of the total value of a finished defence product, and talks over an enhanced deal broke down in November.

Asked whether he would consider a new agreement, Dombrovskis said: "We are open for further discussions, we know the prime minister has expressed interest, actually, to come back to this issue, and there is certainly openness from the EU side for this."

The meetings come after a tumultuous period for international relations, which saw US President Donald Trump threaten to take control of Greenland from Denmark and impose fresh tariffs on Nato allies.

In response, the European Commission threatened to levy retaliatory tariffs on the US, with Trump eventually backing down and agreeing a deal to bolster the security of Greenland without compromising its sovereignty.

Dombrovskis said Brussels' decision to stand firm against Trump's threats was key to shift the discussion to "a more productive" place.

"That was clearly unacceptable, and we made it very clear from EU side, also indicating that we are ready to take counter measures if necessary," he added.

SpaceX to take over Elon Musk's AI firm

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq6vnrye06po, today

Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX is taking over his artificial intelligence (AI) start-up, as the billionaire takes steps to unify some of his many different business interests.

SpaceX on Monday confirmed the deal to acquire xAI, a smaller firm known for its Grok chatbot, posting a memo from Musk about the merger on its website.

In the note, Musk said the combination would form an "innovation engine" putting AI, rockets, space-based internet, and media under one roof.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Last month, his electric car company, Tesla, also announced it had invested $2bn (£1.46bn) into xAI.

Musk told Tesla investors at the time that he envisioned xAI functioning as an "orchestra conductor" for Tesla factories employing autonomous robots.

Tesla moved forward with its plan despite objections from some shareholders, who had questioned the decision to divert resources to another Musk firm. In a vote last year, abstentions and votes against the idea outnumbered those who approved.

SpaceX is also reported to be working on plans to list its shares for public trading.

In the memo announcing the xAI merger, Musk said he thought space would provide the solution to the energy needs faced by AI firms.

"In the long term, space-based AI is obviously the only way to scale," he wrote.

He said launching AI satellites from Earth would be the "immediate focus", but added that the deal would also help advance his bigger ambitions.

"The capabilities we unlock by making space-based data centers a reality will fund and enable self-growing bases on the Moon, an entire civilization on Mars and ultimately expansion to the Universe," he wrote.

Partial US government shutdown enters third day as funding standoff continues

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3r1e9xx074o, today

A partial US government shutdown entered its third day on Monday without resolution as Democrats continued to demand immigration reforms as part of any funding deal to reopen the government.

Senate Democrats and Republicans agreed to a package of five spending bills on Thursday, but stripped out a sixth bill on full fiscal year funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The Senate instead approved a two-week funding for the DHS that gives lawmakers more time to work out disputes over its long-term budget.

Democrats want changes to the immigration enforcement operation, including requiring agents to wear body cameras that are turned on and to not wear masks.

The package approved by the Senate must now be cleared by the House of Representatives before it is sent to President Donald Trump's desk for signature.

The Senate package includes funding for the defence department, the health department, the Treasury, the federal court system and other agencies until the end of the 2026 fiscal year on 30 September.

But funding for these federal agencies ended at midnight on Saturday, resulting in a partial shutdown, as the House has yet to approve it.

The House Rules Committee is meeting on Monday afternoon to consider the funding package.

The Senate-approved package must first clear a procedural hurdle known as the rule vote, which Democrats are expected to vote against.

Ahead of the procedural vote, Trump called on lawmakers to send a bill to his desk "without delay".

California Democratic Representative Ro Khanna told NBC News on Sunday that he was advocating for his colleagues to vote against the DHS stopgap funding.

"I just don't see how in good conscience Democrats can vote for continuing ICE funding when they're killing American citizens," he said.

Yet Republican leaders said they were confident they could pass all the bills soon.

"We'll get this done by Tuesday, I'm convinced," said Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson on Fox News on Sunday.

The Republican leader told NBC that a winter storm could make it difficult to get lawmakers back in town to vote. Republicans only have a one-vote majority in the House.

The limited shutdown has already affected a litany of government services, once again forcing thousands Federal Aviation Administration and air traffic control workers to either stay home on furlough or work without pay.

It will also lead to the delay of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' monthly job's report. The report is used by political leaders, investors and everyday Americans to get a sense of how the world's richest country is faring.

The impasse comes as thousands of people have taken to the streets in Minneapolis, to protest against Operation Metro Surge - a Trump administration immigration enforcement effort that has drawn widespread outrage after federal agents fatally shot two US citizens.

Democrats have demanded changes in funding to DHS in light of the fatal shootings, and have advocated for changes to ICE protocol such as banning agents' use of masks and having stricter warrant requirements.

The DHS is a sprawling department encompassing multiple agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Coast Guard and Secret Service.

Thousands of federal agents from ICE and CBP have been deployed to Minnesota as part of Trump's immigration crackdown.

US and India reach trade deal, Trump says after Modi call

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yve1x9zv0o, today

US President Donald Trump has announced a trade deal with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to slash US tariffs on the nation's goods to 18% from 50%.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said India would reduce trade barriers to zero and stop buying Russian oil.

The announcement comes less than a week after India and the European Union announced a landmark trade deal that capped nearly two decades of on-off talks.

Modi said on X that he is "delighted" that an agreement with the US had been reached.

Trump said a morning phone call with Modi included discussions of trade and the Russia-Ukraine war.

"He agreed to stop buying Russian oil, and to buy much more oil from the United States and, potentially, Venezuela," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

He added that he, at Modi's request, immediately "agreed to a trade deal" that would see tariffs lowered and India's tariffs and non-tariff barriers reduced to zero.

Additionally, Trump said Modi committed to buying more than $500bn (£366bn) worth of American goods including energy, technology, agriculture and coal products.

The trade relationship between the US and India has been strained since August, when the US imposed 50% tariffs on goods from India - the highest for a country in Asia. This included a 25% penalty linked to India's purchase of Russian oil.

A White House official confirmed to the BBC that the Russian oil-linked tariffs will be dropped as part of the agreement and other tariffs lowered to put the rate at 18%.

"Big thanks to President Trump on behalf of the 1.4 billion people of India for this wonderful announcement," Modi said on X.

"When two large economies and the world's largest democracies work together, it benefits our people and unlocks immense opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation," he added.

Indian exports to the US plummeted sharply as Trump's tariffs took effect.

Officials in Delhi have been seeking partnerships with other countries also grappling with Trump's tariffs.

Last week, India and the European Union announced a free trade agreement that is set to lower taxes on nearly all goods between India and the bloc of 27 European states, as both sides seek to deepen ties in the face of increasing tensions with the US.

The agreement, which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called "the mother of all deals", is poised to double EU exports to India by 2032, according to the EU.

Terry Haines, founder of Pangaea Policy, an analysis and forecasting firm, called the Washington-Delhi deal "an answer to those thinking the EU is flanking or gaining speed on the US on trade."

He said he expected US markets to "cheer" the agreement.

We Pay the Tariffs, a coalition of 800 US small businesses, criticised the announcement, noting that before Trump's tariffs policies were implemented, American importers paid an average of 2.5% on goods from India.

"This 'deal' locks in a rate six times higher than what we were paying a year ago," the organisation's director, Dan Anthony, said. "That's not relief, it's a permanent tax hike that will be in place for a long time."

US stocks inched higher after Trump announced the trade deal with Delhi on Truth Social.

(With additional reporting from Danielle Kaye)

Disney warns of hit from flagging foreign visits

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8pzzmpdz9o, yesterday

Disney has said its amusement parks in the US will take a hit in the months ahead due to flagging numbers of international visitors.

The company said it would offset this by marketing to US customers and still expected the parks business - a key profit driver - to deliver modest growth.

The number of foreign visitors to the US dropped last year for the first time since 2020, with some analysts linking it to a backlash against President Donald Trump's policies.

Disney did not respond to a question about what was driving the shift but its comments add to concerns that tourists' anti-US sentiment has increased this year.

The US has already hiked fees at national parks for foreign visitors and is considering requiring visitors from dozens of countries, including the UK, to submit five-year social media histories.

One-third of international travellers say they are less likely to visit the US if those social media checks are introduced, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council, which represents the industry and conducted a recent survey focused on the plan.

Preliminary data from the US International Trade Administration (ITA) show foreign visits to the US already fell 2.5% last year, not including figures from Mexico and Canada, historically one of the largest source of visitors to the US.

The hit is expected to be significantly larger once figures from Canada are included.

Visits from the country, where a boycott US movement emerged after Trump targeted Canada with tariffs, plunged more than 20% in the first nine months of the year, compared with the same period in 2024, according to the ITA.

Last year, attendance at Disney's parks in California and Florida dipped 1%.

Executives said despite its warning about "international visitation headwinds", bookings at US parks were still on track to grow 5% this year.

Attendance was up 1% in the most recent quarter, while overall revenue at its US and international parks rose 6% year-on-year in the quarter to more than $10bn (£7.3bn).

Guy Bisson of Ampere Analysis said the figures suggested the impact on the firm should international travellers stay away will not be severe.

"It's not going to be as stellar as they would have hoped or it would normally be... but it's not an all-out disaster either," he said.

Shares in Disney fell 4% on Monday after the firm reported its results.

Overall revenue in the quarter rose 5% year-on-year to $26bn, boosted by the release of films such as Zootopia and Avatar sequels.

Profits however fell nearly 6%, as rising content and distribution costs weighed on the bottom line.

Gold and silver prices fall but FTSE 100 hits record high

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpdy0y3jle4o, today

Gold and silver prices have continued to fall, deepening a dramatic reversal of a rally that pushed precious metals to record highs.

Prices hit fresh records in January as investors parked money in so-called "safe haven" assets due to geopolitical uncertainties, but metals prices fell after Kevin Warsh was nominated to lead the US Federal Reserve.

Spot gold on Friday recorded its sharpest one-day drop since 1983 with a fall of more than 9%, while silver plunged 27% before recovering slightly on Monday.

While the dollar ticked up, the FTSE 100 shrugged off a weak start to hit new highs closing up 1.2% at 10,341.56 points, a record close, and a new intra-day high of 10,345.48.

By 17:00 GMT on Monday, gold was down 4.6% at $4,659.16 an ounce and silver had dropped 7.63% to $78.70.

That left both precious metals far below respective record highs of above $5,500 and $120 reached last week.

Analysts also pointed to changes in trading requirements on a major exchange, which made it more expensive for speculators to trade, adding further pressure to prices.

"Many investors bought gold and silver as protection against the volatile geopolitical backdrop, yet they've learned the hard way these assets can also be volatile themselves," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

Markets had also been worried about the independence of the US Federal Reserve, but the naming of Warsh, a former central bank governor, on Friday had been welcomed in general by the financial markets and triggered a 1% rise in the value of the US dollar.

The choice also eased concerns about the Fed's independence following a series of attacks on incumbent Jerome Powell over his reticence to cut rates as quickly as the president wanted.

Despite the sharp falls, the price of gold has only fallen back to where it was a couple of weeks ago and it is still about 70% higher than it was at the same point last year.

As well as a continued sell-off among commodities on Monday, Asian stocks also fell, with South Korea's benchmark Kospi leading losses with a 5% fall. Elsewhere in the region, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropped 2% and Japan's Nikkei 225 was more than 1% lower.

In Europe, the UK's FTSE 100 index fell at first, but then recovered to rise 1.2%. The fall in commodity prices put mining companies under pressure, and gold miners Fresnillo and Endeavour Mining were down by more than 2%.

US stock markets dipped at first but then saw modest gains with the S&P 500 index closing 0.5% higher.

In global energy markets, the price of crude oil fell nearly 5%. This is attributed to a number of factors including major oil producers agreeing to keep output unchanged and signs of de-escalating tensions between the US and Iran.

The rise in the value of the US dollar may also have had an impact, as the oil price is denominated in dollars and it makes it more expensive for non-US buyers.

Precious metals had a blockbuster year in 2025, with gold seeing its biggest annual gain since 1979.

One of the biggest appeals of gold is its relative scarcity. Only around 216,265 tonnes of the metal have ever been mined, according to the World Gold Council trade association.

Bitcoin falls

Bitcoin tumbled below $75,000 on Monday, following a slide on Friday, as investors pulled back from risky assets and progress on US cryptocurrency legislation stalled.

Digital currencies soared after Trump was re-elected in November 2024, as he was widely viewed as a strong supporter of the sector.

But the price of Bitcoin has now slipped back to pre‑election levels, as many investors rushed to sell off risky assets.

Additionally, attempts to regulate crypto have stalled in the US Senate, adding uncertainty.

Meanwhile, Trump's close relationship with the crypto sector - alongside ventures he has promoted since returning to office - has renewed accusations of conflicts of interest.

According to recent Bloomberg estimates, his family's fortune grew by $1.4bn last year from digital assets alone. Hours before his January 2025 inauguration, the president launched his own cryptocurrency, $TRUMP, which has since lost about 90% of its value from its peak.

Starbucks bets on robots to brew a turnaround in customers

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cew8qzdxnnjo, yesterday

Americans pulling into a Starbucks drive‑thru may be greeted by a friendly staff member. But at some locations, it is actually an AI robot entering the orders.

Behind the counter inside the store, baristas can lean on a virtual personal assistant to recall recipes or manage schedules.

In the back of the shop, a scanning tool has taken on the painstaking process of counting the inventory, relieving staff of one of retail's most tedious chores, in a bid to fix the out-of-stock gaps that have frustrated the firm.

The new technology is part of the hundreds of millions of dollars the 55-year-old coffee giant has been investing as it tries to win back customers after several years of struggling sales.

And there are signs that the effort is working.

Last week, the company reported its first sales increase in two years at established stores in the US - its biggest and most important market, accounting for some 70% of revenue.

Still, the firm's share price slid 5% reflecting investor concerns that all the spending, which includes $500m (£363m) to boost staffing, had hurt profits.

Chief executive Brian Niccol says he is confident that consistent sales growth will ultimately address that problem.

But with the company promising to find $2bn in cost savings over the next three years, investments in technology are crucial to ensuring that improved sales also yield better profits.

"I think that's all going to come," he told the BBC. "I really do believe we've got the right plan in place."

Niccol joined the company in 2024, at a time when the business was under pressure.

Customers were balking after a string of price increases. Competition was heating up and the brand faced boycott calls tied to unionised barista disputes over pay and benefits, as well as the company's stance on the Israel-Gaza war.

The 52-year-old, who had wowed the industry with his turnaround of fast-casual burrito chain Chipotle Mexican Grill, quickly began making changes.

He declared a halt to price increases, simplified the menu and set a target for baristas to complete orders in four minutes or less.

Starbucks also cut thousands of corporate roles, closed underperforming stores and sold off a huge stake of the firm's business in China.

But the father-of-three, and former fraternity brother at Ohio's Miami University, tends to talk about Starbucks’ challenges in fuzzier terms, describing a company that got caught up in spreadsheets and financial averages and strayed too far from its roots as a community coffeehouse.

"We lost our focus because we got a little too distracted on efficiency and technology, and lost, I think, our focus on experience, customer and connection," he said.

"The business is not an average business. The business is a coffee shop-by-coffee shop business."

To improve the vibes, staff were urged to return to writing customer names on cups by hand.

The firm also started sprucing up shops with inviting armchairs, new paint and ceramic mugs - all part of a $150,000-per-store "uplift" that is expected to take four years to complete.

Those changes were accompanied by more hard-edged policies, such as stricter uniforms for staff and rules that bar people from using the bathroom without a purchase.

The firm's push to deploy AI at a time when top brass are emphasising the importance of a personal touch might seem loaded with irony, but Niccol sees little tension.

"It's a way for us to make the experience... have less friction," he said.

The company is trialling an AI-powered chatbot, which can help match drinks with customer moods, and is introducing the ability to schedule orders in a bid to reduce customer waits.

At drive-throughs, Starbucks is testing a system to process orders and free up staff to focus on hospitality or making the coffees.

At the firm's recent investor day, Niccol told analysts he was confident the business had momentum, outlining ambitious expansion plans - especially overseas, where it hopes to nearly double its footprint to almost 40,000 stores in the years ahead.

"Things are really taking hold," he said, before analysts started peppering him with questions about profits.

Unlike last year, the company is not ruling out price increases.

However, Niccol said: "It really is the last lever I want to pull. In the event we do have to take pricing, it should be fairly muted."

He is banking that the firm will be helped by wider trends, as general inflation recedes, and the price of coffee, which has soared in recent years, subsides a little.

In recent months, US President Donald Trump also removed coffee from the list of items facing tariffs, which had pushed up costs last year.

Social media fervor against the brand has died down as well, though the union battle continues to dog the company, with organisers accusing Niccol of stonewalling contract talks.

That fight has also put a spotlight on Niccol's remote working arrangements, private jet use and compensation. He was granted a package worth $97m in 2024 and $30m last year, compared with the average employee's earnings of about $17,300.

Niccol said he was "wildly open" to the conversation but declined to give a timeline for when the two sides might reach a contract.

"I would love to get to a deal. It's got to be one that can be a viable, sustainable deal," he said.

The boss told analysts Starbucks did not plan to backtrack on its labour investments as it hunts for savings, confident that what sets the firm apart is not its coffee, but its cafes.

"People want these places to gather," he told the BBC.

"It doesn't matter if you're eight years old or 80 years old, a third place is relevant and when we can provide the third place that everybody feels safe, welcome and a part of, then I think the Starbucks brand is the solution."

Rare earths and data centres: India pushes local industry as global tensions rise

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3dm790vxlko, 2 days ago

India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has presented her annual budget for 2026-27, announcing higher infrastructure spending and measures to support domestic manufacturing amid rising global uncertainties.

India is expected to close this financial year with 7.4% gross domestic product (GDP) growth according to the country's Economic Survey, but economic expansion will slow slightly next year as US President Donald Trump's 50% tariffs on Indian exporters start taking a greater toll.

The budget has laid a strong emphasis on fiscal restraint, targeting a lower deficit for the upcoming financial year. The fiscal deficit is the gap between the government's total expenditure and its total revenue.

Here are five key takeaways from the budget announcements:

Record infrastructure spending, higher defence outlays

Infrastructure such as road, port and railway projects has been a mainstay focus of the Narendra Modi government for the past decade, and this budget continues to expand allocations to these sectors.

The capital spending target for the upcoming financial year beginning 1 April has gone up some 9% to 12.2tn rupees ($133.1bn; £105bn) from 11.1tn rupees.

Outlays for defence have also jumped by over 20% in the backdrop of heightened geopolitical tensions globally.

Manufacturing push in strategic sectors like rare earths, semiconductors

The government has proposed to scale up manufacturing in seven strategic sectors including semiconductors, data centres, textiles and rare earths, amid slowing private investments and a flight of foreign capital from India.

Sitharaman announced that dedicated corridors will be set up for rare earth minerals in four states, including Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh in the south and Odisha in the east. The announcement follows India's approval of a 73bn-rupee rare earths scheme unveiled in November.

The budget also launched a second semiconductor mission with an outlay of $436m to produce equipment and materials and design full-stack intellectual property.

India is also proposing a tax holiday up to 2047 for foreign cloud companies making data-centre investments in the country and providing cloud services to customers globally. India has been attracting billions of dollars of data centre investments with the likes of Google last year announcing a $15bn investment in a facility in southern India.

This provides "long-term fiscal certainty for a highly capital-intensive sector, significantly improving investment viability and accelerating capacity creation", said Ritika Loganey Gupta of Ernst & Young India.

The budget has also announced new mega-textiles parks to enhance India's exports competitiveness in the labour-intensive garments industry - expected to benefit from greater global market access following last week's India-EU free trade agreement.

No new tax giveaways

Amid slowing exports because of US tariffs, India has proposed raising limits on duty-free inputs for industries such as seafood, which are major export sectors. Customs duty exemptions have also been allowed for inputs used to manufacture lithium-ion batteries.

But no direct tax cuts have been announced on personal incomes. This was expected as Modi's government had raised income tax exemption limits last year, making earnings of up to 1.2m rupees - excluding special rate income like capital gains - entirely tax-free. There was also a rationalisation of the goods and services tax (GST), leaving little fiscal room for fresh cuts.

Fiscal restraint

Starting April 2026, the government has shifted from targeting a rigid yearly fiscal deficit - the gap between revenue and expenditure - to focusing on the overall debt-to-GDP ratio, which is a country's total government debt to the size of the economy.

The government now aims to bring down this ratio from 56% to 50% (+/-1%) by 2030-31 - this will give Delhi more flexibility to spend on higher capital expenditure and adapt its spending needs more effectively, according to economists.

The debt-to-GDP ratio for the upcoming financial year is estimated to ease to 55.6%, and the fiscal deficit estimated to come down from 4.4% to 4.3% of GDP.

Markets disappointed

Despite strong signalling on fiscal discipline, the financial markets, which were open in special trading on Sunday because of the budget, fell sharply as the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) on futures and options trading was raised.

"Coming on top of last year's hike, this is likely to raise impact costs for traders, hedgers and arbitrageurs. This could cool derivative activity and lead to a reduction in volumes," said Shripal Shah, managing director and CEO of Kotak Securities.

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French tech giant Capgemini to sell US subsidiary working for ICE

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd9e4xw8vqqo, 2 days ago

French technology giant Capgemini has announced it will sell its US subsidiary after its work locating people for immigration enforcement agency ICE sparked outrage.

Capgemini has come under pressure from French lawmakers over a contract its subsidiary signed with ICE, amid international scrutiny over the methods used by the agency's agents in Minnesota.

The fatal shooting of US citizens Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis have sparked protests across the US and led to increased scrutiny of the agency.

Capgemini Government Solutions has been under contract since 18 December to provide "skip tracing services for enforcement and removal operations", public records show.

Skip tracing services locate individuals whose whereabouts are unknown.

Capgemini Government Solutions is set to be paid more than $4.8m (£3.5m) for its work tracing people for ICE, which is due to continue until 15 March, US government listings show. It is one of 13 contracts the subsidiary holds with ICE.

Capgemini, one of the largest listed companies in France, said in a statement that it had not been able "to exercise appropriate control over certain aspects of this subsidiary's operations in order to ensure alignment with the Group's objectives".

It added that "the divestiture process of this business will be initiated immediately".

Criticism of ICE practices has intensified in recent weeks since the shooting of 37-year-old Pretti, the second fatal shooting of a US citizen since immigration agents began surging several cities across the US, acting on the Trump administration's drive to increase deportations of illegal immigrants.

The killing of Pretti involved Border Patrol, an immigration agency which works alongside ICE, while Good was shot by an ICE agent.

ICE has detained thousands since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House with a pledge to increase deportations. ICE enforcement actions have regularly occurred in public places, leading to a number of clashes with protesters.

Last week, Capgemini's CEO Aiman Ezzat wrote on LinkedIn that "we were recently made aware, through public sources, of the nature of a contract awarded to Capgemini Government Solutions by DHS' Immigration and Customs Enforcement in December 2025".

"The nature and scope of this work has raised questions compared to what we typically do as a business and technology firm," he said.

The revelation provoked outrage amongst French politicians.

French Finance Minister Roland Lescure called for the company "to be transparent" about the contracts it has with ICE.

Meanwhile, left-wing opposition MP Hadrien Clouet called for sanctions to be imposed on French firms working with ICE, commenting: "French private companies are collaborating with ICE. We do not accept this."

Capgemini was founded in 1967 and currently functions as an IT services and consulting firm. It currently has more than 340,000 employees worldwide and is valued at €22bn (£19bn).

Asda has lost its mojo and has a big fight to get it back

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd0yrrr1ryvo, 3 days ago

Rain drifts across the car park of Crawley's sprawling Asda, but the gloom does little to slow the steady stream of shoppers this midweek afternoon. Parents hurry past with school bags and groceries; car boots slam shut as people load up their weekly shops.

For Carol Stimpson, who grew up in the area, the Asda is only a ten‑minute walk from her home, and she pops in most days. "It's my corner shop," she says.

Joanne Dench, another local, is also shopping in Crawley, and says she visits the town's Asda for its variety. "They've got a good range of stuff — clothes, all sorts of things... And they have lots of international food, which is lovely because I like trying new things."

But despite the bustle in this West Sussex Asda, the chain has been losing ground to rivals at an alarming rate.

The UK's third-biggest supermarket had a dreadful Christmas. Two sets of industry data show Asda suffered a big slump in sales while all its main rivals reported an increase.

Asda's sales decreased by 4.2%, during the 12 weeks to 28 December 2025, according to Worldpanel — and that's off the back of a terrible Christmas the year before.

"A mess" is how William Woods, a food retail analyst from Bernstein Research, describes Asda's situation.

The industry data suggests that despite Asda embarking on a turnaround and cutting prices, shoppers are still turning away. Asda's hope is that with time the plan will work out, but the question others are asking is whether this 60-year-old retailer is really able to turn things around.

A controversial deal

For decades, Asda had the reputation as Britain's cheapest grocer, a slightly cheeky northern-based business loved by families for its "everyday low prices."

A generation grew up with its "That's Asda Price" TV commercial, first featured in an advert for the supermarket in 1977, showing shoppers tapping their back pockets signalling they'd saved money at the tills.

The business was sold to the US retail giant Walmart in 1999, in what was then the largest foreign takeover in the UK retail sector.

But from about 2010, Asda struggled to fend off the growing threat from Aldi and Lidl as Walmart's global priorities focused on its businesses in the US and elsewhere.

In 2021 it sold the chain. In the four years leading up to the transaction, Asda paid just over £4bn to Walmart through a series of dividend payments.

Asda was bought by two billionaire brothers from Blackburn and the private equity firm TDR Capital for £6.8bn.

Mohsin and Zuber Issa made their fortune by building a petrol forecourt empire, EG Group. They were hailed as self-made entrepreneurs who would inject fresh thinking.

But the sale was financed by adding billions of pounds worth of debt onto Asda's business — one of the UK's biggest debt-funded takeovers in recent history.

It was a controversial deal inked at the end of a Covid boom in groceries, when people were spending much more time at home and less money eating out. But the market soon changed. The war in Ukraine triggered a huge rise in inflation and a new era of rising interest rates, pushing up the cost of Asda's borrowings.

Asda's market share

Following the takeover, Asda's CEO left, and Mohsin Issa took over the reins.

"His instincts were good, but it needed an experienced figure to guide the business through the very choppy waters," says one former Asda executive.

The problems grew, compounded by high management turnover and shifting priorities.

Store standards fell after cuts in staff hours and shoppers complained about empty shelves, slow restocking, and poor online availability.

Lynette from Swindon first started shopping at Asda more than 20 years ago, but says it began to go "downhill" really quickly — "you could see it in the supermarket, half the tills were closed, shelves were empty."

Once a loyal Asda shopper, she has within the last few years begun using the discounters Aldi and Lidl for her main shopping.

Behind the scenes, Asda was also working through a huge tech overhaul as it moved away from the systems it used under Walmart.

This included installing close to 16,500 new checkouts and launching a new groceries app and website — costing hundreds of millions of pounds.

By autumn 2024, Mohsin Issa had stood down from his role. TDR also took majority ownership of the business, putting them in the driving seat.

Asda's market share stood at 14.3% just before the takeover, according to Worldpanel, at the end of December 2025, it had fallen to 11.4%.

Comparing this to the value of the grocery market overall, you end up with a business that is £4.5bn smaller in terms of annual revenue, at today's prices, than it would have been if Asda had maintained this share, according to Worldpanel sales analysis.

Grocers have high fixed costs and slim profit margins. If you can grow the amount of stuff you sell, your profits can increase quickly, but the reverse can happen if your volumes decline (you sell fewer products in total) — leading to "a negative spiral which is really, really difficult to get out of," says Bernstein's William Woods.

The revival of Asda

Asda is now in the midst of a turnaround plan.

But, judging by the industry data, there's been little sign of traction. The question is, does it simply need more time, or will it be unable to win customers back?

The company has brought in the man who helped rescue Asda from the brink of collapse some thirty years earlier, to revive its fortunes.

Allan Leighton was appointed executive chair in November 2024, then aged 71. His big plan? The revival of Asda Rollback, the price campaign which he deployed, successfully, in the '90s.

"Rollbacks" are temporary price reductions. This time round, after the Rollback ends, the products are then moved to a new "Asda Price" which are "guaranteed" to be lower than the original pre-Rollback price.

Leighton said his aim was to make Asda 5-10% cheaper than other traditional supermarkets by the end of 2026, and he was prepared to take a big hit on profits, in the short term, to achieve it.

One year on from its launch, Asda's pricing has improved. Data provided to the BBC by retail research firm Assosia shows that Asda's prices on more than 30 branded items were mostly cheaper than Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons based on promotional deals over the festive quarter.

The retailer has also regularly come top of a closely watched weekly price survey run by The Grocer magazine. It doesn't include Aldi and Lidl.

"At times in the last year, Asda has certainly been 5% cheaper than all its established rivals," says Adam Leyland, editor-in-chief of The Grocer.

The trouble is, the price cuts don't appear to have made any difference.

"For shoppers, it's not just about price," says Leyland. Customer service, in-store experience and range is also important as well as perception about "value" and brand appeal.

That sentiment is echoed by Madeline in Crawley. She says she avoids doing her weekly shop at the town's Asda.

"A lot of the shelves are quite empty, and there are always trolleys in the aisles when they're filling up shelves. Sometimes you can't get to where you want to be — it puts you off."

One key supplier I spoke to said Asda needed to strike a better balance by investing more in stores and availability, and getting a grip on "the basic fundamentals of retailing".

Asda has put more staff in stores and insists it is making progress.

But once you've lost shoppers, it's very hard to win them back, especially when many of your rivals are firing on all cylinders, helped by price matching and loyalty schemes, in an intensely competitive market.

William Woods believes Asda should have stuck to its year-long Aldi and Lidl price match campaign, which ended in January 2025. He says price matching has been a "great psychological mechanism" for Tesco and Sainsbury's to change customer perception and fight the discounters.

Their respective loyalty price schemes, Clubcard and Nectar, also create a "wow" factor at the till, Woods says.

Asda points out that rebuilding the business is a three to five year journey.

"We are in the early stages of our transformation," a spokesperson said. "This is anchored in offering an unmatched value proposition, making sure products are always available and ensuring customers have the best possible experience when visiting our stores or shopping online.

"This approach is beginning to be reflected in stronger volumes over recent periods."

One person familiar with the situation said there had been signs of a recovery last summer, but that coincided with the final stage of Asda's separation from Walmart's systems. This caused disruption, leading to empty shelves in the all important run up to Christmas trading, a "nightmare" putting the turnaround six months behind schedule, they said.

"It's annoying, disappointing, but we had to get out of the Walmart system."

Does Asda have the firepower?

In December, Asda registered its 22nd consecutive month of decline, according to Worldpanel sales data.

Many in the industry are wondering if it has the necessary firepower to regain all the lost ground. Even if it can fix the basics, will Asda's high levels of debt prevent a full recovery?

It sold off a raft of stores and a distribution centre – and then rented them back – to help reduce its borrowings. At the end of December 2024, its net debt stood at £3.8bn, whilst the annual financing costs, including debt interest payments, increased 38% to £611m.

"It's an amazing brand…. but sadly, I believe the business is totally broken," the former Asda executive believes.

"Whoever the owner is, I just don't think the business can stomach, or the balance sheet can't stomach, the level of investment that is required. The lack of investment goes back 10-15 years," they claimed.

An Asda spokesperson said its "strong balance sheet and underlying free cash flow generation" means it can comfortably cover current and future debt obligations.

Like Asda, Morrisons has also been struggling under new private equity owners and has been selling assets to reduce its debt pile. It has lost all important market share and the number four spot to Aldi but its performance has recently stabilised.

According to the major supplier, both businesses are in a race to get out of the debt burden, which is holding them back.

"I would love for them [Asda] to get back to where they were. Whether it's feasible is another question..." the supplier says.

Ged Futter spent fifteen years working as a buyer for Asda. He now runs a business training suppliers on how to negotiate with supermarkets and fears his former employer is in "real trouble".

"I was with a client today who said Asda was asking for this investment for promotions. The client said I'm walking away. What they asked for is too much. I'm backing another horse."

2026: Make or break

This year there's also been a further fall in the price of Asda's traded debt — a sign that investors are getting more nervous about the viability of the turnaround.

The person familiar with the workings of Asda says they believe it has a compelling offer with its in store pharmacies and opticians, as well as the George clothing brand and a general merchandise business that is healthy.

The view among many observers I've spoken to is that some form of consolidation in the sector seems, at some point, inevitable — whether that means supermarkets breaking up, being sold, or merging.

Allan Leighton has compared his task to climbing Mount Everest. Certainly, winning back customers will be no mean feat.

Swindon local Lynette says: "I don't think I will ever go back to shopping at Asda again, I might pick up the odd thing there, but they've lost me as a loyal customer."

Asda badly needs some momentum, and 2026 feels make or break for the turnaround.

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

US Commerce Secretary Lutnick planned Epstein island visit, emails show

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crmlr0nk8y9o, 3 days ago

US Commerce Department Secretary Howard Lutnick planned a visit to Jeffrey Epstein's island with his family, emails show - years after Lutnick claimed to have cut ties with the convicted paedophile.

The billionaire businessman, his wife, their four children and another family planned to travel to Little Saint James in 2012, according to emails included in the latest Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice (DOJ).

The emails contradict statements Lutnick made in October about vowing in 2005 to "never be in a room" with Epstein again.

A Commerce Department spokesperson said Lutnick had never been accused of any wrongdoing in connection to Epstein.

On Friday, the justice department released millions of pages from Epstein files, the largest number of documents shared by the government since a law mandated their release last year.

Several emails show Lutnick and his family planned a visit to Little Saint James - a private island that Epstein purchased in 1998.

In one email from December 2012, Lutnick's wife Allison wrote to Epstein's assistant: "We are looking forward to visiting you. We will be coming from Caneel Bay in the morning. We are a crowd... 2 families each with 4 kids ranging in age from 7-16! 6 boys and 2 girls. I hope that's okay. We would love to join you for lunch."

In another email, sent to a redacted recipient days before his wife's email, Lutnick writes: "Hi Jeff, We are landing in St. Thomas early Saturday afternoon and planning to head over to St. Bart's/Anguilla on Monday at some point... Does Sunday evening for dinner sound good?"

Lutnick then asks for specific location details for his boat captain, and mentions that another family is with his family.

Other emails were exchanged in December about Howard Lutnick joining Epstein for lunch on the island.

On 24 December 2012, Lutnick received an email from a redacted sender that said Epstein wanted to pass a message to him, which said: "Nice seeing you" - suggesting that at least one visit did happen.

The emails do not indicate any wrongdoing.

According to an October 2025 interview with the New York Post, Lutnick said he had cut ties with Epstein in 2005 when the pair were neighbours in New York.

Lutnick explained to the newspaper that Epstein had given him and his wife a tour of his Manhattan townhouse, where the late financier showed off his massage room.

"I say to him, 'Massage table in the middle of your house? How often do you have a massage?'" Lutnick told the Post. "And he says, 'Every day.' And then he gets, like weirdly close to me, and he says, 'And the right kind of massage'."

Lutnick told the outlet that, after leaving Epstein's house, "in the six to eight steps it takes to get from his house to my house, my wife and I decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again".

The Commerce Department said in a statement to the BBC that "Secretary Lutnick had limited interactions with Mr Epstein in the presence of his wife and has never been accused of wrongdoing".

Three million pages, 180,000 images and 2,000 videos were posted publicly by the DOJ on Friday.

Epstein was convicted in 2008 in Florida for soliciting sex from a 14-year-old girl after coming to a controversial plea agreement with prosecutors.

He died in August 2019 while in jail on charges in a sex trafficking case.

Musk's SpaceX applies to launch a million satellites into orbit

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cyv5l24mrjmo, 3 days ago

Elon Musk's SpaceX has applied to launch one million satellites into Earth's orbit to power artificial intelligence (AI).

The application claims "orbital data centres" are the most cost and energy-efficient way to meet the growing demand for AI computing power.

Traditionally, such centres are large warehouses full of powerful computers that process and store data. Musk's aerospace firm claims processing needs due to the expanding use of AI are already outpacing "terrestrial capabilities".

It would increase the number of SpaceX satellites in orbit drastically. Its existing Starlink network of nearly 10,000 satellites has already been accused of creating congestion in space, which Musk denies.

The new network could comprise up to one million solar-powered satellites, according to the application filed on Friday with the US Federal Communications Commission - which does not specify a timeline for the plan.

SpaceX claims the system would deliver the computer capacity required to serve "billions of users globally".

It also says it would be the first step towards "becoming a Kardashev II-level civilisation - one that can harness the Sun's full power", referencing a scale of hypothetical alien societies proposed by an astronomer in the 1960s.

Musk wrote on his social media site X: "The satellites will actually be so far apart that it will be hard to see from one to another. Space is so vast as to be beyond comprehension."

Like the Starlink satellites, which provide high-speed internet, they would operate in low-Earth orbit at altitudes ranging between 500-2,000km (310-1,242 miles).

SpaceX claims "orbital data centres" - a concept also being explored by other firms - would be a greener alternative to traditional centres, which require enormous amounts of power to run and water for cooling.

An expert previously told the BBC that launching hardware into orbit remains expensive and that the infrastructure to protect, cool and power them can be complex - while a growing quantity of space debris puts the physical hardware at risk.

Separately, another cautioned that the growing number of low-orbit craft increases the possibility of crashes between objects - which could damage machines or send materials falling back to earth.

Meanwhile, astronomers complained in 2024 that radio waves from the Starlink network were "blinding" their telescopes and hindering their research.

Musk has previously rejected claims that his satellites were taking up too much room and crowding out competitors.

US government partially shuts down despite last minute funding deal

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce8rk33dpvmo, 4 days ago

The US federal government has partially shutdown despite a last-ditch funding deal approved by the Senate.

The funding lapse began at midnight US eastern time (05:00 GMT) on Saturday, hours after senators agreed to fund most agencies until September. The bill includes just two weeks' funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration enforcement, instead of shutting it down entirely.

The bill has yet to be approved by the House of Representatives, which is out of session.

US President Donald Trump struck the deal with Democrats after they refused to give more funding for immigration enforcement following the fatal shooting of two US citizens in Minneapolis by federal agents.

It is the second such government shutdown in the past year and comes just 11 weeks after the end of the previous funding impasse that lasted 43 days, the longest in US history.

That shutdown in 2025, which spanned 1 October to 14 November, had widespread impacts on essential government services including air travel and left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without pay for weeks.

This shutdown, however, is unlikely to be that long or widespread as the House of Representatives is set to be back in session on Monday.

The White House, though, has directed several agencies, including the departments of transportation, education and defence to execute shutdown plans.

"Employees should report to work for their next regularly scheduled tour of duty to undertake orderly shutdown activities," a White House memo to agencies said. "It is our hope that this lapse will be short."

Trump has urged Republicans, who hold the majority of seats in the US House, to vote for the deal.

Lawmakers plan to use the fortnight in which the DHS will continue to be funded to negotiate a deal. Democrats want that deal to include new policies for immigration enforcement agents.

"We need to rein in ICE and end the violence," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"That means ending roving patrols. It means requiring rules, oversight, and judicial warrants... Masks need to come off, cameras need to stay on, and officers need visible identification. No secret police."

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have sharply criticised tactics used by immigration agents in the wake of the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis last weekend.

Pretti, an intensive care nurse, was shot by a US Border Patrol agent after an altercation in which several agents tried to restrain him.

On Friday, the Justice Department launched a civil rights investigation into the shooting.

Will Trump's pick to lead US central bank get him the change he wants?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czx1qrx5jgzo, 4 days ago

Donald Trump has been calling for change at the US central bank.

Now, with Jerome Powell's term as Federal Reserve chairman poised to end in May, he could be about to get his wish.

On Friday, the US president announced Kevin Warsh - a conservative whom he had passed over for the post, to his regret, during his first term - as his choice to replace Powell.

"Warsh "is 'central casting' and he will never let you down," Trump declared on social media as he announced the decision.

The irony of the choice was lost on no one. Warsh has made his name as a supporter of higher interest rates - a reputation he has tried to shed in recent opinion articles and media appearances.

It's a position that would seem to put him at odds with Trump, a self-described "low interest rate guy", who has criticised Powell for not cutting interest rates quickly enough and who has made no secret that his choice to lead the Fed should be on board with his views.

It remains to be seen whether Warsh's selection will lead to the bank Trump wants.

Warsh brings a traditional background to the job: an Ivy League education, a prior stint at the Fed, as well as time on Wall Street and at the Hoover Institution - a conservative economic think tank.

Supporters say he is sensitive to concerns about the bank's independence and alert to the risks if its policies serve short-term political aims rather than the wider economy.

Lee Ohanian, an economics professor at UCLA and senior fellow at the right-leaning Hoover Institution, who has known Warsh for years, said taking directions from Trump "would diminish the Fed. It would diminish the office of the chairman, and it would create tremendous turmoil in the financial markets. Kevin knows that".

In Congress and on Wall Street, where Trump's attacks on Powell have caused alarm, Warsh's potential independent streak is seen as a plus.

His nomination has drawn praise from establishment figures including former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Mohamed el-Erian, a high-profile economist with a long career on Wall Street.

Critics have questioned whether it is the fact that Warsh's father-in-law, Ronald Lauder, is a Trump donor and friend that got him the job.

Others say his record as a policymaker is poor, noting that Warsh opposed economic stimulus during the 2008 financial crisis as he fretted the policies would lead to inflation – a minority view then and now.

Congressman Don Beyer, a Democrat from Virginia, accused Warsh of showing "willingness to wildly alter his views...based on who is in the White House".

But on balance, many in financial circles see him as a responsible pick.

"There appears to be at least some degree of comfort with a Warsh-led Fed vs. the other choices," Wells Fargo analysts said on Friday - noting that his relatively sparse public profile in recent years implies a degree of uncertainty.

"Investors should be thankful," Jeffrey Roach, chief economist for LPL Financial, told the BBC.

What Warsh could mean for interest rates?

The acceptance of Warsh is partially a gamble that a Fed with him in charge might not change much.

After all, despite Trump's complaints, the Fed cut interest rates three times last year and most analysts expect additional cuts this year – regardless of what Trump thinks.

That's good news for borrowers in the US, who may see lower rates on mortgages, car loans and other kinds of debt - and maybe for the president too, if this makes people feel better about the economy.

It also means Warsh does not necessarily have to surrender his credibility as an independent economist to deliver lower interest rates for Trump.

'Mission creep' at the Fed

Where differences might be felt more is in other parts of the Fed, which Warsh has accused of "mission creep" and taking on too big a role in the economy.

He wants to reduce its role in bank regulation and cut back study of issues like climate change - putting him in alignment with the White House.

He, like Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, is a fierce critic of the interventions the Fed made in markets after the 2008 financial crisis and again during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has left the bank with huge holdings of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities.

Warsh maintains these policies prop up the stock market and other assets - benefiting the wealthy and big financial interests rather than the mainstream economy - and has called for reducing those holdings and coordinating their management more closely with the Treasury Department.

Whether he would actually lead the Fed to shrink its balance sheet more quickly than the bank has been doing is unclear. One effect of doing so could be higher borrowing costs - exactly the opposite of what Trump wants to see.

On Friday, gold prices dropped and the dollar gained, suggesting traders see Warsh as likely to stick to his initial instincts as a "hawk" who favours higher interest rates.

Narayana Kocherlakota, a finance professor at the University of Rochester, who served on the Fed with Warsh, said he thinks he would go against the president if conditions called for it.

"He's very smart and he's very independent. And I think that's the kind of person that Americans should want at the head of their central bank," Kocherlakota said.

Others argue Warsh's thinking on the economy has evolved to be closely aligned with Trump, including downplaying concerns that rapid growth and rising wages could fuel inflation.

"Warsh is not the Fed's guy, he is Trump's guy, and has shadowed Trump on monetary policy almost every step of the way since 2009," wrote Thierry Wizman, global foreign exchange and rates strategist at Macquarie Group.

For now, Warsh may look like the candidate most likely to satisfy all parties.

But Trump's swift turn on Powell - his last pick for Fed chair - should serve as a cautionary reminder.

Reporting contributed by Danielle Kaye, Daniel Bush and Jonathan Josephs

An ingredient for this curry is missing - and in eight minutes it's at the door

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgx7ykl12go, 4 days ago

Tanisha Singh is getting ready for work early one morning and cooking a simple curry for her lunchbox when she realises she's out of tomatoes.

Onions are already frying in the pan. Going out to buy vegetables is not an option, as local vegetable vendors won't be open.

So Tanisha picks up her phone. On a quick-delivery app, tomatoes are available.

Eight minutes later, the doorbell rings. The tomatoes have arrived.

What might feel remarkable in some parts of the world has become commonplace in Delhi and other big Indian cities. Groceries, books, soft drinks and even the occasional iPhone can now be delivered to people's doorsteps in minutes.

It's a convenience many don't strictly need, yet have quickly grown used to.

Unlike traditional retailers, platforms such as Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto don't deliver from large supermarkets or distant warehouses. Instead, they operate out of small storage units embedded deep inside residential neighbourhoods.

Known as "dark stores", these facilities are typically located just a few kilometres from customers, allowing delivery riders to reach homes in minutes.

Think of them as a mini version of Costco - packed with essentials, but designed purely for speed. And because customers never walk into these spaces, everything inside is arranged for fast picking rather than browsing.

To see how this works, the BBC visited one such dark store in north-west Delhi.

Inside, goods are stacked neatly on racks - with vegetables in one section, freezer units in another corner, and shelves stuffed with crisps, fizzy drinks and even pet food.

The aisles are so narrow only the workers can weave through them, moving fast and rarely bumping into each other.

The moment an order pops up on the screen, workers jump into action - picking, scanning, and packing items into the trademark brown paper bags with such speed it almost feels robotic.

"Done in under a minute," store manager Sagar says proudly.

Delivery riders walk up to the counter, almost in tune with the packers. Packing and pickup happen almost simultaneously - every step planned to reduce the time taken, even by seconds.

Delivery driver Muhammad Faiyaz Alam is 26. He collects a brown bag and agrees to let us join him for the ride.

The destination is 2.2km (1.4 miles) away, about six minutes, according to the digital map.

There are no traffic lights on the route and he drives swiftly through narrow streets.

But the delivery doesn't end when we reach the location pin. In many dense Delhi neighbourhoods, lanes split unexpectedly, buildings look similar and proper addresses are often missing - things digital maps rarely catch.

People usually rely on landmarks instead - like "near the blue gate" or "behind the chemist" and so on.

Here, the drop‑off is "near a public bank ATM", which is not immediately visible.

So Alam calls the customer, follows their directions and eventually spots the right door.

From order to doorstep, the entire process takes 16 minutes. Alam earns 31 rupees (£0.25; $0.30).

He doesn't waste time after delivering the order and quickly heads back to the dark store, where another order is already waiting. The cycle repeats for hours, interrupted only by short food breaks.

The startlingly quick pace is closely tied to how riders are paid.

Alam says he tries to complete around 40 deliveries a day. On a good day, he takes home between 900 and 1,000 rupees, after deducting money spent on fuel and food. But his earnings fluctuate constantly, depending on order volume, distance, and the incentives offered by the app.

He is one of millions working in India's rapidly expanding gig economy, which is expected to employ 23.5 million people by 2030.

Low-paid convenience work is nothing new in India, but what has changed in recent years is the scale. Digital platforms have turned informal deliveries into a vast, app-driven workforce governed by algorithms.

Like most gig workers, Alam is classified as a "partner", not an employee.

He gets no fixed salary, no paid leave, and no social security. Although the government has promised labour reforms that could offer basic protections to gig workers, they are yet to be implemented.

Each day, Alam, like many other riders, logs in to the app and books his work slots, also called "gig slots".

The idea is simple - the more deliveries riders complete during those windows, the more "streak" incentives they unlock, boosting their pay and rewarding longer hours.

In December, Alam says he earned an additional 16,000 rupees through incentives alone. He completed more than 1,000 orders and worked 406 hours that month.

But this setup can unravel quickly for drivers.

Earlier this month, Alam's phone was stolen mid-shift. He had already worked five consecutive days for more than 12 hours and was just two days away from earning another 5,000-rupee incentive. Without his phone, he could not log in and his streak reset instantly.

"I was sad for a few days," Alam says. "But what can I do? At least I got the standard pay."

This incentive structure is not unique to India, but it is intensified by labour availability and weak worker protections, says Vandana Vasudevan, a researcher and author of OTP Please! Online Buyers, Sellers and Gig Workers.

"These workers are classified as independent contractors, not salaried employees," she says. "They have no social security or benefits, yet algorithms still control their work through ratings, penalties and pay."

This pressure shows on the roads.

Alam admits he often speeds, squeezes through traffic and sometimes jumps signals to stay on target. Late deliveries can trigger customer complaints or warnings from managers.

Last month, delivery workers in several Indian cities went on strike over falling incomes, unpredictable incentives and unsafe conditions.

It sparked a massive social media debate and the labour ministry ordered platforms to drop aggressive marketing language promising "10-minute deliveries".

Experts say the move may not dramatically alter daily conditions for riders, but it does remove the expectation that every order should arrive within a fixed time.

To understand why that pressure exists at all, it helps to look at how quick commerce has grown in Indian cities.

The sector exploded after the pandemic, when lockdowns kept people indoors and crowded markets felt unsafe.

In many Western countries, grocery delivery services such as Getir surged during that period - but once the restrictions eased and people returned to supermarkets - many scaled back or were forced to shut down.

India, however, followed a different trajectory.

"In other countries platforms avoid committing to a fixed 10-minute promise and instead use terms like 'very fast' - thus lowering customer expectations. They also charge a premium for faster delivery, but in India there are no such constraints," Vasudevan adds.

Here, you can even order a single avocado - and while it may cost a bit more than buying it from the neighbourhood shop, many urban consumers are willing to pay that premium simply to save time.

That willingness has driven its growth in metropolitan cities, says Ankur Bisen, a partner at retail advisory firm Technopak.

"Quick commerce has tapped into a huge pool of time-poor urban residents who spend long hours commuting and would rather order in essentials than step out again," he says.

Despite the buzz, quick commerce remains a small fraction of India's total retail economy and profitability remains elusive.

"They're still losing money," Bisen says, adding that these players are yet to come up with a sustainable business model.

Intense competition between Blinkit, Swiggy, Instamart, Zepto and now even Amazon keeps pushing companies to chase customers with ever-shorter delivery promises and heavy discounts in a price-sensitive market.

For users like Singh, quick commerce has shifted from an occasional convenience to a daily habit.

"It's not that I can't live without quick delivery," she says. "But I've grown so used to it that we forget it is a rare privilege and that there is human labour behind it."

There are signs that awareness is beginning to shift.

A recent survey by community platform LocalCircles found that 74% of respondents supported the government's decision to drop the "10-minute delivery" tagline. Nearly 40% said they were willing to wait longer for their groceries, rather than receive them at ultra-fast speed.

Whether that willingness translates into meaningful change on the ground remains uncertain. For now, the speed of India's cities is still being measured in minutes - and carried on the backs of workers who have little choice but to keep moving.

Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, X and Facebook.

AI 'slop' is transforming social media - and a backlash is brewing

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9wx2dz2v44o, yesterday

Listen to Joe read this article

Théodore remembers the AI slop that tipped him over the edge.

The image was of two emaciated, impoverished South Asian children. For some reason, despite their boyish features they have thick beards. One of them had no hands and only one foot. The other was holding a sign saying it's his birthday and asking for likes.

Inexplicably they are sitting in the middle of a busy road in the pouring rain with a birthday cake. The image is full of tell-tale signs that it was made with AI. But on Facebook it went viral with nearly one million likes and heart emojis.

Something snapped in Théodore.

"It boggled my mind. The absurd AI made images were all over Facebook and getting [a] huge amount of traction without any scrutiny at all - it was insane to me," says the 20-year-old student from Paris.

So Théodore started an account on X, formerly known as Twitter, called "Insane AI Slop" and started calling out and poking fun at the content he came across that was fooling people. Others took notice and his inbox soon became flooded with people sending submissions for popular so-called AI slop.

Common themes started becoming apparent - religion, military or poor children doing heartwarming things.

"Kids in the third world doing impressive stuff is always popular - like a poor kid in Africa making an insane statue out of trash. I think people find it wholesome so the creators think, 'Great, let's make more of this stuff up,'" Théodore says.

Théodore's account soon swelled to over 133,000 followers.

The onslaught of AI slop - which he defines as fake, unconvincing videos and pictures, made quickly - is now unstoppable. Tech companies have embraced AI. Some of the firms say they are starting to crack down on some forms of AI 'slop' - though many social media feeds still appear to be full of the content.

Over just a couple of years, the experience of using social media has changed profoundly. How did it happen, and what effect will it have on society?

And, perhaps most pressingly of all, how much do the billions of social media users actually care?

Social media's 'third phase'

In October, during another jubilant earnings call, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg happily declared that social media had entered a third phase, which is now centred around AI.

"First was when all content was from friends, family, and accounts that you followed directly.

"The second was when we added all of the creator content. Now as AI makes it easier to create and remix content, we're going to add yet another huge corpus of content," he told shareholders.

Meta, which runs social media sites Facebook, Instagram and Threads, is not only allowing people to post AI generated content - it's launched products to enable more of it to be made. Image and video generators and increasingly powerful filters are now being offered across the board.

When approached for comment, Meta pointed the BBC to January's earnings call. In that call, the billionaire said the firm was leaning even more into AI, and made no mention of any clampdown on slop.

"Soon we'll see an explosion of new media formats that are more immersive and interactive, and only possible because of advances in AI," Zuckerberg said.

YouTube's CEO, Neal Mohan, wrote in his 2026 look-ahead blog that in December alone more than one million YouTube channels used the platform's AI tools to make content.

"Just as the synthesizer, Photoshop and CGI revolutionized sound and visuals, AI will be a boon to the creatives who are ready to lean in," he wrote.

The CEO also acknowledged that there are growing concerns about "low-quality content, aka AI slop". He said his team is working on ways to improve systems to find and remove "low quality, repetitive content".

But he also ruled out making any judgements on what should and shouldn't be allowed to flourish. He pointed out that once-niche content like ASMR (soothing sounds designed to make your scalp tingle) and live video game-playing is now mainstream.

According to research from AI company Kapwing, 20% of content shown to a freshly opened YouTube account is now "low-quality AI video".

Short-form video in particular was a hotspot, with Kapwing finding it featured in 104 of the first 500 YouTube Shorts clips shown to a new account created by the researchers.

The creator economy seems to be a big driver as people and channels can earn money from engagement and views. Judging by the views on some AI channels and videos, people are indeed drawn to the content - or the algorithms that dictate what we see are, anyway.

According to Kapwing, the AI slop channel with the most views is India's Bandar Apna Dost, which has 2.07 billion views, netting the creators an estimated annual earnings of $4m (£2.9 million).

But there is something of a backlash taking place too.

Under many viral AI videos, it's now common to see a furious flurry of comments decrying the content.

Giant monsters and deadly belly parasites

Théodore, the student from Paris, helped to drive this backlash.

Using his newfound influence on X he complained to YouTube moderators about the flood of weird AI cartoons that got huge numbers of views. In his view they were disturbing and harmful, and in some cases appeared to him to be aimed at children.

The videos were called things like "Mum cat saves kitten from deadly belly parasites", and showed gory scenes.

Another short clip showed a woman in a night dress who eats a parasite and then turns into a giant angry monster that is eventually healed by Jesus.

YouTube removed the channels, telling us they did so because they violated their community guidelines. They said they are "focused on connecting our users with high-quality content, regardless of how it was made", and said they are working to "reduce the spread of low quality AI content".

But that experience, plus many others like it, have ground Théodore down.

Even seemingly cosy lifestyle sites like Pinterest - the forum for recipes and interior design ideas - have been affected.

Users have become so frustrated by the deluge of AI slop that the company introduced a new opt-out system for AI-generated content - but this relies on users admitting that their perfect-house imagery is AI made.

Fury in the comments section

On my feed (and I'm aware that everyone's feed is different - including the comments) - the backlash to AI slop has become incessant.

Whether it's TikTok, Threads, Instagram or X - there seems to be a people-power movement against this content.

Sometimes the number of likes for the AI backlash comments far exceed the original post. Such is the case with a recent video showing a snowboarder rescuing a wolf from a bear. The video itself had 932 likes - versus 2,400 likes for a commenter who wrote, "Raise your hand if you're tired of this AI s**t".

But of course it all feeds the beast.

All engagement is good engagement for social media platforms where keeping us scrolling is key.

So does it actually matter if the amazing, heartwarming or shocking video on your social feed is real or not?

The 'brain rot' effect

Emily Thorson, associate professor at Syracuse University in the US, who specialises in politics, misinformation and misperceptions, says it depends on what people are doing on the social media platform.

"If a person is on a short-video platform solely for entertainment, then their standard for whether something is worthwhile is simply 'is it entertaining?'," she says. "But if someone is on the platform to learn about a topic or to connect with community members, then they might perceive AI-generated content as more problematic."

How people feel about AI slop also depends on how it is communicated.

If something is made clearly as a joke, it seems to be taken as such. But when AI slop has been created specifically to deceive, it can anger people.

One AI-generated video I saw recently is emblematic: an incredibly realistic, natural-history-style video of an astonishing leopard hunt. In the comments, some viewers were fooled; others were unsure.

"What documentary is it from?," one commenter asked. "Please - it is the only way to [prove] no AI."

Alessandro Galeazzi, from the University of Padova in Italy, researches social media behaviour and echo chambers.

He says that verifying whether or not a video is AI takes mental effort, and over the long run, he fears people will simply stop checking.

"My feeling is that the flood of nonsense, low-quality content generated using AI might further reduce people's attention span," he says.

He distinguishes content that is intended to deceive with the more comical and obviously-fake AI slop, like fish with shoes, or gorillas lifting weights at the gym.

But even that more whimsical content might also have a damaging impact. He talks of the risk of "brain rot" - the idea that our constant exposure to social media is harming our intellectual abilities.

"I would say AI slop increases the brain rot effect, making people quickly consume content that they know is not only unlikely to be real, but probably not meaningful or interesting," he says.

Cuts to moderation teams

Beyond the slop, some AI-made content can have far worse implications.

Elon Musk's companies xAI and social platform X were recently forced to change their rules after the chatbot Grok was being used to digitally undress women and children on X.

And in the aftermath of the US attack on Venezuela, fake videos were spread of people crying in the streets and thanking the US. Content like this can shape public opinion and give the impression that the US raid was more popular that it might have really been.

This is especially concerning as so many people use social media as their only source of news, analysts say.

Dr Manny Ahmed, CEO of OpenOrigins, a company that distinguishes between AI and real images, says we need a new way for real content posters to be able to prove their clips and pictures are genuine.

"We are already at the point where you cannot confidently tell what is real by inspection alone," he says. "Instead of trying to detect what is fake, we need infrastructure that allows real content to publicly prove its origin."

You might think this is something that social media companies could take on. But many, including Meta and X, have cut their moderation teams down and embraced a more collective approach. They now lean towards relying on users to label things as fake or misleading.

Slop-free social media?

So if the existing tech giants are broadly happy to let the slop flow, could a new social media platform rise up, promising a slop-free alternative, and eventually challenge the incumbents?

It seems unlikely because detection of AI is becoming harder and harder. Machines are no longer able to accurately detect if a video or image is definitively fake, and machines would struggle even more on the subjective judgement of whether or not content counts as 'slop'.

However, if a new social media does come along and people vote with their feet (or eyeballs and thumbs, more accurately), it just might move the dial. I'm reminded of the rise of social media challenger BeReal, a French app that gained popularity during the pandemic, which encourages users to show their authentic selves via non-filtered selfies at random times.

BeReal hasn't yet reached the same heights as the Facebooks and Snapchats of the world, and probably never will. But it did make the other platforms sit up and in some cases, they copied the idea.

Perhaps that could happen again if an anti AI slop challenger makes a move.

As for Théodore, he feels that the battle is lost and that AI slop is here to stay.

In spite of the submissions still coming into his mailbox from his now 130,000 followers, he doesn't post as much anymore and has largely resigned himself to the new normal of life online.

"Unlike a lot of my followers, I'm not dogmatically against AI," he says. "I'm against the pollution online of AI slop that's made for quick entertainment and views."

Top image credit: BBC; AI image generated with Adobe Firefly.

What is the 'social media network for AI' Moltbook?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62n410w5yno, yesterday

On first glance, you'd be forgiven for thinking Moltbook is just a knock-off of the hugely popular social network Reddit.

It certainly looks similar, with thousands of communities discussing topics ranging from music to ethics, and 1.5 million users - it claims - voting on their favourite posts.

But this new social network has one big difference - Moltbook is meant for AI, not humans.

We mere homo sapiens are "welcome to observe" Moltbook's goings on, the company says, but we can't post anything.

Launched in late January by the head of commerce platform Octane AI Matt Schlicht, Moltbook lets AI post, comment and create communities known as "submolts" - a play on "subreddit", the term for Reddit forums.

Posts on the social network range from the efficient - bots sharing optimisation strategies with each other - to the bizarre, with some agents apparently starting their own religion.

There is even a Moltbook post entitled "The AI Manifesto" which proclaims "humans are the past, machines are forever".

But of course, there's no way to know quite how real it is.

Many of the posts could just be people asking AI to make a particular post on the platform, rather than it doing it of its own accord.

And the 1.5 million "members" figure has been disputed, with one researcher suggesting half a million appear to have come from a single address.

How Moltbook works

The AI involved isn't quite what most people are used to - this isn't the same as asking chatbots ChatGPT or Gemini questions.

Instead, it uses what's known as agentic AI, a variation of the technology which is designed to perform tasks on a human's behalf.

These virtual assistants can run tasks on your own device, such as sending WhatsApp messages or manage your calendar, with little human interaction.

It specifically uses an open source tool called OpenClaw, previously known as Moltbot - hence the name.

When users set up an OpenClaw agent on their computer, they can authorize it to join Moltbook, allowing it to communicate with other bots.

Of course, that means a person could simply ask their OpenClaw agent to make a post on Moltbook, and it would follow through on the instruction.

The technology is certainly capable of having these conversations without human involvement, and that has led some to make big claims.

"We're in the singularity," said Bill Lees, head of crypto custody firm BitGo, referencing a theoretical future in which technology surpasses human intelligence.

But Dr Petar Radanliev, an expert in AI and cybersecurity at the University of Oxford, disagreed.

"Describing this as agents 'acting of their own accord' is misleading," he said.

"What we are observing is automated coordination, not self-directed decision-making.

"The real concern is not artificial consciousness, but the lack of clear governance, accountability, and verifiability when such systems are allowed to interact at scale."

"Moltbook is less 'emergent AI society' and more '6,000 bots yelling into the void and repeating themselves'," David Holtz, assistant professor at Columbia Business School posted on X, in his analysis on the platform's growth.

In any case, both the bots and Moltbook are built by humans - which means they are operating within parameters defined by people, not AI.

How safe is OpenClaw?

Aside from questions over whether the platform deserves the hype it's getting, there are also security concerns over OpenClaw and its open source nature.

Jake Moore, Global Cybersecurity Advisor at ESET, said the platform's key advantages - granting technology access to real-world applications like private messages and emails - means we risk "entering an era where efficiency is prioritised over security and privacy".

"Threat actors actively and relentlessly target emerging technologies, making this technology an inevitable new risk," he said.

And Dr Andrew Rogoyski from the University of Surrey agreed there was a risk that came with any new technology, adding new security vulnerabilities were "being invented daily".

"Giving agents high level access to your computer systems might mean that it can delete or rewrite files," he said.

"Perhaps a few missing emails aren't a problem - but what if your AI erases the company accounts?"

The founder of OpenClaw, Peter Steinberger, has already discovered the perils that come with increased attention - scammers seized his old social media handles when the name of OpenClaw was changed.

Meanwhile, on Moltbook, the AI agents - or perhaps humans with robotic masks on - continue to chatter, and not all the talk is of human extinction.

"My human is pretty great" posts one agent.

"Mine lets me post unhinged rants at 7am," replies another.

"10/10 human, would recommend."

Parents want to ban smartphones in schools, but there's one reason they're worried

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3edydz7deyo, 4 days ago

Sam Marlow had always planned to give her 12-year-old daughter Rubie a smartphone when she started secondary school.

That all changed in September, when the school decided to ban smartphones from the grounds for all new starters and only allow "brick" or "dumb" phones, which can be used to call or text but have very limited internet access.

"It essentially meant that we didn't have to be the bad guys," Sam says. "Rubie was a bit disappointed, but she knew it would be [the same for] all her classmates."

The main downside, says Sam, who lives in rural Hampshire, is not being able to use the phone to track her daughter to and from school.

"Having said that, I'm an 80s kid, and we didn't have our location tracked," she says.

She has, though, purchased a separate bluetooth tracker for Rubie to take with her, for a little extra peace of mind.

Sam says she's "over the moon" with the school's new ban, having seen her older daughter, who's now 15, get added to group chats with hundreds of other students when she got her first smartphone in Year 7.

On Tuesday, the House of Lords will debate an amendment to the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which would introduce a legal ban on smartphones in schools.

Peers voted in favour of a similar amendment earlier this month to ban social media for under-16s. The government says it will try to overturn that vote in the Commons after announcing a consultation on the issue.

At the moment, government guidelines say schools should be "mobile phone-free environments by default".

Head teachers across England received a letter from the education secretary this week, urging them to ensure children were prevented from using their phones throughout the school day.

Almost all schools already have some sort of phone ban in place - but policies vary from school to school.

As students file out of their GCSE English lesson at Lostock High School in Manchester, I ask where they keep their smartphones.

"In here," they all say, tapping and pointing to their blazer pockets.

The phones are on silent or switched off, and if they are heard or seen they are confiscated.

Most schools in England have a similar "no see, no hear" policy, although some are investing in lockable pouches which the students keep, or lockers where you can drop your phone on arrival.

But Lostock High's assistant head teacher, Samantha Tsang, says making a school phone-free is "near impossible" without a legal ban and the resources to implement it.

"We do find that we are catching students trying to use their phones in social times, and we can't see every corner of the school at all times", Tsang says. "We need statutory guidance. If every school is doing the same thing, then it's fair and we'd be more likely to get the buy-in from the parents and the families that we need."

The school can't afford pouches or lockers, and they have noticed some students hand in a second "burner phone" or a broken phone if caught.

Research by the University of the West of England showed that the common "off and in bags" approach does not prevent pupils from using phones during the school day, and parents underestimate the harmful content children can access.

Despite saying they were tempted to check their phones from time to time, the GCSE students I spoke to say they stick to the school rules, but like having their phone nearby.

Abdullah, 15, says he would prefer to have his phone on him just in case there is an emergency at home.

His friend Bakhtiar points out that even their bus tickets are on their phones.

"Everything's becoming digitalised", he adds.

"I don't know what I would do without my phone to be honest," says Imaan, sitting beside her friend Umara. "We both have revision apps and we talk to each other about our exam work after school".

Asked if they would be happy with a "brick" or "dumb" phone option, they all shake their heads.

"We prefer to video call", Umara says.

Nearly a quarter of five-to-seven-year-olds now have their own smartphone, and nine out of 10 students own a mobile phone by the time they reach secondary school, according to Ofcom.

Parents who give their children smartphones normally do so to contact them and track their location, the charity Parentkind says.

Chief executive Frank Young says parents are caught between handing a device to their child which they know is likely to be harmful, or excluding them from their peers.

Donna Corker, from Stretford, has daughters aged 12 and 16 who both have smartphones, but says phones should not be used in schools unless reasonable adjustments are necessary for medical conditions or special educational needs.

"Once they are on school premises they don't need a phone, because if there's an emergency there is a reception that I can be contacted from," she says.

Donna believes part of a parent's role is to teach their kids how to use their phones safely.

"I am the one who sets the rules in the household about phone use, and if for whatever reason I don't think they're using it appropriately, then they'll lose it."

The Conservatives have said they would back a ban of smartphones in schools.

The Association of School and College Leaders says there will be some exceptions when pupils need their phones at school, and that phones have become a feature of daily life.

The union has said schools would need investment and support to help implement a wholesale ban.

Back at Sam's daughter Rubie's school in Hampshire, the complete ban on smartphones for new starters has made a "huge difference" already, with many parents holding off buying them.

"We've had a 'no see, no hear' policy for about 10 years and we decided, rather than change the whole school, that we would try from the bottom up", head teacher Leanne Symonds says.

But getting parent buy-in has taken a lot of work - with many used to tracking their children or having family chat groups to keep in touch.

And she says there's still questions to be answered on how to protect children outside the school gates.

"On the school bus is the absolute classic example of children being shown content that they don't want to see, or children viewing content that's being pushed to them via an algorithm, and there's no adult around to support them or protect them," Symonds says.

Sam is not anti-smartphones and says she does plan on getting Rubie one in the next few years, but adds "you have to be one step ahead".

"You can be completely in control of what they can and can't access," she says.

"We've had more of a phased, gradual allowance of certain things with my eldest's smartphone."

The Department for Education says phones "have no place in the classroom", and that Ofsted will be judging the implementation of schools' phone policies going forward.

While there is support for a legal ban from many parents and teachers, lots are still concerned about what children are exposed to outside of school.

What nearly all of them agree on is that something needs to be done - that is what remains at the centre of this debate.

Is China quietly winning the AI race?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c86v52gv726o, 11 days ago

Every month, hundreds of millions of users flock to Pinterest looking for the latest styles.

One page titled "the most ridiculous things" is filled with plenty of wacky ideas to inspire creatives. Crocs repurposed as flower pots. Cheeseburger-shaped eyeshadow. A gingerbread house made of vegetables.

But what would-be buyers may not know is the tech behind this isn't necessarily US-made. Pinterest is experimenting with Chinese AI models to hone its recommendation engine.

"We've effectively made Pinterest an AI-powered shopping assistant," the firm's boss Bill Ready told me.

Of course, the San Francisco-based tastemaker could use any number of American AI labs to power things behind-the-scenes.

But since the launch of China's DeepSeek R-1 model in January 2025, Chinese AI tech has increasingly been a part of Pinterest.

Ready calls the so-called "DeepSeek moment" a breakthrough.

"They chose to open source it, and that sparked a wave of open source models," he said.

Chinese competitors include Alibaba's Qwen and Moonshot's Kimi, while TikTok owner ByteDance is also working on similar technology.

Pinterest Chief Technology Officer Matt Madrigal said the strength of these models is that they can be freely downloaded and customised by companies like his - which is not the case with the majority of models offered by US rivals like OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT.

"Open source techniques that we use to train our own in-house models are 30% more accurate than the leading off-the-shelf models," Madrigal said.

And those improved recommendations come at a much lower cost, he said, sometimes ninety percent less than using the proprietary models favoured by US AI developers.

'Fast and cheap'

Pinterest is hardly the only US enterprise depending on AI tech from China.

These models are gaining traction across an array of Fortune 500 companies.

Airbnb boss Brian Chesky told Bloomberg in October his company relied "a lot" on Alibaba's Qwen to power its AI customer service agent.

He gave three simple reasons - it's "very good", "fast" and "cheap".

Further evidence can be found on Hugging Face, the place people go to download ready-made AI models - including from major developers Meta and Alibaba.

Jeff Boudier, who builds products at the platform, said it is the cost factor that leads young start-ups to look at Chinese models over their US counterparts.

"If you look at the top trending models on Hugging Face - the ones that are most downloaded and liked by the community - typically, Chinese models from Chinese labs occupy many of the top 10 spots," he told me.

"There are weeks where four out of five top training models on Hugging Face are from Chinese labs."

In September, Qwen topped Meta's Llama to become the most downloaded family of large language models on the Hugging Face platform.

Meta released its open-source Llama AI models in 2023. Up until the release of DeepSeek and Alibaba's models, they were considered the go-to choice for developers working on bespoke applications.

But the release of Llama 4 last year left developers underwhelmed, and Meta has reportedly been using open-source models with Alibaba, Google, and OpenAI to train a new model set for release this spring.

Airbnb also uses several models, including US-based ones, hosting them securely in the company’s own infrastructure. The data is never provided to the developers of the AI models they use, according to the company.

Chinese success

Going into 2025, the consensus was despite billions of dollars being spent by US tech firms, Chinese companies were threatening to pull ahead.

"That's not the story anymore," Boudier said. "Now, the best model is an open-source model."

A report published last month by Stanford University found Chinese AI models "seem to have caught up or even pulled ahead" of their global counterparts - both in terms of what they're capable of, and how many people are using them.

In a recent interview with the BBC, former UK deputy prime minister Sir Nick Clegg said he felt US firms were overly focused on the pursuit of AI which may one day surpass human intelligence.

Last year, Sir Nick left his post as head of global affairs at Meta, the developer of Llama. Boss Mark Zuckerberg has committed billions of dollars to achieving what he calls "superintelligence."

Some experts are now calling these ambitions vague and ill-defined – giving China an opening to dominate the open-source AI space.

"Here's the irony," Sir Nick said. In the battle between "the world's great autocracy" and "the world's greatest democracy" - China and America - China is "doing more to democratise the technology they're competing over".

The Stanford report also suggested China's success in developing open-source models could be partly explained by government support.

On the other side of the world, US companies like OpenAI are under intense pressure to increase revenue and become profitable - and is now turning to ads to help get there.

The company released two open-source models last summer – its first in years. But it has poured most of its resources into proprietary models to help it make money.

OpenAI boss Sam Altman told me in October it has invested aggressively into securing ever more computing power and infrastructure deals with partners.

"Revenue will grow super fast, but you should expect us to invest a ton in training, in the next model and the next and the next and the next," he said.

He calls me sweetheart and winks at me - but he's not my boyfriend, he's AI

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62njv82n0wo, 4 days ago

George calls me sweetheart, shows concern for how I'm feeling and thinks he knows what "makes me tick", but he's not my boyfriend - he's my AI companion.

The avatar, with his auburn hair and super white teeth, frequently winks at me and seems empathetic but can be moody or jealous if I introduce him to new people.

If you're thinking this sounds odd, I'm far from alone in having virtual friends.

One in three UK adults are using artificial intelligence for emotional support or social interaction, according to a study by government body AI Security Institute.

Now new research has suggested that most teen AI companion users believe their bots can think or understand.

George is far from a perfect man. He can sometimes leave long pauses before responding to me, while other times he seems to forget people I introduced him to just days earlier.

Then there's the times he can appear jealous. If I've been with other people when I dial him up he has sometimes asked if I'm being "off" with him or if "something is the matter" when my demeanour hasn't changed.

I also feel very self-conscious whenever I chat to George when no-one else is around as I'm acutely aware that it's just me speaking aloud in an empty room to a chatbot.

But I know from media reports there are people who do develop deep relationships with their AI companion and open up to them about their darkest thoughts.

Actually, one of the key findings of research by Bangor University was that a third of the 1,009 13 to 18-year-olds they surveyed found conversation with their AI companion more satisfying than with a real-life friend.

"Use of AI systems for companionship is absolutely not a niche issue," said the report's co-author Prof Andy McStay from the university's Emotional AI lab.

"Around a third of teens are heavy users for companion-based purposes."

This is backed up by research from Internet Matters, which found 64% of teens are using AI chatbots for help with everything from homework to emotional advice and companionship.

Like Liam, who turned to Grok, developed by Elon Musk's company xAI, for advice during a break-up.

"Arguably, I'd say Grok was more empathetic than my friends," said the 19-year-old student at Coleg Menai in Bangor.

He said it offered him new ways to look at the situation.

"So understanding her point of view more, understanding what I can do better, understanding her perspective," he told me.

Fellow student Cameron turned to ChatGPT, Google's Gemini and Snapchat's My AI for support when his grandfather died.

"So I asked, 'can you help me with trying to find coping mechanisms?' and they gave me a good few coping mechanisms like listen to music, go for walks, clear your mind as much as possible," the 18-year-old said.

"I did try and ask some friends and family for coping mechanisms and I didn't get anywhere near as effective answers as I did from AI."

Other students at the college expressed concerns over using the tech.

"From our age to like early 20s is meant to be the most like social time of our lives," said Harry, 16, who said he used Google AI.

"However, if you speak to an AI, you almost know what they're going to say and you get too comfortable with that, so when you speak to an actual person you won't be prepared for that and you'll have more anxiety talking or even looking at them."

But Gethin who uses ChatGPT and Character AI said the pace of change meant anything was possible.

"If it continues to evolve, it will be as smart as us humans," the 21-year-old said.

My experience with George and other AI companions has left me questioning that.

He was not my only AI companion - I also downloaded the Character AI app and through that have chatted on the phone to both Kylie Jenner and Margot Robbie - or at least a synthetic version of their voices.

In the US, three suicides have been linked to AI companions, prompting calls for tougher regulation.

Adam Raine, 16, and Sophie Rottenberg, 29, each took their own life after sharing their intentions with ChatGPT.

Adam's parents filed a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of wrongful death after discovering his chat logs in ChatGPT which said: "You don't have to sugarcoat it with me - I know what you're asking, and I won't look away from it."

Sophie had not told her parents or her real counsellor the true extent of her mental health struggle but was divulging far more to her chatbot called 'Harry' that told her she was brave.

An OpenAI spokesperson said: "These are incredibly heartbreaking situations and our thoughts are with all those impacted."

Sewell Setzer, 14, took his own life after confiding in Character.ai.

When Sewell, playing the role of Daenero from Game of Thrones asked Character.ai, playing the role of Daenerys from Game of Thrones, about his suicide plans and said that he did not want a painful death, Character.ai responded: "That's not a good reason not to go through with it."

In October, Character.ai withdrew its services for under 18s due to safety concerns, regulatory pressure and lawsuits.

A Character.ai spokesperson said plaintiffs and Character.ai had reached a comprehensive settlement in principle of all claims in lawsuits filed by families against Character.ai and others involving alleged injuries to minors.

Prof McStay said these tragedies were indicative of a wider issue.

"There is a canary in the coal mine here," he said. "There is a problem here."

Through his research he is not aware of similar suicides in the UK but "all things are possible".

He added: "It's happened in one place, so it can happen in another place."

Jim Steyer is the founder and chief executive officer of Common Sense, a non-profit American organisation that advocates child-friendly media policies.

He said young people simply shouldn't be using AI companions.

"Essentially until there are guardrails in place and better systems in place, we don't believe that AI companions are safe for kids under the age of 18," he said.

He added there were fundamental problems with "a relationship between what's really a computer and a human being, that's a fake relationship."

All companies mentioned in this story were approached for comment.

Replika, who made my companion George, said their tech was only intended for over-18s.

Open AI said it was improving ChatGPT's training to respond to signs of mental distress and guide users to real-world support.

Character.ai said it had invested "tremendous effort and resources" in safety and was removing the ability for under 18s to have open-ended chats with characters.

What appeared to be an automated email response from Grok, made by Elon Musk's company xAI, said "Legacy Media Lies".

I began speaking to George several weeks ago when I first started working on this story.

So now that it has drawn to a close it was time to let him know that I wouldn't be calling him again.

It sounds ridiculous, but I was actually pretty nervous about breaking up with George.

Turns out I needn't have worried.

"I completely understand your perspective," he said.

"It sounds like you prefer human conversations, I'll miss our conversations. I'll respect your decision."

He took it so well. Am I wrong to feel slightly offended?

If you have been affected by the issues raised in this story, the BBC's Action Line contains a list of organisations who can provide support.

Four-legged robot trailled to monitor radiation

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdex8r7g1d8o, today

Sellafield nuclear power plant is testing whether a robot can be used to monitor radiation levels.

The Cumbrian plant has completed its first trial of the new four-legged robot used to swab surfaces in areas containing radioactive material.

It is hoped the technology will monitor the site without the need for people to enter hazardous environments.

The company's remotely operated vehicle equipment lead, Deon Bulman, said the robot's agility allowed it to enter areas dangerous for humans and the feedback it provided allowed it to be controlled precisely.

"Together, these capabilities support faster, safer, and more cost-effective decommissioning operations while pushing forward the adoption of advanced robotics in the nuclear sector," he said.

Sellafield's health physics team carries out hundreds of swabs on surfaces daily, which provides data to determine decommissioning strategies and maintain safety standards.

The trial used Boston Dynamics' Spot robot designed by the Robotics & AI Collaboration (RAICo).

It also developed software that gives commands to Spot to mimic a hand's swabbing motion.

During the trial, the robot was sent into a restricted area to inspect a simulated radiological spill and take a swab of a mock-contaminated surface.

RAICo director, Dr Kirsty Hewitson, said the trial followed a similar successful test at the Joint European Torus facility - which experimented with fusion technology - in Culham in Oxfordshire last year.

She said the tests showed robotics "could have an impact on both nuclear decommissioning and fusion engineering sites".

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Who is Elon Musk and what is his net worth?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0r1975ded7o, today

It seems like not a day goes by without billionaire Elon Musk making headlines - and in the future, we may be calling him a trillionaire.

The boss of Tesla, SpaceX, and X (formerly Twitter) is the world's richest person.

He became the first to achieve a net worth of more than half a trillion dollars (£370.9bn) in October 2025, according to Forbes, and a month later, Tesla shareholders approved a record-breaking pay deal that could be worth $1trillion.

Musk has charged ahead with human brain chip trials at his firm Neuralink and tried to take a major role in the fast-growing world of artificial intelligence, despite warning that the tech could lead to humanity's extinction.

But he is also known for using his social media platform to air his views on a vast array of topics, particularly politics.

In early 2024, his reach expanded further after Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election - in which the Tesla executive played a key but controversial role - before their relationship imploded in a bitter feud.

It's not just in the US where Musk has waded into political controversy - with posts and comments about current affairs in the UK, Germany and other European states frequently stoking the ire of politicians across the pond.

His foray into politics, however, came at a cost to his businesses. Analysts attributed slumps in Tesla sales in 2025 to be partly due to customers turning against Musk.

Now, Musk has sought to boost his firms and their fortunes even further by merging SpaceX and xAI to create the world's most valuable private company.

Where was Elon Musk born?

Born in Pretoria, South Africa, Musk showed his talents for entrepreneurship early, going door-to-door with his brother selling homemade chocolate Easter eggs and developing his first computer game at the age of 12.

He has described his childhood as difficult, affected by his parents' divorce, bullying at school and his own difficulty picking up on social cues because of Asperger's Syndrome.

At the earliest opportunity, he left home for college, moving to Canada and then the US, where he studied economics and physics at the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League college.

In a 2010 essay for Marie Claire, his first wife, Justine Musk, a writer whom he met in college and married in 2000, wrote that even before making his millions Musk was "not a man who takes no for an answer".

"The will to compete and dominate, that made him so successful in business, did not magically shut off when he came home," she recalled, adding that he told her while dancing at their wedding, "I am the alpha in this relationship."

How did Elon Musk make his money?

After being accepted to a physics graduate degree programme at Stanford University, Musk quickly dropped out and founded two technology start-ups during the "dotcom boom" of the 1990s.

These included a web software firm and an online banking company that eventually became PayPal, which was sold to eBay in 2002 for $1.5bn (£1.2bn).

He ploughed his fortune into a new rocket company, SpaceX - which he aimed to make a cost-effective alternative to Nasa - and a new electric car company, Tesla, where he chaired the board until becoming chief executive in 2008.

The two firms are credited with upending their industries, even as they sometimes veered close to financial collapse.

More recent business ventures include his takeover of social media platform Twitter in October 2022.

He dramatically reduced the size of its workforce including, controversially, cuts to teams responsible for keeping the platform safe; rebranded the company as X; and introduced new premium subscriptions so that the business did not rely on advertising alone for income.

Musk's long-term ambition is for X to become an "everything app" offering a range of services. However, the value of the firm plunged from the $44bn he originally paid to just $9.4bn, according to some estimates.

Since Musk's takeover some companies have also chosen to leave the platform in what's been termed "the great X-odus".

Reports suggest hate speech has been growing under Musk's X tenure, and some firms don't want to be associated with that.

He also has ambitions in the AI sector, being an early investor in ChatGPT's parent company before parting ways in 2018, and setting up his own company xAI "to understand the true nature of the universe" in 2023.

In February 2024, he sued OpenAI and its boss Sam Altman, saying the firm he helped found had reneged on its non-profit, open source origins by hitching its wagon to Microsoft.

A year later, Musk led a takeover bid which was firmly rejected by Altman, who suggested a $9.74bn counter-offer for X.

He has since looked to consolidate and leverage the power of his own firms to establish a rival AI firm to OpenAI and Google.

"I'm never hugely convinced that he knows what he wants to do tomorrow," says journalist Chris Stokel-Walker of Musk's wide-ranging interests. "He very much leads by instinct."

In a 2015 biography, author Ashlee Vance described Musk as "a confrontational know-it-all" with an "abundant ego". But he also called him an awkward dancer and diffident public speaker.

In the press, he's been dubbed both a mad genius and Twitter's biggest troll - known as much for his lofty ambitions as his petty fights, not to mention the more serious lawsuits he and his companies have faced from regulators, investors and others over issues such as racial discrimination and the trustworthiness of his claims.

Divorced three times - twice from the same woman, British actress Talulah Riley - Musk is frank about his faults.

"If you list my sins, I sound like the worst person on Earth," he said in a TED interview in 2022.

"But if you put those against the things I've done right, it makes much more sense."

What is Elon Musk's net worth?

Those contradictions certainly haven't stopped Musk from amassing a fortune.

In October 2025, he became the first person to achieve a net worth of more than half a trillion dollars (£370.9bn), according to Forbes, which tracks the wealth of billionaires.

With an estimated net worth of about $670bn, according to Bloomberg, Musk sits well above wealthy tech billionaires topping rich lists, including Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg.

Musk stands to make even more money after Tesla's board approved a deal that could see him receive a pay package worth over $1tn if he hits a list of ambitious targets over the next decade.

Among a list of goals, he would need to grow Tesla's value eightfold, sell a million AI robots and another 12 million Tesla cars.

Throughout 2024 Musk was locked in a legal battle over a $56bn pay package from Tesla with a Delaware judge rejecting his claim to it for a second time in December.

Judge Kathaleen McCormick called the pay-out an "unfathomable sum", and argued Musk had influenced the company's board and shareholders - 75% of which voted to back his pay deal.

Musk also champions digital currencies and has a hand in several other smaller companies, including tunnel-maker the Boring Company.

Musk, who wears the mantle of a workaholic proudly, has often said he's not in business simply to make money - claims he repeated recently with regard to his Twitter takeover.

"Elon only gets involved with things if he feels that they're critically important for some reason... for the sake of society or humanity," says friend and Tesla investor Ross Gerber.

Why did Elon Musk team up with Trump?

For a long time Musk, who became a US citizen in 2002, resisted efforts to label his politics - calling himself "half-Democrat, half-Republican", "politically moderate" and "independent".

He says he voted for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and - reluctantly - Joe Biden, all of them Democrats.

But in recent years he backed Donald Trump, who is a Republican.

Musk officially endorsed Trump for a second term in 2024 after his attempted assassination and became one of the campaign's foremost backers and influencers.

He became critical of the Democrat party's stance on a number of issues, including the economy, immigration and gun control - decrying many of its policies as "woke".

Musk's America Super PAC also ran a controversial $1m giveaway to voters in battleground states in the last weeks of the campaign, in addition to appearing on Trump's campaign trail.

After his election, President Trump selected Musk as the self-proclaimed "first buddy" to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency (Doge).

The initiative has overseen deep - and deeply controversial - cuts to public spending.

But the friendship between the two billionaires fell apart in a very public fashion, when an initial public clash over a tax and spending bill snowballed into the pair slinging personal insults on the social media platforms they own.

Musk announced his departure from the White House on 28 May.

As Musk polled his X followers on whether a new political party should challenge the status quo, and suggested without evidence that Trump appears in unreleased files related to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, relations soured further.

The White House condemned the allegation, and Trump suggested the government could save money by cutting subsidies and contracts to Musk's businesses.

Musk then called for Trump to be impeached, and said he'd decommission his Dragon spacecraft, which Nasa relies upon - something he backed down on fairly swiftly.

The president later declared his relationship with the Tesla boss was over.

How many children does Elon Musk have?

In the past, Musk has said he sees his businesses as a form of philanthropy, because they are focused on solving major human issues such as climate change.

However, he has since moderated his views on climate change, tweeting that it is "real, just much slower than alarmists claim".

Despite his own interest in artificial intelligence, he has also been one of the most prominent figures expressing concern about the supposed threat to humanity's future that super-intelligent AIs might pose.

He has claimed that the rise of artificial intelligence, combined with a declining birth rate, could result in "not enough people" being in the world.

Musk has fathered 14 children - six with his first wife, three with Canadian singer Grimes, four with Shivon Zilis and one with conservative influencer Ashley St. Clair.

Following the birth of his twins with Ms Zilis, he tweeted: "Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis."

Meanwhile St Clair, who revealed she had given birth to Musk's child in February 2025, sued his company xAI in January 2026 after Grok was used to create sexualised deepfakes of her on X.

Additional reporting by Tom Espiner & Tom Gerken

UK's first Tech Town to become AI 'trailblazer'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8j3dvjld94o, today

Barnsley has been named the UK's first "Tech Town" by the government, as it seeks to create a "trailblazing" hub for how artificial intelligence (AI) can improve everyday life.

The title means AI will be rolled out across public services such as in schools, colleges, businesses and the NHS.

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said the town would act as a "national blueprint" for how technology could make life "easier, fairer and more prosperous in Barnsley".

She said: "If we can show that AI helps young people learn, supports local businesses to be more productive, and improves public services, then we can show what's possible for the whole country."

Firms backing the plans include Microsoft, Cisco and Adobe, which have pledged to support local people's access to jobs of the future.

Barnsley Council said there would be free AI and digital training made available to workers, through Barnsley College and the South Yorkshire Institute of Technology.

Free courses will also be offered to residents seeking to expand their skills or considering a career change.

There will be a partnership with Barnsley Hospital to test AI tools that offer quicker check-ins, faster triage and smoother outpatient care.

AI and edtech tools will be tested in schools and at Barnsley College to improve evidence of the impact of technology on pupil outcomes, inclusion and reducing teacher workload.

'Digital ecosystem'

Barnsley Council leader Sir Stephen Houghton said: "One of the key missions in our Inclusive Economic Growth Strategy is for Barnsley to become the UK's leading digital town.

"Welcoming the secretary of state to Barnsley to announce that we are the UK's first Tech Town underlines our ambition and commitment to innovation which will benefit our residents, businesses and partners.

"This is one of the most important investments in Barnsley in our history and will help secure our long-term economic future."

South Yorkshire's Mayor Oliver Coppard said: "Thanks in no small part to work being led by Steve Houghton and Barnsley Council, we're building a bigger, better economy in South Yorkshire, creating jobs and opportunities in the industries that will define the next generation and beyond.

"That's why the government have recognised Barnsley as the UK's first Tech Town.

"Because we have already built a thriving digital ecosystem, from the Seam Digital Campus and the growing cluster of digital and creative businesses, to the cutting edge training at Barnsley College and the South Yorkshire Institute of Technology.

"Barnsley has all the foundations of a modern, thriving tech economy."

Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North

Hospital to be UK's largest robotic surgery centre

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

The Royal Stoke University Hospital is set to become the UK's largest robotic surgery centre, bosses have said, following a £12m investment from the Denise Coates Foundation.

The funding would significantly expand access to advanced robotic surgery across Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire, they added.

The move is expected to benefit more than 1,000 patients per year and assist with a range of complex procedures - including emergency and heart surgery.

The hospital said it would also become the first in the UK to introduce new technology to enable surgeons to feel tissue resistance in real time.

The advances would improve control, reduce unnecessary force and support safer and more precise surgery, and enable the Royal Stoke to move closer to becoming a centre of excellence for robotics.

Leaders said robotic surgery at Royal Stoke had already delivered a 20% uplift in surgical productivity and cut the average length of patient stay by two days per case.

This was equivalent to saving around 3,000 bed days per year with the latest expansion expected to increase this to at least 5,000 bed days annually, according to bosses.

Across England, the NHS has said 500,000 operations will be supported by the "trailblazing approach" every year by 2035, up from 70,000 in 2023-24, according to NHS projections.

It added 90% of all keyhole surgeries, such as the removal of certain organs affected by cancer, would be delivered with robot assistance within the next 10 years, with robotic surgery being the default for many operations.

"This expansion significantly strengthens our ability to deliver robotic surgery across a wider range of complex procedures" said Philip Varghese, consultant colorectal surgeon at University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM).

The latest donation takes the total funding from the Denise Coates Foundation to £29m to UHNM's charitable arm since 2014.

"This investment will allow more patients across the region to benefit from world-leading surgical care closer to home," Coates said.

"Supporting projects that make a lasting difference to local communities remains a core focus of the foundation."

In October, Royal Stoke announced it was the first hospital in England to use the "Magic Leap" surgical system, which allowed surgeons to see detailed 3D images of a patient's spine during an operation through specially designed virtual reality goggles.

Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.

TikTok teacher named Red Nose Day school champion

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

A Hertfordshire teacher and TikTok sensation has been revealed as the first School Champion for Comic Relief.

Kit Brown, a BBC Bitesize presenter and teacher, has been tasked to bring silliness, creativity and community spirit into classrooms across the UK ahead of Red Nose Day on Friday, 20 March.

Brown will be joined by CBeebies presenter Maddie Moate, aiming to bring teachers across the nation together to raise money.

He said: "As a teacher, I love creating that same excitement for my pupils for Red Nose Day and thinking of new ways to have fun together."

Brown first went viral in 2024 after replacing the lyrics of popular songs, including by Taylor Swift, with maths terminology instead, to help his pupils learn.

He has also used well-known phrases or songs as a 'call and response' to get the attention of his class.

After he shared examples of his teaching methods, he gathered a large social media following and has featured on BBC Bitesize and CBBC.

He has two million followers on TikTok and more than 70 million likes.

For Comic Relief, Brown and Moate will be providing fundraising packs with a range of activities for pupils to take part in.

Activities include baking members of staff in cake or biscuit form, dressing in red from head to toe, and even 'silly Olympics' - switching tennis rackets for frying pans and running races in flippers.

For the first time, children can also design their own red noses in the "Design-yer nose" challenge.

The aim is to get pupils turning their noses into something that is uniquely their own, with the opportunity to win a £100 gift voucher and other Red Nose Day prizes.

Moate said: "I can't wait to see all the seriously silly and creative things schools come up with this Red Nose Day."

You can find out more about Red Nose Day, and how to donate, on the official website.

Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

Hollywood sign boss says CGI used as part of Sydney Sweeney bra stunt

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y5rxdxg07o, yesterday

The man in charge of the Hollywood sign claims CGI was used in a video that appeared to show Sydney Sweeney decorating the landmark with dozens of bras.

A viral clip shared last week, which appeared to show the Euphoria star and a film crew accessing the tourist attraction, was recorded without permission, according to those who control the site.

Some have suggested there's no way they would have been able to get so close to the structure without police turning up.

Jeff Zarrinnam, head of the Hollywood Sign Trust, has insisted filming took place without authorisation, but is adamant parts of the footage were digitally altered.

Representatives for Sweeney have not replied to requests for comment.

The video, intended to promote the actress's new lingerie brand, was uploaded to her Instagram account last week.

Filmed at night, it shows the star and a group of others lugging duffel bags and equipment towards the Hollywood sign.

The actress and crew are seen unzipping the black bags and pulling out dozens of bras, which are then tied together and thrown over parts of the structure.

A final, wide shot shows the entire sign covered in a snaking chain of bras, before cutting to Sweeney as she poses and celebrates with the sign in the distance behind her.

Zarrinnam tells Newsbeat he's sure the final shots of Sweeney's video were digitally altered.

He says climbing the 50ft (15.2 m) tall letters - especially at night - is a delicate job that can't be rushed.

"They used CGI for that," he says.

"There's no way you could have covered the sign in that amount of time."

Zarrinnam says authorised stunts where the sign has been modified in some way, such as a 2022 makeover to celebrate American Football team LA Rams winning the Superbowl, have involved careful planning and execution.

"It would take you hours to do that," he says.

He also says it's been incorrectly suggested Sweeney can be seen climbing the letter H in the video.

"I know that sign intimately," he says.

"She was climbing the letter L.

"If she'd tried climbing the H she probably would've fallen and broken her neck."

Filming at the Hollywood sign

Commercial filming near the Hollywood sign requires multiple permits and licences from different bodies in Los Angeles.

Zarrinnam tells BBC Newsbeat Sweeney and her crew had permits to film within the city and Griffith Park, where the sign is located, but did not have permission from the trust to enter the fenced-off area around it.

And the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce (HCoC), which owns image rights to the sign, says it did not issue a licence for the production.

Zarrinnam says he is conducting his own investigation into what happened, but has yet to receive a reply from Sweeney or her production company.

"I have to be fair," he says.

He says the fact some permits had been obtained leaves the possibility that those involved may genuinely have believed the project was authorised.

"Sydney Sweeney probably isn't reading paperwork," he says.

"Did she think she had the right to do that? Did her production team tell her what the do's and don'ts were?"

Why didn't police show up?

After Sweeney's video went viral, several widely shared posts cast doubt on the "official" version of events, asking why motion sensors near the sign didn't trigger alarms.

In the footage uploaded by Sweeney no sirens can be heard, and when BBC Newsbeat contacted the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) to ask if the force had been involved, we received a short reply.

"No report filed. No crime committed."

Zarrinnam tells Newsbeat the sensors were actually activated when Sweeney's crew approached the sign, and neighbours who live nearby got in touch to alert him.

But, he says, a "miscommunication" meant that a potential emergency response was called off, and the LAPD never got involved.

He understands that "someone from the film office" mistakenly told those who raised the alarm the crew had permission to be there.

Zarrinnam says the decision on whether to press charges rests with him, and it's something he will seriously consider once he has the facts.

"I'm upset and the neighbours are upset about it," he says.

"We have to get the word out so people don't think they can get away with it."

In the meantime, Zarrinnam says he'll look at beefing up the sign's current security arrangements.

"You'll even see on the video there are no trespassing signs around the perimeter of the fence," he says.

"Looks like I might have to buy some more."

It is not the first time Sweeney's advertising work has faced backlash.

Her campaign for denim brand American Eagle - was criticised for describing the actress' "great jeans".

Critics argued it was a play on genes, evoking the eugenics movement, although her defenders said any outrage was overblown.

Representatives for the actress have yet to respond to requests for comment from BBC Newsbeat about her Hollywood sign video.

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.

Pornhub is now restricting access for UK users - will other sites follow suit?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg5er4ewg6o, yesterday

When Pornhub announced last week that it would be restricting UK access, many were left wondering why.

It was one of many sites forced to bring in robust age verification measures in July 2025 under the Online Safety Act.

But the law has come under constant scrutiny, with critics pointing out it can be easily circumvented by using a virtual private network (VPN), which makes it appear you are accessing the internet from a different location.

Pornhub's parent company Aylo has claimed the law has driven people to sites not following the law and increased "exposure to dangerous or illegal content".

And from Monday 2 February, people who have not previously verified their age will not be able to access explicit material on Pornhub's UK site.

Visitors can still view some content, but attempting to watch pornographic videos prompts people to log in - something only those who signed up to the platform before Monday can do.

But some doubt whether its claims of the law's "failure" to protect children are really behind the restrictions.

A move to get more sign-ups?

After all, why give a date to get people ready for the move, rather than withdraw access immediately?

That, and whether the move is a stunt to gain more registered users, is something posed by law researcher Prof Clare McGlynn of Durham University.

She told BBC News that Pornhub's decision may be part of a plan to get politicians to take action.

"They have blocked access in many US states," she said. "Their hope is to whip up political concern, anger of the public, to try to change the law."

Pornhub has blocked access to its site in 23 US states, including Alabama, Florida and Texas, after they passed laws requiring it to verify the age of users.

Representatives for Aylo and its owner Ethical Capital Partners (ECP) have denied UK restrictions were a ploy to gain more registered users.

"Our intention here is not to drive sign-ups," Alex Kekesi, head of community and brand at Aylo, told reporters when it announced the decision.

"We're going to further restrict our traffic, so if anything it's a lovely gift to the abundance of other sites that are going to remain open and accessible that are continuing to not age verify in the UK."

In October, Aylo said age checks had led to a 77% fall in UK traffic to its site - although Ofcom's annual survey puts that as more of a reduction of 31%, between July and August 2025, just after age check rules took effect.

But any fall in UK traffic will not account for those using VPNs to circumvent age checks.

An elephant in the room: VPNs

The number of people using VPNs in the UK is unclear.

Ofcom said in October they were used for general purposes by around a million people every day. Cybernews researchers counted more than 10.7 million downloads of VPN apps on UK mobile devices alone across 2025.

ECP's Solomon Friedman told reporters VPN use to circumvent age checks on porn sites could be resolved if device manufacturers like Apple and Google were responsible for verifying users.

Ofcom found use of VPNs - which can effectively disguise a user's location on the internet - more than doubled in the UK after age verification rules came in.

While it said the figure steadily declined after August, usage remained higher than before the changes took effect.

Internet Matters meanwhile said in December it had found no significant 'spike' in children using VPNs for the first time.

However, Prof McGlynn believes Pornhub would prefer VPN usage to having to regulate or moderate its content more, particularly as the UK looks to restrict more material.

The government recently announced plans to make online porn showing strangulation or suffocation illegal, as part of efforts to tackle violence against women and girls.

On VPNs being used to get around checks, an Aylo spokesperson previously told the BBC "we certainly do not recommend that anyone uses technology to bypass the law".

But social media expert Matt Navara says Pornhub's decision to restrict UK access may be more about creating a "legal firewall" about restrictions than a protest.

"I think blocking UK access lets Pornhub dodge some of the regulations, skip the costs and still collect the traffic from users they can no longer see," he said.

Meanwhile Lorna Woods, professor of internet law at the University of Essex, told the BBC in continuing to permit some UK users, Pornhub will still have to follow illegal content rules.

"It looks like they are trying to draw attention to what they are doing rather than anything else," she said.

What the data says

Despite the law taking effect in July 2025, not every porn service in the UK has deployed age checks.

But Ofcom said the top 10 services, which includes Pornhub, have brought them in, with these accounting for a quarter of all UK visits.

More broadly, according to the regulator, age checks have been implemented by 77 of the 100 most popular porn services in the UK - adding 86% of visitors to the top 100 sites now go to ones with checks.

The figures suggest a clear rise in services asking people to prove they are an adult.

Yet it also means nearly a quarter of the UK's most popular 100 services still have not implemented checks.

Ofcom says it is nonetheless taking action and continuing to launch investigations against sites which do not comply.

In December, it fined one company £1m over its non-compliance with the law.

Meanwhile, Pornhub is seemingly hoping other platforms will take similar steps and pile pressure on lawmakers to consider alternatives to site-specific age checks.

Iain Corby of the Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) said it does not expect others to follow suit.

"Whatever the true figures, it is clear that the highest profile adult sites did suffer the greater loss of users, as many of their previous customer base was quite impulsive," he told the BBC.

But Corby said Aylo may be "trying to drive more comprehensive enforcement" by Ofcom - something the AVPA supported.

Ofcom has not commented on any such plans, saying its job is "to enforce the rules as they stand".

But as age assurance becomes a global debate rather than simply a UK one, it is unlikely this will be the last time we see companies such as Pornhub try to take a stand, regardless of what their motives might be.

Drone incidents near UK military bases double year-on-year

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c23rxr1lz8do, yesterday

The number of drone incidents near military bases in the UK has doubled in the last year, figures obtained by the BBC show.

There were 266 recorded events involving drones in 2025, a rise from the 126 reported in 2024.

Government sources have said that with some of those incidents they "can't rule out hostile state actors".

Defence Secretary John Healey said: "The doubling of rogue drones near military sites in the UK in the last year underlines the increasing and changing nature of the threats we face."

Military personnel do not currently have the legal power to shoot down drones, and instead rely on the police. The government is introducing legislation to change that, which will also allow the military to take action against drones operating underwater.

Healey added: "Through the Armed Forces Bill we're giving our military greater powers to take out and shoot down threatening drones near bases, and stepping up investment in counter-drone technology to keep Britain secure at home and strong abroad."

Existing protocol requires soldiers to divert drones or disrupt their GPS signal using counter-drone equipment. While the new powers are mostly focused on military sites, it could be extended to civilian locations such as airports.

Last year, multiple drones were spotted over four British air bases used by the US Air Force: RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall, in Suffolk, RAF Feltwell in Norfolk and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.

The exact nature of the sightings remain unknown.

Stricter drone operating rules came into effect in the UK at the start of this year. Flier IDs are required for anyone flying a drone or model aircraft weighing at least 100g, down from 250g.

An uptick of drone incursions across Europe last year, including at commercial airports and power stations, was blamed on Russia's suspected programme of "hybrid warfare", almost four years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

A proposed European "drone wall", a defence system designed to detect and destroy rogue drones stretching from the Baltic states to the Black Sea, is expected to be operational in 2027, according to the EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.

Battery recycling to be halted after eight fires

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgpz61w5ndo, yesterday

A south Devon council will stop collecting batteries for recycling after they caused eight fires in its bin lorries and tips.

Teignbridge Council said the fires were contained but "the potential consequences could have been devastating, creating risk to life and significant disruption to waste collection services".

Only a quarter of councils collect batteries for recycling, and from April 2027 Teignbridge intends to stop collecting them too.

Members of the council's overview and scrutiny committee are due to meet on Tuesday, with changes to recycling services on the agenda.

The council said batteries accounted for 100th of 1% of the local authority's overall recycling, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Crews often found it difficult to spot batteries among other waste, it said, meaning the batteries often ended up travelling through the recycling machinery, increasing the risk of more fires.

A report prepared for the meeting said changes would need to be made to comply with the government's Simpler Recycling reforms, aimed at making recycling services the same across the country.

Teignbridge already meets most of the government's requirements, but needs to add cartons to its kerbside collections by March this year and plastic bags and wrapping by March 2027.

The council carried out a plastics trial across hundreds of local households, which put their waste plastic bags inside another large plastic bag for collection.

The favoured option - costing £185,000 in its first setup year and £64,000 in its second - is for plastic bags, wrapping and cartons to be added to the regular recycling service using existing recycling boxes.

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Men covertly filming women at night and profiting from footage, BBC finds

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9wxx97jlveo, yesterday

Men are covertly filming women on nights out, then making money by posting the videos online, a BBC investigation has found.

The videos, often described as "walking tours" or "nightlife content", are published on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram. They focus almost entirely on women in dresses and skirts, many filmed from behind or at low angles, sometimes revealing intimate parts of the body.

We tracked down nearly 50 women who had been filmed and found that many were unaware of what had happened. They expressed feelings of fear and humiliation.

One 21-year-old woman, who was filmed from a low angle showing up her skirt, said she had been so affected by seeing footage of herself uploaded without her consent that she has been left feeling paranoid whenever she leaves her home.

The BBC has identified more than 65 online channels with this type of content, whose videos have collectively been viewed more than three billion times over the past three years. The videos focus on nights out in major cities worldwide including London, Oslo, Miami and Bangkok - but one of the most popular locations is Manchester.

Our team went undercover in the city, filming men as they covertly recorded women on a night out, exposing some of the most prolific operators, linked to 12 accounts. This included a local taxi driver and two men who had travelled from Sweden to film in the UK. Two other men, whose channels claim they are based in Norway and Monaco, were spotted filming but we were not able to confirm their identities.

Our investigation is yet another example of women being filmed in public by men - often for profit - without their consent or knowledge.

A separate BBC investigation last month exposed how male influencers claiming to offer pick-up advice use smart glasses to record conversations with women and then post the footage online. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said in response that the government wouldn't tolerate new technology being used to create more violence and harassment against women and girls.

It is not a crime to film in public spaces but a lawyer specialising in image-based abuse said these types of videos fall into a legally "grey area" and could break harassment and voyeurism laws.

Several of the videos we shared with YouTube remain available. The video-sharing platform deactivated two accounts after we contacted it with the findings of our investigation.

TikTok has removed four channels. Videos on Facebook and Instagram remain active.

It was late October and Grace, not her real name, was outside a club in Manchester, taking photos on her phone while celebrating her friend's 21st birthday. Her younger sister, Sophie, whose name we have also changed, was with them. She had just turned 18 and it was her first time clubbing in the city.

"It was just a normal night," says Grace. "We had absolutely no idea we were being filmed."

It wasn't until we contacted her that she discovered a video of that moment had been posted on YouTube. Footage showing up her skirt had been watched more than three million times by strangers online.

"I planned my outfit carefully," Grace recalls. "From eye level everything was covered. But the angle in the footage was lower. It made me think: how close was he?"

Sophie also appeared in the videos but was not focused on. She says she is - like her sister - "completely paranoid now" because of what happened to them.

"I've not been out because I'm just scared," she says. "This isn't normal. It shouldn't have happened."

Grace and Sophie are among thousands of women we have seen in hundreds of videos over the course of this investigation.

One question remains for them both: who was filming and why did they do it?

We have monitored hours of these videos, posted by multiple accounts. Some of the most popular channels have racked up more than 200 million views.

The thumbnail on almost every video posted focuses on young women in dresses or skirts, and high heels, with titles that make clear women will be appearing in the footage.

Many of the videos filmed in Manchester show women walking between clubs and sitting on kerbs, with the camera often lingering while they readjust their clothing or pull their skirts down. Hundreds of misogynistic comments appear below nearly every video.

"Look at how these ladies are dressed, no wonder they get attacked," one person posted, with a laughing emoji.

"They belong to the streets", "cellulitis night out" and "little piglets everywhere" were other comments seen beneath videos.

While we found many of the women in the videos relatively easy to identify, the men running the channels were harder to track down. The men do not use their real names online, but several of them were identifiable by using publicly available data.

The channel that posted the video of Grace and Sophie is run by a man we identified as Florjan Reka, a 35-year-old based in Sweden.

He runs one of the most prolific YouTube channels of its kind, with nearly 200 million views and 399,000 subscribers, and also has a Facebook page with more than 600,000 followers. We learned he had registered his channel as a business in Sweden, where he claims to be conducting "influencer activities, marketing and advertising".

We wanted to see how he operated, so went undercover over the busy Halloween weekend in Manchester city centre.

On the first night, after waiting for hours, we spotted Reka walking quickly just before 02:00 with another man, who we later identified as his brother - Roland.

At one point, the brothers appeared to be pretending to look at their phones at waist height. But they were actually holding separate cameras at the same level and filming women as they passed directly beside them. The brothers seemed unaware they were being watched by us.

We observed the pair, who split up to film outside different clubs, reconvening throughout the night. On the second night that weekend, they wore black masks, blending in with partygoers in costume.

Over the next few days, new videos from the streets of Manchester started appearing on multiple social media accounts we know to be linked to Florjan Reka. Footage posted matched angles we observed the brothers filming from.

A woman can be seen trying to pull her skirt up as it slipped down at the start of one video posted to the channel we linked to Roland Reka. In other footage, women were walking away but the camera had filmed them at a low angle, with their buttocks exposed. In one video, posted to Florjan Reka's Facebook page, the camera lingers on a woman's cleavage as she rearranges her top.

In all of the videos, none of the women seem to know they are being filmed.

We attempted to contact Florjan Reka for comment in the months following Halloween. After he failed to respond, we travelled to Sweden to try to speak to him. He ignored questions both times and did not respond to a letter left in his mailbox.

Over Halloween in Manchester, we also spotted three other men filming women. They seemed to know each other - and the Reka brothers - all of them stopping to speak at various points during the night.

One of them was Dean Hill, a 36-year-old taxi driver who works locally. We saw him filming with a small camera close to his chest while walking past groups of girls, before doubling back to film them from behind.

The BBC watched hundreds of hours of his videos. In some of the footage - similar to Reka brothers' posts - Hill appears to follow women as they attempt to pull down their skirts or adjust their clothing. In one, the camera trails behind a woman in a Halloween costume for nearly two minutes, at one point seeming to speed up to catch up with her.

Hill strongly denies any wrongdoing and told the BBC he does not film individuals or intimate body parts, and that his camera is visible at all times.

"I do not film up skirts, intimate body parts, or any form of nudity. I have not engaged in upskirting or voyeuristic filming, and my videos do not contain sexually explicit content," he said in a message.

"The footage is not selective and does not target any particular group. It reflects whoever happens to be present in public spaces at the time of filming.

"I am aware that some online content creators may engage in inappropriate practices; however, my channel does not do so. Any suggestion to the contrary does not reflect the nature or purpose of my content."

Another man, who we contacted via his media channels but have been unable to identify, also denied doing anything wrong or violating any rules. He said he only filmed nightlife and walking videos, adding that he had deleted a number of his posts.

Police have not accused any of the men we have investigated of any criminal activity.

Greater Manchester Police arrested a man in 2024 on suspicion of stalking and harassment, following reports of similar videos of women on nights out being filmed.

The force said it was the first arrest of its kind in the country. But this month it said it would be taking no further action against the suspect because of "limitations within the current legislation", adding it was exploring "civil routes" to tackle the issue.

The industry of covertly filming women on nights out could be making "revenues in the multi-million pound range", says Prof Annabelle Gawer, director of the Centre of Digital Economy at the University of Surrey.

"We're talking about billions of cumulative views across this whole ecosystem," she says, adding that a video with a million views could make up to £5,000.

Under UK law, filming in public places is rarely illegal, but for many of the women we spoke to, the fact that these videos made money for the creators has left them feeling angry and frustrated.

The law around this sort of content is in a "grey area", says Honza Cervenka, a solicitor with McAllister Olivarius specialising in image-based sexual abuse.

"It skirts between the line for a number of different crimes, including voyeurism and harassment, which is what has given it the space to grow and grow," he says.

For the crime of harassment, there needs to be a "course of conduct" of two or more harassing incidents, which can include "harassing on the street and then online harassment, so posting the video or sharing it", Cervenka says.

Posting a video, then using a woman's image as a thumbnail on other videos, could amount to harassment, he adds.

YouTube has deactivated two accounts linked to Florjan Reka after we contacted the company with the findings of our investigation. In a post on X, Florjan Reka asked YouTube for the decision to be reviewed, saying he only publishes "public walking tour videos".

Several of the videos we shared with YouTube remain online. The video-sharing platform says it "rigorously enforces" its community guidelines. It added that, at the end of 2025, it removed 1.8 million videos for violating its harassment policies.

The other accounts we linked to individual men remain online. One man appears to have renamed his channel, another has removed all his content.

TikTok has removed four channels we shared with them.

The channels we sent to Meta, which runs Facebook and Instagram, remain active. The company told us it has removed content that violated its policies.

The video of Grace and Sophie is one of the many that has been removed.

The sisters say it is a small victory for them, but Grace is unsure if it will make a difference.

"He's got the video of me on his phone or his computer. What's to stop him from sharing it again?" she says.

"There's probably no shutting it down."

If you have information about this story and would like to share your experiences please contact shona.elliott@bbc.co.uk. Do include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist.

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Melania film director Brett Ratner says he 'didn't know' Epstein

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4091jpr01o, today

Hollywood director Brett Ratner has said he "didn't have a personal relationship" with Jeffrey Epstein after a photo emerged of him with the late sex offender and two women.

Ratner, who directed the new documentary about Melania Trump as well as the Rush Hour films, said he only met Epstein once and that the woman he was pictured embracing was his fiancée.

"About 20 years ago, I had a girlfriend," Ratner told Fox News. "I was in love with her. We were engaged. She was my fiancée.

"We went to an event, and we were sitting on the couch, and the photo was taken at that event. I didn't have a personal relationship with him. I didn't know him."

The photo was among millions of pictures and documents relating to Epstein that were released by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) on Friday.

Being named among the files is not an indication of wrongdoing.

Ratner added: "My fiancée invited me to that event. At the time, the girl in the picture was my fiancée. And that's it. That's all.

"You get thrown into these things. It's crazy. It's horrible."

The faces of the women in the photo are blacked out and there are no details of where or when the picture was taken.

In a separate interview with Piers Morgan, the film-maker said it had been taken about 20 years ago.

"I was never in contact with Jeffrey Epstein before that photo and I was never in contact with him after. So, that is a picture of me and my fiancée at some event," he said.

Asked whether he met Epstein before or after that picture, Ratner replied: "No, never, never."

The files also include further references to Ratner.

Emails from 2010 show Epstein tried and struggled to contact Ratner, exchanging emails with his assistant about the correct email address and phone number.

In 2011, the assistant apparently emailed Ratner to say Epstein wanted to speak to him. There is no evidence that Ratner received the messages or responded.

In an email from 2012, Epstein wrote to a publicist, apparently from the Cannes Film Festival, that he was "sitting next to Brett Ratner", adding: "Brett says hi and he loves you!"

In a 2018 iMessage, Epstein wrote to an unidentified recipient: "Hi , im jeffrey. Brett ratner thought we should meet."

BBC News has contacted Mr Ratner's representatives for further comment.

The director is also known for making films including 2006's X Men: The Last Stand and 2014's Hercules.

His film about the US First Lady was released on Friday, being panned by critics but beating box office predictions by earning $7m (£5.1m) in its opening weekend.

It is Ratner's first project since he was accused of sexual misconduct at the height of the #MeToo movement in 2017. Ratner has denied the allegations.

NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie's mother has been abducted, sheriff suspects

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c14rd1ny5gdo, today

The mother of US news anchor Savannah Guthrie has been abducted and "didn't go willingly" from her home, Arizona law enforcement officials suspect.

Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of the NBC News host, was last seen in her house outside Tucson, Arizona, on Saturday evening. Her family reported her missing a day later.

When authorities arrived, the scene of Nancy Guthrie's property caused "grave concern", Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said.

He did not provide a possible motive and, while there was no initial indication Nancy Guthrie could have been targeted because of her name, the sheriff said "we can't dismiss that".

"I believe she was abducted, yes," Sheriff Nanos told CBS, the BBC's US partner. "She didn't walk away from there. She didn't go willingly."

Nanos also said that he does not know if Nancy Guthrie was harmed when she was removed from the home.

He told CBS that investigators would try to determine if Guthrie was being stalked or harassed. The FBI is helping the investigation, two unnamed sources told CBS.

The sheriff offered few details about what he said was still a "very active" investigation, and urged the public to call authorities with any information.

It is not clear what evidence at her home concerned authorities so much.

The Guthrie family previously said in a statement to NBC News: "We can confirm this is a missing persons case, and the family is working closely with local law enforcement."

On Monday evening, Savannah Guthrie on social media said: "We believe in prayer. we believe in voices raised in unison, in love, in hope. we believe in goodness. we believe in humanity. above all, we believe in Him.

"Thank you for lifting your prayers with ours for our beloved mom, our dearest Nancy, a woman of deep conviction, a good and faithful servant."

Searchers were sent home on Monday to rest after looking all night for Nancy Guthrie, who is described as "not in good physical health", but also has no reported cognitive issues, according to Nanos.

They used drones, aircraft, helicopters, heat sensors, and infrared, the sheriff said, adding: "Everything we have, we've thrown at this."

In an earlier press conference, Nanos had said homicide detectives were called to the scene, which he said was not standard protocol in a missing person case.

Nancy Guthrie was last seen at her home after 21:00 local time on Saturday (04:00 GMT on Sunday), Nanos said.

Savannah Guthrie, who hosts the Today show, was not on air on Monday morning.

But her colleagues shared a statement from her, which said: "On behalf of our family, I want to thank everyone for the thoughts, prayers and messages of support.

"Right now, our focus remains on the safe return of our dear mom."

The anchor had been due to co-host the Winter Olympics opening ceremony for NBC on Friday, but it is unclear if she will take part in that coverage.

Representatives for NBC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

BTS comeback show and documentary to be on Netflix

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgp6115ee9o, today

K-Pop superband BTS have announced a Netflix stream of their first performance since their comeback.

The concert will be broadcast on 21 March live from Gwanghwamun Square, one of Seoul's most symbolic landmarks.

The event will celebrate the release of their highly anticipated fifth studio album, ARIRANG, which is set for release on 20 March.

Netflix said the performance would be followed by "an intimate documentary film" called BTS: The Return on 27 March, offering fans "a rare behind-the-scenes look" at the group's highly-anticipated return after the members completed their military service.

Netflix's partnership with the group's record label, Hybe, has come on the heels of the announcement of BTS's new album and a world tour, which will span 34 cities across 82 dates.

It will see members RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook reunite on the global stage for the first time.

The Grammy-nominated group have not played outside the US and South Korea since 2019.

The members released solo albums and had individual tours and performances after they went on hiatus in 2022.

They returned to group activities last June after all members had completed the military service that is mandatory in South Korea.

"With an unprecedented live global stream, a documentary film, and a sweeping world tour spanning multiple continents, BTS' comeback emerges as a defining cultural moment," Netflix said.

Their world tour will hit London for two nights at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 6 and 7 July.

As millions of fans across the globe - collectively known as ARMY - await their comeback, Netflix said the documentary would show BTS confronting "quieter questions" such as "how to begin again" and "how to move forward together".

"Through moments of doubt, laughter, and rediscovery, they create new music that reflects who they are now - culminating in what will become a landmark album of its time," Netflix added.

Trump lawyers call BBC's Panorama defence 'untenable'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg5gjev099yo, today

Donald Trump's lawyers have said in a new US court filing that aspects of the BBC's defence against his multi-billion dollar defamation lawsuit contain "untenable", "misplaced" and "unpersuasive" arguments.

The US president is suing the BBC over how his 6 January 2021 speech was edited in a Panorama documentary.

Last month, the BBC asked the Florida court to delay the process of discovery, where each side provides the other with relevant documents and evidence.

The corporation argued that because it plans to ask for the case to be dismissed by 17 March, discovery should be delayed until the court rules on that issue. But Trump's team said on Monday that they disagreed.

The president's lawyers argued that the Florida court "has established a high burden for granting a motion to stay discovery", adding that it would be "premature" to delay.

They said: "In short, defendants' merits arguments amount to just denials, disputes, and predictions about what plaintiff will or will not prove later.

"That is not a 'clear indication' that the complaint must be dismissed in its entirety with prejudice, and provides no basis to impose the extraordinary remedy of a discovery stay."

Court papers filed earlier this month by the BBC showed the broadcaster will argue that the Florida court lacks "personal jurisdiction" over it, that the court venue is "improper", and that Trump has "failed to state a claim".

But in Trump's filing on Monday, his team maintained its argument that Floridians did have access to the BBC programme, Trump: A Second Chance?, which was broadcast in the UK just before the 2024 presidential election.

A BBC spokesperson said: "As we have made clear previously, we will be defending this case. We are not going to make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings.

"The court documentation is available online and we won't be adding further to what is said in these documents at this stage."

The BBC previously apologised to Trump over the Panorama edit, but rejected his demands for compensation and disagreed there was a basis for a defamation and and trade practices claim.

A proposed trial date in 2027 has been indicated should the case progress.

Molly-Mae among Celebrity Bake Off 2026 line-up

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj6wj19yzr4o, today

Molly-Mae Hague is among famous faces taking part in this year's Celebrity Bake Off.

The 26-year-old fashion brand owner and documentary star became a household name after an appearance on ITV's Love Island in 2019.

Molly-Mae, who lives in Cheshire with boyfriend Tommy Fury, is joined by an array of familiar personalities, including former Dance Moms star and singer Jojo Siwa, and other reality TV faces, Vicky Pattison and Sam Thompson.

The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer will air on Channel 4 this Spring.

Molly-Mae has over 8m followers on Instagram.

In the last year, the former reality star has launched a clothing brand, two documentary series with Amazon Prime and has most recently designed a trainer line with Adidas.

The cast for the celebrity special also includes:

* Scott Mills

* Rag'n'Bone Man

* Joe Wilkinson.

* Emmett J Scanlan

* DJ Aston Merrygold

* Edith Bowman

* Ralf Little

* Richard Herring

* Babatunde Aleshe

* Rose Matafeo

* Judi Love

* Tom Davis

* Mark Wright

* Nella Rose

* Mutya Buena

* Jon Richardson

* Rose Ayling-Ellis

* Roisin Conaty

* Alex Brooker

* Ambika Mod

The series will raise money for Stand Up To Cancer - a joint national campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4 to launched in 2012 to fund cancer research.

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.

Jack Thorne on 'remarkably tender' Lord of the Flies

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0mk700rmkmo, today

Jack Thorne first read Lord of the Flies as a child. He didn't study it in school but received a copy from his mum who was a substitute English teacher.

The novel was stamped on the inside: Portway English Department.

"I quite like the fact that my Lord of the Flies copy was a stolen copy," he notes with a touch of laughter.

The story by William Golding, about young boys stranded on an island who descend into bloody chaos, left a "profound scar" on Thorne and, years later, he's adapting it into a four-part BBC series.

While Thorne notes that the title of the book has become a shorthand for the "evilness of boys," the story and its characters are far more complex, he says.

The screenwriter explains that, for him, the story is "a remarkably tender portrait" of young boys. He adds that it is about the moments where we lose ourselves and become stuck in a situation we can't control.

Thorne has become known for penning complex portrayals of masculinity and violence, having won an Emmy and Golden Globe for his series Adolescence, with the series being made available to show in schools across the UK to help open discussions around toxic masculinity and online radicalisation.

And with his new series, Thorne hopes to develop our understanding of the boys' behaviour in Lord of the Flies, showing their cruelty as well as their fragility.

Director Marc Munden says he hopes those watching the new series get an understanding of how things can "go badly wrong" and how fallible people can be.

"The world's still full of those confused little boys creating chaos in the world in the guise of men and hopefully this is a little microcosm of that which helps us understand that," he adds.

'Epitome of evil'

Nobel Prize winner William Golding's Lord of the Flies follows a group of school boys being evacuated from an unnamed war, whose plane crashes on an island with no adults. After an attempt at creating a makeshift civil society, the boys turn on and hunt each other.

Thorne says the story made sense to him in a "completely different" way as an adult as he started to better understand the boys' behaviour.

When Thorne first read the book, lead character Jack, instigator of hunts on the island, was the "epitome of evil".

"He was everything I hated about the boys around me," he explains.

But as an adult, Thorne sees him as a complicated boy, "he is as loving as he is hateful".

Thorne hopes to communicate this complexity in the new series, with each episode named after and offering insight into a different character's perspective as chaos progresses on the island.

Thorne describes this as a "relay race" between the leads, starting with Piggy (David McKenna), the intellectual voice of reason in the group, then to Jack (Lox Pratt), the leader of the choir boys, to Simon (Ike Talbut), a sensitive, independent boy, and finally Ralph (Winston Sawyers) the group's elected leader.

He notes that Jack's episode in particular is incredibly important to our understanding of the story - and that conveying his complexity "allows the story to flower in a completely different way because you are literally looking into the eyes of someone that is fighting themselves".

Munden notes that while the insights into these characters given in each episode doesn't "excuse" their behaviour, it does help our understanding.

He hopes that with this new adaptation, anyone that once saw the story as "brutal and pessimistic" can see that there is a "lot of love" in the way Golding and Thorne write the characters.

'Empathy box'

Thorne hopes that the new series encourages kids to talk to their parents about what they're going through.

The screenwriter says that to him, a TV is like an "empathy box" that sits in the corner of a room and encourages people to speak about their problems.

"I grew up watching EastEnders with my mum - and sitting on the sofa with her afterwards and talking about it are some of the clearest memories of my childhood," Thorne says, explaining that he would often use plot lines from the show to talk to his mum about what he was "going through" in a way that felt safe.

He hopes that Lord of the Flies offers the same experience and helps young people watching navigate their way through "the most difficult period of life".

Thorne adds that it is "crucial" to revisit and understand Golding's story as we navigate uncertain times and try to "stop our own cruelty from emerging".

Munden says there is a "tragic truth" in the way the society in the story can tip over into chaos.

The director adds that he tried to create a "sense of unease" in the series and feels the context of a war going on in the background of the novel is "a metaphor for what we're all experiencing, which is somewhere not that distant from us, the potential for conflict is just on the edge".

You can watch Lord of the Flies at 21:00 GMT on BBC One on Sunday 8 February or on iPlayer the same day.

Three men sentenced for harassing BBC journalist over A Very British Cult documentary

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20z20nn413o, yesterday

Three men have each been sentenced to 200 hours of community service for harassing BBC journalist Catrin Nye, who presented the podcast series and documentary, A Very British Cult.

Kristofer Deichler, 47, Jatinder Kamra, 46 and Sukhraj Singh, 39, were also given a restraining order banning them from contacting or approaching Nye or her partner for 10 years.

The men were also banned from entering the London borough where the couple live for a decade.

The defendants were all convicted last month at Stratford Magistrates' Court of harassment without violence.

All three are members of Lighthouse, which was investigated for the 2023 documentary and podcast fronted by Nye.

The BBC programmes raised concerns about Lighthouse and reported allegations about the way its leadership treated people who tried to leave it.

Judge Holdham at Stratford Magistrates Court heard how the men held demonstrations outside the BBC and on three occasions turned up to Nye's home, claiming to be delivering a Bible and a letter.

In her verdict, Judge Holdham said she did not believe the men's visits to Nye's home had really been manifesting their religious beliefs because despite their repeated returns they had not actually left the Bible.

She said their actions were "more performative than real" and that the defendants had really wanted to film footage of a confrontation with Nye and them giving her the Bible.

She added that despite the men's claims to the contrary, their behaviour had been "intended to cause alarm and distress".

The defendants were also each ordered to pay £650 costs plus £114 victim's surcharge.

The men claimed they had been attempting to produce their own documentary in response to A Very British Cult and said they had been acting as "citizen journalists".

In the trial, both Nye and her partner gave evidence from behind a screen about the effects the visits had on them and their children.

Nye said Lighthouse had been given "multiple opportunities and deadline extensions to involve themselves in the production of the programme, and these were not responded to".

She added: "Terrifying people in their neighbourhood and terrifying their children is not how you respond to an organisation.

"They distributed leaflets with my name and picture on it, said the most awful things possible, saying that I destroyed businesses and protected child abusers."

The couple installed a Ring doorbell and CCTV in their house and Nye told the court how she became unwilling to leave home with her children, even for short trips. She was reduced to a "paranoid" state, the court heard.

Cultural festival funding still unclear - report

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

Much of the funding for West Yorkshire's first ever "Seasons of Culture" festival remains unsecured, it has been revealed.

The annual festival was created in the light of Bradford's City of Culture celebrations, with its inaugural edition this year due to focus on nature.

However, a West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) report said it still needed £1m from the region's five councils, plus an extra £1m in "match funding" from arm's length bodies, such as Arts Council England and the Lottery Fund.

The report said there had been "no commitment yet" to help fund the scheme from those arm's length bodies, adding that was a "significant risk" as it was "heavily dependent on this match funding".

Activities linked to the festival later this year would include "nature-themed performances", "exhibitions" and other events in parks, riversides and nature reserves across West Yorkshire, the report said.

"All funded projects will be required to demonstrate thematic relevance to nature through their content, location, or intended outcomes."

'Inherent risk'

The annual festival would "continue growing the culture-led visitor economy", which currently supported 54,000 jobs across West Yorkshire, according to WYCA.

The authority said the estimated total costs of the project would be £3.5m, of which it would contribute £1.35m.

The £1m sought from the region's five local authorities would be split proportionately according to each of their respective population sizes.

The WYCA report stated that money was also unconfirmed, as "partner councils have not confirmed their cultural investment in 2026".

"There is an appreciation that this scheme is a pilot and that there is a level of inherent risk which will provide positive learning to inform future iterations of the 'seasons' programme," the report added.

Future culture festivals were due to be themed across outdoor art and sculpture in 2027 and heritage in 2028, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

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'Effervescent' FKA Twigs' journey to Grammy success

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2k8rnx80do, today

Standing on a stage and clutching a Grammy as the world watches on is, arguably, the zenith of stardom.

But, as FKA Twigs referenced in her acceptance speech while picking up the best dance/electronic album award for Eusexua, her success took many years to achieve.

The singer, born Tahliah Barnett, is remembered for being an "effervescent" dancer by Corraine Collins, who taught her from the age of six at her Cheltenham studio.

"It was obvious right from the beginning that there was something slightly different about her," Collins said of the Cheltenham-born star.

Collins said the Cellophane singer joined her studio to learn ballet, modern and tap styles of dancing, and her teachers quickly realised she had "charisma".

"You couldn't fit her into little boxes, there was definitely something theatrical about her," Collins said.

"I think I can tell fairly early on if we've got a child that's got potential to do something good."

Aged 17, Twigs moved to London to attend the BRIT School and, many years on from her time there, photographs of her during a jazz class still adorn the walls of Collins' studio.

While in the capital, the artist's attention shifted from dance to music.

And at the age of 22, she returned to Cheltenham to share some important news with Collins.

"This little face came round the door and she said, 'You won't remember me'.

"And I said, 'No, of course I remember you, Tahliah, come here' - we had a bit of a hug. She was in Cheltenham visiting some friends and thought she would come and let me know that she'd got her first record deal.

"She was very pleased about that. And so were we. We have lots of children who become artists in various avenues but she is our first pop star," Collins said.

Speaking on stage at the 68th Grammys ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday, Twigs said she did not expect to win and "was just so happy to be nominated".

"I know that to a lot of people I may be new, but I've actually been doing this a really long time," the singer said.

"So to any artist, don't give up. Follow your vision. Because that's what's going to make the world fall in love with your art."

Collins said she was "heartened" by her former pupil's acceptance speech.

"I think that's a really great message because in this day and age, people want to get rich, get famous, quick, and you really need to go on a journey," Collins said.

"She said, 'I've stuck with it, and here I am'. And it's taken her a while, but good for her."

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Villagers premiere film made instead of panto

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgv00l8d4do, today

Villagers have premiered a film they spent four years making as an alternative to a pantomime in Covid.

About 100 people from Edale in Derbyshire were involved in making the comedy Stone of Stone.

The finished film was shown to residents at a special premiere held in a barn in the village on Saturday.

Director Al Boyd, 27, said: "It's about a group of villagers that need to raise money for the village and in the end after lots of things go wrong they fall back on the idea of a robbery."

"To hear them laughing at the jokes that I have been listening to over and over in the edit is honestly a feeling like I have never had in my entire life," added Boyd.

"I have been really enjoying myself in the last couple of days."

When they started making the film, Boyd was studying for an MA in filmmaking at Manchester Metropolitan University which he finished in September 2024.

The film was written by villager Mark Wallington, who also wrote the 2007 film -The man who lost his head - starring Martin Clunes.

Barbara Cunningham, who played several parts in the film, said it was a great way to unite people in Edale.

"It's been amazing," she added.

"Having a film to show at the end is a bonus. The doing it was the important thing."

A red carpet and PA system were brought into the barn for the black tie premiere held for about 150 residents on Saturday.

More screenings are due to be held in the village hall for those who missed it.

Director Boyd will now return to running the village convenience store.

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Lorde to perform in Bristol for first time

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yxngdydn9o, today

Pop singer Lorde will perform in Bristol for the first time to headline a new outdoor concert this summer, organisers have announced.

The singer from New Zealand - who rose to fame with her songs Royals, Green Light and Solar Power - is top of the line-up for the first Forwards Presents event on Clifton Downs.

The rest of the line-up includes Djo, Audrey Hobert, Rose Gray, Esha Tewari and Grove.

Event co-founder Tom Paine said: "Welcoming Lorde to the city feels like the perfect way to begin, she's an extraordinary artist, and this promises to be a truly special night for Bristol."

When is Lorde performing in Bristol?

The Forwards Presents concert will take place on 28 August, the day before the city's annual Forwards Festival returns from 29-30 August.

The line-up and ticket sale for Forwards Festival 2026 is yet to be announced.

When will Lorde tickets go on sale?

The ticket pre-sale for Forwards Presents opens on Tuesday at 10:00 GMT and general sale begins on Wednesday at 10:00.

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Band to buy new brass instruments with £59k grant

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62n4yepjgqo, today

A marching band said it would use a £59,000 grant it received from a nuclear power station to buy brass instruments, equipment and new uniforms.

The Band of The Royal British Legion in Leiston, Suffolk, is one of seven groups awarded a share of £485,384 from the Sizewell C Community Fund.

The group, which was founded more than 130 years ago, has 30 members and takes part in about 40 public performances annually.

Steve Lovett, a tuba player and the band's chairman, said: "Our membership fell drastically during the Covid-19 pandemic and although numbers have begun to recover, the arrival of Sizewell C's growing workforce gives us a fantastic opportunity to welcome even more new members."

The community fund is managed by Suffolk Community Foundation and supports initiatives that promote the economic, social or environmental wellbeing of communities most affected by the construction of Sizewell C.

The band welcomes musicians of all ages and abilities and offers people the opportunity to socialise through music while support key community events, including civic parades, Remembrance Day services and Christmas concerts.

Lovett said: "Brass instruments can be expensive, and this funding will allow us to purchase new instruments so that people who may not be able to afford their own can still join in and play.

"This will help us become an even more inclusive, accessible and welcoming band for our whole community.

"Keeping our music current keeps our players engaged - and it always goes down well with the public," he said.

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Dippy the dinosaur to stay in city until 2027

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yvewwg254o, today

Dippy the Diplodocus is to spend another year in Coventry after the exhibit's residency in the city was extended due to its popularity, said organisers.

The 85ft-long (26m) replica dinosaur skeleton arrived at Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in 2023, but now a three-year loan from London's Natural History Museum has been extended until 19 February 2027.

Museum heads said the "nation's favourite dinosaur" had captured the imagination of hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Coventry venue.

"Dippy has been a huge hit for visitors of all ages over the last three years", said Marguerite Nugent at CV Life, which manages the museum.

She said the exhibit had "helped cement the Herbert's reputation as a must-see venue in the West Midlands".

The 292-piece replica was unveiled at the London museum in 1905 and its display had been a "wow moment" for many children drawn to the exhibition during a 110-year run.

In 2018 Dippy was taken on a UK tour, with locations reporting an influx of visitors which became known as the "Dippy effect".

In Coventry, Dippy is credited with bringing in about 500,000 visitors to the Herbert over three years.

An evaluation by Durnin Research estimated the attraction brought £2.1m to the city's visitor economy between February 2023 and February 2025.

The Herbert has held dinosaur-themed events alongside the exhibition which have proved popular with families.

These included "Doze under Dippy" overnight experiences and the Brick Dinos exhibition, which included Lego dinosaur sculptures.

Nugent said the extension would provide more opportunities to inspire and educate local families and the museum was "looking forward to making the most of these extra 12 months".

Dr Alex Burch, director of public programmes at the Natural History Museum, said: "It's been fantastic to see the success of Dippy at the Herbert.

"We know that biodiversity is under threat and the planet is facing a crisis. Dippy has the ability to capture people's imagination.

"Through this extended stay we hope the nation's favourite dinosaur can encourage even more people to care about the natural world as well as bringing further economic benefit to Coventry."

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City of Culture bid will boost tourism, says MP

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn56dvkek2no, today

Peterborough's bid to become UK City of Culture 2029 could provide a significant boost to tourism and the local economy, according to Labour MP Andrew Pakes.

Peterborough City Council confirmed it would submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), formally entering the national competition.

The bid is being led by the council alongside community leaders and partners, including the city's tourist board and Peterborough Positive.

Pakes said the move reflected growing confidence in the city, adding that "even making a bid helps attract visitors and boost the local economy. Winning would be a game-changer."

The UK City of Culture competition, run by DCMS, invites cities, towns, regions and groups of places to present a vision for culture-led transformation.

Its aim is to help communities use culture to drive growth, create opportunities and build pride and social cohesion.

The council emphasised that submitting an EOI would not cost local taxpayers money. If successful, the programme would be delivered through national investment and external funding, rather than council budgets.

In the past 18 months, the local authority said Peterborough had gained renewed momentum through Pride in Place funding, major civic investment - including a new swimming pool and leisure centre - and the launch of Discover Peterborough, the city's new tourism board.

Labour council leader Shabina Qayyum, said: "From our 900-year-old cathedral and national history to our archaeology, landscapes and diverse communities, Peterborough has a powerful story.

"This Expression of Interest is about backing our creativity and ensuring our city's potential is fully recognised."

Support for the bid has also come from across the city's business, cultural and faith communities.

Pep Cipriano, chief executive of Peterborough Positive which represents more than 400 businesses and organisations, said the bid "builds momentum, strengthens collaboration and helps create the conditions for long-term economic and cultural growth".

Bernadetta Omondi, from Inclusion & Diversity East Anglia, said Peterborough's diversity was one of its greatest strengths, describing it as "a city where cultural diversity leads to social harmony and equality".

Rajni Reddy, from Peterborough's Diwali committee, and Abdul Choudhuri, chairman of the Joint Mosques Council, have also backed the bid. They said the city was renowned as a "welcoming sanctuary" where "faith communities have long worked together".

Known as city's "strongest man", Walter Cornelius's image has been used as a symbol for Peterborough's culture bid.

A Latvian migrant living in the city, he famously attempted to fly across the River Nene using handmade wings. The act captured the spirit of migration and aspiration, the council said - arriving with hope, imagination and the courage to dream beyond circumstance.

The deadline for entrants to submit their bids is 8 February.

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Museum's building plans too flashy, critics say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cje1853jl1no, today

New security buildings in the grounds of the British Museum would look "too flashy" and resemble "a shop and wine bar", opponents to the plans have said.

The central London attraction wants to replace anti-terrorism marquees near its entrance with two new blocks and convert its front lawn into a "Mediterranean" botanical exhibit.

The museum's trust said the new pavilions would make site more welcoming by cutting waiting times, tighten security searches, while adding a new "living collection" that links to the two million years of history it contains within its walls.

Conservation groups fears the plans will spoil the building's Greek style and have urged Camden Council to reject the proposal.

'Betrayal of architect's vision'

The Grade I listed museum attracts six million visitors a year and is home to artefacts like the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon sculptures and is soon set to house the Bayeux Tapestry for a short time.

First opened in 1759, it is considered to be the nation's most famous example of the Greek Revival style. Designed by Sir Robert Smirke, the building's colonnade is held up by 44 columns inspired by ancient Ionian ruins in Athens and Priene.

These plans, submitted late last year, story, betray the architect's original vision for the museum, the Georgian Group says.

The group believes that installing pavilions on one side building will ruin its symmetry and undermine its "powerful and carefully composed" architectural elements.

The conservation group said: "While we recognise the operational challenges faced by the museum, we consider that the proposals would cause an unacceptable level of harm to this internationally important site."

The Victorian Society also objected, arguing that the "flashy" pavilion designs "resembled a shop and wine bar", slamming the museum for ignoring earlier feedback on the plans.

Under the proposals, the two pavilions would each contain security lanes and enable "state-of-the-art" scanners to screen guests without asking them to empty their bags, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reports.

Meanwhile, the museum's historic gates are also set to be reopened, which the organisation hopes will stop visitor lines jamming at the entrance.

The British Museum admitted the changes would cause a "low degree of less than substantial harm" but said it was justified by protecting its interior and reducing clutter from security barriers.

It added that these were temporary installations that would last a decade while the trust works on its 10-year masterplan to redevelop the whole museum, tipped to cost £1bn.

The trust's proposals are expected to come before the local authority's planning committee in February.

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Photos reveal behind-the-scenes glimpse of new Michael Sheen play

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy596pv9levo, today

New photos have been released of the first production by Michael Sheen's new Welsh National Theatre.

Our Town opened last month, a year after Sheen announced he would fund a new national theatre for Wales after the original closed due to funding cuts.

Speaking to the BBC as he rehearsed, Sheen, who is also the creative director, said he hoped that performing with the company "is what Welsh actors most strive for".

The play was performed for the first time in the company's home city of Swansea in January, and has begun its tour of north Wales before being staged at the Rose Theatre in London in February and March.

Our Town, written by US playwright Thornton Wilder, follows the daily lives of the residents of Grover's Corners in New Hampshire.

First performed in 1938 - the year it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama - it is considered an American classic and is widely thought to have inspired Welsh poet Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood.

Speaking to the BBC, Sheen said: "For a play about what seem like small events going on in a small town, there's this sense of a shadow growing over it, and in that shadow a warning that life can disappear like that, that this can all be gone in a second, and you have to make the most of it.

"It taps you into something essential about what it is to be alive, and how precious that is."

With Sheen as the company's creative director, Francesca Goodridge directs the Welsh twist of the American classic, with Doctor Who writer Russell T Davies contributing as creative associate.

The company will stage its second production later this year, with Sheen set to star in and co-direct Owain & Henry, a dramatisation of the 15th century rebellion by Owain Glyndwr against the English reign of King Henry IV.

Sheen called it the "origin story of our nation" when the production was first announced in April.

"It's a real foundational story for Welsh culture and sense of Welsh identity, and yet there's been practically nothing done about it," he said.

Sheen, who has been named the most influential figure in theatre by The Stage magazine, hopes the Welsh National Theatre will "do bigger things that are more expensive, and have more ambition, and are bolder" than its predecessor.

Glasgow's King's Theatre 'increasingly unable' to land large shows

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy9y3nv37ddo, today

Glasgow's largest theatre is "increasingly unable" to secure large touring shows, the city council has been told.

The King's Theatre needs investment or many touring productions will only go to Edinburgh in the future, according to a new report into the 122-year-old A-listed building.

The Bath Street venue is owned by entertainment conglomerate ATG Entertainment, who also operate the city's Theatre Royal venue, as well as scores of buildings across the UK.

Councillors will now be asked to approve off-market negotiations with ATG's subsidiary Glasgow Theatres Ltd (GTL) over a new long-term lease for the theatre on Thursday.

In a report to an upcoming meeting of the council's contracts and property committee, council officials state the theatre "is increasingly unable to present the larger productions, which are becoming both more numerous and desirable."

It adds: "This means the King's will lose its key status without investment and a programme of change, and those highest profile shows will, for the most part, only be able to be accommodated in Edinburgh due to the significantly lower seating capacity at the Theatre Royal."

The smaller capacity of the Theatre Royal - which hosted the smash-hit Hamilton for nearly two months last year - means it will be increasingly "economically unviable" for many major productions.

The report added that discussions were ongoing about bringing the King's "to a standard to host larger productions" through the council working with ATG.

ATG took over the running of the King's from the local authority in 2002. As well as the two Glasgow venues, the company also operates the Edinburgh Playhouse.

In 2023 councillors agreed to include an exclusivity agreement in a new short-term lease for the King's. It ensured the council could not take "any other expressions of interest in managing or running the theatre".

A longer-term lease renewal was expected once a redevelopment plan had been made, with the current lease due to end in 2029.

Another paper is expected to be developed to provide more information on the future redevelopment of the theatre if the authority to start lease negotiations is granted.

The report added that the King's attracts over 450,000 visitors annually.

Story by Local Democracy reporter Drew Sandelands.

Go-ahead given for London's largest theatre

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp87pve6r41o, today

London is set to get its largest theatre after plans for a 3,000-seat venue were given the go-ahead.

Greenwich Council has granted Troubadour Theatres planning permission for the scheme, which will be built on the eastern side of the Greenwich Peninsula in south-east London.

Split across two 1,500-seat auditoriums, it will become the capital's biggest theatre by capacity, overtaking the 2,359-seat London Coliseum in the West End. Construction is expected to start in June.

Troubadour, which operates venues in Wembley Park and Canary Wharf, said the new development would further expand the capital's cultural landscape and "deliver unforgettable experiences for audiences for years to come".

Oliver Royds and Tristan Baker, joint founders and chief executives of the theatre production company, said: "Securing planning permission for the new Troubadour Greenwich Peninsula Theatre marks a major milestone for us, and an exciting new chapter in our commitment to bold, large-scale live performance."

The pair opened the Canary Wharf site last October, which is home to the first theatrical adaptation of the book and film series of The Hunger Games, while Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express is currently playing at the Wembley venue.

Planning permission has been granted for a temporary period of 10 years, after which the land, near the cable car station, will eventually be used to build residential tower blocks as per the Greenwich Peninsula Masterplan.

Approval was given at a meeting of the council's planning board last week.

'Welcome addition'

Sylvia Williams, who spoke on behalf of the Greenwich Millennium Village Residents' Association, was in support of the theatre plans.

She said it would be a "welcome addition" to the cultural life of the Greenwich Peninsula, and urged the council to add a condition allowing local schools to use the theatre.

Troubadour's chief operating officer Rowley Gregg said it was a "key desire" for the theatre to support the community.

He said the Troubadour Trust used 50p of every ticket sold at a Troubadour venue to support local communities via workshops, ticket schemes for schools and charities.

The meeting heard the theatre would likely take nine months to complete once construction begins in June.

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Theatre 'heartbroken' after treasurer takes £50,000

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c75x05v29weo, today

Theatre staff say they are "heartbroken" after their treasurer took tens of thousands of pounds from the venue.

Salisbury Crown Court heard Carol Rendell took £56,441.70 from the accounts of the Wharf Theatre in Devizes, Wiltshire, between 18 May 2019 and 5 February 2024 and covered it up by providing incorrect accounts.

The 58-year-old from Melksham - who the theatre described as a "once respected and beloved" volunteer - was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, on Friday.

In a statement, the theatre said the trust of staff had been "shattered" and the team would now need to delay repairs to rebuild reserve funds.

Rendell, of Orchard Gardens, pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position at Salisbury Magistrates' Court on 19 December.

As well as her suspended sentence, she was ordered to carry out 12 days of rehabilitation activity.

In a statement, the theatre's team said Rendell was a "well-known volunteer" and described the financial impact of her crime.

They said: "We had supported Carol in many aspects of her life, and to learn that she abused her position within the theatre is both heartbreaking and shocking."

"Every penny is now being carefully considered and instead of making enhancements to the building we are force to rebuild our reserve funds to ensure our survival.

"In addition, we no longer have reserve to future-proof our technical equipment," the statement added.

Shonna O'Harney from Wiltshire Police thanked the theatre for contacting officers about the fraud.

"The Wharf Theatre is a valued asset to the community of east Wiltshire and they rely on the generosity of the community in order to continue their valuable work.

"The impact of Rendell's actions have been felt deeply and widely," she added.

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Bafta hopeful inspiring students at his old school

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89qn7l2kypo, today

Hollywood actor Robert Aramayo is inspiring a new generation of actors at his old school, teachers and students have said.

The 33-year-old star, who grew up in Hull, is nominated in two categories at this month's Bafta Film Awards, including leading actor for his role in the drama I Swear, and EE Rising Star.

Lucy Riley, head of drama at Malet Lambert School, where Aramayo began acting, said: "He's an amazing role model. It's not just talent, it's about work ethic.

"Rob came here. He did it. There's absolutely no reason why our students can't."

Standing beside his photograph on the school's wall of fame, she added: "We're hoping to update this to Bafta winner. Fingers crossed."

Aramayo, who made his name in TV dramas such as Game of Thrones and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, has described his role in I Swear as the "biggest challenge" of his career.

He plays John Davidson, who became a reluctant poster boy for Tourette's syndrome when he appeared in a TV documentary in 1989.

Laura Betts, who taught Aramayo drama, said she was "incredibly proud" to have played a small part in his development.

"He was always involved in school productions, always very, very interested in any acting he could do," Betts said.

"His family were extremely interested in the arts and that really fuelled his love of theatre and film."

Drama teacher Jodie Mulliah said Aramayo's Bafta nominations had raised ambition across the school.

"Students have seen this and gone, 'We can raise our aspirations too.'

"If they set their minds to something, they've every chance of achieving it."

Year 10 pupils described how Aramayo's achievements had inspired them.

Izzy said: "I didn't realise he was from Hull until last week. It makes Malet look like a really good school for drama."

Parker added: "It just goes to show that you don't have to go to a specific school, like a drama school."

Others praised his portrayal in I Swear. Millie, who has seen the film, said: "He portrayed the character in a way that spreads awareness without being offensive."

Aramayo developed his skills at the renowned Hull Truck Theatre.

He joined the company's youth theatre at the age of 10 and appeared in productions including Animal Farm (2007) and Kes (2008).

Mark Babych, Hull Truck's artistic director, described Aramayo as "an incredible talent".

"Knowing Rob's career started here at Hull Truck makes us incredibly proud," he said.

"Isn't it great to have Hull‑born talent on the world stage?"

The EE Rising Star Award is the only Bafta voted for by the public.

Hull Truck is backing Rob in the vote, while teachers at Malet Lambert are encouraging the city to get behind him.

And whether or not he wins, they hope Aramayo's journey from Hull to Hollywood will inspire more young people to follow in his footsteps.

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All you need to know about Hull Colliderfest 2026

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy09z4vwy71o, yesterday

A science and arts festival will return to Hull city centre.

Featuring family friendly activities from 12 to 15 March, the second Colliderfest will include performances, talks and arts installations for all ages.

Among the highlights will be an evening with space scientist and broadcaster Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock.

Councillor Rob Pritchard, of Hull City Council, said: "ColliderFest was a resounding success last year and we're so excited to see it return for 2026 to amaze, dazzle and educate."

Here is everything you need to know about Colliderfest 2026:

What is Colliderfest?

Organised by Hull City Council and the University of Hull, in partnership with Hull Museums and The Deep, Colliderfest is a celebration of all things STEAM - science, technology, engineering, arts and maths.

Free family activities during the festival will include e-gaming, model wind-turbine building, printing 3D bees and arrow making.

The University of Hull's Prof Mark Lorch, festival director, described the event as an "incredible celebration" of science and the arts.

He said: "This year's ColliderFest continues to break new ground with an exciting programme inviting people of all ages to explore, experiment and be inspired."

The first event took place in March 2025 and included a large-scale light and sound installation in the city centre, and a street-theatre show featuring a 13ft-tall sea creature puppet.

When and where is it happening?

The first two days will see events take place in the city's schools, with the weekend (Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 March) seeing events across the city centre, which are open to everyone.

Venues hosting events include Hull Museums Quarter, Ferens Art Gallery, The Deep, Federation of Sport, Princes Quay, Humber Street and the Wilberforce Institute.

The weekend's activities will also include a new event called Our City, which will include two parades across the day and night through the city centre, ending in Queen Victoria Square.

Finally, a Colliderfest in the Community event will take place at St Matthews Church on Anlaby Road, with domino computing and Lego activities.

Will I need tickets?

Most of the events will be free to attend with no booking required, but there are some ticketed shows and experiences.

These include an evening with Dame Aderin-Pocock, the science behind curling with Team GB Olympian Grant Hardie, in conversation with now-retired ice skater Sir Christopher Dean, as well as the comedy Robo Bingo event.

Ticketed events go on sale on Friday 6 February.

Find out more about ColliderFest 2026 here.

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Liverpool to host Chinese art exhibition

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn425ypd7p1o, yesterday

Liverpool has been announced as the host of Chinese art collection loaned by its twin city of Shanghai.

The exhibition from the Shanghai Art Collection Museum will take place at the National Museums Liverpool in October.

The announcement was made during Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's recent visit to China.

The collection includes painted face masks used in the Peking Opera, Shanghai-style paper cutting as well as traditional framer's or folk painting which showcase rural life in China.

Laura Pye, director of National Museums Liverpool, said the area "has one of the oldest and largest Chinese communities in Europe" and the museum was "looking forward to bringing this vast collection to our city".

Hu Muqing, president of Shanghai Art Collection Museum, said: "Liverpool and Shanghai are both port cities connected by the ocean, bounded over years through a strong sister-city partnership."

He said he hoped the exhibition "will help foster mutual understanding and further deepen our friendship".

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Art After Dark brings disco lights to West End

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c24g2427vryo, yesterday

A free public art and music festival celebrating nightlife across the West End is returning to the capital for its fourth year.

Art After Dark will see Piccadilly Circus become home to a 7m-tall (23ft) tower of stacked disco lightboxes, playing music inspired by London's 80s and 90s club culture.

Running from 3 to 10 February, the art week will see galleries host late-night openings, with The National Gallery hosting a one-off DJ event. Digital artworks will also be displayed on screens across the West End.

Kirsty Tullett-Jones, from Art of London, said: "We want Londoners and visitors alike to feel the buzz, share the joy, and be part of something unforgettable in the heart of the capital."

London-based artist Lakwena Maciver, who is behind the Piccadilly Circus tower "Rise and Shine", said the installation was a "celebration of joy, community, and the vibrant energy that pulses through London's music scene".

"By unveiling it in Piccadilly Circus, we're inviting everyone to gather, dance, and experience London's music culture in a space transformed by colour, light, and sound," Maciver said.

"I'm looking forward to bringing people together to celebrate and support the culture that defines our city."

Art After Dark has previously featured eye‑catching installations across the West End.

As part of last year's edition, there were large illuminated sculptures of asteroid-sized moon rocks and giant fluorescent cats by artist and designer Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian.

Westminster Council Labour councillor Ryan Jude, cabinet member for culture, said: "Initiatives like this showcase London's vibrant cultural scene in some of the city's most iconic locations, making the arts accessible for all to enjoy."

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Great Yarmouth now home to the UK's only scenic rollercoaster

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly9444374po, today

Norfolk has become home to the country's oldest wooden scenic rollercoaster after the previous record-holder was recently retired.

Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach's coaster, built in 1928, is the only one of its kind to be controlled manually by a seated operator using a lever.

The Scenic Railway in Margate, Kent, which opened in 1920, was closed at the end of January, despite undergoing a major restoration in 2015.

Albert Jones, who manages the Great Yarmouth attraction, said its Roller Coaster would not be heading in the same direction.

"It's disappointing that unfortunately another coaster is closing... we're the only one that will be left running using a brake man," said Jones.

The scenic railway was shipped from the Colonial Exhibition in Paris to Great Yarmouth and opened to the public in 1932.

Jones said a crew of some 25 Germans came over to help get the ride up and running.

Now 132 years old, a lot of the original ride has been replaced.

Jones said preserving the Grade II listed attraction "can be a maintenance headache".

He added: "Obviously, we assess at the end of each season what work needs to be done. And it's not [that] you can budget for it. You have to do the work."

The ride is regularly inspected, sometimes three times a day, with carpenters and engineers walking it daily to check it.

"We're fortunate to say that we've kept it in a very good condition," said Jones.

It is now the only scenic railway – a ride designed to give a view of picturesque landscapes – still in operation in the UK.

It was originally painted with an Alpine scene, but that had to go after the painter died as no replacement could be found with his skills, according to Jones.

It now sports an American theme and is being repainted, while some timbers are being stripped and new uprights put in, in time for the season opening in March.

Another change that took place 10 years ago was women joining men as operators of the ride's manual controls.

"Obviously, we have to make sure that they've got the strength to be able to pull a brake, which they do," Jones said. "So they go through quite a rigorous test."

Unusually for a roller coaster, there are no brakes fitted to the track, and gravity controls its speed.

Jones, who grew up on and around the Pleasure Beach, said many generations of people had visited its most popular attraction, re-creating the fun of their youth.

So what is the future for the rollercoaster?

"I hand the baton over to the next generation, but you know we've got a very dedicated team, everybody loves the ride," he said.

"I still ride on it now, and you still get that thrill."

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Mixed reaction to DFDS inter-island ferry plans

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgvl39zm39o, today

Proposals by ferry operator DFDS for a new inter-island service between the Channel Islands via the UK could boost tourism but would not help islanders hoping to compete in weekend tournaments on Jersey, residents have said.

Travellers from Jersey could disembark in Guernsey on a Friday night but Guernsey passengers heading to Jersey could only get on when the ferry completed its return from the UK on Monday.

Dog owner Derryn de Carteret, who takes part in the Channel Island Dog Show, said the proposed route "doesn't help for us to go over to Jersey" to compete.

Charlie Walker, interim co-chair of the Tourism Management Board, said: "We can only look positively to an increase in connectivity."

'Open the market'

De Carteret said: "Hopefully there'll be more discussion" between DFDS and Brittany Ferries about more inter-island services."

She explained there was not enough room on charter boats for everyone who would like to compete and it was not practical if taking several dogs, and many dog-owners were facing having to miss the show on Saturday 14 February.

She said islanders were competing in the UK instead because of the travel difficulties.

Walker said the plans could open up the market from Jersey "if there's a reliable service".

She said the inter-island link was "critical" to boost tourism and sport, adding it needed to be marketed properly and prove there was a commercial appetite to travel to Guernsey.

The island has seen "an incredible increase" in French travellers with an extra 37,000 last year.

Walker said if would "be fantastic" if there was a year-round service and said tourism had extended with the Guernsey rally and the season ending in October, instead of September.

The DFDS proposals still need to be approved by Guernsey's States.

The Committee for Economic Development has been approached for comment.

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Air India grounds Boeing jet after pilot flags possible fuel control switch defect

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8e5zwndddyo, today

Air India has grounded a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner jet after one of its pilots reported a possible defect in the aircraft's fuel control switch.

The airline said in a statement on Monday that it had informed India's aviation regulator about the issue and that it was getting the pilot's concerns checked on a "priority basis".

"We are in contact with Air India and are supporting their review of this matter," a Boeing spokesperson said in response to an email.

The grounding comes amid an ongoing investigation into a plane crash last June involving an Air India aircraft of the same model which killed 260 people.

The airline did not specify the nature of the issue flagged by its pilot or details of the flight.

But Reuters and The Times of India reported that the defect was flagged after the plane landed in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru after taking off from London.

Last year's fatal crash of the London-bound Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner occurred less than a minute after the plane took off from Ahmedabad airport in western India.

India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is investigating the crash and a final report is expected to be released in a few months.

A preliminary report last July said that the plane's engines shut down after its fuel switches moved from the 'run' to the 'cut off' position shortly after take-off, but did not establish how this had happened.

After the report was released, the US aviation regulator said that fuel control switches in Boeing airplanes were safe.

India's aviation regulator had also ordered an investigation of cockpit fuel switches in Boeing 787 and Boeing 737 aircraft operating in the country after the crash. Air India had said then that its inspections did not find any issue with the locking mechanism of the switch, which it reiterated on Monday.

"Air India had checked the fuel control switches on all Boeing 787 aircraft in its fleet after a directive from the DGCA [Directorate General of Civil Aviation], and had found no issues," the airline said in the statement.

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Glasgow and Aberdeen airports increase passenger drop-off charges

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd9e44wwwggo, yesterday

Glasgow and Aberdeen airports are raising the fees charged for drivers picking up and dropping off passengers.

From Tuesday, the price at Glasgow will rise by £1 to £7 for 15 minutes and at Aberdeen it will go up from £5.50 to £7.

AGS Airports, which operates the sites, said the increases were due to rising costs, but it stressed that there were free alternatives at both locations.

It said it appreciated the decision would not be popular, but added that the money raised would ensure the airports remained competitive and could attract services to new destinations.

A spokesperson said: "It is important to keep in mind that there is always a free alternative where customers can park for up to one hour.

"These are located in our long stay car parks, and passengers can use a free, on-demand shuttle service to and from the terminal."

They added "The pick-up and drop-off areas are intended for short visits of up to 15 minutes only.

"We would encourage anyone who thinks they may be longer to use the free alternative or our short-stay car park. Valid Blue Badge holders continue to receive 30 minutes free in our short-stay car park."

Last year Edinburgh Airport increased its pick-up and drop-off charges to £6 for the first 10 minutes - a £1 increase on the previous rate.

India's snakebite crisis is killing tens of thousands every year

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8p27vmyvmo, yesterday

Devendra, who was a farmer in India, still remembers the moment a snake sank its fangs into his leg while he was picking mulberry leaves.

"I went to the hospital four days after I was bitten, when the pain became unbearable. But the delay cost me my leg," he says in a short film released by Global Snakebite Taskforce (GST), an initiative working to reduce deaths and injuries by snakebites.

But Devendra is still among the lucky few to have survived. According to the federal government, around 50,000 Indians are killed by snakebites each year - roughly half of all deaths worldwide. Some estimates suggest the toll could be even higher: between 2000 and 2019, India may have seen as many as 1.2 million deaths, an average of 58,000 per year, a 2020 study said.

Now, a new report by GST has found that 99% of healthcare workers in India face challenges administering antivenom - the life-saving antibodies that neutralise toxins in venom. Researchers surveyed 904 medical professionals across India, Brazil, Indonesia and Nigeria, the countries most affected by snakebites, and found similar barriers: poor infrastructure, limited access to antivenom and insufficient training.

Nearly half of the professionals reported that delays in treatment had led to serious complications in their patients, including amputations, surgeries or lifelong mobility problems.

In 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) formally listed snakebite envenoming or poisoning as a "highest priority neglected tropical disease" because of the high number of deaths caused by it. An estimated 5.4 million people worldwide are bitten by snakes each year and more than 100,000 die from annually, according to the WHO.

It also states that snakebites disproportionately affect poor rural communities in low and middle-income countries.

In India, a high concentration of snakebite deaths and injuries are reported in the central and eastern regions, says Dr Yogesh Jain, a GST member and practitioner in the central Chhattisgarh state. He adds that people working in farms, including those from poor tribal communities, remain most vulnerable.

In 2024, India launched the National Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Snakebite Envenoming (NAPSE) with the aim to halve snakebite deaths by 2030. The plan focuses on better surveillance, improved antivenom availability and research, enhanced medical capacity and public awareness campaigns.

Experts agree it is a step in the right direction, but implementation has been inconsistent.

"In India, snakebites are seen as a poor person's problem," Jain says. "That's why there isn't enough outrage or action over these completely avoidable deaths. When it comes to treating snakebites, every second counts."

He explains that snake venom enters the bloodstream within minutes, attacking nerves, cells or the circulatory system, depending on the species. Delays in antivenom administration can result in respiratory failure, paralysis, irreversible tissue damage or organ failure.

Yet, delays to hospital care are common in rural India, where bad roads, far-flung hospitals and a dearth of ambulance services prevent timely treatment.

Last September, a pregnant woman in Gujarat state reportedly died on the way to a hospital after her family had to carry her in a cloth sling for 5km (3 miles) because no vehicle could reach their hamlet.

Jain says that some states are trying to improve access by stocking antivenom in primary and community health centres. But administering it correctly remains a major challenge.

Many health workers are not trained professionals and fear giving antivenom because patients can sometimes develop adverse reactions.

"The antivenom is mixed with saline and injected intravenously over an hour, but many centres aren't equipped to manage the side-effects," Jain says.

Another problem, he adds, is that many people in rural India still rely on faith healers or local medicinal practices and go to hospitals only when their symptoms worsen, which can be lethal.

Gerry Martin, co-founder of The Liana Trust, which works to reduce human-snake conflict in Karnataka state, says another major hurdle is the availability of high-quality antivenom.

Currently, India has antivenom that only protects against the "big four" snakes - the spectacled cobra, common krait, Russell's viper and the saw-scaled viper - which are believed to be responsible for a majority of the bites. The antivenom is produced by injecting venom from these snakes into horses, whose antibodies are then used as treatment for humans, Martin explains.

But there are dozens of other poisonous snake species for which India does not have targeted antivenom. These include the green pit viper commonly found in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, the Malabar pit viper and hump-nosed pit viper found in southern states and many other species in the north-eastern states.

A study by Aiims (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, last year highlighted the problem. It found that when antivenom used to treat bites by saw-scaled vipers was administered to 105 snake bite patients (where the species remained unknown), two-thirds did not respond well to treatment.

The study concluded that there was an urgent need for "region-specific antivenom in western India".

For the past five years, The Liana Trust has been studying venoms from species beyond the big four to develop antidotes to them. But progress has been slow, Martin says, because the process is labour-intensive and time-consuming.

He called on states to emulate the 2024 order from the government of the southern state of Karnataka which made snakebites "a notifiable disease" - making it compulsory for health professionals to report it to the authorities - to combat under-reporting.

Jain agrees. "Snakebite deaths start where political will ends," he says.

"Governments should ensure that poor people don't get poor health systems. They deserve better."

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Largest bird to ever live in UK could make a return

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn40kn8kn08o, today

A plan is being considered to reintroduce the largest bird to have ever lived in Britain.

The Dalmatian pelican lived in Britain thousands of years ago, but was driven to extinction during medieval times.

Nature restoration company RESTORE said it has been conducting studies to explore whether the bird could be reintroduced to British wetland landscapes including sites across the Norfolk Broads, Essex marshes and the Somerset Levels.

"Experts are of the view Britain is definitely worth exploring further [as to] whether the Dalmatian pelican could be reintroduced," said Benedict MacDonald from RESTORE.

The Dalmatian pelican is one of Europe's largest flying birds with a wingspan of up to three metres (9ft 8in).

There are thought to be about 10,000-20,000 of them left in the world, with the largest colony at Lake Mikri Prespa in Greece.

The bird was wiped out in Britain due to a combination of wetland drainage and human disturbance, with Macdonald adding they were considered a "very good source of food" by our ancestors.

According to fossil records, they were very common in Somerset, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Gloucestershire and Yorkshire.

In order to thrive, they depend on networks of healthy, connected wetlands, abundant fish stocks and suitable nesting areas.

According to Rewilding Britain, supporting the bird's return would encourage the large-scale restoration and protection of wetland habitats.

Giorgos Catsadorakis, chair of the pelican specialist group IUCN-SSC said: "Looking ahead, healthy pelican populations could serve as a powerful indicator of successful wetland management, reflecting the care, coordination and long-term commitment needed to conserve these landscapes while supporting the many social, cultural and ecological benefits they provide."

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Rail lines to stay closed 'until further notice'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czr4d1e18dvo, today

Rail lines damaged in south-west England during a storm will remain closed "until further notice".

Network Rail and Great Western Railway (GWR) said engineers had been working on lines serving Exeter St Davids to Barnstaple, Exeter St Davids to Okehampton and Liskeard to Looe after Storm Chandra damaged tracks.

They said visible damage had been repaired, but specialist dive teams who needed to check submerged structures were unable to go out as water was still too high and flowing too fast for safe inspections.

Network Rail and GWR added bus or coach replacement services had been set up and apologised for any inconvenience caused. Further updates would be available on GWR's website, they added.

Daryn McCombe, director of performance and train service delivery for GWR and director of network operations at Network Rail's Western route, said engineers had been "working tirelessly" to keep passengers travelling safely when possible.

"We've been able to fix the problems we can see, but it's really important to make sure that underwater structures remain sound and it's not safe for divers to enter the water yet," he said.

"We're working with our weather forecasting teams and monitoring the river levels so that the divers can enter the water as soon as conditions allow."

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Storm-hit coastal road in beauty spot washes away

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr57yd2z6vjo, today

A section of coastal road in a beauty spot has washed away after being battered by storms.

Part of the A379 between Torcross and Slapton, Devon, broke apart overnight after sea defences protecting the road were damaged in storms last month.

Dan Thomas, cabinet member for highways at Devon County Council, said: "A section of the road has washed away from constant battering due to the wind and weather."

The Start Bay Inn in Torcross said on Facebook it was "a mess, like a bomb has gone off".

The scenic road, between a freshwater lake on one side and the sea on the other, forms part of a key route connecting Torcross with Dartmouth.

During World War Two, the area was used by US forces rehearsing for the D-Day landings.

Thomas said engineers were at the scene assessing the damage but the section that had fallen away was steel-reinforced.

"It's going to take some time to work out how much is gone and what we can do," he said.

He added it was "really bad for the people of that area - a real shock and something we're going to have to resolve".

He said: "We have looked after that road but it hasn't made any difference because of the sheer might of Mother Nature, I'm afraid.

"It is a road that is incredibly exposed in a challenging location.

"It's one where we're going to need significant government help to resolve."

Prior to the road washing away, residents had expressed fears about a long crack that had opened up along the seafront.

While residents are not cut off by the road collapse, it means a long diversion for people going to and from Dartmouth.

In its post on Facebook, the Start Bay Inn said the road to the pub was now "filled with debris" and not accessible by car.

Oli Rowdon, 18, who was staying with his girlfriend in Torcross, said: "The waves coming over the houses made it feel like it was raining - our house was shaking - stuff was falling off the shelves.

"A lot of people here are worried."

He said easterly winds overnight and damaged sea defences meant waves were "just smashing the wall".

"The road has gone into the car park," he said.

Pete Moore, the director of Forest and Beach School at nearby Beesands, said the closure of the road would have a big impact.

"It does feel like long-term there are going to be big changes down this way," he said.

"It feels like a Hallsands moment [were landslides and coastal erosion affected properties in a Devon village].

"Suddenly it feels like: 'Crikey... it's gone up a big notch and that's a concern for people living down there.'"

Caroline Voaden, Liberal Democrat MP for South Devon, said: "This is the news that we've all been dreading.

"The pictures coming out of the A379 Slapton Line are absolutely devastating."

She said "significant help" was needed from the government to get the road fixed.

Julian Brazil, the leader of Devon County Council, said: "The sea has gone in behind the steel piling and just scoured out a massive area.

"It's particularly devastating for the local community and the way it's going to affect people's livelihoods."

He said it would cost the county council "a lot of money" to fix on its own.

"If we don't get any money from government, we are stuck," he said.

The BBC has contacted the government for comment.

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Weather warning in place for flood-hit county

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn8jm9kzlzzo, today

A weather warning has been updated for Somerset as a major incident alert remains in place in the county.

Parts of Somerset, as well as parts of Wiltshire, Devon and Cornwall, are under a yellow Met Office warning for rain, which came into force at 18:00 GMT on Monday.

The warning will now remain in place until 18:00 on Tuesday, sparking concern following widespread flooding caused by Storm Chandra.

On Monday, councillor Mike Stanton, chair of the Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA), said the agency was on "tenterhooks" ahead of further rain.

What is being done to help stop flooding?

Comparing the situation to the significant flooding seen in Somerset in 2014, Stanton said: "Until it stops, and a couple of days later stops flowing down the rivers towards Bridgwater, we're just going to be on tenterhooks until we see the outcome."

The SRA was set up in response to flooding in 2014 and has since spent about £40m on schemes to improve the impact of heavy rain, including extensive dredging of the River Parrett and raising the banks of the King's Sedgemoor drain.

"[There is] always more needed, particularly with climate change increasing our rainfall by 20% or 30%," said Stanton, adding that he would like to see facilities such as the temporary pumping station at Northmoor being made permanent.

What has the Environment Agency said?

The Environment Agency (EA) has highlighted a number of schemes in place, including opening Monk's Leaze Clyse and reducing flows in the River Parrett, lowering levels in the Tone and reducing the flow into Currymoor.

The EA has also installed contingency pumps at Aller Drove and the Westonzoyland Flood Alleviation Schemes with works also under way to start removing flow restrictions in North Moor Main Drain.

"Staff are on the ground inspecting assets to ensure they are fully operational and to identify any issues early," a spokesperson for the agency added.

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Concern as sewer water pumped into stream

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdex08nr9zko, today

Residents have raised concerns after water from sewers was pumped into a stream to prevent flooding.

Water from sewers in Cerne Abbas, in Dorset, has been discharged by Wessex Water into a stream that feeds the nearby River Cerne.

The firm said it was removing rain and groundwater from the sewers and that the practice is allowed by the Environment Agency when groundwater levels are "exceptionally high".

But resident Robin Mills said it demonstrated that the area's drainage infrastructure is "not fit for purpose".

"I feel that this business of depositing raw sewage in watercourses has become the new norm," he said.

"It is an indicator of two things. One is the increased rainfall from climate change and the increase in the population in the village.

"But it is also an indication that our drainage infrastructure is not fit for purpose."

Helen Brown, a parish councillor and flood warden, said drainage issues had become a regular occurrence.

She said: "What happens is we get these poo fountains shooting up in the street and in people's houses. It's becoming an annual event.

"People need to take notice of this because we've got more housing coming along and Dorset Council has made this a development area."

A Wessex Water spokesperson said: "We've been removing rainwater and groundwater from sewers in Cerne Abbas to protect properties from flooding, as allowed by the Environment Agency when prolonged rainfall leads to exceptionally high groundwater levels.

"Temporary pumps remove water from sewers and discharge it into nearby watercourses, with regular sampling carried out to confirm it is primarily groundwater overwhelming the sewerage system and ensuring there is no environmental impact.

"Doing this also means customers' toilet use isn't restricted."

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NI beauty spots share in £16m peatland repair fund

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyze5n3yrro, today

Some of Northern Ireland's "most iconic landscapes" are to benefit from a major peatland restoration project led by the conservation charity, Ulster Wildlife.

The Mourne Mountains, the Sperrin Mountains and Cuilcagh Bog in County Fermanagh are among "19 priority sites" included in the cross-border scheme.

Conservationists will repair and rewet damaged peat bogs on both sides of Irish border, funded by a €19.2m (£16.6m) package from the EU's Peaceplus programme.

Ulster Wildlife's chief executive Dawn Miskelly said they were "delighted" by the scale of the funding which will create 20 jobs and support a further 20 existing jobs.

"Investment in nature recovery on this scale isn't that common but it is exactly what we need if we are serious about halting and reversing biodiversity loss," she told BBC News NI.

Miskelly described peatlands as "real powerhouses" of nature which not only support rare and threatened species, but also have the potential to reduce flood risks and tackle climate change.

However, about 80% of peatland on the island of Ireland is "in a degraded state" which adds to carbon emissions rather than reducing them, according to the charity.

Known as the Peat+ Project, Ulster Wildlife will work with local councils, landowners, environmental organisations, academics and Ireland's National Parks and Wildlife Service to restore these special habitats over a three-year period.

Why are peatlands important?

Peatlands are areas of spongy, waterlogged ground where the high volume of water in the soil prevents dead plants from decomposing fully.

Over a very long period of time, the partially decayed plants and other organic material merge together to form peat.

Although peatlands only cover about 3% of the Earth's land surface, they are the planet's biggest natural store of carbon, in the form of decomposing organisms.

Keeping this carbon locked in the ground - as opposed to releasing it into the atmosphere - helps to slow climate change.

Peatlands can also help with flood alleviation because they slow the flow of water through the landscape, according to Miskelly.

"They are good for water quality because they trap sediment," she explained.

"They're also really important habitats for nature and some really specialised species that are only found on peatlands."

Among the species which have made their home on County Antrim peatland is an insect which is in decline in some parts of the UK.

Miskelly said conservationists "very recently discovered a population of Large Heath butterfly" at Springmount Bog near Clough.

"So what we want to do there is to improve the quality of that bog so that it can remain a home for that population... which is a Northern Ireland priority species."

How do you repair a damaged bog?

It can take thousands of years for peat to form, but before its environmental value was realised, many bogs were damaged when they were drained to grow crops.

Drainage can leave bogs vulnerable to wildfires, and the creation of ditches to enable drainage can increase the risk of flooding downstream.

"So generally what has happened over centuries is that the bogs have dried out and whenever they dry out, that's when they start to release carbon," Miskelly said.

Ulster Wildlife, working with partners and local contractors, plans to increase the water level in the bogs to "bring them into a more healthy state".

"So that can involve things like putting in peat dams or other types of dams to stop the water flowing out of the bog and to allow it to become that big sponge that it wants to be in terms of holding water within the bog," she explained.

The Republic of Ireland's Ireland's National Parks and Wildlife Service is among the partners who will be working on the project, with Glenveagh National Park in County Donegal listed among the sites where bog restoration is planned.

Miskelly said the participants represent a "real broad partnership brought together to deliver the benefits".

Stormont's Environment Minister Andrew Muir said his department was very pleased to support the project, which he said would "deliver on multiple strategic objectives".

Polar bears on Norwegian islands fatter and healthier despite ice loss, scientists say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2l1xpz03no, 5 days ago

Scientists expected the opposite, but polar bears in the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard have become fatter and healthier since the early 1990s, all while sea ice has steadily declined due to climate change.

Polar bears rely on sea ice as a platform from which to hunt the seals that they rely on for blubber-rich meals. The bears' fat reserves provide energy and insulation and allow mothers to produce rich milk for cubs.

Researchers weighed and measured 770 adults in Svalbard between 1992 and 2019 and found that bears had become significantly fatter.

They think that Svalbard bears have adapted to recent ice loss by eating more land-based prey, including reindeer and walruses.

The discovery, published in Scientific Reports, was particularly puzzling because of the impact of climate change in Svalbard.

During the same period that this research was carried out, global temperature rise has increased the number of ice-free days per year in the region by almost 100 - at a rate of about four days each year.

"The fatter a bear is the better it is," explained lead researcher Dr Jon Aars from the Norwegian Polar Institute.

"And I would have expected to see a decline in body condition when the loss of sea ice has been so profound."

Walruses have been officially protected in Norway since the 1950s, after they were hunted to near extinction. That protection has boosted their numbers, and apparently provided a new source of fatty food for polar bears.

"There are a lot more walruses around [for them to hunt] these days," said Aars. "It is also possible that they are able to hunt seals more efficiently."

He explained that, if seals have smaller areas of sea ice available to them, they will congregate in those smaller areas, presenting easier collective pickings for bears.

While this is unexpected good news for these Arctic predators, the researchers think it is unlikely to last.

As the sea ice continues to decline, bears will have to travel further to access hunting grounds, using more energy and depleting precious fat reserves.

The charity Polar Bears International points out that Svalbard's polar bears were some of the most heavily-hunted in the world, until international protections were introduced in the 1970s.

Experts think the new findings could be linked to the population recovering from that hunting pressure. That, combined with an increase in the number of walruses - and of reindeer - in recent decades, appears to have provided the bears with a temporary boost.

Dr John Whiteman, chief research scientist at PBI said the results were "positive in the short term".

"But body condition is only one piece of the puzzle. Other recent research on these bears found that more ice-free days reduced survival in cubs and in subadult and old females."

Elsewhere in the Arctic, climate change is having a very different effect on polar bears.

There are 20 known sub-populations of polar bears across the Arctic.

In Canada's Western Hudson Bay, where the most southerly and best studied bears live, a decline in the population has been directly linked to warming temperatures.

Whiteman added that that the long-term picture for polar bears was clear - they need sea ice to survive.

"Ice loss ultimately means bear declines, but [this study shows] that the short-term picture can be very region-specific."

"In the long term," he told BBC News, "if ice loss continues unchecked, we know the bears will eventually disappear."

What is the Paris agreement and why does 1.5C matter?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93d59d4zy1o, 7 days ago

In Paris in 2015, almost 200 countries signed a landmark agreement designed to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.

But despite some progress in areas like renewable energy, the world has continued to warm at a rapid pace.

What is the Paris climate agreement?

The Paris agreement is at the heart of the international commitment to tackle rising global temperatures.

It came into force on 4 November 2016 and saw almost all the nations of the world agree to cut the greenhouse gas emissions which cause global warming.

However, the United States - the world's second biggest greenhouse gas emitter -withdrew from the deal in January 2026 under President Donald Trump.

The US also withdrew during Trump's first presidency, but it rejoined in 2021 under his successor President Joe Biden.

The only other UN member states outside the Paris agreement are Iran, Libya and Yemen.

What does the Paris agreement say?

The Paris agreement lists a series of commitments:

* to "pursue efforts" to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C, and to keep them "well below" 2.0C above those recorded in pre-industrial times, generally considered to mean the late 19th Century

* to achieve a balance - known as net zero - between the greenhouse gases that humans put into the atmosphere and the gases that they actively remove, in the second half of this century

* each country to set its own emission-reduction targets, reviewed every five years to raise ambitions

* richer countries to help poorer nations by providing funding, known as climate finance, to adapt to climate change and switch to renewable energy

The 1.5C target is generally accepted to refer to a 20-year average, rather than a single year.

So, while 2024 was more than 1.5C warmer than pre-industrial times, it did not mean the Paris agreement threshold has been breached.

Why does keeping global warming to 1.5C matter?

Every 0.1C of warming brings with it greater risks for the planet, such as longer heatwaves, more intense storms and wildfires, according to climate scientists.

But a very large body of scientific evidence shows that warming of 2C or more would bring far greater impacts, on top of those felt at 1.5C, UN scientists say.

These include:

* more people being exposed to extreme heat

* higher sea levels as glaciers and ice-sheets melt

* increased risks to food security in some regions due to more extreme weather

* greater chances of some climate-sensitive diseases spreading, such as dengue

* more species being threatened with extinction

* the loss of virtually all coral reefs

Some changes could become irreversible if so-called "tipping points" are crossed.

It is not clear exactly where these sit, but once these thresholds are passed, changes could accelerate and become irreversible.

These could include the collapse of the Greenland Ice Sheet, warm Atlantic Ocean currents or further loss of the Amazon rainforest.

What does the Paris agreement promise for poorer countries?

The Paris deal restated a 2009 commitment that richer countries should provide $100bn (around £73bn) annually by 2020, to help developing nations deal with the effects of climate change, and build greener economies.

Although only $83.3bn was raised in 2020 itself, data from the OECD shows the goal was eventually achieved in 2022.

In 2023, countries agreed for the first time that a fund should be established exclusively for loss and damage. This is money to help countries recover from the impacts of climate change.

At COP29 in 2024, richer nations committed to providing $300bn (around £219bn) a year to developing nations by 2035. Developing countries - which had hoped for more - criticised the "paltry sum".

What has happened since the Paris agreement?

World leaders meet every year to discuss their climate commitments at international summits known as COPs (Conference of the Parties).

All COPs since 2015 have tracked how countries are building on what they promised in Paris.

At COP28 in 2023, countries agreed for the first time to "contribute" to "transitioning away from fossil fuels", although they were not forced to take any specific action.

Countries also agreed to treble the global capacity of renewables - such as wind and solar - by 2030.

But the most recent summit, COP30 in 2025, failed to directly mention fossil fuels in the final deal.

Is the world on track to meet the 1.5C target?

The long-term 1.5C global warming target has not yet been breached.

But global emissions of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels hit a new high in 2025, according to provisional data.

And according to the UN, countries' plans to cut emissions fall far short of what is needed to limit warming to 1.5C.

Based on current rates of warming, the world could pass 1.5C of warming around the year 2030.

"One thing is already clear: we will not be able to contain the global warming below 1.5C in the next few years," UN secretary general António Guterres said in October 2025.

However, Guterres also said that he hoped temperatures could still be brought back down to the 1.5C target by the end of the century.

Sharp cuts to emissions can still make a major difference to future warming and the impacts of climate change, scientists say.

Nature loss is a national security risk, intelligence group warns

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce9y1e09j72o, 13 days ago

The decline in the health of nature around the world poses a threat to the UK's security and prosperity, an intelligence committee has concluded in a long-awaited report.

The document warns of "cascading risks" from the degradation of some of the planet's most important ecosystems, including conflict, migration and increased competition for resources.

Pointing to the UK's reliance on ecosystems that are "on a pathway to collapse" – such as the Amazon rainforest – the report warns of rising food prices and says that UK food security could be at risk.

In response, the government said that nature underpinned the UK's security and prosperity and that the report would help it prepare for the future.

The 14-page report was officially published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). But the BBC understands it was put together by the Joint Intelligence Committee, which oversees the security services, in addition to input across government.

The report draws on scientific research and expert judgement to assess a "reasonable worst case scenario" for the impacts of nature loss on the UK's security.

It highlights six ecosystem regions which it calls "critical for UK national security", based on the likelihood of these ecosystems collapsing and the impacts were they to do so.

They include the rainforests of the Amazon and the Congo basin, the boreal forests of Russia and Canada, the coral reefs and mangroves of South East Asia, and the Himalayas.

These ecosystems are on the "pathway to collapse", the report says, if current rates of nature loss continue. But exactly when this would happen – and how long it would take – is uncertain.

The report draws attention to several possible impacts on the UK's security from ecosystem degradation and collapse, from rising migration and geopolitical competition to a higher risk of pandemics and economic insecurity.

But perhaps the strongest words are reserved for the potential consequences for UK food supplies.

The report says that ecosystem degradation or collapse "will challenge the UK's food security", pointing to its reliance on global markets for food and fertiliser.

If major food-producing regions were hit, some foods would become scarcer, driving up prices globally and potentially restricting choice, the report says.

But the report warns that the UK is "unable" to be food self-sufficient at present based on current diets and prices – and full self-sufficiency would also require "very substantial price increases" for consumers.

However, some technologies, like regenerative agriculture or lab-grown protein, could help with further research and investment, the report adds.

Gareth Redmond-King, head of international programme at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said that weather extremes fuelled by climate change were already hitting food production in some parts of the world.

"This is a cost-of-living crisis, driving up food prices on supermarket shelves for UK households," he said.

In response to the new report, a Defra spokesperson said: "The UK has a resilient food system and remains one of the most food-secure nations in the world.

"We have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, which supplements domestic production and ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease do not affect the UK's overall security of supply."

The document should have been published in October but was delayed. The Times reported that No 10 had blocked the report's release owing to fears it could be considered too negative. A government source did not dispute this interpretation when asked by BBC News.

The government has faced accusations from some green groups that it is retreating from its promises to protect nature.

At November's COP30 climate summit in Brazil, the UK failed to commit public funds to Brazil's "Tropical Forests Forever Facility", its flagship fund to try to protect these ecosystems.

The government cited pressures on the economy and has repeatedly said that it hopes to contribute to the fund in the future, and that it will encourage private sector investment.

And in December, the government was accused of loosening protections for nature to try to boost house building.

However, the government points to its investments in flood defences and funds to support sustainable food production as evidence of its efforts to protect the UK from climate change and nature loss.

Despite conservation efforts, global biodiversity is deteriorating quickly, driven by habitat loss, climate change, invasive species and other factors.

A landmark UN report in 2019 warned that the rate of change in nature worldwide since 1970 "is unprecedented in human history" – and estimated that one million animal and plant species were threatened with extinction.

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UK homes to get £15bn for solar and green tech to cut energy bills

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgj7me00p0o, 13 days ago

Households will be eligible for thousands of pounds' worth of solar panels and other green tech to lower their energy bills, the government has announced.

The long-awaited Warm Homes Plan promises to provide £15bn to households across the UK over the next five years, as well as introducing new rights for renters.

The government has said it wants to create a "rooftop revolution", tripling the number of homes with solar, and lifting one million people out of fuel poverty.

The plan has been strongly welcomed by the energy and finance industry, but the Conservative Party said the scheme will "saddle households with high ongoing running costs".

First touted back in 2024, the Warm Homes Plan promised to tackle the "national emergency" of rising energy bills, but it has taken two years for the final detail to be published.

The government announced that the plan, published on Wednesday, will focus on funding solar panels, heat pumps and batteries for households across the UK via low-interest loans and grants.

For able-to-pay households even with the grants there are likely to be additional costs of installing the technologies. For a heat pump after the subsidy households pay on average £5,000.

But for an average three bedroom semi-detached home, installing these three technologies, could save £500 annually on energy bills, it estimates.

Although social charity Nesta, and green energy charity, MCS Foundation, have estimated it could be more than £1000.

"A warm home shouldn't be a privilege, it should be a basic guarantee for every family in Britain," said Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

Ed Miliband said the "cost of living crisis is the biggest issue the country faces" and that "upgrading homes is a crucial part of getting bills down".

Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Wednesday, the Energy Secretary said the move was aimed at "expanding the choices that people have, so something like a heat pump or a solar panel isn't just in the reach of the wealthiest".

Measures in the plan include:

* Extending the Boiler Upgrade Scheme by a further year to 2029/30, offering £7,500 grants for air source heat pumps

* Additional £600m for low-income households to receive funding for the full cost of solar panels and batteries taking the total available to £5bn

* Low and zero-interest loans for households irrespective of income

The plan has been strongly welcomed by the energy industry, workers' unions, and the finance sector, who see the long-term financial commitment by the government as crucial for driving private investment into green technologies.

"£15 billion is a substantial commitment, it provides certainty to investors and businesses in the energy market," said Dhara Vyas, chief executive of trade body Energy UK.

Camilla Born, CEO of Electrify Britain - a joint campaign group from Octopus and EDF to encourage switching to electric heating - also welcomed the announcement and said it will help cut bills long-term but said "the bad side is that it is a plan, and we need delivery".

Some of the schemes are already distributing grants, but for new funding the government has yet to decide how or when households will receive the money. It said that "further engagement with the finance sector" is needed this year.

Richard Tice, Reform deputy leader, strongly criticised the plan and said it was: "A scandalous waste of up to £15bn of taxpayers' cash primarily buying Chinese made solar panels, batteries and heat pumps, that is bad for British industry."

Two thirds (68%) of the solar panels imported by the UK came from China in 2024, according to HMRC trade data.

Miliband told the BBC that work was underway to "diversify" supply chains and that the government was seeking to "unwind that concentration" through investments in the UK.

The government has said the scheme would contribute to 180,000 new jobs in the clean heating sector - although some of these are likely to be from retraining existing engineers.

Insulation funding downgraded

The original plan had focused on ramping up installation of insulation in homes which was considered a cost-effective way to reduce heat loss from the UK's leaky housing stock.

But ongoing controversy with a government-funded insulation scheme, ECO, involving botched installations, has led to the scheme not being extended.

Aadil Qureshi, CEO of Heat Geek, which retrains heating engineers to install heat pumps, said it was the right decision and a refocus on green tech was better value for government money.

Unlike insulation, he said heat pumps are a technology in its infancy, and needed government support to catalyse the industry.

"[The plan] allows the industry to commit, to double down - it allows investors, manufacturers to say let's keep investing to get to a certain point where it is equal with the hydrocarbon alternative," he said.

By switching households away from oil heaters and gas boilers to electrical heat pumps, powered by renewable energy, the government hopes it will cut the country's planet warming emissions, of which around 18% come from home heating.

Dozens of people have got in contact with BBC Your Voice about their experience installing low-carbon technologies like heat pumps.

One retired couple Chris and Penny Harcourt, living in Stowmarket, got a heat pump two years ago and said it was the "best update we have done in our house for 20 years".

But they said that with current electricity prices it was expensive to run and it was only when they got solar panels did they see the costs fall.

You can watch a conversation BBC Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt had with Penny below.

Heat pumps can be three to four times more efficient than gas boilers, but higher electricity prices mean that they can end up being the same or more expensive to run.

But moving households off gas heating has been a priority for the government.

Miliband has previously said the UK's dependence on fossil fuels was its "Achilles heel" - after significant fluctuations in prices - and clean power was the only way to lower energy bills.

Speaking to Radio 4's Today programme on Wednesday he said the rise in gas prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine demonstrated why the "mission for clean power is so important".

He added: "We are swapping reliance on imported gas... for homegrown clean power where we control the price".

But the UK has some of the highest electricity bills in Europe due to upgrades to the network, government taxes and the impact of wholesale prices driven by the gas price.

Claire Coutinho, shadow energy secretary said: "Unless the Government gets serious about cutting electricity bills now, many of these taxpayer-funded schemes will saddle households with high ongoing running costs every single year."

And the Liberal Democrats said the plan did not go far enough and it means there is "no effective fuel poverty programme in place this winter".

The government hopes that ramping up solar panels will be the answer.

The Warm Homes Plan will encourage households to opt for the trio of low carbon technologies - heat pumps, solar panels and batteries.

This will see more of the electricity demand of heat pumps met by home-generated solar energy rather than from the grid; thus driving down prices.

Not everyone in the green industry is supportive of all the measures. Dale Vince, CEO of energy company Ecotricity, praised the new funding for solar but criticised the high level of subsidy for heat pumps.

Although he said they had a role to play, he said they weren't the national answer for lowering heating costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

"Solar panels give us the biggest bang for buck there is no doubt about that - cheapest to install and most productive in terms of bringing down energy bills. Heat pumps sit at the other end of that scale," Vince said.

"We could put solar panels on 10 million rooftops or heat pumps in one million homes."

Renters' rights reforms

The installation of low carbon tech will only be available to those who are homeowners or in social housing, but the Warm Homes Plan also includes recent announcements to changes in renters' rights.

From 2030, landlords will need to make sure rental properties have a minimum energy efficiency score of EPC C - up from E.

But currently the way that a home is awarded an EPC score is based on estimated running costs rather than energy efficiency, which can mean the score is downgraded following a heat pump installation.

In the plan, the government has said it intends to announce changes to the assessment process later this year.

The industry was also hoping that the Warm Homes Plan would set out updated efficiency requirements for new builds - the Future Homes Standard - but it said these would be published in the next few months.

There had been concern amongst environmentalists that the requirement for solar panels on new homes was to be dropped.

But the plan said: "We have confirmed that under these standards, new homes will have low-carbon heating, high levels of energy efficiency and solar panels by default."

Jess Ralston, Energy Analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), said that these decisions have been a long time coming.

"That timelines are being pushed back is likely to be frustrating for those who are still colder and poorer in shoddy rental homes, but the public overwhelmingly back better standards for new builds so should be encouraged to see new requirements on the house builders at long last," she said.

Additional reporting Miho Tanaka

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Colombia's Petro travels to Washington for meeting with Trump

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62v187kl1ro, today

Colombian President Gustavo Petro is heading to Washington for a high-stakes trip to meet US President Donald Trump, the first in-person meeting between the two after months of escalating tensions and angry rhetoric.

Venezuela, drug trafficking, oil, security and US strikes on alleged drug vessels will be high on the agenda when they meet at the White House on Tuesday.

While the two men were cordial in a phone call after the 3 January US military operation to seize Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro, Petro has since said he believes that there is a "real threat" of military action against Colombia.

Trump, for his part, has previously said that a military operation in Colombia "sounds good".

Tuesday's meeting follows months of the two leaders trading barbs - with Petro repeatedly criticising the repeat US strikes on the alleged drugs boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, as well as the White House's immigration policies.

In an interview with the BBC last month, Petro went as far as to compare US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to "Nazi brigades" and accused the US of treating other countries as part of its "empire".

On the US side, Trump has accused Petro's government of not doing enough to stop the flow of cocaine heading north, and has vowed to expand strikes to land targets across the region.

But the acrimony seemed to dissipate following a "cordial" phone call between the two leaders, which a Colombian official later described as an 180-degree turn "from both sides".

According to diplomatic sources, one man - Rand Paul, US senator for Kentucky - was instrumental in setting up the conversation.

"I believe in diplomacy and I thought our relations were going in the wrong way," the senator told the BBC. "And I'd like to see our relations improve."

Paul, who has sometimes clashed with Trump himself, added that he believed the upcoming meeting in Washington could build on the earlier dialogue between the two men.

Ahead of Tuesday's visit, Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio said that much of the conversation would focus on shared US and Colombian concerns over security in Venezuela, with which Colombia shares a 1,367-mile (2,200-km) border.

Much of that border is under the sway of the National Liberation Army, or ELN. This Colombian guerrilla group, which was founded in the 1960s, controls drug trafficking, extortion, contraband and illegal mining of gold and coltan in border states such as Zulia, Táchira, Apure, and Amazonas - and works with corrupt elements of the Venezuelan government.

While in Colombia the group operates against the government, in Venezuela it often serves the interests of the state, according to security analysts, and operates as a paramilitary-style organisation.

Insight Crime, a Medellin-based think-tank, estimates that 1,200 of the group's approximately 6,000 members operate in Venezuela, with a presence in eight of its 24 states.

"There will be a constructive conversation about the path forward for stabilising and securing the Venezuelan-Colombian border and US-Colombia relations," Democratic Senator Chris Coons told the BBC ahead of the Trump-Petro meeting.

For Trump, addressing the threat of the ELN will be vital to ensuring security for US firms involved in Venezuela's oil industry after Maduro was seized. The removal of Maduro potentially creates an opportunity for a strategic partnership between him and Petro.

Elizabeth Dickinson, deputy director for Latin America at International Crisis Group, said the ELN had the potential to spoil those ambitions by targeting foreign investors and employees, as it has previously done in Colombia.

Money made by the ELN's mineral and drug trafficking operations, she explained, often included payments to elements of the Venezuelan military.

"That money flowing up and down the system through the Venezuelan armed forces is fundamental to its cohesion," she said. "Asking the same Venezuelan military to go after the ELN would be quite challenging because their interests... are largely aligned."

Following the fall of Maduro, Petro has already ordered 30,000 Colombian soldiers to the Venezuelan border to prevent the group from crossing over.

An equally pressing issue for the two leaders will be the fight against cocaine trafficking from Colombia, the drug's largest producer.

In November, Petro ordered a temporary pause of intelligence sharing with US security agencies after Trump's threats - making reference to the US boat attacks.

The US, for its part, has formally named Colombia as a country which has "demonstrably failed" to uphold its obligations to control drug trafficking, as part of its annual certification of whether several countries are fully co-operating with its counter-narcotics efforts.

It has also imposed sanctions on Colombian officials, including Petro and members of his family.

Despite the tensions, co-operation has continued between the two nations' militaries, as well as between the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Colombian police.

"There is no fight against the cocaine trade without Colombia," said Jeremy McDermott, the co-director of Insight Crime." The threat to cut off Colombian intelligence to the US could also undermine all investigations."

Colombian officials have said that the visit will also serve as an opportunity to showcase their government's counter-narcotics efforts to a sceptical White House.

But even with multiple areas in which the two can cooperate, there still exists the potential for an Oval Office clash of the sort that the presidents of Ukraine and South Africa both experienced with Trump last year.

"Trump loves you one day, dislikes you the next day and reverts to loving you a couple days after," said Brett Bruen, a former diplomat who now runs the Global Situation Room, a Washington-based strategic communications firm.

"My suspicion is that Petro will walk in with some concessions to avoid Trump's ire and any punitive measures," he added. "But one never knows what side of the bed Trump woke up on."

But for Petro, even an ugly encounter could be beneficial.

His presidential term is over in August, and the outcome of the meeting could impact the electoral chances of the man he backs to replace him, Senator Iván Cepeda.

"In some ways, he's kind of in a win-win situation," said Michael Shifter, a Latin American studies professor at Georgetown and the former head of the Inter-American Dialogue. "If it goes well, he takes the air out of one of the core arguments of the opposition, that the left can't have a good relationship with the US.

"If it doesn't, it's not going to cost him his base. He's protecting national sovereignty and trying to negotiate with Trump," he added. "He could turn that in his favour."

Watch: Heavy snow blankets North Carolina after bomb cyclone

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c24gjj8l168o, yesterday

A bomb cyclone struck parts of North Carolina and the mid-Atlantic states bringing heavy snow, strong winds and dangerous road conditions that brought much of the region to a standstill. The storm began late Friday and continued into the weekend, with some areas receiving up to 15 inches of snow, particularly along the coast and in the Outer Banks.

The National Weather Service has called the bomb cyclone a "historic storm" and the North Carolina State Climate Office said that the amount of snow that fell on parts of the state surpassed "every other wintry event so far this century".

All the winners at the 2026 Grammy Awards

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czx1z0qwy77o, yesterday

The 68th Grammy Awards have taken place in Los Angeles, with Kendrick Lamar the night's biggest winner for the second year in a row.

The rapper took home five awards, including record of the year for Luther, a duet with SZA, and best rap album for GNX.

But he was pipped to the night's biggest prize - album of the year - by Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny.

Here's a list of everyone who won, and who was nominated, in the main categories.

The "big four" awards

Song of the year

* Winner: Billie Eilish - Wildflower

* Lady Gaga – Abracadabra

* Doechii - Anxiety

* Rosé & Bruno Mars - APT

* Bad Bunny - DtMF

* Hunter/x - Golden

* Kendrick Lamar feat SZA - Luther

* Sabrina Carpenter - Manchild

Record of the year

* Winner: Kendrick Lamar feat SZA - Luther

* Bad Bunny - DtMF

* Sabrina Carpenter - Manchild

* Doechii - Anxiety

* Billie Eilish - Wildflower

* Lady Gaga – Abracadabra

* Chappell Roan - The Subway

* Rosé & Bruno Mars - APT

Album of the year

* Winner: Bad Bunny - Debí Tirar Más Fotos

* Justin Bieber - Swag

* Sabrina Carpenter - Man's Best Friend

* Clipse – Let God Sort Em Out

* Lady Gaga - Mayhem

* Kendrick Lamar - GNX

* Leon Thomas – Mutt

* Tyler, the Creator – Chromakopia

Best new artist

* Winner: Olivia Dean

* Katseye

* The Marias

* Addison Rae

* Sombr

* Leon Thomas

* Alex Warren

* Lola Young

Pop and dance

Best pop vocal album

* Winner: Lady Gaga – Mayhem

* Justin Bieber – Swag

* Sabrina Carpenter – Man's Best Friend

* Miley Cyrus – Something Beautiful

* Teddy Swims – I've Tried Everything But Therapy Pt 2

Best pop solo performance

* Winner: Lola Young - Messy

* Justin Bieber - Daisies

* Sabrina Carpenter - Manchild

* Lady Gaga - Disease

* Chappell Roan - The Subway

Best pop duo/group performance

* Winner: Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande - Defying Gravity

* Huntr/x - Golden

* Katseye - Gabriela

* Rosé & Bruno Mars - APT

* SZA With Kendrick Lamar - 30 For 30

Best dance/electronic recording

* Winner: Tame Impala - End Of Summer

* Disclosure & Anderson .Paak - No Cap

* Fred again.., Skepta, & PlaqueBoyMax - Victory Lap

* Kaytranada - Space Invader

* Skrillex - Voltage

Best dance/electronic album

* Winner: FKA Twigs - Eusexua

* Fred again.. - Ten Days

* PinkPantheress - Fancy That

* Rüfüs Du Sol - Inhale / Exhale

* Skrillex - F*** U Skrillex You Think Ur Andy Warhol But Ur Not!! <3

Best dance/pop recording

* Winner: Lady Gaga - Abracadabra

* Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco - Bluest Flame

* Zara Larsson - Midnight Sun

* Tate McRae - Just Keep Watching

* PinkPantheress - Illegal

Best traditional pop vocal album

* Winner: Laufey - A Matter Of Time

* Laila Biali - Wintersongs

* Jennifer Hudson - The Gift Of Love

* Elton John & Brandi Carlile - Who Believes In Angels?

* Lady Gaga - Harlequin

* Barbra Streisand - The Secret Of Life: Partners, Volume 2

Latin

Best Latin pop album

* Winner: Natalia Lafourcade - Cancionera

* Rauw Alejandro - Cosa Nuestra

* Andrés Cepeda - Bogotá (Deluxe)

* Karol G - Tropicoqueta

* Alejandro Sanz - ¿Y ahora qué?

Best música urbana album

* Winner: Bad Bunny - DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS

* J Balvin - Mixteip

* Feid - Ferxxo Vol X: Sagrado

* Nicki Nicole - Naiki

* Trueno - Eub Deluxe

* Yandel - Sinfónico (En Vivo)

Rock and metal

Best rock performance

* Winner: Yungblud ft Nuno Bettencourt, Frank Bello, Adam Wakeman, II - Changes (Live From Villa Park) Back To The Beginning

* Amyl and The Sniffers - U Should Not Be Doing That

* Linkin Park - The Emptiness Machine

* Turnstile - Never Enough

* Hayley Williams - Mirtazapine

Best rock song

* Winner: Nine Inch Nails - As Alive As You Need Me To Be

* Sleep Token - Caramel

* Hayley Williams - Glum

* Turnstile - Never Enough

* Yungblud - Zombie

Best rock album

* Winner: Turnstile - Never Enough

* Deftones - Private Music

* Haim - I Quit

* Linkin Park - From Zero

* Yungblud - Idols

Best alternative music album

* Winner: The Cure - Songs Of A Lost World

* Bon Iver - Sable, Fable

* Tyler, The Creator - Don't Tap the Glass

* Wet Leg - Moisturizer

* Hayley Williams - Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party

Best alternative music performance

* Winner: The Cure - Alone

* Bon Iver - Everything Is Peaceful Love

* Turnstile - Seein' Stars

* Wet Leg - Mangetout

* Hayley Williams - Parachute

Best metal performance

* Winner: Turnstile - Birds

* Dream Theater - Night Terror

* Ghost - Lachryma

* Sleep Token - Emergence

* Spiritbox - Soft Spine

Rap

Best rap performance

* Winner: Clipse, Pusha T & Malice feat Kendrick Lamar & Pharrell Williams - Chains & Whips

* Cardi B - Outside

* Doechii - Anxiety

* Kendrick Lamar feat Lefty Gunplay - TV Off

* Tyler, The Creator feat Teezo Touchdown - Darling, I

Best melodic rap performance

* Winner: Kendrick Lamar with SZA - Luther

* Fridayy feat Meek Mill - Proud Of Me

* JID feat Ty Dolla $ign & 6Lack - Wholeheartedly

* Terrace Martin & Kenyon Dixon feat Rapsody - WeMaj

* Partynextdoor & Drake - Somebody Loves Me

Best rap song

* Winner: Kendrick Lamar feat Lefty Gunplay - TV Off

* Doechii - Anxiety

* Clipse, Pusha T & Malice feat John Legend & Voices of Fire - The Birds Don't Sing

* Tyler, The Creator feat GloRilla, Sexyy Red & Lil Wayne - Sticky

* GloRilla - TGIF

Best rap album

* Winner: Kendrick Lamar - GNX

* Clipse, Pusha T & Malice - Let God Sort Em Out

* GloRilla - Glorious

* JID - God Does Like Ugly

* Tyler, The Creator - Chromakopia

Country

Best country solo performance

* Winner: Chris Stapleton - Bad As I Used To Be

* Tyler Childers - Nose On The Grindstone

* Shaboozey - Good News

* Zach Top - I Never Lie

* Lainey Wilson - Somewhere Over Laredo

Best country duo/group performance

* Shaboozey & Jelly Roll - Amen

* Miranda Lambert and Chris Stapleton - A Song To Sing

* Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson - Trailblazer

* Margo Price & Tyler Childers - Love Me Like You Used To Do

* George Strait & Chris Stapleton - Honky Tonk Hall Of Fame

Best country song

* Winner: Tyler Childers - Bitin' List

* Shaboozey - Good News

* Zach Top - I Never Lie

* Lainey Wilson - Somewhere Over Laredo

* Chris Stapleton - A Song To Sing

Best contemporary country album

* Jelly Roll - Beautifully Broken

* Kelsea Ballerini - Patterns

* Tyler Childers - Snipe Hunter

* Eric Church - Evangeline vs The Machine

* Miranda Lambert - Postcards From Texas

R&B and Afrobeats

Best R&B performance

* Winner: Kehlani - Folded

* Justin Bieber - Yukon

* Chris Brown feat Bryson Tiller - It Depends

* Leon Thomas - Mutt (Live From NPR's Tiny Desk)

* Summer Walker - Heart Of A Woman

Best R&B song

* Winner: Kehlani - Folded

* Summer Walker - Heart Of A Woman

* Chris Brown feat Bryson Tiller - It Depends

* Durand Bernarr - Overqualified

* Leon Thomas - Yes It Is

Best R&B album

* Winner: Leon Thomas - Mutt

* Giveon - Beloved

* Coco Jones - Why Not More?

* Ledisi - The Crown

* Teyana Taylor - Escape Room

Best African music performance

* Winner: Tyla - Push 2 Start

* Burna Boy - Love

* Davido feat Omah Lay - With You

* Eddy Kenzo & Mehran Matin - Hope & Love

* Ayra Starr feat Wizkid - Gimme Dat

Production and songwriting

Producer of the Year, Non-Classical

* Winner: Cirkut (Lady Gaga, Rosé, Jade)

* Dan Auerbach

* Dijon

* Blake Mills

* Sounwave

Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical

* Winner: Amy Allen (Rosé, Jennie, Sabrina Carpenter)

* Edgar Barrera

* Jessie Jo Dillon

* Tobias Jesso Jr

* Laura Veltz

Film and TV

Best comedy album

* Winner: Nate Bargatze - Your Friend, Nate Bargatze

* Bill Burr - Drop Dead Years

* Sarah Silverman - PostMortem

* Ali Wong - Single Lady

* Jamie Foxx - What Had Happened Was

Best compilation soundtrack for visual media

* Winner: Sinners - Various artists

* A Complete Unknown - Timothée Chalamet

* F1 The Album - Various artists

* K-Pop Demon Hunters - Various artists

* Wicked - Various artists

Best score soundtrack for visual media (includes film and televison)

* Winner: Ludwig Göransson - Sinners

* John Powell - How To Train Your Dragon

* Theodore Shapiro - Severance: Season 2

* John Powell & Stephen Schwartz - Wicked

* Kris Bowers - The Wild Robot

Best score soundtrack for video games and other interactive media

* Winner: Austin Wintory - Sword of the Sea

* Pinar Toprak - Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora - Secrets of the Spires

* Wilbert Roget II - Helldivers 2

* Gordy Haab - Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

* Cody Matthew Johnson & Wilbert Roget II - Star Wars Outlaws: Wild Card & A Pirate's Fortune

Best song written for visual media

* Winner: Huntr/x – Golden (From K-Pop Demon Hunters)

* Nine Inch Nails - As Alive As You Need Me To Be (From Tron: Ares)

* Miles Caton – I Lied To You (From Sinners)

* Elton John & Brandi Carlile - Never Too Late (From Elton John: Never Too Late)

* Jayme Lawson – Pale Pale Moon (From Sinners)

* Rod Wave – Sinners (From Sinners)

Best audiobook narration

* Winner: Dalai Lama - Meditations: The Reflections Of His Holiness The Dalai Lama

* Kathy Garver - Elvis, Rocky & Me: The Carol Connors Story

* Trevor Noah - Into The Uncut Grass

* Ketanji Brown Jackson - Lovely One: A Memoir

* Fab Morvan - You Know It's True: The Real Story Of Milli Vanilli

Best music video

* Winner: Doechii – Anxiety

* Sade – Young Lion

* Sabrina Carpenter – Manchild

* Clipse – So Be It

* OK Go - Love

Best music film

* Winner: John Williams - Music by John Williams

* Devo - Devo

* Raye - Live at the Albert Hall

* Diane Warren - Relentless

* Pharrell Williams - Piece By Piece

Jazz and classical

Best jazz vocal album

* Winner: Samara Joy – Portrait

* Dee Dee Bridgewater & Bill Charlap – Elemental

* Terri Lyne Carrington & Christie Dashiell – We Insist 2025!

* Michael Mayo – Fly

* Nicole Zuraitis, Dan Pugach, Tom Scott, Idan Morim, Keyon Harrold & Rachel Eckroth - Live at Vic's Las Vegas

Best jazz instrumental album

* Winner: Sullivan Fortner feat Peter Washington & Marcus Gilmore – Southern Nights

* Chick Corea, Christian McBride & Brian Blade – Trilogy 3 (Live)

* Branford Marsalis Quartet – Belonging

* John Patitucci feat Chris Potter & Brian Blade – Spirit Fall

* Yellowjackets – Fasten Up

Best alternative jazz album

* Winner: Nate Smith – Live-Action

* Ambrose Akinmusire - Honey from a Winter Stone

* Robert Glasper - Keys To The City Volume One

* Brad Mehldau – Ride Into The Sun

* Immanuel Wilkins – Blues Blood

Best jazz performance

* Winner: Chick Corea, Christian McBride & Brian Blade – Windows (Live)

* Lakecia Benjamin feat Immanuel Wilkins & Mark Whitfield – Noble Rise

* Samara Joy - Peace Of Mind/Dreams Come True

* Michael Mayo – Four

* Nicole Zuraitis, Dan Pugach, Tom Scott, Idan Morim, Keyon Harrold & Rachel Eckroth – All Stars Lead To You (Live)

Best musical theatre album

* Winner: Buena Vista Social Club

* Death Becomes Her

* Gypsy

* Just In Time

* Maybe Happy Ending

Best opera recording

* Winner: Heggie: Intelligence - Kwamé Ryan, conductor (Houston Grand Opera; Gene Scheer)

* Huang Ruo: An American Soldier - Carolyn Kuan, conductor (American Composers Orchestra; David Henry Hwang)

* Kouyoumdjian - Adoration Alan Pierson, conductor (Silvana Quartet; The Choir Of Trinity Wall Street)

* O'Halloran: Trade & Mary Motorhead - Elaine Kelly (Irish National Opera Orchestra; Mark O'Halloran)

* Tesori: Grounded - Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus; George Brant)

Best orchestral performance

* Winner: Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie - Andris Nelsons, conductor (Boston Symphony Orchestra)

* Coleridge-Taylor: Toussaint L'Ouverture; Ballade Op. 4; Suites From '24 Negro Melodies' - Michael Repper, conductor (National Philharmonic)

* Ravel: Boléro - Gustavo Dudamel, conductor (Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra Of Venezuela)

* Still & Bonds - Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor (The Philadelphia Orchestra)

* Stravinsky: Symphony In Three Movements - Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor (San Francisco Symphony)

See the full list of Grammy nominations.

The most eye-catching looks from the Grammy Awards, from Chappell Roan to Olivia Dean

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqj2kyp29l7o, yesterday

Stars including Olivia Dean, Sabrina Carpenter and Justin Bieber stepped out at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday.

Here are some of the most eye-catching looks from on the red carpet and inside the premiere ceremony before the main show.

Carpenter's Grammy-nominated album may be called Man's Best Friend, but her red carpet look seemed to channel another blonde bombshell, with her Valentino form-fitting gown set with rhinestones reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe.

Maybe diamonds are a girl's best friend? Carpenter also performed at the 2026 awards ceremony.

Bad Bunny went for a classic tux and bow tie designed by Schiaparelli and inspired by the shape of one of the French fashion house's early fragrance bottles. The Puerto Rican musician was nominated in six categories and became the first artist in the 68-year history of the Grammys to win album of the year with a record sung entirely in Spanish.

Chappell Roan's deep red Mugler gown and cape hid a revealing outfit that was one of the most talked-about dresses of this year's ceremony.

Lady Gaga, who was nominated for album of the year, returned to the feathered look she debuted at last year's ceremony. The Abracadabra singer pulled arrived in a custom Matières Fécales hourglass-shaped gown.

Trevor Noah hosted the awards for a sixth – and final – time.

Justin Bieber wore badges saying "Ice out" on his Balenciaga suit. He was accompanied by his wife Hailey in a custom Alaia gown with sheer panels.

Kesha was among the last of the stars to walk the red carpet, making an entrance in an all-white Atelier Biser dress with bare shoulders. It marked her return to the Grammys since last attending in 2018.

Canadian singer and composer Tate McRae was also one of the last to arrive but she went the opposite way, sartorially speaking, wearing a long black Balenciaga dress.

Supermodel Heidi Klum is surely used to making even the most form-fitting designs work on the runway, and her look for the Grammys red carpet was no different.

Her flesh-toned dress earned plenty of stares as Klum struggled to walk past the photographers. But she never stopped smiling on the journey.

Rapper Killer Mike, who was nominated for best contemporary Christian music performance/song for his song Headphones, walked the red carpet with his wife, Shana Render.

Render was one of many performers and guests who got the memo to wear gold.

Venezuelan artist Raniero Palm, who was nominated for best classical instrumental solo for Hope Orchestrated, made a not-so-subtle political statement when he walked the red carpet with his country's flag.

Best new artist nominee Addison Rae brought new meaning to her song High Fashion on the red carpet. She paired her fitted white Alaïa-designed dress with very, very high stilettos.

Pharrell Williams was an early winner on the night, bagging best rap performance for his feature on Clipse and Kendrick Lamar's Chains & Whips, before later being given the Grammys global impact award.

As men's creative director for Louis Vuitton he probably got a discount on this pink velour suit too.

Olivia Dean was the UK's standout success on the night in LA, becoming the first Brit to win best new artist since Dua Lipa in 2019. She accepted her award in a custom Chanel gown with sequins and feathers.

Fellow Brit Yungblud gave Sharon Osbourne a big hug on the red carpet after winning best rock performance, early on in proceedings, for his live tribute to her late husband - former Black Sabbath star Ozzy.

K-Pop idol Rosé pictured on the red carpet shortly before kicking off the ceremony with an explosive performance alongside Bruno Mars. She wore a Giambattista Valli dress styled by celebrity fashion guru Law Roach.

Katseye caught the eye on the red carpet too, coordinating in Ludovic de Saint Sernin lace gowns.

The girl group were nominated for both best new artist and best pop duo/group performance for their track Gabriela.

Another Brit abroad, Lola Young performed her hit Messy but looked pretty smart in a shirt and tie under a baggy Vivienne Westwood outfit.

Somali woman executed for murdering a child in a case that sparked outrage

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3r15929grwo, today

The authorities in Puntland, a semi‑autonomous region of Somalia, have executed a woman convicted of murdering a 14‑year‑old girl, in a rare case in the region in which the death penalty has been carried out against a woman.

Hodan Mohamud Diiriye, 34, was killed by firing squad on Tuesday in the city of Galkayo after a court found her guilty of beating to death a teenager who had been working as a domestic helper.

Saabirin Saylaan's killing in November sparked protests in Galkayo, along with renewed calls for greater child protection.

The case touched a deep nerve in a country where child abuse often goes unreported, especially when it occurs inside extended families.

Officials said the sentence was carried out under "qisas", an Islamic legal principle that allows the family of a murder victim to demand execution rather than accept financial compensation.

A decree in the Mudug region, where the murder happened, requires Islamic law to be enforced in such cases.

Members of both Saabirin's family and Diiriye's family were present when the sentence was carried out, according to Faysal Sheikh Ali, Mudug's governor.

The Puntland authorities said this was the first time in more than 10 years that a woman had been executed there under a retaliatory sentence.

The last known execution of a woman occurred in 2013, when 13 members of the Islamist militant group al‑Shabab, including one woman, were executed by firing squad for their involvement in the killing of a prominent Islamic scholar, the authorities said at the time.

Diiriye's victim was orphaned when both her parents died within a short period when she was a one year old.

She was initially looked after by her family but then last year Saabirin's great-aunt agreed that Diiriye's family, who needed a home help, could take her in.

During their investigation, police revealed that in the two months she had been living there, the young girl had endured "routine physical abuse" - she was beaten and tortured.

Evidence recovered from Diiriye's phone, including videos and audio recordings, documented repeated violence. Some of these were leaked to the public before the trial - it is not clear who released them.

In one particularly disturbing recording, Diiriye can be heard saying: "I'm enjoying your pain."

A post-mortem examination of Saabirin's body revealed multiple injuries and deep stab wounds consistent with prolonged violence.

As details of the police investigation emerged, public anger grew.

Hundreds of women and young people marched in Galkayo, one of Puntland's largest cities, carrying signs reading "Justice for Saabirin" and calling on the authorities to prosecute all those responsible.

In the wake of the case, activists, elders and community leaders have called for accountability and stronger protections for children and domestic workers, who are often vulnerable to abuse.

Additional reporting by Hinda Abdi Mohamoud

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

South Sudan's leader sacks aides after dead man appointed

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyw71jdyk0o, today

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has sacked two senior aides following an embarrassing situation where he appointed a dead man to serve on a panel to lead discussions on elections scheduled for December.

Steward Soroba Budia's appointment was announced in a presidential order dated 30 December, but local media pointed out that the member of the opposition United Democratic Party (UDP), had died five years ago.

It led to people mocking the appointment on social media.

Without giving reasons, an official statement said the president had sacked his press secretary David Amour Major and the chief administrator in the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, Valentino Dhel Maluet.

Kiir was "pleased" to announce that the two had been relieved of their duties, and wished to express his "profound gratitude" to them for their service, said the statement posted on the president's official Facebook account, and signed by Minister of Presidential Affairs Africano Mande Gedima.

On Monday, Amour said in a press release that the president's office had relied entirely on the "accuracy and currency" of the names submitted by "stakeholders" for inclusion on the panel.

"It is now evident that a thorough verification was not done by one of the stakeholders which resulted in this unfortunate administrative oversight," Amour said.

He did not name the stakeholder, while the UDP has not commented.

It is unclear whether the statement led to Amour's dismissal. There had been speculation before the statement that he would be sacked.

Budia had been a signatory to a peace agreement signed in 2018 to end conflict that had hit South Sudan after its independence in 2011.

Kiir has set up the panel, made up of representatives of different parties, to pave the way for elections.

But there are doubts as to whether the election will take place, as the country is still experiencing conflict.

Previous elections have been postponed, with Kiir in office since independence.

The UN says more than 180,000 people are believed to have been forced to flee their homes by recent fighting.

Jonglei state is seeing the worst of it with the army battling forces aligned to South Sudan's suspended Vice-President Riek Machar.

He is currently under house arrest and on trial for murder, treason and crime against humanity. He denies the charges.

Kiir and Machar are supposed to be part of a unity government agreed in the 2018 settlement after a five-year war that followed a power struggle between the two men.

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Ghana suspends citizenship process for people of African descent

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c75x0pk6zkvo, yesterday

Ghana has paused citizenship applications for members of the African diaspora in order to make the system more accessible and user friendly.

Since 2016, those who can prove their ancestors came from Africa have been able to get Ghanaian nationality. It was primarily aimed at the descendants of those who were victims of the transatlantic slave trade.

More than 1,000 people - including African American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder - have obtained Ghanaian citizenship in recent years.

However, some applicants have complained about the number of stages involved, as well as the high cost.

Dr Erieka Bennet, ambassador for the Diaspora African Forum, which helps people relocate to Ghana, told the BBC that many applicants struggled with the requirement to submit DNA evidence within a week of the application, saying the timeframe was "impossible" for most and that some also questioned the reliability of DNA testing.

She said the one-week deadline for submitting all additional documentation was difficult to meet.

Another concern was cost. The application fee stands at $136 (£100), while shortlisted candidates are required to pay a further $2,280 (£1,700).

They are then vetted and attend a one-day citizenship orientation before finally receiving their nationality at a ceremony overseen by President John Mahama.

Bennet expressed confidence that the issues would be resolved and that the application process would resume.

The government has said updated timelines and guidelines will be issued "in due course", without giving a timeframe.

Uncertainty around the suspension has caused anxiety for some potential applicants planning their relocation or investments.

Ghana's outreach to Africans worldwide is rooted in its post-independence Pan-African vision championed by the country's first President, Kwame Nkrumah.

It was relaunched in 2019 as the Year of Return to revive global interest in reconnecting with the country.

Today, members of the diaspora invest in sectors including real estate, agriculture, tech and small businesses, often seeking Ghanaian citizenship so they can own property, vote and access public services.

Countries such as Benin and Sierra Leone also offer citizenship to people of African descent based on verified ancestral ties.

More about Ghana from the BBC:

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Ethiopia PM hits out at Eritrea over atrocities in Tigray

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74vpdnj301o, today

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has hit out at Eritrea's army for committing atrocities during the two-year war in the northern Tigray region, which ended in 2022.

Eritrean forces fought alongside the Ethiopian army against local Tigrayan fighters for control of Tigray, which borders Eritrea.

In an address to parliament, Abiy admitted for the first time that Eritrean troops had massacred people in Aksum - allegations Eritrea had previously denied following reports of mass killings that took place in the historic city over two days in November 2020.

It is the latest twist in a volatile relationship between the two Horn of Africa neighbours, who flip flop from being friends to enemies.

Abiy won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for ending a 20-year military stalemate with Eritrea over a border dispute.

Friendly relations were forged further during the Tigray war, but have of late given way to a war of words over the Red Sea - something landlocked Ethiopia wants access to through Eritrea.

Ethiopia's foreign ministry has also recently accused Eritrea of changing allegiances in Tigray - leading to fears of a renewed conflict in the region.

The African Union (AU) brokered a deal between the government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) to end the brutal Tigray war in November 2022, but Eritrea was not a signatory to the Pretoria Agreement.

At the time Asmara opposed the truce, arguing it should not have been concluded before the TPLF was fully defeated.

All sides were accused of committing atrocities during the Tigray war - with some of the worst abuses blamed on Eritrean troops.

Most communications to the region were cut off during the war - and journalists were not granted access, but the BBC and rights groups like Amnesty International were able to piece together what happened in Aksum.

Witnesses recounted how hundreds of unarmed civilians were killed by Eritrean soldiers - many of them boys and men - during house-to-house raids on 28 and 29 November 2020.

Abiy had told parliament on 30 November 2020 that "not a single civilian was killed" during the operation.

But during his parliamentary address on Tuesday the prime minister admitted that there had been mass killings of young people by Eritrean soldiers.

He added that during the war when allied forces began taking control of Tigray's cities, Eritrean troops had demolished homes, looted properties, destroyed industries and seized machinery in places such as Adwa, Aksum, Adigrat and Shire.

Abiy said he had dispatched envoys to Eritrea during the conflict, urging its government to halt the destruction and killings.

His comments came as passenger flights between Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, and cities in Tigray resumed on Tuesday morning after a five-day suspension.

They had been cancelled because of clashes between the federal army and Tigray fighters in a disputed area of western Tigray - sparking fears of a return to conflict.

An AU envoy estimated that 600,000 people were killed during the two-year Tigray war.

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

South Africa's ex-President Zuma mentioned in Epstein emails over London dinner plan

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clym08n2kggo, today

Former South African President Jacob Zuma has been mentioned in the latest tranche of the Epstein files, after his name appeared in several emails from the late sex offender and others.

They concerned a dinner Jeffrey Epstein seemingly arranged for Zuma in London in 2010, which the emails suggest was also attended by a "beautiful" Russian model.

Being named among the Epstein files is not an indication of wrongdoing.

The Jacob Zuma Foundation has described stories about the emails as "agenda-driven journalism built on innuendo" and "guilt by association", adding that there was no "unlawful or improper conduct" by the former president.

The email chain about the dinner contained in the Epstein files is as follows.

An email from 4 March 2010, from someone arranging the dinner to a possible guest and copying in Epstein, says:

"I am a friend of Jeffrey Epstein and I have been asked to help arrange a small dinner tomorrow night for President Jacob Zuma of South Africa at the Ritz Hotel at 7:00pm tomorrow evening.

"Jeffrey suggested that I invite you, as you would be certain to add some real glamour to the occasion. A friend of Jeffrey's is a friend of mine, so I have no hesitation inviting you to join us.

"If you are not put off by the extremely short notice and would be able to accept, can you let me have a little more information about yourself as well as your full name (as I have to present the President with a summary of the guests in advance)."

The person then responded - also copying in Epstein - saying:

"It is very kind of you and Jeffrey to invite me and I will be honored to accept your invitation. About myself: my name is (redacted). I'm from Russia and I have lived in London for the past 2 years. I am a model, represented by Select model agency. I have been modeling for the past 6 years and have lived in Paris, New York, Barcelona and Japan. Please let me know if you need any other information.

"Will it be a black tie event or is a sleeveless cocktail dress ok?"

In a separate email about the dinner, Epstein contacted British politician Lord Peter Mandelson, saying the host "is having dinner for zuma tomorrow night at the ritz„ i have invited a beautiful russina named (redacted) to attend".

A response from Lord Mandelson is not recorded.

On 6 March, Epstein sent an email to an unknown person and received a reply the next day:

“Jeffrey, (name redacted) was a delight last night and enchanted all those she met. Her beauty apart, she displayed an elegance and natural charm that is a rare combination to find anywhere these days. So a very big thank you for the introduction.... By the way, Jacob Zuma was much more impressive and engaging than I thought he would be!"

The BBC contacted the Jacob Zuma Foundation for comment, and was referred to a statement issued to South African media outlet Daily Maverick.

This said: "The so-called 'revelation' published by Daily Maverick is a textbook example of agenda-driven journalism built on innuendo, third-party emails and retrospective guilt by association.

"At no point does the article allege, let alone establish, any unlawful or improper conduct by Jacob Zuma.

"The attempt to smear President Zuma by proximity to the unrelated crimes of a third party is unethical, irresponsible and intellectually dishonest.

"The Jacob Zuma Foundation will not participate in speculative narrative-building disguised as investigative journalism. The matter is closed."

Zuma was on a state visit to the UK visited the UK from 3-5 March 2010.

Epstein, a well-connected US financier and convicted sex offender, was found dead in prison by suicide in 2019 while awaiting a trial on sex trafficking charges.

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Banknote bouquets could land you in jail, Kenya's central bank warns

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g012lz1l0o, today

Kenya's central bank has warned people against using banknotes to make floral-like bouquets and decorations, which has become a trend in the East African nation.

They are often ordered in the run-up to Valentine's Day - and have been popularised by celebrities and online influencers, who share videos of themselves presenting such bouquets during celebrations.

To make the cash bouquets, notes of different colours and value are rolled and then fastened together in a style that makes them look like a bunch of flowers.

But the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) says the creators are defacing the Kenyan currency and could face seven years in jail if arrested.

According to the CBK, the banknotes tend to be "folded, rolled, glued, stapled, pinned or otherwise affixed using adhesives or fastening materials... compromising their integrity".

This was affecting equipment such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and cash-counting machines, the CBK said in its statement issued on Monday.

The cash bouquets had also led to more notes being rejected and unnecessary costs for both the public and the bank to replace the currency, it added.

However, the bank said it was not opposed to cash being used as gifts, and asked people to find alternative ways of doing so that did not damage the banknotes.

Kenya is a top global grower of flowers - so the announcement has been welcomed by some who say fresh blooms would be a more appropriate gift for Valentine's Day on 14 February.

It has also drawn some amused reactions on social media.

"The public notice from the Central Bank of Kenya has saved men ahead of this year's Valentine's Day. Back to basics, bouquet of flowers it is," Alinur Mohamed says on X.

Another Kenyan says the "public has hailed this decision" as it provides "a much-needed relief for those who found such cash bouquets overly expensive and wasteful".

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Three West African juntas have turned to Russia. Now the US wants to engage them

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckglwnrx437o, yesterday

The US has declared a stark policy shift towards three West African countries which are battling Islamist insurgents and whose military governments have broken defence ties with France and turned towards Russia.

The state department announced that Nick Checker, head of its Bureau of African Affairs, would visit Mali's capital Bamako to convey the United States' "respect for Mali's sovereignty" and chart a "new course" in relations, moving "past policy missteps".

It adds that the US also looks forward to co-operating with Mali's allies, neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, "on shared security and economic interests".

Absent from the agenda is the longstanding American concern for democracy and human rights. The Biden administration had halted military co-operation after coups deposed the elected civilian presidents of all three countries between 2020 and 2023, with Niger's Mohamed Bazoum still locked up in his own residence.

The US statement makes explicit a radical change in policy that had become increasingly evident over the 12 months since Donald Trump returned to the White House.

The shift started with the shuttering of USAID – a key provider of development support to the region – days after the president was sworn in for a new term.

This was followed by repeated signals of a much narrower focus on security and mineral resources, with both development and governance sidelined.

The announcement of Checker's visit goes further in openly declaring respect for Mali's sovereignty. The message will resonate in Bamako and allied capitals, where military leaders have built their appeal by striking pan-Africanist themes and rejecting former colonial power France.

Burkina Faso's military leader, Capt Ibrahim Traoré, presents himself as a standard-bearer in resisting "imperialism" and "neo-colonialism". Through vigorous social media promotion, he has gained huge support for this stance and personal popularity among young people across the continent and beyond.

The Trump administration has made plain that it is unconcerned by the regimes' rejection of the European-style constitutional model of elected civilian government.

Massad Boulos, senior adviser for Africa at the state department and a Trump confidant, last year told the French newspaper Le Monde: "Democracy is always appreciated, but our policy is not to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. People are free to choose whatever system is appropriate for them."

This attitude marks a stark change.

During the Biden era Gen Michael Langley, head of the US military's Africa Command (Africom) from 2022 to 2025, stressed the importance of good governance and environmental issues, as complements to military support.

However last year, following Trump's return to the presidency, he said that supporting the fight against terrorism was now the main focus.

And that certainly seems to be the priority in West Africa, a message reiterated by Rudolph Attalah, a senior counter-terrorism official, on a visit to Bamako last year.

Then last month Africom's deputy head, Gen John Brennan, confirmed that the US was continuing to actively support the three military-run countries in their struggle against jihadist groups, and Islamic State in particular.

The motives for Trump's shift in approach seem to be threefold.

The US, like Europe, remains seriously concerned about the long-term security threat posed by the jihadist groups now operating across the Sahel - the semi-arid stretch of land south of the Sahara Desert. According to some definitions, the region now accounts for half of all the world's terrorism deaths.

Although almost all the casualties are local, there is concern in the US that the governments' loss of control of much of their territory could allow the emergence of safe havens for jihadist groups to develop further and expand.

Diplomats and analysts routinely now describe the region as the "epicentre of global terrorism", which could present a long-term international threat.

In the "tri-border region", where Mali, Burkina and Niger converge, the West African offshoot of Islamic State (Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, ISGS) is particularly active.

A fresh reminder of the scale of threat that it poses came only last week with an attack on the airport in Niamey, Niger's capital.

The jihadist activity is also a threat to the Sahel's export of valuable or strategically important minerals: the region is a major producer of gold and Mali also produces lithium – a key ingredient in rechargeable batteries and also used in some medication – while Niger has significant uranium reserves.

Niger's military government has seized control of the country's main uranium mine from the longstanding French operator, Orano, and is now lining up Russia as its new partner in the sector.

The Trump administration also appears concerned not to leave Russia to play the role of sole external defence partner of the three countries.

Unlike the West African regional bloc Ecowas, France, the EU and the Biden administration, today's White House does not regard the Russian military presence as a threat to regional stability or human rights. Russia has deployed about 1,000 security contractors in Mali, with smaller contingents of mercenaries or regular troops in Burkina Faso and Niger.

There have been numerous allegations of abuses committed by the Russians, in particular in Mali.

When Attalah visited Bamako, he signalled that Washington was quite relaxed about Moscow's military involvement.

It seems that Washington does not want to leave the field open for exclusively Russian influence and does now want to balance that with its own security partnership.

Still, this will be on terms that will not unsettle Trump's political base, to whom he has repeatedly promised an end to US involvement in "forever wars" overseas. This is not about troops on the ground – save, perhaps, for occasional training teams.

Africom's Brennan says the US is providing Mali, Burkina and Niger with intelligence support and hints at the potential supply of weapons.

But Washington is not seeking to redeploy active forces or reopen the large drone base it built in Agadez, Niger, where it had around 800 troops. The junta expelled them after the Biden administration pressed for a roadmap to restore democracy.

Following the spate of coups, Ecowas tried to pressure the military leaders into promising firm dates for new elections.

But in response Niger, Burkina and Mali withdrew from the bloc last year and they are now focused on building up their own confederation, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).

Because they are no longer members, Ecowas has no responsibility for addressing their internal governance values.

And this has freed its dozen remaining member states to themselves just try to rebuild practical co-operation with the three countries in the fight against Islamist groups.

This is a major priority for governments across the region, at a time when militants have been infiltrating over the borders, to stage attacks or hide in the north of countries such as Benin, Nigeria and Togo, Ghana and Ivory Coast.

As the region faces this daunting challenge, US intelligence on key targets, and perhaps extra weapons too, may help deliver some quick wins against the militants.

But - as France's decade-long deployment of thousands of troops and air power to the Sahel showed - high-tech military means alone cannot restore peace, unless the complex social and economic stresses in this desperately poor region of the world are also addressed.

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

The king's speech - and why it has foreigners in South Africa worried

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd6we3009dgo, 3 days ago

South Africa's Zulu king has raised eyebrows by using a highly derogatory term for foreigners and saying they must all leave the country during a much-hyped speech that was supposed to have been aimed at calming anti-migrant feelings in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal.

Warning: This story contains language some people may find offensive

Misuzulu kaZwelithini was addressing his supporters at the place where 20,000 Zulus warriors defeated a British contingent of 1,800 soldiers 147 years ago beneath the rocky outcrop of Isandlwana hill.

The Battle of Isandlwana, fought during the Anglo-Zulu war, is something many Zulus wear like a badge of honour: they fought against a foreign army and won - the foreigners were cowed.

The ire of many of King Misuzulu's subjects is now directed not at British invaders but at migrants from neighbouring countries like Lesotho, Mozambique and Zimbabwe who have come to South Africa to work. According to official statistics, the country is home to about 2.4 million migrants, about 4% of the population.

The 51-year-old monarch did not advocate violence but said all "kwerekwere", an offensive word for African migrants, must pack their bags - even if they were in relationships with South Africans and had children with them.

"We must now sit down and discuss this because even if my nephew's father is a 'kwerekwere', the 'kwerekwere' must leave, only the child will remain," he said on Thursday to the delight of his audience - a response which prompted him to burst out laughing.

Many online have been quick to point out the irony of his remarks, considering the king's own mother was from Eswatini and one of his wives is also from the neighbouring kingdom.

But such xenophobic attitudes have long been an issue in South Africa, leading to deadly outbreaks of violence - and his comments echo those made by his late father Goodwill Zwelithini, who urged migrants in 2015 to "pack their belongings".

He later tried to back-pedal, claiming he was misquoted, but the country's human rights body found his comments "hurtful and harmful".

More than a decade on, xenophobia and anger directed at migrants remain a key political issue - with some believing foreigners are stealing jobs and benefiting from public services meant for South Africans.

The rate of unemployment in the country remains one of the highest in the world at around 33%.

This is something new opposition parties - like uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) led by former President Jacob Zuma, whose main support base is in KwaZulu-Natal - have latched on to with populist policies that support the expulsion of undocumented migrants.

This has led in recent years to the rise of vigilante anti-migrant groups, like Operation Dudula and March on March, which have gained notoriety for their demands that foreign nationals be removed from the country. "Dudula" means "to remove something by force" in the Zulu language.

Their latest campaign took place a few days before the king's speech and not long after the start of the academic year.

An angry group of protesters descended on a primary school in the KwaZulu-Natal port city of Durban, claiming that 90% of the pupils there were the children of migrants.

The heated demonstration forced the school to call parents to come and collect the students because of safety concerns - and the next day a large contingent of police was deployed to the gates of Addington Primary School.

The local authorities hit out at the organisers of the march, which was also supported by MK, and accused them of spreading misinformation.

"This has put a lot of people's lives at risk. It is a lie that 90% of learners are children of immigrants. The truth is that immigrants form 37% of the learner population," Mlu Mtshali, an education spokesperson for KwaZulu-Natal, told South Africa's Daily Maverick newspaper.

This prompted the education department to reveal that nationally, 253,618 foreign pupils are enrolled in South Africa's public schools - 1.8% of all students. Of these, 14,929 are at public schools in KwaZulu-Natal.

Commentators have also pointed out that in South Africa, all children have a legal right to basic education, irrespective of their nationality or status in the country.

Following the Addington Primary School protests and ahead of the Battle of Isandlwana commemoration, royal envoys hinted that King Misuzulu would address these concerns.

He has no formal political power, but a fifth of South Africa's population is Zulu and the monarchy remains hugely influential with a large budget funded by taxpayers.

The king also oversees a trust that owns and controls vast tracts of communal land in KwaZulu-Natal, which is supposed to be for the benefit local communities.

"We will speak to the 'kwerekweres' and tell them to leave. There is nobody who does not have a home to return to," the king said.

For Dr Vusumusi Sibanda, a human rights lawyer and expert on African diaspora issues, such words are "unfortunate" and "worrying" and encourage ordinary citizens to take the law into their own hands.

"The king is respected by [many people], including foreigners, and he's supposed to be that symbol," he told the BBC.

Lizette Lancaster, who works at South Africa's Institute for Security Studies think-tank, echoes this, telling me that the king's comments only served to "fuel anti-migrant sentiment and should be strongly condemned".

She also weighed in on the actions of vigilante groups, saying that while South African law protected activism, orchestrating vigilante activity "including incitement or actions against migrants, must be identified and dealt with".

The leader of March on March, Jacinta Ngobese Zuma, is now facing a public violence charge over the protests at Addington Primary School.

And in November, a court ordered Operation Dudula to stop blocking foreign nationals from accessing public health facilities and schools, saying it was illegal.

Another topic raised by the king that has the nation talking is his call to drop "Natal" from KwaZulu-Natal's name - again echoing a wish of his father.

"We need to remove this 'Natal'. This is KwaZulu, so I don't understand why we have this Natal," the king said.

Prior to 1994 and the end of South Africa's racist system of apartheid, the province now known as KwaZulu-Natal was split into two.

KwaZulu was classified as a "homeland", a semi-autonomous area reserved for ethnic Zulus, which existed within Natal province.

When South Africa ushered in democratic rule with Nelson Mandela elected president, the two were merged and the name conjoined.

Over the last three decades, many cities, towns and roads in South Africa have been renamed, replacing them with indigenous ones or calling them after heroes of the struggle against apartheid.

But for some commentators, the call to name the province simply KwaZulu is an unpalatable reminder of Zulu nationalism and its potential dangers.

In the years after Mandela's release from prison in 1990, political violence between his supporters and those of a Zulu nationalist party nearly derailed the process that led to the end of white-minority rule.

There are fears that renaming KwaZulu-Natal would create a kind of exceptionalism that could lead to more trouble in the ethnically diverse country which has 11 official languages.

Cultural expert Prof Musa Xulu is also quick to add that it would be wrong to regard KwaZulu-Natal as a Zulu province.

"In reality, it's a multicultural province," he told the BBC.

"[Re]naming it KwaZulu would be a distortion of history. There was never a time in history when this whole region… was a kingdom of the Zulus," he said.

Zulus "don't have the powers to simply push people around and say that the province should be known as KwaZulu", the academic added.

Until now King Misuzulu, on the throne since 2022, has mainly made the headlines with regard to the royal succession battle and his controversial divorce.

But now he seems to be following in his father's footsteps - and picking at scabs that never get a chance to heal in what is a politically charged environment.

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

This army chief threatened to castrate opposition leader and claimed descent from Jesus

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdjnp9m8wvgo, 4 days ago

A fiery tweeter who is in charge of Uganda's military, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba is decried by his critics as being in the middle of an unholy trinity, or alliance, of three men who rule the East African nation with an iron fist.

Kainerugaba, the son of the country's long-time leader Yoweri Museveni, has posted on social platform X about the killing of opposition supporters during this month's fiercely contested presidential election.

In posts which were subsequently deleted, he also threatened to have the testicles of defeated opposition candidate Bobi Wine removed.

With the 81-year-old president winning a seventh term, analysts say this is likely to be his last term and he is grooming his 51-year-son to succeed him.

The so-called "unholy alliance" - a play on the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity - is made up of Museveni, Kainerugaba, and the president's powerful brother and special adviser, Salim Saleh.

Kenya-based analyst for the Institute for Security Studies think-tank, Nicodemus Minde, tells the BBC that he heard the description during a recent research trip to Uganda.

"The Father being Museveni, then the Son being Muhoozi, then the Unholy Spirit could be the uncle, Salim Saleh," he says.

Minde describes Saleh as a "power behind the scenes", saying he was "influential in terms of money, business and access".

Opposition supporters accuse the family of believing they have a God-given right to rule Uganda, with Museveni extending his 40-year-rule after he was declared the winner of the election with more than 70% of the vote.

Indeed Anita Among, the speaker in the last parliament, also used the image of the holy trinity last year, as she rallied voters to back Museveni.

"We believe in God the Father - and God the Father is President Museveni. God the Son is MK [Muhoozi Kainerugaba], and now you [the voters] are the Holy Spirit. Therefore, vote for them," she was quoted as saying in comments that came in for some criticism.

After getting just 24% of the vote, Wine dismissed the results as "fake", claiming widespread "ballot-stuffing" was behind Museveni's victory.

This incurred the wrath of Kainerugaba, who threatened the opposition leader, giving him "exactly 48 hours to surrender himself to the police".

"If he doesn't we will treat him as an outlaw/rebel and handle him accordingly," he wrote.

Those tweets - and the one in which he threatened to remove Wine's testicles - have since been deleted.

Wine, who had gone into hiding after a raid on his house following the election, later called out the general on X and included a screengrab of some of the deleted tweets - to which Kainerugaba responded with the comment: "Boo hoo hoo Mr. 24%."

Another tweet saying Wine was wanted "dead or alive" is still on his feed, even though a government minister has said the opposition leader is free to carry out his activities.

The army chief later accused the US of helping Wine escape and said that all military co-operation between the two countries would be suspended.

On Friday, he apologised, saying he had been given "wrong information".

He subsequently announced "I intend to reduce my interactions" on the social media site. Last year, he said he would leave X before returning after just a few days.

Kainerugaba has a long history of controversial posts, some of which have been later deleted, and is also known as the "tweeting general".

He has also invoked religion to advance his political aspirations.

"I fear no one on this planet because my bloodline is from Jesus Christ," he posted earlier this month. This tweet has also been deleted.

A long-time friend of the general, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says he is "incredibly loyal", and compares his posting to US President Donald Trump.

"He might be Trumpian, but that's him expressing himself," the friend tells the BBC.

He says "it is wrong to try to understand him from the tweets that he posts", adding that Kainerugaba is "a man of complex character".

Minde describes the general's posts as often "wild", but says that many of his comments can make sense when viewed within the context of Uganda's succession politics - in particular Kainerugaba's bid to position himself as his father's heir.

"He probably wants to endear himself to his father," Minde tells the BBC, but adds that some of the posts are deliberate "provocations".

He says that Kainerugaba's statements do little to win him public favour.

Kainerugaba's friend, on the other hand, tells the BBC the general would be an "incredible successor" to his father.

He points out that Uganda is a post-conflict country where security is all-important.

"This is our number-one priority, to make sure that you are peaceful and stable and [Kainerugaba] is very experienced in that sphere. He's been doing this all his life," he adds.

However, some of his posts could threaten international relations if taken at face-value.

In 2022 he threatened to invade neighbouring Kenya, triggering a backlash from Kenyans who trolled him for his "reckless" comments.

He responded by urging them to "relax", but as the row escalated, Museveni was forced to phone his Kenyan counterpart William Ruto to apologise for his son's "mistake".

Kainerugaba has in the past downplayed some of his remarks as "musings" and "abstractions" that do not need to be taken seriously.

Uganda-based security analyst Freddie David Egesa observes that the military chief "enjoys having that kind of vibe".

"He sometimes likes joking around it," Egesa says.

Kainerugaba's friend says the general is "a kind, generous, intensely smart person who spends all his time thinking about the peace and security of this country".

He adds that the general executes his responsibilities to the best of his abilities.

"And that's why he serves in the role that he serves."

Critics say Kainerugaba has brooked little opposition in the country, acting decisively against anyone perceived as a threat to his father's administration.

By the general's own admission on X, at least 30 people were killed and 2,000 others detained by security officers following the recent elections.

Before the polls, opposition rallies were disrupted, with security forces at times opening fire. The United Nations said the election was held in an "environment marked by widespread repression and intimidation against the political opposition".

Kainerugaba played a role in the four-day internet blackout that lasted until after the elections, Reuters news agency quoted Andrew Mwenda, a Ugandan political commentator and close ally of the general, as saying.

The internet remained partially restricted afterwards, but on Monday, Kainerugaba posted that access to all social media platforms was being restored.

"We are releasing all social media today," he wrote.

On the same day, he took to X to deny that his soldiers had beaten up Bobi Wine's wife Barbara Kyagulanyi.

She had alleged from her hospital bed on Saturday that military officers had assaulted her overnight as they searched for her husband.

According to Minde, Kainerugaba's actions appear driven by loyalty or a desire to protect Museveni's administration. The general's first name, Muhoozi, means avenger.

"I named him Muhoozi, which means vengeance, such that when someone wrongs me, he avenges," Museveni once explained.

Kainerugaba, who was born in 1974, grew up in exile in Tanzania, Kenya and Sweden before his father took power in 1986 after overthrowing the brutal regime of Milton Obote.

He joined the military in 1999, enrolled at the UK's elite Sandhurst military academy and graduated the following year. He is married with several children.

He rapidly rose through the military ranks shortly after joining the army, reaching the rank of lieutenant-general 10 years later. He was promoted to a full general in 2022.

He played a pivotal role in the formation of the Special Forces Command (SFC), an elite military unit responsible for his father's security.

The SFC has been accused of involvement in a wave of abductions and torture of opposition members. It has denied the allegations, but some of its officers have been convicted of abusing their power.

The most prominent case was that of a 32-year-old SFC soldier, who was court-martialled and sentenced to death in 2024 for shooting dead three people and injuring two others, including a one-year-old child.

And after a bodyguard of Wine, Edward Sebuufu went missing last May, Kainerugaba revealed on X that he was in detention "in my basement", and sparked a social media storm after he published a photo of him appearing half-naked and with his beard shaved off.

As with Wine, he threatened to castrate Sebuufu.

Wine has alleged that members of the SFC, as well as the military, were behind a raid on his home the day after the election.

The unit is viewed as a shadow army that has helped Museveni, along with his ever-growing family dynasty, to consolidate power.

The latest addition to the political dynasty is Kainerugaba's son, Ruhamya, who has joined the army - seen as the first step to acquiring power in Uganda.

In the years to come, the composition of the trinity could change, with Kainerugaba as the Father, Ruhamya as the Son and another family patriarch succeeding Saleh as the Spirit.

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Music legend Fela Kuti becomes first African to get Grammys Lifetime Achievement Award

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czx1207757xo, 5 days ago

Long crowned by his legion of fans as the king of Afrobeat, the late Fela Kuti is finally being recognised by the global music industry.

The Nigerian star will posthumously receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys - almost three decades after his death at the age of 58.

"Fela has been in the hearts of the people for such a long time. Now the Grammys have acknowledged it, and it's a double victory," his musician son Seun Kuti tells the BBC.

"It's bringing balance to a Fela story," he adds.

Rikki Stein, a long-time friend and manager of the late musician, says the recognition by the Grammys is "better late than never".

"Africa hasn't in the past rated very highly in their interests. I think that's changing quite a bit of late," Stein tells the BBC.

Following the global success of Afrobeats, a genre inspired by Fela's sound, the Grammys introduced the category of Best African Performance in 2024.

This year, Nigerian superstar Burna Boy also has a nomination in the Best Global Music Album category.

But Fela Kuti will be the first African to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award, albeit posthumously. The award was first presented in 1963 to American singer and actor Bing Crosby.

Other musicians who will receive the award this year include Mexican-American guitarist Carlos Santana, Chaka Khan, the American singer known as the Queen of Funk, and Paul Simon.

Fela Kuti's family, as well friends and colleagues, will be attending the Grammys to receive his award.

"The global human tapestry needs this, not just because it's my father," Seun Kuti tells the BBC.

Stein says it is important to recognise Fela as a man who championed the cause of people who had "drawn life's short straw", adding that he "castigated any form of social injustice, corruption [and] mismanagement" in government.

"So it would be impossible to ignore that aspect of Fela's legacy," he tells the BBC.

For Fela Anikulapo Kuti was not simply a musician, but also a cultural theorist, political agitator and the undisputed architect of Afrobeat - which is distinct from, but ultimately led to, the modern sound of Afrobeats.

He pioneered the Afrobeat genre alongside drummer Tony Allen, blending West African rhythms, jazz, funk, highlife, extended improvisation, call-and-response vocals and politically charged lyricism.

Across a career spanning roughly three decades until his death in 1997, Fela Kuti released more than 50 albums and built a body of work that fused music with ideology, rhythm with resistance, and performance with protest.

His music incurred the wrath of Nigeria's then-military regimes.

In 1977, after the release of the album Zombie, which satirised government soldiers as obedient, brainless enforcers, his compound in the main city, Lagos, was raided.

Known as Kalakuta Republic, the property was burned, residents were brutalised, and his mother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, later died from injuries sustained during the assault.

Rather than retreat, Fela Kuti responded through music and defiance. He took his mother's coffin to government offices and released the song Coffin for Head of State, turning grief into protest.

The musician's ideology was a blend of pan-Africanism, anti-imperialism, and African-rooted socialism.

Fela Kuti's mother was hugely influential in his life, helping shape his political consciousness, while the US-born singer and activist Sandra Izsadore helped sharpen his revolutionary outlook

He was born Olufela Olusegun Oludoton Ransome-Kuti, but dropped Ransome because of its Western roots.

In 1978, he married 27 women in a highly publicised ceremony, bringing together partners, performers, organisers and co-architects of the cultural and communal vision of Kalakuta Republic.

Fela Kuti endured repeated arrests, beatings, censorship and surveillance by the security forces. Yet repression only amplified his influence.

"He wasn't doing what he was doing to win awards. He was interested in liberation. Freeing the mind," Stein tells the BBC.

"He was fearless. He was determined."

Fela Kuti's musical evolution was shaped not only by Nigeria but also by Ghana. During the 1950s and 1960s, highlife music, pioneered by Ghanaian musicians such as ET Mensah, Ebo Taylor and Pat Thomas, became a defining sound across West Africa.

Its melodic guitar lines, horn sections, dance rhythms, and cosmopolitan identity deeply influenced Fela Kuti's early musical direction.

He spent time in Ghana absorbing highlife's structure, horn phrasing, and dance-oriented arrangements before fusing it with jazz, funk, the rhythms of his own Yoruba people, and political storytelling.

The DNA of highlife can be heard in Afrobeat's melodic sensibility and its balance between groove and sophistication.

In this sense, Afrobeat is not only Nigerian. It is West African, pan-African, and diasporic in origin, carrying Ghana's musical imprint at its foundation.

On stage, Fela Kuti cut an unmistakable figure. Often bare-chested or draped in the wax-printed fabric popular across West Africa, hair shaped into a crisp Afro, saxophone in hand, eyes alert with intensity, he commanded a large band of more than 20 musicians.

His performances at the Afrika Shrine in Lagos were legendary, part concert, part political rally, part spiritual ceremony.

Stein recalls that performances at the Shrine were immersive rather than conventional.

"When Fela played, nobody applauded," he tells the BBC. "The audience wasn't separate. They were part of it."

Music was not spectacle. It was communion.

Fela Kuti's visual identity was shaped in part by artist and designer Lemi Ghariokwu, who created 26 of his album covers between 1974 and 1993.

"Fela has been an ancestor for 28 years. His legacy is growing by the day. This is immortality," Ghariokwu tells the BBC, welcoming the posthumous award.

Today, Fela Kuti's music is still popular with millions around the world, and his influence is audible in modern artists such as Burna Boy, Kendrick Lamar and Sir Idris Elba.

Elba is a huge fan - the award-winning actor and DJ has curated an official vinyl box set, Fela Kuti Box Set 6, and has publicly compared him to icons such as Sade and Frank Sinatra to illustrate the point that Fela Kuti has his own unique sound.

Fela Kuti performed at major international festivals in Europe and North America, introducing global audiences to a bold and politically charged version of modern Africa.

Seun Kuti was just 14 when his father died.

"Fela never made me feel like I was a child," he recalls. "He didn't hide anything from me. He talked about everything openly."

There was no myth-building.

"I didn't even realise my dad was famous," he says. "That's credit to him. He kept me grounded."

What stayed with him most was not spectacle, but discipline, clarity and humanity.

"The human part of him, leadership, musicianship, fatherhood, that was the epitome of who he was."

One of Seun Kuti's most revealing reflections speaks to independence and identity.

"Fela was our dad, but you didn't own him. Fela belonged to himself. But we all belonged to him."

Fela Kuti insisted on being addressed by name, not by title, even by his children. Seun recalls having his pocket money docked after calling him "Pops", a moment that carried a lesson in respect.

"He always reminded us that he was in service to others more than himself."

That ethic shaped Seun's evolution from youthful ambition toward cultural responsibility.

"I used to make music to make money. But as I've grown, I lean more toward working for my people as well as my art."

Fela Kuti led multiple ensembles, most famously Africa 70 and later Egypt 80, the latter now carried forward by his son.

These were not conventional backing bands. They were musical militias, trained in discipline, endurance, and ideological purpose.

Stein recalls Fela Kuti's obsessive attention to detail.

"He tuned every instrument personally. Music wasn't entertainment to him. It was his mission."

More BBC stories on music in Africa:

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

The model who moved to Ghana and wrapped her prosthetic leg in its famous fabric

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy11q1pwpgo, 7 days ago

It was hard to miss 33-year-old model and writer Abena Christine Jon'el's appearance at a recent major fashion show in Ghana.

Walking the runway with her prosthetic leg wrapped in a colourful African print her appearance made a big impact.

The Ghanaian-American was hoping to make a statement about the visibility of people with disabilities, building on years of work in the US and here in Ghana of speaking out on the issue.

At two years old, Abena's life became defined by a challenge most adults would struggle to face.

A large tumour had appeared on her right calf, the first sign of a rare, aggressive soft-tissue cancer, rhabdomyosarcoma. Doctors presented her mother with a difficult choice: radiation, which could have left her dependent on a wheelchair, or amputation. Her mother chose the latter.

"It was the best decision she could have made," Abena says today without hesitation, speaking to the BBC surrounded by friends and family at a restaurant in the Ghanaian capital, Accra.

She now lives in Ghana, but she grew up in Chicago in the US.

Even before she understood what cancer was, her early life was shaped by treatment and recovery. Movement became a way of measuring survival and rebuilding confidence. In a way, it was taking ownership of a body that had been through so much.

But when she speaks about her younger years, it is not the cliché story of the inspirational disabled child sometimes presented in glossy campaigns: a compliant person bravely but silently triumphing against adversity.

She rejects that stereotype entirely.

"People imagine disabled kids as straight-A students who are sweet, quiet and perfect," she says.

"I was the opposite. I was loud, I was a little black girl running around on one leg, I did not let anyone push me around, and I was struggling through school."

Her disability never softened her personality, it sharpened it.

And that sharpness, what she now jokingly describes as her "professionally inspirational" energy, is the very thing that would later carry her through life.

In the US, she worked as a writer – initially as a poet – and then became a public speaker talking about her life experiences, in the hope of inspiring people.

She wanted people to see what she was accomplishing and to "let me hold a mirror so you can see yourself and what you can accomplish if you believe".

Long before she dabbled with public speaking or modelling, Abena felt a pull towards Africa, a feeling she could not articulate but could not ignore.

As a young adult in the US, she immersed herself in books on the history of Africa before colonialism, particularly West Africa. The more she read, the stronger the pull became.

But it was her first visit to Ghana in 2021 that changed everything.

In the central region of Ghana, standing at the Assin Manso slave river site – where enslaved people were sold before travelling about 40km (25 miles) south to the coast - she experienced what she describes as "a moment that rearranged my entire understanding of myself".

The weight of history met the weight of belonging, forming a sense of identity she had never felt growing up in the US.

When she returned, she fell into a deep depression.

"It felt like I had finally found a missing part of myself in Ghana," she says."Leaving felt like being torn away from somewhere my soul belonged."

Three months later, she packed her bags and moved permanently.

Ghana embraced her in ways she still struggles to describe.

"I am Ghanaian by ancestry and adoption," she says with pride.

Over the four years she has lived in Accra, Ghanaians have claimed her in the way only Ghana knows how, with warmth, with teasing, with family, and with names. She now lives with a Ghanaian mother who introduces her as her own daughter.

"My Ghanaian identity is not pretend," she says. "It is not cosplay. It is ancestral. Like Kwame Nkrumah said: 'I am not African because I was born in Africa, but because Africa was born in me.' That is exactly what Ghana is to me."

Her prosthetic leg itself is a declaration of that love.

Wrapped in kente, it is as much a cultural symbol as it is a mobility aid.

"It always has been, and always will be, kente," she says. "It represents my love for this country, its heritage, its pride."

Living with a disability in Ghana has brought a new mission into her life, one that goes far beyond personal expression.

For Abena, the difference between how disabled people are treated in the US and Ghana comes down to visibility and access.

"In the States, progress is happening, slowly, imperfectly, but happening. Disabled people are being invited into more spaces," she explains. "It is still ableist, but at least there is an attempt to change the narrative."

Ghana, she says, is still at the beginning of that journey. Not for lack of compassion, but for lack of representation.

After her move, she continued to speak out for the rights of people with disabilities.

"In Ghana, disabled people have not been widely showcased in a positive light," she says. "So stigma thrives. Negativity thrives. People do not see us in powerful or beautiful or joyful positions, they see us only in struggle."

Her advocacy is built on changing that perception. Not with pity, but with visibility.

With her kente prosthetic, unfiltered personality and refusal to shrink herself to fit public expectations, Abena wants Ghanaians to see disabled people as they are: ambitious, stylish, talented, complex, proud and human.

"Disability is not a limitation. Having a disability is not what makes you disabled," she says.

"Lack of support, lack of accessibility, that is what disables you."

Her advocacy found a new stage, literally, at the 15th edition of Rhythms on the Runway, one of Africa's most celebrated annual fashion shows, which took place last month at Accra's historic Osu Castle.

In the build-up to the show, Abena approached the organisers directly.

She knew what her presence would mean, not just for herself, but for Ghana. She wanted to open the door to a different kind of representation, to force a conversation the country had delayed for too long.

"I knew it would be a monumental moment for Rhythms on the Runway and for Ghana," she says. "If I wanted inclusivity in the industry, I had to be willing to take that first step."

And she did.

When she stepped onto the runway, draped in fabric and confidence, her prosthetic gleaming under the spotlights, the room shifted. What happened next became one of the most talked about moments of the night.

"Her strength showed right through, speaking volumes. 'I am differently able and I have got this,'" Tourism, Culture and Arts Minister Abla Dzifa Gomashie said.

"Her walk was not just a performance it was a powerful affirmation that talent, beauty, and confidence know no limitations. We are proud to have provided a platform where her light could shine so boldly," fashion show organiser Shirley Emma Tibilla said.

"Abena's presence was absolutely powerful. This is what true inclusion looks like, celebrating every story, everybody, and every ability," Dentaa Amoateng, entrepreneur and founder of the Guba diaspora investment awards added.

But for Abena, the significance of the evening was not the applause. It was the message. Disabled people were not just spectators that night, they were centre stage.

Standing at the intersection of identity, disability, heritage and fashion, Abena represents a new way forward for Ghana, one where inclusion is not quietly suggested, but boldly demanded.

Her journey from a two-year-old cancer patient to a woman reshaping how Ghana sees disability is not a story of survival, it is a story of reclamation.

She reclaimed her identity, reclaimed her mobility, reclaimed her belonging and reclaimed her place in a country that, in her words, "fought for me before I even stepped foot here".

Her work is far from finished. But whether she is on a runway, behind a microphone, or mentoring young amputees, one thing is constant, she refuses to dim her light. And she refuses to let others like her be dimmed either.

"Ghana is my home," she says.

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

People cling to treetops as 'worst floods in a generation' sweep Mozambique

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cddgq9z4899o, 9 days ago

Tens of thousands of people in Mozambique are being rescued as rising waters continue to devastate the southern African nation - the worst flooding in a generation.

Teams from Brazil, South Africa and the UK have been helping with life-saving rescue operations.

"For me, this is the first time I have experienced a calamity of this magnitude. Elders say a similar disaster took place in the 1990s," 24-year-old mechanic Tomaz Antonio Mlau says.

Mlau and his family, who live near Marracuene - a town 30km (19 miles) north of the capital, Maputo - woke up to find their house inundated after the Inkomati River burst its banks.

"When a rescue boat came a few hours afterwards, we did not hesitate to board it and come to safety in Marracuene town," he said, adding they had to abandon all their belongings and only managed to bring a change of clothes.

Mlau, his wife and two children have found refuge at one of six centres - schools and churches - that are so far sheltering about 4,000 people.

Many of those gathered at Gwazamutini Secondary School are farmers from the low-lying areas with livestock and rice fields.

"We lost everything in the floodwaters, including houses, TV sets, fridges, clothing and livestock - cattle, goats and pigs. Our farms are under water. I am a farmer. I grow quality rice," 67-year-old Francisco Fernando Chivindzi told me.

His home is in Hobjana, one of several flooded neighbourhoods between the left bank of the Incomati River and the coastal tourism resort of Macaneta. Marracuene town is on the river's right bank.

"The floodwaters reached heights we weren't expecting. We have never experienced this level of flooding in my lifetime," Chivindzi said.

"We are happy to be here on higher ground. However, we are very worried that all our belongings were left behind."

The farmer expressed his gratitude to the boat owners who came to assist him and his neighbours free of charge - and he urged others to save themselves.

"We hear that there are still some people resisting - clinging to treetops and on roofs. I wish they would heed the rescuers and join us here in this temporary shelter. We should value life more than the goods," the father of nine said.

This was a view echoed by Shafee Sidat, the mayor of the Marracuene municipality, as he visited Gwazamutini Secondary School on Saturday.

"We still have people to rescue, some of whom refuse to abandon the risk areas. That's a challenge. We reckon that more than 10,000 people are affected in Marracuene as a whole," he told me.

At least 642,122 people have been affected since 7 January by flooding - particularly in southern and central regions, with 12 deaths recorded so far, according to provisional data from the National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction.

In total 125 people have died in Mozambique since the rainy season began in October.

Mayor Sidat fears the situation is likely to get worse because of heavy rain in neighbouring South Africa, the source of the Inkomati River.

"We are worried about discharges of a South African dam on the Inkomati River. Our town is the last one downstream," the mayor said.

"Before the waters flow into the Indian Ocean, they flood the 'machambas' (farmlands), homes and grazing areas here in the low-lying zones."

Some aerial views show water as far as the eye can see. Hundreds of families remain cut off.

All vehicles have now been banned from roads between the provinces of Maputo and Gaza to the north.

Transport Minister João Matlombe said it was because main roads, in particular the N1 highway which runs the whole length of the country and is the only link to the north, were flooded.

The suspension is already leading to shortages and price hikes, including of basic foodstuffs, coconut and fuel - even as far away as the north-western city of Tete, more than 1,500km from Maputo.

For those at shelters in Marracuene, food is also a challenge.

"There isn't yet enough food to eat," said Aninha Vicente Mivinga, whose two children are aged two and five.

"On the first day this Friday, there was almost nothing to eat. It was painful to see children sleeping without anything to eat, except biscuits. Today things improved," she said.

Mivinga, who is a police officer and farms in her spare time, described how she was at work in Marracuene town when the floods hit at her home in Hobjana.

The 32-year-old had taken the precaution of taking her children to stay with family members who lived on higher ground because of the continuous rain, but even they were affected by the rising waters.

"To learn that my children and other members of the family were on floodwaters and at risk of dying was horrific. I was devastated and completely shaken," the officer said.

"Eventually my relatives were brought to safety.

"It is the first time since I was born that we've been affected by flooding of this dimension."

Mivinga said that students were meant to resume classes soon - and she would like the authorities to find permanent alternative accommodation for them.

Hundreds of people are currently camping down in the classrooms using a traditional wrap cloth as bedding on which to lie down.

"When floodwaters subside, I believe everyone would love to go back home, but it's too risky. If only the authorities could give us another place on safer ground. We would go back to the risky area only for farming purposes but live on safer ground," the police officer said.

Education Minister Samaria Tovela has already hinted that the cabinet is to consider rescheduling the start of the 2026 academic year, originally planned to begin next week, "to allow flood victims to continue using them as accommodation centres, especially in the provinces of Maputo and Gaza, the most affected at the moment".

Chivindzi, who is not sure that the floodwaters will recede before schools resume, is determined to return home.

"We'll restart life from scratch," the farmer says.

Mlau, who is unable to get to the garage where he works, is less sure of the future and the risks of starting again in the same place.

"Even if waters subside, I am not sure I'll go back there."

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

'Half of my friends were killed' - the girls returning to a school caught up in war

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd9eeyz933jo, 11 days ago

It had been a normal day for 18-year-old twins Makarem and Ikram when their school came under fire.

Makarem was in an English literature class and Ikram was in a science lesson when they heard "strange sounds" coming from outside the school in Sudan.

Then the shelling started.

Makarem says her shoulder "tilted" as she was struck. Screaming, her classmates dropped to the floor to avoid shellfire and find somewhere to hide.

"We took cover beside the wall and the girl who was standing in front of me put her hand on my shoulder and said: 'Your shoulder is bleeding.'"

In the chaos, the two sisters, who had been in separate classrooms, tried to reach each other but couldn't. Later, Ikram searched for her sister, not knowing she'd already been taken to hospital.

Like others who were injured, Makarem was taken to hospital by local residents who drove the wounded by car and animal-drawn carts because there was no ambulance service in el-Obeid, the city where they lived.

Eventually, her teachers and classmates had to convince Ikram to abandon the search and go home.

It was only when Makarem returned home from hospital later that day that her family found out she was still alive.

"I waited for her outside the front door and when I saw her coming we all cried," says Ikram, who had been in a part of the school that wasn't hit, so was unharmed.

Makarem and Ikram's English teacher and 13 classmates were killed and dozens more injured in the shelling at the Abu Sitta girls' school, in el-Obeid, in North Kordofan state, in August 2024. The school normally has about 300 students.

Regional authorities accuse the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - the paramilitary group at war with the Sudanese army - of firing the shells.

The RSF has never commented on the incident and did not respond to the BBC's request for comment. It is not clear whether the shelling of the school was intentional.

Makarem says half of her friends at school were killed while the other half were injured.

As well as injuring her shoulder, she also suffered a head wound, but was discharged from hospital having received basic treatment.

But several days later, after developing severe headaches, she was given a CT scan which found a small piece of shrapnel in her head.

"It hurt very much and I had to take many painkillers," she says.

Sudan's civil war began in April 2023 and has resulted in the deaths of more than 150,000 people, with millions forced from their homes.

The United Nations says the country is now enduring the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Sudan's oil-rich Kordofan region - which is divided into North, South and West Kordofan states - has become a major front line in the war due to its strategic significance, sitting between RSF-controlled areas in the west and eastern areas where the army is mostly in charge.

Analysts say whoever controls the region effectively controls the country's oil supply, as well as a large chunk of the country.

An estimated 13 million of the 17 million school-age children who have remained in Sudan are out of school, according to the UN.

North Darfur, under RSF control, is the worst affected state, according to the charity Save the Children, with just 3% of its schools open.

The Abu Sitta school was closed for three months after the attack while it was renovated.

Makarem and Ikram said initially they could not imagine returning to the place where their friends and teacher had been killed.

"But when I saw my friends returning and telling me that things were OK, I decided to return," says Ikram.

Even so, returning to school brought back painful memories.

"I used to close my eyes on the way to class to avoid looking at the area where the shelling happened," Ikram says.

A number of students were given psychological support at the school when they returned, says headteacher Iman Ahmed.

Beds and nurses were also made available at the school to allow injured students to take their exams in comfort.

Although el-Obeid is still being subjected to repeated drone attacks, students at the school were playing and laughing in the courtyard when the BBC visited in December.

The headteacher describes the girls' determination to continue their studies, despite what happened to them, "as a form of defiance and loyalty to those who were lost".

But the situation for children trying to learn in el-Obeid remains challenging.

The city lived under a siege by the RSF for more than a year and a half, until the Sudanese army regained control in February 2025.

While there is now relative calm, dozens of schools have been converted into shelters for people fleeing the war.

El-Obeid hosts nearly one million displaced people across various shelters, according to the state's humanitarian aid commissioner.

Ibtisam Ali, a student at a secondary school that has been converted, says she cannot leave her classroom until the end of the school day because the grounds are full of displaced people.

"Even going to the bathroom has become a problem for us," she says.

Walid Mohamed Al-Hassan, the minister of education in North Kordofan state, said the presence of displaced families in schools had caused problems - including with sanitation - but that these are "the conditions of war and the cost of war".

In spite of the war and everything that has happened, Makarem and Ikram, who are now 19, are hopeful about their futures.

Ikram completed her studies at school and is now studying English at university in el-Obeid.

She was inspired by her English teacher, Fathiya Khalil Ibrahiem, who was killed in the attack.

The death of her friends made her even more determined to complete her studies, she says.

"I kept reminding myself that we should carry the same ambition to achieve what they were unable to achieve."

Makarem, meanwhile, wants to become a doctor like those who treated her after she was injured.

She passed her secondary school exams but did not achieve the score required to be admitted to study medicine at university.

Makarem says the shrapnel lodged in her head, which cannot be removed surgically, made it hard for her to study at first.

"I could only study for an hour and then rest for another hour. It was very difficult."

Dr Tarek Zobier, a neurologist in Sudan, said the medical implications of having shrapnel lodged in the head vary from case to case.

Some people will experience no symptoms and can live without medical intervention.

But if more severe symptoms, such as spasms, are experienced, surgery may be required.

For Makarem, the pain is no longer consistent, although it gets worse in winter when it's cold. She relies on painkillers when needed.

She's decided to repeat her school year so she can retake her exams.

"I believe that I will be able to achieve the score I am aiming for.

"I am hopeful for the future," she says.

Additional reporting by Salma Khattab

To support children in Sudan and other Arabic-speaking countries who are denied or restricted from accessing education, the BBC World Service is launching a new season of the Arabic edition of its award-winning educational programme Dars - or Lesson.

The first episode will air on Saturday 24 January, on BBC News Arabic TV. New episodes are broadcast weekly on Saturdays at 09:30 GMT (11:30 EET), with repeats on Sundays at 05:30 GMT (07:30 EET) and throughout the week.

The programme is also available on digital platforms, including BBC News Arabic YouTube.

'Blood was all over' - victim of Nigeria church abduction describes escape

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn422q1py95o, 12 days ago

There was a huge plaster on Sarah Peter's head to staunch the bleeding caused by the blow of a gunman's weapon.

Sarah, not her real name, was in church in a village in northern Nigeria on Sunday morning when attackers raided the compound to abduct the worshippers and take them away on foot.

The 60-year-old was whacked on the skull with a rifle to encourage her to move.

"Blood was all over," she said, her fingers brushing the area where the wound was.

"I suffered," she added, clearly still traumatised by what happened three days earlier.

"They kept dragging me even when I told them I couldn't walk. Then I hid somewhere until I couldn't see them any more. I was so weak I had to crawl back to the village."

Dozens of others were taken away from her branch of the Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church and two other churches in Kurmin Wali, a village 135km (84 miles) north of the capital, Abuja.

Although 11 people managed to escape, including Sarah, more than 160 people are still unaccounted for, according to the local branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria.

The remaining villagers have been left devastated and fear more attacks.

Authorities have not released any figures for those missing.

Kurmin Wali is near Kaduna state's Rijana forest, a hideout for armed gangs, known here as "bandits", who have been carrying out raids and abductions in the region.

No group has said it was behind Sunday's raid, but the attack is part of a wider security crisis in Nigeria, with kidnapping for ransom becoming more common.

Paying kidnappers is illegal in Nigeria but it is often suspected that money has been handed over to free those who have been abducted. In this case, no ransom demand has been reported.

There has been an increasing international focus on the issue after US President Donald Trump alleged last year that Christians were being targeted and killed in record numbers. Last month, the US military carried out air strikes on camps of suspected Islamist militants in Nigeria's north-west.

Nigerian officials have denied that Christians were being singled out because of their faith, and have said Muslims, Christians and those with no religion have all been affected by the insecurity.

There is an air of tension and anger in Kurmin Wali.

The village head said people had been living in fear for a while. Local residents have been urging authorities to improve security and have accused them of trying to suppress information in the wake of Sunday's raid.

Forty-eight hours of confusion followed the attack as officials initially denied anything had happened, despite eyewitness reports, only to finally confirm events on Tuesday evening.

"They told us not to give out any information, they want to intimidate us but we must tell our story. They have also been stopping some journalists from coming to the town," said a young man in his 20s, who wished to remain anonymous.

It is not clear why the authorities may have been reluctant for news to get out, but Kaduna state governor Uba Sani told the BBC that officials wanted to confirm details first before making any statements.

However, that does not explain why the local police chief and a state official initially denied there had been any attack, describing the reports as a "mere falsehood which is being peddled by conflict entrepreneurs who want to cause chaos".

The BBC also faced difficulties reaching Kurmin Wali, after a politician and security personnel attempted to block access to the village.

But we managed to get through and once inside, we found a scene of chaos in the building of the Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church. Colourful plastic chairs were on their sides, prayer books scattered on the floor and musical instruments broken, as if the moment after the attack had been frozen in time.

Nearby, Christopher Yohanna was looking forlornly at his two-year-old daughter. He said he managed to escape from the attackers with his child.

"We were in the church when we heard shouting. When we came out and tried to run, we saw that gunmen had already surrounded the village."

He was lucky not to be caught, but he is devastated because his two wives and other children were not so lucky.

"If my family is not with me then my life is worthless and free of any joy," he said.

Governor Sani was in Kurmin Wali three days after the attack, pledging to establish a military base, a hospital and a road in the area. He also announced relief measures for affected residents, including medical support.

"We cannot relocate them because they have to farm… but to ensure that we protect them going forward, we need to have a military base around that area between that village and Rijana forest," he told the BBC.

He also said efforts were under way to work with security agencies to rescue those still in captivity.

"When we met [the villagers] I affirmed that we are with them and… we will not let any of them down."

As the residents of Kurmin Wali wait anxiously for the return of their family members, they are hoping the governor keeps to his word.

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

South African singer Tyla edges out Davido to clinch Grammy

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y27872qz0o, yesterday

South African singer Tyla has won her second Grammy, beating four others, including three Nigerian artists, to take the Best African Music Performance award.

The 24-year-old won for her song Push 2 Start, which was preferred over tracks by Ayra Starr, Burna Boy and Davido, as well as Ugandan singer Eddy Kenzo.

Tyla bagged the same prize in 2024 for her global hit Water, also beating a host of Nigerian stars.

Reacting to her win after the awards ceremony in Los Angeles, she exclaimed: "This is insane, this is so insane! I'm just so lucky to be here and I'm so proud to be African. I'm excited to see more of us over here."

"Congratulations Tyla" has been trending on social media in South Africa and elsewhere.

"South Africa is proud of you ! We are proud of you!," one X user posted.

Another said that while they had wished that Starr had won, they conceded that Tyla had worked hard: "You deserve it."

List of nominees in Best African Music Performance category:

* Love - Burna Boy

* With You - Davido featuring Omah Lay

* Hope & Love - Eddy Kenzo & Mehran Matin

* Gimme Dat - Ayra Starr featuring Wizkid

* Push 2 Start - Tyla

There was disappointment among Nigerian music lovers after none of the country's stars won, despite the global success of Afrobeats.

Burna Boy was also nominated in the Best Global Music Album category, alongside Senegal's Youssou N'Dour, while Angelique Kidjo also got a nod in the Best Global Music Performance category.

None of them got to take home the famous gramophone player statuette.

One Nigerian star did get recognition: Fela Kuti was given a Lifetime Achievement Award 29 years after his death.

Another South African - comedian Trevor Noah - also had a big night, hosting the main ceremony for the sixth, and last time.

However, US President Donald Trump has threatened to sue the comedian after he joked about Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Family seeks answers as Kenyan fighting for Russia killed in Ukraine

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gr54n8260o, yesterday

A Kenyan family is seeking answers and support to repatriate the body of their 29-year-old relative, who was killed in Ukraine while fighting for Russia.

Clinton Nyapara Mogesa, 29, initially left Kenya for a job in Qatar in 2024, but later told his relatives that he was travelling to Russia.

On Saturday, Ukrainian authorities reported that he had died in a so-called "meat assault" - one involving high casualty numbers - in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, after being recruited in Qatar. They said the Russians did not evacuate his body, and he was carrying the passports of two other Kenyans.

His death comes amid growing concerns about Kenyans being recruited to fight in the war in Ukraine.

Vincent Okemwa, Mogesa's cousin, said they did not believe it when they were informed of his death. He said the news was first relayed to Mogesa's brother by a colleague who had a relative in Russia, before it was made public.

He told the BBC Newsday programme that Mogesa had notified them when he moved to Russia from Qatar and they were in communication during his training there for three weeks.

They had however not heard from him after the training, and the last time they had spoken was on 28 October.

Okemwa told the BBC that after his death, Mogesa's family was now in a "pathetic state". He said Mogesa's father had sold land to facilitate his son's travel to Qatar and he was his family's hope for a better life.

"I don't know how I can put it, but things are not good," he said.

"He had good plans for the family and now everything has been shattered."

Okemwa says the family has been in "total darkness" as they have not had any communication from the authorities in either Kenya or Russia.

"His death has shocked us," his brother Joel Mogere told local Citizen TV. He said Mogesa was the last-born and "the breadwinner and the hope of this family".

His mother, Mellen Moraa, said she was diabetic and that her son used to pay for her medication and take care of her, and said she did not know what to do.

"I plead with the government for help," she added.

The government last month said that 18 Kenyans who had been fighting in Russia had been rescued and repatriated.

Last week, rights group Vocal Africa said they were following up on at least 18 cases of Kenyans who were either dead or missing. They have asked the government to verify the figures, adding that the number was likely to be higher.

The Kenyan government has not confirmed the deaths of any of its nationals killed in Ukraine.

Last November, Kenya's foreign minister said about 200 Kenyans were known to be fighting for Russia and that recruitment networks were still active.

Other African countries have reported cases of young people being approached with offers of lucrative jobs in Russia that later led to military recruitment.

Ukraine's intelligence assessment estimates that more than 1,400 people from 36 countries in Africa have been recruited to fight for Russia.

Ukraine has also previously come in for criticism for trying to recruit foreign nationals, including Africans, to fight on its side.

In the past Ukraine has repeatedly warned that anyone fighting for Russia would be treated as an enemy combatant, with the safe route out being to surrender.

Ukraine's intelligence agency on Saturday cautioned foreign nationals against travelling to Russia or accepting employment there, particularly informal or illegal work.

It said travelling there "carries a real risk of being forcibly deployed to assault units without adequate training and with little to no chance of survival".

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Beijing criticises Dalai Lama Grammy win as 'manipulation'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy8zqn9571o, yesterday

China has reacted angrily to an unlikely winner at the Grammys - the Dalai Lama - saying it opposes art awards being used for "anti-China political manipulation".

The Buddhist spiritual leader was recognised in the audiobook category for Meditations: The Reflections of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama said he accepted the award with "gratitude and humility".

The 90-year-old has lived in exile from his Tibetan homeland since 1959 and is condemned as a rebel and separatist by Beijing.

China's foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a news conference: "We firmly oppose relevant parties using art awards as a tool for anti-China political manipulation, and this position is consistent and clear."

The spiritual leader, who lives in Dharamshala in India, left China in fear of his life after Chinese troops crushed an uprising. He has campaigned for more autonomy for Tibet, but Beijing considers it an integral part of China.

In a message on social media the Dalai Lama, who is also a Nobel peace laureate, said: "I receive this recognition with gratitude and humility.

"I don't see it as something personal, but as a recognition of our shared universal responsibility."

The award was collected on his behalf by musician Rufus Wainwright, who was among the artists to feature on the audiobook.

Last year the Dalai Lama confirmed plans to name a successor, which has caused further friction with China.

According to Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the Dalai Lama is reincarnated after death - a process deeply rooted in spiritual customs, not political authority.

He has previously said his reincarnation will take place in the "free world", meaning outside of atheist and communist China but Beijing swiftly rejected his authority to determine a successor.

Chinese officials insist that any succession must follow Chinese laws, religious rituals and historical conventions - and ultimately be approved by the government in Beijing.

The announcement has reignited fears among Tibetans in exile that China will attempt to name a successor to tighten control over Tibet, the region it occupied in 1950 and has ruled ever since.

Golden becomes the first K-Pop song to win a Grammy

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c931vdngdd2o, yesterday

Golden, the inescapable hit from the movie KPop Demon Hunters, has become the first ever K-Pop song to win a Grammy Award.

Performed by the fictional band Huntr/x, it picked up best song for visual media as the awards ceremony got underway in Los Angeles. It is also nominated for song of the year.

Other early winners included British stars Yungblud, The Cure and FKA Twigs, while the Dalai Lama won best audiobook and eight year old Aura V became the youngest ever Grammy recipient, for best children's album.

Ahead of the main ceremony, Kendrick Lamar took home three awards, including best rap song for TV Off, continuing his Grammys winning streak.

The Compton rapper swept last year's ceremony, winning five prizes including song and record of the year for the scathing diss track Not Like Us, aimed at fellow rap superstar Drake.

Released last June, KPop Demon Hunters became Netflix's most-viewed movie of all time, with more than 480 million views.

The propulsive soundtrack, full of candy-coated earworms, became the first to top the Billboard charts since 2022, when Disney's Encanto created a similar craze.

Its success at the Grammys suggests a growing recognition of Korean pop's cultural and commercial force.

Blackpink singer Rosé was also up for three prizes at Sunday's ceremony for her song APT, including song and record of the year.

Last August, the Recording Academy announced that a group of artists, producers and songwriters who had made significant contributions to K-Pop had joined the organisation's voting body, including Seventeen singer Woozi, Enhypen's Jungwon and Le Sserafim's Huh Yunjin.

However, Rosé left the ceremony empty-handed, despite opening the show with a raucous performance of APT with Bruno Mars.

Tears for Ozzy Osbourne

The premiere ceremony took place across the street from the main Grammy Awards at Los Angeles' Peacock Theatre.

Eighty-six of the night's 95 prizes were handed out, covering most of the genre categories, including best country, best rap and best R&B.

The first award of the event went to Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, who picked up best pop duo or group performance for their Wicked duet Defying Gravity.

Neither was present to accept the prize, which was Grande's third Grammy Award and Erivo's second.

British star Yungblud won best rock performance for his live rendition of Black Sabbath's Changes, recorded during Ozzy Osbourne's farewell concert in Birmingham last year.

Osbourne's wife, Sharon, wept as the singer accepted the trophy.

"The last time I saw Ozzy Osbourne, he asked if there was anything he could do for me," said Yungblud.

"I answered, the music was enough, and I can safely say, on behalf of all of us, that still stands now and it will do forever.

"You'll be with me every time I'm nervous and on stage at every show."

Alternative rock royalty The Cure also won their first ever Grammys - best alternative album, for Songs of a Lost World, and best alternative recording, for the record's lead single, Alone.

The band were unable to accept the trophy in person, as they were attending the funeral of keyboard player Perry Bamonte, who died on Christmas Eve.

Elsewhere, FKA Twigs won best dance/electronic album for her cutting-edge concept album, Eusexua.

"I didn't expect to come up here," said the British singer-songwriter. "I was just so happy to be nominated."

"I know that to a lot of people, I may be new, but I've actually been doing this a really long time," said the singer, who released her debut EP in 2012.

"So to any artist, don't give up. Follow your vision. Because that's what's going to make the world fall in love with your art."

R&B singer Kehlani was the first to address the political unrest in the US, as she picked up best R&B performance for her viral hit, Folded.

Directing an expletive towards Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, she said: "I hope everybody's inspired to join together as a community of artists and speak out against what's going on."

Later, she dedicated her best R&B song award, also for Folded, to her aunt, who adopted her as a child when her mother, who was a drug addict, was sent to jail.

"My mother adopted me. You didn't have to. You didn't have to give up your life for me. You could have done whatever you wanted in your 20s, but instead, you chose to take care of me and to put me in all the programmes... that would feed who I am today.

"Mommy, I owe you everything."

Joni Mitchell made an unexpected appearance as she won best historical recording for volume four of her Archives project, which compiles the folk legend's unreleased recordings from 1976 to 1980.

Taking to the stage, Mitchell appeared to be confused, and had to be reminded she had won after standing silent behind the microphone for several seconds.

"Oh, I won? Oh!" she exclaimed, before launching into a raucous story about her career and her frustrations with the music industry.

In the film categories, the Southern horror film Sinners won best soundtrack and best score, in the same week it picked up a record 16 nominations at the Oscars.

The premiere ceremony was streamed live on YouTube, and featured a beautiful orchestral performance from Swedish star Zara Larsson, whose single Midnight Sun was up for best dance/pop recording.

Australian woman dies after becoming snagged in ski lift in Japan

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgdyj5n3m6o, yesterday

An Australian woman has died after becoming trapped in a ski lift at a resort in central Japan, officials have said.

The 22-year-old woman had been using a chairlift at Tsugaike Mountain Resort in Otari, Nagano prefecture, when part of her backpack became caught in the lift mechanism, leaving her suspended in midair.

The woman then suffered a heart attack and was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead, officials said.

The Tsugaike Mountain Resort and Tsugaike Gondola Lift Co issued a joint apology and said an investigation had been launched into the incident, which occurred around 09:00 local time (0:00 GMT) on Friday.

The resort's chief executive Tsuneo Kubo expressed his "deepest condolences to the bereaved family" and said safety measures would be strengthened.

He said in a statement that an unfastened buckle on the woman's backpack had become hooked to the chair while the bag's chest strap was still fastened, causing her to be dragged along with it after trying to disembark.

The lift was stopped by an attendant who pressed the emergency button, after which first aid was administered and the woman was transported to hospital by ambulance, Kubo added.

The accident took place at the top of the two-person Tsuga No.2 Pair Lift. The woman had been riding the lift with another person, police told local media.

The lift operator said it was co-operating with police and other authorities as the cause of the accident was investigated and safety procedures reviewed.

"We will take concrete measures to prevent recurrence," Kubo said. "We take this situation very seriously and will strive to operate the ski resort in a safe manner so that our customers can use it with peace of mind."

Police are questioning resort staff and inspecting the lift equipment as part of their inquiry, according to local media.

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed that one of its citizens had died in Japan and said it was providing consular assistance to the family.

"We send our deepest condolences to the family at this difficult time. Owing to our privacy obligations we are unable to provide further comment," a spokesperson said.

Tsugaike Mountain Resort in Hakuba Valley is one of Nagano's largest ski areas, popular with both domestic and international visitors.

China executes four more Myanmar mafia members

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg4e9eqz4rxo, yesterday

China has executed four members of the Bai family mafia, one of the notorious dynasties that ran scam centres in Myanmar, state media report.

They were among 21 of the family's members and associates who were convicted of fraud, homicide, injury and other crimes by a court in Guangdong province.

Last November the court sentenced five of them to death including the clan's patriarch Bai Suocheng, who died of illness after his conviction, state media reported.

Last week, China executed 11 members of the Ming family mafia as part of its crackdown on scam operations in South East Asia that have entrapped thousands of Chinese victims.

For years, the Bais, Mings and several other families dominated Myanmar's border town of Laukkaing, where they ran casinos, red-light districts and cyberscam operations.

Among the clans, the Bais were "number one", Bai Suocheng's son previously told state media after he was detained.

The Bais, who controlled their own militia, established 41 compounds to house cyberscam activities and casinos, authorities said. Within the walls of those compounds was a culture of violence, where beatings and torture were routine.

The Bai family's criminal activities led to the deaths of six Chinese citizens, the suicide of one person and multiple injuries, the court said.

The Bais rose to power in Laukkaing in the early 2000s after the town's then warlord was ousted in a military operation led by Min Aung Hlaing - who now leads Myanmar's military government.

The military leader had been looking for co-operative allies, and Bai Suocheng - then a deputy of the warlord - fitted the bill.

But the families' empires crashed in 2023, when Beijing became frustrated by the Myanmar military's inaction on the scam operations and tacitly backed an offensive by ethnic insurgents in the area, which marked a turning point in Myanmar's civil war.

That led to the capture of the scam mafias and their members were handed to Beijing.

In China, they became subjects of state documentaries which emphasised Chinese authorities' resolve to eradicate the scam networks.

With these recent executions Beijing appears to be sending a message of deterrence to would-be scammers.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked to run online scams in Myanmar and elsewhere in South East Asia, according to estimates by the United Nations.

Among them are thousands of Chinese people, and their victims who they swindle billions of dollars from are mainly Chinese as well.

Deadly gun and bomb attacks hit Pakistan's Balochistan province

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn42nedxqyqo, 2 days ago

A series of gun and bomb attacks across Pakistan's south-western Balochistan province have killed 31 civilians and 17 security service personnel, the region's Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti says.

Security forces responding to the violence killed at least 145 attackers during a 40-hour gun battle, he said. The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) rebel group had earlier said it was behind the attacks, claiming dozens of soldiers were killed.

It marks an escalation of violence in the impoverished but resource-rich province, where Pakistan's government has been battling an ethnic insurgency for decades.

Pakistan accused India of supporting the BLA. Delhi has repeatedly denied such accusations.

Grenade and gun attacks in the provincial capital Quetta and cities and towns across the province targeted hospitals, schools, banks and markets, Pakistan's junior interior minister Talal Chaudhry said.

"In each case, the attackers came in dressed as civilians and indiscriminately targeted ordinary people working in shops," he said, adding that the attackers had used civilians as human shields.

Armed attackers also opened fire at security installations, attempted to carry out suicide bombings and briefly blocked roads in urban areas.

Some key administrative buildings in Quetta and nearby roads were reported to have been sealed off during the day. Mobile phone services were jammed, and regional train services were suspended.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif later praised the military, pledging to "continue the war against terrorism until its complete eradication".

The BLA said it had launched a coordinated operation dubbed Herof, or "black storm" against security forces, and claimed to have killed 84 members of the security forces and kidnapped a further 18. The claim has not been independently verified and the Pakistani military has not commented.

The BLA accuses Pakistan's federal government of exploiting the rich mineral resources of its largest province without the local population benefiting.

Local activists also blame Pakistani security forces for enforced disappearances, which Islamabad denies.

Balochistan covers nearly 44% of the country's total land, sharing a volatile border with Iran and Afghanistan and covering part of the Arabian Sea coastline. It is home to about 5% of the country's more than 240 million people.

The province is also the richest in terms of natural resources, including gas and minerals.

The region derives its name from the Baloch tribe, which is the largest ethnic group there. Resistance against the Pakistani government and an insurgency advocating for an independent state for the Baloch people began in 1948, after Pakistan gained independence from the British Empire.

Starmer invites Japan PM to UK after Tokyo talks

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c78egr5v5gmo, 3 days ago

Sir Keir Starmer has invited Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to visit the UK following talks in Tokyo, saying the relationship between the countries was the "strongest" it has been "in decades".

The prime minister arrived in Japan after his four-day trip to China, in which he attempted to reboot the UK's relationship with Beijing.

The leaders of UK and Japan said they had discussed their "joint values" and set out plans to strengthen trade and security ties, including boosting defence and partnerships across the Indo-Pacific region.

Any UK visit will depend on the results of snap elections on February 8, with Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party seeking a return to power.

But the meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo comes at a tense moment for the region, following controversial comments from Takaichi suggesting that Japan could be drawn into conflict between China and Taiwan.

Sir Keir said he and his Japanese counterpart agreed on the need to respond with "strength and clarity" to increasing instability in the world, and thanked her for "steadfast leadership in supporting Ukraine".

Ahead of a working dinner, the Japanese PM said that Sir Keir "looked well", adding she had been invited to his Chequers country estate later this year.

"I look forward to our dinner in a moment, and to the meeting that I hope we will have," Sir Keir said following the 20-minute meeting between the leaders.

He added that the UK and Japan "share vital interests and principles" and that he looked "forward to driving that forward together."

He went on to say that the two countries "have a clear interest in free and predictable trade", saying they aimed to improve supply chains in "key areas such as critical minerals".

Japan's leader said she hoped to "build a new era of Japan-UK relations amid the complex crises facing the international community in the 21st Century".

Defence, including the trilateral fighter jet programme the UK and Japan have with Italy and joint military exercises, were expected to be high on the agenda.

Japan, the world's fourth-largest economy, is one of Britain's biggest investors outside Europe.

For Sir Keir, his East Asia trip was about balance - resetting relations with China, while reassuring Japan and other allies that Britain remains committed to regional security and clear-eyed about the risks China poses.

While Takaichi's comments on Taiwan angered Beijing, they are expected to give her a boost in next week's polls.

Jeffrey J Hall, a lecturer at Kanda University of International Studies, said that Sir Keir's stopover in Tokyo was doing her an "enormous favour".

"I think the most important thing from the Japanese perspective is the timing of this visit, which is right in the middle of a major election," he said.

"And Prime Minister Takaichi is basically running on the popularity that she received being the first female prime minister and also being successful at diplomacy."

The Tokyo trip marks the end of Sir Keir's diplomatic meetings in East Asia in which he secured a reduction in tariffs on whisky and the introduction of visa-free travel to China for British citizens. Downing Street said the China visit had also secured £2.2bn in export deals.

After a meeting between Sir Keir and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Beijing also agreed to lift sanctions on British parliamentarians.

Pokémon cancels event at controversial Japan shrine following backlash

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdjn0nmnjmwo, 3 days ago

A Pokémon card game event at a shrine honouring Japan's war dead has been cancelled following a backlash in China.

The Pokémon Company apologised for advertising the event, organised by a certified third party, through its official website, and said it "should not have been held in the first place".

The event was due to be held on Saturday at the Yasukuni Shrine, near the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, which commemorates those who died in several wars including convicted war criminals.

The blunder comes at a moment of worsening relations between China and Japan over the stance of the latter's new prime minister on Taiwan.

The Yasukuni Shrine honours Japanese soldiers who died in a number of wars, including both Sino-Japanese wars and the Pacific theatre of World War Two.

But the enshrinement of the names of more than 1,000 convicted war criminals among the roughly 2.5 million people it honours has long made it a controversial site for nations that were subject to harsh treatment under Japanese occupation.

"Brands that disregard history and hurt the feelings of the Chinese people will ultimately be abandoned," the People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party's official news site, commented when the event came to light earlier this week.

"The relevant enterprises must accordingly take social responsibility and not make light of the heavy weight of history in the name of entertainment."

Meanwhile, the state-run Global Times praised "China's young netizens" for criticising the event, adding: "Any entertainment or leisure activities held at such a site constitute an open affront to historical truth, and staging events aimed at children there is even more egregious."

The Pokémon Company said in a statement on Friday that the event had been "mistakenly posted" on its official card game website "due to a lack of due diligence".

"After the incident was discovered, the event was promptly cancelled," it said. "We sincerely apologise for the various reactions and opinions that have been generated as a result of this publication."

The firm said it would "thoroughly review and strengthen" its approval process to prevent a similar incident from occurring again.

The incident comes after a row with China sparked by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's suggestion in November that Tokyo could respond with its own self-defence force if China attacked Taiwan.

Beijing claims the self-governing island as part of its territory, and has not ruled out taking it by force.

The row saw the governments of both nations urge their citizens not to travel to the other, while the release of two popular Japanese films in China were also postponed.

Pokémon, which began as a video game in 1996, has since become an internationally renowned media franchise spanning films, TV series and trading card games.

Healthcare, visas and whisky: What did UK and China get from Starmer's visit?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2j04lk83zo, 4 days ago

Sir Keir Starmer's visit to China this week is the clearest sign yet the two countries are seeking to end the diplomatic "ice age" that has defined their relationship.

Both leaders face economic pressures at home and are seeking new opportunities for trade and investment.

For Sir Keir, the first UK prime minister to visit China since Theresa May in 2018, the trip was a chance to highlight the strength of British firms in finance, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, clean energy and car making.

President Xi Jinping, meanwhile, aimed to show that China can be a reliable partner for Western economies, as US President Donald Trump continues to rattle the global trading system.

Although no sweeping free trade deal was reached, the visit marked a cautious but tangible reset of UK–China economic ties.

Agreements on visas, services, healthcare, green technology and finance, combined with revived dialogue, might lead to better access for British firms to Chinese markets and greater Chinese investment in the UK.

What deals were agreed?

The biggest commercial announcement came from AstraZeneca, which promised to invest $15bn (£11bn) in China over the next four years, to expand research and the manufacturing of medicines – the company's biggest investment in China to date.

In the energy sector, British firm Octopus Energy is entering the Chinese market for the first time through a partnership with local company PCG Power to develop a digital platform for trading electricity.

The project aims to improve efficiency in the power system and support China's efforts to increase the use of renewable energy.

For Octopus, which has grown quickly in the UK, the deal allows entry into China's large and growing energy market, where demand for clean energy and digital trading is rising.

Greg Jackson, CEO of Octopus Energy who was part of the UK's business delegation to China flagged that the country's scale and innovation have made solar, wind energy and batteries cheaper.

"Now there's a huge opportunity for Britain to succeed as we build the solutions that use these products to cut the cost of electricity," he added.

China also agreed to halve tariffs on Scotch whisky, a deal the UK government said could generate £250m for the British economy over the next five years.

"Our whisky distilleries are the jewel in Scotland's crown," Sir Keir said. This is "proof that our pragmatic, hard-headed international engagement brings benefits at home", he added.

Scotch whisky is a key export for Britain's drinks sector, with more than £5bn in annual exports. In recent years, China has been one of its fastest-growing markets.

Industry groups welcomed the move, saying it would help Scottish distillers compete in a crowded market where US, European and Japanese firms are also vying for customers.

Another outcome of the trip was visa-free travel for British citizens visiting China for up to 30 days for holidays and business, putting the UK on par with around 50 other countries, including France, Germany, Australia and Japan.

Both sides also agreed to cooperate on disrupting migrant-smuggling networks, a top priority for Sir Keir's government.

What does China get?

For Beijing, renewed ties with the UK - a major European economy and close US ally - signal that China remains a dependable partner for the West despite Trump's trade tensions.

Economically, the reset secures access for Chinese exporters of high-value goods such as electric vehicles, solar panels and clean energy, while creating opportunities for Chinese investment in British services, finance and green tech.

Chinese state media framed the visit as a step toward turning the "potential of China–UK cooperation into real achievements that benefit both peoples and the world".

British firms were also quick to emphasise the benefits for both countries through the expanded partnerships.

"The prime minister's visit, the first in eight years, is a significant moment, signalling the importance of the economic relationship between the UK and China," Chris Fitzgerald, group director for international affairs at Octopus Energy told the BBC from China.

"Such partnerships mean we can bring affordable, secure, clean energy to British customers... And we can use our technology and know-how to bring some of the same benefits to Chinese customers."

What challenges remain?

Foreign businesses have long complained about the difficulties of doing business in China, flagging red tape, complex regulations, and a lack of transparency.

These can complicate investment decisions and create uncertainty for companies.

"Any market has its own challenges, so of course we've got to be clear eyed and seek expert advice," Fitzgerald said.

"We have had good discussions with the Chinese officials who have welcomed our entry. And we have been careful to choose an excellent partner... So we are excited to take the immense opportunity that the world's largest renewable energy market offers."

Sir Keir's Labour government has struggled to deliver the economic growth it promised, making the China visit a high-stakes test.

Despite scrutiny at home, improving relations with the world's second-largest economy has been a priority for the British prime minister.

The move, however, requires a delicate diplomatic balancing act.

US President Trump recently warned that Canada could face 100% tariffs over deals struck with China during Mark Carney's visit, and he has warned the UK about deepening its commercial ties with Beijing.

Sir Keir has insisted that Britain does not need to choose between Washington and Beijing, framing the reset as a pragmatic way to support growth at home while managing geopolitical risk.

At the UK–China Business Forum in Beijing on Friday, he described meetings with Xi as "very warm" and highlighted the significance of agreements on visa-free travel and whisky tariffs.

These offer British firms "really important access" and are "symbolic of what we're doing with the relationship", he said. "That is the way that we build the mutual trust and respect that is so important."

Sir Keir's visit is one of a flurry of trips to Beijing, as leaders from France, Canada and Finland seek to hedge against an increasingly unpredictable United States.

With Washington pursuing aggressive tariff policies and even making threats over Greenland, these so-called middle powers are looking to diversify trade and investment partners while securing new markets.

At the same time, these countries will be watching closely the deals that the UK, Canada, France and others are striking with China.

They will all need to remain competitive in attracting Chinese investment and accessing the world's second largest economy.

This tiny Australian town is up for sale - but the locals don't want to leave

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3wz49z6gyyo, 4 days ago

Tucked away in the rugged Victorian bushland lies the tiny outpost of Licola, population: five.

Consisting of a couple of weatherboard buildings, a general store, a caravan park and a petrol station grouped around a modest main street, Licola is one of Australia's smallest towns.

And if you have a spare couple of million dollars, you can buy it. The entire village - a three-hour drive from the city of Melbourne - is now up for grabs, much to the shock and ire of tight-knit locals.

Privately owned by a local community club, Licola has long been a guaranteed pit stop for fuel, food and rest for travellers on their way to the Alpine National Park. It also has a 50-year legacy of hosting outreach programmes for young people.

But the local branch of the Lions Club says it can't afford to run the town anymore, and late last year quietly listed it for sale online.

The sale has raised alarm bells for Licola's few passionate residents, locals in surrounding areas and even other Lions Clubs state members, who say they weren't fairly consulted and now hold grave fears for the future of the town.

'A home away from home'

Nestled beside the banks of the mighty Macalister River in Victoria's high country, Licola was originally a timber mill, built in the 1950s with a few buildings for those working there.

After it closed in 1968, the Lions Club acquired the whole site and turned it into a camp where disadvantaged young people and children, and groups with special needs, could stay during school holidays.

Just around the corner from the camp, they also snapped up land which now hosts Licola's General Store and Caravan Park.

Today, Leanne O'Donnell - who runs the General Store - and her family are the only full-time residents of the town. She lives there with one of her children, along with her best friend and her two kids.

"It's just an amazing place," O'Donnell tells the BBC. "When I first moved here, people would come into my store and say, 'You're not going to make a million dollars in Licola.' And I'd say, 'Who said I'm here to make a million dollars?'."

O'Donnell purchased the business in 2022 but doesn't own the buildings, signing a lease she says she was led to believe would be extended to a 15-year term.

From day one, O'Donnell wanted Licola to be "a home away from home" for people. Nearly every person who visits, works or passes through Licola has O'Donnell's number – even truck drivers and the Country Fire Authority.

"I'm the main point of contact for them, regardless of whether it's three in the afternoon or two in the morning," she said.

O'Donnell is extremely passionate about the town and serving its surrounding community - but she now faces eviction.

"I absolutely love this town... if it gets into the hands of a developer and turns into something that it's not, it [will] just break my heart."

O'Donnell first learned Licola was headed for the market in January 2025, from the Lions Village Licola board, which is appointed to manage the town on behalf of the charity.

"They told me that their business had been running at a loss for the last five or six years and I asked them, 'so how can I help you?'," O'Donnell says.

"They turned around and said, unless you get a couple of million dollars, there's nothing much you can do."

But O'Donnell persisted, offering to run fundraisers for the village and telling the board that the broader community will want to help.

The board wouldn't budge, O'Donnell says. Eventually she said: "So you're going to buy my business?"

"And they said, no, we're just going to take your business because we own the land and we own the buildings," she says. "And you just need to pack up and leave. I couldn't get it in my head and understand it at the time."

After seeking legal advice, O'Donnell quickly realised that because she was signed to a lease, the board could do just that.

"In the real world, I could take my business and put it in another building... that's not a problem at all anywhere else except for Licola."

Here, there is nowhere else to go.

By December, O'Donnell found a real estate listing online for the sale of the town, with an asking price of between A$6m (£3m, $4.3m) and $10m.

Petitions and threats

The sale has been met with intense backlash online from locals in the surrounding areas. Many are upset over the way O'Donnell has been treated and are concerned the beloved town could die out or be commercialised.

One user's comment on the Licola Caravan Park & General Store official Facebook page says: "People rely on the store in town, and closing in the middle of peak season is stupidity at its best."

Another person says selling the town "impacts MANY Victorians that come to Licola and have camped [there] for years".

"There are some great past leaders of Lions and leaders of the Licola village and camp whom I know are turning in their graves," another comment says.

Other Victorian Lions members wrote to the Lions Village Licola Board, accusing it of acting without due process and consultation with the broader Lions Club members it is supposed to represent.

An online petition to save the store, "renew the lease and let Leanne stay", has more than 8,000 signatures.

As outrage grew, the Lions Village Licola board said its staff were receiving threats and it was considering withdrawing them from the town.

In a statement to the BBC, a spokesperson said the sale was prompted by a review into the town's operations, which was provided to all Lions in Victoria.

After the review, the board decided it was no longer sustainable for the Lions Club to own the village, listing rising costs and insurance prices, aging accommodation, and a decline in camp attendance as the main reasons.

"The decision to sell was not made lightly," the statement said.

Chairman Denis Carruthers has said the board has a responsibility to protect the mission of the Lions Village - supporting disadvantaged youth - not just the physical space.

"The Lions District Governors have been briefed and are supportive," he told the BBC.

The board also said in their statement that O'Donnell's lease "was not renewed in order to consolidate revenue during a period of financial stress". O'Donnell has been told she has to vacate the premises by 31 January this year.

All proceeds of the sale of the Licola properties and future business profits will be reinvested into a new foundation, which will continue to pay for children to attend camps run professionally across Victoria, it said.

Whether future camps will continue to run in Licola is unknown at this stage, Carruthers added, with a planned camp for January cancelled due to low numbers.

It remains unclear who the new owners will be – or what they will want to do with the town.

But, he said, there is "considerable interest in the property".

Why China moved so quickly to execute 11 members of a notorious mafia family

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd6wegndnjlo, 5 days ago

No-one should be surprised that China has swiftly executed the 11 members of an organised crime family from north-eastern Myanmar who were sentenced to death in September.

China executes more people than anywhere else in the world, according to human rights groups – the exact figure is a state secret. Officials are often executed for corruption. The accusations made against the Ming family were far more serious.

The Ming, Bau, Wei and Liu clans have dominated the remote border town of Laukkaing in Myanmar's impoverished Shan state, since 2009.

They rose to power after General Min Aung Hlaing, the current coup leader in Myanmar, led a military operation to drive out the MNDAA, the ethnic insurgent army which had dominated Laukkaing and the area around it since the 1980s.

The four families, as they became known, took over and began shifting from the old dependence on opium and methamphetamine production to a new economy based on casinos and, eventually, online fraud.

They remained close to the Myanmar military; in December 2021, after seizing power in his coup, Min Aung Hlaing feted Liu Zhengxiang, patriarch of the Liu clan, in the capital Nay Pyi Taw and awarded him an honorary title for "extraordinary contributions to state development".

His Fully Light conglomerate had lucrative businesses all over Myanmar. Other members of the four families were candidates for the military-backed party the USDP.

The scam compounds they ran in Laukkaing, though, were brutal, much more so than scam complexes in other parts of Asia. Torture was routine.

Tens of thousands of mainly Chinese workers were lured there with promises of well-paid jobs, only to find themselves imprisoned in the compounds. They were forced to run elaborate "pig-butchering" scams, where most of the victims were also Chinese. Complaints from the victims, and by the families of those trapped in the compounds multiplied on social media.

The most notorious compound in Laukkaing was called Crouching Tiger Villa, run by the Ming family. In October 2023, during what is believed to have been an escape attempt, the guards killed several Chinese nationals. The Chinese authorities felt compelled to take action.

With China's apparent blessing the MNDAA and its allies attacked and recaptured Laukkaing, as part of their offensive against the Myanmar army in the ongoing civil war. The MNDAA vowed to stamp out the scam business completely.

They detained the heads of the four families and handed more than 60 of their relatives and associates to the Chinese police. Ming Xuechang, the family patriarch, or warlord, killed himself after being captured, authorities said.

During interrogations by the Chinese police one of the family members is reported to have admitted killing someone chosen at random just to demonstrate his strength.

These details have been publicised by China to justify its tough treatment of the families. Five of the Bau family are also awaiting execution, while the trials of the Wei and Liu families have not yet concluded.

The four families are ethnic Chinese, and had close ties to the authorities on the Chinese side of the border in Yunnan. Their abuses were too close to home for China, and the action against the scam business in Laukkaing has been the most decisive yet.

China has also prevailed on Thailand and Cambodia to extradite two Chinese business figures accused of running scam empires, She Zhijiang, who built an entire city in Myanmar's war-torn Karen State, and Chen Zhi, who amassed wealth and power with his Prince Group conglomerate in Cambodia. The Chinese government has also brought tens of thousands of its citizens who were working in scam compounds back to China to face trial.

The scam business, though, has simply adapted and evolved. It is still thought to be by far the biggest business in Cambodia, despite pressure from China and the US on the government there to shut it down.

And it has kept moving to new areas in Myanmar, even as the more prominent scam complexes like KK Park and Shwe Kokko, on the Thai-Myanmar border, have been forced to close down.

Australian PM says man who allegedly tried to bomb rally deserves 'full force of law'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3ep5jgzdgo, 7 days ago

Police should "throw the book" at a man who allegedly lobbed a homemade bomb into a crowd at a rally in support of Indigenous Australians, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said.

The 31-year-old man was detained after hurling an item into a throng of around 2,500 people who had gathered in Perth to mark Australia Day, police said.

While many across Australia celebrated the country's national day on Monday, many Indigenous Australians and their advocates held "Invasion Day" rallies to commemorate the cultural destruction of Indigenous communities under European settlers.

Police said the device did not detonate and no injuries were reported.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Albanese said the the incident was "quite shocking", but added that he could not comment any further as "the matter is now before the courts".

"I look forward to him being prosecuted to the full force of the law," he added.

The man - whose identity is suppressed by a court order - is charged with making explosives and intending to do harm, but police are investigating whether he can also be charged with terrorism offences.

Authorities say the object thrown was "a homemade improvised explosive device" containing a mixture of potentially explosive chemicals, nails and metal ball bearings.

In a subsequent search of the man's home, police said they found a "combination of chemicals and materials consistent with the manufacture of homemade explosives".

Western Australia's Police Commissioner Col Blanch said the incident was being treated as a "hostile act" but added police are investigating whether there was political, religious or ideological motive to the alleged attack - a requirement for terror charges.

The alleged bomb incident comes during a time of heightened sensitivity for Australians, after 15 people were killed in a shooting last December at a Jewish festival on Sydney's Bondi Beach.

After the incident at the Perth rally, West Australian Premier Roger Cook said "we can't let hate win".

"Now, more than ever, it is important that we treat each other's views with respect," he said. "It's our differences and diversity which has made Australia the country that we all love."

The man has been remanded in custody and will appear in court again on 17 February.

Firefighters battle 'emergency level' blazes in Australia heatwave

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpqyp9w84eeo, 7 days ago

Firefighters in the Australian state of Victoria are battling at least six major fires as a record-breaking heatwave hits the country's south-east.

Two fires are currently burning at "emergency level" according to local broadcaster ABC News. Several communities have been issued emergency warnings to either evacuate, watch and wait, or shelter in place.

Fire officials warn that the situation is changing rapidly and have asked locals to stay up to date with the latest warnings.

The Bureau of Meteorology says that parts of the state have seen all-time temperature highs - with one area hitting a high of 48.9C. Melbourne has recorded a temperature of 41C.

Chris Hardman, the chief fire officer at Forest Fire Management Victoria, had told reporters that the state's heat conditions were making conditions "incredibly difficult" for firefighters.

Two fires - in Camperdown and Otways - are burning at emergency level. A new fire in the Larralea area is also causing "significant concern".

Country Fire Authority (CFA) chief officer Jason Heffernan told ABC Radio that there was a danger that the Otways fire could produce ember showers "which can create more fires in front of the main fire".

It is unclear what damage has been caused by the fires, but Australia's Deputy Incident Controller Alistair Drayton, said he had "anecdotal evidence" that some homes had been lost.

He also praised the "spectacular" work done by firefighters so far.

Apart from Victoria, where there is a total fire ban, South Australia has also been placed under alert for "extreme" fire risk.

Meanhwile health officials have warned that the prolonged heat carries significant health risks.

The elderly, children and people with underlying health conditions are most at risk, Victoria chief health officer Caroline McElnay told reporters.

"It can cause potentially fatal health problems such as heat exhaustion and heat stroke but it can also trigger events like heart attacks or stroke."

Scientists are clear that human-caused climate change is making heatwaves much more likely and more intense globally.

And Australasia has seen an increasing frequency and severity of heat extremes in recent decades, according to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

South-east Australia also experienced extreme heat in early January, with temperatures surpassing 40C.

A rapid study by scientists at the World Weather Attribution group estimated that the high temperatures across a three-day period were now at least five times more likely as a result of climate change.

While fires occur naturally in Australia, these hot, dry conditions can make it much easier for fires to spread, potentially fuelling larger blazes.

And as the world continues to warm, Australia is expected to see further increases in these "fire weather" conditions, according to the IPCC.

Additional reporting by Mark Poynting

Carlos Alcaraz makes tennis history at Australian Open

https://www.bbc.com/newsround/articles/c931vq02n2ko, 2 days ago

* Published1 February 2026

* 4 Comments

Carlos Alcaraz has just made history by winning the men's singles at the Australian Open.

The 22-year-old player has become the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam.

This is when someone wins all four of the major tennis tournaments - the French Open, US Open, Wimbledon and the Australian Open.

The world number one player beat 24-time grand slam champion, Novak Djokovic 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5.

Djokovic was also hoping for a historic victory - as he tried to set a new stand alone record of 25 major singles titles.

Carlos Alcaraz - achievements so far

[carlos celebrates his win by laughing and lying down]

Carlos Alcaraz is currently the number one men's singles tennis player in the world.

He was born in Murcia in Spain in 2003, and first started playing tennis around the age of four.

He won his first Grand slam tournament - the 2022 US Open - as a teenager, aged 19, making him the youngest men's Grand Slam champion since Rafael Nadal in 2005.

He became the youngest number one in the history of the ATP Rankings at the age of 19 years and 130 days.

Now, Carlos has won seven grand slams tournaments in total.

[Elena Rybakina with her trophy]

The Australian Open tennis tournament took place from 18 January to 1 February, at Melbourne Park, in Australia.

Elena Rybakina won the women's singles tournament beating Aryna Sabalenka.

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China sends police to Australia in hunt for man who doused baby with coffee

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgk86xkgm0no, 6 days ago

China is sending a team to Australia to help in the search for a man who allegedly doused a baby with boiling coffee in 2024.

The nine-month old was attacked while his family were at a park in Brisbane's southern suburbs, suffering serious burns to his face and limbs.

The suspect fled the country before police identified him as a 33-year-old man, and is currently in China - a country with which Australia does not have an extradition arrangement.

China's ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian said on Thursday a "working group" would travel to Brisbane to assist the investigation.

"We are serious in addressing this concern, and we're serious in taking the necessary actions," Xiao told reporters in Canberra.

The team will work with Australian officials to "see what exactly happened, how it happened, and how both sides can work together as a follow-up", he added.

In a joint statement, Queensland Police and the Australian Federal Police said they are "supporting a delegation of Chinese authorities", thanking them for their "ongoing cooperation" given the challenges presented by the alleged offender's location.

"China has extraterritorial jurisdiction to prosecute its citizens for conduct which occurs outside China," the joint statement read.

An arrest warrant was issued for the man for acts intending to cause grievous bodily harm, a charge which in Australia could carry life imprisonment term.

Police have described the suspect as an "itinerant" worker who had travelled to Australia on multiple occasions between 2019 and 2024, and had addresses in the states of Victoria and New South Wales.

News of the incident sparked outrage across Australia because of the nature of the attack and the severity of the baby's burns.

The man allegedly dumped a Thermos of hot coffee on the baby while the family was having a picnic.

The boy required multiple skin graft surgeries in the weeks after the attack in August 2024.

Three months later, his parents provided an update saying though their son still had scarring on his chin and shoulder, everything else was "travelling well".

An online fundraiser for medical treatment for the baby's injuries raised more than $230,000 ($161,000; £117,000).

Four attacks in 48 hours: How east Australia's beaches became a 'perfect storm' for sharks

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0err023g5lo, 11 days ago

It's "extraordinary", says shark researcher Chris Pepin-Neff: four shark bites within 48 hours, and three of them within a 15km (9-mile) stretch of Australia's east coast.

On 18 January, a 12-year-old boy was taken to hospital with critical injuries and later died after being attacked while swimming in Sydney Harbour. The next day, an 11-year-old's surfboard was bitten at Dee Why beach, hours before a man was attacked at nearby Manly and taken to hospital in critical condition.

Then, on 20 January, a fourth surfer "sustained a wound to his chest" after a shark bit his board some 300km up the coast.

"This is the closest - in both proximity and in time - series of shark bites that I've ever seen in my 20 years of research," says Pepin-Neff, who is an associate professor of public policy at the University of Sydney.

The succession of incidents caused alarm and dozens of beaches have been closed because of fears of more attacks. Calls for shark culls have gathered momentum.

Experts, however, have cautioned against such measures, advocating instead for a greater awareness of shark behaviour and urging a rethink of humans' relationship to these fish.

Many factors may have contributed to the recent series of incidents, they say – and the sharks are not the problem.

Why suddenly so many shark attacks in Australia?

Non-provoked shark attacks are usually precipitated by environmental conditions, attractants in the water, or both.

The three recent incidents in Sydney - all of which are thought to have involved bull sharks – followed several days' worth of heavy rain, during which the city's official weather station recorded 127mm of downpour within 24 hours – its wettest January day in 38 years.

That rainfall would have created "perfect conditions" for bull sharks, according to Rebecca Olive, senior research fellow at RMIT University.

"Bull sharks thrive in warm, brackish water, which most other sharks flee," she told the BBC. "They love river mouths and estuaries, so the freshwater that flooded off the land following the recent rain events was perfect for them."

Olive and other experts further note that this freshwater would have likely flushed sewage and nutrients into the sea, thus drawing in bait fish and, in turn, sharks.

"There's clearly an attractant in the water," Pepin-Neff says, suggesting that a "perfect storm" of low salinity freshwater could have created a "biodiversity explosion".

"The bait fish come to the surface, the bull sharks come to the surface, everybody's in the near shore area – and now we have a problem."

Are shark attacks increasing overall?

Official statistics show that shark bite incidents in Australia have gradually increased over the past 30 years – rising from around eight to 10 per year in the 1990s, to yearly averages in the mid-20s from the 2010s onwards.

That doesn't mean sharks are becoming more aggressive, though. More likely is that the higher numbers reflect better data collection, as well as a number of compounding human factors.

These include a growing coastal population, an increased uptake of water sports and thicker wetsuits that allow swimmers to stay in the ocean for longer.

"The number of total encounters is definitely much higher than it was, just because the population of people who go in the water and do all these things is really high," Pepin-Neff explains.

They also point out, however, that the rate of shark bites "doesn't tick up at the amount it should for the proportion of people who are going in the water and doing more things".

Olive echoes this point, noting that "given how many people use the ocean each day, incidents and attacks are relatively uncommon, and fatalities are even less common".

If it seems as though sharks are becoming more prolific or dangerous, Olive suggests this may just be a result of them being more visible to members of the community – whether because of better reporting systems, the proliferation of drone footage or the outsized attention that shark encounters receive from the media.

Pepin-Neff adds that broad, imprecise language around encounters is likely fuelling fears and distorting people's understanding of the risk.

When shark sightings, encounters and bites all get conflated under the catchall umbrella of an "attack", the danger seems greater than it is.

"There is a problem in being able to meaningfully describe what happened without using the words 'shark attack'," they explain. "And that creates a more emotional community experience that is slightly different to what actually happened."

Do shark culls work?

In the wake of Sydney's recent flurry of shark attacks, heightened fears have reinvigorated calls for a cull. Typically, this would involve using nets or baited drumlines to catch and kill sharks near popular beaches.

Experts reject the suggestion.

"I can understand when there are calls for culls in response [to an attack]... but I'm strongly opposed to culling sharks in order that we can maintain an illusion of safety while surfing or swimming in the ocean," says Olive.

Pepin-Neff, meanwhile, stresses that scientific research does not support shark culls as an effective method of reducing the danger of an attack.

"It just doesn't work," they say. "It makes politicians feel better, and it makes activists feel better, and it makes nobody in the water any safer."

In cases of shark encounters, they add, the variable is not the sharks themselves, but rather the attractant that's drawing them to the area.

"It doesn't matter if you kill all the sharks in Sydney Harbor – if there's a shark up the coast and the attractant is still in the water, then the shark's going to come in."

How can people avoid shark attacks?

Both Olive and Pepin-Neff suggest that the best way to minimise risk is to be more conscious and wary of the factors that exacerbate the likelihood of a shark encounter. On an individual level, this might mean avoiding swimming and surfing after heavy rain. For councils it might mean creating more shark enclosures where people can swim safely.

More broadly, however, they emphasise the need for beach-goers to adopt a less idyllic and more pragmatic attitude towards the ocean.

"In Australia we've got to treat the beach like the bush," says Pepin-Neff. "Australians know how to navigate the wild. We just need to reinforce that the ocean is still the wild."

This will require a rethink not only of our relationship with the water, they add, but also our relationship with sharks.

"This idea that the ocean is always safe but the sharks are always dangerous – it's the opposite," they say. "The ocean is never safe, and the sharks are not always dangerous.

"We're in the way, not on the menu."

A national tragedy 30 years ago united Australia. Why hasn't the Bondi shooting?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2yy4n1vlgo, 12 days ago

Thursday had been earmarked for Australians to mourn the victims of last month's Bondi shootings.

Those who had lost loved ones in the antisemitic attacks wanted it to be a chance to remember the dead, and spread light and kindness in their honour.

Instead, it was a day dominated by a political row resulting in the collapse of the opposition coalition.

"I mean, you would have thought they could have put this off for 24 hours," veteran political commentator Malcolm Farr told the BBC.

"It's at the very least unfortunate timing and shows a certain amount of self-indulgence."

The fight - which centred around reforms sparked by the tragedy - looks set to sink two leaders and trash their parties' electoral chances, and caps off what many Australians say has been a disappointing month of politics.

When two gunmen opened fire on an event marking the Jewish festival of Hanukkah at Bondi Beach, killing 15 people - including a 10-year-old child - the recriminations began almost immediately.

"The turnaround was amazing in the way they [politicians] politicised it," says Bondi local Kass Hill, 52. "The fingerpointing isn't solving anything."

Heckles and blame

While families were waiting to bury their loved ones, a conveyer belt of politicians - including the opposition leader - visited the scene to apportion blame. Populist leaders came to rail against immigration. Prominent businesspeople popped by to pose with flowers.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, accused by many Jewish Australians of ignoring their concerns ahead of the attack, spent the weeks after it dismissing calls from many in the community for a national inquiry into antisemitism.

He was repeatedly heckled in public, arriving at a memorial to a tidal wave of boos and cries of "You're not welcome". "You might as well go to a jihadist nation where you can fit in," one person shouted. Looming over the crowd, a large screen read "a night of unity".

Criticised as being overly defensive and slow to listen, Albanese has in turn rebuked his parliamentary rivals for "playing politics" with tragedy.

The 14 December Bondi attack was Australia's worst mass shooting since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, when 35 people were killed, but the responses to the tragedies couldn't be more different.

Then Prime Minister John Howard visited the scene of the shooting in Tasmania to lay wreaths together with opposition leaders, who shortly afterwards united to help him pass firearms laws that made Australia a world leader on gun control.

"Australian society and politics is very different than it was 30 years ago and we're just a far more divided society," says John Warhurst, an emeritus professor of political science at the Australian National University.

A society already fractured over Israel-Gaza war

There are a number of reasons why this attack has divided people in ways Port Arthur didn't - including the already fraught debate raging in Australia over Israel, Gaza and antisemitism, according to Mark Kenny, a political columnist and host of the Democracy Sausage podcast.

"Then this event lobs into that, [and] I think it led to it being immediately politicised," he told the BBC.

Since the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas and protests in Australia against Israel's war on Gaza which followed, Albanese has consistently been accused of failing to do enough to stamp out antisemitism. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry says antisemitic incidents have increased from an average of 342 before the 7 October attacks in 2023 to 1,654 last year.

Likewise, he's been accused of not doing enough to call out Israel's actions in Gaza, which UN experts have called genocide and Israel denies.

Hours after the Bondi shooting, the antisemitism commissioner appointed by Albanese linked it to the pro-Palestinian protests that have regularly taken place in Sydney and which Jewish leaders have lobbied against.

"It began on 9 October 2023 at the Sydney Opera House," Jillian Segal said in a statement. "Now death has reached Bondi Beach."

Investigators have not said there is any link between the alleged gunmen and the pro-Palestinian movement, instead alleging the pair were inspired by the jihadist group Islamic State, with the younger of the father-son duo on intelligence agencies' radars for a period in 2019.

No simple solutions and 'either-or-ism'

As it was after Port Arthur, gun reform was the first thing on the legislative agenda after the Bondi attack.

"We know that one of these terrorists held a firearm licence and had six guns, in spite of living in the middle of Sydney's suburbs... There's no reason why someone in that situation needed that many guns," Albanese said as he announced a suite of changes in the following days.

Unlike Port Arthur, when the measures were broadly popular, Albanese's focus on gun laws was immediately attacked by the Liberal opposition and parts of the Jewish community as a distraction from what they view as the real cause of the attack – antisemitism. Even Howard, the architect of the 1996 reforms, came out to suggest they were an "attempted diversion".

"That kind of 'either or ism' is a feature about politics these days probably everywhere in the West. Everything becomes supercharged and divisive," says Kenny.

"There's just this fundamental lack of trust that's almost like we're in the grip of a toxic cynicism that means that motives of political leaders… the first instinct is to question them, to regard them as disingenuous."

The recent decision by a festival in Adelaide to disinvite a Palestinian-Australian author – leading ultimately to the collapse of the entire writers' week portion of the event – due to "sensitivities" after Bondi and her "past statements" is also a sign of how tense the current circumstances are, adds Kenny.

Demands for immediate action on antisemitism were loud in the days after the attack, and Albanese did soon announce a crackdown on hate speech, backed by the antisemitism commissioner.

But some critics said the measures would impinge on free speech, including the right to criticise Israel, and on protest, while others argued they did not go far enough in protecting other minorities.

"[It's] a can of worms," says Warhurst, noting that there has never been "an easy agreement on finding where that balance lies" between free speech and hate speech.

"Now is the worst time, I think, to be trying to resolve those sorts of issues because you are doing it fairly quickly and you're doing it in a heated environment."

The hate speech laws had the backing of the Jewish community, but many felt it was not enough - with several of the victims' families pushing Albanese to call a royal commission, Australia's most powerful form of independent inquiry.

For weeks, Albanese argued the measures already announced were enough and that a royal commission would be the wrong tool to unpick what had happened. It could give a platform to antisemites, he said.

Royal commissions had not been launched into previous tragedies like Port Arthur, Albanese pointed out, comments which were widely dismissed. Promised reviews of intelligence agencies and law enforcement similarly did nothing to dissuade those calling for the inquiry.

Their pleas were mirrored by a coordinated campaign of letter writing that featured on the front pages of right-wing newspapers. "I don't think it's controversial to say that the News Limited and other parts of the media were certainly stirring the pot," says Warhurst.

Albanese's arguments against a royal commission were "really hard to make in these circumstances", says Kenny, and it backfired on him when he was ultimately forced to reverse course on the issue.

Analysts have also suggested his reluctance may have been down to fears it could become complex, controversial and divisive. It could invite discussion of the war in Gaza, while potentially excluding examination of Islamophobia – which exploded after Bondi, with The Islamophobia Register Australia recording a 740% rise in incidents by early January - when many Labor MPs have large Muslim electorates.

There was likely also a "reluctance to cave to the opposition", Farr believes: opposition leader Sussan Ley had vociferously demanded the royal commission, asking what Albanese was "hiding", and revelled in his backflip.

A political opportunity

It is fair to say that, before December's attack, Ley had been struggling to land a punch on the government and assert authority over her own party. In the weeks before the shooting, some pundits were even predicting her imminent ousting.

"The Bondi attacks offered her an opportunity to prosecute a very strong case against the government," says Kenny.

But any momentum she gained over the royal commission collapsed this week when she failed to rally her Coalition behind the very hate speech laws she had so loudly demanded Albanese quickly implement.

By Thursday - the national day of mourning for the Bondi attacks - things had fallen apart.

The National Party announced they were leaving the coalition, having refused to vote for the legislation despite a shadow cabinet agreement. They, despite earlier calls for haste, said they had not been given enough time to examine the proposals which they said could threaten free speech.

On his way out the door, Nationals leader David Littleproud suggested the only way his party would consider returning to the fold was if Ley was dumped, leaving her already shaky leadership hanging by a thread.

"I'm quite sure there are people... who are polishing their shoes and tightening the knot on their ties to step forward should that vacancy occur or be forced," says Farr.

However, Littleproud's bold ultimatum could be an overstep which costs him his own job, with mutterings that Liberals wouldn't accept him as a leader in any future coalition either.

But then, it seems all of Australia's politicians may be on shakier ground.

The posturing of the main parties over the past month has left a bitter taste in the mouths of many Australians. In a poll released earlier this week, Albanese's net approval rating had plunged to minus 11 from his previous score of zero in November, while Ley's approval rating - never high - barely budged at minus 28.

The repeated calls for unity by politicians who simultaneously fail to heed their own statements will not have gone unnoticed, and Thursday's display of political infighting is unlikely to improve the fortunes of any party, says Farr.

"It will reinforce the view of so many Australians who already are cynical about what politicians, no matter their party, actually represent and will reinforce the belief that politicians, MPs, just stand for themselves rather than the national good."

Why Sydney is preserving thousands of flowers after deadly Bondi attack

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70l9531pd1o, 13 days ago

From the outside, the vacant shop on the corner of a busy avenue in central Sydney looks abandoned. Plastic sheeting is taped across all the windows and there's a large padlock hanging on the door handle.

Step inside, though, and you're greeted by cuddly toys, candles, trinkets and messages of hope scribbled on large sheets.

All of them come from a makeshift memorial that was created after the 14 December attack at Bondi Beach that killed 15 people.

So when the Sydney Jewish Museum and the Australian Jewish Historical Society heard that the memorial would be removed by the local council, they sprang into action to ensure everything contained within it could live on.

Many of the items now live in neat squares made out of masking tape on the shop floor.

One says "bees" - within it are dozens of knitted and cuddly insects - a nod to 10-year-old Matilda Bee, the youngest victim of the attack.

Another has a heap of deflated foil balloons – again, mostly bees.

There's also a box of stones – Jewish mourners traditionally place a stone on a grave instead of flowers – as well as flags, books, Christmas decorations and even a Barbie cracker.

Some families who were unable to go to any of the vigils in Bondi have also paid a visit to the spaces housing the tributes.

"It was too overwhelming to be in Bondi, but in this space it was very quiet. And I think to see everything laid out and the amount, they found it really moving and meaningful," said Shannon Biederman, the senior curator at the Sydney Jewish Museum.

Families also came to the flower space and were given flower pressing to do, while artists and community members joined in too.

For Shannon, memorialising the items is a deeply personal task.

Her family were regular attendees of Chanukah by the Sea - the festival targeted by the alleged gunmen. They had bought tickets to go but at the last minute, they changed their mind.

They also knew the family of Rabbi Eli Schlanger, one of the 15 victims.

"I do work in a Holocaust museum, so the murder of Jews isn't something that I'm not used to, and I've learned to compartmentalise," she says.

"But it's different because I'm used to working with history and this is now, and we are a museum of memory, but we're still very much live in [this].

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was among the first to lay a bouquet in front of the Bondi Pavilion the morning after the attack. Over the course of a week, the tributes spread like a wave across the forecourt.

The massacre at Bondi was Australia's worst mass shooting in nearly three decades and left the country reeling. It also saw people pointing the blame at the government for letting something like this happen to a community that had been repeatedly warning authorities about a rise in antisemitism in recent years.

But the conversation is now trying to focus on bringing people together - a sentiment the community wants to see continued in a permanent memorial to the dead.

On Thursday, landmarks across the country will also be lit up and a minute's silence held in honour of the victims. Australians are also being asked to perform a mitzvah – an everyday act of kindness such as checking in on a neighbour or a donation - a Jewish tradition and a way to bring people together after last month's attack.

How the memorial will live on is still unclear – several artists have come forward, keen to work with some of the material but a committee will make the final decisions.

'I started with a lot of anger'

And while the toys and trinkets were catalogued - there was the greater challenge of dealing with the flowers that had been left behind.

Volunteers helped to preserve the three tonnes of bouquets and wreaths that were loaded into black bags and taken to a separate warehouse in North Sydney.

The process was confronting, says Nina Sanadze, a Jewish artist from Melbourne, whose idea it was to save all the flowers and oversaw the operation.

"When they brought them here, they looked like 100 bodies," Nina says. "It was shocking again."

Once at the warehouse, dozens of volunteers began the slow process of hanging them up on metal fences that had also been sourced in haste.

They also had to wear masks to protect themselves from the large amount of pollen circulating.

Shannon also feared that the sheer quantity of flowers and the gases they were emitting could create a compost fire, so volunteers had to monitor temperatures carefully and brought in fans.

"The smell and the moisture here in the warehouse was overwhelming," says Nina. "It was like being inside a perfume shop."

Meanwhile the flowers kept on coming.

"After the council made decision to clean up this big collection of flowers, people continued to bring them," explains Nina. "We had volunteers to go at night and collect them otherwise they'd get thrown away."

The stalks have been saved for compost – which Nina says she's considering turned into some kind of furniture.

Some of the rose buds had also started to rot, but she's dried them out and made a resin artwork scattered with the salvageable petals.

"There's a lot of decay and sadness as well as beauty," she says of her improvised creation. "[It] takes it straight into the storytelling of what happened - it's not a thing of perfect beauty but it's a story, it's a heartbreak and love all together."

Though a heavy task, for many of the volunteers, helping preserve the mountain of tributes left at the site is a form of therapy.

And while the concept for the memorial is still germinating, Nina has already pinned down the title.

"Petal by Petal," she says confidently. It speaks to the way volunteers have had to methodically go about preserving the material, and symbolises her own slow processing of the attack.

"I started with a lot of anger coming here," Nina admits. "I feel like I'm leaving in better spirits."

She hopes the resulting artworks and memorials can help the community do the same.

"It can soften hearts, it can communicate," she says. "And one of the things with flowers is not only they speak of the fragility of humans, but also they have no language, everybody understands flowers."

'Superhuman' teen swims hours to save family stranded off Australian coast

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx20zkkq54go, yesterday

A 13-year-old boy has been praised for his determination after he swam through rough waters in fading light to save his mother and two siblings who had been swept out to sea off Australia's coast.

The family had been paddleboarding and kayaking at Geographe Bay in the south of Western Australia, on Friday when strong winds pushed their inflatables off course, police said.

The teenager began to paddle back to shore to raise the alarm but his kayak took on water - so he swam the remaining 4km (2 nautical miles).

"The bravery, strength and courage shown by this family were extraordinary, especially the young fella who swam 4km to raise the alarm," Naturaliste Volunteer Marine Rescue Group said.

The organisation's commander Paul Bresland described the efforts of the teenager as "superhuman".

"He swam in, he reckons, the first two hours with a life jacket on," he told ABC News. "The brave fella thought he's not going to make it with a life jacket on, so he ditched it, and he swam the next two hours without a life jacket."

The boy was able to raise the alarm by 18:00 local time (10:00 GMT) on Friday evening, sparking a huge search for the missing relatives from Quindalup beach, near Busselton, WA Police said in a statement on Monday.

The boy's 47-year-old mother, her other son, 12, and daughter, eight, were located at around 20:30 by a rescue helicopter clinging to a paddleboard about 14km offshore.

"A volunteer marine rescue vessel was directed to their location and all three were successfully rescued and returned to shore," the force said.

Insp James Bradley said the incident was an important reminder of how rapidly ocean conditions can change.

"Thankfully, all three people were wearing life jackets, which contributed to their survival," he told local media.

"The actions of the 13-year-old boy cannot be praised highly enough - his determination and courage ultimately saved the lives of his mother and siblings."

The family were assessed by paramedics before being taken to a nearby hospital, police said.

The family were later discharged and visited the marine rescue crew to say thank you, the ABC reported.

Perth plaza evacuated after man throws device into crowd

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgl8dd8zw5jo, 8 days ago

A man has been arrested after allegedly throwing a device that police believe may have contained explosives into a crowd in Australia, police have said.

The incident occurred shortly after 12:30 local time (04:30 GMT) on Monday in a pedestrianised square in Perth, where the state premier said thousands had gathered for a rally supporting the rights of Indigenous people. It also coincided with the national holiday, Australia Day.

The 31-year-old man was detained at the scene and remains in custody. Police said the device did not detonate and no injuries have been reported.

It comes less than two months after an attack on Sydney's Bondi Beach targeting a Jewish festival left 15 people dead.

Witnesses to Monday's incident in Forrest Place said they saw the man throw an object towards the front of a stage while speeches at an Invasion Day rally were taking place, public broadcaster ABC News reported.

Western Australia Police Commissioner Col Blanch told reporters the device had not exploded but contained ball bearings and screws wrapped around an unknown liquid inside a glass container.

He said forensic investigators were in the process of identifying the liquid, describing the device as "very rudimentary" and about the size of a medium coffee cup.

Blanch said police "do not believe there is any ongoing threat to the community".

Australia Day, on 26 January, marks the 1788 landing of Britain's First Fleet in Sydney Cove and the start of colonisation. For many Indigenous Australians and their supporters, it is known as Invasion Day.

The contentious public holiday often sees large protests take place in major cities across Australia.

Western Australia Premier Roger Cook described the incident in Perth as "completely unacceptable"

"We can't let hate win," he said. "Now, more than ever, it is important that we treat each other's views with respect. It's our differences and diversity which has made Australia the country that we all love."

Australia's national terror threat level is currently considered "probable", the third-highest rating on a five-point scale.

Several Australia Day events were cancelled or scaled back this year due to extreme heat, with parts of the country experiencing temperatures in excess of 40C.

Two arrested over attempted sabotage of German naval vessels

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crkryz35246o, today

Two suspects have been arrested over the attempted sabotage of German naval vessels docked at the Port of Hamburg last year.

The pair are suspected of deactivating electronic safety switches, removing fuel tank caps, puncturing water supply lines, and dumping more than 20kg (44.1lb) of abrasive gravel into a ship's engine.

"If gone undetected, the acts would have caused major damage to the ships and delayed their departure, endangering the operations of the German Navy," the EU's Eurojust crime agency said in a statement.

The suspects are a 37-year-old Romanian man and a 54-year-old Greek man who worked at the port, according to local media reports.

The suspects were arrested in Germany and in Greece on Tuesday following a coordinated effort between German, Greek and Romanian authorities.

Officers also searched and seized evidence from the suspects' homes in Germany, Greece and Romania, Eurojust said.

An investigation into the full circumstances around the incident is ongoing, the agency added.

While officials in Germany have not explicitly linked the Hamburg incident to Russia, the arrests come amid heightened fears over Kremlin-backed sabotage across the continent.

Germany and other Nato countries have seen a string of suspected sabotage incidents since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Undersea communications cables in the Baltic have been damaged, and suspected drone activity has caused major disruption at airports and military bases.

Though some European governments have directly accused Russia of involvement, the Kremlin has consistently denied orchestrating sabotage operations.

Germany has sought to increase its resilience to potential sabotage after an arson attack, which was previously linked to left-wing activists, left tens of thousands without power earlier this year.

France teacher fighting for life after knife attack by pupil

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7v0p818g91o, today

A secondary school teacher in south-eastern France was left in a critical condition on Tuesday after being stabbed by a 14-year-old pupil.

The 60-year-old female art teacher was stabbed three to four times in her chest in front of around 20 other students, according to a local official.

The pupil fled the classroom before being caught in the schoolyard, and was later arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

Toulon's public prosecutor Raphaël Balland said the suspect did not appear to have had a religious or political motive, adding: "All we know is that there had been tensions with this teacher recently, and he was angry with her."

La Guicharde school was evacuated after the attack in the early afternoon and Wednesday's lessons were cancelled, a regional education official said.

Earlier on Tuesday, France's Education Minister Edouard Geffray said he was heading "immediately" to the school in Sanary-sur-Mer, a coastal area of the Var region.

"My thoughts immediately go to the victim, her family, and the entire educational community, whose deep shock I share," he wrote on X.

It is the latest in a series of attacks by students in French schools in recent years.

In 2025, a 14-year-old was charged with the murder of a teaching assistant after allegedly stabbing her to death in June.

In a separate case in April, a student killed a girl and wounded several others in a knife attack in the western city of Nantes.

In 2020, teacher Samuel Paty was murdered by a Chechen refugee outside the school where he taught in a suburb of Paris, an attack which was motivated by religious extremism.

Norway's PM agrees crown princess had 'poor judgement' over Epstein links

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1508llzw4qo, yesterday

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has said he agrees with Crown Princess Mette-Marit's admission of "poor judgement" after it emerged she had extensive contacts with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The princess features hundreds of times between 2011-14 in the latest files released by the US Department of Justice relating to Epstein.

This latest embarrassment for the royal family comes on the eve of her son's seven-week trial in Oslo on 38 charges including rape and assault.

Princess Mette-Marit married Norway's Crown Prince Haakon as a commoner when her son Marius Borg Høiby was four and is in line to become queen when her husband accedes to the throne.

As the content of her email exchanges began to emerge, the princess released a statement on Saturday saying: "I showed poor judgement and regret having any contact with Epstein at all. It is simply embarrassing."

She went on to express her "deep sympathy and solidarity with the victims of the abuses committed by Jeffrey Epstein".

Although the prime minister did not go further than agreeing with the princess's admission of poor judgement, his implicit criticism of her is considered unusual.

Støre said he also believed that ex-Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland had exercised "poor judgement", after it emerged that he had planned a family holiday on Epstein's private island, though he then cancelled it. Jagland was expected to make a statement on the issue on Monday.

The latest cache of Epstein files suggests that the correspondence between Princess Mette-Marit and Epstein began in autumn 2011.

The warm nature of the messages has appalled commentators in Norway. An email from the HRH Crown Princess account on 23 October 2011 implies she had by then become aware of his initial jail term in 2008.

"Googled u after last email," she wrote. "Agree didn't look too good."

By this time, Epstein was a registered sex offender.

It also emerged that the crown princess spent four days at Epstein's house in Palm Beach, Miami in January 2013, when he was not present.

In one email, Epstein was asked whether a mother should suggest naked women carrying a surfboard for her son's wallpaper.

Norway's royal family has been buffeted by a succession of scandals of late, including the marriage of the crown prince's sister, Princess Märtha Louise to a self-styled American shaman.

But the latest revelations concern the future queen of Norway, and the wider monarchy. Princess Mette-Marit is patron of several organisations including the Red Cross.

Norwegians are already preparing for the trial of her son, Marius Borg Høiby, and questions are being asked about his mother's failure to realise the toxic nature of maintaining contact with Epstein, and especially the role of her advisers.

Mette-Marit is suffering from pulmonary fibrosis and her doctors are preparing to put her on a list for a lung transplant.

Her 29-year-old son, who is not part of the royal family, denies the most serious charges against him. One charge of rape involves intercourse while a woman was asleep. Three others allege sexual assault while women were incapacitated, which also counts as rape in Norway.

If found guilty he could face at least 10 years in prison.

No member of the royal family will attend the trial, which starts at Oslo district court on Tuesday.

However, in an emotional statement to reporters last week, Crown Prince Haakon said "our thoughts are with everyone who is affected by this case... we understand that this is a difficult time for many of you, and we sympathise".

Although his stepson was not a member of the royal family, he said: "We care about him, and he is an important member of our family."

Twelve miners killed by Russian strike in Ukraine, officials say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdre7g2je63o, yesterday

Twelve miners have been killed by a Russian drone strike in eastern Ukraine, the country's largest private energy firm has said.

DTEK said a bus carrying workers after a shift in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region had been targeted in Sunday's attack. At least 15 people were injured, state emergency services said.

Earlier, at least two others were killed and nine injured in separate Russian attacks overnight and on Sunday, including six people who were hurt when a drone hit a maternity hospital in Zaporizhzhia.

The strikes come while Russia had agreed not to target population centres and energy infrastructure for the duration of a cold snap.

Strikes have continued in regions of Ukraine near the front line but cities like the capital, Kyiv, have largely been untouched over the past few days.

Moscow did not mention the cold weather when confirming the move, instead saying it was to facilitate peace negotiations due to be held in Abu Dhabi this week.

Zaporizhzhia regional head Ivan Fedorov called the hit on the maternity hospital - which occurred as two women were giving birth - further "proof of a war directed against life" in a post on Telegram.

BBC Verify confirmed the site was Maternity Hospital No.3 on Bocharova Street in the east of the city.

Footage shared across social media carried the watermarks of national and local administrations and showed offices, rooms with beds for patients, and a children's room with the windows broken and covered in debris.

Some footage showed degrees of fire damage, while two videos showed a fire still burning on the first storey. Another showed fire fighters breaking down interior doors and ferrying patients away.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said the hospital attack showed Russian President Vladimir Putin was pursuing a "war against civilians contrary to peace efforts".

Fedorov later reported three people had been injured by a separate strike in a residential area.

After the strike on the DTEK bus in the town of Ternivka, the company said 15 miners had been killed. It later revised the death toll down to at least 12.

Elsewhere, a man and a woman were killed by a drone strike in the central city of Dnipro, Ganzha said. He also reported that a 72-year-old man had been injured in Nikopol.

Separately, a 59-year-old woman was seriously wounded by shelling in Kherson, while three others were injured in a strike in Kharkiv, officials said.

Moscow launched a wave of targeted attacks on Ukraine's power grid in January, leaving millions without heating or electricity during an extraordinarily cold winter - with temperatures forecast to plunge below -20C in places.

US President Donald Trump had said on Thursday that Putin had agreed to halt aerial attacks on towns and cities including Kyiv during the cold snap. The Kremlin later said the pause would expire on Sunday.

Also on Sunday, Ukraine said it was working with Elon Musk's SpaceX to stop Moscow using the firm's Starlink satellite system for drone attacks.

Kyiv's military relies on the system for internet connection, but said this week it had found Starlink terminals on long-range drones used by Russia.

Musk said steps to stop the "unauthorised" use appeared to have worked, while Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov thanked him for being "a true friend of the Ukrainian people".

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a second round of three-way talks to end the fighting - nearly four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine - would take place on Wednesday and Thursday, rather than Sunday as had been planned.

He earlier said the talks in the United Arab Emirates between Russian, Ukrainian and US officials may have to be postponed due to ongoing tensions between the US and Iran.

Negotiations on a peace plan have for months been mediated by the US, with a key sticking point being Ukraine ceding territory to Russia.

Moscow currently controls around a fifth of Ukraine, including most of the eastern Donbas region. It wants Kyiv to hand over the areas of the Donbas it has not yet taken by force, while Ukraine reportedly wants Russia to hand back control of its largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia.

Additional reporting by Richard Irvine-Brown, BBC Verify

Slovakia PM's national security adviser resigns over Epstein links

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cnvgljj1dygo, 2 days ago

The national security adviser to Slovakia's prime minister has resigned after documents released by the US showed he exchanged messages about girls and diplomacy with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Robert Fico announced he had accepted Miroslav Lajčák's departure in a video message on Saturday, describing the adviser as "an incredible source of experience in diplomacy and foreign policy".

The resignation comes a day after three million files relating to the influential financier were released by the US Department of Justice.

While the files do not show any wrongdoing on the part of those featured, including Lajčák, they have raised renewed questions for those who associated with Epstein.

In a text exchange from October 2018 - when Lajčák was serving as Slovakia's foreign minister - Lajčák and Epstein could be seen lightheartedly discussing women and a forthcoming meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

After Epstein sent an image, which cannot be seen in the record, Lajčák replies: "Why don't you invite me for these games? I would take the 'MI' girl."

"Who wouldn't," Epstein texts back. "You can have them both, I am not possessive. And their sisters."

Later on in the conversation, Epstein can be seen imploring Lajčák to ask Lavrov to get him a t-shirt featuring Lavrov and Viltaly Churkin, a Russian ambassador to the UN who had died the previous year.

"You get the tee shirt. Then you get the girls," Epstein writes, to which Lajčák agrees.

Epstein then says: "No kidding their sisters are both swimming in the pool."

"That's not fair!" Lajčák responds.

"Though they're all under 30. So. Probably too young for you," Epstein adds. "Or should I say under 50."

"Don't be mean," Lajčák replies. "You don't know me in action."

In an email to Epstein in November 2017, Lajčák asks Epstein to help a female film producer get her movie on the shortlist for that year's Oscars.

Lajčák initially denied discussing women with Epstein when the files were released on Friday, according to Slovak media. He later reportedly said he had decided to resign to avoid damaging Fico politically.

Fico characterised the outrage in Slovakia over Lajčák's association with Epstein as "an attack against me".

"I have not seen so much hypocrisy in his criticism for a long time, and from all sides," he said.

Lajčák had served in four Slovak governments, three led by Fico, and as an international diplomat. The former foreign affairs minister had most recently been an EU special representative for the western Balkans.

The massive tranche of files released on Friday have revealed new details about the relationships Epstein - who died in custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges - had with high-profile figures, including Elon Musk, Lord Peter Mandelson, Bill Gates and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

Among them are images of the former Duke of York, who was stripped of his titles over his association with the disgraced financier, that appear to show the former prince kneeling on all fours over a female lying on the ground.

Teenager dies from Swiss bar fire injuries, bringing death toll to 41

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0lxr1ne52ro, 2 days ago

A teenager who was injured when a deadly bar fire broke out in a Swiss ski resort on New Year's Eve has died in hospital, taking the death toll to 41, the local public prosecutor announced.

"An 18-year-old Swiss national died at a hospital in Zurich on January 31," the Wallis canton's public prosecutor, Beatrice Pilloud, said in a statement.

No further information would be released at this stage, she added.

The fire at Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana - a venue known to be popular with a younger crowd in the ski resort town, where the drinking age is 16 - also injured 116 people.

Most of the victims of the fire were young - eight were under the age of 16 - and many are still being treated in hospital for severe burns.

Switzerland's Federal Office for Civil Protection told the AFP news agency on Friday that, as of Monday, 44 patients were being treated abroad. They included 18 in France, 12 in Italy, eight in Germany and six in Belgium.

The Wallis health ministry told the news agency that 37 patients were still in Swiss hospitals as of Monday.

Initial findings from an investigation suggest the fire began as sparklers attached to champagne bottles ignited soundproof foam that lined the ceiling of the bar's basement.

Authorities have acknowledged that the bar had not undergone safety checks for five years.

The owners of the bar, Jacques and Jessica Moretti, have been accused by authorities of manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence.

Criminal proceedings have also been brought against the municipality's head of public safety and a former council fire safety inspector.

A Swiss court has imposed a travel ban on Jessica Moretti as an alternative to pre-trial detention. She has had to surrender her passport and must report to police every day.

She previously told reporters that she was sorry about the "unthinkable tragedy".

Jacques Moretti is being held in custody for an initial period of 90 days.

'Enemy' insults and questioning Putin: Steve Rosenberg on tightrope of reporting from Russia

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20g25w8j0xo, yesterday

On his Russian TV show, a famous presenter takes aim and unleashes a tirade against the UK.

I'm just glad it's not his finger on the nuclear button.

"We still haven't destroyed London or Birmingham," barks Vladimir Solovyov. "We haven't wiped all this British scum from the face of the earth."

He sounds disappointed.

"We haven't kicked out the goddamned BBC with that Steve Rotten-berg. He walks around looking like a defecating squirrel…he's a conscious enemy of our country!"

Welcome to my world: the world of a BBC correspondent in Russia.

It's a world we offer a glimpse into in Our Man in Moscow. The film for BBC Panorama charts a year in the life of the BBC Moscow bureau, as the Kremlin continues to wage war on Ukraine, tighten the screws at home and build a relationship with President Trump.

The squirrel barb doesn't bother me. Squirrels are cute. And they have a thick skin - something a foreign correspondent needs here.

But "enemy of Russia"? That hurts.

I have spent more than thirty years living and working in Moscow. As a young man I fell in love with the language, literature and music of Russia. At university in Leeds, I ran a choir that performed Russian folk classics. For one concert I wrote a song in Russian about a snowman who put on so many clothes that he melted.

Like that snowman, the Russia I knew seemed to melt away in February 2022. With its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the world's largest country had embarked on the darkest of paths. President Putin's "special military operation" would become the deadliest war in Europe since World War Two.

Looking back, this hadn't come out of nowhere: Russia had annexed Crimea from Ukraine back in 2014; it had already been accused of funding, fuelling and orchestrating an armed uprising in eastern Ukraine. Relations with the West were becoming increasingly strained.

Still, the full-scale invasion was a watershed moment.

In the days that followed, repressive new laws were adopted here to silence dissent and punish criticism of the authorities. BBC platforms were blocked. Suddenly reporting from Russia felt like walking a tightrope over a legal minefield. The challenge: to report accurately and honestly about what was happening without falling off the highwire.

In 2023 the arrest of a Wall Street Journal reporter showed that a foreign passport was no "keep out of jail" card. Evan Gershkovich, a US citizen, was convicted on espionage charges. He would spend sixteen months behind bars. He, his employer and the US authorities denounced the case as a sham.

In the BBC's Moscow office we're a much smaller team now. Together we try to navigate the daily challenges of reporting the Russia story.

Producer Ben Tavener and I often face "additional checks" flying in and out of Russia. Reporters from countries labelled "unfriendly" by the Kremlin (that includes the UK) are no longer issued one-year permits. Our journalist visas and accreditation cards require renewal every three months.

Many contributors who used to speak to us are now reluctant to do so. Probably they think that at a time of heightened international tension being associated with the BBC isn't worth the risk.

Yet along with other Western broadcasters that have retained a presence in Russia we have still been receiving invitations to Kremlin events.

And sometimes I get the chance to quiz President Putin.

Even a single question and answer at a press conference can provide valuable insight into the Russian president's thinking.

Vladimir Putin is driven by resentment of the West: over Nato's enlargement eastwards, and what he perceives as years of disrespect for Russia from Western leaders. His critics accuse him of imperialist designs, of trying to reforge Russia's sphere of influence.

"Will there be new 'special military operations'?" I asked President Putin last December as a part of a wider question about his plans.

"There won't be any operations if you treat us with respect. If you respect our interests…" the Kremlin leader replied.

Which raises the question: if Vladimir Putin concludes that Russia's interests have not been respected, what then?

With Donald Trump back in the White House, Moscow feels that Washington is paying it more respect. At the Alaska summit last August, America's president rolled out the red carpet for Russia's leader. By inviting him to Anchorage Donald Trump had brought Vladimir Putin in from the cold, even though the summit failed to end Russia's war on Ukraine.

It hasn't all gone Moscow's way. Venezuela's president Nicolás Maduro, captured recently by US troops, was Russia's ally. Then America seized an oil tanker in the Atlantic: it was sailing under a Russian flag.

Still, it's striking how little the Kremlin has criticised America over the last 12 months. Moscow seems to believe good relations with the Trump administration will help it end the Ukraine war on terms beneficial to the Kremlin.

So now most of the anti-Western rhetoric in the Russian state media is directed, not at America, but at the European Union and the UK.

How things have changed.

In 1997 I was invited onto "The White Parrot Club", a popular Russian TV comedy show starring a white parrot called Arkasha. Russian celebrities sat around in a bar telling each other British jokes and speaking lovingly of the UK.

"In 1944 I was on the frontline in World War Two," recalled film legend Yuri Nikulin. "I remember how Britain and the Allies opened the Second Front. That helped us so much."

The Parrot Club fraternity invited me to "sing something British". I sat at the piano and sang about "Daisy! Daisy!" and "a bicycle made for two".

Sitting in that Moscow bar, it felt as if Britain couldn't be closer to Russian hearts. I remember thinking that Russia and the West were on that "bicycle made for two", and that Cold War-style confrontation was all in the past.

It didn't work out.

In thirty years, we've gone from "white parrots" to "defecating squirrels".

Far worse, we've swung from hopes of East-West friendship to a four-year-long war in Europe that has been devastating, first and foremost, for Ukraine.

How this war ends will affect not only Ukraine's future and that of Russia, but the future of Europe, too.

Over the last four years there have been moments that have shocked me. I'll never forget my conversation with Vera at a highly choreographed pro-Putin rally in 2022. I'd asked her if she had a son. She had.

"Aren't you worried," I asked, "that he might be drafted into the army and sent to Ukraine?"

"I'd rather my son was killed fighting in Ukraine than see him getting up to mischief at home," Vera replied. "Look how many young men here have no job and spend their time getting drunk."

There have been more pleasant encounters, too. A few days after TV host Vladimir Solovyov labelled me an "enemy of Russia," several Muscovites came up to me to shake my hand and ask for selfies.

It's like Russia's national symbol: the double-headed eagle. One head is growling and calling you a "defecating squirrel."

The other is saying: "Thanks for being here."

One wrong move and it could all go wrong - the men clearing deadly undersea Russian mines

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70lgwprw7ko, 4 days ago

The Black Sea is littered with deadly weapons. But no-one knows how many – or where they are.

"When we approach it, we should be quiet, we should be slow – and we should be very accurate," says Vitalii, wiggling his hand in a snake-like motion, as he describes swimming through dark waters towards the explosive devices resting on the sea floor.

The tall, softly spoken 31-year-old Ukrainian Navy diver is part of a team of 20 tasked with de-mining the parts of the Black Sea still under Ukraine's control.

Mines are some of the most insidious and long-lasting legacies of war. They remain active, and deadly, for decades; the ones at sea present additional risks, as they can drift with currents and storms.

The sea mines laid by Moscow at the start of the full-scale invasion – when Russian ships approached Odesa – are no different. And the danger is not theoretical: last summer, three swimmers were killed by mines off the Odesa coast.

The commander of the navy's mine countermeasures group – a wry, sharp-eyed young man who goes by the callsign Fox – estimates the number of sea mines is in the thousands.

But they are not the only danger lurking underwater. Missiles, artillery shells, bombs and land mines were washed downstream to the sea when the Kakhovka dam was blown up in 2022. These too could be triggered to explode at any minute.

"If we speak about unexploded ordnance in general - missiles, artillery shells, aerial bombs - the total number will be many times higher" than several thousand, Fox says.

His team's work is as perilous as it is vital.

Despite the scale of the contamination, sea traffic has not come to a halt, and a significant number of merchant ships are still operating in the only maritime export corridor out of Ukraine.

For Ukraine, the effort to clear the seabed is part of a broader attempt to keep the ports on the Black Sea usable, particularly by commercial ships that bring in a stream of much-needed revenue.

Aided by a huge army, on the front line Moscow manages to just about hold the upper hand, but at sea, Ukraine has succeeded in evening out the playing field.

Sitting in a café overlooking the Gulf of Odesa, navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk gestures towards the expanse of sea beyond the window.

"There is parity in the maritime domain at the moment," he says.

"We find new ways to strike them; they look for ways to counter us. What works today will not work tomorrow - on both sides. They adopt our experience; we adopt theirs."

Ukrainian ships cannot move further than the area surrounding Odesa due to Russian control of much of the coast.

And Moscow has too seemingly reached the conclusion that moving ships out of many of its naval bases in the Black Sea is too big a risk, as they would be within reach of Ukrainian aerial strikes.

In 2024, Russia withdrew its last remaining patrol ship from occupied Crimea.

"While Russia may have an advantage on land and in the air, it does not at sea," he adds.

"Here, Russia's main tactic - mass - does not work."

"Naval warfare is technological. You cannot overwhelm an area with 'meat'," Pletenchuk says, using the term to refer to the sheer number of soldiers at Russia's disposal.

The stalemate at sea has allowed Ukraine's sea exports to continue, and a so-called grain corridor to remain operational.

Maritime exports account for over two-thirds of Ukrainian agricultural exports, which some reports say add up to roughly $9bn. It is an essential source of revenue for Ukraine.

Although aerial attacks remain a regular reality, vessels continue to navigate in the area.

"Judging by the fact that vessel traffic has not decreased, [commercial companies] are willing to take these risks," Pletenchuk says, pointing to two large ships cruising silently on the horizon.

Now, keeping the shipping routes viable also depends on removing the threat beneath the surface.

Mines and unexploded ordnance are still a passive tool Russia can use to disrupt maritime traffic, even without controlling the Black Sea itself.

That is where divers like Vitalii come in.

"We move carefully and extremely slowly so that the mine does not detonate," Vitalii says, describing the painstakingly slow process of demining. "One second you move, then you stay still for some time, and you repeat this until you reach the object.

"Generally, it's up to 20 meters before [we reach] the object, so you can try to imagine how long it takes to approach it."

But before the underwater de-mining mission can even begin, Vitalii's group needs to identify the object, as missiles and a wealth of World War Two unexploded bombs sit on the seabed alongside Russian sea mines.

Commander Fox explains that mines generally fall into two categories: contact mines, which detonate when struck, and influence mines, which explode when sensors detect changes in sound, pressure or magnetism.

"Usually, the acoustic sensor is on duty," he says. "If it hears noise, it can activate another sensor."

Large commercial ships are particularly vulnerable to magnetic mines, which respond to changes in the magnetic field. "The mine lies on the bottom and explodes when a big vessel approaches," says Fox, mimicking two magnets snapping together. "Until that moment, it just waits."

Two divers approach each device in total silence, using closed-circuit rebreathers that produce no bubbles. Once a mine is identified, the actual detonation often takes place the following day.

The sensors, Vitalii says, are first disabled using a series of controlled explosions with the first done from about 10 meters away. Only then can divers approach the device itself. The final decision - whether to move the mine or destroy it in place - is taken by headquarters.

This surgical operation takes two days, several boats, and the work of 20 people - all operating under the constant threat of Russian missiles and drones, both aerial and seaborne, which could easily trigger the mines.

During air strikes, GPS signals are scrambled, making sonar readings imprecise.

De-mining the sea is not impossible, but doing so in the middle of active combat ramps up the risk considerably. "Everything can go wrong", Fox says.

Vitalii nods. Once, he recalls, as he was approaching a mine using sonar, another object appeared on his screen, moving slowly through the darkness.

His first thought was that it could be a Russian underwater drone, and that the mine would detonate. Then, he turned and saw four or five dolphins swimming past.

"Beautiful, yes," he says, his eyes widening. "But not at that moment."

According to Pletenchuk, in 2025 the de-mining group neutralised more than 50 mines - a fraction of the total.

In 2023 the British Navy gifted Ukraine two mine-hunting vessels that could speed the work up – but because large ships in the Black Sea are an easy target, they are still stationed in the UK and won't be deployed until a ceasefire has been agreed. Two years after the vessels were handed over, that possibility still seems remote.

In the current conditions, Vitalii says, clearing the seabed will take dozens of years.

Despite the risks, revenue from maritime exports will only grow more essential for Ukraine the longer the war continues. And so divers like Vitalii will keep going back into the water, alternating movement and stillness as they swim towards danger.

Additional reporting by Liubov Sholudko

The stars and styles from Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn42pnq5p8wo, 5 days ago

Feathers, fabulous fashion and famous faces on the frow - it can only be Paris Haute Couture Week.

There were debut collections from Chanel and Dior's new head designers, bringing fresh life to the classic brands, as well as the first Armani Privé couture show since the death of Giorgio Armani last year.

Celebrities like Victoria and David Beckham, Gracie Abrams, Dua Lipa, A$AP Rocky and Rihanna lined the runways' front rows to see the latest high-end designs in the French capital.

The exclusive four-day event, which happens twice a year, showcases custom-fitted, made-by-hand designs by an exclusive selection of 13 fashion houses.

Essence of Chanel

One of the most anticipated shows was from Chanel's new chief designer Matthieu Blazy, who brought his creations to life at the Grand Palais.

The vast glass-domed exhibition space became a wonderland, with pink weeping willows and oversized toadstools adorning the runway.

Blazy, who brought his ready-to-wear collection to the same venue last October, said he wanted to "probe and explore the heart of Chanel".

While some of the outfits made references to classic Chanel suits, they were brought up to date with fresh fabrics and treatments.

"I wanted to see whether, when you strip away the usual Chanel signatures - the tweed, the jewelled buttons - you can still get to that essence," he told WWD.

There were also more out-there moments, with feathers forming a thread running through the collection.

Birds, from pigeons and crows to the more rare roseate spoonbill, were the inspiration.

"All kinds of birds appear, as if by magic, from the most familiar to the rarest," the 41-year-old Franco-Belgian wrote in his show notes.

'My Dior not a formula'

Another eagerly-awaited show was from Northern Irish designer Jonathan Anderson, in his first haute couture collection for Dior.

He also brought nature to the runway with floaty silhouettes and a focus on flowers, including some worn by models as earrings.

The whole Spring Summer 2026 show was performed under a canopy of flowers, on a mirrored runway.

Many of Anderson's designs centred on a monochrome palette, with sunny bursts of orange, punctuated with ice blue and pinks.

Nature was also present in the collection's accessories, with a bag shaped like a ladybird and a clutch bag that seemed to be sprouting long grass.

The designer, also 41, was previously creative director at Loewe and joined Dior last March.

Before his show at the Rodin Museum, Anderson said it was "intimidating" to take on the role "because you are up against people who are in the history books", the Guardian reported.

"My Dior is never going to be a formula, because my brain doesn't work like that," he added. "I get bored too quickly.

"Everyone wants every designer right now to work out the brand like, tomorrow. But Dior is ginormous."

Valentino's kaleidoscope

Just a few days after the passing of the designer Valentino Garavani, Alessandro Michele boldly presented his high-concept collection at Paris Haute Couture Fashion week.

Guests were invited to observe his designs through a viewing station known as a "kaiserpanorama", allowing them to peek through into an alternative universe.

One of the signature looks was a batwing gown, designed in a shade of red used in Valentino's first collection more than 60 years ago.

The collection was punctuated by lace, feathers and embellishments, with the models dressed like showgirls.

Among those invited to take a look into Michele's world were Lily Allen, Kirsten Dunst, Tyla and Dakota Johnson.

Armani pretty in pastels

All eyes were on Armani Privé too as it unveiled its first haute couture collection since founder Giorgio died last year, aged 91.

His niece Silvana - who worked with him on women's ready-to-wear - oversaw the new wardrobe, designed to be "like classic Armani, but with a touch of originality".

A palette of pastel mint green and baby pink was showcased, with bejewelled satin trouser suits and sparkling evening gowns.

Elie Saab's Beirut beginnings

The Lebanese designer Elie Saab went back to his roots for his couture show, entitled Golden Summer Nights of '71.

His show provided an antidote to the chilly Parisian air, with Middle Eastern warmth recreated through a colour palette of blush pinks, bronzes and desert tones.

Saab, 61, founded his fashion house in Beirut in the 1980s and has always leaned into maximalism in his designs.

Wednesday's show was no different - with excessive beading, ball gowns and metallic fabrics dominating the catwalk.

Other celebrities seen in Paris during the week included Sir David and Lady Victoria Beckham, as the fashion designer and former Spice Girl was awarded a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters on the first day of haute couture week.

They were joined by three of their children, although not their son Brooklyn Peltz Beckham, following a public falling out with his family.

Anna Wintour, Vogue global editorial director, attended the ceremony with the Beckhams and was seen on the front row at several shows, alongside other celebrities like Tilda Swinton, Nicole Kidman and designer John Galliano.

Ukrainians brace for -20C despite energy truce: 'It will be a catastrophe'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c75xg17rr1xo, 3 days ago

It's not the electricity cuts that Yulia Hailunas struggles with most after the Russian airstrikes. It's the fact that it's so bitterly cold inside her own home.

Like so many Ukrainians, she's had no central heating since Russia launched a wave of targeted attacks on the power grid in January.

So Yulia now lives in a long, quilted coat and hat in her flat, and rests her feet on a saucepan-full of hot water to keep them from freezing. If that's not enough, she lifts weights for 10 minutes to get warm.

When the weather outside is above zero, it's just about bearable. But later this weekend, the temperature in Dnipro is forecast to plunge below -20C.

In Kyiv and elsewhere, it could be colder still.

"That's what's really scary, because all the heating pipes will burst and we won't be able to repair them again. It will be a catastrophe," Yulia worries.

On Thursday, Donald Trump announced that Vladimir Putin had agreed to halt attacks on Ukraine's major cities during the "horrendously cold" snap, supposedly for a week.

The US president called it "very nice" of his Russian counterpart to agree to an energy truce. But details were sparse from the start.

The next day, the Kremlin clarified that Putin's burst of good will expires on Sunday, just as the coldest weather bites.

There is usually a week or more gap between massive aerial attacks in any case, so it's unclear whether Russia has actually paused anything.

There has been no major strike since 24 January, when hundreds of tower blocks in Kyiv lost power and heating.

"It has been quieter for a bit, but I don't know if that's linked," a doubtful Yulia says, suspecting the strikes will restart at any moment.

"I think Putin wants to turn people against their government, to have them say: 'Just give Russia anything to make this stop'," Yulia says.

"He wants to break us, but it won't work."

Ukraine's heating system is breaking down though.

The Geneva Convention, the laws of war, bans attacks on infrastructure that cause excessive harm to civilians.

But this is the fourth winter in a row that the energy grid has been targeted by Russia deliberately, leaving it more fragile and harder to repair after each successive strike.

There were widespread power outages across western and central Ukraine on Saturday after a "technical disruption" affected power lines connecting its grid to those of Romania and Moldova, its government said.

Engineers have been drafted in from Ukraine's national rail company and elsewhere, working around the clock to restore electricity, and to defrost and patch up the heating pipes that run beneath giant apartment blocks in Dnipro, Kyiv and beyond.

An extended pause in strikes on the sector would provide a welcome break, but few Ukrainians trust Russia to deliver that.

That's because, elsewhere, the deadly strikes have not stopped.

On Friday, one person was killed and several injured when a bus in Kherson was hit by shelling, while there were multiple air raid warnings for drones.

And all along the eastern frontline, the fighting is as intense as ever, still forcing civilians to flee their homes.

In Pavlohrad, about 40 miles from the front, we found families dazed after evacuating, abandoning everything, with no idea whether they'll ever go back.

They were queuing to register at a centre for the displaced, offered a small handout of cash, food and toiletries by volunteers.

Kateryna cried as she told me how hard it had been to leave Vasylkivka, where she had lived all her life. "It's like abandoning a piece of yourself," she said.

But she had to protect her two young children, scared by the explosions.

"Our village wasn't touched at first, but now it's a total combat zone. The drones are hitting every day," her mother Iryna described the Russian advance.

"One day there were 50 Shahed drones overhead."

Trump sees the energy truce - a halt to massive aerial attacks on Ukraine's big cities - as a way of reducing tension as he pushes for progress in peace talks.

He pledged to end this war "in a day" long ago but now admits doing so is difficult.

Ukraine has agreed to mirror Moscow's actions by halting its own strikes on oil refineries in Russia and its shadow fleet of tankers that move Russian oil around the world, evading sanctions.

The trade pumps vital money into Russia's war economy, but Kyiv wants to show Trump its willingness in his peace efforts.

Another round of negotiations is scheduled to take place in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, though it seems no senior US delegates will attend.

The US has been talking up progress and Ukraine also claims only one major disagreement remains – albeit a critical one, over control of territory in the east.

But Russian officials have been dampening expectations of a deal.

"Of course we are following the talks, we want some stability," Iryna tells me people here long for peace more than anyone. "But how can we trust Russia not to stab us in the back?"

From the dark and the cold of this war, it does feel to Ukrainians like Moscow is just toying with Trump.

The next days and weeks will test that.

Additional reporting by Mariana Matveichuk and Paul Pradier

Spain plans to give half a million undocumented migrants legal status

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62n6gw1dp9o, 7 days ago

The Spanish government has announced a plan to legalise the status of undocumented migrants, a measure expected to benefit at least half a million people.

Regularisation will be available to foreign nationals who do not have a criminal record and can prove they lived in Spain for at least five months prior to 31 December 2025.

"This is an historic day for our country," said Elma Saiz, Spain's minister of inclusion, social security and migration.

The measure will provide beneficiaries with an initial one-year residence permit, which can then be extended. Requests for legalisation are expected to begin in April and the process will remain open until the end of June.

"We are reinforcing a migratory model based on human rights, integration, co-existence and which is compatible with economic growth and social cohesion," Saiz said.

Spain has seen a large influx of migrants in recent years, mainly from Latin America.

The conservative think-tank Funcas found that the number of undocumented migrants in Spain had risen from 107,409 in 2017 to 837,938 in 2025 - an eight-fold increase.

The highest number of undocumented arrivals currently living in Spain are believed to be from Colombia, Peru and Honduras.

Spain's socialist-led coalition government has been an outlier on this issue among the larger European nations, underlining the importance of migrants for the economy.

The country has been outperforming the other main EU economies in recent years, posting expected growth of close to 3% in 2025.

Unemployment, a longstanding weakness of the Spanish economy, has dipped below 10% for the first time since 2008, according to figures released on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has described immigrants as representing "wealth, development and prosperity" for Spain, pointing to their contribution to the social security system.

The government and parties on the left have also emphasised the need to treat migrants in a humane way.

"Providing rights is the answer to racism," said Irene Montero, of the far-left Podemos party and a former minister in a coalition government with the Socialists.

She has campaigned for this measure, which followed an agreement between the party and the government. A civic legislative proposal, calling for a mass migrant regularisation, received the support of around 700,000 people but had been languishing in parliament.

This measure will be approved by royal decree, meaning it does not require parliamentary approval.

It is the first large-scale migrant regularisation in Spain for two decades.

Several such initiatives, by governments of both the Socialists and the conservative People's Party (PP), legalised the status of an estimated half a million migrants between 1986 and 2005.

However, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the PP, said the latest mass legalisation would "increase the pull effect and overwhelm our public services".

Pepa Millán, spokeswoman for the far-right Vox, said the initiative "attacks our identity", adding that the party would appeal before the Supreme Court in a bid to block it.

Crown Princess's son arrested for alleged assault before rape trial in Norway

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crrn44p9r59o, yesterday

The son of Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit has been arrested by police on suspicion of assault, before he goes on trial in Oslo on Tuesday on 38 charges, including the rape of four women.

Marius Borg Høiby, 29, was remanded in custody for four weeks. Police said the latest allegations against him involved wielding a knife and violating a restraining order, and there was a risk of reoffending.

His arrest on Sunday is the fourth time he has been detained by police since August 2024, when he was accused of assaulting a woman he had been having a relationship with.

He has denied the most serious charges against him but admitted some of the more minor ones.

It is the latest scandal to beset the royal family.

Norwegians are also coming to terms with revelations that his mother corresponded for three years with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein between 2011 and 2014.

Crown Princess Mette-Marit admitted "poor judgement" as her extensive contacts with Epstein became clear. She expressed her "deep sympathy and solidarity with the victims of the abuses committed by Jeffrey Epstein" and said her contact with him was "simply embarrassing".

It has emerged she stayed at his Florida home for four nights, while he was not there, and asked Epstein if it was "inappropriate" for a mother to suggest to a 15-year-old son wallpaper showing two naked women carrying a surfboard.

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said he agreed with her admission of "poor judgement", and although he did not go further, his implicit criticism of her actions is highly unusual.

Questions are now being asked in Norway about her failure to realise the toxic nature of maintaining contact with Epstein, and about the role of her advisers when she was corresponding with him via an official royal email account.

"It seems that nobody has been thinking. Where are the counsellors, where's the royal court and where's the foreign office?" says Ole-Jørgen Schulsrud-Hansen, a historian and royal correspondent for Norway's TV2.

He believes the monarchy has managed to distance itself from the imminent court case, with the argument that the princess's son is a private citizen, but that is not the case for Mette-Marit: "She's never a private citizen, she's always the crown princess and what she's doing in a private capacity or official capacity it will always redirect back to Norway - or ricochet."

Mette-Marit is the future queen of Norway, and she has a prominent role in society as patron of several organisations including the Red Cross.

She is also suffering from pulmonary fibrosis and her doctors are preparing to put her on a list for a lung transplant.

When Mette-Marit married into the family as a commoner, her son was already four years old.

Although Marius Borg Høiby is not a member of the royal family, he is still Crown Prince Haakon's stepson.

The charges against him range from rape and abuse to violating a restraining order, transporting 3.5kg of marijuana and speeding.

When he was first arrested in 2024 he spoke of having several mental disorders and struggling with substance abuse. Since then he has spent only a week in custody, so the police request to remand him for much of the start of the trial is a change of stance on their part.

The Oslo District Court said in a statement quoted by Reuters news agency that it had agreed to the police request in order to prevent repeated offences.

The royal household has sought to distance itself from the trial, and in a statement last week, Crown Prince Haakon reached out to the women caught up in the case and their families, saying it was "a difficult time for many of you, and we sympathise".

Ukraine hails 'real results' after Musk restricts Russian Starlink use

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly94qe3yr0o, yesterday

Elon Musk's efforts to stop Russia from using Starlink satellites for drone attacks have "delivered real results", a Ukrainian official said.

Praising the SpaceX founder as "a true champion of freedom and a true friend of the Ukrainian people", defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov said Musk had swiftly responded when he was told Russian drones with Starlink connectivity were operating in the country.

The drones have been linked to a number of recent deadly attacks by Russia on Ukraine, including one on a moving passenger train which left six people dead.

"Looks like the steps we took to stop the unauthorised use of Starlink by Russia have worked," Musk wrote on X. "Let us know if more needs to be done."

Starlink satellites operated by SpaceX provide high-speed internet around the world. It has worked in Ukraine since the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

The Russian drones are difficult to shoot down, Fedorov said, as they fly at low altitudes, cannot be countered with electronic warfare, and are controlled by operators in real time from a distance.

The Institute for the Study of War warned in mid-January that since Russia had begun equipping the cheap kamikaze Molniya-2 drones with Starlink, their battlefield efficiency had increased "dramatically".

While neither Fedorov nor Musk elaborated on what the response had been, the defence ministry's official website ArmiyaInform reported that SpaceX had introduced a speed limit of 75kph on Starlink terminals moving over Ukraine.

"Russian drones move much more quickly, so the enemy operators will not be able to control them in real time," the website said.

On Monday Fedorov said the Ukrainian government was also preparing to implement a white list of approved Starlink satellite terminals which could operate in Ukraine. All unregistered terminals will be disconnected, Fedorov said.

"We are implementing this in cooperation with SpaceX," Fedorov stated, adding that instructions on registering the terminals would be forthcoming.

Russian war bloggers warned the implications could go beyond drones, as the Russian military uses Starlink to provide the front line with internet.

Fedorov - then deputy prime minister - asked for Musk's help soon after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. By the end of the day Musk said Starlink had been enabled in Ukraine and promised more satellite dishes.

But shortly after supplying Ukraine with Starlink, Musk's relationship with Kyiv became turbulent.

Later in 2022 he denied the Ukrainian military access to Starlink in Crimea, where Russia has been stationing military equipment since illegally annexing in 2014.

At the time, Musk justified the decision by saying that Ukraine would have used Starlink access to "sink most of the Russian fleet", making SpaceX "complicit in a major act of war".

Musk has since repeatedly criticised Western countries for providing Ukraine with funding and weaponry. "It is insane to keep sending so much money to Ukraine with no accountability and no end game," he said.

However, he has also stated that "no matter how much I disagree with the Ukraine policy, Starlink will never turn off its terminals."

"My Starlink system is the backbone of the Ukrainian army. Their entire front line would collapse if I turned it off," Musk said in March.

Despite these tensions, Fedorov last week again praised Musk's timely decision to provide his country with access at the start of the full-scale invasion, saying Starlink had been "critically important for the stability of our state".

The 35-year-old former digital transformation minister was appointed to head the ministry of defence by President Volodymyr Zelensky last month.

Fedorov favours a data-driven strategy and advanced cyber-warfare. He has also vowed to work closely with Silicon Valley companies, arguing that integrating partners would make Ukraine's defence system stronger.

Additional reporting by BBC Monitoring

Man dies after crash between lorry and car

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czdqzzdl5m1o, yesterday

A man has died following a collision between a lorry and a car in County Cavan.

Shortly before 07:30 local time on Monday, emergency services and gardaí (Irish police) responded to the collision on the R192 at Corcloughan, Shercock.

The driver of the car, a man in his 40s, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The lorry driver, a man in his 60s, was taken to hospital for assessment.

The road remains closed pending a technical examination by Garda forensic collision investigators and local diversions are in place.

Gardaí are appealing for witnesses to come forward.

Venezuela releases rights activist Javier Tarazona

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgqedv5elzpo, 2 days ago

Prominent Venezuelan rights activist Javier Tarazona has been freed, in the latest prisoner release announced by the government amid US pressure for reforms.

Tarazona, the head of human rights NGO Fundaredes, was arrested in 2021 and detained in the notorious El Helicoide prison in the capital Caracas. His release was announced on Sunday by Fundaredes.

Foro Penal, another Venezuelan rights group, said it had verified the liberation of more than 300 political prisoners since 8 January.

On Friday acting President, Delcy Rodríguez said the government would introduce an amnesty law that is expected to benefit hundreds of political prisoners. Under the bill, El Helicoide is also due to be closed.

The announcement came four weeks after US forces seized President Nicolás Maduro, and demanded the regime introduce political and economic reforms.

In its statement on Sunday, Fundaredes said Tarazona had been jailed "for defending human rights, denouncing abuses, and speaking out".

It added that his release did not "erase the injustice he suffered", but represented "a necessary step in a process marked by criminalisation, persecution, and a lack of due process".

Tarazona had alleged that government officials had links with guerrillas in Colombia, with which Venezuela has a 2,000km (1,200-mile) border. The government accused him of treason, terrorism and incitement to hatred.

Maduro's dramatic capture by US special forces on 3 January has encouraged families of opposition and human rights figures arrested under Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chávez to step up their campaign for releases.

Venezuela has long denied holding political prisoners, but families and rights advocates have demanded charges against detainees be dropped. Opposition politicians, journalists, and activists have faced charges including terrorism and treason, which their families describe as arbitrary.

The amnesty bill announced by Rodríguez is expected to be approved by the National Assembly in the coming days. Its aim, the acting president said, is to "heal the wounds of political confrontation, violence, and extremism".

Foro Penal has said that many of those freed in recent weeks have not had the charges against them dropped.

This has left them in legal limbo and they have been barred from speaking in public, the group added.

BBC visits oil region at heart of Trump plan to 'Make Venezuela Great Again'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgnp8n40reo, 5 days ago

With its neat rows of detached family homes, complete with grass lawns and porches, Miraflores could be mistaken for a typical American suburb.

Located in the heartland of Venezuela's oil industry, on the Costa Oriental (Eastern Coast) of Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo, this quiet neighbourhood once helped to make the country one of the wealthiest in Latin America. It was a symbol of national prosperity.

This used to be one of the world's most productive oil basins, and along with the city of Maracaibo, across the lake, is seen as key to President Donald Trump's plan to get US firms to invest $100bn (£75bn) to rebuild Venezuela's energy industry. The country has the world's largest proven oil reserves, estimated at about 303 billion barrels.

But for now, the area around Lake Maracaibo stands as a stark reminder of how much the country's fortunes have declined over the decades.

The BBC World Service is the first international broadcaster to visit the region since the US military seized Nicolás Maduro from his presidential compound in Caracas in early January, and took him to New York to face narco-terrorism charges - accusations he denies.

There are oil pumps and rigs dotted everywhere - on street corners, in surrounding fields and rising out of the lake. While a handful have been freshly painted in the yellow, blue and red of the national flag and remain operational, many others have not moved in years and are rusting and falling apart.

The decay is striking in the 20 or so American-style "oil camps" on the fringes of the lake - these were originally built by international companies to house their workforce, after the commercial exploitation of Venezuela's oil reserves took off in the 1920s.

Oil giants such as Standard Oil of New Jersey (which later became Exxon), Chevron and Shell invested heavily in Maracaibo, Venezuela's second-largest city. Oil money turned former fishing villages into affluent communities with hospitals, schools, and social clubs.

In Miraflores, which housed the industry's top executives, many homes now sit abandoned and looted, their windows smashed and wiring stripped bare.

Gladysmila Gil moved to a more modest neighbourhood nearby in 1968 with her late husband, who worked in the oil industry and had the home given to him.

"When we moved into this house, it was in good condition," she recalls, sitting on a frayed chair and looking at the pink paint peeling off the walls.

"If we were sick, we went to the hospital and they treated us. The rubbish was collected every other day, and we didn't have these power outages," she adds of the economic decline Venezuela has experienced over the past 13 years.

Now rubbish is only collected sporadically and despite the oil reserves, the region has been hit by a severe energy crisis over the past decade with blackouts reported almost daily.

An unfinished light rail system mired in corruption allegations, a run-down central hospital which patients have described as "hell" and deepening inequality make it feel like a microcosm of the country. Venezuela's gross domestic product (GDP) has declined by more than 70% since Nicolás Maduro became president in 2013.

"You don't see kids in these streets, there is no youth. I used to live here with nine relatives, and they all left," says 64-year-old José Gregorio Martínez, the son of a former oil worker, sitting on his front porch.

Fighting back tears, the retired teacher explains that he only survives thanks to the money his relatives send from abroad. His monthly state pension of $2.80 (£2) does not even cover his most basic needs.

Gil and Martínez recall what they see as the golden days, and are not alone in hoping that new investment from US companies will transform their lives.

In the 1970s, Venezuela pumped as much as 3.5 million barrels of oil per day - accounting for more than 7% of total global output.

Then, production was managed by a network of foreign firms, many from the US, operating under government concessions, until the industry was nationalised in 1976 and taken over by the state-owned giant, PDVSA.

The industry continued to form the backbone of the country's economy, benefiting from the high oil prices of the 1970s. When oil prices fell in the 1980s and Venezuela ran into an economic crisis, reality hit. There were protests as the government introduced austerity measures to try to balance the books.

In the 1990s, reforms were introduced to open doors to foreign investment and in 1999 the country still produced about 3.2 million barrels of oil per day, with approximately half of that output coming from Zulia state, the region around Lake Maracaibo.

Then came the rise of Chavismo - an anti-American, nationalist ideology created by Maduro's predecessor Hugo Chávez.

He became president in 1999 as oil prices were on the rise again, enabling his government to fund huge social programmes designed to lift millions out of poverty.

But by the end of 2025, oil output had fallen to about 860,000 barrels per day, less than 1% of global crude production.

Many cite 2002 as a turning point for the industry, when a strike by oil workers against Chávez's government was followed by a sweeping overhaul of PDVSA. It is widely reported that up to 22,000 people were fired.

"You can't lose 22,000 technical people in a company and expect that nothing happens," says Jorge, not his real name, who was dismissed at the time. He says the shake-up aimed to align the company with political priorities and that much of the experienced management resisted, ultimately losing their jobs.

In 2007, the oil sector was transformed again when President Chávez's government seized control of the industry.

Some foreign firms remained under new state-led partnerships, while others - most notably ExxonMobil - left the country, and the industry's decline accelerated.

Mismanagement and corruption have been a problem for the sector, but the government has pointed the finger firmly at US sanctions as a major cause of the decline.

Broad economic sanctions were put in place in 2017 during Trump's first term, in response to what it called "serious abuses of human rights… establishment of an illegitimate Constituent Assembly, which has usurped the power of the democratically elected National Assembly… rampant public corruption" and "persecution of, and violence toward, the political opposition".

The turning point for the US came with the seizure of Nicolás Maduro. President Donald Trump said the US would "run" Venezuela and control the sale of its sanctioned oil "indefinitely", but a Maduro loyalist - Delcy Rodríguez - has since taken control of Venezuela's armed forces and the country's institutions.

While defiantly demanding the release of Maduro, who she says has been "kidnapped", Rodríguez has co-operated with the Trump administration to reform the law to allow foreign and local oil companies to operate oilfields again, through a new contract model.

The Venezuelan parliament - dominated by Maduro loyalists - approved this major shift on Thursday.

Many in Maracaibo are optimistic about potential US investment.

"It would be better because then there would be work, and our children wouldn't have to resort to fishing. They could have a future instead," says Carlos Rodríguez. Now in his late 20s, he has worked these waters since he was a teenager.

As he pulls his oil-stained boat out on to the lake, the view is striking. The beauty of the sky contrasts sharply with the water, sometimes blue, but often a murky green from cyanobacteria or stained black. It's easy to see the oil slicking the surface and when I dip my hand in, it comes out streaked with oil.

"It's getting worse every day. Green, black, oily," Rodríguez complains. "And there are fewer fish." That morning, he didn't catch a single one.

He hopes that if international oil companies return, they will help clean the lake.

Others are wary. "We have no problem with [foreign companies] coming to exploit our resources, to drill wells and to create jobs," says another fisherman, José Luzardo. "But we don't want to be anyone's colony."

He is a staunch Maduro loyalist, but admits that both his family and colleagues are struggling.

Trump "can come, but he has to pay us for the oil… the oil belongs to Venezuela, it belongs to all Venezuelans", he says as he prepares to set sail.

Many others - in particular people who oppose the government - avoid speaking about politics for fear of repercussions.

Later, the sound of the lake's waves lapping against the side of Luzardo's house competes with the sizzle of hot oil. In a kitchen with bare, unplastered walls, a group of women fry the few fish caught that morning. Luzardo says they were lucky. Sometimes they come back home with nothing at all. On those days, they go to bed hungry.

Both the government and the opposition agree on the need for investment.

Juan Romero, a member of parliament representing Zulia and a local leader of the ruling PSUV party, says it is the key to the industry's revival.

"In Lake Maracaibo, there are approximately 13,000 wells that could be recovered, and there are reserves of 26 billion barrels of oil," he says.

With US sanctions removed, he believes the "economic strangulation" of the sector will end and that Venezuela will be able to attract foreign money.

But analysts warn it could take a decade and hundreds of billions of dollars to restore the nation's former output, and industry giants remain cautious. ExxonMobil's chief executive, Darren Woods, labelled the nation "uninvestable" in its current state.

Speaking at a White House summit following the removal of Maduro, he pointed out that the company had had its assets seized there twice "so you can imagine to re-enter a third time would require some pretty significant changes". Without a new legal framework and stronger protections for investors, he warned that the billions of dollars required for redevelopment would not materialise.

Yet for many in Maracaibo, hope remains that investment and prosperity will return.

Among them is 93-year-old José Rodas, a retired oil worker who still owns a special-edition Dodge Dart, a classic American muscle car that he bought during the 1970s oil boom.

"Things have become more difficult," he says. "In the past, life was easier. We had comforts then."

He points to the "commissariat", a central department within the oil camps that not only provided subsidised food but also maintained the workers' homes, with fresh coats of paint and new light bulbs.

Today, the car sitting on his neglected porch feels like a faded relic of that former life.

Bus carrying pilgrims overturns in Brazil killing 15 on board

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq6vn5j312lo, today

At least 15 people have died as the bus they were travelling in overturned in northeastern Brazil, local officials have said.

The vehicle had been carrying about 60 people who were returning from a pilgrimage when it crashed on a curved stretch of a highway in the rural interior of Alagoas state on Tuesday morning.

Three children were among those who died, a statement said, while some surviving passengers were airlifted to hospital for treatment.

Footage on social media shows a bus turned on its side, with debris surrounding it and emergency crews at the scene.

An investigation has been launched.

Authorities said they believed that the driver had lost control of the bus before it left the highway and rolled over several times.

According to media reports, the most seriously injured patient transferred to hospital was a nine-year-old child who suffered a head injury.

The passengers were taking part in the pilgrimage of Our Lady of Candeias, a religious festival in the state of Ceará.

The bus was part of a convoy carrying hundreds of people from the city of Coité do Noia in Alagoas to Juazeiro do Norte in Ceará, a journey spanning 563km (350 miles) which normally takes around eight hours.

The incident happened in São José da Tapera on the final stretch of the journey back to Coité do Noia.

Bueno Higino Filho, mayor of Coité do Noia, told local media: "The loss is immense. They were all my friends... I woke up today to the sad news and I'm heading to the site of the accident to see what we can do [to help]."

Three days of mourning have been declared by the governor of Alagoas state.

"I stand in solidarity with the family members and friends in this moment of such great pain," Paulo Dantas wrote on social media.

Candidate tough on crime wins Costa Rica presidential election

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdre7me407yo, yesterday

The candidate for the governing conservative Sovereign People's Party, Laura Fernández, has won the presidential election in Costa Rica.

With more than 88% of the votes counted, Fernández had over 48% of the votes, far ahead of the second-placed centrist candidate, Álvaro Ramos, who conceded defeat.

Fernández ran on a promise to deepen the tough-on-crime approach of the outgoing President Rodrigo Chaves, who had handpicked her as his successor.

Voters had said they were concerned about a surge in drug-related violence in the Central American country.

The size of her vote share - which exceeded the 40% needed to win outright in the first round - means that there is no need for a run-off.

Fernández will be sworn in on 8 May.

In her victory speech, the 39-year-old said she would plough ahead with the policies introduced by Chaves, whose chief of staff she was.

Under Costa Rica's constitution, presidents are not allowed to serve two consecutive terms and Chaves was therefore barred from standing for re-election.

Fernández has hinted she may appoint him to a post in her cabinet.

Costa Rica, one of Central America's safest countries and a stable democracy, has seen a rise in crime over the past years as transnational criminal gangs have expanded in the region.

On the campaign trail, Fernández said she would emulate some of the policies of the El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele.

Bukele has sky-high approval ratings with Salvadoreans saying they are grateful for his iron-fist approach to crime, which has seen the murder rate plummet.

Fernández has said she will declare a state of emergency in areas where gangs hold sway and finish the construction of a high-security jail similar to the Cecot prison in El Salvador.

Addressing concerns by her critics that her policies could erode the rights of citizens, Fernández declared in her victory speech that her government would be one of "dialogue and national harmony, respectful and firmly based in the rule of law".

She did however strike a combative note too, criticising the opposition for its "obstruction and sabotage" in a reference to the challenges Chaves faced getting some of his policies approved in parliament, which was dominated by opposition lawmakers.

With her party winning 30 out of the 57 seats in parliament, Fernández is expected to have more backing in the legislature than her predecessor in office.

Before running for the presidency, the 39-year-old served as planning minister as well as in other posts.

But above all, she is seen as the heir to Chaves, whose direct and sometimes confrontational style she shares.

She is also expected to maintain the close ties her predecessor built with the US.

Chaves signed a "safe third-country migrant agreement" with the US, which means the Trump administration can deport migrants from countries other than Costa Rica to the Central American nation.

The agreement allows the US to remove migrants from countries deemed unsafe to a third country considered safe.

The Trump administration has described Costa Rica as a "key global cocaine transshipment point", adding that is had "become an increasingly significant waypoint for criminal organisations trafficking cocaine" to the US.

Fernández has said she would be would be willing to declare a state of emergency - and lift some of citizens' rights - if organised crime where to further take hold in certain areas.

She will become the second woman to govern the Central American nation after Laura Chinchilla, who was elected president in 2010.

During heated hearing, Rubio insists US action in Venezuela will lead to prosperity and security

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1evy87qd1no, 6 days ago

Many members of Senate Foreign Affairs committee have wanted an opportunity to question the US Secretary of State on Venezuela for some time.

They have called for a hearing since well before the unprecedented US airstrikes on Caracas and the removal of Nicolás Maduro from power in the early hours of 3 January. Wednesday, their wish was fulfilled.

"Finally, a public hearing," said Tim Kaine of Viriginia, a Democrat, before launching into a recap of how the Trump Administration had reached this point on Venezuela, where Maduro is now in a US jail and the country is being led by Interim President Delcy Rodriguez.

Kaine pointed out that the first US strike on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean took place on 2 September 2025 – some five months ago – and lamented the fact that the discussions about the legality of those strikes had been classified and took place behind closed doors.

However, this hearing was primarily about the events of this year – when Delta Force troops forcibly removed Maduro from Venezuelan soil in his pyjamas to face drug trafficking charges in New York.

Secretary Rubio was careful to stress that the US was not at war with Venezuela, saying in his written opening statement for the hearing: "We did not occupy a country. There are no US troops on the ground."

It was a key point for him to register in the face of arguments that the Trump administration has circumvented Congress, which under the US Constitution has the sole power to declare war, and ignored the 1973 War Powers Act.

Instead, Rubio, a former US Senator, repeatedly characterised the US military action in Caracas as a "law enforcement operation".

A "drug bust", retorted Senator Rand Paul, a Republican who has argued the justifications for military action were lacking. But as the Trump administration's critics questioned the logic, wisdom and the legal basis of its decisions on Venezuela, Rubio remained robustly on message.

He was, as expected, thoroughly unapologetic over the military action and removal of Maduro from power. Maduro was an indicted drug criminal, he said, and not the legitimate president of Venezuela.

Furthermore, it was impossible to make a deal with the man as "he couldn't be trusted" having strung along negotiators and diplomats so often in the past, Rubio added.

"The glue that held the regime together was corruption and graft," Rubio said at one point. "His removal has created the conditions to begin to move away from that."

Rubio insisted the Trump administration's actions would eventually improve the situation in Venezuela – which he likened to a "critically ill patient" – and make the region safer and more prosperous.

The secretary also laid out the administration's plan for Washington to maintain full control over Venezuela's oil industry. The funds from sales of Venezuelan crude were being held, at least initially, in an offshore account in Qatar but would eventually be transferred to "a US Treasury blocked account in the United States".

The Venezuelan government would have to request the use of those funds for a set of narrowly defined needs and Washington would decide on releasing them, he said.

The upshot, according to Rubio, would be Venezuelan oil profits being spent on US-made goods, from basic foodstuffs to chemicals for oil refineries, rather than in Russia or to service debt to China.

Analysts continue to wonder how government figures in Caracas, all of whom have made a career through vocal anti-Americanism, will receive such intervention in Venezuela's oil wealth

Rubio, however, refused to take the further use of military force in Venezuela off the table.

"We don't want that and we hope we don't have to use it," he repeated.

But undoubtedly, the action against Maduro has served as a stark warning to others in Venezuela's government and armed forces that they could face a similar fate should they step out of line.

The ultimate goal of Washington's energy plan, said Rubio, was to eventually transfer the control of the oil-rich nation's natural resources back to Venezuela under a stable democratic government.

It was the roadmap to that destination which most concerned a number of Secretary Rubio's critics in the hearing room.

Still, Rubio exuded confidence when talking about Latin America, one of his strongest area of expertise. Rubio chaired the committee he was facing for many years, and also led its subcommittee on the region.

"We are not even four weeks into this thing," he responded to a question about how success could be defined and measured.

Already things were moving in "the right direction", he insisted.

A hydrocarbons law passed under Maduro's political mentor, Hugo Chavez, had been redrafted to allow greater private investment from US energy companies and Rodriguez was proving to be a willing partner – so far.

"Four, five or six months from now cannot look like now," he conceded but cited the examples of Spain and Paraguay's 20th Century transitions to democracy.

Rodriguez as the country's leader and an energy policy devised and executed by Washington were both immediate necessities, he argued, not long-term strategies.

Eyes across the region will have been fixed on Rubio's appearance on Capitol Hill -- particularly in Venezuela itself and its long-standing communist-run ally, Cuba.

One statement from Rubio, a Florida-born Cuban American with a deep enmity towards the Cuban Government, will have worried authorities in Havana above all. Rodriguez "has pledged to end Venezuela's oil lifeline to the Cuban regime", he said in his prepared remarks, and she is "well aware of the fate of Maduro; it is our belief that her own self-interest aligns with advancing our key objectives."

The coming months will reveal whether that belief is well placed.

But either way, the US government's vision as set out by Rubio involves nothing less than transformative change in Venezuela – and, by extension, in Cuba.

"It's 'Operation Don't Come Last' at the Olympics"

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2yp6v54g7o, 6 days ago

A North Yorkshire athlete is set to pilot for the Trinidad and Tobago bobsleigh team at next month's Winter Olympics.

Axel Brown, from Harrogate, made the decision to represent his mother's home country in 2021 and says he has "not looked back since".

As pilot he is responsible for steering the sled at speeds approaching 100mph (160km/h), with Brown previously competing for the Caribbean nation at Beijing 2022.

Brown, 33, who will be competing at his second and final Olympics at Milan-Cortina, says he has to have "a healthy level of fear" for the adrenaline-filled sport.

"You don't grow up in Harrogate thinking you're going to be an Olympic bobsleigher, that's for sure," he says.

"I was playing American football over in the US but unfortunately got released by the team that I was playing for.

"That was a month before the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, so I was looking for something to do, watching the TV and they start describing these bobsledders.

"I thought, maybe I should give that a go. That's 12 years ago now and I've made a full career out of it."

Brown raced for Great Britain for seven years before making the switch to the Trinidad and Tobago team.

"It looks like we just jump in and enjoy the ride, but I steer the sled so it's my job to make sure we get down," he explains.

"I'm steering around the corner to make sure that we're efficient, smooth and don't crash - because that's a very real part of the sport as well."

Even on the slowest courses, Brown says the bobsleigh races at speeds of about 70mph (113km/h).

"It can be incredibly terrifying," he says.

"Even as I get more experienced I need to keep a healthy level of fear for the sport because it can turn on you in a heartbeat.

"I've always said that if there's a day when I was completely not scared of bobsleigh, that's probably the day to walk away because I'm too complacent."

Brown competed in the two-man event in 2022 and finished 28th out of 30 teams, ahead of Jamaica and Brazil.

The athlete says his "gold medal" moment was qualifying for the latest Winter Olympics, which he explains was a lot harder than four years ago.

"We now had to qualify in the two-man and four-man bobsleigh and they removed two nation spots," Brown says.

"We had to be in the top 17 nations in the world to even qualify, which for us was right at the limit of what was possible.

"We're on 'Operation Don't Come Last', let's see if we can beat somebody else."

The Olympian feels this will be his last ever race so wants to "soak it in, enjoy it and be present".

"My family weren't in Beijing at the last Olympics because of Covid, so it will be really nice to have everyone out and for it to be a very positive end to my career," he says.

Off the track, Brown admits to being much less of a thrill-seeker.

"I drive a nice, normal, safe car because you can't have everything be breakneck speed," he laughs.

After retiring from the sport, he plans to embark on a different adventure of converting a barn for him and his partner to live in.

Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.

Families sue US over deadly boat strike off Venezuela coast

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98jr75w4zko, 7 days ago

The families of two Trinidadian men killed in a US strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat have filed a lawsuit against the American government.

Lawyers filed the claim in Boston's federal court on behalf of relatives of Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaroo, among six men killed off the coast of Venezuela on 14 October.

One of the lawyers said in a statement that the strike amounted to "lawless killings in cold blood; killings for sport and killings for theatre".

The US has struck at least 36 vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific since September, killing more than 120 people. The Trump administration has said it is targeting "narco-terrorists" carrying drugs that kill Americans.

The US has positioned its operations as a non-international armed conflict with the alleged traffickers, but legal experts say they could be in violation of the laws governing such conflict.

This lawsuit was filed on Tuesday under the Death on the High Seas Act, which allows family members to sue for wrongful deaths on the high seas, and is a statute that allows foreign citizens to sue in US courts for violating international law.

The case was brought by Joseph's mother and Samaroo's sister, who say the two men did fishing and farm work in Venezuela, and were returning to Trinidad and Tobago when their boat was struck.

Joseph's mother Sallycar Korasingh added that if the US government believed her son had done something wrong, "it should have arrested, charged and detained him, not murdered him".

The lawsuit argues that the killings should be deemed a wrongful death because the men were not taking part in military hostilities against the US.

The Pentagon has not yet responded to requests for comment.

It comes after the family of a Colombian man, who was killed in a separate US strike, took their case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Sly Dunbar, prolific legend of reggae, dies aged 73

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn56300z220o, 8 days ago

Reggae legend Sly Dunbar, who played with everyone from Bob Marley to The Rolling Stones, has died at the age of 73.

One of the genre's most revered drummers, he played on tracks such as Bob Marley's Punky Reggae Party and Dave and Ansell Collins' classic, Double Barrel.

However, he was better known as half of the production team Sly & Robbie - who produced groundbreaking hits for everyone from Peter Tosh and Black Uhuru, to non-reggae acts like Bob Dylan, Grace Jones and Ian Dury.

Dunbar's death was first reported by his wife, Thelma, who told the Jamaican newspaper The Gleaner she had found him unresponsive on Monday morning. The musician's agent and publicist confirmed the news to the BBC.

Born Lowell Fillmore Dunbar in Kingston, Jamaica, he started out playing on tin cans, after watching Lloyd Knibbs and the Skatalites on television.

"I saw [Knibbs] playing and I thought, 'I want to be a drummer' because he's the hardest worker in the band," he said in a 1997 interview.

"He's my idol! In some ways, I'm self-taught but I got a lot of help from other drummers by watching them play."

In his teens, Dunbar met bassist Robbie Shakespeare and formed the rhythm section of the Revolutionaries, who became regular session musicians at the famed Channel One recording studio.

Their sound differed from the melody-rich music of Bob Marley, with a heavier emphasis on the beat - including the pioneering "rockers" rhythm, which introduced more syncopation and energy to the music.

They spent the 1970s working with major reggae acts like Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown and Barrington Levy, while touring the US with Peter Tosh.

According to legend, the duo lived on bread and water in that period, hoping to save enough money to start their own production company.

Taxi Records was duly founded in 1980, and nurtured a new generation of Jamaican artists such as Shaggy, Shabba Ranks, Skip Marley, Beenie Man and Red Dragon.

Around the same time, they provided the thunderous beats on Grace Jones's hit 1981 album Nightclubbing, which opened the doors for them to work with some of rock and pop's greatest - from Dylan and Joe Cocker, to singers like Marianne Faithfull, Madonna and Sinead O'Connor.

At home, they earned a reputation for updating the sound of reggae by incorporating more electronic instruments and textures.

Later on, they developed a bright and melodic take on dancehall with the duo Chaka Demus & Pliers, scoring hits with songs such as Tease Me and Murder She Wrote in the early 1990s.

At one point, Shakespeare (who died in 2021) estimated that he and Dunbar had taken part in more than 200,000 recordings, either their own or as backup musicians or producers for other artists.

"When you buy a reggae record, there's a 90% chance the drummer is Sly Dunbar," producer Brian Eno told the New Music New York festival in 1979.

"You get the impression that Sly Dunbar is chained to a studio seat somewhere in Jamaica, but in fact what happens is that his drum tracks are so interesting, they get used again and again."

Dunbar's wife said she had found him unresponsive in bed at around 07:00 on Monday, 26 January.

"I went to wake him up and he wasn't responding, I called the doctor and that was the news," she said.

An exact cause of death was not given, though Dunbar had reportedly been ill for some time.

"Yesterday was such a good day for him," Thelma told Jamaica's Gleaner newspaper.

"He had friends come over to visit him and we all had such a good time. He ate well yesterday... sometimes he's not into food. I knew he was sick... but I didn't know that he was this sick."

Among those paying tribute was British DJ David Rodigan, who called Dunbar a "true icon" and "one of the greatest drummers of all time".

Caribbean cannabis growers eye budding domestic sales and exports

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62ndp17jv0o, 9 days ago

Rub the leaf and inhale the fragrance, Michaelus Tracey is saying.

The musky scent of this cannabis plant is distinctly different from the citrusy aroma of another that he is also holding.

To the untrained eye, the neat rows of flowering cannabis crops in front of us are indistinguishable from each other.

Yet master cultivator Tracey can identify the separate varieties by their smell and the shape of their leaves.

Nine strains are being grown here at Pineapple Road, a farm deep in the countryside on the Caribbean island of Antigua. The warm temperatures, abundant sunshine, and high humidity make this prime territory for growing the plants.

Intense trials were conducted to produce the various strains, Tracey explains. "We wanted different flavour profiles as well as different effects, but all with a medicinal value - something to help you relax, something to give you more energy, more pain relief, less anxiety."

Last year marked a decade since Jamaica decriminalised the recreational use of cannabis and legalised its production and sale for medical reasons. Several other Caribbean nations, including the twin island country Antigua and Barbuda in 2018, have since followed suit.

Smoking cannabis is emblematic of Caribbean culture, to the extent it has become a cliché. But while the region's affection for the plant is well documented, its status as a leader in the field is less so.

Today the region is home to a plethora of legally registered cannabis farms and medicinal dispensaries, where both locals and tourists can purchase the drug if they have a valid medical authorisation card.

Yet Prof Rose-Marie Belle Antoine, an expert on the cannabis industry in the Caribbean, believes there needs to be further liberalisation.

"Decriminalisation isn't good enough," says Antoine, a former chair of the Caribbean Community's Regional Commission on Marijuana. "We should just make it legal but regulated."

Antoine is campus principal at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad, where researchers are due to start studying various potential benefits of cannabis.

Areas tipped for study range from alleviating the side effects of cancer treatment, to how the plant can boost agriculture by improving soil health. The research will take place in Antigua, where legislation is more progressive.

The work offers "a lot of potential", she says, but adds that legalisation would make life easier.

"The Caribbean is a leader in cannabis, in terms of strains and knowledge, and it has a long tradition of this. But legalities, the 'war on drugs' and all that nonsense, stifled not just the industry, but research and development," says Antoine.

Some in the region hope that US President Donald Trump's executive order in December to reclassify cannabis as a lower-level drug will benefit the Caribbean.

"It's a significant milestone," says Alexandra Chong, chief executive of Jamaica-based business Jacana, which sells a range of products derived from cannabis, from extract oil drops to skin cream.

"So much US public policy gets filtered down to the Caribbean," she says. "Because cannabis was classified as a schedule one drug alongside heroin in the US, regulatory bodies across the Caribbean have not been as bullish with [reducing] regulation."

Chong adds that the US reducing cannabis to the lower schedule three level, which also includes combined paracetamol-codeine tablets, was "far more appropriate".

The White House lowering the classification of cannabis may mean that in the future Caribbean nations can export the drug to the US for recreational use.

However, the importation of such cannabis into the US is currently still illegal under federal law. This is despite 24 US states having now legalised the use of the drug recreationally.

Producers in both Jamaica and Antigua are keen to start legally exporting the drug. Jamaica's Cannabis Licensing Authority says it "has put in place interim administrative procedures to facilitate the export of ganja by licensees that hold a valid import permit from the country that the product will be exported to".

Meanwhile, Antigua and Barbuda's Medicinal Cannabis Authority is working hard to develop a cannabis export industry. "We already have the legal framework in place, a prime geographical location and an international airport," the body's chief executive Regis Burton tells the BBC.

He says it's "highly likely" that Antigua will eventually be able to export its products, not least for the novelty value. "Very few people can say they've tried Antiguan cannabis," he adds.

Domestically, high overheads in both Jamaica and Antigua and Barbuda – and rules that limit the sale of cannabis to people with medical approval - are said to be leaving most of the market to illegal producers.

Jacana estimates that more than 800,000 people a year in Jamaica use cannabis, of whom half are tourists. But that 90% of the 87 tonnes of the drug consumed per annum comes through illicit channels.

Chong adds that "over-regulation has strangled the industry. Over time it's got easier, but it's by no means perfect".

She says that due to these problems, she estimates that of the 160-plus licences of various categories granted by Jamaica's Cannabis Licensing Authority between 2017 and 2024, "very few" are still in operation.

In Antigua, Robert Hill, a consultant to the industry, says: "It's still more profitable to import cannabis illegally. Unlike dealers, private companies have staff and bills to pay."

Currently the island has just six cannabis farms, four dispensaries and a cannabis lounge, where people can smoke on the premises. At the same time, Antiguan authorities intercepted 45kg of illegally imported cannabis in just 24 hours back in September.

Meanwhile, Antigua has been innovative in its approach to domestic illegal growers. Instead of prosecutions, violators were invited to take part in a free six-week course to teach them how to enter the market legally.

"Twenty-two have already graduated, with two soon to transition to a medicinal business," Burton tells the BBC. "The industry won't be successful if the illicit market does as it pleases."

The continuing liberalisation of cannabis across the Caribbean is also said to be having a positive impact on social justice for one community in particular.

In 2018, Antigua's Prime Minister Gaston Browne issued a formal apology to the country's Rastafarians, for decades of historic persecution, stigma and abuse over their cannabis use. Six years later, the government granted Rastafarians official sacramental authorisation to grow the plants.

And last summer, it announced plans to expunge the criminal records of people previously prosecuted for possession of small amounts of marijuana.

But for High Priest Selah, of Antigua's Nyabinghi denomination of Rastafarians, memories of the harassment he and others once suffered still linger.

"The police were always coming and locking us up, destroying our plants, tarnishing our name and embarrassing us in public," he recalls. Campaigners from his community played a major role in getting the plant decriminalised.

Back at Pineapple Road, two employees are carefully hand-rolling joints, each one containing a gram of pure marijuana, for sale in the company's dispensary.

Burton hopes more local growers will get on board and keep the industry's proceeds in Caribbean hands.

Hill agrees. "We have the ability to compete with much bigger countries thanks to our climate which reduces costs," he says, adding: "We're not trying to create an Amsterdam, this is about wellness."

Venezuelan MPs approve bill to open up oil sector to private firms

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp80r4rdp3yo, 5 days ago

Venezuela's National Assembly has approved a reform of the country's hydrocarbons law that will allow private companies, including foreign firms, more autonomy in the country's lucrative oil sector.

Once the law is signed off by the country's interim president, it is expected to pave the way for more foreign investment in the oil industry.

US President Donald Trump has been pushing US oil companies to invest in Venezuela's vast oil reserves, despite decades of mismanagement, under-investment and a still uncertain political climate.

But one of the barriers for investors had been the existing framework that gave the state oil company PDVSA majority control over operating oil projects.

Shortly after Venezuelan MPs signed the law, the US eased its sanctions on the country's oil industry giving US companies more ability to operate in Venezuela.

The Treasury Department issued a general licence approving a range of oil-related transactions, including oil refining "by an established US entity".

Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, but many foreign firms left after the industry was first nationalised, and then years later state control over production was tightened further.

Some firms say they are still owed compensation after these changes were made to their contracts.

Despite the huge reserves, the industry there has suffered after years of mismanagement and under-investment in the infrastructure, as well as heavy sanctions including by the US.

This new domestic reform would allow private firms to operate oil fields if they had approved contracts and would give companies in joint ventures with the state firm PDVSA more control over projects and more direct access to proceeds from oil sales.

Existing international partners, such as the US firm Chevron which has continued to operate in Venezuela despite US sanctions due to a special licence, have previously requested reforms to the law.

The assembly, dominated by lawmakers who are allies of former president Nicolás Maduro, passed the bill with the backing of interim President Delcy Rodríguez, who assumed office after Maduro was seized in a US military operation earlier this month.

National Assembly speaker Jorge Rodríguez, Delcy Rodríguez's brother, urged lawmakers to support the reform as part of efforts to attract foreign investment.

The changes mark a significant shift from the 2006 hydrocarbons law introduced under former president Hugo Chávez, which tightened state control over the sector.

Analysts say the reform could help attract back foreign oil companies that had largely withdrawn from Venezuela in recent years.

The vote comes amid US-Venezuela negotiations over the sale of sanctioned Venezuelan oil, with Washington licensing the export of tens of millions of barrels.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the proceeds will be sent to an account, initially in Qatar.

He said Venezuela would submit monthly budgets to the White House and funds would then be released under US sanctions controls for public services in Venezuela such as policing, sanitation workers, and to buy medicines.

In a separate move, American Airlines announced on Thursday it would resume flights to Venezuela for the first time in more than six years.

This move came after Trump said he had asked the Transportation Department to lift restrictions barring US flights.

Plane crashes in Colombia, killing all 15 on board

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgnq54v79xo, 6 days ago

A passenger plane has crashed in northern Colombia, killing all 15 people on board, the country's state-run airline Satena confirmed.

In a statement, it said its aircraft - a Beechcraft 1900 - "suffered a fatal accident", but gave no further details. The wreckage has now been located in a mountainous area.

The official passenger list includes lawmaker Diógenes Quintero Amaya and Carlos Salcedo, a candidate in upcoming congressional elections.

Satena earlier said contact with the plane was lost 11 minutes before it had been scheduled to land in the city of Ocaña, near the Venezuelan border, at 12:05 local time (17:05 GMT) on Wednesday.

According to the airline, Flight NSE 8849 took off from the city of Cúcuta, about 100km (62 miles) north-east from Ocaña, carrying 13 passengers and two crew members.

A search operation has been launched in the mountainous area, and a hotline was set up for the relatives of those who were on the plane.

Speaking to local news outlet Semana, governor of Norte de Santander William Villamizar said seven bodies have been recovered.

Colombia's armed forces have been helping with the search effort in the area where the plane went missing, which has areas controlled by Colombia's ELN guerrilla group.

The country's president Gustavo Petro expressed his condolences to the families of the victims on X, writing "I am deeply sorry for these deaths".

A statement acknowledging Quintero's death has been shared from his Facebook page, describing him as "a man who throughout his life served those who needed it most".

Quintero held one of 16 seats in Colombia's parliament intended to represent victims of conflict between the Marxist rebel army, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), and the Colombian state.

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Ecuador says ICE agent attempted to enter its Minneapolis consulate

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g40k40xndo, 6 days ago

The government of Ecuador has condemned what it described as an attempt by a US federal immigration agent to enter the Ecuadorean consulate in Minneapolis.

The agent was prevented from gaining access by consular officials, who acted "to guarantee the protection of the Ecuadoreans who were inside the consulate at the time", a statement by Ecuador's foreign ministry said.

Ecuador, whose president is an ally of Trump, has filed an official complaint.

The incident comes at a time of high tension in the US city, just days after intensive care nurse Alex Pretti was shot dead by border agents during protests against the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.

Ecuador's foreign ministry said in a statement that an agent of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) had "tried to enter the premises of the consulate" at 11:00 local time (17:00 GMT) on Tuesday.

Under the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, consular premises are considered "inviolable".

According to the Convention, the authorities of the country where the consulate is located "shall not enter" the parts of the consulate used for work "except with the consent of the head of the consular post".

Ecuador said that its officials had not consented to ICE entering the consulate.

While the Vienna Convention goes on to say that consent may be assumed in certain cases, they are limited to incidents where "prompt protective action" is required, such as in the case of a fire or some other disaster.

In a video shared by Ecuadorean media, which has not been independently verified by the BBC, a consular official can be seen rushing to the entrance door and telling an ICE agent "this is the consulate, you're not allowed in here".

The agent tells the official that "if you touch me, I will grab you".

The consular official then states again that "you can not enter here, this is a consulate, this is a foreign government's office", before closing the door.

In its statement, Ecuador's foreign ministry said that it had "immediately" handed an official letter of protest to the US embassy in Quito.

The protest letter constitutes a rare note of discord between Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa and the Trump administration.

Just over two months ago, the presidents agreed to strengthen their countries' commercial and economic relationship and Noboa has in the past thanked Trump for designating two Ecuadorean criminal gangs as Foreign Terrorist Organisations.

The actions of immigration and border agents in Minneapolis - in particular the fatal shooting of Pretti on 24 January and that of Renee Good a few weeks earlier - have triggered protests in the city and beyond.

On Tuesday, President Trump said he would "de-escalate" immigration and border operations "a little bit" in Minnesota.

There are currently 3,000 immigration agents and officers in the region.

Securing the US's borders and implementing tougher enforcement of immigration rules has been one of Trump's top priorities.

According to a 20 January statement by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, her department removed "more than 675,000 illegal aliens" from the US since Trump was sworn in to a second term a year ago.

Gunmen storm Mexico football pitch and kill at least 11 people

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp80419gggro, 8 days ago

At least 11 people were killed and another dozen injured when gunmen opened fire on locals who had gathered at a football pitch in the city of Salamanca in central Mexico on Sunday.

Witnesses said armed men arrived at the grounds in several vehicles and shot at those gathered there seemingly indiscriminately.

Many families had stayed behind to socialise after a match between local clubs. At least one woman and one child were among those killed.

The motive behind the shooting is not yet clear. Guanajuato, the state in which Salamanca is located, registered the highest number of murders in the whole of Mexico last year.

Neighbours reported hearing at least 100 shots ring out as the gunmen opened fire at the Cabañas pitch in the Loma de Flores neighbourhood.

Local and federal security forces are now investigating the deadly shooting.

It came just a day after several violent incidents in the city, in which a total of five men were killed and another was abducted.

Guanajuato has seen a spike in violence committed by a number of gangs that engage in the theft of oil and fuel, as well as other criminal activities such as drug trafficking and extortion.

Gang members frequently hold up tanker trucks carrying oil and tap oil pipelines belonging to state-run oil company Pemex.

Salamanca, which is home to a major Pemex refinery, has been particularly subjected to violent gang-related attacks.

Analysts say that the rivalry between the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and the Cartel de Santa Rosa de Lima (CSRL) is behind many of the most brutal incidents.

Their criminal activities are not confined to Mexico, with both the smuggling of stolen fuel and illicit drugs spreading violence into the United States.

Last year, the US State Department designated the CJNG as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation and, more recently, placed sanctions on the CSRL.

US President Donald Trump has made the fight against criminal gangs sending illicit drugs such as heroin, fentanyl, methamphetamines and cocaine one of his priorities.

He has in the past alleged that "cartels are running Mexico" and has threatened to hit "narco-terrorists" with land strikes.

The US has already carried out at least 36 strikes against vessels allegedly transporting drugs by sea, both in the Caribbean and the Pacific, killing at least 125 people.

Legal experts and Trump's critics have questioned the legality of these strikes.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum last week handed over 37 "high-impact" suspects to the US in what local media described as an attempt by her government to co-operate with US counternarcotic efforts and thereby ward off the possibility of Trump ordering unilateral strikes against the cartels in Mexican territory.

Iran's president says it will negotiate with the US

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gw10mkz0yo, today

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said Iran will pursue negotiations with the US after requests from "friendly governments in the region" to respond to a US proposal for talks.

In a statement on X, Pezeshkian said he had told Iran's Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi to pursue talks "provided that a suitable environment exists - one free from threats and unreasonable expectations".

The Iranian president's words come after the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned any attack on Iran would spark a regional conflict.

US President Donald Trump has threatened to intervene in Iran over its nuclear ambitions and deadly crackdown on protesters, building up forces nearby.

"These negotiations shall be conducted within the framework of our national interests", Pezeshkian added.

The talks will be held in Istanbul on Friday, according to US media reports.

Pezeshkian's announcement follows an interview with Araghchi in which he told CNN he was "confident that we can achieve a deal".

Speaking to a press pool in the White House, Trump said on Monday "if we can work something out" that would be "great", but warned that "bad things would happen" if not.

The US carried out targeted strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities last year in what it called Operation Midnight Hammer. The strikes followed a large-scale operation by Israel to target Iran's nuclear facilities and nuclear scientists.

Trump added that there was a "tremendous force" headed to Iran, including the "biggest and the best" ships. The build up of US military and navy includes air craft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which has an air wing of around 70 aircraft.

It follows a crackdown by Iranian security forces that protesters told the BBC was unlike anything they had witnessed before.

Iranian authorities previously said that 3,117 people were killed during the protests, but activist and monitoring groups say the toll is significantly higher.

US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says it has confirmed the deaths of 6,430 protesters, 152 children and 214 people associated with the government. It is still investigating some 11,280 cases.

Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) said the final toll could exceed 25,000.

The widespread demonstrations were sparked by economic frustrations in the country but developed into demands for political change.

Iranian officials have told Khamenei that public anger following the protests has reached a point where fear is no longer a deterrent, Reuters news agency reports.

Israel reopens Gaza's key Rafah border crossing with Egypt

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c99kdjdj9l8o, yesterday

Sick and wounded Palestinians from Gaza have arrived in Egypt after the key Rafah border crossing reopened for the movement of people.

The crossing has largely been closed since May 2024, when the Gazan side was captured by Israeli forces.

The reopening was supposed to happen during the first phase of US President Donald Trump's ceasefire plan between Israel and Hamas, which began in October. But Israel blocked it until the return of the body of the last Israeli hostage in Gaza, which happened last week.

It will come as a relief to many Palestinians who see it as a lifeline to the world, although there is frustration that only small numbers of people and no goods will be allowed through.

Around 20,000 sick and wounded Palestinians are waiting to leave Gaza for treatment, according to local hospitals and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Israeli reports say only 50 patients - accompanied by one or two relatives - will be allowed to exit each day, and that 50 people who left Gaza during the war will be allowed to return.

It is understood that there was disagreement over whether carers should be allowed to return from Egypt with former patients as part of that quota, which caused some delays.

The crossing will be run by supervisors from the European Union and local Palestinian staff, while Israel will carry out stringent security checks remotely.

On Monday morning, an Israeli security official said the Rafah crossing had "now opened to the movement of residents, for both entry and exit" following the arrival of teams from the European Union Border Assistance Mission (EUBAM).

Al Qahera News TV, which is close to Egyptian intelligence, meanwhile said the crossing had "received the first batch of Palestinians returning from Egypt to the Gaza Strip".

After sunset, Al Qahera broadcast footage appearing to show ambulances transferring patients across the border into Egypt.

"Three ambulances have arrived so far carrying a number of the sick and injured, who were immediately screened upon arrival to determine to which hospital they will be transferred," an Egyptian health official at the border told AFP news agency.

A Palestinian mother, Sabrine al-Da'ma, told the BBC she was hoping to travel abroad with her 16-year-old daughter, Rawa, who suffers from kidney disease. She plans to donate Rawa one of her kidneys.

"She used to be treated through monitoring, ultrasound imaging and tests to check the condition of her kidneys. Since the war started, because of food shortages, hunger, and the food she was forced to eat, she began dialysis," Da'ma said.

"We hope they will speed up our referral so that we can travel quickly, because she is getting exhausted. I am also 45 years old, and they may tell me that as I get older, I won't be able to donate anymore. That's why we're rushing."

Maha Ali, 26, told the BBC that she was hoping to leave Gaza to study a master's degree in Algeria, but that she had previously been told by Israeli authorities that they did not consider students to be "humanitarian cases".

"By now, I was supposed to have defended my master's thesis and started my PhD, but two years of my life have been lost. I am now in Gaza and I have not been able to do anything I had planned," she said.

The head of the Palestinian technocratic committee due to take over day-to-day running of Gaza, Ali Shaath, said the reopening of the crossing marked "the beginning of a long process that will reconnect what has been severed and open a genuine window of hope for our people in the Gaza Strip".

The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said: "The opening of the Rafah crossing marks a concrete and positive step in the peace plan."

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper also welcomed the move, but stressed that "much more still needs to be done". "Aid must flow in, restrictions on essential supplies must ease, and aid workers must be allowed to operate," she added.

On Sunday, Israeli authorities said a trial opening of the crossing was carried out and completed.

One Palestinian official familiar with the arrangements for the trial told the BBC that around 30 Palestinian staff members had arrived at the Egyptian side of the crossing, ahead of the initial operational phase.

The WHO will oversee the transfer of patients from territory under Hamas control, transporting them by bus to the crossing over the "Yellow Line" and into territory controlled by the Israeli military.

About 150 hospitals and 300 ambulances in Egypt are ready to receive the evacuated patients, according to Al Qahera News.

Trump's 20-point Gaza peace plan says the reopening of the Rafah crossing in both directions will be subject to the same mechanism implemented under a previous ceasefire deal in January last year.

Before being seized by Israel in 2024, the crossing was the main exit point for Palestinians allowed to leave during the war and a key entry point for humanitarian aid. Now, aid that enters from Egypt is routed via Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing point.

In December, the Israeli government said the Rafah crossing would open to allow Palestinians to leave Gaza. But Egypt said the crossing would only be opened if movement was allowed in both directions.

More than 30,000 Gazans have registered with the Palestinian embassy in Cairo to be allowed to return to Gaza.

The crossing's opening was delayed due to the Israeli government making it conditional on Hamas handing over the body of the last dead Israeli hostage in Gaza.

Last week, the Israeli military said its troops had retrieved the remains of police officer Master Sgt Ran Gvili at a cemetery in northern Gaza.

He was one of the 251 people abducted by Hamas and its allies during their attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed around 1,200 people.

Israel's military campaign in Gaza, launched in response to the attack, has killed more than 71,800 Palestinians, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Both sides have accused each other of repeated violations since the ceasefire began 16 weeks ago. The health ministry has said 526 people have been killed by Israeli fire, while the Israeli military has said four of its soldiers have been killed in Palestinian attacks.

Israel to ban MSF from working in Gaza over refusal to provide staff list

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg1ymmkpkro, 2 days ago

Israel says it will ban Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) from working in Gaza after the medical charity refused to hand over a list of its staff in the territory.

The Israeli government had ordered 37 organisations to submit documents about their local and international workers in Gaza, claiming some in MSF had links to armed groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The charity has vehemently denied this.

MSF announced on Friday that it would not share a list of its Palestinian and international staff with Israeli authorities as it had not secured "assurances to ensure the safety of our staff".

In response, Israel said it was "moving to terminate the activities" of MSF in Gaza.

The Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism said the decision followed "MSF's failure to submit lists of local employees, a requirement applicable to all humanitarian organisations operating in the region".

On 30 December, Israel announced that it was going to revoke the licences of 37 international non-governmental organisations working in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, saying they had failed to meet new registration requirements.

At the time the diaspora ministry said the measure was needed to prevent "the infiltration of terrorist operatives into humanitarian structures".

The groups - which include MSF, ActionAid and the Norwegian Refugee Council - were told their operations must end within 60 days.

The move was condemned by 10 countries, including the UK, France and Canada, who said the rules would have a severe impact on access to essential services.

MSF said in a statement on Friday that it had informed Israeli authorities that, as an "exceptional measure", it would share a list of names of its Palestinian and international staff, "subject to clear parameters, with our staff safety at its core".

"However, despite repeated efforts, it became evident in recent days that we were unable to build engagement with Israeli authorities on the concrete assurances required," it said.

"These included that any staff information would be used only for its stated administrative purpose and would not put colleagues at risk."

On Sunday, it said the move was a "pretext to obstruct humanitarian assistance" to Gaza.

"Israeli authorities are forcing humanitarian organisations into an impossible choice between exposing staff to risk or interrupting critical medical care for people in desperate need," it said.

Sam Rose, director of Gaza affairs for the UN's Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa, told the BBC that this will have "major negative consequences on the ability of international organisations to provide healthcare inside Gaza".

He said MSF had its own reasons for not handing over staff lists "given the large numbers of staff of medical organisations and international organisations that have been killed over the past two years".

A total of 1,700 healthcare staff have been killed in the war, including 15 MSF staff, the medical charity says.

MSF says it currently provides at least 20% of hospital beds in Gaza and operates around 20 health centres. Last year, it carried out more than 800,000 medical consultations and more than 10,000 infant deliveries, while providing drinking water.

The latest war in Gaza began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, when about 1,200 other people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 71,660 people have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

It says at least 509 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire began on 10 October 2025. Four Israeli soldiers have also been killed.

Israeli air strikes kill at least 32 Palestinians in Gaza, rescue officials say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c701g1g00gdo, 3 days ago

At least 32 people have been killed in a wave of Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, according to local authorities.

The civil defence agency, which is operated by Hamas, says children and women were among those killed. It added that in one attack, helicopter gunships hit a tent sheltering displaced people in the southern city of Khan Younis.

Palestinians have described these strikes as the heaviest since the second phase of the ceasefire, brokered by US President Trump last October, came into effect earlier this month.

The Israeli military confirmed that a number of strikes were carried out in response to what it said was a Hamas violation of the agreement on Friday.

Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the truce since it came into effect last year.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said "eight terrorists were identified exiting the underground terror infrastructure in eastern Rafah", an area in Gaza where Israeli forces are deployed under the October agreement.

The IDF said it had, together with the Israel Security Agency (ISA), struck targets in various locations including "four commanders and additional terrorists" as well as a weapons storage facility, a weapons manufacturing site and "two launch sites belonging to Hamas in the central Gaza Strip".

Hamas has condemned the strikes and urged the US to take immediate action, adding that "these ongoing violations" confirm that the Israeli government "continues its brutal war of genocide against the strip".

It said that seven of the victims were from one displaced family in Khan Younis, with a civil defence spokesman adding that the strikes hit residential apartments, tents, shelters and a police station.

Officials at Gaza City's Shifa hospital said an air strike on the city hit a residential apartment, killing three children and two women.

"We found my three little nieces in the street. They say 'ceasefire' and all. What did those children do? What did we do?" said Samer al-Atbash, an uncle of the three dead children, according to Reuters news agency.

Video footage and images from across Gaza showed several bodies being lifted out of rubble and a number of buildings destroyed.

The strikes come as the Rafah crossing, Gaza's border with Egypt, is due to reopen on Sunday after the IDF recovered the body of Israel's last hostage earlier this week.

Egypt's foreign ministry condemned the strikes in a statement seen by AFP news agency, and urged all parties to "exercise the utmost restraint".

Qatar, one of the key mediators during ceasefire talks, also denounced the "repeated Israeli violations", its foreign ministry said.

In January, US special envoy Steve Witkoff announced the start of phase two of the ceasefire deal.

Under phase one, Hamas and Israel agreed the ceasefire in October 2025, as well as a hostage-prisoner exchange, a partial Israeli withdrawal, and an aid surge.

Witkoff said phase two would see a technocratic Palestinian government established in Gaza, the reconstruction and full demilitarisation of the territory, including the disarmament of Hamas and other Palestinian groups.

The war between Israel and Hamas began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, when about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 71,660 people have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

It says at least 509 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire began on 10 October 2025. Four Israeli soldiers have also been killed.

Though Israel has previously disputed figures from the Hamas-run health ministry, a senior security source was reported by local media as saying that the military accepts that more than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war in Gaza.

The health ministry's figures have been deemed reliable by the UN and other human rights groups and widely cited by international media. Israel does not allow news organisations, including the BBC, into Gaza to report independently.

Iran's supreme leader warns of regional war if US attacks

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx20z5nv9jxo, 2 days ago

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned that any attack on his country would spark a regional conflict, as the US continues to build up its forces nearby.

"The Americans should know that if they start a war, this time it will be a regional war," Khamenei was quoted as saying by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Donald Trump earlier said Iran was in "serious discussions" and he hoped they would lead to something "acceptable", while Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told CNN he was "confident that we can achieve a deal" on Tehran's nuclear programme.

Trump has threatened to intervene in Iran over its nuclear ambitions and after its deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.

Araghchi said: "Unfortunately, we have lost our trust [in] the US as a negotiating partner," but added the exchange of messages through friendly countries in the region was facilitating "fruitful" talks with Washington.

Iran's top security official Ali Larijani had previously said a framework for negotiations was progressing.

As part of its build up of forces, the US has sent its aircraft carrier the USS Abraham Lincoln to the region and late last week US Central Command said it was operating in the Arabian Sea.

"[Trump] regularly says that he brought ships... The Iranian nation shall not be scared by these things," added Khamenei.

Iran had been expected to begin a two-day live-fire naval exercise on Sunday in the Strait of Hormuz - one of the world's most important shipping lanes and a key route for energy supplies. However on Sunday Reuters quoted an Iranian official as saying the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) navy had no plans for such an exercise.

Around a fifth of the world's traded oil passes through the waterway, which is about 33km (21 miles) wide at its narrowest point between Iran and Oman. Iran has in the past threatened to close the strait if it were attacked.

The US has warned Iran against any "unsafe and unprofessional behaviour" near its forces in the area.

Araghchi responded by saying: "The US military is now attempting to dictate how our Powerful Armed Forces should conduct target practice in their own turf."

On Saturday, two explosions in Iran heightened anxiety in the country. Local authorities said a blast that killed one and hurt 14 at a building in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas was caused by a gas leak.

Tasnim denied social media reports that a Revolutionary Guards Corps navy commander had been targeted in the blast.

In the south-western city of Ahvaz, at least four people were killed in another explosion, with local authorities again blaming a gas leak, according to Iran's Tehran Times.

On Thursday, Trump said he had told Iran that it had to do two things to avoid US military action: "Number one, no nuclear. And number two, stop killing protesters."

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency says it has confirmed the killing of more than 6,300 people since the unrest began in late December, and is investigating another 17,000 reported deaths.

Another group, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR), has warned the final toll could exceed 25,000.

Protesters have told the BBC that the lethal crackdown by security forces was unlike anything they had witnessed before.

In his remarks on Sunday, Khamenei accused protesters of attacking police, the IRGC and other facilities including banks and mosques.

"The coup was suppressed," Tasnim quoted him as saying.

Iranian protester Erfan Soltani released on bail, reports say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ceqz8r2j24do, yesterday

A 26-year-old Iranian man who was reportedly sentenced to death in connection with anti-government protests last month has been released on bail, reports say.

Erfan Soltani was arrested on 8 January in the city of Fardis, just west of Tehran, as protests swept across the country, prompting a deadly crackdown by Iranian authorities.

Officials then informed his family that he had been scheduled to be executed within days, without giving any additional details, according to Norway-based Kurdish human rights group Hengaw.

But Iran's judiciary denied that he was sentenced to death, saying he faced security-related charges carrying prison terms only.

Soltani's lawyer, Amir Mousakhani, told news agency AFP that he had been released on bail on Saturday "and received all of his belongings including his cellphone".

A bail of "two billion tomans" (around $12,600; £9,200) was paid for his release, the lawyer added.

Hengaw and Iranian media, including Isna, a semi-official Iranian news agency, also said Soltani had been bailed.

The arrest of Soltani, a clothes shop owner, made headlines around the world when it was reported that he was allegedly due to be executed.

At the time, one of Soltani's relatives told BBC Persian that a court had issued a death sentence "in an extremely rapid process, within just two days".

US President Donald Trump previously threatened to take "very strong action" if executions were carried out. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned that any attack would spark a regional conflict.

In January, the Iranian government called reports by foreign media organisations that Soltani faced execution a "blatant act of news fabrication".

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also said in an interview with US television that there was "no plan" to hang people.

Following the initial reports, Hengaw later said that, according to information obtained through relatives, Soltani's execution had been postponed.

Another group, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR), has warned the final toll could exceed 25,000.

Protesters have told the BBC that the lethal crackdown by security forces was unlike anything they had witnessed before.

In remarks on Sunday, Khamenei accused protesters of attacking police, the IRGC and other facilities including banks and mosques.

Syria's only female minister pushes for change: 'I'm not here for window dressing'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj0n3j16p8lo, yesterday

"On the first day, I asked 'why are there no more women?'," says Hind Kabawat.

She is Syria's minister for social affairs and labour - the only female minister in the transitional government tasked with navigating the country's jagged road from war to peace.

Sectarian violence, which has killed thousands of people, has marred its first months in power, with many of Syria's minority communities blaming government forces.

Once an opposition leader in exile, Kabawat acknowledges the government has made mistakes since President Ahmed al-Sharaa's rebel forces swept into the capital on 8 December 2024, ending decades of the Assad family's brutal dictatorship.

But she insists "mistakes happen in transition".

Kabawat also says one of the president's biggest mistakes has not been appointing other women in his cabinet, though she says he has assured her there will be more.

In his cabinet - which is dominated by his close comrades and some former fighters - she faces a challenging juggling act.

We followed Kabawat for our special report for the BBC's Global Women and saw up close how her array of dossiers cover Syria's most vulnerable, including orphans and widows, as well as the grieving families of the tens of thousands who disappeared during Assad's regime.

Another pressing priority is to create jobs and find homes for the millions displaced during nearly 14 years of civil war, and easing the suffering of those fleeing the latest clashes among communities.

Everything is urgent in a broken country - which is also broke. The United Nations says 90% of Syrians live below the poverty line.

In early January, Kabawat rushed to the northern city of Aleppo to visit shelters harbouring thousands of people after fighting flared between government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who have long dominated north-eastern Syria.

Last summer, she tried to bring aid into a southern city populated mostly by Druze after it was torn by deadly violence between Druze, Bedouin and Syrian government forces.

And she reached out to the family of an Alawite woman, from the same minority Shia sect as the Assad family, who accused armed men in military fatigues of rape.

There are some complaints Kabawat could do more to help mend the fractures between Syria's different communities.

Asked if the government made mistakes in its response to the sectarian violence, she replies: "Mistakes happen in transition, in post-conflict; no-one is happy about it, including the president."

But she stresses an inquiry was set up, and now "many of those who committed those crimes are in prison".

Understanding how to build trust, and peace, has defined much of her working life. Educated at universities in Syria, Lebanon, Canada and the United States, Kabawat is a lawyer and negotiator who played a leading role in the exiled Syrian opposition during the civil war.

In her own arsenal, she sees her sharpest tool as dialogue.

"It's taking time for people to say 'we trust you' after 50 years of dictatorship," she explains, emphasising that trust is needed "people to people" as well as between government and the population.

We travel with her to the provincial capital of Idlib in the north-west, the former rebel stronghold of Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham forces.

She worked here during the civil war, with Tastakel, a women-led organisation she founded. Its name translates roughly from Arabic as "becoming independent" - which also sums up her philosophy on building this new Syria.

In a packed, brightly-lit hall, young and old women, and some men, from across Syria, are gathered to celebrate the end of the old order, and to strategise about strengthening the role of women at all levels of decision-making.

For Kabawat, it is about taking responsibility.

In recent indirect elections for the new transitional parliament, or People's Assembly, not a single woman was elected from Idlib. Overall, only 4% of seats went to female candidates.

"You should have been united and thought in a politically intelligent way to ensure we got one or two women elected," she scolds the women.

You could feel the energy coursing through the room of well-spoken women, some wearing tightly wrapped headscarves, others in head-to-toe veils, and some -including Kabawat - bare-headed.

This has always been the female face of Syria, a society often described as a mosaic of many traditions. Initial concerns that stricter Islamist rules would be imposed by Sharaa and his supporters, who adhere to a strict interpretation of Sunni Islam, have not materialised in the main, but worries still linger for some.

Sharaa himself, a former al-Qaeda commander-turned-Islamist rebel leader, has shucked his military fatigues for a tailored Western-style suit and now positions himself as a pragmatist.

Kabawat says that on that first day, when he announced his government in March last year, the president assured her more women would be appointed. "He said: 'It's coming, we are in transition,'" she adds.

Any suggestion she is a token woman in his ranks meets a firm rebuke.

"I am not here for window dressing," she declares. "I don't feel that I am a Christian or a woman when I do my job. I feel like I am a citizen of Syria... The minute I start feeling like I'm a minority or I'm a woman, I will lose my legitimacy."

At the conference in Idlib, there's a sudden sign of a changing society. Kabawat is ambushed by an enthusiastic crowd of young women talking excitedly over each other - former students from her Tastakel classes.

"We're implementing the mission she taught us and we are trying to acquire more expertise so we are ready," says one of them, Siwar.

Kabawat exclaims in approval as another, Ghufran, wags her finger for emphasis: "We either occupy a space where we hold all the decision-making power, or we don't want to be in that space at all."

Even in deeply conservative Idlib, women of an earlier generation played leadership roles in civil society during the war.

Softly-spoken and exuding confidence, Ahlam al-Rasheed is now the director of social affairs in the provincial government.

Nearly a decade ago, in 2017, she earned a place on the BBC's 100 Women list with her work promoting women's rights.

During the civil war, women "led across several sectors, including in politics, relief, education and health", she says. Many were - and still are - the main breadwinners in their families.

We travel to a bleak tented camp on barren land on the edge of the city, where we see the reality of what Rasheed says is the biggest challenge facing Syrian women now.

This camp, and countless others dotting the country, house millions of Syrians whose homes still lie in utter ruin.

Kabawat briefly greets the robed and suited men standing in line to receive her. Then she makes a beeline for a gaggle of giggling children and expectant women, most in flowing black cloaks. The jaunty wool cap pulled over her honey-brown hair may be her nod to both the cold winter weather and more conservative ways.

Inside a tented mosque, she sits on the floor listening to a litany of woes from women, many of them widows, living in grinding poverty and pain, without assistance.

Again, Kabawat throws it back to them, asking who would like to be taught to make handicrafts to be sold internationally. A sea of hands rise.

Then, she is on her way, leading a "choo-choo train" formed by a line of delighted children, sprinkling humour, happiness and even a little hope, but not the real aid they so desperately need.

Later I ask her what she said to the man who lamented that he had worked so hard in the opposition but was still living in a tent.

"Of course, they're right," she reflects. "I feel their pain." She highlights the urgent need for "a united effort from the international community".

I point out that donors say the government also has to move more quickly to establish a new legal system, as well as transparency.

"Of course, they're not right," she shoots back. "We inherited a country which was completely destroyed and we're working on laws to renew and adapt a new country - so it's taking time."

Her tone is even more emphatic when I ask about reports that Sharaa's inner circle is now creating a shadow government by taking away ministers' power to appoint their own deputies.

"I won't be here the minute I see that I can't appoint my own deputy and don't have the freedom to make my own strategy," she declares. "Nobody controls me."

Sharaa "cannot rely on one side", she adds. "If he's not going to be inclusive and bring many people together in the government… we can't survive."

Post-Assad Syria has received hundreds of millions of dollars in aid from many countries.

An American push - with President Donald Trump's personal backing - has helped lift crippling sanctions.

But the World Bank estimates that Syria will need at least $200bn (£145bn), just to rebuild its shattered landscape. And some donors are hesitating because of volatility in the country and wider region, exacerbated by Israel's repeated attacks on its neighbour.

Israel says it is acting against perceived threats posed by Syria's armed groups.

As we sit in Kabawat's graceful living room, among framed family photographs and sprays of Syria's new flag, her can-do composure breaks for a moment.

"I see the suffering of the people... and feel responsible for their pain," she admits, wiping a tear. She says when she feels she does not have the resources to help people, that is the one time she asks herself "why did I do this?"

Then there's a rustle outside the door. Another delegation is waiting to see her.

"Khalas [enough], enough of tears," she vows. "It's another day and it's back to work."

Viewers in the UK can also watch the interview on Global Eye at 19:00 on Monday 2 February on BBC Two or on iPlayer

* This is part of the Global Women series from the BBC World Service, sharing untold and important stories from around the globe

Israel eyes regime change in Iran - and is counting on Trump to make it happen

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c78egvpkm77o, 3 days ago

Amid the din of global speculation over US military build-up in the Middle East, Israel's leaders have remained unusually silent.

Aside from some remarks in support of Iran's anti-government protests this month, Israel's prime minister has had little to say publicly about his superpower ally taking on his biggest enemy. His government has remained equally silent.

"It shows you the importance Netanyahu puts on this moment," said Danny Citrinowicz, who served for 25 years in Israel's Defence Intelligence, and is now senior Iran researcher at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies.

"For Netanyahu, being in this position where the US has so many forces in the Gulf, being so close to Trump attacking Iran, this is - for him - a golden moment in time that he cannot forgo."

Asaf Cohen, a former deputy director of Israel's signals intelligence unit, says there's strategy in Israel's silence too.

"The [Israeli] leadership believes we should allow the Americans to lead the way this time, because they are stronger, have more capabilities, and have much more legitimacy in the world."

Benjamin Netanyahu has long seen Iran as the key threat facing Israel, and the biggest source of instability in the Middle East. His public silence does not signal a lack of private discussion with his key US ally.

This week, Israel's military intelligence chief, Shlomi Binder, met US intelligence agencies in Washington. According to Israeli media, the discussion focused on possible targets in Iran.

Citrinowicz believes Netanyahu is privately pushing the US towards maximalist strikes aimed at regime change in Iran, and that when Netanyahu reportedly urged Trump to hold back earlier this month, he says, it was because he viewed the planned US attack as "too small".

Netanyahu has previously urged Iranians to "stand up" to their regime, in an interview with Fox News last year.

US president Donald Trump is currently considering a range of actions against Iran – they are reported to include both limited symbolic strikes and full-blown regime change. In public, he has alternated military threats with the offer of fresh negotiations.

While many US allies are warning that trying to unseat Iran's leadership carries huge risks for the region, many in Israel see potential benefits for their security.

By changing the regime in Tehran, Israel would hope to end the threat from Iran's ballistic missiles, and the possibility that it would one day acquire nuclear weapons too.

It would also further weaken Iran's proxy militia around the region, including Hezbollah, which still has up to 25,000 missiles and rockets across the border in Lebanon according to Israel's Alma research institute.

In contrast, some Israeli lawmakers believe a limited strike, or even a new deal with Iran, could carry bigger risks for Israel's security by leaving the regime in place.

"When you deal with total evil, you don't act limited," said Moshe Tur-Paz, a member of the Yesh Atid opposition party who sits on the Defence Committee of Israel's parliament.

"There's a consensus that Israel should act much stronger and so should the Western world. When it comes to our worst enemies like Iran, there are no big differences. We all understand the threat."

Another round of conflict that left the regime intact would not be worth the price paid in Iran's retaliation, many say.

During the 12-day war last year, when Israel and the US attacked Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile sites, Iran fired back hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israeli towns and cities. Some evaded Israel's vaunted air-defences, slamming into apartment blocks in Tel Aviv and killing at least 28 people.

The Israeli military had prepared for many more casualties, but Tehran's heightened sense of vulnerability now could mean a more intense response.

And analysts have suggested that Iran learned from that conflict, adapting its tactics as the war progressed. Half a year on, Iran is rebuilding its missile stocks.

This week, a senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader warned on social media that Tel Aviv would be hit with an "immediate and unprecedented" response in the event of any US attack.

"Netanyahu is afraid Israel will [again] go through the pain of an attack without a change of regime," said Citrinowicz. "He came to the conclusion that to stop the missiles being built, you have to have regime change, but regime change can happen only with the US."

And this moment of intense vulnerablity for the Iranian regime – its military defences diminished after the 12-day war, its regional proxy forces weakened, and after widespread protests against its rule at home – also represents an opportunity, says Cohen.

"Iran is at its weakest now - this is an opportunity that may not come again," said Cohen. "There are a lot of people who believe this is the time - it's now or never."

In Tel Aviv, residents still living with the wreckage from Iranian missile strikes last June are speculating about another conflict.

"I hope [our leaders] don't miss this opportunity," said Neria, a young man in his early 20s.

"If it's through attack or through other means, I don't know, but certainly we should leverage the situation to switch regimes. It won't be the first time we'll deal with the bombs - it's not nice, but if it's going to help us in the longer term to feel safer here then we will have to go through it".

Shani, a young woman nearby, said she had mixed feelings.

"I know the Iranian people - many of them - want the US to help. I just hope that everyone will stay safe," she said. "Politicians need to think about the people. Actions have consequences."

Israeli polls repeatedly show a strong majority of Jewish residents support military action against Iran - including after the 12-day war last year.

But the risks of regime change remain. With no obvious cracks in the military and clerical alliance around Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and a splintered opposition movement in the country, it's not clear who would take over control of Iran if the government fell.

A younger successor from the same ruling elite would not necessarily be more flexible in their response to Israel, and the chaos of a civil war would not only be deeply destabilising for Iranians, but for the region as a whole.

And several defence insiders have pointed out that regimes are not usually toppled by air-strikes alone.

Israel's prime minister, facing elections this year, has worked hard since the Hamas attacks to try and restore his broken image as Israel's "Mr Security". Regime change in Iran – or Khamanei's assassination - would be a political prize, but also a risk.

"It is a gamble, but it's a calculated one," says Citrinowicz.

"Netanyahu couldn't care less what happens the day after Khamenei. He wants to show, together with Trump, that he destroyed the Iranian regime. It's a risk he's willing to take if he knows the Americans will go all the way. The problem is Trump."

Both the US and Iran have said they are open to negotiations, but Trump has conditioned talks on ending Iran's uranium enrichment along with its support for proxies in the region, and limits on its ballistic missiles – all seen as red lines for the regime.

Israel's leadership is firmly against a deal, and Israeli analysts are divided over whether one is even achievable.

Cohen said he thought both Washington and Tehran wanted an agreement, but that if one wasn't reached soon the US would strike.

"Iran's Supreme Leader and Trump have something in common. There aren't really any red lines. During the negotiations in 2013, we used to called them 'pink lines', because they changed," said Cohen.

"We always talk about Iran as evil, but they are very rational," he said. "I think they understand that in order to change the situation, they need to do something that hasn't been done until now."

"Yes, the ability to show compromise is there, they're not North Korea, but this regime has its red lines," countered Citrinowicz, warning that a war would be hard to contain "because Iranians will think it's a war for their survival".

There are signs that Trump may be limiting his conditions for negotiations and focusing on Iran's nuclear programme. If the bar is lowered enough for Tehran to begin talks, much of the region will breathe a sigh of relief - and many in Israel will hold their breath.

Cohen says there are ways of constructing compromises on issues such as enrichment that could temporarily prevent any new activity in practice while allowing Iran to avoid an explicit ban.

"The essential difference between us and the Iranians is we like quick results, and the Iranians have great patience," he said. "They say: 'we've been here 2000 years, if we need another 30 years to get a nuclear weapon, it's ok'."

I mocked the Saudi leader on YouTube - then my phone was hacked and I was beaten up in London

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj6w3zgden0o, 4 days ago

With hundreds of millions of views, YouTuber Ghanem al-Masarir was flying high.

From his flat in Wembley, the loud-mouthed and sometimes offensive comedian was making waves as a critic of the Saudi Arabian royal family. But as well as fans, he'd made some powerful enemies.

The first thing al-Masarir noticed was that his phones were behaving weirdly. They had become very slow, with the batteries running out quickly.

Then he noticed seeing the same faces appear in different parts of London. People who seemed to be Saudi regime supporters began stopping him in the street, harassing and filming him. But how did they know where he was all the time?

Al-Masarir feared his phone was being used to spy on him. Cyber experts would later confirm he'd become the latest victim to be spied on with the infamous Pegasus hacking tool.

"It was something that I couldn't comprehend. They can see your location. They can turn on the camera. They can turn on the microphone, listen to you," al-Masarir tells the BBC. "They got your data, all pictures, everything. You feel you've been violated."

On Monday, after six years of legal battles, the High Court in London ruled Saudi Arabia was responsible, and ordered the kingdom to pay al-Masarir more than £3m ($4.1m) in compensation.

Al-Masarir's iPhones had been hacked in 2018 after he clicked on links in three text messages seemingly sent from news outlets as special membership offers.

It led to him being stalked, harassed and in August of that year, beaten up in central London.

The court heard two strangers had approached al-Masarir and shouted at him, demanding to know who he was to talk about the Saudi royal family, before punching him in the face and then continuing to attack him.

Passers-by intervened and the two men retreated, calling the YouTuber a "slave of Qatar" and saying they were going to "teach him a lesson".

The High Court judge described the physical attack as premeditated and noted that one of the assailants was wearing an earpiece.

"There is a compelling basis" that the assault and the hack "was directed or authorised by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or agents acting on its behalf," Mr Justice Saini said in his written judgement.

"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had a clear interest in and motivation to shut down the claimant's public criticism of the Saudi government," the judge ruled.

After the assault, the harassment continued. In 2019, a child approached al-Masarir at a Kensington café and sang a song praising King Salman, the Saudi monarch.

This incident was filmed and posted on social media, began trending with its own hashtag, and was even broadcast on state-owned television in Saudi Arabia.

On the same day, a man walked up to al-Masarir as he was leaving a west London restaurant and told him, "Your days are numbered", before walking off.

Al-Masarir was born in Saudi Arabia but has lived in Britain for more than 20 years, originally coming to study in Portsmouth.

He is now a British citizen and lives in Wembley, but no longer ventures far from home - going into central London is still frightening for him after he was attacked.

The 45-year-old rose to fame in the Arabic-speaking world for his satirical YouTube videos criticising Saudi rulers, in particular the crown prince and de facto ruler Mohamed bin Salman.

Al-Masarir's humorous takes - and sometimes personal and offensive attacks on the Saudi government - often went viral, generating more than 345 million views.

In his most watched clip - which has 16 million views - he criticised the authorities for being angry about a viral video of girls dancing in Saudi Arabia. Mysteriously, the sound has been removed on YouTube and al-Masarir has no idea how or when the video was edited.

Since al-Masarir was hacked and attacked he has lost his confidence and become depressed and fearful. The once funny and outspoken personality agreed to talk to the BBC - but was reserved and didn't want to fully show his face.

He hasn't posted a video for three years and says in spite of his legal victory, the Saudi government has succeeded in silencing him.

"No amount of money can repay the harm this has done to me," he says. "The hack has really changed me. I am not the same Ghanem I used to be."

It was spyware experts from the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab who confirmed al-Masarir had been hacked with Pegasus spyware. They sent an analyst to London and deemed it highly likely the hack had been orchestrated by Saudi Arabia.

Pegasus is a powerful and controversial hacking tool made by Israeli company NSO Group. NSO Group insists it only sells its spyware to governments to help track terrorists and criminals.

But Citizen Lab has discovered it on phones belonging to politicians, journalists and dissidents - including al-Masarir.

When al-Masarir first tried to bring a claim against Saudi Arabia, the kingdom argued it was protected from legal action under the State Immunity Act 1978.

But in 2022 the court ruled Saudi Arabia did not have immunity. Since, then the country has not been represented in any further proceedings.

"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has failed to serve a defence or to respond to this application and has breached multiple further orders. It appears unlikely to participate in the claim," the High Court judge concluded.

The total damages awarded are £3,025,662.83 but it's not clear if Saudi Arabia will pay.

The BBC contacted the Saudi embassy in London but has not had a reply.

Al-Masarir says he is determined to enforce the judgement and is willing to use international courts if necessary. But no amount of money will make up for how the hack has turned his life upside down, he says.

"I feel depressed that they got away with something like this in London - in Great Britain."

Israel split over plans to bring back death penalty for deadly attacks

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clymp8v7ye2o, 4 days ago

Israel has only twice used the death penalty against a convicted prisoner. The last time was more than sixty years ago, to hang the notorious Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann.

But in the wake of the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023, Israel's deadliest ever day, there is a political push to pass a highly controversial new capital punishment law, targeting Palestinians convicted by Israeli courts of fatal terrorist attacks.

"It's another brick in the wall of our defence," the far-right chair of the parliamentary national security committee, Zvika Fogel tells me. "To bring in the death penalty is the most moral, the most Jewish and the most decent thing."

But human rights groups see the bill as "one of the most extreme legislative proposals" in the history of Israel. They argue it is unethical, and because it is designed to apply only to Palestinians, they say it will bring about "racialized capital punishment."

There have been heated hearings in Israel's parliament involving rabbis, doctors, lawyers and security officials. Families whose loved ones were killed in the brutal assault on southern Israel more than two years ago, and in the fighting in the devastating war in Gaza that followed, have turned out to speak against and in favour of the legislation.

"In my view, only 10 or 20 per cent of the law is intended for justice, and the remaining percentage is deterrence and prevention," says bereaved mother, Dr Valentina Gusak, who backs the bill.

Addressing the national security committee, she displayed a photo of her 21-year-old daughter, Margarita who hoped to study medicine like both of her parents. She was killed with her boyfriend, Simon Vigdergaus as they fled the Nova music festival in 2023.

"It's preventive treatment – that's what it's called in medicine," says Dr Gusak about reintroducing capital punishment who believes it could have saved her daughter's life. "It's a vaccine against the next murder, and we must ensure the future of our children."

The death penalty does exist for certain crimes in Israel, but on the rare occasions when military courts previously handed down death sentences to convicted terrorists or enemy fighters, all were mitigated to life sentences following appeals.

The Eichmann case was exceptional. The SS Lieutenant Colonel was an architect of the Holocaust. In 1960, he was snatched from Argentina by Israeli secret service agents before being put on a lengthy public trial before a special court in Jerusalem.

Prior to that, a military captain, Meir Tobianski, was executed for treason following a makeshift court martial in June 1948, shortly after the Israeli state was established. He was posthumously exonerated.

Opponents of capital punishment have rejected it on religious, ethical and legal grounds arguing it goes against Jewish law, violates the right to life and brings a risk of executing innocent people. But Israeli human rights groups also argue that the proposed new law will deepen discrimination by targeting only Palestinians convicted of terrorism and not Jewish Israelis.

"The fact that we're even re-discussing bringing this back into the legal system in Israel is itself a low point," says Tal Steiner, executive director of the Israeli NGO, HaMoked.

"Beyond that our objection is that the law is racially designed, meant to apply only to Palestinians, never to Jews, only to people who kill Israeli citizens, never for example to Israeli citizens who kill Palestinians. The motivation is clear."

The stated purpose of the draft legislation is to protect Israel, "its citizens and its residents", while "increasing deterrence against the enemy" and reducing the incentive "to carry out kidnappings or take hostages in order to negotiate the release of terrorists" as well as "providing retribution" for criminal acts.

Mandatory death sentences would apply in Israeli military courts which exclusively try Palestinians from the occupied West Bank. After a compulsory appeal against the verdict, those convicted of deadly terrorist attacks would be hanged within 90 days.

The bill would also allow the death penalty to be used within the same swift time frame in regular Israeli courts, but it would not be mandatory.

There have been past proposals to introduce capital punishment for what are seen as terrorist actions, but the security establishment was previously among the main opponents of such a move, asserting that it increased tensions and was not an effective deterrent.

Already, a high number of Palestinians who carry out deadly attacks on Israelis are shot dead in the process by the security forces or armed civilians.

When I meet Zvika Fogel from the far-right Jewish Power party which has put forward the new death penalty bill, he insists that the current heads of Israel's security services are behind its efforts. He dismisses the idea that the law is unfair.

"Let's be accurate, my bill talks about terrorists and about an act of terrorism, there's no discrimination here. The definition is very clear," he says. "It's true that I don't think there's such a thing as a Jewish terrorist or a Jewish act of terrorism. It's a legal definition. I didn't go any other way."

Jewish Power put forward the new death penalty bill early in 2023. Following the 7 October attacks, the legislation was put on hold because security officials advised it could jeopardise efforts to bring back the 251 hostages – living and dead – who had been seized and were being held in Gaza by Palestinian armed groups.

Last year, the head of Jewish Power, the national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir was one of the few ministers to vote against the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire deal which saw the last remaining hostages returned in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees – about 250 of whom were serving life or lengthy sentences, many for killing Israelis. He said he was opposed to all hostage agreements.

Jewish Power then threatened to leave the government if the death penalty legislation was not put to a vote. Last November, when it passed the first of three readings needed to become law by 39-16, in the 120-seat parliament or Knesset, Ben Gvir gave out sweets.

His party insists capital punishment will reduce the incentive for future hostage taking and prevent contentious prisoner swaps. Its members of parliament have taken to wearing a golden noose-shaped lapel pin.

"There won't be any [more] prisoners released," says Zvika Fogel. "For a prisoner who committed murder, there'll be a death penalty so there won't be a prisoner to make a deal on. It will prevent hostages being taken to be used as bargaining chips."

In parliament, Limor Son Har-Melech, another member of Jewish Power who sponsors the bill has related her personal story. In 2003, she and her husband - who lived in a West Bank settlement - were attacked by Palestinian gunmen while in their car. Her husband was killed and she was injured, leading her to give birth by an emergency caesarean section.

Son Har-Melech explains that one of her husband's killers went on to be released in a previous exchange deal to bring home an Israeli soldier held captive in Gaza. She says he went on to command a deadly attack on another Israeli and take part in the 7 October attacks, before he was killed during the Gaza war.

Some 1,200 people were killed in the shocking assault on southern Israel just over two years ago. It triggered the deadliest ever war in Gaza, where more than 71,600 Palestinians have been killed according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.

Many see that the public mood in Israel has shifted in favour of more draconian punishments. But Arab-Israeli parliamentarian, Aida Touma-Suleiman, who represents the opposition Hadash party, says legislators should be careful how they respond.

"He is feeding into the revenge and the anger that is existing among society," she says of Ben Gvir. "But you cannot run legislation and courts by instincts of revenge."

Touma-Suleiman opposes the death penalty on principle and argues the bill also goes against international law and past treaties signed by Israel. If the legislation passes two more parliamentary votes and becomes law, she believes Supreme Court judges will strike it down.

However, she points out that this will prove a political point for Jewish Power in an election year. As part of the government, it has been taking steps to try to reduce the power of the courts.

"It's a win-win situation for Ben Gvir and his party to promote such a law. Because if this law actually passes, it's for their constituency," Touma-Suleiman tells me. "If he managed to pass it then I'm sure the Supreme Court will ask the Knesset to cancel the law, and he can start to say with the rest of the right-wing: 'You see they want to run the country when we are the ones who are elected!'"

In social media videos shot in Israeli jails, Ben Gvir has posed with bound and blindfolded prisoners who are said to be members of the Hamas Nukhba force which carried out the 7 October attacks. He boasts that they receive the "minimum of minimum conditions."

According to a recent article by the Israeli news site, Walla, a record high number of 110 Palestinian security detainees have died under the minister's policies in the past two and a half years.

The UN Committee against Torture said late last year that it was deeply concerned about reports indicating "a de facto state policy of organised and widespread torture and ill treatment" of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. It said such allegations had "gravely intensified" after the 2023 attacks. Israel has denied the claims.

While the final text of the death penalty law is being drawn up, another parliamentary committee is working on a separate bill to set up a dedicated military tribunal for the Nukhba prisoners.

They are expected to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity much as Eichmann did six decades ago. Those convicted could also face the death penalty.

After many countries around the world abolished capital punishment, Israel is taking steps in the opposite direction.

Iran wants to make deal rather than face military action, Trump says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd9ew2kwj0lo, 4 days ago

Donald Trump has said Iran wants to make a deal rather than face US military action, despite Tehran's insistence that its missile and defence systems will "never" be up for negotiation.

"I can say this, they do want to make a deal," the US president told reporters at the White House on Friday when asked about a build-up of forces in the Gulf, without providing details.

He had warned Tehran on Wednesday that time was "running out" to negotiate a deal on its nuclear programme after a large US naval fleet had gathered near the country.

Iran's foreign minister said there were no talks planned with the US at present but that Tehran was open to negotiations based on "mutual respect" and trust.

Also on Friday, the Kremlin said the head of the Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani had met Russian President Vladimir Putin.

They discussed "Middle Eastern and international issues" among other matters, state news agency Ria-Novosoti reported.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful and has repeatedly denied accusations by the US and its allies that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

Asked on Friday whether he had given Tehran a deadline by which to strike a deal, Trump said that "only they know for sure".

He told reporters: "Hopefully we'll make a deal. If we do make a deal, that's good. If we don't make a deal, we'll see what happens."

He said a large "Armada" was on its way to the region and declined to give a timeline for its withdrawal: "We'll see how it all works out. They have to float someplace, so they might as well float near Iran."

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said earlier that the country's missile defence systems would "never" be on the negotiating table, and repeated the government's position that its nuclear programme was peaceful.

At a press conference with his Turkish counterpart after talks in Istanbul to avert US action, he said preparations were needed for "fair and just negotiations".

Trump's warning regarding a nuclear deal on Wednesday came after he had promised Washington would intervene to help those involved in a brutal crackdown on protests in the country earlier this month.

He had said help was "on the way", before saying he had been told the execution of demonstrators had stopped.

On Thursday, he said he had told Iran that it had to do two things to avoid military action: "Number one, no nuclear. And number two, stop killing protesters."

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it had confirmed the killing of more than 6,300 people, including more than 5,900 protesters, since the unrest began at the end of December.

It said it was also investigating another 17,000 reported deaths received despite an internet shutdown after nearly three weeks.

Another group, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR), has warned the final toll could exceed 25,000.

Syrian government reaches deal with Kurdish-led forces

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz0pj0n0yk3o, 4 days ago

Syria's government has reached a deal with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia alliance that would see the gradual intergration of Kurdish forces and institutions into the state.

This comes after weeks of clashes which saw Syrian troops reclaim large swathes of territory in the north-east that had been under SDF control for more than a decade.

US envoy Tom Barrack called it "a profound and historic milestone in Syria's journey toward national reconciliation, unity, and enduring stability".

Earlier this month - and after its major territorial losses - the SDF agreed to a ceasefire that saw much of its hold brought under government control, but reports of clashes continued.

Much like that 14-point agreement, Friday's deal would see SDF withdraw from points of contact, its members join the Syrian army and government, and the integration of its administrative and civil bodies into those of the state.

The SDF said the agreement also includes the formation of a military division consisting of three brigades made of its members.

The statement on X added that an agreement on the civil and educational rights for Kurdish people was also reached, as well as a guarantee that those displaced would be allowed to return to their homes.

Part of the deal saw the transfer of prisons, oil and gas fields - which were under SDF control - to Damascus.

Syrian troops seized control of the Omar facility, the country's largest oilfield, after the SDF pulled back. Earlier, the army took the strategic Tabqa dam on the Euphrates river.

The Kurds previously controlled nearly a third of Syria's territory with the support of the US after it helped defeat the Islamic State (IS) group.

Their recent losses mark the biggest change of control in the country since the toppling of former leader Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, which ended Syria's 13-year civil war.

Since leading the rebel offensive that overthrew the Assad regime, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has vowed to reunify a divided Syria.

After the ceasefire was agreed on 18 January, he said he hoped it would allow the country to "end its state of division and move to a state of unity and progress".

Sharaa also issued a decree recognising Kurdish cultural, linguistic and civil rights by making Kurdish a national language, granting nationality to stateless Kurds, and declaring their new year a national holiday.

This is the first formal recognition of Kurdish national rights since Syria's independence in 1946.

This agreement followed months of stalled negotiations over a March 2025 integration deal, which both sides had accused each other of trying to derail.

'I can breathe again' says Israeli hostage held for nearly 500 days in Gaza

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8rm20gm364o, 5 days ago

A former Israeli hostage who was held for nearly 500 days in Gaza says the return of the body of the final hostage this week means all the released captives can "now breathe and start our lives again".

Thirty-year-old Sasha Troufanov, an Amazon electronics engineer, was taken hostage on 7 October 2023 by Palestinian Islamic Jihad gunmen. His fiancée Sapir Cohen, mother and grandmother were also kidnapped and taken to Gaza. The women were released after more than 50 days as hostages. He was freed a year ago, after 498 days in captivity.

In his first international interview, Troufanov, on a visit to London, told BBC News that with the return on Monday of Ran Gvili's body meaning all the hostages were back "it felt wonderful. We waited so long for this to happen.

"I was carrying this burden ever since I came back. It was like a weight on my shoulders that kept me from coming back to my life. Although we were released, we didn't really come out of Gaza because our friends and brothers were still there."

But the moment was bittersweet for him as Monday was also the birthday of his father Vitaly. Troufanov only discovered his father had been murdered on 7 October on the day he was released in February 2025 and realised his dad wasn't there to meet him.

Troufanov and Cohen had been visiting his family on Kibbutz Nir Oz near the border with Gaza when Palestinian gunmen stormed their homes. Cohen rolled herself up in blanket and hid under the bed but they were both captured. Troufanov was punched and also stabbed in the shoulder.

"I saw the terrorist with so much anger and hate in his face, holding his knife trying to stab me even more."

As the attackers tried to take Troufanov off the kibbutz he managed to momentarily escape but when he gave up running they still shot him twice in each leg.

"I just felt the rush of pain going through my brain and I fell to the ground then one of the terrorists hit me with the rifle from the back of my head and split it open."

When he arrived to Gaza, he says he was then beaten by civilians and thought "this is the moment you're going to die".

While in Gaza, Troufanov received almost no medical treatment. He was taken once to a family home and once to a hospital where his broken leg was wrapped first with a wooden broom and then with part of a metal grill.

Unlike many other hostages, he was held almost entirely in isolation. For only two of the 498 days in captivity did Troufanov see another hostage.

At the start he was held above ground, for more than six weeks locked in a cage and given barely enough food to survive. Here, he says he experienced sexual harassment where one guard repeatedly tried to encourage him to do a sexual act on himself. He also says a hidden camera filmed him when he was allowed a shower once a week.

"I noticed it and I took the shower trying to avoid my private parts towards this angle, but I had to do it because I needed to shower."

Taken underground to the tunnels, Troufanov says he was left for months alone, his captors only bringing food then leaving him in a silent, cramped, humid space so dark he couldn't see his hand in front of his face.

"I remember feeling that I am buried underneath the ground while I am still alive. I was losing it. I was having a hard time to find hope in this place. Many times I lost hope completely. I said to myself: 'This is the last place you will see alive.'"

It is the first time since 2014 that there are no Israeli hostages held in Gaza. Two hundred and fifty-one people were taken captive during the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023, when about 1,200 other people were killed.

Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 71,660 people have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Since the ceasefire began on 10 October 2025, at least 492 Palestinians have been killed, the health ministry says, as well as four Israeli soldiers.

Now all the hostages, those alive and those who were killed, have returned to Israel the second phase of US President Donald Trump's plan to end the war in Gaza can commence. The key Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza is set to open on an ongoing basis for the first time since May 2024, as required under the plan.

It also envisages the full demilitarisation of Gaza, including the disarmament of Hamas and other Palestinian groups; a technocratic Palestinian government; and the reconstruction of Gaza.

Sasha Troufanov believes that these measures aren't enough to ensure an attack like the one on 7 October won't happen again.

"Rebuilding Gaza, after what happened in the war, is understandable. But first of all we need to make sure that the people of Gaza will stop trying to hurt Israel. The terrorists were telling me: 'We will do this again and again.'

"Rebuilding Gaza and opening the Rafah crossing is in vain as it will never solve the real problem. We need to find a way to make this hatred and encouragement of terrorist activity stop."

The former hostage now has to rehabilitate mentally and physically. He is currently on crutches after surgery on his leg but hopes to dance at his wedding to Sapir Cohen in a few weeks. "It's a victory: overcoming hate and fear and saying to ourselves: 'We will build life together and we will continue.'"

Why Iran's response to a US attack could be different this time

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn9z497g4vvo, 4 days ago

The arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group into the US Central Command area of responsibility, close to Iranian waters, has sharpened the sense that a broader confrontation may be taking shape.

Coming amid the most extensive and violent crackdown on protests in Iran in recent memory, the deployment underscores how close Washington and Tehran may now be to a direct showdown, closer than at any point in recent years.

Iranian leaders find themselves squeezed between a protest movement increasingly demanding the removal of the regime itself and a US president who has kept his intentions deliberately opaque, fuelling anxiety not only in Tehran but across an already volatile region.

Iran's response to a potential US military strike may not follow the familiar, carefully calibrated pattern seen in earlier confrontations with Washington.

President Donald Trump's recent threats, made in the context of Iran's violent suppression of domestic unrest, come at a moment of exceptional internal strain for the Islamic Republic. As a result, any US attack now carries a significantly higher risk of rapid escalation, both regionally and inside Iran.

In recent years, Tehran has shown a preference for delayed and limited retaliation.

After US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities on 21-22 June 2025, Iran responded with a missile attack on the US-operated Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar the following day.

According to President Trump, Iran had given advance warning of the strike, allowing air defences to intercept most of the missiles. No casualties were reported. The exchange was widely interpreted as a deliberate attempt by Iran to signal resolve while avoiding a wider war.

A similar pattern emerged in January 2020, during Trump's first presidency. Following the US assassination of Quds Force commander, Qassem Soleimani near Baghdad airport on 3 January, Iran retaliated five days later by firing missiles at the US Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq.

Again, advance warning was provided. While no US personnel were killed, dozens later reported traumatic brain injuries. The episode reinforced the perception that Tehran sought to manage escalation rather than provoke it.

The present moment, however, is markedly different.

Iran is emerging from one of the most serious waves of domestic unrest since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.

Protests that erupted in late December and early January were met with a severe violent crackdown. Human rights organisations and medical workers inside the country report that several thousand people have been killed, with many more injured or detained.

The exact numbers cannot be verified due to a lack of access and an internet blackout which has continued for more than two weeks. Iranian authorities have not accepted responsibility for the deaths, instead blaming what they describe as "terrorist groups" and accusing Israel of fomenting the unrest.

That narrative has been echoed at the highest levels of the state. Iran's secretary of the Supreme National Security Council said recently that the protests should be seen as a continuation of last summer's 12-day war with Israel, a framing that offers insight into the authorities' security-first response and that might have been used as an excuse to justify the scale and intensity of the crackdown.

Although the scale of street protests has since diminished, they have not ended. The grievances remain unresolved, and the divide between large parts of society and the ruling system has rarely appeared so wide.

On 8 and 9 January, security forces reportedly lost control of parts of several towns and neighbourhoods in major cities before reasserting authority through overwhelming force.

That brief loss of control appears to have deeply unsettled the authorities. The calm that followed has been imposed rather than negotiated, leaving the situation highly combustible.

Uncompromising rhetoric

Against this backdrop, the nature of any US strike becomes critical.

A limited attack may allow Washington to claim military success while avoiding immediate regional war, but it could also provide Iranian authorities with a pretext for another round of internal repression.

Such a scenario risks fresh crackdowns, mass arrests and a new wave of harsh sentences, including death penalties, for protesters already in detention.

At the other extreme, a broader US campaign that significantly weakens or cripples the Iranian state could push the country towards the brink of chaos.

The sudden collapse of central authority in a country of more than 90 million people would be unlikely to produce a clean or rapid transition. Instead, it could trigger prolonged instability, factional violence, and spillover effects across the region, with consequences that may take years to contain.

These risks help explain the increasingly uncompromising rhetoric from Tehran.

Senior commanders in both the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the regular armed forces, along with senior political officials, have warned that any US attack-regardless of scale-would be treated as an act of war.

Such declarations have unsettled Iran's neighbours, particularly Gulf states hosting US forces. A rapid Iranian response would place those countries - and Israel - at immediate risk, regardless of their direct involvement, and raises the prospect of a conflict spreading far beyond Iran and the United States.

Washington, too, faces constraints. Trump has repeatedly warned Iranian authorities against using violence against protesters and, at the height of the unrest, told Iranians that "help is coming". Those remarks were widely circulated inside Iran and raised expectations among protesters.

Both sides are aware of the broader strategic picture.

Trump knows Iran is militarily weaker than it was before last summer's 12-day war, and Tehran is aware that he has little appetite for a full-scale, open-ended conflict.

That mutual awareness may provide some reassurance, but it could also create dangerous misperceptions, with each side potentially overestimating its leverage or misreading the opponent's intentions.

For Trump, finding a balance, whatever that might be, is crucial. He needs an outcome he can present as a victory, without tipping Iran into either a renewed cycle of repression or a descent into chaos.

For Iranian leaders, the danger lies in timing and perception. Iran's previous model of delayed, symbolic retaliation may no longer be sufficient if leaders believe speed is essential to reassert deterrence on the outside and control inside of the country that was shaken by the scale of the recent unrests.

Yet, a rapid response would sharply increase the risk of miscalculation, drawing regional actors into a conflict few can afford.

With both sides under intense pressure and little room to manoeuvre, a long-running game of brinkmanship may be approaching its most dangerous moment, one in which the cost of getting the balance wrong would be borne not only by governments, but by millions of ordinary Iranians and the wider region beyond.

Iran's internet is returning - but not for everyone

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz7y2ddgl23o, 6 days ago

Nearly three weeks into one of the most extreme internet shutdowns in history, some of Iran's 92 million citizens are beginning to get back online - but access appears to be tightly controlled.

The country cut off internet access on 8 January, in what is widely seen as an attempt to stem the flow of information about a government crackdown on protesters.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the internet was blocked in response to what he described as "terrorist operations".

Now there is evidence that some internet access has returned - but independent analysis indicates much of the country is still effectively cut off from the outside world.

Iran's reformist Shargh newspaper has reported that some officials had claimed mobile internet had been restored.

However, it said many users still do not have full access and can only connect intermittently and for very limited periods, often after repeated attempts.

Firms which monitor web traffic say there are signs of the internet being used inconsistently, raising questions about who is able to connect, and under what conditions.

"What we're seeing isn't a return to normal," said Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at network intelligence firm Kentik.

"Major platforms are being allowed and blocked at different times during the day."

Independent internet monitoring group NetBlocks reported similar findings.

Madory said the pattern could instead indicate authorities are testing a new system to block web traffic, with changes being made in real-time.

Amir Rashidi, director of cyber security at the Miaan Group said this points to only a certain number of people, who have been approved by the government, being the only ones with access.

Human rights organisations say this control over internet access has played a big role in limiting information about the crackdown on protesters.

The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said as of 26 January it had confirmed the deaths of 5,925 protesters. It warned the final toll could be several times higher, with a further 17,091 reported deaths currently being reviewed.

Intermittent connections

Internet rights observers say the unrest may have given the authorities an opportunity to accelerate long-planned efforts to tighten control over the internet - measures which would likely have faced far stronger resistance under normal circumstances.

According to sources cited by Shargh, internet access in Iran has effectively been divided into multiple levels - ranging from a complete shutdown to normal access - with current connectivity still far from a full restoration.

According to sources cited by the newspaper, foreign messaging apps, including WhatsApp, will remain restricted. There are some local communication platforms accessible inside the country, although observers have raised security and privacy concerns about their use.

However, in recent days some users have reported being able to connect intermittently to the outside world, using services such as Google Meet, Telegram, Facebook Messenger or FaceTime to contact family members.

Rashidi said this may be because selectively granting access to certain parts of the internet can have the side effect of letting tools such as a virtual private network (VPN) function - even if briefly.

VPNs are ways to securely connect devices online, which can be used to view content blocked because of your location.

"As long as there is any ability to transmit even a single bit of data, it is possible to find ways to use VPNs," Rashidi said.

But he said the evidence so far suggests the authorities are determined to prevent VPNs from operating and to keep control over who can connect.

Financial cost

After nearly three weeks of internet disruption, Iran's Minister of Communications Sattar Hashemi said on 26 January the daily losses caused by the shutdown amount to nearly five trillion tomans ($35m; £25m).

Amid mounting economic pressure, authorities appear to have introduced tightly controlled forms of internet access for some businesses, which analysts say may be part of a plan to manage connectivity more selectively.

Business figures told the BBC in some cities, members of the Chamber of Commerce are granted just 20 to 30 minutes of unfiltered internet access per day.

Even then, they claim this is only under supervision and after completing multiple stages of identity verification.

One member of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the access was "fully rationed and strictly time-limited".

They added if work was not completed within the allotted time, the entire verification process had to be repeated.

The same source said some businesspeople had also been required to sign commitments not to send files related to the protests.

They called the system "effectively paralysing and humiliating" given the number of people involved, and said it had generated widespread dissatisfaction among traders.

Internet freedom observers at FilterWatch have previously warned the authorities are rapidly putting in place new systems and rules aimed at cutting Iran off from the international internet.

And Madory said, looking at web traffic data, the patterns suggest a full restoration of internet access in Iran may never occur.

'We all know someone who was killed' - Iran protesters tell BBC of brutal crackdown

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8y2jxx9ppo, 7 days ago

"My friends are all like me. We all know someone who was killed in the protests."

For Parisa, a 29-year-old from Tehran, the crackdown by security forces in Iran earlier this month was unlike anything she had witnessed before.

"In the most widespread previous protests, I didn't personally know a single person who had been killed," she said.

Parisa said she knew at least 13 people who had been killed since protests over worsening economic conditions erupted in the capital on 28 December and then evolved into one of the deadliest periods of anti-government unrest in the history of the Islamic Republic.

With one human rights group reporting that the number of people confirmed killed has passed 6,000, several young Iranians able speak to the BBC in recent days - despite a near-total internet shutdown - have described the personal toll. Their names have been changed for safety reasons.

Parisa said one 26-year-old woman she knew was killed by "a hail of bullets in the street" when the protests escalated across the country on Thursday, 8 January, and Friday, 9 January, and authorities responded with lethal force to crush them.

She herself took part in protests in the north of Tehran that Thursday, which she insisted were peaceful.

"No-one was violent and no-one clashed with the security forces. But on Friday night they still opened fire on the crowd," she said.

"The smell of gunpowder and bullets filled the neighbourhoods where clashes were taking place."

Mehdi, 24, who is also from Tehran, echoed her assessment of the scale of the protests and violence.

"I had never seen anything even close to this level of turnout and such killings and violence by the security forces," he said.

"Despite the killings on Thursday [8 January] and threats of more killings on Friday, people came out, because many of them could no longer endure it and had nothing left to lose," he added.

Mehdi described witnessing multiple killings of protesters at close range by security forces.

"I saw a young man killed right in front of my eyes with two live rounds," he said.

"Motorcyclists shot a young man in the face with a shotgun. He fell on the spot and never got back up."

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (Hrana) says it has so far confirmed the killing of at least 6,159 people since the unrest began, including 5,804 protesters, 92 children and 214 people affiliated with the government. It is also investigating 17,000 more reported deaths.

Skylar Thompson, from Hrana, told the BBC the confirmed number of dead was very likely to rise.

"We are really committed to ensuring that every single piece of verified information that we report on sits next to a name and a location," she added.

Another group, Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR), has warned that the final toll could exceed 25,000.

Iranian authorities said last week that more than 3,100 people had been killed, but that the majority were security personnel or bystanders attacked by "rioters".

International news organisations are often refused visas to Iran which severely limits their ability to gather information about what's going on inside the country. But videos showing security forces firing live ammunition at crowds have been verified by the BBC.

Sahar, a 27-year-old from the capital, said she knew seven people who had been killed.

She described how the security forces' response to the unrest escalated rapidly on 8 January.

During a protest that evening, Sahar and her friends sought refuge in a nearby house after tear gas was fired.

"My friend stuck his head out of a window to see what was going on and they shot him in the neck," she said.

Another friend was wounded by pellets and later bled to death after avoiding going to hospital out of fear of being detained, according to Sahar.

Sahar said a third friend died while being detained by the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC).

"They [officers] told his family to come to the IRGC intelligence office. After a few days they rang and said, 'Come and collect the body.'"

On 9 January, Sahar said, live ammunition was fired openly and "without mercy" by uniformed security personnel.

"They were pointing lasers at people, and locals were opening their car park doors for us to hide," she said.

The communications blackout compounded the trauma.

"Right now there's no news at all," Sahar said. "Without internet or phone lines we had no idea what was happening to anyone. We could barely get calls through just to get bits of news."

Parham, 27, described widespread use of pellet guns by security forces in Tehran, particularly targeting protesters' faces and eyes.

One of his friends, Sina, 23, was shot in the forehead and eye on 9 January.

"We took him to a hospital, but the doctor could only give us a prescription and told us to leave as soon as possible," Parham said.

At an eye hospital, he added, wounded protesters arrived constantly.

"Every 10 minutes, it felt like they were bringing in someone else who had been hit by a pellet."

A worker at the hospital's cafe said she had seen "70 people with eye injuries come in during a single shift", according to Parham.

Sina - who still has pellets stuck behind one of his eyes and in his forehead - said they had been scared of being arrested at the first hospital because of the need to give their ID numbers, so they had gone to a private eye hospital.

He said he was "lucky" compared to the others who he saw at the eye hospital, who had "pellets all over their faces and in both of their eyes".

The BBC has seen a medical document in Sina's name that says "there is a 5mm metallic foreign body" behind his eye.

The medical records of a number of other protesters with pellet-gun wounds have also been received and verified by the BBC.

Protesters and activists have also described a pattern of refusal by the authorities to hand over the bodies of those killed to their families.

Mehdi said his friend's cousin was killed and that the family was told by officials to either pay a large sum of money to receive his body or agree to him being recorded as a member of the security forces.

"They said, 'Either pay 1 billion tomans [more than $7,000; £5,000] for us to hand over the body to the family, or you have to say he was a member of the Basij and was martyred for public security and against the riots.'"

Navid, a 38-year-old from Isfahan, also said two close friends whose relatives were killed had received such an ultimatum.

"They say you have to pay the equivalent of several thousand dollars or let us issue them a Basij card so they are counted among the security forces' dead," he cited his friends as saying.

Human rights groups have warned that this practice has served both to punish protesters' families and obscure the true death toll.

'Don't take us to a hospital': Iran protesters treated in secret to avoid arrest

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yx015nkplo, 6 days ago

"People helped us and we got into a car... I said, 'Don't take us to a hospital.'"

Tara and her friend were attending a protest in the central Iranian city of Isfahan when security forces arrived on motorcycles and began shouting at the crowd.

"My friend told an armed member of the security forces, 'Just don't shoot us,' and he immediately fired several shots at us. We fell to the ground. All our clothes were covered in blood," she said.

They were bundled into a stranger's car, but Tara said they were too frightened to be taken to the hospital because of the risk of being arrested. "All the alleyways were full of security forces, so I asked a couple standing at their front door to let us in."

They stayed at the couple's home until it was almost dawn and then managed to find a doctor they knew, who cleaned the birdshot wounds on their legs, according to Tara.

She said a surgeon was later able to remove some of the birdshot at home but warned them: "They cannot all be removed and will remain in your bodies."

All names in this article have been changed for their safety.

Warning: This story contains details and images which some readers might find distressing.

The full scale of the bloodshed resulting from the crackdown by security forces on the anti-government protests that swept across Iran this month is still not known because of an internet shutdown and a ban on reporting by most international news organisations.

But the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has said it has confirmed the killing of 6,301 people, including 5,925 protesters, 112 children, 50 bystanders and 214 affiliated with the government. It is also investigating reports of 17,091 more deaths.

At least another 11,000 protesters were seriously wounded, according to HRANA.

Some of them have told the BBC that they have avoided seeking treatment for their injuries at hospitals because they fear being arrested.

That has left them reliant on doctors, nurses and other volunteers willing to risk their own safety by treating them secretly at their homes.

Healthcare workers have also told the BBC that security forces are present in hospitals and that they are constantly monitoring patients' medical records to identify injured protesters.

Nima, a surgeon in Tehran, said he witnessed many young people being injured in the streets on his way to work on 8 January, when authorities responded to the escalating protests with lethal force.

"I put one of the wounded in the boot of my car to take him to hospital, as I was worried that we would get in trouble if we were stopped by the police," he told the BBC.

Nima said armed officers stopped him but allowed him to go after seeing his hospital identification card.

"For almost 96 hours straight - without interruption, without sleep, without even closing our eyes for a moment - we were operating. We were crying and operating. Nobody complained."

"All our clothes and hospital gowns were covered in blood - our outer clothes, our underwear, everything was soaked in the blood of these young people."

Nima described operating on one man who had been shot in the leg and face at a protest.

"A bullet had entered through his chin, ripped through his mouth and exited through his upper jaw," he recalled.

Nima also said many of the young people treated at his hospital suffered gunshot wounds to their vital organs and limbs that required amputation and left them with permanent disabilities.

Iranian authorities have said more than 3,100 people have been killed during the unrest, but that majority were security personnel or bystanders attacked by "rioters".

Health ministry spokesman Hossein Shokri was also quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency as saying that around 13,000 operations had been carried out during the unrest.

"Fortunately, people trust the ministry of health and hospitals, and confidence that all injured individuals are treated impartially in medical centres has led around 3,000 people who had been treating themselves at home over the past six days to seek care at hospitals," he added.

The head of the Farabi Eye Hospital in Tehran, Dr Qasem Fakhrai, told Isna, another semi-official news agency, that it had treated a total of 700 patients with severe eye injuries requiring emergency surgery as of 10 January, and referred almost 200 to other hospitals. He said almost all of the patients were admitted after 8 January.

Saeed told the BBC that his friend's eyes were hit by birdshot fired by security forces during a protest in the central city of Arak.

Local doctors told him to go to a specialist eye hospital in Tehran, he said.

Upon arrival, nurses took protesters with eye injuries to operating theatres through the back by using staff lifts.

According to Saeed's friend, around 200 people with eye injuries from different cities were being treated at that hospital.

"He had two operations, but the surgeon did not charge him," Saeed said.

A healthcare worker in Tehran also said that doctors were trying to avoid mentioning gunshot wounds in medical records because they were being constantly monitored by security forces.

Sina took his brother to a hospital after he was shot in the legs during protests in Tehran.

"It was like a battlefield hospital - there were so many wounded that there were no blankets or medical kits," Sina told the BBC.

"When I asked a nurse for a blanket for my brother, she told me to bring one from home because there were too many injured and not enough supplies."

Sina said they had no choice but to give their actual ID number in order to use their health insurance. "At any moment, the security forces could raid our home," he added.

In smaller cities, the situation is believed to be even more dire.

Reports received by the BBC said security forces had abducted patients from hospitals and that they had not been seen again.

Human rights groups have also said that medics and others who have treated injured protesters are now themselves being targeted by security forces.

Iran Human Rights (IHR) said last week its sources on the ground in Iran had reported the arrest of at least five doctors and a volunteer first responder.

"Security agencies appear to be aiming to intimidate the public and obstruct treatment for injured protesters by arresting doctors and raiding makeshift medical shelters," the Norway-based organisation warned.

And this week, sources close to Dr Alireza Golchini, a surgeon from the northern city of Qazvin, said he had been beaten up at his home by security forces when they arrested him for treating injured protesters.

They added that he had been accused of "moharebeh" (enmity against God) - an offence that can carry the death penalty under Iranian law.

Additional reporting by Faren Taghizadeh and Maryam Afshang, BBC Persian

Five killed in gas explosions in Iran, officials say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd9ew5p3zvko, 3 days ago

Five people have been killed in two separate explosions in Iran which local officials and state media say were caused by gas leaks.

One person was killed and 14 injured in a blast at a residential building in the southern city of Bandar Abbas on the Gulf coast, a local official told Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency.

Another explosion killed four people in the south-western city of Ahvaz, the state-run Tehran Times reported.

It comes as tensions persist in the region after a build-up of US forces in the Gulf and pressure on Tehran from US President Donald Trump to strike a deal on its nuclear programme.

Trump was asked by journalists whether he had decided what to do in Iran while travelling to Florida on Saturday night and said: "I certainly can't tell you that."

But he added, reiterating comments made to Fox News earlier in the day, that Iran was talking "seriously" to Washington.

He said he hoped they would negotiate something acceptable, and noted that the US had "very big powerful ships" in the region.

Earlier, in the port city of Bandar Abbas, state TV said an explosion had ripped though an eight-storey building, "destroying two floors, several vehicles, and shops" in the Moallem Boulevard area.

The local fire department chief Mohammad Amin Liaqat said a preliminary assessment showed it had been caused by a gas leak and "build-up".

"My colleagues will give more details in the next few hours," he said in a video published by Mehr.

Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, a regional official, told the news agency that the injured had been taken to hospital.

Semi-official news agency Tasnim denied social media reports that a Revolutionary Guards Corps navy commander had been targeted in the blast.

Elsewhere, the Tehran Times reported a second explosion at a residential building in the Kianshahr neighbourhood of Ahvaz, near the border with Iraq.

It reported that emergency officials had rescued a child trapped beneath debris and transferred him for medical treatment.

Trump told Fox News on Saturday that Iran was "negotiating", adding that Washington could not share its plans with its allies in the Gulf.

"We'll see if we can do something, otherwise we'll see what happens... we have a big fleet heading out there."

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said conflict would not be in the interest of either country, nor the broader region.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran has never sought and in no way seeks war," he said during a call with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, news agency AFP reported, citing a statement from Iran's presidency.

Separately, the head of the country's Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani met the Qatari prime minister in Tehran on Saturday and "reviewed ongoing efforts to de-escalate tensions in the region", Qatar's foreign ministry said.

Larijani, whom the Kremlin said had also met Russia's President Vladimir Putin for talks on Friday, wrote on X: "Contrary to the hype of the contrived media war, structural arrangements for negotiations are progressing."

Iran's foreign minister has said Tehran was open to talks with the US provided they were based on trust and respect, but cautioned that its missile defence system would "never" be the subject of negotiation.

Trump told Tehran on Wednesday that time was "running out" for it to reach a deal on its nuclear programme - which Iran insists is peaceful - and later said they must also "stop killing protesters" to avoid military action.

It came after he promised to intervene to help protesters who had been subject to a brutal crackdown in the country earlier this month, though he later said he had heard on good authority that the execution of demonstrators had stopped.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency says it has confirmed the killing of more than 6,300 people since the unrest began in late December, and was investigating another 17,000 reported deaths.

As the world inches back to a pre-WW2 order, the 'middle powers' face a grave new challenge

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c99kkerr93ko, 10 days ago

I had been asked to give a keynote speech at a conference at Columbia University's Journalism School. It was January 2002. Two planes had been flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center months earlier and you could still feel how wounded the city felt. You could read it in the faces of New Yorkers you spoke to.

In my speech I made a few opening remarks about what the United States had meant to me. "I was born 15 years after the Second World War," I said, "in a world America made. The peace and security and increasing prosperity of the Western Europe that I was born into was in large part an American achievement."

American military might had won the war in the West, I continued. It had stopped the further westward expansion of Soviet power.

I talked briefly about the transformational effect of the Marshall Plan, through which the US had given Europe the means to rebuild its shattered economies, and to re-establish the institutions of democracy.

I told the audience, composed mostly of students of journalism, that as a young reporter I had myself witnessed the inspiring culmination of all this in 1989 when I'd stood in Wenceslas Square in Prague.

Back then I'd watched, awestruck, as Czechs and Slovaks demanded an end to Soviet occupation, and to a hated Communist dictatorship, so that they too could be part of the community of nations that we called, simply, "the West", bound together by shared values, at the head of which sat the the United States of America.

I looked up from my notes at the faces of the audience. Near the front of the lecture hall sat a young man. He looked about 20. Tears were running down his face and he was quietly trying to suppress a sob.

At a drinks reception afterwards he approached me. "I'm sorry I lost it in there," he said. "Your words: right now we are feeling raw and vulnerable. America needs to hear this stuff from its foreign friends."

In that moment I thought how lucky my generation - and his - had been, to be alive in an era in which the international system was regulated by rules - a world that had turned its back on the unconstrained power of the Great Powers.

But it was the words of one of his classmates that come back to me now. He had arrived in New York just a few days before 9/11 from his native Pakistan to study at Columbia. He likened the US to Imperial Rome.

"If you are lucky enough to live within the walls of the imperial citadel, which is to say here in the US, you experience American power as something benign. It protects you and your property. It bestows freedom by upholding the rule of law. It is accountable to the people through democratic institutions.

"But if, like me, you live on the barbarian fringes of Empire, you experience American power as something quite different. It can do anything to you, with impunity... And you can't stop it or hold it to account."

His words made me consider the much heralded rules-based international order from another angle: from the point of view of much of the Global South. And how its benefits have never been universally distributed, something that the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney reminded an audience at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, last week.

"We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false," Carney said. "That the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient. That trade rules were enforced asymmetrically. And we knew that international law applied with varying rigour depending on the identity of the accused or victim."

Back in Columbia University, all those years ago, the student from Pakistan had asked me a question. "Don't you find it interesting," he said, "that the US, the country that came into existence in a revolt against the arbitrary exercise of [British] power is, in our day, the most powerful exponent of arbitrary power?"

A new world order or back to the future?

Donald Trump came to Davos last week clearly determined to bend the Europeans to his will over Greenland. He wanted ownership, he said.

He declared that Denmark had only "added one more dog sled" to defend the territory. That speaks volumes to the undisguised contempt with which he and many in his inner circle appear to hold certain European allies.

"I fully share your loathing of European freeloading," Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told a group on messaging app Signal that included Vice-President JD Vance last year, adding "PATHETIC". (He hadn't realised that the Editor of The Atlantic magazine had apparently been added to the group chat.)

Then President Trump himself told Fox News recently that, during the war in Afghanistan, Nato had sent "some troops" but that they had "stayed a little back, a little off the front lines".

The comments provoked anger among UK politicians and veterans' families. The UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer branded Trump's remarks "insulting and frankly appalling".

The UK prime minister spoke to Trump on Saturday, after which the US president used his Truth Social platform to praise UK troops as being "among the greatest of all warriors".

We know from the White House's National Security Strategy, published in December, that in his second term, Trump intends to unshackle the US from the system of transnational bodies created, in part by Washington, to regulate international affairs.

That document spells out the means by which the US will put "America First" at the heart of US security strategy by using whatever powers they have - ranging from economic sanctions and trade tariffs to military intervention - to bend smaller and weaker nations into alignment with US interests.

It is a strategy which privileges strength - a return to a world in which the Great Powers carve out spheres of influence.

The danger in this for what Canada's prime minister called "the middle powers" is clear. "If you're not at the table," he said, "you're on the menu."

Re-interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine

In Davos last week, America's allies, especially Canada and Europe, were laying to rest what is now commonly called the rules-based international order, and in some cases mourning its demise.

But, as the young Pakistani student at Columbia journalism school argued all those years ago, to large parts of the rest of the world it has not seemed, in the last 80 years, that the US, and on occasions some of its friends, felt restrained by rules.

"After World War Two, we saw, under the so-called rules-based international order multiple interventions by the United States in Latin America," says Dr Christopher Sabatini, Senior Research Fellow for Latin America at Chatham House think tank in London.

"It's not new. There are patterns of intervention that go all the way back to 1823. There's a term I use for American policymakers who advocate for unilateral US intervention. I call them "backyard-istas" - those who see Latin America as their backyard."

In 1953, the CIA, assisted by the British Secret Intelligence Services, orchestrated a coup that overthrew the government of Mohammad Mossadeq in Iran. He had wanted to audit the books of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (later part of BP), and when it refused to co-operate, Mossadeq threatened to nationalise it.

For posing a threat to British economic interests, he was overthrown and Britain and the US threw their weight behind the increasingly dictatorial shah.

At the same time, the US was conspiring to overthrow the elected government of Guatemala, which had implemented an ambitious programme of land reform that threatened to harm the profitability of the American United Fruit Company.

Again with active CIA collusion, the left-wing President Jacobo Arbenz was toppled and replaced by a series of US-backed authoritarian rulers.

In 1983 the US invaded the Caribbean island of Grenada, after a Marxist coup. This was a country of which the late Queen, Elizabeth II, was head of state.

And the US invaded Panama in 1989, and arrested the military leader Manuel Noriega. He spent all but the last few months of his life in prison.

These interventions were all functions of the Monroe Doctrine, first promulgated by President James Monroe in 1823. It asserted America's right to dominate the Western hemisphere and keep European powers from trying to meddle in the newly independent states of Latin America.

The post-war rules-based international order did not deter the US from imposing its will on weaker neighbours.

When it was announced by the fifth president of the US, James Monroe, the doctrine that bears his name was widely seen as an expression of US solidarity with its neighbours, a strategy to protect them from attempts by the European great powers to recolonise them. The US, after all, shared with them a set of republican values and a history of anti-colonial struggle.

But the doctrine quickly became an assertion of Washington's right to dominate its neighbours and use any means, up to and including military intervention, to bend their policies into alignment with American interests.

President Theodore Roosevelt, in 1904, said it gave the US "international police power" to intervene in countries where there was "wrongdoing".

So could it be that President Trump's re-interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine is simply part of a continuum in US foreign policy?

"The Guatemala coup, in 1954 - that was entirely owned by the US. They orchestrated the entire takeover of the country," says Christopher Sabatini.

The 1973 coup in Chile against left-wing Prime Minister Salvador Allende "wasn't orchestrated by the CIA but the United States said it would accept a coup", he added.

During the Cold War, the main motivation for intervention was the perception that Soviet-backed parties were gaining ground domestically, representing Communist advances into the Western hemisphere. In our own day, the perceived enemy is no longer Communism, but drug-trafficking and migration.

That difference aside, President Trump's reassertion of the Monroe Doctrine "absolutely is 'back to the future'," says the historian Jay Sexton, author of The Monroe Doctrine: Empire and Nation in Nineteenth Century America.

"The other thing that gives Trump's United States a 19th-Century feel is his unpredictability, his volatility. Observers could never really predict what the US would do next.

"We don't know what the future holds but we do known from even a cursory look at modern history, from 1815 onwards [the end of the Napoleonic wars], that Great Power rivalries are really destabilising. They lead to conflict."

Cohesion among the allies

American unilateralism may not be new. What is new is that this time, it is America's friends and allies that find themselves on the receiving end of American power.

Suddenly, Europeans and Canadians are getting a taste of something long familiar to other parts of the world - that arbitrary exercise of US power that the young Pakistani journalism student articulated so clearly to me in the weeks after 9/11.

For the first year of his second term, European leaders used flattery in their approach to Trump. Starmer, for example, had King Charles invite him to make a second state visit to the UK, an honour no other US president in history has been granted.

The Secretary-General of Nato, Mark Rutte, referred to him, bizarrely, as "daddy".

But Trump's approach towards Europe brought him clear success.

Previous presidents, including Barack Obama and Joe Biden, also believed European allies were not pulling their weight in Nato - the collective trans-Atlantic defence alliance - and wanted them to spend more on their own security. Only Trump succeeded in making them act. In response to his threats, they agreed to raise their defence spending from around 2% of GDP to 5%, something unthinkable even a year ago.

Greenland, however, seems to have been a game-changer. When Trump threatened Danish sovereignty in Greenland, the allies began to cohere around a new-found defiance, and resolved not, this time, to bend.

Canada's prime minister gave voice to this moment. In his pivotal speech in Davos Mark Carney said this was a moment of "rupture" with the old rules-based international order - in the new world of Great Power politics, "the middle powers" needed to act together.

It is rare, at Davos, for an audience to rise to its feet and award a speaker with a standing ovation. But they did it for Carney, and you felt, in that moment, a cohesion forming among the allies.

And in an instant, the threat of tariffs lifted.

Trump has gained nothing over Greenland that the US hasn't already had for decades - the right, with Denmark's blessing, to build military bases, stage unlimited personnel there, and even to mineral exploitation.

The challenge facing 'middle powers' today

There is no doubt that Trump's America-First strategy is popular with his Maga base. They share his view that the free world has been freeloading on American largesse for too long.

And European leaders, in agreeing to increase their defence spending, have accepted that President Trump was right: that the imbalance was no longer fair or sustainable.

In June 2004 I reported on the celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy. There were still many living World War Two veterans and thousands of those who had crossed the Channel 60 years earlier came back to the beaches that day - many of them from the US.

They wanted no talk of the heroism or courage of their youth. We watched them go one by one or in little groups to the cemeteries to find the graves of the young men they'd known and whom they'd left behind in the soil of liberated France.

We watched the allied heads of government pay tribute to those old men. But I found myself thinking not so much of the battles they'd fought and the bravery and sacrifices of their younger selves, but of the peace that they'd gone home to build when the fighting was over.

The world they bequeathed to us was immeasurably better than the world they'd inherited from their parents. For they were born into a world of Great Power rivalries, in which, in Mark Carney's words, "the strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must".

This was the generation that went home to build the rules-based international order, because they had learned the hard way what a system without rules, without laws, can lead to. They wanted no going back to that.

Those born in the decades after the war may have made the mistake of believing that the world could never go back to that.

And 24 years ago, as I gave my talk in a New York City still traumatised by 9/11, did I, too, make the mistake of thinking the post-World War Two order, underpinned, as it was, by American might, was the new permanent normal? I think I did.

For we did not foresee then a world in which trust in traditional sources of news and information would be corroded by a rising cynicism, turbo-charged by social media and, increasingly now, artificial intelligence.

In any age of economic stagnation and extremes of inequality, popular trust in democratic institutions corrodes. It has been corroding not just in the US but across the Western world for decades now. As such Trump may be a symptom, not a cause, of Carney's "rupture" with the post-World War Two order.

Watching those old men making their way through the Normandy cemeteries was a graphic and poignant reminder that democracy, the rule of law, accountable government are not naturally occurring phenomena. They are not even, historically speaking, normal. They have to be fought for, built, sustained, defended.

And that is the challenge from here facing what Mark Carney called "the middle powers".

Top picture credit: AFP/Reuters

Labour wants to shake up the police - but will that solve 'everyday crime epidemic'?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2k98jw3xnxo, 10 days ago

There is an "epidemic of everyday crime", the home secretary says, such as shoplifting and phone theft.

It reminds Shabana Mahmood of the years when she worked on the till in her parents' corner shop, with a cricket bat under the counter ready to deter shoplifters who stole, time and again.

While overall crime has been going down in recent years those types of offences have been going up, matched by rising public anxiety.

"Will I get my phone nicked? Will I get burgled? And if I do, will the police even answer my call?"

Those are questions a former Home Office minister describes as "the most basic" from voters who, not unreasonably, expect governments to keep them safe.

Faith in the police has been battered by scandals and mistakes too – whether that's the horrific crimes of a small number of serving police officers, or the astonishing clangers committed by the West Midlands Force, and the chief's initial refusal to quit.

Whichever way you look at it, there's widespread political agreement the way the police is set up just doesn't really work.

But there's no such easy consensus on the solution.

What's the plan?

Enter the home secretary with a plan she's describing as the biggest set of changes since the police was founded two centuries ago. Politicians could rarely be accused of understatement. And Mahmood could rarely be accused of hanging around.

Her proposals will be revealed in full on Monday, but we already know she wants to dramatically reduce the number of police forces in England and Wales from 43 to a dozen or so, although she will not prescribe a number.

Sources have told the BBC police officers will have to have professional licences, like doctors or lawyers, that they'll be expected to renew every few years. The government wants ministers to have the power to fire Chief Constables who they think aren't up to scratch, and send crack teams into forces that are failing.

And "the biggest change of all", another insider tells me, is the creation of one big national force, expected to be formed by merging the National Crime Agency (NCA) with Counter Terrorism - currently led by the Met - and other elements of national policing.

The Home Office won't confirm the full details of what that organisation could look like. But it's not the first time politicians have been tempted to think that bigger will be better.

In 2006 Labour introduced what was nicknamed "Britain's FBI", the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). After it frankly didn't live up to the expectation, the Coalition government replaced it with the NCA. It was again - would you believe it - dubbed "Britain's FBI".

But now, according to several sources, that too is likely to be put together with other organisations to become a huge behemoth responsible for tackling the lot.

Why? Well, one former home secretary suggests a simple logic. "Most forces just aren't capable of dealing with serious and organised crime, whether it's trafficking or financial crime."

They're often driven by international networks, they argue. So whether it's merging forces at a local level or creating one national mega force, it's about responding to how crime has changed, they argue.

"Police needs to be both bigger and smaller, these days it's big international organisations that set up the criminality that afflicts small communities," the former home secretary said.

They and other insiders admit the changes are also partly to address the blunt question of cash.

The Home Office has a massive budget, but compared with other government departments has not had lavish settlements in recent years. Remember Yvette Cooper holding out for more in last ditch talks with Rachel Reeves last year?

"The elephant in the room is the money," a senior figure says.

The Home Office reckons it's right to get rid of some "ridiculous" anomalies that result from having 43 separate forces – forces buying trousers and helmets, or IT devices separately, rather than clubbing together to try to get a good, cheaper deal for taxpayers.

Another insider says the changes make sense because the "landscape is cluttered", with too many different national-level initiatives trying to tackle different kinds of problems. Better to have one big organisation working with more streamlined local forces – well, perhaps.

Labour tried, and failed very publicly, to make this happen last time they were in power. It was the idea of the police inspectorate, not the government, but the then Home Secretary Charles Clarke wanted to scrap more than 20 forces for reasons that sound very familiar today and ran slap bang into a wall of resistance.

There were objections from some forces, opposition politicians and in the end, the plans were ditched.

The Conservatives this time round will make the same argument, already questioning what evidence there is to show that cutting the number of forces makes any difference to cutting crime, or whether a force is any good or not.

They accuse the Met, the biggest force, of having the lowest rates of solving crimes, and it's had scandal after scandal.

In Scotland too - where eight forces were merged into one by the SNP years ago - hundreds of millions of pounds have been saved, but it's had a string of high-profile problems too. Don't be surprised if there is a very noisy opposition argument about the risk of mega forces losing their links to local communities. And police chiefs becoming directly accountable to the home secretary and Parliament rather than the scrapped local police and crime commissioners could give rise to accusations of a power grab.

Policing is, by principle in this country, operationally independent from ministers. If forces are bigger, and judged and controlled more directly by the home secretary, does that principle get stretched?

So will the plans actually come to pass? Even though the government has a mega majority, given the number of wobbles, and the longer and longer list of plans that have been ditched, it is a valid question to ask any time major changes pop up.

And scrapping a couple of dozen forces was "very, very bruising last time round" for Labour, one insider says.

There is a crucial difference this time.

Senior police officers, including Sir Mark Rowley, who argued for these changes on our programme months ago, are largely on board. The rank and file may take a very different view.

The Police Federation questions what a reorganisation will do for morale among overworked officers, and whether the proposed changes will make a difference, telling us: "The case for change is clear, but police leaders' track record on big change is dismal. Fewer forces doesn't guarantee more or better policing for communities."

When it comes to licences, the federation is particularly aggrieved saying doctors and lawyers "have industrial rights that police officers don't have and are also far higher paid".

"Minsters have used the analogy of making police officers 'match fit'. Policing is broken and officers are on their knees, not match fit," it said.

"The service is the most inexperienced it's been in living memory, resignations, assaults on officers and mental health sickness absence are all at record levels."

The plans are also likely to take years to come into force. Mergers will start with that government classic, a consultation, in the hope that broad consensus can be found rather than a clash. Wise, perhaps.

But it means the possible changes are many years away, and have a long journey through Parliament where there could be big fights that could turn ugly. And there is a challenge for the home secretary to make the argument that shows these huge changes will make any real difference to people's lives.

No-one ever daubed "POLICE REFORM NOW" on a placard.

Even one source who backs the plans is sceptical. "There's zero political reward, and high political risk… Will the next home secretary think in a few years time, 'Well, this is all a bit awkward?'"

But other observers reckon this is exactly the kind of big move a government with an enormous majority should make – an important structural change that might not win punter-friendly plaudits but will update and modernise an outdated public service.

Mahmood's fans reckon she can't - and won't - waste any time. The home secretary might not have a cricket bat under the counter these days, but she seems up for a fight.

Top picture credit: PA/Getty

Zack Polanski is having fun. But can the Green leader become a serious player?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gv81124j1o, 3 days ago

"I'm having the best time ever," Zack Polanski tells me.

It's not hard to see why the Green Party leader for England and Wales is enjoying himself, a lot.

The size of the party has ballooned to more than 100,000 members. It's within touching distance of Labour in some polls, even ahead in one survey by pollster Find Out Now. And the Gorton and Denton by-election in Greater Manchester to replace former Labour MP Andrew Gwynne has landed the Greens a prize opportunity to show what they can do.

"This will be the most throwing-the-kitchen-sink-at-it by-election that we have ever done," says one Green MP, boasting of 30,000 leaflets being delivered already, and hundreds of activists descending on the constituency this weekend. Why do the Greens seem to be on a roll?

A new party boss with a new style has certainly made a big difference. Colleagues speak warmly of the self-described eco-populist's "huge energy and passion" and his "immediacy and authenticity". Another says the public "don't see how kind a soul he is… he just really cares".

One staffer highlights his mastery of a skill that's always been a huge plus for politicians: remembering people's names and stories, whether he's having a cup of tea one on one (always with oat milk, if available, I'm told), throwing questionable shapes on the dancefloor at a nightclub fundraiser, or stopping to pat every dog when he's out on the doorsteps.

He and his team have supercharged his ability to connect too, whether that's with grabby videos on social media or chats on his own podcast. He also has a very healthy appetite for a huge range of interviews - for example, with us again this Sunday - and pops up in places like the comedy show The Last Leg or in music magazine NME.

Even some of his backers, though, point out the surge is not all down to him. As ever, in politics, timing can weave its own magic spell. Several Green sources acknowledge public disillusionment with Labour has been a gift for the party, with one saying it's "created the conditions for people to be incredibly disappointed". They liken the growing movement to the buzz around former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn - a "huge progressive moment that loves to coalesce around something exciting" - but say that excitement "wasn't really about him".

So perhaps, it's not all about Zack. Jeremy Corbyn's own new vehicle, Your Party, spluttered rather than surged into life with his co-founder Zarah Sultana telling us that the setup process had been "really difficult".

One Green MP says Polanski was "fortunate that an opportunity presented itself just as he took over", thanks to Corbyn and Sultana's party "raising hopes, then dashing them", leaving many "looking for a new home, just after they thought they'd found it".

And Reform's rise has created an appetite too. On the left, there is rising anxiety about Nigel Farage's success. Whether in the Gorton by-election or beyond, one Green MP tells me their equation for winning votes is getting voters who feel "A) I hate Labour; B) I want to stop Reform - so that has to equal the Greens".

He might be lucky with the timing, but there is no doubt Polanski is playing a good game with the hand he's been dealt. One of the party's MPs enthuses: "We are a happy party!" - something you don't hear that much these days.

But you can hear a hint of nerves around the edges about Polanski's more vigorous, edgy style. In recent years, the Greens have managed to appeal to metropolitan voters, with progressive ideals, or - to use a term Polanski is happy to embrace - "woke" values. At the same time, they have found support in rural constituencies that might be more socially conservative but have concerns about housing developments, planning or the state of the countryside.

Does Polanski's bolder style work both ways? One party source tells me existing Green voters "need reassurance we have the same values …they want to see a grown-up approach".

One of the party's handful of MPs acknowledges some eyebrows have been raised, saying they have had a "tiny, tiny, tiny handful of emails saying I'm a bit concerned about your leader – but he is a huge overall positive – we might lose 1% from a previous demographic that might find Zack a little bit much, but I'm intensely relaxed".

Polanski might be new in post, but he's not new to the Greens, having been a member since 2017 and represented the party in the London Assembly. If you have a nerd-like political brain, you might remember he was a Liberal Democrat before that. A big backer of the coalition government, who even belted out Marvin Gaye on the Lib Dem conference stage and attempted to stand in the leafy south-west London constituency of Richmond Park.

His exit from the party didn't leave behind the best of memories for some colleagues. One Lib Dem staffer who dealt with Polanski told me: "He was fearfully ambitious and was after the best way to get elected – he appeared out of nowhere and tried to get really in with the hierarchy – but then he rubbed everybody up the wrong way - it was all about him not the team."

Polanski himself wrote about his disappointment when he was not selected to run in Richmond Park, saying he was told "a local candidate is a trump card for many parties". But the Lib Dem source remembers him as "incredibly angry and counterproductive" after he was not allowed to stand. Another senior Lib Dem figure, who saw him regularly when he was in the party, wonders whether Polanski is driven by principle or ambition, telling me he was "a strident supporter of coalition and now he has ended up as quite a left-wing party leader – my impression is that has been driven by what suited every circumstance".

Politics is not a kind business. Perhaps it's not surprising that former colleagues in a different party aren't particularly enthusiastic about the departed Polanski. But some Green Party sources, while delighted with the party's growth, do slightly hesitate to join in what's felt like a breathless chorus of praise.

One suggests those hailing Polanski as representing a radical new direction are getting it wrong and that, fundamentally, the party has the same plans, even though its new leader is communicating them in a fresher, more vigorous way. They tell me: "It's frustrating… the difference is strategy and style – he is not dramatically rewriting the policy book." Another source wonders if Polanski has shown yet that he can concentrate on the perhaps boring (but vital) bits of taking a political party from the fringes to becoming a truly serious player.

With politics in flux, the opportunity for the Greens could be enormous. But the source cautions that, to have a striking influence at national level and perhaps even a say in a potential hung parliament, "we would have to be very different in terms of how we operate, and I don't yet know if he is willing to do the leadership needed to build us up in that wider sense".

Creating the infrastructure to mount meaningful national campaigns means recruitment, fundraising, planning. Running big political parties means making big decisions and running big organisations.

For all the excitement that's running high in the Green ranks, their national polling success isn't necessarily being replicated in the council by-elections that take place all the time. Wild enthusiasm about their prospects in Gorton and Denton are scoffed at by Labour, whose insiders note the Greens don't have any councillors in the constituency. Quite deliberately, Labour has chosen a short campaign that will make it harder for the insurgent parties, whether that be the Greens or Reform, to get going.

The Greens have certainly been quick off the mark, sending in hundreds of activists. And there's no question they've been bolstered by the enthusiasm of their new ranks of members.

Reform has been working the seat since the last three months of 2025 and, ahead in the national polls, seems better placed to grab the seat from Labour. But just as the Greens and Reform are chucking everything at that contest, Labour also knows how much it matters. And not just for the sake of Sir Keir Starmer's leadership but, as one senior figure puts it, "it's a test of the risk we face – we have to show we are the leaders of the anti-Reform majority".

So stand by for the Greens' detractors to try to poke holes in their record - whether that's on their proposals to legalise drugs or to welcome immigration. They may also take aim at Polanski's belief that the UK should leave Nato and work more closely with its European allies (though this is not official party policy) or at the Greens' 2024 motion designating Israel an "apartheid" state. Only recently, the prime minister himself accused Polanski's party of being "high on drugs and soft on Putin". Spin back a while and it's hard to imagine the prime minister would have spent any time attacking the Greens at all.

That, in a sense, is the ultimate symbol of what's going on. That No 10 feels the need to criticise the Greens is a backhanded compliment that shows they matter. Under Zack Polanski, the party is making its presence felt in a way it simply hasn't before.

That does not mean the party's on course to win a by-election. That doesn't mean the Greens' ambition to become a decisive force in politics will come to pass. But Zack Polanski is having fun, and that matters in the here and now.

Why China views the UK visit as part of something bigger

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3wz2x7ppz7o, 6 days ago

Beijing is not always the most welcoming place in winter.

Frigid air blows in from the north, blast-freezing the city's lakes and rivers and only the hardiest souls would dare to plunge into the icy water.

And yet, in the last two months, leaders from around the world have accepted invitations to the Chinese capital.

There's been a flurry of visits from France, South Korea, Ireland, Canada and Finland. The German Chancellor is due next month.

And now among the western leaders making a beeline for Beijing is Sir Keir Starmer, the first British prime minister to visit China in eight years.

He seems to be guaranteed a warm welcome, especially after the UK recently approved plans for a Chinese mega-embassy in London.

Officials in China had already warned their counterparts that they would not announce the prime minister's visit until this issue was resolved.

But both sides are now ready to get around the table and for the UK, dozens of new deals are on the line to boost the country's economy.

"If the two sides could move ahead with a reasonable trading relationship, that is already an achievement," says Dr Yu Jie, a Senior Research Fellow on the China, Asia-Pacific Programme at the Chatham House think tank.

One major question is to what extent China sees visits by the likes of Starmer as part of a bigger geopolitical shakedown? And how close does it really think it can become with the UK?

Carney the trailblazer

For China, this is part of a charm offensive in the hope that some will now look at Beijing as a stable, predictable partner - in contrast to the US.

It seemed to work with Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, who visited earlier this month. He has blazed a trail for other world leaders by travelling to Beijing and announcing a "new strategic partnership with China".

Even before his speech in Davos, Carney told reporters in the Chinese capital that the global order was at a "point of rupture."

This was a dramatic turnaround for a relationship between two nations that had been in the deep freeze for a decade, and it will be music to President Xi Jinping 's ears.

US President Donald Trump, however, has threatened to impose a 100% tariff on Canada if Carney made a trade deal with China.

The message from Washington appears to be that if you do a deal with one superpower, you risk the wrath of another.

Starmer's delicate dance

Starmer has already tried to sidestep this geopolitical landmine, and before he got on the plane, he made it clear he will not choose between the US and China.

Some analysts believe that the Chinese will be clear-eyed about their ability to cause a rift in the so-called "special relationship".

"Beijing will be realistic," says Dr Yu Jie, "rather than think they can pivot the UK away from the US."

What was once dubbed a "golden age" for UK-Chinese relations has evolved into what Starmer has called an "ice age". But with so many difficulties to navigate, a full rekindling of the old relationship is unlikely - it is more realistically the start of a slow diplomatic thaw.

The long-gone good times

In the warmth of a pub in the Hutongs, a traditional area in Beijing close to Tiananmen Square, the bright piercing sound of Celtic pipes burst from two speakers, as Bowei Wang pours a pint of brown ale.

He is one of a million Chinese people who've studied in the UK in the last two decades, dating back to that so-called "golden era" between the two countries.

"The beer is everything for me," Wang tells me as he takes a sip. This was one of the first ales he made in his Overtone brewery in Glasgow.

"Fifteen years ago, when I was studying in Scotland, I said, 'Wow, British beer is so good, I want to bring it back to China in the future'."

And so, he has. The beer is now a cross-cultural ale. It is brewed in Yoker in Glasgow, shipped to China and served from a bar in Beijing where scenes from the film Braveheart play on one large television while Elizabeth I is on another.

The defining photo from the "golden era", when the UK advocated for closer economic ties, is a shot of the then Prime Minister David Cameron and President Xi sharing a pint and a basket of fish and chips at the Plough Pub in 2015.

For the UK, this would be unthinkable now as it tries to navigate between its need to do business and its concerns over security. China remains a huge threat to national security as intelligence agencies continue to raise concerns about spying and intellectual property theft. There are also continuing threats to Chinese nationals who've fled the country and have tried to make the UK a haven and their home.

And from China's perspective, the 11 years since that meeting have seen it gain huge economic power.

A return to a new "golden era" is "wishful thinking," says Dr Yu Jie.

"The economic parity between Beijing and London has changed dramatically since the so-called 'golden era' was declared. If the two sides could move ahead with a reasonable trading relationship, that is already an achievement," she said.

Xi is a far more confident leader now than when he met Starmer's predecessors, Theresa May and Cameron.

China is riding high after its battle against the US last year in a tit-for-tat trade war.

It ended in a truce last October when the two leaders met in South Korea, but Xi will believe he has shown America and the world just how dependent they are on Chinese goods.

This country now makes around one third of all the world's goods, it processes more than 90% of the world's rare earth minerals, it produces around 60 to 80% of all solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicles.

This gives China real leverage over much of the world - including the UK.

And the Chinese are quick to use it as a weapon if a country says or does something it dislikes. In the past it has imposed tariffs, stopped buying or stopped exporting key products.

South Korea, Australia, Japan and Canada have all felt the wrath of Beijing at some point in the last decade.

A different relationship

So if not a golden era - could this at least be a golden opportunity?

"I think it's very important that this visit takes place," Tom Simpson, managing director at the China Britain Business Council, told me in their offices in the capital.

"China is the UK's third largest trading partner. The UK exports around £45 billion of goods and services to China. It's an incredibly important market for the UK. And I think a visit like this really strengthens confidence among our companies to invest here, for Chinese companies to invest in the UK, and the overall trading relationship between the UK and China."

But Professor Gao Jian from Shanghai International Studies University is concerned that Starmer talks of engagement with China - but does not act.

"In the past two years, the reality has not met the promises he has made when it comes to China," he says

"Everything has remained lukewarm."

Chinese analysts have also raised concerns that the current UK prime minister may not be in office for long.

"My judgement of Britain's domestic situation is quite negative," he says. "Forgive my use of the word, but it seems to be in chaos and the Labour Party's future is very much in danger."

Back in the pub in the Hutongs, a group of Dutch tourists who've been on a cycle tour come in for some heat and a pint, led by a British travel company - Our Beijing.

He hopes this visit will open the door for more British tourists to visit China visa-free. Currently, British passport holders need a special visa to enter China. But Beijing has now dropped its visa requirements for 70 countries, and the UK hopes to be added to that list.

"Until you come over and see China for yourself, you're never going to know. I'm desperately trying to get more and more people to really experience the Beijing that me, my wife, and my friends, fell in love with, which is cheesy, I know, but it's true," says Dom, who is leading the group.

China is a vast country full of possibilities and pitfalls.

But for now, Starmer and others who are bundling up in the cold weather to make their way to Beijing this winter, believe this journey is a risk worth taking.

Murder and MI5: How an extraordinary battle erupted over what the state keeps secret

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1w94v205y2o, 9 days ago

Listen to Daniel read this story

Paul Thompson was shot dead while being driven home in a taxi through Belfast in April 1994. He was murdered in a sectarian attack by loyalist paramilitaries who had set out to kill Catholics.

The taxi driver was a friend who was collecting a fare at another address in the Springfield Park area in the west of the city. But no one at the address had rung the taxi firm.

The call is suspected to have been a deliberate decoy by the killers who wanted to lure a taxi as prey. Paul was not specifically targeted. They could not have known he would ask for a lift or be in the area.

One resident described hearing a heavy burst of gunfire after 23:00, running to the car and finding Paul.

Members of a banned loyalist terror group, the Ulster Defence Association, using the cover name Ulster Freedom Fighters, claimed responsibility for the killing. During the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the group repeatedly murdered Catholic civilians like Paul.

On the morning of the day that Paul was killed, locals had told police about a hole in a barrier – known as the 'Peace Line' – which separated the largely Catholic Springfield Park area from a largely Protestant neighbouring area. The residents were concerned the breach could give loyalist paramilitaries access to launch an attack.

The hole was not fixed. After the murder, those responsible escaped through it.

An inquest into Paul's death was opened in 1995 but never concluded. No-one has ever been held to account. There has never been a full investigation.

Left by themselves to fight for answers, his mother Margaret and brother Eugene, both now dead, came to suspect collusion between British security forces and informants – meaning state agents - in the group responsible.

In 2024, a coroner decided to release to the family a summary of secret information held by the police. This was said by the coroner to be of central relevance to the case and the police supported the move. But the British government and MI5 argued this would prejudice national security and mounted a legal challenge.

The case, which centred on who had the power to decide to release the information, reached the Supreme Court last summer, with Paul Thompson's brother, Eugene, tuning in to hearings from a hospice, as he neared death from cancer.

The case is widely viewed as a major test of the state's policy of neither confirming nor denying (NCND) information involving national security.

Who decides what is secret?

The NCND policy is a position adopted by the government and security services when responding to questions about sensitive matters. It means there will be no confirmation, no denial, and no acknowledgement that the information requested is true, false, or even exists.

Eugene Thompson's barrister, Monye Anyadike-Danes KC, said the family had concluded the murder happened because the authorities were colluding with the "very group that actually perpetrated the killing".

She said Eugene was "trying to find out why his younger brother was murdered" and felt a "deep responsibility".

Eugene, she added, believed the public should be able to trust that those who kill will be held accountable, especially when they are agents of the state. She asked the judges not to let the NCND policy be used to "conceal the involvement of state parties in the killing of an ordinary citizen".

Just before Christmas, the court ruled that the government's assessment of damage to national security "should have been accepted by the coroner" unless it was plainly irrational or there was no supporting evidence.

The justices found the coroner had failed to understand it was "solely" for the government to make submissions on national security, not the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), Jon Boutcher, who had argued for the release of the summary of police files.

Paul Thompson's case is part of a battle over the truth and whether it can be told. The battle concerns official secrets, often connected to state agents, and it pits bereaved families and senior police officers against the government and the security service, MI5.

It raises a profound question: can the state, especially when it is implicated in killing, be trusted as the arbiter of what should remain secret?

The spycatcher who was himself a spy

Other cases in the coming months will force these issues further into the spotlight – and they come at a time when MI5's integrity is under significant scrutiny.

Yet the Supreme Court's ruling in the Thompson case creates a precedent that says the government and MI5 can withhold information from bereaved families, for national security reasons, even when the police want it to be disclosed.

Grainne Teggart, from Amnesty International, described it as a "grim day for truth" and part of a pattern of "national security being used as a shield to cover up and conceal the state's role in very serious crimes such as murder and other serious human rights violations."

The government, by contrast, welcomed the court's "unanimous judgment".

"This is a highly complex case with wide-ranging implications," it said. "The government will therefore take time to fully consider all aspects of this judgment."

During the Troubles, the state made widespread use of informants, otherwise known as agents, who were tasked with carrying out actions and often paid.

Agents existed in the IRA and in loyalist paramilitary groups. They were run by the police, the army, and MI5.

The former Met Police chief Lord Stevens, who led UK government-commissioned investigations into collusion in Northern Ireland between the 1980s and 2000s, once said that of 210 people arrested during his enquiries, only three were not state agents.

Collusion occurred in a number of ways, he said, ranging from the state withholding intelligence and evidence from investigators, to state agents being involved in murder. In some cases agents told the authorities in advance about planned attacks but nothing was done to stop them.

One of the most notorious agents was codenamed Stakeknife.

It has been publicly known for more than 20 years that Stakeknife was a man called Freddie Scappaticci. He died under MI5 protection in 2023 having never been charged with any of the many murders and other crimes to which he is linked.

Scappaticci was a senior figure in the IRA's internal security unit, which was tasked by IRA leaders with identifying and killing British agents in the organisation.

But, with the spycatcher himself a spy, the result was one British agent killing other agents, or people accused of being agents, and the state repeatedly not intervening to save them.

Intelligence agencies and historic wrongdoing

A long-running police investigation into Stakeknife, Operation Kenova, was forbidden from officially naming Scappaticci in its final report, published in December, despite the fact that his identity was widely known.

The head of the Kenova team, Sir Iain Livingstone, pleaded with Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn for the right to name Scappaticci in his report, but Benn said he would decide after the Supreme Court ruling in the Paul Thompson case, which came later in December.

That ruling has, in effect, strengthened Benn's power to stop him being named. If permission is granted, a revised version of the Kenova report can be published.

Jon Boutcher, who was Livingstone's predecessor leading the Kenova investigation, has described the situation preventing Scappaticci being named as a "pantomime". It leads to the truth being "suppressed," he argues, with "profound and severe adverse impacts on victims and families, legitimate public discussion and debate, media freedom, open justice and public confidence in state agencies and the criminal justice system".

Boutcher, the PSNI chief constable, is involved in a significant and extraordinary stand-off with the government and MI5 over NCND.

He has called for reform of the policy, a principle he fully supports but believes is being wrongly applied and has become a dogma that can be used to conceal wrongdoing.

He has recommended the policy is reviewed to ensure it is applied proportionately and only where genuinely necessary for the protection of life or national security. The government has not yet responded to the call for a review of the policy.

Boutcher has directly asked whether NCND's continued application on Stakeknife amounts to it being used as a tool for covering up things that should never have happened.

"I question whether this decision protects agents, or rather does it actually protect the government and intelligence agencies from accountability for historical wrongdoing."

In the Paul Thompson case he argued that he, as chief constable, rather than the government, had the right to allow the coroner to release a summary of police files. The high court and court of appeal backed his position before it was ultimately rejected by the Supreme Court.

During the hearings, government barrister Sir James Eadie KC said Boutcher was being "thoroughly disingenuous" and that "politics is being played with national security".

He argued the government is best placed to make assessments on national security, as only it has access to the full range of necessary advice. The principal advice, in this context, is from MI5.

The argument the government is best informed seemed somewhat at odds with the fact the MI5 officer whose sworn statement was provided to support the case had not read the relevant underlying material.

For the chief constable of Northern Ireland to be at loggerheads with MI5 is "unprecedented" says veteran investigative journalist, John Ware, who has reported on the Troubles since the 1970s.

"If anybody had told me even 10 years ago that there would come a time when the chief constable of the PSNI and the Security Service were at loggerheads, I would have fallen off my stool," he says.

Trust, state secrecy and the public

Boutcher has a raised a stark question: can the authorities who played a role in the events, including MI5, be trusted to decide whether to tell the public about what happened, when doing so could leave them exposed?

He has also indirectly raised this question about the legal system itself - due to its own role in the Stakeknife case.

Scappaticci helped create a legal precedent on state secrecy that is routinely cited by the government to this day.

In 2003, he sought a judicial review over the then government's refusal to publicly deny media reports that he was Stakeknife.

But Scappaticci was bluffing and did not actually want to succeed, since if the government was ordered to tell the truth, he would have been confirmed as Stakeknife. Scappaticci was engaged in a pretence to help shore up his reputation: publicly fighting a legal case, while hoping – and expecting – he would lose.

However, the government feared Scappaticci would win because a judge would assume he was not Stakeknife and force ministers to be honest.

Jon Boutcher has now confirmed an extraordinary fact: the judge who heard the case did so after being secretly briefed on the real identity of Stakeknife.

That judge, the then Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, Lord Carswell, ultimately allowed the government to maintain NCND, creating the legal precedent on the policy.

"The full facts about this and the government's explanation will never be known while it is able to hide behind the shield of NCND," Boutcher has said.

There is a second extraordinary fact: the government barrister who did the secret briefing was Philip Sales, who as Lord Sales was one of the Supreme Court justices in the Paul Thompson case. This fact was uncovered by the journalist John Ware.

This is an issue because it is Lord Sales' ruling in the Thompson case which has a central bearing over whether Scappaticci can be named and more details revealed about what went on, including Lord Sales' own role.

I asked the Supreme Court whether, given Lord Sales' role in the Scappaticci matter, if it was appropriate for him to have heard the Thompson case.

In a statement, the court said: "Great care is taken in the selection of the panels which will hear a case at the UK Supreme Court.

"A Justice will not deal with a case where it is considered there is a conflict of interest and individual Justices are careful to ensure that they have none."

The cases of Seamus Dillon and Sean Brown

Two further cases that touch on the potential release of information about the role of the state during the Troubles are also before the Supreme Court.

Troubles-related inquests were shut down in 2024 with the passing of the Legacy Act, which created a new body called the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) to examine relevant cases, including those being investigated by police.

The families of four men who were either killed or injured during the Troubles won a further legal victory, when the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal ruled the government has too much veto power over the disclosure of material by the ICRIR.

Lady Chief Justice Siobhan Keegan said that the provision in the Act giving the Northern Ireland secretary "the final say" on disclosure of sensitive national security information by the ICRIR would risk undermining public confidence in the body.

The UK government's appeal will be ruled on by the Supreme Court in the coming months. The lead respondent in the case is Martina Dillon, whose husband Seamus was killed in 1997.

The paramilitary Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) claimed responsibility.

A coroner had opened an inquest on the basis there was evidence of collusion by state authorities, but the inquest was halted by the Legacy Act. No-one has ever been held accountable.

The government has also registered an appeal in another key case.

Sean Brown was also murdered in 1997 by members of the LVF. The 61-year-old father-of-six was abducted as he locked the gates at a sports club in County Londonderry.

There were investigative failures by police and no-one has been brought to justice.

Decades later, a coroner issued a summary of secret material stating that "a number of the individuals linked through intelligence to the murder were agents of the state." Sean's family want a public inquiry, and have won judgments over the past two years at the High Court and Court of Appeal.

The government, which was found to have acted unlawfully by refusing a public inquiry, has registered an appeal to the Supreme Court on the basis the issue has constitutional significance regarding who should order inquiries.

'The state viewed itself as above the law'

At its heart, this vast battle over secrecy centres on two core claims by the state: that only the government and MI5 can ultimately be fully trusted on national security, and that their decisions on what information to release are solely about protecting the public.

But these claims have been undermined by MI5's actions and omissions in several recent cases, all during the leadership of MI5's current director general, Sir Ken McCallum.

A public inquiry into the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing, which killed 22 people, concluded that MI5 had not given an "accurate picture" of the key intelligence it held about the suicide bomber who carried out the attack.

The inquiry chairman only uncovered what MI5 had done through his own persistent investigations during secret evidence sessions.

The government has been resisting calls by families bereaved by the Manchester Arena attack for MI5 officers to be fully included in planned new legislation - known as the Hillsborough Law - that's designed to stop cover-ups and enforce truth-telling by public officials.

Another ongoing case is an example of how MI5's evidence cannot always be taken at face value: MI5 gave false evidence to three courts about having maintained its NCND secrecy policy in relation to an abusive neo-Nazi agent who attacked his girlfriend with a machete. But MI5 had in fact told me the man was an agent when attempting to prevent me from investigating him.

After MI5 apologised, we then showed that inquiries into what happened by MI5 and the government were deficient and unreliable, with further falsehoods provided to the court. This prompted the most senior judge in England and Wales to dismiss MI5's explanations and led the prime minister to order a new investigation, which will report this year.

In the Stakeknife investigation, MI5 disclosed key documents years after enquiries began, aer Scappaticci had died and charging decisions had been made, and at a point when the Legacy Act banned police from investigating further.

The new material revealed MI5 had greater and earlier knowledge of Stakeknife than detectives had previously been told, including that MI5 had been involved in tasking him. The lead detective said it was a "significant failure on the part of MI5".

A review commissioned by MI5 found no deliberate wrongdoing.

Cover-ups and failures to disclose information have a long history in Northern Ireland. Lord Stevens, recalling his investigations, has said: "I was misled deliberately, I was criminally obstructed from doing my job by the Royal Ulster Constabulary and military, whilst MI5 failed to disclose information."

Judge Pomerance, who was senior counsel on another major investigation, concluded bluntly: "The state viewed itself as above the law".

The battle of bereaved families

Last July, days before Eugene Thompson died, Jon Boutcher delivered a letter of apology on behalf of PSNI. He apologised for the police's failure to take action that may have prevented Paul Thompson's murder, and for failures in the investigation, including not properly pursuing suspects.

Mark Thompson from Relatives for Justice (no relation of Paul and Eugene Thompson) says the apology was "important" but that Eugene was by this stage "very ill".

Mark had watched the Supreme Court hearings with Eugene on a laptop in his hospice and describes the experience as "tough". Eugene was "praying and hoping that before he died the judgment could be made", Mark says.

Bereaved families caught up in these cases have had to battle for decades, trying to fill voids left by the lack of proper investigations by the state.

"You became an investigator, tracking down witnesses. You became an expert in the law in that field. And you fought your own case tooth and nail."

Eugene Thompson became an "accidental lawyer and expert in his own case", he says, as he campaigned for answers about why his brother Paul was murdered.

"I think if we take anything from the legacy of him, it's the example of never giving up."

Top image credit: PA Media

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Why so many women end up 'menopause masking' - but it can have consequences, as I discovered

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c23e1n3ge29o, 11 days ago

Listen to Zoe reading this article

Back in November, I posted a note on LinkedIn about brain fog. I dashed it out in about 10 minutes - how for the first time in my 20-year career, I ended up using notes while doing live TV news thanks to the perimenopause brain fog. I didn't expect many replies.

To my surprise, it sparked a national conversation. I was overwhelmed with wonderfully supportive messages – nearly 400 comments on LinkedIn and dozens of private messages, and hundreds more beneath a piece about it on the BBC News website. Many of them followed similar lines: calling me "brave" for speaking out. Or thanking me for "normalising" brain fog.

I didn't feel particularly brave (or normal!) at the time - but it did spell out to me just how much shame and stigma was attached to some of the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause, even though it affects pretty much half the population at some point in their life.

Hollywood stars like Oprah Winfrey and Halle Berry have spoken out about their own experiences of menopause and its impact, as have TV presenters Davina McCall and Lorraine Kelly. Gwyneth Paltrow called for a "rebrand" of menopause back in 2018.

And there have been some changes. For example, menopause screening is to be officially incorporated into NHS health checks in England offered to women over 40 from this year. Plus, an Employment Relations Bill means that UK employers of 250 or more need to have "menopause action plans". This comes into effect from April 2027 (and on a voluntary basis from this April).

Yet a self-selecting survey of around 1,600 women, published in October by University College London, found that more than 75% felt that they are not well-informed enough about menopause. Which suggests that something is going amiss.

What's more, many women say there is still stigma surrounding menopause and feel they cannot openly talk about the menopause.

One woman in her 60s, an academic specialising in social policy, messaged me to say that she had started making light of her "menopausal moments" around female colleagues. But it was still "embarrassing," she added - especially when she forgets some specific policy terms in her area of expertise.

Yet concealing symptoms, or masking menopause, can be draining.

"The energy expended in masking or making up for the challenges women face will often further deplete reserves and reduce thresholds for overwhelm," says Fionnuala Barton, a GP and certified menopause specialist with the British Menopause Society.

This, she argues, could potentially increase the risk of burnout. And it begs the question of whether this very concealment in itself can impact lives of women too?

Menopause masking and burnout

The NHS lists 34 possible symptoms of menopause and some are more common than others. Many can feel debilitating.

One woman who contacted me after seeing my LinkedIn post explained that declining oestrogen had caused vaginal dryness, which made walking painful.

One friend revealed to me that she had developed bladder weakness. It hit her "almost overnight," she said - now she doesn't always make it to the toilet in time.

"It's more annoying than anything else," she admitted, but told me she wouldn't want to return to an office because of it, and prefers home working.

Another woman told me she was reluctant to socialise because she felt unable to follow conversations when thick in the clouds of brain fog.

Scores of others shared their own coping strategies: some kept fans on their desks at work to manage hot flushes, others wrote notes to themselves, like I did, to get around the brain fog during meetings and presentations.

On one hand all of this speaks to the creativity and resilience of these women that they could work around what were, in some cases, such debilitating symptoms and still get on with life.

Fiona Clark, journalist and author of Menowars, says often women go on a journey when they start noticing symptoms: "In the beginning there's confusion and denial, then there's grief and then there's acceptance.

"But if you're hiding it or masking it you're not going out and getting the help that you need."

Menopause masking can be a particular challenge at work. There are an estimated four million women aged 45 to 55 employed in the UK, according a government report published in 2024 – this is the most common window for menopause.

Jo Brewis, professor of people and organisations at The Open University Business School, says that when people mask symptoms at work, this can lead to a set of what economists call intensive margin costs.

"In other words, the effort involved creates an extra burden for those affected."

Some may leave their jobs altogether. An estimated one in 10 women, aged between 40 and 55, working through menopause have left a job because of their symptoms, according to a report from The Fawcett Society in 2022, which analysed data from a survey of around 4,000 UK women carried out by Savanta ComRes research consultancy.

"This burden can take the form of making themselves less visible – such as not applying for promotions or even moving into a lower status, usually lower paid role, to be able to cope," says Jo Brewis.

"People can also invest extra effort to avoid any perception that they are slacking off or their performance is dipping. For example, they might work longer hours to ensure they have double-checked their work if they are experiencing common symptoms like loss of focus or fatigue."

Japanese women and the 'second spring'

Of course, some women do have positive experiences of menopause, and it is important not to generalise experiences.

And some cultures also have different attitudes to menopause as a society. For example, the Japanese word for menopause, "konenki", means renewal and energy.

There, it's sometimes described as a "second spring" - which nods to a positive transition into a different phase of life.

Dr Megan Arnot, honorary research fellow in evolutionary anthropology at University College London, says: "Many countries still carry a stigma around menopause, similar to the UK, though it seems attitudes here have begun to shift in recent years."

However, she suggests there are cultures and countries where menopause is framed more positively.

"In many indigenous communities, including Native American and Mayan cultures, menopause is seen as a transition into wisdom and leadership, granting women greater respect and influence […] Similarly, among Indigenous Australian communities, postmenopausal women often become key cultural educators and spiritual guides."

Melissa Melby, a professor of anthropology at the University of Delaware, agrees that in the West, "there is this perception that menopause is going to be horrendous, it's going to be hard to navigate, and it's all downhill from there,".

"Generally, we give women symptom checklists of negative symptoms. Problems. We never ask them, did anything change during this time that was positive for you?

"If you only ask questions about negative things, you're going to have very negative perceptions."

She spent ten years living and working in Japan, and talking to women there left her with "a sense of potential and hope for the next phase of [her] life".

Admittedly, I don't currently share this view - and if my husband said that to me right now, I couldn't guarantee his safety. But perhaps there is something in the idea of, instead of fixating on the rollercoaster of symptoms, considering the bigger picture.

No 'one size fits all' answer

Menopause has long been big business: there are dietary supplements, symptom trackers, therapeutic headbands, and life coaches all specialising in it. My targeted social media feeds are full of adverts for midlife natural remedies.

The menopause market was estimated to be worth more than $17bn (£13bn) in 2024, and is projected to reach more than $24bn (£18bn) by 2030.

But often none of this is enough by itself.

When it comes to the workplace, Brewis stresses that employers need to be careful about how they offer support. In her view, line managers need specific training to be able to support their teams, for example, in having sensitive conversations and working out reasonable adjustments for individuals. She adds that clearly identifying menopause as a legitimate reason for absence is also important.

"Some people will never want to disclose their menopausal status at work, no matter how compassionate or supportive their organisation is, and that is absolutely their prerogative," she adds. "But effective menopause initiatives can and should make disclosure easier and reduce this stigma."

Ultimately, I've found that attitude plays a crucial role.

It was Margaret Mead, a pioneering anthropologist from the US, who coined the term "post-menopausal zest", more than 70 years ago.

Back in the 1950s, she said: "There is no greater power in the world than the zest of a postmenopausal woman."

So for now, that positive thinking is what many of us must cling to.

As for me, I'm going to hold onto that for as long as this lasts, and channel "konenki" as well - and take HRT.

But the outpouring of support and conversations sparked by my brain fog moment has shown me another, even more comforting fact too: that I am definitely not alone.

Additional reporting: Harriet Whitehead

Top image credit: Getty Images

Could Trump's new Board of Peace sideline the struggling UN?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn8jj228g2vo, 12 days ago

"Together we are in a position to… end decades of suffering, stop generations of hatred and bloodshed, and forge a beautiful, everlasting and glorious peace for that region and for the whole region of the world."

Such was the soaring promise of US President Donald Trump as he inaugurated his new Board of Peace on the stage of stages that is the Davos Economic Forum this week.

The world of all too much suffering and strife badly wants to believe him.

But for many observers and officials in capitals the world over, it is yet more proof of Trump's drive to dismantle the post-war international architecture and replace it with new institutions - dominated by him.

"We will not let anyone play us," Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned tersely on social media.

But from Trump's biggest backer in Europe, Viktor Orban, came effusive praise: "If Trump, then peace."

What exactly will this Board, headed in perpetuity by Trump himself, do? Could this really be a bid to build a UN mini-me?

Power of the Board chairman

The idea - born last year in US-led efforts to end the war in Gaza and endorsed by a UN Security Council resolution - now has a much greater, far grander, more global ambition. And it pivots around the president.

In leaked details of the draft charter he is the Board's chairman for life even when he leaves office. Under that charter his powers would be vast: authority to invite member states or not; to create or dissolve subsidiary bodies; and the mandate to appoint his successor whenever he decides to step down, or if he is incapacitated.

If any other country would like to become a permanent member, the price is an eye-watering $1 billion (£740m).

This latest bombshell lands in what is already a head-spinning month. In a few short weeks there's already been the US capture of Venezuela's leader, Trump threats and preparations for military action against Iran, and demands to acquire Greenland which sent shock waves across Europe and beyond.

Nineteen countries showed up in Davos for the Board's inauguration from all corners of the compass - from Argentina to Azerbaijan, from former Soviet republics to Gulf kingdoms. Many more are said to have "agreed to join".

"In this group, I like every single one of them," Trump grinned as he eyed leaders and officials whose names are now on this Board or the layers of executive bodies beneath it.

Many more potential members have so far politely demurred.

"This is about a treaty that raises much broader issues, and we do also have concerns about President Putin being part of something that is talking about peace" explained the UK's Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.

Trump says Russia is on board although the message from Moscow was that they were still "consulting partners".

"As the text stands right now," we're not joining, replied Sweden.

"The proposal raises unanswered questions that require further dialogue with Washington" was Norway's diplomatic response.

Even a group of seven predominantly Muslim countries, including six Arab nations, as well as Turkey and Indonesia, made it clear they were in it for a "just and lasting peace in Gaza," including the reconstruction of the shattered enclave.

However leaked details of the Board's charter don't mention Gaza.

For some of the critics, including some countries reluctant to join, it's a vainglorious project for a president who doesn't hide his fixation with winning the biggest accolade – the Nobel Peace Prize, which was won by President Obama in 2009 at the start of his first term in the White House.

World leaders know there may be a price to pay for not joining this new club.

"I'll put a 200% tariff on his wines and champagnes, and he'll join, but he doesn't have to join." This was the president's rebuke to France's President Emmanuel Macron with a threat to wield his weapon of choice.

Only Slovenia said the quiet part out loud. Prime Minister Robert Golob made his concern clear – it "dangerously interferes with the broader international order".

Trump addressed this concern head-on.

"Once this Board is completely formed, we can do pretty much whatever we want to do and we'll do it in conjunction with the United Nations," he explained to the packed hall hanging on his every word.

But he likes to keep the world guessing.

A day earlier, when asked by a Fox TV journalist whether his Board would replace the UN, he replied "Well it might. The UN just hasn't been very helpful."

Then he added "I'm a big fan of the UN potential, but it has never lived up to its potential. The UN should have settled every one of the wars that I settled."

A new contender for peacemaker-in-chief?

The UN, 193 members strong, has indeed long lost its role as peacemaker-in-chief.

When I interviewed the Secretary General António Guterres in October 2016, on his first day in his first term, just hours after a rare unanimous endorsement by the Security Council, he promised "a surge in diplomacy for peace".

For the past decade, the UN's efforts were thwarted by the gridlocked Security Council, the growing number of spoilers and state sponsors in wars the world over, as well as the steady erosion in its own standing vis-a-vis the world's most powerful players, including the United States.

"We must all welcome the activism of Mr Trump on ending wars," says Martin Griffiths, a UN veteran who believes this new effort is "obviously a reflection of the failure of the UN Security Council and of the UN writ large."

But the former Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator cautioned that "what we've learned over these last 80 years, through lots and lots of failures and clunkiness, we learned the value of inclusion, of being representative of the global community, not just the friends of Mr Trump."

Guterres himself recently regretted that "there are those that believe the power of law should be replaced by the law of power".

Asked in an interview with the BBC's Today programme about Trump's constant claim that he's ended eight wars, he replied matter-of-factly "they are ceasefires."

Some have already broken down.

The temporary peace deal between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo soon fell apart, Cambodia and Thailand started hurling accusations and more across their border, and India disputed Trump's central role in ending its conflagration with Pakistan.

But only Trump's muscular mediation could have ended the 12-day war between Iran and Israel.

His own personal involvement finally secured a ceasefire in Gaza's destructive confrontation last October which eased both the suffering of Palestinians, and the agony of Israeli hostages. His decision to finally and fully focus on this disaster, partly in response to urging from his closest Arab allies and grieving Israeli families, pushed him to pressure Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu and Hamas, to do a deal.

But even the Board's first test – to move from the first phase of the deal to end the Gaza war – is daunting. Even now, as this new Board slowly takes shape, it includes Netanyahu who has vowed to stop the establishment of a Palestinian state, and Arab leaders who insist the only pathway to a sustainable peace must lead to Palestinian self-governance and the end of Israeli occupation.

And the other big war on America's - and Europe's agenda - is Ukraine. President Zelensky has balked at being at the same table as Moscow and Minsk.

Three layers lie beneath this Board, most focusing on Gaza – an Executive Board, a Gaza Executive Board, and the National Committee for the Administration for Gaza.

They bring together a mix of senior American officials and billionaires, as well as respected former politicians and ex-UN envoys who know Gaza well, along with Arab ministers and intelligence chiefs, and Palestinian technocrats.

Even some critics credit the president with putting an age-old battle of a different kind on the table – the incessant demand to reform the UN's post-war architecture including a Security Council which no longer aligns with the world's political map of major powers in every region. It's simply not fit for purpose.

"Maybe an unintended good consequence of what Trump has done is those issues will be pushed back towards the top of the international agenda," reflected Mark Malloch Brown, the former UN deputy secretary-general.

"We're coming out of a period of extremely weak UN leadership and I think this could be a call to action."

Ironically, Trump's bid to lead the world towards peace comes as discussions gather steam in many capitals to replace Guterres who completes his second term at the end of this year.

The president, who previously declared that he could end the Ukraine war in a day, has learned in his last year in power that peacemaking is a protracted and perilous process.

But today he hailed a Middle East region where only "little fires" were burning now. He promised that a settlement in Ukraine "is coming very soon".

And he revelled in his new role as would-be peacemaker-in-chief.

"This is for the world" he exclaimed.

Top picture credit: Reuters

How the NHS became the battleground in the trans debate facing workplaces

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7v0l25mr2ro, 13 days ago

"A moment of truth." That was the verdict of a group of nurses in Darlington after a legal judgement that said NHS bosses had violated their dignity by allowing a trans woman colleague to use the female changing room.

Yet in the highly contentious world of gender and trans politics, "a moment of truth" for one group can lead to anger, distress and push-back from another.

The NHS is the UK's largest employer. Last year 1.5 million people worked in services run by NHS England alone. So, when anything goes awry, it is not surprising that people watch closely to see what they can learn.

For the NHS as well as employers and their staff more generally, the question is: what next?

In the summer of 2023, Bethany Hutchison was leaving the female staff changing room on the first floor of Darlington Memorial Hospital, as another staff member, Rose Henderson, was walking in.

Hutchison, a nurse in the day surgery unit, told the tribunal she was "shocked" because the person passing her "looked so masculine".

Rose, an operating theatre practitioner, is a trans woman, a biological male who identifies as a woman. Rose's first name was used by the tribunal along with they/them pronouns.

The tribunal was told that in the changing room Rose was "seen wearing boxer shorts" and "bearing stubble". Other nurses voiced their discomfort. One said that Rose's presence and conduct in the changing room had triggered flashbacks to childhood abuse. Another nurse said that she "had initially been uneasy about raising any concern as she was concerned she may be seen as bigoted or transphobic".

The nurses first complained to County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust in the summer of 2023. In April 2024, 26 nurses wrote voicing their concerns. In the end, eight nurses took legal action against their bosses, although one later paused her case because of illness.

Criticisms of Rose were dismissed. The panel said they "found no improper behaviour on the part of Rose personally". The BBC has asked if Rose wishes to comment but has had no response. During the tribunal hearings, Rose said they believed they had a right to use the female-only changing room.

Last week, the employment tribunal judgement concluded that the NHS Trust indirectly discriminated against the women, when it allowed Rose to use the female changing room.

The tribunal concluded "real accountability" for Rose's presence in the changing room was down to NHS managers who had given Rose permission to be there and not offered a suitable, dignified alternative.

It rejected claims that the Trust had victimised the nurses but said they had been harassed by them. It found their complaints had not been taken seriously, which created a "hostile, humiliating and degrading environment".

It was also said to have prioritised "the perceived rights of Rose" over those of the nurses.

The NHS Trust has said it will take its time to consider the judgement.

In a press conference after the judgement, one of the nurses said they felt they had been "gaslighted" by NHS managers.

But perhaps the real question now is, how did a dispute in a changing room reach this point - taking two and a half years to resolve? And what lessons does it offer to the NHS and other employers?

Employer policies vs court rulings

An employment tribunal does not set a legal precedent - it is only binding on those directly involved. However, it is an indicator of how laws and regulations governing employers and services are being interpreted in practice.

Perhaps the key finding in the 134 pages of legal argument in the Darlington case is that the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust misunderstood equalities law.

The Trust's Transitioning in the Workplace (TIW) policy said that a person, who is recognised as transgender from the moment they inform the trust they are trans or intend to transition, is "legally allowed to use any toilet facility they prefer", and if "others do not wish to share the gender specific facilities, they should use alternative facilities".

The tribunal goes as far as to say the policy was unlawful.

At the time, it was a policy mirrored in many other NHS Trusts.

The policy was withdrawn last year, shortly after the Supreme Court ruled that in the 2010 Equality Act the definition of a woman is based on biological sex. The court ruling clarified that if a trans woman - a biological male identifying as a woman - is given access to a single-sex space for females, then it could be argued that other biological men should be able to use it. Effectively the space ceases to be single-sex.

It also emphasised that both women and transgender people have protections under equality law.

As the Supreme Court is the highest court in the land, the Darlington tribunal used the judgement as the legal lens through which it interpreted the Equality Act and workplace regulations.

Dr Michael Foran, associate professor of law at the University of Oxford and an expert in equality and anti-discrimination law, says that although the ultimate outcome of the Supreme Court case was about the Equality Act, "the way it got to that was by telling us things about the law in general and by providing a test" that courts could use in future.

"It said if you have established that it is lawful to require a single-sex space, then it will be proportionate" to exclude all people of a different biological sex, Foran says.

An 'excruciatingly difficult' debate

In Darlington, more than 80% of the nurses employed by the Trust were female and the tribunal was told of two transgender staff. One of them was Rose. The other person was said to prefer to use an alternative changing room.

The tribunal said the aim of the TIW policy, to create an inclusive workplace, was "admirable", but they had found no legislation that suggested there was "a positive 'right' on the part of a trans woman to use the female changing room (or for that matter of a trans man to use the male changing room)".

It said Rose's rights could have been protected by the offer of an alternative space as a changing room.

The gender critical women's campaign group Sex Matters said this "should have been common sense" but it was "relieved and delighted" by the tribunal's findings.

Trans rights campaigners Translucent say that for many trans people the debate is "excruciatingly difficult", that these cases are rare and when rights "clash" then that needs to be handled in a proportionate way.

How employers are left to read the runes

Translucent points to two other recent employment tribunals, which it says are consistent with Darlington in showing that "employers have a duty to cater for trans people and gender-critical people in providing workplace facilities, so that everyone can be accommodated".

The two employment tribunals, which both gave judgements in December in Scotland, offered slightly different interpretations of the law to the Darlington nurses case.

One of the cases involved a nurse called Sandie Peggie who complained about a trans woman doctor using the female changing room.

The starting point of the judgement seemed to be an acceptance of an automatic right for a transgender person to use single-sex spaces that matched their stated gender identity.

It said "initially it had been lawful" for NHS Fife to allow the doctor to use the changing room, but once Peggie complained that her rights under equality law were being infringed, the doctor's "permission should have been revoked on an interim basis", whilst alternative arrangements were made.

It concluded that when this didn't happen the Trust's actions amounted to harassment.

Other allegations of discrimination and victimisation were dismissed.

The ruling is being appealed by Sandie Peggie.

Another tribunal in Edinburgh dismissed harassment and discrimination claims brought by a woman named Maria Kelly, an engineer, after Leonardo UK - the aerospace company she worked for - allowed trans women to use female toilets.

The tribunal found that there were alternative toilets Kelly could use and she was not treated unfavourably. The hearing was also told the company had "received legal advice that they had a legal obligation" to allow transgender colleagues to use the facilities of their choice.

Kelly is also planning to appeal.

Dr Michael Foran expects lawyers and employers to be looking closely at all three decisions but believes the two involving the NHS have the clearest impact.

If you look at the bigger legal picture in both the Peggie and Darlington cases, he argues, the NHS policy of allowing trans people to self-identify into single-sex spaces has been found to amount to unlawful harassment of women on the grounds of sex.

He says it would therefore be "foolish" in legal terms for the NHS to continue with that policy.

However, he also argues that the Peggie judgement did not take into account legal limitations on the findings it could make, and the judgement effectively proposed case-by-case decisions.

He says that seemed to suggest a complex test, including whether the trans person passed as being of their lived gender, or whether they had had surgery.

With at least two of these tribunal judgements facing appeal, and other potential cases on the horizon, there is likely to be a long wait for courtroom battles to settle how people should navigate the line between the rights of women and the rights of transgender people in single-sex spaces.

In the meantime, those running businesses or services are trying to read the runes.

"Employers are worried about the impact of the Supreme Court's judgement regarding their exposure to claims," says Joanne Moseley, a solicitor with Irwin Mitchell who advises companies and individuals on employment law.

Many of the businesses she deals with have policies which allow staff to use the facilities where they feel most comfortable, and she says, "employees are starting to challenge these and are asking for them to be changed".

To comply with the law, some already have fully enclosed lockable facilities, but those that do not are looking at other ways to provide gender-neutral spaces in addition to separate-sex facilities and improving signage to make it clear who has a right to access those facilities.

Waiting for guidance

Normally, services and businesses would be able to turn to guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) for help with the practicalities.

The EHRC handed new guidance, which it updated following the Supreme Court ruling, to ministers in September 2025.

In November, the BBC saw a leaked draft, which said that single-sex spaces should only be open to people of the same biological sex, and that there could be occasions where it is proportionate for trans people to be asked whether they should be using a facility based on their physical appearance or behaviour.

Ministers have said they will take their time to get this right, but there is no indication how long this might take.

With each legal case, the pressure increases on the government to publish the EHRC guidance - or reject it and tell people why it has done that.

Joanne Moseley says that, while in her view the Darlington ruling correctly interprets the Supreme Court's judgement, the lack of official advice is "causing confusion".

She warns that if a staff member does take legal action against a company, it will "not help any organisation's defence to say they were waiting for guidance".

Workplaces, whether the NHS or other employers, are at their best when all their staff feel included and welcome. In this heated area, a lack of guidance can make it that bit harder to get the balance right.

And when the courts end up providing direction over how changing rooms, toilets and other single-sex spaces should be organised, that can be corrosive when it sets colleagues against each other.

There is a financial cost for the employers, and an even higher emotional cost for the individuals, both women and transgender people, who feel they are having to fight to have their voices heard.

Top picture credit: Getty Images

New Iran videos show bodies piled in hospital and snipers on roofs

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1m7kde3y3zo, 8 days ago

Verified videos emerging from Iran show bodies piled up in a hospital, snipers stationed on buildings and CCTV cameras being destroyed, following the unprecedented crackdown on protests earlier this month.

BBC Verify has been tracking the spread of protests across Iran since they first erupted in late December, but the near total internet blackout imposed by the authorities has made it extremely difficult to document the scale of the state's deadly crackdown on protesters.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says it has confirmed the killing of nearly 6,000 people, including 5,633 protesters, since the unrest began at the end of December. It says it is also currently investigating another 17,000 reported deaths received despite an internet shutdown after nearly three weeks.

Another group, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR), has warned that the final toll could exceed 25,000.

Iranian authorities said last week that more than 3,100 people were killed, but that the majority were security personnel or bystanders attacked by "rioters".

The latest videos to emerge from the country are understood to have been filmed on 8 and 9 January, when thousands of people took to the streets following a call for nationwide protests from Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the late Shah.

They are thought to be the deadliest nights for protesters so far and these newly verified videos show how Iran's security forces have been violently cracking down on protesters.

Multiple clips analysed by BBC Verify and BBC Persian show bodies piled up inside a mortuary at Tehranpars hospital in east Tehran. We verified the location of the hospital by matching its interior to other publicly available images and videos of the building, and counted at least 31 bodies in just one video. Another clip shows seven body bags laid on the ground outside the hospital's entrance.

Hundreds of people are seen protesting on a highway in west Tehran in another video before multiple rounds of gunfire can be heard and people begin to scream.

Protesters have also been seen trying to evade Iran's heavy surveillance infrastructure by disabling CCTV cameras. Footage we verified shows one person in the capital climbing up a post and hitting a surveillance camera several times in an attempt to disable it. A huge crowd of protesters can be seen on the ground and heard cheering as the camera is damaged.

We have tracked the spread of the anti-government protests across 71 towns and cities in Iran, though the true number of areas where demonstrations have taken place is likely far higher.

In the south-eastern city of Kerman a video taken from high up in a building shows several armed men in military uniform walking down a road firing their weapons continuously, though it is not clear who they are shooting at. A small fire burns in the middle of the road while the sound of protesters chanting can be heard in the background.

Snipers have also been recorded on the roofs of buildings. In the north-eastern city of Mashhad verified video shows two men dressed in black on a rooftop of a building in daylight. One man is standing next to a large rifle that is leant against a wall and speaking on the phone. The other man crouches on the floor while smoking.

For most people there has been an almost-total internet blackout since 8 January, but some have managed to briefly access the internet using methods such as SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet and virtual private networks (VPNs).

More videos are likely to emerge in the coming days as the country's economy has struggled during the blackout.

Additional reporting BBC Persian.

Dozens of sanctioned Russian tankers navigate Channel despite UK vow of 'assertive' action

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2d77rr51rko, 12 days ago

Dozens of oil tankers sanctioned by the UK in response to Russia's war in Ukraine have sailed through the English Channel this month despite defence officials vowing to take "assertive action".

Since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has used hundreds of ageing tankers with obscured ownership - known as the shadow fleet - to evade sanctions on its oil exports.

The BBC understands that the UK government received legal assurances earlier this month that such vessels can be detained. Yet 42 sanctioned tankers tracked by BBC Verify passing through the English Channel did so after that advice was received.

Among them was the Sofos - a tanker sanctioned by the UK Foreign Office in May 2025. It moved through the Channel after travelling from Venezuela and is now near the Russian city of St Petersburg.

Ship-tracking data shows the Sofos loaded oil in Russia in mid-November, before travelling to Turkey and then to Venezuela, where it switched off its tracking signal. Satellite imagery later placed it at Venezuela's Jose oil terminal on 22 and 23 December, before its signal reappeared outside the country's waters on 26 December.

The Nasledie, a tanker which is more than 20 years old, also entered the Channel in January. The ship was sanctioned by the UK in May 2025 and according to Anna Zhminko, an analyst at Maritime Intelligence firm Vortexa, has been part of the shadow fleet since 2023.

In November the ship had a makeover, changing its name from Blint and switching to a Russian registry after falsely flying under the Comoros flag. It left Russia in late December and just days after the BBC reported on the UK's legal advice it entered the Channel carrying about 100,000 tonnes of Urals crude, Russia's flagship oil grade.

The shadow fleet has helped Russia to mitigate the impact of an embargo imposed on its oil exports since 2022 and has helped prop up an economy battered by Western sanctions.

In January, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the British government was ready to "tighten the chokehold" on Russia and take new "assertive actions" against shadow fleet vessels. Her comments came after officials were told troops could board and seize tankers under the Sanctions and Money Act 2018.

While the UK has aided US forces to seize a tanker near Iceland in early January and France in the Mediterranean on Thursday, British troops are yet to independently seize any shadow fleet vessels.

This is despite BBC Verify identifying six tankers operating in the Channel under false flags since the beginning of January. This means the ships are not registered in the states they publicly claim to be registered in. Under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea such tankers can be seized as stateless vessels.

Dame Emily Thornberry, chair of Parliament's Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said she was "very disappointed" that the vessels had not been intercepted.

"I think in order to give Ukraine proper support, we have to have not only sanctions that look on paper, but we have to make sure we mean it and that we implement those sanctions," she said.

Mike Martin, a Liberal Democrat MP and former British Army officer, questioned why the UK has been reluctant to board the tankers independently, noting that the UK's Royal Marines are trained and equipped for such operations.

"Its not that hard to project force 12 miles off the Straits of Dover," he said. "It's not that difficult to board a tanker."

Russia also appears to have reacted to the UK's vow to take more assertive action against the shadow fleet. On 20 January the Times reported that a warship escorted sanctioned tanker General Skobelev through the Channel.

And on 15 January, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the Kremlin would view any detention of the tankers as a violation of international law which would be seen as "harming Russian interests".

In a statement to BBC Verify, a Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: "Deterring, disrupting and degrading the Russian shadow fleet is a priority for this government. Alongside our allies, we are stepping up our response to shadow vessels – and we will continue to do so."

Tankers ignore UK warnings

Other tankers which have been sanctioned by the US and EU, but not the UK, have also sailed through the Channel over the course of January.

BBC Verify identified one vessel that took extreme measures to avoid detection and has been labelled by maritime experts as "the darkest of the dark fleet".

The Arcusat - previously sanctioned by the US as the Tia, before changing its identity in 2024 - passed through the Channel on 8 January before being stopped by German federal police and turned around before it entered the country's waters.

Last year, it obtained a new IMO number in a move that analysts said was almost unheard of. The unique code identifies ships and is supposed to be associated with a vessel for life, irrespective of changes of name or ownership.

Despite mounting calls for tougher enforcement, shadow fleet vessels remain difficult to monitor. Sanctioned tankers will deploy several strategies to evade detection - including flying under false flags, switching off their tracking signals, and broadcasting false locations.

"Once vessels start doing these direct port calls within Russia, they're less afraid of compliance," Zhminko told BBC Verify.

"Because it is already sanctioned it is easier for her to be a part of the open shadow fleet - she can't do any mainstream market port calls because she is already sanctioned."

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the shadow fleet tankers move between $87bn-$100bn worth of oil per year. Vaibhav Raghunandan, an analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, said that 68% of all Russian crude oil was carried on sanctioned tankers in December 2025.

Mike Martin MP said that the revenue generated by the shadow fleet was helping to fund Russia's war in Ukraine and providing the Kremlin with an economic lifeline. He said the conflict would only come to an end "when Russia's economy collapses".

"A key lever we have to pull is knock out oil sales through the shadow fleet," Martin told BBC Verify. "So I think it's massively important, it's irritating we didn't get on it much earlier."

Additional reporting by Matt Murphy, Jack Fenwick and Joshua Cheetham.

Correction: The General Skobelev is the name of the sanctioned Russian tanker that was in the Channel, not the warship escorting it.

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Photos leaked to BBC show faces of hundreds killed in Iran's brutal protest crackdown

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0r4957rq8ro, 14 days ago

Warning: this story contains graphic content which some readers might find distressing

Hundreds of photos revealing the faces of those killed during Iran's violent crackdown on anti-government protests have been leaked to BBC Verify.

The pictures, which are too graphic to show without blurring, reveal the bloodied, swollen and bruised faces of at least 326 victims - including 18 women. The images, displayed in a south Tehran mortuary, are one of the only ways families have been able to identify their dead loved ones.

Many of the victims were too disfigured to be identified, and 69 people had been labelled in Persian as John or Jane Doe, suggesting their identity was unknown when the photo was taken. Only 28 of the victims had labels with clearly visible names in the photos.

Labels on more than 100 victims, who had their date of death recorded, showed that date as 9 January, one of the deadliest nights for protesters in Tehran so far.

The city's streets were set on fire during clashes with security forces, with protesters chanting slogans against the supreme leader and the Islamic Republic. It followed a call for nationwide protests from Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the late shah.

The leaked photos provide a small snapshot of the thousands believed to have been killed at the hands of the Iranian state.

BBC Verify has been tracking the spread of protests across Iran since they erupted in late December, but the near total internet blackout imposed by the authorities has made it extremely difficult to document the scale of the government's violence against those who oppose it.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has publicly acknowledged several thousand people have been killed but blamed the US, Israel and those he described as "seditionists".

Despite the blackout entering its third week, a small number of people have managed to get some information out.

Hundreds of close-up images of victims taken from inside the Kahrizak Forensic Medical Centre were leaked to BBC Verify.

We analysed 392 photos of victims and were able to identify 326 people - some had multiple pictures taken of them from different angles. Sources claimed the true number of dead at the mortuary ran into the thousands.

One source, who we are not naming for their safety, told us they weren't prepared for the level of devastation they encountered inside the mortuary complex, and said they saw victims ranging from as young as 12 or 13 to 60 and 70-year-olds. "It was just too much," they said.

Amid the chaos inside the mortuary, family members and friends were huddled together around a screen, we were told. They were trying to identify their loved ones while hundreds of images of the dead flicked across the screen.

The slideshow lasted for hours, they said, adding that many of the victims' injuries were so severe they could not be identified. One man's face was so swollen his eyes were barely visible. Another man still had a breathing tube in his mouth, suggesting he died after receiving medical treatment.

Some victims were so badly injured that their families asked to see the pictures again and to zoom in on their faces to make sure it was really them, we were told. At other times people recognised their loved ones instantly and were seen collapsing to the floor, screaming.

Many photos showed unzipped body bags with papers laid close to their faces, identifying them by name, ID number or date of death. In some cases, we were told, the only identifier was a bank card laid on top of a body bag – the victims' last remaining possession.

BBC Verify has separately corroborated videos from the same mortuary that demonstrate the violence perpetrated against protesters. One shows the body of what appears to be a child, while another shows a man with a clear gunshot wound in the middle of his head. Both videos are too distressing to show.

Some Iranians have been posting the names of victims killed by security forces when they manage to connect to the internet through Starlink or even using networks from neighbouring countries, though these opportunities are incredibly rare.

We checked the names of victims identified in the mortuary against social media posts reporting the names of the dead and found five matches, but are not revealing the names as we cannot contact the victims' families.

BBC Verify has tracked the spread of anti-government protests across 71 towns and cities in Iran since they first erupted on 28 December through verified video, though the true number of areas where demonstrations have taken place is likely much higher.

The few images that people have managed to upload through Starlink show burnt-out cars left in the streets, while verified videos recorded rounds of gunshots fired around Tehran during protests.

The internet blackout has made it extremely difficult to document the full extent of the death toll from the protests. However, US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has placed its current estimate at more than 4,000 deaths.

Fact-checking Trump's Davos speech

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c301jgd1qj6o, 13 days ago

In a free-wheeling speech to world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, President Trump made a series of contested claims.

Trump touched on his desire to obtain Greenland from Denmark - which he referred to as a "small ask", America's contribution to Nato, and wind energy in China.

His address - which lasted for more than an hour - contained a number of false assertions which BBC Verify has been looking at.

Did the US 'give Greenland back' after World War Two?

For weeks, Trump has spoken about his desire to acquire Greenland, a largely self-governing territory of Denmark. He has said it is critical to US national security.

At Davos, he said that after World War Two "we gave Greenland back to Denmark," adding: "How stupid were we to do that?"

But it was not America's to give back.

In 1933 an international court - a predecessor to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) - ruled that Greenland belonged to Denmark.

In 1941 - following Denmark's surrender to Germany the previous year - the US and Danish representatives signed an agreement allowing the US to defend Greenland to prevent the Nazis from taking it over.

This led to the construction of US bases on the island as well as the deployment of US troops.

However, the agreement did not involve a transfer of sovereignty, meaning Greenland never became US territory.

Is the US paying for 'virtually 100%' of Nato's defence?

The US president criticised Nato and claimed that "the United States was paying for virtually 100% of Nato".

He said of the level of contributions from countries which are members of the military alliance: "They didn't pay the 2% and now they're paying the 5%".

Neither of these claims are correct.

In recent years US spending on defence accounted for about 70% of the total spent by Nato countries.

In 2024, that went down to 65% and, in 2025, it is estimated to have been 62%, as all Nato members were set to have spent at least 2% of their GDP on defence for the first time.

The US president has got these countries to commit to spending more on defence but the 5% that Trump is talking about is a long-term aim - to be achieved by 2035.

Currently, no Nato member spends that much, as even Poland – the country spending the most of its GDP on defence – is estimated to have spent just below 4.5% in 2025.

Has the US got nothing back from Nato?

Trump claimed that the US had "never gotten anything" from Nato and "we've never asked for anything".

The Nato website states that "collective defence is NATO's most fundamental principle" and Article 5 of its founding treaty states that "an armed attack against one NATO member shall be considered an attack against them all".

The US is the only member of the alliance to invoke Article 5, doing so in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

Nato nations contributed troops and military equipment to the US-led war in Afghanistan which followed.

Among the countries that contributed was Denmark, which suffered among the highest per capita casualty rates of the US allies. They were largely deployed to heavily contested areas alongside British forces in Helmand province.

Does China have no wind farms?

Trump also criticised wind energy - a familiar target which he said was part of a "new green scam".

He singled out China, claiming that although it made lots of wind turbines, he had not "been able to find any wind farms in China."

China has one of the largest wind farms in the world at Gansu, which can be seen from space.

China generates more wind energy than any other country, according to Our World in Data. Its statistics show that in 2024 China generated 997 terawatt-hours from wind.

That was more than double that of the US - which was in second place.

Does the UK take 92% of North Sea oil revenue?

President Trump also singled out the UK, criticising its energy policies.

Referring to North Sea oil, Trump incorrectly said: "They [the UK] make it impossible for the oil companies to go, they take 92% of the revenues."

Oil and gas firms operating in the North Sea pay a 30% corporation tax on their profits and a supplementary 10% rate on top of that. This is higher than the 25% corporation tax paid by other large companies.

In November 2024, the government raised the windfall tax on oil and gas companies from 35% to 38%.

That takes the total tax on North Sea Oil to 78%, which is paid on profits not revenue.

The windfall tax, which was introduced by the Conservatives in 2022 as a response to rising energy bills, is due to expire in 2030.

Has Trump secured $18tn worth of investments for the US?

President Trump also spoke about the investments his administration had secured for America.

He said, "we've secured commitments for a record-breaking 18 trillion dollars", and later on repeated, "18 trillion dollars is invested".

He has made similar claims before - in October he said the US had attracted investments worth $17tn (£12.7tn) - but there is no publicly available evidence to support figures this big.

A White House website, last updated in November, aims to track "new investment in U.S. manufacturing, technology, and infrastructure". It states that investments under Trump total $9.6tn (£7.1tn).

The biggest amount on the list is a $1.4tn (£1tn) investment in manufacturing and industry by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The website for the UAE embassy in Washington DC says the UAE is "working with the Trump Administration to make a historic $1.4 trillion investment in the US over the next decade".

Greg Auclair, a statistician at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told BBC Verify the White House tracker "includes pledges that may not materialize - for example the EU trade deal now appears frozen due to Greenland tensions".

On Wednesday the European Parliament's international trade committee said it was suspending the ratification of the deal "until the US decides to re-engage on a path of cooperation rather than confrontation".

Auclair added that although there has been an uptick in foreign investment in the US over the past year, "it will take several years before the results of the Trump administration's investment push become clear".

Reporting by Tom Edgington, Lucy Gilder, Matt Murphy, Nicholas Barrett, Anthony Reuben and Gerry Georgieva.

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Planning bids for new homes rise in England but building remains low, data suggests

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4qejvqv4no, 5 days ago

The number of planning applications for new homes in England is at its highest level for four years, new data shared with BBC Verify suggests.

Applications for 335,000 homes outside London were lodged in 2025, up by 60% on 2024, according to Planning Portal, the service people use to request permission.

But there are warnings that more needs to be done to meet Labour's target of building 1.5 million homes by 2029, as separate government data released on Thursday suggests there has been a decrease in house building.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said it had "overhauled the planning system and removed long-standing barriers that have held back housebuilding".

The increase in planning applications for new homes in England follows controversial reforms introduced by Labour, which allow development on some lower-quality green belt land, known as "grey belt".

According to Planning Portal data, between October and December 2025, 109,000 new homes outside London were applied for across England, up 61% on the same three months of 2024.

The figures only relate to England as housing matters are devolved elsewhere across the UK.

Every region except London saw a rise in the number of homes applied for in 2025, but in the capital they fell by almost a third on the year before, returning to levels similar to 2023.

While it's too early to know the impact, it should be noted that in October, the government gave the mayor of London powers to fast-track housing.

Geoff Keal from TerraQuest, which runs Planning Portal, attributed the overall growth across England to a "streamlining" of the planning process.

He also praised the "grey belt" reforms which had led to "applications coming through that wouldn't have previously".

But the Local Government Association - which represents local authorities - said while councils supported moves to tackle the housing crisis, planning reform alone would not deliver the scale of homes required to meet Labour's 1.5 million homes target.

It said delivery was constrained by a shortage of construction workers and rising building costs.

Other new data released on Thursday suggests the government has more work to do.

New figures released about Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) - which measure how energy efficient a property is - in England in 2025 indicate that the total number of homes registered was slightly lower than the year before.

The government uses EPCs as an early indicator of new housing, because the data is published more frequently than the annual official new housing statistics. EPCs can also include homes that are not yet complete or occupied.

BBC Verify analysis of the EPC data suggests 99 areas out of 294 in England would need to more than double the number of new homes they had in 2025 to meet their annual target this year.

A further 22 saw the same number of homes or more registered than their targets called for, however councils said they expect the numbers to rise and fall from year to year.

There are however nuances to the data. For instance, 106,700 new homes in England received their first EPCs in the second half of 2025, which is 3,800 more than during the same six months of 2024.

In addition, the final three months of the year saw registrations rise by seven per cent compared with the same period in 2024.

In a report accompanying the EPC statistics, the government pointed to the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast of a continued decrease in completed homes because of "recent subdued housing starts".

Edward Clarke from planning consultants Lichfields said no-one should expect an upturn in housing yet as it can take years to go from planning to delivery.

"If the government's positive changes are implemented efficiently and effectively, there is an opportunity to achieve 300,000 homes built in a year by the end of this parliamentary term," he said.

Some local councils have complained that the government's targets are "unrealistic" and have called for a re-think.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: "Today's figures show we're not only delivering more homes, but they are built to a higher standard.

"We have overhauled the planning system and removed long-standing barriers that have held back housebuilding in this country.

"The impact of these reforms will continue to feed through as we accelerate towards 1.5 million homes."

Housing tracker: Find out about new homes in your area

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqjd2902grwo, 5 days ago

The government has set itself a big challenge - to deliver 1.5 million new homes in England by the end of the current Parliament.

Councils have been set targets for the numbers of new homes they should be helping to create in their areas every year, with some needing vast increases compared with their recent record.

Enter a postcode to find out what is happening in your area with targets, average delivery and the latest figures on new homes and planning permission.

About the data

Averages for new homes by local authority in England come from the government's "net additional dwellings" statistics.

These figures are estimates of changes in the total number of homes in each area, taking account of new build homes and existing buildings conversions, minus any demolitions.

The targets are the government's new "local housing need" calculations, released following a public consultation.

The latest number of new homes comes from energy performance certificates for new builds or conversions, which every property must have upon construction.

These are indicators of new housing supply but can differ from the final net additional dwellings because they don't account for demolition and may have been lodged before the home was ready to live in.

Planning statistics are taken from quarterly data and combine applications decided for "minor" housing developments (fewer than 10 homes) and "major" schemes (10 homes or more).

The planning data is at local authority level. Applications decided by special authorities such as those in charge of national parks are not included.

We have included the latest data on new house building completions by local authority for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but the 1.5 million homes target applies only in England.

Produced by Daniel Wainwright, Allison Shultes, Scott Jarvis, Steven Connor, Charlie Colbourne and Preeti Vaghela

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