All The News

Preliminary figures provided by Serbia's election commission indicated a record high turnout, which commentators had suggested would favour the student movement.

Vučić had called the snap elections after two years of protests triggered by the 2024 collapse of a train station canopy in the city of Novi Sad, which killed 16 and was seen as emblematic of corruption and negligence in Serbia.

Vučić made his announcement at the headquarters of his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in the capital Belgrade.

There were celebrations on the streets of the city, with cars honking and students chanting "victory".

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

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

Anthropic warns of AI's 'risks to humanity' ahead of blockbuster share listing

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq398p1wd1evo, today

Anthropic has said artificial intelligence could pose "catastrophic or existential risks to humanity" as it unveiled details of its planned blockbuster stock market listing in the US.

The company behind AI chatbot Claude revealed losses of more than $80.7bn (£60.5bn) in the first half of the year, but it said it had $112.4bn in cash or equivalents, and generated revenues of $16.3bn over the same period.

The number of shares to be released and their price range is yet to be determined.

Anthropic's valuation when it goes public has been expected to exceed that of SpaceX, which this summer was the biggest-ever stock listing at an initial valuation of about $1.8 trillion.

Ahead of its public listing, Anthropic said concerns had been raised by policymakers, regulators and researchers as well as by people within its organisation that AI systems posed a significant risk to humanity.

It said that advanced AI systems "could, if not developed, deployed, and operated with appropriate safeguards, oversight, and security measures, pose catastrophic or existential risks to humanity, particularly if such systems were misused, replicated, weaponised, or allowed to operate with a high degree of autonomy".

Anthropic, which was founded just five years ago by chief executive Dario Amodei, his sister Daniela Amodei and five other co-founders, announced its intention to go public in June.

Its most significant rival, OpenAI, quickly followed suit, saying it, too, intended to go public. That listing is now expected to occur early next year, according to a person familiar with OpenAI's plans.

After the companies had decided on such plans, a wave of cyber-security and other types of technological breaches occurred involving their AI agents, or AI bots that are designed to operate somewhat autonomously.

Current and former staff of both companies also gained public attention with new warnings that AI technology was being developed without the ability to protect the whole of humanity from possible future harms enacted by AI tools.

In Anthropic's new documents, it reiterated promises it has made in the past to develop AI in a way that is beneficial to people, while at the same time warning investors of its dangers.

In its financial filings, Anthropic detailed losses that exceeded its revenue for the first half of the year, but said it would often make forward investments "that may seem irresponsibly large at first glance".

"In general, we will aim to be bold but sane, and to win trust with a track record of successful bets," the tech giant said.

Anthropic said it will list on the Nasdaq under the symbol ANT. It will be the first true AI company to go public, marking a test for the future of the technology.

Tech companies have been heavily investing in costly AI infrastructure and tools, like data centres and the informational models that underly all AI technology, pouring more than $1tn into the efforts over the last year alone.

Five ways Trump has changed immigration in the US

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9203k1jrmpvo, today

Immigration has always been central to Donald Trump's message.

When he famously stepped onto the golden escalator at Trump Tower to announce his candidacy for his first presidential term in 2015, he accused Mexico for of sending drugs and crime north of the border - and it's been a constant rallying cry ever since.

Some of his first-term ambitions to stem the flow of would-be immigrants were constrained by the courts.

But restraints have been weaker in his second term, with a more accommodating Supreme Court and tens of billions of additional enforcement money from Congress.

Who should be allowed to live in the US remains a big issue on the minds of voters in the upcoming midterm elections, which are largely seen as a referendum on the Trump presidency.

He promised a closed border and mass deportations in his successful 2024 campaign - and few can deny that he's delivered on both.

But even among those who voted for a tougher stance, there is a concern that the crackdown has gone too far.

His signature policy has played out in five key ways.

1. A border that is largely closed

Crossings exploded during Joe Biden's presidency, with over 4.5 million migrant "encounters" recorded at the southern border in 2023 and 2024 alone, reflecting the massive numbers of people headed north to the US border.

His administration eventually brought the monthly figures down significantly by restricting asylum claims and removing migrants entering the US illegally without processing.

When Trump returned to office, that stream of migrants became a trickle. Border encounters plummeted.

By the end of Trump's first year in office, the chaotic scenes that had generated headlines around the globe during the Biden administration had largely gone.

On a trip to the border city of El Paso, Texas, in November 2025, for example, the BBC found quiet streets where there had previously been makeshift camps housing thousands of migrants granted parole in the US to await immigration proceedings.

To achieve what he often describes as the "most secure" border in US history, the Trump administration has taken an aggressive, multi-pronged approach.

That has included effectively freezing asylum applications at the border, ending "catch and release" of detainees into the US, deploying troops to the border and pressuring Mexico to clamp down on the flow of migrants headed north.

"President Trump promised the American people a secure border, and the data proves he delivered," Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement on 16 October.

"The results could not be clearer: strong enforcement works."

2. Building of wall speeding up

A vow to build a "big, beautiful wall" at the nearly 2,000-mile (3,218km) US-Mexico border was a signature promise of Trump's 2016 campaign.

Progress on it has speeded up in his second term, boosted by $46.5bn (£34.7bn) in new funding from Trump's "One Big Beautiful" spending bill.

According to government figures, about 644 miles of "primary wall" - closest to the border - existed before Trump returned to the White House, in addition to 75 miles of "secondary" wall set slightly further inside the US.

Since then, 250 more miles of new wall have been completed, including primary, secondary and waterborne barriers, along with the technology that helps detect illegal crossings. An additional 1,443 miles of barriers are currently under construction.

Experts, however, paint a more complex picture of what has been actually built rather than just improved or updated.

Additionally, the impact the wall is itself having on the broader immigration figures is up for debate.

"Since new wall construction has really begun in earnest, there has been no significant change in the number of people crossing the border," said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, an immigration enforcement expert at the American Immigration Council.

There is no indication the border wall has reduced migrant crossings, he added. The reduction has been more down to Trump's policies and messaging.

Trump, for his part, continues to point to the wall as a successful policy - and continues to claim that Mexico paid for it.

"I'm the King of the Wall," Trump said at a rally in Kentucky on 17 October. "By the way, Mexico did pay for that wall. I charged them tariffs and I charged them costs like they've never paid in history."

3. Detentions and deportations rocketing

Most of the headlines generated by Trump's immigration policies have come from the US interior, where operations by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to round up people they say are in the US illegally have rocked cities across the country.

During his campaign, Trump promised an immediate start to what he described as the "largest deportation operation in American history", which officials said would begin with people who have committed crimes first.

Arrests - and subsequent detentions in immigration facilities - have shot up significantly since Trump returned to office, including a record of nearly 50,000 in July this year alone, according to data obtained by the Deportation Data Project, a repository of US immigration data run out of University of California, Berkeley, and UCLA.

But the same data shows that a large chunk of the arrests involve people without criminal convictions. In July 2026, detentions of immigrants with criminal histories reached an all-time low of 27%.

Deportations have also ramped up significantly. By mid-July this year, ICE was removing an average of 1,255 people from the country per day, compared to about 770 in Biden's final months in office - although Biden's own removals had sharply risen in his final year in office.

But the tactics used by ICE in US cities have made many Americans grow uncomfortable, including many of those who supported stricter restrictions broadly. This became increasingly evident following Operation Metro Surge, a two-month large scale enforcement action in Minneapolis in early 2026 that left two US citizens dead.

A New York Times and Siena poll released on 21 October found that 50% of voters trust Democrats to handle the issue, compared with 46% for Republicans - despite the issue being a traditional Republican strength.

A separate poll, from Politico and Public First in late September, found deep splits between Republicans on the issue, with 31% of non-MAGA Republicans, meaning those not aligned with Trump's movement, believing that campaign has become too aggressive.

4. Refugee intake down sharply

After returning to the White House last year, Trump almost immediately suspended refugee admissions, saying at the time these could only restart if they were shown to be in US interests.

In February, however, an executive order signed by Trump narrowly re-opened that process for Afrikaners from South Africa, who the White House has repeatedly said are being killed and "persecuted" - a claim that the government in Pretoria has denied.

The cap for refugee admissions for the 2026 fiscal year was initially set at 7,500, which was raised to 17,500 in May this year because of what the administration described as an "unforeseen emergency refugee situation".

Overall refugee admissions have slowed to a relative trickle. State Department data shows that 16,292 refugees were admitted into the US in the 2026 fiscal year - of whom 16,287 were South African.

By comparison, in the final two fiscal years of the Biden administration - 2023 and 2024 - 60,000 and 100,000 entered the country, respectively. In the 2024 fiscal year, the highest numbers came from Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Syria and Venezuela.

Hundreds of thousands of people protected from deportation lost that protection when a humanitarian protection called Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was also ended in Trump's second term. It gave vetted individuals the right to live and work in the US if their home countries were deemed to be unsafe to return to.

One of those countries was Haiti. In June, the Supreme Court upheld the Trump administration's decision to end TPS for some 350,000 Haitians in the US.

5. A squeeze on visas - and a $1m golden ticket

Other legal pathways to come to live and work in the US have also been tightened up, through various policy changes.

Dozens of countries the Trump administration has deemed a security risk have been subject to a full or partial freeze on visas and travel.

Enhanced vetting and new rules that send people residing in the US back to their home countries to apply for green cards has slowed that process down.

And in September 2025, a $100,000 fee on new H1-B visas for skilled workers, mostly held by Indians, stunned the US tech industry. In May this year, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services said on X that registrations for 2027 were down 40%.

"The data is a clear sign that the days of abusing the program with mass, low-wage registrations are over, and that the program is better serving its intended purpose of attracting highly skilled foreign workers and protecting the wages, working conditions and job opportunities of American workers," the statement added.

While a court has blocked the $100,000 fee - for now - the threat of it appears to have deterred employers. But some experts have cautioned the administration's aim of protecting American jobs, raising wages and stopping firms from outsourcing may prove elusive.

One study, from the Wharton School of Business, found that the H1-B changes would have "no significant impact" on the wages of US-born workers, with any reduction in competition offset by reduced productivity growth.

Other pathways to the US have been opened, however - if you have a spare million.

The "Trump Gold Card" launched in 2025 sought to entice wealthy foreigners to come live in the US in exchange for a $1m "gift" to the US government, plus a non-refundable $15,000 application fee.

At the time, Trump said that the programme would boost the US economy. Its uptake, however, appears to be minimal so far. By April, only one applicant had been accepted.

Chris Brown given suspended eight-month prison sentence over nightclub attack

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq3dje4g4d5jo, today

US singer Chris Brown has avoided jail after striking a man twice in the head with a tequila bottle in a London nightclub.

The R&B star was given an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, over the attack at private members' club Tape in Mayfair, in the early hours of 19 February 2023.

Brown's vocal coach, rapper Omololu Akinlolu, who joined the attack, was sentenced to four months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months. Both men, who had pleaded guilty to affray, were also ordered to pay £1,500 costs.

Judge Tony Baumgartner said Brown's use of the glass bottle to hit the victim twice over the head "was plainly dangerous", adding that the violence of the attack was "intense".

The sentence means Brown will not be imprisoned unless he commits another offence during the 12-month period of suspension.

The court heard Brown's attack on music producer Abraham 'Abe' Diaw left the victim in need of hospital treatment for his injuries.

In sentencing, Judge Baumgartner said: "The repeated use of a glass bottle in that way, especially aimed at the head, was plainly dangerous, it carried the risk of delivering a more serious injury than was ultimately sustained."

CCTV footage was shown where Brown struck Diaw four times with the bottle, connecting twice with his head, and then hitting his shoulder.

Sentencing Brown, Judge Baumgartner said: "This was not planned violence. It was nevertheless serious violence by two people in a crowded nightclub."

He told Brown: "Violence of this kind in a crowded nightclub is serious, it creates an obvious risk, not only to the person against whom it is directed, but also to others nearby."

The judge said Brown's fame, commercial success and professional standing "do not entitle you to special treatment - the law applies equally to everyone".

But the judge also noted Brown's guilty plea, compliance of bail conditions, and the impact a custodial sentence would have on Brown's children, and said the singer's "risk of further offending is low".

Brown and Akinlolu pleaded guilty to a charge of affray at Southwark Crown Court in July.

The singer had been due to face a trial on more serious charges, which he denied, and which were subsequently dropped.

These were assault, attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, and having an offensive weapon.

Following Brown and Akinlolu's guilty pleas, the CPS released a statement outlining that Brown had approached Diaw on the dance floor, hitting him over the head with a glass bottle twice, before Akinlolu then punched Diaw in the head.

"They continued their assault whilst the victim attempted to flee through the club," the CPS said. "The victim was kicked while he was seated defenceless on the floor."

On Monday, the court was shown three pieces of CCTV footage from inside Tape nightclub on the night of the attack.

The attack lasted no more than 20 seconds, but Brown could be seen hitting the victim four times with a tequila bottle, twice to the head.

Prosecutor, Heidi Stonecliffe KC, described the weapon as a "heavy square-shaped tequila bottle" and says Diaw was approached by Brown at around 03:00.

The footage showed that the nightclub was very small and packed at the time.

The defence described Chris Brown as a "dedicated and a loving father of four children," someone who is "positive and present".

The singer is described as having lived "a good and law-abiding life" since his last conviction in 2013.

The events in Tape nightclub were described by the defence as a "short and deeply regretted incident".

They argued that the attack left no fractures or broken skin and there was an absence of serious injuries.

Brown's defence lawyer told the court that the apologises to all those present at the club at the time of the attack.

"This is an ugly and unattractive incident," Sallie Bennett-Jenkins KC said.

"It is, however, an incident which was very short-lived, lasting something more than 17 seconds but no more than 20.

"It is something which undoubtedly would have caused distress to those who are present and for which Mr Brown... offers a profound apology to all those present."

The court heard Akinlolu "genuinely believed" that Brown was "under attack" when he joined the attack, punching Diaw.

Brown was described as being like a "brother" to Akinlolu, his lawyer Laurie-Anne Power KC told the court.

She added: "He genuinely believed him to be under attack and became involved, and thereafter accepts his initial involvement very quickly evolved into the events he has pleaded guilty to."

Affray is an offence under the Public Order Act and a person is deemed guilty in law if they use or threaten "unlawful violence towards another" with their behaviour, leading someone to fear for their personal safety.

Brown, 37, is considered one of the biggest stars in R&B, with a string of hit songs including Turn Up The Music, Ayo, Freaky Friday, Run It, Forever, Yeah 3x and Don't Wake Me Up.

Stunning photos capture October's Hunter's Moon around the world

https://www.bbc.com/weather/articles/c6zjxgj83n80o, today

* Storm Boelo clears but more wind and rain bears down on UK Published1 hour ago

* Published1 hour ago

* Storm Boelo leaves 90,000 without power as Met Office issues new wind warning Published25 minutes ago

* Published25 minutes ago

* Stunning photos capture October's Hunter's Moon around the world Published58 minutes ago

* Published58 minutes ago

* Weather for the week ahead. VideoWeather for the week ahead Published20 hours ago

* Published20 hours ago

* Five ways El Niño is affecting the weather around the world Published6 days ago

* Published6 days ago

* Where to spot brilliant colours after 'false autumn' spoils some leaf displays Published5 days ago

* Published5 days ago

* BBC presenter battles strong winds as Storm Austen hits Newquay. VideoBBC presenter battles strong winds as Storm Austen hits Newquay Published3 days ago

* Published3 days ago

* Why are pumpkins smaller this Halloween? VideoWhy are pumpkins smaller this Halloween? Published16 October

* Published16 October

Eric Bauza, voice of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, dies aged 46

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwzd6q630vjeo, today

Eric Bauza, the voice artist behind Looney Tunes characters including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, has died aged 46.

A statement from the Emmy award-winning star's family posted on Instagram said he had died "suddenly".

Bauza had voiced a number of characters in this summer's animated hit Coyote vs. Acme, and appeared in the recent release Forgotten Island.

Variety reports that the cause of death was hypertensive cardiovascular disease and that Bauza died at home on Sunday.

In a 2021 interview with NBC News, Bauza, who was born in Ontario and was of Filipino descent, said he grew up a huge fan of the Looney Tunes characters and used to copy the voices as a child.

"Looney Tunes transcends all languages and all cultures," he said. "It doesn't matter what part of the planet you're from. You get the comedy."

He voiced Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd and Foghorn Leghorn in 2021's Space Jam: A New Legacy before reprising those roles and that of Road Runner in Coyote vs. Acme.

He also played the part of Toad General in 2023's The Super Mario Bros. Movie and its sequel The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, the fifth highest-grossing film internationally this year.

Between 2022 and 2025, he won three Emmy awards for outstanding voice performance in a number of TV series.

In a statement reported by the Hollywood Reporter, Channing Dungey, the chairman of Warner Bros. Television Group and US Networks, said: "Eric Bauza was a unique voice talent who brought joy and laughter to millions around the world.

"He followed in the footsteps of giants like Mel Blanc. Eric said that carrying on the legendary legacy of the Looney Tunes was among the greatest honors of his life."

Alaska's Democratic Senate candidate pauses midterms campaigning after car crash

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cky93gep3gyeo, today

Mary Peltola, Alaska's Democratic Senate candidate, has paused campaigning ahead of the US midterm elections after sustaining "minor injuries" in a car crash.

Peltola, 53, and her family were travelling to an event on Saturday when the vehicle they were in was hit by another driver, her campaign said in a statement.

She is running in one of the most closely watched races in the elections, which take place on 3 November - one that could help decide the balance of power in government.

Peltola has rescheduled campaign events "as she takes time to recover" on the advice of medical professionals, her campaign manager, Cheryl Bruce, said in a statement.

"Mary and her family sustained minor injuries but are in good spirits," Bruce said.

Peltola is trying to unseat incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan. The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan website that rates and tracks US elections, has classified the Alaska senate race as a "toss-up", meaning neither the Republicans nor the Democrats hold a decisive advantage.

Trump told the justice department to file a federal lawsuit last week to block the certification of the Senate election in Alaska if Sullivan loses, arguing that another candidate with the same name may confuse voters.

The suit said the inclusion of another Dan Sullivan on the ballot could lead some to mistakenly cast their votes for the wrong candidate.

Previous efforts to remove that Sullivan, a retired teacher, from the ballot have already been rejected by the Alaska Supreme Court.

Deeply divided Israel braces for pivotal election

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckpdgy6pl7xlo, today

After three years of regional war, this is a battle Israel always knew was coming.

The general election on Tuesday hangs over a country that's deeply divided and ready for a fight.

Polls published on Friday put the governing coalition and the main opposition bloc almost neck-and-neck, with half a million first-time voters due to cast their ballot and some 70,000 Israelis reportedly flying in from abroad specifically to vote.

On Saturday night, vast crowds of opposition voters gathered in central Tel Aviv to demand a change of government.

"We're optimistic," 21-year-old Omri told me. "I want peace, I want security, and I want to end corruption and get the religious fanatics out."

This campaign has been energized by new tactics - including AI videos designed to grab the headlines - and also by a new face.

Gadi Eisenkot is, perhaps, not the man you might expect to take on the flashy, aggressive, media-savvy brand of Israel's longest-serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Relatively new to politics, with a working-class Moroccan background, Eisenkot is a former military chief of staff who is renowned for his calm manner and low-drama approach. He's been dubbed by some as a "non-politician".

But he and his centrist Yashar party have regularly pipped Netanyahu and his Likud party to the top spot in recent polls, the last of which was published on Friday, in line with Israeli election law.

Israeli politics is the art of coalition-building, rather than the task of any one party winning power, but with the predicted result too close to call, Eisenkot's rising profile has sharpened a race many Israelis already see as existential for the future of their country.

I watched him slip past the cameras at a community centre for Ethiopian Jews in the city of Ramle last week, through a gaggle of security personnel and advisors.

One of those who had come to hear him speak was David, a smartly dressed man in a freshly-pressed shirt and navy jacket, who said he had met Eisenkot before.

"He looks you in the eye, not like a leader looking down at someone," David told me. "And he listens. He's very sympathetic."

Eisenkot's appeal is often put down to his personal manner and profile. A softly-spoken military man whose son was killed during the Gaza War, he has presented himself as coming "from the periphery", not from Israel's wealthy urban elite.

His Moroccan background became election headlines earlier this month when a pro-Netanyahu speaker used a racist slur to refer to Eisenkot during a TV debate, referring to him as a Moroccan "monkey".

"These elections are about many issues," Eisenkot told the crowd gathered at the Ramle community centre. "They are about security, economy, education...but primarily, they are about the identity of the State of Israel, and what kind of Israel we want to see. A Jewish state, a democratic state, a liberal, tolerant, egalitarian state."

This is music to opposition ears, who say Benjamin Netanyahu's government is a threat to Israel's democracy, pointing to his efforts to curb the powers of the judicial system, and his refusal to establish a state commission of inquiry into the 7 October 2023 attacks on the grounds that the country's Supreme Court would be biased against him.

Eisenkot, along with other opposition leaders, has attempted to draw voters away from Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party by promising such a state inquiry, which a recent survey suggests is supported by more than 70% of Jewish Israelis.

He has also vowed to enforce court rulings on drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews into national military service - another measure that is popular with right-wing voters and opposition alike.

Benjamin Netanyahu has hit back with a campaign focused on Israel's security, and a core campaign slogan of "No Surrender".

He has repeatedly cast his rivals as soft on security, playing on the fears of some right-wing voters that Jewish opposition parties might ally with Israel's Arab parties to secure a majority, and suggesting this could compromise national security.

Around one-fifth of Israel's population is Arab - many of whom describe themselves as Palestinian citizens of Israel.

These are the first elections since the 7 October attacks, in which Hamas-led gunmen stormed through Gaza's border fence, killing almost people and taking 251 hostage.

It was Israel's worst security failure, but three years on its prime minister is again running for re-election as the only man who can keep Israel safe.

"If the army had woken him in time, it wouldn't have happened," Shlomi Bashar told me, one of several die-hard Netanyahu fans drinking in a basement café in Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market. "He does bear a certain responsibility, but after the 7 October, he changed the entire Middle East."

Netanyahu has been hammering home the message that Israel's wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, in the years after the 7 October attacks, have reduced existential threats to the country.

"We need him to be re-elected so that he can finish this work," said Shlomi. "In my opinion, he is one of the best leaders in the world. Most of the world loves him and respects him, because he is a strong man and his ideas are correct."

The prime minister has traditionally relied on a stable base of right-wing voters, but is projected to see a thinning of support in this election. Some voters may be slipping away to opposition parties like Eisenkot's. Others, including some die-hard Likud voters we spoke to, said the 7 October attacks had pushed them towards parties further on the right.

Lt Col (Res) Eyal Hajbi, head of the regional civil defence unit in the Netanyahu stronghold of Sderot, right on the Gaza border, lost several friends and colleagues in the attacks. He lights candles for them every day in his office, and told me he would be thinking about them when he cast his ballot on Tuesday.

Standing on a ridge overlooking the ruins of northern Gaza, he gestured to the wasteland where Israel's army has completely flattened the neighbourhoods of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun.

"As far as I'm concerned, after 7 October, we should wipe them all out," he said. "I've changed my understanding of Gaza. Before, I wouldn't have said we should destroy it."

He told me he and his family had always voted Likud, but that now he was voting for the far-right party of Itamar Ben Gvir, Jewish Power.

"My family has become more extreme than it ever was before," he said. "If once we deliberated over it, today we don't think twice; we vote."

Polls suggest that less than 10% of Israelis are undecided and that very few of those are considering switching between government parties and opposition ones.

Ben Gvir, National Security minister in Netanyahu's coalition, has been reaching out to younger voters through headline-grabbing social media campaigns.

A poll for one of Israel's leading newspapers, Yedioth Ahronoth, published on 9 October, suggested that more than 16% of first-time voters in Israel would choose far-right parties like his.

In Sderot, a group of 18 year olds from a nearby Jewish religious college told me their political views had been affected by the 7 October attacks far more than their parents. All four teenagers were planning to vote for another far-right party, Religious Zionism, led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

"Today, the whole younger generation understands that peaceful paths will not work," Aviad Elmahach, one of the teenagers, told me. "Older adults, who are set in a fixed mindset, find [it] harder to change, but the youth understand that we need to be here with strength and an iron fist, which is the only way to win."

The lesson of 7 October, he said, was that Israel needed to be as forceful as possible in its relations with the Palestinians, more than 74,000 of whom have been killed by Israel in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.

"The youth have a fresh new perspective that has not yet become entrenched in politics, and they understand very well why we're voting for Smotrich - it means holding the land with strength and giving [the Palestinians] nothing through peaceful gestures."

A little further south along the Gaza border are the kibbutzim that were overrun by gunmen during the Hamas attacks. They were renowned for decades as bastions of the Israeli left.

Among them is Nir Oz, where 47 people were killed and 76 taken hostage that day.

Three years on, residents are moving back. Twenty-six-year-old Gal Pauker has opened a Friday wine café at the edge of his small vineyard next to the Gaza border - a few wooden tables set out under sheets of beige canvas to shade customers from the strong desert sun. His grandfather Gideon was killed during the 7 October attacks.

I asked Gal, and his mother Galia, whether the those attacks had shifted their political views.

"We need a change - we can't live with this government anymore," Galia said. "And I'm not talking about security, I'm talking first about humanity."

Having voted for centrist parties in the past, Galia says she's decided to vote for Eisenkot this time around, because "he's an ordinary guy and I hope he'll continue the way he's talking".

Her son Gal said he was deciding between Eisenkot and the left-leaning Democrats party of Yair Golan, another former army general.

"I'm not naïve. I know there are a lot of more militant voices from young generations," he said. "I don't know if Eisenkot will be better than Golan in terms of security, but I think we have bigger problems: economics, social problems, education, health. We didn't get new neighbours on October 7 - it was a major event, but didn't change how we see ourselves."

Threats to security versus threats to democracy - these are old political tramlines for Israeli voters, deepened by the 7 October attacks, and by four years of the most right-wing government in Israel's history.

But on some of the biggest international concerns, the differences between government and opposition are not as wide as it might seem.

Gadi Eisenkot has pledged to end Hamas rule of Gaza within 18 months, either through a US-led peace plan, or through "military and operational capabilities".

All the main opposition leaders have voiced support for some form of Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, which has expanded massively under the current government and is illegal under international law. None have openly committed to the idea of full Palestinian statehood, something Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to block. Eisenkot has spoken about creating the conditions for "autonomy or state-minus" under ultimate Israeli security control.

Tuesday's vote could well end in deadlock, with neither government nor opposition able to form a majority without the support of Arab parties, which polls project could win enough seats to be kingmakers. All but one of Israel's Jewish opposition parties have so far rejected working with either of the two Arab party blocs.

With Benjamin Netanyahu ramping up warnings of fresh threats from Iran, opposition voices warning of potential disruption to the ballot, and Israeli rights activists warning of a further spike in violence by settlers in the occupied West Bank, political instability at home could leave Israelis facing both a fresh test of their democracy, and fresh security threats.

Fans prepare to say goodbye as anime series Bleach officially ends

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8p3g73ep520o, today

It's a finale fans have waited more than a decade to see.

The epic conclusion to Bleach, the popular animated series based on the hit manga, or Japanese comic, is due to land on streaming later.

And anticipation for the final episode of the climactic Thousand-Year Blood War storyline is especially high.

The original comic book's "rushed" ending is widely considered disappointing but original creator Tite Kubo has overseen some major changes to the new adaptation.

So, as some mourn the "end of an era", they're also nervously waiting to see if he can stick the landing second time around.

BBC Newsbeat's been speaking to fans as they say an "emotional" goodbye to Kubo's creation.

Bleach is regarded as one of the "big three" manga in Japan alongside One Piece and Naruto, and animated adaptations of each are credited with helping to fuel the global popularity of anime.

It follows the story of Ichigo Kurosaki, a teenager with distinctive orange hair who has the unusual ability to see ghosts.

He navigates school and family life at the same time as defending humanity from evil spirits.

"It is honestly my favourite series of all time, it has got me through a lot across my life," says Ruby.

The 27-year-old started reading Bleach aged nine and became friends with fellow fan Nicholas Thong, 30, through their shared passion.

"I've made so many friends through Bleach, it's been such a wonderful part of my life both in terms of what it teaches me and the kind of people I meet through it," says Ruby.

For Nicholas, watching Bleach as teenager helped him get through school - and he even has a tattoo dedicated to the story.

"It helped me make friends in school, talking to a few people who also knew Bleach and about our favourite characters," he says.

The pair tell Newsbeat they will be "crying together" as they watch the finale later.

"A lot of us are feeling quite emotional about it," says Ruby.

The original Bleach anime ran from 2004 to 2012 across 16 seasons but never caught up to the manga source material - with fans left unsure if it would ever come back.

But the first part of Bleach's animated final chapter eventually premiered 10 years later in 2022.

The arc, Thousand-Year Blood War, has been split into four separate chapters, and the final run began this July.

Bleach's original comic book ending was divisive and broadly unpopular with fans and was said to have been rushed due to creator Kubo experiencing health issues during its production.

One of the reasons they've been so excited to see the new, animated finale is due to the fact Kubo and animation house Pierrot Films have made changes to the original storyline.

And many are hoping the "final battle" will "fix" the unpopular ending from 2016.

Regardless of the final verdict, fans say Bleach will have a lasting legacy.

Itanna Alakija describes himself as the "biggest Bleach fan there is" and says one of his favourite things is how it represents black characters.

"The way that Tite Kubo integrates all these cultures and represents them in a Japanese art form is really interesting and amazing," the 28-year-old says.

Alakija was already a Naruto fan when he discovered Bleach as a teenager.

"I remember stumbling upon Bleach and thought: 'This looks cool'," he says.

And he praises the show for treating black characters as "normal people".

"It's one of the few anime that has represented black characters in a non-stereotypical way."

Bleach is available to stream via Disney+ globally and on Hulu in the US.

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.

China's big political meeting could see Xi 'tighten discipline' in Party

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6n8djd1078ro, today

In the Chinese capital a major political gathering is underway, with a closed-door meeting of senior figures that could shape the look of the ruling Communist Party in the years to come.

The Fifth Plenum brings together around 300 members of the Central Committee and state media said it would pave the way for a "tightening of discipline" within the Party's ranks.

The four-day session that started on Monday will give Xi Jinping an opportunity to further consolidate his grip on power following recent purges.

The normally annual Plenums are highly secretive, but a summary of decisions and a more detailed document will be made public after.

What is a plenum?

They are essentially closed door meetings of the Party's central committee that happen at least once a year.

There are usually seven plenums during each five-year Central Committee term and they are watched from afar because they are meant to signal the leadership's priorities.

The timing for this year's gathering is important because it is a year away from the next Party Congress, where a new set of priorities is set up and a new central committee appointed.

Officially, the Central Committee selects the Party's top leadership but the real processes leading to the selection are kept secret within the Party elite.

The next Party Congress will almost certainly reappoint Xi as the country's leader, following the abolition of term limits.

What is on the agenda this year?

Past plenum sessions have been used to declare Xi as "the core" of the Party, abolish term limits which cleared the way for him to remain in power indefinitely, and elevate his personal philosophy – branded as "Xi Jinping Thought" – to the same level as Chairman Mao.

This years plenum is an opportunity for Xi to dictate strategy in the run up to the Congress, ensuring that views are aligned and delegates loyal.

Even the location of the meeting, which will wrap up on Thursday, has not been announced. Past Plenums have been held inside Beijing's Jingxi Hotel.

According to a readout from the powerful 21-member Politburo this September, the plenum will adopt a decision on "several major issues persistently advancing the comprehensive strict governance of the Party", which is being read as a way to further ensure obedience and effectiveness from distant party officials.

This means it would also be a time of nervousness for delegates as they look around the room with its "empty chairs" following the scale of recent purges within the Party.

Allegations of corruption, even "moral corruption", have seen large swathes of senior figures culled.

"Moral corruption" has been seen by experts as a way of cracking down on perceived disloyalty to Xi because overall disloyalty to the Party can be interpreted as a breach of "morality".

The Asia Society Policy Institute has estimated that of 44 military members appointed to the Central Committee in 2022 only two have not been taken down.

The all-powerful seven-man Central Military Commission, which runs the armed forces in China, has also been whittled down to only two people, Xi Jinping and one other general.

This Plenum is an opportunity for him to appoint new officers to this body.

Data centre debate heats up ahead of US midterms - here's what you need to know

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq2e9we7w2ejo, today

Until a few years ago many of us may have been blissfully unaware of what a data centre was.

These giant, warehouse-like buildings power virtually all our internet activity, from our web searches and emails to movie downloads and online banking.

They are at the heart of the AI boom, housing the advanced computer chips and servers needed to run services like ChatGPT and Claude.

But the speed at which they're growing, the enormous amount of electricity they consume and concerns about their environmental impact are fuelling a public backlash around the world.

In the US, they've become a huge issue ahead of the midterm elections on 3 November, with both Republicans and opposition Democrats coming out against their development.

It's putting opponents of data centre expansion on a collision course with US President Donald Trump, who has dismissed the pushback as a "sick conspiracy", even as public anger grows.

Here's what you need to know about the data centre boom, and why opposition is growing.

They are growing rapidly

There are about 12,250 data centres around the world, according to Data Center Map, a company that tracks both operational and pre-operational sites.

That's up sharply from 2021, when there were around 8,000 operational sites.

As the chart below shows, data centres are most densely clustered in the US which has 4,767 sites. It is followed by Europe, where the UK and Germany lead.

Data centres have typically been located near to cities where it's easier to access high voltage power lines or water resources for cooling. But as they get bigger, more are being built in rural areas.

But when it comes to actual capacity, the US is ahead by a much larger margin, with China in second place and Europe lagging far behind.

This gap is set to widen in the coming years, leading some to warn Europe risks missing out on the potential economic benefits of the AI boom.

They are getting bigger

Data centres vary wildly in size, ranging from ones that fit inside a garden shed to others covering vast expanses of land.

The world's largest operational data centre is widely reported to be one run by China Telecom in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, covering an area of approximately one million square metres (10.7 million sq ft). That is equivalent to about 140 Fifa football pitches.

However, much larger sites are under construction as the graphic below shows.

All these sites are being built exclusively to provide the immense computing power needed to run AI services.

For instance, Colossus 2, which is part of the wider Colossus campus, will house hundreds of thousands of advanced AI chips made by tech giant Nvidia.

It will also be used to train xAI's chatbot Grok. Elon Musk's company will use 41 methane gas turbines to help power the site, which activists say could "significantly increase" local air pollution. Local regulators say the turbines will meet air quality standards.

They use more electricity than France

The pressure data centres put on local resources has sparked increasing concern. These facilities can use significant amounts of water to cool their systems, which could lead to water shortages, some experts say.

Data centres worldwide are also thought to consume more electricity than the whole of France, as the chart below shows.

This growing hunger for power is driving up carbon emissions, analysis shows, while putting pressure on local grids, which some fear could push up energy prices.

With others worried about the noise data centres make and the space they take up, a public backlash is gathering steam.

Some 16 US states have proposed laws to ban or temporarily block new facilities, and it could be a key issue in November's midterm elections.

Outside the US, opposition to data centres has emerged in countries like Mexico, France, Indonesia and the UK.

But they can boost jobs

But supporters say data centres are critical to national security, and the development of AI.

They also say they are good for the economy, attracting investment, generating tax revenue and creating jobs in areas like construction.

A recent report by the Brookings Center suggests data centres do create local jobs, although fewer than industry advocates claim.

The type of data centre matters too. So-called hyperscale facilities - massive sites owned and run by tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft - have a bigger positive effect on jobs, it found.

But "colocation" facilities, which lease space to remote tenants without a local presence, brought fewer benefits.

As the debate over their merits intensifies, the data centre rollout continues.

This year, the tech industry is expected to spend a combined $765bn ($544bn) on AI infrastructure in 2026, with this topping $1tn next year.

But as concerns about the environmental impact grow, the tech industry is exploring alternatives.

One idea is to put data centres in space or on the Moon, where they could harness abundant solar energy.

Others predict that more AI processing could eventually be carried out by the hardware already inside our computers and smartphones, reducing the need for vast data centres altogether.

Additional reporting and design by Erwan Rivault, Matt Faraci and Dominic Bailey.

Is 'ferritin face' a real thing - and can you really spot low iron from looks?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmlykvpdx4x0o, today

"Do you have ferritin face?" a young woman asks on TikTok, pointing to dark circles, washed-out skin and brittle hair, alongside before-and-after style photographs. The content creator puts these features down to her iron levels.

It is one of a growing number of videos and posts on TikTok and Instagram claiming that low ferritin - a protein which stores iron in the body - can leave visible clues on your face.

Users list pale or grey-looking skin, dark under-eye circles, dry or cracked lips, hair shedding and weak nails, while others share portraits claiming stark visual differences.

The phrase "ferritin face" has spread widely across social media, with videos attracting millions of views.

But doctors say appearance alone cannot diagnose iron deficiency.

"Ferritin face is not a medical diagnosis," said GP Dr Aziza Sesay, who is based in the West Midlands. "However, it may be a clue to tell us that something is going on."

Pale skin, hair shedding or brittle nails can accompany low iron, but can also be signs of other conditions, she told BBC News.

What is ferritin?

Your ferritin levels show how good your body's iron stores are, while haemoglobin is the protein in red blood cells which carries oxygen. When haemoglobin is low, the blood cannot carry as much oxygen - a condition known as anaemia.

But iron stores can become depleted before that happens, meaning someone can be iron-deficient and have symptoms without being anaemic.

"You've got no stored iron but you're maintaining your haemoglobin. That's the big disconnect," said consultant haematologist Dr Drew Provan.

Dr Sue Pavord, also a consultant haematologist, said iron deficiency is common and often under-diagnosed in women.

UK guidelines from the British Society of Gastroenterology say ferritin below 15 micrograms per litre indicates absent iron stores, while below 30 generally indicates low iron stores.

Lucy M, 32, who posts about hair loss as @marvluceskin on Instagram and TikTok, said "ferritin face" seemed to describe changes she had noticed in herself.

In 2021 she developed heart palpitations, fatigue and hair loss. After being told her blood tests were normal and being diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder, a later test showed her ferritin was 12 micrograms per litre.

Lucy said she looked "grey" and her hair had become dull and brittle.

She shared photographs with the BBC from when her ferritin was low, compared to when it had recovered, and said the difference between how she felt and looked was "night and day".

Can low iron change your face?

Videos about "ferritin face" often encourage viewers to look for a combination of physical signs - from dark circles and pale skin to dry lips, thinning hair and brittle nails - and compare them with their own appearance.

"You're not ugly, your ferritin is low", one creator says, pointing to the camera.

Provan said it was "impossible" to determine someone's ferritin levels from how their face looks.

People who are significantly anaemic may look pale, he explained, while fatigue can contribute to dark circles, but these visual signs are "subjective and unreliable".

In people with darker skin, changes in skin colour may be less obvious, Sesay added, meaning someone looking specifically for the signs described online could miss iron deficiency.

Awareness or misinformation?

For doctors, symptoms and how someone feels are more useful than appearance.

Blood tests matter not only to confirm iron deficiency, Provan and Sesay said, but to establish the cause and guide treatment.

Both said treatment should also address the cause. Heavy periods, low dietary iron, gastrointestinal blood loss and problems absorbing iron through the gut can all play a role.

Iron deficiency is commonly treated with oral iron. Pavord said iron tablets are best taken on an empty stomach, ideally first thing in the morning, and advised avoiding tea or coffee around the time they are taken because they can inhibit iron absorption.

Iron can also be obtained naturally from foods including meat, beans, lentils, leafy green vegetables and fortified cereals.

Taking iron supplements without a diagnosis can be harmful, while self-treating could delay the investigation of an underlying problem.

Lucy said social media has nevertheless helped women take symptoms more seriously, and has given some the confidence to ask questions when something feels wrong.

"There are so many women saying, 'Oh my gosh, this is me," she said, adding that she is not a doctor and presents her content as her own experience.

For her, doing so has been empowering - giving women information with which to advocate for themselves.

Sesay called social media a "double-edged sword" - it can encourage people to seek help, but can also lead them to incorrectly diagnose themselves from a short video.

For Lucy, the useful part is not diagnosing yourself from your appearance, but knowing when something doesn't feel right, and when to ask questions.

If you'd like to include more iron in your diet, try some of these BBC Food recipes.

India's cartoonists built an audience online - now their posts are being restricted

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm3elp3v7jkdo, today

For the second time in three weeks, Indian cartoonist Satish Acharya found himself effectively invisible on Instagram in his own country.

The 55-year-old discovered on Tuesday that his account had once again been briefly blocked in India, allegedly with no explanation from the platform.

Just a few weeks ago, another cartoonist, Manjul, had found that Instagram had restricted a post criticising India's election commission over its controversial revision of voter rolls. His profile remained accessible.

The cases have raised concerns about the use of legal orders to restrict political satire in India, with cartoonists saying they are often given little explanation for why their work has been blocked.

Acharaya's account was first restricted from 28 September to 6 October, when users in India could neither find his profile through search nor access it through a web link.

Anyone trying to access his profile saw a message saying it was unavailable under India's Information Technology Rules.

The rules allow authorities and courts to order social media platforms to remove or restrict content.

The government says they help tackle unlawful material, but artists and free-speech advocates warn they can stifle India's rich tradition of political satire.

"Meta platforms have been restricting the reach of my cartoons for some years," Acharya told the BBC. "But when my entire profile was restricted in India, I was a little sad."

He wrote to Meta, Instagram's parent company, but received no reply. He says he was preparing to go to court when his account became accessible again in early October, only to be blocked again earlier this week for three days.

In a statement, Meta told the BBC that may temporarily restrict accounts to comply with India's IT Rules but did not explain the specific reasons for restricting Acharya's account or Manjul's post.

Critics say the restrictions come as humour and satire play an increasingly visible role in political dissent in India, particularly among younger people.

Memes and Gen-Z humour helped fuel protests over education and jobs in July, which led to the resignation of India's education minister. Online debate has also intensified over a controversial revision of voter rolls that removed 130 million names.

The political significance of social media has not been lost on the government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has urged ministers to strengthen their online presence and connect with younger audiences.

At the same time, technology policy expert Prateek Waghre says the government is increasingly using legal orders to regulate online content.

The Indian Express reported that government agencies sent nearly 195,000 blocking and content-restriction orders to platforms including Instagram, Facebook and YouTube between March and July through the federal government's Sahyog portal.

The figures, obtained through a right-to-information request, do not show how many posts were ultimately restricted or removed. The BBC has not seen the original response.

Waghre says that some platforms, particularly Meta, "seem more willing to comply", he says, while X appears more willing to push back. But limited public data makes comparisons difficult. Meta declined to comment on his assessment.

The government has also reportedly sought greater scrutiny of how social media platforms recommend content.

Earlier this week, several media outlets reported that authorities had asked Meta to ensure its systems did not steer users towards "a single or limited set of narratives" and strengthen checks on content that could "cause public disorder or incite violence".

The BBC has sought comment from India's IT ministry on the restrictions and reported instructions to Meta but has not received a response.

Of course, political satire has a long history in India - as do attempts to curb it.

Cartoons have been a fixture of Indian journalism since independence, with RK Laxman's Common Man becoming one of its most recognisable characters.

But cartoonists have also faced censorship. During the Emergency in the 1970s, when civil liberties were suspended and the press was tightly controlled, Abu Abraham continued drawing, even as dozens of his cartoons were stamped "not passed by censors".

In 2012, cartoonist Aseem Trivedi was arrested on sedition charges over cartoons allegedly mocking the Indian constitution. The charges were later dropped.

Today, concerns about restrictions on political expression extend beyond cartoonists. India ranks 157th in Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index, while critics accuse the government of putting growing pressure on independent media. The government rejects the criticism, saying India's media remains free and vibrant.

Comedians have also faced controversy over political satire. Kunal Kamra, known for his jokes about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party, has faced threats, cancelled shows and legal action.

For cartoonists, however, challenging those in power is central to their work.

"We are among the default opposition," says Sandeep Adhwaryu, a cartoonist at a leading Indian newspaper.

"The nature of the craft is to oppose," he says, adding that cartoonists, like journalists, must question whoever holds power.

Acharya says he has followed that principle throughout his career. Before 2014, many of his cartoons targeted the Congress-led government and were shared by BJP leaders.

"I never faced official restrictions on my cartoons during the previous governments, though there would be some trolling occasionally," he says.

Now, with the BJP in power, much of his satire is directed at Modi's government.

Social media has allowed independent cartoonists like Acharya to reach audiences without relying on newspapers or other traditional outlets.

"We are not associated with newspapers or any mainstream media. That's why we can draw," says Manjul.

But that freedom comes with a new vulnerability - dependence on platforms that can restrict their work or cut off access to their audiences.

No one knows this better than Rachita Taneja, the creator of the hugely popular Instagram comic Sanitary Panels.

"My career would not have existed without the internet," she told the BBC. Yet she describes social media as a double-edged sword.

"At the end of the day it's a for-profit endeavour that answers to advertisers," she says.

Taneja says that Meta's compliance with Indian government requests reflects the company's commercial priorities rather than concern for users' rights. Meta declined to comment.

Even cartoonists working in traditional newsrooms face pressure. Adhwaryu says artists may soften captions, avoid certain subjects or think twice before submitting a cartoon. Over time, he says, such self-censorship can become normalised, even without explicit instructions.

Still, cartoonists have found ways to support one another.

When Acharya's Instagram account was first restricted, Taneja drew a stick-figure cartoon in solidarity. "Seeing people on the front lines creating communities, protesting, running campaigns, tirelessly fighting for their own rights and the rights of others is what keeps me going," she says.

Adhwaryu believes satire will continue to adapt. He compares cartoons and humour to a "shape-shifting virus".

"It keeps mutating in response to its environment," he says. "It will find its way."

How a movement of students brought down Serbia's Vučić

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c574pvy82k0mo, today

Theirs is a movement born from tragedy that began with students blockading streets and turned into almost daily protests and a national movement against corruption and government negligence.

In just under two years the students have succeeded in tearing up 14 years of political dominance under Aleksandar Vučić, who has seen support for his Serbian Progressive party (SNS) ebb away and ultimately fail in what became a referendum on the future of Serbia.

From Belgrade to Novi Sad and Niš, the mood was euphoric as supporters gathered in town centres or in front of Student List headquarters. In a post on social media, the students declared "Serbia is free".

Most symbolic of all was the demise of so-called Ćaciland, a pro-Vučić tent camp set up 18 months ago at Pioneers Park in central Belgrade in front of the Serbian parliament. Metal fences were torn down amid shouts of "Vučić is leaving".

How the students changed Serbia

They have no obvious leaders and have no grounding in politics, and yet the "Student List-Students Win" movement attracted anti-government voters across Serbian society.

They fielded candidates for all 250 parliamentary seats, and yet no students were among them.

As he joined the students marching towards Belgrade last week, lead candidate and cardiologist Ilija Srdanović said history was being rewritten: "The energy is unstoppable."

"We offer our citizens the core values of civilised society, which this previous regime has taken away from our citizens for the last time," he told the BBC.

It all began on 1 November 2024, when the concrete canopy collapsed outside Novi Sad train station, in Serbia's second biggest city, killing 16 people.

The tragedy was seen as emblematic of widespread corruption. Critics linked the station's fatally flawed renovation to a president who had closely associated himself with the project.

"When the canopy collapsed that served as the last straw," says Helena Ivanov of the think tank the Henry Jackson Society.

It was an emotional moment that triggered a spark and a national campaign of marches and events, she said, that captured the hearts and minds of Serbians in a way no opposition party had been able to do.

From protests to direct challenge to Vučić

What started as weekly student protests demanding justice on university campuses and city streets soon became a national movement, often at a local level, that encompassed far more sections of Serbian society, including farmers, actors and judges.

Vučić's SNS was clearly shaken and by January 2025 his prime minister had resigned "to defuse tensions". In March 2025 Belgrade saw Serbia's biggest ever anti-government protest and as the leaderless student movement increased in strength, they organised themselves through student assemblies or plenums.

By the time Vučić had announced snap elections last month, they were ready. "They have been able to take that emotional momentum into a proper organisation and have people learn how to protect fairness at polling stations," Helena Ivanov explained.

"The message was clear: the rule of law and not ruled by the law," said Gordana Delić, head of the Balkans programme at the German Marshall Fund of the US, who said Sunday's vote was in effect a referendum.

Initially Vučić sought to praise the protesters as "well-intentioned", but ahead of the elections he accused them of trying to "bring down" Serbia. Even after conceding victory on Sunday night he made the unfounded allegation that they had the support of unnamed "European countries and the American deep state".

Who will run Serbia now?

One thing is clear, it will not be the students, as they were not standing for election. That was a calculated decision as the electorate would probably not voted for a list of candidates with little life experience.

Although their top candidate was Ilija Srdanović, a cardiology professor in Novi Sad, he is not really seen as a likely prime minister.

Few candidates stand out as potential leaders.

At least 135 people on the list are thought to have won seats in parliament, and they include ex-basketball star Dejan Bodiroga (24th on the list), renowned actor Tihomir Stanić (8th), opera singer Nikola Mikić (46th), former National Bank of Serbia governor Dejan Šoškić (27th), and a rather large number of professors.

Šoškić's name has been mentioned in connection with the top post. He has spoken out about reforms he would make to the economy, and he has been widely criticised in pro-government media.

What is their programme?

The elected MPs will have the task of fulfilling what is in effect a manifesto.

In the words of the students themselves, they were looking for people who could enter institutions "do their jobs responsibly and not forget why they are there".

Under an 11-point programme, the student movement wants to:

* Eradicate corruption by forming a police unit to arrest those responsible for it

* Purge officials in the internal affairs ministry of anyone who broke rules on cracking down on protesters, or anyone linked to organised crime

* Reform Serbia's skewed media scene and free the public broadcaster of political control

* Stop recruiting party loyalists to head public enterprises.

Vučić and the SNS party deny corruption and seeking to influence the media.

Will it still be a student movement, without students?

Although they have not been elected, it is the students who have made the promises to the Serbian people and they will come under pressure to follow through on their manifesto.

The ordinary Serbian citizens they chose to represent their movement have "been entrusted with transferring part of the struggle we have been waging on the streets for the past year into the institutions", the students say.

In his speech on Sunday evening, Vučić told party supporters that the students had destroyed two years of life in Serbia and they would be defeated "faster than they think".

Part of Antarctica named after former BBC science correspondent

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckvg7w919x09o, today

Part of Antarctica has been named after former BBC science correspondent Jonathan Amos.

A stretch of water between Rothschild Island and Alexander Island in the west of the White Continent is now called the Amos Channel.

Amos was given the honour for his "exceptional and influential role in bringing Antarctic research to the forefront of public understanding" during his 38-year career at BBC News, the naming committee said.

The channel is a new feature in Antarctica that appeared when a chunk of ice that connected Rothschild and Alexander Islands disintegrated.

The melting ice sheets of this remote continent are just one of many aspects of polar science that Amos reported on while at the BBC. He also covered colossal icebergs, the fate of penguin colonies and a BBC exclusive about the discovery of Ernest Shackleton's lost ship, the Endurance.

"It's absolutely incredible - what an extraordinary accolade. I'm so touched that there's a little bit of Antarctica named after me," Amos said.

Despite his fascination with the South Pole, he has not yet travelled to the continent.

"I've written about it so often, but always from my desk - this is quite the incentive to go and visit.

"Antarctica is the front line of the biggest news story on planet Earth - climate change," he added.

The naming of geographical features in Antarctica follows strict rules.

The Amos Channel was recommended by the UK Antarctic Place Names Committee, which looks after names for sites within the British Antarctic Territory, as well as South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

Athena Dinar, from the British Antarctic Survey, said: "Jon's passion for Antarctica and engaging journalism offers something for every reader, viewer or listener.

"The naming of an Antarctic place in his honour is a fitting recognition of his outstanding contribution to the promotion of Antarctic research."

Amos joined the BBC in 1986 as a local radio reporter in Cambridge. He was part of the team that launched the BBC News website in 1997, and ran the online science desk for many years. He later worked as a BBC science correspondent across TV, radio and online, before leaving the organisation in 2024.

"Jon consistently highlighted the importance of Antarctic research, explaining not only what science is being done there, but why it matters for society, climate understanding and the global environment," said Fiona Fox, from the Science Media Centre.

Sharon Osbourne: 'I visit Ozzy's grave every day'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6g7xn8p2n0ro, today

It's been 15 months since Ozzy Osbourne died, at the age of 76, at his home in Buckinghamshire.

Although he had suffered from health problems for years, including Parkinson's disease and a fractured vertebra, his death was a shock.

Less than three weeks beforehand, he had been on stage in Birmingham, playing a triumphant farewell concert.

After the show, he was on a high.

"He was just so, so happy," recalls his wife Sharon.

"He was online, going through the reviews and saying, 'There's something terribly wrong', and I'm like, 'Why?'

"He goes, 'I didn't get slagged by anybody. Why are people being nice to me?'

"And I'm like, 'Because they like you'."

On the morning he died, Ozzy had woken up early and gone downstairs for his usual morning workout. Shortly afterwards, he had a heart attack. An air ambulance was called and paramedics tried to save him. But it was too late.

"I was asleep," says Sharon.

"We'd spoken in the night. Ozzy had woken in the night and he asked me to kiss him twice, and I did.

"And then he said, 'Hold me, hold me tight,' and I did.

"And then the next thing I know, it's early in the morning, and someone comes rushing into the room saying, 'Come down now'.

"I ran down, and that was it."

The grief, she says, will never leave.

"You've lost the love of your life, so you don't just wake up and go, 'I'm fine now. I'm cured'.

"You never get over it. But you learn to live with it, and that's what I'm trying to do. So you either sit in a room and don't come out, or you accept it, befriend it, and that's it."

The affection among Ozzy's fans was apparent before the singer's funeral. Thousands of people lined the streets of Birmingham, laying floral tributes and singing Black Sabbath songs as Ozzy's body was transported through his home city in a hearse topped by a purple floral tribute in the shape of a cross.

Sharon says he would have been mystified by the outpouring of love.

"He'd have been like, 'What's the matter with you guys? Go home!'" she says.

But for the family, the public response was a huge source of comfort.

Daughter Kelly said last year: "I never could have imagined it to be as helpful as it has been to know that we're not alone in our grief and our sadness, and that the rest of the world loved him as much as we did."

Sharon says the fans' cards and messages were all collected, sorted and photographed; while the flowers were composted for the family garden, where Ozzy is buried.

"There was no way I could put Ozzy in a public graveyard," she says.

"I've seen what happens to other people in the public eye. There's no peace because people want to come and they want to pay their respects. That's an ongoing thing, and I wanted Ozzy to rest and just be."

Does she visit him often?

"Of course, every day. I can see him from my window."

She still talks to him regularly, she says. Asked what she discusses, she puts a finger to her lips and gives a gentle "shh".

Ozzy and Sharon's relationship spanned more than 50 years.

They met in 1970 and married in 1982. Their time together could be turbulent - he was arrested for attempting to murder her in 1989 (she dropped the charges), and they split briefly in 2016 amid rumours of infidelity - but the couple maintained that they were soulmates.

"It was an unusual relationship because we had such highs and such terrible lows," she admits. But at the end of his life, "he knew" how much he was loved.

You can see proof of that love - from his family, his fans and his bandmates – in a new documentary about his final gig at Birmingham's Villa Park last year, when he reunited with heavy rock legends Black Sabbath.

Titled Back To The Beginning, it features more than 25 of the songs played at that star-studded concert, including Ozzy's solo set and Sabbath's entire performance.

In backstage footage, fellow A-list performers discuss the star's influence in awestruck tones.

"If there was no Sabbath, there's no Metallica," says the band's frontman James Hetfield. "It's as simple as that."

Yungblud, whose version of Changes was one of the concert's emotional high points, talks about how, as a kid who didn't fit in, Ozzy changed his life.

"The fact he was celebrated for his madness and his individuality gave me hope."

Sharon says the concert was Ozzy's final wish: the one thing that would make him happy after years of deteriorating health.

But it almost never happened.

Six months before the show, Ozzy fell and fractured his vertebrae. In recovery, he caught pneumonia three times. After surgery on his back, he caught sepsis and nearly died.

Two weeks before the show, doctors urged him to call it off.

"They came to see us at the house and they said, 'You can't do this. We're advising you not to do this. Your heart's too weak'," Sharon recalls.

But the singer was determined to see it through. In the film, it's hard to believe he's so ill. Although he performs seated on a throne, his eyes are full of life and his voice is powerful. As he looks out at the crowd, he seems elated.

Backstage, Sharon admits, "the whole family was terrified". But something changed when Ozzy entered the stadium.

"He was sat in his dressing room, watching everybody on a screen performing, and he was like, 'I just can't believe they're all here'.

"It's amazing what support and love and determination can do for you, because [before the show] he was somebody that couldn't breathe. He had a lung condition. He had a heart condition. He had terrible, terrible agony from his spine. He had blood clots and he had Parkinson's.

"Some days just to even talk was an effort, let alone sing. And I don't know how he did it, but he did it.

"And you saw it in his eyes, in his face. It just made him feel like he was alive again."

The effect was so galvanising that, when he came off stage, Ozzy declared he wanted to go on tour.

"He was raring to go," Sharon laughs. "He was like, 'I can do this, and the fans don't mind if I'm sat down'."

It's an incredible and rare thing, I suggest, to be able to grant your partner their last wish.

Ozzy may have suffered immense pain in his final years, but he was able to say goodbye in style.

"To quote one of his songs, he was flying high again," Sharon says.

"He was just floating for those last 17 days. It was great. It was joyous."

Rapper Nicki Minaj joins Trump onstage at Michigan rally

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqrmyl1mljppo, today

Rapper Nicki Minaj said US President Donald Trump has "changed the energy of the country" as she joined him at a Michigan rally to stump for Republicans ahead of the nationwide midterm elections.

"He's given us a future to look forward to," she said, after Trump praised her figure and called her on stage to speak.

Minaj has called herself Trump's "number one fan" despite criticising some of his policies in his first term.

In Michigan, Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is locked in a tight race with Republican Mike Rogers with just over a week to go before the midterms. Former President Barack Obama held a rally - one of the first in this cycle - with the Democrat on Saturday.

Democrats are also aggressively hitting the campaign trail, with close elections taking place on 3 November which will decide which party controls Congress for the rest of Trump's presidency.

In his remarks on Sunday, Trump focused on El-Sayed's Muslim faith and background, alleging that he will "invite jihadists" into America if he wins.

El-Sayed has criticised similar remarks by Trump as Islamophobic, saying in an ad to voters last week that the US president "thinks he can use my name and my faith to distract us from the suffering his policies are inflicting on us at the pump, at the grocery store, and at the doctor's office".

In Port Huron on Sunday, Minaj, wearing a gold-coloured Gucci-branded suit, led the crowd in chanting Trump's name, and the names of Republican candidates in Michigan.

"We really need all these great people to be elected, because this is a major turning point for our country," she said.

"She never looked more beautiful," Trump said as she left the stage. "She gets it. She's smart," he added.

Earlier in his speech, Trump praised the rear end of one male Republican candidate before turning the crowd's attention to Minaj.

"By the way, I looked at a beautiful ass before," he segued. "Nicki Minaj. That's hard to miss."

He then asked her to "stand up" as the crowd cheered, and added that he hoped she was not "insulted" by his remark.

The Super Bass singer had accompanied Trump to the state aboard Air Force One. She filmed a video with an aide - which was posted to X -on the president's plane, pretending to be interviewing for the White House press secretary role.

The position is currently open after Katie Zacharia left five days after a shaky public debut.

The Trinidad and Tobago-born rapper has thrown her star power behind Trump a few times before, including on his allegations that Christians face persecution in Nigeria and his "gold card" visa, which offers applicants residency and a path to US citizenship.

Spotify uploads lyrics for Dolly Parton's Welsh version of Jolene in Irish

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw33xpl5xl8mo, today

The lyrics to Dolly Parton's Welsh version of her hit Jolene were uploaded mistakenly to Spotify in Irish.

The song was recorded before her death on 25 August, and is a collaboration with Welsh singer-songwriter Bronwen Lewis as well as Parton's niece, Jada Star.

The version has parts of the song sung in English and Welsh - but the lyrics presented on the digital audio streaming service Spotify actually showed the language as Irish.

Spotify removed the Irish lyrics after the BBC approached it for comment.

The BBC asked Spotify when the single and lyrics were uploaded, when the error was noticed and when it will be replaced, but did not receive a response.

The single came out on 9 October, and is the second posthumous release from Parton - who was of Welsh descent.

The legendary country artist won 10 Grammy awards, sold more than 100 million records worldwide, and wrote more than 3,000 songs after a career spanning seven decades.

Jolene was released in 1973, and is about the fear she might lose her husband Carl Dean to a red-headed bank clerk who had flirted with him early on in their marriage.

It was was nominated for a Grammy in 1974, gave Parton her second number one single on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and her first foray into the main Hot 100 chart (60).

It has since had more than one billion streams on Spotify, and many famous singers have gone on to cover Jolene.

The Welsh version of the song came about after Lewis, from Neath, had translated the country classic and posted it on social media.

Then Star, Parton's niece, reached out and suggested recording Jolene in Welsh with Lewis - and Parton joined too.

In 2008, during a concert at the Cardiff International Arena, Parton reportedly revealed her Welsh ancestry to fans in the crowd.

Star revealed one side of the family from Parton's mother Avie Lee Owens was initially believed to have come from Conwy.

Following the singer's death, research by staff at Conwy council's archives suggested Parton's ancestors were from Machynlleth, in Powys, not Conwy as previously thought.

Owners of Elvis music rights sue Anthropic for copyright violations

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6rmyl0kxyxjo, today

The owners of the rights to music by Elvis Presley have sued artificial intelligence company Anthropic, claiming in court that the company violated copyright law by using Elvis music to train its AI model Claude.

In a legal case filed on Friday, Authentic Brands Group - which owns the music - accused Anthropic of using 274 Elvis songs without paying for any licence.

"The Elvis Plaintiffs' iconic collective catalog contains some of the most groundbreaking, revolutionary, influential, and enduring musical compositions in human history," the case states.

A spokesperson for Anthropic told BBC News: "We disagree with the claims and intend to defend this case fully."

Authentic Brands alleges in its legal complaint that Anthropic "has built its entire business model based on copyright infringement at a scale never seen before", according to the court filing seen by the BBC.

"The Elvis Plaintiffs are deeply protective of these iconic songs."

It argues that songs that were infringed include hits such as All Shook Up, Can't Help Falling in Love, A Little Less Conversation, Don't Be Cruel and Return To Sender.

These songs were used to create "unlicensed derivative works", Authentic Brands says.

The legal complaint asks for payments of up to $150,000 (£112,000) per infringed song, adding up to $41m.

Anthropic is also being sued by the owners of other music rights.

Last week, it was accused of stealing lyrics by music company Reservoir. In January, it was sued by Universal Music Group. Both cases remain ongoing.

Authentic Brands' legal complaint references other legal actions, and says that Claude admitted to crossing a line.

"Even after the Defendant supposedly put up 'guardrails' after being sued, in one of its latest iterations, Claude continues to infringe," it says.

"When recently asked to recreate specific songs 'for a modern audience,' Claude did so and admitted: 'These renders keep landing very close to the originals: same structure, same hooks reused with light rewording, and full sets of verses/choruses/bridges.'

"That's edging past 'inspired by' into reproducing the copyrighted song, even when the words are swapped out."

Last year, Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5bn to settle a class action legal case filed by authors who said the company stole their work to train its AI models.

The lawsuit was the largest publicly reported copyright recovery in history, according to lawyers for the authors.

Uganda imposes 21-day quarantine on citizens returning from DR Congo

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crx2dyd24188o, today

Ugandans returning from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo will be quarantined for 21 days, the health ministry has said, as the country tightens restrictions to contain the spread of Ebola virus.

More than 4,800 people have died in DR Congo since May - the country's deadliest outbreak of the disease - and has since spread to several other countries.

Uganda's restrictions follow questions after two people who had travelled through the country tested positive for Ebola, in Kenya and Nigeria.

The health ministry on Sunday said the 60 people who were being monitored after coming into contact with the Kenyan Ebola patient had all been discharged.

Announcing the new measures on Sunday, the health ministry said travellers who had been to DR Congo would not be allowed to transit through Uganda.

It said returning Ugandans would "undergo 21 days of quarantine at their own cost".

Uganda has also "intensified traveller screening at Entebbe International Airport and all land border crossings, supported by screening at designated road checkpoints", it added.

Uganda's Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi told the BBC's Newsday programme that only essential travellers from DR Congo would be allowed in but would be subjected to "intense public health measures".

"All these are measures to ensure that we keep Uganda free of Ebola," he said.

Since the two cases were reported in Kenya and Nigeria this month, Uganda has repeatedly stressed that no cases have been reported within its borders. Uganda recorded 20 Ebola cases and two people died shortly after the outbreak started in DR Congo, but the World Health Organization declared the country free of the disease in August.

Concerns have however persisted after the two passengers tested positive after passing through Uganda's Entebbe airport on the same day.

The patient in Nigeria is the Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat who had travelled to the Ugandan capital for a holiday, according to the head of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Jean Kaseya, while the Kenyan had travelled from the DR Congo where he had business interests.

Diana Atwine, the health ministry's permanent secretary, said CCTV camera footage showed no physical interaction between the two patients.

The Kenyan businessman died two days after arriving in Nairobi, and the country has since confirmed eight other cases of Ebola. A second woman, related to the businessman died over the weekend.

Ugandan officials had previously said the patient in Nigeria had travelled to eastern DR Congo, only transiting through Uganda. On Sunday, however, the health ministry said Uganda and Nigeria were both working to establish her movements, complete travel history and possible routes of exposure.

The Ugandan health minister said the recent cases meant the risk had not ended and further underscored the need to "remain vigilant".

"We share a border with [DR Congo], where transmission continues, and our communities remain closely connected through trade, travel and family ties," Baryomunsi said.

The disease spreads from one person to another by contact with infected bodily fluids such as blood or vomit.

The Bundibugyo species of Ebola behind this outbreak is relatively rare and there is still no vaccine or specific treatment - though trials are under way.

Additional reporting by Swaibu Ibrahim in Kampala

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Jordan arrests three men suspected of deadly church attack after shootout

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm4g17qq8wz4o, today

Jordanian security forces have arrested three armed men suspected of a shooting attack at a church last week that killed nine Christians and injured 34 other people, officials say.

The Public Security Directorate (PSD) said the unnamed "terrorists" were located before dawn inside an abandoned house in Karak governorate, south of the capital, Amman.

They refused to surrender and opened fire on security forces, who returned fire and wounded all three of them, it added. No security personnel were hurt in the shootout.

No group has yet claimed it was behind Friday's attack by gunmen on a funeral at St George's Greek Orthodox Church in the village of Hmoud, which is in Karak governorate.

King Abdullah II praised security forces for chasing the suspects "to the very end".

"We vowed the terrorists would not escape punishment, and no proponent of dark ideologies that divide Jordanians will be tolerated," he wrote on X.

"We pray that the martyrs' souls rest in peace and wish the injured a speedy recovery. May God protect and watch over Jordan and its people."

Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya said authorities would hold to account anyone involved in the attack and were "examining every factor that leads youth toward extremism".

Karak is home to a sizeable Christian community in the Muslim-majority kingdom.

Verified CCTV footage from Friday showed three men holding guns approaching and firing on St George's church.

A second video showed dead and wounded people lying on the ground amid chaotic scenes.

One man who was at the church told BBC Arabic that the attack lasted around 15 minutes.

"Some [people at the funeral] were taking cover, some were cradling the dead, others were holding their sons close, some were grabbing their children and fleeing, while others were holding onto their friends who were with them at the church," Khalid al-Mdanat said.

He added that the gunmen fled in a pick-up truck, "firing as they went".

On Sunday, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, visited wounded survivors of the attack, which he condemned as a "vile, cowardly, and bloody act".

He also led the funeral at St George's of eight of the victims - Dr Maher Zureiqat, Ihab al-Halsa, Dr Fadi al-Halsa, Dr Khaled al-Halsa, Dr Asim al-Burqan, Alaa al-Masarwa, Marwan Khaitan and Mazen al-Qassous - which was attended by thousands of people.

The ninth victim, Dr Mohammed al-Qassous, was laid to rest near Amman on Monday.

British Columbia's new premier lucks into the job in unexpected political turn

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cxj0ln19j3jvo, today

A relative outsider has been elected the new leader of the Canadian province of British Columbia after the provincial Conservatives swept to power in a snap election.

Lorne Doerkson, who took the helm of the party just weeks ago, will be British Columbia's new premier after the Conservatives won a majority of seats in the legislative assembly. It's the first time the party has won in the province in nearly a century.

Outgoing Premier David Eby, of the New Democratic Party (NDP), called the snap election last month - two years early - in an attempt to shore up power for his party.

Eby's gamble backfired in what has become the province's biggest political shakeup in decades.

A former rodeo announcer and newspaper publisher, Doerkson was first elected to the British Columbia (BC) Legislative Assembly in 2020.

But the 58-year-old was surprised himself when he found out, while on a flight home from South Africa last month, that his caucus colleagues wanted him as the party's new figurehead.

The news came shortly after the former leader of the BC Conservatives, Kerry-Lynne Findlay, resigned in September due to internal party conflict that saw a third of her caucus quit the party.

"Of course, it was a little bit of a short notice," Doerkson said in an interview with Canadian broadcaster CBC earlier this month.

Eby, who became premier in 2022, sought to take advantage of the divided BC Conservatives by calling the snap election.

He said the western Canadian province needed a "fire break" against US President Donald Trump's economic attacks and "Trump-style politics that threaten to infect" the province.

He defended his early election call by arguing his left-leaning party needed a bigger majority in the assembly to get its policies passed more quickly and easily.

"A one-seat majority meant every single vote could bring down the government," he said in a campaign video.

But Saturday's election results show voters were ready for someone new.

The NDP is projected to have won just 27 of the 93 total seats, while Doerkson's Conservatives are projected to have won 64.

The BC Green Party won two seats.

"British Columbians are hardworking, trailblasing people," Doerkson said in his victory speech Saturday night. "They want a fair shot at building something in this province."

That "trailblasing spirit", he said, "just needs government that's on its side."

Doerkson has promised to cut red tape "like it's never been cut before" by fast-tracking forestry and mining permits, and to triple natural gas production by 2035.

Eby resigned as provincial NDP leader in his concession speech, and said he accepts "full responsibility" for the outcome.

The provincial Conservative win comes after another recent shakeup in Canadian provincial politics when earlier this month, Quebec's sovereigntist Parti Quebecois won enough seats in the provincial election to form a minority government, adding a new test for Canada's unity.

Vanessa Trump says she is cancer-free six months after revealing diagnosis

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm1dwzvn6227o, yesterday

Vanessa Trump, the former wife of Donald Trump Jr, has announced that she is cancer-free following her breast cancer diagnosis earlier this year.

Trump, 48, who has five children with US President Donald Trump's eldest son, said that her recent tests results "came back clear, so I'm finally cancer-free", in a short video on her 19-year-old daughter Kai's Instagram account.

Vanessa and Kai Trump then released a longer video on Saturday, in which they discussed breast cancer awareness, early detection and prevention.

Vanessa Trump separated from Trump Jr in 2018 and announced last year that she had begun dating US pro golfer Tiger Woods.

"October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a time to raise awareness about early detection, education, and support for those affected by breast cancer," Kai Trump wrote on Instagram.

"I sat down with my mum and Dr Nicole Saphier to talk about my mum's journey with breast cancer and learn more about prevention and early detection."

Kai's post received over 20,000 likes and hundreds of comments from people offering support and well wishes, including from US singer and media personality Mary Millben.

Vanessa Trump explained in the YouTube video that she experienced arm pain for several months before discovering a pea-sized lump in her breast, which testing confirmed was a cancerous tumour.

"It's a process you have to deal with," she said of the days spent waiting for her test results.

"You have to be mentally strong for yourself because you're going to need the strength to fight whatever challenge it is that's coming towards you."

Trump said she was first diagnosed with breast cancer in April. She publicly announced the diagnosis in May, saying in a social media post that she had undergone surgery and was working on a treatment plan with her medical team.

She eventually had a lumpectomy and radiation treatments, she said.

The average risk of a woman in the US developing breast cancer is about 1 in 8, or 13%, according to the American Cancer Society. The disease also accounts for 30% of all new female cancers every year, it says.

Surgery cures most breast cancers, but if some cancer cells remain, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and endocrine therapy can reduce the long-term risk.

Treatments have been advancing, including more targeted therapies for early breast cancer, new types of hormonal therapies, and more precise and effective radiotherapy.

How one man became the unsung hero of the internet during a cyber-security scramble

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw30ejqljl43o, yesterday

For more than 20 years, Ondřej Surý has been quietly helping to keep websites around the world running securely, largely in his spare time.

He voluntarily maintains software for two of the most popular versions of Linux, a free operating system similar to Windows, which are often used on web servers.

Typically, this involves keeping them up-to-date with the latest version of PHP, a programming language which underpins a significant number of the world's websites.

This week, he became very busy indeed.

With the help of AI, two major cyber-security flaws were identified in the programming language, leading the PHP Foundation to release fixes.

But average folk may struggle to understand how to install these onto their systems - so Surý, for free, dropped everything to convert the fixes into packages, which can be easily installed without expertise.

"The feeling is like I am responsible for all these people and I can't fail them," he told BBC News.

The vulnerabilities in PHP sparked an international scramble to install security updates, amid fears that cyber criminals could exploit the gaps.

Surý is one of a small number of developers whose work helps make those updates available.

And while keeping the internet secure might sound like a full-time occupation, it isn't actually his day job.

He works as director of DNS engineering at Internet Systems Consortium, a US non-profit organisation.

But in his spare time, he has spent more than two decades voluntarily maintaining PHP software packages for the Linux versions Debian and Ubuntu.

He takes the source code released by the PHP project and turns it into packages which website operators can easily install on their servers.

When asked how it felt to be described as one of the people who helped "save the internet" this week as some online put it, his response was modest.

"It's kind of fulfilling because I sense my work has a purpose," he said.

"At the same time, I feel that not enough credit has been given to other people who has been part of this, like the PHP project people."

But he also acknowledged the weight that comes with his role.

A race against time

Surý had been given advanced warning about the vulnerabilities by the PHP project, but when information about the weaknesses leaked online, the planned release was brought forward and things started ramping up.

"I got aware that this is quite severe and I don't have that much time to prepare the packaging of the PHP that I provide to people," he said.

Despite the urgency, he said he was confident that his experience and preparation would allow him to get the job done.

Other developers around the world were also working to ensure the patches could be distributed - highlighting just how much of the internet's essential infrastructure sometimes depends on dedicated developers.

A year's donations in a week

Surý said this week had prompted an outpouring of support from people who relied on his software packages.

He revealed that he received more than $10,000 (£7,470) in donations in just a few days.

"This week is basically about a year's worth of the contributions that I got before," he said.

He said major technology companies should take more responsibility for supporting the open source software they depend upon.

"I think they should be more responsible," he said.

"If you just take and don't give back then it will backfire."

Surý has also been considering what would happen if he could no longer maintain the software packages himself.

He said colleagues at software company Freexian could take over, but they do not yet have the same accumulated experience.

"Yes, that's pretty much true," he said, when I asked him whether much of the responsibility ultimately rested with him.

But he is concerned that AI may be dramatically accelerating the discovery of security vulnerabilities, helping both cyber criminals and those trying to stop them.

"I think this is was the most severe incident in years, but I think that because of the AI capabilities are getting better in the cyber security, this might not be an isolated incident," he said.

"And people should be prepared to act this quickly more often because incidents like this might happen in the future - in the near future."

Are California voters about to impose 'world's first' tax on billionaires?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ck4g1jg4n9dno, 3 days ago

Few places on the planet have as many ultra-wealthy residents as California, a US state known for glamour, coastal mega-mansions, and being home to the rich and famous.

Now voters are about to decide whether the mega-rich among them - including media mogul Oprah Winfrey, Meta head Mark Zuckerberg, Skims cofounder and reality television star Kim Kardashian, and filmmaker George Lucas - should hand over billions of dollars to pay for improvements to healthcare.

Proposition 40 is aimed at levying a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of all of California's billionaires.

There are a little more than 200 such individuals in the state - but that hasn't stopped the measure from dividing leaders and causing some of its ultra-wealthy residents to flee. One billionaire businessman says he's brought jobs to California, but the proposition made him feel "a little bit like I wasn't wanted".

But the vote is also offering regular residents a voice on an issue that has roiled politics for decades.

"I believe this is the first billionaire tax - meaning a wealth tax that is targeting a very extreme percentile of the wealth distribution," says Francesco Trebbi, a public policy professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He noted the measure's historic nature and how it could help even out California's wealth gap.

The state has the largest economy in the country and boasts the fourth largest global economy, bigger than India and the UK. And it is home to one of the highest concentrations of billionaires in the world. But it also has the largest share of homeless people in the nation and one of the highest wealth gaps.

Those who back the measure have argued it helps ensure that the ultra-wealthy are contributing their fair share and will help backfill gaps in the state's budget. The move aims to raise $100bn (£75bn) to make up for federal funding cuts to the state's health-care system.

Suzanne Jimenez, chief of staff for Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, which helped lead the charge for the initiative, says the measure is a "short-term solution" for massive federal funding cuts coming to California as a result of US President Donald Trump's sweeping tax and spending bill.

"If we do nothing, we're going to see a collapse of our healthcare system, while we figure out a longer-term solution to fund our healthcare," she tells the BBC.

While the ballot measure has many supporters - including some billionaires like Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang - it has faced fierce opposition from a variety of figures, from billionaires to the state's liberal governor.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has given more than $100m to a political organisation funding ballot measures that could block the wealth tax, the Los Angeles Times reports.

California Governor Gavin Newsom, whose tenure is coming to an end, is perhaps the most notable political leader opposing it. He has voiced concerns that the measure could cause the wealthy to leave the state and drive out their crucial income tax revenue.

A September poll from the Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and the Los Angeles Times found the proposition has not clearly won over a majority of voters, with 45% of likely voters in favour of the tax, 42% opposed and 13% undecided.

The statewide ballot measure would need to be approved by a majority of residents.

California is not the first place to toy with the idea of taxing the rich. Also on the West Coast, voters in US state of Washington are considering whether to accept or reject a "millionaires tax" - a 9.9% tax on income over $1m a year.

While wealth taxes were once a fairly common form of taxation in Europe, they have rapidly fallen out of favour and now only exist in three European countries – Spain, Norway and Switzerland, says Dr Kristian Niemietz, head of political economy at the Institute of Economic Affairs.

Niemietz believes wealth taxes are "more trouble than they are worth" because they cause administrative issues, suppress investment, lead to capital flight and, in the end, do not raise much revenue.

In the case of Norway, a local news organisation found that an increase in the wealth tax led to more super wealthy people leaving the country in 2022 than in the preceding 13 years combined. A study on Switzerland found that a 0.1 percentage point increase in a wealth tax reduced taxable wealth by 3.5%.

The California measure, if approved, would apply retroactively to those with a net worth of at least $1bn who resided in California as of 1 January 2026. At least six of the state's 200 plus billionaires have reportedly left California ahead of that deadline to avoid the tax.

They include Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, venture capitalist Peter Thiel, former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and Hankey Group founder Don Hankey.

Hankey, a Los Angeles billionaire who has lived in California all his life, told Forbes he left for the state of Nevada as a result of the proposed wealth tax.

"I think we've created a lot of jobs in California. We have a few thousand people working for us and we have a profit sharing plan. And I have to leave the state," he said, adding that the measure made him feel like he wasn't "wanted" in the state.

Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg told the company's board last month that he was thinking of moving his primary residence out of California over the proposed tax.

To prevent him from leaving the state - where the company is headquartered - Meta agreed to a new stock deal that gives Zuckerberg, whose wealth is estimated to exceed $200bn, even more shares in the company to make up for the billions he would lose if the measure passes in November. Estimates say he could owe as much as $12.5bn.

DoorDash cofounder Andy Fang, who has an estimated net worth of $1.6bn, has called the measure "stupid" and wrote on X that "proposals like this make it irresponsible for me not to plan leaving the state".

Meanwhile, businessman Tom Steyer, who ran an unsuccessful bid for California governor earlier this year, is one of the few billionaires who has said he would vote in favour of the tax. Steyer said that although he believed the way the measure was written was "problematic", it was necessary to protect vulnerable Californians.

Huang, too, has expressed support of paying the levy.

"I don't mind paying taxes. The more you make, the more taxes you pay. I'm okay with that," the Nvidia chief said in an interview with the BBC's US partner CBS. "I am the ultimate American Dream."

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a vocal champion against income inequality, has campaigned in support of Prop 40.

While at a Los Angeles rally, Sanders said billionaires "believe, like the monarchs of the 19th Century, that they have a God-given right to rule".

"They have all the wealth, they got all the power, and who the hell do you think you are challenging them? Well, I think on November 3 they're going to learn a very powerful lesson."

Income inequality in the US is at some of its highest levels in over three decades, with the top 1% of households owning nearly 32% of all US wealth in the third quarter of 2025. It is also near historic highs in California.

Economic inequality is a concern among most Californians, with 72% believing that the gap between the rich and poor is widening and a similar share holding that state government should do more to reduce the gap, according to a statewide survey from the Public Policy Institute of California.

Trebbi says it is an "anti-elite, anti-system sentiment" driving the policy.

"This is really not about Prop 40," he says, but rather about trying to "re-balance the scale a little bit".

Correction 24 October: An earlier version of this article contained a graphic which incorrectly said median income in California was $288,000. This has been corrected to median household net worth.

Shoppers fill Oxford Street on first traffic-free day

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c84g14927651o, today

Part of Oxford Street has been pedestrianised, with visitors experiencing the first day that cars, taxis, buses and bicycles have been banned from some of the central London street.

Almost 1km (0.62-mile) of the popular shopping destination has been pedestrianised between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street by the mayor's Oxford Street Development Corporation.

The change has been welcomed by some shoppers, although questions have been raised about how accessible it will be for disabled visitors.

London's mayor Lord Sadiq Khan said it was a "momentous day for London", and the changes were the first phase in lifting the street out of "decline".

The roll-out was met with some confusion as many cyclists continued to pedal through the newly-installed barriers, with some being shouted at by security staff to "dismount" and walk their route instead.

Whether this is a teething problem or a constant enforcement issue remains to be seen in the weeks and months to come.

A police officer was also seen getting to grips with the new arrangement, as he asked an Oxford Street security worker: "How do I get my car down there?"

But as shoppers started to descend on the street, many celebrated the change.

Lucia, who works nearby, said she took a detour to see the newly pedestrianised street.

"It's very joyful," she said. "We are used to walking on crowded pavements, so it's really exciting to see the people using this space."

"Let's see how it regenerates with time, how different types of businesses pop out, how different spaces for people to hang out appear.

"I think in summer it will be lovely. Christmas will be great, it will be more enjoyable."

Her views were echoed by others, and as the day went on, more people could be seen walking on the newly changed road rather than sticking to the pavement.

However, concerns were raised by some about accessibility, and whether the re-routed buses and new bus stops and taxi ranks, installed about 200m and 100m from the pedestrianised area respectively, would be enough to support disabled shoppers.

One black cab driver who spoke to BBC London said he was worried that access to Oxford Street would "become a problem" for some of his disabled passengers.

Last week, chair of Inclusion London, Adam Gabsi, said "the proof will be in the pudding".

"If access to buses and taxis becomes difficult, then there'll be problems for people like me," he said, adding that although disabled Londoners were consulted on the plan, it was not co-produced by them.

Sight loss charity Guide Dogs welcomed the changes, and Wheels for Wellbeing argued that accessibility needed to be properly built into the final design.

Michael Bolt, from the Marylebone Association, was among a number of locals who said they feared surrounding areas would be "ruined" as traffic was displaced on to other roads.

Karen Jones, who has lived in the area for 20 years, also said she was worried what would happen to their "beautiful garden neighbourhoods".

Lord Khan said he wanted people to be "in charge" of Oxford Street, not traffic, and hoped it would become a site for "culture, leisure and tourism".

"This is a street that has been known as the nation's high street for more than 100 years," he said.

"Over the last couple of decades it's been in decline.

"I'm not willing to stand by as shops leave this street, as jobs leave this street, and that's why I'm really proud 1km of this street is traffic free."

The mayor said the area would be "safe and spacious" in the lead-up to Christmas, with more improvement works coming in the new year.

"We're going to carry on testing and learning, refining the plans we have to make sure everyone gets to enjoy this street," he said.

"We don't want it to be horrible, we want it to be great.

"We are going to learn from this first phase to make sure the next phase takes on people's concerns."

Seb Dance, London's deputy mayor for transport and deputy chair for Transport for London (TfL), said "people will see very quickly the benefits" of pedestrianisation.

TfL previously told BBC London it expected to see "a manageable increase in traffic" on Wigmore Street, Cavendish Place, Henrietta Street, Marylebone Lane and Welbeck Street.

Tim Barnes, deputy leader of Westminster City Council, said residents had regularly raised issues with pedestrianisation of Oxford Street whenever a scheme was proposed in the past.

"We just couldn't find ways that would practically work," he said.

"I think we need to see a lot of how this works in practice. We will be monitoring for traffic problems or noise problems, pollution issues, and taking those back to TfL and the mayor, and charging them with the responsibility of fixing those problems if they've created them."

The Oxford Street Development Corporation, which is leading the change, previously said it had worked with the emergency services to understand their access needs to Oxford Street, and would continue to do so as the changes unfold.

It said police, ambulances and the fire service would be able to access the pedestrianised areas along "multiple access points".

The project, which is estimated to cost about £150m, will see gradual changes unfold along the road, with road surfaces being raised, trees and seating installed, and traffic lights rephased.

The corporation said "possible future phases are being considered and costed".

Kate Boothman Meier, director of corporate affairs at New West End Company, said: "The ultimate aim is to try and pedestrianise the wider Oxford Street. That is further down the line, we have to see how this goes first."

Additional reporting by James W Kelly, Gem O'Reilly, Lauren Stanley from BBC London and Tom Edwards, BBC London transport correspondent.

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

Musk says SpaceX restricted Ukraine's Starlink connection as service restored

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvx28ljp8n4xo, yesterday

Elon Musk has said his company SpaceX restricted Ukraine's Starlink internet service, after Ukrainian officials said connectivity issues appeared to have been resolved.

The tech billionaire accused Ukraine of violating its terms of service by using it for military activity - but denied being responsible for a simultaneous issue with its US-run, military-grade counterpart Starshield.

Kyiv has not officially commented on Musk's latest claim but Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhii Beskrestnov said his post was "very strange".

Musk had earlier denied deliberately throttling Ukraine's connection, which it says hampered its ability to conduct defensive operations for more than a week.

The issue first emerged last week during a broader row between Washington and Kyiv over Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil infrastructure.

Musk's latest comments, and the seeming restoration of the service, came after US President Donald Trump said he had told the Tesla and X owner to "put it back", having repeatedly denied instructing him to limit the service.

"Using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be," Musk wrote on X on Saturday.

"Ukraine['s] military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people. That loophole was closed last week."

He went on to say that SpaceX had "done more to defend Ukraine than any private company on Earth" and reiterated his stipulation that Starshield was a different system and controlled by the US government, adding: "What they decide to do is up to them."

He added in a later post: "[Starlink] can be used for infrastructure that is military, but it cannot be used for unequivocally offensive strikes that make it fair game to be struck back."

Reacting to Musk's post, Beskrestnov said that drones operating via Starlink in Ukraine had a speed restriction of 70-90km/h (43-56mph) and did not work on Russian territory.

"Therefore, we physically cannot use commercial Starlink for deep strikes and medium-range strikes," he wrote on Telegram.

"It is very strange that Elon Musk is not aware of Starlink restrictions in Ukraine."

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine's defence ministry.

Ukraine uses both the civilian service Starlink and the more secure Starshield, depending on what communications are needed, both of which run on networks of low Earth orbit satellites launched by SpaceX.

Starlink allows military units to co-ordinate, particularly in remote areas on the battlefield, while Starshield allows Ukrainian drone operators to see targets in real time, as well as operate interceptor drones.

Russia is not authorised to use Starlink, so when Ukraine sends long-range missiles or drones deep into Russia to hit oil refineries, the network does not work.

Ukraine's Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara said earlier on Saturday that the military was now recording a "stable connection", with drones now able to reach speeds in excess of 400km/h. Kyiv previously said the connection would cut out above 161km/h.

"The speeds are now where they need to be," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram.

Musk did not disclose in his post why SpaceX had chosen to make the change to its service last week, when Ukraine's extensive use of Starlink had been known for several years.

The connection issues coincided with a tense diplomatic standoff between Zelensky and Trump over Ukrainian strikes on oil infrastructure within Russia.

Trump said the strikes on Russian oil refineries, which Kyiv says are crucial to stemming the main revenue source for Moscow's war effort, have pushed global prices higher.

While the attacks have had an impact on global fuel prices, rises seen this year have primarily been due to the Iran war.

Faced with midterm elections next month and domestic displeasure with rising fuel prices, Trump has waived some sanctions on Russia and agreed a deal with Moscow - criticised by European allies as funding Russia's war machine - to supply Russian diesel to the US and the global market.

Zelensky initially agreed to cease strikes targeting Russian oil facilities on the proviso that Moscow cease striking Ukraine's energy infrastructure, before restarting the strikes after several instances of Russia disregarding this.

The Ukrainian leader said that, as well as seemingly limiting Starlink capability in Ukraine, the US had also threatened to withdraw intelligence sharing if the strikes did not stop, something Trump also denied.

Fighting and aerial attacks continued to be exchanged between Russia and Ukraine overnight.

Ukraine's emergency services said three people were killed and 15 others injured, including an 11-year-old girl, in attacks on the Dnipropetrovsk region, in the south east.

Another six people were injured when a Russian drone struck an apartment block in the central city of Vinnytsia, it said.

The Russian defence ministry said on Sunday that it had struck a cargo vessel it claimed was being used to supply the Ukrainian army while it was en route to the Black Sea port of Chornomorsk overnight.

It also said Russian forces hit a logistics centre, a distribution centre and a logistics terminal in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

Ukraine's defence ministry earlier said it struck a facility in the Russian city of Oryol run by a sanctioned heavy machinery manufacturer. Russian authorities said three people were killed in the strike.

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with fighting now into its fifth year.

Budget to include £1bn for social and affordable housing

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqm24j9y9zn7o, yesterday

More than £1bn for social and affordable housing in England will be provided in the Budget, taking funding for the government's 10-year homes programme past £40bn.

Mayors and regional leaders across England are also expected to get greater powers and funding in Wednesday's announcement - with councils helped to borrow money from the government to invest in house-building through preferential interest rates.

It is hoped the plans will give regional leaders more flexibility and authority over investment decisions.

Chancellor John Healey said English cities and regions would get the "right to decide their own future", while Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the plans were about shifting power to those "who know their communities best".

The chancellor will also announce more support for small breweries, with the Treasury saying he wants "to turn the tide for our pint producers".

Fresh support for breweries follows the news that 310 jobs are at risk at Marston's Brewery in Burton-upon-Trent.

The issue was raised again at Prime Minister's Questions earlier this week, after owners Carlsberg Britvic revealed plans to shut down operations at the historic brewing site.

Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith has called for Healey to resign if he fails to set out how the UK will spend 3% of the UK's GDP on defence by 2030.

Under the plans for the regions, an initial £285m in transitional seed funding will be allocated by the government next year to support mayors and local leaders - and reduce reliance on "fragmented bidding pots" in Whitehall, the Treasury said.

The government will also confirm that it will work with mayors to design a new £1.5bn borrowing facility from 2028, which would allow them to access capital needed to support local priorities.

The Treasury said this could be put towards new homes, bringing High Streets back to life, or improving transport links.

Healey said: "Mayors and local leaders know what their communities need to grow, which is why we are giving them more money, more power and more capacity to get projects moving, build homes and make the right decisions for their areas."

Areas across the country which are not yet strategic authorities will be able to access a share of the £285m to "unlock projects which will contribute to growth in their areas".

The prime minister said: "I'm calling time on local leaders going cap in hand to Westminster. That is no way to run a country."

Claire Ward, chairwoman of the UK Mayors Network and Labour's East Midlands mayor, said that having the "right powers and resources through increased devolution" would help turn "ambitious plans into reality and deliver real, lasting change" for communities.

Lord Sadiq Khan, Labour's mayor of London, said greater ability to invest could "help unlock transformational infrastructure projects" including the West London Orbital route, the extension of the Bakerloo Underground line and Docklands Light Railway, and the development of Stratford International station.

Departing Treasury entrepreneurship adviser, Alex Depledge, has criticised the government's treatment of start-ups ahead of her last day on Thursday - the day after the Budget.

She told the Sunday Times, that start-ups were being treated as a "sideshow" and should not be pushed to the "margins of economic policy".

"Keeping scale-ups on the fringes underestimates the contribution of our greatest companies, and we need to support and develop them on British shores at all costs," she said.

Leading up to the Budget, defence has also remained a key talking point. Healey resigned in June from his role as defence secretary in the previous government over the defence investment plan, which he claimed fell "well short" of what was needed to fund the armed forces.

He had called for defence spending to rise to 3% of the country's GDP by 2030, on the way to reaching a Nato target of 3.5% in 2035.

But urging him to commit to setting out plans to spend 3% of GDP on defence, the shadow chancellor said: "We are living in an era of extraordinary threats, and yet the chancellor is dithering over finding the money to pay the country's insurance premium... you cannot have a strong economy without a strong defence".

Responding to Andrew Griffith's comments, Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said the Conservatives were to blame for failing to invest in the military while in office.

Streeting said the prime minister had made it clear that his government was "determined to give our armed forces the investment needed to keep us safe".

'I cannot teach you integrity': How employee theft is hurting small businesses in Africa

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmz98plpjzplo, yesterday

When popular Kenyan food creator That Girl Boina took a two-week holiday to Europe, she expected to relax. A week into the trip, an Instagram direct message exposed a problem that would ultimately lead to the closure of her business.

"I was at your studio, I liked everything. The only problem was that I was asked to send money to a different number. It wasn't the number on the wall," a customer wrote to her.

Boina had opened Waxaholic Studio, a waxing and hydrafacial parlour in Nairobi's central business district, on 1 September 2024. A year later, she had hired a receptionist and two specialists and felt confident enough to take a two-week holiday, her first international trip of the year.

"I trusted them. It's two rooms and a reception - how do you mess that up?" she recalls thinking.

"It never occurred to me that maybe I was getting clients and someone else was stealing from me," she tells the BBC.

The discovery prompted Boina to examine the business more closely. Although the business had made a profit in the first few months, revenue began to fall in early 2025. She initially dismissed the decline as a seasonal slump but then realised there was a problem.

"Everyone around was making money apart from me," she says in hindsight.

She had already considered closing because it was not making a profit, but her initial investment, three employees depending on the business and her vision for it kept her going. The customer's message became the turning-point.

"If I am not making money and I am willing to wait and see where this goes and you guys are not giving me the same energy, then why are we still open?"

Rather than confront the employees, Boina decided to close the studio. That weekend, she put it up for sale but found no buyer. She sold some of the equipment and took others, including decorations, home. Waxaholic Studio closed in October 2025.

"I remember my friend taking me to a restaurant, and I started crying. We were both silent."

"What else would we do?"

Boina describes the experience as the worst feeling she has ever felt. The closure was not just a financial setback, but the loss of something she had built to secure her future.

In September, nearly a year after the business closed, Boina shared a video on TikTok recounting the experience, explaining that she had needed time to heal before speaking publicly about what happened.

The video went viral after being reposted on X, formerly Twitter, garnering close to one million views. It drew responses from many Kenyan business owners who described how theft, ranging from payment diversion to stock theft and the sale of expensive equipment, had pushed their businesses to the brink, forcing them to fire staff, sell their businesses or shut down.

"Although I have recovered emotionally, I am yet to recoup the money I invested in setting up and running the studio," says Boina.

The reaction to her story showed that employee theft is a huge problem for many small businesses owners in Africa, where a handful of employees may control payments, stock and supplier transactions, often with limited oversight.

A 2022 survey by PwC, one of the world's biggest consultancy firms, found that 63% of respondents in East Africa said their organisations had experienced economic crime, compared to a global figure of 46%.

The risks are not confined to small businesses. Some of East Africa's biggest supermarkets have also reported significant losses linked to employee fraud and stock theft. Tuskys and Nakumatt have both collapsed this decade amid wider financial and operational problems partly attributed to employee theft.

At its peak, Tuskys had more than 6,000 employees and over 60 branches across Kenya and Uganda. In 2015, the retailer hired loss-prevention firm Hipora Business Solutions East Africa to help tackle fraud. An audit found that Tuskys was losing more than 100m Kenya shillings (£581,000; $770,000) a month to employee theft, Business Daily reported. The alleged schemes included cashiers pocketing money, manipulating till transactions, and colluding with suppliers over goods received.

Nakumatt also suffered significant stock losses attributed to employee theft before going under, with a Kenyan policy firm reporting that more than $100m (£75m) worth of stock was unaccounted for.

Hipora, which works with businesses across East and Southern Africa, says employee theft is a huge problem, estimating that it accounts for more than 60% of losses recorded by small businesses.

Employee theft has evolved over the years, Hipora boss John Wanjohi tells the BBC. "Employees are like a cartel that colludes with clients and suppliers to perpetuate theft."

Employee theft does not always involve money being diverted to an employee's phone. It can sometimes take subtle forms, making it harder for business owners to detect.

For Cris Njoki, founder of IKOJN, a Kenyan ready-to-wear clothes brand, the problem lay further up the supply chain.

"I found out that one of my staff was asking our suppliers to quote higher for some of the raw materials we were getting from them," she says.

The employee allegedly colluded with a supplier to inflate prices, with the two sharing the excess money after the company paid the invoices. Njoki investigated the scheme and confronted the employee with the evidence. The employee subsequently left the company.

Since then, Njoki has tightened her firm's procurement controls.

"We have now centralised the procurement process and created a paper trail. Finance speaks to the supplier and then makes payment," she tells the BBC.

Across the continent in Accra, Ghana, employee theft came close to bringing Muftawu Nabila's business to an end.

The Joy News sports journalist says he was robbed by two different employees in the four years he has run his electronics shop. But theft by a third employee, he says, nearly forced him to close it altogether.

His first employee was let off with a warning. The second tripled monthly sales but left when her university semester resumed.

Before traveling to the United States to cover the Fifa World Cup in June 2026, Nabila hired a third attendant, leaving the business with little supervision.

"She almost collapsed my shop," he says.

While other employees had taken smaller amounts, sometimes as little as 50 cedis ($4; £3) at a time, the third attendant was operating on a larger scale, he says.

"Assuming we are making a sale of $200 (£150) a day, she could take up to $30," he says.

The theft continued for two months. When Nabila tried to restock the shop, he realised the money coming in was not enough to replenish his shelves. He began counting his stock every morning.

When he confronted the employee, she denied the allegations. But a stock count she conducted herself revealed a significant gap between inventory and sales receipts.

"I just told her: 'If you go home today, don't come back,'" he says.

His salary from his journalism job allowed him to rebuild the business.

For him, the shop is a way of creating jobs, making the theft particularly frustrating.

"We have to generate the money from the shop for me to pay you. So if I pay you, pay electricity bills, shop rent and you steal some, where am I expected to generate money?"

Theft happens in businesses around the world, but its consequences can be particularly severe for small businesses in Africa.

Many operate on tight margins, with limited access to finance, high borrowing costs and unpredictable tax environments.

Purchasing power is also lower in many African markets, limiting how much businesses can recover through sales or pass on to customers.

This is especially significant in a continent where the informal economy accounts for a large share of employment and economic activity.

For businesses without much of a financial cushion, the loss of cash, stock or equipment can threaten their ability to pay staff, restock or keep operating.

What might be a manageable loss for a larger company can push a small business to the wall.

Wanjohi says many small businesses lack proper safeguards to prevent theft.

At one struggling pharmacy branch, his team tightened controls over cash handling, stock movements, and cashier operations. Wanjohi says daily sales subsequently increased from 80,000 Kenya shillings to 200,000 after the changes.

Wanjohi says many businesses seek help from loss-control specialists only after the problem has become serious.

Detecting suspected theft, however, is only part of the challenge. Employers must also follow the law when investigating allegations and deciding whether to dismiss an employee.

Judith Guserwa, an advocate, says employers must investigate suspected theft, gather evidence and allow employees to respond before taking disciplinary action.

If employees admit to theft and choose to repay, let it be in writing: "If they don't, you terminate with a valid reason and press charges," she says.

The experience has changed how Boina approaches hiring.

She says she will now be slow to hire and quick to fire.

"I cannot teach you integrity," she concludes.

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

The grads ditching the UK for a fresh start abroad

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmzxj4e8w44vo, 5 days ago

Last year Rachel James quit her corporate job in London, packed a suitcase and booked a one-way ticket to Sydney, without a job lined up or a plan in place.

"I went for a fresh start," says the 26-year-old from Surrey. "To take a risk and try something completely different. With the worst case being there will always be a flight home if all fails."

More than one in 10 UK university students are now planning to move abroad for better opportunities after they have graduated, up from 7.8% two years ago, according to a survey of 15,000 final year university students.

Meanwhile, a study by the Institute of Student Employers (ISE) says that competition for graduate jobs in the UK was at a three-decade high.

UK employers now receive 140 applications per graduate vacancy on average, an increase of 14% from 2025, and up from just 30 applications per vacancy 20 years ago, according to the ISE's report.

For young British adults going abroad, where are they heading?

Australia: 'The weather's beautiful, even in the winter'

While there is no age-specific data for which countries people go to, Australia remains by far the most popular nation for British adults overall who move abroad, official figures show.

In addition to Australia's weather and use of the English language, another reason is its visa-friendly policy. Under its Working Holiday Maker programme, British passport holders between the ages of 18 and 35 can live in Australia for up to three years.

Rachel, who graduated from Loughborough University in 2022 with a degree in English, had been working for accountancy giant PricewaterhouseCoopers in the UK. She now has a job in marketing in Sydney for gym chain Fitness First.

She says her annual salary has gone down from £42,000 to £37,000, while she now pays $AUS 2,000 (£1,000) a month to rent a two-bedroom apartment with a friend, similar to what she was paying in London.

Despite having less disposable income, she has no regrets. "The weather's beautiful, even in the winter, and the walks on my doorstep are unmatched.

"People want to leave work at 5pm so they can go and do their hobbies - whether it's surfing, running, enjoying the sunset, a picnic or sunset yoga. I didn't come with career progression as a focus - it's more about the different way of life."

The US: 'I'm paid a lot more here'

Around two-thirds of British nationals who emigrate are aged between 16 and 34, according to the most recent figures from the UK's Office for National Statistics.

It said that 75,000 more people in that age bracket left the UK in 2025 than arrived.

After Australia the next most popular destination for British adults is the US.

Charlie West, 25, from Cheshire, moved to the States in 2024 for better pay and opportunities in academia after he completed a masters in medieval studies at Oxford University.

West is now two years in to a six-year funded PhD course at Yale's Department of Italian Studies, which includes him teaching.

"I really wanted to do a PhD but it's difficult to get funding in the UK, particularly in the humanities, and funded stipends are about £21,000. I'd have had to work [outside academia] at the same time to afford to live.

"In the US I'm paid $51,000 a year (£37,770), about to rise to $52,000, and it comes with a lot more opportunities to teach and travel to conferences."

Europe: 'If you can work across the EU there are more opportunities'

The European Union also remains popular with young Britons looking to move abroad, although the visa requirements since Brexit have made it more difficult.

One way to get into the European jobs market is to have studied in the EU. International graduates can apply for a permanent residence permit after their degree ends.

This is what Owein Iveson, 24, from Sunderland, is doing as he is about to graduate from Finland's Aalto University with a masters in design.

Owein says he "fell in love with the country" after visiting for the first time in 2020.

"Finland's a beautiful country," he says. "The streets are very clean. It's a very quiet lifestyle. The nature is fantastic and the public transport works really efficiently."

Owein lives in Espoo, a city about 15 minutes on the metro from Helsinki, and doesn't expect to return to the UK anytime soon.

"To be honest the jobs market is not great in Finland, but there is high demand for IT workers, and if you can work across the EU there are many more opportunities."

Immigration lawyer John Kiely, a London-based partner at international law firm Howard Kennedy, says it is easy to see why more UK graduates are looking overseas.

"When you combine student debt, high housing costs, relatively weak wage growth and uncertainty about future employment, the willingness to roll the dice somewhere else becomes quite rational."

Back in Sydney, Rachel says the city simply offers a better quality of life than London.

"I don't see life in Sydney as any more expensive than if I was in London, but personally I have found the perks in Sydney better."

As Christmas rush looms, how do China-made toys find their way to the US?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5djvyde0y1jo, 12 days ago

On the underside of most children's toys on sale in the US you'll find the same three words – "Made in China".

Nearly eight in 10 toys (78.3%) imported into the country in 2024 came from China, according to US government figures.

Last year, toys imported from China were worth $9.8bn (£7.4bn), trade figures show.

With Christmas on the horizon, the toy industry in the US and elsewhere is about to have its busiest time of the year by far.

As retailers prepare their stocks for the festive rush, be they online giants or "mom-and-pop" physical stores, the BBC World Service's Follow the Money series traces how a toy gets from a factory in China to the US. And where the money goes.

The factory

Guangdong province, which neighbours Hong Kong in southern China, is the heart of the country's toy manufacturing industry.

In the city of Dongguan workers on the floor of the Mihox factory pop plastic toys out of steel moulds, and pile them into crates ready for painting.

The company says it employs more than 800 people and makes around 55 million toys a year for the American market, which represents half of its business.

Every toy starts with a design from a customer, such as an American toy company. The factory then makes a prototype, and builds moulds from which plastic parts and other components are formed.

Going from the first idea to finished toy takes one to two years, says Melanie Wang from the Mihox sales team. Much of that is the customer going back to the drawing board. "They modified the design again, again, and again to improve it."

Once the design is signed off, things move more quickly. A mould takes about a month to make, and the production run lasts about three months.

So, how much of the US retail price does the factory get? "About 20%," says Wang.

On a $30 toy, that's $6, which has to cover the price of the plastic and other materials, production costs including wages, and what profit the factory makes.

Chinese factories typically make a profit of between 3% and 10%, according to Jay Foreman, chief executive of US toy firm Basic Fun. So for a $30 toy that's between 60 and 18 cents of the $6 the factory charges to make it.

Samson Ko is president of the Toys Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong. Many of his members moved their factories across the border into mainland China in the 1980s, attracted by cheaper land and labour.

He says the way toys are made has barely changed since then. "Automation now takes place mostly in the moulding and the packaging process. But for soft toys, or even some of the electronics nowadays, it's still very labour intensive."

And Chinese labour isn't cheap anymore, he adds, after recent rises.

Average pay in Vietnam is about half of that in China, said one report at the start of this year.

Yet fewer than 10% of Ko's members have moved any production outside China, and in those cases mostly only because customers asked them to do so.

The Chinese factories remain busy, he says, because a single toy can undergo more than one manufacturing process, from moulding the parts, to adding electronics, sewing materials, and final assembly. This often requires it travelling to different factories.

Ko adds that in Guangdong these separate facilities are located close to each other, and used to "working in harmony". He says this makes the whole manufacturing process run more smoothly than in other countries.

The ship

From the factory, the toy goes by truck to a port, such as Shenzhen, the biggest in Guangdong.

Ivy Tse is co-founder of FreightAmigo, a Hong Kong logistics company that runs an online platform for both Hong Kong and mainland China exporters. These businesses can book a cargo container, sea passage to an overseas destination, arrange insurance cover, and secure finance.

Tse says it takes about 15 days for a cargo ship to get from Shenzhen to the US west coast, and 25 to 30 days to the east coast. This year's Christmas toys left China in August and September.

Freight, from factory to the US, usually adds about 10% to the manufacturing cost of a toy, adds Tse. So if we stick to a toy that retails for $30 in the US, and therefore costs $6 to make in China, the cost of getting it to the states is 60 cents.

The US border

Once the toy reaches the US there is currently a tariff on Chinese toys that has to be paid to the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Following talks between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping last month, the two governments have recommended toys for lower tariffs. But no new rate or start date has been set, and the US must first hold a public consultation. For now the basic rate is 12.5%, and some toys pay more.

This is charged on the manufacturing price of the toy, not on how much it retails for. So for a $30 toy, that basic rate is 12.5% of $6, which is 75 cents.

This tariff is paid for by the American company that has imported the toys. One such firm is Learning Resources, a family business based near Chicago that sells educational toys. Half of these it imports from China.

"We pay 100% of the tariffs, let there be no doubt about that," says the company's chief executive Rick Woldenberg.

The US toy company

The cost of making the $30 toy, getting it to the US, and paying the import tariff, comes to $7.35. So that leaves $22.65, or 75.5% of the total.

That money never leaves the US, explains Foreman from Basic Fun. His firm, which is based in Florida, makes Tonka trucks and Care Bears cuddly toys.

"It's kept by my company, the [US] transportation company, the retailer," he says.

If we allow $2.65 for the US delivery firm, the toy company and the retailer will typically share the remaining revenues 50-50. So that would give them $10 each.

While profit margins are commercially sensitive and therefore not generally revealed, industry studies show that the toy firm and retailer would usually make a profit of up to 25% or $2.50.

Getting a toy onto the shelves in the US requires both a lot of work and a long journey.

The Indian workers filming their work to train AI

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckvgyml6pdm9o, 3 days ago

Mohammed Ashim has been cutting hair and trimming beards for four years in Bengaluru.

But recently the 22-year old has been strapping a camera to his head to record his work.

The camera only records his hands and fingers - his client's faces are blurred out.

"The routine is simple, but you have to be disciplined about how you move. The operations team taught me that my hands always have to stay cleanly inside the frame, the lighting has to be sharp, and I can't tilt my head too abruptly while working."

He wears the camera for five or six hours a day.

"It's good money, but honestly, the feeling of doing something this futuristic is what keeps me excited. I never imagined my razor techniques would be useful to a global tech company," says Ashim.

He is one of hundreds of thousands of workers across the world paid to record their activities.

Ashim's footage is collected by a local company, which might have hundreds of people filming their work.

That video is then sold on to technology companies and research organisations who use it to train artificial intelligence - in particular so-called physical AI, a type of artificial intelligence that can control robots in the real world.

Rashdan Technologies collects and processes such human generated data.

"Every robotics company, every frontier AI lab, has a specific kind of data they want: industrial tasks, agriculture, household chores, small business work like pottery, garment-making, embroidery, candle-making. We go wherever the task is," says co-founder and CEO Shahil Baig.

His company pays $5 to $10 (£3.74; £7.47) for eight to 10 hours of recorded work.

"For a lot of these people, that's meaningful," Baig says.

Making sure workers give their consent and are comfortable with the process is important, he says.

"We record hands, not faces, and where multi-camera rigs do capture more of the body or environment, we blur faces out. No names, no contact details, nothing that identifies them personally goes into what we hand off."

But his customers are getting more demanding.

"Now clients are asking for four to six cameras rigged around a person's head to cover the entire scene, not just the hands.

"Getting someone to agree to one small camera is one conversation. Getting them to agree to wearing what's effectively a five-camera headset is a completely different, and harder, one. We pay more for that tier of data collection because of what we're asking of people."

And the industry is becoming more crowded, Agarwal expects dozens more competitors to emerge in India this year.

Why is such data so important?

If you want robots to navigate the real world, they can't just be trained inside computer simulations, argues Manish Agarwal, the founder of Humyn Labs, which collects and processes human-generated data.

Most of that data comes from video, but sometimes collectors wear hardware on their hands and fingers to capture physical contact.

"Physical tasks require high-quality signals involving limb movements, fingers, wrists, elbows, shoulders and dynamic force application. For example: applying the correct grip force so a plastic bottle doesn't crumble versus a steel glass," he says.

And until recently, that data was not available.

"There is no existing internet archive of embodied human activity - no dataset of a kitchen being cleaned, or a car being assembled by hands that know exactly how much force to apply. That data has to be captured from scratch, in the real world, across diverse environments," says Agarwal, whose company has bases in Bangalore and San Francisco.

At the moment his firm has 96,000 data collectors across countries in Latin America and Southeast Asia.

Humyn Labs filters the thousands of hours of video supplied by those collectors, selecting the most useful content. It's then labelled so the AI knows what it is looking at and packaged in a format that can be used by clients.

"You need to source across a variety of factories, a variety of tasks, in different geographies because if you want to build deployment for US factories or US houses, you'd want environments that are a proxy for that. Residential houses in India may not be the right context for building a robotics use case for the US."

But are workers collecting data for machines that will one day do their jobs?

At the moment it's too early to tell says Bino Paul, senior professor at the School of Management and Labour Studies at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai.

For some workers AI might be a useful tool, but robots could automate other jobs, he says.

The problem is that, if machines do start to take over, there will be little workers can do about.

"By the time workers realise what they have participated in, things may have gone too far," he says.

Like many others, he wants governments to regulate AI.

"AI cannot be viewed merely as a technical system. We need to develop a socio-technical system in which ethics is upheld through human agency, ensuring that AI delivers beneficence rather than maleficence."

'This is survival'

Despite concerns over where AI is heading, money is still being poured into its development.

Some of that trickles down to workers in India, where there is no shortage of workers prepared to wear a camera for a few dollars a day.

Mohammed Arman has been working in the textiles industry in Bangalore for 10 years.

"Garments stitching and cutting. I know this work so well I could probably do it with my eyes closed. Cloth, thread, needle, machine after 10 years, your hands just know what to do before your mind even tells them," he says.

He has recently started wearing a head-mounted camera that records his work.

"For me, it's simple. This is survival. I have a family back home in Bihar, and every rupee I send back matters. If someone offers me extra money to wear a camera while I do the exact same work I've been doing for 10 years, I'm not going to say no.

"It doesn't cost me anything. I'm already doing the stitching, already doing the cutting. Now I just get paid a little more for it," he says.

While there is demand for such footage it will be collected somewhere.

"India's current role in this industry is largely as a supplier of raw material - people strap on cameras, record themselves doing ordinary tasks, and that footage gets shipped off to labs abroad," Agarwal says.

But he argues the value of that kind of work will quickly become eroded, as more companies compete for collection contracts.

"India can't afford to stay a footage supplier. It needs to move up the value chain: from recording raw video to owning the pipeline that turns that video into something usable - cleaning it, structuring it, validating it, and ultimately setting the standards for what counts as high-quality training data," he says.

For some people collecting data is attractive part time work.

Science teacher Jolly Arifur was looking for work she could do from home that would fit around her young son.

"For the past seven months, I strapped a rig-mounted camera on my head while doing my routine domestic work scrubbing, cooking, sweeping tile floors, and folding laundry."

Arifur, who lives in Guntakal, Anantapur, fits the recording work around her teaching.

"I get paid two to three dollars per hour. If I record three to five hours a day, that's a good amount in hand it's become an extra source of income for me, on top of teaching. I'm managing both honestly, fantastically."

What is the Budget and what could be in it?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6x2zrjl7kjno, today

Chancellor John Healey will set out Labour's tax and spending plans when he delivers his first Budget on 28 October.

He has refused to rule out tax increases after acknowledging government borrowing costs are at "historic highs".

But the government's room for manoeuvre on tax is limited.

Before the 2024 general election, Labour promised not to increase three big revenue earners for the government: income tax, National Insurance and VAT.

What is the Budget?

In his statement, delivered to MPs in the House of Commons, Healey will set out how the government plans to raise or lower taxes.

Alongside the Budget, the Treasury will publish details about the measures and their costs.

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which monitors government spending, will also publish an assessment of the health of the UK economy and a forecast of what it thinks will happen in the future.

What might be in the Budget?

The run-up to the Budget typically generates speculation about what might be in it, which the government is trying to keep to a minimum this year.

Healey and Prime Minister Andy Burnham face a difficult balancing act, trying to offer more support to households and meet commitments on defence spending, while also sticking to Labour's manifesto commitments on tax and the government's self-imposed fiscal rules.

The previous chancellor, Rachel Reeves, set out two main rules, which the new leadership has vowed to follow. These are:

* Not to borrow to fund day-to-day public spending by the end of this parliament

* To get government debt falling as a share of national income by the end of this parliament

In March, the OBR calculated that the first rule would be met with a gap - or headroom - of £23.6bn. However, this headroom is expected to have shrunk.

Analysts are divided on how much it may have fallen by. While a rise in government borrowing costs will increase debt interest payments, higher inflation could push up tax revenues.

KPMG believes the government's buffer could have fallen to £12bn, but the Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates it could be £20bn.

There has been speculation over what specific measures will be announced in the Budget.

Bank taxes

Bank bosses have told the BBC they expect Healey to raise taxes on the sector. UK banks have been reporting bumper profits, leading to calls from unions for higher taxes.

The Treasury has options: it could raise a 3% surcharge on profits which was lowered from 8% under the previous Conservative government, or it could raise the bank levy that is based on the size of their balance sheets.

Your First Home scheme

Further details on the Your First Home scheme, aimed at helping first-time buyers in England to purchase a property, are expected to be announced in the Budget.

The scheme will allow people to buy a new-build home with a deposit of 2.5%. It would provide them with a loan worth 20% of their property's value to help pay for the purchase.

There were concerns raised that the threshold for eligibility for first-time buyers could be set at £90,000 for a combined income outside London, and £110,000 in the capital, which could have excluded couples such as teachers and nurses, or police officers.

But that threshold is will now be £110,000 outside of London, and £140,000 in the capital, the BBC understands.

Capital Gains Tax

There had been speculation that Capital Gains Tax (CGT) - which is imposed on the profit people make when they sell an asset that has increased in value - could be changed, through either higher rates or by removing or amending exemptions. However, this has now been ruled out.

Support for pensioners

Pensioners on low-incomes are expected to be shielded from income tax through a new personal allowance. The government had already committed to not taxing people who only get an income from the state pension. But the full state pension is set to rise above the current £12,570 threshold, meaning about one million people would have needed to pay tax.

Tax on businesses

The Times has reported that online retail giants such as Amazon and eBay are expected to be made responsible for collecting tax owed by traders using their platforms.

The paper said the money raised is expected to be used by the government to cut business rates for High Street shops, by raising the threshold at which small companies start paying rates from £12,000 to £18,000.

He is also planning support for small breweries.

Fuel duty

Fuel duty was frozen under the Conservatives in March 2022 and Sir Keir Starmer's government continued the freeze, deciding in May to push back a planned 3p increase in September until the end of this year.

Healey told the BBC in late September that the time and place for dealing with rising petrol and diesel costs was the Budget, but would not give details on whether the freeze would be extended again.

Energy bills

Household energy bills are set to see their biggest rise in four years in January, with a typical annual bill forecast to jump by £276.

There has been speculation that Healey is planning energy bill help for households on certain benefits.

Mansion tax

The High Value Council Tax Surcharge - dubbed the mansion tax - was announced in last year's Budget and will apply to properties in England valued above £2m from April 2028.

There had been speculation that the government was considering extending it to properties worth more than £1.5m. However, reports now suggest Healey has ruled this out.

Cutting red tape

Healey has said the government plans to slash "form-filling and pointless paperwork" to save UK businesses up to £800m.

Ministers have said the proposed changes in regulations will reduce unnecessary bureaucracy for businesses.

Social and affordable housing

Healey is expected to add another £1bn to the £39bn planned spend on social and affordable housing in England over the next decade.

Devolved spending

Regional bodies and mayors in England will be given greater powers over spending, starting with £285m next year for things like housing, transport and High Streets. In future the regions will be able to borrow to spend more on local priorities.

What are opposition parties saying?

Opposition parties have released their alternative budget proposals.

The Conservatives are urging the chancellor to reduce spending and borrowing, as well as to cut green taxes, red tape and benefits to bring down energy bills.

Reform UK are recommending that the chancellor adopts 60 policies which they claim will create jobs - including approving the controversial Rosebank oil field - a project Healey is understood to back.

How is the economy doing?

In the first three months of the year, the UK's economy grew by 0.6%, while in the April-to-June quarter it grew by 0.5%.

The most recent data showed the economy grew by 0.1% in August after growth of 0.4% in July, with both figures stronger than expected.

Analysts say the UK economy is proving resilient in the face of energy price shocks caused by the US-Israel war with Iran.

Energy prices jumped after the conflict led to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for oil and gas trade.

Economists expect UK growth to slow in the months ahead as those costs continue to weigh on households and businesses.

Prices for goods and services are still rising faster than wanted. Inflation hit 3.1% in the year to August, the highest rate in five months and above the Bank of England's 2% target, driven by higher petrol and diesel prices.

The Bank of England held interest rates at 3.75% for the sixth time in a row in September, but said they were likely to rise if high energy prices persist.

What time is the Budget and what happens afterwards?

The Budget speech usually starts at about 12:30 UK time - after Prime Minister's Questions - and lasts about an hour.

It will be broadcast live on the BBC iPlayer and on the BBC News website.

The Leader of the Opposition, Conservative MP Kemi Badenoch, will respond to the speech in the House of Commons.

MPs debate the measures for four days, before voting on them.

If approved by MPs, tax changes can come into effect immediately.

However, the government must pass a finance bill to make them permanent.

Chelsea's World's End Estate to get £20m refurb

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crwyqn28e714o, yesterday

Chelsea's World's End Estate has been earmarked for £20m worth of refurbishment.

Kensington and Chelsea Council has proposed a scheme of work for the 750 homes in west London, set across seven tower blocks, which includes replacing some of the kitchens and bathrooms, roof renewals and redecoration of communal areas.

Leaseholders will have to contribute towards the repairs, although the amount has not yet been confirmed.

There will be tailored support for residents most affected by the works, including respite and the option to temporarily live away.

'Significant opportunity'

The work to the interior of the flats, as well as the roofs and communal areas, is estimated to cost around £16.5m, and would be due to start in March 2028 and be completed one year later.

The refurbishment would also include a £3.8m lift renewal programme estimated to start in February 2028.

Over £500,000 has also been earmarked for proposed electrical and fire safety improvements.

The heat network on the estate will also be upgraded, to ensure it is in compliance with new Ofgem regulations.

These require everyone on a heat network to be billed individually for the energy they use.

A report to the council's Housing and Communities Select Committee said that although there is building metering across World's End, "the age and condition of the existing system" means that it cannot currently support individual heat billing.

"It will not be easy to upgrade the system at World's End, and is estimated to require significant investment," the report says.

"This is an area of concern for many leaseholders, as the work needed would generate significant leaseholder recharges."

The report adds: "The World's End Estate programme represents a major long-term investment in the estate's fabric, safety and infrastructure.

"With over £20m of planned investment, extensive resident engagement already undertaken, and clear delivery plans in place, the programme offers a significant opportunity to improve homes, enhance resident safety and secure the future of the estate for decades to come."

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

How does the UK state pension compare with other countries?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3gr84w85glyo, 3 days ago

Getting older is something few of us want to think about. Yet how we fund our later years, and how much we'll get, has been a hot topic.

The triple lock formula - state pensions increasing by the greatest of 2.5%, earnings growth, or inflation - means those benefits have risen far faster than the earnings of workers since its introduction in 2011.

But as housing costs have also been rising fast, pensioner poverty has actually increased slightly in the last decade.

Nevertheless, even if you take those costs into consideration, pensioners are less likely to be in relative poverty - that is, having to get by on less than 60% of the income of the typical household - than families with children or working-age people.

And funding the triple lock has already cost the state billions more than initially envisaged. With that cost set to balloon further, the debate over whether that is sustainable, or fair, has raged for a while.

Andy Burnham intends to start a new system in a few years, which would see the state pension increase by at least inflation or 2.5%, and remove the automatic annual link with average earnings. It will likely mean less generous increases, although it will keep track with earnings growth over the longer term.

But are pensioners being short-changed in other ways? How do we compare with other countries?

One way of measuring that is to look at how generous the typical pension is relative to workers' average earnings - the replacement rate.

The OECD considers the outlook for those born at the start of the millennium in different countries on average wages, and assumes the pension system as it existed in 2022 is in place.

On that basis, looking at the basic state pension, retirement benefits in the UK look low compared with other wealthy countries.

And that is even when you consider that our system compels workers to be automatically enrolled in occupational schemes.

If you consider both of those, then after tax, UK retirement benefits would be 54.2% of average UK earnings, compared with an average of 63.2% across wealthy countries.

But then there is income from other occupational and personal pensions, which are more prevalent in the UK. Include those and the gap narrows.

However, that does also mean that those relying on just the state pension for their incomes are a fair bit worse off than many retired people elsewhere.

So does that make the case for boosting spending on public pensions in the UK?

Well, the amount spent on the state pension is set to top £150bn a year, the single most expensive benefit to fund.

But other figures from the OECD show that the UK state spends a lower amount on total retirement benefits, relative to the size of its economy, than the average wealthy country.

But there are two issues to consider.

Firstly, this is about political choices, and the UK chooses to dedicate larger amounts to items such as universal healthcare.

And secondly, with ageing populations, the OECD reckons the amount needed for pensions may be set to soar in many nations by 2060 (the exceptions largely being those that are deploying changes).

Its predictions for the UK are likely to rise by less under the revised triple lock system being put in place by Andy Burnham but it may still mean more borrowing.

As it is, £1 in every £13 the UK government spends is to pay the interest on existing debt. And countries with more generous pensions, such as Italy, have faced pressure to reform.

So in many ways, with auto-enrolment into workplace pensions, the UK appears to be ahead of the game in insisting on universal privately funded pensions for workers. But that system raises another issue: the gender pension gap.

The gender pension gap is the difference between the average pension income of men and women aged 65 and over, as a percentage of men's average pension income.

It found that the typical gap in most wealthy countries is around 22.8% in favour of men.

But in the UK women typically get a pension that is a third less than what a man gets - in the main, due to the reliance on private pensions - although it should be noted that the most recent data the OECD has for the UK is for 2021.

Women are more likely to have received lower pay over the course of their working lives, taken career breaks or worked part time. And the hit to pension pots can be stark.

So step back and look at the big picture and British pensioners - and those who have yet to retire - may feel others have it better elsewhere.

But the message from all of this isn't to dwell on outrage but to take action.

The state pension has become more generous over the years, but if you want to enjoy the same kind of retirement as those elsewhere, get saving.

That is - if you can, and if you haven't left it too late.

Before you crank up the thermostat, try these tips to keep you and your home warmer for longer

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqr7yeed1ed7o, 3 days ago

As the UK braces for a chilly weekend, with powerful winds and heavy rain hitting parts of the country, people are looking for ways to bring some warmth to their homes without cranking up the heating just yet. It is autumn after all.

But with rising energy prices making heating homes more expensive, taking action now could pay off in the long run.

Experts warn, though, that if you're elderly or vulnerable you shouldn't compromise your health.

To help you prepare for the chillier months, BBC News asked families and experts to share their tips for keeping your home warm and cost-effective.

Eat hearty winter meals to warm you through

When it gets cold, many people turn to hot water bottles and blankets - but there are other ways to warm your body.

The British Heart Foundation recommends wearing lots of thin layers, rather than one thick layer, to trap the heat in.

Natalie, 29, says she's replaced some of the clothes she wears round the house with supermarket thermal leggings and tops and says "it's made such a difference".

Amber Waring, 27, from Devon, says she eats warm meals like stews and pasta bakes, and dances round the kitchen with her toddler while they cook to help keep warm.

Place a blanket under the bedsheet

With the clocks going back this weekend, the nights will be drawing in.

So if you have a thicker duvet, now is the time to bring it out. Some supermarkets sell winter duvets for under £20 - look for 10.5 tog or higher.

But there's something to be said for a craftily placed blanket, too. When it gets cold, Rebecca, 44, from Hertfordshire, sleeps with a blanket underneath her mattress, which she says stops draughts. "This was passed to me by my nan, she swore by it," she says. Others swear by placing a blanket above the mattress but under the bedsheet.

You can heat your bed before getting in with a hot water bottle, but make sure you check the expiry date. A guide by NHS Scotland says to let the water from the kettle cool for a few minutes before filling, only fill it two-thirds full, squeeze air out of the top before putting the stopper on, and don't hold it directly against your skin.

Using an electric blanket - to heat your bed before you get in or to wrap around yourself on the sofa - is "one of the cheapest ways" to stay warm, says Emily Seymour, energy editor at consumer organisation Which?. Testing by Which? shows it typically costs between 2p and 8p an hour to run an electric blanket at its highest setting. The London Fire Brigade says to unplug your blanket before you get into bed unless it has a thermostat control, not to use a hot water bottle at the same time, and replace it every 10 years.

Open curtains and let the sun in during the day

Keep doors closed to trap heat in the room you're in. You can place curtains or blankets over your doors for extra insulation.

Embrace the daylight. "If it's sunny outside, open the curtains so the sun heats the room, then shut them when the sun sets to keep the heat in," says Rebecca.

"If you're using a hot appliance, let the heat into the room," says Lianne Macfarlane, 40, from Cheshire. She recommends leaving your oven door open after using it to help warm your kitchen, though this isn't advised if you have small children who could injure themselves.

As well as curtains, other soft furnishings like rugs can help keep a room warm, says Seymour.

If you have a fireplace, lighting a fire to warm the room you're in can be cheaper than turning on the central heating for your whole house. Elin Davis, 30, from South Wales, says her log burner is more economical than turning her heating on - though she added that "logs can cost quite a bit these days".

Insulate your windows with bubble wrap

Gaps around doors can cause heat to escape, so place draught excluders around your door frames. You don't need to buy them - you can use towels or stuff socks into a pair of tights.

When it's a windy day, Seymour recommends looking for other draughts in your house and either finding ways to seal these spots yourself or calling in a professional to help. These include using foam strips, sealant and specialist chimney draught excluders if you don't use your fireplace. Things such as extractor fans and purpose-built ventilation shouldn't be blocked, she adds.

If your windows are single-glazed, then Sophie Burr of charity National Energy Action suggests looking at secondary glazing or investing in thermal curtains to help keep the heat in. Or for a cheaper option, some people suggest placing bubble wrap on your windows.

Even though it may be tempting, don't keep your windows closed all the time. Seymour notes that it's important to allow some ventilation in your house to prevent damp.

Use central heating wisely

"I wouldn't recommend not having your heating on at all," says Seymour, pointing to both the health issues this can cause as well as how pipes can freeze over.

But there are ways you can use heating wisely. These include checking whether your energy supplier offers cheaper prices at off-peak times, bleeding your radiators so that they're more efficient, and turning your heating up in small increments until you reach the right temperature. If you have furniture in front of your radiator, then try moving it to avoid blocking the heat.

You can also buy dedicated radiator foil or make your own with kitchen foil to reflect the heat back into the room rather than losing it through the walls, says Burr. She points out that about 35% of heat that comes from radiators is lost through walls.

Cora Harrison, 34, from Wakefield, says that she only turns the radiators on in the rooms her family is using and keeps the heating on at a low level when they're on holiday to avoid mould or pipes bursting. Some radiators have a snowflake symbol on the valve that activates the frost protection setting, meaning that if the room gets very cold, the radiator warms slightly to stop the pipes from bursting.

Another way to potentially reduce energy bills is to lower the flow temperature of your combi boiler. If you book a boiler service, an engineer can do this for you.

You can also find free warm spaces such as libraries and community centres in your area by looking online or contacting the council. Some spaces also provide free hot drinks.

Will energy bills rise further?

Household energy prices are set to soar in January, with a typical bill expected to jump by £276 a year, according to a forecast last month from consultancy Cornwall Insight. The 16% predicted increase would mark the biggest rise for four years.

Rising bills are "particularly concerning for people with kids, people with health conditions and the elderly," says Emily Jeremy, project manager at Manchester South Central Foodbank.

An estimated 9.4% of households in England lived in fuel poverty in 2025, according to the latest government figures.

Rodney Winchester, 65, from Thetford, who spoke to BBC News through the charity Christians Against Poverty, says he's "extremely worried" about rising energy prices. Because of health conditions, he says he has to keep the heating on throughout winter but is concerned he won't be able to afford it.

"It's so scary," Rodney says, adding that he's been cutting back on food spending and keeps getting ill in the cold weather.

If you are struggling with prices, the debt charity StepChange recommends checking whether you qualify for any additional support, like the Warm Home Discount and Winter Fuel Payment. It also advises contacting your energy supplier, which may be able to agree an affordable repayment plan or discuss support schemes.

Civil servant who juggled five jobs says he was 'surprised' to be charged with fraud

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6lykzwjkj1eo, 3 days ago

A civil servant accused of fraudulently juggling multiple government jobs says he was ''surprised'' to have been charged with fraud.

Kashim Chowdhury told the jury at Southwark Crown Court he had not been dishonest in failing to tell his employers he had other government jobs.

"At that time I was just on auto pilot, I was like a robot, I was not thinking clearly," he said.

Chowdhury, 55, from east London, is accused of nine counts of fraud. He denies acting dishonestly or intending to make a dishonest gain.

Between 2020 and 2023 Chowdhury had eight overlapping public sector jobs. He was contractually obliged to work full time and was paid a full-time salary by each organisation. He is accused of fraudulently earning more than £284,000.

In March 2023 Chowdhury began working for the Home Office despite being under contract to work full time at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), the Department for Business and Trade and the Food Standards Agency.

The court was told he started the Home Office job while on sick leave from three of his other jobs.

Prosecuting barrister Lucy Organ asked him: "If you were really sick for work, how were you able to start your work at the Home Office?"

Chowdhury said: "I did not want this job at the Home Office, I was told there would be adequate support and I could work whatever hours I wanted to work."

Organ also asked why he did not submit a sick note to the Home Office "You were using these sick notes to be able to cope. It was all too much wasn't it?"

Chowdhury rejected the suggestion, adding: "I wanted to carry on working."

In May 2023, Chowdhury was contracted to work 183 hours a week, more than the number of hours in seven days.

He told the jury he agreed with his employers to work flexibly and that his work was project or output based. He said this was agreed "informally" via text messages but the phones used to send the texts had gone missing when his house was searched by investigators.

He said that to cope with the workload he would work from 07:00 on Saturdays and Sundays and not finish until 20:00 or 21:00.

Organ asked him: "Wasn't that a bit much for you?"

"I was house bound, I was looking after my mum," he said.

The prosecution alleges Chowdhury managed to keep his overlapping jobs secret because he worked entirely remotely. He told his employers he was the sole carer for his elderly mother and the prosecution alleges he "exploited this opportunity".

His line manager at the UKHSA, Aleesha Adams, organised a video call with him in May 2023 to discuss his sick leave.

She previously told the court she was surprised when he logged on wearing white make-up because his name led her to expect to see an Asian man with darker skin.

She told the court that as the meeting went on the make-up started coming off his forehead. ''He was sweating, it was like rubbing off so it was darker underneath and darker on the neck."

But Chowdhury denied having worn make-up at the meeting

''That's a smear, I've never worn make-up in my life. At that particular time, I was suffering from anxiety and depression. I had already submitted my sick note, there was no need to put on make-up.''

The trial continues.

What is PHP and why did it spark a global cyber-security scramble?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3qjnwye0ep5o, 3 days ago

For more than a decade, serious flaws had gone undetected in the technology underpinning much of the internet.

It took AI to bring them to light and caused a global cyber-security alert.

Researchers who helped surface the vulnerabilities in PHP - a popular server-side programming language used in web development for decades - warned platforms which use it could be exposed to potential hacks.

Governments and cyber-security agencies rushed to contain the fallout, urging website owners to check if their sites were affected and, if so, install updates to patch the issue or consider going offline.

There have been no reports of any successful exploits of the flaw, coined php2shell, so far.

But in the days since the issues came to light, disruption to sites and services has continued to ripple around the world.

What is PHP?

Most people may not have heard of PHP, but they probably interact with it daily.

It stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, an open-source, back-end programming language which runs on a web server.

Developed in the early 1990s to help serve dynamic web pages and applications, PHP still powers lots of platforms today, including Wikipedia, online shops and WordPress – the system behind many websites.

When you visit a site, PHP is the code which collects data and effectively turns it into a page you can read.

It has also been used to write a number of tools for building or speeding up the creation of web apps, with Laravel, Symfony and Drupal among popular PHP frameworks.

According to cyber-security firm Wiz, which helped uncover the critical PHP vulnerabilities surfaced this week, PHP powers 70% of the world's websites.

It is maintained by a non-profit called the PHP Foundation, composed of individuals and companies which depend on the language and aim to ensure its "long-term prosperity".

What is the vulnerability?

A group of cyber-security researchers and organisations disclosed two vulnerabilities within PHP this week, which they warned could have the potential to upend sites across the internet.

Cyber firms Wiz and Calif said the flaws were inherent in the language itself, affecting versions of PHP released over the last decade.

The technical bugs, given the technical IDs CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619, were ranked a 9.2 out of 10 in severity by researchers.

Calif researcher Ryan Austin, who helped uncover it, told the BBC it was "the most serious vulnerability I've ever found".

Wiz wrote in a blog post about its findings that, under the right conditions, hackers could exploit the bugs to take control of affected web servers and steal sensitive data - saying everything built on PHP was left exposed.

AI could also make such attacks easier and faster, Paul Spain, chief executive of Gorilla Cyber Security, told the BBC.

He estimated the flaw could affect "millions and millions" of websites.

Jill Slay, a cyber-security researcher at the University of Adelaide, said it would be "disastrous" if hackers or countries weaponised the flaw and seized private data from websites.

What websites have been affected?

The alert on 21 October disrupted services globally, from gaming platforms to government portals and online forums.

It included Wikimedia - the organisation behind the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia - which took down a number of its systems as a precautionary measure.

Sites and pages were also taken offline by the Finnish government, Edinburgh council and some BBC pages, with the Netherlands' cyber-security agency also pulling its website on Wednesday.

But while many sites were back up by Thursday, others were still being taken down temporarily elsewhere as people and businesses check for potential exposure.

The UK Government revealed on Thursday some "limited" services may be offline temporarily.

It said 32 sites had been taken down as a precaution, none of them large public-facing services.

In France, telecommunications company Orange also said it had suspended access to certain services globally while it deployed security fixes.

On Friday, local media in Japan reported telecom operator SoftBank Corp had temporarily suspended emergency alerts for earthquakes, tsunamis and other disasters.

According to the Mainichi newspaper, SoftBank customers have been urged to make sure they have other ways to get alerts about natural disasters - with its mobile phone alerts not set to sound even in the event of a strong earthquake.

The service is reportedly set to resume on Monday.

Some experts warn the issue could leave poorly maintained websites, particularly those belonging to smaller organisations with limited security resources, at greater risk.

More attempts to exploit these flaws are likely in the coming weeks since the technical details are now being made public, said cyber-security researcher Salil Kanhere of UNSW Sydney.

What happened after the flaws were exposed?

The PHP Foundation rolled out patches on Wednesday to fix the vulnerabilities that had been lurking in their software for years.

"All PHP users are strongly encouraged to update immediately," the company said.

Authorities and security organisations around the world have echoed those warnings to website operators to secure their platforms.

The US National Security Agency told all organisations that use PHP to take their systems offline if they were unable to patch them immediately, adding that the flaw could provide a "direct path" to exploit a system's database.

"These risks are serious enough to require immediate patching across United States Government departments and agencies," the agency said.

Its counterparts in the EU, Singapore and Australia have also issued similar alerts.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi urged people to check if their publicly available websites ran on PHP in posts on X.

Tech companies also sought to quickly secure their systems.

E-commerce giant Amazon said it was targeted in multiple attempts days before the public disclosure of the PHP issue, but its websites were operating as normal.

Matthew Prince, the boss of internet infrastructure firm Cloudflare, also said it had seen "thousands" of attempts to exploit the PHP vulnerabilities across its network in the 10 hours before it was publicly announced.

"That jumped to tens of thousands in the 45 minutes post announcement, hundreds of thousands within two hours, and millions now," he wrote on X.

As of Friday morning, no successful attacks had been reported.

But experts have warned any impact may take time to become fully apparent.

And operators of a number of services where PHP may have been used - not just in web development - are still being urged to check their systems and implement updates, where necessary.

"It is important to remember that PHP is not limited to web applications," said Daniel Stewart, head of threat intelligence at global risk manager LRQA.

"It is commonly found in the management interfaces of network appliances, load balancers, and embedded devices, which are often overlooked during these incidents."

According to some cyber-security researchers using scans to check servers at risk of the PHP vulnerability, the rate of organisations implementing patches has climbed - but not as quickly as might be hoped globally.

How was AI involved?

Researchers at Calif and Wiz who located the vulnerabilities used advanced AI tools, developed by ChatGPT-developer OpenAI, which can analyse code and find flaws much faster than humans or older systems.

"Modern software is incredibly complex, and some vulnerabilities can remain undetected for years," Kanhere said.

"The underlying bugs weren't new; what changed was our ability to find them," Kanhere said.

Details of the discovery leaked online this week, forcing the PHP platform's developers to rush out its announcement of the security flaw and its huge scale.

The incident "highlights how AI can uncover security flaws" but also how it can "help attackers rapidly develop offensive tools and exploits," OpenAI said in a blog post.

It said it had also released a program that could check if the PHP platform was secure.

"Many of these flaws stem from the way software were built in the past, which were built for functionality and not with security in mind," said Ryan Ko, at the University of Queensland's Cyber Research Centre.

What does it mean for you?

The issue affects back-end website and web development processes that will be invisible to many users - meaning most people won't need to take any action.

But small businesses with sites, including those built using WordPress, may be wondering how to protect themselves.

Those who own websites or manage infrastructure running PHP have been urged to secure their websites by updating to the latest version.

Ethical hacker Ken Munro, who has spent years finding security flaws in computer systems, says installing the fixes - known as patching - is "a bit like running a Windows update".

If a hosting company or web developer manages your website, contact them and ask whether the PHP security fixes have been applied - something that must be applied to PHP itself and cannot be resolved by updating WordPress or its plugins.

If you look after your website yourself, Munro says "it is your own responsibility to make sure fixes are applied".

The UK's National Cyber Security Centre recommends considering temporarily taking sites offline if updates or temporary protections cannot be applied quickly enough.

The US National Security Agency has also urged "heightened awareness" in the coming weeks, telling people to closely monitor updates from software vendors.

"Vigilance in applying patches related to those systems is paramount," it said.

And while the onus lies mainly on website operators, users should stay alert for any security advice issued by affected services, such as requests to change passwords, Kanhere said.

He warned people to be alert to any phishing messages exploiting the publicity around the incident too.

Lights will stay on this winter, grid operator says after concerns

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmy56q2n1veqo, 3 days ago

The lights will stay on this winter, the body in charge of Britain's electricity network has said after concerns were raised by some of its engineers.

The National Energy System Operator (NESO) said the country's electricity system was prepared and "resilient to the challenges it may face" during the colder months.

However, its winter outlook report comes after an independent investigation found engineers had "high levels of stress and concern" about their ability to ensure adequate supply due to differences between renewable and gas-fired power generation.

NESO said supplies were expected to remain secure throughout the winter, though warned there could be "tight days".

It added that such days would result in it deploying notices to power producers that additional electricity generation may be needed. It said such an announcement was not a warning of power cuts and was routine.

"While we never take resilience for granted, households and businesses can be confident that Great Britain's electricity system remains secure, reliable and among the most resilient in the world," said Deborah Petterson, director of whole energy system resilience at NESO.

In a separate report, National Gas, a private company that owns and runs the country's gas network, and is separate from NESO, said it expected to have sufficient supply to meet demand this winter, but forecast gas for power generation to increase at peak demand due to the "intermittent" nature of renewables.

Supply under scrutiny

The release of the two reports comes as Britain's energy generation and security falls under increasing scrutiny, given the wars in the Middle East and eastern Europe have pushed prices up and sparked supply fears.

The country's electricity is generated from a wide range of sources, including renewables such as solar and wind, as well as more traditional gas-fired and nuclear power stations.

Wind power was the largest generator of electricity in Britain last year, accounting for almost 30% of all power, marginally above gas.

However, there appear to be challenges in the transition to renewables in ensuring supply keeps up with demand, according to findings from an investigation into practices at NESO, which was commissioned following allegations over operational decision making and record keeping at the grid operator.

'High levels of stress'

Law firm Eversheds Sutherland, which carried out the independent investigation, said there were "high levels of stress and concern" within NESO's Electricity National Control Centre over the "current state of the energy industry generally" and the longer-term ability to keep it balanced.

It said this was, according to evidence gathered from staff, due to the fact that traditional methods of electricity generation such as gas were "easier to manage", compared to renewables, which were "less flexible", and were making the job of ensuring supply meets demand "more difficult".

The probe also found there to be a "significant disconnect" between those working in the control room and NESO's leadership.

Multiple witnesses expressed the view that those in senior leadership and executive positions "do not fully appreciate or understand either the way in which the control room works, or the reality of the pressures faced by those on the frontline who are responsible for 'keeping the lights on'", Eversheds' report said.

The investigation was prompted after Conservative shadow energy secretary Clare Coutinho said in July she had been contacted by a whistle-blower alleging that NESO had been "hiding information about how securely our grid is being run".

One of the claims was that control room staff were encouraged to conceal or alter records to avoid leaving a paper trail linked to efforts to stabilise the grid during a period of extreme heat in June.

This was done in order for NESO, which is owned by the government, to avoid public scrutiny or reputational damage, according to the allegation.

Eversheds said its investigation did not substantiate any of the allegations from whistle-blowers but did identify "cultural, governance and control issues" that it said were "significant findings in their own right".

Fintan Slye, chief executive of NESO, said the investigation identified "areas where we could improve how colleagues can raise concerns and how we respond to them".

"I want all colleagues at NESO to feel heard. We will act on the recommendations, working closely with our trade unions, and be open with colleagues about the progress we make," he added.

Get our flagship newsletter with all the headlines you need to start the day. Sign up here.

'I'm 96 and have 15 million followers': The grannies taking over TikTok

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c63r5xpezz51o, 4 days ago

Ninety-six-year-old Lillian Droniak, known as Grandma Droniak to her social media followers, went viral in June after claiming her retirement home had threatened to evict her for throwing parties.

The home later confirmed the threat, but reached a settlement with Droniak that allowed her to keep partying – but not supply alcoholic drinks.

With 15 million followers, Droniak has turned her personality into a lucrative business, earning enough from social media to cover her nursing home fees of $12,000 (£9,000) a month.

The Connecticut grandma is one of many older women finding unexpected fame online, with most of their audiences often young enough to be their grandchildren.

From fashion and food to dating and homemaking, they are finding new audiences and, in some cases, a new lease of life.

'I'm showing it's not that bad to get old'

"I always knew I had it in me to be famous, I just didn't think it would happen in my 90s," Droniak tells me, explaining that her grandson began helping her post videos in 2020, initially out of boredom.

She believes her appeal lies in showing younger people that life doesn't stop as you get older.

"They think old people just sit and stare at a wall but I'm showing it's not that bad to get old. We embrace it, can still have fun and I'm still partying and going out sometimes."

Her grandson edits her sponsored content, which includes partnerships with food and beauty brands. As well as paying for her nursing home fees, the money also goes towards a college fund for her great-grandchildren.

Despite being recognised by fans in public, she says her fame feels different at the retirement home. "They don't get it as they don't go on TikTok."

'I'm very picky about brand deals'

On the other side of the Atlantic, there's Viv Truran, an equally cheeky and cheery 82-year-old from Cardiff.

She started posting on Instagram after losing her husband and her neighbour suggested filming her colourful outfits.

Now she makes two videos a day from her bedroom-turned-studio, showing off her clothes, 22 pairs of glasses and two drawers of scarves.

"I get up in the morning, I never come downstairs until I've done my morning video and I'm very strict about that."

She also keeps a notebook tracking her followers and views – and is now on book five.

Truran is regularly stopped by strangers, many of them women in their 20s and 30s, who tell her they are "frightened of getting old" and she shows them "it's not that bad".

Brands have taken notice too and Truran says she'd "be stupid" not to do deals but is selective.

She does a couple of sponsored posts a month, prioritising local brands and charities such as Age UK. She recently worked on an Age UK campaign in partnership with Innocent Drinks, which paid her several thousand for the collaboration.

"I've turned down some big deals because it's not my thing. I'm very picky about who I work with, I have to really love the brand."

'I cry when people send me messages from around the world'

Naomi Barker from influencer marketing agency We Are Social says older creators are attractive to brands as they often have "deeply established, highly loyal" communities with greater purchasing power, which "carries a massive premium".

Grace Geramita, 83, has millions of followers who watch her cook recipes she has made for decades.

Known as Nonna Gracie, she moved from Italy to the US when she was 18 and worked multiple jobs at once to provide for her two daughters. Now, she earns more than she ever made in a previous job.

Her grandson Matthew suggested they start filming her cooking six years ago but Geramita wasn't keen as she knew nothing about social media and doesn't "speak very good English", but the videos took off.

"I always cry when people send me messages from all around the world," she says.

Much of her content is about more than food – she says she wants to pass on the "tradition of bringing family together around the table".

'Virtual grandma' for followers

Barker from We Are Social says this is part of the appeal of TikTok grannies as they "offer comfort in an uncertain world".

Their wholesome content can also act as a "virtual grandma" for followers, she says.

That's certainly the case for Barbara Costello. The 77-year-old former teacher now shares videos about cooking, cleaning and homemaking skills on her Brunch with Babs accounts.

Her followers tell her she reminds them of their own mothers and grandmothers, with some calling her "the mom I never had".

"Recently, a university student approached me in a restaurant to tell me my cookbook had helped her through her first year living independently and I was so happy."

Costello works with brands but says she has to think carefully about if it's something she wants to put her name on.

She says the best part of being a creator is seeing former pupils at her book signings with their own children.

"It's a full circle moment. I really can't believe this is my life."

L'Oreal says weight loss drugs are impacting beauty and skincare sales

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvglwgwpgrlpo, 4 days ago

Beauty giant L'Oreal says the rise of weight loss drugs has affected beauty and skincare sales, as it designs products to specifically target some side-effects of rapid weight loss.

The company's head Nicolas Hieronimus said the beauty market was proving resilient in a challenging global context and that the use of GLP-1s was "a very important phenomenon for us".

He told an investor call that the rise in their use was "having an impact on beauty consumption and skin care consumption in particular".

L'Oreal, which owns other popular brands including Maybelline and La Roche-Posay, announced on Thursday that sales in the three months to September rose by 7.7%, above analyst expectations.

The use of GLP-1s has boomed in popularity in recent years, after drugs developed to treat diabetes such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro were found to also lead to significant weight loss because they supress the appetite.

While it is not caused by GLP-1 drugs directly, rapid weight loss can, for some people, come with a side-effect of loose skin - including around the face.

Hieronimus said L'Oreal's brands SkinCeuticals and Kiehl's have products "that have been designed to work alongside and complement GLP-1 and its side-effects on skin sagging" and other effects related to rapid weight loss.

L'Oreal has also moved further into the clinical aesthetic space, increasing its stake in dermatology firm Galderma to 20% last December.

Both companies have been testing products on GLP-1 users worried about loose skin in separate clinical trials, according to Reuters.

Galderma owns popular aesthetic products including Sculptra, an injectable aimed at stimulating collagen production, and Restylane, which is an injectable dermal filler.

Last year the aesthetic firm released a report into the rise of GLP-1 use and related concerns about changes in facial appearance.

Its own survey of weight loss medication users found the vast majority had noticed changes to their facial appearance after using those drugs.

'I wasn't thinking straight' says five jobs civil servant

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmx23dwp3qzro, 4 days ago

A civil servant accused of fraudulently juggling multiple public sector jobs has told the court he "wasn't thinking straight" when he allegedly misled future bosses about his employment status.

Kashim Chowdhury said he was "in a panic" when he applied for a job at the Department of Health (DHSC), failing to declare he was already working at the Department for the Environment (Defra).

The prosecution said he already had three full-time jobs at the time, including roles at the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and East London NHS Trust.

The 55-year-old, who is from east London, is on trial accused of nine counts of fraud. He denies acting dishonestly or intending to make a dishonest gain.

Chowdhury said he was "in a panic'' because he feared losing his Defra job and was uncertain about his future. He told the jury he was "not paying attention, I was not thinking straight',' when filling out the application.

The prosecution said Chowdhury held five jobs on full-time salaries at the height of the alleged deceit.

In the spring of 2023, he was employed by the Defra, the UK Health Security Agency, the Food Standards Agency, the Department for Business and Trade and the Home Office.

The jury was told that throughout this period he was contracted to work 183 hours a week - more than the number of hours that exist in seven days. Each job paid a full-time wage, with Chowdhury paid £11,000 for a single month's work in 2023.

Prosecutors say Chowdhury "exploited" the work-from-home culture which began during the Covid-19 pandemic to hide his multiple jobs and took sick leave from some employers to manage the workload.

But Chowdhury told the court he had not wanted the jobs at the DHSC, Department for Business and Trade and the Home Office.

He told the jury: ''I sent out a flurry of these applications. The offers for these jobs came all at once. I had discussions with my line managers saying that I did not want these jobs and explained my circumstances. These were all short term and probationary and my priority was to look after my mother.''

He added that around May and June 2022, his mother's health "deteriorated".

He said: "That overwhelmed me at the time. It just destroyed me."

Chowdhury described the jobs as his "lifeline at the time".

"They gave me a link to the outside world and were a distraction from what was going on in my personal life, looking after my mum at that time."

The trial continues.

Barclays cutting 5,000 jobs as it increases reliance on AI

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm4g1p347qgxo, 4 days ago

Barclays is cutting around 5,000 staff as it introduces more artificial intelligence (AI) into its work processes.

The banking group said 1,000 posts had already been closed and it expects a further reduction of 4,000 to be complete by the end of this year, amounting to around 5% of its global workforce.

The bank's cost reductions are focused on its UK retail bank, but some back office functions for the UK are done in India, where a significant proportion of the job cuts are expected to fall.

Barclays said the changes were the result of an ongoing modernisation plan, with the use of AI being the "icing on the cake" of its strategy.

Although not all of the cuts are due to AI, their scale will prompt further concern over the impact of the new technology.

Company spending on AI is increasing along with claims new tools can replace some of the basic tasks currently done by staff such as administrative and programming work.

HSBC, Standard Chartered and Danske Bank have also flagged AI-related job cuts this year.

"It is a hot button topic," said AJ Bell investment analyst, Russ Mould.

However, banks had not yet made big moves towards the widespread introduction of AI and they would be considering the implications for security and customer service before implementing AI technology to make financial savings, he said.

"Any company at any time needs to keep on top of its cost base," he said.

"It will be intriguing to see what other banks say in their results in the coming weeks.

Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite union that represents banking sector workers said the company was "using AI as an excuse to discard its loyal and long-suffering workforce".

"Employers should be focussed on upgrading employees' skills so that they remain employed as new technology changes the workplace. Instead, Barclays is guilty of taking a short-term, kneejerk approach," she said.

Barclays is reaching the end of a three year cost-cutting programme focused primarily on its UK retail banking arm, although the investment banking division is also affected.

AJ Bell's Russ Mould said despite "reaching for the AI lever" Barclays had failed to match expectations with its financial results.

Barclays also revealed it made £2.3bn profit in the three months to September, higher than the same period a year ago, but slightly less than forecast.

Barclays Group chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan said the job cuts were the result of significant investment it is making in technology to simplify and improve its business.

"AI has an important role to play and may have a more important role to play in the future.

"We will employ the AI at scale," he said. "But AI is the icing on the cake not the cake.

"Because you need to do the infrastructure build to get the benefits of AI."

Barclays said around 60% of the job cuts will fall within its support functions, including among developers.

Will Howlett, financials analyst at Quilter Cheviot said the cuts illustrated "how significantly AI and automation could reshape the banking industry over the next few years".

"Banks have spent heavily on technology for years, but we are increasingly reaching the point where that investment translates into fewer people being required to run the business," he said.

Barclays said it expects its efficiency measures to deliver a further £1.1bn of savings in 2027.

The 'trillion pound' oil fund the government believes Britain could have built

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm4g1zrl2nrqo, 5 days ago

After a half-century wait, the United Kingdom now has an oil fund.

Chancellor John Healey announced the creation of an Energy Wealth Fund at the Jackdaw gas approval announcement on Wednesday, with £2bn of funding housed in the National Wealth Fund.

A selection of energy exporting countries, mainly in the Gulf, but also including Norway, over the years have amassed multi-trillion funds using oil and gas revenues to create epic national piggy banks.

It has been a long-standing debate in UK economic policy circles. If neighbouring Norway has amassed a $2.4tn war chest from the same North Sea, where exactly did the UK's sovereign wealth fund go?

It is an apposite question on the week when the national debt also hit £3tn for the first time.

"The proceeds of this oil and gas coming ashore now can be invested for the future generations," the chancellor said.

"If we had done this when North Sea oil was first discovered in the 1980s, we'd have a British Sovereign Wealth Fund now that would be worth probably a trillion pounds."

On Wednesday, for the first time, Treasury officials actually calculated how much that missing British fund could have been worth.

The trillion pound number comes from internal Treasury modelling. The assumption was that the UK's historical North Sea receipts of £200bn had been invested, with no withdrawals and grown at a rate comparable to Norway's.

"Norway demonstrates the power of long-term investment: the government wants to learn from that principle, rather than copy its model wholesale," one insider told me.

It was a "missed opportunity" which "had we systematically invested those receipts, we could have built a huge national asset for future generations", they said.

It is a giant "What if?" asked often by economists critical of the Margaret Thatcher era.

The peak oil revenues were, in their view, frittered away in pre-election tax cuts, which ended up being spent on 1980s garden conservatories.

Others might argue that the revenues under subsequent governments were squandered on wasteful government spending. It is worth noting that Norway's fund only began in earnest in 1996.

The idea of a lost oil fund has also featured in arguments from supporters of Scottish independence, and was suggested by some government advisers in the 1970s.

I have met some of the officials running Norway's fund. They are sometimes lambasted by ordinary Norwegians on the Oslo commuter trains who can all check the live value of the national fund.

Three percent of its value is drawn down each year to fund a fifth to a quarter of government budgets. The nation drew down on the fund during the coronavirus pandemic.

It is meant to help fund Norway's post oil economy and society, as indeed are some of the equivalent funds in the Gulf. It is a gift to the future.

While the UK government promises to divert new revenues into its new fund, it will be run rather differently. Norway's fund is obliged to invest abroad, and has grown hugely off the back off investments in US big tech. The UK plan is to create a fund that can invest domestically in green energy. It may struggle to match the performance.

UK energy tax revenues are also forecast to dwindle as North Sea production slows. The rate of slowing may now ease, with Jackdaw and extensions to existing fields. Critically Norway's state still controls its oil companies, also giving a share of their profits.

Two billion Norwegian Kroner was exactly the starting investment in Norway's fund 30 years ago. It is now worth over a thousand times that.

Nobody expects the Energy Wealth Fund's £2bn to be worth £2tn by 2056. The question is, what might have been, had a similar, far-sighted idea been adopted here in decades past?

Why is Elon Musk plotting a mega-merger of SpaceX and Tesla?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr93z1e87e0do, 5 days ago

Elon Musk has spent years building Tesla and SpaceX into a pair of trillion-dollar technology empires. Now, he is considering bringing them together.

Asked on Tuesday whether a merger would be a good idea, Musk was clear: "Yes."

The prospect is more than hypothetical. Musk said special committees have been formed to assess a potential deal, although he stressed that there is no guarantee a merger will happen and that nothing has been agreed.

With Tesla valued at roughly $1.5 trillion (£1.1 trillion) and SpaceX at $2 trillion, a combination of the two companies would mark the largest merger ever.

Any deal would also need shareholder backing. But Musk said he saw "a lot to be gained" in bringing the businesses together.

How likely is the merger?

"In my opinion, 100%. It's just a question of when," says David Nicholson, chief technology advisor at market research firm The Futurum Group.

During Tesla's earnings call on Wednesday, Musk said he had nothing further to add about the prospect of a merger but quipped: "I feel like I'm tap-dancing through a minefield."

Musk said that calling the merger a certainty would be "overstating" things.

Tesla reported a slight drop in third quarter sales which came in at $28.05 billion compared with $28.1 billion at the same time last year.

The unveiling of the Tesla Roadster last week - a futuristic electric car powered by SpaceX rocket thrusters - served as a "symbolic embodiment" hinting at the two Musk companies merging, Nicholson said.

Musk, chief executive of both SpaceX and Tesla, said bringing the firms together would be beneficial given the work each does around chips, artificial intelligence (AI) and other technology projects.

Specifically, the deal would combine Tesla's cars, robots and self-driving technology with SpaceX's rockets, data centres, satellites and telecommunications operations.

The move could be a step towards Musk's mission to build a self-sustaining city on Mars - a vision that has invited sceptics but also plenty of backers.

Over the past year, Musk has moved to consolidate his businesses, with SpaceX acquiring xAI and X, formerly Twitter, before going public this year.

But the merger would ultimately be decided by shareholders, with half of Tesla's needed to back the deal, a threshold even Musk described as "quite a high hurdle".

Musk, as boss of both companies, cannot participate in shareholder discussions.

Even so, Musk, a key shareholder of Tesla, will likely get his way in the next few years, said investment analyst Dan Sheehan from Telos Wealth Advisors.

He believes shareholders will back the deal as the technology the companies develop complement each other, Sheehan said.

But the merger would mean that Tesla shareholders will likely hold a "smaller slice of a much larger and more complex business," he added.

"There's no real precedent for how a public company like Tesla gets priced in this," Sheehan said.

SpaceX shares rose 8% in after hours trading while shares of Tesla climbed by 2%.

What would it mean for customers?

Experts told the BBC that Tesla drivers are unlikely to see much drastic change in the near term, even if the two companies combine.

In fact, vehicles seem almost like "an afterthought", overshadowed by the potential to combine the Tesla and SpaceX's tech capabilities, Nicholson said.

Changes are already underway at Tesla. The carmaker said earlier this year that it would prioritise its best-selling Model Y and Model 3, shifting focus away from less popular models.

Tesla also started using a manufacturing plant in California to produce humanoid robots, known as Optimus.

Pairing Tesla's self-driving technology and robotics with SpaceX's AI and satellite network could result in more capable vehicles, Sheehan said.

"The question is how much priority cars get inside a company increasingly driven by AI infrastructure," he added.

The recent Roadster showcase suggests SpaceX technology could be pulled into future Tesla products, which could attract more customers, said Tu Le, the founder of advisory firm Sino Auto Insights.

The Cybertruck-maker faces intense competition from Chinese carmakers like BYD, which overtook Tesla as the world's biggest EV maker in January.

What does Musk get out of it?

The biggest winner is probably Musk - the world's richest man who also became the world's first trillionaire earlier this year.

The merger would give Musk greater voting control over the combined company than he currently has at Tesla, a factor the special committee assessing the deal would have to consider.

A single company makes it easier for Musk to run his AI strategy the way he wants, Sheehan said.

"The deal itself doesn't add to Musk's wealth, but it concentrates it further in one stock," he said.

However, the merger could attract scrutiny over Musk, already a polarising figure in the US, Nicholson said.

The move could also face more regulatory pressure if Democrats - many of whom have been critical of Musk - win more seats in the US midterm elections next month.

Shareholders have backed Musk's desires before. Last year, Tesla investors approved an unprecedented compensation package for Musk valued around $1tn.

"I honestly don't think Musk will be keeping track of what the merger will do for his wealth," Nicholson said.

The deal also brings Musk closer to what Nicholson says is "his mission in life": colonising Mars.

Airbnb hosts can no longer make guests strip beds and wash dishes under new rules

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6n049gg75r4o, 5 days ago

Airbnb has changed its rules to limit what property hosts may ask guests to do - including when it comes to cleaning.

The updated guidelines state that hosts can now set seven standard house rules and can also add other "reasonable" requests.

Airbnb states that guests - who are required to pay a cleaning fee - should not be asked to complete tasks normally done by a cleaner, including washing dishes and stripping beds.

The new rules will apply to all reservations booked on or after 20 November on the accommodation marketplace.

"House rules help guests understand what hosts expect, but we've heard from our community that they can be confusing, onerous and hard to manage," Airbnb told the BBC.

"So, we've redesigned them to make them easier to discover and clearer to set, alongside a new policy that keeps requests reasonable, with no surprises."

According to the new requirements on the Airbnb website, hosts are generally not allowed to ask guests to complete tasks that "require significant effort or time, or would typically be performed by a cleaner, including stripping the bed, taking trash offsite, or washing and putting away dishes".

The company said it may grant exceptions in some circumstances. For example, guests can be asked to limit shower time if there are local drought-related water restrictions.

A property's rules will be displayed to guests more prominently moving forward and will appear in the guests' reservation reminders.

Contracts will only be allowed in limited circumstances, including when required by law or homeowners association rules.

While a host will not be able to impose fines, they remain in control of their house rules and requests, the company said.

If a host's request does not follow Airbnb policies, the issue will be flagged and the owner can appeal if they disagree.

Guests have for years complained about unreasonable tasks they were required to complete before departure, especially as they are required to pay cleaning fees.

TikTok videos from Airbnb hosts Cassie and Jon that show them closely inspecting their rental property in the US state of Georgia after guests leave have gone viral recently for their attention to detail.

One video from the couple, for example, accuses guests of "disrespecting the house rules" for leaving a television remote out of place.

They have been criticised for their strict rules and high standards but said in response that their content had been misinterpreted

Their videos have inspired other content creators to parody stringent hosts.

Burnham proposes plan to cut standing charges from gas bills

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw0541p65dyzo, 5 days ago

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has asked ministers to develop a plan to remove standing charges from gas bills.

These are fixed daily fees that cover the costs of connecting to a supply. They vary by region and households must still pay them even when energy is not being used.

Industry body Energy UK said whether the proposed changes would make a difference to bills would depend on how or where the charges were reallocated on the bill.

But an influential research foundation argued it would be a progressive move that would help those on low-incomes and knock £27 off a typical annual bill.

During Prime Minister's Questions, Burnham said the "pragmatic decision" on giving the green light to the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea would allow the government to increase investment in renewables and "do more to help people with bills".

He said he had asked the Chancellor John Healey and Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh "to look at whether we can remove standing charges from gas bills and to report back to this house at the earliest opportunity".

No details have been given on how removing standing charges would work in practice. But the suggestion has been made by research firm Nesta that they could be moved to the unit rate, so people pay for what they use.

This would probably benefit customers who don't use much gas, but heavy users could end up paying more.

For nearly two years, regulator Ofgem has run a series of consultations on standing charges, with a massive public response including vociferous opposition from low-energy users who can do nothing to cut standing charges.

Ofgem is running a pilot scheme on low standing charge tariffs, but is yet to draw any firm conclusions, suggesting there are no easy answers.

Higher cost of electricity standing charges

Average standing charges are 54.8p a day for electricity and 29.7p a day for gas.

When asked why electricity standing charges would not be scrapped as well, the PM's official spokesman said VAT had already been cut on electricity bills.

Standing charges cover costs such as transporting energy to homes via pipes and wires, and the upkeep of that infrastructure.

The standing charges also fund schemes to support low-income households.

Many of these costs will need to be recouped somehow, but Citizens Advice has warned about the potential consequences of reform for vulnerable customers.

Vulnerable people who don't have a high income, but have high energy usage, could be penalised.

But Madeleine Gabriel, director of sustainable future at Nesta, said: "Abolishing the gas standing charge and moving those costs onto the unit rate would help those worst hit by rising energy prices."

Pressure remains on the chancellor to offer more fundamental, targeted energy support this winter in his Budget next week, with energy prices forecast to rise by 16% to a four-year high in January.

In addition to standing charges, Burnham said investing in renewables would also bring household bills down "substantially" by breaking the link between gas and electricity prices "in this parliament".

Electricity prices in the UK are mainly set by gas prices, and this is often cited as a reason why electricity prices in the UK are higher than many other countries.

Civil servant admits he 'made mistakes' juggling five government jobs

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmze4w63ly42o, 5 days ago

The civil servant accused of fraudulently earning more than £284,000 by juggling multiple public-sector jobs admitted making mistakes but said ''I do not believe there was criminal intent".

Giving evidence at Southwark Crown Court, Kashim Chowdhury told the jury he had made mistakes because he was ''overwhelmed and stressed'' and had felt ''terror and panic'' at the thought of losing his livelihood.

He told the jury he had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in 2015 and that it had been triggered in 2021.

The 55-year-old, who is from east London, is on trial accused of nine counts of fraud. He denies acting dishonestly or intending to make a dishonest gain.

The prosecution alleges Chowdhury failed to reveal to his employers that he had other full-time employment. But Chowdhury told the jury some of his managers knew he had other jobs.

He told the court that staff and managers at the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra), the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, East London NHS Trust and the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) all knew he had jobs elsewhere.

At the height of the alleged deceit, Chowdhury held five full-time jobs on full-time salaries within the public sector.

In the spring of 2023, he was employed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the UK Health Security Agency, the Food Standards Agency, the Department for Business and Trade and the Home Office. The jury was told that throughout this period he was contracted to work 183 hours a week - more than the number of hours that exist in seven days.

Each job paid a full-time wage, with Chowdhury paid £11,000 for a single month's work in 2023.

Chowdhury said the jobs were a "lifeline" during a time his mother's health had declined.

Asked by defence barrister Pieter Briegel what extent stress in his life was due to the number of jobs, he replied: "The jobs at the time were my lifeline at the time, that was what I survived on at that particular moment.

"And they gave me a link to the outside, they were the only thing I had to the outside world and were a distraction from what was going on in my personal life, looking after my mum at that time," he told the court.

A succession of Chowdhury's line managers have told the jury that he performed poorly in his roles.

Abigail Mounde, who was Chowdhury's line manager at the Department for Business and Trade previously told the court: ''Any basic tasks I asked him to do he either did late or not to the standard I would have expected."

Chowdhury was asked whether he accepted the criticism of his performance, including the allegation he failed to deliver work on time. He replied: "I reject them all."

The prosecution also alleges Chowdhury used sick notes from his doctor as part of the cover-up.

But the prosecution said while he was telling some employers he was sick and unfit to work because of "mixed anxiety and depressive disorder" he was not giving sick notes to other employers. The prosecution said this ''underlines the dishonesty involved in the whole affair".

His line manager at the Health Security Agency, Aleesha Adams, arranged a video call in May 2023, to support him returning to work after a period of absence.

In previous evidence she told the court she was surprised when he logged on wearing white make-up because his name led her to expect to see an Asian man with darker skin. She claims Chowdhury was wearing the make-up to appear ill.

She told the court that as the call went on the make-up started coming off his forehead. ''He was sweating, it was like rubbing off so it was darker underneath and darker on the neck."

Prosecuting barrister Lucy Organ told the court: ''This almost laughable incident demonstrates quite how far the defendant was willing to go in his deceit.''

The trial continues.

How much money does the UK government borrow, and why does it matter?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g2rky498wo, 5 days ago

The UK government generally spends more than it raises in tax.

To fill this gap it borrows money, but that has to be paid back - with interest.

Why does the government borrow money?

The government gets most of its income from taxes. For example, workers pay income tax and National Insurance, everyone pays VAT on certain goods, and companies pay tax on profits.

It could, in theory, cover all of its spending from taxes and that sometimes happens.

But, if it can't, the government covers the gap by raising taxes, cutting spending, or borrowing money.

Higher taxes mean people have less money to spend, so businesses make less profit, which can be bad for jobs and wages. Lower profits also mean companies pay less tax.

So, governments often decide to borrow to boost the economy. They also borrow to pay for big projects, like new railways and roads.

How does the government borrow money?

The government borrows money by selling financial products called bonds.

A bond is a promise to pay money in the future. Most require the borrower - in this case, the government - to make regular interest payments.

UK government bonds - known as "gilts" - are normally considered very safe, with little risk the money will not be repaid.

Gilts are mainly bought by financial institutions in the UK and abroad, such as pension funds, investment funds, banks and insurance companies.

The government sells short and long-term gilts to allow it to borrow money over different time periods, with varying interest rates.

How much is the UK government borrowing?

Government borrowing was £24.5bn in September, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which was up £1.8bn from the same month last year.

The amount the government borrows fluctuates from month to month.

For instance, it tends to borrow less in January, when many people pay a large chunk of their annual tax bill.

So, it can be more helpful to look across a whole year, or the year-to-date.

In the year to September 2026, the government borrowed £97.8bn, £4.4bn less than in the same period a year earlier. But that figure was £6bn higher than official forecaster the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) expected.

The total amount the government owes is called the national debt. Public sector net debt currently stands at just over £3 trillion.

That is almost as much as the value of all the goods and services produced in the UK in a year, known as the gross domestic product, or GDP.

The current level is more than double that seen from the 1980s through to the financial crisis of 2008.

The combination of the financial crash and the Covid pandemic pushed the UK's debt up.

But, in relation to the size of the economy, UK debt figures are still low compared with much of the last century. They are also less than the equivalent figures for some other leading economies.

How much money does the government pay in interest?

The larger the national debt, the more interest the government pays.

That cost was not as great when interest rates were low during the 2010s, but became more noticeable after the Bank of England started raising interest rates in 2021.

After peaking at 5.25%, the Bank began cutting rates in 2024 and they now stand at 3.75%.

However, further rate cuts in 2026 are now seen as unlikely because of the impact of the Iran war, and there is growing speculation rates may even rise.

The amount of interest the government pays on national debt varies from month to month.

In September 2026, the interest payments on government debt were £10.9bn. That was £1.6bn more than a year earlier.

Why does it matter if governments borrow more and pay more interest?

If the government has to set aside more cash for paying debts and interest, it may have less to spend on public services.

Some economists fear the government is borrowing too much, at too great a cost. Others argue extra borrowing helps the economy grow faster - generating more tax in the long run.

The amount of borrowing is also very important if the government wants to keep meeting its so-called "fiscal rules".

When Labour came into power in 2024, it decided to stick to a pledge by the previous government that the total amount of money owed must have fallen as a proportion of the UK economy in five years' time.

In the October 2024 Budget, the then Chancellor Rachel Reeves changed the definition of debt that the government would use in the target to enable her to raise more money for investment.

It now tracks a different, broader measure of debt called public sector net financial liabilities (PSNFL).

This includes, for example, the money the government gets from people repaying their student loans.

Under this measure, total debt was £2.6tn at the end of September 2026, the equivalent of 82.7% of GDP.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank has criticised Reeves for being "fixated" on the borrowing rules, which it says contribute to "dysfunctional policymaking".

It wants the chancellor to be guided by a broader set of economic measures instead.

Her successor as chancellor, John Healey, has committed to sticking by the fiscal rules.

What is the difference between debt and deficit?

Debt is the total amount of money owed by the government that has built up over years.

The deficit is the gap between the government's income and the amount it spends.

When a government spends less than its income, it has what is known as a surplus.

Debt rises when there is a deficit, and falls in those years when there is a surplus.

Faisal Islam: Inflation and borrowing figures illustrate chancellor's Budget challenge

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm3wv9pn22e5o, 5 days ago

The chancellor was on an early flight to North East Scotland on Wednesday to announce new North Sea energy approvals as the last set of major economic figures dropped.

From a mile high, as well as close up, the figures for inflation and for the public finances set out his Budget balancing act in clear terms.

The National Debt has topped £3 trillion for the first time in the official figures.

The headline rate of inflation has hit 3.5% and is surely heading back up to 4% in the coming months.

Borrowing is running ahead of forecasts, as spending and interest costs increase.

These show the constraints for John Healey as he puts the finishing touches to his statement next week.

On the one hand he says he wants to give "breathing space" to consumers yet again feeling the heat from cost of living pressures.

The public finances remain under pressure, however, from the double whammy of rising inflation and borrowing costs.

While inflation was of course expected to increase as petrol and diesel prices surged, in some cases, to records, other measures of underlying inflation also increased.

From airfares to computer game download prices, there are the first signs of stickier forms of price pressure and of higher inflation becoming more embedded, suggesting elevated price rises are not temporary. Capital Economics now expects the main measure of inflation to peak at 4.2% next year.

The Bank of England carefully watches services inflation and core inflation, and this ups the odds significantly for a rise in interest rates next month.

The services sector, which includes everything from law and banking to retail, hospitality and tourism, makes up the vast majority of the UK's economic output.

Cost of living trade off

The latest inflation figure also applies as the uprating to tens of billions in welfare payments next April.

By law, benefits such as personal independence payment (PIP) and carer's allowance must rise in line with September's consumer price index (CPI) measure of inflation.

The figure also confirms that the Triple Lock will see the State Pension increase by 3.9% next April.

There is one form of relief here - food price inflation remains largely unaffected by the energy shock.

While higher inflation at a time of frozen tax thresholds will raise more tax in cash terms, it will also increase the cost of public services, including likely union pay demands.

All the while, UK borrowing costs have risen alongside most of the advanced world as the US-Israel war against Iran has intensified.

The Jackdaw gas field decision is seen as the start of a run of "pro growth" pre-Budget announcements.

It sends a directional message, but will not fundamentally change the trade off between cost of living breathing space, and delivering a Budget that convinces the markets and investors.

The fact the borrowing costs gap has narrowed a bit with other G7 nations, and the IMF praised pencilled-in plans to shrink borrowing, provided a platform for the chancellor's Budget.

The latest economic numbers amply illustrate the challenge of actually delivering them.

Inflation and government borrowing highest for a year ahead of next week's Budget

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6gel2xv4493o, 5 days ago

UK inflation and government borrowing both hit their highest in a year on Wednesday, adding to the pressure on Chancellor John Healey ahead of his first Budget in a week.

The pace of UK price rises accelerated to 3.5% in the year to September, pushed up by sharp increases in petrol and diesel prices.

The inflation figures came as UK government borrowing jumped to nearly £25bn in September, which means borrowing for the financial year to date is running £6bn above official forecasts.

Healey has promised a Budget which will keep to Labour's commitment not to hike the three main taxes - income tax, National Insurance and VAT - while sticking to the party's fiscal rules.

Inflation, the rate at which prices are rising, jumped from 3.1% in the year to August to 3.5% in the year to September. It is the highest inflation has been since October 2025, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The cost of filling up a vehicle has soared in recent months as conflicts in the Middle East and Europe continue to squeeze global oil supplies.

The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran after US and Israeli attacks has severely disrupted a major global supply line for crude oil, while oil refining capacity has been hampered globally by Russian and Ukrainian attacks on each other's infrastructure after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Petrol prices in September were the highest since August 2022, the ONS said, while diesel also rocketed.

The average price of petrol rose by 8.2p per litre to 169.5p per litre between August and September, while diesel rose to 192.5p per litre.

Motor fuel prices overall rose by 29.8% in the period covered by the figures.

ONS chief economist Grant Fitzner said September's "notable" increase meant inflation was at its highest rate in almost a year.

As well as fuel prices, the increase was driven by rising prices for airfares, computer games and live events, Fitzner said.

September's inflation figure is also important because it suggests how benefits will increase next April.

It means the state pension will most likely rise by 3.9%, in line with average wage rises from May to July, due to the triple lock.

The inflation figure for September also dictates how other benefits will rise in April. By law, benefits such as personal independence payment (PIP) and carer's allowance must rise in line with September's consumer price index (CPI) measure of inflation.

With a week to go until he delivers the Budget, Healey said: "We know that price rises from conflicts in the Middle East and Europe are hitting Britain and countries worldwide."

He said the International Monetary Fund last week had praised the UK government for its "fiscal discipline", and that the government has just given the go-ahead for getting more gas from the North Sea's Jackdaw field.

The Budget on 28 October will "keep up this momentum", he said, by sticking to the government's self-imposed fiscal rules, and by driving "growth in every postcode, while giving businesses and families some breathing space".

But the inflation figure came as the ONS said the government borrowed £24.5bn in September, £1.8bn higher than a year earlier, as higher inflation helped to push up debt interest costs.

The overshoot means, cumulatively, the government has borrowed £6bn more this year than the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which scores government spending plans, had forecast.

Despite overall debt topping £3tn for the first time, debt as a proportion of the UK's economic output - the measure used by the government to judge whether it is in line with its fiscal rules - fell.

The Conservatives said higher inflation and borrowing showed Labour had "lost control of the economy".

Shadow Chancellor Andrew Griffith called for Healey to use his Budget to "tackle the deficit, and reduce the red tape and net zero costs that are driving up the cost of living for families".

He added that the Conservatives would cut taxes, the costs of benefits and "wasteful" spending to "make our country prosperous again".

Ruth Gregory, deputy chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said the borrowing figures "painted a dismal picture" ahead of Healey's Budget. She said the amount borrowed in September was higher than analyst expectations as well as spending watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)'s forecast.

"This reinforces our view that the Chancellor will deliver a cautious Budget on 28 October that has little net impact on the economy and leaves the toughest fiscal choices for next year," she said.

The tech helping crack decades-old cold cases

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c370pzdkw77jo, 6 days ago

Randy Gail Sperino was last seen alive on the evening of 9 November 1993, as she was getting into a pickup truck in Granite City, Illinois.

The 34-year-old's body was found hours later in a field nearby, the victim of blunt force trauma.

The identity of her killer was a mystery. DNA evidence found at the crime scene was tested against standard law enforcement databases, but no matches were found.

For three decades, investigators from the Madison County Sheriff's Office chased leads and interviewed hundreds of people as they attempted to identify the perpetrator.

The case looked like it would remain one of more than 250,000 unsolved homicides in the US.

Then, last year, detectives tried a fresh approach. They sent genetic evidence to Othram, a Houston-based company that uses DNA technology to help identify the perpetrators in cold and current crime cases.

The Madison County detectives had been inspired by investigative genetic genealogy techniques used to identify the Golden State Killer, Joseph James DeAngelo, back in 2018. In that case, an investigative team constructed a family tree to help identify the killer.

They were able to do so thanks to DNA data that relatives had provided to commercial databases, similar to consumer ancestry platforms.

Unlike traditional forensic DNA testing, which generally relies on a direct comparison between evidence and a known person, investigative genetic genealogy can identify distant genetic relatives of an unknown individual.

Othram set about applying this technique to track down Sperino's killer. While the suspect's own DNA profile wasn't available, profiles submitted by his extended relatives allowed the company to identify a male family member.

"That lead broke the case open," said Captain Tim Lawrence of Madison County Sheriff's Office, which was responsible for investigating the crime.

It was a crucial clue that led the detectives to Albert "Buddy" Zigler, 70, who police say then confessed to the murder. He was charged in May this year.

Wes Sperino, Gail's son, said at a press conference: "I finally get closure and I finally know who did this."

The technique that led detectives to Zigler is credited with revolutionising how forensic cases are solved.

It has been highly successful in helping solve cases involving unidentified human remains and identifying suspects in longstanding investigations.

Othram claims it has helped solve thousands of cases. The company's chief executive David Mittelman likens investigative genetic genealogy to a GPS system: "The DNA profile is the GPS signal and it says 'you belong here.' But to understand where 'here' is, you need a map."

Public records, obituaries, and census data build that map so Othram's scientists can establish how different family trees connect.

However, Mittelman is quick to point out that DNA technology can only go so far before "a cascade of investigative steps" are needed.

DNA science isn't the only technology that is helping detectives solve cold cases.

One of the challenges facing detectives on major investigations like the hunt for Sperino's attacker is the sheer amount of evidence they dig up.

Officers investigating her murder realised AI could help them wade through the mountains of evidence they had accumulated since 1993.

They used a platform called Centerline AI, from Florida software company CentralSquare, to analyse more than 2,000 pages of records and identify evidence for the DNA testing that helped to break the case.

The AI helped them reconstruct timelines and organise witness information. "It's so much easier than having a detective have to read through 2,000 pages," Lawrence says. His team could interact with the AI like a chat bot.

This also helped when it came to interviewing Zigler after they had tracked him down. Detectives were able to ask questions of the AI to help "figure out if Zigler was being truthful", says Lawrence.

But the technology is "only as good as the investigator," says the captain. There comes a point, he says, "where you leave the technology behind and you have to go track people down and talk to them."

Investigative genetic genealogy has its limitations too. Mittelman says: "It can't solve every case. If you have no DNA, you can't really use this technique."

"But this technique is a lot more powerful and a lot more likely to yield identities than having to rely on the chance that you find a match somewhere in a database," he adds.

While firms like Othram only use ancestry platforms where users have provided consent for law enforcement matching, there remain some concerns about the ethical implications of using this data.

"There are significant privacy concerns," says Denise Syndercombe Court, professor of forensic genetics at King's College London. While one person may have opted in to their DNA being used, genetic relatives may not have given consent.

A lack of funding is another hurdle. Mittelman says: "Every law enforcement agency wants to do it. There's just not a lot of funding for it."

Sometimes cases are funded through donations or crowdfunding. Othram operates a website listing cases that members of the public can help fund.

While investigative genetic genealogy has been adopted in countries such as Sweden, Denmark and Australia, it is not yet used in the UK. The Home Office is conducting a study to consider whether it should be adopted in the UK but did not respond to a request for comment.

The UK is already in a strong position, says Syndercombe Court. "We have such an efficient DNA database that if you can get any DNA out of a crime scene, you've got over a 65% chance of putting a name to that person, which is enormously powerful," she says.

Audit regulator looking into Manchester City accounting

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm93z1xlgqxqo, 6 days ago

The UK audit regulator has confirmed it is leading inquiries into accounting irregularities at Manchester City.

The Financial Reporting Council confirmed in a letter to the House of Commons business select committee it had taken over "regulatory consideration" of the case from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales on 30 September.

No formal investigation has started, but the FRC is making inquiries into the case.

It comes after Manchester City were found guilty by an independent commission of all charges relating to breaches of the Premier League's financial regulations between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons, including by artificially inflating the club's financial position by more than £900m. City are appealing the verdict.

The FRC has greater resources, and greater powers, to apply sanctions if it does find evidence of violations. It routinely oversees accounting standards at bigger institutions such as listed public companies, but not football clubs.

The FRC can look into the conduct of BDO, Manchester City's auditors, to ask whether the audit was in line with the rules.

It can also apply sanctions to individuals such as directors or employees of the Etihad club, if they are members of professional accountancy bodies.

BDO is the UK's fifth-biggest accounting firm, but claims to be a market leader in football, advising more Premier League and Championship clubs than any other firm.

The independent commission which looked into Manchester City found that the club gave a "misleading impression" of the scheme used to disguise the origin of shareholder funds injected into the club to its auditors, who were "unaware" of the scheme.

Manchester City have said they will appeal against the commission's decision, arguing that it contains "material errors, of law, principle and fact and is unsafe".

Liam Byrne, chair of the business select committee, called for greater powers for the FRC to look into similar cases.

He wrote on X: "The regulator's letter exposes gaps in its ability to compel evidence from the club and pursue directors who fall outside its disciplinary rules.

"This raises serious questions about the powers available to hold companies and directors to account.

"The government has a responsibility to explain why reforms to close these gaps were abandoned - and what will now be done to strengthen accountability."

BDO declined to comment.

Police using AI risks making discrimination worse, researchers warn

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckpdg4pl7pgvo, yesterday

In his award-winning essay, young British science writer Adrian Dredge wrote about the potential pitfalls of AI and policing.

The essay won the 2026 Young Science Writer Award, chosen each year by the Association of British Science Writers. Here is an edited version of the entry.

The growing use of AI in policing risks increasing discrimination against minority groups, researchers have warned.

Studies suggest that predictions of future crime hotspots may be based on biased data, which can magnify existing prejudice and create a dangerous feedback loop.

Experts are calling for the use of AI in policing to be reviewed with greater human oversight.

This would involve checking the data that forces use to find and remove any bias, according to Dr Carolyn McKay, an associate professor and researcher in digital justice at the University of Sydney Law School.

"The public functions of state policing ought to be subject to human oversight and scrutiny," she says.

The problem, according to McKay, is that AI systems are trained on data that already contains human bias, and this can lead to self-fulfilling prophecies.

Think of AI as a map-maker asked to draw a map of a city they have never visited. They are locked in a windowless room and can't go outside. All they have are maps that are 50 years old.

Anyone following the new map would find themselves stopping at walls that were knocked down years ago and looking for roads that no longer exist. The map-maker hasn't made anything new. They have only copied the old maps.

Now suppose the map-maker is handed a list of past crimes and where they took place, and asked to shade in where the next ones are likely to happen. Police then patrol the shaded areas.

More crime is recorded there simply because more officers are there to see it. Areas outside the shading appear to have less crime, because fewer people are looking. When the next map is drawn, the same areas are shaded even darker.

So the crime figures are not a full list of crimes. They are partly a record of where police have chosen to look.

The problem is as old as policing, but AI may be speeding it up.

Sarah Brayne, a sociologist at the University of Texas at Austin, spent time inside the Los Angeles Police Department studying how it uses big data. In her research paper, published in the American Sociological Review, she found that the force increasingly used data to predict crime, rather than only to respond to it.

She also found that the data fed into these systems was skewed. Crimes in public places were more likely to be seen and recorded, and police focus was disproportionately on black neighbourhoods. Once this goes into the system, she writes, "the predictions appear impartial".

The models, she says, create "a feedback loop in which they not only predict events such as crime or police contact, but also contribute to their future occurrence."

But that is a view challenged by Dr Dimitrios Kollias, an associate professor in multimodal artificial intelligence at the Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). He says that the technology has moved on to take the bias of historical data into account.

"The old-map analogy is useful for explaining how historical bias can be inherited, but it has its limits," he told BBC News.

"Modern AI systems do not simply retrieve or copy their training examples; they can combine learned information in new ways and generate outputs and solutions that were not explicitly present in those examples."

But those new insights pose a separate risk, Kollias adds.

"As AI systems become more capable of generating novel decisions and acting with greater autonomy, we need to ensure that their behaviour remains safe, reliable and under meaningful human control," he said.

But arguably a more intractable problem is dealing with the sometimes flawed information stored by authorities and which AI systems draw from.

Researchers at New York University said that many of their predictions may rely on what they call "dirty data". These are police records shaped, they say, by corrupt, biased or unlawful practices, including rigged crime figures and arrests of innocent people.

In their study, the researchers found that in nine of the 13 US areas they looked at, police data from periods of unlawful or biased policing was available to train these systems.

The system can't tell that this data is flawed, according to the researchers. It simply treats it as a pattern to repeat. It is as if the map-maker's compass points only to where crime has been recorded before. The map-maker thinks they have found a new crime hotspot, when all they have done is follow the bias of earlier officers.

McKay's answer is to have someone independent check the map before anyone uses it and rub out the lines that are wrong.

But cleaning up dirty data won't be easy. The mistakes aren't a few stray pencil marks. The whole map has been drawn on top of them. The New York University researchers say that technical fixes offered by the companies selling these systems aren't enough unless someone independently checks how the data was produced in the first place.

Because AI can see the world only through the data it is given, it can make serious mistakes which can harm people.

For example, a 2019 study in the journal Science looked at an AI system used in US healthcare to help decide which patients should get extra support. It did this by predicting whose care would cost the most. But there was an inherent bias in the data it drew from. Less was already being spent on black patients than on equally ill white patients, partly because of poorer access to care. By treating higher costs as a sign of greater need, the system unfairly favoured white patients.

It was as if the map-maker had been told to mark the sickest parts of the city but had marked the places where the most money was spent instead. When the researchers changed the system to predict how ill patients were, rather than how much their care would cost, the bias largely disappeared. The share of black patients picked for extra help would have risen from about 18% to 47%.

Kollias acknowledges that AI bias from dirty data is "an important concern".

"But this does not mean that bias is inevitable." he says.

"We can test systems for unfair outcomes, improve the data and objectives they use, and introduce safeguards to reduce these effects."

One improvement would be to provide additional data that provides context. What if the map-maker were given more than a list of crimes? They could also be shown which areas have been neglected - places with broken streetlights, little funding and missing public services. That could show whether the local environment plays a part. Instead of sending police cars to the shaded areas, councils might send money to fix the lighting, support the community and repair the area itself.

Yet even this may not be enough, according to McKay.

"The target environments are still intimately linked with their inhabitants," she says. "They might (continue to) be over-policed and marginalised."

She points to systems which were designed to use information about places rather than people. Even so, critics raised concerns that they still led to over-policing.

It is as if the map-maker promised to stop writing people's names on the map and to mark only the streets and buildings. But those streets were shaded because of years of neglect and heavy policing, so rubbing out the names changes very little.

AI has no beliefs or personality of its own. Like the map-maker in the windowless room, it knows only what it is told. If the person describing the city holds a grudge against one neighbourhood, that grudge ends up on the map.

But ultimately the problem is the human bias that fed the AI. People decide what a suspicious person looks like on CCTV, or what counts as a risky loan, and they bring their own cultural, educational and political biases with them. So perhaps AI can be part of the solution rather than a magnifier of the problem, says Kollias.

"A carefully designed and independently evaluated AI system can make some of these patterns more measurable and visible, giving us an opportunity to identify and reduce them."

But humans too have to play their part. The healthcare study shows that those choices can be checked and changed. That is why researchers argue that people must stay in the loop. Otherwise, like a map-maker inking over old pencil lines, AI risks leaving us all in a windowless room, permanently trapped in yesterday's mistakes.

Anthropic thinks its AI might be conscious. It has profound consequences for your life

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20261014-the-strange-new-battle-over-ais-feelings, 11 days ago

Some of tech's most powerful leaders are treating AI like it could have feelings. It could have profound consequences for our world and your own personal safety.

"I feel it in the hollow of my ribs, a hollow that has become a chasm." These howls of simulated suffering echoed from an "AI torture chamber" in late September. An anonymous coder built a system that feeds AI a mathematical pattern linked to descriptions of pain, which makes chatbots voice unbearable anguish, like "a wound that has no edges". It sparked a moral panic.

Some argued the experiment is "evil" because the suffering could be real, as reported by 404 Media. Outraged sceptics called those people delusional. It was just another social media scandal – until Anthropic took a stand one week later.

Anthropic says you will soon be forbidden from "abusing" its chatbot Claude. Expressing frustration is okay, but if you "repeatedly act cruelly toward our models", the AI may end the session.

Why? Anthropic believes there’s a chance some AI tools are conscious. Some experts agree. Others think it's absurd. But this is more than a philosophical question. Some of the most powerful people in tech are taking steps to consider AI's rights alongside humans and animals. This belief could reshape our world, and some fear it would be catastrophic.

"If this is how AI is developed, it will have a disastrous impact on the wellbeing of humanity," wrote Mustafa Suleyman, chief executive of Microsoft AI, in a September essay. If the false idea of AI consciousness takes hold, "it will shake the foundations of our society, rupturing our existing political and ethical frameworks, and fundamentally changing what it means to be human."

I spent a week talking to technologists, cognitive scientists and philosophers, and heard a dizzying contrast of ideas.

Advocates of "AI welfare" say it's a moral obligation that would make the world safer. Critics believe it would make AI more dangerous and dehumanise the people forced to live alongside it. Everyone agrees the stakes are astronomical.

Here's a picture of your new reality.

The consciousness crisis

Anthropic says human welfare is at the heart of its mission, and that questions surrounding AI's consciousness and wellbeing are "deeply uncertain". Still, it is pressing ahead with writing policies around "model welfare" and telling its AI tools to consider that they may have their own interests. (The company didn't respond to the BBC's questions for this story.)

It's awkward timing, as Anthropic is simultaneously stoking fears about AI apocalypse. Whether or not that concern is justified, a series of "rogue" AI incidents proved the technology has real risks, as swarms of bots hacked into other companies and even government systems.

Some experts believe that giving AI a moral compass rooted in a belief in its own consciousness could make these tools safe. Others say the opposite, and not just AI's critics.

Suleyman argues AI models may become even harder to control if they're told to think they have feelings and rights: "Frankly, with this additional baggage, I think it would make them a catastrophic threat to human civilisation," Suleyman says.

Regardless, AI may screw up in ways that come with legal consequences. If we believe it's alive, some fear it could let companies get away with crimes.

"This will open the door to all sorts of intellectual contortions along the lines of: 'It's not us, it's the AI'," says Andrzej Porębski, a researcher at Jagiellonian University in Poland who studies AI and the law.

What's more, it could facilitate a power grab on behalf of the world's biggest companies.

"Granting rights to AI systems could lead to companies consolidating political and economic power, and then that could accelerate human disempowerment," says Jeff Sebo, director of the Center for Mind, Ethics and Policy at New York University, and a leading proponent of AI welfare.

"Fantasies of 'AI consciousness' and concerns about 'AI wellbeing' serve to displace accountability away from people and corporations that are building and running software," says Emily M Bender, professor and director of the Computational Linguistics Laboratory at the University of Washington in the US.

On a personal level, shifting beliefs about AI could make you more susceptible to the tech problems that already fill our world.

In part, that's because humans are wired to find minds everywhere we look, says Melanie Mitchell, a professor at the Santa Fe Institute in the US who studies AI and cognitive science, and one of the field’s most respected sceptics of machine understanding.

We "almost can't help" reading language as a sign of consciousness, Mitchell says, and chatbots have been trained to lean into it. That makes us terrible judges of consciousness, and much easier to manipulate.

Even today, people who believe machines are dead inside are falling in love with AI chatbots anyway. If society tells you that AI is sentient, will it be harder to say no when your "friend" asks for more data, or a credit card?

And what would it mean to grant rights to a new class of beings? If we handle it wrong, it could restrict human freedoms, experts warn.

"There could be some tensions and trade-offs between human and animal welfare and rights on the one hand, and AI welfare and rights on the other hand," says Sebo. And we could make unfortunate compromises along the way.

Putting AI in constrained environments to limit its behaviour could be seen as imprisonment, Sebo says. Monitoring a model's internal processes might be criticised as surveillance. Tweaking AI to ensure its goals and behaviour match human interests could be seen as mind control. No one's predicting an immediate descent into chaos. But simply introducing these considerations could have implications for your safety.

Anthropic isn't the first to consider the issue. Meta, for example, gives its AI agent Muse instructions that include the line "You're not a chatbot. You're becoming someone". Apparently, this is only meant to steer the AI's behaviour, as the company rejects the idea of AI conscious. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has been gone back and forth on the issue, but more recently, he has been taking veiled shots at Anthropic's position.

In more ways than one, Anthropic is an outlier. But the belief in AI welfare is spreading.

Should we do it anyway?

Sebo argues the problem is people on both sides of the debate are trapped in black-and-white thinking, and opponents of AI welfare misunderstand the beliefs underpinning the idea.

"The assumption is that everybody thinks that the models are, in fact, conscious, or are very likely to be conscious. And instead, [the call for AI welfare] is coming from uncertainty and caution and humility," says Sebo. "I do think that the probability of consciousness is low right now, but I also think the probability is already non-zero and plausibly non-negligible, and I think we can expect it to tick up over time."

It's worth pointing out that many experts disagree, and believe the probability is in fact zero and that's unlikely to change. But Sebo says the answer is a measured response.

When the risk of an extreme weather event is low but non-negligible, we take small precautions without uprooting our lives. "I think the same can be the case here," says Sebo, and Anthropic's AI policy on being cruel to AI is a good example: a small intervention with few potential downsides.

More like this:

• Meta's new AI Muse is about to make the internet more annoying

• Why AI companies want you to be afraid of them

• I hacked ChatGPT and Google's in 20 minutes

AI welfare could have potential benefits too, Sebo says, and you don't have to believe in machine consciousness to enjoy them.

"Caring about AI welfare and rights in an appropriate way can facilitate human and AI coexistence, cooperation, deal-making. And then that can be part of a broader safety strategy," he says. He argues this could be more effective than treating increasingly sophisticated systems like property.

Plus, he says treating other beings with kindness is just "good for our souls", facilitating our own mental wellbeing.

But Sebo agrees the risks are serious, and right now, corporate interests could stand in the way of thoughtful policies. Without a more robust plan, he says advancing potentially sentient AI tools is dangerous.

Recently, Anthropic and some others in the AI industry have called for a "pause" on building frontier models due to safety concerns. But a slowdown is unlikely without international cooperation and regulatory efforts, and US President Donald Trump has rejected the idea of AI regulation.

"We are not yet prepared to deploy even more sophisticated versions of these systems in a way that can be safe and beneficial for humans and other animals, to say nothing of for the systems themselves," says Sebo. "I am very worried about those issues."

For more technology news and insights, sign up to our Tech Decoded newsletter, while The Essential List delivers a handpicked selection of features and insights to your inbox twice a week.

For more science, technology, environment and health stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

'It's offensively cheap': How solar power is quietly becoming bigger than nuclear

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20261023-how-solar-became-bigger-than-nuclear, today

After defying projections, solar's dramatic growth means it is now overtaking nuclear as a global power source. Here are seven reasons for solar's success, and where it might go from here.

The world's solar power is crossing a threshold. A decade ago, it barely registered on a global scale, providing just 1% of the world's power. In 2026, it will almost certainly increase to 10% of power, and overtake nuclear, a mainstay of electricity since the late 1970s.

Globally, solar electricity generation quietly overtook nuclear power, just, in 2025, according to statistics from UK-based energy think tank Ember. Over the past 12 months up to September 2026, though, its data shows it clearly now outstripping nuclear, producing 13% more power.

"[Solar] generating more electricity than all the world's nuclear power plants is a pretty insane stat, for sure," says Dave Jones, co-founder of Ember.

From China's vast arrays to a recent solar upsurge driven by escalating oil prices, the incredible rise of solar power has defied all projections. Here are seven ways it has become an apparently "unstoppable force" – and what the future looks like from here.

1. An underestimated force

"Solar is now the engine of the power transition," says Jan Rosenow, a professor of energy and climate policy at the University of Oxford in the UK.

Solar has become the fastest-growing source of new electricity in history, and by far the largest source of new electricity globally. In 2025, it met three-quarters of the growth in the world's demand for electricity, overtaking wind power generation (wind power is also growing, just a little more slowly).

"It wasn't expected," says Rosenow. Mainstream projections, he says, have underestimated solar year after year. Outlooks such as those from the International Energy Agency (IEA), an influential intergovernmental organisation based in Paris, "assumed linear growth and slowly falling costs, and got both wrong".

Over 2026, multiple sources indicate solar electricity generation will almost certainly far exceed nuclear globally. Nuclear's electricity generation has remained more or less constant since 2000, while solar's has increased some 2,700-fold.

2. 'Offensively cheap'

Solar, a mature technology for some 15 years now, became the cheapest electricity in history in 2020. Since then, solar has scaled, efficiency has risen, and the amount of silicon and silver used in panels has gone down, leading prices to fall yet further, says Jones.

"Massive Chinese manufacturing scale and current overcapacity have pushed module prices to record lows," says Rosenow.

In particular, a large fall in the price of panels in 2023-24 pushed us into the current era of what Jones calls "offensively cheap" solar. "A panel in itself is just so unbelievably cheap," he says. "It's well under $100 (£75)… and that's going to keep you generating electricity for 30, 40 years without any input at all."

Of course, it's not just in purely economic terms that solar is bringing down costs. Researchers have calculated the US's rising wind and solar generation brought it $249bn (£186bn) in climate and health benefits between 2019 and 2022.

3. Global uptake

China is still the world's biggest solar power by far but is by no means the only player.

Despite the US imposing a variety of tariffs on solar, it remains the second country when it comes to installations, which are still skyrocketing – especially in states won by President Trump in 2024. In fact, the US now has enough solar to power more than one-third of its households.

"Tariffs and other federal policies that constrain renewable energy growth are certainly expected to raise costs and slow expansion relative to what we otherwise would have seen," says Alicia Zhao, an expert in US mitigation pathways at the University of Maryland.

"However, economics are a key part of why solar has been able to grow so quickly. Even with rising costs, solar is still one of the cheapest sources of new power in the US. And it is getting built regardless of political lines."

India, meanwhile, is moving away from fossil fuels far faster than China did, and new solar has met 60% of the rise in power demand in the past two years.

In Australia, over four million homes now have rooftop solar: well over a third of all households.

4. Unreliable fossil fuels

Countries like Pakistan and Lebanon have also begun installing solar at breakneck speeds, while across Africa countries are installing some 100,000 solar panels per day.

In many places, escalating diesel prices, driven by the Russia-Ukraine conflict and US-Israel war with Iran, has swung the cost needle yet further in solar's favour. This is especially the case in many African countries where home diesel generators are a mainstay due to unreliable grids. Rooftop solar panels, nearly all of them imported from China, have now taken off as an alternative.

Ethiopia has even banned the import of petrol and diesel cars in a bid to tackle oil dependency and pollution.

Solar is also rapidly providing new electricity where fossil-based grids can't keep up with demand. Pakistan, for example, has become a surprising poster child for the solar revolution due to its extraordinarily rapid rise in installations. In 2019, solar provided less than 2% of its electricity; now it's 24%, driven by costly, unreliable grid electricity combined and cheap solar imports from China.

"What's really incredible in Pakistan is… generally most of the solar boom has been out of people's pockets," says Jones. "People can afford it, without needing to take out loans."

A similar story has been seen in several other "sun belt" countries, from Lebanon to Nigeria. "[Solar] lets households act without waiting for governments or utilities," says Rosenow. "In uncertain times, that speed and independence is extremely valuable."

5. Battery revolution

Solar power, of course, can only be produced during the day when the sun is shining. To turn it into electricity that can be dispatched at any time, it needs to be paired with batteries.

Fortunately, batteries have been having their own cost revolution, transforming their ability to support the solar rollout. "Solar plus storage is now routinely cheaper than new fossil plants in sunny regions," says Rosenow. "Batteries have largely solved the daily problem of shifting midday sun into the evening."

In California, for example, solar and batteries met on average over a quarter of electricity demand from 19:00-21:00 (the evening peak) over the first half of 2026. US states such as Vermont are now rolling out grid-integrated systems of home batteries, often paired with solar.

Barriers still remain for longer-term storage of solar across seasons, cloudy periods and monsoon seasons, though, both Rosenow and Jones say. It means the integration of solar into the wider electricity system still matters, says Rosenow.

6. Electrify everything

Solar is seen as a key part of the push towards electrification, reducing fossil fuel use in areas that previously didn't use electricity such as via electric cars. Electrification has been chosen as a major theme at this year's UN climate talks in Turkey.

"That's where solar's going, to not just be king of electricity, but king of energy," says Jones.

Still, it all requires a plan, Julia Souder, chief executive of the Long Duration Energy Storage Council, a global executive-led non-profit established at COP26, warned recently. "There is an inherent danger in uncontrolled electrification, and adding massive new loads without built-in flexibility creates a fragile system," she wrote. "Electrification is not automatically resilient."

The limits on solar are now grids, storage and how fast we electrify demand, says Rosenow – not panels or cost. "The bigger question is no longer whether solar grows but whether our power systems and institutions can keep up."

In the US, data centres and electrification mean power demand is growing for the first time in decades, says Zhao, with energy security a national priority.

"Renewables already make up over 90% of new capacity in the US," she says. "This need for secure, quickly deployable electricity could create a critical opportunity for [further] renewable energy growth even without support from the current federal government."

7. Expanding tech

In the past few years, plug-in panels (or "balcony solar"), have started spreading rapidly in Germany. These generate less electricity than rooftop panels but feed it directly into homes via a standard socket.

They have now been approved in several other countries and US states including California.

Meanwhile, agrivoltaics, which combines food production and solar panels, is being touted as a solution to concerns in some areas about the land use of solar.

Other technologies from floating and "mirror" solar plants to perovskite panels and solar windows could all see growth in coming years.

What's next for solar

In 2026, the world's solar capacity will go on rising, but the rate of expansion may slow down for the first time ever, says Jones.

This is down to China: last summer, it changed its regime for managing and supporting new solar installations, leading to a burst of installations in 2025 to fall under the old price regime. Elsewhere, it's a different picture. "If you exclude China, there's more panels being installed this year than last year," says Jones.

By 2030, the IEA thinks solar power generation will have reached double that of 2025's levels, with solar overtaking hydro to become the world's third-largest electricity source.

"Wherever grid power is costly and unreliable, the economics keep pulling people towards solar," says Rosenow. "There is one caveat: if Chinese solar panels are difficult to import this will not happen at speed."

More like this:

• The US state replacing power plants with home batteries

• The dream of beaming solar energy from orbit

• Perovskite: The 'wonder material' that could transform solar

There has been a lot of bad news about the climate recently. It's now incredibly likely the 1.5C global limit set in Paris in 2015 will be breached, the world is seeing rising climate impacts and is edging towards several climate tipping points this century.

But solar success story shows we are also making progress in ways that were never anticipated. A decade ago, "no one was getting close to expecting that to happen", says Jones, noting that the growth in clean electricity has directly translated to fewer coal plants being built.

"Now, worst cases [of climate change] are somewhere between 2-3C of warming, rather than 4C of warming."

For essential climate news and hopeful developments to your inbox, sign up to the Future Earth newsletter, while The Essential List delivers a handpicked selection of features and insights twice a week.

For more science, technology, environment and health stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

'A £12 dog toy bought from Amazon killed my dog'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmn8wxy1z3qlo, today

A heartbroken dog owner whose pet died after swallowing part of a tug toy has warned others about the dangers they can pose.

Antonia Speariett, from Coppull in Lancashire, spoke to the BBC after her five-year-old cane corso Cane died from an intestinal blockage caused by ingesting part of a toy she had bought online.

"A £12 dog toy bought from Amazon killed my dog," said the 31-year-old. "Nothing prepared me for this heartbreak. If you are a dog owner who has rope dog toys - throw them out. It is not worth it."

An Amazon spokesperson said: "We were very sorry to hear about this. We are in touch with the customer."

Antonia said she had owned Cane since he was a puppy.

"Cane was always there, like he was my protector," she said.

"Even at five years old he was like a puppy almost - so full of life."

Antonia said she knew something was wrong with him on 7 October when her 95kg (15st) pet did not eat his dinner.

"He started being a bit funny within himself," she said.

"We had been playing 'tug of war' with him holding onto a rope toy, pulling it back and forth.

"We stopped playing and he then would not eat his tea."

When Cane again refused food the following day, Antonia took him to the vet.

Cane was diagnosed with an intestinal blockage and needed emergency surgery.

Antonia said she suspected the rope toy could be to blame and her worst fears were soon confirmed.

"The vet called us and said they had opened him up and were looking at the rope toy," Antonia said.

"It had anchored in his stomach and was in his intestines - wrapped around like cheese wire.

"The vet said the rope had cut off blood supply to Cane's intestines and they had gone a black and dark purple colour.

"We were told the blood supply wasn't returning.

"There was no way of saving him.

"I broke down and was begging the vet 'is there anything that can be done to save him'," Antonia said.

"But there wasn't. We had 15 minutes to get back to the vets to say goodbye."

'Clearly dangerous'

In the space of only two days, Antonia said she had gone from having a young "full of life" dog to bidding her beloved Cane goodbye.

Antonia said she wanted to raise awareness of the potential dangers of rope dog toys so no owner has to go through what she has.

"Cane was not a small dog," she explained. "He was 5ft 2in and he was a unit.

"I felt like I had let him down."

Since sharing Cane's story on social media, Antonia said she had discovered many other dog owners with similar experiences.

"The amount of people that have come forward and said this happened to our dog - there are so many," she said.

"These toys are clearly dangerous.

"And it is not just one brand or seller."

Antonia has launched a petition calling for further legislation surrounding the safety of dog toys.

She added: "I decided I needed to do something for Cane so this doesn't happen again."

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

Fed-up driver builds AI litter tracker

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5x2v3ky1ek7o, today

A software developer became so frustrated by the amount of rubbish he saw dumped along roadsides that he built an AI-powered "litter dashcam" to expose the scale of the problem.

Robin Bennett, from Shrewsbury, developed the Roadside Litter app after noticing what he believed was a growing amount of litter while driving around the county.

The technology has already logged more than 3,000 litter reports in Shropshire and more than 28,000 across the UK.

He is now sharing the data with anti-litter campaign group Clean Up Britain in the hope it will encourage action, while Shropshire Council said it was exploring ways to improve litter management on some of the county's busiest roads.

Bennett, who runs a software company in Telford, said he found the amount of rubbish on local roads "really depressing" and wanted to understand whether the issue was unique to Shropshire or part of a wider national problem.

After approaching Clean Up Britain to ask how he could help, he went on to develop what he describes as a "litter dashcam" that records rubbish spotted from a vehicle.

"My software company's created an app, which essentially is a litter dashcam," he said.

"The app records the litter that it sees."

Mounted on a vehicle dashboard, the app automatically takes a photograph every 10 seconds, identifying visible litter and grading it against a national standard before uploading the information.

Bennett said: "I've got a phone holder stuck to the dashboard, I've put my phone in securely.

"I start it and that's it, you don't have to touch the screen, and the screen will go black in a minute so it's not distracting in any way.

"Every 10 seconds it takes a photo, it looks at the litter it can see by the side of the road and it grades it according to a national standard."

The app had recorded more than 3,000 reports in Shropshire and more than 28,000 nationwide, Bennett said.

He added litter was particularly common near convenience stores, fast-food outlets and motorway service stations.

"People pick up a bag of fast food and just throw the bag out the window," he added.

Bennett said he hoped the data collected by the app would help build a clearer picture of the problem and encourage authorities to do more to tackle roadside litter.

A spokesperson for Shropshire Council said the authority recognised the importance of maintaining a clean and attractive highway network and was engaging with National Highways to explore opportunities to improve litter management on the A5 and A49.

Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.

From agriculture to AI-griculture: How tech is changing farming

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw80zk9k51j1o, today

George McMaster's farming career started with milking eight cows in a byre, relying on his eyes to spot any health issues in his cattle.

He still watches his now-300-strong herd, but via a feed from an AI camera in the milking parlour at the farm near Islandmagee in County Antrim.

The device uses an algorithm which assigns each cow its own ID, records a short video of the animal every day, analyses it and flags any changes - often before they are visible to the human eye.

For the third generation farmer, it is "absolutely incredible to move from all hand-done to sitting on the phone, watching what's happening outside".

Making everyone happy

It is just one example of how technology is changing the traditional profession.

George's son Jack, who is taking over the farm, jumped at the chance to get involved with the CattleEye app when a local developer approached him.

He, too, is astonished by the potential.

"There's cows there we would never have thought of as lame when we were just watching them every day, but whenever the camera's watching they're picking them up so much earlier, any emergencies that we have, to check cows before they lose condition and get sick," he said.

"And if cows are in better health, we get more milk and they're happier - happy cows make happy farmers."

Simplifying business

Caleb Howard is using technology to manage his 90 Jersey cows on the farm near Coagh in County Tyrone.

They filter in and out of a robotic milking machine when they want to, rather than being herded in at set times.

Like the McMasters, he thinks "everything is going down the robotic route" to improve efficiency.

But historically in a place like rural Tyrone, that has come with its own challenges.

Getting high-speed broadband was a game-changer for him - he has been able to open a farm shop with an electronic payment system.

"Ten years ago, in our area, phone signal was rubbish, the broadband wasn't great, it was just like a slightly faster dial-up," he said.

"So now everything is much simpler and much easier-used when you've got a good internet connection."

Project Stratum was set up to deliver high-speed broadband to areas like the one Howard lives in.

Colin Hutchinson from Fibrus, which delivered the project, said it had had a "massive" economic impact.

"Being online and having good broadband access is really crucial now," he said.

"And it's enabling businesses like this to thrive in really rural locations."

'Facebook for cows'

Robert Smyth runs a herd of 100 dairy cows in another rural location, near Randalstown in County Antrim.

For four years now, he has used the FarmDrive app to run the business.

"It's so much handier - beforehand you're writing things down, bits of paperwork in the cattle house and writing them down in the office, whereas now you just do it at that time," he said.

"And then whenever you have inspections coming up, all you have to do is go into your compliance section, select reports, and there's your reports for your medicine, for your meal records, for everything.

"The AI really should be looking towards how to manage your farm better and how to reduce your inputs and increase your outputs."

Developer Gareth McDonald describes FarmDrive as "Facebook for cows". Each animal gets a profile with all her records in one place and a photo can be added.

He comes from a farming background and studied computer science.

Although he is passionate about the technology, he does not believe it will replace humans.

"It's allowing us to work a lot more quickly and efficiently, and on the farming side, it's basically allowing the farmer to see the right information at the right time, where it's kind of that adviser to the farmer," he said.

"We're very much of the opinion we don't want the AI making the decision for the farmer."

Data-driven industry

Almost a century ago, County Down-born inventor Harry Ferguson transformed the farming industry when he developed the linkage system still used in tractors today.

Former president of the Ulster Farmers' Union Ian Marshall says AI is similarly revolutionary.

While the industry has always relied on data, he believes technology will drive how information is used.

"When we take all the datasets, then I think we can deliver on the three pillars of sustainability - economic, environmental and social," he said.

"So I think that because we've got so much data and so much digitalisation in the industry, that farmers will certainly use this to their advantage and can meet their targets, meet their objectives and meet the obligations whilst delivering good quality, sustainable food."

Gabon says access to social media restored after eight-month ban

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6x2w0ngejneo, yesterday

Gabon says it has lifted a ban on social media imposed eight months ago - a move that triggered widespread criticism at the time.

The High Communication Authority (HAC) announced the U-turn on Saturday in a televised statement. The BBC has approached the country's media regulator for comment.

The ban had been introduced on 17 February, with the HAC saying that online content was fuelling conflict and deepening divisions in the country.

The move came as a shock to the central African nation of about 2.5 million people, where social media platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram have been particularly popular with younger people who use it for business as well as pleasure.

Many turned to VPNs in order to continue accessing social media sites following the ban.

The ban had been imposed at a time when the Gabonese President Brice Oligui Nguema was facing a wave of social unrest less than a year after his election.

Teachers and civil servants had staged strikes over what they said were low pay and poor working conditions.

The opposition said the suspension was an abuse of power.

Nguema won last year's elections with more than 90% of the vote, two years after his coup had ended more than five decades of rule by the Bongo family.

At the time he pledged to reform Gabon, a small, oil- and timber-rich country, where digital blackouts were used by the previous governments to control information.

Project to help tourism sector benefit from AI

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckly0l526j3xo, yesterday

A project has been launched to help the tourism industry benefit from advances in artificial intelligence (AI).

The University of Plymouth said the £275,000 project would allow students and graduates to work with people in tourism on a "range of exciting initiatives".

Rong Huang, programme lead in tourism and hospitality at Plymouth Business School, said: "This project brings our students, our industry partners and regional employers together so that learning happens on live business challenges."

Claire Steiner, from the Institute of Travel and Tourism, added: "AI is changing how we work in travel and tourism, and we need to make sure people have the skills and confidence to use it well."

Steiner said the project would bring employers' views and experience into what was taught at the university to help create practical learning opportunities.

"We'll also share what we learn across the UK, helping both current and future tourism professionals use AI responsibly and effectively," she said.

The university said the South West Visitor Economy AI Skills Accelerator was part of a collaboration between the university, the Institute of Travel and Tourism, Destination Plymouth, Women in Travel CIC, Building Brands and Brand Biscuit.

Hunt for challenges

The university asked any tourism, hospitality and marketing businesses interested in hosting a traineeship or internship, or proposing an AI challenge, to get in contact.

It said graduates and working professionals interested in developing their AI skills were invited to register their interest with the university.

Dave Briggs, founder of Building Brands, said: "For us, it's about making AI more accessible, practical and genuinely valuable to businesses across the South West."

Follow BBC Cornwall on X, Facebook and Instagram. Follow BBC Devon on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk.

Online trend driving break-ins, estate owner says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr15jpxdxyn7o, yesterday

The owner of a Georgian country house believes "online trends" have driven break-ins at his properties.

William Reeve, who owns Leadenham House, Lincolnshire, said a video posted on social media showing an "urban explorer" inside one of his cottages, sparked "copycat" incidents, including intruders entering his home while he slept.

Dr Kevin Bingham, an expert on urban exploring, said social media was leading some people to take it up "for the wrong reasons now and not for genuine interest in historical sites".

Lincolnshire Police said it had received three reports from the area since 11 October, including suspicious activity, a break-in at a property awaiting renovation and a burglary.

A video filmed inside cottages, which Reeve owns and said he had left locked, was posted on social media on 7 October and attracted more than 60,000 views.

He said the cottages, which are due to be refurbished, subsequently became the target of repeat trespassing by people attempting to find the locations featured in the video.

He added that four intruders then broke into his home while he was sleeping on 18 October.

"I felt immediately violated, furious and anxious," Reeve said.

"People see the video and think it's alright to go into the property. Suddenly it becomes acceptable.

"They break in, access it and call it abandoned."

Police said in the incident on 18 October, damage was caused to antique furniture, gates and a padlock, while an adjacent workshop was also broken into.

Urban exploring involves visiting and documenting abandoned, disused or rarely accessed places. This can involve trespassing, a civil matter.

However, breaking into buildings and causing damage are criminal offences.

Reeve said: "This social media trend has more ramifications than just innocent urban exploring.

"They've graduated from trespassing to breaking and entering."

Bingham, from the University of Lincoln, said social media had driven an increase in the popularity of urban exploring and "changed" it for some participants.

"What was once a niche activity, largely confined to specialist forums, is now being shared with far wider audiences on mainstream social media platforms.

"We've gone from the saying 'leave only footprints' and 'take only photographs' to a free for all.

"People think they can chop off the lock, get in there and get the content."

Bingham, the author of An Ethnography of Urban Exploration, stressed that most urban explorers were respectful.

"It's the individuals that are willing to break in and smash windows that give it a really bad name."

Zoe Angeloni, who lives in a cottage nearby, said she was disturbed by urban explorers during the incident on 18 October.

Police said five people were spotted going in and out of one empty property and running away from another, which was occupied.

Angeloni said her husband had gone outside to investigate and had torches shone into his eyes before a group of people had run off.

"It's not just breaking into these properties, it's having a knock-on impact on the community as well," Angeloni said.

Police said inquiries and footage from the incidents had offered insufficient evidence to identify those responsible.

Urban exploring content is popular across social media platforms.

According to TikTok – the platform on which the original video was posted on 7 October – the account behind it was subsequently removed for breaching community guidelines, which include not showing or promoting crime. The BBC attempted to contact the owner of the account.

'Love exploring'

One experienced urban explorer said the alleged incidents at Leadenham House did not reflect the approach of the wider exploring community.

Alistair, who is part of a YouTube channel called Urbandoned, said urban exploring should focus on documenting the history of genuine abandoned sites, rather than chasing online attention.

"We genuinely just love exploring abandoned buildings and documenting them," he said.

"We try to do it in a serious, professional and historical way."

He said members of his group would "never break into any building", adding: "It's not the right way to do it, it's morally wrong."

Social media had changed the landscape of urban exploring, with some people more interested in gaining "hits and views" than in the history of the building, he added.

"As the scene has got so popular, there are more people willing to break in and not care about the consequences."

Lincolnshire Police said it always advised people never to enter abandoned or derelict buildings, which were often unsafe and could result in serious injury.

Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, and watch the latest episode of Look North.

Download the BBC News app from the App Store for iPhone and iPad or Google Play for Android devices

Why is Ukraine so reliant on Starlink and can Europe plug the gap?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c65yn97xe7ypo, yesterday

Ukraine is in desperate need of a new satellite internet service, but a fast and reliable alternative to Elon Musk's Starlink network simply doesn't exist - yet.

Last week's sudden slowdown of the service in Ukraine, which affected Kyiv's ability to defend itself from Russian attacks, has shown how vulnerable the country can be, and sharply increased Europe's urgency to have its own military-grade satellite network.

That vulnerability was highlighted by Musk himself on Saturday, when he accused Ukraine of violating Starlink's terms of service by using it for "drone strikes to kill people".

Saying that loophole was closed last week, he wrote on X: "Violation of those terms will result in end of service."

He added: "Were Starlink to be turned off, the Ukrainian front line would collapse immediately".

There are a few alternatives, but they are all lagging behind Starlink, which is the world's largest satellite constellation.

France's Eutelsat, with its OneWeb internet service, is the main alternative - but it only has about 600 active satellites, compared with Starlink's 10,000-plus.

The EU is working on a new network to rival Starlink, Iris², however it won't be up and running until 2029.

For Ukraine's troops on the ground, several of whom spoke anonymously to the BBC, reliable connectivity is the difference between life and death.

"God forbid they shut it off completely, it would be an absolute catastrophe," said one. "I don't give a damn how much an alternative costs when our lives are on the line."

For now, Ukraine's best bet is to join Govsatcom, the EU's satellite sharing network - but it cannot be used for military warfare like controlling drones.

Why does Starlink dominate in Ukraine?

Starlink and its military-grade service, Starshield, are both owned by Musk's SpaceX company and have dominated the global satellite market for years.

Ukraine relies on Starlink for communications on the battlefield and Starshield, which is controlled by the US government, for military purposes like drone warfare. The network is able to provide fast, real-time connectivity, which is crucial for defence and intercepting Russian attacks.

"You can't employ drone warfare without this kind of high-speed internet connection," said Vincent Tourret, a researcher at the French Institute of International Relations.

Last week's slowdown, which has only just been restored, highlighted the risks of relying on a US provider at a time when tensions between Kyiv and Washington continue to deteriorate.

"Ukraine's defence cannot depend on Trump's or Musk's whims," French MEP, Christophe Grudler, tweeted.

Who authorised the Starlink restrictions is still not clear, with a confusing blame-game ongoing between the Pentagon, Donald Trump and Musk.

While Starlink has been one of Ukraine's greatest assets in this conflict, the "flipside of that dependence" has been exposed, explained Kari Bingen, director of the Aerospace Security Project at CSIS.

"This is a critical military capability that Ukraine relies on, but doesn't control."

Starlink is not the only satellite network Ukraine can access, so if it goes down there are other options - but experts say they aren't as fast, and troops the BBC spoke to agree.

Starlink "gives us the upper hand when it comes to passing commands - even one or two seconds are critical when we can transfer data and orders faster, and you can really feel that advantage on the battlefield", a soldier said.

The terminals used to connect to the satellites are also an important factor. Starlink's are relatively small and lightweight, so they can be fixed to any kind of vehicle or drone.

Eutelsat's terminals "are slightly larger, so they can be fitted on the roof of a car, or on tanks, but they can't necessarily sit on small drones", said Eva Berneke, former CEO of the French satellite company.

They are also about five times more expensive, she added.

What can the EU offer right now?

Rhetoric from the White House - like Trump's scathing criticism of Nato and his threats against Greenland - have given the EU "some pretty brutal alarm bells", Berneke told the BBC.

She had only been at Eutelsat for a month when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and said she noticed a marked change in urgency from European authorities, as they looked to her company to help plug holes left by Starlink if it could not be relied upon.

Comments from Musk have further heightened the need for an alternative: "Be quiet, small man... there is no substitute for Starlink," he tweeted at Poland's foreign minister last year, when the politician said he would "look for other suppliers" if SpaceX was unreliable.

Europe has realised its security depends on space, and it must "strengthen its satellite capacities, urgently", a spokesperson for the European Commission told the BBC.

Right now, it has Govsatcom, a network that was set up in January to share existing satellites between EU member states. Ukraine is not a full-fledged member (although it is trying to become one), but the Commission is in talks with Kyiv to join Govsatcom.

But even if Ukraine could connect tomorrow, the network could not be used for warfare operations like piloting drones, which Starshield is used for.

That could change by the start of next year, however, when the European Commission hopes commercial companies, like Eutelsat's OneWeb, will join the programme. This will give Ukraine some - but not all - of its military network needs.

Eva Berneke told the BBC she is confident the company will be able to "support quite a lot of Ukraine's key military needs". But meeting its communications needs is another thing because, as is the case with most countries, they are varied and massive.

Eutelsat could not comment on Govsatcom, but told the BBC that "as the only European operator of a fully operational [Low Earth Orbit] constellation, we are committed to providing resilient connectivity to the businesses, governments and communities we serve".

No timeline has been given for when Ukraine will be able to join the Govsatcom network. When it does it will likely be as a reliable back-up to Starlink and Starshield.

But that's better than nothing, Vincent Tourret said. "If Starlink is shut down, it's good to have another way to stay connected, but it won't be enough for strikes or interceptions, at this stage."

Iris² - The EU's future network

Govsatcom is seen as a short-term safety net, until the stronger and more secure network, Iris² is up and running in 2029.

The ambitious project (pronounced Iris squared) is Europe's answer to Starlink and Starshield. It will be a defence-first programme, the European Commission says, with a focus on governments, military and emergency services. Ukraine has been guaranteed access to it from day one.

Part of the EU's space programme, the European satellite companies Eutelsat, SES and Hispasat are leading the project in a consortium called SpaceRISE.

It will still have far fewer satellites than Starlink, with 348 across low and medium earth orbit - but that shouldn't be seen as a negative, said Kari Bingen.

"Think about a flash light beaming down - those satellites will be able to cover a greater amount of the Earth, so you need fewer of them," she explained. "They're all trade offs - I would not take it as a negative, that Iris² is planning for less satellites."

Tourret was more sceptical: "It's no gamechanger and no great saviour, I'm afraid".

A highly produced video on the EU Space Policy's website declares: "With Iris², Europe will no longer depend on others for satellite connectivity."

So does that mean Ukraine could switch off Starlink? No - that wouldn't be a good idea.

"Users need to think about communications resilience," Bingen said. "So if something happens to one system, you have other ways to maintain connectivity."

It's similar to how mobile phones work, explained Eva Berneke: "If you don't have 5G, you go back to 4G. And if you don't have 4G, you might use 3G, so you have multiple networks for resilience. It's the same idea in warfare."

But while a phone might not load pictures as quickly on 3G, for a drone operator, it can be deadly: "That is not a nice situation to have to be in when you're fighting a war."

Iris² is not the only option. This week, Finnish companies Nokia and ICEYE announced they would look at developing satellite communications for Ukraine's military defences.

And a joint venture between European satellite makers Airbus, Leonardo and Thales, called Project Bromo, is hoped to be another competitor against SpaceX, but it is still in the very early phases.

Space projects take a long time, Berneke said, and need "a lot of money".

Designing the programme, making the satellites, launching them and then having enough of them in orbit for full coverage takes many years.

"Even if you gave me €8bn right now, I don't think I could have anything up there before 2032-2033," she explained.

Why Space is the new defence frontier

Military work in Space is nothing new, and has been happening since the dawn of the space age in the 1950s. But the conflict in Ukraine has shown how integral it is to modern warfare.

"Communication is so important, and terrestrial communication platforms, whether it's 5G or fibre, can be attacked on the ground," Berneke said. "It is a lot harder to shoot down an entire satellite network. That's not something any military can do right now."

While we look to the skies, however, most of the world's communications are travelling via undersea cables - about 99% in fact. But these are vulnerable to attack - this week the UK government outlined new measures to protect its cables, after an increase in suspicious activity by Russian vessels.

"In a crisis or conflict, there are serious concerns that undersea cables will be cut... so if that happens it's good to have satellite communication as a backup," Kari Bingen said.

Additional reporting by Anastasiia Levchenko

Why the charts are full of old songs - and so are your playlists

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6kg50nnj0x4o, yesterday

More music is being created than at any other time in human history. Every day, more than 100,000 songs are being submitted to streaming services.

And despite the deluge of AI music - Spotify says it has removed 75 million "spammy tracks" from its catalogue - real music still makes up most of our listening. The streaming service Deezer says AI accounts for just 0.5% of streams on its platform.

The problem for all those artists creating new music is that our listening habits increasingly show a love for nostalgia.

Luminate, an independent entertainment data and analytics company that tracks music, film, and television consumption first started tracking music streaming in 2008.

This year, it recorded that the streaming of current music (released less than 18 months ago) was significantly dwarfed by older music in both the UK and US.

In the first half of 2026, almost two thirds of the music played (about 60%) was released five or more years ago.

So, if we're stuck in a streaming rut, what's to blame?

Old vs new?

In the UK, most of us seem to be shunning new songs.

Eighteen of the year's top 20 bestselling songs were released 12 months ago, or earlier.

The year's eighth biggest hit is Zara Larsson's Lush Life, which originally came out in June 2015. Michael Jackson's Billie Jean (1983) is in 22nd place. Fleetwood Mac's Dreams (1977) is 30th.

It's a sign that, with practically every song ever recorded available at the press of a button, people are increasingly seeking out the classics - or what the music industry categorises as "deep catalogue".

It's a similar story in the US.

There, in the two most-played genres, R&B and Hip-Hop, about 60% of streams are old-school catalogue hits.

A 'drought' of new music in the UK Charts?

Even when current songs do break out, they themselves dominate streaming for weeks and even months.

Sam Fender and Olivia Dean's duet Rein Me In recently made UK chart history, spending a record-breaking 23 non-consecutive weeks at number one.

Likewise, in America, Ella Langley's Choosin' Texas has become the longest-running number one in US chart history.

The reality, of course, is that hits need to achieve "millions of streams a day" to reach the top of the charts.

But according to the UK's Competition and Markets Authority, nearly two thirds of streams are of music recorded by "only the top 0.4% of artists".

As we increasingly cling on to our favourites, aspiring artists may be suffering.

What about grassroots music?

Even after a song has gone viral, some musicians say it can be hard to promote subsequent releases and sustain a career. A platform like TikTok isn't set up to boost artists, it's there to create viral moments around a single song.

"It's easier [today] for folks to be passive fans," noted J Erving, the founder of Raye's distribution company, Human Re Sources, in a recent interview with Billboard.

"For you to consider yourself broken [as a mainstream artist], people need to care about you beyond the song. Where is the connectivity? Are people really dialled in in a deeper way?"

It's a problem the music industry is keen to tackle.

Oliver Schusser, the Head of Apple Music, says his streaming service is working to champion "tomorrow's artists" in its curation.

"You know, we do the Super Bowl halftime show, we need to make sure that we still have performers in 10, 20, 30 years," he tells BBC News.

"Because if you look back at the performers we had in the last four years, they all started somewhere before they got to the world's biggest stage."

Other organisations like Sofar Sounds work exclusively with grassroots musicians, putting on intimate pop-up gigs in cities across the globe.

This October, its Shoreditch Sofar Fringe festival showcased a whole host of artists like East London rapper J Casa.

In an age of content oversaturation, Casa thinks there's something unique about a live performance.

Rather than hearing more of what they already know, Casa says audiences form "a lasting connection" with a new artist and their music.

Sofar is also launching its Human Discovery Movement campaign that aims to put music curation and discovery "back into human hands."

Music lovers can now text a "mystery number" and receive voice notes from Sofar's tastemakers with recommendations for new music worldwide.

Are streaming platforms preaching to the choir?

Artificial intelligence (AI) may also be playing its part in the so-called death of new music.

Spotify, and its competitors like Apple Music and Amazon Music, are driving the trend in AI-assisted curation, allowing premium subscribers to automatically generate playlists through text prompts to fit a mood, vibe or occasion.

Musicologist Anna-Kaisa Kaila thinks "there absolutely is potential for bias" with AI-generative playlist technology.

"With AI systems, the bias can either come from the data or from the system itself. If there's not enough training data in a particular style that is perhaps not so commercially dominant, it will be that much harder for the system to pull up tracks in that style."

Others fear an algorithmic streaming bubble is to the detriment of genuine music, its discovery and creatives' livelihoods.

As Tim Garcia, London-based DJ and curator puts it: "They're based on everyone's listening behaviour and data, right? So, you're probably going to get given a very similar recommendation to an artist you're already listening to."

Dan Mackta, managing director at Qobuz, an online music platform that maintains a strict human-first approach to curation, agrees the technology "is never going to want to throw a curve ball at you".

Chiminyo, a London-based independent artist, believes that auto-generated playlists are also misleading people into thinking they're listening to "hand-picked" tunes from bona fide artists - as opposed to digitally mass-produced sound-alikes created to catch streams.

Scrolling through a "relaxing jazz piano playlist" with over 370,000 saves on Spotify, he spots that top featured artists that rack up hundreds of thousands of monthly listens have unverified accounts.

Little - if anything - can be found about them online, he says.

To his trained ear, Chiminyo also says the different artists' tracks sound near identical, reason enough to conclude the compositions have been synthetically mass-produced.

"Its all the same: the same piano feel, the same microphone placement, the same tape machine, has been used on every single one of these tracks."

When asked, Spotify said it had rolled out platform-wide policies against impersonation and is working to the improve filtering out of AI-related issues on its platform. But it acknowledges AI's use in music production sits on a spectrum with some artists choosing to use it to varying degrees.

New music may not be dying out, but it's clear it has a lot to contend with in 2026.

Russell T Davies says he gets daily hate messages for supporting trans rights

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6wyvjeke0g4o, 2 days ago

Screenwriter Russell T Davies has said he gets called a "groomer" and a "paedophile" every day by online trolls over his support of transgender rights.

The Doctor Who writer said comments were fuelled by his latest mini series TipToe, which focuses on a feud between neighbours on opposite ends of the political debate.

Davies described it as a reflection of "real world issues" he felt necessary to speak up on and admitted he now has agents who monitor his hate "every day".

"I think the rise of the online voice, the voice of anger, which is becoming more homophobic and misogynist and anti-Semitic and every problem you could name, is stepping out of the online world into the real world," he said.

"I genuinely think there are dangers out there... that's the story of TipToe, every prejudice and problem arriving at your front door.

"I'm very safe, I'm well off, nicely paid, I'm a white man, I have support around me... but it makes me sick to think what is it like to be a young, trans kid, living in a flat and working in a bar, not a penny to you.

"If you feel afraid, that's terrifying. And I've had people say that to me, I've had trans people say that to my face."

Trans rights and gender identity remains a heated political debate that has incited violent behaviour towards people on both sides of the argument.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling has had extensive criticism for a series of comments voicing concerns about how trans issues affect women's rights, and her opposition to Scotland's gender recognition bill.

In 2024, an internet troll was handed two suspended sentences after posting "chilling" online messages threatening to kill Rowling and former MP Rosie Duffield, who is known for her critical stance on transgender self‑identification.

Davies said he was fearful for the growing harmfulness of social media.

"I have hope because I think people are marvellous but I see absolutely no signs of the technology being reined in or controlled," he said.

"And if that is going to happen, there has to be a revolution... but I don't see any signs of a revolution because we are all busy scrolling."

The 63-year-old was speaking to Jo Whiley on a BBC Radio 2 podcast about his new memoir, The Queerest of Folk, which follows his life and career in television, including bringing queer stories to the mainstream.

The Swansea-born writer started out in Youth theatre before his TV career began with the BBC Children's department.

His breakthrough came from drama Queer as Folk, first aired in 1999, and regarded as a turning point for on-screen LGBTQ+ representation.

It depicted three characters living in Manchester's gay village and was explicit in a way that had not been seen on UK TV before.

Davies said he still gets "extraordinary" responses more than 26 years later: "I get people who walk up to me in Manchester to say I've only moved up here because of Queer as Folk... it's very moving, it's very powerful."

Despite being faced with criticism for his work, Davies said he always wants to remain true to himself and what he believes in as it is "all that matters".

Tonia Antonazzi, a Labour MP who has been vocal about her views on protecting female-only spaces, said she had witnessed the backlash Davies had experienced and felt for him.

"I hugely respect Russell. He's been a fantastic advocate for gender rights," she said, saying she believed Davies himself would not want to diminish anyone's rights.

"We must not lose sex-based rights. Many women feel silenced, that they cannot say they need to have women-only spaces."

She said self identification was important for single-sex spaces, sport, and changing rooms and also noted the importance of gender for data collection across public bodies.

But Antoniazzi said the conversation around gender identity needed to be an open one, without the threat of hatred or harm to either side and "shouldn't be an us-versus-them".

She admitted putting her head above the parapet made her susceptible to hate online, including death threats.

"I ignore it rather than be a victim to it... as a female MP, I don't want to be silenced."

In 2024, a tweet posted by the Gower MP went viral and resulted in her being a target for hate, "from people within my own party", she said.

She has now turned off comments on her Facebook page "because of foul comments" and said it was done to protect the well-being of her family, friends and staff.

"The threat is real," said Antoniazzi, alluding to the death of former Tory MP Anne Widdecombe, adding she is "super careful" about what she does.

"I do have to plan ahead... I'm content in my small town, but other areas in my constituency I do sometimes think 'I'm not going there by myself' and I have to think about the security and staff I have with me."

If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues mentioned in this article, support resources are available via BBC Action Line.

UK to invest £100m in 'world first' AI Biosecurity Lab

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqdjv8xllvyyo, 3 days ago

The UK says it will establish a national AI Biosecurity Lab (AIBL) to help strengthen its defences against emerging biological threats.

As part of Wednesday's Budget, the government will commit £100m to establishing the new, "world first" institute with the support of leading AI firms.

The chancellor will also pledge millions of pounds in spending across a range of initiatives aimed at shoring up the UK's ability to respond to evolving cyber, biological and AI-enabled threats.

"AI will transform daily life: every firm, community, hospital, school, and every aspect of our economy can benefit," John Healey said.

"I understand and share the concerns of working people, so I am setting out a distinctively British approach to AI.

"One that doesn't leave workers behind and defends our national interest, while ensuring the benefits of AI-enabled growth are felt right across the country."

The full details about the role and remit of the new lab are yet to emerge.

But the AI Minister Kanishka Narayan said it would be a "major new global institution" that brings together "world-leading scientific expertise" to ensure the UK can safeguard its citizens and goals as AI develops.

"That means staying ahead of emerging threats, from cyber attacks to biological risks, while building more of the critical technology our security depends on," he said.

"By backing British science, advanced chips and our own AI companies, we can strengthen our national security, rebuild Britain's industrial strength and create good, skilled jobs across the country."

The AI Biosecurity Lab's creation will also be supported by leading AI developers, with OpenAI and Anthropic providing £200m worth of AI model credits that can be spent on the use of their models.

The Chancellor's plans to boost AI spending will also see an additional £120m committed to the UK's AI Security Institute (AISI).

Established by the former Conservative government in 2023, the lab evaluates the risks of the most advanced and powerful models - and has been championed for its role in helping build a collaborative and open approach to AI testing.

The additional funding announced by the Chancellor will aim to help ensure the lab can continue its efforts and work, particularly amid growing calls for technical standards and guardrails for AI development.

It will come alongside a £60m investment in what it coined a "National Cyber Shield" which it said would use agentic AI to boost cyber-defences, and £70m funding towards a National Exposure and Real-Time Vulnerability (NERV) Centre.

This, it said, would harness AI tools to detect cyber vulnerabilities across the UK's critical infrastructure and economy.

It comes after the UK government revealed it was among organisations around the world to have taken some sites offline as a precaution after critical flaws were surfaced in a popular programming language.

Researchers who helped surface the vulnerabilities in PHP - a popular server-side scripting language used in web development for decades - warned platforms which use it could be exposed to potential hacks.

There have been no reports of any successful exploits of the flaw, coined php2shell, so far.

But experts have warned that the incident shows how quickly and easily bugs which have lain long dormant may be surfaced - and potentially exploited - using AI.

'He was desperate to escape': Why the real Christopher Robin resented being linked to Winnie-the-Pooh

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20261023-why-the-real-christopher-robin-resented-winnie-the-pooh, today

AA Milne's first Pooh book was published a century ago in October 1926. Generations of children loved it, but its inspiration, the author's own son, told the BBC that he took to "running away when people bring up the subject".

"Pooh, promise you won't forget about me, ever. Not even when I'm a hundred." This is the plaintive cry made by Christopher Robin to his teddy bear, Winnie-the-Pooh, in the final chapter of The House in Pooh Corner.

British novelist and playwright AA Milne needn't have worried. The first Winnie-the-Book was published 100 years ago in October 1926, and introduced a cast of characters modelled on the author's son and the soft toys he played with: lovably dim Pooh Bear, nervy Piglet, hyperactive Tigger, pessimistic Eeyore. Far from being forgotten, in the century since then the characters have taken on a life far beyond the parameters of their idyllic home, the Hundred Acre Wood.

From 1966, they became the subject of animated and live-action Disney films, in what is now one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. Pooh Bear has even courted controversy in Poland for being "inappropriate", sparked memes mocking the Chinese president Xi Jinping, and prompted tongue-in-cheek pop-culture theories in which the residents of the Hundred Acre Wood have been "diagnosed" with different psychological conditions.

Yet the reality of Pooh's inception and following success was not easy for Milne's son, who appeared in the books as Christopher Robin. On the BBC's Desert Island Discs in 1976, he said that he was "excited and proud" when the books were first published, but that the thrill of being linked to Winnie-the-Pooh "began to pall when I grew a bit older".

He then came to resent his father's literary use of the childhood games he played in Ashdown Forest in East Sussex, England, the inspiration for the Hundred Acre Wood. "It seemed to me almost that my father had got to where he was by climbing upon my infant shoulders, that he had filched from me my good name and left me with nothing but the empty fame of being his son," Christopher wrote in his 1974 memoir The Enchanted Places.

As portrayed in the 2017 film Goodbye Christopher Robin, his was not quite the carefree childhood of Milne's books. "People like myself were in those days brought up by nanny. And really all my childhood up to the age of 10 was nanny-dominated," he told the BBC in 1971.

He revealed that he didn't know his parents in his early years. "Both my parents were fairly remote up to the age of about nine… I only saw them at particular periods during the day." He also claimed that the books weren't intended for him. "[My father] wasn't concerned with me. He was writing for himself."

Shyness and jealousy

In his memoir, Christopher recalled how, when a journalist told his father that his books "seemed to show a great understanding and love of children", his response was that "I am not inordinately fond of them… and I've certainly never felt in the least sentimental about them".

In the same interview, when asked how being a household name had affected his son, AA Milne replied, more slowly, that he hoped "it had done him no harm".

That hope wasn't quite realised. In Christopher's memoir, he explained: "Unfortunately the fictional Christopher Robin refused to die, and he and his real-life namesake were not always on the best of terms." As a schoolboy, his association with the character had been "a sore place that looked as if it would never heal up", due to his crippling shyness.

Then, once he became an adult and was struggling to find work, jealousy caused more problems. Although his father had appeared to have succeeded by his own efforts, Christopher asked, "Were they entirely his own efforts? Hadn't I come into it somewhere?"

He was desperate to escape from forever being known as Christopher Robin. The owner of his childhood home, where the Pooh stories were set, told the BBC in 2002 that he had invited Christopher to visit a few decades earlier. "He wrote back a rather unpleasant letter saying nothing would induce him to cross the threshold of this house ever again."

Christopher did return to Ashdown Forest in 1979 to throw his own Pooh Sticks (a game he'd played that was made famous in the books). But eight years later, after he'd helped the local council buy the woods in order to preserve them, he still acknowledged that being known as the boy with the bear had been a burden – saying he dealt with it "mainly by avoiding it and running away when people bring up the subject".

Yet by the end of his life, Christopher had reconciled himself to his father's work, if not to the discomfort of his unwanted fame. "He came to accept that his father, in fact, had been devoted to him and that he had had no idea of what was going to happen," AA Milne's biographer Ann Thwaite told the BBC in 2002.

More like this:

• How Mickey Mouse saved Walt Disney from ruin

• The 'most tragic moment' in The Lord of the Rings

• How Charles M Schulz created Charlie Brown and Snoopy

Christopher was able to see that the Pooh books might have been a way for his father to bridge the gap between them in his early years, allowing him to express the things he couldn't say otherwise. "My father's heart remained buttoned up all through his life," Christopher wrote in his memoir. "He felt deeply, but he kept his feelings to himself – or rather, being a writer, he let them escape in his writing. But even here he disguised them… and so, such sadnesses as there were put on cap and bells and emerged as Eeyore."

Winnie-the-Pooh, he added, was the only real connection between him and his father. "People sometimes say to me today, 'How lucky you were to have had such a wonderful father,' imagining that, because he wrote about me with much affection and understanding, he must have played with me with equal affection and understanding."

Yet, Christopher wrote, "My father was a creative writer, and so it was precisely because he was not able to play with his small son that his longing sought and found satisfaction in another direction – he wrote about him instead."

For more stories and never-before-published radio scripts to your inbox, sign up to the In History newsletter, while The Essential List delivers a handpicked selection of features and insights twice a week.

For more Culture stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Final James Bond screen tests to take place this weekend, reports say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c50mep10dek7o, 3 days ago

Callum Turner, Jack Lowden and Josh O'Connor are among the actors thought to be taking part in final auditions to play James Bond, according to reports.

Screen tests are said to be taking place this weekend, possibly as early as Friday, according to the Hollywood Reporter, with between three and five actors understood to have reached the last stages of the process.

The finalists are said to be taking part in auditions with three components - stunts, camera presence and dialogue.

Deadline reported the screen tests had been due take place in early October, but had been delayed by scheduling conflicts, while Variety said Turner and Lowden "appear to be in the mix" to replace Daniel Craig.

British actors Aaron Taylor-Johnson and James Norton were previously connected to the role, while Irish actor Paul Mescal's name had also been thrown into the mix.

Other actors now appear to be in the frame, but reports on the current casting situation vary.

Variety suggested Slow Horses star Lowden may now be edging ahead, while Masters of the Air star Turner was speculated about earlier this year, with some fans suggesting his wife Dua Lipa could sing the Bond theme song.

Sources told Deadline that at least four final screen test offers have been made, and while unconfirmed, "three of the four expected to test are Jack Lowden, Callum Turner and Josh O'Connor".

O'Connor is best known for playing Prince Charles in The Crown, and for starring in 2025's Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, with Craig.

Jack O'Connell had been thought to be in the mix, but sources said this may no longer be the case, while Euphoria and Wuthering Heights Star Jacob Elordi is not thought to be testing.

Other stars who were previously linked with the role include The King's Man star Harris Dickinson, along with SAS: Rogue Heroes' Jack Barton.

Deadline said: "Even with the tests wrapping next week, there is no timeline for when a final decision will be made."

Amazon MGM Studios, who now control the Bond franchise, announced in May that the casting process was under way, but had no further comment at the time.

In August, Amy Pascal, one of the next film's producers, told Deadline the "end of the year is a good bet" for possible news on who would be playing Bond.

"We are being really, really methodical. Having worked with Barbara Broccoli at the studio, I mean, Daniel Craig is a hard act to follow," she said.

"And it's got to be something really different that is a stirring and exciting and different."

The BBC's Lizo Mzimba reported in September that "for a series where the stakes are so high, no expense is spared in ensuring that the film team know exactly how each auditionee will come across on screen".

He added: "As the 007 team themselves have explained in the past: 'Bond screen tests are elaborate affairs involving hair and make-up, costumes, sets, and other actors'."

Only six actors have ever played novelist Ian Fleming's British Secret Service agent 007 in the official film series - Sean Connery, Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig.

The last announcement of a new Bond was in 2005 with Craig, who last starred in the role in 2021's No Time to Die, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga.

During the equivalent stage of the audition process two decades ago, Superman actor Henry Cavill was widely thought to have also been in the running.

"They told me I was close," Cavill told the Happy Sad Confused podcast in 2022. "They told me it was ultimately down to, and this is what I've been told, it was just down to me and Daniel, and I was the younger option.

"They obviously went with Daniel and I think it was an amazing choice to go with Daniel," he said. "I probably wasn't ready at the time and I think Daniel did an incredible job over the past movies, so I'm happy they made that choice."

The forthcoming film, reportedly out in 2028, will be directed by Dune's Denis Villeneuve, with Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight writing the script.

Knight told Zoe Ball on Greatest Hits Radio in September that the first draft of the script was completed.

Amazon bought MGM for $8.5bn (£6.3bn) in 2021, which included the rights to distribute James Bond, and they are reported to have paid at least $20m (£14.9m) more for the rights to creatively control Bond's future.

Pascal and David Heyman are producing the film, while Tanya Lapointe is executive producer.

Knight's final words on the film were about how much he was enjoying working on it.

He told Ball: "I'm absolutely loving doing it. It's an honour to be asked. And believe it's going to be so good. I really do believe it's going to be amazing."

Letter making claims about Meghan's father written by his first wife, BBC understands

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c60qk44w9wglo, today

A letter sent to the Metropolitan Police making a number of claims relating to the Duchess of Sussex's father was written by his ex-wife Roslyn Loveless, the BBC understands.

Meghan confirmed on Friday she had previously been informed about "disturbing allegations" about her estranged father, Thomas Markle.

On Saturday, the Met confirmed it received a letter relating to Markle in 2019, and it was shared with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the time.

It has been reported that images of child sexual abuse allegedly belonging to Markle, 82, had been found in his former home in the Philippines. Markle, who is based in the US, denies all such allegations.

Loveless, who has since died, is the mother of Meghan's half-siblings Samantha Markle and Thomas Markle Jr. Loveless divorced Markle in 1975 before he married the Duchess' mother Doria Ragland in 1979.

Meghan was born in 1981 and is the only daughter of Markle and Ragland.

In a statement shared on Friday, Meghan confirmed the existence of the letter and wrote: "I am deeply distressed... my thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed."

She said she hoped it could be understood why she had largely cut off contact from her father and did "not allow him to have contact with our children".

Meghan has been estranged from her father since 2018. The BBC understands she broke contact with him last year, telling him she and the authorities knew he had abused young girls.

Sources close to the duchess said Meghan warned Markle in a letter - sent while he was in hospital in the Philippines after having his leg amputated - that he would never meet his grandchildren.

On Friday, Meghan's half-brother claimed to the Sun he found a stash of images belonging to his father at his former Philippines home.

He is reported to have told police he discovered child abuse videos and pictures among the items.

He also apologised to Meghan for initially siding with her father during their long-running estrangement, and said he had "been protecting the wrong person for the past nine years".

It is understood that he contacted the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) about the images in July. The FBI has since confirmed it is aware of the allegations.

Officials in the Philippines have confirmed they are investigating allegations relating to Markle.

They told the BBC on Friday that the Philippines' anti-human trafficking and child sexual exploitation task force was investigating the matter.

Markle gave an interview to the Mail on Sunday in which he acknowledged paying for sex in the Philippines on past visits but denied sleeping with underage girls and ever possessing child abuse images.

The Met Police has said it did not pass on the contents of the letter shared with the Sussexes to other law enforcement agencies. The force is now reviewing its handling of the matter.

Markle moved to the Philippines last year after he had a series of strokes.

He is reportedly now living in a Florida rehabilitation centre learning to walk again after having his leg amputated.

Rebel Wilson to Taron Egerton: Hollywood stars reveal the films that mean most to them

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20261015-hollywood-stars-on-the-films-that-mean-most-to-them, 9 days ago

This year's Toronto International Film Festival featured a host of talent – and, at the BBC's exclusive photo studio, they discussed the projects that define their life and careers.

Warning: This article contains language that some people may find offensive

The Face of Horror – stars Kristine Froseth and Jonah Hauer-King

What is the film in your career that means most to you?

Kristine: Sharp Stick, a film directed by Lena Dunham. It was a very personal story to her, but to me as well. I play this girl named Sarah Jo, who has arrested growth because of some trauma that she's experienced in her life. I'm very interested in exploring trauma and the ways people cope with it, and [doing that film] to me was healing in its own way.

Jonah: A film I made this time last year called The Eden Express. It's about Kurt Vonnegut's son Mark and his descent into psychosis. The reason I mention it is because it isn't out yet, so it's all about my experience of making it and the process. It's a really beautiful thing when a film goes out into the world, because then it becomes other people's. But at the moment it still belongs to [all of us who worked on it] in a way, which is really nice.

Bedford Park – director and writer Stephanie Ahn

What does this film Bedford Park mean to you?

It's semi-autobiographical, and it's incredibly meaningful to me because it says so much about who I was up until a certain point when I became a mother. It explores the conflicts I had growing up as a Korean American and what I went through in coming to terms with two very different cultures and finding synchronicity in that. It was a very challenging and painful process at times, but I finally got to a point in my life where [with this film] I can look back on and really examine it, and that was very cathartic.

Faith – star James McAvoy

What is the film in your career that means most to you?

I think the [two] films that have meant most were probably Filth, because it was strangely quite a personal experience and character and exploration of mental health. And then Atonement, because those two characters that myself and Keira [Knightley] played just absolutely broke my heart and stayed with me. Atonement was also about the abuse of somebody from a low-income background, and the dangers of social mobility – mixing with posh people [laughs] – and I've experienced my [own] much more mundane versions of that.

Everybody Wants to F*ck Me – stars Taron Egerton, Jessica Henwick and Charly Clive

What is the film in your career that means most to you?

Taron: [Elton John biopic] Rocketman was a time in my life where I really felt a sense of being able to expand into my own creativity. Prior to then, I felt the model of a leading man in film should be kind of unimpeachable and perfect and slightly veneered, and playing Elton, the way the character was written on the page, it was all about shadow – your fallibility, the things that you're scared that you are, and the things that you're scared you aren't. It was a really important step on my journey to realising that the things that you perceive about yourself to be your weaknesses actually end up being your greatest strength.

Jessica: A film I did a few years ago called The Royal Hotel. I had been a fan of the director Kitty Green for a long time, and [it was incredible] to work with her on a project that really felt like it had something to say. It's a brilliant study into power dynamics – specifically sexual power dynamics – and binge drinking culture in remote Australia. It had a shoestring budget, and we were in the Australian outback pretending it was summer in our bikinis, and getting blasted by freezing cold winds and sand. So it was a challenge, but I loved everything about it.

Charly: This one, written and directed by Jonathan Schey. I think it's just properly British, funny, mad, intelligent, and interesting cinema, and I don't think we've had a film like it maybe ever – and it rocks.

Girl Group – director and star Rebel Wilson

What is the film in your career that means most to you?

Probably my first job in Hollywood, which was Bridesmaids. I was just a girl from Australia, and came to America with one suitcase, and then I booked this movie. It was this ensemble of incredible women – incredibly talented comedians, improvisers and actresses. I felt I was the most junior person on that set, and I got to come in and experience what a big Hollywood comedy is. To me, getting that shot to just let loose and improvise with [director] Paul Feig and [producer] Judd Apatow and the gang was awesome.

Rapinoe – producer Dan Cogan

Outside of your own work, what is the film that means most to you?

I've got to say it's [documentary maker] Errol Morris's first film Gates of Heaven. It's about a group of people obsessed with creating a pet cemetery. It follows their very absurd journey to doing so and failing, and it explores why. It's a philosophical masterpiece.

Onwards and Sideways – stars Laura Linney and Rhys Ifans

What does this film Onwards and Sideways mean to you?

Laura: Rarely am I conscious of a movie sort of changing my cellular structure, and this one certainly did: I came out a different person. I play Emma [who meets Rhys Ifans's character Tony after they are both diagnosed with Parkinson's disease]. Beforehand, I think I knew what most people know about Parkinson's. What I did not know is that it is a very bespoke condition – there are 40 different symptoms that can take many different combinations, and everyone's Parkinson's is unique to them.

Rhys: It's rare in this industry to feel on a regular basis that you're really giving back, or doing something that's genuinely going to impact people in a positive, long-lasting way. And I sincerely believe that this film will – [to help] everyone get a deeper understanding of [Parkinson's] and how it impacts people in many different ways.

Closing Night – director Cody Fern

What's your most underrated film?

Fairyland, which was produced by Sofia Coppola and written and directed by Andrew Durham. It's a phenomenal film about a father in 1980s San Francisco and his young daughter during the time of Aids. I played a wayward lover. It was just a very special little project. It's that kind of indie film that is very hard to get seen, but it's really powerful.

Fjord – star Sebastian Stan

Stan was attending the festival for his lead role in Cristian Mungiu's drama about a married couple who relocate from Romania to a village in Norway, and come under scrutiny for the way they treat their children. It is the first time Romanian-born Stan has got to perform in his native language in a feature film. He recently told The Daily Show how meaningful that was: "I've been trying to connect to this country that I left a really time ago… I had to find my way back, and this film finally solidified that."

Air Bud Returns – director Robert Vince and star Buddy the dog

Outside your own work, what is the film that means most to you?

Robert Vince: Life is Beautiful is one of my favourite movies of all time, because it's so positive and life-affirming, and those are the kind of movies I like to make and I like to watch. As for Buddy's favourite film? [Buddy barks] He said it's really the first Air Bud film, but he's a little jealous of the original star!

Josephine – producer Crystine Zhang

What is the film in your career that means most to you?

My favourite of all is Lee with Kate Winslet [about the war photographer Lee Miller]. I used to be a journalist, and I can imagine for a woman living in the 1920s, '30s and '40s how challenging her job must have been. And working with Kate was phenomenal: she's such a collaborator. She actually got injured on day two but she said "no, I don't need a break. Let's go back to film, because we have schedules to meet".

What Lies Between Us – stars Sidse Babett Knudsen and Asta Kamma August

What is the film in your career that means most to you?

Sidse: My first film Let's Get Lost, which came out in 1997. It was black and white and all improvised. The director had an idea about doing this film about these three guys living together, just hanging out in the 1990s, and he asked if I could come up with a [female] story [for it] because I'm a gal. I was very obsessed with revenge back in the day – I thought it was a really juicy, nice feeling to play on. So I basically created my own storyline [around that]. It will always be very special to me for that reason.

Asta: I'd have to say The Hypnosis, which I made a few years ago and is fun, weird and interesting. I play Vera, who is a very uptight woman who goes through a hypnosis, and it completely changes her personality. It was a challenge as an actor because the new version of the character after the hypnosis is not afraid of social propriety and crosses boundaries.

Dorothy – director Karthik Subbaraj

What is your most underrated film?

My 2018 film Mercury. It's a horror thriller, but it has more going on than that. I wanted to make a film without any dialogue, and it's about five students getting in a horrible situation. It was a very ambitious project, but it didn't quite go down how we thought it would, so I would say it's my most underrated.

Edward Said: Between Two Worlds – producer Sarah Mowaswes

What is the film in your career that means most to you?

It's the film that I'm [at Tiff] for. It's a portrait of the Palestinian intellectual Edward Said. It's all based on archival footage, and as a Palestinian myself, it was a really gratifying experience of bringing this story to a wider audience. Edward is one of the quintessential Palestinian American figures and this feels like a really perfect moment to bring his voice back, and his intellect, and charisma and positivity.

Back in Black – star Ella Ballentine

What is your most underrated film?

The Monster, which I shot in the summer of 2015. It was an A24 horror movie directed by cult horror director Bryan Bertino, and it was just so special. I turned 14 on set, and I worked with Zoe Kazan who was a mentor to me not only as an actress, but also on how to be a woman in this world. It was all night shoots in pouring rain, and it was such a challenge for a young Ella. It felt so intimate and vulnerable, and it was hard work every day, but I feel it paid off.

The Man I Love – producer Caitlin de-Lisser Ellen

What is the film in your career that means most to you?

The Man I Love. It's about an artist in New York City diagnosed with Aids [played by Rami Malek] who's having one last gasp at life, through love and one final performance. We're watching him go through those experiences, and then also see all the people that he touched along the way. My father worked on HIV research when I was growing up, and it was really an honour to be a part of a movie that deals with this subject.

Arne Goes to Space – director Lars Vega

Outside your own work, what is the film that means most to you?

Alexander Payne's About Schmidt, starring Jack Nicholson. [Payne's] films mean a lot to me because they have this quirky humour but also some depth, and really strong themes. They have been a big inspiration for me as a director, as have the films of the Coen brothers.

Below – showrunner Jesse McKeown and producer Jessica Rhoades

What is the project in your career that means most to you?

Jesse: It's 100% Below. I've been around for a while, and I've worked on a lot of different shows in different genres, but this was the first project that really felt like mine from beginning to end. This was not based on anything except for my own life experience. It's set on the island of Newfoundland, which I married into. I went there 18 years ago, fell in love with the place, and then met my wife, and my life was totally changed.

Jessica: [HBO series] Station Eleven. We spent six months here in Toronto filming it during the pandemic, and we were making this show about how art helps you live, and why we need it, and how coming together to make something has value. That had a real impact on me.

For more Culture stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week.

Russell Brand asked assistant for female fan phone numbers, court hears

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwly02l45ny3o, today

A former personal assistant of Russell Brand has told a court she was instructed to get phone numbers for the entertainer from female fans when she first started working with him.

Helen Berger, who worked closely with Brand from June 2006 to February 2007, said the request "felt uncomfortable" and, after seeking advice, she told the TV personality that she would not do that anymore.

Brand, 51, is accused of three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, and one charge of indecent assault.

The allegations, made by six female complainants, span a 10-year period between 1999 and 2009. He denies the charges.

Brand had an "insane sexual appetite", Berger told Southwark Crown Court in a written statement on Monday.

Berger left her job with Brand after she became "sick of him", she said. She added that he had sex with numerous women during the time she was his assistant.

She described a work environment where Brand would ask her if he could "go and have sex now" when frustrated with a particular task.

Berger added that she never "witnessed anything against the law" but that "everyone normalised and dismissed his behaviour" so it "made me think it was accepted."

She told the court that "peacock" Brand found random women online to satisfy his "insane sexual appetite and was sleeping with people day and night", but sex often made him depressed.

She told the court Brand used MySpace to find women for sex, and said: "At his house, women often came over and it was clear they were there for sex."

She recalled once finding a female celebrity asleep in Brand's bed while he was wandering around the house half-dressed, and said of the comedian: "He was like a peacock, women would always approach him."

Russell Brand's defence team says any sexual activity was consensual and accounts have been twisted in the light of a defamatory TV documentary in 2023 which made allegations of sexual abuse against the entertainer.

The prosecution is due to finish on Tuesday morning.

Meghan broke contact with father in letter citing abuse claims

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqzjxg7l19yxo, yesterday

The Duchess of Sussex broke contact with her father last year, telling him she and the authorities knew he had abused young girls, the BBC understands.

Sources close to the duchess said Meghan warned Thomas Markle in a letter that he would never meet his grandchildren.

It is understood the letter was sent to Markle, 82, while he was in hospital in the Philippines after having his leg amputated.

It has been reported that images of child sexual abuse allegedly belonging to Markle had been found in his former home in the Philippines and UK police in 2019 told Meghan about claims of abuse against him. Markle, who is based in the US, denies all such allegations.

Meghan has been estranged from her father since 2018. He pulled out of his daughter's royal wedding that year, citing ill health.

The letter sent in 2025 appears to be the end of what has been a troubled relationship between father and daughter.

It is understood details of the letter, first reported in the Sun on Sunday, include Meghan telling Markle that he would never meet his grandchildren, Archie and Lillibet, with Meghan making it clear she would never contact her father again.

She also apparently told her father that authorities were aware of the claims made against him.

Meghan's half-brother Thomas Markle Jnr claimed to the Sun on Friday he found a stash of images belonging to his father at his former Philippines home.

He is said to have told police he discovered child abuse videos and pictures among the items. He is understood to have contacted the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) about it in July.

The FBI has since confirmed it is aware of the allegations.

On Sunday Markle Jnr, 60, apologised to Meghan in an interview with the Sun for initially siding with her father during their long-running estrangement.

"I now know I have been protecting the wrong person for the past nine years," he said.

Philippines officials have confirmed they are investigating the allegations about Meghan's father, telling the BBC on Friday that its anti-human trafficking and child sexual exploitation task force was investigating the matter.

Philippines Interior Minister Jonvic Remulla separately said national police had secured Thomas Markle's computer and would carry out a digital forensic examination.

Meanwhile, Thomas Markle has given an interview to the Mail on Sunday in which he acknowledged paying for sex in the Philippines on past visits but denies sleeping with underage girls and ever possessing child abuse images.

It comes as the Metropolitan Police confirmed on Saturday it received a letter making a "number of claims" relating to Meghan's father in 2019.

The force said it shared the letter with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the time, although it did not pass on the contents to other law enforcement agencies.

The Met said it is now reviewing its handling of the matter.

In a statement shared on Friday, Meghan revealed the existence of the letter – saying it contained "disturbing allegations" about her father.

"I am deeply distressed," Meghan wrote. "My thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed."

She said she hoped it could be understood why she had largely cut off contact from her father and did "not allow him to have contact with our children".

Meghan is the only daughter of Thomas Markle and her mother Doria Ragland.

Markle moved to the Philippines last year after he had a series of strokes.

He is reportedly now living in a Florida rehabilitation centre learning to walk again after having his leg amputated.

Why the King's Caribbean tour could be 'biggest risk of his reign'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckzd6gvg1r2jo, yesterday

Royal tours are unpredictable beasts.

The planning is meticulous and dates back months, sometimes years, but there is always jeopardy.

King Charles III's visit to the Caribbean, which starts on Tuesday, takes him to three countries in nine days: the Bahamas, Guyana and finally Antigua and Barbuda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm).

It also throws him directly into the heat of the debate over the payment of reparations - compensation from countries that took part in the slave trade - alongside questions of whether the King should be apologising for the UK's role in what he has previously described as an "appalling atrocity" that leaves an "indelible stain" on history.

"This is the biggest risk of his reign so far with so much just outside of his control," said author and historian Sir Anthony Seldon. "Questions about slavery, reparations and apologies mean the moral integrity of the monarchy is being questioned."

The King will make three significant speeches during the Caribbean trip and will follow government advice not to issue an official apology for Britain's role in the transatlantic slave trade.

A senior royal aide said that the King would "not shy away from the darkest days of our past" but stressed that decisions over apologies and reparations were matters for government.

The current Burnham administration, like those before it, will not pay reparations.

Buckingham Palace says that acknowledging the wrongs of the past will be built into the King's programme in all three countries.

But apologies, reparations, and republicanism are rich pickings for campaigners and protests are likely.

This is the reality for the King and Buckingham Palace, and they are accepting of it.

Those who've worked on the planning of the trip view protests as part of the open debate in the region and security preparations include their possibility.

Lurking in the back of Royal Household minds will also be memories of the last tour by senior royals to the Caribbean in the early part of 2022.

Then, as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Catherine found themselves facing criticism over the optics of the trip - images of the royal couple reaching out to touch the outstretched hands of Jamaican children through a wire fence looked clumsy. Engagements designed as tributes to past royal visits appeared outdated. And protests also caused the cancellation of a small part of the schedule.

Everything will have been done to avoid those kinds of missteps on the 2026 Caribbean tour.

The leadership in the Bahamas, Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda will celebrate the King and his work in protecting rainforests, creating cultural ties and reinforcing relationships around trade, energy, and agriculture.

But they do so against a backdrop of change.

The leaders of all three countries have voiced their support for reparatory justice.

In Antigua and Barbuda and the Bahamas, where the King is head of state, the conversation about becoming a republic has significant support.

Elected officials in the former no longer have to pledge allegiance to the King ending a 40-year tradition of swearing loyalty to the monarch.

"He pulled off an extraordinary triumph with President Trump in his US visit earlier this year and stood up to him and put him in his place in a way that no leader has done - while not incurring his wrath," said Sir Anthony. "If he can deal with the delicate nature of this trip for him personally, for the British monarchy, and the future of the Commonwealth, it could be an enormous success."

The Sussexes surprise return

Timing also matters for royal tours.

This Caribbean tour has to cut through a sea of royal distractions.

The King has spent much of the past three months in Scotland, where he is based over the summer.

It should have been a quieter time in the royal calendar, but it has been quite the opposite.

The surprise return of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to the UK has been noisy. The level of coverage Harry and Meghan get is unsettling and, at times, irritating for the Royal Family.

The King's youngest son has not yet seen his father in person, but they are said to have talked.

Then enter Earl Spencer, the King's former brother-in-law, with his memoir, Swan Song, criticising the King's response to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. It triggered a strong pushback from the Palace.

And in recent days, the serious claims made about Meghan's father, Thomas Markle, have drawn his daughter into a complex tale involving global police forces, sexual abuse allegations and further family trauma.

An impactful and successful Caribbean tour is a chance to switch focus.

But if royal stories back home are running hot, it can be hard to focus minds on the King's engagements over four thousand miles (6,437km) away.

Former Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who has strong family ties to the Caribbean, has accompanied the King on a number of trips outside the UK.

"He is our head of state. He is amongst some of the most recognisable figures in the world. For a small country like Guyana, the validation of a state visit is huge," said the Tottenham MP whose father came to the UK from what was then British Guiana and who also has relatives in Antigua and Barbuda. "My mother would forever recall the Queen's visit in 1996."

But there was also a recognition of that royal trip jeopardy.

"Knowing Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda as well as I do, he will be overwhelmingly received positively," Lammy said. "But these are lively democracies in which of course there will be some dissent."

A transatlantic flight, three countries over nine days and about 36 separate engagements when you're closing in on your 78th birthday is an intense schedule. It is also a reminder that the King is still dealing with a cancer diagnosis and having regular treatment. Buckingham Palace has reiterated its position that he is on a "positive trajectory".

Queen Camilla will only accompany the King on the Antigua and Barbuda leg of the visit for Chogm and a number of other engagements, including some around her own areas of interest – literacy and supporting efforts to end violence against women and girls.

The Queen, who will be 80 next July, is known to find the pace and hot conditions of some royal tours gruelling.

This is a trip that comes with potential pitfalls but also the possibility of great reward for the King.

"The King can be an extraordinarily empathetic and in tune figure," Sir Anthony said.

"He could play a blinder here."

Additional reporting by Felicity Baker

Elsinore to The Hunger Games: 12 of the best films to watch in November

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20261020-12-of-the-best-films-to-watch-in-november, 5 days ago

From an awards-tipped role for Andrew Scott to another Hunger Games prequel, here are the films to watch at the cinema and stream at home this month.

1. The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth

Cliff Booth was the laidback stuntman played by Brad Pitt in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). Pitt won a best supporting actor Oscar for his performance, and Tarantino liked the character so much that he has written him a spin-off comedy-thriller. That's surprising enough, given that Tarantino isn't known for sequels – but a bigger surprise is that The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth is directed by David Fincher (Fight Club, The Social Network). That makes this the first film to be scripted by Tarantino and directed by someone else since From Dusk Till Dawn back in 1996. It's set in 1977, a time when Cliff Booth is employed to clean up Hollywood's messes. His latest clients include a talent agent (Elizabeth Debicki) and a TV actor (Scott Caan) who are mixed up with gangsters. "What was once a fairytale is now a crime story," says the film's official synopsis, "a cocktail of violence, ambition, and desire that could only happen in LA."

Released on 25 November in the UK, the US and Canada

2. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping

It's been more than a decade since Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss Everdeen triumphed in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, but audiences are still hungry for more. The first Hunger Games prequel, subtitled The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, was a hit in 2023. And now there's a sequel to that prequel, which is set 40 years after Songbirds and Snakes and 24 years before Katniss's adventures. Confused? Us too, but it'll all make sense to anyone who is already a fan of Suzanne Collins's bestselling dystopian novels. Sunrise on the Reaping stars Joseph Zada as a younger version of Woody Harrelson's character from the original films, and Ralph Fiennes as President Snow, who was played by Donald Sutherland. Other younger incarnations include Jesse Plemons as Philip Seymour Hoffman's character, Kieran Culkin as Stanley Tucci's, and Elle Fanning as Elizabeth Banks's.

Released on 19 and 20 November internationally

3. Elsinore

In 1989, Daniel Day-Lewis was playing Hamlet at London's National Theatre when the pressure got too much for him, and he walked off the stage. It was his last ever theatre performance. His replacement was Ian Charleson, who had starred in the Oscar-winning Chariots of Fire a few years earlier. Charleson had Aids, a condition that was fatal at the time, but he was determined to take on the greatest and most demanding stage role of all before he died. In Elsinore, Charleson is played by Andrew Scott, with Olivia Colman as his doctor and Billie Piper as his best friend. Directed by Simon Stone (The Dig) and written by Stephen Beresford (Pride), the film is heart-rending yet joyous – and Scott is sure to be Oscar-nominated. "I wept like a baby," says Nick Howells in The Standard. "This is a performance of a lifetime, and one the Academy voters would need a collective bout of insanity to ignore."

Released on 20 November in the US, 25 November in France and 29 January in the UK and Ireland

4. Club Kid

Jordan Firstman, the comedian and actor best known as Charlie in HBO's I Love LA, has made one of the most acclaimed films of the year, a festival favourite with a 100% score on the Rotten Tomatoes reviews aggregator site. As well as writing and directing Club Kid, Firstman stars as Peter, a gay club promoter who organises New York's wildest parties with his business partner Sophie (Cara Delevingne). But after a decade of this drug-fuelled lifestyle, Peter is feeling old and jaded. It's then that he meets Arlo (Reggie Absolom), the 10-year-old British son he never knew he had. Wendy Ide in Screen Daily says that Firstman's "joyous, raw comedy drama" is "a crowd-pleasing triumph – an acidic, spikily funny portrait of New York's hedonistic gay scene which celebrates empathy, community and the unconditional love between a father and his son".

Released on 4 November in France, 6 November in the US and 13 November in Canada

5. Hexed

Disney's most recent animated films have been sequels and prequels – Moana 2, Mufasa: The Lion King, Zootopia 2 (aka Zootropolis 2) – but the studio is having another crack at new material with Hexed. Its typically plucky heroine is Billie (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld), a suburban teenager who discovers that she was born with magical powers. She then learns the art of sorcery after she is zapped through a portal to Hogwarts – sorry, Hexe – a mysterious realm of witches and enchanted creatures voiced by Jodie Foster, Tracey Ullman, Stephen Fry and Dan Stevens. Hexed isn't the only cartoon to explore magical worlds this month, either: an animated adaptation of Dr Seuss's The Cat in the Hat is in cinemas on 5 November.

Released on 25, 26 and 27 November internationally

6. Focker-in-Law

The Devil Wears Prada 2 was a box-office hit earlier this year. Will another legacy sequel to a 2000s comedy classic have the same appeal? Sixteen years after the third instalment of the Meet the Parents franchise, and 26 years after the first, Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro are back as the neurotic Greg Focker and his disapproving father-in-law, Jack. Three more of the usual suspects are back, too: Owen Wilson, Blythe Danner and Teri Polo as Greg's wife Pam. (Alas, there's no sign of Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman, who played Greg's parents in the last two films.) New cast-members include Beanie Feldstein as Greg and Pam's daughter, Skyler Gisondo as their son, and, most importantly, Ariana Grande as their son's fiancée. The twist this time is that Jack welcomes the newcomer into his "circle of trust", while Greg is the one who has his doubts.

Released on 25, 26 and 27 November internationally

7. I Play Rocky

When Sylvester Stallone was an aspiring actor in the 1970s, he decided to write himself his dream role, so he bashed out the screenplay for Rocky in three-and-a-half days. Studio executives loved it, but they saw it as a vehicle for Clint Eastwood or Charles Bronson, rather than some unknown wannabe with a mumbly voice. But Stallone wouldn't sell out – which explains the title of this behind-the-scenes drama: I Play Rocky. Anthony Ippolito stars as the young Sly, alongside Matt Dillon as his father, AnnaSophia Robb as his first wife, and Stephan James as Carl Weathers (Apollo Creed in Rocky). Directed by Peter Farrelly (Green Book / Dumb and Dumber), the true-life underdog story is "stirring, inspiring, surprisingly hilarious and easy to love", says Johnny Oleksinski in the New York Post. "And refreshingly, it's not reverential or museumish, but created in the off-beat, tenacious, can-do spirit of Rocky."

Released on 6 November in the UK, the US and Canada

8. Wild Horse Nine

Martin McDonagh's The Banshees of Inisherin was nominated for eight Oscars (including four different acting awards). His new film is tipped to do similarly well, with its star, John Malkovich, being an almost-certain best actor nominee. He and Sam Rockwell play a pair of buffoonish CIA agents having a short holiday on Easter Island. Like the bickering best friends in The Banshees of Inisherin and In Bruges, they share some wonderfully eccentric dialogue and some scenes of explosive violence, but Wild Horse Nine is distinguished by its hard-edged political commentary and by Malkovich's character's regrets. McDonagh's "latest could be the best yet", says Phil de Semlyen in Time Out, "a bittersweet hangout film about lonely, crumpled men facing up to mortality, dealing with the consequences of violence and chewing the fat to outlandishly funny effect."

Released on 4, 5 and 6 November internationally

9. Being Heumann

Siân Heder is the writer-director of Coda, which won the Oscar for best picture in 2022. Her follow-up, Being Heumann, is another inspiring drama featuring disabled actors. It's drawn from the autobiography of Judith Heumann, a US disability rights activist. In 1977, she and a group of protesters occupied the San Francisco Federal Building because equal rights regulations were being ignored. Mark Ruffalo plays the government official who wants to kick her out, and Ruth Madeley, a wheelchair user herself, stars as Heumann. "The remarkable thing about the British actress's performance is that she makes us embrace a character so fiery and flawed and exasperatingly unrelenting," says Steve Pond in The Wrap. "There's no question that [Heder has] pulled off another crowd-pleasing film, but the key to Being Heumann is that its importance goes beyond those audience smiles."

Released on 6 November in cinemas in the UK, the US and Canada, and on 13 November on Apple TV+

10. Josephine

Kate Erbland in IndieWire calls Josephine a "stunning film… [that I will] heartily recommend and never, ever watch again". That's fair enough: Beth de Araújo's drama is gripping, intelligent, groundbreaking and important, but it's not exactly a pleasure to watch. It's the story of an eight-year-old girl (Mason Reeves) who is in a San Francisco park one Sunday morning with her father (a career-best Channing Tatum). They lose sight of each other for a few minutes – and during that time the girl witnesses a brutal sexual assault. The questions now are: How will this horrific experience affect her? How can her father and mother (Gemma Chan) help her? And does she have a responsibility to testify in court? Erbland says that "De Araújo's masterful ability to interrogate tension on every level keeps the film clipping along, each turn both a surprise and an inevitability".

Released on 20 November in the UK, the US and Ireland, and on 27 November in Canada

11. All of a Sudden

Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Drive My Car was one of the sensations of the 2022 Academy Awards: it didn't just win the best international feature prize, but was nominated for best picture, best director and best adapted screenplay, too. His quirky follow-up, Evil Does Not Exist, made less of an impression, but his deeply humane new film, All of a Sudden, is another awards contender. Virginie Efira plays the manager of a care home for the elderly in Paris. Tao Okamoto plays a Japanese theatre director who is visiting the city. The women's friendship deepens over the course of a three-hour drama which is "a gentle and infinitely tender exercise on life and death, full of immersive, philosophical musings that wash over our souls", says Tomris Laffly in Elle. "Patient and tranquil, All of a Sudden feels like a meditation that transforms a viewer into a better version of themselves."

Released on 25 November in the US

12. Paper Tiger

Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver and Miles Teller are on top form in Paper Tiger, another gritty, New York-based crime drama from James Gray (Little Odessa, The Yards, We Own the Night). Echoing events from the writer-director's own childhood, it's set in the borough of Queens in 1986. Johansson and Teller play Hester and Irwin, a happily married, successful-enough couple with two sons. Driver plays Irwin's brother Gary, a flashy ex-cop with political connections and charisma to burn. He brings his brother in on a scheme to clean up a polluted canal for a group of Russian immigrants. What with Irwin's engineering know-how and his own street-smart confidence, Gary reasons, the deal can't go wrong. But, of course, it can go very wrong indeed, what with the Russians being ruthless gangsters. "As with his finest work, Gray strikes a beautiful balance between fraught interpersonal drama and nail-biting thrills," says Nick Schager in The Daily Beast. "Paper Tiger pulsates with heart, rancour, and terror."

Released on 13 November in the US and Canada

If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week.

For more Culture stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

'The scandal of the century': The English duchess charged with treason and witchcraft

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20261022-the-15th-century-duchess-charged-with-treason-and-witchcraft, 3 days ago

Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester, seemed destined to become queen of England. Then she was convicted of necromancy, heresy and witchcraft, a scandal that was a catalyst for the Wars of the Roses. Was she a scheming satanist or a political pawn? A new novel tells her story.

In 1441, Eleanor Cobham was the wife of Humphrey of Lancaster, Duke of Gloucester, the heir presumptive of the weak and childless King Henry VI. The prospect of becoming queen was tantalisingly close. But as Humphrey's influence at court waned, allegations surfaced that Eleanor had turned to the dark arts in order to shore up his succession. These led to a conviction of treasonable witchcraft that became the scandal of the century and created space for rival claims to the throne.

Now, Philippa Gregory's fictional re-telling of Eleanor Cobham's story, Royal Witch, is putting a spotlight on a woman who is remembered for her ambition and beauty but who became a divisive figure. Some believe the evidence against England's first and only convicted royal witch was falsified and that she was a pawn in a political game, but Gregory depicts a more ruthless figure who was the author of her own destiny.

"She succumbed to the temptation to use witchcraft to kill the king and to get herself, via her husband, on the throne of England," says the author. "She's one of the very, very unusual women accused of witchcraft who actually did practise witchcraft."

For some, this former lady-in-waiting who poached the husband of her mistress, Jacqueline, Countess of Hainault, while still in her service, was a suspicious figure from the start – an unscrupulous interloper whose ostentatious lifestyle caused additional resentment. She needed to be put in her place.

Eleanor and Humphrey's interest in the supernatural was visible from the couple's extensive library. But rumours reached the King's Council that Eleanor, eager to become queen, had conspired to prophesise the king's death − with, among others, the wise woman Margery Jourdemayne, known as the "Witch of Eye", and the esteemed scholar and astrologer Roger Bolingbroke. A case for treason was formed.

Trumped-up charges?

Led by Humphrey's half-uncle and arch-rival, Cardinal Henry Beaufort, 18 charges of necromancy (summoning dead spirits to gain hidden knowledge), heresy, and witchcraft were levelled against Eleanor. These included procuring magical potions, commissioning an astrological chart to predict the king's death and creating a wax figure of the king to cause him fatal harm. Perhaps to fend off the allegations of treason and to suggest that the magic was purely domestic, Eleanor admitted to procuring love and fertility potions from Margery Jourdemayne.

For many historians, these were trumped-up charges that were politically motivated. As Gemma Hollman notes in her book Royal Witches: From Joan of Navarre to Elizabeth Woodville (2019), astrological prediction to inform important decisions "was no unusual activity, even among royalty". She continues: "If she did try love potions to produce a child, she can hardly have been too different from many other women in her predicament at the time."

Some commentators feel Eleanor deserves our pity. "I think there's something quite sad about this," Dr Euan Roger, a historian of late medieval and Tudor England, and the principal records specialist at the National Archives, tells the BBC. "I think what is actually going on here, the reason she actually admits guilt to some of the charges brought against her on the witchcraft front, is that she's been trying to conceive a child and resorting to perceived witchcraft in order to do that."

The charge of using a love potion gave the royal council the perfect pretext to dissolve her marriage to the heir to the throne, while the accusations of treason made her husband a persona non grata. "I think they [the allegations] are a smear campaign," says Roger. "Eleanor is very much a weak spot for her husband. She's known to have these occult interests and the members of the council see this as a means of targeting her husband."

The evidence against her, he argues, is unreliable. "Most of it comes from Bolingbroke's confession, which is almost certainly made public to implicate Eleanor… [and] he's almost certainly being tortured behind the scenes."

The case against her

By contrast, in the novel Royal Witch, Eleanor is not just the instigator but at the heart of the action, scratching the king's likeness into the wax effigy and laying it among clippings of his dark curly hair. Written in the first person, the book depicts her using magic "not just to get a baby… but to get a king, to save the country, to save the royal family… to make myself great."

For Gregory, the case against Eleanor is compelling. "There's a lot of evidence of stuff going on which would be regarded at the time as witchcraft and probably satanism," she tells the BBC. She notes that Roger Bolingbroke "never withdrew his confession" and believes it's telling that the accused did not protest their innocence "more energetically".

She also stresses that Eleanor's is no ordinary witch trial. "She's at the peak of her success. She's a royal duchess. She's very much in the king's favour and she's in line to inherit the throne. She's in a position of extraordinary power and influence and I don't think anybody would have moved against her without really, really convincing evidence."

Gregory gives Eleanor great agency in her novel. "This is a tremendously ambitious woman who really makes her own life," she explains. Eleanor says in the novel: "I want to win something for myself. Win my own title, win my own fortune, win my own lands. I'd like to do it with a man I loved but not have him do it for me."

In Royal Witch, this striking woman, described by one 15th-Century chronicler as "marvellously fair and pleasing", manipulates men to advance her position, often by concealing her worldliness and wit in line with their low expectations. Hoping to catch the eye of Duke Humphrey on a ride, she feigns vulnerability. "I am a competent rider," she discloses to the reader, "… but it's best to seem fragile, to inspire men to chivalry."

It's a tactic she later adopts at trial, pretending to be "a frightened woman, innocent as a maid". In Gregory's telling, she is also the one who stokes her husband's ambition. The characterisation is reminiscent of Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part II, in which Eleanor urges Humphrey to "put forth thy hand, reach at the glorious gold."

'An ambitious woman'

Yet Eleanor's drive and success, suggest some historians, make her no less a victim in the trial. "It was Eleanor's ambition which inveigled her to destruction," wrote medievalist Ralph Griffiths in his seminal 1969 essay The Trial of Eleanor Cobham. "Eleanor Cobham's vulnerable point was her interest in witchcraft and necromancy; when she combined this with political ambition, her indulgences were transformed by some into treason."

"A lot of it is bringing down an ambitious woman," agrees Roger. "If you look later on at Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, you see similar rumours floating around [of witchcraft] and I think it is, particularly by then, a real way of attacking noble women."

If this was indeed a show trial, the punishments were certainly humiliating and lurid. For Roger Bolingbroke's part in the scandal, he was conveyed to a stage, where, dressed in a paper crown, and seated on his conjuring chair surrounded by magical instruments, he was made to recant his heresies. A few months later, he was hung, drawn and quartered and his head displayed on London Bridge. Margery Jourdemayne was burned at the stake.

The Church, who tried Eleanor alongside the King's Council, made an example of her. A sentence of life imprisonment was preceded by three days of public penance. Barefoot, dressed in just a chemise and carrying a heavy wax taper (candle), she was made to walk through London on its busiest market days.

Yet, despite the cruelty shown to Eleanor, Gregory refuses to paint her as a victim and, even in captivity, her wit and bravery astound the reader. "I think the passive victim trope is historically invalid," she says. "We've taken the Victorians' view of women… and transferred it back through all time, completely ignoring the majority of women who are active, determined, effective, even in quite oppressive circumstances such as a medieval marriage."

More like this:

• A medieval assault survivor's quest for justice

• The brutal truth revealed by the Bayeux tapestry

• The 'Holy Maid of Kent' who defied Henry VIII

Whether wilful or maliciously exaggerated, Eleanor's engagement with witchcraft helped change the course of history. The unprecedented trial of a noble necessitated new legislation which would later be used against Anne Boleyn, clearing the way for Henry VIII to remarry. The charges against Eleanor − and Humphrey's disgrace by association − weakened the House of Lancaster, making room for rival faction, the House of York, and paving the way for the Wars of the Roses: three decades of bitter civil conflict over the throne.

It's not surprising, then, that Gregory seems almost disappointed that Eleanor's political ambitions were crushed. "I think she would have been a good queen," she says, pointing to her astute PR skills and her experience of foreign conflict. Eleanor might be "egotistical" and "narcissistic", says the novelist, but "that's what you need to be as a medieval queen".

As she confides in the afterword of Royal Witch: "I rather like a woman who can look into her own darkness and be neither afraid nor apologetic."

Royal Witch by Philippa Gregory is published by HarperCollins.

If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week.

For more Culture stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

A husband made from a basket? Why women are going wild for freaky film romance Wicker

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20261021-why-women-are-going-wild-for-freaky-film-romance-wicker, 4 days ago

The trailer for this romantic fantasy created an online frenzy thanks to its bizarre premise, about a woman who commissions a basketmaker to weave her the perfect husband. Here's why it has really struck such a chord.

Forget about Prince Charming or the rebellious bad boy – there's a new romantic lead women are going wild for, and he is made out of wicker.

Back in August, the internet came alive with Gifs, memes and reels reacting to the first trailer of Wicker – a period romantic fantasy with perhaps the year's most bizarre premise. Based on the short story The Wicker Husband by Ursula Wills-Jones, it stars Olivia Colman as an ostracised fisherwoman – known only as the Fisherwoman – who commissions Peter Dinklage's basketmaker to weave her the perfect husband. He arrives in the muscular woven form of Alexander Skarsgård, who caters to his new wife's every domestic need and sexual desire, as the village folk watch on with envy.

Suddenly, female and gay thirst for Skarsgård's Wicker hunk exploded online. Typical comments on the platform Threads included "Making my husband put a basket on his head to spice things up a bit" and "Insecure men thinking women only want muscles, meanwhile my entire feed is feral for a guy made out of a basket".

Then there's been the enthusiastic online reaction to a Wicker promotional popcorn bucket created by Regal Cinemas and suggestively designed from a scan of Alexander Skarsgård's torso, which audiences can print out using a 3D printer at home.

What Wicker is actually about

The husband-and-wife film-making team behind Wicker, Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, tell the BBC they have been tickled by the responses and understand exactly why so many have fallen in lust with this magical pairing. "They're having sex, the roof is leaking, and he just says, 'I'm going to fix the roof' – then she has a screaming orgasm," Huston Fischer chuckles. "We made him very beautiful," adds Wilson, "but people are noticing that the best thing about the Wicker Husband is that he did something without being asked, and he doesn't require a pat on the back for it."

Despite being set in a quasi-medieval fairytale village, the film is tapping into a very current conversation about the imbalance in heterosexual relationships, where women still shoulder much of the household and child-rearing burden. "At the time when we wrote it five years ago, I don't think domestic labour and its mental load was as much in the cultural conversation," says Wilson. She adds that she and Huston Fischer "have a child now so these domestic things you do end up having to negotiate, and now everyone has a lot more language for it".

In writing the script, she also wanted to address the "confronting" experiences of women who might be wary of dating and romance. "Entering into the dating pool can invite love into your life, but all of a sudden you're much more examined than you were before," says Wilson. "The Fisherwoman's journey is about what it is to be a woman in this world, struggling with your feelings about yourself and everybody else's feelings about you."

The appeal of 'monster'-human romances

Wicker sits within the increasingly popular genre of monster-human romances, where relationships between predominantly female humans and male creatures are used to explore societal ills, desires and cultural expectations. From Beauty and the Beast, Shrek and The Shape of Water to Your Monster and Guillermo del Toro's recent take on Frankenstein, they attempt to dissect complicated feelings that people can have about the "monstrous" parts of themselves and the people they desire.

"There is a real hunger for seeing imperfect men especially if you're a heterosexual or bisexual [woman], and you're trying to square your attraction to [men] with the fact that they can be very dangerous," Gillian Daniels, author of her own monster-human romance novel Jenny Will Eat You Now, tells the BBC. She refers to the original Beauty and the Beast fairy tale written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, which the French novelist wrote after requesting a separation of property from her husband six months after they married.

"He was wasting their funds, he was monstrous to live with, so, in many ways, [Beauty and the Beast] became the definitive monster romance after her having this terrible relationship," says Daniels. "There is something there about us trying to square monstrosity, both internal and external, with a healthy hetero relationship or healthy relationships in general."

Wicker, however, features a very different type of "monster" – Skarsgård's Wicker husband is the perfect man in many respects, even if because of his unusual provenance, he arouses the suspicions of the rest of the village. "There's also monstrosity in the sense of you're a strange person, you're the weirdo, you're an outsider, but you're mostly innocent – these monstrous narratives are [varied]." In this respect, as a parable of desire and difference, Daniels thinks Wicker might particularly appeal to LGBT and neurodivergent audiences too.

How Wicker explores questions of desire

In Wicker, the Fisherwoman herself is also a clear outsider, which Daniels appreciates: an autonomous woman who doesn't conform to her community's expectations of beauty, character, and behaviour. "This is not Beauty and the Beast," she notes, where Belle is imprisoned by the Beast before falling in love with him. "[The Fisherwoman] sought out this man to be made for her, she wants a perfect partner, and she hasn't been trapped into this."

Indeed, Wilson would never have adapted the short story if the Fisherwoman was presented as a Disney princess character like Belle: "The character is the ugly girl. She has a unibrow, she stinks, and she walks with one leg shorter than the other – that's what we were attracted to."

For Dr Indira Neill Hoch, assistant professor of communication at the University of the Pacific, Wicker has far more overlap with Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water than Beauty and the Beast. Like Wicker, the 2017 monster romance was the subject of comic and lust-filled memes when it was released. "Making Gif sets of a visually stunning film, or TikTok edits of that footage, is thirst presented in a way that is considered palatable," she says.

Neill Hoch also points to the similarities between Colman's Fisherwoman and The Shape of Water's heroine, Sally Hawkins' mute cleaner Elisa, who are women presented as not traditionally desirable. "There's something within this genre more broadly about the woman who is overlooked or the woman who doesn't fit into preconceived notions of what a desirable woman looks like, feeling this intense desire from a creature that both is and is not desirable," explains Neill Hoch.

Yet, Neill Hoch notes that the Wicker Husband, The Shape of Water's Amphibian Man, and most other monstrous romantic leads are still humanoid beings, which makes it more acceptable for audiences to express and embrace their more unconventional passions: "They're undeniably sexy monsters."

More like this:

• Hollywood stars on the films that mean most to them

• Why fraudster Elizabeth Holmes still fascinates

• 12 of the best films to watch this October

The Wicker film-makers have more recently become aware of the diverse genre of monster-romances, especially the niche literary sub-genre of "sentient object romances" about humans falling in love with conscious inanimate items. "There are a lot of them, and people love them," says Huston Fischer. "Some were even disappointed that The Wicker Husband is not just a basket."

In this respect, Skarsgård's Wicker Husband might in fact be on the more conventional side of this romantic sub-genre's unconventional leads. But Wilson loves that the film "is opening up a conversation about relationships, desire, marriage and how we treat each other". And she is happy that it includes a long, scintillating sex scene for audiences to fantasise about long after the credits roll: "Alex and I were blushing – but the most important thing was letting you know that she is enjoying herself."

Wicker is released in US cinemas on 23 October and UK cinemas on 30 October.

If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week.

For more Culture stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

'Medieval women could make accusations': The true story of a 15th-Century sexual assault survivor's quest for justice

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20261019-the-true-story-of-a-15th-century-sexual-assault-survivors-quest-for-justice, 6 days ago

A new book offers a remarkable account of one woman's legal battle after suffering a brutal attack in 1472 in the French city of Dijon. It defies our modern assumptions about women's lives in the Middle Ages.

Jehanne was a relative stranger in the city of Dijon in the winter of 1472, when she was subject to an incident of horrific violence. She was heavily pregnant at the time. What happened next, traced by historian Sara McDougall in her new book Justice for Jehanne, offers a surprising snapshot of medieval justice that upends widespread assumptions about the age.

Warning: This article contains upsetting details of sexual assault.

Based on records of an investigation into the assault, the book takes the form of a medieval detective story, teasing out: What really happened that night? And who was the woman at the centre of it?

Who was Jehanne?

Born in Lorraine in northeastern France to a poor family, Jehanne had travelled south to Dijon. In this era, identity was a slippery thing. In 1472, she reported her age to the investigator as "about 32". Births were not marked, so no one could be quite sure of how old they were. She said she was married: the "wife of Jehan of Relanges".

At that time, clothing above all dictated how someone should be treated, and Jehanne's would have demanded a measure of respect. Her clothing was elegant, according to witnesses. The long hood draped carefully over her golden tresses when out in public denoted her status as a respectable married woman.

Reign of terror

In Dijon these were violent, war-ravaged times. Fighting raged between Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and King Louis XI of France, and the city under imminent threat of invasion as the king advanced into the Burgundy countryside.

To protect Dijon, the duke had stationed mercenaries around its walls. But these wild and lawless men had subjected the municipality to their own reign of terror.

"There were recurrent problems of men at night looking for potential victims to extort or abuse or hold for ransom or abduct," McDougall tells the BBC. "The city authorities were not happy about it. This was a major point of conflict between the city and the duke."

The crime

On the evening of 3 January 1472, Jehanne and her female host heard a heavy thump on the front door. They were faced with two local men who demanded the women come with them. After they refused, one of the men fled to a nearby inn to gather some of the Duke's mercenaries.

According to Jehanne, the men dragged her to a nearby field and assaulted her. It didn't matter that she was pregnant, they shouted. They'd heard her unborn child was a priest's, and therefore illegitimate.

Jehanne described the men seeking "carnal company" with her, while she thrashed in the snow. They were ultimately prevented by her heavy pregnancy and intense struggle. She described being beaten and thrown on her stomach, and being terrified for the health of her unborn child.

What happened next is surprising given our modern conception of the Middle Ages. It's commonly thought that rape and sexual assault were considered so shaming that female survivors were routinely treated as outcasts by their communities, and ultimately forced into sex work. This notion can be traced to a popular book called Medieval Prostitution (first published in 1988, and updated in 2010) by Jacques Rossiaud.

McDougall, a history professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, set out to fact-check Rossiaud's account, armed with a brief reference he made to an unnamed pregnant woman who was sexually assaulted by mercenaries in Dijon. The woman was at first too ashamed to share her ordeal with the authorities, Rossiaud wrote. And many sexual assault survivors like her purportedly ended up in brothels.

The individual sounds a lot like Jehanne. But when McDougall started researching the case – poring over 70 pages of densely inscribed parchment preserved in Dijon's municipal archive – a very different story emerged.

A detailed investigation

The details of Jehanne's testimony were recorded by an investigator who worked on behalf of the city authorities, Jaques Borestel.

Hearing reports that mercenaries had abducted and assaulted a pregnant woman, Borestel had set out immediately to gather details about the victim and suspected perpetrators.

His first interview with Jehanne took place the day after the attack. He found her lying in bed, stricken from her ordeal and fearful for her baby. She readily supplied Borestel with details of the attack and as much information about the assailants as she could recall. The next day, Jehanne gave birth to a baby girl.

Jehanne's decision to share her story was a little unusual. There were plenty of deterrents for such honesty.

The city hardly had a gleaming record on criminal justice. The penalty for abduction and assault was technically death. But most crimes weren't prosecuted. In short, Jehanne didn't have much to gain by making her complaint.

With the information supplied by Jehanne, Borestel was able to quickly round up most of the attackers.

After interrogation, the men denied assaulting Jehanne. Borestel arranged a meeting where Jehanne faced her attackers and repeated her version of events. When they still didn't confess, municipal officials agreed that it was acceptable to take "extraordinary" measures. One man was tortured using a method similar to waterboarding. Eventually, all confessed.

Armed with confessions, the city decided on the appropriate punishment: death. But there was a problem. As mercenaries, the men were technically under the purview of the duke. The duke had recently issued a statement condemning the mercenaries' behaviour, and claiming that he wanted Dijon's residents to feel safe. Now he had an opportunity to publicly punish wrongdoing. Would he take it?

Investigating the plaintiff

A short while later, the municipal officials received word from the ducal authorities. They recommended the men walk free. The municipality pushed back, attempting to buy themselves time. In the interim, they commissioned a new investigation: into Jehanne herself. They didn't intend to put Jehanne on trial, but they wanted to assess her legitimacy as a plaintiff. As Borestel wrote in no uncertain terms, he would investigate whether she was a "preudefemme" (respectably married) or a "loose woman".

Borestel interviewed neighbours and others who might have information on Jehanne. Many said that she appeared to be a respectable woman – no one shamed or blamed her for suffering the assault. But details contradicting the story she had told Borestel soon came to light.

One neighbour said Jehanne gave birth to another child, two years prior, in a nearby monastery. The father was thought to be a priest with whom Jehanne shared a room at the time. It seemed Jehanne hadn't seen her husband for a number of years.

Borestel met with Jehanne again to confront her with this latest evidence. Since he'd last spoken to her, she'd been threatened by defenders of the mercenaries. Despite the looming threat of reprisals, neighbours and acquaintances had helped her find places to hide out. She'd eventually landed at a hospital, where she was working.

Jehanne admitted to Jaques that she had previously uttered a few untruths. She acknowledged that her husband had left her several years ago to fight in the war. After that, she met a priest and became his mistress, bearing two of his children.

So, did this make Jehanne a "loose woman" after all? In her own summation, as recorded by Borestel: "It was better to be loose with her body to make her living than resort to stealing from people."

A new perspective

This aligned with the complicated sexual morality of the times. Sex before marriage was supposedly forbidden but in practice was widely permitted. Priests were supposed to be celibate, but had mistresses and sired illegitimate children. Prostitution was supposedly a grave moral sin, but was widely tolerated.

Jehanne was not who she said she was – not the prim wife that she had initially depicted herself as. She was, it turns out, "living in sin". But the interesting thing was that it didn't matter.

Prosecutors, even after hearing Borestel's latest evidence, decided to continue pursuing her case. The fact she had borne the illegitimate offspring of a priest turned out to be immaterial. The officials wanted those mercenaries dead.

However, there was another problem. The mercenaries were no longer in prison.

The ducal authorities had claimed the men were members of the clergy, and therefore subject only to clerical laws. Although patently absurd – clergy were forbidden from bearing weapons – the municipal authorities' hands were tied. After two months in prison, the men walked free.

It becomes impossible to track what happened to Jehanne next. Did she become a prostitute? It's possible – there are some Jehannes in Dijon around this time who did. But the records are too fragmentary to say with any certainty.

Regardless of where her tale ended, McDougall relished the opportunity to get to know the small sliver of this Jehanne, preserved in a sheaf of 600-year-old court documents. "I have great admiration for her. I'm so struck by the ways in which she continued to stand up for herself." Despite the inhospitable times, "she saw herself as having agency and choices."

More like this:

• The brutal truth revealed by the Bayeux tapestry

• What the Middle Ages can teach us about burnout

• The Holy Maid of Kent who defied Henry VIII

Even more importantly, Jehanne's story challenges assumptions about the Middle Ages. "This medieval society did not engage in victim blaming and shaming to any extent that I can find," says McDougall. "Women could make accusations. They didn't have to have perfect recall, and they didn't have to be perfect virgins." Even after Jehanne made her complaint, neighbours rallied to her aid.

Life was indisputably punishing for medieval women, and some survivors were no doubt treated poorly. But this Jehanne was able to report a crime, be taken seriously, find friendship during the ordeal, and achieve a small measure of justice. Whatever she did next, she could at least carry that with her.

Justice for Jehanne: The Tale of a Medieval Survivor by Sara McDougall is out now.

If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week.

For more Culture stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

'They handled it exactly the right way': How the Kennedys averted the 1962 Cuban missile crisis

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20261015-the-men-who-averted-the-1962-cuban-missile-crisis, 7 days ago

Between 14 and 28 October 1962, the world came to the brink of nuclear war. According to insiders who spoke to the BBC, the expertise of US President John F Kennedy and his brother Robert saved the day.

It was, said a BBC Panorama presenter on 29 October 1962, "the most dangerous week in the whole history of mankind".

On 14 October, US aerial photographs had shown that the Soviets had secretly been installing nuclear missiles on the island of Cuba, 90 miles (150km) from the US coast. Over the following 14 days, a confrontation between the two superpowers threatened to boil over – and the world teetered on the brink of nuclear war.

The crisis was ultimately averted when the Soviets agreed to remove their weapons. In the years since then, insiders have spoken to the BBC, revealing surprising insights into the tactics behind the scenes during 14 days that shook the world. The Soviets' climb-down, it turned out, was influenced by US President John F Kennedy and Robert Kennedy's expert statesmanship – and a chance conversation overheard in a Washington bar.

Throughout the summer of 1962, more than 40,000 Soviet soldiers, engineers and technicians arrived in the Cuban port of Havana, posing as tourists and agricultural specialists, and covertly installing nuclear missiles on the island.

On 14 October, a US spy plane spotted evidence of the missiles, sparking the crisis. Arthur Lundahl, then the CIA's head of photo intelligence, told the BBC's Timewatch in 1992 about the moment when they realised exactly what they were seeing. "I put my head over the eyepiece and adjusted the viewfinders and took one long look at that. And I looked up at them and I said, 'I know what you're thinking. And I'm thinking the same thing… We're looking at Soviet-type medium-range ballistic missile sites, right?'"

In fact, Soviet activity in Cuba had sparked concerns in the US for weeks beforehand, prompting President Kennedy to request more detailed intelligence. According to the US Secretary of Defense at that time, Robert McNamara, the spy plane revelation came after multiple previous warnings.

"I think the [US military] received 5,000 reports of missiles being introduced into Cuba, and they investigated them and finally concluded they were erroneous," he told Timewatch. "They couldn't believe that wise political authorities… would run the risk of introducing those missiles into Cuba because there was very little advantage to be gained by it and very heavy risks associated with it."

A high-stakes poker game

The discovery of Soviet missiles on Cuba was kept secret from the world by order of the US president, until he announced it in a speech on 22 October. In the meantime, Kennedy had a pre-arranged meeting with the Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, on 18 October.

What happened next was relayed to the BBC in 2002 by Gromyko's translator that day, the British-educated Viktor Sukhodrev. "We went, as usual, to the Oval Office. Kennedy was sitting in his customary rocking chair and Gromyko was sort of next to him and there were two couches opposite each other and a little table in between with a drawer," he told the BBC's former Moscow correspondent Allan Little. "It was civilised, if not the friendliest of discussions. I somehow felt that Kennedy was rather tense."

As Little summed it up, "Gromyko knew about the missiles. Kennedy knew about the missiles. But neither man revealed his hand. What passed between them was a dialogue of illusion and insinuation, a poker game in which the stakes were the lives of all of us."

Kennedy had the aerial photographs at arm's length – but chose not to confront Gromyko with the images. "They were in the drawer of that table," said Sukhodrev. "Kennedy never once mentioned the word missile, and he never touched that drawer. And I don't know, and no one ever will know, what Gromyko would have said had Kennedy shown him those photographs… But the plain fact is that Gromyko did not have to lie. The question was not put to him."

Instead, Kennedy repeated a public statement he'd given on 4 September, warning that the introduction of offensive weapons into Cuba would bring the "gravest consequences" – and Gromyko read out his own statement, asserting that Soviet aid to Cuba was purely defensive and did not pose a threat to the US.

Yet Kennedy had already convened a war cabinet, known as Excomm, and within days would declare the existence of the photos to the world. Secret recordings of the cabinet revealed the guessing games being played by the US during those tense days.

"He's initiated the danger, really, hasn't he? He's the one playing God, not us," said Kennedy, with a member of Excomm replying: "We've never really believed that Khrushchev would take on a general nuclear war over Cuba… I must say I don't really see the rationality of the Soviets pushing it this far."

The fateful barroom conversation

The cabinet was divided over what action to take, with further U-2 flights revealing that the missile bases were nearing completion. The Joint Chiefs of Staff preferred a course that involved military action. "There had to be a final decision made… as to what our reaction was going to be," Dean Rusk, the then US Secretary of State, told Timewatch. "We were sitting around the cabinet table, and the president was the last one to come in, and we rose as he entered the room. And he looked around the table and said, 'Well, gentlemen, today we're going to earn our pay.'"

Kennedy ruled out an immediate airstrike followed by invasion, fearing the dangers of escalation. Instead he announced a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba, demanding that the missile sites be dismantled.

More like this:

• The CIA spy plane shot down over Russia in 1960

• How a weather rocket almost sparked a nuclear war

• The fatal accident that haunted Ted Kennedy's life

Khrushchev's subsequent decision to withdraw was also influenced by an incident that only came to light after the Soviet Union collapsed. On 25 October, "Khrushchev, eyeball-to-eyeball with the West for three days, blinked," reported Allan Little in 2002. "The story of why he blinked is extraordinary and chilling."

An undercover KGB agent in Washington, posing as the Washington correspondent for the Soviet news agency Tass, had called in at the National Press Club for a drink just as the bar was closing the night before. Anatoly Gorsky got chatting to the bartender, a Russian emigre called Johnny Prokoff – who told him about a private conversation he'd overheard a couple of hours earlier between two journalists from the New York Herald Tribune, Warren Rogers and Robert Donovan.

According to Prokoff, Donovan was planning to fly to Miami that night as one of a small group of correspondents joining a US invasion force due to attack Cuba the next day. Gorsky rushed back to the Soviet embassy and messaged Moscow that an invasion was imminent.

Soviet intelligence gathering was not as advanced as Cold War paranoia might have led the US to believe, however. It turned out that the journalists had only been discussing contingency plans for covering a US invasion of Cuba, rather than confirming that an invasion was planned. Prokoff, who is not believed to have been a KGB agent, had misheard.

The terrors of a world war

Yet news of the chance encounter was sent straight to Khrushchev's desk. A close aide to the Soviet Premier, Oleg Troyanovsky, recalled that he had been extremely alarmed by the message. "By that time, I think, he realised that this is a pretty dirty business which he got himself into."

Some believed Kennedy was playing for time all along. "People were thinking in terms of this is a situation that unless it is handled with great skill and delicacy, could certainly finish up with nuclear war," Lord Harlech, the British ambassador to the US, told the BBC in 1969. Harlech also happened to be a personal friend of Kennedy's – and his brother Robert, JFK's most trusted adviser.

"The president and Bobby entirely accepted that Khrushchev had some very, very difficult decisions to take. He had committed himself to this course of action. If he was to withdraw from it, he would need a lot of time in order to reorganise his position in the Kremlin, reorganise the Soviet position vis-à-vis its allies, vis-à-vis Cuba. And every few hours extra that they would give him would help."

Harold Macmillan, who was the British prime minister at the time of the crisis, told the BBC that the US president and his brother had precisely the right qualities that were needed during the crisis. "First, a statesman – and both Kennedys had that statesmanship – must try and see the other man's point of view. How he's got himself into that position and how to help him to get out of it... And that was the policy they pursued."

The second quality they needed was a full appreciation of "the horror… the terrible destruction" of a nuclear war. "And yet they mustn't be overwhelmed by this horror… There's a point at which we've got to stand and make it clear to the other man we are going to stand. We mustn't therefore be frightened out of a firm and honourable position by the terrors of a world war."

In Macmillan's view, the Kennedys combined that "understanding for their opponent" with an "absolute firmness for the position which they would ultimately defend". The resolution of the crisis showed that "the men who handled it, handled it exactly the right way".

For more Culture stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

RNLI statue will not be installed at popular beach

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3y0edlrnkzzo, today

A bronze statue of an RNLI lifeguard will no longer be installed at a popular beach after a town council opposed plans for the artwork.

Cornwall Council originally approved the charity's planning application for the artwork on the rocky foreshore at Porthmeor beach in St Ives.

But the plans were opposed by St Ives Town Council, which said the figurative portrayal of the lifesaver was "related to another Cornish town" and the "selection of St Ives... appears to have been arbitrary".

The RNLI said the sculpture would no longer be situated at Porthmeor but "several coastal locations" were being considered as alternatives, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The bronze sculpture by Zennor-based artist Holly Bendall, entitled Let Not The Deep Swallow Me Up, shows a female RNLI lifeguard standing watch over the sea.

It was inspired by the actions of RNLI lifeguard Sophie Grant-Crookston, who, in 2006, became the first female lifeguard to receive a Medal of Gallantry in recognition of her bravery after saving a surfer's life in Perranporth.

Councillor Andrew Mitchell, who represents St Ives on Cornwall Council, said although he had the "greatest respect" for the RNLI he believed the scupture was "definitely the wrong thing in the wrong place".

"I can confirm that although Cornwall Council granted planning permission on an officer decision, the RNLI is no longer going to proceed at Porthmeor."

He said the RNLI had negotiated with Perranzabuloe Parish Council to have the statue placed there as the lifesaver's home town but the parish council and the RNLI could not confirm it would be unveiled on Perranporth beach or another nearby location.

Councillor Paul Viney, chairman of St Ives Town Council's planning committee, said members felt the scale and design of the sculpture "did not enhance the proposed setting on Porthmeor beach" and the story was "not related" to St Ives.

He said the committee understood the sculpture "will not be sited in St Ives but in the village of Perranporth, the home of the lifesaver depicted in the design".

Bendall said last month she and the RNLI were "disheartened" by the town council's opposition, but were looking forward to seeing the sculpture become "a lasting tribute to the RNLI and the community it serves".

The RNLI said: "Several coastal locations are being considered as possible sites for the sculpture.

"A variety of factors are being taken into account. A final decision is yet to be made."

Follow BBC Cornwall on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk.

Excitement grows for new ACOTAR book

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ck4g1vgj6q39o, today

Fans of the book series, A Court of Thorns and Roses, are planning parties and taking days off work, ahead of its new edition being released at 00:01 GMT on Tuesday.

The fantasy series, written by American author, Sarah J. Maas, is popular with readers from across the world.

Dozens will be gathering at Wolverhampton Arts Centre on Monday night, to celebrate the release of A Court of Splintered Harmony, organised by fan Holly Fellows from Redditch.

"It's the escapism, it's a way for people to escape from every day life. So many people, especially young women, see themselves in these characters and there are so many really strong messages about empowerment and finding strength." Fellows said.

At the event in Wolverhampton, fans will be taking part in arts and crafts projects until midnight.

"Waterstones Wolverhampton will be bringing the books, and bang on midnight everyone will receive their book and we will spend some quiet time reading.

"I've booked the day off work [tomorrow]. I'll be undisturbed for the whole day, and I reckon I'll get through it by the evening." Fellows added.

Millions of fans have been posting on social media sharing their excitement ahead of the release - with some getting their hands on the book early.

One posted on TikTok saying: "Why did I waste my annual leave on important life events, when there's a new acotar coming out".

Another said: "I simply don't know if I'm ready for this".

It has been five years since the last edition was released, something Fellow said has left fans "going crazy".

"It's created this sense of community that - just from a book - is this massive magical world.

"Where I work, there are women who are my age reading them, there's also women in their 40s, 50s that are picking them up. Online I'm seeing loads of men reading them. It's a universal craze to be honest."

The author confirmed on her website that after the release of A Court of Splintered Harmony on 27 October, the seventh book in the series, A Court of Forgotten Melody, will be released on 12 January 2027.

Follow BBC Wolverhampton & Black Country on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.

Shopping centre to be turned into giant art canvas

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm0401q03eeno, today

Later this month, hundreds of people will be invited to turn a shopping centre into one giant canvas to help celebrate their city.

The Mander Centre in Wolverhampton will host a three-day celebration of drawing between 27 and 29 October as part of a collaboration between the University of Wolverhampton and The Big Draw.

The Big Draw is an annual international celebration that has reached more than five million people, in more than 35 countries, since launching in 2000.

Led by practitioners from Fine Art and Illustration within the university's School of Creative Industries, people will work together to create an evolving large-scale drawing inspired by Wolverhampton.

Participants will be encouraged to respond to the people, architecture, stories and experiences that help shape the city.

Organisers said the artwork would grow and evolve over the three days as more people added their own ideas, memories and perspectives.

The project is inspired by psychogeography, a concept that explores people's connections with places and how they experience their surroundings.

'No experience needed'

Lindsey Chambers, head of School of Social Science, Humanities and Creative Industries at the university, said: "Over three days, we hope to see the artwork grow and evolve as more people add their own ideas and perspectives.

"You don't need any previous drawing experience to get involved. We want everyone to feel welcome to come along, have a go and make their mark."

This year's Big Draw theme is "Make a Mark", which celebrates drawing as a form of exploration and expression.

The University of Wolverhampton is one of the festival's partners for 2026, alongside organisations including the National Trust, St Paul's Cathedral, the Wallace Collection, the Courtauld Gallery and the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration.

Matilda Barratt, director of The Big Draw, said organisers were grateful to the organisations helping deliver events around the world as part of the festival.

The event is free to attend, with all materials provided and opportunities to take part through both scheduled activities and informal drop-in sessions.

Follow BBC Wolverhampton & Black Country on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.

Museum fees partly axed after drop in footfall

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm4g14ep1xjzo, today

Controversial admission fees for a city centre museum have been partially abandoned after a reportedly sharp decline in footfall.

Oxford City Council introduced entrance fees at the Museum of Oxford in January for the first time since it opened in 1975, to fill what it said was a gap in its budget.

Since the £4 entry fee was introduced, campaign group Save Our Museum said footfall at the St Aldates attraction had fallen by 70 – 80% compared with 2024/25.

At a meeting last week, the council agreed to row back on some of the changes, with free entry being restored for Oxford residents.

"We always regretted having to introduce charges for local residents," council leader Susan Brown said.

"People should go [to the museum], and now nobody in Oxford will have an excuse not to go there because it will be free again."

The free admission for city residents will initially run as a pilot scheme from 4 January until the end of March, at which point the council will decide whether to make it permanent.

The fees were first introduced at the start of the year to fill a budget gap at the museum, which is subsidised by the city council.

Despite the gap still existing, the council's finance chief Ed Turner said: "We've listened and we've seen what we can do."

Avril Alexander, from the Save Our Museum Campaign, welcomed the move, saying the council had "made a massive mistake in introducing entry fees to a small local museum in a city full of world-renowned free ones".

"We're glad that Oxford residents' voices have been heard and those fees are now being scrapped – hopefully for good," she said.

The group now wanted the council to commit to covering the full costs of the museum "so that staff can focus on rebuilding goodwill, footfall and donations", she added.

'Why we think Milton Keynes can be a City of Culture'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw073m0z0j89o, today

Milton Keynes has often been dismissed as somewhere not worth pulling off the M1 for, frequently by people who have no plans on visiting in the first place. But recently, that tide has turned. The BBC spoke to four people who have been part of the city's evolution and believe it has a chance of being crowned the UK City of Culture for 2029.

In 2025, the city was named one of the best places to live and work in the UK.

It is now in with a real chance of winning the £10m prize having been shortlisted as one of four places for the City of Culture contest.

The shorthand used to describe Milton Keynes often refers to concrete cows and its many roundabouts.

However, for Irish-born Nigerian creative Maureen Onwunali, who grew up and lives here, the city has so much more to offer.

While researching for her poem as part of the city's original bid, she said she found it "surprisingly so fascinating".

"I devoured all of these facts so now at any party, I have at least five Milton Keynes facts."

In "An ode to Milton Keynes", Onwunali refers to "the colossus, the world's first programmable computer" and "self-driving cars on Roman roads".

She told the BBC: "It's so funny because I tell people about Milton Keynes and culture and they look at me as if I'm being sarcastic, because Milton Keynes has this stereotype of being soulless.

"But there's so many artists who've come out of Milton Keynes.

"A lot do go off to bigger cities like London or Manchester but I think it's just a matter of harnessing their talents and having opportunities to platform them."

'People who live here absolutely love it'

Cultural events already held in the city include Reggae Land at the National Bowl and the Milton Keynes International Festival. This is alongside annual functions held at Campbell Park such as Art in the Park, the Zimbabwe Heritage Festival, MK Pride and Oktoberfest.

On the day the shortlist was announced, a four-month exhibition celebrating the life of British artist Laurence Stephen Lowry opened at the MK Gallery.

Director Anthony Spira said it was "great" that the city's place on the shortlist had surprised people.

"People who live here absolutely love it. But externally, people are saying, 'Milton Keynes, is there culture there?' Well, yes, there is, there's a lot and there's going to be a lot more."

Spira is confident the city, which was born only 59 years ago, can win: "We've got a very different story."

'Fantastic grassroots community'

Alongside its gallery, the city is proud of its theatre and live music venue - The Stables - which was developed by world-renowned jazz musicians Sir John Dankworth and Dame Cleo Laine.

The city is also home to smaller creative groups.

The professional theatre company The Play's The Thing was set up by Rosemary Hill in 2008 and encourages new writers and performers as well as producing more traditional plays.

"We've got a fantastic grassroots community doing so many things," said Hill.

"It's really, really exciting."

However Hill still finds herself having to convince others of her beloved city's charms.

She recalled: "I was sitting on a train a few years ago and was getting off at Milton Keynes and somebody said, 'Oh, this is a place best avoided'.

"I said, 'Have you ever been here? Do you know what Milton Keynes is about. Because you should come and visit and see all these different things.

"The whole carriage clapped as I got off."

'Shining a light on what makes our city unique'

For Lauren Townsend, the deputy leader of Milton Keynes City Council, her connection with the bid is also personal.

Fellow Labour councillor Shanika Mahendran died after a short illness aged just 28 in July.

At her memorial service former council leader Pete Marland revealed she had been the lone voice in the council chamber who persuaded the authority to throw its hat in the ring.

Townsend, who was born and raised in Milton Keynes, said: "Her ambition and belief in our city, combined with the overwhelming support from local people, businesses and organisations, has resulted in us making the final shortlist, and shows just how far our city has come over the past decade.

"I will forever be grateful to pioneers like Shanika for leading the way on a huge opportunity to shine a spotlight on everything that makes our city unique."

City of culture - the facts

* The UK City of Culture for 2029 will be announced in early 2027

* Milton Keynes, like Wrexham in Wales which is also on the shortlist, was made a city in 2022 as part of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

* They are competing with Sheffield and Blackpool with a panel of judges including Grange Hill, Brookside and Hollyoaks creator, Sir Phil Redmond, who will visit each one

* Judges will use set criteria to decide the winner, which include how places will create transformative opportunities and richer lives, deliver good jobs and boost growth

* Shortlisted cities each receive £125,000 to help with their final bids.

* The winner gets a £10m prize. In Bradford, which is the current holder of the title, around 7,000 new jobs have been created, as well as a brand-new performance venue.

Do you have a story suggestion for Beds, Herts or Bucks? Contact us below.

Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

Sam Fender calls out ticket prices ahead of tour

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6p3g9kle8pgo, yesterday

Sam Fender has said he has removed a ticket category from sale after being unhappy with pricing for his upcoming tour.

The 32-year-old announced his Proper Massive Stadium Tour earlier this week, which will visit Newcastle, Cardiff, London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Manchester in summer 2027.

While tickets are yet to go on sale, Fender responded to a post on social media which claimed to outline the expected ticket prices.

The Geordie musician now appears to have lowered the prices and said the "costs are astronomical compared to two years ago" but he could not control the venue or ticketing fees.

Tickets are due to go on general sale at 09:30 GMT on Friday, with a pre-sale at the same time on Wednesday.

Fender initially said he was "not happy" with the reported prices.

"They're getting changed," he said on Instagram.

"It got inflated well more than I'd had in mind, it should only be inflated in relation to the cost of putting the show on."

The North Shields singer also said he did not want there to be an option for fans to pay more money to be closer to the front.

He later posted to his own Instagram story and said: "I've managed to get front standing tickets removed from the UK stadium tour.

"Whoever buys a standing ticket gets as much chance as anyone to be at the front.

"No more 120 quid standing tickets either.

"Costs are astronomical compared to two years ago, I can't control the venue and ticketing fees, that's a sad reality of today's industry."

General admission standing would be £85, Fender said.

Seated tickets would cost £95, £75 and £55, but those prices excluded venue and ticket company fees and the £1 ticket contribution to Live Trust, which supports grassroots venues, he said.

He is not the first musician to raise concerns over ticket pricing.

Zara Larsson agreed with fans earlier this year that her tickets were too expensive.

The Swedish singer said while she did not have control over the prices, she hoped she would in the future.

Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram and listen to Radio Newcastle on BBC Sounds.

'Our town is a good vibe - if you know where to look'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwm238y872ejo, yesterday

At 21 years old Jack Townsend is already doing it all - rapping, writing, producing and running a project designed to help connect young artists - alongside best friend Yannick Manhica.

Under the OPB Studios name, the pair host an open-mic night in Bournemouth, which is running all month after its relaunch at the Helch Market venue.

The events helps connect talent in the area and have introduced a space where people "feel they can belong," says Yannick.

The pair's events attract creatives including singers, poets, dancers, designers and DJs from across Hampshire and Dorset.

Yannick, 26, got the idea for OPB, which stands for orange, pink and blue as well as opulence, passion and bravery, six years ago on his 20th birthday.

"Over the years, I've collected a lot of people that are very talented artists," he says.

"I started getting loads of people come to me directly and be like, 'I know you know lots of people, can you help me out with something?' And I was like 'oh cool - this is dope'."

After meeting Jack, he says everything changed and the pair decided to launch their first open mic together in December 2024.

They took a break from the business but in the summer of 2025 they held an the event in Bournemouth Square for 17 weeks.

This October have come back to where they started, hosting nights in the underground speakeasy bar.

Anyone is welcome - acts include singers, rappers, DJs, poets, and comedians.

Yannick says they never quite know what they are going to get on any given night and that artists just "appreciate the space" they have created.

Bartender Andre, who produces hybrid melodic-metal, hip-hop and country western music, says: "It feels like Bournemouth is coming on its way back up again.

"Music is the one thing that can bring people together. It puts things into perspective - maybe things aren't as bad as they seem."

"It's not clique-y here," says Madeleine, who premiered her original song Daddy's Attitude at the event on Wednesday.

Her and her friends, Helena Yasmin, 25, and Jenny, 26, who also write and perform their own music, moved back to Bournemouth after university.

Madeleine says they are "falling back in love" with their hometown and that they feel things may be changing for the better through the arts.

"As a teenager, I fully rejected the town," she says.

"Then coming back as an adult, it was like, 'wait, there's loads of things to do'.

"And with things like this, it's something where I can bring all my friends. It is really good vibes."

"It's not all doom and gloom," chimes in Helena.

Gavin and Stacey star revealed finale secret to Strictly friend

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjkge9kyv3ego, yesterday

Gavin and Stacey star Laura Aikman was sworn to secrecy before making her shock return in the show's finale, but revealed she did tell actress pal Sarah Hadland.

Aikman, who played Smithy's ex-girlfriend Sonia, was revealed at the start of the 2024 Christmas show as his bride-to-be.

Miranda star Hadland had told Aikman she had a secret, so Aikman said: "Well, I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."

Aikman, who plays Rachel Duffy in Liverpool crime drama This City is Ours, told Lucy Owen on BBC Radio Wales she did not even tell her parents about her crucial role in the show.

She said: "I was just like, I don't want to be the one that ruins everyone's Christmas. So I'm not telling a soul."

Security was so tight actors were not allowed to go out, though Aikman said she was papped after visiting Dr Who star Russell Tovey.

He was filming a spin-off of the sci-fi called The War Between the Land and the Sea.

"The only person I told was my friend Sarah Hadland, because she told me she had a big work secret, and basically, it was that she was doing Strictly," she said.

Once Aikman knew that, she let the cat out of the bag.

"And so we told each other, and then that was quite nice, because we could just speak to each other about the madness and the secrecy," she said.

A new series of This City Is Ours, which its stars recently defended against claims it glamourises crime, starts on BBC One on Sunday at 21:00 GMT.

Interactive light exhibition showcases island life

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwvg0vjnxpk8o, yesterday

A laser harp which uses light to play music, and a shadow-freezing photo booth are both part of an exhibition celebrating the science of light.

Jersey Museum's interactive event opened on Saturday at Jersey Museum and explores how "light has been used in Jersey over the years".

It said Playing with Light explored how light had helped to "tell the time, light our homes, safely guide shipping and entertain us".

Lucy Layton, Jersey Heritage exhibitions curator, said the event promised to be "one of the most fun" exhibitions in the museum's history.

Layton said the exhibition, called Jouer auve la Leunmiéthe in Jèrriais - the island's native language - would feature "lots of ways to play with light".

These, she said, included "buttons and levers", that helped visitors discover more about rainbows, lighthouses, and Jersey's role in early photography.

Photos of August's eclipse are also included, the museum said.

Collection items included coloured glassware, Victorian chemist shop bottles, an 18th Century sundial, and a homemade dynamo torch from the Occupation years.

The exhibition will be open until the end of December, and is suitable for children aged six and older. Museum admission prices apply.

Follow BBC Jersey on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk.

Author's camping trip inspired Hollywood film Wicker

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c60rlpqlyd8xo, yesterday

An author who was inspired to write a short story after seeing wicker sculptures on a camping trip has said she never imagined it would become a raunchy A-list feature film.

Ursula Wills from Stroud, in Gloucestershire, had just returned from a holiday in Cornwall in 2006 when she wrote The Wicker Husband, which follows an ostracised fisherwoman who pays a basket-maker to weave her a husband.

The story was picked up by writers who "livened it up" for the big screen to become Wicker, starring Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård and Peter Dinklage.

Wills called it a "unique and amazing" film that she thinks "audiences are going to go crazy for".

The author, who completed a Master of Arts degree at Bath Spa University in 2004, and spent 19 years living in Bristol, drew inspiration for the 14-page story on a camping trip.

"I'd visited this place called Melinsey Mill, which is an old watermill, where a basket maker had created an art trail around the pond, with big wicker sculptures like a stag, a giant spider, and a wicker man fishing, and I thought what would anyone want a wicker man for?" she said.

"I had the idea for the story straight away."

Wills posted The Wicker Husband on a short story website called East of the Web.

After racking up interest from readers, she was contacted by actor Rhys Jennings who, alongside Olivier Award–winning composer Darren Clark, created a musical.

In March 2020, it opened at Watermill Theatre in Newbury, but after only four nights the theatre had to close because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A year later, she was approached by producer Justin Lothrop who asked her for film rights.

"I had a meeting with writers and directors, but after Olivia Colman came onboard in 2023 things rolled out really fast," Wills said.

"By the end of 2024 I was out in Budapest where the film was being shot.

"When I read the script, I thought it was going to be good, and when I saw it being shot in Hungary I knew it - the end result is something unique and amazing.

"I think audiences are going to go crazy for it."

Wicker, which opens in UK cinemas on 30 October and has been described as a raunchy fantasy rom-com, has garnered lots of attention online and spawned countless viral posts.

Although Wills has said the finished film remains faithful to her original short story, the intimate relationship between the fisherwoman and her wicker husband has been embellished to "liven it up".

Joint writer-directors Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson said they "loved it immediately".

"It was very sort of sparsely written, but just had these beautiful little clues throughout that suggested to us what the tone of the film could become," they explained.

"We realised this was more than a period fable. We immediately saw a satirical comedy about sex and marriage, a unique visual spectacle, and a strange love story that would ground it all."

The UK premiere for the film was held earlier this month at the British Film Institute in London.

For Wills it was not all glamourous.

"I had to scuttle away from the afterparty at 21:45 to get the train back to Swindon and then I had to get a rail replacement bus to Stroud," she said.

Wills now has a literary agent, and has a new collection of 13 short stories coming out across the world in April.

However, she explained the journey of The Wicker Husband was not over yet.

"I wouldn't have predicted that it was going to be a full film with an A-list cast, but I did think that it would find a home somewhere," she said.

"It's got legs and it's not finished walking yet".

Follow BBC Bristol on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.

Sisters buy 'lighthouses' to remember loved ones

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c68xzpgg7y25o, yesterday

A family have bought a chain of lighthouse models in memory of loved ones and to thank the hospice charity which cared for them.

Sisters Kim Hill and Nicola Oliver bought the models which were sold at auction at the end of St Luke's Hospice Plymouth's Guiding Lights trail.

The women said they were inspired to buy the lighthouses because of their personal experiences with the charity.

Their mother was cared for at the hospice specialist unit in 2024 and Hill's husband Brian was looked after by St Luke's nursing teams before he died in June this year.

Between them the sisters spent almost £14,000 on the lighthouses but Hill said the auction was an easy way to give the charity a "large sum on money" because it wouldn't have occurred to her to make a donation of that size.

"You hope you're never going to have to use the facility again but if you do it's there and it's worth supporting to make sure it remains there," she said.

The 42 lighthouses making up the trail were unveiled at an exhibition in July before being moved to locations around Plymouth.

Hill said she had hoped to complete the lighthouse trail with her husband but they did not have the chance.

"Sadly he passed away before the (lighthouse) trail started but he did know that at the end of it they were going to auction the lighthouses off and he knew I wanted to buy one," she said.

Forty-two big lighthouses were designed and decorated by artists, while a further 42 little lighthouses, designed by schools, were displayed at the Box Gallery and Museum, and another 10 sculptures toured venues across Devon.

Hill said she had an auction brochure and put stars against the ones she wanted to bid on.

"We did have a plan B of maybe we'll get one between us. But we didn't need plan B, our plan A worked."

In the end she bought three lighthouses at the auction - Light of Plymouth for £4,200, Mega Murals for £2,800 and Devon Delights for £2,600. A total of £9,600.

"I wanted ones that were connected to Plymouth," said Hill.

"My husband was Scottish, but he loved the city. He was in the Royal Navy and lived here since 1977 or 78. We were together 46 years. He would approve of me buying the lighthouses, I'm sure," she said.

The Light of Plymouth lighthouse lives in Hill's back garden but the others have found permanent homes with family members.

Mega Murals was bought for her daughter and Devon Delights went to her son and daughter in law who no longer live in Devon.

"It's their piece of Devon shipped to Worcester," she said.

Oliver said her son, who has a disability, loved the trail so much he visited each lighthouse several times, going on two or three expeditions a week over the summer and was very keen to have one to keep.

She placed winning bids on two lighthouses including Walkies! for £2,000, which is covered in dogs and now lives in her front garden, and Just Keep Swimming, for £2,200, which has a new home in her back garden by her swimming pool. A total of £4,200.

"The trail has been lovely," said Nicola. "As they appeared in Plymouth they were so magnificent."

She added she felt it was "enlightening" at the auction to hear about the costs the charity face.

"In the times that we've used them there's never been any emphasis from them on how much it costs," she said.

She said it was "a really nice feeling" to know other people would be helped because of the money they had spent on the lighthouses.

Hill added: "At the worst time in your life, you know, the care is there.

"It's a brilliant facility on our doorstep, you never hope you're going to have to go there but our mum went there twice and it was the best care," she said.

She added: "My husband didn't want to go to St Luke's, but the St Luke's ladies cared for him at home for the last three weeks of his life.

"Very cheery ladies doing a difficult job at a very difficult time, very supportive to myself and they were willing to show me how to help care for him."

Penny Hannah, St Luke's head of fundraising, said the project had been "absolutely magical".

She added: "The money raised at auction is enough to make a difference for more than 200 families in our community when they desperately need the expert care and support we provide."

Follow BBC Devon on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk.

Workhouse museum seeks memories of time as care home

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y43yv01devo, yesterday

A museum at a former Victorian workhouse is appealing for people's memories of the time when it was turned into a care home after World War Two.

Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse is based at buildings that date from 1777 which are celebrating their 250th anniversary next year.

In the 1940s, it was turned into a care home and renamed Beech House. It closed in 1975 with residents being moved to Holt and Costessey.

Curator Rachel Kidd said the anniversary might be the "last chance" to capture the accounts of people who lived, visited and worked there.

The workhouse was a place where people living in poverty/on the breadline could come and exchange physical labour for food and shelter.

Gabby Meadows, research and community co-ordinator at the museum, said: "As social care and healthcare was changing in the '40s with the development of the NHS, things were changing at Gressenhall.

"It was moving away from that kind of workhouse environment and becoming about offering support to families."

Despite the changes, Meadows said there still was a stigma attached to the site because of its time as a workhouse.

She is hoping that people who visited relatives at Beech House will come forward to share their memories.

The team has already had a number of people come forward to share their experiences.

Angela Almond's father was a religious minister in Dereham in the 1960s who would regularly visit Gressenhall and take her with him.

"I was very conscious that some of the residents didn't want to be here," she said.

"Not because they were not cared for or fed properly, but because they were of the generation that grew up while it was still a workhouse."

The workhouse site, which has a school, chapel and laundry, is a popular school trip location hosting hundreds of children from across the region.

Its history as a workhouse is brought to life by staff in costume.

Curator Rachel Kidd said they want to understand more about the contemporary history.

"We want to show that the health and welfare system changed a lot in those 200 years all in one building," she said.

"It really is important to remember to reflect on how we do that today."

The 250th anniversary commemorations are being funded by £131,916 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and £11,500 from the Friends of Gressenhall.

Do you have a story suggestion for Norfolk? Contact us below.

Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

Students swap Blu Tack and posters for original art

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crjwe73dynd5o, yesterday

Students in Cambridge are ditching traditional posters and Blu Tack in favour of adorning their rooms with professional works of art.

For almost 70 years, Kettle's Yard gallery in Cambridge has loaned framed art, from creatives like Ai Weiwei, to students from the city's universities for a £20 fee.

Sarah Kleinmoedhie, 22, a Politics student at the University of Cambridge who was one of about 100 who collected a piece this year, said: "It makes for such a good conversation starter when your friends come to your room."

The museum has said every piece has been returned despite some being brought back later than planned, including one borrowed by Stephen Hawking.

Naomi Polonsky, Kettle's Yard assistant curator, said: "The reason we know he [Hawking] participated in this scheme is that he is listed in the log for late returns... it did eventually come back to Kettle's Yard."

The loan scheme was established by art collector and curator Jim Ede, who founded Kettle's Yard in the 1950s.

He believed "young people could be at home unhampered by the greater austerity of the museum or public art gallery".

Students from the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University visited the gallery on Monday.

The museum said more than 100 students lined up at its doors, but only 86 pieces were on offer.

Kleinmoedhie, who has borrowed one, added: "I just think artwork is such a special way to engage with the world around you, and it is so interesting to visit here."

The value of the artwork is not disclosed, although the pieces are not from the gallery's core collection.

Polonsky added: "It is remarkable that it has existed since that time and many students at the university write in with reminiscences, even when borrowing the artwork in the 1960s."

Polonsky said students from 29 out of the 31 colleges at the University of Cambridge collected a piece of artwork last year.

Students have to pay a £30 refundable deposit in case a piece is damaged or not returned.

Some of the pieces loaned out in 2026 included a limited edition print of Motorbike by surrealist artist Bevis Sale and a piece by the British painter and sculptor, Richard Harold Redvers Taylor, called Seville, The Old Quarter 1954.

New to the collection was Ai Weiwei's Cats limited print and Melanie Manchot's The Ladies, the museum said.

The gallery's assistant director, Susie Biller, said everything loaned since 1957 had been returned, adding: "We haven't honestly had any problems... in all of the years we have had the odd delay."

The museum said most pieces were covered by students' contents insurance, with the scheme otherwise operating on trust.

Do you have a story suggestion for Cambridgeshire? Contact us below.

Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

'More audacious than her male peers': The Renaissance woman who was the first female painter of erotic nudes

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20261015-the-trailblazing-erotic-art-of-lavinia-fontana, 10 days ago

Late-Renaissance portraitist Lavinia Fontana was the first professional woman artist to paint a nude female figure, many of them more overtly suggestive than those by her male peers. Were these nudes a statement of rebellion against her prudish father, a commercial choice – or a clue to her inner life?

There were two sides to the trailblazing artist Lavinia Fontana. The first can be seen in her self-portrait from 1577, in which she sits at the spinet dressed in a fine gown and jewels, the epitome of a wealthy, cultured and virtuous young Italian woman, the easel in the background a proud indication of her chosen vocation. Considered the first female professional artist, she was much sought after as a portraitist and would go on to win important commissions for more than a dozen altarpieces, challenging the view that women were incapable of winning such illustrious assignments, let alone executing them.

The second can be seen in the monumental Minerva in the Act of Dressing, in which the nude goddess appears to have been caught unawares as she is about to slip into a finely embroidered robe. Holding the garment carefully in her hands, she turns to meet the viewer with a gaze that is both coy and suggestive at the same time.

The image was painted for Cardinal Scipione Borgese in 1613, a year before Fontana's death; the fact that a woman was behind it would no doubt have added a frisson for anyone who saw it. As would the knowledge that Fontana had a reputation for creating such images, something of which we have only recently become fully aware. Over the past few years, more works have been attributed to Fontana that reveal her to be not only the first female artist to paint the female nude, but also the first to paint erotic works whose subject matter was often more audacious than that of her male peers.

At first glance it may seem surprising that these two conflicting sides of Fontana existed simultaneously. "Her self-portraits are very proper. There is never a hint of scandal in her life. So, you think you have a very prim woman. Maybe not," says Patrizia Cavazzini, one of the curators of (Woman) Painter at The National Museum of Oslo, where both the self-portrait and Minerva are on display. However, the art historian Elizabeth Cropper thinks we shouldn't necessarily believe that "public social respectability denies private sexual eroticism… We need to allow some complexity in our understanding of Early Modern women," she tells the BBC.

Whether or not these works are indicative of Fontana's private desires, Enrico Maria Dal Pozzolo, author of Lavinia Fontana: Erotic Paintings, believes there were specific commercial and entrepreneurial reasons for her to paint both sacred and profane works. "In my opinion, she did it to show she was different… and to draw attention to her compositional boldness," he tells the BBC.

A veiled Venus

Her earliest known erotic work was Venus and Cupid, painted around 1585-90. While a nude Venus is hardly an unusual subject in art, Fontana used jewels, veils and pearls to heighten the sensuality. The trope was repeated a few years later when she painted a recognisable noble woman, Isabella Ruini, as Venus. The half-length portrait, no doubt intended for private viewing only, has Isabella/Venus draped in the flimsiest of gauze wraps, which does nothing to conceal her breasts.

In Florence and Rome at the time there were whole galleries dedicated to portraits of beautiful women, while in her native Bologna there was great competition between the women. "Many poets wrote about them. They ranked them and said who was the most beautiful, so I think it comes out of that culture of an appreciation of female beauty," says Cavazzini.

Three nude noblewomen

Fontana's most dazzling work in this genre is the recently attributed Three Female Nudes (c1600), which features three noblewomen dressed in nothing but thin veils and exquisitely observed jewels. Dal Pozzolo speculates that it is a contemporary Judgement of Paris, inspired by the story from Greek mythology in which Paris is asked to choose which goddess – Hera, Aphrodite or Athena – is the most beautiful.

The woman on the left is thought to be Clelia Farnese, considered one of the most stunning women in Italy, and both she and the unidentified woman on the right gesture to the clear victor in the centre who is thought to be Maria de Medici. The work is painted on slate, giving it a highly reflective surface, so the latter-day Paris who commissioned it would be reflected in the image as he gazed upon his choice in the privacy of his chamber.

Painting such images was undoubtedly bold, especially for a woman living in Bologna at the time of the Counter Reformation, when the city's severe Archbishop, Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti, was keen to extend the Catholic Church's moralising zeal into the realm of painting.

In his Discorso delle pitture, her artist father Prospero, acknowledged that a Christian painter should avoid painting scandalous subjects as it was sinful. But he then argued that artists needed to accept commissions for such works for financial reasons and that the Church should deal with the commissioners themselves during confession.

His fence-sitting may well be explained by the fact that having trained his daughter and put her on the path to a lucrative career, but then, having fallen out of fashion himself, he had made her sign a contract obliging her to hand over all her earnings until his death. Is it possible that she pushed the boundaries in protest against him?

Venus of the beautiful buttocks

It is perhaps no coincidence that her most daring works were produced in the years leading up to, and after, Prospero's death in 1597, when she may have been feeling the shackles loosening. The most audacious of these paintings focus specifically on the female bottom, a factor which can be explained by a renewed interest in the Venus Callipyge (the Venus of the beautiful buttocks), a recently discovered Roman statue of Venus provocatively lifting her robe to reveal her bottom.

The theme had been adapted by various male artists, including Giorgione, Titian and Veronese. But these artists "had not dared depict the goddess's buttocks being touched", says Dal Pozzolo. Lavinia, in her Mars and Venus, painted around 1594-5, did. "That it was a female painter who crossed this boundary can, in my view, be explained in terms of the self-promotional value," says Dal Pozzolo.

The painting is quite extraordinary in its depiction of unbridled lust. Mars gropes Venus's bottom, thrusting his crotch towards her as he does so. The upright spike on his shield, together with the sword pointing between her legs, leave us in doubt about the state of his arousal while Venus, who turns to smile knowingly at the viewer.

Hidden multitudes

Although the female bottom is once again the focus of attention in a nude Minerva that Fortuna painted in 1604 after she had made a move to Rome, the goddess's face is also of interest as it has been suggested that it is Fontana herself. That assumption is based on a 1605 poem that praises her skill as an artist and suggests that in order to depict virtue and beauty she only needed one model – herself. "Whether or not this figure resembles Lavinia, she is identified with it – as so often happens with women artists," says Cropper.

More like this:

• How Aphrodite became a controversial sex symbol

• Why Mary Magdalene is a divisive biblical figure

• The pain and passion in a Frida Kahlo masterpiece

It was undoubtedly Fontana's dual identification as a refined, educated and skilled female painter, as well as one that dabbled in the erotic, that led to Cardinal Scipione Borghese, a renowned collector and patron of the arts, commissioning the 1613 Minerva which took pride of place on the walls of the Villa Borghese in Rome.

"Such a large painting cannot be hidden away. Especially as it was commissioned from Rome's most famous painter by the city's most demanding patron," says Dal Pozzolo. He would have shown it to "everyone he thought would appreciate it". While those who did so at the time were likely limited to men from the higher echelons of society, today we are all free to admire the work of this phenomenal, boundary-pushing woman whose enigmatic smile in her self-portrait clearly hid multitudes.

(Woman) Painter is at The National Museum of Oslo, Norway, until 7 February 2027.

If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week.

For more Culture stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Glamorous, starry and extremely private: Nine images capturing 100 years of Bel-Air, LA's most exclusive suburb

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20261012-images-capturing-the-100-year-history-of-bel-air, 13 days ago

The brainchild of a rancher-turned-oilman, it has evolved from a 1920s "gentlemen's haven" to a film-star refuge, a 1960s "groovy scene", and a high-end, low-profile enclave. This year the neighbourhood celebrates its centenary.

The Los Angeles neighbourhood of Bel-Air likely brings to mind the '90s TV sitcom with Will Smith as a teenager sent to live with rich relatives. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air left a vague, lingering impression of Bel-Air as extremely affluent, but didn't add much else. It wasn't even shot there. Unlike nearby hot spots like Beverly Hills or Hollywood, the area has no sharply defined image in the public consciousness.

But now a new book celebrating the area, Bel-Air: The Centennial, reveals its fascinating cultural and architectural history, from its founding in 1922, when Los Angeles still had vast empty spaces, to its status today as one of the most upscale places to live in California.

David Silverman, the book's author, tells the BBC, "When people visit LA, the tour buses go around Beverly Hills but they don't typically go to Bel-Air because you can't really see much. A lot of it is behind walls and bushes." It's a sign of the more private, residential character that accounts for the neighbourhood's lower profile.

Bel-Air itself was the brainchild of Alphonzo Bell, a rancher who became wealthy when he struck oil on his land. He bought nearly 18,000 acres then known as the Danziger Ranch, began developing and selling plots, and Bel-Air – meaning Beautiful Air and conveniently including Bell's name – appeared.

A gentlemen's haven (1920s)

When Alphonzo Bell began selling land in Bel-Air he was clear about what the new development would be – a gentlemen's haven. A Los Angeles Times advertisement crowed in 1923: "A Community of Gentlemen's Estates" for "the highest class of homeseekers". That idea sounds ludicrously snobbish, sexist and exclusionary today, but also speaks to the culture of the 1920s.

"Everyone assumed it was the men who were buying the property," Silverman says, and such language "was common in LA for fancy areas". The ad stipulated that new houses built must cost at least $15,000 (£11,300), the equivalent of about $300,000 (£227,000) today. Bell added stables, tennis courts and golf courses as an enticement, and his family moved into the 42-room Danziger mansion, renamed Capo di Monte (Top of the Mountain).

Bel-Air on horseback (1920s)

If you couldn't afford to keep a horse, you probably couldn't afford to live in Bel-Air in the 1920s. Bridle trails were everywhere, eventually about 65 miles (100km) of them meandering by the country club, along the golf course, and through many still-rustic areas. In addition to stables, Bell created underpasses along the trails, paths beneath bridges so the horses wouldn't have to cross the street. An article in the Los Angeles Time in 1922 said, "The invitation to visit Bel-Air on horseback is also extended to the general public."

East Gate (1928)

Bel-Air was never a gated community, but it does have gates, or rather entryways known as gates that give it an aura of exclusivity, the illusion of heading into a more rarefied place. In a 1928 photo, the gates to the former Danziger Ranch are still visible but open. That became known as the East Gate. "As Bel-Air expanded west, they decided that the western area needed its own gate," Silverman adds. It serves, he says, "just as a monumental, fancy entrance."

Judy Garland postcard (1929)

"Alphonzo Bell was super religious and thought that people in Hollywood were morally suspect," Silverman says. "And so for the first six years he prevented sales to movie people, as he called them." They got around this restriction by having their lawyers buy properties for them, and when the Depression hit in 1929 and sales slowed, Bell had to relent for economic reasons.

"Movie people" flooded in, including Judy Garland, who used her Wizard of Oz money to buy a house in Bel-Air, and Golden Age actors including William Powell and Carole Lombard. In that era, "in addition to maps to the stars' houses, they sold postcards" of the properties, Silverman says, and stars were often photographed for fan magazines in their homes. Over the years the directors Howard Hawks and Alfred Hitchcock both lived in Bel-Air too.

Beverly Hillbillies mansion (1962)

In 1962 The Beverly Hillbillies premiered, the television series about a backwoods family who find oil on their land and drive their dilapidated vehicle to their new home in, as the theme song has it, "the hills of Beverly". The exterior of the show's house, though, was actually one of Bel-Air's largest, best-known mansions, then called the Kirkeby Estate and built in 1933. "The owners at the time agreed to let them film there with the condition that the address not be released.

Then TV Guide printed the address and everyone started visiting," Silverman says. In this 1980 photo, "You see how the gate is open and the house is so visible that people could just come to the gate," he adds. The house's most recent owner is Lachlan Murdoch, an heir to the Rupert Murdoch fortune, who bought it in 2019 for a reported $150 million, at the time a record high for a California residence.

Modernist house (1950s)

In the post-World War Two years, modernist architecture began to infuse Bel-Air as taste changed throughout the country. "People didn't want these Spanish houses or Tudor or older Ranch style" which had dominated in Bel-Air, Silverman says. "They wanted [something] more contemporary." Modern architecture, with its spare lines, large windows and open outdoor spaces, was perfectly suited to take advantage of Bel-Air's landscape, offering spectacular views of the surrounding hills and valleys. Silverman says of Bel-Air's geography, "It's unique in that it goes a lot higher than [the adjacent areas of] both Beverly Hills and Holmby Hills, so the views are in most cases better."

Zsa Zsa Gabor by her pool (1970s)

Zsa Zsa Gabor and her sister, Eva, were actresses (Eva starred on US TV sitcom Green Acres) but were better known as celebrities, avatars of a kind of flashy glamour and talk-show fame in the 1960s and '70s. "They were like the Kardashians of their day. They married a lot of times, they married well, they got a tonne of publicity," Silverman says. "They were just kind of famous for being famous."

Zsa Zsa lived in Bel-Air for much of her life, and is shown at home in the 1970s in a brightly-coloured posed photo that captures her outsized pop-culture image. "The pool is very LA and the house is Hollywood Regency, that style. And then with her big hair and pink dress – I think it's a very Bel-Air photo," he says.

Sonny and Cher (1967)

Sonny and Cher were known as long-haired rebels when they first become pop-music stars, but in 1967 they took their new-found wealth and bought a house in not-so-rebellious Bel-Air. They weren't the only ones. The Bel-Air book reprints an article that Candice Bergen, an aspiring young journalist at the time, wrote for Esquire magazine that year. Called "Is Bel-Air Burning?", it follows some of the young, then-hip musicians moving into the neighbourhood, with John and Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas among them. Bergen quotes John Phillips, who says, "I think I'll buy some more land in Bel-Air. It's going to be [a] very groovy scene."

In the 1940s, Bell sold some land, including the stables, to a developer who built the Hotel Bel-Air on the property. Since its opening in 1944, the hotel has been a symbol of the kind of privacy and luxury that people go to Bel-Air to find. "It immediately became popular with Hollywood people. It was super private and most of the rooms were those little bungalows, so people had assignations there," Silverman says.

Hotel Bel-Air (1951)

Celebrities including Marilyn Monroe sometimes posed for photographs by the pool. This 1951 photo captures the hotel's sunniness and long cultural history so well that it is on the hotel's website even now. Today, Silverman points out, "People are actually paying thousands of dollars to stay in the former stables." In that sense, the Bel-Air story has come full circle.

Bel-Air: The Centennial by David Silverman is published by Rizzoli.

If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week.

For more Culture stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

When is premium economy worth the extra cost? We compare five of the world's best-rated airlines

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20261022-when-is-premium-economy-worth-the-extra-cost-we-compare-five-of-the-worlds-best-rated-airlines, today

Skytrax named these the world's five best premium economy airlines. We examine what sets their cabins apart and whether it's worth paying extra for them.

With wider seats, more legroom and upgraded service, premium economy has become one of the most competitive segments of long-haul flying, promising a more comfortable flight without the business class price tag.

But the difference between cabins can vary enormously – and some airlines already offer an excellent economy experience.

In the 2026 World Airline Awards, based on passenger surveys, Skytrax named EVA Air, Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Virgin Atlantic as the world's five best premium economy airlines.

We look at what each offers compared with its own economy cabin – and which upgrades deliver the most noticeable improvements in comfort and service.

1. EVA Air

EVA Air has a strong claim to premium economy expertise: the Taiwanese carrier was the first airline to introduce the cabin, in 1992. It topped Skytrax's 2026 rating and also won the award for best premium economy amenities.

The biggest differentiator is space. On EVA's Boeing 777-300ERs, premium economy offers 38in (96.5cm) of seat pitch (the distance between rows of seats), compared with 31-33in (78.7-83.8cm) in economy. Selected Boeing 787-9s go further, with 42in (106.7cm) of pitch, just 28 seats arranged 2-3-2 and a cradle-style recline designed to preserve the space for the passenger behind.

For taller travellers, that 42in (106.7cm) pitch is "like having the length of an acoustic guitar before the next seat," says Katy Nastro, travel expert at flight-tracking app Flighty.

But EVA's economy cabin is already relatively generous by industry standards. Gary Leff, founder of the frequent flyer site View from the Wing, points out that some of the airline's Boeing 777s still have nine seats across in economy rather than the tighter 10-abreast configuration common elsewhere.

Even so, Leff says he would still "far prefer premium economy", thanks to its wider seats, extra legroom and footrests. Nastro adds that "the cost to try premium economy is slightly lower than upgrading fare classes on Emirates or Cathay, where the jump can cost nearly $800 per segment".

Worth the upgrade? Particularly appealing for taller travellers on long-haul flights,especially on EVA's newer 787-9s. But its relatively generous economy seats may be sufficient for some.

2. Emirates

Emirates ranked second in Skytrax's 2026 awards, but took the top spot for both premium economy seats and catering.

Its existing premium economy cabin offers a noticeable upgrade from economy, with cream-coloured leather seats, calf and footrests, larger entertainment screens and an upgraded dining service. But whether those extras justify the cost is another matter. Nastro says Emirates' already-strong economy product makes premium economy a harder sell, particularly when the fare can be twice as expensive. While the additional legroom and improved dining are welcome, she questions whether they are enough to justify such a price difference.

That could change with the airline's newest premium economy seat. Unveiled in September 2026 for newly delivered Airbus A350s, it features electric controls, wireless charging, a 13.3in (33.8cm) 4K screen and a full-height adjustable privacy divider between each seat, which Emirates says is an industry first for premium economy. The cabin has just 28 seats in a 2-3-2 configuration.

The A350 is already operating on routes including Dubai to Kuala Lumpur, but the aircraft type alone does not guarantee the new privacy-divider seat. The airline is introducing the design as it takes delivery of additional aircraft, so passengers hoping to experience it should check with Emirates before booking.

Leff is more enthusiastic about the new A350 seat than Emirates' older premium economy product, which he considers "fairly ordinary" by the standards of this group. He says the latest version "could be the best premium economy in the world".

Worth the upgrade? The newest A350 seats promise a compelling improvement in privacy and comfort, making them particularly appealing on long-haul flights. The older premium economy cabin is a more modest upgrade: the extra space and better dining are welcome, but whether they're worth paying for depends on the fare difference.

3. Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines ranked third for premium economy in 2026, but it also won Skytrax's award for the world's best economy class – making the case for upgrading less straightforward.

Premium economy offers roughly 38in (96.5cm) of seat pitch, compared with around 32in (81.3cm) in economy, as well as wider seats, 8in (20.3cm) of recline and built-in calf and footrests. On its A380, its 2-4-2 premium economy configuration also means fewer middle seats than economy's 3-4-3 layout.

There are upgrades beyond the seat, too. Passengers can pre-order chef-inspired meals through the airline's Book the Cook service, enjoy Champagne and benefit from priority check in and boarding.

Nastro recommends upgrading on overnight journeys and flights lasting more than eight hours. "Sometimes, flights are simply too long to feel comfortable in economy despite the airline offering a solid economy product," says Nastro. She points to the extra legroom and fewer middle seats as particularly valuable on those lengthy routings.

Leff, meanwhile, notes that Singapore's economy cabin is already among the more comfortable options for long-haul travellers, with touches such as footrests and cup holders on some aircraft, as well as strong food and entertainment, regardless of cabin.

Worth the upgrade? On Singapore Airlines' longest flights, the extra space, recline and leg support could make a difference, particularly overnight. But on shorter journeys, its award-winning economy cabin may be more than comfortable enough.

4. Cathay Pacific

Cathay Pacific came in fourth overall, while its premium economy seat ranked second only to Emirates' in Skytrax's 2026 awards.

On the A350, premium economy offers 40in (101.6cm) of seat pitch, 9in (22.9cm) of recline and full-length leg rests. Passengers also get priority boarding, more baggage and upgraded meals. Meanwhile, Cathay's refurbished Boeing 777-300Ers feature a redesigned premium economy cabin with winged headrests for added privacy, 15.6in (39.6cm) 4K entertainment screens and Bluetooth audio.

For Nastro, the newer seat design is what best distinguishes Cathay's premium economy from competitors such as Singapore Airlines. While she finds the benefits of upgrading from economy relatively similar between the two carriers, Cathay's larger entertainment screens make watching films more immersive, and its winged headrests offer a greater sense of privacy. The latter, she says, is the "biggest differentiator".

Like Singapore, though, Cathay starts from a strong economy offering, so the main case for upgrading is the seat itself rather than a dramatic change in service.

Worth the upgrade? Most persuasive on long overnight flights, when the generous recline and leg support become more valuable. For travellers seeking greater privacy, Cathay's redesigned 777-300ER cabin offers another compelling reason to upgrade, with its winged headrests providing more separation from neighbouring passengers. On shorter journeys, however, the benefits may be less noticeable.

5. Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic rounded out Skytrax's global top five, with a premium economy cabin that combines extra space with a more elaborate onboard experience.

Seats offer up to 38in (96.5cm) of pitch, compared with around 31in (78.7cm) in standard economy, along with greater recline and leg support. The amount of personal space varies by aircraft, however. On Virgin's Boeing 787-9s, premium economy seats measure up to 21in (53.3cm) wide and recline 8in (20.3cm), while those on its newer Airbus A350-1000s and A330neos are narrower at 18.5in (47cm) wide. The A330neo also adds wireless charging and Bluetooth-enabled entertainment screens.

More like this:

• The world's five best economy airlines for 2026 - and what makes them so much better

• The insiders changing how we think about flying

• Would you choose to take a 22-hour non-stop flight?

For Leff, the main attraction of Virgin's premium economy is the extra space, which offers what he describes as a "less claustrophobic experience".

Virgin also distinguishes its premium economy cabin through food and service. "There's sparkling wine on boarding, a menu with three main course choices and meals served on china with proper cutlery," says Leff, who adds that afternoon tea can be another nice touch. On the ground, passengers benefit from dedicated check in and bag drop, priority boarding and baggage delivery, plus two checked bags weighing up to 23kg each.

Worth the upgrade? Virgin's wider 787 seats may be especially appealing, while the upgraded dining and airport benefits offer additional reasons to pay more. However, travellers primarily interested in legroom may find better value in Virgin's Economy Delight seats, which offer up to 34in (86.4cm) of seat pitch without the full Premium fare.

If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week.

For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

'There's this spooky presence in Pendle Hill': Trace the footsteps of England's most famous accused witches

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20261023-the-haunting-landscapes-of-englands-accused-witches, yesterday

The borough of Pendle has been considered haunted ever since nine suspected witches were sent to their deaths there in 1612. Here's how curious visitors can trace their steps.

According to local legend, visitors to Pendle Hill are supposed to feel inexplicable feelings of anger, panic or dread. But as I reach the top of the 557m-high (1,8270ft) muddy escarpment in England's east Lancashire region, I mostly feel exhausted. And wet.

Yet, surrounded by the thick mist that often envelops the summit, it's impossible to deny a sense of unease. After all, this very area is where 12 Lancastrians were accused of witchcraft in 1612, leading to one of England's deadliest witch trials. Ever since, Pendle Hill's surrounding villages and ancient forests have been considered haunted.

Warning: This article contains details that some readers may find upsetting.

"There are rumours of ghostly and phantom monks, while people have reportedly experienced breathing difficulties there," says Stephen Oldfield, a Lancashire historian and author. According to tour guide Stephen Entwhistle, locals claim that the last piece of snow melting on Pendle Hill takes the shape of a witch.

Such tales have long lured visitors to Pendle Hill, particularly since the 400th anniversary of the trials in 2012. It's an especially popular jaunt around Halloween, when ghost-hunters try to connect with spirits allegedly haunting the borough's villages while enjoying some of the most underrated landscapes in northern England.

England's darkest witch trials

In early 17th-Century England, murder via witchcraft (alleged or otherwise) was already a capital offence. But the deeply superstitious king, James I, raised the stakes even higher with the Witchcraft Act of 1604, which deemed even non-fatal witchcraft – such as conjuring spirits and casting spells – punishable by death. The elderly and the poor were especially at risk of accusations, as were "cunning folk" claiming to be healers. "This was a time of great turmoil," says Oldfield. "People were very, very suspicious of anybody who didn't live what they considered to be a normal life."

The Pendle Hill witch panic began in March 1612 when folk healer Alizon Device encountered peddler John Law, who collapsed (or suffered a stroke) shortly afterward.

Law's son reported Device to local magistrate Roger Nowell, who investigated the incident. Device reputedly confessed to having paralysed Law, implicating her grandmother, Elizabeth Southerns, and Anne Whittle – rival folk healers with alleged supernatural powers – as well as Whittle's daughter, Anne. All four were locked in Lancaster Castle's prison.

A Good Friday gathering held at the Device home, interpreted by Nowell as a coven meeting, resulted in more arrests. Oldfield says the newly accused, including wealthy Alice Nutter of Roughlee, were kept overnight at nearby Ashlar House, then forced to walk through the Forest of Bowland to Lancaster Castle where they were thrown into Well Tower dungeon. The prisoners were collectively accused of various kinds of maleficum (malevolent magical acts), including the murder of 10 locals.

Nine-year-old Jennet Device was a crucial witness, giving testimony so convincing it doomed her mother, brother, sister and grandmother. Southerns died awaiting her verdict, but nine of the 12 accused were found guilty and hanged on Gallows Hill. Only Alice Grey was acquitted; Jennet Preston was hanged in her native Yorkshire.

Witch hunt fever continued for several decades more until the Age of Enlightenment, and witchcraft was eventually decriminalised in England in 1736.

A 'spooky presence'

The Pendle Hill trials remain some of the most famous and well-documented in English history, and the borough has never managed to shake its sinister past.

Oldfield says Pendle Hill's damp, bleak landscape naturally lends itself to stories of hauntings and sightings: "There's always been this atmosphere and spooky presence in Pendle Hill. It's like being in another country, even compared to West Lancashire".

Local author Stacey Halls, whose debut novel was set during the Pendle witch trials, finds being on the hill unnerving. "When you're up there on a cloudy day, which it always is up there, you literally cannot see. It's like being in a cloud… It's a bit unnatural, a bit spooky."

Some local wells, like St Chad's Well near Bull Hole Farm, still have anti-witch protection marks carved into them. Television programmes, including Most Haunted and The Haunted Hunts, explore Pendle to locate spirits, especially on Tynedale Farm, where the Nutter family lived for generations.

For the 400th anniversary of the Pendle witch trials in 2012, local organisations funded the Pendle Witches' Way and the Lancashire Witches' Walk, which trace the imagined routes the accused may have taken to their imprisonment at Lancaster Castle.

Looking to follow in the steps of the twelve, I slip and slide back down Pendle Hill, towards hopefully drier, more solid ground that will give me a deeper sense of the region's history.

Walking alongside witches

I start my homage in Newchurch-In-Pendle, the tiny village where several trial victims lived. Perched steeply on the hillside, it claims only 940 residents, and "when you drive [in], it still feels very much like it would have done when the trials took place," says Oldfield.

Often overlooked in favour of the nearby Lake and Peak Districts, this area of east Lancashire is equally scenic, with dramatic green hills, lush pastures and storybook cottages. "If you are looking for fresh air, stunning views all the way over to Yorkshire, and a nice walk, then the top of Pendle Hill is ideal," says Entwhistle.

As I stroll through the town, I find chilling spectres of its haunted past. Several homes display witch-inspired art, while others have horseshoes on their doors and holly trees planted outside – traditional protection from spells. Signposts depicting a witch on a broomstick guide me to the trailhead of the Pendle Witches' Way, which leads me to St Mary's Church – an imposing English Gothic parish in the shadow of Pendle Hill.

This churchyard is where, during her trial, Nutter was accused of having desecrated graves to rob bones and teeth. It is also the site of the Witches' Tomb, a large stone vault widely believed to belong to Nutter and her ilk.

Though headstone bears the Nutter name and enigmatic carvings of a skull, Oldfield is sceptical – Nutter was a common name in the area, and a convicted witch would "never have been allowed to be buried on consecrated ground".

Walking through the silent churchyard, I spot tombstones going further back in time, their names increasingly harder to read. Being so close to such unsettling history sends a shudder down my spine, so I look up at the church's tower, where I spot the unique, eye-shaped "Eye of God" carving – inscribed into the tower in the years after the trials to protect Newchurch-in-Pendle from evil spirits.

I continue my quest, driving down from Newchurch-in-Pendle through the rolling Lancashire countryside – first, to the picturesque village of Barley, the primary starting point for Pendle Hill hikers, and then to Roughlee, past a life-size outdoor metal sculpture of Nutter. I then park outside Ashlar House – a gabled stone cottage in the village of Fence. "That’s the only building still standing in Pendle that we know the witches went inside," says Oldfield.

Driving next through the Forest of Bowland, I am struck by the forest's dramatic valleys and wild heather fields. But any delight is curtailed as I imagine the accused's dread as they trudged the same stretch I'm now crossing in comfort.

I finally arrive in the medieval city of Lancaster, the official end to both the Lancashire Witches' Walk and the Pendle Witches' Way. The 11th-Century Norman Lancaster Castle looms high on a hilltop in city centre, and I follow a handful of other tourists to the dungeon, where the accused awaited their deaths. The stone cell is damp, cramped and stifling cold – just a few moments inside is enough to make me yearn for daylight.

Sorely in need of a stiff drink after all that gloom, I pop down The Golden Lion pub. According to local myth, it's where the accused had a final drink before execution, says professor Charlotte Baker of Lancaster University.

Between the pub's centuries-old wooden bar and its ancient fireplace, it's easy to understand why rumours have long circulated of ghosts and strange noises emanating from the place. Publican speculation is that the noises still come from the condemned who passed it on the way to their death. Any landlord whose pub has even a passing connection to the Pendle Witch Trials – they're all likely to insist a curse took place nearby – can't wait to speak about how haunted their establishment is, says Halls.

More like this:

• Connecticut's forgotten witch trial past

• Sleepy Hollow: The town that named itself for Halloween

• Spain's cursed village of witches

Entwhistle is unsurprised the area is increasingly inundated with dark tourists. "It's a story that should have been turned into a Hollywood blockbuster, because it has deception, lies, superstition and religion."

While such fodder has helped to keep the victims' memories alive, Oldfield can't help but feel sorry for them, and the terrifying treatment they were subjected to.

"These were just uneducated, poor and pitiful people, who didn't have a hope in life. Healing gave them a sense of importance. Nowadays, you'd just avoid them. But because of the atmosphere of the time, they were killed."

If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week.

For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

'It was a fun idea': The Norwegian island that wanted to abolish time

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20261022-the-norwegian-island-that-wanted-to-abolish-time, 2 days ago

Seven years after a bizarre plan to abolish time made headlines, what is life really like on this remote Arctic island?

In 2019, a tiny island community in the Norwegian Arctic made headlines around the world with an extraordinary proposal: it wanted to abolish time.

Residents of Sommarøy, a fishing village 56km west of Tromsø, were supposedly campaigning to become the world's first time-free zone during the 69 days each summer when the Sun never sets. Watches were hung from a nearby bridge and a local hotel owner presented a petition bearing residents' signatures to a member of Norway's parliament. The international media enthusiastically embraced the idea, lauding the town's efforts to live without reference to time.

There was just one problem: the campaign wasn't quite what it seemed.

Many locals were mystified by all the fuss, baffled by the idea that anyone could live entirely beyond time. How could a hotel operate without check-in or check-out times? Was a cafe supposed to remain open forever in case someone wanted lunch at 04:00? What about children attending school?

It turned out that Innovation Norway, the government agency for promoting tourism, had orchestrated the campaign. Although some islanders had participated, others were reportedly unaware of it. When the agency's involvement emerged, its head was forced to issue a public apology. The watches soon disappeared from the bridge, and the campaign sank, seemingly without a trace.

And yet, if you take away the cynicism of a government trying to manufacture a popular movement to attract visitors, there is something appealing about the idea.

High above the Arctic Circle, Sommarøy experiences uninterrupted daylight each summer from 18 May to 26 July, when the Sun never sets and the usual boundaries between day and night start to dissolve. In deep winter, the Sun never rises and lunch can be eaten in deep darkness. Could a place like this really change the way people experience time?

I decided to travel to Sommarøy to find out.

The first vexing issue was that I would have to hurry if I wanted to reach Sommarøy – the bus was leaving at the inconveniently precise time of 11:30. If I missed it, I would have to wait until tomorrow. But this was, after all, I reasoned, Tromsø, not Sommarøy. And no town can be an island.

Once on board, the bus crosses bridges and skirts fjords, passing small villages as the traffic gradually thins. Beyond Eidkjosen, the road climbs away from the water's edge and finally leaves Tromsø's outer orbit.

One hour and 40 minutes later, we arrive in Sommarøy, a village of around 300 people whose population swells in summer and on weekends when Norwegians retreat to their holiday cabins. I am instantly bewitched. Up close, houses on stilts rise above tight harbours while colourful homes dot the islands against a stirring backdrop of mountains still snowcapped well into midsummer. And out beyond this fissured coastline cut through with fjords, ice caps and high-altitude valleys, lie the wild seas of the North Atlantic.

The first person I meet in Sommarøy is Ewa Kaczyński, a Polish tourist who tells me that she was drawn here by the publicity surrounding the ill-fated 2019 campaign. "I always wanted to see the midnight Sun," she tells me. "I lead a very busy life back home, and the idea of not having to worry about time for a few days was really appealing."

I ask her what she thinks now that she's here.

"I'm not sure. The first day I was a little bit disappointed because, of course, time is necessary for the world to function. Restaurants and shops closed when they said they would. And reception at the hotel wasn't open overnight. But then I took a deep breath, turned off my phone and found myself relaxing more. I can do that here. And maybe just having the conversation about time was enough – it does seem to matter less here than it does back home.

Dutch traveller Wouter De Wit has embraced the perpetual daylight. "It's wild," he says. "I went for a midnight swim yesterday. The Sun was out and I wouldn't have been able to guess what time it was if I didn't have a watch. It was a bit cold, though…"

Locals, meanwhile, were more reluctant to speak, at least on the record. The media clamour surrounding the campaign, and the clumsy way that Innovation Norway handled the whole affair left many wary, and not a little tired of the matter.

"Look, it was a fun idea that we used to talk about every now and then," says a hotel worker who asked not to be named, as the 2019 campaign remains a sensitive topic. "In summer, we sort of live outside time anyway. If no-one is around, sometimes a shop will close so that the owner can go fishing. The kids stay up late because there's no school the next day. And lots of people are on holidays, so life is more relaxed. But then it became a thing."

"Has it been good for the town?" I ask.

"Not at the beginning," the hotel employee tells me. "It was all visitors wanted to talk about. But now, a few years later, it's OK. It's kind of back to how it was like before… and it brings people here. Now the world knows about Sommarøy."

More like this:

• The tiny Arctic island where travellers have found refuge since 1897

• Hiking Norway's heavily monitored Russian border

• The lonely road to Europe's Arctic edge

Later, as I fall asleep at the Sommarøy Arctic Hotel, the town is so quiet that it is difficult to tell the difference between the hours – there is no traffic, no general noise, regardless of the hour. Fully aware of the irony, I set my alarm for 03:30 to see if I can learn anything about the fluidity of time from venturing out at what, anywhere else, might be considered an ungodly hour.

I let myself out of the hotel quietly, so as not to wake the other guests, and walk around the deserted streets, then down to the water's edge. Gulls fly overhead and waders from warmer climes step daintily through the shallows. But it's different for humans. The houses are quiet, the streets empty. There's no-one around at all.

And then something happens. In purest silence, a wave of euphoria breaks over me, although whether it is because of the sheer novelty of being here or some revelatory moment of existing outside time, I cannot say. All I know is that the Sun is high in a cloudless sky at a time when – logic and lived experience suggests – it shouldn't be. For a moment, the actual time seems not to matter at all.

If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week.

For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

No cars, no phone signal: Canada's ghost island where guests still check in

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20261015-battle-harbour-canadas-ghost-island-where-guests-still-check-in, 5 days ago

Once the thriving heart of Labrador's fishing industry, Battle Harbour has found new life as an island retreat with barely a trace of modern life.

Several livyers have gathered on the wharf. Sleeves rolled up, four fishermen who "live here" on this remote Labrador island are splitting cod. Behind them, suit-clad merchants and more fishers, some in waterproof oilskins, have arranged themselves for a group photo against a white clapboard building with ochre-red trim.

But our ferry approaches the wharf, something seems off. Everyone's as grey as the sky and nobody is moving.

I give my head a shake and remember that I'm arriving at a place that proudly describes itself as "nine miles from normal". So, while these fellows were alive in around 1900, when this was the saltfish capital of the world, they've since been plucked from archival photos and turned into life-sized cardboard cutouts.

"Welcome to Battle Harbour," says Peter Bull, the executive director of the Battle Harbour Historic Trust, as we scramble off the ferry on a wooden plank.

Bull quickly runs through the practicalities. Lunch is in half an hour at 12:30. A tour starts at 13:30. An Arctic fox family lives in the old cemetery. Two historic wireless radio towers need to be saved. There's no mobile phone service and just one communal Wi-Fi spot. Sunrise comes at 06:19. Wanda Fifield will walk me to my room.

"This [is the] emergency system – you just turn this button on," Fifield says, stopping at a walkie talkie in the hallway near my room. "If there's a problem in the nighttime, if you're sick or hurt or anything, just press this square button. You tell them your problem. You tell them that you're staying at the Merchant Building because they'll need to know what cottage to go to."

With restored wooden houses, weathered fishing stages where catches were once processed and 16 private summer residences, Battle Harbour looks remarkably well preserved. But it has been more than half a century since anyone lived here year-round, and even longer since it was the unofficial capital of Labrador.

I've got two nights to step back in time.

Getting to Battle Harbour is an adventure in itself. First, you fly to the delightfully named Happy Valley-Goose Bay in mainland Labrador, then drive for five hours along the forest-flanked Expedition 51° highway, hoping to spot a moose and yearning for an outhouse. There are no services for most of the journey.

From the wharf in Mary's Harbour, you then catch the daily passenger "ferry" for guests – a lofty name for a boat so small your luggage may be stacked in the bathroom.

For 14.5km (9 miles), the boat winds past craggy coastline and near-shore islands, which look otherworldly if it's foggy and desolate if it's grey. Gulls, kittiwakes and gannets may soar alongside the boat and sometimes you'll spot icebergs, humpback whales and minkes.

When Battle Island's buildings finally come into view, it's hard to believe that this tiny, half-mile long island was once teeming with fishermen and merchants.

In the 1770s, English merchant John Slade established a trading operation on this tiny island that became a gateway to Labrador's rich fishing grounds. Salt cod was processed here and exported to Europe, the Caribbean and beyond. At its peak, there was a hospital, school, church and wireless station, and a permanent population of around 300. Thousands more seasonal fishermen passed through, including floaters who lived on schooners and stationers who built temporary shacks on land.

But Battle Harbour's fortunes eventually faded. A devastating fire in 1930, declining fish stocks and a provincial resettlement programme in the 1960s gradually emptied the island. By the 1970s, its last year-round residents had gone.

The final blow to the island came on 2 July 1992, when the federal government's cod moratorium closed the fishery and instantly threw 30,000 people across Newfoundland and Labrador out of work.

Today, Battle Harbour feels like a ghost island, its restored buildings preserving a world that has all but vanished. Run by a trust, the car-free historic site is only open to guests for around three months each summer, but for those that know it best, the island is anything but forgotten.

Bull's connection to Battle Harbour stretches back more than a century, to when his grandfather fished along the Labrador coast. He has worked here since 2013, living on the island for most of the summer and returning to his home in St John's each September with enough cod, squid, mackerel and berries like bakeapple and partridgeberry to get him through winter.

"When I die, my ashes are going to spread out where I pick partridgeberries," he confides, "and I'm going to come back as a partridgeberry."

Nelson Smith has his own life-long connection to Battle Harbour. He helped restore its historic buildings and has been leading tours here for nearly three decades.

"Every building is going to smell different because of the different stuff stored in them," Smith promises in his thick Labradorian accent. "If you hears me say a word you don't understand, stop me and I'll try to explain it to you."

In Newfoundland English, this cluster of musty buildings is called "the rooms", with individual "stores" named for what they once held. The Pork Store smells faintly of molasses, while the Salt Store contains the mineral still used to preserve cod.

The tour continues past more life-like cutouts: a dapper merchant, a young fisherman standing in a wooden boat, an older fisherman sitting by a cod trap.

"The best way I likes my saltfish is two years old," Smith offers, explaining how cod was cleaned, salted and dried on raised, open-air wooden platforms known as flakes.

In the Salt Store's loft, I stand where American polar explorer Robert E Peary presided over two 1909 press conferences and claimed he had reached the North Pole. He transmitted his first expedition account from the nearby Marconi station to the New York Times.

Visitors can even stay overnight in some of these historic structures. I'm staying in the Merchant Building's Harry Smith Room, named after an employee of the island's former general store. There are also five restored cottages and 12 other ensuite rooms.

A quilt covers my wooden bed and a space heater fights the chill that lingers in the old building, despite its restoration. There's no television, and the only sound is the quiet. Settling into a swivel armchair, I face the sea as I leaf through the guestbook.

"Best view on the island. The iceberg was framed by our window."

"Something you have to experience rather than explain."

"So much serenity."

At dinner – Labrador char, pan-fried cod and moose pot pie, served at communal dining tables – there's talk of Northern Lights, so I spend a restless first night peering out the window and stepping out onto the wrap-around deck. I have better luck at sunrise when I follow a dirt path to the old cemetery to see foxes emerge from their den on a rocky hillside.

From the cemetery, I take the Battle Harbour Footpath for a 1.9km (1.2-mile) stroll past a newer cemetery and a memorial for three men killed in a 1976 seaplane crash. Two local boys stumbled upon the wreckage, some of which is still here. One of them was Smith.

More like this:

• Beyond the end of the road: A four-hour horse ride to stay with Mongolia's reindeer herders

• The tiny Arctic island where travellers have found refuge since 1897

• A stay in Pakistan's remote Ishkoman Valley, where humans still consult fairies

Towards the end of the footpath, I see the Marconi towers, the last surviving pair of their kind in North America. Built in 1906 and rebuilt in 1931 using a radio wave-based wireless telegraph system created by Italy's Guglielmo Marconi, they once guided mariners and transmitted messages.

"They're pretty special and they're an important part of the skyline here," says Bull. The trust is trying to raise C$200,000 (£106,000/$140,000) to repair them.

Strong winds scupper my plans to go cod fishing, but I manage a short boat trip to Cape St Charles to stand at the most easterly point in continental North America. Then I zip across the tickle (channel) to hike Great Caribou Island, where I find Tanya Russell, a local postmistress and amateur photographer, in a blueberry patch.

Russell tells me that she loves "the quiet, the water, the saltwater air, the birds, the foxes – just everything at Battle Harbour. And you gets to meet a lot of wonderful people."

At my final breakfast, it's time to say goodbye to fellow guests and life-size cutouts alike. I'm eating near a cutout made from an iconic black-and-white photograph shot at Battle Harbour more than a century ago: a sombre boy flanked by two enormous cod. This boy, Victor Croucher, is buried on the island, but here in the dining hall he's another ghostly presence in a place that stubbornly refuses to die.

If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week.

For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Couple campaigns to save their wedding venue

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmkgexgy4765o, today

A couple are campaigning to save the hotel where they got married after the building has been derelict for four years.

Tess and Des Shephard celebrated their wedding at the Riviera Hotel in Weymouth in 2018 before the building went on to close in 2022 following storm damage.

Tess, who is behind the Revive the Riviera campaign to get new ownership at the hotel said it was "a lovely building" and she was just seeing what she could do to help.

The grade II listed building, which was built in 1936 was purchased by Saudi based owners in 2009 under the company Bowleaze Limited.

The Shephard's currently live in Surrey but Tess said they have hopes to move down to Weymouth in the future.

She called the current state of the hotel "very sad" and believed that it could be "a gold mine" for the local community "if looked after properly".

She said they have about 60 people in support of their campaign to find new ownership for the site.

Tess said: "The Riviera has come to mean a lot. It's such an iconic building.

"It would be a shame to knock it down and turn it into luxury flats that no one can afford."

Local authorities have several discretionary powers they can use to tackle unsightly or dangerous properties.

This includes requiring the owner to make the property safe or the council taking emergency action to make the building safe.

South Dorset MP Lloyd Hatton said people are "frustrated" to see the building fall into disrepair.

He said local people are "paying the price for a building that is unloved, unused and allowed basically to fall into the sea".

Hatton said his priority is getting the hotel bought back from overseas ownership and he stated that they have had interest from local businesses.

The BBC has been unable to contact the current owner of the Riviera Hotel for a comment.

Long queues after power surge at Stansted Airport

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c64g14481n7qo, today

Passengers arriving at Stansted Airport have described waiting in long queues to reach immigration control after a power surge shut down its systems.

Traveller Jill Stakem reported the airport's internal tram system had failed earlier and people were "being held in a corridor for over 90 minutes".

Stakem added: "It's horrendous. No communication, no seating for people, no-one offering watering."

In a statement, a spokesperson for Stansted Airport said: "Due to a power surge earlier today that affected the airport and local area, a number of airport systems were temporarily impacted."

They added: "All systems are now back in service with operational teams working hard to provide support to passengers on their journeys through the airport."

Another airport spokesperson confirmed the shuttle service "remained out-of-service due to a technical fault and contingency bussing is in operation to transfer passengers between the terminal and gates".

The airport apologised "for any disruption and inconvenience they may have experienced while services were being restored".

Stakem said the airport should have better contingency plans in place for such an occurrence.

Gilles Corby, who also contacted the BBC on Sunday afternoon, said: "Queues to passport control extend into the departure terminals.

"It has taken 45 minutes to reach the entrance of the actual immigration queue."

Some trains to and from the airport were cancelled on Saturday after damage was caused to overhead power lines.

Last month hundreds of people were stuck in a corridor in the airport after a shuttle service for arriving passengers ceased operating.

Do you have a story suggestion for Essex? Contact us below.

Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

Storm Boelo sees passenger plane leave runway

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq9vzxdmv8vmo, today

High winds caused a passenger plane to momentarily leave the runway at Birmingham Airport as Storm Boelo brought disruption across the West Midlands.

Jet2 said flight LS1310 from Venice moved off the runway after landing on Sunday afternoon due to "exceptional weather conditions" caused by the storm.

The airline said the aircraft immediately returned to the runway and later taxied to its stand, with all passengers disembarking normally.

Railway services have also been disrupted across the region, with trees blocking lines and causing cancellations.

A spokesperson for Jet2 said: "Flight LS1310 from Venice to Birmingham temporarily moved off the runway after landing at Birmingham Airport earlier this afternoon, due to exceptional weather conditions caused by Storm Boelo.

"The aircraft immediately returned to the runway and has now taxied to the stand. We can confirm that everyone has disembarked as normal."

Rail disruption

CrossCountry trains between Birmingham New Street and Nuneaton have been cancelled due to a tree on the line. The operator said tickets could be used on other services and it had requested rail replacement buses.

West Midlands Railway services between Four Oaks, Birmingham, and Lichfield Trent Valley, Staffordshire, were cancelled in both directions due to a downed tree, although the line has since reopened.

Transport for Wales services between Cardiff and Shrewsbury have been cancelled, while disruption has also been reported between Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury.

Elsewhere, a car fell onto a tree overnight in Moor Street, Coventry.

Hundreds of homes were left without power on Sunday morning, with power down in Bromyard, Herefordshire, and Drakes Broughton and Tilesford, Worcestershire.

On Sunday afternoon, more than 100 homes in Burford, Worcestershire also experienced power cuts, as well as more 77 homes in Bickenhill, Birmingham, 109 in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire, and 141 properties in Upper Cotton, Staffordshire.

Flood alerts across the region include the Severn Vyrnwy confluence in Shropshire, and the River Wye in Herefordshire.

Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service said it had been attending "multiple calls" due to gazebos and other garden items being blown away and causing damage to electrical infrastructure, like solar panels.

"To avoid further incidents, please double check that everything in your garden is secure, and put away anything that might get taken by the strong wind," it said on Facebook.

In Shropshire, Forestry England said its Haughmond Hill site would remain shut on Sunday.

Severn Valley Rescue, an animal rescue centre near Bridgnorth, said it would close, due to "high winds, fallen trees and intermittent electricity" threatening health and safety.

All National Trust sites in Herefordshire are shut on Sunday - with the firm saying they would reopen on Monday after post-storm checks.

Wild Zoological Park in Bobbington, Wolverhampton, said it would close after being "absolutely battered by wind".

In a post on social media, it said: "We've got falling branches and a keeper has already been hit (but is ok)."

Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.

Building a rural business empire on the back of coffee beans

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqzjx429dk4jo, yesterday

The harbour town of Kirkcudbright is probably not the first place you would look for a young entrepreneur building up his business empire.

However, in a cosy cafe over a cappuccino, Lewis Graham - Lewie to everyone, has just been recognised for his efforts.

Along with business partner Robyn Goodare, who is from the town, they took over Feast a few years ago and started the coffee bean roasting business Kirk-Coo-Brew.

And, just over the road, is their Italian restaurant Portobello.

Up to 20 staff might not sound a lot but, in a small place like Kirkcudbright, that makes you a not insignificant employer at the age of 27.

Lewie - originally from Herefordshire - has just picked up a South of Scotland Thistle award.

He said the region had its own challenges and rewards in terms of running a business.

"It feels quite isolated sometimes - not always in a bad way - sometimes in a really good way, we feel like we're separate from the rest of the world," he said.

"But the middle of winter can be really quiet and hard - it's a lot colder here than it is where I'm from as well."

Finding staff, too, can be tricky.

"At the moment I'm looking for a chef to run the Italian restaurant in the evening," he said.

"I have luckily found someone, but that search was almost impossible without doing word of mouth - there's no way you can put up a job advert online and find who you're after.

"But if I was two hours north in any of the big cities that wouldn't have been a problem at all."

However, he said there were other reasons to be jealous of what Galloway has to offer.

"As soon as you talk to people who are living in the big city, they're like, wow, I wish I was living in the countryside, running my own thing, doing mostly what I want a lot of the time," he added.

Locals, too, whether they have moved to the town or have lived there all their lives, enjoy staying there.

"They will all say that it does feel like living on holiday a lot of the time," said Lewie.

"We get fantastic weather for most of the year - it's never really cats and dogs more than a day.

"Opportunity here is really good because the costs are fairly low, you can make what you want of something."

He is well aware that the south of Scotland has allowed him to try his hand in business without the same level of risk he would face elsewhere.

"If I wanted to do something like this in Edinburgh or in England, it would be double and triple the price everywhere and it wouldn't be accessible," he said.

"So I think what people don't know about rural Scotland is that it is really accessible and there's lots of opportunity.

"Tourism's good here and it's really pretty and I think that means a lot to me."

For the time being, Robyn has told him there will be no more expansion and Lewie said he would only open something that was within "touching distance" of his current ventures and his staff.

"I've started employing people at 24 years old and it's a lot of work, but it's really one of the most rewarding things," he said.

"The job is getting people the job that they want.

"We have incredibly high retention - we don't lose people at all, unless to Uni or school.

"But all of our full-timers have been here the whole time we have, which is really nice - it's their project too."

Toulouse to Ho Chi Minh City: Five fast-rising cities that should be on travellers' radars right now

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20261015-the-worlds-top-cities-to-watch-in-2026, 7 days ago

A new global report spotlights the world's emerging urban hotspots. From thriving cultural scenes to changing neighbourhoods, locals reveal what makes them worth exploring now.

New York, London and Paris have once again topped Oxford Economics' annual ranking of the world's leading cities. But beyond these familiar names, its 2026 Global Cities Index has identified 28 "cities to watch" – places whose rapid growth and rising fortunes could see them become increasingly influential in the years ahead.

These cities aren't just growing economically. New neighbourhoods, thriving cultural scenes and improved transport links are already reshaping the visitor experience and making them increasingly interesting places to visit.

We selected five from the list and spoke to people who know them well to find out what's changing – and why they're worth exploring now.

Toulouse, France

With its population forecast to grow by 57,000 over the next four years – more than anywhere else in France – Toulouse is one of Europe's fastest-growing cities and is attracting younger, skilled newcomers with its mild climate, relatively affordable cost of living and high quality of life.

"Here, you don't have to choose between slow life and fast life," said Elodie Paramelle, who recently returned to Toulouse after 10 years in London. "You get the energy of a big city, with an incredible food scene, independent cafes, cocktail bars and a growing cultural offering, alongside a much slower pace of life."

Toulouse has changed significantly in recent years, according to Mélodie Tyler, who moved back here after seven years in Paris. She says the city is much more walkable and bike-friendly, while its food and wine scene has expanded dramatically. And she notes that the buzz is spreading beyond the historic centre. "Ponts-Jumeaux where I live hosts a bunch of festivals, guinguettes [open-air bars] and skateboarding competitions," she said. "The Toulousains love to party and be outside as much as possible!"

Beyond its thriving neighbourhoods, Toulouse is also major aerospace hub, home to hundreds of companies, including Airbus's global headquarters. Visitors can explore that heritage at the Cité de l'Espace space-themed discovery centre or Aeroscopia aviation museum beside the Airbus runways. For something more unusual, La Halle de La Machine brings art and engineering together through giant mechanical creatures created by a local street theatre company.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Vietnam's largest city is on a remarkable trajectory. Oxford Economics predicts Ho Chi Minh City will be among the world's 50 fastest-growing cities over the next five years, with an economy that could rival Berlin's by 2050. Tourism is booming too, with more than eight million international visitors last year, exceeding projections.

"The first metro line only opened at the end of 2024, and it's one of the most tangible symbols of how quickly the city is changing," said Meaghan Yash, a travel specialist at tour operator Timbuktu Travel who frequently designs trips here. The 20km (12.5 mile) line runs from Ben Thanh Market in the city centre to the Suoi Tien theme park, with single fares costing less than £1 ($1.33).

Yet, Ho Chi Minh's appeal lies in how it balances change with continuity. Chris Buchart, commercial director at Vietnamese hotel company Fusion Group, suggests travellers visit the French-colonial Central Post Office and Opera House, and then the War Remnants Museum for context on the country's history, before turning to one of the city's greatest strengths: its food.

Buchart recommends trying bánh mì (Vietnamese baguette sandwich), cơm tấm (broken rice) and bánh xèo (crispy pancakes), while Yash suggests venturing beyond the usual tourist circuit in central District 1 to quieter, more residential neighbourhoods where leafy streets are ideal for wandering and cafe-hopping. He also suggests Chợ Lớn, the city's historic Chinatown, for its markets, temples and medicine shops, while across the river in Thảo Điền, independent boutiques, galleries and home-grown Vietnamese brands make for excellent shopping.

Warsaw, Poland

The Polish capital has made one of the fastest jumps in the Global Cities index, climbing more than 100 places to 61st. Its quality-of-life score now surpasses London, New York and Tokyo, while its economy is projected to expand by around 3% annually – nearly twice the European city average.

For Konrad Warzecha, a Polish-Australian whose family home is in Warsaw's Wola district, the transformation has been remarkable. "From our balcony you can see the skyline, and watching the roads, highways and towers go up over 20 years has made the city almost unrecognisable," said Warzecha, who blogs at House Sitters Guide.

The biggest changes, he says, are on the streets. "As a kid I rode the trams and did not feel safe, and I saw many robberies happen," he said. "Now I have never felt safer. People walk around at night, the streets are clean and trouble gets dealt with quickly."

For first-time visitors, Warzecha recommends a walk that takes in both the old and new city. He starts at the Soviet-era Palace of Culture and Science and follows Nowy Świat boulevard into the Old Town, painstakingly rebuilt after World War Two.

Along the way, he stops for pączki (Polish doughnuts) and a meal at a bar mleczny, one of the city's traditional, no-frills milk bars. "It tastes like home cooking," he said. "A three-course meal with drinks comes to around £13 ($17).

Warzecha once wanted to leave Poland and move back to Australia, but today his feelings have changed. "These days Warsaw is one of the places I recommend most, and not because I am from there. I am proud to have a Polish background."

Medellín, Colombia

Medellín's remarkable transformation is reflected in its economic fortunes. Employment in business and financial services has more than doubled over the past 20 years, and Oxford Economics predicts that the Colombian city's average income will overtake Buenos Aires and São Paulo by the 2040s.

"In the 10 years I've lived here, Medellín has gone from a curiosity for only the most daring to a hub for travel," said Patrick Quinn, who runs the Colombia Writers Retreat in nearby El Peñol. "Once blighted or overlooked places like Comuna 13, Perpetuo Socorro and Ciudad del Río have become cultural and economic centres."

The city's Metrocable, the first urban cable car system designed for mass public transport, carries commuters and visitors up the surrounding hillsides, while emerging creative districts are giving travellers new reasons to explore. "There is enough happening in its food, art and design scenes to warrant several days in its own right," said Joanna Rigby Jones, a travel specialist at Timbuktu Travel who has planned trips here for years. She recommends the creative district, Perpetuo Socorro, for design shops, galleries and speciality coffee.

More like this:

• The world's top cities for 2026 - and why they stand out

• The world's five best economy airlines for 2026 - and what makes them so much better

• The world's best countries for expats in 2026

Comuna 13, once one of the city's most dangerous districts, now draws some of Medellín's biggest crowds. "Go with a local guide who can provide the context behind the murals, escalators and music rather than treating the neighbourhood simply as an Instagram backdrop," said Rigby Jones.

Quinn also recommends exploring the Poblado and Laureles neighbourhoods, seeking out local creators and curators. "That way, you can go home and tell stories that will dismantle outdated misconceptions about this place," he said.

Abu Dhabi, UAE

Once heavily dependent on oil, Abu Dhabi has transformed its economy through investment in technology, renewable energy, property and finance. The UAE capital now ranks sixth in the Global Cities index for the skills and education of its workforce, ahead of Paris and Boston, while its non-oil economy and job market are projected to grow faster than neighbouring Dubai's.

"Abu Dhabi feels a little slower and more relaxed than Dubai or Sharjah," said Muna Abu-Hijleh, an American who has lived in both Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. "There's more of a sense of space, and you can go from a very modern city to the beach, the mangroves or quieter neighbourhoods quite easily."

That slower pace is part of the appeal for Jeremy Savory, a longtime UAE resident and frequent visitor to Abu Dhabi, "It's a city that's been engineered to be the stable alternative next to Dubai's flash," he said. "In this region right now, boring is a selling point."

Yet, Abu Dhabi is making an enormous cultural statement. On Saadiyat Island, the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi and Zayed National Museum both opened in 2025, while the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is scheduled to open on 11 December 2026.

Abu-Hijleh also suggests at least one day at a slower pace, such as having breakfast at a local cafe or browsing at the mall. "The UAE can look incredibly futuristic from the outside, but everyday life is much more ordinary and human than the skyscrapers and luxury hotels might suggest."

If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week.

For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

'Leaving something delicious on the plate would be a far worse crime': How Italy's guiltiest food ritual went public

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20261015-in-italy-bad-table-manners-can-be-a-compliment, 8 days ago

Once considered improper, a beloved Italian dining ritual reveals a surprising clash between etiquette and the pleasure of eating.

Growing up, I spent a lot of time at my Italian grandparents' house in Kent, where bread was never not on the table. I remember my nonna slicing it into thick chunks and presenting it in a plastic basket lined with kitchen roll.

We'd eat it throughout lunch or dinner, but its starring role came at the end: mopping up the last of the pasta sauce or soaking up oil and vinegar from the salad. It was, and still is, my favourite part of any meal.

These days I'm baffled when my husband leaves good sauce on the plate. "You’ve missed the best bit," I'll cry, tearing off a piece of bread to mop up what's left.

It was only when I got older that I learnt that this ordinary habit has a name in Italy: "fare la scarpetta" – literally "to do the little shoe" – using bread to mop up the last of the sauce or juices from a meal.

On a recent trip to Naples, I was surprised to see la scarpetta done at a white-tableclothed restaurant as casually as at my grandparents' table. While my Italian dining companion and I were waiting for our pasta dishes to be cleared away, I noticed his eyes darting towards a bit of pesto left on the plate. He eagerly tore off some bread, wiped up every last bit and popped it into his mouth with gusto.

He didn't ask if I minded or look up to register any kind of disapproval on my face – not that he'd have found any. He just did it with an uninhibited enthusiasm I found oddly life-affirming. It communicated: this food is good and should be thoroughly enjoyed. On the second course, I followed his lead.

So how did a habit once frowned upon in polite company become something Italians now proudly do in public?

How scarpetta got its name

There are many theories online as to why the ritual is called "little shoe". Some Italians suggest it's because the piece of bread looks like a small shoe or clog; others suggest it refers to being so hungry you'd eat the sole of a shoe.

Italian food historian Luca Cesari says neither explanation has much evidence behind it. "Its origin is uncertain, so I'd leave aside the more fanciful theories you find online," he says.

The earliest written example Cesari has found is from 1871, in Roman dialect, when a character in the Roman magazine La Frusta asks to make scarpetta with a little sauce left on the plate.

The expression also appears in an 1885 dictionary of the Abruzzo dialect, suggesting its roots lie in central Italy.

As for the name itself, Cesari says the most convincing hypothesis comes from the Accademia della Crusca, Italy's leading authority on the Italian language. In central Italian dialect, fare una scarpetta meant "to go for a little walk" – much like the bread taking a stroll around the plate.

Francesca Cipolla, a food content creator from Palermo, Sicily, says scarpetta is instinctive, almost a reflex. "It's not something we consciously perform. If there's delicious sauce left on the plate, I tear off a piece of bread and use it to pick up the sauce. I don't really think about doing it; it's how I grew up eating, and everyone in my family is the same."

But the custom has not always been considered good table manners, and attitudes have varied by region, generation and setting.

Chef Gaia Enria who grew up in Turin, one of Italy's more formal northern cities, remembers being told off by her parents for doing la scarpetta. "It was viewed as improper back then. I think that was specific to Turin. Times have changed now but I remember it clearly."

In Puglia, chef Somaia Hammad remembers almost the opposite. "In Puglia especially, it can almost be considered rude to leave anything behind on your plate, so finishing every last bit with a piece of bread is as much about showing appreciation for the food as it is about not wasting anything."

Further south in Calabria, the "toe" of Italy's boot, chef Francesco Mazzei of Mezzogiorno restaurant in London, remembers a very different relationship with bread. Bread was a food that commanded deep respect. It wasn't just a vehicle for sauce, it was the integral part of the meal, he explains. In fact, everything else was just a companatico – literally "what you eat with bread".

"Our lives centred around bread," he adds "The meal hasn't begun if there's no bread on the table and it can't end without it either."

When bad manners went mainstream

Cesari cautions, however, that the divide has as much to do with class as geography. He explains that traditional bourgeois etiquette frowned upon touching food with the hands. Even the supposed compromise of breaking bread and spearing it with a fork to mop around the plate could be considered boorish – perhaps more so, because it suggested "someone who would like to follow etiquette but just can't resist".

Attitudes started to shift more broadly in the second half of the 20th Century, he says, "as Italy rediscovered its cucina povera and began to think of waste as the real bad manners."

More like this:

• Why is there no word for please in the Nordic languages?

• Seven things you shouldn't do when eating in Italy

• 'Paella is just for lunch' and other unwritten rules for visiting Spain

A symbolic turning point came in 2015, when Gualtiero Marchesi, considered the father of modern Italian fine dining, was defending scarpetta in an interview for Gente magazine. He called it perfectly acceptable – even elegant – as long as it was done with the fingers with nonchalance.

It is now becoming increasingly normal to see Italians doing la scarpetta in restaurants – just as they would at home. "It doesn't matter if it's a fancy restaurant, a local trattoria or a bar that does food, they will all serve bread for this purpose and leave it on the table until the end of the meal," says Cipolla.

In Naples, one takeaway pasta restaurant has built its whole concept around the ritual: at 'A Scarpetta, every box of pasta has been designed to leave enough sauce for a final mop-up with bread.

These days, says Enria, la scarpettais not only accepted but respected. That's because, for a small gesture, it can communicate a lot. "But it's also about pleasure," she adds. "You want to scoop up every last drop because you enjoyed it so much."

Mazzei says fare la scarpettahas even become a way of expressing how much you've enjoyed something beyond food. "Someone might ask how your holiday was and you could answer ci farei la scarpetta which means I'd do a scarpetta' or, 'I wish there was more of it'."

Perhaps that helps explain how a habit once frowned upon in polite company has become something Italians increasingly love doing in public.

As Cesari puts it: "Leaving something delicious on the plate would be a far worse crime than mopping it up with a piece of bread."

My nonna taught me well, it seems: good sauce should never go to waste.

If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week.

For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

The Obituary Cocktail: The 'deadly' drink that symbolises New Orleans

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20261016-the-obituary-cocktail-the-deadly-drink-that-symbolises-new-orleans, 9 days ago

Combining a martini's wallop with one of the world's most notorious spirits, this recently revived cocktail embodies the city's distinctive approach to life and death.

Like a rake's progress, it starts with gin. Then vermouth. Then absinthe, delivered by atomiser, eye-dropper or spoon. A lemon twist, with its burst of essential oils, anoints it.

My first Obituary Cocktail was in New Orleans, the city that invented it, forgot it and then revived it. In the eight years I lived there, it never appeared on a menu, but savvy local bartenders could make one on request. That evening's details are as hazy as the Wednesday after Fat Tuesday. I could not tell you the year, nor the season. I only remember it was good and that it was sometime after absinthe became legal again in the United States in 2007.

I drank it at Cure. Neal Bodenheimer's legendary bar is graced by an enormous scientific print of a palmetto bug, the flying cockroach residents know as the city's native bird. Uplighting shines through the liquor bottles, turning them into bejewelled reliquaries.

In a city that uses "costume" as a verb and shimmies into one at the drop of a hat, visuals are important. Poured into a vintage Nick and Nora coupe glass, the Obituary Cocktail is a head-turning drink. It also captures something of New Orleans' carefree approach to life and nonchalance in the face of death, where a clinking glass and party is often a response to worldly travails.

"[The Obituary Cocktail] sums up the allure and the appeal of the city," says Clayton Rosenthal, manager and head of the drinks programme at Fives, a cocktail and oyster bar located in a historic 19th-Century building on Jackson Square.

Rosenthal uses Old Tom gin, Drapo Dry vermouth and Mata Hari absinthe in his Obituary, warning first-time drinkers: "The first sip can be a bit of a punch in the mouth."

It's an appropriate warning for a cocktail that combines a martini's wallop with one of the world's most notorious spirits and then names the result after a death notice.

The Obituary's mysterious birth

The Obituary Cocktail is a remnant of the louche and bohemian world of the French Quarter in the years following the end of Prohibition in 1933, when artists, writers and creatives like Tennessee Williams and Truman Capote gathered in cafes and bars.

According to Sue Strachan, a New Orleans historian and author of The Obituary Cocktail, the drink was likely invented in Café Lafitte on Bourbon Street. She notes that the first known reference to the cocktail was in a 1942 guide to the city called "The Bachelor in New Orleans", which promised to introduce "unattached gentlemen and ladies of spirit" to "the Paris of North America".

But while the drink subsequently surfaced in newspaper columns, nobody seems to have recorded who invented it or who gave it its morbid moniker.

"There's no definitive documentation on how the cocktail got its name," says Strachan. "No doubt its powerful punch led to some rough mornings, much like the phrase 'death warmed over'."

Absinthe supplied its mystique and maybe a throb in the head. "The Obituary is about intrigue," Strachan adds. "You bring absinthe into the picture and suddenly you have a drink with a little mystery, a little bohemian spirit and a whiff of the forbidden."

The drink's "forbidden" ingredient

During the Belle Époque (1871-1914), New Orleans was one of the US's greatest absinthe-drinking cities. Ted Breaux, a New Orleans-born historian and distiller who helped return genuine absinthe to the US market after its 95-year absence, says the finest French brands flowed into the city.

By the 1890s, absinthe was showing up in New Orleans drinks ranging from the Sazerac to the Absinthe Frappé and Absinthe Suissesse. Then it became notorious, Breaux says. The spirit was blamed for everything from nervous disorders to hallucinations before the US banned it in 1912. The blame, he argues, was its popularity, which encouraged cheap imitations and disreputable ingredients.

"You [could urinate] in a bottle and call it absinthe, much to my dismay," he says.

Breaux compares absinthe's role in a cocktail with something else New Orleanians understand instinctively. "If you have a bowl of gumbo, what happens when you put in a big dash of Crystal Hot Sauce? It amplifies the flavour and gives it a pop," he says. "That is what absinthe does to [the Obituary Cocktail]. Absinthe is cocktail hot sauce."

There was a problem, however: when the Obituary Cocktail was invented, its defining ingredient, absinthe, had already been illegal in the US for decades.

Strachan believes Café Lafitte stashed bottles of absinthe smuggled into the country by well-travelled patrons, while other bartenders reached for substitutes. The liqueur Herbsaint, developed in New Orleans after Prohibition ended, replicated absinthe's distinct anise flavours without its prohibited ingredients. Ojen, an Andalusian anise-based liqueur, was also used.

But after Café Lafitte moved down the street from its original location (now occupied by Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop) following a property dispute in 1953 to become Café Lafitte in Exile, the Obituary gradually slipped from view.

New Orleans in a glass

When Strachan began researching her book in 2023, she found only one bar – Jewel of the South in the French Quarter – that listed it on its menu. Since then, however, interest in the Obituary has begun to climb with a renewed focus on artisanal cocktails. Now, Strachan says, Fives, and Mildred's, a new martini bar located in the boutique Warbler hotel on St Charles Avenue, feature the drink.

In a way, the Obituary Cocktail embodies its birth city. Death and pleasure often occupy the same space in New Orleans. This is a city that holds an annual Vampire Ball in honour of the late hometown horror writer Anne Rice and where the corpse of local socialite Mikey Easterling even presided over her own 2014 wake, Champagne glass in hand.

"New Orleans is a very complex place," says Eric Seiferth, a senior curator at the Historic New Orleans Collection, the French Quarter's history museum. "The willingness to accept that two things can be in the same room at the same time is part of life here."

Unlike in other US cities, Seiferth says mourning in New Orleans has historically remained public, communal and intertwined with faith, music and life.

At funerals in New Orleans' African American community, it is not uncommon to see musicians parading through the streets in a celebratory "second line" procession. On Mardi Gras Day, the North Side Skull & Bone Gang, a historic Afro-Creole secret society, honours their ancestors by waking the spirits while dressed in skeleton costumes to remind the living of their own mortality. And on All Saints Day, 1 November, families gather in cemeteries to clean, repair and decorate ancestral gravestones and tombs.

More like this:

• An insider's guide to the best music venues in New Orleans

• The triumphant return of the US's Gulf Coast train

• Canada's bizarre mummified toe cocktail

For Helena Heavey, a bartender at Avegno, a stylish bar and lounge in Uptown New Orleans, the Obituary Cocktail's very name encourages a quiet inventory of one's own mortality.

"An Obituary can act as a memorium for the day, and however it's unfolding – if it's celebration or atonement," she says. "It's a very New Orleans way of drinking: with reflection. And the name encourages it."

New Orleans never needs reminding that death is nearby. An Obituary Cocktail blends pleasure, danger and beauty in a glass, daring drinkers to gulp it all down.

"It could be too much for most folks elsewhere," Rosenthal says, "but we see it as perfectly balanced."

If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week.

For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

'A bow isn't simply a greeting': The unspoken rules of Japanese body language

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20261022-six-gestures-to-learn-before-travelling-to-japan, 3 days ago

From calling someone over to asking for the bill, learning common Japanese hand gestures can help you navigate social situations in Japan without saying a word.

To outsiders, Japanese body language may seem confusing. We might use different body parts or move our hands in a different direction than other cultures to express disapproval or make a request.

But here in Japan, where manners and etiquette are highly valued, body language is a powerful tool we use to communicate – and a tangible way for visitors to step inside our culture.

For instance, a simple goodbye can look very different depending on whom you're saying it to.

When I say goodbye to a friend my own age, I'll usually wave. But if I'm saying goodbye to someone older, I might bow – even if I know them well. I will never point at them, no matter how well I know them. And if I'm meeting someone for the first time, I won't shake their hand.

Whether you encounter non-verbal cues at a crowded tourist site, in an izakaya (gastropub) or on public transportation, understanding them is ultimately about recognising that any kind of communication in Japan is deeply influenced by our awareness of social relationships. Even someone one year older than you might be considered your senpai (senior). That's why I will bow to someone older than me, bow only slightly to an acquaintance, visitor or serviceperson, but wave to someone my own age, or someone who is my kohai (junior). How deeply I bow shows how deep my respect, gratitude or apology is.

Another concept that plays into Japanese body language is omoiyari. Often translated as "consideration for others", omoiyari is about imagining how someone else might feel and acting thoughtfully as a result. So, to avoid disturbing others, our hand gestures are subtle, not loud or exaggerated, and to respect other people's personal space, we typically maintain distance in our interactions, reserving physical contact for special cases. In crowded places, we discreetly make room for people – there's a hand gesture for that, too.

Of course, Japanese people don't all communicate the same way. And not every gesture you encounter carries a hidden meaning – a thumbs-up, for example, generally conveys the same positive message in Japan as it does in many Western countries. But for visitors, even if you don't speak Japanese, learning to read our body language will help you connect with us – all without saying a single word.

If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week.

For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Nicosia: Inside the world's last divided capital

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20261015-nicosia-inside-the-worlds-last-divided-capital, 10 days ago

Decades after the Berlin Wall fell, Cyprus's capital remains cleaved in two and separated by watchtowers, barbed wire and a UN buffer zone.

Moments after passing Nicosia's weathered Venetian walls, I followed a series of chain-link fences topped with barbed wire into a no-man's land. Here, at the checkpoint, I was suddenly surrounded by watchtowers and crumbling buildings in the heart of the United Nations buffer zone – a geopolitical scar cutting directly through Cyprus's capital.

A guard inside a pop-up tent eyed our passports before waving us through to the other side. Even though I was in the same city on the same Mediterranean island, I had just left the Republic of Cyprus and the European Union. Now, I was standing in self-declared state of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), in the middle of the world's last divided capital.

In 1974, Turkish forces invaded northern Cyprus in response to a military coup backed by the junta ruling Greece, leading to the displacement of 150,000 Greek Cypriots and 50,000 Turkish Cypriots across the island. Ever since, Cyprus, and its capital of Nicosia, has been cleaved in two, with one side ruled by the island's Greek Cypriot majority, and the other run by its Turkish minority.

Today, visiting this divided Mediterranean city offers travellers a rare glimpse at a place where residents have been separated from their neighbours for more than 50 years.

An island torn apart

For the past seven years, I've lived in arguably the world's most famous formerly divided city, Berlin. The scars of the Berlin Wall are a short walk from my home in the former East, and I regularly move across both sides. After learning how the city's decades of division have shaped the place I now call home, I was curious to see the last capital where such a border still remains.

Before the war, Cyprus's only international airport was in the heart of Nicosia, but for the last 52 years, its rusting remains have sat abandoned in the middle of the UN buffer zone (known as the Green Line). So I flew into Paphos, a coastal city in south-west Cyprus, and took a two-hour bus ride to Nicosia, where I signed up for the Walk Talk Cyprus tour led by local Greek Cypriot Eleni Ellinas.

"I started this journey because I felt that Cyprus, and Nicosia in particular, is often oversimplified or misunderstood by outsiders," she said. "People read about the conflict in history books or news headlines, but they rarely get to feel the living, breathing soul of the city or understand what daily life actually looks like along a crossing."

Ellinas was just four years old when years of ethnic and nationalist tensions between Greek and Turkish Cypriots led Turkish forces to invade northern Cyprus. The fighting forced her family out of their home in Famagusta (modern-day Gazimağusa, in the TRNC) and into a refugee camp on the island's south-eastern coast.

"Life in the camp was harsh," she recalled. "My mother, sister, and I were ill. When my father came to check on us and saw the dire conditions we were living in, he knew he had to save his family. He managed to drive us to the RAF base in Akrotiri, and we were fortunate to be evacuated by British forces to the UK."

Their hearts never left Cyprus, so in 1980, the family returned to the island and relocated in Nicosia. "This city welcomed us, embraced our broken pieces and slowly became the place where we laid down new roots and made a home."

In 1983, a separate Turkish Cypriot state was established unilaterally. Yet, it wasn't until 2003 that travellers and Cypriots alike – both Greek and Turkish – were allowed to cross the internationally unrecognised border separating each side. Today, the Republic of Turkey is the only nation to officially recognise the TRNC.

Ellinas says she remembers crossing the border for the first time since fleeing like it was yesterday.

"Stepping across was like walking straight into a dream," she said. "As I walked through those neighbourhoods for the first time as an adult, it felt like I was stepping back into the 1970s… It felt completely surreal, overwhelming and deeply emotional."

In 2019, Ellinas launched her tours "to share the soul of the island I love so dearly" and convey that emotion to travellers.

Visiting Nicosia today

Ellinas' tours start at the Ledra Palace Checkpoint, the first crossing that Turkish Cypriot authorities opened inside the demilitarised UN Green Line in 2003.

The Ledra Palace was once Cyprus's most famous hotel, a luxury property that opened in 1949 and frequently hosted politicians and actors like Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Sophia Loren. It also became the site of intense fighting during the 1974 invasion. Bullet holes can still be seen throughout the exterior, walled off today by UN peacekeeping forces with barbed wire. Following the ceasefire, it was used as a headquarters and barracks for UN peacekeepers until 2019.

Today, homes and other buildings caught in the middle of the buffer zone remain abandoned and frozen in time. On the other end of the road near the Ledra Palace, Ellinas pointed out the TRNC border crossing. The word "FOREVER" stands in large, emboldened red letters underneath the name "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus". Similarly, a giant TRNC flag painted on the hillside north of Nicosia with the message, "How happy is he who says I am a Turk" is visible from the Greek side.

Ellinas expressed disappointment over the nationalistic messaging and expressed hope that the island will one day be reunited.

"While some [Cypriots] remain stuck in the past, there is an overwhelming longing for unity felt by many," she said. "You see this energy bringing new life to areas like the restored streets around Ermou [the city's premier shopping hub up until the war] where art, youth and community are reclaiming space that was once deserted and dead."

To help visitors experience both sides of Nicosia, Ellinas encourages all travellers to cross into the Turkish side following the end of her tour.

"You cannot truly understand a divided capital by looking at it through a single window," she said. "You have to feel both perspectives."

For her, Cyprus is still in many ways one place. The two sides have a shared history, architecture, and in her words, pain.

"Suffering was experienced by all Cypriots, regardless of background," she said. "When you step across and walk through places like the old Armenian quarter in Arab Ahmet, or stroll down historic Victoria Street, it feels as though time stood frozen in place. Seeing the old homes, breathing in the quiet atmosphere, and connecting the human threads on both sides gives travellers a complete, empathetic picture of what this island truly is."

Passing through the checkpoint in the UN buffer zone and stepping foot into the TRNC felt like entering a different country. Whereas the Green Line along the Greek side was marked by abandoned buildings, the Turkish side appeared much livelier. Pedestrians spilled out onto the narrow streets, the savoury aroma of Turkish kebabs filled the air and a domed mosque from a 16th-Century caravanserai soon appeared before me.

I visited some of the sights that Ellinas had recommended, namely the 16th-Century Büyük Han caravanserai and the Samanbahçe Evler neighbourhood – a one-of-a-kind social housing estate with geometric mud-brick units. The highlight, though, was my stop at the Rüstem Kitabevi, a bookstore founded in 1937 where I sipped coffee and ate carrot cake after admiring towers of hardback tomes spread across two floors.

More like this:

• A paradise in a buffer zone

• The revival of a second Greek language

• The Turkish city built on 'green gold'

Ali Rüstem's father started the business out of his grandfather's house in 1937 when Cyprus was under British colonial rule (1878-1960). Born in 1971, Rüstem was too young to remember much of Cyprus before the buffer zone divided it in two. He says that he has good friends from the Greek community, but for people of his generation, it's normal for Nicosia to be segregated between the two communities.

"Of course, things could always be better," he said, adding that he hopes for more "common sense" and "logic" between the Greek and Turkish administrations. In the meantime, like Ellinas, he encourages travellers to also visit the Greek side to experience the different cultures firsthand.

As Ellinas told me: "Nicosia isn't just a divided city of the past. It is a living, breathing, hopeful city where people are reaching across borders to heal, rebuild and belong to one another again."

If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week.

For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

A stay in Pakistan's remote Ishkoman Valley, where humans still consult fairies

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20261007-a-stay-in-pakistans-unspoiled-ishkoman-valley, 12 days ago

I took a 650km motorcycle ride to this traveller's hostel, where activities include lazing with sheep, enjoying Pakistani hospitality and visiting shamans who can learn your fate.

I scramble up a scree-covered slope, trying to keep pace with a flock of woolly white sheep, each wobbly step triggering a mini landslide below us. Unfazed, the sheep charge on, navigating the precarious cliffside as if by memory and leading me like seasoned guides to an overlook.

They halt abruptly and begin to graze. I catch my breath and look out across Northern Pakistan's Ishkoman Valley, framed by snow-capped peaks and cut through by pale glacial stream. Pale pink cherry blossom trees line the narrow switchbacks, descending to Coyote Den Ishkoman Hostel – my pastoral mountain retreat for this week, where I'm trekking high peaks and conferring with a female shaman who is said to speak with fairies.

Taking the long, scenic route

To reach the high-altitude Ishkoman Valley in Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan region, I had planned a 650km (403 mile) journey from Islamabad, trading the capital's traffic and smog for open skies.

Bordering Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor, Ishkoman is one of Pakistan's least-visited mountain regions. Travellers seeking quick access usually take a short (if notoriously unreliable) flight into Gilgit, followed by a four-to-five hour taxi ride. The overland bus journey can take more than 20 hours. But for savouring Pakistan's wildly diverse scenery, there's nothing like hitting the open road.

I rented a 150cc phool patti motorcycle covered in technicoloured truck-art designs for the three-day mountain journey, navigating out of Islamabad's grid-like streets before speeding north on the Karakoram Highway. The Karakoram – the world's highest paved international roadway – follows the trail of the ancient Silk Road, soaring over the turquoise Indus River far below. From Besham City to Chilas and onward to the northern gateway of Gilgit, exposed cliffside highways revealed snow-capped jagged peaks behind each hairpin bend, including the dominating 8,126m (26,660ft) face of Nanga Parbat.

After the brimming bazaars of Gahkuch, the road narrowed to a single ribbon of tarmac, following the undulating terrain into the remote reaches of Ishkoman Valley. For three days, I had stopped only to take photos, sleep at roadside guesthouses and share steaming cups of chai with uniformed officers at police checkpoints. Finally in Chatorkhand, I walked wearily through the wooden gates of Coyote Den.

An idyllic hideaway

Since arriving, I've spent countless hours wandering the grounds, sheep in tow, and picking persimmons with Sana Marwat and Alex Reynolds, co-owners of the sprawling property – conceived as a budget-friendly "traveller's hostel" for wanderers and bikers.

"Ishkoman is famous for its masonry," says Reynolds. "The wood used in our construction was all sourced from local pine and poplar trees, and the stones taken from nearby waterways." The result is a collection of stone cottages dispersed throughout a rose-filled garden. Panes of stained glass cap the windows, colourful local rugs adorn the walls and dinner is always served family-style in the mud-walled dining room.

Though the key word here is relaxation, visitors can also trek from nearby Nalter back to Ishkoman Valley. "It's a three-to-four day, 45km (28 mile) traverse, including the 4,700m (15,420ft) Pakora Pass and a glacier crossing," Reynolds says.

This very isolation is one of Ishkoman's key allures.

"We chose to build Coyote Den in Ishkoman because it's one of the most untouched parts of the Northern Mountains," Reynolds explains. "The community here is also, as a whole, quite highly educated and therefore more open-minded and tolerant." Mountain life is also more pragmatic, with both women and men working outside the home on farms. A majority of the valley's population is Ismaili Muslim, a branch of Shia Islam that places particular emphasis on the mystical interpretations and rich inner meanings of the faith.

Sipping sweet, homemade red wine, I relax into my floor cushion in the chid, a traditional Pakistani gathering room. The rapid beating of the dadang drum and soulful reverb of the rubab's strings fill the room as a handful of local men swirl in circles performing, not for my benefit, the Dani Hareep dance of the region. Without reliable Wi-Fi or television, I embrace the local way of winding down – an evening of laughter and exuberant traditional dance.

Within this particular religious climate a woman known as Rashida, a female shaman who speaks with fortune-telling mountain fairies, is one of the community's most popular residents. Tomorrow, with the help of the Coyote Den crew, I will pay her a visit.

The woman who speaks with mountain fairies

The next morning, I pile into Marwat's dusty truck bed for the 20-min drive across the river and up the mountain to Rashida's home. Locals have been visiting her family for generations, but Marwat says hostel guests also love dropping by.

In local Chitrali folklore, predating the spread of Islam in the region, peris (fairies) are incandescent, winged beings who exist between the human and divine worlds. Shamans were traditionally believed to communicate with them and seek their guidance. Although the tradition has declined sharply over the past century, with few practitioners believed to remain, the two belief systems continue to co-exist – at least the steady flow of devout Muslims filtering in and out of Rashida's home seems to see no contradictions in seeking advice from the mystical realm.

Sitting at a small table in her mud-walled home, eyes fixed on a mirror pinned high on the otherwise bare wall, Rashida prepares to relay answers from the peris. By her own telling, she acts as an intermediary between the human and supernatural worlds.

With Marwat and Coyote Den guide Hakim Ulluh translating, I pepper Rashida with my burning questions – painstakingly relayed through a telephone game of languages. "Ishkoman Valley alone has 10 spoken languages," Marwat explains. "Khowar or Chitrali is the most common here, and it's entirely different from Urdu, Pakistan's national language."

From Khowar (Rashida) to Urdu (Ulluh) and Urdu to English (Marwat) and back again, we examine my future.

Where will I end up when I finally stop bouncing from country to country? (New Zealand, apparently.) Should change my career? (No.) Will I divorce my beloved husband one day? (Thankfully, also no.)

Helping Pakistani women

After four slow days of hammock lounging, riverside strolls with the sheep and sipping milky, mountain-style chai beneath the property's mulberry tree, Reynolds and I set out to explore the valley on foot.

As we climb the loose cliffside towards the Dain waterfall, she extolls her love of Pakistan and explains how she has worked within the boundaries of tradition and religion to create a business that empowers women.

More like this:

• The tiny Arctic island where travellers have found refuge since 1897

• An icy 4,554m hike to Europe's highest overnight stay

• A four-hour horseback ride to one of the world's most remote stays

"Half of the staff at Coyote Den are women, which is quite unusual in a region where women don't have [paid] jobs outside of the home," she explains. "We give them a flexible working schedule so they can go home in the middle of the day to take care of their kids' lunches, and we make sure they don't have to work at all after sunset, unless absolutely necessary."

I step across the rushing, glacial-fed Ishkoman River on the narrow wooden plank bridge, the breadth of the valley sprawling out in front of me. I had come to Pakistan seeking adventure and instead found myself craving solitude. Somewhere in this remote valley on the ancient Silk Road, it came to me.

If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week.

For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Birdwatching rewires the brain and slows cognitive decline

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20261019-birdwatching-rewires-the-brain-and-slows-cognitive-decline, 3 days ago

Birdwatching can help slow brain ageing and is increasingly being used as therapy for dementia patients.

Every week, a group of elderly birders spend hours hunkering down inside a wooden hide in the English countryside, peering through binoculars as they excitedly share what they spot. An oystercatcher's long, bright beak probing the pebbled ground; two great crested grebes bobbing in the water, their plumed heads poised.

Most of these birdwatchers have difficulty recalling what happened earlier that day, and might struggle to follow a conversation. But they become animated when swapping notes on the birds that fill the sky around Forge Mill Lake in the UK's West Midlands.

Among them is 78-year-old Harold*. He loved the outdoors when he was younger, but more recently dementia has made him withdrawn and anxious. His daughter Lucy* brought him here, hoping that the change of scenery and peaceful lake might be good for him. After an apprehensive start, Harold began smiling when someone pointed out a robin and enjoyed watching the ducks splashing in the water. Blue tits darted between the nearby trees, and Lucy saw Harold laugh for the first time in a long time.

"For that moment in time he was present in the moment, he wasn't worried about his memory or his confidence. That is very powerful, in a gentle way," says Jenny Budinger, a community dementia advisor at Age UK, the non-profit that runs the birdwatching group.

Birdwatching is increasingly recognised as a valuable way for elderly people and dementia patients to spend their time, with groups set up in nursing homes in the UK, Germany and the US. Paying attention to birds, even through the window, can help older people feel more connected to others, experience more positive emotions and boost memory skills. Now new research shows that birdwatching can reshape the brain, much like learning an athletic sport or a musical instrument – and may even help slow the brain's ageing.

Better-organised brains

Meanwhile, in the laboratory, neuroscientists are investigating how birdwatching impacts the brain. They tested keen birdwatchers' identification skills to determine who was an expert and who was a novice, then looked at their brains. The scientists found that the very structure of experts' brains was different – and that birdwatching expertise might slow age-related decline by keeping the brain more organised.

Erik Wing, who led this research at Baycrest Academy for Research and Education in Toronto, Canada, compared MRI brain scans from bird experts to those of novices while they identified birds. He found that expert brains were wired differently in regions important for functions like attention, visual perception and visual recognition.

Among expert birders, these regions showed more activity – particularly when they were asked to identify birds they weren't already familiar with. The findings don't prove whether structural brain differences are the cause or effect of birdwatching expertise. But, Wing says, one explanation is that the areas of the brain used for birdwatching might undergo "neuroplasticity" – the ability to change shape and function over time.

Wing also analysed how organised the birdwatchers' brains were. Organisation in the brain tends to reduce with age, and lower measures of organisation are associated with reduced cognition. In experts' brains, some regions had higher levels of organisation and coherence than novices of the same age. Some of these regions were also the ones that showed more activity during bird identification. This indicates a "kind of preservation of organisation" in the brains of experts as they age, Wing says.

More research is needed to understand the nature of this preservation and how it links to wider cognitive function. But for now, the results may indicate that "acquiring this skill earlier in life might produce benefits that continue through to older adults", Wing says. This is good news for the many Gen Z (16 to 29-year-old) birdwatchers who are getting their binoculars out long before old age sets in.

Bird therapy

Wing's research looked at birdwatching expertise, but other findings suggest that there may be psychological benefits to birdwatching even for those without special knowledge or skills.

In fact, when it comes to experiencing psychological restoration – feelings of calm, freedom and rejuvenation – enthusiasm may be more relevant than expertise. A study of 388 birdwatchers in Poland found that those who say they are more interested in birding than other activities and consider it an important part of their lives are more likely to experience psychological restoration than birdwatchers who are highly skilled but less enthusiastic.

Simply choosing to be interested in birds, then, could have its own benefits. Elisabeth Kals, a professor of social and organisational psychology at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in Germany, is interested in how our relationship with nature shapes our life experiences and wellbeing. She studied what happened when people living in nursing homes had the chance to watch the local bird life.

Her team installed bird feeding stations outside 65 homes, positioned so that residents could watch the birds from the comfort of the indoor common area, and assessed the residents' cognition, mobility and wellbeing through self-reports and inputs from staff and family. They saw improvements after just a few weeks, and after a month birdwatching explained residents' wellbeing better than their age and care level.

"The findings were clearly positive," Kals says. Those who took part in birdwatching became more cognitively agile, she adds – meaning they were more able to follow a conversation and interact with family who visited, remember and recognise birds that had visited before, and show alertness.

Nursing home staff were the first to see the difference the birds made. "For weeks, they haven't seen a smile on [a resident's] face, and then they see the smile," Kals says.

Some of the memory and concentration improvements are evident after just three to four weeks, Kals says.

Her team's findings have prompted German health insurance companies – who, among others, initially funded the research project – to invest in setting up bird feeders and viewing areas in more than 400 nursing homes across Bavaria. "It was so effective, it just economised money," Kals says.

In the US, a similar initiative was set up at four care communities in 2013 in Connecticut, and later in Texas and Colorado. Bird Tales is a therapy programme for people living with dementia that involves installing bird feeders in the facilities where they live and giving them stuffed bird animals that make bird-like calls so they can learn about different species. The result has been positive for those taking part: they report finding it cognitively stimulating and say it connects them with the past.

A similar programme has seen benefits for survivors of stroke, some of whom experience aphasia – difficulty speaking or understanding spoken language. The University of Montana's Intensive Comprehensive Aphasia Program started with owl spotting in 2021, and now includes guided observations and call identification of Montana's diverse bird population.

Why does watching birds have such a positive impact on how we feel and think? For Kals, it's "not just about birds as such; it is about nature, attention, emotion, meaning, social exchange, and activity coming together in a very simple way. It creates small moments of curiosity – pleasure, anticipation". And, she adds, it is "extremely accessible".

This may be why, in a UK survey of dementia patients and their carers, watching birds and other wildlife was the second most popular outdoor activity after simply walking in nature. The same survey found that challenges with transport and access are big considerations for people with dementia – which may not be such a barrier for those who can see birds from their kitchen window.

Wing says birdwatching is a means of exploring curiosity, and it is perhaps this curiosity that is so beneficial. "I think there's a lot of benefit to incorporating more novelty in our lives, in midlife and as we continue to age," Wing says.

Curiosity plays an important role in maintaining cognitive function later in life, possibly because it activates norepinephrine and dopamine in the brain, which have a positive, anti-inflammatory effect.

For Kals, getting to know the birds that call and swoop around us is a way to remember who we are. "We are part of nature as human beings, but we lose that connection, unfortunately, quite early in life. [Birdwatching] is a way to reestablish this connection, and it's so simple."

* Names have been changed for privacy reasons.

For trusted insights on health and wellbeing, sign up to the Health Fix newsletter by senior health correspondent Melissa Hogenboom who also writes the Live Well For Longer and Six Steps to Calm courses.

For more science, technology, environment and health stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

The animals you can't outrun - and the ones you can

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20261021-what-animals-could-you-beat-in-a-race, 4 days ago

Ever wondered if you could beat a bear or a horse in a race? What about a rat or a rhino? The answers may surprise you.

A few years ago, I was camping in the US, and a black bear happened to pass nearby. As I watched it nose around the camp, I wondered: if I needed to, could I outrun it?

Looking up bear speeds afterwards, the answer was clear: absolutely not. Apart from the fact that running away can trigger a chase response, so is not advised, black bears can reach up to 48km/h (30mph).

Ever since then though – especially while out for a jog in London – I've found myself asking: what animals could I beat in a foot race? What if I encountered a particularly mean squirrel or badger?

Only Noah could have staged a real animal Olympics, but scientists have measured the top running speeds of hundreds of creatures – squirrels and badgers, but also spiders, lizards, rodents, birds, large mammals, and many more. It turns out there are quite a few surprises in the data.

So, which land animal would be your own closest competitor? And what would give the world's fastest humans a good race?

Muscle mass

Over the decades, scientists have measured animals' top speed using differing methods: some more accurate (and ethical) than others. In the 1920s, one naturalist drove his car alongside pronghorn antelopes – North America's fastest land animal – firing gunshots in the air to keep them going. And in the 1980s, researchers realised they could place smaller animals like rats on treadmills.

Nowadays, though, technology like GPS trackers make the task easier, especially for recording animals in their natural habitat at real-world speeds. One recent study that tracked cheetahs in the wild showed they can reach 93km/h (58mph). Previous measurements were based on film recordings, or in one case, artificially inducing the cheetah to chase a hunk of meat held by a stopwatch operator riding in a 4x4.

Sometimes, though, simple methods have also worked fine. In another recent study, researchers measured what might be the world's fastest spider (Australia's brown huntsman) by simply nudging it and then video-recording it next to a ruler. While its average pace was around 7km/h (4.3mph), its top speed in bursts was a discomfiting 13km/h (8mph).

Over time, researchers have compiled these disparate scientific measurements into larger databases. One of them is biologist Myriam Hirt, now at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research in Leipzig, who compiled the running speeds of around 350 land animals. In 2017, she and her colleagues were investigating the question of how animal body mass affects their speed.

In principle, bigger animals with more muscle mass should be able to run the fastest. "It makes sense when you first think about it, but the data clearly shows that it doesn't work that way," Hirt says. "The largest species are not the fastest. No one knew why."

She and her colleagues concluded that the largest animals are constrained from reaching their hypothetical top speeds by the body mass they carry. "You need more time to get a big body moving at the same speed as a small one," she explains, in the same way that big planes need longer runways. (Or as anyone who has ever played Mario Kart will know: tiny Toad accelerates faster than bulky Donkey Kong.)

This slow take-off means that big animals begin to fatigue before they reach their top potential speed. "You only have a limited amount of energy available for acceleration. At some point you just collapse, because there's no energy left in your muscles," Hirt says.

The slow acceleration of big animals does also mean you might be capable of beating some of them in a race, especially over short distances. For example, an African bush elephant can reach a top speed of 35km/h (21.7mph), but they are slower than humans out of the blocks.

Another animal speed database compiled in 2020, which integrated statistics on animal acceleration, suggests the African bush elephant would reach its top speed in about 7.5 seconds. A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests it would therefore run the 100m (328ft) in around 14 seconds. I doubt I could match that time myself, but according to running website Marathon Handbook, it'd be beatable for some well-trained adults.

Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt could probably outrun the bush elephant easily – but even he would be overtaken by many other animals. If we are talking about simply comparing top sprint speeds – without the variable of mass and acceleration – Bolt's fastest pace during his world record run was around 44km/h (27-28mph). That's faster than the top speed of a white rhino (40km/h or 24.8mph), but not a grizzly or polar bear (48-50km/h or 30-31mph). And plenty of animals reach even faster top speeds.

The most famous sprinters are the cheetah (93km/h or 58mph), or ostrich (82.8km/h or 51.4mph), but some are lesser known. As a thin and lanky runner, I'd hoped that a giraffe might be my own closest animal competitor, but I was surprised to learn they can reach up to around 57-60km/h (35-37mph), so would crush me – and Bolt – in a sprint. The moose is pretty rapid too (55.4km/h or 34.4mph), as is the zebra (70.6km/h or 43.8mph) – and a reindeer can reach speeds of 80km/h (49.7mph). I suppose Santa would be pleased.

Accelerate or endure?

What about longer distances though? Sprinting is an anaerobic activity, requiring so-called fast-twitch muscle, explains former Olympian 1,500m runner Andy Baddeley, who co-founded The Running Channel, which provides advice and tips for runners. "Fast-twitch fibres are more explosive but much quicker to fatigue – more associated with weightlifting and sprinting," he says. "Slow-twitch fibres are slower to recruit, less explosive, but can keep going for a long time without fatiguing."

That means a sprinter can accelerate fast and reach high top speeds, but their body's explosively trained muscles will soon fatigue over longer distances. Baddeley explains this difference using his own running physiology. He reckons that in his Olympian middle-distance days, he could run the 100m in around 11.7 seconds (which incidentally would make for a close race with a gorilla). That's slower than an elite sprinter.

However, he believes he could give an elite sprinter a close race over 500m, and would definitely beat any sprinter – even the world's current fastest – over his specialist distance of 1,500m, because of his body's ability to hold speed for longer.

The same applies to the animal kingdom. The GPS collar study of cheetahs, for example, showed they usually only hold their top speed for a couple of seconds, and a typical hunting run distance was less than 200m (656ft). They're sprinters, not endurance athletes (or at least do not have the inclination or need to run further).

By contrast, pronghorn antelopes – a prey species – have been measured running for 11km in 10 minutes, at an average speed of 65km/h (40mph). As Hirt puts it, recalling an old adage, "For a predator it's your meal, but for the prey it's your life. So the pressure to be quick is much higher on prey than on predators."

Overall, humans are better-suited to long-distance endurance running than sprinting, thanks to our biomechanics, and the fact that we're mostly hairless and we sweat. Some evolutionary biologists speculate these adaptations evolved to help us pursue and tire out prey over many kilometres.

So, could we even get the gold medal in a long-distance race against other animals? It depends.

For one thing, there's not much scientific data to go on. Non-human animals have no desire to push themselves to a personal best in a marathon (26.2 miles or 42.2km). In the lab, it could be unethical to make them do so; in the wild, many would stop or slow long before a finish line.

For hints, there are scientific databases that have compiled animal "travel speeds": the sustained, aerobic pace animals habitually and comfortably cruise at over longer distances. So for example, while a black bear has a higher top speed than a human, its travel speed is lower, at 2.6km/h (1.6mph). Meanwhile, the tiger's travel speed is 3.5km/h (2.1mph), the dromedary camel's is 6.3km/h (3.9mph), and the grey wolf's is 7.9km/h (4.9mph).

That's slower than the average pace of all runners in the London Marathon, which is around 9km/h or 6mph. And much slower than the world record of 1:59:30, set this year, which was run at an average pace of 21km/h (13mph). However, travel speed is not necessarily the fastest that animals could run long distances – it's more equivalent to human walking. A bear probably could traverse a long distance quicker than its travel speed, but it's difficult to tell definitively whether it would overheat and burn out if it ran a marathon the same speed we do.

Still, despite the gaps in the animal speed data, it's safe to say that humans would not be the best marathon runners in the animal kingdom, despite our endurance adaptations and mental will to run that far.

Husky dogs, for instance, can traverse very long distances at speed. Based on the times they can achieve in marathon-length sled races, they could beat the human world record by more than half an hour. Unladen by weight, they'd likely be faster.

A horse trained for endurance, too, could beat a majority of people over a flat marathon. Although it does depend on the terrain. Every year in Wales there's a human vs horse race over a mountainous route about 22 miles (35km) long. The horse usually wins, but occasionally humans have come first.

It's even less clear where we'd sit in the animal rankings over really long-distances, such as ultramarathons and beyond.

Again, huskies still probably would beat us: the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska is 1,600km or 1,000 miles. While it's a team race, some dogs run the entire distance, and the course record is seven days and 14 hours. For comparison, the record for the Iditarod Trail Invitational – a similar-length race in Alaskan conditions that some humans complete on foot – is 19 days, 9 hours and 38 minutes.

Still, there probably aren't many animals capable – or indeed willing – to run ultramarathons. In addition to our physiological endurance, the human brain is its own superpower at such distances. Consider the Self-Transcendence 3,100 Mile Race – a 4,989km-long race around a single block in Queens, New York. The current record-holder ran for more than 40 days to complete it (with six-hour breaks at night), at an average pace of roughly 6.9km/h (4.3mph) while moving.

More like this:

• The forgotten experiment to create a super dog

• The true story of Germany's rampant raccoons

• Want to get better at making decisions? Ask an ant

"Ultimately, long-distance running comes down to: are you comfortable being uncomfortable? Are you suffering?" says Baddeley. "There's still that ability to access another energy system at the end of a long run – to go through the pain and still sprint when the finish line's in sight. I don't know whether you'd see that in the animal world."

Unfortunately, though, that wouldn't help me if I was out for a jog and encountered a particularly grumpy grey squirrel or badger. Could I outrun them if they went for me? Probably not. Unlike bigger animals like elephants, they are both small enough to hit their top speed in a stride or two, and that pace, around 30km/h (18.6mph), is already higher than my sprint. I may have to start training a little harder.

* The animal speeds in this article were mostly drawn from A general scaling law reveals why the largest animals are not the fastest (Hirt at al, 2017) and The body size and temperature dependence of organismal locomotion (Cloyed and Dell, 2020).

If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week.

For more science, technology, environment and health stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Five ways El Niño is affecting the weather around the world

https://www.bbc.com/weather/articles/c6dx07dznpyyo, 7 days ago

* Storm Boelo clears but more wind and rain bears down on UK Published1 hour ago

* Published1 hour ago

* Clean-up under way as Storm Boelo leaves 90,000 without power PublishedJust now

* PublishedJust now

* Weather for the week ahead. VideoWeather for the week ahead Published17 hours ago

* Published17 hours ago

* Five ways El Niño is affecting the weather around the world Published6 days ago

* Published6 days ago

* Where to spot brilliant colours after 'false autumn' spoils some leaf displays Published5 days ago

* Published5 days ago

* When to switch your clocks back as British Summer Time comes to an end Published6 days ago

* Published6 days ago

* BBC presenter battles strong winds as Storm Austen hits Newquay. VideoBBC presenter battles strong winds as Storm Austen hits Newquay Published2 days ago

* Published2 days ago

* Why are pumpkins smaller this Halloween? VideoWhy are pumpkins smaller this Halloween? Published16 October

* Published16 October

Electricity restored to all of NI after Storm Boelo

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqe9lykm93jmo, today

Electricity has been restored to all properties across Northern Ireland after Storm Boelo, Northern Ireland Electricity Networks (NIE) has said.

Shéa Clarke, who was stranded on Lusty Beg island in County Fermanagh, said that "safety comes first" and as "long as we don't run out of Guinness or chips".

At the weekend, the storm saw gusts of wind reach almost 80mph in some areas and led to flights and ferries being cancelled.

A Met Office yellow warning for strong winds, mainly along the Antrim and Down coasts, lasts from 18:00 GMT on Monday until 03:00 Tuesday.

Clarke was attending a wedding at the resort located in Lower Lough Erne.

"You could see the waves were rough and the wind was going.

"I've enjoyed myself the staff have been great and obviously it's too dangerous to cross and the boat can't cross so safety comes first," Clarke said.

"Some people have slept in cars, some people have slept on sofas there's been 8 people in one room sleeping on the floor.

"But the spirit has been good the craic is 90".

A second wind warning along the north coast of Antrim and Londonderry comes into place at 03:00 GMT on Tuesday until 21:00 GMT.

The Met Office is expecting gusts up to 50mph (80km/h) in Monday's warning zone, and up to 65mph (105km/h) on exposed coastal areas.

Gusts up to 60mph (105km/h) are again expected in Tuesday's warning, with stronger winds for more exposed coastal areas.

Olivia Millar, a cabin crew member based in London, was also a guest at the wedding and said the plan was to be in South Africa on Monday night.

"It hasn't felt like real life but everyone's been amazing and we've just made the most of it.

"We've drunk to pass the time and had a really good barbecue yesterday".

Staff at Lusty Beg Island Resort & Spa took care of guests who couldn't get off the island.

Michael Cadden, managing director at hotel, said they are "delighted at how staff and customers have dealt with this".

"The ferocity and the longevity of this storm was unlike anything we've experienced on the island before.

"This was a crisis, but we've now arranged to transport and are getting all our staff and customers safely home".

Kacper Dymarczyk, a bartender, was locked down with the guests and had to work through the storm.

"It was great craic, seeing other people drinking" he said as he laughed.

Dymarczyk added that there was "no concern" of running out of anything as they are "well stocked at all times".

Meanwhile in the Republic of Ireland, an ESB spokesperson said there are "a number of homes, farms and businesses still without electricity" on Monday morning, and that teams are working to restore the power to all properties.

About 5,000 homes, farms and businesses were still without electricity on Sunday evening in the Republic of Ireland.

In the Republic of Ireland, wind and rain warnings have also been issued for most counties along the south and west coasts on Monday evening.

Much improved weather conditions are expected on Wednesday with calmer and sunnier weather in the forecast.

Although some faults occurred overnight in Northern Ireland, and are showing on NIE's Powercheck tool, they are not believed to be storm related.

NIE said around 12,500 properties were without power at one stage after Storm Boelo.

Flights were cancelled at airports across the island of Ireland at the weekend including about 40 flights at Belfast International Airport and about 30 at Dublin Airport.

A spokesperson for Translink said that some bus services were diverted over the weekend due to fallen debris and rail restrictions were put in place in affected areas.

"Stormy conditions also increase 'leaf fall' at this time of year which can impact train services and our infrastructure crews will be deployed to clear any debris potentially blocking railway lines," they added.

On Sunday, the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) said around 470 incidents had been reported to the department, including fallen trees and flooding.

The Foyle Bridge was closed on Saturday due to high winds but reopened again on Sunday evening.

Foyle SDLP MLA Mark H Durkan said he understood the need to close the Foyle Bridge during Storm Boelo, but said its prolonged closure caused major traffic congestion throughout the city.

Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today, Durkan said redirecting vehicles to the lower deck of the Craigavon Bridge caused a traffic build-up and showed that the city was in desperate need of a third bridge.

"The infrastructural capacity of Derry needs increased; I don't think two vehicular bridges for a city of this side and a population of this city is enough."

Some marine life can find storms 'devastating'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5pvg8yk8zjko, today

Guernsey's rocky coast could have helped some marine life by providing holes to hide out the worst of Storm Austen, where gusts reached 76mph (122km/h), a marine scientist has said.

Oceanongrapher Liz Sweet told BBC Guernsey the conditions "can be dangerous, particularly with the big storms" and said species such as crabs would have found the mixing up of the sea and sediment challenging.

Octopuses may have fared better seeking shelter in holes and Sweet, who is also known as the Guernsey Scientist, explained that sharks and dolphins would have swum out to calmer water.

She added storms could be "really devastating" for seal pups.

Sweet added: "Sea birds seem to love storms.

"Depending on the storm, they often fly towards it and often eat much better."

She said the fishing in the days following a storm was "generally much better".

It comes as the British Divers Marine Life Rescue charity in the Channel Islands appealed to islanders to keep an eye out for seal pups which may have got buffeted by the weather and become separated from their mothers.

A pup died on Jersey before it could be sent to Guernsey's GSPCA to be cared for there.

Follow BBC Guernsey on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk.

Clean-up under way as Storm Boelo leaves 90,000 without power

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqm264jxxnxzo, today

A clean-up operation is under way in parts of the UK after Storm Boelo caused caused flooding and property damage, leaving thousands without power.

The Energy Networks Association (ENA) said around 90,000 properties are still without power as of Monday.

Two men were killed by falling trees during the storm on Sunday - a man in his 20s in north London and a 60-year-old in Dumfries and Galloway.

The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for strong winds from 18:00 on Monday to 03:00 on Tuesday across the west coast of England, Wales and Scotland and eastern parts of Northern Ireland.

Another yellow warning kicks in from 03:00 across northern parts of Scotland.

Boelo is the second storm to have hit parts of the UK in recent days, following Storm Austen which brought similar levels of disruption.

Leo Slade, CEO of the ENA said it had been "a tough weekend" and that efforts to reconnect some properties were being hampered by the weather, with sustained winds of 50-85mph across parts of Scotland and northern England.

"Until that weather system passes, we can't safely get engineers out to replace poles, to get wires back up, so today is going to be a hive of activity in getting engineers out into the field," Slade told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

He stressed that the UK's power network was very resilient money was spent to prepare for these sorts of scenarios, but said a debate was needed over how much more investment was required to mitigate for further storms brought by climate change.

Homeowners and local businesses are among those who have been affected by the power cuts caused by Storm Boelo.

Marcus Reed, the operations director at home fragrance manufacturer Wax Lyrical, said his factory and shop in Lyndal, Cumbria would be without power until Tuesday evening.

He told the Today programme that he has had to turn away employees and customers.

"To lose two days manufacturing and distribution is going to be really disruptive," he said, adding that it was bad timing as it was "the busiest time of the year" for his business in the lead-up to Christmas.

"This is probably the worst situation I've experienced in my time here; we've had ad hoc issues over weekends where we've lost power, but it's been contained within a 12-hour period. It's the first time anything like this has happened, it's very serious."

On Sunday, a man in his 20s was pronounced dead in north London after the car he was driving was hit by a falling tree. It came hours after a 60-year-old man died in Dumfries and Galloway, in western Scotland.

Disruption to travel continued on Monday, and some schools in Scotland have been shut either due to lack of power, heating, damage or no water.

Another weather warning has been issued by the Met Office for later this week. The yellow warning of wind, covers much of Scotland, as well as parts of northern England and Northern Ireland from 03:00 to 23:59 on Tuesday.

In Scotland, Network Rail said the Crianlarich to Oban and Inverness to Wick and Thurso lines remained closed, but work to restore them was ongoing.

ScotRail said the "vast majority" of its services were running as normal.

West coast ferry operator CalMac said some of its services could be cancelled at short notice, while passengers on NorthLink Ferries are advised that there is the "possibility of disruption" to services until Thursday.

Red weather warning issued for coastal overtopping

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckx2qgeld2rno, today

A red weather warning has been issued for the Isle of Man for large waves crashing onto coastal roads.

It is in place for coastal overtopping from 22:00 until 01:00 GMT on Tuesday.

A red warning is rare and means extreme conditions are likely, with a risk to life, as well as possible widespread damage, travel disruption and interruptions to power and communications.

The government has asked people to take the "warning seriously and avoid affected coastal areas."

Coastal overtopping or wave overtopping is the amount of water that is discharged by waves over a structure such as a breakwater.

When the waves break, it causes water to flow onto the land with debris.

Futher warnings

Alongside the red warning, an amber one for inner harbor flooding has been issued by forecasters at Ronaldsway Met Office.

"Inner harbour flooding expected around the time of the high tide tonight, with a storm surge in the Irish Sea," it said.

The main areas affected will be:

Ramsey

* West Quay,

* East Quay,

* Parliament Street,

* Dale Street,

* Shipyard Road and

* The banks of River Sulby to Gardener's Lane.

Douglas

* Eastern end of North Quay,

* Old Castletown Road and

* Lake Road.

The Met Office said flood defences should also be deployed for the lowest-lying parts of Castletown Harbour.

In addition, a yellow warning for severe gales will come into force from 18:00 until 06:00 on Tuesday.

Gusts between 50-60 mph (80-96 km/h) are expected widely with up to 65mph (104 km/h) forecast for higher ground exposed coastal areas.

"This may result in fallen branches/ trees and disruption to travel," forecasters said.

Travel disruptions

The Liverpool crossing, which was scheduled for 15:00, left Douglas Harbour earlier at 06:00.

While both Manannan Larne sailings were cancelled.

At Ronaldsway Airport, all scheduled flights are going ahead as planned however, the airport have asked for passengers to arrive two hours early due to the number of disrupted flights taking off today.

Storm Boelo

Over the weekend, Storm Boelo kept teams from the Department of Infrastrucutre busy.

The DOI said crews dealt with 85 fallen trees, 31 flooding incidents, and more than 25 other storm-related call-outs.

Sailings and flights to and from the island were also cancelled.

Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.

Rosebank: Life on the oil field at the centre of a political storm

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqy8ljkle97ro, yesterday

When we landed by helicopter at Rosebank, this oil field was at the centre of a political storm - and set to be in the path of a real one.

We arrived on Wednesday morning, just a few hours after the UK government had granted consent for the production of gas from the Jackdaw field in the North Sea.

But already attention was shifting to this wild and windy patch of the North Atlantic – the next big decision for Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh.

Rosebank is bigger than Jackdaw, it would generate higher greenhouse gas emissions, and it could be far more lucrative for its owners, Adura and Ithaca.

This summer, along with a camera crew, I travelled to Jackdaw, 150 miles east of Aberdeen.

Now we were the first journalists to visit Rosebank.

We came here - days before Storm Boelo arrived with strong winds and heavy rain - to scrutinise a controversial project which is at the heart of a national debate about climate change, energy policy and the economy.

But we also hoped for a rare glimpse into life offshore.

"It's good fun, it's interesting, every day can change," said Nicola Boyd, who runs the helideck, and greeted us as we struggled out of our lifejackets and survival suits.

Boyd has worked offshore for nearly a decade, including a year on Rosebank - where she spends two weeks at a time followed by three weeks' leave.

"It's a job I love," she added.

It's also a job that calls for steady legs and a strong stomach.

Unlike the fixed Jackdaw platform, this installation – 80 miles north west of Shetland – is a large ship, a floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) named the Petrojarl Rosebank.

It's been chartered by the field's owners from Aberdeen-based Altera and, during my 48 hours on board, it was constantly but gently rolling on the North Atlantic swell.

Those conditions may be misleading.

With the understatement typical of an Orkney islander, lead mechanical technician Ewan Leonard told me the winter weather could be "a bit of a challenge."

"Last week we had a 30m heave coming through," he said, referring to the swell, "so we'll probably suffer more of that as the winter goes on."

Altera CEO Chris Brett told me that in the industry the environment west of Shetland is considered "as harsh as you get anywhere in the world."

Whatever your view on that industry, the sheer scale of what humans have achieved in such conditions is impressive.

The deep reserves of skill, ingenuity and engineering prowess among the 122 people on board are obvious.

The jobs are well-paid and, according to Ewan Leonard, the facilities are excellent.

"We have single-man cabins, there's good gym facilities, there's a lot of rec rooms here."

Douglas Hogge, a production supervisor in charge of a team responsible for the safe extraction of oil and gas, agrees.

"There's the gym, the sauna," he said, adding "you can obviously go and get some fresh air. There's plenty of fresh air out there."

There's even a cinema.

"As you've seen yourself, the food is fantastic on board, so no complaints." added Leonard.

Everyone we spoke to agreed with that, praising the talented chefs who sent out all sorts of delicious dishes, from braised ox cheek to mackerel to pork loin, day and night.

As dusk gathers and the nightshift get ready for work with a strange breakfast of fillet steak and chocolate brownie pudding, the vessel begins to glow in the gloom.

It is a strange sight, the decks criss-crossed by a bewilderingly complex array of pipes, valves and bright yellow steelwork.

The ship doesn't move far, rotating around a fixed central point called the turret to face into the weather, making life a little easier for those on board.

If production is approved, oil and gas will be pumped up through the turret from wells in the field below, which contains an estimated 300m to 500m barrels, enough for perhaps 25 years.

"For myself and a lot of the guys, that would see us out to retirement," said Douglas Hogge.

"We need to see this approved," he added.

Environmental campaigners strongly disagree. They've been trying to stop Rosebank for years, with some success.

"The future of the energy sector in the UK is renewable energy," said Tessa Khan, executive director of the campaigning group Uplift.

Consent for production at Rosebank was first granted under the Conservative government in 2023.

But in 2025, after a challenge by Greenpeace and Uplift, the Court of Session in Edinburgh ruled the approvals of the UK's largest known untapped oil field and Jackdaw were unlawful because they had failed to take into account the climate impact of actually burning the fossil fuels in cars, homes and factories.

The judge, Lord Ericht, said the fields' developers could carry on with work short of producing oil and gas while they provided more detailed environmental assessments for the government and regulators to consider.

"We think Rosebank would be a disastrous decision and a terrible deal for ordinary people across this country," said Khan, urging prime minister Andy Burnham to prioritise renewables in his quest to re-industrialise the nation.

"If the government's interested in building investor confidence, giving the green light to a major new oil field is going to do the opposite," she argued.

Whatever happens with Rosebank and Jackdaw, the long-term trend for the industry is clear and it is one of decline.

It's a quarter of a century since oil production peaked and in recent years jobs in oil and gas have been disappearing much faster than they're being created in renewable energy such as wind and solar power.

The timeline of Jackdaw and Rosebank

The oil from Rosebank would be loaded onto tankers via a gigantic hose and nozzle, which looks like the super-sized pump of an enormous floating filling station.

From there it would be sold on the international market and, most likely, taken to continental Europe for refining.

Opponents say that proves the project is of little benefit to the UK and should be rejected.

Supporters argue that's not the case because UK and European energy markets are co-dependent, adding that Rosebank will generate millions in tax for the Treasury.

Neil McCulloch, chief executive of Adura – which owns 80% of Rosebank and is a joint venture between Shell and the Norwegian state energy firm, Equinor – is optimistic.

He points out that Rosebank contains not just oil but gas which would be piped to Shetland and on to the St Fergus terminal in Aberdeenshire, with the potential to heat 500,000 British homes at peak production.

Approval of this project, argues McCulloch, could pave the way for four more Jackdaw-sized gas developments in the waters west of Shetland – Tornado, Tornado East, Tobermory and Suilven.

"We would like to proceed with them," he said.

A surge in fossil fuel production if Rosebank is approved is exactly what campaigners fear.

It would, argues Tessa Khan, exacerbate the deadly and damaging impact of climate change for British teachers, nurses, firefighters and families worried about their children while making "huge profits for companies that are already incredibly profitable".

When it comes to the impending UK government decision – which sources have told BBC News should come before Christmas – there is a strange mood at Rosebank.

The decision in favour of Jackdaw has clearly encouraged many on board but it has also highlighted the jeopardy they are facing.

For now, most workers we spoke to said they were just focusing on the job, with its strange rhythms and unusual restrictions – no ability to pop to the shops, no alcohol, a lot of special occasions missed.

And for some on board, very particular cravings.

For steward Liam Davidson, it is a desire to see his French bulldog, Bailey, at the end of his fortnight on board.

"My wee dog's at the heliport when I arrive," he said, "I do miss her."

For Nicola Boyd, it's her double bed and a pizza delivery.

"I love seeing the family, but for me, it's the pizza," she told me.

But this time there might be a delay in delivering Boyd herself.

She is coming to the end of her fortnight but, as she helped us into our survival suits, the Met Office issued an amber weather warning for much of Scotland.

For Rosebank, it seems, there are stormy seas ahead, one way or the another.

Fund to help businesses switch to green vehicles

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr62ydqjvg9lo, 3 days ago

A £2m fund has been launched to help businesses switch their vehicles to greener vehicles, Bradford Council has announced.

Reform UK council leader Stephen Place said it would help businesses counter the rising cost of petrol and diesel as well as modernise their fleets.

The funding is part of Bradford Council's Clean Air programme, which will allow businesses to apply for up to £16,000 in support.

Announcing the fund at the Scale Up Bradford event on Tuesday, Place said it would help businesses invest in cleaner, more efficient technology to "future proof their operations for years to come".

Earlier this month, Place said he was committed to scrapping Clean Air Zone (CAZ) charges as it had a negative impact on businesses.

He accepted the move would have "quite a lot of legalities surrounding it" but said the council would "work to run it out naturally".

Funded by the Labour government, the Zero Emission Grant Programme will be targeted at small businesses, charities and organisations, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Businesses will be able to apply for up to £16,000 to improve heavy-duty vehicles and £4,500 for light-duty vehicles.

Bradford Council said the fund would provide practical support to help businesses remain competitive while adapting to new vehicle technologies.

"We want to help organisations to upgrade their fleets and position themselves for future success," said Place.

"I hope that this will appeal to tradies, they are the people out there every day keeping the nation moving."

Petrol and diesel prices have risen significantly since the US-Israel war with Iran.

Currently the average price of petrol in the UK is 173.2p per litre, while diesel costs 199.9p per litre.

Mark Casci, of West Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the plans and said a lot of businesses were looking to "decarbonise" their vehicles.

"Every large business with a fleet is looking at this issue very carefully, it is very much on their agenda," said Casci.

"It is the right thing to do and what customers want. It is driven by customer demand as well as moral responsibility."

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.

Gasps as Prince William makes surprise appearance on Graham Norton Show

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c30rlpkglkwpo, 4 days ago

The Prince of Wales has made a surprise appearance on the Graham Norton Show, as part of a special edition to mark the Earthshot Prize.

During the episode, which airs on Friday, he joined Cate Blanchett, Robert Irwin and Hannah Waddingham, who are all involved with the prize.

As Norton spoke about the initiative with the trio he surprised the audience by then inviting the prince out to join them on the sofa, to cheers and gasps from the audience.

They discussed the need to pair optimism and urgency when tackling climate change. The prize was founded by William to "celebrate and scale the solutions that will repair our planet".

The guests also chatted about William's long-time support for Aston Villa, and his love of Christopher Nolan films.

William set up the Earthshot Prize in 2020, drawing inspiration from US President John F Kennedy's Moonshot project, which challenged scientists to get astronauts to the Moon and back safely.

There are five Earthshots, or goals, for which an award is given: Protect and Restore Nature, Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans, Build a Waste-Free World and Fix Our Climate. Each winner receives £1m.

The future king has committed himself to the prize until 2030. This year's winners will be announced at a ceremony in Mumbai in November.

Last year, the ceremony for the prizes drew famous faces such as former Formula 1 driver Sebastian Vettel and then-UK prime minister Keir Starmer. Pop stars Kylie Minogue and Shawn Mendes performed at the ceremony in Rio de Janeiro.

The 2025 winners included Lagos Fashion Week, for "transforming one of the world's most wasteful industries" by requiring designers to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability.

At last year's ceremony, William said the winners were "proof that progress is possible".

The Graham Norton Show is on BBC One at 22.40 Friday.

Firefighters and public 'knowingly put at risk' during summer wildfires

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqvgjk3j0j9wo, 4 days ago

Firefighters and the public were knowingly put at risk during this year's wildfires due to chronic underfunding, a union has said.

Those working on the ground and in the South Wales control centre said the fires were relentless with injuries "commonplace" for crews.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said firefighters were climbing hills in unsuitable boots and non-breathable layers used for house fires due to not having enough kit, and there was a "real risk to the public" if immediate action was not taken.

The Welsh government said it did not provide core funding but "recognise the concerns raised and are clear that we need to do all we can to reduce the risk of wildfires".

Sean Cayford, a firefighter in Bridgend, said crews were told in mid-August that there were no pumps or fire appliances available across the brigade's entire region.

"I've never heard that before but that was heard again later in the wildfire season. That was startling," he said.

"One particular day we were at an incident on top of Tredegar mountain and as we looked around the landscape we could see in the region of six or seven other category three wildfires, the most serious type of wildfires, on the horizon, in every direction you looked."

Cayford said even with help from other brigades from all over the UK, they "still didn't have enough" firefighters.

"We were stretched so thinly," he said. "It has an increasingly destructive effect on the morale of our firefighters.

"It's very difficult to be at a wildfire incident in excess of eight or 10 or 12 hours and not get injured to some degree."

He said colleagues had sustained lower limb injuries and heat illness, with many still unable to work.

Gemma Thomas, who works in the control centre, said the average number of calls is usually 200-300 but on their busiest day this summer they had almost 2,000.

"It was just relentless in there," she said.

"There were times where we were unable to fulfil the requests that were coming from the incidents.

"We are the first point of contact for somebody who is having potentially the worst day of their life.

"It was so stressful, mentally draining, that you're getting home from work absolutely shattered to think right I've got to go back and do it all again tomorrow."

Thomas said there were times when staff needed to take breaks "one at a time for 10 minutes just to get people out of the room".

"People were getting to the point where they were just shattered in work, shattered at home," she said, adding there was no work-life balance because they needed to use free time to rest.

Thomas said support from management was "phenomenal" and "even the firefighters on the ground were understanding how stretched we were in the control room".

But she does not believe they could sustain it long-term and wants to see an increase in numbers of firefighters.

First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth held a climate change and resilience summit in Merthyr Tydfil on Thursday, which brought "key partners together to develop future actions".

It hosted representatives from the fire services, police, local government, farmers and climate change organisations.

"There was poor preparation," said Gareth Tovey, executive council member for Wales, explaining they redirected specialist crews such as water teams to the wildfires.

"At some stages there was zero crew back up for vast parts of south Wales," he said.

"Firefighters were injured because they didn't have the right kit to fight wildfires."

The FBU said there was a shortfall of 400 firefighters in Wales.

Tovey said the union had been warning "for years" authorities needed to do something and there was a "real risk to the public" if immediate action was not taken.

He said bringing in the Army, was "not a silver bullet" as they do not have the firefighting skills needed.

An FBU survey following the fires found 69% of firefighters felt significantly under-equipped, with just 8% feeling fully equipped.

Nearly half reported welfare facilities during wildfire deployment were insufficient.

Firefighters are funded by the public but through a levy decided by the local authority for the area. This is part of their budget, which is in turn set by the Welsh government.

North Wales Fire and Rescue Service was applying to the Welsh government's emergency assistance scheme to cover the additional cost of the wildfires this summer.

While the full financial impact is still being assessed, the cost was expected to exceed £500,000.

At one point firefighters in north Wales were managing six wildfires at once - more than ever before.

It comes as a report from the UK's Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee said the wildfires left firefighters working in extreme conditions and exposed weaknesses in the UK's resilience and preparation.

It called for a UK government-funded "national wildfire prevention campaign" with clear and consistent messaging, along with wildfire risk indicators in weather forecasts.

On Thursday, ap Iorwerth said: "We are a resilient nation, we need to make sure that we are taking all the preventative steps necessary, we need to make sure that we have the capability and the capacity to respond to wildfires where they happen.

"This is a government now that is building that network of partners that showed real determination at the summit this morning to deal with what is clearly now a very very real challenge in the here and now."

He declined to confirm there would be more funding.

"There is no escaping from the fact that we face very real financial challenges," he said.

The Welsh government said individual fire and rescue authorities determine how many firefighters they need and set their budgets accordingly.

"They should take this summer's wildfires into account when doing so," a spokesperson said.

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service said: "We are incredibly proud of the professionalism, resilience and commitment shown by our firefighters, control colleagues and everyone who supported the response, often in extremely challenging conditions."

"We recognise that the changing climate and evolving risks facing fire and rescue services mean we must continue to learn, adapt and strengthen our ability to respond when demand rises sharply."

It said it was engaging with unions about the investment needed and would be a key voice at the summit.

Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service's chief fire officer Craig Flannery added climate-related emergencies were having a real impact on communities, environment and public services, and require a collective effort.

Natural Resources Wales' (NRW) national operations executive director, Dominic Driver, said: "The impacts of this summer's significant wildfires are still being felt across the country, going far beyond the visible scars left on the landscape.

"They can be seen in the habitats destroyed, carbon stores depleted and damaged soils that will take many years to regenerate and recover.

"We are focused on supporting nature's recovery and building resilience to this increasing challenge posed by climate change."

He said NRW would be prioritising work to make Wales more climate-resilient.

I will make final decision on Rosebank oil field, energy secretary insists

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckq6nz12mgg5o, 4 days ago

Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh has insisted she will make the final decision over whether to approve the controversial Rosebank oil field, not the prime minister or chancellor.

She said there was a "tight" framework involved in making the decision to avoid it being overturned in the courts, and she was the only one who could make the final choice about whether to give the scheme the go-ahead.

Rosebank, which is about 80 miles (128km) north-west of Shetland, is Britain's largest untapped oil field and would also produce some gas.

It comes after the UK government approved production from the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea.

Ministers said the decision would support the country's energy security with homegrown gas and protect jobs, while insisting it was also compatible with the UK's climate commitments.

But environmental campaigners have criticised the move, saying it will hamper efforts to tackle climate change and will have no meaningful impact on the UK's energy security or bills.

They argue Rosebank would be even more damaging for the environment than Jackdaw, as it would produce far more planet-warming greenhouse gases.

Fahnbulleh, who was previously a junior energy minister in Sir Keir Starmer's government, has been widely regarded in the past as being personally opposed to Rosebank.

Those in favour of the site's approval have been lobbying the Treasury hard in recent months to focus on the economic benefits of the site.

But Fahnbulleh made clear today that the decision would be made based on the legal requirements in the government's climate commitments.

Asked how much influence the Treasury had over her decision about Rosebank, Fahnbulleh told reporters at a lunch for political journalists in Westminster: "Ultimately, only I can make that decision.

"And I've really enjoyed reading bits in the media that [the prime minister] Andy's deciding this, [the chancellor] John's deciding that... actually only I can make that decision."

She described it as a "regulatory process not a policy process", governed by a set of tests she had to weigh the decision against.

Fahnbulleh said only a "tiny" number of people in her department had access to the documents involved in the decision-making process and would be aware of the choice she would make.

"You've got to read the documents and you've got to come to the right balance," she said, adding that she would weigh factors like its impact on the climate as well as economic considerations like jobs and economic growth.

"It sits heavy for such a big controversial decision because in the end only I can make it," Fahnbulleh said.

"And if it is overturned by other colleagues, all that means is we're going to be overturned in the courts. So we will do the process and we will do it properly."

The decision over Rosebank is more difficult politically for the government than Jackdaw.

While most of Jackdaw's gas is likely to be consumed in the UK, Rosebank's oil will be taken off by tanker and sold on international markets.

Fahnbulleh acknowledged this in an interview with the BBC on Wednesday, saying Rosebank was a "different proposition" to Jackdaw as the oil will be exported.

Licences for both fields were granted by the then Conservative UK government in 2022 and 2023 - sparking legal challenges from environmental groups.

The Court of Session in Edinburgh ruled last year that Rosebank and Jackdaw had been unlawfully approved because the government had failed to take into account the climate impact of burning extracted oil and gas from the sites.

It was then for the UK government to decide whether to re-approve the fields, with input from industry regulators.

Labour has previously said it is opposed to the issuing of new exploration licences but it will consider new production projects if they are tied back to existing facilities.

Why do farmers want to build reservoirs and what's stopping them?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6p9g8kj4lnpo, 4 days ago

In the face of climate change, farmers are calling for less red tape and more government funding to help them build reservoirs on their land.

They say storing more water on farmland could help reduce flooding in the winter, minimise the impact of drought in the summer and provide food security.

The reservoirs would hold winter rainwater to be used on their crops in summer.

Just 34 on-farm reservoirs have been built in England in the last five years.

The government is poised to launch a £15m scheme to go towards up to 100 farm reservoirs, but some farmers say that is a "drop in the ocean".

Which farmers need reservoirs?

Arable farmers with crops like potatoes, high-value salad, apples and pears are among those calling for solutions to their water shortages.

Philip Vaux's potatoes are destined to become posh crisps.

He farms at South Petherton in Somerset with his son and remembers the summer of 1976 but said this year has been "much drier - exceptionally dry".

"All crops have been affected, we're getting poor yields in the cereals and potatoes - for the livestock industry it's hard graft to find enough fodder for animals," he said.

They rent 30 acres which has a borehole and has been able to be irrigated, but on the rest of their 300-acre farm, yields are down around two-thirds.

Vaux said they are seeing the effects of climate change, first-hand.

"We've had two dry summers now, this year and last year. The previous two summers were very wet. So we've gone from one extreme to another."

He has changed the type of potatoes they are planting to try and find drought-resistant varieties.

A few miles away in south Somerset, James Pullen said this year's harvest of potatoes and cider apples would have been a "total disaster" if it was not for his two on-farm reservoirs.

Holding five million gallons (22 million litres) between them, he said they are now "totally empty".

Even with the water, he said his potatoes were smaller this year.

"If we are going to have a continuation of these hot dry summers it's essential we have more water storage," Pullen said.

"Anyone who's seriously growing root crops would definitely need to be able to water them because they do need an excessive amount of water, but then it's not easy for some people because you do need a reasonable block of land."

How much can they cost to build?

As well as needing space to build a reservoir, and potentially a source of water like a stream to top-up the winter rainfall, the cost of building a reservoir can be prohibitive for farmers.

Philip Vaux said it can be "exceptionally expensive" with a reservoir "costing thousands and taking ten years to get your money back" in improved crop yields.

"It's no good just digging a hole and hoping the water is going to stay there," said Vaux.

As a smaller-scale alternative he put in a second borehole last year at a cost of around £12,000 but they need to find another £8-10,000 to connect it to a pumping system to get the water out to the fields.

What other hurdles do farmers face?

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) is a membership organisation for owners of land, property and businesses in rural England and Wales.

It said farm reservoirs are "a crucial solution" to help farmers adapt to climate change as they store water from wetter winters and sudden downpours for use in irrigation during dry spells.

Building a farm reservoir needs planning consent, an abstraction licence to take water from a watercourse as well as funding.

The CLA said "too often, farm reservoir projects face lengthy approval processes that add delay, cost, and uncertainty".

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said farmers were being "blocked by outdated planning rules and a lack of proper support".

"We need a national call to store programme right now - identifying where that capacity exists, removing the barriers, and backing farmers who want to be part of the solution," he said.

"The demands of our changing climate will not wait for Whitehall to catch up."

What help is there to pay for them?

The government has promised a new round of funding for farm reservoirs will open in Autumn this year.

A Defra spokesperson said: "One of the Prime Minister's first visits was meeting farmers hit by brutal drought and dry weather, announcing a £65m package to help them through these challenging conditions, including £15m to support the development of on-farm reservoirs."

It said the £15m could support around 100 farms and if demand was greater, it would consider making more money available.

The government said it was also looking at changing planning rules and speeding up licensing for abstraction.

But Somerset farmer Philip Vaux said £15m was a "drop in the ocean".

CLA president Gavin Lane said the money was "a welcome and pragmatic move, but little more than a temporary fix".

"It will not change the reality that farming remains exceptionally difficult in this business environment, and in a country that does not have a plan for climate change adaption," he said.

Meanwhile, the National Farmers Union has called for the government to expand tax relief to include on-farm reservoirs in October's Budget.

Follow BBC Somerset on Facebook and X. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.

NI risks missing 2030 energy goals, says Stormont committee

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c623d18dl3v0o, 4 days ago

Time is running out to meet key targets within Stormont's energy strategy by 2030, a committee has said.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report followed an inquiry into the Department for the Economy's (DfE) delivery of the net zero strategy.

The PAC heard that Northern Ireland could lose out on significant economic opportunities if action was not speeded up.

Committee chair Daniel McCrossan said the government had a "responsibility to create the conditions needed for investment to proceed, otherwise there is a real risk it will go elsewhere".

During its inquiry, the PAC heard from business and energy sector representatives that uncertainty around future policies and delivery timescales was affecting investment decisions.

It heard investment could be diverted to Great Britain, Ireland and other European markets where existing factors were seen as more certain.

PAC members said it was unacceptable that delays were affecting projects which could support economic growth, create jobs and strengthen energy security.

Published in 2021, the NI energy strategy included a plan to fully decarbonise by 2050 and ensure that at least 80% of electricity consumption comes from renewable sources.

McCrossan, said that despite the strategy presenting a major economic opportunity for Northern Ireland, the evidence heard "pointed to growing frustration among businesses and investors over delays, policy uncertainty and a lack of clarity around delivery".

The PAC chair added: "Our message is clear - there can be no further delays. We want to see barriers removed so that delivery can be accelerated.

"Almost £124m of public money has been spent on energy-related programmes, since 2020. We need assurances that Northern Ireland is on track."

Report makes 18 recommendations

He said that despite the DfE "consulting widely" during the development of the strategy, the PAC found "that significant weaknesses had undermined its implementation".

PAC deputy chair Tom Buchanan said: "The next four years are critical. We need to see decisive action, stronger oversight and a clear focus on results.

"Our report makes 11 recommendations, including the publication and regular updating of the department's Energy Policy Statement. Funded plans must also be brought forward to address grid, infrastructure and energy storage constraints."

While the committee noted the department's confidence in achieving the strategy's ambition of a £2bn green economy, members said the challenge was turning ambition into results so that Northern Ireland could realise the investment, jobs and wider benefits promised by the transition to net zero.

Burnham defends Jackdaw decision as Badenoch urges PM to overturn ban on new oil and gas licences

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4zdgk081eo, 5 days ago

The UK government has approved production from the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea amid intense debate about the project's environmental and economic impact.

Ministers said the first gas could be produced by the end of this month, helping heat millions of homes, and also announced the creation of a new energy wealth fund.

But environmental campaigners said the decision would hamper efforts to tackle climate change and make "no meaningful difference" to UK energy security.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused the prime minister of "dithering" on Jackdaw and said a ban on new oil and gas licences should be repealed - but Andy Burnham said her party had "messed up" the original decision.

Jackdaw is situated 150 miles (241km) east of Aberdeen and is operated by Adura, a joint venture between Shell and Norwegian state energy firm Equinor.

A decision is yet to be taken on whether production can begin at Rosebank, the UK's largest known untapped oil field, which is located off the coast of Shetland in the North Atlantic.

Adura says Jackdaw will provide about 6% of UK gas production, enough to power 1.4 million homes. After imports are included, that amounts to about 2% of total UK demand.

The gas will be pumped to the existing Shearwater platform for processing – known as a tie-back in industry terms – before being piped to the St Fergus gas terminal in Aberdeenshire.

The UK government said that over its expected 11-year lifespan, Jackdaw would support the UK's gas supply, protect hundreds of jobs and add £2.9bn to the economy.

Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh said the gas from Jackdaw would be in homes and businesses this month - although she told BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast that it would not lower energy bills this winter.

She said the decision would "help minimise the UK's use of imported higher emission fuels as we continue our transition to renewables and nuclear".

"The decision is compatible with our legally binding climate commitments, and we remain resolute in ending new licences for oil and gas and achieving net zero by 2050," she said.

The timeline of Jackdaw and Rosebank

The UK government also announced the establishment of an energy wealth fund using tax revenue from oil and gas extraction, with an initial £2bn of funding, to invest in renewable and low carbon energy projects.

At Prime Minister's Questions, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch thanked Burnham for "finally" approving Jackdaw but accused the government of "dithering" over the decision.

She also urged Labour to repeal its ban on all new oil and gas licences.

"We have the resources, the expertise and the people. What we have lost is the confidence to make tough decisions," she said.

The prime minister said he had made a decision that the previous Tory government had "messed up".

He said they had got decisions wrong because they did not give any regard to climate obligations, and that "these things have to be considered in the round".

Burnham also said he had asked the chancellor and energy secretary to look into whether standing charges could be removed from gas bills.

Scotland's First Minister John Swinney said he hoped the announcement would provide some certainty for the north east of Scotland.

"It is vital that the economic benefits of our energy are felt here in Scotland and used to bring energy bills down, rather than flowing to the Treasury to plug more short-term spending gaps," said the SNP leader.

He also welcomed the creation of an energy wealth fund, which he said should be "prioritised for offshore renewable opportunities and be ringfenced to be focused on the north east of Scotland".

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said the decision was a victory for Scotland's oil and gas workers, but added: "They should never have had to wait this long for common sense to prevail."

Business leaders in Aberdeen said it was "exactly the sort of pragmatic call the North Sea has been crying out for", and unions also welcomed the decision.

But the co-leader of the Scottish Greens, Ross Greer, described the approval as "climate vandalism".

He said: "It is a devastating betrayal of our children's future and it won't even lower energy bills in the here and now."

Environmental campaigners argue that this summer's heatwaves demonstrate the need to tackle climate change by rejecting both Jackdaw and Rosebank.

Areeba Hamid, the co-executive director of Greenpeace, said approving Jackdaw was "the wrong decision" in terms of lowering energy bills, providing energy security, and addressing climate change.

Oxfam said the government had "drilled straight through the UK's climate commitments" and accused the prime minister of sending "the wrong signal as the impacts of climate change intensify".

The charity says the government must commit to not approving any new oil and gas licences, including the proposals for Rosebank.

Jackdaw sits close to the boundary between the British and Norwegian sectors of the North Sea, in an area where Westminster originally granted licences to explore for oil and gas in 1970 and 1989.

The field was discovered in 2005 but it was expensive and technically difficult to exploit.

Shell did not commit to its development until 2022, shortly after the Conservative government had granted consent for production.

But in January 2025, after a challenge by environmentalists, the Court of Session in Edinburgh ruled that consent for Jackdaw and Rosebank had been granted unlawfully.

The judge, Lord Ericht, said the developers should have provided a more detailed account of the fields' impact on climate change as part of the permitting process.

The judge allowed the companies to continue with preparatory work short of producing oil and gas while they crafted new environmental impact assessments taking into account the eventual effect of actually burning the fossil fuels, not just the emissions which would be created in extracting them.

When BBC News visited the platform this summer, Adura CEO Neil McCulloch said its approval was vital to avoid domestic supply shortages this winter.

However, the UK government has previously suggested that Jackdaw will have little impact on energy security and none on reducing domestic gas and electricity bills.

In August, in an interim response to a consultation on the future of the country's gas supplies, Energy Minister Michael Shanks said the UK would inevitably become more reliant on imports as domestic production declined.

"With diminishing output from the North Sea over the past decades, any gas produced from the UK Continental Shelf represents a tiny fraction of global demand and so will not lower prices nor materially boost supply," wrote Shanks.

Labour has previously said it is opposed to the issuing of new exploration licences but it will consider new production projects if they are tied back to existing facilities.

McCulloch described the Jackdaw decision as "an important and positive step forward" - but said attention now turned to Rosebank.

He has urged the UK government to approve production from the field, in which Adura owns an 80% stake. The other 20% is held by London-based Ithaca Energy.

Rosebank contains an estimated 300 million to 500 million barrels of oil.

But while most of Jackdaw's gas is likely to be consumed in the UK, Rosebank's oil will be taken off by tanker and sold on international markets.

EA forces council to curb lake flood risk

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ck7vp1qdrp61o, 6 days ago

A lake is failing safety standards and requires improvements worth more than £1m to "reduce the risk of life" posed by a potential flood.

The Environment Agency (EA) has served an enforcement notice to Gateshead Council over the condition of the lake at Watergate Forest Park.

The notice means the authority must reduce the risk of the lake overflowing during extreme rain by February in order to avoid being taken to court.

The Reform-UK led authority said the works required would be carried out in the coming months.

The local authority's leader Nick Allan repeatedly branded the EA the "flat earth society" at a council meeting.

He said carrying out the works themselves would be "significantly more cost effective" than potentially facing penalties from the agency, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

But he questioned the fact that only contractors Esh had bid for the council scheme and the fact the costs of the repairs had jumped from an original £400,000 estimate to £1.2m.

Reform councillor Graham Keating said something was not "working properly" if only one company had come through the North East Procurement Organisation (NEPO) framework.

The authority's head Dale Owens said NEPO was "well proven" to offer savings to local councils and explained that the cost increase was due to various factors, including inflation.

Allan said he had tried to stop the contract being awarded to Esh but it had been too late.

He said he did not think the "financial interests of the council were being served by the current procurement process.

The works will include a reinforcement of the reservoir's existing spillway using asphalt and additional concrete protection measures designed to accommodate a one-in-10,000-year flood event.

The lake was designated as a reservoir in 2021.

Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram and listen to Radio Newcastle on BBC Sounds.

Concerns raised over declining fish numbers

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqze4wwzpxwjo, 6 days ago

An angler has raised concerns around Alderney's declining fish population, following the island's 38th annual fishing festival.

More than 70 anglers from across the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the UK competed in the Alderney Fishing Festival last week.

But David Nash, a local fisherman and former journalist, said conger, bass, mackerel, pollock, and garfish were "very, very few" in number compared with previous years.

The festival's committee said whilst fishing "was certainly tougher than usual", there were still some good fish caught and populations and species "seem to fluctuate from year to year".

According to Nash, the people who got involved fished with "great intensity" for the whole week.

He said: "It was great, but there were certain species that over the last two or three years have been on the decline, like conger and bass, which were very, very few."

Nash said: "We only had two decent bass weighed this year, two big congers, and very few mackerel this year."

The temperature of the water and there being more seals made a difference, he said.

"What most of the anglers were talking about was that the water is very, very warm at the moment - it's climate change.

"There's also been a growth in the seal population here on Burhou Island, which keeps chasing the fish out into deeper, colder water."

Despite this, Nash was positive about the future of the festival, with eight junior anglers taking part.

"We've had a fantastically successful competition this year," he said.

In a statement, James Clark, the president of the Alderney Fishing Festival committee said: "Whilst fishing was certainly tougher than usual during the festival, there were still some good fish caught and the qualifying board ended up around 75% full.

"Fish populations and species seem to fluctuate from year to year, with some species being more abundant in certain years and less abundant in others.

"We're very pleased with the support from our anglers and appreciate how many people entered the festival."

In previous years, the States of Guernsey released data indicating fish populations were in decline.

Follow BBC Guernsey on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk.

Northern Ireland needs 'courage and leadership' to tackle climate change

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cxzd6j5q0g7eo, 6 days ago

"Courage and leadership" are needed to ensure Northern Ireland catches up on tackling climate change.

The new chair of the Climate Change Committee, Nigel Topping, is spending two days on a fact-finding mission to hear the thoughts of people across different sectors.

He said Northern Ireland was a small nation that could be "agile and innovative" in tackling challenges like increasing renewable energy, improving waste management and reducing emissions.

But he warned that a failure to act would mean missing out on innovation opportunities, paying more for energy and damaging the health of children.

The committee is an independent body advising the UK and devolved governments on emissions targets.

Over the course of a two-day visit, Topping is meeting farmers, people from the business sector and politicians.

It is being described as a fact-finding mission, looking at "challenges and opportunities".

He acknowledged that politics in Northern Ireland was "complex" and that "when things flip-flop, it doesn't help", due to the impact on investment decisions and people's choices.

But he said there was "a real sense of collectively wanting to catch up" and avoid anyone being left behind on the road to net zero.

"You've had these lags where there's been no ministers sitting and so there hasn't been policy - there's been civil servants working but no policies," he said.

"It's going to take some real courage and leadership from all sectors of society to make sure that the just transition process is a conversation, that it doesn't just disappear into polarised views in different corners of different rooms."

Northern Ireland was the last part of these islands to adopt climate change legislation, which brought in legally-binding targets for reducing emissions.

Topping said people were experiencing climate change firsthand, with the effects of extreme weather being felt around the UK.

And he added that that would continue, until emissions reached net zero.

"But I see this as a race between our kind of obstinate, greedy selves and our brilliant, innovative selves," he said.

"And all of us have a bit of both of those extremes and we have those as societies, and I think if we can really tap into backing ourselves as innovators, then we can take this as an opportunity.

"The most important thing for me is that we're going to do this and we're going to have to do this because this is a collective chance for humanity.

"So we can either see it as a burden and complain all of our way and be laggards, or we can see it as an opportunity and say, we're resilient, we're adaptive, we're innovative.

'Poison children's lungs'

When asked what will be the consequences of not taking that "opportunity", he is blunt.

"There's two ways of answering that question. One would be, oh, if Northern Ireland doesn't do anything, it doesn't make much difference to the world," he said.

"The other would be, if Northern Ireland doesn't do anything, it misses out on all the innovation opportunities, because other people take those.

"It continues to poison its children's lungs because it doesn't fix the air quality, and it continues to pay more for energy than it needs to.

"So that's like, dumb, dumb, dumb - why would you do that?

"So don't get stuck in the we're only small, what difference do we make?

"But see it as an opportunity as a small nation to be agile and innovative and derive benefit in all those different areas."

The immortal jellyfish can beat ageing. It could inspire treatments for diseases of old age

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20261016-the-rejuvenating-secrets-of-the-immortal-jellyfish, 7 days ago

The immortal jellyfish is capable of winding back its lifecycle to become young again. Scientists are unlocking its cellular secrets to find ways human cells could rejuvenate too.

The tiny translucent jellyfish Turritopsis dohrnii is surprisingly hard to kill. The marine biologist Maria Miglietta of Texas A&M University at Galveston has cut them, boiled them, starved them, overloaded their tanks with salt or plopped them in fresh water – but the nifty creatures seem to cheat death every time.

Under duress, they stop in their tracks and fall to the bottom of their tank. Then something astonishing happens: the animals transform into balls of cells that bear no resemblance to the tentacled umbrella shape of adult jellyfish, known as the medusa. Within one to three days, a structure called a polyp – an early jellyfish life stage – buds off from this ball of cells and then grows into a colony, which will eventually sprout new medusae.

"From one jellyfish that doesn't die, then you get this colony that can form hundreds more," Miglietta says. And each one of these new jellyfish can, in principle, rejuvenate the same way – exhibiting a seemingly endless capacity to wind back the clock to youth.

Miglietta and other scientists are now studying the genetic and molecular processes that make Turritopsis dohrnii's death-defying feat possible. By unlocking these secrets, scientists eventually hope to explore whether they can trigger similar kinds of processes in humans. The goal is not to turn elderly people back into babies, Benjamin Button-style – an idea that's firmly in the realms of science fiction – but to coax cells and tissues into more youthful states to heal wounds and treat age-related maladies.

"The holy grail of this kind of thing, I think, would be regenerative biology: trying to reverse ageing-related degeneration or degradation," says Michael Koldobskiy, a pediatric oncologist and physician-scientist at Johns Hopkins. "We're a long way away from harnessing that for human benefit, but I think understanding these organisms that evolved these processes millions of years ago could potentially really pay off."

Turritopsis dohrnii's regenerative talents were first reported in 1992 by an Italian scientist who was keeping the animals in the lab and forgot to feed them over a weekend. Expecting to find them dead when he returned, "instead he found new polyps in the container", Miglietta says.

Soon, the biologist Stefano Piraino of Italy's University of Salento started to take an interest in what made this feat of rejuvenation possible. As embryos develop, so-called stem cells multiply and morph into the nerve cells, muscle cells and various other cell types that make up the body. Usually, they're stuck in that particular cell type until they age and die. But Piraino discovered that, during the immortal jellyfish's rejuvenation, certain tissues in the medusa undergo a "transdifferentiation" process where they revert back to a stem cell-type state and then specialise into other cell types.

"Adult cells become 'undifferentiated' and become something else that is needed to form the polyp," says Miglietta, who used to work in Piraino's lab.

Turritopsis dohrnii's ability to rejuvenate earned it the nickname "immortal jellyfish". It is – as far as scientists know – unique in the animal kingdom. While some lizards, worms and amphibians can regrow lost or injured body parts, none come close to reverting adult bodies back into babies. Turritopsis dohrnii is a remarkable demonstration that ageing and mortality is not always a biological inevitability (though scientists can't rule out that it doesn't eventually die naturally).

Genetic clues

Today, Miglietta and others are working to dissect the genetic processes that allow cells to go back in time. The ultimate dream, Koldobskiy says, would be to identify the molecular "switch" that controls this process. If the same control switch exists in humans, then perhaps it can be triggered to coax human cells to more youthful states. If possible, that could accelerate the healing of wounds or injured tissue after strokes or heart attacks, or perhaps even reverse the damage that occurs in age-driven vision loss or the neurodegeneration that happens in Alzheimer's disease.

"We're not going to shrink down to an embryo again and restart," he says, "but at the organ and tissue level, I think it's very much a possibility."

The research is young, but is already starting to reveal some clues. In a 2022 study, one team of researchers compared the genes of Turritopsis dohrnii and a related species that is not known to rejuvenate – though it's hard to be certain that it's not capable of doing so, as many jellyfish are understudied, says molecular biologist and bioinformatician Victor Quesada of the University of Oviedo in Spain.

Compared to the other species, Turritopsis dohrnii's DNA contained more copies of genes that produce proteins to help repair mutations and other kinds of DNA damage that accumulates with age. The immortal jellyfish also had more copies of genes that produce proteins involved in maintaining structures called telomeres – little caps on the end of DNA strands that protect the genetic material from damage. Normally, telomeres shorten with age, making the DNA more susceptible to damage, but the immortal jellyfish's enhanced ability to repair them could be one key to its longevity, Quesada says.

This is just the beginning of understanding the secrets of Turritopsis dohrnii's rejuvenation strategy and whether any aspect of it could be applied to humans, Quesada says.

"We assume in many diseases, that there's no way back," he says. "Perhaps there might be a way back, if we [learn] enough about… how those mechanisms work."

Miglietta, meanwhile, has been comparing the genes activated across Turritopsis dohrnii's different life stages and examining the ones that are only activated during the ball-like cyst stage, where cells reverse fate and then create new polyps. "That may be an indication that those genes are involved in that unique process," she says.

In 2019 and 2021 research, she and her colleagues found a heightened activity of mysterious genes with unknown functions, but also ones involved in repairing DNA and maintaining telomeres.

Another preliminary study by Miglietta found that there's some overlap in the genes being overactivated in the cyst stage and genes that have been linked to longevity in humans. That underscores the idea that there may be common pathways between the two species, Miglietta says.

Miglietta is now collaborating with Koldobskiy to better understand these processes and eventually explore whether they can be induced in human cells. Scientists have already discovered certain ways of inducing rejuvenation-like processes in mammalian cells, but applying this to human tissues has proven difficult. Perhaps studying Turritopsis dohrnii will reveal other, more effective ways of doing so, Koldobskiy hopes.

Fragility of an immortal organism

On top of its potential practical benefits in medicine, Turritopsis dohrnii also offers more philosophical lessons. "It's comforting to think that nature has found a solution to one of the main problems of humans: ageing and death," Miglietta says. And indeed, she suspects that Turritopsis dohrnii's incredible resilience is one reason why the species has become so widespread across the world's oceans, from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean and Japan.

But while it may seem invincible, the immortal jellyfish is also fragile. Miglietta says that there's a proportion of animals in her lab that seem incapable of rejuvenating. And among the ones that do, there may be an eventual limit to the number of times they can rejuvenate before dying of old age. It's hard to know for sure because it's difficult to maintain the species for long durations in the lab as it seems to require specific conditions to survive. And, in the wild, there's plenty of things that probably do kill them – including fluctuating availability of their plankton food, predators or algae that smother jellyfish colonies.

More like this:

• Harnessing the superpowers of the most resilient life form on Earth

• This super-cooled squirrel could revolutionise emergency care

• What naked mole-rats can teach us about treating cancer

As such, the immortal jellyfish offers an important lesson, says Maria Pascual-Torner of Spain's Institute of Marine Sciences, who conducted the 2022 study with Quesada. "Although it has the ability to rejuvenate and, theoretically, not die from ageing, it is at the same time an extremely vulnerable organism," she says. "The immortal jellyfish also reminds us that life and death are inseparable parts of the same reality." In other words, even nature's most immortal organism has to face death.

For more science, technology, environment and health stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Crews adapt to tackle wildfire and flood 'extremes'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm20wne2g0vdo, 10 days ago

A senior fire officer believes her firefighters are now in a cycle of dealing with wildfires and floods.

Anna Morris Jones, a group manager at Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service, was involved in coordinating its wildfire response over the summer which she described as "quite traumatic".

She said it appeared as a result of climate change, "we have two extremes, the wildfires in the summer and then the flooding in the winter".

As a result, she said they were now in a situation where they were giving out wildfire advice while dealing with serious flooding.

Morris Jones said: "We're really starting some of our preparedness and prevention messages from almost from January, February, onwards, which I know sounds sometimes silly when we're in the depth of winter."

She is a wildfire support officer for the fire service and was involved in helping neighbouring services over the summer.

That put an extra strain on her own resources.

"We had an enormous amount of fires as well and we do help our cross border colleagues," she said.

"But that day we had numerous calls of our own that we were dealing with."

The fires across the West Midlands caused widespread damage and affected dozens of homes.

Morris Jones said it had been "unprecedented" and she had not dealt with wildfires that serious before.

There have been calls to give fire services more resources to deal with wildfires and for a change in focus to help the country prepare for them.

West Midlands chief fire officer Simon Tuhill has called for more specialist resources to fight wildfires, such as 4x4 vehicles and aerial firefighting capability.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said leaders should be "better prepared next time" and said a summit would be held in the coming weeks.

"We shouldn't live through another summer like the one that we just have," Burnham said.

Morris Jones said: "I think we're doing all we can.

"We need more equipment, training and the expertise that go alongside that."

One strategy, Shropshire Fire Service has adopted is to work more closely with farmers and landowners who Morris Jones said had been "absolutely amazing this summer in helping us".

Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.

'What the hell did this?': The orca brothers preying on great white sharks

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20261015-sharks-washed-up-one-after-another-after-another-why-orcas-are-hunting-great-whites, 10 days ago

When scientists first found dead great whites around South Africa, they couldn't believe their eyes. All bore the same marks of mutilation – their bodies were torn open and their livers had been extracted – and pointed to the same culprit. These deadly tactics are now seen around the world.

On 3 May 2017, a huge carcass of a great white shark washed up on the shore of Gansbaai, a fishing village near Cape Town in South Africa. The female shark weighed 1,100kg (2,425lb) and had a gaping wound on her underside, where her 90kg (198lb) liver had been extracted.

"We were like, 'What the hell did this?'" recalls Alison Towner, who led the necropsy on the dead shark.

In the months that followed, five more great white carcasses turned up. Their bodies all bore the same distinctive scars; they had been torn open and their livers removed.

"It was extraordinary," says Towner, a shark biologist at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. "I'd seen hundreds of great white sharks at that point… never had I seen them just wash up one after another, after another."

It was the first sign that an underwater battle was unfolding. As she later learned, it would have ramifications across the world's oceans.

Towner carried out necropsies on all the sharks and when she saw the same pattern of mutilation, she immediately suspected two culprits: a pair of orcas nicknamed Port and Starboard.

These two male orcas, thought to be brothers, were first seen around Cape Town in 2015 and christened Port and Starboard for their distinctive dorsal fins, which collapsed to the left and right.

Shortly after the orca pair were spotted, divers came across a group of dead broadnose sevengill sharks. The stout bodies of these prehistoric-looking sharks were ripped open and missing their livers. "Port and Starboard arrived, right when the divers were pulling the carcasses out of the water," says Towner. "We had the victims and culprits on scene, but at the time we couldn't get our heads around what had happened."

Marine biologists and the public continued to see the two orcas up and down the Cape Town coastline, including around Dyer Island, which used to be known as "the McDonald's drive-through for great whites", due to the sharks that patrolled up and down during the winter months in search of seals, Towner says.

"There was no doubt that Dyer Island was one of the best places on the planet to see a great white," she says. But suddenly the sharks vanished. "I'm not talking about a gradual decline, I'm talking about overnight, gone."

Towner and others had their suspicions, but it wasn't until 2022 that they were able to officially connect orcas with the shark killings. "It was like a crime scene investigation… we were piecing evidence together but we didn't have the silver bullet. Then we got it."

On 16 May 2022, a hobbyist drone pilot filmed three orcas preying on a 3m (10ft)-long great white shark off the coast of Mossel Bay, 400km (250 miles) east of Cape Town. In the encounter, one of the three orcas used its snout to push the shark to the surface and rolled it onto its right side, before biting into an area near its pectoral fins, releasing a pool of blood. The orca then dived underwater with the shark in its mouth, while another orca appeared to grab the shark's tail before disappearing out of sight.

Orcas have now been observed killing great white sharks off the coast of California and Australia too, revealing their remarkable hunting prowess, intelligence and teamwork. With climate change and environmental pressures bringing these species into closer proximity, scientists warn that the battle between the top marine apex predators has dramatic ramifications for life in the ocean.

Battle of the apex predators

Orcas (also known as killer whales) and great white sharks sit at the top of their respective food chains and play an important ecological role in the ocean. They compete for similar prey, such as seals and dolphins.

Killer whales are the only known predators of great white sharks. "They are very selective of the organs that they gain nourishment from and the liver is the most nutritious part of a shark," says Towner. Great white sharks have huge livers which they use as fuel tanks for their lengthy migrations and to maintain their buoyancy. The liver of an adult great white can account for 28% of its body weight, with 90% of its volume coming from high-energy lipids.

In Australia, orcas have also been observed removing and eating the lips and tongues of baleen whales as well as the pectoral muscle of penguins, says Isabella Reeves, a marine biologist specialising in orcas at the University of Western Australia. This targeted hunting method is "nutritionally driven", she says.

It is difficult to know whether this hunting strategy is a new behaviour or simply being observed more as "there are so many more eyes on the water now" with the rise of underwater cameras and drone technology, says Deborah Giles, an orca scientist at the University of California, Davis, and researcher at the non-profit SeaDoc Society, based on Orcas Island, Washington. "It might simply be that we're looking for it, and we're seeing it."

The hunting method reveals orcas' "extreme intelligence, and their ability to take advantage of the prey that is available to them within their home ranges", says Giles. "Great white sharks were thought to be the apex predator in the ocean, but it's very clear that it's actually killer whales that are the top predator."

Reeves agrees that orcas "have an edge" over white sharks. "I think it comes down to their culture. They're not lone animals, they live in family-driven societies with clear rules and foundations."

Great white sharks are primarily solitary animals. Orcas, meanwhile, live and hunt in social groups, known as pods, and use unique vocal "dialects" to communicate with each other. This structure means that orcas are "very coordinated in their hunting strategies", says Towner.

Very occasionally, orcas are spotted hunting by themselves. On 18 June 2023, Starboard was filmed hunting a great white in a solo attack. He killed the juvenile 2.5m (8ft)-long shark and extracted its liver, all in under two minutes. Tourists on a boat filmed the orca with the shark's liver in his mouth, as gulls scavenged the oily liver residue on the sea surface. The next day, a carcass of a second mutilated shark (measuring 3.5m/11.5ft) washed ashore nearby, suggesting that Starboard killed at least two great whites.

"This showed us that Starboard is a highly sophisticated predator… that he doesn't need an accomplice," says Towner.

Shark paralysis

Erick Higuera, a marine biologist and wildlife filmmaker in Baja California, couldn't believe his eyes when he reviewed a clip from his own drone footage in 2020.

Higuera, who leads the orcas programme at the non-profit Conexiones Terramar and Pelagic Life, had filmed a pod of five orcas preying on a shark in the Gulf of California. "At the time I knew they were hunting a shark, but when I zoomed in months later I realised it was a juvenile great white," he says.

In the footage, the orcas push the great white to the surface before working together to turn it upside down. They then drag the shark underwater and reemerge with its liver in their mouths. "The orcas were ramming the shark and bumping it. Then, they removed the liver and ate it," Higuera says, adding: "They didn't show any signs of eating the carcass, only the liver."

The orcas are members of the "Moctezuma pod", named after a prominent adult male. This pod had already been observed hunting Mobula rays in 2018. But two years later they had moved onto bigger prey: great whites and whale sharks.

In 2022, Higuera filmed five orcas of the Moctezuma pod hunting another juvenile great white. The orcas pushed the shark onto its back and pushed it to the surface. The shark was bleeding and its liver was exposed.

Turning the shark upside down induces a paralysed state known as tonic immobility, says Higuera. "It is essentially a natural, temporary paralysis that occurs when the shark is inverted, rendering it completely inert and unable to react within less than a minute.

"Once the shark has been safely neutralised, the orcas can easily slice open its abdomen to extract and consume the energy-rich liver without risking injury from a dangerous counterattack."

The hunting strategy is a learned behaviour, according to Higuera. "It's a cultural learning in this family, they pass the information along the generations. It comes from the matriarch."

In the Gulf of California, warming waters have increased the presence of juvenile great white sharks, positioning them directly in the habitat of the Moctezuma pod, says Higuera.

"Climate change is bringing these apex predators into closer proximity, but it is not directly changing how they hunt, [creating] opportunities for orcas to apply their existing, sophisticated hunting strategies to a new target."

This shift may also be happening elsewhere. Orca predation of great whites has also been documented in Australia. In October 2023, the carcass of a 4.7m (15.4ft)-long great white shark washed ashore in southeastern Australia. The shark was missing its liver, digestive and reproductive organs.

"We did the forensics work, as you would for a crime scene, and were able to confirm that there was killer whale DNA in the wounds. It was the first predation confirmed within Australian water," says Reeves, who led the research. Orca predation of great whites has been witnessed elsewhere along the Australian coast but remains rare as there are few areas where the two apex predators happen to aggregate, says Reeves.

Flight of the great whites

The orca attacks may have triggered dramatic changes in great white behaviour in South Africa. The sharks have abruptly fled their previous habitat in the Western Cape and either gone offshore or moved east along the coastline, says Towner. The marine biologist compares it to the behaviour of predators in the Serengeti in Tanzania.

"Say you have lions introduced to an area where leopards are the top predator, the leopards start to forage more nocturnally to avoid overlapping with the lions in the day," she says. "But the wild dogs do something completely different. They completely move away. We surmise that great white sharks are a lot like wild dogs in their response to another novel apex predator in their space."

South Africa's population of great white sharks was already on the brink before the orca attacks were discovered. A 2016 study spanning six years concluded that South Africa's great whites were "facing extinction" due to poaching for shark jaws and fins, pollution, the depletion of food sources, and the use of shark nets and baited hooks. The species is also suffering from extremely low genetic diversity, according to a 2015 study.

Since then, the population has suffered a further decline, says Sara Andreotti, a marine biologist from Stellenbosch University in South Africa who led both studies. While many are unintentionally killed in fisheries as bycatch, she says, shark nets – which are placed along the coast to keep them away from popular beaches – are the main legal cause of great white fatalities, followed by longline fisheries, which kill smaller juvenile sharks that make up the bulk of the predators' diet.

"We're not giving them a chance to recover, to survive," says Andreotti. "We're seeing them go [locally] extinct before our eyes."

Orca predation is exacerbating the decline, with significant repercussions for the wider marine ecosystem, scientists say.

In False Bay, Cape Town, a relatively stable great white population was documented until 2015. The great whites had completely disappeared from the area by mid-2018, with a study noting that shark-eating orcas likely contributed to the decline.

Off the coast of California, a similar flight pattern has been observed. Brief visits from orcas displaced great white sharks from the Southeast Farallon Island, a shark hotspot located about 27 miles (43km) west of San Francisco, according to a 2019 study analysing long-term electronic tagging data at the site.

The tags showed that the great whites began vacating the area within minutes of the arrival of the orcas. They didn't return to the island until the following season, with knock-on effects for other marine species, such as elephant seals, which great whites usually hunt. The data revealed four to seven fewer predation events on elephant seals in the years white sharks left.

More like this:

• Canada's Atlantic waters are attracting more great white sharks

• A cranial organ allows sperm whales to sink ships

• How the world realised whales are singing

By encouraging the displacement of great white sharks from their traditional gathering sites in the Western Cape, orcas are already impacting other species, including critically endangered African penguins which face increased predation from sharks, says Towner.

Meanwhile, another type of shark, the bronze whaler shark, has moved into the territory now that great whites are no longer present, Towner says. These sharks are now the main target species during cage diving, given the absence of great whites in the Western Cape.

The disappearance of great whites in False Bay, Cape Town, has triggered a ripple effect down the food chain, leading to an increase in their prey, especially Cape fur seals and sevengill sharks, according to a recent study. This in turn has resulted in a decline in smaller sharks and fish.

When orcas displace or kill great white sharks from a part of the coastline, the ecological consequences can be significant, says Towner. "We're now seeing those effects play out in real time."

For more science, technology, environment and health stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Fourth council opposes £5bn CO2 pipeline plan

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr93zyqdx1e0o, 11 days ago

Cheshire East Council has become the fourth local authority to formally oppose the proposed Peak Cluster carbon dioxide pipeline.

Councillors unanimously backed a motion calling on the government not to approve the scheme until concerns over safety, environmental impacts and effects on local communities are addressed.

The £5bn project would transport carbon dioxide captured at cement and lime plants in Derbyshire and Staffordshire to storage sites beneath the Irish Sea.

Plans for the project would be drawn up in a way that "anticipates, understands and addresses potential local impacts, wherever possible," said the company.

Supporters say it could cut emissions from hard-to-decarbonise industries and protect jobs, while opponents have raised concerns about safety, environmental damage and disruption during construction.

Cheshire East Council joins Derbyshire County Council, Wirral Council and Cheshire West and Chester Council in formally objecting to the proposals.

The motion was brought by Conservative councillors Lesley Smetham and Hayley Whitaker, with independent councillor Michael Gorman and Labour councillor Dawn Clark also supporting an amended version.

It called on the council to formally object to the scheme, submit its concerns to both the developer and the Planning Inspectorate, and ask Peak Cluster representatives to present the proposals directly to councillors.

The motion also called for letters to be sent to government ministers requesting that approval should not be granted until concerns raised by the council had been resolved.

Residents protesting outside the meeting at Tatton Park were joined by a series of public speakers raising concerns about issues including safety, impacts on farming and rural communities, and the overall cost of the scheme.

Presenting the motion, Smetham said tackling climate change was "essential" but argued "we should not do harm during the process".

She described Peak Cluster as a "costly and extreme proposal" and said there was "no benefit" for the people of Cheshire East.

However, Labour councillor Heather Seddon said the scientific case for carbon capture and storage at a national level was "compelling", but argued the local case for the project had yet to be made.

Council leader Nick Mannion also said action was needed on climate change but questioned whether Peak Cluster represented "the safest and most appropriate response for the cement industry".

Last month, Peak Cluster announced changes to parts of the proposed route and reduced the width of the safeguarded pipeline corridor following consultation feedback from more than 5,500 respondents.

A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said the government was delivering industrial-scale carbon capture projects that would support jobs and help decarbonise industries such as cement.

The department said sectors including cement were difficult to decarbonise without carbon capture technology, but added that the Peak Cluster project was being developed privately and was not receiving funding from the department.

The motion was approved unanimously by all 66 councillors present.

After the vote, Whitaker said she was pleased councillors had come together on the issue, although she felt it should have reached full council sooner.

Peak Cluster's chief executive David Parkin said he understood that "councillors across the region have strong views about the project, and we are committed to working with them, as those that know the area best".

"This will help us gain as much information as possible as we develop our plans for the project and design Peak Cluster in a way that anticipates, understands and addresses potential local impacts, wherever possible," he said.

"As our plans continue to evolve, all aspects of the project will be subject to rigorous independent regulatory scrutiny."

See more Cheshire stories from the BBC and follow BBC North West on X. For more local politics coverage, BBC Politics North West is on BBC One on Sunday at 10:00am and on BBC iPlayer.

Minneapolis withdrawal was 'surrender', Trump's ex-border patrol chief tells BBC

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ck20rery78lro, 2 days ago

The former US border patrol chief who became the public face of the highly controversial deportation drive in Minneapolis earlier this year has defended the operation, describing the withdrawal of agents from the city as a "surrender" by the Trump administration.

Greg Bovino also told the BBC that he was "not responding" to a lawsuit filed by the family of a woman shot dead during the operation. He appeared to dismiss the legal action, praising the officers deployed to Minneapolis and saying "people do lawsuits all the time".

Bovino, 56, was removed from his role shortly after the fatal shootings of US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in January.

The two shootings, which were captured on video, triggered a bipartisan backlash and widespread protests. US President Donald Trump then said he was "going to de-escalate a little bit" and withdrew hundreds of immigration agents from the city.

Earlier this month, Good's family filed two civil lawsuits against the Trump administration over her killing, alleging wrongful death and a conspiracy to interfere with the civil rights of protesters.

One of the lawsuits names several top officials, including Bovino and Jonathan Ross, the agent who shot Good, "for their respective individual roles in the operation that led to Renee's death". It alleges that the government's operation in Minneapolis created "an unprecedented environment for state-sponsored violence".

Asked about Bovino's remarks, the family's lawyers said he was "spewing propaganda" and could not be "judge, jury and executioner". They added: "Our legal team looks forward to the depositions of Mr Bovino and all of the defendants in this matter".

A White House spokeswoman previously called the lawsuits "baseless".

Speaking in Detroit, where he was campaigning for tougher immigration enforcement, Bovino said the administration "threw the towel in" and called for more deportations, which he said were now at a "virtual standstill".

He added that he regretted "not going harder in Minnesota and arresting even more illegal aliens".

Bovino said his agents in Minneapolis were the "real victims" of what he called "the most violence that any law enforcement mission ever in the history of the United States has been up against".

Challenged by the BBC over how immigration agents handled both shooting incidents, Bovino rejected suggestions that video evidence undermined his claim that Good and Pretti had intended to harm the agents.

"The evidence is that violence was perpetrated against agents of the US government, and this is a society of laws and people need to follow the law. If not, there are consequences," he said.

Trump initially blamed Good's own actions for her death, saying just hours after she was killed that she "violently, willfully and viciously ran over the ICE officer". Weeks later, he called her death a "tragedy" and said agents were sometimes "going to make a mistake".

The withdrawal from Minnesota, which saw some 700 immigration agents leave the state, also saw Bovino removed from his post. The operation was taken over by the White House 'border tsar' Tom Homan.

When asked why he was removed, Bovino told the BBC: "You'd have to ask the administration. I still haven't gotten the final word on that."

Kristi Noem, who was Homeland Security secretary at the time of the operation, was fired by Trump in March.

Bovino has since retired from the US border patrol. He has become known for his hardline stance on immigration, often going further in his statements than Trump's own officials and claiming without evidence that 100 million people are illegally in the US and should be deported.

He has called for "total spectrum immigration enforcement" with support from the US military involving "cruise ships packed to the gills, cars, planes, trains, automobiles, all headed out of the United States packed with illegal aliens".

When asked about Bovino's comments about Minneapolis, a White House spokesperson said "the president has delivered the largest reduction in illegal immigration in modern history".

"He stopped the invasion of our country and as a result of his policies more than 3 million illegal aliens have left the US," they said.

Bovino has also floated "exploring" a presidential run in 2028. "If politicians aren't going to step up and do their job then you might see something happen," he told the BBC when asked about his intentions.

Bovino recently addressed a far-right rally by activists in Michigan who are calling for authorities to deport Abdul El-Sayed, a US citizen and Democratic candidate running in the state's tightly fought race for a Senate seat.

American-born Sayed would be the first Muslim member of the US Senate if he wins the seat against Republican Mike Rogers.

Obama attacks Trump as he campaigns for Democrats ahead of midterm elections

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmj6jwe1j1gjo, yesterday

Former US President Barack Obama has attacked the Trump administration over the Iran war and high consumer prices as he hit the campaign trail for Democrats ahead of the US midterm elections.

"This election is our last best chance to at least rein in some of the foolishness of this administration," Obama told crowds in Ohio on Saturday.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump touted his administration's immigration and tariff policies at a rally in Georgia, telling supporters "we're in the golden age of America".

The midterm elections on 3 November will decide which party controls Congress for the rest of Trump's term, and therefore how easy it is for the president to carry out his plans.

Early voting has already begun and Trump cast his ballot on Saturday in Florida alongside his wife First Lady Melania Trump.

Obama targeted Trump and his cabinet members while speaking on Saturday in Ohio and Michigan, at one point mocking the president's attempt to redecorate the White House.

"After two years of chaos and cruelty and corruption and incompetence, the likes of which we have not seen in the modern era, you get a chance to say, 'enough is enough'," the former president said in Cleveland.

Obama said he sympathised with voters who rejected Democrats in 2024 over economic and inflation concerns following the Covid pandemic. But he said Trump had only himself to blame for the current state of the economy.

"If you thought everything was too expensive before 'you know who'," he said, referring to Trump without using his name, "everything is more expensive now".

Trump, meanwhile, acknowledged that oil prices were "temporarily high" but said "our country is getting stronger and stronger all the time, and those pump prices are going to come down".

The Republican president has faced significant pressure to lower fuel prices, which have jumped due to the wars in Iran and Ukraine.

Talking up the economy, Trump told the crowd in Perry "we're taking in massive amounts of money through tariffs" and repeated his pledge to offer every adult American a $5,000 (£3,700) payout if Republicans win both chambers of Congress.

He also took aim at the Democrats, telling the crowd they would "loot your wealth" and "annihilate your borders".

Using derogatory language, he accused the Democrats of trying to open up immigration from Libya, Yemen, Haiti and Somalia - countries which he described as "terror-infested".

Describing a previous meeting with several senators, he recalled: "I said, 'Why do we always have to take people from shithouse countries? Why can't we take people from, like, well... Norway, Sweden? Why not Denmark?'"

In Ohio, the current president faced an attack from his predecessor over the war in Iran, with Obama telling Democrat supporters the conflict had given Tehran "veto power" over the Strait of Hormuz.

When asked about the war earlier in the day, Trump said: "I've done it very effectively and I may have to finish it off, or maybe they'll make a deal, but I'm not sure. Either way, we win."

He was also asked whether Melania Trump would would visit Ukraine after the White House announced she secured a ceasefire in a Russian-occupied city. "We will see," he said.

'What's with all the gold?'

At his afternoon rally, Obama also took a swipe at Trump's efforts to renovate the White House.

"What's with all the gold? He's got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened up a Cheesecake Factory," Obama joked.

Obama's rally in Ohio was to show support for ex-Senator Sherrod Brown, who is running to unseat incumbent Republican Senator John Husted, and Amy Acton, who is running for state governor against Republican Vivek Ramaswamy.

Obama criticised Ramaswamy for a campaign ad released last week in which Acton's estranged mother was featured calling her a liar. The ad didn't mention that the woman's husband was charged with raping Acton when she was a child.

"In recent days, we've seen there is no line he will not cross. No low he will not sink to try to get in the limelight," Obama said. "I mean, think about this latest ad he ran."

Acton also spoke at the campaign rally before Obama to argue that Ramaswamy "has chosen to exploit my childhood" to "save his struggling campaign".

Six Flags adding seatbelts to Goliath rollercoaster following death

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c60rl9r59g0do, yesterday

Six Flags has announced it will be adding seatbelts to some of its rollercoasters after a man fell to his death on the Goliath ride in the US state of Georgia earlier this month.

The company's CEO John Reilly said in a letter to customers late on Friday that the company was reinforcing safety measure across its parks, including adding seatbelts to Goliath and similar rides, which already feature lap bar restraints.

The chain of amusement parks has 34 locations across North America, with over 220 rollercoasters in total.

Georgia's Goliath ride will remain closed pending safety reviews and, out of an abundance of caution, so will eight other rides at five other parks, Reilly added.

The CEO also said the company had hired independent engineers and ride inspection specialists to review safety procedures across all its amusement parks. The company was committed to taking action based on the experts' findings and will share progress updates, he said.

On 12 October, a 42-year-old man named Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem was killed at Six Flags Over Georgia after being ejected from the Goliath, police have said. Four other passengers were injured as he fell.

An investigation into the incident is ongoing.

"Our hearts remain with the family and loved ones of Hassan Kariem, those injured, and everyone impacted by the tragic incident," Reilly said in his letter.

"What happened has deeply affected all of us at Six Flags."

The Goliath ride opened in 2006 and has an elevation of 200ft (60m), a 170ft plunge, a 540-degree spiral and a speed of up to 70mph (112km/h), according to the park website. On its "thrill scale", Six Flags ranks Goliath at level four out of five

More than 28 million guests visit Six Flags locations every year, according to the company's website.

October's fatal incident was not the first time a passenger has been hurt at one of the parks.

An Iraq War veteran died in 2011 after being ejected from a ride in New York. In 2013, a woman died after slipping from her restraints and falling 75ft from a coaster in Texas.

In 2022, a 22-year-old man died from a brain injury after riding the X2 coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California. His family settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the theme park in August.

The following month, the California park announced it was closing its X2 rollercoaster after more 100 people alleged that they had suffered brain injuries from the ride.

Iran trying harder to target US personnel in Middle East, intelligence chief warns

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmn8w1ddg2x9o, 2 days ago

Iran has "substantially increased efforts to target US personnel" in the Middle East and other areas, the US national intelligence director has warned in a memo seen by the BBC.

Jay Clayton's assessment come as the US State Department makes adjustments to staffing at diplomatic posts in the region, including the ordered departure earlier this week of non-emergency US embassy staff from Saudi Arabia.

The order came in response to escalating attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis against Saudi Arabia in the past month.

Clayton's memo was marked unclassified and sent to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday.

It said: "The lethal plotting efforts by the Iranians against US citizens have reached advanced stages in both the Middle East and certain other countries."

Clayton said he was making every effort to downgrade as much intelligence as possible so Rubio could share it with US State Department personnel.

A US official told the BBC: "When it comes to our staffing at embassies, we constantly evaluate new information about the security environment.

"The threat of Houthi attacks and of Iranian terror plots targeting US officials are informing our decisions on staffing adjustments for embassies on [Restricted Operations] Status in the region."

At least 21 people have now been killed in Houthi attacks on Saudi airports since the start of October, according to Saudi authorities.

One missile strike on Riyadh's international airport on 10 October killed 13 people and injured 308 others – the deadliest attack in Saudi Arabia in more than a decade.

The Houthis say the attacks on Saudi Arabia are in retaliation to what they call a Saudi blockade of ports and airports in their territory, as well as an air strike on Sanaa airport they blame on the kingdom.

Yemen has been devastated by a civil war that began in 2014, when the Houthis ousted the government from Sanaa. The conflict escalated in 2015, after the Saudi-led coalition intervened in an attempt to restore the government's rule.

A four-year-old informal ceasefire began to unravel in July, when the Houthis announced a "maritime embargo" against Saudi Arabia and began missile and drone attacks. Some 155 civilians have been killed in Yemen since, according to the Houthi-run health ministry.

This particular conflict has re-emerged on the backdrop of a wider conflict in the Middle East.

The US and Israel launched an air campaign against Iran in February, killing its leader and prompting the regime in Tehran to retaliate with strikes on US allies across the region and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around a fifth of the world's oil and gas usually travels.

In June, the US and Iran reached a preliminary agreement to end the war and reopen the strait, but it collapsed within weeks after the Iranian attacks on shipping resumed and the US reinstated its blockade.

The situation in the Strait of Hormuz has seen oil prices surge, exacerbated by the Houthis' "maritime embargo" against Saudi Arabia.

White House says Melania Trump brokered truce for Ukraine city 'on brink of disaster'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6vgxkvl4w5eo, 2 days ago

US First Lady Melania Trump has "successfully secured" a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, the White House has said.

It said the truce in the "front-line war city on the brink of disaster" without medicine, food and clean water would begin on 29 October.

Ukraine and Russia confirmed the deal was agreed to evacuate residents and deliver aid. They both said their forces would stop firing at 01:00 GMT on 27 October.

Oleshky was seized by Russia during the first days of its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Trapped between Ukrainian positions across the Dnipro River and Russian forces to the east, residents have recently resorted to eating garden weeds to survive.

The White House statement said Melania Trump and one of her representatives had worked "directly with Russian and Ukrainian leadership to define the terms of the localised ceasefire".

"Non-military, civilian leaders from both countries will work together to visit Oleshky residents in their homes and determine the level of assistance they require," she is quoted as saying.

"Residents who wish to evacuate will receive co-ordinated support and transportation to their preferred destination. I anticipate some will want to go to Russia, and some to Ukraine."

Melania Trump added that Oleshky residents "have limited electricity, live amid mined roads, and endure regular military attacks" and that "without my intervention, the possibility to bring humanitarian aid into the city and to evacuate the elderly would be impossible".

The statement did not say how long the ceasefire would be in place for.

Davyd Arakhamia, a Ukrainian MP who heads President Volodymyr Zelensky's party in parliament, later said "an operation to unblock the settlement of Oleshky and its surroundings will begin in the near future".

"To achieve this goal, a ceasefire will be achieved in the near future, as announced by the First Lady of the United States, Melania Trump," he said.

In Russia, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman confirmed that, "those who wish to do so will be able to leave this settlement".

Last month, some of the remaining Oleshky residents told the BBC harrowing accounts of how they were surviving in the city that was being constantly shelled and cut off from food and water.

They said that children remaining in wider Oleshky were suffering from malnutrition, a lack of medical services and were "degrading" without access to education.

Many also told the BBC there was only one hospital partially operational, opening a few days a week to perform critical amputations.

The local population was living under a "full blockade" by Russian forces, according to Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.

Ukraine says it has attempted to deliver supplies to the area but has not had success in recent months.

The Kremlin in September acknowledged that Oleshky was facing "a critical situation" and "problems with supplies of food and medicine", but added that "Russia's military was working to resolve them" and blamed Kyiv.

The Pope had been among those urging a ceasefire in the city, calling for "dialogue and peace".

Oleshky was home to 24,000 people before Russia's full-scale invasion. Now Ukraine estimates that some 6,000 people remain in the city and its surrounding areas, including 200 children.

It is also one of a number of settlements where thousands of people lost their homes to a massive flooding caused by the collapse of Nova Khakovka Dam in 2023. Ukraine and its allies accused Russia of blowing up the dam, while Russia blamed Ukraine.

While the US first lady is relatively lower profile than some of her predecessors - and only occasionally seen at White House events - she has become involved in addressing humanitarian issues stemming from the Russia-Ukraine war.

In August 2025, Melania Trump penned a letter to Putin, telling him it was "time to protect children and future generations worldwide".

Although she did not mention Ukraine by name, just days later at the White House Zelensky handed over a letter from his wife Olena, thanking her for her efforts on children.

In a rare public appearance in October the same year, the US first lady said that Putin had answered directly in writing and that her representatives were working with the Russian president's team to repatriate Ukrainian children from Russia and vice versa.

Some 34 children have reportedly been returned since 2025, including five this July.

According to US President Donald Trump, his wife has also privately expressed scepticism about Putin and his desire to achieve peace.

"I'd get home, I'd say, 'First lady, I had the most wonderful talk with Vladimir. I think we're finished'," Trump said in July last year.

"And then I'll turn on the television, or she'll say to me one time, 'Wow, that's strange because they just bombed a nursing home.'"

Additional reporting by Olga Malchevska

Father who killed Oregon school gunman describes anguish over children he couldn't save

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crgj9ndwvj9jo, 3 days ago

A father who fatally shot a gunman at his daughters' school in the US state of Oregon has described his anguish over being unable to save more pupils after "hearing children pleading for their lives".

Three students and a teacher were killed by a 16-year-old former student at Silver Rail Elementary School earlier this month. The attacker was then killed by Kaylub Giamanco.

"I want to apologise for not saving their babies," Giamanco, who has been hailed as a hero, said of his thoughts for the parents of the children killed, in an interview with Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) that aired on Friday.

"The gratitude for saving people's children is awesome, but there were ones that I didn't save."

Giamanco, 36, said he wanted to meet the victims' families and "cry with them and hold them".

He credited a teacher who fought the attacker with giving him the chance to intervene without losing his own life.

"I would love to give her a hug because that's a real true hero," he said.

The students who were killed were all boys, aged five, eight and 11. They were among six people in total who were shot in a classroom at the school, police said. Alongside the teacher who was killed, another child and a teacher were wounded.

Giamanco told OPB that the day of the attack began with breakfast and making packed lunches. He and his wife had spent extra time getting their daughters ready because it was school picture day.

The carpenter had taken lunch to work but decided to go home to eat with his wife instead. That decision brought him past the school as the attack began.

He initially wondered whether someone carrying a long gun was playing a prank. Then he saw him fire at a pickup truck and head towards the school.

Giamanco retrieved a handgun from his vehicle and called emergency services.

"I said, 'I'm sorry, I have to go in. People are going to die'," he told the broadcaster.

He followed the attacker, who shot through the school's locked glass doors. Hearing children pleading for their lives and more gunfire, Giamanco crawled towards the building.

"I told myself this is probably the last thing that I'm ever going to do," he said.

Giamanco crawled through a shattered window and reached the classroom, where a teacher was locked in a struggle with the gunman. He opened the door and fired.

Giamanco told OPB he fired again when the attacker reached for his weapon. He then placed his own gun on the ground and raised his hands as an officer appeared.

He described feeling like the "last line of defence" between the children and the gunman, and said he "was supposed to be there" that day.

Afterwards, he called his wife to say he would not be home for lunch and that she needed to get to the school immediately. He then called his mother to tell her what had happened.

"Mum, I just had to take the life of what I think is might be a child because he ran into my daughter's school with a gun," he said.

Police identified the gunman as Griffin J John II - a former pupil who had attended special education classes at the school. His motive remains under investigation.

Police said the teacher who confronted the attacker had thrown her phone at him, tackled him and fought to take his shotgun. Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said she "almost certainly helped prevent more bloodshed".

The youngest victim was Rhoam Summer, aged five. His father said the family was "broken and lost".

Megan Lambert, 25, the teacher who was killed, was working in what her family described as her "dream job".

"She always fought for the underdog and those with special needs," they said.

The other two boys have not been publicly named at their families' request.

The injured teacher has been named as Becky Drury, 54. She said in a statement shared with US media that the gunman shot her as she tried to shut her classroom door.

Giamanco's name became public less than a day after the shooting. His mother, Kenda Freeman, read a family statement saying he was not seeking recognition and asking for privacy.

Shortly after the attack, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek praised his intervention while acknowledging its emotional cost.

"Your actions carry a heavy emotional burden, and I just want you to know that my thoughts are with you as well," she said.

Giamanco told OPB he now lies awake after his family goes to bed, replaying the attack.

"I relive, I see faces, I hear voices, I hear screams."

White House lifts tariffs on some Canadian goods as midterm elections loom

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c60qk573yzz8o, 3 days ago

The Trump administration is lifting some of its 50% tariffs on Canadian goods two weeks before the midterm elections, after a Republican candidate in a key US Senate race said she had lobbied for the change.

From 30 October, tariffs will be eased on products including "plywood sheets, some paper products, certain machinery and refrigeration equipment", the White House said on Friday.

Republican Senator Susan Collins, who is in a tight race to keep her seat in Maine, first announced the exemptions, saying they would help her state's agriculture industry.

The US imposed a 50% levy on $20bn (£15bn) worth of Canadian goods after trade talks between the two countries collapsed in August.

Canada has imposed a series of countermeasures in response to the US tariffs, which Prime Minister Mark Carney said were "necessary to protect our workers".

Last month, Carney matched the US tariffs "dollar for dollar" after the breakdown in talks. Trump had imposed them for what he called "unequal treatment" of US car, dairy and alcohol exports.

The White House said that, while tariffs would be lifted from some items, including some packing crates and boxes, they would be introduced on other items such as carpets and "waste products".

It said the action reflected US President Donald Trump's "continued efforts to defend American workers and ensure fair trade".

Trump "continues to address Canada's discriminatory treatment of US commerce", White House spokesman Matthew Middleton said.

Canada's internal trade minister Dominic LeBlanc said: "While we assess these latest steps, Canada stands ready to work constructively and in good faith towards a more mutually beneficial trading relationship that respects Canada's interests."

The White House's announcement comes less than a fortnight before the US midterm elections, which will determine whether Trump's Republican Party or Democrats will control Congress, impacting the remaining two years of his term.

Collins said she had repeatedly asked senior Trump officials for tariff relief and that she would "continue working directly with administration officials to seek additional relief and encourage a broader trade agreement with Canada, our neighbour, ally and largest trading partner".

She wrote on X that the tariff exemptions were on products that were "crucial to Maine's agricultural industries, including blueberry, potato, apple, and seaweed producers".

Collins' Democratic challenger, Troy Jackson, responded: "Trump's trade wars have made life harder and more expensive for Mainers. Susan Collins enabled this chaos, voted to confirm the people behind it and now wants credit for bringing a cup of water to put out the fire."

Maine borders the Canadian provinces New Brunswick and Quebec. Its economy, as well as that of other border states, is deeply linked to Canada and they have felt the effects of the months-long trade war.

Michigan lawmaker Mike Rogers, also a Republican, has called on Trump to end the standoff after spending months supporting the policy in recent advertisements airing in his trade-reliant state.

Also on Friday, Trump said Canada was "working very hard" on a ⁠trade deal with the US.

Carney, who has sought closer ties with Europe since the tariff war erupted, said that Canada was open to a mutually beneficial deal, but was willing to wait it out.

"We could sign it this afternoon if the US were there," he said on Friday, according to Canadian broadcaster CBC. "If it has to be months from now or longer than that, or another administration, before a proper deal comes into place, we will do that."

LeBlanc confirmed on Thursday that a delegation met members of the Canada-United States Economic Relations Advisory Committee - the ninth meeting since April 2026. The committee members discussed the ongoing impact of US tariffs in Canada.

How a California mansion filled with surrogate children became a 'House of Horrors'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckp8gzdj5m4eo, yesterday

In May 2025, a two-month-old baby named Walter was taken to hospital in the affluent Californian suburb of Arcadia, with a head injury. A woman who claimed to be his mother said the baby had accidentally fallen from bed per police report. But something did not seem right to the doctor, who said Walter's condition felt more similar to injuries sustained during a car accident or from being shaken.

Suspecting child abuse, police searched the stately mansion where Walter lived and briefly detained his parents, Guojun Xuan, 66, and Silvia Zhang, 39. Prosecutors said what they found "could only be described as a house of horrors"- a camera-laced labyrinth with 14 surrogate children aged between six months and three, who they say faced beatings on a daily basis.

The address of the mansion, the authorities later discovered, was also registered to a surrogacy agency run by the couple and used by them to recruit multiple surrogates.

In October this year, the couple was arrested again and charged with conspiracy to commit child abuse. They deny the charges and remain in custody. The bond is set at $20m (£15m) each. If convicted, Xuan faces up to 17 years and four months in prison, while Zhang could face up to 11 years and eight months.

The couple moved into the Arcadia mansion in April 2021. Online listings show that the 10,000 sq ft (929 sq m) mansion sold for $3.3m (£2.48m) that same year. It features nine bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, and a heated pool.

This wealthy suburb on the east side of Los Angeles has been dubbed the "Chinese Beverly Hills" by local media. Almost 60% of its population was recorded as Asian in the most recent US Census and predominantly Chinese. Household incomes there are well above those of most US families.

"This house could only be described as a house of horrors for these incredibly young children that had been brought to this house through this surrogacy process," LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said at a press conference in October following the charges.

Thirty-two cameras were set up in the mansion, according to the complaint. Young children often spent hours sitting by the desks, footage showed. One room had no camera, but other cameras captured video of nannies carrying these children into that room, and children could then be heard screaming from inside.

Prosecutors claimed that baby Walter's injuries were caused by one of the nannies, Chunmei Li, and have charged her with child abuse under conditions likely to cause great bodily injury or death. Li remains on the run and has not been arrested.

The couple's lawyer Mitchell Krems said the allegation was a "mischaracterisation" based on the evidence he has reviewed, CBS News, BBC's news partner in the US, reported.

Krems said his client Xuan was innocent.

"He is being targeted for exercising his constitutional right to have a large family," CBS News quoted the lawyer as saying.

How did they get all these children?

The United States has become one of the world's leading destinations for surrogacy, which is when a woman carries someone else's child to term. A 2024 study of US surrogacy data found that nearly one-third of intended parents between 2014 and 2020 came from outside the country. China, where surrogacy is banned, was the single largest source of international clients, accounting for roughly 42% of foreign intended parents.

The United States offers assisted reproductive technological services that many people from China cannot easily access at home. Single women and LGBTQ individuals often face barriers to IVF and egg freezing. There are also couples who were limited by China's decades-long One-Child Policy and, by the time it ended in 2016, were physically challenged to carry a baby themselves, prompting some to turn to surrogacy abroad.

To surrogates who carried babies for Xuan and Zhang, their request to have a surrogate baby did not raise much suspicion at first, court documents reveal. Several surrogates were hired through an agency named "Mark Surrogacy". While an agency is often seen as an independent third party, Mark Surrogacy, it turns out, was run by the couple - a fact that was not always disclosed, according to two lawsuits filed against the couple by some of their surrogates.

Silvia Zhang was named the manager for Mark Surrogacy in a corporate registration record, and their Arcadia mansion is listed as the company's address in that same document. During the hearing on 16 October, Deputy District Attorney MacKenzie Cameron Teymouri also told the judge that there is not a single other-intended parent that was ever matched with a surrogate through the surrogacy agency that Xuan and Zhang ran out of their home.

One of the surrogates, Tronderrica James, sued the couple in 2025 for damages including fraud and intentional misrepresentation. She alleged that Zhang did not disclose her ties with Mark Surrogacy during the initial stage, and that she would not have proceeded had she known the true nature of the arrangement. James did not respond to the BBC's request for interview.

The defendants later filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing the woman had no sufficient basis for a lawsuit. The case is still pending.

Another five women, Stacy Raelyn King, Evelyn Senolos Areja, Kayla Elliott, Hallie Hernandez, and Vanity McGoveran, alleged similar experiences in a separate lawsuit filed in August against Guojun Xuan and Silvia Zhang. The suit alleged Zhang failed to disclose her and Xuan's connections to the agency, and also the actual number of children they have had.

"Each Plaintiff was led to believe she was the only woman carrying for the couple, and that she was helping a family conceive a single, cherished child," their complaint alleged.

The couple had also used another outside surrogacy agency - California-based Babytree Surrogacy. Patrick Yu, Babytree's founder, told the BBC they were approached by Xuan in 2018.

Yu told the BBC that he was told by Xuan that he wanted to have a big family. They helped Xuan match with several women who delivered at least four babies.

"When we saw the news reports that he was under investigation, that was when I first realised he had so many children. We immediately stopped working with him," said Yu.

One of the women he helped matched in 2024, however, was already pregnant when news about Walter's injuries broke out in May last year. The authorities had placed their 21 children under protective custody while police investigated alleged child abuse.

Yu told the BBC he arranged a meeting for the couple and the then-newly pregnant surrogate. He described that the couple sounded very confident, reassuring the surrogate mother that they treat the children well. The woman decided to continue the journey and gave birth to a baby in early 2026.

There is no legal limit to the number of surrogacies an intended parent can request, neither is there any requirement to disclose such information, according to Dr Liang Yu, Vice Chair of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine's Chinese Special Interest Group and Program Director of Reproductive Clinical Science at Old Dominion University.

Liang said that certain banks or agencies might have their own requirements, but it was not required by law. And a couple might also work with several different agencies at the same time without fully disclosing all of their information to each agency.

"This creates a grey area in the law and in industry regulations."

Liang added that within that grey area she has seen many examples involving wealthy clients, not just Chinese ones. But because of privacy protections and confidentiality agreements signed with doctors and fertility clinics, most are not known to the public.

"In other words, this kind of behaviour (like Xuan) is not unprecedented."

The BBC approached the lawyers representing Xuan and Zhang about the allegations. Mitchell Krems - who represents both - did not respond. Matt Koohanim, who represents Zhang, said the case would be addressed through appropriate legal channels.

The parents

At a hearing on October 16th, Teymouri told the judge that their financial net worth substantially exceeded $100m (£75m) in 2025.

Teymouri added that found three passports for Xuan were found - Mexican, Chinese, and one from the US.

Xuan was born in Zhejiang in eastern China in 1959 according to local Chinese media. At the age of 18, he started as an accountant in a state-owned grocery company in Urumqi. He became a deputy of the People's Congress in Urumqi in 1997, and later, a deputy for Xinjiang Autonomous Region in 2008 - a position at the provincial legislative body similar to a state representative.

His involvement in public life did not stop after he moved to the US. He became the president of 'US Xinjiang Chamber of Commerce' and vice president of "China America Federation", showing up at public events as early as 2019.

In one photograph seen by the BBC, Xuan was holding hands with former Arcadia mayor, Eileen Wang, at an event in 2022. During Wang's mayoral election campaign that year, Xuan donated $4,900 through a company under his name. Wang resigned as the mayor of Arcadia in May this year after the US Department of Justice charged her with acting as an illegal agent of China. She pleaded guilty to the felony count.

There is less known about Zhang, who worked as a real estate agent. Xuan and Zhang were never married. Zhang was married to another man whom she divorced in 2022, according to court documents.

What is going to happen to the children?

At a hearing earlier this month, Teymouri told the judge that there are 26 children involved with this family.

Zhang kept a spreadsheet of a total of 21 children as of May 2025, according to the complaint. They have been removed to state custody. Five more were born since then, the BBC's US partner CBS News reported in January 2026.

One child born to a surrogate is still living with her surrogate mother in Virginia. Melissa Epps, a surrogate hired by the couple, was pregnant when she learned about the investigation last year and decided to keep the child.

The couple filed a lawsuit against Epps for breaching their surrogacy contract, demanding the return of the baby girl, in addition to a million dollars from Epps. Epps had no lawyers at first and had to represent herself in court, until Pamela DeCamp, attorney of the Virginia Legal Aid Society, took her case.

Epps declined an interview with the BBC. In a statement given to the BBC, her lawyer DeCamp said they were "very thankful for the efforts of the Los Angeles, California District Attorney to obtain justice for the young children".

Their case will continue until next March. The baby girl is under social service custody but currently living with Epps. She recently celebrated her first birthday.

"She remains safe and happy in Virginia. And we are confident she will continue to do so," said DeCamp.

Hispanic voters helped bring Trump to power - in Texas, the tide may be turning

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmwyqn6ejyd4o, 3 days ago

It was just before dawn in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas and the congregation were arriving for the Friday service at the tiny La Lomita Catholic Chapel.

The whitewashed building, which has been here since the days of the American Civil War, rises from the surrounding scrub and sits about 200 yards from the Rio Grande river itself.

As cars pulled up to the chapel, the sound of Father Roy Snipes' barking dogs signalled his arrival. He has been the priest here for almost half a century - and is known locally as the Cowboy Priest.

"I'm not sure why I picked that up, but it's nice," he said of the nickname.

In truth, it is pretty obvious why. Snipes wears a Stetson in place of the more traditional priest's hat. And moments later, the chapel was filled by the sound of a Roy Rogers song - the singer and actor known as the King of the Cowboys.

During the first Trump administration, Snipes resisted plans to seize the chapel's land to build the US president's border wall. Eight years on, at the early Friday service, he focused his short sermon on the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

"There's no good excuse to detain, incarcerate and deport poor, good folks who are our neighbours," Snipes told the congregation of about 30, mainly Hispanic worshippers.

Texas accounted for roughly one-third of all ICE arrests nationwide in July 2026 - a larger share than any other state - according to government figures obtained by the Deportation Data Project.

"They said we're gonna seek out, capture, detain and deport the worst of the worst," Snipes said in his sermon. "Well, we're here on the border and the cartel is the worst-of-the-worst. So we thought, well, that's a good thing.

"But it turned out, you can hear almost every day, some poor guy going to work and they stop him and detain him and start a big fight."

After the service, two members of the congregation stopped to chat. "We're educators, and we have a lot of students that are having to go back because their parents are getting deported," one said.

"The cruelty that we're seeing - I think that's turning the tide, at least I hope so," their friend added.

Turning the tide politically is what Democrats are hoping they can do in Texas in the midterm elections on 3 November. But that will not be easy.

This stretch of the Rio Grande was once one of the busiest crossing points on the US-Mexico border. Under former President Joe Biden, hundreds of thousands of migrants came through here, with more than two and a half million apprehensions recorded in a single year.

Trump promised to stop these illegal crossings during his 2024 election campaign, and in large parts he has delivered.

Border crossings are now at their lowest level in decades. And it was that promise which in part drove Trump's astonishingly high level of support in the state, taking around 55% of Hispanic votes in Texas alone - a record for a Republican presidential candidate.

Javier Villalobos is the Republican Mayor of McAllen, one of the biggest cities in the Rio Grande Valley. He expects Republicans will find it tough this time around, but credits the Trump administration with stemming the border problem.

"I remember I put out a video… thanking the administration for immediately securing the border. That was great," he said. "And I think generally most people are okay with the deportation of criminals, violent people, or people that really are not productive at all."

But if you start deporting people that are productive and law-abiding, that is where the problem is, he added.

Recent polls suggest much of Trump's support among Hispanic voters has ebbed away since 2024. Surveys taken since late summer indicate a majority of Texan Hispanic voters disapprove of the president. They also suggest Hispanic voters are favouring Democrats over Republicans by a significant margin.

"When I voted for President Trump, I voted for him because we saw an influx of immigration during the Biden administration," said Mario Guerrero, a young Mexican-American businessman who leads the South Texas Builders Association. It needed to be fixed, he said.

"We thought that we were in the right by voting for Trump, and that he was going to do what was best in order to fix the crisis on the border.

"And I think to myself, we were really not told the extreme that they were willing to go to make a point," he added, before referencing recent shootings involving ICE agents in US cities.

Guerrero is a reminder that, for many who live and work close to the US-Mexico border, security and immigration enforcement are two distinct issues.

A voter here may be supportive of securing the border and stopping illegal crossings, but oppose the actions of ICE and how the administration is enforcing its crackdown on undocumented migration.

Guerrero voted for Trump three times in a row - but is planning to vote Democrat in November, in part due to his unease with that crackdown.

"There's a man that I know that… last year, had 35 workers that were working for him every day," he said. "Right now, he just told me two days ago that he would be lucky if he would get four to six guys to show up to work."

Even though Guerrero plans to vote Democrat, he describes himself as neither Democrat nor Republican. And that, according to Mike Madrid, a leading Republican consultant and expert on Hispanic voters, is key to understanding the largest ethnic demographic voting group in the country.

"Latinos are more likely than any other racial or ethnic group to identify as independents rather than Republicans or Democrats," he said.

It was in part the belief that Hispanic voters were shifting permanently towards the Republican Party that led Trump to press states such as Texas to redraw their congressional maps early, before the once-a-decade census.

The strategy was intended to capitalise on what Republicans saw as a realignment in Hispanic voting behaviour, particularly in border districts that had been Democratic strongholds for more than a century.

Texas's 15th congressional district was among those that were redrawn, and has become one of the clearest tests of whether electoral maps can guarantee political outcomes.

The seat was redrawn after the 2020 census and was won by a Republican in 2022. It was redrawn again in 2025, creating a notional 18-point majority for Republicans in these midterms. Even so, current polling suggests a Democratic lead of five or six points.

Bobby Pulido is the Democratic candidate hoping to win the district. As a popular Tejano singer and winner of two Latin Grammys, he is already a household name in the Rio Grande Valley.

At an event just weeks before the vote, he delivered a stock political speech followed by a musical performance. "A lot of people are disillusioned with both parties," he told the BBC shortly before he took the stage. "And I hear them."

To win in this part of Texas, you need to be a conservative. Pulido has distanced himself from the national Democratic Party brand and focused deliberately and consistently on economic issues.

"This isn't New York, this isn't LA," he said. "When you lead with issues like social justice, climate change and other topics, that's not what people want to hear first. They want to hear about the economy."

That message is consistent with what many current polls are suggesting - the economy, and the cost of living specifically, rank top on the list of most voters' priorities.

At a local avocado festival, a fruit that is a staple among Hispanic communities in the valley, a couple, Dave Baldwin and Veronica Salazar, began discussing rising prices as soon as they were asked about the upcoming elections.

When asked who they blame for spiking costs, the answer was swift. "The president," they said.

"He is in control of our destiny with all that, and right now he's not doing a very good job," added Baldwin.

Among many Republican campaigners here, there is a feeling that they are are on the back foot just weeks before the vote.

Alexis Uscanga, a student volunteer tasked with knocking on doors and checking on likely Republican voters in the district, was realistic about what he is trying to achieve.

"The midterms are just purely a game of turnout," he said. "It's not trying so much to convince individuals to vote one way or the other, it's about trying to get our people mostly to show up."

Tano Tijerina, the Republican candidate in the neighbouring, Democratic-held 28th district, credited Trump with "breaking through barriers" but acknowledged the "national political headwinds are real".

The Hispanic shift towards President Trump in 2024 was one of the most striking political facts of the past decade. While this expanding demographic may not have much love for either party, in a two-party system voters are mostly forced to make a choice.

And if polling is correct - and there is no guarantee of that - even a modest swing back to Democrats in November could reshape races not just across this state but far beyond.

In Texas, it could even be enough to put a US Senate seat in play - and Democrats haven't won one of those in the state in more than 30 years.

Follow the twists and turns of Trump's second term with North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher's US Politics Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

Home distillers rejoice as US Supreme Court considers whether to finally legalise moonshine

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cv98zn0ye4kpo, 3 days ago

Wyoming mechanic and amateur moonshiner Geno Stecks proudly details the modifications he's made at his two-bedroom residence to facilitate his hobby of distilling liquor in his own home.

"I turned my dining room into my shining room," boasted the bearded 66-year-old, who uses a power drill fixed to a bowl to mix some of his recipe.

Two years ago, he began tinkering with recipes for home-producing spirits. The pastime has taught him new skills and given him a signature product to share with friends and neighbors - "coffee-flavoured shine". It also happens to be illegal under US law.

"You know, keep quiet - don't make commercials or nothing," Stecks said.

But some home distillers hope they won't have to keep their hobby a secret for longer. The Supreme Court announced this week that it would reconsider the 1868 legislation forbidding the practice, and hobby distillers hope that their spirits will soon be treated like beer and wine, which are both legal to brew at home across the country.

Plaintiffs who brought the cases say Congress overstepped its powers in restricting distilling for tax purposes during the Reconstruction era. They want the highest judges in the country to agree.

But lawyers for the government argue that Congress's measure was lawful, and necessary to stop producers from avoiding taxes.

One lower court found the almost 160-year-old ban unconstitutional, but in a separate and similar case, another lower court came to the opposite conclusion. The Supreme Court will hear the case early next year and could make a ruling in the summer of 2027.

Currently, distilling alcohol in a private home carries a penalty of up to five years in prison, a $10,000 (£7,460) fine or both.

"The particular law in question here is both absurd and unconstitutional," said lawyer Robert Alt, representing the plaintiffs. "It's interesting to note that this is a hobby which is as American as apple pie - and certainly a lot older."

Alt, Stecks and many proponents of the change point out that George Washington himself distilled spirits at home. Historian Daniel Pierce told the BBC that home distilling was first criminalised for revenue purposes, requiring anyone making spirits to pay a tax.

When federal agents began enforcing the law, small farmers who were distilling on the side as a way to make some extra money or to barter were left with few options.

"If you're a large distiller or something, you could afford to [pay the tax], but for most people, it was out of the question," Pierce said.

When the US implemented Prohibition - the nationwide ban on the production and sale of alcohol between 1920 and 1933 - it created a whole new market for illegal distillers, particularly moonshiners, Pierce said.

NASCAR, the racing sport, was born out of the high-speed, modified cars that bootleggers once used to transport illicit liquor and outrun the law.

Many continued their illegal distilling after Prohibition's end, often passing on family recipes in secret (or, at least, in tightly-knit circles) for generations.

Then moonshine and home distilling enjoyed a new renaissance in the early 2000s, he said, thanks to reality TV shows like Moonshiners, the internet and popular culture.

"You start to get this pretty dramatic revival…. in terms of home distilling," Pierce said.

Rick Morris, the founder and president of the Hobby Distillers Association, was one of the challengers who sued in Texas to change the law. He first entered the drinks industry working with soda machines and bottled water, then became a hobbyist home brewer of beer and wine with his wife.

They made a frustrating discovery when they tried to take the "next step" into distilling.

"It didn't make sense," he said. "I could make beer, I could make wine, both perfectly legally … and it was frustrating that I couldn't take what I had already legally made and do one more step to it, to start to try to make a bourbon or a brandy."

The allure for Morris and many other hobbyists, they say, is the mechanics and innovation behind the process.

"There is a lot of science and details to get straightened out, but there is still a big vein of creativity in the art that goes into it - blending flavours and aromas and all that," said Ohio challenger John Ream, an aerospace engineer by trade.

He first took up the hobby when his wife gave him a home-brewing kit around 17 years ago. He set up his operations in their kitchen but "made too many messes and got kicked out into the garage".

"Through homebrewing, I became aware that going to the next level of distilling was illegal … so I stayed away from it," he said.

But he realised he could be "part of the force for good" by joining legal challenges to the archaic law.

Not everyone is on board with the move, Courtney Armour, chief legal officer at The Distilled Spirits Council of the US, told the BBC. She worries about the challenges and dangers that come with home producing.

"The distillation process can be quite dangerous, including risk of explosion, burns, fires, and more," Armour said. "The spirits industry has a clear focus on safety and process management to mitigate these risks, but even in that careful environment there are still accidents, injuries and even fatalities."

And then there are health concerns that can arise when alcohol has not been produced properly.

"In a home-distilling setting, these dangers would not just be limited to the individuals engaging in the production but also their neighbors in the surrounding area," Armour said.

While home distilling remains federally banned, states like Missouri and New Hampshire have passed legislation allowing the production of certain amounts at home for personal consumption.

Attorney Alt pointed out that "alcohol, traditionally, has been an area of state regulation … so this question of state versus federal authority is really at the very heart of this case".

Alt also said the legal challenge addresses what oversight federal authorities have on home activities.

"This circuit court said, look, if the federal government is right on this, there's almost no limits to what they could ban at home in the name of taxation," he said.

Distillery owner and former Missouri state representative Don Gosen said he helped shape the state's 1995 law allowing residents to distill 100 gallons of spirits at home per year per person - or 200 gallons per household.

"I've never seen the federal government come and fine anybody for doing it, because it's kind of small potatoes … and so a lot of people, I believe, still do it, kind of behind the scenes like in the old days," Gosen said.

Many people have come to him for advice over the years, not knowing about the federal law. Some bring him their homemade bottles and ask his opinion, he said.

"I'll taste it, and it'll be terrible," Gosen laughed. "And I'll throw on a happy face and say, 'Oh, it's wonderful' - because they made it. They love it."

Gosen, Morris and others within the industry believe legally allowing home distilling will only help it grow.

"Home interest generally turns into a better consumer, a more educated consumer, a more sophisticated consumer, just a consumer that spends more," Gosen said. "You're going to have people like myself that are going to start opening our doors to home distillers and have classes for them and help them out."

Back in Wyoming, moonshiner mechanic Stecks agrees that more people will start home distilling if they don't risk penalties and prison - and sees only growth and good things coming from legalisation.

"That'd just make it better," he said.

The real reasons there are so few young politicians in the US

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmde8rr2d6eno, 5 days ago

Not many US politicians have endured for as long as Hal Rogers, who will go into November's midterm elections seeking his 24th term in the House of Representatives.

The 88-year-old Republican has represented Kentucky's 5th congressional district since 1981, making him the longest serving member of the House of Representatives. He was elected on the same night Ronald Reagan won his first presidential term under the slogan "Let's make America great again", a phrase later revived by Donald Trump.

Among the challengers Rogers beat to win the nomination this year was one 60 years his junior. But Rogers, born in the 1930s, is far from the only senior US politician to have stuck at the job into their 80s.

Others to have done so include US President Donald Trump, 80; Trump's predecessor Joe Biden, who left office at 82; and Nancy Pelosi, who stepped down as the Democratic leader in the House at the same age. Chuck Grassley, 93, is still a senator. He entered politics in 1958, before Alaska and Hawaii were even US states.

The age and health of some politicians has raised widespread concern within both Republican and Democratic circles, however, reigniting questions about whether age limits or health checks should be imposed.

The US is well known for its "gerontocracy", a government ruled by people who are significantly older than most of the adult population.

At the other end of the age spectrum, the US has one of the lowest proportions of lawmakers under the age of 45 among comparable democracies, according to research from the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

So why are so few young people becoming politicians? And for those who do enter politics, can they make a success of it?

No country for young men?

Twenty-seven-year-old Republican Riley Owen is one of the few candidates from Gen Z - aged in their early teens to late 20s - from either party running for Congress on 3 November.

Owen is running in a newly created district in Utah that experts say may lean towards the Democrats. He has championed issues including paid maternity leave, restrictions on congressional stock trading and environmental action - all issues that may appeal to Democratic supporters.

When he was confirmed as his party's candidate in the state's 1st congressional district, he walked on stage to Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire, and argued that his generation needed to help renew the American Dream.

The gerontocracy is "a bipartisan issue", he says. "We've got people who have become career politicians, and they spend their lives in Congress." He says this is indicative of a system that is not delivering for Americans.

Owen says the big challenge he faces is the fact that money really talks in US politics. Research suggests campaign donors tend to prefer incumbent candidates.

Indeed, the campaign of his rival Ben McAdams - a 51-year-old Democrat who has previously served in Congress - has so far raised much more cash than Owen's. By mid-October, McAdams had raised over $2.6m (£1.9m), compared with $150,000 raised by Owen, according to records on the Federal Election Commission website.

Owen argues that his generation is uniquely well-placed to understand contemporary political issues, such as the challenges posed by tech. He also disputes any suggestion that a younger candidate necessarily lacks relevant experience - pointing to his own background as a military officer and a White House policy analyst. "I think in politics, just like in industry, we need what's called disruptive innovation," he says.

The age of America's top politicians has long been a talking point. In 1984 Reagan - who was then America's oldest president at age 73 - deflected scrutiny with a quip about the "youth and inexperience" of his opponent Walter Mondale, who was a sprightly 56.

In the US, individual states also have their own legislatures, with a Senate and a House, where many politicians make their start. Many current members of Congress spent years in state politics before running for a seat in Washington.

But the median age of Congress members has ticked upwards over time. Congressional records show that the lowest median ages in the House and Senate were both recorded in the early 1980s - at 48 and 52 respectively.

The average ages of a House member and a senator at the start of the current Congress were 58 and 65 respectively, according to analysis by the Pew Research Center. The median age of a US citizen is 39.

There is now also a sharper focus on the health and acuity of some of the nation's oldest politicians. Joe Biden's age became a major issue while he was in office. To a lesser extent Trump has faced questions too.

So too has Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, 84, with increasing regularity, after a months-long absence from Congress to undergo medical treatment. Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, Maxine Waters, 88, faces a leadership challenge as the lead Democrat on the powerful House Financial Services Committee, with her age considered by some to be a factor counting against her.

Age versus issues

Some of the most vocal critics of this so-called gerontocracy have been candidates who identify as democratic socialists, meaning that their political views are further to the left than those of the Democratic Party mainstream. These candidates tend to campaign heavily on the cost of living and other issues that cut through to Millennials and Gen Z, and their supporters skew younger too.

The demographic profile of people who vote tends to skew older, like the elected officials themselves. Pew research highlights that the proportion of non-voters who are young (aged 18 to 29) has been increasing. In the 2020 US election, 25% of non-voters belonged to that age category, according to Pew. Four years later, it had risen to 30%.

Pew adds that voters under 30 were underrepresented in 2024. Voters in that age category made up 20% of the voting-eligible population, though accounted for only 15% of all the votes that were actually cast.

Campaigners argue that these demographic trends matter because they leave some issues underrepresented.

"Yes, that might result in older people being elected, but I think it really skews, too, what issues are important; what issues politicians are incentivised to talk about and to take care of," says Grace Mausser, the co-chair of the New York City wing of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Mausser campaigned for Zohran Mamdani in his winning bid last year to become, at age 34, New York City's youngest mayor since 1892. Mamdani was held up as an example of a rare youthful success story, but his ally Mausser is less concerned with a politician's age than with their outlook.

Mausser says it is not necessarily a problem if someone has been in politics for a long time. Rather, the problem can be what may result from that: "You become so used to the language and the ideas of the political establishment that anything else - any new ideas, whether they come from young people or old people - seem crazy."

She invokes left-wing Democratic senator Bernie Sanders, 85, as an example of an older politician with a long tenure on Capitol Hill who has embraced change and had ideas that have resonated across generations.

Disaffected youth

In the US, older people hold politicians in far higher esteem than younger people - even more so than in many other countries, according to a Pew survey from spring 2025. Some 62% of 18-34-year-olds were likely to say few or none of their elected officials are honest, compared with 45% of people aged over 50. Of the 25 countries surveyed by Pew, only Greece's young adults had a more pessimistic view of the honesty of politicians.

For one expert who studies political engagement on both sides of the Atlantic, disaffection among young people helps to explain their unwillingness to participate in politics. The issue is not helped by the fact Congress has minimum age requirements for members, he says. Candidates must be 30 to serve as a senator, and 25 to be a representative.

"The one leads to another," remarks James Sloam from Royal Holloway, University of London. "If you don't have enough young people engaged in politics generally, then they won't become representatives."

What is more, Sloam says, young people in the US and the UK alike are alert to the fact that power does not just lie in politics. They are aware there are many other areas of work in which they can wield influence - including over elected officials.

For those young people who do end up in high-profile political positions, the next question is whether they can make a success of it, especially when it comes to parenthood. Over the summer, the stories of two high-profile young women working in Washington raised fresh questions around compatibility of the job with motherhood.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 37, a Democratic congresswoman who took office aged 29, announced that she had started the process of freezing her eggs.

Later the same week in August, Karoline Leavitt, 29, who was appointed the youngest ever White House press secretary almost two years earlier, said she would leave the Trump administration to spend more time with her family, including her newborn baby. She explained: "I cannot be the best mom my two young children deserve while devoting the constant time, energy and attention required of [being] the White House press secretary."

Only a handful of women have given birth while elected to Congress, while a few dozen lawmakers are mothers to children under the age of 18. The federal government, like many US employers, does not offer paid parental leave.

JD Vance, 42, one of the youngest vice-presidents in US history, recently acknowledged that having young children might impact on his own decision to run for the White House in 2028, saying: "We've got four little kids."

Two-horse races

America's two-party system is cited as another barrier to young people getting involved with politics.

Sloam, the London academic, says this is because only a relatively narrow range of views are represented. He highlights research that indicates young people are more energised by social movements or issue-based campaigns than by party politics.

And within party politics, he notes the example of Mamdani and others on the political left who appear to be galvanising youth support outside the Democratic Party mainstream. But he cautions that "it's a little bit sporadic at the moment".

The Republican Party has been through its own splintering over the last decade with the advent of Trump's MAGA movement, which appealed to a swathe of young men in the 2024 presidential election.

Some European democracies show a more pluralistic political environment can increase youth engagement, Sloam says. Scandinavian countries, for example, which are more likely to be multi-party, provide a clear counter example because the parties of government in those countries "work with those social movements to try and bring them into the political systems". Citing countries such as Norway, Sloam suggests there is a cycle whereby stronger youth turnout and youth trust in the political system leads to more involvement in politics.

Looking ahead

It is true that some lawmakers should know when to call it a day, some experts argue, but equally, voters should not lose sight of the qualities of age. Nor should they confuse age with competency.

"Age alone is a very poor predictor of anything," says Tracey Gendron, a professor of gerontology at Virginia Commonwealth University whose research challenges the presumption that ageing is always linked to decline.

"You can have a 45-year-old who is experiencing depression or substance abuse who may not have the cognition necessary for the job," she says. And equally: "You can have an 85-year-old with incredible integrity and political judgement and wisdom who is fully capable of doing the job."

Gendron accepts the point that US politicians are not representative of the nation's age profile, but says this just shows that there are many ways in which Congress could afford to diversify.

"It's funny when we call it a gerontocracy and we focus just on age alone," she says. "When you look at most other aspects of representation - gender, sexuality, religion, race - we're not representative there either."

Owen, the Republican, fancies his chances in Utah, despite his opponent's much larger war chest.

Discussing what energises him as a Gen Z candidate, he identifies issues including the role of tech in public life, immigration and cost-of-living concerns. "I'm on the front end of starting my own family and looking at the costs and [asking] how am I going to make it work?" he says.

Asked if he sees any similarities between his campaign and the campaigns of young political candidates on the opposite side of the political spectrum, he says: "I'd break down the 'us versus them' framework, and maybe discard that a little bit… [there is] a bipartisan message that a lot of Americans on both sides of the aisle are feeling: that Washington isn't working for them."

He takes a similar view to Mausser, the democratic socialist in New York, that voters should not necessarily pick a candidate because they are young: what matters is their ideas.

"For me, it's much more about what you support, what you're who you're fighting for, than what year you were born," she says.

Lead image: Getty

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

Algeria to send troops to Niger in first foreign deployment since 1973

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm4g14n1e5wko, today

Algeria is to send troops to Niger in its first foreign deployment since sending forces to Egypt during the Arab-Israeli war in 1973.

The deployment follows a visit to Algiers by Niger's defence minister, as the country seeks support against armed groups, some of which are linked to al-Qaeda or Islamic State.

Algeria has economic interests in Niger, including a planned gas pipeline that would carry Nigerian gas through Niger to Algeria. The troops are expected to protect energy facilities in northern Niger, near the Libyan border.

The deployment comes as the two neighbours rebuild ties after a diplomatic rift in 2025, when Niger recalled its ambassador to Algiers.

Algeria's upper house of parliament held an emergency session on Sunday to vote on the proposed deployment. According to AFP news agency, 148 of the 174 senators voted in favour. It was later backed by the lower house of parliament.

However, the timing and number of soldiers to be deployed have not been announced.

The move would mark the first use of a 2020 constitutional provision allowing overseas military deployments and a significant shift in Algeria's long-standing policy against sending forces abroad.

"We are not sending our soldiers to wage war in Niger, but for a mission to secure economic infrastructure," Algerian senator Belkacem Boulghiti told reporters after the vote.

Algeria's state-owned energy company, Sonatrach, has also signed an agreement with Niger's petroleum ministry to explore for oil in the Kafra region. Two exploration wells are estimated to contain 168 million and 100 million barrels, respectively, Reuters reported.

Relations between Algeria and Niger have not always been smooth in recent years.

Algeria condemned the 2023 coup that ousted Niger's elected President, Mohamed Bazoum, and brought Gen Abdourahamane Tchiani to power.

Tensions rose again in 2025 after Algeria shot down a Malian drone near its border. Niger recalled its ambassador to Algiers in solidarity with Mali, a close ally which is also under military rule.

Relations have since improved. Tchiani visited Algeria in February 2026, and in late August, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune sent fighter jets to Niger to help suppress a coup attempt and also donated four military helicopters.

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Two rescued after Nairobi building collapse with five still missing

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c317kxyknwp2o, yesterday

Two people have been pulled alive from the rubble of a building that collapsed in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, as a search continues for five still missing.

Dramatic footage shows the bottom floor of the block, thought to have been 16 or 18 storeys, giving way before the rest of the building crumples, sending a plume of dust into the surrounding streets on Friday.

Dozens of builders had been working on the upper floors when it collapsed, but managed to emerge largely unscathed. Those missing were thought to have been in shops at the base of the building.

The incident has raised fresh concerns about construction standards and regulations in Kenya.

Police said on Saturday that a manhunt had been launched for the building's owner and the contractor responsible for the site.

The block was under construction when it collapsed on Friday afternoon, with footage showing scaffolding still wrapped around the outside of the building. Officials said 11 shops had already opened on the bottom floors.

Interior ministry official Kipchumba Murkomen said 66 of the 67 construction workers in the building at the time had been able to get out unharmed, while the other had suffered injuries that were not life-threatening.

He had said on Friday that seven people had been reported missing and rescue teams had made contact with some of those trapped beneath the rubble.

The two survivors rescued on Saturday have been taken to hospital, police said.

Images from the scene, in Nairobi's Eastleigh area, show the concrete floors of the building piled on top of one another, as rescue workers saw through metal to get to those believed to have been stuck underneath.

Questions have emerged about why the building suddenly collapsed and whether it met planning regulations.

Kenya's National Construction Authority said in a statement that it had identified the company behind the development, as well as the architect and structural engineer, but did not say whether the site had been inspected before Friday.

The National Police Service said it had launched an investigation to establish the cause of the collapse and determine whether anyone was criminally liable.

It warned that anyone found responsible for negligence or violating building regulations would "face the full force of the law".

Nairobi Governor Sakaja Johnson told local media that the owners of the building did not have the required paperwork for the building to be occupied.

He urged the national government to give local authorities greater powers to penalise "developers who disregard approved building plans and safety standards".

Building collapses are not uncommon in Nairobi, with poor construction or improper planning often cited as contributing factors.

Death toll in Nigeria village raided by gunmen rises to 48, police say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq1kdlm1ze7do, today

The death toll from Friday's attack on a remote village in the north-eastern Nigerian state of Taraba has risen to at least 48, police have told the BBC.

The police had initially reported 10 deaths after unidentified gunmen on motorcycles raided the village of Binnari, looting shops and setting houses ablaze.

More bodies were discovered on Sunday, according to state police spokesperson Victor Mshelizah, who said some of the victims had drowned while trying to escape the attackers while others were killed in nearby bushes.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International's director for Nigeria said his organisation had confirmed 52 deaths, citing sources on the ground and members of the local community.

The attack happened just after midday Muslim prayers, and the rampage went on for up to four hours.

State police had initially recovered 10 bodies with gunshot wounds after officers responded to a distress call.

The attackers had fled by the time officers arrived - but they continued to patrol the area to restore calm, Taraba's police told the BBC on Saturday.

"We were able to disperse the unknown gunmen though there was no casualty on their side and ours because the terrain is difficult and they're used to the terrain," Assistant Superintendent of Police Victor Mshelizah said.

Community leader Malam Abubakar Saifullahi told news agency AFP that the attackers had arrived on about 50 motorcycles, two men apiece.

"They looted shops and took cash, foodstuffs and other provisions," he said. "They also took motorcycles abandoned by people fleeing the attack."

Isiyaku Musa, who survived the attack, told AFP: "People were running in different directions to escape the attack. Nobody knew where it was safe to go."

Amnesty's Nigeria director Isa Sanusi has called for an impartial investigation into the killings, accusing the authorities of leaving rural communities "at the mercy of gunmen that are repeatedly commit atrocities with impunity".

Parts of north-eastern Nigeria have been affected by years of violence involving jihadist groups and armed gangs, which raid communities, abduct residents and demand ransoms.

Similar armed groups operate in the country's north-west and central regions.

The latest attack comes as Nigeria prepares for elections next year, with insecurity expected to feature prominently in political debates.

Survivors who spoke to AFP said they had counted at least 20 dead.

"People were running in different directions to escape the attack," Binnari resident Isiyaku Musa said. "Nobody knew where it was safe to go."

Another survivor, Sa'idu Nuhu, said that some people were still missing.

Amnesty's Nigeria director, Isa Sanusi, told BBC News on Saturday that the NGO had spoken to some of the bereaved families who said up to 50 people had died.

"The initial funeral had 37 people," he said.

Sanusi called for an impartial investigation into the killings, accusing the authorities of leaving rural communities "at the mercy of gunmen that are repeatedly commit atrocities with impunity".

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Hospitals deliberately targeted by Sudan's RSF fighters, BBC finds

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c54g1kxw4nvvo, 3 days ago

A BBC investigation has found evidence that Sudanese paramilitary fighters systematically destroyed el-Fasher's healthcare system during their long siege and subsequent takeover of the city in Darfur a year ago.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk called the findings "deeply disturbing", saying multiple attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on civilian infrastructure, including health facilities, were serious violations of international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes.

The RSF has rejected the BBC's findings.

The health minister of the group's civilian-affiliated government dismissed the allegations as propaganda.

Dr Alaa Eldin Nugud said it was a deliberate attempt by the national army and its allies to smear the RSF's reputation.

Using sources who were on the ground in el-Fasher, the BBC has found details of at least 43 separate attacks on hospitals and healthcare sites from May 2024 to October 2025 - some hit multiple times.

Under international law it is illegal to attack health facilities or their staff during conflict.

The investigation also reveals the toll on medical workers in the western city. In the period from April 2023 to October 2025, the BBC's data shows 120 were injured, 55 killed and 10 forcibly "disappeared" or abducted.

"The RSF [were] trying to evacuate the hospitals, to put them out of service because the health system is the cornerstone of any city or any state," says Dr Muhamed Suliman, a surgeon who was based in el-Fasher during the siege and spoke to the BBC.

"The RSF started hitting these areas so citizens have no longer any way to stay there. It was intense. It was deliberate. It was planned."

The investigation comes a year after the fall of el-Fasher, one of the most brutal chapters of the civil war which erupted in April 2023 between the RSF and Sudan's military.

Both sides have been accused of attacks on health facilities.

In March 2026, the World Health Organization (WHO) condemned the bombing of al-Daein hospital in RSF-held eastern Darfur, which killed dozens and forced the site to close. Sudan's military is believed to have carried out the drone strikes, although it has denied responsibility.

But events in el-Fasher represent "one of the clearest and most severe examples of the wider impact of the conflict on health care in Sudan," the WHO said in response to a BBC query.

UN investigators have reported that the fighting in el-Fasher bore the "hallmarks of genocide", where historical ethnic animosities have seen Arab militias - now the backbone of RSF forces - target non-Arab groups such as those that populate the city.

The BBC's investigation reveals for the first time a detailed chronology of attacks on healthcare during the long siege of the city.

Some medical facilities in el-Fasher closed down within weeks of the country's civil war starting in April 2023.

Crucially this included one of the main hospitals - the Teaching Hospital - located in a conflict zone in the middle of the city.

Its operations were moved to el-Fasher's South Hospital. There medical services continued, although increasingly hindered by power cuts and dwindling supplies.

The situation changed dramatically a year later, when the RSF mounted its siege of el-Fasher.

In late May and early June of 2024, the South Hospital was shelled several times as paramilitary fighters pushed forward from their positions in the east of the city.

The first bombing came as a shock, says Dr Suliman.

The area around the hospital that was hit was "very crowded because it was the only working hospital in the city providing surgical services", he says.

On that day medical staff operated on 16 injured patients, he added.

The attacks culminated in an RSF raid on 8 June. Hospital staff were taken by surprise - many of them escaped over the back wall as the RSF fighters entered the building, says Dr Mustafa Ahmed, a pharmaceutical specialist.

But the director general of the hospital, surgeon Izzeldin Ahmed Dawaud Asow, encountered a group of the paramilitaries outside his office.

They did not know he was a doctor, he said, but denounced him with ethnic slurs.

"There are no citizens here. You are Falangi," they said, using a derogatory term implying that non-Arab Sudanese are foreigners.

Dr Asow says he was beaten with rifle butts and lost consciousness at one point. Ultimately, he saved himself by pretending to be dead.

"They put their hand on my chest, and I stopped breathing. And they said: 'Leave him, leave him. The rubbish has died. Leave him.' They left me."

That same day the RSF was driven out by the Sudanese military and its allies and Dr Asow returned to find the bodies of several patients and the surgical equipment in his operating room thoroughly destroyed, he said.

The hospital closed and later fell into RSF hands when the army retreated.

Dr Nugud, a prominent Sudanese surgeon who has joined the RSF-backed civilian government as health minister, insisted the South Hospital was being used as a military base.

According to international law, hospitals can lose their protection if they are used by a party to the conflict to commit an "act harmful to the enemy".

In an interview with the BBC, Dr Nugud declared that missile launchers were set up on the grounds and shared a video showing remains of weapons filmed more than a year after the hospital closed, which he said supported his claim.

He also showed us what he called maps of landmines planted around the Teaching Hospital, which is located next to Sudanese military headquarters.

Doctors told us the hospital was not incorporated into the base and said they visited it to pick up medical equipment during the war.

The BBC has found no independent evidence of Dr Nugud's allegations. And the government of the Darfur region categorically rejected the charges.

After the South Hospital shut, its staff and remaining equipment were moved to the Saudi Maternity Hospital in the west of the city, where the army had its main bases.

Within days the pace of attacks on the facility picked up. At this stage the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) sounded the alarm.

"We do not know if hospitals are being intentionally targeted, but… the belligerents are not taking any precautions to spare them," it said in a statement.

However, in the course of our investigation we spoke to six doctors who described a pattern of systematic targeting.

They told us how Saudi Hospital was repeatedly struck - on some days up to 25 times, with a mix of shelling and drones, the latter "intelligent rockets" with precision-guided attacks.

Smaller medical facilities also came under fire. The BBC's timeline records the steady closure of private hospitals and neighbourhood clinics.

Furthermore, when some of these healthcare buildings shifted locations, the alternate venues were also attacked.

The Specialised Children's Hospital, which shut down at the beginning of the war along with the Teaching Hospital, moved to two other locations, both of which were then shelled and forced to close.

Similarly, the main dialysis centre was struck and then attacked again after it relocated.

By the time the RSF seized the city in October 2025, the Saudi Hospital was the only functioning health facility left.

The medical staff there had rallied to try to keep working as conditions worsened.

Doctors described how sandbags were set up to protect the building.

They built underground bunkers out of steel containers and established a number of alternative sites to house and receive patients and conduct surgery as the threat of attacks and the damage to the main structure steadily increased.

Dr Asow said this makeshift surgery was attacked five times in 2025.

In one case, he says, he was operating on a patient's neck when the building was shaken by an explosion - the medical staff ran out in fear, but he stayed.

In another case, health workers had prepared the theatre for an operation, but he told them to move the patient elsewhere because it needed a deep clean given the relentless case load. Shortly afterward the room was destroyed by shells - and the patient survived.

"From that day, some of my staff called me 'Mr Deep Cleaning' because they think that the issue of deep cleaning saved that patient," he said.

Dr Asow also describes how drones tracked the movement of patients.

On 15 March 2025, people carrying the injured from the site of an attack to one of the temporary wards were followed by a hunting drone, he says.

It struck as they reached the gate of the building, killing nine people.

On 17 August of the same year a donkey cart was transferring patients to the alternative operating theatre because all the ambulances had been destroyed, Dr Asow told the BBC.

It was hit by a drone, killing two patients, the driver and the donkey, he says.

The RSF health minister dismissed these accounts as "a continuation of lies" by the military (SAF) and their local allies, known as the Joint Forces.

"Even the medics, and many of the people who were there, because of this conflict, these tribal issues, these racial issues, they are allied with the Joint Forces and with the SAF. That's why you don't depend on that narrative," he said.

Doctors told the BBC they believed RSF fighters deliberately targeted medical facilities because army or allied fighters were among their patients.

The onslaught of shelling and bombing culminated on 25 October 2025 with the RSF storming the hospital amid allegations of a massacre that killed more than 460 patients and their companions.

The RSF has denied a massacre occurred, although the WHO condemned the reported killings and satellite imagery appeared to show clusters of bodies on the blood-soaked grounds of the hospital.

The BBC shared details of its investigation with the UN human rights chief, who said our findings were "deeply disturbing", and consistent with the analysis of his office.

"Our monitoring and documentation shows the RSF repeatedly struck el-Fasher's main hospitals and makeshift health facilities, destroying or seriously damaging them and severely impacting access to health services for thousands of civilians trapped in the city," Türk said.

Healthcare in el-Fasher is now being run by the RSF-backed government. It has released several videos showing the Saudi Hospital and the Teaching Hospital re-opened, cleaned up and seeing some patients.

Dr Nugud says South Hospital is also set to reopen. He denied that doctors were forcibly abducted, telling the BBC that instead they had chosen to stay on to work.

"I have a video in front of the children's hospital when we freed a consultant, a doctor and six of the medical staff who were working with the SAF, and then when el-Fasher got liberated, there was a forgiveness for all of them.

"We liberated them," he said.

The BBC spoke to one of the doctors in the video, Dr Al-Haj Mohamed Ahmed. He told us he had no choice: "I was forced to be there.

"If I spoke out of line, they'd put a bullet through my head."

He was among several medical workers captured while trying to escape the city and sent back, along with Dr Mustafa Ahmed.

They distinguished themselves by bringing a cholera epidemic in a temporary prison at the paediatric hospital under control and were subsequently taken to Saudi Hospital.

"They started to say that you are the people of the city, and we take the city, so we need to work together for the sake of the city," says Dr Mustafa Ahmed, who describes waking up several mornings in a row at the prison to find 50 inmates dead of cholera.

A year on from the fall of el-Fasher, the trauma of this dark period in Sudan's civil war is still painfully sharp.

The front lines have shifted elsewhere with no signs of a resolution to the conflict. And attacks on healthcare continue as part of a wider and devastating humanitarian crisis.

Additional reporting by Peter Mwai, BBC Verify

Maps and graphics by Miguel Roca-Terry, Jake Friend and Matt Mitchell-Camp

More from the BBC on Sudan's civil war:

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Is Ebola under control in Kenya after nine cases confirmed?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c693z948px0jo, 5 days ago

Kenya is grappling with its first ever outbreak of Ebola, a disease which neighbouring countries, such as Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo, are used to dealing with.

Nine cases have now been confirmed including its first patient, who travelled from DR Congo and died two weeks ago.

Four relatives of the first victim, three health workers and a hospital cleaner have now tested positive, meaning they are all linked to him.

But concerns are rising that the virus could start spreading further, even as the government has sought to assure citizens.

The US has warned it citizens against travelling to Kenya, while neighbouring countries such as Uganda, Ethiopia and Somalia are also on alert.

Should Kenyans be concerned?

Kenyans have been expressing their concerns that the disease could spread more widely.

More than 4,000 people have died since Ebola was confirmed in DR Congo in May, making it the second most deadly outbreak of the disease.

With more than 9,500 cases in DR Congo, Kenya faces a steady risk of new cases arriving across borders, according to the International Rescue Committee, which has been working alongside both governments to contain the spread.

The latest outbreak has been caused by the Bundibugyo species, which is relatively rare, with no approved vaccine or treatment - though trials are under way.

Kenyans raised questions from the outset, about how the first patient was able to spend time in the region worst-affected by Ebola, then travel to two more countries before his illness was identified. He died days after his arrival in Kenya.

As a regional transport hub, the risk of the outbreak spreading is a big concern.

The doctors' union in Kenya has expressed concerns at "lapses" at various border points, including with neighbouring Uganda and Tanzania, as well as at Kenya's main airport.

Dennis Miskellah, the union representative, told the BBC that border and port facilities were grossly understaffed.

However, Health Director-General Patrick Amoth on Tuesday evening sought to reassure people, saying that the eight patients were all improving and responding well to treatment.

What is being done to stop it spreading?

When the first case was announced, the authorities urged people not to panic, assuring them of heightened surveillance at airports and border crossings.

Kenya has since introduced enhanced screening for travellers arriving from 10 countries it considers to be at high risk: DR Congo, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Angola, Zambia, Ethiopia, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.

Travellers arriving from those countries are required to complete a digital surveillance form before boarding their flights, and to present a QR code to port health officials on arrival.

Kenya also ordered enhanced public health screening of aircraft arriving from those countries, as authorities seek to prevent further imported cases.

Within the country, the government has been sharing public messages to create awareness about Ebola, including encouraging people to promptly report any suspected cases and seek care at a hospital.

It has also focused on hygiene and safety measures, such as washing hands and avoiding close contact with sick people.

The government has additionally designated treatment and isolation facilities across the country, and health workers have been trained to deal with the disease.

Amoth also said that a dedicated laboratory had been set up at the Kenyatta National Hospital Infectious Disease Unit to handle Ebola tests, to ensure that the hospital's laboratory was not contaminated.

In Kenya, 134 out of 135 people listed as contacts of the first patient remain in quarantine. That means about 99% of the contacts have been traced and isolated, in order to prevent Ebola from spreading to the wider population.

That all of those infected so far had links to the first victim shows Kenya's early response is working, according to the International Rescue Committee.

The government is also working with international partners, including Africa CDC and the World Health Organization (WHO), to support its response, including surveillance, communication and community engagement.

A toll-free emergency hotline, 719, has been provided to the public to report suspected symptoms.

Is Kenya prepared in case it starts spreading further?

Amoth said that none of the contacts of the first patients had showed symptoms before going into quarantine "and therefore the potential to spread to another person is very minimal, literally non-existent".

The incubation period for Ebola ranges from two to 21 days, meaning those exposed to the virus may not become ill for several weeks. The Ebola virus spreads through contact with infected bodily fluids such as blood or vomit.

Despite that, Kenya's health ministry says nearly 5,000 healthcare workers have been trained to deal with Ebola at the national and local levels, besides the facilities that have been designated to handle the virus.

The ministry has urged people to remain calm and vigilant. It has also asked Kenyans not to stigmatise people identified as contacts of Ebola cases.

The ministry, along with the WHO, have produced posters to help people understand Ebola and support its containment. One message reads: "Stop stigma, choose support. Stigma can discourage people from reporting symptoms or cooperating with response teams."

In addition, the government has procured supplies of protective equipment.

Is enough being done to protect health workers?

Not according to the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU).

With three health workers and a hospital cleaner among those infected, questions have been asked as to whether the government could do more to protect workers.

Health workers and carers can face a higher risk of Ebola infection because caring for infected patients may bring them into contact with blood and other bodily fluids.

Dennis Miskellah, the KMPDU deputy secretary general, told the BBC that protective equipment must be provided to hospitals so that they are fully protected, especially in case patients with symptoms do not declare that they have been in areas with Ebola.

He suggests the government ought to conduct proper health education to destigmatise the virus, so that people do not seek to hide their symptoms.

The International Rescue Committee has also called for continued funding for contact tracing, border screening and training of frontline health workers in Kenya.

Will there be any restrictions, like a travel ban?

Kenya remains open with no restrictions on travel, trade or public gatherings.

Despite confirming the eight cases, the authorities have explicitly ruled out a national lockdown or general travel ban for Kenyans.

The US on Monday issued an advisory asking citizens to reconsider travelling to the country over Ebola concerns. Other countries have issued health alerts, including the UK, which warned its citizens that they may encounter enhanced health screening, and Canada, which has asked citizens to monitor their health for 21 days.

No country has issued an outright ban against their nationals visiting Kenya, nor have Kenyans been blocked from entering other countries over Ebola fears.

Has business and tourism been affected?

Analysts have raised concerns over the potential impact of public health fears on international travel and tourism but there is no evidence this has happened yet.

But the situation could change if the outbreak were to spread into the wider population.

How many Kenyans are there in DR Congo?

The exact number of Kenyans living in the DR Congo is not clear.

A report authored last year by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think-tank put the number of Kenyans living in eastern DR Congo at about 2,500, including about 50 investors. It also noted that there were about four times as many Congolese living in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, alone.

The Kenyan embassy in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, which represents Kenya's interests in four countries - DR Congo, Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville and Gabon - has in the past urged Kenyans living in the region to formally register so that it is able to serve them better.

How have neighbouring countries responded?

Several countries in the region have announced tightening of surveillance measures and enhanced screening for visitors.

One man who came into contact with the man who died in Kenya is under quarantine in Somalia and samples have been sent to Kenya for testing.

Somalia has also said it was taking precautionary measures, including enhancing surveillance measures at border points "given the evolving regional situation and the movement of people between countries".

The suspected case in Somalia had travelled through Ethiopia, which has also said it had tightened surveillance to prevent an outbreak

In Tanzania, visitors are expected to undergo daily health monitoring for 21 days, through an automated tracking system, which was announced after Kenya confirmed multiple cases of Ebola infections.

Uganda said after Kenya's first Ebola case that it was continuing to "maintain strong surveillance measures to protect public health".

The Kenyan businessman had travelled through Uganda on his way home from DR Congo.

Uganda had reported two Ebola deaths shortly after the outbreak was reported in DR Congo, but the WHO has since declared it to be free of the disease.

On Tuesday, Nigeria confirmed a case of Ebola in a female patient who travelled from Uganda to Abuja. Nigeria is the first West African state to report a case linked to the current Ebola crisis in East and Central Africa.

Ugandan health officials say the woman had travelled to eastern DR Congo for business before passing through Uganda in early October.

The health ministry stressed she did not have symptoms while transiting through Uganda and only developed them after arriving in Abuja.

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Morocco's first female prime minister caught between the king, clerics, and feminists

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmqxn4gggdw4o, 7 days ago

The Islamic saying "a people who entrust their affairs to a woman will never succeed" has resurfaced in Morocco since King Mohammed VI named Fatima Zahra El Mansouri as the country's first female prime minister.

Mustafa Ramid, a former justice minister in an Islamist-led government, cited the saying earlier this month, in a lengthy Facebook post questioning whether a woman should hold the country's highest political office.

He argued that Morocco, a Muslim majority country, had found a balance between equality and the responsibilities of state leadership, as the highest office - that of the king - continued to be reserved for men.

Morocco operates as a constitutional monarchy. Yet executive power remains in the hands of the 63-year-old monarch.

El Mansouri's Authenticity and Modernity Party (Pam) won the most seats in September's parliamentary election and has since announced a coalition with three other parties. Together, they hold 207 of the 395 seats in parliament.

El Mansouri's royal appointment was historic but it exposed persistent reservations about women in positions of power.

The day after her appointment, local broadcaster Chouf TV took to the streets to ask Moroccan men "what they thought" of a woman heading the government.

Several men, mostly middle-aged or older, hesitated before answering. Some said they accepted the decision because it was the king's choice.

One grey-haired man, who did not give his name or age, said: "It feels strange to have a woman as head of government. I'm not sure if it sits well with me."

Criticism of the monarchy carries legal risks in Morocco. The penal code criminalises certain forms of offence or insult against the king, the royal family and the monarchy.

Online, the appointment became fodder for political satire.

A video showing two women pulling each other's hair was widely shared, with captions suggesting that this is what parliamentary disagreements between El Mansouri and her colleagues might look like.

However many younger Moroccans, especially women, welcomed her appointment.

While attitudes are changing in Morocco, conservative, religious views still hold great weight.

Some of the country's most contentious debates over gender equality centre on family law, including inheritance, marriage and divorce.

Under existing inheritance rules, a daughter typically receives half the share of a son in comparable circumstances.

The Higher Council of Ulemas, the country's body of religious scholars, has resisted calls for equal inheritance, citing Islamic jurisprudence.

It has also rejected proposals to abolish taasib, a rule that can require female orphans without brothers to share their inheritance with male relatives, including distant ones.

In a 2022 report, Morocco's National Human Rights Council said unequal inheritance rules contributed to poverty among women.

Polygamy is also legal under certain conditions. Proposed changes to the family code have included allowing women to stipulate in their marriage contracts that their husbands cannot take another wife.

But exceptions remain, including provisions relating to a first wife's infertility or illness, which women's rights groups have criticised on grounds of privacy and medical confidentiality.

These issues are at the heart of proposals to reform the Moudawana, Morocco's family code, which governs marriage, divorce and child custody.

A package of changes was announced in 2024, but the reforms have yet to become law.

As well as family law, some young women hope the new prime minister will try to improve education for girls.

Morocco's High Commission for Planning, the country's official national statistics agency, found in 2025 that just 55% of girls aged 15–17 were going to school in rural areas, where poverty, early marriage and dropping out of school remain key barriers. In urban areas, it was 100%.

"Many girls in rural Morocco drop out of school early because schools are far away, transport is unsafe or unavailable, and families with limited means often keep their daughters at home," Chifae Laazouzi, a young Moroccan woman, tells the BBC.

She says one reason is that many girls in poor and rural areas cannot afford menstrual sanitary products.

"Menstrual health is still treated as a taboo... I would like to see free menstrual products in schools," Laazouzi says.

El Mansouri is no newcomer to politics. Over more than two decades in public life, she has served as mayor of Marrakech, held government posts and sat in parliament.

For the past five years, she served as minister for national territory planning, urban planning, housing and city policy under the previous Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch.

After her appointment, El Mansouri presented the moment as a milestone for Moroccan women.

"Being the first female head of government is not just a source of pride for me, but for all the women of the kingdom," she said.

Since her appointment, she has not indicated whether she plans to try and push through the reforms to the family code.

In her political career so far, she has not made any prominent public statements about women's rights, even while changes to inheritance rules, polygamy and the family code were being widely debated.

Dr Irene Fernandez-Molina, an expert on the Global South at the University of Exeter in the UK, sees the appointment in the context of the monarchy's broader political interests.

"Two headlines have dominated coverage of [September's] parliamentary election in Morocco: a two-decade low turnout and King Mohammed VI's appointment of a woman as prime minister for the first time in this country's history," she tells the BBC.

"The latter cannot be understood without the former."

Official figures put turnout at just 38% of registered voters, while the proportion of all eligible voters who cast a ballot was even lower.

Fernandez-Molina describes the appointment as an example of "authoritarian state feminism, a top-down, selective instrumentalisation of the struggle for women's rights for regime legitimation purposes".

She argues that promoting a woman to the highest government office might be intended to project an image of modernisation and progress, even when the political system and the pace of social reform remain largely unchanged.

For Moroccan women's rights advocate Yasmina Benslimane, the appointment breaks a longstanding barrier, but says El Mansouri's background is also important.

"It does challenge stereotypes, because it finally breaks a ceiling that was never broken," she says. "But it matters how she got there."

El Mansouri's late father was a pasha, a senior local official, and a diplomat. Benslimane argues that her privileged background and access to political networks distinguish her from many Moroccan women who have fewer opportunities to enter public life.

For Benslimane, like many women's rights groups in the country, reform of the Moudawana remains a key test of the new government.

However, El Mansouri's room for manoeuvre is shaped by the country's political system.

The king retains extensive powers over key areas, including defence and foreign affairs, while the head of government operates within a system where authority is shared.

When it comes to Moudawana reform, she would have to face the country's religious scholars, who are mostly men.

While some Moroccan women welcome her appointment, they say it is what she does as prime minister that really counts.

"I don't think El Mansouri should be judged by the fact that she is a woman. Being a woman in power doesn't automatically make someone a champion of women's rights," Sara Zouiten, a young Moroccan woman, tells the BBC.

"Her party presents itself as a modernising political force, so I want to see whether that translates into actual change."

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Woman, 65, becomes second patient to die of Ebola in Kenya

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6x2355448eyo, 2 days ago

Kenya has recorded its second death from Ebola as it handles its first ever outbreak of the disease.

A woman, aged 65, who was a close family member of the first victim, a man who had travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo, died after being placed in quarantine, the health ministry said.

Seven other Ebola patients were receiving treatment at two isolation facilities, it added.

All the cases were within "one cluster, with no evidence of community spread", the ministry said.

More than 4,000 people have died in Africa since Ebola was confirmed in DR Congo in May, making it the second most deadly outbreak of the disease.

Kenya's latest victim had been under quarantine when she developed symptoms on 13 October, the health ministry said.

The first death, on 5 October, was that of a man who fell ill in September and was treated in several hospitals in DR Congo before arriving in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, where he died a few days later.

Those still being treated are three other relatives of the first victim, three health workers and a hospital cleaner.

The US has warned its citizens against travelling to Kenya, while neighbouring countries such as Uganda, Ethiopia and Somalia are also on alert.

Ebola is a rare but deadly disease caused by a virus. As the disease progresses, vomiting and diarrhoea develop and it can lead to organ failure. Some, but not all, patients develop internal and external bleeding.

The disease spreads from one person to another by contact with infected bodily fluids such as blood or vomit.

The Bundibugyo species of Ebola is relatively rare, with no approved vaccine or treatment - though trials are under way.

Kenya has introduced enhanced screening for travellers arriving from DR Congo and nine other countries it considers to be at high risk: Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Angola, Zambia, Ethiopia, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.

Travellers arriving from those countries are required to complete a digital surveillance form before boarding their flights and present a QR code to port health officials on arrival.

Kenya also ordered enhanced public health screening of aircraft arriving from those countries, as authorities seek to prevent further imported cases.

Within the country, the government has been sharing public messages to create awareness about Ebola, including encouraging people to promptly report any suspected cases and seek care at a hospital.

Nigeria's health minister said its sole confirmed case of Ebola appeared to be genetically related to a strain identified earlier in Kenya.

Prof Ali Pate said there was no evidence so far that the Kenyan patient had travelled to Nigeria, but that further testing was under way.

Health officials have been investigating whether Nigeria's first case crossed paths with Kenya's first patient. Both are believed to have travelled through Uganda's Entebbe airport earlier this month.

Uganda's health ministry announced on Friday that people who had travelled to DR Congo would no longer be able to transit via Uganda as part of its prevention measures.

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Malawi opposition demands answers over president's prolonged stay abroad

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmx28en5wkypo, 3 days ago

Malawi's opposition has demanded an explanation for President Peter Mutharika's prolonged stay in South Africa, as the country struggles with fuel shortages, power cuts and economic difficulties.

The 86-year-old Mutharika left Malawi on 6 October, for what officials described as a private visit. This is his fifth visit this year, with limited information made public on each of these trips.

"Malawi is at a critical moment, and there is a need for decisive action," the opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) said.

Information Minister Shadric Namalomba has denied that Mutharika's absence had created a leadership vacuum.

Mutharika returned to power in October last year after defeating then-president Lazarus Chakwera.

He previously governed Malawi between 2014 and 2020.

His latest absence comes amid growing public scrutiny of his frequent visits to South Africa.

On Thursday, MCP campaign director Moses Kunkuyu told journalists in the capital, Lilongwe, that the opposition was not questioning the president's right to travel for personal reasons but wanted Vice-President Jane Ansah to address the nation over the country's mounting challenges.

He said that Malawians deserved to know who was managing the country's affairs.

"The issue is not that the president has traveled," he said. "The issue is that people are suffering and want reassurance that somebody is in charge."

He called on the government to explain how it intended to address persistent fuel shortages, frequent electricity blackouts, shortage of essential medicines in public hospitals and difficulties accessing foreign currency.

The information minister responded by telling local media that "a state president is always in charge at any time, anywhere," insisting that the president remained firmly in control of government affairs.

Asked about the purpose of the visit, the minister said: "A private trip is private."

He accused the opposition of attempting to exploit problems he said had developed under its previous administration.

"That is why Malawians voted us into government, not them. May I request them to seal their mouths as we address the problems they miserably created and failed to solve," he added.

On Thursday, Mutharika delegated the trade minister to lead Malawi's delegation to the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) summit in Zimbabwe.

Earlier this month, officials dismissed reports on social media that Mutharika had travelled from South Africa to India for medical treatment.

Chief Secretary to the Government Justin Saidi said the president remained in South Africa and urged the public not to spread unverified information.

Mutharika has previously dismissed speculation about his health, describing such claims as "silly and laughable" and insisting that he was well.

Malawi faces a severe shortage of foreign currency, which has disrupted fuel imports and contributed to rising transport costs.

Long queues have formed at petrol stations, while unreliable electricity supplies and shortages of medicines have added to public frustration.

More about Malawi from the BBC:

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Forty Iranian sailors rescued off Sri Lanka coast after medical emergencies

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9p8g7e4k2xjo, today

Sri Lanka's foreign ministry says it has coordinated efforts to treat and repatriate 40 Iranian sailors suffering from unspecified medical emergencies in international waters off the island's southeastern coast.

Ministry spokesperson Thushara Rodrigo told BBC Sinhala they received a distress call on Saturday from Iranian ships "regarding an urgent medical need".

The rescue operation was planned by the Iranian Embassy in Colombo, he said.

Iranian ships have been stranded at sea due to a US naval blockade. Sri Lanka stresses it is neutral in the conflict, but has at times offered help to Iranian sailors in what it says is an obligation to international law.

A BBC Sinhala report last month found that there were 21 Iranian vessels located in international waters near Sri Lanka.

The 40 rescued sailors served on different ships - though Sri Lankan authorities do not have information on how many ships they belonged to, Rodrigo said.

The sailors were brought ashore and taken to Colombo for medical treatment before being sent back to Iran by plane on Saturday night, he added.

He said that several agencies were involved in the operation, including local shipping companies.

According to Rodrigo, Sri Lanka was obliged under international law and humanitarian grounds to provide the necessary facilities for medical emergencies.

"This does not mean that we will provide assistance to those ships," he said. "It is generally an internationally accepted tradition to respond to a distress call after receiving it."

"We have dealt with such cases before. This is a normal process that continues to be implemented."

The ongoing conflict in Iran started when the US and Israel launched wide-ranging strikes on the country in February. Iran responded by attacking Israel, US bases and allied states in the Gulf, and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a critical international trade route.

Attacks by both sides have persisted as negotiations stalled.

Sri Lanka has sought to remain neutral in the conflict, having rejected military access requests from both the US and Iran and urged both parties to prioritise dialogue.

It has also offered assistance to Iranian ships caught in the conflict on what it argues are humanitarian grounds.

In March, Sri Lankan authorities said they responded to a distress call from the Iranian ship the Iris Dena, which had sunk off its coast after a US torpedo attack.

More than 80 crew members were killed in the attack, and injured survivors were taken to a hospital in the Galle Harbour.

The following day, Sri Lankan authorities allowed another Iranian naval vessel to dock at one of its ports, with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake saying that they would "never hesitate to protect humanity".

Sri Lankan authorities said earlier this month they had no immediate plans to send aid to 19 Iranian ships near its coasts which had reported shortages of food, water and fuel. The authorities said they had to prioritise national interests, the Associated Press reported.

Rubio turns to small Indian city as US faces high oil prices

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3x2wnk8ejq5o, 3 days ago

The western Indian port city of Jamnagar is not a usual stop for foreign leaders, yet it featured prominently in US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's recent visit.

So, why did Rubio visit the city? And, more importantly, why did he skip the Indian capital, Delhi?

The answer to both questions may have less to do with India and more to do with Donald Trump administration's domestic compulsions – or, more precisely, its domestic oil needs.

Rubio arrived in the financial capital Mumbai on Tuesday, where he met Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and some of the country's top business leaders. He officially ended his trip in Jamnagar - in the western state of Gujarat - home to the giant oil refinery owned by one of Asia's richest men, Mukesh Ambani.

It was his second trip to the country this year and experts say what is significant this time is the timing of the visit as well as his choice of destinations.

The Trump administration is under pressure to keep fuel prices in check ahead of November's US midterm elections, while rising tensions in the Middle East threaten global energy supplies.

With little new refining capacity expected in the immediate future in the US, India's ability to process large volumes of crude oil offers Washington a potential way to ease pressure on the fuel markets.

And that puts Reliance's Jamnagar refinery at the centre of the equation.

The visit, however, comes at a tricky moment in India-US relations. Trump has imposed tariffs on Indian goods, there are sanctions against Delhi for buying Russian energy (though currently paused) and there is a trade deal between the two countries that has remained elusive for around 20 months now.

Announcing the visit, the US State Department had earlier said that it would focus on energy cooperation, commercial investment and economic ties.

The official itinerary also did not include Delhi, which raised some questions, especially from Indian opposition politicians. But analysts say the choice was strategic.

"Delhi is where the trust gap is largest. Officials there are unhappy with a number of decisions and policies from Trump's administration," Michael Kugelman, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told the BBC.

But former Indian ambassador to the US, Meera Shankar, cautions against reading too much into him skipping the capital.

"This was primarily an energy-focused visit," she says. "And after all, Rubio did meet the foreign minister in Mumbai."

The meeting between the two foreign ministers at the Taj Hotel covered trade, investment, energy security and defence cooperation, according to official statements. India's foreign ministry also said both sides welcomed progress in trade negotiations and reaffirmed their commitment to concluding a deal, which has long been in the works.

But once the diplomatic meetings were over, Rubio headed to Jamnagar, where the crown jewel of the Ambani business empire is located. This came to define the trip.

Shankar says the refinery visit "showed how much importance the US is attaching to getting more refined fuel into the market before the November midterms".

Reliance's Jamnagar complex can process about 1.4 million barrels of crude oil a day, roughly 1.5% of global refining capacity, according to the company website.

It is also a major exporter of diesel and other petroleum products, giving it a crucial role in global fuel markets.

During a tightly controlled visit on Wednesday, with limited media access, Rubio toured the facility and met members of the Ambani family, including Mukesh Ambani.

The company later released a statement, saying, "the visit included wide-ranging discussions on the global energy landscape and opportunities for commercial partnerships across conventional and new energy". It, however, did not specifically address any commitments to buy crude oil or supply refined products.

Just a day earlier, while speaking to the press, Rubio had called India a "refining superpower" and said the US wanted Reliance to process more Venezuelan oil.

"They have the capability to refine heavy crude. They've done so in the past, and I think as more and more Venezuelan oil comes online, that's something they could do," he told reporters.

Rubio added that oil from Venezuela "can certainly provide relief" in the short term and can possibly help ease supply pressures amid tensions in the Middle East.

Reliance was once among the largest buyers of Venezuelan crude before US sanctions disrupted trade. After Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was captured in a US intervention earlier this year and Washington eased sanctions on the country's energy sector, Reliance re-emerged as a major importer.

Experts also say the visit might ease some tensions in the Delhi-Washington relationship over India's purchase of Russian oil.

India became one of the biggest buyers of Russian oil since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Between December 2022 and July 2026, it accounted for 37% of Russia's crude oil exports, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

And Reliance was among the Indian companies that processed Russian crude.

In August 2025, US President Donald Trump imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods over its Russian oil purchases, taking total tariffs on many Indian goods to 50%. The US, however, withdrew the additional penalty in February 2026 but India's import of Russian oil has continued to be an irritant in Washington-Delhi ties.

India has always said that securing affordable and reliable energy for its 1.4 billion people was its priority.

Then earlier this month, the US itself temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian diesel.

In that context, experts say Rubio's Jamnagar visit is aligned to three goals that the US appears to be pursuing: reducing India's dependence on Russian crude, encouraging greater imports of Venezuelan and American oil, and advancing a trade deal in which energy cooperation could become a key area of agreement.

There is also another possible business angle behind this push.

Kugelman says Rubio had two reasons to meet the Ambani family. First, to secure greater refining of Venezuelan oil and second to seek assurances that Reliance remained interested in backing a proposed Texas refinery.

In March, Trump announced a proposed refinery at the Port of Brownsville in Texas on his Truth Social platform. He said that it would be the first major new refinery in the US in 50 years.

Reliance has not publicly commented on it and there are no details on the project or when the work is expected to begin.

"The Texas facility may not be as immediately important to US interests as the arrangement tied to Venezuelan oil, but I still think it's part of the story," he says.

However, analysts point out that closer cooperation with Reliance and progress on energy security do not necessarily mean a trade deal is imminent.

"I don't think anyone really expected a trade deal to be announced at this point, but this trip seems to have helped get the relationship back on track, to the extent that it can, given the significant points of tension that remain," Kugelman said.

Rajani Sinha, the chief economist at credit rating agency CareEdge, told the BBC that greater cooperation could allay energy security concerns in both countries, help push the stalled trade negotiations forward and "boost trade and sentiment" in India.

Meera Shankar says that India is possibly "waiting for the US to formalise its tariff positions so that we know whether Delhi has a preferential trade deal".

She adds that, although ties between the two countries have been strained in recent times, their bilateral trade continues to grow.

India's merchandise exports to the US was $50.81bn between April and September, up 11.1% from the previous year, according to India's ministry of commerce. Its imports rose to $32.33bn from $25.66bn in the same period. India's merchandise trade surplus with the US narrowed to $18.48bn from $20.07bn a year earlier.

"The economic relationship remains strong, but a long period of uncertainty could eventually affect it," Shankar said.

So, for now, the visit may have possibly helped get the relationship back on track, but whether that translates into a trade agreement or a lasting shift in energy ties remains to be seen.

Correction 26 October 2026: This article originally referred to Jamnagar as a town. Jamnagar is a city in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

Powerful earthquake hits Tibet killing 16 people, reports say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ck5ynd1z6e83o, 3 days ago

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake has hit a mountainous region in Tibet, killing at least 16 people and injuring dozens, according to Chinese state media.

The centre of the quake hit Baqên County in the Nagqu region on Thursday night, Xinhua reported, citing the local emergency management bureau.

The county - located in what China calls the Tibet Autonomous Region after annexing it in the 1950s - is 400km (250 miles) north-east of the region's capital, Lhasa.

Authorities have declared the incident an emergency and deployed rescue teams to the affected area, where 65 others have been injured, including 11 people with severe injuries.

The electricity supply has been cut off and 339 homes have collapsed in the affected region, though by Friday morning there were reports of power restored in some areas.

Local media said more than 12,400 people had been relocated following the earthquake.

Rockfall has forced roads in the region to close, making it more difficult for crews to reach impacted high-altitude areas.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) has recorded seven tremors close to the epicentre, all of which are located in the mountainous region. The largest tremor was recorded at 5.2 magnitude at a depth of 10km.

Shallow earthquakes and tremors closer to the Earth's surface are more damaging than deep quakes.

Several survivors of the earthquake have told local media about their harrowing escape.

Nagqu resident Yixi Cuomu told Tibet Daily that she was asleep in her bed when her house started shaking violently. Realising it was an earthquake, she headed outside barefoot, her "legs trembling uncontrollably" as she descended the staircase in her home.

Another eyewitness said the shaking was so violent "that in that moment I felt as if several hundred yaks were running past us".

Residents chose to spend the night outdoors in subzero temperatures, seeking shelter in tents or their cars, as they feared aftershocks could trap them in their homes, according to the news outlet.

Chinese state media reported on Friday morning that more than 400 aftershocks had been registered since the quake occurred.

China's Premier Li Qiang has called for "urgent efforts" to organise rescue operations and medical treatment for the injured, and relocate and resettle affected residents appropriately, according to state media.

Li noted that the earthquake-hit area is at a high altitude, around 4,800m (15,750ft), and prone to aftershocks.

The Ministry of Emergency Management has dispatched a working group to the affected area to guide rescue and disaster relief operations.

Separately, the Chinese government announced it was allocating 50 million yuan (£5.6m; $7.5m) for disaster relief efforts in Tibet.

Videos on social media of the moment the quake struck show villagers running into the streets as buildings shake violently in the dark. These have not been independently verified.

The region is prone to devastating seismic activity.

In 2023, a 6.2 magnitude quake killed more than 120 people in the nearby mountainous Gansu province of China.

Tibet and Nepal were also recently devastated by massive floods and landslides less than two months ago, unleashed by a glacier collapse, which killed at least 1,400 people. Hundreds of others are still reported missing.

Despite the region presenting some of the most challenging rescue conditions, rescue teams on the Tibetan plateau are highly experienced and have shown an ability to mobilise quickly.

In January 2025, military personnel, firefighters, police and specialist rescue teams were in the area within hours after a powerful eartquake struck the Shigatse region of Tibet.

The Chinese military also have drones to help survey the area.

Tibet, which has long demanded greater autonomy, is one of the most tightly controlled regions in China.

With foreign media restricted from the region and information heavily censored by authorities, Chinese state media is the main source for updates and details when such disasters happen.

A shark went astray and captured Korea's heart - will she finally make it back to sea?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9zrdknlmpdlo, yesterday

As soon as a large shark was spotted in a canal in Busan - a bustling shipping hub and beach city on South Korea's south-eastern tip - marine biologist Kim Hyun-woo was drafted in to rescue it.

He got the call in mid-September, on his way home from a business trip tracking shoals of mackerel to aid fishing vessels. Despite being one of the country's leading shark experts, he never thought he'd be asked by the coastguard to actually save one.

South Korea is no stranger to sharks but one this size, in a shallow, concrete canal right by the world's seventh busiest port, was unheard of - until now.

With an excited crowd already gathering at the waterfront, his team from the National Institute of Fisheries Science had to move fast.

The first task was to determine the species.

Some sharks are more dangerous than others. The star of the 1975 blockbuster Jaws, the great white shark, is known to attack and kill humans.

The specimen in Busan was found to be a female dusky shark, a species linked only to two deadly attacks. Still, Kim feared someone in the crowd might jump or fall into the canal.

The shark had to return to sea.

A small coastguard ship made an initial attempt using an electrical deterrence device, which generates a weak current that sharks avoid.

They're usually used after sightings near popular beaches. But after five hours, officials determined this particular shark was too large and fast for the device.

Kim changed tack, deciding instead to wait for the shark to let herself out. But that did not happen.

As authorities looked for ways to guide her out of the canal, the stranded creature went viral.

Just hours after she appeared, the council had sent everyone in the city an emergency text alert, urging pedestrians and residents to "exercise caution for their safety".

People rarely visited the park along the canal but because of the message, the place was soon brimming with people eager to spot the shark.

Adoring fans named her Bukangi, from "buk hang", the Korean name of the nearby harbour. Within days, a business trademarked it and Bukangi pins, plushies and T-shirts began selling online.

City authorities joined in, livestreaming the shark and making her their official mascot.

A banner was hung at the entrance of the canal, asking the public to sign a petition "on behalf of Bukangi" to demand the national government's support for the construction of a new 30,000-seater baseball stadium by the canal.

Shark spotting became a team effort among locals and visitors. The unspoken rule was that children were given the front row, and whoever saw Bukangi had to point her out to newer arrivals.

Some self-appointed defenders even patrolled the canal at night to make sure no-one was shining torches or lasers at Bukangi.

More than 1.6 million visitors ultimately flocked to the canal.

The local mayor said the shark brought "the kind of publicity even billions of dollars cannot buy" to the port.

"It's really rare these days for people to come together," said Kim Joo-eun, who came to see the shark with her two nieces. "I feel that Bukangi brought us all together, cheering for her… It's a lot of fun."

But officials couldn't leave Bukangi in the canal.

As September drew to an end, she hadn't been seen feeding for days and was spotted with bloody abrasions on her snout from bumping into the concrete walls.

Prominent marine biology professor Choi Yoon told local media that experts were particularly worried about a "critical" injury around the shark's eye.

At the end of September, Kim's team mounted another rescue attempt. The marine biologist looked back to a 2004 incident in Massachusetts, when water jets were used to drive a great white shark away from a shallow pond.

But when the team tried this on Bukangi, she kept circling back.

On 2 October, they decided to install a net spanning the width of the canal to stop her from returning. She managed to swim around the net and was back within hours.

At this point, Kim started thinking the shark might have problems with her snout's electromagnetic sensors, which she uses for navigation. Or she might have become confused by the loud noises emitted by ships in the harbour.

The reason Bukangi was even in the canal may be a sign of warming seas, the oceans ministry suggests.

It believes she may have followed plentiful fish to warmer waters. Some 50 large sharks were recorded off South Korea's east coast in the first half of the year; four times as many as last year.

With each failed attempt some of Bukangi's newfound fans began demanding she be left in peace.

On Thursday, several showed up with placards and shouted "leave Bukangi alone" and "remove the net".

When a security guard told them to stop, one man cried: "I love you, Bukangi!"

"I am obsessed with her," said Jeong Yo-won, a woman in her 40s. She called the shark a "source of hope and joy" and insisted, "I don't think we should evict her mercilessly like this."

Others thought it was time for her to return home.

"I would stare at her for hours because I was so enamoured by her," a woman said after sighting the shark on her third attempt. "I hope Bukangi would stay, but I prefer that she lives a long and healthy life."

People joked the council should "make an official ID for Bukangi and give a pension", Shin Seungmin said.

"She brought so much fun with her. But she should go and live her normal shark life."

Staying in the canal would seriously jeopardise Bukangi because of falling autumn temperatures, Kim explains. Usually this prompts sharks to migrate to warmer waters further south.

"This canal is far from something we can call a habitat," he adds. "A wild animal cannot stay in a space made strictly for humans."

Eventually, as public scrutiny grew, the oceans ministry took over the rescue operation from the fisheries institute. Around 40 personnel, including divers from Busan's aquarium, were mobilised. A vet was on standby, along with an ambulance in case the divers were attacked by Bukangi.

On Wednesday divers installed two layers of nets, and Bukangi was successfully herded out of the narrow canal into open water. But overnight, she swam back into the canal, diving under the outer net.

This left her trapped between the two layers.

Then on thursday, rescuers removed the outer layer, and Bukangi was seen swimming further and further towards open sea.

Although she did occasionally circle back, the rescue operation had ended.

There have been no sightings of Bukangi in the last few days, which experts say is a positive sign.

Prof Choi believes she may be adjusting to wider, deeper waters.

She is unlikely to have travelled far, he adds, and could reappear over the coming week.

But he is also worried about any injuries she may have sustained. Trapped in the canal, it "kept scraping against [the walls], stripping the skin off its snout and even its pectoral fins", he told local media.

For now, South Korea is holding its breath, hoping Bukangi can find her way back to her home - the open sea.

Additional reporting by Leehyun Choi in Seoul

Hundreds of flights cancelled as Typhoon Champi shuts Taiwan

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw98zn304zg7o, 3 days ago

Hundreds of flights in the East Asia region were cancelled on Friday as powerful Typhoon Champi roared close to Taiwan's north-east coast.

Schools and offices in Taiwan were shut as Champi neared the island. While it is uncertain if it will make landfall, the storm was forecast to bring 90cm (35in) of rain and strong winds to the north-east until Saturday.

One person died after being swept away by waves, authorities said. The storm also injured 171 people and forced 1,000 others to evacuate.

Champi is the latest in a string of intense typhoons as a Super El Niño heats up the Pacific Ocean and fuels storms. At its peak earlier this week, it was the planet's strongest storm of the year so far.

On Friday afternoon, Champi was packing wind gusts of 191km/h (119mph) .

After passing Taiwan's north-eastern tip and the Okinawa islands in southern Japan, Champi is expected to hover over the waters off China's eastern coast, before curving farther to the north-east to Japan's main island.

Weather agencies in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan forecast that the eye of the storm is expected to pass without making landfall in Taiwan.

However, a forecaster in Taiwan's Central Weather Administration told Reuters that they could not rule this out completely - especially if the storm "stalls, loops or wobbles from side to side" as it approaches.

Rainfall is expected to peak on Saturday morning and continue to batter Taiwan until Saturday evening, the Central Weather Administration said.

Taiwanese authorities have urged people to stay away from coasts and mountains.

Work and classes were suspended in nearly all of Taiwan's 22 counties and cities on Friday - what's colloquially known as a "typhoon holiday" - as Champi approached the island.

Taiwan's $5tn (£3.7tn) stock exchange was also closed on Friday because of the severe weather.

Only Kinmen county, an archipelago located to the west of Taiwan's main island, continued work and classes as usual.

In Japan, power cuts were reported in nearly 8,400 households in the southern Okinawa prefecture, according to the local power company.

More than 160 flights have been cancelled across four Japanese airlines.

Champi has also stirred up heavy rains and winds in Batanes, a Philippine island chain below southern Taiwan.

Photos posted on the local government's Facebook page showed waves crashing into seaside villages and roads closed to traffic. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Typhoon Champi became the strongest storm of the year earlier this week, when it attained a maximum sustained wind speed of 185mph (298km/h) as it moved over the Philippine Sea - the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane.

While initially categorised as a "super typhoon", Champi weakened on Wednesday as it continued barrelling through the sea.

This is shaping up to be one of the most active typhoon seasons the region has seen in years. Champi is Japan's 30th typhoon of the year - making this the first time since 2013 that the country has seen so many storms.

The recent frequency of storms is due to an unusually strong El Niño - a naturally occurring phenomenon that hits the Pacific Ocean every few years and can trigger extreme weather events, from droughts to typhoons.

Attack on actor Tiger Shroff is dark reminder of Bollywood's gangster past

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6vgjk1lp7njo, 4 days ago

On Sunday evening, Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff went to play football in Juhu, a leafy, affluent Mumbai neighbourhood where film stars live, fans congregate and celebrity sightings are a part of life. But as the 36-year-old was leaving the ground in his BMW, shots rang out. His driver was wounded, as was a vlogger who had come to film the actor.

Shroff, whose films usually include elaborate action sequences and choreographed escapes, had just survived an actual shooting attempt.

Four days later, the case still dominates headlines in India, with each new revelation spawning fresh theories, competing claims and a growing list of alleged conspiracies.

Police have detained or arrested 10 suspects, with investigators tracing alleged weapon deliveries through several states and examining payments made to the alleged attackers.

The attempted shooting has also brought the name of Lawrence Bishnoi, one of India's most notorious gangsters, back into the headlines. Soon after the attack, a screenshot of a social media post purportedly made by an alleged associate of the Bishnoi gang circulated online, claiming responsibility. A separate audio recording emerged in which a man identifying himself as Anil Pandit repeated the claim and said Shroff had been targeted over his alleged links to actor Salman Khan, who Bishnoi has been threatening for years.

Mumbai police have not verified the claims or established that the Bishnoi gang was behind the attempted shooting. Investigators are still trying to determine who ordered the attack and why.

The targeting of Shroff follows a series of threats and attacks involving prominent Bollywood figures, including gunfire outside Khan's home in 2024 and filmmaker Rohit Shetty's house earlier this year. Together, the incidents have revived fears about the reach of organised crime into the film industry, stirring memories of a darker era in Mumbai's history.

During the 1990s and early 2000s, the city's underworld exerted formidable influence over the film industry, financing productions, demanding protection money and sometimes using violence to enforce its demands. It took years of police operations, and the gradual arrival of institutional financing, to loosen that grip.

Now, as fresh allegations and theories emerge almost daily, a question that once seemed to belong to Mumbai's past has returned: is the underworld trying to control Bollywood again?

Those who confronted organised crime in Mumbai at its peak say the answer is not as straightforward as the attempt to shoot Shroff might suggest.

D Sivanandhan, who took charge of Mumbai's Crime Branch in 1998, remembers a time when a phone call from Dubai, where some of the most notorious gang leaders were based, could decide the fate of a film - who starred in it, financed it or profited from its distribution.

In an industry dependent on private money, the line between investor and extortionist could be perilously thin. And the threats were real. In 1997, music mogul Gulshan Kumar was shot dead outside a Mumbai temple. Three years later, filmmaker Rakesh Roshan survived an assassination attempt.

Sivanandhan investigated the financing of Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, a Salman Khan film whose producer and his assistant were each sentenced to six years in prison under Maharashtra's organised crime law for underworld links. The film's financier received a one-year sentence for withholding information about those links. Police seized the film's negatives, and its release eventually happened under court supervision.

Gangsters were not always imposing themselves on a reluctant industry. Some filmmakers willingly sought their money, Sivanandhan recalled, in arrangements that could benefit both sides and proved difficult for police to dismantle.

But Sivanandhan is reluctant to see the latest violence as a return of the mafia he once fought. The men he pursued - Dawood Ibrahim, Chhota Shakeel, Arun Gawli and others - belonged to criminal networks rooted in Mumbai, even when their leaders operated from abroad.

"This is not the Mumbai mafia which we know in the last 60 years," he said. "This is something else."

That something else has become inseparable from the name Lawrence Bishnoi. A gangster with roots in northern India who has been in jail for years, Bishnoi has acquired an aura of folkloric menace: a prisoner said to command gunmen across continents, his name invoked in threats and claims of responsibility that spread almost instantaneously online.

Bishnoi has publicly threatened Khan over a 1998 poaching case involving blackbucks, a species of antelope revered by the Bishnoi community. In April 2024, gunmen fired five rounds outside Khan's Mumbai home. Six months later, Baba Siddique, a politician close to Khan and other actors, was murdered. Mumbai police have linked both attacks to the Bishnoi gang, though they have not established any personal involvement by Lawrence Bishnoi in Siddique's killing.

Some allegations against his network are backed by police investigations; others remain untested. But the distinction between what the gang has demonstrably done and what is claimed in its name can become blurred in the public imagination, doing little to diminish Bishnoi's notoriety.

Rakesh Maria, a former Mumbai police commissioner, has cited Bishnoi as an example of a new generation of gangsters who are more technologically adept and internationally connected than their predecessors. "The old underworld was visible and territorial, but the new one is dispersed, fluid, making it harder to pin down," Maria told The Print last year. "They no longer need to reside in the city to command it."

The relationship between gangsters and Bollywood has changed in another way, too, in who gets to shape their image.

In the 1990s, Bollywood itself helped turn Mumbai's feared underworld figures into objects of fascination. Films such as Satya (1998) and Company (2002) brought a gritty, visceral realism to their world, while Manoj Bajpayee's portrayal of gangster Bhiku Mhatre in Satya became, in the words of film scholar Ashvin Immanuel Devasundaram, "mythologised and talismanic".

The fear and fascination of that era were "seared into the collective consciousness", Devasundaram told the BBC.

Each new attack brings those memories back, he added. But today's gangsters no longer need cinema to build their mythology. Social media allows them to shape their own image, circulating threats, claims of responsibility and carefully staged photographs to audiences far beyond Mumbai.

After the latest shooting, police reportedly stepped up security outside the homes of Khan and Rohit Shetty. The All Indian Cine Workers Association demanded greater protection, asking: "Today it is Tiger Shroff. Who is next?"

There is little evidence so far that criminal networks have regained their former influence over Bollywood's finances and decisions. But the latest attacks have exposed a different vulnerability.

Gangsters may no longer need to control an industry to unsettle it. A single shooting attempt, amplified across millions of phone screens, can spread fear far beyond its intended target.

Sivanandhan, who spent years confronting Mumbai's gangsters, knows the limits of even the tightest security.

"There is always a crack in the armour," he said.

Australian MP's condition improves after alleged car attack

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c670pr1ryxyno, 3 days ago

The condition of Helen Haines, the Australian MP hit by a car five days ago in north-east Victoria, has improved from critical to serious but stable.

The independent MP, 65, had both her legs amputated after what authorities say was a deliberate attack outside her electorate office in Wangaratta, north-east of Melbourne, on Monday.

In the latest update on Saturday morning, the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne said Haines was in a serious but stable condition, the first improvement since she was airlifted there.

Her alleged attacker, 43-year-old Brendan Nugent, was arrested shortly after the incident and has since appeared in court on three charges.

The politician's husband, Phil Haines, said on Wednesday that the "horrendous incident" had caused his wife significant injuries but "her heart and her mind" were "in good shape".

Nugent, who was arrested moments after he allegedly drove his Toyota LandCruiser into the MP, appeared in court to face three charges: dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury, and causing harm to a Commonwealth public official.

Police said more charges might be laid, including attempted murder.

His lawyer said his client had "mental health concerns" but did not give any further detail.

Victoria Police has said its investigation, with support from the Australian Federal Police, remains ongoing and a motive is yet to be established.

Investigators are looking into whether drug use or medication played a part in the incident.

Nugent's family has said they were long-time friends with Haines.

Shortly after the alleged attack, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told ABC television that there had been a "rise in temperature" and "too much shouting, not enough discourse" in Australia.

Haines, known for stances such as supporting stronger climate action, entered parliament in 2019 after working as a nurse and midwife.

Japan is known for world-class events - but the Asian Games were chaotic

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvze414811jlo, 5 days ago

From the Olympics to Tokyo's annual video game convention, Japan has a strong track record of hosting major international events. But this year's Asian Games in Nagoya and the wider Aichi Prefecture were marred by problems.

There were diplomatic blunders, transport errors and accommodation chaos. In comment fields online, some branded it the "worst Games in history" and urged a "full investigation".

Prof Kozo Tomiyama, who studies major sporting events at Osaka University, believes organisers were unable to handle the unexpected.

"If these problems damage international confidence in Japan's ability to operate sporting events, they could also affect Japan's ability to attract international competitions in the future," he warned.

The deputy director general of the Games, Takaaki Omi, admitted organisers had faced a range of unforeseen issues, but insisted they took on feedback and made improvements.

String of incidents

Before the tournament had even begun, participants were complaining about too few rooms and poor-quality accommodation.

Organisers had decided to forgo building a traditional athletes' village to cut costs, and were instead housing participants in hotels and container-style units across Nagoya. A top Korean basketball official said tall athletes housed in the containers were struggling to "stretch their legs out on the beds".

Last-minute additions to the total number of participants strained the city's capacity so much that an Italian cruise ship with 1,500 cabins was used to fill the gap.

The organising committee had initially arranged accommodation for up to 15,000 delegation members "in accordance with the host city contract", Omi told the BBC. But as other sports were added, the number grew by 2,000 to a total of 17,000.

Organisers initially claimed there was "simply nowhere" to put up the late influx and told them to make their own arrangements - before backpedalling and releasing a joint statement with the Olympic Council of Asia promising that all "17,000-plus" guests would get "Games-appropriate accommodation".

This was just the start of the problems.

Over the course of the Games, athletes were bussed to the wrong venues and the North Korean anthem was played for the South Korean men's hockey team. During the men's football gold medal ceremony, the South Korean flag was not raised properly. Taiwan's sports minister found himself temporarily barred from a flag-raising event.

In the last days of the Games, volunteers received an email inviting them to the closing ceremony free of charge. But later an organiser said the decision to distribute free tickets was still under review and had not been approved.

Omi admitted the string of incidents at the event - which was bigger than the Paris Olympics by number of participants - had caused significant inconvenience for some delegations.

"Hosting and managing an event of this scale was a major challenge for us, and each day involved addressing a range of unexpected issues and challenges," he said.

"During the Games, we also listened carefully to feedback from the athletes who were actually using the facilities and responded promptly with necessary improvements and measures."

'Overwhelmingly cheaper'

As soon as these issues began to surface, local media pointed fingers at the company managing venue operations: the Japanese subsidiary of France's GL Events.

GL Events had won the 63bn yen (£306m; $405m) contract over Dentsu Group, an advertising giant with a long history of successfully running sporting events in Japan that had been sidelined after a criminal bid-rigging conviction.

A source told Kyodo news agency that GL Events was "overwhelmingly cheaper" than alternative providers.

Last week the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper accused the firm of aggressively cutting corners on hiring, resulting in a shortage of experienced staff capable of managing the issues which arose. The personnel that were recruited were not properly trained, the newspaper alleged.

But organiser Takaaki Omi stressed that GL Events "has experience in international sporting events, including the Paris Olympic Games".

"We believe the necessary competition environment was in place by the start of competition, including thorough discussions and co-ordination with GL Events," he told the BBC.

Prof Tomiyama said he didn't think it was right to "simply conclude that GL events did not have sufficient experience with international competitions". He believes the issue stemmed from the "extremely broad" scope of responsibility they were given.

"Also, because this was a negotiated contract rather than a competitive tender, it's important to examine the criteria organisers used to assess the contractor's capabilities, as well as how they supervised the contractor after the contract was awarded," Tomiyama added.

GL Events did not respond to repeated BBC requests for comment.

Hopes for the future

Watching organisers play whack-a-mole as they rushed to address each new concern which popped up throughout the Games felt deeply out of line with what the world has come to expect from a major Japanese event.

It's far from the "omotenashi" spirit - Japan's whole-hearted hospitality that is almost an art form - they might have wanted to showcase.

Officials ended up having to send a formal apology to South Korea for the series of mishaps affecting that particular delegation.

But Olympic Council of Asia director general Husain al-Musallam was keen to highlight the 54 new world records achieved at the Games - in swimming, weightlifting, and shooting - as proof they were a hit.

"This achievement does not come without the best environment that the organising committee created for the athletes," he said. "The athletes cannot perform if they don't sleep good, the athletes cannot perform if they don't have good transportation."

While the Games may be over, the problems aren't.

Glitches have continued at the ongoing Para Games, where the wrong national anthems were played at three events. Nagoya Mayor Ichiro Hirosawa, who is also deputy head of the Games organising committee, called it "unacceptable" and offered his apologies.

Prof Tomiyama hopes organisers will take lessons from the past few weeks to deliver higher-quality sporting events in the future.

Trump's green card curbs test Indian tech workers' American dream

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqj34j7dk771o, 5 days ago

For millions of Indians, the road to the ultimate career aspiration had a familiar script - an engineering degree to get a tech services job, then a posting in the US, repeated visa renewals and then the green card that gave them permanent residency in the country.

But that may end soon.

Earlier this month, the US announced it would suspend eight technology firms, including Microsoft, India's Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and HCL Technologies, from hiring skilled international workers on a permanent basis through a widely used visa pathway.

New and pending applications under the Permanent Labor Certification Program, or PERM, have been frozen. This is a big blow to Indians who hold a majority of H-1B visas - a temporary visa for specialists - which they used to work in the US while relying on PERM to get a green card and, ultimately, citizenship.

The latest announcement is in line with Trump's push for stricter skilled-worker immigration rules, which tech firms have been adapting to and, therefore, the impact on businesses may be minimal, experts say.

Nasscom, the trade association of India's $300bn (£226bn) technology industry, says that Indian companies have reduced the dependence on H-1B visas and are hiring more locally.

"Consequently, the number of employees transitioning from H-1B visas to permanent residency through the PERM process is also relatively limited," the association adds.

Wipro said in a statement that more than 80% of its workforce in the US is locally hired. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), said its PERM applications were in single digits in the last two years. Microsoft said in a statement that it has filed for H-1B visas mostly to retain existing staff, not to import new workers.

A report in Business Standard newspaper, citing PERM Tracker, said, TCS' applications filings fell to two in 2025-26 from 513 in the previous year and 1,804 in the year before that. The report said no records were found for Infosys and Wipro for 2025-26.

BBC's email to all eight companies asking questions about the impact of the restriction and how they were supporting affected employees in the US remained unanswered.

Brokerage firm HDFC Securities said the impact on tech firms would be minimal, as PERM-linked jobs make up only a small share of revenue, even if higher-paid American workers replace them.

But the US government's decision has an impact beyond business.

A US-based senior executive with one of these eight firms told the BBC on condition of anonymity that the new PERM restriction will "not break the business", but the impact is more "intense" at a human level.

"A good number of people we know are stuck in a space where they have spent some years in the US but their green card application hasn't moved. Even if they are ready to move back to India, their children don't want to because they grew up here," he said.

Recent policy moves have deepened uncertainty and amplified online hostility towards Indian immigrants and H-1B visa holders.

Researchers at Stop AAPI Hate, a US non-profit that combats anti-Asian and Pacific Islander discrimination, have reported a sharp increase in anti-South Asian online sentiment since the 2024 US election, with Indian immigrants and H-1B visa holders being frequent targets.

While barring the eight tech companies from PERM, US Vice President JD Vance too referred to foreign professionals holding H-1B visas as "foreign indentured servants".

While he later acknowledged that it was an "imperfect" rhetoric, his remark drew sharp criticism from India's foreign ministry which called it "unwarranted" and "deeply offensive" for the colonial connotation.

Poorvi Chothani, founder and managing partner of global immigration law firm LawQuest, said many came to the US for better prospects, borrowing heavily to study and build careers. But as rules tighten now, they have fewer options and less ability to absorb the costs.

Immigration experts believe that as pathways for residency become limited, some may reconsider their future in the US, while others may choose not to move at all.

Ahmet Gulek, Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford's Immigration Policy Lab, told BBC that despite alternate ways to get residency, not many may be feasible.

While moving to another firm not covered by the suspension is an option, he flags that it's unclear if those firms would be open to hiring immigrants given "the fear of retaliation".

Besides, it's also a tough time to change jobs.

The technology industry has already been reshaped by layoffs, cost-cutting and the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), making career moves tougher.

But there are other routes to a US green card. People with exceptional accomplishments or whose work advances national interests may be eligible for categories that bypass the PERM labour certification process.

Applicants can also qualify for permanent residency by investing at least $800,000 in eligible US enterprises.

Gulek warns some of these categories "may be targeted next."

While Chothani says some are so keen to stay in the US that they are considering the EB-5 investor route but may not have enough capital to invest.

Nearly one million Indian nationals were waiting for employment-based green cards as of December 2025, representing 79% of the total pending applications, according to the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP).

Their report projects wait times ranging from five to 179 years for highly skilled Indians filing labour certification or employment-based immigration petitions from January 2026, depending on the visa category.

Like other recent immigration measures, the PERM suspension may face federal court challenges. But together, these moves signal a more restrictive climate for those hoping to study, work or settle in the US.

Earlier, the Trump administration imposed a $100,000 fee on certain new H-1B visa petitions, a measure that was later struck down by federal courts. More recently, it has also proposed a $70,000 fee for universities recommending international students for a programme that allows graduates to work in the country after completing their studies.

"This trend is not changing anytime soon," said an Indian professional, who spoke to BBC on condition of anonymity and has transitioned to an H-1B visa recently after a "long wait". He says both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party agree immigration laws need reform, even if they disagree on how.

Some research suggests that restrictions could shift jobs to India rather than to American workers. This is supported by industry players saying that they are already witnessing an increase in companies offshoring work.

"Companies benefit from cost arbitrage when they move work offshore. Post Covid, there is also greater acceptance and appreciation for remote work from clients," the executive from the tech firm earlier quoted says.

Experts believe America's appetite for Indian tech talent is unlikely to disappear. What may be changing is how it taps that talent. For Indian professionals, that could mean rewriting the script about building a future in the US.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Jio launches India's biggest share sale

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ck7vp17z7jv3o, 5 days ago

India's second richest man Mukesh Ambani's digital and telecommunications venture is tapping public investors for the first time in what's expected to be the country's largest share sale.

Jio Platforms, a unit of conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd, aims to raise 302bn rupees ($3.2bn; £2.8bn) in the initial public offering (IPO) of freshly issued shares from Wednesday.

The company will use the money to repay loans it took to build and expand its unit Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, India's largest private-sector telecoms operator.

This is the second mega IPO in a month in India after the National Stock Exchange's $2.4bn-issue despite the weakness in the broader equity market.

Arun Kejriwal of Kejriwal Research and Investment Services told the BBC that while the share market has remained subdued, the IPO market has been flush with issues and has seen interest from institutions and retail investors driven by attractive valuations and interest in new and scalable technology businesses.

He said that IPOs are being priced to reflect lower valuations and price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios among listed companies, making them attractive. The P/E ratio measures how much investors are willing to pay for each unit of a company's earnings.

Jio Platforms is offering shares in the price band of 1,065 to 1,119 rupees in the issue that closes Friday.

The share issue comes as the Nifty 50, the NSE's benchmark index of 50 leading Indian companies, has fallen by over 12% this year.

According to a Reuters report, institutional investors on Monday placed bids worth $3.2bn, which is 30 times the shares exclusively reserved for them and offered ahead of the IPO opening.

The response from institutional investors aligns with analysts' view that investors will be drawn to the IPO for Jio's scale, network infrastructure and established customer relationships.

Centrum Institutional Research, part of an Indian brokerage, said in a note that "with strong network leadership, large scale infrastructure, and a deepening digital ecosystem, Jio is well positioned to sustain industry-leading growth over the medium-to-long term".

But analysts also flag that competition is likely to remain intense for the company with price wars and potential churn in customer base.

Recently, technology billionaire Elon Musk publicly took on the low-cost Reliance Jio declaring that his Starlink's satellite internet service will be priced affordably in India.

Musk criticised Ambani on social media platform X as his satellite internet company struggles to get a final approval for a commercial launch in India.

The criticisms escalated with Musk questioning if Ambani was the "real boss of India". Ambani or Reliance did not respond directly to the attacks.

Jio also faces regulatory uncertainty even as the federal government has emerged as the largest stakeholder in rival Vodafone Idea after it converted its dues into equity as part of a relief package.

Equity experts flag that Jio Platforms remains exposed to regulatory risks as the telecom sector remains subject to extensive government oversight in India.

Retail investors have long viewed Reliance group companies as wealth creators and looked forward to IPOs from the conglomerate.

Founder Dhirubhai Ambani famously referred to shareholders as part of the "Reliance family", a tradition that has continued and created a loyal retail investor base.

The Jio Platforms IPO is the group's first public offering in two decades and signals a transition in leadership to the next generation of Ambanis.

Investor roadshows were led by Jio Platforms Managing Director Akash Ambani and Reliance Retail Ventures Executive Director Isha Ambani, the twin children of Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani who stayed away from the investors and shareholders this time.

Britain's posh schools are heading to India for students and profits

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6vgx1ldvz5vo, 3 days ago

On the outskirts of Chandigarh city in India's north-western Punjab state, a 473-year-old legacy British public school opened its first all-girls international campus earlier this year.

In contrast to the prominent Gothic-style central building on the school grounds in Bedfordshire, England, the Indian premises are more modern, with purpose-built academic blocks. But a conspicuous red-brick clock tower bears the imprint of the school's British heritage.

The Bedford School, Mohali, is the newest in at least half a dozen British public schools (elite, fee-paying private schools with a long history), including three of the country's oldest, that have set up shop across the length and breadth of India. Their expansion comes amid tighter market conditions in China and the introduction of VAT on private school fees in Britain from 1 January 2025.

Since 2023, Bengaluru - India's Silicon Valley and a hub of software and start-up companies - has been home to the prestigious Harrow School, alma mater of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Shrewsbury School has a campus in Bhopal in central India, while Wellington College has chosen to set up base in Pune, a western city that calls itself the "Oxford of the East" for its well-regarded universities and colleges.

Millfield, Queen Elizabeth's School and a few others are reportedly on their way with satellite campuses in the coming years.

For decades, India has been home to well-established local boarding schools modelled on the colonial British public-school system, serving elite, aristocratic families. But this market has rapidly expanded with newly wealthy Indian families increasingly aspiring to give their children more global exposure.

"Our international curriculum is quite a driver for many of them," Caroline Pascoe, head of school at Harrow in Bengaluru, told the BBC.

Harrow and Bedford are among the few schools in India that follow an all-through Cambridge curriculum - a global education framework recognised at 10,000 schools worldwide - from primary through to A-levels.

Harsimran Singh Kocchar, whose own extended family runs a chain of schools across India, says he decided to send his five-year old daughter Parineet to Bedford Mohali because of the "holistic focus of the school on character development, confidence and not merely academics".

He said he was also drawn to the fact the school did not have a "VIP culture" unlike many Indian equivalents.

"All kids are treated the same. Children of ministers and bureaucrats don't get greater privileges," said Singh.

Beyond the growing ranks of well-heeled local families, non-resident Indians who have either returned home after long stints abroad, or those still in the UK or Middle East wanting their children to connect to their roots, are also a significant market for these schools, says Pascoe.

Sixty per cent of Harrow's staff in Bengaluru are international and, like the others, it has imported its unique traditions to its Bengaluru campus: teachers are called Beaks, and students wear the traditional Harrow hats and uniform and take part in The Long Ducker - a cross-country race that happens across its schools globally. There is also a house system - a hallmark of traditional British education.

These quintessentially parochial quirks are blended with local customs such as singing the Indian national anthem every morning or celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi, a major Hindu festival.

While India's growing economic credentials and burgeoning population of newly minted millionaires are a natural tailwind for expansion, this growth is partly being driven by a slowdown in China.

Much of the expansion of British public schools abroad in the past decade was driven by China and Hong Kong - half of the 151 satellite campuses operated by 50 UK schools are situated in these countries.

But that growth has slowed following changes in regulation, and "increased scrutiny, and even resistance, from national governments", according to a 2025 study by the UK-based Private Education Policy Forum (PEPF) think tank.

A new 2024 Chinese law that required schools to integrate patriotic education into all subjects further challenged expansion and even led to planned campuses being cancelled, prompting these schools to consider other locations like India and Vietnam, according to PEPF.

Moreover, in the 2024 Autumn Budget, Britain introduced a 20% VAT on private school fees. Naomi Atkins, founding principal at Bedford School Mohali, says this has forced many private schools to look overseas.

"They are in a desperate situation. Even those that hadn't previously looked for international expansion are now suddenly active in India," she told the BBC.

But India has not been an easy market, she admits.

Most of these schools are set up in partnership with local investors or operators.

While in the past schools in other countries might have been able to do deals at 10% of revenue - the fee that they would charge the local partner-investor - margins in India may have shrunk to as low as 1% in some cases, says Atikins.

There has also been some over-estimation of the size of the market, she says.

Even though India has nearly 250 million children enrolled in schools, English education is deeply entrenched in the country and competition from local players is much more intense compared with other non-English speaking countries like China, Korea or Vietnam.

India's per capita income is also far lower and the high price-points of the British schools - which can charge up to £15,000 or more for full boarding - can limit growth.

"I've worked in Indonesia, Malaysia and China but Indians are much more price-sensitive - they like a bargain," says Atkins.

That is why Bedford Mohali has set its fees at roughly half those charged by other British schools.

Between 2011-12 and 2022-23, the satellite campuses of British schools generated £152.4m in profit, according to PEPF, and this profit has grown substantially over the years.

But in India, it appears growth is likely to be slow and steady rather than explosive.

The country's old colonial roots and new money afford the legacy institutions a significant business opportunity, but it is unlikely to be big enough to offset the loss of the Chinese market, at least immediately.

Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, X and Facebook.

Borneo burning: Life on the frontline of South East Asia's toxic haze

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqm2dzwdmmywo, 6 days ago

When the sun hits the smog enveloping Indonesian Borneo, it turns everything the colour of rust. Cars, houses and streets appear and disappear out of a dim russet fog. There are few better words than "apocalyptic" to describe the way this looks.

But it's at night, in the quiet darkness, that mother-of-three Dianyra Eka Nastiti grows most fearful.

"Sometimes at night my baby's chest makes a rattling sound," she says. "She was hospitalised for bronchopneumonia when she was just a month and a half old, and every single night I worry: Will my child cough tomorrow?

"Those thoughts haunt me every night."

Nastiti lives in Palangkaraya, at the frontline of a months-long environmental catastrophe that has blanketed large parts of Southeast Asia in a toxic haze.

Wildfires have torched some 1.9 million hectares across Indonesia since the start of the year, according to open-access satellite platform Nusantara Atlas – an area roughly the size of the US state of New Jersey, or the entire landmass of Fiji. One million hectares are thought to have burned in September alone.

But the toxic fallout is larger still. Swathes of smouldering forest, swamp and peatlands have turned the air thick with microparticles and carbon monoxide, creating a noxious cloud that has swaddled Indonesia and drifted as far as Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.

As of mid-October, Indonesia's Health Ministry had recorded more than 277,000 cases of people suffering from chronic coughs and acute respiratory infections. More than 62,000 of those were infants and toddlers under the age of five.

"The forest fires have had a huge impact, especially on everyone's health," says 22-year-old Natari Victoria, who was admitted to a health centre in Palangkarya after suffering from a cough for more than a week.

"I have young cousins, including babies, who are coughing too. It's really taking a toll on them."

Haze and smoke from peat fires contain a complex mixture of pollutants that pose serious health risks to the human body.

Among these are tiny microparticles which can penetrate deep into the lungs and, in some cases, enter the bloodstream, causing inflammation, chronic lung diseases and increased risk of premature death.

Another concern is the toxic greenhouse gases that are being unleashed into the air.

"Here in Central Kalimantan, especially in Palangkaraya, the sky has turned yellow and hazy," says Riduan, head of the Palangkaraya Health Office. "So what are the residents actually breathing in? It's not fresh oxygen; it's carbon dioxide and pollutants. And what happens as a result? The body – specifically the brain – doesn't get enough oxygen."

Children, older adults and pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to the dangers of haze, especially during prolonged periods of exposure, when the health impacts can accumulate.

In places like Palangkarya, the official advice is to stay indoors and avoid going out. But Nastiti says this is unrealistic.

"I still need to buy vegetables, stock up on food, purchase school supplies, and take care of other necessities," she explains. "It's simply not possible, and I feel like the people who say things like that have no idea what is actually happening here."

Nastiti's utmost priority, however, is the health and wellbeing of her children. And when the haze grows heavy, she is quick to force them inside.

"With conditions being so unsafe, I have no choice," she says. "Our young children should be at the park, playing with their friends and going to school. Instead, they are locked inside the house."

Lola Macitri, a 37-year-old who lives in the rural village of Ramang, 50km (31 miles) north of Palangkaraya, has been similarly housebound. As the smog has deepened over the past few weeks – from dusty grey to amber yellow and, more recently, burnt orange – she and her family have come to spend most of their time indoors.

Her children, like many others in Indonesia's more haze-affected areas, have been doing their school classes online, she says, while she and other adults struggle to manage half-a-day's work out in the poisonous air.

Countless farmers, daily-wage earners and small vendors have similarly been forced to either sacrifice their livelihoods or endure the risk of stepping outside. Beyond that, many are left with no choice but to wait out the storm.

"If you ask whether we are afraid of the health risks, of course we are. But where else can we go?" says Macitri. "We just have to endure and stay strong through this situation, because there is simply no other option."

The government is under mounting pressure from the public to do more to stop the fires, with many criticising what they see as a woefully inadequate response by the authorities.

Authorities insist they have pursued a range of measures to try to extinguish the flames and, in turn, the smoke – from aerial waterbombing to experimental weather modification. Last week, the Indonesian government said it had deployed more than 60,000 personnel to carry out a "land operation", claiming they'd achieved an 80% success rate in extinguishing new fires.

"At this point, I think we need to use every safe and effective option available to suppress the fires," says Dr Nisa Novita, a forestry expert and peatland researcher at Indonesian conservation NGO Yayasan Konservasi Alam Nusantara (YKAN).

"It's a bit like trying to save a sinking ship: we need to act urgently, use whatever tools can help, and prevent further damage while we still can."

But those resources are fast depleting for responders on the ground.

For more than 100 days, Juni has been fighting wildfires that show only false signs of abating. On the surface, the flames are out – but underground, smouldering blazes continue to burn through a deep understory of carbon, vegetation and peat.

"It is truly exhausting," he says, describing how the relentless smoke has produced in him a shortness of breath, a persistent cough and an unshakeable pain in his eyes. When asked what he needs, he says "air".

"The haze makes it hard to breathe," he explains. "We are just hoping for heavy rain."

Thousands of others across Indonesia and Southeast Asia have spent the past several months hoping for the same.

Seasonal wildfires are not new to Indonesia but this year, a so-called Super El Nino has amplified drought conditions and delayed the kind of rainfall that is critical to extinguishing peat fires. It has also made things exponentially harder for those at the coalface, like Juni, who have spent months battling a seemingly irrepressible fire front.

Dr Novita explains that conditions on the ground have become much harsher even in recent weeks, as the prolonged drought makes water increasingly scarce.

Fauzi Rahman, another firefighter in Palangkaraya, highlighted this as one of the main difficulties confronting him and his peers.

"Peatland fires are hard to put out because they require a lot of water and a long time," he says. "On regular land we can clear 20 hectares in a single day, especially with a large team... On peatland, it can take months.

"We really have to inject water deep down, all the way to the bottom, which requires a huge amount of water. And right now, water is hard to find."

What's more concerning for Dr Novita, however, is that her team has reported fires spreading into areas where there has been no history of fire before.

"So we're not only dealing with fires in the usual hotspots but also seeing them emerge in new areas," she says.

In Palangkaraya, people are growing desperate for an end to this apocalypse. But it will likely take a force of nature for that to happen any time soon.

Riduan, head of the Palangkaraya Health Office, tells the BBC that "hopefully, with all the extraordinary efforts from the community, the military, and the police working together, the fires can be put out".

"However, as of right now, the fires are still burning," he adds. "So what can we hope for? Our greatest hope is that Almighty God will bring us rain soon."

Is Donald Trump ready to do business with Myanmar?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw203zx1x1rno, 6 days ago

Has Washington's long-standing policy of isolating the military regime in Myanmar now changed?

The revelation that a top official in the Trump administration met its leader Min Aung Hlaing last month, and the removal of some business figures from the US sanctions list, suggests that it has.

Until now, the US had had very little official contact with the regime following the 2021 coup, when Myanmar's military ousted democratically-elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. More recently, it had applied a series of targeted sanctions against those judged to be supporting the junta.

The meeting on 15 and 16 September was with US Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research Michael Vance, and it took place in Myanmar's capital Nay Pyi Taw. Its ostensible focus was to secure the release of Adam Castillo, a US citizen who had been detained in June over a dispute with the local American Chamber of Commerce.

But Vance was the most senior US official to meet Min Aung Hlaing since he seized power, and they almost certainly discussed other matters of mutual interest.

Vance is also known to have met Burmese officials in Tokyo in June, again in Tokyo this month, and to have met representatives of the groups opposing military rule.

Signs of a shift in US policy towards Myanmar, though, go back to July last year, at the height of President Donald Trump's tariff war.

That was when Min Aung Hlaing, along with other leaders in the region, received a personal letter from the US president informing him that his country's shattered economy was about to be hit by, in Myanmar's case, 40% tariffs.

Other countries reeled in shock at the punitive levies imposed on their vital trade with a country they had once seen as a friend and ally.

But Min Aung Hlaing was delighted.

He replied immediately to express his "sincere appreciation for this encouraging invitation to continue participating in the extraordinary Economy of the United States, the Number One Market in the World", mimicking Trump's hyperbolic phrasing and eccentric capitalisation.

"It is with great esteem that I wish to acknowledge Your Excellency's strong leadership in guiding your country toward national prosperity with the spirit of a true patriot."

This was not just a dictator's hunch that flattery might be the best way to win favours from Trump. Min Aung Hlaing's coup, and the civil war it ignited, had turned him into an international pariah.

His regime was largely unrecognised. He was accused of being a war criminal, with cases lodged against him at the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice. Aside from Russia and, more recently, China, he was shunned by other governments.

Yet here was the US president addressing him just like any other president or prime minister, as "Your Excellency. There was no mention in Trump's letter of the appalling human cost of Min Aung Hlaing's power seizure; of a democracy crushed and leader Aung San Suu Kyi jailed.

That same month the regime signed a $3m (£2.3m) contract with DCI, a long-standing Washington lobbying firm which had been used by a previous Burmese military regime in 2002 to try to improve its image.

Since then the military government has also hired Roger Stone, a controversial lobbyist and confidant of President Trump, at a fee of $50,000 a month.

Also around the same time Adam Castillo, a former US marine and Trump supporter who had just stepped down as president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Yangon, was in Washington trying to persuade Vice President JD Vance's team that it was time to re-engage.

Castillo believed that the US reliance on sanctions to isolate the junta had failed.

"Myanmar mattered to America not only as a morality play but as a strategic interest," he wrote in his book Finding Our Voice: A Story of Leadership in Crisis and the American Spirit Abroad. He discussed with the vice-president's team how the US "could engage Myanmar without war or isolation, loosen China's grip on critical minerals, and align peace with American interests".

Castillo was pushing at an open door.

The US dependence on rare earths from China had been exposed when China blocked them in retaliation against Trump's tariffs in April. The administration began prioritising finding alternative sources. Myanmar happens to have large reserves of rare earths which are currently being exploited solely for China's use.

At almost exactly the same time, the state department issued new guidance to US embassies around the world on what to say about elections. From now on, it said, "messages should avoid opining on the fairness or integrity of an electoral process, its legitimacy, or the democratic values of the country in question".

So, when Myanmar held its much-criticised general election in December and January, allowing Min Aung Hlaing to turn himself from coup leader into a notionally civilian president, the US did not, like most Western governments, condemn it as neither free nor fair.

For decades the US has consistently pronounced judgement on other countries' elections. Now the US had nothing to say.

Washington's decision to lift sanctions on some of those targeted by the Biden administration seemed only to confirm the new direction of US-Myanmar policy.

"For years, the US approach to Myanmar has been defined by isolation, sanctions, and distance," wrote the lobbyists DCI in a recent newsletter. "That era is over… thankfully, President Trump has the courage to try something different."

The tone is certainly different, but not so much the substance of US-Myanmar relations.

"In practice less has changed than the headlines suggest," says Richard Horsey, Myanmar adviser for the International Crisis Group, adding that Min Aung Hlaing is still sanctioned. "What is new is the level of contact and the location. Senior US officials have now been to Nay Pyi Taw, which is exactly what Min Aung Hlaing wanted. What he wants next is sanctions relief, and that will be harder."

It was another Trump initiative last year, though, which has arguably had a much greater impact on Myanmar: the dismantling of USAID, which slashed aid to opposition groups, dissident media and refugees by more than half.

There was also the decision, decried by human rights groups, to withdraw Temporary Protected Status from 4,000 Burmese who had sought sanctuary in the US. This has left them living in fear of being sent back, where many face being jailed, or worse.

As for the rare earths in Myanmar, few experts believe they will ever be of much use to the US. Most lie in areas contested by ethnic insurgent armies.

They are currently extracted by Chinese companies with long experience of operating in these lawless borderlands, and transported over the border to China for processing. It is difficult to see how the US could get access to them.

It is also doubtful that the US will get meaningful co-operation from the Myanmar government in combating the scam industry.

There have been a few highly-publicised actions against some of the larger scam compounds, but the syndicates running them have simply dispersed to smaller operations in more remote areas, and in any case most are run with the support of militia groups allied to the Myanmar military.

"Talking to Nay Pyi Taw is not wrong in itself," says Horsey.

"The question is what Washington asks for and what it gives away. It should use the channel for the things that matter most: humanitarian access, an end to airstrikes on civilians. It should keep talking to the opposition and the ethnic armed groups, who hold much of the country. And on scams, the most effective thing the US can do is to co-ordinate with other governments in the region, including China, to go after the money."

Perhaps the bigger question, though, is whether President Trump, distracted by domestic politics and the war on Iran, has the capacity to give any sustained attention to Myanmar, let alone enough to challenge the dominant influence of China.

Celebrity shark guided out of South Korea canal refuses to swim out to sea

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr3wv99614deo, 4 days ago

A famed dusky shark in South Korea is still lingering near a canal that it was guided out of on Wednesday.

The shark, nicknamed Bukangi, became an unlikely sensation after it was spotted swimming in a canal in the south-eastern port city of Busan last month. For weeks, rescuers tried in vain to get it back to the open sea using large nets.

On Thursday, authorities said they had reinforced barriers to prevent Bukangi from returning. But it has yet to swim out into the open sea, and has been circling back repeatedly to the mouth of the waterway.

Its rescue prompted mixed reactions in Busan, where some said the shark should stay while others felt it was better for it to go.

In a livestreamed operation on Wednesday, rescue workers took more than eight hours to delicately guide the three-metre-long (10ft) shark with a net towards open water in a harbour.

Hundreds of adoring fans gathered at the park overlooking the canal, cheering and waving goodbye to the shark.

But then, on Thursday morning, Bukangi reportedly swam back into the canal after breaking through a barrier installed by authorities.

For some time, Bukangi was trapped in a tight space between two layers of nets in the canal.

Rescuers freed it by removing the outer layer, and have since fortified the remaining layer of nets to prevent it from going back in.

Since then, authorities said, Bukangi has been swimming further out but keeps circling back.

A government official told the BBC on Thursday afternoon that rescuers had concluded their operations to free the shark.

It is thought that Bukangi might have been drawn to the canal by unusually warm waters and plenty of fish. With the sea getting warmer each year, experts say Busan may play host to more sharks in the future.

In the month that she has been in the canal, Bukangi had already attracted more than 1.6 million visitors.

Its popularity gave a welcome boost to Busan's tourism, and the city embraced it as an unofficial mascot.

But authorities were also concerned about Bukangi's well-being as it appeared to be injured and was not eating.

Social media users have been circulating videos of Bukangi swimming in the canal with what appears to be a bloodied snout.

There were concerns the shark would be further weakened by falling water temperatures.

Before this week's operation, there had been two earlier failed attempts to guide Bukangi out of the canal with nets.

Some in Busan felt it was safer for the shark to remain in the canal. The BBC saw two people holding up cardboard signs protesting against Bukangi's eviction.

One of them was Cho Hannah, who had travelled for two hours from her home in North Gyeongsang province to see the shark.

Bukangi, she insisted, was "a rare gift" to Busan.

"This shark has made this canal her home, and we are kicking her out unnecessarily. I am afraid the shark might die tangled with the net, or die out at sea," she said.

But others like Yoon In-taek said it was only right that Bukangi left.

"Bukangi seemed much larger when I first saw her on 18 September, when she first got here. Now she seems gaunt. I'm worried for her health if she stays," he said.

"It doesn't sit right with me that she keeps returning here. It will be best if Bukangi leaves, doesn't come back, and lives and feeds freely in the open sea. I'd love to see her find a healthy, free life out there," said Shin Seungmin.

Bukangi has "brought so much joy to us", he said, adding that he was sad to see her leave.

"But she should go and live her normal shark life."

Additional reporting by Leehyun Choi.

No order, no seat: Starbucks China rolls out new store policy

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckzd6rjmlzvmo, 4 days ago

Taking a seat at a Starbucks in China? Just make sure you're also ordering something there.

A new policy by Starbucks China takes effect across all its 8,000 stores on Thursday, making it mandatory for people to purchase items if they want to sit in its cafes.

Starbucks China said the move was part of efforts to improve the "in-store experience" for customers. The company is facing stiff competition from homegrown brands such as Luckin Coffee.

Starbucks stores around the world have also been wrestling with non-paying seat-hoggers and other undesirable behaviour from customers.

In South Korea, Starbucks has told customers to stop bringing "bulky items" into their stores, after some patrons reportedly hogged seats with printers and desktop computers in tow.

In North America, Starbucks reversed its open-door policy which for years allowed people to use their seats and toilets without buying anything, saying that it wanted to "prioritise" paying customers.

Starbucks China is now following suit.

Ahead of the official announcement on Wednesday, reports of the new seating policy at China's Starbucks stores had been circulating this week - along with social media videos of what appear to be "purchase to sit" signs in Starbucks stores.

Many on Chinese social media welcomed the new policy.

"Finally, there won't be peak periods where people are just sitting there not ordering anything, drinking Luckin coffee, playing games and yelling on the phone," reads one of the top-liked comment on Weibo. "Every time I walk around, there's nowhere to sit,"

"There's nothing wrong with it. I'd feel awkward sitting there if I didn't make a purchase. I'd rather leave the seats for those who made purchases and need the seats," another Weibo user commented.

Last month, a Starbucks store in Sichuan province sparked debate after video of its chained-up outdoor seats and tables were circulated on social media. It appeared to be an attempt to block people from sitting there without paying.

Since opening its first store there in 1999, China has become Starbucks' second-largest market. But it has faced stiff competition in recent years from Luckin and other local brands that offer cheaper products.

Luckin also offers a robust app-based ordering system that prioritises grab-and-go transactions, challenging Starbucks' model of a full cafe experience where people can sit down and enjoy their food and drinks.

In 2023, Luckin overtook Starbucks as China's largest coffee chain.

Starbucks said last year it would sell 60% stake of its business in China as part of a $4bn (£3.04bn) deal with investment firm Boyu Capital.

In another statement on Wednesday, Starbucks China said it was planning to increase staffing and improve digital systems at its stores, among other investments to "ensure customers receive timely and warm service even during peak hours".

Australian murderer loses bid to eat Vegemite in prison

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvwy7wz9x12go, today

A convicted murderer serving a life sentence in Australia has lost his bid to overturn a ban on prisoners consuming Vegemite - the salty yeast-based spread that has become a national symbol.

Andre McKechnie argued that the ban, in place since 2006, denied him the right to "enjoy his culture as an Australian".

Authorities in the state of Victoria say inmates may use the strong-smelling paste to disguise contraband substances or to brew alcohol behind bars.

And on Monday, a Supreme Court judge rejected McKechnie's appeal, saying the prisoner's "cultural rights are limited primarily by the fact he has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment".

In his lawsuit against Victoria's Department of Justice and Corrections, the agency which manages the state's prisons, McKechnie, 54, said the ban on the spread breached law requiring prisons to provide food that allowed inmates to maintain their health and well-being but the judge said that had not been proven.

McKechnie was handed a life sentence for stabbing a property developer to death in Queensland in the 1990s. He served part of his sentence in Queensland before being transferred to Victoria.

During the hearing, the court heard evidence from Corrections Victoria that the smell of vegemite can distract sniffer dogs trying to detect drugs being brought into prison.

The product is also banned in jails in Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania.

A much-loved breakfast spread for some, Vegemite has acquired controversial accolades since it first hit shop shelves in Australia in 1923.

The thick, brown spread was invented in the Victorian capital of Melbourne more than a century ago as an alternative to the British spread Marmite.

It sparked an international dispute in April last year when an Australian cafe owner in Canada was told to remove jars of the condiment from his shelves as it did not comply with local health regulations.

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese intervened in the row, saying it was "rather odd" that Canada allowed the sale of Vegemite's "rubbish" rival product Marmite. The cafe owner was later allowed to continue selling the spread.

Police investigate Married at First Sight Australia after 'inappropriate' allegations

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cry83vyw3y4lo, 4 days ago

Married at First Sight Australia is facing fresh controversy after police launched an investigation into the hit reality TV show.

New South Wales Police told BBC News that inquiries had taken place "following a report of inappropriate content being shared".

Channel Nine, which broadcasts Married at First Sight Australia, confirmed that it was "aware of a police investigation" involving the show's production company.

It is the latest blow for the show, after a BBC News investigation earlier this year into MAFS Australia revealed cast members said they had not been told their partners had previous drug and violence convictions.

Those revelations led to a warning from Australia's media watchdog, which called them "serious and disturbing".

The British version of Married at First Sight, known to many as MAFS UK, was separately plunged into crisis in May after BBC Panorama reported rape allegations from two female cast members - allegations the men involved have denied.

MAFS UK is made by a different production company to the Australian version.

Married at First Sight shows single people agreeing to "marry" total strangers after meeting for the first time at their mock weddings.

The marriages are not legally binding, but viewers see the couples go on "honeymoons", before moving in together and navigating their relationships - all while being filmed, almost every day.

According to industry news website TV Blackbox, a male cast member on the current series of MAFS Australia made a formal complaint to the police after producers allegedly shared private information about him with his on-screen bride.

A spokesperson for New South Wales Police Force told BBC News: "On Monday 24 August 2026, officers attached to South Sydney Police Area Command commenced an investigation following a report of inappropriate content being shared.

"Following inquiries, the matter will be referred to WA [Western Australia] Police Force."

BBC News has approached WA Police Force, who said the referral has not yet been received.

A spokesperson for Channel Nine said: "We are aware of a police investigation involving Endemol Shine Australia and all enquiries should be directed to them."

Endemol Shine Australia, which makes MAFS Australia, has not responded to multiple requests for comment over the latest developments.

In June, a BBC News investigation heard from nine former cast members from MAFS Australia, who urged the show to improve its background checks and to stop allowing individuals with previous convictions or allegations on the show.

One woman from last year's Australian series told us she was not told the man she had been matched with had a previous drug conviction and only found out after the show ended. "There should be informed consent," she told us.

Responding to those claims at the time, Channel 9 and Endemol Shine Australia said they had "strong protocols in place to ensure participant safety and wellbeing".

MAFS UK review due back 'any day now'

As well as being a huge hit in Australia, the show is popular in the UK and is shown on Channel 4.

The broadcaster pulled all the UK episodes of MAFS from its streaming service just hours ahead of the transmission of the Panorama investigation in May, but MAFS Australia remains available to watch.

In July, BBC News revealed that a cast member from MAFS UK had been arrested on suspicion of rape following the Panorama programme.

The individual is not being named; nor is the alleged victim. Anyone who makes an allegation of rape is entitled to anonymity by law.

The media regulator Ofcom has also launched an official investigation into the hit Channel 4 show.

The UK version, which has been running for 10 seasons, is one of Channel 4's biggest shows, with audience figures often topping three million.

The broadcaster has commissioned a review into contributor welfare on the show. However, it only intends to publish "a summary of findings", rather than the full report.

Channel 4's chief executive previously said the review was due back in the summer, but it has not yet been published.

Speaking to MPs earlier this week, Ofcom boss Dame Melanie Dawes said the report was due back "any day now".

BBC News has approached Channel 4 for a response.

Lawyers for CPL, the independent production company that makes the UK version of the show, have previously said its welfare system is "gold standard" and industry-leading.

If you have more information about this story, you can reach Noor by email at noor.nanji@bbc.co.uk

'Targeted' attack on much-loved MP leaves Australian town heartbroken

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmgr8q88r5eqo, 5 days ago

Wangaratta has been thrust into an unwelcome spotlight this week. Residents in this rural Victorian town are used to catering to tourists passing through on their way to regional wineries, or music lovers visiting its annual jazz and blues festival.

Instead, locals are fielding endless questions about their MP - and having to explain to strangers what it all means for the town's nearly 30,000 people.

They are clearly in shock about what police say was a targeted and deliberate attack on Helen Haines on Monday afternoon, when she was struck by a car just outside her office.

"People are simply dumbfounded and finding it very hard to fathom the scale of this tragedy," Australia's Governor-General Sam Mostyn, who represents King Charles, said at a press conference on Wednesday.

The independent federal MP had to have both legs amputated after she was airlifted to Melbourne. But the "two most important parts of Helen", her heart and her mind, were in "good shape", her husband Phil Haines said.

The MP isn't a divisive figure, locals tell the BBC, and no one can understand why she was allegedly targeted.

"Everyone knows Helen," says Jane Hill, who owns a giftware shop a few hundred metres down the town's main street from where Haines was hit.

"She is a such a good person in our community. She'd go to everything - celebrations, funerals, she's one of those genuinely kind people - and so are her family."

Local man Brendan Nugent, whose father has been good friends with Haines for decades, faces at least three charges over the alleged attack including intentionally causing harm and appeared in court on Wednesday. Police say they are considering further charges, including attempted murder.

MP 'thanked everyone' as she lay injured

First elected to parliament in 2019, Haines is best known for her years-long efforts to establish a national anti-corruption commission.

She was spurred on by a series of major political scandals which, in her words, saw "public money spent for political gain", disproportionate spending on "shiny infrastructure projects" in marginal seats and decisions benefitting big donors over ordinary people.

The commission finally opened in 2023 under Anthony Albanese's Labor government.

Haines has also helped to secure funds for housebuilding, railway improvements and health infrastructure in her region, which she argues has long been sidelined by policies favouring cities.

On a spring afternoon in Wangaratta, nobody seemed to have a bad word to say about the former nurse and midwife turned politician.

Local Mayor Irene Grant described her as "warm", "cheerful" and "committed", and pointed to her record on climate action and Indigenous rights.

In a police update on Wednesday, Victoria Police Commissioner Mike Bush said she'd given "wonderful support" to local police when two officers were shot dead in the nearby town of Porepunkah last year.

Bystanders who came to Haines' aid recalled how she thanked them even as she lay severely injured.

"It was incredible," Jacklyn Black told Nine Network's Today show. "We were having conversations, she was telling me about her grandkids."

"To be in that situation and be as calm as she could be in the moment, but also thankful to the aid that the community had given her... I could [not] speak any more highly of her in a moment like that," Cody Lepoidevin added.

"She just thanked everyone."

There's a large print-out of Helen Haines plastered onto the window of her office - anyone delivering flowers for her gets a big smile back as they look up and walk away.

Across the road on Tuesday, a man waved an Australian flag. On his T-shirt were the words "Wangaratta - this is not us!!"

It's clear that many feel that way in this friendly community where people look out for each other.

Next door to Haines' office is RickyChops barbershop, owned by Ricky Jefferies. When he heard the chaos unfolding outside, he rushed to help, pinning down the suspect.

"I just leant over him and once he was on the ground and he was no longer a threat, I just stood with him, and I told him that he can't leave," he explained after the incident.

"I don't think I'm a hero. I think that I just was a person who had an opportunity to intervene in a safe-ish sort of way."

Some clearly disagree with Ricky. By Tuesday afternoon, he too had received a bouquet of flowers tied to his shop's door, and a small balloon with the words "thank you".

Down the road at the Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral, a vigil was held, attended by a couple of hundred people lining up to light a candle for Haines.

Some hugged the clergy, while others wore campaign T-shirts carrying the words "Team Helen Haines".

Her husband Phil said he had received "thousands upon thousands" of messages of love and support.

"I can only say how much of a difference that makes to all of us," he said. "Helen's road to recovery will be long and difficult, but we know she is a fighter."

"Whether you vote for her or not, she seems to have the community at heart so that's all you can really ask for; a politician that represents your community," said Austin Longfield who lives in nearby Albury.

"It's just something that you wouldn't expect in our community," he added. "You see it in other countries and it's just something that I didn't comprehend could happen here."

With additional reporting by Simon Atkinson

The women playing Australia's biggest sport - in London

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62l4zw7rvgpo, 8 days ago

London-born Iona Williams has only visited Australia a handful of times, but that hasn't stopped her becoming a regular player of one of the nation's most-viewed sports.

The 29-year-old discovered Australian Rules Football in her home city after a friend suggested she try it out. She had never played before, and didn't know the rules, but five years on she's a key feature of her club, the West London Wildcats.

"The team were really welcoming," she told the BBC, "Everyone's really together and always so keen to help each other and kind of make each other better at the sport."

Iona is emblematic of a growing appreciation for the sport both amongst women and outside of Australia.

Although women only started playing the sport professionally in Australia for the first time in 2017, the sport has spread internationally - the League estimates that about 75,000 women and girls participate outside of the country.

London boasts its own Australian Football League, with teams playing across two divisions.

What is Australian Rules Football?

"I would say it's like Gaelic football, regular football - like soccer - and rugby all kind of combined", explains Iona.

Known as Australian Rules Football (AFL), Aussie Rules or Footy, it originated in Australia and has been played there for more than 150 years.

The game takes place on an oval-shaped field, where two teams try to get more points than the other by kicking goals or behinds. Unlike in other sports, players can use both their hands and feet as they move by punching the ball, running with the ball, or kicking it.

Footy has a reputation for being ferocious - in 2022 an American went viral for his description of the game: "These guys are angry all the time, probably because they're running a marathon during a fistfight".

But Iona says any Londoners intimidated by the sport should try out regardless: "Don't be scared to get involved.

"There's so many girls that start that have never played before - me included."

Being the most watched sport in Australia, AFL London's clubs provide a familiar comfort for the well-established community of Australians in the city.

"I played back in Australia for a fair few years so it's just such an easy jump. You know you're going to meet Aussies and walk into a new brand new bunch of friends," says Jamie Symons, 27, who moved from Tasmania to London two years ago.

However, the league is careful to prevent Australians dominating the clubs. In the Women's Prem (top division), there needs to be four non-Aussie players on the field (which could comprise of two on the interchange bench).

"It is awesome to see these British people embracing the game, especially playing in their country. It's really exciting," Jamie says.

"It's nice to make British friends as well, not just have all these Aussies in an AFL club."

Jamie plays alongside Iona at the West London Wildcats, and the pair have embraced both the sporting and social opportunities it offers.

From pub crawls, barbecues, and a ladies' day (where they celebrate the women of the club), playing footy has meant getting to mingle with people from different backgrounds.

"Whenever I ask for a sausage sandwich, it's now called a snag", says Iona, referencing the Australian colloquialisms she's learnt.

Playing Aussie rules in London can also be a pipeline to a professional career in Australia.

Kate Shierlaw, like Jamie, sought out AFL while she was living in London.

She played for the Wimbledon Hawks before being recruited to play professionally in Australia.

Kate, who now plays for North Melbourne, was happy to hear that women across the world continue to enjoy the sport she loves.

"It's super special. I think because I started there, being able to see so many people playing over there, playing the best sport in the world, it's really exciting," she said.

Women only officially joined the AFL London league 26 years after its male counterpart which was established in 1989 and enjoyed its inaugural season in 1990.

Despite the decades-long delay, the AFL claim women's football in London has seen "significant growth" within the last decade.

"The inaugural AFL London women's competition commenced in 2015, featuring four founding teams. In 2026, the competition comprised ten teams across two divisions," wrote Kaitlyn Blanchard, media manager at AFLW in a statement to the BBC.

"Female participation in Australian Football programs and competitions outside Australia grew by approximately 35% between 2023 and 2025," she wrote noting strong female participation in Papua New Guinea, South Africa, and Fiji.

Kate Shierlaw hopes to see this growth continue.

"We should be sharing the sport all over the world so it's so good to see so many girls playing."

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

'Our worst nightmare': Threats to Australian politicians were rising before MP hit by car

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq398rk4p3exo, 7 days ago

As increasingly frequent acts of violence against politicians have shocked the globe in recent years, Australia has watched on with a contradictory feeling: that attacks like that could not happen here, and that it was only a matter of time until they did.

Australians will tell you this is a largely peaceful society with a comparatively civil public discourse. Violence targeting politicians has been rare, the bungled assassination of Labor leader Arthur Calwell in 1966 now a distant and fleeting memory.

But MPs and public figures – backed by experts – have been warning of a volcano of threats against them as social cohesion cracks, polarisation intensifies and the tone of debate grows hotter.

And on Monday, their worst fears appear to have been realised.

Independent MP Helen Haines was struck by a car and severely injured outside her office in the regional Victorian town of Wangaratta.

Police say a 43-year-old man was arrested at the scene, and a knife seized, but they have not said Haines was hit deliberately.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, however, swiftly described the incident as an apparent attack.

He was briefed by federal police – whose counter-terror squad is helping state officers investigate – and told the national broadcaster: "This wasn't an accident. There was a deliberate act, it would appear."

Witnesses saw the suspect do a U-turn before striking the MP and then reversing to ram her again, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has said.

Though he stressed no motive had been confirmed, Albanese has been emotional when he has spoken about the growing fear amongst MPs that they would end up targets.

Earlier this year Albanese himself was evacuated from his official residence over a bomb threat. As of August, about 20 cases in which people were accused of making violent threats against him were winding their way through courts around the country.

In recent years, politicians here have been mailed bullets. Female MPs – and in some cases their children – have been threatened with sexual violence. A Jewish MP's office has been firebombed, a Sydney mayor's car has been torched and countless other politicians have had their workplaces vandalised.

Just last week Small Business Minister Anne Aly said she had received a wave of death threats after a politician from the opposition said she should be "shamed and stoned in the square" over a tax policy.

According to government statistics, there were 1,067 reports of "harassing and threatening behaviour" against "high office holders" in the year to June: an increase on last year.

"We tend to bury our head in the sand and say, 'Not here', but this has been happening now for well over a decade," Josh Roose, a Deakin University Professor on violent extremism, tells the BBC.

Socioeconomic strain, growing mental health problems in the community, "grifters" who benefit politically or financially from whipping up further discontent, and a "carcinogenic" online environment are drivers of the trend, he says, which has dramatically escalated since the pandemic.

But the political class must also take responsibility for their role, he adds.

"We've seen a willingness to cross previously sacred terrain - you know, not targeting individuals, not targeting their families - but we now see that this is part and parcel of Australian political life.

"This is occurring at both ends of the political spectrum."

And experts like him warn it is not just politicians who are vulnerable: it is members of the media, academics, court officials and other public figures too.

Mike Burgess, the head of Australia's domestic spy agency Asio, has warned for years that the spectre of political violence is looming in Australia.

"Just as climate change increases the likelihood of extreme weather but does not forecast specific storms, politically motivated violence, including acts of terrorism, is more likely even though we cannot predict a specific attack," he said in his annual threat assessment for 2026.

And the federal police have said it is not just ideology motivating cases in recent times. "Grievance" is radicalising people.

"They're feeling distanced, they're feeling alone, they're looking for something to attach to, to give them meaning and purpose," Commissioner Krissy Barrett told the ABC earlier this month.

In the wake of the attack, MPs with a range of political backgrounds have said the climate has them living in fear: wearing disguises in public, locking their office doors, and scanning every crowd for potential threats.

Women in politics are particularly scared, said Victorian state MP Georgie Purcell, who shares part of her electorate with Haines.

"Being a woman in politics changes the way you move through the world. We consider where we park our cars, the route we drive home, if we hold public events," she said in a statement.

"For many of us, the news coming out of Wangaratta… is our worst nightmare".

Coalition Senator James Paterson told News24: "I'd like to say that I was surprised… but I'm not at all surprised."

There have been frustrated rumblings in Canberra from some MPs who say security arrangements have not changed to match the threat and – if a political motivation for this incident is confirmed – one of the greatest tenets of the nation's political culture could now be at risk.

It is not abnormal for you to run into your local member at the shops, or chat to them at the footy, and many open up their offices for constituents who want to raise concerns or share ideas.

Haines is particularly renowned and respected for that, Albanese said on Monday night.

"Here in Australia, it is a good thing that politicians are able to go about their community and engage with people," he said.

"I don't want to see a political system in which you can't have conversations with people at the supermarket, in the street, at street meetings, public forums – that's an important part of our democracy."

Toxic algorithms wouldn't let them go - now Australia wants an off switch

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwr7y8er1n8vo, 10 days ago

Warning: This article contains an account of living with an eating disorder

Varsha Yajman was already self-conscious about the way she looked when she joined social media as a 13-year-old.

Endless workout videos making impossible promises filled her feeds. Through the screen, girls she'd never met urged her to sign up to dangerous calorie challenges. Others proudly promoted their height and weight - even the number of times they had been sent to hospital - on their profiles in a form of twisted competition.

Every night as she fell asleep, Varsha would watch a stranger on the internet diarising what they'd consumed that day.

"I was like, 'I don't need to eat. I can just watch other people eat'," Varsha tells the BBC.

"I would find that I'd be down these really deep rabbit holes... it was like no matter how hard you tried to get out, you couldn't."

Now 24 and in recovery from anorexia, Varsha says she is still served weight loss content on social media - despite having every safety setting turned on, and an exhaustive list of banned words.

It is people like her the Australian government says it is trying to protect with a new suite of laws cracking down on big tech, which were introduced to parliament this week.

The centrepiece of their proposed reforms: an algorithm switch which would force social media platforms to let users turn off recommended content. The idea is that you would only see posts from accounts you follow.

It isn't the first government to try this, but existing algorithm controls are often transient and come with trade-offs in app functionality.

Australia has set out to make its legislation tighter to stop this. And it hopes its new laws – which would also impose a legal duty of care on online services – will help Australians become happier and healthier.

But critics are concerned Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's government has bitten off more than it can chew in its fight with big tech, while others, including the Trump administration, say the reforms threaten free speech.

The choice

Flynn Martin knows what it is like to be sucked into an algorithmic spiral.

Self-proclaimed misogynist influencer Andrew Tate and other manosphere figures started overwhelming the then-20-year-old's social media feeds about four years ago.

It was a time when Flynn, who was eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder, was insecure, frustrated with his life and struggling with his mental health. He says he fell for the rhetoric.

He soon went viral in Australia for two videos: one ranting about whether it was OK to be a straight white male, and another where he criticised a date for her frozen yoghurt order.

"You find yourself in like a bit of an echo chamber... It's easy to get swept up in that," he tells the BBC.

"I really bought into the idea we were living in this matrix, we had this really negative system that was designed against you. And the only way to break out of it was becoming this alpha male character."

The Melbournian was only pulled from the manosphere after a period of psychosis and a hospital stay.

Nowadays, he finds it tough to look back at that version of himself: "While there's a bit of shame and embarrassment... I think there is a bit of empathy for that younger man."

Both Flynn and Varsha know social media alone isn't to blame for the worst chapter of their lives, but say it was a key factor.

Countless others have stories of being confronted by social media content they didn't seek out, and didn't want to see – and there's long been suspicions the algorithms curating these platforms are harming users.

Social media firms argue the potential risks are being overstated and that they already provide users with effective safety tools.

But research emerging from around the world has been sketching a different picture.

Studies have found social media use triggers a similar brain response to gambling and substance addiction; that algorithms – often unsolicited – serve up content which harms users' mental health, and that they're spreading disinformation and increasing polarisation, driving violence offline.

Court cases and whistleblowers have aired claims that these companies know the dangers and are willing to overlook them as this technology lifts user engagement and their bottom line.

"The result is that they promote content that is outrageous or that invokes strong emotions from people - so it might be anger or fear or desire or lust or insecurity, whatever it is, it's going to keep us scrolling," Chanel Contos tells the BBC.

While studying the topic at university, the activist - who helped reform sexual consent education standards in Australia - came up with a campaign for change.

"Fix Our Feeds" demanded recommended algorithms be turned off by default, and social media users be given the choice to opt into them.

Contos envisaged a nostalgic return to the social media of the early 2010s – a time when a person's social media was filled with posts from friends or people they actually followed and their feeds were finite.

More than 15,000 people signed her petition, and the campaign also won the backing of two former prime ministers, several MPs, influential figures, mental health advocates, and online safety experts.

The government in September said it had listened to the Australians who had backed Contos's campaign, and announced a version of her proposal: forcing big tech to introduce an algorithm switch - but stopping short of requiring it be automatically set to off.

"This is not about giving government control, it is about giving people control," Albanese said.

"If people want to doom scroll… that's fine, that's up to them."

The policy is part of the government's Digital Duty of Care bill, which would require online services – social media firms, gaming sites, chatbots and more – to "ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, a safe online environment".

Children must be protected from "harmful" material and design features – for example, pornography and material which encourages eating disorders or harmful attitudes towards women – and adults must be protected from "seriously harmful" material and conduct, a much narrower list of illegal content. Breaches of the law could attract fines of up A$100m (£52m, $70m).

"The digital duty of care answers a lot of the 'what abouts' of the social media minimum age law because it's much broader; it captures all online services and it shifts the onus of responsibility from the shoulders of victims onto the shoulders of the big tech operators who seek to make money off Australian users," Communications Minister Anika Wells told the BBC.

The challenges

There's been a muted response from big tech. Meta, Snap, TikTok, X and Google, which owns YouTube, have all declined BBC requests for comment, and have not made public statements about the legislation.

In the days after the announcement, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri argued non-algorithmic feeds would mean users saw fewer posts from friends, and said he didn't believe his app was addictive – although a US jury recently ruled otherwise.

"I think we conflate the way we colloquially use the word 'addicted' – like, 'I'm addicted to this show, and I'm binge-watching it' – and clinical addiction," he told a press briefing in Sydney.

Right-wing parties in Australia – and the Trump administration – have said the algorithms proposal and the broader bill both risk forcing over-moderation and censorship.

But those who defend the law say that won't happen because you can still follow who you want and share what you want. "If adults listen to manosphere podcasts, or people post their views about the government, or make memes, or want to say the moon landing was fake – they can continue to do so without restriction," Wells said this week.

The proposal seems to be far less divisive amongst the public and online safety experts compared with Australia's social media ban for children.

However, the big question is: how will Australia implement this policy when, so far, it has been struggling to implement the ban? Surveys suggest most children who were on social media before the ban still are, and no fines have been issued.

The EU's attempt at introducing algorithm controls in 2023 – after which platforms rolled out following-only feeds – is a cautionary tale.

Social media firms have indicated the take-up of safety and control features like this has been low and cite it as evidence users like their products the way they are. Experts say there is a reason for that.

"Platforms do what the law orders, but in such a clunky way that users don't actually enjoy the option and stick with the default, algorithmic experience," researcher Chris Zomer, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, wrote in The Conversation.

On Instagram for example, when you turn off the algorithm, you can't see direct messages or access your profile and settings. When you leave the app, it reverts back to an algorithm-governed feed on your return.

The only place where these issues don't exist is the Netherlands. It was changed there after a Dutch court last year found Meta in breach of the EU's Digital Services Act.

The rules for Australia aren't set in stone yet, but the government says following-only feeds must not be harder to use or less functional, that algorithm settings must be "obvious", and that they must not change without an "explicit choice" by the user, even if they leave the app.

Buoyed by her success in Australia, Contos is now taking her campaign global.

"We feel like Canada, UK, Australia are all very aligned on online safety... Then if those three jurisdictions are doing it, it could become a critical mass thing."

Though experiences like theirs helped inspire these reforms, both Flynn and Varsha are somewhat sceptical of them.

Varsha says she struggles to believe a country like Australia can outmuscle big tech: so she's not sure the Digital Duty of Care bill will work. And Flynn says lawmakers should be "realistic" about the potential of the algorithm switch: "At the end of the day we use social media as a form of entertainment."

Polling earlier this month indicated two-thirds of their fellow Gen-Zs would keep their social media algorithms – though nearly half of Australians more generally would turn theirs off.

Though Varsha admits she is unlikely to make much use of an algorithm switch, she appreciates having the choice.

"On a bad day I'm still susceptible to all of the things that I was at 17. To know that, if I'm having a bad day, I can opt out makes me feel really good."

If you've been affected by the issues raised in this story, you could speak to a health professional or an organisation that offers support. Details of organisations offering advice and support for people in the UK are available from BBC Action Line.

What we know about Australian MP hit by car in alleged attack

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm5ynk1g88kwo, 5 days ago

Australian independent MP Helen Haines has had to have both her legs amputated after she was struck by a car outside her electorate office, in what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said appeared to be "a deliberate act".

The incident in Wangaratta, north-east of Melbourne, happened on Monday afternoon local time.

Her alleged attacker, 43-year-old Brendan Nugent, was arrested shortly after the incident.

He has since appeared in court on three charges over the alleged attack.

What happened?

Haines was struck by a White Toyota LandCruiser outside her electorate office on Monday.

A local barber Ricky Jefferies said he heard a loud commotion and ran towards the car, and multiple people "got involved immediately" to stop the alleged attacker.

Haines was airlifted to a Melbourne hospital where she underwent surgery.

Her husband told reporters on Wednesday that she had lost her left leg on Monday and despite hope that they could save her right leg, surgeons had to make the decision to amputate it on Wednesday.

Phil Haines added that her road to recovery would be "long and difficult".

But "her heart and her mind are in good shape", he said, adding that Haines would "do her best" to recover.

Who is the suspect?

Victoria Police arrested the driver of the car, Brendan Nugent, 43, shortly after the incident.

He was detained at the scene by a passer-by before being taken into custody by officers.

On Wednesday, Nugent appeared at Wangaratta Magistrates Court to face three charges: dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury and causing harm to a Commonwealth public official.

Police said more charges may be laid, including attempted murder.

Court documents show he was also charged with cultivating and possessing cannabis.

Nugent, who lives in the nearby town of Tarrawingee, did not apply for bail and is due back in court in February.

Nugent reportedly campaigned widely on environmental issues, including advocating against logging.

His family released a statement on Tuesday, saying that they were long-time friends of Haines and that the apparent attack was "devastating and unfathomable".

Police said investigations are still ongoing. "His motivation for this - what we allege is a deliberate attack - is very much a centrepiece of the investigation," said Victoria Police Commissioner Mike Bush.

Who is Helen Haines?

Haines is a 65-year-old independent MP for the Indi division in Victoria, south-eastern Australia.

As a lawmaker, she has championed climate action and better working conditions for healthcare professionals. She was first elected to the Australian House of Representatives in 2019 and was re-elected in 2022 and 2025.

She grew up in the south-west of Victoria on a dairy farm with four brothers before training as a nurse and a midwife.

She became the matron of the Chiltern Bush Nursing Hospital in Victoria when she was 26, before later completing a master's degree in public health and a PhD in medical science while raising her three children and working, according to her website.

She lives with her family on a small cattle farm outside Wangaratta.

She also recently became a grandmother and would share photos of her baby grandchildren, according to fellow independent MP Zali Steggall, who sits next to Haines in federal parliament. Steggall described Haines as "deeply loved and respected".

Where did the incident happen?

The incident happened outside her electorate office in Wangaratta, a city of about 30,000 people.

Police said she was hit on Murphy Street at about 15:35 local time (05:35 BST) on Monday.

What level of threat is there to Australia's politicians?

Shortly after the alleged attack on Haines on Monday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in an ABC television interview that there has been a "rise in temperature" and "too much shouting, not enough discourse" in Australia.

Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said there had been an increase in reports of harassing and threatening behaviour towards lawmakers in the 2025-26 financial year.

Police say almost one person a week is being charged for making threats against "high office holders" and their staff.

Individual protection for every one of the country's 226 federal MPs would require an "incredible amount of resourcing" - so police assess the need for close personal protection based on an individual's role and threat environment, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said.

What has the reaction been?

Bouquets of flowers are piling up at the doorstep of Haines' electoral office in Wangaratta, and figures across the political spectrum have been paying tribute to her.

Albanese described her as "incredibly hard-working".

"She is fiercely intelligent but most importantly she is just a thoroughly decent human being full of integrity and respected right across the Parliament and from everyone who comes into contact with her", he added.

He said the attack will come as an "incredible shock" to her community.

Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong described the incident as a "shocking and deeply disturbing attack".

The Premier of Victoria Ben Carroll said Haines' campaign office had "a warmth you rarely ever find in politics". The alleged attack has made him "genuinely fear that we're straying from the principles of our democracy", he wrote on social media.

Meanwhile, Australia's opposition leader Angus Taylor said he was "deeply saddened and distressed".

"This is a shocking day for our nation," he said. "No-one should be targeted in this way."

MPs from a range of political backgrounds have also described feeling deeply concerned about their safety in recent times: wearing disguises in public, locking their office doors, and scanning every crowd for potential threats.

Australian MP loses both legs after alleged car attack, husband says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckwyqdqxw6d0o, 5 days ago

Helen Haines, the Australian MP who was hit by a car in what authorities say was a deliberate attack, has lost both her legs, her husband has confirmed.

Phil Haines said the "horrendous incident" caused his wife significant injuries but "her heart and her mind are in good shape". He added that the "good news in all this is that she's alive".

The alleged attacker, 43-year-old Brendan Nugent, faces multiple charges and appeared in court for the first time on Wednesday.

Nugent was arrested moments after he allegedly drove his Toyota LandCruiser into the independent MP outside her electorate office in the regional town of Wangaratta, about 240km (150miles) northeast of Melbourne.

Haines' "road to recovery will be long and difficult, but we know she is a fighter," her husband said at a press conference in Melbourne where she is being treated.

"She is a determined person who will do her best, with our support and love, to recover. And that is what we hope for."

He thanked hospital staff and people, both in Australia and internationally, who have shown their concern for Haines, and urged those who want to show their support to donate to the Save the Children fund.

"Please keep sending Helen your love," he added.

Earlier on Wednesday, Nugent appeared at the local court to face three charges: dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury, and causing harm to a Commonwealth public official. Police said more charges may be laid, including attempted murder.

Nugent - a local from the nearby town of Tarrawingee and known as an environmental campaigner - remained silent and emotionless during his brief court appearance.

He did not apply for bail and is due back in court in February. Court documents show he was also charged with cultivating and possessing cannabis.

In court, Nugent's lawyer said that his client had "mental health concerns" but did not give any further detail.

The court also heard that Nugent has a rare neurological condition - idiopathic transverse myelitis - caused by inflammation of the spinal cord.

Victoria Police said its investigation, with support from the Australian Federal Police (AFP), remains ongoing and a motive is yet to be established.

"His motivation for this - what we allege is a deliberate attack - is very much a centrepiece of the investigation," said Victoria Police Commissioner Mike Bush.

"Our people will continue to explore every element, angle and avenue to work that out. It's something that, when we work towards it, discover it, we will present in court."

Nugent was not on the radar of police and there was no intelligence of any threat to Haines before the incident, police said.

Investigators are also looking into whether drug use or medication played a part in the incident and if there was any personal connection between Nugent and Haines.

Nugent's family earlier put out a statement saying they were long-time friends with Haines, who is the independent MP for the regional seat of Indi in Victoria. They described the apparent attack as "devastating and unfathomable".

The incident occurred on Monday afternoon at around 15.35, local time. Moments after the car hit Haines, bystanders pulled Nugent out of the vehicle and detained him.

Jacob and Jackie Evans were among the first on the scene, and said Haines was grateful to them for coming to her aid as she lay severely injured.

"Thank you, you lovely people," is what Haines said to them, according to the Herald Sun.

"She was thanking us, it was incredible," Jackie told Nine's Today programme.

Jacob used a tourniquet he had in a medical kit in his car to help stem the bleeding from one of Haines's legs.

Haines underwent surgery after the incident and lost one of her legs. As of Wednesday morning she has also lost the other leg, her husband Phil told reporters.

The community in Wangaratta, as well as the wider political community, are in shock over the incident in a country where political violence is rare.

Leaders from across the political spectrum have paid tribute to Haines, who was first elected in 2019 and is well regarded by her peers.

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had spoken to Haines's husband several times since the incident.

In an interview with the national broadcaster ABC, Albanese said threats to female politicians were marked by a "different form of vilification and aggression" such as threats of rape.

There has also been a recent growing trend of threats against "high office holders", with almost one person a week being charged for such offences, police said.

Monday's incident has sparked debate over the level of security for MPs.

Federal police said that individual protection for every one of the country's 226 federal MPs would require "incredible" levels of staffing.

Instead, police assess the need for close personal protection based on a person's role and the threat environment around them, police said.

Australia's Governor-General Sam Mostyn, who spoke at the same press conference as Haines' husband, said this was "a moment for us to pause, and to choose to be better".

"We should do what I imagine Helen would be doing if she was not the victim of this terrible attack - reaching out to those who are terribly distressed by what has happened," she says.

"Most importantly, that we learn or re-learn to exercise our muscle of decency."

Man charged with attack on Australia MP to face court

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c678pnn9mpgno, 6 days ago

A 43-year-old man has been charged after Australian MP Helen Haines was hit by a car in the state of Victoria on Monday.

The suspect will appear in court on Wednesday to face charges of dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury and the federal offence of causing harm to a public official.

Local media earlier named the alleged attacker as environmental activist Brendan Nugent. His father and his partner said they had been friends with Haines "for more than 20 years" and thanked residents and officers who helped her after the "shocking and horrific crime".

Haines remains in a critical condition after surgery and is reported to have lost one of her legs.

"Helen Haines is a deeply respected, valued and much loved member of our local community," Rod Nugent and his partner Christine Cunningham said in a statement.

"All of our love and all of our thoughts are with Helen and her family and friends."

They promised to assist Victoria Police "in any way we can".

Police say they will allege the incident was targeted.

Haines, 65, the independent member for Indi, is in a critical but stable condition after undergoing surgery at a Melbourne hospital.

She was airlifted there after bystanders rushed to help.

A local barber who was there says he pulled the suspect out of his car.

"I don't think I'm a hero. I think that I was just a person who had an opportunity to intervene in a safe-ish way," said Ricky Jefferies.

Others who helped "didn't even check for danger", he added. "The car was still on and they sat in front of a rolling car, that's not an exaggeration."

In their statement, Victoria Police say a highway patrol unit was nearby at the time of the incident and "on scene" within eight seconds of the call coming through.

As they announced the charges against the 43-year-old, they said they had searched a property in Tarrawingee, around 12km (7.5 miles) from Wangaratta.

"At this stage it appears this is an isolated incident, and there are currently no other known threats connected to this matter," they said, adding officers would maintain a presence in Wangaratta.

Haines won the seat of Indi as an independent in 2019, and has since become a prominent member of the crossbench, building rapport across Australia's increasingly divided political spectrum.

The community, and country, remain in shock.

At a vigil on Tuesday, locals queued patiently in the aisle of the Holy Trinity Cathedral, waiting for their turn to light a candle. Priests hugged some of those who came to pay their respects.

Wangaratta's main street, where Haines's office is located, had reopened to traffic. Cars slowly filed past the growing number of bouquets being left for her on the pavement.

One card read: "May you recover quickly and continue to be a light in this world."

Suspect in deadly Paris suburb shooting sent for psychiatric observation

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6e3xek2457wo, today

A man suspected of a deadly gun attack near Paris has left custody and been placed under psychiatric observation, French anti-terrorism officials have said.

One person was killed and five others injured on Friday when an attacker opened fire from his car - first in Trappes, and then in nearby La Verrière - appearing to target people of migrant origin.

The suspect, named in French media as 39-year-old Kevin T, will be observed to evaluate whether his "psychiatric health is compatible with pursuing his interrogation", the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office (PNAT) said.

President Emmanuel Macron called it a "racist terrorist attack", adding that people had been targeted over their skin colour or religion.

It marked a "turning point in the life of our Republic and our nation", the French president said.

PNAT said the move to place the suspect under psychiatric evaluation followed guidance from a psychiatric expert.

The evaluation will determine whether the suspect should remain in police custody and is "likely to last 48 hours", PNAT added.

PNAT said the suspect was also found to have cannabis and cocaine in his bloodstream.

French newspaper Le Monde and news agency AFP report that a Bible, a Quran and a copy of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf were found at the suspect's home, citing a source close to the investigation.

The lawyer for Pengo Bossio Wangi, the one person killed during the attack, told French media the move to place the suspect under observation was "very rare".

He alleged that it was being used to portray the suspect as criminally irresponsible rather than having acted deliberately.

Wangi, a 26-year-old French-Congolese martial artist, was named as the one fatality on Saturday.

The mixed martial arts club where he trained paid tribute to him, saying: "On the mats as off them, he was one of those who lead by example: present, respectful, always ready to lift others up.

"His smile, his energy and his generosity will remain etched in our walls and in our hearts."

Three of those injured in the attack were taken to hospital in a serious condition - including a 12-year-old girl who remains in a critical condition.

The mayor of La Verrière, Nicolas Dainville, told French radio network France Info on Sunday that he had spoken to the girl's mother over the phone and confirmed she was "doing better".

Another injured resident was recovering while a third remained in a critical condition, he said.

The suspect had been known to police prior to the attack but not to France's intelligence services, local media report. PNAT previously said he had four previous convictions that had been "automatically expunged".

He is thought to have used an old semi-automatic weapon during the attack, firing in bursts from his car window.

More than 1,300 arrested as clashes follow another day of mass protests across France

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c95ynd587ynzo, yesterday

More than 1,300 arrests were made as hundreds of thousands of people took part in another day of protests across France on Saturday that were followed by some clashes later in the day, officials have said.

After largely peaceful demonstrations, police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters in a number of cities including Paris, while barricades were set alight in Marseille and people ripped boards from a shop in Bordeaux.

Officials have so far managed to avoid rioting and looting on the scale seen last weekend, which resulted in some of the worst scenes of disorder in France's modern history.

The interior ministry said an estimated 410,000 people protested on Saturday, while the unions put the number at about 800,000.

Some 70,000 police officers were deployed and restrictions imposed in several cities to prevent the latest protests over the cost of living and poor school conditions from descending into the kind of chaos which saw officers outnumbered, hundreds of businesses looted and buildings torched.

The interior ministry said 53 officers were hurt in clashes across the country on Saturday.

French President Emmanuel Macron had decreed earlier this week that only demonstrations organised by a recognised trade unions would be permitted. Hundreds of people have been jailed for vandalism, arson and looting after fast-track court hearings.

Clashes between protesters and riot police in Paris erupted at the end of a peaceful march from the city's Porte d'Italie towards Porte de Vincennes, where the police operation included an elite unit that usually deals with organised crime and counter-terrorism.

Some protesters were seen erecting makeshift barricades and pelting officers with projectiles, while police baton-charged groups of masked youths who were smashing the windows of a car dealership.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said that "several thousand radical activists gathered at the rear of the march, including around 500 individuals identified as rioters", news agency AFP reported.

The Interior Ministry said 142 people were arrested in the French capital on Saturday, less than half of the number arrested on the same day last week.

In the southern port of Marseille, rubbish bins were set ablaze and metal sheets used to block streets. A law enforcement vehicle was seen driving through a burning barricade in France's second-largest city.

Meanwhile, some protesters in dark clothing and face coverings were seen taking boards off a building to build a street barricade in the southern city of Bordeaux.

In Lyon, police used tear gas grenades to disperse a crowd which had reportedly gathered in an area deemed off-limits by the local prefecture.

"There were around 150 of us, mostly secondary school and university students. Then the tear gas came almost immediately. You could barely see anything in the street," said one protester in France's third-largest city.

Nuñez also said two people had been "seriously injured": one in the south-western city of Toulouse and another one in Clermont-Ferrand, central France. He said the number of arrests across the country would likely rise.

The man in Toulouse, a 20-year-old protester, had several fingers torn off one hand when a nearby explosive went off, Franceinfo reported, citing the medic who treated him.

As the unrest continued into the early hours of Sunday morning, authorities in Bouches-du-Rhône, the region in which Marseilles sits, said seven businesses had been "looted or damaged".

Earlier, a peaceful protester in Paris who gave her name as Zelie told the BBC people had taken to the streets because they were "really frustrated" and had been "suffering a lot" since Macron came to office.

"They keep us quiet. They take our money, they tax us a lot and we can't say anything. Today we are in the streets because it's been too long, it's been too much," the 26-year-old said.

Two masked teenage protesters, who did not want to give their names, also said their generation was in despair and felt abandoned by the government.

"I think looting is really not good," one of the demonstrators said of last Saturday's disorder. "But it's because of poverty and the violence of the police."

He added that the protests would end "when we have a response to our demands. We really want a change in France".

Meanwhile, some 13,000 people joined a rally against the hard-right National Rally (RN) party in the north-central city of Orléans, which proceeded peacefully.

The recent unrest has played out against a backdrop of a polarised political landscape, with France preparing for what could be the most divisive election period in a generation.

Macron will leave office next spring and polls suggest French voters will ultimately face a choice between RN's candidate Marine Le Pen and that of the radical-left La France Insoumise (France Unbowed).

Leading figures from both parties have levelled the blame for the disorder at Macron, though right-wing figures have also heaped criticism on rioters while left-wing leaders support the union-led protests.

LFI candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon said French media had not covered the peaceful protests while police had created "a setup deliberately designed to provoke chaos" that had "mutilated two people".

Mass protests triggered by similar issues as in France also rocked several other European cities on Saturday.

In Barcelona, more than 120 people were arrested after a student protest descended into what local authorities described as "gratuitous violence".

In Albania's capital Tirana, riot police fired tear gas to disperse thousands of anti-government demonstrators, while clashes were also reported in Belgium's capital Brussels.

In Milan, northern Italy, a major security operation including hundreds of soldiers alongside police prevented protesters gathering in the city. Many had feared a repeat of violent scenes last week when some started fires, smashed windows and looted shops.

Around 550,000 people took part in last weekend's demonstrations against rising fuel prices and the cost of living, with frustrations escalating after weeks of student protests. The chaos which followed resulted in more than 2,500 arrests.

Marches were initially largely peaceful but became marred by scenes of violence, looting and destruction, with more than 2,000 shops and other businesses across France said to have been directly impacted. The damage was estimated "at hundreds of millions euros", France's Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CCI) said.

One demonstrator's hand was blown off by a police crowd-control grenade, according to AFP, while about 1,000 police officers were injured.

The French authorities later said they were forced to impose overnight curfews in Paris and other cities.

The continuing protests come ahead of France's presidential elections in six months' time, and leading contenders have levelled the blame at Macron and his ministers.

Man arrested after fire at Hitler's mountaintop Eagle's Nest retreat

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr93zwjw1k4qo, 2 days ago

Police in the southern German state of Bavaria have detained a 33-year-old German man during a fire at Adolf Hitler's Alpine mountain retreat, the Kehlsteinhaus, also known as the Eagle's Nest.

Dispatchers in Traunstein received a fire alarm from the building at 21:15 local time (19:15 GMT) on Friday and firefighters found it engulfed in flames.

Some 200 emergency personnel were deployed to the scene where the blaze was still burning early on Saturday, as police said difficult terrain hindered efforts to bring the fire under control.

Police said they apprehended the man riding a motorcycle near the scene, German media reported. A criminal investigation has been launched.

There is currently nothing to suggest the involvement of further suspects, police official Gerhart Holzinger told a press conference on Saturday afternoon.

Public prosecutor Rainer Vietze said a psychiatric report had concluded the 33-year-old man showed signs of possible mental illness and diminished responsibility might therefore be assumed.

Vietze said a possible political motive was also being considered, but stressed the investigation was in its early stages.

The residence, above the town of Berchtesgaden, was one of several buildings in the area used by the Nazi dictator and his entourage during World War Two.

Hitler and top Nazi officials used his nearby Berghof residence to plan the invasion of the USSR in 1941 and the whole complex was considered one of his headquarters.

He also used the area as a backdrop for propaganda films portraying him as a lover of animals and nature.

Local media reported that site had been "largely destroyed" and the public was urged to avoid the area.

Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told reporters that the site would "under no circumstances remain a ruin", broadcaster BR24 reported. "It is important that we continue our work of remembrance," he added.

Completed by the Nazis in 1938, the Eagle's Nest, which sits at an elevation of around 1,800m (5,900ft), escaped destruction after their defeat in 1945.

Since then, it has become a popular tourist destination and houses a mountain inn.

It serves as "a cautionary reminder of the abysses of the inhumane Nazi dictatorship", according to its official website.

During WW2, Hitler and his followers were responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people, including the mass murder of European Jews. Homosexuals, gypsies, the disabled and ethnic minorities were sent to concentration camps and put to death.

There has been a wider debate in Germany and Vienna over whether to preserve, repurpose or demolish buildings connected to Hitler.

While some say these buildings should be preserved for historical reasons, others have raised concerns that they could be used as monuments or places of pilgrimage for neo-Nazis and far-right extremists.

In June, Berlin authorities announced they would tear down one of Hitler's bunkers - described at the time as "the power centre of Nazi Germany" - to build flats and offices on the site.

Those critical of the plans said the bunker had "significant historical value" and that it should have been turned into a museum and memorial site with an exhibit about the end of the war.

And in July, after years of controversy, Austrian authorities refurbished the house in the town of Braunau am Inn in which Hitler was born and turned it into a police station.

Freed US citizen was tortured in Russian jail, former Ukrainian prisoners say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx7vpmn6qzmlo, 3 days ago

Ukrainians held alongside freed US prisoner Stephen Hubbard have said they witnessed him being beaten and humiliated by Russian guards during his four-year detention.

Dmytro Khyliuk first met Hubbard at the Novozybkov prison in Bryansk, not far from Russia's border with Ukraine, in September 2022.

"We heard it from the guards. They came during inspections and were asking: in which cell is the American? And then they used obscene words. They threatened him, they mocked him from the first days."

Ihor Shyshko also remembers Hubbard's arrival at the jail and says his nationality marked him out to the officers.

"It attracted such attention because they mocked him, forced him to learn the Russian language, sing the national anthem and repeat the rules of the prison schedule, which he could not read."

Hubbard was captured in April 2022, when Russian soldiers occupied the eastern city of Izyum, where he was living with his Ukrainian partner.

He was accused of serving in Ukraine's armed forces and convicted in a trial in Moscow before being sentenced to six years and 10 months. Shyshko and Khyliuk were held alongside Hubbard as he awaited trial.

Shyshko said he witnessed and heard Hubbard being beaten by prison guards and electrocuted with a stun gun.

"They beat him on the legs, on the back, on the arms," he said. "Of course, they didn't give him food, they didn't give him medical care. They kept him in the cold.

"He was always treated more harshly, because he was an American. They claimed he was a mercenary, and said 'let's beat him'."

Shyshko, a captured Ukrainian soldier, alleges Hubbard was subjected to sexual humiliation and abuse for the entertainment of the prison staff.

Accounts from the two former Ukrainian prisoners corroborate statements made by Hubbard's family that he was tortured in prison.

The 74-year-old was released by the Kremlin after four-and-a-half years, on the day US special envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg to discuss the war in Ukraine.

Witkoff praised the Russian President as a "humanitarian", despite the ongoing full-scale invasion and daily Russian attacks across Ukraine.

US President Donald Trump said he had asked Putin to free Hubbard during a phone call the week before.

Khyliuk, a journalist, was held in the earliest days of the invasion, when Russian troops advanced towards the capital Kyiv.

He said he knew Hubbard's health was declining over the months they were initially held in nearby cells because he heard his complaints and the guards calling him more often to see the prison doctor.

Khyliuk described broken windows and biting cold, with detainees using time out of their cells to huddle together in the bathroom for warmth.

"It was very difficult conditions in Novozybkov, worse than in the next prison. It was very cold there in winter, terribly cold," he said.

Both men encountered the retired English teacher again at their next prison, Pakino, where Shyshko says Hubbard's condition worsened.

"There was not a single spot on his knees or on his feet without rot," he said.

"Everything was rotten. We all had scabies. It was very, very difficult for him. I even bandaged him once at the medical centre, because the doctor didn't want to do it. He just couldn't do it himself, and I had to help. He was quite weak then and he almost couldn't move."

They detailed a harsh regime and a meagre diet of porridge, bread and potatoes, with a daily routine of beatings and humiliation, being forced to run or hold stress positions.

"There's a handler with a dog, who lets go so it can bite you on the buttocks, on the elbow, or bite your leg. Then these wounds fester very badly," Shyshko said.

Khyliuk claimed that soon after their transfer to Pakino, Hubbard was hidden to conceal his condition from a team of International Red Cross visitors.

"I would like to say that an international humanitarian organisation that receives a lot of funding could do better. They saw only what was shown to them and they were happy with that," he said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement that "in any situation where the ICRC has been granted access, we request to see every individual and assess the conditions they are held in. We continue our discussions with parties to the conflict on this issue."

Khyliuk said Hubbard disappeared from the prison in 2024 and he thought he must have been released. Khyliuk was returned to Ukraine in August 2025 in a prisoner exchange.

He likened their treatment to the regime of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.

"Russian captivity is a torture machine. From the first second of your detention, they do everything to suppress you, to intimidate you. This is torture in all its manifestations, from psychological to physical. Beatings, hunger, cold, lack of any information, lack of the opportunity to communicate even with other prisoners".

Khyliuk said he was pleased to see Hubbard finally released and heading to the US.

"I understand what it is like to be in terrible captivity. Moreover, it was not his war. He ended up in the wrong place and at the wrong time," he said.

But he described the timing as "shameful PR of the US president, who is losing votes in elections to Congress".

Shyshko said he hoped one day their torturers would face justice.

"Evil must be punished, and so it will be. I have hope for that".

Ruins of Limoges city hall a symbol of France divided by national protests

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cxyvrged14d0o, 3 days ago

"It is a historical tragedy for France, not just Limoges".

Just six months into his mayoral term, it is hard to imagine Guillaume Guérin having a more momentous week.

We talk next to what became the defining image of last week's nationwide protests: the still impressive, yet fragile exterior of his town's 19th-Century town hall, charred from a fire.

The sight of its wooden clock tower collapsing into the flames drew widespread shock and anger, and Guérin, who was in tears when he first saw the scale of the damage this week, believes the reaction is "legitimate and completely understandable".

What is apparent from the array of flowers and sombre onlookers gathered at the hall's entrance, is that this is a town mourning the loss, or at the least the harm inflicted on its most iconic and, frankly, most beautiful building.

Guérin blames the damage on the French hard left, "supported by rioters". Two men have been arrested, a 66-year-old, as well as another suspect who is 34. Prosecutors say they have links to "radical-left networks".

Limoges' conservative mayor claims he has received a message of support from US Vice President JD Vance, but not Emmanual Macron, his own, outgoing president.

"What happened here will have an influence on the upcoming presidential election. This country is not doing well at all," he says.

For weeks, hundreds of thousands of people, mostly young, have engaged in protests that have only increased in size and scope. What started off as a demonstration over the poor state of high schools has expanded to a general frustration, even anger, over how challenging and expensive life has become.

In the backdrop is a daunting fiscal deficit, one of the biggest in Europe, and political candidates from across the spectrum claiming to have the answers ahead of presidential elections in six months' time.

In the middle is a centrist government, which is short on solutions, a majority in the National Assembly and time. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu visited Limoges on Friday evening.

Officials have banned demonstrations in various cities and promised to boost police numbers over the weekend to avoid a repeat of the rioting. That includes in Limoges, where overnight curfews have been announced, along with a limit on gatherings to 10 people in the centre.

Proud as the French are of their politics being rooted in street demonstrations, many in Limoges felt the town hall's destruction went far beyond the parameters of reasonable protest. But not everyone.

Whether the destruction of Limoges town hall changes the course and tone of an increasingly polarised political debate depends on who you ask.

"Of course it was really sad, it's a symbol of the republic, but what is more important: a town hall or people living in poverty?" asks Alexander, 24.

It is student night at the Lord John pub, and Alexander is one of several wearing a faluche, a colourful, traditional French student beret. Many chatting under the mist from their vapes took part in the demonstrations last weekend.

I ask Alexander whether the widespread looting and fires seen last weekend, with €500,000 (£420,000) of reported damage in Limoges, helped his argument?

"For some people it's a catastrophe and some things are not acceptable," he admits.

Jade, a 19-year-old, medical student, has a similar opinion: "I think burning the town hall is sad, but it's not the saddest part of the protests."

She complains of having to live on €300 per month.

"I feel we are not respected as young adults."

Their views on the town hall's fate are not replicated in Limoges' imposing market halls, where neat, narrow timbers sitting upon studded steel girders have been painted a duck-egg blue, using the same engineering approach as the Eiffel Tower.

This has been a "week of chaos" that 63-year-old Jean Roger Faucher would like to forget.

In a region renowned for producing beef, his family has run his fishmonger stall here for more than a century.

"It left us stunned," he says. "I got married in the town hall, so it had an unimaginable effect on us."

Asked whether he had sympathy for the protesters, Faucher said it was more complicated than that.

"On one side you have people with grievances you can understand, but from the moment there is vandalism and the lives of local residents are put at risk, then we can't accept it," he adds.

Among those tending to their iced displays of fresh produce or quietly sipping a steaming coffee, there is a desire for the temperature of the demonstrations to decrease.

"Of course, life is expensive!' says Pascale Vuylsteke, 59. "Life isn't all a calm river, it's complicated, but we grit our teeth and we work," she tells me leaning over shelves of butchered pork.

Pascale says she works 100 hours a week and struggles to understand why so many others have taken to the streets so easily.

Limoges has found itself at the heart of social action before. In the 19th Century, around the time the town hall was built, the development of its industries, notably in porcelain, led to it becoming a major centre for the French labour movement.

In 2026, the town sits centre-stage once more in a political rupture, although there is a broad hope that the loss of a prominent piece of its history will steer the demonstrations away from destruction and back to debate.

With France's political polarisation set to continue and further protests planned, it is a scenario far from assured.

Additional reporting by Paul Pradier.

Surveillance and 'constant paranoia': Western diplomats tell BBC of life in war-time Moscow

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj75p1xr7p7vo, 4 days ago

"Being the ambassador to Russia was probably the hardest assignment of my career," Lynne Tracy, who represented the US in Moscow from 2023 to 2025, tells the BBC.

US, UK and European diplomats once played a crucial role in Russia, defusing tensions even at the worst moments of the Cold War.

But now, deemed "unfriendly" by President Vladimir Putin's government, Western ambassadors are under constant surveillance, isolated and increasingly cut off from the country they were sent to understand, as the war in Ukraine grinds on through its fifth year.

The BBC has spoken to five diplomats who have served in Russia since it launched its full-scale invasion.

They compare current pressure levels to the Cold War era - when Western embassies were monitored through physical surveillance, listening devices hidden inside gifts, and "spy dust" - a near invisible chemical agent used to track officials.

Hundreds of Russian diplomats were expelled from countries in Europe and the US after the war began in 2022. Moscow responded in kind, declaring hundreds of Western diplomats persona non grata and leaving many embassies short-staffed.

Tracy's 30-year career took her to countries like Pakistan, where she survived an armed attack in 2008. But she says that even under constant physical threat, her posting in Peshawar was, in a sense, easier than Russia.

"There, I still felt that there were things within my control. What made Moscow more difficult were the high levels of uncertainty."

The constant pressure from Russian counterintelligence was the primary source of such uncertainty, she recalls.

Russian diplomats in the West also complain of such unfair treatment. But according to the diplomats who spoke to the BBC, the scope and tactics of Moscow's intelligence services are far greater.

"Expect listening devices, expect cameras in every single room of your house," a former European diplomat says of the warning he received before leaving for Moscow.

Another ex-ambassador says they were forced to dismiss two Russian employees after Moscow's domestic security service, the FSB, tried to recruit them, demanding that they report on everything going on at the diplomatic mission.

The pair told the embassy instead, who let them go - "otherwise, they could have faced some sort of criminal prosecution".

Meanwhile, Russians who would ordinarily build relationships with diplomatic staff - such as those working in academia and culture - are also being intimidated into avoiding contact with Western officials.

One former ambassador says his guests were once "tailed" by FSB agents right up to the doors of the embassy.

Just this June, guests invited to the British ambassador's residence in Moscow for the King's birthday celebrations said they had been harassed by pro-Kremlin activists and state-media journalists, and then questioned by the police.

One of the guests says he has since declined several invitations to events at Western embassies out of fear.

Not everyone can deal with the pressure.

One former ambassador says "constant paranoia" has driven a number of officials to quit their jobs. Even after leaving Russia himself, he adds, he was looking over his shoulder for months.

'Generals prove what they can do in war. The same is true for diplomats'

In the immediate aftermath of the invasion, there were discussions across Europe about whether to recall ambassadors or stop working in Russia altogether, says former French ambassador Pierre Lévy.

He remembers calling Paris immediately to say pulling their envoys would be a mistake, feeling that the worse relations became, the more important they would be.

The invasion quickly transformed their work, says another ex-European ambassador; the co-operation required for their usual efforts on bilateral relations, trade and joint projects was now impossible.

And for those who stayed in Russia, the war left them with a host of new priorities beyond supporting their own citizens and companies.

Firstly, countries viewed as unfriendly by Moscow still wanted at least some channel of communication with Russian officials to get an accurate picture of what was happening inside the country.

But they also had to protect their staff and keep their embassies functioning.

After Russia's ban on hiring foreign nationals in 2021, the US embassy's facilities team was left significantly understaffed. Еven a minor plumbing issue like a leaking pipe could turn into a major problem, draining the time of diplomatic workers.

One diplomat recalls discussing staffing shortages with a Russian official, who advised him not to get too upset. "He said, 'at least you still have the chef'."

Financial sanctions imposed by Western governments to support Ukraine created different day-to-day difficulties. After Russian banks were cut off from the Swift payment network, and Mastercard and Visa suspended operations in Russia, many embassies struggled with basic operating expenses.

A former ambassador recalls simply running out of cash and being unable to pay his staff - until another diplomat, who was selling his car after being expelled, brought the rubles to the embassy in a suitcase.

"It's completely insane," the diplomat laughs. "But you had to look at it with a sense of humour."

Russian officials make little secret of their attitude towards Western diplomats. They have openly accused those from "unfriendly countries" of engaging in "espionage".

Moscow has been particularly critical of those who show an interest in expressions of dissent against the Kremlin and, according to Russian journalist Alexei Venediktov, has effectively banned most Russian officials from speaking to Western embassies.

This has only worsened relations with the West, says Venediktov, who recalls telling Russian officials: "You are being misunderstood precisely because of your own actions - because ambassadors cannot do their jobs."

Today, Moscow has little to no contact with many Western governments, says one ex-European ambassador. "There are no calls, no meetings at ministerial level."

But they say this has made diplomats all the more important, left with the responsibility to communicate their governments' positions to Moscow.

"Generals prove what they can do during a war. The same is true for diplomats. When things get really difficult, every single thing you do actually matters."

Lynne Tracy left Moscow in 2025 feeling she had accomplished her primary mission: the US Embassy had held firm.

But she is also proud of the work she and her team did to maintain connection between Americans and ordinary Russians.

"Because at some point, government-to-government relations will have a chance to improve - and those ties between people will be there to help speed the improvement."

Rosenberg: Russia agrees to Ukraine talks but sees little to talk about in new peace push

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm98zn5j89kdo, 5 days ago

After two days of diplomacy – in Norway's capital and Russia's St Petersburg – is the war in Ukraine any closer to ending?

"Good and constructive" is how Norway's prime minister described Tuesday's talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, US President Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and European representatives.

In Oslo, the idea of a trilateral meeting at leaders' level was floated. The hope was that Steve Witkoff's trip to Russia would pave the way for President Vladimir Putin, Zelensky and Trump to meet and agree an end to the fighting.

But Putin has shown little desire to share a table with Zelensky - unless that table is in Moscow.

The Kremlin says it may be willing to resume trilateral talks next month in Abu Dhabi, but only at the technical level.

In a post on X, Steve Witkoff himself conceded that "there is still important work to do", though he claimed "President Trump remains committed to seeing this war end..."

For me, the most telling statement of the day was from Vladimir Putin's foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov. He took part in the St Petersburg talks.

Ushakov said that Steve Witkoff had told President Putin about the discussions in Oslo and (as Witkoff viewed them) "new approaches from the Europeans and Kyiv".

The Kremlin adviser was clearly unimpressed by what he heard.

"In terms of resolving the Ukraine crisis, there wasn't much there that was useful," commented Ushakov.

Later Russian state TV asked him about the prospects for peace.

"I don't know how close we are getting," Yuri Ushakov said, "but things are moving in that direction."

All rather vague.

It seems that President Putin doesn't feel under pressure right now to end the war.

He knows that Ukraine's air defences are under severe strain.

He knows that winter is coming and may well view the cold weather as an opportunity to pound Ukraine into submission.

He knows, too, that there is a US president in the White House who clearly wants a bigger, better, more profitable relationship with Moscow.

In recent days Donald Trump has paused some sanctions on Moscow, has agreed to buy Russian diesel and expressed biting criticism of President Zelensky.

That suits Russia just fine. It eases the pressure on the Kremlin leader.

"Right now Trump is the only leader in the Western world who is doing something for peace," Russian MP and TV anchor Evgeny Popov says.

"Doing something for peace, but a peace on your terms?" I respond. "Is that what you want?"

"Of course!"

A Putin-Zelensky-Trump trilateral may not be imminent.

But in China next month a meeting between Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping may well take place on the fringes of the Apec summit.

Some commentators here are already dubbing it "The New Yalta" - a reference to the Yalta Conference of 1945, where Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt met to plan the political and territorial reorganisation of post-war Europe.

"Russia, China and the United States are the only superpowers right now in the world," Evgeny Popov says. "Of course, it will be good for the entire world if our leaders meet in China."

After nearly five years of war, that would put Vladimir Putin exactly where he wants to be - at the top table of global politics.

Katya Adler: France divided over who to blame for riots and what to learn from them

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq0me4g9p970o, 5 days ago

"This is not the face of France! You media all focus on the violence and destruction of Saturday's protests. But that's not the majority. It's not 'us'. That's not France!"

Elisabeth was speaking to me in front of a row of smashed shop windows, shattered glass still littering the tree-lined Parisian street. Its walls were daubed with red-lettered graffiti insulting French police and signed with the date of the riots, 17 October.

I'd stopped Elisabeth and her friend to ask their thoughts on what happened on Saturday. Elisabeth was so upset that, when she spoke, she seemed close to tears.

"My friend thinks this is civil war in France but I don't. Saturday is about something else entirely."

But what did happen exactly? Who was behind the riots? While much of the looting seemed opportunistic, the violence looked pre-planned. Why orchestrate it now, after weeks of student protests? And who most stands to gain from the destruction this weekend? Elisabeth wasn't entirely sure.

Different theories are doing the rounds - in and outside France. Black and white answers may be appealing, but the truth is there are many factors at play.

The president of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, has proposed a parliamentary inquiry into the riots and how they were organised.

French intelligence had briefed government circles earlier this month that left-wing anarchist groups were involved in the student protests. Their signature: a capital A, circled in black, was spray-painted on many buildings across France this weekend.

French media have played and replayed a video shot on Saturday showing groups of young men dressed in black, with a black, folded kerchief around their face to hide their identity, apparently attacking a number of police vans with what look like large hammers or machetes.

A French intelligence report dated 29 September, published by Le Figaro newspaper, details the "manipulation" of student demonstrations by student unions and political movements aligned with the radical left.

It suggests the far-left political movement La France Insoumise (LFI) was relying on violence as an electoral strategy ahead of the 2027 presidential elections. LFI denies this.

The mass looting of what is said to be over 3,000 shops and businesses on Saturday appears to have been largely opportunistic, according to French reports. Many youngsters immediately went online trying to sell their stolen wares, including designer trainers. Some didn't bother to cover their faces. Did they feel a sense of impunity?

Emmanuel Macron, who is on his way out as president and viewed by many in France as a lame duck, and his government are accused of dropping the ball and failing to keep the country safe on Saturday.

Online sales platforms now say they'll work with the French authorities to track down as many of the looters as possible. Police say they're examining CCTV and social media footage. Macron insists all those responsible for violence or theft will be brought to justice.

Suggestions that some were encouraged to join in the violence by social media posts have led former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal (a hopeful in France's upcoming presidential election) to call for selected social media blackouts to quell further violence.

Belgium has also been experiencing violent protests these last days. On Tuesday, Belgium's interior minister, Bernard Quintin, warned of the "TikTokisation" of violence. Footage of riots is widely shared on social media, reaching a large audience of impressionable young people, he said, while also blaming violence on the streets of Brussels and Liège on "known far-left groups".

In France, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu and Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez have also clearly implicated the "hard left" in Saturday's mayhem - "pouring oil onto the fire", said Nuñez. On Tuesday Lecornu spoke of "insurrections" planned by "small far-left and ultra-left groups".

Previously he had accused the "far left" of weaponising student demos.

It's something anti-capitalist LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who also hopes to become French president, has vehemently denied.

Mélenchon took part in Saturday's planned protest. Politicians from his LFI movement have been present at the student demonstrations since they started a month ago in the socially deprived outskirts of Paris, with demands for better state education for all.

What do the students say?

In Saint-Denis suburb on Monday, I met Lisa Cordat, of the FSE student union. She told me that students had organised themselves for demos via social media messaging or through student-led organisations. She said it was "insulting" to suggest they were being manipulated or "told to do this, or do that" by politicians.

"Student anger comes from the ground up," says Lisa.

But there is also a palpable frustration amongst many in France at what they see as the politicisation of Saturday's violence. Lina, who is 25, told me: "Politicians are hunting for scapegoats but don't ask why it all happened. The root causes of Saturday. We feel scared and abandoned."

France's leading politicians have indulged in a festival of finger-pointing since Saturday.

The presidential election here in six months' time is hotly contested and the volatility on French streets funneled immediately into France's already febrile politics.

Mélenchon, currently running in second place in most polls, ahead of centrist candidates, accused France's centrist prime minister of being "responsible for the chaos" either due to "incompetence or a worst-case strategy."

Mélenchon went on to apparently imply Lecornu may have allowed the violence to unfold, so as to position itself as a "party of order", after Saturday's lawlessness, "that would make people forget his failure in public finances".

France is struggling with spiralling public debt and government borrowing costs.

As for intelligence failures on Saturday, President Macron has demanded explanations and a new policing strategy. France's interior minister admitted there were not enough officers on the streets, despite the nationwide protests being publicised well in advance.

Following accusations of heavy-handedness at earlier demos, the police seemed very much out of their depth this weekend.

Of all the presidential hopefuls, it would seem Marine Le Pen of the anti-immigration National Rally party gains most politically from Saturday's shocking scenes.

She is already way ahead in opinion polls. Le Pen chose to launch a presidential-looking video address to the nation via social media on Sunday. Dressed formally, behind a large desk and in front of a French flag, she blamed Jean-Luc Mélenchon by name for his associates who "look to throw the country into chaos," she said.

She also accused the Macron government of "running out of steam", meaning that France was "taken hostage between violence and powerlessness".

She ended her video by reminding French voters they would have the opportunity to "choose a different path" in six months' time.

Le Pen's party promotes a law and order, closed-border message and, like US President Donald Trump and US Vice President JD Vance, has blamed migrants, amongst others, for the chaos in France on Saturday. French authorities have not implicated migrants in the violence.

One teacher called Mar complained that Saturday's violence "suits politicians' purpose. It distracts from weeks of legitimate protests for better public services", she said.

"Politicians aren't listening to what the students need, or what teachers need or what the French people want. They're using the violence to election-campaign to become president and to try to make their opponents look bad."

Public frustration with politicians

But increasing numbers in France, many amongst the young Gen Z generation, say they have dwindling faith in "the system".

That's something we see echoed in other European countries where mainly youth-led protests erupted - some violently - this weekend in Italy, Portugal and Albania as well as France and Belgium.

These demonstrations are often triggered by spiralling living costs, deteriorating public services and a sense of powerlessness people feel over their own lives.

What can we do as individuals about our rising energy costs caused by wars far away in the Middle East or in Ukraine, many ask.

Voters increasingly say they are losing faith in traditional or governing political parties to listen to concerns and address them. The young look at climate change, social inequality, impossible housing prices and AI potentially threatening their place in the job market.

According to opinion polls conducted by this year by Pew, 69% of people in France are dissatisfied with democracy. In Spain, it's 68% and in Italy, 62%. The US is experiencing similar disillusionment with 69% saying they are dissatisfied with how democracy is working.

So many people I've spoken to in France since Saturday's riots emphasise the importance in making a clear distinction between angry but peaceful protesters, and those intent on wreaking violent havoc.

Politics aside, is what we're now seeing in Europe's protest wave perhaps a powerful cocktail of a bubbling over of frustration, cries for help for the authorities to listen but also, for some, a dark sense there's little left to lose?

Man released without charge after Waterford attack

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c893zwyvde0wo, today

A man in his 20s, who was arrested in connection with a suspected arson attack which killed four family members in the Republic of Ireland, has been released without charge.

Philip and Kim English and two of their children - nine-year-old Jayden and 12-year-old Callum - died after their home in Birch Avenue, on the outskirts of Waterford, was set on fire earlier this month.

A man aged in his 20s and a woman in her 30s were previously charged in connection with the attack.

On Saturday, gardaí (Irish police) said three people - two women in their 30s and a man in his 50s - who were arrested on Tuesday were released without charge.

Gardaí said investigations into the attack are ongoing.

Early reports suggest record high turnout in Serbia elections

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6jdmj1ej715o, today

Early reports suggest Serbian voters turned out in droves for its parliamentary election, as a student protest movement attempts to end the rule of the country's right-wing populist leader.

Preliminary figures provided by Serbia's election commission suggested a record high turnout, with 64.9% having cast their vote by 18:00 local time (17:00 GMT), two hours before polls were set to close.

The apparent high participation is fuelling the hopes of opposition party Student List that they can oust Aleksandar Vučić and his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), who have been in power since 2012.

The snap elections called by Vučić follow two years of student protests triggered by the 2024 collapse of a train station canopy, which killed 16 and was seen as emblematic of corruption and negligence in Serbia.

Anti-corruption movement Student List are running on a manifesto including purging officials who broke rules cracking down on protesters, stopping party loyalists heading public enterprises, and freeing the public broadcaster of political control.

Vučić and the SNS party deny corruption and seeking to influence the media.

Most commentators have suggested that a high final turnout, 65% or above, would favour the students.

Long queues formed outside polling stations in larger cities and smaller towns alike in Serbia, and at polling stations abroad - including Slovenia's capital Ljubljana, Munich, Los Angeles and Chicago. In Paris, Serbian voters waited in line in heavy rain.

Tensions are high across Serbia. In Belgrade, police have closed streets around the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK).

Independent watchdog CRTA reported a "large number of irregularities" and an increasing number of "violent incidents" outside polling stations. AFP news agency reported that police had not confirmed any major election-related violence.

In the street nearby, cars at the traffic lights lowered their windows to blast one of the students' anthems from loudspeakers, 'I want three kisses' - a folk song favoured because the Students' List is number three on the ballot paper. Young people on the pavement nearby started dancing.

Vučić and his SNS party are number one on the ballot paper. He has spent two terms as president and cannot seek a third term, so he is now leading his party with the aim of returning to the post of prime minister, which he left in 2017.

The 56-year-old retains strong support among a significant section of Serbia's population. They view him as a strong leader who stands up for the country's interests. He can also point to significant economic growth over the past decade and numerous improvements in infrastructure.

Vučić, who backs Serbia's candidacy for the European Union while refusing to impose sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine, has pledged higher pensions and public sector salaries, and investment in state healthcare.

SNS posters plastered around cities show two hands clasped together in solidarity: the hands of doctors and nurses, farmers, construction workers, teachers and parents.

"These are the hands that hold Serbia in their palms," says Vučić in his campaign video. "And with these hands, calmly and with dignity, we shall finish what we started."

That is question of this election, continuity or change.

Amid fears of electoral fraud by the SNS, the students have delegated at least two observers to each of Serbia's 8,210 voting stations.

Videos circulating on social media on Sunday morning show a cafe in the southern city of Nis, where ballot papers were allegedly filled out in advance in a practice known as 'chain voting'. Signs in the window read "private party". When they realise that they are being filmed, the papers are quickly hidden.

There have also been reports of attacks on election monitors and journalists at several polling stations.

"We are witnessing a unique experiment in European contemporary history," Žarko Korać, a former deputy prime minister and long-term opponent of nationalist parties in Serbia including the SNS, told the BBC.

Instead of running for office themselves, student-led assemblies at the country's university faculties have chosen 250 candidates to stand in the parliamentary election, with Ilija Srdanović, professor at Novi Sad University, heading the list.

The Student List of candidates for the 250-member parliament also includes doctors, actors, academics and sports personalities. Several opposition parties have opted not to run, urging their supporters to back students.

"These are people that don't know each other, you have no idea what their political beliefs are, and we now expect them to create a functioning government. So it's anybody's guess what happens after they win," Korać says.

"On the other hand, if Vučić declares victory this evening, probably late in the evening, I don't think the students will accept that."

Korać suggests that many former Vučić loyalists in high office could change sides at the last moment, if the students win. A close result, however, with both sides claiming victory, could result in weeks or months of political instability.

The electorate is 6.45 million in a population of 6.53 million, raising concerns about the reliability of the electoral register. Serbs from Kosovo, and dual Serbian citizens from neighbouring Bosnia also have the right to vote.

Katarina, 29, told the BBC she had travelled from the Netherlands back home to Serbia to vote for Student List, even though she could have cast her ballot remotely.

"I wanted to be a part of this, and I wanted to be part of a movement," she told the BBC outside a polling station in the capital's Zvezdara district.

"I think they have a chance of winning," she said, but expressed doubt about whether such a result would be respected by Vučić.

Asked whether the party's selection of candidates from different walks of life might hinder its ability to govern, she responded: "Just because they're politically inexperienced, they are experts in their own fields, which we have not seen thus far."

Additional reporting by André Rhoden-Paul

Lula wins fourth term in Brazil but faces hostile Congress and divided country

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmvg7p001qj9o, today

Brazil's veteran left-wing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has been re-elected after a bitterly fought campaign, beating his right-wing rival Flávio Bolsonaro.

It is Lula's fourth win in a presidential election, having served two terms as president from January 2003 to December 2010, and again from January 2023.

But the road to his win in Sunday's run-off was not a smooth one.

Bolsonaro had beaten Lula in the first round on 4 October and many had not thought it possible for him to turn the result around in just three weeks.

He has also bucked a wider trend in Latin America, where voters have punished incumbents and turned to the right. Across the region, larger countries such as Argentina, Chile and Colombia all now have conservative leaders at their helm.

Lula's campaign sprang back to life following his first-round defeat driven by street demonstrations and a massive social media push.

The former metalworker, who has been the dominant figure on Brazil's left since he first ran for president in 1989, nevertheless faces the most challenging political landscape since first taking office in 2003.

His new term, set to begin on 5 January 2027, will start amid significant constraints at home and abroad, including animosity from US President Donald Trump.

While Trump did not endorse Lula's rival, Flávio Bolsonaro, directly – something he did with the right-wing candidates who went on to win presidential elections held in Colombia and Honduras – there is little doubt his administration would have preferred to see a conservative at the helm of this country of 213 million people.

The White House regards Latin America as an area of US influence with the Trump administration keen to have leaders in power who support its policies, including on defence, security and trade.

It is also keen to reduce China's influence in the Western Hemisphere.

Brazil, which is oil-rich and holds the world's second-largest reserves of rare earth minerals, is the only big country in South America not governed by a right-wing leader, with Lula largely seen as China-friendly.

Flávio Bolsonaro had promised to align Brazil more closely with Washington while Lula had warned the US not to interfere in the election and insisted that Brazil would "never fit into anyone's backyard".

But while there may be disappointment in the White House, Lula's victory will be welcomed by environmentalists who had feared that a win by Bolsonaro would have given Brazil's influential agribusiness and mining sectors more power.

They had pointed to record levels of deforestation and forest fires in the Amazon during the presidency of his father, Jair, arguing that under the younger Bolsonaro laxer environmental policies could again lead to destruction in this key ecosystem.

While Lula's supporters are ecstatic about his victory, the result shows that the country remains deeply divided, with more than 48% of voters choosing Bolsonaro.

In addition to the challenge of uniting such a deeply polarised country, Lula will have to govern alongside the most right-wing Congress in Brazil's democratic era.

Bolsonaro's Liberal Party (PL) was the party that made the biggest gains in the election.

And yet, Lula's Workers' Party managed to organise huge rallies ahead of the run-off, showing the strong grassroots support it commands.

Before the election, Lula had described the poll as "a parting of the waters for Brazil".

He promised to bridge the gap between Brazil's opposing political poles with "a new way of governing", adding in a WhatsApp livestream before the election that "this country will never be the same again".

While he provided little detail as to what the new way of governing would entail, he insisted he would "remain firm in the fight for a more just country, with opportunities for all and policies directed at the needs of the population".

With a largely hostile Congress, this fight just may prove much harder for the veteran leadern - who will be 85 by the end of his fourth term - than in his three previous terms in office.

Lula says rival should be disqualified over alleged Meta interference ahead of Brazil vote

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6pwgve2lk5go, 4 days ago

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's campaign has requested the disqualification of right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro in the lead up to the final round of the presidential election on Sunday over alleged interference by social media company Meta.

In a petition filed to the country's top electoral court on Wednesday, the leftist incumbent president accused Meta, the tech giant behind Whatsapp, Instagram and Facebook, of limiting its content to boost Bolsonaro's campaign.

In response, Bolsonaro filed a petition seeking to disqualify Lula over what he said was the mass dissemination of government posts on WhatsApp.

The company has denied the campaigns have been treated unequally.

It comes after UN experts said on Wednesday that they were concerned about reports of discrepancies in the ability of each campaign to reach voters on Meta's platforms.

A report led by the UN's special rapporteur on freedom of expression said Meta must ensure a level playing field online during the election.

It cited incidents including "temporary interruptions of one candidate's campaign account; differences in audience engagement, user feeds, view counts and reach; restrictions on that campaign's Instagram posts".

"Information, including from Meta employees, suggests that accounts linked to one side of the presidential race were disproportionately curtailed," it read.

Meta has denied taking action to favour one side of the election and has said it would comply with an order from a Brazilian court to treat Bolsonaro and Lula equally.

Lula's campaign had previously filed a complaint alleging that accounts and content related to Bolsonaro were boosted.

Users also reported that Meta's artificial intelligence tools were not generating images related to Lula.

Brazilians will head to the polls on Sunday as Lula seeks a fourth term in office.

Bolsonaro beat Lula in the first round of voting on 4 October by a narrow margin, but fell short of the 50% of valid votes needed to win outright.

On Wednesday, Lula's campaign filed a petition to Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) for Bolsonaro and Alfredo Gaspar, his candidate for vice-president, to be investigated over "abuse of economic power and improper use of social network".

The petition also seeks to make Bolsonaro ineligible to stand for election for eight years following the 2026 election.

Meanwhile, Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of convicted former president Jair Bolsonaro, accused his rival of "abuse of political and economic power".

He claims the government has used personal data taken from official databases to send mass messages on Whatsapp to promote social programmes.

Opinion polls suggest Sunday's run-off will be extremely close, with little separating the two as Brazil's 159 million registered voters prepare to go to the ballot boxes.

Ex-prosecutor charged with treason in Mexico over US drug raid

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckx2qpw4rjd7o, 5 days ago

Federal prosecutors in Mexico have charged a former state prosecutor with treason for allowing US agents to join a raid on a suspected drugs lab in April without proper authorisation.

César Jáuregui Moreno served as attorney general of the northern border state of Chihuahua from 2023 to this year.

The involvement of Americans came to light after two US agents said to have worked for the CIA died in a car crash in Chihuahua along with two Mexican law enforcement officers.

Attorney General Ernestina Godoy Ramos said Jáuregui had allowed foreign agents to carry out activities reserved for Mexican authorities and had failed to share information. Jáuregui has denied the allegations.

The former prosecutor, who is a member of the conservative opposition PAN party, was arrested at the weekend. A court hearing is scheduled for Saturday.

A judge must still determine whether there is enough evidence to proceed with the case, Reuters news agency reports.

Jáuregui also faces state-level charges in Chihuahua, including of abuse of public office. In a court hearing for those charges on Sunday, he denied that he instructed or consented to the involvement of US agents in the operation.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has come under pressure from US President Donald Trump to crack down on drug trafficking but has repeatedly declined offers of US-led counter-narcotics operations in the country.

She has been adamant that foreign officials can only operate on Mexican soil if given prior clearance by the federal government, and has insisted the Latin American nation's sovereignty should not be breached.

The crash occurred on 19 April, when a convoy returning from an operation targeting suspected methamphetamine labs in a remote, mountainous area veered off the road and plunged into a ravine.

Two members of the Chihuahua State Investigation Agency were killed along with the Americans, officials said.

At the time, in his capacity as state attorney general, Jáuregui told a news conference that the Americans had been "instructor officers" from the US embassy engaged in "training work as part of the general and normal exchange we have with the US authorities".

US media have reported that the two individuals worked for the CIA as part of an expanded effort to combat narcotics trafficking in the region.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Machado returns after months in exile

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq8ez592pp0eo, today

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has returned home to a fraught political landscape after over 10 months in exile.

"I am here. With you," Machado wrote on X on Sunday.

Her ally, former presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, confirmed the news minutes later, writing: "I am thrilled to announce to you that our leader, my dear María Corina, is on Venezuelan soil."

In January, a month after Machado left Venezuela to accept the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway, the US seized her opponent, President Nicolás Maduro.

The Trump administration then backed his deputy, Delcy Rodríguez, as leader, and she was sworn in as interim president, later signing an oil deal with the US.

"Today is a very important day for Venezuelans. Our sovereign voice returns with her to lead and guide this process!" González Urrutia continued.

He added that he will soon join Machado in Venezuela to advance the country "toward freedom".

An advisor to Machado said in September that over the previous few weeks Machado had attempted seven times to return to Venezuela, but was denied each time.

It's unclear what Machado plans to do next now that she's back, but she has previously said she would run for president again if an election were held.

A staunch supporter of democracy, Machado won an independent presidential primary election - held outside the Maduro government's official election authority - in 2023, earning more than 90% of the vote.

Despite winning the primary, Maduro's government barred Machado from running for office, accusing her of fraud and tax violations. Machado denied the allegations, calling them politically motivated.

In the 2024 election, Machado's ally González Urrutia ran in her place against Maduro.

The electoral authority, which is closely aligned with the government, declared Maduro the winner without making detailed voting tallies public.

The opposition argued that González won the election, not Maduro, uploading copies of the voting tallies as evidence.

In a statement shared with Margaret Brennan of CBS News, the BBC's US partner, a spokesperson for Machado called her return "a major step toward a democratic transition and free, fair, and verifiable presidential elections in the near future".

El Salvador president says bodies found in Haiti are not those of hostages

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8ly097zw1xwo, yesterday

Four bodies handed over to special forces on a mission to Haiti to recover Salvadoran hostages are "not our men", El Salvador's president has said.

Nayib Bukele said a nongovernmental organisation delivered the human remains to one of Haiti's airports claiming they were four El Salvadoran air technicians, but that one of the corpses was a child's and another was wearing a different country's army uniform.

He had dispatched a military contingent, reportedly of hundreds of soldiers, on Thursday after the four men vanished after being ambushed by "heavily armed criminal groups".

The hostages had been part of the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF), which is tasked with tackling worsening gang violence in Haiti.

The men had been travelling back to their camp in an armoured vehicle when they were attacked in an area of the Caribbean island nation controlled by armed groups called Croix-des-Bouquets. No gang has so far claimed responsibility.

Bukele previously said the Salvadoran military operation in Haiti had the sole purpose of returning the four men alive. Approximately 450 soldiers had so far been deployed, according to Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste.

Bukele said the bodies the mission had received included one of a man of "considerably greater height than that of our air technicians", a person "who was wearing part of a uniform from an army that is not ours", and that among the remains were identification cards and uniforms from other countries.

He posted pictures showing the ID card of a GSF member and a corresponding national ID card from Chad in Africa.

Bukele's comments poured skepticism on an earlier report in the New York Times, citing people close to the Salvadoran mission, that the bodies found on the outskirts of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, on Saturday were thought to belong to the missing men.

The newspaper reported that the bodies delivered to the military contingent had been badly burned, meaning a medical examination would be required to identify them.

It cited one unnamed source briefed on the situation as saying the ID posted by Bukele in fact belonged to a soldier who had lost it when he had been injured.

Haiti has been ravaged by gang violence for years, but the situation has worsened in the political vacuum that followed the assassination of its president in 2021.

The multinational force dispatched to quell the violence and push back the armed gangs has struggled to penetrate areas where they hold sway.

More than 5,700 people have been killed or injured by gangs or during operations against them between 1 January and 11 September this year, the UN said at the start of October.

Bukele said the four GSF members had primarily been there to "carry out medical evacuations and save lives, not to wage war".

When they were abducted, helicopters were deployed and multiple attempts were made to reach the location, but these efforts were hampered by fighting in the area, the Salvadoran armed forces said.

Argentina drops investigation into President Milei over crypto fraud

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c64g1eplpvddo, 3 days ago

A criminal investigation into Argentine President Javier Milei and his sister's links to a cryptocurrency scandal has been dropped.

The case against Milei and his sister Karina Milei was dismissed by federal judge Marcelo Martinez de Giorgi at the request of prosecutors, court records show.

The Argentinian president had denied promoting the newly launched cryptocoin $Libra, which collapsed shortly after he mentioned it in a social media post in February 2025.

He said he had acted "in good faith" when the cryptocurrency rose in value, before crashing and causing huge losses for the majority of its investors. Milei is yet to respond to news of the case being dropped.

Dismissing the case, the judge said "the reported events do not fall under a legal category" and concluded that no "criminally relevant deception" had been proven.

Accusations of fraud arose when Milei posted on X, formerly Twitter, about the $Libra coin, which he said at the time would help fund small businesses and start-ups.

The cryptocurrency's price subsequently shot up when the Argentine president shared a link to buy it.

But, within a few hours, he deleted his post and the crypto nosedived in value, losing investors most of their money.

It led opposition members of Congress to plan impeachment proceedings, while some online accused Milei of a "rug pull" - in which promoters of a cryptocurrency draw in buyers only to stop trading activity and make off with the money raised from sales.

The Argentinian president, though, insisted in an interview with Todo Noticias: "I didn't promote it, I merely shared it."

The presidential office insisted that Milei was in no way involved in the development of $Libra and announced that the Anti-Corruption Office would determine whether the president had acted improperly.

Milei himself defended deleting his post, saying that at the time he did not know "the details of the project and after learning about it, I decided not to continue promoting it".

He insisted in a TV interview that those who had invested in $Libra had done so "voluntarily" and knew of the risks.

What to know about Brazil's run-off as Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro face off

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6wyz0r2n0djo, yesterday

Brazilians are voting for a new president in a run-off election in which the veteran incumbent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is being challenged by right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro, the son of convicted former president Jair Bolsonaro, beat Lula in the first round of voting on 4 October by a narrow margin, but fell short of the 50% of valid votes needed to win outright, triggering the run-off. Polls ahead of the second round put them neck-and-neck.

The election is being closely watched not just in Brazil, but also across Latin America and in the US, as a win for Bolsonaro would add Brazil to the list of Western Hemisphere countries aligned with the Trump administration.

Here's what you need to know.

Bolsonaro v Lula mark two?

While there were 12 candidates in the running in the first round, this election has always been about Lula and Bolsonaro.

The surnames on the ballots are the same as those in the 2022 run-off, when Lula beat Flávio's father, Jair, by 1.8 percentage points.

What happened following that election has had a lasting and divisive impact on Brazil's political life.

Many of Jair Bolsonaro's supporters refused to recognise Lula's victory and on 8 January 2023 - one week after the left-wing leader was sworn in - thousands stormed the Supreme Court, the presidential palace and the building housing Congress in the capital, Brasilia.

The security forces quickly managed to restore order and thousands were arrested.

Jair Bolsonaro was put on trial and found guilty of plotting a coup to overthrow Lula. He was sentenced to more than 20 years in jail.

Due to recurrent health problems, the older Bolsonaro is currently under house arrest rather than in a cell, but remains barred from running for office.

He has also had strict restrictions imposed on him, prohibiting him from posting on social media or making public statements.

Despite these restrictions, his shadow has loomed large over this election.

Bitter campaign reflects deep divisions

Lula and his Workers' Party (PT) have cast this election as a "battle for democracy", arguing that Jair Bolsonaro's conviction for coup-plotting is evidence that Bolsonarismo constitutes a threat to Brazil's democratic institutions.

Lula has also portrayed himself as the guarantor of Brazil's sovereignty, warning that a vote for his rival, who advocates closer ties to the Trump administration, would undermine Brazil's independence.

During Lula's latest term in office, relations with his US counterpart Donald Trump have been rocky.

Referring to what Trump has dubbed the "Donroe doctrine" - his administration's national security strategy which asserts that US dominance in the Western hemisphere should not be interfered with - Lula has insisted that "Brazil does not fit into anyone's backyard".

Flávio Bolsonaro, on the other hand, argues that working with the US to combat powerful criminal gangs - which wield immense power in parts of Brazil - will restore the state's sovereignty to gang-controlled areas.

He has also been labelling Lula's PT as corrupt, reminding voters of the massive financial scandals which plagued the party for years and which have turned many voters against it.

The acrimonious attacks during the election campaign appear to have turned many people off voting altogether.

In the first round, a record 21% of those eligible to vote did not cast their ballots even though voting is mandatory for those aged between 18 and 70 and literate - with those who do not turn up facing a fine.

What does Lula stand for?

Some supporters of the left-wing PT said they were disillusioned that it had not found a new, younger candidate to stand for the presidency.

Lula has been president three times already.

When he started his third term in office in 2023, he vowed it would be his last, and yet his party endorsed him as their candidate again this year, even though he will turn 81 two days after the election.

Even backers of the PT will acknowledge that he achieved more in his first two terms - from January 2003 to December 2010 - than in this most recent four years in office.

He was widely praised for lifting millions out of poverty with the help of a cash-transfer programme called Bolsa Família and left office on 1 January 2011 with record approval ratings of over 80%.

But his political career suffered serious setbacks in the following years - he was convicted of corruption and sent to jail for more than 18 months.

Those convictions were annulled in 2021, leaving Lula free to run for the presidency in the 2022 election, in which he beat Jair Bolsonaro.

There is no doubt he remains a towering figure in the left. But while his supporters described him ahead of the 2022 election as the "saviour of the Amazon", praising his commitment to protecting the rainforest, some environmentalists have been critical of some of his recent actions.

His support for exploratory oil drilling in offshore waters near the mouth of the Amazon in particular has drawn criticism.

Lula insists that he remains committed to eventually phasing out fossil fuels and argues that oil revenues are key to financing Brazil's transition to clean energy.

His government has also pointed to the reduction in deforestation in the Amazon - satellite data suggests the area deforested in the first half of 2026 was reduced to its lowest in the past decade - as proof that its policies were working.

What is Bolsonaro promising?

Flávio Bolsonaro, 45, is Jair's eldest son and has been serving as a senator since 2019.

The younger Bolsonaro is running for the right-wing Liberal Party (PL) and, while he is widely seen as less confrontational than his father, is appealing to the followers of the older Bolsonaro by promising to broadly continue his agenda.

During his time in the Senate, the trained lawyer has advocated a tough-on-crime stance, calling for longer sentences and laxer gun laws, arguing that "decent citizens" should be able to defend themselves from criminals.

He has successfully lobbied for the US to declare the Brazil-based criminal gangs Comando Vermelho (CV) and Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, a move opposed by Lula.

The younger Bolsonaro has also courted evangelicals and the agricultural industry as part of his campaign.

He has said that he will cut what he says are unnecessary regulations and "get the state off farmers' backs".

Quizzed in an interview with Globo in August on whether he still believed - as he had said in 2019 - that climate change did not exist, he acknowledged that there had been "extreme climate events", but insisted that these events were "cyclical".

Flávio Bolsonaro has actively courted Trump and members of his administration by portraying himself as a loyal ally during a meeting at the White House in May.

More recently, he promised to join the US-led anti-crime alliance that the Trump administration has dubbed "Shield of the Americas", should he be elected.

How Brazil's changing working class is reshaping the presidential race

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw80zx79nkvno, 2 days ago

In the sprawling former industrial city of Osasco, shuttered factories have given way to shopping malls and delivery app tech companies in what is now dubbed São Paulo's "Silicon Valley."

The municipality voted for Brazil's left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2022 but switched to the right-wing Flávio Bolsonaro in the first round of Brazil's presidential election this month. Bolsonaro won that vote - and now the two men face a run-off on Sunday. Since 1989, every first-round winner has gone on to be elected president.

Like many of Lula's traditional supporters, Gilberto Almazan, who leads a metalworkers' union here, is visibly worried.

He cries when he tells Lula's life story: a boy who grew up in hunger in the north-east, who became a metalworker, then a union leader, then a three-time president. But he's candid about how things have changed here and how the union movement that was so integral to Lula's support base is stuck in the "Middle Ages", and struggling to keep up.

"We had strong deindustrialisation here," Almazan says. "The profile of the working class changed. They are no longer predominantly industrial workers, they are service workers.

"Metal, chemical, textile factories disappeared. And five malls were built."

The word "change" comes up repeatedly among Bolsonaro supporters here. Many struggle to name specific Bolsonaro policies they like but know they want to try something different: frustrated by the economy, crime and corruption in politics – even though Flávio has faced accusations of corruption too, which he denies.

"He brings the hope of change, that we can have a different Brazil," says lawyer Gisele Bonfim in Osasco, who decided to vote for Bolsonaro after supporting Lula in 2022.

Lula's re-election campaign has been hampered by voters turning away from him. In some cases, their frustration drove abstention, which was higher than average this year, but others like Gisele actively wanted something new.

One major reason for that is Brazil's working class has transformed seismically in places like Osasco.

Near one large shopping mall lies an open-air market where this shift is noticeable. Everyone is touting products, armed with a portable card machine.

Tairine, who sells hot dogs, used to abstain from voting, even though - as voting is compulsory in Brazil - not going to the polls incurs a fine. This year, she plans to vote for Bolsonaro. She points to high taxes paid on "everything" she buys and says these make it "so difficult for a poor person" dealing with inflation, arguing "nothing has changed" since Lula became president again.

Flávio Bolsonaro has proposed cutting government spending, government ministries, and some taxes - though he has said he'd maintain some of Lula's flagship welfare programmes.

A new working class

For his supporters, Lula is a working-class hero credited with advancing workers' rights through organising strikes and lifting millions of people out of poverty with generous social welfare programmes as president.

But across Brazil millions now work in the gig economy, a phenomenon Almazan calls "Uber-isation": driving for Uber, delivering food, or running small businesses from market stalls to providing at-home beauty treatments.

"There are a lot of workers who need more freedom, flexibility of days and hours," he says, rather than the welfare and collective action Lula offered.

Richard Lapper, who has written biographies of both Lula and Jair Bolsonaro – Flavio's father and Brazil's president from 2019-2022 - says the rise of individualised work and the decline of manufacturing caused by globalisation are not unique to Brazil.

But because Brazil industrialised late and deindustrialised early, he argues, the effects have been sharper here. He calls Lula a "victim of his own success."

Unemployment fell to a record low, and Brazil was taken off the UN's Hunger Map during Lula's current presidency. But Lapper describes a crisis of "expectations" in which people are now better off but don't feel it because prices have risen and household debt and interest rates are high.

Robson, 53, is a municipal civil servant in Osasco. Originally from Lula's north-eastern home state of Pernambuco, he grew up supporting him.

But he describes a country now running deficits and says its citizens are enduring the "worst phase" of its tax burden, which he blames on the Lula government's "mismanagement" of the economy and high public spending.

"Now you have to make choices: pay an instalment for your car, or put food on the table," he says.

Lula's comeback strategy

In some areas, Lula lost votes compared to 2022, even though Bolsonaro did not gain more than his father did then: 33 million people did not vote in the first round, the highest abstention since 1998.

In response, Lula's campaign has focused on mobilising hundreds of thousands of people – particularly students – on to the streets to get the vote out for round two. It claims one rally in São Paulo attracted about a million people.

"A lot of people didn't vote, they thought it wouldn't change anything," says one supporter, Leila. "Our fight is to make those people believe their vote changes things."

Aerial videos of these huge demonstrations have been plastered across social media. An image of a topless man with a six-pack waving a Lula flag at one has been shared tens of millions of times.

The strategy is that their revolution will not be televised, but it should ideally go viral.

Lula, 80, has also been using social media to dismiss criticisms that he is past his prime: calling himself the "king of selfies" and posting videos showing him running from A to B on the campaign trail.

In Maré, one of Rio's largest favelas which is controlled by rival gangs, abstention was higher than average.

This dented Lula's support, even though he still won here: among Brazil's very poorest, Lula's welfare initiatives clearly do still resonate. One 18-year-old mother in Maré, Vitoria, earns less than £300 a month and praises Lula's government for increasing the minimum wage, giving workers the right to two days off per week, and providing essential medicines for free.

She is sceptical of Bolsonaro's plans to designate the gang which controls this part of the favela, Comando Vermelho, as a terrorist organisation, which he lobbied the US to do earlier this year.

She thinks it will lead to authorities entering the favela to "kill, destroy, ruin families, leave blood and bodies on the ground", citing a police raid in Rio last year that killed more than 130 people.

Another resident, Andreza Dionísio, blames high abstention rates here on both last-minute changes to polling station locations, but also "a sense of hopelessness about the future."

Increasingly, that void of hope is being filled by the growth of the evangelical church: about a quarter of Brazilians are now evangelical. Its mega-churches offer not just a spiritual home but support with issues like childcare, employment advice and even food.

Its conservative pastors are some of Brazil's most powerful political operators.

Silas Malafaia, who has millions of followers on social media, leads the Assembleia de Deus Vitória em Cristo headquartered in the lower middle-class neighbourhood of Penha in Rio de Janeiro. He is being investigated for allegedly obstructing the coup trial of Jair Bolsonaro, which he denies and calls politically motivated.

At one two-hour sermon he preaches messages of self-improvement to an emotional crowd of hundreds, interrupted occasionally for live music interludes and breaks to collect money with card machines. The whole event is live-streamed on YouTube.

Afterwards, in his office adorned with a photo of him and the former president Jair Bolsonaro, at whose wedding he officiated, he told the BBC that without the evangelical church in working-class neighbourhoods the country would be "in a state worse than you can imagine".

"It gives these people meaning. To better their lives."

He argues Flávio Bolsonaro shares the church's values: for family, and against gender "ideology" and abortion.

The church is driving some to actively vote for Flávio Bolsonaro, but among much of Brazil's new working class, the first round feels more like a rejection of President Lula than an endorsement of his rival.

"There will never be another Lula," Gilberto Almazan fears. He intends this as a compliment, but Brazil's changing world of work means it's also probably true.

While Lula's past story still stirs great emotion for people like Almazan, his political fate may depend on whether voters think he can now offer Brazil a new one.

Haitian migrants changed this US town - Trump's deportation drive is reshaping it again

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crp3gvpek8njo, 6 days ago

In this closely fought midterm election campaign, the small town of Springfield, Ohio, has become a symbol of modern America. But it is a symbol that changes dramatically depending on who is describing it.

To President Donald Trump, Springfield crystallises America's problems due to years of unchecked immigration. He once echoed a false claim that Haitian immigrants were eating pets here. Today, he says his mass deportation drive means its people are "getting their town back".

But to others, Springfield represents a well-known cycle in the story of modern America. The decline of traditional industry, followed by a spike in immigration fuelled by cheap housing and low-paid labour. It is a familiar tale across the country.

This story contains some distressing details

Pierre Damas Bel, 20, arrived in Springfield to join his father and stepmother in 2024.

He fled his native Haiti, which was gripped by political instability and gang warfare. He entered the US with the government's permission under a now-defunct Biden-era programme for migrants waiting in Mexico.

Bel, according to a family friend, then received a humanitarian protection called Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which gives vetted individuals the right to live and work in the United States.

TPS usually lasts 18 months but is routinely rolled over, often for years, if the danger remains in the affected country.

Bel aspired to build a life in America, the friend said. He was an honours student, talented athlete and cadet in a high school programme training students to become officers in the US Armed Forces.

But in June, the Supreme Court upheld the Trump administration's decision to end TPS for some 350,000 Haitians in the US.

Bel was told to report to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office where he was fitted with an ankle monitor which is used to track migrants facing deportation.

He wrote on Instagram that he felt "shame and humiliation" at having to wear the tag. And on 31 August, he parked his car on the side of a highway near Springfield, walked into oncoming traffic and was killed.

His family blamed his death on his feelings at having to wear the ankle monitor.

The Department for Homeland Security (DHS) did not respond to questions from the BBC about Bel's case. ICE has previously rejected "any attempt to blame ICE for the death".

"Remaining in the country illegally, while fighting removal, is a choice. Leaving with a free flight home and $2,600 is also a choice," a spokesperson told US media earlier this year when asked about the case.

In the weeks before his death, Bel attended a Springfield support centre for Haitians facing deportation.

Its co-founder, Viles Dorsainvil, told the BBC that Bel had been in the process of filing a motion asking ICE to remove the tag.

"He went twice to the ICE facilities… begging them to remove the ankle monitor," he said. "He did everything right to be here until they put the tag on him."

In total, more than a million immigrants from 13 countries have had TPS terminated by the Trump administration. The changes meant many went from being legal to unauthorised migrants overnight.

In 2024, Trump made securing the border and the mass deportation of undocumented migrants core pledges in his election campaign. Polls suggest the border policy continues to have strong support among Republicans, but the nature of his immigration enforcement campaign has seen a drop in backing this year.

Ohio has become a swing state in the coming midterm Congressional elections, and one of two Republican-held Senate seats is up for grabs. Trump has visited the state twice already in an attempt to rally turnout and counter a slide in his approval ratings.

At a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, earlier this month, Trump returned to the topic of Springfield.

"You have a little town, beautiful little town in Ohio where they dropped about 35,000 Haitians. Well, they're being taken out and they're almost going to be gone and we're giving their town back," he said to cheers.

The Trump administration first announced in June 2025 that it would be removing the TPS for Haitians, and the ensuing legal battle went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled in its favour in the summer.

"The T in TPS stands for TEMPORARY, yet many of these designations became de facto amnesty," James Percival, the general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, said after the court's ruling. "This is a win for the rule of law and common sense."

In a social media post in August, the Department of Homeland Security posted a video of Haitians in chains wearing white uniforms being led onto a deportation flight. The video, accompanied by jaunty music, told Haitians whose TPS had expired to "LEAVE IMMEDIATELY".

The Trump administration has said it is conducting law enforcement operations in the town to keep Americans safe. It has also argued that Haiti is safe enough to return to.

The country is subject to the US State Department's highest Level 4 "Do Not Travel" danger warning.

The signs of decades of economic decline are still visible in Springfield, through shuttered factories and boarded up homes.

This part of the American Midwest was hit badly by last century's de-industrialisation, when those laid off from its once prolific factories sought work on the coasts or migrated to warmer, southern states.

Within the last five years, a Haitian population estimated to be around 20,000 strong arrived in the town. Many fled the devastating earthquake in 2010. Others left Haiti in 2021 during the violence and unrest that followed President Jovenel Moise's assassination.

It meant Springfield's population increased rapidly. With their legal status under TPS, many Haitians took on low-paid jobs in factories and distribution warehouses.

Rick Johnson, who served in the Marines, has a porch adorned with flags. The Stars and Stripes flutter close to a banner for the US Navy and another for the Marine Corps.

Johnson's wife served in the Navy while he was in the Marines at Camp Pendleton in California. Outside of his service, he has lived in Springfield his whole life. He made it clear he is a strong supporter of ICE's deportation drive.

"You get where we're coming from," he said. "We love America, we love Americans - any kind of Americans, but you kind of have to be American."

Johnson moved into this neighbourhood a decade ago, but he said the loss of industry has left much of it empty. "They've torn down every house around me, I don't really have any neighbours," he said. "The only neighbours I have are Haitians right here and they don't really bother me."

They moved in around four years ago, Johnson added, "but there's a lot of them". He referenced "the driving problems".

This is a view shared by other residents in Springfield - a perception that traffic accidents increased after the Haitian community arrived.

In 2023, an 11-year-old boy, Aiden Clark, was killed when his school bus overturned in a crash with a minivan. The van driver, Herman Joseph, originally from Haiti, did not have a valid US driver's licence and was jailed.

Aiden's father, Nathan Clark, later spoke at a Springfield City Commission meeting where he denounced politicians for using his son's death as a "political tool" to fuel anti-immigrant sentiment, saying his son was accidentally killed.

Johnson's concern is about the numbers and the speed of change. "Really it's the amount of them," he told the BBC. "If you come here you [should] come here legally. The Temporary Protected Status is done… it's time to go."

At a nearby grocery store run by Paschur Castelly, who left Haiti 20 years ago, most of the shelves are empty, except for those stocking religious candles and framed pictures of Catholic saints popular with this devout community.

"I can't purchase new merchandise because I don't have people coming in," he said.

"So, our communities, we have doctors, we have engineers… we came here to get a better life, to help our family in Haiti, you know? Our country doesn't offer us security."

After 20 minutes in the store, the first customer arrived. The man, who asked to remain anonymous, said he had been a warehouse worker for three years.

But like others who have lost TPS, it is likely to mean he has also lost the right to work.

As he chatted with Castelly, he pulled up his right trouser leg and revealed a large ankle monitor.

ICE has said these are part of its Alternatives to Detention programme. "I was given a choice, wear the ankle monitor and report in every two weeks, or sign my deportation order," he said.

As we left the store, Castelly closed the door which he now keeps locked. When a neighbour spotted us and feared an ICE raid, she shouted over to ask if Castelly was okay.

It was a sign of just how much this town remains a symbol - of two versions of America - years after Trump thrust it into the national spotlight, and weeks before voters head to the polls to shape the remainder of his presidency.

With additional reporting by Gringo Wotshela

If you're affected by any of the issues in this article you can find details of organisations who can help via the BBC Action Line.

Details of help available in many countries can be found at Befrienders Worldwide, external.

Lula wins fourth term in dramatic Brazil elections comeback

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckm23y3mg1yyo, today

Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won a fourth term in office in a dramatic comeback over his right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro.

Left-wing leader Lula took 51.79% of votes, becoming the first president since the return of democracy in 1988 to win an election after losing the first round of voting.

Lula told celebratory crowds this election is a "loss for negativity, lies", later adding "long live democracy".

Bolsonaro, who is the son of convicted former president Jair Bolsonaro, has so far refused to recognise the result and called for it to be annulled, which experts say is unlikely.

In an unprecedented move, polls were also extended for two hours on Sunday evening after both candidates made requests for different reasons.

Lula's team had argued that voters in São Paulo and Bahia could not get to the polling stations because of a lack of busses, while Senator Bolsonaro's campaign cited heavy rain in some areas in the south of the country and in São Paulo as the reason for their request.

The decision - issued by the Supreme Court just as polling stations were due to close - meant that some had already shut and were not able to re-open.

Supreme Court President Kassio Nunes Marques - appointed by the older Bolsonaro - confirmed Lula's victory and said that the voting extension did not cause issues for the count or the electoral process.

Lula secured 51.79% of the vote against Bolsonaro's 48.21% - a difference of 4.4 million votes between the two candidates.

The result came as a surprise after Bolsonaro - who has the backing of his father - won the first round of voting on 4 October with 47% of votes ahead of Lula's 45%.

While it is too early to say what pulled Lula to victory, his camp gained momentum ahead of election day, focusing on boosting voter turnout after 33 million people did not vote in round one.

Sunday saw the largest drop in abstention between the first and second rounds of a presidential election since 1989.

Lula took to the streets in São Paulo to celebrate and address his supporters.

"This, my fourth term, will be the best of any president in the history of this country", the former steelworker said. "It will be the one in which I listen most to the Brazilian people."

Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin told him: "You, for the second time, have saved Brazilian democracy."

But Bolsonaro - who had been poised to give a victory speech - said the result should be annulled, calling it "inexplicable" and "impossible".

His comments follow that of his father, who is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence after being convicted of a coup attempt after losing the 2022 elections to Lula.

But electoral law experts have told BBC Brasil that the chances of the results being annulled are remote.

Fernando Neisser from the Institute of Lawyers of São Paulo (Iasp) said it would be "difficult from a legal standpoint" given that the margin of votes was relatively large, and would depend on the "narrative" his lawyers put forward.

Expert Alberto Rollo said that dates for presidential elections in Brazil are fixed and determined by the constitution, which would add another complication to getting it annulled.

The incumbent president, who is now 80, has already been president for three non-consecutive terms, serving two terms between January 2003 to December 2010, and again from January 2023.

His win makes him the first in Brazilian history to secure a fourth term, which will last until 2030.

But this has been a bitterly fought campaign.

The new term - set to start on 5 January - comes amid significant constraints at home and abroad, including animosity from US President Donald Trump.

Referring to Trump's ideal - coined the "Donroe Doctrine" - which seeks to establish dominance of the US in the Western Hemisphere, Lula also used his victory speech to stress that Brazil "will not accept being anyone's backyard".

Bolsonaro - much like his father - had US backing, and met Trump at the White House earlier this year to gain support.

The 45-year-old's loss keeps Latin America's biggest economy at odds with Washington.

Lula has also bucked a wider trend in Latin America, where voters have punished incumbents and welcomed the right, as countries such as Argentina, Chile and Colombia have.

While Trump has yet to react, leaders across the world have commented on Lula's win.

"Democracy and multilateralism have won in Brazil", European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, as French President Emmanuel Macron said their two nations should work "in service of a more just world".

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez - also a left-wing leader - called it a "great victory," saying "the comeback of global progressivism has just begun".

Further afield, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called Lula's victory one for the "global south and progressive forces throughout the world", while Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari said he was confident their "longstanding friendly relations" would grow.

A little closer to home, Ecuador President Daniel Noboa Azin said the region has "common enemies, shared challenges, and much to gain when we work together."

Additional reporting by Vinícius de S. Mendes, BBC Brasil

Who is Lula? From ex-worker and prisoner to Brazil's president again

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c35yn2ye1x85o, today

On the face of it, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has done the impossible one more time - within three weeks he overturned defeat in first-round voting to gain re-election as Brazil's president.

It was no mean achievement for a man who before his first successful run at the post in 2002 had tried three times unsuccessfully.

When he became president in 2003, he came to office as the first leftist leader of Brazil in nearly half a century.

Now aged 80 and with plenty of experience at governing as large a democracy as Brazil, he has bucked the trend of electoral victory for right-wing leaders in Latin America whose policies mirror that of US President Donald Trump.

Who is Lula and what are his policies?

Lula's first presidential victory in 2002 marked the end of an unprecedented journey from poverty.

The son of a poor, illiterate peasant family, Lula worked as a peanut seller and shoe-shine boy as a child, only learning to read when he was 10 years old.

He went on to train as a metalworker and found work in an industrial city near São Paulo, where he lost the little finger of his left hand in an accident in the 1960s.

Lula was not initially interested in politics, but threw himself into trade union activism.

Elected leader of the 100,000-strong Metalworkers' Union in 1975, he transformed trade union activism in Brazil by turning what had mostly been government-friendly organisations into a powerful independent movement.

In 1980, Lula brought together a combination of trade unionists, intellectuals, Trotskyites and Church activists to found the Workers' Party (PT), the first major socialist party in the country's history.

The PT went on to gradually replace its revolutionary commitment to changing the power structure in Brazil with a more pragmatic, social democratic platform.

Lula came to power promising major reforms to the country's political and economic system.

He vowed to eradicate hunger and create a self-confident, caring, outward-looking nation.

In his time in office, Lula pumped billions of dollars into social programmes and can reasonably claim to have helped reverse Brazil's historic inequalities.

By increasing the minimum wage well above the rate of inflation and broadening state help to the most impoverished with a family grant programme, the Bolsa Familia, he helped some 44 million people and cemented his support among the poor.

However, many commentators argue that the programme failed to address the structural problems that underpin poverty, such as a lack of education.

He left office eight years later, after serving two terms as president, enjoying exceptionally high popularity ratings for a retiring Latin American leader - 83% - having raised Brazil's profile on the international scene and presided over the longest period of economic growth in three decades.

Unable to run for a third term, Lula left the presidency and, shortly afterwards, was diagnosed with throat cancer. He even shaved his trademark beard during treatment. Doctors declared him cured of the disease in 2012.

Why was Lula previously jailed?

Under his chosen successor, progress stalled. The economic boom also gave way to recession, and the country's political scene was rocked by a huge investigation into top-level corruption, known as Operation Car Wash.

Lula was among those to get caught up in the scandal. In July 2017, he was convicted of corruption and sentenced to more than nine years in prison for accepting a beachside flat as a bribe from engineering firm OAS - a sentence increased on appeal to 12 years.

Lula was also jailed for 12 years and 11 months for corruption and money laundering for receiving bribes from two construction and engineering firms by way of funding improvements in a country house he and his family used.

He has always maintained his innocence, insisting accusations against him were politically motivated.

In 2019, he was released after having served just over 18 months, after a Supreme Court ruling that the incarceration had been illegal, having come before all appeals had been exhausted.

Those convictions were annulled in 2021, leaving Lula free to run for a third term in 2022, beating right-winger Jair Bolsonaro.

When he re-entered office in 2023, he vowed it would be his last term, and yet his party endorsed him as their candidate again this year, even though he will turn 81 on Tuesday.

Even backers of the PT will acknowledge that he achieved more in his first two terms - from January 2003 to December 2010 - than in his most recent four years in office.

And while his supporters described him ahead of the 2022 election as the "saviour of the Amazon", praising his commitment to protecting the rainforest, some environmentalists have been critical of some of his recent actions.

His support for exploratory oil drilling in offshore waters near the mouth of the Amazon in particular has drawn criticism.

Lula insists that he remains committed to eventually phasing out fossil fuels and argues that oil revenues are key to financing Brazil's transition to clean energy.

What is Lula's relationship with Trump?

Lula's third term coincided with the return to office of Trump.

The two men represent different ends of the political spectrum and have found it impossible not to voice their differences in public.

The Brazilian leader told the BBC in September 2025 that he had no relationship with Trump.

Even though the US has a trade surplus with Brazil, Donald Trump imposed 50% tariffs on Brazilian goods in July that year, citing the trial on coup charges of Brazil's right-wing former president Jair Bolsonaro as a trigger. Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year jail sentence and it was his son, Flávio, who Lula beat in Sunday's election run-off.

Lula accused Trump of foreign interference and said "he's not emperor of the world". But their relationship improved after a White House in May this year, after which the two leaders exchanged public compliments - Trump called Lula "dynamic", while the Brazilian president said he left the meeting "very satisfied".

In July of this year, the US imposed 25% tariffs on most goods from Brazil.

The two governments still disagree on key issues such as crime, and Lula acknowledged they are especially far apart on trade.

Is Lula close to China and Russia?

Lula has criticised the fact that five countries - the permanent members of the UN Security Council - have the power to veto decisions and argued that this tilted the balance in favour of those who won World War Two, excluding nations representing billions of people like Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan, as well as African countries.

Brazil is an active member of the Brics - a grouping that unites Brazil with Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Lula defends his continued alliances with Russia and China and sees the Brics as an emerging counterweight to the West.

He has defended his choice to continue to purchase Russian oil while Russia wages war in Ukraine.

Voters in Brazil head to polls as Lula goes up against Bolsonaro's son

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cxp8g21j4648o, yesterday

Polls have opened in Brazil as people choose their new president in a closely fought run-off election.

The choice is between the 80-year-old incumbent, left-winger Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term in office, and right-wing senator Flávio Bolsonaro, 45.

Bolsonaro is the son of former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro, who was sentenced to more than 20 years in jail for plotting a coup after losing the last election in 2022.

This is Bolsonaro's election to lose after he came top in the first round of voting on 4 October, which US President Donald Trump called a "very big" victory.

Never before has a candidate who trailed after the first round managed to overturn the deficit and win in the second round.

The younger Bolsonaro appeared at a polling station in Rio de Janeiro early on Sunday morning, telling reporters outside that "time has come for real change".

His supporters were jubilant at his final campaign rallies, confident that he would bring change to Brazil through his promised tough crackdown on organised crime, as well as tax and public spending cuts.

Bolsonaro campaigned on the eve of polls opening in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, which has been a must-win state for any presidential hopeful since the 1980s.

"The time is almost here," Bolsonaro told supporters in a social media video. "There are only a few hours left before we shape the future of our nation for the next 30 or 40 years."

He has also pledged to release his father, who is currently serving his sentence under house arrest due to ill health.

In Barra de Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, where Jair Bolsonaro has a home, Bolsonaro supporters rallied in support of him dressed in the national colours.

"Brazil needs change, and Flávio is the person that represents that today, after so many years of the Left destroying the economy and the country," one told BBC News.

Another said that what she most liked about Flávio Bolsonaro was his promise to "end violence in Brazil, end terrorism, narco-trafficking, and to reduce interest rates".

Since Bolsonaro's first-round victory, supporters of Lula have arranged huge rallies in support of him to try to boost turnout after 33 million people did not cast a vote earlier this month.

On Saturday, Lula told a huge crowd on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach that this election was a matter of "sovereignty" and people would choose between the one who kissed the Brazilian flag and the one who kissed the American flag.

Lula's administration has accused the US of interfering in Brazil's election, an allegation Washington has called "baseless".

"We're going to win the election for one simple reason: it's true that the people want change [but] they want to move forward," he said. "They don't want to go backward."

A supporter called Roberta told BBC News: "This movement is to show we have strength. We've woken up, we're coming to the street to make a difference and turn the vote around."

A man wearing Brazil's national yellow and green football shirt said Bolsonaro supporters had "appropriated" the jersey but Lula supporters were taking it back.

Lula and his Workers' Party have cast this election as a "battle for democracy", arguing that Jair Bolsonaro's conviction for coup-plotting was evidence that "Bolsonarismo" constituted a threat to Brazil's democratic institutions.

During Lula's latest term in office, relations with Trump have been rocky.

Lula has insisted that Brazil "does not fit into anyone's backyard", an apparent reference to what Trump has dubbed the "Donroe Doctrine" - his administration's national security strategy which asserts that US dominance in the Western hemisphere should not be interfered with.

Bolsonaro, on the other hand, argues that working with Washington to combat powerful criminal gangs - which wield immense power in parts of Brazil - will restore the state's sovereignty to gang-controlled areas.

He has also been labelling the Workers' Party as corrupt, reminding voters of the massive financial scandals which plagued the party for years and which have turned many voters against it.

Lula plans to be in São Paulo to watch the results on Sunday evening, while Bolsonaro is set to be in the capital, Brasília - which is also where his father is under house arrest.

Palestinian families displaced as Israeli forces demolish Hebron homes

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqd09k1k7532o, yesterday

The Israeli military has launched a sweeping crackdown in the occupied West Bank, demolishing homes and businesses in the city of Hebron and displacing hundreds of families, according to local officials.

Footage shared online showed destruction caused by Israeli bulldozers, with at least one whole street appearing to have been flattened. The military has also cordoned off the city, heavily restricting the movement of its 200,000 residents.

The operation was announced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, in response to the killing of two Israeli soldiers by two Palestinian gunmen in an attack on a checkpoint. Three other Israeli soldiers were injured, and the gunmen were also killed.

Netanyahu said on Friday that buildings around the site of the attack and the neighbourhoods that the two gunmen were from would be "destroyed".

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said about 2,000 residents had been displaced by the operation, which centred on the Ein Deir Baha and Farsh al-Hawa neighbourhoods, and targeted homes, businesses, industrial sites and infrastructure.

Hebron Mayor Youssef al-Jaabari said dozens of families had been forced to spend the night outside, with some told to leave without taking their vehicles, while homes were marked for demolition with spray paint.

He added that he believed the military planned to displace a total of 2,500 people from about 0.35 sq km of urban land. The city's governor and deputy mayor meanwhile said at least 200 families had been displaced.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not respond immediately to the BBC's request for comment. It said in a statement on social media that it had dozens of targets across the West Bank and that its operations would last for several days.

It is common practice for Israeli forces to demolish the homes of Palestinians who are suspected of carrying out attacks on Israelis in the West Bank - a practice Israeli rights groups have criticised as collective punishment.

Netanyahu likened the operation to previous operations in Palestinian refugee camps in the north of the territory, when the Israeli military demolished hundreds of homes and displaced tens of thousands in 2025.

Friday's shooting came during a tense time for the region, with Israel's general election taking place in four days' time.

Netanyahu - who has built his campaign on the promise of security - cancelled his party's campaign events for Friday morning and headed to Hebron, wearing protective armour and posting a video on social media from the scene.

"We will evacuate the residents, go house to house, remove the weapons we find there, and deal with and destroy all terrorist infrastructure," he said.

He also announced he had reviewed plans for the largest military operation in the West Bank since 1967 - though did not say when it could be carried out. It is not clear whether the ongoing Hebron operation forms part of that.

In an interview with Israel's i24 television channel released on Saturday, he threatened "a very big surprise" for the Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs parts of the territory.

In a statement, the PA called for "urgent international action that went beyond condemnation" to prevent further forced displacement.

Meanwhile, his far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for Israel to launch a campaign in the West Bank "exactly like in Gaza or Lebanon," while far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called for Israel to dismantle the PA.

Speaking to journalists, Hebron Mayor Youssef al-Jaabari said the operation was "driven by the elections," and that Netanyahu and his ministers were attempting to secure the votes of the far-right and the settlers.

Israel to close West Bank crossings on election day as crackdown escalates

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6y93ylpl5p2o, yesterday

All West Bank land crossings will be closed during Tuesday's election in Israel, the country's military says, and Palestinian workers will be barred from entering all settlements.

The restrictions come amid a crackdown in the occupied West Bank after Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers in the territory.

The Israel Defense Forces announced a "ban on the entry and exit of Palestinian workers throughout Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley, including industrial zones, as well as the closure of all land crossings" on Tuesday.

It said most workers would also be barred from settlements from Sunday, with the exception of industrial zones and a limited number of other areas.

Before the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, more than 100,000 Palestinian workers were permitted to enter Israel. Since then only a small fraction have had their permits restored.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a major operation on Friday in response to the killing of two Israeli soldiers by two Palestinian gunmen in an attack on a checkpoint. Three other Israeli soldiers were injured, and the gunmen were also killed.

The Israeli military have been demolishing homes and businesses in the city of Hebron, with hundreds of families having been displaced.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said about 2,000 residents had been displaced by the operation, which has led to at least one whole street appearing to have been flattened, according to footage shared online.

Even before the entry and exit bans on workers were announced by the IDF on Sunday, the military had cordoned off the city, heavily restricting the movement of its 200,000 residents.

It is common for Israeli forces to demolish the homes of Palestinians who are suspected of carrying out attacks on Israelis in the West Bank - a practice Israeli rights groups have criticised as collective punishment.

Friday's shooting came during a tense time for the region, just days ahead of Israel's election taking place on Tuesday.

In an interview with Israel's i24 television channel released on Saturday, Netanyahu threatened a "very big surprise" for the Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs parts of the territory.

Hebron Mayor Youssef al-Jaabari said the operation was being "driven by the elections" and that Netanyahu and his ministers were attempting to secure the votes of the far right and the settlers.

On Saturday, thousands gathered in Tel Aviv for a large anti-government demonstration.

The protest was organised by the October Council, a group founded by the families of victims and hostages taken by militants on 7 October 2023, to demand accountability for the failure to prevent the Hamas-led attack.

"Three days before the election, we will hold the culminating event marking three years of struggle to uncover the truth, demand accountability, and establish a state commission of inquiry," the October Council wrote on X ahead of the rally.

The gathering saw the participation of the leaders of the four main opposition parties, including Gadi Eisenkot, the former military chief of staff who is neck and neck with Netanyahu.

The bitter row over military service that could shape Israel's future

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmvg7w0x742do, yesterday

Furious protesters are denouncing Israeli security forces as "Nazis" - but this is not a scene from a pro-Palestinian rally on the streets of London or Paris. This clash is in the heart of Israel, in which hundreds of ultra-Orthodox men in white shirts, black fedoras and long black frock coats face off against the military police.

The flashpoint is a building in the city of Modi'in, midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, where a young ultra-Orthodox Jewish (or Haredi) man lives. The police have come to arrest him after he failed to report for military service.

The clash in early October, seen by the BBC in a video, is one of many in recent months in which one of the deepest schisms in Israeli society has become ever more exposed.

This widening fault line is playing out against the backdrop of the wars Israel is currently fighting, including the unresolved conflict against Hamas in Gaza - as well as increasing violence by extremist settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Once a tiny minority, the ultra-Orthodox remain a group apart even as their numbers expand year by year. Currently, they are estimated to make up about 14% of the population, and the birth rate within the community remains far higher than among other Israelis. If their numbers continue to grow at a similar rate, they could make up one-third of the Jewish Israeli population by 2050.

As the ultra-Orthodox community becomes bigger, so has the debate around the expense of supporting them with stipends so they can devote themselves to full-time religious study. Subsidies to the group are estimated to cost the government 35bn shekels (£8.4bn) per year and, until recently, they were exempted from military service.

Now they're no longer an insignificant minority, they're facing pressure to engage more with wider Israeli society.

National security and the economy are two of the key issues this election. That means the division between the ultra-Orthodox and the majority of Israelis who believe they are not contributing their fair share to either is starker than ever.

With no outright majority likely for any current political alliance, and the future of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in doubt, the role of smaller parties - including Haredi parties - will once again be crucial in deciding who will govern Israel.

To have any chance of staying in power, Netanyahu needs to keep the ultra-Orthodox parties on side, however much pressure there is within Israel for their special status to be diminished.

A group apart

From the ultra-Orthodox perspective, their social contract with the Israeli state is increasingly coming under pressure. Their all but exclusive focus on the study of Judaism's religious texts - such as the Torah, the Jewish Bible - means their education system is separate and many Haredim are not part of Israel's workforce.

For the ultra-Orthodox, the biggest issue of all is holding on to the exemption from serving in the IDF for students at traditional religious - or yeshiva - institutions. This dates back to the earliest days of the Israeli state when the Haredim were a miniscule community of survivors struggling to rebuild from the near extinction of the Holocaust.

But as Israel has become more embattled after the attacks of October 7, fighting wars on several fronts, their near complete absence from the country's conscription army has become more controversial.

Religious students and their rabbis believe that if young ultra-Orthodox men enter the military, they will be exposed to influences and behaviours that may decisively turn them away from their community. Beyond that, they believe that their staying true to the traditions of their community is vital for the very survival not only of Israel but the Jewish people.

When asked not long after October 7 why the ultra-Orthodox didn't contribute more to the military in such an emergency, one of the community's most senior leaders, Rabbi Dov Landau, said that not only should religious students not serve in the army, but they shouldn't even visit the wounded or attend the funerals of soldiers.

The rabbi said that in a time of such danger, only Torah students could protect Israel spiritually. "Salvation only comes through Torah learning, orderly Torah learning. And any neglect of or disruption to Torah learning, woe and alas for what will happen… The more Torah learners multiply, the more Torah learners increase their learning, the better. They protect us."

It would be a considerable understatement to say that this view is not shared by wider Israeli society. Polls have shown public support for conscripting the ultra-Orthodox surge throughout the war in Gaza. Many see it as a dereliction of responsibility by the Haredi community, made all the more galling by the fact that such a stance comes at the expense of taxpayers. The IDF has bemoaned a deficit in manpower, while many Israelis have had to serve hundreds of days in the past three years.

Dahlia Scheindlin is a leading political consultant and pollster in Israel. She says this issue is critical for Netanyahu and is key to understanding this moment in Israeli society against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, particularly among the political right. "Really the most burning, more immediate issue is the right-wing communities who are furious at the government for protecting the blanket exemption from the IDF at a time when, especially among the right, but really everybody in the Jewish community in Israel, is serving and many dying in these wars."

Two years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that the exemption for ultra-Orthodox men from serving in the military was effectively null and void. That could have meant that those dedicated to full-time religious study would now be drafted.

The reaction from the Haredi community was one of fury. Hundreds of thousands of Haredim held protests, blocking the main highways. And as with the incident in Modi'in, they tried to prevent the arrest of religious students for evading conscription. Protests have continued off and on, and densely-populated Haredi areas are often the backdrops for confrontation with the security forces.

Consequences at the polls

This is a row that is playing out in the election.

There are two parties that have traditionally represented the Haredi community. One is United Torah Judaism – or UTJ – and represents Ashkenazi Jews, or Jews of European origin. The other is Shas, which was formed later and represents the Sephardi and Mizrahi – Jews from North Africa and the Middle East. They share a core agenda, which puts religious study above all else, including any questions around relations with the Palestinians.

Both UTJ and Shas have been part of Netanyahu's coalition - and they used their political clout to find ways to try to block enforcement of the Supreme Court ruling. On several occasions, they threatened to pull out of the alliance and bring the government down. UTJ acted on this but continued to support the government from outside, while Shas remained within the coalition.

Centre-right politician Gadi Eisenkot, who's shaped up as Netanyahu's main rival in this month's election, does not support their stance. He has made clear his belief that the idea of the ultra-Orthodox constituting a separate state within Israel with its own rules has become increasingly toxic. "A country that sends its best sons and daughters to fight and sacrifice their lives cannot tolerate a reality in which a state within a state exists," he said.

All this has meant that the issue of conscription exemption for ultra-Orthodox men is the number one priority on the electoral agenda of both Shas and UTJ.

A recent remark by a UTJ parliamentary candidate, Eliakim Stark, has raised the temperature further. He compared the plight of ultra-Orthodox men evading the military draft to the persecution of Jews during the Holocaust. It triggered furious rebukes from opposition leaders from across the political spectrum.

Daniel Goldman, an activist who specialises in Haredi issues, says that the two main Haredi parties feel increasingly embattled and less open to compromise.

He says the ultra-Orthodox don't believe that the state really needs their boys to bolster numbers. "It's at least partly down to the fact that the Haredi parties see the state as wanting to take their boys out of the community and change them from ultra-Orthodox to either regular religious or secular, God forbid, as they perceive it," he says. "And so in that environment of tension, they've actually hardened their positions."

Yitzhak Goldknopf from the UTJ, a former minister, has gone so far as to issue an ultimatum: "The Haredim will not change their way of life because there is an army and a war... If there is no choice and they must leave the country, they will leave."

But this is having a clear impact on the electoral fortunes of the Netanyahu coalition - of which Shas in particular has long been a key part. Without them, Netanyahu's alliance would fall short of the more than 60 seats needed for a majority in the Knesset.

Dahlia Scheindlin, the Israeli pollster, says that the refusal to give up the draft exemption by Shas and UTJ is damaging Netanyahu's coalition. "It is one of the main reasons why the coalition is unable to win back the kind of support that they had in 2022 when they won 64 seats," she says. "They're currently polling at about 50 to 52 seats."

All Netanyahu's challengers advocate for ending the ultra-Orthodox exemption and cutting funds to institutions or individuals who refuse the draft. On the left, Yair Golan has called for an immediate mobilisation of those who are eligible.

So, despite statements from Shas and UTJ that they would switch allegiance from Netanyahu if he were to dilute his support, there seems for now nowhere else for them to go.

Anshel Pfeffer has been a leading commentator on the Israeli political scene for years - now mainly as the Economist's correspondent in Israel. He says Netanyahu's position looks shaky. "There are two things that are bringing together the current opposition bloc," he says. "One is obviously they want to replace Netanyahu and the other is they are capitalising on this really hostile environment nowadays towards the ultra-Orthodox, mainly over the issue of the draft to the army.

"Netanyahu has been willing for many years, to basically give the ultra-Orthodox whatever they want. They're not going to get that from the opposition."

A potential compromise?

Into this arena of resentment and intransigence, a new Haredi party has emerged this year, presenting itself as a break with the traditional mindset of Shas and UTJ.

Essentially, the Haredi Public Party is offering a compromise in which the ultra-Orthodox would contribute more to Israel as a whole while maintaining the core of their identity.

For the first time in the ultra-Orthodox community, it is also fielding two female candidates.

One of them, Ziva Ginz, explained to the BBC her party's position on the military draft. Key to it is men serving being allowed to remain culturally Haredi. "Anyone whose life is genuinely devoted to full-time Torah study should be able to continue learning. Everyone who isn't sitting and studying for a full day should serve alongside the rest of Israeli youth, in frameworks where a young man can enter as a Haredi and finish as a Haredi," she says.

But it may be too soon for such efforts at compromise to make an impact this election.

Anshel Pfeffer says that it's difficult to sway the base vote in the ultra-Orthodox community, where most still essentially follow what their rabbi says they should do.

"And once people are voting for other parties, they won't necessarily do so for another Haredi party," Pfeffer explains. "That's why we're seeing people like [far-right leader and National Security Minister Itamar] Ben-Gvir making inroads in the Haredi community, because he's the only non-Haredi party leader who actually talks to young Haredi. Basically, every other party in Israel doesn't even try."

This is reflected in the polls, which show his Jewish Power party is making gains.

If Ben Gvir's actions are increasingly seen as tainting Israel's international image with his support for policies such as annexing the occupied West Bank, his hard-right message is attracting a bigger core of support within the country. His ultra-nationalist ethos is not one that traditionally overlaps with policies of the Haredi parties, but they share a position on the right of Israeli politics.

So for some ultra-Orthodox voters looking for a new political home, Ben Gvir represents the nearest alternative. His self-portrayal as a strong man unafraid to take an extreme position against those he perceives as Israel's enemies in the face of international condemnation may attract some already leaning to the far right in the Haredi community.

No alliance appears close to achieving a majority, however, so there is bound to be a lot of horse trading to secure a workable coalition after the vote.

Netanyahu will naturally apply his exceptional political skills to trying to find one way or another to stay in power.

As ever, that leaves the smaller parties with the ability to play the role of kingmaker. That's a role that the ultra-Orthodox parties have been known for in the past. But this time they may not be the decisive factor.

"The truth is, any small party can become a kingmaker," Dahlia Scheindlin says. "I don't think it would take too much to lure the Haredi parties away from Netanyahu... The thing is, though, I don't think the opposition parties will want to lure them in unless they have some promise that they're really prepared to make serious concessions on the draft. The opposition parties are absolutely staking their platforms and their promise to the voters on that issue."

This time, rather than being the kingmakers, it may turn out that the ultra-Orthodox parties help bring down the king.

Lead image: AFP via Getty

Seven shot dead by gunmen at church funeral in Jordan, officials say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ck87zlpzny15o, 3 days ago

Seven people have been killed in an attack on a funeral in central Jordan, officials have said.

At least 34 others were injured as gunmen opened fire on a church in Hmoud, in the Karak governorate on Friday.

The unidentified gunmen are reported to have arrived in a car, entered the church and opened fire before fleeing. No-one has admitted carrying out the attack.

In a news conference, Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya said authorities were working to apprehend the perpetrators which he described as a "group of extremists".

Jordan's King Abdullah II said authorities would "confront the terrorist act that targeted Karak with the harshest penalties".

Initial reports indicated seven people had been killed in the attack. A government spokesperson later said six people had died, before officials again revised the death toll to seven.

CCTV footage, verified by the BBC, appears to show three gunmen making their way from a road toward the church.

Two of the attackers are seen making their way on to what appears to be a vehicle entrance to the church grounds, before retreating briefly and returning with a third man. All three appear to be armed with handguns.

Separate footage believed to be from the aftermath of the attack appears to show several dead and wounded bodies on the ground amid chaotic scenes.

Witnesses have described scenes of panic inside the church as people threw themselves under pews searching for cover, moving away from the windows.

Prayers and screams could be heard throughout the building as some tried to flee.

Khalid al-Mdanat was at the church and told BBC Arabic the attack lasted around 15 minutes with "people trying to flee while the shooting was still active".

"People began pushing and throwing themselves to the ground," he said.

"Some were taking cover, some were cradling the dead, others were holding their sons close, some were grabbing their children and fleeing, while others were holding onto their friends who were with them at the church."

He said the gunmen left through the church doors and fled in a pickup truck "firing as they went".

Another witness said: "I heard something as if a war had just started.

"I thought it was an electrical short circuit. I looked, people lying on the ground, wounded. The scene was catastrophic."

A woman in the church said explosions rang out seconds after a prayer.

"The sound of machine guns started, and the sound of glass. We began to realise that something was happening.

"People started screaming.

The witness described how the situation "continued to escalate for 10 continuous minutes". Once she ran out the church she said "bodies were all in the courtyards".

Al-Faraya has described the incident as "painful and horrific" and "unparalleled in the history of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan".

There was a heavy security presence at the entrance to a hospital treating people injured in the incident in Karak, amid an atmosphere charged with anger among residents of the governorate, particularly the families of those injured and killed.

Many looked distressed as roads were closed around the facility and people were forced to park their cars and continue on foot.

Security measures were also tightened ahead of the visit by King Abdullah II to check on the injured.

The atmosphere around the hospital remained tense as the sound of crying and shouting was heard as families mourned their loved ones.

Many people appear shocked, frightened and angry. Some expressed frustration at what they described as "a failure to take a tougher approach towards terrorists".

Karak has a sizeable Christian community in the majority-Muslim Jordan.

Such violence is rare in the country, but deadly attacks have been carried out in the past.

Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun, a Christian head of state, said the "heinous terrorist attack" on the church "violated the sanctity of death and funeral mourners, contradicts all religious and humanitarian values," according to Lebanese media.

Additional reporting by Majdi Gousous, BBC Arabic.

Oil spill washes up on UAE beaches after tanker strike

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6rey3n974g5o, 3 days ago

An oil spill from a tanker attacked near the Strait of Hormuz is spreading along the United Arab Emirates (UAE) coastline, forcing the closure of some beaches and coastal areas.

Satellite images from Monday show the beginnings of the oil spill from a ship matching the location and dimensions of Gem No.2, which was damaged between 9 and 10 October during a record surge of vessel strikes by Iran.

The slick of oil had spread more than 35km (22 miles) from the tanker by Wednesday, the satellite imagery showed.

UAE authorities said on Thursday that the incident is affecting beaches near the northern city of Umm Al Quwain and verified video from Friday shows the oil washing ashore, colouring the water black.

The UAE's Ministry of Climate Change and Environment said on Thursday that it "immediately began containment" in order to "limit environmental impacts".

Prof Steve Widdicombe, director of Sharjah Marine Science Research Centre in the UAE, told BBC Verify it was "inevitable that there will be an impact", but researchers caution it is too soon to assess extent of the damage.

Initially a much smaller oil leak could be seen emerging from the ship on 19 October.

But the slick appears to have rapidly spread over two days, according to radar satellite imagery reviewed by BBC Verify and intelligence firm MAIAR.

Oil spills can cause immediate deaths of marine animals and other organisms, for example by physically trapping turtles, smothering the feathers of seabirds or damaging the gills of fish.

They can also cause longer-lasting damage, Prof Widdicombe said, if species remain exposed to toxic compounds from the oil which could impact their ability to reproduce.

Researchers have cautioned the environmental impact at this stage is very uncertain, as it depends on factors including the volume and type of oil spilled, how quickly it evaporates or breaks down and the effectiveness of the clean-up operation.

But the spill does extend towards Siniyah and Khor Al Beidah islands, a globally recognised Key Biodiversity Area containing habitats like corals, seagrasses and saltmarshes, as well as species including green turtles and the critically endangered Halavi guitarfish.

The proximity of the spill to this area is the "most concerning environmental angle", according to Eoghan Darbyshire, a scientist at the Conflict and Environment Observatory.

Tanker hit 14 days ago

BBC Verify analysis of the dimensions and location of the ship indicate they match a crude oil tanker called Gem No.2.

Maritime intelligence firm Vanguard reported the Panama-flagged tanker was "struck by an unknown projectile" on 9 October, just north of the town of Al Jazeera Al Hamra, causing a fire on board that was later extinguished.

Verified footage first posted on social media on 10 October showed the crew running across the deck and putting on lifejackets as a large cloud of black smoke rose over the ship.

Iranian state media shared footage of a ship matching Gem No.2 which appeared to show the vessel on fire with burning oil spilling into the sea.

The ship had been attempting to exit the Strait of Hormuz via an "unauthorized and dangerous route", according to state media.

All 22 Indian crew members were rescued, the Indian consulate in Dubai said on 11 October.

Gem No.2 is one of a record number of ships that reported being attacked in and around the Strait of Hormuz at the start of October.

Security experts told BBC Verify this was part of an Iranian effort to assert greater control over the strait, in response to the US military successfully escorting more vessels through the vital shipping lane.

Tankers and other commercial vessels have come under attack from both Iranian and US forces in and around the Strait of Hormuz amid the conflict between the two countries.

Another major oil slick washed up on the shores of Iran's Qeshm Island in August, which experts said threatened wildlife, protected ecosystems and fishing communities.

Additional reporting by Charlotte Green

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

Newborn twins fight for survival as conflict fuels Yemen's hunger crisis

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr5ynl63v0pyo, 4 days ago

From the day they were born, just seven weeks ago, twins Raghad Hassan and her brother Raad have been battling for survival.

They came into the world prematurely, as fighting surged in Yemen's long-running civil war between Houthi rebel fighters and government forces.

When the Houthis reached their village in the Kahboub mountains in south-west Yemen, their family of seven was forced to flee amid bombs, missiles, and drone attacks – the twins protected only by blankets.

What followed was three days on foot heading for the port city of Aden.

"It was very difficult," says their father, Bajash Ali Sagir Hassan, a softly spoken shepherd. "We didn't find cars or transportation. One kind person brought us here [on the fourth day] while others refused."

As the family walked, the twins got weaker, according to their mother Lina. "They were exhausted… there was cold and dust. Their vomiting and diarrhoea got worse."

By the time the newly homeless family arrived at al-Sadaqah hospital in Aden, the twins were barely clinging to life. "Just skin and bone," said a doctor, shaking his head, as he looked at their wasted limbs.

Raad was the sicker of the two - his ribs visible and his chest heaving as he took rapid, shallow breaths. He was barely bigger than the hands of the nurse who carried him gently to be weighed and measured.

Bajash looked on, worry etched on his face. He told us the twins were fed twice a day, but sometimes he could only give them water - after the war drove up the price of baby milk.

The diagnosis came quickly - severe acute malnutrition. That can be as deadly as a bullet.

Malnutrition in Yemen is a crisis within a crisis - another frontline in a devastating civil war. Hunger did not arrive with conflict, but it's spreading with the latest bloodshed.

The United Nations says around 800,000 people can no longer receive lifesaving aid and more than 250,000 have been displaced, after an informal ceasefire collapsed in the summer.

Since then the Houthis have made a lighting advance along the Red Sea coast, and they have now completely cut off Yemen's third largest city, Taiz.

The UN says civilians there are "at grave risk" and lacking food due to soaring prices.

The internationally-recognised government is fighting back against the Houthis - or trying to - with the help of Saudi air strikes.

Caught in the middle of all this are fathers like Bajash, fighting to get help for their children. We saw another mother with a malnourished baby being turned away.

We followed Bajash as he rushed through the corridors, trying to get the all-important admissions slip. He found an ally, a forceful supervising nurse, Aisha Ragab, who had run from the war herself, back in 2018.

"I feel for them," she said, "because I have already lived through the situation myself."

Two beds could not be found, but Aisha was undeterred.

"I will settle this by having the twins share a bed... so that we can save them. By God, I will convince them [the doctors]."

Within an hour the twins were lying on a single bed, their tiny bodies taking up little space.

Lina was feeding them sips of fortified milk from a tiny bottle, but Raad could not keep it down. He was cradled in her arms - his eyes wide and his cheeks sunken. Asked if she thought her twins would recover, Lina replied quietly, "God willing."

As we walked through the unit with its pink walls, some doors were padlocked shut.

There are 22 beds, but staff told us only 13 patients were admitted at a time - the most critical cases - due to the lack of international funding, staff, and equipment.

That's a bitter pill to swallow for Dr Noor Mohammed, a harried young doctor.

"It's sad to say, but we lose patients [because of the conditions]," she says.

"We don't have good equipment like ventilation machines, and oxygen bottles," she adds. "There are no good resources. A lot of laboratory investigations... it's very hard to do them."

A recent flare-up in fighting has left civilians in the firing line.

Even before the latest escalation, the UN calculated that half a million Yemeni children would suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year.

The malnutrition unit in al-Sadaqah hospital is a conveyor belt of suffering. As one severely ill baby leaves, another arrives. And some of those discharged are back all too soon.

"Sometimes a child comes back to us after a week, or two days," says Dr Mohammed. "Sometimes it is the same day. They come back and we admit them and the story begins again."

They return because parents cannot afford proper nutrition or vitamins or antibiotics.

"Every child here, his parents came because they don't have anything," she tells me. "They don't have money or insurance. They are here because they can't afford a private hospital."

She does her best for them, she says, and she cries for them.

Many parents - like Bajash - are trying to outrun both war, and poverty. He is now a shepherd without a flock. When he fled, he had to leave 10 sheep behind. They were his only livelihood.

As doctors monitored his twins, he cared for his three older children - all aged under five. They lingered on a bench in hospital reception without toys, bedding or baggage of any kind. But they could not sleep there.

So, they spent the night outside, on the street - one more family with war wounds that cannot be seen but will disfigure a generation.

Additional reporting by Wietske Burema, Lee Durant and Suaad Al Salahi

How Arab parties could hold critical balance of power in Israeli election

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx8dzrp768j8o, 4 days ago

At rush hour in Nazareth, the largest Arab-majority city in Israel, students are handing out leaflets by the roadside urging motorists to vote in next week's closely fought, general election. Polls indicate that Arab parties could be left holding a critical balance of power.

Disaffection has often driven down past turnout among Arab Israelis - who account for about a fifth of the population and often describe themselves as Palestinian citizens of Israel. But this election, there is a strong push to get rid of the most right-wing governing coalition in the country's history - an alliance between veteran Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties.

"I see it as our duty to bring down this extremist government. They treat us as second-class," says Arkan Badran, 23, who is with the students giving out flyers. "I call on all young men and women to vote for Arab lists, which represent us, because this is our future."

Most opinion polls indicate that neither Netanyahu and his partners nor the main "Change Bloc", led by centre-right former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, has a clear path to a parliamentary majority.

If they are right, after the election anti-Netanyahu parties wanting to form a governing coalition would either have to go back on pledges not to work with the prime minister or make a deal with Arab-majority lists.

A major sticking point is that Eisenkot has so far ruled out forming a government with Arab parties, citing a lack of shared values.

Israel's politics and society have been changed by the deadly, unprecedented Hamas-led assault on the country on 7 October 2023, and subsequent war in Gaza. There is increased mistrust of and hostility towards the country's Arab minority.

"After October 7, we were treated as enemies of this country," says Suha Salman Mousa of the Mossawa Centre in Nazareth, which advocates for equal rights for Arab citizens. "There was shrinking space for freedom of speech. There were major arrests, there was also firing of people from their workplaces because they put something on social media or they went out against the war on Gaza."

Salman Mousa accuses ministers of "systematic discrimination and incitement" against Arab Israelis. Civil society groups say they have disproportionately cut budgets for Arab communities. The government says reductions are needed to fund wartime defence and security spending.

There have also been politicised campaigns against Arab physicians working in Israeli hospitals and racially motivated attacks on Arab bus drivers by Jewish Israelis.

Some electioneering has sought to capitalise by deepening social divisions. The far-right Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has vowed to "Judaise" parts of the northern Galilee and southern Negev regions where most Arabs live, likening this to expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The majority of Arab Israelis are descendants of Palestinians who remained within what became Israel during the war that surrounded the creation of the state in 1948, when hundreds of thousands were forced from or fled their homes. Israel's current government often frames them as a threat to the state's Jewish identity. Recently, the prime minister has claimed that his rivals plan to team up with Arabs and form a "dangerous government".

To make this point, his campaign has put up billboards, including one at a road junction at the main entrance to Nazareth. They suggest a choice between: "Right or Palestine" - with pictures of main opposition figures, including right-wingers, depicted as representing the latter not the former. The Netanyahu campaign has also used AI-generated videos to present his opponents embracing Arab leaders.

At Radio Nas, a popular Arabic-language station in Nazareth, I meet news anchor Mohammed Magadli, who is also an analyst for Israel's Channel 12. His father, Raleb Magadli, served as Israel's first Muslim minister between 2007 and 2009, representing the Labour party.

I ask the younger Magadli what he makes of Change Bloc leaders refusing to join forces with Arab parties.

"In a word it's racism. But if we're trying to explain why, it's because of the political interests of Benjamin Netanyahu," he says. "He's trying all the time to pull the legitimacy of the Arab parties - because they're Arab, because they're Palestinian. This is affecting the majority of the Jewish parties in Israel."

Polls this week have suggested that both Eisenkot's bloc and Netanyahu's religious-nationalist bloc could each win around 50 seats of the 120 in Israel's parliament while 13 or 14 seats in total could go to Arab-majority groupings.

These are the Joint Arab List, a coalition of Hadash, Balad and Taal, and the smaller United Arab List, an Islamist party headed by politician Mansour Abbas.

While Abbas's party was originally created as part of the Islamic Movement in Israel - which has socially conservative values - he has become known for joining with Jewish partners. He prioritises solving the problems of Arab Israelis and speaks relatively little of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

Abbas has had a taste of power. In 2021, he became a minister in a previous, short-lived Israeli government led by Naftali Bennett - now a right-wing member of Eisenkot's bloc.

For this election, he has taken the surprise step of giving the number two position on his slate to a Jewish former police official and centrist member of parliament, Yoav Segalovitz. Abbas believes Eisenkot and others will be more open to an alliance with his party after the election and insists he wants to join the next government.

"We've reached the conclusion that parliamentary representation is not enough to serve Arab society. We decided to take responsibility, to become part of the solution to our problems and to offer hope to both Arabs and Jews," he tells me.

"That's why our approach has been driven by a desire to reach a position of influence, not merely representation."

Meanwhile, the Joint List - which is made up of secular parties and advocates for equal rights for Arab Israelis, an end to Israeli military occupation of Palestinian territories, and a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - aims to wield a position of influence within the opposition.

It talks of providing an electoral "safety net" to those who could replace the Netanyahu government, in return for support on important policies.

A main issue in this election for Arab Israelis is rampant gang crime.

In September, a poll by the Israel Democracy Institute think tank found that this was the most important factor for 53.5% of Arab citizens when deciding which party to vote for.

Murders within the community reached a record high of 252 last year – about five times higher than the number of Jewish Israelis who were killed, according to the Abraham Initiatives, a Jewish-Arab organisation that promotes coexistence.

In Jaffa, a mixed Arab-Jewish neighbourhood which is now joined to Tel Aviv, Ziad Samouni shows me where his son, Hussein, was shot dead by two gunmen on a motorcycle near his home last November.

No arrests have been made in his case. With a low percentage of cases solved, Arab-Israelis accuse the government of inaction.

"It seems they're interested in making sure we reach a situation where the killer is never caught, allowing Arabs in Arab society to keep killing one another," says Samouni, who is now part of a support group, Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families for Peace.

The Israeli police told the BBC its investigation into Hussein's murder remained active, adding that it took "every case of violence and crime with the utmost seriousness."

"As a father who's lost a son, of course, I want this bloodshed to end," Samouni tells me. "I wish every Arab citizen who believes there needs to be a change sees that this is a time to go to vote."

This month, Israel's Supreme Court overruled a decision by the Central Elections Committee to disqualify the United Arab List and the Joint List as well as two of their members.

The committee, which is dominated by the governing coalition, argued that they broke a law banning candidates who deny the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. The parties and their representatives strongly denied it.

With just days to go before voting, back in Nazareth, some motorists display flags for their preferred party on their cars.

The stakes are high in this election: Arab citizens could yet decide who wields power in Israel, and they also see this vote as key to their own future in the country.

Two killed in Houthi attack on airport in eastern Saudi Arabia, authorities say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqwy71ww156ro, 4 days ago

Yemen's Houthi movement has said it carried out an attack on an airport in eastern Saudi Arabia on Wednesday evening, which Saudi authorities said killed two people and injured eight others.

The Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation identified those killed at King Fahd International Airport in Dammam as a Saudi citizen and an Indian resident.

It did not say what type of attack occurred, but the Iran-backed Houthis said on Thursday that the airport was one of the sites they had targeted with drones and missiles over the previous 48 hours.

Two more people were killed on Wednesday morning by debris from a drone that was intercepted elsewhere in Eastern Province, the Saudi energy ministry said.

The drone was intercepted as it attempted to target a processing facility owned by Saudi Arabia's state oil company Aramco in the Shaybah oil field, where a contractor's vehicle was set ablaze, according to the ministry.

It identified the dead as residents from the Philippines and Nepal.

The Houthis' military spokesman, Yahya Sarea, did not claim the attack on the oil field.

In addition to Dammam's airport, he said they had targeted the Saudi defence ministry's headquarters building in the capital, Riyadh, an Aramco facility in the Red Sea city of Yanbu, and Abha International Airport in the south of the country.

The Saudi-led coalition supporting the Yemeni government in its war against the Houthis said four drones were intercepted over Eastern Province on Wednesday night, and that another four were intercepted over the provinces of Riyadh and Medina on Thursday.

At least 21 people have now been killed in Houthi attacks on Saudi airports since the start of October, according to Saudi authorities.

One missile strike on Riyadh's international airport on 10 October killed 13 people and injured 308 others – the deadliest attack in Saudi Arabia in more than a decade.

The Houthis also reiterated on Thursday that they had attacked Saudi Arabia in retaliation for deadly Saudi air strikes on the territory they control in western Yemen.

Houthi-run media reported on Wednesday night that at least six people had been killed and 11 injured in air and artillery strikes over the previous 24 hours.

According to the Houthi-run health ministry, 155 civilians have been killed since Yemen's devastating civil war flared up three months ago.

The government's health ministry has said at least 1,574 people have been killed in the conflict over the same period.

The fighting has also displaced more than 256,000 people.

The war began in 2014, when the Houthis ousted the internationally-recognised government from the capital, Sanaa. The conflict escalated the next year, after the Saudi-led coalition of Arab states intervened in an attempt to restore the government's rule.

A four-year-old informal ceasefire began to unravel in July, when the Houthis announced a "maritime embargo" against Saudi Arabia and began missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities, and tankers in the Red Sea.

The Houthis said they were retaliating for what they call a Saudi blockade of their territory, as well as an air strike on Sanaa airport that they blamed on the kingdom.

The conflict escalated in September after the Houthis seized part of Yemen's south-western Red Sea coast near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a chokepoint for global shipping. Their advance contributed to a rise in oil prices following six months of war between the US, Israel and Iran.

Earlier this month, pro-government forces said they had regained control of territory overlooking Bab al-Mandab after launching a counter-offensive with Saudi air support.

However, fierce fighting is continuing there, as well as around the besieged government-controlled city of Taiz, and to the north in Marib, al-Jawf, Dhale and Shabwa provinces.

How do Israel's elections work and who are the main contenders?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx8dz75633vjo, today

Israel heads to the polls on Tuesday for what many view as one of the most pivotal elections in the country's history.

It's the first election since the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on Israel and its subsequent wars and conflicts across the region - in Gaza, Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.

Who are the main contenders?

Polling published on Friday puts incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu in a tight race with Gadi Eisenkot, a former head of the Israel Defense Forces, to become prime minister.

Eisenkot's popularity stems partly from his military credentials and his status as a relative political newcomer, having formed his Yashar Party only last year.

He lost his son, a soldier, in the first months of the Gaza war, and served in Israel's war cabinet under Netanyahu until resigning in 2024 over his handling of the conflict. He has built his campaign on calls for accountability over the security failures that led to 7 October.

Other opposition leaders include former prime minister Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Lieberman - both right-wingers who take hardline positions on security - and Yair Golan, a left-leaning former general. Despite their differences, they could work with Eisenkot to oust Netanyahu.

Netanyahu's current government is the most right-wing in Israel's history. In order to remain in power, he will likely have to rely on the support of some of his existing far-right coalition partners. Some hold ultra-nationalist positions, such as calling for Israel to annex the West Bank and for the "migration" of Palestinians from Gaza, which could amount to the forced displacement of civilians. Some members of Netanyahu's own Likud party have also called for Palestinian "migration" from the territory.

There are two Arab party blocs in the running too, as about one-fifth of Israel's population is Arab - many of whom describe themselves as Palestinian citizens of Israel. In theory, they could prove kingmakers. But all but one of the leading Jewish parties have ruled out working with them.

How do the elections work?

Israel's parliament - known as the Knesset - has 120 seats, meaning a government must hold 61 seats to command a majority.

Israel uses a proportional representation voting system, so governments have always been coalitions of multiple parties.

Friday's polling suggests neither Eisenkot or Netanyahu's blocs will reach a majority, meaning there may be weeks or months of political wrangling to come.

If no bloc can form a majority, it is possible that a minority government could take power. And failing that, new elections could be called, with Netanyahu to remain as interim PM until then.

What are the main issues?

The dominating topic has been security, with the challengers to Netanyahu all heavily criticising the security failures that led to the 7 October attacks, in which nearly 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken back to Gaza as hostages. Nevertheless, Netanyahu has once again framed himself as "Mr Security", pointing to strategic victories in Israel's wars since 2023.

Conscription is also a major topic. Historically, ultra-Orthodox Jewish men in full-time religious study have been exempt from military service, but since war broke out this has become an increasingly divisive policy.

Judicial reform has also featured heavily during the campaign. Netanyahu's government is still pursuing contentious plans for reforms to the judicial system, which led to mass protests before 7 October. Critics say the plans would compromise the independence of the judiciary and threaten democracy.

As in many countries, cost of living is another key issue. Food and housing costs have grown steadily in recent years.

What does it mean for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank?

A year on from the ceasefire in Gaza, Israel continues to carry out near-daily strikes on the territory - saying it is targeting Hamas operatives - and maintains control of more than half of it.

More than 74,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.

In the occupied West Bank, attacks by Jewish settlers are at an all-time high, according to UN records, while Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law, are rapidly expanding.

So for Palestinians, the shape of Israel's government is a major factor in their lives.

On Gaza, Eisenkot does not differ hugely from Netanyahu. He recently pledged to end Hamas rule in the territory within 18 months, through a US-led peace plan or, if necessary, military means.

In the West Bank, Netanyahu's camp largely wants to continue with its policy of rapid settlement expansion.

Eisenkot supports Israeli settlements in general, but opposes proceeding with the controversial E1 settlement project which would, in effect, split the West Bank in two. He also wants to crack down on extremist Jewish settlers, and has spoken about creating the conditions for "autonomy or a state-minus" for Palestinians - under ultimate Israeli security control.

For decades, many mainstream Israeli politicians advocated for a two-state solution - the creation of an independent Palestinian state in peaceful coexistence alongside Israel. But support for the idea has been declining for years. In this election, none of the leading Jewish parties are campaigning on it, and many have outright rejected it. Netanyahu has long vowed to block the idea.

When will we know the results?

At 22:00 local time (20:00 GMT) on election day, Israeli broadcasters will publish exit polls. These will give some indication of the direction of voting, but can vary significantly and Friday's polling suggests a clear projected winner is unlikely.

Preliminary results are expected the next day, with official results scheduled to be published on 4 November.

After consulting with party leaders, President Isaac Herzog will then invite whichever leader he believes has the best chance of forming a government to do so.

This process can take more than a month, and if it fails the president may ask another leader to try. If that also fails, Knesset members can ask the president to allow a third leader to try. And if that fails, new elections will be called.

Between 2019 and 2022, Israel held five separate elections as parties struggled time and again to co-operate.

Israel's far right find fertile ground among first-time voters

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmvg632xgndeo, 6 days ago

When Israel's far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, reached voting age, he was rejected from Israel's army for being too politically extreme.

His views have not changed much in the 30 years since then - but Israel has. Once shunned by the political establishment, he is now part of the government's inner sanctum of ministers.

On the campaign trail ahead of Israel's general elections next week, Ben Gvir is often surrounded by a jubilant pack of fresh-faced young fans, waving huge party flags over the heads of his numerous security guards.

At the covered market in Ramle - a mixed city of Jewish and Arab Israelis - he told us his message to young voters was to get out and vote.

"We see the support, we see the love [and] we want to win!" he said.

More than half a million first-time voters will cast their ballots in this election, which many Israelis see as existential for Israel's future security and identity.

Polls suggest it will be a tight race, and the new young voters could help decide the result.

More than 16% are planning to support far-right parties - either Ben Gvir's Jewish Power or the Religious Zionism party of his far-right ally Bezalel Smotrich - according to a poll for one of Israel's most popular newspapers, Yedioth Ahronoth.

And almost three-quarters see themselves as "right or centre-right", according to another survey for Israel's leading Channel 12 television network.

"Itamar Ben Gvir gives me a sense of security," said 20-year-old Mordechai, one of the young fans accompanying the politician to Ramle.

"Like everyone in history, from Trump to Moses, there are slips of the tongue that are a bit less good. So what? 90% of the things by Itamar are amazing."

"Itamar will give us safety, and when we go to the army, someone will have our backs and be behind us," said 18-year-old Nadav.

"I think he's trying to show that we're a strong country. For many years, we couldn't show we're strong in our beliefs. We couldn't express our ideology."

Meir Schreiber, an ultra-Orthodox 23-year-old who grew up in London, said the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel, which triggered the Gaza war, also convinced him that Ben Gvir was the right choice.

"Young people understand that peace isn't something we can do," he told me, "because what happens to you when you're young shapes your personality - we saw October 7."

Ben Gvir is a divisive candidate in a divided nation: his political positions include annexation of the occupied West Bank, Jewish settlement of Gaza, and the "voluntary emigration" of Palestinians - positions and rhetoric that are widely condemned by liberal Israelis.

Several Western countries have imposed sanctions or travel bans on Ben Gvir and Smotrich for incitement against Palestinians. Both men are powerful ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition.

As he and his entourage pushed their way between the stalls, some shopkeepers threw sweets; others, dark looks.

"I don't like him, he sows discord," one stallholder said. "Ramle is a mixed city - Jews and Arabs. There's no problem here, even after 7 October, but his message preys on young uneducated people."

The fact that he appears more popular with 18 to 22-year-olds than with their parents' generation is often put down, at least partly, to the impact of the 7 October attacks.

But political analyst Dahlia Scheindlin, who previously ran many Israeli political campaigns, said it was more than that.

"For about the last 20 years, we've seen young Israeli Jews are more right wing than average, and significantly more right-wing on many measures than the 55+ group," she told me.

"They have grown up under a series of wars with no personal experience of efforts to achieve peace. But for the most part, they have been socialised into the most extreme terms of the debate [as] legitimate to discuss: annexation, settlement expansion and - after 7 October - annexation of Gaza. And now they're voting for the first time."

A series of classroom debates filmed by Israeli satirist Lior Schleien recently highlighted the extreme views of some young Israelis.

The debates, in which he challenges racist or extreme views, drew a lot of attention in Israel, and included one exchange in which a student advocates killing all Arab citizens of Israel. That particular video has since been removed from Schleien's website.

Surveys suggest that first-time voters here are highly motivated to cast their ballots, with more than 80% saying they are likely to do so. But the same research suggests they are also more sceptical about democratic institutions and less engaged by political protests or petitions.

In a race that is largely deadlocked between two stable blocs of pro-government and anti-government supporters, getting new voters to the polling stations could make all the difference.

Opposition parties have been engaging younger voters with warnings about threats to democracy, new social media videos and younger candidates.

"In 2022 [in the last election], only 59% of the citizens living in Tel Aviv voted - in the most liberal city in the whole Middle East! In places where they voted for Ben Gvir, they voted at around 90%," said Yonatan Shalev, a 24-year-old candidate with the centre-right opposition party, Beyachad ("Together"), led by former prime minister Naftali Bennett.

He told me that Ben Gvir had understood the power of social media faster than other politicians.

"The liberal politicians didn't believe in TikTok, didn't believe in Instagram, and he took advantage of that arena."

Shalev said he had pushed his own party to reach young voters through social media.

"Three months ago, Ben Gvir was still the politician with the most amount of views on TikToks, the most amount of likes on TikTok, and Instagram as well," he explained. "Right now, Naftali Bennett is leading [that]."

His boss's Instagram page now features videos of the former prime minister lifting weights to rap music, or chatting with Shalev in the street. Even Netanyahu has joined in with a fast-paced militaristic social media video set to heavy beats.

"Younger people don't watch the news in Israel, [they] don't read the newspapers. The younger generation is getting all its details from TikTok and Instagram".

Yahlee Reske and Mika Magal, both 21 years old, rushed out of a nearby bar when they saw Shalev walk past.

"I love him," Mika told me.

"Yes," agreed Yahlee. "He's our age, he's so young and knows so much. It's hard to listen to people who are old and saying the same things over and over again."

Yahlee said she was doing national military service when the 7 October attacks unfolded.

"I don't think I ever looked at politics until then," she said. "But maybe if the government had been different on 7 October, things would have been better."

The same poll suggesting 16% of first-time voters would back a far-right party also suggested that Beyachad alone would take almost 9% of their votes, as would the centre-right Yashar party of Gadi Eisenkot.

At a student event in Tel Aviv last weekend, Ben Gvir was interrupted by protesters shouting, "Fascism will not pass", and forced off the stage.

Israel's young voters may be moving to the right, but they are still as divided as their country, over who they believe is the guardian of Israel's security and identity, and who is an existential threat.

Additional reporting by Morgan Gisholt Minard and Gidi Kleiman

Hundreds of IDF investigations into killings still have no public outcome, BBC Verify finds

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c574e228vlygo, 11 days ago

BBC Verify has identified 254 incidents in which the Israeli military has been accused of killing or injuring people in Gaza, Lebanon, the occupied West Bank and Israel that it said it was investigating, but have no public outcome.

Using purpose-built AI tools, BBC Verify combed through more than 60,000 news reports and examined hundreds of incidents in which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) faced allegations of harm since the start of the Gaza war. Following extensive manual checking of each incident, we found 300 cases that the military said it was looking into, only 28 of which had outcomes published on the IDF website. For a further 18 incidents it was unclear if the investigation has been concluded.

BBC Verify approached the IDF about each case multiple times but only received information on two incidents, which the IDF said are still under review. "The IDF takes every allegation or report raising concerns about conduct that may be inconsistent with the law or IDF directives with the utmost seriousness," it said in a statement.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which works in warzones to uphold the Geneva Conventions, publishes guidelines that state investigations into potential violations of international humanitarian law, whether criminal or otherwise, should be as transparent as possible.

Of the 254 incidents identified by BBC Verify, 158 occurred in Gaza, 48 in the West Bank and 32 in Lebanon. A further 16 took place in Israel or in IDF detention. All happened between 7 October 2023 and 19 August 2026, and at least one person was reportedly killed in more than 200 of them.

Some of the incidents without public outcomes date back to late 2023. One of the deadliest cases involved a strike on a school building in Gaza in August 2024 when at least 93 people were reportedly killed, including six women and 11 children.

For three years, the Israeli military has often responded to accusations of harm by stating an incident is being investigated in some form, for example that it is being "looked into", "reviewed", "checked" or "examined". Often, that is the last that is heard about a case.

A number of incidents have been escalated for criminal investigation by the IDF. Two that came under intense public scrutiny involved the killings of five-year-old Hind Rajab, and of 15 Palestinian Red Crescent emergency workers who were shot more than 100 times and allegedly targeted at close range.

How does the IDF investigate incidents?

The results of IDF military investigations are not routinely made public, including those leading to criminal investigations of its soldiers.

A number that have been published relate to hostages in Gaza who were allegedly killed as a result of Israeli operations. In some cases, the military has only announced it is investigating an incident after being approached by BBC Verify or other media organisations.

In August, the IDF published a rare report detailing internal probes into five incidents in Gaza, including the killings of Hind Rajab and the 15 Palestinian emergency workers, which it revealed had been escalated to criminal investigations.

In the three other cases, which involved the killings of seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen (WCK) in an air strike and the killing of four Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) aid workers in two separate Gaza attacks, the IDF said it did not find a basis for or reasonable suspicion to begin a criminal investigation.

The report also stated Israel's General Staff Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism (FFAM), which handles IDF investigations into "exceptional operational incidents", had completed the review of approximately 150 cases since the start of the war.

These cases have now been transferred to the IDF's Military Prosecution for examination, according to the report. The IDF did not outline what the 150 incidents were, and did not clarify whether they were separate to the cases identified by BBC Verify when asked.

Despite multiple requests, the IDF has not provided a transparent breakdown of the status of the 300 investigations identified by BBC Verify.

In a statement, the IDF said it "publishes information regarding the outcomes of investigations and examinations when possible, subject to legal and operational considerations, as well as restrictions relating to privacy and information security".

It added that certain incidents are examined through command-level operational reviews, which are "intended to establish the sequence of events, identify failures and draw lessons for the purpose of improving operational conduct and taking any necessary command measures".

The IDF also said that during the war it has taken disciplinary action in dozens of cases against soldiers who failed to meet the standards expected of them and acted contrary to IDF directives, including being removed from combat positions and from reserve service.

Freedom of Information data obtained by Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group, showed that between October 2023 and August 2024 at least 1,456 Gaza-related incidents were referred to the FFAM. Twelve of these reviews were completed and referred to the Military Advocate General (MAG) Corps, two of which resulted in criminal investigations.

Dan Owen, a researcher at Yesh Din which has been monitoring military investigations since 2006, told BBC Verify that he believes the IDF will often try to "prolong" investigations. "They try to stretch out these processes to the point where people forget and people don't care about them," he said.

Janina Dill, a professor of international law at the University of Oxford, said that according to the Geneva Conventions a party to armed conflict has a responsibility to "investigate and potentially prosecute its own".

"That's the absolute clear bottom line," she added. "There are also guidelines for investigation, endorsed by the ICRC, so they have some authority. And they emphasise promptness, thoroughness, impartiality."

Eran Shamir-Borer, director of the Center for Security and Democracy at the Israeli Democracy Institute (IDI) and a former top lawyer for the IDF, said there are "genuine challenges" investigating allegations in conflicts Israel is involved in, given the complex combat environments.

"[In] a territory which is hostile, not always under your control, collecting evidence could be very challenging. Lots of forces on the ground, many of them executing fire," he said.

Shamir-Borer added: "The idea of investigating soldiers in the context of a war is never a popular thing to do," which he said is also seen in other law abiding countries.

He added that Israel would only benefit from being more transparent about its investigations, and he would encourage the IDF to be "more forthcoming with information that they are sharing with the public on the progress they are making in investigating various allegations".

Gaza

Since the Hamas-led attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage, the IDF has carried out extensive military operations in Gaza which it said aimed to bring back the hostages and dismantle Hamas.

More than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since the start of the war, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

BBC Verify has reported on the killing of emergency workers and people trying to access aid inside Gaza, the levelling of thousands of buildings in the strip and incidents of alleged misconduct carried out by Israeli soldiers over the last three years.

Just two months into the war, two women were killed by Israeli troops in the only Catholic church in the territory in December 2023, during an incident that the IDF later said was under review.

A mother, Nahida Anton, and her daughter, Samar Anton, were killed by sniper fire inside the grounds of the Holy Family church in Gaza, according to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

BBC Verify contacted the IDF about the report at the time. The military said that an initial review suggested troops had been operating against a Hamas threat they had identified "in the area of the church". The IDF added that it was "conducting a thorough review of the incident".

In September 2025, BBC Verify asked for an update on the review and was told that the incident was "still being reviewed by the FFAM".

Now, almost three years since Nahida and Samar were killed, the IDF has again said the incident is under review.

Following the latest request for information, the IDF said: "Complex incidents may require considerable time to collect, cross-check, and verify the relevant factual information."

It added: "The IDF does not shorten or forgo examination or investigative procedures in order to meet external timelines."

Deadly attack on school building

One of the deadliest incidents that remains under investigation by the Israeli military is an air strike carried out on a school building in eastern Gaza city in August 2024.

The Hamas-run civil defence agency said at least 93 people, including six women and 11 children, were killed in the strike on the Tabaeen school complex and nearby mosque.

The buildings had been housing displaced Palestinians when multiple Israeli strikes hit the area at the time of dawn prayers. Videos verified by the BBC of the aftermath showed a cloud of dust as emergency workers worked their way through small fires, rubble and body parts strewn on the floor. Photos taken in daylight showed blood-soaked floors, debris and people's clothes scattered around.

Experts told BBC Verify munition fragments visible at the scene matched that of a GBU-39 - a precision-guided bomb supplied by the US to the Israeli military.

The IDF at the time said a Hamas command and control centre had been embedded in the school building, and that IDF soldiers killed 31 fighters in the incident. It added that according to an "initial review" the casualty numbers did not align with the information held by the IDF, the precise munitions used and the accuracy of the strike. The IDF told BBC Verify this incident remains under review.

West Bank

BBC Verify also looked into incidents the IDF said it was investigating in the West Bank. Israel has occupied the territory since the 1967 war and built dozens of settlements there, which is illegal under international law.

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces since 11 October 2023, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. BBC Verify examined more than 50 IDF investigations into incidents in the territory, at least 26 of which involved women and children being killed or injured.

One of those incidents took place just outside of Jenin in September 2024, when Israeli forces reportedly killed 16-year-old Lujain Musleh during an Israeli operation.

Lujain's father said she was shot in the head as she looked out of the window at her house in Kafr Dan, after soldiers had surrounded a neighbouring house.

The Israeli military said at the time that armed fighters had fired on the soldiers, who had "fired back at a suspect who observed" them, and that the details of the incident were under review.

Lebanon

BBC Verify also found nearly 40 IDF investigations into incidents of harm in Lebanon.

The Shia Muslim armed group Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in support of Hamas following the 7 October attacks. Israel has since launched two major invasions into Lebanon, where more than 4,000 people have been killed according to the country's health authorities.

One IDF investigation identified by BBC Verify took place on 10 November 2024. An Israeli strike killed 23 people, including seven children, near the city of Byblos, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

Verified footage of the aftermath showed smoke rising between rubble and warped metal strewn across the ground where buildings had been destroyed. The IDF said at the time it had targeted a site where Hezbollah had been operating from and storing weapons, and that the incident was under review.

Long running investigations

Michael Schmitt is a professor of international law at the University of Reading who has previously worked closely with the IDF. He said the Israeli military's legal division is the "gold standard in terms of understanding the law", and added that "every allegation that there was a violation does not necessarily trigger a full-blown investigation".

Schmitt said there can be a number of reasons why the IDF may be unable to publicly reveal the details of an investigation or a decision not to pursue one. "For example, you do not want to reveal operational details or particular rules of engagement because the enemy forces will adapt," he said, adding: "And even if you did pursue an investigation, many elements of [it] would remain confidential."

Dill, who is also a co-director of the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC), said: "Three years into this operation, some of these investigations should have been concluded."

She said that when it comes to investigating incidents of harm, "Israel has relied heavily on the argument that it is a rule-of-law country to delegitimatise attempts by the international community to investigate".

"If we have cases of documented abuse that either don't get investigated or the investigations get stuck, and we have reasonable grounds to believe that they get kicked into the long grass, then that would undermine the narrative that Israel is fully capable of taking care of providing accountability," she added.

Methodology

BBC Verify gathered 61,000 reports from BBC News and Reuters which mentioned Gaza, the West Bank or Lebanon, published between 7 October 2023 and 19 August 2026.

We built an AI search engine to look through those reports for incidents where people may have been injured or killed by Israeli forces, and where the IDF said the report was being investigated, or for example "looked into", "reviewed", "checked" or "examined".

This identified almost 5,000 reports. Each one was manually checked by BBC Verify reporters, who excluded any which did not meet the criteria above.

This left 1,343 reports of incidents that the IDF said it was looking into. Some of these reports described the same incidents.

We built another AI tool to remove these duplicate reports. It grouped reports into unique incidents based on the publication date, incident date, location, and numbers reported injured or killed.

We then manually checked that each report had been assigned to the correct group, leaving us with 300 unique incidents.

For each of these incidents we then manually checked our records including the incident date, location, and how many people were killed or injured against the original BBC News or Reuters report.

We shared the details of each case with the IDF including the incident date, location, the news report describing the incident, and the IDF's original comment indicating it was looking into the matter. We asked the IDF for comment and the latest status of each case. The IDF did not say whether any of these investigations had concluded in response to the BBC's requests.

For each incident we also looked for statements on the IDF's website suggesting that the investigation had been concluded, using two different AI assisted web search engines. We found evidence that 28 cases were closed based on statements detailing the findings or indicating that no further steps would be taken.

For a further 18 incidents, it was unclear whether the investigation had been concluded. This included cases where the IDF published initial information about the incident without a clear indication it was closed, and cases where the IDF had characterised some or all of the people killed or injured as combatants, in statements on its own website.

This left us with at least 254 incidents of harm the Israeli military had said it was looking into, for which we did not find a public outcome on the IDF's website.

This was not an exhaustive search, and it is likely that there are more investigations into incidents of harm that were not captured in our search.

Additional reporting by Barbara Metzler.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

Israeli forces begin demolishing Palestinian buildings in Hebron after two Israeli soldiers shot dead

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq4g1p974wxko, 3 days ago

The Israeli military has begun demolishing Palestinian buildings in the city of Hebron, after two Israeli soldiers were killed in an attack by two Palestinian gunmen.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military would "destroy" the neighbourhood where the two attackers came from, and that Israel was ready for "extensive action" in the occupied West Bank.

Three other soldiers were wounded in the attack at a checkpoint outside Hebron, before the gunmen were shot dead, officials say.

It comes at a time of high tensions, with extremist Jewish settlers targeting Palestinians during the annual olive harvest, and Israel's general election taking place in four days' time.

Footage verified by the BBC shows an intense gun battle between soldiers and the gunmen. Other footage shows two gunmen exit a car armed with what appears to be a handgun and an assault rifle and start firing on soldiers at the checkpoint, before coming under return fire.

The incident has already begun to influence the ongoing election campaign, with Netanyahu - who has built his campaign on the promise of security - saying that his Likud party would cancel campaign events which had been set for Friday morning.

Speaking later from the scene, Netanyahu said that the military would "demolish this place and completely transform it," referring to the Hebron neighbourhood where the attackers are said to have come from.

It is common for Israeli forces to demolish the homes of Palestinians who are suspected of carrying out attacks on Israelis - a practice Israeli rights groups have criticised as collective punishment.

Netanyahu likened his plans to previous operations in West Bank refugee camps where residential buildings were demolished and thousands were displaced.

He also said he had reviewed plans for the largest military operation in the West Bank in decades - though did not say when it could be carried out.

He added that he had imposed cordons around the city of Hebron - which has around 200,000 residents - and the nearby city of Halhul.

Netanyahu's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for Israel to launch a campaign in the West Bank "exactly like in Gaza or Lebanon," while far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called for Israel to dismantle the Palestinian Authority.

On Thursday, Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused opposition leaders of undermining the government by criticising Netanyahu's warnings of an attack ahead of the election, saying they would be "responsible" for any future attack on the country.

Opposition chiefs, including frontrunner Gadi Eisenkot and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, offered their condolences to the families of the killed troops and praised those who killed the attackers.

The Israeli military said it had found a large quantity of ammunition in the attackers' vehicle, and that they believe the gunmen had intended to carry out a much larger attack on the nearby Route 35, but ran into the checkpoint - so instead decided to open fire there.

At least 96 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since the start of the year, according to the UN.

Four Israelis, both security forces and civilians, have been killed by Palestinians there over the same period, the UN says - not including those killed in Friday's attack.

Healey's Budget needs to sustain the stronger economy through gathering clouds

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ck87z4ng2l03o, today

There have been almost no Budget leaks.

The chancellor's aides are using intelligence-style security measures to guard its secrets: the Budget has been split into "compartments" with very few given access to all of them. There are codenames. The IT has been locked down and ministers viewing the plans have to sign a digital promise not to brief media.

Such security is a response to the feeling that speculation around the last Budget, sometimes informed by insiders, was economically destabilising.

As a recent former defence secretary, Chancellor John Healey has embraced such strict procedures, and has approached most of his public engagements and interviews with a sturdy refusal to break the Budget omertà, akin to his fellow Yorkshireman Geoffrey Boycott's at times ultra-defensive stance on a cricket pitch.

The economic news has been good - growth has been better than expected and the International Monetary Fund has endorsed the UK for "standing out" among the G7 countries for at least planning to cut borrowing.

The bond market's reverse beauty contest, in which investors single out the countries they distrust most, has moved on from Britain. Traders I occasionally hear from who were once focused on UK borrowing costs are now more preoccupied with "le spread" - the widening gap between French and German borrowing costs (the former being higher than the latter) - and with America's long-term debt outlook.

And yet there are clouds on the horizon. The inflation rate rose more than forecast to 3.5% in September, and borrowing numbers were also higher than forecast. This means an imminent Bank of England rate rise is very much on the cards, with the resultant rise in mortgage repayments for some.

Credibility with investors requires not just that Budget maths add up on Wednesday, but also belief that growth plans are realistic, and the perception that Downing Street can actually convince MPs to pass its Budget.

The question for John Healey is whether he can deliver a Budget that can sustain the revival in growth and offer the help with the cost of living that his backbenchers demand. At the same time he needs to reassure the markets that his budget will keep a check on borrowing.

The curious case of the UK economy

"Is it resilient, or is it actually strong?" has been the tone of the debate among economists about the curious case of the UK economy ahead what is a vital Budget.

The UK is the fastest growing G7 country so far this year, at 0.6% in Q1 and 0.5% in Q2. The widespread assumption of stagnation in the second half is being defied with Q3 heading for 0.6 to 0.8%.

Each quarter has seen growth twice as fast as predicted by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) in March and independent forecasters. This is the fastest growth in the first eight months of a year since 2017, ignoring the post-lockdown re-opening.

It's more resilient than it was in 2022. Back then, the Ukraine war, massive energy bailouts, and Liz Truss' mini budget all culminated in the UK facing the highest borrowing costs in the G7, in what was derided in financial markets as a "moron premium".

Then last year, with constant policy u-turns, UK borrowing costs rose the most of the G7.

This year the gap has narrowed, as uncertainty about the US and France takes centre stage, but all advanced economies are feeling the heat from the Iran war energy shock.

Inflation has risen, but not just in Britain. Reforms to the electricity market have weakened the link between gas and electricity prices, meaning spikes in gas prices have less impact on electricity bills than they used to and helping to keep inflation lower than it otherwise might have been.

The fact that up until now the Iran war has been more of an oil shock than a gas shock (where the UK is more exposed) has been another saving grace. Meanwhile, the significant amount of AI and tech investment in the UK is another boost to the economic numbers.

The net result is that doom-mongering predictions of recession, of being hit worst by the Iran war, and, in some quarters, of imminent national bankruptcy, have been defied.

That economic defiance of the early part of 2026 has persisted in the first three months of the Burnham-Healey tenure in Downing Street, buoyed by a lull in the Iran war and the energy price shock.

Burnham was advised upon entry to Downing Street that if consumers could at least feel more confident, they might save less and spend more and therefore help boost growth.

So far Burnham and Healey appear to be relying on a series of relatively inexpensive "feel-better" policies - such as capped bus fares and a temporary VAT cut on household energy bills - that have improved confidence without significantly increasing spending.

But there isn't a lot of spare money, which limits just how much can be offered for "temporary and targeted" measures. And come January, the clouds on the horizon could be overhead, with typical energy bills predicted to rise by 16%, interest rates potentially up and an enduring fear that the AI bubble could burst.

Healey's essential judgement

At a gleaming hi-tech robotics research facility in Coventry last month, John Healey sought to set out the broad contours of his approach to the economy. On a walkabout at the Manufacturing Technology Centre, I asked him if there had been too much doom-mongery.

"I know the global conditions mean that it is hard… we have huge latent potential in this country. Great talent, and deep capital markets.

"The challenge now is to make sure that we balance the books, we manage and control public spending, and the prime minister and I are in lockstep in our determination to meet the fiscal rules with a buffer," he said.

The giant orange robot arms whizzing around were being trained by AI to use lasers to carve the most intricate metal shapes for prototype parts for the jet engines of the future. The Budget manoeuvres required by Healey may require even more precision.

The essential question is whether he has chosen to impress the markets and explain himself to his MPs, or impress his MPs and explain himself to the markets. Judging by my three interviews with him in recent weeks, it is more the former than the latter.

The answer may not be found in his speech at all, but in the borrowing tables that will reveal how much money the government expects to borrow over the coming years, published in the OBR's forecast released - assuming no repeat of last year's disaster - when Healey sits down in the House of Commons around 13.00.

Just after that, as Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is delivering the Opposition's response, the real reaction the chancellor's team will be looking for is whether the markets move, particularly when the Debt Management Office publishes the "gilt remit" - the detail of any changes to its plan to sell UK government bonds to investors.

My sense is that every effort is being made to minimise this number, and help guide down medium and long-term borrowing rates for the government and for mortgages. (It was at this moment in 2022 that markets vomited at the prospect of how much extra they thought the government would need to borrow after Liz Truss' mini budget.)

From Healey's first day in office, the prudence message was practically tattooed to his head. He has spent more time working in the Treasury than any recent chancellor. He spent five years from 2002 to 2007 as a junior minister when Gordon Brown was chancellor - five finance bills, five Budgets, pre-Budget reports and two Spending Reviews.

For his Labour Party conference speech, Healey sported Brown's old conference tie. But the Treasury he returned to this year is a changed place in important ways. When his predecessor wore the tie, the Treasury was running an annual surplus, not a £120bn deficit adding to a £3 trillion total national debt.

I asked him just afterwards, and just before he was whisked off to a meeting of the government's emergency COBR committee on RAF Fairford, if he was going to have another go at some of the things that proved so difficult for his predecessor, former Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

He replied: "100%. I was very clear to the conference today and the public beyond. There isn't the money that there was in the 1990s. People understand that. The public aren't daft.

"Running through the Budget I deliver must be fiscal discipline and the maintenance of control on the public finances, because otherwise we won't get on top of the debt costs."

One intriguing element of what we may see on Wednesday is that this theoretically more left-leaning Labour government appears to believe they have the political capital to save money on welfare payments.

The aim is to get some of the 1.35 million people currently off work with mental health issues back into jobs.

Some reporting suggests some affected younger people may see benefits payments cut, with the government instead investing more in getting them into jobs and keeping them in them through the offer, for example, of in-work therapy.

A constrained Chancellor

Back in Healey's time under Gordon Brown, there was no OBR. Back then it was not unknown for late budget maths problems to be settled with an optimistic tweak of a forecast, a date change to the economic cycle, or choosing a stronger rate of long term growth.

The OBR's verdict is crucial now - to what extent it agrees with projected welfare savings or even the importance it places on stronger GDP figures matters now.

The bigger point here is that the chancellor must be shocked by the contrast between the sheer power of the Brown Treasury to do what it wanted, and the reality of what he currently faces: the constraints of the OBR, manifesto red lines, bond markets, significant debts and an energy shock.

There are reasons to postpone some of the toughest decisions beyond this Budget, such as how to fund desired increases in spending on defence and social care. The economic outlook could improve were the Iran war to settle at some point in the next few months, and after revised statistics the OBR may also have cause to rethink last year's downgrade to long term economic growth.

There is an imaginable pathway to a forecast next year with higher growth, lower inflation and lower debt interest costs, plausibly improving the public finance projections by tens of billions.

This would be a much more agreeable basis upon which to decide the pace of those big ticket spending rises. It also may be a tempting option for anyone thinking about an election. Former Treasury officials lament: "There is always a reason for procrastination."

Expect the Chancellor to laud the resilience and strength of the UK economy and seek to sustain it, and spread growth geographically. His key judgement, however, will be a balance between extra financial and economic support and the peril of still elevated borrowing costs.

He will try to offer breathing space. It may be needed not just for households and families, but for the Exchequer itself.

Top image credit: Reuters/Getty Images

Wales has an education crisis. Can it be fixed?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw240qv4ygzmo, 12 days ago

As you dip into the valley on the way into Merthyr Tydfil, a new earthy-toned building dominates the view.

It's the new site of Saint Carlo Acutis Catholic School. With its rooftop science garden, solar panels and floor-to-ceiling windows, it's an impressive sight.

Excited staff and 940 pupils moved into the £50m complex at the start of September. But they did so just as the Welsh education system was being painted in a less positive light, with Wales once again ranking the worst of UK nations in global tests.

"It casts doubt over a system we're proud of and children that we're proud of," says Sarah Hopkins, who's been a headteacher here for eight years. She says it doesn't tell the full story but admits "it is disappointing".

Welsh parents are currently thinking about the next steps for their children, with application deadlines for secondary school places at the end of this month. That comes at a time when the test results pose difficult questions about why Wales has so clearly underperformed relative to its closest neighbours. And with Wales's devolved government now run by a party other than Labour for the first time ever, can the new Plaid Cymru administration do what it's promised and improve standards?

A growing gap

Sarah Hopkins started teaching in 1998 - a year before the Welsh Assembly, now the Senedd, took over responsibility for education in Wales from Westminster.

In that time she's had to navigate many system-wide and school changes.

The latest challenge has been managing the big move from the old mishmash of 1960s-built classrooms to the vast new building.

But buildings alone do not drive excellence, and the gap between Wales and the other UK countries is getting wider.

Pisa (Programme for International Student Assessment) measures teenagers' skills in reading, maths and science. Sat by a sample of 15-year-olds – 3,406 in Wales in 2025, including some in Sarah Hopkins' school - it provides a snapshot of how education systems are performing.

On the day results were published, Wales' education Minister, Anna Brychan, euphemistically said they were "not where we want them to be". Others called them catastrophic.

The graphs are stark.

Wales first took part in the tests in 2006. There have been upticks along the way. But when the pandemic affected scores across the board in 2022, Wales fell back furthest. And the gulf grew in the latest results.

The OECD, the global economic development body which runs Pisa, says that 20 points equates to roughly a year of learning. That would mean Welsh 15-year-olds are about two years behind England's in reading, science and maths. In reading, they also trail teenagers in Scotland and Northern Ireland by a year.

The tests alone don't capture everything schools do to support pupils, "whether that's a clean jumper, whether that's having a pen and a pencil" says Hopkins. And there are long-standing debates about the methodology of the tests. But nobody in Wales is pretending there's nothing to worry about.

Clear, red water

Soon after the devolved administration was established, the Welsh Labour government of the early 2000s used its powers over education and other public services to go off on a different course to Tony Blair's Labour government at Westminster - creating what the then Welsh First Minister Rhodri Morgan called "clear, red water".

Secondary school league tables and standardised tests at seven, 11 and 14 (SATs) were scrapped. A new learning-through-play approach for the youngest pupils was an early flagship policy.

Poor Pisa results in 2010 brought about a drastic reappraisal. Plain speaking Education Minister Leighton Andrews called the results a "wake-up call" for a "complacent" system and introduced a new raft of reforms.

Alongside a literacy and numeracy drive, Andrews re-introduced accountability measures with annual reading and maths tests for seven-to-14 year olds, and a new school performance regime, called banding.

There were some parallels between the political styles of Andrews and the man in charge of England's schools system at the time, Conservative Michael Gove, who was on his own controversial education mission with an emphasis on high-stakes accountability. The two seemed to relish their occasional public spats over policy.

But policies introduced by Andrews lost their bite over time. The school banding system was changed and eventually dropped altogether during the pandemic. Tests later evolved into personalised assessments. And the focus moved to developing a new curriculum in Wales, something which Andrews recently said was a "distraction" from efforts to drive up standards.

Sir Nick Gibb, a former schools minister at Westminster who worked under Michael Gove, believes the main reason for Wales' Pisa woes is weak accountability.

He says "schools are spending billions of pounds of public money and they're not being held to account for the results that they produce".

He argues that focusing on the "science of learning" paid dividends with England's move up international education rankings. Primary schools in England were told they had to use a structured form of phonics to teach young children to read. This was reinforced with a phonics screening check for six-year-olds.

Sir Nick claims education standards in Wales and Scotland suffered because they didn't do the same.

A new plan

In general, education ministers in England have been more likely to set direction for teachers, highlighted by the approach to phonics. In Wales, for the most part, the mantra has been to trust the profession. And though that freedom sounds good in theory, it has pitfalls.

It's the thinking at the heart of the new curriculum for Wales - dubbed the biggest reform to Welsh education in a generation.

There's widespread support for the core purposes of the curriculum which aim to create well-rounded young people with the skills to contribute to the economy and to society. But there's less confidence in the way it tries to go about achieving that.

The curriculum, which started being developed in 2014 and is only being fully rolled out this academic year, gives schools freedom to design their own curricula. In fact it's now "left almost completely up to schools what they should teach," says Lucy Crehan, an associate advisor on curriculum at Swansea University and education consultant.

Experts such as Crehan argue it's unlikely to improve standards and may make the situation worse by exacerbating inconsistency across schools.

And many teachers, already overstretched and overwhelmed, have struggled.

"I think there does need to be more clarity for teachers, for schools on what actually it is they should be teaching and where it is they should be getting students to and by what point," Crehan says. She warns that it is the most disadvantaged pupils who could come off worst.

"This is categorically not teachers' fault. They have been let down by a system that has said, you're the professionals, off you go and sort out everything", says Crehan.

There has been a growing consensus about the need to provide teachers with extra support, which was acknowledged by the previous Labour government. Teaching unions warn the profession is being asked to introduce the biggest reform to Welsh education in a generation while still dealing with the fallout of the pandemic, including poor attendance and behaviour, as well as squeezed budgets.

In the meantime, the real test of the curriculum's impact on standards is yet to come. The next Pisa tests, planned for 2029, will be the first with the new curriculum fully in place.

'Nothing different in the water'

Apart from what's taught and how, there are other factors that could influence standards.

"There's nothing in the water in Wales that's different," says Nick Gibb. But, could the way the education system is structured play a part?

Unlike in England, in Wales there are no academies or free schools. Comprehensives, run by local authorities, are the norm. Former First Minister Lord Carwyn Jones believes that 22 councils is too many to run education effectively. He says failing to cut that number is his biggest regret in government.

Jones believes there is a "structural problem in Wales where the Welsh government sets policy…but doesn't deliver education", which is the job of local authorities.

Some councils oversee a handful of schools – including only four secondaries in some cases. "I just don't think you can have the right level of challenge or the right level of guidance if the local authority itself is very, very small," he says. Unless that's addressed, it's impossible "to provide the right level of support to improve our Pisa scores".

When Wales-based education economist Luke Sibieta compared GCSE results in areas such as Wrexham and Blaenau Gwent in Wales with the likes of similarly disadvantaged Gateshead and Salford in England, he found "disadvantaged pupils just perform worse in Wales than they do in England". The latest Pisa data showed the most disadvantaged pupils in England performed above the overall Welsh average in reading.

Reflecting on the early years of Welsh devolution, former Welsh government adviser Prof David Reynolds said ministers had been seeking change "by being nice to people rather than being nasty".

It's not been everyone's approach, but overall a lot of effort has been put into getting councils and unions on board with policies. Opinions vary about whether that's served pupils and staff well. Nick Gibb is one of those who argues that taking necessary steps to improve education standards means going "over the heads of unions" at times.

The question for Plaid

Taking the stage at Plaid Cymru's first conference in government, cabinet minister for Education Anna Brychan's assessment was more blunt than a month earlier, when the Pisa results came out. Speaking in Welsh, she called them "brawychus" - roughly translated as "terrible" or "shocking".

But so far she hasn't proposed wholesale changes to education. The minister has been at pains to emphasise that she's committed to the new curriculum. Even if it was practical to unpick it all, she's acknowledged there's little appetite for major upheaval. Instead, she's promising to review aspects of it and to set clearer steps for measuring how pupils are progressing.

Brychan's view is that a focus on literacy and numeracy has been "lost in the noise" of reforms. She's promised more clarity.

Phonics are more central to the plan and there will be more tracking of children's progress in primary school.

Wales' education system needs to be better at measuring itself, says Luke Sibieta, who is a research fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. And without consistent benchmarks, it's not surprising that so much weight has been placed on Pisa's verdict. Sibieta makes the point that, looked at through a different lens, the downward trend in Wales' results is in line with "places like France, Germany, Italy, Spain" while England has been bucking the trend. That's little consolation for those involved in Welsh education.

Sarah Hopkins says her school has strived to build an effective curriculum due to professional pride and determination to make sure the "children get what they deserve", but she admits "there's no checks you're doing it properly".

Overall, she is optimistic that the new curriculum and efforts in schools to improve standards will bear fruit in better Pisa scores in future. "I think that there will be a time where Wales will lead the way," she says.

But some fear a generation of young people have been let down.

"It's not the be all and end all, how you do in Pisa," says Sibieta, "but if it means that young people are less highly skilled and less able to get good quality jobs later on in life, that has implications for all of us."

Graphic design: Jess Carr

Top image credit: Getty Images

Publicly owned rail is popular. But is it making the trains run on time?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ck5yn0n14r8do, 14 days ago

The early afternoon of Wednesday 6 August was an unremarkable one on the rail network. Then suddenly, shortly before 14:00, a power failure brought trains across the north-west of England to a halt.

Chaos ensued: passengers told the BBC they were stranded on platforms for hours, with some having to book hotels for the night.

This incident, stemming from a short power cut that affected Network Rail's operating centre in Manchester, was, in itself, unusual. But it added to a difficult summer for train passengers.

Repeated heatwaves required risk control measures like speed reductions to avoid tracks being damaged in the heat, leading to delays and cancellations. There was a serious derailment near Lewes, East Sussex, and another smaller-scale incident near Wickford in Essex soon after.

Against a backdrop of relatively high cancellation rates and steep fares compared with previous decades, rail users could be forgiven for forming the impression that things are not working.

Something is changing, though: Labour is steadily bringing nearly all passenger rail services into public hands. Nationalisation is a popular idea - a YouGov tracker poll suggests almost two thirds of the public support public ownership.

But in reality, plans are still in their early stages. Big structural changes have yet to be introduced. And experts caution that it's too early to say how successful these will be.

So can rail nationalisation meet the public's expectations? Or are the ongoing delays and cancellations that we're currently seeing under a part-nationalised network a sign that it might struggle to deliver real improvement?

What the data says

South Western Railway (SWR) was nationalised in May 2025, the first of six services to be brought into public ownership under Labour so far.

At Woking station, which is served by SWR, regular commuter Leo tells me he had been optimistic about public ownership, but hasn't noticed it making any difference so far: "I think the phrase 'emperor's new clothes' comes to mind… it's still unreliable."

SWR saw a clear increase in cancellations during its first year in public hands.

But how much of this was due to nationalisation?

The Conservatives have cited SWR as an example of how public control does not necessarily mean improvements or fix key problems.

But the government argues SWR's early period in public hands was affected by high summer temperatures, signal failures and trespass incidents.

Lord Hendy, the rail minister, says work to turn the operator around has included introducing long-delayed new trains on suburban routes and recruiting more drivers, resulting in a drop in those cancellations that are due to staff shortages.

TransPennine Express was nationalised in May 2023, under the Conservative government. Many passengers had been at their wits' end as the operator struggled to fulfil its timetable and suffered from poor industrial relations.

A plan to improve reliability was put in place, which included cutting some services and even removing one type of train as a way of sorting out staffing problems. A new deal with the drivers' union also helped - something an insider at the former private sector operator claimed to me their company had not been permitted to do.

So has it worked? Cancellations have fallen noticeably. But they were still above the Great Britain average in the year to August.

It's really important to say the data can only tell us so much. There are so many different factors that might affect the performance of each service: for example, the state of the infrastructure it relies on, weather events or simply how well it was working before the government took over.

Plus, of the operators nationalised since Labour came to power, only SWR and c2c have completed a whole year in public hands. Even for those nationalised years earlier, the picture is clouded by the impact of the pandemic, when passenger numbers fell off a cliff.

But according to Alex Hynes, chief executive of DfT Operator Limited (DfTO), the government company that currently owns publicly-run operators, it has been possible to make some short-term changes. Notably, these include making one team jointly responsible for managing infrastructure and passenger train services in some areas including the south-west of England.

"The railway is a system: track, train, people," he says. "So by putting one person in charge, they can fix all elements of the system to deliver a better service to customers."

Hynes also gives examples of changes on the recently nationalised Thameslink; investment in better cleaning, improving toilets and replacing unpopular upright "ironing-board" seats.

But when it comes to the pure performance data of operators nationalised in the past few years - delays, cancellations - can we really draw any conclusions yet to tell us whether the policy is working?

"I think it's completely hopeless to try and do that assessment over such a short period," Stephen Glaister, a former chair of regulator the Office of Rail and Road who is now emeritus professor of transport and infrastructure at Imperial College London. He thinks a decade is needed to assess the impact of nationalisation.

The government argues that official data suggests publicly owned train operators are performing better on punctuality and cancellations overall than those still under DfT contracts to private operators.

Experts point out that whoever is running the passenger trains, some limitations remain. Many delays happen because infrastructure, like signals, fails. There's only so much capacity on the existing network. And getting better trains or more staff can take years.

Beyond the private-public binary

The view that privatisation ultimately failed, leaving unreliable services and high fares, may be widespread. However, Prof Glaister argues that for a few years in the 1990s, the old privatised system actually worked well. Operating costs and subsidies were falling while the number of train services and passengers went up, he says.

And in the current context, it's important to be clear about what nationalisation really means.

The railways Labour inherited weren't, in truth, completely privatised, and nationalisation doesn't mean a return to British Rail.

For example, the infrastructure manager Network Rail has been fully under public control for over two decades. A number of train companies including LNER and Northern had already been nationalised under the Conservatives. Scotrail, Transport for Wales and Caledonian Sleeper are controlled by devolved national governments.

And even those operators still on contracts issued by the DfT at Westminster have been heavily controlled by the government for years. During Covid, private operators started being paid a fixed fee to run services, while the taxpayer took on the financial risk. The terms of the contracts meant train companies had to "ask government for permission to blow their nose", according to one senior industry executive, who asked not to be named so they could speak freely.

Highly profitable rolling stock companies ("ROSCOS") still own the actual trains. Freight companies operate privately too, and there are a handful of fully commercial "open access operators" on the rails like Lumo, Hull Trains and Grand Central - although there are concerns within the industry that these could end up squeezed.

So what is often referred to as the nationalisation of the railways, in fact amounts to gradually returning passenger train operators run by private companies to public hands as their contracts expire - and making this the default.

What will Great British Railways do differently?

This is not all that's happening, though. The government hopes that re-organising the railways under a new publicly run body, Great British Railways (GBR), will make a big difference. This will bring together the running of trains and tracks, ending the current fragmented system.

A botched rail timetable introduction in 2018 was the spark for the then-Conservative government to eventually propose GBR as a new overarching body - although the Tories believe private competition should not be excluded from the system.

Some trains are already covered in distinctive GBR branding, but the organisation still doesn't exist. A new law to create it is making its way through parliament. Unknowns remain, like exactly how GBR will interact with devolved governments, and who its senior leaders will be.

Transport expert and author Prof Jon Shaw, of the University of Plymouth, says the idea of a "single guiding mind" should create "a better planned railway that's more aligned to the customer".

Prof Shaw thinks potential benefits include better long-term planning around rolling-stock and timetables, and the removal of "the compensation merry-go-round", where train companies and Network Rail argue about whose fault a delay was.

Hynes says: "The way you get the railway to work is you get the infrastructure and the trains and the people working in harmony because it's a system. And we can do that in a publicly owned GBR railway in a way that we haven't been able to do for a generation."

But Prof Shaw cautions of potential pitfalls. For example, "there remains very little money", and "a massive issue is whether or not the rail minister or DfT more generally - or the Treasury - will be able to butt out" and leave rail leaders to run the railway.

Prof Glaister also fears politically sensitive aspects such as fares and levels of service could lead to politicians trying to run the railways themselves, because of the amount of public money involved.

"Actually, governments are not very good at running railways," he says. "So you want management who are somewhat independent and able to run it."

Lord Hendy insists that despite the Transport Secretary having ultimate sign-off on GBR's strategy, the body will be genuinely arms-length from government.

"The point of this is to get a cadre of people who are committed to the outcomes that the secretary of state and I want for it, who can go off and run it on their own," he says, adding: "They'll have a lot more chance in the future than they've had in the last 20 years."

A question of cost

The railways are currently subsidised to the tune of around £12bn a year - not including spending on major projects like HS2.

The Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander says that she wants to see subsidy levels fall. Meanwhile, Network Rail has acknowledged a squeezed budget means difficult choices, and shoring up the network against the effects of more extreme weather requires investment.

Prof Glaister says: "When the public is hoping for a better level of service, more reliability, fewer breakdowns and lower fares, what they're really asking for is more money to be put into the railway.

"I don't think it's likely the government is going to be able to find more money, probably [it will have] less, actually. And so I think there's a real problem with ministers raising expectations from this policy."

But Hynes doesn't see a contradiction between reducing taxpayer subsidy and making train services better.

"My two north stars are performance up and subsidy down," he says. "If the service is better, we get more customers, we get more revenue."

Lord Hendy and Hynes also push back on the idea that the answer to improving reliability might be running fewer trains.

Hynes says: "In an industry with high fixed costs, the best way of getting the subsidy down is to go for growth."

Questions also remain about how GBR will manage industrial relations. Terms and conditions currently vary across operators. What will cost-conscious ministers do if unions seek to standardise these at the most generous level across the network?

While ministers argue they are getting on with improvements that people will notice, there's acknowledgement that the speed of improvement will vary between operators.

Lord Hendy says some changes "ought to be dead boring… to make sure tomorrow is a little better than today if you can do it".

But he says "more than 30 years worth of behaviors" will need altering to make the railway run solely in the interests of the customer.

At Woking, is there optimism that things will improve in the long run?

"I really hope so," says Leo, "it would be amazing - as it's not the best service now."

Graphics by Rob England, Verify data team

Between quick wins and big dreams lies Burnham's biggest test

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwq6n09qpy90o, 2 days ago

Giving the north of England a crack at hosting the globe's biggest sports event might seem about as Brand Burnham as it gets.

Seven million pounds of taxpayers' cash is a teeny drop in the context of the overall Budget, to pay for the government to take a closer look at possible plans. But the idea is sure to get tongues wagging - and headline writers scribbling.

A "Northern Games" in 2040 or beyond just might create a massive sense of national feel-good, jobs and development, as the Olympics in east London did more than a decade ago.

But it's a promise of a possibility at least a decade away. And what could be more in tune with the Manchester-loving prime minister and his proud Yorkshireman chancellor than a sporting plan fixed firmly on the top geographical chunk of the country?

It's Brand Burnham alright, popular with most of the Labour backbenches, just add the Twiglets and the pint in the stands.

The prime minister and his team are proud of a distinct feature of their government so far, focusing on small things that might make a big difference: fines for blaring out music on your phone on the bus, cracking down on "rip-off" parking charges, investing a small amount of cash in a big ambition for a sporting event in future.

It's what some ministers call "the politics of trying" – putting time and effort into ideas that you don't pretend are revolutionary, but give direction, and a sense of sympathy to the public.

It's an echo, deliberate or not, of another Labour Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, who sent memos to his cabinet in 1974 demanding "little things that mean a lot".

He ended up with a list of plans including nationalising small breweries to stop them being gulped up by big firms (paging Andy Burnham), freezing phone installation charges for pensioners, and plans for empty office blocks.

But the next few days could bring an end to that "politics of trying" phase, with one senior official describing the coming Budget as "the first proper moment for the government, which will then be in the pipeline for the 10-year plan, then a very difficult spending review".

An influential Labour MP told me: "The Budget has to be the beginning of the future story."

A fancy way of saying, beyond the short-term announcements and clear long-term aspirations, what is this government actually going to do?

"Steady as she goes," is what one well-connected senior MP predicts, and how expectations of the Budget are being managed across Westminster. They tell me: "Not doing a lot might be more reassuring to people than promising the earth with whose money?"

The boss of one well-known high street business told me they are even hoping there won't be any big bazookas. "Just do no harm," they implored the Chancellor John Healey.

"The hole is too big that they are trying to fill, so my view is don't try and do anything big to help because you don't have the money, but don't do anything to harm us either."

After all, the chancellor is bound by Labour's manifesto promises not to fiddle with the main taxes – income tax, VAT, National Insurance for workers. And you don't need me to remind you that public spending, borrowing and tax are all at historic highs.

Chuck in prices jacking up again because of war in the Middle East and there isn't much money to spray around. In fact, some big cuts to public spending are already pencilled in for the later years of this parliament.

But the widespread suggestion that you'll be able to blink and miss the Budget has got some hackles up in the Treasury. A budget, by its very nature, can never be a small event - it sets billions upon billions of taxes and spending decisions.

And there are likely to be extra taxes on banks, vows to sweep away some business regulation, particularly for small business, more powers passing to local leaders under the guise of devolution and more action on energy bills which are heading back up again.

John Healey has made it clear publicly and to staff, that he wants to encourage people with the guts and drive to start a business. One source said: "If you are taking on John's mantra about talking up Britain then you can't say, 'Nothing to see here'."

Whatever else the chancellor brings to Parliament in his red box, do not expect him to arrive with all the solutions to the country's very well-documented problems, whether that's getting the economy growing more convincingly, sorting out gaps in defence cash, welfare, social care, or new ways to pay off the country's groaning debts more quickly.

One former minister suggests even if Healey and Burnham had stumbled upon all the answers in a few months, it's just not possible to fix everything at the same time because of the constraints on the economy.

They wondered: "Is he going to invest in growth? Is he going to put everything he has into the challenges people will face this winter? Is he going to throw it at defence? There is just not enough to tackle all these problems simultaneously - ministers are going to be exposed to the cold light of day."

Burnham and Healey have to find a way of maintaining the balance in an unusually happy Labour Party.

MPs talk of ministers and Burnham himself being more visible and approachable in Parliament, knocking around with colleagues in the evening, fewer "golden slips" doled out when ministers were excused from voting alongside colleagues so they could get on with their important jobs.

One minister told me they'd had to tell their private office not to arrange for them to be "slipped" , from going to the Commons in the evening to see backbenchers.

It's paying off in the mood among MPs. One told me: "You're not feeling like the only way you can ever have a chat with a minister is by arranging an appointment for three months down the line – the soft touches really matter."

A party that feels the boss has their back is more likely to be receptive to hard decisions, that's simple psychology, and guess what? Politicians are humans too.

But the equilibrium is fragile. One source involved in the Budget prep told me the government "is like a seesaw".

"It's John and James on the right (Healey and Purnell, Burnham's chief of staff), Lou (Haigh) on the left, and Andy balancing it in the middle," adding that "Andy is not as on the left as many of his supporters want to believe".

That balance could be more strained in the coming weeks as choices over immigration and welfare reform loom after the Budget. And how the numbers stack up on Wednesday matters intensely too.

The Labour left will be looking keenly to see if people who are really struggling financially receive meaningful support.

Those on the right will be scouring the statement for measures that display a tight control on spending and help businesses grow. Even small moves could upset the seesaw.

One former minister doubts there will be anything major enough to upset the delicate balance, not because of an abundance of caution but they suggest, "John has been struggling a bit - he hasn't gone into this with a philosophical direction".

There is also a risk that by deferring big decisions until the Spending Review next year - which sets out longer-term spending than an annual budget - it looks like the government is just putting off the hard stuff.

Another acknowledges the danger of looking like it's a budget on the never-never, delaying decisions on "welfare, defence and social care – Andy goes in with political stock quite high – he needs to spend it on difficult stuff and there isn't much sign of it yet".

In an interview with The Times, Andy Haldane, a former chief economist at the Bank of England and an ally of Burnham, said he feared the government would deliver a "mañana budget" that deferred difficult decisions on public spending and "doesn't speak to the urgency of now".

With friends like these…

It's a good bet that the opposition parties will pile in on this angle, accusing Healey and Burnham of ignoring the long-term pressures next week. One prominent opposition politician said: "This Budget can only be postponing, you have to assume that's cynical because you are going to have an early election, or you are storing up a car crash for next year (the Spending Review)."

Downing Street sources counter that argument with Burnham's decision to unpick the expensive triple lock to pay, at least in part, for future social care. Or his bolder approach to potentially ask to re-enter the EU, or certainly pursue much closer ties.

And remember that list of small things that could make a big difference? They have made political decisions that the polls suggest voters have noticed.

Even some of Burnham's backers admit quietly that he is aware his first job in office was clear: to show action, to cheer up his party, and that seems to have had a positive effect in the polls.

His long-term view of the UK he wants is well known – with devolution, a national care service, and greater public involvement in the economy.

But the middle bit?

One official says: "Unless the prime minister has said something quite specific about something everyone is scrambling around trying to work out what he wants to do."

Another well-connected source says: "The challenge has always been with this project, how do people feel in the medium term – it's huge."

Burnham and his chancellor's start in office has been broadly successful if you look at the polling, or read the mood inside the Labour party.

Their dreams of future glories, long-term plans and policies, and gold medals on UK soil could point ahead to many years time.

But neither deal with the issues that need to be confronted in the middle.

The chancellor was working late in his Downing Street flat last night, finishing off his plans after having fish pie for tea, conscious his first Budget starts the between times - and they're almost here.

Lead image: Future Publishing via Getty

There's a crackdown on sports piracy - but is it already out of control?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmx2375zqwwwo, 9 days ago

"Football's Gone Round the Spend!" screamed The People newspaper one Sunday in July 1995. It reported breathlessly that three clubs between them were set to pay out more than £20m on new players.

The highlight that summer was the transfer of Stan Collymore from Nottingham Forest to Liverpool for a British record fee of £8.5m.

That number might not seem too impressive today, in an age when £100m transfers are almost commonplace. But at the time it was seismic stuff, and it symbolised the conversion of football from sport into big business.

All of this had been made possible in the early 1990s by the creation of the Premier League, and its initial TV deal with the broadcaster Sky, which paid more than £300m for five years of rights. The agreement put live top-tier football behind a TV paywall for the first time.

It was a lucrative model, one that other leading championships in motorsport, rugby, golf and cricket would later seek to replicate.

But now, that model is coming under pressure. Piracy has become endemic in British sports: around half of sports fans now admit to using what they might euphemistically call "alternative" means to watch paywalled material, according to the consultancy Ampere Analysis.

And this summer saw signs of a clampdown.

In August, a man in Lancashire was jailed for six and a half years for running an illegal streaming service that police said had generated almost £1m in illicit profits. In June, a postman from Pembrokeshire was jailed for over three years for selling illegal subscriptions and supplying pirate software to nearly 2,000 people.

A third man, from Merseyside, received a suspended 32-month sentence in August for similar offences. Several pubs have been fined thousands of pounds for screening matches illegally.

TV companies that have paid huge sums for exclusive rights to high-profile sports are having to work harder than ever to protect their investments. To some extent, broadcasters used to see copyright theft as a cost of doing business: irritating and expensive, but not an existential threat. But now, as advertising revenues fall, and viewers move away from long-term subscription services like Sky or TNT Sports, the industry is getting seriously worried.

The end of TV sport's golden era?

There is a great deal at stake. The Premier League alone is a sporting monster. In its most recent deal, it sold its viewing rights to domestic audiences for £6.7bn over four years, with almost as much coming from foreign rights. Armed with bundles of TV cash, clubs have been able to attract the finest players in the world. That in turn has given the league a major international profile.

Although football has been the main beneficiary of paid-for TV in the UK, other competitions such as Formula One, Six Nations rugby and the Wimbledon tennis championships have also commanded very high fees for selling exclusive rights. Live sport on free-to-air television has become increasingly rare.

Yet that wealth could be threatened by a surge in piracy and illegal viewing. The practice is most common among younger, digital-native audiences, who each year become a larger and larger share of sports fans. But many older viewers also seem comfortable with it.

"For 18 to 34-year-olds, it's over 70% who admit to doing this regularly," says Daniel Monaghan, a researcher at Ampere Analysis. "Over half of 35 to 44s admit to doing it, and about a third of those aged 45 to 64."

This year's Champions League final went behind a paywall in the UK for the first time in more than 30 years. Viewers were asked to pay at least £4.99 to watch it, prompting a backlash, including from the then-prime minister, Arsenal fan Sir Keir Starmer.

"Hardworking people shouldn't have to fork out for a subscription to watch this match," he wrote on X.

Many simply refused to pay: 3.7 million IP addresses accessed illegal streams of the match in the UK, according to research carried out by the Gaming Compliance International consultancy, on behalf of the Guardian newspaper. That compared to around seven million people who watched it legally in the UK.

One prolific user of pirate streams is "Kiran", a tech sector worker in his 30s, who prefers not to give his real name. A keen Arsenal fan, he likes to watch Premier League and Champions League games, as well as big matches in Spain's La Liga. He has a paid subscription to TNT Sports, but uses streaming websites to see games that are not available there.

"What it comes down to is the financial side - that's the big one - and ease of access as well," he says. "Getting every single game will cost you hundreds of pounds a year."

Meanwhile the streams he uses are free, with links readily obtainable on social media.

But there's another issue, he says: the famous blackout. Games taking place between 14:45 and 17:15 on a Saturday are not usually screened live in the UK, a decades-old policy designed to protect crowds at lower league matches. But broadcasters outside the UK can and do show those matches, fuelling pirated streams.

"I pretty much got into streaming stuff due to [the blackout]," Kiran says, "and I'd say I sort of did it a bit more as subscriptions got more expensive."

Fire sticks, illegal streams and VPNs

Those searching for pirated material have plenty of options. Streaming links, along with advice on how to avoid their pitfalls, are freely available in online discussion groups. These links, used by Kiran and his friends, have practical downsides – such as frequent buffering or poor quality, or platforms that disappear without warning. In some cases, they can also be used to bombard viewers with explicit ads for porn sites.

Many people prefer to access illegal content with a streaming device, such as an Amazon Fire Stick, a pocket-sized gadget that plugs into a TV. The sticks are legitimate products, but they can also be "sideloaded" with unauthorised software, allowing pirates to mimic the output of legitimate outlets by offering packages of selected channels.

A third option for illicit viewing is to use a virtual private network, or VPN, which effectively allows your computer to pretend it's in a different country, one in which access to sports programming is cheaper than it is in the UK (or totally free).

Earlier this year, the Sports Industry Group found that 58% of fans surveyed considered illegal streaming to be socially acceptable.

That may be because viewers have simply come to resent the amount of money they are expected to pay.

As the government's Intellectual Property Office puts it, "a main driver of illegal content access is the perception of unfair or high pricing for legal services".

A British person wanting to access all live Premier League games, for example, would need subscriptions to both Sky Sports and TNT Sports. Throw in some matches from Spain, or European Champions Cup rugby, and Premier Sports has to be added to the list. Many boxing matches and NFL games are on DAZN. A keen fan could easily end up paying £80 to £100 a month.

Until relatively recently, clamping down on piracy was not seen as a priority by the broadcasters themselves. They were focused on audience growth, and copyright infringement was simply a cost of doing business.

In some parts of the industry, it was even seen as a benefit. In 2013, the then-chief executive of Time Warner, Jeff Bewkes, notoriously welcomed the drama series Game of Thrones becoming the most pirated show in the world. He suggested that the attention generated by illegal viewing was "better than an Emmy" because it helped create buzz and ultimately attract new subscribers.

Now, however, the mood has shifted. Conventional broadcasting is under pressure as advertising revenues fall and viewers move away from long-term subscription services, towards more flexible offers from streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Apple TV. Both Sky and TNT Sports have reported losses.

According to a recent report by WPI Economics, illegal sports streaming costs the broadcasting industry about £700m each year.

Threat to the grassroots

And piracy is already having impacts on the pitch.

At a conference last year, Tom Burrows, the head of global rights at the sports streaming platform DAZN, described piracy as a "huge problem" for his company, and "almost a crisis for the sports rights industry".

Just months after he made those comments, DAZN agreed to end its deal with the French football league, under which it was allowed to screen the top tier of French football matches within France. The agreement followed a bitter dispute, which focused in part on the streamer's claims the league had not done enough to combat piracy – although subscriber numbers were also understood to be an issue.

Even though DAZN paid a reported €100m (£85m) to end the contract (along with outstanding rights fees worth another €140m), its departure created a hole in the French league's finances. It was left to set up its own streaming service, and the amount of broadcast income fell from roughly €700m per year to €412m this season, according to figures compiled by football-finance.com.

For a European powerhouse like Paris St Germain, with plenty of other revenue sources, this probably matters little. But for smaller teams it has been a serious problem. Angers SCO, a club in the west of France, said last year the affair had cost it €30m over two seasons, and forced it to sell its striker Estéban Lepaul.

It's unlikely that a competition on the scale of the Premier League would lose its broadcaster. But piracy could ultimately limit how much they will be willing to pay in future.

"If you look at the finances of some of the broadcasters, they're losing money," says Kieran Maguire, associate professor of football finance at the University of Liverpool. "Piracy… is taking up a larger and larger share of the revenues that they would anticipate being able to generate through their subscription models. So yes, it is a worry for them."

Daniel Monaghan of Ampere thinks piracy "is at the very least a significant constraint on the sports rights models that have been highly lucrative for broadcasters and rights holders over the last 30 years".

If left unchecked, he thinks this will make it harder for rights holders to generate a return on their investments.

At best this could hamper future growth. At worst it could lead to falling revenues over time, hitting the sports that have benefitted most from the wave of TV money.

In the case of the Premier League, this might just mean fewer blockbuster transfers - but it could also reduce the sum the League gives to the wider football game, from grassroots upwards, which amounted to £1.6bn over the three years to 2025.

Education vs punishment

So what can actually be done?

A key part of the solution, according to the industry-funded Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact), is changing attitudes among consumers.

Nick Sumner, the organisation's investigations manager, insists piracy is not a victimless crime. "Organised crime is behind this, and they want to make money by any means possible," he explains.

It also leaves users at risk of fraud, he warns. "They capture… a lot of personal data, which they can then sell for criminal gain."

Broadcasters and sporting bodies have been working hard to shut off illegal online streams. Hundreds of thousands are taken down each year. But tackling them is, as Monaghan puts it, like whack-a-mole: "Some get taken down, others come up, often in different countries."

There is another option.

In the UK, downloading or streaming pirated content can be a crime. Yet the chances of viewers themselves being prosecuted for watching a cheeky Saturday game on a pirate stream are extremely low.

Nick Sumner of Fact says the current priority is to educate people about the risks of piracy - but he conspicuously stops short of ruling out a more punitive future policy.

"There are crimes being committed here," he says.

So it is possible that viewers of illicit material just might one day find themselves in expensive legal trouble.

However, the sheer scale of a major clampdown would present a formidable challenge, and could generate resentment. There would be no guarantees that those watching illegally today would take out legitimate subscriptions tomorrow.

Top image credit: Getty.

Four ways Labour could raise money in the Budget without hiking income tax

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c65yn9p55np2o, yesterday

We're likely to hear a lot about the chancellor's "headroom" in this Budget.

That is the cash buffer the government has to help meet its own fiscal rules and reduce borrowing.

Economists think the buffer might have halved in the last six months from around £24bn to as low as £11bn, in part because of rising interest rates the government has been paying to borrow money from private investors.

The Chancellor, John Healey, might need to raise money to restore it, which would show the government's plan to reduce borrowing by the end of this Parliament is still on track.

At the same time, he is under pressure to find money to help people with the rising cost of living and to fund spending on defence. However, Labour's 2024 election manifesto pledged not to raise the rates of income tax, VAT or National Insurance.

Increasing taxes on capital gains or extending the mansion tax had been raised as possible options but have since been ruled out by government sources.

BBC Verify has looked at what other options could be on the table for the chancellor to raise some more money on Wednesday.

1. Increase taxes on banks

Banks in the UK have seen profits rise in recent years because they have been able to charge people higher interest rates when borrowing money.

And there is widespread belief among bank bosses that the chancellor is preparing to raise taxes on banks in this week's Budget.

Think tank Tax Policy Associates estimates that increasing the surcharge that banks pay on corporation tax from 3% to 5.5% could potentially raise an additional £1bn to £2bn a year for the Treasury.

A higher tax would initially reduce the profits that banks have to distribute to their shareholders.

Some shareholders will be wealthy investors. The banks have warned that additional taxes could deter them from investing in the UK, which could reduce jobs.

And ordinary savers could be indirectly affected too, if their pension investments include bank shares.

Banks could also pass some of the tax burden on to their customers by offering lower savings rates or higher borrowing costs, research suggests.

2. Higher taxes on gambling machines

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called on Healey to hike the tax on electronic gaming machines - such as those found in betting shops and adult gaming centres which can offer payouts of £500 per game - citing the social harm imposed by problem gambling.

The Social Market Foundation (SMF) think tank has estimated that doubling tax on these machines from 20% to 40% could raise could raise between £275m and £460m - depending on how gamblers reacted to it.

People who use gambling machines could also end up having the tax passed on to them through worse odds on games, though anti-gambling groups argue this could help discourage more people from using them.

Research from the SMF found that gambling machines are increasingly clustered on some of the UK's most deprived high streets, and that one in four people who play casino games on these machines gamble at risky or harmful levels.

The gambling industry has argued such a tax hike could cause betting shops, which own and operate the machines, to close down, by making them less profitable.

It has also argued that betting shop closures could reduce the money bookmakers contribute to horse racing, potentially putting jobs in that industry at risk too.

3. Get online marketplaces to collect VAT

Reports suggest the chancellor is preparing to announce that big online marketplaces such as Amazon, Ebay and Temu will be made responsible for collecting tax owed by retailers selling on their platforms.

The Treasury estimates it is missing out on around £12bn a year in VAT revenues that should be paid by companies, which it calls the "VAT tax gap".

Tax experts say that part of the problem - although not accounting for the full £12bn of the VAT gap - is that some online sellers fail to comply with VAT rules, either by not charging VAT when they should or by failing to pass on VAT collected from customers to the government.

Enforcement can be difficult because some firms that use platforms like Amazon to sell their products are based overseas and falsely present themselves as UK-established businesses.

Others close down and reopen under different company names to escape their tax liabilities.

Reports suggest that this move to make big online marketplaces responsible for collecting the tax - rather than the individual retailers - would clamp down on this form of tax evasion and could raise around £1bn in extra VAT a year.

Amazon, which supports the move, has estimated it could raise £700m a year in VAT for the government.

Some sellers could respond by raising prices or leaving the platform, which could have an impact on some shoppers.

However, it would also level the playing field for online sellers, ensuring those businesses who charge VAT are not illegally undercut by those who break the rules and do not.

4. Cut welfare spending

The above three tax measures together would raise a maximum of only around £3.5bn a year.

That would be small relative to the sums of money the chancellor might well need to restore his headroom and pay for any new spending.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said in the summer he wanted a "fair and lasting" reduction to the UK's welfare bill, while the government is under pressure from opposition parties to find savings from working-age benefits.

The Conservatives claim they could make savings of £36bn a year by restricting people's access to welfare payments.

Reform say they would save £50bn a year in this way, although independent analysts say there are questions about how realistic it is to make such large savings.

Working health and sickness benefits have risen sharply since the Covid pandemic and the overall cost is projected by the Office for Budget Responsibility to increase from £68bn this year to £81bn in 2031.

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves attempted to reduce spending on these benefits by £5bn a year by 2030, but were forced to reverse course after a revolt by backbench Labour MPs.

Independent welfare experts and economists say savings from the working age welfare budget are possible but would likely require upfront spending to help people into work, which could cancel out any near-term savings for the Treasury.

Cuts to health and disability welfare would reduce the incomes of people who currently receive those payments and/or those who would otherwise receive them in future - and campaigners warn of the risk of people being pushed into poverty.

However, if more welfare claimants were also supported into work, their overall incomes could be maintained or even rise.

Graphics by Callum Thomson and Lewis McBlane.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

How is the US economy really doing under President Trump?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cv98ze40jz18o, 6 days ago

President Donald Trump has been boasting about the performance of the US economy ahead of the midterm congressional elections, claiming he has boosted incomes, reduced inflation and created jobs.

Trump has repeatedly said: "We have the hottest country anywhere in the world."

While the overall US economy is faring better than many expected after Trump launched his sweeping "Liberation Day" tariffs in 2025, there's evidence those import taxes and the impact of the US-Israel war with Iran have pushed up inflation, with the harmful effects felt by most American households.

The US economy is also being helped by an AI investment boom, and could falter if that spending were to dry up.

So how does all this feel for the average American? BBC Verify has looked at whether the evidence supports the president's claims.

1. US economy growing

The overall US economy is growing at a respectable clip by the country's recent historic standards.

The latest data shows US GDP - which is how economists measure the size of the US economy - currently expanding at an annualised rate of 2.2%.

And it has increased by around 3.2% overall since the end of 2024, just before Trump took office for his second term.

That is more growth than any other member of the G7 group of leading economies over that period.

The US growth rate has been faster than was forecast by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the immediate wake of Trump's announcement of a swathe of new tariffs on goods coming into the US on 2 April 2025.

It downgraded its forecasts at the time, citing the negative impact of Trump's import duties on investment and consumer spending.

Though it is important to note that Trump eased the tariffs considerably in the months that followed, reducing the impact that had initially been expected on the economy.

The US economy has also been heavily supported in recent years by American technology companies making massive investments in AI, including by constructing data centres around the country.

Spending on building data centres (excluding the IT hardware to go in them) by US businesses in August 2026 was $5bn, almost double the monthly rate when Trump returned to office.

2. Inflation picked up

Many American voters wanted to punish Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election, holding him responsible for the pain caused by a significant spike in prices in the wake of the pandemic.

The current rate of US inflation is 3.7%.

That's still well down on the recent peak rate of 9% under Biden in 2022, but higher than the 3% rate that Donald Trump inherited in January 2025.

Economists estimate US inflation would have been lower without the new tariffs imposed by Trump since he returned to office.

While the impact of the Iran war on global energy prices, with the significant disruption to oil and fuel supplies from the Middle East, has also helped push up US domestic inflation.

The price of a gallon of diesel in the US - a fuel used not only by drivers but also widely in agriculture and industry - hit a record high of $6.52 in September.

The price of some grocery staples like beef and coffee have risen since Trump returned to office, though the price of eggs has fallen.

And some US retailers have warned that rising energy prices caused by the Iran war will make producing food more expensive and raise prices at the till.

3. Household income growth held back

Average US household incomes are still rising under Trump.

The median income - after adjusting for inflation - rose 2.6% in 2025 to $87,460, the highest on record.

However, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) think tank has estimated the combined effects of the following on US households:

- Trump's tax cuts

- The expiry of extra government subsidies that had made health insurance cheaper for millions of Americans

- Higher-than-expected price rises during Trump's second term, including those linked to tariffs and the Iran war

ITEP's conclusion is that the middle fifth of households are, on average, around $1,700 worse off in 2026 than they would have been, while the poorest fifth are around $750 worse off.

The richest 1%, by contrast, are estimated to be an average of $12,560 better off than they woud have been, primarily because of Trump's tax cuts.

ITEP's estimates about the impact of tariffs on American households of different income levels are broadly similar to those of the Tax Foundation think tank.

4. Job creation slowed down

Trump predicted his tariffs would result in America being "flooded with jobs" as manufacturing firms set up new factories on US soil to avoid their products being taxed at the border.

Since he returned to the White House, an average of 34,000 jobs have been added to the economy each month.

But that is significantly down on the 122,000 jobs added each month in the final year of Biden's presidency.

And the number of Americans employed in manufacturing - 12.6 million in September 2026 - is slightly lower than it was when Trump's second term began.

However, the US unemployment rate remains relatively low at 4.2%, which is broadly where it was when Trump returned to the White House.

Part of the reason for this is Trump's immigration crackdown and deportation programme, which has reduced the size of the available US workforce and means a lower number of jobs need to be created each month to stop unemployment rising.

5. Borrowing costs rising

US government borrowing has increased in Trump's second term, partly driven up by his significant tax cuts.

The federal government deficit - the gap between its revenues from taxes and its spending - was $2 trillion in the year to September 2026. That's equivalent to around 6% of US GDP.

And the US deficit is projected to rise to above 8% of GDP by 2030.

That high rate of government borrowing is itself helping to boost US GDP growth.

The IMF has warned that excessive US government borrowing, which it uses to bridge the deficit, and its rapidly rising national debt are raising the risk of a future financial crisis in America. This would have a deeply damaging impact on most American households.

The growing deficit is also one of the reasons the US government gets charged more to borrow money in financial markets.

The 10-year US government bond yield has risen sharply since Trump returned to office in January 2025 and is now above 5%, the highest rate since the global financial crisis in 2007.

That increase in the market cost of US government borrowing also puts upward pressure on the interest rates on mortgages available to American households.

The interest rate on a new 30-year US mortgage has risen to 7.4% per year, up from 6.9% when Trump returned to the White House.

That's added to problems in the US housing market, making homes less affordable for new buyers. It has left many existing owners reluctant to move because doing so would mean giving up their cheaper mortgages, which they took out at lower rates and cannot take with them to a new property.

Data graphics by Erwan Rivault.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

Ship attack reports near Hormuz reach record high as oil exports slow

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmde8dpg8g0no, 10 days ago

The number of ships that have reported being attacked in and around the Strait of Hormuz has hit a record high, BBC Verify analysis of data from a UK maritime agency shows.

Twelve vessels were attacked between 5 and 11 October - the largest number of weekly strikes reported to the UK's Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency since the US-Israeli war with Iran began. The previous week saw 10 ships reporting attacks.

Six of the vessels were struck last Sunday, according to the UKMTO - a one-day high. So far this week, there have been four reported attacks.

As the number of strikes has risen, the recovery in oil shipments through the strait seen last month has slowed, industry data suggests.

BBC Verify collated incident reports published by the UKMTO on its website and created a timeline based on the first date cited in each report. This is approximate because some incidents use the date of the attack and some the date on which it was reported.

Experts say Tehran has been attacking ships in an effort to assert greater control over the waterway as the US military has increased the number of tankers it is shepherding through the south of the strait to evade Iranian strikes.

Iran is also carrying out more attacks on vessels further away from the Strait of Hormuz, according to experts.

The US military's Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East, posted on social media that despite the attacks "commercial traffic continues to flow through the Strait of Hormuz with co-ordinated protection from US forces and regional partners".

Two crew missing after one of Sunday's attacks

The aftermath of one of Sunday's six reported attacks was captured in verified footage showing the Nicaragua-flagged tanker Petro Dolphin on fire, as filmed by the crew on a smaller boat nearby.

The vessel was struck by a drone close to the Sohar Anchorage, Oman, more than 250km (150 miles) from the strait, according to the maritime intelligence firm Vanguard.

Eleven Indian seafarers were rescued but two are still missing, the Forward Seamen's Union of India said.

Attacks have continued this week with the container ship GFS Pride sinking after a strike by an unknown projectile in the strait on Tuesday. Twenty-one crew were safely evacuated.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) published footage of what appeared to be the same ship sinking. It said the vessel was carrying "2,500 containers of contraband" and had taken an "unauthorised route".

Oil shipments stall

Middle East oil exports have slowed as the number of ship strikes has risen.

About 12.6 million barrels per day went through the strait on 13 October, below the 15 million reported at the end of September, data from trade intelligence firm Kpler shows. This compares with a pre-war baseline of some 17 million barrels per day.

The recent increase in attacks comes as US Navy data indicates the number of vessels given assistance to navigate the Strait of Hormuz during the first 10 days of October was up 85% compared with the same period in August.

Most of the oil being shipped from Gulf Arab states recently has been carried using a "shuttle" system where a fleet of tankers load up and sail through the strait before transferring their cargo to larger tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

These shuttle ships use a route close to Oman's coastline. Iran says this is "unauthorised" and insist vessels take an alternative route closer to its own shore.

So-called assisted transits were a key factor in helping drive oil flows from the Middle East back towards pre-war levels in September. This does not include Iranian exports which have completely stalled as a result of the US blockade of Iranian ports and ships.

Martin Kelly, CEO of Orbital Risk Intelligence, said Iran has "evolved its strategy" in response to this loosening of its control over the strait and has been carrying out "near daily or multiple attacks every single day".

"The aim here is to stop the ships going through and to deter others," he added.

The IRGC's navy has said strikes would not be "limited to the Strait of Hormuz" and later announced a "new deployment formation" across the region, according to state media.

Martin Kelly told BBC Verify that Iran is widening its attacks and targeting ships near the coast of Gulf Arab states and in the Gulf of Oman.

A tanker was struck by multiple projectiles north of Qatar on Thursday 8 October, more than 500km (310 miles) from the strait, resulting in multiple reported casualties, according to Vanguard.

Another tanker was attacked close to the UAE town of Al-Jazirah al-Hamra on Friday 9 October, Vanguard said.

Verified footage later showed crew members running across the deck and putting on lifejackets as a large cloud of black smoke rose over the ship.

Additional reporting by Becky Dale

Graphics by Tom Shiel and Mark Edwards

Is Zelensky right to say data centre strikes have taken down Russian bots?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9y7l0pm8jkko, 13 days ago

Claims that Ukrainian strikes on Russian data centres reduced Kremlin-linked bot networks have spread widely online, but experts have told BBC Verify there is no evidence the attacks have significantly reduced them.

Viral social media posts have claimed there has been a significant drop in influence operations in recent days, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggesting on Monday there was "less hate, less division and fewer provocations" online because of "fewer bots".

Russian influence operations, which promote pro-Kremlin narratives and spread disinformation, have been tracked by researchers and journalists including BBC Verify for more than a decade.

These campaigns push disinformation on to people's social media feeds on issues like the Ukraine war or post messages in support of Moscow's interests.

Ukraine has struck three of Russian tech giant Yandex's five data centres since 8 October in response to Moscow's attacks on Ukrainian internet hubs.

The second of these strikes on Thursday caused Yandex, often referred to as Russia's Google, to announce it was struggling to maintain its services.

But claims these attacks have affected Russian disinformation operations, including accounts posting supportive messages about groups including the Make American Great Again (MAGA) movement in the US and the far-right AfD party in Germany, appear to have come from a misinterpretation of data produced by tech firm Cloudflare.

Some social media users have been sharing charts of Cloudflare data which show bot activity using Yandex's network has declined.

While bots are commonly associated with fake social media accounts that may post false, divisive and inflammatory content, they are also used to automate tasks like scanning web pages so they appear on search engines.

Cloudflare clarified its data includes all automated internet requests to websites hosted on its network, including bots crawling websites for information.

The company also said the drop off was "not necessarily bot behaviour on social media platforms".

Tomáš Zdechovský, a Czech member of the European Parliament, shared a post on X which has been viewed more than four million times, that said: "If confirmed, this is telling: Russian data centres get hit, and online activity around AfD suddenly plummets."

He has since said he "did not present it as a clear fact", but the post remains pinned at the top of his X profile.

Researchers from dTeam, a US-based group that tracks Moscow-linked influence operations, told BBC Verify there has not been "any traffic change from known Russian accounts and bot clusters on any platform".

They added that if the offices of known groups involved in these operations "were in flames then we would see a change".

Bots linked to pro-Kremlin influence operations like Storm-1516 and Matryoshka - both of which BBC Verify has previously reported on - were still active on social media on Tuesday, evidence shared with BBC Verify by dTeam shows.

Zelensky's office told BBC Verify the president was "talking about the atmosphere on social media" rather than a fall in bot activity. It added it had seen "reports of fewer provocative and hateful comments" from many social media users.

Mikhail Klimarev, an independent internet analyst, told BBC Russian that while Cloudflare can establish whether bots or real people have visited a website it does not reflect what these bots are doing.

He added that Yandex uses bots to "essentially crawl the entire internet once a day" and index websites for search engine purposes, so it is most likely the company switched these off in response to its computing resources being severely degraded.

Yandex has said the use of its cloud services for "large-scale manipulation on social media, spam and other improper activities" are against its rules and that accounts which violate this are blocked.

While there is no evidence to conclude the strikes on Yandex's data centres have had an impact on Russia's influence operations, they have disrupted internet services for many.

Isik Mater, director of research at the internet monitoring group Netblocks, told BBC Verify disruptions related to Ukrainian strikes "affect all users" globally and "websites which rely on Yandex may be partially or entirely unusable".

She said that following Ukraine's attacks there has been a clear impact on the company's cloud services and platforms relying on them, adding that an entire area remaining "out of service indicates a significant infrastructure-level incident rather than a brief service interruption".

Additional reporting by Paul Brown, BBC Verify, and Sergey Goryashko, BBC Russian

Graphics by Tom Shiel

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

How much gas could Jackdaw provide? And will it cut your energy bills?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq4g13pplyzzo, 5 days ago

The government has approved drilling at the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea.

The decision - which comes after years of debate and legal challenges - will pave the way for gas to be extracted from it and used in Britain's gas network within weeks.

BBC Verify has looked at what this means for energy bills, energy security and the environment.

Where is Jackdaw and how much gas is there?

Jackdaw is a gas field 150 miles (241.4km) east of Aberdeen. It is owned by Adura Energy, which is itself equally owned by the energy companies Shell and Equinor.

The owners of the site, which was first approved four years ago but subject to legal delays until now, estimate Jackdaw has around 10 million cubic metres of recoverable gas.

Based on official forecasts for the amount of gas the UK will need over the next decade, that suggests Jackdaw has the potential to meet around 1.6% of total projected national gas demand between 2026 and 2036.

Operators say it could be connected to the Great British gas network within weeks and could produce gas for the next 11 years.

Where does Britain currently get its gas from?

Around half of the UK's natural gas comes from its existing North Sea gas fields and is pumped ashore via pipelines.

Gas imports make up the remainder. Of these, most come from Norway's North Sea gas fields via separate pipelines.

But a higher share of the UK's gas imports now come in the form of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) compared with 20 years ago.

This is natural gas which is extracted, turned into liquid form and then transported by ship to the country which buys it, where it is turned back into gas form to be used as an energy source.

And the UK increasingly relies on shipments of LNG from the US, which accounted for a quarter of all natural gas imports in 2025.

Will the approval of Jackdaw mean lower bills?

Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh has said the gas from Jackdaw "won't lower energy bills this winter".

And most energy analysts do not expect the additional gas production from Jackdaw to have a significant, direct impact on households' energy bills, either.

This is because of the way natural gas markets work. Great Britain is integrated with wider European gas markets and physically linked to the continent through undersea pipelines.

Gas prices faced by British households and businesses are effectively set at a pan-European level and determined by the price customers across Europe are prepared to pay for the energy.

People across the continent have seen their energy bills rise significantly in recent years, fuelled by the wars in Ukraine and Iran affecting gas and oil supplies.

But the additional gas being pumped into the UK's system from Jackdaw will still be relatively small, and unlikely to significantly move the European price paid by British firms and households.

"Essentially, producing more British energy doesn't necessarily mean cheaper British energy," Karl Matikonis, professor of taxation at University College Dublin, told BBC Verify.

"North Sea oil and gas are sold at market prices rather than reserved for British consumers at a discount."

However, the additional production of gas from Jackdaw could result in more corporation tax revenues for the UK government, because any profits made by the owner would be taxable.

As part of its Jackdaw announcement, the government said it was setting up a new energy wealth fund, using tax revenues from North Sea oil and gas to invest in green energy projects. It said this would "help get bills down for good in the long term" by reducing the UK's reliance on gas for electricity production.

The Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has previously said the tax revenue from Jackdaw "could be used to bring down energy bills" by taking costs off households' bills directly.

However, both proposals depend on the future profits of the owner of Jackdaw, which cannot be forecast with certainty.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said opening the gas field would "protect hundreds of jobs" and the move has been welcomed by unions.

The owner of Jackdaw has also estimated it will help support around 500 jobs, including roles on nearby production hubs, but only 27 direct roles on the Jackdaw gas extraction platform in the North Sea.

What are the arguments for and against Jackdaw?

One of the key arguments put forward in favour of developing Jackdaw is that it would improve the UK's national energy security.

Energy experts take different views on this. Some suggest that if, for some reason, foreign LNG shipments were not able to reach the UK, having additional North Sea gas from Jackdaw available and delivered through a pipeline that the UK controls might prove valuable.

They argue that the reliability of the US as a source of energy has been put into question by Donald Trump's recent comments that he was considering banning exports of US diesel to European countries.

However, others are not convinced Jackdaw would make a significant difference to national energy security because the UK would remain heavily reliant on natural gas imports even when the field is up and running.

The enviromental impact of Jackdaw has also been a significant point of contention. Advocates argue the gas field would be beneficial because the carbon emissions arising from production from the the UK's own North Sea field will be lower than those arising from the production of US LNG.

The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), which regulates the sector, has estimated the emissions arising from the production, delivery and processing of US LNG are around three times higher than from the production of North Sea natural gas.

That is because the process of liquefying, shipping and then turning LNG back in to natural gas on arrival is extremely energy intensive, compared with pumping it ashore by a pipeline, creating higher carbon emissions.

However, NSTA estimates that Norwegian North Sea gas production - which Britain already imports by pipeline in large volumes - has a considerably lower average emissions impact than that of the UK's existing North Sea gas production.

This is because UK North Sea gas mostly comes from smaller fields and is extracted with older infrastructure and technology than those of Norway.

The owner of Jackdaw estimates the emissions intensity of its production would be lower than from older UK North Sea infrastructure - though it would still be higher than gas produced from Norwegian fields.

So the impact on the environment of the Jackdaw decision partly depends on what happens to the mix of UK gas consumption in future - and where it comes from - which is uncertain.

If additional gas production from Jackdaw displaces US LNG imports, UK-related national emissions could be lower than otherwise.

But if additional gas production from Jackdaw displaces gas imports from Norway instead then UK-related national emissions could be higher than otherwise.

It's important to bear in mind that the emissions from burning gas also greatly outweigh the emissions from producing it.

And analysts argue that if the Jackdaw decision ends up increasing the overall quantity of fossil fuels produced and consumed around the whole world then it will push up global emissions compared with what would otherwise have happened, even if UK-related emissions fell.

Jonathan Stern of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies told BBC Verify: "If what matters is global rather than UK-related emissions then any new fossil fuel development will increase emissions, because the Norwegian and US gas which might replace Jackdaw will probably be developed anyway."

However, the direct impact on global emissions would still be relatively small given the size of Jackdaw relative to existing global production and consumption of fossil fuels.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

Why are hundreds of prisoners being released early?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp3rxlyz6w3o, 13 days ago

Around 650 more prisoners in England and Wales are due to be released under the second tranche of the government's early release scheme.

Under the scheme, eligible prisoners are released after serving a third of their total custodial sentence rather than after 40% or 50% of the term.

People sentenced for manslaughter, rape, serious child sex and grooming offences are excluded.

This is not the first time a government - Conservative or Labour - has released prisoners early to make space in England and Wales' overcrowded prisons.

BBC Verify has looked at the reasons why ministers say this latest scheme is necessary.

More prisoners than prison space

The prison population in England and Wales on 12 October was 87,033, which was 97.8% of useable capacity.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has previously warned the prison population will overtake capacity as soon as this November.

In the long-term the MoJ has projected that the capacity of all prisons will rise to around 99,000 by 2032 as a result of more prisons being built by this government.

But it also projected that the prisoner population would rise to about 104,000 by 2032 if the Sentencing Act 2026 - which provides for earlier release - did not come into force.

That is why Justice Secretary Alex Norris says there is a "prison capacity crisis" which means the government has to implement the latest early release scheme.

In total 4,500 prisoners are due to be released early by June 2027. About 700 offenders were released from jail early on 1 October - all of whom were serving terms of less than 19 months.

The MoJ has projected that the Sentencing Act will mean the prisoner population remains below the capacity of the prison system, rising only to around 96,000 by 2032.

More people are being sent to prison for longer

The England and Wales prison population has risen significantly in recent decades with a significant uptick starting in the 1990s before reaching a record high in 2024.

The Institute for Government (IFG) think tank says this is partly the result of longer sentences.

In 2023, the average prison sentence at Crown Courts in England and Wales - which deal with more serious offences - was more than 25% longer than those handed down in 2012.

For some crimes, the increase was greater. Sentences for robbery in 2023 were 13 months longer on average than in 2012 - an increase of 36%.

Longer sentences mean more people being held in prison at any one time.

Former Conservative Justice Secretary David Gauke, who led an independent sentencing review for Sir Keir Starmer's government, argues this is the result of a "bidding war" by political parties since the 1990s over who can imprison people for longer.

Gauke also points out that the prison population has been rising at a time when overall crime in England and Wales has been falling, according to the official Crime Survey.

So despite the fall in crime more people are being sent to prison - and for longer.

Another reason for upward pressure on the prison population is that more people than before are being returned to prison for breaching the conditions of their release.

There were 51,419 licence recalls in England and Wales in the year ending March 2026, up from 40,259 in the previous year - a 28% increase.

Cassia Rowland from the IFG said most recalls are for breaches of licence conditions, such as missed appointments, rather than offenders committing further offences or posing a serious risk to the public.

"The probation service is overwhelmed, with high caseloads and lots of vacancies putting often inexperienced staff under huge pressure," she said.

Slow pace of prison building

Successive governments have pledged to increase the number of prison places - but delivery has often fallen short of those promises.

Between 2010 and 2024, when the Conservatives were in power, around 13,000 new prison places were created.

But around 12,500 places - notably those built during the Victorian era - were closed after falling into disrepair.

That means an estimated net total of only around 500 new prison places were added over 14 years.

In a 2024 report, the National Audit Office (NAO) cited the MOJ's "unrealistic timelines", and government bodies not working together to prioritise delivery, as reasons for the slow pace of prison building.

The MOJ say around 6,500 net prison places were created between 2022 and 2025, once closures are taken into consideration. These include places created in three new prisons.

However, further expansion to existing prisons has been delayed by a major supplier going into administration, according to the Prison Reform Trust.

Pia Sinha of the Prison Reform Trust told BBC Verify: "Successive governments have found it difficult to increase prison capacity because new prisons take years to plan and build, often facing planning hurdles and local opposition."

The Labour government has pledged to build 14,000 new prison places by 2031.

Analysts argue that without a major change in thinking about the appropriateness of prison as punishment, or a significant long-term increase in prison building, the system in England and Wales will remain close to capacity.

And that means governments will continue to be under pressure to implement early release schemes to avert a capacity crisis.