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The cancer is a more aggressive form of the disease, characterised by a Gleason score of 9 out of 10. This means his illness is classified as "high-grade" and that the cancer cells could spread quickly, according to Cancer Research UK.

Biden and his family are said to be reviewing treatment options. The former president's office added that the cancer is hormone-sensitive, meaning it can likely be managed.

The news comes nearly a year after the former president was forced to drop out of the 2024 US presidential election over concerns about his health and age. He is the oldest person to hold the office in US history.

Biden, then the Democratic nominee vying for re-election, faced mounting criticism of his poor performance in a June televised debate against Republican nominee and current president Donald Trump. He was replaced as the Democratic candidate by his vice president Kamala Harris.

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer affecting men, behind skin cancer, according to the Cleveland Clinic. The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that 13 out of every 100 men will develop prostate cancer at some point in their lives.

Age is the most common risk factor, the CDC says.

Biden had largely retreated from the public eye since leaving the White House, but made a few public appearances in recent months.

The former president delivered a keynote speech in April at a Chicago conference held by the Advocates, Counselors, and Representatives for the Disabled, a US-based advocacy group for people with disabilities.

In May, he sat down for an interview with the BBC - his first since leaving the White House - where he admitted that the decision to step down from the 2024 race was "difficult".

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All hospitals in north Gaza out of service, says health ministry

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy90d929yyno, today

All three public hospitals in north Gaza have been put "out of service", the Hamas-run health ministry has said, as Israel continues its offensive to seize areas of the territory.

The ministry said on Sunday Israeli forces had besieged the Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahia, "with heavy fire... preventing the arrival of patients, medical staff, and supplies".

The hospital was the last in the north to be operating, it said.

Israel's military on Saturday announced the launch of "Operation Gideon's Chariot", amid the deadliest wave of strikes in Gaza in months.

Hamas offered to release nine hostages in exchange for a 60-day truce and the release of Palestinian prisoners, a Palestinian official told the BBC after new negotiations were held on Saturday.

The health ministry said on Sunday: "After the destruction of Beit Hanoun Hospital and Kamal Adwan Hospital, and the Indonesian Hospital being put out of service, all public hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip are now out of service."

Apple boosts India's factory hopes - but a US-China deal could derail plans

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly34p1jwvgo, today

Just as India showed flickers of progress toward its long-held dream of becoming the world's factory, Washington and Beijing announced a trade "reset" that could derail Delhi's ambitions to replace China as the global manufacturing hub.

Last week, Trump's tariffs on China dropped overnight - from 145% to 30%, vs 27% for India - as the two sides thrashed out an agreement in Switzerland.

As a result, there's a chance manufacturing investment that was moving from China to India could either "stall" or "head back", feels Ajay Srivastava of the Delhi-based think tank, Global Trade Research Institute (GTRI).

"India's low-cost assembly lines may survive, but value-added growth is in danger."

The change in sentiment stands in sharp relief to the exuberance in Delhi last month when Apple indicated that it was shifting most of its production of iPhones headed to the US from China to India.

That may well still happen, even though US President Donald Trump revealed that he had told Apple CEO Tim Cook not to build in India because it was "one of the highest tariff nations in the world".

"India is well positioned to be an alternative to China as a supplier of goods to the US in the immediate term," Shilan Shah, an economist with Capital Economics, wrote in an investor note before the deal was announced. He pointed out that 40% of India's exports to the US were "similar to those exported by China".

There were early signs that Indian exporters were already stepping in to fill the gap left by Chinese producers. New export orders surged to a 14-year high, according to a recent survey of Indian manufacturers.

Nomura, a Japanese broking house, also pointed to growing "anecdotal evidence" of India emerging as a winner from "trade diversion and supply-chain shift in low and mid-tech manufacturing" particularly in sectors like electronics, textiles and toys.

Some analysts do believe that despite the so-called trade "reset" between Beijing and Washington, a larger strategic decoupling between China and the US will continue to benefit India in the long run.

For one, there's greater willingness by Narendra Modi's government to open its doors to foreign companies after years of protectionist policies, which could provide tailwind.

India and the US are also negotiating a trade deal that could put Asia's third-largest economy in a sweet spot to benefit from the so-called "China exodus" - as global firms shift operations to diversify supply chains.

India has just signed a trade pact with the UK, sharply cutting duties in protected sectors like whiskey and automobiles. It offers a glimpse of the concessions Delhi might offer Trump in the ongoing India-US trade talks.

But all of this optimism needs to be tempered for more reasons than one.

Apart from the fact that China is now back in the running, companies are also "not entirely writing off other Asian competitors, with countries like Vietnam still on their radars", economists Sonal Verma and Aurodeep Nandi from Nomura said in a note earlier this month.

"Hence, for India to capitalise on this opportunity, it needs to complement any tariff arbitrage with serious ease-of-doing-business reforms."

A tough business climate has long frustrated foreign investors and stalled India's manufacturing growth, with its share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) stuck at around 15% for two decades.

The Modi government's efforts, such as the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, have delivered only limited success in boosting this figure.

The government's think tank, Niti Aayog, has acknowledged India's "limited success" in attracting investment shifting from China. It noted that factors like cheaper labour, simpler tax laws, lower tariffs, and proactive Free Trade Agreements helped countries like Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, and Malaysia expand exports - while India lagged behind.

Another major concern, says Nomura, is India's ongoing reliance on China for raw materials and components used in electronics like iPhones, limiting Delhi's ability to fully capitalise on supply chain shifts.

"India's earnings from making iPhones will only rise if more of the phone is made locally," Mr Srivastava told the BBC.

According to him, right now Apple earns over $450 per iPhone sold in the US while India keeps less than $25 - even though the full $1,000 is counted as an Indian export.

"Just assembling more iPhones in India won't help much unless Apple and its suppliers also start making components and doing high-value work here. Without that, India's share stays small, and the export numbers go up only on paper -possibly triggering more scrutiny from the US without real economic gain for India," Mr Srivastava said.

The jobs created by such assembly lines aren't very high quality either, says GTRI.

Quite unlike companies like Nokia which set up a factory in the southern city of Chennai in 2007 where suppliers moved in together, "today's smartphone makers mostly import parts and push for lower tariffs instead of building supply chains in India", explained Mr Srivastava. He noted that, in certain instances, the investment made could be lower than the subsidies received under India's PLI scheme.

Finally there are concerns that Chinese exporters could try to use India to reroute products to the US.

India doesn't seem averse to this idea despite the pitfalls. The country's top economic adviser said last year that the country should attract more Chinese businesses to set-up export oriented factories and boost its manufacturing industry – a tacit admission that its own industrial policy hadn't delivered.

But experts caution, this could further curtail India's ability to build local know-how and grow its own industrial base.

All of this shows that beyond the headline-grabbing announcements by the likes of Apple, India is still a long way from realising its factory ambitions.

"Slash production costs, fix logistics, and build regulatory certainty," Mr Srivastava urged policymakers in a social media post.

"Let's be clear. This US-China reset is damage control, not a long-term solution. India must play the long game, or risk getting side-lined."

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The secretive US factory that lays bare the contradiction in Trump's America First plan

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwywj0zgzwxo, today

Among the cactuses in the desert of Arizona, just outside Phoenix, an extraordinary collection of buildings are emerging that will shape the future of the global economy and the world.

The hum of further construction is creating not just a factory for the world's most advanced semiconductors. Eventually, it will mass produce the most advanced chips in the world. This work is being done in the US for the first time, with the Taiwanese company behind it pledging to spend billions more here in a move aimed at heading off the threat of tariffs on imported chips.

It is, in my view, the most important factory in the world, and it's being built by a company you may have never heard of: TSMC, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. It makes 90% of the world's advanced semiconductors. Until now they were all made in Taiwan, the island off the Chinese mainland. The Apple chip in your iPhone, the Nvidia chips powering your ChatGPT queries, the chips in your laptop or computer network, all are made by TSMC.

Its Arizona facility "Fab 21" is closely guarded. Blank paper or personal devices are not allowed in case designs are leaked. It houses some of the most important intellectual property in the world, and the process to make these chips is one of the most complicated and intensive in global manufacturing.

They're hugely protective of the secrets that lie within. Important customers, such as Apple and Nvidia, trust this company to safeguard their designs for future products.

But after months of asking, TSMC let the BBC in to look at the partial transfer of what some argue is the most critical, expensive, complex and important manufacturing in the world.

The poster child for Trump's policy

President Trump certainly seems to think so. He often mentions the factory in passing. "TSMC is the biggest there is," he has said. "We gradually lost the chip business, and now it's almost exclusively in Taiwan. They stole it from us." This is one of the US President's regular refrains.

TSMC's recent decision to expand its investments in the US by a further $100bn (£75bn) is something Trump attributes to his threats of tariffs on Taiwan and on the global semiconductor business.

The expansion of the Arizona facility, which was announced in March is, he believes, the poster child for his economic policies - in particular the encouragement of foreign companies to relocate factories to the US to avoid hefty tariffs.

China is also watching developments carefully. Taiwan's chip making prowess has been part of what its government has called its "Silicon Shield," against a much-feared invasion. While the original strategy was to make Taiwan indispensable in this area of critical technology, the pandemic supply chain difficulties changed the calculus because relying on a single country seemed like a greater risk.

So, many currents of the world economy, frontier technology and geopolitics flow through this one site and within it lies the essential contradiction of Trump's economic and diplomatic policy.

He sees this plant as the exemplar of America First, and the preservation of economic and military superiority over China. Yet the manufacture of these modern miniaturised miracles at the frontier of physics and chemistry inherently rely on a combination of the very best technologies from around the world.

The cleanest environment on Earth

Greg Jackson, one of the facilities managers, takes me around in a golf buggy. The factories are almost a carbon copy of the TSMC spaces in Taiwan, where he trained. "I would say these facilities are probably some of the most advanced and complicated in the world," he says.

"It's quite the dichotomy. You've got really, really small chips with really small structures, and it takes this massive facility with all the infrastructure to be able to make them... Just the sheer complexity, the amount of systems that it takes, is staggering."

Inside the "Gowning Building," workers dress in protective clothing before crossing a bridge that is supposed to create the cleanest environment on Earth, in order to protect the production of these extraordinary microscopic transistors that create the microchips underpinning everything.

Konstantinos Ninios, an engineer, shows me some of the very first productions from TSMC Arizona: a silicon wafer with what is known as '4 nanometre chips'.

"This is the most advanced wafer in the US right now," he explains. "[It] contains about 10 to 14 trillion transistors… The whole process is three to 4,000 steps."

If you could somehow shrink your body to the same scale and get inside the wafer, he says that the many different layers would look like very tall streets and skyscrapers.

Manufacturing manipulation of atoms

TSMC was founded at the behest of the Taiwanese government in 1987, when chip executive Morris Chang was directed to start the business. The model was to become a dedicated foundry for microchips - manufacturing other companies' designs. It became wildly successful.

Driving the advancement of the technology is the miniaturisation of the smallest feature on chips. Their size is measured these days in billionths of a metre or nanometres. This progress has enabled mobile phones to become smartphones, and is now setting the pace for the mass deployment of artificial intelligence.

It requires incredible complexity and expense through the use of "extreme ultraviolet (UV) light". This is used to etch the intricate building blocks of our modern existence in a process called "lithography".

The world's dependence on TSMC is built on highly specialised bus-sized machines, which are in turn sourced almost entirely from a Dutch company called ASML, including in Arizona.

These machines shoot UV light tens of thousands of times through drops of molten tin, which creates a plasma, and is then refracted through a series of specialised mirrors.

The almost entirely automated process for each wafer of silicon is repeated thousands of times in layers over months, before the $1m LP-sized wafer of 4nm silicon chips is formed.

"Just imagine a particle or a dust particle falling into this," Ninios says to me incredulously. "The transistors are not going to work. So all of this is cleaner than hospital operating rooms."

Caution in Taiwan

Taiwan does not have special access to the raw materials - but it has the know-how to stay years ahead of other companies in the intricate process of producing these atomic building blocks of modern life.

Some in the Taiwanese government are cautious about spreading the frontier of this technology off the island. Trump wasted little time in claiming the firm's decision to bring its highest level of technology to the US was due to his economic policies.

He said this would not have happened without the stick of his planned tariffs on Taiwan and semiconductors. Those I speak to at TSMC are diplomatic about that claim.

Much of this was already planned and subsidised under former US President Biden administration's Chips Act.

On the walkway into the building are photographs showing Biden's visit in 2022, with the building site draped in the Stars and Stripes and a banner saying "a future Made in America".

"The semiconductor supply chain is global," says Rose Castanares, the President of TSMC Arizona. "There's really no single country at this moment that can do everything from chemicals to wafer manufacturing to packaging, and so it's very difficult to unwind that whole thing very quickly."

'Non Red' supply chains to counter China

As for the semiconductor supply chain, tariffs will not help. The supply chain stretches all over the world. Whether it's the silicon wafers from Japan, the machines required from the Netherlands, or mirrors from Germany, all sorts of materials from all around the world are required. Now, they could face import charges.

That said, TSMC's boss was quick off the mark in confirming the expansion of the US site at an event with Trump at the White House. In recent weeks, America's tech elite - from Apple's Tim Cook, to Nvidia's Jensen Huang - have been queueing up to tell the world that TSMC Arizona will now produce many of the chips in their US products.

The global chip industry is very sensitive to the economic cycle, but its cutting edge technology enjoys very healthy margins, that could cushion some of these planned tariffs.

There are many geopolitical subtexts here. The factory sits at the heart of US strategy to gain technological, AI and economic supremacy over China.

Both the Biden and Trump administrations have developed policies to try and limit Chinese access to the frontier semiconductor technology - from a ban of exports to China of ASML's machines, to new legislation to ban the use of Huawei AI chips in US software or technology anywhere in the world.

Taiwan's President Lai this week urged democracies such as Japan and the US to develop "non-Red" supply chains to counter China.

Not everyone is convinced that this strategy is working, however. Chinese technologists have been effective at working around the bans to develop competitive indigenous technology. And Bill Gates this week said that these policies "have forced the Chinese in terms of chip manufacturing and everything to go full speed ahead".

Trump wants TSMC Arizona to become a foundation stone for his American golden age. But the company's story to date is perhaps the ultimate expression of the success of modern globalisation.

So for now, it's a battle for global tech and economic supremacy, in which Taiwan's factory technology, much of which is now being moved to the Arizona desert, is the critical asset.

Top picture credit: Getty

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New era beckons for Air Force One after Qatari offer - but what's it like inside?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ygvn5g452o, yesterday

But the interior of this famous aircraft could soon undergo a radical refit if, as looks likely, Trump accepts the Qatari offer to supply a new "palace in the sky" - the biggest foreign gift ever received by a US president.

Technically, "Air Force One" is a radio call sign, the designation for any Air Force aircraft with the US president aboard. The small prop plane Lyndon Baines Johnson took from Austin to his Texas ranch in the 1960s was Air Force One, too.

But the Air Force One most people picture, the one featured in the Harrison Ford action film, is the Boeing 747-200b with water blue, steel blue and white paint set against a chrome underbody - a colour scheme picked out by First Lady Jackie Kennedy in 1962.

Currently there are two of these 747s in the Air Force passenger fleet, in use since 1990. Needless to say, technology – both in aircraft design and everything else – has come a long way in the ensuing years. The planes have been upgraded, but the costs of maintaining the airframe and engines are growing. The aircraft are showing their age.

This has clearly irked the current White House occupant – the only president to own his own jet, or for that matter, his own airline, prior to taking office.

"I leave now and get onto a 42-year-old Boeing," he said, exaggerating the plane's age during an industry briefing on Thursday in Abu Dhabi. "But new ones are coming."

Coming, but not soon enough for Trump. During his first term, he touted an updated presidential aircraft, made by Boeing, that was in the works. He even picked out his own colour palette, scrapping Kennedy's design for a red-white-and-blue livery. He proudly displays a model of that jet in the Oval Office.

Originally planned to be delivered by 2021, delays and cost overruns for the estimated $4bn construction programme have made it less likely that the two new planes on order will be available for much, if any, of Trump's second term in office, which expires in January 2029.

He has tasked tech multi-billionaire Elon Musk with speeding up the process and reportedly groused in private that he is embarrassed to travel in such an outdated plane.

That explains why the president has become enamoured with the prospect of a seemingly more immediate solution to his air transport woes – courtesy of the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar.

News of Qatar's offer of a lavish $400m (£301m) 747-8 made headlines last week, but the gift apparently has been in the works for months.

Trump surreptitiously visited the aircraft in question in mid-February, just a few weeks after the start of his second term in office.

Aside from the legal and ethical concerns of such a substantial gift – raised by critics and some allies of the president - converting a foreign 747 for use by an American president creates a number of technical challenges.

The aircraft would have to be made capable of in-flight refuelling and retrofitted with a sophisticated package of communications and security equipment. The current models have systems built to withstand the electromagnetic pulse of a nuclear explosion.

Such a refitting process, says aviation analyst Richard Aboulafia, managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory, would take years, until 2030 at least.

"They have to assume the jet has been left unattended in a dangerous place for 13 years," he says. "Which means it's not enough to take the plane apart. You also have to take every single component apart."

The plane would need additional power to run its new systems, and its interior might have to be rearranged. Chances are there's no press cabin in the flying palace as originally designed.

Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Defense and Security Department, says the costs of such retrofitting could easily run to $1bn (£750m).

He adds, however, that Trump could waive some, or all, of the security modifications if he so chooses.

"He's the president," he said.

When the Air Force ultimately does retire its current crop of 747s, it will put to pasture an aircraft that have been part of fabric of American history for decades. One that transported President Bill Clinton, along with former Presidents Jimmy Carter and George HW Bush, to Israel for Yitzhak Rabin's funeral in 1995.

After the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, George W Bush took to the skies in Air Force One and stayed aloft for hours, refuelling mid-air, until his security team determined it was safe for him to land and address the nation, before ultimately returning to Washington.

Six US presidents have travelled on these jets, criss-crossing the US and visiting all corners of the globe. One took Biden to Israel just days after the 7 October attack by Hamas.

Trump has effectively employed the aircraft as a campaign device, holding political rallies at airfields and making low-speed passes over the crowds before landing and using Air Force One as a dramatic backdrop for his speeches.

On Trump's recent Mid East trip, military fighters from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE accompanied Air Force One as it flew through their national airspace.

Aging though it may be, Air Force One is still one of the most recognisable signs of American presidential authority and power in the world - a military aircraft that serves a higher purpose.

"It's not made for luxury," says Aboulafia. "It's a flying command post. You're not there to throw parties."

Additional reporting by Max Matza

Liberal mayor Dan beats nationalist in tense race for Romanian presidency

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crk2xxzxkzxo, today

The liberal, pro-EU mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, has fought off a strong challenge from a Romanian right-wing nationalist to win the presidency after months of political turbulence.

George Simion, the leader of the far-right AUR party, won a dramatic first-round victory earlier this month, riding a wave of anger from Romanians who had seen the presidential race annulled late last year because of claims of Russian interference.

But it was the softly spoken Nicusor Dan who swept to victory, winning 55% of the vote in Romania, even though Simion was well ahead in the diaspora.

"We need to build Romania together irrespective of who you voted for," said Dan, once his victory was secure.

More than 11.6 million Romanians voted in Sunday's run-off, and Dan won the support of more than six million of them.

The mathematician waited until after midnight on Sunday before he could be absolutely sure that the numbers were on his side and he could join his supporters in a park opposite City Hall in Bucharest.

They went wild, chanting his name and cheering. At one point he was almost mobbed but this was a huge moment for the president-elect and for his supporters after months of political tension.

"A community of Romanians who want a profound change in Romania won," he said.

Romanians are broadly unhappy with the dominance of mainstream parties and the turbulence in this European Union and Nato member state intensified earlier this month when the government collapsed because its candidate had failed to make the second round.

While Nicusor Dan campaigned on fighting corruption and maintaining support for northern neighbour Ukraine, Simion attacked the EU and called for cutting aid to Kyiv.

"Russia, don't forget, Romania isn't yours," Dan's supporters chanted.

Even though exit polls had given him victory, they did not include the all-important diaspora vote and Simion clung to the belief that he could still win.

"I won, I am the new president of Romania and I am giving back power to the Romanians," he insisted initially.

It was not until the early hours of Monday that he conceded victory on Facebook. A protest planned by his supporters was then apparently called off.

During the election campaign Simion had stood side by side with Calin Georgescu, the far-right fringe figure who had stunned Romania with a first-round presidential victory at the end of last year, buoyed by an enormous TikTok campaign.

The vote was annulled over allegations of campaign fraud and Russian interference and Georgescu was barred from running again. Russia denied any involvement.

Asked by the BBC on Sunday whether he was acting as Georgescu's puppet, George Simion said: "The puppets are those who annulled the elections... I am a man of my people and my people voted for Calin Georgescu.

"Do we like democracy only when the good guy has won? I don't think this is an option."

He said he was a patriot and accused what he called the mainstream media of smearing him as a pro-Russian or fascist.

The key to Simion's success in the first round was his extraordinary win among diaspora voters in Western Europe, including in the UK.

His supporters turned out in force again on Sunday, with partial results giving him 68.5% support in Spain, 66.8% in Italy and 67% in Germany. He also had the edge in the UK, where voters said they would have picked Calin Georgescu if authorities had not barred him from running.

"We didn't know anything about [Georgescu] but then I listened to what he was saying, and you can tell he's a good Christian," said 37-year-old Catalina Grancea.

She had vowed to go back to Romania if Simion had won and her mother Maria said she too had voted for change: "Our children were forced to leave Romania because they couldn't find any jobs there."

However, Nicusor Dan's voters came out in even bigger numbers both in Romania and abroad. In neighbouring Moldova 87% of Romanians backed the mayor of Bucharest.

The presidents of both Moldova and Ukraine congratulated him on his victory.

"Moldova and Romania stand together, supporting one another and working side by side for a peaceful, democratic, and European future for all our citizens," said Maia Sandu.

"For Ukraine, as a neighbour and friend, it is important to have Romania as a reliable partner," said Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on social media that Romanians had turned out in massive numbers and had "chosen the promise of an open, prosperous Romania in a strong Europe".

FBI says suspect in US fertility clinic blast had 'nihilistic ideations'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c787j90wp6po, today

Authorities have identified the suspect in a deadly car blast that targeted a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California as Guy Edward Bartkus, a 25-year-old man they say "had nihilistic ideations".

The FBI said they believe he is the sole fatality in the incident.

They said on Sunday that he detonated explosives outside the clinic and tried to livestream the attack, but investigators are still piecing together his movements before the explosion.

The blast happened just before 11:00 local time (19:00 BST) on Saturday, less than a mile from downtown Palm Springs, near several businesses including the American Reproductive Centers (ARC). The clinic said no-one from the facility was harmed.

The FBI had called the attack an "intentional act of terrorism" and believe he deliberately targeted the IVF facility. They are reviewing a manifesto they believe could be linked to Bartkus.

Police said Bartkus is a resident of Twentynine Palms, home to a large marine base about an hour away from Palm Springs.

The FBI has executed a search warrant on his residence in Twentynine Palms, they said. Nearby residents had been evacuated.

Police stressed that there is no on-going threat to the public, both at the site of the blast and near the suspect's home.

The blast was a result of a large vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, sources told CBS.

The blast was felt more than a mile away from the explosion. It damaged several buildings, including the ACR fertility clinic with images showing a portion of its wall had been entirely destroyed.

The ARC in Palm Springs said the explosion occurred in the car park near its building.

The fertility clinic said their lab, including all eggs and embryos, remained "fully secure and undamaged".

But Dr Maher Abdallah, who runs the clinic, told the Associated Press that the clinic's office was damaged.

"I really have no clue what happened," he said. "Thank God today happened to be a day that we have no patients."

According to its website, the ARC clinic is the first full-service fertility centre and IVF lab in the Coachella Valley.

It offers services including fertility evaluations, IVF, egg donation and freezing, reproductive support for same-sex couples and surrogacy.

Warsaw's liberal mayor leads Polish presidential vote – exit poll

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgegn1ggxn8o, today

Warsaw's liberal mayor Rafal Trzaskowski won a narrow victory in Poland's presidential election, according to an exit poll, but a second-round run-off with conservative historian Karol Nawrocki will be required to decide the country's next president.

According to the poll released when voting ended, Trzaskowski, a deputy leader of prime minister Donald Tusk's centrist Civic Platform (PO) party, won 30.8% of the votes.

Nawrocki came second with 29.1% of the votes.

If the poll is confirmed by the final official result – not expected until late Monday – Trzaskowski and Nawrocki will compete in a second-round on 1 June as none of the 13 candidates won more than 50% of the vote.

Trzaskowski told his supporters at a rally in Sandomierz, southern Poland: "We're going to win." But he said a lot of work and "great determination" would be needed.

"I'm convinced that all Poland will win," he said.

He pledged to cooperate with prime minister Tusk's coalition to liberalise the country's strict abortion law and accelerate reform of the Polish judiciary, which was widely seen to have been politicised by the previous PiS-led government.

Trzaskowski performed worse than opinion polls predicted before the vote, which had him between 4%-6% ahead of Nawrocki.

Poland's president has largely ceremonial powers but he or she is able to veto government legislation. Tusk's coalition does not have a big enough parliamentary majority to overturn a presidential veto.

Tusk has failed to deliver many of his campaign promises, partly because the incumbent conservative president Andrzej Duda has vetoed his government's legislation, but also due to divisions within the coalition over issues like abortion and civil partnerships.

A victory for Trzaskowski would remove the president's veto, but Nawrocki would likely be an even tougher obstacle than Duda.

Nawrocki told his supporters in Gdansk that Tusk must be stopped from winning total power in Poland.

He called on supporters of two far-right candidates, Slawomir Mentzen, who came third and won 15.4%, and of Grzegorz Braun, who came fourth and won 6.2%, to "save Poland" from Tusk.

A lot will depend on which candidate can mobilise their electorate in the second round.

Nawrocki was unknown on a national scale before Law and Justice (PiS) chose him as its candidate. But he has improved on the job, and PiS is traditionally good at getting their vote out.

Trzaskowski will need to win the votes of supporters of his centrist party, but also those supporting the candidates of the junior coalition partners, the Left (Magdalena Biejat) and conservative Third Way (Szymon Holownia).

Another worry for Trzaskowski is the better than expected result of far-right candidates because many of their supporters will not vote for him.

Mentzen's result was a strong showing and continued the improvement of his far-right Confederation party since it entered parliament in 2019.

Who will his, mainly young voters, back in the run-off?

Many would support Nawrocki for his Catholic, family-oriented views, but they dislike PiS's left-wing economic policy of generous state benefits.

Mentzen is an anti-establishment candidate, and some of his supporters may not want to vote for either Nawrocki or Trzaskowski, who represent the two parties that have dominated Polish politics for two decades.

Far-right MEP, Grzegorz Braun's result was a nasty surprise for Poland's liberal voters.

Braun made headlines in 2023 when he put out the candles on a Jewish menorah in the Polish parliament with a fire extinguisher following a ceremony for the festival of Hanukkah.

Braun called the festival "satanic". During a presidential debate last month he said: "Jews have far too much say in Polish affairs."

Russia launches biggest drone attack since invasion began, says Ukraine

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1ldm42eyzmo, today

Ukraine says Russia has launched its biggest drone attack since the full-scale invasion began, targeting several regions including Kyiv, where one woman died.

Russia had launched 273 drones by 08:00 Sunday (05:00 GMT) targeting the central Kyiv region and Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions in the east, Ukraine's air force said.

The barrage has come just a day before a scheduled call between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The US President has been urging a ceasefire.

Russian and Ukraine had their first face-to-face talks in more than three years on Friday in Turkey, but it yielded little besides a new prisoner swap deal.

Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday that he and leaders of Britain, France, and Poland would have a virtual meeting with Trump before his conversation with Putin on Monday morning.

On Sunday, Ukraine's air force reported that Russia had launched a record number of drones, including Shahed attack drones, of which 88 were intercepted and another 128 went astray "without negative consequences".

The strikes killed one person on the outskirts of Kyiv, and injured at least three others, officials reported.

The previous largest drone attack from Russia had taken place on the third anniversary of the full-scale invasion on 23 February, when Moscow launched 267 drones.

Ukraine officials said Saturday night's strikes showed Russia had no intention of stopping the war, despite international pressure for a ceasefire.

"For Russia, the negotiations [on Friday] in Istanbul are just a pretence. Putin wants war," said Andriy Yermak, a top aide to the Ukrainian president.

Volodymyr Zelensky was at the Vatican on Sunday where he had a private meeting with Pope Leo following the new pontiff's inauguration mass. He also briefly met US Vice President JD Vance in Rome.

US officials investigating fatal Mexican Navy ship crash

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp8ykn0ez3po, today

Authorities in New York are investigating the site where a Mexican sailing ship struck the Brooklyn Bridge for clues about how the fatal collision occurred.

Two people on board were killed and at least 19 others were injured when the Mexican Navy training ship crashed into the bridge on Saturday night.

Police said early investigations showed the ship had lost power before the collision. Video showed the ship's three tall masts crumbling as horrified onlookers watched from the shore.

It's not clear how the vessel came to approach the bridge, which authorities confirmed was not damaged by the strike. It had reopened to traffic late on Saturday.

Police said the Cuauhtémoc ship had a 48.2m (158ft) mast height while the bridge had a 41.1m (135ft) clearance at its centre, according to the New York transport department's website.

Responders were able to remove at least 27 people from the ship for treatment, while all 277 personnel on the ship were accounted for, said New York fire authorities.

The ship lost all three masts and has been moved to a nearby pier for investigation.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to assist in the investigation, which is being coordinated between the US and Mexico governments.

Mexico's Navy Secretary Raymundo Pedro Morales Ángeles said in a statement the results of any investigation would be followed with "total transparency and responsibility".

The Cuauhtémoc left Acapulco, Mexico, on 6 April on a tour that included stops in New York and Aberdeen, Scotland, for the city's Tall Ships race in July.

Pope to meet Ukrainian leader after inauguration Mass

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2x02l95zno, today

Pope Leo XIV is to meet the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Vatican has said after his inauguration Mass.

The new Catholic leader highlighted his concerns about the war in Ukraine in his prayer at the end of the service, saying "the martyred Ukraine is waiting for negotiations for a just and lasting peace to finally happen".

The Pope spoke to a crowd of thousands in St Peter's Square to warn against marginalisation of the poor and autocracy.

Zelensky, US Vice President JD Vance and the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio were among dignitaries in attendance.

The pontiff was seen shaking hands with Zelensky, as well as other dignitaries.

He used his Mass to criticise "hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth's resources and marginalises the poorest".

He also said he would seek to govern "without ever yielding to the temptation to be an autocrat".

Thousands of pilgrims stood in reverence as the pope received the symbols of office, blessed the people and issued a strong call for unity.

Before the Mass, there were cheers from the crowd when the pontiff appeared in his popemobile as it drove around St Peter's Square and down Via della Conciliazione to the river Tiber and back.

There was a strong sense of excitement in the square. Michelle, from Germany, told the BBC she "came on purpose to see the Pope".

"I arrived yesterday in the morning and I'm leaving in a few hours, so I don't have much time. It's very crazy because there's so many people. I wanted to see the Pope."

Many of the tens of thousands attending were Catholics, but tourists also came to be part of the historic occasion.

Joe from Missouri in the United States said: "We're on vacation, but it's great timing. We're here to see the Pope's inaugural mass. It's very special. I'm glad we came early."

He said he was "extra proud" to see the first Pope from the United States. "That was a surprise. He's gonna be a wonderful Pope. I am not Catholic, but I grew up Catholic, but this is just inspiring no matter what denomination of Christian you are."

Also in the crowds was Pia, from Chile, a professor of philosophy at a the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. She told the BBC she felt there was "a new hope in the church".

Pia said that among the Pope's first words when he was elected was "Let the peace be with you", the words of Jesus. And then he said "don't be afraid".

"He knows what the world and the church needs. A church that is preaching hope, preaching peace. I think many people are waiting for that," she said.

The Pope's official inauguration followed the Mass, with a pallium garment - a white woolen band - placed on the pope's shoulders, and fixed in place with three pins to represent the nails on the cross.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines then placed on the pope's finger the Ring of the Fisherman, a symbol of the papacy which bears an image of St Peter.

Pope Leo then took the book of the gospels to bless the people.

'You start to go crazy': The Australian who survived five years in a Chinese prison

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c629664xp57o, yesterday

Sharing a dirty cell with a dozen others, constant sleep deprivation, cells with lights on 24-hours a day; poor hygiene and forced labour. These are some of what prisoners in Chinese jails are subjected to, according to Australian citizen Matthew Radalj, who spent five years at the Beijing No 2 prison – a facility used for international inmates.

Radalj, who is now living outside China, has decided to go public about his experience, and described undergoing and witnessing severe physical punishment, forced labour, food deprivation and psychological torture.

The BBC has been able to corroborate Radalj's testimony with several former prisoners who were behind bars at the same time he was.

Many requested anonymity, because they feared retribution on loved ones still living inside the country. Others said they just wanted to try to forget the experience and move on.

The Chinese government has not responded to the BBC's request for comment.

A harsh introduction

"I was in really bad shape when I arrived. They beat me for two days straight in the first police station that I was in. I hadn't slept or eaten or had water for 48 hours and then I was forced to sign a big stack of documents," said Radalj of his introduction to imprisonment in China, which began with his arrest on 2 January, 2020.

The former Beijing resident claims he was wrongfully convicted after a fight with shopkeepers at an electronics market, following a dispute over the agreed price to fix a mobile phone screen.

He claims he ended up signing a false confession to robbery, after being told it would be pointless to try to defend his innocence in a system with an almost 100% criminal conviction rate and in the hope that this would reduce the time of his incarceration.

Court documents indicate that this worked at least to some extent, earning him a four-year sentence.

Once in prison, he said he first had to spend many months in a separate detention centre where he was subjected to a more brutal "transition phase".

During this time prisoners must follow extremely harsh rules in what he described as horrific conditions.

"We were banned from showering or cleaning ourselves, sometimes for months at a time. Even the toilet could be used only at specific allotted times, and they were filthy - waste from the toilets above would constantly drip down on to us."

Eventually he was admitted to the "normal" prison where inmates had to bunk together in crowded cells and where the lights were never turned off.

You also ate in the same room, he said.

According to Radalj, African and Pakistani prisoners made up the largest groups in the facility, but there were also men being held from Afghanistan, Britain, the US, Latin America, North Korea and Taiwan. Most of them had been convicted for acting as drug mules.

The 'good behaviour' points system

Radalj said that prisoners were regularly subjected to forms of what he described as psychological torture.

One of these was the "good behaviour points system" which was a way – at least in theory – to reduce your sentence.

Prisoners could obtain a maximum of 100 good behaviour points per month for doing things like studying Communist Party literature, working in the prison factory or snitching on other prisoners. Once 4,200 points were accumulated, they could in theory be used to reduce prison time.

If you do the maths, that would mean a prisoner would have to get maximum points every single month for three-and-half years before this could start to work.

Radalj said that in reality it was used as a means of psychological torture and manipulation.

He claims the guards would deliberately wait till an inmate had almost reached this goal and then penalise them on any one of a huge list of possible infractions which would cancel out points at the crucial time.

These infractions included - but were not limited to - hoarding or sharing food with other prisoners, walking "incorrectly" in the hallway by straying from a line painted on the ground, hanging socks on a bed incorrectly, or even standing too close to the window.

Other prisoners who spoke about the points system to the BBC described it as a mind game designed to crush spirits.

Former British prisoner Peter Humphrey, who spent two years in detention in Shanghai, said his facility had a similar points calculation and reduction system which was manipulated to control prisoners and block sentence reductions.

"There were cameras everywhere, even three to a cell," he said. "If you crossed a line marked on the ground and were caught by a guard or on camera, you would be punished. The same if you didn't make your bed properly to military standard or didn't place your toothbrush in the right place in the cell.

"There was also group pressure on prisoners with entire cell groups punished if one prisoner did any of these things."

One ex-inmate told the BBC that in his five years in prison, he never once saw the points actually used to mitigate a sentence.

Radalj said that there were a number of prisoners - including himself - who didn't bother with the points system.

So authorities resorted to other means of applying psychological pressure.

These included cutting time off monthly family phone calls or the reduction of other perceived benefits.

Food As Control

But the most common daily punishment involved the reduction of food.

The BBC has been told by numerous former inmates that the meals at Beijing's No 2 prison were mostly made up of cabbage in dirty water which sometimes also had bits of carrot and, if they were lucky, small slivers of meat.

They were also given mantou - a plain northern Chinese bread. Most of the prisoners were malnourished, Radalj added.

Another prisoner described how inmates ate a lot of mantou, as they were always hungry. He said that their diets were so low in nutrition – and they could only exercise outside for half an hour each week – that they developed flimsy upper bodies but retained bloated looking stomachs from consuming so much of the mantou.

Prisoners were given the opportunity to supplement their diet by buying meagre extra rations, if money from relatives had been put into what were called their "accounts": essentially a prison record of funds delivered to purchase provisions like soap or toothpaste.

They could also use this to purchase items like instant noodles or soy milk powder. But even this "privilege" could be taken away.

Radalj said he was blocked from making any extra purchases for 14 months because he refused to work in the prison factory, where inmates were expected to assemble basic goods for companies or compile propaganda leaflets for the ruling Communist Party.

To make things worse, they were made to work on a "farm", where they did manage to grow a lot of vegetables, but were never allowed to eat them.

Radalj said the farm was displayed to a visiting justice minister as an example of how impressive prison life was.

But, he said, it was all for show.

"We would be growing tomatoes, potatoes, cabbages and okra and then – at the end of the season – they would push it all into a big hole and bury it," he added.

"And if you were caught with a chilli or a cucumber in general population you would go straight to solitary confinement for eight months."

Another prisoner said they would occasionally suddenly receive protein, like a chicken leg, to make their diet look better when officials visited the prison.

Humphrey said there were similar food restrictions in his Shanghai prison, adding that this led to power struggles among the inmates: "The kitchen was run by prison labour. Those who worked there stole the best stuff and it could then be distributed."

Radalj described a battle between African and Taiwanese groups in Beijing's Prison No 2 over this issue.

The Nigerian inmates were working in the kitchen and "were getting small benefits, like a bag of apples once a month or some yogurt or a couple of bananas", he said.

Then the Mandarin-speaking Taiwanese inmates were able to convince the guards to let them take over, giving them control of precious extra food items.

This led to a large brawl, and Radalj said he was caught in the middle of it. He was sent to solitary confinement for 194 days after hitting another prisoner.

Inside solitary, he finally had the lights turned off only to realise he'd be with very little light nearly all of the time, giving him the opposite sensory problem.

His small food ration was also cut in half. There were no reading materials and there was nobody to talk to while he was held in a bare room of 1.2 by 1.8 metres (4ft by 6ft) for half a year.

"You start to go crazy, whether you like it or not, and that's what solitary is designed to do… So you've got to decide very quickly whether your room is really, really small, or really, really big.

"After four months, you just start talking to yourself all the time. The guards would come by and ask 'Hey, are you okay?'. And you're like, 'why?'. They replied, 'because you're laughing'."

Then, Radalj said, he would respond, in his own mind: "It's none of your business."

Another feature of Chinese prison life, according to Radalji, was the fake "propaganda" moments officials would stage for Chinese media or visiting officials to paint a rosy picture of conditions there.

He said, at one point, a "computer suite" was set up. "They got everyone together and told us that we'd get our own email address and that we would be able to send emails. They then filmed three Nigerian guys using these computers."

The three prisoners apparently looked confused because the computers were not actually connected to the internet - but the guards had told them to just "pretend".

"Everything was filmed to present a fake image of prisoners with access to computers," Radalj said.

But, he claims, soon after the photo opportunity, the computers were wrapped up in plastic and never touched again.

The memoirs

Throughout much of the ordeal, Radalj had been secretly keeping a journal by peeling open Covid masks and writing tiny sentences inside, with the help of some North Korean prisoners, who have also since been released.

"I would be writing, and the Koreans would say: 'No smaller… smaller!'."

Radalj said many of the prisoners had no way of letting their families know they were in jail.

Some had not made phone calls to their relatives because no money had been placed in their accounts for phone calls. For others, their embassies had not registered family telephone numbers for the prison phone system. Only calls to officially approved numbers worked.

So, after word got round that the Australian was planning to try to smuggle his notes out, they passed on details to connect with their families.

"I had 60 or 70 people hoping I could contact their loved ones after I got out to tell them what was happening."

He wrapped the pieces of Covid mask as tight as he could with sticky tape hoarded from the factory and tried to swallow the egg-sized bundle without the guards seeing.

But he couldn't keep it down.

The guards saw what was happening on camera and started asking, "Why are you vomiting? Why do you keep gagging? What's wrong?"

So, he gave up and hid the bundle instead.

When he was about to leave on 5 October 2024, he was given his old clothes which had been ripped five years earlier in the struggle over his initial arrest.

There was a tear in the lining of his jacket and he quickly dropped the notes inside before a guard could see him.

Radalj said he thinks someone told the prison officers of his plan because they searched his room and questioned him before he left.

"Did you forget something?" the guards asked.

"They trashed all my belongings. I was thinking they're gonna take me back to solitary confinement. There will be new charges."

But the guard holding his clothes never knew the secret journal had been slipped inside.

"They were like, 'Get out of here!'. And it wasn't until I was on the plane, and we had already left, and the seat belt sign was switched off, that I reached into my jacket to check."

The notes were still there.

Life After Prison

Just before he had boarded the plane in Beijing a policeman who had escorted him to the gate had used Radalj's boarding pass to buy duty free cigarettes for his mates.

"He said don't come back to China. You're banned for 10 years. And I said 'yeah cool. Don't smoke. It's bad for your health'".

The officer laughed.

He arrived back in Australia and hugged his father at Perth airport. The tears were flowing.

Then he got married to his long-time girlfriend and now they spend their days making candles and other products.

Radalj says he is still angry about his experience and has a long way to go to recover properly.

But he is making his way through the contact list of his former inmate friends – "I have spent the best part of six months contacting their families, lobbying their embassies so they might try to do a better job of helping them during their incarceration."

Some of them, he said, haven't spoken to people back home for nearly a decade. And helping them has also helped with the transition back to his old life.

"With freedom comes a great sense of gratitude," Radalj says. "You have a deeper appreciation for the very simplest things in life. But I also have a great sense of responsibility to the people I left behind in prison."

Water voles are almost extinct - could glitter save them?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czx08exwp97o, today

Endangered water voles in Wales are being fed edible glitter in a bid to save them from extinction.

Once commonly found across south Wales, water voles are now effectively extinct in all but a few locations, according to the Wildlife Trust.

With their future hanging in the balance, conservationists have been looking for new ways to track the naturally shy individuals in the wild - which is where the glitter comes in.

Nature Conservation Cymru hopes that by offering the animals something sparkly to eat, the sparkle should come out the other end - providing some much-needed answers.

Rob Parry, chief executive of Nature Conservation Cymru, said his team had consulted with vets to ensure the edible and biodegradable glitter - the type used to decorate cakes - would not be harmful to the semi-aquatic creatures.

"It's something that we've done in nature conservation before for other species, for badgers in particular where we use pellets to put in with peanuts, which badgers love," said Mr Parry.

"So we've taken that idea and scaled it down to water vole size, which means using glitter."

The hope is that if the water voles are willing to consume the glitter then it will come out in their poo, allowing the small mammals - which are often mistaken for brown rats - to be tracked by conservationists.

Different colours of glitter could be used to allow conservationists to track different families of water voles and how far they range.

It might sound like a fun idea, but Mr Parry and his team could not be more serious.

If they can track where water voles are located in the wild, they can make adjustments to the environment - like removing invasive conifers from wetland habitats or fencing off certain riverbanks to stop sheep grazing.

Measures like this could help the species to disperse through the landscape undisturbed and potentially be a life-saving intervention.

"We'll be able to see the types of territory, the size and where they go in," said Mr Parry.

"Are they just using the linear features, the ditches, or are they spreading out into the bog and the molinia grassland habitat?

"That will be really crucial for when it comes to planning for our upland habitats."

The team is first testing out their theory on some captive-bred water voles which are part of a wider Natural Resources Wales (NRW) project to reintroduce colonies into the wild.

The glitter is spread onto chunks of apple, not part of their normal diet in the wild, but a food the animals love and do well on in captivity, according to Richard Davies from NRW.

"They get everything they need from apples, carrots, and some dried rabbit food as well," he said.

He has successfully bred hundreds of water voles which have been reintroduced into the wild, though he said their release was no guarantee of survival.

"Most predators in the UK would quite happily take a water vole. They need to be able to cope with this heavy predation and replace themselves a lot," he said.

With a BBC News camera present, the glittery purple apple was placed on top of the straw bedding which covered the water voles' pen.

After 20 minutes, the food remained untouched, but an hour later most of it had disappeared.

The success of the project, however, does not just depend on the appetite of the water voles, but how well the glitter can retain its shine from end to end.

Mr Parry said without interventions like this, the future for water voles was uncertain.

"It's been a perfect storm of bad things that's happened to water voles in the last few decades," he said.

"We have drained an awful lot of their wetland habitat, forced them into linear ditches where we find them now, and then the biggest problem is the American mink, an invasive species that was let out and released from pens and they just turned out to be the perfect water vole predators. The water voles don't stand a chance, really."

But now, at least, he is more hopeful.

The water voles, known for being nervous about any changes to to their environment, had not rejected the glitter.

So, did the experiment work?

Just 24 hours later, a tiny glittery poo was spotted.

The conservation team was elated.

Pop culture re-invented the Menendez brothers - but can it set them free?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c79ed21xyyro, today

It was once unthinkable that Lyle and Erik Menendez, the men who murdered their wealthy parents by shooting them 16 times, would get the sympathy and forgiveness of the masses.

Their claims of sexual abuse at the hands of their father were mocked by prosecutors and comedians alike, from late-night TV to jokes at the Academy Awards.

But 35 years later - thanks in part to TikTok, Netflix and stars like Kim Kardashian - the Menendez brothers have a new generation of supporters - many who were not even born in 1989, the year the brothers ambushed their parents with shotguns in their Beverly Hills mansion.

At the time of their trials, the brothers were portrayed as greedy, entitled monsters who went on a $700,000 (£526,0000) spending spree in the weeks after the murders. Now, with a growing understanding of trauma and sexual abuse, many are more sympathetic - and that might just give the brothers a chance at freedom.

This week, a Los Angeles judge reduced the brothers' sentence to include the possibility of parole, which could be granted at a hearing next month.

Their fate will then be in the hands of California's Parole Board and, ultimately, Governor Gavin Newsom, who will be weighing the shifting public opinion about the divisive case with his own political ambitions.

How did we get here?

In 1989, Erik and Lyle Menendez burst into their Beverly Hills living room, both toting loaded shotguns, and opened fire on their parents, who were watching television. The crime would go unsolved for months.

They got tickets for the James Bond film License to Kill as an alibi and told law enforcement and members of the news media, who were covering the execution of the wealthy, high-powered couple in their mansion, that perhaps the mafia was to blame.

Meanwhile, they bought a new Porsche, Jeep, Rolex watches and other luxury items with cash from their parents' estate.

They weren't caught until police got word of their admissions to a psychologist.

Even at the time, their crime was divisive - the first trial ended un a mistrial after the jury couldn't reach a verdict. After the second, they were sentenced to life without parole.

During both trials, the brothers were characterised as bad boys and spoiled children who were motivated to kill their parents out of hatred and hopes to acquire their $14 million estate.

Saturday Night Live and other late-night shows mocked the pair's defence in court – including tearful testimony about their alleged sexual abuse, which prosecutors dubbed the "abuse excuse" - and documentary titles from that decade included phrases like "the bad sons" and "American sons, American murderers".

Appeal after appeal was denied but last year, everything seemed to change. New evidence about the alleged sexual abuse had surfaced and Netflix released a drama that captured the attention of a whole new generation. Soon, documentaries about the case included titles with words like "misjudged" and "boys betrayed".

TikTokers discussed the case with their followers. Reality star Kim Kardashian, a criminal justice advocate who has helped free imprisoned people, penned an opinion piece publicly backing their bid for freedom.

"Back then, there were limited resources for victims of sexual abuse, particularly for boys," Kardashian wrote in the NBC piece.

In the 1990s, society did not have the same understanding we do today of trauma, sexual abuse and harassment, Whitney Phillips, a University of Oregon professor who studies true crime, told the BBC. That gap in understanding was especially pronounced for boys who were abused, she added.

But after the MeToo movement, there was more cultural space created for people to speak about these experiences, she said.

"Not only does it create a permission structure," Prof Phillips said of people feeling encouraged to speak out about harassment and abuse, "in some ways it creates an incentive structure to feature stories about trauma".

Adding to that is the change in how the public views criminal justice, with more emphasis on rehabilitation and reducing prison populations instead of the tough-on-crime mentality that dominated Los Angeles at the end of the 20th Century.

"The lock people up forever attitude of the 1990s is fortunately long gone," said Robert Rand, a journalist who met and interviewed the brothers before they were arrested and uncovered new evidence in 2018 - a letter Erik had written as a teenager to a cousin about his father's sexual abuse.

In a documentary Mr Rand produced about the killings, released in 2023, a former member of the boy band called Menudo, alleged the Menfather - who was an executive at RCA Records - had raped him when he was 14 years old, which further bolstered their claims.

The new testimonies helped give new life to the brothers' claims, and provided a catalyst for what Prof Phillips called a "hurricane" of interest and support, from the Netflix drama to Kardashian's op-ed.

"The things that get really big online are things that have lots of sources of energy," she said.

Even Lyle Menendez noted the sea change.

"The followers who are younger that are on that sort of TikTok social media generation, they really have tremendous hope," Lyle Menendez said at a court hearing.

"I'm not as hopeless as I was as a 21-year-old, that's for sure. Obviously, I feel more hope when society seems to be understanding these experiences and sex abuse better."

Where do the Menendez brothers go from here?

The fate of the brothers – regardless of what social media, the courts or California's parole board recommends – ultimately rests with one man: Governor Newsom, who has the power to accept or reject any parole recommendation.

And many believe that man is considering a run for president in 2028.

Since the last election, Newsom has been undergoing a political transformation, shifting from crusading liberal pushing universal healthcare to a more moderate, pragmatic approach, most recently proposing freezing healthcare for undocumented immigrants.

Weighing in on such a divisive case could be "risky", said Pennsylvania-based Republican political strategist Sam Chen.

"Can you imagine a reality TV show of the Menendez brothers while Newsom is trying to run for president? Talk about free campaign airtime," he said. "That would be the worst thing for him."

Although no one knows which way he is leaning, Newsom has mentioned the case several times on social media and on his podcast.

"The question for the board is a rather simple one," Newsom said in February on TikTok. "Do they pose a current, what we call 'unreasonable' risk to public safety."

Mr Rand acknowledged the case is "risky" politically for Newsom.

"You can't get around the elephant in the room: They brutally murdered their parents," Rand told the BBC. "But if you do believe that they were abused and that they suffered from a lifetime of abuse - and there actually is evidence that supports their story - it's a very different situation."

The brothers have not committed violent crimes while in prison, a fact the judge in their resentencing hearing considered, although they did have infractions for using cell phones smuggled into prison.

They've also led productive lives while incarcerated, with Erik founding a hospice programme to help elderly and disabled inmates while Lyle has been working on prison beautification.

Remarkably, every single surviving member of their family – from cousins to aunts and uncles - want the Menendez brothers released, including the surviving siblings of Jose and Kitty Menendez.

"They chose to live their lives with clarity and a purpose of service," their cousin Anamaria Baralt said outside the court after they were resentenced.

If the board recommends parole in June, the governor has 30 days to accept or reject the recommendation. If they are paroled, the brothers will be released likely within five months, according to the California Department of Corrections.

The fact that Gov Newsom ordered the state parole board to conduct a comprehensive risk assessment before the brothers were even deemed eligible for parole has many thinking he's open to releasing them.

"He wants the political cover" of the parole board and court recommendations, said Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor who has been following the brothers' legal saga but is not representing any of the participants.

A year ago, Mr Rahmani never would have predicted the Menendez brothers could be released. Now he thinks they will be free within the next few months.

But it wouldn't be unprecedented for Gov Newsom to reject a high-profile parole recommendation.

Several times he blocked the release of a Manson Family member. And in 2022, Newsom blocked the release of Sirhan Sirhan, the man who assassinated Sen Robert F Kennedy.

As far as the Menendez brothers go, Gov Newsom said on his podcast that he's mulling over the case and he's not planning to watch any of the documentaries or true crime dramas about the case.

"I'm obviously familiar with the Menendez brothers just through the news over the course of many decades, but not to the degree that many others are because of all of these documentaries and all of the attention they've received," he said. "So that won't bias my independent and objective review of the facts."

India's forgotten actor who lost her legacy to caste oppression

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c30q1rvqn17o, today

At a time when women's participation in the film industry was frowned upon, a young woman dared to dream differently.

In 1920s pre-independence India, PK Rosy became the first female lead in Malayalam-language cinema, in what is now the southern state of Kerala.

She starred in a movie called Vigathakumaran, or The Lost Child, in the 1920s. But instead of being remembered as a pioneer, her story was buried - erased by caste discrimination and social backlash.

Rosy belonged to a lower-caste community and faced intense criticism for portraying an upper-caste woman in Vigathakumaran.

Almost a hundred years later, there is no surviving evidence of Rosy's role. The film's reel was destroyed and the cast and crew have all died.

Only a few pictures of the film from a contested press release dated October 1930 survive, along with an unverified black-and-white photo popularised by local newspapers as Rosy's only portrait.

Even a Google Doodle celebrating her 120th birthday used an illustration similar to the woman in the photograph. But Rosy's nephew and others who have researched her life told the BBC that they could not conclusively say that it is her in the picture.

PK Rosy was born as Rajamma in the early 1900s in the erstwhile kingdom of Travancore, now Kerala.

She belonged to a family of grass cutters from the Pulaya community, part of the Dalits, who are at the bottom of India's harsh caste hierarchy and have been historically oppressed.

"People from the Pulaya community were considered slave labour and auctioned off with land," says Malavika Binny, a professor of history at Kannur University.

"They were considered the 'lowliest'. They were flogged, raped, tied to trees and set on fire for any so-called transgressions," she adds.

Despite the dire social challenges, Rosy chose to dream differently.

She was supported by her uncle, who was a theatre artist himself, and with his help Rosy entered the field of entertainment.

"There are few available facts about Rosy's life, but it is known that she was popular for her performances in local plays," says Vinu Abraham, the author of The Lost Heroine, a novel based on Rosy's life.

While her acting skills earned admiration, it was rare for a Dalit woman to take up acting at the time.

"She was likely aware of the fact that this was a new arena and making herself visible was important," says Prof Binny.

She soon became a well-known figure in local theatre circles and her talent caught the eye of director JC Daniel, who was then searching for a lead actor for his film - a character named Sarojini.

Daniel was aware of Rosy's caste identity and chose to cast her in the role.

"She was paid five rupees a day for 10 days of filming," said Mr Abraham. "This was a substantial amount of money in the 1920s."

On the day of the film's premiere, Rosy and her family were barred from attending the screening.

They were stopped because they were Dalits, Rosy's nephew Biju Govindan says.

And so began a chain of events that pushed Rosy out of the public eye and her home.

"The crowd that came to watch the movie were provoked by two things: Rosy playing an upper-caste woman and the hero picking a flower from her hair and kissing it in one scene," said Mr Abraham.

"They started throwing rocks at the screen and chased Daniel away," he added.

There are differing accounts of the extent of the damage to the theatre but what is clear is the toll the incident took on both Rosy and Daniel.

Daniel had spent a lot of money to establish a studio and gather resources to produce the film, and was heavily debt-ridden. Facing immense social and financial pressure, the director, who is now widely regarded as the father of Malayalam cinema, never made another film.

Rosy fled her hometown after an angry mob set her house on fire.

She cut all ties with her family to avoid being recognised and never spoke publicly about her past. She rebuilt her life by marrying an upper-caste man and took the name Rajammal.

She lived the rest of her life in obscurity in the town of Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu, Mr Abraham says.

Her children refused to accept that PK Rosy, the Dalit actor, was their mother, Rosy's nephew Mr Govindan says.

"Her children were born with an upper-caste Kesavan Pillai's identity. They chose their father's seed over their mother's womb," he says.

"We, her family, are part of PK Rosy's Dalit identity before the film's release," he said.

"In the space they inhabit, caste restricts them from accepting their Dalit heritage. That is their reality and our family has no place in it."

In 2013, a Malayalam TV channel tracked down Rosy's daughter Padma, who was living in financial strain somewhere in Tamil Nadu. She told them that she did not know much about her mother's life before her marriage but that she did not act after that.

The BBC made attempts to contact Rosy's children, but their relatives said they were not comfortable with the attention.

Prof Binny says that the erasure of Rosy's legacy shows how deeply caste-based trauma can run.

"It can be so intense that it shapes or defines the rest of one's life," she says, adding that she is glad Rosy eventually found a safe space.

In recent years, Dalit filmmakers and activists have sought to reclaim Rosy's legacy. Influential Tamil director Pa Ranjith has launched a yearly film festival in her name which celebrates Dalit cinema. A film society and foundation have also been established.

But there is still a haunting sense that while Rosy was ultimately saved, it was at the cost of her passion and identity.

"Rosy prioritised survival over art and, as a result, never tried to speak publicly or reclaim her lost identity. That's not her failure - it's society's," says Mr Govindan.

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It's one of the most rowdy US sporting events. Here's what Preakness says about the economy

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2lk0zq7kg5o, today

A woman balancing a dozen cocktails on a tray atop her head inched carefully through the steadily building crowds and chaos Saturday morning at the Pimlico Race Course clubhouse.

"How much is that," a man in purple pants yelled towards her, the glassware inches above her eyebrow clanking as she paused.

"Twenty dollars," she replied.

Ray De Rubin repeated the number in disbelief, mumbled an expletive under his breath, then said: "I'll take two."

He and his mother were at Pimlico for the first time - here to wager on US horse racing's esteemed Preakness Stakes on its 150th anniversary. Just two weeks ago, during his 14th trip to the Kentucky Derby, he won big.

"This is the exact same outfit I wore on Derby day. Same underwear, same socks, same hat," he said. "I still got my Derby wristband on."

His wager at Pimlico? "I can't tell you. I don't want the IRS coming after me," he said with a grin.

On the other side of Pimlico – just beyond the thousand-dollar seats, champagne flutes, and air-conditioned tents on the infield – five thoroughbreds idled behind the starting line. Mr De Rubin had bets on three of them.

There was a brief moment of quiet before the race. Boom! The gates flung open, the horses took off. Mr De Rubin, eyes fixed on the screens above, stood frozen. But only for a moment.

"I get really loud when I watch the race. I put a lot of work into this," he said.

Tradition, but under a shadow

One of three annual thoroughbred races - along with the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes - that make up what is known as the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes has long been known as one of the most glamorously bacchanal events in US sports. Held at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland, it brings together the rowdy and the rich. But this year, its tradition have been thrown into question.

In his second presidency, Donald Trump has enforced swift, dramatic economic policy changes, leading to consumer pessimism unseen in over half a century. Virtually no corner of the American market has been spared - from the fast-food hamburger to the Preakness Stakes.

Much of the current market-rattling turmoil is a result of Trump's sweeping global tariffs, announced on 2 April. Dubbed "Liberation Day", he said the new economic strategy would usher in "the golden age of America". Instead, in the 48 hours after his announcement, the S&P 500 had its worst two-day sell-off in years, as trillions of dollars were wiped from the stock market.

Three weeks later, the International Monetary Fund warned of a global recession. Even McDonald's reported a drop in sales, which the burger chain's CEO attributed to customers "grappling with uncertainty". But while the stock market has mostly recovered following tariff agreements with the UK and China, the tariffs' impact may be just beginning; mega corporations like Walmart and Amazon recently warned of price increases.

But at Pimlico, the state of Maryland is betting big, with plans to demolish the track right after Saturday's event and rebuild a new course in its place, plus a state-of-the-art training facility.

The tariffs' shadow looms here, too. "We expect there to be some kind of impact," the Maryland Stadium Authority told the BBC in a statement. But for now, they said the effects on the half-billion dollar project remains unclear.

Aside from tariffs, horse race attendance has shrunk in recent years. Just over 46,000 people attended the Preakness in 2024, down from the 131,000 that attended in 2019. The Derby drew a much larger crowd of roughly 150,000 this year but was still well under its peak of 170,000 in 2015.

Bill Carstanjen, CEO of the Derby's home, Churchill Downs, said a dip in sales this year was due to buyer "hesitancy" that "correlates perfectly" with Trump's swinging tariffs.

"We didn't have the endless pool of demand that we've seen in prior years," Mr Carstanjen told the Lexington Herald.

'A little reprieve'

Still, gambling records this year were broken at the Derby and Preakness. Over a week before the Preakness and before the horses running were finalised, a Preakness record of $348,000 was wagered on betting futures, up from last year's record of $260,000. All just a drop in the bucket compared to the millions that will be wagered by the time the last horse crosses the finish line.

University of Kentucky economics professor Justin Balthrop told the BBC that a rise in gambling also could be a sign of economic distress.

"People who reach a certain level of despair will start to take on more risk, in an effort to literally gamble their way back to a place where they feel like they can be more comfortable," Professor Balthrop said.

"You combine that with this idea that maybe they are so pessimistic, that this gives them the dopamine rush or endorphin release."

Waiting in a long line on Pimlico's infield, Anthony Walker was among those looking for "a little reprieve".

He was glad "to be able to take a few hours away from all that instability" of the stock market and federal employee layoffs, also stirred by Trump.

Mr Walker planned to gamble – "you can't come to the race without putting a little something out there" – but a bit less than he might've in more certain times.

"I'm wagering 50% less, for sure," he estimated. "Because of what's happening in the economy – the way this administration is taking a wrecking ball to the longstanding traditions and institutions that give credence to the American way of life."

At the Preakness, there are still endless ways to get a quick dose of gambling-induced dopamine. Even for as little as 10 cents.

"I've seen a 10 cent (wager) pay $75,000," said Peter Rotondo, who heads racing and wagering for 1/ST, the organisation running Preakness.

To do so, one would have to wager on what's called a superfecta: correctly guessing which four horses will place in the top four in the exact order, odds that are about on par with getting struck by lightning.

"That's the beauty of the super," Mr Rotondo said.

'The most salacious party in sports'

The pricey cocktail Mr De Rubin grumbled about is the Black-Eyed Susan, also Maryland's official flower. The crazed concoction - bourbon, vodka, and a splash of mixers - leaves one to wonder whether it's truly a tribute to the state flower or a wink to the likely black eye after having too many.

The drink is one of many traditions at the annual event. There's also the decades-old Tiffany & Co-made trophy called the Woodlawn Vase, considered "the most valuable trophy in sports". Made of 30lb of sterling silver, it's valued at an estimated $4m (£3m), and thus is kept in a museum most of the year. The Preakness winner leaves with a replica.

But for many, the Preakness wouldn't be the Preakness without the party on the infield.

"I went a lot in my 20s and 30s. It was an absolutely crazy party," Bobby Duke, 51, said in an email to the BBC. "In 1998, a guy jumped the fence and tried to punch a horse while racing. It's on YouTube."

Though Pimlico always had offerings for elegant, fans like Mr Duke fondly remember piling into the infield for "the most salacious party on the sports calendar", as ESPN once put it, where patrons would race across a long row of porta-pottys while dodging beer cans hurled at them by inebriated onlookers. (That tradition ended around 2009, when Pimlico stopped its BYOB policy.)

Maryland officials said the new Pimlico will become a year-round racing facility, and hopefully bring an economic boost to the low-income Park Heights neighbourhood surrounding it.

Watch the horses, not the stock market

In his purple paints and every-colour-of-the-rainbow shirt, Mr De Rubin grew agitated as his luck began to unravel during the five-horse race.

"(Horse number five) is dead last. I don't think they're going to catch this," he said with growing animation, rattling the ice in his Black-Eyed Susan. He placed bets on horses one, three and five.

"Oh, (crap), the three horse. Here comes the one horse. Come on, one!"

In a span of about three minutes, the anticipation, anxiety, fear and hope all came crashing to an end. Mr De Rubin didn't win. But he didn't lose either. The even spread on the winning horse basically gave him back what he put into it.

He compared the experience to today's seesaw stock market.

"Investing, and betting on horses, is gambling. You have ups and downs," he said.

His stock portfolio has taken a wild downward spin through Trump's global tariff tit-for-tat. But recently it sprang back into the green and is up around 20%, he said.

Unlike the horses, "you can't watch the market. It'll give you a heart attack", he advised.

"I have faith in Trump. He's a little crazy with it right now, but it'll all work out."

Back garden's wildlife beauty captured over decade

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c80kve8kr4no, today

A photographer has spent a decade carrying out "garden safaris" in order to capture the diversity and beauty of Britain's back garden wildlife.

The images, including battling birds and squabbling squirrels, showed just what could be found "under our noses", said Andrew Fusek Peters.

"I wanted to celebrate the everyday stories and reveal the beauty of our birds, mammals and insects that live alongside us," the Shropshire photographer added.

Hundreds of his images feature in a new book.

The majority of the photographs were taken in his "modest" garden, and local village of Lydbury.

"You don't have to travel to nature reserves or mountains," he said.

"I sometimes get snobbery from the big photographers who go to Africa and do the lions and tigers, or Greenland for the Polar bears," he explained.

"And they think I'm somehow inferior because I do blue tits in the garden."

But, he added, capturing rare images such as a hare feeding her leveret on someone's back lawn was "just amazing".

"At the time I took it, that had been photographed maybe less than 10 times in the world," he said.

"It was sheer gold on my memory card."

He had also travelled to other parts of the UK in order to capture other "extraordinary moments," including a fox family playing in Clapham, south London, and a pair of red squirrels on the Isle of Wight.

Mr Fusek Peters started concentrating on his own garden wildlife after a diagnosis of bowel cancer in 2018, perfecting a technique to "make time stop" to get shots of birds and butterflies taking off and in mid flight.

Using his kitchen as a hide, he has also taken rare pictures of birds - showing the effect of diffraction on their wings, giving a rainbow effect.

"This winter I got a woodpecker and a nuthatch" he said, adding the images were "extraordinary".

"Everyone's going to accuse me of using AI, but it's not - it's actually scientific."

He added he was "one of the few in the world" to have taken such images.

"I just seem to have this blessed luck when I concentrate on what's out of the kitchen window."

The book was also a "rallying cry" to transform "over-manicured spaces into more wildlife friendly havens," he said.

"These places are important, I think they really are," he added.

"As we know with climate change and with what's happening with habitat a lot of species are really suffering, and that includes our garden visitors so it's important to showcase them.

"They are just as important as all the wonderful creatures of the jungle and the desert," he added.

Springwatch presenter Iolo Williams said of the book, Garden Safari: "Andrew makes the ordinary look extraordinary – stunning photography which helps to emphasise the importance of our gardens for wildlife."

"I think this is the best compliment I've ever had," the photographer commented.

Garden Safari is published by Graffeg Books

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Gary Lineker expected to leave the BBC

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c626jxp0yz3o, today

Gary Lineker is set to leave the BBC with an announcement expected on Monday.

Speculation is mounting the 64-year-old will step down after he presents his final Match of the Day next weekend.

Lineker, listed as the highest-paid BBC presenter, had been due to remain at the forefront of the BBC's coverage of next season's FA Cup and the World Cup in 2026, despite previously announcing he will leave Match of the Day at the end of this season.

But last week he had to apologise after sharing a social media post about Zionism that included an illustration of a rat, historically used as an antisemitic insult.

Lineker said he very much regretted the references, adding he would never knowingly share anything antisemitic.

Last week, BBC Director General Tim Davie said: "The BBC's reputation is held by everyone, and when someone makes a mistake, it costs us."

It is understood that BBC bosses considered Lineker's position untenable.

The former England striker has attracted criticism before for his posts on social media in the past.

He was temporarily suspended from the BBC in March 2023 after an impartiality row over a post in which he said language used to promote a government asylum policy was "not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s".

The BBC's social media rules were then rewritten to say presenters of flagship programmes outside news and current affairs - including Match of the Day - have "a particular responsibility to respect the BBC's impartiality, because of their profile on the BBC".

In November 2024, Lineker announced his departure from Match of the Day, but said he would remain with the BBC to front FA Cup and World Cup coverage.

In an interview earlier this year about leaving, Lineker said he believed the BBC wanted him to leave Match of the Day as he was negotiating a new contract last year, saying: "Well, perhaps they want me to leave. There was the sense of that."

The BBC didn't comment on Lineker's suggestion at the time but called him a "world-class presenter" and added that Match of the Day "continually evolves for changing viewing habits".

Kelly Cates, Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan have been announced as new presenters of the show for the start of the 2025-26 season.

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

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Defence deals and palace invites: UK and EU haggle before first summit since Brexit

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg4r54kd8do, yesterday

"Don't expect miracles. But do know - everyone wants this to work."

On Monday in London the EU and UK hold their first bilateral summit since Brexit. Symbolically, this is a big moment.

Officials and analysts I speak to, on and off the record, like the individual I just quoted, are quick to point out difficulties that exist between the two sides.

But all acknowledge the bilateral bitterness provoked by Brexit is no more. It's been eviscerated by the gravity of global events.

Concerns about Russia and China, the war in Ukraine, the shock of the US under Donald Trump no longer prioritising European defence, plus a growing sense of voter insecurity is propelling the two powers to work closer together.

"Failure to do so, in the current international context, would not be a good look," says Anand Menon, director of the think tank UK in a Changing Europe.

Most European countries realise that, he adds: "Even the French."

More than most EU countries, France has been playing hardball in pre-summit negotiations.

Is it a coincidence that as talks went to the wire before Monday's summit, the UK announced that France's president has been invited for his first state visit?

King Charles and Queen Camilla will host Emmanuel Macron and his wife at Windsor Palace in July. A UK attempt to butter up the French leader, perhaps?

"It'll be interesting to see if they can agree common language [for a summit agreement]," says Georgina Wright, European policy expert at the Institut Montaigne.

"Everyone in the EU wants closer relations with the UK right now and France doesn't want to be seen as the one country blocking closer UK-EU cooperation. But that does not mean that Paris is willing to give up on core interests."

Interests like fishing rights in UK waters and bidding for EU defence contracts.

* A joint declaration that addresses the worrying geopolitical situation and emphasises UK-EU shared foreign policy priorities - such as supporting Ukraine, keeping up pressure on Russia, and ending civilian suffering in Gaza

* An EU-UK security and defence pact

* A package of measures targeted at removing some trade barriers between the EU and UK that have come about because of Brexit

Closer economic ties to Europe

These trade measures are the "reset" of relations with the EU that UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has promised since his party won a general election last summer.

They are far from an economic gamechanger for the UK, though. Hardly what you'd call ambitious.

Destroying all trade barriers with the EU is impossible if the Labour government keeps to its own "red lines" of not rejoining the bloc's customs union or single market.

Despite promising to prioritise UK economic growth, and polls suggesting the majority of Britons want to do more trade with the EU, Labour will feel hemmed in by the increasingly popular, Eurosceptic Reform Party.

It performed well in recent local elections in the UK.

While some in Labour (quietly) admit they are tempted by a customs union with the EU to boost growth, any economic benefits would likely not be apparent to voters before the next UK election.

Party members fear they would risk being punished at the polls, amidst accusations by the opposition Conservatives and Reform that the government would have betrayed Brexit.

These concerns make the Starmer government "more cautious, less bold", says Mr Menon.

So what will be agreed at the summit?

The UK is taking a sector-by-sector approach to try reduce costly trade barriers with the EU.

Many EU-UK negotiating hours have gone into agreeing a plant and animal health deal, known as an SPS agreement.

This will facilitate the export and import of meat and plant products between the EU and UK and help reduce post-Brexit trade complications between Northern Ireland and Britain.

In exchange, the EU insists the UK must agree to following any new SPS rules introduced in the future and accept a role for the European Court of Justice in policing the agreement.

Those conditions will likely be unpopular with ardent Brexit supporters.

They might also put backs up in Washington and complicate the UK doing a wider future deal on agriculture with the US, as the UK would be tied to stringent EU standards.

But the Labour government knows public opinion polls suggest most people in the UK prioritise trade with the EU over the US.

Currently the EU counts for 41% of UK exports; the US for 21%.

The UK government will probably insist the SPS agreement is good for the British economy. Though animal and plant exports and imports are, in fact, a small part of overall GDP.

In reality "growth is a bit of a red herring here", says Mr Menon.

On the EU side, the French, backed by other fishing nations like the Netherlands and Denmark, have taken a tough stance in these talks - refusing to sign up unless the UK agrees to long-term EU fishing rights in UK waters.

The current post-Brexit fishing agreement expires next year.

Free-er movement for some

The reset we'll hear about at Monday's summit will also include a "mobility" section.

Starmer will get his ask, for the EU to recognise UK professional qualifications, to encourage cross-border business.

There will also be a reduction in visa restrictions for UK musicians travelling and performing in the EU.

In exchange, the EU - and Germany, most passionately - wants a youth mobility scheme, allowing young EU citizens to travel, study, and even work in the UK.

The UK has similar schemes with Canada, Australia, South Korea and Japan, amongst others. But this has been tricky to agree.

Reducing migration figures is a number one priority for the Labour government.

It's a hot-button issue and the UK Home Office will seek to toughen conditions and limit EU numbers.

Negotiations are ongoing but, according to EU sources, the scheme already has a name: YES, or Youth Experience Scheme.

Some areas of negotiation are more advanced than others. This will be reflected in Monday's announcement.

There will also be talk at the summit of plans to tackle illegal migration, cooperate on carbon border taxes, and simplify energy trading between the EU and UK.

Reducing EU-UK trade barriers on chemicals and pharmaceutical goods is also a UK ambition, as is getting access to EU databases, like the Schengen Information System, to better track down criminals.

But for now, at least, the EU is saying no to that. If it makes an exception for the UK, other non-EU countries will demand the same, it insists.

Of course, it's in the interest of both sides to fight cross-border crime. The UK argues the current state of the world calls for more flexible thinking from Brussels.

Defence and security complications

The case for more flexible thinking is also something the UK is calling for when it comes to Monday's defence and security pact with the EU.

The EU and UK already work closely together on Russian sanctions and defending Ukraine. And the pact isn't a legally binding document, so how complicated can these talks be, you may ask?

The answer is pretty complicated.

The UK wants its defence companies to be allowed to bid for contracts under the EU's new re-armament scheme, SAFE (Security Action for Europe).

"The UK has earned the right to access such a deal because of the leadership it's shown over Ukraine," says international defence expert Sophia Gaston, a visiting fellow at King's College London.

"Britain is a serious player both in traditional defence capabilities, like producing munitions, and in cutting edge defence innovation, where new growth and energy is.

"If the UK has access to the emerging EU defence programmes, it can contribute to mass and pace. [The war in Ukraine] has shown that both are needed."

But Ms Gaston admits, UK companies getting the go-ahead from Brussels is a "messy" process.

"Re-Arm EU", as Brussels dubs its new drive, is still a work in progress, spurred by rapidly changing geopolitics, including fears the US will withdraw at least some of the crucial security support Europe has relied on since World War Two.

This is not yet a fully formed EU strategy that the UK can "pay to play" a part in, as it has done post-Brexit with the EU's research and innovation scheme Horizon, for example.

An agreement with the UK in this defence industrial context will be brand new and bespoke. And it's getting political.

Signing the security pact on Monday is just a step in the process.

France wants to severely restrict non-EU companies bidding for the bloc's defence contracts, including the UK but Canadian and American firms too.

If the EU is spending its taxpayers' money on defence, it argues it should be spent with EU companies to help boost EU economies.

Paris also says, in this rapidly changing world of shifting alliances and allegiances, the EU should be self-reliant, not dependent on suppliers outside the bloc.

Sceptics suspect France, which has a sophisticated defence industry, of wanting to hoover up lucrative EU contracts for itself.

But it looks like it is losing the internal EU argument, with the Nordics, the Baltics, Poland, Italy and the Netherlands favouring more openness on defence contracts, and particularly with the EU's biggest economic power, Germany, championing the UK.

"Germany and France have very different attitudes towards the UK," says German economist Armin Steinbach from think tank Bruegel.

Germany will always put relations with EU heavyweights France and Poland first, says Mr Steinbach.

But he believes the UK will be helped in defence and economic negotiations with the EU by new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who argues "a unified Europe is the absolute priority in the current geopolitical setting".

Huge challenge of defence cooperation

A priority maybe, but it's still a hugely tall order because it's all about compromise.

Political leaders will seek to justify increases in defence spending by insisting to voters that it's for their personal security and in the interest of their national economy, with boosts in revenue for domestic defence industries.

But achieving a pan-European industrial base - built to be efficient, avoid duplication, and to replace much of the US capacity relied on by the continent today - would mean some European countries winning more defence contracts than others.

It would also mean some national businesses shutting down, in favour of better-suited ones elsewhere on the continent.

That's a hard sell for political leaders facing their voters.

As is another big trade-off: Big increases in defence spending will mean governments have less money to spend on public services.

The challenge for Europe is breathtaking. By comparison, Monday's symbolic EU-UK summit, may seem like a walk in the park.

'I was refused service in a cafe because of my face'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4k8l5y5j1o, yesterday

Subjected to brutal bullying as a child, Amit Ghose says he still has to deal with constant staring, pointing and comments, and has even been refused service in a cafe because of his face.

The 35-year-old from Birmingham described how visiting an independent coffee shop in London recently "everyone was staring at me, and it was like they'd almost seen a ghost".

"The person serving looked at me and said: 'Oh, we're not serving any more'.

"She turned around and walked off. But clearly, clearly they were still serving."

Amit was born with Neurofibromatosis type 1, a condition that causes non-cancerous tumours to grow along nerves.

But after "learning acceptance" of his facial disfigurement he now shares his motivational story in schools with the aim of helping children "embrace their personalities and celebrate who they are".

Another recent experience of abuse spurred him on to self publish a children's book, Born Different.

"I had a couple of individuals come over to me in a park and ask me what happened to my face, and I thought they were just being curious," he said.

"But actually they started laughing, giggling, saying: 'Oh my God, if I had a face like you I wouldn't even come out my house'."

He said the encounter "really upset" him, "and I thought to myself, I need to do something about this. I need to get this book out. Now is the right time".

"If I had this book when I was a young child, I think it would have helped me."

Amit had his left eye surgically removed at the age of 11, leading to further facial disfigurement as well as abuse and bullying.

In the run up to Halloween one year, a child at school told him "you don't need a Halloween mask, you've got one for life", he recalled.

"That broke me to the point where I did not accept the left hand side of my face," he said.

"For a very, very long time I hid the face, I just was not comfortable showing it to the world at all."

Looking back, he said he had not understood the depth of depression and anxiety he experienced then.

"Other children not wanting to come and sit next to me or hiding behind their parents all had a mental effect on me," he said.

At school, cricket was his passion and it was through playing the game that he eventually made friends.

"Cricket helped me become Amit, that boy who plays cricket, from Amit, the boy who has a funny face," he explained.

But, he said, even as an adult he still experienced "constant staring".

"The pointing, the tapping the friend next to them saying 'have you seen that guy's face', that is also constant," he said.

"But there is kindness out there as well, and that needs highlighting."

'This is me, take it or leave it'

It was his wife Piyali who eventually taught him the "art of acceptance," he explained.

"Really that I've got to accept myself before others can accept me," he added.

She also persuaded him to start sharing his story on social media.

"I thought TikTok was all about singing and dancing, and I thought maybe not, but she convinced me.

"I created a video and I said to the world: 'I want to take you all on a journey to help and support and inspire you using my lived experiences.'"

He started his account in early 2023, and has since gone on to gain almost 200,000 followers and millions of likes.

"Me helping people on social media by sharing my story has helped me become more accepting of myself.

"Now I say to the world, this is me, take it or leave it."

At about the same time, he left his job at a law firm to take up motivational speaking full time.

Helping young people felt so much more important, he said.

He is also about to launch a podcast in which he speaks to others who have had similar experiences, including Oliver Bromley who was ejected from a restaurant because staff said he was "scaring the customers".

"We're going to have lots of fun and inspire a lot of people," he said.

"Disability or no disability, visible difference or no visible difference, we all have insecurities, we all have things that we're faced with, and challenges we're faced with.

"I just want to give this narrative to people that if we truly celebrate who we are, accept who we are, fall in love with who we are, then we can be more confident."

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Princess Eugenie opens up about childhood back surgery

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0ln0wlklzko, today

Princess Eugenie has said she "couldn't get out of bed or do anything for myself" while recovering after scoliosis surgery as a child.

In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, the King's niece opened up about her surgery, saying that she felt "very embarrassed" ahead of the operation and later struggled with the emotional impact of post-surgery care.

Surgeons inserted titanium rods into her spine to correct a curvature caused by scoliosis when she was 12 years old and she spent 10 days on her back after the operation.

She said that her mother, the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, helped her see the post-surgery scar on her back as a "badge of honour".

Scoliosis is a condition where the spine twists and curves to the side. The cause of it is often unknown, and commonly starts in children aged between 10 and 15, according to the NHS.

Eugenie was treated at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, in north London, and it was four months before she was able to return to school after it.

"I had a corner room in the hospital with two windows looking out over a car park," the 35-year-old said. "I was too young to notice I couldn't get outside; all I cared about was where my parents and sister were.

"But I do remember watching someone waving to my incredible red-haired nurse through the window and having this feeling that I couldn't reach them," she said.

"I couldn't get out of bed or do anything for myself."

Speaking about how she felt ahead of the operation, she said she felt "very embarrassed about the whole thing".

"I remember being woken up really early before my surgery – I pulled my blanket over my head. I said: 'I don't want to see anyone and I don't want them to see me'," she said.

The operation left a visible scar on her back and she said her mother helped to "train" her brain to think that "scars are cool".

"She was amazing. She'd ask me if she could show it to people, then she'd turn me around and say, 'my daughter is superhuman, you've got to check our her scar'," Eugenie said.

"All of sudden it was a badge of honour – a cool thing I had," she added.

"It became a positive memory, a part of me, that I could do something with in the future. I could help heal other people."

The princess's wedding dress in 2018 showed the scar at the top of her back and ahead of the wedding, she spoke of the importance of showing "people your scars".

Speaking to ITV's This Morning at the time, she described it as a "lovely way to honour the people who looked after me and a way of standing up for young people who also go through this".

"I think you can change the way beauty is, and you can show people your scars and I think it's really special to stand up for that," she added.

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Celtic rainforest facing species 'extinction crisis'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7873ynnn57o, yesterday

An "extinction crisis" is happening in Britain's temperate rainforests where some of the world's rarest mosses, lichens and liverworts are vanishing, ecologists have warned.

Also known as Celtic rainforests, temperate rainforests are found primarily along the UK's western coasts.

A survey of Welsh rainforests in 2024 found only 22% were in a good condition due to pollution, fragmentation and invasive species.

"When this tree came down, in a flash we lost a species," said ecologist Sabine Nouvet about a 500-year-old oak in Eryri National Park, also known as Snowdonia, which fell during Storm Darragh in December.

The tree was home to one of the UK's best known populations of a rare lichen, the loss of which was "symbolic of the species crisis, the extinction crisis, that we are facing now", said Ms Nouvet.

Ms Nouvet, a rainforest advisor with PlantLife, a member of the Alliance for Wales' Rainforests, said the fallen tree's bark was once home to more than 60 types of lichen.

The rarest was the minuscule rinodina isidioides - its tiny structures, when seen through a hand lens, resemble its common name, skeletal fingers.

It lives only on trees at least 300 years old and in conditions found exclusively in the rain-soaked valleys of western Ireland and Britain.

Temperate rainforests occur on less than 1% of the planet's surface and Wales has internationally important examples of the habitat.

The special habitat's twisted branches, dappled light and moss-covered understorey once covered much of the country, but is now only found in isolated areas including the Woodland Trust's Coed Felenrhyd near Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd.

December's storm "hammered the forests around here", said Ms Nouvet.

She said at least six ancient trees, described as "grandmothers" of the forest, were lost in Coed Felenrhyd.

The presence of skeletal finger on one of those trees indicated "that this valley has got clean air, it has ancient forest, that this tree was, for some reason, really old and then we lost it", she added.

There is hope the skeletal finger species can hang on in the valley after clippings were relocated to five other old trees nearby.

Ms Nouvet said the aim was for the clippings to seed the bark below, but the process could take up to a decade.

There is about 33,024 hectares, or 46,000 football pitches, of rainforest left in Wales.

Storms are just one of the threats to ancient woodlands such as Coed Felenrhyd which, according to the State of Wales Rainforest report, cover just 4.3% of country's rainforest landscape.

Much of this rainforest lacks connectivity to similar habitats because it is surrounded by farms or woodlands planted with non-native species.

Some are grazed inappropriately, the survey said, and many are affected by rhododendrons that smother the forest floor in a dense shade that native species cannot tolerate.

Farmer and retired forester Aled Thomas said the Celtic rainforest had been "grazed since the beginning of time", leading to the formation of these woodlands.

But conservation efforts in the past saw many ancient woodlands fenced off.

"They have grown wild with invasive species coming in so none of the natural flowers associated with this type of woodland have been present," Mr Thomas explained.

Mr Thomas grazes small Dexter cattle in Coed y Gribin, a pocket of rainforest managed by the RSPB near Dolgellau.

"They will provide a habitat for a much more diverse species range by their hooves marking the ground, driving in acorns, rolling on the ground and they'll graze anything and everything," he said.

"They eat brambles like they are having supper."

Each animal is fitted with a GPS tracker and an alarm that trains them to keep to areas that need grazing and away from sensitive parts of the forest.

"The landscape has changed dramatically because the cows have been here for about three seasons and you notice there's very little bracken and there are bluebells coming up."

Mr Thomas said farms with more woodlands were the key to linking up isolated parts of the rainforest.

"You just don't need a field for growing cows, you can grow food by grazing in woodland and the benefits from that are huge to the forest and the farm."

'People don't realise it's here'

Wales has a global responsibility to protect the Celtic rainforest, said PlantLife's Adam Thorogood.

"We've got a really unique situation here in Wales where we've got some vital areas of habitat, a type of rainforest we don't really find anywhere else on Earth.

"People don't even realise that we have temperate rainforest here... right on your doorstep.

"It's there to be explored, there to be enjoyed, and there's a huge diversity of species of plant but also other flora and fauna."

He said interest from the public in the Celtic rainforest was coming at a time when it was under enormous pressure and significant investment was needed to secure its future.

Natural Resources Wales has been asked to comment.

Mexican Navy ship crashes into New York City's Brooklyn Bridge

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c991n8p4pdyo, today

A huge Mexican Navy training ship has been damaged after crashing into New York City's Brooklyn Bridge during a festive visit to the US.

Footage has emerged showing towering masts of the Cuauhtémoc clipping the bridge as the sailing vessel was passing under the famous structure on Saturday evening.

Parts of the masts reportedly fell on the deck, with US media reporting multiple injuries. New York City's Emergency Management (NYCEM) said it was "responding to an incident", without giving any further details.

The Mexican Navy confirmed that the ship was damaged, saying the incident was being investigated.

Crowds who were watching the ship's trajectory fled from the water's edge as the masts collided with the bridge.

New York City's Fire Department confirmed that authorities were responding to injuries, reports CBS, BBC's US partner.

The department said it had no details about how many people might have been hurt or whether they were on the vessel or on the bridge.

In a statement on X, NYCEM said "the situation is developing and details are not confirmed at this time".

The mayor of New York Eric Adams is at the scene and has been briefed on the situation, CBS reported.

Media reports say the Cuauhtémoc had more than 200 crew on board.

It was in New York City on a goodwill visit.

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.

The world's most dangerous country for trade unionists

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0j715l2d6no, today

In July last year, Jesús Cometa was shot at as he was driving through the Cauca Valley in southwest Colombia.

Gunmen on motorbikes pulled up alongside his car and sprayed it with bullets. Mr Cometa escaped uninjured but his bodyguard was hit.

"He still has a bullet lodged in his chest," he says.

Mr Cometa is one of thousands of trade unionists who have been attacked in recent years in Colombia which, by some measurements, is the most dangerous place in the world for organised labour.

The Cauca Valley is home to the country's sugar industry, and he is a local representative of Sintrainagro, Colombia's largest agricultural trade union.

"When you take on these roles in the union, you lose your social life," Mr Cometa says. "You can't just go and hang out in a crowded bar, or on a street corner, because you never know when you might be targeted.

"Your family suffers too because they know that they're also targets."

This is a problem with a long history.

In his ground-breaking novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Colombia's Nobel Prize-winning writer Gabriel García Márquez famously highlighted the massacre of workers on banana plantations in the country in the 1920s.

The Labour Ministry says that since the early 1970s, well over 3,000 trade unionists have been murdered in Colombia.

And even though the nation is more peaceful than it once was, the attacks continue.

"For many years now already, unfortunately, Colombia is the deadliest country in the world for trade unionists and for trade union work," says Luc Triangle, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), a global umbrella organization based in Brussels.

Every year the ITUC publishes a survey of the atrocities carried out against trade unionists around the world. Its most recent edition covers the year to the end of March 2024.

It found that in those 12 months, 22 trade unionists were killed for their activism around the world. Eleven of them were murdered in Colombia.

"Generally, these are targeted murders," Mr Triangle says. "They know what they are doing. They know who they want to murder.

"It's not targeting the big bosses of the trade unions or the leaders. They are targeting in small villages people that are doing active trade union work.

"Between 2020 and 2023, we recorded 45 murders in Colombia. In 2022, 29 murders. It's less violent than it once was, but it's still very violent, certainly if you compare it with other countries."

Why is this happening?

Fabio Arias, the head of Colombia's largest trade union federation, the CUT, says it is all part of Colombia's long and complex civil conflict, which pitted left-wing rebel groups against right-wing paramilitaries, drug traffickers and the Colombian state, and which still rumbles on in some parts of the country.

"The trade union movement has always been linked to the parties of the left and unfortunately the many right-wing governments we've had in Colombia have always claimed that anyone who is a leftist is a guerrilla, a terrorist," Mr Arias says.

"And once you've established that, then people feel justified in attacking them."

He says the attacks on workers are also linked to Colombia's illegal economies, notably the cocaine trade and illegal mining.

"If you look at where these attacks are happening, it's in the departments of Cauca, Nariño, Putumayo, Arauca, Norte de Santander and Caquetá, because that's where the biggest coca plantations are, and where the illegal mining is."

It is not clear who is carrying out these killings and who is ordering them. Some trade unionists blame the private sector, saying businesses, desperate to stifle any attempt by workers to organize, are paying armed groups to carry out these atrocities.

They point to the fact that threats and attacks tend to spike at times when businesses and unions are in wage negotiations.

But as many of the attacks go unpunished, it is difficult to know who exactly is to blame.

"In the Cauca Valley there are so many different armed groups you never really know who's behind the attacks, who's carrying them out, who's ordering them," says Zenón Escobar, another sugar cane worker and local representative of Sintrainagro.

The threats in the Cauca Valley are not limited to the sugar industry.

"In 2007, I was in a van, and guys drew up next to us on a motorbike and asked for me, and then opened fire," recalls Jimmy Núñez, the leader of a union that represents street traders in the regional capital Cali.

"My colleague who was sitting next to me was killed, and my wife was injured. In 2010 they attacked me again, on the road between Cauca and Cali.

"They opened fire on my car. In 2012 we were attacked in a shopping centre in Cali and one of us was killed. And in 2013 my family had to leave Cauca due to threats.

"In this country social leaders and trade union leaders are killed every day."

The government says it is doing what it can to protect trade unionists. Colombia's president, Gustavo Petro, heads a left-wing administration that is broadly sympathetic to the country's workers.

In 2023, it took a step towards redressing the past by formally recognizing the trade union movement – collectively, and for the first time – as a victim of Colombia's conflict. That gives victims a greater chance of having their cases investigated.

"We consider this as an important step to recognize the violence against trade unionists in Colombia, which was not the case before," says Luc Triangle of the ITUC.

He also says foreign companies with operations in Colombia must do more.

"If I were the CEO of a multinational, I would question my activities in Colombia," he says.

"There is a huge responsibility for multinational companies. They cannot have a nice code of conduct, and at the same time remain silent when trade unionists are killed.

"That's not acceptable. Global companies and foreign investors in Colombia must step up."

Additional reporting by Immie Rhodes.

UK driverless cars unlikely until 2027 - but Uber says it's ready now

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8jg80j771zo, today

Uber has said it is "ready to go" now with driverless taxis in the UK - but the government has put back the date it expects to approve fully self-driving vehicles.

The previous administration said fully autonomous cars were "set to be on roads by 2026", but the new government says it is now more likely to happen in the second half of 2027.

While limited self-driving technology is already permitted on UK roads, a human driver must be at the wheel and responsible for the vehicle, even if automated technology is being used.

With some companies trialling more advanced tech on British streets, I took an automated car ride across central London in a car using a system developed by UK AI firm Wayve.

"We're ready to launch robotaxis in the UK as soon as the regulatory environment is ready for us," said Andrew Macdonald, senior vice president of mobility at Uber, who joined me for the ride.

The ride-hailing firm is working with 18 automated car tech companies including Wayve.

It is one of several companies which already offers robotaxis in the US.

They are also on the roads in China, the UAE and Singapore.

But Mr Macdonald disagreed that the UK was behind the rest of the world, arguing that the US and China were ahead largely because that is where the majority of the tech had been developed.

"We are working quickly and will implement self-driving vehicle legislation in the second half of 2027", the Department for Transport said in a statement.

"We are also exploring options for short-term trials and pilots to create the right conditions for a thriving self-driving sector," it added.

'Hands-off' experience

In the US, Mr Macdonald said robotaxis typically operate for 20 hours per day, seven days per week.

Even though there is no driver to pay, Uber says the fare is currently the same as a ride with a human behind the wheel.

The option to take one appears on the app if one is available, and customers can opt in or out.

That's partly because, aside from the regulatory environment, another potential barrier to their uptake is the public's reticence about travelling in a self-driving vehicle.

A poll by YouGov in 2024 suggested that 37% of Brits would feel "very unsafe" travelling in a car without a driver.

But Mr Macdonald insisted new customers' initial nervousness was short-lived and the experience soon "becomes the new normal".

That was certainly my experience during our ride.

I was in a Ford Mach-e, fitted with Wayve's autonomous driving sensors and software.

It uses a radar and seven cameras. In the boot there's is a computer which is running the AI-driven software that processes all that sensor data in real time and controls the car's responses.

The automated tech handled every scenario without a hitch, including pedestrians in the road, parked cars, heavy traffic, temporary traffic lights and delivery bikes.

George, our safety driver, did not touch the controls once and a big red button, which shuts off the automated system immediately, was not deployed.

If anything the robo-ride was a far more patient city driver than I am – and has no voice, making it a lot less chatty.

Whether autonomous vehicles are more or less safe than human-driven ones is still being investigated.

But numerous studies suggest that automated vehicles are less accident-prone than human drivers, based on US data.

But there have been a number of incidents involving robotaxis in the countries where they operate, ranging from road accidents to passengers being locked in.

In January, a man in Arizona, in the US, documented how his robotaxi drove round in circles in an airport carpark, with him trapped in the vehicle, unable to stop the car or get help.

General Motors paused its driverless taxi service Cruise in San Francisco in 2023 because of safety concerns.

"The reality is that one accident is too many," said Uber's Mr Macdonald.

"That said, with EV (electric vehicles), human drivers… we operate in the real world and stuff happens."

In the UK there are also practical questions around insurance, ownership and liability when a self-driving vehicle is involved in an accident. Mr Macdonald said they were all still being worked out.

Tom Leggett, vehicle technology manager at Thatcham Research - an independent car safety centre - said robotaxis would have to be "safety-led" in the UK.

"Secondly, they will have to make sure the data is available to those who need it – insurers and those investigating incidents when they occur."

The government says self-driving vehicles have the potential "to build an industry worth £42bn and provide 38,000 jobs by 2035."

But of course they are source of concern for people who earn a living driving.

Andy Prendergast, GMB national secretary, said the "significant social implications" driverless cars and taxis could have - such as potential less work or unemployment - for workers and the public must be fully considered.

Uber's Mr Macdonald meanwhile believes automated vehicles will transform the way many people travel in the near future.

"I've got young kids," he said.

"Do I think my daughters will necessarily get their drivers licences when they turn 16?" [the legal age in his home country, Canada].

"No – I think the world is changing a lot."

Additional reporting by Liv McMahon

New buy now, pay later rules aim to protect shoppers

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yg5le8p25o, today

The government has announced new rules aiming to protect shoppers using buy now, pay later services, saying it wants to end the "wild west" of unregulated borrowing.

Under the plans, lenders will have to carry out affordability checks to stop people taking on too much debt and shoppers will have faster access to refunds.

The use of buy now, pay later (BNPL) has surged recently, with 11 million people in the UK estimated to have used it in the last year, but there have been fears some are spending more than they can afford.

Consumer groups welcomed the move and said many users did not realise they were taking on debt they might struggle to repay.

Under BNPL, rather than paying the full amount of a purchase in one go, shoppers can spread payments into smaller amounts over a short period of time, usually only weeks or months.

For some people this can be a convenient way of spreading the cost of shopping, but there are fears some consumers could be taking on too much debt.

BNPL products are currently unregulated and Citizens Advice said the new measures were a "crucial step" towards better protection for shoppers.

"For too long, people have been exposed to unaffordable debt from a BNPL sector that has operated in a regulatory grey area," said Tom MacInnes, director of policy at Citizens Advice.

"For some, this has had dire consequences. Many people are struggling to repay credit they can't afford, falling behind on essential bills and often needing emergency support, like food bank vouchers."

Measures to tighten oversight of the sector have been discussed for years, and the previous government unveiled plans in 2023.

Under the latest plans, due to take effect next year, the government says BNPL firms will have to follow consistent standards so shoppers know what they are signing up to, whether they can afford the purchase and how to get help if needed.

It says this means "upfront" checks on affordability, faster access to refunds, and the right to complain to the Financial Ombudsman.

Emma Reynolds, economic secretary to the Treasury, said BNPL had "transformed shopping for millions", but had left consumers exposed and operated as a "wild west".

"These new rules will protect shoppers from debt traps and give the sector the certainty it needs to invest, grow, and create jobs," she added.

Last week, a comprehensive survey by the UK financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), found the number using BNPL had "risen significantly", climbing by two million in the past three years.

It said 40% of lone parents and 35% of women aged between 25 and 34 use BNPL products.

Lisa Webb, consumer law expert at the Which? consumer association, said its research indicated "many users do not realise they are taking on debt or consider the prospect of missing payments".

A spokesman for Klarna, one of the biggest suppliers of BNPL services in the UK, said the company had supported regulation for the sector since 2020.

"It's good to see progress on regulation, and we look forward to working with the FCA on rules to protect consumers and encourage innovation," he said.

US loses last perfect credit rating amid rising debt

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4ge0xk4ld1o, yesterday

The US has lost its last perfect credit rating, as influential ratings firm Moody's expressed concern over the government's ability to pay back its debt.

In lowering the US rating from 'AAA' to 'Aa1', Moody's noted that successive US administrations had failed to reverse ballooning deficits and interest costs.

A triple-A rating signifies a country's highest possible credit reliability, and indicates it is considered to be in very good financial health with a strong capacity to repay its debts.

Moody's warned in 2023 the US triple-A rating was at risk. Fitch Ratings downgraded the US in 2023 and S&P Global Ratings did so in 2011. Moody's held a perfect credit rating for the US since 1917.

The downgrade "reflects the increase over more than a decade in government debt and interest payment ratios to levels that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns," Moody's said in the statement.

In a statement, the White House said it was "focused on fixing Biden's mess", while taking a swipe at Moody's.

"If Moody's had any credibility," White House spokesman Kush Desai said, "they would not have stayed silent as the fiscal disaster of the past four years unfolded."

A lower credit rating means countries are more likely to default on their sovereign debt, and generally face higher borrowing costs.

Moody's maintained that the US "retains exceptional credit strengths such as size, resilience and dynamism and the continued role of the US dollar as the global reserve currency".

The firm said it expects federal debt to increase to around 134% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035, up from 98% last year.

GDP is a measure of all the economic activity of companies, governments, and people in a country.

The BBC has reached out to the US Department of Treasury for comment.

The downgrade came on the same day as Trump's landmark spending bill suffered a setback in Congress.

Trump's so-called "big, beautiful bill" failed to pass the House Budget Committee, with some Republicans voting against it.

Figures showed the US economy shrank in the first three months of the year as government spending fell and imports surged due to firms racing to get goods into the country ahead of tariffs.

The economy contracted at an annual rate of 0.3%, a sharp downturn after growth of 2.4% in the previous quarter, the Commerce Department said.

Why youth mobility and fishing are key issues ahead of UK/EU summit

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czxykl7kypno, 2 days ago

The right of young people to move freely between the UK and EU has emerged as a key negotiating point - along with fishing rights - ahead of a summit in London which the prime minister hopes will "reset" relations between the two sides.

Before Brexit, people were allowed to come and go under "freedom of movement" rules. The EU would like a new "youth mobility scheme" but there are concerns about what impact this might have on UK immigration numbers.

Fishing rights are another potential sticking point with the EU calling for an extension of the current post-Brexit deal, but UK fishing groups calling for changes to it.

BBC Verify has been examining both issues and why they are important.

What are the rules on youth movement?

Since Brexit, UK and EU citizens no longer have an automatic right to live, work, or study in each other's countries.

To come to the UK for an extended period, EU nationals usually need specific visas - many of which require a sponsor.

Following these new rules, there has been a significant drop in the number of EU students coming to the UK.

The UK does have an existing Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS) which allows young adults to live, work and study in the UK for up to two years.

People from specific countries can apply but not from EU ones.

They have to pay an application fee, the health surcharge, and have at least £2,530 in savings. Unlike most other visa schemes, the YMS does not require sponsorship.

Last year, just over 24,000 YMS visas were issued - Australians were the largest single group, followed by New Zealanders and Canadians.

What impact could a UK/EU scheme have?

Just over a year ago, the EU proposed a "youth mobility scheme" for EU and UK citizens (aged 18 to 30), allowing stays of up to four years. The idea was rejected by the-then Conservative government.

It it is politically sensitive, given Sir Keir Starmer's pledge to "significantly" reduce immigration levels in the coming years.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has warned against "backsliding on freedom of movement".

Documents circulated between EU states suggested any deal could be rebranded as a "youth experience" scheme, in an apparent bid to downplay any link to migration.

Madeleine Sumption from Oxford University's Migration Observatory told BBC Verify that a UK/EU youth mobility scheme would likely increase net migration in the short term, as new participants arrive.

However, she adds that if everyone left the UK when their visa expired, the long-term impact on migration levels would be minimal.

"If the UK is worried about the impact, it could phase in the scheme, where it gradually increases the quota. So as people leave, the quota could be raised rather than a big bang, all come at once," she said.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is reportedly arguing for visas to be limited to one year so that EU citizens taking part do not show up in official immigration figures, with applications also subject to an overall cap.

Another consideration, Ms Sumption points out, is how many people would go home when their temporary visa comes to an end.

"Even on temporary visas, people do stay. They get a job offer and end up getting a skilled visa through their employer", she says.

The Oxford Migration Observatory says about 10% of people who arrived on temporary worker visas in 2014 from Australia, Canada and New Zealand remained in the UK at the end of 2023.

What about fishing?

Fishing is another sensitive subject.

The post-Brexit deal on fishing rights - who gets to fish where - expires at the end of June 2026.

Several EU countries, including France, are asking the UK for concessions, in return for the things the UK wants from the summit.

They are pushing for a long-term extension of the current arrangements, agreed in 2020.

Fishing only accounts for an estimated 0.4% of UK GDP but it was a big issue in the Brexit campaign and promises were made that the UK would become an "independent coastal state".

Under the Brexit deal in 2020 however, EU boats were given continued access to UK waters.

In 2023, UK vessels landed 719,000 tonnes of fish - an increase of 14% compared to 2019.

However, this growth has been driven by Scottish catches, while English fishing boats have seen a fall in their landings.

This is linked to the way in which fish quotas were divided up after Brexit, benefitting some areas.

At the same time, it has become harder for the UK to export fish to the EU due to post-Brexit paperwork and checks.

In 2023, the UK exported 235,606 tonnes of fish to the EU. That's down 29% compared to the 2019 figure of 333,403 tonnes.

What do UK fishing groups want?

Chris Ranford, Chief Executive of the Cornish Fish Producers' Organisation (CFPO), represents 175 member vessels and says nothing much has changed, since BBC Verify last spoke to him in 2022.

He says French vessels are still fishing off the Cornish coast: "Very modern, very high-powered French fishing vessels that have much greater catching capacity than the UK or Cornish boats come up to the six-mile line. We don't have space to fish."

For him, the number one priority for any future fishing deal is to stop EU vessels entering the stretch of coastal water that lies between six and 12 nautical miles offshore.

France has reportedly called for continued access to UK waters for its fishing boats, in exchange for a defence deal the UK is pushing for.

We asked the Maritime Fisheries Committee for Northern France for comment.

Another area of improvement Mr Ranford is calling for is easier access to EU markets.

"Our small to medium-sized businesses can't afford to do the extra paperwork to get the fish to the EU market," he said.

Elspeth Macdonald, who represents 450 fishing boats as chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation, says: "The market access to the EU has become more bureaucratic."

She says she is disappointed with the five-year fishing deal the UK signed up to.

"Our position approaching the EU reset… is that the access to each other's waters would be on the basis of annual discussions".

"By having that lever around access, the UK could secure a much fairer share of the resources in our own waters."

There are strong opinions on both sides on fishing and youth mobility.

If the UK is to get what it wants from the summit, including easing the trade in agricultural goods between the UK and the EU, there will have to be some give and take in the coming days.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

Five House Republicans stall Trump's 'big, beautiful' tax bill

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpqelqpvpeqo, 2 days ago

A budget bill, long touted by Donald Trump as the "big, beautiful bill" hit a roadblock on Friday when lawmakers from the president's own party voted against it in congress.

Five Republicans joined all Democrats in delivering a stunning setback to President Trump's domestic agenda, demanding deeper budget cuts.

Trump, who has muscled through close votes several times this year, urged lawmakers to unite behind the legislation. "We don't need 'GRANDSTANDERS' in the Republican Party. STOP TALKING, AND GET IT DONE!," he posted on Truth Social.

The bill's chances of success are not hopeless, but its failure gives the Trump administration its first legislative bruise of the year.

Four obstacles for Republican rebels in Trump's 'big, beautiful' tax bill

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2jxn8m88ro, 2 days ago

In a setback for Donald Trump, his fellow Republicans in the House of Representatives have failed to pass the president's "big, beautiful" package of tax breaks and spending cuts, starkly exposing the party's budgetary divisions.

The 1,116-page bill - officially known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, invoking how Trump's own description - failed on Friday to advance through the House budget committee, the final hurdle before a full floor vote.

The president took to social media to urge Republicans to "stop talking and get it done!" But several of them argued the cuts did not go far enough and torpedoed the measure.

Let's take a look at where the disagreements lie.

How much to cut?

Medicaid

Perhaps the most contentious item in the bill are cuts - partly through work requirements - to Medicaid, a healthcare programme aimed at lower-income Americans.

Mr Roy and other Republicans - including South Carolina's Ralph Norman, Oklahoma's Josh Brecheen and Georgia's Andrew Clyde - want further cuts to Medicaid and other social security programmes.

The bill would require that states deny Medicaid coverage if able-bodied Americans using the programme are not working at least 80 hours a month or undertaking other community options from 2029.

It would also end coverage for those who cannot show they are meeting work requirements.

Roy and other conservatives want those work requirements to start straight away - rather than after President Trump has left office.

Other lawmakers, such as Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley, have argued against any cuts to Medicaid, warning it would affect millions of lower-income constituents.

"This wing of the party wants Republicans to build our big, beautiful bill around slashing health insurance for the working poor," Hawley wrote in the New York Times on 12 May. "But that argument is both morally wrong and politically suicidal."

Dozens of other House Republicans have also voiced concerns.

State and local tax deductions

Another point of contention in the bill is a tripling of a local tax deduction - known as Salt - from $10,000 to $30,000 for couples.

Some lawmakers from states with high taxes such as New York, California and New Jersey have objected, saying that the proposed cap is not high enough.

In a joint statement earlier in May, New York Republican Congress members Elise Stefanik, Andrew Garbarino, Nick LaLota and Mike Lawler accused Speaker Mike Johnson of proposing "an amount they already knew would fall short of earning our support".

"It's not just insulting - it risks derailing President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill," the statement added. "We rejected this offer."

Some so-called Salt Republicans have publicly called for the cap to be raised to $62,000 for individuals and double for couples filing jointly.

House Republican leaders are reportedly seeking a compromise that would see the cap raised to $40,000 for individuals and $80,000 for joint filers.

The "Salt Caucus" formed in 2021 is a bipartisan effort that brings together both Democrats and Republicans who hope to repeal the current $10,000 cap.

Food assistance

As part of the bill, House Republicans have called for substantial reforms to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme, or Snap.

More than 42 million Americans currently benefit from the Snap programme, which allows them to use federal funds to buy groceries every year.

The legislation would require individual states to shoulder 5% of the benefit's costs each year, as well as 75% of the administrative costs.

At the moment, states are not responsible for Snap costs and pay half of the administrative costs.

Republicans also hope to expand existing work requirements for recipients, which currently apply to people without dependants between the ages of 18 and 54. The current proposal would expand that to 64.

Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin said the proposal "is a slap in the face" to millions of Americans "who rely on food assistance programme to put food on the table and make sure their kids don't go hungry".

Republicans argue the proposal would reduce government waste, promote work over welfare, and restore "common sense" to the programme.

The House Agriculture Committee has already approved $300m in cuts to the Snap programme to fund tax cuts.

Government data shows that about 12% of Americans received Snap benefits last year, with the figure higher in some Republican-leaning states such as Alabama and Oklahoma.

Doom: One of gaming's oldest series reckons with the challenges of 2025

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gezq2q911o, 2 days ago

Few names are as synonymous with video games as Doom.

First launched in 1993, the first-person shooter (FPS) remains one of the most influential - and popular - series in the industry.

But even it and its superhuman protagonist, The Doom Slayer, have to contend with the pressures of the games industry in 2025.

Attracting new players, competing with the new titans on the scene and the rising cost of making - and selling - blockbuster titles.

BBC Newsbeat spoke to the project leaders of the latest instalment, Doom: The Dark Ages, about navigating some of these challenges.

'You know exactly what you're getting'

While the Doom series is famous for pitting players against colossal enemies, there are other behemoths it has to face.

"There's so much stuff competing for our attention these days, whether it's games, movies, or whatever," says executive producer Marty Stratton.

Free-to-play (F2P) games, such as Fortnite and Roblox, and annually updated series such as Call of Duty and EA FC regularly dominate most-played charts.

There's evidence to suggest players, particularly younger ones, are spending most of their time on these titles - sometimes referred to as "forever games".

In the latest Online Nation report by UK regulator Ofcom, five of the top ten games among UK players were F2P.

Fortnite recorded about 2.65m active UK users in May 2024, and Roblox 1.22m, according to the report, and global figures are much higher.

Drawing those players to premium titles can be a challenge but Marty argues games such as Doom, which can be completed in under 20 hours, can "fit into those habits".

"It doesn't have to become your obsession for the next two years," he says.

The Doom series - developed by Dallas-based ID Software - has an advantage over others because it's so well-known and has a large, loyal fanbase.

But, as industry expert Rhys Elliot, from Alinea Analytics, tells Newsbeat, it's getting harder to rely solely on your hardcore players.

Overall, he says, the number of people playing premium titles isn't increasing, but the cost of making them is.

"The people who make games - they still need to make revenues each year because, you know, capitalism," he says.

One way of doing this is by attracting new players.

Doom's director Hugo Martin says the response to Doom: The Dark Age's previews were encouraging - something he puts down in part to its new "Medieval sci-fi" setting and altered gameplay style.

"We see it in the comments - a lot of people are saying 'I think this is going to be my first Doom', and that's exciting for us," he says.

The games industry has also leaned into customisation in recent years, giving players the power to finely tweak different elements and aspects of difficulty - something that's been incorporated into The Dark Ages.

"In that regard I think it's going to be a great first-time experience for a lot of fans," says Hugo.

But there's still the small matter of the cost of entry.

The debate over prices has been a feature of gaming discourse for years.

In 2010, a new game cost roughly £40 in the UK - and players had plenty to say about it at the time.

If you take into account inflation (using this Bank of England tool), that would be about £60 in today's money.

Doom: The Dark Ages itself costs £69.99 for a standard edition or almost £100 for a limited Premium Edition with extras included.

"When you look at the history of game pricing... it really hasn't skyrocketed," says Marty.

The issue has been thrown back into the spotlight thanks to worries over Donald Trump's tariff plans and price announcements from the three major console makers.

That could make competitors such as Fortnite - which don't require new, specialised hardware to run - even more appealing for cash-strapped players.

But Doom producer Marty argues that "free" games can end up costing players more in the long run, while there are "no unknown expenses" with a one-off purchase such as Doom.

"You're not going to be asked to pay anything else, two hours in," he says.

F2P games generate cash with in-game purchases, ranging from "microtransactions" equivalent to a handful of change or, in some cases, hundreds of pounds.

Those costs can mount up, and a recent poll of 2,001 gamers by British bank TSB suggested dedicated players can spend about £22 a month on those transactions.

That's still less than a tentpole new release, but Doom's director Hugo also believes people are happy to pay more for a "curated experience" with "replay value".

"Typically, if you just make a really good game then people will want to play it again," he says.

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

US proposes dropping Boeing criminal charge

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4ge0lpqpyro, 2 days ago

US prosecutors may drop a criminal charge against the aerospace giant Boeing, linked to two crashes involving its bestselling aircraft, the 737 Max.

In an online meeting with relatives of those who died in the two accidents, officials for the Department of Justice (DOJ) said they were considering allowing the company to sign a non-prosecution agreement to settle the case.

The move would avoid a trial over the criminal fraud charge that is due to begin in June, after a judge rejected an earlier settlement in which Boeing had agreed to plead guilty.

Lawyers representing families of the crash victims said they were "deeply disappointed" by the new plan.

"While DOJ claims no final decision has been made, their scripted presentation made it clear that the outcome has already been decided," said Erin Applebaum, a partner at Kreindler and Kreindler, which represents 34 families of those killed in the Ethiopian crash.

"Boeing has never stood trial for the 346 lives lost due to its admitted crimes. Now, DOJ is prepared to let the company walk away, again, with no more than a financial penalty," she added.

Boeing currently faces a criminal fraud conspiracy charge, brought in the aftermath of two major 737 Max accidents in late 2018 off Indonesia and in Ethiopia in early 2019.

The crashes, which killed 346 people, were blamed on a poorly designed piece of flight control software, which the pilots were not aware had been fitted to the aircraft.

The Department of Justice subsequently accused Boeing of deliberately concealing vital information about the system from regulators, charging the firm with fraud.

The firm admitted to the allegations but initially avoided prosecution by paying $2.5bn in fines and compensation and pledging to improve safety standards and compliance programmes.

The case was reopened last year, after an incident in which an unused door fell off a 737 Max early in flight, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the aircraft. The DOJ accused Boeing of having breached the terms of the original settlement.

Last year, during the Biden administration, a new deal was reached with prosecutors under which Boeing would plead guilty to the fraud charge, pay a further fine of $243m and agree to a court-appointed monitor overseeing its operations for a set period.

But the agreement was rejected in December by a US district court judge overseeing the case, due in part to concerns over how the monitor would be selected.

The ruling meant the case would extend into the Trump administration, which has promised to take a lighter regulatory approach.

It is understood that Boeing has since sought to withdraw its guilty plea.

Boeing declined to comment on Friday. The Department of Justice did not respond.

A non-prosecution agreement would not involve admitting to criminal charges. That would spare Boeing from a criminal record, a black mark that would complicate its dealings as a contractor for the government.

The case is currently due to go to trial on 23 June.

Billionaires fall as King rises in latest Sunday Times Rich List

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0lnzx73pl3o, 3 days ago

The number of UK billionaires has fallen while King Charles' personal wealth has jumped to equal that of former prime minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty, according to the latest Sunday Times Rich List.

The annual list of the UK's 350 richest people revealed the biggest decline in billionaires in the paper's history.

Meanwhile in the past year, the King's wealth has grown by £30m to £640m, increasing his rank 20 places to 238 with Sunak and Murty.

Topping the list for the fourth consecutive year is the Hinduja family behind the Indian corporation Hinduja Group, which, despite a decline in fortune, is recorded to be worth more than £35bn.

Who are the richest people in the UK?

1. Gopi Hinduja and family (£35.3bn, down from £37.2bn)

2. David and Simon Reuben and family (£26.87bn)

3. Sir Leonard Blavatnik (£25.73bn)

4. Sir James Dyson and family (£20.8bn)

5. Idan Ofer (£20.12bn)

Coming in second after the Hinduja family, at almost £27bn, were the Reuben brothers, who made their fortune through property and technology.

A close third was Sir Leonard Blavatnik, a Ukrainian born British-American businessman who built up a sizeable net worth of almost £26bn.

Seeing the biggest fall in fortune this year was Manchester United part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

His wealth has dropped by £6.473bn - more than a quarter of his fortune - in the last year.

It now sits at £17.046bn from £23.519bn, pushing him from fourth to seventh on the list.

Among other notable figures to make the list were Formula One champion Sir Lewis Hamilton, David and Victoria Beckham, and Sir Elton John.

Dua Lipa, 29, was the youngest person to be included on the sub-list of the richest Britons aged under 40. She was ranked at 34, with an estimated wealth of £115m.

Harry Styles, 31, was listed at 22 with a fortune of £225m. Ed Sheeran, 34, was at number 13 with £370m.

The King's rise in wealth has also made him richer than his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

The new figures estimate Charles to be worth £270m more than his mother, with the majority of his fortune benefiting from the investment portfolio he inherited from her.

The late Queen was said to be worth £370m in 2022 compared to Charles' current fortune of £640m.

He did not pay inheritance tax on the fortune she left, due to an exemption. This would have charged a standard of 40% on assets above a threshold.

Money is also earned from the private estate the Duchy of Lancaster. It covers more than 18,000 hectares of land in areas such as Lancashire and Yorkshire, as well as property in central London.

Worth £654m, it generates about £20m a year in profits.

Mr Watts said researchers found that fewer "of the world's super rich are coming to live in the UK."

He said he was "struck by the strength of criticism for Rachel Reeves's Treasury" when speaking to wealthy individuals for the publication.

He said: "We expected the abolition of non-dom status would anger affluent people from overseas.

The Labour government abolished the non-dom tax status in April, which is where UK residents whose permanent home or domicile is outside the UK for tax purposes.

Instead, they now face the new foreign income and gains regime, which provides tax relief on foreign income and gains for people in their first four years of tax residence.

It only applies if they have not been a tax resident in the UK in any of the 10 consecutive years prior to their arrival.

Last year, former Conservative chancellor Jeremy Hunt revealed plans to scrap the tax status before successor Rachel Reeves sped up the process.

The government expects the package of measures to raise £12.7bn over the next five years. US President Donald Trump's global tariffs, announced in April, have also had an impact.

The announcement saw the stock markets plummet immediately afterwards, with turbulence continuing since and businesses facing higher prices in the US.

The International Monetary Fund has said in its recent forecast for the world economy that global share prices dropped "as trade tensions flared" and warned about an "erosion of trust" between countries.

Listen: BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng explain how a blocked vacuum cleaner led to a billion-dollar idea for British inventor Sir James Dyson

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Wegovy firm unexpectedly forces boss to step down

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c80k581dyx4o, 2 days ago

Novo Nordisk, the company that makes Wegovy and Ozempic, is abruptly ousting its chief executive over concerns the firm is losing ground in the popular weight-loss drug market.

The firm's market value has dropped by roughly half over the last year, as alternatives from competitors such as Eli Lilly gain traction.

Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen has led the company since 2017, overseeing its rise to become the most valuable company in Europe after the launch of its flagship anti-obesity drugs.

He will stay in the role until a successor is appointed.

The company said its controlling shareholder, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, had started talks about replacing Mr Jørgensen in recent weeks as a result of "market challenges" and the slide in its share price.

"Considering the recent market challenges, the share price decline, and the wish from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the Novo Nordisk Board and Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen have jointly concluded that initiating a chief executive succession is in the best interest of the company and its shareholders," the company said in a statement.

As part of the changes, the firm said that its former chief executive, Lars Rebien Sørensen, who now leads the Novo Nordisk Foundation, will also take on a greater role on the firm's board.

Surprise move

Mr Jørgensen started at the company in 1991. In an interview with Danish broadcaster TV2, he said that he had not seen the decision coming, according to Reuters.

The move also caught many analysts off-guard.

On a conference call with board chair Helge Lund, they pressed him on whether there were other factors behind the decision and whether it indicated a lack of confidence in the firm's strategy.

"Share price decline is not exactly something he can control so I was wondering if you can give some more detail on what exactly has driven this change right now," said Danske Bank analyst Carsten Lonborg Madsen, noting that the company had had only a handful leaders since its start.

"This is something that has been going on since mid 2024," he said, referring to the slide in share price value. "It just feels like there's something that has gone pretty wrong here."

"I'm sorry to belabour the point but I have to say that I'm confused by the discussion," Seamus Fernandez of Guggenheim Securities said later. "If I were the next potential chief executive I would be very nervous to take the role."

Mr Lund acknowledged that the decision might look abrupt, noting that up until now it had been anticipating a slower succession timeline.

He said the firm would make an announcement of a new leader "in due course" and it did not signal a change in the its strategy or plans.

"There is nothing more behind this," he said.

Shares in the firm fell further after the announcement.

Since 2021, Novo Nordisk has more than doubled its sales. But growth has been slowing.

Last year, sales rose 25% to more than 290bn Danish kroner (£33bn), while profits were up roughly 20%.

The company earlier this month predicted sales growth between 13% and 21%, with growth in operating profit between 16% to 24%.

Nissan says it could share global plants with Chinese state firm

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8dpy27pv0o, 3 days ago

Car maker Nissan says it is open to sharing factories around the world with its Chinese state-owned partner Dongfeng as it shakes up its business.

The Japanese firm, which employs thousands of people in the UK, told the BBC it could bring Dongfeng "into the Nissan production eco-system globally."

This week, the struggling company said it would lay off 11,000 workers and shut seven factories but did not say where the cuts would be made.

Speaking about Nissan's UK plant on Thursday at a conference organised by the Financial Times, its boss Ivan Espinosa said: "We have announced that we are launching new cars in Sunderland... In the very short term, there's no intention to go around Sunderland."

Nissan's revelation it is willing to strengthen ties with the Chinese firm comes as the UK's trade relationship with China is in the spotlight.

On Wednesday, the UK government moved to rebutt suggestions the tariff agreement it reached with the US last week could be damaging to China.

It said there was "no such thing as a veto on Chinese investment" in the deal.

The UK-US agreement rowed back on big hikes in tariffs on metals and cars imposed by US President Donald Trump, but it also included conditions requiring the UK to "promptly meet" US demands on the "security of the supply chains" of steel and aluminium products exported to America.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in London said China had "made representations to the UK, asking for clarification".

"China is firmly opposed to any party seeking a deal at the expense of China's interests. Should that situation arise, China will respond as necessary."

Nissan's latest job cuts came on top of 9,000 layoffs announced in November as it faces weak sales in key markets such as the US and China.

The total cuts will hit 15% of its workforce as part of a cost saving effort that it said would reduce its global production by a fifth.

Nissan's own brands have struggled to make in-roads in China, which is the world's biggest car market, as stiff competition has led to falling prices.

It has partnered with Beijing-controlled Dongfeng for more than 20 years and they currently work together to build cars in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Nissan employs around 133,500 people globally, with about 6,000 workers in Sunderland.

The firm has also faced a number of leadership changes and failed merger talks with its larger rival Honda.

Negotiations between the two collapsed in February after the firms were unable to agree on a multi-billion-dollar tie-up.

After the failure of the talks, then-chief executive Makoto Uchida was replaced by Mr Espinosa, who was the company's chief planning officer and head of its motorsports division.

This week, Nissan also reported an annual loss of 670bn yen ($4.6bn; £3.4bn), with US President Donald Trump's tariffs putting further pressure on the struggling firm.

This month, Nissan's battery partner AESC secured a £1bn ($1.3bn) funding package from the UK government for a new plant in Sunderland.

It will produce batteries for the Juke and Leaf electric models.

Visiting the site, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said the move would "deliver much-needed high-quality, well-paid jobs to the North East".

Is Britain really inching back towards the EU?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20x395pvvjo, 3 days ago

Listen to Damian read this article

On a warm morning earlier this month, a group of Metropolitan Police diplomatic protection officers sat in an anteroom off the ornate entrance hall in London's Lancaster House, sipping tea and nibbling chocolate biscuits, while upstairs a core group of European politicians discussed the future of European cooperation.

It was an apt setting: everywhere you look in Lancaster House, there is evidence of the long, entangled histories of the UK and Europe. The double sweep of its grand staircase deliberately echoes the Palace of Versailles. Queen Victoria sat in these rooms listening to Frederic Chopin play the piano in 1848. Tony Blair hosted Russian President Putin here for an energy summit in 2003.

The important issues on the agenda at the Lancaster House meeting, which was hosted by the Foreign Secretary David Lammy, included the latest developments in the war in Ukraine, Europe's response to ensure the continent's security, and – for the first time since Brexit – a summit between the UK and the European Union, which will take place on 19 May.

The British government believes it's a significant moment.

Before Brexit, British prime ministers would travel to Brussels four times a year or more for summits with the heads of the EU's institutions and its 27 member states. The haggling would go on late into the night. After Brexit those large summits stopped.

Now, the Labour government, elected last year on a manifesto that promised "an improved and ambitious relationship with our European partners", envisages new and regular interactions with the EU. Monday's marks the first.

Sir Keir Starmer will host the most senior EU leaders to launch a new "partnership".

Pedro Serrano, the EU ambassador to London, has described it as the "culmination of enhanced contacts at the highest levels since the July 2024 [UK] elections". But what will it amount to?

Is what's coming a "surrender summit" as the Conservatives warn; "the great British sellout" undoing bits of Brexit that Reform UK fear; or "a huge opportunity" the UK may be about to squander, as Liberal Democrats say? Or could it be an example of how, in Sir Keir Starmer's words, "serious pragmatism defeats performative politics" by delivering practical things that will improve people's lives?

Questions around a security pact

In those long, drama-filled nights of 2020, when the then-prime minister Boris Johnson was negotiating Brexit, the possibility of a Security and Defence Partnership was discussed. But the UK's main priority was diverging from Brussels. So nothing was agreed – a notable omission, some think.

Now a new UK-EU security pact has been worked on for months, the plan is for it to be the centrepiece of what's agreed.

Kaja Kallas, the EU's foreign policy chief, who is overseeing negotiations, was at the early talks at Lancaster House. "Our relationship has had some difficulties," she told me, but "considering what is going on in the world […] we need to move forward with this partnership."

Yet some think the UK should not seize this outstretched hand.

"The cornerstone of our defence is Nato," Alex Burghart, a Conservative frontbencher, told the Commons this week. "We know of no reason why Nato is insufficient."

Reform UK's deputy leader Richard Tice has his own view. "There's no value at all," he argues. "We do not want to be constrained by a bungling top-down bureaucratic military structure. Our defence is guaranteed by Nato."

The government fires back on that point, arguing that a partnership will in no way undermine Nato; rather it will complement it, they say, because it will stretch to areas beyond defence, like the security of our economies, infrastructure, energy supplies, even migration and transnational crime.

Some industry experts also believe that a security pact could boost the UK economy. Kevin Craven, chief executive of ADS Group, a UK trade association that represents aerospace, defence and security firms, is among them.

Take, for example, the SAFE (Security Action For Europe) programme that is being set up by the EU, aiming to provide up to €150bn (£126bn) in loans for new projects. If the UK strikes a security partnership with the EU, then British weapons manufacturers could potentially access some of that cash.

"There is a huge amount of interest from European partners," says Mr Craven. "One of the challenges for defence companies in the last couple of years, since the advent of Ukraine, is being able to scale up their own capacity to meet demand." He estimates the UK could boost the EU's defence output by a fifth.

The Liberal Democrat's Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Calum Miller, similarly believes that a security pact is a huge opportunity for the British defence industry - but, he adds, "as importantly, it's a new strategic opportunity for the UK to be part of that ongoing conversation about how we arm as a continent".

Others point out that the UK has already been working with the EU on defence ever since Russia's invasion of Ukraine – at Nato, and most recently via the so-called Coalition of the Willing.

So, in practice, does it make huge amounts of difference to the UK's place in Europe?

No, argues Jill Rutter, a former senior civil servant who is now a senior fellow at the UK in a Changing Europe think tank. "Because relations [on defence] have already been improving quite a long way."

Some of those working on the partnership, however, argue that it will set in train new ways for the UK to engage and cooperate with its neighbours.

Delays at the border

More contentious is the UK's desire to sign what's called a 'veterinary' deal to remove some border checks on food and drink. Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister leading these negotiations, told the Commons this week that the objective to lower food and drink costs is in the manifesto, so there is a mandate for it.

Inside the food industry, calls for reform have been growing. Julianne Ponan, whose firm Creative Nature makes vegan snack bars, exports to 18 countries but only a small proportion goes to the EU. She says this is because of the paperwork and inspections since Brexit.

One of her employees had to carry samples in her luggage on a passenger flight to Spain for a meeting to make sure the food wasn't held up at the border, she says.

"I think this will open up huge opportunities for businesses like mine."

It would also make a big difference for Northern Ireland. After Brexit, special arrangements were put in place to keep the land border it shares with the Republic of Ireland free of new impediments. But at the same time, new paperwork and inspections were put in place on food, drink, animals and plants being transported from mainland Britain across the Irish Sea to Northern Ireland. They're bitterly opposed by Unionist politicians and complicate life for many businesses.

But a veterinary deal may carry political danger. It would require the UK to align some of its rules on food and drink with EU ones, and move in-step with Brussels over time. And those rules are subject to oversight by EU courts.

"I call it the surrender summit," says Andrew Griffith, the Conservative Shadow Business and Trade Secretary. Under this deal the UK would lose "our freedom to set our own rules", he adds.

The Conservatives say they "fought long and hard" to "take back control of our laws, our borders, our money" – and that this should not now be reversed.

Step change or 'sell out'?

Reform UK has not held back in its language: "We think prepare for the Great British sell out. That's the bottom line, and it will be dressed up as a reset," Richard Tice says.

"Why would you want to reset and get closer to a patently failing economic model? The EU is struggling even more than we are. We should be diverging as fast as we can away from that."

But Labour's Thomas-Symonds dismisses these views as a "rehash of the arguments of the past".

On the other end of the spectrum is the accusation that Sir Keir is far too cautious. Calum Miller of the Liberal Democrats says he knows of businesses "gnashing their teeth in frustration that they just can't exploit opportunities to work with and trade with Europe".

His party wants the UK to explore a Customs Union with the EU. It would make moving goods easier, but mean we couldn't sign our own trade deals.

David Henig, a former senior trade negotiator, has been talking to both sides "hoping to help, to sort of navigate them in".

"The summit is a step forward, not a step change," he says, "A slight deepening of the trade ties, rather than something dramatically new."

A deal on food and drink checks would deliver very little, he believes, because food and drink is such a limited part of trade. "If you were, for example, aligning UK and EU rules on industrial products, you'd get a much bigger economic impact".

Jill Rutter thinks that a veterinary deal would not prove "economically earth shattering" – but if it goes well, she argues that it could provide "early proof of concept" for further UK-EU cooperation.

'Tough it out' on fishing?

After Brexit, many British fishermen were disappointed when Boris Johnson's government agreed to let EU boats continue much as before, taking significant catches from UK waters. Those arrangements expire next year. The EU wants them extended.

David Davis who, as Brexit minister, led some of the original negotiations for the UK, told me fishing was "totemic" for Brussels. London conceded too easily, he thinks.

"Europeans got what they wanted first, and then we had a haggle from a weak position."

So he adds, "If I was giving advice to the government, I would say, tough it out" and use fishing as a lever to seek concessions.

But, as the UK found before, Brussels has cards to play. Much of the fish caught by British fishermen is sold to buyers on the Continent and the UK needs access to that market.

Some EU coastal states, like France and Denmark, are prepared to drive a hard bargain, demanding that London concedes on fishing rights in return for things it wants. Early on, even signing the Security Partnership was being linked to agreement on a fishing deal. The haggling will be tough.

Immigration and youth mobility

And finally, there's an idea that has prompted much interest in recent months: a youth mobility deal, through which under-30s from the UK and EU could live and work in each other's countries.

For a long time the government said there were "no plans" for such a deal – but earlier this month they changed course, with Labour's Thomas-Symonds saying that "A smart, controlled youth mobility scheme would of course have benefits for our young people".

It's likely that would mean very limited numbers allowed to enter the UK, and only with a visa, for a limited time.

Under those conditions, ministers hope it would not inflate net migration numbers. It's far from what the EU would like.

The UK already has similar schemes with 13 countries, including Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

"When we are comfortable having those relationships, why are we so averse to having it with our nearest neighbours?" Calum Miller asks, "It just doesn't really make sense".

Paula Surridge, a professor of political sociology at Bristol University, argues that public views on immigration are more nuanced than many people think. "Voters care most about what they perceive as illegal migration – small boat crossings and so on," she says, "People coming here to study or to work, particularly young people, are not a particular cause for concern" for most.

"There will definitely be a group of voters that are upset [about potential deals], but they were never going to vote Labour."

Of those who backed Labour in 2024, she adds, about three quarters previously voted Remain in the Brexit referendum. The political risk to the government of signing pacts with the EU is "smaller than it appears", she adds.

Conservative pollster Lord Hayward is more cautious – and is concerned that a deal may pose a "bear trap" for the government if it's seen as providing free movement to young Europeans. "It will provide serious difficulties for them to come to an agreement on something which could easily be portrayed as EU membership 2.0."

'Making Brexit work'

Even before Sir Keir's upcoming summit on Monday, his opponents are raising that spectre.

"All of his muscle memory has been to get closer to the European political union," says Mr Griffith. "I am worried about our prime minister, with that baggage, with those preconceived ideas, […] trying to negotiate a better deal with the EU."

Richard Tice says his party could simply undo any deals with the EU. "If I'm right about our fears, and we win the next general election, we will just reverse the lot. The whole lot."

But Mr Thomas-Symonds is of the view that Monday will show the government is "not returning to the Customs Union, Single Market, or Freedom of Movement", all red lines it has pledged not to cross.

Instead it will be about "making Brexit work in the interests of the British people".

Back at Lancaster House, the politicians have moved on, heading to more meetings in Albania and Turkey to grapple with the issues facing the continent. But in a quiet hallway in the house is a painting from the 1850s of the Duke of Wellington inspecting troops in London's Hyde Park.

In it, he sits on a black stallion, raising his white-feathered hat to salute the cavalry - a tribute to the prime minister and military hero who defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.

The upcoming summit won't be as momentous an event in the UK's complicated history with Europe. But a modern British leader about to plunge into the fray of European politics might pause for thought here – perhaps, for just a moment.

UK needs more nuclear to power AI, says Amazon boss

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cewd5014wpno, 3 days ago

The UK needs more nuclear energy to power the data centres needed for artificial intelligence (AI), the boss of the world's largest cloud computing company has said.

Amazon Web Services (AWS), which is part of the retail giant Amazon, plans to spend £8bn on new data centres in the UK over the next four years.

A data centre is a warehouse filled with computers that remotely power services such as AI, data processing, and streaming, but a single one can use the same amount of energy as a small town.

Matt Garman, chief executive of AWS, told the BBC nuclear is a "great solution" to data centres' energy needs as "an excellent source of zero carbon, 24/7 power".

AWS is the single largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in the world and has funded more than 40 renewable solar and wind farm projects in the UK.

The UK's 500 data centres currently consume 2.5% of all electricity in the UK, while Ireland's 80 hoover up 21% of the country's total power, with those numbers projected to hit 6% and 30% respectively by 2030.

The body that runs the UK's power grid estimates that by 2050 data centres alone will use nearly as much energy as all industrial users consume today.

In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Matt Garman said that future energy needs were central to AWS planning process.

"It's something we plan many years out," he said.

"We invest ahead. I think the world is going to have to build new technologies. I believe nuclear is a big part of that particularly as we look 10 years out."

French company EDF is currently building a giant new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset and a decision to build another one at Sizewell in Suffolk is pending. EDF's UK Chair Alex Chisholm unsurprisingly agrees with Mr Garman.

"Why are data centre providers turning to nuclear? They will need a lot of energy, reliably," Mr Chisholm told the BBC.

"Replication of Hinkley Point C, alongside the roll out of SMRs, can power Britain's digital economy."

SMRs refers to small modular reactors which are the size of a football stadium as opposed to the size of a whole town, like Sizewell or Hinkley.

Amazon is already partnering with SMR firms in Washington and Virginia to develop SMRs and would be a natural customer for Rolls Royce which is developing its own SMR designs here.

A spokesperson for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero told the BBC that modular reactors "will play a particularly important roles in growing energy-hungry sectors like AI and we're shaking up the planning rules to make it easier to build nuclear power stations across the country"

But this technology is many years away and new grid connections already take years to establish.

Jess Ralston at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit said: "Investors can be waiting years for grid connections holding back growth."

"Nuclear could be a way of supply data centre's power needs, but hardly any SMRs have been built anywhere in the world and traditional nuclear remains very expensive and takes a long time to build. So, it may be a while, if ever, for this to be a viable solution".

AI regulation

AWS estimates that 52% of businesses are using AI in some way – with a new business adopting it at a rate of one a minute. Mr Garman said this is a good thing.

"AI is one of the most transformative technologies since the internet. It's going to have a significant effect on almost every part of our lives."

He said he understands why many are nervous.

"With any technology that is sufficiently new or hard to understand, people are probably appropriately scared of it initially, until they better understand it so that initial response is not particularly surprising."

He added that he "would caution against" international regulation.

"The technology is moving at such a rate that I don't believe there's the knowledge of the folks that are building those regulations are going to be able to keep up.

"I think the most likely case is that those regulations would accomplish the exact inverse thing they are trying to do."

However, he admitted he thinks a lot about the responsibility of releasing AI into the world.

"Anytime you're building that much of a transformational technology, its important to think about those controls and guardrails so that it can go towards the betterment of society not the detriment.

"So absolutely. I think a ton about that, for sure."

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Walmart says higher prices could hit this month due to tariffs

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd62427ypw6o, 3 days ago

Walmart is preparing to raise prices in the US as soon as this month, as its own costs increase as a result of the new tariffs on imports imposed by President Donald Trump.

The plans by the world's largest retailer come as White House announcements in recent weeks have resulted in most goods from around the world facing new import taxes of at least 10%, with products from China facing higher duties of at least 30%.

Reporting to investors on the firm's performance on Thursday, chief executive Doug McMillon said he was grateful that the Trump administration had, for now, suspended plans for more aggressive levies.

But he said that his firm was still likely to raise prices to cover the new costs.

"We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible but given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren't able to absorb all the pressure," he said.

More than two-thirds of what Walmart sells in the US is made, assembled or grown in the country, the company said.

But China is the dominant supplier in key categories, such as toys and electronics.

Executives also warned that tariffs on countries that have received less attention such as Costa Rica, Colombia and Peru were putting price pressure on staples such as bananas, avocados, coffee and roses.

In interviews with US business outlets on Thursday, chief financial officer John David Rainey said shoppers could see higher prices in stores as soon as this month and definitely in June.

In Canada, which put its own tariffs on US goods in retaliation for Trump's measures, the boss of major retailer Loblaw's also warned that Canadians were set to see a "large wave of tariff-related increases in the weeks ahead" as the retailer runs out of supplies purchased before the new duties were in place.

"While the tariff situation might be improving between the US and other countries, that's not yet the case here in Canada," Loblaw's chief executive Per Bank wrote on social media.

The updates come as Trump's trade war renews focus on how consumer spending - the main driver of the US and Canadian economies - will hold up in the face of price rises, and what that might mean for wider economic growth.

At Walmart, executives said they were focused on shielding food from price hikes and in a strong position to rapidly adjust what they are buying if shoppers start to baulk at higher prices.

The company said it could not offer guidance to investors about its profit expectations over the next three months, as it would ordinarily do, because of the "dynamic nature" of the situation.

But over the full year, executives said they were still pushing to meet their original goals, including plans to increase profits faster than sales - an indication that they expect to be able to pass on higher costs to the consumer without taking a major hit.

"We don't see anything that changes the way we think about our business long-term," the company's executives told analysts. "We think we can navigate this."

For now sales appear to be holding up. After a slow February, which executives blamed on bad weather, purchases ticked up in March and April.

Overall revenue in the February to April period rose 2.5% year-on-year to $165.6bn, with sales at US Walmart stores open at least a year up 4.5%.

Profits were $4.4bn, down 12% year-on-year.

India disputes Trump claim it is ready to charge US 'no tariffs'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq54ggd62w3o, 4 days ago

US President Donald Trump's claim that India has offered to drop all tariffs on goods imported from his country has been swiftly disputed by Delhi.

In a statement to local news agencies India's foreign minister S Jaishankar countered the claim saying talks are still going on and "nothing is decided till everything is".

The statement is in stark contrast to comments by Trump to reporters earlier in the day, when he declared Delhi had "offered us a deal where basically they are willing to literally charge us no tariff".

India and the US are currently in talks to negotiate a trade agreement.

Jaishankar said on Thursday that any trade deal has to be mutually beneficial and work for both countries.

"That would be our expectation from the trade deal. Until that is done, any judgment on it would be premature," he told news agencies.

Trump made the comments when he was speaking at an event with business leaders in Doha where he announced a series of deals between the US and Qatar, including for Boeing jets.

The US president made the comments while speaking about Apple's plans to make iPhones in India, saying he had told CEO Tim Cook that he didn't want him to build in India because it was "one of the highest tariff nations in the world".

"They [India] have offered us a deal where basically they have agreed to charge us literally no tariffs. I said 'Tim, we are treating you really good, we put up with all the plants you built in China for years. We are not interested in you building in India. India can take care of themselves'."

In an earnings call earlier this month, Apple had said it was shifting production of most iPhones from China to India while Vietnam would be a major production hub for items such as iPads and Apple watches.

President Trump slapped tariffs of up to 27% on Indian goods in April. Delhi is rushing to negotiate a trade deal during Trump's 90-day pause on higher tariffs, which ends on 9 July.

Just this week, the US and China agreed to lower import taxes on goods being traded between the two countries - US tariffs on Chinese imports will fall to 30% from 145%, while Chinese tariffs on some US imports will fall to 10% from125%.

The US was until recently India's biggest trading partner, with bilateral trade amounting to $190bn (£143bn).

Delhi has already lowered tariffs on Bourbon whiskey, motorcycles and some other US products, but the US has a $45bn trade deficit with India, which Trump wants to reduce.

"As Trump always blamed India's high tariffs for the trade deficit, India could offer to make 90% of US exports tariff-free from day one, using a "zero-for-zero" approach - cutting tariffs on all goods except autos and agriculture. But the deal must ensure strict reciprocity, with both sides eliminating tariffs equally," says Ajay Srivastava, a Delhi-based trade expert.

Trump and Modi have set a target to more than double trade to $500bn, but Delhi is unlikely to offer concessions in sectors such as agriculture where there are deeper political sensitivities involved.

India has recently shown more openness to doing trade deals after years of scepticism.

Last week, it inked a trade pact with the UK that will substantially slash duties in many protected sectors like whisky and automobiles.

India also signed a $100bn free trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) last year - a group of four European countries that are not members of the European Union - after almost 16 years of negotiations.

EU and India are also pushing to get a free trade agreement done this year.

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Seventeen arrest warrants issued over Bangkok skyscraper collapse

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89p7ew45e5o, 3 days ago

A court in Thailand has issued 17 arrest warrants for people connected to the building of a skyscraper that collapsed during an earthquake in March.

The 30-storey tower, being built to house the State Audit Office, was felled when Bangkok felt tremors of a 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck neighbouring Myanmar.

Authorities said they had recovered 89 bodies from the rubble of the tower, while seven remain unaccounted for.

Police investigating the cause of the collapse said the warrants were issued to people involved in the design, construction and building supervision of the tower, local media reported.

Police named only one of the individuals as businessman Premchai Karnasuta, a former president of Italian-Thai Development PLC., one of Thailand's largest construction firms.

Thai media reported on Thursday that investigators had found structural flaws in a lift shaft in the building. Thai authorities are yet to release their findings into the cause of the building's collapse.

Footage showed high-rise buildings in Bangkok swaying and water falling from rooftop pools onto the streets below resulting from the strong tremors.

Buildings in the Thai capital emerged from the quake largely unscathed except for the State Audit Office - a tower made of blue glass and steel that was situated opposite the Chatuchak market, a popular tourist attraction.

It had been under construction for three years at a cost of more than two billion Thai baht ($59m; £45m) before it was reduced to rubble.

More than 400 workers were at the site when it collapsed and drones, sniffer dogs, cranes, and excavators were brought in to help with the rescue effort.

The earthquake that hit Myanmar on 28 March caused the deaths of more than 3,000 people and injured more than 4,500, with tremors felt elsewhere, including in Thailand and south-west China.

Leading crypto firm Coinbase faces up to $400m hit from cyber attack

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c80k5plpx8do, 3 days ago

One of the world's biggest cryptocurrency firms, Coinbase, says a recent cyber attack will cost it up to $400m (£301m).

The firm said it was contacted by hackers who claimed to have gained access to customer information, obtained by making payments to Coinbase contractors and employees.

In a blog post, Coinbase said the criminals had gained access to "less than 1%" of its customer data, which they then used to impersonate the firm and trick people into handing over their crypto.

The group then demanded $20m from Coinbase to keep it quiet - but it refused to pay the bribe and instead promised to pay back every person who got scammed.

The disclosure prompted the firm's share price to fall by 4.1%.

The cyber attack comes days before the US company is set to join the benchmark S&P 500 index - a landmark moment for the crypto industry.

It also reflects how, as it grows, the industry has increasingly become a target for cyber criminals.

A report from research firm Chainanalysis suggests funds stolen from crypto businesses totalled $2.2bn in 2024.

"Security remains a challenge for the crypto industry despite its growing mainstream acceptance," said Nick Jones, founder of crypto firm Zumo.

"As our nascent industry grows rapidly, it draws the eye of bad actors, who are becoming increasingly sophisticated in the scope of their attacks."

'Harshest penalties'

The company says it received an email from an "unknown threat actor" on May 11.

"We will reimburse customers who were tricked into sending funds to the attacker," it said in its statement.

"We're cooperating closely with law enforcement to pursue the harshest penalties possible and will not pay the $20 million ransom demand we received.

"Instead we are establishing a $20 million reward fund for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the criminals responsible for this attack."

In a filing with the US Securities and Exchanges Commission, it estimated costs between $180m and $400m.

It said this figure came from "remediation costs and voluntary customer reimbursements", however this figure could change as a result of "potential losses, indemnification claims, and potential recoveries".

The staff members who shared customer information with the hackers have been fired.

Coinbase told its customers to expect further attempts from scammers in the future, and advised them to be vigilant.

"Coinbase will never ask for your password, 2FA codes, or for you to transfer assets to a specific or new address, account, vault or wallet," it said.

And it warned customers they should lock their accounts if they are suspicious.

"To the customers affected, we're sorry for the worry and inconvenience this incident caused," it said.

"We'll keep owning issues when they arise."

Still booting after all these years: The people stuck using ancient Windows computers

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250516-the-people-stuck-using-ancient-windows-computers, today

CTRL+ALT+DEL, but make it forever. As technology marches on, some people get trapped using decades-old software and devices. Here's a look inside the strange, stubborn world of obsolete Windows machines.

Earlier this year I was on my way to a checkup at a doctor's office in New York City. As I rode up to the 14th floor, my eyes were drawn to a screen built into the side of the lift. Staring back was a glimpse into the history of computing. There, in a gleaming hospital full of state-of-the-art machines, was an error message from an operating system released almost a quarter of a century ago. The elevator was running Windows XP.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Microsoft. The company may not have the cultural cachet it did when that hospital lift was installed, but after a couple of decades playing catch-up Microsoft is back on top. The tech giant has been the first or second most valuable business on earth for the better part of five years. Today, Microsoft is betting on AI to carry it into the next generation of computing. But as it dumps tens of billions of dollars into bleeding-edge technology, some argue that one of Microsoft's most enduring legacies may be the marks it left on society long ago.

Since its launch in 1975, Microsoft has penetrated digital infrastructure so completely that much of our world still relies on aged, sometimes obsolete Windows software and computers, chugging along and gathering dust long after they first booted up. For people stuck using these machines, the ghosts of Windows' past are an ever-present feature of daily life.

"In a way, Windows is the ultimate infrastructure. It's why Bill Gates is so rich," says Lee Vinsel, an associate professor at Virginia Tech in the US who studies the maintenance and repair of old technology. "Their systems are built into everything around us, and the fact that we have all of these ancient examples around is the story of the company's overall success. That's what's kind of amazing about Microsoft. For a long time, Windows was just how you got things done."

Even if you're a diehard Apple user, you're probably interacting with Windows systems on a regular basis. When you're pulling cash out, for example, chances are you're using a computer that's downright geriatric by technology standards. (Microsoft declined to comment for this article.)

"Many ATMs still operate on legacy Windows systems, including Windows XP and even Windows NT," which launched in 1993, says Elvis Montiero, an ATM field technician based in Newark, New Jersey in the US. "The challenge with upgrading these machines lies in the high costs associated with hardware compatibility, regulatory compliance and the need to rewrite proprietary ATM software," he says.

Microsoft ended official support for Windows XP in 2014, but Montiero says many ATMs still rely on these primordial systems thanks to their reliability, stability and integration with banking infrastructure.

And there are plenty of other surprising applications of old Microsoft products hidden in everyday life. In 2024, Windows was at the centre of a controversy across the German internet. It started with a job listing for Deutsche Bahn, the country’s railway service. The role being recruited was an IT systems administrator who would maintain the driver's cab display system on high-speed and regional trains. The problem was the necessary qualifications: applicants were expected to have expertise with Windows 3.11 and MS-DOS – systems released 32 and 44 years ago, respectively. In certain parts of Germany, commuting depends on operating systems that are older than many passengers.

A Deutsche Bahn spokesperson says that's to be expected. "Our trains have a long service life and are in operation for up to 30 years or longer." Deutsche Bahn regularly modernises its trains, the spokesperson says, but systems that meet safety standards and prove themselves stable are generally kept in operation. "Windows 3.11 is also exclusively used in a small number of trains for operating displays only."

It's not just German transit, either. The trains in San Francisco's Muni Metro light railway, for example, won't start up in the morning until someone sticks a floppy disk into the computer that loads DOS software on the railway's Automatic Train Control System (ATCS). Last year, the San Francisco Municipal Transit Authority (SFMTA) announced its plans to retire this system over the coming decade, but today the floppy disks live on. (The SFMTA did not respond to a request for comment.)

(Read more from BBC Future about the people who won't give up floppy disks.)

In a brightly lit room in San Diego, California, you'll find two of the biggest printers you've ever seen, each hooked up to servers running Windows 2000, an operating system named for the year it was released. "We call 'em boat anchors," says John Watts, who handles high-end printing and post-processing for fine art photographers. The printers are LightJets, gigantic machines that use light, rather than ink, to print on large-format photographic paper. Watts says the result is an image of unparalleled quality.

Long out of production, the few remaining LightJets rely on the Windows operating systems that were around when these printers were sold. "A while back we looked into upgrading one of the computers to Windows Vista. By the time we added up the money it would take to buy new licenses for all the software it was going to cost $50,000 or $60,000 [£38,000 to £45,000]," Watts says. "I can't stand Windows machines," he says, "but I'm stuck with them."

It's a common predicament with specialised hardware. Scott Carlson, a woodworker in Los Angeles, is steeped in the world of Microsoft thanks to CNC machines, robotic tools that cut or shape wood and other materials based on computer instructions.

"Our workhorse machine runs on Windows XP because it's older. That thing is a tank," Carlson says, but the same can't be said for the operating system. "We actually had to send the computer back to get completely rebuilt a few years ago because XP was getting more and more errors," he says "It was practically a brick."

For the people who use this old technology, life can get tedious. For four years, psychiatrist Eric Zabriskie would show up to his job at the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and start the day waiting for a computer to boot up. "I had to get to the clinic early because sometimes it would take 15 minutes just to log into the computer," Zabriskie says. "Once you're in you try to never log out. I'd hold on for dear life. It was excruciatingly slow."

When it comes to decrepit computer systems that inhabit larger companies and organisations, the main culprit is generally "deferred maintenance", says M Scott Ford, a software developer who specialises in updating legacy systems. "Organisations put all their attention on adding new features instead of investing those resources into making improvements on [the basics of] what already exists," Ford says, which allows reliance on older technology to build up over time.

Most VA medical facilities manage health records using a suite of tools launched by the US government in 1997 called the Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS). But it works on top of an even older system called VistA – not to be confused with the Windows Vista operating system – which first debuted in 1985 and was originally built on the operating system MS-DOS.

The VA is now on its fourth attempt to overhaul this system after a series of fits and starts that dates back almost 25 years. The current plan is to replace it with a health record system used by the US Department of Defense by 2031. "VA remains steadfast in its commitment to implementing a modernised, interoperable Federal [electronic health record] system to improve health care delivery and positively impact patient care," says VA press secretary Pete Kasperowicz. He says the system is already live at six VA sites and will be deployed at 19 out of 170 facilities by 2026.

"CPRS works, but at times [using] it was an overwhelmingly frustrating experience," Zabriskie says. Where modern health record systems have simple point-and-click interfaces, he would find himself typing out "c://" and the full file path to pull up a document.

"CPRS is 100% text, and it's all capital letters. The thing looks like a word processor from the '90s," Zabriskie says. "It's like learning how to use an old car. You have to memorise all these commands, and you're always running into errors. Something that should take a minute ends up taking half an hour because you forgot to type a dash somewhere."

It's a key example of a knowledge transfer problem that crops up as technology ages, according to Vinsel. "A lot of times when we're not updating infrastructure and keeping it healthy, you end up in a situation where there's only one guy in another state who knows how to keep the system running," he says.

Sometimes, government facilities in particular hang on to ancient software because its simplicity makes security easier to maintain, Vinsel says. "But there are all kinds of opportunities for failure here, especially when you get increasingly complex systems hooked up to the internet and companies stop supporting old software. Cybersecurity is a huge worry around this issue."

In some cases, however, old computers are a labour of love. In the US, Dene Grigar, director of the Electronic Literature Lab at Washington State University, Vancouver, spends her days in a room full of vintage (and fully functional) computers dating back to 1977. "As soon as people got their hands on computers they started making art," Grigar says, and she's dedicated to preserving it.

In the early days of computing, artists, writers and programs were defining what art and storytelling would mean in the new digital world. Titles like Stuart Moulthrop's Victory Garden or Michael Joyce's afternoon, a story rattled the world of fiction, challenging the very definition of literature by laying out their narratives with links, which allowed for a sort of choose-your-own-adventure style of non-linear writing that set new precedents for the digital age, Grigar says. But she's not just interested in early, experimental e-books. Her laboratory collects everything from video games to Instagram zines.

"I use an acronym to explain what sets this stuff apart: Pie. It's participatory, interactive and experiential," Grigar says. "You can't take it off the computer and print it or hang it on a wall." Emulators let you run some old software on new machines, but Grigar says important features of these works are often lost in the process. "It's just not the same experience."

Grigar's Electronic Literature Lab maintains 61 computers to showcase the hundreds of electronic works and thousands of files in the collection, which she keeps in pristine condition. Many of the computers look like they were purchased yesterday, with little of the yellowing of plastic cases you might expect from the era of beige electronics.

The only thing missing from Grigar's collection is a PC that reads five-and-a-quarter-inch floppy disks, she says. Despite their ubiquity, the machines are surprisingly hard to find. "I look on eBay, Craigslist, I have friends out looking for me, nothing. I've been looking for six years," she says. If you have one of these old computers lying around, and it still works, Grigar would love to hear from you.

More like this:

• The people who won't give up floppy disks

• Is it finally safe to ditch your phone case? I put it to the test

• The failure that started the internet

From the beginning, one of the key business strategies that set Apple apart was the fact that for the most part you had to buy Mac computers if you wanted to use Mac software, Ford says. "Apple is also really aggressive about deprecating old products," he says. "But Microsoft took the approach of letting organisations leverage the hardware they already have and chasing them for software licenses instead. They also tend to have a really long window for supporting that software." The approach gave Microsoft a huge advantage in securing business clients.

It's part of why these old Windows machines hang around for so long, Ford says. "Microsoft is just something you get stuck with."

* Thomas Germain is a senior technology journalist for the BBC. He's covered AI, privacy and the furthest reaches of internet culture for the better part of a decade. You can find him on X and TikTok @thomasgermain.

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A letter from the M&S hackers landed in my inbox - this is what happened next

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgr5nen5gxyo, today

Almost daily, my phone pings with messages from hackers of all stripes.

The good, the bad, the not-so-sure.

I've been reporting on cyber security for more than a decade, so I know that many of them like to talk about their hacks, findings and escapades.

About 99% of these conversations stay firmly locked in my chat logs and don't lead to news stories. But a recent ping was impossible to ignore.

"Hey. This is Joe Tidy from the BBC reporting on this Co-op news, correct?" the hackers messaged me on Telegram.

"We have some news for you," they teased.

When I cautiously asked what this was, the people behind the Telegram account - which had no name or profile picture - gave me the inside track on what they claimed to have done to M&S and the Co-op, in cyber attacks that caused mass disruption.

Through messages back-and-forth over the next five hours, it became clear to me that these apparent hackers were fluent English speakers and although they claimed be messengers, it was obvious they were closely linked to - if not intimately involved in - the M&S and Co-op hacks.

They shared evidence proving that they had stolen a huge amount of private customer and employee information.

I checked out a sample of the data they had given me - and then securely deleted it.

Messages that confirmed suspicions

They were clearly frustrated that Co-op wasn't giving in to their ransom demands but wouldn't say how much money in Bitcoin they were demanding of the retailer in exchange for the promise that they wouldn't sell or give away the stolen data.

After a conversation with the BBC's Editorial Policy team, we decided that it was in the public interest to report that they had provided us with evidence proving that they were responsible for the hack.

I quickly contacted the press team at the Co-op for comment, and within minutes the firm, who had initially downplayed the hack, admitted to employees, customers and the stock market about the significant data breach.

Much later, the hackers sent me a long angry and offensive letter about Co-op's response to their hack and subsequent extortion, which revealed that the retailer narrowly dodged a more severe hack by intervening in the chaotic minutes after its computer systems were infiltrated. The letter and conversation with the hackers confirmed what experts in the cyber security world had been saying since this wave of attacks on retailers began – the hackers were from a cyber crime service called DragonForce.

Who are DragonForce, you might be asking? Based on our conversations with the hackers and wider knowledge, we have some clues.

DragonForce offers cyber criminal affiliates various services on their darknet site in exchange for a 20% cut of any ransoms collected. Anyone can sign up and use their malicious software to scramble a victim's data or use their darknet website for their public extortion.

This has become the norm in organised cyber crime; it's known as ransomware-as-a-service.

The most infamous of recent times has been a service called LockBit, but this is all but defunct now partly because it was cracked by the police last year.

Following the dismantling of such groups, a power vacuum has emerged. Cue a tussle for dominance in this underground world, leading to some rival groups innovating their offerings.

Power struggle ensues

DragonForce recently rebranded itself as a cartel offering even more options to hackers including 24/7 customer support, for example.

The group had been advertising its wider offering since at least early 2024 and has been actively targeting organisations since 2023, according to cyber experts like Hannah Baumgaertner, Head of Research at Silobeaker, a cyber risk protection company.

"DragonForce's latest model includes features such as administration and client panels, encryption and ransomware negotiation tools, and more," Ms Baumgaertner said.

As a stark illustration of the power-struggle, DragonForce's darknet website was recently hacked and defaced by a rival gang called RansomHub, before re-emerging about a week ago.

"Behind the scenes of the ransomware ecosystem there seems to be some jostling - that might be for prime 'leader' position or just to disrupt other groups in order to take more of the victim share," said Aiden Sinnott, senior threat researcher from the cyber security company Secureworks.

Who is pulling the strings?

DragonForce's prolific modus operandi is to post about its victims, as it has done 168 times since December 2024 - a London accountancy firm, an Illinois steel maker, an Egyptian investment firm are all included. Yet so far, DragonForce has remained silent about the retail attacks.

Normally radio silence about attacks indicates that a victim organisation has paid the hackers to keep quiet. As neither DragonForce, Co-op nor M&S have commented on this point, we don't know what might be happening behind the scenes.

Establishing who the people are behind DragonForce is tricky, and it's not known where they are located. When I asked their Telegram account about this, I didn't get an answer. Although the hackers didn't tell me explicitly that they were behind the recent hacks on M&S and Harrods, they confirmed a report in Bloomberg that spelt it out.

Of course, they are criminals and could be lying.

Some researchers say DragonForce are based in Malaysia, while others say Russia, where many of these groups are thought to be located. We do know that DragonForce has no specific targets or agenda other than making money.

And if DragonForce is just the service for other criminals to use – who is pulling the strings and choosing to attack UK retailers?

In the early stages of the M&S hack, unknown sources told cyber news site Bleeping Computer that evidence is pointing to a loose collective of cyber criminals known as Scattered Spider - but this has yet to be confirmed by the police.

Scattered Spider is not really a group in the normal sense of the word. It's more of a community which organises across sites like Discord, Telegram and forums – hence the description "scattered" which was given to them by cyber security researchers at CrowdStrike.

They are known to be English-speaking and probably in the UK and the US and young – in some cases teenagers. We know this from researchers and previous arrests. In November the US charged five men and boys in their twenties and teens for alleged Scattered Spider activity. One of them is 22-year-old Scottish man Tyler Buchanan, who has not made a plea, and the rest are US based.

Crackdowns by police seem to have had little effect on the hackers' determination, though. On Thursday, Google's cyber security division issued warnings that it was starting to see Scattered Spider-like attacks on US retailers now too.

As for the hackers I spoke to on Telegram, they declined to answer whether or not they were Scattered Spider. "We won't answer that question" is all they said.

Perhaps in a nod to the immaturity and attention-seeking nature of the hackers, two of them said they wanted to be known as "Raymond Reddington" and "Dembe Zuma" after characters from US crime thriller The Blacklist which involves a wanted criminal helping police take down other criminals on a blacklist.

In a message to me, they boasted: "We're putting UK retailers on the Blacklist."

The camera tech propelling shows like Adolescence

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62g6vdl3vqo, 3 days ago

Three strong knocks from the police battering ram and the front door bursts open. There's a lot of shouting.

We follow heavily-armed officers as they stream into the house, a woman drops to the floor as the camera turns left, and we head up a small, dimly lit staircase, passing a man with his back against the wall, hands raised, yelling to no avail.

Within moments, a 13-year-old boy has been arrested and we're back outside in the morning light. The family screams on the front lawn as the camera returns to the boy, now a detainee in the dark interior of a police van.

All this happens in three minutes. In one take. It is an early scene in Netflix's hit show Adolescence, which was watched by more than 120 million people worldwide in its first month.

It wouldn't have been possible to film a sequence quite like this five years ago, the show's cinematographer Matthew Lewis claimed in a recent interview. Each of the four, roughly one hour-long episodes of Adolescence was shot entirely in one take, known as a "oner", with the camera frequently following characters through frantic scenes, or switching from handheld to vehicle-mounted filming.

Lightweight, self-stabilising cameras that can adjust to dramatic changes in environmental lighting have sparked a small revolution in the film and TV industry.

At the end of Adolescence's second episode, for instance, the camera moves from filming inside a car to crossing a road, to flying over nearby streets, and then to ground level again.

You can just about detect the switch from drone to human operator – there's a minuscule wobble – but unless you're looking for them, these transitions are effectively seamless.

It was made possible in part by a DJI Ronin 4D, a small, high-resolution camera that has multiple built-in sensors for detecting movement in relation to the floor and nearby objects.

This allows internal mechanisms to compensate for that movement and achieve smooth, stable footage.

The result is "phenomenal", says seasoned filmmaker and Boston University professor Tim Palmer.

He initially doubted that episodes of Adolescence really were shot in a single take. "As soon as I saw it I knew, no, that was absolutely done in one take."

Camera technology has developed significantly lately, he adds.

In 2014, Prof Palmer worked on a hospital drama called Critical, which required lengthy shots in busy hospital corridors. "It was just little joystick video game controllers to make the camera pan and tilt, and that was just not precise enough," he recalls.

Makers of such TV programmes have long tried to capture the energy of hospital environments. One episode of 1990s BBC series Cardiac Arrest opens in a hectic triaging unit. As far as I can tell, there is only one cut in the first 10 minutes – but the camera moves rather robotically back and forth. It is nowhere near as dynamic as Adolescence.

Prof Palmer adds that gimbals, stabilising devices for cameras, have been around for years now, but methods of controlling them and pulling footage remotely have only recently become highly sophisticated.

He also mentions how some of the latest cameras have built-in filters that can be controlled remotely, or stabilisation technology that can be activated or deactivated at the press of a button. "That's a complete game-changer," he says.

Long single takes are far from a new concept in cinema. There are examples dating back decades.

Take the 2015 film Victoria, a hair-raising, two-hour and 20 minute feature film that its makers say was shot in a single take. Some have expressed scepticism about this in the past, but cinematographer Sturla Brandth Grøvlen tells the BBC emphatically, "There are no edits or cuts."

While Mr Brandth Grøvlen had to rely on the technology of the time, he says that the slightly shaky images were intentional – the director wanted a film that reminded viewers of footage shot by news crews in warzones.

"It feels very much in the moment, but also like you never know what's going to happen," says Mr Brandth Grøvlen, "You're taken on a journey."

He used a Canon C300, a small motion picture camera well-suited to documentary filmmaking. Mr Brandth Grøvlen reduced the weight of the camera as much as possible by only adding essential accessories. He also practised the movements he planned to make during takes of the final film in order to achieve "muscle memory" of the process.

"When they suddenly start running I have to shift my grip on the camera from holding it on the side handle to the top handle – that way it shakes a little bit less," he explains.

The Ronin 4D is DJI's "first dedicated cinema camera", says Brett Halladay, product education manager at the firm.

He describes the extensive stabilisation technology and the fact that the device transmits footage wirelessly to on-set monitors. It automatically selects a frequency based on the best available signal.

There are some limitations, though. The camera is not set up for vertical filming – increasingly in-demand with the rise of video-sharing smartphone apps such as TikTok.

Mr Halladay points out that it is possible to shoot in landscape and crop to a portrait, or vertical, image, though that might not be the most "ideal" solution, he acknowledges.

Other cameras are available. Canon, for instance, touts its line of lightweight Cinema EOS models.

Barry Griffin, a manager at Canon, says these cameras are finding a market among filmmakers aiming to shoot with increased freedom, or who want to put cameras in tiny podcast studios and livestream high-quality shots of hosts and their guests.

The rise of highly ergonomic cameras could have a big impact on the quality of film and TV, says Booker T Mattison, a screenwriter and director who teaches filmmaking at the University of Georgia. "Point of view is often represented by the camera itself," he says. "It absolutely, 100% allows you to tell better, more dynamic stories."

There's a risk that obsessing over one-take TV shows could become a gimmick at the expense of good storytelling, says Carey Duffy, director of product experiences at Cooke Optics.

Lightweight Cooke lenses were used by the makers of Adolescence. Mr Duffy explains that his firm designed these lenses to work with emerging, lightweight cameras and that this was possible in part because of the shorter distance between the back of the lens and the image sensor in those cameras, versus earlier devices.

But fascination over "oners" won't be enough to retain audiences, says Prof Palmer: "Personally, it's not going to make me want to watch something because it's shot it one take – I want to watch these things because they're good."

Elton John brands government 'absolute losers' over AI copyright plans

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8jg0348yvxo, today

Sir Elton John described the government as "absolute losers" and said he feels "incredibly betrayed" over plans to exempt technology firms from copyright laws.

Speaking exclusively to Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, he said if ministers go ahead with plans to allow AI firms to use artists' content without paying, they would be "committing theft, thievery on a high scale".

This week the government rejected proposals from the House of Lords to force AI companies to disclose what material they were using to develop their programmes.

A government spokesperson said that "no changes" to copyright laws would be "considered unless we are completely satisfied they work for creators".

Generative AI programmes mine, or learn, from vast amounts of data like text, images, or music online to generate new content which feels like it has been made by a human.

Sir Elton said the "danger" is that, for young artists, "they haven't got the resources ... to fight big tech [firms]".

"It's criminal, in that I feel incredibly betrayed," he added.

"The House of Lords did a vote, and it was more than two to one in our favour," he said. "The government just looked at it as if to say, 'Hmm, well the old people ... like me can afford it.'"

On Monday, the House of Lords voted by a 147 majority to amend the Data (Use and Access) Bill to add transparency requirements, which aim to ensure copyright holders have to give permission for their work to be used.

But on Wednesday MPs in the House of Commons voted to reject this change, meaning the bill will continue to go back and forth between the two Houses until they reach an agreement on it.

Sir Elton warned the government was on course to "rob young people of their legacy and their income", adding that he thought the government was "just being absolute losers, and I'm very angry about it".

The singer said that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer needed to "wise up" and described Technology Secretary Peter Kyle as "a bit of a moron".

He said if the government does not change its plans, he would be ready to take ministers to court, saying that "we'll fight it all the way".

Speaking alongside the 78-year-old, playwright James Graham said ministers "do understand the value of creativity... but what's frustrating is either the complacency or the willingness to let Silicon Valley tech bros get it all their own way".

The chief executive of UK music, Tom Kiehl, told the BBC that the government is "on the brink" of offering up the country's music industry "as a sacrificial lamb in its efforts to cosy up to American-based tech giants".

He added that the prime minister "must not sell" the next generation of singers, songwriters, musicians, and music creators "down the river and allow all that talent to be crushed by letting soulless AI bots plunder their work".

Ahead of the vote in the House of Lords, Sir Elton joined more than 400 British musicians, writers, and artists in signing a letter calling on the prime minister to update copyright laws in a way that protects them from artificial intelligence.

Beatles singer Sir Paul McCartney, who also signed the letter, previously told the BBC there was a risk AI would create a "Wild West" in which artists' copyright was not properly protected.

A government spokesperson said it wants the UK's creative industries and AI companies to "flourish, which is why we're consulting on a package of measures that we hope will work for both sectors".

The spokesperson said it was "vital" the government worked through responses to a consultation on proposals to allow developers to use creators' content unless rights holders elected to "opt out".

They added that it was "equally important that we put in the groundwork now as we consider the next steps".

"That is why we have committed to publishing a report and economic impact assessment - exploring the broad range of issues and options on all sides of the debate."

The full interview with Sir Elton John will be on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday 18 January at 09:00 BST.

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The 'space archaeologists' hoping to save our cosmic history

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250515-the-space-archaeologists-hoping-to-save-our-cosmic-history, 3 days ago

The infrastructure of humanity's journey into space may only be decades old, but some of it has already been lost. A new generation of "space archaeologists" are scrambling to save what's left.

Space is being commercialised on a scale unseen before. Faced by powerful commercial and political forces and with scant legal protections, artefacts that tell the story of our species' journey into space are in danger of being lost – both in orbit and down here on Earth.

Like Stonehenge, these are irreplaceable artefacts and sites that have a timeless significance to humanity because they represent an essential stage in the evolution of our species. They are often also expressions of national pride because of the industrial and scientific effort needed to achieve them. Sometimes they are also memorials to those who died in the course of ambitious space programmes.

They also have another use. Studying these artefacts and sites helps researchers better understand how astronauts interact with new technology, adapt to new environments and develop new cultural practices. The conclusions of researchers can influence the design of future spacecraft and help future space missions succeed.

Can a new generation of pioneering space archaeologists like Alice Gorman and Justin Walsh help save our space heritage for coming generations, and how might their work change space exploration in the future?

On 15 January 2025, the World Monuments Fund's Watch List of 25 threatened heritage sites was released, surprising many by including the Moon, with a focus on the Apollo 11 landing site, in addition to the endangered sites on Earth.

It is rather ironic then, that same day, Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lunar lander blasted off from Kennedy Space Center on board a SpaceX rocket to lay "the groundwork for the future of commercial exploration" of the Moon, according to the company. Firefly became the second commercial company to land without difficulty or damage on the Moon when Blue Ghost safely touched down around 30 miles (50 km) away from the site of the Nasa LCROSS impactor, 90 miles (150km) away from the Soviet Luna 24 probe site, and in the neighbouring lunar sea, vast plains of solidified lava, to where Neil Armstrong's footprints can be found.

"We don't know yet how to physically operate on the Moon," says space archaeologist Justin Walsh, a professor at Chapman University in California. "Any mission that approaches or enters one of those historic sites is going to have consequences that we can't yet foresee. Whatever precautions we can take, we really must take to keep that damage to a minimum."

But it isn't just sites on the Moon that experts are worried about. Elon Musk wants Nasa to deorbit and possibly destroy the historically significant International Space Station sooner than the space agency intends.

"The window of time we must get procedures and protocols accepted by the international space community is closing," says Alice Gorman, a space archaeologist and associate professor at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia.

Three years ago, Nasa astronaut Kayla Barron conducted the first ever archaeological fieldwork outside the Earth (and in zero gravity) while orbiting the planet at about a height of 250 miles (400km). On 14 January 2022, she used bright yellow adhesive tape to mark out the corners of 1 sq m (10.7 sq ft) on a science rack in a module of the ISS – like an archaeological trench – and repeated the process in five other locations, ranging from the galley to the toilet.

Archaeology is a "dirt discipline", says Gorman in her book Dr Space Junk v The Universe. Archaeologists dig test pits to reveal a "snapshot" of a site's history. On a space station, that is impossible.

Instead, Barron and her colleagues used digital cameras to photograph each square every day for 60 days. The goal of the exercise was to reveal how these spaces were being used, and how their use changed over time.

"I was here in Los Angeles and Alice [Gorman] was in rural New South Wales in Australia, we were watching Kayla Barron put these pieces of tape out live on Microsoft Teams," says Walsh. "It was like our giant leap."

Walsh and Gorman are leading the International Space Station Archaeological Project (Issap) a joint venture that marks "the first large-scale space archaeology project". Established in 2015, its goal is to study the crew of the ISS, to extend the discipline of archaeology into new worlds and even guide the development of long-duration space missions.

"Space archaeology had always felt rather theoretical," says Walsh. "What would we do if we could go there? But digital technology has changed that.

"There are many more photographs of the inside of the International Space Station (ISS) than of any previous space habitat because its inhabitation coincided with the growth in digital technology."

Their analysis of these existing photographs of the ISS showed how astronauts personalised areas on the space station to create a visual display that expressed their identity. It showed how astronauts filled "empty space" with – for example – religious icons, mission patches, space heroes and even a geocaching tag, like a fridge door back on Earth.

Last year, the importance of their work for space archaeology led to Walsh's and Gorman's inclusion in the Explorers Club 50 as two of "50 remarkable explorers" changing the world and extending the meaning of exploration.

"We've actually been told by one of the companies designing a private space station that they used our research on how people adapt to living in space throughout the design of the interior of their space station," says Walsh. "That was incredibly gratifying to hear."

For many, the fight to record and save our space heritage began when Beth O'Leary, archaeology professor emeritus at New Mexico State University in the US, published the Lunar Legacy Project (LLP) report in 2000. Its first goal was to treat the entire Moon like an archaeological site and map every single object left by humanity. But, according to O’Leary, this task proved too vast for its limited funding.

"We estimated that at that time [around 2000] there was 100 metric tons of material on the Moon," says O'Leary. "I'd say it's in excess now of 400 metric tons and that's just a guesstimate. So, what is important? Which sites do you focus on?

"We might have chosen the site of the Soviet Luna 2 probe because that was the first human artefact to land on the Moon. Instead, we picked Tranquillity Base because it was the first time humans had landed on another celestial body, and it has an international significance comparable to that of Stonehenge.

"Unable to visit the Moon, we had to really dig in the archives to find out what was left on the lunar surface at Tranquillity Base."

The project has found around 106 artefacts and features left there (a feature is an artefact that cannot be moved, such as each footprint). These include the mundane, such as sample scoops; the emotive, such as footprints; and the poignant – an Apollo 1 Mission patch. The three Apollo 1 crew were killed in 1967 when fire swept through their capsule while still on the launchpad at Cape Canaveral.

There were also surprises. They discovered that medals from two cosmonauts, Vladimir Komarov and Yuri Gagarin, had been left there by the Apollo 11 astronauts. "Their widows had passed on the medals to the American astronauts at the height of the Space Race and the Cold War," O'Leary says. "It's very powerful, isn't it?"

As the LLP website asks: "If this site is not protected, what will be left?"

Space archaeology essentially involves applying archaeological methods and theories to everything related to the era of space exploration. This can range in time from the launch sites of the rockets tested just before World War Two to a present-day drone flying in the atmosphere of Mars. It can also include wider culture, such as the expression of ideas about rockets in children's toys.

Rather than digging in the dirt with a trowel, space archaeologists more often sift through scientific papers or engineering plans. They look for evidence in remote sensing data, satellite images of landers on planet surfaces and space probes in orbit.

"Space archaeology is about putting all this kind of data together and combining it, in a way that an engineer wouldn't, to say something new about an object," says Gorman. "What is the setting or the place of this artefact? How has it fared in that space environment? What does it look like? How would a person experience these kinds of things?

"It's a bit counterintuitive because archaeology is such a physical discipline, that's part of what we all love about it, but we can't often do that."

It is a natural progression to want to save what you have recorded. But is it real archaeology?

"It's something people have trouble with," admits Gorman. "They say, 'how can this be archaeology?' It's too recent. But when does the past start? According to [science-fiction writer] Isaac Asimov, the past can start a millisecond ago."

In 2010, Beth O'Leary and her colleagues succeeded in placing Tranquillity Base on the California and New Mexico state registers of cultural properties-resources because of the role these two states played in the space programme. Five years later, the International Space Station Archaeological Project was launched.

Then space archaeology started to gain wider recognition. The job of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (Icomos) is to promote heritage conservation and advise the World Heritage Committee on sites to include on its list.

The creation of the Icomos International Scientific Committeeon AeroSpace Heritage (ISCoAH) in 2023, which recognised the threat to archaeological sites on the Moon, "was huge" for the discipline, says space archaeologist Gai Jorayev, a senior research fellow at University College London, who is president of the committee.

Among other subjects, Jorayev studies what he calls the "dark heritage" of the Soviet space programme, such as the people who sacrificed their lives building the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the former USSR.

Many hope that the inclusion of the Moon on the World Monuments Fund's 2025 Watch list will lead to further progress, such as an internationally endorsed list of space heritage sites and a space heritage charter. "So, I would say we were only really, after 25 years, getting started," says Gorman.

But the fate of historically significant spacecraft is even more uncertain.

"There have been ideas of putting the most historically valuable objects into a stable museum orbit around the Earth that is relatively empty," says Walsh. "This could include Vanguard 1, the oldest object now in space."

In January 2025, a paper suggested that Vanguard 1 should be brought back to Earth and exhibited in a museum.

Similarly, it can be argued that the Hubble Space Telescope, which has transformed our understanding of the universe, and the International Space Station, the largest spacecraft ever built, should also be saved.

Research suggests that up to 40% of the space station could survive re-entry. "We need to think better about end of life for these craft," he says. "If you can foresee that a mission is likely to be historic, then the preservation of the spacecraft should be part of the calculations."

There is some good news in the battle to save the artefacts that tell the story of our species' journey into space. Archaeologist Thomas Penders can see the top of the Blue Origin rocket New Glenn from his archaeological laboratory at Cape Canaveral. "I can't be there when they're launching but I wish I could," he says.

As cultural resources manager for the US Air Force/US Space Force at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Penders must balance the need for conservation with the needs of the growing commercial space industry. He looks after a 19,200 acre (7,800 hectre) area of Florida that encompasses what he calls the "most significant aspects of the US space programme's history and future ", including the hallowed ground of Cape Canaveral.

Penders spends much of his time consulting with the State Historic Preservation Office on whether it's okay for these historic launch complexes to be reused.

"Blue Origin has taken over Hangar S and they understand the significance of it," he says. "They've been very cooperative with us in maintaining the integrity of the building and hangar."

Hangar S was the home of the United States's first human spaceflight programme, Project Mercury, and Blue Origin's rockets are named after famous Mercury astronauts.

More like this:

• The ocean grave for 264 spacecraft

• The ambitious project to build a 'space museum' in orbit

• A fiery end? How the ISS will die

There are new archaeological discoveries as well. "A contractor working on the Blue Origin launch complex found missile parts and called me in," says Thomas Penders. "What I found is that in the '50s and '60s we were in such a race to develop rockets and put a man in space…missile parts were just thrown over the fence that surrounded the launch pad, and they were still there today."

The commercialisation of space means this is a vital time to preserve space heritage. "These critical and extraordinary moments in the history of humanity deserve our attention, and they deserve a chance to exist into the future," says O'Leary.

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LA 2028 Olympics plans air taxi service for spectators

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgnp103zr9o, 3 days ago

Spectators could fly through the Los Angeles skies and escape the city's notorious traffic during the 2028 Olympic Games if the organisers have their way.

LA28, the committee charged with planning the city's third Summer Games, have announced a partnership with Archer Aviation to provide an air taxi service during both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The company says it plans to use a fleet of aircraft to ferry fans to and from venues, LA28 announced on Thursday.

Flying taxis have been a longstanding dream. They were planned to debut in the Paris Games in 2024, but were not certified by Europe's air safety agency in time.

Williams Syndrome: The people who are too friendly

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250515-williams-syndrome-the-people-who-are-too-friendly, 4 days ago

People with Williams Syndrome treat strangers as their new best friends. Now the condition is giving clues to our evolutionary past – and what makes us human.

Imagine walking down the street and feeling an overwhelming love and warmth for every single person that you met. That is a familiar experience for people with Williams Syndrome (WS), a rare genetic condition that affects approximately 1 in 7,500 individuals.

People with WS, often dubbed the 'opposite of autism', have an innate desire to hug and befriend total strangers. They are extremely affectionate, empathetic, talkative and gregarious. They treat everyone they meet as their new best friend, yet there is a downside to being so friendly. Individuals often struggle to retain close friendships and are prone to isolation and loneliness.

People with WS are also sometimes too open and trusting towards strangers, not realising when they are in danger, leaving them vulnerable to abuse and bullying.

"It's very easy for someone to fool a person with Williams Syndrome and take advantage of them, because they are so trusting," says Alysson Muotri, a professor of paediatrics and cellular and molecular medicine at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). "They give themselves to anybody without prejudice, which seems like a lovely trait, but at the end of the day there is a reason why the human brain evolved to be a little bit suspicious of a new person. You don't know if that person is there to hurt you or to love you, and they [a person with WS] cannot make that distinction," he says.

Few people with WS live independently as adults, and many suffer from severe anxiety. There are also health problems that accompany the condition, such as cardiovascular disease, developmental delays, and learning disabilities. Many people with WS have a lower IQ than the average, for example.

Over the last decade, scientists have learned more about the condition, which is offering a unique window into how some of the traits that make us human – such as kindness, trust, and friendliness – evolved.

First off, some facts. Humans have 46 chromosomes, organised into 23 pairs. During sperm or egg development, a process called 'recombination' occurs where genetic material is swapped between matching pairs of chromosomes. However in WS, the process goes wrong, and a whole section of DNA from one copy of chromosome seven is accidentally deleted. As a result, people with WS are missing one copy of between 25-27 genes.

These genes serve various functions. For example one, ELN, codes for a protein called elastin, which provides flexibility and elasticity to tissues throughout the body. A lack of elastin causes the artery walls to stiffen, leading to lifelong cardiovascular problems for people with Williams Syndrome.

Another gene, BAZ1B, affects the growth of what are known as neural-crest cells. These are stem cells which eventually form the basis of many tissues, including the bones and cartilage of the face. People with Williams Syndrome have distinct facial characteristics, such as a small, upturned nose, wide mouth, and small chin.

A social gene

Yet pinpointing the gene, or genes, responsible for the increased friendliness of people with WS has proved more elusive. One theory is that BAZ1B could have a role here too. Some neural-crest cells go on to form the adrenal glands, which, through their release of adrenaline are responsible for the fight or flight response. It's feasible that people with fewer or impaired neural crest cells could produce less adrenaline. This, in turn, could make them less fearful of strangers.

Meanwhile, other scientists believe that a gene called GTF2I could be responsible. For example, research has shown that individual animals who lack GTF2I tend to be more social than other members of their species. Unpublished research suggests that fruit flies who don't have the gene like to eat together. Mice without GTF2I are more likely to approach a second 'stranger' mouse. Dogs also contain a variant of the GTF2I gene thought to make it less effective, which could explain their overt sociability and friendliness compared to wolves. Meanwhile, people who have a duplication of the gene tend to develop a form of autism characterised by social phobia.

Nevertheless, the exact mechanism by which GTF2I controls sociability isn't known. The protein GTF2I codes for is a transcription factor, meaning that it helps to regulate the expression of many other genes. One theory holds that the personality profile of WS individuals could be related to an impairment of myelin, the insulating layer or 'sheath' that wraps around nerves, especially those in the brain and spinal cord.

"Just like the electrical cable in your house, which is covered by a plastic insulation layer, myelin is crucial for the proper transmission of electrical signals from one neuron to another," says Boaz Barak, an associate professor at Tel Aviv University in Israel.

Barak and colleagues recently showed that not only were mice bred to lack GTF2I more social, but that their neurons contained less myelin. Giving them a drug that improved myelination made their behaviour more like that of other mice.

As myelin dramatically speeds up the rate at which electrical signals can travel, one explanation is that the loss of myelin could lead to slower, sluggish nerve cells. This could explain some of the cognitive difficulties faced by people with Williams Syndrome, as well as the poor motor skills associated with the condition.

However, Barak believes it could also disrupt the communication between the amygdala, the tiny, walnut shaped region of the brain that processes fear and emotion, and the frontal cortex – a region responsible for decision making, personality, and emotions. This could explain why people with WS do not fear, or mistrust strangers.

"What we discovered is that when you don't have GTF2I, the myelination process is impaired, leading to weak communication between the brain regions responsible for fear, and those in charge of social decision-making," says Barak.

Intriguingly, a FDA approved drug called clemastine – commonly used to treat allergies – is known to improve myelination. As brain samples donated by people with Williams Syndrome also show impairments in myelination, Barak and his team plan to repurpose clemastine as a potential treatment for the condition. They are currently assessing its safety and effectiveness in a phase 1 clinical trial – the first stage of testing done on humans – due to complete in December 2025.

"Individuals with Williams Syndrome have amazing traits that neurotypical people could learn from, so their behaviour is not something that we need to correct necessarily," says Barak. "We meet a lot of families and it is common to hear a parent saying, 'I would never change how much love she gives to the world, or I adore how friendly and loving she is.' However what we are trying to do is to develop treatments based on drugs that are already out there for those who want to use them," he says.

Barak's lab have also found that mice bred to lack the gene GTF2I also have dysfunctional mitochondria in their neurons. Mitochondria are the powerplants present in every cell that produce energy for the body to use. Brain samples from individuals with Williams Syndrome also show that their mitochondria do not develop and function properly.

"Neurons need energy in order to do their job, and what we found is that without GTF2I, the network of mitochondria does not form correctly," says Barak. "As a result, neurons have trouble meeting their energy needs – they suffer a power outage."

As a result of this, toxic substances build up inside the neurons, potentially preventing them from firing properly, according to Barak.

Meanwhile, others have suggested that losing the GTF2I gene could increase levels of oxytocin, the so-called "love hormone", in the brain. Research shows that people with WS produce more oxytocin, and have more oxytocin receptors – proteins that recognise and bind to oxytocin – than healthy controls.

Muotri, on the other hand, believes that the increased friendliness shown by people with WS can be explained by the number of synapses – or connections – in their brains. In 2016, his team took stem cells from the discarded baby teeth of children with WS. The cells were then reprogrammed to form neurons capable of forming connections, just like those seen in developing brains. On close examination, the neurons of these lab-grown mini brains were remarkably different.

"There were more synapses than normal, so the neurons were more branched and made more contacts," says Muotri.

In the 2016 study, the team also examined post-mortem samples taken from people with WS who had donated their brains to science. The same patterns were observed – the neurons of people with WS were more branched and formed more connections with other neurons.

Although Muotri and his team haven't yet unravelled all of the circuits involved, he suggests that it's likely that in WS, the frontal cortex forms more connections with the parts of the brain involved in reward. "When you remember someone or see someone that you like, your brain releases dopamine which creates a good sensation," he says.

"I think people with Williams Syndrome might have a dysregulation in this neurotransmitter. So when they see a new face, they immediately get a release of dopamine, and they feel good about it."

On the flip side of the coin, the team found that mini brains grown using stem cells from children with autism have fewer neuronal connections.

"We showed that if you lower the expression of the [GTF2I] gene, you make more connections, and if you increase the expression of the gene, you create less connections – which is amazing," says Muotri.

As traits like trust, kindness, and friendliness are so important to human survival, Muotri believes that evolution must keep a tight rein on the expression of the GTF2I gene. Humans are a social species, and our very survival rests on collaborating with one another. We need to be able to trust each other to a certain extent.

"The specific balance [of GTF2I] is probably quite important, as being too friendly is not a good thing, but not being friendly enough is also not a good thing," says Muotri. "So what evolution has done is tune the expression of that gene – it's found the exact right amount of socialisation that we can all tolerate."

* All content within this column is provided for general information only, and should not be treated as a substitute for the medical advice of your own doctor or any other health care professional. The BBC is not responsible or liable for any diagnosis made by a user based on the content of this site. The BBC is not liable for the contents of any external internet sites listed, nor does it endorse any commercial product or service mentioned or advised on any of the sites. Always consult your own GP if you're in any way concerned about your health.

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How gardening can help you live better for longer

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250509-how-gardening-boosts-brain-health, 7 days ago

Research shows gardening preserves cognitive function, helping you live well for longer. Now, dementia patients are reaping the benefits with "care farms" prescriptions.

Marianne Rogstad, a retired grandmother from Norway, is a lifelong learner. She worked as a hotel clerk in Switzerland for five decades, where she spent her days immersed in new languages and cultures.

But when Rogstad returned to Norway, she was diagnosed with dementia. She soon became isolated and lost those sources of stimulation. That was until she joined Impulssenter – a small "care farm" outside of Oslo. The care farm borrows its name from the way it serves people's impulses to work and connect with others, says Henreitte Bringsjord, whose parents founded the farm.

"My mum and dad loved farm work, and they thought about how hard it is for people with dementia to stop working and lose their social life. So, they wanted to help people with dementia become a part of life again," says Bringsjord, who now co-manages the farm.

In 2015, Norway became one of the first countries to create a national dementia care plan, which includes government-offered daycare services such as Inn på tunet – translated as "into the yard" – or care farms. Now, as researchers recognise the vast cognitive benefits of working on the land, more communities are integrating gardening into healthcare – treating all kinds of health needs through socially-prescribed activities in nature, or green prescriptions.

"Nature prescriptions can increase physical activity and social connection while reducing stress, which have multiple positive knock-on effects for blood pressure, blood sugar control and healthy weight, reducing the risk of diseases that can lead to dementia," says Melissa Lem, a family physician based in Vancouver and researcher at the University of British Columbia, Canada – where she examines the opportunities and barriers around nature-based prescriptions. "We all know that more physical activity improves mental and physical health, but gardening supercharges those benefits," she says.

New data sheds light on the advantages of spending time gardening. In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers from the University of Edinburgh investigated if there might be a link between gardening and changes in intelligence our lifetimes. The study compared the intelligence test scores of participants at age 11 and age 79. The results showed those who spent time gardening showed greater lifetime improvement in their cognitive ability than those who never or rarely did.

"Engaging in gardening projects, learning about plants and general garden upkeep involves complex cognitive processes such as memory and executive function," said Janie Corley, the study's lead researcher, in a press release.

Corley says some of those benefits may come from the "use it or lose it" cognitive framework, a theory that suggests the strength of our mental abilities in older adulthood depend on how frequently we use them. When we neglect to perform tasks that stimulate certain parts of our brain, those parts of our brain begin to lose their functionality, but regularly engaging in these activities – such as problem solving, learning a new skill or being creative – in older adulthood can have the opposite effect.

One 2002 study of more than 800 nuns in the United States found that frequently participating in cognitively stimulating activities reduced their risk of Alzheimer's disease. A more recent study of older adults in Japan found participation in meaningful activities could protect against declines in memory function. Meanwhile, other research has found that people who received an intervention of cognitively stimulating activities, typically in a social setting, saw improvements in cognition, mood, communication and social interaction.

And gardening appears to have specific cognitive benefits. For one thing, gardeners seem to experience gains in the nerve levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein that plays an important role in the growth and survival of neurons. They also receive boosts to their vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a protein associated with improving cognitive functioning.

One 2006 study from the University of New South Wales, which followed Australian men and women throughout their sixties, found that those who gardened on a daily basis had a 36% lower risk of developing dementia than those who didn't. Gardening has also been shown to improve attention, lessen stress, reduce falls and lower reliance on medications.

Some of these cognitive benefits may come from simply being in nature. Roger Ulrich, a world expert in designing health systems and a professor of architecture at Chalmers University in Sweden, was among the first to connect nature exposure to stress reduction. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he conducted a series of landmark studies demonstrating how simply looking at trees and other plants – even through a window – can reduce pain, boost positive emotions and strengthen concentration.

Ulrich suggested that these responses were driven by evolution. Since the ability to recover from a stressful situation was favourable for survival, the tendency to recover from stress in natural settings was genetically favourable, passed down through generations, and could explain why even just small doses of nature can improve wellbeing among modern humans.

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Some data seems to support the theory that we evolved to recover and heal more effectively when surrounded by nature. Lem similarly suggests some of these benefits come from our evolution – how our brains are drawn to settings with high biodiversity because they're optimal for survival. "The effects of nature are so powerful that breaking it down into its components – whether it's looking at images of nature, listening to the sounds of nature, or smelling nature – can also significantly improve our health," says Lem, who recently piloted a first-of-its-kind nature prescription programme with an art institution in Canada.

In addition to stress reduction, Lem suggests that being immersed in nature might help to improve focus. According to Attention Restoration Theory, our brains have a finite capacity for directed attention in busy urban settings, and nature helps to counteract this, she explains.

Lem suggests that the health benefits of gardening may also come from the way it lends itself to other health-promoting behaviours, like physical activity. She points to two studies of US adults – one that found those who gardened for more than one hour per week had a 66% lower risk of cardiac arrest, and another that found gardening was a "strong and independent predictor of positive bone density". Gardening can help people to develop greater hand dexterity, muscle mass and aerobic endurance, as well as promoting increased mobility.

Still, for people who already have dementia, research suggests these benefits hold extra value, improving mood, behaviour, ability to communicate and function more than other activities. Now dedicated care farms serving people with dementia are cropping up around Europe, and in the UK.

Bringsjord believes that gardening at care farms can provide a sense of agency and independence. "People love it because they can see the results of their work," she says, adding that since gardening and farm work lends itself to group observation, people who struggle with memory loss may have an easier time following along. "If they forget how to do something but then see what the other workers are doing, they remember how to do it themselves."

And, even with all of the demonstrated cognitive benefits of gardening and being outdoors, Bringsjord doesn't overlook the importance of simply creating a positive environment – filled with both people and plants – for people like Rogstad. "They could go home and be really happy, and then their spouse could ask 'What did you do today?', and they could have no idea except for the fact that they had a good day," says Bringsjord.

That's true for Rogstad, who now spends three days per week at the care farm – planting vegetables, feeding cows and tending to chickens – and appreciates the simplicity of the work. "It's nice to be out here in nature. It's much better than sitting at home."

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Autism diagnoses are on the rise – but autism itself may not be

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250509-why-autism-diagnoses-are-on-the-rise, 9 days ago

Autism is better known and diagnosed than ever before, leading to misconceptions that cases are skyrocketing.

When it came to her son's autism diagnosis, in some ways Shannon Des Roches Rosa feels she was lucky. What autism spectrum disorder (ASD) looks like can vary greatly between individuals, as well as between groups of people – girls' symptoms often differ from boys', for example. But as a young, white boy, her son, Leo, was part of a group with especially well-established diagnostic criteria.

And some of these criteria had been noticed by other people. As a toddler, Leo rarely made eye contact. In nursery school, he didn't respond to speech like the other kids. He frequently showed compulsive behaviours, like flapping his hands and chewing his clothes. He was easily stressed or overwhelmed. As a result, his diagnosis in 2003, at age two, was relatively straightforward.

But Rosa wasn't given much guidance about next steps. "I felt very lost," says Rosa, an editor and mother of three who lives in California. "I was really angry." Like so many other parents, what she wanted to know, above all, was why her child had autism. Online, she found other parents seeking the same answers.

Some believed their children had been injured by vaccines. Numerous studies on hundreds of thousands of children have consistently found no link between vaccinations and autism, and vaccinated children don't have higher autism rates than non-vaccinated children. But without a clearer understanding of why Leo was autistic, Rosa chose not to vaccinate her other children.

Over the years, Rosa realised she had been mistaken. Not only did Rosa eventually renounce her opposition to vaccination, she started a website, Thinking Person's Guide to Autism, to help others. "I have sympathy for people who believe this stuff because I've been there," she says. "But now I know that that was misinformation."

Rosa's story is an example of how, following an autism diagnosis, some families just want clear answers. Earlier this year, the US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr promised a "massive" research effort involving hundreds of scientists, to get to the bottom of what he has called an autism "epidemic" before September 2025.

But decades of research into autism have shown that its causes are complex – and mostly genetic. (Read more from the BBC about the genetic mystery of why some people develop autism.) Experts say the biggest reason for the rise in autism diagnoses, though, likely isn't these causes at all – it's a shift in how we screen for and diagnose the condition.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder which often involves differences in thinking patterns, sensory processing, communication and social interactions. Autism prevalence is estimated at roughly 1% to 3% across the countries where it has been studied, although data is lacking in many low- and middle-income nations.

In places that have been tracking this data over decades, there has been a steady rise in autism diagnoses since the mid-20th Century. Based on health and education records, from 2000 to 2022, autism prevalence in the US increased from 1-in-150 to 1-in-31. Prevalence has also grown in Australia, Taiwan, and other countries.

"That can look alarming to people who don't know [the context of the statistics]", says Zoe Gross, the director of advocacy at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), a US nonprofit run by autistic people. It's not necessarily that autism cases are increasing, Gross emphasises: rather, diagnoses are on the rise.

As a recognised separate condition, autism is relatively new. It wasn't included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) – a book with details on the symptoms and recommended treatment of hundreds of mental conditions – until 1980. This means that before then, children with ASD often got misdiagnosed with a condition like schizophrenia, or were never diagnosed at all, Gross says. But even this recognition proved narrow. The 1980 criteria included, for example, an onset before 30 months of age, lack of responsiveness to other people, and language delays – and all of the criteria listed had to be met to receive a diagnosis.

In the 45 years since, the diagnostic criteria for autism have broadened. An especially big shift came in 2013, when, for the first time, the DSM brought subcategories including Asperger's syndrome under the umbrella of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). People who wouldn't previously have received an autism diagnosis now are more likely to meet the criteria.

Diagnostic disparities have also narrowed in groups that were historically overlooked, such as racial minorities in the US. Even today, diagnosis rates can differ greatly depending on the area a person lives in. For instance, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was identified in fewer than 1% of 8-year-olds in Texas in April 2025, but more than 5% in California – likely reflecting differences in access to evaluation.

Autism diagnoses also can help with obtaining support such as government benefits, or more time to complete exams – potential reasons to seek out a diagnosis that wouldn’t have necessarily been available in decades past. Meanwhile, screenings for autism have become more sensitive, and many children are getting screened and identified earlier than in past years.

The gradual lessening of stigma is also thought to have led to more autism evaluation in children and adults, while both members of the public and health professionals have become far more aware of ASD's many manifestations.

In particular, people have a better understanding of the varied ways that autism may be visible – including in "people who might not have been caught in previous years, who maybe have less intense support needs", Gross says. This is true in many parts of the world. Yun-Joo Koh, the principal investigator at the Korea Institute for Children's Social Development, says that in this country, many parents are learning about ASD through social media and coming to her clinic earlier than they used to.

All of this means fewer hidden cases of autism. "Autistic people have always been here," says Rosa. "But we have never really had a good sense of how many there are."

In the genes

Autism is very heritable – meaning attributable to genetic factors – but very complex, says Sven Sandin, a statistician and psychiatric epidemiologist at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.

Sandin’s research across five high-income countries has found that ASD is about 80% heritable. That means that, across a population, roughly 80% of the differences in ASD risk are due to genetic variation. In other words, genetics are behind most ASD cases. His research in Sweden has found that it's especially heritable among boys: 87% for boys and 75.7% for girls. As with so many aspects of autism epidemiology, it's not clear why, Sandin says.

But what does seem clear from his work, including one of his Swedish studies, is that autism runs in families. Children whose full sibling had autism were 10 times as likely to have autism themselves, compared to children whose siblings did not have autism. If a half-sibling had autism, children were three times as likely to have the condition.

Studies of identical twins have found that if one individual has ASD, 65 to 90% of their twins also have it.

But knowing that autism is heritable does not mean any one gene is responsible in everyone who has it. In fact, more than 100 genes have been identified as having some connection to autism diagnosis – although these are not necessarily specific to autism, and there are often links to other conditions. In some people, it’s thought that there might be thousands of genes involved.

The role of environment

But genetics aren't the whole story. "The general belief is… that there is a huge variety of different genes and very complex genetic architecture, and probably with the environmental influences as well, to trigger [autism]", Sandin says.

To try to pinpoint the missing pieces, researchers have explored an array of behavioural and environmental risk factors. Some explanations have been debunked, such as the "refrigerator mother" theory that emotionally cold mothers contributed to autism in their children. Sandin is also sceptical of the idea that certain antidepressants used by parents are linked to autism risk in children, although there does appear to be an association with psychiatric disorders in parents.

There appears to be strong, though mixed, evidence that elevated autism likelihood is linked to higher parental age – possibly due to a higher likelihood of de novo (spontaneous) mutations in older fathers' sperm. An increased risk of mutations may also help explain the correlation between preterm births and autism, as spontaneous mutations may contribute to the chances of preterm births.

Preterm births are also related to social factors like low income and food insecurity, which may partly explain the steeper rise of autism diagnoses in minority children in the US.

In addition, there are suggestions that environmental exposures, including from pesticides and air pollution, may play a role.

Some studies also have found correlations with birth spacing and mothers' health conditions, including diabetes, smoking and obesity. But these have proven difficult to untangle – it's not clear whether maternal BMI directly contributes to autism, for example, or if it's just that older mothers tend to have higher BMIs, Sandin says – and may be related to shared environmental conditions rather than a direct link.

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• The genetic mystery of why some people develop autism

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It is possible that at least some of these risk factors, while probably minor players individually, could be more substantial when added together. But overall, experts agree that most environmental factors need to be researched further before reaching conclusions. What has been conclusively ruled out is any link between vaccines – including certain ingredients some contain – and ASD.

This is unsatisfying to many, Gross points out. "A lot of people are looking for a simple explanation, especially when autism is stigmatised, when they have been told many negative things about for maybe their own child's disability, and they want not only an explanation but something to blame."

The resulting vacuum has created space for simplistic ideas to spread – even those that lack evidence and have been repeatedly debunked. In the US, for example, where the current measles outbreak has claimed multiple lives, children whose older siblings have ASD are less likely to be vaccinated themselves against measles, mumps and rubella – likely due in part to the long-debunked link between autism and vaccination.

One reason it's common to be alarmed about increasing autism diagnoses, says Gross, is that societies generally haven't built sufficient support systems to accompany a diagnosis. A way to make an autism diagnosis less scary would be to improve the support, she says.

Rosa agrees. The real crisis, she says, is not of autism, but care and support – which she's found lacking for Leo, who is today a 24-year-old who loves hiking and pizza. As Rosa continues seeking the best ways to support her son, researchers will continue unravelling the science of autism.

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The surprising power of breathing through your nose

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250507-the-surprising-power-of-breathing-through-your-nose, 11 days ago

It felt like every part of my life improved after a recent nasal surgery, from my allergies to my mental health. That may not be a coincidence. Nose breathing is a superpower hidden on the front of your face.

For as long as I can remember, each breath felt like preparing for a swim underwater, a hard suck of air that never quite filled my lungs. Often I'd walk around with a faint whistle in my nose, praying that no one could hear it. The worst problem was a minor disability that most people refused to believe was real: something about the cruel architecture of my face made it physically impossible to blow my nose. The world was a constant sniffle.

Life cursed me with a deviated septum. My right nostril was blocked on the best of days, and I'd wind up breathing through my mouth at the slightest hint of allergies. The nasal troubles even contributed to my sleep apnoea, a breathing condition that makes you wake up multiple times at night, which apparently leaves you more likely to die of any cause. But after decades of unpleasantness, my doctor suggested surgery. The plan was to straighten my septum and reduce my turbinates – bony structures covered in a mucous membrane that condition the air as you breathe – nasal tissues that I didn't even know I had. I was ready to try anything, so on 3 January 2025, I went under the knife.

One month of healing later, I was the proud owner of a newly functional nose. I was able to breathe clear and deep out of both nostrils for the very first time. I learned that blowing your nose is an ecstatic pleasure, one I now enjoy as often as possible. And though my sleep apnoea wasn't cured, it did improve. The procedure probably led to a variety of other blessings, too. It turns out there are some surprising benefits to breathing out of your nose, and you don't necessarily need surgery to enjoy them. In fact, nose breathing might even improve your mental health.

Your personal air filter

The most obvious benefit to nasal breathing comes from those turbinates, according to Jacquelyn Callander, an ear, nose and throat doctor at the University of California, San Francisco. "They're kind of our primary mediator for warming and humidifying air, and that's incredibly important. But they also act as a filtration system," Callander says.

Together with your nose hairs, your hard working turbinates sift through dust, bacteria, viruses and more, an advantage you won't get from breathing through your mouth. "They can be the first line of defence for your immune system," she says.

It's not just the merits of nose breathing to consider, however. Breathing through your mouth has consequences. "There's a lot of research that associates mouth breathing with oral health problems," says Ann Kearney, a speech-language pathologist at Stanford University Medical Center who studies sleep and swallowing issues.

Mouth breathing has been shown to increase acidity and dryness in the mouth, linking it to cavities, demineralisation of the teeth and gum disease. A growing body of research also suggests mouth breathing as a child can affect the development of your teeth and jaw, leading to crooked teeth and even changing the shape of your face.

"It's simple. Your nose is for breathing and your mouth is for eating," Kearney says. For some people with seriously deviated septums or other nasal obstruction, nose breathing isn't an option. But she says a lot of mouth breathers can choose the nasal route in many circumstances. "It may not be comfortable at first. The shift from mouth to nasal breathing can be an adjustment," But, Kearney says, the perks kick in with each breath.

The nose at night

Most healthy people breathe through their noses when they sleep, but some open their mouths in a nocturnal quest for air. That's bad news, Kearney says. "It's about the position of the tongue."

Kearney says you can get a feel for this yourself. When your mouth is closed you're more likely to keep the tip of your tongue pressed to the roof of your mouth and the back of your tongue relaxed, opening up your airway. But stop reading for a second, let your mouth hang open and slacken the muscles in your face. You'll probably notice your tongue rolls towards your throat, especially if you lean your head back.

"That can restrict the airflow and cause some obstruction," Kearney says. You might even hear something that sounds like snoring if you breathe as you try this.

People with obstructed noses tend to breathe through their mouths when they sleep, a phenomenon that often contributes to sleep apnoea. The condition affects an estimated one billion people, as much as 50% of the population in some countries. At best, sleep apnoea worsens your quality of life. At worst, its effects may be as dramatic as an early death.

Even if you don't have sleep apnoea, nighttime mouth breathing can cause snoring and all the drawbacks described above. But across the internet, health and wellness influencers are raving about a controversial remedy for this problem: mouth tape. It's exactly what it sounds like. You use a piece of tape to keep your mouth shut or even completely sealed. In theory, this forces you to breathe through your nose while you sleep. However, some experts warn there are serious risks to consider.

Kearney swears by mouth tape but says it may make breathing more difficult for some people. The only way to know if you're one of them is to see a doctor – do not try this at home without seeking advice from a medical professional first. "If you snore, have difficulty breathing through your nose or have any reason to think you might have sleep apnoea, you need to see an ENT [ear, nose and throat doctor]," she says.

The practice of mouth taping is still in its infancy. Many ear, nose and throat doctors say there hasn't been enough research into its efficacy or safety. A few early studies suggest it might be helpful, though none are definitive. For example, one study of 20 people in Taiwan found mouth tape significantly improved sleep apnoea and snoring, but the researchers said the small sample size and lack of a control group limited their conclusions.

"So far we don't have great objective evidence that mouth tape helps decrease sleep apnoea or improves breathing at night," Callander says. "But it's low-cost and may be beneficial." She believes that mouth taping shows real promise, but agrees it calls for medical advice. If you're thinking of trying it, step one is to talk to a sleep specialist or an ENT.

What you can try, however, is nose strips that hold your nostrils open from the outside, Callander says. "Some people have what's called 'nasal valve collapse', where inhaling causes negative pressure in your nasal cavity. For those people, nasal strips can help." Some people even wear them while they exercise. However, if you have a deviated septum or enlarged turbinates, like I did, nose strips probably won't help, she says.

A wind chime for the mind

Over time, we've gained an increasing understanding of nose breathing's physical benefits, but the connection between the nose and the brain is often overlooked. In my case, the simple act of breathing through my nose brought a variety of bodily relief, but the way we breathe, particularly through the nose, can have a surprising impact on our psychological wellbeing.

You can think of the nose like a wind chime for the mind; when air moves through your nose, it seems to have a significant influence on your cognitive processes. Nasal breathing has positive effects on the limbic system – the parts of the brain that regulate emotion and behaviour – in ways that mouth breathing doesn't.

A 2023 study, for example, found that nose breathing lowers blood pressure and the variability and frequency of the heart rate, indicating relaxation. "It's not going to treat hypertension [high blood pressure]," says Joe Watso, an applied physiologist at Florida State University, who led the study. "But breathing in and out through your nose seems to have a calming effect on your nervous system." Studies have even shown that breathing through your nose improves performance on spatial tasks, enhances memory function and betters your reaction time.

Experts don't know exactly why that is. What we do know is breathing through your nose triggers the olfactory nerve – the nerves responsible for detecting odours – apparently even when there's nothing to smell. A leading theory is that this synchonises electrical activity across different areas of the brain including the amygdala and the hippocampus. Whatever the cause, nose breathing appears to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps the body to conserve energy and slows down bodily functions when you're relaxed.

Science is telling us what meditators and yoga practitioners have said for thousands of years: nose breathing can help with mental wellbeing. Some research indicates that rhythmic, drawn-out nasal breathing slows down brain waves across your entire cerebral cortex, indicating a calmer state of mind. Watso and others suggests nasal stimulation could even offer a physiological explanation for the benefits of meditating.

Almost every part of my life has improved in the months since I got my nose fixed. That includes my mental health. My anxiety has lessened, I'm more able to focus and my mood is better overall. It may be no coincidence. Callander says nose breathing could actually be making me a calmer guy.

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• Grip strength: The test for your chances of living to 100

"It's possible," Callander says. "If you're getting better sleep, that's intrinsically tied to your quality of life and wellbeing. But I do think you might be activating your parasympathetic nervous system more often than you previously were."

In my experience the classic advice is spot on: when you're feeling anxious or upset, take a deep breath. But next time, you may want to take it through your nose.

Thomas Germain is a senior technology journalist for the BBC. He's covered AI, privacy and the furthest reaches of internet culture for the better part of a decade. You can find him on X and TikTok @thomasgermain.

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Grip strength: The test for your chances of living to 100

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250417-grip-strength-the-test-for-your-chances-of-living-to-100, 14 days ago

Grip strength is associated with a range of health outcomes, from type 2 diabetes to depression. Here’s how to check yours.

In a world of technologically-driven longevity clinics with their increasingly sophisticated imaging scans, some of which can cost tens of thousands of dollars, it turns out that one of the best assessments of muscle strength and quality is to simply sit in a chair and squeeze a tennis ball.

That's the recommendation offered by Joshua Davidson, a strength and conditioning researcher at the University of Derby who studies hand grip strength, a metric increasingly recognised as one of the most reliable markers of human health.

When testing grip strength in clinical trials, scientists typically use a hand dynamometer, a device which you squeeze as hard as possible to measure the force generated by the muscles in your hand and forearm. Several companies are now attempting to take the dynamometer out of the clinic and into the home, combining easy-to-use devices with mobile apps to let anyone chart their grip strength over time.

However, according to Davidson, you can still get a decent idea through a simple "squeeze test" with a tennis or stress ball. "All you need is any object that you can grasp and can be deformed without causing pain or discomfort," he says. "Simply squeeze it for as long as you can before your grip fatigues. Being able to maintain a maximal squeeze on something like a tennis ball for 15-30 seconds would be a good standard to strive for." Noting down how long you can squeeze can help you track your grip strength over time.

Of course, as Mark Peterson, a physical medicine and rehabilitation professor at the University of Michigan points out, having a weak grip strength alone will have relatively little impact on your everyday life directly, beyond making it a little bit harder to open cans or jars. But researchers are increasingly using grip strength as a proxy for overall musculoskeletal strength throughout the body. It can reflect whether a person is active enough or too sedentary and indicate their risk of frailty – the condition of being vulnerable as a result of a decline in one's physiological health.

This first came to scientists' attention through a particularly notable study of nearly 140,000 adults across high, middle and low-income countries which found grip strength was a better predictor for premature death than other more obvious indicators such as blood pressure.

Other research has revealed that a person's grip strength can indicate their likelihood of living past 100. In one study, volunteers had their grip strengths measured in 1965-1968, when they were between 56 and 68 years old, and their survival was tracked for the next 44 years. Those who became centenarians were 2.5 times more likely to have had grip strength results in the highest third, compared to those who died before the age of 79.

Darryl Leong, an associate professor of medicine at McMaster University in Canada, explains that your handgrip strength – and therefore your overall muscular strength – is a sum of your nutrition, physical activity and whether you have any illnesses. "This is the reason it's associated with so many health outcomes," he says.

One study which used dynamometer testing found that grip strength scores of less than 25.5 kilograms for men and 18 kilograms for women suggests a heightened risk of sarcopenia throughout the body, the progressive loss of muscle mass and function which is linked to decreased strength and mobility in later life, and a greater likelihood of falling and developing fractures.

Guillaume Paré, a practising physician and a professor of medicine at McMaster University, says that it's possible to tell a lot even from a simple handshake, with grip strength serving as a marker for whether someone is likely to have sarcopenia. "Weaker handshakes where fingers struggle to close completely around my hand, or where hand muscles are emaciated, are red flags," he says.

But the links between grip strength and longevity go well beyond physical capabilities. Studies have shown that muscle is a key player in the metabolic system, acting as a reservoir which can soak up excess blood glucose and help prevent the development of insulin resistance. Because of this, a weaker grip can indicate that a person is more prone to a plethora of problems linked to metabolic dysfunction, ranging from type 2 diabetes to lower bone mineral density, malnutrition, cognitive impairment and depression.

If you do have a dynamometer to hand, you can use the chart above to compare your grip strength against. The results were taken from a study on the average grip strength measurements for healthy people in each sex across different age groups.

Back in 2022, Peterson led a study which assessed the grip strength of 1,275 men and women and compared these results to an analysis of their DNA. The team found that those with lower grip strength scores showed signs of accelerated ageing. Specifically, they had differences in their DNA methylation patterns – tags associated with our DNA which can alter the way it is read over our lifetimes. Methylation patterns often change in response to environmental or lifestyle factors, such as obesity, pollution or even social stress, among many other things.

For Paré this is unsurprising, as he says he sees grip strength as a key marker of both disease resilience and likelihood of recovering from chronic illnesses. For example, research in cancer patients shows that those with poorer grip strength are more likely to experience sudden weight loss or cachexia – extreme muscle or fat loss, despite eating normally – and thus worse prognosis and survival outcomes.

"It means that once we have a disease, our ability to fight it is limited," says Peterson. "For example, the risk of dying from a pneumonia is much increased in individuals with lower grip strength, which makes sense considering the importance of good muscular health to properly clear the airways of sputum [the saliva and mucus coughed up from the respiratory tract as a result of infections]."

Grip strength isn't just something to be aware of in later life, either. Researchers have even found that the average grip strength of a population tends to correlate with how many medals a country is likely to win at the Olympic Games. Meanwhile, Paré says that teenagers and young adults who have poorer grip strength are likely to be more prone to health issues at an earlier age. One study in Brazil showed that teenagers who spent more time on their screens, either on their phones or other devices, tended to have worse grip strength.

"There's data supporting the association of low grip strength with poor metabolic health even in young adults," says Paré.

Improving your score

So, can we improve our grip strength? Certainly, says Davidson, and it's something which you can work on irrespective of your age. He suggests simply using the tennis ball test to progressively work the muscles of your hand and forehand to contract at maximal power for as long as you can. With practise, you should see steady improvements over time, he says.

More like this:

• Sit-to-stand: The simple test that reveals how you're ageing

• The ruler drop test: Check your reaction times

• What your fingernails can reveal about your health

It also isn't just about grip. Leong recommends working on being more physically active in general and training the muscles in your lower and upper body. If you do this, he says your grip strength will improve accordingly.

For older adults, Leong suggests trying the timed get-up-and-go test. "Here, the individual records with a stopwatch, the time taken to rise from a chair, walk three metres, turn around and return to the seated position," says Leong. "This is a test of lower limb strength and mobility and will help improve your total muscle strength."

Davidson says that general resistance exercises to improve muscle mass and maintain bone mineral density will lead to improvements in grip strength. "We all need to engage in regular physical activity as we age," he says. "You can work out at home either using specialist equipment or just things you have around the house. Two to three sets of single arm wrist curls, with reps of between 10 and 20, is a good exercise to start with. If you have a kettlebell at home, bicep curls are also good exercises to try."

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M&S hackers believed to have gained access through third party

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpqe213vw3po, yesterday

The hackers behind a cyber-attack on Marks & Spencer (M&S) managed to gain entry through a third party who had access to its systems, the BBC understands.

The cyber-attack, which happened in April, has caused millions of pounds of lost sales for M&S and left it struggling to get services back to normal, with online orders paused for more than three weeks.

The supermarket declined to comment on the nature of the breach or these new details, saying "availability is now in a much more normal place with stores well stocked this weekend".

DragonForce - the name the criminals are using - previously told the BBC it was behind the attack and was also responsible for hacking the Co-op and an attempted hack on Harrods.

M&S will announce its annual results on Wednesday, but the focus will all be on the devastating attack and its financial impact.

Bank of America analysts believe M&S has lost more than £40m of sales every week since the incident began over the Easter bank holiday weekend.

It announced on 25 April it had stopped taking online orders. Some stores were left with empty food shelves after the firm had to take some food-related systems offline.

On a precautionary basis, M&S decided to close down many of its IT operations following the attack, effectively locking itself out its core systems as it grappled to deal with the attack.

The biggest challenge is getting its online system fully operational again, which accounts for around a third of its clothing and homeware sales.

M&S told the BBC: "Our stores have remained open and availability is now in a much more normal place with stores well stocked this weekend."

The retailer said on 13 May that some personal customer data was stolen in the cyber attack, which could include names, date of birth, phone numbers, home addresses, email addresses, household information, and online order histories.

It added that any card information taken would not be useable as it does not hold full card payment details on its systems.

The Co-op, which the hackers previously told the BBC they had targeted, said on 30 April that it had shut down parts of its IT systems in response to the attack. The hack caused payment problems and widespread shortages of goods in shops, and customer and staff data was compromised.

It said on Wednesday that customers should see stocks return to more normal levels on Saturday and Sunday.

AI and cyber attack centre will be 'leading force'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g2xrw5jl8o, yesterday

A university's new centre looking at the global rise in cyber attacks and artificial intelligence (AI) will be a leading force in the field, its director says.

The Centre for Cyber Resilience and Artificial Intelligence (CYBRAI) opened at Wolverhampton University on Friday.

It will focus on research into limiting cyber attacks and the growth in AI, bringing together academia, industry, and government to tackle the evolving digital challenges.

Director Prof Zeeshan Pervez said the centre was the first to bring the two fields together.

A team of 20 academics will work at the university - itself the victim of a cyber attack in 2024 - looking at strengthening the recovery process after a business or operation suffers a cyber attack.

They will also monitor and research the growing role of AI in innovation and managing any threats.

"Cyber attacks will keep on happening - that's what we have seen in the case of Marks and Spencer and the Co-Op - that the attacks will happen," Mr Pervez said.

"But it's all about how quickly you can recover from those attacks."

He said researchers at the centre would try to "reduce the collateral damage" caused by system breaches.

"If they are able to get in, how we can stop them and how we can make sure our systems are secure from from that point on," he said.

The Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025 stated 43% of businesses and 30% of charities experienced a cyber-security breach or attack in the last 12 months.

A National Audit Office (NAO) report in January said there were "substantial gaps in cyber-resilience" in 58 critical government IT systems.

"In Europe there's a significant rise of a 35% increase in cyber attacks on organisations - they are approximately facing 1,300 attacks on a weekly basis per organisation in the EU," Mr Pervez added.

The centre's work on AI would also be crucial given its fast-moving nature, he said.

"Radio took 38 years to reach 50 million users, television took 13 years and Facebook took one year to reach 50 million users and ChatGPT took two months to reach 100 million users," he said.

"AI is powering the digital transformation."

Being based in Wolverhampton complimented a growing number of IT and cyber-security firms in the West Midlands, Mr Pervez said, adding the centre was unique in the UK for its joined-up approach in the two fields.

"Our niche is that we are bringing both of them under one umbrella because they go hand in hand with each other."

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Mexico accuses MrBeast of exploiting Mayan pyramids

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crr70vykk0wo, 2 days ago

Mexico is seeking compensation from the producers of a MrBeast video and has accused the US YouTuber of exploiting its ancient pyramids for commercial gain.

The video "I Explored 2000 Year Old Ancient Temples" shows the influencer, real name Jimmy Donaldson, 27, and his team exploring ancient Mayan cities, with a permit.

But in one part of the video produced by Full Circle Media, which has received more than 60 million views in a week, MrBeast advertises a chocolate product as a "Mayan dessert" and urges viewers to buy it.

Authorities said that while they had granted permission to film at the sites, they had not permitted for-profit use. A MrBeast representative denied some of the accusations.

The spokesperson told the BBC: "No advertisement material was shot on any archaeological sites overseen by INAH (National Institute of Anthropology and History)."

In the video, the scene promoting the chocolate snack appears to be filmed at the influencer's camping site.

The spokesperson also said the video was "meant to highlight these treasured Mayan sites in Mexico" and that it was "unfortunate that this has turned into a political issue - hopefully it can lead to a productive dialogue and encourages people to visit these unique historical treasures".

Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday called for an investigation into the conditions under which the filming permit had been granted.

In the video's caption, MrBeast thanks Mexican tourism and government authorities for permission to film in the sites, while also plugging links to his chocolate product.

The video shows him and his team exploring areas of restricted access in the Mayan cities of Calakmul and Chichén Itzá. At one point he says "I can't believe the government's letting us do this."

They are also shown appearing to descend into a pyramid from a helicopter and in another scene are shown handling an ancient pre-Hispanic mask.

But heritage authorities said these were "false assertions" and accused the YouTuber of presenting misinformation. INAH said MrBeast had never held a real pre-Hispanic mask and there appeared to have been extensive post-production editing in the video - such as the helicopter scene.

"All of these are false assertions that obey the theatricality of the YouTuber in question," its statement on Monday read.

Mexico's Secretary of Culture Claudia Curiel de Icaza said on Thursday that, although they had authorised the permit for MrBeast to film, they had never authorised the publication of false information or the use of heritage site images for trademark advertising.

"We disapprove of any commercial pursuit that distorts the value of archaeological sites, which are a legacy of our indigenous cultures and the pride of our nation," she said.

She added that, although Mexico was open to content that contributes to the "knowledge and dissemination of Mexico's archaeological and cultural heritage" it was firmly against those who "take advantage of the willingness of institutions".

She said INAH would consider "administrative sanctions" against Full Circle Media, who was issued the permit to film. The BBC has sought comment from the firm.

MrBeast, dubbed the King of YouTube, is the most-subscribed to person on the platform, with 395 million followers. His Mayan pyramids video was published on 10 May.

Tesco apologises after software issue hits website and app

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8re57856jmo, 2 days ago

Tesco has apologised after IT problems left some customers unable to alter online orders or access digital versions of their Clubcards.

People took to social media to complain about a series of problems with the company's website and mobile app on Friday afternoon.

"We have fixed a software issue that temporarily impacted customers using our website and app this afternoon," a Tesco spokesperson told the BBC.

"We're sorry for the inconvenience."

Customers on social media listed multiple problems with its services, including being unable to process changes to online orders.

Tesco's account on X replied to one user saying it was having "intermittent system issues at the moment which the IT team are currently working hard to resolve."

Outage monitoring site Downdetector showed increased levels of reported problems with Tesco's website and app shortly after 14:00 BST.

Reports began to decline roughly two hours later.

The supermarket chain - the UK's biggest - said in early 2024 that its Clubcard loyalty scheme, offering shoppers discounts on products in-store and online, had more than 20m members.

One social media user said on X they had been encountering issues with the supermarket's app and website for about four hours.

Tesco told them in a reply that the services were experiencing "technical issues" and asked them to "try again later".

Others have said they were unable to pull up their Clubcard on their Tesco app to collect points or use vouchers while shopping.

Two other major retailers Marks and Spencer (M&S) and the Co-op have suffered massive disruption in recent weeks, in their cases due to cyber attacks.

There is no suggestion Tesco's problems were due to hackers.

Meet the team paid to break into top-secret bases

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8el64yyppro, 3 days ago

A crack team assembles and breaks into a top secret military base or corporate headquarters - you've probably seen it in a film or on TV a dozen times.

But such teams exist in the real world and can be hired to test the tightest security.

Plenty of firms offer to test computer systems by attempting to remotely hack into them. That's called White Hat Hacking.

Breaching physical security is an entirely different type of work.

Companies that offer the so-called Red Team service have to assemble staff with very particular skills.

Often using former military and intelligence personnel, Red Teams are asked one question.

“How can you break into this top-secret project?”

Leonardo, the giant defence company, offers such a service.

It says hostile states seeking disruption and chaos are a real threat and sells its Red Team capability to government, critical infrastructure, and defence sector clients.

Other companies offer Red Team services, but there are not many in the business as the specialist skills needed are rare.

Firms offering such services like to keep a low profile and are usually extremely reluctant to talk to the press.

However, Leonardo's Red Team agreed to speak to the BBC under pseudonyms.

Greg, the team leader, served in the engineering and intelligence arms of the British Army, studying the digital capabilities of potential enemies.

“I spent a decade learning how to exploit enemy communications,” he says of his background.

Now he co-ordinates the five-strong team.

The attack is about gaining access. The objective might be to stop a process from working, such as the core of a nuclear power plant.

The first step for Greg and his team is called passive reconnaissance.

Using an anonymous device, perhaps a smartphone only identifiable by its sim card, the team build a picture of the target.

“We must avoid raising suspicions, so the target doesn’t know we’re looking at them,” Greg says.

Any technology they employ is not linked to a business by its internet address and is bought with cash.

Charlie spent 12 years in military intelligence, his techniques include studying commercial satellite imagery of a site, and scanning job ads to work out what type of people work there.

“We start from the edges of the target, staying away. Then we start to move into the target area, even looking at how people who work there dress.”

This is known as hostile reconnaissance. They are getting close to the site, but keeping their exposure low, wearing different clothes every time they show up, and swapping out team members, so security people don’t spot the same person walking past the gates.

Technology is devised by people and the human factor is the weakest point in any security set-up. This is where Emma, who served in the RAF, comes in.

With a background in psychology Emma happily calls herself “a bit of a nosy people watcher”.

“People take shortcuts past security protocols. So, we look for disgruntled people at the site.”

She listens in to conversations at adjacent cafes and pubs to hear where dissatisfaction with an employer surfaces.

“Every organisation has its quirks. We see what the likelihood of people falling for a suspicious email due to workload and fatigue is.”

An unhappy security guard may get lazy at work. “We’re looking at access, slipping in with a delivery for instance.”

A high turnover rate evidenced by frequently advertised vacancies also flags up dissatisfaction and a lack of engagement with security responsibilities. Tailgating, spotting people who are likely to hold an access door open for a follower, is another technique.

Using that intelligence, plus a little subterfuge, security passes can be copied, and the Red Team can enter the premises posing as an employee.

* Update 15 May 2025: This article was updated to clarify that other firms offer Red Teaming services.

Bayesian crew unaware wind speeds of over 73mph could topple yacht, report finds

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c331djzymz6o, 4 days ago

The owner and crew of a luxury superyacht that sank off the coast of Sicily, killing tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and six others, were unaware wind speeds of over 73mph could tip it over, according to an interim report.

Modelling commissioned after the disaster indicates gusts of that speed hitting the side of the Bayesian, when it had its sails down and centreboard up, would "likely result" in its capsize.

The UK's Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), leading the international investigation, said winds of over 80mph "violently" hit the vessel, causing it to flood within seconds.

It sank near the town Porticello on 19 August last year during freak weather, with reports of water spouts.

Seven of the 22 people onboard were killed, including Mr Lynch, 59, and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah.

Investigators say the yacht was knocked to a 90-degree angle within 15 seconds at 04:06 am local time, causing people, furniture and loose items to fall across the deck.

"There was no indication of flooding inside Bayesian until water came in over the starboard rails and, within seconds, entered the internal spaces down the stairwells," the report says.

The MAIB's chief inspector of marine accidents Andrew Moll said the situation was "irrecoverable" once the yacht tilted beyond 70 degrees.

The yacht had its sails down and centreboard up when it sank.

The MAIB commissioned modelling from the University of Southampton to examine the stability of the yacht in these conditions.

It indicated that - if the wind was blowing directly across the beam, or side, of the boat - wind speeds in excess of 73mph were sufficient to tip the boat over and "it is possible" the yacht was similarly vulnerable to lower wind speeds, the MAIB said.

But this information was not included in the onboard stability information book and "consequently, these vulnerabilities were also unknown to either the owner or the crew of Bayesian", the report found.

The MAIB is investigating the incident as the Bayesian was registered in the UK. No date has been set for when its final report will be published.

It said its report was based on "a limited amount of verified evidence" as a criminal investigation by Italian authorities has restricted access to the wreck.

An operation to raise the 56-metre vessel from the seabed was paused over the weekend after a diver died while working on the wreck. Work was set to resume on Thursday.

The report lays out more detail as to how the sinking unfolded.

Investigators say the yacht sailed to the site where it sank on the previous day, in order to "shelter" from forecast thunderstorms. The sails were furled at the time.

Wind speed was "no more than eight knots (9mph)" at 03:00 - about an hour before the incident. Some 55 minutes later it had increased to 30 knots (34.5mph), and it had accelerated to 70 knots (80.6mph) by 04:06 when the yacht capsized.

As the storm intensified, several crew members were working in response to the conditions. The deck hand went onto the deck to close the yacht's windows.

Five people were injured "either by falling or from things falling on them" and the deck hand was "thrown into the sea", the report says.

Two of the yacht's guests used furniture drawers "as an improvised ladder" to escape their cabin, it adds.

Dr Simon Boxall, Oceanographer at the University of Southampton, said the Bayesian was in "the wrong place at the wrong time".

"The priorities for the crew would have been to shut the hatches and the doors, which they did," he told the BBC.

This means speculation about water flooding in because everything was open is "obviously not the case".

"The next priority would have been to start the engines - so they would have some manoeuvrability to position themselves within a storm - and to then lift anchor, which the crew did, but this takes time," he added.

"It's not like a car where you jump in and turn the key. It would take 5 or 10 minutes before you can start the engines with a vessel of this size."

Survivors escaped on the Bayesian's life raft and were rescued by a small boat dispatched from another nearby yacht, the report says.

Mike Lynch was a prominent figure in the UK tech industry, where his backing of successful companies led to him being dubbed the British equivalent of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

But the latter years of his life were consumed by a long-running legal dispute which resulted in him being controversially extradited to the US.

Inquest proceedings in the UK are looking at the deaths of Mr Lynch and his daughter, as well as Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy Bloomer, who were all British nationals.

US lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo also died in the sinking, along with Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, who was working as the yacht's chef.

Fifteen people managed to escape on a lifeboat, including Mr Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares.

Museum visitors to touch part of the moon and Mars

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgr5wllyqv5o, 4 days ago

Visitors to London's Natural History Museum will be able to touch a piece of the moon and the planet Mars at a new exhibition.

The museum is opening its first display dedicated to space exploration, with more than 60 objects on view - including a parachute NASA used to practice transporting an asteroid to Earth.

Visitors can see fragments of an asteroid and even smell pods that recreate the scents of space.

Professor Caroline Smith, lead scientist on the exhibition, said there was "more evidence than ever before" that life could exist beyond Earth.

She said the latest findings from space missions and data held in the museum's meteorite collection have contributed to their understanding.

"We are over the moon to share what we know so far about the search for life in space," she said.

Space: Could Life Exist Beyond Earth? opens on Friday, with tickets costing up to £16.50.

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'They yanked their own plug': How Co-op averted an even worse cyber attack

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy382w9eglo, 4 days ago

Co-op narrowly averted being locked out of its computer systems during the cyber attack that saw customer data stolen and store shelves left bare, the hackers who claim responsibility have told the BBC.

The revelation could help explain why Co-op has started to recover more quickly than fellow retailer M&S, which had its systems more comprehensively compromised, and is still unable to carry out online orders.

Hackers who have claimed responsibility for both attacks told the BBC they tried to infect Co-op with malicious software known as ransomware - but failed when the firm discovered the attack in action.

Both Co-op and M&S declined to comment.

The gang, using the cyber crime service DragonForce, sent the BBC a long, offensive rant about their attack.

In it, they expressed anger that Co-op's IT team made the decision to take computer services offline, preventing the criminals from continuing their hack.

"Co-op's network never ever suffered ransomware. They yanked their own plug - tanking sales, burning logistics, and torching shareholder value," the criminals said.

Cyber experts like Jen Ellis from the Ransomware Task Force said the response from Co-op was sensible.

"Co-op seems to have opted for self-imposed immediate-term disruption as a means of avoiding criminal-imposed, longer-term disruption. It seems to have been a good call for them in this instance," she said.

Ms Ellis said these kinds of crisis decisions are often taken quickly when hackers have breached a network and can be extremely difficult.

Speaking exclusively to the BBC, the criminals claimed to have breached Co-op's computer systems long before they were discovered.

"We spent a while seated in their network," they boasted.

They stole a large amount of private customer data and were planning to infect the company with ransomware, but were detected.

Ransomware is a kind of attack where hackers scramble computer systems and demand payment from victims in exchange for handing back control.

It would also have made the restoration of Co-op's systems more complex, time-consuming and expensive - exactly the problems M&S appears to be wrestling with.

The criminals claim they were also behind the attack on M&S which struck over Easter.

Although M&S has yet to confirm it is dealing with ransomware, cyber experts have long said that is the situation and M&S has not issued any advice or corrections to the contrary.

Nearly three weeks on, the retailer is still struggling to get back to normal, as online orders are still suspended and some shops have had continued issues with contactless payments and empty shelves this week.

An analysis from Bank of America estimates the fallout from the hack is costing M&S £43m per week.

On Tuesday, M&S admitted personal customer data was stolen in the hack, which could include telephone numbers, home addresses and dates of birth.

It added the data theft did not include useable payment or card details, or any account passwords - but nonetheless urged customers to reset their account details and be wary of potential scammers using the information to make contact.

Co-op seems to be recovering more quickly, saying its shelves will start to return to normal from this weekend.

Nonetheless it is expected to feel the effects of the cyber attack for some time.

"Co-op have acted quickly and their work on the recovery helps to soften things slightly, but rebuilding trust is a bit harder," Prof Oli Buckley, a cyber security expert at Loughborough University, told the BBC.

"It will be a process of showing that lessons have been learned and there are stronger defences in place," he added.

The same cyber-crime group has also claimed responsibility for an attempted hack of the London department store Harrods.

The hackers who contacted the BBC say they are from DragonForce which operates an affiliate cyber crime service so anyone can use their malicious software and website to carry out attacks and extortions.

It's not known who is ultimately using the service to attack the retailers, but some security experts say the tactics seen are similar to that of a loosely coordinated group of hackers who have been called Scattered Spider or Octo Tempest.

The gang operates on Telegram and Discord channels and is English-speaking and young – in some cases only teenagers.

Conversations with Co-op hackers were carried out in text form - but it is clear the hacker, who called himself a spokesperson, was a fluent English speaker.

They say two of the hackers want to be known as "Raymond Reddington" and "Dembe Zuma" after characters from US crime thriller Blacklist which involves a wanted criminal helping police take down other criminals on a 'blacklist'.

The hackers say "we're putting UK retailers on the Blacklist".

Former Little Mix singer Jesy Nelson gives birth to twins

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c628x34pwqvo, today

Former Little Mix singer Jesy Nelson has announced the birth of her twin daughters.

In a post on Instagram, the 33-year-old said that two girls were born prematurely at 31 weeks on Thursday but said they were "healthy and fighting strong".

Nelson said her and her partner Zion Foster were "so blessed" and had "never felt more in love", sharing pictures of them holding the girls in hospital.

They have been named Ocean Jade and Story Monroe Nelson-Foster.

Nelson wrote: "So, our beautiful baby girls decided to come at 31 weeks plus five days.

"It all happened so quickly, but we are so blessed that they are here with us, healthy and fighting strong. We've never felt more in love."

Nelson previously revealed she had experienced rare complications during the twin pregnancy, which was first announced in January.

In March, she said she had undergone a "successful" operation to prevent complications related to twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS).

The condition is caused by abnormal connecting blood vessels in the twins' placenta which leads to an imbalanced blood flow from one twin, known as the donor, to the recipient twin, leaving one baby with a greater blood volume than the other.

According to the NHS website, it affects 10% to 15% of identical twins who share a placenta, and can have serious consequences.

Shortly after the surgery in March, Nelson said: "The TTTS has cleared up, the operation was a success, which is just absolutely incredible. We are so, so lucky to have the most amazing doctors."

She also revealed that her twins were monochorionic diamniotic (MCDA), meaning they share a single placenta but have their own separate sacs.

Nelson left Little Mix in December 2020, saying she needed to protect her mental health.

She later explained that online abuse - an issue she explored in a 2019 BBC Three documentary - had left her at "breaking point".

Since leaving the band, Nelson has released music as a solo artist, including the single, Boyz, featuring Nicki Minaj, in 2021.

Little Mix, also featuring Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Perrie Edwards and Jade Thirlwall, formed on the X Factor in 2011.

The group went to record multiple UK top 10 albums and five number one singles, with hits such as Wings, Black Magic and Shout Out to My Ex.

In 2021, they announced they would be taking a break after their 2022 tour but insisted they were not splitting up permanently.

Eurovision 2025: Austria wins with last-minute vote, as the UK comes 19th

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c15nq75274qo, yesterday

For the second year in a row, the UK received zero from the public.

Eurovision 2025: The top five contestants

* Austria: JJ - Wasted Love

* Israel: Yuval Raphael: New Day Will Rise

* Estonia: Tommy Cash - Espresso Macchiato

* Sweden: KAJ - Bara Bada Bastu

* Italy: Lucio Corsi - Volevo Essere Un Duro

JJ's younger sister broke through security guards to hug him after his victory was announced.

The Austrian said his whole family had arrived to support him at the contest, including his 85-year-old grandfather, and a four-month-old niece, who watched outside with his brother.

It is the third time Austria has won the contest, with previous victories going to Udo Jürgens' Merci, Cherie in 1966; and Conchita Wurst with Rise Like a Phoenix in 2014. JJ was inspired to take part in Eurovision by Conchita.

The singer had always been one of the favourites to win, but the most hotly-tipped contestants were Sweden's KAJ - whose tongue-in-cheek ode to sauna culture, Bara Bada Bastu, ultimately took fourth place.

Speaking after the show, JJ said he was "so pleased" that viewers had connected with his story of heartache.

"I wanted to let them have an insight on my deepest soul [and] how I felt when we wrote the song."

"What I'm trying to commit [to] is that there's no wasted love. There's so much love that we can spread around. It's the strongest force on planet earth."

Asked how he would celebrate, he replied: "Honestly, I need to sleep now. I'm tired."

For the second year in a row, there was controversy over Israel's participation, with protestors arguing for the country's dismissal over its military action in Gaza.

Pro-Palestinian protests took place on the streets of Basel in the hours before the contest.

Later, a man and a woman people were prevented from invading the stage during Israel's performance.

"One of the two agitators threw paint and a crew member was hit," said Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR in a statement to the BBC.

"The crew member is fine and nobody was injured.

"The man and the woman were taken out of the venue and handed over to the police."

The performance, by young singer Yuval Raphael, was unaffected.

The 25-year-old is a survivor of the Hamas attacks of 7 October, 2023, an experience which coloured her delicate ballad, New Day Will Rise.

The Israeli delegation said Raphael was left "shaken and upset" by the incident, but that it was "extremely proud" of her performance "which represented Israel in a respectful manner".

Elsewhere, Eurovision was its usual explosion of high camp, sexual innuendo and dresses being removed to reveal smaller, tighter dresses.

Malta's Mariana Conte was forced to rewrite her disco anthem Serving Kant to remove what sounded like a swear word - but performed the censored version with a knowing wink, safe in the knowledge the audience would fill in the blanks.

Although it was a fan favourite, Conte could only manage 17th.

Estonia's Tommy Cash, who came third, also kept the innuendo train running, with Espresso Macchiato, a caffeinated disco anthem featuring the unforgettable phrase: "Life is like spaghetti, it's hard until you make it."

Another highlight was Finland's Erika Vikman, who dispensed with double entendres entirely on Ich Komme, a vibrant hymn to sexual pleasure.

The singer ended her performance by taking flight on a giant phallic microphone that shot sparks into the air.

It thrust her into 11th position, and a permanent place in the Eurovision pantheon.

The contest also dealt with more weighty subjects like economic migration (Portuguese rock band Napa) and environmental catastrophe (Latvia's Tautumeitas, who scored 12 points from the UK jury).

Dutch singer Claude delivered a heartfelt tribute to his mother in C'est La Vie - an upbeat anthem that reflected on her positivity as she uprooted the family from their home country of the Democratic Republic of Congo as a child.

In a touching climax, the 21-year-old danced with an image of his childhood self in a mirror on the stage.

Also reflecting on their childhood was French singer Louane, whose tearjerking ballad was dedicated to her mother, who died of cancer when she was 17.

In one of the night's most striking performances, she was surrounded by a whirlwind of sand as she hollered the word "mother" over and over again.

One of the favourites to win, it ended the night in seventh place, after receiving a disappointing 50 points from the public.

JJ's performance was similarly dramatic. Shot entirely in black and white, it saw him being tossed around on a rickety boat, as waves (of emotion) threatened to consume him.

An honourable mention also goes to Italy's Lucio Corsi, whose harmonica solo in Volevo Essere Un Duro marked the first time a live instrument has been played at Eurovision since 1998.

The UK spent a third year in the bottom half of the leaderboard, despite a spirited performance from girl group Remember Monday.

A group of friends who met at high school, their inventive pop song What The Hell Just Happened? drew on their many years of experience in West End theatre.

The girls pulled off their tricky three-part harmonies while dancing around a fallen chandelier, but the performance didn't connect with voters.

Despite earning a healthy 88 points from juries - including 12 from Italy - it bombed with viewers.

They ended in 19th place, one below last year's entrant Olly Alexander.

The group laughed off their "nul points" score from the public, holding up peace signs and hugging each other as the score was announced.

The voting was chaotic overall.

Thirteen of the 26 finalists received the maximum of 12 points from at least one jury, leaving the competition completely open before the public vote was counted.

Israel, who had been languishing in the bottom half of the table, then received 297 points from the public (out of a possible maximum of 444). Twelve of those points came from the UK.

For a while, it looked like Yuval Raphael's lead might be unassailable - but Austria's tally of 178 was the last to be announced, leaving the singer empty-handed.

There was disappointment, too, for fans of Canadian singer Céline Dion, who had been rumoured to appear at the contest.

The singer won Eurovision for Switzerland in 1988, and had appeared in a video wishing the contestants good luck at Tuesday's semi-final.

Despite hopes from Eurovision organisers that she might turn up, the moment never came to pass.

The Phoenician Scheme review: Wes Anderson takes his quirkiness 'to a whole new level'

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250518-the-phoenician-scheme-review-wes-anderson-takes-his-quirkiness-to-a-whole-new-level, today

Featuring Benicio Del Toro, Michael Cera, Scarlett Johansson and many more, the director's latest A-lister-filled farce has premiered at Cannes – and it's daft but fun.

Just when you think that Wes Anderson can't get any more Wes Anderson-ish, he makes a film which takes Wes Anderson-ishness to a whole new level, packing in yet more of the quirks that have become his trademarks: the symmetrical tableaux, the brightly coloured, crisply pressed costumes, the deadpan delivery of proudly artificial dialogue by an ensemble of stars, many of whom are regulars (yes, Bill Murray does appear). Whether viewers of his latest offbeat comedy are Anderson aficionados or Wes-sceptics, they're bound to wonder if the writer-director will ever attempt a project that isn't quite so recognisable.

The good news is that The Phoenician Scheme is one of Anderson's funnier films, with a commitment to knockabout zaniness which lets you smile at the Anderson-ishness rather than simply roll your eyes at it. The opening sequence, especially, is a madcap treat. Benicio del Toro is introduced as Zsa-zsa Korda, an amoral 1950s businessman who seems to have been inspired by the super-rich likes of William Randolph Hearst, J Paul Getty, Aristotle Onassis and Howard Hughes – and who bears a certain resemblance to the patriarch in The Royal Tenenbaums, too. He's first seen puffing a cigar on his private jet, and then surviving one of the assassination attempts that are a regular part of his life – and his miraculous escape has enough energy to make you giddy.

After that, though, the film quickly comes down to earth. Back in his palatial villa, Korda has a meeting with his 20-year-old daughter, Liesl (Mia Threapleton). She is a novitiate nun he hasn't seen in years, but he nonetheless wants her – and not one of his nine sons – to inherit the fortune he has made from arms dealing and profiteering, among other unsavoury practices. He also wants her to help him with his latest and greatest venture, a massive infrastructure scheme involving a railway and a dam in a Middle Eastern desert. Liesl isn't interested, but she does want to investigate the rumour that Korda murdered her mother, one of his three wives, so she agrees to hang around.

The trouble is that the infrastructure scheme has been sabotaged by a secret agent (Rupert Friend) working for all the governments around the world that loathe Korda. Suddenly short of the funding required, he has to fly across the region, renegotiating contracts with the aid of Liesl and his nerdy new Norwegian secretary, Bjorn (a lovably goofy Michael Cera, who could have been born to be in a Wes Anderson film).

Korda plays basketball with two railway tycoons (Tom Hanks and Bryan Cranston) and a prince (Riz Ahmed); he is held at gunpoint alongside a nightclub impresario (Mathieu Amalric); he shares a blood transfusion with a shipping magnate (Jeffrey Wright); and he proposes to his second cousin (Scarlett Johansson). Along the way, he narrowly avoids being assassinated: every time he has a near-death experience, he visits a black-and-white heaven, where God and the angels are played by Murray, F Murray Abraham and Willem Dafoe.

There are glimmers of emotion here and there. On one level, The Phoenician Scheme is about a heartless man learning to be a better person by spending time with his determined daughter. But on another level, the film is about… well, it's hard to say. The way that wealthy industrialists profit from exploiting others could hardly be a more resonant topic at the moment, but Anderson doesn't delve too deeply into the consequences of Korda's decades of conniving. He has made a light, whimsical, but slow and talky farce which is episodic in its structure, reliant on catchphrases for its humour, and so daft in its contrivances that the cast and crew might have been making it up as they went along. It's one of the ironies of Anderson's films: in many respects they are planned with obsessive attention to detail, and yet the plot of The Phoenician Scheme could have been scribbled on the back of the envelope in the small hours of the morning. It's good fun, but unless your tolerance for the director's idiosyncrasies is stratospherically high, the chances are that the story will seem too random for you to care about by the halfway point.

Things perk up later with a Tom-and-Jerry style fight between Korda and his malicious half-brother, played by Benedict Cumberbatch with a stick-on beard. But the slapstick does serve as a final admission that this nonsense shouldn't be taken too seriously. Some directors boast that they make the films that they want to see, and they don't care about pleasing anyone else. In the case of The Phoenician Scheme, it feels as if Anderson and his team were enjoying it more than audiences ever will.

★★★☆☆

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Die, My Love review: Jennifer Lawrence is 'better than ever' in a searing portrait of motherhood

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250517-die-my-love-review-jennifer-lawrence-is-better-than-ever-in-a-searing-portrait-of-motherhood, yesterday

Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson star in Lynne Ramsay's 'surreal' and 'intense' study of postpartum depression that has premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

Lynne Ramsay's We Need to Talk About Kevin is one of cinema's most searing portraits of a woman who doesn't take to motherhood. And the extraordinary British director's new film is almost an unofficial prequel. Adapted from Ariana Harwicz's acclaimed novel of the same name, Die, My Love is a surreal, intense and sometimes darkly hilarious exploration of postpartum depression – although it does seem for a time as it's going to be a lot more besides.

Jennifer Lawrence is better than ever as Grace, an aspiring writer who moves from New York to the countryside with her partner Jackson, played by Robert Pattinson with a similar level of vanity-free gusto. The couple's new life has the potential to be idyllic. They are fiercely in love, as the animalistic sex scenes demonstrate, and their spacious clapboard house is surrounded by woods and meadows, so Grace will have the peace and freedom to write a novel.

Still, the skittering of rats' footsteps in the opening scene is a warning that this dream home might become a nightmare, so it's no surprise when, once the couple have a baby boy, and Jackson starts working away from home several days a week, Grace is beset by boredom, loneliness and sexual frustration. Then when Jackson comes home with an untrained, perpetually barking dog, her situation gets even more maddening.

Die, My Love should probably be shown to teenagers as a warning of how repetitive, exasperating and alienating it can be to look after a baby. Ramsay makes expert use of countless techniques – detailed sound design, insistent music, mixed-up chronology, bizarre dream sequences – to convey the sense that Grace is becoming blearily adrift from reality: she may be even more unstable than the traumatised protagonist of Ramsay's last film, 2017's You Were Never Really Here.

What stops the film becoming too stressful to bear is that Lawrence is always tough and vibrant, even at the character's lowest ebb. She never begs us to sympathise with her. And the script can be sharply funny, too. Jackson sees himself as a supportive partner, but he is the kind of man who won't switch off a noisy rock song during a heart-to-heart conversation because, after all, "it's a classic". And Grace's weariness and resentment prompt her to be deliciously sarcastic to any of the folksy locals who have the temerity to be nice to her.

As well as building an unsettling, American-gothic atmosphere, the film's first half contains all sorts of omens that Grace's internal strife could soon be shockingly externalised. Her habit of creeping through the meadow clutching a large kitchen knife hints that Die, My Love might become a slasher movie. The motorcyclist who keeps roaring past the house, his identity hidden by his crash helmet's tinted visor, suggests that a home-invasion thriller is in the offing. The references to the suicide of the house's previous owner implies that the film could be a supernatural chiller about a cursed haunted house. And then there is Jackson's recently widowed mother Pam (Sissy Spacek), who has taken to sleepwalking along the road that leads from her house, not far away, carrying a loaded rifle. The sequences shared by her and Grace make the intriguing case that the experience of adjusting to a birth is mirrored by the experience of adjusting to a death. These sequences also promise that some kind of violent confrontation is only a matter of time.

It's disappointing then, that none of these various harbingers of doom develops into a storyline. The film has its share of incidents, but it's essentially a mood piece – one long nervous breakdown – rather than a drama with a plot. And because the later scenes keep reiterating the parenting-is-hell theme that was made so clear in the early ones, Die, My Love gets exhausting well before it drifts to the end credits. Ramsay's film-making flair lights up scene after scene, but as the narrative fragments, and reality and fantasy blur, you're left with the urge to read the novel to find out what's actually happening. The film may have communicated its heroine's boredom and bewilderment a little too effectively.

★★★☆☆

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The meaning behind Cannes' 'naked dress' red-carpet ban

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250513-the-meaning-behind-cannes-naked-dress-red-carpet-ban, 5 days ago

There's complex etiquette and a rich history behind the French film festival's red-carpet ban of "naked" or "voluminous" dressing. We decipher the "decency" dress code of the Cannes Film Festival in 2025.

That most rigid of red carpets just got a little bit more rigid – on Tuesday, the Cannes Film Festival announced that: "for decency reasons, nudity is prohibited on the red carpet, as well as in any other area of the festival."

It feels striking because naked dresses have become such a red-carpet staple in recent years, including at Cannes. Last year, for instance, the supermodel Bella Hadid wore a 10-denier Saint Laurent halter neck dress, while over the years stars from Isabelle Huppert, Naomi Campbell and Kendal Jenner have all opted for the oxymoronic trend.

Landing at a time when there is a rise in cultural conservatism, it feels in keeping with an uptick in the policing of women's bodies – in this instance, in the name of "decency". "God forbid someone serves a nipple," wrote Boring Not Com, an anonymous account famous in fashion circles, on Instagram – continuing, "the quiet return of conservatism is real".

For some, including Rose McGowan, so-called naked dressing is about empowerment. And many observers also pointed out glaring double standards. "Bare skin is banned on the carpet, yet once inside, it's right there on the screen. Almost always female, of course," wrote Boring Not Com. "Let's not forget, this is the same festival that turned women away for wearing flats in 2015. All while still rolling out the red carpet for Roman Polanski [who in 1978 fled the US ahead of sentencing for the rape of a minor]."

Other commentators made the wider point that Cannes is home to another famous – paradoxical – rule defining what women wear: the 2016 burkini ban, which decreed that Muslim women wearing burkinis could be a threat to public order. "A woman dressing modestly and covering her head for religious reasons is not allowed and a woman in a sheer dress is also seen as 'indecent'. You need to dress conservatively but not too conservatively. It’s a lose-lose situation," wrote Shahed Ezaydi in Stylist.

But the festival ban does not stop at nudity, also decreeing that "voluminous outfits, in particular those with a large train, that hinder the proper flow of traffic of guests and complicate seating in the theatre are not permitted". It strikes at the heart of the question: what is the red carpet actually for?

What – or rather who – people are wearing has been an essential question ever since Joan Rivers first framed it as such on the Golden Globes red carpet in 1994. In more recent years, red carpets have been likened to enormous adverts; marketing exercises where celebrities get paid big money to wear a certain designer's work, arguably shifting the focus from the films to the fashion. In many cases – the Met Gala being the most extreme example – they have become a platform for increasingly dramatic sartorial spectacles intended to garner as much attention as possible; big trains, it turns out, do exactly that. Whether that is a good or bad thing is subjective.

But Cannes has arguably remained a little different. According to one fashion insider, quoted in the Guardian in 2023, "the main US awards are more heavily financially backed – with fees of $100k+ [£75.4k+] for a red carpet look – so there is so much more pressure". In contrast, "at Cannes, there is less obligation [to wear certain brands and certain things]".

Although Cannes is to thank for some of the sartorial freedom, this is perhaps part of the problem, too. The French festival has become an unofficial fashion week. For many, the blockbusting fashion is now almost as noteworthy as the films themselves. For a festival that takes its film very seriously, this must gall.

But for others, who perhaps hold a more generous view of the artistry of fashion, that isn't the most salient point. Given the announcement about the banning was made just a day before the festival, when outfits will have been being planned for months, some commentators spared a thought for fashion industry workers. "Thoughts and prayers to all the stylists," wrote style writer Louis Pisano on Instagram. "It is a low blow," said Besovic. "It shows how much you don't respect the people who are attending your festival… especially the stylists… You couldn’t have done this two months ago?" Halle Berry, herself a fan of a naked dress on the red carpet, has already fallen foul – she reportedly had a voluminous dress planned that she now "can't wear because the train is too big". However, the US star added: "I had to make a pivot. But the nudity part I do think is probably also a good rule."

For some, though, the side of the ban dealing with volume makes more sense than the nudity. As Cannes veteran Pisano described, speaking to Vogue Business, in recent years the carpet has been overwhelmed with influencers intentionally wearing the "craziest, most insane, biggest thing they can find… They take up the most space on the red carpet and," with thousands of people needing to get into the cinemas, "everybody gets clogged up". This is not the first time the Cannes Film Festival has implemented a ban designed to speed things up. In 2018, the festival’s artistic director, Thierry Frémaux, banned the selfie, telling Le Film Français magazine that, "on the red carpet, the trivial aspect and the slowing down provoked by the disorder which these selfies create tarnishes the quality of [the red-carpet experience] and of the festival as a whole".

So will Cannes really police this ban? While the festival has outlined that "welcoming teams will be obligated to prohibit red-carpet access to anyone not respecting these rules," it remains to be seen how evenly that will be enforced. Because, despite setting such strict guidelines in the past, it hasn’t always been democratically good at applying them. In 1953, Pablo Picasso obtained special dispensation to wear a sheepskin coat in violation of the evening dress code. A journalist the same year was given no such privilege. On another occasion, no such allowances were made for Henry Miller, who, in 1960, refused to obey the code and, despite being a member of the jury, was turned away from the opening evening because he wasn’t wearing a dinner jacket.

The fact that all of this information is courtesy of the Cannes Festival website hints that there is at least some pride in creating a fuss via a dress code that they know full well a few will choose – and fewer will be allowed – to flaunt.

"Rumour has it," according to Style Not Com, that "it won't apply to the real stars of the carpet. The models and brand ambassadors who show up for the photo op, skip the screening and slip out the back. Which, let's be honest, is most of them." More likely is that a few influencers, wearing dresses the size of Citroën cars, will be shown the red carpet off-ramp.

If history tells us anything, those who do disobey and get away with it will be judged kindly in the public eye. Because disobeying a dress code considered to be draconian, snobbish or patriarchal has in the past amassed kudos for Hollywood stars who, in that moment, signal their approachability. Take Julia Roberts, who went barefoot in 2016, a year after flat shoes were disallowed. The move won her the title of "America's sweetheart" in Vanity Fair. Then in 2018 Kristen Stewart kicked off her Louboutins on the red carpet, having previously said to the Hollywood Reporter: "If you're not asking guys to wear heels and a dress, you cannot ask me either." Will those freeing the nipple – and getting away with it – receive similar praise?

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Mission: Impossible returns, and Nine Perfect Strangers: What's coming up this week

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czxy550q6vzo, today

Tom Cruise is back in action this week, with Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning hitting cinemas.

But that's not all the week has in store.

Sex Education's Connor Swindells stars in new BBC drama series The Bombing of Pan Am 103, Nicole Kidman returns for season 2 of Nine Perfect Strangers, and Peter Andre's controversial film Jafaican is coming out.

Read on for what's coming up this week...

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning

The highly anticipated eighth film in the long-running Tom Cruise-led spy action series is almost here.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning hits cinemas on Wednesday, and sees Ethan Hunt - played by Cruise - racing against time to find a rogue artificial intelligence, known as the Entity, that can destroy mankind.

Many reviews have been positive. Writing in the Independent, Clarisse Loughrey awarded it four stars, saying she "adored it".

Peter Bradshaw awarded it five stars in the Guardian, labelling it "wildly entertaining".

But Hollywood Reporter's chief film critic David Rooney was more critical, calling it "a disappointing farewell with a handful of high points courtesy of the indefatigable lead actor".

As ever, there's loads of focus on the stunts, with the film's social media account and trailer promoting plenty of impressive sequences, including 62-year-old Cruise hanging precariously off a helicopter.

"Your jaw will detach and your palms will leak sweat," writes John Nugent in Empire.

How Lockerbie changed how air disasters are handled

By Helen Bushby, entertainment reporter

The BBC's new six-part drama, The Bombing of Pan Am 103, is about the UK's most deadly terror atrocity, when a bomb in the hold of a flight from London to New York exploded above the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 270 people in 1988.

A drama exploring what happened in the aftermath, a co-production with Netflix, reveals the painstaking police operation to find out who was behind the bombing. But it also explores the impact on victims' families, and the huge kindness they were shown by the town's volunteers.

Its cast includes Sex Education star Connor Swindells, Peter Mullan, Phyllis Logan, Patrick J Adams, Merrit Wever and Lauren Lyle.

Kara Weipz, whose brother Richard died in the crash, told me that "lessons were learned" in how victims' families were treated, after she and her family found out her brother Richard was among the dead via a news report. They should, of course, have been told in person.

She hopes the drama will generate some positivity after so much pain and anguish.

It's on BBC iPlayer and BBC One from 9pm this Sunday, and will be on Netflix globally at a later date.

Jafacian starring Peter Andre is out

There has been a fair bit of controversy over Peter Andre's new film, Jafaican, which hits cinemas on Tuesday.

The trailer saw the Mysterious Girl singer donning long dreadlocks and speaking in a Jamaican accent, which led to criticism from some viewers.

Andre did not respond to a request for comment from BBC News.

But speaking to Australia's Channel 7, he addressed the backlash, saying: "I think it's good to get all sorts of feedback."

"For me, it's acting - I get to do something light-hearted, something funny. Something that is the kind of film I'd want to watch."

The film tells the tale of a small-time crook, Gazza, who hatches a scam in a bid to secure £35,000 for his grandmother's care.

With just 21 days to pull it off, he must immerse himself in Jamaican culture to con his way between London and Jamaica.

From Babygirl to Nine Perfect Strangers

Nicole Kidman is having quite the year.

She's already been in Babygirl, a film that sparked hundreds of memes, and starred alongside Succession's Matthew Macfadyen in Holland.

Now, she's back for season 2 of Nine Perfect Strangers, which drops on Prime Video on Thursday.

The show sees nine new strangers, connected in ways they could never imagine, invited by celebrity wellness guru Masha Dmitrichenko (played by Kidman) to join a wellness retreat in the Austrian Alps.

Over the course of a week, she takes them to the brink.

The first season got mixed reviews, with some critics noting it suffered from comparison with The White Lotus.

But others praised the performances, with this season's cast also including Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians), Lena Olin (Alias) and Annie Murphy (Schitt's Creek).

Other highlights this week

* Good Bad Billionaire, about LeBron James, is out on BBC Sounds on Monday

* The International Booker Prize winner is announced on Tuesday

* The Hay Festival starts on Thursday

* The Ivor Novello Awards take place on Thursday

* Fountain of Youth, directed by Guy Ritchie, drops on AppleTV+ on Friday

* Lilo & Stitch is out in cinemas on Friday

* Clarkson's Farm, season 4, begins on Prime Video on Friday

* The Smuggler, a Radio 4 podcast, is out on Saturday on BBC Sounds

* Radio 1's Big Weekend takes place in Liverpool next weekend

* Diddy On Trial is out now on BBC Sounds and drops weekly on iPlayer

What time does the Eurovision 2025 final start and who is in it?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwywjw0y9rvo, yesterday

What is the Eurovision Song Contest?

The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual televised competition organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

The theme for the 2025 edition is "Welcome Home", as the first contest was held in Switzerland in 1956.

Songs must be original and no more than three minutes long. They cannot have been released or publicly performed before 1 September 2024.

Lead vocals must be live, with no lip-syncing or auto-tuning allowed and a maximum of six singers and dancers.

How to watch the Eurovision final

The grand final of the contest will take place in St Jakobshalle, an indoor arena in Basel, on Saturday 17 May.

It will be broadcast live on TV on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from 20:00 BST, hosted by Graham Norton.

You can also listen on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds, hosted by Scott Mills and Rylan Clark.

Inside the arena, the international Eurovision coverage will be hosted by presenters Hazel Brugger, Sandra Studer and Michelle Hunziker.

Singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor will present the UK's jury result live on the night, after actor Ncuti Gatwa pulled out from the role.

Which countries take part in Eurovision?

Why is the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest in Switzerland?

Who is in the Eurovision final?

* Albania: Shkodra Elektronike – Zjerm

* Estonia: Tommy Cash – Espresso Macchiato

* Iceland: VÆB – RÓA

* Netherlands: Claude – C'est La Vie

* Norway: Kyle Alessandro – Lighter

* Poland: Justyna Steczkowska – GAJA

* Portugal: NAPA – Deslocado

* San Marino: Gabry Ponte – Tutta L'Italia

* Sweden: KAJ – Bara Bada Bastu

* Ukraine: Ziferblat – Bird of Pray

* Armenia: PARG – SURVIVOR

* Austria: JJ – Wasted Love

* Denmark: Sissal – Hallucination

* Finland: Erika Vikman – ICH KOMME

* Greece: Klavdia – Asteromáta

* Israel: Yuval Raphael – New Day Will Rise

* Latvia: Tautumeitas – Bur Man Laimi

* Lithuania: Katarsis – Tavo Akys

* Luxembourg: Laura Thorn – La Poupée Monte Le Son (pictured above)

* Malta: Miriana Conte – SERVING

Who is the UK entry Remember Monday?

Why is Israel's Eurovision entry controversial?

More than 70 former Eurovision contestants, including Britain's Mae Muller, have signed an open letter demanding that Israel's public broadcaster KAN be banned from the contest, alleging that it was "complicit in Israel's genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza".

Eurovision, which has always billed itself as non-political, has resisted calls for Israel to be excluded.

Yuval Raphael, Israel's contestant this year, told BBC News she was "expecting" to be booed during her performance.

The inclusion of Israel sparked controversy last year, when its contestant Eden Golan also faced boos during a rehearsal and thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside the venue.

Golan was also forced to change the lyrics of her entry, titled Hurricane, to remove references to the deadly attacks by Hamas on Israel, on 7 October 2023.

How does Eurovision voting work?

In the final, every participating country is awarded two sets of scores - one from a jury of music experts and one from fans around Europe.

Fans get a maximum of 20 votes, cast via phone call, SMS or via the official Eurovision app. They can vote for as many different acts as they like, but votes for your home country are banned.

Once the lines close, each country will have chosen a "Top 10" of their favourite songs. The most popular song gets 12 points, the second choice gets 10, and the rest are scored from eight to one.

Viewers from countries that don't participate in Eurovision also get a say. Their choices are bundled into a single bloc known as the "rest of the world vote".

Was Diddy a 'mastermind'? How ex Cassie's testimony builds the sex trafficking case against him

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgvdr3gwneo, yesterday

In a trial that is undoing the legacy of one of music's biggest moguls of the 2000s, the focus of the opening week of proceedings was not Sean "Diddy" Combs himself - but his ex-girlfriend.

R&B singer Cassandra "Cassie" Ventura took the witness stand for four days, describing in emotional details the years of beatings and drug-fuelled sex encounters with prostitutes that she alleges she endured at the hands of the rap superstar, who she dated for more than a decade.

But while her story clearly left an impression on those in the courtroom, which one onlooker described as an "aura of sadness", it is just one piece in the puzzle that prosecutors must present to prove that Mr Combs was not just an abuser, but a mastermind of a criminal, sexual enterprise.

On Tuesday, gasps erupted in a Manhattan overflow courtroom when prosecutors called Ms Ventura - their star witness - to the stand. All eyes were fixed on the eight-months pregnant singer, as she strolled past her ex-boyfriend, whom she had not seen in six years.

Ms Ventura was there to testify in the federal sex trafficking, racketeering and prostitution case against Mr Combs, whom she accuses of abusing her and coercing her into unwanted sex acts - so-called "freak-offs" - during their 11-and-a-half year relationship.

An aspiring musician falls in love with a 'larger-than-life' rapper

On her first day on the stand, Ms Ventura began by taking prosecutors through the start of her tumultuous relationship with Mr Combs, whom she met when she was a 19-year-old aspiring musician. Mr Combs, 17 years her senior, signed her onto his record label.

Their romantic relationship began soon after, when Ms Ventura fell in love with the "larger-than-life" musician and entrepreneur, she said. But it was not long before she noticed a "different" side to him, Ms Ventura testified, at times wiping the tears from her eyes.

Mr Combs, she said, wanted to control every aspect of her life. He paid for her rent, her car, and her phone, sometimes taking the items away to "punish" her when he was upset, she said.

Eventually, the relationship turned violent. She testified about the time when he attacked her because she was sleeping, slashing her eyebrow as he threw her onto the corner of her bed as her two friends tried to stop him. The court was shown a photo of the gash that Ms Ventura said Mr Combs hired a plastic surgeon to fix secretly. There was another time at a party where he kicked her head as she cowered behind a toilet in a bathroom stall, she said.

While jurors remained concentrated on her testimony and the evidence, betraying little emotion, some in the courtroom wiped away tears or looked away from the graphic photos and videos - including the viral video of Mr Combs beating and dragging Ms Ventura in the hallway of the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles in 2016.

Published by CNN last year, the video has been viewed by millions - including many of the jurors before they were seated in the trial - and Ms Ventura, who was forced to rewatch the incident of abuse several times this week.

Freak-offs become 'a job'

Ms Ventura testified that the hotel incident took place after she tried to leave a "freak-off", a sexual encounter in which the couple would hire male escorts to have sex with Ms Ventura while Mr Combs watched and recorded from the corner.

Ms Ventura said the rapper introduced her to freak-offs around a year into their relationship, and at first, she did it to make him happy.

But over time, the encounters humiliated her, she said. They would sometimes last as long as four days, and require Ms Ventura to take countless drugs to stay awake, she said. She endured injuries like painful urinary tract infections - and once even blacked out, waking up in the shower, she said.

"It made me feel worthless," she told the court. "Freak-offs became a job where there was no space to do anything else but to recover and just try to feel normal again."

The couple would go on to have "hundreds" of freak-offs, Ms Ventura estimated.

After years of temporary break-ups - some fuelled by Mr Combs' affairs - Ms Ventura ended her relationship with Mr Combs for good in 2018, the same year she alleges the rapper raped her in her home as she cried.

Ms Ventura went on to date and marry her personal trainer, Alex Fine, with whom she has two children, but the trauma of her relationship has stayed with her.

Through tears, Ms Ventura told the court of a time two years ago when she considered taking her own life, when traumatic flashbacks of her time with Mr Combs became too much to handle. Her husband helped her seek therapy to recover, she said.

Consent vs compliance: Prosecutors build their sex trafficking case

Get all the latest trial updates on the BBC Sounds 'Diddy on Trial' podcast available wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

Throughout Ms Ventura's harrowing story of domestic violence, prosecutors have tried to thread in elements of their larger sex trafficking and racketeering case against Mr Combs.

Mr Combs's attorneys have already conceded that the rapper was abusive - and have argued they would not have fought a domestic violence case against him. But, "domestic violence is not sex trafficking", Mr Combs' attorney Teny Geragos argued this week.

The federal government has charged Mr Combs with transportation to engage in prostitution and sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion.

He is also charged with leading a racketeering conspiracy, or directing an illegal enterprise under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). The statute was created to take on mob bosses, but has since been used in other cases, including sex trafficking, such as the case against disgraced R&B singer R Kelly.

Assistant US Attorney Emily Johnson used parts of Ms Ventura's story to boost this case, asking her about the guns the rapper had access to and the ways he allegedly blackmailed her.

Ms Ventura told the court of a time when she said Mr Combs pulled up videos he recorded of their freak-offs on his laptop, in view of others on a commercial flight. She said he told her he would release them if she didn't behave.

"I felt trapped," Ms Ventura said.

Arick Fudali, a lawyer who represents an unnamed victim in the government's case against Mr Combs, said "the fear of what would happen if they didn't comply" is a crucial element of the government's case.

"Someone can consent to a sexual act of course," Mr Fudali told the BBC. "But someone can also be coerced into being compliant, and that's different."

The government has also used Ms Ventura's testimony to try to build up their racketeering argument - the allegation that Mr Combs used his loyal network of associates to run a criminal enterprise and cover up his alleged crimes.

Prosecutors have asked Ms Ventura about security guards who she said stood by while Mr Combs abused her. Ms Ventura has testified about Mr Combs' employees' involvement in setting up freak-offs with supplies like baby oil, and booking travel for the male escorts they hired.

Mr Combs' team says jealousy and drugs fuelled violence

After a day and a half on the stand, it was Mr Combs' attorneys turn to question Ms Ventura.

The rapper's lawyer, Anna Estevao, relied on hundreds of pages of text messages between Mr Combs and Ms Ventura to help push her team's broader arguments: that Ms Ventura was a willing participant in freak-offs in a toxic relationship fuelled by drugs and jealousy.

Mr Combs' legal team showed messages from Ms Ventura to Mr Combs in which she said she was "always ready" for a freak-off, and another time when she said she wished they could have had one.

Ms Ventura acknowledged writing the messages while adding that those were "just words at that point".

Ms Estevao also kept bringing Ms Ventura back to the couple's moments of infidelity, like when Mr Combs would spend holidays with his family and former girlfriend Kim Porter, or when Ms Ventura began dating rapper Kid Cudi while she and Mr Combs were on a break.

She repeatedly asked Ms Ventura about her drug use and how both she and Mr Combs struggled with opioid addiction at times.

In these moments, the defence was trying to show jurors that it was a toxic, violent and complicated relationship - but not a case of racketeering or sex trafficking, former federal prosecutor Sarah Krissoff told the BBC.

The defence also made efforts to try to chip away at the government's racketeering case, asking Ms Ventura whether Mr Combs' employees had actually witnessed the freak-offs, to which Ms Ventura said she did not think so.

Ultimately, Mr Fudali said, the prosecution's case will hinge on this question of compliance versus consent - whether Mr Combs' girlfriends were willing participants in his sexual fantasies or acted out of fear.

"Did Ms Ventura consent or was she coerced into complying?" Mr Fudali said. "That seems to be the question for the jury."

Eddington review: This 'deranged' starry thriller about the US's pandemic divisions will 'leave you breathless'

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250516-eddington-review, 2 days ago

Midsommar and Hereditary director Ari Aster is once again set to shock with this surreal, gory western featuring Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal, which is premiering at the Cannes Film Festival.

Ari Aster's first two films, Hereditary and Midsommar, were adored by fans of so-called "elevated horror", but his third film, 2023's Beau is Afraid, was more divisive: even its fans admitted that Aster's psychedelic therapy session was on the self-indulgent side. His fourth film is slightly less excessive and sprawling – which makes it more excessive and sprawling than almost any other film you're likely to see this year. If Beau is Afraid seemed to be about Aster's own fears and neuroses, Eddington is about the more general fears and neuroses of the US in the year 2020. The writer-director puts everything into his blackly comic modern western – Covid-19 and online conspiracy theories, Black Lives Matter and white privilege, cult leaders and cryptocurrency – even if he can't quite work out how to weave all of those subjects together. The film would probably have been better if it had been more focused (and shorter), but Aster's deranged vision makes most directors seem timid in comparison.

His central idea is that all of the US's most contentious talking points are squeezed into the tiny desert town of Eddington, New Mexico. Joaquin Phoenix stars as a shambling, barely competent sheriff, Joe, who likes to argue that none of these problems are "here problems": yes, the pandemic is terrible, and yes, the killing of George Floyd was a disgraceful crime, but they don't affect remote and dusty Eddington, so why should he wear a mask, and why should he put up with anti-racism demonstrations? Anyway, he has plenty of more personal aggravations to worry about. The town's mayor, Ted (Pedro Pascal), has signed a deal allowing a vast tech-hub to be built nearby; Joe's wife, Louise (Emma Stone), has longstanding anxieties that may or may not be related to the mayor; and his mother-in-law Dawn (Deirdre O'Connell) is obsessed by his own inadequacies as a sheriff and a husband. Joe's solution to his disgruntlement, which is as ill-thought-through as everything else he does, is to run against Ted as an anti-lockdown candidate in the imminent mayoral election.

For a while, both the film and the sheriff ramble slowly and repetitively from place to place, from subject to subject, and from genre to genre. Eddington is both a quirky lampoon of small-town politics and a feverish state-of-the-nation satire – and that can be a jarring combination. You watch it with a mixture of detached respect that Aster is ticking off issues ignored by so many films, gloom that he is so pessimistic about those issues, mild amusement at the eccentricity of it all, and frustration that he doesn't just find a plot and stick to it. Viewers may also experience the thrum of constant, headache-inducing stress – not because a particular character is in danger, but because almost all of the characters are so ignorant and antagonistic that it always feels as if a bleak situation is about to get disastrously worse. As he has shown in Beau is Afraid, Joker, You Were Never Really Here and more, Phoenix is a master of being uncomfortable in his own skin, and the querulous sheriff he plays is sympathetic, even at his most wrongheaded, because he has a habit of making things worse for himself than for everyone else.

It's not until Eddington is somewhere around the halfway mark that it really speeds up, when a murder transforms the film into a farcical crime thriller with echoes of the Coen brothers' Fargo and No Country for Old Men, as well as Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice (another example of delirious auteur excess which starred Phoenix). The sheriff's investigation doesn't fit too snugly with all the satire and tragicomedy that have gone before: Austin Butler's cameo as a cool new-age demagogue could have been cut, and Stone is given perplexingly little to do. But the tension and the intrigue heighten, and the outcome suddenly seems to matter.

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And then, just when you're being drawn into the murder plot, Eddington takes another turn. Its low-level strangeness jumps to surreal and gory heights – and it keeps going higher until it hits a peak of gonzo high-adrenaline fun that leaves you reeling and breathless. Many viewers will have had enough of the film long before then, but there is something heroic about Aster's uncompromising determination to go his own way. It's amazing, too, that he has got away with such an unhinged project so soon after Beau is Afraid. The overstuffed nature of Eddington suggests that the US's conflicts in the 21st Century were ultimately too much for him to process. But you have to hand it to him for trying.

★★★★☆

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'People are still haunted by what happened': How history's brutal witch trials still resonate now

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250516-how-historys-brutal-witch-trials-still-resonate-now, 3 days ago

A new book How to Kill a Witch brings a dark period of history back to grisly life – and an official tartan is being released to memorialise some of those who were tortured and killed.

When King James was returning by sea to Scotland with his new wife Anne of Denmark, the voyage was plagued by bad weather – not unusual, for the famously choppy North Sea. But the king was convinced that the devil and his agents – the witches – had a hand in the storm. It was this belief of the king's that sparked the 1563 Scottish Witchcraft Act, and subsequent witch hunts.

This article contains violent details some readers may find upsetting.

From the 1560s to the 1700s, witch-hunts ripped through Scotland, with at least 4,000 accused, and the executions of thousands of people. Along the way there was unspeakable torture, involving "pilliwinks" (thumbscrews), leg-crushing boots and the "witches' bridle", among other vicious and brutal methods.

In Norway and the US – where witch hunts and trials of a similar scale took place during the same period – those who were executed have been memorialised. Now, in Scotland a new official tartan – which will be incorporated into kilts and other garments – has been released to honour the victims of the Witchcraft Act.

Meanwhile, all things aesthetically "witchy" have been gaining popularity around the world and across generations for several years – WitchTok gains increasing followers and hashtags; the WitchCore look is still attracting fans; witch romance fiction is a growing branch of the romantasy genre. In film and TV Practical Magic 2 is in production for release next year, and TV witch drama Domino Day has been a hit. All of which reflects the fact that neopagans and modern witches are actually on the rise. A modern witch may incorporate nature worship, tarot, magic and rituals with herbs and crystals into their spiritual practise. Involvement ranges from self-care and empowerment to participation in religious groups like Wicca.

The pattern of the Witches of Scotland tartan is a "living memorial" full of symbolism, according to the Scottish Register of Tartans – "the black and grey represent the dark times of this period and the ashes of those burned, the red represents the victims' blood, and the pink symbolises the legal tapes used to bind papers both during that time and now".

It's the result of a five-year-long campaign by activists and founders of the Witches of Scotland podcast Zoe Venditozzi and Claire Mitchell, who have now authored a book How to Kill a Witch: A Guide for the Patriarchy, an account of the Scottish witch trials – out this week in the UK, and in the autumn in the US. The book outlines how, as Venditozzi tells the BBC, "the belief system and social anxiety of the time created a perfect storm to find scapegoats and deal with them harshly".

In 2022 the pair achieved one of their goals when Scotland's then first minister Nicola Sturgeon issued a formal apology to the Scots who were persecuted under the law in a "colossal injustice". Some female Ministers in the Church of Scotland have since also issued an apology.

The subject of the witch trials is currently piquing the imaginations of fiction writers too. Hex by Jenni Fagan tells the tale of "one of the most turbulent moments in Scotland's history: the North Berwick Witch Trials". The novel Bright I Burn by Molly Aitken is a fictionalised account of the first woman in Ireland accused of being a witch. And recent historical thriller The Wicked of the Earth by AD Bergin is based around the witch trials in Newcastle, England.

In How to Kill a Witch, the authors show how that moment on King James's voyage was the point from which the story unfurled. "James VI and I [he was the sixth King James of Scotland and the first of England] had a huge impact on the witch trials," explains co-author Mitchell, who is also a practicing KC (barrister) specialising in criminal law and human rights. Among "evidence" were accounts of supposed witches surfing the sea in sieves and dancing in North Berwick Church.

"A few years later James wrote the book Daemonology – a 'how to' guide to find and deal with witches and other spirits". The book was widely disseminated – and his message spread rapidly. The Witchcraft Act was designed to enforce "godliness" in the newly Protestant Scotland, with the law condemning anyone who appeared to be "conspiring with the devil".

"People are still haunted by what happened," says historian Judith Langlands-Scott, who has noticed a huge surge of interest in the witch trials in recent years. "King James was obsessed with the bible and believed he was God's representative – and he was obsessed with the idea that the witches were multiplying. Historians widely agree that following the death of his mother [Mary, Queen of Scots] he was brought up to think that women were feeble and easily manipulated because of their carnal desires."

"In Forfar [in Angus, northern Scotland] where I come from, we've learnt that the people who were accused – most of them women – were usually older, disabled or blind people, or people with alcohol addiction. They were people who would have cost society money, who were living on the margins, and were poor and not contributing anything. The community – led by the Presbyterian Ministry – wanted to get rid of them."

"The 'witch pricker' or 'brodder' – who had a financial incentive – proclaimed himself an expert at identifying witches," she says. The most prominent witch pricker of the mid-17th-Century was John Kincaid, who was known as a supposed identifier of "witch's marks" and was involved in the torture and execution of hundreds of accused women. "The accused were stripped naked and examined in front of an all-male congregation [to locate the 'marks' made by the devil] and often shaven all over their bodies."

In Langlands-Scott's view, this demeaning ritual was "very psychosexual, and in Scottish Presbyterian society at the time, sex was a preoccupation". There were witch trials in England but, Langlands-Scott points out that "Ireland and Wales only had one trial each as they believed in the fairies, whereas in Scotland [their belief] was in the devil, and whoever does the devil's work" – ie. witches.

For all the harrowing details in How to Kill a Witch, there are also moments of dark humour. "We've always taken a very serious approach to the facts and horrors of the witch trials, but we definitely have wry, dark humour to cope with some of the more distressing or aggravating aspects of the times," says Venditozzi. "It was always going to be a book that conveyed our personalities rather than being a dry, historical tome. To survive being a woman sometimes means being able to see the humour in terrible situations." The pomposity of the self-appointed witch hunters – with their bizarre methods and feverish imaginations – is laid bare.

The whole system was, after all, elaborate and outlandish. As Venditozzi puts it: "It's a clever trick isn't it, the way in which society blamed women – because they were considered so weak, the devil got to them and got into their knickers, and their confessions about this were often fairly elaborate. All to justify what they were doing. It's bananas!" The authors are not alone in seeing the darkly humorous side – recent comedy TV series The Witchfinder tapped into the ridiculousness of witch-hunting with gallows humour.

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The book also debunks some misconceptions about the era, including the practise of "burning at the stake", says Venditozzi. "It's a caricature. They did get burnt but they were generally strangled first, then thrown on the pyre to get rid of the body, so the devil couldn't re-animate them, and so that they couldn't get to heaven." This was an extra layer of cruelty, says Langlands-Scott: "to burn the bodies so they couldn’t rise on judgement day, [so] all hope of being put out of their misery would have been obliterated – as the accused would have known going to their death."

Groundswell of interest

The authors acknowledge that there has been a surge of interest in the witch trials – their podcast attracts millions of listeners from all over the world. What has the reaction to their campaign been from the modern witches of today? "We have a great deal of support and interest from modern day witches," says Venditozzi. "The key issue is that we support anyone to practise their beliefs, but that people need to understand that the 'witches' of the period were not being controlled by the devil and were, in fact, just normal people caught up in extreme times. Modern day witches empathise with the plight of the accused as they themselves are sometimes isolated and discriminated against. However, modern day witches are not the same as those accused during the Scottish witch trials."

As the "WitchCore" aesthetic becomes increasingly popular and commodified, are we are in danger of romanticising the brutal torture and torment of innocent people in history? "No," says Mitchell. "The modern-day witchcraft or WitchTok is very different from the crime of witchcraft hundreds of years ago. People who identify themselves as witches in the present day are not suggesting that they are 'agents of the devil' who are doing evil in society. The modern idea of a witch is far removed from the historical definition."

Langlands-Scott, puts it another way: "People are perfectly entitled to do as they like, and modern-day witches don't try to claim these people who were executed hundreds of years ago as their own. The accused were Christians – though considered heathens and heretics, most of them in the Forfar trials of 1662 [in which 42 local people were imprisoned and tortured] were Catholics. The Presbyterian Church wanted a clean, godly society after [Oliver] Cromwell left Scotland in 1651. They were ordinary people, some of whom might have practiced some folk magic but they didn't commit crimes."

Author Margaret Atwood famously said that the Salem witch trials are an event that replays itself through history – when cultures come under stress. Does Venditozzi agree? "Definitely – when Atwood wrote The Handmaid's Tale, she said that all of the things in it had actually happened in Western culture, and that was in the 1980s. It was very prescient. The wheel turns but there's not much change." In How to Kill a Witch a present-day pastor in the US is quoted warning of witches in his congregation. There is also a section about Advocacy for Alleged Witches an organisation that is "urging compassion, reason, and science to save lives of those affected by superstition".

The Witches of Scotland tartan has been created in order to raise awareness and understanding, says Mitchell. "It's very important to remember our history and learn lessons from it: Scotland fares very poorly in comparison to other countries who have all memorialised those who were accused as witches."

So what lessons can we learn today from the history of the witch trials? "Not to scapegoat vulnerable or isolated members of the community in order to shore up public confidence and security," says Venditozzi. "Despite the fact the witch trials were hundreds of years ago, we frequently see waves of blame against marginalised groups in times of social worry. Claire and I are very optimistic people."

Langlands Scott is also optimistic. "The fact that there is a groundswell of interest to have the truth brought out – and that apologies have been made – is cause for optimism. It's mainly women who are apologising, and I think that's reclaiming the fact that it was mostly women who were tortured and tried. It's almost like giving their voice back, us women giving them a voice, and warning for the present day of what can happen."

How to Kill a Witch: A Guide for the Patriarchy by Claire Mitchell and Zoe Venditozzi (Octopus) is available now in the UK, and will be published in the US this autumn, titled How to Kill a Witch: The Patriarchy's Guide to Silencing Women.

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'Don't wash them too regularly': One pair of jeans is all we need – here's why

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250514-why-we-only-need-one-pair-of-jeans, 4 days ago

From skinny to barrel and ultra-high to low-slung, jeans trends are ever changing – so how can we choose the perfect pair for us, and maintain them properly?

Few items of clothing are both as iconic and ubiquitous as a pair of jeans. With era-defining silhouettes that capture cultural moments in time, jeans are a wardrobe staple. But they're also one of fashion's most polluting categories, prone to high trend cycles and – as a result – hanging in our wardrobes unworn.

Take this season's trends. Last year, Vogue reported that skinny jeans were making a comeback, only to call it a fleeting moment 12 months later, and now they’re back again – with the Princess of Wales as poster girl. "Slim" silhouettes are in, too, alongside belted and baggy, and – the shape of the season – barrel-leg jeans: a fitted waist that leads into a slightly voluminous leg and then tapers at the ankle. With as many fits and trends as there are body shapes and tastes, how do we invest in the perfect pair?

Personal stylist Alexandra Fullerton says that the barrel-leg silhouette works with most body shapes. "They are pleasingly loose across the legs and sit around the true waist, therefore they should have a lasting place in one's wardrobe," she tells the BBC. "They are just a baby step away from the boyfriend jean, which is now a perma-trend."

But Fullerton stresses that buying a pair of jeans should be a marathon, not a sprint, and advises her clients to build a shortlist of styles based on research. What washes do you like? Which brands do you admire? Who in the public eye has a similar body shape that you can take tips from?

"Putting in some work – that's a couple of hours in a real-life store with a well-lit fitting room and ideally a friend – will ensure the best purchase," says Fullerton. "Department stores with dedicated denim shops are the best place to start. Whatever your budget, jeans should be an investment so shop with longevity, rather than trends, in mind."

Fullerton cautions that extremes – skinny and super-wide or ultra-high and low-rises – are more prone to cycling in and out of fashion. "Better to choose a less severe silhouette that will outlast any fad, like a straight leg or modestly wide jean with a mid-to-high rise which will be classic for years ahead," she advises. "Mid-blue is always the best option for washes."

No jean has stood the test of time quite like the Levi's 501. Patented in 1873 by Levi Strauss and Jacob David in the US, it was originally created as durable, hard-wearing 100% cotton overalls for miners and farmers. But in the early 1950s, blue jeans came to signify youth rebellion, after both Marlon Brando and James Dean wore Levi's 501s in The Wild One and Rebel Without a Cause. And who can forget Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis denim-clad in high-waisted jeans for Thelma & Louise in 1991.

"When Japanese selvedge denim replaced the ultra-baggy, hip-hop fits of the mid-to-late-90s, and then Levi's launched its Red collection of twisted, ergonomic jeans, the denim landscape changed forever," says denim designer, lecturer and historian Mohsin Sajid. "From then, denim became more elevated, appearing on catwalks and in designer brands' collections. I was working at Pringle at the time and they asked me to design a selvedge jean."

The perfect pair of jeans

Today, jeans are firmly part of the fashion mainstream; it's difficult to find a clothing brand that doesn't sell them within their collections. And most jeans now contain some synthetic stretch within the cotton mix – normally elastane, which is derived from fossil fuels and sags over time, making them less durable.

As a result, some of the shine has come off the iconic trouser and its Hollywood heyday. The UN estimates that a single pair of jeans requires 1kg of cotton, which in turn, needs about 7,500–10,000 litres of water to grow – the equivalent of 10 years' worth of drinking water for one person. As an industry, fashion produces 20% of all waste water, and the denim chemical dyeing process can be harmful to both workers and the environment.

"There's a reason Levi's 501 has transcended time; they're made from 100% cotton, with natural stretch," explains Professor Dilys Williams, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion at London College of Fashion, UAL. "But we've become less used to wearing clothes without synthetic stretch because it's sold as more comfortable. So, it's partly about training ourselves – do we need that synthetic stretch? Or could we wear a jean in, and wait for it to shape to our bodies?"

A keen cyclist, Williams tends to get holes in her jeans. Rather than buy a new pair, she proudly patches up existing jeans to reflect her fashion identity and lifestyle. "Each pair tells a story about what has happened whilst they have been worn, the colour fades according to wear, creating a unique patina," Williams tells the BBC. "This wonderful element has, however, been sabotaged – so many jeans are pre-aged, usually using harmful chemical processes, administered by hand, in countries without strong health and safety checks. The life of the jean is sped up, its production is fast and its identity for the customer lost."

Choosing raw denim is another way to minimise the environmental impact of jeans. Also known as dry denim, it hasn't gone through pre-washing or shrinking processes in production, unlike most jeans today. The result is a dark and stiff jean that can naturally fade and soften over time.

"It can be hard to make the switch to such a dark option, but after a few months you'll never look back," says Sajid. "Imperfections like slight slubs from the spinning and weaving process make it bespoke and could develop into a great fading jean. Try to hold out on washing your jeans for the first few months and don't wash them too regularly – if you don't need to. That way, you'll develop your own wear pattern."

Sajid adds that a great pair of long-lasting jeans is a mixture of quality denim – ideally 100% regenerative cotton – using bio-based indigo (no petroleum-based dyes) in a medium 12-13oz (about 354g) weight. For added comfort and stretch, look for brands that use hemp or soft fibres like Tencel Lyocell and Tencel Modal.

Since the early 2000s, new jeans brands have entered the market to help tackle denim's environmental impact – with no signs of innovation slowing down.

In March, Los Angeles-based luxury denim brand Agolde, owned by Citizens of Humanity, unveiled its spring collection in partnership with Lycra featuring a plant-based stretch fibre made from industrial corn within its regenerative cotton and eco-indigo dye mix.

Amy Williams, CEO of Citizens of Humanity, says that Agolde's signature silhouettes – the high-rise, wide-leg Ren and straight-leg Harper – continue to be customer favourites since the change in materials. Meanwhile, Swedish, organic cotton brand Nudie Jeans, which published its annual sustainability report this month, offers free repairs, with on-site repair shops in its stores. Last year, the brand repaired 68,342 Nudie jeans.

And ELV Denim, which made its London Fashion Week debut earlier this year, is pioneering a new luxury model based on waste. All jeans are made from upcycled materials, which would have otherwise ended up in landfill.

"Our jeans are designed with a generous seam allowance in order to be adaptable with the wearer's body as they evolve," founder and creative director Anna Foster tells the BBC. "We even had a client who, when she was pregnant, took out the seam allowance, put in a bit of elastic to be able to wear them all through her pregnancy. After she had the baby, bit by bit she put them back."

The brand's jeans are designed to be modular, so that if one part is damaged, the brand can replace that single part as opposed to the customer having to buy a new pair. Still a young brand – ELV Denim was launched in 2018 – Foster has high hopes. "My ambition is for the whole fashion industry, not just denim. I would like to see an industry that values craft and quality and individuality of style over profit and mass production."

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Perhaps this is the next chapter in the jeans story: individual style paired with responsibility. Like any item of clothing, jeans need not be a throwaway choice. Maybe your perfect pair is already in your wardrobe, calling to be patched-up, upcycled into something new or to be fallen in love with again – it may not be in the silhouette of the season, but it could be the one that suits you most.

That's the key to a great pair of jeans: understanding which styles make you happy. Devote some time to denim, try on different pairs, be bold and experiment, then build your denim blueprint. Add its durable quality to the mix, and a pair of jeans becomes a forever favourite – whatever the season.

Three Things to Help Heal the Planet by Ana Santi is published by Welbeck Balance.

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'A miserable, apocalyptic tract': Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning could be 'the feel-bad film of the summer'

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250514-mission-impossible-the-final-reckoning-review, 4 days ago

The opposite of an escapist blockbuster, the eighth and apparently final outing for Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt is the doomiest and gloomiest yet in the action-adventure franchise.

With so much tension and conflict around the world, it can be a relief when a Hollywood blockbuster distracts audiences with some escapism, some optimism, and some rollicking, good-natured fun. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is not that kind of blockbuster. The eighth instalment in Tom Cruise's globe-trotting action-adventure franchise, The Final Reckoning is a miserable, apocalyptic tract which is fixated on the subjects of how close we are to nuclear armageddon, and how quickly civilisation can collapse. Yes, you get to see Cruise having a fight in his underpants, and doing another of his hanging-off-a-plane routines, but even so, it could be the feel-bad film of the summer.

"Truth is vanishing, war is coming," someone intones at the beginning of the film, and then we're subjected to shots of missiles launching and cities being obliterated. In place of snappy banter, there is cod philosophy about destiny and choice, and in place of Lalo Schifrin's adrenaline-pumping classic theme, there are orchestral minor chords on the soundtrack. What's disappointing about all this doom and gloom is that the franchise has made the kind of whiplashing U-turn you might see in its car-chase sequences. The last Mission: Impossible film, Dead Reckoning, was a funny, frothy Euro-caper sprinkled with mischief, glamour and romance – or as close to romance as you're ever going to get in a Cruise production – and the follow-up has the same writer-director, Christopher McQuarrie. Yet The Final Reckoning, set almost entirely in tunnels and caverns, and in the depths of the ocean, is the dullest and darkest film in the series, both literally and figuratively.

It devotes an inordinate amount of its almost-three-hour running time to scenes of people sitting in shadowy rooms, explaining the story to each other in gravelly whispers. Again and again, we have to sit through these ponderous, portentous mutterings: the title might as well have been Exposition: Interminable. Usually, these scenes are punctuated with flashbacks to what's happened before, flash-forwards to what might happen in the future, and flash-sideways (if that's a term) to different people, in different shadowy rooms, explaining the same story in the same gravelly whispers. But instead of livening up the exposition, this frantic editing hints that McQuarrie and his team couldn't get the plot underway, and so they kept cutting the footage into smaller and smaller snippets in the hope that we might not notice.

The depressing mood might have been forgivable if The Final Reckoning were a genuinely intelligent and complex drama. But it is, unfortunately, as stupid as Hollywood blockbusters get. The premise, which follows on from Dead Reckoning, is that an artificial intelligence called the Entity has taken over the internet, and will soon launch a global nuclear strike which will exterminate the human race. I'm not sure why it wants to do this, or how the good guys know its plans, but never mind. The point is that Cruise's character, Ethan Hunt, can eliminate this existential threat via some surprisingly simple means. All he has to do is click two small gadgets together, and the Entity will be a Non-Entity.

One of these gadgets is a box containing the Entity's source code, which is currently in a wrecked submarine – hence a deep sea-diving set piece which gets full marks for spookiness, and no marks for excitement. (How long do you want to watch someone swimming silently through murky water with no villains chasing him?) The other gadget that Ethan needs to end the Entity is a "poison pill" – a thumb drive, basically – which has been invented by his pal Luther (Ving Rhames). In the world of Mission: Impossible, then, this poison pill is just about the most important object in history. It can literally save mankind. So why does Ethan leave it in the pocket of his unguarded, incapacitated friend, thus allowing it to be stolen easily by the bad guy, Gabriel (Esai Morales)?

The irony is that the film keeps praising its main character to the skies. When we're not hearing speeches about how heroic he is (delivered in gravelly whispers, naturally), we're watching montages of clips from the other films in the series, as if someone were about to hand him a lifetime achievement award. But no one even mentions how catastrophically stupid he was for not putting Luther's poison pill somewhere safer.

There are countless plot problems like this to get past before the film eventually reaches the one action sequence that viewers might want to rewatch, ie, the one on the poster, with Cruise clinging to a biplane in mid-air. As we're often told, Cruise does his own stunts – and he does them brilliantly – so if you love seeing his face being blasted out of shape by high-altitude, high-velocity winds, then you'll enjoy his latest feat of aerobatics. But it's not the most original set piece: essentially, it's the helicopter sequence in Mission: Impossible – Fallout mixed with the cargo plane sequence in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. And you do have to ask: biplanes? Really? The choice of such an antiquated vehicle suggests that the film-makers had ticked off every other mode of transport in the course of the franchise's three-decade run, and so biplanes were pretty much all they had left.

If there is another sequel, then the gang will be forced to pedal around a park on penny-farthings, so maybe it's for the best that The Final Reckoning is being marketed as Mission: Impossible's grand finale. It's just a shame that the series' farewell had to be so solemn – and so silly.

★★☆☆☆

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'It represents a seismic change': What Gérard Depardieu's conviction means for France

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250514-what-gerard-depardieus-conviction-means-for-france, 4 days ago

Yesterday, the French mega-star was found guilty of sexually assaulting two women on a film set. It's verdict which could have a big impact on the country's film industry.

It couldn't have been timed more dramatically if it had been written into a film script. The world's most famous film festival, in Cannes, began on the same day that Gérard Depardieu, one of the biggest film stars France has ever produced, was found guilty of sexually assaulting two women on the film set of a 2021 film, The Green Shutters, who described him groping them while using obscene language. "The giants of cinema are no longer untouchable," exclaimed one French news website, while another said that the news had "shaken up" the start of the iconic festival, from where I am currently reporting.

Seventy-six-year-old Depardieu is the veteran of around 200 films and TV productions. Famous in France since the late 1960s, he had international art house hits with films such as 1986's Jean de Florette. He became a global name as a result of a best actor Oscar nomination for a lavish French-language film production of Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), as well as the Hollywood romcom Green Card from the same year. Yesterday, Depardieu was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence, fined €29,000 (£24,430) and added to France's sex offenders register, but his lawyer said he will appeal the judgement.

Around 20 women have made allegations about Depardieu's improper behaviour in the past, but this is the first to come to trial, and the significance of the verdict cannot be overstated, according to writer Agnès C Poirier. "When a monument falls, it is always powerful and symbolic," she tells the BBC.

She adds that his reputation is "profoundly tarnished" but that "the French film industry sentenced him a long time ago. He hasn't shot a film in three years. His career is finished. He's still one of the greatest actors of the 20th Century, though we may now feel different when we watch his films."

The mood at Cannes

For many years, the larger-than-life figure of Depardieu has also been linked to the Cannes Film Festival. He won the best actor prize here for Cyrano de Bergerac, launching it on its Oscar journey, and also played a part behind the scenes; its director, Thierry Frémaux, admitted that a much-derided football film from 2014, United Passions, starring Depardieu, premiered at Cannes because of pressure from the actor. He was most recently seen in 2015 at the festival with Isabelle Huppert for the film Valley of Love (and was seen staging a mock kiss at the photocall, as pictured below).

Unsurprisingly, Cannes Jury President, Juliette Binoche, who has also starred opposite Depardieu, was asked for her thoughts on the importance of his conviction at yesterday's opening press conference.

"He is no longer sacred," she told journalists, a reference to the scale of Depardieu's power in the French film industry.

Eve Jackson, the Culture Editor at French news channel France 24, tells the BBC that Depardieu "has been revered as one of the sons of the Cannes Film Festival. And now that legacy is going to be called into question because it really was this festival that launched him into international stardom 35 years ago with Cyrano de Bergerac."

Last year's festival, anticipating Depardieu's forthcoming trial, was full of activity from France's own #MeToo movement, with French female film-makers using international cinema's most public platform to show films dealing with the subject of sexual abuse.

Actress Judith Godrèche, who had recently gone public with allegations of sexual assault by two film-makers, Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon, premiered a short film called Moi Aussi, ("me too") featuring hundreds of victims of sexual abuse standing silently in the streets of Paris. Last July, both Jacquot and Doillon were interviewed by police in connection with the accusations, which they have denied.

Coralie Fargeat's Oscar winner, body horror The Substance, which explored, as she told the BBC at the time, her own "rage" about the sexual objectification of women of all ages.

This year, seven films in the main competition are by female directors. One of them, The Sound of Falling by German writer-director Mascha Schilinski, which premieres today, explores generational abuse of girls told through the story of one family. But it remains to be seen how many more films will address the topic of abuse during this festival.

Beyond the films, Jackson says the atmosphere feels different at the 2025 festival, due to some high-profile cases that have sent shockwaves across France. Chief among them, in December, Dominique Pelicot and 50 other men were convicted of the rape, attempted rape and sexual assault of of Pelicot's 72-year-old wife Gisèle Pelicot. In February, director Christophe Ruggia was convicted of sexually assaulting Portrait of a Lady on Fire actor Adèle Haenel when she was a child; Haenel publicly quit the film industry in 2023, accusing it of "general complacency" towards sexual predators. Benoît Jacquot has been charged with raping two actors, which he denies.

A wider shift in attitudes

"There's a big change that's taking place within the French film industry and you can feel it here at Cannes," Jackson says. "And I think the fall of Depardieu really does represent this seismic change in France, that's perhaps come later than in Hollywood and the rest of the world, but it is here now. Young actors are calling out wrongdoing on set more and more, and someone like Ruggia received a four-year prison sentence (two years of which were suspended) for what he did to Adèle Haenel. They may not be international names in the way Depardieu is, but they're very significant to France. This idea of power play on film sets from actors and directors is no longer acceptable."

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There's some way to go, however; last month a French Parliamentary report, led by French MP Sandrine Rousseau, found that abuse was "endemic" across the entire French entertainment industry, and that attitudes were "barely evolving" despite the #MeToo movement. The detailed report had 86 recommendations for change, including greater protections for child actors and the use of intimacy co-ordinators as standard for sex scenes in cinema, and theatre (as of December 2023, only four of them were reported as working across the whole of France, compared with 100 in the US entertainment industry).

Depardieu also had some high-profile defenders; President Macron said in 2024 that the actor "made France proud". Seventy-six-year-old actor Fanny Ardant is one of his most steadfast supporters – Depardieu was absent from the verdict making a film with her in the Azores yesterday – and she came to court to support him, alongside his Cyrano de Bergerac co-star Vincent Perez. Brigitte Bardot, a French film star of the 1950s and 60s, also publicly defended him.

But Jackson points to a reaction to an event during the Depardieu trial, which she says is significant of a societal shift. She says there was condemnation when Depardieu's lawyer Jérémie Assous accused the actor's two female victims in the court case, a 54-year-old set dresser and a 34-year-old assistant director, of "hysteria", being "liars" and working for the cause of "rabid feminism".

"I think Depardieu is increasingly seen as from a different era and so are his lawyers," she says. "They were called sexist in the way they spoke to the plaintiffs, calling them feminists as if it was a bad thing. And it added to his troubles, because the judge called it out and imposed an extra fine [of €2,000] because of it. It highlights the generational shift that's happening in France. His supporters are actors from the older generation such as Ardant and Bardot."

A few days before Depardieu's conviction, the 90-year-old Bardot publicly called the actor a "genius" on French TV, and deplored that "talented people who touch the bottom of a girl are consigned to the deepest dungeon". But this kind of attitude is seen by the young as archaic, says Jackson, and they are less aware of his reputation as a great actor.

"For people over the age of perhaps 50 and 60, Depardieu evokes memories of being a great actor of a certain era, but I don't know how many younger people are interested in that story anymore," she says.

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'Anytime I get on a plane, I think of Final Destination': The horror film that traumatised millennials

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250512-the-horror-film-that-traumatised-millennials, 6 days ago

Twenty-five years ago, the first instalment terrified by making everyday scenarios into death traps. Now, after a 14-year break, Final Destination: Bloodlines is tweaking the formula.

"In death, there are no accidents, no coincidences, no mishaps, and no escapes."

Those are the unsettling words of all-knowing mortician William Bludworth (played by Tony Todd) in the first Final Destination (2000), a horror film without a masked killer, bloodsucking vampire or brain-eating zombies to torment its victims – just the looming spectre of death and a cruel reality: no matter how far we run, or how much we hide, it will come for us all.

Back in the original film, death certainly didn't come peacefully for a group of high school kids and their teacher, who narrowly escaped losing their lives after getting off their plane, the ill-fated Flight 180, just before it exploded, thanks to one of their number having a premonition – only to find that the Grim Reaper wanted to take revenge on them for cheating its design.

So for 90 minutes, audiences strapped in to watch this invisible antagonist orchestrate some of the most intricate and shocking demises imaginable for each survivor, involving all kinds of routine objects, from a clothesline to kitchen knives. Young audiences around the world left cinemas scared of everything around them. "I must have been 15, seeing it with my friends, and we were grabbing each other," millennial and filmmaker Diana Ali Chire tells the BBC. "The plane thing was just genius because anytime I get on a plane, I think of Final Destination."

The brainchild of screenwriter Jeffrey Reddick, Final Destination followed in the teen horror footsteps of Scream (1996) and I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) to become a box office success, traumatising an entire generation of cinema-goers along with it. "[As millennials] we grew up on 90s slasher movies and they all have that similar vibe of cool, young stars of the time with a nice balance of scary and entertaining – Final Destination felt so much like it was part of that wave," Mike Muncer, host of the Evolution of Horror podcast, tells the BBC. "I remember seeing posters for it and thinking, 'This is very much my jam.'" But thanks to its grisly, nihilistic plotline, it also shifted the teen horror needle, adds Muncer. "We didn't have a masked killer anymore, there was no motive, it was just watching people die and being walloped with something entirely unexpected."

The film subsequently spawned four sequels, each one keeping the same basic formula but upping the ante with even more elaborate ways to end human life, before taking a 14-year break. But now, finally, it's back this week with a sixth instalment, Final Destination: Bloodlines, whose storyline ties every previous film together. "It was important for us to thread the needle to make the movie both very clearly part of the franchise canon and part of the lineage of all the previous movies," co-director Zach Lipovsky tells the BBC. "But also [we wanted to make it] incredibly fresh and unpredictable for all the people who love these movies."

From idea to screen

The franchise began when a 27-year-old Reddick was reading a news article while taking a flight from New York back to his home state of Kentucky. The story described a woman who had avoided being in a plane crash by switching flights because of a bad feeling her mother had about her original aircraft. It inspired him to write a "spec script", or unsolicited screenplay, for his favourite TV show, The X-Files, in which "Scully's brother had a premonition", Reddick explains. "[I thought:] what if they cheated death, and death came after them?"

Working at New Line Cinema at the time, Reddick shared this episode script with colleagues who were so impressed by the originality of the concept that they persuaded him to write it as an entirely separate feature film instead. "[There are] shades of The Omen in Final Destination, where you've got this little devil child Damien causing bad things to happen to people," Muncer says. "But I think it's pretty unique."

The script went through a lot of changes before production began in Long Island and Vancouver in 1999. "In the original story, death was a force that took over a police detective who was investigating a case," Reddick explains, "You found out that he had flatlined at the same time as a plane crash, so the essence of death went into him and he was killing off the crash survivors."

But for producer Craig Perry, who has worked on every Final Destination film, it was "the intersection of coincidence and what ifs" in the original three-page outline that he wanted the film to focus on. "Everyone at some point in their lives has had a moment of deja vu, or that weird, tingly feeling that something bad is about to happen," he tells the BBC. "Or conversely, when you have a close call, you start to wonder, maybe had I not turned left but right, I would be dead."

With such bleak fatalism at its core, some mischievousness was injected for balance once seasoned X-Files scribes James Wong and Glen Morgan entered the frame. They punched up death into a more playful character by way of its elaborate killing schemes, which were inspired by late American cartoonist Rube Goldberg's famous drawings of "chain reaction devices": imaginary inventions "where A had to hit B, which had to hit C, which had to hit D, in perfect sequence for the machine to work", notes Perry.

Yet the studio couldn't get their heads around an antagonist they couldn't see. "You've [typically] got a Freddy, a Jason or some visualisation that the [protagonists] can fight, so [the studio] made me put this [actual] angel of death character in the script," recalls Reddick.

The idea was that this physical figure would turn up to taunt the protagonist Alex (Devon Sawa), who had the premonition, from the shadows. Luckily for Reddick, Wong and Morgan fought back and got their way with their original vision of death as an abstract force made tangible only via elemental flourishes like gusts of wind and leaking water, which both signalled its presence and its fatal machinations. "We wanted to keep these to the more natural elements, which would be in the arsenal that death could take advantage of," says Perry. "So, water, wind, electricity, the simple erosion of dirt, gravity – all of those things are the things that death has easy access to, to manipulate inanimate objects."

For Bloodlines, the personification of death has evolved even further, with the film-makers using the looming framing of IMAX cameras to tell the audience it has arrived. "In the IMAX release of the film, death's perspective expands on screen," says co-director Adam. "Every scene where death arrives, that's where we expand to IMAX so you feel death coming with each close-up shot of everyday objects."

Making the mundane malevolent was key to Final Destination's "traumatisation factor", as Perry puts it, with everything from coffee mugs to nose hair trimmers turned into potential threats, but it wasn't always easy to pull off. "Getting the [sequence of accidents] to work is pretty hard," says Perry, "because when you creatively come up with something, you have to imagine how to make sure that the things that need to collide with each other do it plausibly so that the audience isn't taken out of the moment."

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What drives these scenes is the dramatic irony of the audience knowing that, whether at the dentist's or in a tanning booth, the characters are unwittingly at the centre of a death trap. "[The audience] know that there's something in the room manipulating elements, so they're immediately empathetic to the characters, pointing and yelling at the screen," adds Perry. "So you're looking at a can of tuna and after two or three shots, that's no longer a can of tuna, that is an instrument of death."

Changing the core characters from adults, as they were in the original scripts, to teens was a key selling point of the first Final Destination, too, since teen horror was all the rage at the time and already recognisable actors like Sawa, Varsity Blues' Ali Larter, Dawson's Creek's Kerr Smith and American Pie's Sean William Scott were a draw for younger audiences. "I watched Devon Sawa in Idle Hands," says Chire, referring to the 1999 horror comedy the actor made just before. "So when I found out he was in Final Destination, I wanted to see it."

For die-hard horror fans, the casting of Todd, famous for his turn in 1992's Candyman, as the pivotal character who explains the whole premise was the icing on the cake. "He just gives it some horror clout," says Muncer. "This supernatural evil coming for you, the idea of a curse, links back to Candyman."

Upon its release, Final Destination made $112,036,870 (£83,862,398) worldwide against a $23,000,000 ($17,220,000) production budget, and a sequel was greenlit immediately. "Most horror films drop 50% in their first weekend, and we were watching the movie climb the box office," recalls Reddick, who got to work penning the next script with a fresh twist: the new cohort of teen and adult characters had all escaped their original intended death, before the events of Final Destination 2, because the FD1 survivors had got off the notorious Flight 180, "so that you saw a spider web effect tying into the fact that our lives are all connected."

The key elements of the franchise

Every Final Destination film connects in some way, be it big or small. From one character cheating death because another character, in a separate film, took the last cinema ticket intended for them, to the major twist of Final Destination 5 being a prequel to the original movie – the romantic leads survive to the end of that film, only to perish on Flight 180.

"That's part of the fun of the franchise," adds Perry. "Wouldn't it be interesting to see how that connectivity plays out? Death's web is far more intricate and high-level math than we ever imagined. It's the stuff that makes you sit in bed and go, 'I don't want to get up.'"

When it comes to specific macabre sequences, Final Destination 2 served up one of the franchise's most enduring images of destruction with its opening highway multi-car pile-up involving a log truck. "I still get log truck memes sent to me every other day," says Reddick. But, more broadly, it also really established a template for the deaths. "There's [always] at least one moment in the chain of events that the character himself or herself actuates, to [convey] the sense that your actions [do determine] whether or not you live or die," says Perry. "And there has to [also] be a moment of just dumb luck, just the fickle Finger of Fate tapping you on the shoulder and saying, 'Pay attention.' Everything else is just the coordination of all those natural elements."

And that coordination involves a lot of misdirection. Take the spaghetti-related death of Evan Lewis, a lottery-winning survivor in Final Destination 2 – a favourite franchise moment for Lipovsky. "He slips on the spaghetti, and that's what you think is going to kill him, but then it doesn't. The cadence of that scene was a guiding light for him and co-director Adam Stein. "Final Destination is so predictable: you know that all the characters are going to die in sequence," Stein says. "So we're always trying to think of how to twist it."

"It's very common in the previous films to cut to a character by themselves in a dangerous place and the audience immediately knows [they are] dead," adds Lipovsky. "We use that expectation, then subvert, change and flip things around so that you're constantly going, 'Wait, I don't know who's next.'"

Yet in each film, the story has to give characters a fighting chance. With Bloodlines, that attempt is played out through a college student trying to save her family from the cycle of death that originated with her estranged grandmother's death-cheating premonition in the 60s. "How do you deliver upon the existential dread of death coming after you while still giving the characters agency to thwart that effort?" Perry asks. In the fifth Final Destination, it's made clear to the characters that they can cheat death by killing other characters: "If you kill somebody, you get whatever life they have left, which makes it a moral question of whether or not you're willing to do it," says Perry.

Indeed, such weighty themes are as much a part of the franchise's appeal as its inventive death sequences. It forces the audience to consider their mortality as well as questions that are universal: What would you do to survive? If you knew death was coming, would you hide away, like Ali Larter's Clear in Final Destination 2, or live your life to the fullest? That the franchise doesn't tie itself to any specific belief system makes the existential ideas it grapples with all the more relatable. "I didn't want to tie death into any kind of specific religion or culture," says Reddick. "Our movies never hammer home any message, but hopefully, what [audiences] do take away from it is that life is precious."

That ethos is particularly resonant in Bloodlines due to the presence of Todd; he passed away in November 2024, and here gives his final performance on screen, which includes a moving – and as it turns out, improvised – monologue. "We told him to throw away the script and talk to us about what's on his mind, and he said, 'Cherish, accept and love every moment that you have, because you never know when it's going to end,'" recalls Lipovsky. "It works for the character, it works for the franchise, but it's also him as an actor, speaking directly to the audience about his legacy, his work, and his feelings about life and death, all of it wrapped up together."

The legacy and cultural impact of Final Destination remain strong, even as it has been echoed by other films such as this year's The Monkey, with its similarly elaborate death sequences. And as a franchise fuelled by the infinite ways we can die, there's an infinite number of sequel possibilities. If Bloodlines does well at the box office, we might just see the universe expand further back in history, with Stein and Perry noting pirate ship and "Game of Thrones meets Final Destination" concepts have been discussed for future instalments.

But no matter where each Final Destination story ends up, there is one true constant in the Destination franchise: death is the great equaliser, so remain vigilant and look out for the signs. "If I'm driving and there is a truck with logs in front of me," says Chire. "I'm changing lanes."

Final Destination: Bloodlines is out in UK cinemas on May 14 and US cinemas on May 16

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'We did what we had to do': The true story of World War Two's Dambusters raid

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250509-the-true-story-of-world-war-twos-dambusters-raid, 7 days ago

In May 1943, a specially formed RAF squadron embarked on a daring moonlit mission – but its success came with a heavy cost. In 1976, the BBC spoke to one of the airmen who made it home alive.

Throughout the month of April 1943, Jack Buckley practised low-level night-flying and navigation for a top-secret mission as part of Royal Air Force 617 Squadron. Operation Chastise's security was so tight that no one in the hastily formed squadron – made up of 133 airmen from the UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand – actually knew what they were training for.

There was plenty of speculation, "but no one was near the truth," Buckley recalled to the BBC when he was interviewed in 1976 at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire. "Someone had the bright idea that we might be dropping tanks in the desert, and there were other far-flung ideas [such as] going against the Tirpitz [German battleship]." Ultimately, the 617 Squadron would become known by the name of the audacious and dangerous mission they were about to embark on – the Dambusters.

At 21:28 on 16 May 1943, 82 years ago this week, the first of 19 specially modified Lancaster bombers took off for a precision raid that aimed to cripple the Third Reich's war machine. Their target was three huge dams at Möhne, Eder and Sorpe in German's military-industrial heartland.

The dams were supplying water and hydro-electric power to the surrounding German factories that were manufacturing armaments. It was thought that if the dams could be destroyed, the resulting flooding would cause catastrophic damage to the Nazis' war production and morale. A plan to attack the dams had been raised earlier in the war, but, given that the flight route was heavily defended and no plane at the time could carry a bomb large enough to destroy them, the task had been considered impossible. But the aircraft that took off in May 1943 were carrying a potent new weapon – the bouncing bomb.

Codenamed Upkeep, the purpose-built explosives had been invented by aircraft engineer Dr Barnes Wallis. Wallis had realised that smaller bombs could have the required effect if they were detonated at the right place, underwater near the base of the dam. He designed a barrel-shaped bomb that could skip across the surface of water the same way a stone does when it is skimmed. This enabled the explosives to bypass the protective underwater nets which were placed around the dams to prevent torpedoes.

But for the bombs to work, they had to be dropped from the exact altitude and the right speed. A plane would need to fly low across the water at a height of just 60ft (18m) and a speed of 232mph (373kmh). This would enable the bomb to bounce until it hit the dam, where its backspin would cause it to run down the side of the dam until it reached a depth of 30ft (9m) and explode. Wallis had modelled this trajectory by skimming marbles across a bathtub filled with water in his back garden.

The weapons were still too big to fit into a Lancaster's bomb bay, so aircraft were modified so that bombs could be carried underneath, and much of the planes' armour had to be removed so that they would be light enough to fly.

Anti-aircraft guns and high-voltage power lines

The 617 Squadron bombers set off in three waves, each targeting a different dam. Buckley was in the first wave of nine planes led by the squadron's 24-year-old Wing Commander Guy Gibson. As the rear gunner in a bomber piloted by Dave Shannon, Buckley told the BBC that he remembered feeling "glad that we were on our way" as the plane took off from the runway. "We set course for the enemy coast. It was a full moon, it was almost like daylight," he said.

The dangerous mission required exceptional flying skill and precision navigation. To avoid radar, the Lancasters needed to fly at low altitudes on flight routes that weaved in and out of positions where there were known anti-aircraft guns. At least three planes were shot down when they strayed off their routes, while two others crashed because they were flying low enough to hit high-voltage power lines.

Buckley's Lancaster was one of the ones that made it to the rendezvous over the 2,000ft-long (650m) Möhne Dam. Gibson decided to take the bombing run, while the others circled, waiting for their chance. The Möhne approach was especially hazardous. Surrounded by tree-covered hills, the aircrew were exposed to flak from gunners in the towers as they dropped low across the surface of the water. When it came to Buckley's bomber's turn, four other Lancasters had already dropped their bombs, and one plane had crashed after being hit by enemy fire and the blast of its own bouncing bomb. But the Möhne Dam was still standing.

Because the Lancaster's altimeter was not accurate enough, spotlights had been installed at each end of the aircraft to tell the airmen when they were at the right height. "We circled, we had to be 60ft exactly, we had a spotlight in the nose of the aircraft and a spotlight in the tail and they converged at exactly 60ft," said Buckley. "Number five was [pilot David] Maltby, well, he dropped his weapon successfully. We were just on the run in and Gibson called us off – the dam was gone."

As the dam burst, a 30ft (10m) wave of flood water surged through the breech, sweeping away everything in its path. But Buckley did not get much time to enjoy his feeling of relief, as Gibson "ordered ourselves, [and planes piloted by] Henry Maudslay and Les Knight to go with him to the Eder Dam".

The Eder Dam was not defended by anti-aircraft guns, but its short approach, starting with a steep dive, made it an even more challenging target. "Well, we had to come down a very steep hill, level off, get the spotlights on, get the exact height, and then put on full boost to get up the other side to get out of the valley. Very difficult," said Buckley. "Eventually we had five runs before we actually attacked and made a successful hit on the dam itself, which caused a breach."

Knight's plane followed Buckley's. Another bouncing bomb hit Eder, causing it to collapse, sending a million tonnes of water pouring into the western Ruhr valley. Only two Lancasters managed to reach the third target at Sorpe. And because the dam was constructed of concrete covered by thousands of tonnes of earth, it was able to withstand the bombs dropped on it, suffering only partial damage.

The human cost of the raid

The damage caused by the raid was widespread, with the 330 million tonnes of flood water from the breached dams spreading for some 50 miles (80km). Twelve war production factories and two power stations were destroyed, and scores more were damaged. Mines were flooded, and every bridge 30 miles (48km) below the breached Mohne Dam was swept away. Thousands of acres of farmland were swamped, with livestock drowned in the gushing waters.

But the human cost was also extensive. Estimates vary, but between 1,200 and 1,600 people were killed, the majority of whom were civilians. The casualties included 749 prisoners of war, many of whom were enslaved female labourers from Poland, Russia and Ukraine. They were based in a camp just below the Eder Dam and drowned in the flooding. Of the 19 Lancaster bombers that left that day, eight were damaged or shot down. Of the 133 aircrew, 53 were killed. Three others were captured and became prisoners of war.

George 'Johnny' Johnson, who was part of the formation that attacked the Sorpe Dam, told BBC's HARDTalk in 2018 that he remembered the bomb's inventor being devastated when he heard of the death toll of the aircrews. "Barnes Wallis burst into tears and said, 'I've killed all those young men. I'll never do anything like that again.'"

Johnson told BBC Witness History in the same year: "I still felt that what we did, we had to do to the best of our ability, but it made me realise how much other effects war has on non-combatants, the civilians, the number of people that are killed."

The long-term strategic impact of the Dambusters raid is still hotly debated. In the aftermath of the attack, Hitler sent an army of forced labour to repair the damage, and the war production in the Ruhr Valley was resumed again within months. The dams were rebuilt in just five months, using enslaved workers working all day and all night. Hitler Youth, German troops and prisoners of war were marshalled to repair bridges and factories. Even the loss of electrical power in the region lasted for only two weeks. But the raid did mean that Hitler was forced to commit huge amounts of manpower and money to the rebuilding effort, diverting resources that could have gone to his troops fighting in the Eastern Front or shoring up the Nazi coastal defences against an Allied invasion of Europe.

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The surviving airmen of 617 Squadron were lauded as heroes on their return and the raid made front-page news. It would be later immortalised in the 1955 film The Dam Busters, starring Richard Todd and Michael Redgrave, which – along with its rousing theme tune – helped cement the attack in the UK's national folklore.

Gibson was awarded the Victoria Cross and 33 of the airmen involved received honours for their roles in the raid, with both Johnson and Buckley being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Gibson would die a year later when his plane crashed on its way back from a mission in Germany. Just 48 men out of the 133 who took part in the raid would live to see the end of the war.

"After debriefing, we went to the mess and had some food and then we started a wonderful party," Buckley told the BBC in 1976. It was a raucous celebration that lasted two days. Despite the sudden loss of so many of his comrades, there wasn't time to mourn them properly before the survivors returned to flying. "Well, this we were used to throughout the war, so we couldn't. We drank their health and that was it."

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'It was the cleverest escape in the prison's 30 years': The men who broke out of Alcatraz with a spoon

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240607-it-was-the-cleverest-escape-in-the-prisons-30-years-the-men-who-broke-out-of-alcatraz-with-a-spoon, 13 days ago

On 12 June 1962, three men escaped from Alcatraz, never to be seen again. The ultimate fate of Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers remains a mystery but the ingenuity and determination of their daring escape – from what was the US's most secure prison – continues to captivate. Two years later, the BBC returned to the scene of the crime.

In May 1964, BBC Panorama's Michael Charlton made "the most feared journey in the criminal world" across the churning waters of San Francisco Bay to see the infamous prison island of Alcatraz. Nicknamed "the Rock", the federal penitentiary had held some of the most dangerous criminals in the US. It was regarded as an impregnable fortress. But in the early hours of 12 June 1962, three men achieved what was thought impossible: they escaped.

Alcatraz had originally been a naval defence fort to protect the entrance to the bay. During the US Civil War, because of the island's isolation, steep cliffs and the swift, cold currents that surrounded it, captured Confederate prisoners were held there. Early in the 20th Century it was rebuilt as a military prison. In the 1930s, as the US tried to deal with rampant organised crime that flourished during Prohibition, the Department of Justice took it over. Soon the most fearsome convicts from the federal prison system began arriving. Among its more famous inmates were the notorious gangsters Al Capone, Mickey Cohen and George "Machine Gun" Kelly, as well as convicted murderer Robert Stroud, who would later become better known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz". "Men too vicious and troublesome to be held in an ordinary jail," was the way the BBC's Charlton put it.

Four years before Panorama travelled there, Frank Lee Morris had arrived on the island. Orphaned at the age of 11, and convicted of his first crime by the age of 13, Morris had spent most of his life in and out of various correctional facilities. Considered highly intelligent, he was a seasoned criminal, with a charge sheet ranging from drug possession to armed robbery and, perhaps most notably, prison breaks. He had been sent to the Rock in January 1960 following his escape from Louisiana State Penitentiary. As soon as he arrived on Alcatraz, he began to think about how he would leave. He was joined in his cell block by convicted bank-robbing brothers John and Clarence Anglin and Allen West, who had been an inmate on Alcatraz since 1957. All the men knew each other from previous stints in prisons together, and since they had adjoining jail cells, they were able to speak to each other at night.

When the BBC's Charlton visited the site, a year after its closure, he was well aware of the prison's formidable reputation for unrelenting guards, harsh conditions and the punishing sea winds that the convicts had to endure. "A relentless wind which never seems to stop, howls and echoes through the bars," he said. "Built over the rambling passages of an old fort… the foundations today of Alcatraz are rotting and breaking up."

An elaborate plan

With Morris taking the lead, the four prisoners began to concoct an elaborate and audacious plan to escape. Over a period of several months, the men chiselled away at the salt-damaged concrete around the air vent under their sinks. Using metal spoons purloined from the dining hall, a drill made from a vacuum-cleaner motor and discarded saw blades, they dug through to an unguarded utility corridor. To mask the noise of the drill, Morris would play his accordion during the daily hour set aside when music was played to the prisoners. Once they had created a hole large enough to crawl through to the corridor, they climbed up to the empty top level of the cellblock and set up a secret workshop. To hide the cell-wall holes, they fashioned fake papier-mâché grills from prison library magazines. Once they were in their workshop, they set about constructing a 6x14ft makeshift rubber raft and life-vests made from more than 50 stolen raincoats. To seal the rubber, they melted it using the prison's hot steam pipes. They then converted a concertina into a tool to inflate the raft and fashioned paddles out of bits of plywood.

But while they worked, they needed to conceal their absence from the guards who periodically made night-time checks. So, they sculpted papier-mâché versions of their heads from soap, toothpaste and toilet paper. To make them look more realistic, they used real hair from the prison barbershop floor and painted them in flesh tones using stolen art supplies. These they would then place in their beds, with bundles of clothes and towels under their blankets in the shape of their bodies to make it look like they were asleep. As they worked on their makeshift escape gear, they were also looking for a way out. Using plumbing piping as steps, they climbed 30 feet (9.1m) and prised open the ventilator at the top of a shaft. They crafted a fake bolt out of soap to keep it in place.

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Finally, on the night of 11 June 1962, they were ready to put their ingenious plan into motion. Leaving the dummy heads in their beds to fool the guards, Morris and the two Anglin brothers crawled out through the holes on the cell walls. West's escape was scuppered when he was unable to get out of his cell in time, so the others left without him. They climbed up to the cellhouse roof, ran across it – carrying their makeshift boat, in sight of the guard tower – shimmied down an outside drainpipe, crossed the prison yard, scaled two successive 12-ft (3.7m) barbed wire fences and scrambled down a steep embankment to the north-eastern shore of the island. At the water's edge, they inflated their boat and disappeared into the night. The alarm wasn't raised until the following morning, when the decoy heads were discovered.

The island was also home to the families of guards who worked at the prison. Jolene Babyak's father, who was acting warden at Alcatraz at the time, triggered the alarm. "When I woke up, the siren was still going. It was very piercing, extremely loud, it was horrible, it was pretty scary," she told BBC Witness History in 2013. "I was shocked you know, and my first thought was that can't be an escape attempt, and, of course, it was."

The prison went into immediate lockdown with an intensive search of all the buildings, including the prison officers' accommodation. Meanwhile Jolene's father launched a massive manhunt with hundreds of law enforcement personnel extensively searching the surrounding area for days. On 14 June, the Coast Guard found one of the prisoners' paddles. The same day, workers found a packet of the Anglins' personal effects, sealed in rubber. Seven days later some remnants of the raft were washed up near the Golden Gate Bridge and the following day one of the homemade life-vests was discovered. But the three fugitives were never seen again.

An open case

Although the prisoners escaped the prison, the authorities concluded they must have perished in treacherous waters attempting to leave the island. That was certainly the view of prison warden Richard Willard when the BBC interviewed him in 1964." Yes, we are short a few, but they are not bragging about it. In other words, that assumedly all those that we are short, drowned in the procedure. There is, to our knowledge, nobody walking the streets today bragging about having escaped from Alcatraz," he said. "Why am I so sure? You hear the wind, don't you? And you see the water? Do you think you could make it?"

Alcatraz prison shut down in 1963, a year after the men's escape. Partly this was due to its deteriorating structure and the expense of running it but the prison's severe regime had also long been subject of controversy. As early as 1939, US Attorney General Frank Murphy had tried to close it down, saying: "the whole institution is conducive to psychology that builds up a sinister and vicious attitude among the prisoners".

Over the years, prisoners had killed or maimed themselves – unable to face the unrelenting conditions – and as the 1960s progressed, the US looked towards rehabilitation of inmates rather than just their punishment.

As for the three escapees, despite no bodies ever being found in the bay, in 1979 they were declared legally dead. The FBI closed its case and turned over responsibility to the US Marshals Service.

But speculation about their fate has never waned. The same year they were declared dead, the film Escape from Alcatraz was released with Clint Eastwood portraying Frank Morris. And from the moment of their escape in 1962, there were reports of alleged sightings of the men, and of messages from them.

In 2018, San Francisco police revealed they had been sent a mysterious letter five years earlier, from someone claiming to be John Anglin. The letter read "I escape from Alcatraz in June 1962. Yes we all made it that night, but barely!" The letter maintained that the men had lived on in secret, with Frank Morris dying in October 2005, and Clarence Anglin in 2008. The letter's author said he now wanted to negotiate his surrender in exchange for cancer treatment. The FBI assessed the letter but were unable to verify if it was authentic or not.

The case is still open for the US Marshals Service. As recently as 2022, it released updated pictures of what the three missing Alcatraz prisoners might look like now, while appealing for any information about them, in the hope that finally it could put the mystery to bed.

This article was originally published on 10 June 2024 and has been republished.

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'He swam out to the Russian vessel and was never seen alive again': The Cold War spy mystery of the 'vanishing frogman'

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250501-the-cold-war-spy-mystery-of-buster-crabb, 14 days ago

In 1956, Royal Navy Commander "Buster" Crabb disappeared in murky circumstances during a visit to the UK by Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev. In 2006, the BBC's Michael Buchanan read the newly declassified files that detailed Crabb's unofficial secret mission – and how the government tried to cover it up.

It was on 9 May 1956, 69 years ago this week, that UK Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden finally succumbed to press pressure and international embarrassment, and ordered an enquiry into the mysterious disappearance of Royal Navy diver Commander Lionel "Buster" Crabb.

The decorated frogman had vanished during a goodwill visit to the UK by the Soviet leadership at the height of Cold War tensions. When word leaked that Crabb had gone missing, The Admiralty, the government department responsible for the Navy, issued a vague statement that the diver had been testing underwater equipment at Stokes Bay on the Hampshire coast and was presumed drowned.

But the story fell apart when the visiting Russians accused their hosts of espionage. The Soviets claimed that they had seen a frogman near the Ordzhonikidze – the ship that had brought the Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev to the UK – while it was docked in Portsmouth Harbour. Despite questions being asked repeatedly in Parliament, Eden refused to say more, claiming: "It would not be in the public interest to disclose the circumstances in which Commander Crabb is presumed to have met his death." The government's stonewalling merely heightened suspicions that Crabb had been on a covert spy mission.

Fourteen months after Crabb vanished, a headless, handless body in a diving suit was found by fishermen in Chichester Harbour on the south coast of England. Its lack of fingerprints and teeth made the mutilated body difficult to identify, but a later inquest ruled that it was Crabb. The whole episode publicly embarrassed Eden and wrecked his attempts to develop a more friendly relationship with a post-Stalin Soviet Union.

When he disappeared in 1956, Crabb was well known for his daring underwater exploits. Nicknamed "Buster", after the US Olympic swimmer and actor Buster Crabbe, who had risen to fame in the 1930s, he was an expert in underwater bomb disposal. His bravery during World War Two had earned him the George Medal for removing Italian limpet mines from British warships at Malta, and an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his mine clearance work at Livorno in Italy. His wartime amphibious adventures would later be fictionalised in a 1958 film, The Silent Enemy, with Crabb being played by Laurence Harvey. And even after he was officially demobbed in 1947, he continued diving for the military in various capacities, including investigating sunken submarines.

An unofficial mission

For decades following the frogman's disappearance, the UK government staunchly maintained its silence on the incident. It would only be from 2006 onwards, when due to Freedom of Information requests by the BBC, and classified documents being made public under the 50-year rule, that the murky circumstances of Crabb's ill-fated final dive began to emerge.

The declassified files showed that, from the start, the UK's security services were keen to use the opportunity of Khruschev's visit to gather intelligence on their Cold War opponents. They suggested hiding microphones in Claridge's hotel, which the Soviet leadership intended to use as their headquarters during their stay. But the prime minister expressly ruled out the idea and made "clear that adventures of a similar nature were forbidden".

Despite this, MI6 recruited Crabb to undertake an "unofficial enterprise" to investigate the Russian ship Ordzhonikidze. The exact nature of his mission is still unclear, but the ex-MI5 officer Peter Wright suggested in his book Spycatcher (1987) that it was to examine and photograph the ship's advanced propeller design.

Two days before the mission, Crabb and another MI6 agent, who went by the name Bernard Smith, checked into the Sally Port hotel in Portsmouth. On the evening of 17 April 1956, Crabb met with a military colleague in a local pub. This colleague, whose name was deleted from the file, was a Royal Navy lieutenant commander who agreed to help Crabb get into Portsmouth Harbour for his final dive. In 2006, the BBC's Michael Buchanan got the chance to examine the previously classified sworn statement by "the last man to see Crabb alive".

"He says he was approached by the commander a couple of days before his final dive and asked 'if I would be prepared to assist him, entirely unofficially and in a strictly private capacity, in connection with a dive he was taking a day or two later'. He goes on to say under no account was this man to contact any responsible naval authority," said Buchanan.

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Just before 07:00 on 19 April, the unnamed lieutenant commander went with Crabb to Portsmouth Harbour, and helped him dress and check his equipment. Crabb then swam out to the Russian vessel, and was never seen alive again. The Royal Navy made no attempt to look for the missing frogman for fear of alerting the Ordzhonikidze's crew. "The documents further reveal that no search and rescue efforts were made for Crabb as it was not a bonafide operation," said Buchanan. "And they detailed the extensive efforts made by [the Admiralty] to ensure they weren't implicated in a botched mission they knew nothing about."

The intelligence services surmised that Crabb must have either been captured by the Soviets, been destroyed by Russian "countermeasures", or suffered a "natural mishap". Smith, the MI6 agent, removed Crabb's belongings and checked out of the Sally Port hotel. A few days later, the police removed the pages with their details from the Sally Port's register, which only served to fuel suspicions of a covert mission. Under pressure from MI6 and the government, the Admiralty hastily concocted the spurious story that Crabb had gone missing during a test in Stokes Bay.

The sniper and the underwater fight

Records of meetings show the panic at the highest levels of government. Officials feared that if a body was found, the Soviets could use Crabb's death for propaganda purposes. National Archives' Howard Davis told the BBC in 2006 that the file "makes it perfectly clear that this wasn't an Admiralty operation; they had nothing to do with it and we see them trying to construct a story that they can plausibly tell to face the inevitable questions from the press".

But despite the release of some of the government's classified documents, exactly what happened to the diver that day in 1956 is still unknown. In 1990, Joseph Zwerkin, a former Soviet naval intelligence agent, claimed that a Soviet sniper on the Ordzhonikidze's deck had spotted the diver in the water and shot him. In 2007, a 74-year-old former Russian frogman, Eduard Koltsov, claimed that he slashed Crabb's throat in an underwater fight after catching him attaching a mine to Ordzhonikidze.

It has also been suggested that as Crabb was an associate of Sir Anthony Blunt, who was unmasked as a Soviet spy in 1979, he could even have defected. Nicholas Elliott, a former senior MI6 agent who was rumoured to be involved in Crabb's final dive, believed that the 47-year-old diver, who was known for his fondness for whiskey and cigarettes, had succumbed to oxygen poisoning or a heart attack as a result of his exertions while underwater.

It may be some time before more details of Crabb's fate come to light. While some papers concerning the affair have been released into the public domain, others have had their classified status extended by the government and are not scheduled for release until 2057.

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'Last chance' to save town's Morris dancing group

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c626xzezn78o, today

There are hopes a Morris dancing group could be saved if new people join next month.

Furness Morris, based in Ulverston, Cumbria, recently warned it was in danger of folding after 62 years due to low numbers.

At a meeting on Friday, it was decided to organise two final sessions to try to attract new members.

"We are not exactly at the end of the road, but this is a bit of a last chance to try and recruit," said Les Ord, who has been with the band for 50 years.

"At the end of these two new sessions, if we don't attract anybody new, then that would probably be the end."

The events will take place in Ulverston in June, with dates and a venue due to be confirmed.

Mr Ord, who is the second longest-serving member of the group, said they were part of the community and it would be good to preserve the tradition.

Furness Morris was founded in 1963 and had 20 members in its prime.

That is now down to eight, with at least half a dozen new dancers needed to secure its future.

Everyone over 18 is welcome to join, with the group hoping to pass the baton on to younger people.

Mr Ord added the band could continue as a social activity without new recruits but would not be able play gigs, having had to turn down five so far this year due to a lack of numbers.

"We feel it's part of the heritage," he said. "We'd be quite happy to hand on the tradition if we got the right number of people to be able to do that."

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Remember Monday singer says she's lost wedding ring after Eurovision

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjdzx5v21ldo, today

A member of the UK's Eurovision entry Remember Monday says she lost her wedding ring in video posted the morning after their Basel performance.

"I've lost my wedding ring and my engagement ring," Holly-Anne Hull said in a video posted on Instagram on Sunday.

In the video, the singer and her two bandmates are sat on a plane, seemingly leaving Switzerland. Hull did not give further details, such as where she might have lost the ring or when it happened.

The country-pop trio came 19th of the 26 countries in this year's Eurovision Song Contest with their track What The Hell Just Happened.

Hull got married in Surrey in June 2023.

In the video posted on Instagram the group parodied the lyrical style of their entry - which tells the tale of the morning after a big night out - saying they are still wearing "last night's hair gel" and their knees hurt. before Hull jokes: "I'm gonna have a breakdown 'cause I've lost my wedding ring."

Lauren Byrne adds the trio are "so grateful" for their supporters and Charlotte Steele says their fans are "amazing".

Remember Monday got 88 points on Saturday night, all of which were from the jury - like last year's entrant Olly Alexander, the band received no points from the public vote.

Austrian singer JJ won the competition with his electro-ballad Wasted Love, with a total of 436 votes, after beating Israel at the last minute.

Estonia came third, followed by Sweden, which had been the frontrunner going into Saturday night. The country's entrant, comedy troupe KAJ, performed Bara Bada Bastu, a song about saunas, which has has topped Swedish music charts for three months.

Though Remember Monday's song performed poorly with the public vote, the group came joint 10th in the jury vote, along with Finland, and Italy even gave the UK its 12 points.

The trio, who all have musical theatre backgrounds, danced around a giant chandelier in Bridgerton-inspired colourful dresses as they sang about the aftermath of a big night out, where they lost their keys, broke their heels and went to bed in their make-up. The BBC's music correspondent Mark Savage wrote that the band "got a lot of things right" and "hit every harmony in their song... with pinpoint precision".

But the public was less convinced. Only one other country, host nation Switzerland, got zero from the public vote.

Remember Monday, who met at sixth-form college in Farnborough studying performing arts, have been friends for 12 years, and quit their jobs in late 2023 to be in the band full-time. They were announced as the UK's Eurovision entry in March.

Earlier this month the group announced a UK and Ireland tour, and are performing at events including the Capital Summertime Ball, Latitude festival and the Isle of Wight Festival this summer.

They called Saturday night "one of the most surreal and emotional moments of our lives".

North-west England's best buildings revealed

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c15nzyg4ndpo, today

A major entertainment venue, a children's mental health clinic, a university learning centre and a private home have been named by experts as the north-west of England's best-designed buildings.

They were recognised by the Royal Institute of British Architects (Riba) at an awards ceremony on Wednesday.

"The award-winning projects present a diverse example of the positive impact architecture can have on the lives of its users," said Riba's Dominic Wilkinson, who is also a principal lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University.

The north-west's winners will be considered for Riba's national awards, which will be announced on 10 July. The overall winner for 2025 will receive the Stirling Prize.

Mr Wilkinson said the region's four shortlisted buildings all "illustrate the value for clients and the public in commissioning quality architecture".

He added: "The winners range from large cultural venues delivering world-class innovative creative programmes to state-of-the-art education facilities training future engineers.

"These projects... demonstrate a positive future for architecture in the region."

The Catkin Centre and Sunflower House in Liverpool was recognised by judges for the way it "infused humanity and care in its design".

The University of Salford's school of science, engineering and environment building was celebrated for combining specialist workshops and laboratories with flexible social spaces.

Aviva Studios Factory International in Manchester was given an award for rising to the challenge of creating a space that hosts "ambitious and highly original arts events that required an unprecedented adaptability".

The north-west's top prize, however, went to Vestige, described by judges as a modest and discreet suburban family home in Wilmslow, Cheshire, "designed with contemporary spaces full of detail and surprise".

Riba president Muyiwa Oki said: "Our 2025 winners show a deep sensitivity to place and a strong coherence of thought between all teams involved.

"Individually these projects inspire and uplift. Collectively, they remind us that architects do far more than design buildings - they shape the way we live, work and connect."

The shortlist for the Stirling Prize will be drawn from all of the national award-winning projects.

Read more stories from Cheshire, Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC North West on X.

Science and Media Museum unveils new galleries

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9q0jqgdy80o, today

An animatronic puppet and a recreation of a community radio station are among the new exhibits set to be unveiled at the National Science and Media Museum.

The Bradford museum's sound and vision galleries have seen a £6.8m transformation and feature more than 500 exhibits - covering photography, film, television, animation and video games.

A museum spokesperson called the revamped spaces a "true labour of love and collaboration", adding it showcased collections in "new and innovative ways".

The galleries, spanning two floors of the museum, will reopen from 10 July.

The March Hare puppet was created for the 1999 Alice in Wonderland film by Muppets creator Jim Henson's studio.

The galleries will also feature an "authentic and interactive" version of Bradford Community Broadcasting's (BCB) radio studio.

Other exhibits include the camera used to document Captain Scott's 1910 Antarctic expedition and TV pioneer John Logie Baird's 1926 television apparatus.

Visitors will also be able to see a mixing desk used by electronic punk band The Prodigy, fangs worn by Christopher Lee as Dracula and an Alien head and torso from the 1979 hit film.

A section will also be dedicated to the infamous Cottingley Fairies hoax.

Jo Quinton-Tulloch, museum director, said: "Our collections and the rich narratives they tell touch upon all our lives, from the first photographic negative and film footage to the advent of radio and television.

"Our sound and vision galleries showcase how everyday objects have the power to be extraordinary."

A spokesperson for The National Lottery Heritage Fund added: "In 1995, the museum was one of the first transformational projects in Yorkshire that received National Lottery funding from the Heritage Fund.

"After 30 years, we're proud to have supported the museum with another transformational grant for these fantastic new galleries."

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New exhibition for identical sister artists

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdj9gkwem9po, today

Internationally acclaimed twin sister artists who spend hundreds of hours painting highly intricate works have opened a new exhibition.

The Singh Twins have chosen 11 prints and two new lightbox artworks to go on display, as part of Snape Maltings' summer arts programme in Suffolk.

The free exhibition, which runs until 20 July, fuses traditional Indian miniature art and digital media to explore themes and motifs around politics, identity and culture.

"It makes the point – and I think people will take that away – that we're all connected," said Amrit Singh.

The artworks have been chosen from The Singh Twins' Slaves of Fashion exhibition.

Awarded the MBE for their contribution to UK art, the British-born identical twins - who live near Liverpool - draw on their Indian heritage and western culture for inspiration.

The show explores the legacies of empire through the history of textiles.

"We'd like people to take away the key messages of our work - in this case, the history of colonialism and how that needs to be redressed," said Rabindra Singh.

"It also looks at how the legacies of empire still have visibility in the modern world, whether you're talking about attitudes to race, debates around colonial cultural ownership, for example."

Her sister continued: "Wherever you come from, whichever your background is, there will be something in your background you'll be able to relate to."

The free exhibition opened on 10 May and has been carefully curated by Devi Singh, who has worked in Suffolk's art world for years and has long been an admirer of the sisters' contemporary style.

"They tell a story that requires an element of concentration, but what's great about it is that you can look at the work and not see something and then come back and see something new, over and over again," she said.

"The detail is exquisite."

Snape Maltings is run by the charity Britten Pears Arts, which promotes cultural offerings.

The charity originated from the Lowestoft-born composer Benjamin Britten and his partner, the singer Peter Pears.

"We feel it's a real coup that they [The Singh Twins] accepted our invitation to come and show here," said the charity's Harry Young.

"It's part of our invitation to broaden our programme and to hopefully make it appeal to a more diverse audience.

"It's thrilling for us to have the work here."

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Eurovision: What the hell happened to the UK entry?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crk2nrkv830o, today

Oh no, not again.

For the third year in a row, the UK has crashed out at Eurovision, taking 19th place out of a possible 26.

It feels particularly cruel this time because our contestants, Remember Monday, got a lot of things right.

Most notably, they could sing – and I mean, really, really sing.

Lauren, Holly and Charlotte hit every harmony in their song, What The Hell Just Happened, with pinpoint precision, drawing on a decade of West End experience that's seen them star in everything from Matilda to Phantom Of The Opera.

After toe-curling performances from Olly Alexander in 2024 and Mae Muller in 2023, their vocals were as strong as a lion's roar. So strong, in fact, that they caught the attention of former Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst.

"Harmonising on the Eurovision stage has hardly worked out in the past, but they're spot on," he enthused before the final.

"Their confidence is incredible. You immediately trust them, because when you feel the artist is nervous, you get nervous as a viewer. But they are just so light and so sharp."

So what went wrong?

The chief culprit, if I'm honest, was the song.

A manic mish-mash of musical styles, it sped up in the verses, and slowed down for the choruses, with all the consistency of a jelly in a heatwave.

That's not to say it's a bad piece of writing. Indeed, all of the UK's 88 points came from professional juries of songwriters, whose job it is to recognise compositional craft.

They'll have recognised all the clever British touches the band crammed in – Elton John-style piano crescendos, a Beatles-esque mellotron riff, and a vocal callback to George Michael's Freedom '90.

The lyrics were clever and witty, too. Reminiscent of Katy Perry's Last Friday Night (TGIF), or If I Were a Bell from Guys and Dolls, it was all about the drunken mistakes you make while trying to get over an ex.

"Broke a heel, lost my keys, scraped my knee / When I fell from the chandelier."

In three short minutes, the trio rattled off half a dozen memorable hooks, endowed with the unbreakable bond of their friendship.

But as seasoned Eurovision watcher Jonathan Vautrey noted in a review last month, the song was simply too busy.

"It's hard to latch on to exactly what they're selling when you're too busy reeling from the constant whiplash of hearing an almost brand new song every 30 seconds," he wrote on the Wiwibloggs fansite.

"Although I've been able to settle into the entry overtime, and now appreciate the theatricality of it all, first impressions matter at Eurovision."

That's an opinion I heard more than once. But still, I had hope.

Catching a tram to Basel's St Jackobshalle arena on Saturday, I was stopped by a Swedish woman who'd spotted my UK media pass.

She wanted to tell me how she'd dismissed Remember Monday's song when auditioning this year's Eurovision songs on Spotify. Then she saw their spirited performance in the semi-final "and I understood".

Good enough for one vote, then. So why didn't more people connect with it?

The staging was put together by Ace Bowerman, who is one of the UK's most respected creative directors – responsible for Blackpink's Born Pink world tour and Dua Lipa's lockdown spectacular, Studio 2054.

Speaking before the final, she told me the performance deliberately made a virtue of the girls' friendship.

"As soon as I met them, I was like, 'Please be my friend!'" she told me,

"They are electric people, they have such a special bond. So the one thing I want everybody to take away from the performance is how much fun they are – because the audience will want to be their friends as well."

It was camp and fun, but lacked the scale of Finland's Erika Vikman, who soared above the audience on a giant phallic microphone, or the drama of Austrian winner JJ, who was tossed around the stage in the stormy sea of his own emotions.

"The UK's staging wasn't flat at all but, as with the song, it was maybe a bit too much," says Alexander Beijar, Eurovision reporter at Finnish broadcaster Yle.

"It was like, we have three minutes, and we'll show you everything we can do on this stage: We'll start in bed, we'll dance on a chandelier, we'll strut down the catwalk, and we'll end up in the bed again in the end.

"I think maybe tone it down just a nod for next year.

"Then again, as a Finn, with the biggest microphone you can find in the whole of Switzerland, maybe I shouldn't give advice!"

Was it political?

And what about that wrinkly old Eurovision chestnut: Politics?

Vote trading is an age-old tradition at the contest. Since Sweden first took part in 1958, for example, more than one-fifth of its votes have come from Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland.

But the situation is complicated. Political tensions persist in the Balkans, "but the cultural connections seem to have trumped the political divisions", Dean Vuletic, author of Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest, recently told the AFP news agency.

"I would say that this is because these countries do share a music industry."

The UK's music industry isn't particularly well integrated with Europe, tending to ride roughshod over its less influential neighbours.

When it comes to friendly neighbours, our reputation took a hit after Brexit - although Luxembourg has always been a reliable source of votes, for reasons that aren't 100 per cent clear.

But here's the thing: You can only vote for a country in Eurovision, not against it.

Remember Monday were good, but were they good enough to make your personal Top 10?

If so, then great – you'd have given them some points. Otherwise, it's a struggle to accrue any momentum.

In the end, that was Remember Monday's fate: Another zero-point disappointment.

So where does that leave the UK going into next year?

Well, we laid good foundations. Remember Monday didn't come with a copycat Eurodance hit, or an insipid ballad. The vocals were strong. The staging conveyed personality.

Their 88 points almost doubled last year's score - and marked the highest total we've achieved since 2017, Sam Ryder's second place victory in 2022 aside.

In other words, we shouldn't be too down then on the UK's chances at Eurovision, as Scott Mills and Graham Norton discussed on Radio 2 this weekend.

"I thought they were spectacular, so I don't really mind where they place, because it's not embarrassing," said Mills.

"I'm with you," Norton agreed. "Whatever happens they walk away heads held high."

And Mills cautioned against cynicism taking over.

"There's a section of fans [who] will complain every year, whatever the UK does: 'Oh, the song's too generic, the vocals aren't great.'

"We could send Adele and they'd have something horrible to say.

"But the whole thing about Eurovision is that it's fun and it's joy through music… so please don't spoil it. Go and be miserable somewhere else."

And that's exactly the attitude we need. The UK's never going to attract world-class talent if all we do is look down on the contest and approach it with a defeatist attitude.

Luckily, three people have already put their names in the ring for next year.

"Listen," said Remember Monday's Lauren Byrne when I bumped into her backstage on Thursday.

"If we do really badly, we're just gonna keep coming back until we win."

We'll remember, Remember Monday.

See you in Vienna next year.

Art curator Koyo Kouoh dies at height of career

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwynlr794j0o, 7 days ago

Koyo Kouoh, who has died aged 57, was one of the art world's leading figures and a fierce advocate of African creatives.

A Cameroon-born curator, Kouoh had been at the height of her career.

She was due to become the first African woman to lead next year's Venice Biennale, one of the world's most prestigious contemporary art events, and led one of Africa's largest contemporary art museums.

The cause of Kouoh's unexpected death has not yet been made public. The curator passed away in Switzerland, according to reports.

South African artist Candice Breitz described Kouoh as "magnificently intelligent, endlessly energetic and formidably elegant".

Otobong Nkanga, a Nigerian visual artist, called the late curator a source of "warmth, generosity and brilliance".

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also spoke of Kouoh's impact, saying her passing "leaves a void in the world of contemporary art".

Kouoh's colourful life began in 1967, when she was born in Cameroon, a Central African country with a rich artistic heritage.

She grew up in the country's largest city, Douala, before moving to Switzerland aged 13.

There, she studied business administration and banking but, in a pivotal moment, chose not to pursue finance as a career.

"I am fundamentally uninterested in profit," she explained in a 2023 interview with the New York Times.

Rather than building on her degree, Kouoh assisted migrant women as a social worker and began to immerse herself in the world of art.

She gave birth to her son in Switzerland during the 90s, an experience she described as "profoundly transformative". She would go on to adopt three other children.

Fed up with life in the Swiss city of Zurich, Kouoh returned to Africa in 1996.

She worked as a curator in Senegalese capital city Dakar, before founding Raw Material Company, an expansive, independent art hub.

Just last week, and six years into her role as the director of South Africa's Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Kouoh reflected on her love for Dakar.

"Dakar made me who I am today," she told the Financial Times.

"It's the place I came of age professionally, where I really became a curator and an exhibition-maker... I'm in Cape Town now but, mentally, I live in Dakar. It's the one and only place for me."

When Kouoh took the top job at Zeitz, Africa's biggest contemporary art museum, the institution was in crisis.

Founding director Mark Coetzee had been suspended in 2018 following allegations of staff harrasment and later resigned.

Kouoh has been widely credited with turning Zeitz's fortunes around, leading it through the scandal, as well as the Covid pandemic.

"For me, it became a duty to salvage this institution," she told The Art World: What If…?! podcast.

"I was convinced that the failure of Zeitz, if it had failed would've been the failure of all of us African art professionals in the field, somehow indirectly."

As Zeitz's director and curator, Kouoh oversaw a number of acclaimed exhibitions, including When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting. The show, which brings together works by black artists from the last century, is currently on display in Brussels.

In a statement announcing Kouoh's "sudden" death, Zeitz expressed its "profound sorrow" and said that, out of respect, the museum would be closed "until further notice".

In her Financial Times interview last week, Kouoh challenged the idea that death would bring an end to her endeavours.

"I do believe in life after death, because I come from an ancestral black education where we believe in parallel lives and realities," she said.

"There is no 'after death', 'before death' or 'during life'. It doesn't matter that much. I believe in energies - living or dead - and in cosmic strength."

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

'I'm thrilled, but daunted' - Alicia Vikander returns to stage after 17 years

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly2jjg10xlo, 12 days ago

There's a strong chance you will have seen Alicia Vikander on screen in the past decade, thanks to performances in films such as Tomb Raider, Ex Machina and her Oscar-winning role in The Danish Girl.

One place you won't have seen her during that time, however, is on stage.

The Swedish actress hasn't appeared in the theatre for 17 years, when she was a teenager. But that's about to change.

Vikander will star in a new West End production of Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea, which will also be her UK theatre debut.

Speaking to BBC News, Vikander, 36, said she was "thrilled" to be returning to the stage, but added it was a "daunting thing to do... it's my first time on stage as an adult".

The production will play at London's Bridge Theatre for eight weeks from 10 September, organisers announced on Wednesday.

"I grew up being at the theatre a lot, my mother [Maria Fahl] was a stage actress, and I think even when I was dreaming of becoming an actress myself, being on stage was the journey that I kind of visualised," Vikander said.

"Back in Sweden, where I'm from, if you're an actor then really what you are is on stage. And you're lucky to maybe have a TV show or film every couple of years, because that's how small the industry is in Sweden.

"So I think that's what I always saw in front of me. And then life happened, and throughout the years [theatre] has always been something I've been waiting for and thinking 'it will happen'."

The play has been adapted and directed by Simon Stone, and will also star The Walking Dead's Andrew Lincoln.

Vikander will play lead character Ellida, the sea-loving daughter of a lighthouse-keeper.

Ellida is married to a Norwegian doctor, but when a sailor she used to be engaged to suddenly returns, she is forced to choose between her current and former lover.

The play marks the introduction of the character Hilde Wangel, one of the doctor's daughters from a previous marriage.

Hilde goes on to appear in one of Ibsen's later plays, The Master Builder, a new adaptation of which is coincidentally also currently in the West End, starring Ewan McGregor.

An adaptation of another Ibsen play, Enemy of the People, opened in London last year starring Doctor Who actor Matt Smith.

'Perfect match'

Director Stone has previously helmed films such as The Dig and The Daughter, while his extensive theatre credits include productions of Yerma, Phaedra, Medea and Angels in America.

"He once again is going to take a classic and reinvent it and make it be something that is relatable to our modern audience today," Vikander said.

"And when I was told he was doing Ibsen and The Lady from the Sea, I guess that going back to my Scandinavian and Swedish heritage, it kind of felt like a perfect match."

Vikander said she felt the reason many of the classics are still being performed in the West End is they tackle many of the same subjects society still grapples with today.

"I have discussions with my friends, I just passed 35, I'm getting close to my 40s soon and I have my kids, but I still feel extremely young. Really young. Sometimes I'm like, 'I'm 25 still!'

"But then I also realise I'm entering this very new chapter which is really exciting, but I think if you are in a place where you feel like you haven't fulfilled certain dreams or tried things, you're still wondering where these choices or action would have led you, then I think it's extremely human thing.

"Women throughout history have been held back, maybe because they didn't have the same opportunities, or they financially couldn't do some things, or ended up in situations where it was harder to break away from the role of being a mother.

"So therefore when I read it, I feel like I totally understand the turmoil this woman goes through, and I don't think humans have changed that much from a core, emotional point of view. And I think that's why we're interested in these stories."

She added: "It's incredible that the big universal questions are something we're still battling in the same way."

Vikander said she was "super excited and wonderfully nervous" to begin the workshopping process with Stone in the coming weeks, out of which he will begin to produce the final script.

As the show is still being developed, it has not yet been confirmed what the setting will be for this production.

Another UK adaptation of The Lady from the Sea performed in 2017 at the Donmar Theatre moved the story to the Caribbean in the 1950s.

The new adaptation is billed as her UK stage debut, but Vikander notes it's actually her first theatre of any kind since she was 19.

"I did theatre for my teens for a lot of years, like a child actor, and then the last thing I did was when I was a dancer for the Stockholm Opera House," she explained.

"I grew up watching my mother doing theatre, and I 'd always watch from afar, and I can't wait to try and do it myself.

"It's a daunting thing to do, obviously, it's my first time on stage as an adult, and it's on the London stage, and obviously I want to make sure people get their ticket money's worth! But I'm really excited."

Dock workers' stories wanted to inspire new play

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czdyle5n7qmo, today

A producer and playwright is looking for stories of dock workers to help bring a new theatre show to life.

Karen Goddard is working to find anyone who has worked at the Port of Felixstowe in Suffolk over the decades for a play called Don't Knock The Dock.

The play has been supported by Arts Council England, the county council and Eastern Angles and follows the lives of two 16-year-old friends who leave school and go on to work on the docks.

Mrs Goddard, who grew up in the town, said the play would celebrate stories of the workers over the years.

"I know a lot of people who left school and went to work down the dock," she explained.

"It was the local industry, that's where people went.

"If we'd been living in a coal mining area they might have gone down the mines... it just happened to be the local place where everyone went to work.

"I've always thought that people don't really know enough of what goes on down there.

"But also I think those stories haven't been celebrated and there are so many people that work down there."

Mrs Goddard and the team are predominantly looking for those who worked on the docks in the 1980s, but they were keen to hear from other decades too.

As well as this she stressed they wanted all types of workers to come forward including women whom she felt were important to include.

"I need more [stories]," she added.

"It doesn't have to be from the port perspective, it's anybody who worked down the dock, so that could be a shipping company, or a haulage company, a lorry driver, or people who worked in the other departments like the canteen, the firefighters, the police."

Mrs Goddard has already begun collating stories and said there had been an "overriding theme of a sense of comradery" between the workers.

"Overwhelmingly they say they wouldn't have missed it for the world and they made such good friends," she continued.

"There's a lot of funny banter you get surrounding it, it's been really fun so far."

Once the stories have been compiled the team, including director Ollie Harrington and sound designer Jack Baxter, will use these to draft the play.

There will then be two public script readings where people will be able to give feedback before the play will then hopefully be put on tour.

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Leonard Bernstein honoured by plaque for his work

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0k35lj7rl8o, yesterday

A plaque has been unveiled in a West Sussex cathedral to honour one of the greatest composers of the 20th Century.

Leonard Bernstein, who wrote the music for West Side Story, was commissioned to score the choral Chichester Psalms by the former Dean of Chichester, Walter Hussey, in 1965.

Its 60th anniversary is being marked on Saturday by a special performance of the work in the presence of Bernstein's son Alexander.

Actress Dame Patricia Routledge, a Chichester resident who worked with the composer, said it was "a timely recognition of the worldwide significance of this beautiful work".

She said: "Chichester Psalms continues to resonate across generations, and it is only fitting that its legacy is honoured here, where it all began."

The plaque has been organised by Bernstein in Chichester, the organisation that brought his legacy to Chichester in 2018 with a festival of events throughout the city in celebration of the composer's 100th anniversary.

The American composer and conductor died in 1990 aged 72.

Maestro, a film biography about his life, was Oscar nominated in 2024.

Saturday's milestone coincides with the cathedral's 950th anniversary – a year-long celebration of its history and legacy.

The Very Reverend Dr Edward Dowler, The Dean of Chichester, said: "This plaque will serve as a lasting tribute to one of the most cherished musical connections in our history.

"This moment will not only honour Leonard Bernstein's extraordinary legacy but also reaffirms the ongoing contribution of Chichester Cathedral to the choral tradition."

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Charity art auction to support children in Nepal

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g2l5yyqxpo, yesterday

A charity which supports disadvantaged children and young adults living in the shadows of the Himalayas is looking to raise funds with an art auction.

New Futures Nepal, which is based in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, has been running for 20 years.

It was set up by Andrew Small who learned about a centre for orphaned and disabled children in Kathmandu while he was trekking in one of the world's poorer countries.

"Nepal changed my life forever," said Mr Small, who created the charity to help youngsters in Nepal to find jobs and homes.

Mr Small said he was "impressed" by how many Midlands artists had agreed to provide pieces of work for the auction.

"With help and support, many of our youngsters go on to find jobs and a home and are able to give back to their community. So any contribution makes such a difference," he said.

There are dozens of different artworks in the auction, which closes on the day of the fundraising dinner.

Also taking part is French artist Alan Reullier, whose latest work centres on the heritage of the motor industry in the Midlands.

He has a collection of original drawings from British Motor Heritage Ltd, dating from the early 1900s to the 1970s, which were being digitised and couldn't be stored.

He took ownership of them on the proviso that they could not be resold in their original form, so he reimagined them, turning them into pieces of artwork that have been sold around the world.

"I'm delighted to help New Futures Nepal," he said. "Children should always have access to education and care wherever they are in the world. The charity is doing valuable work and I hope all these artistic contributions will make a huge difference."

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Art and gardens at heart of sculpture exhibition

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1degdz21vxo, yesterday

More than 50 English and 60 Zimbabwean sculptors, alongside 30 schools in north Oxfordshire, are hoping to raise tens of thousands of pounds for charity through the sale of hundreds of sculptures.

Now in its 14th year, Sculpture at Kingham Lodge will include pieces in stone, glass, pottery, steel and resin, with prices ranging from £10 to £20,000.

Kingham Lodge gardens cover five acres, with herbaceous borders, shrubberies, woodland walks, rare trees, ponds and wildflower meadow that are not usually open to the public.

The proceeds from the exhibition will support a range of charities, including local children's hospice Helen and Douglas House and Cotswolds Arts through Schools.

The charity delivers art, music, dance and drama into 54 local schools, positively impacting 8,000 local children.

The sculptures are integrated into planting all over the gardens and in the Moorish Pavilion at its heart.

The show will be open to the public from 17 to 26 May.

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'The pub was the one place men could socialise'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg4rm01zeeo, 2 days ago

Two men sit at a bar, drinking Guinness and putting the world to rights.

The setting, though, is not a Dublin pub - but Coventry's Belgrade Theatre, where Roddy Doyle's play Two Pints is part way through its first-ever UK run.

The Irish writer - known for novels including Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha and The Commitments, for which he wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation - uses the play to explore themes of ageing and friendship.

"They drink, but they're not drinking to drink," he said. "They're drinking for each other's company, really. That's what it's all about."

Two Pints was first performed in 2017 in, appropriately, a pub in Dublin, before embarking on a tour of watering holes across Ireland.

Doyle wrote it soon after his father's death.

"The plot was inspired by the experience of visiting the hospital to see him, and dreading it," he explained. "Wanting to go, but dreading it.

"So the rhythm of that time – visiting the hospital, going up for the last time to say goodbye to him, and then the funeral – is the plot of the play, really."

The experience made Doyle reflect on the way men - especially men of a certain age - confide in one another.

"[I realised that] people, particularly men, will often open up if they're walking side by side rather than facing each other.

"It struck me that that was like being in a bar."

'Respite from anxieties'

While admitting to "liking a good pub", Doyle is not trying to make light of the dangers of alcohol abuse.

For Doyle, the pub has a long tradition of bringing people together.

"When it came to two men of my generation meeting, there was no choice," he said. "It was the pub or nowhere. It was the one place men go.

"It's respite, isn't it, from life.

"Respite and withdrawal, from, I suppose, the trickier parts of life, the anxieties.

"Just for a while."

Much has been made on social media of the creative swearing employed by Doyle's barstool philosophers, and, indeed, the Belgrade warns potential audience members of "some strong language".

But Doyle insists it is not gratuitous.

"I examine every word," he explained. "And I try to make sure that is is something that those characters would say. It's part of the rhythm of the speech of working class Dublin people, and a lot of Irish people.

"I'm not saying it's a good thing or a bad thing, but it is what it is."

'It's a universal story'

Like much of Doyle's work, Two Pints focuses on the lives of working-class Irish, told largely through nothing more than dialogue.

But his hope is that his work - from The Commitments to Two Pints - has an international appeal.

"Groups of young people coming together to express themselves musically is a universal story, isn't it?" he said. "And the same with this one.

"Men growing older together, and finding comfort in each other's company, is a universal story."

Two Pints is being performed at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, until 24 May.

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Repairs set to start on Raac-impacted theatre roof

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gr9qqq0gvo, 2 days ago

Work to replace a theatre roof at risk of collapse due to it being built with a cheap concrete that crumbles is due to start on Monday.

Scaffolding will be put up at the Key Theatre in Peterborough, with full renovations taking place after The Searchers & Hollies Experience show on 1 June.

Peterborough City Council, which owns the building, has allocated £2.19m for the works. The first show following re-opening is due to be 'An Evening Without Kate Bush' on 9 October.

The Chalkboard Cafe and Kindred Drama located in the building are due to remain open throughout the work.

Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete, known as Raac, was found in the auditorium roof in 2023.

A temporary roof structure costing £192,000 was installed so events could continue while a permanent solution was sought.

Mohammed Jamil, Labour deputy leader and cabinet member for finance and corporate governance at the council, said: "I am delighted that work is starting on this vital project, which will ensure that this much-loved theatre can continue to operate.

"As with any major scheme, this will result in some disruption - in this case a short closure of the venue. However, once completed, it will ensure that the theatre can continue to provide a vibrant cultural offering for Peterborough residents."

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The New York region that changed history 250 years ago

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250516-the-new-york-fort-that-changed-history, today

A surprise dead-of-night attack helped lead to US independence from the British. Now, a series of events are commemorating the region's pivotal role in shaping the nascent nation.

In the violet-grey twilight before dawn in May 1775, a skeleton crew of soldiers were asleep inside Fort Ticonderoga, a British-held garrison on the banks of Lake Champlain in New York's Adirondack region, when a series of shouts rang out. Rushing to their posts, the men were stunned by the sight of six dozen American soldiers streaming over the fort's walls, flintlock rifles in hand, demanding surrender.

With the British outnumbered and taken off guard, American victory was swift and bloodless. The fort's commander, sergeants, gunners and artillerymen were imprisoned and the invading forces captured 100 cannons and valuable weapons for the Continental Army. The surprise attack was a pivotal moment in the lead-up to the American War of Independence and marked the Continental forces' first offensive victory of the war that led to the United States' founding in 1776.

This year, to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the conflict that shaped the nation, Fort Ticonderoga is hosting a series of new museum exhibits alongside its regular lineup of historical reenactments, guided tours and boat cruises – all of which provides travellers with a great jumping-off point to explore a region replete in Revolutionary War history.

Lake Champlain is a vast expanse that extends for roughly 435 square miles, straddling the borders of western Vermont and eastern New York and spilling into the Richelieu and St Lawrence rivers, which stretch north to Montreal and Quebec City in Canada. As Fort Ticonderoga curator Matthew Keagle told me, this made the waterway and its most prominent garrisons – Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point, located 10 miles south – key locations for the movement of British troops, supplies and intelligence during the colonial period (roughly 1600 through 1776).

Emboldened by the Massachusetts militiamen who defended the towns of Lexington and Concord against British forces and initiated the war a month earlier in April 1775, two of the US's more colourful Revolutionary War figures turned north-west towards Lake Champlain. Ethan Allen, leader of the scrappy Green Mountain Boys militia, and Benedict Arnold, an ambitious, impetuous merchant whose name would later become synonymous with treachery, reluctantly agreed to share command of a dead-of-night attack on Ticonderoga.

"What was effectively a defensive war against the British… now turns into something very different," said Keagle, smartly dressed in a royal blue coat and knee-high boots, not unlike those depicted in the famous painting Capture of Fort Ticonderoga, which the historian stood in front of. "It dramatically changes the scope of the conflict."

The weapons captured at the fort were hauled 300 miles by oxen and ice sledge to Boston, where Patriots used them to batter, and ultimately expel, British troops in March 1776.

Today, some of those cannons, mortars and Howitzers are among 200,000 objects displayed at Fort Ticonderoga's museum, which houses the western hemisphere's largest collection of 18th- and early 19th-Century munitions, and the US's largest assemblage of 18th-Century military uniforms. Weaponry and cultural artefacts can also be found at the newly expanded museum at Crown Point, which was also captured by the Americans in May 1775.

The experiences at the two sites diverge from there. Ticonderoga, or "Fort Ti" as locals call it, was restored to its original glory with squat, thick walls, pointed corners and a three-storey barracks building. Each year, staff launch new programming highlighting different periods of the bastion's history. This year's includes a new exhibit showcasing the US's nascent national identity, reenactments exploring everything from Arnold's surprising command to the science of defence and a demonstration showing how soldiers would have rowed fleet ships to and from Fort Ticonderoga.

More like this:

• The quiet Massachusetts towns that sparked a revolution

• The birthplace of the US vacation

• The manmade waterway that transformed the US

"We constantly have to reevaluate how we understand the past," said Keagle, of the fort's frequently changing educational events. "We want to bring visitors into the discussion, whether that's through our more specialised programmes like seminars and lectures, or by walking our trails and visiting our garden to see how people lived in this period of history."

By contrast, Crown Point is an elegiac ruin, the remnants of its 18th-Century military architecture reaching skyward from the fields. A series of well-marked trails loop around the historical site and ring the shoreline, including one that connects to the North Country Scenic Trail, which crosses eight northern US states. Because the site lies along the Atlantic Flyway, depending on the time of year, you might hear the effervescent chatter of bobolinks (which arrive in late April) , see raptors winging overhead and waterfowl gliding across the lake. Since 1976, Crown Point's bird-banding station has recorded more than 126,000 birds across 110 species.

The Crown Point site is also a photographer favourite, both for its bird sightings and frozen-in-time features like a pair of abandoned limestone barracks and historical graffiti carved into the stones. "We're preserving the ruins of structures and the archaeological record beneath the surface," explained site manager Sam Huntington.

Around the region, a number of hikes offer panoramic views of both the inimitable Adirondack landscape and its Revolutionary landmarks.

At Coot Hill Trail, a hike known mainly to locals located about 10 miles away from Crown Point in the town of Moriah, New York, I met Arin Burdo, executive director of Champlain Area Trails (CAT). Our boots crunched through a late crust of snow along the moderately challenging 1.1-mile path to the 1,100-ft summit of Bulwagga Mountain.

"The 46 High Peaks [the highest peaks in the region] get all the attention in the Adirondacks," Burdo told me. "Many of these lower-elevation hikes have big payoffs, and features like historic cemeteries or great birding, without the crowds."

As the trees parted around the summit, a blanket of farms and meadows spread out below. Peregrine falcons rode air currents arcing over the cliffs, set against the distant backdrop of the Green Mountains of Vermont. To the north, the ghostly barracks of Crown Point stood out along Lake Champlain's shore.

The region holds plenty of interest beyond its Revolutionary past. Fishing and boating are popular in this part of the 400,000-acre Champlain-Adirondack Unesco Biosphere Reserve, but outdoor guide Elizabeth Lee encourages terrestrial exploration, especially on CAT's 100 miles of trails. Here you may find bobcats and white-tail deer, and fancifully named plants such as scaly shagbark hickory and Dutchman's breeches, their flowers like tiny white pantaloons suspended upside-down on a clothesline.

"The CAT trails definitely give a slice of life over time," Lee said, pointing to features that date from the colonial through the Revolutionary period and beyond. "Some have remnants of quarries, mining, farming, forestry, which takes you through the early 1900s. And there's a lot of really fun architecture [that shows] the changes in American society in those towns."

Case in point: Defiance Hall by War Cannon Spirits, a distillery opened in 2022. In its cavernous, circa-1820 sawmill building, five miles from the Crown Point Historic Site, a stone alcove behind the long wooden bar was lined with whiskey, rye and vodka. I sipped a Cannonball Old Fashioned, made with whiskey, bitters, maple syrup and ginger, and wondered who used the centuries-old forest behind me to slip between strategic locations.

On any given day in the hamlet of Elizabethtown, New York, originally settled by Revolutionary War veterans, you'll find a few dozen of the town's 1,000 residents, plus visitors like me, gathered at the Deer's Head Inn. Opened 1808 and used as a hospital during the War of 1812, it's now a hotel and restaurant featuring local, sustainably produced foods that nod to the cuisine of the Revolutionary past: potted lamb served with toast and curry sauce, dry-cured meats, pickled vegetables and a pear and apple crumble atop a rustic pie crust.

Night had fallen by the time I stopped in the town of Schroon, New York, founded just after the Revolution on a 141-sq-mile lake of the same name. Moonlight glimmered on the glassy water, diffusing pinpricks of yellow light from the hilltop cabins of the Lodge at Schroon Lake, which opened in 2023 on the grounds of a former religious compound. Like many places within the Adirondacks, the reminders of the US's founding here are both visible and elusive – preserved in ruins, reimagined in modern-day interpretations and reconstructions, and alive in our collective memory.

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Monaco's new €2bn neighbourhood rising out of the sea

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250516-monacos-new-neighbourhood-rising-out-of-the-sea, yesterday

Built on reclaimed land, Monaco's new Mareterra district blends cutting-edge sustainability with scenic sea views, offering a fresh way to explore the principality.

It was just past noon in Mareterra, Monaco's newest neighbourhood, and a crowd swelled on the terrace outside Marlow, the principality's first British fine-dining restaurant. Nearby, office workers stretched out on wide steps by the water for their lunch break. Promenade Prince Jacques, the 800m pedestrian walkway that sweeps around the sea-facing perimeter of Mareterra, was busy with parents pushing strollers and joggers pounding the concrete pavement. I paused to soak up the view across the expanse of blue sea towards the leafy Roquebrune-Cap-Martin headland and Italy beyond. The area blended so seamlessly with the surrounding landscape that I struggled to remember how, six months ago, this was still an unfinished construction site – and that eight years ago, where I stood was the Mediterranean Sea.

This reclaimed district, a €2bn project unveiled in December 2024, is Monaco's latest answer to a question it has faced for more than 150 years: how do you expand when you've already run out of land?

I walked along the promenade and ducked through a door along the path, entering a dark, concrete antechamber. Another door led through to the hollowed interior of one of 18 caissons, the 10,000 ton, 26m-high chambers that sit side by side like giant Lego bricks on the seafloor to create the maritime infrastructure of the new neighbourhood.

In the dark, unlit space, it took a while for my eyes to catch up to what my ears immediately recognised: waves, crashing against a wall then flopping back onto the water's surface. I peered over a thick railing separating me from the drop into the sea below. The Mediterranean surged up as if reaching for my attention, while the reinforced concrete chamber remained silent and immobile as it soaked up the impact of the swell.

The top of the upper section of each caisson, which is known as the Jarlan chamber, is above the waterline to allow water to flow in and out through thin, vertical openings on the outward-facing side. The design has been engineered to act as a breakwater to absorb and disperse the energy of the waves.

"That means, even during 100-year storms, they won't rise too high nor submerge [Mareterra]," said Guy Thomas Levy-Soussan, the managing director of SAM L'Anse du Portier, the developers of Mareterra, as we stood in La Grotte Bleue, as this space is called, named after the Blue Grotto of Capri. "When the Sun shines through the openings in the Jarlan chamber in the morning, there's a slightly blue hue to the space," he said, explaining the choice of name.

La Grotte Bleue doesn't sparkle under the weight of four walls adorned in pastel pink and lavender purple quartz like its Instagram-pretty neighbour a couple of doors down, a meditation room for quiet contemplationdesigned by Vietnamese artist Tia-Thủy Nguyễn. And I probably would feel a little uneasy being in the dark space alone. Yet it has quickly become one of the Mediterranean principality's most unusual, and least glossy, landmarks, attracting a steady flow of people like me, curious for a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the technical ingenuity involved in reclaiming land from the sea.

Land reclamation is nothing new in Monaco, the world's second-smallest country after the Vatican City, where 38,000 residents cram into a territory just more than 22sq km in size. While a high proportion of that figure are millionaires, they're still living in the most densely populated country in the world.

Hemmed in by France, Monaco's default solution to its space issue is to extend out into the water. Since 1907, 25% of Monaco's territory has been reclaimed, including the principality's beachfront, Larvotto, the superyacht-lined Port Hercules and the Fontvieille district to the west of the Prince's Palace of Monaco.

If Prince Rainier III, who came to power in 1949, carved out a reputation as "the builder prince", his son and current sovereign, Prince Albert II, is continuing the tradition. It was in 2013 when he announced plans to reclaim these six hectares just off the coast near Larvotto at Monaco's eastern extent, later naming it Mareterra to reflect its connection to the sea and the land. The neighbourhood has increased the principality's territory by 3% and comprises two residential apartment blocks (including one designed by celebrated Italian architect Renzo Piano), 10 villas and four townhouses, a small marina, 14 commercial spaces and three hectares of public space.

Mareterra fits like the missing piece of a puzzle into this stretch of Monaco's coastline. It is latched alongside the Grimaldi Forum, an event space that often hosts travelling art exhibitions and stage shows, and the Japanese Garden, planted in 1994 with Mediterranean pines, pomegranate and olive trees in accordance with Zen design principles. Both sites have been able to grow in size thanks to the extension.

In line with the Prince's commitment to make the principality carbon neutral by 2050, Mareterra has also been imagined as Monaco's greenest corner. Nine thousand square metres of solar panels, 200 EV charging stations and 800 trees are among the eco-friendly initiatives in the district.

Just inside the entrance to La Grotte Bleue, a five-minute long video plays on a loop, an introduction to how the project addressed the inevitable marine disruption that comes with such construction. The caissons hold a key role here, as well; reliefs and grooves were moulded into their construction to encourage marine flora and fauna colonisation. Segments were even sanded by hand to add texture. The Jarlan chambers have an additional bonus, recreating shallow areas where fish can dart in and out.

The most delicate of challenges, however, involved transplanting 384sq m of Posidonia oceanica, an endemic seagrass that plays a critical role in the Mediterranean ecosystem and is protected by EU legislation. A pioneering technique used a modified tree spade to scoop Posidonia sods into baskets which could then be replanted 200m away in the Larvotto Marine Protected Area. "Usually we transport Posidonia plants one by one," explained Sylvie Gobert, an oceanologist at the University of Liège in Belgium who worked on the project. "What is ultimately innovative is that we took the Posidonia, along with its entire root ecosystem and about a cubic metre of sediment."

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If the Posidonia has ultimately settled into its new home, so has Monaco into Mareterra. As I surveyed the area, I realised how quickly the soft blues and greys of Le Renzo, Piano's striking residential block that stands sentinel over the neighbourhood, has become a familiar part of the local landscape. Nearby, Quatre Lances, a sculpture by American artist Alexander Calder that was purchased by Prince Albert's mother, Grace Kelly, in the 1960s and had been languishing in storage, has become a meeting point where people gravitate. A small nature walk, La Pinède, winds through a rocky garden planted with Aleppo and umbrella pines, the same species you would find if you were hiking through the Provence countryside. A water source gently trickled past birds' nests and insect hotels installed amid the Mediterranean shrub. These aren't the glossy attractions that Monaco is renowned for, like the gilded Casino de Monte-Carlo. It's an area that has been designed for locals, with only a handful of shops and restaurants, although visitors come to enjoy the peaceful gardens, sea views and the ingenuity of how Mareterra came to be.

Despite its ecological ambitions, Mareterra raises questions about necessity. Though billed as Monaco's answer to its housing challenges, property prices are speculated to start from €100,000 per square metre, making it some of the most expensive real estate in the world. Plus, none of the new residences have been reserved for Monegasques, who number nearly 10,000 and have a right to subsidised housing.

However, those in Monaco are sure that Mareterra isn't the end of its growth story. "For Prince Albert, if there isn't construction, the country is at a standstill," said Nancy Heslin, co-founder of Carob Tree Publishing, Monaco's first all-female publishing house, who has interviewed the Prince on various occasions. "The country will always seek to continue to expand its territory."

"As long as it [has] the desire – and budget – to push the boundaries of what is possible on both a technological and ecological scale, the principality will be an example for other coastal cities to follow. As a laboratory for this kind of innovation," said Levy-Soussan, "Monaco is a small country that has done extraordinary things."

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The brothers who built seaplanes in a city centre

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn7zrngdzrpo, today

Some of the earliest seaplanes were built in Brighton city centre, carried down to the beach and launched into the sea.

Pioneering engineer George Herbert Volk (known as Bert) had a workshop in the North Laine district of the city.

In 1911, he started making parts for engines, wings, floats, and fabric bodies that would be fitted into planes, and two years later pleasure flights began being launched.

Historian Ian Gledhill said: "The fact the city was very much involved in early aviation was an important piece of Brighton history and something to be proud of."

Bert Volk's elder brother, Herman, invented a collapsible, portable hanger on the edge of the water from where pleasure flights started.

The family are best known for the tourist railway which still runs along Brighton seafront, pioneered by the brothers' father Magnus.

Bert Volk started life as an engineer making cars in 1910.

A year later the first airplane landed in Brighton on the beach, a Bleriot monoplane.

Mr Gledhill said: "Volk became fascinated with aviation and he thought he would have a go.

"They were all built in bits and taken down to the seafront next to the Banjo Groyne, put together and launched into the sea."

His brother Herman created the hanger, Volk's Seaplane Station, on the seafront.

There was a ramp down into the water and planes were launched into the sea.

A year after flights started, the outbreak of World War One meant the hanger was requisitioned by the government and the project ended.

Herman Volk went off to manufacture planes for the war effort.

He also contributed to the development of Shoreham Airport - one of the first aerodromes in England.

After the war he took over the running of Volk's Electric Railway on the seafront.

Bert went off to South Africa where he spent most of the rest of his life.

So what was the legacy of the Volk brothers in the early years of aviation?

Mr Gledhill said: "Seaplanes played a big part during World War One and that's what Herman and Bert Volk contributed to.

"So we have to be extremely grateful to them for that."

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Tourism gets boost from industry body accreditation

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8xg49zqzypo, yesterday

Tourism in Wiltshire has been given a boost after the county become an accredited member of a scheme aimed at growing the sector.

Wiltshire now has Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEP) status, which gives it access to a range of resources to attract greater footfall.

At the moment, Wiltshire's tourism is worth around £1.5bn annually, with sites such as Stonehenge, Avebury Stone Circle, Stourhead, Salisbury Cathedral and the Westbury White Horse among its attractions.

It's new LVEP means it will be included marketing activity and public relations opportunities set up by British tourism authority VisitBritain, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

VisitBritain will also provide VisitWiltshire, Wiltshire's tourism board, with support in applying for funding from the UK government.

Wiltshire's tourism industry supports 28,000 jobs and contributes nine per cent of Wiltshire's total GDP.

The application had to demonstrate funding support from the public sector, which was achieved via finances from Bradford on Avon, Chippenham, Corsham, Devizes, Malmesbury, Pewsey and Trowbridge town councils.

It also had to give evidence of wider public sector support, which Wiltshire Council provided by confirming their strategic support for tourism growth and funding of a new countywide tourism strategy and destination plan.

More than 400 private tourism businesses also backed the application.

David Andrews, chief executive of VisitWiltshire said: "We are delighted that VisitWiltshire have secured national LVEP status.

"This is a major achievement with the potential to unlock new investment, grow tourism spend throughout the year, extend our reach in domestic and international markets, and better support our tourism and hospitality businesses."

Andrew Stokes, director at VisitEngland, said: "The Local Visitor Economy Partnerships programme is transforming the visitor economy in England, supporting its growth in a more inclusive, accessible and sustainable way and I am delighted to welcome VisitWiltshire as the accredited Wiltshire LVEP."

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New charges to tackle congestion at popular beach

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y804xzdmxo, yesterday

Visitors to a popular beach in north Wales will soon be charged up to £15 to park at its three nearby sites.

It comes as residents near Llanddwyn beach, also known as Newborough, in a nature reserve on Anglesey said their lives were in "lockdown" due to traffic problems and threatened to protest earlier this month.

From Friday 23 May, new parking charges and trial access restrictions will be introduced at the reserve, which gained fame from the TV series House of the Dragon.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) said the changes aim to match other Anglesey beaches and reduce congestion while protecting wildlife.

The main beach, Airman's, and Cwningar car parks will adopt a new pricing structure of £5 for up to two hours, with 70p per additional 20 minutes, capped at £15 per day.

Overnight parking and camping remains prohibited, and those found in violation risk fines, NRW added.

While the pricing is changing for most users, free parking for Blue Badge holders and residents will remain in place.

Additionally, season tickets and discounted season tickets for Anglesey residents not eligible for free parking will remain at their current rates.

To reduce congestion and protect the environment, NRW said a trial over the May bank holiday weekend will block vehicle entry once car parks are full, with access reopening only after 16:30 BST.

Llanddwyn beach has long attracted visitors for its natural beauty, but problems around congestion have worsened since the reserve found fame as a filming location.

More than 40 residents attended a public meeting on 1 May to discuss the traffic problems.

One resident Geraint Thomas said matters had worsened in the past five years "because film crews from all over the world have been here".

He said the congestion was causing "road rage" and he was worried it was going to "get messy in the end".

I was on a flight - but British Airways told me I wasn't

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp3q5kqj80vo, 2 days ago

An extraordinary thing happened to me on a recent flight to Madrid: I unwittingly travelled under the wrong identity, becoming a potential security issue, and no-one realised.

I was packing for a short business trip to make a film for the BBC when I attempted to check-in online. It didn't work, so I headed to London Heathrow Airport to do it in person.

Upon arrival there, I tried once again to check myself in, this time at a self-service booth. Again I was denied, the machine flashing up an error code: "Assistance required."

I ended up at a check-in desk and after checking in my bag, a British Airways staff member handed me a boarding pass. Admittedly I didn't read the pass in any detail, but headed off to get processed in the security area as normal.

At the gate, I was among the first passengers to board flight BA7055 departing at 10:50 on 23 April, operated by BA's Spanish partner carrier Iberia, as I was in row six.

Dutifully, I handed my passport and boarding pass to a member of BA ground crew, who glanced at them both and waved me through.

Once on board I realised my seat was in business class. I assumed this must have been a free upgrade, because I would of course usually have been in economy; we had chosen this flight because it was the most cost-effective option with all our filming equipment.

No sooner were we off the tarmac and at cruising altitude than the delicious baked cod and chickpea stew lunch was served. Tiramisu for dessert, too. No complimentary alcohol for me though; it was a work trip.

It was on arrival in the Spanish capital when things started to go wrong.

A boarding pass mystery

As soon as I gained mobile signal on the ground, an email popped up: my return flight had been cancelled.

I asked the BBC's travel provider what had happened and what the plan was for getting me home?

In response, the travel company said it had been cancelled because I was a no-show on the outbound flight.

I explained that I was in fact very much in Madrid and waiting - endlessly, it seemed - to collect my checked luggage from the baggage belt.

After some no doubt confusing conversations between our travel team and BA, I received a further message to say the airline was adamant I had not travelled and that the boarding pass in my possession did not display the correct details.

This was when I realised that the name on my boarding pass was not mine, it was a man called Huw H. The BBC is not using Huw H's full name, which was printed on the pass.

His name was also printed on my luggage tags.

BA claimed there was no way I could have travelled using that document as security checks wouldn't allow it - but I did. My colleague, who was seated a few rows behind me, can vouch for me being on that plane.

The airline was so sure that I was not in Madrid that the BBC had to book me another seat on the flight home I was originally booked onto, at great expense. BA has since offered a £500 goodwill voucher as well as refunding the cost of the extra ticket.

The security protocol for passengers boarding flights is relatively simple: ground crew must check the name on the boarding pass matches that on the passport presented.

This process appears to have broken down in my case - with no-one at check-in or the boarding gate identifying the discrepancy between the name on the boarding pass and my passport.

So what went wrong, and who is Huw H? I tried to find out.

An 'unusual' case

Some internet sleuthing brought limited proof of Huw H's existence. I made a few attempts to contact accounts using his full name via various social media channels, to no avail. It's made me fear that he might not even exist.

I did manage to get in touch with someone with a similar name - Jonathan Huw H - who, it turns out, flew on a BA flight on 24 April, a day after mine, landing at Heathrow, so is it possible his name was somehow floating around in the BA system? "It's really worrying," Jonathan told me.

My married name, which was on my booking confirmation and passport, begins with the letter H - though is very different to Huw H's surname. Could this have factored in?

It's impossible to know, and BA cannot confirm anything for privacy reasons.

Simon Calder, travel correspondent at the Independent, said it was to be expected that mistakes will sometimes happen "in the high-pressure, deadline-strewn world of aviation".

But he added: "This case is unusual in that the error wasn't picked up at the departure gate, where it could have been easily rectified.

"The airline needs urgently to investigate and make amends."

Aviation security and operations expert Julian Bray added: "There is a security issue here, in that the plane took off with an incorrect passenger manifest.

"It is wrong and shouldn't have happened. The passenger manifest should be correct as it is an important document that shows who is travelling and where. That said, as the name on the baggage tag matched the one on the boarding pass and the correct number of people were on board when the plane took off, I can see how it happened."

Others would argue that it was not a security risk, though, because both myself and my luggage went through all the usual security checks.

A spokesperson for BA, which managed my ticket as well as the Heathrow ground crew in my case, said: "We've contacted our customer to apologise for this genuine human error. While incidents like this are extremely rare, we've taken proactive steps to ensure it doesn't happen again."

Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Authority has told me it has launched an investigation into what happened.

Heathrow Airport said in response to a request for comment that it was not responsible for the ground crew or anything else in my case, and security screening went ahead as normal.

Iberia, whose only involvement in my journey was operating the outbound plane and cabin crew, has not responded to a request for comment. As is nothing out of the ordinary, my passport and boarding pass were not manually checked on the plane.

Apologies and investigations aside, the question remains how this was ever possible in this day and age of high security.

On social media there are threads about this type of thing happening around the world in the past, but the mistake was rectified before take-off as there were two people trying to sit in the same seat.

What happened to me appears to be different as my name was seemingly replaced with someone who seemingly wasn't travelling to Spain that day.

I'm not sure I'll ever really know what happened, but one thing is for sure - I won't ever walk away from a check-in desk without reading every detail printed on my boarding pass in future.

Tribute paid to 'family man' who died on cruise

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn84y07jg9jo, 2 days ago

The family of a man whose death on a cruise ship sparked a police investigation have said he had "a heart of gold".

James Messham, from Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex, was reported dead about two-and-a-half hours after MSC Virtuosa departed Southampton on 3 May.

In a tribute to the 60-year-old his family said they are "heartbroken" and struggling with "unanswered" questions.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary arrested a 56-year-old man from Richmond, London, on Sunday on suspicion of manslaughter.

He was the second man to be arrested in relation to the death, after a 57-year-old man from Exeter, Devon, who was arrested on suspicion of murder on 5 May was released on bail.

The vessel left Southampton at 18:00 BST for a two-night voyage to Bruges, Belgium, returning at 06:00 on Monday 5 May.

The police have said they wanted to hear from anyone who was aboard the ship.

The family of Mr Messham have issued a statement for their loved one.

They said: "James was a loving father to 8 children the youngest being only 10 years old. The unbreakable bond between us will never be forgotten. He was a family man.

"He was there for us all daily. He also had 10 grandchildren that he doted on. He will be very dearly missed by so many people. He had a heart of gold and would do anything to help anyone.

"Our lives will never be the same without him. His wife and all us children and grandchildren are heartbroken. All of us are struggling with so many unanswered questions in relation to what happened that night aboard MSC Virtousa."

His eldest daughter Charmaine Messham described her father as a "businessman" who turned his hand to many trades to provide for his family, most notable was his work as a wall of death showman for a fairground.

"He was born a showman from the fairground. He travelled with a wall of death show all over the world. The show has been in the Messham family for 5 generations."

The wall of death is a carnival sideshow featuring a wooden cylinder, which typically sees motorcyclists travel along the vertical wall and perform stunts.

Ms Messham said her father had a "cheeky" sense of humour and that he "taught all of his children everything we know".

"He was a fantastic role model," she said.

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Destination dupes: Where to go instead of the US

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250514-destination-dupes-where-to-go-instead-of-the-us, 4 days ago

As a number of countries issue updated travel advisory information for travel to the US amid tightened restrictions, where can travellers find a similar vibe?

Citizens of Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany and the UK have all heard the same thing in the past few months: if you're planning to travel to the US, the situation has changed. All six governments have issued updated travel advice following recent policy changes, drawing attention to a tightening of entry rules and the need for transgender people to declare themselves as male or female on Esta and visa applications.

As a result, sentiment is shifting around travel to the Land of the Free. Reports of travellers being detained at the border over misunderstandings, along with a disturbing spate of air traffic control failures, have done nothing to increase confidence among travellers. So if you're drawn to the bold landscapes, cultural energy and cinematic atmosphere of the US but are reconsidering your travel plans this year– where can you go instead? From cowboy ranches to vibrant cities and deep canyons, these international alternatives echo the best of the US, with a twist.

If you love New York City… try Toronto

There's no place like the Big Apple – or is there? Toronto has long served as a convincing on screen stand-in, doubling for New York in film and television thanks to its eclectic architecture and versatile landscapes along with favourable film-industry incentives. It's so convincing a dupe that it even passed as the city in the Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong film The Apprentice, charting Donald Trump's rise to fame in 1970s and '80s Manhattan.

Of course Toronto is a different and far smaller city to visit: you'll find the Blue Jays not the Yankees on the baseball field here, and a city-wide devotion to poutine, not pizza. However, the parallels run deep. High Park – a 400-acre park with hiking trails and cherry trees – evokes the grandeur of Central Park; while the CN Tower delivers a skyline view to rival the Empire State Building. Even its history aligns: from 1793-1834, Toronto wasn't even called Toronto, it was called York.

"Actor Peter Ustinov famously said that Toronto is New York run by the Swiss," said Lydia Devereaux, international marketing director at Destination Ontario. "We've both got world-class museums and galleries, shopping, a renowned food scene inspired by an incredibly diverse population and unique walkable neighbourhoods."

If you're craving cowboy culture… try Argentina

Yellowstone has a lot to answer for. The popular Paramount show – along with spin off show 1888 and Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter world tour – is behind what travel experts have called the rise in cowboy core: a growing interest in Western culture, ranch stays and horse-riding holidays. But while Montana and Wyoming are seeing new interest, you don’t have to be in the US to experience the best of cowboy culture: just ask the gauchos (cowboys) of Argentina.

Here, gaucho culture draws on a centuries-old heritage of nomadic horsemen who care for their livestock and live life in the saddle. While this traditional lifestyle is struggling to survive in the face of agricultural advancement, travellers can stay in a wide array of estancia (Argentine gaucho ranches) where the pace is slow, the landscapes are vast and the asado (traditional barbecue) is serious business.

"At Estancia Los Potreros, guests witness authentic horsemanship, asados and mate drinking, which are all still part of daily life," said owner Kevin Begg, who believes the Argentinian version of cowboy culture is even more authentic than the US. "We invite our guests to be part of our family and our activities are all based on what is going on at the estancia as opposed to being picked off an activity list."

If you marvelled at the Grand Canyon… try the Tara River Gorge in Montenegro

The Grand Canyon's size and scale are unmatched – measuring 278 miles long, 18 miles across at its widest and an average of one mile deep. Its also one of the US's most visited national parks, with nearly five million visitors last year.

But Europe's deepest canyon, the Tara River Gorge in Montenegro, offers a similar sense of awe, without the crowds. Located in Durmitor National Park, the canyon is carved by a ribbon of turquoise-blue water, where whitewater rafters brace for roiling waves beneath sharp-sided cliffs.

"It has a powerful sense of isolation and raw beauty that will resonate with anyone who has stood at the edge of the Grand Canyon," said Stefanie Schmudde, senior vice president of global product strategy at luxury travel specialists Abercrombie & Kent. "The scale is immense, and it offers that same visceral connection to nature in a setting that feels remote and undiscovered."

If you love San Francisco… try Cape Town

From its famous fog to the Golden Gate Bridge, Silicon Valley and Alcatraz, San Francisco is one of the US' most distinctive cities. It has had starring roles in films including Dirty Harry and Mrs Doubtfire, while helping to shape cultural history in the US and beyond thanks to the 1967 Summer of Love protests against the Vietnam War.

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But on the other side of the globe, Cape Town in South Africa channels a similar mood – with its fog-draped coast, significant cultural history and a growing tech scene as well as its very own historic prison island.

Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was once imprisoned, is now a museum and a fair dupe for Alcatraz, both being surrounded by shark-infested waters. While you won't meet sea lions on a Cape Town beach as you might in San Francisco, there is a colony of African penguins living at Boulder Beach.

"Cape Town is one of those places that truly has something for everyone," said Zinzi Bobani, general manager of travel firm Intrepid's Southern Africa office. "It's a foodie haven with a fusion of cuisines and stunning wineries, beautiful coastal hiking routes and cable car adventures on Table Mountain, and of course rich in history."

If Las Vegas dazzles you… try Macau

Asia's gambling hub, Macau, is a former trading port between China, India and Portugal that's known as the casino capital of the world. If you're looking for an alternative to the bright lights of glitzy desert city Las Vegas, the "Vegas of Asia", as the Chinese special administrative region is often called, could be a great fit.

Just as in Vegas, visitors to Macau can experience shows and fine dining along with resort-style luxury hotels. While Macau may not have a Bellagio, it does have the world's first Karl Lagerfeld Hotel, a five-star hotel designed by the fashion legend. At the Cotai Strip, you can find replicas of Venice's Grand Canal and a half-scale replica of the Eiffel Tower.

Andy Eastham of travel firm Wendy Wu Tours says it has the Vegas feel and then a little extra: "For fans of Vegas, there's plenty that will feel familiar, but where Macau really stands apart is in its cultural depth. One moment you're sipping cocktails in a sky bar, the next you're wandering through cobbled lanes lined with pastel-coloured colonial buildings or watching dragon dancers outside a Taoist temple. It's the only place in China where Portuguese and Chinese cultures truly intertwine."

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Islas Marías: A notorious prison island turned natural paradise

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250512-islas-marias-a-notorious-prison-island-turned-natural-paradise, 6 days ago

In 2019, Mexico's Islas Marías prison – the last island penal colony in the Americas – finally closed. Now a biosphere reserve, the once-feared archipelago is open to tourists on restricted, navy-organised tours.

I was at the ferry port in San Blas, a coastal town in western Mexico's Nayarit state, when two men wearing fatigues and carrying machine guns passed me in the queue. Next came a guard leading an Alsatian, which diligently sniffed my backpack. Along with a few hundred middle-aged Mexican tourists, I was about to board a weekend tour organised by the Mexican navy to María Madre, the largest island in the Islas Marías archipelago – once known as the "Alcatraz of Mexico".

Unbeknownst to me at the time, my trip came just before US President Trump ordered his government to reopen and expand Alcatraz, the infamous former prison on an island near San Francisco whose operations were formally shuttered in 1963. Alcatraz has since become a major tourist attraction where visitors can experience the historic cellhouse as it once was, and Mexico's own notorious former prison similarly allows tourists to peruse its cells. Unlike Alcatraz, however, the Mexican island has been transformed into a remarkable place of conservation.

Located about 130km from the Mexican mainland, María Madre spans around 145 sq km and is part of a four-island nature reserve that's now managed by Mexico's navy. Since 2022, tourists have been allowed to visit via four-hour ferry trips from San Blas and Mazatlán city, exploring designated areas under supervision.

For many Mexicans, Islas Marías needs no introduction. The prison, founded in 1905, housed mass murderers and was the setting for the prolific Mexican director Emilio Fernández's 1951 film Las Islas Marías.

"They used to have the big shots here, the big criminals," said fellow passenger Francisco Espinosa, who told me was drawn to the tour by the film, which shows the island's beaches and salt flats that prisoners worked on. "It's like Alcatraz. Everybody knew about this prison."

The island is prone to extreme wind and a military base operates there, so we were compelled to watch a safety video about what to do if the island suffers a tsunami or gas attack (for the latter, cover your nose and run). After the video, I glimpsed huge sea turtles breaching the ocean surface from the ferry window.

The natural spectacle continued after we walked over María Madre's concrete jetty and dropped our bags in the hotel complex created for the new visitors. Herds of wild goats scattered from the pathways between restaurant buffet buildings and little gift shops as the incoming humans interrupted their wandering. The sound of hooves on concrete dovetailed with the burble of water crashing from a large waterfall-style water feature, plus loud squawks emanating from trees overhead.

One of our guides explained that the squawks signalled mating season for the green Tres Marías amazon parrots that are endemic to the island. Prisoners used to get family members to smuggle these prized parrots to the mainland, to sell. The boa population also took a hit as prisoners caught snakes to make belts from their skin.

I was assigned an airy, white-painted villa, which guides said used to house prisoners. They explained that some prisoners were allowed to have their families live with them on the island and could roam relatively freely. However, life wasn't open and breezy for all, with many forced to work in sweltering heat on salt flats or shrimp farms. In 2022 an ex-prisoner told the Los Angeles Times that she remembered five bathrooms being shared by 500 female prisoners. "We lived in a chicken coop," she said.

But in 2010, when the prison was still open, Unesco declared Islas Marias a biosphere reserve, noting the biological wealth found in the "dry forests of its landscape, in the mangroves, the succulent rosette scrubland, the reefs, coasts and pelagic environments it harbours". As well as the contraband parrots, the island is home to 18 other endemic species, including raccoons and rabbits. Mexico's National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) is charged with protecting the delicate ecosystem, which developed in isolation for more than eight million years, while the navy-run tours take visitors through the abandoned prison buildings and educates them on the flora and fauna.

"This is tourism for excursions, to explore, to live with nature," said Mexico's then-president Lopez Obrador in 2022. "What was a hell is becoming a paradise."

Still, most tourists come for the history, not the animals. I joined a group hike where our guide pointed out a rusty metal structure near a cliff edge. It looked like a sentry box but was in fact a torture cabinet for errant prisoners, positioned to become hellishly heated by the morning Sun. Tourists took turns climbing inside and pulling its squeaky door shut.

After a buffet meal soundtracked by piped saxophone renditions of Elton John songs, a bus took us over dusty roads to the former maximum-security prison complex. As we approached the vast grey buildings, past fencing topped with rolls of barbed wire, Macarena blasted from the bus speakers.

In 2006, after the Mexican government declared war against the country's drug cartels, the prison island changed from a relatively "open" prison to a more standard penitentiary. In 2011, a maximum-security section opened with a design based on US prisons: shiny steel tables, chairs and toilets, clanking metal doors and small cells with bunk beds. Fellow tourists thrust their arms between metal bars, posing for photos. Our guide said that there was a riot here in 2013 due to prisoners being riled about rations, and the section shuttered soon afterwards. Now wild goats canter between the unmanned watch towers.

But before the island housed a high-security prison, it served as a place of exile for petty criminals and "undesirables". President Álvaro Obregón began shipping political opponents here in 1910, and in the 1920s, it housed Catholic supporters rounded up in the Cristero War (1926-29).

One of its most notable political prisoners was writer and activist José Revueltas, who was sent to the island twice in the 1930s. He was a member of the Mexican Communist Party declared illegal by the government and was convicted after attending a union strike. A mural of the bespectacled, long-goateed Revueltas adorns the wall of the hotel check-in building.

Later, the bus took us to a Sun-blasted graveyard flanked by huge cacti, where we paused by a white cross. This was the tomb of José Ortiz Muñoz – known as "El Sapo aka The Toad" – an alleged former government assassin who was brought to the island in the 1960s after reportedly killing hundreds of people. He was murdered by fellow prisoners wielding machetes. A guide pulled out her phone to play El Sapo, a jaunty song by the singer Chalino Sánchez. An iguana skittered from the neighbouring tomb's surface, its tail disappearing under tiles.

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Reports from former Islas Marías residents suggest that less well-known killings also took place on the islands. In 2004, an island chaplain named Francisco Ornelas wrote: "It is rumoured – and rumours are a profession here – that people who were disappeared are buried on the other three islands, which are now deserted but for the visits of illegal fishermen and drug traffickers."

Access to the waters around Islas Marías was restricted after María Madre became a penal colony in 1905. Fishing was further limited in 2000 when the area was declared a bioreserve by Mexican authorities, ahead of Unesco's declaration in 2010. In 2021, fishing restrictions were tightened again, with all commercial fishing without a permit from the navy banned in the area.

However, conservationists say that illegal fishing hasn't been effectively cracked down on by authorities. Octavio Aburto-Oropeza, a marine conservationist and professor at Scripps Institute of Oceanography, echoed this when I spoke to him after the tour. "I know companies that offer not only recreational fishing [around Islas Marías], also spear fishing," he said.

Aburto-Oropeza has dived the waters around Islas Marías on two separate trips, and says that while illegal fishing remains a concern, the reefs and wider marine ecosystem are in good shape, largely due to the archipelago's isolation and low visitor numbers.

He believes that the navy and CONANP should do more to tackle illegal fishing and set tangible goals for reef and species restoration, but that responsible tourism could also help. "You can create a vision of tourism on the reefs with a certain capacity," he said. "Touristic activities, especially diving, could help enforce conservation projects."

I hope to return – perhaps to dive, or explore more land sites. A guide showed me photos of buildings that are currently off-limits, including derelict rooms filled with quirky octopus sculptures made by prisoners. In time these buildings might be certified safe to visit, she said.

On the ferry back to San Blas, I chatted to fellow passengers about parrots, torture boxes and the surreal experience of stepping into "Mexico's Alcatraz". Not one said the prison should re-open.

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From sea sparkles to fireflies: Chasing Australia's 'big four'

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250508-australias-mysterious-glowing-big-four, 10 days ago

In Australia's Illawarra region, a ghostbusting-style night tour reveals ghost fungi, sea sparkles and tiny creatures lighting up the dark.

On a slate-black night, I stare at a horizon freckled with stars. Only this isn't the sky, illuminated by hundreds of constellations; it's the muddy bank of a river, charged by a colony of glow worms.

"This is my TV," says David Finlay. "It's magical, like something out of Avatar." By day, Finlay works as a transport manager, but by night, he scours Australia's bushland and beaches chasing living light. "If you're tucked up at home, you miss these things. Everybody cocoons themselves at night, whereas I think, what fun can I have?" he says.

Bioluminescent creatures lurk in many corners of the world, but Australia's Illawarra region on New South Wales' south coast is a magnet for glowing phenomena. With low light pollution, ample rainfall and high humidity, it's an ideal microclimate for these creatures to thrive and trap prey.

Many are clustered along the Illawarra Escarpment, a sweep of sandstone cliffs, fringed with forests that roll into the Pacific Ocean. "Our escarpment habitat is special. It's a well-preserved subtropical rainforest environment, which helps protect fragile bioluminescent life forms," says Finlay.

From his home in Kiama, Finlay can spot the "big four" within an hour's drive. There's sea sparkle, plankton that paints the ocean an electric blue; ghost fungi, mushrooms that radiate an eerie green; and glow worms and fireflies, which pierce the night-sky like tiny lanterns.

These natural phenomena are notoriously unpredictable and fickle to find, dictated by seasons, weather and light patterns. They are also extremely fragile, as mounting evidence shows bioluminescent creatures are waning with climate-change and human disturbance.

But for a growing number of glow seekers, who, like Finlay, visit with care, the challenge is part of the adventure.

When I meet Finlay at a clearing near Cascade Falls in Macquarie Pass National Park, it's only an hour past sunset, yet we're cloaked in darkness. It's Friday night, and while most people are under artificial lights, toasting to the end of the week, we're here to find natural shimmers in the night.

We trek through a path that cuts through the towering eucalypt trees, our head torches glowing red to cause minimal disturbance to wildlife. The full Moon pilots from above and the flow of the river whooshes us forward, guiding our footsteps towards the waterfall. "If something flies straight past your face, it's probably just a micro bat," warns Finlay. "They're very gentle, they're just looking for insects to eat."

Cascade Falls has an ideal microclimate for glow worms and fireflies, he explains. Glow worms aren't worms – in Australia and New Zealand, they are the larvae of fungus gnat. Elsewhere in the world, the glow often comes from beetles. They hide in wet, dark places, such as dank caves, abandoned tunnels or thick rainforest.

Glow worms are endemic to Australia and New Zealand, and while many travellers visit iconic spots like Tamborine Mountain in Queensland, there are lesser-known colonies that can be discovered if you know where to look.

As my eyes adjust, I begin to notice more – the gnarled roots of a tree and a feathery mushroom cap. Finlay's vision is far better trained; he can easily spot silver spiders eyes blinking at us like cat's eyes on a motorway. He sweeps a UV torch across the floor, illuminating the undergrowth. A caterpillar glows fluorescent white, some lichen neon green, a leaf an aggressive shade of electric blue. "Ah, that's just possum wee," he clarifies.

Finlay runs ad hoc glow tours (when available, he posts them on his Facebook page) in the Illawarra, showing locals and visitors the spectacle that most of us overlook at night. Last year, a few hundred places on his guided walks sold in a flash – as 25,000 people vied to secure a spot.

"For a lot of people, it's like finding gold, and nobody will tell you where they find the gold," says Finlay.

But it's a delicate balance between educating visitors and conserving these habitats. "This national park is already impacted by people. I don't tell people about the really natural spots, as too many people would destroy those environments," he says.

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Both fireflies and glow worms are incredibly sensitive, susceptible to habitat destruction from people, urbanisation and bush fires. The "Black Summer" bushfires of 2019-20 wiped out a "horrific" number of bioluminescent creatures, he says, with colonies impacted in national parks across Australia.

"I give people a list of dos and don'ts when they're out in the environment, and I tell them to teach other people this," says Finlay.

A golden rule, like almost everything in the natural world, is to look but not touch. "So much as holding a glow worm in the palm of your hand will kill them," says Finlay. Bright flashing lights or even breathing too close can trigger them to shut down and disrupt their feeding patterns. We keep our voices low and hushed, and we tread carefully, making sure to move through the bush slowly.

For safety, Finlay suggests bringing a friend on a night adventure. He beams a laser pointer through the sky, tracing the kite-like constellation of the Southern Cross, in case I ever get lost and need to navigate my way south.

* Join a trusted tour such as Marakoopa Cave, Tasmania or Tamborine Mountain, Queensland.

* Avoid casting bright, white lights from torches or camera flashes when observing bioluminescent creatures.

* Keep your distance from glow-worm colonies and other wildlife and keep noise to a minimum.

* Bring a friend and a map if walking alone at night.

We scramble down the embankment towards the mouth of the waterfall, following the tiny orbs of light. Tucked in the overhang of the river are dozens of glow worms, like a fairy grotto or twinkling Christmas light display. Up close, tendrils of silky web drip down, hanging like strings of pearls.

"Glow worms hide from sunlight, they'll crawl into nooks and crannies during the day, and when they come out at night, they have to rebuild their webs," says Finlay. Despite their beauty, these webs are death traps – snaring insects that are lured by glow-worm light.

Under the lens of the camera, the riverbank looks even more spectacular, with crystal droplets clustered around an iridescent light. It's clear why Bioluminescence Australia – a Facebook group with more than 64,000 members – has become so popular. The page was created to share photos of bioluminescent phytoplankton blooms, but it's also a message board for tracking down glowing phenomena.

Glow hunters follow a rough calendar – glow worms can generally be found year-round, whereas fireflies glimmer for a short window in Australia's late spring/summer (November to February). Elusive ghost mushrooms tend to fruit in autumn (March to May) when the temperature cools.

One of the most sought-after experiences is paddling through bioluminescence, or bio. "Everybody wants to see it, and one of the reasons is that it's so Instagrammable. You can swish your feet through it and make sparkles," says Finlay. One of the best spots to see a "blue tide" in Australia is in Jervis Bay, further along the NSW south coast, or around Hobart in Tasmania.

Christine Dean Smith is a member of the group who has photographed sea sparkles for more than a decade. "I hunt for bio because I have skin cancer and I'm banned from daylight," she says. "Being a photographer, you tend to adjust yourself to finding nighttime nature to capture instead and then I show it to my followers."

When we've spotted enough nature glowing, we retreat back through the bush to the clearing. Something flashes in my vision under Finlay's fluorescent torch – vivid, electric even; everything I've been told to keep my eyes peeled for. Maybe, I'm getting the hang of hunting for sparkles in the dark.

"Nope, just more possum wee," Finlay says.

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The Pasta Queen's favourite cacio e pepe in Rome

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250513-the-pasta-queens-favourite-cacio-e-pepe-in-rome, 3 days ago

The cheesy, peppery pasta dish has become as viral as chef Nadia Munno's cooking videos. Here are her favourite places to get it in her hometown of Rome.

For Roman chef and businesswoman Nadia Caterina Munno – better known to her five million-strong legion of social media followers as "The Pasta Queen" – the rich pasta dish of cacio e pepe, represents everything she loves about her hometown.

"Romans are loud, aggressive, but really friendly. Their friendliness is a form of love," she says. "Roman cuisine is [also] very punchy and aggressive – up [in northern Italy], dishes are more delicate – and cacio e pepe is very traditionally Roman."

Indeed, made by simply tossing pasta, Pecorino cheese, hot pasta water and toasted black peppercorns together, cacio e pepe (literally: "'cheese and pepper") is Roman cuisine par excellence: humble, salty and spontaneous.

In recent years, the dish has become a firm favourite overseas, with restaurants from New York to London proudly serving their versions of the savoury recipe. It has also become one of the main stars of Munno's larger-than-life home cooking videos, which are peppered with a Sophia Loren-esque theatricality and replete with gushing references to the "pasta gods".

Munno's own royal moniker may pose a rather grand claim, but she's hardly a usurper: she heralds from a family that has been producing pasta for centuries, even garnering the nickname of the "Macaronis".

"To be a 'pasta queen' you have to have an experience and a background: these are the dishes I cooked all my life," she explains. "I want to teach people about the values of Italian food, which bring people together, to enjoy life a bit more."

She adds: "Food shouldn't be treated as an afterthought. Empires were forged on food."

And though Rome's history may be imperial, cacio e pepe – much like other classic Roman pasta dishes like carbonara and amatriciana – is a humble dish, deeply rooted in the city's working class culture, with influences from the nearby shepherds who moved to Rome from the Apennine mountains. What may come to a surprise to some is that cacio e pepe is not even one of the most consumed dishes in the Roman kitchen. Its recent popularity, Munno says, is largely a product of social media marketing.

"It's not as sought after from Romans as from tourists who come to visit the city," Munno notes. "It's definitely traditional, but cacio e pepereally has gone viral, being popularised internationally."

All this notwithstanding, the dish is now a consolidated part of Rome's culinary repertoire, a staple in trattorie and family homes across the city.

Here are Munno's favourite places to get cacio e pepe in Rome.

1. Best for eating cacio e pepe like a local: Felice a Testaccio

If there's any restaurant in Rome which can legitimately lay claim to being the "king" of cacio e pepe, it's Felice a Testaccio – and Munno recommends going there to experience the dish like a true local.

"I liked going to [Felice a Testaccio] because I grew up nearby," Munno says. "It's a place which is popular with the local people, and the food is amazing."

For Felice a Testaccio, cacio e pepe is a veritable artform – and one whose creation is displayed to clients, as the mantecatura (emulsification) of the pasta in the Pecorino cheese is performed tableside.

Using fresh tonnarelli (thick spaghetti), Felice a Testaccio's cacio e pepeis decadent, sharp and creamy, the Roman dish in its most sumptuous form.

As its name suggests, Felice is located in the city's scruffy, vibrant Testaccio neighbourhood, which was built on the remains of an ancient Roman trash heap and the port that serviced the city with its food. Today, the neighbourhood maintains its culinary tradition as the location of the monumental Testaccio food market.

"It's one of the main markets of Rome," Munno says.

The district, located south of the city centre, doesn't quite reek of "dolce vita" in the postcard-perfect, Hollywood sense – think less Roman Holiday and more graffitied walls and post-war apartment blocks – but it's as quintessentially Roman as it gets, and Munno recommends sinking your teeth into – and its food.

"The area doesn't get enough love," Munno says. "But it's very Roman."

Website: https://feliceatestaccio.com

Address: Via Mastro Giorgio, 29, 00153

Phone: + 39 06 574 6800

Instagram: @feliceatestaccio

2. Best for a gourmet palate: Roscioli Salumeria con Cucina

When it comes to finding a more refined, gourmet-approved take on Roman cuisine, then Roscioli Salumeria con Cucina is your port of call.

The restaurant – opened near the Campo de' Fiori street market in 1972 and now part of a local chain of bakeries and eateries – offers sophisticated, yet still authentic, takes on classic Roman and other Italian dishes, within an elegant setting that attracts an exclusive clientele. Its ingredients are sourced from the best suppliers, and its cacio e pepe is no exception.

"Roscioli is truly authentic Roman [food]," Munno says. "What they serve is truly amazing."

Using fresh tagliolini pasta, Nepalese black pepper and a touch of extra virgin olive oil to help bind the sauce, Roscioli's cacio e pepe is delicate and refined, yet still full of the tangy saltiness of the traditional Roman recipe.

"It's incredibly gorgeous," Munno says.

Reserve in advance, as bookings can be competitive.

Website: https://www.roscioli.com

Address: Via dei Giubbonari, 21, 00186

Phone: +39 06 687 5287

Instagram: @rosciolisalumeria

3. Best for a cosy experience: Hostaria da Cesare

Hostaria da Cesare, which celebrated its centennial anniversary in 2021, brims with nostalgia, with a distinct "frozen-in-time-feel": a time capsule of what may seem like a bygone era.

Warm, wood-panelled interiors give it a distinctly cosy, mid-century charm. Da Cesare's cacio e pepe – one of the city's best, according to Munno – is traditional and rich, made with spaghetti, coated in a flurry of shaved Pecorino and black pepper.

Conveniently placed in the central Prati quarter, an elegant, 19th-Century Parisian-esque grid of streets close to the Vatican, Hostaria Da Cesare is centrally located but also somewhat shielded from the tourist throngs.

"It isn't particularly touristy, but it's getting more attention," Munno says.

Website: https://www.ristorantecesare.com

Address: Via Crescenzio, 13, 00193

Phone: +39 06 686 1227

4. Best for date night: Trattoria Da Teo

Trattoria Da Teo doesn't feel like an ordinary restaurant – it feels more like a dining room a family graciously opened up to the public.

Deep in the Trastevere district south of the Vatican, Da Teo is set in a neighbourhood which – in spite of its popularity with tourists – has preserved its medieval charm and a fierce community spirit.

"Trastevere is magical," Munno says. "It's a crazy neighbourhood which gives you a whole different experience [and] energy."

"You have people dancing, clubs, young people, cats," she adds. "The heart and vibe of Rome."

Munno believes Da Teo offers a taste of Trastevere's "intense, exhilarating Roman vibe" and recommends going there with a significant other. "Going [there] with a lover is so romantic," she says.

Tossed in an especially thick, creamy homestyle sauce, Da Teo's take on the Roman dish feels less like a restaurant serving and more akin to something your nonna would whip you up for Sunday lunch.

Website: https://m.facebook.com/Trattoria.da.TEO/

Address: Piazza dei Ponziani, 7A, 00153

Phone: +39 06 581 8355

Instagram: @trattoriadateo

5. Best for a unique dining experience: Flavio al Velavevodetto

Flavio al Veloavevodetto is perhaps one of the most unique eateries in a city packed with historical oddities, in that it is located quite literally inside an ancient Roman trash heap: the Monte Cocci, a hill made up of discarded amphorae (vases).

"It's an incredible experience you can't get anywhere else," Munno says.

In spite of its remarkable setting, the restaurant nevertheless makes simple, traditional food for a largely local clientele – and, Munno notes, is a great place to experience dishes like cacio e pepe.

"[Flavio] has a typical family style," Munno says. "It isn't super fancy. It's a place for day-to-day Romans, one of those places you can't eat badly."

Flavio al Veloavevodetto serves a cacio e pepe which, as Italians would say, is as dio comanda (God wills it) – using thick tonnarelli and abundant Pecorino.

While Flavio al Veloavevodetto's flagship is in Testaccio, you can also experience their creations over in a more recently opened branch in the more centrally located Prati district. Munno still recommends the original.

"Tourists should come to experience it," she says.

Website: https://www.ristorantevelavevodetto.it

Address: Via di Monte Testaccio, 97, 00153 / Piazza dei Quiriti, 4-5,

Phone: +39 06 574 4194 / +39 06 3600 0009

Instagram: @alvelavevodetto

BBC Travel's The SpeciaList is a series of guides to popular and emerging destinations around the world, as seen through the eyes of local experts and tastemakers.

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A weekend in Cannes with an attaché to the stars

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20240517-a-weekend-in-cannes-with-an-attach-to-the-stars, 4 days ago

Gilles Bastoni is Cannes' celebrity concierge. Here is his tailor-made list for a sublime Cannes getaway – from luxurious star-studded venues to escapes at sea.

Every May since 1946, the red carpet has been rolled out onto Cannes' palm-lined boulevards for its International Film Festival, turning the French Riviera resort city into a playground for silver screen stars.

Much like the celebrities it attracts, Cannes isn't camera shy: it's a postcard-perfect town bursting with fuchsia bougainvillea and resplendent ivory-hued facades. And as its palatial grand hotels show, the town has been a magnet for the elite long before the dawn of film – prior to entertaining Hollywood royalty, it was the haunt of European nobility.

The 2025 edition of the Film Festival, taking place 13-24 May, will bring a set of well-known A-listers, from Tom Cruise to Robert De Niro, who will recceive the Honorary Palme d'Or for Lifetime Achievement. But you don't need to be of blue blood or billed in a Hollywood blockbuster to enjoy a VIP experience in this jewel-like Côte d'Azur holiday town.

We spoke to Gilles Bastoni, the Cannes born-and-bred head concierge of the city's iconic, five-star Hôtel Barrière Le Majestic, which is opposite the main venue of the Film Festival and hosts its main VIPs.

Known as the "concierge of the stars", Bastoni was raised on Cannes' glam. "My father was head concierge of Le Majestic," he says. "You could say I was nearly born in the hotel."

As Cannes' celebrity concierge, Bastoni knows a thing or two about demanding clients – and going the extra mile to fulfil their needs.

"As a concierge, you always have to be on top of things," he says. "You have to change things again and again, to answer all guests' requests and satisfy them. One time, one celebrity guest forgot their dress in Paris and we had to go pick it up. Another time, we had a very big celebrity who wanted to have a birthday party for their spouse on the boat, and when things didn't work, we needed to find a backup." The outcome? "They became a confidante in the end."

Here are Bastoni's A-list ways to experience Cannes in its full beauty, whether or not you have an invite to the Film Festival.

1. Best for seeing Cannes at its most iconic: La Croisette

Few places better encapsulate the cinematic grandeur of Cannes than its seafront promenade: La Croisette.

"La Croisette is incredible," Bastoni says, barely able to contain his enthusiasm. "It's 1km long, full of luxurious brands, beaches and hotels. There aren't many places in the world where you can find such a concentration of luxury."

Designed in the 19th Century by a British aristocrat, La Croisette is a masterclass of Art Nouveau architecture, with its row of grand hotels — from Bastoni's own Majestic to the JW Marriott, Carlton Cannes and Hôtel Martinez — as well as luxury boutiques, plush cafes and even shops reselling celebrity memorabilia.

The film industry's legacy is palpable here –150 stars' footprints can be found on the promenade.

"Come Film Festival, [La Croisette]'s vibe is totally different," Bastoni says. "The road is packed; you have open-air cinemas on the beach."

Address: Palace of Festivals and Congresses of Cannes, 1 Boulevard de la Croisette 06400

Website: https://www.palaisdesfestivals.com

Phone number: +33 4 92 99 84 00

Instagram: @palaisdesfestivals

2. Best for a touch of Old Cannes: Le Suquet

Cannes may now be synonymous with the glitterati, but it remains a demure Provençal fishing village at its core, and nowhere is this more evident than at Le Suquet, its pocket-sized old town.

Crowning the bay, Le Suquet is a tight-knit complex of pastel-hued alleyways topped by a castle and church, both built in the 12th Century. In the harbour, small fishing boats and mansion-sized mega yachts glide side by side.

It's a welcome break from the brazen opulence of La Croisette. "Here, you see what Cannes really is," Bastoni says. "It started off as a small fishing town. Everything else was built around it. You still have fisherman in [Le Suquet's] old port."

Up the quarter's cobblestone streets, Le Suquet's Gothic monastery-château and church of Nôtre-Dame-de-l'Espérance provide a unique vantage point from which to take in Cannes' panorama.

"You can see the sea, the islands. It's a spectacular view," Bastoni says.

And for all the energy burnt trekking up to its summit, Le Suquet does not leave its visitors on an empty stomach; its Meynadier Street features delicatessens, restaurants and cafes that have belonged to local families for generations.

Bastoni's pick? "Le Maschou," he says. "It's the best restaurant for local food. It's a lowkey place [typical] of the old town."

Address: Restaurant Le Maschou, 15 Rue Saint-Antoine, 06400

Website: https://www.lemaschou.com/en/

Phone number: +33 4 93 39 62 21

Instagram: @lemaschou

3. Best for a local foodie experience: Marché Forville

At the foot of Le Suquet is Cannes' beating heart: the Marché Forville (Forville Market)

"You'll want to go see the old town's market," Bastoni says, to truly get the feel of the Côte d'Azur life and step into a local's shoes.

Over in Forville, a sturdy, orange-coloured edifice, the wafting scent of garlic and parsley mix with the catch of the day.

While French cuisine is typically renowned for its fussy, buttery profile, the food of the Côte d'Azur – as Bastoni notes – has a leaner, more fragrant note.

"Ours is a Mediterranean cuisine," Bastoni says. "We don't have a lot of heavy, creamy food. Our kitchen has lots of fish, olive oil, vegetables and fresh produce. It's all about freshness and aromatic herbs."

Stock up on local specialties from fougasse – the French cousin of Italy's focaccia — to socca (chickpea pancakes) and a home-made aioli garlic dip.

Address: 6 Rue du Marché Forville, 06400

Website: https://www.marcheforville.com/

4. Best for outdoor experiences: Lérins Islands

Just off Cannes' Point Croisette peninsula, the Lérins Islands are impossibly idyllic, surrounded by swirling shades of turquoise sea, secluded beaches and covered in lush Mediterranean brush.

But their history, Bastoni points out, is decidedly less dreamlike.

"The first and biggest island, Île Sainte-Marguerite, used to be a prison," he says.

Indeed, the 17th-Century Fort Royal – perched on the side of Sainte-Marguerite – was contested between the Spanish and the French, and once hosted many noteworthy inmates, including Louis XIV's Man in the Iron Mask.

Things take a holier turn in the neighbouring île Saint-Honorat, where 21 monks live in a 5th-Century Cistercian Abbey.

"The monks even have their own winery," Bastoni says – one that dates back 1,000 years.

As Bastoni remarks, the islands make for the perfect out-of-town excursion providing scenic natural trails with a history lesson on the side. And while they maintain their unspoilt, rustic appearance, the islands are not immune from high-profile incursions – meaning you might spot a celebrity in the wild.

"Over at [Sainte-Marguerite]'s La Guérite restaurant, you have Elton John as a customer," Bastoni says. "He went two years in a row."

5. Best night out: Medusa

A weekend in the French Riviera would not be complete without nighttime revelry – and, with its sunset-primed views over the sweeping bay and Le Suquet, Medusa offers the perfect location for a glam night on the town.

"Medusa is a restaurant that turns into a club," Bastoni says, much like many other beachfront clubs in the town. Located on Point Croisette, Medusa attracts throngs of tourists because of its now-legendary reputation as a premier venue. But it's also renowned for its Mediterranean-Asian fusion food, made by Greek chef Yannis Kioroglou.

With an entrance fee of €55 Medusa isn't for those on a budget. And younger clientele may eschew Medusa for hip clubs like Bâoli and Bisous Bisous, which play house music.

But Medusa, for Bastoni, remains iconic, for one reason: "It's the cabaret show," he says, which starts as the restaurant metamorphoses into a club.

And it's not just any cabaret. With pyrotechnics and elaborate costumes, Medusa's shows do not skimp on high production values.

"Medusa is just a beautiful place," Bastoni says.

Website: https://medusacannes.com

Address: Palm Beach, Place Franklin Roosevelt, 06400

Instagram: @medusa_cannes

This article was originally published in May 2024 and has since been updated.

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Where to get New York City's best Chinese food

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250505-where-to-get-new-york-citys-best-chinese-food, 11 days ago

Proud New Yorker chef Calvin Eng is known for his daring reinterpretations of Chinese cuisine. Here's where he goes when he wants homestyle Chinese food, from dim sum to egg tarts.

Though its original Chinatown in Lower Manhattan – dating to the 1870s – is the most well-known, New York City is actually home to nine official Chinatowns spread across its five boroughs; each reflecting the rich regional diversity of Chinese cuisine.

The city's first Chinatown took root when Chinese immigrants, many from southern China, arrived either directly or relocated from the US's West Coast, fleeing anti-Chinese sentiment. Early businesses were mostly rice shops and teahouses, but by the early 1900s, full-service restaurants emerged, drawing curious diners from all over New York. By the mid-20th Century, Chinese food, in all its glorious forms, had become as associated with New York City as the humble bagel or the New York slice.

Among the new generation carrying this legacy forward is chef Calvin Eng, the owner of Bonnie's; a Cantonese American restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, that has been lauded for its inventive interpretations of Cantonese cuisine. Eng grew up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, learning to cook the food of Guangdong (formerly known as Canton) from his mother, the eponymous Bonnie. Weekends were spent visiting his grandparents on Bayard Street in New York City's Lower Manhattan Chinatown, where he developed a deep connection to the neighbourhood and its food.

"There's just so much good food in such a small area," Eng says. "You learn what's worth lining up for and what's best eaten on a subway platform." These days, Eng gets his Cantonese fix at a variety of New York's Chinatowns, from Sunset Park to Bensonhurst, each offering its own take on Chinese flavours – from the seafood-heavy dishes of Guangdong to the bold, spicy flavours of Sichuan and Hunan.

Despite the breadth of regional styles found across the city, Eng's focus remains rooted in the cuisine of southern China. Unlike other styles, Cantonese food is known for its lightness and simplicity, emphasising fresh ingredients, particularly seafood – a reflection of the region's coastal geography. Heavy spices are rare, and rice – not wheat – is the dominant starch.

"Cantonese food is very low on acid and heat," Eng explains. "We use minimal ingredients that allow the main ingredients to shine."

Here are Eng's favourite places to get Chinese food in New York City.

1. Best cheung fun: Yi Ji Shi Mo (Lower Manhattan)

Insiders know that in Chinatowns across the world, some of the most unassuming places have the best food. Yi Ji Shi Mo – a tiny, below-street-level hole-in-the-wall on Lower Manhattan's Elizabeth Street – is no exception. Here, the specialty is made-to-order cheung fun; Cantonese-style steamed rice rolls filled with shrimp, beef, pork and other savoury ingredients.

Cheung fun can be found all over New York City's Chinatowns, but Eng says what makes the offerings at Yi Ji Shi Mo stand out is their rice wrapper: it's perfectly thin with a satisfying chew and bounce. "They mill the rice into flour fresh every morning to make the batter," he explains. "Then they steam it, fill it, roll it up, pop it in a takeout box, give you a packet of their seasoned soy sauce, and you're on your way."

Eng eats cheung fun for breakfast, lunch or just a snack whenever he's in the area. The wait can be a bit long since everything is made fresh, but he says it's worth it – or you can try calling ahead. "My go-to is always the large – which isn't even that large – with beef, scallion and cilantro," he says. "And I just douse it in their soy sauce."

Address: 88 Elizabeth Street, New York, NY 10013

Phone: +1 646-233-6311

2. Best for Xinjian skewers: Grand Street Skewer Cart (Lower Manhattan)

A little slice of Xinjian, an autonomous region in north-western China, can be found at the iconic Grand Street Skewer Cart on Lower Manhattan's Grand Street.

The vendors are a husband-and-wife duo who prepare Xinjian-style meat skewers (yang rou chuan) straight out of a cooler; you can smell the sizzling aroma of roasted lamb and spicy cumin from over a block away, says Eng. "I don't know what their schedule is, but when they're there, it's a treat, like a special surprise," he says. "If it's raining, snowing or even just a little cold, they're probably not going to be there. But when the weather's nice, you have to take the chance and go."

The cart is set up just outside a busy train station, and like many commuters, Eng buys a bunch of the inexpensive skewers to eat on the subway ride home to Brooklyn. The selection is impressive: lamb, beef, chicken, fish balls, mushrooms, onions, leeks – even aubergine. "Whether you get it spicy or not is up to you," Eng says, "but the spicy skewers are very, very tasty."

"The cart is really special and unique – you don't find anything like it in Chinatown," he adds. "Restaurants aren't doing this kind of thing because it's live fire and not easy to pull off. Getting to experience that on the street is very cool."

Address: Corner of Grand St and Chrystie Street, New York, NY 10002

3. Best Chinese banquet: Hop Lee Restaurant (Lower Manhattan)

The Chinese banquet experience is a joyful multi-course feast typically shared at big, round tables to celebrate birthdays, weddings or even just a fun night out with friends. Eng's go-to for a classic banquet is Hop Lee on Mott Street; a beloved Chinatown institution since 1973, with all the essentials: oversized tables, lazy Susans and a vast menu.

"They have the old-school stuff you can't get all in one place anymore," Eng says. Highlights include razor clams in black bean sauce, honey walnut shrimp and a wide variety of chicken dishes: half, whole, poached, fried. But one dish in particular stands out to Eng: the eternally popular Cantonese lobster with pork.

"It starts with the Chinese trinity of ginger, garlic and scallions," Eng explains. The lobster is broken down Chinese-style, which means it's chopped into 14 easy-to-eat pieces, so there's no need for cracking shells. "The flavours of the trinity really come through in the wok," he says, "and they stir-fry it with ground pork, which adds this whole extra layer of depth that most lobster dishes just don't have. It's delicious."

Website: www.hopleenyc.com/

Address: 16 Mott Street, New York, NY 10013

Phone: +1 212-962-6475

Instagram: @hop_lee_nyc/

4. Best roasted meats: King's Kitchen (Manhattan, Brooklyn)

Throughout the winding streets of Manhattan's Chinatown, roast ducks, chickens and slabs of pork hang in steamy restaurant windows. For Eng, King's Kitchen stands out for serving the best of these iconic barbecued meats. With multiple locations across Manhattan and Brooklyn, the purveyor offers a vast menu, including dim sum, but it's the roasted meats that keep Eng coming back.

"The char siu (roast pork) is perfectly balanced – sweet and salty, charred and glistening because it's always fresh," he says. The marinade, a blend that includes bean paste and Chinese five-spice, is rubbed inside the cavity of the pig, giving the meat deep, rich flavour all the way through.

"King's Kitchen does steady business, so they're popping out fresh things all the time," Eng adds. "This way you know the meat is not just sitting there all day."

Website: kingskitchenusa.com/

Address: 92 East Broadway, New York, NY 10002

Phone: +1 212-966-7288

Instagram: @jinhuanggroup/

5. Best seafood: BK Seafood Market (Sunset Park, Brooklyn)

When he's in the mood for seafood, Eng heads to Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighbourhood to hit BK Seafood Market – a large restaurant with rows of bubbling tanks filled with live fish, crustaceans and molluscs. Diners can pick exactly what they want and have it cooked to order, just minutes from tank to table.

"It's a rare opportunity to eat something that was literally swimming two minutes before it was cooked," says Eng. One of his favourite orders is king crab prepared three ways, a "massive feast of king crab", he says.

He also chooses a fresh whole fish and asks for it steamed with soy sauce, ginger and spring onions. "When the seafood is this fresh, you don't want to ruin it," he says. "Steaming keeps it clean and simple and that's how you taste how good it really is."

Website: www.bkseafoodmarketnyc.com/

Address: 842 64th St, Brooklyn, NY 11220

Phone: +1 718-836-6888

Instagram: @bkseafoodmarket1/

6. Best dim sum: Park Asia (Sunset Park, Brooklyn)

"If I want the full dim sum experience, I go for a big location – a place with, like, 1,000 seats," says Eng. For that, he heads to Park Asia; a sprawling two-storey space with high ceilings and a bright, bustling vibe. "It's where I had my son's 100-day party [a celebration marking a child's first 100 days in Chinese culture] with 100 people," he says.

For Eng, the ideal dim sum restaurant offers the most variety. "When I get dim sum from a cart, I want a lot of different things on the table," he says. And the key to a good spot? "It should be packed. That means the food's fresh, and nothing's been sitting on the cart for more than half an hour."

The selection is huge, from pork siu mai and shrimp dumplings to specials that rotate with the seasons. In the evenings, Park Asia shifts into banquet-style dining, but the dim sum crowd is always out in full force – even on a Monday morning.

Website: park-asia.restaurants-world.com/

Address: 6521 8th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11220

Phone: +1 718-833-1688

Instagram: @parkasiarestaurant/

7. Best Hong Kong-style egg tarts: Xin Fa Bakery (Sunset Park, Brooklyn)

For the best egg tarts in the city, Eng makes a beeline to Xin Fa Bakery. But he doesn't just buy one. "You get a dozen," he says. "They're always hot and always fresh."

These are the classic Hong Kong-style dan tat – small, flaky tarts filled with silky egg custard. For Eng, the perfect one has a wobble. "When you bite into it, it should be jiggly and almost fall out of the crust," he explains. "You don't want it to be fully set. And you definitely don't want to see your teeth marks in it."

Website: xinfabakery.shop/

Address: 5617 8th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11220

Phone: +1 718-871-2889

BBC Travel's The SpeciaList is a series of guides to popular and emerging destinations around the world, as seen through the eyes of local experts and tastemakers.

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The flawless biscuit that took years to master

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250509-the-flawless-biscuit-that-took-years-to-master, 8 days ago

Acclaimed musician Rhiannon Giddens spent years perfecting a flawless recipe for the iconic Southern food. Now, a new festival reveals the similar journeys of Black music and cuisine.

"Womp, womp, womp." That's the sound, according to Grammy Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning musician Rhiannon Giddens, of a sharp-rimmed glass cutting into just-right biscuit dough. Coming from Giddens' mouth, the timbre translates as a low note plucked from a double bass.

Giddens is an American scholar-musician whose folk, country and blues music illuminates the African lineage of the banjo and celebrates the legacy of the Black string band. But in 2020, at the outset of pandemic lockdowns, Giddens found herself craving something seemingly less academic: biscuits. Not the crisp British variety that Americans call "cookies" and "crackers". Not crumbly, sweetened scones – those she could buy in abundance in her adopted city of Limerick, Ireland. No, what Giddens wanted were flaky, buttery biscuits with a definitive rise, the kind that are ubiquitous across the American South.

Five years later, after tweaking her formula and method, Giddens has landed on what she believes is a near-perfect biscuit recipe. Her pandemic baking obsession even inspired her new Biscuits & Banjos music festival, which showcases the similarly winding journeys of Black music and food.

During the pandemic, Giddens was collaborating with Italian musician Francesco Turrisi on the album They're Calling Me Home. "Francesco and I were thinking about the food that we couldn't get because we couldn't go home," said Giddens, who grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina. "For me, that turned into, 'How do I make biscuits?'"

Living in Ireland, Giddens had to rework basic elements of biscuit composition. How would Irish butter, with its higher fat content, impact the texture and rise? Which European flour would yield a comparable crumb? That's to say nothing of technique. "It turned into an obsession pretty quickly," she said.

Giddens practiced until she arrived at a flawless variation with an adapted recipe from Southern Living magazine. First, she grates frozen Kerrygold butter into frozen, sifted White Lily flour (the colder the ingredients, the better). Next, she pours in thick buttermilk, and after a cursory stir, she dumps the wet mixture onto a heavily floured counter. "I start folding, turn, fold, turn, fold, turn, pat it out. I don't bother with a rolling pin," said Giddens. "I was doing four sets of folds, and then I threw in an extra one. The biscuits went poof."

Then comes cutting the dough – the womp – before she places the biscuits cheek-to-cheek on pre-cut parchment paper. Meanwhile, there's a sheet pan heating in the oven at 475F, a critical step that yields crispy bottoms. At first, Giddens confessed, she often underbaked her dough. Now, she checks how done it is after 12 to 15 minutes by gently pressing her fingers on top and jiggling a nascent biscuit; too much movement signals a gummy centre.

Giddens' ideal biscuit has a certain flakiness. It's sturdy enough to hold bacon without crumbling, and tender enough to enjoy with jam. During the years it took her to master biscuit making, They're Calling Me Home won a Grammy Award for best folk album. She also composed and sang in Omar, an opera that earned the Pulitzer Prize, and played banjo and viola on Beyoncé's hit single, Texas Hold 'Em. Along the way, she started to see how biscuits integrated into her life's work of tracing the complex history of music.

"Food and music have similar cultural markers. Like food, music moves with people, and it changes as people move. So, it made sense to connect them," said Giddens. "Biscuits and banjos happen to be two of my obsessions."

The rise of US biscuits

Biscuits, like the banjo, have a complex lineage. Their roots lie in dry, twice-baked breads, or rusks, that the British called "bisquites" after the Latin phrase panis bicoctus, or "twice-baked bread". But in the American South, particularly in the hands of Black cooks, they became soft, leavened symbols of class, skill and Southern identity.

In the book The Biscuit: The History of a Very British Indulgence, Lizzie Collingham writes that biscuits were an "an indispensable tool of empire building". Indeed, these nonperishable breads sustained soldiers and sailors for millennia, and in the early 1600s, English settlers in Jamestown, Virginia, survived on a supply of biscuits brought from the motherland.

A distinctly Southern biscuit began to emerge in the 18th Century. On Royal Navy ships, tough, dry biscuits had earned the nickname "purser's nuts". But in finer settings on both sides of the Atlantic, bakers added sugar, citrus and spices. The Virginia Housewife, an 1824 cookbook by Mary Randolph, includes a recipe for Tavern Biscuits, whose ingredients included flour, sugar, butter, mace, nutmeg, brandy and milk. It also shared a recipe for beaten biscuits.

"[Beaten biscuits] were the most common biscuit in the South," said Michael Twitty, a James Beard Award-winning food writer and historian. "The lore behind them is true. A Black child, normally a little boy, would sit there with the back of an axe or a club, and on a clean log, he would literally beat this dough over 1,000 times."

The thin, crunchy beaten biscuit closely resembled what Americans consider a cracker, but this violent, repetitive thrashing – only possible with enslaved labour – produced a slight rise and delicate crumb onto which diners would drape slices of country ham. White flour was still a luxury in the antebellum South, and beaten biscuits were an edible stamp of wealth.

"Biscuits have been a demarcation line in terms of class and race," said Toni Tipton-Martin, a food journalist and historian whose work includes the book The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks. "African Americans have traditionally been known for making cornmeal and more coarse grain breads. Wheat flour was not available in early America, and it was an expression of affluence to be able to make biscuits."

However, it was chemical leavening agents that created the soft, layered Southern biscuit as we know it today. At first, bakers used saleratus (potassium bicarbonate) and soda (sodium bicarbonate). The buttermilk in Giddens' recipe dates to these early leavening agents, which required an acid to activate. Then in 1856, Eben Norton Horsford patented baking powder, officially giving rise to the poof of the Southern biscuit.

As milling technology improved in the late 19th Century, Southern-grown soft winter wheat, (which was better for so-called "quick breads" than sturdy loaves) gained popularity. When flour prices dropped, biscuits became a marker of social mobility across racial lines, transforming a Sunday treat into an everyday staple.

More like this:

• How rice shaped the American South

• The surprising origin of fried chicken

• Pig ear sandwich: An iconic dish of the American South

American food industrialised in the 20th Century, and so did biscuits. An unnamed Black cook for Pullman Company trains used a premade flour mix to produce biscuits on the fly; his work inspired Bisquick, the first commercial biscuit mix. In 1931, Lively Willoughby patented canned refrigerated biscuit dough. Biscuit diversity flourished, too, such as cathead biscuits and North Carolina's hoop cheese-filled variety. Bakers embraced efficient drop biscuits and airy angel biscuits, which use baking powder, baking soda and yeast.

Biscuits had transformed from a seafaring staple to a luxury good made by enslaved cooks to a food of the working class. Farmers and labourers carried biscuits slathered with jam or stacked with ham in their lunchpails. Twitty recalled a line from South Carolinean journalist Ben Roberston's memoir, Red Hills and Cotton: "To fry chickens, to boil coffee, to boil rice and to make good biscuits were the four requirements we demanded of cooks."

The year of Giddens' birth, biscuits broke into America's fast-food pantheon. In 1977, Bojangles, a fried chicken and biscuits counter, first opened in Charlotte, North Carolina; there are now 800 Bojangles across 17 states. The same year, a single location of Hardee's added ham and sausage biscuits to its breakfast menu. Across Hardee's franchises, workers bake more than 100 million biscuits annually. In the 1980s, Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonalds took biscuits nationwide.

Buttered, dotted with blueberries, smothered in sausage gravy, split and sandwiched, biscuits had become wholly American without losing their Southern accent. "I see this food as graduated British, even if there's nothing like it in the British Isles, not even scones. You can't find them in Africa," said Twitty. "So they're this combination of all those different streams and elements that make America what it is."

Food and music as culture

With Biscuits & Banjos, Giddens wanted to create a festival that would build community and inspire cross-disciplinary collaboration, and the three-day event in Durham, North Carolina (25-27 April) brought together Black musicians, activists, historians and chefs. Her Grammy-winning band, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, reunited for the first time in a decade, performing songs from acclaimed African American fiddler Joe Thompson and guitarist Etta Baker. New Dangerfield, a Black string band of Giddens acolytes, played a sweet and earnest New Orleans waltz, while Niwel Tsumbu connected the musical traditions of his native Congo to the American South.

By day, festival-goers ate biscuits from restaurants on a downtown Durham biscuit trail and bought tote bags that read: "Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit". They also gathered in an armoury, which had held a square dance the night before, for a talk with Tipton-Martin, Twitty and Dr Cynthia Greenlee on biscuit history and the contributions of Black cooks to one of the US South's most iconic baked goods.

Giddens hopes to stage the festival again in Durham in 2026, creating a space where food and music continue to challenge narratives, uplift Black stories and contribute new ideas to storied traditions.

"Food and music are such a great way to talk about culture," says Giddens. "They're disarming. They're innocent. They are shaped by the forces around them, whether that's political or cultural. The more we can understand that, I think, the more we can understand ourselves."

Rhiannon Giddens' "They're Biscuits, Not Scones" recipe

Adapted from Southern Living magazine

Makes 10-12 biscuits

Method

Step 1

Measure a piece of parchment paper to fit your sheet pan; be sure to make it longer but exactly as wide, so you can use the overhang to lift the sheet when there are biscuits on top. Set aside.

Step 2

Sift the flour into a bowl, then grate in the frozen butter (I use a box grater, the large holes side). Toss together briefly (but no need to work the butter into the dough). Put in the freezer.

Step 3

While the bowl is in the freezer, preheat the oven to 475F. If you have an electric oven, put the pan in the oven and heat it up without the parchment paper. If you have a gas oven, you can keep the pan out of the oven and place the parchment paper in it. This is all in pursuit of nice crispy bottoms.

Step 4

Make a well in the middle of the butter/flour mixture and pour in the buttermilk. Always have more on hand in case you need it – I usually have to add a bit. Stir until it starts to come together. It should be pretty sticky and a bit wet. Turn it out onto a well-floured surface and pat it into a rectangle (you can use a rolling pin if it helps).

Step 5

Fold the dough in thirds like a letter and flatten out, then turn and do it again in the other direction. Do this whole process at least once more, for a total of 4 sets of folds. This is what takes the most experience; you’ll eventually learn how much handling is enough. Aim for handling less, not more.

Step 6

Roll or pat out and start cutting your biscuits; use a biscuit cutter or a glass and be careful not to twist (that is a myth that will end up actually curtailing your biscuit's rise). If the dough is in that sweet spot of not too wet but not too worked, the cutter will not stick to the dough, and if it's a glass it will make a nice little "womp" sound.

Step 7

Place the biscuits on the parchment paper in a honeycomb pattern so that there are no spaces. This will help the biscuits rise. If you like biscuits that are crispy all around and not as tall, you can place them with space around them or only touching on the sides.

Step 8

Move the biscuit-laden parchment with the overhang onto the pan, this will take practice. You may brush melted butter on top of the biscuits at this point.

Step 9

Bake at 475F for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned. You can feel they are done by shaking one with your fingertip on top; if they are too moveable, they aren't quite set.

Step 10

Place them in a basket lined with a tea towel and cover; they will stay nice and moist this way. Put the leftovers straight into the fridge to be reheated in the oven when ready.

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The world's five happiest cities for 2025

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250515-the-worlds-five-happiest-cities-for-2025, 2 days ago

Friends, family and a sense of community all can lead to happiness, but the environment you live in can also have a huge impact on your wellbeing. Yet, what exactly makes a "happy city"?

To find out, researchers at the Institute for the Quality of Life recently released their 2025 Happy City Index, tracking 82 indicators of happiness across six major categories including Citizens, Governance, Environment, Economy, Health and Mobility. The index measured the policies that contribute to the quality of life, as well as their implementation and impact on residents.

The index noted that no city should ultimately be considered "the happiest", instead naming a group of 31 cities that made the "Gold Cities" list, indicating especially strong scores across all metrics. To find out what kind of policies and features truly make up a "happy city", we spoke to residents living in the five top-scoring places around the world.

1. Copenhagen, Denmark

Denmark frequently ranks in the happiest countries index, so perhaps it's no surprise that its capital city received the highest overall score. Copenhagen scores exceptionally well in the Environment category, which ranks its green spaces, sustainability and waste management; and the Economy category, which factors in items like GDP, median salary and overall innovation and international company presence.

The city also ranked well in the Citizens category, which includes cultural resources like libraries and museums, as well as resident engagement and events. For permanent resident Mari-Anne Daura, the lively food and cultural scene keeps her loving where she lives.

"The city is always organising free events, whether it's The Copenhagen Light Festival, The Human Library, Copenhagen Cooking or the Distortion Street Parties. I appreciate how much effort the city puts into curating experiences for its residents," she said. "There is always something to do and something new to experience, which is what made me choose to live in Copenhagen over Stockholm."

Residents also appreciate Copenhagen's emphasis on alternate and safe modes of transport. "Nearly one-third or more of the population bikes and the city itself has its own bike lane, which many people use to commute to and from the city. The metro system also runs like clockwork," said resident Aaron Wertheimer.

He recommends visitors rent a bike and cycle over the Hans Christian Andersen bridge. "You can see the entire city, its canals and its beautiful architecture, and you'll gain a greater appreciation for the city's aesthetic and overall atmosphere," he said.

Daura recommends hopping on a water bus to experience the city from another angle. "Check out the vibe and the wide variety of food trucks at Reffen [Northern Europe's largest street food market]," she said. "To me, nothing is more Copenhagen than Reffen."

2. Zurich, Switzerland

Ranked second highest in the index, Switzerland's largest city received especially high marks in the Citizens category as well as the Governance category, which measures citizen participation in government policies and access to digital services to improve life for residents.

This overall ease of living makes it much more stress-free, according to residents. "As a mum of two, Zurich is the perfect place to raise a family," said resident Raquel Matos Gonçalves, who helps residents relocate to Switzerland through her company Expat You. "The main pain points of daily life are fully addressed: very safe (kids can go to school alone from kindergarten); public transport that is always on time; and Zurich is an exceptionally clean and organised city."

She adds: "All these aspects make daily life so easy, so predictable, that they absorb the stress you'd otherwise experience."

The city has clear rules and guidelines, too. "The unofficial motto is 'If it doesn't say yes, assume it's a no,'" said resident Amelie Guiot, meaning that everyone stays within the bounds of the law and rules, keeping infrastructure like streets and public transport orderly and clean. She also appreciates the free drinking water from the city's 1,000-plus public fountains.

Guiot recommends visitors check out the Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland's biggest art museum – though the city has more than 50 other museums for more niche interests. On a sunny day, everyone migrates to lakeside badis (public bathhouses). "My favourite is Frauenbad Stadthausquai, a women-only wooden bathhouse," she said.

3. Singapore

The city-state of Singapore often ranks high in various indexes, especially as one of the happiest countries in Asia due to its ease of doing business, cleanliness and infrastructure. In the 2025 Happiest City Index, it scored particularly well in the newly created Health metric, which tracks overall safety, public health initiatives like vaccinations and financial protection for health expenses.

It also ranked high in Governance, a metric where residents have seen policies ease the cost-of-living burden that has plagued other cities around the world. "While Singapore has become really expensive, a good and early public housing scheme (HDB) along with rising housing prices has helped many Singaporeans to have not only a home but a financial asset that could potentially be cashed out for retirement or emergencies," said resident Hwee-Boon Yar. "The tiny island's size and neighbours has been a strong force to ensure the city stays competitive, yet friendly with other countries."

Residents also appreciate how the city's infrastructure makes it easy to enjoy life. "Beyond convenience, Singapore's policies around green space, safety and multicultural inclusivity really stand out. You can go from pitching a global client downtown to enjoying satay by the waterfront, all in the same evening," says resident Samuel Huang who owns a Singapore-based business.

For first-time visitors, he recommends a walk through the hip neighborhood of Tiong Bahru, "where history, food and design meet local life in the most charming way possible", he said.

4. Aarhus, Denmark

As Denmark's second-largest city, Aarhus often gets called the "world's smallest big city", something that helps residents stay happy by combining urban amenities with a small community feel. The city scored well across all metrics, but especially in Citizens, Environment and Health – factors that residents say come across in the ease of life here.

"Joy is seamlessly woven into daily life – not through extravagance, but through intentional design," said resident Carla Niña Pornelos. "I remember cycling to a community dinner on a rooftop garden overlooking the harbour, realising how accessible happiness can be when a city genuinely supports wellbeing."

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She mentions integrated bike lanes, green spaces and free public events that foster a sense of community. The city also prides itself on sustainability initiatives like district heating and waste-to-energy programmes, while healthcare and education are both accessible and high-quality. "It's not just the infrastructure, though," she said. "It's the sense that people trust each other and their institutions."

Home to multiple universities, the city also has an energetic feeling that especially arises after Denmark's long winter. "When spring and summer come around, everyone comes out of hibernation ready to hang out in the parks, swim at the harbour baths or grab a beer by the canal," said local Mathias Steen. "There's such a warm, laid-back vibe; people are everywhere, and the city feels alive."

To get a sense of the city, Pornelos recommends visitors take a walk along the Infinite Bridge at sunrise. "It's a circular pier that stretches out into the sea – quiet, surreal and emblematic of the Danish way of blending nature, art and thoughtful urban planning," she said. "That single moment captures what it's like to live here: balanced, beautiful and profoundly human."

5. Antwerp, Belgium

Antwerp managed to inch out larger sister-city Brussels in the Happy Cities index, with higher scores in the Citizens, Government and Environment categories. Residents praise its reliable public transportation, its safe and easy cycling and its compact size – all of which making getting around quick and easy.

"I moved to Antwerp in my late 20s expecting a charming city with good food and beautiful architecture, but I've stayed because of how livable it is," said resident Grace Carter. "There's a calm efficiency here that you start to feel in your day-to-day."

She also notes that the city invests in progressive policies like support for working families, social housing and sustainability that make life easier and more enjoyable. "What really surprised me was how seriously Antwerp takes its green spaces and cultural life," she added. "From the riverside parks to the world-class museums, it's a place where people genuinely make time to enjoy life, not just work through it."

To best see the city, she says it's worth skipping the city's well-trod museum trail to visit the Saturday market at Theaterplein. "Grab a coffee, listen to the local chatter and just soak up that relaxed, quietly confident vibe that makes Antwerp feel like home."

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From Chicago to Châteauneuf-du-Pape: What does a pope's hometown reveal?

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250514-where-popes-come-from-and-why-it-matters, 4 days ago

From Polish pilgrimage trails to French vineyards, the places popes come from often gain new meaning. With the announcement of the first American pope, could Chicago be next?

When plumes of white smoke billowed across Rome's skyline last week, signifying the election of a new pope, the entire world looked towards Vatican City. But the story of the Catholic Church's new leader began far from St Peter's Square. In a historic first, the papacy now belongs to an American.

Pope Leo XIV – born 4,800 miles away in South Side Chicago – took to the balcony of St Peter's Basilica on 8 May to address a frenzied crowd of more than 40,000 people.

"The pilgrims in the square went wild," said Dr Miles Pattenden, an Oxford University lecturer and expert on the Catholic Church. "There was a lot of excitement but also gasps of surprise because a lot of people weren't expecting this name. The idea of an American pope has seemed pretty remote for most of the last half of the century. So, there was a sense of shock."

Pope Leo's first words to onlookers were not in English, however. He chose instead to speak in a mix of Italian and Spanish – the latter nodding to his 20+ year career in Peru – suggesting his identity spans more than one nation.

It begs the question: how does a pope's hometown shape his leadership – and how are those hometowns changed in return?

"There can't not be [a connection between pope and place]," said Nick Spencer, a senior fellow at Theos Think Tank. "However Catholic-with-a-small-'c' the church is, popes are from certain places and formed by certain experiences."

That was most obviously the case with Wadowice-born Pope John Paul II, says Spencer. "It’s inconceivable to think of his papacy without recognising his Polish upbringing and his life under two different totalitarian dictatorships in Poland."

A small town south of Krakow, Wadowice was once a quiet, multicultural Galician backwater. But since the elevation of its most famous son – the first non-Italian pope in 455 years, who served from 1978-2005 – it has transformed into a hub of Catholic pilgrimage.

"In the late '70s, Poland was already a pretty Catholic place, but the fact they had a Polish pope absolutely ignited it," Spencer said, explaining the impact of the papacy on Pope John II's hometown.

Today, visitors flock to the modest family home where he was born (which has been turned into a museum), as well as the parish church where he served as an altar boy and the square where he once played as a child.

Between 1996 and 2019, the number of international tourists to the museum more than doubled, according to Studies of the Industrial Geography Commission of the Polish Geographical Society, with a notable peak in 2005, the year of John Paul II's death. And in 2018, the museum celebrated its millionth visitor.

This speaks to the pull of a place, says Pattenden. "Pilgrimage is significant and important for Catholics. Partly because they believe in the enchantment of physical objects, including, for instance, the bodies and the remains of saints, and the items that the saints have touched. That's why you would go back to the birthplace of a saint because you can get grace from your proximity to those things."

Yet not all papal hometowns are drawn into the fold. Despite serving as Archbishop of Buenos Aires for more than a decade, Pope Francis, who died this April, travelled across numerous continents, visiting 68 countries during his 12-year papacy – but never returned to Argentina.

Whether a gesture of neutrality amid the country's fraught politics or a quiet declaration of global focus, his absence was noteworthy. In contrast to the pilgrimage energy that surrounds places like Wadowice, Francis's hometown remains, for now, a site of origin rather than worship.

Still, his Argentine roots shaped the way he was perceived. Francis became known as the "people's pope", something that came from his simple lifestyle, his work in the slums of Buenos Aires and his ease with ordinary people. His background helped reinforce a public image of humility, accessibility and concern for the working class.

John Paul II's Polish birthplace also had a big impact on his world view. He grew up and ministered under two oppressive regimes: first Nazi occupation, then Soviet-backed Communist rule. His papacy was defined by a commitment to human rights, religious freedom and moral resistance and he became a powerful voice against totalitarianism. During a landmark visit to Poland in 1979, his call to "be not afraid" resonated deeply with his countrymen, helping to inspire the Solidarity movement that would ultimately contribute to the collapse of Communist rule.

While Wadowice turned piety into pilgrimage, other papal places bear more unusual legacies. In Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a village nestled in the vineyards of southern France, traces of the medieval papacy live on in the local wine.

In the early 14th Century, the papacy temporarily relocated from Rome to Avignon in southern France, marking a significant shift in the Church's history. From 1309 to 1377, seven successive French popes resided in the city, escaping political instability in Rome and drawn by the influence of the French crown.

Often referred to as the "Avignon Papacy", this period saw the papal court flourish in grandeur, with its legacy still visible in its Palais des Papes, a Gothic fortress that once housed the spiritual heart of Catholicism. However, it also sparked controversy, with critics accusing it of corruption and excessive French sway.

One pope, John XXII (from Cahors in southern France), commissioned a new summer residence in a nearby village – today known as Châteauneuf-du-Pape, or "The Pope's New Castle". His castle served as a fortified retreat and vineyard estate, taking advantage of the region's elevated position and favourable grape-growing conditions. The wine produced here still bears the papal crest of crossed keys of St Peter and a tiara, and tourists can join tours that blend this medieval papal history with wine tastings trips to centuries-old vineyards.

With the recent ascent of Leo XIV, attention has turned to his Chicago roots. In true US fashion, even his sporting allegiances made headlines, sparking debate over whether he supported the Cubs or the White Sox (it's the White Sox, his brother confirmed). But experts say his path may diverge from traditional expectations.

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"He is American but he [was] based in Latin America for most of [his life]," said Pattenden. "And he quite notably didn’t speak English when he did his initial greeting. That's all a sign to me that he's distancing himself from his Americanness."

Spencer added: "In addition to being an American pope, Leo's a Peruvian pope in a very profound way so that internationalism, one would imagine, is quite deep in the bone with him and it will be interesting to see if that has an effect."

Whether Chicago will embrace this moment remains to be seen. Its urban parishes and immigrant congregations may well lean into a newfound spiritual spotlight. Pilgrims may one day walk the streets of South Side as they now do in Wadowice. Or perhaps, like Francis's Buenos Aires, it will remain a quiet point of origin that's respected but not venerated.

What is clear is that the connection between papacy and place can linger long after the white smoke clears. It becomes a lens through which a pope's legacy is interpreted and reimagined. From wine labels in southern France to school trips in Poland, these places are transformed by proximity to power, by the long shadow of the papal office and by the faithful who come looking for something more than just a birthplace.

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8 ways to travel more sustainably in 2025

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250509-8-ways-to-travel-more-sustainably-in-2025, 6 days ago

You're ready to book your next holiday, and you're aware of the importance of minimising your travel footprint. But where do you begin?

If you're stumped, you're not alone. A new Booking.com report found sustainability is important to 84% of global travellers. But while the desire to travel greener is strong, the path to eco-tourism is unclear for many. A Trip.com study found that nearly half of travellers are confused about what sustainable travel actually means, while a 2025 World Travel & Tourism Council report revealed that cost is a major barrier.

With global tourism bouncing back and environmental pressures intensifying, 2025 is a crucial year to rethink how we travel. Here are some simple, practical ways to make more impactful travel choices this year – without sacrificing joy or comfort on the road.

1. Choose trips that give back

As you plan your holidays for 2025 and beyond, experts recommend asking yourself whether you want to be a passive tourist or a visitor who makes a positive impact on the destination. A regenerative-focused trip could involve hands-on conservation at an Ecuadorian ecolodge or choosing an Australian hiking experience helping to revive Aboriginal culture. Fiji's new Loloma Hour encourages travellers to dedicate at least one hour of their stay to a positive environmental, cultural or social impact activity, while Hawaii's Mālama experiences encourage visitors to give back to the environment and local communities through habitat restoration, beach cleanups and more.

"We must do better than just sustain travel," said David Leventhal, eco-hotel owner and co-founder of Regenerative Travel, a leading provider of educational courses aimed at transforming the travel industry into a force for positive change. "We must reverse damage, and regenerate working at a whole systems level to integrate people and planet better."

2. Think beyond the environment

In 2025, travellers are increasingly aware of the social and cultural impacts of tourism, with Booking.com's 2025 Travel & Sustainability Report showing for the first time that more than half of global travellers are aware of tourism's impact on local communities as well as the environment. With overtourism protests – which are already ramping up in 2025 – and unaffordable housing in popular destinations, there's a growing call to be more mindful about how, when and where we travel.

"That's not to say that the environmental elements of sustainable travel are less important – reducing carbon emissions and plastic are as important as ever," says Dr Susanne Becken, professor of sustainable tourism at Australia's Griffith University, "but the growth of tourism is putting more and more pressure on communities to a point where some tourism hotspots don't want to engage with it anymore."

Steering clear of popular destinations at peak times, being more respectful of local cultures and people, hiring local and Indigenous guides and purchasing more mindfully – from accommodation to souvenirs – can all help to reduce pressure on communities. "Remember that the destination you are visiting is someone's home," says Becken.

Looking for immersive, community-based travel? Nepal's Community Homestay Network has launched three new "community circuits" for 2025, including an itinerary traversing little-visited eastern Nepal; while a new Intrepid Travel trip offers an opportunity to engage with Indigenous elders on a journey to Colombia's "Lost City". From visiting a Thai island that has taken sustainability into its own hands to experiencing life in a groundbreaking Swedish town, there are now countless opportunities to visit communities in responsible and regenerative ways.

3. Hold hotels to higher standards

Hotels and other holiday accommodations contribute a large proportion of the CO2 emitted by the tourism sector – but better options are emerging. The world's first carbon-positive hotel, Populus, opened in the US in 2024; and IHG launched its first branded net-zero hotel in the UK in March 2025, voco Zeal Exeter Science Park.

In South Africa, Few & Far Luvhondo, which opened in January 2025, is among an increasing number of safari lodges prioritising sustainable innovation and eco-tourism. This zero-waste, renewable energy-powered lodge is working to rewild 50,000 hectares of highly degraded land in the Soutpansberg mountains – and even has Africa's first solar-powered cable-car experience.

But you don't need a luxury safari lodge budget to make more sustainable accommodation choices. A network of UK hiking "hotels" offers free, minimal-impact stays, while Earthships in the US offer unique net-zero accommodation. In Europe, social impact-driven affordable accommodation provider The Social Hub opened a new hotel in Rome in March 2025, with another due to open in Porto this year.

Becken recommends checking for international certification (like B Corp, EarthCheck, Green Globe and Green Key), which indicate a company is committed to energy efficiency and mindful consumption, and cares about how its people are treated. In the absence of certification, which can be financially challenging for small businesses to obtain, check the property's website for a meaningful sustainability policy encompassing environmental and social initiatives, or contact them directly to ask. The same approach can be taken with tour operators.

4. Consider the journey as well as the destination

Many destinations are making it easier for travellers to minimise their impact when they arrive, via initiatives like zero-waste dining, electric safaris – or even decarbonising their entire visitor economies.

But while destinations are getting greener, getting there often isn't. Air travel remains one of the most carbon-intensive parts of tourism, and Becken notes that "sustainable" aviation fuels alone cannot solve aviation's soaring emissions.

In good news for rail travel enthusiasts, there are a slew of new opportunities in 2025 to take a memorable – and lower-impact – route to your destination. In Australia, the Indian Pacific has extended its journey from Perth to Sydney to five days with new off-train experiences on each leg; while La Dolce Vita Orient Express, Italy's first homegrown luxury train, made its inaugural journey from Rome to the Tuscan hill town of Montalcino in April. Expected to be completed in 2025, Portugal's Evora-to-Elvas route is the first link in a high-speed network that will eventually connect Madrid to Lisbon in three hours; and a renewed version of the legendary Orient Express carrying passengers between Istanbul and Paris, is due to roll in 2026, along with a new Budapest-to-Belgrade line.

When you do need to fly, choose low-emissions flights with the help of booking platforms like Google Flights, which displays the average emissions for each route. Booking economy seats and prioritising direct flights also reduces emissions. Can't stand cabin wastage? Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, LATAM and SAS are just a few airlines that have taken meaningful steps to reduce single-use plastic on flights. And while carbon-offsetting your flights through verified schemes does not undo the damage, many experts agree it's better than doing nothing at all.

5. Be curious and connect deeply

Anthony Bourdain famously said that "travel is not a reward for working, it is education for living". It's a great philosophy for sustainable travel – and one of the most sustainable ways to learn more about the place you are visiting is to book an Indigenous-led tour.

Record demand for First Nations experiences in Australia has coincided with the launch of new tours for 2025, including a Byron Bay storytelling walk that offers a powerful way to connect with one of Australia's most popular coastal holiday destinations. Native and First Nation tourism is also booming in North America, with the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association naming Oklahoma's Chickasaw Cultural Center, which offers guided tours and a daily stomp dance demonstration, as the best cultural heritage experience for 2025.

Meanwhile, citizen science and hands-on conservation activities also allow travellers to engage with destinations on a deeper level. New for 2025, Natural Habitat Adventures' Kenya Rhino Conservation Safari includes behind-the-scenes talks with conservationists in three leading private conservancies; while Aurora Expeditions, the world's first major expedition cruise line to gain B Corp certification, recently added Eyesea, a platform designed to map global pollution and maritime hazards, to its robust citizen science programme.

6. Harness the apps

Calculating the carbon footprint of your travels is a great way to track your impact (try the University of California, Berkeley's CoolClimate Calculator). But there are many other ways in which apps can help. Find new ways to immerse in nature with AllTrails, which features more than 450,000 trails across the globe including its top 25 trails to explore in 2025; and discover plant-based dining options around the world with Happy Cow, which named London as its number one vegan-friendly city for 2025. Connecting travellers with more than 800,000 drinking water sources worldwide, Droply makes it easy to avoid plastic water bottles.

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And while social media has often been blamed for contributing to overtourism and other issues, research shows it can also be used as a force for good to share positive sustainable travel experiences. Did you enjoy a visit to Vilnius, the European Green Capital for 2025? Share it with your followers and inspire others to go.

7. Learn to spot greenwashing

Deceptive sustainability claims – known as greenwashing – have become increasingly prevalent in the tourism industry as businesses try to capitalise on growing demand for eco-tourism. In 2024, major airlines including Air France, Etihad, Lufthansa and Qantas were accused of making misleading sustainability claims, and Booking.com dropped its Travel Sustainable programme after regulatory backlash.

"New legislation adopted by Europe [called the Green Claims Directive] will make it much harder for companies to greenwash, and I think we will see that roll out globally," says Becken. Until then, it's on consumers to stay sharp. Use resources like Sustainable Travel International's guide to avoiding greenwashing in tourism – and "don't underestimate the value of guest reviews", says Leventhal. "Platforms like Google offer honest insights into whether a property or tourism experience truly lives up to its promises."

8. Leverage your privilege

Recognising the privilege to travel freely, as only a small percentage of the world's population is able to do, is the first step in making travel a force for good. Privilege gives travellers the power to spend our travel money on experiences that are good for people and the planet, from choosing animal-friendly experiences to ensuring activities we participate in keep vulnerable children safe and don't exploit culture or communities. It can be argued that privilege doesn't only come with power, but also a responsibly to pay it forward.

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The South American country supplying Mother's Day flowers

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20240514-the-south-american-country-supplying-mothers-day-flowers, 7 days ago

Every May, millions of flowers make their way to mums across the US for Mother's Day, and the majority come from one nation.

So, where do these flowers come from?

That would be Colombia, which exports more than $2bn worth of cut flowers each year, making it the second-largest flower producer in the world after the Netherlands, and the largest single supplier to the United States. Nearly 80% of Colombia's flowers (or $1.62bn) end up in the US, so if you're Stateside, chances are that the stems in your Mother's Day bouquets originated in this South American country.

A 2024 article in the American Journal of Transportation noted that in just 21 days, more than 400 LATAM Airlines flights carrying 24,000 tonnes of flowers (roughly 552 million flower stems), took off from Colombia and neighbouring Ecuador. But thanks to rising inflation and US President Donald Trump issuing a 10% baseline tariff on most all imported goods from Colombia, many experts say that Mother's Day bouquets are likely to be more expensive in the US this year.

"Flowers are not something we can buy in advance and hold on to, they have to be cut fresh," shopping expert Trae Bodge recently told The Today Show. "Consumers are really going to feel that pinch when they're buying flowers [this year]."

Prior to the 1960s, most American bouquet-bound flowers were cut fresh in California, but they were expensive. Colombia's modern floral export industry traces its roots back to the Cold War. Then in 1961, US President John F Kennedy created the $100bn Alliance for Progress initiative, which aimed to combat the threat of communism by enhancing economic cooperation between the US and Latin America. Colombia became a key focus of the administration, and one of the programme's first tasks was to help Colombia develop its agricultural industry.

Kennedy even visited Colombia's capital, Bogotá, in 1961, when nearly one-third of the city's 1.5 million people swarmed the streets to catch a glimpse of the US President and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. It was the largest reception JFK had while in office, and today, one of the city's densest neighbourhoods is still named Kennedy.

Things began to bloom in the 1970s when improvements in air transportation made it easier to connect Colombia's fertile soil with the booming demand for flowers in the US and abroad. Entrepreneur and floriculture hobbyist Edgar Wells, whose export company sent the first shipment of cut flowers from Bogota to Miami in 1965, once compared Colombia's flower industry to the mythical legend of El Dorado, saying: "After 400 years, the true riches of El Dorado have been discovered … a permanent source of riches for all Colombians, for all time."

In 1991, the industry got an additional boost with the passage of the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA), which offered many South American countries a way to import a wide variety of goods duty-free, including flowers. The country now exports billions of flowers to the US every year, and despite problematic labour practices and a dwindling work force, it still specialises in growing some of the most popular flowers found in bouquets or given as gifts – including roses, carnations and orchids.

The impressive breadth of flowers grown in Colombia is partly due to the country's unique landscapes. The countryside surrounding city of Facatativá, outside of Bogota, is a hotspot for flower farms. The area's setting on a high plain savanna in the shadow of the Andes mountains makes an ideal space for flower growing, with more than 73% of Colombia's floral production taking place there. Further north, the area around Medellín accounts for an additional 24%.

Since 1957, Medellín has celebrated its growing floral heritage with the annual Feria de las Flores (Flower Festival), which is now the biggest cultural event in the city. Known as the "city of eternal spring" because of its beautiful year-round weather, Medellín explodes with colour every August as the 10-day flower festival kicks off. The event, which takes place in downtown Medellín, features food, artists, vendors and – of course – flowers.

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The festival is best known for the elaborate silleteros parade. The term silleteros, or "saddle men", refers to the practice of men carrying goods on large circular plates worn on their backs. The tradition started as a way to transport produce, goods and even people through the mountainous terrain of the Andes, however it has become synonymous with flower sellers in Colombia because of the use of these back plates to transport flowers from farms in the mountains to the cities where they're sold.

During the flower festival, silleteros create elaborate artistic floral arrangements, which often depict important historical and cultural moments with flowers and carry them through the streets on these traditional plates.

A more common, but no less beautiful, way to experience Colombia's floral heritage is by visiting one of the many flower markets in cities around the country. For example, one of Medellín’s famous farmers' markets, the Placita de Flóres sells locally grown flowers alongside other goods and produce, as does the Mercado de Paloquemao in Bogotá. Some flower farms, also welcome guests, so that visitors can see exactly where their favourite blooms originate, while also directly supporting the people who grow them.

This article was originally published in 2024 and has since been updated.

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The unstoppable rise of digital detox retreats

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250507-the-unstoppable-rise-of-digital-detox-retreats, 10 days ago

It's not just a White Lotus thing: A growing number of resorts and retreats are asking their guests to put their digital devices away during their stay.

When Ophelia Wu went to Eremito in Italy she was hoping for a stress-free experience. "I was living a hectic life in London, and I found it overwhelming," she said. "I needed a break. I heard about this former monastery in Umbria, and I was curious about it."

She booked a three-night stay at the hotel, which has no wi-fi or phone signal, no tech and no TVs; just brick walls, basic bedrooms and candlelight. The buzz of bumblebees replaced the buzz of her notifications.

"When I left, I was reluctant to turn my phone back on," she said. "I got used to the peace of being unbothered and the lack of urgency."

She's not alone: offline travel is one of the trends of the year so far. According to the 2025 Hilton Trends Report, 27% of adults planning to travel say that they intend to reduce social media use during their holidays. Echoing this interest, global luxury home-rental platform Plum Guide has seen a 17% rise in searches for unplugged, tech-lite properties. In Mexico, the luxury Grand Velas Resorts has launched a Digital Detox Program that would not be out of place on The White Lotus, complete with a "Detox Concierge" to whisk away all electronic devices on arrival.

What's striking about this trend is that it's available to everyone, it costs nothing and it's about giving less. It seems that people have become so dissatisfied with digital life that they are willing to pay more to escape it.

While it has become the norm to use tech to facilitate travel logistics – bookings, check ins and itineraries – when it starts to play a starring role in the holiday experience, it can feel like the opposite of getting away from it all. According to It's Time To Log Off, the average person spends a day each week online, and 34% of people have checked Facebook in the last 10 minutes. Sixty-two percent of polled adults, they say, "hate" how much time they spend on their phones.

Martin Dunford is the founder and CEO of Cool Places, a website that has curated hotels, B&Bs, pubs and self-catering accommodation across the UK since 2012. "We used to have a tag to show which properties had wi-fi," he said. "Now we're adding a 'no wi-fi' tag."

His site lists 34 places to enjoy a digital detox stay, from a Cornish eco-yurt to a boathouse on Ullswater in the Lake District, and the list is growing. Intrigued by the interest in stays where guests can disconnect, Dunford has been working with the University of Greenwich and the University of East Anglia to analyse what happens to people when they go offline on holiday. They found a distinct pattern:

"Guests go stir crazy in the first 24 hours," he said. "But after 48 hours they are well adjusted and start getting into other activities. At the end of a three-day stay – or longer – we find guests may be happy to have their phones back or can be a bit take it or leave it about it."

You might wonder why anyone needs to book a special holiday to get off their phones: can't they just unplug themselves? But, as that difficult first 24 hours experience shows, it's not so simple: habits are hard to break, and digital addiction is particularly tough. When university researchers investigated digital-free tourism in 2019, they discovered that many travellers experienced anxiety and frustration initially, but these emotions led to acceptance, enjoyment and liberation over time. Without having a boundary put in place by an external figure or taking away the option to use screens, those positive feelings might not have been reached at all.

An hour from Dublin in idyllic rural Ireland, Rosanna Irwin knows all about tech overload. She's the owner and founder of Samsú, a series of off-grid cabins in the Irish countryside, a growing business that she set up in 2024 as a reaction to her experiences leading a chronically online life.

"I started my career at Facebook," she said, "and I was working all hours with global teams, replying to all messages, in systems where we had 'unlimited holidays' – which really meant it was harder to justify taking a day off. Ultimately being online all the time like this really broke me."

It took a trip to the quiet island of Samsø in Denmark for Irwin to see what happens when you must switch off.

"I spent three days with no internet there and came home feeling cured," she said, "I quit my job, moved back to Ireland and spent the next eight months working on this idea. I felt this strong gut instinct to do it – and I hadn't listened to my gut for a long time."

Irwin now operates two cabins, each within a 90-minute drive of an Irish city, with three more due to open this summer. In each simple space there is no wi-fi or technology, so the only tweets guests will hear are from the birds. Board games, books and a radio are provided, and the cabins come with simple cooking facilities. In case of emergency, every cabin has a phone, but it's a special, stripped back version, preloaded with podcasts and music but very little else.

"We're not only getting people offline," Irwin said, "we're also encouraging them to discover their creativity and mindfulness. We will be launching a cookbook this summer with one-pot recipes and foraged ingredients to give people an extra purpose as well."

Hector Hughes is a co-founder of Unplugged, a group of 40 tech-detox cabins in the UK and Spain. His business is also seeing growth: they expect to have 60 cabins by the end of the year. His journey, with his co-founder Ben Elliott, mirrors Irwin's: burnout and dissatisfaction in a start-up career, leading to an epiphany while on a break from tech.

"I was at breaking point in 2019," he said, "and I went on a retreat to a Buddhist temple in the Himalayas. I was without my phone for 10 days. I had never had a break like it before."

He returned home, quit his job and decided to create a tech-free option like a retreat, but decoupled from religion and philosophy.

"So much of it is really about getting offline and getting into nature," he said. "Just being offline for three days can have a profound effect on you. You feel a deep sense of calm at the end – it's quite surreal."

More like this:

• Ireland's time-warped island of Owey is the perfect place to disconnect

• A better way to 'raw-dog' travel

• Norway's creative, isolated Arctic hideaway

The Unplugged experience offers modern solar-powered Scandinavian-style cabins in rural locations such as the green fields of rural Cheshire, a dark sky reserve in Exmoor and in the forested mountains of the pre-Pyrenees in rugged Catalonia. Inside, there are blankets, board games and a lockbox for devices – so guests must stay strong and lock their devices away themselves. Unplugged's mission is to make it aspirational to have time away from your phone, and to feel good about doing it.

He's seen some interesting results so far: "People come away looking 10 years younger," he said, "and couples in particular are more connected. If you've been together for a decade, you've probably never had a day together without a phone. The experience offers you an intense connection you might not have experienced before."

While Hughes and his team are on a mission to make being offline an aspirational experience, Dunford thinks it could be a regular one.

"The detox holiday is an inevitable backlash against our hyperconnected world," he said. "But in time, it might not be that unusual. Maybe being away without wi-fi on holiday will become the norm?"

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What you need to know about US Real ID

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250505-real-id-the-big-change-affecting-us-air-travel, 12 days ago

Starting 7 May, many American citizens and residents will need a new form of ID to board domestic flights.

This week, the US government is set to implement a major change to its air travel policy that has been nearly 20 years in the making.

Starting 7 May, US citizens and residents will no longer be able to use a standard driver's licence or state ID to board domestic flights. Instead, travellers will need to present a REAL ID, passport or other acceptable form of identification at airport security checkpoints.

Here's what you need to know.

What is a Real ID?

The new REAL ID is a federally compliant licence or non-driver ID issued by a state's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) that meets new security standards at Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints. The new IDs look very similar to existing driver's licences or state IDs but are recognisable by a gold or black star located in the top-right corner.

"The Real ID requirement bolsters safety by making fraudulent IDs harder to forge, thwarting criminals and terrorists," Adam Stahl, TSA Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Administrator explained in a statement. "TSA will implement REAL ID effectively and efficiently, continuing to ensure the safety and security of passengers while also working to minimise operational disruptions at airports."

Who needs a Real ID?

All American travellers over the age of 18 will be required to present a REAL ID or another TSA-acceptable form of identification, such as a passport or permanent resident card, in order to board domestic flights anywhere in the US and its territories.

Even travellers with TSA PreCheck, are not exempt from these requirements. However, children under the age of 18 are still allowed to fly domestically without identification.

How do travellers get a Real ID?

To obtain a REAL ID, travellers should use this map and click on their home state or territory to determine what specific documentation they'll need to apply. Most travellers will generally need to make an appointment at their local DMV and bring in documents that prove their identity and lawful status. These may include proof of identity and citizenship via a passport, birth certificate or green card; proof of address in the form of utility bills or bank statements; and a social security card.

Applicants will be issued temporary identification while the REAL ID is processed and mailed, which can take several weeks. The cost to obtain the new ID varies from state to state, so it's recommended to check with the local Department of Motor Vehicles.

What happens if US travellers try to board a domestic flight without a Real ID?

American travellers without a REAL ID, passport or other acceptable form of identification will be subject to additional screening and may be turned away and not allowed to board their flights. According to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) website, without a REAL ID: "The TSA officer may ask you to complete an identity verification process, which includes collecting information such as your name and current address to confirm your identity."

More like this:

• The big changes coming to UK and European travel in 2025

• The digital aircraft: How technology is reshaping air travel

• How Trump's sweeping new policies could change travel

In addition to a passport, the DHS website notes that an enhanced ID or a DHS-trusted traveller card such as Global Entry may be presented in lieu of a REAL ID. However, the DHS warns that this list is subject to change, so travellers should be sure to double check with TSA to confirm before arriving at the airport.

Why does the government now require Real IDs?

Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the 9/11 Commission recommended the US Congress pass the REAL ID Act in order to establish more stringent security standards for driver's licences and other identification documents. However, the Covid-19 pandemic and opposition from state governments, led to several postponements of the REAL ID rollout since the Act was originally passed.

How this new rule will affect all passengers – not just US citizens

While the rule only applies directly to American travellers, it's believed that anyone travelling within the US may be affected by these new requirements, as longer lines are expected at airport security checkpoints. Travellers are encouraged to arrive early for flights in order to accommodate potential longer wait times and additional screenings, ideally two hours before domestic flights and three hours before international flights.

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Capri has two faces – here's the one you've never seen

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250502-anacapri-the-overlooked-quiet-corner-of-capri, 13 days ago

The Italian island immediately conjures up grand bougainvillea-draped villas and a whitewashed city centre, lined by luxury boutiques. But that's – literally – only half of the story.

"Bring water," they said when I announced I'd be hiking the Sentiero dei Fortini (Trail of Little Forts). "There's nothing out there."

The six-kilometre cliffside path linking the remains of three 19th-Century Bourbon military outposts was my fourth hike on this craggy Mediterranean island. Somewhere along the rocky, wild rosemary-flocked path while dodging spiky prickly pears, I realised that I'd only seen one other human in two hours. And there were indeed no water sources, aside from a rustic fountain I'd encountered a kilometre back at Fort Mèsola.

My Google Maps sputtered. I'd already got lost twice before noting that the ceramic path markers were low to the ground, cataloguing the area's flora and fauna – fig trees and wildflowers, wall lizards and falcons. The terrain faded from wilderness to sheer crags. Finally at the last fort, Fort Orrico, I could see straight down to the sea; a 30m death drop. The islands of Ischia and Procida loomed in the Gulf of Naples like the humps of petrified sea monsters. And I was completely alone at the island's edge; triumphant.

This is Capri. But perhaps not as you imagine it.

Typically, the word Capri conjures up bougainvillea-draped villas and luxury boutique-lined streets; a yacht dock for the glitterati and the perpetual artists' muse. Paul Feig's Another Simple Favor, which premiered on 1 May on Prime Video, is the latest film set against the island's opulent hotel culture and majestic cliffs, and is sure to inspire a fresh slew of Capri travel dreams.

But in Capri, glamour is – literally – only half of the story.

Anacapri: Capri's rugged little sister

The camel-humped Capri – one of Italy's three volcanic Phlegrean islands – is actually home to two distinct towns. At the eastern end lies the princess Capri Town where loafer-wearing VIPs sip espresso in Piazza Umberto I; the faraglioni sea stacks winking in the distance. And at Capri's western end is her rugged little sister, the township of Anacapri; a sea cliff and prickly pear paradise where hiking boots replace stilettos and wild outdoorsy adventures trump wild nightlife.

But while Capri sees as many as 16,000 visitors a day – outnumbering the 12,900 full-time residents – the majority only visit Capri Town.

"There's two main reasons for this," surmises Camilla Formisano, copyeditor at Capri.com. "Time and imagination. Seventy to 80% of visitors arrive on organised excursions from Naples, Sorrento or cruise ships. So they visit the most famous, easily accessible places from the port, like Piazza Umberto I."

Formisano also believes that social media plays a part: "People see the faraglioni and the piazza and think, 'I saw Capri'. Social media has condensed the island into a single postcard."

Social media is merely Capri Town's latest PR rep. Before becoming a premier Italian bucket list destination, Capri was a humble fishing island. It was settled by the Ancient Greeks, later becoming the seaside retreat of the Roman emperor Tiberius, who left grand villas in his wake. It wasn't until centuries later, when the Romantic poets and then Hollywood filmmakers turned their artistic eye on Capri Town, that it became a VIP haven. Today, visitors spill out from the ferry and throng the bus and funicular ticket booths to jockey for place in Piazza Umberto I, dodging motorised luggage carts and women in Instagrammable sundresses at every turn.

Meanwhile, it's just a 15-minute bus ride to Anacapri, where respite from Capri Town's day-tripper crowds and inflated prices await.

Orange blossom rambles and wild swimming

"Anacapri isn't completely free of overtourism," admits Formisano, referencing the tourist crush at the Blue Grotto, Villa San Michele and the chairlift to Monte Solaro. "But head west, through the Boffe [main] quarter towards the lighthouse and the Migliera [trail], and you'll find the island's heart."

Anacapri is crisscrossed by stone-walled paths that yield to sudden sea views; perfumed in springtime by blooming orange trees. The terrain is hilly; locals zip by me on scooters and dusty motorised three-wheeled buggies. One wrong turn and I find myself either wheezing up a steep incline or at the cliff's edge.

Despite the divine aimlessness of wandering Anacapri on foot, its principal outdoor attractions are best reached with wheels. The ATC Capri Srl buses operate regularly between Piazza Vittoria, the Blue Grotto and Punta Carena, a craggy bay dominated by the island's rust-red 19th-Century lighthouse, where sunbathers splay themselves on the rocks or dive nose-first into the sea. Beach clubs are cut into the cliffs, the most beloved being da Antonio, a shack serving panini, gelato and an excellent crouton-and-aubergine panzanella salad. The upscale Lido del Faro features a pool and a full-service restaurant; I enjoy a bracing limoncello Spritz while watching the wild swimmers from above.

But Punta Carena is best known for its sunsets.

"It's the only place on Capri where the sun sets into the sea," says Formisano. "Thanks to Capri's particular shape, Anacapri remains sun-kissed until sunset. Sunsets here are a special experience, casting a golden light that envelops the landscape."

Epic hikes with a view

It was Formisano who first directed me to the Trail of Little Forts. "A must-see," she called it.

The medium-difficulty trail runs along Anacapri's western coast between the Blue Grotto and Punta Carena. It's possible to start the trail at either end, but most trekkers begin at the Blue Grotto.

"So you can walk calmly immersed in nature, have a swim in Mèsola cove and get to the lighthouse by afternoon; just in time to enjoy an aperitif and the magnificent spectacle of the sunset over the sea," says Formisano.

Back in the Boffe quarter, Piazza della Pace is the origin point for two other brilliant Anacapri hikes; the Migliera trail and Mount Solaro.

"The Migliera is a narrow road winding through the countryside," says Formisano. "You'll come to a dramatic cliff overlook. Climb the ridge to the left; you'll get a really unique view of the faraglioni."

However, the view from Mount Solaro – Capri's highest point – is arguably the island's most famous. The 13-minute chairlift up the 589m mountain provides unforgettable views of terraced vineyards with the Amalfi Coast winking in the distance.

Vertigo? Summit Mount Solaro on foot by following Via Axel Munthe to Via Salita per il Solaro, keeping an eye out for stray mountain goats.

For any Anacapri hike, wear trail shoes; not your new Capri leather sandals. Before setting off, "stop at De Martino in Piazza Capri for an excellent panino", advises Formisano.

Ancient transport

Most people reach Anacapri by bus, but if you're fit, consider tackling the 1.7km Scala Fenicia, a 921-step flight of stone stairs chiselled into the cliffs by the Ancient Greeks; allowing countless generations of hardy Capresi to travel between Capri and Anacapri.

"It's not for everyone," admits Pep Minichino, founder of the Gulf of Naples-based blog, Campanica. Nonetheless, he encourages visitors to "embrace the experience! All you need is a Led Zeppelin anthem [in your head] for the energy to climb the famous zig-zag staircase."

The Scala Fenicia, which can be accessed from Marina Grande, leads straight up to Villa San Michele, the residence of the early 20th-Century Swedish physician and author Axel Munthe. The sprawling mansion – built over Roman ruins, featuring grand sitting rooms and Neoclassical gardens – is Anacapri's most touristed museum. But I came to climb, and my heart rate thunders as I bypass the tourist hordes at Marina Grande to undertake the trek, surrounded by olive trees, terraced lemon groves and, finally at the top, the sea.

"La Scala Fenicia is also open at night, so you can go down step by step," says Minichino. "Slowly. Aided in your descent by a cascade of lights and stars."

Not-so-secret grottoes

By far, Anacapri's most visited attraction is the Blue Grotto (Grotta Azzurra), famed for its magical blue phosphorescence. Chaotic overtourism has engulfed this natural phenomenon, and I am overwhelmed by the massive queue and dozens of tourist-packed boats bobbing outside the grotto. But, once inside, the azure-blue light is breathtaking, and I am comforted as the boat captain's serenade of O Sole Mio echoes through the cave.

Formisano's hack: "The best way to visit the Blue Grotto is to be on the entrance steps at 09:00, arriving by land from Anacapri, not by sea from Marina Grande," she says. "This way you'll be first in line. You won't have to wait your turn on a rocking boat."

But to truly enjoy the seas of Anacapri, Formisano suggests doing as the Capresi do: "Going down to the Blue Grotto, follow the signs for "gradola" to reach a small terrace overlooking the sea with an excellent restaurant, a place frequented almost exclusively by locals."

Minichino agrees: "The best swimming, diving and sunbathing in Anacapri."

Quiet village life

"After a day of outdoor activities in Anacapri, the best way to relax is to immerse yourself in the town's authentic, peaceful atmosphere," says Formisano.

My B&B, Giardino dell'Arte, is no sumptuous 19th-Century Capri Town palazzo, but my tidy room is floored with blue and white ceramic tiles, and orange blossoms spill over the wooden door. The courtyard overlooks a garden and the innkeeper offers me homemade ravioli alla Caprese; round ravioli stuffed with ricotta and herbs.

Strolling deeper into the Boffe quarter, I come upon La Casa Rossa, a bright red mansion built by the American colonel John Clay MacKowen in the early 20th Century; a quirky blend of architectural styles ranging from medieval to Middle Eastern. There are generational bakeries in leaf-shaded alleys where I buy fistfuls of sour cherry pastries and pizzette.

But the neighbourhood stunner is the Chiesa Monumentale di San Michele Arcangelo, a petite Baroque church with a show-stopping majolica floor in ochres and blues depicting the Fall of Eden. The tiles can only be viewed from strategically positioned wooden boards or from the balcony above. Wide-mouthed crocodiles, lions and hooved Biblical beasts leer up at me, Adam and Eve at the centre of the fray.

It's my favourite island view… until the rooftops.

Because Anacapri is still Capri, just off the Boffe quarter there are two opulent hotels; Jumeirah Capri Palace and the historic Hotel Caesar Augustus, a palatial structure dating to 1850 whose clifftop terrace seems to extend into the sea. I charm my way into both, and wind up on their rooftop bars as the sun sinks pink and purple into the Gulf of Naples, throwing Ischia and Procida into bas relief. Another limoncello Spritz, and I sink into a luxurious armchair, crossing my dusty ankles in their hiking boots; princess and athlete all at once.

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'You're supposed to hate snakes - I don't': The rescuers saving Arizona's rattlesnakes

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250516-the-rescuers-saving-arizonas-rattlesnakes, yesterday

Reports of human-snake encounters are on the rise – and some people react to a snake on their property by killing it. But is there a better way, for both people and the reptiles?

The rattlesnake hotline call handler had a question. Could Christa Reinach see whether the 3ft-long (1m) snake, currently stretched out on her patio, had black and white bands on its tail?

"Yes," said Reinach, eyeing the creature through her window. While the call handler couldn't be sure, those markings likely meant that Reinach had a venomous western diamondback rattlesnake on her property. A snake relocator would be there as soon as possible.

Reinach sat back and waited. Although a bite could potentially be fatal, she wasn't overly worried by the rattlesnake herself. And her dogs, two Chinese Shar-Peis, were safely locked inside the house. Reinach lives in Rio Verde Foothills, a community near Scottsdale, Arizona. Because this community is right by the desert, she had every expectation that snakes would appear on her land from time to time.

But she didn't want the snake sticking around for too long – particularly because of her horses, who might put their heads to the ground to inspect a snake, only to get bitten on the nose. "If the nose swells, then they cannot breathe," Reinach says.

Between 7,000-8,000 people are bitten by a venomous snake every year in the US; around five die. Pets are even more likely to suffer a bite, and to be killed by it. Of all US snake species, rattlesnakes are among the most dangerous. In a study of snakebites affecting 11,138 patients, published in 2019, the type of snake that caused the bite was identifiable in roughly half of those cases – and within that group, the most common bite was a rattlesnake bite. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that, for anyone bitten by a rattlesnake, 10-44% will have lasting injuries, such as losing a finger.

As property developers push further into snake habitats, the potential for human-snake encounters is on the rise, according to experts who spoke to the BBC. Climate change may also have an impact. It is eroding some snakes' habitats – as well as making them more likely to seek out, say, a cool garden on a hot day. But snakes play a crucial role in local ecosystems. Experts say that simply killing every snake that winds up on human property isn't just unethical; ultimately, it could cause problems for humans, too.

In certain cases, euthanising snakes is desirable, such as when invasive species begin taking too great a toll on native wildlife. Humanely killing those invasive snakes after capturing them can help to keep the ecosystem in balance.

But in Arizona and other parts of the US, some organisations are working to capture and relocate native snakes alive. Homebuilding projects in the state have expanded into desert areas, replacing shrubs with residential buildings. It means that people are increasingly living in rattlesnake hotspots. Local data suggests a steady rise in bite reports in recent years.

That's where Rattlesnake Solutions comes in. This local firm endeavours to rescue and move snakes when they're discovered somewhere that could pose a threat to humans or pets. The company indicates that rattlesnake relocation requests appear to be rising in certain mountainous residential areas.

It was Rattlesnake Solutions' number that Christa Reinach dialled when she found the eastern diamondback on her property last April. Not long after she made the call, a member of the company's team came out to her ranch.

Reinach watched as the snake rescuer gently scooped the rattlesnake up, aided by a reassuringly long pair of snake tongs, before setting the animal inside a large container with a fitted lid. Holes in the barrel ensured the snake wouldn't run out of air. The rescuer took the snake into the desert, where there are plenty of dens for it to hide in and rodents for it to hunt. A place where there are no patio lights overhead, just thousands of stars.

Reinach was happy with how everything went. "I really don't believe in killing anything when it is just out of place," she says.

Rattlesnake relocators take this approach not just because some people think native snakes are neat. Such snakes, actually, do a lot of good.

They eat rodents, helping to keep mice populations under control, for example. This is particularly beneficial to farmers, since large numbers of mice can devour astonishing amounts of grain. One Australian study estimated that populations of eastern brown snakes can remove thousands of mice per square kilometre of farmland every year. Rattlesnakes in North America play a similar role.

They might also help plant life by dispersing seeds. In 2018, US researchers published a study that showed how rattlesnakes sometimes consume seeds indirectly, by eating rodents carrying seeds in their mouths. By later excreting the seeds, the same snakes could help plants to grow in new areas.

Rattlesnake predation might even reduce the incidence of Lyme disease, which is spread by biting insects called ticks – snakes eat small mammals that ticks like to feed on.

But despite these benefits, some snake species are currently under threat. Numbers of the eastern diamondback rattlesnake are declining, for instance, and the Arizona black rattlesnake is potentially headed towards extinction. A 2022 study suggested that temperature rises caused by climate change will reduce the suitable habitat available to 71% of US rattlesnake species between now and 2040.

Living with snakes

Bryan Hughes was about five years old when he first held a snake in his hands. Members of a local herpetological society – a group that studies and looks after reptiles and amphibians – had brought a scarlet kingsnake to a nature centre near where he lived at the time, in Oregon. It was small but incredibly beautiful. Hughes marvelled at the reptile's rich red, creamy yellow and jet-black bands of colour. It was so shiny and clean, it almost looked wet.

"It just seemed so cool," he recalls. Searching for the words to explain the effect it had on him, he adds, "Holding that animal at that time felt like – it just hit something." After that, Hughes checked out every book about snakes from the library that he could find. Before long, he was looking for snakes in the wild. It felt like treasure hunting, he says.

After losing his marketing job following the 2008 financial crisis, he decided to try and make a living out of his fascination with snakes. Although he had no formal training, he had spent time volunteering for a herpetological association where he would rescue and relocate snakes that found their way into someone's garden or garage. There was so much demand that Hughes decided to launch a similar service as a business. He put together a logo, launched a website and, almost overnight, Rattlesnake Solutions was born.

Since then, Hughes and his colleagues in Arizona have relocated thousands of snakes – he estimates "around 20,000" in total, or roughly 1,500 a year – and Hughes has co-authored multiple scientific papers about rattlesnake encounters. Each snake relocation costs a homeowner around $150 (£113) and the work, from capture to release, typically takes about two hours.

There are many different species of snake native to Arizona, including multiple venomous rattlesnakes. The most common callouts are triggered by western diamondbacks and non-venomous Sonoran gopher snakes, both of which can grow to 6ft (2m) in length – making them pretty hard to miss should they slither into someone's garden.

Hughes says he and his colleagues always try to tell homeowners about the snake that they have been called in to capture. It is a key opportunity to inform a homeowner about the species they are dealing with, or to give advice on how to behave around venomous snakes. It's also a chance for an upsell. Rattlesnake Solutions offers a form of fencing that, when dug partially into the ground, can seal off the perimeter of a property from serpentine callers.

"The harder task is making sure the snake lives and isn't immediately a problem for somebody else," explains Hughes. "We need to find the right hole in the ground to put the snake in, or it will die." Rattlesnake Solutions aims to reach such a location within minutes or hours of retrieving a snake.

Part of the reason for the rise in snake encounters that Hughes and his colleagues have detected, he says, is because housing developers are repeatedly making "the same mistakes". They use large piles of rocks to protect tracts of land from eroding away during storms – but this makes a perfect hiding place for snakes. Also, developers often plant gardens full of leafy shrubs that require artificial watering. Snakes enjoy sheltering beneath those moist, cool plants.

Climate change is exacerbating the consequences of such mistakes. Hotter summers mean snakes – which don't have an internal system to regulate their body temperature – are more likely to seek shelter in people's lush gardens. In 2023, a record was broken in Phoenix, Arizona for the number of consecutive days, 55, at or above 110F (43.3C).

Plus, when the weather is hot and sunny – so long as it is not dangerously hot – people often spend more time outdoors. These trends mean that snakes and people are encountering each other more often. The frequency of those encounters and snakebites, too, might only continue to rise.

But humans need to learn to live alongside snakes, experts say.

"Rattlesnakes and people can coexist," says Emily Taylor, a snake specialist at Cal Poly in California who carries out native species snake relocations herself, on a voluntary basis. She describes Bryan Hughes as a friend but says she has no commercial connection to his company. She agrees that extensive residential home construction in desert areas is likely to promote encounters between people and snakes.

Back in Arizona, more homeowners might catch sight of a rattlesnake on their land in the coming years. Every spring, in particular, the snakes roam far and wide, looking for mates. Reinach, for one, accepts this. "We live in the desert," she says. "The snakes are just part of that ecology."

When they appear on TV or in movies, rattlesnakes are often sensationalised. They're depicted as menacing and vicious. Bryan Hughes, who has never got over his fascination with them, knows better. Rattlesnakes are wild animals whose lives are increasingly at risk from the expansion of human civilisation, and a society that doesn't really understand these reptiles.

"You're supposed to hate these things, you're supposed to kill these things – well, I don't," says Hughes. "I want to save them."

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Will 2025 be a sweet year for strawberry growers and consumers?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3rpn41wxdqo, today

The UK's strawberry season is off to a "stonking start", according to one grower, with warm days and cooler nights meaning they are sweeter than usual.

Marion Regan, managing director of Kent-based Hugh Lowe Farms, told the BBC that a "glorious spring" this year had contributed to a "really good crop" of the fruit.

That is good news for strawberry lovers, including those attending Wimbledon this year - one of Hugh Lowe Farms' clients.

This spring is currently ranking as the driest in over a century, according to the Met Office, with the Environment Agency recently warning there is a "medium" risk of a summer drought.

Ms Regan, who has been growing strawberries for more than 50 years, said she was noticing that this year's were a "good size" so far but that the "most marked thing" was their sweetness.

A combination of warm days and cool nights are known to make strawberries sweeter. The lower night temperatures allow them to rest and put the energy they have gained during the day into producing more natural sugars.

However, Ms Regan said it remained to be seen what the rest of their growing season - which lasts until November - would bring.

Asked about the warnings over potential drought conditions, she said that she, like all good soft fruit growers, have irrigation systems in place to mitigate the effects of extreme weather and to ensure their crops get a steady supply with water.

Nevertheless, some help from mother nature would not go amiss.

"All farmers could do with the rain, it would be nice," she added.

Pauline Goodall, a strawberry farmer from Limington in Somerset, told the BBC earlier this month that a warmer than average start to May was having a noticeable effect on the timing of this year's harvest.

"They're just ripening at a phenomenal rate," she said of her strawberries.

The Summer Berry Company, based in Colworth near Chichester, recently said that the warmer weather had helped increase its production to 200 tonnes – 50 tonnes more than by the same time last year - and that the plants were producing "lush-sweet tasting fruit".

This all bodes well for consumers keen to get their berry fix over summer, but how should we be making the most of these sweet flavours?

While some people may prefer to keep it classic with cream, there are other options available for those who are looking to be more adventurous.

According to the BBC Food, a little black pepper or balsamic vinegar helps to give them more flavour, while pairing them with some form of chilli can help balance the flavours out.

This year marks a very different start to the strawberry-growing season than in 2024, when the fruit was delayed in ripening following one of the wettest winters on record. Scientists have said climate change was a major factor in this weather.

It is also well-established that human-caused climate change is making spells of hot weather more likely, and that hot days have become more common in the UK.

Over the decade 2014-2023, days exceeded 28C more than twice as often as the 1961-1990 average, according to the Met Office.

BBC Weather forecaster Chris Fawkes said the coming week should provide some good strawberry-growing weather with long spells of sunshine and cool nights.

A few showers could come in the first half of the week, and some could turn to thunder and hail, which would not be welcomed by growers although the risk to individual farms would be very low.

A change in weather patterns next weekend and the following week would lead to rain becoming widespread, which would "probably welcomed by farmers given that this spring is likely to be the driest in over a century", he added.

Firefighters tackle large wildfire in south Wales

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g6873500lo, today

Firefighters spent several hours tackling a large grass fire that broke out in forestry in south Wales.

Crews, with up to eight teams involved, were called to Pontycymer, Bridgend county, at 15:00 BST on Saturday afternoon.

Police closed Bridgend Road in both directions, with diversions in place, and announced it would remain shut into Saturday night.

On Sunday morning, firefighters returned to extinguish lingering small fires and reinspect the area.

Hospital awarded £6.5m for solar power scheme

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8d140nd206o, today

Chesterfield Royal Hospital has been awarded £6.5m of government money to invest in green energy schemes.

The NHS trust that runs the hospital said the money would be used to install solar panels and associated battery storage.

Hospital bosses said the project would reduce energy costs and cut carbon emissions.

Steve Heppinstall, director of finance at the trust, said: "I am delighted to have received this investment, which will support us in reducing our carbon footprint and save us money which can be put back into patient care."

The grant has come from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero as part of a £100m fund to be shared between 78 NHS trusts.

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'Beach clean has been eye-opening' - dolphin volunteer

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c771rpnzpy0o, today

A Sussex man says his latest conservation fundraiser has been "eye-opening" as he prepares to walk, cycle and paddleboard thousands of kilometres while cleaning litter off the south coast's beaches.

Ben Boxer, 26, has been walking and paddle-boarding over 1,500km (932 miles), including hiking home from work in London, to raise funds for the Marine Conservation Society.

The corporate sustainability consultant, from Brighton, is now continuing his mission with a 750kg beach cleaning target, having been inspired by his travels to Canada.

Mr Boxer said: "Starting to weigh what I have been picking up has been eye-opening. I have been picking up a lot of plastic fishing lines.

"The UK could be a lot like Canada if we restored some of the wildlife. I hope to see some of that when I go out in the summer."

Mr Boxer, who last year cycled over 7,500km (4,660 miles) in aid of the Sussex Dolphin Project for whom he volunteers, was inspired to take on the challenge through his long-distance relationship with his then-partner, who lived in Vancouver.

His initial cycle challenge was designed to be the length of the flight from London to Vancouver – about 7,500km – and his latest set of events are also inspired by that distance.

Mr Boxer says he is completing the challenges in increments and is roughly two- thirds of the way through the fundraiser, Movement for Nature, which he started in January.

He said that this included walking back from his job in Paddington in London to Brighton via the Surrey Hills, High Weald and Lewes over the space of a weekend.

He added that he plans to travel to Canada again later this year, where he plans to complete a mountain bike climb through the British Columbian mountains.

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Firefighters' plea amid busy wildfire season

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c39x1jdx7vzo, today

Cumbria is under an extreme wildfire warning and the county's largely on-call fire service is braced to tackle the wide-reaching blazes. With a high number of the fires being caused by members of the public, two firefighters describe the dangers they face, and the toll it takes on their families.

Phil Gardner is ready for a busy summer.

As the on-call watch manager at Sedbergh fire station, he has noticed wildfires becoming increasingly common over the last 10 years.

"Everything's like a tinderbox," he said of the current situation.

The vegetation is dry and the lush growth has yet to come through, with problems already being caused.

Wildfires take a toll on people's livelihoods, obliterate wildlife and put firefighters' lives at risk, on-call watch manager at Appleby fire station Neil Aitken added.

"Come to enjoy the countryside, but be safe, be responsible," Mr Aitken said.

'You don't get any warnings'

On-call firefighters maintain regular jobs, but respond to emergencies - dropping whatever they may be doing to respond to a call out.

Mr Gardner, 44, remembers watching a nativity performance at the school village hall when his pager went off, alerting him to an incident.

"There was a big rattle of chairs and five of us ran out," he said.

"Apparently, the kids just carried on."

Mr Aitken, 62, remembers putting the first roast potato in his mouth one Christmas Day when he got called to attend a fire.

"Four hours later we're still out, and I come back to a Christmas lunch that's been under the grill for hours," he laughed.

He recalled a wildfire in Lancashire he and his team were called to.

"We went down initially for 24 hours, 10 days later we managed to get back home," Mr Aitken said.

Mr Gardner said: "There's no predictability about it either, you know?

"It could happen at anytime, day or night. You don't get any warnings."

'Worst day of somebody's life'

Tackling wildfires is a long, hot and arduous job, Mr Gardner said.

Getting all the equipment up the Cumbrian fells, sometimes on foot, is an "absolute nightmare", he added.

"You can't work for long in the fire kit because it does get very hot," he said.

"You're literally stood, like, a metre or two metres away."

Ten to twelve hour days during those types of incidents are common, Mr Aitken said.

Mr Aitken, who like Mr Gardner joined the service at the age of 19, said he was getting to the twilight of his career but, in his head, he was still enthusiastic to help.

"Where you're going out, it's probably the worst day of somebody's life, and you can go and you can make a difference," he said.

"It's just my body shouts a bit at sometimes."

'Carelessness risks lives'

They are asking people to tidy up after themselves when they have been out in the countryside.

One wildfire was caused by a bit of broken glass which had magnified the suns' rays and sparked a blaze, another by a disposable BBQ.

The direction of the wind meant the BBQ was still there, with a couple of square kilometres of burnt grassland in its wake, Mr Gardner recalled.

"It can be annoying at times," Mr Aitken said.

"Just one person's carelessness, it's putting other people's lives - firefighters' lives -at risk."

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'Wind theft': The mysterious effect plaguing wind farms

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250506-renewable-energys-trouble-with-wind-theft, 12 days ago

As wind farms expand, some can accidentally "steal" each others' wind – causing worries over some countries' energy transition to net zero.

As offshore wind farms are expanding around the world in the race to meet net zero climate targets, a worrying phenomenon is attracting growing attention: in some conditions, wind farms can "steal" each other's wind.

"Wind farms produce energy, and that energy is extracted from the air. And the extraction of energy from the air comes with a reduction of the wind speed," says Peter Baas, a research scientist at Whiffle, a Dutch company specialising in renewable energy and weather forecasting. The wind is slower behind each turbine within the wind farm than in front of it, and also behind the wind farm as a whole, compared with in front of it, he explains. "This is called the wake effect."

Simply put, as the spinning turbines of a wind farm take energy from the wind, they create a wake and slow the wind beyond the wind farm. This wake can stretch more than 100km (62 miles) for very large, dense offshore wind farms, under certain weather conditions. (Though more typically, the wakes extend for tens of kilometres, according to researchers). If the wind farm is built upwind of another wind farm, it can reduce the downwind producer's energy output by as much as 10% or more, studies suggest.

Colloquially, the phenomenon is known as wind theft – though as Eirik Finserås, a Norwegian lawyer specialising in offshore wind energy, notes: "The term wind theft is a bit misleading because you can't steal something that can't be owned – and nobody owns the wind."

Still, he points out that the phenomenon can have a number of negative consequences for wind farm developers, and even, potentially, cause problems across borders (more on this later). There are in fact a number of ongoing disputes between wind farm developers over alleged wind theft, raising concerns in countries that rely on ramping up offshore wind energy to meet their net zero climate targets.

While the problem of wind theft has been long known in principle, it is growing more pressing due to the scale and speed of the offshore expansion, and the size and density of offshore wind farms, experts say.

In the North Sea, which is seeing an offshore wind boom, the impact of such wakes on offshore energy production is likely to increase in the next decades as the sea becomes more crowded with wind farms, according to simulations by Baas together with researchers from the Delft University of Technology and the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute. The denser and bigger the wind farm, the stronger the wake effect, Baas says.

A new research project in the UK, launched this spring, aims to provide a clearer picture of the wake effect to help governments and developers improve their planning, and avoid disputes. The project will model wakes and their impact on wind farms' output in 2030, when there will be thousands more turbines in UK waters than today, says project lead Pablo Ouro, a research fellow in civil engineering at the University of Manchester.

"We have seen wake effects for years, and knew they happen," says Ouro. "The problem is that in order to achieve net zero, we need to deploy a given amount of offshore wind capacity. So for 2030, we need to have three times more capacity than we have now, which means that in less than five years, we need to deploy thousands more turbines," he explains.

"[Some of] these turbines are going to be operating very close to those that are already operating, so things are getting more and more crowded. So these wake effects are now starting to have more impact," he says.

The UK government has pledged that by 2030, Britain will generate enough power from renewable sources, such as wind, to cover its electricity needs. A 2025 UK government policy paper highlights the need to better understand wake effects in this context, describing them as an emerging issue that creates uncertainty for offshore wind farms.

Currently, there are a number of disputes in the UK between offshore wind farm developers over potential wake effects, Ouro says. In his view, these disputes are partly caused by uncertainty over the precise impact of wakes. For example, current UK guidelines on how much offshore wind farms should be spaced apart to avoid wake effects, may not reflect the actual extent the wakes can reach, he says. Also, because offshore wind farms are built in clusters, it can be difficult to assess how they might all affect each others' energy output, he explains.

"When you have two wind farms, it's very simple to assess that wind farm A is interacting this much with wind farm B, and vice versa. But what if you have six wind farms, how do they interact with each other? That's what we don't know – but it's going to be happening for sure," as more and more wind farms are built, Ouro says.

"The other issue is that turbines are getting very big," he notes. Turbines have been growing taller and their blades getting larger to capture more energy from the wind. The latest turbines have blades that can span more than 100m (328ft), the length of a football pitch. Among the biggest offshore turbines, a single one can power around 18,000 to 20,000 average European households. But this increase in size could worsen the wake effect since a bigger rotor diameter may create a longer wake, Ouro says, adding that more research should be done to understand the impact.

Grabbing the best spots?

Finserås led a study of wind wakes and regulatory gaps while undertaking doctoral research at the University of Bergen in Norway. The study analyses how the wake of a planned wind farm in Norway could negatively affect a downwind farm in Denmark. Finserås warns that unless the problem of managing wake effects is addressed, it could result in legal and political conflicts and make it harder to invest in wind energy.

"The North Sea and particularly the Baltic Sea, in Europe at least, will likely be a hub for a massive-scale build-out of offshore wind farms," Finserås says. "So this issue of wake effects will very likely permeate the energy transition in the North Sea, and elsewhere."

From an investment perspective, even relatively small wake effects can cause problems for offshore developers, Finserås says. "There are huge costs to building an offshore wind farm," he explains, due to the sheer scale of these farms as well as all the complex related work, including deploying special-purpose vessels. To justify their investment and make a profit, "it's very important for a developer to be able to project that the wind farm will produce a given amount of electricity for 25 or 30 years", the typical lifespan of a wind farm, he says. Even a relatively small, unexpected reduction in that energy output can upset this investment calculation and make the wind farm not financially viable, Finserås says.

If operators or countries try to avoid these wake effects by securing the best spots for themselves, it can create another risk, he warns: wake effects may cause what's known as "the 'race to the water' phenomenon, whereby states rush development in order to reap benefits from the best-yet available wind resources". Rushing development could then increase the risk of ignoring other important aspects of wind farm planning, such as protecting the marine environment, he says.

Ouro, at the University of Manchester, also sees a growing risk of cross-border problems: "All the disagreements that are filed to date [in the UK] are between UK wind farms, but what if tomorrow there's a dispute between a UK wind farm and a Dutch, Belgian or French wind farm? So, the sooner we anticipate this situation, and lay the groundwork for: 'Ok, that's how we're going to address this,' the better. It reduces uncertainty and is much better for the industry."

Finserås recommends European countries address the problem of wind theft by cooperating and consulting with one another when planning wind farms, as well as introducing clear regulations that help manage wind as a shared resource. Essentially, wind could be treated like other shared marine resources for which there is regulation, such as oil deposits that cross state boundaries, or fish, he suggests. "It's not like [states] haven't regulated similar issues before," he says.

To tackle these thorny issues, it's helpful that the European countries involved generally have good political relations, says Finserås.

"We have to decarbonise energy sectors, and we have to do so very quickly, that's the ambition of the European Union when it comes to offshore wind policies," he says. "So there's no question that all of this is happening very quickly. But we shouldn't be prevented from finding good solutions just because things are happening quickly." After all, he says, it's in nobody's interest to fight over the wind. "There is an incentive to cooperate to find equitable solutions between states, despite the fact that [the wind energy expansion] is going ahead at full speed."

It's not only Europe that's racing to better understand wake effects. China, for example, is rapidly expanding its offshore wind farms, and researchers there have cast a spotlight on the growing impact of wake effects on Chinese offshore wind farms.

Since the project was announced in March, Ouro has been flooded with emails from people interested in it, which in his view shows just how urgent the issue is. "We need to understand this, we need to progress more on the modelling, so everyone is confident, because we need this amount of offshore wind to get to net zero. We have to deliver this."

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A new fully charged EV battery in five minutes: Are China's swap stations the future of electric cars?

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250506-are-chinas-swap-stations-the-future-of-electric-cars, 13 days ago

China has been trialling battery swaps for electric cars for years. Are they a viable solution to range anxiety?

At a battery swap station near the Beijing Olympics Sports Centre, the owner of a Nio car watches as a fully charged battery is placed into his vehicle. The station's staff drive his car onto a platform with an integrated system which removes the depleted battery from beneath the car and loads it a fresh one. The whole process takes no more than five minutes.

Behind him, a few other customers wait in line under an overcast sky, the iconic Bird's Nest Olympic stadium not far in the distance. Outside the battery swap station, a slogan reads, "Battery swap stations are equivalent to gas stations for electric vehicles".

Battery swapping – which simply means changing out depleted electric vehicle (EV) batteries for fresh, recharged ones – is an alternative to charging batteries inside the vehicle, as is used for the vast majority of the world's electric cars.

While battery swap is still largely a nascent sector, China has the world's most developed model by far. While it's mainly used for larger vehicles – close to half of the electric heavy-duty trucks sold in China in 2023 were equipped with battery-swap technology – the country is also seriously experimenting with swaps for personal cars.

Chinese electric vehicle company Nio has now built over 3,300 battery swap stations in China, while Catl, China's (and the world's) largest EV battery producer, recently announced plans with oil giant Sinopec to build a "battery-swapping ecosystem across the whole nation".

Battery swapping can have some big advantages, in particular the lower amount of time it takes compared to recharging a battery while its inside a car. Still, it faces obstacles in China, which is also developing fast charging infrastructure at breakneck speed.

In fact, experts say that it may be in the countries which, unlike China, remain in the early stage of a switch to EVs that battery swaps prove most useful for supporting electric car uptake – especially when it comes to addressing range anxiety among drivers.

Especially during the early days of electric vehicles, they were difficult to promote on a large scale due to range anxiety, says Daizong Liu, East Asia director of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) in New York. A lack of charging facilities led to longer waiting times and interruptions during trips for EV users. Battery swap technology soon entered the field as a potential solution.

Although first tested and used more than a century ago before electric cars fell out of favour, in more recent decades battery swaps for electric cars were initially picked up by EV battery swap company Better Place, which was established in Israel in 2007. Operating in Denmark and Israel, it aimed to reduce the cost of batteries as well as reduce range anxiety and charging times, and received almost $1bn (£760m) in funding. But the company eventually went bankrupt in 2013, citing difficulties in consumer adoption and securing sufficient support from automakers, the Times of Israel reported at the time.

Just weeks after Better Place declared bankruptcy, Tesla's plans to launch its own 90 second battery swap service were widely reported, with initial swapping locations along routes between Los Angeles and San Francisco, and Boston and Washington. But just two years later, it began phasing swapping out again, citing low market acceptance.

China's State Grid – the largest utility company in the world – began researching battery swaps for electric vehicles around 2006. It was seen as a way around a large-scale transformation of the power grid, as its reliance on pre-charged batteries meant charging could be done at more flexible times and places.

"After comprehensive consideration, China decided to have a route to do battery swaps," says Liu.

At the time, China had few electric vehicles on its roads; even a decade later it had only 500,000. By 2023, it had 16 million pure electric and six million more hybrid cars, with more than one in every three new car registrations that year electric or hybrid. It also had some 8.6 million charging points, over a third of them added in 2023 alone.

Plug-in battery cars have dominated EV growth in China, but by 2021 it had also built at least 900 battery swap stations. That same year, it officially launched a pilot battery swap scheme in 11 cities. These projects are now scaling quickly: in 2023, China added around 1,600 new battery swap stations, bringing the total to some 3,570 stations, according to Chinese government data.

However, not all EVs are capable of battery swapping – the stations must be compatible with the car's battery system, so only certain models that are designed for it can make the switch.

At present, battery swaps are most widely used by commercial vehicles such as taxis and logistics vehicles, not passenger cars. Several Chinese experts told the BBC that's because, in several ways, the battery swap model has proven to be less advantageous than simply charging.

A two-horse race

In China, charging technology is constantly developing. Mainstream electric vehicles in China will support high-voltage fast charging of 800V and above by this year, according to one report. Major Chinese automakers such as BYD, Xpeng and Nio have now developed vehicles equipped with super-charging technology, which takes 15 minutes or so to charge batteries from 10% to about 80%. In March 2025, BYD announced a new charging system which it says can deliver 400km (250 miles) of range in five minutes of charging, making them twice as fast as Tesla's superchargers. BYD plans to roll out a network of 4,000 of these "flash-charging" stations across China.

By the end of 2026, over 13 million vehicles in China are expected to be equipped with high-voltage fast charging. "Overall, range anxiety is decreasing," says Liu. The country accounted for almost two-thirds of the 17 million EVs sold globally in 2024, a surge driven by China's push to reduce dependence on imported oil and establish global leadership in green technologies.

The ownership question is another thing holding back battery swaps for private vehicles, both in China and elsewhere. Battery swaps inherently require car owners to relinquish ownership of a particular battery. If a car owner has just bought a new car and swaps its battery on the motorway, for example, they will very likely receive an older battery. Many car companies are aware of this issue, and some have adopted a business model of separating the car and the battery: consumers buy their cars without batteries, which they rent directly from the company.

But this business model requires automakers to own and manage a large number of batteries, tying up significant capital and increasing financial risk.

Popularising battery swap stations will also require automakers to accept a unified battery pack standard, so batteries can be interchanged more freely, says Jing Yang, director at the Asia-Pacific corporate ratings division of Fitch Ratings, a credit rating agency based in New York. Carmakers, however, are reluctant to do this, she says: mastering their own battery technologies is an important way for them to maintain industry influence.

And while battery swaps would appear to solve range anxiety, it currently isn't always the case. A Nio owner I meet at the battery swap station near the Beijing Olympic Sports Centre tells me that while the time to swap the battery itself is indeed very fast, the swap stations need to reliably have a fully charged battery and few people in line to avoid long wait times. Once, he says, when visiting the suburbs, he almost missed an important meeting back in the city because no fully charged batteries were available.

Taxi swaps

For commercial vehicles, such as heavy-duty trucks, taxis and buses, such problems are easier to solve. These vehicles often operate in more predictable patterns, with centralised management, fixed routes or designated service areas, making it easier to plan and coordinate battery swaps efficiently. Battery swapping heavy-duty trucks are currently being widely promoted in China through both government policies and private companies, says Lulu Xue, mobility lead at the China office of the World Resources Institute, a global non-profit.

"The purchase cost of battery electric heavy-duty trucks was very high when they were first introduced, and batteries accounted for a large part of it," she says. "If the battery is separated from the vehicle and users only buy the vehicle body, the price is almost the same as the purchase cost of diesel trucks."

The Chinese government has extended considerable financial assistance to battery swapping schemes. In its 2021 pilot programme, three of the 11 cities are primarily focusing on battery swapping for trucks. Some provinces in China have also provided substantial financial incentives for the advancement of battery swapping technology. In 2021, China's Hainan Province announced a one-time subsidy of 15% of the initial investment in equipment for battery swapping stations built and put into operation between 2021 and 2022.

More like this:

• Where EV batteries go to die – and be reborn

• 'A bullet train for power': China's ultra-high-voltage electricity grid

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China has been able to widely promote battery swap stations so quickly since it is home to the main lithium-ion battery manufacturers, and thus has a relatively inexpensive and abundant supply of batteries, according to Yihao Xie, a researcher on heavy-duty vehicles at the Washington-based International Council on Clean Transportation.

Using battery swaps for commercial vehicles also has its obstacles, however. Swap stations can occupy a large area, says Yang, and there tends to be a scarcity of land and power grid resources in the core areas where they are needed, which can constraint rapid expansion. "At present, battery swap operators have tried to deepen cooperation with some traditional energy companies to obtain such core resources," she adds.

However, Liu points out that battery swap stations are a similar size to petrol stations, which can be easily repurposed to be battery swaps. The China National Petroleum Corporation, for example, has already built both charging and battery replacement facilities at some of its gas stations.

Perks and pitfalls

Some companies are also trying more specialised methods. Like many facilities in China, using land for battery swap stations requires approval and filing, making the entire cycle relatively long, and the land rent also increases the cost of the stations. To avoid these, some companies have developed mobile battery swap vehicles, says Xue, which have the added benefit of being able to charge batteries in locations with lower electricity prices, then swapping them in areas where on-site charging would be more costly or less feasible.

Liu notes that for commercial vehicles, battery ownership concerns are easier to manage, since companies can purchase batteries in bulk or rely on third-party providers. But the issue is still affecting how often at least some drivers of these vehicles use swap stations.

One taxi driver I speak to in Beijing has a taxi with both charging and battery swapping technology, meaning he can choose to charge or swap batteries. The taxi company he works for stipulates that drivers must use the battery swap mode at least once a month as part of a trial. "If I get a good battery, I won't change it," he tells me. "I will wait a month before changing it." Using the battery swap service is also more expensive than charging, he adds.

Taxi drivers who get a battery with a poor battery life at the swap station sometimes quarrel with the staff, according to a worker I meet at a Beijing taxi swap station. "If the driver gets a bad battery, some of them will yell at us. I tell them, yelling at us doesn't help, we're just here to swap the batteries. Some drivers even say they'll call the police – it's happened many times."

Currently, says Xue, there is a clear business model in China for battery swaps for heavy-duty trucks, especially for intensive but short-distance uses such as in factories and mines.

Xie agrees. "Battery-swapping in commercial vehicles, especially heavy-trucks, is still faster than the fastest charger technologies currently in the market," he says. "Trucks carry batteries with much larger capacities and those are just slower to charge until much more powerful chargers become available." These advantages are unlikely to weaken even as fast charging technology develops, he adds.

But there is another potential reason to develop battery swap stations: to use them as energy storage stations, say Liu and Xue. Due to the variable nature of renewables like solar and wind, which are booming in China, a huge amount of energy storage is needed to ensure the stability of the power grid. EV batteries, including those in battery swap stations, are one way of providing this, says Liu. Battery swap companies could use their batteries to earn the difference in electricity prices between peaks and troughs, he says.

Some battery swap operators are already eyeing up this opportunity, but so far no stations in China or elsewhere are used in this way. It could provide another big benefit though, says Xie: supporting the grid when local distribution grids are knocked out by extreme weather. One hundred battery swap stations would be equivalent to a 50MW energy storage power station, notes one industry report.

Going global

It's possible that battery swaps may only ever be a relatively niche offering in China, where both EVs and their charging infrastructure are now widespread. But other countries have struggled to adopt EVs, and battery swaps may in fact play their most useful role in countries where EVs are not yet popular, Xie says, especially as more Chinese EV manufacturers bring their products and technology abroad.

Battery swaps are already being explored outside China. India and several other South East Asian countries are developing battery swap technology for scooters and motorbikes, and in 2022 India announced a new battery swap policy to promote the sales of electric cars. In 2023, Taiwan-based battery swap company Gogoro announced a $2.5bn (£1.9bn) partnership with the Indian state of Maharashtra and local supplier Belrise to build smart battery-swapping and energy infrastructure. Kenya similarly announced a partnership with electric vehicle and battery swap company Spiro in 2023. Meanwhile, after trials with Uber in San Francisco in 2021, California battery-swapping start-up Ample now has partnerships to integrate its swap station technology with Netherlands-based carmaker Stellantis and Tokyo's EV infrastructure.

And battery swaps could still solve the range anxiety of some in China too. Growth in China's EV market is currently driven by plug-in hybrid models, Yang says, while growth of pure EV sales has slowed significantly – showing that the convenience of energy replenishment is still valued by EV drivers. Both battery swapping and fast charging promote demand for pure electric vehicles. It remains to be seen what the final balance of these two technologies will prove to work best.

As per the Nio slogan, battery swaps can be seen as a sort of "gas station" for EVs. Whether they can ever reach the scale of gas stations, or even of EV recharging stations remains to be seen.

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Mosquito-borne killer disease threatens blackbirds

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj3x6v05ly6o, 4 days ago

A mosquito-borne disease freshly arrived in Britain has spread large distances, with scientists racing to understand the risks to wild birds.

Infected insects can spread the deadly Usutu virus to blackbirds, raising fears for the famous songsters.

New data shows Usutu has spread across much of southern England in five years, and has been linked to declines in some blackbird populations.

Scientists are monitoring its spread amid warnings that mosquitoes and the diseases they carry may expand their range under climate change.

"We've seen that the virus has spread further than we thought it might do, and it's persisted," Dr Arran Folly of the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) told the BBC.

Scientists at the APHA in Weybridge, Surrey, have been tracking mosquito-borne diseases in wild birds for decades, amid warnings that climate change is turning Europe into a potential breeding ground for the insects.

Longer summers, hotter temperatures and heavy rainfall are creating conditions for the nuisance insects to move into areas that were previously inhospitable to them.

Until 2020, all results came back clear. Then, after the summer heatwave of that year, Usutu was detected in several blackbirds in Greater London.

"Blackbirds specifically are quite susceptible to the virus and since 2020 we've found a decline in blackbirds of approximately 40% in Greater London," said Dr Folly.

"It gives an indication that in the future we might get other viruses that are transmitted by mosquitoes emerging in the UK."

Diseases such as Usutu are a growing threat to wild birds, amid a host of other pressures, including habitat loss, climate change and pesticide use.

What is Usutu?

* Usutu virus was first detected more than half a century ago around southern Africa's Usutu River

* It has since spread around the world, reaching Europe three decades ago, and was picked up for the first time in the UK in 2020

* Blackbirds are particularly susceptible to the virus, which can also infect horses and, from time to time, humans.

The latest data shows that Usutu has spread further than the scientists expected.

It has now been detected in wild birds across much of southern England, at least as far west as Dorset and as far north as Cambridgeshire.

How big a risk Usutu poses to wild birds is uncertain. The virus has been linked to mass die-offs of blackbirds elsewhere in Europe, though that doesn't seem to be the case in Britain.

And the blackbird remains one of the commonest garden birds with numbers holding steady in many parts of the country, especially in rural areas, and in the north.

To untangle the puzzle – and gather more data on blackbird numbers – the scientists have joined forces with the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO).

They are calling for volunteers to count blackbirds in their gardens over the summer months to find out more about the comings and goings of the birds.

Around now blackbirds are breeding and raising their young, frequently seen hopping along the ground and singing from the branches of trees on summer evenings.

Lucy Love, a garden birdwatch ambassador for the BTO, knows the blackbirds in her gardens by sight and has grown fond of them.

"They're beautiful birds – intelligent, friendly and they have the most beautiful song with a lovely melodic tone to it," she explained.

"And we cannot lose them – they're a vital part of our ecosystem."

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How the humble chestnut traced the rise and fall of the Roman Empire

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250513-what-chestnuts-reveal-about-the-roman-empire, 5 days ago

The chestnut trees of Europe tell a hidden story charting the fortunes of ancient Rome and the legacy it left in the continent's forests.

The ancient Romans left an indelible imprint on the world they enveloped into their empire. The straight, long-distance roads they built can still be followed beneath the asphalt of some modern highways. They spread aqueducts, sewers, public baths and the Latin language across much of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. But what's perhaps less well known is the surprising way they transformed Europe's forests.

According to researchers in Switzerland, the Romans had something of a penchant for sweet chestnut trees, spreading them across Europe. But it wasn't so much the delicate, earthy chestnuts they craved – instead, it was the fast-regrowing timber they prized most, as raw material for their empire's expansion. And this led to them exporting tree cultivation techniques such as coppicing too, which have helped the chestnut flourish across the continent.

"The Romans' imprint on Europe was making it into a connected, economical space," says Patrik Krebs, a geographer at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL). "They built a single system of governance all over Europe, they improved the road system, the trade system, the military system, the connection between all the different people all over Europe."

As a result of that connection, "specific skills in arboriculture [the cultivation of trees] were shared by all the different civilisations", he says.

The arboreal legacy of the Romans can still be found today in many parts of Europe – more than 2.5 million hectares (6 million acres) of land are covered by sweet chestnut trees, an area equivalent in size to the island of Sardinia. The trees have become an important part of the landscape in many parts of the continent and remain part of the traditional cuisine of many countries including France and Portugal.

Krebs works at a branch of the WSL in Switzerland's Ticino canton on the southern slope of the Alps, an area that is home to giant chestnut trees, where many specimens have girths greater than seven metres (23ft). By the time of the Middle Ages, sweet chestnuts were a staple food in the area. But it was the Romans who brought the trees there – before their arrival in Ticino, sweet chestnuts did not exist there, having been locally wiped out in the last ice age, which ended more than 10,000 years ago.

Using a wide range of evidence, including paleoecological pollen records and ancient Roman texts, Krebs' research team analysed the distribution of both sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) and walnut (Juglans regia) trees in Europe before, during and after the Roman empire. Sweet chestnut and walnut trees are considered useful indicators of the human impact on a landscape, as they generally benefit from human management – such as pruning and supressing competing trees. Their fruits and timber are also highly desirable.

In countries such as Switzerland, France and parts of Germany, sweet chestnut pollen was near-absent from the wider pollen record – such as, for example, fossil pollen found in sediment and soil samples – before the Romans arrived, according to the study and previous research. But as the Roman Empire expanded, the presence of sweet chestnut pollen grew. Specifically, the percentage of sweet chestnut pollen relative to other pollen across Europe "shows a pattern of a sudden increase around year zero [0AD], when the power of the Roman empire was at its maximum" in Europe, Krebs says.

After the Barbarian sacks of Rome around 400-500 AD, which signalled the beginning of the end of the Roman Empire amid widespread upheaval, the chestnut pollen percentage then drops temporarily. This decrease suggests that many of the Roman-era orchards were abandoned, Krebs says, probably not only due to the fall of the Roman Empire, but also, because a wider population decline in many areas at the time.

"Juglans [walnut] has a different pattern," says Krebs. The spread of pollen from these trees is less clearly associated with the rise and fall of the Roman empire, he and his colleagues found. Its distribution around Europe had already increased before the arrival of the Romans, perhaps pointing to the ancient Greeks and other pre-Roman communities as playing a role.

But while the Romans can perhaps take credit for spreading the sweet chestnut around mainland Europe, some separate research suggests they were not behind the arrival of these trees in Britain. Although the Romans have previously been credited with bringing sweet chestnuts to the British isles – where they are still a key part of modern woodlands – research by scientists at the University of Gloucestershire in the UK found the trees were probably introduced to the island later.

Sweet chestnut trees can be striking features of the landscape. They can grow up to 35m (115ft) tall and can live for up to 1,000 years in some locations. Most of those alive today will not have been planted by the Romans, but many will be descendants or even cuttings taken from those that ancient Roman legionnaires and foresters brought with them to the far-flung corners of the empire. The oldest known sweet chestnut tree in the world is found in Sicily, Italy, and is thought to be up to 4,000 years old.

Wood for fortresses

Why did the Romans so favour the sweet chestnut tree? According to Krebs, they did not tend to value the fruit much – in Roman culture, it was portrayed as a rustic food of poor, rural people in Roman society, such as shepherds. But the Roman elites did appreciate sweet chestnut's ability to quickly sprout new poles when cut back, a practice known as coppicing. This speedy regrowth came in handy given the Romans' constant need for raw materials for their military expansion.

"Ancient texts show that the Romans were very interested in Castanea, especially for its resprouting capacity," he says. "When you cut it, it resprouts very fast and produces a lot of poles that are naturally very high in tannins, which makes the wood resistant and long-lasting. You can cut this wood and use it for building fortresses, for any kind of construction, and it quickly sprouts again."

Coppicing can also have a rejuvenating effect on the chestnut tree, even after decades of neglect.

In Ticino, chestnut trees became more and more dominant under the Romans, according to the pollen record. They remained popular even after the Roman Empire fell, Krebs says.

One explanation for this is that locals had learned to plant and care for the tree from the Romans, and then came to appreciate chestnuts as a nourishing, easy-to-grow food – by the Middle Ages, they had become a staple food in many parts of Europe. The chestnuts, for example, could be dried and ground into flour. Mountain communities would also have welcomed the fact that the trees thrived even on rocky slopes, where many other fruit trees and crops struggled, Krebs adds.

"The Romans' achievement was to bring these skills from far away, to enable communication between people and spread knowledge," he says. "But the real work of planting the chestnut tree orchards was probably done by local populations."

When they are cultivated in an orchard for their fruit, sweet chestnut trees benefits from management such as pruning dead or diseased wood, as well as the lack of competition, all of which prolong their life, Krebs says: "In an orchard, there's just the chestnut tree and the meadow below, it's like a luxury residence for the tree. Whereas when the orchard is abandoned, competitor trees arrive and take over."

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Research on abandoned chestnut orchards has shown that when left alone, chestnut trees are crowded out by other species. In wild forests, "Castanea reaches a maximum age of about 200 years, then it dies," Krebs says. "But here in Ticino, where chestnuts have been cultivated, they can reach up to almost 1,000 years, because of their symbiosis with humans."

By the end of the Roman era, the sweet chestnut had become the dominant tree species in Ticino, displacing a previous forest-scape of alders and other trees, the pollen record shows: "This was done by humans. It was a complete reorganisation of the vegetal landscape," Krebs explains.

In fact, pollen evidence from a site in Ticino at some 800m (2,625ft) above sea level shows that during the Roman period there was a huge increase in Castanea pollen, as well as cereal and walnut-tree pollen, suggesting an orchard was kept there, Krebs says. (Read more about the traces left by passing Romans and other ancient civilisations in the Alps.)

By the Middle Ages, long after the Romans were gone, many historical texts document the dominance of sweet chestnut production and the importance of foods such as chestnut flour in Ticino, says Krebs. "In our valleys, chestnuts were the most important pillar of subsistence during the Middle Ages."

People in Ticino continued to look after the trees, planting them, coppicing them, pruning them and keeping out the competition, over centuries, Krebs says: "That's the nature of this symbiosis: humans get the fruit [and wood] of the chestnut tree – and the chestnut gets longevity", as well as the opportunity to hugely extend its natural area of distribution, he explains.

A similar transfer of chestnut-related knowledge to locals may have happened elsewhere in the Roman Empire, he suggests – and possibly left linguistic traces. As a separate study shows, across Europe, the word for "chestnut" is similar to the Latin "castanea" in many languages.

Today, Europe's sweet chestnut trees are facing threats including disease, climate change and the abandonment of traditional orchards as part of the decline in rural life. But chestnut trails and chestnut festivals in Ticino and other parts of the southern Alps still celebrate the history of sweet chestnuts as a past staple food – reminding us of the long legacy of both Roman and local ideas and skills in tree-care.

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'It's a barrier dividing us': How a concrete seawall split this Japanese island village

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250512-how-a-concrete-seawall-split-this-japanese-island-village, 6 days ago

Locals and ecologists are troubled by the potential impacts a looming seawall could have on the biodiverse Japanese island of Amami Ōshima. So is there another way to protect its beach?

Rising before dawn on an early summer day in July 2022, Hisami Take took a walk along Katoku beach in Amami Ōshima, an island nestled in the far south of Japan. Looking along the beach, she saw an animal track on the sand stretching from the ocean, then U-turning back into the water.

The track, she says, likely belonged to an endangered loggerhead sea turtle that is known to come ashore to lay eggs. "This year, no eggs were found. Maybe the shiny orange construction rope is signalling the turtles to turn away."

Take, a 49-year-old Amami resident, and many other locals on the island fear that an enormous concrete seawall about to be constructed on the beach in place of the rope could make such tracks more common by blocking endangered species like the turtle from coming to the beach. The construction firm and local state government, Kagoshima Prefecture, did not respond to the BBC's request for comment.

Opinion on the years-long development has split the local community. Scientists and many locals worry the seawall could immovably obstruct the already threatened wildlife of the biodiverse island and argue that natural solutions such as planting local species would provide better protection from coastal erosion. Advocates of the seawall, meanwhile, say it's necessary to give both people and local land vital protection from coastal erosion and typhoons, with some seeing it as welcome infrastructure development.

It's a debate that goes to the heart of how coastal communities will respond to rising seas and more intense storms due to climate change. Hard coastal protection measures like concrete seawalls have been implemented in some areas of the world for decades, but many scientists now favour natural defences, which aim to improve local ecosystems to bolster resilience. When the two are in competition, which wins out?

With its white beaches and beautiful coral reefs, Amami Ōshima is widely known for its candid natural beauty. While it makes up only 0.5% of Japan's land, much of it is a biodiversity hotspot: it is home to 95 globally endangered species, 75 of them endemic, and over 1,800 species of plants. In July 2021, a part of Amami Oshima, together with sites on three neighbouring islands, was registered as a Unesco World Heritage Site for its outstanding ecological significance.

Amami retains many of its rich forests and mangroves, but Katoku is its last coastal village without concrete defences and with a free-flowing river. The area is home to endangered species such as the leatherback turtle, which has lived since before the dinosaur extinction, and the Amami rabbit, an ancient species sometimes referred to as a "living fossil".

"I could not believe a place like this existed in Amami – so mystical and almost divine," says Take, recalling her first visit to Katoku when she was 19. "Growing up in Amami, I never had a 'real' beach around. All the other beaches and rivers [on Amami Ōshima island] were hardened with concrete, but Katoku still has a beach, a river delta where freshwater flows freely from the Katoku mountains and a dynamic sand dune."

Now, though, an enormous seawall is being constructed at the beach by Kagoshima Prefecture. It says it is building the wall, which will be 180m (590ft) long and 6.5m (21ft) high, "for the safety and security of lives and assets of residents from coastal erosion caused by natural disasters such as typhoons".

The decision to build the seawall was taken in response to concerns raised by local residents back in 2014. They submitted a request to the local Setouchi town council that governs Katoku village to take measures to prevent what they believed to be dune erosion caused by two typhoons that year. They were concerned such erosion could endanger an ancestral resting place, central to their religious tradition, which lies some 70m (230ft) above the waterline. However, they did not specifically request a seawall as the solution.

The project saw final approval by the Kagoshima Prefecture in January 2018, but in the meantime other local residents have come together to oppose the seawall, arguing it is in danger of disrupting the Katoku River, affecting the entire rare beach ecosystem. In September 2020, a petition with more than 30,000 signatures was submitted to the governor of Kagoshima, mayor of Setouchi town and Setouchi town council, urging for construction to be reconsidered. Scientists, environmental groups and residents say they have also submitted appeals to the Kagoshima Prefecture to reconsider the construction and hold open discussions with residents. Several told the BBC they did not receive a response. The BBC contacted Kagoshima Prefecture but received no comment.

Meanwhile, in 2021, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the official advisor on nature under the World Heritage Convention, designated the local Katoku River and neighbouring beach areas as a buffer zone. The designation means these areas are legally protected by the Japanese government.

The IUCN noted the seawall construction would continue, but its report included a statement from the Japanese government saying the seawall would be "far from the mouth of the Katoku River" to avoid any negative impacts on the river. Environmental monitoring would be continued after construction to watch for any unexpected impacts too, it said.

Construction started the following year, in February 2022, but locals say it appears to have been halted several times since, as well as disrupted by sit-ins by local protestors. It restarted again in July 2024 and is now in the final stages of building a road to allow work to start on the seawall. Even as construction is beginning, however, a legal case in opposition to the seawall is ongoing at the Japanese Supreme Court.

Filed in 2018, the plaintiffs consist of locals and the Japan Environmental Lawyers Federation (Jelf), who argue that Kagoshima Prefecture is misusing public funds by pushing ahead with the project. They contend the wall is unnecessary and will not help with any sand dune erosion if indeed there is any. Kagoshima Prefecture contest the allegations, arguing that the construction is necessary to protect the village from coastal erosion caused due to natural disasters such as typhoons, and asserting that the project follows proper procedures and legal standards. Kagoshima Prefecture did not respond to the BBC's request for comment on the case.

Shifting sands

Separately, some are concerned that the seawall is being built in a more problematic location than environmental overviews of the project first indicated – closer to the river mouth, risking its ecosystem and biodiversity.

After a request from the Jelf lawyers and NGO Save Katoku, Coastal Engineering Laboratory, an independent research team based in Tokyo, investigated the concerns around the impact of the seawall on the local ecosystem. In a September 2024 letter sent to Save Katoku and its defending lawyers and seen by the BBC, it concluded that the seawall is indeed set to be constructed "within" the river channel of the Katoku River. Coastal Engineering Laboratory told the BBC that it has not received any financial assistance from any of the parties involved in the legal case. Kagoshima Prefecture did not respond to the BBC's request for comment on the seawall location.

"At some points of the year, the river's mouth – the entire beach – shifts seasonally, which means that the river can flow across the sand and reach right where the seawall is planned, for about six months," says Jean-Marc Takaki, head of the local non-profit Save Katoku says. "This contradicts the government's own promise of building the wall far away… among many things it disrupts the natural meandering of the river and the whole sand process of the beach essential to maintaining the ecosystem." The BBC contacted Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport but did not receive a comment by the time of publication.

Takaki is calling for an Unesco Reactive Monitoring mission to investigate these concerns and provide recommendations to ensure the protection and conservation of the river.

Locals also express concern about their lack of involvement in the decision-making process of the seawall. The Kagoshima Prefecture conducted surveys, including environmental studies, and three rounds of expert meetings from 2016-18, but Takaaki Kagohashi, a lawyer and longtime member of Jelf involved in the court case, says local residents were not consulted, except for the then-village-chief. The BBC contacted Kagoshima Prefecture but received no comment.

Shigeo Sakae, the current village chief of Katoku since April 2023, was not aware of the details of the seawall project. "I was asked by the prefecture if I support a construction that protects the residents, so I said yes," he says. Katoku, he adds, is the only village on the island that has not yet built any hard coastal structures until this seawall project. "All other villages have already completed their construction, but we are the only ones who haven't had anything done for us."

Kamata Naruhito, the mayor of Setouchi town, says projects like the seawall are needed to revitalise the economy. "Amami Oshima island has been recognised as a natural heritage site, so it is something very important that we must cherish and pass on to the next generation," he says. "However, alongside that… public works projects are also necessary with the support of the central government."

The cost of concrete

With intensifying typhoons and rising sea levels around the world, the tensions over the Katoku beach seawall will not be the last debate to emerge over the best way to protect local communities from flooding and coastal erosion.

Seawalls have long been considered a primary solution for coastal protection, particularly against storm surges and erosion. Hard coastal protection measures such as dikes, embankments, seawalls and surge barriers are now widespread, providing predictable levels of safety in many coastal cities and deltas around the world, according to a 2019 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

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But these measures can come with a heavy cost both economically and environmentally, says Satoko Seino, associate professor at the department of ecological engineering at Kyushu University, Japan, who studies coastal seafloors.

"Concrete seawalls not only demand heavy investment but also incur ongoing maintenance costs," says Seino. Kominato beach, which lies next to Katoku on Amami Ōshima, once shared a similar landscape with a pristine sand beach supporting both human and wildlife. With construction projects including renovation and reconstruction of breakwaters, embankments, wharves, boat ramps, roads and land development totalling some 5.32 billion yen (£27m/ $34m) since the 1970s, parts of Kominato beach are now littered with neglected concrete.

Edward Atkin, director of eCoast Marine Consulting and Research in New Zealand, has studied Kominato beach and compared it with Katoku. In a 2021 assessment, he concluded that the Kominato seawalls exacerbated erosion and shortened the beach width, while the seawall itself has also been eroded by sea water. He noted that both Kominato and Katoku beaches had the same "pocket beach" structure, where the beach holds a closed off and highly sensitive sand system that moves around under different wave conditions.

Since around the 2000s, and especially in Europe and North America, there has been a shift in coastal management towards the use of eco-engineering and nature-based solutions – ways of working with natural ecosystems to address environmental challenges, says Seino. "These approaches integrate natural systems which not only protect against storm surges but also preserve biodiversity," she says.

In areas where natural ecosystems like dunes and mangroves offer protection, experts frequently recommend nature-based solutions as more sustainable options, according to the IPCC. This chimes with research which shows that nature-focused solutions to societal challenges more widely often provide economic and social benefits.

In the US, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) has similarly encouraged the use of "living shorelines", an approach that uses "green infrastructure" such as plants and sand rather than concrete or rock to defend coastlines. Research has shown this method is effective at protecting against erosion and storm surges and can even be more resilient than bulkheads in protecting against the effects of hurricanes, while also providing other benefits such as soaking up nutrient pollution and supporting fish habitat.

Amendments to Japan's Seacoast Law in 1999 aimed to implement more sustainable coastal management and conservation plans, but progress has been slow, says Seino. "Once people see concrete hardening as the answer, it's difficult to change that mindset." The BBC contacted Japan's Ministry of the Environment but received no comment.

Since 2018, Japan's environment ministry has also been promoting an ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR) initiative, an approach to disaster prevention which aims to also build a sustainable, safe and affluent society living in harmony with nature. In a letter to the IUCN on 8 November 2019, the Japanese government said an "eco-friendly" seawall would be built at Katoku beach, covering concrete embankments with sand and plants, presenting the project as a nature-friendly Eco-DRR initiative.

"Nice try, but it doesn't work like that," says Wesley Crile, a coastal dune restoration specialist at the University of Hawaii who has led on multiple community-based dune restoration projects on Maui Island in Hawaii.

Maui Island has a similar sand dune system and vegetation, including pandanus trees and morning glories, to Katoku. Crile highlights how the community uses natural processes instead of concrete structures to prevent coastal erosion.

"For example, morning glories, which are present both in Maui and Amami, can trap wind-blown sand with their cup-shaped leaves, gradually building up dunes," Crile says. If a storm takes some sand from the dune, the dune shape will be affected on the surface, he adds. "But when the storm subsides, the sand process will restart and the dune can be rebuilt with time." Japan's Ministry of the Environment did not respond to the BBC's request for comment.

Seino's coastal seafloor studies have similarly led her to support a natural dune restoration process at Katoku. Healthy beaches have a "natural ability" to recover, even if they are temporarily eroded, she says.

"It's like when a person falls and gets a scrape or a bruise – while it may look serious on the surface, their overall vitality isn't compromised," she says. "Similarly, such a coastline remains resilient. Even if the surface layer of sand is completely stripped away, it will eventually come back. As long as the dune is in a healthy state, it will function as a natural seawall, basically.

In Katoku, planting projects led by volunteers and locals have taken place several times since 2015, before the seawall was approved. Planting of pandanus trees and morning glories – both also indigenous to Amami – mirrors the restoration initiatives in Hawaii that utilise the inherent regenerative power of coastal dunes.

"The area in front of the cemetery is now flourishing with tall pandanus trees, and the once-severe erosion has disappeared," says 90-year-old Hiroaki Sono, who has lived on the island for most of his life and leads the non-profit Environmental Network Amami. However, he adds, the long-term sand movements and characteristics of the beach should be studied "more closely" before any decision is made on how best to protect the habitat. Kagoshima Prefecture did not respond to the BBC's request for comment.

Local collaboration is a crucial part of implementing nature-based solutions, adds Naoshi Nagae, a conservationist and the head of the local Amami Nature School, who focuses on environmental education by leveraging the knowledge of locals. For example, as pandanus trees take time to grow, it is better to use transplants of young trees rather than seeds, he says. "Ideally, these trees should come from the same village, or at least a neighbouring one, to avoid invasive species."

The debate over the two proposed solutions to save Katoku Beach – building the seawall or restoring the natural sand dune through planting of local species – has sparked an ongoing conflict among the community at Amami. "This seawall controversy is not just about nature and people's lives, it's a barrier dividing us," says Takaki.

Eriko Minayoshi, a traditional folk singer, has been part of a long-running sit-in protest against the construction. "At the site, no one is offering any real explanation," she says. "All they say is, 'You are blocking business, get out of the way.' Every day feels like an emotional weight. Even in my sleep, I am haunted by images of construction." She has also begun to feel the toll of the protest on her body, she says. The construction firm did not respond to the BBC's request for comment.

Take believes that an open dialogue between the residents and the authorities is essential to finding solutions. "Deep down, I know that everyone shares the same wish to protect the beach," she says. "We need to work together to discuss and find what is truly best for everyone, for our Katoku beach."

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Scars from the world's first deep sea mining test 50 years on

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250509-blake-plateau-the-uss-50-year-old-scars-from-the-worlds-first-deep-sea-mining-test-site, 8 days ago

President Donald Trump is trying to fast track new deep sea mining efforts, but half a century after the world's first deep sea mining tests picked mineral-rich nodules from the seafloor off the US east coast, the damage has barely begun to heal.

Plunging to the ocean's abyss on the Blake Plateau, a deep-sea mountain range off the coast of North Carolina, is an otherworldly experience. It's like no other ocean bed that microbiologist Samantha Joye has ever visited. In her deep-sea submersible called Alvin – a three-person vessel made of titanium thick enough to withstand pressure in the ocean's depths, with two robotic arms reaching outside for sample collection – it takes more than an hour to descend to about 2,000m (6,600ft) below the water's surface.

On the way down, the water is on fire with bioluminescence and abounds with wildlife. There are huge fish, small fish and jellyfish. Shrimp, sea slugs, octopuses and hundreds of squid bump into the submarine, seeming to be curious about its free fall into their home.

"I have worked all over the place, and my mind was blown on the Blake Plateau. I mean, it's just spectacularly diverse," says Joye, recalling her last trip to the plateau in August 2018. At touchdown, the silty floor is covered in worms, sponges, stars and mussels the size of an adult human's forearm, says Joye, gesturing to her own limb to show me.

Among the abundance of life, though, a section of the Blake Plateau is barren with the scars from the world's first deep-sea mining pilot test carried out in 1970. That experiment 50 years ago was just a proof-of-concept, but full-scale commercial deep-sea mining is on many of today's national to-do lists. In April 2025, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to fast-track deep-sea mining.

The traces of those first rudimentary tests on the Blake Plateau are still visible today, half a century on, and scientists think they're just a small example of the effects deep-sea mining could have on the ocean ecosystem if it were to be conducted at scale.

The world's first deep-sea mining test was conducted by US company Deepsea Ventures in July 1970. A vacuum-cleaner-like machine bulldozed through the abyss and sucked up 60,000 baseball-sized lumps off the bottom of the ocean. The nodules – filled with manganese, nickel and cobalt that accumulate a few millimetres per million years – were hoped to become a resource for the nation's industrial endeavours. There remains high interest in them today, as they're replete with minerals for making batteries for electric cars and smartphones, as well as medical and military technology.

Deepsea Ventures' project fell through, and no more deep-sea mining was done off the US East Coast. But a remote-controlled robot sent to that segment of the Blake Plateau during a 2022 scientific expedition found the company's footprints. Scientists snapped pictures of defined dredge lines in the mud for more than 43km (27 miles). The lines dug into the abyss like train tracks, as if somebody had raked through it just recently, and the damage was "widespread and definable", according to reports. Where the tracks are, there is nothing: no nodules and no biodiversity. No curious squid. Nothing like the kaleidoscope of beauty Joye encountered in 2018, just around the corner.

While no data is available on what that part of the Blake Plateau looked like before the deep-sea mining experiments in the 1970s, the contrast between the desolate scraped mud tracks and the rest of the Blake Plateau is stark. (You can see these tracks in the image at the top of this article.) The site is a proxy for what might happen elsewhere, says Joye.

Before and after data from a mining simulation in an analogous area in the Pacific Ocean, the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, south-east of Hawaii and poised to be a deep-sea mining hotspot, suggests these ecosystems take hundreds of years to bounce back. Segments there that had been test-ploughed through in 1989 had much lower diversity of large animals, especially filter feeders, and still had up to just half of their microbial communities after 26 years.

"And if you were thinking about something that was going to recover pretty quickly, it would be microbes, right?" says Joye. "And that was essentially a controlled experiment supposed to do minimal damage." Research from March 2025 confirmed the findings, noting that despite some recent recolonisation of the area, the impacts likely last for decades.

The Metals Company and Impossible Metals, two players currently active in the field, say their machines are now much more sophisticated, sustainable and less invasive than those from the pilot test half a decade ago. Impossible Metals, for instance, aims to pick up nodules one by one, "delicately", their reports say, without raking the seabed. Impossible Metals has already placed a request for a lease for exploration and mining off the coast of American Samoa.

"All mining has impacts. We have invented new technology to minimise the impacts," says Impossible Metals chief executive Oliver Gunasekara. He notes mining today is carried out in some of the world's most biodiverse areas, like the Indonesian rainforest, which is mined for nickel. As part of any mining permit approval, an environmental impact assessment would be performed to understand the impacts and "make sure they are acceptable", says Gunasekara.

Yet, researchers already think there are dozens of possible effects on the seabed. And precisely forecasting the impacts of deep-sea mining is difficult because so little is known about these sprawling underwater ecosystems – with more than 70% of the world's waters still unmapped, says Christopher Robbins, associate director of Ocean Conservancy. In 2023, researchers suggested that about 90% of species in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, are new to science: they found more than 5,000 deep-sea creatures they'd never seen before.

In 2024, scientists discovered the world's largest deep-sea coral reef on the Blake Plateau: more than 83,000 individual coral mound peaks spanning 500km (310 miles) in length and 100km in width (60 miles), all the way from the coast of South Carolina to the tip of Florida. The researchers from the US' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) who discovered the coral reefs told the BBC they were not available to discuss the work at this time.

Since more than 20 different pharmaceuticals have been developed thanks to organisms discovered in the deep sea, many undiscovered concoctions could be lost to deep-sea mining before even being discovered.

Plus, the abyssal plain is not the only ecosystem at risk, says Robbins. The mining machines trawling through the ocean bed release waves of sediment from the ground, and discharge mining wastewater from the vessels on the surface, cycling abyssal debris in plumes that can travel large distances into the water column. Research shows the plumes could mess with the lifestyle, reproduction and feeding of organisms living in these areas. Studies suggest they can stress out jellyfish's mucus production and make it hard for organisms to communicate via bioluminescence, or clog fish's airways and end up in their diet.

It’s unclear what impact this will have on the ocean's ability to capture carbon, Robbins says. Species living in the dark zone above the abyss but below the surface are responsible for drawing down upwards of six gigatons of carbon, which is about 14% of the carbon that humans emit into the atmosphere each year, says Robbins. (The vacuuming vehicles could also be releasing more than 172 tonnes of carbon directly from the seabed every year for every square kilometre mined, according to Planet Tracker.)

Aside from the wildlife impact, deep-sea mining in US waters can have some substantial impacts on the fishing industry, according to Robbins's recent report on potential conflicts in both oceans. "There are just too many unanswered questions that require us to take a step back to allow the fishing industry, frankly, to be better informed about the trade-offs," says Robbins.

Off the US West Coast, another study from 2023 suggested that the migration routes of bigeye, skipjack and yellowfin tuna could overlap with potential sediment plumes if commercial mining were to be unrolled. Other research has suggested that small developing countries catch as much as 10% of their tuna from areas likely affected by deep-sea mining.

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The Blake Plateau, still scarred from the 1970 mining experiment, is likely not a target for deep sea mining yet, says Gorka Sancho, a fish ecology expert at College of Charleston, who penned a petition letter to President Joe Biden in 2024 calling for robust long-term protections of the Blake Plateau. "But everything can change on a dime these days," says Sancho.

The Clarion-Clipperton Zone, on the other hand, is where miners have set their targets. Studies suggest this area alone contains more nickel, cobalt and manganese than all of the deposits on land.

In April 2025 Trump signed an executive order to fast-track deep-sea mining called Unleashing America's Offshore Critical Minerals and Resources. Some days later, the government received a request for license to explore and to mine from the Canadian firm The Metals Company, including areas outside the US's jurisdiction. If the US granted such a permit, this could be in conflict with the international framework governing international waters and the seabed, known as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), according to the ISA's secretary-general Leticia Reis de Carvalho. (It's worth noting, however, that the US has never ratified Unclos.) The BBC contacted The Metals Company for comment but received no response by the time of publication.

Trump's order commits Noaa to expedite mining permits. Robbins comments that the executive order is at odds with Noaa's mission. Noaa told the BBC that the agency reviews applications for compliance and requirements in accordance with the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act and regulations for exploration licenses. "The process ensures a thorough environmental impact review, interagency consultations and opportunity for public comment," Noaa states.

The agency added: "Noaa is committed to an efficient review of applications for exploration licenses and commercial recovery permits in accordance with the statutory requirements governing US seabed mining in areas beyond national jurisdiction and is actively exploring ways to streamline the application process by waiving obsolete requirements, enhancing coordination across agencies and engaging with international and private partners to ensure a transparent, and science-based licensing and permitting framework."

At a congressional hearing about the new legislation, MIT mechanical engineering professor Thomas Peacock stated that some of the impacts of nodule mining "may not be as speculated". His work in 2022, carried out in part on behalf of The Metals Company, showed that only 2-8% of the murky plumes reach 2m (6.5ft) above the seabed and do not settle for hours, but that is just a few milligrams of sediment per litre and "roughly the equivalent of a grain of sand in a fishbowl". Still, Peacock suggested we need further advances in sensor technologies and computational modelling to craft reliable predictions of the impacts of commercial-scale ocean floor exploitation. He also suggested that large off-limit areas will have to be instituted to protect wildlife.

Many nations around the world have called for a moratorium on seabed mining until the risks are fully assessed, the science is clear, and the regulation is in place. More than 900 scientists and policy experts have also signed a letter asking for a delay in commercial activity.

In the meantime, the scars from the US's first foray into deep-sea mining testing are still there on the ocean floor, half a century on. They remain still in time, etched into the abyss, at the bottom of a world swirling with life.

"I see this place as a national treasure. What makes this place so special?" says Joye, reminiscing on her last dive down at the Blake Plateau. "That mystery is something that we need to solve, so that we can serve as stewards of these habitats."

Update: This story was updated on 12 May to include a response to the BBC's request for comment from Noaa.

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The grid is weak. The bikes are electric. Rwanda is betting it'll work anyway

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250508-rwanda-is-sparking-africas-e-bike-revolution, 10 days ago

There are 100,000 motorbikes in Rwanda. The country wants to turn them all electric, and startups say their plans can make it work. Can green tech steer Africa towards the future?

Over the past decade, electric vehicles have been an integral part of the West's planned transition to green energy, offering a variety of opportunities for carbon-hungry industries such as transportation, freight and logistics. But outside of urban hubs in places like the US, the EU and east Asia, the promise of e-mobility is often harder to realise. In Africa, for example, widespread problems with power distribution are a serious roadblock for the adoption of electric vehicles. Rwanda, however, is thinking differently.

The tiny East African nation has a grand plan to convert its over 100,000 motorbikes to e-bikes. Officials know the project will put significant pressure on the country's electricity grid, but a host of e-bike startups are experimenting with innovative solutions. That includes solar-powered electricity stations, battery swapping plans, repurposing or recycling batteries as they wear down, and mini-grids (small, localised power generation systems that operate off-grid). The aim is to power large e-bike fleets without interrupting its national electricity distribution. If it works, this could be a model for the rest of Africa and other corners of the developing world.

Rwanda's greenhouse gas emissions were projected to double between 2015 and 2030, but interest in e-mobility exploded after the government pledged to reduce its rising emissions by 38% during the same period (approximately 4.6 metric tonnes). Other African countries like Kenya, Togo, Nigeria and South Africa have rolled out assertive policies to promote their transition to clean energy – from subsidies on renewable energy to tax breaks and reduced import duties on electric vehicles.

Yet Rwanda is recording the most success, says Michael Irenge, an engineer based in the country who works at NETIS Group, a telecommunications and energy infrastructure firm. With cutting-edge renewable energy plans, a $300m (£226m) investment project to finance climate resilience, government incentives for electric vehicles and a host of enterprising e-bike startups, Irenge and others argue that Rwanda is helping to set new standards for African e-mobility.

E-bikes take centre stage

For several decades before Rwanda's ambitious "Green Growth" pivot, gas-powered motorcycles were the norm – a staple even, as in many other African countries. This poses a problem. In 2021, the Rwandan National Gas Inventory Commission showed that taxi motorcycles alone contributed the equivalent of 427.45 gigagrams of CO2, making up 32% of the total emissions from road traffic.

Companies such as Ampersand, Spiro, eWaka and Rwanda Electric Motors (REM) say they have the solution. Startups have already sold, rented and leased thousands of these motorbikes (or "motars", as they're known in Rwanda) through cost-effective schemes, according to Toffene Kama, a Senegalese venture capitalist with investments in the electric vehicle industry. "In many cases, the battery will be provided by the e-bike operating company which rents them out," which makes the bikes more accessible by lowering upfront costs, Kama says. So far, their mission to push riders to switch from fossil fuel to electric vehicles has taken off on a broad scale, he says, thanks in large part to heavy support from the government.

On two major fronts, these startups are making progress. First, they're helping the country cut down carbon emissions from road traffic, according to Josh Whale, chief executive of the e-bike company Ampersand. Whale says the bikes can eliminate a dramatic share of the annual greenhouse gas emissions you'd expect from a traditional motorcycle.

"Depending on what the grid mix is [the proportionate shares of a power grid's energy sources], our e-bikes eliminate 75% to 100% emissions of greenhouse gases every year," he says. A 100% cut would require an entirely renewable energy system, but still, Ampersand says the 2,750 bikes it currently has in the country curb about 7,000 tonnes of emissions a year.

A Rwandan government official who spoke to the BBC confirmed these figures. "As of March 2024, Rwanda has about 4,800 electric motorcycles in operation," the official says. "According to the global average, each bike can cut down 2.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year, but the reduction can differ based on renewable energy in the grid." Though the government hasn't quantified the related overall carbon emissions, replacing gas motorcycles is already reaping climate benefits for the East African country.

The startups are also helping to cut down costs for both taxi motorcycles and delivery companies, the primary target market for these products. "I can confirm that an e-bike sells for about the same price as a traditional gas-powered bike on average [about £880, or $1,168] without the battery. But recharging them takes less than half of the cost of purchasing fuel for the same distances," Kama says. To reduce the upfront cost, riders can choose to retrofit old gas-powered bikes with an electric engine, apply for loans or rent batteries. Renting is becoming the most popular option, he adds.

"A lot of the finance providers offer cheap credit to purchases of our electric motorbikes because we separate the cost of the battery. It works on a pay-as-you-go basis," Whale says. "The net result is that the customers end up enjoying lower interest rates and the cost of the bike ends up being the same or even cheaper than the conventional petrol bike." Ampersand says its riders save about $400 to $750 (about £305 to £572) yearly on their e-bikes.

Rwanda's power distribution problem

Africa has never been at the forefront of stable electricity distribution, yet some countries are recording more progress than others, particularly in East Africa. In Rwanda, concerted efforts by the government have seen a consistent rise in power distribution across the country over the past decade, though promised developments don't always match reality.

Ron Weiss, the former chief executive of the Rwandan Energy Group (REG), predicted in 2018 that power outages would end by 2020, in line with REG's grand financing plan to scale electricity. Since then, the company says the number of households hooked up to the national electricity grid went from 43% in 2018 to 53% in 2024. But Rwandans still complain about consistent power outages impacting their commercialisation efforts, and REG has fallen far short of its goals, according to a recent report in Rwanda's New Times newspaper. The company plans to beat this problem with several off-grid energy sources, but says it needs heavy funding and another four years to complete the effort.

Electricity distribution is a serious hurdle, says Emmanuel Mayani, a Rwandan clean energy research assistant at the University of Michigan in the US. E-bikes require regular charging – some three to five times a day – and the majority of charging stations for e-bike start-ups in Rwanda and elsewhere in Africa are still predominantly grid-reliant.

"Even though they plan to pivot to renewable energy sources, charging infrastructure for many e-bike startups still largely relies on grid technology, as this is what is most convenient for them and the region they're in," Mayani says.

Experts believe that a high demand for e-bikes and large-scale expansion plans for these startups mean more charging stations will fill up cities, especially as the Rwandan government is providing rent-free land for charging infrastructure. That could be a problem.

Mayani stresses that this could lead to more frequent power outages that could affect residential and commercial electricity supply, and strain infrastructure that is already struggling to keep up with growing demand. "If you keep increasing just the e-bikes, you're increasing consumers of electricity without increasing the source, the generation or the amount of electricity the consumers are going to access," he says. This will exacerbate load shedding, the name for intentionally planned power outages which are meant to take pressure off the grid, he adds.

But Mayani also thinks this issue can be abated if there's an alternative to support the grid, and solar power is a good start. "[The government] could bring in solar panel providers to take the pressure off," he says. "It's a good alternative for people in rural communities who'll experience these outages more."

As the Rwandan government works to use renewable energy sources to build its grid infrastructure by 2030, Ampersand is already installing solar panels in its battery swap stations to target a large part of the country's off-grid regions. Experts hope that other e-bike companies will follow suit.

Solar-powered battery swap stations

Rwanda gets some of the highest energy from solar radiation in Africa, far beyond what solar panels require, and Ampersand plans to use this to its advantage. The company has already executed this in some rural areas in Kenya, where the availability of rentable land made it easy to install ground-mounted solar converters, according to Whale. It made combining grid energy with solar for Ampersand swap stations seamless.

Elsewhere in Africa, companies are testing solar power as an off-grid alternative for e-bike charging. Startups like Ghana's Kofa use solar energy to power their battery swap stations, while others like Ampersand opt for a combination with grid energy. In these swap stations, sets of batteries are at all times connected to a charging system – about 20 to 40 of them, according to Kama. E-bike riders drive in every three to four hours for a battery exchange, and replacing a run-down battery with a fully charged one is quick, he says. "The swapping process is like a two-minute thing," Kama explains. "Sometimes it's even faster than, for example, refueling [a gas-powered motorcycle] in an oil and gas station." (Read more about China's battery swap stations for electric vehicles).

Another way Ampersand gets solar energy is through its partnership with the oil company TotalEnergies. Total has solar generators at 1,000 of its 4,800 petrol stations in Africa, selling electricity to a variety of different players, including EV startups. Ampersand uses a shared space with them and directly taps into Total's solar generators to charge its batteries.

This means "we don't have to make an upfront capital investment in the solar project", Whale says. This kind of arrangement isn't common in Rwanda yet, but Ampersand plans to extend the partnership to the country soon.

Spiro, one of Africa's largest e-bike startups which has put over 17,000 bikes across Togo, Benin, Kenya and recently, Rwanda, uses grid energy for its operations. But in its plans for expansion, the company is thinking about solar power.

"We're an Equitane group company, and another subsidiary of the company is called Solen, which is into rooftop solar installation," says Kaushik Burman, Spiro's chief executive. "There are conversations happening for Solen to install a solar project that would be feedstock for our swap stations."

Old batteries for new grids

According to Burman, a more practical concern about renewable energy is how it can be preserved for long-term use. "We don't get renewable power 24 hours a day," he says, "so we have to think about how to store that energy to be able to use it during the hours when the sun isn't shining. That's what we're concerned about."

Whale agrees. Whether it's wind, solar, geothermal, hydropower or biomass-powered battery stations, energy can only be maximised if it can be properly stored. Ampersand aims to get out in front of this problem by focusing on two things: using advanced battery technology, and repurposing spent batteries for energy projects like mini-grids (a set of small electricity generators functioning as a single, independent system).

"Because we've had motorcycles on the road for over five years now, we are starting to look at what happens to the batteries once they reach the end of their first life – which is when they're over five years old and they've degraded down to the point where they're only 80% of their original capacity," Whale says. "What we can do is repurpose those batteries and repack them into larger units that can provide energy storage for off-grid solar systems like mini-grids." Not only will these batteries power e-bikes, Ampersand plans to open these mini-grids for communal use.

In Africa, mini-grids are gaining momentum in weak-grid and off-grid areas, and could provide electricity to 380 million people by 2030. E-bikes often use lithium iron phosphate batteries (LiFePO4), and a World Economic Forum (WEF) report says the stability, durability and performance of these batteries make them particularly well suited for mini-grids. In fact, the WEF report argues that used batteries, given a second life, often work better than the brand new batteries that are typically sold in markets that are just getting access to power.

Ampersand is already repurposing its old e-bike batteries in partnership with SLS Energy, a Rwandan e-waste management company that uses retired batteries to provide a variety of low-cost energy solutions.

So far, the partnership with Ampersand has launched a 120kWh mini-grid in Zambia, according to Léandre Berwa, SLS Energy's chief executive. "This system can power more than 100 rural African homes for two days on a single full charge," he says, with the average daily consumption estimated at 0.49 kWh.

"[Ampersand] supply us with batteries at their end-of-life in their mobility and we use them in our second-life applications, then we extend the batteries' usable lifespan by repurposing them to stationary applications, Berwa says." This creates the missing link for a sustainable adoption of electric mobility."

More like this:

• Are China's swap stations the future of electric cars?

• Where EV batteries go to die – and be reborn

• 'A bullet train for power': China's ultra-high-voltage electricity grid

Rwanda is still far from its 100% mobility electrification plans, yet it has set the groundwork to lead Africa's energy resolution through off-grid and renewable energy sources, which according to Kama, will be the main driver of electric vehicles. "Once this off-grid energy is scaled up, e-mobility will become pervasive. But it's not just about e-bikes or EVs, but also being able to power surrounding commercial activity," he says.

Rwanda's e-bike gamble is a bold experiment in an African context, where electric vehicles are choked by limited power grids. But novel solutions – from harnessing solar power to rapid battery swaps – offer a chance to bolster e-bikes' viability and contribute to wider electrification efforts across the country. The results of these strategies will deliver critical lessons for Rwanda, and may even shape the future of transportation across the developing world.

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Attenborough at 99 delivers 'greatest message he's ever told'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn0wjxg0ex1o, 12 days ago

Sir David Attenborough is launching what he says is one of the most important films of his career as he enters his hundredth year.

He believes his new, cinema-length film Ocean could play a decisive role in saving biodiversity and protecting the planet from climate change.

Sir David, who will be 99 on Thursday, says: "After almost 100 years on the planet, I now understand the most important place on Earth is not on land, but at sea."

The ocean is the planet's support system and humanity's greatest ally against climate catastrophe, the film argues. It shows how the world's oceans are at a crossroads.

The blue carpet was rolled out for the premiere the Royal Festival Hall in London.

In attendance was the King, told Sir David he "can't believe" his 99th birthday was on Thursday.

The pair posed for photos before they entered the auditorium for the screening.

A host of celebrities also attended, including singer Geri Halliwell-Horner, astronaut Tim Peake, singer James Blunt and model Cara Delevingne.

Earlier, Prince William attended a matinee in a "private capacity", along with hundreds of children from schools across the country.

Toby Nowlan, who produced Ocean, says this new production is not a typical Attenborough film. "This is not about seeing brand new natural history behaviours. It is the greatest message he's ever told," he says.

The film documents how the state of the world's oceans and our understanding of how they function have changed in the course of Sir David's lifetime.

Sir David remembers his first scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef way back in 1957: "I was so taken aback by the spectacle before me I forgot – momentarily – to breathe."

Since then, there has been a catastrophic decline in life in the world's oceans. "We are almost out of time," he warns.

Ocean contains some of the most graphic footage of the damage that bottom trawling – a common fishing practice around the world - can do to the seabed. It is a vivid example of how industrial fishing can drain the life from the world's oceans, Sir David claims.

The new footage shows how the chain that the trawlers drag behind them scours the seafloor, forcing the creatures it disturbs into the net behind. They are often seeking a single species: more than three-quarters of what they catch may be discarded.

"It's hard to imagine a more wasteful way to catch fish," comments Sir David.

The process also releases vast amounts of carbon dioxide which contributes to the warming of our planet, yet bottom trawling is not just legal but is actively encouraged by many governments.

Sir David says the state of the ocean has almost made him lose hope for the future of life on the planet. What has kept him from despair is what he calls the "most remarkable discovery of all" – that the ocean can "recover faster than we had ever imagined".

Sir David says the story of the world's whales has been a source of huge optimism for him.

It is estimated that 2.9 million whales were killed by the whaling industry in the 20th Century alone. Scientists have said it is the largest cull of any animal in history when measured in terms of total biomass. It pushed almost all whale species to the edge of extinction.

Just one per cent of Blue Whales were left, recalls Sir David: "I remember thinking that was it. There was no coming back, we had lost the great whales."

But in 1986 lawmakers bowed to public pressure and banned commercial whaling worldwide. The whale population has rapidly recovered since then.

One of the film's directors, Keith Scholey, has worked with Sir David for 44 years. "When I first met David, I was in shorts," he jokes. That was in 1981, two years after Sir David had resigned as the BBC's director of programmes – one of the most senior jobs at the Corporation. "He'd done one career, and he was off on his next."

Despite now nearing his 99th birthday Sir David is still remarkably energetic, says Scholey. "Every time you work with David, you learn something new," he says. "It's really good fun. But also, David keeps you on your mettle, because he is so on his mettle and so, you know, it's always a very creative process."

Sir David's key message in the Ocean film is that all is not lost. Countries have promised to protect a third of the world's oceans. He hopes his new film will spur leaders to take firm action on this promise at a UN conference next month.

He believes that could be transformational.

"The ocean can bounce back to life," Sir David says. "If left alone it may not just recover but thrive beyond anything anyone alive has ever seen."

A healthier ocean ecosystem would also be able to trap more carbon dioxide, helping protect the world from climate change, according to scientists.

"In front of us is a chance to protect our climate, our food, our home," Sir David says.

As he celebrates his 99th birthday this week he is still fighting to protect the natural world he has worked his lifetime to show to us in all its glory.

Ocean will be in cinemas across the country from Thursday.

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Hamas proposes releasing some hostages in fresh talks after new Israel offensive

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd7geg3lvz1o, yesterday

Hamas has proposed releasing more hostages under a new Gaza ceasefire deal, after new negotiations were held on Saturday. The talks began hours after Israel's military launched a major new offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas has agreed to release nine hostages in exchange for a 60-day truce and Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners, a Palestinian official told the BBC.

The official said the new proposed deal would also allow the entry of 400 aid trucks a day, and the evacuation of medical patients from Gaza. Israel, in turn, has demanded proof of life and detailed information about all remaining hostages.

The new round of ceasefire talks is being held through Qatari and US mediators in Doha, and began on Saturday afternoon local time.

Israel is yet to respond publicly to the proposed deal, but said prior to the talks that it would not withdraw troops from Gaza or commit to an end to the war.

The proposal would not include these elements, the BBC understands.

Israel's military announced the launch of a new offensive named "Operation Gideon's Chariots" earlier on Saturday, amid the deadliest wave of strikes in Gaza in months.

At least 300 people have been killed since Thursday, rescuers say, including at hospitals and refugee camps in the north and south of the Strip.

Thousands have died since Israel resumed strikes on 18 March, following the collapse of a fragile ceasefire which lasted two months.

Aid agencies say Gaza's grievous humanitarian situation has also worsened, as Israel has been blocking supplies of food and other aid from entering the territory for 10 weeks.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this month promised a major military escalation in the war to occupy and control swathes of Gaza, force the Palestinian population to the south of the territory, and "destroy" Hamas.

Speaking from inside Gaza, journalist Ghada Al Qurd told the BBC's Newshour programme there had been lots of "airstrikes, shellings, drones, shooting and even exploding, in the north and east."

"It's terrifying and horrible," she said.

She said her family had only been having one meal a day, due to the scarcity and spiralling cost, and accused Israel of "using food as a weapon" - an allegation UN officials have also made in recent weeks.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said on 5 May that Israel was preparing an "intense entry into Gaza" to capture and hold territory, but that it would not commence until Trump completed his tour of the Middle East. He left the region on Friday.

That day, residents across northern and central Gaza were told to leave their homes or places of shelter - an order aid workers say is almost impossible because many have already been repeatedly made homeless during the war.

The IDF said on Saturday it wouldn't stop operating "until Hamas is no longer a threat and all our hostages are home" and that it had "struck over 150 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip" in the preceding 24 hours.

Strikes on Saturday hit towns in the north of Gaza, including Beit Lahiya and the Jabalia refugee camp, as well as in the southern city of Khan Younis, the Hamas-run health ministry and civil defence forces said.

Thousands of Israeli troops, including soldiers and reservists, could enter Gaza as the operation ramps up in the coming days. Israeli tanks have also been seen at the border, Reuters news agency reported.

The intensified offensive has been condemned by the UN and some European leaders.

Commissioner-General of the UN's Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa) Philippe Lazzarini expressed shock at Israel's military operation, saying: "How many more Palestinian lives will be wiped off from their homeland by bombardments, hunger or lack of medical care?"

"Atrocities are becoming a new norm, under our watch, making the unbearable bearable with indifference," he said.

Following the new strikes, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, and Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani all called for a permanent ceasefire, while Germany's Foreign Ministry said the new offensive risked "worsening the catastrophic humanitarian situation for Gaza's population and the remaining hostages".

Israel launched a military campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group's cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. Hamas still holds 58 hostages.

At least 53,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, including more than 3,000 people since March.

Construction sites appear in Gaza ahead of Israeli-US aid plan rejected by UN, images show

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce82ene10p0o, 4 days ago

Israel is preparing a series of sites in Gaza that could be used as distribution centres for humanitarian aid in a controversial new plan, satellite images show.

The Israeli government suspended food and medicine deliveries into Gaza in March.

Ministers said the move, which has been condemned by UN, European and Middle Eastern leaders, was intended to put pressure on Hamas to release its remaining hostages. Israel also accused Hamas of stealing aid – an allegation the group has denied.

The UN has said the blockade has caused severe shortages of food, medicines and fuel, and an assessment on Monday warned that Gaza's population of around 2.1 million people was at "critical risk" of famine.

The US confirmed last week that it was preparing a new system for providing aid from a series of hubs inside Gaza, which would be run by private companies and protected by security contractors and Israeli forces.

Images analysed by BBC Verify show that land has already been cleared, with new roads and staging areas constructed at a number of locations in southern and central Gaza in recent weeks.

Israel has not publicly said where the hubs will be, but humanitarian sources - briefed previously by Israeli officials - told BBC Verify that at least four centres will be built in the southern section of Gaza and one further north near the Netzarim Corridor, a strip of land controlled by the military that effectively divides the territory.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation - an organisation set up to support the plan - initially said food, water and hygiene kits would be supplied to 1.2 million people, less than 60% of the population.

On Wednesday it announced it would start operations before the end of May, and appeared to call for Israel to allow aid through normal channels until its distribution centres were fully operational. It also called for aid hubs to be built in northern Gaza, something not envisaged under the original plan and which had led to criticism that people would be forced to move south.

UN agencies have insisted they will not co-operate with the plan - which is in line with one previously approved by Israel's government - saying it contradicted fundamental humanitarian principles.

A spokesperson for the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) accused Israel of seeking to use "food and fuel as leverage, as part of a military strategy".

"All aid would be channelled through a handful of militarised hubs," Olga Cherevko told BBC Verify.

"That kind of arrangement would cut off vast areas of Gaza – particularly the most vulnerable, who can't move easily, or are otherwise marginalised – from any help at all."

Meanwhile, Bushra Khalidi of Oxfam described the new plan as a "farce".

"No logistical solution is going to address Israel's strategy of forcible displacement and using starvation as a weapon of war. Lift the siege, open the crossings and let us do our job."

It is understood that the proposed new system has not yet had final sign-off from the Israeli government.

'Secure distribution sites'

BBC Verify used satellite imagery to identify four potential sites based on the limited available information about their locations.

The sites are similar in size, shape and design to existing open-air distribution sites inside Gaza, such as at Erez, Erez West and Kisufim. The largest site we've looked at is bigger - more comparable to the area inside Gaza at Kerem Shalom crossing.

Our analysis of the imagery shows significant development at one of the sites in south-west Gaza, close to the ruins of a village that is now an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) base.

Satellite photos since early April show the construction of a road there and a large staging area, surrounded by berms - large defensive barriers made of piled sand or earth - about 650m (2,130ft) from the border with Egypt.

A high-resolution image captured on 8 May shows bulldozers and excavators working on a section of land spanning about 20 acres (8 hectares). IDF armoured vehicles are at a fortified building nearby.

A photo taken on site, geolocated by BBC Verify, also shows lighting being installed on the perimeter.

Further imagery from 11 and 12 May shows this, along with three other sites, continuing to expand. One site is about half a kilometre from a collection of eight UN warehouses, and 280m from another large warehouse.

Stu Ray - a senior imagery analyst with McKenzie Intelligence - agreed the sites were likely to be secure distribution centres. He noted that some of the facilities are in "close proximity to IDF Forward Operating Bases which ties in with the IDF wishing to have some control over the sites".

Analysts with another intelligence firm, Maiar, said the facilities appeared to be designed with separate entrances for trucks to move in and out, and with other gaps in the berms that would be suitable for pedestrian entrances.

The IDF did not comment on the potential aid centres when approached by BBC Verify, but said that its operations in Gaza were carried out "in accordance with international law". Cogat - the Israeli body responsible for managing crossings into Gaza - did not respond to a request for comment.

Three of the four sites located by BBC Verify are south of the IDF's newly created Morag Corridor.

What is the Morag Corridor?

This is an Israeli military zone that runs across the Gaza Strip and separates the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah.

Since the IDF established a security zone there in early April, a six-mile (10km) road has been built covering two thirds of the width of Gaza, bordered by defensive berms and dotted with IDF outposts.

This new road leads directly to one of the development sites visible in satellite imagery, and a pre-existing road connects it to two more.

This entire area has been subjected to extensive land clearance by the IDF. BBC Verify has geolocated video and images of areas throughout the Morag Corridor, and south of it, filmed by Israeli forces, which show controlled demolitions using explosives and heavy machinery, and extensive destruction of buildings.

Humanitarian sources said Israeli briefings indicated that aid would enter Gaza via Kerem Shalom crossing.

Satellite imagery shows ongoing construction work happening there too over the past few months, with the apparent expansion of its storage areas, and new roads added.

Since Israel stopped new aid supplies in March, the UN has reiterated that it has an obligation under international law to ensure that the basic needs of the population under its control are met.

Israel has insisted that it is complying with international law and that there is no shortage of aid in Gaza.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

Israel issues major evacuation order for Palestinians sheltering in Gaza City

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2d5x60pw7eo, 4 days ago

Israel has issued one of the most sweeping evacuation orders for civilians in Gaza yet seen in this war.

Large swathes of Gaza City, an area already partially destroyed by bombing, have been declared unsafe, the residents taking shelter there told to leave for their own safety ahead of "intense strikes" by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Among the buildings highlighted by Israel are the Islamic University, Al-Shifa Hospital and three former schools.

While Israel alleges that the buildings are being used by Hamas as "command and control centres", local authorities and aid agencies say there are thousands of civilians sheltering there.

Evacuating these areas would require time, they say, and there could be huge numbers of casualties.

It's an ominous sign of Israel's threat to significantly expand its military campaign in Gaza.

The former Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, has been one of very few senior Israelis so far to speak out against expanding the military campaign in Gaza.

In an interview with the BBC, Olmert said: "Most Israelis are against what is happening, large numbers of the [army's] commanders are against expanding the military operation and want to end the war right now."

Olmert is a frequent and increasingly vocal critic of Israel's current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and his views reflect growing concern about the impact of the 20-month-long war on the country's morale, economy and international standing.

Olmert was also outspoken on the humanitarian impact of the war on the residents of Gaza.

"It's totally intolerable, unacceptable and unforgivable, it needs to be stopped right away," said the former top official, who has been accused by pro-government outlets of "lobbying for Palestinians".

He added: "We have to provide all of the humanitarian needs of the population. We can't allow morally the beginning of famine in Gaza. That has to stop."

Such opinions are rarely reflected in the Israeli media or in public opinion polls but they've been urgently repeated in passionate speeches in recent days by UN organisations, aid agencies and by some of Israel's allies abroad – French President Emmanuel Macron called Israel's actions in Gaza "shameful". Netanyahu accused him of "standing with Hamas".

There's growing evidence of profound suffering across Gaza after a 10-week blockade, during which Israel has prevented the entry of any food, medicines or fuel into the Palestinian enclave.

A UN-backed assessment has said that Gaza's population of around 2.1 million Palestinians is at "critical risk" of famine and faces "extreme levels of food insecurity". The World Health Organisation says without enough nutritious food, clean water and access to health care, an entire generation will be permanently affected.

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer insisted to the BBC that "Israel is certainly not starving Gaza".

"I don't dispute that there is hunger in Gaza, but we believe that it is hunger caused by Hamas. There is food in Gaza, that's our information. There is no famine," he said.

Israel also resumed its aerial bombardment of Gaza on 18 March and its attacks have killed 2,799 since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, including 80 people on Wednesday.

There are faint hopes that an updated US-sponsored ceasefire proposal could still be accepted by Israel and Hamas. It reportedly would see the release of some remaining hostages in exchange for an unspecified period of calm.

However Netanyahu has said Israel will expand its military offensive in Gaza and that nothing will stop the war. Hamas meanwhile has refused to release the remaining hostages unless Israel agrees to a permanent ceasefire and withdraws from Gaza.

On Wednesday evening 67 former hostages signed a letter urging Netanyahu to reach a "comprehensive deal" for the return of all captives still being held by Hamas.

"The majority of Israeli society wants the hostages home - even at the cost of halting military operations," the letter said.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said the letter was written to build on the "historic momentum" after Edan Alexander's release. Hamas said it freed the 21-year-old as a goodwill gesture to Donald Trump, who is visiting the region.

The ex-hostages' letter appealed to Trump not to "let this historic momentum stop".

A poll for Israel's Channel 12 at the end of April suggested that 68% of respondents supported signing a hostage deal with Hamas even if it meant ending the war, while just 22% supported continued fighting in Gaza.

So far Netanyahu remains unmoved.

"Despite American determination, there is no change in the PM's position - we will not allow an end to the war," an official in Mr Netanyahu's entourage said, according to diplomatic sources.

Israel launched a military campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 52,928 people have been killed in Gaza since then, the health ministry says.

Israeli strikes across Gaza kill 80, hospitals and rescuers say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ceqglvlwzx5o, 4 days ago

At least 80 people have been killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza, hospitals and first responders say.

The Indonesian hospital said 22 children and 15 women were among 50 people who died when several homes in the northern Jabalia area were hit overnight. Nearby al-Awda hospital said it had received the bodies of another nine people, seven of them children.

The Israeli military said it struck Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters in the north. It had warned residents of Jabalia and neighbouring areas to evacuate on Tuesday after rockets were launched into Israel.

It came as the UN's humanitarian chief urged members of the UN Security Council to take action to "prevent genocide" in Gaza.

Speaking at a meeting in New York on Tuesday, Tom Fletcher accused Israel of "deliberately and unashamedly imposing inhumane conditions on civilians".

He also called on Israel to lift its 10-week blockade on Gaza and criticised the Israeli-US plan to take over the distribution of humanitarian aid by using private companies, saying it was a "fig leaf for further violence and displacement" of Palestinians.

Israel's envoy to the UN, Danny Danon, said the accusations were "baseless and outrageous".

He insisted the existing system for aid was "broken" because it was being used to help Hamas's war effort - an allegation both the UN and the armed group have denied.

Residents of Jabalia town and its refugee camp reported hearing multiple explosions overnight, and videos shared by activists showed flames lighting up the sky.

One video shared online showed at least 14 bodies wrapped in blankets and white shrouds on the floor of the Indonesian hospital.

Hadi Moqbel, 42, said several members of his family were killed.

"They fired two rockets, they told us the house of Moqbel [had been hit]," he told Reuters news agency as he clambered over the destroyed building.

"We came running, we saw body parts on the ground, children killed, [a] woman killed and a baby killed... He was two months old."

The director of al-Awda hospital said in an audio message that it was struggling to deal with the 52 injured people brought there for treatment after the strikes because of the shortages of medical supplies and fuel for its electricity generators, with the latter forcing the closure of several departments.

The Hamas-run Civil Defence agency reported that 80 people had been killed in Israeli strikes across the territory since dawn, including 59 in the north.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it "struck Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists" in northern Gaza overnight. It added that "numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians".

On Tuesday night, the military had issued what it described as a "final warning" to residents of Jabalia and neighbouring areas. It ordered them to evacuate immediately to Gaza City, saying Israeli forces would "attack with great force any area from which rockets are launched".

The military said three rockets launched from Gaza crossed into Israeli territory, triggering sirens in Israeli border communities and the town of Sderot. Two of the rockets were intercepted by the Israeli air force and the third fell in an open area, it added.

PIJ - an armed group that like its ally Hamas is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US, UK and other countries - said it launched the rockets in response to what it called "Zionist massacres".

On Wednesday afternoon, the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for six parts of the northern Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City, warning that there would be strikes "due to Hamas's exploitation of civilian areas for terrorist activities".

An infographic identified the affected areas as al-Shifa hospital, the Islamic University, and the al-Shati, Carmel, Mustafa Hafez and al-Furqan school complexes, and alleged that they contained Hamas command centres, structures and meeting points.

The areas are packed with tents housing thousands of displaced people.

Al-Shifa is also one of only 22 partially functional hospitals in Gaza. It was largely destroyed in a two-week raid by Israeli forces last year but has since reopened its emergency department.

Israel cut off all deliveries of aid and other supplies to Gaza on 2 March and resumed its offensive against Hamas on 18 March after the collapse of a two-month ceasefire.

The UN says 20% of the 2.1 million population has been displaced again, and that 70% of Gaza is now either within Israeli military "no-go" zones or under evacuation orders.

Severe shortages of food and fuel have forced all UN-supported bakeries and more than 60% of the 180 community kitchens providing hot meals to shut down.

A UN-backed assessment released on Monday warned that the entire population was facing high levels of acute food insecurity, with half a million people facing starvation.

The UN has said Israel is obliged under international law to ensure food and medical supplies for Gaza's population. Israel has said it is complying with international law and there is no shortage of aid because thousands of lorry loads entered during the ceasefire.

Palestinians are hoping Hamas's decision on Monday to release the last living Israeli-American hostage in Gaza, Edan Alexander, could pave the way for a possible new ceasefire deal with Israel and the end of the blockade.

Hamas said it freed Mr Alexander as a goodwill gesture to US President Donald Trump, who is visiting the Middle East this week.

On Wednesday morning, Trump told a summit of Gulf leaders in Riyadh that he was hopeful that more of the 58 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza would be freed.

"All hostages must be released as a stepping stone to peace," he said. "I think that's going to be happening."

At the same time, his special envoys Steve Witkoff and Adam Boehler participated in a new round of indirect talks in Doha along with officials from regional mediators Qatar and Egypt.

Later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office also said he had a "lengthy" discussion with Witkoff by telephone "on the issue of the hostages".

More than 65 former hostages meanwhile signed a letter urging the Israeli government to seize a "genuine opportunity to return to the negotiating table" and secure the release of all the hostages. "Please do not walk away until a comprehensive deal is signed," they said.

Netanyahu has said Israel is planning to expand its military offensive in Gaza and that nothing will stop the war.

He told injured reservist soldiers on Monday that Israeli forces would go into the territory in the coming days "with full force to complete the operation" to destroy Hamas.

"There will be no situation where we stop the war. A temporary ceasefire might happen, but we are going all the way," he added.

Hamas has refused to release the remaining hostages unless Israel agrees to a permanent ceasefire and withdraws from Gaza.

On Tuesday, a massive Israeli air strike on the European hospital's compound in Khan Younis killed at least 28 people, according to local officials.

The Israeli military described it as "a precise strike on Hamas terrorists who were operating in a command-and-control centre" underneath the hospital.

Israeli media reports said the target was Mohammed Sinwar, who is believed to have become the top Hamas leader in Gaza after his brother Yahya was killed by Israeli forces last October.

Israel launched a military campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 52,928 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including 2,799 since the Israeli offensive resumed, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Nearly 100 people killed in Israeli attack on north Gaza, rescuers say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crr704wwklgo, 2 days ago

Nearly 100 people, including children, have been killed in a large-scale Israeli ground, air and sea attack launched early Friday in north Gaza, the Hamas-run civil defence and residents have said.

The civil defence said at least nine homes and tents housing civilians had been bombed overnight and it had received dozens of calls from people trapped.

Witnesses also reported smoke bombs, artillery shelling and tanks in Beit Lahia.

Israel's military said it was "operating to locate and dismantle terrorist infrastructure sites" in north Gaza and had "eliminated several terrorists" over the past day.

This marks the largest ground assault on north Gaza since Israel resumed its offensive in March.

Basheer al-Ghandour, who fled Beit Lahia for Jabalia after the attack, told the BBC people were sleeping when suddenly "intense bombing" hit overnight.

"It came from all sides - air strikes and warships. My brother's house collapsed. There were 25 people inside," he said.

He said 11 people were injured and five killed, including his nieces, aged five and 18, and a 15-year-old nephew. He and others tried to free relatives from the rubble.

"My brother's wife is still under the rubble - we didn't manage to rescue her. Because of how intense the bombing was, we had to flee," he said.

"We didn't take anything with us - no furniture, no food, no flour. We even left in bare feet."

Another survivor, Yousif Salem, told reporters he and his three children had "just escaped death".

"An air strike hit our neighbours' home - none of them survived," he said.

He said artillery shells began hitting near their house as they were trapped inside. When he tried to leave, a quadcopter drone opened fire, he said.

He made a second attempt under heavy shelling, he said. All roads were blocked, but they managed to find a side road.

"We escaped only minutes before Israeli tanks encircled the area," he said.

According to local residents, the attack began with smoke bomb barrages followed by intense artillery shelling from nearby Israeli positions.

Tanks then began advancing toward Al-Salateen neighbourhood in western Beit Lahia.

Witnesses reported that Israeli armoured vehicles surrounded a school sheltering hundreds of displaced civilians.

Israeli aircraft dropped leaflets early Friday over several areas in north Gaza calling on residents to evacuate the areas immediately, raising fears the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was expanding its military operation in one of Gaza's most densely populated regions.

The evacuation orders sparked panic among families who have been displaced multiple times since the war began. Many have nowhere else to go.

"I swear I don't know where we're going," said Sana Marouf, who was fleeing with her family on a donkey cart in Gaza City.

"We don't have mattresses, blankets, food or water."

She said she had seen people "torn to pieces" overnight. "It was a black night. They were relentlessly bombing us."

The attack in north Gaza comes after Israeli air strikes killed more than 120 people, mostly in the south, on Thursday.

The IDF said on Friday it had struck more than 150 "terror targets" throughout Gaza over the past day, including anti-tank missile posts, military structures, and centres where groups were planning to "carry out terrorist attacks against IDF troops".

In south Gaza, the IDF said it had dismantled Hamas structures and shafts and killed "several terrorists" who Israel said had planned to plant an explosive device.

While Friday's powerful overnight strikes and reported advance by ground troops west of Beit Lahia are significant, this does not yet look like Israel's threatened major military offensive.

Israel's government has pledged to intensify operations in Gaza and indefinitely reoccupy the Strip if Hamas did not accept a proposal for a temporary ceasefire and the return of remaining hostages by the end of President Donald Trump's regional trip, which concluded on Friday.

While there has been no sign of a breakthrough with negotiating teams still in Doha, local media say that Arab mediators have been pushing for more time to give talks a chance.

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas agreed in January broke down when Israel relaunched air strikes on Gaza in March.

Israel also implemented a total blockade on humanitarian aid, including food, that has been widely condemned by the UN as well as European and Arab countries.

Israel's defence minister Israel Katz last month said the blockade was a "main pressure lever" to secure victory over Hamas and get all the hostages out.

There is growing evidence that Israel's 10-week blockade is having an increasingly detrimental humanitarian impact. Aid organisations and residents say people in Gaza are now starving.

A recent UN-backed report said Gaza's whole population – some 2.1 million people – is at critical risk of famine.

The Israeli government has insisted there is no shortage of food in Gaza and that the "real crisis is Hamas looting and selling aid".

Israel and the US have proposed allowing in and distributing aid through private companies - a plan rejected by the UN.

The deteriorating situation in Gaza has drawn concern from the US this week.

Boarding his flight home from the Middle East, Trump said the US needs to "help out the Palestinians" and acknowledges "a lot of people are starving".

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration was "troubled" by the humanitarian situation.

Israel launched a military campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group's cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 53,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Fifty-eight hostages are still being held in Gaza, up to 23 of whom are believed to be alive.

Additional reporting by Alice Cuddy in Jerusalem

US 'troubled' by humanitarian situation in Gaza, Rubio tells BBC

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gewwg1wlvo, 3 days ago

The top US diplomat Marco Rubio has said the US is "troubled" by the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

His comments came as at least 114 Palestinians were killed in Israeli air strikes on Thursday, health officials said.

Asked by the BBC if the Trump administration remained fully behind the nature of Israel's military action given the scale of the recent Israeli attacks and its bombing of hospitals, he once again called on Hamas to surrender and release hostages and said there could be no peace so long as the group exists.

"That said, we're not immune or in any way insensitive to the suffering of the people of Gaza, and I know that there's opportunities here to provide aid for them," he said.

Gaza has been under a complete Israeli blockade of all food and other humanitarian supplies for 10 weeks. Israeli forces have been intensifying their bombardment of what they say are Hamas fighters and infrastructure ahead of a planned expansion of their ground offensive in Gaza.

Rubio's comments - made after a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Turkey - appeared to be a reference to a controversial Israeli-American proposal to use private providers to set up aid collection points in Gaza. That plan has been rejected by the UN as unethical and unworkable.

They come as Donald Trump is visiting the region and indirect negotiations on a new ceasefire and hostage release deal between Hamas and Israel continue.

Hamas meanwhile accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of "undermin[ing] mediation efforts by deliberate military escalation".

An Israeli government spokesman said Israel wanted negotiations on hostage releases to succeed, but that they would take place while Hamas was under "military pressure".

The US is Israel's main arms supplier and the language used by Rubio is unusual. Previously he has responded to questions about Palestinian civilian casualties only by calling on Hamas to surrender. It also comes amid recent reports of a rift between Trump and Netanyahu.

In southern Gaza the streets of Khan Younis were filled with funeral processions and grieving families on Thursday morning, following what residents said were the deadliest set of air strikes in the city since Israel resumed its offensive almost two months ago.

Some 56 people, including women and children, were killed when homes and tents sheltering displaced families were bombed overnight in the city, the local Nasser hospital said.

The Israeli military said it struck Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters in southern Gaza.

One man told BBC Arabic's Middle East Daily programme that Nasser hospital's mortuary was "filled beyond capacity", and that several bodies had to be placed in the corridor before they could be buried.

Doctors were forced to treat wounded people, including those with burns, amputations and internal bleeding, on stretchers, benches and on the floor due to a lack of beds, he said.

"Among those killed today were 36 children... Entire families have been wiped from the civil registry," he added. "Tragically, this level of destruction has become part of daily life."

One video shared by a local activist showed medics laying dozens of bodies on the ground at a local cemetery. An imam stood nearby leading prayers for hundreds of mourners gathered behind him in orderly rows.

Safaa al-Bayouk, a 42-year-old mother of six, said her sons Muath, who was six weeks old, and Moataz, who was one year and four months, were killed in one of the strikes.

"I gave them dinner and they went to sleep. It was a normal day... [then] the world turned upside down," she told Reuters news agency.

Reem al-Zanaty, 13, said her uncle's family, including her 12-year-old cousin Menna, were killed when their two homes were bombed.

"We didn't feel or hear anything until we woke up with rubble on us," she said. "The Civil Defence did not come. I will tell you honestly we pulled ourselves [out]. My father helped us."

Medics said local journalist Hassan Samour, who worked for Hamas-run al-Aqsa Radio, was killed along with 11 members of his family when their home in the eastern Bani Suheila neighbourhood was struck.

In northern Gaza, the Civil Defence agency said its first responders had recovered the bodies of four people following Israeli strikes in the northern town of Beit Lahia and two others in the central town of Deir al-Balah.

Later, spokesman Mahmoud Basal reported that an Israeli strike on a home in Jabalia town had killed all five members of the Shihab family.

Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that 15 people were killed, including 11 children, when the al-Tawbah health clinic and prayer hall in the al-Fakhouri area of Jabalia refugee camp was bombed.

A graphic video posted online purportedly from the scene showed two bodies covered in debris on a street next to a badly damaged building.

"An indescribable crime, in all meanings of the word. They were safe in a medical clinic, civilians, children, women, men, something a person can't fathom, for them to release a military missile on a medical clinic, on people and passers-by," resident Yehya Abu Jalhoum told Reuters.

Amir Selha, a 43-year-old resident of northern Gaza, told AFP news agency: "Tank shells are striking around the clock, and the area is packed with people and tents."

He also said Israeli military drones had dropped leaflets over his neighbourhood warning residents to move south.

The military said it had struck 130 "terror targets" throughout Gaza over the past two days, including cells of fighters, rocket launchers and infrastructure sites.

On Wednesday, Israeli strikes killed at least 80 people across the territory, including 59 in Jabalia town and refugee camp, according to hospitals and the Civil Defence.

The military said it struck Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters in the north on Tuesday night. It had warned residents of Jabalia and neighbouring areas to evacuate on Tuesday after rockets were launched into Israel.

Israeli evacuation orders issued on Wednesday afternoon also caused panic among residents of a crowded area of Gaza City, in the north.

The Israeli military said a hospital, a university and several schools sheltering displaced people in the Rimal neighbourhood had become "terrorist strongholds" and that it would soon attack them with "intense force".

Separately, a US-backed organisation said it would start work in Gaza within two weeks as part of a new and heavily criticised US-Israeli aid distribution plan.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said it had asked Israel to let the UN and others resume deliveries until it was set up, and also to allow it to set up aid distribution sites in the north as well as the south.

Israel's UN envoy, Danny Danon, said he was "not familiar with those requests", but he confirmed that the "major operation" would start very soon.

UN spokesperson Farhan Haq meanwhile reiterated that it would not participate in the plan, saying it "does not accord with out basic principles, including those of impartiality, neutrality [and] independence".

Israel has not allowed any aid or other supplies into Gaza for 10 weeks, and an assessment by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has warned that half a million people face starvation.

Israel imposed the blockade on 2 March and resumed its offensive against Hamas two weeks later, ending a two-month ceasefire. It said it wanted to put pressure on Hamas to release its remaining 58 hostages, up to 23 of whom are believed to be alive.

Israel launched a military campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group's cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 53,010 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including 2,876 since the Israeli offensive resumed, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Israel denying food to Gaza is 'weapon of war', UN Palestinian refugee agency head tells BBC

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx27dzv7znpo, 6 days ago

How do you measure misery? For journalists the usual way is to see it, to feel it, to smell it.

Beleaguered Palestinian colleagues in Gaza are doing that, still doing invaluable reporting at great risk to themselves. More than 200 have been killed doing their jobs.

Israel does not allow international journalists into Gaza.

Denied the chance of eyewitness reporting – one of the best tools of the job – we can study, from a distance, the assessments of aid organisations operating in Gaza.

Pascal Hundt, deputy director of operations at the International Committee of the Red Cross said last week that civilians in Gaza faced "an overwhelming daily struggle to survive the dangers of hostilities, cope with relentless displacement, and endure the consequences of being deprived of urgent humanitarian assistance."

He added: "This situation must not—and cannot—be allowed to escalate further."

But it might, if Israel continues the plunge deeper into war that resumed on 18 March when it broke a two-month ceasefire with a massive series of air strikes.

Israel had already sealed the gates of Gaza. Since the beginning of March, it has blocked all shipments of humanitarian aid, including food and medical supplies.

The return to war ended any chance of moving on to the ceasefire's proposed second phase, which Israel and Hamas had agreed would end with the release of all the remaining hostages in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

That was unacceptable to the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the ultra-nationalist religious extremists who keep him in power.

They want Gaza's Palestinians to be replaced by Jewish settlers. They threatened to topple Netanyahu's government if he did not go back to war, and the end of Netanyahu's political career would bring the day of reckoning for his part in Israel's failure to prevent the deadly Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023. It might also force a conclusion in his long trial on corruption charges.

Prime Minister Netanyahu is now promising a new "intense" offensive into Gaza in the days after President Donald Trump finishes his swing through the wealthy Arab oil monarchies in the Gulf later this week.

The offensive includes a plan to displace massive numbers of Palestinian civilians on top of waves of artillery, air strikes and death. "To displace" is a cold verb. It means families having only handfuls of minutes to flee for their lives, from an area that might be hit immediately to one that might be hit later. Hundreds of thousands have done so repeatedly since the war began.

Gaza was one of the most overcrowded places on earth before the war. Israel's plan is to force as many Gazans as possible into a tiny area in the south, near the ruins of the town of Rafah, which has been almost entirely destroyed.

Before that happens, the UN humanitarian office estimates that 70% of Gaza is already effectively off limits to Palestinians. Israel's plan is to leave them in an even smaller area. The UN and leading aid groups reject Israeli claims that Hamas steals and controls food that comes into Gaza. They have refused to cooperate with a scheme proposed by Israel and the US that would use private security firms, protected by Israeli troops, to distribute basic rations.

Far from Gaza, in London, I talked to Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of Unrwa, the UN agency that supports Palestinian refugees. He told me that he was running out of words "to describe the misery and the tragedy affecting the people in Gaza. They have been now more than two months without any aid".

"Starvation is spreading, people are exhausted, people are hungry... we can expect that in the coming weeks if no aid is coming in, that people will not die because of the bombardment, but they will die because of the lack of food. This is the weaponisation of humanitarian aid."

If words are not enough, look at the most authoritative data-driven assessment of famine and food emergencies in the regular reports issued by Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC. It is a joint venture by UN agencies, aid groups and governments that measures whether a famine is happening.

The latest IPC update says Gaza is close to famine. But it says that the entire population, more than two million people, almost half of whom are children, is experiencing acute food insecurity. In plain English, that means they are being starved by Israel's blockade.

The IPC says that 470,000 Gazans, 22% of the population, are in a classification it calls "Phase 5 – catastrophe." The IPC defines it as a condition in which "at least one in five households experience an extreme lack of food and face starvation resulting in destitution, extremely critical levels of acute malnutrition and death."

In practical terms, the phase five classification, the most acute used by the IPC, estimates that "71,000 children and more than 17,000 mothers will need urgent treatment for acute malnutrition".

Thousands of tons of the food, medical aid and humanitarian supplies that they need are sitting only a few miles away, on the other side of the border in Egypt.

In London I asked Mr Lazzarini whether he agreed with those who have accused Israel of denying food and humanitarian aid to civilians as a weapon of war.

"I have absolutely no doubt," he said, "that this is what we have witnessed during this last 19 months, especially during this last two months. That's a war crime. The quantification will come from the ICJ [International Court of Justice] not from me, but what I can say, what we see, what we observe, food and humanitarian assistance is indeed being used to meet the political or military objective in the context of Gaza."

I asked Mr Lazzarini whether the blockade, on top of a year and half of war and destruction, might amount to genocide. That is the accusation against Israel levelled by South Africa and other states at the ICJ in The Hague.

"Listen, by any account, the destruction is massive. The number of people who have been killed is huge and certainly underestimated. We have seen the systematic destruction also of a school, of a health centre. People have been constant pinballs within Gaza, moving all the time. So there is absolutely no doubt that we are talking about massive atrocities. Genocide? It could end up to genocide. There are many elements which could go in this direction."

Israel's defence minister Israel Katz has made no secret of Israel's tactics. Last month Katz said that the blockade was a "main pressure lever" to secure victory over Hamas and to get the all the hostages out. The National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir agreed. He wrote that: "The cessation of humanitarian aid is one of the main levers of pressure on Hamas. The return of aid to Gaza before Hamas gets on its knees and releases all of our hostages would be a historic mistake."

Netanyahu's plans for another offensive, and the remarks made by Katz, Ben-Gvir and others, horrified Israeli families with hostages still inside Gaza. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum which represents many of them, said minister Katz was pushing an "illusion... Israel is choosing to seize territory before the hostages."

Dissident Israeli military reservists also protested, saying that they were being forced to fight again not for Israeli security but for the political survival of the Israeli government. In the air force reserve, 1,200 pilots signed an open letter saying that prolonging the war served mainly "political and personal interests and not security ones". Netanyahu blamed a small group of "bad apples" for the open letter.

For many months Netanyahu and his government have also accused Mr Lazzarini of lying. One official report posted online in January of this year was headed "Dismantling Unrwa Chief Lazzarini's Falsehoods". It claimed that he had "consistently made false statements which have profoundly misinformed the public debate on this issue". Unrwa, Israel says, has been infiltrated and exploited by Hamas to an unprecedented degree. It says some Unrwa employees took part in the attacks of 7 October.

Mr Lazzarini denies the personal accusations directed at him by Israel and the broader ones aimed at Unrwa. He says Unrwa investigated 19 staff named by Israel and concluded nine of them may have a case to answer. All 19 were suspended. Mr Lazzarini said that since then Unrwa had received "hundreds of allegations from the State of Israel. Each time, as a rule-based organisation, we keep asking for substantiated information". He said they had never received it.

All wars are political, and none more than the ones between Israel and the Palestinians. The war engages and enrages the outside world as well the belligerents.

Israel argues that self-defence justifies its actions since 7 October 2023 when Hamas, Islamic Jihad and others attacked Israel, killed around 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians, and took 251 others hostage. Any other government, it says, would have done the same.

Palestinians and an increasingly concerned and outraged chorus of states, including some of Israel's key European allies, say that does not justify the continuation of the most devastating assault on Palestinians since the war of 1948, when Israel gained its independence, which Palestinians call "the catastrophe".

Even President Trump shows signs of distancing himself from Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that the people of Gaza must be fed.

The allegation that the total denial of food to Gazan civilians is more evidence of an Israeli genocide against Palestinians has outraged Benjamin Netanyahu, his government and many Israeli citizens. It produced rare political unity in Israel. The leader of the opposition Yair Lapid, normally a stern critic of Netanyahu, condemned "a moral collapse and a moral disaster" at the ICJ.

Genocide is defined as the destruction, in whole or in part, of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. The International Criminal Court (ICC), a separate body, has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defence minister on war crimes charges, which they reject. The three Hamas leaders who were also the subject of ICC warrants have all been killed by Israel.

It is not too soon to think about the longer-term impact of this devastating war, even though its end is not in sight. Mr Lazzarini told me that "in the coming years we will realise how wrong we have been… on the wrong side of the history. We have under our watch let a massive atrocity unfold."

It started, he said, with the Hamas attacks on Israel on the 7 October: "The largest killing of Israeli and Jewish in the region since World War II" had been followed by a "massive" military response by Israel.

It was, he said, "disproportionate, basically almost leading to the annihilation of an entire population in their homeland... I think there is a collective responsibility from the international community, the level, the passivity, the indifference being shown until now, the lack of political, diplomatic, economic action. I mean, it's absolutely monstrous, especially in our countries where we have said 'never again'."

Ahead may be an attempt to realise Donald Trump's dangerous fantasy of Gaza as the Dubai of the Mediterranean, rebuilt and owned by America and without Palestinians. It has given shape to cherished dreams of Israeli extremists who threaten of the removal of Palestinians from the land between the river Jordan and the Mediterranean.

Whatever lies ahead, it will not be peace.

Jeremy Bowen: Netanyahu's plan for Gaza risks dividing Israel, killing Palestinians and horrifying world

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd020j97l79o, 12 days ago

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told Israelis that "we are on the eve of an intense entry into Gaza." Israel would, he said, capture territory and hold it: "They will not enter and come out."

The new offensive is calculated, according to the spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Brigadier-General Effie Defrin, to bring back the remaining hostages. After that, he told Israeli radio, "comes the collapse of the Hamas regime, its defeat, its submission".

The offensive will not start, Israel says, until after Donald Trump's trip to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar next week. Assuming Trump does not dissuade Israel from going ahead, Israel will need a military and political miracle to pull off the results described by Brig-Gen Defrin.

It is more likely that the offensive will sharpen everything that makes the Gaza war so controversial. The war, starting with the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023, has taken the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis to a point as dangerous as any in its long history. Prolonging the war divides Israelis, kills even more Palestinian civilians and horrifies millions around the world, including many who describe themselves as friends of Israel.

While the IDF attacks Hamas in Gaza, the government's plan is that its soldiers will force some or all of the more than two million Palestinian civilians in Gaza into a small area in the ruins of the south. Humanitarian aid would be distributed, perhaps by contractors including American private security firms. The United Nations humanitarian agencies have said they will not cooperate, condemning the plan as a violation of the principles of humanitarian aid.

They have also warned of starvation in Gaza caused by Israel's decision more than two months ago to block all humanitarian deliveries. Israel's blockade, which continues, has been widely condemned, not just by the UN and Arab countries.

Now, Britain and the European Union both say they are against a new Israeli offensive. A fortnight ago, the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, France and Germany, all allies of Israel who regard Hamas as a terrorist group, warned that the "intolerable" blockade put Palestinian civilians, including one million children, at "an acute risk of starvation, epidemic disease and death".

The ministers also warned, implicitly, that their ally was violating international law.

"Humanitarian aid must never be used as a political tool and Palestinian territory must not be reduced nor subjected to any demographic change", they insisted. "Israel is bound under international law to allow the unhindered passage of humanitarian aid."

Israel denies it violates international humanitarian law and the laws of war in Gaza. But at the same time its own ministers' words suggest otherwise. One of many examples: the defence minister Israel Katz has described the blockade as a "main pressure lever" against Hamas. That sounds like an admission that the blockade is a weapon, even though it starves civilians, which amounts to a war crime.

Countries and organisations that believe Israel systematically violates its legal obligations, committing a series of war crimes, will scour any new offensive for more evidence. Extreme language used by ministers will have been noted by the South African lawyers arguing the case at the International Court of Justice alleging Israeli genocide in Gaza.

Much of it has come from ultra-nationalists who prop up the Netanyahu government. They see the new offensive as another step towards expelling Palestinians from Gaza and replacing them with Jewish settlers.

One of the most vocal extremists, Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister said that in six months Gaza would be "totally destroyed". Palestinians in the territory would be "despairing, understanding that there is no hope and nothing to look for in Gaza, and will be looking for relocation to begin a new life in other places".

"Relocation", the word used by Smotrich, will be seen both by his supporters and political enemies as another reference to "transfer", an idea discussed since the earliest days of Zionism to force Arabs out of the land between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea.

Netanyahu's Israeli critics say prolonging the war with a new offensive instead of ending it with a ceasefire is about his own political survival, not Israel's safety or the return of its hostages. In the days after the 7 October attacks there were lines of cars hurriedly parked outside military bases as Israelis rushed to volunteer for reserve duty to fight Hamas.

Now thousands of them (some estimates from the Israeli left are higher) are refusing to do any more reserve duty. They argue the prime minister is continuing the war because if he doesn't his hard right will bring down the government and bring on the day of reckoning for mistakes and miscalculations Netanyahu made that gave Hamas an opportunity to attack.

Inside Israel, the sharpest criticism of the planned offensive has come from the families of the hostages who fear they have been abandoned by the government that claims to be rescuing them. Hamas still has 24 living hostages in the Gaza Strip, according to Israel, and is holding the bodies of another 35 of the 251 taken on 7 October. The Netanyahu government has claimed repeatedly that only as much military pressure as possible will get the survivors home and return the bodies of the dead to their families.

In reality, the biggest releases of hostages have come during ceasefires. The last ceasefire deal, which Trump insisted Israel sign in the final days of the Biden administration, included a planned second phase which was supposed to lead to the release of all the hostages and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Netanyahu's extremist allies told him they would bring down his government if he agreed to a second phase of the ceasefire. First, Israel blocked humanitarian aid to put pressure, it said, on Hamas to agree to a renegotiated deal that would give Israel the option of going back to war even after the hostages were released. When Hamas refused, Israel went on the offensive again with a massive air attack on the night of 18 March.

Since then, Israel has put unrelenting pressure on Palestinians in Gaza. A new offensive will kill many more Palestinian civilians, deepen the misery of the survivors and bereaved inside Gaza and widen the toxic rifts within Israel. On its own, without a ceasefire deal, it is unlikely on past form to force Hamas to free the remaining hostages.

The carnage inflicted by Israel inside Gaza has been a recruiting sergeant for Hamas and other armed groups, according to President Joe Biden's administration just before it left office in January of this year. It is worth repeating the words used by Biden's secretary of state, Antony Blinken, in a speech in Washington on 14 January.

"We assess that Hamas has recruited almost as many new militants as it has lost," Blinken said. "That is a recipe for an enduring insurgency and perpetual war."

When he spoke, Israel was claiming that it had killed around 18,000 Palestinian fighters inside Gaza. More have been killed since then, and many more civilians.

Israel's massive onslaught broke the back of Hamas as a structured military organisation more than a year ago. Now Israel faces an insurgency, which history shows can go for as long as recruits are prepared to fight and die to beat their enemy.

Americans used to be steadfast in their support for Israel. Those days are gone

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr4n90g6v9qo, 13 days ago

I ran from the White House briefing room, past the portico entrance of the West Wing to our camera position on the lawn, and flung on an ear piece connecting me to the studio.

A moment later the presenter asked me about the comments we had just heard live from US President Donald Trump.

I said we were seeing a fundamental shift in a United States' policy position after decades of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

It was February this year, and Trump had just held talks with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - the first foreign leader since Trump's inauguration to be invited to the White House. The US president vowed that his country would take control of the Gaza Strip, having earlier pledged the territory would also be "cleaned out" and emptied of its Palestinian population.

Trump was grabbing the world's attention with a proposal that hardened his administration's support for Israel and also upended international norms, flying in the face of international law. It marked an apex of the current Republican Party's relationship with Israel - sometimes described as support "at all costs".

The alliance between the two countries had been thrust into the international spotlight after the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023 and Israel's offensive in Gaza that followed.

During that war, the administration of President Joe Biden sent some $18bn (£13.5bn) worth of weapons to Israel, maintaining unprecedented levels of US backing. The period was marked by intensifying protests in the US, with many of those protesting being traditional Democrat leaning voters. The fallout became the focus of a bitter culture war centring on American attitudes towards Israel and the Palestinians. I covered demonstrations in which protesters repeatedly labelled Biden "Genocide Joe" – an accusation he always rejected.

At the time Donald Trump branded the protesters "radical-left lunatics" and the Trump administration is now targeting for deportation hundreds of foreign students who it accuses of antisemitism or support for Hamas, a move being vigorously challenged in the courts.

But as a Democrat who could otherwise have expected the vote of many of those upset over his support for Israel that support was politically costly for Biden in a way not experienced by previous presidents or, indeed, Trump.

One of Biden's key decision makers over relations with Israel still wrestles with the decisions they took.

"My first reaction is just, I understand that this has evoked incredibly passionate feelings for Arab Americans, for non-Arab Americans, Jewish Americans," says Jake Sullivan, Biden's former national security adviser.

"There were two competing considerations: one was wanting to curb Israel's excesses, both with respect to civilian casualties and the flow of humanitarian assistance. The other was [...] wanting to make sure that we were not cutting Israel off from the capabilities it needed to confront its enemies on multiple different fronts."

He added: "The United States stood behind Israel materially, morally, and in every other way in those days following October 7th."

But opinion polls suggest support for Israel among the American public is dwindling.

A Gallup survey taken in March this year found only 46% of Americans expressed support for Israel (the lowest level in 25 years of Gallup's annual tracking) while 33% now said they sympathised with the Palestinians - the highest ever reading of that measure. Other polls have found similar results.

Surveys - with all their limitations - suggest the swing is largely among Democrats and the young, although not exclusively. Between 2022 and 2025, the Pew Research Center found that the proportion of Republicans who said they had unfavourable views of Israel rose from 27% to 37% (younger Republicans, aged under 49, drove most of that change).

The US has long been Israel's most powerful ally - ever since May 1948, when America was the first country to recognise the nascent State of Israel. But while US support for Israel is extremely likely to continue long-term, these swings in sentiment raise questions over the practical extent and policy limits of the US's ironclad backing and whether the shifting sands of public opinion will eventually feed through to Washington, with real-world policy impacts.

An Oval Office argument

To many, the close relationship between the US and Israel seems like a permanent, unshakeable part of the geopolitical infrastructure. But it wasn't always guaranteed - and at the very beginning largely came down to one man.

In early 1948, US President Harry S Truman had to decide on his approach to Palestine. The country was in the grip of sectarian bloodshed between Jews and Arab Palestinians after three decades of colonial rule by Britain, which had announced its intention to pull out. Truman was deeply moved by the plight of Jewish survivors of the Holocaust stranded in displaced persons camps in Europe.

In New York City, a young Francine Klagsbrun, who would later become an academic and historian of Israeli prime minister Golda Meir, watched her parents praying for a Jewish homeland.

"I grew up in a very Jewish home and a very Zionist home also," she explains. "So my older brother and I would go out and collect money to try to get England to open the doors. My brother would go on the subway trains, all the doors open on the train and he'd shout 'open, open, open the doors to Palestine'," she recalls.

Truman's administration was deeply divided over whether to back a Jewish state. The CIA and the Department of State cautioned against recognising a Jewish state. They feared a bloody conflict with Arab countries that might draw in the US, risking Cold War escalation with the Soviets.

Two days before Britain was due to pull out of Palestine, an explosive row took place in the Oval Office. Truman's domestic advisor Clark Clifford argued in favour of recognising a Jewish state. On the other side of the debate was Secretary of State George Marshall, a World War Two general whom Truman viewed as "the greatest living American".

The man Truman admired so much was vigorously opposed to the president immediately recognising a Jewish state because of his fears about a regional war - and even went as far as telling Truman he would not vote for him in the coming presidential election if he backed recognition.

But despite the moment of extraordinary tension, Truman immediately recognised the State of Israel when it was declared two days later by David Ben-Gurion, the country's first prime minister.

The historian Rashid Khalidi, a New York-born Palestinian whose family members were expelled from Jerusalem by the British in the 1930s, says the US and Israel were fused together in part by shared cultural connections. From 1948 onwards, he says, the Palestinians had a critical diplomatic disadvantage in the US, with their claim to national self-determination sidelined in an unequal contest.

"On the one side, you had the Zionist movement led by people whom are European and American by origin… The Arabs had nothing similar," he says. "[The Arabs] weren't familiar with the societies, the cultures, the political leaderships of the countries that decided the fate of Palestine. How could you speak to American public opinion if you had no idea what America is like?" says Khalidi.

Popular culture played its role too - notably the 1958 novel and subsequent blockbuster film Exodus by the author Leon Uris. It retold the story of Israel's establishment to mass audiences of the 1960s, the movie version creating a heavily Americanised portrayal of pioneers in a new land.

Ehud Olmert, who at the time was a political activist but would later become Israeli prime minister, points to the war of 1967 as the moment when America's support for Israel became the profound alliance that it is today.

That was the war in which Israel, after weeks of escalating fears of invasion by its neighbours, defeated the Arab countries in six days, effectively tripling the size of its territory, and launching its military occupation over (at that time) more than a million stateless Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

"For the first time, the United States understood the importance and the significance of Israel as a major military and political power in the Middle East, and since then everything has changed in the basic relations within our two countries," he says.

Indispensable relations

Over the years, Israel became the biggest recipient of US foreign military aid on Earth. Strong American diplomatic support, particularly at the United Nations, has been a key element of the alliance; while successive US presidents have also sought to broker peace between Israel and its Arab neighbours.

But in recent years it has been far from a straightforward relationship.

When I spoke to Jake Sullivan, I put to him the issue of Arab Americans in the state of Michigan who boycotted Biden and his successor candidate Kamala Harris over the extent of their support for Israel during the Gaza conflict, voting instead for Trump. He rejected the idea that Biden lost the state because of this support.

But that backing still prompted a marked backlash within a section of the American public.

A Pew Research Center survey taken in March this year found that 53% of Americans expressed an unfavourable opinion of Israel, an 11 point increase since the last time the survey was taken in 2022.

A fraying special relationship?

Currently, these shifts in public opinion haven't yet prompted a major change in US foreign policy. Whilst some ordinary US voters are turning away from Israel, on Capitol Hill elected politicians from both parties are still mostly keen to talk up the importance of a strong alliance with Israel.

Some think that a sustained, long-term shift in public opinion might eventually lead to reduced real-world support for the country - with weaker diplomatic ties and reduced military aid. This issue is felt particularly sharply by some inside Israel. Several months before 7 October, the former Israeli general and head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, Tamir Hayman, warned of cracks forming between his country and the United States, in part because of what he described as the slow movement of American Jews away from Zionism.

Israel's political shift in favour of the national-religious right has played a key part in this. From early 2023, Israel was gripped by an unprecedented wave of protests among Jewish Israelis against Netanyahu's judicial reforms, with many arguing he was moving the country towards theocracy – a claim he always rejected. Some in the US who had always felt a deep sense of connection with Israel were watching with growing concern.

In March this year, the Institute for National Security Studies, a leading Tel Aviv-based think tank led by Hayman, published a paper arguing that US public opinion had entered the "danger zone", as far as support for Israel was concerned. "The dangers of diminished US support, particularly as it reflects long-term and deeply rooted trends, cannot be overstated," wrote the paper's author, Theodore Sasson. "Israel needs the support of the global superpower for the foreseeable future,".

That support at the policy level has only strengthened over the decades, but it is important to note that historic American opinion polling shows public opinion has ebbed and flowed before.

Today, Dennis Ross, who helped negotiate the Oslo accords with President Bill Clinton, says American opinion on Israel has become increasingly tied to sharp political divisions in the US.

"Trump is viewed very negatively by most Democrats - the latest polls show over 90 percent," Ross says. "There's potential for Trumpian support for Israel to feed a dynamic here that, at least among Democrats, increases criticism of Israel."

But he expects that Washington's support for Israel - in the form of military aid and diplomatic ties - will continue. And he thinks if Israeli voters eject their prime minister and replace him with a more centrist government, one that may reverse some of the disquiet in the US. A general election must be held in Israel before late October next year.

Under such a new Israeli government, Ross argues, "there won't be the same impulse towards creating de-facto annexation of the West Bank. There'll be much more outreach to the Democratic Party and the Democratic Party officials."

Those who see a fraying relationship are paying particularly close attention to the views of younger Americans - a group that has shown the most marked shift in opinion since 7 October. As the 'TikTok generation', many young Americans get their news about the war from social media and the high civilian death toll from Israel's offensive in Gaza appears to have driven the declining support among young Democrats and liberals in America. Last year, 33 percent of Americans under 30 said their sympathies lie entirely or mostly with the Palestinian people, versus 14 percent who said the same about Israelis, according to a Pew Research poll published last month. Older Americans were more likely to sympathise with the Israelis.

Karin Von Hippel, chair of the Arden Defence and Security Practice and a former official in the US State Department, agrees there is a demographic divide among Americans on the topic of Israel - one that even extends to Congress.

"Younger Congress men and women are less knee jerk, reactively supporting Israel," she says. "And I think younger Americans, including Jewish Americans, are less supportive of Israel than their parents were."

But she is sceptical of the idea that this might lead to a serious change at the policy level. Despite changing opinions among the party's base, she says, many of the most prominent Democrats who might run for President in 2028 are "classically supportive of Israel". She names Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, and Pete Buttigieg, the former Transportation Secretary, as examples. And what about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Instagram-famous congresswoman who is a long-standing supporter of Palestinian rights? Hippel responds bluntly: "I don't think an Ocasio-Cortez type can win right now."

In the weeks after February's Trump-Netanyahu press conference at the White House, I asked Jake Sullivan where he thought the US-Israel relationship was going. He argued that both countries were dealing with internal threats to their democratic institutions that would define their character and their relationship.

"I think it's almost less of a foreign policy question than it is a domestic policy question in these two countries - whither America and whither Israel?" he says. "The answer to those two questions will tell you where does the US-Israel relationship go five, ten, fifteen years from now."

BBC joins Gaza children as they are evacuated to Jordan for treatment

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg5v2rjp84ro, 4 days ago

We were flying through the warm light of the setting sun. There were villages and small towns where the lights were coming on. It was a peaceful landscape where people walked and drove without constantly looking to the sky.

We were over the suburbs of Amman when Safa'a Salha held up her mobile phone so that I could read a message she'd written.

"Oh my God," this Gaza mother wrote, "Jordan is so beautiful."

The evacuees had come to the Jordanian border by road. I joined them there for the final part of the journey by helicopter to Amman.

Safa'a spoke very little English, and in any case the noise of the helicopter made it impossible to converse.

She showed me another message. "We used to see this [helicopter] every day and it was coming to bomb and kill. But today the feeling is totally different."

Next to her sat her 16-year-old son Youssef who showed me the scar on his head from his last surgery. He smiled and wanted to speak, not of Gaza but ordinary things. How he was excited by the helicopter, how he liked football. Youssef said he was very happy and gave me a fist bump.

Beside him was nine-year-old Sama Awad, frail and scared-looking, holding the hand of her mother, Isra. Sama has a brain tumour and will have surgery in Amman.

"I hope she can get the best treatment here," said Isra, when we were on the ground and the noise of the engines faded.

I asked a question which had been answered for me many times by looking at images, but not face to face by someone who had just left.

What is Gaza like now?

"It is horrible. It is impossible to describe. Horrible on so many levels. But people are just trying to get on with living," Isra replied.

Four sick children were evacuated to Jordan along with twelve parents and guardians. They left Gaza by ambulance on Wednesday morning and travelled through Israel without stopping until they reached the border crossing.

The plan to evacuate children was first unveiled during a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Jordan's King Abdullah in February.

Jordan's stated aim is to bring 2,000 sick children to the kingdom for treatment. So far only 33 have been evacuated to Jordan, each travelling with a parent or guardian.

Jordanian sources say Israel has delayed and imposed restrictions and this - along with the resumption of the war - has impeded the evacuation process. Sick Gazans have also been evacuated to other countries via Israel.

We put the Jordanian concerns to the Israeli government organisation responsible - Cogat (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories) - who told us that since "the beginning of the year, and especially in recent weeks, there has been a significant increase in the number of Gazans evacuated through Israel for medical care abroad."

Cogat said thousands of patients and escorts had gone to countries, including Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, the US and others. The statement said that "the ongoing hostilities in the Gaza Strip pose a challenge to the implementation of these evacuation operations."

Israel broke the last ceasefire in March launching a wave of attacks on what it said were Hamas positions.

Gaza remains a claustrophobic zone of hunger and death for its residents. Those who get out for medical treatment are the exception.

According to the UN the population of 2.1 million is facing the risk of famine. The organisation's head of humanitarian affairs, Tom Fletcher, has appealed to the UN Security Council to act to "prevent genocide" in Gaza.

These are strong words for a man trained in the sober traditions of the British Foreign Office and who has served as an ambassador and senior government advisor.

The Israeli blockade is preventing essential aid supplies from reaching the population. That along with the continued bombing explain Isra Abu Jame's description of a place horrible beyond words.

The children who arrived in Jordan on Wednesday from Gaza will join a small community of other wounded and sick youngsters in different Amman hospitals.

Since January we have been following the case of Habiba Al-Askari, who came with her mother Rana in the hope doctors might be able to save three gangrene infected limbs - two arms, and a leg.

But the infection - caused by a rare skin condition - had gone too far. Habiba underwent a triple amputation.

When I met Habiba and Rana again this week, the little girl was using the toes of her remaining foot to scroll, and play children's games on her mum's phone. She blew kisses with the stump of her arm. This was a very different child to the frightened girl I met on the helicopter evacuation five months ago.

"She's a strong person," Rana said. Habiba will be fitted with prosthetic limbs. Already she is determined to walk, asking her mother to hold under her armpits while she hops.

Some day, Rana hopes, she will take Habiba back to Gaza. Mother and child are safe and well cared for in Amman, but their entire world, their family and neighbours are back in the ruins. Concerns about Habiba's health make Rana reluctant to contemplate going back soon.

"We have no house. If we want go back where will we go? We would be going back to a tent full of sand…[but] I truly want to return. Gaza is beautiful, despite everything that has happened. To me Gaza will always be the most precious spot on this entire earth."

They will return. But to war or peace? Nobody knows.

With additional reporting by Alice Doyard, Suha Kawar, Nik Millard and Malak Hassouneh.

Scared and malnourished - footage from Gaza shows plight of children and aftermath of Israeli strike

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjdznz727z8o, 5 days ago

The war's horrors multiply. The dead, the pieces of the dead. The dying. The starving. More and more of them now – all the weight of human suffering witnessed by my brave colleagues in Gaza.

The urge to avert our gaze can be overpowering. But the cameramen who work for the BBC cannot turn away, and on Tuesday one of them became a casualty himself. For their safety we do not reveal the names of our colleagues in Gaza.

Our cameraman was not seriously wounded, but that was a matter of luck. The Israeli bombs launched into the car park of the European Hospital in Khan Younis killed and wounded dozens.

The Israelis say the leader of Hamas was hiding in a command-and-control compound under the hospital. The army said it conducted a "precise strike" - and blamed Hamas for"cynically and cruelly exploiting the civilian population in and around the hospital". Hamas denies such charges.

At the time of the attack, families whose sick children are to be evacuated from Gaza were gathering in the hospital. There were also families waiting to meet children returning from treatment abroad.

One of the fathers was with our BBC colleague and was wounded by the bombs. He has now been discharged from hospital. Harrowing images show our journalist trying to console the man's terrified children.

Warning: This report contains distressing images.

Much of my colleague's work in recent days has focused on the plight of malnourished children.

A short time before the blast, I messaged to thank him for his work filming, with immense sensitivity, the story of Siwar Ashour. This was his response:

"Siwar's story broke something in all of us, and working on it was one of the most painful things I've ever had to do. But I knew her face, her name, and her story had to be seen – had to be heard."

Siwar is five months old and acutely malnourished, a child whose large, brown eyes dominate her shrunken frame. They follow her mother Najwa's every move. On Tuesday Najwa sent us a video message from her room at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza.

She wanted the world to know how much she loves her child. "I wish she could receive the treatment she needs, to recover fully, and return as she was before – to play like other children, to grow and gain weight like other children. She is my first child, and as her mother, I'm deeply heartbroken for her."

In the past few days Siwar has developed a skin infection. Sores have appeared on her hands. She also has a severe gastrointestinal condition. The battle is to keep nourishment inside her. Her immune system is fighting the deprivation caused by the Israeli blockade.

The baby's cry is weak, yet it is full of urgency, the sound of a life struggling for its survival. Siwar can only drink a special milk formula due to severe allergies.

On Tuesday there was some better news. Medics at the nearby Jordanian Field Hospital managed to find some of the formula she needs. It is a small amount but they plan to send more.

In the coming days there are plans to bring sick children to the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. Here in Amman there are already several Gaza families who have children being treated for illness or war injuries in local hospitals. These evacuations are co-ordinated with the Israelis who do background checks on the parents travelling with their children.

In January we filmed the arrival of Abdelrahman al-Nashash and his mum Asma. Abdelrahman lost his leg in an Israeli bombing.

For four months they've lived in a place with food and shelter. A safe place.

When we visited them on Tuesday Asma called her children and their grandmother in Gaza.

Grandmother Najwa spoke of the war all around them. "The rockets are everywhere, firing over our heads. The food. Life is very bad. There is no flour. The prices are very high."

The children waved and blew kisses to their mother.

Afterwards, Asma told us: "I don't know what to say. I am very grateful for my mum for all she is doing for me. I wish I can return back to find them safe and in good health." She broke down and was silent.

It is only through the eyes of a mother who sees her children trapped, frightened and hungry from a safe distance, that it is possible to imagine why anyone would want to go back to Gaza.

With additional reporting by Alice Doyard, Suha Kawar and Nik Millard.

Families of Hamas-held hostages tell of growing concern for their fate

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8d1pngdjzmo, 9 days ago

Families of Israeli hostages taken to Gaza in the 7 October attacks have expressed their increasing concern about the fates of loved ones, as doubts grow about how many are still alive.

One family said the hostages were at risk "every day" they continued to be held captive by Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week there was "uncertainty" over the condition of three of the 24 hostages previously believed to be alive.

He was reacting to US President Donald Trump's statement on Tuesday that only 21 of those taken in the Hamas-led attacks were still alive.

The BBC spoke to two families - including the brother of a hostage released by Hamas this year - after Israel's security cabinet approved an expanded offensive in Gaza.

Netanyahu said ministers had decided on a "forceful operation" to destroy Hamas and rescue the hostages, and that Gaza's 2.1 million population "will be moved, to protect it".

One family told the BBC they hoped the troops would only be used to help with the aim of freeing the hostages, not for any other reasons.

Liran Berman's twin brothers Gali and Ziv have been held by Hamas for 19 months after they were kidnapped from their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on 7 October 2023.

About 1,200 people were killed by Hamas-led gunmen that day, while Gali and Ziv were among 251 others who were taken hostage.

More than 52,780 people have been killed in Gaza during the ensuing war, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Israel cut off all deliveries of aid and other supplies on 2 March and resumed its offensive two weeks later after it broke a two-month ceasefire that saw 33 Israeli and five Thai hostages released in exchange for about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Following news of Israel's plan to expand its military operation in Gaza using thousands more troops unless Hamas agreed a new ceasefire and released the remaining hostages, Liran Berman told BBC News: "I hope that Israel is sending the forces to put pressure on Hamas to sit down.

"When Hamas was feeling threatened, they did the deals. I hope they are not sending the troops to conquer or for revenge."

Mr Berman said his 27-year-old brothers were "at risk every single day".

"We know they are alive. The released hostages saw them."

He said he believed Gali and Ziv had been injured when they were seized but that he worried their mental condition was "not good" after so long in captivity.

With the release of emaciated and frail hostages in February, Mr Berman said he was worried about his brothers' conditions.

"We need to pressure Hamas and its enablers."

For 491 days, Or Levy was held by Hamas not knowing whether his wife Einav had survived the 7 October attack on the Nova music festival where he was taken.

She didn't and for more than a year his three-year-old son Almog was without both his parents. In February, Or, weak and painfully thin, was released by Hamas.

His brother, Michael Levy, told BBC News he was worried about the impact on the hostages if Israel sent more troops into Gaza.

"I'm concerned it will affect the hostages, that the terrorists can decide to do something to them," he said. "I do believe the army knows what it's doing and they will make sure the hostages aren't affected, but it's always a concern."

But he said he wanted more pressure applied to get them released.

"There is a crime against humanity and everyone including President Trump needs to do more in order to bring them back."

He said his brother did not receive enough food while he was held hostage in Hamas's underground tunnels in Gaza and "didn't see sunlight". He said he showered "every two months or so".

"My brother worries about the fact the rest of the hostages will end up dying in captivity because that was his worst fear about himself and it's now his worst fear about those he left behind."

Of the 251 people taken hostage on 7 October - and the four other captives held by Hamas for around a decade before the attacks - 59 now remain in Gaza.

The Israeli government has publicly confirmed the deaths of 35, leaving 24 hostages. There is now uncertainty about the fate of three of them.

All 59 were kidnapped in the 7 October attack apart from one - the soldier Hadar Goldin who was killed in combat in Gaza during a previous war in 2014.

The living hostages are men in their 20s or 30s, apart from Omri Miran who turned 48 in April.

Of the 35 whose bodies Israel has confirmed are being held in Gaza, nearly all are men who were between 19 and 86 years old when they died. Three are women.

'One pita bread per day'

Since the spate of releases earlier this year, former hostages have been speaking to the media and others about their time in captivity.

Tal Shoham, 49, released in February after 505 days, told a UN event last month: "There were many times that we received just one pita bread for an entire day… Traumatised by hunger, we collected crumb after crumb."

Eliya Cohen, 28, who was also held for 505 days, told Israel's Channel 12 that once a week Hamas gunmen would make him and other hostages take off all their clothes and would tell them: "You you're not quite there, you're not thin enough... I'm thinking about cutting the food even more."

Ilana Gritzewsky was released during another ceasefire in November 2023. Her partner Matan Zangauker is still a hostage.

The 31-year-old told the New York Times in March that as she was kidnapped from her home she was molested by one of the kidnappers.

The article says she believes she was also sexually assaulted in Gaza. "When she came to, she said, she found herself on the floor in a dilapidated building, clearly in Gaza, her shirt up baring her breasts and pants pulled down, with seven gunmen standing over her."

Ron Krivoi, a sound engineer, was kidnapped from the Nova music festival.

Last month, The Times of Israel quoted a Channel 12 interview in which he described the tunnels.

"We were inside a very, very small cage… and we had to lie down and rest in it – you couldn't stand. No height, no toilets, no food. We were five people."

'No food when I gave birth': Malnutrition rises in Gaza as Israeli blockade enters third month

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czrv5rl73zdo, 12 days ago

Sometimes in war it is the smallest sound that can make the loudest statement.

In Gaza's Nasser hospital, a five-month-old girl struggles to cry.

Siwar Ashour is hoarse. Her voice has been robbed of the energy to fully communicate her distress. She cannot absorb regular formula milk and doctors say the Israeli blockade now in its third month means supplies of the food she needs are scarce.

Siwar sounds as if the weight of the war is pressing down on her lungs.

Her mother Najwa, 23, is changing Siwar's nappy. She weighs just over 2kg (4lb 6oz). A baby girl of five months should be around or over 6kg.

"There was no food when I gave birth to her," says Najwa.

"If I wanted to feed myself so I could breastfeed her, I had no nutrients to make my health better... She now only drinks formula milk, and we don't know how we'll be able to provide it for her."

Israel has banned international journalists from entering Gaza to report independently.

A local BBC colleague filmed the unmistakable signs of advanced malnutrition on Siwar's body. The head that seems far too big for her frame. The stick-like arms and legs. The ribs pressing against her skin when she tries to cry. The large brown eyes that follow her mother's every small movement.

Najwa worries about what will happen when she must leave the hospital.

"The hospital provided with great difficulty some milk for her, they searched all of the hospitals but they could only find it in one. They told me that they will give me one bottle when we leave, but it is barely enough for four days. Her father is blind and he can't provide a bottle of milk for her, and even if we found it, it would be expensive, and he doesn't work."

According to Siwar's doctor, Ziad al-Majaida, it was her second stay in the hospital. She was back because of the shortage of milk formula.

"Nothing enters through the borders, no milk, food or anything. This leads to big problems here for the kids. This baby needs a specific type of milk. It was available before, but because of the border closure, the stocks have run out for a while now."

The hospital is trying to find more supplies but Siwar is weak and suffering from constant diarrhoea.

"If she stays like this, her life will be in danger, but if her milk or treatment were provided, then her state would improve," says Dr Majaida.

Since the beginning of the year, according to the UN, about 10,000 cases of acute malnutrition among children have been identified. Food prices have rocketed by as much as 1,400%.

Charity kitchens, which have helped hundreds of thousands of Gazans, are shutting as food supplies run out. Twenty-five bakeries supported by the World Food Programme have been forced to close.

In the southern city of Khan Younis, where Nasser hospital is located, our journalist visited a kitchen run by Shabab Gaza (Gaza Youth), which delivers food directly to families. Enough for a meal a day per family.

The head of the charity, Mohammad Abu Rjileh, 29, said three of their four kitchens had closed due to lack of supplies. Looting by criminal gangs, and by desperate civilians has deepened the supply crisis.

"Many of the organisations that support us had their warehouses looted. Instead of having enough ingredients to cook 10,000 meals daily - ingredients that were expected to last us an additional week or 10 days - we now have enough for only one or two days. If no immediate solution is implemented and the borders are not opened as soon as possible, we will be forced to stop cooking."

Israel cut off all humanitarian aid and other supplies from entering Gaza on 2 March, and resumed its military offensive two weeks later, saying it was putting pressure on Hamas to release the 59 hostages the group is still holding in Gaza, up to 24 of whom are still thought to be alive.

The United Nations has said the Israeli blockade constitutes "a cruel collective punishment" on civilians.

The UN's humanitarian director, former British diplomat Tom Fletcher, said that international law was unequivocal.

"As the occupying power, Israel must allow humanitarian support in... Aid, and the civilian lives it saves, should never be a bargaining chip," he warned.

I put this point to Boaz Bismuth, a leading member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party. He denies there is an aid crisis caused by the blockade.

"There is food in Gaza... Israel wouldn't do such a restriction if the population didn't have food. I mean, I know my country perfectly well," he said.

I put it to Bismuth that he was denying the evidence of people's eyes, that children were starving.

"There are not starving children. I repeat again." He said that there had been allegations months ago of famine, ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza "which was crap".

"Nothing has really changed because we're Israel, and we obey not only international law, but also humanitarian law."

"What we want is our hostages back and Hamas out of Gaza. The war can be over in exactly 30 seconds."

Israel has long accused Hamas of hijacking aid, which Hamas denies.

The president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, based in the occupied West Bank, recently claimed most of the looting was being done by gangs associated with Hamas.

He also called the movement "sons of dogs" and demanded the release of Israeli hostages. Hamas responded by saying Abbas "repeatedly and suspiciously lays the blame for the crimes of the occupation [Israel] and its ongoing aggression on our people".

Without being able to enter Gaza and report independently, it is difficult to investigate the unfolding events.

Violent criminal gangs have been heavily implicated in stealing aid. Hamas is threatening violence against groups and individuals it accuses of theft.

Two people were shot outside an Unrwa warehouse but it is not clear who killed them. A local activist who was present blamed Hamas.

"Hamas is hoarding food, depriving the hungry population of food, and selling food at very high prices. The population protested and demanded that the food be distributed or they would take it by force. Hamas fired live ammunition at the hungry," said Moumen al-Natour, a lawyer and protest leader.

All of this is happening in the context of a growing hunger and the breakdown in order that has accompanied the war and blockade.

The Israeli cabinet has approved an escalation of the military offensive in Gaza. It says it aims to destroy Hamas - a goal that has proved elusive for the last 19 months of war.

There are also reports that Israel plans to use private security companies to oversee the distribution of aid in Gaza, although no date for this has been made public.

The United Nations and major aid agencies have described this as a politicisation of aid with which they will refuse to co-operate.

With additional reporting by Alice Doyard and Nik Millard

'My children go to sleep hungry,' Gazans tell the BBC

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly3nyqx7xwo, 2 days ago

As crowds gathered at a food distribution point in northern Gaza, six-year-old Ismail Abu Odeh fought his way to the front.

"Give me some," he called out.

His bowl was filled with lentils, but as he made his way back, it was knocked out of his hands. He returned to his family's tent crying.

An uncle who had managed to get some food later shared some with Ismail.

The following day, no deliveries of water or food arrived at the displacement camp where he lives, located in a school in Gaza City, and the people gathered there were left with empty bottles and bowls. Ismail cried again.

The BBC has spent the past two days speaking to people across Gaza, as Israel ramps up its military action and continues a more than 10-week total blockade on food, medical supplies and other aid.

There are mounting warnings from the United Nations and others that the enclave is on the brink of famine.

The Israeli government insists there is "no shortage" of food in Gaza and that the "real crisis is Hamas looting and selling aid".

Government ministers have described the stoppage of aid as a "main pressure lever" to secure victory over Hamas and get all the hostages out. There are still 58 hostages in Gaza, up to 23 of whom are believed to be alive.

Israel does not allow international journalists free access to Gaza, so our communication has been over phone calls and WhatsApp messages, and through trusted Palestinian freelancers who live in the territory.

Those who spoke to the BBC described their struggle to find even one meal a day, with food kitchens shutting down because of the shortages and few items in the markets. Items that are still available are at highly inflated prices that they cannot afford, they said.

A man running one of the remaining food kitchens in Gaza said he was operating "day by day" to find food and oil. Another man we spoke to said the kitchen he volunteered at had closed 10 days ago when supplies ran out, describing it as a "disastrous feeling".

One 23-year-old woman living in north Gaza said "dizziness has become a constant feeling" as well as "general weakness and fatigue from the lack of food and medicine".

Adham al-Batrawi, 31, who used to live in the affluent city of al-Zahra but is now displaced in central Gaza, said hunger was "one of the most difficult parts of daily life".

He said people had to get "creative just to survive", describing through WhatsApp messages how he would over-cook pasta and knead it into a dough before cooking it over a fire to create an imitation of bread - a staple in the Palestinian diet.

"We've invented ways to cook and eat that we never imagined we'd need," he said.

He added that the one meal a day he had been eating recently was "just enough to get us through the day, but it's far from enough to meet our energy needs".

Elsewhere in central Gaza, in the city of Deir al-Balah, nurse Rewaa Mohsen said it was a struggle to provide for her two young daughters, aged three and 19 months.

She said she had stockpiled nappies during the ceasefire earlier this year but that these would run out in a month.

Speaking over WhatsApp on Thursday, she said her daughters had grown used to the sounds of bombing that would ring through the apartment. "Sometimes I feel more afraid than them," she wrote, adding that she would distract her children with colouring books and toys.

The next day, over voice note she said evacuation orders had been issued for her area before an Israeli strike hit a nearby building.

When she returned to her home to "clean the mess", she found that the doors and windows had been blown off.

"Thank God that I am still alive with my girls," she said.

When asked if she would stay in the apartment, she responded: "Where else will I go?"

Across Gaza, medics described the impact of the blockade on medical supplies and said they no longer felt safe at work following Israeli strikes targeting hospitals.

Nurse Randa Saied said she was working at the European Hospital in Khan Younis when it was hit in an Israeli strike this week, describing it as a moment of "pure terror and helplessness".

Israel has long accused Hamas of using hospitals as covert bases and for weapons storage, which the group denies.

The European Hospital is no longer operating, but Randa said staff and patients had moved to the nearby Nasser Hospital.

"Our patients are mothers, sons, daughters and siblings - just like us. We know deep in our hearts that our duty must not end, especially now when they need us the most," she said.

Staff at Nasser and other hospitals in Gaza told the BBC the blockade meant they were running short on basic supplies like painkillers and gauze, and had to shut down some services.

The US has confirmed that a new system for providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza through private companies is being prepared, with Israeli forces set to secure the centres' perimeters. The United Nations has criticised the plan, saying it appears to "weaponise" aid.

Back in Gaza City, Ismail's father said he struggled with no longer being able to provide for his six children.

"My children go to sleep hungry," he said. "Sometimes I sit and cry like a little kid if I don't manage to provide food for them."

NYU withholds diploma of graduate who condemned Gaza war

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgxydg11ego, 3 days ago

New York University (NYU) has withheld the diploma of a student who used his graduation speech to accuse the US of supporting "genocide" in Gaza.

Undergraduate Logan Rozos told the crowd on Wednesday that he condemned the "atrocities currently happening in Palestine", drawing cheers and some boos.

An NYU spokesperson accused Mr Rozos of lying about what he had planned to say in the address in order to "express his personal and one-sided political views".

Pro-Palestinian advocacy on college campuses has become heavily politicised in the US, as the Trump administration cracks down on what it has called antisemitism at elite institutions, stirring a fraught debate about free speech.

NYU said it "strongly denounces" and was "deeply sorry" for Mr Rozos' remarks, adding: "This moment was stolen by someone who abused a privilege that was conferred upon him."

The college spokesman, John Beckman, said Mr Rozos' diploma would be withheld while NYU pursued disciplinary action against him.

After being introduced on stage, the undergraduate said he had been "freaking out about this speech", but that he felt compelled to speak out.

"The genocide currently occurring is supported politically and military by the United States, is paid for by our tax dollars and has been live-streamed to our phones," he said.

"I condemn this genocide and complicity in this genocide," Mr Rozos added in remarks that lasted about two-and-a-half minutes.

He did not specifically mention Israel, which emphatically denies accusations of genocide in Gaza, or Jewish people.

A since-deleted profile of Mr Rozos on NYU's website indicated he studied cultural criticism and political economy at a small liberal arts school within the campus.

In another online profile, Mr Rozos is described as an "actor, artist, and gay Black trans man".

NYU is one of 10 universities being investigated by Trump's antisemitism taskforce for incidents on campus since the Israel-Gaza war began in October 2023.

NYU was not, however, among 60 universities that were sent letters by the Department of Education warning of "enforcement action" if it did not protect Jewish students.

The US president's son, Barron, is a student at NYU, enrolled at its Stern School of Business.

Arguably the university under the most pressure from the administration is America's oldest, Harvard.

Trump has cut more than $2.6bn (£2bn) in funding, a decision that the university argues will hamper critical disease research.

Harvard has filed a lawsuit claiming the action is unlawful. It has also rejected a list of demands that the Trump administration said was designed to curb alleged discrimination.

Separately, several foreign students who took part in pro-Palestinian activism on US campuses have been detained in recent months.

The Trump administration alleges they have expressed support for Hamas, which the US, EU and UK designates as a terrorist group, and called for their deportation.

Lawyers for the students say they are exercising their right to free speech, accusing the government of "open repression of student activism and political speech".

Trump says he will call Putin to discuss stopping Ukraine 'bloodbath'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70nwr7zg7lo, yesterday

Donald Trump has said he will speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone on Monday about "stopping the bloodbath" and ending the war in Ukraine.

The US president said on Truth Social that the call would take place at 10:00 EDT (14:00 GMT) and he would then speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the leaders of some Nato countries.

On Sunday, Putin reiterated his demand that any peace deal with Ukraine should "eliminate the causes that triggered this crisis" and "guarantee Russia's security".

Russia and Ukraine were unable to reach any breakthrough in their first face-to-face talks in three years in Istanbul on Friday.

Trump had offered to attend the talks in Turkey if Putin would also be there, but the Russian president declined to go.

Trump's comments come after he suggested progress on ending the war would only happen if he and Putin held face-to-face talks.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed to Russian news agencies that preparations were under way for a call between Putin and Trump on Monday. The two leaders have held a phone call before on the topic.

"The conversation is in the works," Peskov told Tass news agency.

Trump had said on Truth Social: "Hopefully it will be a productive day, a ceasefire will take place, and this very violent war, a war that should have never happened, will end."

European leaders have been calling for Russia to agree to a 30-day ceasefire in the conflict.

The US and Russian leaders are expected to discuss a ceasefire, as well as the possible summit between themselves.

Moscow has moved slower than Trump would like, but it welcomed the American efforts at mediation, in a call on Saturday between the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014 and launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Following the talks in Istanbul, Ukraine also reiterated its call for a full and unconditional ceasefire.

According to a Ukrainian official, the Kremlin had made "new and unacceptable demands including insisting Kyiv withdraw its troops from large parts of its own territory", he said, in exchange for a ceasefire.

The head of the Russian delegation, Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky, said they were satisfied with the talks and ready to continue contact.

Hours later, a Russian drone hit a passenger bus in the Sumy region, killing nine people - prompting Zelensky to demand stiffer sanctions on Moscow.

He said the attack on the bus was "a deliberate killing of civilians". Russia has not commented, but state media reported that forces had hit a "military staging area" in Sumy province.

On Sunday, the Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched "273 Shahed attack drones and various types of imitator drones", of which 88 were destroyed and 128 more went astray "without negative consequences". One woman was killed in Kyiv.

Trump and Putin needed for breakthrough in Ukraine peace talks, Rubio says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdd29z6669ro, 3 days ago

Top US diplomat Marco Rubio says he does not have high expectations for Ukraine-Russia peace talks due to be held in Turkey - and that Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin need to meet for progress to be made.

"I don't think we're going to have a breakthrough here until President Trump and President Putin interact directly on this topic," he said after a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in southern Turkey.

Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed Ukraine would send a delegation for the talks in Istanbul, but criticised the "low-level" delegation being sent by Moscow.

Its head, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, insisted the Kremlin team had "all the necessary competencies".

Earlier in the day, Trump - who is visiting the Middle East - also suggested that significant progress in peace talks was unlikely until he and Putin met in person.

Asked by the BBC on board Air Force One if he was disappointed by the level of the Russian delegation, he said: "Look, nothing's going to happen until Putin and I get together".

"He wasn't going if I wasn't there and I don't believe anything's going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together," he added. "But we're going to have to get it solved because too many people are dying."

Trump said he would attend talks in Turkey on Friday if it was "appropriate" but later said he would probably return to Washington.

Delegations from Turkey, the US, Ukraine and Russia had been due to meet in Istanbul on Thursday for the first face-to-face Ukraine-Russia talks since 2022. As of Thursday evening, no time for them to take place had been set. Some reports suggest they may now happen on Friday.

Vladimir Putin proposed direct talks on 15 May in Istanbul in response to a call by European leaders and Ukraine for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire.

Zelensky then challenged Putin to meet him in person, but on Thursday the Kremlin said that the Russian president was not among officials due to travel.

Following a bilateral meeting with Erdogan in Ankara, Zelensky accused Moscow of "disrespect" towards Trump and Erdogan because of the Russian delegation's lack of seniority and reiterated his challenge to the Russian leader to meet him personally.

"No time of the meeting, no agenda, no high-level of delegation - this is personal disrespect to Erdogan, to Trump," he said.

Meanwhile, Medinsky told reporters in Istanbul that Russia saw the talks as a "continuation" of failed negotiations in 2022 that took place shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbour.

"The task of direct negotiations with the Ukrainian side is to sooner or later reach the establishment of long-term peace by eliminating the basic root causes of the conflict," Medinsky said.

The Ukrainian delegation will be headed by its Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, according to a decree from Zelensky issued on Thursday. It will also include its deputy heads of intelligence, military general staff and foreign ministry.

Medinsky, who led previous rounds of failed negotiations with Ukraine in 2022, will lead the Russian delegation, a statement from the Kremlin said. Russia's deputy defence minister, deputy foreign minister and military intelligence head will also be there.

The Istanbul talks mark the first direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine since the unsuccessful effort in 2022.

Russia has indicated it wants to pick up where they left off.

The terms under discussion included demands for Ukraine to become a neutral country, cut the size of its military and abandon Nato membership ambitions - conditions that Ukraine has repeatedly rejected as tantamount to capitulation.

Fighting in Ukraine rages on, with Russia saying its forces had captured two more villages in the eastern Dontesk region on Thursday.

Moscow now controls approximately 20% of Ukraine's territory, including the southern Crimea peninsula it illegally annexed in 2014.

UK Defence Minister John Healey called on Ukraine's allies to "put pressure on Putin". Speaking after a meeting with German counterpart Boris Pistorius in Berlin on Thursday, Healey urged further sanctions on Russia "to bring him to the negotiating table".

Putin not on Kremlin list of officials attending Ukraine peace talks in Turkey

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpqe9g0vn57o, 4 days ago

Russian President Vladimir Putin is not among the names listed by the Kremlin as being due to attend peace talks on the war in Ukraine in Istanbul on Thursday, despite calls from Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky for him to attend.

Russia's delegation will instead be headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, according to the Kremlin statement.

Zelensky had previously said he would attend the talks and meet Putin in person if the Russian president agreed, and said he would do everything he could to ensure the face-to-face meeting took place.

US President Donald Trump will also not be attending, according to media reports, despite previously hinting he would if Putin were there.

Beginning of the end? Ukraine's front-line soldiers eye Russia talks with hope

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8e6wj07xlno, 4 days ago

Big plumes of smoke are visible on a screen that's providing a live feed from Ukrainian drones hovering over the outskirts of the eastern city of Pokrovsk, one of the most intense front lines in Ukraine.

A few seconds earlier, Ukrainian artillery strikes Russian positions, places where we'd seen Russian soldiers moving about as they try to advance towards a key road going into Pokrovsk.

At least one Russian soldier is injured, possibly dead after the strike.

It's chilling to watch the live footage. It drives home the bloody consequences of the war that Russia started, in which hundreds of thousands have so far been killed, a "never-ending bloodbath" as US President Donald Trump calls it.

We are in a rural house converted into a command centre for the 155th mechanised brigade of the Ukrainian army. It's a few miles from front-line artillery positions.

The scale of the devastation that we see on the screens, homes and buildings completely flattened, is far greater than what we saw six months ago.

It is evidence of the fierce battle that has been fought over the past several months to defend Pokrovsk, a crucial transport hub in the Donetsk region.

This week, there's cautious optimism, even among sceptical soldiers who have witnessed hopes of a ceasefire being dashed over and over again, as diplomatic efforts from the US, Europe, Turkey and others have pushed Russia and Ukraine to direct talks for the first time in three years.

"I think something should happen since Russia was the first one to push for these talks. I mean since 2022, they have refused to go into any contact," says an officer who wants to be referred to with his call sign "Kozak".

"I want to believe this would be the beginning of the end of the war.

"But now I see, we have been successful in destroying their rear positions and their supply lines. Russia does not have the same strength and power it had at the beginning. So I think that something will happen."

Yurii, 37, used to work in a technology company before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. "They (Russia and Ukraine) have to start talking. Us soldiers, we wish this war would end. But it's important to remember that we cannot stop it because we did not start it," he says.

He looks up at the screen and spots Russian soldiers moving again. He and his colleagues calculate the co-ordinates of their positions and pass them on to their artillery unit.

We drive from the command centre to the artillery position, on mud tracks running through a wide expanse of open fields. Clumps of mud fly in the air, our car slips and slides, as we move as fast as possible. The speed is a mitigation against strikes from drones, which have sharply increased fatalities for both Russia and Ukraine since they were deployed in large numbers in 2023.

And war technology keeps evolving. Now there's a new threat – drones equipped with a real fibre optic cable which unrolls as they fly. "We cannot detect them or neutralise them, so there are probably a lot more drones in the area right now than we know," says Yurii.

As we drive into the artillery position hidden under trees and bushes, soldiers are already loading the gun. It's a French made self-propelled artillery gun called the "Caesar". Scores have been deployed in Ukraine since the start of the war, and France has been trying to ramp up production.

"I'm very impressed by its accuracy, and we can use a large range of ammunition. The most important thing is that bringing it into combat is very fast. It is much more effective than the old Soviet equipment I've used," says Kozak.

Ukrainian soldiers fire four rounds, each one emitting a deafening sound. From around us, we also hear the sound of incoming shells. The battle rages on.

"As you can hear, there is a wave of assaults from the enemy and we need a lot of ammunition to suppress that. We hope our international partners can give us as much ammunition as possible, because if we have to start choosing priority and non-priority targets then the enemy will be successful," says Kozak.

We ask the soldiers how they feel about suggestions that Ukraine will have to make concessions, that it might have to give up land to secure peace.

"It's painful to hear that. Even I want to go home to my family. My daughter is eight and I miss her so much. But we need to be strong. I don't believe that if we give up some territory, they will stop. In a couple of years, they will return and start over," says Yurii.

"A person who has not come here, who hasn't felt the consequences of Russian aggression, those armchair commentators say you can give up land and everything will be over. They will never understand how many brothers and friends we have lost. We shouldn't give up a single metre of our land," says Kozak.

The cost Ukraine has paid to defend its land is visible everywhere, most acutely in the photos of smiling, young soldiers posted by the side of highways, on memorial walls in central city squares, and on rows and rows of freshly dug graves in the country.

Yana Melnikova lovingly buys her son's favourite treats - a cup of steaming hot chocolate and a chocolate roll.

Then she drives out to a cemetery in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, and places them neatly by 22-year-old Vladislav's grave. She and her daughter, 13-year-old Nicole, wipe the grave with wet tissues. Before long, they break down inconsolably into each other's arms.

Vladislav was a drone operator with the Ukrainian military. He was killed in combat in a Russian strike on 21 February this year.

For Yana, news of direct talks resuming bring no hope.

"It seems to me that this war is eternal. Of course, I hope they will find a solution. Because people are dying here and there (in Russia). But Putin is greedy. His hunger for our land is insatiable," says Yana.

Parts of the Zaporizhzhia region are currently occupied by Russia, the front line less than 40 miles from the city. But Russia has on more than one occasion demanded control of the full regions of Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, Donetsk and Kherson as part of any peace deal.

"No way. I want to live in Ukraine, not Russia. We have seen what they do under occupation, what they did in places like Bucha – their cruelty and torture," says Yana. "Can you imagine, they've not even spared this graveyard," she adds, pointing to a big crater nearby where a bomb exploded some months ago.

Tears rolling down her eyes, she adds: "I hope my child did not die for nothing. That there will still be a victory and all of Ukraine will become free."

Additional reporting by Imogen Anderson, Volodymyr Lozhko, Anastasiia Levchenko, Sanjay Ganguly

Nine killed in Russian strike on civilian bus in Ukraine

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz0d31ydlg7o, yesterday

Nine people have been killed in a Russian drone attack on a civilian minibus in north-eastern Ukraine, officials say.

Regional military leaders said seven others were also injured in the attack on Saturday morning in Bilopillia as a minibus travelled to Sumy, the regional capital close to Russia's border.

The strike occurred just hours after Russia and Ukraine held their first face-to-face talks in more than three years. Little was achieved but a prisoner swap was agreed.

Ukraine president Volodymr Zelensky said the attack on the bus was "a deliberate killing of civilians". Russia has not commented but state media reported that forces had hit a "military staging area" in the Sumy province.

Zelensky said Russian forces "could not help but understand what kind of vehicle they were hitting".

He said a family - a mother, father and their daughter - were among those killed in the attack.

Citing preliminary information, Sumy's regional head Oleh Hryhorov said the bus was hit by a Russian Lancet drone at 06:17 local time on Saturday (03:17 GMT). He described the attack as "inhumane".

Friday's talks in Istanbul, Turkey, did not lead to any breakthrough as Ukraine and Russia remain far apart on how to end the war.

However, it was agreed that each side would return 1,000 prisoners of war to the other in the coming days.

Zelensky said of the talks that "as on any day of this war, there was an opportunity to cease fire. Ukraine has been offering this for a long time".

Following the Istanbul discussions, Ukraine reiterated its call for a full and unconditional ceasefire but a deal with Russia remained elusive.

Ukraine said the next step in the process would be direct talks between Zelensky and Russia's president Vladimir Putin.

Russia said it had "taken notice" of the request.

The US has claimed that progress on ending the war would only be made if President Donald Trump and Putin held face-to-face talks.

During a visit to the Middle East, Trump told reporters on Air Force One "nothing's going to happen until Putin and I get together".

"He wasn't going if I wasn't there and I don't believe anything's going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together," Trump added.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Ukraine used Sumy to launch offensives into Russia's Kursk region in August. Russia drove the majority of Ukraine's troops back earlier this year and has intensified cross-border artillery and air attacks in recent months.

Earlier this week before talks began with Ukraine, Russia carried out drone strikes across the region, killing three people and injuring nine others, according to Sumy's regional military administration.

On Saturday, Ukrainian drones reportedly struck an ammunition depot in Crimea, the region illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.

According to Reuters, Ukraine's strike caused the detonation of warehouses where military equipment, weapons and fuel was stored.

Ukraine and Russia far apart in direct talks, but prisoner swap agreed

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9wg599e79xo, 2 days ago

More than three years into Europe's deadliest war since 1945, there was a small step forward for diplomacy on Friday.

Delegations from Ukraine and Russia came face-to-face for talks for the first time since March 2022 – one month after Moscow's full-scale invasion of its neighbour. The setting was an Ottoman- era palace on the shores of the Bosphorus in Istanbul.

Pressure and encouragement from Turkey and the US helped get the warring parties there.

There were no handshakes, and half the Ukrainian delegation wore camouflage military fatigues – a reminder that their nation is under attack.

The room was decked with Ukrainian, Turkish and Russian flags – two of each – and a large flower arrangement – a world away from the shattered cities and swollen graveyards of Ukraine.

Turkey's Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, told the delegations there were two paths ahead – one road leading to peace, and the other leading to more death and destruction.

The talks lasted less than two hours and sharp divisions soon emerged. The Kremlin made "new and unacceptable demands", according to a Ukrainian official. That included insisting Kyiv withdraw its troops from large parts of its own territory, he said, in exchange for a ceasefire.

While there was no breakthrough on the crucial issue of a truce – as expected - there is news of one tangible result.

Each side will return 1,000 prisoners of war to the other.

"This was the very good end to a very difficult day," said Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Serhiy Kyslytsya, and "potentially excellent news for 1,000 Ukrainian families."

The swap will take place soon, said Ukraine's Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who led his country's delegation. "We know the date," he said, "we're not announcing it just yet."

He said "the next step" should be a meeting between Zelensky and Putin.

That request was "noted" according to the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky – a presidential aide.

He said the Russian delegation was satisfied with the talks, and ready to continue contacts.

That was a change from Thursday when Russia's Foreign Ministry called President Zelensky "a clown and a loser."

But there are fears – among Ukraine and some of its allies – that Russia is engaging in diplomacy simply to buy time, to distract from international pressure for a ceasefire, and to try to stave off the 18th round of European sanctions. The EU says they are already in the works.

And while the two sides have now sat around the table, President Trump has said the only talks that count will be those between him and President Putin.

He announced on Thursday, mid-flight on Air Force One, that "nothing's going to happen until Putin and I get together."

It's unclear when that meeting will be. The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says top-level talks are "certainly needed," but preparing a summit will take time.

Whenever those talks happen, President Zelensky is unlikely to be invited.

What Trump does next on Ukraine is key - and he could go either way

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crmk2y7lrpeo, 8 days ago

From his perspective, that means Ukraine's unacceptable ambition to be part of a prosperous, democratic Europe rather than returning to Moscow's orbit and become a pliant, satellite nation like Belarus.

He will also want a firm undertaking that Ukraine will never join Nato.

Moscow demanded on Saturday that, before any ceasefire can start, the West must stop arming Ukraine.

That of course would leave this country that much less able to fend off Russia's gradual advances on the frontline - or, worse, a new full-scale offensive to take more land.

What Ukraine badly needs from its allies is an uninterrupted flow of air defences to fend off the ever-growing numbers of drones and missiles being fired across the common border at Kyiv and other major cities.

Shortly after dawn on Sunday, we were woken by an air raid alert and sirens went off as more Russian drones were launched.

On 9 May, the US Embassy in Kyiv issued a warning to its citizens that there was "a significant risk of air raids in the coming days".

One of the biggest concerns is that the Kremlin may launch another Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile like the one its forces fired at a factory in Dnipro last November.

With its velocity approaching 10 times the speed of sound, Russia boasts that this missile is "unstoppable".

So now the key question is what Trump does next - and this could go either way.

He could decide that his opposite number in Moscow is simply stringing him along, finding one excuse after another not to agree to a ceasefire.

Or, given his historic warm relations with Putin, will he throw the Russian leader a diplomatic lifeline and put pressure on Ukraine instead to sit down in Istanbul and listen to Moscow's demands, irrespective of whether there is a ceasefire come Monday?

Ukraine in maps: Tracking the war with Russia

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0l0k4389g2o, 4 days ago

Fighting has raged in Ukraine since Russia launched a full-scale invasion more than three years ago. Russian forces have slowly expanded the amount of territory they control over the past year, mostly in the east of Ukraine.

Here is a recap of recent significant events and the situation in Ukraine.

Russia grinds forward in the east

In eastern Ukraine, Moscow's war machine has been churning mile by mile through the wide open fields of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, enveloping and overwhelming villages and towns.

It is trying to capture the rest of the region, known as the Donbas, according to US-based analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), but the front line has barely moved for two years.

The Russian advance towards Pokrovsk is the most notable change in control of the front line near Donetsk for several months, but analysts say innovative tactics by Ukrainian forces, combining the use of drones and ground forces, have inflicted significant losses of troops and equipment and slowed the offensive.

It has taken a year for Russia's troops to advance about 40km (25 miles). Ukraine was forced to withdraw from Avdiivka, just north of Donetsk, in February 2024 after months of fighting.

Russian incursion north of Kharkiv

In addition to its operation on the eastern front, Russia began what the ISW describes as its "subordinate main effort" when it crossed the international border to the north of Ukraine's second-biggest city, Kharkiv, in May 2024. Several villages were seized and thousands of civilians fled.

The Russian push took place at the end of a four-month period when the US was not supplying weapons to Ukraine, due to a stalemate in the US Congress which was resolved in April 2024.

Ukrainian forces eventually held firm and, even though the city of Kharkiv has come under repeated attack from glide bombs fired by Russian warplanes, it remains beyond the range of Russian artillery.

Ukraine suggests territory swap

Eastern Ukraine has been contested territory since 2014, when Russian-backed fighters seized large swathes of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Russia had already seized the southern peninsula of Crimea in February 2014 before annexing it soon afterwards.

US President Donald Trump has said it is unlikely Ukraine will return to its pre-2014 borders but, in response to a question from the BBC, he said "some of that land will come back".

In an interview with the Guardian, published on 11 February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested that Russian-held territory in Ukraine could be swapped for territory seized by Ukraine in Russia's western Kursk region in recent months as part of a peace deal.

Ukraine seized control of part of the region in a surprise attack launched across the border by Ukrainian troops in August, advancing up to 18 miles (30km) into the Russian region.

After two weeks, Ukraine's top commander claimed to control more than 1,200 sq km of Russian territory and 93 villages but Russia has since reclaimed much of that territory.

Fighting is continuing in the region more than a week after Moscow said it had pushed Ukrainian troops out. Ukraine says its forces are still active there and have continued drone, air and artillery strikes in the area - particularly around the village of Tetkino.

Ceasefire talks

The US, Ukraine's strongest military ally, has been pursuing an end to the war - now in its fourth year - through negotiation since Trump took office at the start of the year.

However, Zelensky and Trump have repeatedly clashed and tensions have been high since a heated confrontation at the White House in February during which Trump accused Zelensky of "gambling with World War Three" and chided him for not starting peace talks with Russia earlier.

By contrast, the US president has made efforts to improve relations with Moscow, although he did say he was "very angry" with Russia's President Vladimir Putin at the end of March after ceasefire talks between US and Russian officials stalled.

On 30 April the US and Ukraine signed a long-discussed deal to share profits from the future sale of Ukraine's mineral and energy reserves.

The deal aims to provide an economic incentive for the US to continue to invest in Ukraine's defence and reconstruction - as well as to address Washington's concerns over the amount of aid it has already contributed.

It will also see the establishment of an investment fund to spur Ukraine's economic recovery from the war.

After the deal was signed US Vice-President JD Vance said the war was "not going to end any time soon" and that the question facing the US administration now was how it could help Russia and Ukraine "find middle ground" to end the conflict.

Three years of fighting

Russia's full-scale invasion began with dozens of missile strikes on cities all over Ukraine before dawn on 24 February 2022.

Russian ground troops moved in quickly and within a few weeks were in control of large areas of Ukraine and had advanced to the suburbs of Kyiv.

Russian forces were bombarding Kharkiv, and they had taken territory in the east and south as far as Kherson, and surrounded the port city of Mariupol.

But they hit very strong Ukrainian resistance almost everywhere and faced serious logistical problems with poorly motivated Russian troops suffering shortages of food, water and ammunition.

Ukrainian forces were also quick to deploy Western supplied arms such as the Nlaw anti-tank system, which proved highly effective against the Russian advance.

By October 2022, the picture had changed dramatically and, having failed to take Kyiv, Russia withdrew completely from the north. The following month, Ukrainian forces recaptured the southern city of Kherson.

Since then, the battle has mostly been in the east of Ukraine with Russian forces slowly gaining ground over many months - military experts estimate between 165,000 and 235,000 Russian service personnel have been killed since the invasion.

Ukraine last updated its casualty figures in December 2024, when President Zelensky acknowledged 43,000 Ukrainian deaths among soldiers and officers. Western analysts believe this figure to be an under-estimate.

By Dominic Bailey, Mike Hills, Paul Sargeant, Chris Clayton, Kady Wardell, Camilla Costa, Mark Bryson, Sana Dionysiou, Gerry Fletcher, Kate Gaynor and Erwan Rivault

About these maps

To indicate which parts of Ukraine are under control by Russian troops we are using daily assessments published by the Institute for the Study of War with the American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project.

The situation in Ukraine is often fast moving and it is likely there will be times when there have been changes not reflected in the maps.

Russia jails Australian man for fighting alongside Ukraine

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c308deylny1o, 2 days ago

An Australian man who was captured by Russian forces while fighting alongside Ukraine has been sentenced to 13 years in a maximum security prison, Russian-installed prosecutors have said.

Oscar Jenkins, 33, was convicted in a Russian-controlled court in occupied eastern Ukraine on Friday of fighting in an armed conflict as a mercenary.

Mr Jenkins, a teacher from Melbourne, was captured last December in the Luhansk region.

Prosecutors said he arrived in Ukraine in February 2024, alleging he was paid between 600,000 and 800,000 rubles (£5,504 and £7,339) a month to take part in military operations against Russian troops.

A video surfaced in December last year showing Mr Jenkins with his hands tied, being hit in the face and questioned by Russian forces. They ask him if he is being paid to fight in Ukraine.

In January, Australia summoned the Russian ambassador over false reports that Mr Jenkins had been killed following his capture.

Since then, the Australian government has repeatedly called for his release.

"We'll continue to make representations to the reprehensible regime of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin on behalf of Mr Jenkins," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told 9News in April.

In March, a British man James Scott Rhys Anderson was jailed for 19 years by a Russian military court after being charged with terrorism and mercenary activity, becoming the first British national convicted by Russia during the war.

The 22-year-old was captured last November in Russia's Kursk region - where Ukrainian forces began a surprise incursion last August before retreating in recent months.

Just before launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognised all of Luhansk and Donetsk as independent of Ukraine. Russian proxy forces began an insurgency there in 2014.

Why did Putin's Russia invade Ukraine?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj0q964851po, 4 days ago

When Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered up to 200,000 soldiers into Ukraine, his aim was to sweep into the capital, Kyiv, in days, overthrow its pro-Western government and return Ukraine to Russia's sphere of influence.

Putin failed but, more than three years on, a fifth of Ukrainian territory is in Russian hands.

Russia and Ukraine are due to hold their first direct talks since the initial weeks of the war in March 2022, but as Putin himself is not taking part there seems little immediate hope of an end to the war.

Why did Putin invade Ukraine?

Launching the biggest European invasion since the end of World War Two, Putin gave a fiery speech on TV declaring his goal was to "demilitarise and denazify" Ukraine.

Russia has repeatedly painted modern Ukraine as a Nazi state, in a crass distortion of history.

Putin had already seized Ukraine's Crimean peninsula eight years earlier, after a revolution that ousted Ukraine's pro-Russian president and replaced him with a more pro-Western government.

Putin then triggered a lower-level war in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, with pro-Russian proxy forces occupying territory and setting up rebel states supported by Moscow.

But the 2022 invasion was on a different scale.

Putin had just recognised the rebel states as independent. Then, as the invasion began, he said the people there - many of whom are Russian speakers - needed protection from the Kyiv "regime".

A day later, Putin called on Ukraine's military to "take power into your own hands" and target the "gangs of drug addicts and neo-Nazis" running the government.

He then added another objective - to ensure Ukraine stayed neutral. He accused the Western defensive alliance, Nato, of trying to gain a foothold in Ukraine to bring its troops closer to Russia's borders.

The Russian leader has long questioned Ukraine's right to exist, claiming that "modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia" after the communist revolution in 1917.

In a long-winded 2021 essay he even suggested "Russians and Ukrainians were one people" dating back to the late 9th Century. Last year he told US TV talk show host Tucker Carlson that Ukraine was an "artificial state".

Those comments have led many to believe that the goal of the invasion was in effect to erase the state of Ukraine.

Russia's state-run Ria news agency explained that "denazification is inevitably also de-Ukrainisation" - seemingly tying the idea of erasing Ukraine to the stated goal of the invasion.

Ukrainian culture and identity have in fact existed for centuries independently of Russia.

Fact-checking Putin's 'nonsense' history

Zelensky - from comedian to wartime leader

Does Putin want to get rid of Zelensky?

Putin has long sought to get rid of Ukraine's elected pro-Western president, and Zelensky was apparently a target from the very start of the war.

Russian troops made two attempts to storm the presidential compound soon after the invasion, according to Zelensky's adviser, and Ukraine's elected leader said they wanted him dead.

"The enemy has designated me as target number one; my family is target number two.

"They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state."

Zelensky said later that Putin had initially tried to replace him with the wealthy head of a pro-Russian party, Viktor Medvedchuk, who was accused of treason in Ukraine and is now in Russia.

Even now, Putin continues to reject direct peace talks with Zelensky and his officials call him a "loser" and a "clown". He has spoken of the Ukrainian leader's "illegitimacy" - a false narrative repeated by President Trump.

As evidence Putin cites the postponement of Ukraine's March 2024 presidential election, although it is because of Russia's war that Ukraine is under martial law and elections are barred under the constitution.

Putin's own re-election in 2024 is highly questionable, as Russia's opposition leaders are either in exile or dead.

Was Nato expansion to blame for the war?

Putin has for years complained about Nato's eastward expansion as a security threat, and sees any possibility of Ukraine joining the alliance as a major red line.

Before Russia's 2022 invasion he demanded that Nato remove multinational deployments from the Central and Eastern European states that joined the Western alliance after 1997.

But it was Russia that launched military action in Eastern Europe, when it invaded Georgia in 2008 and then Crimea in 2014.

After the Crimea invasion, Nato established a continuous presence on its eastern flank - closest to Russia.

Nato has always stressed the whole purpose of the alliance is to defend territories "with no aggressive intentions". Sweden and Finland have joined Nato in the past two years precisely because of the perceived Russian threat.

It is part of Ukraine's constitution to join the European Union and Nato, but there was no real prospect of this when the full-scale war began.

Zelensky said as much two weeks into the invasion: "Nato is not prepared to accept Ukraine."

He has since said he would consider resigning in exchange for Nato membership, but Trump says Kyiv should "forget about" joining the Western alliance.

Putin has accused Nato of participating in the war, because its member states have increasingly sent Ukraine military hardware, including tanks and fighter jets, air defence systems, missile systems, artillery and drones.

Nato has provided security assistance and training to Ukraine, but it insists that does not make it a party to the war.

Putin's grievance against Nato dates back to 1990, when he claims the West promised not to expand "an inch to the East".

However that was before the Soviet Union collapsed and it was based on a limited commitment made to then Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

Gorbachev said "the topic of Nato expansion was never discussed" at the time.

Cassie Ventura tells Diddy trial she would give back $20m to undo 'freak offs'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj42nvrkgzno, yesterday

Cassie Ventura has tearfully told a court she would give back a $20m (£15m) legal settlement from Sean "Diddy" Combs if it meant she would never have taken part in his "humiliating" drug-fuelled sex parties.

She rejected defence suggestions that her accusations were financially motivated as she wrapped up four days of testimony in the New York criminal trial of her ex-boyfriend.

Ms Ventura, the government's star witness, faced questioning from both legal teams about her decade-long relationship with Mr Combs, and their "freak off" sex sessions.

Mr Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. He could face life in prison.

Ms Ventura's testimony revealed graphic details about her sex life with the rapper and the physical violence she allegedly endured from him.

The rap mogul's lawyers have been trying to depict Ms Ventura, 38, as an eager participant in the sexual lifestyle.

She testified this week that she was coerced into the sessions, which involved male escorts, because Mr Combs had threatened her with violence.

On Friday she addressed a $20m pay-out he gave her after she filed a lawsuit against him in November 2023.

The settlement, which came just one day after the filing of the legal action, was public knowledge, but the number was previously unknown.

Mr Combs' lawyer, Anna Estevao, seemed to imply that Ms Ventura was strapped for cash before filing her lawsuit. The singer had just moved to her parents' house with her husband and children.

Ms Ventura rejected this suggestion, later sharing that she would exchange the money for a life free of the "freak offs", which she said caused her physical injuries, would sometimes go on for days, and stifled her career as a singer.

"I would have agency and autonomy," she said.

Mr Combs' legal team also showed the jury dozens of messages between the couple from each stage of their relationship, arguing their dynamic was toxic at times, but not criminal.

Minutes before Ms Ventura was set to leave the stand on Friday, the defence questioned her about another legal settlement she won.

Ms Ventura told the court she was expecting to receive about $10m from InterContinental Hotels, connected to her claims against Mr Combs.

The settlement relates to an incident at the InterContinental in Los Angeles in 2016, in which security footage showed Mr Combs hitting, kicking and dragging her in a hallway.

That clip was played at length in court this week, and is one of the most important pieces of evidence in the trial.

On Friday in court, Ms Ventura went through her texts after that beating. In one message she told Mr Combs: "I'm not a rag doll. I'm somebody's child."

She and Mr Combs were expressing love for each other days later in other texts.

The defence cross-examination continued on all day Thursday and Friday.

The prosecution squeezed in two more witnesses before court adjourned for the weekend.

One was Dawn Richard, a singer in the group Danity Kane - formed on Diddy's MTV show Making the Band. Last year she filed a lawsuit accusing him of physical abuse and withholding her earnings.

Ms Richard testified that she saw Mr Combs assault Ms Ventura at his Los Angeles mansion in 2009.

"She fell down," Ms Richard told the court. "She was in the foetal position."

After the incident, she said Mr Combs took her aside and told her what she saw was "passion" and that where he is from, "people go missing" if they talk.

US Homeland Security special agent Yasin Binda took the stand as well, telling the court about the cash, drugs and baby oil that were seized from the rapper's hotel room when he was arrested in New York.

More testimony is expected from the witnesses called by prosecutors next week.

The Manhattan court has been a media circus since the beginning of the trial, with spectators gathering in droves and camping out overnight to get a glimpse of the music mogul, his family, and the celebrities testifying.

At least 25 dead after tornadoes sweep through US Midwest

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70nw7v5ykyo, yesterday

At least 25 people are reported to have died and dozens are injured after tornadoes tore through parts of two US states.

Officials in Kentucky said there had been 18 deaths while seven people were killed in Missouri, including five in the city of St Louis.

The Kentucky tornado struck Laurel County in the south-east of the state in the early hours of Saturday. Officials said they expected the death toll to rise.

Missouri officials said 5,000 buildings had been damaged, roofs destroyed and power lines downed due to the tornado.

About 140,000 properties in Missouri and Kentucky were left without power as of Saturday afternoon. Officials in St Louis said the fire department was conducting house-by-house searches in the worst-affected areas.

St Louis mayor Cara Spencer said in an update on Saturday that at least 38 people were reported injured in her area, largely from collapsed buildings and toppled trees.

Authorities in Kentucky said there were also severe injuries reported. "The search is continuing in the damaged area for survivors," said Laurel County Sheriff John Root in a post on social media.

National Weather Service radar suggested the tornado touched down in Missouri shortly after 14:30 local time in the west of the city close to Forest Park - home to St Louis Zoo and the site of the 1904 Olympic Games.

St Louis Fire Department said three people had to be rescued after part of the nearby Centennial Christian Church collapsed. One of those people died.

A curfew was imposed from 21:00 to 06:00 local time in the two areas where most of the damage took place, to prevent injuries from debris and reduce the potential for looting.

St Louis mayor Spencer said: "The loss of life and the destruction is truly, truly horrendous.

"We're going to have a lot of work to do in the coming days. There is no doubt there, but tonight we are focused on saving lives and keeping people safe and allowing our community to grieve."

The US National Weather Service said tornadoes also hit neighbouring Illinois, with more severe weather conditions stretching eastwards to the Atlantic coast. On Saturday, it warned of few tornadoes that could hit northern Texas over the weekend as a result of strong to severe storms in the area.

The tornadoes struck an area of the US that is generally referred to as "Tornado Alley", where tornadoes are most frequent. They typically occur in the months of May and June, though they could strike during other times of the year.

Kentucky has seen an average of five tornadoes each May since the year 2000, while Missouri has seen an average of 16.

Are you in the area? Please get in touch but only if it is safe to do so.

Fatal blast near Palm Springs fertility clinic 'act of terrorism' - FBI

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cyvme1e8gd5o, today

A bomb explosion outside a California fertility clinic has killed one person and injured four others in an "intentional act of terrorism", FBI officials have said.

The blast happened just before 11:00 local time (19:00 BST) less than a mile from downtown Palm Springs, near several businesses including the American Reproductive Centers (ARC). The clinic said no-one from the facility was harmed.

The suspect in the blast has been identified as 25-year-old Guy Edward Bartkus, according to sources familiar with the investigation who spoke to BBC's US partner CBS News.

Witnesses told the BBC the blast was strong enough to shatter windows and badly damage a nearby building that housed the ARC.

Michael Beaumier, a witness, said he was knocked off his bike by the blast. "It was that big of an explosion and I could hear windows shattering all around me," he said.

Rhino Williams, who was at his restaurant nearby, told the BBC he initially thought the explosion was a plane or helicopter crashing.

He said he ran to the scene to see if he could help, finding a badly damaged building with walls blown out and the front axle of a car on fire in the car park.

"That's all that was left of it," Mr Williams said. He also saw an iPhone on a tripod still standing in the car park, as if it was set to film or stream the explosion.

Mr Williams said he rushed through the building shouting for any injured people - but did not find any. A few minutes later first responders arrived.

Nima Tabrizi, another witness, said he heard a "big boom", a large cloud of smoke and the front of the clinic "completely blown out".

The FBI said in a Saturday briefing that it was a deliberate attack.

"This was an intentional act of terrorism. As our investigation will unfold we will determine if it's international terrorism or domestic terrorism," said Akil Davis, the head of the FBI's Los Angeles field office.

The FBI later said it had "a person of interest" in its investigation, but officers were "not actively searching" for the suspect.

Law enforcement sources told CBS that the Bartkus, the suspect, is a resident of Twentynine Palms, home to a large marine base about an hour away from Palm Springs.

They added that he had stated in writings and recordings that he is opposed to increasing the population and is against in vitro fertilisation (IVF) - a service offered by clinic that was targeted - saying it is "extremely wrong".

The blast was a result of a large vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, the sources said. It was felt more than a mile away from the explosion.

Palm Springs police chief Andy Mills said the blast damaged several buildings, some severely.

He added that the identity of the person who was killed was not known.

The ARC in Palm Springs said the explosion occurred in the car park near its building.

The fertility clinic said their lab, including all eggs and embryos, remained "fully secure and undamaged".

"We are heavily conducting a complete safety inspection and have confirmed that our operations and sensitive medical areas were not impacted by the blast," the clinic said in its statement.

But Dr Maher Abdallah, who runs the clinic, told the Associated Press that the clinic's office was damaged.

"I really have no clue what happened," he said. "Thank God today happened to be a day that we have no patients."

According to its website, the ARC clinic is the first full-service fertility centre and IVF lab in the Coachella Valley.

It offers services including fertility evaluations, IVF, egg donation and freezing, reproductive support for same-sex couples and surrogacy.

The Center for Reproductive Rights responded to the incident, calling the attack "unconscionable".

"The history of violence against reproductive health centers is why clinics need protections and patients must feel safe," the legal advocacy group said in a statement, adding that it is concerned about "the heated political debate around fertility treatments" in the US.

Lawmakers, advocates and medical professionals have clashed over issues of access and regulation of reproductive rights in recent years, making it an election issue in 2024. IVF is broadly popular in the US across the political spectrum, but some far right circles are vocally opposed to assisted reproductive technologies on religious or moral grounds.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said the state was co-ordinating with local and federal authorities, while US Attorney General Pam Bondi said she had been briefed on the incident.

Ex-FBI boss interviewed by Secret Service over Trump seashell post

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04ezlyq4y0o, yesterday

Former FBI director James Comey has been interviewed by the US Secret Service after he shared then deleted a social media post that Republicans alleged was an incitement to violence against US President Donald Trump.

Comey voluntarily participated in the questioning for about an hour at the law enforcement agency's Washington DC headquarters and was not held in custody.

It comes a day after he posted on Instagram a photo of seashells that spelled the numbers "8647".

The number 86 is a slang term whose definitions include "to reject" or "to get rid of", however, it has more recently been used as a term to mean "kill". Trump is the 47th US president.

Trump said any decision on whether charges should be filed against Comey would be up to Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Comey posted the seashell photo on Thursday then deleted it amid conservative uproar.

He wrote in a follow-up message on Instagram that he had seen the shells during a walk on the beach, "which I assumed were a political message".

"I didn't realize some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took down the post."

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on X on Friday evening that the Secret Service had "interviewed disgraced former FBI Director Comey regarding a social media post calling for the assassination of President Trump".

"I will continue to take all measures necessary to ensure the protection of @POTUS Trump," she added. "This is an ongoing investigation."

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, the highest-ranking spymaster in the US, called earlier for Comey to be jailed for "issuing a hit" on Trump while he was travelling in the Middle East.

'To Easy LoL' - New Orleans jail break may have been inside job

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce82vdgene7o, yesterday

Ten prisoners, several of them facing murder charges, have escaped from a New Orleans jail and may have had help from staff inside the facility, authorities say.

The inmates are thought to have fled around midnight, and were discovered missing during a headcount at 08:30 local time (13:30 GMT) at the Orleans Parish Jail on Friday morning. One of the 10 has been recaptured.

"There's no way for anyone to get out of this facility without help," Sheriff Susan Huston said during a news conference.

The sheriff's office posted photos showing how the inmates escaped, which included taunting messages apparently left by the escapees. "To Easy LoL," one message read.

One inmate was apprehended in New Orleans' French Quarter, police said. The other nine are considered "armed and dangerous", the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office said, adding that a manhunt was continuing.

Louisiana State Police identified one escapee as Kendall Myles in central New Orleans through facial recognition technology after he was filmed on a surveillance camera.

He tried to flee on foot before being apprehended hiding underneath a car in a parking garage, police said.

He was transported back to the Orleans Parish Jail, and "is being rebooked at the facility for a new charge of Simple Escape", it said in a statement.

The New Orleans Police Department has released the names and photographs of the other escapees in a post on X.

The Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office initially said 11 prisoners had escaped from the facility, but the number was revised to 10 later on Friday.

Sheriff Hutson said the inmates yanked the sliding door from their jail cell off its tracks at 00:23 in the early hours of Friday morning (05:23 GMT).

They exited the jail about half an hour later after ripping a toilet from the wall and breaking metal bars around a hole in the wall that was used for piping.

They then climbed down a wall and ran across a highway, the sheriff said.

The sheriff's office released images of the hole in the wall, which shows what the piping fixture looked like before the toilet was ripped out. The photos note that "there are clean cuts" on the metal bars, which facilitated their escape.

The photos also show messages on the wall apparently left behind by the inmates.

The photos show messages scrawled in pen, including "To Easy LoL" with an arrow pointing to the hole. It also shows a smiley face with its tongue out and another message, partially smudged, that appears to tell officers to catch the inmates when they can.

New Orleans police chief Anne Kirkpatrick said the prisoner escape was an "urgent and serious situation" and encouraged the public to report any suspicious activity.

Victims of some of the escapees have been notified, she said, adding that several are facing murder and other violent charges.

The inmates probably had help, Supt Kirkpatrick said, and are unlikely to still be wearing prison uniforms, warning that anyone who helped the inmates would be charged.

The FBI and US Marshals have also joined local police in the search, she added.

The Orleans Parish Jail is located near the centre of the city, around 3 km (2 miles) from the city's famous French Quarter.

As Comey social media post triggers a row, what does '86' mean?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1de47kk31eo, 2 days ago

Republicans in the US are accusing former FBI director James Comey of calling for violence against President Donald Trump by posting a photo online of sea shells assembled to draw out the numbers 8-6-4-7 on a beach.

Trump is the 47th American president, and the phrase "to 86" is a commonly-used restaurant industry term in American-English, meaning "to remove or eject". It is thought to have existed since the 1930s.

More recently, the term has taken on another lesser-known meaning - "to kill", according to Merriam-Webster, the oldest publisher of dictionaries in the US.

Comey deleted his post, and says he was unaware of the violent interpretation. Trump has disputed that, alleging that Comey was calling for his assassination "loud and clear".

What does '86' mean?

The term's etymology is not certain, according to Merriam-Webster, but it is widely believed to have originated from soda counter servers in the early 20th Century who would say it to mean that an item had sold out.

The most common theory is that the term is rhythming slang for "nix" - meaning "to refuse or reject" - although countless other ideas have been proposed.

The term later came to be used as a verb. For example, restaurant workers might tell each other to remove something from the menu by "86ing" it.

By the 1950s, it was being used to refer to customers too. Unruly or drunk customers might be thrown out or refused more drinks if they've been "86'ed" by staff.

In military or law enforcement jargon, it has also come to mean to eliminate or kill, according to a blog entry by Merriam-Webster.

However, the dictionary does not include that meaning in its entry for 86, explaining that this omission is "due to its relative recency and sparseness of use".

There are countless other suggestions of how the "86" phrase originated - some of which hint at violence. One legend suggests the phrase began at a Prohibition-era bar in New York where unruly patrons were evicted through the door at 86 Barrow Street.

But as St Louis magazine pointed out in 2019, there are at least 86 theories for where the term came from.

What will happen to Comey?

The US Secret Service and the FBI say they are investigating the post by Comey, who Trump famously fired in 2017.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, the highest-ranking spymaster in the US, called for Comey to be jailed for "issuing a hit" on Trump while he was travelling in the Middle East.

Supporters of the former FBI director say his post is probably protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution - which ensures freedom of speech.

For that reason, Comey's post "neither constitutes a true threat nor merits federal investigation", according to a statement by campaign group the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).

It has also been pointed out by Democrats that 8646 was also frequently used by critics of former Joe Biden, who was the 46th president.

On Amazon, items can be found for sale with imagery displaying both the numbers 8646 and 8647. Also for sale are 8645 items - which could refer to Trump's first term in the White House, when he was the 45th American president.

Do Afrikaners want to take Trump up on his South African refugee offer?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp3q129gpe4o, 4 days ago

Ulrich Janse van Vuuren has made it his passion to share and showcase some of South Africa's best features with his legion of social media followers.

The 38-year-old white South African often takes snapshots capturing scenes such as a cold Johannesburg morning, the purple Jacaranda trees famously associated with Pretoria or Cape Town's popular beachfronts.

"Promoting South Africa is something I am passionate about - I have no intention of taking up [US President Donald Trump's] offer because South Africa is my home," the proud Afrikaner tells the BBC, days after a small group of his fellow white compatriots left South Africa for their new life as refugees in the US.

The US president, and his South-Africa born ally Elon Musk, says that white Afrikaners are being persecuted in their home country, and that they are being subjected to a "genocide".

This is a claim that has been circulating for many years even though it has been widely discredited.

Although some white farmers have been attacked and killed, South Africa has one of the world's highest murder rates, so this is an issue that affects all of its citizens, whatever their race.

"For me, South Africa is home. It's a place where my roots and heritage are, where I can contribute to the story of our nation and make a meaningful impact," said Mr Janse van Vuuren, who has more than one million followers on social media.

"I'm deeply invested in South Africa's success and I am proud to be part of its journey."

And while he wished those who have taken up Trump's offer all the best in the US and urged them to "not look back", he insisted that none of them were refugees, but rather "opportunists".

"They've enjoyed more than their share of South Africa's resources and privileges, and none are fleeing racial persecution," he said.

Thirty years after the end of the racist system of apartheid, average living standards among South Africa's white community remain far higher than for the black majority.

Mr Janse van Vuuren said that the debate about the status of Afrikaners in South Africa had only served to make him "more determined than ever to step up and contribute to South Africa in every way I can".

Four centuries after the first group of Dutch settlers arrived in what is now South Africa, most Afrikaners regard themselves as fully African – as seen in the name – and no longer identify with their European roots.

But many are unhappy both with the high crime rate and the government's policies aimed at reducing economic inequality in the country – especially a law passed earlier this year that allowed the government to seize land without compensation "when it is just and equitable and in the public interest". White South Africans are 7% of the country's population, but own half of its farmland.

Some Afrikaners are farmers and see the law as being aimed at them.

Trump said the legislation prompted him to offer to help resettle "Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination".

The status of white South African farmers has long been a rallying cry on the right and far-right of American politics.

But despite numerous claims in the past of the systematic targeting of the country's white Afrikaner minority group, local crime statistics figures paint a different picture.

South Africa does not release crime figures based on race but the latest figures revealed that 6,953 people were murdered in the country between October and December 2024. Of these, 12 were killed in farm attacks. Of the 12, one was a farmer, while five were farm dwellers and four were employees, who are likely to have been black.

On Monday, the first group of 59 Afrikaners granted refugee status arrived at the Dulles airport near Washington DC after choosing to leave their home country.

The arrival of the group drew dismay and outrage across South Africa, as the country's civil society and leadership sought to dispel the claims that the white minority was being persecuted.

"They are leaving because they don't want to embrace the changes that are taking place in our country and our constitution," said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

He later labelled their move a "cowardly act" as he addressed farmers at a convention held in the Free State province.

The president's sentiments were echoed by many South Africans, including Mr Janse van Vuuren, who is proud of his Afrikaner origins.

While he was not raised in a farming family, he has relatives and friends in agriculture who have been victims of crime.

He said that while it was undeniable that some farmers faced "genuine threats and hardships", it was important to be cautious "when discussing claims of persecution or discrimination that portray an entire group as victims of targeted violence or systemic oppression".

While many white South Africans echo Mr Janse van Vuuren's sentiments, there are also those who see themselves as a persecuted minority.

Among them is Ilse Steenkamp, who along with her family, has applied for the programme but has not received feedback. She did not want us to use her real name.

Ms Steenkamp, 47, and her husband, both Afrikaners, were commercial farmers but said they had lost their land recently after it was invaded by people who "took over the whole farm" just as they were about to sell it in order to "downscale".

She said they had bought the land two decades ago, after the end of apartheid.

The people who invaded destroyed critical infrastructure, making it impossible to sell, she said.

Despite efforts to have them removed through the courts, Ms Steenkamp said they were forced to abandon the land as it was repossessed by the bank.

Ms Steenkamp said that while she and her family were familiar with South Africa's high crime levels and often tried to "not let it get us under", this latest attack "was the straw that broke the camel's back".

Even though her family were eager to embrace Trump's offer when it was first announced, the mother-of-three told the BBC that the decision to leave "was very difficult because you're... leaving a whole way of life".

Asked whether it was unfair that Afrikaners were being granted refugee status at a time when the US was cracking down on refugees and asylum seekers from everywhere else in the world, Ms Steenkamp said she "completely disagreed".

She pointed to assaults on farmers, saying there was a "hatred that seems to go with these attacks".

"Any farmer that has gone through that [kind of] attack and is now wanting to flee, I think should be treated as a refugee because they are fleeing from a government that will not even admit that these things are happening," she said.

* Of South African nationality

* Afrikaner or from a racial minority

* Able to cite an incident of past persecution or fear of persecution in the future

More BBC stories on South Africa:

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

Trump's critics and supporters unite against Qatar plane deal

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg4zk22n9wo, 4 days ago

In his eagerness to accept a plane from Qatar, Donald Trump has achieved a remarkable feat, uniting many partisans across America's bitter political divide.

The problem for the White House is that unity is happening in opposition to it.

Predictably, Trump's opponents in the Democratic Party slammed the president after he indicated he would accept a luxury jet from the Qatari royal family.

More noteworthy – and potentially more troubling for the president – is that some of his strongest supporters also have serious reservations about the deal, even as it's yet to be finalised.

Maga influencers have described the move as a "bribe", grift, or an example of the high-level corruption that Trump himself has consistently promised to root out.

The Qatari royal family plans to give the luxury Boeing 747-8, estimated to be worth $400m (£300m), to the US Department of Defence to be used as part of a fleet of planes dubbed Air Force One – the president's official mode of air travel.

The current fleet includes two 747-200 jets which have been in use since 1990, along with several smaller and somewhat secretive 757s.

The White House says that the new plane – which could require years and millions of dollars to refit and upgrade – will be transferred to Trump's presidential library at the end of his term.

After the news broke on Sunday, the backlash was fierce and immediate.

"I think the technical term is 'skeezy'," deadpanned conservative Daily Wire commentator Ben Shapiro on his podcast.

"Qatar is not allegedly giving President Trump a $400m jet out of the goodness of their sweet little hearts," he said. "They try to stuff money into pockets in totally bipartisan fashion."

He and others pointed to allegations that Qatar has funnelled money into terrorist groups – allegations the country has denied – and called Qataris "the world's largest proponents of terrorism on an international scale."

Laura Loomer, the conspiracy-spreading social media influencer who agitates for sackings of top White House officials deemed insufficiently loyal, interrupted her steady stream of pro-Trump messaging to criticise the move.

Although she said she still supports the president, she called the plane deal "a stain" and posted a cartoon of the Trojan Horse, redrawn as a plane and filled with armed Islamist militants.

Although there has been nothing offered in exchange for the plane, many commentators said it would be naïve to expect that that Qatari royal family would hand out such a large item with no strings attached.

"They very obviously see that if you reward Donald Trump with gifts, that may pay off down the road," Doug Heye, a political strategist and former communications director for the Republican National Committee, told the BBC. "Flattery gets you somewhere with Donald Trump, and we've seen that time and time again."

The US Constitution includes a clause preventing officials from accepting "any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State."

But the White House has pointed out that, at least to begin with, the plane is being gifted to the US government.

Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly investigated the legality of the deal and determined that because there are no explicit conditions attached, it would not amount to a bribe.

Conservatives and others were quick to point out that Bondi was registered as a lobbyist for Qatar prior to joining Trump's cabinet, at some points earning up to $115,0000 (£87,000) a month from her work for the Qatari government.

The Trump Organisation also continues to maintain links to Qatar and last month announced a deal to build a luxury golf resort in the country.

During a news conference at the White House on Tuesday the president berated a reporter who raised questions about the ethics of the transaction.

"What do you say to people who view that luxury jet as a personal gift to you?" asked ABC reporter Rachel Scott.

"You should be embarrassed asking that question," Trump replied, after using his standard "fake news" jibe.

"They're giving us a free jet," the president said. "I could say 'No, no, no, don't give us, I want to pay you a billion or 400 million'… or I could say 'thank you very much'."

On Truth Social, the president later reposted several messages pointing out that the Statue of Liberty was a gift from France, and wrote late Tuesday: "The Boeing 747 is being given to the United States Air Force/Department of Defense, NOT TO ME!"

"Only a FOOL would not accept this gift on behalf of our Country," he wrote.

However even some within Trump's Republican Party were expressing concern.

"I think it's not worth the appearance of impropriety, whether it's improper or not," Rand Paul, Republican senator from Kentucky, told Fox News.

"I wonder if our ability to judge [Qatar's] human rights record will be clouded by the fact of this large gift," Paul said.

Another Republican senator, Ted Cruz of Texas, said accepting the gift would pose "significant espionage and surveillance problems".

Trump did find some support within his party. "Free is good. You know, we don't have a lot of money right now to buy things like that," Sen Tommy Tuberville told CNN.

Doug Heye, the Republican strategist, suggested that the deal might not hurt Trump's popularity with his base in the long term.

"Trump has been able for years now to turn scandals that would otherwise be debilitating for other politicians into things that we forget," he said. "He's very skilled at that."

Relief on China's factory floors as US tariffs put on hold

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8d9ygd4yqo, 4 days ago

There's a vast empty space in the middle of the factory floor in Foshan in southern China where workers should be welding high-end air fryers for the US market.

Derek Wang says his American customers were wowed by his air fryer models - which are controlled via smartphones and can also bake, roast and grill.

But then on 2 April, Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs hit all Chinese goods entering the US, eventually reaching 145% - and his clients asked him to pause production.

"I tried to keep smiling through my anxiety for the sake of my 40 workers," he told the BBC.

On Wednesday, as a deal to ease the trade war came into effect, Mr Wang said his US buyers were back on the phone.

Both countries still face some tariffs. There is at least a 30% tax on all Chinese goods entering the US and Beijing has kept a 10% levy on American goods coming into the country, down from 125%.

But this surprise agreement after a weekend of negotiations in Switzerland has given factories and businesses some breathing room.

"At this time, our US client is willing to pay for the tariffs. Of course, we had to bargain with them as they asked us to lower some of our costs," he said.

Mr Wang, who studied engineering in Delaware in the US, spent three years helping develop the air fryer model. It cost him $500,000 to set up his company and he said the tariffs came as a shock.

"It felt like my parents were getting a divorce. China and US are the most important economic and cultural powers in the world. Their sudden separation would lead to a world that we cannot imagine. Tariffs as high as 145% would mean we have to say goodbye to one another.

But he adds, "there's a saying in Chinese: good fortune comes out of bad".

Mr Wang believes his "good fortune" is that this trade war has accelerated his plan to diversify away from doing business with America.

This is one of the reasons why Beijing believes it has the upper hand in its negotiations with Washington. China has choices and officials have been actively encouraging the country's firms to do more business in places like Africa, South America and South East Asia.

Many other Chinese businesses have also told the BBC that they are looking to diversify away from the US to reduce their reliance on the market - suggesting in the long-term there could be more of a separation between the US and China, rather than a divorce.

Donald Trump has suggested that he may speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping by the end of this week. The world's two largest economies will now enter talks after agreeing to a ceasefire in their economic war for 90 days.

Beijing has framed this deal as a win - not just for China but for all countries facing US tariffs.

But it has come at a cost.

A short walk through Shunde district - known as the "capital of home appliances" - presents a sobering assessment of a struggling manufacturing sector.

Factory workers use the cooler evenings in Foshan to let off a little steam. They spill out into every corner of the local park.

During the day they pack, mould and assemble nearly everything that you would find in your kitchen - from gas stoves and washing machines to kettles and fridges.

At night, after leaving work, one group line dances in one corner of the small park, while a heated basketball match takes place in another part.

Posters lining the walls of the streets tout "stable work and easy" jobs involving packing and screwing products for 30 days in a home appliance factory for 16 yuan an hour, to assembling air conditioning units for 20 yuan an hour.

But agents told us that several factories had stopped hiring, especially those linked to the US - some had even shut down parts of their production line.

The BBC was told that several of these workers will sleep in the park to save money. Many of them travel to Foshan from their home towns, which can be hundreds of kilometres away.

Several nearby hostels offer rooms for 20 yuan a night, which can be at least an hour's pay. Many will want to pocket whatever they earn to send it back to their families.

This is the picture of China that President Trump's team have tried to present – one of sluggish growth, rising unemployment and a chronic housing crisis.

"We're not looking to hurt China," Mr Trump said after the trade agreement was announced, while adding that China was "being hurt very badly".

"They were closing up factories. They were having a lot of unrest, and they were very happy to be able to do something with us."

This may be overstating Beijing's economic woes. This country is still leading the world when it comes to the production of electric vehicles and solar panels, and it is making significant headway in artificial intelligence technology.

Officials in China have also continued to stress this country can take the pain of an economic war. But it is being keenly felt by some on the frontline and that may be part of why Beijing has started talking to the US.

This latest "ceasefire" has prompted a rush of orders between the two countries as businesses wonder if it can last.

He Ke, or HK to his American clients, has called his workers back from their home towns to restart his sofa business, Gongyuan Furniture.

It ground to a halt even before Mr Trump's tariffs hit 145%.

"We had a day off straightaway," said Mr He. "Once the tariffs hit 50%, we had already come to a standstill. When they hit 145%, we certainly could not do business. It was just not possible."

His production line with around 200 workers once took up all four floors of the building.

Since the Covid pandemic, he has only needed one floor and around 40 staff. But he still has the odd high-profile client – he claims Elon Musk sits on one of his sofas.

Some workers have already returned and are lifting a soft chair onto a compressor machine to get it ready to box and ship.

Sewing machines hum in the background as workers stitch fabric into the right shape to cover memory foam cushions.

Mr He says he has seen many changes in Foshan since he started making sofas in 2013.

"We feel that the global economy is not good. The domestic economy has also been hit and this affects the life of people here. In the past, when we went out to spend money, we spent a lot of money. We did not think about whether the price was high or cheap. We will buy it as long as we like it. Now, when we want to buy a relatively expensive things, we have to think twice, because the money is not easy to earn."

Like Mr Wang and his air fryers, Mr He also says he is looking at diversifying his sales away from the US, but he has hope that the world's two biggest economies can come to an agreement in the next 90 days.

"I am just a small businessman. But I do understand that the game between these two countries is temporary. I think if they want to survive with each other for a long time, they will definitely sit down and talk things over."

Kenya's ex-justice minister 'detained' in Tanzania

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czdynd8l4pqo, today

Leading Kenyan lawyer and the country's former Justice Minister Martha Karua says she has been detained in Tanzania after flying in for the court appearance of opposition leader Tundu Lissu.

Karua said in a social media post that she had been detained at the main international airport and was awaiting deportation, along with two colleagues who had flown in with her. Tanzanian authorities have not yet commented.

Tanzanian politician Lissu is due to appear in court on Monday after being charged with treason last month.

Karua is a respected human rights advocate, and a vocal critic of what she calls "democratic backsliding" in East Africa.

More BBC stories on Tanzania:

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

The 'peacock of Savile Row' on dressing stars for the Met Gala

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c80kez3pxzvo, 2 days ago

Ozwald Boateng, celebrating four decades of making his indelible mark on the fashion industry, got his chance to stamp his style on the Met Gala in New York earlier this month.

The esteemed British-Ghanaian designer for the first time dressed celebrities - including three of Africa's biggest musicians, Tems, Burna Boy and Arya Starr, as well as actors Ncuti Gatwa and Jaden Smith - at what is seen as his industry's biggest night of the year.

The theme - Superfine: Tailoring Black Style - was "completely in my wheelhouse", he says, as it looked at the way that style formed black identities.

Given that he already has a robust legacy in the design world, the 58-year-old saw the opportunity to find fresh adherents to the Boateng look.

"I think it's, in a way, communicating to a new audience," he tells the BBC a few days after the showcase.

Throughout his 40 years in fashion, the designer has built a reputation for challenging the norms of men's tailoring. His eponymous brand sells form-fitting, stylish suits, often accented with bold colours and West African-inspired patterns.

The son of Ghanaian immigrants, Boateng reimagined the country's iconic kente cloth to produce his signature "tribal" pattern.

"It's all about having a strong concept, having a thorough idea of what you want to achieve from the textiles," he says.

The Met Gala perfectly matched his outlook. "Being a theme about black culture and black cultural influence, I mean, how can you do that without Africa?" he asks.

Considering the link to Ghana, Boateng explains: "When we were colonised by the Europeans or the Brits, we kept our traditional dress, but tailoring was a big part of how we dressed to look more... effectively more European.

"My father always wore tailored suits. You had to be smart at all times, that was something I was taught."

As if producing outfits for 16 celebrities for fashion's premier event was not stressful enough, Boateng switched up Burna Boy's outfit less than 24 hours before the event.

"We did his fitting quite literally the night before the Met Gala," Boateng says, adding that everyone in the room got "really excited" when they saw the Grammy-award winning musician in the finished product.

The look - a red suit paired with a buttercup yellow shirt and eel-skin cape - was partly inspired by Burna Boy's Nigerian roots.

The musician told Vogue: "As a waterside pikin [Pidgin for "child"] from the Niger Delta, the eel and fish in general are the lifeblood of my people - they symbolise survival, spirit and the flow of tradition through generations."

The Met Gala was "not unusual", Boateng says, explaining that Africa has been part of his "message" throughout his career.

Back in 1995, Boateng was the first black designer to open a shop on Savile Row, a London street famed for fine tailoring.

"When I first started as a designer, Savile as a street was a dying street," Boateng recalls.

"The concept, it was dying. I effectively moved there in the early 90s and breathed new life into it."

Boateng was dubbed the "peacock of Savile Row" - with his flamboyance, 6ft-something frame and modelesque facial features, he stood out among his neighbours.

Colour and flair had long been part of Boateng's psyche. At five years old his favourite outfit was a purple, mohair suit made by his mother, who was a seamstress.

Young Boateng commandeered his mother's sewing machine and although he initially chose to study computing at college, he switched to fashion after realising menswear was his future.

As a teenager, Boateng was greatly inspired by tailoring titan Giorgio Armani - and decades later, Armani would praise the London designer for his "elegance" and "cutting edge" designs.

Boateng opened his first studio in his early 20s, dressing the likes of Mick Jagger, Jimmy Paige and Spike Lee.

He then opened his Savile Row store - at the age of 28 he was the youngest to ever do so.

The burgeoning designer captivated London's fashion scene initially, but in 1998 he went bankrupt when an economic downturn in east Asia scuppered a major order.

Both his professional and personal life descended into disarray - in just 12 months an entire collection was stolen from his studio and his marriage broke down.

But the peacock strutted his way back. Boateng gradually rebuilt his business and in 2002 moved into bigger premises on Savile Row.

Since then, he has served as Givency's creative director for menswear, been awarded an OBE, designed staff uniforms for British Airways and branched out into womenswear.

While racking up professional and charitable commitments, Boateng was raising two children.

Now adults, Oscar and Emilia Boateng accompanied their father to the Met Gala, dressed in the suits that made their surname one of the most famous in contemporary British tailoring.

They are not, however, keen to follow their father into fashion design.

"I'm trying to slowly but surely seduce them into the fashion business," Boateng jokes.

"It is ultimately their decision to decide what they want from their life. If they find something they're passionate about in a way I have, I am happy."

And what is next for his own passion? Boateng might have a brain brimming with concepts, but he has a clear vision of where he wants his brand to go next.

"The future is expansion," he says, "raising capital to really, really push the brand globally".

"I think it's the moment in time - and it's the right moment."

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

Is there a genocide of white South Africans as Trump claims?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9wg5pg1xp5o, 3 days ago

US President Donald Trump has given members of South Africa's Afrikaner community refugee status, alleging that a genocide was taking place in the country.

Nearly 60 of them have arrived in the US after being granted asylum.

The South African government allowed the US embassy to consider their applications inside the country, and let the group board a chartered flight from the main international airport in Johannesburg - not scenes normally associated with refugees fleeing persecution.

Who are the Afrikaners?

South African History Online sums up their identity by pointing out that "the modern Afrikaner is descended mainly from Western Europeans who settled on the southern tip of Africa during the middle of the 17th Century".

A mixture of Dutch (34.8%), German (33.7%) and French (13.2%) settlers, they formed a "unique cultural group" which identified itself "completely with African soil", South African History Online noted.

Their language, Afrikaans, is quite similar to Dutch.

But as they planted their roots in Africa, Afrikaners, as well as other white communities, forced black people to leave their land.

Afrikaners are also known as Boers, which actually means farmer, and the group is still closely associated with farming.

In 1948, South Africa's Afrikaner-led government introduced apartheid, or apartness, taking racial segregation to a more extreme level.

This included laws which banned marriages across racial lines, reserved many skilled and semi-skilled jobs for white people, and forced black people to live in what were called townships and homelands.

They were also denied a decent education, with Afrikaner leader Hendrik Verwoerd infamously remarking in the 1950s that "blacks should never be shown the greener pastures of education. They should know their station in life is to be hewers of wood and drawers of water".

Afrikaner dominance of South Africa ended in 1994, when black people were allowed to vote for the first time in a nationwide election, bringing Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC) to power.

Afrikaners currently number more than 2.5 million out of a population of more than 60 million - about 4%.

Is a genocide being committed?

None of South Africa's political parties - including those that represent Afrikaners and the white community in general - have claimed that there is a genocide in South Africa.

But such claims have been circulating among right-wing groups for many years and Trump also referred to a genocide during his first term.

The claims stem from attacks on white farmers, or misleading information circulated online.

In February, a South African judge dismissed the idea of a genocide as "clearly imagined" and "not real", when ruling in an inheritance case involving a wealthy benefactor's donation to white supremacist group Boerelegioen.

South Africa does not release crime figures based on race but the latest figures revealed that 6,953 people were murdered in the country between October and December 2024.

Of these, 12 were killed in farm attacks. Of the 12, one was a farmer, while five were farm dwellers and four were employees, who are likely to have been black.

What have Trump and Musk said?

Why does a political party sing about shooting Boers?

EFF leader Julius Malema's trademark song is "Shoot the Boer, Shoot the farmer", which he sings at political rallies.

Afrikaner lobby groups have tried to get the song banned, saying it was highly inflammatory and amounted to hate speech.

However, South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal has ruled that Malema is within his rights to sing the lyrics - first popularised during the anti-apartheid struggle - at political rallies.

The court ruled that a "reasonably well-informed person" would understand that when "protest songs are sung, even by politicians, the words are not meant to be understood literally, nor is the gesture of shooting to be understood as a call to arms or violence".

Instead, the song was a "provocative way" of advancing the EFF's political agenda - which was to end "land and economic injustice".

Lobby group AfriForum filed an appeal against the ruling, but South Africa's highest court refused to hear the case, saying it had little chance of succeeding.

In 2023, South Africa's former President Thabo Mbeki urged Malema to stop singing the song, saying it was no longer politically relevant as the anti-apartheid struggle was over.

The ANC says it no longer sings it, but it cannot "prescribe to other political parties what they must sing".

Do white people face discrimination in South Africa?

Even though white-minority rule ended in 1994, its effects are still being felt.

Average living standards are far higher for the white community than black people.

White people occupy 62.1% of top management posts, despite only accounting for 7.7% of the country's economically active population, according to a recent report by South Africa's Commission for Employment Equity.

The government has tried to change this through what it calls "economic empowerment" and "employment equity" laws.

An amended version of the second act includes strict targets for companies aimed at increasing the number of non-white employees.

While these laws has been welcomed by many South Africans, some members of racial minorities feel they make it harder for them to get jobs and government contracts. There has also been criticism that they can lead to corruption, for example when business opportunities are given to friends and relatives of officials.

Among the critics have been the Democratic Alliance, which despite being part of the governing coalition, recently challenged the amended Employment Equity Act in court, saying it would "make far more people marginalised in our economy than they already are".

Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie recently came under fire when a job in his department was advertised as being only open to the Coloured, Asian and white populations.

He defended this move, saying he was applying the Employment Equity Act and ensuring "all races are represented", because most of the people in his department were black.

Do most Afrikaners want to move to the US?

It doesn't look like it.

In March, a business group said that close to 70,000 Afrikaners had expressed interest in moving to the US following Trump's offer - from an estimated population of 2.5 million.

On Monday, the US embassy in South Africa released a statement clarifying the criteria for resettlement, saying it covered people from any racial minority, not just Afrikaners, who could cite an incident of past persecution or fear of persecution in the future.

South Africa's most recent census, done in 2022, shows that Coloureds, (an officially used term meaning people of mixed racial origin) are the largest minority, making up 8% of the population. They are followed by white people, including Afrikaners, at 7%, and Asians at 3%.

After Trump's offer, Afrikaner lobby group Solidarity posted an article on its website headlined: "Ten historical reasons to stay in South Africa".

In parliament last week, the leader of the right-wing Freedom Front Plus party said they were committed to South Africa.

"We are bound to Africa and will build a future for ourselves and our children here," Corné Mulder said.

Additional report by Khanyisile Ngcobo in Johannesburg

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

Tigray party says ban threatens Ethiopia peace deal

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

Ethiopia's main opposition party has condemned a ban on its activities, saying it posed a "serious threat" to the 2022 peace deal that ended two years of conflict in the northern Tigray region.

The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) has called for the African Union to mediate with the federal government after the electoral agency revoked its legal status as a party.

The party, which governs Tigray and dominated the entire country for many years, was on Wednesday banned for failing to hold a general assembly.

The decision follows months of political tensions in Tigray and comes ahead of nationwide elections that are due to take place by June next year at the latest.

More on Ethiopia's civil war:

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

'I didn't come here for fun' - Afrikaner defends refugee status in US

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98p3eple9eo, 3 days ago

Last week, 46-year-old Charl Kleinhaus was living on his family farm in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. With its scenic beauty, wildlife and deep canyons, it's known as "the place where the sun rises".

His new home - for now - is a budget hotel near an American highway.

He and dozens of other white South Africans were moved to the US under President Donald Trump's controversial policy to protect them from the discrimination he alleges they are facing - an accusation that South Africa rejects.

Mr Kleinhaus defends the US president, telling the BBC he left his homeland after receiving death threats in WhatsApp messages.

"I had to leave a five-bedroom house, which I will lose now," Mr Kleinhaus tells the BBC, adding that he also left behind his car, his dogs and even his mother. "I didn't come here for fun," he adds.

The contrast in homes couldn't be more stark. But for Mr Kleinhaus, his situation in Buffalo, New York, is already a better one. "My children are safe," says Mr Kleinhaus, whose wife died in a road accident in 2006.

The status of white South African farmers has long been a rallying cry on the right and far-right of American politics.

Trump and his close ally, South Africa-born billionaire Elon Musk, have even argued that there has been a "genocide" of white farmers in South Africa - a claim that has been widely discredited.

In February, Trump signed an executive order granting refugee status to Afrikaners, such as Mr Kleinhaus, who he said were being persecuted.

Mr Kleinhaus is one of a group of 59 who arrived on Tuesday at Dulles airport, near Washington DC, after Trump's administration fast-tracked their applications.

He admits he was surprised at how quickly he got to the US, and that he is grateful to Trump. "I felt finally somebody in this world is seeing what's going on," he says.

As he and his family arrived with others at the airport they were greeted with red, white and blue balloons. He describes the pomp and ceremony as "overwhelming".

Afrikaners are a white ethnic minority who ran South Africa during the apartheid era, implementing racist policies of segregation in the country until the regime was officially abolished in 1994.

But more than 30 years on, black farmers own only a small fraction of the country's best farmland, with the majority still in white hands.

That has led to anger over the slow pace of change. Mr Kleinhaus acknowledges that black South Africans have suffered as well as him.

But he says: "I had nothing to do with apartheid. Nothing, nothing, nothing."

In January, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a controversial law allowing the government to seize privately owned land without compensation - in certain circumstances, when it is deemed "equitable and in the public interest".

The South African government says no land has yet been seized. But Mr Kleinhaus says once there is a government claim on your land - as he says is the case with his - it becomes impossible to function.

"Your land becomes worthless - the land expropriation has gone too far," he says. "People are scared of that. Other Afrikaners who criticise us live in a bubble."

Some fellow Afrikaners have described Mr Kleinhaus and the group as opportunists, and that being a victim of crime is not equivalent to the type of persecution that deserves refugee status.

Mr Kleinhaus acknowledges that the murder rate of farmers is low in South Africa, but says he does not want to be a victim. "There are people in my area who were shot and killed," he says.

He says he received threats from members of the local community: "I'd regularly get messages on WhatsApp saying, 'we'll get rid of you, you're on my land'."

Mr Kleinhaus says he received one message before he left for the US which read: "We are coming for you, you better be awake."

He also says his farming machinery was damaged, and that local police failed to act on his reports.

Ramaphosa has called the group who travelled to the US "cowards", saying they do not want to address the inequities of the apartheid era.

"As South Africans, we are resilient," he said earlier this week. "We don't run away from our problems. We must stay here and solve our problems."

What makes the resettlement of the Afrikaners to the US particularly controversial is that other refugees have been banned, including Afghans who earlier this week had their Temporary Protected Status removed.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that move was justified because the security and economic situation in Afghanistan had improved - despite criticism from opposition lawmakers and rights groups.

Mr Kleinhaus says he is sympathetic: "I mean, I feel sorry for the Afghans that they can't get here. But I know there's a process there. And I know when and if you are approved for the process, they take care of you."

Does he worry he's being used as a political pawn by Trump? And that another president could potentially reverse this decision in four years' time?

Mr Kleinhaus pauses, and says: "Yeah, it is scary, but I am a religious person. Just to be in this first group is an act of God, I believe, because there was a 0.0 something percent chance that you were selected for the first call."

Questions over refugees' vetting

Mr Kleinhaus has come under scrutiny for antisemitic posts on social media, which have since been deleted.

Discussing one of these, he says he copied and pasted someone else's thoughts, and that he was being administered morphine as part of medical treatment at the time - though he admits this was not an excuse.

The 2023 post was made in a moment of anger, he adds, after he saw a video - not verified by the BBC - which purported to show some Jews spitting at Christians in Israel.

Mr Kleinhaus insists the comments were specific to one moment, and not a wider comment about Jewish people. "Even now, if I see any person going against my religion, I will speak up against it," he said.

The US government is facing questions about the vetting process for those being resettled. The UN's refugee agency told the BBC it was not involved in the screening process for the Afrikaners as it normally would be for refugees heading to the US.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has previously stated it is screening immigrants' social media activity for antisemitism, and using it as a reason for denying applicants.

The Trump administration has been citing allegations of antisemitism as its officials have in recent months arrested and tried to deport pro-Palestinian activists.

In a statement to the BBC, a senior DHS official said: "The Department of Homeland Security vets all refugee applicants. Any claims of misconduct are thoroughly investigated, and appropriate action will be taken as necessary. DHS does not comment on individual application status."

Since returning to office, Trump has launched a crackdown to reduce immigration more broadly. So, is Mr Kleinhaus concerned about any backlash to his group being offered entry to the US?

"People must not think we are just taking advantage of this," he says. "We come here to make a contribution to the country.

"I'm not worried it'll fall apart because I believe this is God's plan for me.

"My life is in his hands. And if if he didn't want me to come, I wouldn't be here."

Gabon's ousted president and family freed after two years and fly to Angola

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20x3d48509o, 2 days ago

Gabon's former President, Ali Bongo, who was deposed in a 2023 coup, has left the country and is now in Angola, the authorities there have announced.

The Angolan presidency added in a statement posted on social media that Bongo's family had been released from detention and were with him in Luanda.

The Bongo family lawyer, François Zimeray, welcomed the release of his clients and denounced their "arbitrary and cruel imprisonment".

Bongo's wife and son, Sylvia and Noureddin, face corruption charges and had been detained since 2023.

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

Former Chad PM arrested over alleged links to deadly clash

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8d19v3eygyo, 2 days ago

Chad's former prime minister and opposition leader, Succès Masra, has been arrested over alleged links to a clash which took place on Wednesday in the south west of the country, a public prosecutor has said.

He is suspected of spreading hateful messages on social media linked to the violence in which at least 42 people died, Oumar Mahamat Kedelaye said.

Masra's Transformers party said he had been "kidnapped" by military officers in the early hours of the morning" and denounced his detention, which it says was "carried out outside of any known judicial procedure".

Masra is a fierce critic of President Mahamat Déby and claimed to have defeated him in elections last year.

Masra said his victory had been stolen "from the people" although the official results said Déby had won with 61% of the vote.

Wednesday's clash broke out in the village of Mandakao, in Logone Occidental province near the Cameroonian border.

"Messages were circulated, notably on social networks, calling on the population to arm themselves against other citizens," Mr Kedelaye said.

It is not entirely clear what caused the violence, but one source told the AFP news agency that it is believed it was triggered by a land dispute between farmers from the Ngambaye community and Fulani herdsmen.

There has been a troubling recent pattern of violence between local farmers and herders, with the farmers accusing the latter of grazing animals on their land.

More than 80 others have also been detained in connection with the clashes.

Masra briefly served as interim prime minister of the transitional government between January and May 2024.

His party boycotted legislative polls last December due to concerns over the transparency of the electoral process.

The Déby family has ruled Chad for more than three decades.

The military installed Déby as Chad's leader after his father, Idriss Déby Itno, was killed by rebels in 2021.

Additional reporting by Chris Ewokor

More BBC Africa articles about Chad:

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

Drone attacks raise stakes in new phase of Sudan's civil war

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg4vz0qy77no, 4 days ago

Paramilitary fighters appear to have opened a new phase in Sudan's civil war after being driven from the capital, in a move which some experts have described as a "shock and awe campaign".

Just weeks after the army celebrated the recapture of Khartoum, its foe the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched a series of unprecedented drone strikes on Port Sudan in the east of the country.

The attacks have led to worsening power blackouts, as well as city residents facing water shortages.

"It's a level of power projection within this region that we haven't seen yet," says Alan Boswell, the Horn of Africa expert for the International Crisis Group.

"I think it raises the stakes quite a bit," he added.

The barrage of attacks on the war-time capital and humanitarian hub signals that the RSF is determined and able to carry on the fight despite significant territorial losses.

And it has showcased the growth of advanced drone warfare in Africa.

Drones have played an increasing role in the conflict, which has entered its third year.

The war began as a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF and has drawn in other Sudanese armed groups and foreign backers, plunging the country into what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) helped the army advance earlier this year. And the RSF escalated its own use of drones as it was pushed out of central Sudan, especially Khartoum, back towards its traditional stronghold in the west of the country.

In recent months the paramilitaries had stepped up drone strikes on critical civilian infrastructure in army-controlled areas. That continued on Wednesday night with attacks on three power stations in the city of Omdurman, which lies across the Nile River from Khartoum. The damage has caused widespread electricity outages in the capital region.

But it was the RSF's sustained strikes on Port Sudan, until now seen as a safe haven home to government officials, diplomats and humanitarian organisations, that underlined a shift in strategy to a greater emphasis on remote warfare, and aimed to demonstrate strength.

"The RSF is trying to show that they don't need to reach Port Sudan by land in order to be able to have an impact there," says Sudanese political analyst Kholood Khair.

The group is trying to achieve a "narrative shift" away from "the triumphant SAF that took over Khartoum," she says.

"It is saying to the Sudanese Armed Forces: 'You can take Khartoum back, but you'll never be able to govern it. You can have Port Sudan, but you won't be able to govern it, because we will cause a security crisis for you so large that it will be ungovernable'... They want to unequivocally show that the war is not over until they say so."

The paramilitary group has not directly addressed the Port Sudan drone attacks. Rather, it has repeated its assertion that the SAF is supported by Iran and accused the armed forces of targeting civilian infrastructure and state institutions, calling the military strikes on Khartoum and RSF-held areas in the west and south of the country war crimes.

Both sides stand accused of war crimes which they have denied, but the RSF has been singled out over allegations of mass rape and genocide.

The change in its tactics may have been triggered by battlefield necessity, but is possible because of technological advancement.

The RSF had previously used what are known as suicide or loitering drones, small UAVs with explosive payloads that are designed to crash into targets and can carry out coordinated attacks.

It seems to have deployed this method in Port Sudan, with the commander of the Red Sea Military Zone Mahjoub Bushra describing a swarm of 11 Kamikaze drones in the first strike on a military airbase.

He said the army shot them down, but they turned out to be a tactical distraction to divert attention from a single strategic drone that successfully struck the base.

The make of this drone is not clear. But satellite images reported by Yale researchers and the Reuters news agency have shown advanced UAVs at an airport in South Darfur since the beginning of the year.

The defence intelligence company Janes has determined them to most likely be sophisticated Chinese manufactured CH-95s, capable of long-range strikes.

Jeremy Binnie, an Africa and Middle East analyst at Jane's, told the BBC that photos of what appear to be the remnants of the smaller kamikaze drones suggest they are probably a different version than the RSF had used before, and might be better at penetrating air defences because of their shape.

The development has triggered comparisons to the long-range drone warfare between Russia and Ukraine.

"These weapons have more precision, you don't need a manned aircraft any more, and they are much more affordable than operating sophisticated jets," says Mr Binnie.

"This is part of a broader trend in technological proliferation where you can see what used to be really high-end capabilities being used in a civil war in sub-Saharan Africa."

The Sudanese foreign ministry has warned that the attacks threaten regional security and the safety of navigation in the Red Sea, calling on international actors to take "effective action against the regional sponsor of the militia," a reference to the UAE.

Mr Lynch believes that only an agreement between the UAE and the Sudanese army will end the war.

"This war is always evolving, always changing," he says, "but you'll see it will continue for years and decades unless there is serious diplomatic action to stop it."

More about Sudan's civil war from the BBC:

* BBC reporter: My heartbreaking decision to leave Sudan

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

El Chapo & Deputy Jesus - why Kenya's president has so many nicknames

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cewdl20d8lxo, 5 days ago

Kenya's President William Ruto is a man of many nicknames.

El Chapo, Kasongo, Hustler, Deputy Jesus and Chicken Seller are just some that he has acquired in recent years.

As is often the case when people are given alternative monikers, some are affectionate but some are intended to mock, while others reflect a profound anger.

A history of the president's aliases offer a window into how the perception of him has changed.

Ruto has acknowledged the rechristening trend, joking recently that Kenyans are "finishing" him with the numerous labels.

"You have given me so many names. I had the name William Kipchirchir Samoei Ruto. You added Survivor… Zakayo... now you are at Kasongo [the title of a Congolese song about abandonment and heartbreak]. Will you stop at 10, or should I prepare for more?" he recently asked.

The crowd, at a rally in the capital, Nairobi, responded that they had even more.

Before he was elected president in 2022, Ruto attracted handles that bolstered his reputation as a man of the people.

Hustler - Kenyan parlance for someone eking out a living against the odds - helped portray him as someone who would prioritise the needs of the struggling folk.

Chicken Seller, referring to his childhood when he hawked poultry on the roadside, resonated with many who saw his life as an epitome of their own.

"These were very positive [names]. They sold him to the public in terms of votes," political analyst Prof Herman Manyora told the BBC, arguing that they helped catapult him into the top job.

"Names really stick with Ruto," he added.

Mr Kiplimo however reckons that the way the president brushes off the monikers, and in fact seems to embrace them, shows how strong he is.

Prof Manyora believes the young people who come up with the alternative labels for the president do it as a form of catharsis, a way of releasing tension.

This view is backed up by 24-year-old student Margaret Wairimu Kahura, who said that many Kenyans "are in a lot of pain".

She feels that the mockery is a way of letting Ruto know how the youth are feeling.

She says that no other Kenyan president has been subjected to this level of lampooning, and "so this is unique [but] in a bad way".

It is true that previous heads of state had nicknames but they have not been so numerous.

The last President, Uhuru Kenyatta, was called Kamwana ("young boy"), Jayden (a Kenyan reference to a pampered or lazy child) and Wamashati (for his love of print shirts).

His predecessor, Mwai Kibaki, was known as General Kiguoya (a general who is afraid) and Fence Sitter.

Perhaps the age of social media, with its insatiable appetite for new content to keep people amused, has increased the trend towards name calling.

But for many, like Ms Kahura, the volume of nicknames for Ruto are a genuine reflection of "the different problems that people are facing".

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

Why Burkina Faso's junta leader has captured hearts and minds around the world

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1egely9v3go, 7 days ago

A charismatic 37-year-old, Burkina Faso's military ruler Capt Ibrahim Traoré has skilfully built the persona of a pan-Africanist leader determined to free his nation from what he regards as the clutches of Western imperialism and neo-colonialism.

His message has resonated across Africa and beyond, with his admirers seeing him as following in the footsteps of African heroes like Burkina Faso's very own Thomas Sankara - a Marxist revolutionary who is sometimes referred to as "Africa's Che Guevara".

"Traoré's impact is huge. I have even heard politicians and authors in countries like Kenya [in East Africa] say: 'This is it. He is the man'," Beverly Ochieng, a senior researcher at global consultancy firm Control Risks, told the BBC.

"His messages reflect the age we are living in, when many Africans are questioning the relationship with the West, and why there is still so much poverty in such a resource-rich continent," she said.

After seizing power in a coup in 2022, Traoré's regime ditched former colonial power France in favour of a strong alliance with Russia, that has included the deployment of a Russian paramilitary brigade, and adopted left-wing economic policies.

This included setting up a state-owned mining company, requiring foreign firms to give it a 15% stake in their local operations and to transfer skills to Burkinabé people.

The rule also applied to Russian miner Nordgold, which was given a licence in late April for its latest investment in Burkina Faso's gold industry.

As part of what Traoré calls a "revolution" to ensure Burkina Faso benefits from its mineral wealth, the junta is also building a gold refinery and establishing national gold reserves for the first time in the nation's history.

However, Western-owned firms appear to be facing a tough time, with Australia-headquartered Sarama Resources launching arbitration proceedings against Burkina Faso in late 2024 following the withdrawal of an exploration licence.

The junta has also nationalised two gold mines previously owned by a London-listed firm, and said last month that it planned to take control of more foreign-owned mines.

Enoch Randy Aikins, a researcher at South Africa's Institute for Security Studies, told the BBC that Traoré's radical reforms had increased his popularity in Africa.

"He is now arguably Africa's most popular, if not favourite, president," Mr Aikins said.

His popularity has been fuelled through social media, including many misleading posts intended to bolster his revolutionary image.

AI-generated videos of music stars like R Kelly, Rihanna, Justin Bieber and Beyoncé are seen immortalising him through song - though they have done nothing of the sort.

Ms Ochieng said that Traoré first caught the attention of Africans when he spoke at the Russia-Africa summit in 2023, telling African leaders to "stop behaving like puppets who dance every time the imperialists pull the strings".

This speech was heavily publicised by Russian media, which has become a major player in promoting Traoré's pan-Africanist image.

Traoré attended commemorations in Russia last week to mark the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two. He posted on X that he, along with military leaders from neighbouring Mali and Niger, were inspired by it "to winning the war against terrorism and imperialism at all costs".

Thanks to his rhetoric and pushed by a slick social media campaign, his appeal has spread around the world, including among African-Americans and Black Britons, Ms Ochieng noted.

"Everyone who has experienced racism, colonialism and slavery can relate to his messages," Ms Ochieng said, pointing out that African-American rapper Meek Mill had posted about him on X late last year, saying how much he liked his "energy and heart" - though he was ridiculed for mixing up names by referring to Traoré as Burkina Faso and later deleted the post.

But France's president is not a fan, describing Traoré as part of a "baroque alliance between self-proclaimed pan-Africans and neo-imperialists".

Emmanuel Macron was also referring to Russia and China whom he accused, in a 2023 speech, of provoking coups in Africa's former French colonies, and hypocritically stirring up old arguments over sovereignty and colonial exploitation.

Traoré's popularity comes despite the fact that he has failed to fulfil his pledge to quell a 10-year Islamist insurgency that has fuelled ethnic divisions and has now spread to once-peaceful neighbours like Benin.

His junta has also cracked down on dissent, including the opposition, media and civil society groups and punished critics, among them medics and magistrates, by sending them to the front-lines of the war against the jihadists.

* The post-independence era, when there were leaders like Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah and Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia

* And a later era with Sankara and Ghana's Jerry Rawlings, whose coup in 1979 "was also very popular at the time".

It was Traoré who stole the show at the inauguration of Ghana's President John Mahama in January, when he arrived wearing battle fatigues with a pistol in his holster.

"There were already 21 heads of state there, but when Traoré walked in, the place lit up. Even my president's bodyguards were running after him," Prof Aning said.

Traoré offered a sharply contrasting image to some of the continent's other leaders, who struggled to walk but clung to power by rigging elections, he said.

"Traoré is stylish and confident, with a very open face and a small smile. He is also a powerful orator, and presents himself as a man of the people."

In a sign that his Russian-allied junta has made some progress on the economic front, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank have given a generally upbeat assessment.

In a statement in early April, the IMF said that despite a "challenging humanitarian and security" environment, the economy was expected to remain "robust" in 2025, and the regime had made "commendable progress" in raising domestic revenue, containing the public wage bill, and increasing spending on education, health and social protection.

As for the World Bank, it said that inflation had surged from 0.7% in 2023 to 4.2% in 2024, but the extreme poverty rate, which refers to people living on less than $2.15 [£1.61] a day, had fallen by almost two percentage points to 24.9% because of "robust growth" in the agriculture and services sectors.

Despite these reports from US-based financial institutions, relations with both France and America have been frosty.

A recent example being the claim by the head of the US Africa Command, Gen Michael Langley, that Traoré was using Burkina Faso's gold reserves for his junta's protection rather than the nation's benefit.

This appeared to be a reference to the long-standing view of the US, and some of its African allies, that Russian forces were propping up Traoré in exchange for a stake in Burkina Faso's gold industry - undermining the military ruler's image as a leader who expelled French troops in 2023 to reclaim the country's sovereignty.

Gen Langley's comments, made in early April during a US Senate committee hearing, triggered an uproar among the captain's supporters, who felt their hero was being smeared.

This was further inflamed when shortly afterwards, the Burkinabé junta said it had foiled a coup plot, alleging the plotters were based in neighbouring Ivory Coast - where Gen Langley then made a visit.

Ivory Coast denied being involved in any plot, while the US Africa Command said Gen Langley's visit had focused on addressing "common security challenges" - including "violent extremism".

But the junta took the opportunity to organise one of its biggest rallies in Burkina Faso's capital over fears that "imperialists" and their "lackeys" were trying to depose the captain.

"Because Colin Powell lied, Iraq was destroyed. Barack Obama lied, Gaddafi was killed. But this time, their lies won't affect us," one protester, musician Ocibi Johann, told the Associated Press news agency.

Rallies in solidarity with Traoré were also held abroad, including in London, on the same day.

He took to social media afterwards, posting in French and English, to express his gratitude to them for sharing his vision "for a new Burkina Faso and a new Africa", adding: "Together, in solidarity, we will defeat imperialism and neo-colonialism for a free, dignified and sovereign Africa."

It is impossible to say how things will end for the young captain, but he - along with military leaders in Mali and Niger - have certainly shaken up West Africa, and other states have followed their example by ordering French forces to leave.

The three military-ruled neighbours have also pulled out of the regional trade and security grouping Ecowas, formed their own alliance, and have ended free trade in the region by announcing the imposition of a 0.5% tariff on goods coming into their countries.

Mr Aikins said Traoré could learn from others, pointing out that when Rawlings took power in Ghana at the age of 32, he was known as "Junior Jesus" but after 19 years he left a mixed legacy - he had been unable to stem corruption despite helping to create an "enduring" democracy.

For a "lasting legacy", Mr Aikins said, Traoré should focus on achieving peace and building strong state institutions to bring about good governance rather than "personalising" power and cracking down on dissent.

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

'Proud to be young' - Beauty queen, lawyer and Botswana's youngest cabinet minister

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1mev5ygk0yo, 8 days ago

Lesego Chombo's enthusiasm for life is as infectious as her achievements are impressive: she has won the Miss Botswana 2022 and Miss World Africa 2024 crowns, is a working lawyer, has set up her own charitable foundation - and made history in November, becoming Botswana's youngest cabinet minister.

She was just 26 years old at the time - and had clearly impressed Botswana's incoming President Duma Boko, whose Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) had just won a landslide, ousting the party that had governed for 58 years.

It was a seismic shift in the politics of the diamond-rich southern African nation - and Boko, a 55-year-old Harvard-trained lawyer, hit the ground running.

His main focus, he said, was fixing an economy too reliant on diamonds, telling the BBC ahead of his inauguration that he wanted young people to be the solution - "to become entrepreneurs, employ themselves and employ others".

Key to this was finding a suitable ambassador - and Chombo was clearly it: a young woman already committed to various causes.

He made her minister of youth and gender.

"I've never been more proud to be young," she told the BBC at the ministry's headquarters in the capital, Gaborone.

"I'm a young person living in Botswana, passionate about youth development, gender equality, but also so passionate about the development of children."

The beauty queen did not campaign to be an MP - she is what is called a specially elected member of parliament - and is now one of just six female MPs in the 69-member National Assembly.

Chombo said becoming an MP and then minister came as a complete surprise to her.

"I got appointed by a president who had never met me," she said.

"Miss World and the journey that I thought I was supposed to pursue as my final destination was only the platform through which I would be seen for this very role."

It was her crowning as Miss Botswana in 2022 that raised her profile and enabled her to campaign for social change, while trying to inspire other young women.

It also gave her the opportunity to set up the Lesego Chombo Foundation, which focuses on supporting disadvantaged youngsters and their parents in rural areas – and which she is still involved with, its projects funded by corporate companies and others.

"We strive to have a world where we feel seen and heard and represented. I'm very thrilled that I happen to be the very essence of that representation," she said.

As she prepared for last year's Miss World pageant, she said: "I really put myself in the zone of service. I really channelled it for this big crown."

Now in political office, she is aware of the expectations placed on her in a country where approximately 60% of the population is below 35 years.

It also has a high level of unemployment - 28%, which is even higher for young people and women who have limited economic opportunities and battle systemic corruption.

Chombo said this was something she was determined to change: "Currently in Botswana, the rates of unemployment are so high.

"But it's not just the rate of unemployment, it's also just the sphere of youth development.

"It's lacking, and so my desire is to create an ecosystem, an environment, a society, an economy in which youth can thrive."

Chombo said her plan was to develop a comprehensive system that nurtured youth-led initiatives, strengthened entrepreneurship and ensured young people had a seat at the table when decisions were being made.

With Botswana's anti-corruption policy undergoing a rigorous review, she said this would ensure that quotas for young entrepreneurs - when state departments and agencies put out tenders for goods and services - were actually reached.

The government has begun a 10-month forensic audit of government spending that will include 30 state-owned enterprises.

Indeed President Boko is intent on cracking down on corruption, seeing this as a way to bolter investor confidence and diversify the economy - something his deputy has been seeking to do on recent trips to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Switzerland.

And a key deal has now been secured with UAE-based CCI Global, a provider of business process outsourcing, to open a hub in Botswana.

While youth development is a central pillar of her work, gender equity also remains close to her heart.

Her short time in office has coincided with a growing outcry over gender-based violence.

According to a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report, over 67% of women in Botswana have experienced abuse, more than double the global average.

"It hurts to know that it could be me next," she admitted.

A month into her appointment, she was criticised for voting against an opposition motion in parliament to create "peace desks" at police stations and magistrate courts to quickly deal with victims.

At the time she said such provisions already existed within the law and what was needed was more public awareness.

This was followed in January by a police report noting that at least 100 women had been raped and another 10 murdered during the festive season - this caused public outrage with many lashing out at her on social media over the issue.

The minister reiterated - on several occasions, including before parliament in March - that Botswana had many laws and strategies in place and what was important was to ensure these they were actually applied.

But she told the BBC the government would be pushing for the implementation of a Gender-Based Violence Act, aimed at closing legal loopholes that have long hindered justice for survivors.

She said she was also advocating a more holistic approach, involving the ministries of health, education and local government.

"We want curriculums that promote gender equity from a young age," Chombo said.

"We want to teach children what gender-based violence is and how to prevent it.

"It will boil down to inclusion of teaching gender equity at home, how parents behave around their children, how they model good behaviour."

She has also been vocal about the need to address issues affecting men, particularly around mental health and positive masculinity, encouraging chiefs "to ensure that our patriarchal culture is not actively perpetuating gender violence".

"I hear a lot of people say: 'Why do you speak of women more than men?'

"It's because as it stands in society, women are mostly prejudiced [against].

"But when we speak of gender equality, we're saying that it should be applied equally for everyone. But what we strive for is gender equity."

Chombo, who studied law at the University of Botswana, said she was thankful to her mother and other strong women for inspiring her - saying that women had to work "10 times harder" to succeed.

"[My mother] has managed to create an environment for me to thrive. And growing up, I got to realise that it's not an easy thing.

"As women, we face so many pressures: 'A woman cannot do this. A woman can't do that. A woman can't be young and in leadership.' I'm currently facing that."

She also credited Julia Morley, the CEO of Miss World, for helping her: "She has managed to create a legacy of what we call beauty with a purpose for so many young girls across the world.

"She has just inspired us so deeply to take up social responsibility."

Chombo is serious about this. The beauty queen-cum-lawyer-cum-minister knows she has made history - but is also aware that her real work has only just begun.

"Impact. Tangible impact. That's what success would look like to me," she said.

"I want to look back and see that it is there and it is sustainable. That when I leave, someone else is able to carry it through."

Additional reporting from Innocent Selatlhwa in Gaborone

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No water, no power - Port Sudan reeling after week of attacks

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6293qgd46zo, 9 days ago

A massive increase in the price of water is just one consequence of a week of aerial attacks on the Red Sea city of Port Sudan.

Once seen as a relatively safe haven from Sudan's devastating civil war, Port Sudan is now reeling from days of bombardment from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group.

After six days of drone attacks, smoke is still rising from three fuel depots which were targeted. Rescue teams are gathered around the destroyed sites, but they are struggling to put the fires out.

The conflict, which began as a struggle between the leaders of the RSF and the army more than two years ago, has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises and forced more than 12 million people from their homes.

One of those who fled to Port Sudan is 26-year-old Mutasim, who did not want his second name published for safety reasons.

The BBC spoke to him after he had waited hours for a water vendor to turn up.

The vital commodity has become scarce. The explosions at the fuel depots have left Port Sudan without the diesel used to power the pumps that bring up the groundwater.

Mutasim told the BBC that whereas a day's supply of water cost him 2,000 Sudanese pounds ($3.30; £2.50) a week ago, he is now being charged five times that amount.

It leaves him and the seven other members of his family without much water for cooking, cleaning and bathing.

"Soon, we won't be able to afford it," he said explaining that he gets money from buying and selling basic goods in the market.

Water is not the only challenge in Port Sudan.

Daily life is going back to normal, markets and shops are open, but there are crowds of cars outside the city's petrol stations as people desperately wait for fuel.

"It could take me five hours to get petrol," said Mutasim.

It is a situation that many Sudanese have faced before, but not in this city.

Until last week, Port Sudan was one of the few places in the country that was considered protected from the worst of the civil war.

"We came here two years ago from Omdurman," Mutasim said, referring to the city that sits on the other side of the River Nile from the capital, Khartoum.

It cost the family their entire savings - $3,000 (£2,250) – to set up in a new place.

"We were forced to leave our home by the RSF, so it was a relief to come here. Life was starting to go back to normal."

"We were thinking about moving because it is no longer safe here, but it's so expensive - and where do we go?"

Port Sudan has been experiencing blackouts for the past two weeks, which have been made worse by the latest attacks.

"My auntie is over 70 years old, she is struggling with the heat and humidity because there is no electricity for fans at night," Mutasim said.

"We can't sleep."

Hawa Mustafa, a teacher from el-Geneina in Darfur, in the west of the country, also sought refuge in Port Sudan.

She has been living with her four children in a shelter for displaced people for over two years. She said this week's attacks left her "living in fear".

"The drones came to us and we returned to a state of war and the lack of safety," she told the BBC.

"The sounds of the drones and the anti-aircraft missiles remind me of the first days of the war in el-Geneina."

Hawa lives without her husband, who has been unable to leave their home due to the deteriorating security situation. She is now responsible for her family.

"I don't know where to go if things get worse in Port Sudan. I was planning to go to one of the neighbouring countries, but it seems that this dream will no longer come true."

Another person living in the city, Mariam Atta, told the BBC that "life has changed completely".

"We are struggling to cope," she said. "The fear is constant."

Since Sudan's civil war started in 2023, humanitarian agencies have depended on Port Sudan as a gateway to bring in aid, because of its port and the country's only functional international airport.

It has been used by organisations such as the UN's World Food Programme to deliver food assistance.

"Port Sudan is our main humanitarian hub," says Leni Kinzli, WFP spokesperson for Sudan.

"In March, we had almost 20,000 metric tonnes of food distributed, and I would say definitely more than half of that came through Port Sudan," she told the BBC.

The WFP has said that there is currently famine in 10 regions of the country, with 17 more at risk.

Many aid agencies are now concerned these attacks could block the flow of aid, making the humanitarian situation even worse.

"I think this is going to severely constrain the delivery of life-saving food and medical supplies, which will risk further deterioration of the already critical situation," Shashwat Saraf, country director for the Norwegian Refugee Council, told the BBC.

He added that while agencies will look for other routes into the country, it will be challenging.

At night the city is quiet.

Before the attacks, people would gather at the coast and some would watch football in local cafes. But the electricity blackout has left the city in the dark and residents are choosing to stay at home for security reasons.

More BBC stories on the war in Sudan:

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Blank questions, power cuts and a suicide: Nigeria's exams fiasco

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c628q8w7ej3o, 3 days ago

The body which runs Nigeria's university-entrance exams has admitted to a "technical glitch" which compromised some results of this year's tests, after nearly 80% of students got low grades.

Students have complained about not being able to log in to the computers, questions not showing up and power cuts making it impossible to take the examinations.

The low pass rate has sparked widespread outrage, especially after one candidate took her own life.

Faith Opesusi Timileyin, 19, who was aspiring to study microbiology at university, died after swallowing poison, her family said.

Her father and elder sister told the BBC that she had sat the exam for the second time and got 146 marks out of 400, lower than the 193 she had last year.

"The pain made her take her own life," her father, Oluwafemi Opesusi, told BBC Pidgin.

Generally 200 or above out of 400 is enough to get a place in university in the exams run by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (Jamb).

Only 400,000 of the 1.9 million students achieved that mark, one of the worst performances in recent years.

Following a public outcry, Jamb says that students in some areas will be able to retake their exams.

One student, Favour Eke, told BBC Igbo that 10 of the 165 questions didn't appear on the screen - all she could see was the multiple choice options for the answers.

"We were told to omit the blank questions and continue the exam but it was very hard to concentrate after that," she said.

She has also experienced technical problems getting her results, meaning she is very unlikely to get into university this year - the third time she has taken the exams.

She sat the test in the capital, Abuja, which is not one of the centres where students can retake their exams, leaving her completely distraught.

Another student said he had trouble logging in to the computer before someone else's profile mysteriously appeared on the screen, showing different questions and then the machine briefly shut down completely.

"I did not get to answer all the questions when they told us our time was up because a lot of my time was wasted due to those technical difficulties," he said.

The exams body has apologised for the "painful damage" and "the trauma that it has subjected affected Nigerians".

In a press conference, Jamb registrar Ishaq Oloyede broke down in tears as he apologised.

He announced that almost 380,000 candidates in 157 affected centres from a total of 887, would be able to retake their exams starting from Saturday.

The zones that are most affected are Lagos and several states in the south-east.

Jamb blamed a failure of the computer system to upload exam responses by candidates in these areas during the first days of the exams.

It said an "unusual level of public concerns and loud complaints" had "prompted us to do an immediate audit or review". Ordinarily, this would have happened in June, it said.

The national exam, known as the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), is a computer-based test that is a requirement for those joining universities and other tertiary institutions.

The 2025 test, which was conducted in March, was marred by disruptions due to power outages in some areas.

The head of the exams body earlier this week defended the poor results, saying they reflected the "true academic abilities" of the students and were because of a clampdown on cheating.

Many Nigerians on social media have been calling for accountability, with some seeking Oloyede's resignation.

Opposition figure Peter Obi said that while the admission of fault was commendable, the issue raised "a very concerning issue on glitches and the grave havoc" in critical institutions.

Rights activist Rinu Oduala said it was "incompetence. It's educational sabotage. He should be arrested immediately."

Additional reporting by Chukwunaeme Obiejesi, Andrew Gift, Madina Maishanu and Marvelous Obomanu in Nigeria

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

Gambia probes sale of ex-leader's luxury cars, cows and boats

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgv96zw2g4o, 4 days ago

The Gambian government has announced an investigation into the sale of assets seized from former President Yahya Jammeh, following widespread public concern.

Some of the assets, including livestock and luxury vehicles, were sold off while a panel was still investigating the wealth Jammeh amassed during his 22-year rule.

A newspaper investigation exposed alleged irregularities and an apparent lack of transparency in the sale of the assets, sparking protests organised by young people.

In a televised address on Wednesday night, President Adama Barrow pledged "full transparency" in the probe, saying assets recovered "belong to the people".

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

Four days that took India and Pakistan to the brink

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgvr4r5d2qo, yesterday

Sixteen-year-old Nimra stood outside, rooted to the spot, as the Indian missiles that had woken her a moment ago rained down on the mosque a few metres from her house in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. She watched one tear the minaret off the top of the building. But she failed to realise she, too, had been struck - in the chest.

When the family reached the relative safety of her aunt's house nearby, someone turned on a phone torch. "My aunt gasped. There was blood on my frock. It was pink and white but now soaked in red. I hadn't seen it before." Again they ran. "I was running but my hand was pressed on my chest the whole time. I didn't want to take it off. I thought if I let go, everything inside me would come out." A piece of shrapnel was lodged near her heart, she later discovered.

A few hours later, in Poonch, Indian-administered Kashmir, a different family was dodging shelling which Pakistan had launched in response to India's missile strikes.

"When the firing began, everyone ran for their lives - children clinging to their parents in fear," said MN Sudhan, 72. "Some families managed to leave for Jammu in their vehicles. We also decided to escape. But barely 10 minutes into our journey, a shell landed near our vehicle. The shrapnel tore through the car. My grandson died on the spot."

"Our future was shattered at that [very] moment," Mr Sudhan said of 13-year-old Vihaan's death. "Now we're left with nothing but grief. I have witnessed two wars between India and Pakistan, but never in my life have I seen shelling as intense as this."

Nimra and Vihaan were among many of the villagers caught up in the deadliest attacks for several years in a decades-long conflict between two of the world's nuclear powers - India and Pakistan. Both sides administer the Himalayan region in part but claim it in full. Both governments deny targeting civilians, but BBC journalists in the region have spoken to families caught up in the violence.

The strike that injured Nimra was part of India's armed response after a militant attack killed 26 people - mostly Indian tourists - last month at a beauty spot in India-administered Kashmir. Police there claimed militants included at least two Pakistan nationals. Pakistan has asked India for evidence of this, and has called for an independent inquiry into who was behind the attack.

What followed was four days of tit-for-tat shelling and drone attacks, intensifying each day and culminating in missile strikes on military bases, which threatened to tip over into full-blown conflict. Then, suddenly, a ceasefire brokered by the US and other international players on 10 May brought the two nuclear powers back from the brink.

Families on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) - the de facto border in Kashmir - told us they had had loved ones killed and property destroyed. At least 16 people are reported to have been killed on the Indian side, while Pakistan claims 40 civilian deaths, though it remains unclear how many were directly caused by the shelling. We also heard from Indian and Pakistani government insiders about the mood in their respective administrations as the conflict escalated.

In Delhi's corridors of power, the atmosphere was initially jubilant, an Indian government source told the BBC. Its missile attacks on targets in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and in Pakistan itself - including the Bilal Mosque in Muzaff arabad, which India claims is a militant camp, though Pakistan denies this - were deemed a success.

"The strikes… were not limited to Pakistani-administered Kashmir or along the Line of Control," an Indian government source told the BBC. "We went deep - even into the Pakistani side of Punjab, which has always been Pakistan's red line."

But the Pakistani military had been prepared, a source from the Pakistan Air Force told the BBC. Days earlier, the Pakistani government said it was expecting an attack.

"We knew something was coming, and we were absolutely ready," one officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said Indian fighter jets approached Pakistani territory and the air force was under instructions to shoot down any that crossed into its airspace or dropped a payload.

Pakistan claims to have shot down five Indian jets that night, something India has remained silent on.

"We were well prepared, and honestly, we were also lucky," the source said - his account repeated by two other sources.

But Mr Sudhan, Vihaan's grandfather, said there had been no warning to stay indoors or evacuate. "Why didn't they inform us? We, the people, are caught in the middle."

It is likely that no evacuation orders had been issued because the Indian government needed to keep the military strikes confidential, though the local administration had, following the April militant attack, directed locals to clean out community bunkers as a precautionary measure.

A day after the initial missile strikes, Thursday, both sides launched drone attacks, though they each accused the other of making the first move.

India began to evacuate thousands of villagers along the Indian side of the LoC. Just after 21:00 that evening, the Khan family in India-administered Kashmir decided they must flee their home in Uri, 270km (168 miles) to the north of Poonch. Most of their neighbours had already left.

But after travelling for just 10 minutes, their vehicle was struck by shrapnel from a shell, fatally injuring 47-year-old Nargis. Her sister-in-law Hafeeza was seriously injured. They headed to the nearest hospital, only to find the gates locked.

"I somehow climbed the hospital wall and called out for help, telling them we had injured people with us. Only then did the staff come out and open the gate. As soon as they did, I collapsed. The doctors were terrified by the ongoing shelling and had closed everything out of fear," Hafeeza said.

Hafeeza's sister-in-law Nargis is survived by six children. The youngest daughter Sanam, 20, said the first hospital they went to was not equipped to help, and as they headed to another, her mother died of her injuries.

"A piece of shrapnel had torn through her face. My clothes were soaked in her blood… We kept talking to her, urging her to stay with us. But she passed away on the way."

Since a ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan in 2021 there had been relative peace in the region, locals told the BBC. For the first time in years, they had been able to live normal lives, they said, and now this sense of security was destroyed.

Sanam, who lost her mother, said: "I appeal to both governments - if you're heading into war, at least secure your civilians. Prepare... Those who sit in comfort and demand war - they should be sent to the borders. Let them witness what it really means. Let them lose someone before their eyes."

Sajjad Shafi, the representative for Uri in the regional government, said he had acted as promptly as possible.

"The moment I got the news that India has attacked, I got in touch with people and started moving them out."

After two days of attacks and counter attacks, the Indian government source said there was now a "clear sense in… power corridors that things were escalating but we were ready.

"We were ready because India had spent the last 10 years acquiring and building strategic military assets - missiles, warheads and defence systems."

On the international stage, there had been consternation that the tensions would not be de-escalated by the US, despite its diplomatic overtures during India and Pakistan's previous Kashmir clashes.

US Vice President JD Vance said a potential war would be "none of our business".

This statement came as no surprise, the Indian government source told the BBC. At that stage, "it was clear the US didn't want to get involved".

By the following day, Friday, shelling had become more intense.

Muhammed Shafi was at home with his wife in Shahkot village in the Neelum Valley, Pakistan-administered Kashmir, on the LoC.

The 30-year-old was standing in the doorway, just a few steps away from where his son was playing; his wife standing in their courtyard.

"I remember looking up and seeing a mortar shell coming from a distance. In the blink of an eye, it struck her. She didn't even have time to scream. One second she was there, and the next, she was gone. Her face... her head... there was nothing left. Just a cloud of smoke and dust. My ears went numb. Everything went silent. I didn't even realise I was screaming.

"That night, her body lay there, right in our home. The entire village was hiding in bunkers. The shelling continued all night, and I stayed beside her, weeping. I held her hand for as long as I could."

One of those in a bunker was his niece, 18-year-old Umaima. She and her family were holed up in the shelter for four days, on and off, in brutal conditions.

"There were six or seven of us packed into it," she said. "The other bunker was already full. There's no place to lie down in there - some people stood, others sat. There was no drinking water, no food," with people shouting, crying and reciting prayers in the pitch black.

Also in a bunker, in the Leepa Valley, Pakistan-Administered Kashmir - one of the most militarised and vulnerable valleys in the region - was Shams Ur Rehman and family. It is Shams's own bunker, but that night he shared it with 36 other people, he said.

Leepa is surrounded on three sides by the LoC and Indian-administered territory, so Shams was used to living with cross-border tensions. But he was not prepared for the complete destruction of his house.

He left the bunker at three in the morning to survey the scene.

"Everything was gone. Wooden beams and debris from the house were scattered everywhere. The blast was so powerful, the shockwave pushed in the main wall. The metal sheets on the roof were shredded. The entire structure shifted - by at least two inches.

"A house is a person's life's work. You're always trying to improve it - but in the end, it's all gone in seconds."

Four hours later, back in the Neelum Valley, Umaima and her family also emerged on Saturday 10 May to a transformed landscape.

"We came out of the bunker at seven in the morning. That's when we saw - nothing was left."

As Umaima surveyed the ruins of her village, India and Pakistan's forces that day were trading ever more destructive blows - firing missiles at each other's military installations, which both sides accused the other of instigating.

India had targeted three Pakistani air bases, including one in Rawalpindi - the garrison city that houses the Pakistan Army's General Headquarters.

"This was a red line crossed," said one Pakistani officer. "The prime minister gave the go-ahead to the army chief. We already had a plan, and our forces were desperately ready to execute it… For anyone in uniform, it was one of those unforgettable days."

Pakistan hit back at Indian military installations. On the diplomatic front, this was seen as a moment to highlight the issue of Kashmir on the international stage, an official in the Pakistan foreign office told the BBC.

"It was non-stop. Endless meetings, coordination, and back-to-back calls to and from other countries for both foreign minister and then the prime minister. We welcomed mediation offers from the US, the Saudis, the Iranians, or anyone who could help de-escalate."

On the Indian side, the Pahalgam attack on 22 April had already prompted External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to speak to at least 17 world leaders or diplomats, including UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. In most of these conversations, he has tweeted, the emphasis had been on the "cross-border terrorist attack" and focused on building a case to hold the perpetrators accountable for the attack.

Then, on Saturday afternoon local time, in the aftermath of the latest missile exchanges, came a diplomatic breakthrough out of nowhere. US President Donald Trump took to social media to reveal that a ceasefire had been agreed.

"After a long night of talks mediated by the United States, I am pleased to announce that India and Pakistan have agreed to a FULL AND IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE.

"Congratulations to both Countries on using Common Sense and Great Intelligence," he wrote on social media platform Truth Social.

India has since downplayed Washington's role in the ceasefire and it has rejected that trade was used as a lever to achieve this.

Behind the scenes, US mediators, diplomatic backchannels and regional players, including the US, the UK and Saudi Arabia, had proved critical in negotiating the climbdown, experts say.

"We hit Pakistani strategic bases deep inside their territory and that must have worried the US," the Indian government source believes.

In Pahalgam, the site of the militant gun attack that sparked the crisis, the search is still on for the perpetrators.

Vinay Narwal, a 26-year-old Indian Navy officer, was on his honeymoon in Pahalgam when he was killed. He had got married just a week before the attack.

A photo of Vinay's wife Himanshi, sitting near her husband's body following the attack, has been widely shared on social media.

His grandfather Hawa Singh Narwal wants "exemplary punishment" for the killers.

"This terrorism should end. Today, I lost my grandson. Tomorrow, someone else will lose their loved one," he said.

A witness to the attack's aftermath, Rayees Ahmad Bhat, who used to lead pony treks to the beauty spot where the shootings took place, said his industry was now in ruins.

"The attackers may have killed tourists that day, but we - the people of Pahalgam - are dying every day since. They've stained the name of this peaceful town… Pahalgam is terrorised, and its people broken."

The attack was a huge shock for a government which had begun to actively promote tourism in stunningly picturesque Kashmir, famed for its lush valleys, lakes and snow-capped mountains.

The source in the Indian administration said this might have lulled Delhi into a false sense of security.

"Perhaps we got carried away by the response to tourism in Kashmir. We thought we were over a hump but we were not."

The four-day conflict has once again shown how fragile peace can be between the two nations.

Additional reporting by Vikas Pandey in Delhi

How India and Pakistan share one of the world's most dangerous borders

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgmj7l0lne3o, 3 days ago

To live along the Line of Control (LoC) - the volatile de facto border that separates India and Pakistan - is to exist perpetually on the razor's edge between fragile peace and open conflict.

The recent escalation after the Pahalgam attack brought India and Pakistan to the brink once again. Shells rained down on both sides of the LoC, turning homes to rubble and lives into statistics. At least 16 people were reportedly killed on the Indian side, while Pakistan claims 40 civilian deaths, though it remains unclear how many were directly caused by the shelling.

"Families on the LoC are subjected to Indian and Pakistani whims and face the brunt of heated tensions," Anam Zakaria, a Pakistani writer based in Canada, told the BBC.

"Each time firing resumes many are thrust into bunkers, livestock and livelihood is lost, infrastructure - homes, hospitals, schools - is damaged. The vulnerability and volatility experienced has grave repercussions for their everyday lived reality," Ms Zakaria, author of a book on Pakistan-administered Kashmir, said.

India and Pakistan share a 3,323km (2,064-mile) border, including the 740km-long LoC; and the International Border (IB), spanning roughly 2,400km. The LoC began as the Ceasefire Line in 1949 after the first India-Pakistan war, and was renamed under the 1972 Simla Agreement.

The LoC cutting through Kashmir - claimed in full and administered in parts by both India and Pakistan - remains one of the most militarised borders in the world. Conflict is never far behind and ceasefires are only as durable as the next provocation.

Ceasefire violations here can range from "low-level firing to major land grabbing to surgical strikes", says Happymon Jacob, a foreign policy expert at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). (A land grab could involve seizing key positions such as hilltops, outposts, or buffer zones by force.)

The LoC, many experts say, is a classic example of a "border drawn in blood, forged through conflict". It is also a line, as Ms Zakaria says, "carved by India and Pakistan, and militarised and weaponised, without taking Kashmiris into account".

Such wartime borders aren't unique to South Asia. Sumantra Bose, professor of international and comparative politics at Krea University in India and author of Kashmir at the Crossroads: Inside a 21st-Century Conflict, says the most well-known is the 'Green Line' - the ceasefire line of 1949 - which is the generally recognised boundary between Israel and the West Bank.

Not surprisingly, the tentative calm along the LoC that had endured since the 2021 ceasefire agreement between the two nuclear-armed neighbours crumbled easily after the latest hostilities.

"The current escalation on the LoC and International Border (IB) is significant as it follows a four-year period of relative peace on the border," Surya Valliappan Krishna of Carnegie India told the BBC.

Violence along the India-Pakistan border is not new - prior to the 2003 ceasefire, India reported 4,134 violations in 2001 and 5,767 in 2002.

The 2003 ceasefire initially held, with negligible violations from 2004 to 2007, but tensions resurfaced in 2008 and escalated sharply by 2013.

Between 2013 and early 2021, the LoC and the IB witnessed sustained high levels of conflict. A renewed ceasefire in February 2021 led to an immediate and sustained drop in violations through to March 2025.

"During periods of intense cross-border firing we've seen border populations in the many thousands be displaced for months on end," says Mr Krishna. Between late September and early December 2016, more than 27,000 people were displaced from border areas due to ceasefire violations and cross-border firing.

It's looking increasingly hairy and uncertain now.

Tensions flared after the Pahalgam attack, with India suspending the key water-sharing treaty between India and Pakistan, known as the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). Pakistan responded by threatening to exit the 1972 Simla Agreement, which formalised the LoC - though it hasn't followed through yet.

"This is significant because the Simla Agreement is the basis of the current LoC, which both sides agreed to not alter unilaterally in spite of their political differences," says Mr Krishna.

Mr Jacob says for some "curious reason", ceasefire violations along the LoC have been absent from discussions and debates about escalation of conflict between the two countries.

"It is itself puzzling how the regular use of high-calibre weapons such as 105mm mortars, 130 and 155mm artillery guns and anti-tank guided missiles by two nuclear-capable countries, which has led to civilian and military casualties, has escaped scholarly scrutiny and policy attention," Mr Jacob writes in his book, Line On Fire: Ceasefire Violations and India-Pakistan Escalation Dynamics.

Mr Jacob identifies two main triggers for the violations: Pakistan often uses cover fire to facilitate militant infiltration into Indian-administered Kashmir, which has witnessed an armed insurgency against Indian rule for over three decades. Pakistan, in turn, accuses India of unprovoked firing on civilian areas.

He argues that ceasefire violations along the India-Pakistan border are less the product of high-level political strategy and more the result of local military dynamics.

The hostilities are often initiated by field commanders - sometimes with, but often without, central approval. He also challenges the notion that the Pakistan Army alone drives the violations, pointing instead to a complex mix of local military imperatives and autonomy granted to border forces on both sides.

Some experts believe It's time to revisit an idea shelved nearly two decades ago: turning the LoC into a formal, internationally recognised border. Others insist that possibility was never realistic - and still isn't.

"The idea is completely infeasible, a dead end. For decades, Indian maps have shown the entire territory of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir as part of India," Sumantra Bose told the BBC.

"For Pakistan, making the LoC part of the International Border would mean settling the Kashmir dispute - which is Pakistan's equivalent of the Holy Grail - on India's preferred terms. Every Pakistani government and leader, civilian or military, over the past seven decades has rejected this."

In his 2003 book, Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace, Prof Bose writes: "A Kashmir settlement necessitates that the LoC be transformed - from an iron curtain of barbed wire, bunkers, trenches and hostile militaries to a linen curtain. Realpolitik dictates that the border will be permanent (albeit probably under a different name), but it must be transcended without being abolished."

"I stressed, though, that such a transformation of the LoC must be embedded in a broader Kashmir settlement, as one pillar of a multi-pillared settlement," he told the BBC.

Between 2004 and 2007, turning the LoC into a soft border was central to a fledgling India-Pakistan peace process on Kashmir - a process that ultimately fell apart.

Today, the border has reignited, bringing back the cycle of violence and uncertainty for those who live in its shadow.

"You never know what will happen next. No one wants to sleep facing the Line of Control tonight," an employee of a hotel in Pakistan-administered Kashmir told BBC Urdu during the recent hostilities.

It was a quiet reminder of how fragile peace is when your window opens to a battlefield.

North Korea defectors in SK public sector at record high

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg9mez18p2o, 3 days ago

There are now more North Korean defectors working in the South's public sector than ever before, Seoul has said.

By the end of 2024, 211 North Korean defectors held jobs in the public sector, 17 more than the previous year, the Ministry of Unification said in a statement on Wednesday.

That number is the highest since 2010, when North Korean defectors "began to enter the public service in earnest", the ministry said.

Seoul has been widening its support for North Korean defectors who struggle with unemployment and social isolation as they adjust to their new lives in the South.

"There is a growing need to expand opportunities for North Korean defectors to enter public service so that they can directly participate in and contribute to the government's policymaking," the ministry said.

Authorities in Seoul have in recent years intensified social integration programmes. It has also offered financial support and tax incentives for companies who hire North Korean defectors.

At an event on Wednesday, Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho shared a meal with North Korean defectors in public service roles.

There are about 30,000 North Korean defectors residing in South Korea. But defections have waned since the pandemic, which saw countries shut their borders. Before 2020, more than 1,000 North Koreans fled to the South every year.

North Korean defectors are denounced by the regime, and rights groups say that those caught escaping to the South are punished with imprisonment and torture.

Last July, former North Korean diplomat Tae Yong-ho was named the new leader of South Korea's presidential advisory council on unification - the first defector to be given such a high rank in South Korea's government.

In 2020, Tae became the first defector to be elected to South Korea's National Assembly.

Pyongyang had called him "human scum" and accused him of crimes including embezzlement.

The defectors offer a rare look into the highly secretive regime under leader Kim Jong Un. They have told stories of human rights abuses under the regime, including widespread starvation, forced labour and state-enforced disappearances.

But many of them face serious challenges as they settle into their new lives: difficulties finding and holding down jobs, social stigma and mental health issues stemming from traumatic experiences in the North.

The poison paradox: How Australia's deadliest animals save lives

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0lnp3ny4wro, 2 days ago

With a pair of bright pink tweezers in hand, Emma Teni is delicately wrestling a large and leggy spider in a small plastic pot.

"He's posing," the spider-keeper jests as it rears up on its back legs. It is exactly what she's trying to achieve - that way she can suck the venom from its fangs using a small pipette.

Emma works from a tiny office known as the spider milking room. On a typical day, she milks - or extracts the venom from - 80 of these Sydney funnel-web spiders.

On three of the four walls there are floor-to-ceiling shelves stacked full of the arachnids, with a black curtain pulled across to keep them calm.

The remaining wall is actually a window. Through it, a small child stares, both fascinated and horrified, as Ms Teni works. Little do they know that the palm-sized spider she's handling could kill them in a matter of minutes.

"Sydney funnel-webs are arguably the most deadly spider in the world," Emma says matter-of-factly.

Australia is famously full of such deadly animals - and this room at the Australian Reptile Park plays a critical part in a government antivenom programme, which saves lives on a continent where it's often joked that everything wants to kill you.

'Spider girl'

While the quickest recorded death from a Sydney funnel-web spider was a toddler at 13 minutes, the average is closer to 76 minutes - and first aid gives you an even better chance of surviving.

So successful is the antivenom programme here at the Australian Reptile Park that nobody has been killed by one since it started in 1981.

The scheme relies, however, on members of the public either catching the spiders or collecting their egg sacs.

In a van plastered with a giant crocodile sticker, each week Ms Teni's team drives all over Australia's most famous city, picking up Sydney funnel-webs that have been handed in at drop-off points such as local veterinary practices.

There are two reasons why these spiders are so dangerous, she explains: not only is their venom extremely potent, but they also live exclusively in a densely populated region where they're more likely to encounter humans.

Handyman Charlie Simpson is one such person. He moved into his first home with his girlfriend a few months ago, and the keen gardener has already found two Sydney funnel-webs. He took the second spider to the vet, where Ms Teni picked it up shortly after.

"I had gloves on at the time, but realistically I should have had leather gloves on because their fangs are so big and strong," the 26-year-old says.

"I [just thought] I had better catch it because I kept getting told you're meant to take them back to be milked, because it's so critical."

"This is curing my fear of spiders," he jokes.

As Ms Teni offloads one arachnid that was delivered to her in a Vegemite jar, she stresses her team isn't telling Australians to go looking for the spiders and "throw themselves into danger".

Rather, they're asking that if someone comes across one, they safely capture it rather than kill it.

"Saying that this is the world's most deadly spider and then [asking the public to] catch it and bring it to us does sound counter-intuitive," she says.

"[But] that spider there now, thanks to Charlie, will… effectively save someone's life."

All of the spiders her team collects get brought back to the Australian Reptile Park where they are catalogued, sorted by sex and stored.

Any females that get dropped off are considered for a breeding programme, which helps supplement the number of spiders donated by the public.

Meanwhile, the males, which are six to seven times more toxic than the females, are used for the antivenom programme and milked every two weeks, Emma explains.

The pipette she uses to remove the venom from the fangs is attached to a suction hose - crucial for collecting as much venom as possible, since each spider provides only small amounts.

While a few drops is enough to kill, scientists need to milk 200 of these spiders to have enough to fill one vial of antivenom.

A marine biologist by training, Emma never expected to spend her days milking spiders. In fact, she started off working with seals.

But now she wouldn't have it any other way. Emma loves all things arachnid, and goes under various nicknames - spider girl, spider mama, even "weirdo", as her daughter calls her.

Friends, family and neighbours rely on her for her knowledge of Australia's creepy crawlies.

"Some girls arrive home to flowers on their doorstep," jokes Emma. "For me it's not unusual to arrive home to a spider in a jar."

The best place to be bitten?

Spiders represent just one small part of what the Australian Reptile Park does. It's also been providing snake venom to the government since the 1950s.

According to the World Health Organisation, as many as 140,000 people die across the world from snake bites every year, and three times that many are left disabled.

In Australia though, those numbers are far lower: between one and four people each year, thanks to its successful antivenom programme.

Removing a King Brown snake from its storage locker, Billy Collett, the park's operations manager, brings it to the table in front of him.

With his bare hands, he secures its head and puts its jaws over a shot glass covered in cling film.

"They are very uninclined to bite but once they go, you just see it pouring out of the fangs," Mr Collett says, as yellow venom drips to the bottom.

"That is enough to kill all of us in the room five times over - maybe more."

Then he switches to a more reassuring tone: "They're not looking for people to bite. We're too big for them to eat; they don't want to waste their venom on us. They just want to be left alone."

"To get bitten by a venomous snake, you've got to really annoy it, provoke it," he adds, noting that bites often occur when someone is trying to kill one of the reptiles.

There's a fridge in the corner of the room where the raw venom Mr Collett is collecting is stored. It's full of vials labelled "Death Adder", "Taipan", "Tiger Snake" and "Eastern Brown".

The last of these is the second-most venomous snake in the world, and the one that's most likely to bite you here, in Australia.

This venom gets freeze-dried and sent to CSL Seqirus, a lab in Melbourne, where it's turned into an antidote in a process that can take up to 18 months.

The first step is to produce what's known as hyper-immune plasma. In the case of snakes, controlled doses of the venom are injected into horses, because they are larger animals with a strong immune system.

The venom of Sydney funnel-web spiders goes into rabbits, which are immune to the toxins. The animals are injected with increasing doses to build up their antibodies. In some cases, that step alone can take almost a year.

The animal's supercharged plasma is removed from the blood, and then the antibodies are isolated from the plasma before they're bottled, ready to be administered.

CSL Seqirus makes 7,000 vials a year – including snake, spider, stonefish and box jellyfish antivenoms - and they are valid for 36 months. The challenge then is to ensure everyone who needs it has supplies.

"It's an enormous undertaking," says Dr Jules Bayliss, who leads the antivenom development team at CSL Seqirus.

"First and foremost we want to see them in major rural and remote areas that these creatures are likely to be in."

Vials are distributed depending on the species in each area. Taipans, for example, are in northern parts of Australia, so there's no need for their antivenom in Tasmania.

Antivenom is also given to the Royal Flying Doctors, who access some of the nation's most remote communities, as well as Australian navy and cargo ships for sailors at risk of sea snake bites.

Papua New Guinea also receives about 600 vials a year. The country was once connected to Australia by a land bridge, and shares many of the same snake species, so the Australian government gives the antivenom for free – snake diplomacy, if you like.

"To be honest, we probably have the most impact in Papua New Guinea, more so than Australia, because of the number of snake bites and deaths they have," says CSL Seqirus executive Chris Larkin. To date, they reckon they've saved 2,000 lives.

Back at the park, Mr Collett jokes about the nickname of "danger noodles" that is sometimes given to his serpentine colleagues – a classic Australian trait of making light of something that gives so many visitors nightmares.

Mr Collett, though, is clear: these animals should not put people off from visiting.

"Snakes aren't just cruising down the streets attacking Brits - it doesn't work like that," he jokes.

"If you're going to get bitten by a snake, Australia's the best place – we've got the best antivenom. It's free. The treatment is unreal."

Of opium, fire temples, and sarees: A peek into the world of India's dwindling Parsis

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgv445jqr1o, 2 days ago

Tucked away in a lane in the southern end of India's financial capital, Mumbai, is a museum dedicated to the followers of one of the world's oldest religions, Zoroastrianism.

The Framji Dadabhoy Alpaiwalla Museum documents the history and legacy of the ancient Parsi community - a small ethnic group that's fast dwindling and resides largely in India.

Now estimated at just 50,000 to 60,000, the Parsis are believed to be descendants of Persians who fled religious persecution by Islamic rulers centuries ago.

Despite their significant contributions to India's economic and cultural fabric, much about the Parsi community remains little known to the mainstream population and the wider world.

"The newly-renovated museum hopes to shake off some of this obscurity by inviting people to explore the history, culture and traditions of the Parsi community through the rare historical artefacts on display," says Kerman Fatakia, curator of the museum.

Some of these include cuneiform bricks, terracotta pots, coins and other objects sourced from places like Babylon, Mesopotamia, Susa and Iran and are dated to 4000-5000 BCE.

These are places where Zoroastrian Iranian kings once ruled, like the Achaemenian, Parthian and Sasanian dynasties.

There are also artefacts from Yazd, a city in central Iran which was once a barren desert and the place where many Zoroastrians settled after fleeing other regions of Iran after the Arab invasion in 7th Century BCE.

One of the notable artefacts on display is a replica of a clay cylinder of Cyrus the Great, a Persian king who was the founder of the Achaemenid empire.

Fatakia says the clay cylinder - also known as the "Edict of Cyrus" or the "Cyrus Cylinder" - is one of the most important discoveries of the ancient world. Inscribed in cuneiform script, it outlines the rights granted by Cyrus to his subjects in Babylon. Widely seen as the first human rights charter, a replica is also displayed at the United Nations.

Then there are maps that trace the migration routes of thousands of Iranian Zoroastrians who fled their home country fearing persecution and travelled to India in the 8th to10th centuries, and again in the 19th century.

The collection also features furniture, manuscripts, paintings, and portraits of prominent Parsis - among them Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, founder of the iconic Tata Group, which owns brands like Jaguar Land Rover and Tetley tea.

Another striking section showcases artefacts collected by Parsis who grew wealthy in the early 19th century trading tea, silk, cotton - and notably, opium - with China. The exhibits include traditional Parsi sarees influenced by designs from China, France, and other regions shaped by these global trade ties.

Two of the museum's most compelling exhibits are replicas of a Tower of Silence and a Parsi fire temple.

The Tower of Silence, or dakhma, is where Parsis leave their dead to be returned to nature - neither buried nor cremated. "The replica shows exactly what happens to the body once it's placed there," says Fatakia, noting that entry to actual towers is restricted to a select few.

The life-size replica of the fire temple is equally fascinating, offering a rare glimpse into a sacred space typically off-limits to non-Parsis. Modelled on a prominent Mumbai temple, it features sacred motifs inspired by ancient Persian architecture in Iran.

The Alpaiwala Museum, originally founded in 1952 in what was then Bombay, is one of the city's older institutions. Recently renovated, it now features modern displays with well-captioned exhibits in glass cases. Every visitor is offered a guided tour.

"It's a small museum but it is packed with history," Fatakia says.

"And it's a great place for not just the residents of Mumbai or India to learn more about the Parsi community but for people from all over the world."

WHO declares polio outbreak in Papua New Guinea

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg9men89yvo, 3 days ago

The World Health Organisation has declared a polio outbreak in Papua New Guinea and called for an "immediate" vaccination campaign.

Samples of the highly infectious virus were found in two healthy children during a routine screening in Lae, a coastal city in the country's north east.

Less than half of the country's population are immunised against the potentially deadly disease, which is close to being wiped out but has recently resurfaced in some parts of the world.

"We have to do something about it and we have to do it immediately," said Sevil Huseynova, WHO's representative in Papua New Guinea, warning that the disease could spread beyond the country.

"We have to make maximum effort to get 100% [vaccination] coverage," Dr Huseynova said at a media conference on Thursday.

"Polio knows no borders."

The disease is caused by the poliovirus, which spreads through contact with an infected person's faeces or droplets when they cough and sneeze.

It mostly affects children under five years old.

There is no cure for polio, although the majority of people with the infection - including the two recent cases in Papua New Guinea - have no symptoms. Those who do may get a flu-like illness.

A small number of people infected with polio - between one in a thousand and one in a hundred - develop more serious problems that can lead to paralysis. This is also when the disease becomes life-threatening, particularly when paralysis affects muscles used for breathing.

Papua New Guinea was said to be polio-free since 2000, until an outbreak in 2018, which was contained within the same year.

The latest cases were found to be carrying a virus strain genetically linked to one circulating in Indonesia. Papua New Guinea shares a border with Indonesia's easternmost Papua province.

Health Minister Elias Kapavore has vowed to achieve 100% polio immunisation in the country by the end of this year.

"There is no excuse... Polio is a serious disease," he said.

The ongoing campaign will target children aged 10 and below and is expected to reach around 3.5 million people.

"The battle on polio starts today," the department wrote in a Facebook post yesterday.

The WHO, UN's children agency Unicef and Australia's government are supporting Papua New Guinea in its rollout of vaccines.

Unicef's Papua New Guinea representative Veera Mendonca pointed out the disparity in vaccination coverage across the country - with coverage as low as 8% in some districts.

"That is not acceptable," she said, adding that Unicef is working with churches and community leaders to encourage vaccination and to dispel any misinformation.

Polio has staged a comeback elsewhere in Asia in recent years. Pakistan saw 74 cases of the disease last year, while Afghanistan recorded 24 cases.

The WHO has also warned of an outbreak in war-torn Gaza after traces of the virus were found in wastewater.

Aussie Rules great dies using voluntary assisted dying laws

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce81yvn3gnro, 4 days ago

Australian Football League (AFL) player and coach Robert Walls has died aged 74, after using voluntary assisted dying laws.

Walls - a Carlton Football Club legend - won three premierships with the team as a player and one as coach, and later became a media figure and pundit.

He was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer, in 2023.

His family told local media he died surrounded by his children, in his apartment which overlooked the home of AFL in Victoria, the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The state of Victoria introduced voluntary assisted dying laws in 2019, which allow a person in the late stages of advanced disease to end their life using medication, with the approval of two doctors.

In a statement, Walls' family said he died on Thursday morning, local time, "after 14 years as a league player, 16 years as a coach, 25 years as a commentator and a lifetime as a self-proclaimed 'fan'".

"Having battled cancer for more than two years, Robert did it his way and chose to end a fight that had seen him spend more than 250 nights in hospital during the past two years," the statement continued.

In a post on X, Carlton FC paid tribute to the sporting icon, describing him as "one of our game's great servants".

Walls played more than 200 matches for Carlton FC, winning premierships in 1968, 1970 and 1972.

His coaching career included a 1987 win for Carlton, as well as guiding the Brisbane Lions and Richmond Tigers. He retired in 1997 and became a well-known AFL commentator.

Walls wife Erin died of cancer in 2006. He is survived by his three children and partner Julie, according to local media.

Why India could not stop IMF bailout to Pakistan

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3v5r1erdpgo, 4 days ago

Last week the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a $1bn (£756m) bailout to Pakistan – a move that drew sharp disapproval from India as military hostilities between the nuclear-armed neighbours flared, before a US-led ceasefire was unexpectedly declared.

Despite India's protests, the IMF board approved the second instalment of a $7bn loan, saying Islamabad had demonstrated strong programme implementation leading to a continuing economic recovery in Pakistan.

It also said the fund would continue to support Pakistan's efforts in building economic resilience to "climate vulnerabilities and natural disasters", providing further access of around $1.4bn in funding in the future.

In a strongly worded statement India raised concerns over the decision, citing two reasons.

Delhi questioned the "efficacy" of such bailouts or the lack thereof, given Pakistan's "poor track record" in implementing reform measures. But more importantly it flagged the possibility of these funds being used for "state-sponsored cross-border terrorism" – a charge Islamabad has repeatedly denied - and said the IMF was exposing itself and its donors to "reputational risks" and making a "mockery of global values".

The IMF did not respond to the BBC's request for a comment on the Indian stance.

Even Pakistani experts argue that there's some merit to Delhi's first argument. Pakistan has been prone to persistently seeking the IMF's help – getting bailed out 24 times since 1958 – without undertaking meaningful reforms to improve public governance.

"Going to the IMF is like going to the ICU [intensive care unit]. If a patient goes 24 or 25 times to the ICU then there are structural challenges and concerns that need to be dealt with," Hussain Haqqani, former Pakistani ambassador to the US, told the BBC.

But addressing Delhi's other concerns – that the IMF was "rewarding continued sponsorship of cross-border terrorism" thereby sending a "dangerous message to the global community" – is far more complex, and perhaps explains why India wasn't able to exert pressure to stall the bailout.

India's decision to try to prevent the next tranche of the bailout to Islamabad was more about optics then, rather than a desire for any tangible outcome, say experts. As per the country's own observations, the fund had limited ability to do something about the loan, and was "circumscribed by procedural and technical formalities".

As one of the 25 members of the IMF board, India's influence at the fund is limited. It represents a four-country group including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bhutan. Pakistan is part of the Central Asia group, represented by Iran.

Unlike the United Nations' one-country-one-vote system, the voting rights of IMF board members are based on a country's economic size and its contributions – a system which has increasingly faced criticism for favouring richer Western countries over developing economies.

For example, the US has the biggest voting share - at 16.49% - while India holds just 2.6%. Besides, IMF rules do not allow for a vote against a proposal - board members can either vote in favour or abstain – and the decisions are made by consensus on the board.

"This shows how vested interests of powerful countries can influence decisions," an economist who didn't want to speak on the record told the BBC.

Addressing this imbalance was a key proposal in the reforms mooted for the IMF and other multilateral lenders during India's G20 presidency in 2023.

In their report, former Indian bureaucrat NK Singh and former US treasury secretary Lawrence Summers recommended breaking the link between IMF voting rights and financial contributions to ensure fairer representation for both the "Global North" and the "Global South". But there has been no progress so far on implementing these recommendations.

Furthermore, recent changes in the IMF's own rules about funding countries in conflict add more complexity to the issue. A $15.6bn loan by the fund to Ukraine in 2023 was the first of its kind by the IMF to a country at war.

"It bent its own rules to give an enormous lending package to Ukraine - which means it cannot use that excuse to shut down an already-arranged loan to Pakistan," Mihir Sharma of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) think tank in Delhi told the BBC.

If India really wants to address its grievances, the right forum to present them would be the United Nations FATF (Financial Action Task Force), says Mr Haqqani.

The FATF looks at issues of combating terror finance and decides whether countries need to be placed on grey or black lists that prevent them from accessing funds from bodies like the IMF or the World Bank.

"Grandstanding at the IMF cannot and did not work," said Mr Haqqani. "If a country is on that [FATF] list it will then face challenges in getting a loan from the IMF – as has happened with Pakistan earlier."

As things stand though, Pakistan was officially removed from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list in 2022.

Separately, experts also caution that India's calls to overhaul the IMF's funding processes and veto powers could be a double-edged sword.

Such reforms "would inevitably give Beijing [rather than Delhi] more power", said Mr Sharma.

Mr Haqqani agrees. India should be wary of using "bilateral disputes at multilateral fora", he said, adding that India has historically been at the receiving end of being vetoed out by China in such places.

He points to instances of Beijing blocking ADB (Asian Development Bank) loans sought by India for the north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, citing border disputes between the two countries in the region.

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China has come to the table - but this fight is far from over

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1j5r9ngd3ko, 6 days ago

'We want to trade'

"The consensus from both delegations this weekend is neither side wants a decoupling," said US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during a press conference in Geneva.

"And what had occurred with these very high tariffs... was the equivalent of an embargo, and neither side wants that. We do want trade."

Economists admit that this agreement is better than expected.

"I thought tariffs would be cut to somewhere around 50%," Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management in Hong Kong, told Reuters news agency.

But in fact, US tariffs on Chinese imports will now fall to 30%, while Chinese tariffs on US goods will drop to 10%.

"Obviously, this is very positive news for economies in both countries and for the global economy, and makes investors much less concerned about the damage to global supply chains in the short term," he added.

Trump hailed the progress on Sunday on his Truth Social site: "Many things discussed, much agreed to. A total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner."

Beijing has also softened its tone considerably– and perhaps for good reason.

China can take the pain of an economic war with America – to an extent. It is the lead trade partner for more than 100 other countries.

But officials have become increasingly concerned about the impact the tariffs could have on an economy that is already struggling to deal with a property crisis, stubbornly high youth unemployment and low consumer confidence.

Factory output has slowed and there are reports that some companies are having to lay off workers as production lines of US-bound goods grind to a halt, bringing trade to a standstill.

Data on Saturday showed China's consumer price index dropped 0.1 percent in April, the third month in a row of decline as consumers hold back from spending and businesses drop prices to compete for customers.

The heartbeat of a billion: What Virat Kohli meant to India

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp857gryxn1o, 5 days ago

Virat Kohli's retirement from Tests has left Indian cricket beleaguered and the sporting world gasping in surprise.

Coming on the heels of captain Rohit Sharma quitting a few days earlier, it adds up to a double whammy for India who embark on a tough tour of England for a five-Test series come June without their two most experienced batters.

Like Sharma, Kohli took to Instagram, where he commands more than 270 million followers, to make his retirement public.

"As I step away from this format, it's not easy – but it feels right…'' he explained to his disconsolate fans.

Tributes for Kohli have come in a deluge since: from fellow cricketers, past and present, old and young, and also legends from other disciplines like tennis ace Novak Djokovic and football star Harry Kane, which highlights the sweep and heft of Kohli's global appeal.

Leading India to victory in the Under-19 World Cup in 2008, Kohli was fast tracked into international cricket by the then-chairman of selectors, former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar, against the judgement of others in the cricket establishment.

"Many in the Indian cricket board felt he was too young but he was scoring heavily in domestic cricket, and the hunger to succeed was palpable in him," recalls Vengsarkar.

An example of Kohli's obsessive passion for the sport comes imbued with poignancy. Kohli was playing his second Ranji Trophy match for Delhi. His father passed away suddenly with his team in a crisis. After the funeral, he went back and scored a battling 90.

Vengsarkar's approving eye earned Kohli an ODI debut in 2009. At 23, he was the youngest member of India's 2011 ODI World Cup winning team under MS Dhoni. A few weeks later, he made his Test debut in the West Indies. Some months on, during the disastrous tour of Australia with his place under threat, Kohli made a gritty maiden century and never looked back. Within a couple of years he established himself as the pre-eminent batter of his generation.

Brash and provocative, without a benign muscle in his body, he was as volatile as potassium on water in his early years. He was unafraid to take on the most reputed opponents, often indulging in on-field fracases that sometimes earned him criticism.

Happily, this was not to become his defining identity in cricket. Prolific run-getting in dashing style across formats provided another more compelling dimension and was to take him to the pinnacle.

When his idol Sachin Tendulkar retired in 2013, Kohli, allying unbridled ambition with his abundant skills, grabbed the baton hungrily and went on to sketch one of the most stellar careers in cricket history.

He wielded the bat like a Jedi, with great skill and telling thrust to slay opponents, as it were. Coupled with his high-octane persona, his scintillating batting made him a cult hero whose very presence ensured blockbuster box-office returns everywhere he played.

Kohli always wore his passion on his sleeve. He was always demonstrative and dramatic on the field but over a period of time, misplaced angst was sublimated into a raging inner pursuit of excellence that took him to dizzying heights.

Marriage to film star Anushka Sharma made them the country's foremost power couple, putting both under the glare of even more intense spotlight.

Metaphorically, Kohli's outstanding exploits, especially in the first decade of his career, epitomised the emerging India of the 21st century: unabashedly, unrelentingly ambitious, discarding all past demons, willing to take on the best in the world.

His achievements across formats are monumental.

In ODIs, he is third in run aggregate behind Tendulkar and Kumar Sangakarra, but boasts the best average (57.88) among batters who have played more than 100 games. His ability to win ODI matches in the most daunting run chases is the stuff of folklore, many of his record 51 centuries coming in such pursuit.

In T20s, his run aggregate and centuries don't put him in the top five, but he's immortalised himself with incredible knocks, notably 82 not out in an emotion-charged, pulsating match against arch-rivals Pakistan in the 2022 World Cup and a vital 76 in the 2024 final against South Africa, which helped India win the title.

He is also the highest run scorer in the history of the Indian Premier League.

At one point, Kohli averaged 50-plus in all three formats, making him the most productive and versatile batter of his era - way ahead of contemporaries Joe Root, Kane Williamson and Steve Smith. The four were locked in a fascinating, long-running race for batting supremacy.

When it appeared he would break all batting records, Kohli's career took an inexplicable downturn. From the start of the pandemic, the flow of runs began to ebb and centuries became a trickle. In his pomp – between 2014 and 2019 – he had been unstoppable, at one time scoring six double centuries in just 18 months.

The drought of runs hit him most adversely in Test cricket where his average, from a high of 55-plus in 2019 slumped to the current 46.75. In this period, Kohli also lost the captaincy, though his stellar standing in international cricket remained untouched.

Kohli finishes his Test career with 9,230 runs, which puts him 19th overall in aggregate, and fourth among Indians behind Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sunil Gavaskar, all of whom finished with a 50-plus average and more centuries. But to judge him only on this yardstick would diminish the massive impact he has had on this format .

As captain, Kohli easily hurdles over Gavaskar, Tendulkar and Dravid. In Test cricket, winning 40 of the 68 matches he led in, making him the fourth most successful in the format. In the Indian context, this assumes Himalayan proportions.

Former Australia captain Greg Chappell says that Kohli's energy, grit, sense of purpose and aura was "transformative" for Indian cricket. Chappell marks him out as the most influential Indian captain, ahead of even Sourav Ganguly and M S Dhoni.

Former India captain and chief coach Ravi Shastri, who collaborated with Kohli for years, gives first-hand perspective.

"Kohli made India into a fighting unit, especially when playing overseas," says Shastri.

The lack of ICC and IPL titles according to Shastri, is misleading as an index to his captaincy ability.

"He always played to win, sought and nurtured fast bowlers to win overseas, demanded high intent and supreme fitness from all players, putting himself in the forefront, not as a backseat driver."

For seven years when Kohli and Shastri collaborated, India were in the top three in ICC rankings in all formats almost continuously which is unprecedented.

The most cherished and significant triumph of this period came in 2018 when India beat Australia in its own backyard in a Test series for the first time ever.

Australia is where Kohli had launched himself into batting greatness, scoring 692 runs in four Tests in 2014-15. In 2018, he contributed as captain and batter to break an hitherto unassailable psychological barrier. In 2020 touring Australia, Kohli played only one match (which was lost) returning home for the birth of his child. But India, having overcome the mental barrier two years earlier, went on to win the rubber in a melodramatic see-saw series.

Australia was Kohli's happy hunting ground and his last visit Down Under in late 2024 grabbed worldwide attention. He began with a roar, hitting a century in the first test at Perth. But his form fizzled out alarmingly and made only 190 runs in the five Tests.

How much this contributed to his decision to retire is moot. Advancing years, the dislike of being constantly under harsh scrutiny, wanting to be close to his young family and behind the scene shenanigans that abound in Indian cricket have doubtless played a part too.

Kohli ends his retirement post on Instagram enigmatically.

"I'll always look back at my Test career with a smile. #269 signing off," he wrote.

The greatest ambassador for the five-day format in the last decade and a half had moved into the sunset.

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Ancient Indian skeleton gets a museum home six years after excavation

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20nk27lng3o, 3 days ago

A 1,000 year-old human skeleton which was buried sitting cross-legged in India has been moved to a museum six years after it was excavated.

The BBC had reported earlier this month that the skeleton had been left inside an unprotected tarpaulin shelter close to the excavation site in western Gujarat state since 2019 because of bureaucratic wrangling.

On Thursday, the skeleton was shifted to a local museum, just a few miles away from where it was unearthed.

Authorities say that it will be placed on display for the public after administrative procedures are completed.

Mahendra Surela, curator of the Archaeological Experiential Museum in Vadnagar where the skeleton has now been shifted, told the BBC that the skeleton was transported with "utmost care" and under the supervision of several experts.

He added that officials of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) - the agency responsible for preservation of archaeological research - will examine the skeleton before taking a decision on where and how the skeleton should be displayed in the museum.

It is currently placed next to the reception and is fenced in by a protective barrier.

"It is likely that we may shift it to the second floor, where a photograph of the skeleton is already placed," Mr Surela said.

Archaeologist Abhijit Ambekar, who discovered the skeleton, said that he was happy that the significant find was getting the attention it deserved.

Ambekar had earlier told the BBC that the skeleton was a rare discovery as similar remains had been found at only three other sites in India.

But as officials argued over who should take charge of the skeleton, it remained in a make-shift tent close to the excavation site, unprotected by security guards and exposed to natural elements.

Experts say that the skeleton likely belongs to the Solanki period. The Solanki dynasty, also known as the Chaulukya dynasty, ruled over parts of modern-day Gujarat between 940 to 1300 CE.

The skeleton had managed to survive the passage of time because the soil around it had remained undisturbed and displayed characteristics that aided preservation.

Mr Ambekar said that the remains could shed light on the phenomenon of "samadhi burials" - an ancient burial practice among Hindus where revered figures were buried rather than cremated.

Indians urge Turkey boycott amid regional tensions

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62v774d6l0o, 3 days ago

What began as public calls to boycott travel to Turkey has now escalated into a broader rupture, with India severing links with Turkish businesses and universities.

The diplomatic chill stems from Turkey's recent vocal support for Pakistan during the recent India-Pakistan hostilities.

On Thursday India barred Turkish firm Celebi from operating at its airports, citing national security concerns - an allegation the company denies.

Several Indian universities - including Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia, and Maulana Azad National Urdu University- have also suspended academic ties with Turkish institutions.

Celebi, which handled ground services at major airports like Delhi and Mumbai, has been formally dropped, in line with the federal aviation ministry orders.

India's minister of state for aviation has said in a post on X that in recent days the government had received requests from across the country to ban the company.

"Recognising the seriousness of the issue and the call to protect national interests, we have taken cognisance of these requests. The Ministry of Civil Aviation has revoked the security clearance of the said company," the minister stated.

According to a Bloomberg report, Celebi has said it will pursue all "administrative and legal" remedies to "clarify" the allegations and seek a reversal of the order. The company also called the revocation of its security clearance "unjust".

"Our company and subsidiaries bear no responsibility for any potential disruptions, delays or negative impacts on airport operations and civil aviation traffic in India," Bloomberg quoted the company as saying.

Deadly fighting broke out between India and Pakistan last week after Delhi launched airstrikes on its neighbour, saying it was in response to the deadly Pahalgam attack in Indian-administered Kashmir. Pakistan has denied any involvement in the incident.

Turkey and Azerbaijan were quick to back Pakistan after India's military action - Ankara warned of "all-out war", while Baku condemned Delhi's strikes.

The fallout sparked a wave of backlash, with boycott calls against Turkey - and Azerbaijan - gaining traction on social media and being echoed by senior political leaders. The boycott gained momentum after reports emerged of Turkish drones being used by Pakistan against India.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, a former federal minister and a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said: "Every hardworking Indian who travels abroad as a tourist understands today that their hard-earned rupee should not be spent on those who help the enemies of our country."

The social media boycott calls had an immediate impact, with Indian travel sites reporting a sharp spike in cancellations this week.

"Indian travellers have expressed strong sentiments over the past week, with bookings for Azerbaijan and Turkey decreasing by 60%, while cancellations have surged by 250%," said a spokesperson for travel website MakeMyTrip.

Most travel sites still allow bookings, but some are discouraging travel, with promotions and flight discounts to Turkey and Azerbaijan quietly pulled.

Rohit Khattar, who runs a travel agency in Delhi, said he's already seeing clear hesitation among clients about visiting Turkey.

"Many young travellers may avoid it, fearing backlash on social media or social retribution," he said, adding that his firm won't risk investing in trips that might not take off.

According to official data, 330,100 Indians visited Turkey in 2024, up from 274,000 in 2023. Azerbaijan also saw a rise, with nearly 244,000 Indian arrivals last year.

Despite rising numbers, Indians made up for less than 1% of Turkey's foreign visitors in 2024 - a modest share with limited impact on overall tourism revenue. In contrast, they accounted for nearly 9% of foreign arrivals in Azerbaijan.

After the pandemic, Turkey and Azerbaijan grew popular among Indian travellers for their affordability, proximity, and Europe-like experiences at lower costs. Budget airlines have boosted access with direct flights in recent years.

Some social media users are promoting alternatives like Greece, but travel sites report no major spike in interest.

Travel website Cleartrip told the BBC, "As this is a developing situation, we haven't seen significant highs or lows in demand for these alternate destinations".

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Juror removed from mushroom lunch murder trial

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4qzx1dln2o, 4 days ago

A juror in the trial of an Australian woman accused of killing three relatives by feeding them poisonous mushrooms has been removed for possible misconduct.

Erin Patterson - who has pleaded not guilty - is on trial for the murder of three people and the attempted murder of another, after they ate lunch at her home in July 2023.

The male juror was discharged on Thursday after the judge found there was a "reasonable possibility" he had discussed the case with family and friends.

The judge told the court there was no definitive evidence that the man had discussed the trial with outsiders, but reminded the remaining jurors they should only talk about the case "in the privacy of the jury room".

Justice Christopher Beale also told the jury that confidential juror discussions were "vital to the administration of justice".

Fifteen jurors - three more than usual - were selected for the trial, which began a fortnight ago in Victoria and was expected to last six weeks.

After the court has heard all the evidence, the jury will be reduced to a final 12 people who will deliberate over the verdict.

Prosecutors allege Ms Patterson "deliberately poisoned" her guests "with murderous intent", after inviting them for lunch "on the pretence she'd been diagnosed with cancer".

Ms Patterson's defence team says it was a "terrible accident", and that she lied to police and disposed of evidence because she "panicked" after unintentionally serving poison to family members she loved.

'Unbearable suffering': Australian writer pens letter from Chinese jail

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gk3xed0dmo, 4 days ago

An Australian novelist jailed in China has in a letter to his supporters and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese detailed his "unbearable suffering" as he enters his seventh year in detention.

Chinese-born Yang Hengjun was last year handed a suspended death sentence by a Beijing court on espionage charges, something he denies.

In his letter, he thanked Albanese, saying he and the Australian government were doing their "utmost to bring me home for medical care and reunification with my family".

Foreign minister Penny Wong said in a statement that she and Albanese were "deeply moved" by Dr Yang's letter and wanted to "see him home in Australia, reunited with his family".

Dr Yang, who previously worked for China's Ministry of State Security, blogged about Chinese state affairs, but his writings often avoided direct criticisms of the government.

He was living in New York but travelled to Guangzhou in January 2019 with his wife and her child - both Chinese citizens - on a visa run when he was intercepted at the airport.

His case has mostly unfolded behind closed doors since then and in 2024, he was handed the suspended death sentence, which is typically converted to life imprisonment after two years.

At the time, Albanese described the sentence as an "outrage".

But China maintains that Yang's case was "rigorously handled" in accordance with the law. It also warned Australian officials not to interfere in the case.

Dr Yang had denied the charges but did not appeal the ruling out of concerns that it would delay medical care, his family said. There have been worries about his declining health, after a large cyst was found on one of his kidneys.

In his latest letter, Dr Yang thanked the country's leaders as well as the Australian Embassy in China for their support during the "hardest and darkest chapter" of his life.

"All of this solicitude and solace has helped me to bear what has been untold and unbearable suffering," he wrote.

He said that he still loved both China and Australia - the former the "motherland in which [he] was born, brought up in, and made strong", and the latter his "beloved children's motherland".

"I have a dream. That there is no war, no bullying, no incivility. People of different colours, cultures, and nationalities love each other like sisters and brothers."

Wong described Yang's letter as "a message of profound courage, resilience and hope despite extraordinarily difficult circumstances".

Several people in both countries have been arrested and charged with espionage and foreign interference as ties between both countries have been shaky in recent years.

In 2023, Chinese-Australian businessman Sunny Duong was found guilty of trying to influence a former minister with donations.

The same year, Australian journalist Cheng Lei was released after more than three years of detention in China on accusations of "illegally supplying state secrets overseas".

Top Australian soldier loses appeal over war crimes defamation case

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04en9wllpxo, 3 days ago

Australia's most-decorated living soldier Ben Roberts-Smith, has lost an appeal against a landmark defamation judgement which found he committed war crimes.

A judge in 2023 ruled that news articles alleging the Victoria Cross recipient had murdered four unarmed Afghans were true, but Mr Roberts-Smith had argued the judge made legal errors.

The civil trial was the first time in history any court has assessed claims of war crimes by Australian forces.

A panel of three Federal Court judges on Friday unanimously upheld the original judgement, though Mr Roberts-Smith has said he will appeal the decision to the High Court of Australia "immediately".

"I continue to maintain my innocence and deny these egregious spiteful allegations," he said in a statement.

Mr Roberts-Smith, who left the defence force in 2013, has not been charged over any of the claims in a criminal court, where there is a higher burden of proof.

The former special forces corporal sued three Australian newspapers over a series of articles alleging serious misconduct while he was deployed in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012 as part of a US-led military coalition.

At the time the articles were published in 2018, Mr Roberts-Smith was considered a national hero, having been awarded Australia's highest military honour for single-handedly overpowering Taliban fighters attacking his Special Air Service (SAS) platoon.

The 46-year-old argued the alleged killings occurred legally during combat or did not happen at all, claiming the papers ruined his life with their reports.

His defamation case - which some have dubbed "the trial of the century" in Australia - lasted over 120 days and is now rumoured to have cost up to A$35m ($22.5m; £16.9m).

In June 2023 Federal Court Justice Antony Besanko threw out the case against The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Canberra Times, ruling it was "substantially true" that Mr Roberts-Smith had murdered unarmed Afghan prisoners and civilians and bullied fellow soldiers.

He also found that Mr Roberts-Smith lied to cover up his misconduct and threatened witnesses.

Additional allegations that he had punched his lover, threatened a peer, and committed two other murders were not proven to the "balance of probabilities" standard required in civil cases.

The "heart" of the appeal case was that Justice Besanko didn't given enough weight to Mr Roberts-Smith's presumption of innocence, his barrister Bret Walker, SC said.

There is a legal principle requiring judges to proceed carefully when dealing with civil cases that involve serious allegations and in making findings which carry grave consequences.

Mr Walker argued that meant the evidence presented by the newspapers fell short of the standard required.

Months after the appeal case had closed, Mr Roberts-Smith's legal team earlier this year sought to reopen it, alleging misconduct by one of the reporters at the centre of the case.

They argued there was a miscarriage of justice because Nick McKenzie, one of the journalists who wrote the articles at the centre of the case, allegedly unlawfully obtained details about Mr Roberts-Smith's legal strategy.

The legal team pointed to a leaked phone call between Mr McKenzie and a witness - which The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Canberra Times said may have been recorded illegally.

But on Friday, the trio of judges rejected that argument too.

They said "the evidence was sufficiently cogent to support the findings that the appellant murdered four Afghan men".

"To the extent that we have discerned error in the reasons of the primary judge, the errors were inconsequential," they added.

They also ordered Mr Roberts-Smith to pay the newspapers' legal costs.

In a statement, Mr McKenzie called the ruling an "emphatic win".

He thanked the SAS soldiers who "fought for the Australian public to learn the truth", and paid tribute to the Afghan "victims of [Mr] Roberts-Smith".

"It should not be left to journalists and brave soldiers to stand up to a war criminal," he said. "Australian authorities must hold Ben Roberts-Smith accountable before our criminal justice system."

How Peter Dutton's heartland lost him Australia's election

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgxg6x2vv4o, 11 days ago

For the past three years, when peers of Australia's former Liberal Party leader Peter Dutton were grilled over his divisive persona, they'd often profess his celebrity status in the north.

"Peter is one of us… He's very popular in Queensland," said the leader of the Nationals, the Liberal's coalition partner, earlier this year.

But on election night, it was Dutton's home state that delivered Labor its election win, with the red landslide ousting the veteran MP from his own seat of Dickson.

While votes are still being counted, Labor could pick up as many electorates in Queensland as it did across every other state and territory combined.

And that's thanks, in no small part, to a new bloc of young voters and women who are disillusioned with the Coalition, and attribute the party's emphatic loss to the "Dutton effect".

As 65-year-old coalition voter Sue, who didn't share her last name, bluntly puts it: "This is where [Dutton's] from… People know him and they don't like him."

Losing the heartland

The Moreton Bay region, about an hour north of Brisbane, is supposed to be Dutton heartland. Before Australia's federal election on 3 May, all three seats here were Liberal-held - though only by small leads, with Dutton's electorate of Dickson having the narrowest in the state.

Dutton's family have deep roots here, with his dairy farming great-grandparents having settled in the area in the 1860s.

When he first entered parliament 24 years ago, the region was made up of urban pockets and industrial estates surrounded by swathes of semi-rural land. Not quite metropolitan or rural, is how the former police officer described it in his maiden speech as MP.

Now Brisbane is one of the fastest growing cities in Australia, and these outer northern suburbs are one of the main places it is squeezing people in. Residential development has exploded, and more families, priced out of locations closer to the city, have moved in to Moreton Bay.

Full of the "quiet Australians" Dutton said would deliver him the election, outer-suburban neighbourhoods like these were at the heart of the Coalition's strategy.

The average household in Moreton Bay earns less than both the state and national average, with many of them relying on the health, trade and hospitality sectors for work. The Coalition hoped promises to cut fuel expenses, improve housing affordability and back small businesses would woo voters concerned about the cost of living.

Many Moreton Bay residents, like campaign volunteer Kenneth King, also felt Dutton's links to the area would give them a boost.

"I've known Peter Dutton for a lot of years," the Dickson local told the BBC on polling day. "He's always been someone of high character, serious about effective policies and a lot of empathy for ordinary Australians."

"He's very well respected in the community… People know him."

But there's a difference between being well known and well liked, says Aleysha, a swing voter in the neighbouring electorate of Petrie, who declined to give her surname.

"I don't know whether he appeals to the everyday person," the 26-year-old nurse says. "He doesn't put himself in the people's shoes."

Her vote over the years has gone to a range of parties from right across the political spectrum – except the Greens, she adds with a quick laugh.

"I don't sit with any party. Being a Christian, it's whatever party aligns closest to my values," she says, adding that the future of her two young children is the other major consideration.

This election, that meant her vote went to Coalition incumbent Luke Howarth, who she knows personally from her church.

But while she's praying for a miracle, with the final votes still being counted, she's not surprised to find Howarth may be on his way out.

She says Labor ran very visible campaigns in the area, but tells the BBC that it was driving past the image of Howarth and his leader on billboards which stuck in her mind.

"Unfortunately I think that's what did it," she says.

"Peter Dutton's face behind him was a huge turnoff - for me personally too."

Sue, who lives in the same electorate and is generally a conservative voter, says this election she was torn at the ballot box.

"I had a huge hesitation over it," she says. "I don't like Albanese; I think he's like, weak.

"[But] Dutton's an unattractive personality... He thinks he's presenting himself as strong, but he presents himself as a bit of a bully."

"Way back when, he seemed like a really good local member, but as he climbed the ladder, I don't know, something changed."

Ultimately Sue also voted for Howarth - and she's similarly convinced Dutton lost him the seat.

"I spoke to a few friends… some did change their votes because of Peter Dutton," she says. "People, rightly or wrongly, aligned Dutton with Trump. And that's very negative for just about any sane person."

Many of the constituents the BBC spoke to stressed they did not want American style politics here.

Drew Cutler grew up in the seat of Longman, which shares borders with both Dickson and Petrie - and though he no longer lives in the area, the 28-year-old was so invested in the outcome he came back to campaign for Labor.

Won by Coalition MP Terry Young on a margin of 3% last election, it is now too close to call.

Mr Cutler, a former Labor party staffer, believes Labor ran very strong local campaigns. But he also thinks Dutton's policy flip-flopping and the aura of instability that projected was potent.

That included announcing, and then walking back, public service job cuts and plans to end work-from-home arrangements, as well as a fluctuating stance on electric vehicle taxes.

Such optics were especially damaging, Mr Cutler argues, when contrasted with the image of strong, decisive leadership Dutton tries to convey.

"I almost think the Australian people would have respected him more if he stuck to it… and said, 'This is what I'm putting forward - if you don't like it, don't vote for it'," Mr Cutler tells the BBC.

Back in Dickson, Rick - a retiree and fresh Liberal Party member - said on election night that he also felt confusion played a role in the party's defeat, particularly among young people.

"I think people couldn't understand Dutton's policies," he said.

But 30-year-old April, who didn't provide her last name, says it is Dutton who didn't understand.

She can't remember a time when he wasn't in power in Dickson, and feels that over time he has lost touch with his own constituents and the country more broadly.

For her, the last straw was his instrumental role in the defeat of the Voice to Parliament referendum, which sought to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the constitution and simultaneously establish a parliamentary advisory body for them.

"I think he has caused a lot of harm to a lot of minority groups across the scale," she says.

For others in the electorate though, the last straw was watching Dutton fly to a fundraiser in Sydney as the area in and around Dickson was hit by Cyclone Alfred in February.

April didn't feel like Labor Party's offering was strong either, especially on climate action, so she decided to campaign for Ellie Smith, the so-called 'teal' independent running in the seat.

Disappointment - borderline embarrassment - that Dutton was from her local area had crystallised into determination: "I felt like it was a duty in a way… our responsibility to get him out."

Ultimately, the Coalition lost at least six seats to Labor in Queensland – all bar one in Brisbane. And while they are a few votes ahead in Longman as the count continues, they could still lose that too.

Wildcard Queensland

Queensland has long been a bit of a political wildcard, and often finds itself in the "spotlight" at federal elections, says Frank Mols.

The University of Queensland politics lecturer points out the state helped deliver Kevin Rudd's historic election win in 2007 and Scott Morrison's "miracle" victory in 2019. Last election, as a record number of people across the nation voted for candidates outside the two major parties, Queensland surprised the nation by giving the Greens three seats - up from none.

There are a couple of factors that make the state more "volatile" and likely to deliver upsets, Dr Mols says.

Firstly, it is the only state or territory, except for the island of Tasmania, where more than half of the population live outside the capital city of Brisbane.

"We talk about Queensland always being two elections, one in the south-east corner, and then the rest - and they often get very different patterns."

There's also more political fragmentation in the state, Dr Mols says, which combined with Australia's preferential voting system can make political equations here tighter, and trends harder to predict.

But he – like many of the voters the BBC spoke to – largely puts last weekend's surprise for the Coalition down to Dutton and his broadly-criticised campaign performance.

While there's a tendency to attribute success or failure to policy issues, more often its really about voters' emotional response to candidates and leaders, Dr Mols says.

"If you do the barbecue test, is Dutton a person you would walk up to? Is he somebody you would warm to or gravitate towards?

"You can wonder: was Peter Dutton, in hindsight, the Labor Party's best asset?"

But Dutton may have had the opposite effect for the Greens Party, which has lost at least two of the three seats it gained in Brisbane in 2022. Their party leader, Adam Bandt, also appears to have been defeated in Melbourne, an electorate he'd held for 15 years.

"Perhaps in desperation, [Dutton] was gravitating towards culture war issues, sort of echoing Trumpian themes, if you like, and that has been punished," Dr Mols says. "But also the Greens… who were perhaps seen as being at the other end of that shouting match, have not done well."

Dr Mols also believes that desperation to keep Dutton out may have seen some former Greens voters prioritise Labor this time - though he points out more centrist Teal independents appear to have bucked that trend.

In any case, he doesn't see the result in Queensland as a groundswell of love for Labor. The state was still the only jurisdiction in Australia where there were more first preference votes for the Coalition than Labor.

"There has to be enough of a swing towards a party, but it's often that preferencing that actually tilts it over the line," he says.

"This is more of a Liberal loss."

For many Coalition voters, that loss is deeply felt. Rick describes it as a "real rout".

But among others, like Aleysha, there is an inexplicable element of mirth.

"I think it's quite funny, that he slipped as much as he did," she says. "And I can't tell you why."

Additional reporting by Kelly Ng.

Champion cyclist sentenced over Olympian wife's car death

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2jv71nd43o, 5 days ago

Former world champion cyclist Rohan Dennis has been given a two-year suspended sentence over a car incident in Australia which killed his wife, fellow Olympian Melissa Hoskins.

Dennis pleaded guilty to one aggravated count of creating the likelihood of harm, after Hoskins was struck by the car he was driving during a fight outside the couple's Adelaide home in 2023.

A judge said Dennis had disregarded his wife's safety, but was not criminally responsible for her death.

Hoskins' parents spoke outside the court after sentencing, saying they were "glad" the case was over and they hoped the family could "move on".

The court had previously heard that Dennis and Hoskins were arguing about kitchen renovations shortly before the incident occurred, and Hoskins had held on to the car her husband was driving as he tried to leave.

While sentencing Dennis, Judge Ian Press said calling the incident tragic "really does not do justice to the grief, the anguish and the turmoil those events have brought into the lives of those who knew and loved your wife".

He said he understood that Dennis had tried to "de-escalate the argument" by driving off, but said it did not excuse his actions.

"It was your obligation to stop the vehicle when driving that vehicle became dangerous to her physical wellbeing," he said, according to a report by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

"That you did not stop because you wanted to leave, is a very poor reason for not doing so."

Hoskins was taken to hospital after being struck but later died of her injuries.

Dennis was initially charged with dangerous driving causing death and driving without due care and pleaded not guilty, but he later admitted to a single, lesser charge.

Dennis' lawyer had argued that he had no intention of harming his wife and either did not know or was "reckless to the fact" that Hoskins was holding onto the car.

She told an earlier hearing that despite his "stoic" front, Dennis felt a "deep, deep grief".

On Wednesday, Judge Press emphasised that Dennis was not criminally responsible for causing Hoskins' death, and accepted he was remorseful.

"I accept you have a sense of responsibility for all that occurred. I accept you have anguished over what could have been different if you had acted in some other way," Judge Press said.

In victim impact statements read to the court last month, Hoskins' mother said that while she accepted Dennis wouldn't have intentionally hurt her daughter, his temper was his "downfall" and "needs to be addressed".

Speaking outside court, Peter and Amanda Hoskins said they missed their daughter "terribly".

"She was someone really special," Mr Hoskins said.

He said the family was yet to receive an apology from Dennis, but expected it "will come with time".

"It's now time for us to move on, which would be Melissa's expectations of us," Mr Hoskins said, adding it was important for the couple to have a "well-mannered relationship" with Dennis going forward.

"There are two young children caught up in this tragedy... Clearly, we want to continue to be an integral part of [the] children's lives and their future."

Hoskins was a world champion cyclist in the Australian team pursuit in 2015, and a two-time Olympian. Her death triggered a wave of tributes from around the world.

She and Dennis married in 2018.

Dennis retired at the end of the 2023 season after a cycling career in which he won a silver medal team pursuit at the London 2012 Olympics and a road time trial bronze at Tokyo 2020. He also won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2022.

Toxic algae kills more than 200 marine species in Australia

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqxewn0z2v8o, 6 days ago

More than 200 marine species off the coast of South Australia (SA) have been killed by a weeks-long toxic algae explosion, in what conservationists have described as "a horror movie for fish".

The algal bloom - a rapid increase in the population of algae in water systems - has been spreading since March, growing to about 4,500 sq km (3,400 sq miles), or roughly the size of nearby Kangaroo Island.

"It's an unprecedented event, because the bloom has continued to build and build," said Vanessa Pirotta, a wildlife scientist.

Other scientists say the algae produces poisons which "act like a toxic blanket that suffocates" a wide range of marine life, including fish, rays and sharks.

Brad Martin, SA project manager for OzFish, a non-profit organisation that protects fishing habitats, said that while algal blooms are not uncommon, the "massive" scale of the current event has had a dramatic impact on marine life.

Toxins produced by the algae can cause "gill and tissue damage" by attacking the red blood cells, Mr Martin told the BBC.

The large density of the bloom also means that oxygen is being taken out of the water, "so we know that the fish are suffocating".

"It is like a horror movie for fish," he said.

The event has been widely documented by people sending in pictures of dead wildlife washed up on beaches.

The effect on sharks and rays has been particularly graphic, with large numbers washing up on beaches "bright red", showing indications of haemorrhaging.

A three-metre great white shark was among those found dead in recent weeks.

Among the more than 200 species that have been killed, which range from the smallest of baby fish to great whites, some are more vulnerable than others.

Reef species like crabs and pufferfishes have been the worst hit, as they are less mobile and can't swim away from the toxic algae.

While the algae isn't harmful to humans, those exposed to high doses can experience skin irritation and respiratory symptoms such as coughing or breathing issues.

The SA government has advised people to avoid swimming at beaches where there is discoloured water and foam.

Algal blooms occur during sunny and warm conditions, and SA has had a marine heatwave since last September, with temperatures about 2.5 degrees warmer than average.

Australia has also been experiencing unseasonably warm conditions since March, which has further driven the size and duration of the current algal bloom.

The last time SA recorded a large event of this type of toxic algae was in 2014, according to the state's environment and water department.

The spread has also affected some commercial fisheries, which have pre-emptively closed harvest areas.

Local coastal businesses have also seen a dip in visitors due to the sheer number of dead marine life washing up on shore.

Meanwhile, researchers and the SA government are continuing to monitor the bloom as it moves west.

Liberal Party names first female leader after historic Australia election loss

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjrn4x1xr2do, 6 days ago

Australia's Liberal Party has for the first time chosen a woman as its leader, with Sussan Ley to take over from Peter Dutton after he led the party to a bruising election loss.

Ley, from the moderate faction of the party, beat Angus Taylor - who ran on a promise to restore conservative values - by four votes.

At the election on 3 May, the Liberal-National coalition, currently Australia's main opposition party, suffered what many are calling the worst defeat in its history.

Pundits and MPs have blamed the result on polarising leaders, a messy campaign and "Trumpian" policies, which alienated women and young people in particular.

Ley's appointment comes as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was sworn in at Government House on Tuesday, following his Labor Party's landslide election win.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Labor has won at least 93 seats - increasing their majority by 16 - while the Coalition has 42 electorates, down from 58. Some seats are still too close to call.

Ley has held the massive regional New South Wales seat of Farrer since 2001 and has served as a senior minister in a variety of portfolios - making her one of the Liberal Party's most experienced hands. She was also the party deputy under Dutton.

Ted O'Brien, a Queensland MP who was the energy spokesman in charge of selling the coalition's controversial nuclear power proposal, was elected Ley's deputy.

Ley said she wanted to help the party rebuild its relationship with Australians - particularly the women and young people who felt they'd been neglected.

"We have to have a Liberal Party that respects modern Australia, that reflects modern Australia, and that represents modern Australia. And we have to meet the people where they are," she said.

She told reporters the party's loss would be subject to a review - as would all of its policies, including its position on nuclear and its net zero emissions goal.

"I want to do things differently, and we have to have a fresh approach," she said.

"I committed to my colleagues that there would be no captain's calls from anywhere by me... that we would work through every single policy issue and canvas the different views and take the time to get it right."

In a statement after the leadership vote, unsuccessful contender Taylor congratulated Ley and called for unity.

"Sussan has led a remarkable life and becoming the first woman to lead the Liberal Party is a milestone for Sussan and our party," he said.

The junior coalition partner, the Nationals, re-elected leader David Littleproud on Monday, after he too was challenged by a hardline conservative colleague.

Albanese's new cabinet was also sworn in on Tuesday.

The biggest changes include former Labor deputy Tanya Plibersek swapping from the environment portfolio to social services, and former communications minister Michelle Rowland becoming attorney general.

Former Attorney General Mark Dreyfus and Ed Husic - the first Muslim to become an Australian government minister - were both removed from the frontbench.

"I have got people who are, I think, in the best positions and that's across the board," Albanese said when announcing the positions on Monday.

A 'wonderfully varied' path to politics

Born in Nigeria to English parents, Ley grew up in the United Arab Emirates before moving to Australia at age 13.

"Travelling, and being at boarding school on my own, I think you either sink or swim," Ley said in a previous interview. "Obviously, I was someone who decided very early on in life that I wasn't going to sink."

It was as a young woman that she changed her name from Susan to Sussan, inspired by numerology - an ancient belief that numbers have a mystical impact on people's lives.

"I read about this numerology theory that if you add the numbers that match the letters in your name you can change your personality," she told The Australian.

"I worked out that if you added an 's' I would have an incredibly exciting, interesting life and nothing would ever be boring. It's that simple."

"And once I'd added the 's' it was really hard to take it away."

As an adult she has had a "wonderfully varied" career path, Ley says, obtaining degrees in economics and accounting while raising three young children, earning a commercial pilot licence, and working in the outback mustering livestock.

Elected in 2001 to represent an area the size of New Zealand, Ley was promoted to Health Minister under Malcom Turnbull in 2014, but resigned two years later amid an expenses scandal.

Ley apologised after using a taxpayer-funded trip to purchase an apartment on Queensland's Gold Coast.

She re-joined the frontbench in 2019 after Scott Morrison's "miracle" election win, as the Minister for Environment.

In that role, she was taken to court by a group who claimed she had a duty of care towards children to protect them from harm caused by climate change. Eight teenagers and an 87-year-old nun convinced a court that the government had a legal duty towards them when assessing fossil fuel projects, but the landmark decision was later overturned.

Ley has also drawn headlines for her comments about Palestinians. She was a co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Palestine, an informal cross-party group which aimed to raise the experiences of Palestinian people and has spoken in the chamber in support of Palestinian autonomy.

However, speaking after the vote on Tuesday, one of her colleagues Andrew Wallace said she has "seen the light on Israel in recent years".

Polish voters set for tight presidential race after 10 years of Duda

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn8zxn9xg2ro, 2 days ago

When Poles vote for a new president on Sunday, they are expected to set up a second round run-off between Warsaw's liberal mayor Rafal Trzaskowski and national-conservative historian Karol Nawrocki.

If opinion polls are correct, that would mean a 1 June contest between candidates backed by the two parties that have dominated Polish politics for the past two decades, a domination some voters say they're fed up with.

Trzaskowski, the current front-runner, is deputy leader of prime minister Donald Tusk's centre-right Civic Platform (PO).

Nawrocki, currently polling between 4%-6% behind, is supported by the Law and Justice (PiS) opposition party that lost power 18 months ago.

Poland's president has the power to veto government bills, so what happens in this election is significant.

Tusk's coalition does not have a big enough parliamentary majority to overturn that veto, which outgoing President Andrzej Duda, a former PiS member and ally, has used on several occasions.

That barrier may now fall as Duda cannot run again after serving two consecutive five-year terms.

Observers outside Poland portrayed Tusk's election as prime minister in late 2023 as saving liberal democracy after eight years of right-wing authoritarian populism by the PiS-led government.

Critics widely accused PiS of turning public media into crude propaganda for its conservative Catholic worldview, politicising the civil service and judiciary and punishing judges who dared to oppose the reform.

But Tusk's coalition government has also used questionable legal methods to wrestle back control of the public media.

Tusk has suspended the right for migrants arriving on the border with Belarus to apply for asylum and failed to deliver many of his campaign promises such as liberalising the country's strict abortion law.

"This is not the triumph of liberal values. It's a choice between a stupid and authoritarian right-wing populism and a hypocritical, and in my eyes, morally corrupt liberal populism," Konstanty Gebert, a columnist for Kultura Liberalna told the BBC.

The presidential election could be won in Sunday's first round with more than 50% of the vote, but latest opinion polls suggest it will be decided on 1 June.

Miroslaw Kaznowski, a member of the Green party that belongs to Tusk's broader Civic Coalition, will vote for Trzaskowski, despite some reservations.

He told the BBC: "I am disappointed the coalition government is pandering to the right-wing electorate instead of standing up for its values."

In one of the presidential debates, the PiS-backed candidate Nawrocki, proudly brandishing a mini Polish flag, tried to embarrass Trzaskowski by handing him a small rainbow flag.

In the past, the Warsaw mayor has been a vocal supporter of LGBTQ+ rights and attended equality marches in the capital.

Trzaskowski took the flag and put it on the floor, causing left-wing candidate Magdalena Biejat to walk over, saying "I'm not ashamed of it, I'll gladly take it from you".

Kaznowski said: "Migration, LGBT+, women's rights and the environment have fallen off the agenda, but we're still at the risk of falling back to an authoritarian government that aspires to Eastern values."

Tusk promised Polish women legal abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy, but he has not delivered on his promise.

He presides over a broad coalition built around his own centre-right grouping that also includes smaller left-wing and conservative parties.

Disagreements within the coalition over abortion and legalising same sex partnerships stalled even before President Duda had the chance to veto them.

Following Russia's war in neighbouring Ukraine, state security has dominated political discourse.

Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said "outflanking" PiS on security, including a tough migration policy, was key to winning the 2023 election.

Hours before campaigning came to an end on Friday, Tusk accused a group of Russian hackers of attacking websites belonging to parties in the government. Tusk's Civic Platform site was unavailable along with that of a smaller agrarian conservative partner, the Polish People's Party.

This year, Poland is planning to spend 4.7% of its GDP on defence, a larger proportion than any other Nato member.

Tusk wants to offer all adult males the chance to do military training. Trzaskowski was photographed going through basic drills during the campaign.

The liberal mayor's tough messages on security and migration led PiS to accuse him of saying anything to win votes.

It's a view shared by civil servant Wojciech Karlik, who plans to vote for the PiS-backed candidate, Nawrocki.

"Nawrocki will fight for Poland's interests in the EU. He's reliable unlike Trzaskowski who keeps changing his mind on issues like migration," he said.

Nawrocki has come under fire recently over accusations, which he denies, that he bought a council flat from a senior citizen in poor health at a 90% discount to the market price in return for promises of assistance and care.

By his team's own admission, Nawrocki was surprised when he lost contact with the pensioner last December. Local media reported the man had been living in a nursing home paid for by taxpayers for six months by that stage.

Following an uproar, Nawrocki said he would donate the flat to charity. Opinion polls suggest the accusations have not damaged Nawrocki's chances so far.

But the numbers indicate none of the 13 candidates will win sufficient votes to avoid a run-off between the two front-runners.

PiS, led by 75-year-old Jaroslaw Kaczynski, and Tusk's PO are the two parties that have dominated Polish politics for the last 20 years and some voters are fed up with the duopoly.

In March, 38-year-old far-right libertarian candidate and brewing entrepreneur Slawomir Mentzen, who attracted voters, especially young men, with his anti-migrant and tax-cutting talks during his "Beer with Mentzen" meetings in small towns and cities, appeared close to overtaking Nawrocki into second place.

But his support has dropped since he gave an interview calling for the introduction of student tuition fees and a ban on abortion even in cases of rape.

Aleksandra Januszewicz, a psychotherapist, told the BBC: "I'm fed up with the stranglehold of PO and PiS. The politics I'm seeing is mostly a form of populism that plays to voters' emotions.

"I'm not decided yet [on who to vote for], but I'm going to throw up afterwards."

Human rights lawyer Malgorzata Szuleka agrees there is fatigue, both with the duopoly and Tusk government's failure to deliver.

"Polish politics looks a little bit like going to McDonalds," she told the BBC. "You go in hoping for something else and you leave with a burger and fries.

"My hope is for a president that can freeze the polarisation in the country, and we can start talking to each other again."

Five killed after helicopters collide in Finland

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq54zyjwl4no, yesterday

Five people have died after two civilian helicopters collided mid-air in Finland, local police said.

The helicopters crashed near Eura Airport at around 12:00 local time (10:00 GMT), after having taken off together from the Estonian capital of Tallinn.

Authorities found the wreckage of the helicopters in a wooded area. Police say there were two people in one helicopter and three in the other.

They were on their way to an aviation event at the Piikajärvi Flight Center in Kokemäki, local media reported.

The aircraft were foreign-registered civilian helicopters. The crash is being investigated by police.

Finnish and Estonian officials said they were working with each other into the probe.

Melania Trump statue goes missing in Slovenia

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg7egyrk40o, 2 days ago

"Melania" appeared on the banks of the River Sava in July 2020, four months before her human inspiration left the White House.

Now, four months after the erstwhile Melanija Knavs resumed residence at Washington's most famous address, her larger-than-life-size avatar has apparently made an undignified exit from her Slovenian hometown, Sevnica.

All that remains of the massive bronze statue are the feet – and the two-metre-tall tree stump they were standing on.

The symmetry would probably appeal to the whimsical US director Wes Anderson – who often features bizarre heists in his films. But even in his back catalogue, there has never been anything quite like the case of the cursed First Lady statue.

Because this is not the first time a Melania Trump tribute has met a sticky end in Sevnica.

The first iteration was unveiled in July 2019. Carved from a single piece of wood by a chainsaw-wielding local artisan called Ales "Maxi" Zupevc, it lasted a year before an unidentified perpetrator decided to turn it into a Fourth of July bonfire.

Luckily, US artist Brad Downey – who commissioned Maxi to create the wooden original – had already made a cast of the statue. It duly made a comeback in bronze, at the same site.

At its unveiling, Mr Downey said the new version had been designed to be "as solid as possible, out of a durable material which cannot be wantonly destroyed".

But, as it turns out, it can be chopped off at the ankles and taken away.

Local police say they are treating "Melania's" disappearance as "theft" and have launched an investigation.

Brad Downey has always insisted that his work was political. He chose Maxi as a collaborator because his upbringing had been similar to that of the First Lady.

And he argued that Melania Trump benefitted from a fast-tracked US citizenship process, while other immigrants suffered under her husband's "xenophobic" policies.

Now he suspects the statue's disappearance "has something to do with Trump getting re-elected".

Meanwhile, in Sevnica, the local authorities have mixed feelings. They condemned "any form of interference with private or public property".

But, they added, "the image of the US First Lady was not something anyone was proud of".

Two dead in Swiss mountain avalanche

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8d14yyverro, yesterday

At least two people have died after a "severe" avalanche on the Eiger mountain in the Swiss Alps on Saturday, local police say.

The avalanche took place shortly after midday, and swept away seven people who were in the area on a ski tour, prompting the police to launch a large-scale rescue operation.

One man died at the scene while another was treated at the scene but later died in hospital. Police had earlier reported that everyone who had been buried in the avalanche had been rescued.

The Eiger, at 3,967m (13,000 ft), is a well-known peak in Bern, near the tourist resorts of Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen, and Wengen.

At least eight people were on the mountain when the avalanche occurred, but one person had not been affected, police said.

Five other people had been flown to hospital where they were receiving treatment.

Authorities are investigating the incident. The north face of the Eiger is famous among mountaineers and has a reputation for being one of the world's most challenging climbs.

Trump's frantic week of peace brokering hints at what he really wants

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyv789ejgxo, 2 days ago

"There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen." So supposedly said the Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. The diplomatic whirlwind that has surrounded US President Donald Trump this week suggests the old Bolshevik might have been onto something.

For the protectionist president, who promises always to put America First, has in recent days instead been busy bestriding the world stage.

He and his team have done business deals in the Gulf; lifted sanctions on Syria; negotiated the release of a US citizen held by Hamas; ended military strikes on Houthi fighters in Yemen; slashed American tariffs on China; ordered Ukraine to hold talks with Russia in Turkey; continued quiet negotiations with Iran over a nuclear deal; and even claimed responsibility for brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan...

The pace has been breathless, leaving allies and opponents alike struggling to catch up as the US diplomatic bandwagon hurtled from issue to issue.

"Just, wow!" remarked one London-based ambassador. "It is almost impossible to stay on top of everything that's going on."

So what is going on? What have we learned in this frantic week about the US president's emerging foreign policy? Is there something approaching a Trump doctrine - or is this just a coincidental confluence of global events?

Pomp and flattery in Saudi

A good place to start, perhaps, is the president's visit to the Gulf where he set out - in word and deed - his vision for a world of interstate relations based on trade, not war. In a speech in Riyadh, Trump said he wanted "commerce not chaos" in the Middle East, a region that "exports technology not terrorism".

His was a prospect of a breezy, pragmatic mercantilism where nations did business deals to their mutual benefit, a world where profit can bring peace.

As he enjoyed the flattery of his Saudi hosts and the obeisance of visiting dignitaries, the president signed - with his fat felt tip pen - deals that the White House claimed represented $600bn of investment in the US.

This was Trump in all his pomp; applauded and rewarded with immediate wins he could sell back home as good for American jobs.

Some diplomats privately questioned the value of the various memorandums of understanding. But the show, they said, was more important than the substance.

A 'none of our business' approach

Absent from Trump's speech was any mention of possible collective action by the US and other countries; no talk of multilateral cooperation against the threat of climate change, no concerns about challenges to democratic or human rights in the region. This was a discourse almost entirely without reference to ideology or values except to dismiss their significance.

Rather, he used his speech to Saudi leaders to make his clearest argument yet against Western interventionism of the past, attacking what he called "the so-called nation-builders and neo-cons" for "giving you lectures on how to live or how to govern your own affairs".

To the applause of his Arab audience, he said these "Western interventionists" had "wrecked more nations than they built", adding: "Far too many American presidents have been afflicted with the notion that it's our job to look into the souls of foreign leaders and use US policy to dispense justice for their sins.

"I believe it's God's job to sit in judgement. My job is to defend America."

That reluctance to intervene was on show in recent days when it came to the fighting between India and Pakistan. In the past, the US has often played a key role seeking to end military confrontations in the subcontinent. But the Trump White House was initially cautious about getting involved.

Vice-President JD Vance told Fox News the fighting was "fundamentally none of our business… We can't control these countries".

In the end, both he and Secretary of State Marco Rubio did make calls, putting pressure on both nuclear powers to de-escalate. So too did other countries.

When the ceasefire was agreed, Trump claimed US diplomacy had brokered the deal. But that was flatly dismissed by Indian diplomats who insisted it was a bilateral truce.

Pros of policy in one man's hands

The centrality of Trump to US foreign policy has also become apparent this week. This is more than just a simple truism. On show was the lack of involvement of other parts of the US government that traditionally help shape US decision-making overseas.

Take the president's extraordinary decision to meet Syria's new president and former jihadist, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and lift sanctions on Syria. This showed the potential advantage of having foreign policy in one man's hands: it was a decisive and bold step. And it was clearly the president's personal decision, after heavy lobbying by both Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

It was seen by some diplomats as the quid pro quo for the diplomatic fawning and investment deals Trump received in Riyadh. Not only did the decision surprise many in the region but it also surprised many in the American government.

Diplomats said the State Department was reluctant to lift sanctions, wanting to keep some leverage over the new Syrian government, fearful it was not doing enough to protect minorities and tackle foreign fighters.

Diplomats say this pattern of impulsive decision-making without wider internal government discussion is common in the White House. The result, they say, is not always positive.

This is due, in part, to Trump's lack of consistency (or put simply, changing his mind).

Take the decision this week to do a deal with China to cut tariffs on trade with the US. A few weeks ago Trump imposed 145% tariffs on Beijing, with blood thirsty warnings against retaliation. The Chinese retaliated, the markets plunged, American businesses warned of dire consequences.

So in Geneva, US officials climbed down and most tariffs against China were cut to 30%, supposedly in return for some increased US access to Chinese markets. This followed a now-familiar pattern: issue maximalist demands, threaten worse, negotiate, climb down and declare victory.

Limitations of his 'art of a deal'

The problem is that this "art of a deal" strategy might work on easily reversible decisions such as tariffs. It is harder to apply to longer term diplomatic conundrums such as war.

Take Russia's invasion of Ukraine. On this, Trump's policy has been fluid, to put it mildly. And this week was a case in point.

Last Saturday the leaders of the UK, France, Poland and Germany visited Kyiv to put on a show of support for Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. And in a group call with Trump on French President Emmanuel Macron's phone, they spelled out their strategy of demanding Russia agree an immediate 30-day ceasefire or face tougher sanctions.

This was Trump's policy too. The day before he wrote on social media: "If the ceasefire is not respected, the US and its partners will impose further sanctions." But then on Sunday, President Vladimir Putin suggested instead there should be direct talks between Ukraine and Russia in Turkey on Thursday. Trump immediately went along with this, backtracking on the strategy he had agreed with European leaders a day earlier.

"Ukraine should agree to (these talks) immediately," he wrote on social media. "I am starting to doubt that Ukraine will make a deal with Putin."

Then on Thursday, Trump changed his position again, saying a deal could be done only if he and Putin were to meet in person.

This puzzles some diplomats. "Does he genuinely not know what he wants to do about the war in Ukraine?" one remarked to me. "Or does he just grasp at what might offer the quickest resolution possible?"

A snub to Netanyahu?

Into this puzzling mix fell two other decisions this week. First, Trump agreed a ceasefire after a campaign bombing Houthi fighters in Yemen for almost two months. There have been questions about the effectiveness of the hugely expensive air strikes, and the president's appetite for a long military operation. He repeatedly told his Arab hosts how much he disliked war.

Second, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, held his fourth round of talks with Iran over efforts to curb their nuclear ambitions. Both sides are hinting that a deal is possible, although sceptics fear it could be quite modest. Talk of joint US-Israeli military action against Iran seems to have dissipated.

What unites both issues is that the United States was acting directly against the wishes of Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu may have been the first world leader invited to the Oval Office after Trump's inauguration, but in recent days, he seems to have been snubbed. Trump toured the Middle East without visiting Israel; he lifted sanctions on Syria without Israel's support. His Houthi ceasefire came only days after the group attacked Tel Aviv airport.

Diplomats fear Netanyahu's reaction. Could the spurned prime minister respond with a more aggressive military operation in Gaza?

Capitalism to overcome conflict

So after this week of diplomatic hurly burly, how much has changed? Perhaps less than might appear.

For all the glitz of Trump's tour through the Middle East, the fighting and humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues unresolved. A fresh Israeli offensive seems imminent. One of Trump's chief aims – the normalisation of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia - remains distant.

For all the talks about ending the war in Ukraine, there is no greater likelihood of the guns falling silent. Putin's ambitions seem unchanged. And for all the deals to cut US tariffs, either with the UK or China, there is still huge global market instability.

We do have a clearer idea of Trump's global ideology, one that is not isolationist but mercantilist, hoping optimistically that capitalism can overcome conflict. We also have a clearer idea of his haste, his desire to clear his diplomatic decks – in the Middle East, Ukraine and the subcontinent – so he can focus on his primary concern, namely China.

But that may prove an elusive ambition. If there are weeks when decades happen, there are also weeks when nothing happens.

Top picture credit: Getty Images

Will Romania vote take country away from European mainstream?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr7z2p743x4o, today

When Romania's presidential election was annulled late last year after claims of Russian interference, a far-right conspiracy theorist was blocked from the top job.

Many Romanians were deeply relieved; many others were angry their votes had been stolen.

But six months later, with the country back at the ballot box, another hard-right Euro-sceptic is in the running for president.

George Simion won the first round of the new elections on 4 May by a large margin. Now the former football casual turned nationalist politician is facing off against Nicusor Dan, the liberal mayor of Bucharest.

It's a vote that could see Romania, a member of both Nato and the European Union (EU), take a sharp turn away from the European mainstream.

Both candidates cast their votes on Sunday morning, with Simion saying he had voted for the future "that should be decided only by Romanians, for Romanians and for Romania".

While Dan told reporters he was voting for "collaboration with our European partners and not for an isolation of Romania".

The polls have been too close to call.

Teleorman county is one of Romania's poorest areas and has been solidly social-democrat territory for many years. But earlier this month, 57% of voters here chose Simion for president in the first round of voting.

A couple of hours' drive south-west from Bucharest, entry to the region is announced in blue letters on a rusty metal arch over the main road.

The streets are lined with wild poppies, not campaign posters for the candidates. There's no obvious sign of the elections.

But social media feeds on people's phones are full of political content.

The latest clip to go viral features a folk fantasy world of embroidered tops, prayers and bears and has the slogan "I choose Romania".

"It was an anti-system, anti-mainstream vote," is how Felicia Alexandru of Aperio Intelligence explains the nationwide surge of support for the far-right candidate in the first round.

After more than three decades of the same parties dominating politics, frustration with corruption and poor performance has been building.

"People are so unhappy with what happened in high level politics, this is a vote against that," Felicia says.

The protest vote is not confined to the poorest or most disaffected.

The Comalat dairy firm is unrecognisable from the business Petre Filip launched 25 years ago.

Back then, he would set out at 05:00 every day in his Dacia to drive round farms buying up milk. Then, each evening, he hand-delivered the cheese and yoghurt produced by his three workers to clients.

His old packaging machine now stands in the lobby as a reminder of the early days. But Petre has since been granted €1.5m (£1.3m; $1.7m) in EU funding to modernise and expand his business. It's money he never has to pay back.

"That was a really, really good thing for us," the businessman enthuses, showing off a production line of glistening metal machines in several rooms.

He employs more than 50 staff.

"I like George Simion," staff member Mihaela announces with a smile, while squeezing liquid from big clumps of curd cheese.

She shrugs when I mention the fear in Brussels that he would make EU-Romania relations very turbulent.

"He's on the side of Romanians. He's for the people. To create jobs and better lives," Mihaela replies.

Simion talks a lot about "making Romania great again", echoing the MAGA politicians in the US he so admires. He has the same isolationist approach, too: Romania first, in everything.

When pushed, he has called Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal for his invasion of Ukraine.

But like Donald Trump, he has also pledged to end military aid to Kyiv and he's left the future of Ukraine's vital grain exports via Romania unclear.

Simion has been banned from Ukraine and Moldova for calling for territory there to be part of Romania.

In his latest outbursts this week, he called his election opponent an "autistic, poor guy".

He also accused French President Emmanuel Macron of having "dictatorial tendencies".

Mr Filip says Simion is "far too impulsive" to be president, driven "by hormones not his brain".

But he is so disillusioned by the whole scene he's inclined not to vote at all.

Just up the road in Roșiori de Vede, they are discussing the elections too - and fretting.

Roxana runs a factory making work uniforms, including for the military in another EU country.

Her clients have been calling wondering whether Romania is about to vote for a "pro-Russian" president.

"They want to know whether their orders are safe!" she laughs.

Roxana herself plans to vote for the man people here refer to by his first name, Nicusor, because she likes how he's managed Bucharest as mayor.

She's also deeply disturbed by what she calls Simion's "hooligan" behaviour.

"It's such a bad image for Romania in Europe. I am ashamed," Roxana says, recalling the candidate's insults about Macron this week.

In another recent incident, Simion threatened to sexually assault a female MP, calling her a pig.

"Compare that with a person who won the International Mathematics Olympiad," Roxana says, referring to a competition Dan won in the 1980s. He went on to get a doctorate from the Sorbonne.

Ahead of the second-round vote, Roxana and her friend Andrea have been involved in a grassroots initiative to persuade voters to back Dan.

"I've tried to say why Simion's plan is unfeasible but I don't think I've been super successful," Andrea admits, and says she's "very worried".

"I see what people are saying online and they really believe in Simion and think he's going to shake everything up and take down the system.

"They think it's all bad, but it's not."

Her own candidate, Dan, is emphatically pro-EU and pro-Nato, and his campaign slogan is "honesty".

"I don't promise miracles," is his modest election pledge. "But I promise I will fight."

If that fight fails, and Simion wins, he won't be the only hard-right candidate at the forefront of Romanian politics.

Much of his support comes from those who originally voted for Calin Georgescu, the fringe figure who won the first election in November before it was cancelled on national security grounds.

The two men have often appeared side-by-side since then, and Simion has pledged to make Georgescu prime minister if he's elected.

It's unclear how that could work, given that he was accused of benefiting from "massive" and "aggressive" meddling by Moscow.

"If Simion wins then there will be chaos in politics from Monday," Roxana predicts, including for the economy.

"The question is whether he stays in the shadow of Georgescu, or completely changes perspective," Felicia agrees.

"Is this a campaign strategy, or what he believes in?"

UK and EU still locked in deal talks hours ahead of summit

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce9v28r7vlxo, today

Negotiations for a deal between the UK and EU are still ongoing hours before the prime minister hosts a UK-EU summit on Monday.

Sir Keir Starmer will meet European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for the second time in four days as he aims to strike a deal with the EU on a range of issues.

This could include a youth mobility scheme, allowing UK passport holders to use EU airport e-gates, and announcements on trade, security, and fishing rights.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage have already described the deal as a "surrender" despite the contents not being known.

As the talks continue into the night, the BBC understands, there is no deadline for when they will conclude.

Negotiations for the UK are being led by the minister for UK-EU relations, Nick Thomas-Symonds, who told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that he was driven by "ruthless pragmatism" and was focused on jobs, lower household bills, and stronger borders.

But he declined to give specific details of any deal, saying: "Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed."

Announcements around trade and security have been expected to include British access to a 150 billion euro (£125 billion) EU defence fund, which could be a boost for UK defence companies.

Fishing could also be part of a deal, with a post-Brexit deal on fishing rights set to expire at the end of June 2026.

The Conservatives have warned that the government must "make it clear that giving up any rights to UK waters and natural resources would represent a betrayal to British fishermen".

Reports have circulated that a youth mobility scheme with the EU could be set up - something that Sir Keir told the Times on Saturday would be a "reciprocal" arrangement in which young people would be able to move abroad for up to two years.

No specific details about the ages of those who could be eligible and whether there would be a cap on numbers were given, and it has received mixed responses from opposition parties.

Badenoch described the possible scheme as "free movement through the back door" while Reform's deputy leader Richard Tice said earlier this week that such a scheme would be "the thin end" of EU free movement.

The Liberal Democrats have backed the idea of a "capped mobility scheme", although the party's Europe spokesperson James MacCleary has accused the government of "dragging their heels when it comes to properly negotiating on the issue".

Reports have also suggested there could be agreements on British travellers using EU e-gates at European airports and cutting red tape on food exports and imports.

Thomas-Symonds said he was "pushing for people to be able to go through" European airports "far more quickly" and that he was confident about a deal on food.

He added: "We know we've had lorries waiting for 16 hours, fresh food in the back not able to be exported because frankly it's just going off, red tape, all the certifications that are required, we absolutely want to reduce that."

Conservative MP Alex Burghart told the BBC on Sunday he was concerned the government was signing up to EU standards and becoming "a rule taker - one of the things we specifically left behind when we left the EU".

Community 'devastated' over young boy's fatal drowning

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgr5x58y42o, today

There is shock and devastation in the community near a County Sligo beach over the death of a young boy who got into difficulty in the water on Saturday.

A local councillor, Fianna Fáil's Donal Gilroy, said news of the young boy's death had caused great sadness around Lissadell Beach.

The boy has been named locally as seven-year-old Alan Singh, from Ballisodare, County Sligo, Irish national broadcaster RTÉ reported.

The alarm was raised shortly after 15:30 local time on Saturday when a member of the public spotted the boy in the water.

He was airlifted by an Irish Coast Guard helicopter to Sligo University Hospital on Saturday afternoon in a serious condition, gardaí (Irish police) said.

He later died in hospital.

Gardaí said investigations are ongoing.

Prayers were offered for the boy's family at nearby Maugherow Church, with parish priest Fr Tom Hever telling RTÉ that people were devastated by the news.

Mr Gilroy said local people were shocked, adding that Lissadell Beach had attracted "big numbers" during the recent spell of good weather.

"People are devastated to hear that a little boy has lost his life and our thoughts are very much with his family at this time."

A woman who was on the beach with her children when the boy got into difficulty said "everybody was happy here playing and absolutely loving the fine weather".

"We seen the helicopter coming and noticed then that someone was performing CPR on a person a good bit away from us," Suraya McDonald told RTÉ.

"But by that stage, the helicopter had landed at the scene. It all happened pretty quick."

She added: "It's heartbreaking and I don't think anyone could ever understand how anyone would feel in that situation."

Man arrested on suspicion of murdering missing farmer

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg4v1z115kxo, today

A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder by Irish police investigating the disappearance of farmer Michael Gaine.

It comes a day after gardaí (Irish police) searching a site near Mr Gaine's farm confirmed they had found partial human remains.

Mr Gaine, 56, has been missing for more than eight weeks. He was initially treated as a missing persons case before it was upgraded to a homicide on 29 April.

The man, in his 50s, is being held in custody as searches and technical examinations at the site near Mr Gaine's farm continue.

On Saturday, gardaí said DNA analysis would be carried out on the human remains before they can be identified.

Mr Gaine, a sheep and cattle farmer, was reported missing from his home near Kenmare on Friday, 21 March. He was last seen in the County Kerry town the previous day.

He lived in the remote Carrig East area close the Molls Gap beauty spot along the renowned Ring of Kerry.

Last month, Michael Gaine's wife Janice told Irish broadcaster RTÉ that he "loved his home, he loved his farm, he loved animals" adding that his disappearance was "totally out of character".

Kenmare community 'horrified'

Independent TD (member of the Irish parliament) for Kerry, Michael Healy-Rae, said the local community in Kenmare wants answers.

"We want to know, and the family want to know," he told Irish national broadcaster RTÉ.

"Mike was a very respectable, hardworking, genuine man, a great community person and a person that everybody liked.

"To think that somebody would have this type of event happen to them, we're all horrified. We're upset.

"It is not something that we're used to in any part of Ireland. But in this locality, we never had a situation like this before."

Mexican judge arrested over 2014 disappearance of 43 students

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74qeepk39eo, 3 days ago

Police in Mexico have arrested a retired judge accused of tampering with evidence related to the disappearance of 43 students from Iguala more than a decade ago.

Lambertina Galeana Marín was the president of the Superior Tribunal of Justice in the state of Guerrero when the trainee teachers went missing in 2014.

The 79-year-old is suspected of having given an order that led to the disappearance of CCTV footage which investigators said was key to the case.

She was arrested in the city of Chilpancingo, three years after a warrant for her arrest had been issued.

The disappearance of the 43 students - who all attended the same teacher training college in the town of Ayotzinapa - has long haunted Mexico.

More than a decade on, and despite several investigations, much is still unknown about what happened on the night of 26 September 2014.

The remains of three of the students have been found, while the whereabouts of the 40 others remain a mystery, although they are widely presumed to have been killed.

A 2022 report by a truth commission tasked by the Mexican government with investigating the case found that it was a state-sponsored crime involving federal and state authorities.

According to the commission report, local police worked with members of a criminal group to forcibly disappear the students.

The students had gone to Iguala to commandeer buses to take them to an annual protest in Mexico City.

The Mexican government said both the police and a local criminal group known as Guerreros Unidos (United Warriors) had been alerted to the students' activities.

Guerreros Unidos suspected that the students seizing busses in Iguala had been infiltrated by members of a rival criminal gang, Los Rojos, the report alleged.

Both the police and members of Guerreros Unidos then mounted several roadblocks in and around the city, it added.

One of those roadblocks, manned by local, state and federal police was on the street outside the Palace of Justice.

Two Palace of Justice employees told investigators that the palace's security cameras had captured what had happened at the roadblock.

However, the footage was never handed over to the authorities and when officials attempted to retrieve it almost a year later, the footage had been "lost", investigators said in 2015.

Prosecutors have since alleged that Ms Galeana gave the order to have the footage destroyed or deleted.

In an official statement, Mexico's security ministry said Ms Galeana would face charges of forced disappearance.

At least 21 killed in crash in Mexico, official says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp3nz3126xxo, 4 days ago

At least 21 people have been killed in a road accident in central Mexico, according to a local official.

The three-vehicle crash happened on the highway between Cuacnopalan and Oaxaca in Puebla state on Wednesday morning, said Samuel Aguilar Pala, a local government official.

Mr Pala said 18 people died at the scene and another three died later in hospital.

Several others were injured and are receiving medical attention, he wrote on X.

According to local media, the crash involved a tanker truck, a bus and a van.

Mexican newspaper La Jornada reports that the crash took place when a cement truck attempted to overtake a van.

When crossing into the opposite lane, the truck hit a bus and then collided with a transport van head-on before tumbling into the ravine below and bursting into flames, La Jornada said.

Video shared by a local journalist on social media shows a large cloud of dark smoke rising from the ravine and a long portion of road railing torn away. This video has not been verified by the BBC.

There have been several severe accidents on highways in Mexico in recent years.

In February, dozens of people died in a bus crash in Tabasco in southern Mexico.

Venezuelan deported from US using gang 'points system', lawyers say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr4z640dlz3o, 2 days ago

When Andry Hernández got a pair of tattoos on his wrists with the words mom and dad, he thought they would look even more striking if he added something else to them, according to the tattoo artist, José Manuel Mora.

"What if you add some small crowns?" Mr Hernández is said to have asked the artist.

The crown is the symbol of the Catholic annual Three Kings Day celebrations for which Mr Hernández's Venezuelan hometown, Capacho Nuevo, is famed.

Seven years later, those crowns may have led to Mr Hernández - who describes himself as a gay barber - being locked up in El Salvador's mega-prison. He and dozens of other Venezuelans alleged by US President Donald Trump to be members of the Tren de Aragua gang were deported to the Central American nation in March.

"If I had known that the crowns would take Andry to jail, I would never have tattooed them on his body", Mr Mora tells BBC Mundo.

The administration insists it did its due diligence and had sufficient intelligence before deporting any alleged gang members.

Mr Hernández left his hometown in Venezuela for the United States in May last year. Like many migrants, he began a long trip through the Darién jungle on the border between Colombia and Panama, on his journey to Mexico.

According to court documents filed by his lawyers, obtained by BBC Mundo, the 31-year-old surrendered at the border, at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, on 29 August after making an appointment with the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency for asylum.

His asylum request claimed that he was a victim of persecution in Venezuela for his political beliefs and sexual orientation.

He was then taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), an agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and was sent to the Otay Mesa Detention Centre in San Diego.

At the centre, "he was flagged as a security risk for the sole reason of his tattoos", his lawyer wrote in a statement.

His legal team says Mr Hernández's interrogation at the centre was carried out by an official from the private company CoreCivic - a company contracted by the government - not by Ice agents.

CoreCivic official Arturo Torres, acting as interviewer, used a score system to determine whether a detainee is part of a criminal organisation.

It has nine categories, each with its own score. According to the criteria, the detainees are considered gang members if they score 10 or more points, and they are considered suspects if they score nine or fewer points.

Mr Hernández was given five points for the tattoos on his wrists, which included two crowns, according to paperwork signed in December 2024 by officers from the company.

The interviewing officer wrote: "Detainee Hernández has a crown on each one of his wrist. The crown has been found to be an identifier for a Tren de Aragua gang member".

The BBC has contacted CoreCivic for comment, but has not received a reply.

"So far, that form is the only government document linking Mr Hernández to the Tren de Aragua," Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of the Immigrant Defenders Law Centre and part of the legal team representing the young Venezuelan, told BBC Mundo.

Authorities have not provided further information about Mr Hernández's case, or the charges faced by him or other Venezuelans recently deported to El Salvador.

Scorecards for 'alien enemies'

Lawyers defending migrants' cases do not know whether the particular score system that marked Mr Hernández as a suspected member of Tren de Aragua has been used during the assessment of other detainees. However, authorities have acknowledged that tattoos are one of the criteria used for identifying gang members.

According to court documents filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of Venezuelan deportees, there is second scoring guide which evaluates detainees on a 20-point scale.

The form instructs agents on how to validate detainees as a member of Tren de Aragua under the Alien Enemies Act - a centuries-old law that has been invoked by Trump to detain and deport individuals considered enemies of the United States.

Higher scores of 10 points are given to detainees who have criminal or civil convictions, sentencing memorandums, or criminal complaints that identify them as members of Tren de Aragua.

Lower scores are for those with tattoos denoting their membership or loyalty to the gang (four points) - or who have insignias, logos, notes, drawings, or clothing indicating loyalty to it (also four points).

The lowest scores (two points) are assigned if the detainee, for instance, appears on social media displaying symbols or hand gestures related to the gang.

BBC Mundo reached out to DHS and Ice to request information about the scoring system used in the two forms, but received no response.

However, DHS has previously published a statement on its website, called 100 Days of Fighting Fake News, stating that its assessments go well beyond tattoos and social media.

"We are confident in our law enforcement's intelligence, and we aren't going to share intelligence reports", the document said. "We have a stringent law enforcement assessment in place that abides by due process under the US Constitution."

Jason Stevens, special agent in charge of the El Paso Homeland Security Investigations Office, told BBC Mundo that according to the guidelines, officers used a variety of criteria to identify a gang member.

He said in addition to an individual's tattoos, officers look at criminal associations, monikers, social media activity and messages on phones.

Lawyers representing deportees have included official government guidelines in their court cases, arguing that it is insufficient to identify a detainee as a member of Tren de Aragua based on photographs of tattoos.

Venezuelan researcher and journalist Ronna Rísquez, author of a book about Tren de Aragua, dismisses the idea that tattoos are a criterion that defines membership in this group.

"Equating the Tren de Aragua gang with Central American gangs in terms of tattoos is a mistake," she warned. "You don't have to have a tattoo to be a member of the Tren de Aragua gang."

Transfer to notorious mega-prison

Unaware that he was suspected of belonging to Tren de Aragua, Mr Hernández was expecting to appear in a US court for another asylum-related hearing that he hoped could eventually allow him to remain in the country.

By March 2025, he had spent nearly six months at the San Diego detention centre before being abruptly transferred to the Webb County Detention Centre in Laredo, Texas, while his asylum case was still pending.

He was not the only person who would be transferred to that second centre.

On 15 March, Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act to deport suspected Tren de Aragua members, arguing that Venezuelan authorities had ceded control over their territories to transnational criminal organisations.

Without being able to contest the charges, Mr Hernández was deported that day as part of a group of 238 Venezuelans and 23 Salvadorans, to El Salvador's notorious mega-prison, known as the Terrorist Confinement Centre (Cecot).

Mr Hernández had a court date scheduled for his asylum request, but according to his lawyers, authorities at the Webb County Detention Centre would not allow him to attend via video call.

Since then, no-one has heard from him. His parents had no information about him until they were told that someone had seen a photo of their son in a Salvadoran prison.

'Crown tattoos were Andry's crime'

Mr Hernández designed and hand-embroidered his own costumes for the annual religious festival known as the Three Wise Men of Capacho, his family says.

He also designed the outfits for some of the local girls participating in the festival in his home state of Táchira, near the border with Colombia.

The symbol that identifies the religious festival - which was officially declared part of Venezuela's national cultural heritage, and of which its residents are proud - is a golden crown.

Since he was seven years old, Mr Hernández has participated in the festival representing various biblical characters.

"Andry is a makeup artist, a theatre actor, and we all love him very much", said Miguel Chacón, president of the Capacho Three Kings Foundation, which organises the 108-year-old event.

"Some young people get tattoos of the kings' crowns like Andry did. That was his crime."

Hundreds of people in Capacho Nuevo, a modest agricultural town, participated in a vigil at the end of March to demand Mr Hernández's release. Some of them wore crowns.

One of Mr Hernández's friends, Reina Cárdenas, maintained contact with him until a few days before his deportation. She showed BBC Mundo official documents indicating that the young man had no criminal record in Venezuela.

Mr Hernández dreamed of opening a beauty salon and helping his parents financially, Ms Cárdenas said by phone from Capacho Nuevo.

Seeking a better future, Mr Hernández left his hometown and lived in Bogotá for a year, where he worked as a makeup artist and as a hotel receptionist.

He returned to Venezuela after receiving a job offer at a television channel in Caracas, where he was excited by the idea of doing makeup for presenters, models, and beauty queens, Ms Cárdenas said.

"He did not stay in the TV station for more than a year because he was discriminated against for his sexual orientation and because of his political beliefs," she noted. "He received threats."

Mr Hernández decided to leave Caracas and return to his hometown. "He wasn't well, he didn't want to leave his house," his friend said. He remained there for five months until May 2024, when he decided to travel to the US through the Darién jungle, despite his mother urging him to stay.

Today, Mr Hernández's mother, Alexis Romero de Hernández, can hardly bear the pain of not having him by her side.

"I'm waiting for news of my son," she told BBC Mundo. "I want to know how he is. I wonder how they're treating him. If they gave him water. If they gave him food. Every day I think about him and ask God to bring him back to me."

The last known image of Hernandez is a photo taken of him on the night of 15 March inside the Salvadoran mega-prison, when a American photojournalist Philip Holsinger documented the arrival of a group of alleged criminals for Time magazine.

That was when he took a photo of a young man saying "I'm not a gang member. I'm gay. I'm a barber", Mr Holsinger wrote in his article.

The man was chained and on his knees while the guards shaved his head. Mr Holsinger later learned that man was Mr Hernández.

"He was being slapped every time he would speak up… he started praying and calling out, literally crying for his mother," Holsinger told CBS. "Then he buried his face in his chained hands and cried as he was slapped again."

Mr Hernández's case has caused a stir in the US, and mystery surrounds his whereabouts.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has requested his return, while four US congressional representatives travelled to El Salvador and requested to be provided with proof of life for him. They did not get it.

Colombian police arrest suspect in Peru mine workers' killings

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg7ekyvelpo, 3 days ago

Police in Colombia have arrested a man suspected of being involved in the killing of 13 kidnapped workers at a gold mine in neighbouring Peru.

Miguel Antonio Rodríguez Díaz, whose alias is "Cuchillo" (knife), was arrested in the city of Medellin in a joint operation between the two countries and Interpol, according to Peru's interior ministry and Colombian police.

The bodies of the miners were recovered on 4 May from a tunnel at a mine in the Pataz district of Peru.

A lawyer for Mr Diaz has denied his involvement in the killings.

Peru is one of the largest gold producers in Latin America and has seen a surge in violence from illegal miners and organised criminal gangs.

The 13 men killed in Pataz had been sent to confront a group which had attacked and occupied the mine but were ambushed and seized as they were trying to regain control of it, Peruvian authorities said.

Mr Diaz is suspected of allegedly ordering the storming of the mine's entrance, with the aim of stealing gold extracted by miners, Peru's interior ministry said in a statement.

He is accused of "organised crime, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated homicide", it added.

A video posted by authorities showed him being detained by armed police in a busy downtown area of Medellin.

Colombian police chief Carlos Triana said Mr Diaz was located with the support of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and was subject to an Interpol red notice.

Peru's interior ministry said they expected Mr Diaz to be extradited to Peru in the coming days.

La Poderosa, which owns the mine where the murders took place, previously said 39 people with links to the company have been killed by criminal gangs in Pataz in total.

This most recent attack prompted Peru's President Dina Boluarte to impose a night-time curfew in Pataz and to suspend mining activities for a month. Extra police and soldiers were also sent to the region.

Valeria Marquez: Who was Mexican influencer killed live on TikTok?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly3nw938deo, 3 days ago

When a 23-year-old Mexican influencer was shot dead while live streaming on TikTok, rumours began to swirl. Was it a cartel hit? Or another tragic example of violence against women?

On Tuesday, Valeria Marquez was shot dead at Blossom The Beauty Lounge, a beauty salon owned by the victim in Zapopan, a town in the central-eastern state of Jalisco.

The state prosecutor's office said it is investigating the crime as a femicide, meaning that it believes the crime was motivated by the fact the victim was a woman.

The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, said an investigation is under way: "We're working to catch those responsible and find out why this happened."

But the fact that the crime took place in Jalisco, the state where the feared Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) emerged, led to speculation by some that the cartel may somehow be involved.

A rising star

Motive still unknown

But the salon's location in the wealthy Zapopan area of Guadalajara has raised questions about the motive for the crime. While the presence of private security and the tidyness of its streets give the impression that Zapopan is a safe area, in reality it is one of the most violent municipalities in Jalisco. In fact, shootings regularly occur in the area's luxurious shopping centres.

More than half of the real estate and commercial development in the area is connected to the laundering of drug trafficking money, according to the US Department of Justice.

Jalisco ranks sixth among Mexico's 32 states, including Mexico City, in terms of homicides, with 906 murders registered since the beginning of President Claudia Sheinbaum's term in October 2024, according to data consulting firm TResearch.

It is also one of the Mexican states most affected by the cartels. It was here, 50 kilometres from Zapopan, that a cartel training centre was found in March, and it is here that 15,000 people have disappeared since 2018.

The same day that Márquez was killed, a former congressman named Luis Armando Córdoba Díaz was murdered just two kilometres away, according to the newspaper Reforma.

According to the state of Jalisco, as many as 90% of crimes are never reported or investigated. The state attorney's office has also long been accused of having links to cartels, which it denies.

The prosecutor's office said that so far they have no reason to suspect that Ms Marquez's murder was ordered or carried out by any of the organised criminal groups operating in the area.

Instead, the office suggested the murderer may have been motivated to kill her because of her gender.

Mexican media outlets had previously published messages in which Ms Marquez blamed her ex-partner if anything happened to her.

Mayor of Zapopan Juan José Frangie said his office had no record of Ms Marquez requesting help from the authorities due to threats against her, adding "a femicide is the worst thing", according to news agency AFP.

"In response to claims pointing to alleged perpetrators of the femicide in Zapopan, we clarify that there are no direct accusations against any individual in the investigation file," the Jalisco prosecutor's office said in a statement.

"All statements and clues, including videos and social media posts, are being analysed. The investigation is being conducted under the femicide protocol, with a gender perspective, without revictimisation and in accordance with the principles of legality, impartiality and respect for human rights," it added.

Gender-based violence is a serious problem in Mexico, a country that ranks fourth in Latin America and the Caribbean for rates of femicide, behind Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia.

According to the latest data from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), there were 1.3 deaths per every 100,000 women in Mexico in 2023, Reuters reported.

Less than 48 hours before Ms Marquez's murder, Yesenia Lara Gutiérrez, a mayoral candidate for Morena (the ruling party) in the city of Texistepec, Veracruz, was killed while participating in a political motorcade. Like the influencer's case, the politician's murder was recorded by cameras because the event was being live-streamed on Facebook.

Letting off steam: How Dominica's volcanoes will boost its green energy

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gezw5n579o, 4 days ago

With rainforests, waterfalls, volcanoes and hot springs, the Caribbean island of Dominica's dramatic landscape is a haven for adventure-seeking ecotourists.

It attracted 83,966 visitors last year, a 13% rise from 2023, and led by new direct flights from the US, and the opening of more hotels.

Nicknamed the "Nature Island", and now recovered from the extensive damage caused by 2017's Hurricane Maria, Dominica's government is set to harness its natural resources to generate clean electricity for its 66,000 residents and tourism sector.

To end the country's long reliance on generators fuelled by imported diesel, a geothermal power station is being built in the south of the country. It will access the boiling hot water contained in natural underground reservoirs that are heated by the surrounding volcanic rock.

The 10-megawatt plant, under construction near the village of Laudat in the lush Roseau Valley, is on track to become operational by the end of the year.

Steam will be drawn up to the surface to drive turbines that will generate electricity. The used steam will then be cooled to the point where it becomes water again, and reinjected back underground for the process to restart.

"We hope to totally eliminate the need for diesel generation for electricity in Dominica by 2030," Dominica's energy minister Dr Vince Henderson tells the BBC. The government also says that the geothermal plant will reduce electricity bills.

And it is not just Dominica (not to be confused with the similarly named Dominican Republic), that is set to benefit. Long-term plans include exporting surplus electricity via undersea cables to neighbouring islands.

Dr Henderson adds that he hopes the success of the geothermal plant will inspire other Caribbean nations to explore more renewable energy sources.

Dominica's geothermal plant will be just the second in the Caribbean. Guadeloupe, an overseas department of France, has had a 15-megawatt station in operation for three decades.

The Roseau Valley facility is being created through a public-private partnership between the Dominican government and US-Israeli renewable energy company Ormat Technologies.

It is costing tens of millions of US dollars, partially funded by grants and investments from several governments, including the US, UK, Japan and New Zealand. Additional funding has come from various non-governmental organizations from around the world, and loans from the World Bank and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

The Dominican government has also ploughed significant resources into the project, which required high upfront costs and a complex exploration process including drilling deep underground to test temperatures.

"Finding the resource is the first challenge. Then you need someone like us to build the facility," says Ormat's chief executive Doron Blachar. "Ormat is doing the entire project, from making the plant's elements, shipping them to Dominica, mainly from Israel, and then constructing the power plant."

Ormat has been designing and building renewable energy systems for more than five decades, and owns and operates geothermal plants in various countries from the Americas to Africa.

"Geothermal is a great, zero-emission electricity that doesn't depend on wind or sun, and operates 24/7," Mr Blachar explains. "It brings jobs to a country, both during construction and, more importantly, during the plant's operations, along with new technology and expertise."

Yet despite geothermal's green credentials, Dominica's new plant has raised concerns among some local residents, including environmentalist Atherton Martin who fears for the effects on the ecologically valuable Roseau Valley.

"There is no other area like it in the Caribbean," he says, adding that the removal of vegetation during the exploration process "decimated wildlife" including endemic frogs.

Other residents told the BBC of some controversy over the amount of money the project was costing. It has certainly been several years in the making with the Dominican government alone said to have invested around $15m (£11.3m).

Dr Henderson admits that the project is "not easy" for a country that "faced a big challenge" when it had to substantially repair its electricity network after 2017's Hurricane Maria. But he insists "it will be worth it in the end".

Another common fear about geothermal plants is the potential for triggering earthquakes.

Ormat says it has never had a such an incident in its many years of operations.

Mr Blachar believes the Caribbean could become "a hub" for geothermal technology.

Ormat acquired Guadeloupe's plant from the French government in 2017 and is currently expanding it to boost its capacity to 25 megawatts.

With support from the CDB and driven by the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission, work is also under way to explore and develop geothermal potential in fellow volcanic island nations Grenada, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Ormat will operate the Dominica plant for 20 years before handing it over to state electricity provider Domlec. Mr Blachar estimates it will employ around 30 local people when it comes on stream later this year.

It should initially generate enough power to meet half of Dominica's peak electricity demand, says Fred John, managing director of the government-owned Dominica Geothermal Development Company, which is also involved in the scheme.

Authorities are confident the plant will then soon support the entire country, and have enough spare electricity for some to be exported to neighbouring islands.

Mr John says that the facility will "serve as a test case for an attractive alternative" to fossil fuels. "The rest of the OECS will benefit from the lessons learned here – both what worked and what didn't," he adds.

The OECS recently set a target to reach 30% renewable energy within 10 years, with some countries, including Dominica and St Kitts, aiming for 100% by then.

OECS Director General Dr Didacus Jules describes Dominica's geothermal project as a "bold and visionary step".

"As a region heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels, the transition to green energy is not optional - it is existential," he tells the BBC.

"This development also breathes new life into the long-held vision of a regional energy grid - one that connects our islands through clean, reliable, and affordable energy."

Uruguay's José Mujica, world's 'poorest president', dies

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0j71402z58o, 5 days ago

Former Uruguayan President José Mujica, known as "Pepe", has died at the age of 89.

The ex-guerrilla who governed Uruguay from 2010 to 2015 was known as the world's "poorest president" because of his modest lifestyle.

Current President Yamandú Orsi announced his predecessor's death on X, writing: "thank you for everything you gave us and for your deep love for your people."

The politician's cause of death is not known but he had been suffering from oesophageal cancer.

Because of the simple way he lived as president, his criticism of consumerism and the social reforms he promoted - which, among other things, meant Uruguay became the first country to legalise the recreational use of marijuana - Mujica became a well-known political figure in Latin America and beyond.

His global popularity is unusual for a president of Uruguay, a country with just 3.4 million inhabitants where his legacy has also generated some controversy.

In fact, even though many tended to see Mujica as someone outside the political class, that was not the case.

He said his passion for politics, as well as for books and working the land, was passed on to him by his mother, who raised him in a middle-class home in Montevideo, the capital city.

As a young man, Mujica was a member of the National Party, one of Uruguay's traditional political forces, which later became the centre-right opposition to his government.

In the 1960s, he helped set up the Tupamaros National Liberation Movement (MLN-T), a leftist urban guerrilla group that carried out assaults, kidnappings and executions, although he always maintained that he did not commit any murder.

Influenced by the Cuban revolution and international socialism, the MLN-T launched a campaign of clandestine resistance against the Uruguayan government, which at the time was constitutional and democratic, although the left accused it of being increasingly authoritarian.

During this period, Mujica was captured four times. On one of those occasions, in 1970, he was shot six times and nearly died.

He escaped from prison twice, on one occasion through a tunnel with 105 other MLN-T prisoners, in one of the largest escapes in Uruguayan prison history.

When the Uruguayan military staged a coup in 1973, they included him in a group of "nine hostages" who they threatened to kill if the guerrillas continued their attacks.

During the more than 14 years he spent in prison during the 1970s and 1980s, he was tortured and spent most of that time in harsh conditions and isolation, until he was freed in 1985 when Uruguay returned to democracy.

He used to say that during his time in prison, he experienced madness first hand, suffering from delusions and even talking to ants.

The day he was freed was his happiest memory, he says: "Becoming president was insignificant compared to that."

From guerrilla to president

A few years after his release, he served as a lawmaker, both in the Chamber of Representatives and in the Senate, the country's lower and upper houses respectively.

In 2005, he became minister in the first government of the Frente Amplio, the Uruguayan leftist coalition, before becoming Uruguay's president in 2010.

He was 74 years old at the time, and, to the rest of the world, still unknown.

His election marked an important moment for the Latin American left, which was already strong on the continent at that time. Mujica became leader alongside other left-wing presidents such as Luis Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil and Hugo Chávez in Venezuela.

However, Mujica governed in his own way, demonstrating pragmatism and audacity on several occasions, political commentators say.

Listen to an interview with Mujica on BBC Witness History

During his administration, amid a fairly favourable international context, the Uruguayan economy grew at an average annual rate of 5.4%, poverty was reduced, and unemployment remained low.

Uruguay also drew global attention for the social laws passed by parliament during those years, such as the legalisation of abortion, the recognition of same-sex marriage, and state regulation of the marijuana market.

While in office, Mujica rejected moving into the presidential residence (a mansion), as heads of state around the world usually do.

Instead, he remained with his wife - politician and former guerrilla Lucía Topolansky - in their modest home on the outskirts of Montevideo, with no domestic help and little security.

This combined with the fact that he always dressed casually, that he was often seen driving his light blue 1987 Volkswagen Beetle and gave away a large portion of his salary, led some media outlets to call him "the world's poorest president".

But Mujica always rejected that title: "They say I'm the poorest president. No, I'm not," he told me in a 2012 interview at his home. "Poor are those who want more [...] because they're in an endless race."

Despite Mujica preaching austerity, his government did significantly increase public spending, widening the fiscal deficit and leading his opponents to accuse him of waste.

Mujica was also criticised for failing to reverse the growing problems in Uruguayan education, despite having promised that education would be a top priority for his administration.

However, unlike other leaders in the region, he was never accused of corruption or of undermining his country's democracy.

By the end of his administration, Mujica had a high domestic popularity rating (close to 70%) and was elected senator, but also spent part of his time travelling the world after he stepped down as president.

"So what it is that catches the world's attention? That I live with very little, a simple house, that I drive around in an old car? Then this world is crazy because it's surprised by [what is] normal," he reflected before leaving office.

Mujica retired from politics in 2020 though he remained a central figure in Uruguay.

His political heir, Yamandú Orsi, was elected president of Uruguay in November 2024 and his group within the Frente Amplio obtained the largest number of parliamentary seats since the country's return to democracy.

Last year, Mujica announced he had cancer and references to his age and the inexorable proximity of death became more frequent - but he always accepted the final outcome as something natural, without drama.

In the last interview he gave the BBC in November last year, he said: "One knows that death is inevitable. And perhaps it's like the salt of life."

The rare disease in a remote town where 'almost everyone is a cousin'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce80d4yppl3o, 7 days ago

Before Silvana Santos arrived in the little town of Serrinha dos Pintos more than 20 years ago, residents had no idea why so many local children had lost the ability to walk.

The remote town in north-eastern Brazil is home to fewer than 5,000 people, and is where biologist and geneticist Santos identified and named a previously unknown condition: Spoan syndrome.

Caused by a genetic mutation, the syndrome affects the nervous system, gradually weakening the body. It only appears when the altered gene is inherited from both parents.

Santos's research marked the first time the disease had been described anywhere in the world. For this and later work, she was named one of the BBC's 100 most influential women in 2024.

Before Santos arrived, families had no explanation for the illness affecting their children. Today, residents talk confidently about Spoan and genetics.

"She gave us a diagnosis we never had. After the research, help came: people, funding, wheelchairs," says Marquinhos, one of the patients.

Serrinha dos Pintos: a world of its own

Where Santos is from in São Paulo, Brazil's largest and wealthiest city, many of her neighbours were members of the same extended family originally from Serrinha. Many of them were cousins of varying degrees, married to each other.

They told Santos that many of people in their hometown couldn't walk, but that no-one knew why.

One of the neighbours' daughters, Zirlândia, suffered from a debilitating condition: as a child, her eyes moved involuntarily and over time, she lost strength in her limbs and needed to use a wheelchair, requiring help with even the simplest tasks.

Years of investigation would lead Santos and a research team to identify these as symptoms of Spoan syndrome.

They would go on to find 82 other cases worldwide.

At the invitation of her neighbours, Santos visited Serrinha on holiday. She describes her arrival as stepping into "a world of its own" - not just because of the lush scenery and mountain views, but also due to what seemed to be a notable social coincidence.

The more she walked and spoke with locals, the more surprised she was at how common marriages between cousins were.

Serrinha's geographical isolation and little inward migration mean that many of the population are related, making marriage between cousins far more likely and more socially acceptable.

Worldwide, marriages between relatives were estimated at around 10% in the early 2010s. More recent data shows the rate varies widely, from over 50% in countries like Pakistan, to 1-4% in Brazil and less than 1% in the US and Russia. Most children born to pairs of cousins are healthy, experts say.

But these marriages do face a higher risk of a harmful genetic mutation being passed down through the family.

"If a couple is unrelated, the chance of having a child with a rare genetic disorder or disability is about 2–3%. For cousins, the risk rises to 5–6% per pregnancy," explains geneticist Luzivan Costa Reis from Brazil's Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.

A 2010 study led by Santos showed that more than 30% of couples in Serrinha were related, and a third of them had at least one child with a disability.

Long road to diagnosis

Santos set out to find a diagnosis for the people of Serrinha and she began planning a detailed genetic study, requiring multiple trips and eventually leading to her relocating to the region.

She drove the 1,250 miles (2,000km) to and from São Paulo many times in the early years of her research. She collected DNA samples door-to-door, chatting to locals over coffee and gathering family stories, all the while trying to locate the mutation causing the disease.

What was supposed to be three months of fieldwork turned into years of dedication.

It all led to the publication in 2005 of the team's study revealing the existence of Spoan in the Brazilian hinterland.

Santos's team found that the mutation involves the loss of a small fragment of a chromosome, which causes a gene to overproduce a key protein in brain cells.

"They said it came from Maximiano, a womaniser in our family," recalls farmer Lolô, whose daughter Rejane has Spoan.

Lolô, now 83, married his cousin and never left Serrinha. He still tends cattle and relies on family to care for Rejane, who struggles with daily tasks.

But the genetic mutation behind Spoan is far older than the legend of Old Maximiano: it likely arrived more than 500 years ago with early European settlers in the north-east of Brazil.

"Sequencing studies show strong European ancestry in patients, supporting records of Portuguese, Dutch, and Sephardic Jewish presence in the region," says Santos.

The theory gained strength after two Spoan cases were found in Egypt, and further studies showed that the Egyptian cases also shared European ancestry, pointing to a common origin in the Iberian Peninsula.

"It likely came with related Sephardic Jews or Moors fleeing the Inquisition," says Santos. She believes more cases may exist globally, especially in Portugal.

Understanding the risks

Although there's been little progress toward a cure, tracking patients has brought some change. Rejane recalls how people used to be called "cripples". Now, they're simply said to have Spoan.

Wheelchairs brought not just independence, but also helped prevent deformities - in the past, many with the condition had been left simply lying in bed or on the floor.

As Spoan progresses, physical limitations worsen with age and by 50, nearly all patients become fully dependent on carers.

This is the case for Inés's children, who are among the oldest in Serrinha. Chiquinho, 59, can no longer speak, and Marquinhos, 46, has limited communication abilities.

"It's hard to have a 'special' child. We love them the same, but we suffer for them," says Inés, who is married to a second cousin.

Larissa Queiroz, 25, the niece of Chiquinho and Marquinho, also married a distant relative. She and her husband, Saulo, only discovered their common ancestor after several months of dating.

"In Serrinha dos Pintos, deep down, we're all cousins. We're related to everyone," she says.

Couples like Larissa and Saulo are the focus of a new research project which Santos is also involved in. Backed by Brazil's Ministry of Health, it will screen 5,000 couples for genes linked to serious recessive diseases.

The goal is not to stop cousin marriages, but to help couples understand their genetic risks, says Santos. Now a university professor, she also leads a genetics education centre and works to expand testing in the north-east of Brazil.

Though she no longer lives in Serrinha dos Pintos, every visit feels like coming home.

"It's as if Santos is family," says Inés.

'God loves Peru': Country celebrates new Pope as one of their own

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cewdl4e57v7o, 10 days ago

Halfway through Leo XIV's first speech as pope, which he delivered in Italian, he stopped and asked if he might say a few words in Spanish.

Smiling, he continued: "A greeting to all and in particular to my dear Diocese of Chiclayo, in Peru."

The first American pope is a citizen of Peru and has spent much of his life there, travelling between the two countries for decades until 2014, when Pope Francis appointed him bishop of the Chiclayo Diocese in the country's north.

On Thursday, Peruvians rejoiced at the appointment of one of their own to the highest position in the Catholic Church.

Standing near Lima's cathedral shortly after bells rang out in celebration of the appointment, elementary school teacher Isabel Panez said: "For us Peruvians, it is a source of pride that this is a pope who represents our country."

Prevost would often say that he had "come from Chicago to Chiclayo – the only difference is a few letters," Diana Celis, who attended several Masses officiated by the then Bishop Robert Prevost, told the Associated Press news agency.

He reportedly referred to Peru, where around three quarters of people are Catholic, as "mi segunda patria" – my second homeland.

Peru's president, Dina Boluarte, described Pope Leo as Peruvian "by choice and conviction".

"The pope is Peruvian; God loves Peru," she said.

Born in Chicago in 1955, he is the son of Louis Marius Prevost, of French and Italian descent, and Mildred Martinez, of Spanish descent.

After completing studies in theology in Chicago and in canon law in Rome, the Catholic Church sent him to Peru for the first time.

He arrived at the Augustinian mission in Chulucanas, in the Peruvian department of Piura, in 1985, aged 30, and the following year, joined the mission in Trujillo. For almost three decades, he worked between the US and Peru.

Then, in 2014, Pope Francis appointed Prevost bishop of Chiclayo, a position he assumed the following year, after becoming a Peruvian citizen.

Jose Luis Perez Guadalupe, who was the minister responsible for signing Prevost's naturalisation, told BBC Mundo that he was "a very attentive and very thoughtful man, who listened more than he spoke."

These were his first encounters with a country that would come to shape his life.

Janinna Sesa, who met Prevost while she worked for the church's Caritas nonprofit, told the Associated Press during torrential rains in 2022 he waded through mud to help people in Chiclayo and nearby villages.

He also delivered food and blankets to remote Andean villages, driving a white pickup truck and sleeping on a thin mattress on the floor. There, Sesa said, Prevost ate whatever was offered to him, including the peasant diet consisting of potatoes, cheese and sweet corn.

But, if the opportunity came up, he would enjoy carne asada – one of his favorite dishes – accompanied by a glass of Coca-Cola.

He also had an interest in cars. "He has no problem fixing a broken-down truck until it runs," Sesa said.

Prevost was the driving force for the purchase of two oxygen-production plants during the coronavirus pandemic, which killed more than 217,000 people across Peru.

"He worked so hard to find help, that there was not only enough for one plant, but for two oxygen plants," Sesa said.

Edinson Farfán, the Peruvian Bishop of Chiclayo since 2024, said Pope Leo would continue Pope Francis's legacy of working with the poor and advocating for "a Church with open doors". He was "very close to Pope Francis", he said.

"He was undoubtedly deeply influenced by this particular Church of Chiclayo. Chiclayo is a city that greatly values the simple faith of its people. He has a special affection for the diocese."

"It's his beloved diocese, it's his life. He learned here everything he can share and will share with the entire world."

But not all in the country are proud of his record.

Serious accusations have been made about his handling of sexual abuse cases during his time as Bishop of Chiclayo.

In 2023, three Peruvian women went public with claims that as bishop he failed to investigate their reports of having been abused as teenagers by two priests in Chiclayo, dating back to 2007. They said that when they raised their allegations with the diocese in 2022, no proper inquiry was opened.

Church officials in Chiclayo said that action was taken and the accused priests were put on precautionary suspension, and that the case was referred to the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which handles serious abuse cases.

The diocese said it was Rome's decision to shelve the case without a full canonical trial and that it conducted a preliminary investigation.

These allegations about his leadership are one of the challenges he will face as he now heads the Church worldwide.

Perez Guadalupe said that while Prevost primarily remained focused on church matters in Peru, he was "very attentive to the reality" of the country.

In 2023, when violent anti-government protests following the ousting of then-president Pedro Castillo left 49 dead, Prevost told Peruvian media he felt "much sorrow and much pain".

That year, Pope Francis called Prevost to Rome to serve as the prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, the powerful head of the office that vets bishop nominations from around the world and one of the most important jobs in the Catholic Church. He was also appointed president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

Prevost said that he had asked Pope Francis to allow him to remain in Peru longer.

As he heard Prevost was the new pope, Thomas Nicolini, a Peruvian who studies economics in Rome, went to St Peter's Square.

He told the AP that Chiclayo is, "A beautiful area, but one of the regions that needs lots of hope."

"So, now I'm expecting that the new pope helps as many people as possible, and tries to reignite, let's say, the faith young people have lost."

Mexican beauty influencer shot dead during TikTok livestream

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg4rn0z1r6o, 4 days ago

A 23-year-old Mexican social media influencer has been shot dead while live streaming on TikTok, the state prosecutor's office said.

Valeria Marquez was killed when a man entered her beauty salon in the city of Guadalajara "and apparently fired a gun at her", according to the Jalisco state prosecutor's office.

The motive for the fatal attack has not been identified but the case is being investigated as a femicide - when women and girls are killed because of their gender, the state prosecutor said.

Gender-based violence is highly common in Mexico where the UN reports 10 women or girls are murdered every day by partners or family members.

Moments before her death, Ms Marquez was sitting at a table holding a stuffed animal at her beauty salon in the suburb of Zapopan doing a livestream.

Seconds later, she is shot dead, with the footage only ending when another person picks up her phone to stop the recording.

Local media reports say she was killed by a man pretending to bring her a gift.

Police arrived at the scene around 18:30 local time (00:30 GMT) and confirmed Ms Marquez's death, according to the state prosecutor.

The prosecutor's office did not name a suspect.

Fans of Ms Marquez, whose social media following totalled nearly 200,000 across TikTok and Instagram, have reacted with horror to her death.

The state prosecutor says forensic experts are investigating the shooting.

Alleged Iranian spies charged with targeting UK-based journalists

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04eze3wv5go, yesterday

Three alleged Iranian spies have appeared in court charged with targeting UK-based journalists so that "serious violence" could be inflicted on them.

Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55, all from London, appeared in custody at Westminster Magistrates' Court.

They are accused of targeting individual journalists working for Iran International, an independent media organisation based in London.

The three defendants were granted temporary leave to remain in the UK after claiming asylum. They arrived in the UK between 2016 and 2022. Mr Sepahvand arrived in 2016 concealed in a lorry. The other two arrived in small boats.

The three men are charged with committing offences under the National Security Act between 2024 and this year. They were arrested two weeks ago.

They are charged with engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service, namely that of Iran, in carrying out UK-related activities and knew or ought to have reasonably known their conduct was likely to assist a foreign intelligence service.

"Iran must be held to account for its actions," Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said in a statement following Saturday's charges.

She added: "We must also strengthen our powers to protect our national security as we will not tolerate growing state threats on our soil."

Mr Sepahvand, of St John's Wood, London is also charged with engaging in surveillance, reconnaissance and open-source research with the intention of committing serious violence against a person in the UK.

Mr Manesh, of Kensal Rise, London and Mr Noori, of Ealing, London are also charged with engaging in surveillance and reconnaissance with the intention that serious violence against a person in the UK would be committed by others.

A fourth man, 31, was arrested on 9 May as part of the investigation but was released without charge on Thursday, police said.

It is alleged the three men carried out surveillance with a view to locating journalists associated with Iran International.

Iran International produces coverage that is critical of the current regime in Iran and has been proscribed in Iran as a terrorist organisation.

The three defendants appeared in the dock wearing grey tracksuits flanked by eight guards. Mr Sepahvand was in a wheelchair.

No pleas were indicated by the men. District Judge Annabel Pilling remanded them in custody to appear the Old Bailey on 6 June.

Cdr Dominic Murphy, from the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command, said the "extremely serious" charges made on Saturday come follow "a very complex and fast-moving investigation".

He said detectives had been "working around the clock" since the men were arrested, and added that officers had been "in contact with the individuals directly affected".

Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS special crime and counter terrorism division, said: "It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings."

The arrest of the three men on 3 May came on the same day that five other Iranian men were detained in London, Swindon, Stockport, Rochdale and Manchester by police as part of a separate counter-terrorism investigation.

Four were released from custody on Saturday, with the fifth previously released on bail until an unspecified date in May. Cdr Murphy said "our investigation remains active and ongoing".

The police stressed that they were not treating the two investigations as linked.

Pregnant Israeli woman killed in West Bank shooting attack

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgq89yd7p7o, 4 days ago

A pregnant Israeli woman has been shot and killed in what Israeli authorities say was a terrorist attack in the north of the occupied West Bank.

Tzeela Gez, 30, was being driven to a hospital by her husband Hananel to give birth when a gunman opened fire on their car near their home in the settlement of Bruchin on Wednesday evening. Mrs Gez was critically wounded while Mr Gez was lightly wounded.

Doctors performed an emergency caesarean section and delivered the baby in a serious but stable condition. But they were unable to save Mrs Gez's life.

The Israeli military said its forces were pursuing the gunman. Troops reportedly surrounded the nearby Palestinian village of Bruqin afterwards.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was "deeply shocked by the horrific attack in [the northern West Bank] against a pregnant woman and her husband, while they were making their way to the delivery room".

"This despicable event reflects exactly the difference between us - those who cherish and bring life - and the despicable terrorists whose life's goal is to kill us and cut off lives," he added.

Defence minister Israel Katz said he had ordered the Israeli military to "identify the origin of the attackers and respond with maximum force".

There was no immediate claim from any Palestinian armed groups, but Hamas praised the attack as a "heroic" response to Israel's "escalating crimes and ongoing aggression against our people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank".

Hundreds of Palestinians and dozens of Israelis have been killed in a surge in violence in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas's deadly attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing some 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war.

The vast majority of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law - a position supported by an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last year - although Israel disputes this.

Israel qualifies for Eurovision final after protests disrupt rehearsal

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c780xn5p72jo, 3 days ago

Israel has qualified for Eurovision's grand final on Saturday, hours after protesters tried to disrupt the country's dress rehearsal.

Yuval Raphael, 24, was performing New Day Will Rise during a preview show on Thursday afternoon when six people with whistles and "oversized" Palestinian flags obstructed her act. Under the arena rules, all flags are allowed but there are limits on size.

Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR, which is organising the event, said the audience members were quickly ejected from the St Jakobshalle arena.

Israel's participation in Eurovision has been a source of controversy, as its military intensifies its bombardment of Gaza, and enforces blockades of all food and other humanitarian supplies.

In recent weeks, broadcasters in Spain, Ireland and Slovenia have called for a debate on Israel's involvement, and there have been small protests in the streets of Basel, Switzerland where this year's contest is taking place.

The incident during Thursday's dress rehearsal did not disrupt Raphael's performance, and her appearance in the televised semi-final passed without further demonstrations.

Speaking to the BBC earlier this week, Raphael said her team had played audience noises over her rehearsals, "so I can practise when there is distractions in the background."

The singer clasped her hands together, then blew a kiss towards the sky when it was announced she would progress to the final.

Despite the ongoing tension, her song is currently among the favourites to win, according to bookmakers.

Who qualified from the second semi-final?

* Armenia: PARG – SURVIVOR

* Austria: JJ – Wasted Love

* Denmark: Sissal – Hallucination

* Finland: Erika Vikman – ICH KOMME

* Greece: Klavdia – Asteromáta

* Israel: Yuval Raphael – New Day Will Rise

* Latvia: Tautumeitas – Bur Man Laimi

* Lithuania: Katarsis – Tavo Akys

* Luxembourg: Laura Thorn – La Poupée Monte Le Son (pictured)

* Malta: Miriana Conte – SERVING

The second semi-final also gave viewers their first chance to see the UK's act, Remember Monday.

The girl band delivered a whimsical staging of their song, What The Hell Just Happened? - dancing around a fallen chandelier in Bridgerton-inspired outfits, as they sang about a messy night on the tiles.

With effortless three-part harmonies, they put to rest the dodgy vocal performances that plagued Olly Alexander and Mae Muller in 2024 and 2023.

And they were spared the public vote, for now. The UK automatically qualifies for the final as one of the "Big Five" countries who make outsized financial contributions to Eurovision.

Swedish entry KAJ are currently favourites to win the 2025 contest, with their sweaty sauna anthem Bara Bada Bastu.

Austrian counter-tenor JJ, whose operatic pop song Wasted Love is the second favourite, was one of the 10 acts voted through after Thursday's show.

In an eye-catching performance, the 24-year-old was tossed around the stage in a rickety sailing boat, reflecting the turbulent emotional waters of his lyrics.

Elsewhere, the contest had all the traditional Eurovision trappings: Spandex, sequins, gale-force wind machines, and no fewer than 10 on-stage costume changes.

Among the more novel elements were a "sand tornado" during France's performance, and Maltese contestant Miriana Conte bouncing on a bright red medicine ball for her self-empowerment anthem, Serving.

Latvian folk band Tautumeitas took a more ethereal approach with their close-harmony incantation Bur Man Laimi, which literally translates as "a chant for happiness".

Dressed in gold bodysuits with branch and vine detailing, they transported the audience to an enchanted forest for a song that emphasised the connection between humanity and nature.

The band were considered an outlier for the final, but leapfrogged over higher profile songs from Ireland and Czechia - precisely because they stood out.

Also making a mark was Finnish singer Erika Vikman, who ended the show with a bang.

Her track Ich Komme is a sex-positive club anthem that saw with the singer rising above the audience astride a giant, fire-spouting golden microphone.

Like her, it soared into Saturday's grand final - where the song's predicted to land in the top 10.

Saturday's show will take place in Basel's St Jackobshalle from 20:00 BST / 21:00 Swiss time.

The ceremony will be broadcast live on BBC One and BBC Radio 2, with full live commentary on the BBC News website.

Trump's meeting with Sharaa, unthinkable just months ago, boosts Syrians' hopes

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9dqp842nl8o, 4 days ago

Donald Trump has said his administration is now exploring the possibility of normalising relations with Syria - his comments coming shortly after he met Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose forces ended the decades-long dictatorship of the Assad family.

The extraordinary encounter, unthinkable just months ago, was short but significant.

"I think he has got the potential," Trump remarked after his meeting in Riyadh, 37 minutes long, with the former Syrian fighter formerly linked to al-Qaeda.

The $10m US bounty on his head was only lifted in December.

Video footage of their conversation in a lavish Saudi royal palace showed some initial awkwardness as they spoke through a translator.

A beaming Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammad bin Salman, sat next to them. The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined them by telephone.

Trump acknowledged it was these two leaders who had convinced him to also lift the US's punishing Syria sanctions.

His sudden announcement on Tuesday night at a major US-Saudi investment forum in Riyadh won him a standing ovation. It was a volte-face after his many previous posts on social media that the US had "no interest in Syria".

"Tough guy, very strong past," is how Trump later described Sharaa to journalists travelling with his high-powered American delegation on his first official four-day tour.

It was a very Trump gloss about Sharaa's old links to al-Qaeda. His Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), was al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria until he severed ties in 2016. HTS is still designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN, US and UK.

Since assuming power in December, Sharaa has been wearing Western business suits and trying to present himself as a president for all Syrians.

"It's a new light at the end of this tunnel," exclaimed Hind Kabawat, minister of social affairs and labour, in the interim government.

She told the BBC's Newshour programme they had been calling for sanctions relief ever since their "Liberation Day".

The US decision sparked celebrations across a county where 90% of Syrians are said to be living in poverty, after more than a decade of civil war and profound suffering.

Removing restrictions which cut Syria off from the international financial system will enable greater engagement by aid agencies and encourage foreign investment and trade.

"We are the North Korea of the Middle East," a hotel receptionist in Damascus told me last December when I asked for another electronic hotel key.

He tearfully lamented that "we don't have enough cards, we have shortages of everything".

It may also help convince some of the millions of Syrians living in exile to think more seriously about returning home. And it could help a fledgling government to pay salaries, begin to rebuild, and address the growing discontent over the privations of daily life.

But dismantling the vast web of sanctions now strangling Syria will take time.

"Some sanctions can be removed immediately using presidential waivers," commented Dina Esfandiary of Bloomberg Economics.

"But lifting the multi-layered sanctions won't be easy and will require real commitment by the Trump administration."

I remember travelling to Tehran in the wake of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and the Obama administration's commitment to ease sanctions there.

At the news conference with the visiting EU's high representative for foreign policy, Iranian journalists kept asking, with palpable anguish, why it was still impossible for them even to open a bank account.

Syria's new friends, including regional powers like Saudi Arabia and Turkey, now positioning themselves to shape the new Syria, will need to ensure Trump and his team stay interested.

But he's made it clear he expects something in return if there is to be a full normalisation of relations. The first item on his list is "join the Abraham Accords".

The US president regards this process of normalisation with Israel, which several Arab states including the United Arab Emirates has joined, as one of his foreign policy achievements in his first term.

Sharaa, praised by his friends as pragmatic, has already signalled that he understands the importance of building a working relationship with his neighbour, even though Israel continues to bomb what it calls "terrorist targets" – air bases, military installations and weapons depots – insisting they could "fall into the wrong hands".

Last month, the Syrian leader reportedly told a visiting US congressman, Cory Mills, that Syria was prepared to normalise ties with Israel and join the Abraham Accords under "the right conditions".

Israeli media have reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had urged President Trump not to lift sanctions. He remains suspicious of Sharaa and his HTS forces, as well other groups which include foreign fighters in their ranks.

Removing foreign fighters is another of Washington's demands; it's one of the very many challenges now facing Syria's leader.

President Trump hailed this moment as "a chance at greatness". Millions of Syrians just welcome a greater chance that their lives will finally start changing for the better.

Iran using criminal gangs for hit jobs abroad, court papers show

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c308p0rjq9zo, 3 days ago

There has been a sharp rise in plots by the Iranian regime to kidnap or assassinate dissidents, journalists and political foes living abroad, according to reports by Western intelligence agencies.

These attempts have escalated dramatically since 2022, with even US President Donald Trump among the alleged targets. In the UK, police are questioning a number of Iranians arrested earlier this month on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack. The BBC understands the alleged target was the Israeli embassy in London.

And court documents from Turkey and the US - seen by BBC Eye Investigations and BBC Persian - contain evidence that Iran has been hiring criminal gangs to carry out killings on foreign soil, allegations the Iranian regime has previously denied. Iranian officials did not respond to a fresh request for a comment.

One name repeatedly surfaced in these documents: Naji Sharifi Zindashti, an Iranian criminal boss, known for international drug smuggling.

His name appeared in a Turkish indictment in connection with the 2017 killing in Istanbul of Saeed Karimian, the head of a Persian TV network that broadcast Western films and programmes to Iran.

Iranian authorities considered Karimian a threat to Islamic values, and three months before his assassination an Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran sentenced him in absentia to six years in prison.

US and Turkish officials believed his death was related to a mafia feud.

But when in 2019, Massoud Molavi, a defector from Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), was gunned down in Istanbul, it shed light on Zindashti's alleged role in Karimian's assassination.

Molavi had been exposing corruption at the highest levels of Iran's leadership. The Turkish police discovered Zindashti's gardener had been present at the scene of Molavi's assassination, and that his driver had been at Karimian's murder.

The police suspected the gardener and the driver had been sent by Zindashti.

Zindashti was arrested in connection with Karimian's death but was controversially released after just six months, causing a legal scandal in Turkey. A Higher Court judge ordered his rearrest but by then he had left the country.

He then fled to Iran, raising suspicions that he might have been working for Iranian intelligence all along.

Cengiz Erdinc, a Turkish investigative journalist, claims that when those out of favour with the Iranian regime are killed, Zindashti's men are at the scene. "It is not the first time, but there has always been a connection between organised crime and the intelligence agencies," he says.

Over three decades ago, he was convicted of drug smuggling in Iran and sentenced to death. But rumours suggested his escape from prison, which led him to Turkey, may have been orchestrated by Iranian intelligence.

"If someone sentenced to death in Iran escapes after killing a guard, they're unlikely to make it out alive - unless there's more to the story," says someone who knew Zindashti closely. The BBC is withholding their identity for their own safety.

"The only plausible way for him to return and live freely would be if he had been working for Iran's intelligence services, making his escape appear to be part of a planned cover story for intelligence work with Iran's security agencies and IRGC," they told BBC World Service.

People outside the UK can watch the documentary on YouTube

In 2020, Zindashti's name appeared again in a Turkish indictment in connection with the kidnapping of Habib Chaab, an Iranian dissident who was lured to Istanbul, abducted, and later paraded on Iranian state TV.

Chaab was sentenced to death and executed. Zindashti's nephew was arrested in Turkey in connection with Chaab's disappearance. Zindashti has denied having any role.

Then, in 2021, Zindashti was implicated in a plot in the United States. According to Minnesota court documents, communications between Zindashti and a Canadian affiliated with outlawed Hells Angels Motorcycle Club were logged in the indictment.

Zindashti allegedly offered $370,000 to have two Iranian defectors assassinated in Maryland. The FBI intervened and arrested two men before the attack could be carried out.

Our investigation into court documents also uncovered that the IRGC and its overseas operations arm, the Quds Force, have been working with criminal organisations like the Thieves-in-Law, a notorious international criminal gang from the former Soviet Union, to carry out kidnappings and assassinations.

US and Israeli intelligence sources say Unit 840 of the IRGC's Quds Force's main responsibility is to plan and establish terror infrastructure abroad.

In March, a New York jury convicted two men associated with the Thieves-in-Law for plotting to assassinate Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American activist. Iranian agents allegedly offered $500,000 for her killing. Just two years earlier, a man with a loaded gun had been arrested near her home in Brooklyn.

Following the 2020 assassination by the US of top IRGC commander General Qasem Soleimani, Iran vowed revenge. Since then, the US says Iran has been plotting to kill former members of the Trump administration involved in Soleimani's death, including former national security adviser John Bolton, and Mike Pompeo, former head of the CIA and secretary of state.

During last year's US presidential election, prosecutors accused Iran of plotting to assassinate Donald Trump, which Iran strongly denied.

In response to these growing threats, the US and UK have imposed sanctions on individuals linked to Iran's intelligence operations, including Zindashti, Iranian diplomats, and members of the IRGC.

Zindashti denies ever working for the Iranian intelligence service.

In 2024, Ken McCallum, the director of MI5 reported 20 credible threats against individuals in the UK linked to Iran.

In one case in West London, a Chechen man was arrested near Iran International, a Persian-language TV station in London. He was convicted of gathering information for Iranian agents.

Last year, Pouria Zerati, a London-based presenter for Iran International, was attacked with a knife. Soon after, two men were arrested in Romania at the request of UK counter-terrorism police.

Sources in the UK security services told the BBC these men were part of the Thieves-in-Law, allegedly hired by Iranian agents.

Sima Sabet, a presenter for Iran International, was one of the targets, but an attempt to blow up her car failed.

"When they realised they couldn't attach a bomb to my car, the agents told the man to finish the job quietly," says Sima, who has seen the police file, says. "He asked how quietly, and they replied, 'As quiet as a kitchen knife.'"

After the assassination of four Iranian Kurdish leaders by masked gunmen in a restaurant in Berlin in 1992, German prosecutors blamed the entire Iranian leadership for the killings. The attack was carried out by Iranian agents and members of the Iran-backed Lebanese Shia Hezbollah movement.

An international arrest warrant was issued for Iran's intelligence minister, and a court declared that the assassination had been ordered with the knowledge of Iran's Supreme Leader and president.

Since then, it seems the Iranian regime has been hiring criminal organisations to carry out kidnappings and killings in an attempt to avoid linking the attacks back to the regime.

But Matt Jukes, the UK's Head of Counter Terrorism Policing, says it is relatively easy for police to infiltrate criminal groups because they are not ideologically aligned with the Iranian regime.

It is what he calls a "creeping penetration" by Iran, which the police are trying to disrupt.

'I'm overjoyed to be back': Syrians face daunting rebuild after years of war

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyg20822j7o, 4 days ago

To the blast of a trumpet and the beating of drums, Fatima Hazzouri has come home.

Thirteen years after civil war forced her to leave, she's back in her native city, Homs in Syria, blinking in the sunshine as she steps off a bus crammed with returning women and children, part of a long convoy of coaches and trucks.

In a central square, they're greeted ecstatically by musicians and dancers in embroidered silk shirts.

Fatima is one of the seven million Syrians who were displaced within their country by the conflict between the government of former President Bashar al-Assad and rebel forces. It began in 2011 and finally ended with a rebel victory in December 2024. A further six million people fled abroad in those years. In total, more than half the population was forced to move.

Bringing them back is perhaps the biggest challenge Syria now faces - because many no longer have a home to return to. But now, following President Donald Trump's decision to lift US sanctions on Syria, there's suddenly new hope that the shattered country can be rebuilt.

"I'm overjoyed to be back," Fatima says. She shrieks in delight. The 124 families returning in the convoy have come from the north of Syria, where millions of displaced people live in tents and makeshift shelters. They've been on the road for eight exhausting hours - but it won't be an easy homecoming.

Homs, Syria's third largest city, saw some of the fiercest fighting of the war. Whole districts are still in ruins. In 2012, two rockets fired by government forces slammed into Fatima's house, largely destroying it.

Fatima jostles to get free food and clothing provided by the private Dubai-based charity Waqf al-Farah, which organised the convoy. Then she heads for the flat her family is renting until they can repair their old home. Like the other men in the convoy, her son-in-law Abdulrazaq has gone ahead, riding on top of the family's possessions piled high on a truck.

When Fatima arrives, mattresses, carpets, pots and pans are already being hauled through an upstairs window.

In the north, Fatima got occasional work picking grapes or olives. Abdulrazaq was a teacher. But he doesn't know whether he'll get work in Homs to help pay the rent for the flat.

"I don't know what our future will be," he says. "We'll wait for the new government to decide."

"The biggest problem we have is lack of jobs," says Khalifa al-Hakmi, who helped organise the convoy. "People have nothing to do when they come back."

Providing work is just part of the huge task faced by Syria's new rulers, the former Islamist rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), as they try to rebuild the country.

Three million homes were destroyed. Essential services are lacking in many places. Homs, like most parts of Syria, gets only a few hours of electricity a day.

So far neither the government nor international agencies have put forward any comprehensive plan for resettling refugees. But the end of the crippling sanctions originally imposed on Syria by the US under the Assad regime means the country can again become part of the international banking system – and the economy can start to revive.

For now, though, returnees still have to fend for themselves. Yasir al-Nagdali and his mother Siham returned to Homs three years ago. Their house was a shell. But now they've replaced the windows and the ceiling and Yasir - a trained carpenter - has made their flat homely again.

There's even a canary in a cage. Keeping birds is Yasir's hobby. He can't forget how they escaped at the height of the battle for Homs. They crawled on their hands and knees as regime soldiers raked their street with machine-gun fire.

But Siham also remembers happier times in the house – such as when she got married at the age of 14. In those days, she says, there were belly-dancers at weddings – and she wore 12 different dresses, singing a song each time she changed.

For others in Homs, there's no happy return. Artist Samira Madwar sees no prospect of repairing the flat she grew up in. It was shelled, then burned, and looted by government forces.

Samira now lives on the outskirts of the city. She bursts into tears when she sees the state of her beloved old home. Amid the rubble and broken plaster littering the floor, she finds old family photographs – and the remains of a book she wrote, that falls apart when she picks up.

"In my brain, there is a hole," she says. "My paintings, my books – everything - they took it, and left us without a memory about our life."

Despite everything, Samira stayed in Syria throughout the war. But many of her friends left the country. One was Ammar Azzouz. He trained as an architect in Homs and now researches at the University of Oxford in the UK. He's overwhelmed with emotions after coming back to his city for the first time since 2011.

"I was aching for this day when I can walk the streets, touch the stones, meet the people, look at their faces, struggling to understand the scale of loss and grief," he says.

But like many other Syrians who've successfully started new lives abroad, he's thinking of dividing his time between his native and adopted countries, rather than returning permanently.

"Many people are describing it as the honeymoon period," Ammar says, talking about the first months after the fall of Assad.

"There's a new energy and excitement and hope and optimism. At the same time, the reality is harsh. But I think building bridges between those who are outside and inside would be fascinating, because they bring in new skills, opportunities, networks and knowledge that we need so much."

Rebuilding Syria will require all those things - and huge financial input. The United Nations estimates that 90 percent of Syrians now live below the poverty line – that's less than $2.15 USD a day.

After the family's belongings have been unloaded at their new, temporary home, Fatima goes back to visit her old house. Only two rooms are habitable, and two of her children are already living there. Just building a roof and tiling the floor would cost about $6-7,000 USD, she says. She can't imagine where such money would come from.

But today, after 13 years away, she just wants to celebrate.

'I've practised being booed', Israel's Eurovision entry who survived Hamas attack tells BBC

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp92zjejzvyo, 6 days ago

Yuval Raphael never dreamt she'd be at Eurovision.

The last major music event she attended was the Nova festival, in Israel, where she was nearly killed. On 7 October 2023, the singer fled the festival when Hamas gunmen started shooting.

Now she's preparing to go on stage at the world's largest music event.

"It's something I deal with every day," she told the BBC. "It feels like a personal win, just to be having this experience and representing my country and doing it with such pride."

On that day - one and a half years ago - Ms Raphael was attending her first outdoor rave. As rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel, and Hamas gunmen started shooting at revellers, she attempted to flee the carnage.

She and her friends took refuge in a concrete bomb shelter at the side of a road. Around 50 people were crammed in, lying on top of each other.

But there was no escape as the gunmen shot repeatedly into the mass of bodies in the shelter and then threw in hand grenades.

Ms Raphael managed to call her father in tears, as heard in a recording played in an Israeli documentary. "Dad, lots of people are dead. Send the police here. Please dad, send the police, it's urgent.. they're crushing me," she said.

"Be quiet," he replied. "Yuvali my daughter. Yuvali, breathe deep. Hide. Play dead."

"Bye," she said, thinking that was the end.

Ms Raphael was one of only 11 people in the shelter to survive. She hid under a pile of dead bodies for eight hours until they were rescued.

That day, around 1,200 people were killed by gunmen led by Hamas, and 251 were taken hostage.

Ms Raphael's professional singing career started after the attack. "I wished for myself to be happy and to really understand the gift that I had been given, and that's to live," she says. "To have more experiences, to be happy and to live fully."

On Thursday, the 24-year-old will sing her song, New Day Will Rise, at the Eurovision semi-final with shrapnel still in her leg.

The rules of the European Broadcasting Union – which is in charge of Eurovision – means no political statements can be made. The singer won't describe what happened to her at Nova during the run-up to the competition. She previously gave testimony about her experience to the United Nations.

The Israeli entrant has had to contend with protests about her country's participation in the song contest.

Irish national broadcaster RTÉ asked the EBU for a discussion on Israel's inclusion. Its director general, Kevin Bakhurst, said he was "appalled by the ongoing events in the Middle East and by the horrific impact on civilians in Gaza, and the fate of Israeli hostages". Spain and Slovenia's broadcasters also asked for a discussion.

Last week, more than 70 former Eurovision contestants signed a letter calling on the organisers to ban Israel from the competition.

More than 52,800 people have been killed in Gaza since the 7 October attacks, including 2,700 since the Israeli offensive resumed, according to the territory's health ministry.

In previous years, other countries have been banned from the contest. Belarus was suspended in 2021 after submitting an overtly political entry and a year later Russia was barred over the war in Ukraine.

Ms Raphael said she was trying not to deal with those who say her country shouldn't be competing. "Everybody has opinions," she said. "I'm really putting everything aside and just concentrating on the most important thing. The slogan this year is 'united by music' and that's what we are here for."

Eurovision said it understood the concerns and views about the current situation in the Middle East, but insisted members should ensure Eurovision remained a "universal event that promotes connections, diversity and inclusion through music".

Nevertheless, Israeli fans have been warned by their country's National Security Council not to wear Jewish or Israeli symbols while attending Eurovision.

On Sunday, during the Eurovision opening parade in the Swiss host city of Basel, the Israeli broadcasting delegation made a complaint to the police and the EBU after accusing a pro-Palestinian demonstrator of making a throat-slitting gesture and spitting at the delegation.

"It was scary at times, even uncomfortable, but it makes me keep reminding myself why I'm here and my agenda, which is spreading as much love as I can and bringing pride to my country," Ms Raphael said.

Last year, the Israeli singer Eden Golan, who said she received death threats, was booed as she sang. "I think I'm expecting it," admitted Ms Raphael, when she was asked if she too anticipated booing. "But we are here to sing and I'm going to sing my heart out for everyone."

She said they had done a few rehearsals with sounds in the background so she could practise with distractions. Asked if that was upsetting, she told the BBC she had a lot of emotions she was putting aside to stay focused.

"I really think I have a lot of weight on my shoulders, I have a very big responsibility. I have a lot of people at home that are expecting something."

No sequins or dancing at EU summit - but it'll be an extravaganza nonetheless

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c706kg63gz6o, yesterday

Stand by for a dazzling European event. Cameras everywhere. Famous faces. Red carpets.

No, not Eurovision in all its noisy glory, but the first European summit of what the prime minister hopes will be a new era, where governments around the continent concentrate not on instant verdicts – douze points or nul points – but on creating long-term relationships that make life easier.

The UK is hoping to show that just as you don't have to be European to enjoy Eurovision, you don't have to be in the European Union (EU) to get some of the benefits of the club.

Expectations of Monday's summit are high. One minister joked they hope you'll "Remember Monday" – get it? It's a moment to fix what they consider were the mistakes of Boris Johnson's Brexit deal.

It's the first formal summit for European leaders since Brexit, and Downing Street is going for the full extravaganza: the grandeur of London's Lancaster House, a warship brought up the Thames to be shown off and used as a lunch venue, then, it's hoped, even a press conference in the Downing Street Rose Garden. "It's clearly designed for the telly – everyone will be there apart from the King and Paddington Bear," said a diplomatic source about the plans.

The atmosphere is entirely different to the last time the UK and the EU circled each other at a formal summit. The two main negotiators – Nick Thomas-Symonds for the UK, who'll join us in the studio on Sunday, and the EU's Maros Sefcovic – have struck a friendly partnership, sinking wine (Slovakian reds) and whisky (Welsh).

What's the actual point of the summit? In private, government insiders are not expecting a giant whizz-bang new deal with our closest trading partners. The public gave Labour permission to improve the existing Brexit agreement in the general election but not totally rewrite it, and the EU doesn't have the mandate from its members to draft something totally new either. Be on guard for any declarations of a heroic or profound shift.

But it's a significant moment nonetheless, after all those years of bitterness and brinkmanship, and the government hopes there will be meaningful agreements, particularly on defence, opening up billions of euros to UK firms, and tidying up some of the existing cooperation between the UK and EU countries on security.

Expect an easing of the admin hassles Brexit created for farmers and the food industry – sanitary and phytosanitary arrangements, or SPS to use the horrendous jargon.

There will be important commitments – diplomatic language at least – on energy, on migration, agriculture, on data sharing, the list goes on. My colleague Damian Grammaticas has taken a closer look at some of the issues here.

In the classic tradition of UK-EU negotiations, though, there is heavy briefing from sources on both sides that it's "going to the wire". Will there be a deal to allow young Brits and EU citizens to live and work more easily in each other's countries? Sir Keir Starmer has insisted that such a scheme would not amount to a return to pre-Brexit freedom of movement, and that it would be a "reciprocal" arrangement in which young people would be able to move abroad for up to two years (the EU has been pushing for stays as long as four years to be allowed).

As I write I'm told only an "agreement in principle", not the real final deal, will be ready for Monday.

Will the French (who sources are referring to when they talk diplomatically about "coastal states") relent on demands for more protection for their fishing fleets in return for giving the UK the kind of favours it wants? "The French have been trying to link fish to lots of things," a source close to the talks says – it might be five years since we left the EU, but maybe the more things change, the more things stay the same.

Indeed, just like on so many occasions during the Brexit wrangles, as we go on air this weekend, EU ambassadors will be gathering at their COREPER (Comité des représentants permanents) meeting to go through the agreement. Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. And even then, agreements in principle will leave many details to be hammered out in the weeks and months to come.

For the UK government, agreement of any sort means "we'll have scored the hat trick", says one minister. No one in government would dream that Monday will mean an end to their domestic woes, but a trade deal with India, an agreement with the US, and then the EU gives evidence of progress, and insiders hope it could build on a sense that Sir Keir's operation and the economy has picked up some pace.

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"It's not just about the footnotes of a trade agreement – it's also about the vibes," says a government source. Put three deals together with better growth figures last week and maybe, just maybe, the doom generated in part by Downing Street itself is fading.

But not so fast! It will be imperative to look at the footnotes of any text that emerges on Monday. Cash and the power of the EU courts were both toxic issues during the Brexit era – so what extra cash might the UK be asked to contribute if it's joining in with some EU schemes? Access won't come for free, though I'm told the UK would not contribute to the overall EU budget. And to what extent will the UK be expected to accept authority of EU rules?

There are clear political sensitivities around any sense the government is giving too much back to Brussels. Ministers hope to be able to outline extra cooperation to combat illegal migration, and to present the changes as practical measures to make the existing arrangements work better: not the kind of deal that would excite Remainers' hearts, nor anger Brexiteers.

Sir Keir's promise of a "reset" with the EU may not quicken the pulse, but his team hopes that it will be "another delivery moment" – in other words, another chance for them to say to a cynical and obviously disappointed public: look, we said we'd get a more sensible deal with the EU after all that Brexit hassle, and that's what we've done.

The irony is that the man who was once seen as Labour's Remainer-in-Chief is now, as prime minister, trying to fill in the blanks and smooth the many wrinkles of the Conservatives' original Brexit deal. "It might be a broken record," says a diplomatic source, "but at least they are trying to fix it".

Monday might not have the sequins and screeching choruses of tonight's Eurovision, the inexplicable dance routines or pyrotechnics, but it will be a show no less. The source adds: "Maybe it will be Starmer who will drive some sort of Humvee that says 'got Brexit done' on the side."

Sir John Curtice: The map that shows Reform's triumph was much more than a protest vote

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yg467m8mjo, 12 days ago

At the 2024 general election Reform secured 14% of the vote but just 5 out of 650 seats at Westminster. But crucially, being ahead of everyone else in 2025 ensured the first-past-the-post election system helped Reform.

Its tally of 677 council seats represented 41% of all those being contested on Thursday, 10 points above its share of the vote, a nod to both the nature of the voting system and Reform's ability to cluster votes. That boost helped the party win control of as many as 10 councils, something that Reform's predecessor, UKIP, never managed at the height of its popularity in the run up to the 2015 general election.

In Staffordshire, Reform won 72% of the seats on 41% of the vote. In Kent, 37% of the vote delivered it 70% of the seats, while in Derbyshire the same share was rewarded with 66% of all the councillors.

Instead of insulating Conservative and Labour from the impact of a third-party challenge, as it has done so often before, first past the post exacerbated their losses. In both cases Reform took nearly half of all the seats those parties were defending.

The map above is the most detailed local election mapping ever produced by the BBC. It details the strength of the Reform vote in every ward that voted on Thursday and shows support for Reform varied considerably.

That variation has some striking and important features. They suggest the party was particularly popular among those who voted for Brexit in 2016 and for Boris Johnson in 2019 - and that Reform's success cannot simply be dismissed as a short-lived protest vote.

Brexit still a fault line

Reflecting the party's anti-EU stance, Reform did much better in wards that voted heavily for Leave in the 2016 EU referendum than it did in wards that backed Remain.

In wards where more than 65% voted Leave in 2016, Reform won on average as much as 45% of the vote. In contrast, in places where a majority backed Remain, only 19% voted for Reform.

Although talked about much less by politicians nowadays, Brexit is still an important fault line in our politics. Reform's appeal is significantly concentrated among those who believe the Brexit decision was right.

Even so, the fact that even in pro-Remain wards the party was able to win as much as a fifth of the vote was testimony to the scale of the swing that it enjoyed on Thursday.

The Brexit division is also evident in the demographic character of the places where Reform did best and those where it did less well.

University graduates and those in professional and managerial jobs were least likely to vote for Brexit in 2016. Reform found it more difficult to do well in places where they are most numerous.

Reform won 39% of the vote in heavily working-class wards but only 19% in the most middle-class ones.

The map shows Reform's highest vote of all (65.1%) was in Thornley & Wheatley Hill, situated in Tony Blair's former Sedgefield constituency in Durham and once a centre of coal mining. Next highest was Romney Marsh in Kent and Chadsmoor in Staffordshire.

Meanwhile, support for the party averaged 43% in wards where more than half of adults have few, if any, educational qualifications. In contrast, it polled just 19% where more than two in five have a degree.

Reform's lowest share of the vote, 3.7%, was in the Parks ward in Oxford, situated in the heart of the famous university city.

Immigration is also a key issue for Reform. However, this perhaps makes the party less appealing to those from a minority background.

Certainly, on average the party only polled 22% in wards where more than one in five identify as other than 'white', compared with a tally of 33% in places where more than 95% told the 2021 Census that they were 'white'.

In summary, Reform did best in what has sometimes been characterised in the wake of the Brexit referendum as 'left-behind' Britain – places that have profited less from globalisation and university expansion and where a more conservative outlook on immigration is more common.

A problem for the two main parties

Neither the Conservatives nor Labour are likely to recover from the drubbing they received on Thursday unless they can appeal more to this slice of Britain.

Although polls indicate that Reform finds it easier to win over former Conservative voters than their Labour counterparts, Reform's average share of the vote was strikingly just as high in wards that Labour were defending as it was in places that the Conservatives were trying to retain.

The party on average won 32% of the vote in previously Labour wards and 32% in Conservative ones.

As a result, Labour lost seats to Reform at much the same rate as the Conservatives, a pattern that cost Labour control of the one council they were defending, Doncaster.

In contrast, Reform's advance was more muted in wards that the Liberal Democrats and the Greens were defending. The party's average share in these wards was just 22%. As a result, Reform had relatively little success in taking seats from these two parties.

Liberal Democrat and Green wards – unlike many Conservative and Labour ones - are heavily populated by university graduates.

Reform's success on Thursday undoubtedly reflects the mood of an electorate that still has little faith in the Conservatives and which now is disappointed by Labour's performance in office.

However, it is evidently proving most popular in a very distinctive part of Britain that overturned the political tables a decade ago in voting for Brexit - and which now has done so again.

John Curtice is Professor of Politics, University of Strathclyde, and Senior Fellow, National Centre for Social Research and 'The UK in a Changing Europe'.

Analysis by Patrick English, Steve Fisher, Robert Ford, and Lotte Hargrave

Map produced by Libby Rogers, Muskeen Liddar, Jess Carr and Callum Thomson

Correction 7 May: In an earlier version of the map, the vote share figures for Romney Marsh and Chadmoor were transposed. We have updated the graphic and text to correct this.

Joe Biden on Trump: 'What president ever talks like that? That's not who we are'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89g491e8ewo, 12 days ago

In an exclusive and remarkably candid interview - the first since he left office - Joe Biden discusses what he really thinks of his successor's first 100 days, plus his fears for the future if the Atlantic Alliance collapses

It is hard to believe that the man I greet in the Delaware hotel where he launched his political career more than half a century ago was the "leader of the free world" little over 100 days ago.

Joe Biden is still surrounded by all the trappings of power – the black SUVs, the security guys with curly earpieces, the sniffer dogs sent ahead to sweep the room for explosives. And yet he has spent the last three months watching much of what he believes in being swept away by his successor.

Donald Trump has deployed the name Biden again and again - it is his political weapon of choice. One recent analysis showed that Trump said or wrote the name Biden at least 580 times in those first 100 days in office. Having claimed that rises in share prices were "Trump's stock market" at work, he later blamed sharp falls in share prices on "Biden's stock market".

Until this week, President Biden himself (former presidents keep their titles after they leave office) has largely observed the convention that former presidents do not criticise their successors at the start of their time in office. But from the moment we shake hands it is clear that he is determined to have his say too.

* Political Thinking with Nick Robinson: Listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds, or watch on BBC iPlayer or on YouTube

After just over 100 action-packed days of Trump there was no shortage of targets for President Biden to choose from.

But his main concern appears to be on the international stage, rather than the domestic one: that is, the threat he believes now faces the alliance between the United States and Europe which, as he puts it, secured peace, freedom and democracy for eight decades.

"Grave concerns" about the Atlantic Alliance

Just before our interview, which took place days before the 80th anniversary of VE Day, Biden took a large gold coin out of his pocket and pressed it into my hand. It was a souvenir of last year's D-Day commemoration. Biden believes that the speech he delivered on that beach in Normandy is one of his most important. In it, he declared that the men who fought and died "knew – beyond any doubt – that there are things worth fighting and dying for".

I ask him whether he feels that message about sacrifice is in danger of being forgotten in America. Not by the people, he replies but, yes, by the leadership. It is, he says, a "grave concern" that the Atlantic Alliance is seen to be dying.

"I think it would change the modern history of the world if that occurs," he argues.

"We're the only nation in a position to have the capacity to bring people together, [to] lead the world. Otherwise you're going to have China and the former Soviet Union, Russia, stepping up."

Now more than ever before that Alliance is being questioned. One leading former NATO figure told the BBC this week that the VE Day celebrations felt more like a funeral. President Trump has complained that the United States is being "ripped off" by her allies, Vice President JD Vance has said that America is "bailing out" Europe whilst Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has insisted that Europe is "free-loading".

Biden calls the pledge all members of Nato - the Atlantic Alliance - make "to defend each and every inch of Nato territory with the full force of our collective power" a "sacred obligation".

"I fear that our allies around the world are going to begin to doubt whether we're going to stay where we've always been for the last 80 years," Biden says.

Under his presidency, both Finland and Sweden joined Nato - something he thinks made the alliance stronger. "We did all that - and in four years we've got a guy who wants to walk away from it all.

"I'm worried that Europe is going to lose confidence in the certainty of America, and the leadership of America in the world, to deal with not only Nato, but other matters that are of consequence."

Biden, the "addled old man"?

I meet President Biden in the place he has called home since he was a boy, the city of Wilmington in Delaware. It is an hour and a half Amtrak train ride from Washington DC, a journey he has been making for 50 years since becoming a Senator at the age of just 30. He has spent more years in government than any other president.

He was 82 when he left the Oval Office. His age has invited no end of scrutiny - an "at times addled old man" is how the journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson describe him in their book, Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.

His calamitous live TV debate performance last June prompted further questions, as Biden stumbled over his words, lost his thread mid-sentence and boasted, somewhat bafflingly, that "We finally beat Medicare!". He withdrew from the election campaign soon after.

Today, Biden is still warm and charismatic, with the folksy charm that made him an election winner but he is a much slower, quieter and more hesitant version of the leader he was once. Meeting with him in person, I found it hard to imagine he could have served for another four years in the White House, taking him closer to the age of 90.

I ask Biden if he's now had to think again about his decisions last year. He pulled out of the presidential race just 107 days before election day, leaving Kamala Harris limited time to put together her own campaign.

"I don't think it would have mattered," he says. "We left at a time when we had a good candidate, she was fully funded.

"What we had set out to do, no-one thought we could do," he continues. "And we had become so successful in our agenda, it was hard to say, 'No, I'm going to stop now'... It was a hard decision."

One he regrets? Surely withdrawing earlier could have given someone else a greater chance?

"No, I think it was the right decision." He pauses. "I think that… Well, it was just a difficult decision."

Trump is "not behaving like a Republican president"

Biden says he went into politics to fight injustice and to this day has lost none of his appetite for the fight. Last year at the D-Day celebrations he warned: "We're living in a time when democracy is more at risk across the world than at any point since the end of World War Two."

Today, he expands on this: "Look at the number of European leaders and European countries that are wondering, Well what do I do now? What's the best route for me to take? Can I rely on the United States? Are they going to be there?"

"Instead of democracy expanding around the world, [it's] receding. Democracy - every generation has to fight for it."

Speaking in Chicago recently, Biden declared that "nobody's king" in America. I asked him if he thinks President Trump is behaving more like a monarch than a constitutionally limited president.

He chooses his reply carefully. "He's not behaving like a Republican president," he says.

Though later in our interview, Biden admits he's less worried about the future of US democracy than he used to be, "because I think the Republican Party is waking up to what Trump is about".

"Anybody who thinks Putin's going to stop is foolish"

President Biden relished his role as the leading figure in Nato, deploying normally top secret intelligence to tell a sceptical world back in 2022 that Vladimir Putin was about to launch a full scale invasion of Ukraine.

Since taking office President Trump has charted a different course, telling Ukraine that it must consider giving up territory to Russia if it wants the war to end.

"It is modern day appeasement," Biden says of Trump's approach.

Putin, he says, sees Ukraine as "part of Mother Russia. He believes he has historical rights to Ukraine... He can't stand the fact that […] the Soviet Union has collapsed. And anybody who thinks he's going to stop is just foolish."

He fears that Trump's approach might signal to other European countries that it's time to give in to Russia.

Yet Biden has faced accusations against him concerning the Ukraine War. Some in Kyiv and her allies, as well as some in the UK, claim that he gave President Zelensky just enough support to resist invasion but not enough to defeat Russia, perhaps out of fear that Putin would consider using nuclear weapons if cornered.

When Putin was asked point blank on TV this week whether he would use nuclear weapons to win the war, he declared that he hoped that they would "not be necessary," adding that he had the means to bring the war to what he called his "logical conclusion".

I point out to Biden that it has been argued that he didn't have the courage to go all the way to give Ukraine the weapons it needed - to let Ukraine win.

"We gave them [Ukraine] everything they needed to provide for their independence," Biden argues. "And we were prepared to respond more aggressively if in fact Putin moved again."

He says he was keen to avoid the prospect of "World War Three, with nuclear powers," adding: "And we did avoid it.

"What would Putin do if things got really tough for him?" he continues. "Threaten the use of tactical nuclear weapons. This is not a game or roulette."

Biden's belief in the Atlantic Alliance - as the last living President born during World War Two - is clearly undiminished.

When he first arrived in the Oval Office, Biden hung a portrait of America's wartime leader Franklin D. Roosevelt on the wall. He was born two and a half years before the defeat of the Nazis, into the world FDR helped to create - a world of American global leadership and solidarity. But the United States voted to reject Biden's policies and values and instead to endorse Donald Trump's call to put America First.

The world is changing from what people like Joe Biden have taken for granted.

"Every generation has to fight to maintain democracy, every one," Biden says. "Every one's going to be challenged.

"We've done it well for the last 80 years. And I'm worried there's the loss of understanding of the consequences of that."

This interview broadcasts on BBC Radio 4's Today on 7 May. You can hear it later on BBC Sounds. Listen to the full version on Political Thinking with Nick Robinson: The Joe Biden One, also on BBC Sounds.

The divides behind the scenes in the Vatican ahead of the conclave

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2de9d8dky0o, 12 days ago

The Vatican's Santa Marta guesthouse has 128 rooms. From 7 May, it will be filled with cardinals participating in the conclave to elect the next Pope. But one room in the guesthouse is still sealed with a red ribbon, as it has been since its occupant died there on Easter Monday.

That suite will only be reopened when the new pope is chosen. The ribbon remains a tangible reminder of the man whose shoes the cardinals are looking to fill – but Pope Francis' presence looms large over this conclave in many profound ways.

He spent 12 years in the role and appointed around 80% of the cardinals who will select his successor. He also looked to radically shake up the workings of the Catholic Church, moving its centre of gravity away from its hierarchy at the Vatican in the direction of the rank-and-file faithful all over the world, and focused on the poor and marginalised.

My conversations with cardinals and those assessing the needs of the Church in the days leading to this papal election almost always end up looking at what is required through the prism of what Pope Francis did in the role.

While in recent days there appears to have been a growing coalescence around the idea that Francis' work should be built on, some of his critics remain far from convinced. So might there be enough of them to sway the vote as the Church attempts to reconcile the different outlooks and realities it faces around the globe?

A most diverse conclave

During the two weeks that followed the Pope's death, the cardinals met almost daily at the Vatican for pre-conclave gatherings known as general congregations.

While the conclave in the Sistine Chapel is limited to cardinals who haven't yet reached the age of 80 (133 will participate in this one), these preliminary meetings are open to all 252 cardinals. Each attendee was given up to five minutes to air their views, though we know that some took longer.

It was during such a meeting ahead of the last conclave of 2013, in a speech lasting less than four minutes, that Pope Francis - then known as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina - made an impact, talking of a need to connect with those in the far reaches of the Catholic world.

As Pope, he made a conscious drive to appoint cardinals from such places. It is why this is the most diverse conclave there has ever been. For the first time Cape Verde, Haiti, South Sudan, Tonga, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea and Rwanda will be represented.

That diversity has already made its mark: the pre-conclave meetings are said to have brought to the fore just how different the needs of the Church appear to be depending on where in the world they are viewed.

In Europe, for example, a primary consideration for some might be finding ways to reinvigorate and make relevant the mission of the Church in the face of shrinking congregations, whereas elsewhere - in African or Asian countries - concerns may revolve around social issues, poverty and conflict resolution.

A prospective pope is likely to be one who has at least shown recognition of those very different realities.

Spiritual leader, statesman, global influencer

The official titles that the new pope will inherit gives a sense of the breadth of the role: Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Sovereign of the State of Vatican City among them.

While some relate to the deeply spiritual, the last of those titles suggests the need for a statesman too, given that the pope is leader of a country, albeit the world's smallest.

"Unlike your average state, the agenda of the Vatican is driven to an extent by where the pope reigning at the time puts their emphasis," says Chris Trott, British ambassador to the Holy See. "On the face of it a very tiny state, [but it is] one that punches many, many times above its weight.

"And Pope Francis had 50 million followers on Twitter, so [it is] a very, very small state and an incredible global influencer."

Pope Francis chose to amplify this part of the role, becoming a powerful global spokesman on behalf of those on the margins, including the poor and victims of war.

He also tried to play the role of peacemaker, though not everyone thought he was successful in that regard, in relation to China and Russia in particular.

According to Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the most senior Catholic figure in England and Wales, this expansion of the role is one reason so many even outside the faith are invested in the outcome of the conclave.

"There is a sense that the Pope in the person of Pope Francis became a figure who addressed everybody in the world… religious people and even those who do not have a religious affiliation," he says.

"I'm more and more aware that it's not just Catholics who are interested in this."

Confusion around Pope Francis' vision

For many voting cardinals, it is primarily issues within the Catholic Church that are under the spotlight, which brings about the question of the type of pope they want as a manager, and someone who runs the Church's administrative body and its ministries.

While Pope Francis worked on improving the way the Church deals with the huge issues of sexual abuse and of financial corruption, it is his successor who will have to ensure that reforms are evenly applied across the Catholic world.

Even supporters of Pope Francis' efforts to make changes to the way the Church relates to its rank-and-file believers, and the way he built bridges with those outside the faith, were sometimes left confused about how exactly he envisioned things should work.

Pope Francis changed the tone on social issues through comments he made, talking openly about subjects ranging from climate change to financial transparency within the Vatican. But throughout his papacy, some were unclear about what he meant or how it would be applied.

One mission he had was to take some of the power and decision-making away from the Vatican hierarchy and into the hands of rank-and-file Catholics.

Over nearly four years, at great effort, he commissioned what was, in effect, a poll of many of the world's Catholics to find out what mattered to them. Lay people were invited to participate in the most recent bishop's conference where the results of the survey were discussed.

The biggest issues raised related to greater roles for women in the running of the church and welcoming LGBT+ Catholics. But the meeting ended in some confusion, with little in the form of tangible steps forward and little clarity as to how lay people will help steer the future direction of the Church.

So, there is a general keenness for greater clarity from the new pope.

An ugly divide: supporters and detractors

Throughout his pontificate, some vocal traditionalists opposed what they saw as Pope Francis straying from Church teaching and long-standing tradition.

In the pre-conclave meetings of cardinals, a number of those over the age of 80 (who because of their age would not be involved in voting) took the opportunity to play their part.

Most contributions remained secret, but one that was reported was that of 83-year-old Italian cardinal, Beniamino Stella. He criticised Pope Francis for "imposing his own ideas" by attempting to move Church governance away from the clergy.

And yet during the homily, or religious speech, at Pope Francis' funeral, what appeared to resonate with the public in attendance – judging by the volume of the applause – was talk of the themes Francis chose to champion: the dignity of migrants, an end to war, and the environment.

This applause would have been heard loud and clear by the rows of cardinals.

In some senses, Pope Francis did have clarity in focusing on the Church being relevant to people in their daily lives and, indeed, their struggles. He was clear about connecting with the world outside the faith too.

"There is a sense that in the voice of the pope, there's a voice of something that is needed," says Cardinal Nichols. "For some people it's a moral compass, for some people it's the sense of being accepted, for some people it's the insistence that we must look at things from the point of view of the poorest.

"That's a voice that has fallen silent and our task is to find someone who can carry that forward."

From the death of Pope Francis to the moment cardinals checked into the Santa Marta guesthouse and its overflow residences, there appeared to be a trend towards a desire for continuity of what Pope Francis had achieved.

Though perhaps that vision of continuity is one that could bring along more of his sceptics, in a way that was pragmatic. The word "unity" has been talked of a lot, after a period where the divides between supporters and detractors of the Pope's vision could sometimes become ugly.

But in the end, when they step into the Sistine Chapel, the holiest of voting chambers, for all the pragmatism they may have taken into consideration before they cast their ballot, they will be urged to let God and the Holy Spirit guide them.

Top picture credit: Getty Images

How can traditional British TV survive the US streaming giants?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2enydkew3o, 5 days ago

Just before Christmas, in a private dining room in the upmarket Charlotte Street Hotel in the heart of London's Fitzrovia area, the BBC's director general gathered some of the UK's leading TV creatives and executives for lunch. As they ate, surrounded by kaleidoscopic-patterned wallpaper and giant artworks, they were also chewing over the future survival of their own industry.

As solutions were thrown around to what many see as an acute funding crisis in the age of global streaming, one of the invitees suggested, in passing, that BBC Studios (the corporation's commercial content-producing arm) could merge with Channel 4 to create a bigger, more powerful force to compete with the likes of Disney Plus, Netflix and Amazon.

As another diner knocked down the idea, I'm told that Tim Davie, the BBC's DG, asked why it was so ridiculous.

I relate that not because it has come to fruition. It hasn't. Nor even to suggest that the Director General supports the idea.

Instead the story illustrates the belief, among some within the broadcasting industry, that nothing should be off the table when it comes to contemplating how to ensure the survival of British-originated and British-focused TV as we know it.

Many of the people I spoke to for this piece didn't want to be quoted. But Sir Peter Bazalgette, the former Chairman of ITV, told me that what he termed the current "generous spread" of British broadcasters (BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5) will need some consolidation or, at the very least, more cooperation in future.

"We're in danger of having no public service broadcasting within a decade, certainly within 20 years," he says. "We don't have a strategy for their survival. It's that serious. The regulators need to start thinking about it.

"Mergers may well be part of the answer. There should be fewer companies in the future."

Lord Vaizey, who was Culture Minister under David Cameron, put it baldly. "ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 should merge.

"The UK only has room for two domestic broadcasters."

Others, however, argue that distinctiveness is good for viewers. Channel 5 President Sarah Rose told me she "couldn't disagree with Ed Vaizey more" – calling it a "Doomsday prophecy".

Channel 5 is profitable, she tells me; it invests in smaller production companies and offers plurality for British audiences. By having just one commercial channel, "You're taking the funnel from three to one types of content for British audiences."

Channel 4 also rejects the suggestion of any merger. Its outgoing CEO Alex Mahon argues that, "The unique structure of competition between our publicly funded and commercially funded broadcasters" is what makes UK public service TV "so excellent".

And yet the days of turning on your TV and finding an electronic programme guide listing channels – with BBC1 and BBC2 at the top, then ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 – are disappearing. The proposed date for the dawn of a new era is 2035; the end of traditional terrestrial TV as we know it.

When the increasingly expensive contracts to provide broadcast channels and digital terrestrial services like Freeview come to an end, the UK's broadcasters are likely to pivot to offering digital-only video on demand. (However this won't happen without a campaign to ensure older people are protected, as well as rural and low-income households who may not have high quality internet access.)

But if the aerials are turned off in 2035, is this the moment TV as we know it changes forever? If it becomes a battle between online-only British streamers and their better-funded US rivals, can the Brits survive? And, crucially, what will audiences be watching?

How TV could look by 2035

Flash forward to switching on the television in 2035 and there will of course have been certain technological transformations – perhaps more immersive viewing experiences or some shows viewed through augmented reality glasses. What's highly likely, though, is that the communal big screen will still be a staple, (albeit probably voice-activated by then).

It's a shift that has already begun with YouTube viewers changing their viewing habits and moving to the bigger screen. In 2024, for the first time, TV sets were the most-used device for watching content on the video sharing site at home, according to recent data from Barb Audiences. In all, 41% of YouTube viewing was done on TV sets, ahead of 31% on smartphones.

With YouTube an apparently unstoppable force, in ten years' time it could well become the go-to viewing for the majority.

"We are likely to continue to see a shift in the share of viewing time and advertising revenue towards globally-scaled players and user-generated content platforms like YouTube and TikTok," all within the next five years, according to Kate Scott-Dawkins, Global President for Business Intelligence at media investment company Group M.

There'll also likely be Netflix, Disney, Apple, Amazon. In other words, the global players, based in the US, many of which also have other revenue streams (whether parks, computer hardware or a vast shopping platform).

Kate Scott-Dawkins tells me the UK broadcasters are facing what could be an "existential" battle against US-based media companies with "wildly different business models".

The shift to streaming TV has, she says, "enabled large globally-scaled players to get even bigger and pour money into content that they can put in front of worldwide audiences".

The "big players with big pockets" already pay for a bespoke button on certain remote controls, or their own content tile front and centre on the homepage on smart TVs.

Ms Scott-Dawkins believes that in the future it will be "a position of strength" to own the operating systems themselves, as well as the media that people are watching on them. Examples include Apple showing its films and television series on Apple TVs and iPhones, or Amazon showing its own productions via its Fire devices, or Google through its own computers and phones.

Questions of revenue

Part of the problem is that the UK terrestrial channels can't compete financially with the streamers. Netflix, for example, is valued at $472bn (£356bn).

The BBC has lost 30% of its income – or £1bn a year – in real terms since 2010, as the licence fee has become worth less. ITV's share price hasn't yet recovered since the advertising downturn in 2022, despite its vast production arm, ITV Studios, boosting its earnings before tax to £299m.

Meanwhile, Channel 4's recorded a deficit of £52m for 2023. Alex Mahon told Parliament last month, "We will pretty much break even in the year".

Some TV insiders think the solution will be one gateway or app for all public service content: one place to find all shows from BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and 5.

Alex Mahon recently told a newspaper that there needs to be "more collaboration" between the UK broadcasters – a way of "making sure we're not duplicating the same technology".

ITV has spent hundreds of millions to create ITVX, its streaming platform for the Netflix-age. Channel 4 took a pioneering approach to its own digital transformation, launching 4oD back in 2006; the first broadcaster in the world to offer television content on-demand.

But while its current £1bn a year revenue enables it to compete as a significant content creator, this may not be enough to sustain a modern distribution platform with all the associated investment costs into the long term, according to some insiders.

Lord Hall, the former BBC Director General, is among those arguing that it's not sustainable for individual broadcasters to continue going it alone. "The notion that everyone has their own portals when you are competing against the huge streamers is not going to survive into the future," he says.

'One big streamer under iPlayer'?

Could the solution be for BBC iPlayer, which has been built with public money, to become the portal for the other British public service media content, too? It would be a single place where viewers could find ITV's The Chase, Channel 4's The Great British Bake Off and Channel 5 News, alongside BBC's The Traitors. This was one idea suggested to me by multiple TV insiders. "One big streamer under iPlayer", as one TV executive described it to me, "a modern public service streaming service".

Part of their argument is that it's the fastest growing streaming service in the UK – and the only existing platform of plausible scale to compete.

With political support and the right deal, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 could potentially get behind sharing tech (after all, the streaming service Freely, which launched last year, already hosts their content with the BBC's and others).

But the idea of branding this all under the BBC iPlayer is – unsurprisingly – not something that commercial broadcasters would likely entertain, according to conversations I've had.

Lord Hall believes, "It could be branded differently... It would be a very good step."

He says: "The public would have to get used to the fact that BBC material would be free of advertising, and other parts of the platform would have adverts."

If the idea of a shared streaming service sounds familiar, that's because it was proposed years ago. Project Kangaroo was a plan by BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 for a UK video-on-demand joint venture. Think an early rival to Netflix.

But the UK's Competition Commission blocked the project in 2009 because of concerns it could harm competition in the emerging VoD market.

Other regulators across Europe have also blocked mergers: In France, the TFI and M6 channels were prevented from merging. Two of the largest TV and radio broadcasters in the Netherlands, which would have combined eight national TV channels and four national radio stations, were also stopped for competition reasons.

Any form of merger between different public service broadcasters would be subject to the same scrutiny. It's perhaps why Sir Peter Bazalgette is calling on UK politicians and regulators to focus on creating a strategy – or risk the end of British TV as we know it.

Should the audiences care?

The BBC remains the most watched of the traditional broadcasters. Today, people in the UK spend more time watching traditional broadcasters than they do streaming services. Figures show 87% of people age four and above watch the traditional broadcasters each month and they spend an average of 137 minutes a day doing so. By comparison, 78% of people watch a streaming service and they spend only 40 minutes a day doing so.

If this does shift and the pattern reverses, TV producers and executives may be worried. But does it really matter to audiences?

Netflix is already making the types of shows that may have previously been made by the likes of the BBC (Adolescence, Toxic Town and Baby Reindeer are all very British stories made by the streamer). So what is the problem? (Aside from the obvious point that you need a subscription to watch Netflix.)

Ms Rose argues that the picture is "much more complex". Creatives involved in those shows often cut their teeth in public service TV, she says – one of benefits of the traditional broadcasters is, she believes, that it is a pipeline of talent.

Sir Peter Bazalgette argues that they're needed more than ever in our AI age to serve as "a gold standard of trusted news for our democracy, amid the online Tower of Babel."

He also argues for programmes that reflect "our shared values and national conversation". Would a US-based streamer have chosen to make Mr Bates v the Post Office (ITV), for example, or 'Wolf Hall' (BBC) or 'It's A Sin' (Channel 4) – stories that are uniquely British and reflect who we are?

Backing producers to take risks is, says Lord Hall, "exactly what the BBC should be doing – but of course [it] has been doing less because the licence fee has been consistently cut".

Start of the 'martini streaming age'

Ultimately, the American streamers are here to stay; they're spending billions and their UK operations are often led by British executives who are supportive of Britain's public service broadcasting scene.

I have also picked up a sense from those inside Netflix that the company is often used as a battering ram to persuade the government that the UK's traditional broadcasters need more protections.

Some have also been critical of the BBC for, as they see it, wanting everything on its own terms: "'We want you to give us your money for co-productions, but the BBC will make all the creative decisions'," is how one insider put it to me, unfairly or not.

In 2018, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos was invited to the BBC's New Broadcasting House in London. Invitees recall that he talked warmly about how influential the BBC's iPlayer had been to the success of Netflix, describing how impressed he had been by a piece of kit that had got British viewers used to getting their video on demand.

With more than 17 million Brits now subscribed to Netflix, there is a certain irony to that.

Today, as the BBC's Director General Tim Davie starts to position the BBC ahead of the renewal of the corporation's charter after 2027, the TV landscape is changing fast. And the challenges are clear.

Lord Hall tells me: "Our lives will be enriched by having not only what the streamers can offer, but also what the public service broadcasters can bring. It's unthinkable not to build on what the BBC and others can deliver".

Sir Peter Bazalgette predicts that, "Small doesn't cut it," adding that, "The winners will have to be big enough to [both] afford high end dramas for winning subscribers and maintain large back catalogues to keep subscribers happy."

He says we now live in "the 'martini' streaming age - any time, any place, anywhere".

The question is whether the leaders of the public service broadcasters can forge the right plan to safeguard their industry in that age.

Gold is booming - but investors lured in by the hype could lose out, warn experts

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ygyjy7kz5o, 6 days ago

Listen to Theo read this article

"What you have there is about £250,000 worth of gold," Emma Siebenborn says as she shows me a faded plastic tub filled with old, shabby jewellery - rings, charm bracelets, necklaces and orphaned earrings.

Emma is the strategies director of Hatton Garden Metals, a family-run gold dealership in London's Hatton Garden jewellery district, and this unprepossessing tub of bric-a-brac is a small sample of what they buy over the counter each day. It is, in effect, gold scrap, which will be melted down and recycled.

Also on the table, rather more elegantly presented in a suede-lined tray, is a selection of gold coins and bars. The largest bar is about the size and thickness of a mobile phone. It weighs a hefty 1kg, and it's worth about £80,000.

The coins include biscuit-sized Britannias, each containing precisely one ounce of 24 carat bullion, as well as smaller Sovereigns. These are all available to buy - and the recent surge in gold prices has led to a surge in demand.

Zoe Lyons, who is Emma's sister and the managing director, has never seen anything like it – often she finds would-be sellers queuing in the street. "There's excitement and buzz in the market but also nervousness and trepidation," she tells me.

"There's anxiety about which way the market is going to go next, and when you get those emotions, ultimately it creates quite big trades."

At MNR jewellers a couple of streets away, a salesman agrees: "Demand for gold has increased, definitely," he says.

Gold is certainly on a roll. Its price has increased by more than 40% over the past year. In late April it rose above $3,500 (£2,630) per troy ounce (a measurement for precious metals). This marked an all-time record, even allowing for inflation, exceeding the previous peak reached in January 1980. Back then the dollar price was $850, or $3,493 in today's money.

Economists have attributed this to a variety of factors. Principal among them has been the unpredictable changes in US trade policy, introduced by the Trump administration, the effects of which have shaken the markets. Gold, by contrast, is seen by many as a solid investment. Fears about geopolitical uncertainty have only added to its allure. Many investors have come to appreciate the relative stability offered by a commodity once dismissed by the billionaire Warren Buffett as "lifeless" and "neither of much use nor procreative".

"It's the kind of conditions that we consider a bit of a perfect storm for gold," explains Louise Street, senior markets analyst at the World Gold Council, a trade association funded by the mining industry.

"It's the focus on potential inflationary pressures. Recessionary risks are rising, you've seen the IMF [International Monetary Fund] downgrading economic forecasts very recently…"

But what goes up can also come down. While gold has a reputation as a stable asset, it is not immune to price fluctuations. In fact, in the past, major surges in the price have been followed by significant falls.

So what is the risk this could happen again, leaving many of today's eager investors nursing big losses?

What really triggered the goldrush

Helped by its relative rarity, gold has been seen as an intrinsic store of value for centuries. The global supply is limited. Only around 216,265 tonnes have ever been mined, according to the World Gold Council, (the total is currently increasing by about 3,500 tonnes per year). This means that it is widely perceived as a "safe haven" asset that will retain its value.

As an investment, however, it has both advantages and disadvantages.

Unlike shares, it will never pay a dividend. Unlike bonds, it will not provide a steady, predictable income, and its industrial applications are relatively limited.

The draw, however, is that it is a physical product that exists outside of the banking system. It is also used as an insurance policy against inflation: while currencies tend to lose value over time, gold does not.

"Gold can't be printed by central banks, and it can't be conjured out of thin air," says Russ Mould, investment director at stockbroker AJ Bell. "In recent times, a big policy response from authorities when there's been a crisis has been: slash interest rates, boost money supply, quantitative easing, print money. Gold is seen as a haven from that, and therefore a store of value."

There has recently been a significant rise in demand for gold from so-called Exchange Traded Funds, investment vehicles that hold an asset such as gold themselves, while investors can buy and sell shares in the fund.

They are popular with large institutional investors – and their actions have helped to push up the price.

When gold hit its previous record in January 1980, the Soviet Union had just invaded Afghanistan. Oil prices were surging, driving up inflation in developed economies, and investors were looking to protect their wealth. The price also rose sharply in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, leading to another peak in 2011.

The recent increases appear to owe a great deal to the way markets have responded to the confusion triggered by the Trump administration.

The most recent surge came after US President Donald Trump launched an online attack on Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve. Calling for immediate interest rate cuts, he described Mr Powell as a "major loser" for failing to reduce the cost of borrowing quickly enough.

His comments were interpreted by some as an attack on the independence of the US central bank. Share markets fell, as did the value of the dollar compared to other major currencies – and gold hit its most recent record.

But gold's recent strength is not wholly explained by the Trump factor.

Fears of weaponisation of the dollar system

The price has been on a steep upward curve since late 2022, partly, according to Louise Street, because of central banks. "[They] have been net buyers of gold, to add to their official reserves, for the past 15 years," she explains. "But we saw that really accelerate in the past three years."

Central banks have collectively bought more than 1,000 tonnes of gold each year since 2022, up from an average of 481 tonnes a year between 2010 and 2021. Poland, Turkey, India, Azerbaijan and China were among the leading buyers last year.

Analysts say central banks may themselves have been trying to build up buffers at a time of growing economic and geopolitical uncertainty.

According to Daan Struyven, co-head of global commodities research at Goldman Sachs: "In 2022 the reserves of the Russian Central Bank got frozen in the context of the invasion of Ukraine, and reserve managers of global central banks around the world realised, 'Maybe my reserves aren't safe either, what if I buy gold and hold it in my own vaults?'

"And so we have seen this big structural fivefold increase in demand for gold from central banks".

Simon French, chief economist and head of research at investment firm Panmure Liberum also believes that independence from dollar-based banking systems has been a major driver for central banks. "I would look at China, but also Russia, their central bank is a big buyer of gold, also Turkey.

"There are a number of countries who fear weaponisation of the dollar system and potentially the Euro system," he says.

"If they are not aligning themselves with the US or the Western view, on diplomatic grounds, on military grounds… having an asset in their central bank that is not controlled by their military or political foes is quite an attractive feature."

Another factor may now be helping to drive the gold market upwards: FOMO, or fear of missing out. With new all-time records being set, it has filtered through into everyday conversation in some quarters.

Zoe Lyons believes that this is the case in Hatton Garden. "[People] want a piece of the golden pie," she says, "and they're willing to do that through buying physical gold."

Safe, but for how long?

The big question, though, is what happens next. Some experts believe the upward trend will continue, fuelled by unpredictable US policy, inflationary pressures and central bank buying. Indeed Goldman Sachs has forecast gold will reach $3,700/oz (£2,800/oz) by the end of 2025 and $4,000 (£3,000) by mid 2026.

But it adds that in the event of a recession in the US or an escalation of the trade war it could even hit $4,500 (£3,400) later this year.

"The US stock market is 200 times bigger than the gold market, so even a small move out of the big stock market or the big bond market would mean a big percent increase in the much smaller gold market," explains Daan Struyven.

In other words, it wouldn't take a huge amount of turbulence in major investment markets to drive gold upwards.

Yet others are concerned that the price of gold has risen so far, so fast that a market bubble is forming – and bubbles can burst.

Back in 1980, for example, the dramatic spike in the gold price was followed by an equally remarkable correction, dropping from $850 (£640) in late January to just $485 (£365) in early April. By mid-June the following year, it stood at just $297 (£224) – a decline of 65% from its peak.

The peak in 2011, meanwhile, was followed by a sharp dip, then a period of volatility. Within four months it had dropped by 18%. After plateauing for a while, it continued to fall, reaching a low point in mid-2013 that was 35% down from its highest.

The question that remains is, could something similar happen now?

Could the bubble burst?

Some analysts do think prices will ultimately fall significantly. Jon Mills, an industry expert at Morningstar, made headlines in March when he suggested the cost of an ounce of gold could drop to just $1,820 over the next few years.

His view was that as mining firms increased their production and more recycled gold entered the market, the supply would increase. At the same time central banks would ease off their buying spree, while other short-term pressures stimulating demand would subside, bringing prices down.

Those forecasts have since been revised upwards slightly, largely because of increased mining costs.

Daan Struyven disagrees. He believes there could be a short-term dip, but prices will generally continue to rise. "If we were to get a Ukraine peace deal, or a rapid trade de-escalation, I think hedge funds would be willing to take some of their money out of gold and put it into risky assets, such as the stock market…

"So you could see temporary dips. But we are quite confident that in this highly uncertain geopolitical setup, where central banks want safer reserve holdings, that they will continue to push demand higher over the medium term."

Russ Mould believes there will, at the very least, be a lull in the upwards trend. "Given that it has had such a stunning run, it would be logical to expect it to have a pause for breath at some stage," he says.

But he believes that if there is a sharp economic slowdown and interest rates are slashed, the gold price could go higher in the long run.

One problem for investors is working out whether the recent record price for gold was simply a staging point in a continued upward climb – to more than $4,000 for example – or the peak.

Simon French at Panmure Liberum believes the peak may now be very close, and people piling into the market now in the hope of making big money are likely to be disappointed. Others have warned that those recently lured into buying gold by hype and headlines could lose out if the market goes into reverse.

"Short-term speculating can backfire, even though there will be a temptation to hang on to the coat-tails of the record run upwards," is how Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, has put it.

"Investors considering investing in gold should do so as part of a diversified portfolio – they shouldn't put all their eggs in a golden basket."

Top picture credit: Getty Images

The real problem facing Britain's shrinking military

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpd4lp6w378o, 7 days ago

On a March day this year, a British nuclear-armed submarine quietly returned to its base on the west coast of Scotland after a record-breaking 204 days underwater. HMS Vanguard had 130 crew members on board. They had spent nearly seven months without fresh air or daylight, and with little communication.

Patrols of the UK's nuclear-armed submarines are supposed to last no longer than three months. But the last eight patrols have all exceeded five months, as the navy's ageing fleet of submarines requires ever more time in maintenance. It means the submariners on board are spending longer and longer underwater.

A submariner who was on board one of those long patrols described to me a worrying situation in which the crew ran low on food and medicines. Towards the end of the patrol he described how hungry crew members rummaged for tins of food in hidden compartments inside the submarine. He said they even had to make bread out of custard powder, because they'd run out of flour.

The navy has long found it difficult to recruit sailors into its Submarine Service, often known as the "Silent Service".

But the case of the 204-day patrol by HMS Vanguard raises a wider issue.

Virtually everyone agrees that Britain's armed forces are depleted. Troop numbers are down, morale is weak, and some ageing equipment is in a poor state. And all this comes at a time of greater geopolitical uncertainty, as the threat from Russia looms large across Europe.

Within the next few months, the government will publish its long-awaited Strategic Defence Review - a consultation launched by Sir Keir Starmer shortly after he arrived in Downing Street last summer, designed to identify threats to Britain and recommend how the armed forces can meet them. But there are already doubts over how much it can realistically achieve.

So, as the world becomes more dangerous, what can the government do to reverse the decline - and restore the UK to military readiness?

Dwindling troop numbers

Politicians from all sides, along with military chiefs, admit Britain's armed forces have been "hollowed out". It's true for the Royal Navy and the RAF - and perhaps most acutely, in the British army.

In 2010 the regular Army was nearly 110,000 strong. Now, it is struggling to meet its target of 73,000 soldiers - not enough to fill Cardiff's Principality Stadium.

Earlier this year defence minister and former Royal Marine, Al Carns, told a conference at the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank, that the entire British Army could be "expended" within six to 12 months if it fought a war on a similar scale to the Ukraine conflict.

Last summer the head of the army, General Sir Roly Walker, said the Army needed to be ready to fight a war by 2027 - an admission it isn't ready to fight one in its current state. He said the Army needs to leverage technology, such as drones, new software, and artificial intelligence.

But Justin Crump, an Army Reserve Officer who heads the risk and intelligence company Sibylline, argues that boosts to technology won't make up for the lack of military hardware. "We have big gaps and they're not going to get filled overnight," he says.

The government is also promising to streamline the bureaucratic process of ordering new kit - trying to learn the painful lessons of past mistakes. By the time they eventually arrive, the delivery of hundreds of new Ajax armoured vehicles will have taken more than a decade.

Weaknesses in its Nato commitments

Speak to any government minister about security, they'll no doubt talk about Nato. It's the cornerstone of the UK's security, the government says, and one that has only become more important since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

According to its Nato commitments, the UK is supposed to be able to field tens of thousands of troops at short notice to defend any Nato territory – with a war-fighting division made up of tanks, artillery, and heavy armour.

But a former senior General told the BBC that in a real war it would run out of ammunition, spares and supplies within weeks or even days. Nor does Britain have much in terms of ground-based air defences – not enough to protect key military bases in the UK, yet alone its towns and cities.

The weaknesses in Britain's contribution to Nato became starkly apparent in February this year, when a group of British MPs visited a Nato military site in Tapa, Estonia, where British soldiers are deployed (alongside Danish and French troops). The point of the base is to deter or slow down an invasion from Russia - which is just 80 miles away over a land border.

Mike Martin, a Liberal Democrat MP and former British Army Officer, said the Estonia visit was like going back in time, seeing the same equipment as when he first joined the Army as a reservist in 2004: ageing Challenger 2 tanks and Warrior armoured vehicles. What one former General described to me as "legacy kit from the 1980's" - old and dwindling in numbers.

About 1,000 British troops are stationed at the site. At the time of the MPs' visit they were armed with some drones - though not many. Nor did they have much in the way of systems to block or jam enemy drones, either. They also have a handful of long-range artillery guns - important for land warfare. The British Army currently has a total of just 14. Even tiny Estonia has double that number.

Defence sources say that since the MPs' visit, the Army has now begun to test some of the new technology it wants to introduce. They say it "will help soldiers see further, and strike faster".

Talk of thousands of British troops being sent to Ukraine for a lengthy deployment, if there were to be a ceasefire in its war with Russia, would present another huge challenge.

In the recent past the British army has just about managed to sustain a prolonged military campaign. But in Afghanistan, between 2006 and 2014, it was only fighting lightly armed Taliban insurgents. Even then it was stretched - with nine thousand troops being constantly rotated every six months.

Crump says "Afghanistan was painful enough, and we had 20,000 more people". While he says providing a reassurance force for Ukraine "might be doable – it would rapidly wear us down".

Questions over the price tag

The government says it is addressing these challenges with its Strategic Defence Review. John Healey, the Defence Secretary, claims it will lead to the "biggest shake up of UK defence for over 50 years".

But past reviews have rarely lived up to expectation – not least because the money available rarely matches ambitions. Most reviews are quickly overtaken by events. Harold Wilson's defence review of 1966 was overtaken just three years later by a crisis in Northern Ireland; whilst Tony Blair's review of 1998 came just three years before 9/11.

Indeed, when work on this review began, the US - under President Joe Biden - was still the UK's closest and most reliable military partner. Now that's less clear.

There are also questions over the price tag. The review's terms of reference assumes that defence spending will be capped at 2.5% of the UK's national income, or Gross Domestic Product (GDP). But few in defence believe that'll be enough.

One of the independent experts leading the review, General Sir Richard Barrons, has already said the UK should be spending at least 3% of GDP on its armed forces. Meanwhile, Nato's Secretary General, Mark Rutte, is pressing allies to increase defence spending to "north of 3%". President Donald Trump has gone even higher, urging Nato countries to spend 5%.

The government's "ambition" is to boost spending to 3% at some time in the next parliament - which will have the added bonus of boosting growth, ministers say. Just last week Sir Keir said that extra investment will create a "defence dividend" for jobs and prosperity.

Others think the review is too narrow in focus. A former military chief told the BBC that a review should first identify threats to the UK, and then work out how to shape the Armed Forces. It was "bonkers", they added, to conduct a defence review without it being "nested" in a broader cross-government security review.

An MoD spokesperson said that boosts to defence spending "will make Britain stronger and safer in an insecure world and will help us build a modern and resilient Armed Forces, with cutting-edge capabilities".

The defence review, they added, is "wide-ranging and working at pace, looking hard at the threats we face and all the capabilities we need to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century".

Low morale and cases of harassment

Attempts to broaden the Army's appeal - including high-profile recruitment campaigns targeting the so-called "snowflake" generation - have not been enough to reverse the decline. Nor have a series of slick television adverts called "Belonging", which aim to highlight the camaraderie of life in the forces.

Last year, the UK's armed forces were losing 300 more full-time personnel each month than they'd been recruiting.

In a MoD survey last year nearly six in ten military personnel rated morale as low. Just four in 10 said they were satisfied with service life – the lowest since records began.

This government is trying to boost morale by improving military accommodation, plus last year's pay rise of 6% for armed forces personnel was the largest in two decades.

Part of the problem is a broader cultural one: fewer people have an emotional connection with the armed forces, Crump says. The average Briton is now more likely to know someone in jail than serving in the military, he adds.

Last year, the Army apologised to Kerry-Ann Knight, a black female soldier who fronted Army recruitment campaigns, after she described years of racist abuse and bullying that made her life while serving a "living hell".

High profile stories of bullying and sexual harassment within the military can't have helped - particularly for women and minorities.

The MoD has set a recruiting goal of 30% women by 2030, but they currently make up less than 12% of the regular armed forces - a figure which has hardly shifted in a decade.

Britain is not alone in struggling to fill its ranks. It's a problem experienced by many western nations relying on volunteers. Some governments have now introduced some form of conscription. In March, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced a plan to make all Polish men undergo compulsory military training.

But there appears to be little appetite for conscription among the British public. A YouGov poll in September 2023 found that just 28% of the British public would support a one year military service. Younger people were particularly opposed.

The government wants to get people interested from a young age, by expanding cadet forces in secondary schools. The MoD is also trying to keep better records of those troops who have left, and who could be recalled in a crisis.

An MoD spokesperson said: "We are committed to fixing Armed Forces recruitment and have already given personnel the largest pay rise in decades, scrapped 100 outdated recruitment policies, and passed legislation through the Commons to introduce a new Armed Forces Commissioner to improve service life."

AI on the battlefield?

Whatever comes out of the defence review, there is no expectation that troop numbers will increase in the near future.

Analysts are, however, looking at radical solutions - including the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the battlefield. The most obvious example is AI-enabled drones, which are already being used in Ukraine to identify targets on their own, to deadly effect. But some also envisage a future in which machines could collect data on adversaries.

A large land war in Europe is now focusing minds. Senior British military officers, as well as politicians, have repeatedly stated the UK 's armed forces must be ready to fight. But there still appears to be a temptation to use their power and influence much further away from home.

Last month, HMS Prince of Wales - one of the Navy's two aircraft carriers – left Portsmouth on an eight-month voyage to the other side of the world. It's the biggest UK defence endeavour this year, involving nearly 4,000 personnel, along with the support of allies, sailing to the Pacific and back.

Healey says it will demonstrate the UK's ability to deploy a major military force around the world, while at the same time promoting British trade.

Emma Salisbury, a fellow at the Council on Geostrategy, a think tank, says the carrier's Pacific deployment holds a powerful symbolic importance. "It's a message not just of deterrence against Russia, but also against China," she says. "In the world as it is now, we can't look at things geographically. Everything is interconnected. It's linking together our alliances and partnerships on a global scale."

But the deployment also highlights the challenges of trying to do more with less. Britain can only afford to have an episodic appearance in the Indo-Pacific. And the Trump administration has warned UK and other European allies to focus on their own doorstep, rather than faraway adventures. The carrier deployment is another strain on finite resources.

Of course, ministers maintain that their soon-to-be published defence review really could reset the dial and restore the UK to military readiness. But so far no government has really been willing to tackle the greatest dilemma for UK defence: do less or spend a lot more.

Is Trump allowed to accept $400m luxury plane as a gift?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2eylpdg9po, 5 days ago

US President Donald Trump has said his administration wants to accept a plane worth an estimated $400m (£303m) as a gift from Qatar, calling it "a great gesture" that he would be "stupid" to turn down.

The potential move has been labelled "wildly illegal" by some members of the rival Democratic Party - something the White House denies - and it has attracted criticism from some of Trump's supporters.

Qatar itself earlier said the reports about the plane were "inaccurate", and that negotiations were continuing.

The news comes as Trump visits several countries in the Middle East, including Qatar.

BBC Verify has been looking into the legality of presidents accepting gifts.

What do we know about the plane?

On Sunday, US media reported that the Trump administration was preparing to accept a Boeing jumbo jet from the Qatari royal family - saying that the plane would be refitted and used temporarily as Air Force One, the name for the plane used by presidents.

Trump later posted on Truth Social: "The Defense Department is getting a gift, free of charge, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40-year-old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction."

When questioned by reporters, Trump said: "It's a great gesture from Qatar. I appreciate it very much. I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer."

In February, Trump said he was "not happy with Boeing" about delays to two new Air Force One jets that he is expecting to receive directly from the firm. He added that the White House could instead "buy a plane or get a plane, or something".

The Qatari plane was pictured in Palm Beach, Florida, in February where Trump inspected it. It is currently fitted with three bedrooms, a private lounge and an office, according to its specification summary document from 2015.

A Qatari official has told CNN the plane is being given from the Qatari defence ministry to the Pentagon, and that it will be modified to meet Air Force One's safety and security standards.

Experts say this is likely to take years, which means the plane may not be ready for use until near the end of Trump's term.

Trump has said the plane will go directly to his presidential library after he leaves office, and that he "wouldn't be using it" after his presidency.

Nonetheless, the move has led to criticism from Democrats as well as some long-time Trump supporters, including Laura Loomer who said: "This is really going to be such a stain on the admin if this is true."

Is the gift legal?

Several senior Democrats have claimed that accepting the gift would be illegal.

Democratic Senator Adam Schiff quoted a section of the US Constitution that said no elected official could accept "any present... of any kind whatever" from the leader of a foreign state without congressional approval.

Frank Cogliano, a professor of American history at the University of Edinburgh, says this clause "was intended to prevent bribery to influence the government".

"It is certainly stretching the Constitution and we have not seen a gift on this scale, or of this nature", says Professor Andrew Moran, a constitutional law expert at London Metropolitan University.

There have been a number of other laws passed by Congress relating to the acceptance of foreign gifts, such as the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act of 1966, which means that congressional consent is required for the acceptance of foreign gifts above a certain value.

Currently US officials can accept gifts valued at less than $480 (£363).

Although Trump has referred to the plane ultimately going to his "library", experts have suggested he really means his museum foundation.

Ex-presidents typically have a library housing their archive of documents, and a museum - typically funded by private donations - full of memorabilia and open to the public.

Experts who BBC Verify spoke to said the fact that the plane could be given to the administration - and not to the president directly - before being transferred to his museum, may not get around the potential violation of the constitution.

Jordan Libowitz - from the organisation Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington - said any use of the plane by Trump after leaving office would cross a line: "Reagan's Air Force One ended up in his presidential library, but there's a difference there. The plane was decommissioned, Reagan never flew on it again, and it sits inside as a museum piece."

The US Justice Department has reportedly drafted a memo explaining why it thinks accepting the jet would be permissible, although this has not been made public.

When the White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt was asked about the legality of the deal, she said: "The legal details of that are still being worked out, but of course, any donation to this government is always done in full compliance with the law."

What is Trump's family doing in the Middle East?

President Trump is on a four-day trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE, hoping to drum up investment for the US.

His visit follows a series of business deals announced by the Trump Organization, which is run by the president's sons, Eric and Donald Jr.

These include plans to build golf courses and luxury villas in Qatar and the UAE.

President Trump is not currently affiliated with the Trump Organization, having handed over management responsibilities to his children after entering the White House on 20 January.

A deal was announced by the Trump Organization at the beginning of May to develop a Trump-branded luxury 18-hole golf course and a collection of luxury villas north of Qatar's capital, Doha.

At the time, Eric Trump said: "We are incredibly proud to expand the Trump brand into Qatar through this exceptional collaboration with Qatari Diar and Dar Global."

Dar Global is a publicly owned Saudi construction company; Qatari Diar is a Qatari state-owned company.

Separately, on 30 April, the Trump Organization announced it would build "the region's first Trump International Hotel & Tower" in the "heart of Dubai" consisting of 80 floors of "luxury living and world-class hospitality".

Eric Trump also visited the UAE recently, speaking at Token 2049, a cryptocurrency conference, on 1 May.

Asked if Trump was likely to meet anyone involved in the family business during his trip, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was "ridiculous" to suggest the president was doing anything for his own benefit.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

Misleading posts obtaining millions of views on X

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93g3jk39dko, 11 days ago

India's strikes on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir have unleashed a wave of misinformation online, with unrelated videos purporting to be from the strikes gaining millions of views.

Dramatic clips debunked by BBC Verify have claimed to show attacks on an Indian army base and an Indian fighter jet shot down in Pakistan.

One video, which had more than 400,000 views on X at the time of writing, claiming to show an explosion caused by a Pakistani response was actually from the 2020 Beirut Port explosion in Lebanon.

An expert told BBC Verify that in moments of heightened tension or dramatic events, misinformation is more likely to spread and fuel distrust and hostility.

Elsewhere, one set of photos purported to show an operation carried out by the Pakistan Air Force targeting "Indian forward air-bases in the early hours of 6 May 2025". The images - which appeared to be captured by a drone - were actually screengrabs taken from the video game Battlefield 3.

The Pakistani military says it destroyed five jets on Wednesday morning local time. That announcement has led to some users sharing unrelated clips which they claimed showed the wreckage of Indian fighter jets. Some of these videos have obtained millions of views.

But two widely shared images actually showed previous Indian air force jet crashes - one from an incident in Rajasthan in 2024 and another in the Punjab state in 2021. Both crashes were widely reported.

Prof Indrajit Roy of York University said that the images "are being generated with a view to get support for the military in Pakistan". One clip circulated by the Pakistani military itself was later withdrawn by news agencies after it turned out to be from an unrelated event.

"We have jingoists on both sides of the border, and they have a huge platform on Twitter (X). You can see how fake news, as well as some real news, gets amplified, distorted and presented in ways designed to generate hostility, animosity and hatred for the other side."

The conflict in Kashmir has long attracted a high degree of misinformation online. In the aftermath of the deadly militant attack on Indian tourists in Pahalgam last month, AI images circulated - with some seeking to dramatise actual scenes from the attack.

Vedika Bahl, a journalist with France 24, said the Pahalgam attacks had prompted a sharp "uptake in misinformation from both sides surrounding the conflict".

"Lots of this misinformation begins on X," she said. "Eventually this trickles down over time from X to WhatsApp which is the communication tool which is most used in South Asian communities."

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

Millions more counted as domestic abuse victims as definition widens

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c991ymnpxzdo, 3 days ago

Millions more adults in England and Wales are believed to have experienced domestic abuse since the age of 16, after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) overhauled its crime survey.

They added new questions covering topics like controlling and coercive behaviour and the harm it causes.

This means that more than 12m people are thought to have suffered abusive behaviour from family members or partners, up from 10m in older figures.

The new data, for the year ending March 2024, gives the most detailed picture yet of how common different types of abusive behaviour are, suggesting 18% of adults have suffered emotional abuse and 12% economic abuse.

Not all abusive behaviours cross the line into criminal levels of domestic abuse, researchers warned.

Data on the severity of abuse was not published on Friday, but is expected in November.

The figures were published on the same day as a report from MPs calling for better data on violence against women and girls (VAWG).

The Public Accounts Committee highlighted the need for improved information on how much violence women and girls face, on the needs of support services, evidence on the interventions that reduce violence and co-ordination across government departments to halve VAWG.

The Home Office said the new data is "essential to help us better understand the scale of domestic abuse and how we halve violence against women and girls".

Domestic abuse charity Women's Aid, which helped the ONS and University of Bristol develop the new questions has welcomed the change.

"Women's Aid has for many years been concerned that the questions in the survey have failed to adequately capture the lived experience of victim-survivors of domestic abuse" said Sarika Seshadri, their Head of Research and Evaluation.

The definition of domestic abuse in law has changed a lot over the past decade. Coercive control was first made a crime in 2015, years before the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act explicitly defined some of its major forms, including economic abuse.

The ONS adapted its gold-standard crime survey to reflect the shift in understanding of abuse and better reflect the experiences of survivors.

Some of the new questions ask about manipulative behaviour, including whether a partner or family member had tried to convince the respondent's friends they were "crazy"; acted in an "overly jealous way"; or had threatened to hurt or kill themselves if the respondent did not do what they wanted.

The new survey also asks if a family member or partner had threatened to discredit the respondent using sensitive personal information, such as their sexuality or immigration status.

Answers were collected privately using tablets, unlike the spoken interviews used for other crimes.

According to the new data, about 12.6 million people in England and Wales - 26% of the population - had experienced abusive behaviours by family or partners since age of 16, including 30% of women and 22% of men.

These figures did not account for the number of incidents or harm suffered. Women are more often the target of repeated or more severe abuse.

More than three-quarters of the 108 domestic homicide victims in the year to March 2024 were women.