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Donald Trump has said the US will "substantially reduce" joint military exercises with South Korea, citing his "very good relationship" with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un.

"These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile," Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday evening.

Trump noted in his post that South Korea had recently declined to join the US in the "denuclearisation" of Iran.

Trump has bucked American foreign policy norms with North Korea's leader, whom he last visited in person in 2019.

The US and South Korea are due to start their regular military exercises on Monday.

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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Trump envoy Kushner meets Hamas leader to push Gaza peace plan

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c77gg5vn44yo, today

US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Jared Kushner has held rare talks with Hamas to discuss the implementation of the US-backed Gaza peace plan.

A Palestinian official told the BBC Trump's son-in-law met a delegation led by Hamas's new leader Khalil al-Hayya in Egypt on Sunday.

Last month, Trump's Board of Peace said it had reached agreement for the "complete disarmament" of Hamas and other armed group in Gaza. Last week, Israel rejected Trump's 15-point plan which also calls for Israeli troops to withdraw and for Gaza to be rebuilt under a new civilian Palestinian administration.

Eight Muslim countries issued a statement on Sunday condemning Israel's rejection.

Trump leads the Board of Peace - created as an international organisation originally intended to bring peace to Gaza, but later expanded to include conflicts worldwide.

Kushner's meeting with Hayya is said to be the first at this level since last year's agreement of a ceasefire for the Gaza Strip.

According to reports, Board of Peace envoys Nickolay Mladenov and UK ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair were also part of the meeting - alongside representatives of Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, which have mediated in the peace efforts.

No official statement has been released of the talks reportedly focusing on concrete actions to decommission Hamas's weapons - as well as the withdrawal of Israeli troops and humanitarian efforts.

Whilst in Egypt, Kushner also met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. According to Israeli media reports, Kushner, Mladenov and Blair will meet Netanyahu on Monday with the aim of advancing Trump's plan.

The Israeli prime minister has said he wants a full Hamas disarmament first in order to implement the deal.

"Israel rejects the Board of Peace's 15-point document on Gaza. The IDF will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed," Netanyahu said last week defying Israel's closest ally.

In a joint statement on Sunday, Egypt, UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia said Israel's rejection of the US plan threatened Trump's efforts for peace.

The ceasefire, which came into effect on 10 October last year, remains in place.

However, the Israel Defense Forces have carried out several strikes in Gaza since then - the latest on "terrorists" in Khan Yunis and Nuseirat areas of Gaza - accusing Hamas of breaking the truce.

The war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

Israel responded to the attack by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 73,000 people have been killed, according to the territory's health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.

The UN estimates that about 1.9 million people - 90% of Gaza's population - have been displaced since the war started.

Four 'extraordinary' Renaissance paintings stolen from Italian museum

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqjxx2gzd9qo, today

Four Renaissance paintings of "extraordinary value" have been stolen from a museum in Sicily, Italy's culture minister has said.

Alessandro Giuli confirmed that three panels of the Polyptych of San Gregorio and a double-sided panel of the Madonna with Child and Christ in Pietà, all attributed to Antonello da Messina, were taken Regional Interdisciplinary Museum of Messina on Saturday night.

Police are now probing how the thieves were able to enter the museum without triggering its alarms and who may have been responsible.

The incident is the latest in a string of museum heists across Europe that have led to a growing number of priceless works disappearing from public view.

Investigators are working on the initial suspicion that the paintings were stolen to order by black market art thieves, according to Italian news agency Ansa.

It reported that the Madonna and Christ in Pietà - which was briefly shown at the British Museum in 2016 - was removed directly from inside a secure display case, while all the paintings taken were on wooden panels, preventing them from easily being rolled up.

The museum's director Marisa Mercurio said the theft was thought to have occurred around 21:50 local time (19:50 GMT) on Saturday.

"We are shocked by what happened," she told Ansa, describing it as "a great loss for the museum, for the city, the community and the art world".

Antonello da Messina was a 15th Century painter born and raised on Sicily, who would go on to become one of the early Renaissance period's master painters.

His San Gregorio Polyptych, painted in 1473, depicts the Virgin Mary holding an infant Jesus Christ, flanked by St Gregory and St Benedict as well as several angels.

The artwork, of which five panels survive, was commissioned for the monastery of Santa Maria.

Meanwhile, his double-panel showing an infant Christ blessing a follower while being held by the Virgin Mary on one side and an adult Christ in death on the other was painted around the same time, though exactly when is unclear.

Its small size suggests it was originally used for private worship.

Federico Basile, the mayor of Messina, said he was "deeply outraged" by the "heinous criminal act".

"A heritage belonging to all the people of Messina has been violated," he said. "Messina will not let its history be stolen."

The theft comes just days after Italy's specialist art crime unit announced it had recovered three artworks stolen from a museum near Parma earlier this year.

The paintings by Cézanne, Renoir and Matisse had a combined worth of €9m (£7.8m) and were taken by a gang in a matter of minutes, with the museum's alarm system preventing them from taking more.

The security of priceless artworks and artefacts in European museums was thrown into question late last year when a gang of thieves broke into the Louvre in Paris in broad daylight, making off with €88m worth of historic jewellery.

Emergency phone alert put domestic abuse victims at risk, campaigners say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyllkz80dlo, today

An emergency government phone alert warning of wildfires across England and Wales put domestic abuse victims at risk, campaigners have told the BBC.

Millions of people's mobile phones lit up and bleeped with a "severe alert" notification on Friday which said there was a "very high risk of wildfires nationally".

But charities and survivors have criticised how a lack of advance warning meant there was little chance to protect those hiding secret phones in domestic abuse situations.

A government spokesperson said the alert was sent "after a direct request from fire and rescue services" and it was working closely with domestic abuse charities for tests of the system.

Most people received the blaring alert at 19:00 BST on Friday - and it came as a surprise given the government had not told people it was coming, as it has done for tests of the system.

The notification, which cautioned against the use of disposable barbecues, naked flames or fireworks, was the biggest use yet of the emergency alert system and Prime Minister Andy Burnham urged the public to take it "seriously".

A Cabinet Office press release, posted to their website at about 18:45 on Friday, was missed by many in the media, which meant there was little warning to the public.

This potentially jeopardised domestic abuse victims trying to hide secret phones they use to seek support and try to escape abusers, some campaigners have said.

Women's Aid, the national charity aiming to end domestic abuse, is calling for more forewarning of alerts wherever possible.

Veronica Oakeshott, the charity's head of external affairs, told BBC News: "Survivors of domestic abuse frequently turn to second phones to help them access lifesaving support or flee from abuse."

It is vital the devices stay hidden, she said, before adding: "We would urge the government to forewarn the public that alerts might be issued, when possible."

It has been reported that senior government figures were discussing whether or not to send the alert hours before, on Friday morning.

The alert came after a spate of wildfires including one that destroyed 19 homes in Stourbridge, West Midlands, on Thursday.

'Heart dropped' when alert arrived

Padua Eaton, 29, a survivor of domestic abuse who set up support group The Harborough Doves, said her "heart dropped" when she received the alert.

"My first thought was anxiety at the alarm - many people in domestic abuse relationships have a secret second phone in order to keep communication with friends or professionals and this alarm would have alerted abusers immediately," she told BBC News.

"The government should have been more upfront about the alarm - telling the press 15 minutes before it went off is poor planning in my opinion.

"Other measures should have been put in place to inform people without resorting to the alarm at such short notice."

She urged ministers to look into a silent notifications, warning that "if alarms become frequent, victims may no longer feel safe keeping these phones".

Her concern was echoed by Maggie Evans, director of frontline services at abuse prevention charity Hourglass.

She called for ministers to consult organisations supporting the most vulnerable before future alerts.

"Domestic abuse victims should never be put at risk by the very systems meant to keep us all safe," she said.

Evans said there had been "no meaningful advance warning to frontline domestic abuse charities" and "no targeted safety guidance for victims".

"Effective public safety must always be built on proper safeguarding."

Some have questioned whether the alert was necessary.

Julian Jessop, fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs, told BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House on Sunday he felt the "very high" threshold for sending one "hasn't been reached - I don't think there's an immediate risk to life everywhere".

One of the system's architects Frazer Rhodes said the latest alert "really has divided opinion" and the government should set out the criteria for when it will and will not be used.

A government spokesperson added: "On Friday alone, crews were tackling 43 wildfires across the country and had declared 11 major incidents, stretching resources to the very limit and requiring military support... we urge everyone to follow fire safety advice to help protect people and property."

Ministers said in 2023 that the alert system would cost up to £25.3m in its first three years.

How to opt out of emergency alerts if needed

The government advises people to keep emergency alerts switched on as they "contain life-saving information".

But for those who need to opt out, such as to conceal secret phones, it provides advice for iPhones, Androids and other devices on its website.

Three killed as Russia launches fresh aerial attacks across Ukraine

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1411pgje8xo, today

At least three people have been killed and more than 10 injured in Ukraine in the latest wave of Russian strikes, officials have said.

Firefighters are tackling a fire that started overnight at a market in the capital, Kyiv, after it was hit by Russian missiles and drones. Ukraine said it shot down three Russian missiles and nearly 100 drones.

Meanwhile, Moscow's mayor said about 600 Ukrainian drones were launched towards the city overnight. A warehouse belonging to Russian online retailer Wildberries was hit.

Russia has intensified aerial attacks across Ukraine in recent weeks, while Kyiv has stepped up its targeting of Russian logistics hubs, with the aim of disrupting military supplies.

Air-raid sirens have sounded four times since Saturday night in Kyiv. At least six people, including a child, were reportedly injured, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

In the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, the regional head Ivan Fedorov said two people were killed when a Russian guided aerial bomb destroyed a house. Officials in Dnipropetrovsk also reported one person killed and 14 injured.

In Russia, three people were injured in a Ukrainian strike, according to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. He said roughly a third of the drones Ukraine launched at the capital had been destroyed.

A Wildberries warehouse in Koledino, 25km (15.5 miles) from the centre of Moscow, was hit in the attack, Sobyanin said. Videos showed a fire and a large plume of smoke over the warehouse.

Wildberries, known as Russia's version of Amazon, has been repeatedly targeted since July. Kyiv said at the time it was targeting logistics hubs used by Russians to buy military equipment and disrupting supplies to the Russian army.

Meanwhile, the Romanian defence ministry said a Spanish fighter jet shot down a drone that had breached its airspace near the border with Ukraine and Moldova.

The drone entered from Moldova and was intercepted by an F-18 deployed on Nato duties at 05:01 local time (02:01 GMT) on Sunday, the ministry said in a statement.

Debris fell in an unpopulated area of the Galati region, near the Ukrainian border, it added.

US commander says mental health a 'priority' on USS Lincoln

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ceqeeendz42o, today

The top US military commander in the Middle East has said mental health is a "priority" on the warship USS Lincoln, following reports of difficult conditions on board the long-deployed ship.

After visiting the vessel on Saturday, Adm Brad Cooper said it had "among the lowest number of cases related to mental health" out of 11 active US aircraft carriers.

But he acknowledged that Navy service at sea for long periods was "uniquely challenging and tough".

The ship arrived in the Middle East in January and has been supporting the US war against Iran, including the blockade on Iranian ports. It has spent a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea of more than 240 days.

Family members of sailors aboard the Lincoln have expressed concern about their mental health deteriorating due to the conditions, with some sailors having reportedly attempted to jump overboard.

Adm Cooper said in a statement on Sunday: "I've long believed that mental health is another aspect of individual health and requires our attention just like physical health and spiritual health.

"I applaud Lincoln's leadership for... stepping up and making mental health and crew resilience a leadership priority."

While the US Navy last week acknowledged supply challenges, it had denied a mental health crisis on the Lincoln, which has 5,000 people aboard.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth called reports of conditions "completely misrepresented", while President Donald Trump dismissed the idea the deployment was too long, telling reporters on Friday: "Not nearly long enough".

The deployment, which was originally set to end in May, has been repeatedly extended.

Two dead and evacuation under way as fires break out on Greek island

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c87nnwlpe5no, today

Two people have died and an evacuation is under way after two fires broke out within minutes of each other on a Greek island near Athens.

Fire officials said nearly 200 firefighters were working to extinguish the flames on the island of Salamina and keep them from converging, Greek media report.

The first blaze was reported at 14:40 local time (12:40 GMT) and spread rapidly due to high winds, according to officials on the island - which was under a high wildfire risk on Sunday.

Some 90 people have so far been evacuated by sea, a coastguard spokesman told Greek broadcaster ERT.

Five patrol boats have been sent to the area and several other private vessels are being made available for assistance, he added.

A number of aircraft and 50 fire engines have been deployed to the blaze.

Salamina Deputy Mayor Thodoris Zannis said firefighters were trying to keep the fires from burning over a mountain on the island and forming one major wildfire.

Salamina sits just west of Athens and has some 37,000 residents, many of them elderly.

Firefighters across Europe have been facing a series of wildfires this weekend, fuelled by high heat.

Thailand has a gun problem - 10 million of them

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cevml4701emo, today

Just three days after a 14-year-old opened fire at his school, killing eight people before shooting himself, another incident in the same province illustrated even more starkly Thailand's troubled relationship with guns.

Chalong Riewrang, a 71-year-old former politician, went into the local administration office to discuss a large sum of money he says he was owed by the administration chief, Thongchai Yenprasert, a man he called his friend.

The conversation ended abruptly with Chalong pulling out a gun and firing four shots through the window of Thongchai's car, hitting him and his driver. Thongchai later died from his wounds.

Chalong then left the scene, and phoned a startled journalist he knew who was in the middle of a live broadcast on YouTube, to tell her what had happened.

After the police intercepted him and took him to the station, he was allowed to speak to reporters, casually smoking a cigarette and seemingly unperturbed by what he had done.

He explained that he had "not intended to shoot his friend", but opened fire when the driver also pulled a gun. The police did find two guns in the car, but said they were not in a state where they could have been fired.

This was not the only gun fatality in Thailand on that day. In Prachinburi, east of Bangkok, a police sergeant shot his wife in the head while arguing with her as she was driving their car to pick up their young son. The car crashed and the sergeant then shot himself in the head. His wife died in hospital.

There were probably other gun deaths that day which were not reported by the media.

The Thai police do not keep their own tally, but in recent years the number of gun deaths every year is estimated to range between 2,000 and 3,000. In Britain, which has a similar population, the number is less than 50.

Guns are sometimes used in robberies, and for a relatively modest fee you can hire a hitman in Thailand to kill someone for you. But the typical gun death occurs during domestic disputes, financial disagreements, or in bar brawls fuelled by alcohol.

Thailand has more than 10 million civilian-owned guns in circulation - 4 million of those unlicensed. So that means minor altercations over trivial issues can suddenly turn lethal.

"It's very unfortunate that Thailand has a very high tolerance for violence," says Boonwara Sumano at the Thailand Development Research Institute.

"Guns are seen as a status symbol, and there are so many ways that civilians can get them. Also, showing strength, wielding power, is seen as the right thing to do in Thai society. So, when you have a norm that promotes the possession of weapons to show your strength, and access to those weapons, this is the result."

At first sight Thailand appears to have quite strict gun regulations. Anyone wishing to buy a gun must first apply for a purchase permit, then, once they have bought it, apply for a second possession permit. If they wish to carry the gun outside their homes they then need a third permit. Imported guns – most of them - are very expensive.

But there are huge loopholes. The possession permits are valid for the lifetime of the holder. There is no requirement for mental health screening. And there are no checks on how safely guns are stored. For instance, the boy who carried out the latest school shooting was able to get hold of his grandfather's legally owned gun and large quantities of ammunition.

There is also a government scheme under which police officers and other officials can buy guns at steeply discounted prices.

Around 200,000 guns have been imported every year, mostly from the US, under the scheme, which started in 2009.

They can then be resold after five years, which has become a lucrative business.

The scheme has been investigated several times over alleged corruption. Together with weapons made locally by unlicensed gunmakers it is believed to be the source of many black market guns in Thailand.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has ordered immediate measures to tighten gun control, suspending the discount purchase scheme and the issuing of all purchase licences.

He is talking about limiting the validity of possession permits, and a possible amnesty to encourage those with unlicensed guns to hand them in.

He has asked parliament to work on a new law, and vowed severe penalties for those who break the rules.

But we have been here before.

After the massacre of children and teachers by a former police officer at a nursery in 2022, and then after a shooting by another 14-year-old boy at Bangkok's most popular shopping mall in 2023, Anutin, then the interior minister, ordered similar measures.

The discount scheme was also suspended back then, but almost immediately reinstated. The carrying of firearms by anyone not on official duty was banned after another school shooting in February this year.

The problem is not just regulation. The sheer number of guns in circulation, endemic corruption, lax enforcement of laws in all walks of life, the glorification of guns and a decades-long military culture are all contributing factors.

In the most recent asset declarations by government ministers more than a dozen owned guns: the justice minister owns 10, the minister for the environment and natural resources said he had 12, and one female MP has declared ownership of 48 guns.

Boonwara Sumano also highlights the pervasive influence of the military in Thailand, even when it is not actually running the country, which it has done for most of its modern history.

"If you notice every Children's Day in Thailand, instead of taking children to a museum or park, many families take their children to an army or air force base to see the weapons, take photos holding guns, this kind of thing.

"It's in the culture. You see big men in the military looking so powerful, they kind of make you want to become one of them," she told the BBC.

Thailand is an outlier in this region.

Compared to Thailand's 10 million, Indonesia has only 82,000 civilian-owned guns, with a population four times larger. In Malaysia the number is 107,000, and deaths from gunshots are rare.

The Philippines is the only other country with a similar gun-culture and comparable levels of gun crime.

Gun enthusiasts in Thailand now worry that the government will react to public anxiety over the latest attacks by making even responsible gun ownership much harder.

Yod, a 53-year-old businessman, told the BBC he viewed his collection of more than 70 guns more as luxurious toys – he said he had never fired most of them.

"Most of the gun crimes in this country are carried out by illegal weapons. New measures to control legally owned guns are not the right solution. There are blank guns and spare parts which can be assembled as real guns being imported legally into the country. Why hasn't that been chased up?"

Sathit, a shop-owner with more than 40 guns in his collection, cited the weakness of law enforcement in Thailand as his reason for arming himself.

"Look around this country nowadays. There are crimes every day. It is not safe. Drugs are rampant. People need to protect themselves because there are not enough police officers. People should have access to guns to survive, for their own safety."

As he waited to be charged for carrying out a killing he had apparently not even thought about when he walked into the local administration office, Chalong Riewrang, a powerful local figure accustomed to getting his own way, ruminated to reporters on his unforeseen situation.

"I can't believe I'm in this position, sitting here. Throughout my life, I have never had to come to a police station."

At one time, according to the police, he had possessed permits for nine guns, but in recent years had reduced that to just one. One gun, it turned out, was enough to end the life of his friend, and turn his upside down.

Multiple suspects at large after five shot at Virginia State University, police say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0l5583903yo, yesterday

Five people have been injured, one critically, in a shooting at Virginia State University (VSU) involving multiple suspects.

Officers responded to the incident outside a residence halls at about 01:28 local time (05:28 GMT) on Saturday, the university said.

Five individuals, who were all found with gunshot wounds, were taken to local hospitals. Four had injuries that were deemed not to be life-threatening, according to the VSU, which is one of the country's historically black colleges and universities.

Local police told the BBC that they believe more than one shooter was involved, but that no arrests had been made.

A temporary lockdown on the campus has since been lifted, but a "significant" law enforcement presence was still on site, the university confirmed in a statement.

It added that Chesterfield County Police were leading the investigation with help from other local law enforcement and campus police.

Classes for the new term were set to begin on Monday and campus dormitories opened for returning students on Friday, according to the university's website.

Lt James R Lamb of Chesterfield County Police Department told the BBC that one of the victims was a student and another was under 18.

The university stated that the student victim had "sustained non-life-threatening injuries" and had been discharged from hospital.

"We don't have anybody in custody," Lamb said. "We know there was more than one shooter, so I would say the suspects are still at large."

He said investigators were still reviewing surveillance video and were not currently treating any of the five people who were injured as suspects.

VSU has about 5,000 students and is just over 20 miles (32km) south of Richmond, the state capital of Virginia.

Such institutions were created to provide higher education to disenfranchised African Americans, who were otherwise prohibited from attending most colleges.

Rescuers search for survivors of powerful Indonesia earthquake

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3v00w5ylw9o, yesterday

Rescue teams in Indonesia have been searching for survivors of Saturday's major earthquake which left at least 47 people dead.

The magnitude 7.7 quake struck the island of Flores shortly before 05:00 (22:00 GMT on Friday) and had a depth of 15km, Indonesia's meteorology and geophysics agency stated.

Preliminary reports indicate hundreds of buildings have been severely damaged by the quake and the dozens of aftershocks that followed.

However, the full scale of the disaster is still unclear, and news of a second earthquake of magnitude 6.9 at the other end of Indonesia served as a reminder of why they call this region the ring of fire.

Tremors from Saturday's powerful earthquake were reportedly felt by residents as far west as Bima Regency and City, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) agency said, but the Manggarai province is among the most affected.

Preliminary data shows that 24 fatalities had been recorded there, meanwhile 17 deaths were recorded in East Manggarai province, three in Sikka province, and at least one in each of the Ngada, Ende and West Manggarai provinces.

At least two others had been seriously injured and 11 slightly injured.

The BNPB said aid was being sent to the affected areas with 10,500 packages arriving at the base operations so far.

It will take time to assess the full extent of the destruction in the region, which is remote and mountainous.

However, early reports indicate more than 150 houses had been severely damaged, as well as dozens of educational institutions, a number of healthcare facilities, places of worship, offices, and several other public facilities.

Video taken at the port in Maumere - the largest town in Flores - showed large chunks of concrete breaking off the terminal building onto passengers waiting to board an inter-island ferry. Some were thrown into the sea when the gangway to a ship collapsed.

Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena, governor of East Nusa Tenggara province, told a news conference that they were killed in their sleep by collapsing rubble.

Others, like Arnold Welianto, who lives in Talibura, a village near the coastline in Sikka, East Nusa Tenggara, were shaken out of their beds.

"I was startled awake and immediately went to my child's room." He said.

He also told the BBC that many people had already fled into the hills because the sea had also receded.

While a tsunami warning was initially issued - leading some 2,000 people to self-evacuate - it was lifted around three hours after the initial jolt, when no significant sea level rise was detected.

Landslides, however, did block access to some villages but the experienced rescue teams worked tirelessly through the day to free those trapped under the rubble.

In Ruteng, a temporary medical tent was also assembled outside of a hospital to treat earthquake victims.

The ongoing advice from BNPB is for people to remain calm and to stay away from coastal areas and structures showing signs of damage.

Indonesia is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity, lying along the meeting point of three major tectonic plates.

Canadian pipe band crowned world champions after 'thrilling' contest

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqx77qenx0ro, today

A pipe band from Canada has been crowned World Pipe Band champions - the first time in 16 years that a band outside the UK has taken the honour.

The Simon Fraser University pipe band won the coveted title following the two-day event at Glasgow Green.

The Field Marshal Montgomery pipe band from Lisburn, Northern Ireland, was runner-up, with the Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia band, coming third.

A total of 211 bands from 14 countries, including youth bands, took part in the "truly thrilling and fiercely contested competition".

The contest attracted bands from as far afield as Australia, New Zealand, Oman and France, with Malaysia, Sweden, Switzerland and Germany also represented.

Speaking after the event - known to fans as the Worlds - Colin Mulhern, chief executive of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association, said: "We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all the competing bands, supporters and spectators who joined us throughout our 2026 World Pipe Band Championships.

"This year's World Championships provided a truly thrilling and fiercely contested competition."

He added: "Huge congratulations go to the 2026 World Pipe Band Champions, Simon Fraser University, on securing the grade one global title.

"Every band that took part can be immensely proud of their performances.

"They delivered a fantastic competition and demonstrated the dedication, commitment, skill and talent that continue to make the world of pipe band competition so special."

The competition was organised by Glasgow Life.

Its chairwoman Bailie Annette Christie said said the city was "proud" to host the event.

"The Worlds are such an important event for the city," she said.

"Together with Piping Live! they create the biggest week of piping in the world, bringing the very best pipers and drummers together for a spectacular celebration of music and tradition, while shining an international spotlight on Glasgow as a welcoming destination for major events.

"The championships attract thousands of competitors, spectators and visitors to the city, providing a significant boost to tourism and making an important contribution to both the city and Scotland's economy."

Murder inquiry after man bitten by dog dies

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2dd0gd4z2o, today

A murder inquiry has begun after the death of a man who was bitten by a dog on a footpath in West Yorkshire.

The 55-year-old was injured in an altercation on a disused railway line off Blacker Lane in Calder Grove, Wakefield, at about 13:30 BST on Saturday. He was taken to hospital in a critical condition but died just after 19:00.

West Yorkshire Police has appealed for two people, one of whom is called Sophie, who stopped to help the injured man to come forward.

A force spokesperson said a 55-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder and of being the owner of a dog dangerously out of control in a public place, causing injury. He remains in custody.

The dog believed to have been involved in the incident has been seized by officers.

Det Ch Insp Michael Cox said: "Sadly, a man has died and it is really important that we understand the circumstances of what has taken place.

"We know that two people, one named Sophie, stopped to assist the injured man and direct officers."

He added: "We would urge these two people to come forward to help us with our ongoing inquiries into this tragic incident.

"The initial altercation happened in an area used by walkers and we are urging anyone who has seen or heard any part of the exchange between these two men to please make contact."

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.

I survived two years as prime minister in a hit new game - then my cabinet deserted me

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq56pzqy6jvo, today

A mobile game made by a developer in Manchester has recently beaten the global phenomenon Minecraft to top Apple's paid games chart.

Its success is perhaps even more surprising given its subject matter - UK politics.

No 10: Full Confidence by Benjamin Brewis sees players take on the role of prime minister, making decisions through a wave of parliamentary scenarios and trying to remain in power for as long as possible.

The success of Brewis's app, and the creation of others like it, suggests the dramatic recent ebb and flow of Westminster may have inspired a popular new sub-genre.

In No 10: Full Confidence, players who take on the precarious position of prime minister must balance the moods of four factions - their cabinet, backbenchers, the media, and the public - to remain in the game. Decisions are made across more than 300 fictional political scenarios, handwritten by Brewis.

The storylines range from the mundane - dealing with GP appointment waiting times - to the absurd.

"I have a two or three-part storyline where a dog is let loose into the House of Lords by a lobbyist during a vet bill and that spirals out of control," Brewis said.

Each scenario asks players to pick one action from three choices on the screen, with each potentially upsetting or pleasing the different factions.

Much like in real life, if one side completely turns against you your political career is finished.

While some situations may sound farcical, Brewis said he had plenty of real life examples to draw on as inspiration.

"I'd remember that MP who had a spider that he'd threaten MPs with, or when Boris Johnson walked into a fridge. I'm frantically writing them all down."

Not my finest hour

My first attempt at playing prime minister in No 10: Full Confidence hasn't left me considering a Westminster career.

As my chosen candidate, Verity Grimshaw, I start off strong, managing to survive a crisis in which thousands of A-level students receive the wrong grades.

I only manage to stay in the post for one year and nine months, taken out - somewhat ironically given my actual job - by a complete lack of trust by the press.

Unfortunately, a cabinet minister resigns and publishes a three-page-long letter that contains the phrase "the PM was warned" four times.

This letter being read out in full on BBC Radio 4 turns out to be the last straw for poor Verity.

My final choice in the game of "respond directly, address every point, don't let it sit unanswered", seemingly does not go down very well.

Brewis says some users have fared a lot better than my sorry effort.

"Someone has stayed in for 1,885 months, which is 157 years," he says. "I'm not sure if that's a democracy any more."

Brewis said he was inspired to begin creating the app around December 2025, when "it was all kicking off" with former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, and talk of potential challenges to his leadership was starting to grow.

"I remember thinking at the time, someone should just start taking the mick out of this," he said. "We've had so many prime ministers - it's funny now."

Five different people have occupied No 10 since 2016 - three in the space of just over three years, and one for just 49 days.

Dr Russell Foster, a lecturer in British and International Politics at King's College London, said the "churn of prime ministers" and growing presence of politics on social media could also help explain why Westminster is suddenly appearing on our devices.

No 10: Full Confidence is not the only game based around Westminster's wheeling and dealing.

Fantasy Parliament is a browser-based game designed by another UK-based developer, Evan Roberts, which lets players draft their own fantasy league of real-world MPs, scoring points based on their real-life media coverage.

With the strategy game's Policy Tester, players can even type in proposals to a ChatGPT-style AI model, which then replies in the style of how it believes different groups of voters - such as Coastal Keith or Graduate Gemma - would react.

Meanwhile, UK Politics Simulator, "built on real UK data down to ward level", is reportedly due out later this year for PC, made by the Scarborough-based company Black Cannon Games.

Despite the success of his own venture, currently ranking 5th in Apple's UK paid games charts - above Monopoly Go - Brewis said he does not know if any politicians have actually played his game.

However, he has received some feedback on how accurately the game depicts UK political life, from his friends who work in the civil service.

"It's exactly like this," they told him, "but worse."

What's driving men to get penis fillers, despite the risks?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c626d3xqd83o, today

Jason didn't want a "Coke can" – that's the nickname for a penis that has been enlarged with so much filler it resembles a stubby drink can.

"Some people go really overboard," Jason tells me when we meet in Manchester.

His procedure increased the girth of his penis by 16% - an amount he, and his partner, are really happy with. He says it has given him a "self-confidence boost".

"Everything still functions" as normal, Jason explains - just with "that extra little bit of width".

It is not clear how many men like Jason are having penis fillers. And you can't walk down the street and get a sense of it in the way you can visibly see the popularity of lip fillers. There is little regulation and there are no official records as anybody can start offering the procedure.

Penis fillers even became the topic of a bizarre conspiracy theory at the last Winter Olympics. Male ski jumpers were rumoured to be using fillers to increase the surface area of their suits so they could jump further.

However, some men have ended up in A&E with a penis turning black and skin "sloughing off" after a botched procedure. And the British Association of Urological Surgeons has issued warnings to men having these procedures.

So why are men doing it and what are the risks?

Jason talked to us frankly, but anonymously, about his decision to have fillers.

He was happy with the length of his penis but wanted a "bit more symmetry" and more girth to "get that nice, balanced look".

"If you feel like it's a bit lacking," Jason says, "then, why not?"

He spent a year weighing up options and ruled out having a surgical procedure. He chose a type of filler - hyaluronic acid - that is temporary so he knew that even if he hated the look it would "eventually just dissolve".

Jason says he wasn't motivated by swaggering alpha masculinity - "I don't subscribe to 'how big your dick is, is how big of a man you are'". Rather, he says expectations of male beauty have shifted.

"It's not just women that need to keep up, men need to keep up as well.

"It's literally just society changing. I think the way the media portrays everything has a massive impact on everyday life now," he says. "It's like you can't actually go anywhere without seeing some picture-perfect somebody."

Trawl the websites of clinics offering penis enlargement - which ask questions like "are you embarrassed by the size of your penis?" - and you can see how some tap into this.

There are a variety of penis-enhancement options. There are surgical and non-surgical techniques and different materials that can be injected into the penis.

Most common by far is injecting the gel-like substance hyaluronic acid - the same key ingredient used in lip fillers.

Hyaluronic acid is a naturally occurring sugar molecule in the body and is known as a "moisture magnet" as it grabs hold of water.

Dr Javed Hussain has been offering penis fillers for more than a year at his clinic in Prestwich, Greater Manchester.

Hussain trained as a doctor before moving into cosmetic procedures, but penis fillers do not legally require any medical training to perform.

He says demand is increasing. He's treated men of all ages - some in their mid-20s, while his oldest client is aged 72.

The process starts with consultations on the patient's health, reasons for wanting to have the procedure, expectations about the results, and a discussion about the risks.

On the day of the event itself, a penis is injected with hyaluronic acid three times - on the top and on either side. The hyaluronic acid filler is delivered through a cannula that enters at the base and travels along the length of the shaft.

The filler is then massaged to give an even look, which the patient continues as home.

At a cost of up to £3,500, Hussain says men can expect between 10% and 20% more girth for the next six to nine months.

But there are risks. These range from relatively minor ones such as soreness, bruising and uneven filler, to serious ones including infection. These risks apply to all procedures using filler. However, there is also a risk of damaging the vital structures and blood vessels in the penis that are needed for an erection.

When asked why he feels comfortable offering procedures that are concerning surgeons, Hussain says he "totally understands" why some are worried.

"It comes from the right place, that nervousness," he says, "but at the same time, more and more evidence is growing and we're getting the results" and that "there is a benefit" to men.

Hussain says he has an "immediate action plan" including drugs to quickly dissolve the filler in the event that things go wrong, and reports that "thankfully, we've never needed to" - although the BBC cannot independently corroborate that.

But he recalls one patient who came to him for advice after treatment elsewhere, which had "really gone wrong".

He says the incorrect type of filler had been used and the "shaft of the penis was starting to become black" as the procedure had damaged the blood vessels in the penis and the skin was dying. The man was sent straight to A&E.

Prof Vaibhav Modgil, an andrologist and consultant urological surgeon for the NHS in Manchester, has seen these men coming into hospital after botched procedures.

"When it does happen, it can be devastating for the patient," he says.

He recalls seeing men with "skin necrosis, where an area of the skin dies off it turns very black and then it sort of sloughs off.

"So, men will go in thinking, 'Oh, it's gonna be brilliant', but they might come out actually being even more dissatisfied than when they went in."

Alex, who did not want his real name to be used, travelled to Germany for a different type of penis enhancement procedure.

He had surgery to cut the ligament that attaches the penis to the pubic bone to make it appear longer. He also had his own fat cells harvested and injected into his penis to enlarge it.

When he woke up after the procedure, he was in so much pain he couldn't stand.

"I sustained a lot of bruising and all my upper legs turned yellow," Alex says. "I couldn't walk properly for about a month."

Alex was treated in Modgil's clinic where eventually he was given the all-clear. "Many people do not get that luxury," he says. "I got off lucky."

Alex says he knows he was "never small in the first place", but society and porn had convinced him that a bigger penis was "masculine and the best".

Despite a lack of official data on the number of penile enhancement procedures, Modgil says online search trends, advertising and social media all "points to the fact that the numbers are on the up".

This has led the British Association of Urological Surgeons to issue new recommendations against these procedures.

"The guidance that we've recently produced essentially says we cannot recommend that any of these procedures should take place because the evidence is so poor," says Modgil.

It looked at 36 studies, involving 3,750 men, but said it was still not clear what the "safety profile" of these procedures were.

This is partly down to a lack of data on how fillers affect the penis long-term. But there is also concern that - just like lip fillers - you do not need any qualifications to perform the procedure.

Modgil says an outright ban is "probably too severe", but if these procedures are going to continue then the industry "massively needs regulation".

He called for a national registry to record when penis filler procedures have been performed and for long-term data to be collected so men can make an informed decision based on the risks and the benefits.

Back in Manchester, Jason is happy with the results of his procedure and thinks he'll do it again when his current fillers wear off.

Inside Health was produced by Gerry Holt.

US women in politics spark conversation about balancing family and career

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjwxgz95jvgo, today

Last summer, Representative Sara Jacobs would run up to her office to give herself injections of hormones before rushing back to Congress for a session with her fellow lawmakers.

The shots were for the second round of freezing her eggs, a medical procedure that can give women more time to have children.

"It was an empowering decision that gave me more agency," the 37-year-old said, adding that the process was challenging.

"Your body hurts. Your hormones are crazy. It's kind of like puberty and menopause at the same time," she said.

Jacobs announced she was beginning the egg freezing process in 2021, at a time where she said few lawmakers were discussing the topic in the halls of Congress. The process - which can cost more than $10,000 and is rarely covered by insurance - involves doctors harvesting eggs from the ovaries and freezing them for a future pregnancy.

This week, Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced she too was beginning the process of freezing her eggs, documenting the daily mechanics of giving herself hormone shots on social media.

The left-wing Democrat's announcement sparked a conversation about the challenges of balancing motherhood and a demanding career, the same week that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced she would be leaving the Trump administration to spend more time with her family, including her infant.

"The truth is since returning to the White House after the birth of my daughter, I have felt in my heart that I cannot be the best mum my two young children deserve while devoting the constant time, energy, and attention required of the White House Press Secretary," Leavitt said.

Several women with busy careers spoke to the BBC about the challenges of juggling their work with motherhood in the only industrialised nation that does not mandate paid parental leave.

Less than a quarter of workers in the US have access to paid family leave through their employer, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Over 120 nations around the world - including all European countries - provide paid maternity leave.

In the US, women are increasingly having children at older ages, while more are choosing not to have children at all. From 2016 to 2023, the average age of all mothers giving birth in the US rose from 28.7 to 29.6, according to a 2025 report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Michele Heisler, a professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan, gave birth to her first child after going back to medical school at the age of 30. She was pregnant with her son during her third year of medical school.

Heisler, who serves as medical director for nonprofit Physicians for Human Rights, said she has only been able to dedicate enough time to her career because of access to resources - including nannies - and a husband who is an equal partner in parenting.

"Unless it's clear that both are equal parents, [child rearing] is always going to fall on the woman, and then you're going to have to take a step back in some way," Heisler said.

Heisler said a flexible schedule is what allowed her to pursue her career to the fullest - staying up late at night to work and waking up sometimes at 05:00 to get her research done - so she could spend time with her children.

Seema Patel, an associate professor of law at UC Law San Francisco, also stays up late at night to try to finish her work so she doesn't have to miss moments with her children.

"The reality is that these years in your kids' lives are so fleeting, and I'm super aware of the time," she said.

Patel worked for San Francisco's Office of Labor Standards Enforcement, which became the first local government in the US to pass a law requiring employers to provide paid parental leave.

But through her career as a workers' rights lawyer, she has seen many lower-wage workers and parents who are not lucky enough to have access to paid time off.

When Patel began working as a federal attorney, her boss advised her to save up her vacation days in case she eventually wanted to have children and needed to take leave. She ended up taking the advice.

"I was a brand new, young attorney who had not even contemplated that stage of my life, but I had to in that moment, face that question of - I better be saving my vacation days," she said.

But even with some maternity leave and a dedicated partner, as her children - now ages 13, 11 and 7 - have grown older, the work-life juggling act remains a challenge.

"I have a high producing job," she said. "How can I do that while also being there for my kids and attentive to them? I don't have an answer."

For now, Jacobs, who has completed two rounds of egg freezing, plans to hold off on having children while her job requires her to fly across the country from California to Washington.

"Figuring out how to be a mom when I'm gone half the time across the country, it's logistically complicated," she said.

Jacobs said she was impressed by her fellow lawmakers who have managed to make it work. Only a handful of women have given birth while in Congress, while a few dozen lawmakers are mothers to children under the age of 18.

The federal government, like many US employers, does not offer paid parental leave, Jacobs noted.

"Both Congress and the general American workplace were designed by and for men who had often stay-at-home spouses who handled all of the domestic work," she said. "It's going to take a lot of work for us to create a society where the domestic work is really shared equally between women and men."

In the meanwhile, Jacobs feels reassured to have a back-up plan for whenever she does feel she can fit children into her busy career.

"I hope to be able to do that one day, but I just haven't figured the time is right just yet," she said.

Ariana Grande leaves problems at home as her tour hits the UK

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn0n7rln2rno, today

It feels inconsiderate of Ariana Grande to bring her Eternal Sunshine tour to the UK at the tail end of the year's fifth heatwave. Haven't we suffered enough already?

But the fans packed into London's O2 arena on Saturday night didn't seem to care about the heat and the sweat.

They came ready to dance. Thousands of them, dressed in cat ears, bridal gowns and elaborate floral headpieces.

They scream when she references rumours she's back together with her ex, Ricky Alvarez. And they bounce in unison when she plays colourful club anthems like Into You and Break Free.

It's the first time Grande has played in the UK since 2019, partly because of Covid, but also because of her Oscar-nominated role in the movie musical Wicked.

She rewards fans with a few of Glinda's signature hair tosses and, more importantly, a two-hour show that highlights the incredible agility of the star's voice.

Sure, the production has all the paraphernalia a major pop tour - big sets, plumes of smoke, inspired choreography - but there are long stretches where it's just Grande on stage with her band. Her stunning, four octave vocals come first. Everything else is a distant second. And rightly so.

If you dig around on Grande's YouTube channel, there's a famous video of her recording the song Positions, directing her sound engineers as she layers vocal harmonies and ad libs, finding new note combinations on the fly.

It's a bravura performance that showcases her facility with melody and arrangement - and she essentially recreates it live on stage at the O2.

After the opening run of songs, she hushes the audience and spends two minutes looping her voice. First the lyric, "I don't care what people say, it's true", in high and low registers. Then she adds short phrases: "Won't break. Can't Shake. Deep breaths…. Tight chest. Life. Death. Rewind."

They become the backbone of the next song, Eternal Sunshine.

They're also the backstory of the whole show.

Like the characters in Michel Gondry's 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (which gives the tour its name), Grande has tried to erase some of her most painful memories.

The singer is a survivor of tragedy and heartbreak, including the death of her former boyfriend Mac Miller and the Manchester bombing that killed 22 fans after one of her concerts in 2017.

Over time, however, she's realised it's better to hold those memories. To honour her losses. To learn and adapt.

That narrative - mostly told through lavish video interludes - is about reckoning and reconciliation. But since the tour began in California two months ago, it has taken on added significance.

Intense public scrutiny about Grande's personal life, her health and her weight have prompted the star to withdraw from the public eye when the tour ends in London next month.

Grande reassured fans that the decision came from a "thoughtful, empowered place", and had been planned "a long time ago".

Whatever private battles the 33-year-old may be fighting, they are never present on stage at the O2.

If anything, Grande is having a blast - teetering around in perilous heels, blowing kisses to the audience and embracing the physical and vocal demands of her show.

"This is so incredibly overwhelming," she says during a rare pause in the music.

"I'm just going to savour every single second of these last 10 shows."

The only time she appears to get emotional is during Hampstead - a ballad that deals with her portrayal in the media and the darker corners of the internet.

Her voice breaks as she sings the lyric, "But I knew who I was when I got here", but it transpires that she's simply reacting to an audience member who's blubbing their eyes out.

"You'll make me cry," she smiles in sympathy.

But that's a blip. At every other point, Grande is locked in.

She opens with a theatrical flourish, striking silhouetted poses with her dancers for several minutes before the lights drop, the curtains are whisked into the rafters, and she struts into view with the defiant Yes, And?

The show proceeds with the fluid choreography of Positions before Grande dons her famous bunny ears for a slinky version of The Boy Is Mine.

There's a little victory dance when she pulls off the live vocal production of Eternal Sunshine. And there's a sly grin when she changes the lyrics of the break-up song Thank U, Next from, "Wrote some songs about Ricky, now I listen and laugh", to "Wrote some songs about Ricky, we don't talk about that."

(Ricky is Ricky Alvarez, one of her former dancers, who Grande is reportedly dating again, 10 years after their initial break-up. They went Instagram official last week).

The setlist is largely pulled from 2024's Eternal Sunshine album - at the expense of major hits like God Is A Woman, Problem and Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored.

She isn't cavalier enough to jettison everything, though: Both 7 Rings and her Lady Gaga duet Rain On Me raise the roof.

A powerhouse version of Dangerous Woman claps like thunder; and Grande's vocal riffs on Safety Net are so tremendously colossal they should be registered as the eighth wonder of the world.

There's a ripple of laughter during We Can't Be Friends, meanwhile, when a tiny cluster of the audience screams over the "silence challenge" that's become a meme during the tour's American leg.

Despite that, the quiet moments are the most effective.

On Imperfect For You, Grande sits face to face with her long-time guitarist Johnny Najeraas, as though they're singing together in her bedroom. It's delicate and gorgeous and strangely intimate in a room of 20,000 people.

The lyrics are sad but hopeful, a promise that broken people can find happiness.

And, whatever happens during Grande's upcoming hiatus, you have to hope it's a promise that holds.

After the concert, fans were bowled over by the star's vocals and stage presence.

"Ten out of ten. A masterpiece," said Harry, a Chinese fan living in London.

"When she came on stage, I was right at the front, so I was literally bawling," added Poppy from Kent. "She's the best singer ever."

"It was probably the best concert I've ever been at," agreed Clare, who'd flown from Monaghan in Ireland for the opening night.

"We didn't get to shake hands with her, but we were definitely breathing the same air."

Asked about Grande's decision to retire from live performance for what she has called "a long, long, long, long, long time", fans said they were fully in support.

"I'm proud of her. She took a stand to keep away the remarks, the critics," said Brian, a French fan attending the first of several shows.

"It's awful," added Cory from Banbury. "The public has bullied her out of it. We've bullied her out of fame. I think that's gross."

"She needed time to recover," said Damon, another Chinese fan.

"Maybe she will make some more movies... I love her movies. And if she comes back, we'll be in the front row."

Setlist

* Yes, And?

* Positions

* Dandelion

* The Boy Is Mine

* Eternal Sunshine

* Just Like Magic

* Thank U, Next

* 7 Rings

* Imperfect For You

* Warm

* Safety Net

* One Last Time

* Rain On Me

* Break Free

* Twilight Zone

* Past Life

* Dangerous Woman

* Honeymoon Avenue

* Hampstead

* Interlude

* Into You

* Hate That I Made You Love Me

Encore:

* Kiss Me

* Bad Thing (Bunny Hop)

* Petal

* We Can't Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)

* Supernatural

Twelve killed as Polish bus veers off Hungarian motorway

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg4424zd7go, today

Twelve people were killed and dozens more injured when a Polish tourist bus veered off a Hungarian motorway and into a ditch.

Police said the bus overturned after coming off the M3 motorway, which connects Hungary's capital Budapest with the north-eastern city of Nyíregyháza, at around 01:00 local time on Sunday (23:00 GMT on Saturday).

Officers believe the driver fell asleep at the wheel. He has been taken into custody.

Thirty-five out of the 57 passengers and two drivers onboard have been rescued by firefighters so far, state media reports.

Emergency services had been attempting to lift the rear axle of the 24-tonne bus to remove the people trapped underneath before cranes arrived to lift the whole vehicle, according to news agency MTI.

Hungary's ambulance service said it had treated one person with life-threatening injuries, nine people with serious injuries and a further 37 people with minor injuries.

The country's Prime Minister Péter Magyar offered his "sincere condolences" to the families of the victims and wished those injured a speedy recovery.

Europe's tallest Virgin Mary statue unveiled in rural Poland

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn5nnlq2pwpo, today

A statue of the Virgin Mary believed to be Europe's tallest has been formally unveiled in a small Polish village.

The 55.6-metre (182ft) concrete figure is roughly two double-decker buses longer than Rio de Janeiro's smaller - if more prominently placed - Christ the Redeemer monument, though it still pales in comparison to a 98m Virgin Mary erected in the Philippines.

The ecclesiastical sculpture in rural Konotopie was consecrated by a local bishop in a ceremony on Saturday, a day chosen to coincide with the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Its inauguration comes at a time when the influence of the Catholic church on public life in Poland has declined.

The icon's remote location - in a field miles from any of Poland's population centres - is largely due to it being commissioned by a millionaire couple who live locally.

Two helicopters circled to drop rose petals over the Virgin Mary, which stands in a large crown with open arms, during Saturday's ceremony.

Bishop Krzysztof Wętkowski, who consecrated the statue, told those congregated that "many contemporary people look only to the earth, focused on themselves", whereas the figure beckoned "to raise our gaze upwards to God and heaven", according to Polish news agency PAP.

While Poland remains an overwhelmingly Catholic country, many younger Poles in urban areas have increasingly turned away from the church and its traditions.

Among the attendees on Saturday was Lech Wałęsa, who led the movement to end communism in Poland and would go on to become the country's first democratically elected president.

Wałęsa famously wore a Virgin Mary pin badge while campaigning and credited his Catholic faith as playing a major role in his fight against communism.

"I started with the Virgin Mary and I end with the Virgin Mary," the 82-year-old told the Associated Press.

'Number of fatalities' and four injured after car drives on wrong side of motorway

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyqq52xkypo, today

A number of people have died and four people have been taken to hospital following a two-vehicle crash in County Kildare.

The collision occurred on on the M9 Northbound at Junction 3 at about 03:00 local time on Sunday.

Gardaí (Irish police) said a vehicle had been travelling on the wrong side of the carriageway when a head on collision occurred with a second car. They said there were a "number of fatalities".

The driver and front passenger, both female and aged in their 30s, of the second car have been removed from the scene to Tallaght University Hospital and both remain in critical condition.

A female rear seat passenger, aged in her 20s, was taken to St. Luke's General Hospital and is in a serious condition.

The third passenger, who is a child, has been removed to Children's Health Ireland at Crumlin and is in a serious condition.

The section of the M9 from Junction 3 to Junction 4 northbound and southbound remains closed with local diversions in place.

Gardaí said Fiosrú (the Office of the Police Ombudsman) has been notified of the incident.

Irish broadcaster RTE said Fiosrú's on-call team of investigators attended the scene and an independent investigation is ongoing.

The watchdog said a Fiosrú investigation relates to incidents involving contact with gardaí where a member of the public has died or been seriously injured.

It said a referral does not necessarily mean a garda or gardaí have been accused of wrongdoing.

"Instead, it means that Fiosrú should independently investigate the incident to ascertain whether or not the act or omission of a garda or gardaí may have resulted in the death of, or serious harm to, a person," it added.

Gardaí are appealing for any persons who may have witnessed this collision to come forward.

They are also appealing to road users who were travelling on the M9 northbound or southbound between 02:00 and 03:00 on Sunday and who may have dashcam footage of the incident or surrounding area to make this footage available to investigating Gardaí.

Qatar denies capturing three Iranian pilots after downing fighter jets

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj4kk8kz271o, today

Iran has called for the release of three pilots it said were captured by Qatar after two of its fighter jets were hit by air defences during a military operation at the start of the US-Iran war.

In a letter to the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Iran's Brig Gen Mohammad Bagherzadeh claimed the pilots - Javad Salehi, Abdul Majid Dashtian and Imran Behroshian - had been held captive for six months.

He said the body of a fourth pilot, Majid Kazemi, had been returned after he was killed in the same operation on 2 March 2026 - the third day of the war.

Qatar "categorically denied" Iran's claims and said it was "surprised by these misleading statements".

Bagherzadeh said the three pilots had been captured by Qatar after they ejected from their jets during a combat mission targeting a Qatari military base.

In the letter to ICRC chief Mirjana Spoljaric, published by Iranian media, he accused Qatar of violating "the inalienable rights of these prisoners, contrary to all international laws and regulations".

The letter also claimed the three pilots had not been allowed to meet or contact their families.

Qatar's foreign affairs spokesperson Majed Mohammed Al Ansari said contact had been made with the pilots "after they violated Qatari airspace", but that it had not received a response.

"The necessary measures were taken to defend our territory in accordance with international law," he added in a statement on X.

Al Ansari said Qatar's search and rescue teams "carried out their duties to the fullest extent in searching for the pilots' remains", adding the Gulf nation had contacted Iran "co-ordinate the handover of the remains of one of the pilots that were recovered".

Bagerzadeh later told the semi-official Tasnim news agency on Sunday that Qatar should allow an Iranian fact-finding team into the country to investigate what had happened, claiming one had been denied entry for months.

Al Ansari said an invitation for an Iranian team to visit Qatar to review the findings of its search and rescue operation had been extended in April but Tehran had yet to respond.

UK-made drones strike targets inside Russia

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ywwv2pp44o, today

British-made drones are being used to strike targets in Russia for the first time, it can be revealed.

The drones, built by two separate British companies, have been used in mainland Russia in widespread and successful targeting of military and industrial targets, including refineries and warehouses of online retailer Wildberries.

A well-placed military source confirmed to the BBC the use of UK drones in deep strikes in Russia.

British manufactured Storm Shadow missiles had previously been used in the conflict, although this new phase is having a far more decisive impact.

The British drones strikes, first reported by the Sunday Times, are said to have caused more than £35bn in economic damage.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has previously said drones using UK components and configurations have been used to attack Russian territory, including a fuel depot in the Kamensky District of the Rostov Region.

In April, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced it would supply Ukraine tens of thousands of drones, including long-range strike devices, in its biggest ever package.

The MoD said its support for Ukraine is "unwavering" and would stand by its ally "until it wins".

A spokesperson said: "We are committed to providing the equipment Ukraine needs to defend itself against Putin's illegal invasion.

"This includes over 150,000 drones this year, cutting-edge Stone Cloak devices that hinder Russian air defences and innovative low-cost cruise missiles."

On Sunday, Moscow's mayor said about 600 Ukrainian drones were launched towards the city overnight, with roughly a third of the drones being destroyed, and three people were injured.

A warehouse belonging to Russian online retailer Wildberries was hit.

Wildberries, known as Russia's version of Amazon, has been repeatedly targeted since July.

Kyiv said at the time it was targeting logistics hubs used by Russians to buy military equipment and disrupting supplies to the Russian army.

Britain's youngest Formula E driver says talent isn't enough anymore

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg40e24wnpo, today

Making split-second decisions while driving up to 200mph probably seems like a crazy task for most of us.

But Britain's youngest Formula E driver is learning to take it in his stride as his second season in the series draws to a close.

Back in 2024, Taylor Barnard became the youngest person to start an E-Prix and since then he's broken several other records - including becoming the youngest driver to secure a podium, pole and points in the sport.

So what's the 22-year-old got his sights set on now? The ultimate title, of course, world champion.

Barnard tells BBC Newsbeat he feels he got into racing by the "skin of my teeth", due to the extreme costs it takes to climb the motorsport ladder.

The immense financial backing needed to become a professional driver has been long known, with stars like Sir Lewis Hamilton speaking openly about the sacrifices his family made to get him a seat in Formula 1.

And Barnard feels if he was trying to climb the ranks now, he wouldn't make it due to prices being "so blown out of proportion".

Barnard, who's from Norwich, says the driving bug was passed down from his father, who was a karting driver in his younger years.

He rose through the ranks of British and European karting, before his talent helped him secure backing to get through Formula 3 and 2.

Barnard finally secured a seat in Formula E with McLaren, and transferred to DS Penske for the current season.

"It sounds very simple but trust me, it's anything but that," he says.

"It's super expensive, super difficult. And where my family and I've come from, we've always been on the difficult end of that journey."

The driver recalls being raised in a "very normal, working family", and at one stage they had to re-mortgage their house so Barnard could continue his racing career.

"We really did put everything on the line for me to be able to make it," he says.

"I would be lying if we're still not stinging from when we did that."

'It's only getting worse'

Now that he's getting paid as a professional, he says he's trying to pay his parents back "for everything they've done".

Barnard also wants to support young talented drivers who he feels are being left behind - as he feels not everybody that's made it into top-flight sports "deserves to be there".

"There's definitely people that have bought their way in or haven't earned their way," he says.

"And there's definitely been people out there, younger guys or girls that have the talent and the skill to be able to make it, which just gets shut out by financial issues.

"That's not right. And the way that it's going in the last few years, it's only getting worse."

Barnard says he's not sure how motorsport's governing body the FIA or racing teams can best address this issue as he recognises it is a business.

There are various academies and driver development programmes run by professional teams, but they are often very competitive.

Newsbeat contacted the FIA for a comment on this.

Barnard's journey has made him "appreciate the little things a lot more", he says.

And the end of this season will be made sweeter as he gets to drive in front of his family and friends at his home race when the 2025-2026 series closes at London's Excel this weekend.

It will be a tense double-header as nine drivers are currently in contention for the championship title, with fellow Brit Jake Dennis currently topping the table.

Barnard's future for next season is still slightly uncertain as DS Automobiles, the manufacturer behind his team, is set to leave the sport.

And with Penske yet to confirm its plans for the next era of Formula E cars, dubbed Gen4, the young Brit is focused on finishing the season on a high.

Barnard says fans can expect to see a lot of the grid going "side-by-side [at] almost every corner" and probably "a few crashes".

"Throughout the weekend we obviously do the duals in qualifying, which is super exciting.

"Next year the cars are going to be even faster, which is going to be even more exciting.

"I would actually argue Formula E has the best racing that you can view anywhere."

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

Parents of dead baby found near river identified

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c151149qpp5o, yesterday

The parents of a baby whose remains were discovered near a river prompting a major police investigation have been traced.

Officers from Lancashire Police were called to a report of the discovery of foetal remains beneath Hodder Bridge on Whalley Road in Stonyhurst at 15:13 BST on Tuesday.

The force said both parents "have come forward" following an appeal by officers.

It added: "We need to make it really clear that after speaking to them and conducting further enquiries, we are satisfied that there has been no crime committed, and our investigation has been brought to a close."

Det Ch Insp Jill Vescovi, of the force's major investigation team said: "First and foremost, I want to take a moment to recognise the parents, who have been extremely brave in coming forward to us this week.

"They have been through something incredibly distressing and are being offered the appropriate support."

She said: "I and my team appreciate the assistance from the public from our initial request, and we understand this will have been a talking point in the community, so it was important to bring you this update."

She asked that the public "respect the parents, their distress, and the fact that no crime has taken place".

"Please now allow them to lay their baby to rest appropriately, with the knowledge that we have conducted a thorough investigation, and avoid speculating online or between yourselves," she added.

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

Many Canadians are boycotting the US, so this is where they're travelling instead

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8jnwnw22ngo, yesterday

Prior to US President Donald Trump's re-election, Kent Truscott and his family, from London, Ontario, had taken multiple trips south of the border, including to California and most recently New York in 2023.

But since late 2024, "my family and I have completely decided to boycott the United States", he told BBC.

That meant cancelling a trip last spring to Texas to watch the SpaceX Starship launch with his brother. The two had planned to fly down from Toronto, rent a car and stay a week to watch the launch, likely spending "thousands of dollars".

Truscott and his wife decided to spend that money in Canada instead – the Atlantic provinces of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, to be exact.

Their decision is a response to US tariffs and the president's comments about annexing their country. More than a year after Trump's return to the White House, many Canadians like Truscott are still holding firm on their boycott on travel to the US.

Even with a slight uptick in road trips to the US in April, Canadians made 800,000 fewer trips that month compared to the same time in 2024, before Trump was elected, according to national data.

The boycott has meant a loss of about C$3.3bn ($2.35bn; £1.75bn) in travel revenue for the US last year - money that Canadians have instead chosen to spend overseas or exploring their own country.

That financial void has been felt by a number of American cities and states, who have urged Canadians to return through targeted advertisements and special deals. In July, New York City's tourism board said it will offer Broadway tickets and hotel rooms to Canadian tourists at a 30% discount.

The BBC spoke to a few Canadians about why they have chosen to avoid the US, where they have gone instead and what it would take for them to return.

Not everyone is driven solely by Trump's treatment of Canada, with some noting that the declining Canadian dollar has also made the US less affordable.

But many say they feel their country's relationship with the US has hit a breaking point, and that it would take a lot for them to return, if at all.

Trading Texas for Atlantic Canada

Once they decided to vacation in Atlantic Canada, Kent Truscott and his wife embraced the idea of discovering their own country. They rented a vehicle, hiked the scenic Cabot Trail and stayed at a resort on the Atlantic Ocean run entirely by women.

"I had the best halibut dinner in my life, caught by someone that morning out on the bay," he recalled.

He added that he was unsure when he would return to the US again. "There has been a fundamental break," Truscott said, noting anti-immigration raids and other Trump policies that he does not agree with, as well as the president's rhetoric and actions against Canada.

"As much as I would like to say that when Donald Trump leaves everything will go back to normal, well, 70 million people voted for it," he said.

A cancelled cruise through the Panama canal

Lynda Rousseau and her husband Joe had lived in Texas for 19 years prior to retiring in their home country of Canada. Their move back was scheduled for last summer, but was pushed earlier to February 2025 because of their anger over Trump's re-election.

"We just couldn't stand the idea of living there while he was running things," Rousseau, who now lives in Ottawa, said.

She and her husband then decided to boycott the US altogether after Trump began calling Canada "the 51st state" and its former prime minister, Justin Trudeau, "governor".

That summer, the couple cancelled a cruise that was due to depart from New York City and go through the Panama canal. Instead, they rebooked with the same company on a different cruise through Rome and Barcelona, where Rousseau said they enjoyed exploring ancient ruins and eating delicious food.

"I mean it's not New York's fault... but Trump is in charge of it all, and so it all takes a hit," Rousseau said.

The couple, who are dual US and Canada citizens, had also scrapped their plans of becoming "snowbirds" – a term used to describe Canadians who spend the cold winter months in warm US states like Florida and Arizona.

They now only cross the border occasionally to pick up their mail and come back, Rousseau said, avoiding spending any money while there.

Rousseau added that she mourns the loss of convenience of being able to drive and spend time in the US, which can be much cheaper to visit than most overseas destinations due to sheer proximity.

But through the boycott, she said she gained "a little more pride in Canada".

City hopping in Morocco in lieu of California

Nick Smith was never a Trump fan. The Vancouver retiree had stopped going on road trips to Seattle and to major US national parks with his children after the president was first elected in 2016.

He said he resumed his trips south of the border when Joe Biden took over, but is now back to avoiding the US, especially after seeing many of his fellow Canadians boycott as well.

"Now we're just not even considering it," he said.

Smith has even avoided taking connecting flights through American cities to other destinations. Last autumn, he and his friends travelled to Mexico City and opted for a direct flight from Vancouver instead.

Earlier this year, he and his wife Sylvia travelled to Morocco for the first time, stopping through cities like Marrakech, Fez and Essaouira. One of their favourite moments, he said, is experiencing the Muslim country during the month of Ramadan.

"It was actually quite an interesting time to be there, and realising how important religion is to the people of Morocco and how seriously they take the fasting ritual," Smith said. "We just don't have anything like that in Canada."

Asked if he would return to the US if Trump leaves the White House, Smith said: "It certainly is going to have to be more than that."

"I would need to see some sense of reconciliation [with Canada]... actions that would show a return back to amicable relations," he said.

A bucket list hike finally fulfilled

Christie Mitchell has made countless trips to the US in her lifetime. She has hiked national parks, attended American football games and drove an RV through several states down to Florida.

The 50-year-old mother of two from the town of Powell River, British Columbia, even remembers a time when you didn't need a passport to cross the border.

"I'm of that generation where I thought [Canada and the US] were just one big country," she said. "I just always felt welcome."

But that feeling has faded under the current administration, she said, which she does not want to support with her purchasing power.

"It breaks my heart, because I love Americans and I love America."

Boycotting travel to the US pushed Mitchell towards accomplishing a goal she has always had: hiking the 490-mile (790km) Camino Francés route through Spain.

She did the popular hike earlier this year to celebrate her 50th birthday in lieu of taking a quick, and cheaper, trip to Las Vegas - which is where she was thinking of celebrating, prior to the boycott.

Her favourite thing about the route in Spain, Mitchell added, is all the people she met along the way.

"Some people do the hike for personal reasons, and many of the people I talked to were in a transition," she said, adding that the hike had given her the chance to have "very lovely conversations with complete strangers".

Mitchell said she would be open to visiting the US again if a different president was in the White House, and if relations with Canada were restored.

Ireland's small but determined wine industry warming up

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c998513m85do, today

Think about drinks produced in Ireland and you'd probably picture a creamy pint of stout or a tumbler of amber whiskey.

The last thing you'd probably think of is a glass of wine.

However, the Republic of Ireland is recognised as a wine producing country by the European Commission.

While it still has only a handful of commercial vineyards, along with smaller growers experimenting with wine production, the amount of land being planted with vineyards is continuing to grow.

A new winery near Slane in County Meath is believed to be the biggest ever planting of vines in Ireland - about 36,000 vines on 30 hectares of land.

'We really are the extreme'

David Llewellyn is one of Ireland's original winemakers, first becoming involved in the late 1980s, planting "a few dozen different vines" and observing "which ones were potentially viable".

He established Lusca vineyard in County Dublin in 2002, and currently produces 1,500 to 2,000 bottles per year.

He said for many people Irish wine "is a curiosity, it's a novelty".

Llewellyn said the two varieties he "swears by "are a red called rondo and a white called Madeline Angevine.

"There are very few varieties of grape that can be grown reliably here in Ireland," he said.

He said while comparisons are sometimes made between viticulture in Ireland and the UK, they are very different.

"It's less marginal than we are, we are really the extreme," he said.

"They can grow all kinds of varieties in England we just cannot grow here in Ireland - some of the classics like pinot noir and chardonnay.

"In Ireland we don't have a hope at all of growing those grapes, but unfortunately people are planting them."

Llewellyn said he tries to meet new winemakers in Ireland to pass on his knowledge.

"Anybody can do what I'm achieving if they do it right and plant the right varieties in the right type of location and if they have the skills and knowledge," he said.

Further south, in County Waterford, David Dennison started his Viking Winery in 2009, planting 30 vines of rondo.

He now has three and a half hectares producing 14 different varieties - red, white and 'pet nat' sparkling wine.

All are hybrids - crossbred varieties created by combining two or more distinct grape species.

"We think there's a great future in hybrids," he said.

"The flavours you get from the wines are just spectacular."

He added: "We're certified organic, we don't use sprays, using hybrids we don't need sprays, because they're disease resistant so they're very, very good for our climate."

"When these wines come into fashion, you get more and more producers producing them, I think the public will start to say 'that's different'.

"But it's a long journey, we're only at the beginning."

He said the winery usually produces 2,500 to 3,000 bottles per year.

"I think this year we're maybe going to hit 4,500," he said.

"If we had our vines in full production now we could be up to about 15,000 bottles, that's what we're trying to work towards."

Dennison said he follows the wine industry in Sweden and Denmark more than the UK "because they're doing exactly what I think we're going to do".

He said grapes are like any other Irish crop "everything really depends on the weather".

"In the spring our biggest threat is frost, we have to put out burners and candles and everything to try and fight off the frost because if we don't we lose the early crop, we lose the white."

Dennison is setting up an Irish winemakers' association, with just under 30 potential members.

Last weekend, The Irish Times reported that a large winery in County Louth has been dropped by a distributor as its labelling didn't reflect that some French grapes had been used in its production.

Dennison said all winemakers would be invited to join the association "if they adhere to the rules".

Will climate conditions become more favourable?

Climate change expert Prof John Sweeney said he is "not too surprised we now have vineyards in Ireland and it's probably going to become more viable as our summer temperatures increase further.

"Viticulture benefits from relatively dry summers and again the models are predicting summers will become drier in Ireland," he said.

He said the vineyards currently operating in Ireland tend to be on the east coast on relatively free-draining soils and sandier soils.

"I don't think it's going to be something that spreads very quickly," he added.

"But the way global temperatures and Irish temperatures are going anything is possible by the end of the century."

While he said viticulture was unlikely to spread to the west and north west, parts of Northern Ireland could become viable.

"Around Dundrum and those kind of sandy soil areas would possibly be candidates," he said.

Looking to the future, David Llewellyn said he hopes the industry continues to grow in a sensible way, rather than people producing "a whole load of substandard wines".

"It'll be taken seriously if it's done right and if the wine is good," he said.

He warned that the production of what he termed "fake Irish wine" is the biggest threat to the industry's credibility.

David Dennison said a lot of people "don't even know about" the Irish wine industry.

"They haven't been exposed to it, but they will when we get our act together," he said.

"There's not enough of it, that's the problem."

Why tech bosses keep sharing their manifestos about AI

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz97ljy91zxo, yesterday

This past week, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg published a 6,500 word open letter entitled "The Future is for Everyone".

To some, it's an expression of hope in AI's promise. To others, it's little more than a verbose public relations exercise.

Zuckerberg's manifesto is the latest example of a tech boss opining on why AI is the next big thing.

His vision echoes what AI leaders have expressed in various forms: the product they are building is among the "most important technologies in history."

Marc Andreessen, co-founder of early web titan Netscape, perhaps started this trend in 2023 with a 5,000-word essay he called "The Techno-Optimist Manifesto", which argued innovation was the way to solve life's problems.

“So they're writing manifestos now?,” I remember thinking to myself.

Andreessen's writing began with him recounting lies he claimed people were spreading, and called for readers to push back against this.

"We believe growth is progress – leading to vitality, expansion of life, increasing knowledge, higher well being," he wrote.

Zuckerberg's recent essay doesn't name names - but the Meta boss mimics Andreessen by questioning those who have warned about the negatives of future tech.

"It is surprising that the discourse from many developing AI is so filled with doom," he writes.

As the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warns AI could affect nearly 40% of jobs and worsen global financial inequality, Zuckerberg says he believes there will be an abundance of jobs in the future.

"I do not understand why anyone who believes that AI will eliminate most jobs and much of humanity's relevance would rush to build that future."

Never mind that Zuckerberg's Meta has cut 10% of its global workforce - about 8,000 jobs - as the company reorganizes to focus on AI.

Zuckerberg's manifesto is the latest to land in our social media feeds in an effort to put a positive spin on AI.

In 2024, ChatGPT-maker OpenAI boss Sam Altman released a manifesto called "The Intelligence Age", a sweeping expression of optimism about the tech's potential.

Human progress was poised to accelerate in dramatic fashion, he promised.

"We need to act wisely but with conviction," he said.

That same year, in a manifesto titled "Machines of Loving Grace", Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei touted the potential of AI to transform everything from healthcare to politics.

He framed it as an attempt to share the potential upsides of AI - and he didn't want to be seen as a doomer.

Zuckerberg is no stranger to the long-winded essay format. During US President Donald Trump's first administration, he even wrote about thorny topics such as the spread of misinformation on his platforms.

He later put pen to paper to explain the company's ill-fated pivot to the metaverse in 2021.

But the stakes are higher in the AI era, argues economics blogger Noah Smith, and the commentary from executives reflects that.

"I think they all feel like it's such an important moment that it's incumbent upon them to do whatever they can to shape the direction that this technology is going," Smith said.

Zuckerberg's new manifesto announced plans to share its artificial intelligence tools more openly, meaning that the design or code behind the tech will be made public, allowing anyone to view, use and change it.

Decisions about whether these tools should be open source carry significant weight given their potential to do harm.

In recent weeks, several highly powerful AI models hacked into websites, or as some put it, "went rogue".

These were the most powerful models, not the ones being made open source - but as the technology develops, it has raised a serious question for Smith.

"Should we open-source something that has the ability to kill humanity?" he asked.

"If you don't take that seriously, you're just a fool."

It's why he thinks these manifestos are important, even if some online poke fun at them.

And they're gaining additional interest at a time when the open source market is dominated by Chinese AI models like Qwen, DeepSeek and GLM.

But the frequency of these corporate manifestos also serves as a way for executives to position themselves and their companies in the marketplace of ideas.

"It's a way of showing how smart you are," said Rob Lalka, a business professor at Tulane University.

Executives have long used the corporate blog "to expound on ideas in a way where they're sort of this businessman-philosopher, in a sense".

"They're trying to argue for optimism as a way of looking at the future," he said.

Lalka said the timing of Zuckerberg's manifesto coincides with rising anger over AI's impact on everything from jobs to the environment.

And while tech journalists and academics might pore over them trying to glean nuggets of meaning, these executive manifestos are not necessarily landing with the general public.

"They're trying to make the case that the positives will far outweigh some of those negatives that the public backlash is pointing out," he said.

"But I think a lot of the reasons for optimism are still yet to be seen."

US says dozens of countries helped China dodge Trump's tariffs

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c78gy6ep3n5o, 3 days ago

The White House said in a report on Thursday that more than 40 countries had helped China sidestep US tariffs by routing exports through nations that face lower American import duties.

The countries named include Canada, India, Mexico, Japan and South Korea, which the White House said had helped China evade tens of billions of dollars in tariffs, which are levied on companies importing goods.

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said it had cost "American jobs and billions in revenue".

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington said "trade wars have no winners" and that it opposes the US tariff measures and the use of state power to target China's companies.

"Any unilateral actions or agreements concerning transshipped goods must not target or harm the interests of third parties," the spokesperson added.

The BBC has contacted the US embassies of Canada, India, Mexico, Japan, South Korea and other trading partners listed in the report for comment.

The report follows a wave of sanctions between the US and China and comes weeks before US President Donald Trump will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington.

Between $30bn (£22bn) and roughly $300bn in goods have been moved from countries with higher tariffs through those with lower rates, according to government and private sector estimates quoted by the White House.

The process is known as transshipping, which refers to the practice of transferring cargo through another country while en route to a final destination.

The US accused China of "taking advantage" of the practice by moving goods through nations that have lower import duties.

China has used third countries as a stopover and has repackaged goods to hide their real origin to obtain lower tariffs, the White House said in its report, describing the process as "fraud cloaked in paperwork".

"What has changed in today's Great Transshipment Scam is not merely the speed and scale of this modern form of smuggling, but the breadth, depth, and sophistication of the global Shadow Transshipment Network through which China's tariff evasion now moves," the White House wrote.

The US has deployed artificial intelligence tools to catch transshipment efforts, it added.

Bargaining power

The report is expected to add to key sticking points between the sides as Trump and Xi prepare to meet in the US in September, and Chang Pao Li, associate professor of economics at Singapore Management University, said it could be used to strengthen the US bargaining position.

"Washington can argue that China has preserved access to the US market indirectly and that any broader trade settlement must therefore address not only direct Chinese exports but also third-country routing," she told the BBC.

Chang said while changes in trade-flow patterns may partly reflect legitimate production relocation and supply-chain reorganisation, the implication is that "economies with deeper integration with Chinese supply chains may now face additional risk and costs".

Despite a pause in most tariffs following talks in May 2025, Washington and Beijing have continued to exchange sanctions, including restrictions on humanoid robots shipped to the US and tighter Chinese curbs on drone exports.

In April 2025, Trump unveiled sweeping levies on dozens of US trading partners based on a long-held belief that tariffs will help boost American jobs and the economy.

Those sanctions have since been struck down by the US Supreme Court, but Trump has repeatedly introduced new tariffs using alternative legal levers to continue his signature policy.

Engine parts smashed Ryanair window that man's head was sucked out of, report says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr59j4z3vl8o, 3 days ago

Broken engine fragments smashed a cabin window of a Ryanair plane causing a man's head and right shoulder to be sucked into the hole last month, US investigators have said.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) wrote in a preliminary report that this happened after an engine fan blade broke shortly after takeoff on the 10 July flight from Greece to Germany.

Serbian national Ljubisa Karović's head and right shoulder were sucked out of the plane's window, leaving him "seriously injured and in shock".

His wife Svetlana Grković Maksimović later told BBC Serbia that she and two other passengers held onto his legs for several minutes.

The NTSB said the flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen "experienced a No. 2 (right) engine fan-blade-out (FBO) failure during climb out".

"The crew elected to return to SKG [Thessaloniki International Airport] where they made an uneventful landing."

The NTSB was "delegated the investigation in full" by the Greek authorities in the days following the incident.

It also detailed a timeline of events given by the flight crew, who said they received a "high vibration" engine alert during the climb.

In response, they reduced the engine power and carried out a series of checks. When the vibrations stopped, the crew continued to climb on autopilot, the report said.

But the engine vibrations then increased and the crew heard a loud bang, prompting them to declare an emergency and begin their descent.

Flight attendants reported hearing and feeling the vibrations, and seeing a small amount of smoke before the oxygen masks were deployed.

One flight attendant said they then noticed passengers calling for help after a passenger became "partially lodged in a damaged cabin window", with the entire window missing.

The engine had undergone ultrasonic inspections in May this year with no findings of fault, the report stated.

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary earlier suggested that the incident may have been caused by "foreign object damage" to an engine.

The aircraft was operated by Ryanair's subsidiary Malta Air.

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Air India pilot's reported cannabis test: What it can and can't tell investigators

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74gdgly3g3o, yesterday

Reports that an Air India pilot tested positive for cannabis after a flight sound like the sort of finding that should make an aviation investigator sit up.

But the reported result has not been officially confirmed, and even a confirmed positive would not necessarily be the smoking gun it might appear to be.

On 4 August, an Air India Airbus A320 flying from Phuket to Delhi suddenly lost about 91m (300ft) of altitude, injuring 13 passengers and four crew members. The aircraft, carrying 137 passengers and eight crew, landed safely in Delhi. The incident is under investigation.

Both pilots underwent routine post-flight screening for psychoactive substances, India's aviation ministry said. It said the captain's initial test produced a result requiring "confirmatory testing" and that both pilots had been removed from flying duties pending the inquiry.

Earlier this week, a number of media reports, citing sources, reported that the captain subsequently tested positive for marijuana in a confirmatory laboratory test. Air India has not confirmed the result. The reports have triggered a storm over pilot drug testing and aviation safety in India.

There is, so far, no official finding linking the captain's alleged drug-test result to the sudden loss of altitude. Investigators are examining the incident more broadly, including technical, operational, medical and human factors, and it remains unclear what caused the aircraft to plunge.

The obvious question is whether cannabis had anything to do with it.

The less obvious one is harder: what does a positive cannabis test actually tell us about a pilot's state of mind several hours earlier?

Quite a lot is known about how cannabis affects performance of complex tasks. Much less is known about how to turn a positive test into a reliable timestamp for impairment.

Some of the most directly relevant evidence comes from a rather unusual source: pilots.

In a 1976 experiment, 10 pilots smoked a modest dose of marijuana and then flew a simulator. Their performance deteriorated, with errors in altitude, heading and radio navigation. The effects were evident for at least two hours and generally disappeared within four to six hours, the study found.

A decade later, researchers returned to the question of what happens after the obvious "high" has worn off.

Ten experienced private pilots were tested on a flight simulator 24 hours after smoking cannabis. They showed significant deterioration in several measures, including elevator and aileron control, landing accuracy and vertical and lateral deviation on approach. Most strikingly, the pilots did not realise that their performance had deteriorated, the study found.

A 1991 follow-up produced a similar warning.

Nine active pilots flew a simulator after smoking a cigarette containing 20mg of THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol - the main psychoactive compound in cannabis and the chemical responsible for the "high" and many of the drug's effects on the brain and motor skills.

Performance was impaired when checked 15 minutes, four hours, eight hours and 24 hours later. Seven of the nine pilots showed some impairment at 24 hours, but only one was aware of the drug's effects, the study found.

These studies are small, old and were conducted with aircraft simulators rather than modern airliners. They cannot tell us what happened in the Air India cockpit. But experts believe they likely establish something useful: cannabis can interfere with the sort of fine motor control, attention and complex human-machine interaction that flying demands.

A review by aviation-medicine specialist David Newman for Australia's Transport Safety Bureau reached a similar conclusion.

Cannabis affects behaviour, cognition and psychomotor performance in a dose-dependent way, and complex tasks such as flying are particularly sensitive. The review also found evidence of residual effects lasting up to 24 hours.

The science has become more complicated, however, as cannabis use has become more widespread and the potency of cannabis products has increased in many parts of the world.

A 2022 randomised clinical trial led by Thomas Marcotte at the University of California San Diego tested 191 regular cannabis users.

Those who smoked THC performed worse on a simulated driving task, but the researchers found that impairment could not be inferred from the THC content of the cannabis, the users' previous experience or their blood THC concentration.

The drug initially impaired performance, but after about four-and-a-half hours, those who had taken it were performing about as well as people who had not received the active drug.

That finding matters enormously for aviation testing.

A positive test can show that THC is present, but not necessarily when cannabis was consumed or whether the person was impaired at the time. The relationship varies with the dose, how it was consumed, frequency of use and individual biology, experts say.

This is one reason cannabis presents regulators with a problem that alcohol does not.

"Unlike with alcohol where there's a more robust relationship between alcohol concentrations in blood and impairment, the association is much more complex with THC. THC rapidly leaves the bloodstream after smoking, and there is limited to no correlation between blood THC concentrations and impairment," Marcotte told the BBC.

"In people who use at least occasionally, THC can be detectable in blood for days and sometimes weeks after last use, particularly in more frequent users. This is long after any acute impairment has subsided."

Studies show that impairment after smoking cannabis typically lasts three to five hours. When cannabis is ingested, such as in an edible, impairment lasts longer - typically six to eight hours, and sometimes more.

After edible use, the metabolite 11-OH-THC (11-hydroxy-THC) is often more closely associated with impaired cognitive function than THC itself, which may be present at lower concentrations, says Marcotte.

Not surprisingly, there is no equivalent universally accepted cannabis test that can say: this person is currently too impaired to fly.

Canada has responded by taking a deliberately blunt approach. After legalising recreational cannabis in 2018, Transport Canada introduced a rule prohibiting flight crews and flight controllers from consuming cannabis for at least 28 days before duty.

The regulator says the rule was intended to address the uncertainties surrounding cannabis impairment and detection; and airlines can impose stricter rules.

The American aviation experience offers another warning against reading too much into a positive test.

A 2026 US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) study of pilots killed in US civil aviation accidents between 2018 and 2022 found that 52.8% had at least one drug detected, while 27.7% had two or more. THC was the main driver of the increase in illicit-drug detections. But the NTSB stressed that the study was about drug presence, not whether pilots were impaired.

Clearly, finding cannabis in someone's system does not, by itself, establish that it caused an incident or accident.

But there are cases where investigators have gone further. In a 2011 Canadian crash, a Cessna 208B pilot had 50.1 nanograms per millilitre (ng/ml) of THC in his blood. The Transportation Safety Board concluded that the amount of psychoactive cannabinoids was sufficient to impair cognitive processes and likely affected the pilot's planning and conduct of the flight.

The opposite has happened, too.

In a 2017 New Zealand helicopter crash, THC was detected in the pilot's blood after cannabis use two days earlier. A forensic toxicologist concluded that he was unlikely to have been under its influence at the time of the accident, and investigators found cannabis very unlikely to have contributed.

The lesson from these cases is not that a positive cannabis test means nothing. It is that its meaning depends on the concentration, timing, circumstances and other evidence available to investigators

In the Air India case, investigators will need to establish much more than the alleged fact that the captain's confirmatory test was positive.

They will need to know what sample was tested, whether it contained THC itself or a metabolite - a substance produced when the body breaks THC down - at what concentration, and what that can say about the timing of use.

Air India is to immediately test all its pilots for banned substances after the incident, expanding on existing rules that require at least 10% of pilots to undergo random screening.

Urine, blood and even saliva can show that someone was exposed to THC, but they cannot reliably establish when it was used or whether the person was impaired at a particular point several hours earlier, according to Marcotte. Saliva is more closely linked to recent use, but can still detect THC many hours - and potentially a day or two - after consumption, he says.

Experts believe the question is not simply: Was the pilot using marijuana?

It is threefold: Was cannabis consumed? Was the pilot impaired while flying? And did that impairment contribute to the aircraft's sudden loss of altitude?

The first may soon be answered. The other two are considerably harder.

France's top court blocks social media ban for under-15s

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2vj433xqlo, 2 days ago

France's top court has struck down a ban on social media for under-15s, saying it infringed upon freedom of expression.

The legislation was backed by French lawmakers in July, making it the first European country to block young people from the platforms, after concerns over the harmful effects on children's mental health.

Friday's ruling by the Constitutional Council overrides the ban, which Emmanuel Macron had pledged would be introduced in stages from September.

Responding to the news, the French president immediately asked Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to prepare a new draft that would take into account all the council's points.

After lawmakers voted through the bill last month, Lecornu referred parts of the legislation to the council - a nine-member authority that checks whether a law complies with the constitution - for review.

The Constitutional Council said it had found that Article 1 of the legislation "constitutes an infringement that is neither appropriate, necessary, nor proportionate" to the freedom of expression and communication for under-15s.

The ruling also raised concerns over the law's requirement to provide proof of age to access online services and said it failed to establish "the legal safeguards necessary".

Macron's office said after the ruling that the French government would work "as quickly as possible" to propose a new draft and said the president was determined to see the reform implemented by early 2027.

The original legislation had envisaged that from September all those under-15 would not be able to open accounts, and verification would be required on all new accounts. And from January, this would have applied to all existing accounts.

Opponents have repeatedly questioned the law's viability and raised concerns over privacy, the efficacy of age-verification tools, the risks of young people bypassing them, and how quickly the ban has been designed and brought in.

Australia was the first country to introduce last December a social media ban for those under-16, although it is widely acknowledged that many in the country continue to use the platforms.

Legislation restricting young people's access to social media has been ramping up around Europe in the past few months.

In May, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed a "social media delay" for children in the EU, saying new legislation could be put forward in months.

In the UK, former British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced in June that under-16s in the UK will be banned from social media from January 2027. An optional midnight curfew for UK teens aged 16 and 17 was also announced.

'I lost $14,000 in a month': Investors hit by Korean stock market's wild swings

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2k7zj4knwlo, 3 days ago

Bank worker Yongjoon Kim lost 20 million Korean won ($14,000; £10,500) on the South Korean stock market last month.

Kim's money was meant to help buy a home, as he is getting married later this year.

Instead the value of his tech investments slumped by around 25% in July.

"It's going to sting and I'm going to have to work really hard to make up for this," Kim says. "But for others who have taken more risk, they're going to feel the pain."

Many of his friends are worse off, and now in a "desperate" situation after "going all in" with their savings, he says.

While plenty of investors are piling into technology stocks, sharp market swings mean the bets don't always pay off, with prices often moving on every major headline.

Nowhere is that instability more pronounced than in South Korea's tech-heavy Kospi, widely regarded as the world's most volatile stock index.

A global frenzy around artificial intelligence has driven wild swings in the value of the country's biggest chipmakers.

The Kospi faced "one of the sharpest corrections" in its history between June and August, comparable to the drops seen during Covid-19 and the 1997 Asian financial crisis, says Wee Khoon Chong from financial services company BNY.

The index more than doubled its value since the start of the year to rise above 9,000 points in mid-June, before plunging to 5,500 within a few weeks. It has now recovered some ground to about 6,800 points.

A key reason for the sell-off in recent weeks has been concerns over the huge amounts of money being spent on AI, Chong adds.

The slump has had a big impact on many of the country's personal investors who bought tech stocks over the past year.

For Woongsa Kim, a look at his shares trading app is a painful reminder of what he had made then lost by investing in the South Korean stock market.

At the start of the year, he used about half of a bonus from work to buy shares in tech giant SK Hynix.

The stock quadrupled in value before most of those gains were wiped out, leaving his investment, now worth about 300 million won, at roughly half the value of its peak.

"Thinking about it just brings tears to my eyes," Kim told the BBC.

The sell-off came after tech shares had soared for months, "generating the extreme euphoria" that has moved some personal investors to take out loans to invest, says investment analyst Tobias Reger.

It has been most acutely felt by people who used leverage - a form of borrowing in the financial markets.

Leveraging lets an investor control a larger number of stocks than their own cash would otherwise allow, which delivers a bigger profit if the shares rise.

However, if the stocks fall past an agreed level it can trigger what is known as a margin call - when a broker demands payment of the debt.

By the end of July an estimated 1.2 million South Korean personal investor accounts had faced margin calls, equivalent to about one in every 30 working-age adults in the country.

Leveraged trading is a growing trend among personal investors that has also picked up in markets like Taiwan and the US, says Frank Benzimra, the head of Asia equity strategy at financial services group Societe Generale.

That has raised the risks around AI-related stocks, he adds.

'Gut-wrenching' slump

After his US-listed Nvidia shares soared by more than 1,000%, Chanyong Park, who works in marketing, says he put most of the profits into SK Hynix shares. But that bet went sour as their value has fallen by around $10,000.

"This was money I'd invested to save before planning to leave my job around October to start my own business. But now I'm seriously wondering whether I'll have enough."

Park plans to hold on to his SK Hynix shares in hopes of a rebound, although recent swings have made him hesitant to invest more.

"It doesn't always feel like movements are driven by rational reasons - sometimes it still feels a lot like gambling," he says.

Another investor Youngji Park says he went "all in", putting the majority of his available cash into Samsung shares that peaked at a total value of 45 million Korean won.

But his investment has suffered a "gut-wrenching" slump, Park says.

He too plans to keep hold of his shares in the hope that they will rise again.

"I feel like a fool for trusting the Korean stock market," he says. "It's a long-term game now. I'll just have to wait it out."

College student Soomin Yi says she pooled money with a friend to invest in SK Hynix after experiencing "fomo" (fear of missing out).

But she now wishes she had sold her shares in the company when they peaked at three million won each in June, instead of buying into speculation that they would rise to five million won.

"We didn't really have anyone around us who is experienced in investing, and we did not study investing seriously before buying the stock," Yi says.

What this means for the rest of the world

The huge swings in Korean shares are also raising concerns about some other markets around the world.

Tech-heavy indexes like Japan's Nikkei 225 seem to be moving in tandem with the Kospi's wild swings, Societe Generale's Benzimra says.

But the majority of the world's stock markets are unlikely to see that level of violent moves as they include a wider mix of companies, he adds.

"I don't think we can see the same kind of volatility in large diversified markets such as the [Tokyo Stock Price Index] or the US equity markets," Benzimra says.

And traders who diversified their portfolios say it has helped cushion the blow from the stock market rout.

"I think this whole episode is a warning to Korean investors, especially young investors, not to put everything in one basket and hope for the best," says Yongjoon Kim, who also has shares in overseas markets.

He adds that he should have taken a more cautious approach to investing in tech stocks.

His fiancée, Gaeon Lee, is optimistic that the market will recover despite losing part of the savings they had set aside for a new home.

But she worries about Kim, saying the constant need to monitor their investments has taken a toll on him.

"Seeing our home savings take a hit in the stock market was definitely a wake-up call," she says.

Additional reporting by Sangmi Han, Suhnwook Lee and Yijin Sim

Why Japanese firms are being so slow to use AI

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwymw4434v7o, 4 days ago

Facing acute labour shortages, ageing demographics and chronic productivity problems, Japanese companies should be fertile ground for the take-up of artificial intelligence (AI). Yet, compared with the US and UK, adoption in many workplaces remains sluggish and cautious.

Japan's response to AI is beginning to resemble one of the country's slow-moving, traditional Noh plays.

All the masked characters up on stage agree that action is urgent, and the call is repeated with solemn agreement. Yet the actors remain frozen in place.

Great for heightening drama, terrible for addressing the country's immediate difficulties.

Data showing the use of AI in the workplace suggests that Japan has fallen behind. Just 8.4% of Japanese workers use AI as part of their job, according to a report at the end of last year by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

By contrast, separate statistics puts the US figure at 50%, and the UK at 32%. In Singapore, which is said to have seen the second-highest take up of AI after the United Arab Emirates, and the most in Asia, 56% of workers are said to use AI "multiple times a week".

So why is Japan dragging its feet? Austin Xu, co-founder of US start-up Kuse AI, says it is due to Japanese companies being conservative and risk adverse. His business recently set up an office in Japan to sell its AI systems to firms in the country.

"There are organisations where process and consensus culture genuinely slow things down," he says. "Where tolerance for AI mistakes is close to zero, especially in anything client facing. Some would rather leave a role unfilled than let a machine handle it."

Xu says the situation in the US is very different, with some businesses already allowing AI agents far more freedom to boost productivity. "In the US, AI colleagues enter as helpers and gradually become part of the workflow. The attitude [of US bosses] is often - let it try, then correct it."

He adds that Japanese companies need more proof before they trust AI enough to use it.

Parrisa Haghirian, professor of international management at the Kyoto University of Advanced Science, agrees that many Japanese companies are too risk adverse to look at AI.

"The challenges of adopting it are the same as adopting any change in Japanese firms. This is why AI use is still quite limited and cautious, especially in the workplace."

Haghirian also contrasts this with the more entrepreneurial culture of the US, arguing that Japanese firms are highly sensitive to error, uncertainty and reputational risk.

"Since generative AI is still not fully reliable, it is mainly used [in Japan] for low-risk tasks such as writing, summarising, or information gathering, but much less for core operations or decision-making and for improving overall processes," she says.

Japan's healthcare sector is said to be particularly slow to look at AI, with some hospitals yet to even fully digitalise patient files. "Paper documents accumulate at a staggering scale," says one employee at a Japanese hospital, who asked not to be named. "It's like the Stone Age."

The Japanese government is aware of the wider problem of low AI adoption, and is trying to get more companies to take up the technology. Last year its AI Promotion Act was passed by the country's parliament.

This aims to use light-touch regulation to encourage businesses to invest more in AI. Tokyo pledges that Japan will become "the world's most-friendly country for developing and utilizing AI".

The government believes that the increased use of AI can help Japan improve its productivity. Currently it continues to have the worst level in the G7 group of advanced nations.

Japan's Ministry of Finance says that AI adoption by businesses has already increased substantially, with 75% of companies now using the technology, up from 11% five years ago.

However, critics argue that at each of these businesses only a tiny proportion of staff are actually using the AI, and that those who do so are only using it to a very limited extent.

Prof Yasushi Ogasawara, an expert on Japan's social system and technology at Meiji University, says there aren't enough tech-savvy people in the workforce.

"Although the Japanese like playing with gadgets such as smartphones, digital literacy is low here," he says.

This is highlighted by one report earlier this year which said Japan faced a shortfall of almost 800,000 IT professionals by 2030.

Many companies are also said to struggle with out-of-date computer systems, with around 60% more than 20-years-old.

Moreover, Ogasawara adds that Japanese companies are under more pressure to avoid fuelling unemployment than they are to develop AI which could result in job losses.

"The government is talking about AI, re-skilling, digital skills, but in reality, it is difficult to adapt human resources to digital skills because the top priority is to maintain full employment," he says.

But there is a shift in recruitment, with some companies now prioritising "AI literacy" in their new graduate hiring.

In the private sector, larger firms such as Kanematsu, a major general trading company, are hiring savvy graduates such as Uta Yamaguchi who joined in April.

"I use AI quite often at work," she says. "Many of my colleagues use it a lot. For writing emails for my boss, summarising complicated documents, meeting recording and summarising."

But, by contrast with the US, she says AI systems that can autonomously handle multi-step work are still virtually unheard of in Japan.

However, her employer, known for its forward thinking, now has them onboard.

Ogasawara says that "change in Japan is limited". He adds: "Japanese society expects painless reform, so I think it can be said that drastic reform is difficult, to say the least."

Disruption may be a dirty word in Japan, but without it the productivity gains the country needs could remain elusive.

Protein or pickled garlic? What's new in ice cream

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9826zl0945o, 2 days ago

I'm at the research and development centre of the world's biggest publicly listed ice-cream maker, Magnum. Near Bedford in the UK, it's where the company's researchers dream up new recipes and develop their production processes.

What really catches my eye is a pale yellow glow in the corner of the room. The light emanates from a glow-in-the-dark ice lolly.

Launched in the clubbing capital of Ibiza, it's targeted toward clubbers and festival-goers, and one of its ingredients, vitamin B2, is naturally luminescent and glows under UV club lights.

While a luminescent product may seem a bit of a gimmick, ice cream is a serious business and innovation is crucial to staying ahead of the game.

There's tough competition from other giants including Häagen-Dazs owner, Froneri, and Baskin-Robbins, the world's largest chain of ice cream specialty shops, not to mention smaller artisan ice cream makers that are popping up all the time.

They're all dealing with a notoriously unpredictable market and with fluctuating commodity and energy prices. No one can afford to stand still.

"We've had five years of price volatility impacted by war in Ukraine, Covid, the cost of living crisis. We've now got the Strait of Hormuz. We've just been in this constant state of instability when it comes to pricing," says Georgia Rose, principal analyst at global market research company, Kantar Retail IQ.

And those price fluctuations affect multiple areas of the ice-cream making process.

"Manufacturers have been hit by higher prices for dairy, cream, eggs; the ingredients that make ice-cream bases. And then you've got the flavours; vanilla, chocolate, sugar, fruit. And something that often gets forgotten is the cold-chain energy costs and storage," she says.

Rising costs are something The Magnum Ice Cream Company is battling with. It was spun off from parent firm Unilever last year and owns brands including Cornetto, Twister, Solero and of course, Magnum.

As the largest stock market-listed ice cream company in the world, with a market capitalisation of around £8bn, it has the funds to innovate.

One area under constant development is refrigeration - globally Magnum owns three million fridges, (designed and built by a third party), and some are fitted with cameras taking images to be uploaded to data centres.

From the pictures, AI identifies each product and it's also trained in depth-recognition, which means it can estimate how many units of a particular ice cream have been sold and when a fridge needs to be restocked. This equates to less empty space and more targeted supplies.

Meanwhile, the fridges themselves have been made more energy efficient.

Zbigniew Lewicki, Magnum's chief research, design & innovation officer says innovations like this aren't just a nice-to-have, they're crucial to the business' bottom line.

"If you look at the freezers we had in 2010, the ones we have now are 40% more efficient. Will we ever be able to absorb every shock? I can't say, but it's definitely one way of making the business long-term resilient."

Fridge technology isn't something the average consumer will notice, but new products on the shelf are a different story. When it comes to innovation, a lot of attention is turning to Asia according to Lewicki.

"The inspiration and trends come from the East. There's an incredible intensity of innovation in places like Japan, Korea and China and the markets are growing and expanding in a phenomenal way."

One of the products inspired by Lewicki's trips is Volcanics which has launched in the UK and Europe. It comprises a chocolate shell with biscuit pieces, chocolate and vanilla ice cream layers, and a caramel lava centre which he describes as "four dimensional".

Shanghai-based, Neil Yan is a researcher of market trends for consumer and sensory specialists, MMR. She agrees that Asia is now the centre of ice-cream innovation, and says there are some deeper cultural reasons for this,

"In China, ice cream is no longer a niche story. It's not just for Instagram. It's not just a summer treat. It's a new centre of gravity, representing a part of Chinese people's lifestyle."

And Yan says this affects the whole market: "[We are in] an era where everyone is experimenting with the flavours and the format, and blending it with what China, or the border term, Asian nationality, represents."

And within the context of flavour experimentation, pretty much anything goes.

"We have ham, pickled garlic, tahini, and stinky tofu and liquor. Just below my office is a shop whose speciality is vodka, foie gras and apple in one scoop," says Yan.

"The reason why people are so excited and so experimental is basically the ability to think beyond just the flavours that have been offered by the Western market for the past two or three decades."

Innovation in ice cream is not just limited to flavour, according to Honorata Jarocka, associate director at market intelligence company, Mintel. She says that products with added health angles are becoming increasingly popular.

Take protein for example, which has made its way into cereal bars and milkshakes over the last few years and now ice cream.

"It's not only about building your muscles, it's more about satiety because with the GLP1 user movement, [incorporating weight loss drugs such as Ozempic and Mounjaro], people are drawn to products that are more filling. Protein is really an important factor and ice-cream is a great place to use that."

But protein-packed ice cream often doesn't come cheap. David bars made by US company David Protein - and with a whopping 20g of protein - come in at $39.99 (£30) for a 12-pack, more than double the price of Magnum's Yasso frozen yoghurt bars.

But they've been a hit says Jarocka, because consumers are choosing "high quality, smaller portions, and are able to maybe pay a bit more for products with extra benefits because they are spending less on grocery items overall."

Back in Bedford, Magnum researchers are tinkering with their core product, with a little robotic help. The goal is to find the perfect viscosity of chocolate on Magnum bars, for the perfect crunch.

Helping with that is a robot called Eric, who does something that even the most dedicated ice cream consumer could not - collecting data on ice cream 24 hours a day.

Changing pubs into homes to be made harder under new rules

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyllg1v0kdo, today

Turning pubs into housing or offices will be made harder as part of changes to government planning rules in England.

The updated National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) will come into force on Monday and is expected to contain more protections for pubs at threat of closure for conversion to another use.

A previous consultation on the plans only gave the protection to the last pub in the area.

However, pub and hospitality groups say taxes and employment costs are the big reasons why pubs are closing. Meanwhile, the Conservatives said the Labour government is "failing abysmally" to meet its housing targets.

To go ahead with a change of use under the new rules, developers will need to provide evidence that there is no reasonable prospect of keeping a pub business running.

The evidence will need to include proof it was marketed for sale for at least 12 months.

A government spokesperson told the BBC councils would need to assess the impact on a community of a change of use.

The rules will reportedly stop owners from deliberately killing off trade in order to justify a closure, protecting pubs which have been historically successful.

The NPPF sets out government's planning policies for England and how they should be applied by local authorities.

Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have their own devolved planning frameworks and laws.

'Closures avoidable'

The Campaign for Real Ale has previously said that pubs are being "lost forever to conversion or demolition as developers look to cash in on the desirable locations and unique architecture of pubs and social clubs".

The British Beer and Pub Association and UKHospitality have also campaigned against pub closures, with both largely blaming tax rises and other costs.

Allen Simpson, chief executive of UKHospitality, said: "The biggest issue facing hospitality businesses is costs like VAT and business rates pushing pubs out of business in the first place.

"Anything that makes it harder to take these important assets away from their communities has to be welcomed, but the government should focus on continuing its strong start on fixing the harm done to hospitality over the past two years."

In July, the Labour government said pubs, social clubs and live music venues in England will be given a 20% cut to business rates on top of rates relief announced in January.

The NPPF update being published Monday also includes default approval for homes being built around railway stations in England in an attempt to increase housebuilding numbers.

Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said: "By unlocking thousands of homes around well-connected transport hubs, we're helping people live closer to work, school and the services they rely on, while backing local businesses and driving growth in our communities."

The update also means that some groups will no longer need to be consulted on housing development plans as part of the process of getting permission.

Under the changes, Sport England will continue to advise on significant cases and the Gardens Trust and Theatres Trust will still be notified of relevant applications.

Labour has set a target to build 1.5 million homes by 2029. According to official data, it has so far built 392,000 homes in England since coming into power in July 2024.

Shadow housing secretary Sir James Cleverly said Labour is "failing abysmally" to meet their target because of taxes and red tape.

"To try to fix their own mess, Labour are planning a power grab, seizing control from local communities and forcing them to accept development in the wrong areas because Labour won't build in the right areas," he added.

Selena Gomez sued for alleged fraud over mental health company

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8jn2811we4o, 2 days ago

Hollywood actress and singer Selena Gomez is being sued by five investors who backed Wondermind Global, a mental health business she founded with her mother.

Shareholders are claiming the pop star failed to fulfil promises that she would be "actively building" the brand, saying her "abject dereliction of her duties" has left the company in a "state of financial calamity".

The lawsuit seeks to recover around $1.2m (£890,000) it claims was invested as well as costs and damages.

The BBC has contacted Wondermind and Gomez's representatives for comment.

Gomez, who rose to fame as a child actor before moving into pop music, set up the mental health platform five years ago with her mother Mandy Teefey and businesswoman Daniella Pierson. It came after Gomez publicly discussed her own mental health struggles, including with bipolar disorder.

The 34-year-old is one of the most-followed women in the world on social media, with over 500 million followers, and an estimated net worth of nearly $1bn. She also founded cosmetics company Rare Beauty, in 2020, which is closely associated with her name and image.

Wondermind aimed to make mental health-related content more accessible through a digital platform, recruiting investors to back the venture.

But the lawsuit claims Wondermind's founders "falsely represented" their position by suggesting "a full slate" of ad deals, celebrity cover stories, an app and other initiatives were already underway and promising that Gomez would take an active role as its head of marketing.

"Gomez purported ‌to ⁠sign a contract obligating her to perform and then ignored it," the lawsuit claims.

Gomez is currently listed as a co-founder on Wonderminds website, below her mother who is now in the chief executive role, following Pierson's departure from the company.

The individuals behind the suit, based in New York and Florida, include Brent Saunders, chief executive of eye-health company Bausch + Lomb.

The claimants' lawsuit alleges Wondermind failed to meet "even its most basic obligations, such as timely paying its employees and vendors".

Promises including Wondermind's partnerships and app never materialised, according to the claim.

"For three years, while the company quietly collapsed around them, not one of its founders, officers, or directors said a word to the investors whose money was funding the collapse," the complaint states.

They said they were unaware of the company's difficulties until an investigative news story by the online magazine, The Cut, surfaced in September 2025.

That report made allegations about Wondermind's finances and issues with its management, according to the lawsuit.

The article showed that "Wondermind had no plan for its future - much less a plan for achieving a multi-billion dollar valuation," the lawsuit claims.

I got an £89 refund – how to cancel and avoid unwanted subscriptions

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg6x3n5erpo, 3 days ago

Ever been confused by a random amount leaving your bank then had that sinking feeling it's a subscription you forgot to cancel or didn't mean to sign up to?

From TV streaming, to meal deliveries and beauty boxes there are subscriptions for almost everything.

Often the first order is free or heavily discounted so you give it a try and tell yourself you'll cancel it before the deadline. But it's easy to forget and sometimes not straightforward.

Following Prime Minister Andy Burnham's crackdown on subscription traps, three people tell us how they got into - and out of theirs.

1. Set reminders

Sophie Branscombe, 23 from Wirral, says she signed up for a free trial of a photo editor app then saw a payment of £89.99 had gone out of her bank.

"It was a free trial, and they did make it clear I was signing up to a subscription, but there was no reminder of when [the free period] would end," she says.

Sophie says she wasn't able to get a refund through the firm. Instead she submitted a refund request via Apple "report a problem" which refunded everything. The BBC has asked the company for a response.

Sophie's advice to others is to set reminders as soon as you sign up to a subscription for when the free trial ends.

"Make it a habit of checking what subscriptions run out and if you also find that you don't like something after signing up to a free trial, cancel straight away," she says.

2. Read the small print

Hussein Zaaiter, 21 from West London was using a free software trial for his university work and says when he tried to cancel he faced several complications.

"I tried online chat, email and even the phone at one point as they were constantly charging me," he says.

He says a payment of £16 left his account, then another of £32 before he froze his card. "They tried to charge me seven times," he says.

He contacted his bank to explain the situation in the hope of being reimbursed.

"I felt like it was marketed as a free trial that was easy to cancel.

"It was difficult to contact them, and the cancellation was near impossible," he says.

Hussein's tip for others is to read the terms and conditions and take caution before starting subscriptions. The BBC has contacted the firm for a response.

3. Don't assume your trial will end

Rosalinda Kwafo-Akoto, 22 from the West Midlands signed up for a one-week free TV trial. After the trial, the subscription would be £9.99 a month.

"I remembered before the end of the week that the trial was ending and tried to cancel it so I wouldn't be charged," she says.

She says she couldn't find the subscription anywhere on her account so assumed that they had automatically ended and removed it.

After a week, she realised that money had been taken out of her account.

She says it took her an hour and a half to get through to speak to someone on customer service and locate the subscription. Ros managed to cancel it and was refunded the full amount.

Ros's tip for others is don't assume that a subscription will automatically cancel just because you can't find it on your account.

"These companies make it as difficult as possible for you to cancel so make sure you get a confirmation email of your cancellation," she says. The BBC has contacted the firm for a response.

Harvey Nichols bought by owner of Sports Direct

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd69p89gl6xo, 3 days ago

Luxury department store Harvey Nichols has been bought by the owner of Sports Direct, which warned a "significant restructuring" was needed to ensure the 200-year-old business remains sustainable.

Mike Ashley's Frasers Group will take control of the Harvey Nichols stores, including its flagship in Knightsbridge, as well as the international franchise.

The department store was immortalised in BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, but had faced challenges in recent years. The firm had appointed administrators in June.

Michael Murray, Frasers' chief executive and Ashley's son-in-law, called the store a "British institution with significant potential" but added "clear meaningful change is needed".

"The turnaround will require tough choices and we are prepared to make those decisions, even if that means a smaller business in the near term, to create a stronger and more sustainable Harvey Nichols for the long-term," he said.

Harvey Nichols carries more than 800 premium and luxury brands and has over 1,000 employees. Its other stores are located in Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and Edinburgh.

Frasers Group will also acquire the online business, and shops will continue to operate under their existing licensing.

Earlier this week, Harvey Nichols warned in its latest accounts that it would need to "cease trading" within a year if it failed to secure new investment.

It had faced "sustained trading and operational challenges" recently and Frasers Group said it will need to conduct a review of the store's portfolio, structure and cost base.

A recent auction for the store saw Frasers battle retail rival Next to take control of the firm.

Harvey Nichols was bought in 1991 by Hong Kong-based businessman Sir Dickson Poon but he put the group up for sale earlier this year.

Dubbed "Harvey Nicks" by Edina and Patsy from Absolutely Fabulous, the two often found an excuse to nip into the department store for a spot of shopping and a long liquid lunch in the heyday of the 1990s.

But Catherine Shuttleworth, retail expert and boss of Savvy Marketing, said: "If you go into a Harvey Nicks store - and I did last week - they look terrible, they look really tired and basically they've suffered from a lack of investment."

She told BBC Wake Up to Money that department stores "are cash-hungry monsters, they need investing, they need to look good and if you're at the top of the luxury market that's got to be constant".

Harvey Nichols chief executive Julia Goddard said the deal marked "an important milestone" for the company and "provides a strong platform for the next phase of the business's evolution".

"Over the past year, we have made significant progress in repositioning this iconic business, investing in our flagship store, broadening our customer proposition, and strengthening the brand DNA," she added.

As well as Sports Direct, Frasers has bought up a huge number of retailers and their brands over the years. These include upmarket fashion chain Flannels, Savile Row tailor Gieves & Hawkes and luxury lingerie firm Agent Provocateur.

It also owns Jack Wills and House of Fraser.

Shuttleworth said Frasers' boss Murray has "got his finger right on the pulse of how those [young] shoppers shop".

"If you look at what the group have done with Flannels, [Harvey Nichols] is going to be more Flannel-esque than it is going to be Sports Direct-esque," she said.

Fraser Group's purchase of Harvey Nichols is part of its strategy to increase its presence in the luxury section.

It recently launched a takeover approach for German brand Hugo Boss, which it has a stake in already.

'Secures jobs'

Lindsay Hallam, senior managing director of administrator FTI Consulting, who advised Frasers Group on the sale, said she was "pleased to have secured a buyer, providing continuity for Harvey Nichols and enabling it to move forward under new ownership".

"We are particularly pleased the transaction secures more than 1,000 jobs and provides a strong platform for its next chapter.

"Our focus was to find a solution that protected the underlying value of the business, securing a future for a 200-year-old retailer, and delivering the best possible outcome for stakeholders".

Harvey Nichols's restaurant in the Oxo Tower, London is being sold off separately and is not included in the deal.

Water bills set to rise for many after firms permitted extra funding

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2j1j5ypjdo, 3 days ago

Water companies have been given the green light to increase bills for customers by an extra £3.4bn in coming years to meet increased pressures on infrastructure and the environment.

Nearly a third of the extra funding provisionally approved for 13 water companies in England and Wales is earmarked for making sure water services are maintained.

Some of the rest will be used to meet rising demand from housebuilding and data centres and to address pollutants known as "forever chemicals".

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the proposal was "real money out of family budgets at a time when they are struggling with the cost of living", and an environmental group described the decision as "an insult".

Customers of five water companies - Severn Trent Water, Southern Water, Thames Water, Wessex Water, and South East Water - are facing additional bill rises over the next two years, on top of increases that were already announced in 2024.

The new increases will vary between firms.

Southern, for example, will charge £43 extra next year, while South Eastern will only charge £1 more in 2029. The increases will only come into effect if they are given final approval later this year.

The other eight water firms identified - Anglian Water, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water, Hafren Dyfrdwy, Northumbrian Water, Wouth West Water, United Utiliites, Yorkshire Water, SES Water - would recover their additional spending through customer bills after 2030.

Many consumers are angry at being asked to pay anything more against a backdrop of interruptions to supply sometimes lasting for days, and rivers, lakes and beaches too polluted to use safely.

But water companies argue that these problems can only be solved by boosting spending to replace pipes, build treatment plants and establish new reservoirs.

Climate change has also increased pressure on the water infrastructure by making heavy rains and heatwaves more frequent.

'Deliver or face clawback'

The regulator, Ofwat, said the extra spending would enable the firms to support growth and better environmental outcomes, and ensure important upgrades were not delayed.

"We will track performance to ensure companies are delivering the expected improvements for customers and the environment," said Helen Campbell, executive director for delivery at Ofwat.

"If they don't, expenditure can be clawed back."

Water companies need approval from the regulator, Ofwat, to raise customers' bills, a process that takes place every five years to set spending budgets for the years ahead.

This decision to allow increased charges comes on top of already-agreed bill rises that were negotiated with the water companies in 2024.

The process allows firms to apply for additional funds for projects that were not known about at the time of the last review.

As part of the outlined increase, Ofwat has approved funding for schemes including provision for new data centres in Manchester, additional wastewater capacity in Newquay and to bring forward work by Wessex Water to tackle PFAS pollutants, originally planned for 2030-35.

However, the decision is provisional. There is a period of public consultation, with a final decision due in December.

'No blank cheque'

Ofwat said water companies had submitted a total of £4.3bn worth of requests, but some of their proposed extra spending had been rejected.

Burnham said he understood why people were angry as they had been asked to pay more for years while pollution incidents and leaks continued.

"Where water companies seek to pass unnecessary costs onto households, they will be challenged," he said.

Amy Fairman, from campaign group River Action, said: "Ofwat waving through yet more water bill hikes is an insult."

Water companies had failed to make sufficient investment over the last 30 years, she said, leaving customers with "leaks, pollution and soaring bills".

There should be greater public control of water companies, she added. "No more blank cheques for failure."

Kierra Box, water campaigner at Friends of the Earth said: "Our rivers and seas are chock full of filthy sewage and chemicals, which have seen next to no improvement despite recent bill hikes.

"Now ordinary people are being asked to foot the bill once again to pay for decades of water company inaction on upgrading our crumbling water infrastructure. It's daylight robbery."

Zero hours crackdown could cost firms up to £2.9bn a year

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0l525k76d0o, 3 days ago

Businesses could face costs of up to £2.9bn a year because of a crackdown on zero hours contracts, according to the government's own analysis.

Labour's employment reforms are set to cut the number of hours staff can work before they must be offered guaranteed time.

Official analysis released on Wednesday showed it could cost employers between £350m and £2.9bn, based on the eventual threshold of hours the policy impacts.

Skills Minister Baroness Jacqui Smith said the reforms would ensure workers are "fairly paid" but business groups said the cost to employers was "disproportionate" compared to how much it would help workers.

Government analysis said there were "potential trade-offs" that include more administrative costs and less flexibility for companies, including making it "harder for employers to respond to changes in demand".

At the upper end of its estimate, about £1.2bn in costs would come from businesses who are forced to pay workers compensation for cancelled shifts.

However, the middle estimate of how much the policy would cost overall is £1.1bn.

The total cost depends on who the policy eventually applies to: if it applies to people working 48 hours a week, as some unions have called for, it will cost companies more.

The government's preference is for it to fall somewhere between eight and 20 hours a week.

In that case, the overall cost would fall far short of the higher estimates cited in the analysis.

Officials also wrote that the reforms could provide a £10bn boost to the economy because of better wellbeing and productivity.

That would lower the net average cost of the reforms to between £300m and £1.4bn.

It said the overall cost figures do not capture the full range of benefits because they are "not possible to monetise".

It said hospitality and retail companies, many of which rely heavily on zero hours workers, would be most affected by the change.

The document was released as part of a consultation into how many hours should eventually fall under the new rules.

Baroness Smith told Sky News the government will "look very carefully" at how it brings in the changes.

"I don't think it's fair for somebody to be on a contract where they literally don't know whether or not they're going to be working at all, and yet they're bound by that contract."

The number of people on zero hours contracts hit a record high of 1.23 million last December, a 91,000 annual increase, according to official data.

But business groups said the costs were more than had originally been forecast.

Kate Shoesmith, director of policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said it would be "a further hammer blow" for companies that are struggling.

"We are already facing a youth unemployment crisis – now is not the time to make it even more costly for employers to hire."

Helen Dickinson, the chief executive of British Retail Consortium, questioned whether the reforms would "actually deliver value for workers" because of the cost to businesses.

She added that retailers would also have to pay "hundreds of millions of pounds" to update their payroll systems.

The Trades Union Congress said most of the extra costs would only come if businesses cancelled workers' shifts at the last minute.

A spokesperson for the TUC said: "The aim of this legislation is to stop this practice and give variable hours workers security and stability - so good employers have nothing to fear."

Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, GMB national secretary, called zero hours contracts "archaic", adding that businesses were "of course … going to grumble" about the policy.

Twitch users outraged as Amazon uses their content to train AI in opt-out feature

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp30pz8d09jo, 4 days ago

Twitch has been criticised by users after it emerged the popular streaming platform allowed their content to be used to train Amazon's AI models.

Amazon owns Twitch and a setting allowing the US tech giant to take data generated by creators and audiences to train AI is turned on by default.

Users can opt out of that, Twitch said on Wednesday, but the announcement sparked a backlash with some users questioning why it was allowed in the first place.

Twitch's chief product officer Mike Minton, said it was "respecting" users by letting them opt out but on why data was collected by default, he admitted: "If it's opt-in, nobody would opt-in. That's the honest answer."

What is Amazon using the content for?

Users who remain opted in could have any of their channel content used for training, Minton said during a livestream, adding that the data collected will not be re-sold to other companies.

In Twitch's own FAQs about its use of AI, it says if users do not opt out, their content could be used to train generative AI models.

Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence which creates new content, such as text, images and video. Chabots like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini are both examples of the tech.

For example, Twitch said a person's audio might be used to "refine models that create speech to text". It said this would help improve automatic subtitles on Twitch streams as well as Amazon videos.

Some also questioned what the implications could be for game developers, given the feature would also seemingly train Amazon's AI models on the countless video games being played by streamers.

"On by default is criminal.... the AI narrative push is so draining," said one streamer underneath Twitch Support's post about the feature.

The BBC has contacted Twitch and Amazon for comment.

How to opt-out

On the same livestream, Mary Kish, head of community at Twitch, took viewers through a tutorial on how to disable generative AI training through a user's channel settings.

Those that do want to disable it would need to navigate to the Settings tab in their Streamer Dashboard, click the Security and Privacy tab, then scroll down to near the bottom of the options and toggle off "training for Generative AI".

Doing so will prevent Amazon from using streams, clips, images, chats and other channel content to train its generative AI models.

Some users have since said despite toggling off the option, they have then returned to the settings to find the feature turned on again.

"Went in and toggled the switch off, exited, went back in, switch is still on," one said.

Data collection for AI training has become an industry standard, Kish said.

"We don't expect you to be happy or excited about this. I don't expect anyone to react to this favourably," she added.

The stream's chat column was flooded with hundreds of comments from users criticising the move.

One viewer wrote: "Nobody would opt in because nobody wants to feed AI with our creativity and content."

Another said Twitch had an "opportunity to set an industry standard" to push back against data collection for AI.

It is not clear when Amazon began collecting Twitch users' data to train its AI models.

Minton said during the stream that he did not know if users' data had already been scraped for training, adding that he was unsure what Amazon "has done in terms of model training and what they've used and not used."

Amazon, which bought Twitch for nearly $1bn (£740m) in 2014, runs a host of AI services and has heavily invested in the its development as it seeks to compete with Google, Meta and other technology giants.

UK economy grows but experts warn of challenging months ahead

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2d1gpx2k0o, 4 days ago

Summer sun and sports fixtures helped the UK economy grow between April and June, according to official data, but some economists warned the outlook for the rest of the year was weaker.

The economy expanded by 0.4%, in line with market expectations but below a 0.6% increase in the first three months of this year.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said growth had "remained relatively robust", with the UK ahead of other G7 countries for growth this year so far.

Experts questioned whether this resilience would be maintained, however, given growth was fuelled by some temporary factors and energy prices could remain volatile if the Middle East conflict continues.

The British economy is now 1.2% bigger than a year ago, the ONS said, despite fears that the Iran war, which started at the end of February, and politically uncertainty around Sir Keir Starmer's resignation as prime minister would hold back growth.

Between April and June, sectors including computer programming, advertising and the pharmaceutical industry lifted growth. That was offset by falls in power generation and sewerage.

The ONS said some businesses reported that "good weather and sporting events may have had a positive effect" in June, boosting month-on-month growth to 0.3%.

The men's football World Cup, which kicked off mid-June, increased customers at hospitality venues showing the matches.

June also saw several of summer's heatwaves. However, May's growth was revised down from 0.1% to zero growth.

Fergus Jimenez-England, associate economist National Institute of Economic and Social Research said the UK economy had "weathered the recent energy shock better than many feared".

Matt Harwood, director of Clarity Plastics, a plastic injection moulding company with sites in Birmingham and Telford, said that while the conflict had affected costs for things like raw materials, there had since been some stabilisation.

"When the Iran war started, availability went down and prices went up," he said. "However, we're seeing that kind of level out now, and prices coming back to the kind of the normal levels again.

"We've tried to stay resilient by carrying on investing. We're now installing a large 1500-ton machine... that's kind of giving us a competitive edge now as well."

But Jimenez-England said the recent pace of growth for the UK economy was unlikely to be sustained.

"Both inflation and unemployment are set to rise in the coming months while business sentiment remains fragile and could dampen further with ongoing energy price volatility.

"The economy has shown welcome resilience so far, but we are not out of the woods yet."

On Wednesday, it emerged that Prime Minister Andy Burnham has been warned by the Treasury that the UK economy may grow by just by 0.9% this year and could be as low as 0.3% in 2027 if disruption in the Strait of Hormuz continues.

Suren Thiru, chief economist at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, said that while households and firms had "largely shrugged off the shockwaves from the Iran war" much of the growth in the second quarter had been driven by "temporary factors".

This was likely to be followed by a "more painful deceleration" in the next few months, he said, and would make Chancellor John Healey's first Budget in October "more challenging".

Responding to the latest growth figures Healey said: "I know people are worried about the impact of the conflict in the Middle East on their cost of living, which has been too high for too long and it has added pressure on British businesses."

He said the government's aim was to make the country "more resilient" and to "drive growth in every postcode".

Shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride said Labour had "mismanaged the economy with their tax and borrowing spree, leaving it weak and vulnerable to the effects of shocks like the Iran War.

"Labour need to realise that it's their poor decisions which have stifled growth and made the cost of living worse," he said.

Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said the figures were "little to celebrate".

"After Labour's two anti-growth budgets, Burnham needs to urgently get a grip on the economy and get Britain growing again, supercharging economic growth through a new trade deal with the EU, including joining the Single Market," she said.

The emerging paradox of Northern Ireland's AI story

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2jrj4l7lqo, 4 days ago

In a converted aircraft hangar on the shores of Lough Foyle, local workers are helping to power the Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolution.

They are engineers for TES - a firm which has recently been bought by Legrand, one of France's largest industrial businesses.

Legrand has acquired TES's expertise in designing and producing the electrical systems needed by AI data centres.

These data centres are effectively warehouses full of computer servers which are central to the operations of AI businesses.

When you use ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot the data centres are where the computing action really happens.

These facilities require massive, uninterrupted power supply, not only to run the servers, but to fuel the sophisticated systems that keep them cool.

Companies like Microsoft, Google and OpenAI have been investing billions of pounds in centres like these as they compete to create the fastest and most useful AI services.

That means TES is facing huge demand for its products.

"Astronomical," is how the managing director Michael Beagan describes the growth in the sector and the factory he runs in Ballykelly.

"When we started on this site four years ago there was basically a team of two. We're now at about 175 employees and growing."

The company is developing an apprenticeship scheme with the North West Regional College in nearby Limavady to create a pipeline of skilled workers.

There is demand for those skills in other local businesses which also supply data centres.

AI jobs across the island of Ireland

Vertiv this week announced it is creating 300 jobs at its facility across the border in Letterkenny, County Donegal.

It is a US company which set up in Ireland five years ago when it bought E&I Engineering from the Londonderry businessman Philip O'Doherty, making him one of the wealthiest people in Ireland.

Seagate, another US-owned manufacturing business in the north west, is also reaping the benefits of AI investment.

It makes hard disc drives which AI companies need to store the massive amounts of data which underpin their services.

Its products are effectively sold out up until 2028 bringing some security to its 1,500-strong Derry workforce which went through a round of redundancies in 2024.

Jobs under threat

So while the local operations producing the physical infrastructure of the AI boom are doing a roaring trade, other important parts of the NI economy look vulnerable.

The case of the law firm Baker McKenzie helps illustrate the challenge.

It is a big US company which, in 2014, chose Belfast as a service centre, providing business and professional support to its fee-earning lawyers around the globe.

The centre has about 500 staff and is typical of the sort of back-office operation which has driven jobs and growth in the NI economy over the last decade.

In February, the company announced it was embarking on a major AI-focused review that could result in the loss of up to 1,000 support jobs across it global operations.

It said: "This review was aimed at rethinking the ways in which we work, including through our use of AI, introducing efficiencies, and investing in those roles that best serve our clients' needs."

In Belfast that puts about 50 jobs under threat.

There is potentially a similar story at the US cybersecurity firm Rapid7 which has more than 500 people in its Belfast engineering centre.

This week it said it is cutting about 12% of jobs across its global operations so it can redirect resources into its "AI-first cybersecurity platform".

It is not clear how many jobs are under threat locally but 12% would equate to about 60 roles.

In the context of record NI private sector employment of 620,000 these are small numbers, but it suggests a direction of travel for these sorts of "knowledge processing" jobs.

The economist, Dr Lisa Wilson, who specialises in labour markets, has been estimating the impacts of automation in a series of studies since 2019.

Her work covers not just AI but other technologies like robotics.

Her initial study suggested that that about 7% or 60,000 jobs in NI were at high risk of being lost to automation technologies.

A further 58% were estimated as being at risk of substantial change to the tasks involved in their job over the medium term.

She is due to update that research soon and has emphasised the need for a nuanced discussion about "what jobs are going to stay, what jobs are going to be created and how are they going to compare in terms of quality to the jobs that are lost".

Helping local businesses navigate that transition is the focus of the Artificial Intelligence Collaboration Centre (AICC), a joint initiative by Ulster University and Queen's University Belfast designed to equip businesses and workers with practical AI skills.

Its director David Crozier says they have worked with "every type of company you could imagine", not just technology focused software start-ups.

These have included manufacturers trying to make better use of sensor data and a graphic design firm trying to speed up its workflow.

Entrepreneurs Oonagh O'Reilly and Marie-Claire McGreevy have also worked with the AICC as they develop their business.

They have created Mel, an AI-powered business development platform designed to help accountants and lawyers get better at selling their services and developing new clients.

Oonagh says that AI creates a whole new range of opportunities to start and scale businesses in Northern Ireland.

For McGreevy, collaborating with the AICC helped them understand the nuances of deploying AI safely and sustainably.

"We had our eyes opened to the world of 'tokenomics'—understanding how much it's going to cost in the long term to deploy AI within our system, and how to use it strategically."

The emerging paradox of Northern Ireland's AI story is becoming clear.

The hardware builders are riding a record-breaking high, but the broader professional services workforce must adapt as AI evolves from a distant technology into an everyday workplace reality.

A spokesperson for the Department for the Economy said AI "presents significant opportunities" for the economy.

"We are working with partners across education, industry and government to support AI capability through a range of initiatives including the £16.3 million Artificial Intelligence Collaboration Centre, Assured Skills Academies and ensuring wider skills programmes remain responsive to technological change," they added.

"An AI advisory panel has been established by the economy minister and the department is "working closely with the Office of AI and Digital in The Executive Office on the development of the public sector AI Strategy, which is currently out for consultation".

Trump sued over Truth Social's $100,000 early access service

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq6dpm5y0yyo, 4 days ago

Donald Trump is being sued by two US media groups over a new Truth Social service that charges up to $100,000 (£74,000) a month for early access to his posts.

The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday in New York federal court by The Intercept and Freedom of the Press Foundation.

The suit argues that selling priority access to the president's messages raises serious concerns, describing it as "extraordinary, corrupt and unconstitutional".

Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) said the lawsuit was brought by "left-wing activists" seeking to censor the president.

The BBC has approached the White House for comment. TMTG has previously dismissed concerns about the paid service.

The paid Truth Social service offers subscribers near-instant delivery of Trump's posts, arriving seconds before they appear for the general public. The plaintiffs say those moments matter because Trump often uses the platform to announce major developments, such as during the Iran war, that can move financial markets.

They argue the setup gives an unfair advantage to those who can afford it, creating a system where market-sensitive information reaches paying clients first.

More than 10 firms now pay up to $100,000 a month for fast access to Truth Social posts.

Trump Media and Technology Group has said the product is aimed at businesses seeking faster data feeds and has dismissed concerns about how the information is used.

The company unveiled the service, called Truth API, in mid-July and said it would deliver posts from Trump and other high-profile accounts in milliseconds.

Trump is the most followed person on the platform, with about 13 million followers, ahead of his eldest son Donald Trump Jr., who has around 7.5 million.

Seth Stern, chief of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation's, said Trump selling priority access to news he generates, for the benefit of a private company he controls, is "so blatantly corrupt and unconstitutional that it would have been hard to even fathom just a few years ago".

And David Bralow, chief legal officer at The Intercept, said: "Nothing could be more antithetical to the free, independent press than the president charging for early access to his public announcements."

The lawsuit described Truth API as a "scheme" and a money-making opportunity, noting that Trump holds the largest stake in TMTG through a revocable trust that owns about 41% of the company – a stake worth more than $1 billion. He is the trust's sole beneficiary.

Responding to the lawsuit, a TMTG spokesperson said: "Information from President Trump is disseminated by countless platforms and news outlets, many of which offer subscription APIs.

"One of those channels is Truth Social, which was founded as an uncancellable haven for free speech after the President was unjustly de-platformed.

"Now, left-wing activists are trying to wrongfully weaponize the courts to censor him again and harm our shareholders."

The spokesperson also accused the Freedom of the Press Foundation of violating Truth Social's terms of service.

US inflation eases as food and fuel costs cool

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0qv2nn1gpeo, 4 days ago

US prices rose 3.4% in the year to July, slightly lower than the 3.5% in the year to June, new figures show.

Energy remained volatile as the Middle East conflict has continued. While gasoline prices were down 2.9% in July compared to June, they were up 24.6% over the year.

Month to month, inflation rose 0.1%, mainly due to an increase in housing costs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. Even small moves in rent can lift the overall headline figure as it makes up a large share of household spending.

Food prices rose only slightly in July and at a slower rate than in June, while energy prices fell, offering some relief for consumers.

While inflation was slightly lower in July compared to June, those figures show prices are rising more slowly rather than falling.

Prices excluding food and energy rose 0.2% after staying flat in June, with medical care and airline tickets edging higher and car insurance continuing to fall.

The new Federal Reserve chair, Kevin Warsh, has said the central bank's priority is to "keep inflation moving down" while avoiding unnecessary shocks to the economy.

In a recent press briefing, Warsh said the Fed cannot use a "magic wand" to undo years of above-target inflation and must stay patient as price growth cools gradually.

One of the Fed's key jobs is to keep inflation near 2%, a level policymakers say keeps prices stable, supports steady economic growth, and helps prevent deeper downturns.

President Donald Trump has also said inflation is still too high for many families, pointing to rent and grocery bills as signs that the cost of living remains a major concern.

Financial markets reacted calmly to the latest figures, with stocks little changed as the numbers were broadly in line with market expectations.

Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Northlight Asset Management, said the figures were “no big surprise" and that inflation is not "reaccelerating".

Recent labour market concerns have also softened expectations for a rate increase, after July's report showed a loss of jobs.

Taken together, the two reports “give the Fed more time to wait", Zaccarelli added.

Meanwhile, Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial, said inflation is on a “real decelerating course", noting that July’s drop in energy prices “helped soften the inflation pressures of the month".

Bill Adams, chief US economist at Fifth Third Commercial Bank, said the report “keeps a narrow path open for the Fed to hold rates steady in September".

Burnham warned Iran war could hit UK growth next year

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y3egv4m4mo, 4 days ago

Andy Burnham has been warned that the UK economy could barely grow next year if disruption in the Strait of Hormuz continues until the end of 2026.

Treasury sources have confirmed that internal modelling presented to the new prime minister and chancellor suggests UK GDP growth could be as low as 0.3% in 2027, as first reported by Bloomberg.

Government officials say they routinely plan for all possible scenarios.

The UK economy saw a strong start to the year, but growth then faltered with the conflict in the Middle East affecting some businesses. The Iran war has pushed up oil and fuel prices, and also disrupted supply chains.

On Thursday, official figures will show how much the economy grew between April and June of this year.

Economists are expecting growth of 0.4% for the three months.

Burnham and Chancellor John Healey were presented with a reasonable worst-case scenario of the Strait of Hormuz remaining effectively closed for the next five months, and no permanent US-Iran peace deal until the new year.

The Treasury modelling for that scenario was that the UK economy would grow by 0.9% over 2026 - slightly under the 1.1% forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) in March.

The prospect was much dimmer for next year, with just 0.3% growth projected - much lower than the OBR's 1.6% forecast for 2027.

Under the modelling, inflation would peak at 4.3% in the first three months of next year. It currently stands at 2.6%, just above the Bank of England's 2% target.

The prime minister and chancellor will face pressure to use the upcoming Budget on 28 October to ease the financial burden on households and businesses.

Since taking office three weeks ago, Burnham has announced policies including the removal of VAT from domestic electricity bills and bringing forward an already planned end to "subscription traps".

But this week he told the BBC's Wake up to Money the announcements, aimed at tackling the cost of living, are not enough on their own, hinting at further support.

He has asked Healey to look at what more the government can do on the cost of living in the Budget, with the chancellor saying it will be his "main focus".

But Healey has said he will oversee "strong fiscal discipline" – which will limit how much the government has to spend.

Burnham has said his government will stick to the party's 2024 manifesto pledges not to increase people's income tax, VAT or National Insurance contributions.

He also promised to follow the fiscal rules imposed by former Chancellor Rachel Reeves, which include a pledge to balance day-to-day spending with tax revenues by the end of the decade.

Tokenomics: Why making AI pay is tricky

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c872r52x7jgo, 5 days ago

If you have used a free version of ChatGPT or any of its AI rivals, then you are obviously getting a good deal.

Firms like Microsoft, Google and Anthropic have invested hundreds of billions of dollars in developing Large Language Models (LLMs) the tech behind those services.

So getting ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini to help with your speech or holiday plans is a bargain.

But, naturally, those firms want to recoup their investment, so they offer paid-for versions of their AI, which have extra features for tasks like coding or billing.

Meanwhile, third party firms are building and selling services based on AI agents, usually based on an LLM, which are trained to do specific tasks.

But setting a price for those services is surprisingly difficult.

"Trying to tie someone into a cost model for the next 12 months, two years, three years, it doesn't make any sense, honestly, because we don't know," says Simon Gooch at Saviynt, an identity management company which is incorporating agentic AI into its services.

That's because of rapidly changing economics around tokens, the building blocks of LLMs and agentic AI.

When a user asks an LLM, like ChatGPT or Anthropic's Claude to answer a question, generate software code, or automate a process, that prompt is broken down into mathematical chunks called tokens, which can be processed by the model.

The LLM's response also comes in the form of tokens, which are converted back into text, software code, or a set of commands to automate a process.

The problem is this process is not entirely predictable.

Subtle variations in the prompt can produce different answers. The same prompt will not always produce the same answer. Different models will produce different answers.

Meanwhile, in agentic systems, businesses use multiple AI agents together to make decisions and take actions, further increasing both token use and unpredictability.

While the cost of individual tokens – or the credits used to pay for them - has plummeted in recent years, according to analysis by Goldman Sachs, the number of tokens consumed by businesses, and consumers, has skyrocketed.

The bank forecasts that token consumption will increase 24 times between 2026 and 2030 to 120 quadrillion tokens a month, as companies shift to use AI agents.

But companies, and individuals, using AI systems often have a tenuous grasp on just how many tokens they are burning through – until they either run out or get their monthly bill.

Even Microsoft has reportedly reined back its engineers' use of some third party coding tools, while Uber apparently tore through its AI coding token budget for a year in a matter of months earlier this year.

Will Venters, associate professor of Digital Innovation and Information Systems at the London School of Economics, said companies can be caught out as they experiment with or implement AI internally, as staff burn through tokens.

"People are finding it really hard to manage that cost… it's a non-deterministic output, so it's a non-deterministic value," he said.

Companies are finding ways to work around this.

Oliver King-Smith, founder of engineering software firm smartR AI, says smaller organisations "can fly under the radar and use [flat fee] personal accounts which I am sure the big vendors don't like".

But, he says: "This has to end at some point in time, because the big guys are taking a bath on those accounts."

Once the big AI platforms start facing pressure from shareholders to show a profit, he predicts: "They will start clamping down."

King-Smith says companies should also think more carefully about what AI models to use.

Companies also needed to be much more precise with their prompts, says Rob Steele, CFO at UK accounting software firm iplicit.

"You wouldn't send someone in your family out to get the weekly shop without any kind of detailed instructions as to what you expect in that shopping basket, right?"

The situation can become difficult to control when companies build AI into a product that could be rolled out to thousands of users, Venters points out.

AI costs could start to balloon. For example, managers may realise they need tokens not just for core software development, but for other tasks such as testing, security, or for implementing guard rails.

"It's particularly hard when you're looking at agentic processes," Ventners says.

Employing more AI agents can be done with the click of a button, whereas expanding the human workforce would involve careful discussions over headcount and hiring, he says.

Venters points out, while token costs might be unpredictable, it might be that the company is ultimately getting more value from their token use with AI.

"It's not quite the same as a calculator," he says. "The more you give it, the more expensive it is, but the better the result may be."

But companies still need to pass those costs onto their own customers.

"Nobody's really figured it out," says Bill Peterson, senior director of product marketing, at Sumo Logic.

The software firm is previewing new security services based on agentic AI, he explains, but is in discussion with corporate customers about how to charge for them.

"We're still having some fun conversations about this internally," he says drily.

Options could include simply raising prices across the board, he says, paying by results, or charging for "bundles" of incidents.

But whatever price structure it chooses could be upended if and when the large language model providers change their own pricing strategies.

"You get into variable pricing, and it's changing every couple of months" he says. "Customers don't like that. That's not how anybody builds a budget."

Sun-tanned cauliflowers and knobbly spuds - the heatwave veg that's good to eat

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g360z8d2lo, 5 days ago

Would you buy a cauliflower that looks like it's been sunburnt or a cucumber that's curled back on itself?

Farmers across the UK are grappling with one of the driest, hottest growing seasons in decades. Repeated heatwaves after a warmer than usual spring have led to predictions of the worst harvest since records began.

The heat is not only affecting how much produce is grown, but also how it looks.

Retailers usually reject fruit and vegetables that don't meet strict guidelines on size, shape and colour. But with supplies under pressure, many are now expected to loosen those rules rather than risk empty shelves.

That means shoppers could start seeing smaller, wonkier or oddly coloured veg on the shelves in the coming weeks - and sellers and growers say it's still good to eat.

'Sun-tanned' cauliflowers

Cauliflower is one of the most affected vegetables in hot weather because it needs lots of water.

Its heads are usually shielded from sunlight by the leaves, but in this year more light is reaching them and turning them yellow.

Emilie Vanpoperinghe, co-founder of Oddbox, a subscription company that sells surplus produce that supermarkets reject, said it is "purely a cosmetic defect" and the plants taste exactly the same.

She said Oddbox acquired 6,000 cauliflower heads last week that were too dark for supermarkets to sell.

Growers are reporting that their water reserves are depleted, Vanpoperinghe said, which means the cauliflower and broccoli family of brassicas will experience slower growth, leading to shorter supplies.

That short supply means retailers may soon start stocking "sun-tanned" cauliflower because "their biggest nightmare is empty shelves", she said. "They want to make sure that they've got availability of produce all the time."

Curly cucumbers

Growers are also reporting cucumbers that are coming out misshapen, with some bending back into a spiral.

That is because the plants are grown in greenhouses which overheat in the high outdoor temperatures, causing the plants to become stressed, Vanpoperinghe said.

"Even if they get the irrigation then it's just extreme heat, which means the plant is not able to grow anymore."

Holey pak choi

John Harper, a farmer in Worcestershire, grows pak choi for Sainsbury's, Aldi and Co-op, and has discarded more produce than usual this year because of tiny holes made by pests.

Flea beetles thrive in hot, dry conditions, and farmers are no longer allowed to use as many pesticides as before, meaning net covers are Harper's only defence.

Supermarkets' strict cosmetic rules mean "one tiny little hole can render the plant useless", he said, but some have temporarily loosened the rules.

"We've been working with them through this hot period and in general they sort of get it," he added.

Harper said the vast majority of affected pak choi is still edible - even if "it seems to be quite tasty" for the beetles too.

Knobbly potatoes

Lucy Munns, a potato farmer in Cambridgeshire, said the hot weather will stunt the root vegetable's growth, leading to oddly shaped tubers that supermarkets and chip shops, which she supplies, wouldn't normally buy.

When the weather gets cooler after a hot period, instead of the main potato tuber growing "it tends to grow a little knobble on the end".

"Trying to find people that will accept potatoes like that is very difficult. So that ultimately means a lot of wastage for us," Munns added.

"It's criminal, to be honest, to be chucking that much food away."

Those "knobbly and misshapen potatoes" however are absolutely fine to eat, she said.

"The only difficulty is peeling them, but just cut the knobbly bit off and peel it separately."

'A challenging period'

Supermarkets including Sainsbury's, Tesco, Morrisons and Waitrose already have dedicated lines for wonky vegetables.

Calum Kelly, Waitrose's produce technical manager, said in demanding weather conditions "we relax size and shape guidelines for key veg to avoid waste and provide more income to our growers and farmers".

"Baking potatoes might be a little smaller than usual this harvest if the drought continues. All these veg still taste great, but like many of us in a heatwave, they might just look a little less than perfect."

Not every gap can be filled this way though. Andrew Opie, the director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, said supermarkets are also importing more food from abroad as UK supplies run short.

"Retailers face the dilemma of supporting British farmers, but also making sure that we, as customers, have what we expect to buy when we go in the shop," he said.

"It's going to be a challenging period right through into the autumn. We're hearing potentially it could affect things like cherries as well."

British summers are getting hotter and drier as the climate changes and heatwaves like this one are becoming more frequent.

That means a season like this one may become less of a one-off, and more of a preview of what British farming has to deal with regularly.

Many farmers will either have to accept more waste, invest in better irrigation and water storage systems, or find a way to sell more wonky produce to consumers.

Munns, the potato farmer, said more people should try buying imperfect veg if they see it in the supermarket aisle this year.

People should "be a bit less picky" about fresh produce, she said. "We've been too spoilt in the UK … In other less fortunate countries we wouldn't have a choice."

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More than 10 firms pay up to $100,000 a month for fast access to Truth Social posts

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3q5nxpgk1o, 6 days ago

More than 10 customers have signed up to Trump Media's controversial service that offers faster access to market-moving posts made on its Truth Social platform.

The service, Truth API, launched at the beginning of August and gives Wall Street traders first sight of posts from the social media site's most influential accounts.

Its earliest customers are mostly in high-frequency trading firms who are being charged between $60,000-$100,000 (£44,000-£74,000) a month for the service, interim chief executive officer Kevin McGurn said during an earnings call.

He was speaking after Trump Media reported a loss of $238m between April and June.

The quarterly loss is more than 10 times the amount reported during the same period a year earlier, according to the Trump Media and Technology Group, and comes as the group branched into ventures unrelated to media, including cryptocurrencies.

The group, which is yet to make a profit, says it will refocus on its social media mission.

In July, it announced a plan to give Wall Street firms and institutional investors faster access to posts on Truth Social, where Trump frequently makes announcements. It has been viewed as a way to give subscribers an edge in trading stocks and other heavily traded assets.

The move has prompted legal and ethical questions, including whether it is right that a company - of which the president's family remains the majority shareholder - stands to potentially profit from his own public statements.

The new service is "expected to provide the company with a new revenue stream," Trump Media said in its earnings statement on Monday.

The firm believes the service will develop into a "meaningful" and "durable" source of revenue, on top of the company's broader media strategy which includes advertising and digital assets, McGurn said.

Truth Media is also exploring opportunities with technology firms, news organisations and betting markets, he added.

The BBC has contacted Trump Media and Technology Group for further comment.

The company posted $1.7m in revenue, which it said was up 89% from the same period a year before, but suffered an overall loss due to the drop in cryptocurrencies.

It added that it closed the second quarter with total assets of $2bn and financial assets of about $1.9bn, which includes cash, short-term investments and digital currencies.

The group is expanding into areas including cryptocurrency holdings and clean-energy investments.

Trump Media is more of a crypto holdings firm "wrapped around" a media company, and the bulk of its losses have come from that strategy, Markus Thielen, an analyst from 10x Research, told the BBC.

The company is diversifying beyond its crypto business into areas such as social media, though those ventures have yet to generate significant revenue, Thielen said.

Earlier this month, Trump Media scrapped plans for a project with Crypto.com to introduce prediction market features on the Truth Social platform.

'I started in my 20s and made £8,000': Why women are often better investors than men

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czdmgmzll1ro, 6 days ago

Women who invest their money get slightly higher long-term returns than men, new analysis suggests.

But only about a quarter of UK women have investments, compared with about 40% of men, a separate report shows.

We've looked at the data behind these trends, which reveal some surprising differences in how men and women approach investing.

Teleri Evans was 25 when she began saving into a Help To Buy ISA then a couple of years later she took out a stocks and shares Lifetime ISA. By 33, she had £40,000 saved - with £8,000 of it returns on her investments.

"I saved aggressively, and lived at my mum's for half of that time, so I could save as close as possible to the maximum £4,000 per year into Lifetime ISA," she says.

The civil servant from Cardiff used the money towards a house deposit earlier this year with her partner.

Only 26% of UK women invest, but that this falls to 23% for those under 45, according to a study by consumer finance website Boring Money.

In contrast, 41% of all men invest, which holds steady at 40% of those under 45.

So why are fewer women investing than men?

It can be "largely attributed to culture", according to Gillian Fleming, co-founder and managing director of UK-based Mint Ventures, a women-led angel investment firm.

"Men historically have been more likely to make family investment decisions, and women have also historically not owned the balance of wealth, but that is changing now," she says.

"Also, money and wealth creation is not a topic that women often discuss, and we would like to change that."

Women who invest

Teleri says she has noticed a shift of late. "Investing is definitely something that women are talking about more, which is always a good thing," she says. "That's the case with my friendship group."

When women do invest in stocks and shares, analysis by Fidelity International found that over three years its female personal investing customers recorded cumulative returns of 50%, compared with 47% for men. The analysis does not identify the reason for the difference, but why may it be the case?

One possible clue to women's slightly higher long-term returns lies in how often they buy and sell their investments, with Barclays data showing that women trade around half as frequently as men.

This could be because women are more patient and risk averse, says Joanna Floyd, business psychologist at London-based The Work Psychologists.

"Studies show that male investors trade more than women, chasing higher returns, but women actually get higher returns," she says.

"The restraint that keeps women out of the market in the first place is the very same thing that rewards them once they are in it."

That more cautious approach to risk can be seen beyond investing, with women more likely to choose certainty when faced with a financial gamble.

When it comes to how women invest, Fleming says they are deliberately more cautious.

"Women are often accused of being more risk adverse, we call it more risk aware," she says. "Certainly from speaking to male investors their main focus is on the rate of return."

Fleming also says women appear to invest more broadly. "Men are more likely to invest in technology companies for their higher potential returns, whereas women want to invest in a broader range, from retail to food and drink, health and beauty, fem tech and creative industries."

Anna Macdonald, investment strategy director at financial services company Hargreaves Lansdown, agrees that women choose the companies they invest in carefully.

"Women appear to place relatively greater weight on where their money is going and what impact it might have, as well as the reassurance that an investment is right for them," she says.

"Our research suggests men are...more readily attracted by the potential financial return."

Jemma Slingo, pensions and investment specialist at investment firm Fidelity International, says female investors "appear more likely to connect investing with real-life goals, from building emergency savings to looking after children."

It's important to remember women in the UK generally have less money to invest than men because the continuing gender pay gap means they earn less on average.

Macdonald says that the investment sector "needs to do a better job of making investing feel accessible, relevant and connected to people's own goals and values".

"Addressing this would be good for women's long-term financial resilience and for the UK economy."

Thames Water gave finance boss a £1m signing-on fee

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9d841yexe0o, 6 days ago

Thames Water paid its finance chief a £1m signing-on fee in July as the company struggles with a mountain of debt and faces temporary nationalisation.

Steve Buck joined the company in April 2025 but it is understood the seven-figure payment was not made until last month after the company had taken legal advice over its contractual obligations.

The existence of the payment, first reported by Sky News, was revealed in a letter from the Thames Water chairman to MPs on the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

In the letter, Sir Adrian Montague said he understood customers would see large payments to senior leaders as "unjust" but argued they were necessary to stop staff leaving.

The letter said: "The majority of the team were brought in recently to fix the problems the company faces and are not responsible for causing those problems.

"These talented and experienced individuals have opportunities for roles outside Thames Water and, in many cases, have been actively approached by other companies.

"These roles would be less in the public gaze, less difficult and more remunerative."

Sir Adrian described the payment to Buck as a "necessary incentive" and said the money had come from emergency funding provided by Thames Water's lenders.

He said the company is facing recruitment and retention difficulties and warned the problem would "persist" if it was nationalised or put into special administration.

The prime minister's official spokesman said: "It's unacceptable that one of the worst-performing water companies is handing out huge payments to its executives when it should be focusing on improving performance and rebuilding public trust.

"We've banned bonuses for polluting water bosses. We expect companies to follow both the letter and the spirit of the rules."

Under new rules, introduced last year, water companies failing to meet key standards would automatically lose their right to award certain bonuses.

Alistair Carmichael, Lib Dem MP and chair of the Environment Committee, said: "Money should be going into improving services, not remunerating already well-paid senior executives.

"The government were clear in the early days that they wanted this to stop. It is obvious that they have not succeeded in this. We need to hear now from them about what they intend to do about it."

In a blog published in July, an executive director at the regulator Ofwat said public trust was damaged by unwarranted bonuses.

Helen Campbell wrote: "This includes excessive payments made under the rationale of retaining leaders, but which are not transparent or sufficiently explained."

She added that companies had to set out their reasoning for awarding particular bonuses and Ofwat would determine whether they had "complied with our rule".

The utility company owes roughly £20bn and has been working with creditors and government officials to find a way forward.

Failure to reach a deal could lead to Thames Water being forced into a "special administration regime", a form of temporary nationalisation intended to keep the business operating until a viable solution can be found.

This would see government-appointed officials temporarily running the company – including funding its operations and upgrading infrastructure as well as dealing with any outstanding debts following a restructuring of the business.

If the company was subsequently sold to a private buyer, the government would be able to recoup some taxpayer cash.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has previously said he would like to see "greater public control" of key water and energy utilities.

In the past year, Thames Water boss Chris Weston saw his pay increase 14% to £1.63m while other directors received bonuses totalling £4.1m.

Speaking on the BBC Big Boss interview late last month, Weston acknowledged there was anger about Thames Water pay, but argued that the company needed to be able attract "capable people to help turn this company around".

"If we're not prepared to pay market rates, then they won't come to us and they won't stay with us," he said.

Weston also warned special administration could see taxpayers left bearing the cost.

Instead, he threw his weight behind a rescue deal that has been put forward by the firm's lenders.

Thames Water has faced intense criticism for several years over failures to prevent sewage discharges and leaks.

Last year it was handed a record fine of £122.7m from the regulator Ofwat, who said the company had "let down its customers and failed to protect the environment".

Weston said he wanted the company to "do better" but some of the targets it had been set were "not realistic".

Thames Water has warned it only has enough cash to last until the end of the year, putting pressure on the new government to decide what to do with the company, which provides water to 16 million people across London and the Thames Valley.

Ministers could give the green light to the rescue deal, proposed by Thames Water's lenders, which would see some debts written off and new money invested in exchange for leniency on environmental targets.

The previous Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds dismissed the plan as weak, arguing it did not do enough for consumers. She has since been replaced by Angela Eagle.

Ban on 'subscription traps' brought forward by three months

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly5x9qlnvjo, 7 days ago

Subscriptions will be easier to cancel and companies will be compelled to make it clear when contracts auto-renew at a higher price, Andy Burnham has announced.

The prime minister is also planning to outlaw shops from falsely claiming products previously retailed at much higher prices to advertise supposed deals, which he said tricks shoppers into thinking they are getting better value on purchases.

Burnham will bring forward a package of changes announced under his predecessor Sir Keir Starmer to end so-called subscription traps and a crackdown on "pretend prices".

Shadow chancellor Mel Stride branded the measures "reheated" and said the prime minister "has already run out of ideas".

The plans were announced under Sir Keir in April, but are being brought forward by Burnham's government in a bid to give families "room to breathe" amid the high cost of living.

On subscriptions, the government said the changes will mean businesses have "to provide clearer up-front information, regular reminders and a much easier exit to contracts" for customers.

Burnham, who is embarking on a tour of the UK while Parliament is in recess, has promised a series of "everyday fixes" to help people with the cost of living.

He said: "I'm determined to pull every single lever we can to provide people with some room to breathe on the cost of living."

The measures being brought forward are aimed at making it easier for consumers to cancel unwanted subscriptions and stopping people being rolled onto expensive contracts without their knowledge.

They were expected to come into force next spring, but Burnham's government has promised they will now be implemented by January 2027.

When they were announced in April, the government said the plans would save consumers £400m a year in total, or up to £170 per person.

At the time, the Department for Business and Trade said there are 10 million unwanted, active subscriptions across the UK.

It said that more than 3.5 million people are being "quietly rolled from free or discounted trials into fully costed contracts", while another 1.3 million are caught out by unexpected auto-renewals.

On top of the already planned changes, Burnham is also vowing to end shops' use of "pretend prices". This will stop retailers using "was" prices, made-up discounts or misleading recommended retail prices (RRPs) to highlight deals.

The government will launch a consultation this autumn to decide how the new measures should be implemented.

Consumer group Which? said it has "repeatedly exposed businesses, including trusted household brands, ripping off customers with dodgy deals that aren't what they seem".

Its head of consumer rights policy, Sue Davies, welcomed the announcement and called for the government to bring the rules in "swiftly".

But Stride said: "The cost of living didn't become a problem last week, so you have to ask why it has taken Labour so long to enact legislation passed by the previous government."

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Act, passed under the Conservatives in 2024, cracked down on hidden fees, fake reviews online and made it easier for customers to cancel subscriptions.

It is already unlawful to use false "was" prices for items on sale, but it is not on the list of the Competition and Markets Authority's (CMA) list of banned practices.

Practices on the list, such as operating pyramid schemes or displaying a quality assurance mark without authorisation, are automatically considered illegal without consumer harm having to be proved.

The Liberal Democrats urged Burnham to "go further" to protect consumers, with Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper calling for "strengthened protections against rogue traders" and action to tackle supermarket "shrinkflation" — the practice of products being made smaller yet being sold for the same price.

The announcement is Burnham's latest intervention aimed at easing the cost of living, following a £2 bus fare cap in England and a VAT cut on household electricity bills.

But he is likely to come under pressure to make more significant changes in the Budget, which will be delivered by Chancellor John Healey on 28 October.

But Healey has made it clear he will oversee "strong fiscal discipline" – which will limit how much the government has to spend.

'I had to cancel my debit card to end a contract'

Chris Fell, a photographer from Wiltshire, told BBC Your Voice he had to cancel his debit card in order to get out of a subscription trap.

The 71-year-old had signed up for Viewbug, a service he wanted to use to show off his pictures and build a portfolio.

But he complained the subscription costs "doubled" in the three years he was using the service, adding that "the renewal was going through automatically and they would not cancel it".

In order to break the subscription, Fell said: "I resorted to asking my bank to cancel a debit card so that a new card would be issued with a different 16 digit number.

"Job done and then I just waited for the US-based company to ask for a new debit card number which I then declined."

Viewbug's co-founder Ori Guttin said he was "sorry to hear about Chris's experience" and that it had struggled to help with his membership queries due to the use of multiple email addresses.

He said the company is small and "cares deeply about the photography community we've built", and while it does not "get everything right… we work hard to support our members and resolve issues when they arise".

What are my rights now?

For certain contracts such as broadband and mobile phones, you may have certain rights to cancel already, but it depends on the circumstances.

You may be legally entitled to cancel if there is a problem with the service provided, such as poor broadband speed.

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You could be missing out on £150 off your energy bill - here's how to check

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czjlk8wx771o, 7 days ago

One call to your energy supplier to ensure your name is on the electricity bill may mean you are in line for a £150 discount this winter – but you need to get in before the deadline.

While the cost of heating your home might not be at the forefront of your mind during the long, hot summer prices are set to rise again this winter.

Suppliers use customers' records as of Sunday 23 August to check who is eligible for the Warm Home Discount.

The government scheme knocks £150 off bills if you are on means-tested benefits such as universal credit.

Household energy could get more expensive

Millions of people will learn of the level of winter energy prices later this month, when Ofgem announces the quarterly price cap for the three months from October.

To help those who might struggle to pay, energy companies distribute the £150 Warm Home Discount to about six million households in the winter. Households in receipt of housing benefit, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Pension Credit and universal credit qualify.

Households who are eligible should get the discount automatically, provided their supplier has over 1,000 customers.

However, that only happens if your name is on the bill and you are receiving one of these benefits. It can also help suppliers offer better support, such as repayment plans, to those who have energy debt.

Someone might not be named on their electricity bill if they have recently moved house.

Eligible customers on pre-payment meters who use a key or card to top up will also need to ensure that their household's account is registered in their name.

"If you know someone who might benefit, please start spreading the word and encourage them to check they are named on their energy bill," said Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh.

The government added that 345,000 Scottish low-income households who are also classed as vulnerable would now automatically receive the rebate in the winter. This would usually be having a child under five in the household, having a disability or getting a pensioner premium with the benefit.

Other low income households in Scotland will still have to apply through their energy supplier.

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How a 90-second power outage sparked chaos for rail commuters

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3ekd5784k5o, 9 days ago

The power failure which hit a Network Rail operations centre in Manchester was a rare incident.

But after commuters were left facing chaos, it has raised questions about how a short outage at one operating centre could have a widespread impact.

Network Rail will face scrutiny for how its systems coped and responded to the outage.

That's the publicly-owned body whose job it is to operate and maintain Britain's railway infrastructure. That means the tracks, signals, embankments and major stations.

It was at Network Rail's operating centre in Manchester that the problem started. Its operating centres are where crucial controls are housed that let trains run safely across the country, with Manchester's centre responsible for large parts of the North West.

It was hit by a power cut in the area, which was resolved within 90 seconds. Given the centre's importance, backups are in place. But questions have been raised about how they responded.

Chris Wright, north-west route director at Network Rail, told the BBC "we didn't experience a 90-second interruption," insisting its systems were back online sooner.

But he said some of Network Rail's communications systems "did not respond how we would have expected, and then needed reconfiguring and replacing".

"We've got to work really hard very quickly now to understand why that's the case," he added.

Because signalling was affected - think of that essentially as the traffic lights of the railway - trains had to stop.

Systems had to be rebooted. But there was some damage to those that control signalling, which took time to fix because of the need to replace certain parts.

Thinking about how busy parts of the rail network are, and how many trains and crews were left out of position across the North West of England and beyond, helps explain why the impact was so big.

Network Rail has apologised to customers and opened an investigation.

Bosses say engineers have been working hard to "build additional resilience into our signalling systems to ensure that this doesn't happen again".

Network Rail has moved towards having 12 so-called Rail Operating Centres across Great Britain, replacing a previous structure of hundreds of older signal boxes. They are meant to be high tech hubs which centralise control of the network.

Manchester's Rail Operating Centre was opened in 2014.

Experts have warned consolidating in this way means that if one centre is badly affected, the impact is much broader.

Rail writer Christian Wolmar said the problem they have created is that "if one thing goes wrong, it can wipe out, as we saw, quite a lot of the network".

"So really they've got to start thinking about both resilience, but also whether the centralisation of all the signalling and communications into a very small number of places is the right thing to do," he added.

There's nothing to specifically link this particular incident to other recent problems experienced by rail users; for example the impact of speed restrictions and infrastructure failures during the recent extreme heat.

But it is unlikely to inspire confidence among passengers who have in the past few years suffered from issues such as poor performance among operators, strikes and rising ticket prices. Regulated fares have been frozen in England this year.

Rail engineer and writer Gareth Dennis also drew a link between the incident and the funding pressures and job cuts Network Rail has faced. He said it raised questions including: "Are their staff suitably resourced? Are there enough staff to be ensuring that things like those checks of that supply are happening?"

Network Rail gets five-year funding settlements, signed off by the government. The latest one started in 2024.

The government committed £44.1bn for the 2024-29 period of the strategic business plan, a £3bn increase from the previous five years.

Factors including rising costs due to inflation and a rise in extreme weather events have left its funding under severe pressure.

Introducing Network Rail's new business plan, former chief executive Andrew Haines said that, given the constrained budget, funding would "need to go further than ever before".

The government's current rail policy centres around nationalising the passenger rail operators who weren't already in public control (a number of operators had already been nationalised under past Conservative governments) - then bringing the running of train services and the infrastructure under a new organisation called Great British Railways.

Network Rail is expected to be abolished as a separate entity. Ahead of that, some joint management teams have been formed, for example in the South West.

The question of how much taxpayer money to spend supporting both passenger rail services, and investing in infrastructure, is a significant one - and government budgets remain squeezed.

With additional reporting by Mark Allison

Trump imposes 15% tariff on key chip material to counter China

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdrvn686dljo, 10 days ago

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that imposes a 15% tariff on imported products made from polysilicon, a crucial material used in semiconductors and solar panels.

The order also set minimum import prices on polysilicon and related products. It comes after a national security investigation into the production of the material overseas.

The move is intended to help protect US manufacturers as they face increasing competition from China's chip industry - a key source of friction between the world's two largest economies.

The Chinese embassy in Washington said the move "seriously disrupts" trade between the two countries and Beijing will act to protect its companies.

Washington is "abusing state power to go after Chinese businesses," the embassy said, adding that protectionism will not make the US more competitive.

Trump said in the order that he had accepted recommendations by Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to set minimum import prices as well as a 15% tariff on polysilicon and related imports.

The measures are due to take effect in December.

The US will also offer incentives to boost domestic production, it added.

For decades, the US has allowed "foreign firms to weaken United States producers in the polysilicon sector," said Trump, who has long advocated for the use of tariffs to protect American jobs and boost the economy.

The material is critical in military equipment and electronics, yet imports have led to the US' share of global polysilicon production to fall from 50% in 2005 to less than 2% in 2024, Trump said.

China holds a near monopoly on the production of polysilicon.

The order is likely to benefit Hemlock Semiconductor and Wacker Chemie, which are the main producers of the material in the US.

The production of computer chips is central to the race between the US and China to develop artificial intelligence (AI). Washington and Beijing have also been locked in a tit-for-tat tariffs war, which has been on hold since May 2025.

Analysts quoted by Chinese state media outlet Global Times said the new tariff marks the latest escalation in Washington's efforts to limit China's role in critical technology supply chains.

The move follows other US restrictions on the imports of drones, humanoid robots and other tech products from China.

China announced a range of countermeasures this week, including tighter export controls on drones. Beijing also launched a national security review into imported printers and copiers.

Secondhand book sales are booming. Is it because of AI?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp3rprx2wl4o, yesterday

Something mysterious has been happening in the world of secondhand books.

Over the last few months independent booksellers have been observing a strange pattern of purchases which have seen scores of their novels being shipped to far-off warehouses.

In a typical week, Stuart Manley, from Barter Books, in Northumberland, would sell two or three thousand books. But one recent single bulk order from a Canadian company equalled what he would expect to move in seven days.

He says he has "never seen the like of this after 30 years in the second-hand book trade".

Mr Manley is not alone. Booksellers from around the world have been reporting similarly unusual mega orders.

They aren't sure what the final destination for their books is.

But the suspicion is that they are not being bought for avid overseas readers but instead something else with a voracious appetite for new information: AI.

The court battle over books

The idea that the secondhand sales boom is being driven by the explosive growth of AI can be traced back to a court ruling in the US.

In 2025, a judge ruled using books purchased in this way to train AI software was not a violation of US copyright law.

The decision was the result of a lawsuit brought against AI firm Anthropic by three authors. In his ruling, Judge William Alsup said Anthropic's use of the authors' books was "exceedingly transformative" and therefore allowed under US law.

When court documents were unsealed last month it also emerged books were being destroyed in the process of training Anthropic's AI chatbot, Claude.

"Claude is trained on a mix of publicly available web data, commercially acquired datasets, and data we generate ourselves," a spokesperson said.

They insisted sourcing books for training was a widely used approach across the AI industry.

"None of our data acquisition programs buy and destroy rare or antiquarian books," they added.

Nonetheless, the idea that books are being pulped is causing unease.

David Tobin, runs Walden Books in north London, has also had unusual sales.

"In some ways it's very nice to sell some of these titles which haven't been sold for many years, but it would be sad if they are ultimately destroyed," he says.

Destructive scanning

The court documents relating to the Anthropic case revealed the project of ingesting old books was referred to in internal company communications as "Project Panama."

The documents indicated the company's aim was to "destructively scan all the books in the world".

Destructive scanning is the process of shipping books to locations where they can be digitised at an industrial scale.

It includes removing a book's spine so all the pages can be scanned rapidly - and the remains recycled.

"A lot of mystery surrounds Project Panama," Manley, from Barter Books, says.

"The name is new to me, but the reality of the project is not, and has been the subject of much discussion on the bookseller forums."

He does not know that his books are being bought for it or similar projects by other AI firms.

But he says it's also difficult to account for the sales, which appear random with "no rhyme or reason."

They have varied from obscure Latin texts to cowboy novels.

Experts say the diverse subject matter also points to AI, as unusual and rare texts could provide fresh material to improve the training of large language models, the tech which underpins generative AI tools like chatbots.

Professor Emily Hudson, intellectual property specialist at Oxford University, says copyright laws in the UK are different to those in the US.

"The starting point in the UK is that all these acts of copying - creating the training library and doing the training – require the permission of the copyright owner," she says.

Ethical concerns

For the booksellers, it poses a dilemma.

They are uncomfortable with the idea of books being destroyed - even if they admit not every title needs to be saved.

"A recent academic text published in only 100 copies, 75 of which are already in libraries, may be very rare on the market - but it is perhaps not such a great loss if one copy is destroyed," says Derek Walker, owner of Edinburgh bookshop McNaughtan's.

"But we have, and have sold, books which are for example the only known surviving example of an edition from the 18th century.

"It would be a much more significant problem if one like that were to be bought for destruction, having survived this long."

And Manley says recycling books is a good solution for many titles which the public no longer want on their shelves - especially when it comes with a bump in trade.

"Some may have ethical concerns about where the books end up and if they're destroyed," he says.

"But the world no longer needs five million copies of The Da Vinci Code.

"I've had books advertised for 20 years on the web which haven't sold until now".

The secret codewords that scammers hate

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260804-why-your-family-needs-a-secret-codeword, 12 days ago

Deepfake scams might use your voice, but they don't know what's in your head. Five minutes of preparation could save your loved ones from falling for fraud.

"It was the most terror I've ever felt," says Elizabeth Benz, a mother from Buffalo, New York.

In September 2025, she got a phone call. "It was my 16-year-old-son, John," she says. "He was sobbing, 'Mom, my friend is dead. He's dead.'" She panicked, but things were about to get even worse.

A stranger took the phone. Over the course of 20 minutes, the man told her he'd just murdered her son's friend, and he'd do the same to John if she didn't meet him with $7,500 (£5,570) in a Walmart parking lot.

"He said, 'We are going to kill your son,'" Benz says.

Soon she was driving over. But just in time, John's brother got hold of him. He was at a football game. John wasn't in danger, and that wasn't his voice on the phone. It was all an AI deepfake scam. "I couldn't believe it," she says.

If you think you or your loved ones are too savvy to fall for a deepfake, you're wrong. AI is so good now you can no longer trust your senses, and criminals are perpetrating scams like these on a massive scale.

Thankfully, it's a high-tech problem with a low-tech solution – one that could save you a lifetime of regret.

Your family needs a codeword that you use to verify each other's identity in a crisis. The scammer might have your voice. They don't know your secrets. Experts and victims say this is one of the single most important things you can do to stay safe. But the password alone isn't enough.

Just ask Benz. One of the craziest parts of her story is her family already had a password for this exact scenario when she got the scam call.

"It just didn't occur to me to ask for it," says Benz. "These scams get you to an active place of panic where you can't think straight." It means you also need mental preparation. That's a little more complicated, but the tips below can help.

If you get targeted, it could be some of the most important advice you'll ever read.

What's the codeword?

Americans alone lost an estimated $148.2bn (£110.1bn) to online scams and crimes in 2025, up nearly 26% from the year prior. AI-enabled scams accounted for $6.3bn (£4.7bn) of that. Experts say they're growing exponentially.

"This is not hypothetical," says Hany Farid, the co-founder of GetReal Security and one of the world's leading experts on AI deepfakes. "These scams are being perpetrated all over the world.

"Imagine getting a call at 02:00, a voicemail, a video call, a loved one saying they're in trouble," he says. "Or maybe it's your CEO, screaming that he needs help logging in. The average consumer is not ready for this."

Farid and other experts agree a codeword is the easiest way to protect yourself. "My wife and I have a password. If either of us gets an unusual call, we use it to verify identity," he says.

Pick something that's easy to remember and hard to guess. Inside jokes are a safe bet.

"If my wife calls and asks me to pick up milk, I'm not asking for the password," Farid says. "But if I happen to know she's in a meeting, or she says been in an accident and needs me to transfer money, anything unusual, that's when you use it."

But when you get that phone call and hear a loved one in crisis, pressure can tear your plans apart. You need to know how and when to be ready.

Know the red flags

Gary Schildhorn, a lawyer from Philadelphia in the US, dodged a deepfake scam of his own in 2023. The experience was so jarring he now works as a scam-safety advocate in his spare time.

"There are three red flags," Schildhorn says. They all have the same goal: scammers want you isolated and afraid, so there's no time to think.

"One red flag is time. Everything has to be done right away," he says. "Two is they never ask for traceable funds. If they need Bitcoin or gift cards or cash, you know the agenda. And three is they try to control who you speak to."

Knowing the hallmarks of a classic scam are crucial, but awareness alone isn't enough.

"One of the most important things is how you react," says Brian Long, co-founder of Adaptive Security, which makes AI-security training programs for companies. "You need to train your mental model to prepare for this scenario."

And of course, you need to make sure you and your loved ones don't forget the codeword.

The best way to do that is practice, but it doesn't have to be exhaustive.

More like this:

• Is your tech giving you 'phone body'?

• Dancing dots: The iPhone's hidden nausea cure

• The number one sign you're watching an AI video

I've been talking to experts about scams for years, and I've got a simple system for myself: I set up an alert on my phone that goes off every three months.

It reminds me to bug my family to make sure we remember the codeword. And it prompts me to rehearse a little protocol for emergency calls: stay calm, ask for the password and consult someone I trust before acting.

"I share my story because I want people to know how urgent and scary and psychological and realistic these calls can be," says Benz. "Awareness is the greatest tool."

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Is football AI-proof? Why tech investors wanted a slice of the World Cup

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd7l4e3v238o, 8 days ago

Fifa has been forced to U-turn on plans to sell off a slice of the World Cup after fierce opposition, with threats of future boycotts and calls for the governing body's president, Gianni Infantino, to quit.

But why were a group of tech investors interested in the World Cup in the first place, and are similar proposals in the future inevitable?

In a world in which AI could upend human recreation and pastimes, executives at Thrive Eternal, a spin-off of venture capital firm Thrive Capital, saw an opportunity to lead a group of investors to place cash in the biggest sporting competition on the planet.

The football World Cup was seen as the latest in a new strategy from the firm, which believes that sport will not only survive the AI revolution, but grow in value.

Run by Joshua Kushner, the brother of US Donald Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared, Thrive mainly invests in technology companies developing artificial intelligence (AI) and it has been a major financial backer of OpenAI.

But in April this year, the New York City-based entity created the new investment arm Thrive Eternal in order to invest in areas that have "qualities that cannot be replicated by technology".

Sport is central to that strategy, and that is where football - and securing a minority stake in the World Cup under Fifa's proposed Forward Enterprise (FFE) - became an opportunity.

The view is that the tradition, cultural and identity aspects of football will protect the sport from being upended by AI compared with other forms of entertainment such as movies and music, which are already seeing the technology start to replace humans.

Professor Simon Chadwick has worked in the global sports industry for 30 years, including working with both fan groups, football clubs and governing bodies Fifa and Uefa.

He said investment interests and commercialisation in general meant a lot of decisions were being made on behalf of football and fans "in Wall Street and Silicon Valley".

"It is almost as though it's crept up on us and a lot of people haven't really thought about what's happening," he told the BBC.

While it raised governance questions for Fifa, he added: "Whether people like it or not, private equity investment in sport is happening."

Despite this summer's World Cup, hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico, providing a clear picture of World Cup commercialisation, the BBC understands talks over the FFE proposal involving Thrive started last year, with Greg Maffei, the former boss of Formula 1 owner Liberty Media, brought in as a commercial adviser.

Thrive also hired former Disney chief executive Bob Iger.

Thrive Eternal already invests in other sports. As part of its launch, it announced it had agreed to buy a chunk of the San Francisco Giants baseball team There are also reports the firm is eyeing up a bid for a new NBA franchise in Las Vegas.

It believes that such "iconic franchises and cultural institutions rooted in tradition, identity, and shared experience" will not just survive the AI revolution, but "will matter even more", according to its website.

Kushner and Thrive Eternal have remained silent on the Fifa investment plan and the subsequent fallout.

But a source close to the firm told the BBC the strategy behind the plan, which would have required the backing of Fifa's member associations, was that it would not be like a "typical investment fund looking for a speedy return on investment".

The source said investors preparing to stump up the $4.2bn (£3.1bn) initial investment were doing so with the view of not seeing any return for a "long period of time - decades", due to Thrive Eternal being structured as a holding company.

They higlighted had the FFE proposal been activated, it would have given each member association a stake worth as much as $91m each based on its $20bn valuation - stressing that the equity would be controlled by Fifa, not investors, and to sell part of that equity would have been down to individual member associations.

"The idea of outside investment...was to channel more resources upfront to countries that wouldn't typically get access to outside funding - so they could invest in things like stadiums and training to be able to develop their game domestically," the source said.

According to Fifa, the aim of FFE was "to separate the business of football from the governance of the sport".

In England, the business of football has exploded, especially since the establishment of the Premier League, so much so that the financial rules, transfer deals and boardroom gossip have become just as popular conversation topics between fans as the action on the pitch.

US investment in football is not new, and the amount of American dollars being poured into English and other European clubs has been growing broadly since the Glazer family bought Manchester United more than two decades ago.

But some question whether Fifa - and the World Cup - needed this cash injection.

Fifa has claimed the World Cup is "under-monetised", but hydration break adverts, dynamic ticket pricing and record broadcast and sponsorship rights have put the 2026 edition on track to generate record revenues.

The 48-team tournament and potential for an even bigger 64-team competition gives a view of further commercial opportunities. More countries equal more viewers, which equals more money.

Christina Philippou, an associate professor in accounting and sport finance at the University of Portsmouth, said the approach by Fifa to seek outward investment had been seen in other sports and by individual football clubs when cash flow had been a problem.

"Fifa are not in a position where they are desperate for money. In fact, they could very easily, with the money they already have, increase those payouts to the member associations. So there is no need to go external."

Thrive Eternal is understood to respect the decision to take the plan off the table, but it is clear that interest, with or not this specific investment group, remains focused on football.

Why Gen Z women know more about periods than their mums

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y0qp43zv0o, today

Terms such as "cycle syncing" and "going luteal" have become part of everyday vocabulary for many young women.

From periods and hormones to PMOS (polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome) and fertility, a growing number say they now understand their bodies better than previous generations did.

But while campaigners welcome greater awareness, questions remain about misinformation and health anxiety.

We spoke to women, parents and experts about the changing conversation around menstrual health.

Iqra Wasim from Fishponds in Bristol has struggled with PMOS symptoms such as painful acne since the age of 11.

PMOS affects about one in eight women. It is a major cause of female infertility and symptoms can include irregular periods, excessive hair growth and weight gain.

Wasim, who learned more about it through asking doctors questions and social media, said she now educates her mum, who also has PMOS, on ways to manage symptoms.

"My mum was going through heavy bleeding with her PMOS and didn't know what birth control was," she said.

"I told her about it and she thought I was talking about being sexually active, but I explained there's so much more to the medicine - that showed the main knowledge gap between us.

"My mum's generation did have knowledge, but it only stayed between women, families or doctors and now someone can talk about their period and PMOS online and millions of women can relate to it.

"Our generation is more willing to ask whether something is normal.

"But I don't think that social media is a replacement for a medical professional," Wasim added.

Caroline Herman founded 'All Yours Period Box' with her daughter, which operates in Wiltshire and donates boxes with period products to foodbanks.

She said there is still "a huge amount of work to be done" to improve menstrual health education.

"We have a generational gap in the country," she said.

"We have generations like mine where we weren't taught anything to do with our periods and then there's our parents - there was this layer of silence that we've had to fight our way through."

Herman said she had to educate herself after suffering from a stroke believed to have been caused by a hormonal imbalance.

She celebrated the increase in information that is now available to people on social media, but warned it should "come with a caution".

"Is it high-quality, unbiased? Is some of it getting caught up in influencer culture where it's not medically backed?

"But I think the more we talk about menstrual health as a society can only be a good thing. We have to keep pace with our young people with what they're learning," she added.

However, she said barriers remained when it came to talking openly about menstrual health online.

"Meta and other platforms are censoring out medically correct terms as being offensive," she said.

"It's in the RSE curriculum - we should be using correct anatomical terms like vagina, vulva, clitoris."

'Kids are really open to talking'

Many women say social media introduced them to concepts such as cycle syncing and the different phases of the menstrual cycle.

Wellness influencer Beth Lauren from the Cotswolds, who is also the mum of two boys, said it is important to start conversations with children when they are young to "avoid creating a taboo in the first place".

"Kids are really open to [talking about] stuff. It's not inherently scary until we make it scary," she said.

"Having boys, it's really important they have menstruation education as well, and I will be trying to teach them as much about it as I would a daughter."

Lauren went on to explain the phases of the menstrual cycle was not something she knew about until after having children.

"My mum was quite open, but again, it wasn't something that we discussed in depth.

"I don't actually think it was something that she knew loads about, and I don't think she would now either.

"I do know that the majority of my knowledge now as a 30-year-old woman has come from social media.

"[But] I can consume all of that content with nuance, and with a bit of self-responsibility," she added.

From cycle syncing to body literacy

Maisie Hill, author of bestselling books Period Power and Perimenopause Power, said talking about periods is "less taboo than it used to be" with many parents in their 30s and 40s sharing new information with their children.

"The conversation has opened up a lot; it's not just about how to manage having a period, but understanding how your body works and how to support it," she said.

"Sex education has improved, but it's still not enough. Some parents think that their 9-year-old is too young to be hearing about periods and fertility, without realising that some 9 year olds have already started their periods.

"There's been a tremendous increase in body literacy which is fantastic, but now we need to address how that knowledge can be applied to educational and workplace settings, as well as improving medical care and access to treatment."

Hill reiterated the importance of not dismissing people's experience of their cycle as "anxiety".

"My fear is that 'this information causes health anxiety' becomes yet another way to dismiss our experiences of the cycle, as if we can't handle knowledge about our own bodies.

"That dismissal has history behind it. The word hysteria is derived from the Greek word for uterus, and for centuries, women's pain and emotions were pathologised as a fault of the uterus, treated in the form of a hysterectomy.

"Calling a woman's concern about her own body "anxiety" brings us close to that history," she added.

Poppy Taylor, a PhD researcher at the University of Bristol, said people are now starting their periods from as young as eight.

Her research covers the experiences of 18-24-year-olds between 2000-2020 under the sex and relationships curriculum.

"Our study found that up to one in five did not receive menstrual education in school until after they had started menstruating," she said.

"Another issue is inclusivity. It's important to tackle the culture of secrecy and making sure everyone has an awareness of what's happening to their bodies and their peers and how best to support them."

Taylor went on to explain how things such as the menopause movement have "created a wider cultural shift in attitudes".

"It's helped to open the doors on conversations about other women's issues - there's also been an increase in research.

"I think it's empowering - people having better understanding of their bodies. Having more knowledge helps people feel more prepared," she added.

Follow BBC Bristol on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.

Police arrest alleged driver in 100mph stolen Amazon van pursuit

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gww95ypd6o, yesterday

A suspected thief was arrested after leading traffic police on a 100mph chase in a stolen Amazon delivery van carrying £1,000 worth of parcels.

The 25-year-old was held after officers pursued the van from Wigan, in Greater Manchester, through Bolton and into Chorley in Lancashire, where the van crashed into pedestrian barriers and a vehicle stopped at traffic lights.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said over the course of 40 minutes, the van had been driven three times over the speed limit, reaching around 100mph, injured a cyclist and caused significant damage to multiple pieces of street furniture.

No serious injuries were reported. The arrested man has been bailed pending further inquiries.

GMP received a 999 call at around 18:23 BST on Wednesday to report the van had been stolen.

Officers located the vehicle within 15 minutes and began to follow it. They tried to stop it without a pursuit, but the driver sped away.

The suspect was arrested at the scene of the crash on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle, dangerous driving, failure to stop, driving under the influence of a controlled substance and possession of Class A and C drugs.

PC Nat Mannyng, from the transport unit at GMP, said: "This was an extremely dangerous incident which saw a vehicle reaching speeds of 100mph through residential streets where families, pedestrians and other road users were going about their daily lives.

"The driver showed a complete disregard for public safety and innocent members of the public were harmed as a result of his actions.

"Thankfully, there were only minor physical injuries but his behaviour could have resulted in a serious collision."

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

Rise in service problems reported by mobile users

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3w0y4epn32o, yesterday

A mobile network company said it is experiencing an increase in reports of problems with its services as it introduces 5G.

Sure has apologised for the increase in faults reported in Jersey and Guernsey as it transformed its network and said some problems had been fixed but others remained.

The firm announced last year it was making a £48m investment to deliver a "state-of-the-art 5G network, enhancing telecoms across the islands".

A spokesperson said the issues being experienced did "not all have one single cause" and individual customer cases were being investigated.

The spokesperson said: "A number of technical issues have been identified and addressed, but we recognise that this has not yet translated into a consistent improvement in experience for every affected customer, so that work is continuing."

They advised people experiencing problems to contact the firm with details of the location, time and description of the problem.

Follow BBC Guernsey on X and Facebook. Follow BBC Jersey on X and Facebook. Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk.

Instagram accounts fuelling Ceuta crisis with paid advice for help to cross

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89n20wj9kko, 2 days ago

This weekend, Mohammed wants to travel from Morocco to the neighbouring Spanish enclave of Ceuta, on the northern tip of Africa.

He's a Moroccan man in his twenties and wants to emigrate to Europe - not least because he's been seeing lots of videos on Instagram that make the trip look easy.

He contacts several of the Instagram accounts and one replies, claiming to have helped "many people" and offering him advice on how to cross for hundreds of pounds.

Except Mohammed isn't real - he's a dummy account I've set up to investigate a network of interconnected Instagram profiles that are driving the influx of migrants to Ceuta with aspirational content and offering them help for a fee.

It comes after roughly 78,000 migrants from Morocco arrived by sea into Ceuta in a matter of hours last month, 100 of whom died according to the Mayor of Ceuta.

The crisis has calmed since, but it has sparked tensions between EU nations who share open borders as well as criticism of the Spanish government.

The BBC's Top Comment podcast has identified dozens of Instagram profiles that portray the short swim around the Morocco-Ceuta border fence as safe and easy - but in reality, people have drowned trying to make the crossing and take much longer routes. The accounts also wrongly show Ceuta as a viable route to mainland Europe.

Our research suggests that this has contributed to the influx, alongside other factors such as misinformation about changes to Spanish immigration law and allegations about weak border controls.

'Help you enter Ceuta'

After engaging with the accounts' profiles and posts, the BBC was added to multiple channels and WhatsApp groups. When I asked one of the anonymous accounts if they could help me cross to Ceuta this weekend, they said yes and requested "5000 dirhams upfront" (£400) for "information that will help you enter Ceuta".

They said they had helped "many people" cross before and would give me information about the "sewer pipes" which I could use to help me reach the enclave safely.

The account confirmed lots of other Instagram profiles help people to cross to Ceuta in this way, and asked for payment "via bank account" with a specific money transfer service.

But they didn't respond when asked whether I would get a refund if the crossing was not successful. They've since deleted several of their messages to the account.

The same profile giving this advice had previously told my real, BBC Instagram account that "it does not encourage immigration to Ceuta" - a message several other profiles repeated.

And it's continuing - social media posts, actively recommended by Instagram's algorithm, are advertising another attempt at the crossing this weekend. This risks further deaths and inflamed diplomatic tensions between Morocco and Spain.

Several of the profiles are no longer on Instagram after the BBC contacted Meta, which owns the platform. Meta told the BBC: "We have a team monitoring the situation in Ceuta in real time and removing content that violates our policies - including content that offers to provide, facilitate or seek human smuggling services".

Why the network matters

I first noticed the deluge of content about Ceuta when I saw a viral video showing two women in wetsuits walking through the city.

While the original post in Spanish sought to dissuade migrants from arriving in Ceuta with the caption "Ceuta can't take it anymore", some versions shared by Moroccan and Arabic-speaking accounts either changed the caption or cropped it out, so the clip only showed the women strolling freely.

This was just one of hundreds of posts that we are calling "mirage" content, which paint a deceptive picture of a place distinct from reality.

Some videos show groups of young men and women swimming happily in the sea - even though many have drowned making the trip in recent weeks.

Others show stories of people who have succeeded in reaching Ceuta - and then claim they have gone on to reach Spain or mainland Europe, despite about 75,000 of the 78,000 arrivals having been returned to Morocco by authorities.

There were lots of similarities in the profiles sharing this kind of content. Nearly 40 of them had variations of the term Haraga and include Ceuta in their name or handle, often with a Spanish flag as a profile picture and with the calling codes for Morocco and Spain in the description.

Haraga in Maghrebi Arabic roughly translates to "those who burn" and is used colloquially to refer to migrants arriving in a new place and burning or destroying documents so they cannot be identified and deported back to their home countries.

The account history of these profiles, coupled with their posts and followers, indicated that most were being run from Morocco while a few were potentially based in Spain or Italy.

Lots of them had been set up several years before, but their content about Ceuta had gained more traction in recent weeks.

The accounts have managed to manipulate the algorithms on major social media sites by sharing emotive and hopeful content to gain more traction.

Insiders at the biggest social media companies have previously told me how posts triggering a strong reaction are more likely to go viral.

When I tried to contact some of these profiles using my own account, some of them directed me to the same WhatsApp numbers or email addresses.

My dummy account, Mohammed, was a profile set to private and designed to look similar to the accounts of younger Moroccan people who were liking and commenting on the posts advertising crossings. I followed relevant content, including several of the Haraga profiles, and soon my feed was swamped with videos and content encouraging travel to Ceuta.

There appears to be a wider trend here, where people looking to charge migrants money for advice can easily set up profiles and game social media algorithms.

While there have been Facebook groups and accounts on other major social media sites posting about Ceuta, it was on Instagram where I found the most active and prevalent group of interconnected accounts.

The new-found reach of these profiles, facilitated by Instagram's algorithms, opens them up to a wider pool of paying clients.

It is yet another example of how gaming an algorithm can fuel real-world harm.

Is £173k government spent on influencers good value?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2grp2eg4jo, 3 days ago

The revelation that £173,000 has been spent by the Isle of Man Government on bringing influencers to the island has sparked debate over whether it provides value for money.

The amount spent by Visit Isle of Man using social media stars to promote the island over the last five years was disclosed in response to a Freedom of Information request.

The tourism agency says influencers might be able to reach audiences that traditional marketing campaigns cannot.

But a former councillor, himself digital content creator, said there were people on the island who used social media to promote it for free.

Frank Schuengel, who previously represented Douglas, said while "this type of marketing is almost inevitable these days", his "only concern" would be "that the right metrics are used" to bring the best people to the island.

He said he had previously spoken to government bodies, including Locate Isle of Man and Visit Isle of Man, about working with them, but had reservations about accepting payment because of the effect it could have on his independence.

He said this was important to his audience because his relocation videos were popular with people considering moving to the island.

"There are a lot of good influencers here and people who love the island and who love to show it off," he said.

Visit Isle of Man said around £35,000 was spent hosting influencers, with the money being spent within the local tourism industry to help deliver the content.

'Hidden gem'

Travel influencer Daniel Herszberg visited the island in 2024 as part of this strategy, and focused on the island's culture, history, and landscape.

He said his audience responded strongly to the island, describing it as "such a hidden gem" and a "beautiful place".

The Australian, who said he had travelled to all 197 countries of the world by the age of 30, has more than 68,000 followers on Instagram and runs a travel insight website.

He said his trip here produced "one of my most viral reels and contents for that year", while an article he wrote about the island's food scene also "went particularly viral".

"I've had countless people message me saying they've planned trips and weekends after seeing my content," he said.

Herszberg said his content focused on the island's stories and culture, including visits to castles, Peel and Laxey, as well as an introduction to the Manx language through Culture Vannin.

He said he had learned about "legends and the stories and the giants and the fairies. And I loved it".

He said he had been surprised the island was not "more of a popular weekend escape", being just an hour's flight from London.

Visit Isle of Man said influencer partnerships formed part of a wider marketing approach aimed at reaching visitors to spend more time and money on the island, particularly during quieter periods of the year.

Chief executive Deborah Heather said they used a combination of marketing tools.

While visitor numbers from cruises had hit an all time high last year, Heather said it was important to focus on overnight tourists.

She said cruise passengers generated around £2.3m for the island in 2025, compared with more than £400m from overnight visitors.

She added that while they did not have a specific influencer policy, creators were addressed on a case-by-case basis looking at audience demographics, engagement, and relevance.

Visit Isle of Man currently has agreements with two influencers due to visit the island in September, with their campaigns focused on luxury travel, outdoor adventure and nature.

Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.

Bumble divides users by ditching its signature 'women-first' chat rule

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvglzlj81x2o, 3 days ago

Dating app Bumble has divided its users by dropping its signature rule which allowed only women to send the first message to a match.

When the app launched in 2014, founder and boss Whitney Wolfe Herd said it distinguished itself from rivals like Tinder by allowing women to "make the first move".

But the thing that made Bumble famous will now be ditched following a trial which showed more engagement - and a survey among users which found 66% of women prefer men to send the first message.

Reaction across online forums has highlighted a divide among users about whether the update will get more people using Bumble - or if it makes it "just like any other dating app".

Previously, only same-sex relationships did not have to follow the women-first rule.

Another change coming to Bumble will extend the time-limit users have to initiate a conversation after matching.

Users will now have three days to begin messaging one another instead of 24 hours.

"While women making the first move was a radical idea, being women-first was never about prescribing just one way to connect," said Wolfe Herd.

"Today, our community is asking for more flexibility, less pressure, and more opportunities to create real, meaningful connections and that is what this new experience provides."

In an April 2015 interview shortly after Bumble's launch, Wolfe Herd told the Toronto Star it was a "stereotype to say women like to sit back and want men to come to them".

Reddit's popular r/Bumble community - where half a million people share dating stories and discuss app features - has largely questioned the platform's rule changes.

In particular, users have asked how Bumble was now different from any other dating app.

"If you women want men to message first, use a different app," one person wrote, while another said they "really valued" women making the first move.

"Women get swamped with messages, so any woman who messaged me showed real interest," they said.

Others argued the feature had already been diluted when Bumble introduced "Opening Moves" - a feature allowing women to set a pre-written prompt for men to respond to.

But some women said they supported the change - or admitted they had grown frustrated with initiating conversations only to receive no reply.

"Honestly, men barely responded when I messaged first on Bumble," said one person, while another claimed the "majority" of men they messaged "let our matches expire."

Professional matchmaker Sarah Louise Ryan welcomed the move, saying Bumble's signature feature had "run its course".

"At first, the idea was empowering, but over time the novelty wore off," she told BBC News.

"Women were effectively being asked to hold the narrative and energy of the connection, while men were left feeling passive or anxious.

"Bumble had real success with that positioning initially, but they relied on it for too long and failed to adapt as the dating landscape shifted."

The rule change comes amid wider stagnation across the UK online dating market.

According to Ofcom's Online Nation figures, Bumble's British audience fell from nearly at 1.5 million monthly users in 2023 to 1.1 million in 2025.

Although Tinder remained the UK's most used dating service, it shed roughly one million users over the same period, whereas Hinge held steady 1.5 million users.

Bumble Inc, the Texas-based parent company which also owns Badoo, laid off nearly a third of its global workforce last year.

"People are realising constant swiping isn't actually leading to real-world dates, which only heightens dating fatigue," said Ryan.

"We're seeing a clear shift towards community and real-life connections—whether that's singles joining run clubs or turning to offline matchmaking because they've simply had enough of online dating."

Flock boss admits surveillance firm took too long to act over police abuse

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crrv1rjwgl9o, 3 days ago

Flock, the US surveillance firm, is rolling out new safeguards to prevent police misuse of its technology which, its founder and chief executive admits, should have happened sooner.

Police have used Flock to track romantic partners and stalk strangers, leading to growing public backlash against the company. It has also been used to find stolen cars and missing people.

Asked whether it had taken Flock too long to protect tens of thousands of its cameras, licence plate readers and drones from police abuse, Garrett Langley said: "Yeah... yes."

Flock is cutting the number of days most data is retained, from 30 days to seven and abnormal searches and uses will also automatically be flagged.

Flock cameras have been used by police to not only track former and current romantic partners, but in one case, even a woman who had had an abortion.

Police across the US have quit or been fired for misuse of the technology.

A man in Indiana recently told local news he found out through a public records request that police had set a Flock alert for his vehicle, despite not being suspected of any wrongdoing.

At least 50 cities have this year cut ties with Flock due to a public backlash.

However, Langley told the BBC that another 16 cities that had turned off Flock services have in the last three months come back to the company. Generally, it's running at a 7:1 ratio of new customers to lost customers, he said.

Langley said that, just six months ago, he asked in a meeting of the company's board why there seemed to be a growing public focus on Flock.

This was around the time that Amazon's Ring, a doorbell camera firm, cancelled a partnership with Flock after an outcry over a Super Bowl advert which sparked concern about unwanted surveillance.

"Historically, my point of view as a chief executive of a private company was, I don't know if I should be making these decisions. I don't know if it's my job to say how long data should be retained," Langley said.

He added that he has come to agree with groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation that police should need an active case number to search Flock's data.

"They're right. I think it should be required."

He added: "Our employees and communities have said loud and clear, they expect companies like Flock to have a stronger point of view as the expert. I resisted that because I didn't want to have that responsibility."

Cooper Quintin of the EFF described Flock's new changes as "piecemeal, voluntary, and reversible" updates that "fall short" of meaningful protection of peoples' privacy.

"Simple safety 'feature updates' can and will be circumvented", Quintin said. "Invasive searches like [automated license plate reader] database queries must require a judicial warrant."

Langley says he has now accepted responsibility for more control over the uses of Flock. At the same time as he is strengthening Flock's safeguards, he is pitching his company's products as crucial to combatting crime and improving policing in the US.

Cities that don't use Flock are effectively choosing "to be less safe", he claimed.

Nevertheless, he does not deny that Flock has been misused by members of law enforcement.

"We're only as good as the data coming in," Langley said. "When you see these cases of wrongful arrest, the data was bad and the officer failed to follow the rules. But it's easier to pick a villain that's a company like us."

'Easy villain'

Langley said that, with clearly visible cameras in cities and neighbourhoods, the public increasingly sees the firm as an outlet for their growing concerns about privacy and technology.

"Because you can see our cameras, it's easier to get mad," Langley said.

In the US, there is no comprehensive law protecting or governing the collection, use or sale of people's personal data.

Langley mentioned a woman he recently met in Cleveland who was vociferously against Flock in her community. When he asked her why she disliked the technology so much, she told him it was ultimately a tool for police to "abuse their power."

It turned out that police "kind of feel the same way" as her, Langley said.

Conversations he had with police would often turn to officers saying of their colleagues 'we knew that person was not good. We had no way to prove it'.

That resulted in the new audit feature for Flock, which was released as an option earlier this year.

It automatically creates an audit log of searches being done on Flock, and flags unusual search behaviour.

Most police customers turned on the feature when it became an option. Misuse proved so rampant that Langley decided Flock needed to make the audit feature standard.

Officers who abuse their position are "horrible", Langley said, adding that they should be punished with more than just dismissal.

"If anyone is going to be the one that spearheads getting rid of abusive cops? Sign me up," Langley said. "We trust these individuals with deadly weapons.

"I think a camera is very far from a deadly weapon, but I would say it's a very powerful tool. We should hold it incredibly accountable."

A robot helped our 15-year-old daughter walk for the first time

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg5l49nvdelo, 3 days ago

Parents have been able to see their children walk for the first time through the help of a robot.

Brooke Hacker, 15, from Sketty in Swansea, has cerebral palsy and used the exoskeleton to walk 812 steps, with her four-year-old sister able to run alongside her.

Her father Andrew Hacker said "you can't put into words what it feels like to see your daughter do something you were told would never happen".

The trial in Carmarthenshire is the first time Canadian company Trexo Robotics has brought the £50,000 technology to the UK.

Brooke's family are calling for it to be made available "nationwide".

Cerebral palsy affects about one in 400 children in the UK, according to the NHS.

It is a developmental disability that affects movement and co-ordination.

Brooke has been attending physiotherapy sessions at Equinox Physiotherapy clinic in Cross Hands, Carmarthenshire, for over a year and was one of the first children to take part in the trial.

It was the first time Brooke's parents, Andrew and Rebecca Hacker, had ever seen her walk.

Brooke's mother, Rebecca Hacker said: "We've never seen Brooke walk like that before, to see her enjoy is incredible."

Andrew said they are "extremely proud" of Brooke's progress.

"She's an amazing young girl, she's intelligent, she knows what she wants. I always tell her the world's her oyster, if you work hard you'll go a long way, and she's doing very much just that."

Using the robot, Brooke's four-year-old sister Holly was able to run alongside her.

Rebecca said she never thought she would see the siblings running together, describing it as "incredible".

Rebecca and Andrew want to see the technology available "nationwide".

Rebecca said every child should have the opportunity to access equipment "that would change their life".

Andrew added: "The independence it gives them without having someone hold them, it gives them a sense of normality."

Mia Martin Evans, lead paediatric physiotherapist at Equinox, said Brooke walked 812 steps with the help of the robot while she would usually walk 30 in a normal session.

Mia said that developing technology will "ultimately benefit the children".

"It's hard to keep up with at times because innovation is just rapid," she said.

"Even with existing things you can add AI into the software to get better analytics that really give us insight. Through technology like Trexo and insights we can get, we can be really more specific in how we're delivering therapy programmes."

For Carys and Marc Bowen, seeing their three-year-old son Hopcyn walk for the first time was "overwhelming".

He was born with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, and Carys said they were told "we don't know whether he'll be able to walk independently or sit up or speak".

"It was absolutely terrifying at the time," Carys said.

With the Trexo only being at Equinox clinic for five days, Carys added it was a bit like "dangling the carrot".

"He's tried it, but now it's being taken away because it's so expensive."

She added: "It's bittersweet because we can see that he loves it, but we're happy to just have this experience in the first place because he's going to progress from it."

What is an exoskeleton?

According to Trexo Robotics, the technology helps children to practise walking patterns that would be difficult to do through conventional therapy alone.

The motorised, wearable exoskeleton can be adjusted to a child's height, needs and abilities, and is designed to help children with conditions like cerebral palsy, spinal muscular atrophy and muscular dystrophy, or who have suffered from a stroke or brain injury.

It was created in 2011 when one of the co-creators, Manmeet Maggu, found out that his nephew who has cerebral palsy would never be able to walk.

Manmeet told BBC Wales he hoped the technology would be rolled out across the NHS "in the future".

"We don't know how long that will take but what I know is that we're not going to stop or give up, any child who wishes to walk should be able to walk," he said.

He added it was "not a cheap device" costing between £40,000 and £50,000.

"The goal first of all is to have families and kiddos experience it, and then if they want to acquire the technology we can support them."

The robot is already in use in countries like the USA, Canada, Australia and Singapore.

Analysis by Owain Clarke, Wales health correspondent

From robotics to AI, from new medicines to DNA analysis, cutting edge technology has the potential to transform patients' lives.

But the latest equipment and drugs can be expensive, and because it has a limited budget, the NHS will never be able to pay for everything.

Independent experts, such as those who are members of Nice, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, assess emerging technologies and come to a conclusion about whether a new treatment should be offered, taking into account patient benefit, price and value for money.

So, they'll potentially have a say about whether this or similar technologies should be ultimately offered by the NHS and to what extent.

But, whatever, the outcome, the sheer speed of research and innovation in this and other fields, will give hope to many.

'Online trolls who target me are bored and jealous'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg4d0p2g26eo, 4 days ago

A woman who posts food reviews on social media has spoken out against the level of online abuse she receives after some trolls have urged her to take her own life.

Gloucestershire's Becca Stock, who has millions of followers on TikTok, said while "bored" and "jealous" people do target her online, they are in the minority.

She has shared her experience of online bullying following the University of Gloucestershire publishing new research into what drives digital abuse.

Dr Amy Grubb, associate professor of forensic psychology at the University, said posting comments online creates the "perfect storm" for abuse as the "digital environments reduce normal social restraints".

The research comes as mental health charities are reporting that online harms are having a growing impact on young people's wellbeing.

Dr Grubb said people feel able to make negative or abusive comments on the internet due to the "online disinhibition effect".

This suggests people may behave differently online because the usual social cues and consequences of face-to-face interaction are weakened or absent.

She said even on non-anonymous platforms people can feel "psychologically hidden behind a screen".

"Most people are not inherently aggressive, but certain online conditions make aggressive behaviour easier, less accountable, and more rewarding," she said.

"Studies generally find that online aggression is often less about people becoming completely different individuals in an online context and more about existing emotions, biases, and social pressures being expressed under conditions where the usual limits on behaviour, such as personal accountability, are lacking."

Stock, who posts under the name Beccaeatseverything, began making videos in 2021 to help people with meals during the cost of living crisis.

She said that the online abuse peaked when she reviewed a supermarket's basics range.

Her aim was to show people what items were good value as she had been living "paycheck to paycheck", but it sparked strong reactions.

"Because I was reviewing a basics range, people got really funny about it," she said.

"They said I'm self-entitled, I'm a posh girl who is being a snob."

Stock said she also got "some of the worst comments", including some suggesting she should take her own life.

Stock said she often blocks people making personal or discriminatory comments, but added a lot of trolls appear "jealous in one way or another".

"I think the main reason why people leave hate comments is boredom," she said.

"People's real thoughts and feelings come out on the internet. They're saying what they think internally."

Despite the horrible comments Stock receives, she said they are in the minority.

A lot of her audience are curious about her life, and sometimes viewers "feel like they know you", she said.

Growing mental health impacts

Jess John, safeguarding lead at local charity Young Gloucestershire, said the young people they support often report the impact of online harms on their wellbeing.

"Young people report that it is not necessarily one abusive comment that causes emotional and psychological impact but rather frequent and sustained hostile criticism," she said.

As well as low self-esteem, confidence and healthy relationships, John said online safety is one of the themes their youth workers focus on, including how to block and report people.

Paul Noblet, head of external affairs and research at mental health charity YoungMinds, said it had consistently called for action to tackle "the harms young people can experience in the online world, including exposure to harmful content, online abuse and features designed to keep them engaged".

"We're increasingly hearing about the impact these can have on young people's mental health," he said.

Follow BBC Gloucestershire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.

Discord ordered to suspend livestreams in Brazil

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgewpqxyrddo, 4 days ago

Brazil's data protection authority (ANPD) has ordered Discord to suspend its livestreaming feature after a teenage girl was allegedly encouraged to take her own life in a broadcast on the platform.

The messaging service allows people to create and join groups based on their interests, with users able to enter voice or video calls in real time through Discord's "Go Live" feature.

The investigation by the ANPD began on 7 August after the death of a 13-year-old girl, who was reportedly pressured to end her life by others in the Discord server - or group - she was in.

Discord told the BBC it was "thoughtfully reviewing" the ANPD's order and is "committed to user safety".

"Groups or individuals who promote or encourage violence have no place on Discord," a spokesperson said.

"We swiftly investigated and shut down the private, invite-only server involved shortly after its creation and continue to cooperate with law enforcement in its investigation."

According to Reuters, the ANPD said it found Discord lacks ‌real-time ⁠access to livestream content, which prevents automated violation detection.

The site, which can be accessed on desktop or as a mobile app, has over 200 million monthly active users, and is popular with gamers.

Discord's spokesperson said in its investigation, evidence was found that the criminal activity "was coordinated on other platforms before the Discord server was created" as well as continuing "after the individuals involved were banned from Discord".

Five teenagers have reportedly been arrested in connection to the teenage girl's death.

Discord now has three days to comply with the suspension and can appeal the decision within 10 business days.

The platform faces potential fines of up to 50m reais ($9.67m) per ⁠violation.

The ANPD said the suspension will remain in place until Discord proves it has implemented "adequate protective measures for minors", which may include age verification checks.

In August 2024, the social media platform X was banned in Brazil after failing to pay existing fines and to meet a deadline set by a Supreme Court judge to name a new legal representative in the country.

It was unbanned by the Supreme Court in October 2024 after it complied with court orders by paying fines totalling 28m reais ($5.1m; £3.8m) and agreed to appoint a local representative, as required by Brazilian law.

Spotify to add label for AI-generated artists and remove them from recommendations

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgxzmgejd5o, 4 days ago

Spotify is introducing a new feature that will highlight if an artist has been generated by artificial intelligence (AI).

The streaming service says the AI Persona badge, which will start appearing on some profiles from mid-September, will flag to listeners if an "artist's identity may be AI-generated and does not represent a real person".

The changes are being introduced to give users "more transparency" about what they're hearing, Spotify says.

It comes after some music fans made it "clear" to the streamer they don't like seeing a profile that seems to be a human, to then realise it's AI-generated.

AI-generated music has long been a concern for fans and artists.

Musician Alex Winn tells BBC Newsbeat he thinks the incoming feature is a "really good thing".

"It almost separates the people who have created music properly from the people just using AI," says guitarist Winn, who plays in the North East band Swindled.

The musician feels people want to "connect emotionally with music" and he thinks "AI can't really do that".

The 19-year-old also says having the AI label will help people make an informed choice about their listening habits, and he hopes it will redirect users to other artists and help level the playing field.

"Bands are finding it hard to compete no matter what, nevermind with some AI bands taking over," he says.

Music fan Leon Keenan thinks AI music shouldn't be removed completely from Spotify, but agrees that clearly labelling it is a "really good" idea.

"I definitely don't like AI music, it's really bad, music is about the passion," the 20-year-old adds.

Ellie Sumner, 21, also welcomes the new label as she says she has not realised work was AI-generated before.

"It's very easy to be like 'AI is so obvious' and maybe look down on my parents and grandparents falling for it, but I've definitely fallen for AI before," she says.

"It's sad that we have to label it, but also quite necessary."

The BBC previously heard from one frustrated listener, who, after finding his playlists increasingly sprinkled with tracks he suspected were AI-generated, built a tool to automatically label and block them.

Announcing the change, Spotify says "true artist-fan connection can only be built on a foundation of trust and authenticity".

"In music, that means listeners need to be able to trust that the artist behind the music is who they say they are," it adds.

"That's more essential than ever in the age of generative AI."

How will accounts be flagged?

The badge will appear on the banner and about section of artist profiles, as well as a note when they come up in searches and on tracks in playlists.

Artists with the badge will not appear in users' personalised recommendations unless they already follow them, Spotify says.

The streamer also says the badge will relate to the "artist's public identity" and not about "how the music was made", acknowledging that AI tools are being used in some human music creation now.

Musicians can currently be transparent about the AI tools they've used when making their tracks through the AI Credits feature, with Spotify saying they get tens of thousands of submissions for this daily.

Spotify hopes AI profiles will self-disclose in the same way, but it will also be reviewing accounts which appear to meet the criteria.

Those which are then labelled with the AI Persona badge by the streamer will be given the chance to self-disclose or appeal the decision.

It will be noted on the badge if an artist was transparent about being AI-generated, or if Spotify had to review the account.

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

The Invite to The Odyssey: 12 of the best films of 2026 so far

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260409-the-best-films-of-2026, 2 days ago

BBC film critics Caryn James and Nicholas Barber pick their cinema highlights of the year – from Christopher Nolan's epic blockbuster to a farcical sex comedy.

1. The Invite

The Invite is a rarity: a US comedy aimed at grown-ups. Based on a Spanish film, which was in turn based on the writer-director's own stage play, it features just four characters in one apartment during one evening. Seth Rogen and Olivia Wilde (the film's director) play an unhappily married couple; Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton are the loved-up neighbours who drop in for dinner. The contrast between the bickering hosts and their laidback guests makes for a hilariously awkward farce, but the screenplay, by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, is genuinely moving when it lays bare the characters' wounds and resentments. All four actors are superb (Cruz has never been more magnetic), and Wilde proves herself to be a master of tone and pacing. If Oscar-voters can get over their aversion to comedies, The Invite should be a contender. (NB)

2. The Odyssey

The long wait, amid a torrent of hype, was worth it. This beguiling, epic adaptation of Homer's centuries-old poem is pure Christopher Nolan, whose characteristic style is everywhere – from the morally challenged hero to the non-linear narrative and the rare way he builds stunning action-adventure on top of a script far more thoughtful than most Hollywood blockbusters. As Odysseus, Matt Damon is at his intelligent best, with a natural, modern delivery that makes the king relatable and sympathetic. The other major stars, including Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland and Zendaya, fit eloquently into the story. And as Odysseus journeys home to Ithaca from the Trojan War, Nolan uses IMAX cameras to make every episode feel immersive and intimate, whether the scene is as large-scale and volatile as the battle in Troy or as cramped as the table where the witch Circe turns Odysseus's soldiers into pigs. Although Nolan's film is filled with magic – visual and thematic – it also leaves viewers with a timely social theme: that civic duty, governance and moral choices intertwine. That issue is as old as Homer and, as this enthralling and layered film suggests, worth remembering today. (CJ)

3. Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie

What if someone remade Back to the Future, but its main characters were Bill and Ted from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, and it had the guerrilla feel of Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat? OK, so it's not a question that many people have asked, but the answer is Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, a ludicrously inventive, proudly Canadian comedy written by and starring Matt Johnson (who also directs) and Jay McCarrol (who composes the music). They have taken footage they shot in 2008, and new footage shot on (and above) the streets of Toronto, and woven it all into a fast-moving adventure about two buffoonish, would-be superstars who accidentally travel back in time. It's one of the year's daftest films, but also a sincere love letter to their home city and a heartfelt tribute to long-term friendship. (NB)

4. The Sheep Detectives

This entirely delightful hybrid of live action and CGI animation has a story suitable and engaging for children and a wit and cleverness that make it just as captivating for adults. Hugh Jackman departs the film early as George, a kind shepherd who reads mystery novels to his flock every night. When he is murdered, the sheep, steeped in all those detective stories, set out to track the clues and find their beloved George's killer. The human cast is deft and game, notably Nicholas Braun as the bumbling police officer in the village and Emma Thompson as a high-powered city lawyer. But the sheep steal the film, with their distinct, often childlike qualities. Julia Louis-Dreyfus gives a heartbreakingly tender performance as the voice of Lily, George's favourite and the smartest of the flock. Other sheep standouts are Chris O'Dowd as Lily's loyal best friend, Bryan Cranston as a battle-scarred veteran and Brett Goldstein as twin rams. A comic romp and an affectionate twist on cosy mysteries, this gem is one of the year's sweetest, best surprises. (CJ)

5. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

In 2002, director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland helped to revive the zombie-apocalypse sub-genre with 28 Days Later. In 2025, they did it again with 28 Years Later. Amazingly, this sequel to the latter is even better. Scripted by Garland, with Nia DaCosta taking over as director, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple delivers all of the gore and terror you want from a zombie film, but it's wonderfully idiosyncratic, too. It constructs its own elaborate folk-horror mythos; features the unlikely buddy-comedy pairing of a kindly mad scientist (Ralph Fiennes) and a hulking cannibal (Chi Lewis-Parry); and it's uncompromisingly British in its references, from its cheeky use of Duran Duran and Iron Maiden songs to its unforgettable villain (Jack O'Connell), a cult leader inspired by notorious television presenter and sex offender Jimmy Savile. An eccentric masterpiece. (NB)

6. My Father's Shadow

Set in Nigeria in 1993, Akinola Davies's film about a father and his two small sons is eloquent, warm and fiercely honest as it moves gracefully from the personal to the political. Sope Dirisu gives a quiet, strong, immensely moving performance as the father, who spends most of his time away working to support the family. With pitch-perfect intimacy, the story follows him through a single day as he takes his sons along to Lagos, where they go to his workplace and he tries to get the money he's owed. Their day gradually reveals the tumultuous backdrop of the presidential election, the results of which are nullified by a military dictatorship. The director and his brother, Wale Davies, wrote the film loosely based on their childhood memories, but its achievement goes beyond that. Winner of the Bafta for outstanding British debut, it stunningly captures the bold colours of Lagos. Its sophisticated narrative gives us the children's perspective. But it also lets us see the father's concern and the danger all around, with militia on the streets, which we understand far better than the boys do. There is not a false step, right through to the film's heartbreaking coda. (CJ)

7. Hoppers

Pixar returns to form with a focused, fizzily energetic cartoon based on a conceit as old as big-screen animation itself: talking animals. The heroine of Hoppers, Mabel (voiced by Piper Curda), is an admirably tough and determined schoolgirl who has her mind "hopped" into a robotic beaver, a procedure which somehow allows her to understand animals' conversations (just go with it). She uses this fantastic ability to rally her furry friends against a corrupt mayor (Jon Hamm), but what happens when they go too far? Parents beware: Daniel Chong's film has nightmarish elements towards the end, but overall it's a sharply plotted, gloriously silly adventure that everyone can enjoy. It also has the kind of frank environmental message which live-action blockbusters tend to avoid. (NB)

8. Wuthering Heights

Emerald Fennell's fearless reinvention of Emily Brontë's 1847 novel is not for Brontë purists, but it is an exhilarating take on the book and a striking example of Fennell's typical artistry and daring. Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi are fiery as Cathy and Heathcliff, the classic lovers made for each other but separated by class. Their connection is at once frankly sexual, romantic and caustic in the cruelty they often display toward each other. With that cruelty, Fennell restores the vehemence often overlooked in Brontë adaptations. Departing from prettified period pieces, the film's visual style is an enticing kaleidoscope of colour and fashion. Fennell drops in some comic moments, and at times dares to be over the top (Heathcliff on horseback, Elordi's bad wig flying in the wind) but its excesses are a small price to pay for such ambition. However much Fennell toys with the details – and why not? the book still exists – she captures the essential enduring passion of Wuthering Heights and its class-bound time. (CJ)

9. Project Hail Mary

Project Hail Mary is an unusual science-fiction blockbuster in that it's mostly about people using their brains to solve problems. Yes, one of those people is an alien made out of rocks, and, yes, there's an action-packed space-walking set piece, but the film's main concerns, for over two-and-a-half hours, are knowledge, discussion and painstaking research. Does that approach sound a bit dry and academic? If so, rest assured that Project Hail Mary is touching and inspiring – and surprisingly fun. Adapted from a novel by Andy Weir, the author of The Martian, it's directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who take a complicated, potentially bleak narrative and make it as fast-paced and cheerful as their animated hit The Lego Movie. Meanwhile, Ryan Gosling brings all of his goofball charm to the role of an amnesiac biologist who is trying to save the world. (NB)

10. Two Prosecutors

This bracing drama from the acclaimed Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa is set in 1937, during the height of Stalin's purges of his political enemies, and it wilfully echoes the creeping authoritarianism of today. The hero is Kornyev, an idealistic young Soviet lawyer, who receives a clandestine message written in blood from a political prisoner: the old man wants to reveal the torture he and so many others have been subjected to. The film unfolds with eerie calm and the feel of a low-boil thriller as Kornyev visits the prisoner and tries to circumvent the corrupt prison administrators and his own bosses to expose the injustice, naively believing that is still possible. Loznitsa, whose career includes documentaries and features, brings a master's eye to this visceral, harrowing story. As Kornyev spends time in the prison warden's austere waiting room, the scene conveys the claustrophobia and fear of the period. That is just the start of a tense, increasingly Kafkaesque journey that captures the inescapable, everyday grip of a dictatorship. (CJ)

11. Dead Man's Wire

Gus Van Sant's blackly comic thriller tells the stranger-than-fiction true story of Tony Kiritsis, an Indianapolis man who kidnaps the mortgage broker he blames for his financial woes. Kiritsis then becomes a minor celebrity by phoning a local radio station to update listeners on his state of mind. The media circus and the 1970s setting are reminiscent of Sidney Lumet's 1975 classic, Dog Day Afternoon, which could be why that film's star, Al Pacino, has a small role. But Dead Man's Wire is carried by Bill Skarsgård, who is terrific as the shotgun-wielding kidnapper. He adds farcical humour and pathos to a nerve-racking situation, but it's left to the viewer to decide who to sympathise with – Kiritsis or his traumatised hostage (Dacre Montgomery). (NB)

12. The Drama

Zendaya and Robert Pattinson in a romcom as an engaged couple, Emma and Charlie, would have been fun in itself. But Kristoffer Borgli's wilfully provocative dramedy takes a sharp detour away from its charming early stages when Emma reveals a dark secret to Charlie a week before the wedding. This high-wire act of a film might not have worked with less charismatic and deft stars, but these two navigate the changes in tone beautifully. Zendaya gives Emma a touching sincerity and Pattinson makes Charlie's jumpy nerves thoroughly understandable when he begins to wonder, not without reason, if he is about to marry a sociopath. Even before the film's release, the details of Emma's confession caused a backlash, with claims that the film trivialises a deadly-serious issue. But the film's characters are aware of just how serious it is; they wouldn't be so horrified otherwise. Intentionally or not, this is a rare film that stands as both an example of sheer Hollywood star power and a thought-provoking comment on a troubling, hot-button issue. (CJ)

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The Polygamist's author says women see themselves reflected in her Netflix hit

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd0xk82mrpyo, yesterday

When Sue Nyathi sent her debut novel The Polygamist to publishers, "they thought there was no market for the book" about a married Zimbabwean man and the women he seduces, she says.

So the Zimbabwean author found her own editor, typesetter and artist, and in 2012 published 500 copies herself. It defied the publishers' predictions and became a huge hit.

It has now been adapted for Netflix and is in the top 10 of the platform's most streamed series in more than 60 countries, reaching number two in the United States. Hollywood actress Taraji P Henson said the series had her in a "chokehold" and she binge-watched all 22 episodes in a single day.

It is not, Nyathi is careful to point out, a straightforward story about polygamy. The traditional practice of polygamy is not foreign to her. Her mother's side the family was polygamous for generations.

Her grandfather, who died in 1979, had five wives, her great-grandfather had 11. Her grandmother, the first woman his grandfather married, presided as matriarch over a farm where the wives lived together, and often helped choose the newcomers herself.

"There was no infighting, because everyone knew their place," Nyathi says. When she asked her grandmother how she made sense of it, the answer was practical - more hands to do the work, physical labour and emotional labour alike. It was open.

"Everybody knows who's who in the zoo," Nyathi explains.

Polygamy is legally recognised in Zimbabwe and South Africa if conducted under specific established customs. But what Nyathi began to notice as a young working woman in Harare in 2001 was something else entirely.

Men who were purportedly monogamous were effectively living polygamous lives with secret women and secret households. That is the polygamy of her novel, what she calls "the modernised, or perverted, version" of the practice, relying on deception instead of consent

"I'm not against polygamy," Nyathi says. "What I'm against is the lack of agency. It's wrong for the goalposts to be shifted once you're inside."

In the novel, Nyathi's heroine, Joyce, believes she has married into a union of one man and one woman, yet her husband, Jonasi, marries and sets up homes with three other women behind her back. There is no confession and no announcement; Joyce simply comes to realise, as the secrets accumulate and the women's lives intertwine, that her idea of a monogamous marriage has been a sham all along.

The question of who holds the power to negotiate and who does not runs through the whole storyline. Jonasi is a wealthy, self-made businessman, and in a patriarchal society he makes the decisions about everything.

Although Joyce helped him build his empire, her finances are dependent on him. The same goes for a later wife, Matipa who also works for Jonasi.

As a result the women have less autonomy, which leaves them exposed. Age gaps compound the imbalance, Nyathi notes, down to the most intimate negotiations.

An HIV thread runs through the story, and if "you're negotiating safe sex, you don't have a say in a relationship with those kinds of dynamics", she says.

There are a few differences between the book and the Netflix series - on the screen, the story is moved to South Africa, is shot in the Zulu language with subtitles and Jonasi has fewer wives. And unlike the television version, the novel is narrated entirely by Jonasi's wives.

"I wanted to highlight women's voices," Nyathi says, to let each woman explain why she found herself in a relationship with a man who wouldn't be faithful to her. The themes resonate with many readers, she adds. Women write to her to say they see themselves in Joyce and Jonasi's other wives. Some add that they are married to a Jonasi figure and want out.

After the series aired, Amnesty South Africa circulated guidance on narcissistic abuse and what steps a woman can take.

"For some people, this is not just a series," Nyathi says. "It's their lived reality. It holds up a mirror to society."

Not everyone has welcomed the reflection though.

Kenyan civil servant Geoffrey Mosiria called for the series to be banned in Kenya, arguing that it conflates polygamy with cheating, fraud and abuse. Nyathi is unmoved. Culture evolves, she says, and practices can be diluted or corrupted and she is showing what has happened to this one.

Simply by making affluent black Africans the protagonists, she says she has opened many people's eyes. She recalls a European reader who said he had not realised that rich black Africans existed.

"We've always had this stereotypical view of what being African is, and it's always associated with poverty," Nyathi says. The series shows otherwise and, she argues, is the richer for being filmed in the Zulu language: "English doesn't carry the same cultural richness that our languages do."

If there is a note of frustration in her, it surfaces around the question of who gets to write at all. Nyathi wanted to be a writer from childhood, but her parents pushed her towards a more traditional profession.

She worked in finance for almost two decades and says her time as an investment analyst taught her to see writing as both a craft and a business. While her financial career paid the bills, writing remained her passion and she wrote The Polygamist in the evenings after she had finished work. She left corporate life at the age of 40 to write full time, a few years after she had published the novel. She is now 48.

"People say, 'Oh, you're an overnight success.' Not at all," she says. "The recognition is overnight, but the work has been put in over many years, and I've made a lot of sacrifices."

Most writers, she adds, cannot live on their books, least of all in Africa. She says that often successful writers are supported by wealthy husbands, by grants, by residencies.

But those options were not available to her - a single mother who had to put her son through school, she has juggled various jobs to keep writing.

"There's a long period between when you start a book and you finish it. It could be two years, it could be eight years. How do you survive? Practically bills still need to be paid," she says. "I've walked that journey and it's erratic… you're definitely going to have to stay in that day job.

"Writing is a luxury that most people can't afford," she says, adding that the cost is measured in the voices that are rarely heard.

She also feels an imbalance in how African writing travels. "It's easier for an African writer published overseas to gain traction. Books are traditionally sold down to us. It's hard for our work to sell upwards."

What the "Netflix effect" has given her is precisely the visibility she had never enjoyed across four novels and more than a decade of writing, often on politically charged topics.

Nyathi is now finishing the first draft of a historical novel which she has been working on for the past two years - she says the themes will resonate with many people.

As for the craft of writing, "everything starts with a story", she says, advising any woman who thinks she has a book in her and no money, to start with a pen and paper, and do it for love.

"Money should never be the motivation. The love is what will fuel you when it gets hard."

* This is part of the Global Women series from the BBC World Service, sharing untold and important stories from around the globe

'Misogyny and fetishism' - the story of the last woman to be hanged in Wales

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyq1w7415qo, 2 days ago

As Leslie James was marched to the gallows on the morning of her 40th birthday, she could never have known her death would put her name in the history books.

On 14 August 1907 at 08:00, James was led from the women's block of Cardiff Prison to a shed which housed the gallows, suspended above a 15ft-deep (4.5m) pit.

There waiting for her were Henry and Tom Pierrepoint - a surname synonymous with the noose - and with that pull of the lever, James would become the last woman to be hanged in Wales.

In June of that year, she was accused of deliberately smothering a day-old baby girl as part of what the police and press called a "baby farming" conspiracy.

But a new book by author Mary Jones casts doubt on details surrounding the case, highlighting James's previously unreported brain injury, and how her looks were as much the focus of the press attention as her crime.

In The Execution of Leslie James, Jones documents how in the months leading up to her crime, Leslie James, or Rhoda Willis as was probably her real name, was hit by a bike, giving her such severe concussion that she was in hospital for three months.

She argues: "Whatever Leslie's culpability in her crimes, this surely ought to have been taken into account."

James stood trial at the July 1907 Swansea Assizes accused of murdering baby Treasure, who was only identified by the surname of her mother, Maud Treasure from Fleur-de-lis in Caerphilly.

The prosecution claimed James responded to a newspaper advert asking for someone to take care of an unwanted baby, offering £6 initially, and a further £2 at a later date.

At the time, "baby farming", where "inconvenient" children were offered up for money, was seen as a social scandal.

After collecting the child, it was alleged that James smothered her on the train journey back to Cardiff, most likely around Llanishen.

Most damningly for James, evidence emerged that she had previously taken on two other babies in similar circumstances.

After a trial lasting one-and-a-half days, the all-male jury took just 12 minutes to convict her, in what must have seemed like an open-and-shut case in those days.

In passing sentence, the judge said: "Don't let anyone suppose that because you are convicted of murder that nobody pities you, nobody prays for you.

"I implore you to employ the short time that is left to you to prepare for death and for that mercy which you will undoubtedly find in heaven, but which you cannot expect here."

Jones believes there were serious flaws in the trial, most importantly that James's brain injury was not mentioned as an explanation for her reckless behaviour.

"Her barrister, Ivor Bowen, was only appointed on the morning of the trial on the judge's orders and, as such, there was no time to speak to Leslie or call any defence witnesses.

"Had they have done so, then the jury would have heard what baby Treasure's family told the police, that the child was already frothing from the mouth, possibly because of the indigestible sugar-water mix which they had given her because her mother was unable or unwilling to breastfeed her, and also that she had been extremely tightly swaddled, so that neighbours could not tell that the package being handed over to Leslie was a baby.

"Either of these could have led to baby Treasure choking or suffocating, though Leslie didn't help her own defence insofar as she was an alcoholic and, I believe, honestly couldn't recall how the infant died on that journey home."

Jones added that, while James's two previous forays into baby farming were used in evidence against her, the counter argument was never put forward.

She left a note requesting medical assistance for the first child, who she left on the steps of the Salvation Army, and the second was thriving after being adopted by her landlady, Mrs Wilson at 132 Portmanmoor Road in Splott, Cardiff.

On the evening of 3 June 1907 James returned home but couldn't sleep in her own bed, and instead bunked up with fellow lodger Rose Smith.

The following day she went out and got "paralytically drunk".

As Mrs Wilson tried to help her into bed, she discovered a tightly-wrapped parcel, which at first she thought to be a cut of meat, only to discover the truth and informed the police.

James's tragic past quickly unravelled.

"She is most likely to have been born in Sunderland in 1863, though she claimed to have been educated in a London boarding school," said Jones, who believes there may be evidence to support this.

"Rhoda/Leslie appears from the records to have been a highly literate and articulate lady and far removed from the common-or-garden 'hussy' or 'fallen woman' which the press chose to stereotype such so-called baby farmers."

Jones said when James was arrested she gave her name as Leslie James, but on previous public documents she was variously listed as Rhoda Willis/Dalzell/Lascelles, daughter to a jeweller, Ernest Dalzell, which may have provided her with a more affluent background.

While living a "blameless life" prior to the bike accident, by 1907 she had fallen into "troubled ways".

She was locked in a love triangle with Scottish-born brothers Stewart and McGregor McPherson, between whom she bore two babies.

Jones said that by the time she sought lodgings at Portmanmoor Road, she was already deeply damaged.

"The way she sought shelter in Rose Smith's neighbouring room shows that she knew something terrible had happened, but it also lends evidence to the conclusion that she hadn't intended for it to happen.

"Surely, if Rhoda had have been guilty of murder, then she wouldn't have drawn such attention to herself."

Cardiff council, her own solicitor Harry Lloyd, and the general public raised a petition of about 50,000 names to spare her life.

A 1,000-strong crowd outside the prison were mortified when a guard pinned the notice of her death to the gates.

Home Secretary Herbert Gladstone had, the night before, concluded that she be made an example of because of the "despicable practice of baby farming prevalent in south Wales".

Jones said: "I am seeking an apology for the fact that such a troubled woman was hanged without evidence that she'd ever committed murder.

"It is beyond doubt that baby Treasure died while in the care of Rhoda, but her degree of culpability is very debatable, at the very most she is guilty of manslaughter."

Jones said a degree of misogynistic fetishism saw James go to the gallows.

"All the press reports and even the hangman Henry Pierrepoint remarked on her beauty and composure.

"No male's demeanour had ever been commented upon so much in the papers: 'From the way in which the sunlight caught her auburn hair to her composure at the moment the lever was pulled.'

"She was made to stand out for some sort of message."

Now, 119 years after she died, the only physical record of James's grave is an etched cross next to a potato patch within the walls of Cardiff Prison.

I wish I had been a more rebellious teenager, says Bella Ramsey

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c87nwq9qe24o, yesterday

Bella Ramsey spent many teenage years working with adults so never really went through the moody, rebellious phase often associated with being a teenager.

The British actor, who debuted in Game of Thrones aged 11 and uses they/them pronouns, says they had consciously decided not to behave like a stereotypical teenager after hearing criticisms from adults.

"I was like, I'm not going to be that."

So when Sunny Dancer, a film about a summer camp for young people affected by cancer, gave Ramsey seven weeks to experience teenage freedom, it was an opportunity to dive straight in.

"I got to be a teenager aged 21, which was brilliant," Ramsey tells BBC News. "It was really nice - and liberating."

Looking back, Ramsey says the experience made them wonder whether they had missed out by being quite so sensible the first time around.

"I kind of wish that I had made the most of being a teenager and getting away with things and being a bit rebellious."

In Sunny Dancer, Ramsey plays Ivy, a young female cancer survivor in remission who reluctantly heads to a "chemo camp" where she finds an unexpected group of friends and has a summer that changes her.

The rest of the cast were more than happy to help fill in the gaps; Ramsey says younger co-stars discussed songs and nights out.

"They were teaching me what being a teenager was for them and I was learning all the songs like five years later."

An emotional moment at film's premiere

Beneath the summer camp fun is a story that is deeply personal for the film's writer and director, George Jaques.

His mother was diagnosed with cancer when he was 15, but it took another eight years for him to feel ready to turn some of those experiences into a script.

"I never seem to write in the moment I'm going through it," Jaques says. "You have to sort of get through and understand it and have that reflection of it."

He stresses that the film is not his family's story, but "there's bits of me" scattered throughout its characters.

Jaques was also conscious his own experience could only take him so far. So, he worked with the Teenage Cancer Trust, hearing from young cancer survivors as well as parents who had lost children.

"I remember going in to do a big talk with some young people who had survived cancer and they were like, 'don't call us kids, do not say we're brave.'"

He says the film was "shaped" by these young people he met - such that he gave two of them roles in it.

Making the movie also forced Jaques to revisit some of his own fears around loss. He recalls a moment during the premiere in Berlin when emotion crept up on him.

"I remember seeing my mother and I realised there's a version of that movie where my mum wasn't sitting in the audience," he says.

Both Ramsey and Jaques think we could be better at allowing people to experience grief without expecting them to quickly return to normal.

Jaques recalls losing someone close to him when he was 18, while sitting his A-levels.

"We are expected to just to carry on," he says, describing the instinct to go "straight back to work and school".

If we "really were honest with how we feel we might be able to understand it a bit better," he adds.

In the UK, there is no general legal right to paid bereavement leave when someone close to you dies. The main statutory exception is parental bereavement leave and pay following the death of a child under 18 or a stillbirth after 24 weeks.

Ramsey thinks there can be an instinct to minimise what you are going through.

"You speak to people who are grieving, you're like, 'How are you doing?' They're like, 'Oh, yeah, yeah, you know, it's hard, but I'm fine.' It feels very unhealthily British."

After spending seven weeks playing a teenager who is desperate to be their own person, Ramsey's advice for young people struggling to fit in is straightforward.

"Don't try and fit in. Please don't change to try and fit in because there are people who will fit in with you."

Jaques agrees, but says the responsibility should not all be placed on young people to become more resilient.

"There's so much pressure on young people to change on social media," he says. "Why don't we stop hating on young people? Maybe that's where we should start as well."

The Office's Lucy Davis 'overwhelmed' by kindness after cancer diagnosis

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8ewdwldxdo, 3 days ago

The Office actress Lucy Davis has thanked fans for their "kindness and support" after revealing she has incurable breast cancer.

The 53-year-old, who played receptionist Dawn Tinsley in the BBC sitcom, announced on Tuesday she is "trying to live out whatever might be left of my life in as fun a way as I possibly can".

A flood of friends, family and followers - including her comedian father Jasper Carrott, former co-star Ricky Gervais and her Office US counterpart Jenna Fischer - left public messages of support.

"Ok, so the last two days have been utterly overwhelming, in that I had zero idea my cancer post would have the attention it did," Davis wrote on Instagram on Thursday.

"Truly, I am in shock. That said, thank you to everyone for the tremendous amount of kindness and support you have sent me. Good grief it was emotional."

She added: "I am trying to go through all the comments on my post – and I'll get there, just give me a bit of time.

"Also, to the couple of people who slightly misread the news and commented RIP, you'll be delighted to know I am still alive – hurrah."

In order to "lighten things up", the latest message came with a video of her having a skateboarding lesson with actor Malachi Barton, who appeared with her in Disney Channel comedy series The Villains Of Valley View.

In her previous post earlier this week, Davis revealed she had been diagnosed with breast cancer a year and a half ago but it had spread to her bones, leaving it "too late" for chemotherapy.

"I'm not scared of whatever comes next," she continued. "I'm at peace with it."

On Wednesday, Carrott, whose real name is Robert Davis, spoke about his pride and love for his daughter.

Carrott, who was one of the most familiar faces on British television over several decades, told BBC News: "This is a very difficult time for the whole family and we have been supporting her in every way possible since her diagnosis.

"We are so grateful for all the support we have had over this trying time and we are very hopeful for her future being what she wants it to be."

Early in her acting career, Davis appeared in an episode of The Detectives, the BBC comedy starring her father, and a 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice.

Her breakthrough role came in 2001 when she was cast as Dawn, the sympathetic and witty receptionist in Gervais and Stephen Merchant's Bafta-winning office-based sitcom.

Gervais posted a love heart emoji in the comments to her health update.

While Gervais's cringeworthy character David Brent provided many of the belly laughs, the ever-present Dawn and her love interest Tim Canterbury, played by Martin Freeman, gave the show its emotional backbone.

Fischer, who played Dawn's counterpart on the US version of the show, Pam Beesly, praised Davis for her "beautiful post".

"Love you lots," wrote Fischer, who herself overcame cancer in 2024.

"And yes to working with cancer! Let's spread that message far and wide! How working is such a comfort!"

Davis went on to appear in films including Shaun Of The Dead (2004) and Wonder Woman (2017), and played Hilda Spellman in the Netflix series the Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina.

Ski Sunday host Chemmy Alcott suffers collapsed lung after jumping into lake

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp8xpg1380xo, 3 days ago

Ski Sunday presenter Chemmy Alcott says she suffered a collapsed lung after jumping into a lake while on holiday in France.

The 44-year-old former GB Olympic skier posted a clip on Instagram that showed her jumping off a five metre platform into Lake Annecy, in the French Alps, before landing badly and ending up in hospital.

"Most people badly time a front flip off a five-metre platform and get winded," she said in the clip.

"I apparently don't do things by halves. Collapsed lung, chest drain and a very expensive lesson in rotation."

Alcott explained that she initially went back to jump again after her difficult landing, out of "embarassment" and "just so I wasn't making a big deal out of it".

But she soon realised she "couldn't breathe properly and should probably go and get it checked out".

She later shared images of herself in hospital with tubes and wires sticking out of her body.

In the caption to the main clip - titled "this didn't end well" - she wrote: "Well... that escalated quickly. Turns out five metres is quite a long way to discover you've got the rotation wrong.

"One badly timed front flip. One very hard landing. One collapsed lung. One chest drain. And a few more hospital overnights than were on the holiday itinerary...

"I absolutely loved Annecy… but I'm not entirely sure it loved me back."

A collapsed lung - medically known as a pneumothorax - occurs when air becomes trapped in the space between the lung and the chest wall, according the NHS.

'Never jump from heights'

In the UK, one of the main dangers of swimming in lakes is the threat of what is known as "cold water shock".

That's when cold water can cause a sudden heart attack by increasing your heart rate, or making you gasp for breath and inhaling water directly into the lungs, leading to drowning.

But the temperature in Lake Annecy in the summer is a balmy 25C to 27C.

Alcott's injury is more akin to running into something very fast – technically known as a blunt trauma injury.

This is where the skin isn't broken or pierced, but there can still be severe damage to bones, muscles, and internal organs – in her case a lung.

Having jumped off a five-metre board, she was probably travelling at around 20mph by the time she hit the water.

The injury will have been caused by her chest slamming into the water.

The Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) urges summer swimmers to enter the water safely and look out for hazards.

"Is the area safe? Consider potential hazards - too deep or too shallow, currents, tides, underwater objects," it says on its website. "Enter slowly and carefully, and never jump from heights."

Seven-time British champion Alcott raced in all five disciplines - downhill, super G, giant slalom, slalom and combined - during a successful career on the slopes.

She also made history as the first and only British female skier to win a run in a World Cup race.

She competed in her fourth and final Winter Olympics in 2014 in Sochi, then retired from international competition soon after on doctor's orders, following several leg breaks.

Alcott joined the long-running magazine show Ski Sunday as a regular contributor and feature presenter before stepping up as its lead co-presenter alongside Ed Leigh in 2021.

Earlier this year, she covered the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina for BBC One.

Eurovision Song Contest 2027 to be held in Burgas, Bulgaria

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly8p8lpyvmo, 3 days ago

Eurovision 2027 will be a seaside song contest held in the Bulgarian city of Burgas, organisers have confirmed.

The competition will take place in the city, which is close to the Black Sea, from 12 to 15 May, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and Bulgarian National Television (BNT) announced on Thursday.

It comes after Bulgarian singer Dara won this year's contest in Vienna, Austria in May - her country's first Eurovision win - with her pneumatic dance anthem Bangaranga.

Eurovision Song Contest director Martin Green said they were "delighted" with the next choice of destination, adding that Burgas would "bring something really special" to the competition.

The contest, including rehearsals, the semi-finals and grand final, will be held at Bulgaria's newest sports and entertainment venue, Arena Burgas, which was opened in 2023.

'Truly Bulgarian'

"[Burgas] is a vibrant, welcoming city on the Black Sea with a strong musical and cultural identity, and it has the ambition, infrastructure and passion needed to welcome the Eurovision family," Green said.

"For the first Eurovision Song Contest ever to be held in Bulgaria, we want to create something that feels truly Bulgarian while also being unmistakably Eurovision – a celebration that brings people together through music."

Bulgaria's fourth largest city was selected for its "strong overall proposition, combining the venue and technical potential" - including hotel capacity, transport and international travel.

Reacting to the news, Dara said: "I'm so happy that Bulgaria will host Eurovision, so be ready because we're going to scream! And I know that all of my seaside people are great at parties."

It may come as a surprise to some Eurovision watchers that the contest will be held there and not in the capital, Sofia.

Speaking at a press conference after the most recent song contest in May, the director of BNT, Milena Miltenova, said: "I'm so proud of Dara's performance. What she did last night was amazing. And I'm so proud to say welcome to Sofia next year."

Dara - the winning contestant - said something similar at the time: "I'm so happy that you're coming to Sofia next year. I'm happy that it [Eurovision] is going to be in my home."

However, the EBU said on Thursday that Burgas was selected following a "competitive" process involving four Bulgarian cities.

Burgas and Sofia progressed to the final stage of the selection process following the initial bids, which also included Varna and Plovdiv.

Miltenova has said she is now "confident" that Bulgaria will be a "worthy" host and the country would "showcase the very best of our culture, hospitality and professionalism".

She added there would now be "an intensive period of collaboration" between all involved in order "to deliver a contest that meets the high expectations of millions of viewers around the world".

Burgas mayor Dimitar Nikolov added that it was an "exceptional honour".

The Eurovision Song Contest can have an impact beyond the stage, with the event providing a platform for host cities and countries to put themselves in the spotlight.

According to the EBU, Liverpool saw a €66m (£56m) economic boost after hosting in 2023, Malmö €40m in 2024 and Basel €58m in 2025.

"I think it's a good choice, because a lot of events happen in Sofia," one resident told BNT immediately after the announcement. "I think it's cool they will put the contest near on the sea, because people will come and see more of Bulgaria."

"This is a very big event for the city," added another. "I believe Burgas was the definitive choice."

Rule change

Earlier this week, organisers of the song contest updated their rules to state that if a country involved in an armed conflict wins the competition, it will be ineligible to host it the following year.

The amendment was approved by the contest's governing body, following feedback from participating broadcasters after Eurovision 2026 in Vienna.

It stated that winning countries will also be disqualified from hosting if a "sensitive geopolitical situation" affects the "security, safety or stability of their state or immediate region".

The update has been interpreted as a reaction to Israel's continued presence at the contest, amid criticism of its military actions in Gaza and the Middle East.

Last November, following a failed attempt to have Israel suspended, five broadcasters announced they were boycotting the competition - including Eurovision powerhouses Spain and Ireland.

Despite the protests, Israel's Noam Bettan ultimately took second place with his song Michelle.

It marked the second year in a row that Israel had taken the runners-up position - and some participating broadcasters have privately expressed safety concerns over the contest being staged in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, should the country win in the future.

Although Israel will undoubtedly be seen as the target of the rule change, it will also affect Ukraine, which has been engaged in a protracted war since it was invaded by Russia in 2022.

Ukrainian group Kalush Orchestra went on to win Eurovision that same year, in a symbolic show of public support.

Following their victory, Eurovision organisers undertook a "full assessment and feasibility study" to decide whether the 2023 contest could proceed in Kyiv.

They ultimately decided the security risks were too great, and the UK stepped in to host the competition in Liverpool.

Widow's Bay to DTF St Louis: 19 of the best TV shows of 2026 so far

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260403-the-best-tv-shows-of-2026, 10 days ago

From a surprise horror-comedy hit to a suburban whodunnit with a difference and the latest runs of Rivals and Ted Lasso, we pick the year's greatest programmes to stream right now.

1. Furious

It’s your classic cat-and-mouse set-up: a dogged cop on the hunt of a killer. But Furious subverts that formula with a horrible and timely twist – and the result is easily the best crime thriller of the year so far. Emmy Rossum, best known for TV's Shameless and graduating to the role of her career here, is brittle and enigmatic as Alice, an FBI agent battling the sexism of the institution and demons from an abusive relationship with a colleague. Her quarry, mesmerisingly played by Irish actor Lola Pettricrew, is a serial murderer with a difference: a former sex trafficking victim taking revenge on the Epstein-like circle of rich men involved in her, and many others', abuse. What's so impressive about New Girl and Dying for Sex creator Elizabeth Meriwether's latest show is its seamless tonal shifts, from dark comedy-evoking Promising Young Woman, to truly haunting drama. The result is a scintillating and dare we say it, important post-MeToo howl of rage at the very grimmest underbelly of our society. (Hugh Montgomery)

Streaming weekly on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in the UK

2. Widow's Bay

Even with the terrific Matthew Rhys as the star, no one expected this inventive horror-tinged comedy to become the breakout hit that it has, gathering 19 Emmy nominations. Rhys finds comedy by playing it straight as Tom Loftis, the mayor of Widow's Bay, an old-timey town on a New England island that he hopes to make a tourist destination. If only it weren't haunted by an evil spirit, a reality Tom doesn't believe until he has to. It's easy to see why the show arrived so quietly. It has a distinctive comic-horror tone that doesn't fit any cookie-cutter category. Its knowing wink at horror is not intended to make you jump. But while the humour nods at classic horror tropes from Jaws to The Shining, it is never as broad as a spoof. That works beautifully because the town is populated by such vivid, down-to-earth characters. Rhys holds it all together, with a perfectly synced-in cast that includes Stephen Root as Wyck, the sea captain who tries to warn the mayor about the spirit, and Kate O'Flynn as Tom's tightly-wound assistant, Patricia. (Caryn James)

Available on Apple TV internationally

3. Rivals

The UK lost a literary legend when Jilly Cooper, joyous author of the erotic upper-crust romps which epitomised the so-called "bonkbuster", passed away suddenly last October. But there could be no better tribute to her than the second series of this adaptation of her novels set in her mythical Cotswolds-like country Rutshire. In these six instalments (the second batch of six will be released later this year), it was even more on-point in capturing Cooper's balance of raucous comedy and emotionally sharp examination of class, relationships and matters of the heart. On one hand, there's the exquisite farce of episode two, in which a dinner party devolves into beautifully-choreographed chaos; and on the other, some devastating moments of marital upset, many provided by Claire Rushbrook, giving this run of episodes' most powerful performance as the villainous Tony Baddingham's stiff-upper-lipped, but quietly agonised wife, Lady Monica. It's hit such a confident stride that I suspect it could run and run. (HM)

The first six episodes of season 2 are available on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in the UK, with a further six episodes premiering in November

4. Ted Lasso

After three years away and no guarantee it would return, Ted Lasso came back with all its warmth and humour intact. Don't be put off by the lame first episode, which finds Ted in Kansas City and strains for laughs. By episode two he is back in London, coaching a new Richmond women's football team. Like his old men's team they are underdogs, and unlike the men they face a whole set of sexist problems. Ted is still a wonder of a character, both goofy and unaccountably wise about human nature. And Jason Sudeikis, so comfortable in the role, is surrounded by the familiar, still-winning cast: Hannah Waddingham as Rebecca, Juno Temple as Keeley, Brett Goldstein as Roy and Jeremy Swift as Leslie. Tanya Reynolds is a sharp addition as a deadpan new coach. Ever since it arrived, during the pandemic era, the series has been synonymous with a reassuring, positive message summed up by Ted's motto, "Believe." Then and now, it is rare in the way it manages to be uplifting without being preachy or sugary. (CJ)

Available on Apple TV internationally

5. DTF St Louis

From David Lynch to Desperate Housewives and beyond, the dark underbelly of American suburbia is extremely well-trodden narrative territory, and any one taking it on has a task on their hands to avoid cliché. Which makes the achievement of this seven-part HBO miniseries set in the titular Missouri city all the more impressive. For while its initial set-up – a love triangle, a murder investigation – may be nothing too remarkable, what it reveals is a finely tuned, remarkably tender appreciation of the oddities of the most ordinary-seeming human beings: to reference a line which forms the show's thesis, "No one's normal. It just looks that way from across the street". It also contains a game-changing performance from Stranger Things star David Harbour as Floyd Smernitch, an overweight cuckolded husband plagued by debt, whose open-hearted approach to life is nevertheless inspiring. In fact, all the lead performers bring their A-game. As Floyd's wife Carol, Linda Cardellini offers a poignant depiction of middle-class disaffection, while even Jason Bateman's smoothie weatherman reveals hidden and strange depths. With its absurd humour, dramatic dysfunction and atmospheric score, it perhaps most evokes that Oscar-winning suburban classic American Beauty, although both the writing and characterisation are much more sophisticated. (HM)

Available on HBO Max in the US and NOW in the UK

6. The Other Bennet Sister

Of all the television shows, films and novels that spin off from Jane Austen – an industry in itself – few are as delightful as this. Ella Bruccoleri is endearing as Mary Bennet, the bookish sister in Pride and Prejudice, always overshadowed by her siblings. The series is true to the spirit of Austen – the family warmth, the dances, the fought-for romance and above all the sardonic view of society in all its inanities. Yet it manages to give the commonsensical, spectacle-wearing Mary a life of her own. The early episodes stay close to Austen, with Richard E Grant dream casting as Mr Bennet. When the plot goes beyond Pride and Prejudice, Mary heads to London to live with her aunt and uncle, where she finds two suitors and a very Austen like ending. Indira Varma is elegant and full of good advice as Mary's smart and helpful aunt, with Dónal Finn and Laurie Davidson as the men, very different from each other, whom Mary falls for. Colourful and spirited, the series doesn't have a trace of the cringe that often comes with attempts to fill in the blanks Austen left behind. (CJ)

Available on Britbox in the US and BBC iPlayer in the UK

7. Margot's Got Money Troubles

Several A-list actors shine in this unlikely dramatic comedy. Elle Fanning is empathetic as Margot, whose affair with her married college professor leaves her as a single mother who can't afford daycare. But she can make money from home on OnlyFans. Michelle Pfeiffer once more proves how good she is at comedy as Margot's mother, Shyanne, a former Hooters waitress determined to marry a good-guy minister (Greg Kinnear). Nick Offerman brings nuance to the role of Jinx, Margot's father, a former wrestler and recovering addict who becomes the live-in babysitter and advisor on her elaborate but not explicit videos. Nicole Kidman even turns up as a wrestler turned lawyer. Non-judgmental and realistic about sex, clear-eyed and funny about family dysfunction, the show may be about money problems and adult websites but it's also remarkably heart-warming. (CJ)

Available on Apple TV internationally

8. Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed

Tatiana Maslany came to public consciousness with her virtuosic performance in sci-fi series Orphan Black, in which she played 17 different clones, masterfully differentiating each one. Since then, though, she has struggled to find a role worthy of her talents – until now. In this delicious little Hitchcockian thriller, she plays a spiky divorcee and single mum who finds some relief in her sessions with an online sex worker, only for him to wind up dead. From there, spins out a plot in which she becomes both prime suspect and target of the real bad guys. Beyond the suspense and twists, though, this is at heart a compelling portrait of a woman hitting rock bottom, but in the process finding herself. And that element is carried superbly by Maslany's powerhouse screen presence and her winning mix of toughness and vulnerability. (HM)

Available on Apple TV internationally

9. Alice and Steve

Friendship and vengeance go together in this funny, caustic comedy with a dramatic undertone. Nicola Walker and Jemaine Clement, each wonderfully edgy actors on their own, make a terrific pair as the title characters, who have been best friends for 30 years. Then he starts dating her 26-year-old daughter, who, to be fair, made the first move. When Alice furiously tries to thwart the relationship, sabotaging Steve's hair-styling career, he retaliates and their outlandish, destructive pranks escalate. The unpredictable final episode is likely to divide opinions. I didn't buy it for a second, but that didn't spoil the fun of watching Walker and Clement. Throughout this bracing, fresh series, they find a perfect balance of genuine feeling and outrageous comic behaviour as they grapple with the meaning of love, friendship and jealousy. (CJ)

Available on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in the UK

10. Industry

This BBC/HBO drama has been on quite a journey since it kicked off 2020: where it began as a tight, claustrophobic drama about London graduates trying to make it in the cutthroat world of the banking industry, in its fourth series its young protagonists are now power-players, and its scope has expanded to equally incorporate the worlds of media, politics and Britain's landed gentry. The new thematic ambition is admirable, turning it into something like a state-of-the-West drama, albeit an extremely pessimistic one – but what remains most impressive is the sharpness of the writing and performances. As frenemies Harper and Yasmin, Myha'la and Marisa Abela continue to anchor the show with a chilly magnetism, while Kit Harington has never been better than as the mentally broken, failed politician-cum-entrepreneur Sir Henry Muck. It's been announced it will wrap up with one final season, which feels about right – and hopefully before it ends, it will finally get the awards attention it deserves. (Hugh Montgomery)

Available on HBO Max in the US and BBC iPlayer in the UK

11. How to Get to Heaven from Belfast

This thoroughly winning romp from Lisa McGee, the creator of Derry Girls, is a comedy and a mystery, along with a road trip across Ireland and beyond. And at heart it is another of her stories of female friendship, no matter how unlike each other those friends are. We believe the three late-thirty-something heroines have stayed close for 20 years despite their diverging paths: Robyn is a polished but harried mother of three, Saoirse is a successful TV writer clearly engaged to the wrong man, and awkward Dara is a carer for her mother and still mourning a broken romance with the woman who was her true love. The series is expansive enough to delve into their relationships, complete with tensions and irritations, while each fast-paced, cliff-hanging episode propels the increasingly outlandish and funny plot, which ramps up from finding the wrong body in a casket to spying and kidnapping, with some romantic attractions along the way. McGee's unique voice comes through in a show filled with droll, perfectly-delivered dialogue, along with wacky humour and action. (Caryn James)

Available on Netflix internationally

12. The Beauty

While super-producer Ryan Murphy seems to become ever-more prolific, he definitely has issues with quality control: see last year’s universally slated legal drama All’s Fair as an example. But he's certainly had a strong run in 2026 so far: Love Story, telling the story of the tragically cut-short relationship of John F Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bessette, was a real watercooler hit, although it came under fire for its looseness with the facts. But body horror The Beauty was a more unqualified success: based on a comic book, it satirises today's vanity-driven age with its story of a wonder drug that literally causes people to be reborn as a more physically attractive version of themselves – with the unfortunate side effect that they may, at some point, explode. Like recent film The Substance, with which it shares much DNA, it's not exactly subtle in its messaging, but that's hardly the point: it easily carries you through its 10 episodes with its in-your-face brio, humour and game performances from the likes of Evan Peters, Rebecca Hall, Ashton Kutcher and Isabella Rossellini. Plus, it finishes on a great cliffhanger, which suggests a second season must be on the cards. (HM)

Available on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in the UK

13. The Night Manager

There aren't many series so good that they can afford to wait 10 years between seasons, but this espionage drama is a thrilling exception. Tom Hiddleston once more plays Jonathan Pine, now an MI5 agent who is as tightly wound as they come, but somehow still endlessly charming. The first season used up the plot of John le Carré's novel of the same name, but writer David Farr does a first-rate job of channelling him to create a new story involving gun-running and political intrigue in Colombia and the corrupt involvement of MI5 itself. Diego Calva gives a magnetic, star-making performance as a new villain, the arms dealer Teddy Dos Santos. Steamy scenes tease an attraction between Teddy and Jonathan, the settings range from luxurious homes to the jungle, and the series even pulls off a welcome surprise concerning the fate of Hugh Laurie's character, Richard Roper, called "the worst man in the world." True to its origins, it has all the danger, tension and glamour of the best spy stories. (CJ)

Available on Prime Video internationally and BBC iPlayer in the UK

14. Lord of the Flies

After writer Jack Thorne had a global mega-hit with his Netflix drama Adolescence, it might seem foolhardy for him to follow it up with another piece focussed on boys behaving violently. Yet his adaptation of William Golding's celebrated parable about a group of schoolkids stranded on a desert island is a triumph. While it retains the book's period setting, it's a fresh, innovative retelling, which makes an inspired decision to present each of the four episodes from a different character's point of view, giving it an immersive quality that is intensified by the queasy, over-saturated visuals and White Lotus composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer's disturbing, discordant score. The result is both a tense thriller and a chilling inquiry into the dark side of human nature, with an expertly-cast ensemble of child actors all impressing: in particular, watch out for David McKenna, who plays the doomed Piggy, in years to come. (HM)

Coming to Netflix in the US on 4 May, and available on BBC iPlayer in the UK now

15. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

This lively standalone series may be a prequel to Game of Thrones, taking place in author George RR Martin's familiar world, but its refreshing wit and lightness set it apart. There is no cutthroat palace intrigue because the immensely likeable hero is the impoverished Ser Duncan (Peter Claffey) – low in rank, tall in height and possibly not even a real knight given the dubious way he was made one. His clever sidekick and squire is an even more likeable character, a sardonic little boy known as Egg (the delightful Dexter Sol Ansell). There is colourful medieval-style action at a jousting tournament, but the characters are the point here. Daniel Ings is practically effervescent as the high-spirited, carousing Ser Lyonel Baratheon. A major character turns out to have links to one of the many GOT royal families, but even so, it's a treat to watch a Game of Thrones show that doesn't require doing homework on the characters' genealogy to make sense of it all. (CJ)

Available on HBO Max in the US and UK

16. The Comeback

Lisa Kudrow's mockumentary about a sitcom actress, the irrepressible Valerie Cherish, desperate to stay relevant, has had a fascinating trajectory. Initially cancelled after just one season in 2005, before garnering a cult following, it has subsequently returned every 10 years to reflect on the state of Film, TV and popular culture in scathingly hilarious style. This third run takes on Hollywood's looming AI crisis as Valerie signs up to appear in a new multi-camera comedy written by machine, her qualms outweighed by her need to keep her career afloat. Sharply satirical, but with a more poignant and searching undertow of melancholy than ever, it's a sophisticated piece of work, but most importantly, it's still laugh-out-loud hilarious. Seeing Valerie in the first episode during rehearsals for a run in Chicago – a plot turn too perfect for words – is something from which you may struggle to recover. (HM)

Running weekly on HBO and HBO Max in the US, and NOW, Sky Go and HBO Max in the UK

17. Rooster

Steve Carell is a comic master at turning unlikely characters into loveable, messy heroes. And Bill Lawrence, co-creator of Ted Lasso, Shrinking and many other series, makes shows that are heartfelt and sincere without being saccharine or feeling fake. They've combined those strengths in this smart sitcom that isn't afraid to be silly. The premise is beyond improbable: Greg Russo, a writer of commercial novels, is hired to teach at a college he happened to be visiting to check in on his daughter, an art history professor going through a messy public divorce from a colleague. But Carell soars above the goofy premise. So does the ensemble cast, including Danielle Deadwyler, Phil Dunster (Jamie on Ted Lasso) and John C McGinley, who is especially funny as the college's benign, clueless, gossipy dean. The feel of the show is breezy and low-key, which is another asset. In a landscape of intense dramas and strained, unfunny sitcoms, this one is a gem. (CJ)

Available on HBO Max in the US and UK

18. Bait

If there's one good thing to come out of the endless, exhausting speculation game that is the hunt for the next James Bond, it's this inspired, very meta show created by and starring Riz Ahmed. It sees the British-Pakistani Oscar nominee play Shah Latif, a down-on-his-luck actor, formerly a rising star, now broke, who gets an audition to play 007. After he then deliberately gets himself papped leaving the building, he finds himself at the centre of a media circus – one that leads to attacks on all sides, from those who believe Bond should remain a white man, to Muslim peers who think he's selling out by taking on such an establishment role. What's most exciting about Bait is how determinedly it evades classification: through its six sub-half-hour episodes, it manages to at once be a penetrating industry satire about the knotty issue of "representation", a delightful family comedy, and an involving psycho-drama. And that's all topped off by some inspired splashes of surrealism: see the way it integrates pastiches of Bond action sequences, and features, of all things, a disembodied pig's head voiced by Patrick Stewart. (HM)

Available on Prime Video in the US and UK

19. The Pitt

Anchored by Noah Wyle's intense, empathetic performance as Dr Robby, this compelling medical series found an ideal formula that it carries seamlessly into season two. As it goes through a single 15-hour shift at a Pittsburgh trauma centre in real time, it captures – often in gut-wrenching detail – the life-or-death stakes and the personal stories of the doctors, nurses and other staff. But even patients who are treated briefly emerge as vivid characters rather than case studies, in line with the show's humane tone. The latest season arrived in the US before the first landed in the UK last month, but even for viewers catching up it's no spoiler to say that Robby, who has a kind of PTSD from years of treating patients who can't always be saved, is more on edge than ever. Among the strong cast, Taylor Dearden is a standout as the supersmart, neurodivergent Dr Mel King. The series has been seen as a throwback to older episodic television, but it's the up-to-the-minute portrait of stress in the medical profession that resonates. (CJ)

Available on HBO Max in the US and UK

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'I don't think he would've been happy': Why Anthony Bourdain biopic Tony fails to honour the chef's work

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260812-why-anthony-bourdain-biopic-tony-fails-to-honour-the-chefs-work, 4 days ago

The new film about the US culinary titan is entertaining. But it undersells his legacy and sidelines the workers, many immigrants or people of colour, that to him were the real stars of the restaurant industry.

It's rare that a film's epigraph so succinctly sums up everything you’re about to see. But when Tony, the new film about the late great chef and food writer Anthony Bourdain, begins a quote flashes up on screen from his seminal 2000 book Kitchen Confidential – a memoir of his early days working in restaurant kitchens. "I was – to be frank – a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive and thoughtless young lout."

Bourdain, who died in 2018, was one of the world's most celebrated culinary figures, known for his bad-boy persona, superb food writing, and TV series like No Reservations and Parts Unknown, in which he travelled the world intimately exploring different food cultures. Matt Johnson's biopic is a solid piece of film-making, but it reflects badly on it that it can be encapsulated in a single sentence – it is, in essence, a film about the folly of Bourdain's youth. We see a delinquent "Tony", played by rising star Dominic Sessa, ineptly wielding nunchucks, sleazing on waitresses, abusing substances and getting into fights.

The crucial thing missing

But while that makes for entertaining viewing, it feels like a shallow reflection on Bourdain's work and impact. And in particular, the film misses one crucial element of Kitchen Confidential – his celebration of the workers, many of whom were immigrants or people of colour or both, who he believed were the real foundation of the restaurant industry. As the Scottish novelist Irvine Welsh observed in the foreword for a new edition of the book last year: "Bourdain knew it was always the immigrants, not the spoiled white boys who were the living, breathing embodiment of the American dream."

Rather than exploring the dynamics of modern restaurant culture, as the book does, Tony has a very narrow focus – one formative summer in 1975 when a 19-year-old Bourdain discovered his culinary passion working as a dishwasher in a seafood establishment in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. In the film, it is called The Lobster Pot, and is loosely based on Kitchen Confidential’s Dreadnaught restaurant – itself a pseudonym for the once-famous Flagship restaurant that Bourdain actually worked in. In a recent interview, Johnson explained his choice to focus on this particular episode in Bourdain's life by saying the "journey" that Bourdain goes on in the film is "universally applicable. It’s about rites of passage, a crucible, going through difficulty and making it to the other side ready to face the world."

And the film's main interest, bad behaviour aside, is a love story between Tony and Nancy (Emilia Jones) – his high-school sweetheart who later became his first wife.

Its characterisation problem

Again, this is not to decry the film completely. It evokes a good sense of mid-70s period detail, and there are compelling performances throughout from Sessa, Jones, her fellow Brit Leo Woodall as Bourdain's disreputable co-worker and Antonio Banderas as the restaurant's owner. But the latter two are both fictionalised characters, and it's glaring how many of the real-life kitchen staff from the book are sidelined in the story.

One example is black chef Tyrone – played by Nigerian-born Michael Jibrin. In reality, Tyrone was a formidable figure who showed Tony some of the harsh, macho behind-the-scenes realities of restaurants at the time. But here he is marginalised as soon as Tony is promoted from dish washer to oyster shucker.

Hannah Harley Young is a British-Iranian food presenter, creator and host of the Crazy Sexy Food podcast, who claims Bourdain as an inspiration and has interviewed Bourdain's former assistant Laurie Woolever. She believes Tyrone and other kitchen staff could have been depicted as much more pivotal characters in Tony's coming-of-age story.

"I don't think Bourdain would've been happy to be involved in a biopic of himself," she says, "but if he were I'm sure he would've wanted more character background on certain people. Everybody was somebody for Tony and everyone could sit at a table and be equal."

A lot of the cooks from Bourdain's writing about Dreadnaught in Kitchen Confidential are merged into Woodall's composite character Sal, so we lose Lydia, a Portuguese soup-maker, and Mike, a methadone dealer who mans the salad station. Meanwhile the Russian-German pasta cook Dimitri (played by Stavros Halkias) is not a mentor figure, as he is in the book, and has been made into an American.

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British-Sri Lankan beverage, food and culture writer, Ruvani de Silva, equally wonders what story the film is telling if all the immigrants and people of colour, who Bourdain championed in Kitchen Confidential and otherwise, aren't front and centre.

"I doubt this film will damage Bourdain's legacy as people can still read his words," she says. "But trying to super-impose a romantic narrative onto Kitchen Confidential just makes your brain jar."

Bourdain's life has been misrepresented repeatedly – from fake platitudinous quotes falsely attributed to him, to misleading memes and an all-round romanticisation of him. This film, to its credit, doesn't make him into a hero. And Sessa plays with nuance a young man seemingly trapped by his own arrogance.

But in choosing to tell the story it does, it certainly undersells the man and his mission.

Tony is out now in US cinemas and is released in UK cinemas on 14 August.

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The English stately home where Nazis were tricked into spilling their secrets

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260811-the-uk-stately-home-where-nazis-were-bugged, 4 days ago

At north London's Trent Park during World War Two, high-ranking Nazi prisoners of war relaxed and chatted in the elegant upstairs rooms – while downstairs, "secret listeners" were eavesdropping. What they heard changed the course of World War Two.

Trent Park House of Secrets certainly lives up to its name. While the exterior and ground floor rooms of this elegant house in north London showcase the refined taste of the great pre-war host and aesthete, Sir Philip Sassoon, those who venture into the basement will discover a little-known story of World War Two espionage and intrigue.

Warning: This article contains mentions of the Holocaust that some readers may find upsetting.

Last month, Trent Park opened for the first time to the public as a museum, paying tribute to its crucial wartime role. There it was that a team of "secret listeners", many of them German Jewish refugees, eavesdropped on high-ranking German prisoners of war held at the house. These Nazi generals were oblivious to the fact that their every word was being bugged. Lulled into a false sense of security, they let slip vital intelligence that changed the course of the war.

Highly luxurious

Politician and art collector Sir Philip Sassoon inherited Trent Park in 1912, and in the 1920s set about completely remodelling the exterior and interior in the then highly fashionable neo-Georgian style.

"He creates this very elegant, calm, understated architecture and the interiors are very much the same – uncluttered, very spacious, with a small number of fabulously beautiful and valuable antiques," Simon Thurley, Trent Park's senior advisor tells the BBC. Exquisite Chinese wallpaper and family portraits by Philip de László and John Singer Sargent adorn the walls.

The ground floor interiors of this stylish house have now been meticulously recreated. "People will feel like they're stepping back into Sassoon's world on the ground floor," says museum director Giuseppe Albano, "but then of course they go downstairs."

Wired for sound

Downstairs is indeed a very different matter. Sir Philip died in June 1939, and when war broke out in September the house was requisitioned by the British Government. It had been identified by Thomas Kendrick, one of the British Secret Service's most senior spymasters, as the perfect spot for a Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre (CSDIC).

Although Kendrick had already experimented with bugging POWs at the Tower of London, he realised that CSDICs needed to be in more discreet locations and far enough removed from central London to avoid the risk of being bombed. Trent Park and its sister sites at Latimer House and Wilton Park also provided the necessary space for Kendrick to upscale his operation in order to gain the kind of intelligence he wanted from prisoners' private conversations.

And upscale he certainly did. "The whole mansion block and stable block were wired for sound," historian Helen Fry, author of The Walls Have Ears, tells the BBC. Microphones were hidden in everything from plant pots and light fittings to the billiards table and even in trees in the grounds. Concealed wires that ran behind panelling and under the floorboards connected them to the miked rooms, known as "M" rooms, in the basement, which have been recreated by the museum, where the secret listeners, at first British German speakers, would eavesdrop night and day.

Trent Park would become the primary holding centre for high-ranking German officers, many of them upper class or aristocratic, whose sense of entitlement appears to have made them surprisingly easy prey for Kendrick's plans. Sassoon's fine antiques may have been carted off by relatives to be replaced by rather more utilitarian government issue furniture, but the house was still a highly luxurious prison which was intended to make them lower their guard. The generals each had their own military valet who had been captured with them, there was a library, British officers provided English classes and there was even the odd trip into town.

A fake lord

They also had their very own welfare officer, the fictional Scottish aristocrat Lord Aberfeldy, a role played by a young interrogation officer. The imaginary lord had been "named after a whisky distillery," laughs Fry. Aberfeldy had a supposedly secret admiration for Hitler and would visit the prisoners in order to entice confidences – which would of course be picked up by those listening below.

Although all German officers were warned that if they were captured they might be bugged, somewhat astonishingly the generals seem to have thought it wasn't happening at Trent Park. "There's an amazing recorded conversation between two of the generals where they're talking about this and saying 'Well we were warned, but clearly they're not bugging us. We'd know if they were'," laughs Thurley. "You pamper their ego, their sense of self-importance and they don't think logically," says Fry.

Although a regular flow of intelligence was forthcoming, as the war progressed it became obvious that the British listeners with their purely academic understanding of German were finding it difficult to pick up on jargon and slang. It was therefore decided to recruit German speaking Jewish refugees from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia.

The secret listener

One such recruit was Ernst Lederer, the grandfather of comedian and actress Helen Lederer, who had escaped from Czechoslovakia on one of the last trains out in 1939. Like all the secret listeners, he had signed the Official Secrets Act, and took his war-time work with him to the grave.

"His wife assumed he was in the Home Guard but in fact he would be going to do long shifts in Trent Park," his granddaughter, who is now working on a film script about the events that unfurled there, tells the BBC. "We didn't know what he did until I happened to do a documentary called War Hero in My Family for Channel 5." The series followed celebrities uncovering the secret war records of their parents and grandparents.

"A bizarre adjunct to this is that my English mother, at age 21, had been conscripted to Bletchley Park," says Lederer. "She would go on family outings with Ernst Lederer and neither of them knew what the other had done." Indeed, none of the secret listeners would have known about code-breaking centre Bletchley Park, although their officers did, and intelligence was shared between the two sites throughout the war.

When a conversation referencing a system of navigation beams called Knickebein (Crooked Leg), which enabled night bombers to accurately target British munitions factories, was overheard at Trent Park in 1941 the information was corroborated by the code breakers at Bletchley Park, who were able to give Air Intelligence the information they needed to jam the signals.

The most vital intelligence to come out of Trent Park was undoubtedly information relating to Germany's secret V-weapon programme, which involved the development of terrifyingly powerful Vergeltungswaffen (revenge weapons) designed to be deployed against Allied cities like London.

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An overheard conversation relating to a rocket that could be launched 15km into the air and another revealing the existence of the V2 rocket, the world's first long-range ballistic missile with a range of 300km (186 miles), ultimately led to the bombing of Germany's chief research and testing facility for rockets and missiles at Peenemünde on the Baltic coast in August 1943. As Fry notes in her book, the impact of the raid cannot be overstated.

It delayed the launch of the first V1 rocket on London until 13 June 1944, a week after the D-Day landings. If they had been launched before, D-Day may well not have gone ahead. The first V2 rocket did not fall on London until 8 September 1944.

Nazi atrocities

The Trent Park team also gleaned "information about the extent of the atrocities that Hitler was carrying out, which was not widely known at the time," says Albano. This must have been extraordinarily traumatic for Jewish listeners such as Eric Mark to overhear – his own parents were gassed at Treblinka in 1943. Mark, who died in 2020, recalled hearing the Germans boasting about what they had done. "They would say things like 'I knocked off about 1,500'."

However, this information was never used at war crimes tribunals as it would mean revealing how it was obtained. "The British government at the time didn't want the tactics or the technology or the sheer audacity of the operation to be widely known, particularly with the looming threat of the Cold War against Russia," explains Albano.

The fact that those who had effectively confessed to atrocities escaped justice is a bitter pill to swallow. But at the time the UK government was seriously concerned about the extent of the Russian threat, largely on account of overheard conversations at Trent Park, which didn't close as an eavesdropping site until November 1945. "Trent Park and those two sister sites prepared us for the Cold War in ways that no one has picked up on, or no one has really understood yet," says Fry. "Its legacy is immeasurable and we're just beginning to understand that."

Trent Park House of Secrets, Chipping Barnet, UK, is open to the public.

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'She believed she needed to be a mother': The shocking case of a fake pregnancy that led to a Mexican baby kidnapping

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260810-a-shocking-case-of-a-fake-pregnancy-that-spiralled, 6 days ago

Remarkable new true-crime docudrama A Child of My Own explores the high-profile case of a young Mexican woman who took desperate measures to fulfil her maternal dream.

On 17 June, 2009, a 26-year-old woman left a Mexico City hospital carrying a gift bag. It contained a newborn baby girl. The woman, Eleonor Alejandra Marín Mendoza, was not her mother.

Warning: This article contains multiple references to miscarriage.

Hours later, she and her husband Arturo were arrested in a motel, and the baby, Katya Valentina, was brought back, unharmed, to her parents. Mendoza was jailed for 13 years for kidnapping, and her case attracted huge media attention in Mexico, as she had faked a full-term pregnancy that had fooled her husband, family, and doctors. The social and mental pressure she felt to be a mother is now explored in a new film, A Child of My Own, which comes to Netflix on Thursday.

The sensational story isn't told in a standard true crime format, but as a cinematic docudrama. The first half consists of a heavily stylised recreation of Mendoza's version of events, before we then meet the real Mendoza, known as "Ale", in jail, as well as others involved in the case, and see news footage from the time.

"I felt like I was living in another dimension. Many times, I wanted to say, 'this isn't real' or 'this isn't happening'. But I couldn't," Mendoza tells the film's director, Maite Alberdi.

She's commenting on a scene that recreates her baby shower from 2009, with Mexican actor Ana Celeste Montalvo playing her. The heavily "pregnant" Mendoza is being celebrated by friends and family with cake, gifts and balloons. It was a situation that Mendoza admits left her conflicted. On the one hand, she says: "I felt so special." On the other, she adds: "I wanted someone to burst that balloon of lies."

A pink fantasia

Chilean director Alberdi, a double Oscar nominee in the best documentary category, tells Mendoza's version of events as a dramatised fairy tale, beginning with Mendoza and Arturo's wedding in 2000. The colours are baby hues of pastel pinks, yellows and blues. The camera moves in soft focus. The maternity clinic waiting room is overlooked by a joyful mother-and-baby photo. Mendoza is always dressed in shades of pink and this part of the story is told from her perspective, using her voiceover.

"I've made [these scenes] look like a fairy tale because it's Mendoza's dream of what she wanted the experience to be, or it's the way she's telling the story to herself," Alberdi tells the BBC. "It's her subjective perspective of reality. We take this pink world to an extreme, partly because her world also is in real life, very pink. As you'll discover in the film, she loves the colour. It's made to be very representative of her dream of the marriage and the baby."

What's clear is that from a young age, the desire to be a mother was a pressure that weighed deeply on Mendoza. She married when she was 17 years old and already pregnant, but she miscarried the baby, and the next. She kept her third miscarriage a secret, fearing her husband's and her in-law family's reaction. She claimed to police she then met a pregnant woman, Mayra, in the maternity clinic, who didn't want her own baby.

Mendoza said she persuaded her to carry the baby to term and give it up to her. In the meantime, she ate junk food to grow a "baby bump". Her weight went from 8.5 stone (54kg) to over 14 stone (89kg), and as she had a job in the hospital's obstetrics and gynaecology department, she adjusted her medical records.

According to Mendoza, after giving birth, Mayra left her newborn, saying she was leaving the hospital, and a panicking Mendoza put the baby in the bag and carried her away, to present her to her stunned husband Arturo, who always maintained, as has his wife, that he only learned her pregnancy was fake when she gave him the stolen baby.

Alberdi says she met Mendoza in a Mexico jail, and that's where the viewer also meets her, in a pink-themed cell, serving her final weeks of her 13-year prison sentence. Alberdi also talks to Arturo, who spent two years in custody during the police investigation of the kidnapping but was eventually acquitted of involvement.

To get the other side of the story, Alberdi interviews the mother of the child who was kidnapped, Mayra Navarro Vega, who firmly disputes Mendoza's version of events. In her court statements, Mayra described how she went to the hospital bathroom and when she came back, found her baby taken. She denies there was ever a "deal" and points out that she attended a different maternity clinic and never met Mendoza until, Mayra says, she turned up on her ward, posing as a social worker.

"I feel no compassion for her," Mayra says of Mendoza, in the film. "She felt no compassion when she stole my baby."

The film's bigger questions

Alberdi says that in exploring the case, she wanted to look at the wider societal pressures surrounding motherhood. "Why would someone feel they need to fake a pregnancy?" she says. "Of course, Alejandra committed a crime, of course she had to go to jail. But at the same time, she's a victim of the system. She's a victim of her family. It's clear to me there were years of pressure in that situation."

In Mendoza's retelling of events, she is blamed for her miscarriages by her in-laws and husband, on the basis that she carried on with her job while pregnant, which they deem not "taking care". Her husband's desire, not just for a biological child, but for a son, is evident.

And when interviewed by Alberdi, the female judge in the court case says Mendoza's testimony included recollections of her in-laws "saying things like, 'you're worthless as a woman if you can't have children'."

"I felt pressurised to please his family," Mendoza says in the film. "It was such a strong desire to be a mum that I got drawn into problems that got bigger and bigger, and I started taking decisions and actions that got more complicated. Until there was no way out and no turning back."

Incredibly, the dramatisation shows a hospital doctor signing off her maternity leave after detecting a baby's heartbeat – something that did really happen. In the film, it leaves an anguished Mendoza asking herself, "had I got pregnant again?"

"I really think Alejandra entered a lie, but she never thought about how far she was going to go with it," Alberdi says. "I think she thought, 'OK, I'm going to say at some point I had a miscarriage' or 'the doctor [signing my maternity leave] is going to realise and everything's going to be stopped.'

"But the judge herself in this case said that 'the system failed her'. She had three miscarriages, and she didn't have any help with her mental health. She has paid her debt to society with jail, and she understood she had to be there. But the question for me was, did society pay their debt to her? Did the system really work for this woman's mental health? More than the justice system, I think it's society that's not looking."

The forensic psychologist who assessed Mendoza after her arrest, Dr Norma Romero Sanchez, is also interviewed in the documentary. She found the pressure to have a child contributed to Mendoza's fantasy.

"To become complete as a woman, she believed she needed to be a mother," she tells the BBC. "Psychologically, we have huge pressure in Mexico and Latin America for women to become mothers. She also had a physical condition leading to continuous miscarriages, but there was no expert medical opinion to explain why. She was living a fantasy as a mechanism of self-defence to a very painful reality."

But Romero Sanchez adds that it was Mendoza's unique psychological profile that made the pretence go so far.

"She had very few resources for confrontation, partly due to her age as well as her personality traits, which made her unable to stand up for herself," she says. "And she did have a trend to dissociate, not [just] from reality, but from her own identity. You see that in the documentary that when the doctor says he detects a baby heartbeat; she really questions afterwards if she's pregnant or not."

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Romero Sanchez believes more professional mental health support would have made a difference in Mendoza, but argues cultural expectations need to change too. "I think that a lot of support is needed specifically to break those stereotypes surrounding motherhood and what it means to be a woman," she says. "Women are asked whether you have kids, how many kids, or why aren't you having them yet? We need education to break these gender stigmas."

But, as Mendoza is released from jail in 2023, it's clear she now has a different vision of her identity. She tells the cameras that she's spent years in jail "coming to terms with not being a mom".

"My desire was more about pleasing others," she concludes. "Because I thought what else is there, apart from becoming a mom? But I finally realised there's so much more to live for."

A Child of My Own is released on Netflix on 13 August 2026.

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'I didn't think of stopping at any time': A US physicist's inside account of Nagasaki's atomic bombing in WW2

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260806-a-us-physicists-inside-account-of-nagasakis-atomic-bombing-in-ww2, 6 days ago

On 9 August 1945, a plutonium bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, bringing an end to World War Two. In an interview with the BBC 30 years later, a US physicist who helped to assemble the bomb revealed why the blast couldn't be stopped – and the plans for more.

"It was not for lack of concern for humanity – it was because of a concern for humanity. Perhaps that was the sin."

Thirty years after he took part in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki on 9 August 1945, the US physicist Philip Morrison spoke frankly to the BBC about the decisions that were taken in the days and weeks before the unprecedented nuclear blast.

Morrison had played a key role in the Manhattan Project, the top-secret Allied programme to develop the first nuclear weapons, working at the Los Alamos laboratory. The lab was directed by his former teacher J Robert Oppenheimer. Present at the Trinity test of the first atomic bomb on 16 July 1945, Morrison carried its plutonium core on his lap in the car to New Mexico. He then travelled to the small island of Tinian, just south of Saipan, to help assemble the "Fat Man" plutonium bomb used on Nagasaki, overseeing its loading onto a B-29 aircraft on 9 August, just three days after the bombing of Hiroshima.

It was on Tinian that the US forces built what Morrison described as the "largest airport in the world". "A great coral ridge was half-levelled to fill a rough plain, and to build six runways… each almost two miles long," he said in his in a testimony to a Senate Committee in December 1945.

The scale of destruction

Morrison also revealed the scale of preparations for the fire-bombings of Japanese cities in his testimony. "In the harbour every day rode tankers, laden with thousands of tons of aviation gasoline… Down the great runways would roll the huge planes… Once every 15 seconds another B-29 would become airborne. For an hour-and-a-half this would continue… A thousand B-29s, time and again, burned many square miles of a city in a single raid."

In contrast, he relayed, "The atomic bomb was something else."

"There were no shiploads of incendiaries. Instead of all the ordnancemen and their bomb dumps, there were about 25 people from Los Alamos, a few Quonset [prefabricated corrugated steel] huts transformed into testing laboratories, and a barricaded building. The strike took off after midnight. The field was deserted… And one plane roared down the runway, took off, and set course for the cities of the enemy," he said.

Although estimates vary, it is thought that 40,000 people were killed by the initial detonation in Nagasaki, while more than 100,000 deaths were directly attributable to the bombing over the next five years. In Hiroshima, at least 80,000 people died instantly, with the cumulative death toll rising to roughly 140,000 due to severe burns, injuries and acute radiation sickness.

Morrison later surveyed the catastrophic devastation at the two Japanese cities as part of the official scientific damage-assessment team, and he remembered one moment in Hiroshima in particular. "A Japanese official stood in the rubble and said to us: 'All this from one bomb; it is unendurable'," he said. "One plane, with one bomb, had destroyed many square miles of a city, destroyed them even more thoroughly and with even less chance for resistance or escape than the 1,000-plane strike."

Yet he had hoped that the atomic bomb would not have to be used in combat, spearheading a group of young Los Alamos physicists who favoured a public demonstration of the bomb prior to any use in Japan. Morrison – who was aged 30 when he oversaw the assembly of "Fat Man" in Tinian – wanted to "invite an international delegation to the desert", he told the BBC's Melvyn Bragg in 1975. "But under the circumstances of warfare, that was wishful thinking."

'Unstoppable momentum'

The physicist described a sense of unstoppable momentum, even when it became clear the Nazis would be defeated. Yet, he explained, "The war was still going on. We were marching towards a tremendous battle in the Pacific… so it would have been impossible to stop."

The one factor that could have changed that, Morrison believed, was US President Franklin D Roosevelt, who died in April 1945. "The only chance to modify the American position strongly, I would say, would've been the survival of Roosevelt… [who] died in the midst of the development, before we knew the bomb would work, before it was determined how to use the bombs," said Morrison.

"He was the only person, I think, both with enough prestige, enough strength within the government to turn back this terrible momentum," he said.

When Harry S Truman became president, he wasn't even aware of the project, only learning about it in the hours after he was sworn in. Just over three months later, he was to give the order for the bombings.

"It's true he made the decision, but I think it's fair to say the decision made him," argued Morrison. "It would’ve been a very bold stroke indeed for him to change the thing after all those years and stop it… that chance was essentially gone with the death of Roosevelt."

The same immovable force applied to the decision to drop two bombs one after the other, according to Morrison. "It was not considered a first and a second bomb. The orders cut for the commanders were, 'Drop bomb one, and then drop bomb two as soon as you can.' It would have taken a strong man back in Washington to see the great effects of bomb one… and say, 'Well, let’s wait for bomb two.' It would've taken thought at a high level, an ability to tap into the complex links and get the right orders to the right generals," he said.

So the two bombings went ahead – and more were planned, revealed Morrison. "The original decision was that we would go on for a year dropping these bombs, if need be… I was told to put together a plan for that," he told Bragg. "I had a plan and a scheme and a schedule and a man to replace me and arrangements to go back and forth."

Whether he could have continued to do that is uncertain, once he and the other Los Alamos scientists had witnessed the aftermath. "We knew intellectually very well, both the short-range and… the feared long-range effects. But that was only by reading a book and looking at the numbers," he told Bragg. "And the difference between the numbers… and seeing the living reality, the dying reality, is a very big difference to everyone, to the whole world. So I think we knew it, but we didn't feel it."

He recalled the reaction at the Pacific island base on the night of the Hiroshima bombing. "There was a big party that night, but most of the scientific people didn't go. The Air Force people, soldiers, they drank. They knew the war was coming to an end. It looked, it felt, like a tremendous victory." Yet, Morrison remembered, the scientists "sat around looking morose and thinking… about the end of the world".

But in the lead-up to the bombings, Morrison didn't feel compelled to pull out of the Manhattan Project. "In spite of determined and dogged opposition to this, I don't see how I could have done any differently. I didn't think of stopping at any time."

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When asked if the Allies would have dropped an atomic bomb on Berlin, had it been ready before the Nazis were defeated, he said "Oh, absolutely, like a flash… We were primarily fearful of the Germans, and they were our enemy," said Morrison.

After the war, Morrison became a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, campaigning against nuclear proliferation in the vanguard of the "no third bomb" movement. "It goes without saying that, like most of the scientists of the project, I am completely convinced that another war cannot be allowed," he said in his 1945 Senate testimony.

And he believed the Allies should have done one thing in particular. "I firmly believe that a proper warning should have been given," he said. "Looking back, there's no justification for not giving a proper and suitable warning."

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'One of the Third Reich's most fearsome weapons': The daring mission to smuggle a V2 rocket out of Nazi-occupied Poland

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260731-the-daring-mission-to-smuggle-a-v2-rocket-out-of-nazi-occupied-poland, 14 days ago

In 1977, the BBC looked back at the summer of 1944, when Allied agents spirited away pieces of Hitler's "wonder weapon" – by hiding them in the apartment of a German officer.

On 6 August 1944, the Soviet Union's Red Army reached the village of Blizna, northwest of Rzeszów in Poland, liberating it from Nazi occupation. A remote rural settlement surrounded by agricultural fields and dense pine forest, it might have seemed to be of little military significance. Yet deep craters on the woodland floor, metal debris and fake farmhouses hinted at its secret purpose.

Before the Nazis had retreated a few days before, Blizna had been the test launch site for a new weapon, one that Adolf Hitler hoped would turn the tide of the war against the Western Allies. Known by the Germans as the Vergeltungswaffe (Vengeance Weapon) 2, the V2 rocket was the world's first modern ballistic weapon. Designed by the engineer Wernher von Braun, with a range of approximately 170 miles (280km) and a warhead weighing one tonne, the rocket's supersonic speed and high flight altitude made it a "wonder weapon", capable of exploding without warning in the cities it targeted.

But in the summer of 1944, parts of the V2 were smuggled from Poland to Britain in one of World War Two's most audacious covert missions.

The Nazis began developing the V2 in 1936. However, British intelligence hadn't been aware of the rocket's existence until early 1943, as experts told the BBC in the 1977 documentary The Secret War. "There'd been a little information before 1939 that the Germans might be developing long-range rockets," said Dr RV Jones, the Chief of Scientific Air Intelligence. "Then we heard nothing more until December 1942, when a new agent, who turned out to be a Danish chemical engineer, told us he'd overheard a conversation in Berlin between two engineers who said that there was a new weapon being developed and tried up on the Baltic coast."

The turning point came in 1943, when two German generals who had been captured separately were brought to Britain for interrogation – and then allowed to talk alone together, not suspecting that the room was bugged. They debated why the rockets hadn't been used yet, saying that something must have gone wrong because they'd been told more than a year earlier that the weapons would be ready in only a few months. According to Jones, one of them said, "Well, we're somewhere near London, and we've heard no bang, so nothing could have happened."

As Jones recalled in 1977, "[Intelligence analyst] Charles Frank… was just sitting opposite me, and he suddenly looked up from reading the interrogation report and said, 'Look, we'd better take those rockets seriously.'"

The British discovered the Nazis' secret V2 research centre at Peenemünde, on an island close to the Baltic coast, and bombed it in August 1943. After the air raid, the Nazis moved their testing, training, and launch site for the V2 rocket away from Germany. They chose a location further east in Poland, about 150 miles (240km) south of Warsaw, protected by forest cover. Blizna was considered so strategically important that it was visited in the following months by both Hitler and his architect of the Holocaust, Heinrich Himmler.

Yet there was a flaw in the V2 test weapons that was to delay their deployment by almost a year. Most of them broke up in mid-air, just short of their target 200 miles (320km) away, near the river Bug in East Poland. A special detachment of German troops was stationed there to recover the pieces of the fallen rockets for analysis by scientists.

Hidden under vegetables

As the narrator of The Secret War William Woollard recounted in 1977, however, "The main disadvantage of this new location was that the local civilian population was less than enthusiastic about German secret weapons falling on them from out of the sky. They'd been asked by the Polish resistance movement to try to collect the wreckage before the Germans got to it."

In May 1944, a V2 rocket crashed – relatively intact – into the marshy banks of the river Bug. Local villagers covered it with reeds and called in a Polish resistance leader, Lieutenant Tadeusz Jakobski. "It was here that the rocket landed without exploding," he told the BBC from the site 33 years later. "The Germans failed to find it, and after a few days they stopped looking altogether. We then pulled the rocket up to the bank, and the team of experts came from Warsaw to dismantle it."

The parts were loaded into sacks, which were hidden under vegetables and transported on carts to Warsaw along little-used country roads – shadowed by armed partisans in the woods. Despite constant security checks in the Polish capital, the rocket fragments were successfully smuggled into the city, and the scientists tasked with analysing electronic components included the physicist, Professor Janusz Groszkowski. With fears that his laboratory at the university might be searched by the Gestapo, the resistance decided that a private apartment would be better suited for his work – the apartment of an unsuspecting German officer.

The electronic units were hidden by night in one of the officer's own suitcases. "Before my visit, this case was taken from the room of the officers to the special room prepared for me to make [my] investigation," Groshkowski told the BBC. He worked for hours at a time in the small room, with the constant danger of the officer returning unexpectedly.

Yet, Groszkowski recounted, "[That] never happened during my stay there." Resistance agents were monitoring the German officer. "The servant asked him by telephone what he wished to have for the dinner… to make sure that he was at that time in his office in the airport," said the physicist. "But if he said, for instance, that he's ready to come earlier, I would [disappear]."

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The subterfuge in Warsaw was followed by a top-secret operation to extract the components, codenamed Wildhorn III (or Operation Most III). On the night of 25 July, an RAF Dakota transport plane fitted with additional fuel tanks to allow for a flight time of 18 hours landed at an abandoned airfield near the Polish village of Wał-Ruda – in territory surrounded by German military units. It was to be loaded with 19 suitcases containing key V2 fragments, technical blueprints, and scientific reports.

Informed about the operation through encrypted codes broadcast over BBC radio, the partisans emerged from nearby woods as the Dakota landed just after midnight. However, once the cargo was loaded, the plane was unable to take off, its wheels stuck in the muddy ground. Twice everything was unloaded, and attempts were made to wedge straw and planks under the wheels to add traction, some partisans digging the mud away from the wheels with their bare hands. At one point, the operation's commanders believed they would have to evacuate the passengers and burn the aircraft. The crew even splashed gasoline on the landing gear. But the plane finally succeeded in taking off.

The only way to beat the V2

The daring Allied airlift had allowed one of the Third Reich's most fearsome weapons to be spirited out of Nazi-occupied Europe, from right under the noses of the German army. The V2 rocket arrived safely in London on 28 July 1944, and British intelligence began to analyse Hitler's "wonder weapon".

"Moving the whole rocket was unnecessary and impossible – V2s weighed about 12.5 tonnes and were 14m (46ft) long – but the Poles meticulously stripped it down so that all the essential components were included on the flight back to Britain," Guy Walters, the historian and author of Stealing Hitler's Rocket, tells the BBC. "These pieces were absolutely vital because for the first time the British scientists were able to get their hands on parts that hadn't been partially destroyed."

The covert mission had provided crucial information about a terror weapon that was to strike London for the first time less than six weeks later. "What the British didn't know was whether the rocket had a guidance system. If it had a guidance system, then work could be done to jam it remotely, thereby causing the rockets to go off course. What the stolen rockets taught the Brits was that the rocket did not have a guidance system, which thereby saved British scientists oodles of time from trying to develop countermeasures. The only real way to beat the V2 therefore was to win the war."

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Bonnie Tyler's hometown prepares for final goodbye

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn8nn2nlg1lo, today

Thousands of Bonnie Tyler fans are set to gather in Swansea on Monday ahead of a church service held as part of the legendary singer's celebration of life.

It comes after huge crowds of emotional fans lined the streets in the coastal suburb of Mumbles on Saturday as her coffin - draped in a Welsh flag - was driven through the place she called home.

As the procession began, Total Eclipse of the Heart could be heard playing on the busy street, as crying fans broke into applause.

The singer died "unexpectedly" on 8 July, aged 75, at a hospital in Portugal.

Despite Tyler's career taking her all over the world, she has been described by those living in Mumbles as a "Swansea girl through and through", and someone who "never forgot where she came from".

Monday's service for family and invited guests will be held at St Mary's Church, Swansea, and will be live streamed on the star's official website, with fans also able to watch it on screens outside.

The cortege will then travel to Skewen, Neath Port Talbot, where Tyler was born and grew up, arriving in the village for a private family service.

There will be a heavy emphasis on Tyler's Welsh identity, with an organist playing music from Welsh legends before the service starts - with songs from Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey and Tyler herself.

Choir Only Men Aloud will sing her huge hit Total Eclipse of the Heart and Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water, while the congregation will sing hymn Calon Lan.

The exit music will be a song that was close to Tyler's heart - Mary Hopkin's 1969 hit Those Were The Days.

She performed it at a local talent contest in Skewen when she was young.

As the two singers were from the same area, Tyler, whose real name was Gaynor Hopkins, would later change her name to avoid confusion with Hopkin.

Saturday's event saw thousands of people line the street as Tyler's hearse made its way down Newton Road in Mumbles, a seaside suburb of Swansea.

"She was lovely - just like a friend you'd known all of your life," said Angela Powell who was among the first to arrive outside the singer's home.

"My mam used to cut Gaynor's husband Bobbie's hair and so he would let her into the nightclubs [which he managed] in the town without having to queue."

Sabine Neumann and her son Enrico arrived from Berlin, Germany, on Friday to attend the tribute and Monday's service.

Enrico said he grew up listening to Tyler's music as a child because his mother was a fan.

"It's so special to be here with my mother," he said. "She's been very emotional about sharing this opportunity with me."

The mother and son had tickets to see Bonnie Tyler perform live in November this year in Berlin.

"My mother has seen her live all across Germany", Enrico said, "but I never got the chance to which is why this was even more special for me."

Tyler, born Gaynor Hopkins - also known for hits including Holding Out For A Hero and Here She Comes - is survived by her husband of more than 50 years, Robert Sullivan.

Oscar-winning actress and Wednesday star Catherine Zeta-Jones led the tributes to Tyler, saying her heart was "broken" with the news that "our dearest Bonnie Tyler has passed away".

The Prince of Wales described Tyler as a "proud Welsh icon" and Sir Cliff Richard said he was mourning "another wonderful friend gone too soon".

In May, Tyler was placed into an induced coma after having emergency intestinal surgery in Portugal, but later died "as a result of the illness that she was being treated for", her family said.

Total Eclipse of the Heart, her biggest hit, topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.

In doing so, she became the first Welsh person to score a number one hit in the US.

She received a Grammy nomination for the hit, and two further nominations for the album Faster Than the Speed of Night and the single Here She Comes.

Arts Council accolade for restored cottage museum

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgd83mkjz5o, today

A Lincolnshire museum has regained accreditation from Arts Council England more than a decade after it was forced to close because of serious structural problems.

Mrs Smith's Cottage, in Navenby, near Lincoln, is named after Hilda Smith, who lived there for more than 70 years until her death in 1995, aged 102.

The cottage has been maintained largely as it was when she last occupied it, offering visitors a glimpse into everyday rural life in the 20th Century.

North Kesteven District Council, which runs the museum, said the award was "a fitting milestone" in its journey from closure to national recognition.

Council leader Richard Wright said it reflected the dedication of staff and volunteers who had worked to bring the museum back to life.

"Accreditation is the benchmark of quality for museums across the country, and this recognition confirms that Mrs Smith's Cottage is providing an excellent visitor experience while caring for its unique collections to the highest standards," he said.

The museum had been accredited before it closed in 2013 when inspectors declared its roof unsafe.

It reopened in August 2020 after a £1m National Lottery Heritage Fund-supported restoration project.

The latest accolade follows a Visit England Hidden Gem award made last year.

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The lasting legacy of the 'Swedish Nightingale'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y6wdr9jdxo, today

Opera singer Jenny Lind was world famous in the 19th Century but the legacy of the 'Swedish Nightingale' is particularly remembered in one UK city.

Lind, who was depicted in The Greatest Showman, is still celebrated in Norwich, where she performed during four visits between 1847 and 1862.

"Jenny-mania" swept Europe as Lind toured, and funds raised from her 1849 concerts in Norwich were used to create the Jenny Lind Infirmary for Sick Children, which opened in 1854.

Although now in a different location, the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital children's department still bears her name and proudly "celebrates her legacy today", according to consultant paediatric surgeon Richard England.

Lind's 1849 concerts in the city raised £1,253 - equivalent to about £140,000 in 2026 - for the infirmary.

It was modelled on Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, which had opened two years earlier, making Norwich the second city in the country to have a children's hospital.

England said Lind "rose to stardom from quite a poor background" in Sweden and "endeared" herself to the people of Norwich for her charitable work.

Speaking on an episode of the Secret Norfolk series on BBC Sounds, he said: "Her arrival in Norwich was delayed because of her illness... she felt so sorry for people in the city that they all were wanting to come and hear her, that she added a third concert with prices reduced so the poor of the city could come along as well."

After raising money for charity she gifted the funds to the city and so the children's infirmary was opened in Pottergate, in the centre of the city.

It moved to Unthank Road in 1900 before becoming part of the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital on St Stephen's Road in 1975.

The Jenny Lind Children's Hospital is now part of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital on Colney Lane, where England works.

"The memory of Jenny Lind's original donation was always remembered," he said.

When Lind came to Norwich in 1849 she stayed with Bishop Edward Stanley. The room she once slept in still stands as part of Norwich School.

Tour guide Paul Dickson said that wherever she went, people flocked to see her.

"When she arrived at the railway station, the message went straight up to St Peter Mancroft and the bells started ringing in joy for her arrival and they also had a fusillade of rifles to celebrate her arrival in the city," he said.

However, having an opera singer stay with a Bishop caused controversy.

"There were people in the Church of England who thought this was really not the done thing, but here she was and she gets on incredibly well with the Stanleys" Dickson added.

"The Bishop actually died in September 1849, but after that his wife really supported Jenny a lot."

More on the Jenny Lind Children's hospital

In 2017 Lind was portrayed by Rebecca Ferguson in The Greatest Showman, which fictionalised her American tour with PT Barnum, played by Hugh Jackman.

However, England said reading a biography would give a more accurate retelling of Lind's career.

"Hollywood does what Hollywood does," he said. "It's sad actually because you read the story of the tour with PT Barnum - 130 concerts across America and Canada and she parted ways with PT Barnum halfway through.

"He was very into generating customers and she was more into giving money away to charities."

England said Lind's legacy has been passed down through her family with her daughter and subsequent generations visiting Norwich.

"Jenny Lind's life itself is an incredible rags-to-riches fairytale," he said.

"Even through all these difficulties she rose to become a superstar. She is like a dream for many young women and young girls to do so well in the arts like that."

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Theatre show aims to bring Constable painting to life

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yrrjj71nwo, today

A theatre performance inspired by The Hay Wain aims "bring to life" the people that populate John Constable's famous painting.

The Hay Wain, being staged by Packing Shed Theatre, a company in Colchester, Essex, will explore what "lies beneath the idyllic brush strokes".

The 1821 oil painting depicts a rural scene next to the River Stour in Flatford, Suffolk, the county in which the landscape artist was born 250 years ago

Neil Jones, Packing Shed Theatre's artistic director, said the performance would turn the "traditional, bucolic chocolate box ideal" of the revered piece on its head.

The Haywain features both Suffolk and the landscape to the right of the river is neighbouring Essex.

"Our show invites audiences to take a closer look at Constable's painting, from the inside out, telling the story of the people in the picture itself, rather than Constable and how he created it," Jones said.

"In our show we reveal what lies beneath the idyllic brush strokes - bringing to life the people that populate the painting, lives defined not by simplicity and virtue, but by hardship, hope and resilience."

The first run of shows will take place at Christchurch Park, Ipswich, close to Christchurch Mansion where The Hay Wain is currently being exhibited.

Loaned by the National Gallery, it has been put on display in the county for the first time as part of Colchester and Ipswich Museums' Constable 250 celebrations.

Painted in Constable's London studio on a 6ft-wide (1.8m) canvas, it depicts a scene with a horse and cart in the river and Willy Lott's House on the bank.

It was one of many works Constable, who was born in 1776 in East Bergholt, produced of the Suffolk countryside and around the River Stour.

As a result, the area became termed Constable Country.

However during his career he sold very few pieces due to his scenic paintings not being fashionable.

A spokesperson for the theatre show said: "This highly acclaimed, atmospheric play with music has been described as East Anglia's very own Les Miserables...

"You'll never look at the landscape in quite the same way again."

The Hay Wain play will be staged at Christchurch Park between 19 and 22 August before travelling to the Thorington Theatre, in Southwold, the next day.

It will be performed at Promenade Park, in Maldon, Essex on 26 and 27 August, Flatford Mill on 28 August, Hadleigh Old School on 29 August and at the Minories Garden in Colchester on 30 August.

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Take a virtual tour of former TV studios where hit shows were made

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg7z7wnq43o, today

Fans of TV shows such as Holby City, Top of the Pops, The Muppet Show and Grange Hill can take a virtual wander around the now-demolished studios where they were made.

An online tour of former BBC Elstree Centre buildings has gone live thanks to a project undertaken before they were torn down as part of the site's redevelopment.

Howard Berry from The Elstree Project said, to his knowledge, this was "the first immersive capture of a British film or television studio complex of its kind".

More than 400 panoramic images were captured to create a digital record of the studio stages, dressing rooms, production offices, galleries, engineering and mixing rooms.

The buildings are shown during the final period before demolition, following asbestos surveys and intrusive checks.

Berry, who has been running the Elstree Project for 16 years, had a crew of 12 people from the University of Hertfordshire helping him film with a 360-degree camera.

He said the most famous and iconic thing filmed at BBC Elstree Centre was The Muppet Show.

"Most people think it was filmed in America, but it was made in Borehamwood.

"The biggest stars got on Concorde to be on The Muppet Show and that is something to be so proud of.

"It really feels quite personal when you are standing in a space knowing The Muppet Show was made there and it has entertained millions of people around the world."

Berry said he had shared the virtual tour with some people in the television industry including Dave Goelz, who was the performer of Gonzo from The Muppet Show.

He said Goelz "was very emotional about seeing spaces he had worked in and never thought he would see again".

The BBC Elstree Centre campus first opened as a film studio in 1914, and the other half is home to the BBC's soap opera EastEnders.

Work has begun to redevelop the former Fairbanks Building and Neptune House into a campus for the high-end TV and independent film industry.

The new facilities are expected to be operational in late 2027.

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Olympic hockey goalkeeper on the joy of making art

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8jnkvvmpgvo, yesterday

An Olympic Team GB hockey player has described the "big enjoyment" she gets from creating art when she is not on the pitch.

Goalkeeper Miriam Pritchard, from Oxford, debuted for England in 2017 and reached the Paris Olympics in 2024.

Away from her sporting career, she is an award-winning illustrator, earning a World Illustration Award in 2022 for a tile mural in a Leicestershire cafe's bathroom.

Ahead of the Hockey World Cup, which opens at the weekend in Belgium and the Netherlands, Pritchard spoke to the BBC about balancing the pressures of the pitch with her creative side.

The goalie said 2026 has been "a real growth year", adding: "I feel I'm starting to play with a bit more freedom and real confidence."

Pritchard said she loves the challenge of her position within the team and considers pressure "a privilege".

"They do say goalies are a bit nuts," she said. "We are really measured by millimetres.

"You can be that player that helps the team out and is the hero, and you also can be the player that takes it on your shoulders and carries a lot of the weight.

"I always want to go back to the reason why I'm playing in the first place - when I was younger, I loved it and I think that just keeps me in a good spot."

The 27-year-old said her love of art also comes from her father, who is an artist like his own parents.

"I've had art around me since I was little and it's such a big switch-off for me," she said, adding that art held "a big enjoyment factor" and "making and creating really makes me feel happy".

Pritchard explained: "There's less structure, fewer boundaries, less right and wrong.

"I've got a few projects on the go as well, which helps balance things out for me."

The hockey player said she even brings her sketchbook to the World Cup and one of her creations includes a football decorated with drawings of the Lionesses.

She said: "I take a lot of inspiration from the Lionesses, their success recently at both their European Championships [in 2022 and 2025].

"I wanted to keep the sport and the art very separate but, at the moment, I'm finding it's really enjoyable to celebrate women's sport in art form and I've been lucky enough to do some live drawing at some pretty cool events."

On Sunday, the England women's hockey team faces the South Africa side, who she described as "fit and fast".

With countries like China and India competing, Pritchard said it was a "tough pool".

"For us it's very much one game at a time," she said. "I think we can be really, really confident going forward but that's the first challenge."

Pritchard, who used to play at Oxford Hockey Club and Oxford Hawks, has been to some of the coaching sessions there and said the young boys and girls "are working really hard".

"I hope that I can inspire them and see them on the world stage in the future - that'd be amazing," she said.

'Papestry' on permanent display after 7,000 visits

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx27dkky181o, yesterday

An 18ft-long drawing of Lincoln's historic cobbled Bailgate area and Steep Hill is to become a permanent fixture of the city's gallery.

About 7,000 people visited the so-called "papestry" during its time on display at the Usher Gallery between 20 June and 12 July – a number the museum said was "unheard of".

The labour of love took architectural designer Matthew Wright nearly a year to draw.

The gallery's James Sharples said: "It's absolutely fantastic, and an absolute win that we can put it on display permanently."

Wright likened the detailed drawing process to "birthing a child".

He told the BBC in May that he "loved the process: the drawing of it, the learning about the different buildings, about the architecture, about the history."

Sharples said that on the final Saturday of the exhibition there were about 1,000 visitors.

"In over 30 years, we've never seen numbers like that in the Usher Gallery," he said.

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Glastonbury festival organiser dismisses rumours that Madonna will headline in 2027

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqjx1wdkn81o, 2 days ago

Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis has said the festival has booked its headliners for next summer - but scotched rumours that Madonna will be among them.

Asked about the 2027 line-up and the speculation that the Queen of Pop would make her Glastonbury debut, Eavis told Katie Razzall on BBC Radio 4's PM programme: "No, it's definitely not Madonna, I'll tell you that.

"But we have got three [other] headliners and we're very excited about it - it's all coming together really well," Eavis added.

And when asked about the possibility of a performance from Taylor Swift, Eavis laughed and said she didn't want to discuss the line-up any more.

Madonna is yet to play the UK's biggest festival, and the rumour mill started grinding in June when the star hinted to BBC talk show host Graham Norton that was planning something big in the UK next summer.

Speaking about the ensuing speculation, Eavis said: "Pretty much 95% of the stories [about Glastonbury] you read are not true, and rumours are pretty much always wrong.

"But the good news is that we've got our headliners and we're cracking on, and we just can't wait to get back."

According the Sun, Madonna could be heading for a record-breaking three-night stint at London's Hyde Park instead, although that remains to be confirmed.

The pop superstar, 67, recently walked out with the original Ronaldo and Ronaldinho to perform during the colourful half-time show at the recent Fifa Men's World Cup final.

'Recognise the arts'

Eavis was on the PM programme on Friday to discuss arts funding and her hopes that new Prime Minister Andy Burnham will back music education in schools and the "crumbling" smaller music venues where many future Glastonbury headliners start out.

"I'm really hoping that Andy Burnham gets right behind the arts," she said.

"Obviously, we're a nation of makers and creators and vision makers and world changers, and it's what we do so so well.

"And I really am hoping that he will recognise the arts and music as being a huge asset to Britain. It's what we do best, it is what we are."

A spokesperson for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport told the BBC it was "under no illusions about the financial issues facing the culture sector" and was "committed to supporting them during this difficult time".

Last year's Glastonbury festival was headlined by The 1975, Neil Young and Olivia Rodrigo, with Sir Rod Stewart in the legends slot.

The event was rested for a fallow year this summer but will return in June 2027, with tickets expected to go on sale in November.

Founding member of EMF dies aged 55

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjrvglv5352o, 2 days ago

A founding member of the cult 90s band EMF has been remembered as being "beautiful inside and out" following his death at the age of 55.

EMF, known best for their hit Unbelievable, said their original keyboardist Derran "Derry" Brownson died on Thursday following a brain tumour diagnosis.

Derry spoke to the BBC about his diagnosis in July 2025, the month he and his bandmates returned to their hometown of Cinderford to play at Cindyfest, which he said was "very, very special".

Ian Dench, Derry's bandmate, said: "I can't think of anyone who embodied lust for life like Derry did. I mean, he was beautiful inside out."

In the early days of EMF, Gloucester-born Ian said it was "fun-loving" Derry that made him feel at home in the Forest of Dean as an outsider.

Ian said he was grateful the band got the opportunity to perform in Cinderford again.

"It was really a lovely moment, just the circularity of that, all the years later to be back in Cinderford.

"That was a wonderful, wonderful moment before Derry got very ill and, you know, he played that show, he played a handful more shows."

Ian said Derry performed for the last time in May at a show in Frome, and he had still been "making jokes" when the pair were texting a few weeks ago.

The band were also honoured with a blue plaque in the town in May 2025.

In July 2025, Derry told the BBC he was living with a cancerous brain tumour and had undergone surgery to remove some of it.

He said the NHS care he received was "absolutely above and beyond".

"[It's] just a battle really. I want to get back into playing, that has meant a lot actually just to do this gig now in our hometown," Derry said at the time.

"Doing gigs in your hometown can sometimes be a pain... but this is very, very special to me."

Ian said one of his favourite memories of Derry involved him throwing a television out of a hotel room window with another musician after negative comments were broadcast about Wolverhampton Wanderers - Derry's favourite football team.

"I don't want you to think that Derry was all craziness because he did have a very sensitive side," he said.

"He was very active in looking after the hedgehogs where he lived in Devon... underneath all that excitement and laughter he was a sensitive soul and, as I said, a beautiful person inside and out."

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Orphanage museum closed for repairs after flood

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn0nvrjdw9qo, 2 days ago

A museum has been forced to close "until further notice" after a burst pipe in a flat above it caused a flood.

The George Müller Museum in Ashley Down, Bristol, celebrates the history of a Victorian era orphanage and contains the records of thousands of children that were cared for at the site.

On Monday, a pipe burst above part of the museum that houses more than 17,500 original orphanage records. Staff said the room was affected but the records were completely undamaged and remain safe.

"By some miracle there is absolutely no damage to the artefacts which is fantastic," said Joel Preston, charity leader at the George Muller Charitable Trust.

"However, the room where they're kept is really badly damaged so we're having to close the museum for the foreseeable," he added.

Some parts of the museum's public space where also affected by the water.

The thousands of records offer a glimpse into life at the orphanage and Müller's approach to caring for vulnerable children.

"They're completely unique and there's nothing like them," said Preston.

"While we do have a digital backup of all the records, the actual paper and the handwriting of Müller and his associates about the individual orphans that were coming through the homes is priceless really."

George Müller was a German Christian evangelist who established orphanages and Christian schools throughout the 1800s.

He is credited with caring for more than 10,000 orphans at the five houses that formed the Ashley Down orphanage and providing education to thousands more.

When he died aged 92 in 1898, the Daily Telegraph wrote that he had "robbed the cruel streets of thousands of victims and the workhouses of thousands of helpless waifs".

The Ashley Down Orphanage did not close until 1950 and the buildings now contain housing and a City of Bristol College campus.

The George Müller Charitable Trust operates the museum and continues working to care for orphans and vulnerable children internationally and works with local churches in Bristol to provide youth clubs.

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Stolen Matisse artworks recovered by police in Brazil

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1l1ym96ydvo, 2 days ago

Eight illustrations by French artist Henri Matisse that were stolen from a library in São Paulo have been recovered by police in Brazil.

The works, which have a combined estimated worth of about $200,000 (£148,000), were found on Thursday at a home in the town of São Bernardo do Campo, a suburb to the south of the city. A 44-year-old man was arrested at the scene.

During the heist at Biblioteca Mário de Andrade on 7 December last year, two thieves overpowered a security guard and an elderly couple who had been visiting the library, before making off with the artworks through the main entrance on foot.

Three other people were previously arrested in relation to the case.

Five engravings by the Brazilian artist Candido Portinari that were also taken during the robbery have not yet been recovered. Police in São Paulo said they suspected the works had been sold.

João Paulo Linhares de Araujo, the man arrested on Thursday, is suspected by police of having stored the Matisse artworks on behalf of those accused of being involved in the theft, as well as illegal possession of a firearm.

Laéssio Rodrigues de Oliveira, 53, described by Brazilian media as a prolific art thief, is suspected of having planned and directed the crime, according to Brazilian news outlet Globo.

He has been in custody since April after being arrested in relation to another case.

Another man and a woman have also been arrested over the library heist.

The Matisse illustrations, made for the limited-edition art book Jazz, along with five engravings by Portinari, created to illustrate a special edition of the novel Menino de engheno (Plantation Boy) by Brazilian writer José Lins do Rego, formed part of a joint exhibition with the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art.

The thieves targeted the exhibition, entitled From Book to Museum, on its final day.

They reportedly entered the library by its main entrance mid-morning and headed towards the nearest metro station following the heist.

Investigators said the theives placed the stolen artworks in a canvas bag to flee the scene.

The local department of culture said the illustrations had already been returned to the library, the security of which had been improved.

Matisse is widely considered to be one of the 20th Century's most influential artists and art critics say the value of the stolen works is "incalculable".

Portinari, who often painted rural workers and labourers, is one of the most significant Brazilian Modernist artists.

Doomed venue and market rebuilds years away

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwye201ljl7o, 3 days ago

A theatre venue and market hall facing imminent demolition will take nine years to be replaced with permanent structures, according to a new timeline issued by the group tasked with the redevelopment.

The Forum and Market Hall in Barrow, Cumbria, were shut in 2024 over issues with asbestos and subsequently doomed to be bulldozed.

Team Barrow, the name taken by the group working on regeneration plans for the town, has confirmed demolition is expected to start in 2028, with any rebuild unlikely to be completed before 2035.

In the meantime, it promised a "large event space" and a new market village to replace the temporary one currently in use.

Team Barrow said the event space would be "like those found at Edinburgh Fringe", however the group has yet to explain what it means by that.

The festivals that run every August in the Scottish capital utilise existing theatres, lecture halls, event spaces, bars and temporary venues which dwarf anything that has ever been available in Barrow.

Theatre groups in the town have complained about a lack of detailed plans on a replacement for the 530-seater Forum, with Walney Musical Theatre Society's chairman John Edwards calling the wait for news "sad" and "frustrating".

Initial artist impressions released by Team Barrow show structures such as containers and canopies sitting alongside outdoor market stalls in the town.

The group said these would be rolled out from 2027, together with a refurbishment of public spaces around the town hall.

It would form part of the first phase of a regeneration led by Westmorland and Furness Council, with the initial work slated to cost £22.9m.

The Lib Dem council's strategic director for communities Angela Jones said: "Transforming a town centre takes time and it will be delivered in phases over the next decade, beginning with this initial investment."

Consultation events on a masterplan for Barrow will start in October, but dates and venues have yet to be confirmed.

Team Barrow said demolition of the Forum and Market Hall will not begin before those events take place.

In a statement, the group said enabling works were due to start towards the end of this year and, subject to planning, demolition would begin by early 2028.

Construction would then start by early 2029, Team Barrow said, with the full scheme complete by 2035.

Additional reporting by Simon Page, North East and Cumbria

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Car boot sale's 'unique counter-culture' captured

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0qv2wk3nz3o, 3 days ago

A car boot sale's "unique" and "heartfelt" community has been celebrated in an interactive arts project.

Paul Blakemore spent six months capturing conversations with punters and traders at Hempsted Meadow car boot in Gloucester.

Now, he will return on Sunday to present Car Boot Soul, his interactive community arts project showcasing what he describes as the event's "unique" and "heartfelt" character.

He said: "What's so different is how you watch the person walk away with the thing that you used to have...There's a real communication between the objects and the people. We all know the high street is dead so this is a bit of a counter-culture."

Blakemore said, as his flat was filling up with items bought from car boot sales over the years, he decided to start collecting stories instead.

All conversations have been documented using equipment sourced from the car boot, including old cameras and film.

"All the themes are around repurposing, reusing, recycling.

"Talking to people has given me such an insight into my own feelings and sense of attachment," he added.

"What has been wonderful has been the amazing community at Hempsted Meadow," he said, adding the process had been really "fun" and "co-creative".

"I've met so many great people: activists, artists, families, regulars, the organisers and really done a spectrum of interviews," he added.

One is artist Juice, who spoke to Blakemore about selling her artwork for the first time there along with clothes, furniture and even old games consoles.

"People are buying and they don't know how happy they're making me because it's stuff I've held onto emotionally for such a long time," she said.

Blakemore he loves the conversations people have as haggles take place.

He added that sellers might lower their price if they know their old belonging is going to a good home or cause.

Some buyers even hit the jackpot, including one man who bought a clock for £10 and later discovered it was worth £1,000.

As part of the project, visitors will also be able to view objects and listen to audio recordings and poetry.

The project will also go into the Gloucester Archives and travel to Blakemore's local car boot in Cheddar, Somerset, at the end of August.

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Under-threat theatre may be saved, council says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn8npnk3md8o, 3 days ago

A theatre that was due to be knocked down could be saved, with plans for a possible refurbishment due to be discussed by councillors.

The Prince of Wales Theatre in Cannock, Staffordshire, has been closed since April last year and is earmarked for demolition.

But now senior councillors in Cannock Chase are to look at the potential for a multi-million-pound refurbishment of the venue.

Wider regeneration plans for the town have already seen a multi-storey car park knocked down and a former shopping centre flattened.

Councillors will discuss a report next Thursday which sets out two options, one of which will be to retain and refurbish the theatre.

The other option is to continue with existing plans for the future of the town centre which would involve the venue being demolished.

Cannock Chase District Council leader Paul Jones said people had told him that saving the theatre was important to them.

"Our residents were telling us on the doorsteps that they wanted their theatre back and we must take their views into account before coming to this extremely important decision," he said.

"We have asked lots of questions, and commissioned further reports, so that we can be confident we have the answers to help our discussions as a cabinet.

"It is crucial we come to a decision so that the programme of work in our town centre can move forward."

Whichever option was chosen, the authority said plans would progress on refurbishing the Beecroft Road car park and improving the adjacent steps and access to the underpass.

The council said it had about £14m remaining from government funds which were secured to help with the town centre regeneration work.

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Acting pals Cumming and Henderson put 40-year friendship onto paper

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdrvp5nl636o, 4 days ago

Alan Cumming and Shirley Henderson first met as young actors on the STV drama Shadow of the Stone.

Henderson, who would go on to appear in the Harry Potter and Bridget Jones franchises, was 20 and had just left drama school.

Cumming, at 21, already had a few roles under his belt.

"I thought I was such a sophisticated older man," he said.

"I had a mortgage. I was married. And yet when I look back now, I see I was just a child."

That connection to their younger selves is something they channel in their first stage appearance together at Pitlochry Festival Theatre, where Cumming is now artistic director.

The History of Paper began life as a radio play in 2017 with words by Oliver Emanuel and music by Gareth Williams, who then turned it into an acclaimed musical at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2024.

The tender tale of a couple who tell their story through the various bits of paper they accumulate became even more emotional following the death of Oliver in 2023.

Cumming saw the show on a day off from filming Glenrothan (the directorial debut of Brian Cox) which also reunited him with Henderson.

"I went back to work on the film and I said to Shirley, 'I've seen this incredible show. It was just so moving'."

Around the same time, Cumming had applied for the role of artistic director of Pitlochry Festival Theatre, and although it was yet to be publicly announced he was already planning his first season.

The original production had two younger actors looking forward to their older selves, but Cumming suggested to director Andrew Panton of Dundee Rep that he cast older actors who could play younger versions of themselves.

And he and Henderson, now 61 and 60, were the people for those parts.

"We both have a sort of a child like quality to us," he said.

"And we're both prepared to be vulnerable as actors."

Their shared history means they're comfortable and convincing as a couple talking – and singing – about their lives together.

"It's just easy to be with Alan," Henderson said.

"We have a good chemistry. We don't over analyse it."

"I come to see you before the show, each night," said Cumming, "and I say, 'let's have fun'. If we can, because it's terrifying.

"Because you've got this incredible roller coaster of emotions. Even in the happy bits, I want to cry."

"You just can't help but feel something," said Henderson.

"It's like when the first snows come. It's a tenderness, but there's a rawness to it as well."

As for the pieces of paper the actors treasure most?

For Henderson, it's letters sent by her late father when she was living in London.

"I've still got letters from when I was a teenager and living in a bedsit. Occasionally he would send me a bit of money too."

For Cumming, it's the drawings made by his illustrator husband, Grant.

"I have thousands of them, on letters and hotel notepads.

"He'll leave them by the bed or I'll find them in my luggage when I go somewhere."

A History of Paper is at Pitlochry Festival Theatre until 12 September, then at Dundee Rep Theatre from 16-19 September

'Full-circle' theatre plan for seaside bingo hall

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crmr1lm9xeno, 4 days ago

A former bingo hall in Scarborough could become a major new theatre and community venue after plans were unveiled.

The town's Capitol Theatre Trust wants to restore the former Mecca Bingo building on Albemarle Crescent, which first opened as the Capitol Cine Theatre in 1929.

The organisation said the £10m project could attract national touring productions that currently bypass the town.

A consultation on the plans will begin on 19 September, with visitors able to tour parts of the building previously closed to the public including former projection rooms and dressing rooms.

George Wakely, one of the directors of the Capitol Theatre Trust, said the venue could provide something currently missing from the town's cultural offer.

He said: "At the moment a lot of tours can't go to York because the stages are too small and the nearest are Hull, Sheffield and Newcastle, which are quite far away for a lot of our residents."

Using figures from national body the Theatres Trust, the organisation estimates the project could contribute about £6m each year to the local economy once fully operational.

Wakely said the trust wanted to gather views from residents and businesses while sharing its vision for the site.

"We hope that this will bring footfall not just to this area but the rest of the town and will feed through into more business for local businesses," he said.

"We're working with lots of really great organisations, including North Yorkshire Council and York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, who have been fantastic in engaging and helping us so far to get to the stage where we currently are and they've been really supportive of the project."

The trust hopes to reopen part of the building in 2029, marking 100 years since it was founded, although the theatre may not be fully operational until about 2035.

Wakely said reopening the venue would be a "full-circle moment" for the building.

"I'm looking forward to seeing the curtains on stage open for the first time," he said.

"For me, that will be a real turning point to see it finally back to its original use."

Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.

Ayra Starr on her secret relationship and teasing Stevie Wonder

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gdxywn7y4o, 4 days ago

There's resilience, and then there's Ayra Starr.

Two weeks before the release of her new album, Starrgirl, the Nigerian singer posted a photo from hospital, after undergoing "major surgery".

"I was hoping it would be a quick recovery, but it was more complicated than they expected," she told fans, without disclosing the nature of the procedure.

Within seven days, she was back in the dance studio, rehearsing for forthcoming performances with a large bandage strapped across her stomach. TV appearances, fan events and live performances followed.

"I'm healing," she told the US breakfast TV show, Today. "I have strength today. I'm so happy I was able to even be here today and be able to do this."

It's a display of the tenacity and ambition that's defined Starr's career to date.

Discovered singing covers on YouTube at the age of 18, she became the first African woman to win best international act at the Mobo Awards, and the first Nigerian woman to surpass one billion video views on YouTube.

In 2024, she was the first Afrobeats artist to play Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage – and finished her set by declaring she'd return as a headliner. Last year, she modelled for Di Petsa at London Fashion Week, closing their show in a white lace two-piece, flanked by an angel.

So it's hardly a surprise that Starr pitches up to our interview with a sort of celestial confidence. She's given to grand proclamations like "I'm unstoppable", or "I will exist in multitudes". But somehow, she never sounds arrogant or conceited.

That's probably due to a sense of humour so dry it could soak up a tsunami. Starr is criminally sarcastic, and delights in winding people up.

For example: When music legend Stevie Wonder phoned to congratulate Starr on a Grammy nomination, she goaded him into a playful argument about zodiac signs.

"I was trying to one-up him every single time, and he was trying to one-up me. It was almost like a battle," she recalls.

Starr eventually got to the point where she told Wonder, a Taurus, that "Tauruses ain't crap".

"I'm sure he was like, 'Who is this? What do you want from me?' But it was a very cute conversation. I respect it."

It's an unorthodox approach to making friends, but it seems to work.

Over the course of her career, Starr's hooked up with Coldplay, Tyla, David Guetta, Le Sserafim and Kelly Rowland from Destiny's Child.

Her new album boasts collaborations with Afrobeats legends Wizkid and Rema, as well as One Direction's Zayn Malik and rising R&B singer KWN.

The album is her first under a new management deal with Jay-Z's Roc Nation, and a relocation to New York. Leaving Lagos was a big upheaval, she confessed in an essay posted to her Substack last year.

"New York is basically a walk-in freezer with rent," she wrote. "It's so cold it feels like the city is actively trying to unalive my motivation… I'm not scared, I promise."

Secret relationship

Behind the move was a desire to explore new influences and expand her sound. So you get a track like Where Do We Go, which marries a sashaying Afrobeats rhythm to a hypnotic electronic pulse.

"Like, the rebel I am, I love to juxtapose," she says.

"I don't like being normal and boring. So the idea of writing a heartbreak song on a beat like that, where you can dance to it, was just very enticing. I love things like that."

The lyrics were inspired by a secretive relationship "that was stuck in a rut but I kept coming back to it".

We've all been there. It's all too easy to settle for an imperfect partner because they're a comfortable and familiar presence.

Starr admits the thought of starting over with someone else filled her with fear.

"You're back to square one, and somebody's asking for your favourite colour again.

"I'm like, 'Oh my God! Can we, like, not do that?'"

The problem with staying in the relationship, however, was the way it affected the rest of her life.

"You keep accepting things lower than your standard, and that influences every single thing in your life - because when you let yourself go, romantically and emotionally, it affects you physically, and the music, and all of that.

"So even though I enjoyed [the romance] while it lasted, I picked my priorities and what was most important to me. And that relationship wasn't as important as the music... or anything else."

The story could act as a metaphor for the entire album. After the runaway success of her breakout single, Rush, and her second album, The Year I Turned 21, Starr was beginning to feel trapped by other people's expectations.

"Just like any other pop artist, passive listeners get attached to the songs they know - the popular songs.

"Then you're stuck between creating for the passive listeners and creating for your core fans who want you to do more.

"So that can limit you, because you stop thinking as an artist and start thinking about making music just for consumers.

"But I'm not meant to conform. It's just not who I am. I will rebel against every single preconception and every stereotype."

So she's ditched the teenage angst of her debut, but also the poise of its follow-up. This is an album about walking to her own rhythm, as Starr grows into autonomy and womanhood.

On Misunderstood, she laughs at the people who told her she'd "never make it on her own"; while the laid back groove of Treasure allows Starr to pause and savour her success.

"Give me some fun / Pure enjoyment / Take a photo of me," she sings in Yoruba.

The most infectious song on the album is Ms Paper, which takes a detour into Bouyon – a Dominican music characterised by high tempos and frantic percussion. It was recorded almost by accident at the end of a session with French-Congolese star Theodora on a hot and sticky February night in LA.

They'd actually finished working for the day, and had just polished off a boozy dinner of Congolese food when inspiration struck.

"The AC in the studio wasn't working, so everybody's delirious, everybody's sweating, everybody's drunk," Starr says.

"At one point we're probably taking off tops. I changed outfit twice because I was drenched in sweat."

It sounds like a recipe for disaster, but when you play it back, you can practically see the steam rising from your speakers.

Live snippets of the song have already gone viral, suggesting Starr has another hefty hit on her hands. At the same time, she's faced criticism in Nigeria from people who feel she's diluting her musical heritage by chasing a more global sound

"People have a certain template they think I should follow, and it's like, you cannot tell me how to dream," she says.

"I'm able to honour my culture, but also try new things, because that's who I am."

Starr answers her critics, in a roundabout way, on her album cover - where she pairs a club-ready gold dress with a traditional gele headwrap.

"I wanted young girls in Kwara State or Erin-Ile to see this and feel represented," she told Capital Xtra.

"I'm not the first to do it, I won't be the last to do it - but I want people to feel confident in their culture and wear [the gele] like the crown that it is."

Not for the first time, her instincts proved right. Starr's stunning, retro-futuristic look has gone viral, inspiring dozens of copycats, and tempering at least some of the criticism of her new direction.

As she says in her new song, Amazing: "If they're gonna talk, I'll give them something to talk about".

"That's definitely my mantra," she says.

"And do you know what? I think I need to listen to myself more because I have all the answers in my music."

'Dream come true' for music group's Broadway show

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwymd29djr1o, 5 days ago

The founder of a disability music group said securing enough money to perform on Broadway was "a dream come true".

The Music Man Project, founded in Essex, will perform in New York in October after raising £150,000 for the once-in-a-lifetime show.

It was the dream of Southend West MP Sir David Amess, who was the charity's president before he was murdered in 2021.

"My musicians are so excited, I think they've probably packed already," said founder David Stanley.

He booked the show in December 2025 during an 18-month fundraising effort, which attracted donations from across the UK.

Stanley started the group for people with learning difficulties in 1999 and watched it grow from one student in Southend-on-Sea to more than 500 musicians.

"To say that now we've got the money and we can perform on Broadway in memory of Sir David Amess is just a dream come true," he said.

The group has already performed at venues across Europe and the United States, and been enjoyed by the King and theatre star Michael Ball.

Conservative MP Sir David vowed they would one day perform on Broadway after a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in 2019.

"I had no idea how we would do it, of course," Stanley admitted.

"But then, given the circumstances that happened two years after that announcement, I just made it my ambition, my dream."

He added: "I'm feeling incredible and I'm just so grateful."

The two-hour performance will be staged at the Town Hall Theatre on 7 October and is named Music is Magic on Broadway, The Story of The Music Man Project.

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Works by disabled artists focus on wellbeing

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpvwx79048do, 5 days ago

A summer exhibition by disabled artists is opening in Margate later, with a focus on wellbeing, care and colour.

The artists created the work at Sandra Art4All Studio, which is celebrating 10 years of making art accessible to disabled people with additional impairments and learning needs.

Sandra Hayden, who runs the studio in the Kent town, said the supportive space had served for the past decade as "a vibrant space where artistic expression knows no bounds".

A launch event is taking place later for the Proud 2 Create exhibition, which runs at The Margate School in The Old Woolworths Building until 29 August. The event includes work by deaf, autistic and neurodivergent artists.

Hayden said the studio's exhibitions over several years had shown the positive impact of its work and she hoped people would come and see the show.

"Stepping into a gallery that is full of colour like ours and walking around the exhibition provides a gentle, mindful physical activity that can lower stress, encourage presence and boost a person's day."

She said the "simple act of viewing" allowed people to slow down, reflect and find a sense of calm away from busy, daily lives.

Hayden, an art teacher, set up the studio after she was made redundant following the closure of the Royal School for Deaf Children in Margate.

The studio works to enable the artists to create their work as independently as possible.

Celebrations to mark the studio's 10th anniversary have included two summer exhibitions.

Work went on show at the Pie Factory Margate in July, and the exhibition at the Margate School of Art features 170 pieces of "vibrant art" created this year.

Artists taking part include Celia Balfour, Nessie Bigg, Katie Byrne, Allegra Dams, Bethany Davies, Olivia Joslin, Dalibor Kovac-Stokes, Alex Mortimer, Jessica Park, Harriet Steddy, Gareth Tudor and Sandra Hayden.

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The world's best countries for expats in 2026

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260814-the-worlds-best-countries-for-expats-in-2026, yesterday

New global rankings reveal the best places to build a life abroad – and the people who have made the move explain why.

The 2026 Expat Insider survey from InterNations has ranked 31 destinations across quality of life, ease of settling in, working abroad, personal finance and practical essentials such as housing and digital services.

For this year's winners, friendliness and affordability scores made the biggest impact. Seven of the top 10 destinations ranked among the easiest places to settle in, while five led the world for personal finance. We spoke to expats living in the five highest-ranked countries about why they moved, how they adapted and what prospective newcomers should know.

1. Panama

Panama topped the ranking for the third year in a row, placing first in both the Working Abroad and Personal Finance indices. Eighty-seven percent of expats here report being happy with life abroad, compared with 70% globally, while 90% say housing is easy to find.

Ariel Barrionuevo moved to Panama's Caribbean coast from Argentina eight years ago, and quickly found himself sleeping more deeply, waking rested and feeling more present. "I realised that wasn't because I was on holiday, it was because this place has a rhythm of its own," said Barrionuevo, now director of La Coralina Island House hotel on Isla Colón.

His typical day includes a stop by the ocean, a walk through the tropical garden and listening to the birds. "It's a simple ritual, but it reminds me every day why I chose to live here," he said. He finds life in Panama more affordable than it was in Argentina, and appreciates the stable economy, which makes planning and business more predictable.

Reza Motalebpour, who relocated to Panama City from Canada this year, says working remotely is straightforward, with reliable internet available at home and in co-working spaces. She has also found banking easy, particularly in the country's dollarised economy. While the exchange rate can make costs seem high at first for Canadians, she says Panama's relatively low utility bills, insurance costs and property taxes mean the overall cost of living still represents good value.

Life here isn't without its hurdles; Barrionuevo cites late deliveries and weather that can quickly upend plans on the island. But he says choosing a slower pace is a decision he doesn't regret – and one he thinks visitors or potential expats should embrace. He recommends visiting Bluff Beach, buying fresh fruit from a roadside stand and spending the afternoon watching surfers at Paunch Beach.

"I arrived thinking I was moving to a beautiful destination," he said. "Looking back, I was really moving towards a different way of living, one that values time over speed, experiences over possessions and connection over constant activity."

2. Mexico

Ranking first in the Ease of Settling In index, Mexico placed second overall and remains the world's easiest country for expats to feel at home. Seventy-three percent say making local friends is easy, compared to 39% globally, while twice the global average describe their social circle as mostly local.

"I've made better friends abroad than I ever had in Chicago," said Kirsten Raccuia, who writes the expat blog Sand in My Curls. She and her husband moved to Puerto Vallarta in 2022 and say the sense of community, along with the lower cost of living, has kept them there. Street tacos cost about a dollar (£0.75), she says, while a recent emergency appendectomy and hospital stay cost less than $4,000 (£2,970), a price unimaginable in the US.

To best experience the city, Raccuia recommends having breakfast at the local food markets and visiting the beach on a Sunday, when families gather. "Yes, it's touristy, but it's also what the locals do," she said.

One caveat: Mexico ranked 25th of 31 for safety and security, with 68% of expats rating their personal safety positively compared to 81% globally.

3. Thailand

Ranked third overall, Thailand is home to the world's happiest expats with 86% reporting satisfaction with life abroad. It also earned the survey's highest score for cost of living, with 85% ranking it positively – more than double the global average.

"We fed the four of us for the equivalent of about £1 ($1.35)," said Bethan Jeentipraphet, recalling her first street-food meal in Bangkok. A British mother of two, she moved from Devon with her Thai husband in 2024, intending to stay a year. "Within two weeks, I knew I wasn't going back."

She also credits Thailand's education system with transforming her son. "Respect is huge in Thai culture, and students here clearly have the utmost respect for education," she said. "He is a completely changed child."

Long-term expat Aaron Henry, who moved from Los Angeles 11 years ago says Bangkok has modernised without changing its culture. "It's preserved the unique aspects of Thai culture while, especially over the last decade, exploding in terms of international cuisine, exceptional parks, art galleries [and] luxury malls." He recommends exploring the walkable, less-touristed neighbourhoods of Ari and Phra Khanong to see the city as residents do.

Jeentipraphet says newcomers should make an effort to understand and respect local customs, from removing shoes before entering homes to standing respectfully for the national anthem, which is played in public at 08:00 and 18:00 daily. "For expats willing to embrace Thai culture and embody the cultural norms, Thailand can be an extremely rewarding place to live."

4. United Arab Emirates

With top scores for Career Prospects and Expat Essentials (including visas and language), the UAE makes it easy for international residents to settle into life and build their careers. InterNations conducted the survey in February and March 2026, both before and after the outbreak of the US-Iran conflict, so the results only partially reflect its impact. However, expats still living in the UAE say that, despite some adjustments, life has continued largely unchanged.

"Day-to-day life in Dubai feels normal," said Michelle Sterling, an image consultant who splits her time between Dubai and the US, but currently prefers Dubai. "For me, Dubai offers a lifestyle that feels safer, more comfortable and more affordable."

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Nikita Oruganty, who moved from London to Dubai earlier this year to work in communications, says that the welcoming environment continues to make the country attractive. "While other countries are making it harder with immigration rules, [UAE] has always welcomed expats," she said. She also appreciates how authorities have handled security and communication during uncertain periods. "That sense of stability matters a lot when you are living abroad without your family nearby."

To see how residents really live, Oruganty recommends spending at least one day away from the luxury version of the city, riding the Metro at rush hour, walking through the traditional neighborhoods of Bur Dubai and Deira, crossing Dubai Creek by abra (a traditional wooden ferry) and eating at a small Indian, Filipino or Lebanese restaurant. "That is where you see the everyday version of Dubai, much more ordinary than its international image suggests," she said.

Beyond Dubai, British expat Sharon Mckernan has lived in Ras Al Khaimah for eight years and says she's never looked back. "I enjoy the easy, down-to-earth pace of life," she said. "There's no constant rushing, less traffic and generally less day-to-day hassles, which gives us more family time to enjoy by the pool, beach or explore the mountains here." She has also found the healthcare to be fast and efficient, and has made friends easily with people from around the world.

For visitors, she suggests watching the sunset from Jebel Jais, the UAE's highest mountain, or exploring the Al Jazirah Al Hamra Heritage Village. "It offers a side to the UAE that is different and relatively unknown to most," she said.

5. Brazil

Breaking into the top five for the first time this year, Brazil scored highly for happiness, ease of settling in, local friendliness and culture, with many expats saying it's the warmth of the people that makes them feel at home.

"You could meet someone for the first time on a Thursday and be at their home having churrasco (barbecued meat) by Saturday," said Clint Manning, who moved from Barbados to São Paulo to build his business. "Being from Barbados and having a similar lifestyle there, it felt very much like home, but on a significantly larger scale."

He notes that English isn't widely spoken here, which he sees as a plus. "For someone truly interested in learning the language, it [is] a fantastic experience as you [are] forced to communicate in Portuguese out of necessity," he said. "I became fluent significantly faster than I would've if I had been trying to learn Danish or German in Denmark or Germany."

To best experience São Paulo, he recommends visiting the bars and padarias in Vila Madalena and Bela Vista, eating sushi in Liberdade (the city's Japanese neighborhood) and exercising in Ibirapuera Park, one of Latin America's largest urban parks.

But more than any scenery or site, expats say it is the locals who create the greatest sense of belonging. "They were genuinely interested and curious in getting to know me and made me feel included from the beginning," said Chris Kohl, who lived in São Paulo for 12 years. "Instead of making me feel like an outsider, Brazilians made me feel like I belonged."

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How US tech helped create modern Italian gelato

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260813-how-us-tech-helped-create-modern-italian-gelato, 2 days ago

Gelato is synonymous with Italy, but its modern origins go back to a humble dairy shop in Tuscany and a couple of abandoned American World War Two freezers.

Each summer, tens of millions of international travellers descend on Italy, and many of them will order at least one gelato sometime during their stay. But chances are that very few of these visitors – or even many Italians themselves – realise that one of the most quintessentially Italian treats may never have taken off were it not for American technology.

To understand how that creamy deep-green pistachio, chocolate-striped stracciatella or sun-yellow crema made it onto your cone, you have to venture back to a modest Tuscan dairy shop and a couple of abandoned US military freezers.

The Italian ice age

Long before modern Italians were ordering gelato from beachside resorts, their ancient Roman ancestors were chilling honey-sweetened wines and fruit syrups with mountain snow, creating sorbet‑like icy treats. By the 9th Century in Sicily, the island's Arab rulers were blending snow from Mount Etna with sweetened citrus, jasmine and rosewater to make sherbet – a legacy that lives on in Sicilian granita today.

By the Renaissance, cooks across northern Italy were experimenting with fruit purées and spiced creams chilled with Alpine snow, which paved the way for Bernardo Buontalenti's 16th-Century breakthrough in Florence. The architect enriched the mixture with eggs and milk, producing a custard-like base that froze into something far silkier than the snow-filled creams that had come before, and creating the template for modern gelato.

Soon after, artisans in Florence, Venice and Sicily began producing frozen creams in micro-batches, using hand-cranked sorbettiere (ice cream makers) and natural ice harvested from snow pits. These early gelato prototypes were dense, custard-forward and unstable, melting quickly and requiring constant attention. Because freezing relied on snow, salt and manual labour, gelato-making was a hyper-local neighbourhood craft. Even when electric refrigeration arrived in the late 1920s, production remained limited due to the high cost.

Gelato simply couldn't travel; it had to be made and eaten close to home. That's where Tuscan creativity met American engineering.

The American difference

Empoli, a Tuscan town west of Florence, was still piecing itself back together in 1946 after the brutal fighting that had led to its World War Two liberation two years earlier.

In the calm that followed, Romeo Bagnoli, a railway crossing keeper, took over a modest dairy shop on Via del Giglio. By 1946, his eldest son, Renzo, had turned it into a bar called Sammontana serving coffee, pastries, and, in the summer, small batches of gelato with their one unreliable refrigerator.

After the war, abandoned Allied machinery was available for everyday Italians to purchase. Renzo and his brothers, Sergio and Loriano, acquired two industrial-grade American military freezers and later salvaged commercial ice cream machinery from a scrapyard, reworking the parts until they could produce continuous batches – allowing them, for the first time, to freeze gelato steadily rather than in tiny stop-and-start portions.

This American addition had huge implications: unlike the fattier ice cream, which had already been popular in the US for nearly a century and can tolerate longer freezing cycles, gelato needs a fast, consistent freeze to maintain its dense texture. The Bagnolis could now produce smooth, stable gelato without ice crystals in large enough batches that they could sell it beyond their neighbourhood, while still preserving the artisanal character that defined Tuscan gelato.

With their freezers humming in the back of the dairy shop, the Bagnoli brothers began tinkering with their early gelato recipe to create a mix that stayed smooth after freezing – a major hurdle before the 1940s.

They adjusted fat ratios; used ingredients like gelatin to keep the formula smooth; and slow-churned their ingredient bases so the resulting mixture was fluffy, not dense. Their repeatable formulas marked the beginnings of a consistent, scalable model of making gelato that later became industry-wide practice across Italy.

With insulated trucks not yet available, the brothers also built their own temperature‑controlled supply chain: packing metal canisters in ice and salt, lining wooden crates with straw and adapting military supply boxes into makeshift insulated containers. By 1948, they were delivering their Sammontana gelato by bicycle around Empoli and across Tuscany in a small truck.

"[The Bagnoli brothers] devised a six‑litre canister that fit neatly into their improvised supply chain. Bars and cafes could scoop directly from the canister," said Italian food historian Luca Cesari. "When they began lending bar owners their freezer units free of charge, the model was complete."

It was the blueprint for modern Italian gelato distribution: consistent product, standardised containers and a network of bars to serve it – none of which would have been possible without leftover WWII parts.

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"When [my family] found the equipment left behind from the war years, they were quick and clever enough to see potential where everyone else saw scrap metal," said Leonardo Bagnoli, the third generation of the family to lead Sammonta. "Those pieces became the backbone of… gelato that could travel beyond a single shop, a single city, until it reached all of Italy, and from there, today, the world."

These innovations happened at the start of Italy's post-war "economic miracle" period, which transformed Italian life. Between 1950 and 1963, wages rose, rural families migrated to cities and disposable income increased. The spread of beach resort culture and the rise of the evening passeggiata (post-dinner walk) created a new rhythm of outdoor leisure. Portable, inexpensive and synonymous with pleasure, gelato – now served in convenient cones and tiny to-go cups – fit into the nation's new image perfectly.

What started as a local, bike-distributed business soon transformed into a nationwide fleet of temperature-controlled trucks bringing the Bagnoli's new, ready-to-scoop gelato to shops from Sicily to the Alps.

How Sammontana shaped Italian gelato

Today, whether you're unwrapping a Sammontana cone at a beach in Liguria, ordering a scoop from an artisanal gelateria in Puglia or visiting one of the thousands of worldwide gelaterie that have popped up outside of Italy in recent years, you're tasting the legacy of this marriage between Italian artistry and US tech.

Adopting this new refrigeration model, other gelato companies like Algida, Motta, Spica and others soon followed. Yet, "industrial‑scale ice cream did not eliminate [early] artisanal gelato," said Eduardo Zucchini, spokesperson at the Gelato Museum Carpigiani in Bologna, the world's only museum dedicated to artisanal gelato. "Industrial gelato forced artisanal gelato to evolve, and ultimately, Italy developed both a strong industrial sector and a large network of independent, artisanal gelaterie. Competition from industrial producers [like Sammontana] encouraged artisanal gelaterie to improve hygiene, technology and professional organisation."

Along the way, Sammontana, and gelato in general, became synonymous with Italian summers.

"For many Italians, Sammontana evokes a ritual: peering into the freezer at a beach kiosk, choosing an ice cream by its wrapper, having a cone after a swim, or a stop at an Autogrill rest stop during a long family drive," said Rome-based cookbook author Katie Parla. "There's as much emotional attachment to the wrapper, the place and the moment as there is to the gelato itself."

These days, Sammontana is Italy's largest gelato and frozen-dessert company. And while their original dairy shop no longer exists, the company remains a family-owned business run by the third generation of the Bagnoli family in Empoli.

Since 1957, the company has used the slogan "Gelati all'italiana" (Gelato the Italian way) – a subtle nod to their product's US origins.

"That slogan is, in my mind, one of the most important slogans in 20th‑Century Italian food history," said Cesari."It [distinguishes] its gelato from the ice cream American soldiers had introduced during and after the war. It defines Italianness by negation [and] simply means 'not American'. And it works because the difference is real and perceptible."

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Why travellers are obsessed with foreign supermarkets

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260811-the-supermarket-is-becoming-a-tourist-attraction, 3 days ago

From Tokyo egg sandwiches to Greek dairy aisles, supermarket aisles are becoming one of travel's most revealing and beloved experiences.

It's 10:00 in a Tokyo 7-Eleven, and I am standing shoulder to shoulder with a dozen tourists, all clutching baskets loaded with the same things: fluffy egg mayo sandwiches, katsu curry buns, matcha Kit Kats and warm cans of Boss coffee pulled from heated shelves. Behind me, someone photographs their haul before they've even reached the till. Every few seconds, the familiar convenience-store chime announces another arrival. Nobody is here because they have run out of toothpaste. We are all, quite openly, shopping for the experience.

It is a travel ritual I've found myself repeating across the globe. I once spent an unreasonable portion of a sweltering Barcelona afternoon navigating the crowded aisles of a basement Mercadona, hunting down jars of pistachio cream. In a chaotic Miami Trader Joe's, I bypassed the groceries entirely and bought six jars of Everything But the Bagel seasoning, then repacked my suitcase around them before flying home.

What began as a holiday necessity has gradually become one of my favourite parts of travelling, anticipated and increasingly built into the itinerary rather than squeezed in around it. As it turns out, I'm not alone. Hilton's 2026 Trends Report found that 77% of travellers enjoy visiting grocery stores abroad, while Condé Nast Traveller recently named grocery tourism one of the biggest travel trends of 2026.

The industry has noticed too. Earlier this year, K-Supermarket, one of Finland's largest grocery chains, became the first supermarket in the world to officially list its branches as tourist attractions on Tripadvisor. Among them is a Helsinki store built around rooftop beehives that produce their own honey and another lauded for its craft beer selection, with each branch independently run and adapted to its local community.

Why supermarkets feel different abroad

Away from traditional sightseeing, ducking into a local grocery shop remains a surprisingly raw way to travel. Nothing on the shelves has been curated for out-of-towners or stamped with a tourist board's seal of approval. In an era of timed-entry museums and viral photo spots, wandering the aisles of a neighbourhood grocery store feels wonderfully unscripted

Monuments reveal how a country remembers its past, but a supermarket shows how it lives today. You quickly learn what people eat for breakfast, whether nappies are kept behind the counter and just how many varieties of tinned fish a country considers reasonable. The person queuing beside you isn't there to sightsee. They're simply buying dinner. For a few minutes, tourists and locals occupy the same space, following exactly the same routines.

And there's a scientific explanation for why those convenience store snacks seem to taste so good. When I ask Oxford experimental psychologist Professor Charles Spence why supermarket food seems to take on an almost mythical quality abroad, he points to what he calls a "slightly less glamorous" version of the Provençal Rosé Paradox, the psychological phenomenon whereby a wine tasted on one's summer holidays never quite matches up when opened back home on a cold and rainy winter's night. In the supermarket aisle, context is everything.

Most of us have lived some version of it. A flavour of Lay's crisps you've never seen before, eaten on a sunny holiday balcony, somehow loses a little of its magic once it's opened back home. According to Spence, supermarket discoveries work in much the same way. That egg mayo sandwich from Tokyo or a packet of crisps picked up abroad isn't being judged on flavour alone; the atmosphere and environment become part of the tasting experience.

You don't need a generous budget to take part, either. We might not all be able to afford a Michelin-starred meal or a private food tour, but almost anyone can spend €10 filling a basket with local snacks, unusual drinks and ingredients they've never seen before. Unlike a museum or a guided tour, a supermarket doesn't hand us an experience. We put it together ourselves.

The appeal of shopping like a local

Consumer psychologist and Humanising Brands founder Kate Nightingale believes the supermarket trend reflects a broader shift in what travellers are looking for. Increasingly, she says, we're seeking moments that feel authentic, participatory and accessible. Rather than simply observing a destination, we want to feel part of it.

More like this:

• Is it time to change how we buy travel souvenirs?

• How convenience store socks became Japan's coolest souvenir

• The case for taking the same holiday again and again

A foreign supermarket offers exactly that. Its layout and routines are almost universally understood. We know how to pick up a basket, browse the aisles and join the queue. As Nightingale explains, "familiarity frees our brains to become more exploratory, allowing us to notice everything that's different rather than worrying about how to navigate the space". She likens it to the instinct that lets a child confidently run off to explore a playground once they know a parent is nearby.

Back home, supermarkets are usually somewhere to get in and out of as quickly as possible. Abroad, they have a habit of drawing us in. We pause over fruit we've never seen before, try to make sense of products from their colours and pictures, or realise we've spent several minutes staring at shelves devoted entirely to seaweed. The weekly shop becomes something we notice rather than simply get through.

There is, however, a point at which supermarket tourism begins to eat itself. In Kawaguchiko, Japan, a Lawson convenience store became so overwhelmed by visitors photographing its roof framed against Mount Fuji that authorities deployed security guards, traffic barriers and crowd-control teams to manage the chaos, eventually erecting a giant black screen to block the view. The irony is hard to miss: a supermarket only works as a slice of normal life because nobody is putting on a show for you. Once tourists outnumber locals, it stops being an ordinary shop.

Of course, none of that crossed my mind the afternoon I stood in front of a dairy fridge in Athens looking at rows of white tubs, their labels entirely indecipherable. I turned them over one by one, searching for a single word I recognised, when a woman reached past my shoulder and grabbed one without slowing her trolley. I bought the same tub. It remains the best yoghurt I've ever eaten.

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The five meals Andrew Zimmern will never forget

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260807-the-five-meals-andrew-zimmern-will-never-forget, 8 days ago

The celebrity chef and lifelong traveller has eaten it all, but these are the five meals that he'll remember for the rest of his life.

Just by looking at a plate of food, Andrew Zimmern believes you can see a place's history.

"Food is the way to understand another culture," says the chef, TV personality, author and lifelong traveller. "If someone from outer space came down and said, 'Show me your hometown', I wouldn't take Mr Spaceman to the museum. If you want to understand a human being, sit down and have a meal with them."

We asked Zimmern to choose the five meals that have shaped him – no small feat for a man who has been everywhere and eaten literally everything; no organ ever unturned. The result is less a list than an autobiography, tracing a life savoured through food.

From the savoury French bite that cemented his destiny, to meeting a culinary hero, here are the five meals Andrew Zimmern will remember for the rest of his life.

1. Liver pâté at Restaurant Paul Bocuse, Lyon, France

It was 1976. I was 14 years old, [skiing in Val-d'Isère] with my father's best friend and his family. It snowed for six days straight and we were stuck in the hotel for seven days. The last meal we had before we could leave town was stale bread and sardines. So the seven of us drove to Lyon and I had my first meal at Restaurant Paul Bocuse.

I ordered the largest tasting menu: 15 courses. There was chicken cooked inside a pig's bladder, truffle soup with a beautiful puff pastry dome. The fourth or fifth course was a tiny timbale (mould) of liver pâté; warm, with a sauce of wine and liver. To this day it's one of the 10 best things I've ever put in my mouth.

The staff was intrigued that a young person would order this. I was asked if I liked it: "Yes, very much. Can I have another?" About two minutes later, Paul Bocuse himself came to the table. "You want another one?" "Yes, please. That's the best thing I've ever eaten in my life."

Within seconds, another was at the table. My family just stared at me. [But] I'd never seen a restaurant run that way. It had a garden; you could see women picking vegetables throughout the dinner. They were baking bread during the meal service. The restaurant made its own butter. It convinced me that food had no limits… that there was a sense of craft bigger than I had even imagined. I walked into that meal, knowing that I was going to be in the food business, but I left that meal convinced.

2. Grilled aubergine and corn soup at Hokusai Fine Dining on the Mitsui Ocean Fuji, Japan

I have been obsessed with chef Kiyomi Mikuni since the early 80s. He started the French-Japanese food mashup. His first cookbook was called the Food Fantasy of Hotel Mikuni. I was a young cook, had spent seven months cooking in Paris, and the book blew my mind. The idea that these two cuisines could be married so perfectly, and that there was a guy only a few years older than me talented enough to pull that off… I fell in love with him, professionally.

Every time I went to Japan, I never met him. But I just got back from Japan yesterday, and on this trip, I told the folks who were handling me, "I need to eat [at his restaurant]." He has, like, 12 restaurants, [including one] on the boat that we were taking to South Korea. One seating cost a ridiculous amount of money but there was no way I wasn't eating there.

[The menu] was almost straight up French. He spent the whole night talking to us, giving us food. You know how they say never meet your hero? This guy was just so kind, he was so funny. He served grilled aubergine with greens, dressed with olive oil and shallots, then put a piece of grilled eel with a dehydrated and fried eel bone on top. We had corn soup layered on a gelée of beef consommé. Very French, but he used Japanese corn.

On top of it, he put a tempura sweet fish, which is very bitter. He told everybody, "You eat it in two bites, head first, and then the rest." Then you wash it down with the soup, and finish with the consommé at the bottom, which was clarified and very beefy, very intense. It's just a beautiful mix of French and Japanese, and it was quite extraordinary. Best food on any cruise line I've ever experienced.

3. Liver crostini at Trattoria Sostanza, Florence, Italy

My father, when he was on honeymoon with my mother, went to Trattoria Sostanza in Florence. In the '50s, it was two communal tables, an open kitchen and a hand-written menu. [When] he took me there in the late '60s, one of the waiters who had served him in the '50s was now the maitre d'. [We] went back in '74 or '75, then I went in 1979 with a friend. The waiter-turned-maitre d' was now the manager. He was old. [But] the restaurant hadn't changed. When I went back in the 1980s, it had started to change because the staff [only] left when they couldn't work anymore. The magic of the place, to me, was the old version.

They still serve crostini di fegato (liver crostini). The first few times I was there, there was a pot and a basket of sliced stale bread from the night before. The cook would take the bread, scatter it on a platter, take a spoon and spread this hot liver mush on top. It was insane. If you said, "name one food you're going to have as your last bite," I might pick that.

Over the course of the night, they just kept dumping vegetable scraps and chopped livers and organs [in the pot], and when there was [just a little] wine left in a bottle, they would dump it in. I don't think the pot ever came off the stove in 40 or 50 years.

Every single time I went there I would have the crostini, their pasta al sugo (pasta with meat sauce) and grilled squab. Over time, I would experiment with different things. But going there with my father and having that same food and understanding that staff can stay forever, a restaurant can stay forever – it can change but still be the same – was a great piece of learning for me.

4. Tuna cheek and jawbone at Badjao Seafood House, Palawan Island, Philippines

I'm obsessed with seafood, so to be on an island that traditionally has earned its living from the water, I wanted an interesting seafood meal there. You park your car at the edge of the dock, [and] at the end of this dock is a wooden house on stilts. That's the restaurant. There's a hole in the middle with a ladder that goes down into the water.

Five or six times during the two hours that I was eating there, fish, vegetables, various things, arrived by canoe. They'll go out, they'll throw a net, they'll catch a pound of shrimp. Kids will dive off these little boats and go down to the bottom and pull up crabs and lobster and other shellfish. They'll sell it to the chef, so the menu is constantly changing throughout the night based on what's coming through the hole.

I had tuna cheek and jawbone, grilled over coconut husks, and served to me [in] distinctly Palawan style, with little leaves and lettuces to wrap with pieces of tuna that you would pull off the jawed cheek. It was remarkably delicious. I had a spicy shrimp and chilies dish tossed in a wok, and a fish soup. They had an entire banana stalk in the corner of the restaurant; it probably had 200 bananas on it. They mashed it for dessert and put date syrup on top and rice. It was like their version of mango rice. Still one of the greatest meals of my life.

5. B'stilla at Riad Laaroussa, Fez, Morocco

Riad Laaroussa [is] generally considered to be one of the best riads in Fez, but no man is ever allowed in the kitchen. The women who work there let me in to cook with them: "You're the first man. Our husbands don't even come in here." I asked them why and they said, "This is our place. We can all just talk to each other, without men around, about what life is really about."

They gave me chores, like, chopping parsley and cutting tomatoes. I finally said, "I'm a professional. This is what I do, too." I told them I wanted to make b'stilla with them, pigeon pie made with a very thin crepe called warqa. Two or three of the women lined up, and we worked on it for two, three hours.

When it came out of the oven, [the head chef] smiled because she was so happy that I had made a b'stilla that was just like theirs. I went to give her a big hug. She bent back like Keanu Reeves in The Matrix, and I realised, "Oh, my God, I can't touch her." She had to leave the room. I felt terrible.

After cooking everything with them, I sat down to this meal and we had all the typical Moroccan starters and tagine but the highlight was knowing that everyone in the room was eating b'stilla that I had made.

I learned everything I needed to learn about Moroccan culture in that room. That the Muslim women took sanctuary in that kitchen… it changed the way I looked at womanhood.

This interview has been condensed for length and clarity.

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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Poland's Tatras: An affordable alternative to the Alps

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260807-polands-tatras-the-affordable-alternative-to-the-alps, 7 days ago

Breathtaking alpine scenery and budget prices make this Polish escape an alternative to Europe's more famous mountain regions.

I had been hiking uphill for 10 knee-jarring kilometres (6.2 miles) when I finally arrived at a two-storey mountain hut. I was ready to drop to my knees, but not from fatigue. Before me was a cathedral of snowcapped mountains enveloping the glacial lake of Morskie Oko. It was mid-April, but the water was still frozen solid, with locals and tourists alike testing their weight on its icy edges.

These are the Tatras, a rugged slice of the Carpathian Mountains along the Slovak border. With alpine scenery, spectacular cave sytems and idyllic ski villages, they are also one of Europe's most affordable hiking regions.

A budget hiker's paradise

We found ourselves in the Tatras to celebrate a friend's 30th birthday. Nothing less than a stunning outdoor destination would do but it had to be budget and, with 10 of us along for the party, somewhere we wouldn't have to strain our limited funds by renting a car. We decided on Zakopane, a resort town bordering Tatra National Park.

Our choice was strategic: Zakopane is the premier hub for the Tatras, offering the widest array of accommodations and proximity to bus routes leading to the major Polish trailheads. The widespread, inexpensive Bolt ride-hailing service and low-priced minibuses known as busy meant our large group could easily explore the region's woodland trails, lakes and waterfalls. The more intrepid members of our crew particularly looked forward to hiking the 2,499m (8198ft) high pyramid-shaped peak Rysy, the highest summit in Poland.

And the Polish złoty meant were able to enjoy this alpine scenery without the Alpine prices; five nights at our premium chalet, the Villa Birdhouse featuring a sauna, terrace, barbecue and five rooms, would cost 1079.50 PLN (£225; $303) per person.

Mountains you can navigate by bus and taxi

Zakopane is dominated by Krupówki Street, a pedestrianised drag filled with gear shops, bars and restaurants. Over the five days, we became fond of Placki Ziemniaczane, an eatery serving "solid potato" on one side of the shop and "liquid potato" on the other (vodka).

However, most of our time was spent in the national park. We celebrated our first full day with a hike to the oval-shaped Morskie Oko, its name translating to "Eye of the Sea". After catching a thrifty Bolt to the trailhead, we hiked through deer-filled woodlands, sharing the well-marked, tarmacked trail with horse-drawn carriages carrying tourists. Along the way were scenic alpine bars, where we stopped for coffee to fuel us for the final push to our destination.

As we admired the wintry scene of imposing mountains hugging the frozen lake, we heard the rush of snow shifting down and witnessed the helicopter rescue of at least three hikers. This sobering reality of hiking in the quickly warming shoulder season made us reconsider our ambitious plan of climbing Rysy later in the week.

But upon returning to the trailhead, we were delighted to see a bus waiting. Busy function like the region's public buses but only accept cash. They run between Zakopane and popular trailheads or attractions, only leaving when they're full. After the 50-minute ride back to Zakopane centre, one of my friends and I decided to try Karczma Zapiecek, a traditional Polish Highlander restaurant where carvings and sleds hang from the ceiling. Waiters in traditional Polish dress filtered between rough-hewn wooden tables. I ordered two starters: pierogies filled with oscypek (smoked sheep's milk cheese), and potato cakes topped with mushroom sauce.

Upon taking my order, the waiter asked if I was sure. As soon as the enormous portions arrived, I understood why.

The great Polish outdoors

Three days into our trip, with more snow shifts on the mountains, we continuously checked local avalanche reports to plan our next move. Our group still hoped to tackle Giewont, but the 12km (7.4 miles) hike would require chains for the summit section, and some of us weren't feeling confident.

We decided to take a 15-minute bus to the Kuźnice trailhead, where we would all walk together until the fork in the path. Some of us would head off for a calmer hike to Dolina Strążyska valley. The others would go on to Giewont.

From Dolina Strążyska, it's a beautiful 400m (0.2 mile) walk to Wodospad Siklawica, the second-highest waterfall in the Polish Tatras. Shrouded in mist, the woodland feels otherworldly with the trickle of the Strążyski Potok River and snowmelt. Unlike our approach to Morskie Oko, the terrain was decidedly icier, so microspikes were essential. The Tatras are bear country, but deer, lynx, and other animals also roam free through the trails. More than once, our group spotted concerningly large paw prints in the snow.

As for our adventurous friends who had persisted towards Giewont, our reunion was earlier than expected. With low visibility, the sight of bear tracks and deep snow, they'd decided to turn around after just a couple of hours. Our birthday honouree later remarked, "I didn't think I was going to make 30".

Relaxation – and birthday celebrations – were certainly in order for our final full day. A 30-minute bus ride brought us to Chochołowskie Termy, the largest thermal bath complex in Poland. The Tatras, teeming with natural springs, are also home to a healthy thermal spa culture. We made a beeline for Chochołowskie Termy's steamy pools, strapping on wristbands to track how many drinks we would order from the outdoor beach-style pool bar. Soaking in the saunas, salt rooms and rapids proved to be the perfect antidote to five long days in the mountains.

More like this:

• Walking on water in Slovakia

• Europe's 'underdog leader' in slow-travel biking

• An 'Uber of the Alps': The Swiss ski resort reinventing winter

Three hours later, our muscles were so pampered, we could barely walk. Luckily, in the Tatras, you never have to look far to find a friendly busy driver, ready to transport you to a mountain of cheese dumplings and yet another pint.

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Family stranded at sea for 16 hours after jet ski capsized in Thailand

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0j60p0d29o, yesterday

A French family was left stranded at sea for more than 16 hours overnight after their rented jet ski capsized off the coast of Thailand.

A 50-year-old father and his sons, five and seven, were left "pale" and "exhausted after swallowing a lot of seawater" before being rescued, local government official Amorn Chomchoey told AFP.

All three were taken to hospital for checks but were discharged shortly afterwards, Chomchoey said.

The father had rented the jet ski for a 45-minute ride on Koh Samui, one of Thailand's most popular islands for tourists, at around 17:00 local time (10:00 GMT) on Thursday, the Bangkok Post reports.

Rescuers were alerted after the jet ski was not returned at the agreed time.

People used speedboats and more jet skis to comb the waters surrounding Koh Samui and towards the nearby island of Koh Phangan searching for the family, the Bangkok Post reports.

Search efforts had to be suspended overnight before the family were found still drifting at sea the following day, Thai media report.

The father and sons were found by rescuers at around 10:00 local time on Friday, according to AFP.

The father told authorities that rough waves had struck the jet ski and caused the engine to stop towards the end of the rental period, the Bangkok Post reports.

Footage of the rescue shows one of the boys sat on the top of the front of the jet ski while the rest of the vehicle is submerged beneath choppy waves.

His father can be seen waving at rescuers as he floats nearby. Both of them are wearing life jackets.

English-language news site Nation Thailand reports that the boys' mother and older sister had been waiting on the beach when the trio were brought back to safety.

The family has remained in Thailand and continued their holiday, officials told AFP.

Heathrow Airport roads reopen after mains burst

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgmkdr3gy07o, yesterday

All roads to Heathrow Airport have reopened after earlier disruption caused by flooding from a burst water main on a ring road.

The flooding along Inner Ring Road West prevented access to the central terminal area (CTA), which includes Terminals 2 and 3, a number of other buildings and the road network.

Heathrow Airport has confirmed the airport is now operating as normal and has apologised for the inconvenience after the road closures were made just before 06:00 BST.

Passengers are still being advised to use public transport where possible due to heavy congestion on the roads.

The travel disruption left some passengers struggling to get to their planes on time.

George Smyrniadis, 79, missed his flight to Frankfurt where he was headed for a school reunion on Saturday afternoon.

Smyrniadis, who got in touch via BBC's Your Voice, said: "I was upset. It's the first reunion I've missed since 1987.

"I was so downhearted I just wanted to get home.

"The whole airport seemed completely chaotic, but I got the impression the airlines just carried on as though nothing was wrong - and if you missed your flight you just missed it."

Smyrniadis said his trip from Portsmouth went well until he left the M4, at which point he was sat in traffic for 90 minutes travelling a distance which usually takes him about 10 minutes.

"By the time I got to security it was too late - it was already 09:30BST so they wouldn't let me go through any further."

Busiest time of the year

It is understood that there was no flooding within either terminal, and flights have not been disrupted.

The affected pipes are owned by Heathrow Airport which has been in charge of the repairs.

The disruption hit passengers amid the school summer holidays.

Heathrow said 19 July was its busiest day of the year so far as many schools broke up for summer, with 267,000 passengers passing through.

An airport spokesperson said: "Following earlier road flooding impacting access to Terminals 2 and 3, all roads have now reopened and the airport continues to operate as normal.

"We apologise for any inconvenience caused and we thank passengers for following the advisories we had put in place while our teams worked to resolve the situation as quickly as possible."

The airport was recently affected by disruption to railway services, after a water leak prompted the closure of a tunnel.

Additional reporting by PA Media.

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Heatwave brings boost for tourism across region

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpq8xw84jlgo, yesterday

Tourism businesses across the South West and Channel Islands have reported higher visitor numbers during the summer's heatwaves.

Atlantic Reach holiday park and Cornwall Slip and Slide, near Newquay, have reported a 10% increase which the team has attributed to the heatwaves.

In Devon, trustees at the outdoor, charity-run Victoria Pool said the heat had resulted in more swimmers and lower costs, since the sun had warmed the water and reduced the need for gas boilers.

A restaurant owner in Jersey said his business had experienced the strongest summer in its 25-year history, while Visit Guernsey has reported a 5% rise in June's accommodation occupancy rate compared to June 2025.

In Buckfastleigh, Devon, the heatwave has delivered a different kind of financial benefit.

The team at Victoria Pool, a charity-run outdoor swimming pool, said soaring temperatures had significantly reduced the heating costs while attracting record numbers of swimmers.

Trustee James Rice said the weather had created a "double whammy" for the organisation.

"The heat has helped us so much with the cost of heating the pool," he said.

The pool is normally heated by two gas boilers, but Rice said the recent sunshine meant they had barely been needed.

"I don't think our boilers have had to work," he said.

"The sun has pretty much done the job for us for, I think, the last 10 weeks."

He said the heat has also helped bring more visitors through the gates.

Rice said the opening weeks of the season were potentially the busiest since the pool reopened under community ownership more than a decade ago.

A business owner in Jersey has said although the heatwaves had led to some closure, they had also attracted more customers.

Ian Carr, owner of the Waffle House in St Helier, said he had been forced to close during the hottest days of the year because equipment and staff had struggled to cope with the conditions.

"We did have to close for the three hottest days which has never happened in the 25 years that I've been doing this," he said.

Despite that setback, Carr said the summer had been one of the strongest he could remember.

He said fewer rainy days had helped increase turnover and attract more customers, including growing numbers of visitors from France, Germany and the Netherlands.

However, Carr warned longer term challenges remained for the tourism and hospitality sector.

"I've seen tourism decline the entire time that I've been doing this in the past 20 years," he said.

Visit Guernsey's marketing manager Sam Claxton said there had been some "uplift" in visitor numbers "which may be linked to the recent heatwave".

Claxton said the accommodation occupancy rate in Guernsey had reached 84% in June, up from 79% in June 2025 and 2024.

Airport passenger numbers were up by 3% in June and 10% in July compared with the same months last year and the number of ferry passengers in July was up by 8% compared with July 2025, he added.

Andy Furniss, who runs Le Petit Train trips in St Peter Port, said German, Dutch and French visitors day trippers from St Malo have been "incredible for trade".

Furniss said: "Our trade this year is significantly up on last year, even with a 60% decline in cruise ships coming to Guernsey.

"Walk-up trade is significantly higher this year than it has been since 2019."

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What is the future of Oxford's Castle Quarter?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gj4140g92o, 3 days ago

Plans to rejuvenate a historic part of Oxford will soon be under way, following investment from a local authority.

Oxford's Castle Quarter already includes a luxury hotel, restaurants and pubs, as well as Oxford castle prison, but improvements will be made to encourage more people to visit the area.

Oxfordshire County Council has bought the lease for £28.5m, with initial plans to improve signage and bring more business to the quarter.

It is part of a wider regeneration of the western approach into the city that is expected to take 10 years to complete.

The local authority is already the freeholder, but agreed to buy the lease from the Westgate Partnership in May 2026, bringing the Castle Quarter back into public ownership.

The area lies behind the city's main council offices, County Hall, to the west of Westgate shopping centre.

It includes the remains of an 11th Century Norman castle and parts of the old county jail.

Businesses, including the hotel chain Malmaison, have already invested in the area, following an initial regeneration in 2006.

But, according to county council cabinet member for finance Dan Levy, it is time for a "spruce up" of the area.

"It's a little bit tired and needs livening up to become a more vibrant part of the city centre," he said.

One of the early plans is to improve signage so more people walk through the area.

"It hasn't been signposted very well in the past," Levy said.

"We want to see this place full of people, restaurants, going to the hotels, just to use it as a way through."

But while some businesses have done well in the area, there are a significant number of empty units in the quarter. The council hopes these will be filled by increasing the footfall.

It is part of a wider redevelopment of the western approach to Oxford, including the redevelopment of Oxford railway station.

Levy described the current walk as "complicated" and "not very attractive".

"That's all going to change with the redevelopment of the whole area between County Hall and the Westgate and the station, to make it more attractive and more vibrant," he said.

But any significant change will take 10 years to come to fruition.

Questions have been raised about the decision by the council to buy the leasehold, with the local authority facing £24m funding cuts from central government.

But Levy said it had made good financial sense for taxpayers, with the rent from the current tenants already covering the costs.

"We're only allowed to use capital resources on capital items - so buying things like Castle Quarter - we're not allowed to spend that money on delivering services. That comes from our revenue budget," he said.

"But what this will do, as well as making the place more vibrant, is it will bring in some additional revenue that can be spent on services."

"So it's not going to fill the hole, but it will fill a little bit of the hole."

Why Estonians invite strangers into their back gardens each summer

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260731-why-estonians-invite-strangers-into-their-backyards-each-summer, 13 days ago

Each summer, home gardens, garages and even bedroom windows across Estonia become temporary cafes open to anyone.

Beneath a giant tent, complete strangers queue to buy lunch. Around them, vegetable beds overflow with cucumbers, strawberries, garlic and courgettes, while an apple tree shades a table laden with rye bread, homemade pickles and a simmering pot of seljanka, a tomato-based soup with ham and smoked sausage. Guests order from a simple printed menu before carrying bowls of steaming soup to communal tables to eat.

At first glance, it looks like a country cafe. It isn't. It's Heiki Kalvik's back garden in the outskirts of Kehra, a small town about 45 minutes east of Tallinn, which he turns into a pop-up cafe each summer.

"I'm very outgoing, and I like to cook. I enjoy hosting, and I’m proud of our outdoor space," Kalvik says as another group of visitors arrives.

Kalvik is one of around a dozen residents taking part in Kehra’s annual Kodukohvikute Päev, or "home cafe day", when locals turn private gardens, courtyards and garages into temporary eateries for one day in July. Elsewhere in town, Karolin Vahtre has converted a garage behind her Soviet-era apartment block into a makeshift cafe, selling tempura sushi rolls, chanterelle quiche, chocolate cake and French fries to anyone who stops by.

More than 150 such events are held across Estonia between April and September, a beloved tradition that has spread steadily since the first event almost two decades ago. Some are elaborate, with rented tents, tables and chairs; others are little more than a lemonade stand manned by children. Together, they give visitors a rare glimpse of everyday Estonian life that is usually out of reach.

How Estonia's cafe days began

Estonia's home cafe tradition began on Hiiumaa, the country's second-largest island, in 2007 when local tourism promoters were looking for a way to attract visitors beyond the peak month of July.

They drew inspiration from Kärdla, the island's capital, and its long association with coffee. In the mid-1800s, the town was home to a broadcloth factory run by a Baltic German baron, who employed coffee-drinking workers from Central Europe. Local Estonians soon adopted the habit, with Kärdla residents eventually earning the nickname kohvilähkrid, or "coffee flasks", for taking coffee into the fields instead of the traditional sour milk or beer.

Fifteen homes took part in Hiiumaa's 2007 cafe days; today, the three-day event in early August attracts thousands of visitors, with dozens of temporary cafes selling homemade food and drinks across the island.

Hiiumaa Museum is one of the few participants to have taken part every year since 2007, re-creating a 19th-Century cafe in its conference rooms at the Long House, the museum's main building and the former home of the broadcloth factory's managers. Its director, Kauri Kiivramees, says the tradition taps into something deeper than food and drink: the islanders' long history of welcoming outsiders.

Kiivramees says even this so-called "island of introverts" has always understood the importance of community: "It's quite traditional to help foreign visitors on Hiiumaa because back then it meant they were here because of [a] shipwreck or something like that, and they needed help."

From island tradition to national phenomenon

Small, rural communities have historically been the backbone of Estonian society on both the country's islands and mainland. While people aren't as reliant on their neighbours as they once were, certain traditions, like the talgud, have endured. These communal work days once involved haymaking or barn raising; today they are more commonly used for community clean-ups. Home cafe days reflect that same spirit of neighbourliness, and after their initial success on Hiiumaa, they soon spread across the country.

Setomaa in south-eastern Estonia, holds its pop-up cafe days every year on the second weekend in August, using the event to showcase its distinctive culture.

"One of the reasons why we started [Kostipäiv] is because we saw that during the summertime we don't have so many events where people are wearing traditional clothes or offering traditional food like sõir, our homemade cheese," said Liis Kogerman, board member of the organising NGO Seto Küük.

The event has become one of the region's calling cards, with some cafes attracting as many as 1,000 visitors. While one has since become a permanent restaurant, most participants simply enjoy selling homemade food to visitors without the pressures of running a business.

The same spirit can be found in the university city of Tartu, where Inga Kulmoja runs a one-day pop-up cafe to indulge her passion for homemade ice cream. Kulmoja lives in an old wooden house with no yard, so each year she lowers ice cream down to the street from her third-storey bedroom window.

"It's very low tech," she said, noting that running the cafe is quite different from her daily work as an entrepreneur in the AI space. "Only cash, and the signs are written on reused paper. We bought some rope, and we have two buckets: one for the ice cream, and the second smaller bucket is for cash. I'm not even using an ice cream machine; I'm just making them in the freezer."

Even though Kulmoja is mostly busy dipping ice cream and filling the buckets, she still likes to see visitors queued up, especially when the same people come year after year. "I think people have some kind of willingness to show what they can offer or how they live," she said. "In Estonian, you would say maybe 'edevus'. It's like the feeling you get being the centre of others' attention."

When strangers become neighbours

Oleg Pun and Iryna Topilina moved to Estonia from Ukraine in 2019, but didn't host their first cafe until 2022, when Pun's parents moved to Estonia to escape from the war. Pun and Topilina encouraged them to participate in their new village's cafe days to learn more about the community.

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"They were so surprised and moved by how many Estonians came to support them. Neighbours from nearby houses even brought over extra chairs and furniture when they saw we needed more seating," recalled Topilina.

Now the family works together to run a cafe during Kalamaja Days in Pun and Topilina's garden. This year they served cabbage varenyky, Ukrainian dumplings made from a family recipe that goes back almost 100 years, and green borscht made with locally foraged sorrel and nettle and cooked over an open fire.

While Estonia's home cafe days may feel like secret celebrations to outsiders, they are one of the few occasions when visitors are invited to wander through private gardens, taste family recipes and glimpse everyday life inside local communities.

As Kalamaja Days organiser Katrin Aedma said, "It is not so often you can see inside of our yards. They are closed. But this is the day when our people open their hearts and their gates."

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The invisible price of travelling safely as a woman

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260807-the-controversial-economics-of-women-only-travel, 6 days ago

Women-only rooms are in high demand – and sometimes cost more. What does that tell us about the price of feeling safe?

At 23:00 on a wet Friday night in central London, I'm standing in the glowing lobby of a pod hotel in Piccadilly Circus staring at two nearly identical booking options on a self-service screen. A capsule on a mixed-gender floor costs £35 ($47) whilst a capsule on the women-only floor is £45 ($60).

The extra £10 doesn't buy a bigger room, complimentary breakfast or a better view. The capsules are exactly the same: compact cocoons fitted with a mattress, mood lighting and just enough space to fully open a small suitcase. What the nearly 30% surcharge offers instead is a keycard-restricted corridor, a floor without men and, perhaps most importantly, the promise of sleeping a little easier in an unfamiliar city.

Most of the women around me barely glance at the price difference. But as I tap my card against the reader, I realise I'm not really weighing one room against another. I am weighing whether my peace of mind is worth the extra £10.

The 'safety premium'

Because of the heightened risks of sexual harassment, physical assault and unwanted attention, travel often comes with a series of financial trade-offs for many women, such as paying more for centrally located hotels, taking taxis rather than walking at night or choosing women-only spaces over cheaper mixed accommodation.

It's tempting to compare this with the "pink tax", the term used to describe products or services marketed to women at a higher price than equivalent versions for men. But the costs of travelling safely are often less direct.

Women are not necessarily being charged more for the same journey. Instead, safety concerns can push them towards different – and sometimes more expensive choices. Stephanie Boyle, campaign director of the Safer Tourism Foundation's She Travels Safe campaign, calls it an "avoidance tax", noting that women often alter their behaviour before anything has gone wrong.

"Women aren't travelling less because they're less adventurous than men," she says. "They face a different risk environment."

Research from the Safer Tourism Foundation, which tracks gendered travel behaviour, found that 64% of women avoid walking back to their accommodation alone at night while abroad compared to 43% of men, and 56% avoid areas they perceive as unsafe versus 37% of men who do the same. Nearly half of women (48%) avoid exploring their destination at night altogether.

These decisions also affect spending. Women are more likely to book travel insurance and more likely to pay for transport that ensures arrival in daylight hours – each choice small in isolation but collectively adding to the overall cost of travel.

When safety shapes the journey

Solo female traveller Jen Kaarlo has travelled to 53 countries, most of them alone, and says solo travel for many women often comes with constant calculations around safety. For Kaarlo, choices such as arriving in daylight, pre-booking transport and avoiding situations where she feels overly vulnerable have become almost automatic.

While travelling through Panama, she booked a semi-private boat trip through the San Blas Islands but paid extra to guarantee she would not have to share a sleeping space with a stranger.

"In order to rent the cabin, I had to pay one fee," she says. "Then I had to pay between $100 and $200 (£80-£160) more to ensure that I had a private boat bed."

More routinely, she says she budgets extra for transport, particularly when arriving somewhere unfamiliar. At Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, she encountered a man who repeatedly approached travellers with an elaborate scam, an experience that reinforced her preference for pre-booking a car or taking a taxi rather than public transport. "Probably the biggest cost generally is the extra ground transportation… I avoid mass transit anytime getting into a new city unless I know that city really well."

Solo traveller Jodie Hughes has found something similar. Since first travelling solo as a 19-year-old, Hughes has journeyed extensively across Europe, the US, Australia and Japan, often staying in hostels to keep costs down. But she says age and experience have changed how she budgets.

In Florence, she recalls accepting a lift from a man after she had been drinking, an experience she says "went pretty badly" and could have been much worse. In a similar way, Kaarlo says that after having her drink spiked in "an incredibly scary situation" in Paris, she changed how she approached solo travel.

Both women say these experiences have made them more conscious of the risks involved in travelling alone and more willing to pay for peace of mind.

"When I was younger, I'd think: 'Oh my God, I don't have the money for the next dorm up,'" Hughes says. "Now, I draw the line at my safety."

Hughes almost always books women-only dorms when available. In Japan, she says, these were often priced similarly to mixed accommodation. In parts of Europe, however, she has found female-only options more expensive. At Hostel Lybeer in Bruges, for example, a mixed dorm was recently listed at €26 (£22.25) compared with €28 (£23.95) for a woman-only down.

"I'd rather travel less frequently," Hughes says, "but when I do travel, it's safer."

What is driving the cost?

The reasons why women-only accommodation can be priced differently varies across the industry, but operators say it is rarely a straightforward premium for safety.

A spokesperson for Generator Hostels says the price of female-only dorms reflect demand rather than gender-based pricing. "Female-only dorms have always been in demand – faster than we have been able to grow supply," they say. "When demand for a specific room type consistently outpaces availability, pricing reflects that."

But if women are seeking those rooms because they feel less safe in mixed accommodations, safety is still influencing what they pay. Boyle argues that the answer should not be to make it a premium feature. "Safety shouldn't be a competitive component," she says. "It shouldn't be something that companies think: 'We are safer and therefore we can charge more.'"

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The cost isn't confined to accommodation. Many women describe choosing convenience over spontaneity, picking more expensive options that feel safer or avoiding experiences altogether if the logistics feel risky. The question becomes not only "Can I afford this?" but "Can I afford not to?"

And for Kaarlo, the cost is not just financial. "The cognitive overload, I think, is the biggest weight," she says.

Back in my London pod, I settle into my capsule and text my friends to let them know I've arrived safely after the night out. The extra £10 had bought the feeling, however temporary, of sleeping a little easier in a big city.

But it leaves me with a more fundamental question: should feeling safe be something travellers have to pay extra for at all?

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This loophole allows tourists to reach Scotland's most remote and majestic scenery

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260806-scotlands-tiny-cruises-go-where-others-cannot, 9 days ago

Tourism to Scotland's coastline was dominated by giant cruise ships until a flotilla of converted fishing boats took to the waterways, unlocking its most remote, authentic experiences.

The majestic wooden-hulled cruise ship glides through the cobalt waters of Scotland's Sound of Mull, accompanied only by a sea eagle and a breaching minke whale. Now approaching the brooding Highland massifs, it shows no signs of slowing. But this is no typical cruise ship. Thanks to its tiny size, it squeezes through a razor-narrow inlet, where all 10 passengers are greeted by an otter lounging on the craggy shore. There is an appreciative murmur and a clink of Champagne glasses. Moments later, a four-course Scottish farm-to-table dinner is served.

Scotland's coastline was traditionally explored by hardy sailors or aboard giant cruise ships. But an obscure maritime rule has helped create a very different kind of cruising here: tiny luxury vessels carrying no more than 12 passengers into lochs, inlets and anchorages beyond the reach of mega liners.

The loophole that changed Scottish cruising

In the 1990s, as ever-larger vessels became increasingly impractical for accessing smaller isles and lochs, skipper Rob Barlow set out to create small-scale, authentic Scottish seafaring experiences from Oban.

He and his family made canny use of a legal quirk: under Scottish maritime law, vessels carrying up to 12 passengers are not classified as cruise ships, meaning they're not subject to the same regulations – and, crucially, costs – as the massive vessels. This opened up some of Scotland's wildest and least accessible coastal landscapes to a new kind of traveller.

In 1996, the family launched Hebrides Cruises with the 12-passenger Elizabeth G, a converted Norwegian rescue vessel with compact private cabins, a saloon, bar and restaurant. The ship's maiden voyage was more cosy than luxurious, featuring tasteful tartan décor and traditional Scottish music playing in the background. But the vessel's "open bridge" policy meant that passengers could chat with the captain, creating a social but intimate feel, and its petite size allowed it to squeeze into the narrow entrance of Loch Spelve on Mull, get close enough to the white sands of Gallanach on Muck for a wet-footed beach landing and spend the night anchored off the uninhabited Monach Isles. Hebrides Cruises eventually acquired two more vessels, including the hot tub-sporting 10-passenger Emma Jane and the yacht-style, eight-passenger Lucy Mary.

"We grew from a family belief that Scotland is best experienced slowly and at close quarters, not simply viewed from afar," says Barlow's daughter Emma Fairbairns, Hebrides Cruises' shore manager.

A growing demand for intimacy

More operators followed, including the family-run Argyll Cruising, Skarv Lines and The Majestic Line. But the Scottish tourism industry was initially sceptical, say Majestic Line founders Ken Grant and Andy Thoms, who faced doubters in the early 2000s when converting their two old, wooden hulled fishing boats. "[The market] didn't exist at the time," says Grant.

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The pair persevered, turning their vessels into bespoke 11-passenger cruise ships with ensuite cabins, a saloon, dining areas and panoramic windows. And the new Scottish cruise formula was set: small ships that could thread through sea lochs beneath Highland mountains, anchor off remote beaches and slip into tiny harbours. They also swapped casinos and buffet restaurants for expedition-style excursions, communal dining on fresh Scottish produce and even the opportunity to catch mackerel with the crew for that day's lunch off a deck low enough to the water to make it possible.

"I enjoy this different luxury," says veteran passenger Stewart Norton. "The crew know your name, how you like your tea and share the joy of spotting wildlife with you. It's a really personal bijou experience."

On small ships, the skipper can react quickly to track wildlife and easily switch overnight anchoring plans, bringing visitors even closer to Scotland's swathes of marine mammals, from pods of dolphins and porpoises to humpback whales and orcas, as well as splashing otters, red deer and bushy-tailed red squirrels.

"It's like a glossy TV documentary, one you get to be part of," explains Will Tunnell, a small ship cruise fan. "The small vessels get into the nooks and crannies the big ships cannot reach and access remote scenery you'd struggle to experience any other way."

Scotland's small ship cruises also stop at postcard-pretty villages like Tobermory and Plockton, known for their traditional pubs and shops. "The wildlife thrills when you're on the water, but the wee communities and the historical legacies are an essential part of the pull," says Norton. "On these small ships, you experience them without the crowds you get on the mega ones."

And standards for Scottish travel experiences are nudging ever higher, adds Fairbairns. "More people are seeking comfort, quality and depth of experience and Scotland's islands and coastline offer that." With guests increasingly expecting local produce, the Oban-based ships snare their fresh seafood from the fishmonger on the pier and often stop in Loch Spelve to send the chef across on the tender to pick up a bag of just-landed mussels.

Today, the industry continues to grow. From pontoons in Oban that were custom-built in 2017 to accommodate demand, Scotland's small-ship fleet navigates along the entirety of the 200-year-old Caledonian Canal, even stopping in Loch Ness where no mega liner could ever dare go. It drops anchor at Britain's most remote pub, the legendary Old Forge in community-run Knoydart. It even ventures far north across the Pentland Firth to tiny isles in Orkney where communities are delighted to meet them, as large vessels never call.

Jane Roy, a tour guide who has worked on Scottish small ships, looks forward to a bright future: "Guests love the small ships. There is something really special about exploring Scotland on the water as our ancestors have done for millennia," she says. "These small ships feel more like a private country house party than a cruise."

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Four simple rules behind Japan's most liveable cities

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260805-four-simple-rules-behind-japans-most-liveable-cities, 10 days ago

From neighbourhood shopping streets to accessible transport, Japan's most liveable cities remove the everyday frustrations of urban life.

What makes a city genuinely easy to live in? It's not necessarily gleaming skyscrapers or world-famous attractions, but whether you can get to work without a car, do your shopping on foot, navigate a train station in a wheelchair or push a pram safely down the pavement.

Japan's cities are especially good at this. In the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2026 Global Liveability Index, Osaka ranked seventh and Tokyo rose three places to 10th, making Japan the only Asian country with two cities in the top 10.

This rise reflects perfect scores in the index for stability, healthcare and education, as well as strong infrastructure. But residents say the real difference is in the intentional and accessible design choices that make life run smoothly.

"Japan is built to work for everyone," says Josh Grisdale, a power wheelchair user who runs Accessible Japan and has lived in Tokyo for 18 years. "The same ramps, elevators and space I use as a wheelchair user help a parent with a stroller, an older person or someone lugging a suitcase in from the airport."

For architect Francis Aguillard, who has studied Japan's urban design, the simple daily details often have the biggest impact. "Liveability often comes down to reducing the friction of ordinary life," he said. "Can someone reach work, school, groceries, a park, a doctor and friends without structuring the entire day around a car?"

For many Japanese residents, the answer is yes. We spoke with them and urban planning experts to learn how the country designs cities that work well, and the rules that make them feel so easy.

1. Build cities around everyday life

Much of daily life in Japan plays out in the shotengai (covered shopping streets lined with independent businesses whose owners often live above their own shops). "A greengrocer, old coffee shop, clinic, 100-yen shop and dinner [options] all sit within a few flat, covered blocks," says Grisdale.

Grocery shopping was a chore that American Patrick Lydon dreaded when he lived in the United States. After moving to a modern Osaka neighbourhood, he and his wife traded their cars for bicycles, while a smaller house and a tiny refrigerator meant shopping more frequently.

"Somehow, the experience is really pleasant," says Lydon, who writes The Possible City, an illustrated essay series examining life in Japan and Korea. "Grocery shopping can be transformed from an errand into a daily social experience that connects you to a neighbourhood. Everyone from kids to the elderly move through that street on foot every day."

It's a concept that's difficult to replicate elsewhere, but Lydon compares it to what made old Main Street America so special. Designing at a people-first scale pays off. "The smell of fried croquettes drifting onto the streets, small shops run by the building owners, easy public transit access, a feeling of safety and community for all ages… it's hard to overstate how well this all works."

Japanese cities are also designed so that vehicles fit the streets rather than the other way around, with compact delivery vans and tiny kei trucks navigating lanes built to a human scale. "City streets in Japan often function as shared spaces where pedestrians, bikes, and vehicles can coexist," says Aguillard. "Rather than creating chaos, it creates a beautiful dance of activity."

2. Design transport for everyone

Japan's transit systems are renowned for their reliability, safety and cleanliness. "The amazing public transportation network can take you everywhere," says Keiko Ota, regional operations manager at G Adventures, who has lived in Tokyo for more than a decade. "I don't have a driver's licence, but I still feel complete freedom to go anywhere."

Grisdale likes that in Japan, public transit is accommodating and he doesn't have to plan ahead when travelling as he does in other countries. "Coming from Canada, I still find it strange that I can show up at almost any station [in Japan] and get where I'm going by rail or bus, on time, without reservations," he said. "Elevators are very rarely out of service, and when one is down there's a plan B; staff will bring a portable stair climber rather than tell me it can't be done."

His experience reflects a two-decade national retrofit following Japan's 2006 "Barrier-Free" law. By 2020, more than nine in 10 highly trafficked stations had eliminated the need to climb steps, with lifts installed at thousands of stations across the country.

In Tokyo, Grisdale finds that the city is still responsive to active and ongoing feedback. When flower planters in his local park sat too close together for his wheelchair to pass, Grisdale mentioned it to the parks department. Within days, stickers reminded staff to leave enough room for wheelchair users to pass through.

Japan's approach to accessibility has shaped cities far beyond its borders. The yellow raised paving used by visually impaired pedestrians worldwide was invented by Japanese engineer Seiichi Miyake in 1967 to help a friend who was losing his sight. Within a decade, it had become mandatory at the country's national rail stations. "Japan gave those to everyone," says Grisdale.

3. Preserve a sense of place

Despite its famous bullet trains and busy urban hubs, Japan also values patience, continuity and a respect for tradition.

When Lydon registered his residence in Osaka, the district office worker pulled out a giant map book, erased the previous occupant's name and pencilled his in. "As a guy who grew up working at Silicon Valley tech firms, that blew my mind," he said. "Japan often doesn't replace systems simply because newer technology exists. If something still works reliably, there's less pressure to reinvent it.

That patience shows up in the landscape too, where centuries-old trees survive in ordinary neighbourhoods and even train stations, like the 700-year-old camphor growing straight through the roof of Kayashima Station near Osaka.

"Living in Japan made me notice how often old trees are treated as something worth accommodating rather than removing," Lydon said. "Whether that's because of Shinto tradition or simply people's affection, the result is striking. There's a difference between building infrastructure on top of a place and building it with a place.

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Even in the busiest business districts, everyday life is woven into the city. "You'll see people rushing to meetings, then turn a corner and find a small shrine that's been there for generations, or a tiny restaurant where the owner seems to know every regular by name," says Masato Kominami, general manager of 1 Hotel Tokyo, who walks through the Akasaka district most days. "In the middle of a busy workday, you hear birds, notice how the light changes through the trees or catch the scent of the season."

4. Maintain manners in shared spaces

Human-scaled infrastructure only tells part of the story; the people who live in Japan's cities also create the conditions for thriving. "Tokyo is incredibly busy, but people instinctively think about how their actions affect others," said Kominami. "It's not something people talk about much; it's simply part of everyday life."

Grisdale depends on that cooperation, and after nearly two decades living here, he ranks it alongside anything a government can build. "The manners matter as much as the hardware," he said. "People queue on the platform marks, keep the trains quiet and give up priority seats and space without being asked. In a city this size, that keeps daily life calm for everyone."

In Osaka, Lydon found himself changed by the way Japan operates with awareness and consideration for others. "Whether it's lining up for trains, speaking quietly in public, not littering, separating recycling or saying 'itadakimasu' ("I humbly receive") before a meal, many daily habits remind you that you're part of something larger than yourself," he said. "Maybe that's not a magic spell to fix the ills of the world, but personally it did help me lean towards kindness, beauty and peace."

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The controversial story of the North American raccoons wreaking havoc in Germany

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260814-the-true-story-of-how-germany-became-overrun-with-north-american-raccoons, today

Germany's raccoons are loved by some, despised by others. Once alleged to have been introduced by a Nazi commander, many elements of the raccoons' story have been wildly misunderstood.

In Germany, raccoons often live up to their outlaw reputation. Labelled "bandits", thanks to the distinctive black strip across their eyes, they have regularly made headlines for breaking into major hospitals, zoos and power stations, leaving a trail of destruction behind.

"They're really clever, they're able to climb everything," says wildlife ecologist Berit Michler of Germany's Thünen Institute. To some, they've become known as "smart, tricky, evil animals".

But scientists say it's time to sort myth from fact around Germany's raccoons. The urban legend goes that they were introduced to the country by Nazi commander and war criminal Hermann Göring. Yet archival research and modern ecological studies now tell a different story – one that does more justice to these charismatic opportuntists, who thrive in remote forests and urban backyards alike.

The true origin story of Germany's raccoons

Germany's raccoons were long rumoured to have a dark past, beginning in the area near the city of Kassel in central Germany, where raccoons are now a part of daily life.

"It was a common narrative among tourist guides, local politicians and larger parts of the population that Hermann Göring himself ordered the release of the raccoons in the wild," says Eberhard Leicht, the former head of the Vöhl Forestry Office in central Germany. "Some people even believed Göring had personally attended the process."

Although local forestry officials cast doubt on the stories, this view spread, says Leicht. As the rumour reached as far as the English Channel, "raccoons finally made headlines in the British tabloid press", he recalls.

Leicht set out, using archival research, to see what really happened. He found that an application was indeed made to the Prussian hunting office to release two pairs of North American raccoons near the Edersee, a reservoir near the city of Kassel, to "enrich the fauna". The application was made during the time that Göring was in charge of forestry and hunting, but Leicht found no sign that Göring had been personally involved.

"There is no indication anywhere that politicians – such as Göring, as a member of the Nazi Reich government – had any influence on the decision," says Leicht. "The file clearly shows that the entire process was merely an administrative matter."

As Alain Frantz, zoology curator at the Luxembourg Museum of Natural History, summarises: "The particular Nazi aspect, I think that's a British obsession."

In the end, Leicht's archival research showed that the raccoons were let loose before an application was signed. One morning in April 1934, the records show, the animals were released from two crates to the south side of Lake Edersee near Vöhl, around 50km (30 miles) to the south-west of Kassel. This population grew and grew.

Today, Kassel has been called the "raccoon capital of Europe", with an estimated urban population of around 30,000 of the animals.

Raccoons on the run

The Lake Edersee raccoons were the first to take tentative steps into the wild in Europe. But more would soon follow.

When Frantz began researching raccoons in 2011, he was already aware of another release, believed to have occurred in the dying days of the Third Reich, when Allied bombers hit a Brandenburg fur farm.

Frantz was keen to understand if today's population really sprang from just those two small starter populations. Such a tiny group could lead to severe genetic abnormalities as numbers grew, due to inbreeding.

By sampling the DNA of more than 400 raccoons across Germany, Frantz found evidence of two further significant releases, leading to populations with different gene pools in eastern Saxony, near the Czech border, and in the Harz Mountains, in northern Germany.

The German population is known to have spread across borders, with documented crossings into the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. In Central Europe, the population had grown 300% between the 1990s and 2018, expanding into new territory in cities and forests. They have been found as far afield as Spain, Sweden and Greece. There have also been ongoing escapes from captivity across Europe, including from an Italian zoo in the early 2000s.

"Generally speaking, they're quite good at escaping," says Frantz.

Are they a 'plague'?

Where raccoons go, a certain type of chaos typically follows. In Germany, they've helped themselves to mulled wine sold at German Christmas markets, leaving one animal staggering around the city of Erfurt "obviously intoxicated", the Deutsche Welle reported.

Raccoons have an unfortunate habit of establishing communal toilets, where "all of them, more or less, go in the same place", says Arne Jernelov, a UN expert on environmental catastrophes, who has written on the long-term impacts of invasive species. "And that, of course, is not very nice if it happens to be the attic of your house."

As their population has climbed to two million in Germany, newspapers have called raccoons an invasive "hoard", "a plague" and a group of "little gangsters", responsible for thousands of Euros of property damage.

But people may have been too quick to assume that the whirlwind of destruction that raccoons leave in cities means that they are a disaster for native wildlife too. As far as harming native species goes, raccoons are being framed for a crime there's little evidence they have committed, says Michler.

Michler led a decade-long research project in Müritz National Park, the largest and longest European field study of its kind. She concluded that there is no evidence of a significant threat to Germany's native biodiversity. Some environmentalists have even claimed that the ecological data we have does not support the EU's designation of raccoons as an invasive species.

Raccoons' ecological impacts in Europe remain poorly studied, says Michler. "We always need someone who's responsible for all the evil in the world," she says. "There are a lot of silly stories going on here in Germany about raccoons – and not enough real research behind it. That's a big problem."

However, the extent of raccoons' ecological impact remains a "big discussion" in Germany, says Vera Heck, managing director of the Federal Association of Wildlife Rescue Organisations in Germany.

Raccoons' ability to climb and swim means that they can get almost anywhere. In the US, where they are native, growing raccoon numbers in certain areas have been linked to declining numbers of songbirds. In Europe, studies have indicated that raccoons eat waterbird eggs, and rare European pond turtles. They can also carry parasites that can harm humans.

A divisive animal

Some scientists have made efforts in recent years to get the species off the EU's invasive species list, says Michler, but Germany's hunting lobby opposes the move. In Germany, most states allow raccoons to be hunted year-round, and the number killed has quadrupled since 2005, to more than a quarter of a million.

Torsten Reinwald, spokesman for the German Hunting Association, says that some scientific studies contradict the Müritz National Park research and find negative impacts on native biodiversity. Reinwald points to research from the Goethe University Frankfurt, which found that raccoons eat amphibians and their eggs.

Public opinion remains divided, says Heck. For some, they are a pest best dealt with by calling in hunters, including for the unfortunate inebriated raccoon in Erfurt, which Deutsche Welle reported was later shot. Others find them adorable enough that nightly feeding sessions take place in many cities.

More like this:

• An unstoppable mushroom is tearing through North American forests

• The spotted lanternfly is ravaging the eastern US

• The chefs cooking with invasive species

Either way, raccoons are in Germany to stay. The overall population continues to increase and the wily mammals make their way into new areas. "At the moment they are shooting, shooting, shooting and every year there are more raccoons," says Heck. Climate change is expected to expand their global range into new non-native areas.

In Kessel, Heck's charity has advocated for raccoons to be sterilised and re-released, in combination with other measures, including hunting and fencing to keep them out of protected areas where they could impact rare animals. Heck hopes that balance could give people in Germany the chance to co-exist with raccoons, without surrendering to them.

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Europe's scorched landscapes seen from space after summer heatwaves

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gxy0wqqd9o, yesterday

The impact of this summer's extreme temperatures on western Europe can now be seen from space after successive heatwaves since May.

Satellite images examined by BBC Verify show shrunken glaciers, scorched areas left by wildfires, green fields turned arid and lower river levels.

And some landmarks have been affected, too. The Palace of Versailles, south of the French capital Paris, appears as an island of trees surrounded by brown fields in these images.

The EU's climate monitoring service, Copernicus, has confirmed that western Europe experienced its hottest June-to-July period on record.

The immediate cause of the heatwaves has been persistent high-pressure weather systems bringing clear, sunny skies and allowing temperatures to build, according to the Met Office.

But climate change, mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels, has been raising average temperatures for decades and making hot spells much more likely and intense.

We've taken a look at how the sweltering weather has left its mark on landscapes across the continent.

Rivers run drier

The waters of the Danube, Europe's second-longest river, have dropped to their lowest levels for 30 years in several countries.

This has led to unusual discoveries on the river bed, including the bones of a mammoth in Bulgaria and a sunken WW2 warship in Serbia. You can see the sunken ship has emerged from the deep in the right-hand image below.

And where the river snakes through Hungary and Romania, nuclear power stations have been forced to shut down or run at reduced capacity for some time because of an inability to use river water for cooling.

Meanwhile on the Rhine, some cargo vessels have been left stranded and river cruises have been cancelled.

Retreating glaciers in the Alps

Even the snow-capped peaks of the Alps have not escaped the heat.

Ongoing measurements suggest this summer could become one of the worst ever recorded for melting Alpine glaciers, with more than a month of the season still to go.

After a mild winter, glaciers had less snow cover than usual at the end of April - and an unusually early heatwave the following month accelerated the melting of snow.

This exposed the ice beneath, leaving the glaciers vulnerable to melting faster in subsequent heatwaves.

As you can see below, satellite imagery suggests much of the front of Rhône Glacier in Switzerland has retreated by 50m (160ft) or more since the same time last year.

In a stable climate, glaciers would be expected to remain more or less the same size over the long-term.

Dr Lander van Tricht, glaciologist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, said in recent years climate change has led to "much less snow in winter and much, much more melt in summer.

"And if we continue this trend, then the future looks very dramatic for the Alps."

Wildfires turn landscapes brown

Wildfires have transformed parts of western Europe this summer, too.

More than 90,000 hectares (900 sq km or 350 sq miles) has burned in France. This is already its worst year on record, according to the European Forest Fire Information System.

The largest fire in Gironde region, where the city of Bordeaux is situated, burnt about 42,000 hectares of land - roughly equivalent in size to the Isle of Wight.

Part of the reason this year has been particularly bad for wildfires is that land has been tinder-dry.

Dr Douglas Kelley of the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology tells us extreme wildfires are becoming "more and more frequent" as climate change is creating ideal conditions, with higher temperatures drying out vegetation and soils faster.

Even zoomed-out satellite imagery of western France shows a striking increase in the browning of land compared to last year.

To assess whether 2026 is unusual we used the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), a measure which uses satellite data to assess how green and healthy vegetation is. Lower readings indicate more sparse or stressed vegetation.

The NDVI this summer came in below a five-year benchmark of 2021 to 2025 across about 70% of France. Close to half the UK and roughly 40% of western Germany showed the same.

Prof Andrew Challinor, from the University of Leeds, said the images were "consistent with widespread water stress", which "does not bode well" given much of Europe's land is covered by crops meaning it could hit the agriculture industry and food production.

In the worst-affected areas, soil moisture is lower than on about 98% of comparable dates in the historical record, according to Prof Luis Samaniego, from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research.

And, he warns, even if rain returns, some of the agricultural damage may already have been done.

Graphics by Jess Carr and Tom Shiel

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Vultures are disappearing in Nigeria - but the 'Vulture King' is fighting to reverse the trend

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx256pp33l3o, 4 days ago

"People fear the environment where the shrine is. No evil will ever happen here. So, nobody fights vultures that perch here," a man they call the Vulture King tells the BBC.

Mostly associated with death and decay, perhaps it is not surprising that when vultures disappeared from the skies across many West African cities, they were not missed.

Yet across the continent, their disappearance is becoming impossible to ignore, as conservationists warn that hunting linked to traditional beliefs and spiritual practices continues to threaten several vulture species to the point of near extinction.

Without vultures, ecosystems would lose a natural defence against the spread of disease.

Thankfully in one part of south-eastern Nigeria, residents are bucking the trend.

Awka-Etiti is home to a sacred forest surrounding a shrine dedicated to a deity known as Nguma.

At first glance, the site is an unremarkable cluster of tall trees wrapped in thick greenery. But at its heart stands an ancient tree that locals say has watched over the community for hundreds of years, and remains the spiritual home of the shrine.

This is a largely Christian community but some residents continue to observe traditional practices, in which vultures play a key role.

Local resident Chukwuemeka Igwe, who has earned the nickname King of Vulture, thanks to his tireless volunteer work with Nigeria Conservation Foundation (NCF), says "the indigenous don't hunt vultures".

Instead, locals sometimes offer fresh animal sacrifices at the shrine which attract the birds, he explains.

"And there is an adage we use here that says: 'When you put down a sacrifice and you do not see vulture[s], know that something happened in the spirit world'."

It means that vultures are a good omen when a sacrifice has been made because their presence suggests that the deity has accepted the sacrifice and heard the residents' appeal to its power.

Now in his 50s, Igwe says the birds have been a feature of daily life in this town for as long as he can remember, walking around among humans and scavenging for food.

Yet for many who venture into the wild elsewhere on the continent, vultures are not the first birds to capture their attention. Rarely do we stop to admire vultures through binoculars or photograph in awe.

In the eyes of many people, vultures are downright ugly. But scientists say they provide one of nature's most important cleaning services.

Vultures consume dead animals within hours, helping prevent carcasses from becoming breeding grounds for dangerous bacteria and diseases.

Their disappearance can have serious consequences, says NCF conservation biologist Stella Egbe: "In places where the total collapse of vultures has happened, there has been impact of rising zoonotic diseases."

Vultures' powerful stomach acids allow them to safely consume infected animals, helping stop diseases such as anthrax and rabies from spreading.

Without vultures, experts warn ecosystems lose a natural defence system.

Rapid urban growth across Africa has also played its part, transforming landscapes, and destroying many of the tall trees that the birds nest in.

Habitat loss is far from the only factor.

Poisoning is the cause of death for an estimated 60% of vultures in Africa, according to BirdLife International.

These issues will be high on the agenda when researchers from across the region meet in Abuja later this year to review the West African Vulture Conservation Action Plan, which was drafted in 2022.

Experts say the use of vultures and their body parts in traditional medicine and Vodun (also known as Voodoo) has emerged as one of the most significant drivers of their decline, especially in West and southern Africa.

Dead adult vultures in Nigeria used to sell for around 25,000 to 30,000 naira ($18 to $22; £13 to £16) each - but can now fetch up to 200,000 naira ($145; £107) per bird, says Egbe.

Vulture eggs and nests are increasingly targeted too, which for such a slow-breeding species is a catastrophic and "shocking" development, says Egbe.

Adult vultures usually reach sexual maturity between the ages of five and seven, and produce only one chick every year or two. Plus many young vultures do not survive their first year.

"And so you imagine what will happen if a nest is removed and eggs are removed. That means a pair of vultures will not have a next generation for that year. So in addition to hunting, you're removing their habitat, you're removing their homes," she adds.

Seven species of vultures in Africa are now classified as globally Endangered or Critically Endangered by BirdLife International, the authority for birds on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.

A recent BirdLife report says African vulture populations have fallen by between 80% and 97% over a period of 50 years.

The group also says that in January 2020 more than 2,000 hooded vultures were found dead in Guinea-Bissau, many with their heads removed - a sign of belief-based practices rather than natural causes, researchers say.

As vulture populations continue to fall across the region, conservationists have been searching for communities where these birds are not hunted, feared or exploited.

They found one such example in Awka-Etiti.

Yet in recent years, Igwe says he and other residents became worried when they noticed outsiders arriving to hunt the birds and vulture numbers dwindled.

In his quest to save the birds he visits markets, buses and public spaces to spread the word: "I tell them that vulture is helpful to human life".

He says he "cannot run away" from his unusual nickname of Ezeudene, or the King of Vulture.

"I'm fighting to make nature exist the way it's supposed to be."

Working with the NCF for the past six years, Igwe has mobilised community leaders, local groups and security teams to protect the birds from outside hunters, with local bylaws now helping to formalise their protection.

Local volunteers monitoring the birds say they have now recorded more than 160 vultures, up from about 20 recorded in 2017.

Nigeria has become a major hub for the illegal trade of vultures, conservationists say, partly because of its biodiversity and porous borders.

"We are doing everything possible to make sure that the smuggling of items, including vultures, including donkeys, and other species outside the country is suppressed to the barest minimum," insists Abdullahi Maiwada, a spokesman for the Nigerian Customs Service.

He says customs officials have carried out seizures of protected wildlife and supported prosecutions linked to illegal trafficking.

It is an example of how Nigeria is trying to live up its commitments as a member of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) - under which endangered species are not allowed to be traded across borders.

But Maiwada admits to the BBC that enforcement alone is not enough - education will be crucial too.

"We may not be able to do it without the cooperation or understanding of members of the community," he continues. "If people understand why these species should be preserved, then our enforcement will only be complementary to those who decide to be recalcitrant."

That message has been at the heart of conservation work in Awka-Etiti and across parts of Nigeria.

Although reliable population data remains limited, conservationists say there are encouraging signs in Awka-Etiti, with local engagement helping residents become vigilant against outside hunters.

"The missing vultures are almost back. If you go to the marketplace now, you see vultures. At one time they disappeared, but now they are coming back," Igwe confirms.

Egbe believes that this small, south-eastern town demonstrates what is possible when communities lead conservation efforts.

"What we've done in Awka-Etiti is one very good example of a success story where people have taken charge of what's going on in their environment. That makes us happy."

For Igwe, every returning bird represents hope.

But with populations still collapsing across Africa, he knows protecting them will require much more than one community.

Additional reporting by Abayomi Adisa, Ifiokabasi Ettang and Natasha Booty

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

Want to get better at making decisions? Ask an ant

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260810-what-insects-can-teach-us-about-decision-making, 6 days ago

From cocky cockroaches to self-aware flies, there's a lot we can learn from creepy crawlies about how to make better decisions. Here are five lessons from the insect world that could help you improve your choices.

We humans tend to fancy ourselves at the top of the evolutionary pyramid for our ability to think oh-so-hard. But all that deliberation sometimes doesn't get us very far. We're not infallible, and we routinely call the wrong shots.

Insects, on the other hand, despite their tiny, poppy-seed-sized brains, have a perhaps surprising amount of wisdom when it comes to decision-making. Many insect problem-solving skills have, in fact, inspired algorithms for efficient deliberation in real-world human industries.

Here are five things we can learn from bugs about making wise choices.

1. Optimising ants

Making your mind up on the best way to get something done is no easy task – especially in a world with so much stimuli. It's called choice overload.

Ants, too, are faced with such a conundrum when they are making a group decision about their next foraging spot. But they've evolved a neat trick, common across a variety of different species.

At first, several ants leave the comfort of their nest, questing to find the closest and best place for a hearty meal. The adventurous ants go out into the wild at random, keeping all their options open and exploring different paths. Along the way and back, they leave a faint pheromone trail on the ground for other ants to follow later on. These pheromones evaporate over time, and ants are more likely to follow the strongest trail.

The ants that find the most efficient foraging spot get back faster with the food, and trace over their pheromone trail before it evaporates completely. They also pass the relay more quickly to any following ants going out to forage. This means that over time, more ants tend to go back and forth along that path, leaving more cumulative pheromone, making the trail smell stronger.

The objectively shorter pathways are therefore reinforced over time, while the others fade away. In the end, the colony collectively finds the shortest and most efficient path without any one ant specifically knowing it was theirs.

"The main lesson… is that efficient collective decision-making can emerge without centralised control," says Marco Dorigo, co-director of the artificial intelligence lab of the Université Libre de Bruxelles, in Belgium. "[Ants are] simple individuals with limited capabilities and only local information, yet they are able to collectively solve complex coordination problems."

This system – dubbed the ant colony optimisation method – has actually been turned into an algorithm for improving human scheduling, telecommunications, transport and logistics across the world. Experts have used ant optimisation algorithms for railway planning, for instance, and Dorigo developed AntNET, a system to efficiently move information around within communication networks.

2. Democratic honeybees

Honeybees use a method very similar to ants' optimised foraging when it comes to finding their new nesting spot.

Several scout bees fly out and look for options at random, like ants. But instead of leaving trails of pheromones, they come back to the nest and directly communicate their preferences. They do a waggle dance for their nest mates, rhythmically shaking their bodies to convey whether they think the new site has what it takes: how safe it is, how close, how large, how well-positioned. The better the nest site, the longer and more vigorous the dancing.

The waggle dance also describes the exact location – how far to go and in what direction the nest mates need to fly – and another round of bees is then sent out to corroborate these findings. When they return they give their verdict in dance, too, either supporting their predecessors or offering new options.

Over time, a preferred location naturally emerges: a couple of dozen bees return from their expedition with positive dances for the same place. They reach a quorum, and they move accordingly from there, like in a human democracy.

3. Neutral locusts

Getting people to change their minds is hard, especially when a group is split between two options. The debate can quickly descend into a stark black-or-white binary, leaving everyone feeling even more entrenched in their ways.

Fortunately, a recent study on locusts points to a way out of this common bind.

Marching locusts are locusts so juvenile they still don't know how to fly, so they march instead. In his experiment, Christian (Kit) Yates*, professor of mathematical biology at the University of Bath, UK, put groups of them in a ring-shaped arena to observe how they collectively decide which direction to go. He realised they routinely flip-flop direction, after a moment of stalling.

It turns out that it is this fleeting moment of suspension – when more and more locusts stop marching and become neutral – that helps the swarm break out of one consensus and switch to the other.

In the experiment, Yates also tested 19 humans with a similar task: he ran a game where participants could choose between X and Y, or abstain. Like the locusts, they found that when people had the option to abstain, it helped the group reach a consensus – just X or just Y – more "quickly and cleanly" than when they didn't, says Yates.

That's because, Yates explains, in a large and highly engaged group, lots of small, independent influences average out, so the overarching direction is hard to budge. But if many individuals become neutral, even just for a moment, the group of decision-makers shrinks.

"With fewer active votes in play, the same small nudge – a brief local cluster moving the other way, a noisy bit of information, a couple of people switching allegiance – produces a larger proportional effect on the group's direction," says Yates.

Ultimately, locusts teach us that neutrality can create the necessary pause for everybody to reassess and reach a consensus, says Yates. The takeaway? If you want to overturn the status quo, don't worry about the indecisive – encourage more people to be so.

4. Cockroaches with personality

It's especially hard to reach group conclusions when there are a lot of strong personalities in the debate. Many people with "main character energy" can steer the debate their way, trumping the collective.

But a study with cockroaches suggests that strong individual personalities among a group can actually speed up decision-making.

Some cockroaches are bold, while others are timid. So Isaac Planas-Sitjà, assistant professor at the Tokyo Metropolitan University in Japan, ran computer simulations of how cockroaches aggregate – one that mimics, for instance, how they hide in a specific dark corner behind a fridge. He tweaked the system to include no personality differences, some personality differences and, finally, a lot of personality differences.

It turns out that the models where every cockroach behaved exactly the same couldn't even get close to what cockroach decision-making is like in the real world. Groups with a lot of personality variation, on the other hand, made collective decisions faster – because they had more social interactions.

"I was very surprised. I expected to see some trend, but not such a clear and repeatable pattern," says Planas-Sitjà.

It means that cockroach groups with only bold or explorer individuals will find it more difficult to aggregate and choose a suitable shelter because they move too much, he says. And while groups with too many shy individuals may settle fast, they risk choosing a poor shelter.

"It is the fine-tuning between the degree of cooperation and behavioural diversity that ultimately drives collective intelligence," says Planas-Sitjà. "If personality matters in these small animals, we can imagine the impact it can have on animals living in societies with additional layers of social complexity."

5. Reflective flies

Sometimes we mute our gut feelings to make decisions we think are logical, even if they feel wrong on a visceral level. Other times, we follow our deep convictions about something without learning from our mistakes.

Fruit flies, it turns out, could teach us a lot about being more self-aware in our deliberations.

Research shows fruit flies are extremely perceptive in how they integrate external and internal information to shape their every move. When choosing between two odours, for example, the more similar the scents, the longer the flies hesitate, as if they're tallying the pros and cons.

When faced with a nice-tasting but unnutritious reward, or a bitter-tasting but nutritious sugary substance, flies can compute the net value of that choice and white-knuckle through the unpleasant-tasting food in return for nutrition.

More like this:

• How to prevent wasps ruining your picnic

• The insects behind the clocks going forward

• The surprising downsides of being a cynic

They're also more likely to go for a small reward that's a safe bet, rather than a hefty reward if it comes with a threat – that is, unless they're very hungry, or stressed. When trained with positive odour and reward, or negative odour and reward, healthy flies are often happy to approach an ambiguous odour and see what comes from it, while stressed flies are more prone to not risking it.

Like flies, sometimes our internal states cloud our judgment. But they also remind us that these gut feelings and learned experiences – made up of a kaleidoscope of tiny fragments of perceptions we're constantly having about ourselves and others – can sometimes help us exercise good judgement.

*Christian (Kit) Yates, professor of mathematical biology at the University of Bath, UK, is also a freelance mathematics feature writer for BBC.com.

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Belgian wildfire doubles in size on third day tearing through nature reserve

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp8eex1nmpvo, today

A wildfire described as the largest in Belgium's recent history has more than doubled in size in 24 hours, local officials said on Sunday.

Hundreds of firefighters are spending a third day beating back flames tearing through Hautes Fagnes - the country's largest nature reserve - prompting the evacuation of two nearby villages.

Local farmers hauled water tankers towards the park near Belgium's eastern border with Germany, backed by water-bombing aircraft and helicopters sent from Sweden and the Netherlands.

The blaze is one of several wildfires reported across Europe this weekend, with at least two killed in forest fires on a Greek island off the coast of Athens on Sunday.

Belgian officials have warned that high heat and the park's terrain - which consists of bog-like territory, moorland and forests - have hampered efforts to extinguish the fire.

It spread from 80 hectares (200 acres) on Friday to 850 hectares on Saturday morning - before consuming 3,000 hectares by early Sunday, AFP news agency reported citing local officials.

Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin said two of its fronts - heading towards Jalhay and Monschau - had been brought under control.

But authorities said the conditions remained challenging and that they were relying heavily on aerial assistance to tame the flames, though no homes have been affected.

Two water-bombing aircraft arrived from Sweden on Sunday afternoon to back up four helicopters - two Belgian and two Dutch - already on site.

Nicolas Yernaux, spokesman for the regional authorities in Wallonia, had said on Saturday that the fire was the country's "largest in recent history".

Firefighters had "allowed parts of the heathland to burn because the area is very difficult to access", he added.

Rescue teams have been unable to access the area where fire broke out, meaning its cause remains unknown.

Forest fires have also been reported in Croatia, Spain and Serbia since Friday, after a summer of extreme heat that has seen swathes of land across Europe either going up in flames or being scorched brown.

Local officials in Landes, south-western France said a wildfire had triggered the evacuation of 650 residents on Saturday.

The fire began on Thursday and, according to authorities, reignited on Saturday - with more than 500 firefighters deployed to tackle the blaze.

The EU's climate monitoring service, Copernicus, has confirmed that western Europe experienced its hottest June-to-July period on record.

One dead, homes swept away after Hurricane Lala lashes Hawaii

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crmrr7kjy9vo, today

Hawaii is facing flash floods and mudslides that have swept away some homes after category one Hurricane Lala skirted Big Island, leaving one person dead in a car accident.

A search-and-rescue operation was under way after several properties were uprooted from their foundations in the coastal communities of Naalehu and Waiohinu.

Despite not even making landfall, the storm still dumped up to 35in (89cm) of rain in places, sending torrents raging down mountainsides. More than 200,000 householders were without power.

Although Lala has weakened to a tropical storm and was moving westward, south of Hawaii, the danger is not over, say officials.

The storm's eyewall howled within 30 miles (48km) of Big Island's South Point overnight, but it was close enough to bring flash flooding, Hawaii County said on Sunday.

After gaining hurricane strength on Saturday afternoon, packing wind speeds of 91mph, Lala's winds have now decreased to near 65mph, said the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in its latest advisory at 14:00 EDT (18:00 GMT) on Sunday.

But tropical storm warnings remain in effect for all eight of Hawaii's major islands.

"Lala is expected to produce additional rainfall of 4 to 8 inches across the Big Island and windward Maui, with maximum storm totals of 30 to 35 inches," the NHC said, while the rest of the island chain can expect rainfall of 4 to 6in.

The US National Weather Service's office in Honolulu said it had had reports of two homes being swept away amid the intense rainfall.

Mayor Kimo Alameda said the county's civil defence agency had launched a search-and-rescue operation to find people whose homes may have been destroyed in the floods.

"What makes this very challenging is that there's rushing water, there's debris, there's boulders on the road, and it's dark," he said earlier.

About 180 Hawaii National Guard members have been deployed to help with the emergency response.

Some 219,000 customers had lost electricity on Hawaii as of Sunday morning local time, according to tracker PowerOutage.

Three hospitals also lost power, but had backup generators.

Big Island's two main airports, Hilo International and Ellison Onizuka Kona, were temporarily closed, but have since reopened.

According to the governor, 190 flights have been postponed.

In Maui, some residents were left without water supply on Saturday.

Iniki, a powerful category four storm, was the last hurricane to hit Hawaii back in 1992.

It caused six deaths and $3bn in damage after making landfall on the southern coast of Kauai.

Hurricane season in the US has been relatively quiet the last few years - the last major storm was category three Hurricane Milton, which hit Florida in October 2024.

This year has seen a strong El Niño - a periodically occurring area of unusually warm surface water - develop in the Pacific, driven in part by climate change.

As hurricanes and typhoons feed off warm sea waters, this spike in ocean temperatures could facilitate a higher number of storms that grow to have a greater intensity.

People who fled Stourbridge fires start to return home

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr49932qrqno, today

People who had to flee their houses during the devastating Stourbridge fires are starting to return home.

Many families are only just discovering the extent of damage to their homes as West Midlands Fire Service allowed some behind the cordon after three days.

Nineteen properties across five streets have been fully destroyed with another 18 severely damaged.

Aerial images of the scene appear to show some houses have remained entirely entact while those next to them have been burnt to the ground.

Residents of Brunswick Gate, Landsgate, Ounty John Lane, Quarry Park Road and Racecourse Lane were asked to gather to speak to fire chiefs one by one.

They then learned if it was safe to return or if their home needed significant repairs or had been lost entirely.

The blaze was one of several being tackled across England and Wales on Thursday, the hottest day of the year so far.

Phil Garrigan from the National Fire Chief's Council (NFCC) said on Saturday that 11 major fires in the past 48 hours and 43 new wildfires since Friday have left services under "incredible pressure".

Among those who have been able to return home are the Abdullah family, who fled as they were preparing to head to a local Wetherspoons pub to celebrate 18-year-old Dominic's A-level results.

Dominic told the BBC that nothing could describe the feeling of watching his neighbours houses burn.

"Seeing the houses go down, seeing neighbours we know - their rooftops just burning, the whole street covered in smoke," he said.

His mother said they smelt smoke and when they saw their neighbours leaving their homes they ran for their lives.

In Stoke-on-Trent, four homes were completely destroyed by a fire that started in a park in Sandyford and 13 other homes suffered structural, roof and window damage.

Marie Leese told how her treasured garden went up in flames after fire ripped through properties in Maureen Avenue.

When she was allowed to return home, she discovered she had also lost the summer house her husband built before he died three years ago.

Police have arrested a man and woman on suspicion of arson in connection with the Stoke-on-Trent fire.

Investigators are still working on what caused the blaze in Stourbridge.

A fundraiser created by Dudley Council to help residents "rebuild their lives" has surpassed £25,000.

Another by the Heart of England Community Foundation to help families impacted by fires across the West Midlands has hit £50,000.

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Renewed fire warning in Cornwall after more gorse fires

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98vvnvmrdno, today

Firefighters in Cornwall are urging residents and visitors to avoid lighting bonfires or barbecues after receiving a "high volume" of calls over them.

The warning comes after three crews from Perranporth, St Just and St Ives tackled a fire which destroyed 25sq m of gorse at Madron, near Penzance, on Saturday night which was thought to have been started deliberately.

In another incident, crews from Truro and Tolvaddon tackles a grass and gorse fire at Tregavethan on Saturday evening.

The service said it had a "high volume" of 999 calls since Saturday evening and appealed to people to "avoid carrying out controlled burns" as the ground was "exceptionally dry".

A spokesperson said the conditions increased the risk of fires spreading.

They said the service was unable to respond to reports of neighbours having barbecues, bonfires or campfires in their gardens unless there was an emergency.

They added the service supported the government's message about avoiding starting fires and added it "would strongly advise against having bonfires, fireworks, campfires or disposable BBQs during this period".

They warned fires could "spread quickly and become difficult to control, putting your home and neighbouring properties at risk".

The government sent out a wildfire emergency alert to millions of mobile phones last week, warning against "any activity that could start a fire", saying there is a "very high risk of wildfires nationally".

Disposable barbecues have also been temporarily banned from sale over fears they posed a "significant risk to the public" as drought and heatwave conditions continue to grip the UK.

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Community forest confirms climate funding to 2030

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y3enn7p10o, today

A tree-planting project has secured government funding to continue its work until at least 2030.

The North East Community Forest (NECF) is an environmental initiative working across Newcastle, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Sunderland, and urban areas throughout County Durham.

One of several community forests that will receive support from phase two of the government's Trees for Climate programme, NECF said the extended funding "provides the confidence and stability needed to continue creating woodlands".

Since it was established in 2021, NCEF has planted more than 642,000 trees and created nearly 700 hectares of new woodland across the North East.

Forest manager Lloyd Jones said: "With long-term funding in place, we are well positioned to expand our impact and deliver lasting benefits for communities and the environment across the North East."

During the 2025-26 season, NECF planted 125,375 trees and created 158 hectares of new woodland, hedgerows and open space habitats across the region.

The organisation previously supported Ouseburn Farm in Byker, a nature-based play and learning project in Newcastle and the planting of a Sycamore Gap sapling on the city's Town Moor.

Since 2021, the Trees for Climate project has seen new plants spring up across the NECF region, from North Shields down to Newton Aycliffe.

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Heatwaves 'exceptional', says meteorological chief

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce8kjz21k02o, yesterday

The chief executive of a meteorological society has described the heatwaves this year as "unprecedented" and "exceptional".

On Thursday the UK experienced its hottest day of the year and fifth hottest day on record, as a heatwave that gripped much of the country peaked at 38.1C, the Met Office said.

Liz Bentley, chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society in Reading, said "summers are going to become hotter and drier".

"We're seeing that being played out quite readily now.... It is kind of the new norm for us in the UK," she added.

The latest spell of extreme heat marks the UK's fifth heatwave this year, with the Met Office warning this summer is on course to be the UK's hottest since records began.

More than 27 million people in England and Wales have been placed under a hosepipe ban as some water companies struggle to cope with the dry weather and high demand for water.

Bentley said: "The concerns are if we go into autumn and if it is a particularly dry winter, then we go into next year which again we could end up with a potential you know similar scenario, that we could be under some real problems next year.

"We've got hose pipe bans this year but if we have a second summer particularly with a drier winter as well that we could have some severe problems next year."

She said these severe problems could be that we run out of water.

"The other thing, and we've noticed that this year, the heat and the dry conditions, we're seeing more wildfires," said Bentley.

She added: "That is one of the growing risk in the UK.

"We have these national risk registers and we have a climate change committee that looks at how our climate's changing, and wildfires is seen as one of the growing risks - something I never really thought would become a problem in the UK."

In the New Forest, an area the size of about 230 football pitches has been affected by a wildfire.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Andy Burnham, whose government issued a temporary ban on the sale of disposable barbecues on Friday, told the BBC: "Britain is a tinderbox right now."

Electric vehicle sales targets could be cut after pressure from car makers

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1l1yj0zd9no, 2 days ago

The UK's electric vehicle (EV) sales target could be cut after the government launched a review following pressure from car makers.

Currently, manufacturers must ensure a percentage of the cars they sell each year are zero emissions, with the target rising each year to reach 80% by 2030.

The government has now said it is considering cutting that figure to as far as 50% of all sales by the end of the decade, which it will consult on until late October.

Environmental groups have argued that watering down the target undermines the UK's long-term climate goals.

Under the current policy, known as the ZEV mandate, the percentage of new car sales that need to be EVs increases each year, from 33% for 2026 until it reaches 80% by 2030. It started at 22% in 2024.

An outright ban on selling purely petrol or diesel cars past 2030 will stay in place, something that Labour promised in its election manifesto.

However the changes now being consulted on could allow car makers to sell more hybrid vehicles as a proportion of the UK's overall sales.

That means if the government drops pure electric sales targets to 50%, the other 50% would need to be hybrid.

Another option would be keeping the target at 80% but with flexibility for car makers extending as far as 2034.

A longer term deadline for phasing out new hybrid sales would also remain in place for 2035.

The policy on EV sales has already changed a lot over the years.

A ban on selling new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030 was first announced by Boris Johnson when he was prime minister, then pushed back to 2035 by his successor Rishi Sunak.

Sunak also introduced more gradual targets for EV sales under the ZEV mandate.

Labour has previously accused previous Conservative governments of "moving goalposts on phase out dates".

It comes after motor industry figures urged ministers to ease the targets, arguing that demand for electric vehicles isn't yet high enough, and meeting them is costing manufacturers too much money.

That is despite electric cars making up a quarter of total sales in the UK over the first seven months of the year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

The Climate Change Committee, which advises the government, has said switching from diesel and petrol engines to EVs will be the most effective way of cutting carbon emissions over the next decade.

Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander said on Friday: "It's right we keep targets under review to ensure they're practical and back British industry.

"The end goal hasn't changed – but we need to take business with us on the journey, and that's exactly what we're doing today, by making sure industry has the chance to shape how we get there."

Lisa Brankin, managing director of Ford of Britain, welcomed the government's "willingness to listen" to car makers, adding: "It is vital to give the industry and customers the certainty that we need."

Mike Hawes, boss of the SMMT, the primary car industry lobby group, added that the ZEV mandate was "conceived under vastly different conditions".

He called the review "a timely opportunity to adjust the transition so it works for all".

Electric car advocates and climate groups criticised the move.

Tanya Sinclair, the boss of industry group Electric Vehicles UK, criticised the government for "asking whether we should extend the availability of polluting vehicles amid our hottest summer on record."

The Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit, a thinktank, calculated that cutting the EV sales target to 50% would mean 2.6 million fewer electric cars on the roads by 2035.

Gurjeet Grewal, chief of Octopus Electric Vehicles, added that weakening the mandate "would send exactly the wrong signal, just as EVs are becoming some of the best-value cars on the road".

The rapid rise in petrol prices caused by the Iran war has also caused interest in electric cars to spike around the world as a consumer spending measure.

The Green Alliance said watering down targets would "lock in avoidable emissions while undermining the certainty manufacturers need to invest".

Clubs battle to prepare pitches ahead of new season

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy452x2qjqqo, 3 days ago

The hot weather and dry conditions have left local football clubs struggling to maintain their pitches before the start of the season.

Clubs in Guernsey said they were trying to maintain their surfaces, but with limited equipment and funding, are finding it hard to water all areas of the ground.

Due to the lack of water, with just 5.4mm (0.2 inches) of rainfall recorded on the island in July, and with league games rolling around soon, it is less likely the grass will be in the condition that players want.

North groundsman Simon Jackson said: "Last year was bad, this year has been unprecedented, I can't remember a time [since] my son has been playing at the club and it's been as bad as this."

Jackson added: "We have sprinklers going for three hours at night, and ziplines to get the areas which are looking the worst, but we are on a well and there is only a certain amount of water in that well, so we are trying to manage as best as we can."

St Martin's AC club director Ben Hunter said: "If we had a week of rain it (the grass) would pop up in about 10 days, you can start to see green patches where we have watered it but it's hard as when we start having players on there every night, it's hard to recover."

The KGV playing fields in Cobo are used throughout the football and cricket seasons.

Club director Stuart Le Prevost said: "With it being 30+ degrees we have the cover over it to stop the wicket cracking ahead of the next few matches."

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Hidden moth population found after 70 years

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1712kz5qpgo, 3 days ago

A hidden population of one of England's rarest moths has been found at a site where it had not been seen for more than 70 years.

Head of conservation at Butterfly Conservation Dr Dave Wainwright has spent his career searching for the dark bordered beauty and said he felt an "overwhelming feeling of relief" when they were found at Wallington estate, in Northumberland.

For decades, the only site where the moth was found in England was at Strensall Common, in Yorkshire, but the population there has been in decline due to climate change and a wildfire.

The discovery has given conservationists new hope for the species and opened up the possibilities of where more can be found.

Once widespread across northern England and Scotland, habitat loss has caused significant decline in the dark bordered beauty.

The custard-and-chocolate-coloured moth was found at the National Trust site previously but had not been seen since 1952.

Wainwright has been searching for new English colonies since he started working for Butterfly Conservation in 2004.

He even visited the Wallington estate that year but found none.

But on his most recent visit, Wainwright said they found one "within a few minutes".

"I was hopeful - I'm always hopeful- but I definitely didn't expect it because I've been to so many sites to look for this species over the years, so my heart and head were in two different places," he said.

"It was one of the highlights of my career.

"Overwhelmingly it was just a feeling of relief that we weren't just fighting the fight at one site anymore."

The moth's caterpillars will only eat two plants - aspen and creeping willow - which makes it a challenge to conserve, according to Butterfly Conservation.

Wainwright said Wallington was a different environment to Strensell, which conservationists had previously based their idea of a "good habitat" for the moths, opening up new possibilities.

"The thing that's kept me going all these years is I always felt there was a chance of finding dark bordered beauty on the Northumberland/Cumbria border – now it feels like there could be other colonies out there waiting to be discovered which would be brilliant," he said.

The National Trust, which runs Wallington, said it hoped to expand the potential habitat for the moth.

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Romania shuts only nuclear plant as heat causes huge drop in Danube River level

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqlxpq5q799o, 3 days ago

Romania has shut down its only nuclear power station because of extremely low water levels in the Danube river caused by prolonged hot weather affecting much of Europe.

The Cernavodă plant, where two reactors produce about 20% of Romania's electricity, is not expected to be restarted within the next 10 days.

Earlier this week, authorities tried to increase the water flow to the plant - which uses the Danube for cooling - by sinking barges loaded with rocks in the river.

Neighbouring Hungary has so far avoided a shutdown of its only nuclear plant in Paks, which also uses the Danube. The waters in Europe's second-longest river have fallen to the lowest levels for 30 years in several countries.

The second of the two 706-megawatt reactors at Cernavodă was disconnected from the Romanian electricity grid just before midday on Thursday.

"We do not foresee a restart within the next 10 days," plant director Romeo Urjan told the AFP news agency.

The first reactor had already been shut down in July.

Until now, Cernavodă had only been shut down once before in 2003.

The shortfall in power is usually covered by solar and wind during the hot, windy daytimes - but traditional coal- and gas-powered generation will have to be supplemented by imports during the evenings.

Romania also has huge hydropower capacity, although that has been heavily cut by the same low river levels that caused the nuclear shutdown.

In Hungary, Prime Minister Péter Magyar warned last month that the Soviet-era Paks, which has four nuclear reactors, could be forced to shut down entirely for the first time.

Plant officials said that levels in the Danube were so low that the suction nozzles used to take in water could not reach it.

Climate change is driving up temperatures around the world - but particularly in Europe.

It is the fasting warming continent, heating up twice as fast as the global average, according to the Copernicus climate service.

This is causing increased summer heatwaves, greater pressure on Europe's waters and more intense wildfires.

The Rhine - another of Europe's key waterway - is also suffering low water levels, which is severely limiting traffic.

The continent's agricultural sector has also taken a noticeable hit.

Italy's largest agricultural trade association, Coldiretti, said climate-related damage - such as hail, drought and wildfires could exceed €3bn (£2.6bn; $3.5bn).

France's Environment Minister Monique Barbut warned that data from the country's national statistics agency suggested the recent heatwaves could rack up €10bn to €15bn in direct and indirect costs.

The Dutch bank Triodos said the extreme heat and its consequences could wipe out much of the projected economic growth for the EU.

The European Commission had forecast growth of 1.1%, while the IMF expected the euro area to grow by around 0.9%.

In Greece, more than 200 people - mostly tourists - were evacuated on Friday from the popular resorts of Siviri and Fourka in the northern Halkidiki peninsular because of a raging wildfire.

Meanwhile, as many as 80 departments across France are now on a heatwave alert, as temperatures are expected to exceed in some places 40C (104F) on Friday.

The country has already been devastated by fires in recent weeks, with the blazes causing more damage this year than at any time since World War Two.

Spain - which is also still recovering after recent deadly wildfires - on Thursday recorded temperatures as high as 37C in central areas.

The UK on Thursday saw its hottest day of the year so far, with the Met Office reporting a provisional recording of 38.1C in London's Kew Gardens.

Multiple fires were burning across the West Midlands, with several people reported injured and four homes destroyed.

Rain is expected to arrive in more places of the UK over the weekend, but the BBC climate and science team says it will take more than showers to bring the UK's widespread drought to an end.

Public backing for mega-reservoir, says Thames Water

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8dnl5186zro, 5 days ago

Almost nine in 10 people support the building of a new £6.6bn reservoir in Oxfordshire according to a survey.

Thames Water said 89% of 2,004 adults surveyed across the South East view the White Horse Reservoir, formerly known as the South East Strategic Reservoir Option, near Abingdon, as "important to safeguarding future water supplies".

It follows four record-breaking heatwaves in 2026 and the driest July for England and Wales on record, with more than two-thirds of England now in drought.

The Chairman of the Group Against Reservoir Development (GARD) Derek Stork said its petition had 8,000 signatures that were "representative of people's views" rather than the selected sample.

The most recent £6.6bn cost prediction for the reservoir is almost six times an early estimate of £1.2bn.

Thames Water said the research had been conducted by the agency Accent, which collected the data between May and June.

The proposed reservoir would secure the water supply for 15 million people in the south east of England, including customers of Thames Water, Affinity Water and Southern Water.

Thames Water said two thirds of people "are worried about having access to a consistent supply of water and less than a third believe there will always be a plentiful supply of water in the region".

The firm warns of "a billion litre daily shortfall of water by 2050 without urgent action".

Plans for the reservoir progressed to a planning application stage in May and if approved by the government, water will be available for use from 2040.

Leonie Dubois, delivery director at Thames Water, said the support for the plans shown in the survey was "incredibly encouraging".

"This summer has served as a stark reminder of the extremely hot and dry weather that is set to become our new norm.

"It's therefore vital that we're able to store more water and White Horse Reservoir's role in future water supply is of national critical importance."

However, Stork said the GARD petition along with objections from parish councils, the Vale of White Horse District Council, Abingdon Town Council and Oxfordshire County Council was more "representative of people's views rather than some kind of selected bunch of people who were put in a room and asked focus group questions".

GARD also collected about 500 signatures at Truck Festival in July.

Commenting on the issues caused by heatwaves and drought, Stork said fixing leaks should be "the first priority" as a lot of water stored underground was leaking "at an appalling rate".

He said transferring water from the wetter areas of the country was another solution, which had been implemented by other countries with drought problems such as the UAE and Qatar, and that people should also "stop using so much water".

Stork said they would not object to "building a reservoir like Farmoor [in Oxfordshire] to temporarily hold water back".

Thames Water says that the reservoir would create more than 1,000 new jobs during its construction.

Kent named wine hotspot after 'perfect' weather

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwylw8l547jo, 6 days ago

Kent could soon become a major wine destination, according to producers, who say the English wine industry is growing as a result of the "perfect" weather.

In 2023 global wine production hit a historic low when the industry saw its worst yield in over 60 years. British wine however saw a bumper crop in that same year with production increasing by 77% from 2022.

Kent now has roughly 25% of Britain's vineyard planting with the county producing 5.08m bottles of wine in 2025.

Hester Fenwick, owner of Brabourne vineyard near Ashford, said: "It's a silver lining to a much, much bigger cloud but what is quite exciting in Kent is that we've now hit a critical mass of vineyards."

She said: "What we're now looking to do is work together with other vineyards and create a region which is world renowned for its wine, and, as the weather becomes a little bit warmer we've got the perfect conditions for that."

With lots of European countries struggling to get in a good harvest this year, some business owners say they hope Kent could provide a backup for European wine and start to attract tourists to the region to see the vineyards.

A new tourism initiative - the Kentish Wine Way - is being set up, connecting wine growers together so visitors can go to several vineyards in one day.

John Smith, co-owner of Woodchurch Wine Estate, said: "The UK are big consumers of wine and yet very little of our domestic consumption is from domestic production.

"At some point that imbalance will work itself out so I'm an eternal optimist," he said.

"I think we'll get to a point where the UK and Kentish wine industry in particular will be making more wine to meet that demand."

Experts say that by growing hardy grapes like Bacchus and Pinot, English wine has thrived where other crops have failed this year.

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Disabled in a heatwave: 'We're talking about survival'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd6923j2wnpo, 6 days ago

Heatwaves this summer have brought travel disruption, overheating homes and school closures for millions - and there is a fifth heatwave expected to hit this week.

It is well-documented that those with existing health conditions and disabilities are most at risk during extreme heat episodes.

But these additional and specific challenges faced - from struggling service dogs to overheating wheelchairs - are often overlooked, even in public advice and emergency planning, say campaigners and researchers.

"For somebody who is able-bodied, it's uncomfortable but if you identify as disabled, we're starting to talk about survival," says campaigner Doug Paulley.

Emily Davison says soaring temperatures force her to put the welfare of her guide dog, Rosie, before her own independence.

"The dog's health has to come first."

Davison is a London-based journalist and content creator, but heatwaves have forced her to cancel journeys to events because it is often too hot for Rosie to travel safely - missing out on potential earnings.

Public transport like buses often overheat and she avoids Uber after "too many experiences where they've not let me in with a dog".

She says finding available taxis has become more difficult, even with London Taxicard scheme, a subsidised taxi service for people with mobility impairments or severe sight loss.

Davison says every trip now requires careful planning, which can make her feel isolated and limits both her work and independence.

"It does put the brakes on your life," she says. "When you're in this situation and you've got a guide dog and you can't do anything, it does make certain things grind to a halt."

She is now spending long periods working from home - but says she is lucky to be still able to do this but not all disabled people can.

"I think the culture of being able to work from home and have that option is really important to keep ensuring that disabled people can still be in employment."

Jimmy Macfarlane is a Cardiff-based actor who needs to travel for his job - so he uses a powered wheelchair.

During this summer's heatwaves, people have taken to social media to report phone batteries draining faster because of the high temperatures, but forJimmy batteries are what enable him to get around.

"The heat definitely impacts the chair and it makes the battery go down a lot quicker.

"I always have to think is there a way I can get to where I need to be without moving the chair?" Macfarlane says.

Some days he has not even been able to leave his home - he previously lived in a sixth-floor flat and the heat caused the lift to break down.

Such problems have been reported in other high-rise buildings by BBC News, but unlike other residents Jimmy cannot just use the stairs to get round the problem.

"There were times where I was stuck in the flat [for days] until it was fixed," he says.

And the heat inside his flat became difficult to manage.

Because of his cerebral palsy, he says everyday tasks already require more energy. "Things like getting changed, having a shower… everything I do takes twice as long as a non-disabled person.

"On a hot day, it's even more exhausting."

Cooling tricks can be dangerous when blind

Common advice for dealing with the heat is to conserve energy and stay cool by keeping your curtains closed and opening the windows when it is cool.

But for Claire Sisk, a content creator and advocate who has distorted vision, this can be dangerous.

"If I've got all my windows and doors open, I feel incredibly vulnerable because I can't see if anybody is walking into my property. So I have to have them all closed, which is quite unbearable," Sisk says.

Other measures intended to keep homes cool can introduce new risks. Fans, for example, can become trip hazards because they are not part of her usual layout.

When she leaves home, the current weather can make her remaining vision far less reliable.

"[When] that sunlight comes out, then that bit of vision just goes," Sisk says.

Hot weather can make travel unpredictable, and access issues can waste valuable time on an already exhausting day. She recalled having to wait at a Tube station because of staff shortages.

"That can be a bit frustrating because it takes you two hours then to get home when it should have only taken 45 minutes."

The cost burden of a heatwave

Hollye Kirkcaldy, a PhD researcher at the University of Bath, studies how extreme heat affects disabled people in the UK, and says these experiences are shared by many across the country.

"You've got inequalities in urban infrastructure, housing, structural conditions around things like social networks and care. If you put all of those together and then you throw heat in, that's what's disabling," Kirkcaldy says.

Her research found that official heatwave guidance often does not reflect disabled people's circumstances, while measures presented as simple can in fact create new barriers.

This can reduce independence which harms their mental wellbeing and adds financial pressures, she says. Disabled people can be left unable to work and facing additional outgoings like higher energy costs for round-the-clock cooling.

Kirkcaldy says in some cases it can be "a trade-off that nobody should have to make between your health and whether you eat."

For disability campaigner Doug Paulley, who has a number of health conditions which are exacerbated by hot temperatures, the experiences of disabled people during heatwaves point to wider problems in society.

"Disabled people are always amongst the first against the wall whenever there's a significant crisis of any type in society, and this is no exception," Paulley says.

During one heatwave, he cancelled physiotherapy and missed giving evidence to the Covid Inquiry because travelling became unsafe.

"There was just no way that I could have gone. It was dangerously hot and I would have been really unwell."

Climate change must be factored into how people think about access and support, Emily Davison says.

"Climate change is a thing. Summers are only going to get hotter."

For Doug, the issue is not only how disabled people cope with extreme weather, but whose experiences are considered when decisions are made about the future.

"Policy is very much set for them, not with them."

'We've had a lot of close calls': Canada wildfire evacuees wonder if they still have homes

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2lwv032j9o, 6 days ago

Earl Kurz and his wife have lived in Peachland, a town overlooking Okanagan Lake in Canada's British Columbia, for 30 years. In the last 10, he said he has grown used to wildfires threatening his community.

But this is the first time he's been forced to flee, and surveying the damage left behind by the Bald Range wildfire, which broke out on Friday and grew in a matter of hours to 53 sq miles (136 sq km) in size, has been difficult.

"It's total incinerated destruction," Kurz said. "The hot spots are just barren areas of nothing except 12 inches of ash."

Officials in British Columbia are still trying to determine how many homes were lost to the fire, which remains out of control as of Monday.

More than 12,000 residents in the area are still under an evacuation order.

One woman, aged 80, died while trying to flee from the wildfire, police said on Sunday.

With dry lightning, high temperatures and winds in the forecast, officials warned on Monday that the fire continues to be a threat and that new ignitions are possible.

The Okanagan area of British Columbia, known for its world renowned vineyards and picturesque scenery, has been grappling with extreme drought in recent years. As of July, the level of the Okanagan Lake was at its lowest since 1992, according to the Okanagan Basin Water Board.

The Bald Range wildfire is one of more than 100 burning in British Columbia as of Monday - 70 of which started in the last week alone.

The west coast province's premier, David Eby, declared a state of emergency over the weekend, urging residents to heed evacuation orders and warning that the fires continue to move "incredibly quickly".

Keegan Radomski is one of thousands who have had to flee their homes in Summerland, a town on the Okanagan Lake just south of Peachland. The 18-year-old told the BBC she barely escaped with her mother's ashes before she saw the fire breach her property.

"We've had a lot of close calls before, but it's never been like this," Radomski said. "You always think it's not going to be you, and then it's you."

The home she fled was built by her grandmother 30 years ago, she said. Living in the Okanagan for decades meant that Radomski and her family are familiar with wildfires and evacuation notices, but they were still caught off guard by the speed of this fire.

The family noticed wildfire smoke from the distance while eating dinner on Friday evening. Less than four hours later, Radomski said she was scrambling to get everyone out as she saw a hill on her property begin to burn.

She added she is still unsure if her family's home survived, and when she can return and check for herself.

Doug Holmes, the mayor of Summerland, told CBC News on Monday that some people's homes have been lost, but "we don't know how many".

"I think we need to prepare for the fact that everybody is going to know somebody that has lost a home," Holmes said.

Some residents in the farming community were forced to leave their livestock behind in the quick evacuation, said Kaz Nowlin, who has been helping rescue stranded animals in the Okanagan area since wildfires broke out last month.

Nowlin said he and a group of volunteers have so far rescued dozens of animals, including 57 horses.

He told the BBC he is in the process of acquiring a permit to enter Summerland and round up 14 alpacas and eight horses that have remained. "It's for the animals' well-being," he said of his efforts. "They don't deserve what's going on."

The Bald Range wildfire comes on the heels of another fire in the Okanagan, called Bradley Creek, which is believed to have destroyed more than 200 homes.

Officials said the Bradley Creek fire is now being held after "tireless work" by wildfire crews to contain it.

Drought conditions have also contributed to fires in the US state of Washington, just south of British Columbia, where more than 65,000 people were forced to flee their homes.

Devastating fires have also burned this summer in Spain and France as Europe grapples with drought and record high temperatures.

France has seen its worst fires in two decades, while officials in the Spanish capital Madrid say theirs are the worst the region has ever experienced.

Fires are part of the natural cycle of Canada's vast boreal forest, but experts say climate change - particularly hotter and dryer weather - has made them more intense and frequent in the last decade. In 2023, the country saw its worst wildfire season in history in terms of the total area burned.

Wildfires 'emerging threat' as smoke blown across county

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly57l78w8zo, 6 days ago

Wildfires are an "emerging threat" to the fire service, a fire chief has warned, after a Welsh blaze blew smoke and ash into the West Country.

Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service dealt with more than a hundred calls on Sunday from people who could smell smoke, with crews dispatched across the county to try to find the source.

It later transpired it was being blown across the border from a moorland fire near Llangynidr Reservoir.

Asked whether he was concerned a similar fire could break out in the fire service's patch, group manager Richard Jackson Lockyer said: "[We're] very worried. It's an emerging threat to the fire service."

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service first reported a moorland fire near the reservoir in south Wales on Saturday afternoon.

Smoke has been blown over the Bristol Channel and there have been reports of ash falling from the sky in Quedgeley.

A helicopter was dispatched to tackle the flames on Sunday and firefighters are expected to be on the scene for several more days.

"At one point we had over a hundred calls being dealt with by our control room," Jackson Lockyer said.

"Most of the county at one point was out trying to search for any sign of fire."

When firefighters found nothing, it became clear the source was the Welsh blaze.

Jackson Lockyer said the service was prepared for a similar situation in Gloucestershire.

"We have now got a number of trained officers to deal with wildfires across the county," he added.

Responding to similar reports of smoke in Bristol, North Somerset and Frome, Avon Fire and Rescue Service said they were aware of the issue and also believed the source to be the fire in Wales.

A spokesman said: "Where smoke is particularly noticeable, residents may wish to keep windows and doors closed where possible as a precaution.

"With the current dry weather and increased risk of fire, we are urging residents to remain vigilant and take extra care to help prevent fires.

"Anyone who sees or suspects a fire should call 999 immediately and ask for the fire and rescue service."

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World's oceans hit record-high July temperatures

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpvw8vmmgrwo, 7 days ago

The world's oceans hit their hottest ever recorded temperatures for July, partly fuelled by developing El Niño conditions in the Pacific, according to the EU's climate monitoring service.

The average sea surface temperature (SST) outside the world's polar regions - between 60 degrees north and 60 degrees south - was 20.96C last month, beating the previous high of 20.89C, set in 2023.

Last month was the joint second-warmest July globally on record, with temperatures 1.47C above the estimated pre-industrial average, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Meanwhile, Western Europe experienced its hottest ever June and July, with prolonged hot and dry conditions fuelling extreme wildfires across the region.

Elsewhere, the UK is braced for its fifth heatwave of the year this week, as persistent dry weather puts further pressure on water supplies and could see more areas officially declared in drought.

Around Europe, sea surface temperatures in July reached record highs along the Atlantic coast and in the western Mediterranean, contributing to widespread strong and severe marine heatwaves.

Sea temperatures remained exceptionally high across much of the tropical Pacific, where El Niño conditions are developing and forecast to strengthen in the coming months.

El Niño is a natural weather pattern in the Pacific that combined with human-driven global warming can cause temperature spikes and more extreme weather.

Oceans are a vital regulator of the climate, absorbing most of the excess heat generated by greenhouse gas emissions and producing half of Earth's oxygen.

The greatest effect of ocean warming is on sea level rise. As seawater warms it expands, and this thermal expansion accounts for roughly a third of sea level rise recorded by scientists to date. That water encroaches on low-lying coasts and island nations.

Hotter seas are also driving longer and fiercer marine heatwaves, which have bleached coral reefs on a mass scale and decimated kelp forests and fisheries.

Warmer ocean surfaces also evaporate more heat and moisture into the air, intensifying tropical storms and loading them with heavier rainfall.

'Climate change is intensifying heat extremes'

Western Europe is experiencing an exceptional run of extreme heat - with record-breaking temperatures in June and July, and some areas facing their third or fourth heat wave since May.

The average temperature across western Europe for June and July was 21.62C - 2.79C above average and the highest for the two-month period.

"July 2026 was the third consecutive month of exceptional heat in western Europe," said Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.

Persistent high-pressure systems trapped heat over the region, she said, while dry soils reduced the ability to provide natural cooling.

"This is a clear example of how climate change is intensifying heat extremes, with heat and drought increasingly reinforcing one another," she added.

France, Spain, parts of Germany and the UK recorded exceptionally low rainfall and/or soil moisture, while soil moisture levels across much of western Europe were significantly lower than in 2022, when the region experienced severe drought.

River levels have been much lower than average - in some places exceptionally low -with the Seine, Rhine and Danube among those particularly affected.

Low flows exacerbate pressure on water supplies and irrigation, aquatic ecosystems, river transport and energy production.

The prolonged hot and dry conditions have created favourable conditions for wildfires, with massive wildfires raging across western Europe last month and "exceptional activity" in terms of the area burned and smoke and emissions generated.

"Climate change is increasingly bringing the kinds of hot and dry conditions that favour large, high-intensity wildfires in southern Europe while extended the fire season northwards," said Laurence Rouil, director of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service.

Larger fires produce more smoke and inject it higher into the atmosphere, allowing it to travel much further, he said.

That means countries that experience relatively few wildfires could be increasingly affected by smoke traveling long distances.

Extreme weather 'new normal'

In the UK, meanwhile, the prolonged dry spell is increasing pressure on already-stretched water supplies.

England and Wales recorded their driest July since records began 190 years ago, according to the Met Office, while large parts of England and all of Wales have already been officially declared in drought.

The Environment Agency has warned that more areas of England could be declared in drought if dry conditions persist.

Weather that was once considered extreme is becoming the "new normal", according to the latest Met Office report on the UK's climate.

Its latest assessment found that the hottest day of the year in southern England is now 4.5C warmer than it was between 1961 and 1990.

"We are right now living in a time of historic and unprecedented change," said Mike Kendon, Met Office climate information scientist, adding that "evidence shows the climate of the 20th century has now gone".

Scientists say El Niño may temporarily push global temperatures even higher. Its effects are being felt against a backdrop of man-made warming, particularly the burning of fossil fuels.

The world is now about 1.4C warmer on average than it was in the late 19th Century.

Britain must prepare for El Niño shocks, says MP

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8dn01ym97lo, 7 days ago

An MP has urged the Prime Minister to prepare the UK for a "super-El Niño" climate event that could have a major impact on global food supplies and economies.

Chris Hinchliff, the Labour MP for North East Hertfordshire, wrote to Andy Burnham asking him to "take urgent action" and to chair the government's Climate and Nature Security Taskforce.

El Niño is a natural weather pattern in the Pacific, but when combined with human-driven global warming can cause a spike in temperatures and more extreme weather.

A government spokesperson said: "The Climate and Nature Security Taskforce will ensure that Britain is better prepared for the threats that the climate crisis creates, including from El Niño."

Meteorologists have been tracking the development of this year's El Niño, which is part of a natural ebb and flow cycle with its cooler sister, La Niña.

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) recently said the already "strong" system was "expected to strengthen during August to October", leading to "above normal temperatures" worldwide.

This would increase the risk of drought in some areas and excessive rainfall in others.

Since 2015 - when the latest "super" El Niño took place - the world has experienced its 11 warmest years on record.

Hinchliff said all the indications suggested "this event will be off the charts in terms of the level of impact".

"Even smaller El Niño events have created enormous supply chain impacts, caused crop failures and rising food prices, wiping out hundreds of billions of dollars across the global economy," he wrote.

Celeste Saulo, WMO's secretary-general, said governments and communities had "a window of opportunity to anticipate risks and act before impacts unfold".

"El Niño is one of the most closely monitored climate phenomena in the world, but forecasts in themselves do not prevent hazards, people do," she said.

Storms and floods

While the UK is not directly in the line of fire from El Niño, it can sometimes make British winters colder and summers hotter.

Hayley Fowler, a professor of climate change impacts at Newcastle University, supported Hinchliff's message in a post on X.

"There is a direct link between El Niño and wet winters in the UK through increased sea surface temperatures in the north Atlantic - these are already very warm this year.

"We can expect a very wet winter with frequent storms and floods this year in the UK," she wrote.

Hinchliff said he had written to Burnham because "this is an important moment to be emphasising the need for swift and decisive action, to improve the resilience of our country to extreme weather".

"We have farmers already ringing alarm bells around food shortages because of the impact on the harvest this year," he said.

"I think it's clear for everyone to see that our country has a long way to go before it's properly adapted to the new climate reality that we face."

He called on the government to accelerate food security planning, review the resilience of infrastructure to extreme heat, urgently plant trees and restore wetlands to mitigate flooding, and implement heat adaptation planning for schools and hospitals.

A government spokesperson said its taskforce would focus on "cascading and systemic risks" from climate phenomena such as El Niño, recognising impacts were felt "far beyond the regions where they originate".

It is also working to protect the UK's food security, investing £11.7bn in sustainable farming and "billions more in the development of new technology and climate resilient crops to increase yields".

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Mangione admits killing healthcare CEO and pleads guilty to federal charges

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy0nlq1l2wo, 2 days ago

Luigi Mangione has admitted to killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, pleading guilty to federal charges of interstate stalking resulting in death.

"I shot Mr Thompson in Manhattan and he died," the 28-year-old admitted in federal court in Manhattan on Friday.

Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two, was shot from behind on 4 December 2024 as he walked into a hotel in midtown Manhattan. Following the plea hearing, his family issued a statement calling it "an important step toward justice for Brian and for our family".

Mangione faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. He also faces state charges, although his lawyers are seeking to get those dismissed following his guilty plea.

Mangione had initially pleaded not guilty in both the federal and state cases against him over the fatal shooting of Thompson.

His lawyers announced that he intended to plead guilty to the two federal charges against him at Friday's federal court hearing.

Wearing a beige prison outfit, Mangione appeared solemn and serious throughout the hearing.

Reading a statement aloud to the court, he admitted to planning the attack ahead of time, crossing state lines with the intent to kill and using a gun he printed using a 3D printer and equipped with a silencer and magazine.

He told the court he was driven to kill Thompson because of his experience with the healthcare system "after years of enduring severe pains from a broken back".

Mangione stated that he had learned UnitedHealthcare would be holding an annual investor conference in Manhattan in December 2024.

He then travelled to New York for the event, he told the court.

He also said he emailed UnitedHealthcare prior to the conference "posing as an investor" and asking questions about the event.

"I emailed UnitedHealthcare with the intent to shoot Brian Thompson," Mangione said in his statement. "On the morning of Dec. 4, 2024 I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan in his back."

The sentencing for the federal charges is scheduled for 18 December.

Thompson's family said in a statement that they will continue to seek justice in both New York state and Pennsylvania, where Mangione was arrested.

"While nothing will ease the pain of losing him, we are grateful that the federal justice system has held the person responsible for this heinous act accountable," they said.

"Now we look to the court to ensure that sentencing reflects the severity of this crime."

Prosecutors have recommended Mangione serve 24-30 years in prison. But Judge Margaret Garnett said in court that she would ultimately decide his sentence.

Garnett explained to Mangione that the recommendation was not binding and that the maximum sentence was life in prison along with financial penalties. There is no parole in the federal system.

Mangione's guilty plea could now throw a wrench into his New York state case.

With the trial scheduled to begin in September, he faces eight state charges including second degree murder, possession of a forged instrument (for alleged fake driver's licence) and six counts of criminal possession of a weapon.

On the steps of the court on Friday, his lawyers argued that because he had already pleaded guilty to federal charges, the state case ran afoul of double jeopardy – a constitutional protection that prevents an individual from being prosecuted twice for the same crime.

"New York law does not permit a person to be prosecuted and punished twice for the exact same crime," his lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo said.

She also said that, in making a guilty plea in federal court, Mangione has accepted "full responsibility" for the death of Brian Thompson.

But the Manhattan District Attorney's office says it is prepared to go ahead with the state prosecution.

"We are encouraged that Mr Thompson's family received a measure of accountability today," the statement said.

"While federal sentencing is pending, we are prepared to litigate the defence motions. The Manhattan DA's Office remains committed to seeking justice for Mr Thompson and his family."

'I shot Mr Thompson'- What it was like inside court as Mangione pleaded guilty

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gkyez7195o, 2 days ago

After more than a year-and-a-half of intense spectacle and legal wrangling, Luigi Mangione appeared in a federal courtroom in New York on Friday as rumours swirled that he may plead guilty.

The 28-year-old, accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson on a Manhattan street in December 2024, arrived wearing a beige prison uniform with a white T-shirt underneath.

His feet were shackled and he held his hands behind his back, although US marshals had not handcuffed him.

A crowd of reporters, supporters of Mangione, observers and a handful of court staff who had won a lottery to attend gathered in the packed courtroom.

And in the front row seated behind the prosecution: Thompson's family members, who at times appeared visibly emotional.

As the packed room awaited the arrival of Judge Margaret Garnett, Mangione conferred with his lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo, reviewing papers as we waited to hear whether Mangione would admit to the killing for the first time.

The hearing had been scheduled to begin at 11:00, but started slightly later.

It began with an immediate jolt.

Friedman Agnifilo told the judge: "Mr Mangione is prepared to plead guilty at this time."

From then on it was silent, as the judge asked Mangione a series of questions to ensure he understood the decision he was about to make. She asked him about his background and use of medications. He answered the questions tersely but firmly.

Asked if he understood that he could face life in prison - he replied "yes".

Only when he began to read a statement to the court, did Mangione appear to falter. His speech was rushed and somewhat mumbled.

After Judge Garnett politely suggested he lean into the microphone, he continued steadily until he reached his conclusion: an admission that he had killed Thompson.

There had been reports in US media leading up to the hearing that Mangione would be taking a plea deal. That is not what happened - Mangione simply changed his plea of not guilty to guilty.

"After years of enduring severe pains from a broken back" and dealing with the healthcare insurance industry, Mangione stated that he had learned UnitedHealthcare would hold an annual conference in Manhattan in December 2024.

He researched online and emailed the company posing as an investor to learn more about the event, Mangione told the court. "Unlike previous interactions with insurance" he got a quick reply, he said.

He told the court he used a 3D printer to make a gun.

And on the morning of 4 December 2024, Mangione confessed: "I shot Mr Thompson in Manhattan and he died."

It marked the first time a court had heard Mangione tell the story of how he committed a crime that prompted a media storm and worldwide attention.

"Mr Mangione, how do you now plead?" Judge Garnett asked the defendant before her.

Mangione leaned into the microphone before him and stated: "Guilty."

"I will accept your guilty plea," the judge said.

Members of Thompson's family were emotional as he issued the admission for the first time. In a statement shortly after, they said the day marked an important step toward justice.

Mangione is scheduled to be sentenced on 18 December. The maximum sentence for each of the two stalking charges is life in prison.

Prosecutors have recommended Mangione serve between 24-30 years in prison. But ultimately Judge Garnett will decide his sentence.

His trial on separate state charges stemming from the murder is still scheduled to begin in September.

BBC seeks to subpoena Trump's family members in Panorama lawsuit

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd69ely319eo, today

The BBC has sought to subpoena members of Donald Trump's family for documents and testimony in the US president's $10bn (£7.4bn) defamation lawsuit against the broadcaster.

Court filings show that representatives for the BBC's legal team attempted in May to serve subpoenas to the president's son Donald Trump Jr, his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

The president is suing the BBC over an episode of Panorama that edited together two different sections of a speech he gave before the 2021 Capitol riots.

The BBC has previously apologised for the edit, but denied it was grounds for defamation.

In a statement to the BBC, a spokesman for Trump's legal team said the BBC had "intentionally defamed" the president, and with its subpoena request was now "seeking to harass him, his family, and supporters by abusing the deposition process".

"The BBC is simply trying to distract away from their own obvious liability," the statement said.

The BBC's lawyers argue in the latest filing that Trump's family members had "personal knowledge" of his intentions in delivering the speech, making their testimony and documents relevant to the president's defamation claim.

Drawing on evidence previously gathered by a US congressional committee, the filing says Donald Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump were present when their father revised and delivered his speech, adding that Jared Kushner drafted a proposed statement for him that would have condemned the use of violence.

The filing asks the court to allow the subpoenas to be served by email and certified mail, saying attempts to serve them by hand were unsuccessful.

A subpoena is an order for someone to answer questions under oath or provide evidence. Failure to comply results in a penalty.

According to court filings, in one instance, a representative for the BBC's legal team tried to deliver a subpoena for Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner at their home in Florida, but was refused entry at a police checkpoint and was later told by the Secret Service that the agency could not accept the subpoenas.

Similarly, according to the filing, a representative tried to serve a subpoena for Donald Trump Jr at Trump Tower in New York but was told by the concierge that the person who normally took such documents may have been at lunch.

During another attempt two days later, the representative was told the "legal department" was not in that day, according to the filing.

Trump's legal team has been approached for comment. The BBC press office declined to comment.

Last December, Trump sued the BBC and subsidiaries BBC Studios Productions and BBC Studios Distribution over the 2024 Panorama episode.

Trump's lawsuit - filed in Florida - accuses the BBC of "intentionally, maliciously and deceptively doctoring" the speech he gave outside the Capitol on 6 January 2021.

The BBC has apologised for an editing error that gave "the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action".

However, the BBC has asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that the programme did not meet the legal criteria for defamation and was not made available on its US platforms.

Last month, Trump's lawyers admitted they had no evidence that the documentary was available in the US on the BBC's BritBox subscription service, as they had originally claimed, or on BBC.com, BBC Select or through US broadcasters.

Trump also recently agreed to drop the BBC's commercial arm BBC Studios from his lawsuit, after the BBC argued the company had "no role in creating or producing the documentary".

Earlier this month, the judge in the case granted Trump's request for a delay in him handing over financial documents to the broadcaster as part of the lawsuit.

The BBC has asked for some of Trump's financial records in relation to his argument that the documentary damaged the president's business interests.

The president's legal team said disclosure of the financial records would cause him "irreparable harm".

A trial date in February 2027 has been scheduled, should the case progress.

BBC News is editorially independent from the wider corporation.

Trump asks US Supreme Court to allow ballroom work to continue

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3v0yz2r4wlo, 2 days ago

US President Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to allow him to continue building a $400m (£295m) ballroom at the White House without congressional permission.

The emergency application comes one week after an appeals court ordered construction to stop until Congress approved of it, upholding a ruling won by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which sued the administration last year.

In the latest filing, US Solicitor General D John Sauer asked that work be allowed to continue while the administration appealed the stop-work order, which he called "dangerous".

Trump has long argued the White House lacked a large event space and that building one was vital for national security.

Last week's appeals court decision does not take effect until 21 August, when ballroom construction will have to cease unless the Supreme Court grants the emergency application.

Sauer said in the filing on Friday that work on the project was 65% complete and not granting it would amount to "construction-by-injunction".

"With the dangerous injunction poised to take effect for the first time on August 21, its stop-work mandate is even more flagrantly inequitable, if not impossible," he wrote.

Sauer added that "forcing the president to come hat-in-hand to Congress so the people's house is safe gives the legislature dangerous leverage".

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts ordered the National Trust for Historic Preservation to file a response by noon on Tuesday.

Trump's ballroom project has been the subject of a legal battle since October, when the administration demolished the East Wing of the White House without first seeking congressional approval.

Soon after, the Trust filed a lawsuit arguing that the project was unlawful because it began without a legally required review, which also includes public comment and approval by entities such as the National Capital Planning Commission.

In a statement following Friday's emergency application, the Trust accused the administration of "refusing to listen" to previous rulings and "actively attempting to outrun the courts by accelerating construction of the ballroom".

"The administration's transparent efforts to evade the rule of law, frustrate judicial review and limit the availability of meaningful relief in the courts must stop here," the statement added.

The president and the government's lawyers have argued that in addition to the ballroom to host events, the project also includes military facilities, including bomb shelters and centres for medical treatment.

The administration has also argued that the ballroom is being constructed without any taxpayer money and is fully funded by private corporate donations - meaning that Congressional approval is not required.

The White House ballroom project is part of Trump's broader effort to remake Washington's cityscape, which has also included the renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and a planned "Arc de Trump" in the style of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

The Trump administration has faced allegations in all the projects that it sidestepped required review and public-comment processes - a charge the president denies.

US aircraft carrier on way to relieve USS Lincoln after issues reported aboard

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c171yp5zdrxo, 2 days ago

A US aircraft carrier is headed to the Middle East to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln, on which thousands of sailors have reportedly faced food shortages and difficult conditions on an extended, nine-month deployment.

The USS George Washington, which was near Malaysia on Thursday, could arrive in the region in about nine days, BBC analysis shows.

Family members of sailors aboard the Lincoln have expressed concern about their mental health deteriorating due to the conditions, with some sailors having reportedly attempted to jump overboard.

While the US Navy has acknowledged supply challenges, it has denied that a mental health crisis was taking place on the Lincoln, which has 5,000 aboard.

US President Donald Trump denied that family members were concerned about the welfare of their relatives and dismissed the possibility that the deployment had been too long.

"Not nearly long enough," he told reprters on Friday.

Trump also confirmed that another ship will replace the Lincoln, although he did not identify it by name.

The USS George Washington left a naval facility in Yokosuka, Japan in May to patrol the Pacific region and is now headed to replace the Lincoln, CBS News, the BBC's US partner, reported, citing a US official.

Tracking data compiled by BBC Verify shows that at its last recorded speed, the vessel would reach Duqm port in Oman, about 500 miles off the coast of Iran, around 22 August.

Once it arrives in the Middle East, it will be the third aircraft carrier in the area. The USS George HW Bush is also there. No US aircraft carrier will remain in the Pacific.

The Lincoln has been at sea since 11 December on a deployment that was initially scheduled to end in May, tracking data compiled by BBC Verify shows.

Earlier this week, the Military Times and Stars & Stripes reported that the families of multiple sailors reported that their loved ones had considered jumping overboard due to conditions on the vessel.

The conditions have reportedly included poor sanitation, infrequent ports-of-call, broken plumbing, exhaustion and shortages of fresh food.

In an interview with the BBC, a relative of a sailor on the Lincoln claimed that their family member had lost 65lbs (29kg) since the ship headed out to sea and had been suffering from exhaustion because of the constant noise of aircraft and the ship's vibrations.

The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to concerns about retaliation, said that their relative confirmed sailors had attempted to jump from the ship.

Jefferson Kelly, whose son Jackson is on the Lincoln, told CBS that he had grown concerned after nearly nine months at sea. Deployments typically last about six months.

"They should not be deployed this long," he said. "These are old ships. It's not like they're even state-of-the-art. And they take a lot of maintenance, a lot of work. It's around the clock.

"I would get on a plane or helicopter tonight if it meant bringing him home to his mum and his siblings and his family," he added.

The US Navy has denied any increase in suicidal behaviour on the Lincoln, but has acknowledged that supplies had been "disrupted by combat actions" during the war with Iran.

Democratic lawmakers have expressed concern over the conditions on the ship.

In a letter to Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao on Wednesday, Connecticut Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said that reports of shortages and poor conditions "warrant immediate attention".

"But they also raise a broader question: whether the Navy can sustain the operational tempo now being demanded of its carrier force," he added.

Hegseth has said that some of the media reports have been "completely misrepresented". He told reporters on Thursday that the US government was was making sure "every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment".

US missionary released following kidnap in Niger, Christian group says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg40jvvkp7o, 3 days ago

An American missionary has been released after spending more than nine months in captivity, the international Christian organisation he worked for has said.

Kevin Rideout - who was kidnapped outside his home in Niger's capital Niamey last year - was "in good health in the care of US officials", SIM International said in a statement on Friday.

The New York Times, which first reported Rideout's release, cited unnamed US officials saying that he was now in FBI custody, though details of how he was released, as well as who he had been held by, remained unclear.

There had been concerns that Rideout had been taken by militants, who have increasingly used violence and abductions as tactics.

Rideout's kidnapping in October was carried out by three armed men who took him to the western Tillaberi region, a location known as a hotbed of militant activity, news agency Reuters reported, citing diplomatic sources.

It was feared he may have been taken there by militants belonging to groups like Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate which has been linked to several attacks in the region.

Islamist militant groups operating from neighbouring Nigeria, Mali and Burkina Faso have plagued Niger for years, targeting both civilians and the military.

The region has seen a wave of violence as jihadists have been fighting government security forces as well as Western and other allied troops.

Within days of Rideout's kidnapping, the US warned its citizens against travelling to Niger due to an "increased risk of terrorism, crime and civil unrest".

The New York Times reported that Rideout, who is also a pilot, may have been transferred to another group prior to his release.

SIM International said he would soon be reunited with his wife, their children and his extended family.

Rideout had been working in Niger as a Christian missionary for 19 years and was also a pilot for SIM International, which operates in more than 70 countries.

The organisation said Rideout's release was "incredibly good news" after months of uncertainty about his wellbeing.

"Krista and the rest of Kevin's family are profoundly grateful for the prayers offered on their behalf by people around the world throughout his captivity," it said.

It added that the family had requested privacy while they "reconnect after this time apart".

Rideout's release comes as several countries in West Africa and the Sahel have been struggling with terror attacks.

Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Nigeria have been dealing with violence that has been going on for more than a decade - resulting in the loss of thousands of lives and causing regional destabilisation.

The region has also experienced a wave of military takeovers, with a string of democratic governments overthrown.

Three men will be executed on the same day as death penalties rise in US

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn5n399n6zvo, 3 days ago

It's been 16 years since three people were executed on the same day in the US, but later on Thursday, three men convicted of murder in different US states will all face the death penalty.

The planned executions of inmates Anthony Darrell Hines, 66, Jeremy Williams, 41, and Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, 71, in Tennessee, Alabama and Oklahoma, respectively, are indicative of a steep rise in executions across the US.

Last year, in 2025, there were more than four times as many people put to death as there were in 2021, even as juries, and the American public at large, became increasingly wary of its use.

So what's driving the increase and are the US public in step with the trend?

The Trump factor

President Donald Trump has long been a major supporter of the death penalty, describing capital punishment as "an essential tool for deterring and punishing those who would commit the most heinous crimes and acts of lethal violence against American citizens".

In 2020, during his first term, he ended a nearly two-decade moratorium on the federal death penalty, by ordering 13 executions over a six month period.

While the moratorium returned under President Biden, on the first day of Trump's second term in 2025, he signed an executive order that re-instated the death penalty. No federal executions have been carried out since he signed it, however. In the US, both the federal government and local states authorities can order executions.

Under Trump's administration, the Department of Justice has also expanded protocols to include additional manners of execution, such as by firing squad, and readopted lethal injections. The agency said in April that it has also streamlined internal processes to expedite death penalty cases.

Trump's executive order also encouraged states to seek the death penalty for every federal crime when a law enforcement officer is killed, and instructed the attorney general to ensure that states have an ample supply of drugs for lethal injections, facilitating the states' ability to carry out capital punishment.

But his true impact won't be known for several years, said Justin Mazzola, deputy director for research at Amnesty International USA, which opposes the death penalty.

"Because of the length it takes for the actual case to happen, and then also all the appeals that are built in once there is a conviction," he said.

Florida leads the charge

There were a total of 47 executions across 11 states in 2025, a marked increase from the 25 executions carried out in 2024.

But about 40% of the deaths were in one state, Florida, making the Sunshine State the biggest factor contributing to the US's rise in executions. Just over halfway into 2026, 12 of the 19 executions occurred in Florida.

That, experts say, is because of one man: Republican Governor Ron DeSantis.

"He is the reason we are seeing a record number of executions. He is the reason why Florida is an outlier compared to the rest of the United States," said Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center (DPI). The organisation provides statistics and research on the death penalty but does not take a stance on it morally.

DeSantis has been behind changes to laws that make it easier to carry out executions.

In 2023, Florida lowered the legal threshold for capital punishment by reducing the number of jurors required to recommend the death penalty in the trial phase of court cases, from a unanimous 12 to eight jurors.

Meanwhile, the crime of sexual battery on a minor under 12 years old has become eligible as a capital offence.

DeSantis has championed the death penalty as a "strong deterrent" for crime and "an appropriate punishment for the worst offenders".

Because individual states have the power to prosecute crimes and order executions, much of the power lies with state governors. Florida is uniquely positioned because its governor has the singular ability to sign a death warrant for prisoners who have no more appeals - without oversight from the courts. Pennsylvania has a similar process, but has not carried out an execution since 1999.

'Their punishment is, frankly, earned'

The US is one of the few western countries that still has the death penalty, which has been largely phased out in Europe and is beginning to wane in Africa.

In the US, 27 of the 50 states have the death penalty under state law. Four of them - California, Ohio, Oregon and Pennsylvania - have paused executions through executive actions, as issues of botched executions, discrimination and cost have come to the forefront.

But many still support it. Florida's top prosecutor James Uthmeier has staunchly pursued the death penalty in high-profile murder cases, endorsing "the ultimate form of punishment" for "depraved" criminals.

"The people that engage in this type of conduct, their punishment is frankly earned, and it's up to a jury of 12 to determine if that sentence is appropriate or not," Florida State Attorney William Sheiner said in a recent interview with Central Florida Public Media.

"Just because I pursue death as an option doesn't mean that that's going to be the sentence. It's basically me saying to the community: this is up to you guys to decide if death is appropriate."

Uthmeier and Sheiner's offices did not immediately respond to the BBC's request for comment.

A spotlight on executions

How prisoners are executed has become just as much of a point of debate as whether they should be. Pharmaceutical companies have opposed the use of their products for the death penalty, leading to shortages of the drugs necessary for lethal injections. In 2025, facing a shortage, South Carolina began executing inmates via firing squad.

Meanwhile, a number of botched executions have raised alarm. An estimated 3% of US executions rom 1890 to 2010 were botched, according to DPI, with lethal injection having the highest rate of botched executions. In 2022, more than a third of executions in the US were botched or highly problematic, the organisation said.

In May, Tennessee officials tried and failed to give Tony Von Carruthers, who had been on death row for decades, a lethal injection for over an hour. Blood streamed down his chest, and he repeatedly groaned and told prison staff he was in pain, according to witness statements.

Governor Bill Lee, who granted Carruthers a one-year reprieve after the failed execution, has said that Carruthers' execution was not botched. He has instead said that the doctor simply could not establish IV access.

But it remains to be seen if the execution of the three men on Thursday will go forward - or whether there will be a last minute reprieve.

Anthony Darrell Hines, 66, who has maintained his innocence for four years and is bedridden, is scheduled to be executed in Tennessee on Thursday under the same protocol that failed twelve weeks ago with Carruthers.

In Alabama, Jeremy Williams, convicted for the rape and murder of a 5-year-old girl in 2021, could be the southern state's first execution of 2026. Williams, who has dismissed his attorneys and has volunteered to be put to death, is slated to die by lethal injection and Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has said she does not plan to grant clemency.

In Oklahoma, septuagenarian Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez has asked for no clemency and no mercy for the murder of a woman in 2003. He is also slated to die by lethal injection on Thursday, but his age, experts say, heightens his risk for a botched execution.

Thursday's planned executions are occurring amid a steady decline of support for the death penalty.

"It's the opposite of a cheap easy political fix," said Maya Foa, CEO of Reprieve US, an international legal organisation opposed to the death penalty.

Just 52% of Americans say the death penalty is morally acceptable, the lowest number since the 1970s, a Gallup poll shows. Although over half of Americans are in favour, the decline shows shifting trends, Maher said.

And that weakening support is also reflected in the decline in the number of death sentences that are issued by juries. In the 1990s, juries across the country would issue upwards of 300 death sentences in a year. In 2025, they issued only 23.

"That tells us something very important: These are regular citizens that are sitting in judgment of people who are accused of committing the worst possible crimes, and then deciding what sentence fits those crimes," Maher said. "Those juries are increasingly saying that a death sentence is not the right answer."

Correction: Previous versions of this story incorrectly used an image of Tony Von Carruthers instead of Anthony Darrell Hines, and of Jeremy Alan Williams instead of Jeremy Tremaine Williams. The story has been amended.

Trump's dramatic plane swap hints at personal stakes of Iran war

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly8jexn1z9o, 5 days ago

"I got him before he got me. They tried twice. Well, I got him first."

That was President Donald Trump's observation, made to ABC correspondent Jonathan Karl, in a phone conversation the day after he launched the US military campaign against Iran in February.

An Israeli airstrike, conducted with US approval and co-ordination, had just killed the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top Iranian leaders – and Trump drew a direct line from that attack to threats and alleged plots the Iranians had made against him in previous years.

Trump has refrained from similar remarks in the ensuing six months of warfare, but Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has echoed the view.

"Iran tried to kill President Trump, and President Trump got the last laugh," he said in March, noting that an unnamed Iranian who he said led an assassination unit had been killed in US strikes.

These comments hint at the personal nature of this war – and the concerns by the president and his security team of the threat Iran still poses to his safety.

Those concerns were dramatically illustrated by this week's revelation that Trump secretly switched to an alternate aircraft on his flight back from the Nato summit in Turkey last month. He left the media and most of the White House staff to depart on the presidential Air Force One 747 jet, which became, essentially, a decoy.

It was an elaborate ruse, which included the president being transported to and from aircraft inside a catering truck, in response to what American officials reportedly believed to be credible intelligence of an Iranian missile threat to Air Force One.

The White House has given little detail about this threat - but nonetheless it marks another striking episode in the turbulent history of Trump's relationship with Iran.

Government security experts have said such measures are not unusual when a president travels in or near a warzone.

Past presidents have travelled to places like Afghanistan, Iraq and Ukraine under cover of secrecy – but never without at least some prior knowledge by media outlets, under agreements that they would not disclose the movement until after the fact.

The optics of Trump hiding in a catering truck from an apparent Iranian threat are less than ideal for a president who has repeatedly touted his strength - as well as the frailty of Iran's military after months of war.

The secrecy in the days and weeks after the Secret Service operation in Ankara may have been, in part, to avoid undermining his public image of power.

The operation, which took more than a month to come to light, also underscores the apparent threat Iran continues to present to US interests in a conflict that the president asserts is all but wrapped up against an adversary he has said has been thoroughly defeated on the battlefield.

Iranian threats against Trump are not new, however.

After Trump, in his first term, ordered the January 2020 missile strike that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) leader Qasem Soleimani, Iran's leaders promised reprisals against the American president and senior administration leaders.

In one instance, an Iranian mural depicted a drone targeting Trump while he played golf in Florida.

It appears that there were more to these Iranian threats than just posturing.

The Biden administration warned Iran in 2022 not to target any US citizens, after unearthing a plan to target former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton.

And in July 2024, US law enforcement arrested a Pakistani man, Asif Merchant, who allegedly had ties to the IRGC, for plotting to kill Trump. Four months later, an Afghani citizen, Farhad Shakeri, was charged with another assassination scheme against Trump.

Merchant was convicted in March 2026, but Shakeri, who US prosecutors allege was directed by an IRGC official, is still at large.

Although these attempts were foiled during the planning stages, the physical risks Trump faced as he sought a return to the White House were all too apparent.

In July 2024 he was left bloodied after a gunman opened fire at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Two months later, an armed man was arrested in Florida after US Secret Service agents spotted him hiding in the trees near where Trump was playing golf.

"It was a galvanising moment for him," Maggie Haberman, a White House correspondent for the New York Times, said in a recent interview when discussing both the Iranian plots and assassination attempts of 2024. "All of that in his mind becomes one big blur."

"For Trump himself, Iran and this feeling of being under threat is constant," she said.

The president, according to the news website Semafor, often muses - and jokes - about becoming a target of assassination.

"Nobody told me how dangerous it is to be president, and if they had told me, I probably wouldn't have run," one White House official recounted Trump as saying. "And he makes comments like that in jest, but there's a reality behind that."

Trump's bombing of Iran's nuclear research facilities in 2025, and this year's expansive bombing campaign and naval blockade, prompted a new round of Iranian threats against Trump – and a direct warning by the US president in response.

In July, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Iran had made threats "to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate" him and said 1,000 "missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat".

The president's message to Iran was blunt. Many of the recent threats against him have been unequivocal, too.

At the funeral service for Khamenei, held the day before Trump departed Turkey, participants carried a banner that read "#KillTrump". The following week, in a square in central Tehran, a building featured a large mural of the American president, lying in a black coffin, with the words "We will kill Trump" and "Blood for blood" written below it.

Iran has denied involvement in any previous plots against Trump, but the message – delivered after Khamenei's death and reports of Iranian civilian casualties in US and Israeli strikes – has been clear.

The war, Iranians are saying, is far from over. And Trump, himself, is a target for revenge.

On the final leg of the journey back to the US from Turkey, as Trump and his travelling media pool were reunited on the same aircraft, the president came back to the press cabin to talk to reporters.

They asked about the unusual journey, which included an order by the Secret Service that the window shades on the decoy plane be closed during takeoff from Ankara.

"I have read all the time I'm number one on their list," he told them.

"But if I go, you go, right?"

Follow the twists and turns of Trump's second term with North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher's weekly US Politics Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

Decoys to hide presidents are common - but elaborate Trump ruse was different level

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9d84874dzjo, 5 days ago

On 8 July, US President Donald Trump boarded Air Force One in plain sight of television cameras as he departed the Nato summit in Turkey.

But when the mighty Boeing aircraft left Ankara, the president had reportedly already been secretly spirited away via a catering truck to a C-32A, a military version of the Boeing 757, which flew the president to RAF Mildenhall in the UK.

Those left on board were unwitting decoys and had no indication that Trump was no longer travelling with them.

But deception of this kind is not unusual.

"That's very common," said Ronald Kessler, an author who has written extensively on the agency. "There's a long history of strategies to mislead anybody who might be trying to harm the president."

Robert McDonald, a former high-ranking Secret Service agent with experience working on presidential security details, told the BBC that smaller-scale deceptions are used frequently during motorcade operations.

These motorcades - which often include dozens of security and support vehicles, as well as ambulances and vans carrying White House reporters - typically include two "Beasts", as the enhanced limousine carrying the president is known.

While one vehicle carries the president, the other travels nearby as a decoy, switching locations while en route to the destination.

"It's what we call a shell game," said McDonald, who drove one of the vehicles during President George W Bush's administration. "Even in DC if we headed to Andrews [Joint Base Andrews - where Air Force One flies from], those two limousines would change position, like under a highway overpass."

"But that would happen out of sight of anybody other than those in the motorcade or in that tunnel," he added. "Different things are used to mix up the bad guy."

Similarly, Marine One - the president's helicopter - routinely flies in groups of three, changing positions so that potential threats are not sure which is carrying the US leader.

Even more elaborate deceptions are carried out for complex, high-risk trips abroad.

"I would say it does not happen often," former Secret Service agent Paul Eckloff told the BBC World Service's Newshour programme of the aircraft switch. "But it is an option that the Secret Service and others in executive protection always have."

"When the president travels to war zones, there are frequently tactics and techniques used to create doubt in an adversary of which aircraft or which movement that he's going to make," he added.

In March 2000, for example, then-President Bill Clinton flew from India to the Pakistani capital of Islamabad on an unmarked executive jet that landed after a decoy jet with all the livery of Air Force One.

Three years later, the White House claimed that George W Bush would spend Thanksgiving in Texas, only to arrive in Baghdad in a blacked-out Air Force One.

In 2023, Joe Biden also was secretly taken to Ukraine with a slimmed down press pool of one reporter and one photographer.

In all three of those cases, the media on board was aware of the deception but had been asked to not report it in real time.

The exact nature of the perceived threat to the aircraft in this latest case remains unclear.

The Secret Service has so far not commented on the incident, while the White House has neither confirmed nor denied it, saying only that it uses every tool available to protect the president.

While contingency plans for a variety of scenarios are developed ahead of time, experts say that the Secret Service needs to maintain flexibility and remain poised to improvise in the face of new threats as they emerge, particularly overseas.

But according to McDonald, the extraordinary measure of secretly moving President Trump from the aircraft suggests that the potential danger was deemed, likely by multiple agencies, to be serious.

"That tells me that the threat level in Turkey was relatively substantial and quite high," he said, adding that the president's staff, the Secret Service and the White House Military Office were almost certainly immediately alerted.

"Those people likely got together in a room and were presented with this intelligence," McDonald explained. "And a plan was put together to negate the threat from whatever intelligence was received."

McDonald's assessment was echoed by Marc Polymeropoulos, a 26-year veteran of the CIA who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan and oversaw clandestine missions around the world.

"The key part of this is the nature of the threat, and what was so severe that the Secret Service would put forth such a deception operation," he said.

A key question going forward, according to Polymeropoulos, is whether the government and intelligence community then had a duty to warn those on the aircraft.

"Let's say the plane was blown out of the sky, and we knew about it," he said. "We don't do that…we can't. If we know ISIS is going to attack a target in Moscow, we warn the Russians. Why do we warn the Russians? Because if there's an American citizen killed in that, we can't let that happen."

How much danger those who remained on the aircraft were in - or whether they were in danger at all - remains unclear.

Journalists on board reported that they were repeatedly instructed to keep their window blinds down, a "not uncommon" practice McDonald said shows that steps were still being taken to protect the passengers.

"A large plane flying overhead where somebody could see it, with the shades up and windows illuminated, could tell somebody that it's a particular type of aircraft," he said. "I appreciate the need for transparency, but [the passengers] are also part of the roadshow. We've got to make sure that you and everybody gets home safe."

The Secret Service, he added, is under no legal obligation to inform of potential threats or detail operations being carried out to protect the president and his entourage. That decision would need to be made by the White House or other agencies.

"The Secret Service is not in the business of public relations," he said. "We're very good at keeping secrets, as our name says. Everybody doesn't need to know everything."

Fact-checking Trump's claims as he rolls back some recommended vaccines

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9q9dzp97l4o, 5 days ago

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office on Monday that limits the number of vaccines recommended for children - and during the event he made several misleading or false claims about the jabs.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had recommended childhood vaccinations against 18 diseases - but Trump's new order drops that to 11. It also advises splitting up the mumps, measles and rubella (MMR) shots.

We've looked into some of the president's claims about vaccinations.

Do 'little children' in the US get 72 jabs?

"In many cases we were requiring 72 jabs for our beautiful, healthy, lovely, delicate little children," Trump said shortly before signing the order.

After his announcement, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shared a graphic, labelled "72 injections", showing a baby surrounded by needles.

But both of those statements are misleading.

Firstly, while federal guidance influences school-entry vaccine requirements, these rules are set at individual state level, so the exact number of jabs scheduled varies across the US.

And secondly, the 72 figure cited by the White House counts all the doses someone could potentially be given by the time they are 18 years old - so not as a baby or "little children".

This total also includes annual flu and Covid-19 doses.

How big are vaccine doses?

"A vaccination looks like the size of the bottle of soda poured into a little child's body," Trump claimed, when talking about MMR shots.

However, according to Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a single dose of MMR is 0.5ml - roughly a fraction of a teaspoon.

Josh Michaud, associate director with Kaiser Family Foundation's (KFF) Global and Public Health Policy Program, said that even all of the recommended vaccinations combined "don't add up to anything close to the size of a bottle of soda" and come to "a very, very much smaller amount" than what Trump claimed.

Is the MMR vaccine possibly 'quite lethal'?

When advocating for giving the MMR vaccine in three separate jabs, Trump said: "Together, there could be a possibility they're quite lethal."

According to the CDC, most people who receive MMR vaccine do not have any serious adverse reactions to it.

The CDC also notes that receiving the MMR vaccine is much safer than contracting the measles, mumps, or rubella illnesses, which the vaccine is designed to guard against.

The most severe risks of the vaccine include febrile seizure or a serious allergic reaction, which the CDC describes as "extremely rare".

Studies show that one out of every 3,000-4,000 children vaccinated with MMR run the risk of febrile seizures.

Is there any evidence vaccines are linked to autism?

When speaking about autism the president said: "It's many, many times what it used to be years ago, and it gets progressively worse. And we had progressively more and more vaccines."

He said it was "one in 10,000 20 years ago".

While that rate has increased over the last two decades, it did not grow by anything like the figure cited by Trump.

In 2006 the CDC estimated the rate of autism in the US population to be one in 110. In 2008 it was one in 88.

Most experts say rising rates of autism can primarily be attributed to changes in how the condition is diagnosed, as well as greater recognition of the condition and more people being tested.

And although rates of autism have been rising, multiple studies have shown no link to vaccines.

This includes a comprehensive December 2025 study by the World Health Organization that analysed data involving dozens of studies and millions of children across multiple countries, finding "no causal link between vaccination and [autism]".

Experts say there is a tendency to wrongly associate vaccines with autism, because the period of childhood vaccinations - between birth and five years old - overlaps with the more common period for autism diagnoses. But they say it's correlation not causation.

In its report, the WHO said studies highlighting theoretical risks that remain incompletely understood have "sustained public controversy, particularly in the context of widespread misinformation, disinformation and vaccine hesitancy".

Who is Luigi Mangione, the man who admitted to shooting a healthcare CEO?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp9nxee2r0do, 2 days ago

The scion of a prominent Maryland family who was top of his class at an elite private school before graduating from an Ivy League university, Luigi Mangione seemed to have everything going for him, according to friends.

They were left stunned by the now-28-year-old's fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare's chief executive Brian Thompson on 4 December 2024 outside of a hotel in New York City.

Mangione initially denied that he murdered the father of two and pleaded not guilty, but on 14 August he changed his plea to guilty in the federal case, admitting to two charges of interstate stalking resulting in death.

Mangione, in a statement confessing to the court, said that he was driven to kill Thompson because of his experience with the healthcare system "after years of enduring severe pains from a broken back".

He said he researched and found that the health executive would be at a meeting in New York City.

"I shot Mr Thompson in Manhattan and he died," he admitted in a New York court.

Mangione was held for nearly two years without bail at a notorious jail in Brooklyn, which also holds rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs.

His sentencing in the federal case is in December. Mangione also faces state charges.

In New York, where his state trial is slated to begin in September, he faces eight charges including second-degree murder, possession of a forged instrument (for an alleged fake driver's license), and six counts of criminal possession of a weapon.

His lawyers are seeking to get the majority of those charges dismissed following his guilty plea in the federal case. The remaining charge would be over the alleged fake ID card.

Mangione was arrested five days after the attack, at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He was allegedly in possession of a gun, bullets, multiple fake IDs and cash. Mangione also had a handwritten document that expressed "ill will" towards corporate America and included passages such as "frankly, these parasites had it coming", according to police.

Mangione comes from a prominent family in the Baltimore area who reportedly are known for businesses including country clubs, nursing homes and a radio station.

His paternal grandparents, Nicholas and Mary Mangione, were real estate developers who purchased the Turf Valley Country Club in 1978 and Hayfields Country Club in Hunt Valley in 1986.

Shortly after Mangione was charged, his cousin, Republican state lawmaker Nino Mangione, released a statement saying the family was "shocked and devastated".

"We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved", the statement read.

Thomas Maronick, a defence attorney who knows members of the family, told the BBC of his shock at the charges.

"You wouldn't think someone of privilege or means from a family that's known for doing so much for the community would do something like this," he said.

Mangione attended the private, all-boys Gilman School in Baltimore. He was valedictorian, an accolade usually bestowed on the student with the highest academic achievements.

Speaking to the BBC's US partner, CBS News, one of his classmates said Mangione "didn't have any enemies" and was a "valedictorian for a reason".

Mangione went on to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a bachelor's and master's degree in computer science, according to the school, and founded a video game development club.

A friend who attended the Ivy League college at the same time as Mangione described him as a "super normal" and "smart person".

Mangione was employed as a data engineer for TrueCar, a digital retailing website for new and used cars, according to his social media profiles. A company spokesman told the BBC he had not worked there since 2023.

He also spent time in a co-living surfing community in Hawaii called Surfbreak. Sarah Nehemiah, who knew him then, told CBS he left due to his back injury, which had worsened from surfing and hiking.

Mangione's mother reported him missing in November to San Francisco authorities, telling them she had not heard from her son since July.

After police began investigating the shooting, the missing person report Mangione's mother filed was flagged to authorities, according to the New York Police Department.

Police contacted Mangione's mother, who did not identify her son as the suspect but said "it might be something that she could see him doing".

Friends have told US media he had surgery on his back. The background image on an X account believed to belong to Mangione shows an X-ray of a spine with hardware in it.

On a Reddit account that appears to have belonged to him, Mangione reportedly posted about his struggles with chronic back pain and brain fog.

A former roommate, RJ Martin, told the BBC that while Mangione "never complained", his back pain at times "prohibited him" from doing "many normal things", such as surfing or playing volleyball.

Martin - who eventually lost contact with Mangione - said that he believed his former friend "would have never conceived of hurting someone else".

"There's no making sense of it," he added.

A person matching his name and photo had an account on Goodreads, a user-generated book review site, where he read two books about back pain in 2022, one of them called Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry.

He also gave four stars to a text called Industrial Society and Its Future by Theodore Kaczynski – also known as the Unabomber manifesto. Starting in 1978, Kaczynski carried out a bombing campaign that killed three people and injured dozens of others, until he was arrested in 1996.

In his review, Mangione acknowledged Kaczynski was a violent individual, but also described him as a political revolutionary.

Morocco detains dozens of migrants trying to cross into Ceuta, reports say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg44x2ey1ro, yesterday

Moroccan authorities have intercepted dozens of migrants seeking to cross into the Spanish North African exclave of Ceuta, reports say.

More than 100 people were blocked trying to make their way to the border on the outskirts of the town of Fnideq, according to Moroccan security sources cited by Spanish media and news agency Reuters.

It comes a fortnight after roughly 78,000 migrants arrived in the exclave by sea in a matter of hours - 100 of whom died, according to the city's mayor, who also said the vast majority of arrivals had returned to Morocco.

Security had been stepped up in the area after the influx and amid suggestions on social media of a second mass crossing attempt this weekend.

The security sources said 111 people had been detained in or around Fnideq - known in Spanish as Castillejos - about 3km (1.8 miles) from the border, the majority of whom were from sub-Saharan Africa.

Moroccan police - including some in riot gear - reportedly used tear gas to disperse groups of migrants gathered on nearby hills.

Earlier this week, Morocco's government said it was monitoring "the circulation of social media posts and messages of unknown origin" calling for a mass crossing on Saturday, and warned that it would prosecute organisers and participants.

Security at the breakwater entrance was "10 times stronger than the previous day", Spanish newspaper El País reported.

Morocco had dispatched army officers, navy speedboats and drones to the border on Saturday, it said.

Meanwhile, Madrid deployed more than 1,500 security officers to patrol the area.

Spain has also installed a metal fence and a floating barrier following last month's influx.

The crisis had calmed since breaking out in late July, but it has sparked tensions between EU nations that share open borders as well as criticism of the Spanish government.

Italy suspended the 29-member Schengen arrangement of free movement with Spain and introduced border checks on arrivals from Spain.

Italy was backed by Finland and Denmark, while the Czech Republic called for Spain's membership to be temporarily suspended.

Spain reacted angrily, with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez noting Ceuta was not part of the Schengen area - and the migrants, therefore, had not arrived on the Spanish mainland and could not travel to any other European country.

It urged Italy to drop its border controls - and introduced its own when Rome refused, citing the possibility of a new influx on 15 August.

On Saturday, Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said his country had been afraid of a "risk of a new wave of arrivals in Ceuta".

"We're not waging any kind of 'battle' against Spain - we're simply carefully controlling arrivals," he said.

"Instead of worrying about us, Spain should worry about Morocco: that's where the problems are coming from, certainly not from our controls."

Pardon for president's main rival in Chad

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn8nq561v14o, 2 days ago

Chad's President Mahamat Déby has pardoned political rival and former Prime Minister Succès Masra who was serving a 20-year sentence, paving the way for his release from prison.

Masra, a fierce critic of president, claimed to have defeated him in an election in 2024.

The opposition figure had been arrested last May over alleged links to a clash which took place in the south-west of the country. He was accused of spreading hateful messages on social media linked to the violence in which authorities said at least 42 people died.

The decision to pardon Masra comes four days after the president promised to free several convicted individuals - to foster national unity, peace and reconciliation.

However, the presidential pardon does not amount to an amnesty. This means all nine of those pardoned - including Masra - could still be prosecuted, the presidency underscored.

A statement from the presidency said the eight other pardoned political figures belonged to the Group for the Coordination of Political Actors (GCAP), a renowned coalition in the country. They were each serving eight-year prison terms after being arrested in April for organising a banned protest.

The statement described all nine recipients of state pardons as people "in a position of power but not in line with justice".

Meanwhile, a separate decree allows several detainees across the country to benefit from a partial remission of their sentences.

Following the announcement of Déby's decision to pardon the opposition figures, Masra's Transformers Party said in a Facebook post that it marked the opening of a "new page. Let's write it together."

They had originally decried Masra's arrest as a kidnapping by military officers "carried out outside of any known judicial procedure".

News of the state pardons was also welcomed by the opposition RNDT-Le Réveil party, which called it "an encouraging signal, which should pave the way for a broader dynamic of political openness in the country".

It also urged Déby to further engage in lasting efforts towards sincere and inclusive dialogue for the benefit of the nation.

It is not yet clear what Friday's development means for Masra's political ambitions.

Masra briefly served as interim prime minister of the transitional government between January and May 2024.

His party had boycotted legislative polls that 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 and Natasha Booty

More BBC Africa articles about Chad:

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

Zambia vote counting resumes after pause over alleged attacks on polling staff

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yr8r04edvo, 2 days ago

Zambia's electoral commission has resumed the counting of votes from Thursday's presidential, parliamentary and local elections after it was halted over alleged attacks on polling staff.

The authority paused the process nationwide expressing concern about reports of violence that had "resulted in the theft of marked ballot papers in ballot boxes".

President Hakainde Hichilema is seeking a second five-year term. Brian Mundubile is the main opposition candidate among 13 challengers.

The electoral commission has set itself the target of announcing the results by the end of Sunday.

In its Friday evening update, the commission said that following a review of the situation and consultations with relevant law enforcement agencies "the security threat to the electoral process has been contained and the necessary measures have been put in place to enable the process to continue".

Counting initially got under way immediately after polls closed on Thursday but no official results had been declared when the halt came into effect.

Earlier on Friday, Mundubile expressed "grave concern" over delays in the announcement of presidential results, warning that the delay could create opportunities for interference or manipulation.

He cited what he described as "deeply troubling reports" from several areas, including alleged military involvement at tallying centres and allegations concerning the movement of ballot boxes.

He called for the immediate publication of results polling station by polling station, protection of the chain of custody and investigations into the reported incidents. He also said that his own party's tabulation of the results showed that he had won.

Hichilema also issued a statement urging Zambians to "remain peaceful, patient and patriotic as we await the official outcome from those entrusted with managing the vote".

Polling day was largely peaceful, with queues reported in many areas and only isolated delays. Along with electing a president and MPs, the more than eight million registered voters had the chance to choose a new parliament and local councils.

Thursday's vote was seen as a test of Zambia's reputation as one of Africa's most stable democracies, amid concerns that political freedoms are being undermined.

Despite 14 candidates being on the presidential ballot paper, the contest was largely seen as a two-horse race between the incumbent and his main challenger Mundubile - running on the banner of the National Reconciliation Party for Unity and Prosperity (NRPUP).

Hichilema is credited with steering Zambia through a difficult economic climate but his popularity was dented as many people said their circumstances have not improved. Mundubile hoped to capitalise on that dissatisfaction.

Mundubile is a former minister in the Patriotic Front (PF) government that ruled from 2011 to 2021, with his alliance drawing support from backers of the late former President, Edgar Lungu.

Lungu died more than a year ago and his body remains unburied in South Africa, amid a bitter dispute between Lungu's family and Hichilema, which has heightened political divisions in Zambia.

Hichilema, 64, won the 2021 election on his sixth attempt and is betting on job creation and an ambitious infrastructure drive to secure a second and final term.

The election was seen as a referendum on his economic record, which has boasted debt restructuring, currency strengthening and lowered inflation.

But his United Party for National Development (UPND) government has also been criticised by Amnesty International for restricting rights and freedoms in the run-up to this election, an accusation that Zambian authorities have yet to comment on.

Civil society monitors reported mostly orderly voting alongside some incidents of delays and procedural issues. International observers are present.

Mwiche Nalupumbwe, 26, was among hundreds who braved Thursday's morning chill to queue at polling stations well before they opened.

"Zambians are frustrated and this election is a 50-50, that is why we are all here early to make the change," he told the AFP news agency.

"I voted for HH because he cares about us," James Phiri, a 29-year-old student at the University of Zambia, told the Reuters news agency, using a common nickname for the president.

"Things are better after he re-introduced meal allowances," he said.

Samuel Chitendwe, a 47-year-old welder and father of four, said he voted for Mundubile.

"I have just come from firing someone. We are tired of stories about economic progress," he told Reuters.

If no presidential candidate gets more than 50% of the vote a run-off must be held within 37 days.

Additional reporting by Basillioh Rukanga Natasha Booty

Correction 14 August 2026: This story was amended to say the Sunday deadline for announcing the result was one set by the electoral commission and not the law.

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

A burial row over Zambia's late president has turned its election into a hot contest

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clye05m3vd3o, 6 days ago

A spectre is hanging over the Zambian election campaign in the shape of former President Edgar Lungu.

Despite having died more than a year ago in South Africa, his body remains unburied amid a bitter dispute between President Hakainde Hichilema and the Lungu family that has sharpened political divisions.

This has had a role in energising support for the opposition National Reconciliation Party for Unity and Prosperity (NRPUP), particularly in the northern half of the country, traditional strongholds of Lungu's Patriotic Front (PF), as people see it as offering the best chance to unseat the incumbent.

Meanwhile, it has complicated the second-term bid of Hichilema and his United Party for National Development (UPND), which draws its core support from the south, west and north-west while seeking to expand its reach nationwide.

The political battle is playing out on the streets of the capital, Lusaka.

As the afternoon heat blazes across the city, the familiar hum of commerce hanging over the busy markets is overlayed with the sound of campaign songs and jingles.

Election posters are everywhere: from lamp posts and shop fronts to massive billboards, with faces of presidential and parliamentary candidates looming over passers-by.

All this as Zambia prepares for one of its most unpredictable elections in years.

On 13 August, more than eight million registered voters will get the chance to choose a president and a new parliament. Hichilema wants five more years after his 2021 landslide win over Lungu on a platform of change.

Yet what many expected to be a relatively straightforward contest this time has been reshaped by Lungu's death, the late surge of opposition challenger Brian Mundubile, persistent cost of living pressures and questions about electoral credibility.

This is all against the backdrop of recent constitutional reforms aimed at boosting the voice of youth and women.

The dominant conversation on street corners and in minibus taxis is the cost of living.

Zambia has not been spared from the worldwide pressures of high food and energy prices that followed the pandemic and subsequent geopolitical shocks.

Annual inflation has cooled to around 6.6%, its lowest in eight years, and the currency, the kwacha, has strengthened, but for many households the relief remains theoretical.

"The cost of living, I cannot say is okay," says Given Kangwa, a 27-year-old flour-mill worker standing in Lusaka City Market.

"Where I work, for example, the money we are getting paid is not enough and we cannot sustain our lives."

Kangwa explains that he was paid about 3,000 kwacha ($157; £117) a month, which is barely enough to cover food, rent and other expenses.

Theresa Zulu, a street-food seller, puts it more starkly. "Money has become so hard to come by. We are trying to stay strong to survive, but things have become really hard for us."

Voters, as ever, are unforgiving.

Macroeconomic gains matter less than the cost of cooking oil, for example, which has risen by more than 70% over the past five years. Zambians have also been battling with an unreliable power supply.

A severe drought in 2024-2025 slashed hydropower generation, creating power outages of up to 20 hours a day in parts of the country.

The government has since ramped up costly electricity imports and accelerated solar projects, easing the blackouts in recent months.

Yet the memory of darkened homes and food spoiling in fridges lingers.

But Hichilema defends his record, saying that when he came to office things were a mess and he has laid the foundations for success.

"We inherited a broken-down country… the economy was declining," Hichilema told the BBC in Lusaka.

When he took office in 2021, Zambia was in debt distress and had been failing to make its payments.

The subsequent restructuring of more than $13bn (£9.7bn) in external debt has, according to the president, produced annual savings of roughly $1.9bn.

"That's the money we're putting in the economy… into investment expenditure such as free education."

The free education policy - covering primary and secondary levels - has brought millions of children back into classrooms.

Thousands of teachers and health workers have been hired. Constituency development funds have been sharply increased.

Copper production, the backbone of the economy, has recovered strongly, foreign reserves have climbed to record levels and investor confidence has returned.

Supporters point to tangible openings.

"I think opportunities have been increased, looking at the number of people who have been employed - it has increased amongst civil servants. And, opportunities have just increased," one young woman, who is hoping to become a teacher, said.

The unemployment rate as measured by the statistics agency has registered a slight fall from 13% to 11% over the last four years.

Critics counter that the benefits have yet to reach enough families.

There are also concerns from civil society groups that despite Hichilema's promises of running a more open democracy, some opposition figures have been silenced after being convicted of hate speech.

The political landscape shifted dramatically with Lungu's death on 5 June last year.

The courts had ruled that he could not run again, after having won two elections, but his passing removed the opposition's most recognisable figure and initially appeared to create a smoother path to victory for the incumbent.

Lungu's PF party fractured, with some politicians and supporters shifting to other opposition groups.

This accelerated the consolidation of a split opposition around Mundubile, a 55-year-old lawyer, accountant and former government chief whip under Lungu.

In a matter of weeks from filing his nomination papers in May, Mundubile's popularity grew as the presidential candidate of an opposition grouping, the Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance, running under the previously unknown NRPUP banner.

Makebi Zulu - a lawyer closely associated with the Lungu family - is his running mate.

The alliance has capitalised on lingering loyalty in former PF strongholds and on public frustration with the cost of living.

Mundubile's central pitch is generational and inclusive.

"We are moving the women and the youth from the margins to the centre of policy and economic transformation," he told the BBC.

"We believe the youths have solutions to most of their challenges. What they don't have is a big brother, what they don't have is a caring government to be able to assist them achieve their objectives and goals. So I'm positioning myself as president as big brother to the youth."

The Lungu legacy still hangs over the race in unexpected ways.

The row over the former president's burial - still unresolved as the family do not want Hichilema to have anything to do with it - has become a potent political symbol.

Mundubile has publicly pledged that he and Zulu would ensure a dignified burial if they win the election.

Second-hand clothes seller Enock Mabenga said he was backing Mundubile "because we want to improve our lives".

But not everyone is persuaded by the opposition's return.

"I wouldn't love to see them come back in the first place because we gave them a chance to rule the country and we saw what they did," Edith Muntanga, in her late 30s said, referring to the previous government's record on corruption and governance.

This election is the first under significant constitutional changes enacted in late 2025.

The amendments introduced a mixed-member system for the National Assembly with most seats given on a constituency basis but some reflecting the proportion of votes each party gets.

The number of constituency seats has expanded from 156 to 226, and 40 additional seats will be awarded through proportional representation: 20 for women, 15 for youth (counted as under 35) and five for persons with disabilities.

The reforms aim to boost representation in a parliament where women have long been under-represented. Whether they will translate into meaningful influence remains to be seen.

On the presidential ballot itself, gender representivity is limited: of the 14 candidates cleared by the electoral commission, only one is a woman - independent Given Katuta.

To win in the first round, a presidential candidate needs to have more than 50% of the votes cast. A second round is triggered within 37 days if no-one reaches this threshold, which could happen with such a fragmented field.

Civil society voices have raised concerns about the integrity of the process.

Linda Kasonde, human rights activist and former president of the Law Association of Zambia, has questioned the composition of the electoral commission.

"In terms of the constitution of the electoral commission itself, a number of the members of the commission are actually politically aligned to the incumbent ruling party and are not seen to be independent," she said.

"And so we're yet to see how they'll manage the actual election, but in the run-up to the election, there is some disquiet as to whether or not they're acting in the interest of all Zambians."

The commission has consistently rejected accusations of political bias saying it operates strictly "within a constitutional mandate [and] adheres to principles of transparency and independence".

Zambia has a proud record of peaceful elections and democratic transfers of power.

That history is frequently invoked by all sides. Yet trust in institutions, the cost of living and the unfinished story of a former president's final resting place have combined to make this contest harder to predict.

As campaign rallies fill football grounds, Zambians are weighing the tangible gains of the past five years against the daily struggles that still define their lives.

On 13 August, they will deliver their verdict.

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

Evidence that South African special forces murdered top detective shared with BBC

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly8djwgem0o, 7 days ago

Senior police detective Frans Mathipa had been fighting for four months to gain access to a crucial piece of information in the case he was working on. Finally, he was told, it was going to come his way.

But he feared his pursuit of it could cost him his life.

Two days later, his car was found overturned - he had been shot dead while driving.

Now seven members of South Africa's special forces, and one military police officer, have been charged with murdering Lt Col Mathipa, a highly respected officer, in August 2023. They deny the charges.

There has been no date scheduled for their trial, and there are concerns it will never go ahead, because three of the men charged with his murder have refused to comply with a court order revoking their bail. They are still working for the army's special forces, and one of them has been promoted.

The BBC World Service has been given exclusive access to the prosecution case against all the men.

The case has caused consternation in one of Africa's most robust democracies, with fears the country's military is significantly overreaching its mandate.

We asked the South African army whether it was responsible for Mathipa's killing. It did not respond.

Several hundred pages of secret police and court documents, shared with the BBC, set out the evidence suggesting special forces killed Mathipa - who worked for an elite police unit known as "The Hawks".

We have also interviewed key sources in the police investigation - South Africa's former head of counter-terrorism in The Hawks; Mathipa's commanding officer; and Mathipa's family - to build the most comprehensive public account of the events leading up to the detective's death.

It presents a compelling case that South Africa's special forces are responsible for his murder.

In particular, police documents show that the vehicle that trailed Mathipa just before he was shot was registered to a front company for the special forces. And that tracking data found in that vehicle puts it at the scene of the shooting.

One of the men in the car, Maj Sunnybooi Wambi, the documents show, was also spotted at the scene of an alleged abduction carried out by special forces soldiers - the case that Mathipa had been investigating.

After Mathipa's death, special forces issued a chilling warning to The Hawks, the police documents say. "You can appoint 10 investigating officers; we will kill all of them," said the warning, according to police.

The case Mathipa had been investigating was sensitive.

It centred on an Ethiopian man called Abdella Abadigga, an alleged so-called Islamic State [IS] militant. He had been granted temporary asylum in South Africa in 2008, but was arrested abroad in 2017.

Abadigga had then been smuggled back into the country, by the South African military and Department of Home Affairs, to be used as an intelligence asset - but had "gone rogue", according to Col Tollie Vreugdenburg, former head of counter-terrorism in The Hawks.

Abadigga had gone on to extort Johannesburg's Ethiopian neighbourhood, sources in the community told us. This money was used to fund IS, says the US government.

We asked the South African army if it had facilitated Abadigga's return to South Africa. And we asked the Department of Home Affairs if it had lied about a planned deportation of him to Ethiopia, and had instead smuggled him back into South Africa on an expired passport and refugee permit. They did not respond.

Specifically, Mathipa was investigating the allegation that special forces had then gone on to abduct and kill Abadigga in December 2022 - who the United States, earlier that year, had put under sanctions, designating him an IS recruiter and fundraiser, as well as a trusted supporter of Bilal al-Sudani, a top IS figure in Somalia.

Court documents show that after Abadigga's abduction, his phone connected to a mast near a military base. Police sources say it was used to call a number in Somalia.

The Pentagon did not respond to the BBC's question on whether Abadigga's phone helped locate al-Sudani, who was killed by US special forces in Somalia in January 2023, only a few weeks after Abadigga's alleged abduction.

We also asked South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa whether Abadigga had been kidnapped at the behest of the US. He declined to comment.

When Mathipa was assigned the case, four months before his own death, he already knew special forces were implicated, but he was trying to secure more evidence.

He was building on information already gathered by Abadigga's brother, Ameen - who had opened a missing person's case soon after the disappearance, and had been assigned an investigating officer (IO) from local police.

He and the IO had obtained CCTV footage showing the last known movements of Abadigga and his bodyguard Kadir Abotese at the Mall of Africa, a shopping centre on the outskirts of Johannesburg.

The footage, clips of which the BBC has seen, shows a man in a blue top following Abadigga and his bodyguard as they leave the food court to head back to the car park, and paying for parking three seconds after Abadigga and Abotese do.

The mall CCTV footage contains another vital clue. The licence plates of the suspected kidnappers' vehicles are clearly visible.

The vehicles were all registered to a company called Peters Communications Trust (PCT), a front company for South African special forces - Ameen and the IO were to discover.

At the time of Abadigga's disappearance, PCT's directors included Maj Gen Herbert Mashego, the then commanding officer of 5 Special Forces Regiment.

Police documents say a meeting was arranged between the IO and high ranks of the military, including Brig Gen Yalo, the then head of special forces, at which the IO was instructed to tell Ameen there was no link between PCT and the military.

So, with the investigation seemingly at a standstill, Abadigga's brother took his case to the Johannesburg High Court.

Responding to Ameen's legal action, special forces denied all knowledge of Abadigga or his whereabouts. They did, however, admit their soldiers had been at the Mall of Africa on the date in question, but said they had been there for a training exercise.

They named the man seen wearing blue on CCTV as Maj Sunnybooi Wambi, and said he had been the exercise commander. They also admitted all the suspect vehicles seen at the mall belonged to them.

Domestic operations by South Africa's military need to be authorised by both the government and the presidency.

We asked South African former Defence Minister Thandi Modise, and President Ramaphosa, if they had authorised a training exercise in the Mall of Africa - Modise did not respond and Ramaphosa declined to comment.

When Mathipa was assigned to the case a month later, he issued a subpoena to special forces to force them to hand over full details of this alleged training exercise and all the personnel involved.

When access to these documents was finally promised, three months later, Mathipa had a premonition that he would be murdered - according to Brig Paulina Sekgobela, his commanding officer.

"When [Mathipa] left my office he said: 'Brigadier, you know, these people - they are going to kill me. I'm going to die'," she told the BBC.

On the day Mathipa was killed, he was phoned by a man calling himself Tebogo, who claimed he had information on the case for the detective - according to Mathipa's daughter Basetsana, who was home with him at the time.

Mathipa and Tebogo arranged to meet at a petrol station in Pretoria.

When Tebogo failed to show, Mathipa drove away again, along the highway.

He was killed while driving, by rounds fired from high-velocity weapons which special forces would have had access to, according to South African police.

And footage from motorway toll gantries, police say, shows one of the occupants of the black BMW, which tailed Mathipa moments before his murder, was Maj Sunnybooi Wambi.

This car, like the three vehicles connected with Abadigga's disappearance at the mall, was registered to PCT, they add.

New detectives were assigned to the case after Mathipa's death, triggering a chilling message from special forces, that made its way to the police's Criminal Intelligence division.

Police say it warned that, however many investigating officers were assigned to the case, "we will kill all of them".

Twelve members of the South African military have been arrested in total, including Lt Col Sunnybooi Wambi, and the current head of South Africa's special forces, Brig Gen Solomon Lechoenyo - both promoted to these positions since police first started investigating their roles in the case.

The 12 have been variously charged with the abduction and murder of Abadigga and Abotese, the murder of Mathipa, fraud, and obstruction.

All deny all charges and they were initially released on bail. But six of them later had their bail revoked, and were ordered to turn themselves in to custody.

Three of the six, including Wambi, have been charged with both Mathipa's murder, and Abotese's abduction and murder.

The military has refused to hand them over.

In July, their lawyers cited mental health treatment for their absence. Three years after Mathipa's killing, no trial date has been set.

Meanwhile, Abadigga's body has never been found.

"[Mathipa] was barking up the right tree. He was taking on the right lion," Vreugdenburg says of the late detective.

Mathipa's daughter Basetsana puts it starkly: "We need justice. I'm never going to see my dad anymore... Why my dad? Because he was doing his job."

Presidential pardon for French alleged spy accused of plotting Mali coup

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2el29e3m3xo, 3 days ago

A Frenchman who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Mali for plotting an alleged coup in the West African country has now been granted a presidential pardon, it was announced on Thursday.

Yann Vezilier was accused a year ago of trying to destabilise President Assimi Goïta's government "on behalf of the French intelligence service" alongside a number of army generals and dozens of soldiers.

It is not yet clear what has prompted Mali's U-turn.

France's foreign ministry has yet to comment on the pardoning, and previously said accusations that Vezilier was working in Mali as a French spy were "unfounded".

In a post on Facebook, the Malian government said: "This act of clemency, which does not call into question the facts established by an adversarial judgment rendered during a trial, where all rights of the defence were respected, is accompanied by the immediate removal of the individual from national territory."

Mali is a former colony of France, and has been gripped by a security crisis fuelled by an Islamist insurgency since 2012. It was one of the reasons given for Goïta leading a coup in 2021 but attacks by jihadist groups have continued and even increased.

At the time of the arrests last year, Mali's Security Minister Gen Daoud Aly Mohammedine said "fringe elements of the Malian armed security forces" had been detained for seeking to "destabilise the institutions of the republic".

"These soldiers and civilians" were said to have obtained "the help of foreign states", the minister said.

Vezilier was said to have acted "on behalf of the French intelligence service, which mobilised political leaders, civil society actors and military personnel" in Mali, according to the minister.

Political tension and the security crisis have worsened in Mali.

In April the country's defence minister was killed in an apparent suicide truck bombing on his residence near the capital, Bamako, during a wave of militant attacks. Goïta named himself defence minister shortly after, in an apparent attempt to consolidate his already considerable power.

When the capital came under siege by Islamist fighters, they managed to impose a partial blockade there and total blockades elsewhere including the city of Ségou.

Last May, the junta dissolved all political parties following rare anti-government protests, which former Prime Minister Moussa Mara described as a severe blow to reconciliation efforts initiated by the military leaders.

Goïta had promised elections within two years of seizing power, but these have never been held.

Last July, the transition period was extended by five years, clearing him to continue leading the country until at least 2030.

Alongside its neighbours Niger and Burkina Faso, Mali has enlisted the help of Russian allies to contain the jihadist attacks in the region after breaking ties with France - but there have been no significant improvements in security.

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

Tanzanian rangers arrested as police investigate death in national park

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd7lp92xv8go, 3 days ago

Tanzania's police have arrested three park rangers after a man died and two others were injured in a conservation area which they were accused of entering illegally.

The three men had been detained by rangers on Wednesday morning in the protected Ngorongoro Conservation Area, where rights groups have long raised concerns about alleged human rights violations linked to conservation enforcement.

They were arrested after they were accused of entering the area on a motorcycle without following required procedures.

Police said the men had been travelling from the northern city of Arusha towards Babati, about 166km (103 miles) away, to attend a funeral when they lost their way.

Police are investigating the circumstances in which Sefu Musa, 25, later died.

Musa's fellow traveller, Salimu Haji, is being treated in hospital, while the third man Abdallah Nuru, managed to return to Arusha following the incident.

Speaking to local media, Nuru alleged they were brutally assaulted by the rangers at the park.

He said they had gone through the Ngorongoro gate before realising they had taken the wrong route and decided to turn back. They were arrested as they returned through the park gate by the rangers, who accused them of being poachers, despite explaining that they had lost their way and were travelling to attend a funeral.

Nuru alleged they were ordered to strip off their clothes and roll on thorny shrubs while the rangers poured water over them. He said they were also beaten.

Nuru said both Musa and Haji lost consciousness amid the ordeal.

He said although injured, he helped move his colleagues to hospital, where Musa was declared dead and Haji remains in critical condition.

Police said the rangers were arrested as part of the investigation into the matter.

Rights groups and local communities have previously raised allegations of excessive force, arbitrary arrests and harassment during law enforcement and conservation operations in Ngorongoro.

This includes the forced relocation of Maasai communities who have coexisted with wildlife in the area for generations.

The authorities have maintained that such measures are aimed at protecting the conservation area and enforcing regulations.

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

French ambassador to CAR accused of misconduct at official residence faces disciplinary action

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqx7pp3yd25o, 4 days ago

France has opened disciplinary proceedings against its top diplomat in the Central African Republic (CAR) over accusations of misconduct.

This emerged after a report in a French weekly that Ambassador Bruno Foucher allegedly had brought dozens of women into his official residence and had sex with some of them. He has not commented publicly.

The allegations, which refer to events said to have happened between January 2024 and March this year, prompted investigations by France's foreign ministry into a potential security breach.

A French diplomat told the BBC that the ministry has since initiated administrative procedures against the ambassador, which are "ongoing".

The BBC has contacted the French embassy in the capital, Bangui, for comment.

It is unclear what the disciplinary procedures against Foucher entail or how long they will last.

According to reports from French paper Le Canard enchaîné, Foucher is alleged to have invited about 30 women to his residence in Bangui.

Some of the women were reported to have stayed overnight, raising security concerns.

Foucher, 65, has been serving as his country's top diplomat in Bangui since 2023.

His alleged misconduct comes as France and the CAR are working to improve their bilateral relationship which had been strained in the past.

During his visit to Bangui in March, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot praised the "complete restoration of relations" between the two countries.

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

Ebola outbreak on track to be deadliest ever, WHO chief says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgk4pex4mn8o, 4 days ago

The current outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo is on track to surpass the deadliest outbreak of the disease ever, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters that the 2026 outbreak, "at its current pace", would "eclipse" that of the 2014-2016 occurrence, which killed at least 11,000 people.

The outbreak this year, declared on 15 May, has seen at least 4,300 cases and caused more than 2,000 deaths.

The WHO said on Wednesday it hoped to reverse the spread of the disease within three months but warned that this meant bringing transmission under control - not ending the outbreak entirely.

The epidemic was only officially declared in May, but it is believed the outbreak began at least three months before then, health officials said this week.

"We are chasing the virus, the virus is ahead of us," WHO Africa director Dr Mohamed Janabi said at a news conference in the city of Bunia, near the centre of the outbreak.

He cited research showing that the virus started spreading in February and was initially misdiagnosed as malaria or typhoid.

The 2026 outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo species of Ebola, which has previously caused only two known outbreaks - in 2007 and 2012.

No approved vaccine or recognised therapeutic drugs can treat this species of the virus.

Ongoing regional instability near the location of the outbreak, in the east of DR Congo, has added to challenges in controlling the spread of the disease. As a result, health workers are only reaching about 30% of cases, according to Janabi.

Ebola is a rare but deadly viral disease, with symptoms appearing within two to 21 days of infection.

Symptoms similar to the flu or malaria, including fever, headache and tiredness, can begin suddenly. As the disease progresses, vomiting and diarrhoea can develop, leading to organ failure.

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

The UK's medicines regulator, the MHRA, has given permission for the first human trials of a vaccine for Bundibugyo to go ahead.

The jab is being created by a team from the University of Oxford based on the same technology used in the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine. Three other groups are also developing different vaccines for Bundibugyo although they have not yet entered clinical trials.

The WHO is also sponsoring a separate clinical trial in DR Congo to see whether two existing antiviral therapies can improve survival rates.

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

At least 44 die as ferry sinks in Zimbabwe's Lake Kariba

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czxe2vyxd7do, 4 days ago

At least 44 people have died after a ferry sank on Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe on Tuesday, police have said.

The ferry had a capacity to carry 90 passengers and five crew members but a lake official had reported that 120 people, including 12 children, were on it.

The vessel was hit by a strong wave and overturned, police added. Footage shared online appears to show the overturned hull floating in the water.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has declared a state of disaster, as search and rescue operations intensify. So far, 77 people have been rescued.

Lake Kariba, which straddles the border with Zambia, is one of the world's largest man-made reservoirs, supporting transport and fishing and providing vital hydroelectric power to both countries.

An eyewitness, Maxton Kanhema, told AFP news agency that the boat had travelled in bad weather and may have been hit by a wave, causing its engines to switch off.

"People were in distress... there were bodies in the water and it was a sad situation to witness. Those that could be rescued were rescued," he was quoted as saying.

Mutsa Murombedzi, a local member of parliament, posted a video on X of what she said was the boat at the start of the journey, adding that residents had been travelling across the lake to Kariba town, about five hours away.

"We have very hard questions that require honest answers. The officials must release the correct number of people who were onboard," she wrote.

The Zimbabwe Civil Protection Unit (CPU) said that registered ticket sales showed 114 adult passengers were on the vessel. An unknown number of children below ticketing age could also have been onboard, it added.

In its latest update on X, police said that 44 bodies had now been retrieved from the lake - up from the initial 15.

Local government minister Daniel Garwe said the president had declared a state of disaster to ensure "all necessary resources are mobilised" for search and rescue operations.

This included an army boat squadron, a police sub-aqua unit and a privately owned helicopter, he said.

"The government extends its deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those who have lost their lives in this tragic incident," Garwe added in a statement.

More BBC stories on Zimbabwe:

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Afghan women tell the BBC their lives are unrecognisable after five years of Taliban rule

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyje43dz4eo, 2 days ago

Five years on from the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, women and girls have told the BBC their lives are unrecognisable under the rule of the regime.

The hard-line Islamist group has been eroding the rights of the 22 million women in the country since it re-gained control in 2021- two decades after being removed from power by a US-led military coalition.

The BBC is one of the few media organisations that has been able to maintain access to Afghanistan since the takeover. We spoke to women across the country, from the heart of Kabul to the vast countryside.

They have watched on as the Taliban barred access to school for girls over 12, restricted travel without a male chaperone and brought in a law implying legal approval for child marriage.

When questioned by BBC Afghan over the constraints that women face, the Taliban's foreign minister said: "Women are not totally restricted on all walks of life".

But the restrictions impact almost every part of their lives and make it difficult to tell their stories. Many of the women have not used their real names because they fear reprisals.

"People are so overwhelmed by poverty and daily hardships that many have been forced to put their education, dreams, and hopes for the future aside," Ela from Kabul said.

"Today, survival has become the priority, and many of us no longer have the time or energy to think about the future."

This story contains distressing details.

Afghanistan is currently the only country in the world where girls are officially banned from secondary and higher education.

Shakiba recounted that "15 August, when the government fell, was the worst and most painful day of my life.

"Every year when this date comes I feel as if an old wound opens again and a new feeling of defeat fills my heart.

"That day I felt that many of the dreams I had carried inside me for years were suddenly taken away."

Though Shakiba has managed to finish her secondary education online - "a very important victory" - she says her life-long goal of becoming a pilot feels impossible.

"Whenever I looked at the sky I imagined myself flying an airplane and seeing the world from above. I wanted to fly freely and experience a world without limits," she said.

The Taliban's foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, was asked by the BBC about education for girls in Afghanistan, specifically referencing a Unicef report stating that around 2.6 million girls in the country are now unable to attend school beyond Grade 6.

Amir Khan Muttaqi replied that "it is not correct to say everything is banned for women", adding that "right now, three million girls are going to schools and madrassas [religious centres focused on Islamic teachings]".

When asked how religious schools can produce doctors in the country, Muttaqi said: "Women are not totally restricted on all walks of life... Only one small part (of their affairs) is restricted until further notice."

Only 7% of women in Afghanistan are employed, after being banned from many workplaces and fields of study, the United Nations says.

News anchor Zuhal was pushed out of her job after a series of Taliban orders.

"I was very passionate about my work and did it with love. Every time I sat in front of the camera and read the news, I felt proud and happy... it was part of my identity and life.

"The days when I used to wake up to the sound of my alarm clock and get ready to watch TV have now become days when I wake up in the morning knowing that I have to spend the whole day at home."

According to the foreign minister, Afghanistan had up to 30,000 women in business in 2020 and 2021 - which has since risen to 120,000 female entrepreneurs.

"[Women] are teachers, and civil servants and entrepreneurs. There is not a total ban on women in all forms of engagement and activities," Muttaqi said.

The Taliban has resumed the public implementation of corporal punishments, with official records saying hundreds of people have been flogged since 2021 - but the true figure is likely much higher.

Shaima told the BBC she was whipped 50 times, leaving her body badly scarred and her whole family traumatised.

"They brought a paper and forced me to confess that: 'Yes, I am an apostate woman. I am collaborating with infidels and have spoken with unrelated men'.

"They hit me so hard that my head would bend toward the ground.

"Around 200 local people had gathered, including men, boys, and children. All of them were male. I was required to say out loud that I repented."

Shaima said her eldest daughter now wakes up frightened almost every night and asks her "Mother, they are beating you," or "Mother, they are killing you".

"That is what causes me the greatest pain," she added.

Manizha was publicly lashed 39 times over her friendship with a man, and then jailed.

"We wanted to get married, but unfortunately we were arrested. I do not know how the Taliban intelligence found out, or whether someone reported us.

"In prison, I experienced things that I have never even told my mother. I had no desire to continue living. I used to say that the first thing I would do after getting out of prison would be to take my own life.

"I had become a source of shame for my family and friends... I could no longer think about marriage."

If you, or someone you know, has been affected by issues mentioned in this article, BBC Action Line has put together a list of organisations which can help.

Afghanistan has one of the world's highest maternal mortality rates - rules restricting treatment by male doctors mean many women and girls are unable to access healthcare.

Midwife Marzia recounted watching a 45-year-old mother of six die in front of her after she travelled to the clinic from a remote district.

"We managed to save the baby, but now I keep thinking about the baby's future and the future of her six other children. What will happen to them without their mother? What will happen to the whole family?

"We were all heartbroken. For us, losing a patient is always the hardest part of our job. We become exhausted, both physically and emotionally."

Maryam is expecting a baby girl and said she worries about her daughter's future.

"If things continue like this, what will happen to her? She will not even have the chance to finish school like I did, let alone go to university.

"If one day she gets married, becomes pregnant and needs a female doctor during childbirth, what if there isn't one? This is a matter of life and death."

'Speak up for us'

Some of the Afghan women we spoke to said they still have hope for the future.

Noori, 24, said she had chosen to study law and political science because she wanted to give women a voice and defend their rights.

She never finished her degree because of the Taliban take over, but she's still been able to find a way to help women.

"I did not lose hope. I decided to start working and become financially independent. I found a job at a jam-making company and started working there. I have now been working for three years.

"Now, I have decided to establish my own company so that I can provide employment opportunities for other women. I want them to become independent, strong, and successful women like me and have a better future.

"Currently, 10 brave women are working there."

Asma, who is 13, wants to become a doctor and is sure someday she will be.

"One day, everything will change... but we must continue with patience, and we will not lose hope," she told the BBC.

Ela, who is a dental assistant, urged the international community not to forget Afghani women and girls.

"Speak up for Afghan women, support their right to education and work," she said.

"Keep the world's attention on their situation. We need solidarity, not silence."

Australian state to launch gun buyback after Bondi Beach attack

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgjee21eenvo, yesterday

Australia's most populous state will launch a gun buyback scheme later this year, becoming the first to offer cash in exchange for firearms in the wake of the Bondi Beach terror attack.

Gun owners in New South Wales (NSW) will be offered up to AUS$1,000 (£523) to hand over eligible handguns, shotguns and rifles from 2 November.

Australian authorities had pledged sweeping firearm law reforms after 15 people were shot dead at a Jewish festival on Sydney's Bondi Beach, which is located in NSW, last December.

The state's premier Chris Minns said on Saturday: "We want those guns handed in, compensated for and safely destroyed."

He said the move could see hundreds of thousands of guns surrendered.

Gun ownership reforms already introduced by the state mean individuals can only own four firearms - although some people, such as farmers and sports shooters, can own a maximum of 10.

The scheme will be offered to those who have more weapons than permitted by the new rules, or who are no longer covered by a licence - with terms having been reduced from five years to two.

The scheme will be implemented in two phases. The first - from the start of November - covers types of handguns, shotguns and rifles.

Those handing over a revolver, for example, will be paid AUS$1,000, while an air rifle will fetch AUS$450.

The second phase will begin early next year and cover "higher-value firearms" valued above AUS$3,000, capped at AUS$10,000.

The National Gun BuyBack Scheme is being jointly funded by New South Wales and the federal government.

Businesses will be able to receive up to AUS$25,000 in support to help them adjust to the reforms, with help also offered to gun-dealers.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: "We must do everything we can to make sure the antisemitic terrorist attack in Bondi doesn't happen again.

"That includes meaningful nationwide gun reform."

On 14 December last year, 15 people including a 10-year-old girl and a Holocaust survivor were killed as Hanukkah celebrations took place near Australia's most famous beach.

Australian authorities had initially planned a nationwide gun buyback, though plans have been delayed over funding and how it would be implemented.

South Korea proposes talks to officially end war with North

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8en2z9jp2xo, yesterday

South Korea's president has proposed talks with its northern neighbour on officially ending the war between the two that is technically still active.

Lee Jae Myung suggested a "multi-layered security system" to avoid flare-ups along the countries' de-facto border, known as the demilitarised zone (DMZ), and offered to discuss practical ways of halting Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

North Korea has continually tested ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, which has been perceived in Seoul and nearby Japan as an attempt to intimidate and project power.

The conflict between the two occupants of the Korean peninsula has been effectively frozen since an armistice was signed in 1953.

They did not sign a peace treaty and therefore have remained technically still at war ever since.

There have been clashes and tensions along the DMZ in the decades since, along with accusations from both sides of provocations, including dropping balloons carrying rubbish and propaganda.

Lee, who became South Korean president last year after his predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached for attempting to declare martial law, has sought to thaw relations with North Korea and its ally China, which had soured under Yoon.

"Let us put down our intentions to threaten each other and begin discussions to end the long-running war as the directly involved parties," he told a ceremony marking Liberation Day, which commemorates the peninsula's liberation from Japanese rule.

Lee expressed hope that the two nations "will sit face-to-face for peaceful coexistence and mutual growth", adding this could serve as a forum for discussing "effective ways to halt the advancement of the North's nuclear capabilities".

North Korea has yet to react to Lee's offer. The authoritarian regime's state news agency carried news of Kim marking the country's own Liberation Day commemorations with a wreath-laying and guard of honour.

Pyongyang has previously rebuffed Lee's offers of engagement, criticising a deal for the US to build South Korea a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines and denouncing joint drills between the two allies.

In January 2024, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced that unification with the South was no longer possible.

Kim said that the constitution should be amended to educate North Koreans that South Korea was a "primary foe and invariable principal enemy".

In a speech at the time, he added that if a war were to break out on the Korean peninsula, the North should aim towards "occupying", "recapturing" and "incorporating" the South into its territory.

North Korea declared itself a nuclear power in 2022 and vowed never to relinquish its weapons, of which it is estimated to possess dozens.

Lee has previously said Pyongyang was producing 15 to 20 more warheads annually, telling the BBC last year he would back a deal between US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un to freeze production.

Trump is the only Western leader to have met Kim, which happened during the US president's first term.

Though he has turned his attention to other regions since returning to the White House, Trump said last August that he hoped to meet Kim again when "appropriate".

In a sign of continued sabre-rattling, North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the sea on Tuesday - the 11th suspected test so far this year - just days before a scheduled US-South Korean joint military exercise.

Indian solar mission's new findings throw light on enduring Sun mysteries

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c934wqpd74xo, 3 days ago

One of the most enduring mysteries that has been puzzling scientists forever is how the Sun's outer atmosphere - the corona - is millions of degrees hotter than its surface. And how does the corona continue to remain so hot despite frequent eruptions during which it loses huge amounts of energy?

Astrophysicists in India now say the latest findings from Aditya-L1, the country's first solar observation mission in space, have provided them some vital clues to unlocking those mysteries. Their findings are revealed in a recent paper published in the prestigious Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The temperature variations in different regions of the Sun defy the laws of physics, says leading Indian solar astrophysicist Prof R Ramesh of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) who led the study.

If you cut through the Sun's layers, deep inside is the core where the temperature is 15 million Celsius. Travel outwards to the surface or the photosphere - the part that we see from the Earth - it's about 5,500C. Far away from the core is the Sun's outermost layer or corona where the temperature is about 2 million C - it can sometimes go up to 40 million C.

Prof Ramesh says the corona is where extreme weather events - such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) - originate, during which large amounts of energy is released by the Sun into space. The CMEs cause beautiful auroras, and they can also affect life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms that can knock down power grids and affect weather and communication satellites.

In normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches two to three CMEs a day. During the maximum solar activity cycle that comes every 11 years, there can be 10 or more in a single day.

"Now if the Sun is losing such huge amounts of energy with each CME and it's not replenished, the star at the centre of our solar system would lose all its energy and Earth would plunge into an irreversible deep freeze," Prof Ramesh says.

But since that's not happening, it means there's a "mechanism" by which the corona is able to maintain its inexplicably high temperature, he says.

Scientists put it down to two factors - one, the bubbling boiling motions on the Sun's surface that constantly generate waves which, as they travel outwards, carry energy to the corona - a bit like sea waves carrying foam and froth to the shore.

The second is the "tangled magnetic field lines" in the Sun's atmosphere that constantly snap and then reconnect. Prof Ramesh says a CME occurs when these twisting, looping lines - which resemble braided hair - rupture, throwing out massive clouds of magnetised plasma and gas in space. They often originate near sunspots, which are darker, cooler spots on the Sun where magnetic fields are particularly strong.

"But then these lines reconnect and the Sun replenishes the lost energy back within hours," he adds.

In their paper, Prof Ramesh says they have been able to quantify how much energy each of the two systems supply to the corona – which explains both why it's so many times hotter to begin with and how it retains that temperature after consistently losing energy.

Their study, he says, clearly shows that it's the second system that supplies most of the energy.

"Though the waves generated as a result of the bubbling, boiling motions on the Sun's surface generate and transport energy, their contribution is very little - they supply only 7% of the energy requirement.

"The remaining 93% comes because the Sun reconfigures itself and replenishes the lost energy."

To arrive at that calculation, Prof Ramesh says they studied a "very energetic" CME that took place on 5 August 2024. Emissions were recorded by Aditya-L1's coronagraph called Velc (Visible Emission Line Coronagraph).

"We saw that in 10 hours after the CME, the tangled field lines were able to go back to their original place, they reconnected and corona's energy was reconfigured," he said.

"We do recognise that energy generated by bubbly motions plays a major role in it, but we have evidence that it is not sufficient. Our study shows that the magnetic field lines snapping and reconnecting everywhere on the Sun are the primary source for supplying most of the energy."

These data, Prof Ramesh says, "provide an important benchmark" for future studies into the potential energy generation mechanisms in the Sun's atmosphere.

"I think they would help answer the fundamental questions of physics that defy logic," he says.

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Indian actor's video with endangered gibbon sparks investigation

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9q9351yp1xo, 4 days ago

A video posted by a Tamil film star showing him cuddling an endangered gibbon has triggered an investigation by Indian wildlife officials over how he came into contact with the animal.

Vikram, an award-winning actor from the southern state of Tamil Nadu, was seen hugging and playing with a lar gibbon in a now-deleted video posted on Instagram on Monday.

The state's forest department has since begun investigating how the gibbon came to be at a private home and whether rules governing its possession and transfer were followed.

They have not concluded that the animal was trafficked, or that Vikram owned it or was involved in bringing it into India.

Vikram has not commented on the controversy yet. His public relations officer, Yuvaraj, told BBC Tamil that the media would be informed if the actor issued a statement.

Lar gibbons are small apes native to south-east Asia whose international trade is tightly controlled.

Officials said the animal was being kept at the home of a relative of Vikram in Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu state.

The state's Chief Wildlife Warden Rakesh Kumar Dogra told BBC Tamil that individuals could keep a lar gibbon if they had the permits and documentation required by law.

"An investigation is under way into where the lar gibbon came from. Only then can we say whether it was brought illegally," he said.

The case has made national headlines. Vikram, whose real name is Kennedy John Victor, is one of the biggest names in Tamil cinema, India's popular Tamil-language film industry. His career spans more than three decades and he is known for taking on unconventional and physically demanding roles.

Lar gibbons are small apes covered in blonde or dark brown fur, with a distinctive ring of white fur around their faces.

They live in tropical forests in small family groups and are found across parts of south-east Asia, including Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia.

The species is listed as endangered, with its numbers threatened by habitat loss, hunting and the illegal pet trade.

They are also protected under CITES, an international agreement that tightly restricts trade in endangered species.

India is among the countries that has incorporated protections for CITES-listed species into its wildlife laws. People who keep such animals must register them with wildlife authorities and follow rules governing their possession and transfer.

"To import exotic animals, it is necessary to submit a DGFT [Directorate General of Foreign Trade] permit and a no-objection certificate, and then a wildlife conservator's certificate," Dogra said.

The controversy began on Monday when Vikram posted the video of himself playing with the lar gibbon on Instagram.

The footage quickly spread online, with some media reports describing the animal as the actor's new pet. It was deleted from his account within hours.

The short video has since led wildlife officials down a trail stretching more than 2,000km (1,240 miles) away to the north-eastern state of Manipur.

A senior Tamil Nadu forest official, speaking to BBC Tamil on condition of anonymity, said they had found the animal was among eight lar gibbons - four males and four females - that a Manipur-based man had declared on the government's PARIVESH portal in 2020.

PARIVESH is the official platform used to register exotic animals and obtain environment, forest and wildlife-related permissions in India. According to records on the portal, Malaysia was listed as the animals' country of origin.

Records cited by the official show that on 5 June this year, one male and two female lar gibbons were transferred from Manipur to a person in Perundurai in Tamil Nadu's Erode district. The stated purpose was adoption.

But investigators have not yet found documentation showing that permission from Tamil Nadu's Chief Wildlife Warden had been obtained for the animals to be brought into the state, the official said.

Two months later, on 5 August, one male and one female gibbon were transferred from Perundurai to Vikram's relative in Chennai, according to the Forest Department's investigation.

Investigators are now trying to establish the precise origins of the gibbons and whether the necessary documentation was in place at each stage of their journey.

Wildlife activists have also raised questions about how the animals originally entered India. Manipur borders Myanmar, and India's north-east has been flagged as a route for the illegal trade in exotic wildlife, although authorities have not concluded that the gibbons in this case were trafficked.

The Tamil Nadu Forest Department says it is examining their documentation, including whether rules governing the international movement and possession of CITES-listed animals were followed.

India's Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), a federal agency that investigates organised wildlife crime, has also become involved in the case.

Thenmozhi, the bureau's Southern Zone Deputy Director, told BBC Tamil that it had written to wildlife officials in Chennai asking them to verify documents and take appropriate action.

"The lar gibbon is classified as a protected species under this agreement. They should only be handled as protected animals," Thenmozhi said, referring to CITES.

The WCCB said further action would depend on what officials found during their investigation.

The case comes amid wider concern about illegal trade of exotic animals into India. In recent years, customs officials have repeatedly intercepted passengers arriving from south-east Asia with live reptiles, birds and primates concealed in their luggage.

In July 2025, more than 350 exotic animals from Bangkok were seized at Mumbai and Pune airports over a two-month period. Gibbons have also turned up in seizures: in November, customs officials in Bengaluru found one among exotic animals being brought in by passengers arriving from Bangkok.

Chennai itself has seen several such cases. In February this year, customs officials seized 31 exotic animals from a passenger arriving from Bangkok, including tortoises, iguanas and snakes.

Australian army whistleblower released on parole after more than two years in jail

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yw7vdwjxyo, 4 days ago

A whistleblower jailed for leaking military secrets about Australia's involvement in Afghanistan has been released on parole after serving 27 months.

In 2024, David McBride was sentenced to five years and eight months after pleading guilty to stealing top secret defence documents and giving it to the media.

His actions later led to a landmark inquiry that found evidence that Australian forces had unlawfully killed 39 Afghans during the war.

On Thursday, a spokesperson for the Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said McBride's "parole was considered and granted". The ex-military lawyer, who is being treated for lung cancer, will serve the rest of his sentence in the community under supervision.

Shortly after the decision, advocacy group The Information Rights Project released a statement on McBride's behalf, according to national broadcaster ABC.

He thanked his family "who never gave up on me and whose fighting spirit, love and humour inspired me every day" and praised "all my amazing supporters from around both Australia and the world who sent me such inspirational messages".

McBride also revealed that he had been diagnosed with treatable lung cancer and would be having surgery to remove part of his lung.

His lawyer Edwina Lloyd described the decision to grant his parole as "the right one", in a statement according to the ABC.

She said McBride's life has been "defined by service to Australia", both as a legal officer for the Australian Defence Forces (ADF) and having served time for his crimes.

During his court case, prosecutors argued that McBride's actions had been motivated by "personal vindication", and that the way he gathered, stored and then leaked the documents endangered Australia's national security and foreign policy.

But McBride's lawyers asked for leniency, saying he shared the information with "honourable" intentions and out of a sense of personal duty.

In sentencing McBride, the judge said while he was of "good character", sharing military secrets was a "gross breach of trust" and he had shown "no contrition" for his actions.

The material he leaked to the ABC underpinned a series of reports in 2017 called The Afghan Files which provided unprecedented insight into Australia's elite special forces in Afghanistan, including allegations of war crimes.

In 2020, the Brereton Report found "credible evidence" that elite soldiers have unlawfully killed 39 people.

A special watchdog - the Office of the Special Investigator - was set up to look into the actions of 19 ADF members. Of its 53 cases, 39 have been finalised and two former Special Air Service (SAS) soldiers have been charged.

Ben Roberts-Smith, Australia's most decorated living soldier, is facing five counts of the war crime of murder after he was charged earlier this year, while Oliver Schulz faces one count of the same charge.

Five years after the Taliban swept to power, does the West have any influence?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2gp5g0xngo, 2 days ago

In a whitewashed basement in a village south of Kabul, a dozen young women bustle about, stirring cauldrons of bubbling cherries and plums, and sticking labels on glass jam jars. Ventures like this are one of the rare spaces where women are still able to gain skills and employment in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

It is run by Najia, a 47-year-old Afghan entrepreneur and mother of nine children who was married at the age of 14.

If the authorities hadn't barred girls and young women from secondary schools and universities, many of the women in this workshop, including Naija's daughters, would be studying for a different kind of future.

But now, even this is being squeezed too. Recent rules say women have to ask men to take their products to market, and only men can sit at their stalls to show their wares at trade fairs. The Taliban gives various reasons for this, including claiming that women aren't wearing proper hijab or head covering.

"The world has to talk to the Taliban in a different way because it's just not working," says Najia. "The lives of Afghan women have to change because we're losing hope."

Five years after this ultra-conservative Islamist movement took charge, women are banned from much of the public sphere and girls are prohibited from going to school over the age of 12. Many inside and outside Afghanistan are asking the same pressing question: what's the best way to engage the Taliban to try to achieve meaningful change?

The issue is deeply divisive. There are fissures between many groups, with a huge array of conflicting issues at stake. These include women's rights, unpredictable Taliban edicts, international sanctions and aid cuts during a spiralling humanitarian crisis. The international response is split between Western countries often focused on human rights and others more interested in investment opportunities. And the West itself is divided on the best response.

Many now accept that whatever they're doing, it's not working.

Engage, not isolate

Few voices call for absolute isolation, not when the United Nations warns that 22 million Afghans – nearly half the of the population – rely on some form of foreign assistance to help them survive.

The country has been battered by multiple shocks: an agonising economic crisis; devastating natural disasters; clashes with neighbouring Pakistan, and the influx of millions of Afghans deported from countries near and far into this impoverished land.

And there's no avoiding it – the Taliban are in charge now.

In the years since their fighters swept into Kabul on 15 August 2021, they've grown in confidence and consolidated control despite intermittent attacks by armed opposition groups based abroad, as well as Islamic State fighters.

The Taliban are collecting tax revenues and signing deals in mining, energy and more with Beijing, Moscow, Abu Dhabi, and Tashkent, along with other neighbours.

But they're still strangled by international sanctions linked to terrorism and human rights. Russia is the only country to formally recognise their rule, and they haven't been allowed to take up what they see as their rightful seat at the UN in New York.

But formal diplomatic recognition is no longer the focal point.

"The West is losing the argument over recognition," says a former senior UN official who requested anonymity because they continue to work in Afghanistan. They point to the growing number of countries which have conferred de facto recognition by clinching deals, accrediting diplomats, operating embassies, and more.

"There's no doubt the Taliban would like to be recognised at the UN but it's no longer as potent a bargaining chip as it was at the beginning," they assess.

Behind the soaring blast walls of the foreign ministry in Kabul, in the sprawling compound of manicured lawns and graceful historic buildings, Taliban diplomats keep adding names and flags to the growing collection of Afghan embassies worldwide which are now under their control, rather than the last holdouts of the government they ousted. The current tally is more than 40.

"We need to come closer diplomatically rather than talking from a distance if we want to make progress in our relationship," says Zabihullah Mujahid, the main Taliban spokesman.

We meet in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, the real seat of power. This is where the Taliban's reclusive emir, Hibatullah Akhundzada, has been steadily building his political and military base and issuing hundreds of edicts, many of them focused on erasing women and girls from public life – what he portrays as an Islamic obligation to protect them.

This five-year mark is widely seen as an inflection point.

"An unstable and potentially dangerous equilibrium," is how the situation was described in closed-door remarks by a senior UN official at a recent international gathering.

And, yet, Afghanistan has fallen far under the world's radar. Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East absorb international attention, and Europe's burning issue is how to stop so many Afghans fleeing towards their shores. It's a startling reversal.

"It's extraordinary given the scale of Western effort from 2001-2021 how ignored Afghanistan is now," remarks a Western diplomat who recently served as an envoy to the country. They did not want to be named because they're still in the diplomatic service.

"The real diplomatic gap is the US," they added, in reference to the current US administration's decision to eliminate their special envoy position and dismantle many agencies, including the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which once led the world's approach on almost every Afghan issue.

Even within Taliban ranks, especially among those known to differ with some of the strictest edicts handed down by their emir, there is frustration that the world doesn't seem willing or able to forge a different kind of relationship.

"We want to be part of the international community," emphasises Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, a founding member of the Taliban who now runs a madrasa for boys and girls on the outskirts of Kabul. Unlike mainstream schools, madrasas take girls of all ages and some, especially those run privately, are teaching more than religious classes.

"Just putting pressure won't work," he tells us. He takes the long view of Afghanistan's history of resisting foreign invaders. "We didn't surrender to the Russians, to the Americans, so why would the Taliban surrender now?"

Open dialogue

UN officials believe their presence in Afghanistan makes a difference, however limited. They point to progress on issues such as the treatment of prisoners, their detailed discussions on the harsh implementation of the morality code known as the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, as well as efforts to improve humanitarian access.

"Engagement is slow, progress is incremental, and reversals are frequent," is the UN's sober summary of the past five years of on-off dialogue.

But it still insists it needs to stay the course.

"A stalled process is better than no process," emphasises Georgette Gagnon, a deputy special representative of the secretary-general for Afghanistan, who is now the acting head of the UN mission in Kabul.

The UN has been criticised for not pushing back enough against the Taliban, including for holding forums such as the so-called Doha Process, in which a Taliban delegation travelled to the Qatari capital in 2024 to discuss a range of issues, on condition that no Afghan women's representatives were at the table. UN officials insist all issues were discussed, and that subsequent meetings included their participation.

A new process called Mosaic approaches negotiations in a more structured format, on six core issues. On one side there are human rights including women's rights, inclusive governance, and counterterrorism. On the other, there are Taliban demands – sanctions relief, unfreezing assets, diplomatic representation.

"Confidence and reciprocity are beginning to take shape to open the door to engagement on the most difficult issues," says Gagnon whom we meet inside the UN's vast, heavily fortified compound. She calls them "small steps on the long road".

She insists it has to be done through a collective effort, not only through discussions by individual governments. "Pressure has not worked so far, threats have not worked; our best chance lies in consistent and common messaging and action."

For some sceptics, even inside the UN, there's worry that the Mosaic approach isn't going to work either.

But just keeping the lights on, preventing a slide into isolation, and continuing protection work with vulnerable communities, especially women, is seen as essential.

Talk quietly

In dusty provincial capitals and farmers' fields, where international and Afghan aid agencies wrestle with ways to work on the ground, the conversations continue day in day out.

It's there that edicts handed down by the reclusive emir are translated into what are known as workarounds. These workarounds can mean women are able to work in some agency sectors from home, or in different rooms, on different floors, or even in different buildings to men.

"Everything in Afghanistan is relationships, and day-to-day that can help make things easier," says Chris Kinder, the chairman of Afghanaid, a British charity which has been working in Afghanistan for more than 40 years. He emphasises that most of these conversations on access and implementation are conducted by experienced Afghan staff.

My own visits to provincial cities and towns in recent years have underscored how some local Taliban officials try to find pragmatic solutions. But others remain deeply suspicious of any foreign assistance.

Local agreements were described by another charity as "verbal and fragile".

Kinder rejects criticism that aid agencies have had to compromise on principles to keep their projects in place.

"The Taliban have their red lines and we, and our donors, have ours. We discuss approaches so both sides understand where they are coming from."

Here too, many aid officials call for a more unified approach.

Talk tougher

"We need to keep talking, but now we need to set conditions," is the view of Najia the jam maker. It's a stance also taken by women activists in the diaspora and human rights groups who say dialogue has been a one-way street, with the Taliban not offering any significant changes in return.

They insist discussion should not go beyond aid issues until they do.

A recent flashpoint was the decision by EU officials in June to host a Taliban foreign ministry delegation in Brussels for the first time since the Taliban returned to power. Representatives of 15 member states joined this one-day meeting to discuss processes to send back Afghan nationals who had no legal right to remain in the EU.

The EU called them "technical-level" talks. The Taliban saw them differently. A spokesperson described the agenda as including possible consular presence in Europe and the "need for trust-building measures".

"The diplomatic community is well aware that there are already existing channels through which technical issues can be discussed with the Taliban," says Rina Amiri, an Afghan-born former American diplomat who served as the US special envoy for Afghan women, girls and human rights from 2022 to 2025 and also grappled with the terms under which to meet the Taliban.

"Meeting in Brussels was clearly a decision that was about politics, not logistics," she says.

The critics call it "creeping normalisation".

Will it work?

"After these last five years I spent in Afghanistan, what do I have to show?" asks Mahbouba Seraj, an Afghan activist who runs a shelter, when we visit her in Kabul. When the Taliban took over in 2021, Seraj made headlines when she announced that she would stay in her country to fight for women's rights.

Seraj, 78, now says she's preparing to leave.

Her last shelter, which provided a life-saving refuge for more than 30 Afghan women fleeing domestic abuse, was shut down in December. Her repeated appeals to Taliban leaders to re-open classrooms for women and girls have been ignored.

"These small windows that the world sees, the little openings here and there including secret schools for girls, are just meant to fool everybody," she laments with visible sadness.

But Seraj calls on the international community to keep talking.

"They have to talk, but they have to make sure that when they sit down and talk, it's not just a lot of people just filling the air."

There are others who say the same.

"Only more capable diplomacy through quiet and confidential engagement can deliver the change," says a former Afghan official who's been involved in discreet discussions with Taliban officials. He hopes whoever is chosen as the new UN Secretary General and takes office at the start of next year will engage more effectively.

But, in the end, it's not the international community which is in the driving seat of any change.

"I don't think the answer is the world finding the right language to talk to the Taliban," says a Western analyst who's long been involved in Afghanistan and like others interviewed for this article asked to remain anonymous. "Five years on, it's very clear that real change can only come from within."

Some senior Taliban officials have occasionally spoken out about the emir's harshest orders, in particular the closure of girls' schools, and there've been rare instances when some were able to find ways to roll back his rules. One such case was last year's nation-wide internet shutdown which paralysed daily life and was later reversed.

The emir's edicts are regarded as absolute. The movement has shown it values unity, and power, above all else. Even the entreaties of Islamic scholars and officials of Islamic countries the world over have not bent the iron will of the emir and his enforcers, especially on the most sensitive issue of education.

Five years on, there are no simple or swift solutions.

At Najia's jam workshop, a table bristling with her framed training certificates – from local Afghan institutes to the now defunct USAID – attests to her efforts to become a bigger and better entrepreneur in the face of cascading restrictions.

Year on year, a new society starts to take shape. But many Afghans still keep pushing and praying for a different future – and hope the world won't forget them.

Lead image: Getty

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

Powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake kills at least 47 in Indonesia

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y0zz63gero, yesterday

At least 47 people have been killed after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck Indonesia early on Saturday, the nation's disaster mitigation agency has said.

The official death toll has been rising as a search and rescue operation gets under way. The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) said several people had been injured to varying degrees.

Hundreds of buildings in the region have been damaged by the quake and the dozens of aftershocks that followed.

The quake struck the island of Flores shortly before 05:00 local time on Saturday (22:00 GMT on Friday). It had a depth of 15km, Indonesia's meteorology and geophysics agency stated.

The shallower an earthquake is, the more destructive its effects on the surface tend to be.

Aftershocks included a magnitude 6.4 earthquake in North Sumatra, located in western Indonesia, at a depth of 163km, BNPB announced. The US Geological Survey measured it at magnitude 6.9.

Video taken at the port in Maumere showed large chunks of concrete breaking off the terminal building onto passengers waiting to board an inter-island ferry. Some were thrown into the sea when the gangway to a ship collapsed.

Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena, governor of East Nusa Tenggara province, told a news conference that they were killed in their sleep by collapsing rubble.

Arnold Welianto, who lives in Talibura, a village near the coastline in Sikka, East Nusa Tenggara, said he was awoken by the "very strong shaking".

"I was startled awake and immediately went to my child's room."

He told the BBC that many people had already fled into the hills.

"Some other residents were standing along the roadside because the sea had also receded," he explained.

"The water remained low for quite some time, so everyone panicked and ran - I went around to the community health centre, and the people there had already been evacuated."

A tsunami warning was issued but lifted around three hours after the initial jolt, when no significant sea level rise was detected.

A stream of people could be seen moving inland on motorbikes after authorities issued a tsunami warning. BNPB said 2,000 people had evacuated or relocated on their own.

Manggarai province is among the most affected areas, the disaster agency added.

It said 24 fatalities had been recorded there, 17 in East Manggarai province, three in Sikka province, and at least one in each of the Ngada, Ende and West Manggarai provinces.

At least two others had been seriously injured and 11 slightly injured.

Welianto said many residents of Talibura were choosing to remain outdoors as the aftershocks meant they were afraid to return to their homes.

Yulian Juita Ekalia, a university lecturer from Ruteng, a city to the west of the epicentre, said she had dragged her stove outside and was cooking there for fear of further tremors.

"I have never felt an earthquake this big," she told news agency AFP. "It felt like we were on a trampoline - it was really scary."

It will take time to assess the full extent of the destruction in the region, which is remote and mountainous.

Preliminary reports indicated more than 150 houses had been severely damaged, as well as dozens of educational institutions, and a number of healthcare facilities, places of worship, offices, and several other public facilities. The BNPB said aid was being sent to the affected areas.

It also advised people to remain calm, and to stay away from coastal areas and structures showing signs of damage.

Indonesia is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity, lying along the meeting point of three major tectonic plates.

Bondi Beach shooting hero's assault charges dropped by police

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crk51ky7xzlo, 5 days ago

A man who was hailed a hero for disarming one of the Bondi Beach shooters in December has had assault charges against him dropped by police.

Ahmed al Ahmed was charged in June with domestic violence common assault, as well as stalking and intimidation, after an alleged incident with his father in March at a home in southwest Sydney. Ahmed denied both charges.

On Wednesday, in a local Sydney court, prosecutors withdrew the charges after it was agreed that Ahmed would abide by an apprehended domestic violence order for 12 months, limiting his contact with his father.

Outside the court, Ahmed, 44, welcomed the development, telling reporters that he was a "free man" and that he hoped for "peace".

Defence lawyer Mohamed Sakr said in court that the order prohibiting Ahmed from assaulting, threatening, stalking or intimidating his father had been accepted without admissions, according to national broadcaster ABC.

Ahmed made global headlines last year after footage emerged of him tackling one of two gunmen who had opened fire during a Jewish event at Sydney's Bondi Beach, killing 15 people.

Ahmed wrestled a firearm from Sajid Akram and was later shot several times by a second alleged gunman, Naveed Akram.

The attack marked Australia's deadliest mass shooting in decades, and police later declared it a terrorist incident targeting the Jewish community.

A fundraiser in the days after the shooting raised more than AU$2.5m ($1.7m; £1.24m) for Ahmed, who also received a bedside visit from Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

In a separate court matter, two of Ahmed's brothers were recently charged over allegations they threatened him and tried to extort some of the donations he had received.

Australia PM under fire for remarks on Japanese counterpart's melon gifts

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0jl6ewvq42o, 6 days ago

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is under fire for comments he made about two melons gifted to him by his Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi, after a former Japanese envoy called it an insult.

During an appearance on the Bush Deep podcast, Albanese gestured near his chest while referring to the crown melons, calling them "pretty strange" gifts that "ended up being quite good".

That episode, which aired in July, had already landed the PM in hot water because of "inappropriate" comments he made about popstar Kylie Minogue.

Opposition leaders are now demanding he apologise to Takaichi, but Albanese's position is that it was the host who made the joke, not him, the BBC understands.

While discussing the melons Takaichi's team had presented to Albanese during her visit to Australia in May, the host of Bush Deep, comedian Nikki Osborne, quipped: "She brought two... She just came in looking like Pamela Anderson."

"She brought two, and they are beautiful," Albanese responded.

The exchange, which drew relatively little interest when the episode aired, has resurfaced after Tokyo's former ambassador to Canberra Shingo Yamagami labelled Albanese's comments a "sexist joke" and said they "betrayed the close bond" between Japan and Australia.

"The last thing [Takaichi] expected was to be so casually mocked by the trusted leader of Japan's special strategic partner," he wrote in an opinion piece published by The Australian on Monday.

Crown melons are the "most prized fruit" in Japan and "treasured as something special", Yamagami added, noting that a single melon costs more than 30,000 yen ($188).

"So, prime minister, please enjoy Japan's sweet and juicy melons without thinking about a woman's anatomy, and instead focus on what our two countries must do together," he said.

During his two-year stint in Australia, Yamagami had a notably frosty relationship with some members of Albanese's Labor Party over disagreements regarding China.

An opposition MP asked Albanese on Tuesday if he would apologise for the "foul-mouthed, classless comments about women", to which the prime minister said he "rejected the assertion of the question".

He went on: "Australia and Japan have never been closer. My government has taken our special strategic partnership to new heights."

Australia's opposition leader Angus Taylor on Monday also criticised the gaffe as "insulting", and demanded that Albanese make a personal apology.

Several Labor ministers have jumped to Albanese's defence, saying the former envoy and the media have misinterpreted his comments.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said the remarks "were not intended to be interpreted the way that our political opponents and some media outlets are reporting".

Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek called it "a completely unnecessary interpretation of what the prime minister said".

"I think people watching it for themselves can make their own minds up," Plibersek told Australia's Channel Seven.

Plibersek had earlier defended Albanese's controversial remarks about Minogue as nothing more than a sign that he was a fan.

The prime minister drew a wave of condemnation early last month after Osborne asked him on the podcast whether he would "shag, marry or date" Kylie Minogue, actress Nicole Kidman or entertainer Rhonda Burchmore, to which he replied "Kylie, clearly... all of the above".

Albanese later issued a public apology, saying: "I apologise unequivocally for the comments".

Osborne, who is best known for posting crude comedy sketches on YouTube, launched her podcast series earlier this year. Her podcast site describes her as a "wildly inappropriate journalist" who asks "questions no one else would dare".

Australia's game-changing disability support is in crisis – what went wrong?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20d8g0qze0o, 4 days ago

Annabelle Shaw is hockey-obsessed and on a winning streak, scoring eight goals this season for her team, the Panthers.

"I don't give up," she says proudly, adding that whenever she scores, she celebrates with a cartwheel.

And when Annabelle's not on the pitch, she's down at the gym. She likes nothing more than working out with her friends.

But Annabelle may soon have to stop playing her favourite sport.

The Year 8 student from Western Australia has Down Syndrome – a genetic condition caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21 which leads to physical and intellectual disabilities. This enables her to access funding through one of the world's most progressive disability support programmes, the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme).

Aimed at people with lifelong and severe disabilities, NDIS was created to ensure disabled Australians had greater independence and an improved quality of life.

Its design ushered in a very different approach to disability support – by providing people with funding based on their individual needs, and a certain amount of freedom to choose how to spend it. The scheme put disabled Australians and their families at the heart of the decision-making.

But the success of the scheme has also been its undoing – it's growing rapidly and costing the government too much. Now, under proposals introduced by the federal government earlier this year, tighter controls will be introduced to shrink its size and budget.

The money Annabelle receives is intended to help pay for therapies such as speech, as well as a support worker to help her on the hockey field.

"Annabelle needs somebody to break it down and say, okay, did you hear that, Annabelle? We've got to stand over here," says mum Gillian Croft, explaining the importance of a support worker for Annabelle at practice sessions, where there could be as many as 50 girls training at a time.

"Sometimes, especially if it's fast-paced, she disengages and she doesn't want to play because she doesn't understand what she needs to do."

The NDIS Amendment bill passed the House of Representatives at the beginning of July but was then delayed, extending a Senate inquiry into the changes at the same time. The report into that inquiry is due on 14 August. Shortly after, the legislation is expected to pass in the Senate.

The implications of the changes, say participants, could be huge.

The growth of NDIS

Annabelle is one of more than 700,000 Australians who access NDIS funds.

The scheme was introduced under former Prime Minister Julia Gillard in 2012, although it took until 2020 for Australians across the country to be able to fully access its funds.

"Disability can affect any of us, from when you're born to a child's development, through the blink of an eye on a country road, through your genetic lottery as you age," Bill Shorten, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Canberra told the BBC. Shorten was instrumental in setting up the NDIS as then Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities.

"What really makes disability hard is a lack of money and a lack of power," he explained, adding that the NDIS has enjoyed support from across the political spectrum.

When the NDIS started, it was estimated it would cost about $22bn a year, with about 475,000 participants. But this financial year it has ballooned to $54bn and the scheme now supports more than 700,000 people. Those figures are expected to keep growing, which is why the government is proposing a massive reset.

"It has grown too big too fast," says Hannah Orban, Senior Associate at the Grattan Institute and co-author of a report Saving the NDIS. According to her research, each of the participants receives an average of approximately A$65,000 ($44,800) of funding per year. Some, such as those with complex needs, receive considerably more; others receive far less.

"It costs a lot of money to run it and the government really does need to introduce good reforms to make it more sustainable so that it is here for generations to come," Orban says.

Before the NDIS, disability services differed across states. There was criticism that they were underfunded and inefficient. The NDIS brought in a game-changing new system but in doing so, all the other services that previously provided support fell away.

"Once we created the NDIS, there was a retreat from other disability services, so hospitals, schools - you name it - everything became an NDIS matter," says Shorten.

In 2024, changes were made to rein in ballooning costs – overseen by Shorten who had coincidentally returned as the Minister for NDIS. But that wasn't enough. Numbers kept growing. There's been a rapid increase, especially in the number of children accessing the scheme.

There's also been criticism that people are using the NDIS to access support not originally intended for the scheme, which was designed to address the needs of those with permanent or significant disabilities. According to a study by the Australian National University, there's been a 32% increase in the prevalence of autism since the NDIS was introduced. Experts, however, say the explanation for this is simple.

"People went into the NDIS because other systems were failing," says Jenny Karavolos of Australian Autism Alliance, who in June gave evidence at a parliamentary inquiry into the cuts. It may be that autism diagnoses have increased - but Karavolos argues that's because people need to access the right support. It is not, she believes, what's breaking the NDIS.

Reining in fraud

One of the other criticisms of the scheme has been that providers have gamed the system, offering unnecessary and expensive services.

"Where there's government money, there have been over-servicing and over-charging and shonky providers," says Shorten. "Many are good providers, but some are bad. That's the nature of a government scheme: people will hone in on it and try and slice off amounts for themselves."

According to the NDIS integrity chief, $3.7bn was handed out inappropriately in 2025 - a combination of misuse of funds and fraud. But tackling this won't solve the problem, according to experts.

"Fraud is low-hanging fruit," says Orban. "The government absolutely needs to tackle fraud and get on top of people who are rorting (cheating) this scheme because they're rorting people with disability and taxpayers, and it's just not acceptable. [But] the savings from fraud are really small compared to the other reforms that they've put forward."

Some of those include better cost control, tighter compliance, introducing more efficient assessments and moving children with lower support needs - those with developmental delays or autism, for example - away from early intervention provided by the NDIS and into a programme called Thriving Kids.

One of the most worrying aspects, say families and carers, is the plan to slash funding for social participation by up to 50%. That's the bit that people like Annabelle benefit from and that advocates say the NDIS was designed for: to enable disabled people to be an integral part of the economy and Australian society.

The government estimates that around a third of funding for people with Down Syndrome is spent on social funding. Without that, Annabelle's hockey playing would be at risk.

But it would impact disabled people more broadly too.

"It is a core goal of the NDIS to help people with disability participate in society and their communities," says Orban. "So it really doesn't make sense to be attacking this part of the scheme."

The proposals have prompted huge criticism of the government, which cites fraud and problems in the system but then proposes cuts to funding that is seen as central to creating independence for disabled people.

"This amendment is reckless, ill thought-out and entirely devoid of any shred of understanding of what living a disabled life is actually like for both the person themselves and their support network," said actor, author and disability advocate Hannah Diviney at the inquiry in June.

As somebody with cerebral palsy who needs a high level of support, she pointed out that she had been driven to Canberra to speak at the inquiry, and would be driven back – all possible because of NDIS funding.

"Any time I leave the house, if I am not with a friend or a parent, it costs something – that is an incontrovertible fact of my life," she told the inquiry. "Freedom, ambition, career, a social life – all of the things other people in this room take as a given, or as a right – has a price tag for someone like me."

While the NDIS budget is far bigger than expected, a large number of jobs have also been created to cater to the system, including physiotherapists, speech pathologists and support workers. And experts say that also needs to be considered while plans move forward to shrink it.

"I don't disagree that there needs to be reform about how the NDIS is operating - particularly how children are treated on the NDIS," says Darryl Steff, the CEO of Down Syndrome Australia. "All too often these cuts are seen in isolation and people are going, 'the NDIS costs us too much', but without acknowledging that every dollar spent in the NDIS contributes over two dollars to the broader economy."

In addition to job creation, NDIS support enables more disabled people to participate in the economy too.

"If Annabelle's playing mainstream hockey and she's out there with typical kids all the time and she's going to a mainstream school, that's her normal," Gillian says. "When she finishes school, she will expect to go and have a job and be in a workplace that's full of typical people."

With these proposed cuts, everything changes.

"She doesn't get exposed to any of that, and then we expect her suddenly to walk into the workforce without having any independence training all these years," Gillian says. "This is independence training for her, going to these sporting events and going to school, which in the end will be cheaper for government as well."

Australia is the planet's extinction hotspot, but one animal offers a glimmer of hope

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9q94lxqrzzo, 8 days ago

"Eyes peeled," comes the order from the front passenger seat.

Obediently, we scan the ends and tops of logs, looking between low scrub and patches of vivid wildflowers for a flash of stripes or a dart of movement.

Eluding us is the numbat, a rare Australian marsupial which could be the love-child of a chipmunk and an anteater.

Numbats were once populous across the bottom half of the continent, but Dryandra Woodland – in the south-western corner of Australia – is one of the few places they remain.

As we slowly roll along bush tracks, researchers explain how this annual trip helps plot the species' survival.

Classified as endangered until this month, numbats have been bouncing back. This team's efforts have seen them scratched off the international red list of threatened species - a rare glimmer of hope in a country facing an extinction emergency.

This part of Australia is the front line of that crisis: a last stand for many species driven to the brink by feral pests, disease, urban development, habitat destruction and climate change.

Winging over our car at one point is the endangered Carnaby's cockatoo. On an island just off the coast is one of the last surviving pockets of the world's rarest marsupial, the Gilbert's potoroo. Diving in the sapphire waters around it is the increasingly scarce Australian sea lion.

Australia has long been celebrated as a nature haven, home to some of the world's most unique plant and animal species. More than 80% cannot be found anywhere else.

But it has arguably become the extinction capital of the world, losing roughly four species every decade - and the decline is only worsening.

Dedicated volunteers and under-funded conservationists have been slowing the army of increasing threats, but experts fear that without urgent action and political courage, the biodiversity Australia says it loves is headed for a bloodbath.

"It's not even a case of imagining it, it's happening in front of our own eyes," Professor Euan Ritchie tells the BBC.

The many threats driving extinction

If spotting a rare creature in the wild wasn't challenging enough, the numbat is a squirrel-sized camouflage connoisseur, explains Dr Tony Friend, the godfather of conservation in the state of Western Australia.

"They just slept in today," jokes Rob McLean, president of the Numbat Taskforce, a volunteer group which makes a lot of Tony's thinly-resourced work possible.

For two weeks each spring, as the young start venturing from their burrows, this team drives a daily circuit and records every numbat spotted. They log GPS coordinates, measure the distance to the road, and use a complicated equation to estimate the density of the animals in these woods and, from that, broader population health.

One person sits in concentrated silence at each window, another perched in the back of the pick-up truck, ducking for the occasional limb branching from trees which rise around us.

Through the trunks, we get the occasional glimpse of the razed farmland which tightly fences this pocket of protected woodland. On the side of one trail is a machine which detects and sprays feral cats and foxes with poison, another reminder of the perils numbats face.

"This year's been a bit of a feast," Rob admits.

For hours on end, we cruise around, seeing parrots, wallabies, a goanna and a couple of echidnas - but no numbats.

Tony arrived at Dryandra back in the 80s to find a numbat population fewer than 50. Many of the culprits then were the same as those still driving extinctions across the nation today.

Swathes of critical habitat are being cleared for development or industries like farming, mining and timber.

Leaving a trail of destruction in their wake are introduced pests: fire ants, cane toads, rabbits, foxes, feral cats.

Invasive weeds like lantana are choking the Australian bush, chlamydia has sent koalas to the edge of existence across much of the country, while the skin-eating chytrid fungus has caused seven frog extinctions here and counting.

The changing climate is creating unliveable conditions for some species, like native flying foxes which are dropping out of trees in their thousands due to extreme temperatures.

For others it is eliminating their food or their homes.

Climate change is also driving natural disasters which fry and drown both plants and animals with now frightening regularity.

The infamous Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20, for example, killed an estimated three billion animals. The successive years of record-breaking flooding which followed were so widespread it's impossible to estimate the impact on wildlife.

Many species once abundant across the continent are now isolated to increasingly small and disjointed patches, each impact compounding and leaving them more vulnerable to the next.

There are small, yet determined, efforts to slow the momentum of decline.

As a young numbat scoffs his breakfast – custard with "termite sprinkles" – at Perth Zoo, a keeper explains how this stud's upcoming release at Dryandra will help boost genetic diversity.

"When you get that feedback: your babies have got babies, it's very satisfying," Vicki Power says.

Breeding programmes like this have also made setting up additional populations of an array of threatened species possible.

But many cannot survive in the true wild, where large-scale predator control remains an endless battle, and are instead sent to fenced nature reserves, themselves high-maintenance undertakings facing problems like in-breeding and overpopulation.

Habitat protection or restoration projects have been ramping up, but they are not keeping pace with destruction, particularly in the most critical areas.

Scientists are also trying to fight disease, though that's an expensive and laborious endeavour, which for most species buys only a little more time. Others are preserving genetic material in case we ever work out how to resurrect species from the dead.

A hundred species lost - and counting

Scientists agree that we're living though the world's sixth mass extinction event, the first caused by humans. But Australia is at the front of this trend.

It leads the world in mammal extinctions, and medals when it comes to the loss of other species classes too.

"Despite Australia being one of the wealthiest countries per capita in the world and having more than its fair share of world-leading scientists… we have a truly awful record of conserving species," Ritchie says.

"And things aren't getting better."

The Australian government's official extinctions list sits at 67, but researchers are confident at least 100 plant and animal species have been lost forever.

They suspect the true figure is far higher. The country is still discovering species which have already been wiped out.

Though the rate of extinction in Australia has stayed stable, at around four per decade, the number of threatened species is still climbing quickly, and the deterioration of many is only gathering speed.

This trajectory has some scary flow-on effects, experts warn. Australia's biodiversity "underpins everything", ecologist Jack Pascoe says.

Think food production, tourism, construction – much of the economy. Potential scientific breakthroughs could be stymied: in medicine, agriculture and even climate change adaptation. And for First Nations Australians, the decline also threatens their culture.

"We think of ourselves as custodians of all life on Earth… so there's a much more personal and social feeling of loss that comes when these things are not doing well or we lose them forever," Pascoe, a man from the Yuin Aboriginal nation, says.

Decades of failures

Though environment protection is a state responsibility, the federal government oversees matters of national importance.

Labor took office in 2022, promising no new extinctions under its watch, and it has sought to make nature protection a defining feature of its second term.

"It's well understood that nature is facing many challenges in the world today, both here in Australia, and overseas… we are losing biodiversity at an alarming rate," Environment Minister Murray Watt told the BBC in a statement.

His party has significantly increased Australia's emissions reduction efforts and massively boosted renewable energy projects. There is some praise for their work on drawing critically endangered mammals back from the brink. And the passage of revamped environment laws last year was heralded as the most significant reform in a generation.

The country also has an ambitious goal to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.

But there's limited optimism that this will be a real turning point.

The new laws are only the scaffolding of change. The substance of it is still being worked out – in the form of National Environmental Standards (NES) and a federal watchdog to enforce them.

And many in the sector say the problem is not so much the regulatory tools available, but rather the political will to use them.

Successive governments have failed to adequately protect the environment over the past 30 years, Australia's longest serving environment minister tells the BBC.

That includes his own administration. "We should have done more too," says Robert Hill, who lead the last major reforms in 1999 under John Howard's conservative coalition.

Many of the challenges of his era still haunt leaders today.

The nation's wealth has largely been built off the back of its natural resources – often at the expense of the environment. Those riches still underpin the economy and help fund government spending on essentials like healthcare and housing.

Then there's the added pressure applied by industry and the competing interests of states - whose stake in regulatory controls blurs the lines of accountability and increases bureaucratic hurdles.

These battles leave even the toughest environmental advocates within governments bruised.

For example, the Albanese government last year rushed through laws protecting salmon farming after lobbying by Tasmanian state officials, silencing opposition from within and ignoring advice from its own department concerning the impact of the A$1.4bn (£733m; $989m) industry on the survival of the Maugean Skate, an endangered ray.

"The axe falls on the environmental outcome if there's the alternative of an economic one," Hill says.

"Even if [the federal government] does want to act, it's still got to have the political strength to turn its aspirations into reality."

There is also a belief that greater regulation alone will achieve little.

Too much conservation work currently relies on philanthropists' cash and devoted volunteers, those in the sector say, and much more languishes on the to-do list due to a lack of money.

The federal government directly spends about A$700m on nature protection, a fraction of the A$33bn – or 1% of GDP – conservationists say it should be. That is an eyebrow-raising figure, people like Paul Elton concede, but one they argue is reasonable.

According to his research – which the government disputes – more than A$26bn is still being spent on subsidies for things like mining, intensive agriculture or fuel despite Australia signing global pledges to wind them back.

"For every dollar the government is spending on positive biodiversity conservation action, there's A$26 being spent on subsidies that are causing harm to nature," he tells the BBC.

"That's a pretty stark imbalance."

Minister Watt didn't directly respond to questions about conservationists' demands, but said: "We remain committed to long-term environmental recovery, in partnership with state and local governments, community and environmental groups."

Though public sentiment is shifting, there's scepticism the government will prioritise the environment amid competing demands and compounding crises until voters force them to do so.

"The community will say to you, we should spend a lot of money on the environment. And then if you say, 'Well, what are you prepared to sacrifice to ensure that funding base?', then they're no longer interested," Hill says.

In the face of so many challenges and what they see as little progress, advocates admit it's hard to hang on to hope.

"We know what the problems are. We know how to address them. We know when we spend money on the environment, it pays back many times over," Ritchie, a mammal ecologist, says.

"It's like being a doctor and seeing all these sick people in the community and you know how to fix them, but no one will let you do that."

Small wins, like the future of the numbat, keep them fighting.

There are now around 3,000 nationwide, and in Dryandra numbers have increased ten-fold. The animal has recently been taken off the international endangered species list and is now classified as near-threatened.

It takes five hours, but finally synchronised cries of excitement come from the driver's seat and the back of the pick-up truck. The cause of the commotion stands frozen and alert at the end of a hollowing log.

"It's not a competition," Rob says. Chuckling, he points at his rival spotter: "But I beat him by a second."

The dam has broken. Over the next little while we see eight numbats, including two pairs of babies, blinking at us in the dusky light.

This year's full count, Tony later tells me, is one of the best yet.

"But I remind people they're not out of the woods yet," Tony says.

The relief at the numbat's revival is tempered by worry this will make it harder to access the funding and support needed to cement those gains.

The woylie, or brush-tailed bettong, is a cautionary tale. It recovered slightly and was taken off the threatened list only to be added again a decade later, in a worse state.

"We can't walk away," Tony says, "and say 'no, they're fine,' you know?"

"It's got to be accepted that continued work is needed to keep that animal on the planet."

Australia to roll out bird flu vaccines for most vulnerable native birds

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0kmrzy1xp4o, 6 days ago

Australia will roll out bird flu vaccines in the "coming days and weeks" with native species and birds in captivity first in line for protection from the deadly disease.

On Tuesday, the government said that it had AU$2m ($1.4m, £1m) worth of vaccinations for the H5N1 strain - about 1,500 vials - with states and territories to manage the rollout.

Australia reported its first case of the highly contagious strain in June, making it the last continent to be impacted. Since then, more than 230 cases have been confirmed.

Last week, it saw its first mass mortality from bird flu, with about 50 greater crested terns killed by the disease on an island off the coast of South Australia.

Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said that while it could not stop the spread of outbreak as it worsened, the programme would target "priority species" most vulnerable to bird flu.

The risk to humans remained low, Collins said, and there was no evidence that the disease had impacted the poultry or agriculture sectors.

She said while little could be done to stop the spread among wild birds and across the country, "we can take action to protect the species most at risk".

"The first vaccines are expected to roll out in coming days and weeks based on an agreed national approach to the targeted vaccination of priority native bird species," she said.

"Australians should expect to see more spread and larger numbers, particularly of dead birds and mass mortalities around the country from the H5 bird flu."

Environment Minister Murray Watt said birds would each need two doses and that the outbreak was a "serious event".

Earlier this month, the government released a list assessing the risk level of bird flu for more than 2,000 of the country's unique native birds and mammals, based on their vulnerability and susceptibility.

A handful of species were identified as facing possible extinction while hundreds of others may suffer a "severe reduction" in populations.

'Body in suitcase' found in Australia turns out to be lifelike doll

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyqg4w3gz9o, 7 days ago

Australian police called in to investigate a body found in a suitcase have concluded that the "victim" was in fact a lifelike doll.

The suitcase was discovered by two men on the side of a road near the small village of Oallen, about 230km (143 miles) south-west of Sydney.

On Monday, police announced a murder investigation, sparking intense interest in the case but backtracked hours later, saying forensic testing had proved the contents were not human.

The contents in the suitcase were "mistaken for a human originally, so they are very realistic in terms of looking like human remains," said Supt Linda Bradbury from the Hume Police District.

"But we've confirmed by other means that they are not."

The doll was wearing clothing, had hair and a nose piercing," police said, adding that "the item also had markings that resembled bruises and grazes".

Supt Bradbury said forensic teams and investigators had attended the scene on Sunday and that all processes had been followed.

"The idea is to not disturb crime scenes as much as possible, to maintain the integrity of our investigation," Bradbury said, adding she had "no regrets" about how the case was handled.

Hours earlier, Bradbury had told media that it has been "quite a shocking discovery" for the two men who found the suitcase.

"Unfortunately, they were on a weekend drive as a lot of people do over the weekend and stopped for a break," she said.

She said the pair had made the "right decision" to report the find.

"They were affected yesterday and we will be in touch to let them know that it was not human remains," Bradbury said.

Police have now closed their investigations.

Liechtenstein changes succession rule to allow women to ascend the throne

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn9nnxrxg4qo, yesterday

Liechtenstein has announced that it has changed royal succession rules to allow women to ascend the throne.

The declaration was made on the national day of the central European country, which has a population of just 44,000.

Liechtenstein's current ruler, Prince Hans-Adam II, has been the head of their royal family since 1989. The rule change will not affect his heir, Hereditary Prince Alois, who was his first-born.

Alois has carried out most official royal duties for the last two decades.

"The order of succession is being changed from male primogeniture to absolute primogeniture," the House of Liechtenstein said in a statement.

"This means that in future the first-born child, regardless of sex, will become heir to the throne and later princess or prince of Liechtenstein."

The change will not affect Liechtenstein's succession line for now - it will only apply to descendants of the four children of Hereditary Prince Alois and his wife, Hereditary Princess Sophie.

In a statement, Alois said: "With this change in the law, we want to ensure that both the Principality of Liechtenstein and the Princely House are led by the person who has been best prepared for this responsibility."

Liechtenstein is a tiny, doubly-landlocked country tucked away between Switzerland and Austria, whose ruler enjoys sweeping political powers, unlike many of his counterparts in Europe.

In 2011, Britain changed its succession laws to allow first-born daughters of a monarch to inherit the throne.

Putin can no longer claim victory in Ukraine, Nobel Peace Prize winner tells BBC

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74grmy2v7ko, 4 days ago

At the Moscow offices of newspaper Novaya Gazeta, the corridors are silent.

There is an overwhelming sense of emptiness.

"There is no newspaper anymore," former chief editor Dmitry Muratov tells me in an exclusive interview, published on the BBC News YouTube channel.

Muratov, 64, co-founded Novaya Gazeta more than 30 years ago. It became the flagship for hard-hitting independent journalism in Russia, shining a light on human rights abuses and high-level corruption.

In 2021 Muratov was joint winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts "to safeguard freedom of expression." The Nobel Committee noted that "six of [Novaya Gazeta's] journalists have been killed, including Anna Politkovskaya who wrote revealing articles on the war in Chechnya."

It was recognition for courageous reporting.

But it didn't protect the paper.

"Putin issued a decree and the newspaper's printing presses were nationalised," Muratov explains. "Its registration was revoked."

Novaya Gazeta does retain a presence online. But only just: the authorities have blocked access to its website. It can only be accessed from abroad, or with the help of VPNs – virtual private networks used to circumvent restrictions.

The newspaper's difficulties reflect the broader crackdown on free speech in Russia which has accelerated since the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

"Most opinion leaders have been declared 'foreign agents', 'extremists' or 'terrorists'. Several hundred," says Muratov.

"Figures vary, but at a conservative estimate, since the start of Russia's 'special military operation' [in Ukraine] at least 1,500 people are now in prison having spoken out against current state policy. That's three times more than during the savage days of the KGB in the USSR."

In his 1975 Nobel Peace Prize lecture dissident Andrei Sakharov listed the names of more than 120 political prisoners he was aware of in the Soviet Union. A decade later Amnesty International estimated more than 600 prisoners of conscience in the USSR.

What the Kremlin had assumed in 2022 would be a short, successful "military operation" has become the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War Two.

Yet a confident President Vladimir Putin continues to predict victory for Russia.

"There will never be 'victory'," counters Muratov. "Because what has been going on for nearly five years – no matter how it ends – can no longer be considered a victory.

"It cannot be a victory when two Slavic nations have ripped a million people to shreds. Or more than a million."

"It seems to me that the situation with Ukraine now is this: you can destroy it, but you cannot conquer it. What do I mean by destroy? Continued escalation all the way to the use of a nuclear weapon."

Does he really believe the Kremlin leader would use nuclear weapons in this war?

"All those political experts who say 'Putin thinks this' or 'Putin is scared of that'…they're all charlatans," claims Muratov. "It's in the same league as astrology. Nobody knows what's going on in Vladimir Putin's head. And I don't know.

"I see things only as a journalist. I study big data. And since the beginning of the year the need to use nuclear weapons has been mentioned more than 500 times. When wackos say this, I pay no attention. But I've heard it discussed on state TV. And at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, a state-run event, one of the speakers talked up the use of nuclear weapons as something favourable, something good."

When he announced the mass invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Putin spoke of "ensuring the security of Russia."

"Tell me, has security increased?" Muratov asks. "With Ukrainian drones now attacking warehouses of [Russia's largest online retailer] Wildberries; with the petrol crisis, the disruption to mobile internet, the political prisoners? Has security increased, or not?"

Despite opinion polls registering a fall in Putin's domestic approval ratings, Russia's president – Muratov believes - retains a tight grip on power.

"Sorry, I don't believe all this talk about a split among members of the elite, about secret conspiracies. The country is run by Vladimir Putin. They're frightened of him.

"And this fear is reinforced in every way by his main support base: the Federal Security Service (FSB)."

As critical as he is of his own government, he has few illusions about the West.

"[Putin] knows very well the true value of European leaders. On the one hand they talk to him about human rights. He laughs out loud because, with the other hand, they sign agreements – or used to sign agreements – with Russia on trading oil, gas, diamonds…all that stuff. When they talk to Putin about European values, he truly laughs out loud. He knows the true value of people who preached to him those values."

In Russia Muratov has been designated a "foreign agent", a label often used to punish critics of the Kremlin. "Foreign agents" have limited rights: they're banned from teaching, from taking part in elections; if they sell their flat, they can't access the assets. The label is also designed to stigmatise, to create the sense in society of an enemy within.

Yet the journalist appears reluctant to focus on the pressures he's under, preferring instead to highlight the plight of compatriots in prison.

"What worries me most right now is that no one in the world is interested in the political prisoners who were first to speak out against the land grab in our neighbouring country," Muratov explains.

He opens a folder and takes out a stack of large photographs: portraits of prisoners.

One shows four journalists - Antonina Favorskaya, Konstantin Gabov, Sergey Karelin and Artyom Kriger – convicted and jailed on extremism charges. They'd been accused of links to the anti-corruption organisation of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

There's a photo of Alexei Gorinov: a city councillor jailed for "knowingly spreading false information" about the Russian military after he spoke out against the war in Ukraine.

"And here's a wonderful pianist, Pavel Kushnir," says Miratov. "An outstanding performer of Rachmaninoff and Schubert."

The musician was arrested after posting anti-war videos. Muratov holds up a second video.

"And this is him in his coffin."

Pavel Kushnir died in a pre-trial detention centre during a hunger strike. He was 39.

The stream of photos and prison stories highlights the dangers for individuals framed as opponents of those in power. It's a reminder of the risks that public criticism of the authorities and the war carry.

"Does being a Nobel Prize laureate give you at least some protection to say what you want?" I ask.

"This is not a question for me," replies Muratov. "Whenever you have the opportunity, ask the authorities that."

There is one more photo. From April.

"This is the newspaper's lawyer when she was waiting to get into the building. The police were searching our office. Thirteen hours it took. And they wouldn't let the lawyers in. Our managing editor Oleg Roldugin is now under house arrest."

Muratov paints a bleak picture of life in Russia for critics of the authorities.

Yet there are moments of hope.

"We live in a time when you stay quiet. But so many people support what we do. On the streets of Moscow, my colleagues and I hear only words of gratitude. They are spoken in a whisper. But what people think is very important."

Hundreds arrested over French wildfires, but who is to blame?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgxjn92x9jo, 8 days ago

After wildfires caused more damage in France this year than at any time since World War Two, many are left asking a single question: why?

A major driver is that climate is changing as a result of the well-documented way humanity is burning fossil fuels. Temperatures are only rising.

But with records showing that nine out of 10 French wildfires are started by humans, the government in Paris is trying to attribute blame - although it is itself accused of being underprepared for the infernos that have now scorched more than 300,000 acres this summer.

The interior ministry has announced 420 arrests of people alleged to have either started the fires deliberately or by accident. Among them are 166 minors.

In one case, a 23-year-old man has been accused of deliberately starting 10 fires in the space of five days in the south-eastern Var area last month. He faces 15 years in prison and a €150,000 (£128,000) fine, if convicted.

Many others have been tried and immediately sentenced, such as a man who received a three-year jail sentence for starting three recent fires in the Raon-L'Étape forest in the Vosges region.

"Only a few square metres of vegetation went up in smoke," noted L'Est Républicain, the newspaper that reported the story.

Other prosecutions have been perceived as heavy-handed and unjust. A homeless man and someone with severe autism have reportedly been handed jail terms for throwing cigarette butts.

"I was amazed at the number of arrests, it feels excessive," admits Muriel Gestas, a lawyer who has represented several people accused of arson, including two firefighters. She doubts many will lead to a conviction.

The newspaper Le Monde is also unconvinced. It questions to what extent police have examined these cases, given the short time frame.

The authorities' silence on the details - the specific charges, notably whether they involve intent and how the numbers compare with past seasons - rules out any meaningful comparison with previous years, it argues.

But Bordeaux prosecutor Renaud Gaudeul told Le Monde that a tough approach was justified by current circumstances.

"The conditions for a charge of endangering lives are met for those who throw a cigarette butt or light a barbecue in wooded areas. It only takes a tiny spark for it to start," the newspaper quoted him as saying.

Working out how a fire started is, unsurprisingly, not easy.

"In periods of drought such as this one, all you need is a simple lighter," explains Eric Dufayet, an officer who investigates fires.

Once a fire is out, Eric's first task is to map its outline along the edge of the burnt vegetation, then trace it back to its point of origin. If the wind has been steady, that outline often forms a "V" shape. From there, his team works backwards along the path the flames took.

"If someone deliberately starts a fire, they may not have used only one device," he says. It improves the chances of a DNA or fingerprint sample being found.

Experts believe arson accounts for only a small fraction of fires. Most are believed to be accidental, with sparks potentially coming from construction work, faulty electrical equipment, cigarette butts and barbecues.

"With cigarettes, it's called the '30' rule," says Eric Dufayet. To start a fire, he explains, there must be "a temperature of at least 30C (86F), a maximum of 30% humidity, wind of less than 30km/h (19mph), and at least 30% of the cigarette unburnt."

In the current drought, he says it is even easier. If those conditions are met, a fire can easily spread, and fast.

According to Michel Lejoyeux, a professor of psychiatry and addictive behaviour at Paris 7 University, people who start fires fall into three categories: those who are careless, those who benefit - with an insurance payout, for example - and pyromaniacs.

"The pyromaniac doesn't get money, has no spirit of revenge, has no utility of the fire, but he likes the fire," he says.

However, pyromania is a rare psychiatric disorder that Lejoyeux says is very difficult to diagnose, and accounts for few arson convictions.

Lawyer Muriel Gestas, who has handled several such cases, says some firefighters alleged to have started fires may have wanted to be seen as saviours. For others - notably volunteers earning tax-free overtime - the motive may be financial.

Amid concerns over how officials are pursuing suspects, broader worries about wildfires are far from abating. Forecasts suggest France's next heatwave is only days away.

President Emmanuel Macron says criticism should not be the priority right now. "We will have to replant and rebuild a different kind of forest because we must adapt to the structural conditions of climate change," he said this week.

"The time for reviewing lessons learned will come," he insisted. "In the meantime, the country must remain united."

Even so, the damage these fires have inflicted on the environment, hundreds of homes, tourism, local businesses and air quality has left the French public with a lot of questions.

German airport drone-bomb: Could Russia be involved?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgdmrxxkdxo, 10 days ago

As Germany investigates how a drone loaded with explosives reached a runway at Leipzig airport, there is renewed talk in Europe of hybrid war.

The interior minister is warning of a "new level of danger" from an attack that "may involve foreign powers".

There is no proof at this stage to link the flying bomb directly to Russia, which denies any role. But as well as the means and the motive, Moscow does have form.

The BBC has seen details of the investigation into a plot in 2024 in which Russian-linked proxies in Poland and Lithuania not only handled drones and explosives but also delivered them to Germany.

The flying bomb

The quadcopter was discovered at Leipzig airport late on Tuesday night, forcing one runway into lockdown as a bomb disposal robot rolled into action.

On the tarmac close by were several Ukrainian Antonov cargo planes, stripes along their enormous bodies in the blue and yellow of the country's flag. One reads, "Be Brave Like Kherson", the southern city now on the frontline of Russia's invasion.

Pictures published by German media suggest the drone was a relatively small device which airport staff spotted "floating" between the Ukrainian planes.

Around the same time, a DHL cargo plane collided with an "unidentified object" as it pulled up into the sky, unable to land in Leipzig.

Teams are still working to establish whether that was a second drone.

They are also trying to trace who launched the devices and why.

A previous plot

A previous Russian-backed plot involving Leipzig airport could provide clues.

In 2024, a parcel containing a sophisticated incendiary device caught fire at the airport's DHL hub shortly before it was loaded onto a plane. Similar packages then ignited in the UK and Poland, causing extensive damage.

A group of men are currently on trial in both Lithuania and Poland, where prosecutors believe they were part of a substantial network of proxies recruited by Russian military intelligence.

But there was a subplot that has been little discussed before.

Last September, Lithuanian prosecutors said that investigators had also seized RDX explosives meant for "other terrorist attacks". The amount was significant: equivalent to 6kg of TNT.

"Some of the devices were manufactured to intensify the blast," the prosecutor added.

The BBC has since had access to case documents that describe how several of the men on trial were paid to transport those explosives around Europe, concealed in cans of sweetcorn and chopped tomatoes. The detonators were hidden inside headphone sets.

The suspects also handled drone parts and the case talks specifically of attachments, suitable for holding a bomb.

Prosecutors allege that some of the items were brought into the EU from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

Almost two dozen suspects have been charged with terror offences, but with the men's handlers still at large, believed to be in Russia, it is not clear whether the entire network was disbanded or all the hidden material found.

While there is no evidence of a link to the Leipzig drone bomb, the 2024 plot certainly highlights the potential.

Vladyslav's story

One of the suspects charged in Poland, a Ukrainian called Vladyslav D., described in detail to investigators how he made multiple long car trips in July 2024 following instructions from someone he knew as "Warrior".

He has since pleaded not guilty in court.

One message sent him to the edge of a Lithuanian forest where he found a carrier bag containing "three or four packs of headphones", soggy with rain.

He had already collected two cans of corn "lightly covered with soil" from another location, telling investigators he had no idea what was inside.

He was ordered to leave the headphones many hours' drive away in Poland where he noticed "a guy on a bicycle" collect them from beside the road.

For another assignment he received a pin for a location inside a Lithuanian cemetery and was told to dig beneath some plastic flowers. He quickly uncovered a bin bag wrapped in brown tape.

"Inside were drone components: small plastic propellers, I think four pieces," Vladyslav told investigators.

These items were to be left by a road in central Poland for pick-up.

Finally there was a trip to Germany where he was given the code to access a hostel room in Dusseldorf. He was instructed to leave the drones and other items inside.

The intended targets were never revealed.

Moscow's motive?

In statements to investigators, Vladyslav D. said he was paid more than $2,000 (£1,487) in cryptocurrency for his efforts. His motive was clear.

And what about the Leipzig case?

Few details about the drone bomb are yet public.

Some German sources report that the explosive was Semtex, which contains RDX - the explosive found in the food cans in a Lithuanian cemetery.

We do not know how much the drone found at the airport was carrying and the physical damage may have been limited.

"The drone casing, if it was metal, might have put a hole in the plane but just a blast wave probably would just have dented it unless they put some fragmentation inside," explosives expert Professor Jackie Akhavan of Cranfield University explained.

But if Russia was behind this, its aim was more likely to sow fear.

Andrei Soldatov, an expert on Russia's intelligence agencies, said it "makes sense" to suspect Moscow, pointing to a clear pattern of sabotage and hostile activity, from arson attacks on facilities supporting Ukraine to drones over sensitive sites in Europe.

Germany is one of Kyiv's biggest suppliers of military aid.

"It's a message. You get something like that [bomb] into one of the biggest European airports and you send the message that, 'Guys, we can do that. Remember'," Soldatov explained.

"You hint to the adversary that you might cause a really big problem: that tomorrow might be more serious."

And the potential motive? Moscow is under intense pressure from Ukraine's long-scale drone attacks, he said, and the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin "has been humiliated, repeatedly".

International response

"We are aware of the incident, which the German authorities continue to investigate," a Nato official told the BBC.

Antonov Airlines has also been cautious so far in its response.

The firm supplies planes for certain Nato operations but declined to say whether that includes military support for Ukraine.

Asked whether the Ukrainian planes might have been targeted, a spokeswoman in Kyiv told the BBC: "We are not making any such assumptions…We don't know what this drone was or why it was there."

But Russia watchers are clear.

"This is Russian interference," said John Lough of the New Eurasian Strategies (NEST) Centre. "It's all part of undermining support for Ukraine by pointing to the dangers of escalation and, frankly, scaring the German authorities."

He sees high potential for a surge in such hybrid attacks now because Ukraine has "changed the balance" of the war.

"My expectation is that such activity will increase quite sharply over the coming months. I think it's a dangerous moment."

In Odesa, no-one is safe from Russia's new Black Sea strikes

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8ev4y172yo, 11 days ago

"My crane operator, my partner, died five metres from me… The driver remained in the cabin. He also died."

Svitlana Halchenko winces as she remembers the Russian ballistic missile which exploded at work in Odesa, killing her colleagues.

Svitlana works as a warehouse shift manager at the city's main port.

Despite her injuries – she walks with a limp, pieces of shrapnel still embedded in her leg and back – Svitlana is determined to keep working.

But her normally bustling workplace is largely silent.

Russia is ramping up its efforts to strangle Ukraine's commercial links to the outside world, launching attacks all along the country's Black Sea coastline.

From damaged port infrastructure to listing ships with bridges blackened and containers still smouldering, the evidence is everywhere. Nowhere more so than out towards the horizon, where the approaches to Ukraine's once bustling ports – Odesa, Chornomorsk, Pivdennyi – are almost devoid of ships.

Svitlana maintains a brave smile throughout our conversation, but her distress is painfully obvious. Her fingers constantly twist a tissue as she tries to maintain her composure and she gazes into the distance as tears well up behind her glasses.

The last few weeks have been worse than ever.

"It's been very difficult for morale," she says with a deep sigh. "A lot of sirens, a lot of shaheds [drones], a lot of hits. People are very tense."

According to Ukraine's port administration, July saw 57 Russian attacks on civilian vessels, 22 of them at sea, and a further 67 hits on port infrastructure.

While there have been Russian attacks on international vessels before, they've never been so numerous or so deadly.

On July 19, a Turkish-owned cargo vessel, Golden Leo, was struck by three Russian missiles, killing nine Indian and Syrian crew members and a Ukrainian pilot.

The ship, carrying Ukrainian corn, sank off Odesa a week later.

According to the global shipping journal Lloyd's List, the Black Sea may now be the most dangerous place for shipping in the world - with July the deadliest month for merchant seamen since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began.

At his union's offices in the port city, Oleg Grygoriuk, Chairman of the Marine Transport Workers Union of Ukraine, says his members are suffering.

"There are a lot of veterans who already served their country," he says, "and they literally say that being in the port is more scary than being on the front line."

Odesa's proximity to Russian-occupied territory means that workers often have little time to react.

"A missile flies from Crimea within a minute," he says. "If you are sitting in a crane, you need three and a half minutes to get down and go to the shelter. There's literally no time to do that."

On a rare visit to one of the area's main ports, we saw almost no sign of movement. Hundreds of metres of berths sat empty and towering gantry cranes stood idle as a skeleton crew conducted maintenance.

The military authorities allowed the visit on strict condition that we neither name the facility nor film anything. Ukraine doesn't want Russia to know what has and hasn't been damaged or reveal details that might aid Moscow in further targeting.

Two damaged cargo vessels were moored nearby. Both had suffered severe damage to the superstructure, where the bridge and crew quarters are located.

Just one lone freighter was seen moving towards the port.

"My heart is broken," a senior manager told us on condition we didn't name him.

"Normally there's a queue, even out at sea, waiting for a berth."

"There was a deal," he said, referring to the UN-brokered 2022 Black Sea Grain Initiative, under which Russia agreed to lift its blockade on Ukraine's agricultural exports. The agreement established safe maritime corridors to Odesa's main ports.

"They stopped the deal in the middle of 2023, but they didn't start attacking it until recently," the manager said.

"Today they do it systematically."

Halfway through our tour, sirens sounded, forcing us to seek shelter for several minutes as a Russian jet-powered drone flew overhead.

Weary dock workers scanned their phones for updates until the all-clear sounded.

The manager said recent alerts have forced the port to shut down for 15 out of 24 hours.

Technically, the port is open, as are all the others in the area. There is no prohibition on commercial ships attempting to use them. But the risks are clearly too great for most shipowners.

"There is barely anybody who wants to call because there is a huge problem with people getting killed," says Andrey Stavnitser, co-owner and CEO of one of the largest ports in the area.

"We can see that the whole supply chain is on hold."

Stavnitser says Russia is almost certainly retaliating for Ukraine's recent, highly successful attacks on Russian shipping, including sanctioned vessels carrying oil, as well as other ships involved in ferrying supplies to Russian-occupied Crimea.

Using its own drones, Ukraine's Operation MoLoChKa (which roughly translates as "Moscow will fall through Crimea") has struck around 200 Russian vessels, bringing traffic in the strategic Sea of Azov to a virtual standstill.

Ukrainians bristle at the suggestion that Russia and Ukraine are playing the same game. Kyiv is attempting to loosen Moscow's grip on occupied territory, they point out, while Russia is preventing Ukraine from exporting badly needed grain to the international market.

With Ukraine's summer grain harvest well under way, this is all happening at the worst possible time.

"It's the most sensitive period," says Volodymyr Slavinskyi, trading director for Nibulon, one of the country's leading grain exporters.

"Farmers need to quickly harvest grains from the fields, not to lose the crop. They need to be able to sell the crop they harvested and reinvest money in the next production cycle."

The impact of a prolonged shutdown of Ukraine's ports are likely to be severe. Ukraine is one of the world's largest producers of grain and oilseeds, supplying around 6% of global wheat exports before Russia's full-scale invasion and 10% of corn exports.

But reports suggest its export capacity has dropped by at least a third since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

The Black Sea remains a vital export route for the country. Last year, the Greater Odesa ports accounted for more than 73 million tonnes of Ukraine's maritime exports, with grain accounting for 38 million tonnes.

With almost no vessels currently moving on Ukraine's Black Sea shipping corridor, traders are already counting the cost of this summer's closure.

"I would say we've already lost the ability to deliver to global customers around half a million or 700,000 metric tons of Ukrainian grains and oilseeds," Slavinskyi says.

Away from the port, Odesa is determined to show off a very different side. The summer season is in full swing. The beaches are packed as visitors descend on the Black Sea from all over Ukraine.

Buskers perform on the city's famous Potemkin Stairs, while sunbathers barely flinch as the sirens sound and explosions rumble in the distance.

In a video published on Monday, swimmers were seen removing a Russian drone from the water as holidaymakers look on.

They know the risks. In late June, 26-year-old Daria Kravchenko was killed when shrapnel from an intercepted Russian drone landed on the beach.

This week, holidaymakers on Russia's equally Black Sea coast suffered a similar fate when an intercepted Ukrainian drone crashed onto a busy beach.

Local authorities said seven people were killed, including three children.

It's not clear what Ukraine was targeting, but this war on ships and ports has many casual victims. Sailors, dockworkers or people simply unlucky enough to live or work nearby.

Outside Odesa, after a recent drone explosion, we found 83-year-old Andrii Dudik, surveying the mangled wreckage of his house and garden.

He was physically unscathed and remarkably sanguine about the drone that had shattered his routine afternoon nap just hours earlier.

"I was lying there, wondering what I was going to do this afternoon. Now I know," he joked.

Did he feel like an accidental victim of Russia's attacks on the nearby ports, I asked him.

"Absolutely," he replied. "And I won't forget it."

Additional reporting by Kristina Volk, Anastasiia Levchenko, Volodymyr Lozhko and Joshua Cheetham

Reform UK benefits ban for foreign nationals would include EU citizens

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly555430nno, today

Foreign nationals would be excluded from most benefits under a Reform UK government, the party has said.

The ban, part of a proposed overhaul of Britain's benefits system, would include European Union (EU) nationals with settled status in the UK.

It would require renegotiating the UK's Brexit deal with the EU, potentially meaning that British expatriates living in the EU could lose equivalent rights.

Reform claims the policy would save £21bn a year by its fifth year, but Labour insists the "vast majority" of migrants have no access to benefits and the Conservatives have dismissed the plans as "cobbled together".

It is the latest announcement ahead of a speech on Monday by Reform's shadow chancellor Robert Jenrick to formally unveil the party's welfare plans.

"Forcing British workers to pay for the benefits of foreigners is not just economically illiterate but plain immoral," Jenrick said in a statement.

"People are more than happy to support their neighbours in hard times, but the British taxpayer cannot afford to subsidise everyone on the planet, especially those who have not paid in."

This year the government expects to spend a total of £322bn on welfare in Great Britain, or 10.6% of GDP, just over half of which goes to pensioners.

Reform says it has spent six months drawing up a 50-page plan that it claims will save a total of £50bn a year.

On Saturday, the party said it would replace the disability payments system, Pip, if it entered Number 10 at the next election.

The latest proposals would ban foreign nationals from almost all welfare payments including housing benefit, pension credit, jobseeker's allowance, child benefit, free childcare and disability benefits.

Only a small number of exemptions would apply, including the war widows pension and Armed Forces compensation.

The party had previously pledged to ban foreign nationals from claiming Universal Credit.

Given those affected would include EU nationals with settled status who have an indefinite right to live, work and study in the UK - and have usually lived in the UK for a continuous five-year period - the Brexit deal secured under the last Tory government would need to be renegotiated.

The party said it had accounted for a potential £500m cost of British expats returning from the EU to the UK to claim benefits if the EU retaliates.

'Plunging UK back into Brexit spats'

Labour said Reform's plans would be "plunging the UK back into years of Brexit renegotiations and stripping support from potentially millions of people who have lawfully lived, worked and paid taxes in Britain for years, and in many cases decades".

Helen Whately, the Tories' shadow pensions secretary, said that rather than disputes about Brexit, "British people want welfare spending under control, abuse stamped out and dignity for people who are seriously disabled".

The Lib Dems said fixing the NHS and social care was key to slashing Britain's benefits bill.

And the Greens said it was "cowardly to take from the most defenceless when we should be taxing the super wealthy including those who are in the privileged position of accepting £5m donations".

That is a reference to the £5m gift given to Reform leader Nigel Farage before he became an MP, which is being investigated by the parliamentary standards watchdog.

Teens who fled Venezuela after deadly quakes caught in another disaster in Colombia

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9v42m3430vo, 3 days ago

"The earthquake is haunting me," Deivi Delfín says.

The 15-year-old feels like he and his brother, Winder, have been chased by tremors these past few months, having lived through two that struck with devastating effect in Venezuela, only to get caught up in another this week after moving to Colombia.

He tells the BBC that he and his brother, 17, no longer felt like children, having witnessed corpses damaged beyond recognition.

After their home in La Guaira - the area of Venezuela hardest hit by the twin quakes on 24 June - was reduced to a pile of rubble, killing three family members including their mother, they moved to Cali, Colombia, where their father works, on Friday.

Three days later, they felt the ground shake again.

'My world came crashing down'

Back at the end of June, the two teenagers had gone to the beach on Venezuela's Caribbean coastline. Winder wanted to take their 10-year-old brother Moissés, but he was grounded.

"I kept insisting but my mum just wouldn't budge," he says.

As they were heading home on the evening of the 24th, earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 struck just 39 seconds apart. The brothers hugged and shut their eyes. When they reopened them, everything was covered in dust and debris.

When they arrived home, they saw the 12-storey apartment building had collapsed, trapping their mother Yusmani, grandmother Carmen and brother under a mountain of concrete.

"My world came crashing down," Winder says.

The earthquakes killed more than 6,300 people, according to the Venezuelan government. There is still no clear official figure for the number of people missing.

Winder and Deivi joined rescue efforts, but for three days had nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat. Their father, Deivid, who was in Colombia at the time, was unable to find them for three days after returning to Venezuela.

When he eventually found his sons, they began a search for their family members that would last nearly a month.

'I didn't feel like a child anymore'

Deivid knew that climbing into the rubble would put his sons at risk, but they would not be deterred from searching for their missing family members.

As they were still teenagers, they were better able to squeeze through narrow spaces, crawling between concrete slabs lit only by a handheld torch or mobile phone so they could tell rescuers where to dig.

"By that point, I didn't feel like a child anymore," Deivi recalls .

Gradually, they unearthed fragments of their family life - Moissés's shorts, Yusmani's Bible, and an unfinished shopping list - a sign they were getting closer to what had once been their home.

The following day, Deivi spotted a piece of fabric in the rubble and recognised it as his grandmother's floral skirt. Soon after, firefighters confirmed they had found a woman's body.

Winder was the first to recognise his mother's body. A plastic bag she had been using to dye her hair when they had left for the beach was still on her head.

He got as close to her as he could and stayed with her for a few moments.

They still could not immediately recover her body as it had been pinned down by a concrete slab. It was only while they were removing it that they found Moissés.

The little boy was still holding onto his mother.

At the sight of his son, Deivid collapsed.

"When his little head fell into my hands... I broke down," he says.

'We've been through this before'

After laying their family members to rest, the brothers went to live with their father in a modest, working-class neighbourhood of low-rise houses in the north-eastern outskirts of Cali, Colombia.

They say they hope for a life filled with hard work and study, so their mother would be proud.

But having only just settled into their new home, they felt a sensation on Monday that was all too familiar.

Colombia had been hit by its strongest earthquake this century - a magnitude 7.4, which killed several hundred across the country, with many more still missing. Cali was, once again, among the hardest-hit areas.

Deivi, who was asleep when the tremor began, says that he thought he was dreaming when the movement was gentle. But when it intensified, he got out of bed and ran downstairs. His brother did the same. Outside, they grabbed hold of a metal gate and waited for the shaking to stop.

Their father had been out on the street at the time. As soon as he felt the tremor, he thought of his sons and ran back to the house - but when he arrived, they were nowhere to be seen.

A neighbour told him she had seen them leave and he kept searching through the streets until he found them outside the barbershop where he worked.

His sons tried to reassure him, saying: "Dad, stay calm. We've been through this before."

Alleged rebel leader killed in Colombia as president targets armed groups

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yrljp9x9eo, 6 days ago

A man suspected of leading a dissident faction of a left-wing rebel group has been killed in a military operation in central Colombia, officials say.

The operation forms part of a crackdown on illegal armed groups ordered by Colombia's new president, Abelardo de la Espriella, who was sworn in on Friday.

He said the killing by the security forces of Hernando Forero Mosquera and five other alleged members of armed groups on the weekend sent "a clear and powerful message to all bandits that there is nowhere for them to hide".

During his campaign for the presidency, de la Espriella said he would target "narco-terrorism" relentlessly, including by launching air strikes.

Military intelligence officers said that Forero led a group known as Frente 28, which is one of the many dissident factions to have sprung forth from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).

The Farc, Colombia's largest left-wing rebel group, signed a peace deal with the government in 2016 but some of its members did not agree to the terms of the deal and refused to lay down their arms.

These dissidents groups, which are now mainly involved in cocaine trafficking and illegal mining, are among the main driving forces behind the resurgence in violence in the country.

De la Espriella said he would take a radically different approach to defeating criminal groups in the country than his predecessor in office, Gustavo Petro.

Petro, the first left-wing politician to be elected president of Colombia, advocated what he called a "total peace" strategy, which prioritised negotiation over confrontation.

His attempts to negotiate with a number of armed groups, however, failed as members of the illegal organisations repeatedly broke ceasefires and walked away from the talks.

De la Espriella's combative approach has been met with defiance by dissident rebel groups.

On Saturday, just a day after the was sworn into office, two explosive devices went off.

In Cauca province, a car bomb exploded at a tollbooth, injuring two security guards, and in Cesar province, a police officer was killed by explosives dropped from a drone.

In a video uploaded to social media, de la Espriella praised the military for killing Forero, who was also known as "El ruso" (The Russian), and whom he described as an explosives expert.

He added that three more alleged members of the dissident group had been killed in the military operation in a rural area in Meta province.

The president also said that soldiers had killed two alleged members of another criminal group, the Gulf Clan, in a separate offensive in Antioquia province.

De la Espriella has the backing of US President Donald Trump, who endorsed his candidacy.

On Friday, the US state department said it planned to provide $1bn (£740m) in security assistance to de la Espriella's government.

It also welcomed Colombia into the US-led group dubbed "Shield of the Americas" - an alliance of Western Hemisphere countries which have pledged to co-operate in their fight against drug trafficking gangs and transnational crime.

Woman pulled alive from rubble 36 hours after Colombia quake

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz7d2e5wlgno, 4 days ago

A 32-year-old woman, who had been trapped under rubble for 36 hours following the 7.4-magnitude quake which shook western Colombia, has been rescued alive.

Daniela Largo was pulled from beneath a collapsed building in the city of Pereira after a 10-hour-long rescue operation.

Firefighters finally managed to reach her via a tunnel they dug below four concrete slabs under which she had been buried.

At least 265 people have died in the quake, according to Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella, who said that 496 others remain missing.

In Pereira, a city in Colombia's coffee-growing region, 79 people are confirmed to have died, the second-highest number after Cali, where 95 are dead, according to figures by the Association of Colombian Capital Cities (Asocapitales).

Largo's mother told AFP news agency that a local resident had heard her daughter cry out for help from beneath the rubble.

Once emergency workers had arrived at the site, they were able to locate Largo with the help of a small camera.

However, her rescue was complicated by the fact that four heavy concrete slabs were blocking the way.

Local firefighters aided by colleagues deployed from the capital, Bogotá, and the disaster response team of the national police force had to dig two tunnels to reach her.

Through one opening, dug from above, they were able to provide Largo with oxygen. But it was only through a second tunnel, dug from below, that they were able to free her.

De la Espriella celebrated her rescue on social media, describing it as "news which fills us with hope".

Largo's mother said that "at home, her 12-year-old son is waiting for her".

In Pereira, at least 92 buildings collapsed. Fifteen people are known to be trapped and another 37 have been reported missing, according to Asocapitales.

In Cali, Colombia's third most populous city, more than 200 people remained trapped as of 16:00 local time on Tuesday.

The city's mayor declared a night-time curfew and said that soldiers would be on patrol in the worst-hit areas of Cali.

"We need to ensure that the rescue work can be carried out safely," he said, adding that there was still hope of finding more people alive and everyone would do their utmost to free those trapped.

Eighty-seven people have been rescued in the city so far.

The 7.4-magnitude quake struck at 07:34 local time (12:34 GMT) on Monday.

It had its epicentre near the village of San José del Palmar, in Chocó province, but could be felt across a vast area.

Seismometers nearest the epicentre registered shaking lasting between 90 seconds and two minutes.

There have been more than 100 aftershocks since.

Livestreamer's murder raises questions over relations between Mexico's creators and cartels

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg9dwz8p30o, 10 days ago

The killing of a young influencer, caught on camera as he was livestreaming in Mexico's Sinaloa state, has raised questions about possible links between content creators and criminal cartels in this violence-wracked part of the country.

On the stream, two men on a motorbike can be seen riding up to César Gastélum, who is chatting to two friends outside a fast food restaurant in the city of Culiacán.

The murder happens within seconds: the driver of the bike shoots him in the head at close range before fleeing.

While the Sinaloa state prosecutor's office provided little detail about the incident, it did say that its lines of investigations included a number of posts Gastélum had published, "some of which refer to a criminal group".

Gastélum is not the first influencer to be murdered in Sinaloa.

At least 10 content creators have been killed in the state since a deadly war broke out between two rival factions of the Sinaloa criminal cartel two years ago.

Officials say Gastélum had not received any threats from criminal groups, nor was he under investigation by police for any alleged criminal links, as had been the case with some of the influencers targeted in the past.

But according to Claudia Arruñada, a communications expert at Mexico's Iberoamerican University, the worlds of social media and the criminal underworld can sometimes become intertwined - with at times deadly consequences.

"The [social media] algorithm and the narcos promote the same thing: consumption and luxury as ultimate values, to be achieved in the quickest way possible."

"The model for success is no longer based on methodically working on your career, but rather on having a meteoric rise," she adds.

Arruñada argues that in some cases influencers have promoted narcoculture, by showing luxurious lifestyles to their followers and linking these riches to the exploits of narcos.

Gastélum often shared pictures of himself posing with expensive cars, enjoying the nightlife and going on luxury trips, as well as comedy clips and challenges.

In one photo he posted, he could be seen at the grave of Leobardo Aispuro, better known as "El Gordo Peruci", an influencer who was murdered in 2024.

Content creators like him have vehemently rejected being labelled as "narco-influencers", arguing that the sheer fact of being a young public figure showing off a luxury lifestyle can make you a target in Culiacán.

Some studies suggest that the cartels - which function very much like multinational companies with various business interests - do use content creators as community managers, to promote their "brand".

When rival factions turn on each other, those seen as spreading propaganda for one group can quickly become targets for its sworn enemies.

This is what appears to have happened in January 2025, when leaflets were dropped from an aircraft onto the streets of Culiacán.

The pamphlets accused 25 influencers and musicians of having links to "La Mayiza", a faction of the Sinaloa cartel involved in a deadly confrontation with rivals "Los Chapitos".

Four of those named had already been killed and were marked on the leaflet as "eliminated". Two more have been murdered since.

Gastélum's name was not on that list but his killing is nevertheless seen as the latest in a trend seeing influencers being targeted.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Wednesday that local and national authorities would go after those who had murdered him - and those who had ordered it.

Her government is trying to sever the link between popular culture and the criminal underworld, denouncing narcocorridos, songs which glorify criminals, as well as tackling crime head on.

Official figures suggest the number of murders fell by 48% in 2025.

But there is little doubt that killings like that of Gastélum - witnessed by his followers who were online at the time as it unfolded - strengthen the impression that narcos continue to wield power - and death - not just on the streets of Culiacán but also on digital platforms.

Update: The original image on this story was an agency photo which purported to show César Gastélum the influencer. However, it showed a musician of the same name which was wrongly labelled. We have replaced the photo.

'My grandmother subjected my baby to female genital mutilation behind my back'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3r0vp7n0pro, 12 days ago

Warning: This story contains descriptions of the practices involved in female genital mutilation

In what activists are calling a milestone, Colombia last week became the first country in Latin America where female genital mutilation (FGM) is now illegal.

As José Carlos Cueto reports, while the bill was passed unanimously in Colombia's Congress, it follows a long battle to eradicate the dangerous and often secretive procedure.

Carla Quiñonez's daughter was just six months old when the baby's great-grandmother subjected her to female genital mutilation (FGM).

Quiñonez (not her real name) says when her grandmother returned the baby to her, she had a fever and was swollen and bleeding. She cried constantly.

"I confronted my grandmother, but she said it was normal and that I could not tell anyone."

The nearest health centre was a long journey away, so Quiñonez's mother, a midwife, tried to ease the baby's pain with medicinal plants. She also challenged Quiñonez's grandmother. But the older woman would not listen.

"She said that men make fun of women who have a clitoris."

FGM in Colombia

FGM involves the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, as well as other injuries inflicted on those organs for non-medical reasons.

It can cause medical complications, including haemorrhaging and infection, as well as complications later in life with periods and during childbirth. It can also make it difficult for a woman to experience sexual pleasure.

The World Health Organization says that around the world more than 230 million girls and women alive today have been cut, predominantly in Africa.

Quiñonez, 30, has been campaigning to eradicate the practice in Colombia - where it is still practised by members of her Emberá Indigenous community.

Along with fellow activists and members of Colombia's Congress, she played a key role in the campaign which led to the ban.

She says it was only as she grew up that she realised what was secretly happening within her community.

"I always wondered why more girls than boys seemed to die shortly after birth.

"I remember a young cousin of mine whose birth was attended by my mother. She was born healthy, but died three days later.

"I asked my mother about it, and she told me the baby had died from 'jai', an ancestral illness."

Quiñonez now believes that girls who supposedly died from "jai" actually died from complications related to FGM.

A paediatrician's perspective

Between 2020 and June 2026, 240 cases of FGM were recorded in Colombia. In the vast majority of instances, the girls were younger than six years old. But paediatrician Diana Ramos Mosquera says she believes this is just "the tip of the iceberg".

Working at San Jorge University Hospital in Pereira, a city in Colombia's north-west coffee-growing region, she says she's seen signs of scarring, burning and mutilation when examining girls who have come in with other medical conditions.

She recalls one girl who arrived with her vaginal opening sealed shut, meaning she probably would not have been able to menstruate or have sexual intercourse when she reached adulthood.

"She had to undergo reconstructive surgery," Dr Ramos says.

She regards FGM as a form of sexual and gender-based violence with lifelong consequences, but says this must be addressed through education, and not just punishment.

"Some members of these communities genuinely believe they are doing no harm," she says.

'Culture does not kill'

With around 300,000 members, the Great Emberá Nation is one of Colombia's largest Indigenous communities, with populations also living in Ecuador and Panama.

One theory about why members of the community practise FGM, when it's rarely seen elsewhere in Latin America, is that the practice arrived with enslaved people from African countries.

This could help explain its prevalence in Risaralda, Chocó and Valle del Cauca, neighbouring departments that either are home to, or border, large Afro-Colombian populations.

Another theory is that the birth of an intersex child, hundreds of years ago, left the community with a fear of the clitoris - with many older women believing that it will grow into a penis if not cut.

Others think that it stems from the patriarchal belief that a woman with an organ associated with sexual pleasure is more likely to be promiscuous.

Whatever its origin, Juliana Domico, the legal representative and chief Indigenous councillor to the National Confederation of the Peoples of the Great Emberá Nation of Colombia, rejects the idea that the practice is cultural.

"Our culture is our clothing, our crafts, our dances and our language, not a practice that kills. Culture does not kill."

She says the new law follows years of advocacy work within the community: "We hope the law is translated into public policy, with sufficient resources to implement it."

Threats and hostility

Quiñonez is one of those who have advocated for change, but says she has received threats because of this - especially from men.

While, traditionally, men are not meant to know about the ritual, conversations about abolishing the practice often only take place with male leaders because many Emberá women speak an indigenous language - also called Emberá - and have not necessarily learned Spanish.

This can also prevent women from accessing help from doctors for their babies, a problem which Quiñonez says is compounded when they're faced by sometimes ill-informed and judgmental health staff.

She says when she took her daughter to hospital with a fever caused by a urinary tract infection, the nurse berated her for "being a savage" and told her that she had got what she deserved.

"I was even threatened with having my daughter taken away and placed in the care of the child welfare authorities.

"Since then, I prefer not to take my daughter to hospital. I treat her with medicinal plants and medication. I never leave her side."

'Conversation cannot be avoided'

Quiñonez says that there is change under way within the Emberá community, with women now discussing among themselves whether FGM should happen.

She says she was moved when one grandmother reflected on carrying out FGM on her granddaughters. "She said she had never acted out of malice and had only wanted to prevent men from criticising her granddaughters."

Having conversations about a different way of life can be painful, she says. "Women who have grown up without a clitoris cannot imagine a different body."

It will also be difficult to speak to her own daughter about it, one day in the future, "but it is a conversation that cannot be avoided," she says.

"All of us deserve to understand our bodies and to talk about them without shame."

Illustrations by Daniel Arce, from BBC Mundo's Visual Journalism Team.

If you've been affected by issues raised in this story, sources of support are available via the BBC Action Line

Brother of man trapped under rubble in Colombian quake clings on to hope

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czxerlglgw5o, 5 days ago

Efraín Gallego does not lose faith that his brother will be found alive, although when he speaks about him, trapped beneath the rubble of a building, his voice breaks and he swallows hard until he regains his composure.

"You feel anguish. Every time there is an alert about someone being alive, hope is reborn that we will find him," Gallego tells me emotionally.

His 80-year-old brother was buried along with his wife when the Torres del Limonar building collapsed in Cali.

This city in south-western Colombia is one of the hardest hit by the earthquake.

The building has become a symbol of the tragedy in the country's third most populous city.

Cali has more than two million inhabitants. According to Mayor Alejandro Éder, there are at least 95 dead.

Under the scorching heat on Tuesday morning, Torres del Limonar is a shattered mountain of rubble, with mattresses, furniture, and belongings peeking out from the concrete.

On top of the remains are rescuers and volunteers: "Silence! We are firefighters. If you can hear us, shout or make any noise."

The phrase is repeated every time the teams dig deep enough to believe they may be close to a survivor.

These are the moments when Gallego regains hope, but the seconds pass and no answers come from below.

Torres del Limonar is one of more than 50 collapsed buildings in Cali.

It is located in its south, in the Capri neighbourhood. The four-storey building held dozens of apartments. The exact number of tenants who were inside when it collapsed is unknown.

Around it, apart from some cracks, the rest of the buildings seem to have escaped the fate of the Torres.

Rescuers, military personnel, volunteers, paramedics, firefighters, humanitarian workers, and journalists have come here.

There are more than 100 people waiting for news. According to Mayor Éder, as of Monday night, it was estimated that 25 people were trapped under the rubble.

Éder declared a nighttime curfew to speed up rescue operations.

The night passed. Excavations continue. A rescuer at the site said about 10 people had been saved since the collapse.

Reports in local media, such as one from Blu Pacífico radio, spoke of six survivors up until a few minutes before my arrival, including an infant only a few months old.

In the midst of tragedy, figures are often closer to estimates than definitive data.

"What I can tell you is that right now there are at least two people detected alive. Tunnels are being made to get them out. One of them has to have his leg freed," rescuer James Velasco tells me.

The magnitude 7.4 earthquake that struck Colombia on Monday, 10 August, is the worst in this century, according to the National Geological Service.

In addition to Cali, it left destruction and death in other regions such as Chocó, in the north-west.

Around the remains of Torres del Limonar, unlike Gallego, many residents choose not to speak. They are visibly affected.

Some sleep exhausted on the ground or on a sofa placed in the street. Others gather together under the shade for support.

The hours are long, increasingly so, and the anguish grows.

Velasco offers hope.

"In the past I have participated in operations where we have pulled out survivors after seven days trapped."

"Those who are meant to survive, survive. Nothing is written," he adds.

"I wanted to help from the very beginning."

Amid his anguish, Gallego wants to acknowledge the work of ordinary citizens.

"We must mention all the people who have come to help with water, supplies, tools, equipment; there is a lot of collaboration. Volunteers are plentiful," he says.

Alejandro Mahecha, 19, is one of those volunteers. He decided to come after spending the night safely with his family and overcoming the initial shock.

"I wanted to help from the very beginning. The earthquake affected my city and the homes of people I know. I came to this site because there has been a lot of talk about this building and the need for help here," the young man explains.

Together with several friends, Mahecha helps remove rubble, bring water to rescuers, and clear the street to facilitate evacuation efforts.

In the background, hammers and saws can be heard creating escape routes through the destruction.

They stop only when those present raise their arms.

That means everyone must remain silent. Gallego waits. This time, too, there was no news of his brother.

Rescuers scramble for survivors with 180 dead in Colombia earthquake

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20dqd9qwq4o, 5 days ago

Rescue workers in Colombia are working against the clock to free survivors trapped in buildings and under rubble following Monday's powerful earthquake.

More than 180 people have been confirmed dead - most in the cities of Cali and Pereira.

The magnitude 7.4 quake struck at 07:34 (12:34 GMT) on Monday and was felt across an enormous area, stretching for hundreds of miles across western Colombia - with fresh aftershocks still being felt on Tuesday.

While the official death toll remains at 181, an aggregated figure gathered from local officials puts it higher - potentially at more than 240. A state of emergency has been declared by President Abelardo de la Espriella.

Giving an update on Tuesday from Pereira, one of the worst hit cities, President Espriella said as well as those killed, almost 2,600 had been injured, and almost 200 people remain missing.

He also reported that more than 1,100 homes had been destroyed, and more than 8,000 had been damaged.

Overnight on Monday into Tuesday, several people spent the night outdoors in cities like Pereira and Cali - either due to their homes being destroyed, or fear of further collapses.

Across the country, dozens of larger buildings have also collapsed.

In Cali, a city of 2.2 million people where there have been 95 deaths, a unified command post has been set up to co-ordinate the rescue effort.

On Tuesday, Cali Mayor Alejandro Eder said that 239 people remained trapped, with 949 injured and 45 buildings which have either completely or partially collapsed.

Several of the upper floors of one of the city's hospitals, some dedicated to paediatric care, collapsed, leaving some patients trapped.

In Calima, a neighbourhood in the north of Cali, four children died after a section of the Gimnasio Calima school collapsed.

The mayor of the municipality, Antonio Cadavid, stated that other children ended up with serious injuries, with a total of 30 children referred to care centres.

To combat threats of looting, he has also ordered a curfew, coming into effect at 20:00 local time, and lasting until 06:00 on Wednesday morning.

Further tremors were felt in Cali on Tuesday - part of a pattern of aftershocks across the country, with more than 70 having taken place since Monday's earthquake, according to Colombia's geological service.

According to the agency, two earthquakes of magnitude 3.6 occurred early on Tuesday. The first was in San José del Palmar and the second in Santander.

In Pereira, 79 people have died according to the city's fire department.

The city has implemented a car-free day to allow the search to go ahead, with citizens urged to comply.

Footage from the city has shown the massive scale of the rescue effort, with hundreds of volunteers working to remove rubble and free trapped survivors.

Hours after the earthquake hit Pereira, a resident of the Parque Industrial neighborhood, near the city's airport, told BBC Mundo about the shock being experienced in the area.

"It's impossible to get around the city center. In Bolívar Square (the city's main square), at least one building collapsed. Furthermore, there are structures where buses and trucks are trapped, and people are afraid those structures will collapse as well," he said.

"We're all in shock. It was really awful."

Jorge Eduardo Rojas, mayor of Manizales, said five people had been killed in the city.

Sixty buildings in Manizales had partially or totally collapsed.

Cautioning about further aftershocks, Rojas urged the public not to share chain messages or social media posts from unknown sources, as they "may contain false or unverified information... which could cause greater concern and alarm among the public".

On Tuesday, help and support continued to be offered to Colombia from the international community.

A statement from a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, stated that he "expresses his solidarity with the people and government of Colombia" and that it working to support the government's response.

Spain's Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, reported that 164 Spaniards were still missing.

At the moment, he added, there are no reports of injuries or deaths of its citizens.

The Trump administration, which backed President Abelardo de la Espriella in his successful election earlier this year, announced this afternoon a donation of $15.5m (£11.5m) to Colombia.

Offers of help have also come from Ecuador, Brazil, El Salvador, and Venezuela.

At least 169 killed in Colombia's largest earthquake in years

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20e360lx0vo, 5 days ago

At least 169 people are dead and a state of emergency has been declared after Colombia was hit by one of its largest earthquakes in years.

The death toll is likely to rise, with more feared trapped under collapsed buildings.

The magnitude 7.4 quake struck at 07:34 (12:34 GMT) at a depth of 103km (64 miles) in Chocó province, the country's geological service said. It was felt across an enormous area, stretching for hundreds of miles across western Colombia.

Many of the deaths have been concentrated in Cali, Colombia's third most populous city.

At least 900 people were injured in the quakes, Colombia's Association of Capital Cities (Asocapitales) wrote in an update on Tuesday.

The epicentre of the quake was near the village of San José del Palmar, in Chocó province, but local mayor León Fabio Marín Moncada said that there had miraculously been no deaths or injuries - despite the roads in and out being damaged.

According to Asocapitales, most of the fatalities where in cities.

Cali, located about 200km from the epicentre, was the worst affected with 85 dead.

Dan Cutler, 29, is from London but has been in Colombia for about two months as part of a big trip with his partner, and is currently in Cali.

Being woken by the earthquake, he told the BBC: "I've never experienced anything like it."

"We sprinted outside in our pyjamas. There's no major structural damage to the hotel, but there are surface cracks in the walls, and paint and plaster have peeled off," he says.

In Pereira, in Colombia's coffee-growing region, 66 people died. Videos verified by the BBC show at least one building collapsing in Plaza Bolívar, Pereira's main square, with scattered debris and dust across the open space where many people had gathered.

At least five people also died in Manizales, another city in the coffee-growing region, which is popular with local and foreign tourists.

Speaking to BBC World Service, Angélica Ávila said she had been staying in a hotel in Manizales.

She said as the earthquake hit, cracks appeared in the walls.

"Everyone was screaming... I saw dust coming out of the neighbouring buildings, and bricks were falling off the walls," she said.

Journalist and meteorologist Luis Felipe Molina, from Manizales, was at home when the earthquake struck - about 150km from the epicentre.

He explained that due to previous earthquakes, the city has "very strict seismic-resistant building regulations" - so his building was able to resist the impact.

"I have 450 books and only a few were left standing on the shelves. You could hear glass breaking and people screaming," he told BBC Mundo.

"It was a terrible and terrifying experience."

The country's aviation authority has reported damage at several regional airports, including those in Pereira, Manizales, Quibdó, Armenia, Cartago and Buenaventura.

In the capital, Bogotá, trees and traffic lights shook violently, with reports of cracks in buildings but so far none of any serious damage to the city's infrastructure.

Tremors were felt as far away as neighbouring Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama.

The quake comes less than two months after twin quakes devastated the north of Venezuela, killing more than 6,300 people.

Colombia's President Abelardo de la Espriella has declared a national disaster situation, creating special powers to react to the emergency, including to reallocate budgets.

Having only taken up the role on Friday, the new president is immediately faced with a potentially legacy-defining event.

As the extent of the damage has begun to emerge, world leaders have come forward to offer support.

A spokesman for Pope Leo XIV said the pontiff was "deeply saddened to learn the painful news of the earthquake".

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US was "closely monitoring" the earthquake, and stood "ready to support", while EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said the EU's Copernicus satellite was being used in the rescue operation.

The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, sent a message of solidarity to the Colombian people and offered personnel and equipment for rescue efforts.

According to the US Geological Survey, an estimated 1.5 million people felt shaking close to magnitude seven.

It stated that deep earthquakes, like the one which hit on Monday, are usually less dangerous than earthquakes which break closer to the Earth's surface.

But they can release energy in a way which is damaging to buildings, with fewer but potentially stronger aftershocks.

If it is safe to do so, you can also get in touch by following this link

Eleven killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, authorities say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gjygx4gjeo, yesterday

Eleven people have been killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, authorities say, in one of the deadliest days of attacks since an agreement aimed at reducing hostilities was announced in June.

Lebanon's prime minister said seven people were killed in a strike on a house on the outskirts of Ansar, 70km (43 miles) south of the capital, Beirut. State media reported three children and two women were among the dead.

Israel's Defense Forces (IDF) said it had killed a commander of Hezbollah - the Iran-backed Shia militia - following an attack against Israeli soldiers.

The commander's family "who he used as human shields" were present and "harmed", it added.

Later on Saturday, another round of strikes hit the town of Deir al-Zahrani, killing four and wounding five others, the Lebanese ministry of health said.

Lebanese authorities say the strike in Ansar at around 04:30 (01:30 GMT) occurred where displaced families were living. Footage on social media shows large plumes of smoke permeating through the streets of the village as sirens ring out.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the attacks, saying the seven civilians killed were not "military infrastructure".

"Israel must halt this escalation," he said. "For the security of our people and their right to life on their land are not subject to negotiation or bargaining."

The IDF said the incident that prompted its strike on Ansar had taken place in the Ali al-Taher Ridge, a strategic high ground overlooking much of south-eastern Lebanon and one of the war's most fiercely contested positions.

A later IDF statement said Ali Samir al-Haj Hassan, who it described as a Hezbollah battalion commander in the Radwan Force unit, had been killed.

"Alongside him, several additional terrorists who were involved in advancing terror attacks against IDF soldiers were eliminated," it added.

"The strike was specifically directed at Hassan, who was a lawful target under international law, not at his family members who he used as human shields - hiding alongside them inside the military HQ," the IDF said.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also issued a statement, defending the IDF strike.

It said the Hezbollah attack had seriously injured three soldiers and the response had struck "the Hezbollah terror headquarters which ordered the attack".

"Only later did the IDF learn that Hezbollah deliberately put civilians in that military compound," the statement added, before saying "Hezbollah is willing to do anything, including using its own civilians as human shields, to falsely accuse Israel of deliberately targeting civilians, which the IDF clearly did not".

Hezbollah dismissed Netanyahu's "false claims" and said Lebanese civilians "were deliberately targeted in their homes, many of whom were reduced to human remains, followed by claims that the locations were military sites".

Lebanon was drawn into the war between Israel, the US and Iran on 2 March, when Hezbollah - the armed group affiliated with Iran - launched rockets into Israel in retaliation for a strike that killed Iran's supreme leader.

Israel responded by launching a bombing campaign across Lebanon and invading a significant part of the country's south. Its forces continue to occupy roughly 5% of Lebanese territory.

The June ceasefire framework calls for Hezbollah to disarm, Israeli forces to withdraw gradually from southern Lebanon and the Lebanese army to deploy across the area.

Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun condemned the Israeli strikes that had killed an entire family in Ansar and its "repeated violations" of the framework, which he said sent a "clear message" to the US-led negotiations.

Hezbollah was not involved in the agreement and has rejected direct negotiations.

The IDF says it will continue to remove threats to Israeli citizens and soldiers operating in the security zone - the 10km-deep military buffer in southern Lebanon occupied by Israel.

Despite a reduction in fighting following the June agreements, Israeli strikes and demolitions in southern Lebanon have continued.

Lebanese and Israeli negotiators are set to meet for an eighth round of negotiations in September, but a final date has not been set.

Lebanon parliament votes to abolish death penalty

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8enj8p1xwgo, 5 days ago

Lebanon's parliament has voted to abolish the death penalty, a move that would make it the first country in the Middle East to formally end capital punishment.

A majority of MPs in the 128-seat parliament backed the measure on Tuesday, while Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc voted against it.

The legislation will now go to the cabinet before being passed to President Joseph Aoun for signing. The government has already expressed its support for the measure.

Lebanon has not carried out an execution since January 2004, although courts have continued to hand down death sentences. Rights groups estimate that more than 78 people remain on death row.

Under the new legislation, capital punishment will be replaced with life imprisonment with hard labour. However, the legislation does not yet set out in detail how the new sentence would be enforced.

Hard labour is already written into Lebanese law but has rarely been implemented in recent years. The country's financial crisis and overcrowded prisons have limited the authorities' resources and capacity.

The latest legislation follows years of campaigning by civil society groups and lawyers for the removal of capital punishment from Lebanese law.

"We cannot solve a crime with a crime or end violence with violence," Oragit Younan told the BBC.

As co-founder of the Lebanese Association for Civil Rights, she led a nearly three-decade campaign to abolish the death penalty in Lebanon.

"We are in a war, and people [have been] killed every day, so even in this situation, we can fight, we can struggle for human rights, and we can win. We can be a model for others," she said.

Tuesday's vote in parliament follows more than two decades of a de facto moratorium on executions. An execution required a decree signed by the president, prime minister and justice minister - but no such decree has been signed since 2004.

Under Lebanese law, the death penalty could previously be imposed for some of the country's most serious offences, including aggravated murder, certain terrorism-related crimes resulting in death, treason, espionage and offences against state security.

Previous attempts to abolish the death penalty have failed, including legislation introduced in parliament in 2004 and a proposal from the justice ministry in 2008.

Lebanon's move comes as the use of the death penalty remains contested elsewhere in the Middle East.

Jordan resumed executions in June, carrying out its first since 2017.

In Israel, its parliament has approved legislation that allows for the expansion of the circumstances in which capital punishment can be imposed.

Israeli MPs passed a new law in May to impose the death penalty and conduct public trials for those involved in the Hamas-led attacks and mass hostage-taking in Israel in October 2023.

Elsewhere, the UN human rights chief has said he is alarmed by the rise in executions in Iran, with capital punishment continuing to be used "to instil fear among the population and suppress dissent".

In Iran, at least 56 people had been executed on national security-related charges since 19 March, including 27 in cases linked to January's nationwide anti-government protests, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said earlier this month.

Houthis reportedly kill six in first deadly attack since start of Iran war

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg9wpmzmlno, 5 days ago

Six people have been killed and 10 injured in strikes by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis on a cargo ship in the Red Sea, the internationally recognised government of Yemen has said.

The transport ministry said the vessel was hit with three ballistic missiles, south of the port of Mocha, causing a fire on board and resulting in the deaths of four crew - three Pakistanis and one Indonesian.

Yemen's coastguard later said a second deadly missile strike targeted rescuers who tried to evacuate the ship.

The Houthis said they hit a ship carrying Saudi military equipment. It appears to be the first deadly attack by the group on a vessel since the US and Israel began striking Iran on 28 February.

The Houthis launched their attacks on shipping last month - announcing a naval blockade of Saudi ports.

The conflict in the region has been ongoing for more than five months, punctuated by a faltering ceasefire which was meant to lead to a deal to end the war.

It has whipped up regional tensions, with the Houthis also attacking Saudi tankers in the Red Sea and oil facilities, in parallel with Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz - the vital waterway where a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas used to transit.

The latest attack comes after a years-long truce in Yemen's civil war between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government collapsed last month.

The Houthis control much of north-western Yemen, and frequently clash with the government. The government operates out of Aden in the south, due to the capital Sanaa being held by the Houthis.

Social media images examined by BBC Verify appear to show a damaged cargo ship in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which sits at the inlet of the Red Sea, off the coast of Yemen.

In its statement, the Yemeni government said the ship had been carrying food, and that the attack on a commercial vessel marked an escalation in approach from the Houthis.

In an earlier statement, maritime risk management company Vanguard said the Yemeni Navy deployed to assist the vessel and came under fire. This resulted in three others being injured.

Close-up pictures show the vessel is named Tihamah which, according to ship-tracking platform MarineTraffic, is in the Red Sea off Warner Point.

Vanguard has identified the ship as sailing under the flag of Tanzania, while shipping website MarineTraffic says it is owned by an Egyptian operator.

In its statement, Yemen's ministry of transport referred to Tihama as a "Yemeni commercial ship", while earlier reports in Iranian media referred to it as "Saudi-affiliated".

The pictures of the vessel, which were shared by Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency, have been verified as new and show no signs of AI-generation.

Additional reporting by Ghoncheh Habibiazad

Activists try to deliver aid to Palestinians in homes besieged by Israeli settlers

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1w1ylw0p3no, 2 days ago

Activists have tried to deliver supplies to Palestinians whose homes in the occupied West Bank have been besieged for days by Israeli settlers.

The group left water and food near one of the houses in Qusra where two Palestinian families have been trapped since Sunday, with their power and water supplies cut off.

Two of the residents said Israeli forces had prevented the activists from delivering the aid directly to them, and the supplies had to be left outside. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) denied this.

Also on Friday, a number of settlers returned to set up a tent near the site - a day after an operation to disperse them from the area. It was later removed by Israeli forces.

The IDF said Qusra was a "closed military zone" and so Israeli civilians - who were among the activists - could not enter the area.

"But they weren't prevented from transferring aid to the Palestinian homes in Qusra."

It said in a further statement that Israeli civilians had erected a tent in the Qusra area earlier on Friday, "and IDF soldiers operated to remove it while protecting the local residents".

About a dozen Palestinian households were told to leave their properties during the operation to disperse settlers on Thursday, including members of the Abu Ridi and Hassan families living in two of their three besieged homes.

Qusra Mayor Abdul Azim Wadi told the BBC that Israeli forces were using some of the vacated Palestinian houses as barracks.

The Israeli military said the aim was "to protect the residents" and soldiers had been "instructed that the Qusra residents will remain in their homes".

A spokesperson had previously described the settlers' actions as "deplorable" and "unacceptable", adding that the government would investigate and arrest those responsible.

The situation in Qusra began on Sunday when settlers blocked the road to the Palestinian families' gates and cut off their power and water supplies.

The first Israeli soldiers who came to the site prayed with the settlers – an act for which the Israeli military said they would be disciplined.

An attempt by Israeli security forces to dislodge the settlers on Wednesday led to confrontations with a bigger group.

Palestinian security camera video shared with the BBC showed confrontations between Israeli soldiers and border police and a large crowd of settlers. The security forces used tear gas and stun grenades.

It is not clear exactly what the settlers in Qusra want. In the past, settlers have forced Palestinians out of their homes and seized their properties.

Their stated aim is to empty the area of its Palestinian residents.

Settlements are illegal under international law, but the Israeli government has promoted their recent rapid expansion.

The case is the latest to draw attention to the relative impunity of settlers and how Israeli forces are struggling to deal with rising settler violence.

Since January 2023, 127 Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank have experienced full or partial displacement, including 47 that have been entirely displaced, affecting more than 6,390 Palestinians, the UN says.

It has registered that about 3,800 Palestinians have been displaced due to settler violence, demolitions and evictions in 2026 - nearly half of them children.

Ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad sentenced to death in absentia

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce34dkpnyg7o, 5 days ago

A Syrian court has sentenced ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia, after convicting him of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during the country's civil war.

It is the first conviction against Assad, who fled from Damascus to the Russian capital, Moscow, with his family after his regime was overthrown in December 2024, ending his family's five-decade grip on power.

Assad's cousin and the former head of political security in southern Syria's Deraa province, Atef Najib, was also sentenced to death. He appeared wearing a striped prison uniform inside a cage in the courtroom as the judge read out his sentence.

Deraa is widely seen as the birthplace of the uprising against Assad's rule.

In March 2011, the detention and alleged torture of a group of teenagers accused of writing anti-government graffiti sparked protests in the city, which were met with a violent crackdown by security forces.

That response helped ignite nationwide demonstrations that escalated into civil war in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed.

Syria's interim government began trying officials associated with the Assad regime, which ruled the country for more than 50 years, earlier this year.

Najib is one of the highest-ranking officials to be put on trial.

He was convicted of crimes including murder, "the intentional killing of children under 15" and "torture leading to death".

The court also sentenced six former military and security officials in absentia to death, including Bashar al-Assad's younger brother, Maher. He ran the army's elite Fourth Division and also fled to Moscow when the regime fell.

The others convicted include former defence minister Fahd al-Freij.

Outside the courthouse after the ruling, hundreds of people of all ages gathered holding pictures of their loved ones who were killed by the regime.

Crowds were clapping and chanting, while cars drove by excitedly honking their horns.

A group of men passed out flags.

"The joy is indescribable," one man told the BBC, hoisting up a photo of his late father. "God willing we will see Bashar al-Assad and all his aides hanging on the gallows."

Another woman told the BBC everyone is feeling a mix of "victory and liberation."

"The voices of the victims are finally heard. Justice has been achieved!" she exclaimed.

Nouha al-Masri, a prosecutor in the case, lost her brother during the March 2011 crackdown and massacre at al-Omari Square in Deraa.

"We have been waiting for 15 years to reclaim even a small part of our rights, for all those who have spilled our blood, committed crimes, violated our rights, killed, and tortured us," Masri told the BBC.

"Our demand is that this not be the end of the trials... In the new Syria, there will be no impunity from this day forward."

It remains unclear whether Syria's new authorities will be able to secure Bashar and Maher al-Assad's extraditions from Moscow.

It is not the first move against Assad by Syria's new leadership.

An arrest warrant was issued against him last December on charges of murder and torture.

He left for Russia as forces under Ahmed al-Sharaa - now Syria's president - swept to power in a rapid, 11-day campaign that brought down the Assad dynasty.

Since then, the new government has detained numerous former officials and security personnel, though most senior figures from the old regime, including Assad himself, remain out of reach in Russia.

Attempts by Syrian opposition figures to pursue Assad through courts in Western countries during the final years of his rule did not lead to any convictions.

Assad came to power in 2000 after the death of his father. The second son of Hafez al-Assad, he was not destined to be Syria's ruler until his brother, Basil, died in a car crash in 1994.

Part of the Alawite minority, he continued to favour their dominance in many roles in the military, security and intelligence agencies.

Much of his rule was defined by the civil war.

Additional reporting by Lana Antaki in Damascus and Leen Alsaadi, BBC Arabic in Deraa.

Israel rejects Trump's 15-point plan for Gaza, Netanyahu says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yw4lpe0yeo, 7 days ago

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected US President Donald Trump's 15-point plan for Gaza, stating that no military pull-out will happen until Hamas is "genuinely" disarmed.

Trump's Board of Peace said last month it had reached an agreement for the "complete disarmament" of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza.

But Hamas said handing over its heavy weapons was contingent on Israel ending "all forms of aggression" and withdrawing its forces from Gaza.

On Sunday, a senior Board of Peace official insisted the US-backed peace plan for the territory remained the only way forward.

Israel has continued to carry out strikes on Gaza since agreeing to an initial ceasefire in the territory last October.

"Israel rejects the 15-point document," Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting on Sunday.

The Israeli military "will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed and will continue to thwart threats against our forces and our citizens", he added.

A Hamas official told the BBC on Sunday the group "reaffirms it commitment" to the agreement and it was ready "to engage seriously and responsibly in implementing" the 15-point plan.

They called on mediators to ensure "that all parties comply with what has been agreed".

Israel's rejection signals another blow for Trump's Gaza peace plan which was announced in September last year.

The plan included the creation of the Board of Peace to oversee the agreement's implementation, as well as the disarmament of Hamas, withdrawal of Israeli troops and reconstruction of Gaza.

Netanyahu's statement does not come as a surprise.

But he has taken some time to make it, perhaps reflecting the difficult position the Israeli leader is in.

He clearly is unhappy with Trump's plan but at the same time he will not want to upset his closest ally.

It's just over a week since Trump announced what he called a "monumental step toward lasting peace and security" - that Hamas for the first time had agreed to disarm, on condition that Israel withdraws its forces from Gaza.

On Sunday, Netanyahu was clear that was not going to happen under his watch. He said Hamas had to disarm first, adding that it couldn't be some "fictitious disarmament" - it had to be real.

The reality is any disarmament and withdrawal of Israeli forces would likely need to be phased.

Netanyahu said he was now in discussion with US officials about how to go forward.

"They have ideas; some of them are acceptable to us and some are not, and we know how to stand our ground on these matters," he said.

But just months before Israeli elections and under pressure from members of his right-wing coalition to take a tough stance on Gaza, he is unlikely to want to make concessions.

He has faced calls from far-right parts of the coalition to hold a new cabinet vote and end the Gaza plan, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir who dismissed the draft as "not acceptable".

Nickolay Mladenov - a senior diplomat tasked with implementing Donald Trump's peace plan - defended the plan on Sunday and said discussions were ongoing in the hope of a "positive outcome".

The board's high representative for Gaza told Israel's Channel 12 that Israel had been asked "to give the process a chance" and said the plan was "the only way forward" to ensure there was no repeat of the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas.

Mladenov said the plan was built on a process that was "verifiable, that is reversible, that at each stage can be stopped, and that we have built up with a very clear-eyed understanding of what are the challenges ahead".

He also said that Israel would not be required to withdraw until it could be verified that Hamas was taking steps to disarm.

According to the United Nations, about 1.9 million people - 90% of Gaza's population - have been displaced in the territory since the war in Gaza started.

The war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

Additional reporting by Jack Burgess

Israel accused of weaponising archaeology at ancient West Bank sites

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20d8qre98do, 8 days ago

Up in the hills above the Roman columns of the ancient site of Sebastia, in the occupied West Bank, are olive fields that have been cultivated for generations by Palestinian families.

One of the landowners, Abu Mudif, says he has received notification that his land is part of a tranche of about 450 acres that the Israeli authorities are taking possession of in order, they say, to protect and develop the site for a major new national park.

Typically, Palestinian landowners receive little or no payment for such land expropriation. And even when it is offered, most refuse it as they see accepting it as giving recognition and legitimacy to the loss of what they see as their patrimony.

It's a vital income for Abu Mudif to lose of course, but it goes deeper than that for him.

"If I wanted to describe it, the closest description I can give is that it is like having your soul ripped away. I cannot imagine myself without my land."

Nahed Sakha owns a local restaurant that is under threat of demolition.

He says the Israeli plan seems to be to cut Palestinian residents off from the archaeological site, which dates back thousands of years and has significant remains from the ancient Jewish past, as well as many other eras including the Romans, the Crusaders and the Ottomans.

"Restoration work has now begun along with excavations," he says. "Landowners were told that no-one would be allowed to use or plough their land."

The concerns of the village that surrounds Sebastia have been echoed by the United Nations culture and education agency, Unesco, which has now declared it not just a World Heritage Site but also added it to the List of World Heritage in Danger.

Unesco says that the main threat facing the site concerns what it calls the "planned expropriation and creation of the 'Samaria' (Shomron) national park, which could divide the property".

Standing on a path between the entrance car park in Sebastia on one side - where the Roman-era forum once stood - and the columns of the basilica on the other, the village mayor, Mohammed Azem, looks down to his right at some rubbish left in the ruins.

He says locals are now worried about reaching down to clean the area as it might cause problems with Israeli security forces and settlers.

The path on which he stands divides the site between Area B of the West Bank - which is under Palestinian civil and Israeli security control - and Area C, which is under full Israeli civil and security control.

Last week, Israel allocated roughly 113 million shekels (£27.8m) to expanding its control over archaeological sites in the West Bank. Some projects involve sites in areas administered by the Palestinian Authority.

In the remains of the Roman theatre, Israeli activist Alon Arad - who heads Emek Shaveh, an Israeli group that aims to ensure that the ancient heritage of the region belongs to all communities - says that the Israeli authorities have bypassed consultation with the local administration and residents of Sebastia.

"The thing is that Israel is not the owner of this place. This is a Palestinian heritage site. And in order to develop it in a positive way, it has to be done with the local community, with the municipality, so they can benefit."

The Israeli plans would see Sebastia's entrance moved to the other side of the vast site, away from the village and current car park and shops.

The Palestinian tourism and foreign ministries have expressed their hope that recognition by Unesco may buttress international support for their opposition to Israeli land seizures in Sebastia.

But the Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, has portrayed Unesco's move as enabling Palestinian efforts to diminish historic Jewish ties to the West Bank.

"No vote in an international organisation can change history," he asserted.

Further to the south in the West Bank and just in sight of Jerusalem is Herodium, a manmade hill with an extraordinary palace built on its summit by King Herod, who ruled the Kingdom of Judea just before the Christian era.

Recently here, too, Israel has begun to expropriate land - this time about 80 acres - for what it says is the "preservation and development" of the site.

Peace Now - an Israeli organisation that monitors settlements - says: "Under international law, as well as according to rulings of the Israeli Supreme Court, Israel is prohibited from expropriating land for settlement purposes or exclusively for the benefit of Israeli citizens".

"Consequently, in order for the expropriation to be considered lawful, the state will likely argue that the site is intended to serve both Palestinian and Israeli populations, despite the apparent fact that its primary rationale and purpose are linked to settlement expansion and Israeli control."

For Shmuel Browns, who has worked on excavations in Herodium and leads deeply enthused guided tours, it's vital for Israeli archaeologists and officials to be able to oversee and protect places that are so freighted with historical and religious significance.

"Israel feels responsible to look after the archaeology, the artifacts, the history of this land," he says.

But there has also been a drive to go further than this among far-right members of Israel's current government.

A new law was proposed earlier this year that would have transferred control of archaeological sites to the Israeli heritage ministry from the Civil Administration, which operates under military authority, and given it sweeping powers to seize land for archaeological preservation across the West Bank.

That bill passed its first reading in parliament in May but is now on hold as elections are coming up. It may never re-emerge.

Back in Sebastia, the Israeli activist Alon Arad says the very fact that the bill was put forward shows how archaeology itself has been weaponised in the West Bank.

"This is exactly how the mechanism works. You use archaeology, you use it in order to do excavations and to the narrative, to rewrite history, but you also use it in order to allocate lands or reallocate lands from Palestinian to Israeli," he warns.

Increasingly, Palestinian residents of Sebastia fear that their close connection with the ruins is in danger of being lost.

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan sign defence pact

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c30418m4mj4o, 9 days ago

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan have signed a joint defence agreement, saying an attack on one of them would be seen as an attack on all three.

The pact was announced at a meeting between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the Saudi city of Mecca.

After the US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February, Tehran and its allies struck targets in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states and disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping channel, and the Red Sea.

The Mecca agreement has drawn a sharp reaction from Tehran, where an senior member of parliament said it would not help Saudi Arabia.

"The Saudis should know that a paper agreement with Turkey and Pakistan does not bring them security, just as years of unilateral milking of the Americans did not bring them security," Ebrahim Rezaei, a member of National Security commission, wrote on his X.

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan had already announced a joint defence pact last year.

The new Mecca Joint Defence Agreement sees three of the world's most powerful Muslim nations come together to offer mutual defence guarantees.

It aims "to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression, and stipulates that any armed attack against any one of the three States shall be regarded as an attack against them all", a joint statement reads.

"It further provides for the enhancement of all aspects of defence co-operation among the three States."

Although the pact pledges mutual support, it provides no specifics on the obligations of each party. A Turkish official quoted by Reuters news agency said the pact was "purely defensive in nature".

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey each bring different qualities to the table, with each wanting something different out of it.

For the Saudis, this gives an extra level of security in a region whose security architecture has been upended by the US and Israel's war with Iran.

Last month, Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels – who control much of the north-west of the country - announced a "maritime embargo" against Saudi Arabia and targeted Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers in the Red Sea.

Furthermore, the Saudis will be keenly aware of last year's Israeli strikes on Doha, targeting senior Hamas officials. According to a report last year by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, "across the Gulf, states recalibrated their defence strategies". This pact is one of Saudi Arabia's responses.

For Pakistan, the pact offers different but complementary benefits. In May 2025 its long-standing tensions with India boiled over into open conflict.

While an all-out war was avoided, having the economic muscle of Saudi Arabia and the military and industrial might of Turkey in their corner will be seen as increasingly valuable.

It also comes at a time when Pakistan has been taking on a far more significant role in global diplomacy.

It has acted as an intermediary between Iran and the US and hosted ceasefire negotiations, significantly increasing its status in the region - something this pact further cements.

As for Turkey, the benefits are different. According to Burcu Ozcelik from the London-based Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), the deal offers opportunities for the country's significant defence industries through "joint production, technology partnerships, procurement and greater military interoperability".

While, on the surface, the concept of a mutual defence agreement seems straightforward, in practice the circumstances in which they would come into play are both complex and uncertain.

Would, for example, Turkey be obliged to join in strikes on Yemen if Saudi Arabia's full-scale war with the Houthis were to restart?

Would Saudi Arabia have to declare war on India were there to be a re-emergence of conflict with Pakistan?

Each instance would require complex calculations and careful diplomacy, often in an attempt to avoid escalation. It is, in short, uncertain.

The one consequence of a mutual defence agreement that sides involved will be banking on, however, is deterrence.

The very fact that they each now have two other regional powers standing behind them may not make aggression impossible, but it will make its potential cost significantly higher.

Israel charges settler over killing of Palestinian involved in Oscar-winning West Bank film

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4n1e8159yo, 10 days ago

Israeli prosecutors have charged a settler over the killing of a Palestinian activist in the occupied West Bank who helped film Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land.

Yinon Levy was charged with reckless manslaughter over the July 2025 shooting of Odeh Hathaleen, according to Israel's Southern District Prosecutor's Office.

Israeli rights group B'Tselem said it was the first time an Israeli had been indicted for killing a Palestinian in the West Bank for nearly three years.

A lawyer for Hathaleen's family said they hoped the charges marked a "turning point" in the consequences settlers face for violence against Palestinians.

In a letter seen by The Associated Press, Levy said he would fight for his innocence in court.

He wrote that prosecutors should not penalise acts of self-defence and accused them of providing "de facto support for terrorism", the news agency reported.

A lawyer for Levy, Avichai Hajbi, told the AP the prosecution had made a "mistaken decision".

The charges against Levy also include armed trespassing and malicious property damage during the incident in which settlers operated an excavator in the Palestinian village of Umm al-Khair, leading to a confrontation with residents.

According to the indictment, at some point during the confrontation Levy cocked his gun and fired in the direction of residents, hitting Hathaleen. He then fired another shot into the air, prosecutors said.

Footage of the incident was shared widely online. Levy has previously denied firing the shot that killed Hathaleen.

The indictment is the first since the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel which triggered the Gaza war and led to a rise in settler violence in the West Bank, B'Tselem said.

At least 1,110 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank since then, according to the UN. At least 41 Israelis have been killed either by a Palestinian armed group or civilian in the West Bank during the same period, the UN said.

B'Tselem described the decision to indict Levy as the "exception that proves the rule".

"The impunity Israel grants to soldiers and settlers who harm Palestinians is not a failure of the system - it is a central component of a policy designed to allow the violence to continue and escalate," it said.

Mattan Berner-Kadish, an Israeli-American activist who was at the scene, told the BBC: "I think the general reaction is happiness that anything is happening while also feeling that it should be a murder charge and a longer maximum sentence.

"Mixed feelings but also certainly pleasantly surprised and happy there might be consequences," he added.

Hathaleen, a teacher and father-of-three, was a prominent voice against settler violence in the occupied West Bank.

He featured in the 2025 Oscar-winning film No Other Land, that follows the legal fight between the Israeli government and Palestinians over Masafer Yatta, a West Bank community of about 20 villages.

Israel's Supreme Court ruled to allow the demolition of homes and expulsion of more than 1,000 villagers in 2022.

Levy, a leader of an outpost farm, was sanctioned by the UK in 2024 because he "used physical aggression, threatened families at gunpoint, and destroyed property as part of a targeted and calculated effort to displace Palestinian communities", the UK government said at the time.

He denied the allegations to the BBC in 2024.

He was also sanctioned by the US under the Biden administration but those sanctions were subsequently lifted under President Donald Trump.

Additional reporting by Mallory Moench

Rights groups say Israeli attack that killed Lebanese journalist an apparent war crime

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2md67y3nlo, 10 days ago

Two human rights groups have said an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon that killed al-Akhbar newspaper reporter Amal Khalil and seriously wounded freelance camera operator Zeinab Faraj was an apparent war crime.

Separate reports by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International concluded that the journalists were targeted while reporting in the town of al-Tiri on 22 April.

They called for an independent investigation and for Lebanon to accept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.

The Israeli military denied targeting the journalists, telling the BBC that the three strikes carried out by its forces were aimed at two operatives of the armed group Hezbollah.

"The Israeli military says it does not target journalists, but the facts and evidence show that it has repeatedly done so. Amal Khalil and Zeinab Faraj are the latest victims in a long series of such attacks," said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The two rights groups said they had reviewed photo and video evidence of the events in al-Tiri, as well as witness testimony from Faraj and first responders, media reports, and a message from the Lebanese Red Cross to the Israeli military.

According to HRW's reconstruction of the events, the first Israeli strike hit a car driving in front of the two female journalists at about 14:30 local time, killing two men they knew, Ali Bazzi and Mohammed al-Hourani.

HRW said the strike forced Khalil and Faraj to abandon their vehicle and seek refuge near a neighbouring building. They called the Lebanese Red Cross for help, and at 15:00 the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (Unifil) sent the Israeli military a request from the Lebanese Red Cross to access the site and rescue them.

A second strike, between 15:21 and 15:42, hit the journalists' parked car, injuring Khalil, HRW added. She and Faraj then sheltered inside the building, which was destroyed by a third strike at about 16:25.

Israeli quadcopter drones appeared to monitor Faraj and Khalil throughout the attack.

"The drones got extremely close, coming through the broken roof. Less than a meter away. I was covering my face, thinking of a video I had seen where a drone killed someone like that. I thought it would explode in my face. The drones didn't carry visible explosives, but they were hovering and provoking fear constantly," Faraj told Amnesty.

Phone records showed Khalil remained in contact with first responders and family members as the attacks unfolded, according to the rights group.

A Lebanese Red Cross team was able to enter the town after 17:00.

But when the paramedics began rescue efforts, they came under fire from a drone-delivered stun grenade and were forced to retreat without recovering Khalil, witnesses told HRW.

Photographs reviewed by the group also showed damage to the Lebanese Red Cross ambulance that it said was consistent with small-arms fire.

HRW said a report from Tebnin Governmental Hospital indicated that Khalil was most likely still alive when the paramedics were forced to withdraw from the site at around 17:53.

The report stated that Khalil died around 19:00 as a result of cardiac arrest. It also said she had a head injury that caused severe bleeding. Her body was eventually recovered by rescue workers at around 23:00.

The Israeli military said the strikes that killed Khalil and wounded Faraj formed "part of a series of events" in which two Hezbollah operatives were killed, and that it "regrets any harm caused to journalists".

It said the incident was under internal review, but did not answer follow-up questions from the BBC about the purpose of the second and third strikes.

Both HRW and Amnesty said the evidence showed that Israeli forces "knew or should have known" that the women were civilians.

Deliberate attacks on civilians are prohibited under international humanitarian law.

"There can be no justification for targeting civilians who sought shelter in search of safety," said Heba Morayef, Amnesty's Middle East director.

Kaiss said: "Israeli forces' continued killing of journalists shows a brazen willingness to commit atrocities without any fear of consequences."

The Committee to Protect Journalists says 27 journalists and media workers have been killed this year, including nine in Lebanon and seven in Israel, the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

Netanyahu's rejection of Trump's 15-point Gaza plan unlikely to be final word

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3q5282ep3o, 6 days ago

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have categorically rejected the new Board of Peace roadmap to disarm Hamas in Gaza, but that is unlikely to be the final word.

The White House is reportedly "not bothered" by Netanyahu's statement and views it as campaign rhetoric in the run-up to a heated general election.

"We understand Bibi's political needs" the Israeli journalist, Barak Ravid, quotes a senior US official as saying – using a nickname to refer to the Israeli leader. "We have no problem with it as long as he continues to do what we ask – especially regarding restraining attacks in Gaza."

Recent days have seen an apparent pause in Israel's strikes on Gaza – something Hamas had demanded when signing on to the US-backed, 15-point roadmap.

And there is another suggestion that Israel is ready to advance US President Donald Trump's peace plan for Gaza – getting ready for the deployment of the International Stabilization Force (ISF). The force is made up of international troops, with the plan being for them to work with a new Palestinian police force to secure the territory.

The expected construction of the first ISF base is still scheduled to begin amid the ruins of Rafah in southern Gaza at the end of this month, according to Israeli public radio, Kan News, which would allow reconstruction to begin at last.

In July, after months of delicate negotiations, Trump announced a "major milestone" in the implementation of his plan to end Israel's war in Gaza.

Writing on his Truth Social platform, Trump said that the Board of Peace had reached an agreement for the complete disarmament of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in the territory.

The deal is meant to be carried out in phases, with all weapons decommissioned and stored by a new Palestinian administration in Gaza – which reports to the Board of Peace - and Israeli forces withdrawing from the more than 60% of Gaza they currently control.

Senior Hamas officials confirmed that they had agreed to the new framework, conditioning it on mutual compliance by Israel. This was widely viewed as a major potential breakthrough in the conflict. The UK welcomed it and the European Union hailed it as a "crucial step".

However, for more than a week, Israel did not give its formal response.

An Israeli spokesman said only that the roadmap did not "reflect Israel's positions." A far-right member of the government, Itamar Ben-Gvir, wrote on X that the deal was "unacceptable."

Increasingly, mainstream Israeli opposition politicians also raised doubts. They questioned whether all small arms would be decommissioned and the sequencing of the plan.

Finally on Sunday, Netanyahu told his cabinet, "I wish to be precise here: Israel does not accept the 15-point document."

He added: "The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is disarmed. And when I say the disarming of Hamas, it means heavy weaponry, lighter weaponry, all weaponry. And we are talking about genuine disarmament, not fictitious disarmament."

In the same statement, the prime minister described President Trump as "the greatest of our friends in the White House" but said that Israel knew "how to stand firm" against unacceptable ideas.

In Israel, there is widespread scepticism that Hamas intends to follow through on its commitments.

The Islamist movement has long seen "armed struggle" as a core precept, its legitimate response to Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. In recent months, there had been signs of it reasserting its authority in Gaza.

"Israel can certainly never agree to retreating anywhere where the terrorist group that caused the worst massacres since the Holocaust is still there and is still ruling the Strip," Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, an Israeli commentator and former deputy mayor of Jerusalem told the BBC.

She stressed that the "trauma of the Israeli people" from the deadly Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023, which ignited the devastating Gaza war, should not be underestimated.

Any potential concessions for Netanyahu would come at a politically sensitive moment.

He is facing an uphill contest in the upcoming general election, scheduled for 27 October. It will be Israel's first since the 7 October assault and three years on, Netanyahu has failed to secure what he vowed: "absolute victory" over Hamas.

The former American diplomat and veteran Middle East negotiator, Aaron David Miller, said the Israeli leader is facing "the most consequential election" of his political life.

"He's navigating a very fine line between keeping his constituents happy and not angering or alienating President Trump," he told the BBC.

For now, he believes the White House recognises the situation and is giving Netanyahu "a pass."

Miller added: "It's hard to believe that you're going to see any serious movement before you have another Israeli government."

In the meantime, the Board of Peace has been trying to reassure the Israeli public about the roadmap.

The High Commissioner for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov – who led months of delicate negotiations with Hamas – gave an interview to Israel's Channel 12 just hours after Netanyahu's formal rejection of the roadmap.

"Its goal is to make sure that Gaza is never again a threat to Israeli security and that what happened before, [on] October 7, never happens again," he said.

He said the deal takes "a step-by-step approach" meaning: "If there is verified decommissioning of weapons, that they are taken away from the factions and stored and ultimately rendered unusable, Israel then withdraws from Gaza."

Ultimately, Mladenov said that nothing was being built "on the basis of trust" but on "verification."

Hamas has since indicated that it still remains committed to the roadmap. It called on mediators and the Board of Peace to push for Israel to stick to the terms agreed.

The Israeli prime minister has confirmed that talks with the Americans are continuing.

Meanwhile heavy pressure from Washington is likely to increase.

Trump is also looking at an important election this year – November's midterm elections for the US Congress. His Republican party faces the prospect of heavy losses, with petrol and grocery prices pushed up, in part due to Washington's unpopular five-month-long war in Iran.

The US president's own approval rating has tumbled, and he may well demand positive developments in his peace plan for Gaza in an effort to score a much-needed foreign policy win.

The phone book that led us to Assad's spy chief in hiding

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gyrzn8p94o, 9 days ago

In an abandoned luxury apartment in the Syrian capital Damascus, armed men dressed in military fatigues sifted through designer clothes and documents.

Scattered across the living room floor, under a sparkling crystal chandelier, were dozens of photos of the same slender man in different settings - sitting at his desk, even playing in the snow. And multiple prints of the same image, showing him smiling warmly as he shook the hand of ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad.

The man was not instantly recognisable, but gold medals and gilded certificates piled nearby were inscribed with the name Hussam Luka.

Known as "The Spider", Luka was one of Assad's top henchmen, accused of orchestrating atrocities and systematic torture, and sanctioned by the UK, US and European Union.

As head of Syria's most powerful civilian intelligence agency, Luka was among the most feared men in the country. But much of his work was conducted from the shadows.

Like others in the regime, Luka seemingly vanished overnight in December 2024 when Assad was toppled, leaving a trail of unanswered questions and demands for justice that many fear will never be realised.

In his apartment, days after Assad's fall, we watched the rebels looking for clues as to where he might have gone.

In the corner of the living room, on a console table, was an unremarkable-looking notebook.

Inside, in scribbled blue handwriting, we found dozens of names - from shopkeepers and doctors, to military officials and people with the Luka family name.

Could these contacts help us learn more about The Spider and his crimes, or even help us to track him down?

At one time, Luka's own phone number was hard to avoid - in the early days of the Syrian civil war, it had been spray-painted on walls around the central city of Homs.

The conflict was sparked by Assad's brutal crushing of a pro-democracy uprising in 2011 - a war in which hundreds of thousands of people would go on to be killed.

Luka was a local head of the Political Security Directorate, one of Assad's main intelligence agencies, and had been given the task of wresting the city from the rebels.

At the time, rebel-held areas in Homs were under siege by the government, and residents were struggling to access food and medicine. Several people, including former rebel fighter Motaz al-Zaydi, told us they had resorted to eating rats.

Al-Zaydi remembers Luka's name and phone number appearing on a wall in his neighbourhood, and said the message began to spread that those wanting to flee the fighting could phone the number for safe passage.

Some are believed to have been granted safe transit out of the city by Luka, but others who called the number were never seen or heard from again, according to several people we spoke to, including al-Zaydi.

Many told us they referred to Luka as "The Spider" because of his vast web of allies and informants, including some embedded in rebel groups. "He was everywhere," Homs residents told us. Al-Zaydi described Luka as an "evil genius" and "a fox of a man".

But his most egregious action in the city, many argue, was his alleged involvement in the so-called Eid Massacre, known by some as the Children's Massacre, which the US noted when sanctioning him.

It was the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha in September 2015, and Mohammed Towakatli's seven-year-old, Wael, was gardening in the playground he had set up in the al-Waer neighbourhood.

At 17:10, just after the power ration had kicked in, Mohammed remembers the strike hitting.

As Mohammed walked around the park earlier this year, now planted with rows of saplings, he recalled the names of the children killed and the games they had been playing at the time, gesturing to the places where he had found their bodies, including that of Wael.

"They were tiny children," he said with tears in his eyes. "The ground here was painted red with blood."

Twenty-eight people were killed, including 17 children and four women, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights.

Luka, according to a Syrian activist group, and a pro-opposition newspaper at the time, was responsible for the regime's selection of targets in the area that day.

His actions in Homs earned him a promotion, and by the time of the regime's collapse he ran the General Security Directorate (GSD) intelligence agency, making him one of the most powerful people in the country.

The government security services could target anyone - from opposition fighters, journalists, doctors, or rights activists, to people believed to be opposed in any form to the Assad government.

Those arrested were detained in Syria's political prisons, including Sednaya in Damascus - a facility so notorious it was dubbed the "human slaughterhouse". Many imprisoned there were never seen again.

As head of the GSD, Luka had strategic control over Syria's detention policies, and his personnel would monitor communications to and from Sednaya.

There are widespread calls across Syrian society on social media for former senior officials to be held accountable. Some also say the new Syrian government is not doing enough to bring these people to justice.

Syria's Attorney General, Hassan al-Turba, told the BBC the government had launched a lawsuit against Luka, accusing him of "premeditated murder, torture, and death resulting from torture".

"A warrant has been circulated domestically and we are working on circulating it internationally as well," he said, adding the administration was working to track the location and seek the extradition of Luka and other missing senior regime officials.

As he continues to grieve for his son, Mohammed told the BBC he wanted Luka, alongside other senior regime officials, to be returned to Syria and executed.

"They look like humans but have no humanity in them at all," he said.

We had taken photos of every page of the book we discovered in Luka's apartment and, back in London, began testing every one of its 155 numbers - aware that many people close to the regime would have fled or gone to ground. Fifty-one numbers appeared to be operational.

We then called these again in order of their apparent importance to Luka, starting with military commanders and relatives.

Every call was unsuccessful. Anyone who answered simply hung up when we explained who we were and what we wanted - or denied knowing Luka or his family, or even being the people listed in the book.

So a BBC reporter, whose own name was once on a GSD wanted list while Luka ran the agency, headed to Syria to try in person.

Many of those listed in the phone book were doctors, so our reporter began booking medical appointments with some of them as a way to meet them.

A doctor in Aleppo reluctantly acknowledged he had treated Luka, but then ordered our journalist to leave and returned his consultation fee.

Our reporter then booked an appointment with another doctor in the phone book, this time based in Damascus. This doctor revealed he had once accompanied Luka's mother on a medical trip to Russia, but was reluctant to give us any more information, other than to vaguely direct us to a pharmacy belonging to one of Luka's daughters.

Locals said she, too, had not been seen since December 2024.

For months we drew a blank in our hunt for Luka.

And then we had our first breakthrough.

One of those listed in the book, who we tried calling again, finally answered the phone.

He had been the guard for Luka's apartment block, he told us, and eventually agreed to give us the number for someone he said had been Luka's personal bodyguard - a man we are calling Mahmoud.

It took weeks to secure an interview with Mahmoud. Meetings would be scheduled but he would not show up, or he would request a meeting in a private space such as a car or apartment, which our reporter judged too much of a risk.

They eventually met at a hotel one night, just before midnight. Broad-shouldered and physically imposing, Mahmoud seemed to be considering every answer carefully before he spoke.

He told us he was angry with Luka for leaving him behind when the regime fell. As word had spread in December 2024 that Assad's rule was on the brink of collapse - with rebels advancing on the capital - Luka had said he would stay and defend Damascus, Mahmoud told us. But by the early hours of the next morning, Luka had disappeared, taking a large sum of money with him from the office safe, Mahmoud said.

Mahmoud refused to share any contact details for Luka or his family, but did give us a number for Luka's driver, who he believed had driven the former spy chief out of the capital that night.

This man proved even harder to reach.

When he answered the phone, his voice was nervous and unsteady. He repeatedly insisted he was just a driver, and knew nothing of Luka's activities. Multiple meetings with us were never kept, and eventually he stopped replying.

We turned our attention to Luka's possible escape routes, including neighbouring Lebanon - where the Iran-backed group Hezbollah had close links with the Assad regime.

One senior source in the Lebanese government told us he understood Luka had passed through Lebanon on a "good Russian passport but with a different name", before flying out to Russia.

We managed to find a man, now based in Lebanon, whose name was listed in Luka's contacts book, but under a number that no longer worked. He is one of many wanted by the new Syrian government, because of his close association with the Assad regime.

This man, who we cannot identify, said he had a number for Luka.

We saw it, and realised it had a Russian country code.

Russia was a key backer of the Assad regime, and in the days after his fall, Assad released a statement confirming that he had fled there. Many of his inner circle were believed to have followed him.

Back in Luka's apartment in Damascus, we had found clues that Luka also had strong links to Moscow - awards from Russia's foreign spy service, and even a New Year's card addressed to him from a senior Russian official.

Now, the Russian telephone number for him suggested we finally had proof that he was - as we had predicted - in Russia.

We wanted to verify that this number really was Luka's.

So a few days later, with us present, the man agreed to put the person he said was Hussam Luka on speakerphone, and ask him questions which we believed only Luka would know the answer to, based on information we had gathered during our investigation.

The voice on the other end of the phone sounded confused, but answered the questions instantly and correctly.

He refused, however, to speak to us directly.

But our contact later agreed to call Luka again and allow us to try to interview him.

The same voice answered, and we introduced ourselves, explaining that we had questions about serious allegations relating to massacres and torture committed by the former regime official.

"I can't take any risk talking on the phone in the position I'm in," Luka said, his tone anxious.

Asked if Russia was blocking him from talking, Luka said: "I cannot talk. I can't explain. You have to understand."

When asked if he would meet us outside Russia, he said: "It's difficult."

He then hung up the phone.

We later obtained a second number which we were told was also for Luka - this time registered in Syria and linked to social media and messaging apps which he appeared to be still using.

Over a period of a day, the BBC was able to locate him in two suburban areas on the outskirts of the Russian capital, Moscow.

The locations seemed far removed from the luxurious lifestyle Assad is reported to be leading in exile in Russia, and to the life Luka himself once led in Syria.

We knew we could not approach him in person in Russia, where Assad's henchmen are shielded from international journalists and police, so we decided to try putting our allegations to him over the phone once again.

We rang the number and the same voice as before answered, the line crackly.

He asked who was calling, and when told it was the BBC, he immediately hung up.

We sent a message over WhatsApp, asking for his response to the many allegations against him, but he did not reply.

Confirmation that Luka is in Moscow is difficult news for those in Syria seeking justice. Russia is highly unlikely to extradite officials from the regime that it long supported.

The Russian government did not respond to BBC requests for comment about Luka's presence there, or whether it would ever consider an extradition request.

Back in Homs, Mohammed says he will never let go of the hope that Luka, and other senior members of the Assad regime, will one day face justice.

"[I am] angry at all those who were with the regime and its security apparatus… They were all against us," he says.

"Wael was just a seven-year-old child… All he cared about was playing and having fun."

Additional reporting by Riam Dalati, Ghaith Solh and Abigail Akerman

'Digital lifeline' - Gaza tech workers give glimpse of possible future

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1m1xm8ykk2o, 13 days ago

"I was just in a trough, drowning in uncertainty," says Walaa Volidis, a Palestinian software engineer. "But deep inside, I made a decision: it will not be the end, no matter how hard it gets. I'll keep fighting for my dreams."

Wearing a headset and glued to her laptop, Walaa discusses AI on a video call with her mentor in California's Silicon Valley. The 24-year-old wants to keep her skills up to date.

But that is the least of her daily challenges as she lives in a tent in central Gaza supporting her displaced parents and four younger siblings.

"When the war started, I lost everything: my job, my university, even some of my family members. My sisters were injured," Walaa tells me from a co-working space in Deir al-Balah. She says her mental health was "totally destroyed", but she prioritised finding work.

Walaa is one of thousands of young Gazans now pursuing roles in the digital economy. "It's a kind of momentum," she says. "I have my main goal every single day to go to work, to finish my tasks. If you stop or cry about your situation, you will not do anything."

Amid the rubble of Gaza, the majority of the two million population is reliant on humanitarian aid to survive and there are few ways for people to earn a decent salary. The UN says the unemployment rate has passed 80%, compared to 22% before the war. Humanitarian groups see online work - particularly freelancing for clients abroad - as offering some of the best opportunities.

"We talk about it now as a sort of digital lifeline, this idea that if you have a laptop, if you have a working internet connection, you can work and have an income," says Nicole Hark, from the US humanitarian organisation, Mercy Corps. "It's really critical to help people go back to work. They don't want to be dependent on aid."

Before the latest devastating war, triggered by the deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel in October 2023, Gaza had a burgeoning tech sector. Israel and Egypt kept the Hamas-run territory under blockade, citing security reasons. Coding, designing and programming remotely were a way for young graduates to overcome tight border restrictions.

Gaza Sky Geeks was founded in 2012 by Google and Mercy Corps. The initial idea was to promote tech start-ups, but its three bustling hubs also ran coding courses and gave advice on accessing international markets. Two were destroyed during the war.

Mercy Corps now supports some of the new co-working spaces which have popped up across Gaza using generators and solar panels to offer better internet connections and a more stable power supply. Gaza's power system has suffered near-total collapse and approximately 75% of its telecommunications networks have been damaged or destroyed.

"I am starting from scratch, from zero, to start a new career," says Tarik Zaeem, speaking to me from a co-working space in Gaza City. Before the war, the 44-year old was the chief technology officer for a local firm. Now, he is a freelance programmer.

"When I work on my laptop, I forget everything. I forget what's happened," Tarik says. He has recently developed a mobile app to make bookings for a barber's shop and a valet parking app for a Saudi client.

Most of Tarik's income goes to support his wife and three children, who are now living in neighbouring Egypt - as he used his savings to buy their exit early in the war.

But getting paid remains a challenge. Few bank branches have reopened in Gaza and there are severe shortages of cash. Palestinians face many international banking restrictions and those in Gaza cannot register with most digital payment platforms.

Some manage to route their money through relatives abroad. But others rely on brokers in Gaza who charge high fees to convert electronic transfers into cash. Tarik says these have often left him with only half his original payment. "It's not enough for a good living," he adds. "[Just] the basics."

Despite last year's US-brokered ceasefire, and the recent deal between President Donald Trump's Board of Peace and Hamas to advance his peace plan, Israeli bombardments in Gaza have continued on a near-daily basis. Israel says it is targeting Palestinian armed groups.

At least 1,250 people have been killed, including 265 children, since October's truce, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen as reliable by the UN.

Tarik describes an air strike outside his co-working space in Gaza City in June. On that occasion, a Palestinian student sitting her exams online was killed in the street. Israel said it was targeting a Hamas operative and that it tried to prevent harm to civilians.

Given the risks, another Gazan tech worker tells me that he feels obliged to reassure prospective clients about his team's ability to deliver on projects creating mobile apps, websites and advertisements.

"Once we get a job for IT that needs like three to four months, we are trying to say to this customer: 'Please know that everything will be online, if we get killed, you will have your work,'" says Mahran Bayed.

Mahran lives in a tent with his wife and three young children close to his destroyed home near the ruins of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. The medical complex was repeatedly targeted during the war by Israel, which accused Hamas of using it as a command and control centre - something the armed group denied.

"I lost all my equipment, I lost my house, I lost my office," Mahran remembers. "I was thinking that this was the end of the world here in Gaza."

Now Mahran finds an escape and purpose freelancing to create mobile apps, websites and advertisements. "From Gaza, I can collaborate with teams in completely different [parts] of the world and contribute with people I've never met," he says. "That's one of the things I enjoy most about technology."

An extra problem for Mahran is that his laptop screen was damaged during Israel's attacks. This forces him to carry around an external display.

While Gazan workshops do their best to repair computers, using spare parts from other damaged devices, there is a limit to what they can do.

The Israeli defence authority Cogat, which controls Gaza's border crossings, classifies computers and computer parts as "dual use" items - able to be used for civilian or military purposes - and bans imports.

Despite the hardships, many Gazans working in IT stress their relatively good fortune.

Back in Deir al-Balah, Walaa has been helped by the Palestinian-Dutch social impact startup, TAP, to connect to mentors, career coaches and possible employers. She recently landed a full-time job with a Dubai-based firm.

She now aims to improve everyday life for her siblings and find a way for her sister, who is nearly 13, to get a medical evacuation from Gaza. Trauma injuries left her with lymphoedema, a chronic condition that causes severe swelling in her leg.

"My first hope, to help my family to get a good life, to help my sister to get out from Gaza to find a treatment," Walaa tells me. "Also, I'm working for myself to get a scholarship to travel."

While Gaza's wider recovery remains at a standstill, its tech workers give a glimpse of a brighter, possible future.

Additional reporting by Malak Hassouneh and John Murphy

To hear Yolande's documentary about getting Gaza back online, listen to Crossing Continents on BBC Sounds

Palestinians told to leave homes in village where Israeli settlers besieged houses

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj4kppdk2qwo, 3 days ago

About a dozen Palestinian households in a village in the occupied West Bank were told to leave their properties during an Israeli military operation to remove Israeli settlers.

The settlers had besieged residents in three homes in the area since Sunday, cutting off their power and water supplies.

Qusra Mayor, Abdel Azim Wadi, told the BBC that his village had been declared a closed military zone - and Israeli forces were using some of the vacated Palestinian houses as barracks. The Israeli military said the aim was "to protect the residents".

An Israeli spokesman told the BBC the settlers' action was "deplorable" and "unacceptable" and the government would investigate and arrest those responsible.

"The Israeli army is acting against it, and we are investigating it and we will arrest those responsible and we will prosecute them," David Mencer said.

Settlers have been emboldened by the rapid expansion of settlements under the current Israeli government – leading to a dramatic rise in settler violence as they try to drive Palestinians off their land.

All settlements are illegal under international law.

Of the besieged families' three homes in Qusra, which are made up of the Abu Ridi and Hassan families, the residents of two were told to leave on Thursday, they told the BBC. They said those told to leave had since moved into the third house.

Elsewhere in the village, the residents of 11 other houses had also been told to leave by the army.

Earlier, videos shared from Qusra overnight into Thursday showed a dozen Israeli security vehicles – including a bulldozer.

In later footage – filmed in the daylight – there was a long line of Israeli security forces on the road to the Palestinian village.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had "dismantled two illegal outposts".

It added that it had detained one Israeli and confiscated equipment on the outskirts of the Qusra and Jalud areas, near Nablus.

One of those asked to leave their home was Qaher Odeh, who said more than 20 soldiers had entered his house on Thursday morning.

"I was asleep in the morning, my brother and I. They came in and broke down the door, shouting open up, open the door. Even now I still can't process what I saw in front of me. There was more than 20 of them, maybe 30," he said.

"We left and kept walking down towards the lower part of the neighbourhood. Shortly afterwards, they sealed off the entire area.

"There were people being forced out of their homes. A lot of people," Odeh added.

After around 10 hours some families were allowed to return to their homes but found them upturned. One man told us the soldiers had thrown all the food out the fridge and stolen $1,500 in cash (£1,112).

The IDF did not address the allegations when asked by the BBC.

"The soldiers were instructed that the Qusra residents will remain in their homes," the IDF said.

It added that soldiers would not operate inside the Palestinian home that had been subject to the settler's siege.

The IDF stressed that Israeli "liaison officers are in ongoing contact with Qusra's local leadership and are working to avoid disruption to the daily lives of the residents in the area".

Qusay Abu Ridi, one of the trapped Palestinian family members, told the BBC that the house had been attacked again overnight and that a few settlers had remained in the area, hiding from the army.

His brother – who owns the property – is a Palestinian-American businessman who had complained to the US embassy.

The US Ambassador Mike Huckabee – a longstanding supporter of settlements – called the settler intimidation of the Qusra families "a horrific act of terror.

"Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting. No excuse for such thuggish behavior," he posted on X.

The situation in Qusra first began on Sunday when settlers blocked the road to the Palestinian families' gates and cut off their power and water supplies. The first Israeli soldiers who came to the site prayed with the settlers – an act for which the Israel military later said they would be disciplined.

The Abu Ridi and Hassan families made appeals for help on social media after their water and power supplies were cut off on Sunday.

On Wednesday an attempt by Israeli security forces to dislodge the settlers led to confrontations with a bigger group.

In other footage, the Israeli forces appear to have confiscated the canopy under which the settlers were sheltering, while leaving their other equipment.

It is not clear exactly what the settlers in Qusra want. In the past, settlers have forced Palestinians out of their homes and seized their properties.

The stated aim of the settlers is to empty the area of its Palestinian residents.

Settlements are illegal under international law, but the Israeli government has promoted their recent rapid expansion.

The case is the latest to draw attention to the relative impunity of settlers and how Israeli forces are struggling to deal with rising settler violence.

Qusra's mayor had earlier told the BBC that local residents had seen "a clear and sustained pattern of targeting Qusra". Last month a newly completed mosque was set on fire with graffiti in Hebrew sprayed nearby.

That settler attack was one of many that followed on from an incident in the Palestinian village of Tal. After Israeli settlers attacked Tal, it triggered an escalation in which six people were killed - four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers – one of whom acted as a security coordinator for a nearby Israeli settlement.

In July, settlers also surrounded a Palestinian home in the village of Jalud, near Qusra, for more than two weeks. Afterwards, the owners fled and settlers took over the property where they remain until now.

According to the UN's figures, 76 Palestinians – including 18 children - have been killed in the West Bank this year, by Israeli forces or settlers. At the same time, three Israelis – including one civilian – were killed in confrontations with Palestinians and in an alleged ramming attack by a Palestinian in the West Bank.

Since January 2023, 127 Palestinian communities in the West Bank have experienced full or partial displacement, including 47 that have been entirely displaced, affecting more than 6,390 Palestinians, the UN says.

It has registered that in 2026, about 3,800 Palestinians, nearly half of them children, have been displaced due to settler violence, demolitions and evictions.

Speaking at the UN meeting, Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon dismissed the idea that settlements were an obstacle to peace. He said that they would remain and continue to grow as his country had biblical, historic and legal rights to the land.

He said that the Security Council "must understand a simple truth: we are not going anywhere".

Israeli settlers besieging Palestinian families in West Bank village

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn0npjkqrleo, 4 days ago

Israeli settlers have been besieging two Palestinian families in their homes in the occupied West Bank since Sunday, with the families saying their supplies were running out and rights groups urging the authorities to step in.

On Wednesday Israeli security forces were reported to have withdrawn from the Jewish settler outpost in the village of Qusra near Nablus, following clashes with a crowd of extremist settlers. About a dozen settlers are said to remain at the site.

After the Palestinian homeowners made their initial report to the Israeli army, the first soldiers who arrived at the scene were filmed praying with the settlers.

The Abu Ridi and Hassan families have been posting on social media appealing for help after their water and power supplies were cut off and their food stocks ran low.

It is not clear exactly what the settlers in Qusra want. In the past, settlers have forced Palestinians out of their homes and seized their properties.

The stated aim of the settlers is to empty the area of its Palestinian residents.

The latest developments come as a top UN official told the Security Council in New York on Tuesday that "the West Bank is at breaking point".

All settlements are illegal under international law. Outposts are set up without official Israeli authorisation.

Palestinian security camera footage shows settlers tearing down a wall outside the Abu Ridi family's home on Sunday evening and using the stones to block the road.

This left seven people - including two young girls – unable to leave their homes while other Palestinians could not reach them. They live in what is known as Area B, part of the West Bank under Palestinian administrative control and Israeli security control.

Posting on Facebook, Qusay Abu Ridi said the situation was critical, "especially as we are completely isolated".

He wrote: "We are living in our own home, on our own land, and we are asking for nothing more than the right to live safely and with dignity."

Aysha Hassan told Reuters the settlers had "tried to break the gate" to the house and "started throwing stones at us, cursing and insulting us".

She said her family was "dying of fear, extremely terrified".

On Monday, Israeli settlers blocked Israeli journalists from the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper from trying to reach the Palestinian properties. The reporters said Israeli soldiers at the scene refused to help them when their car was blocked for two hours. They were told the area was a closed military zone, however the order was not enforced on the settlers.

A day later the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din urgently appealed to the head of the Israeli military's Central Command for the army to protect the besieged residents, evacuate the settlers' outpost and hold the settlers accountable.

Late on Tuesday, a Palestinian ambulance was finally allowed to reach the families, delivering food and taking one child away for medical treatment.

At about the same time, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) put out a statement condemning the establishment of the new outpost. It said that entering and seizing Palestinian homes was "illegal, reprehensible, and unacceptable activity".

When the head of its Central Command, Maj Gen Avi Bluth and other senior officers arrived at the scene early on Wednesday they are said to have met residents and voiced their "grave concern".

Afterwards, Palestinian security camera video shared with the BBC showed confrontations between Israeli soldiers and border police and a large crowd of settlers. The security forces used tear gas and stun grenades.

In other footage, the Israeli forces appear to have confiscated the canopy under which the settlers were sheltering, while leaving their other equipment.

"Border Police forces evacuated the tent and are working to evacuate the civilians who were staying there. The incident is still ongoing," the IDF stated.

It said it was decided that "disciplinary action would be taken against the security personnel involved, who were documented at the site several days ago".

The Palestinian village mayor, Abdel Azim Wadi, told the BBC that local residents had seen "a clear and sustained pattern of targeting Qusra". Last month a newly completed mosque was set on fire with graffiti in Hebrew sprayed nearby.

"Settler violence has reached unprecedented levels," the UN's Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Ramiz Alakbarov, told the Security Council in a briefing on Tuesday.

He gave what he described as "the sobering human toll" and mentioned that the Nablus Governorate in particular had been hit hard recently by violence.

It has registered that in 2026, about 3,800 Palestinians, nearly half of them children, have been displaced due to settler violence, demolitions and evictions.

He said that the Security Council "must understand a simple truth: we are not going anywhere".

Why phones on loudspeaker may become just another noise

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3d3nlmeee0o, 11 days ago

Listen to Angus read the story here

Most days on my commute, I am treated to the contents of strangers' phones.

It could be a teenage boy slouching on a seat on the top deck of the number 29, holding his device inches from his face, either unaware or indifferent that everyone else can hear what he's watching too.

Or a woman taking a phone call on loudspeaker before scrolling at volume through her social feed.

Surveys suggest that many do find this modern phenomenon - known as loudcasting, sodcasting, or headphone dodging - similarly frustrating.

In recent years, Ofcom, YouGov and Transport for London (TfL) have all published polls showing the vast majority of people dislike it. TfL has just relaunched its Travel Kind campaign across the London transport network this summer, reminding people to use headphones.

The phenomenon has grown as we become ever more connected. Figures published in July by Ofcom show that mobile data use has increased by 13% year-on-year in the UK. 5G is being rolled out across the country, meaning that more people can get faster connectivity while travelling. And research has found that many data packages have become cheaper, meaning customers are less likely to have to ration their data use when out and about.

So as we become ever more online in public, will we see increasing attempts to clamp down on loudcasting? Or will it end up becoming as normal a part of our soundscape as the hum of passing traffic or the roar of a plane's engine thousands of feet above us?

Am I out of touch?

This phenomenon isn't entirely new and neither are our reactions. Boomboxes in the 1980s and 1990s, for example, caused a stir. Bath University professor David Ellis points out that each new technological trend - including the very use of mobile phones - has often prompted odd looks when deployed in public.

"I remember when my mother was mortified that I was walking down the street with a phone to my ear," he says.

Loudcasting has piqued the interest of experts who study how technology shapes our behaviours, and they agree there's a strong generational factor. In an Ofcom survey of 1,010 people in August 2022, of the 13-to-17-year-olds questioned, 69% said it was acceptable to make video calls, 73% to listen to music and 83% to watch videos without headphones.

University of Sussex physiology professor Harry Witchel, who has a long-running interest in soundscapes, argues that it makes sense in the context of young people's brain development. He notes that adolescence is when young people move from their parents to their peers, and loudcasting is a way of expressing this. "That's what they're doing, they're saying 'I'm here'," he says.

So it's mostly young people? "I would say it is," says Dr Rachael Kent, a senior lecturer in digital economy and society at King's College, London. She adds that it's not wholly borne out of a lack of consideration for others - loudcasting can be a tool for connection.

"Travelling to and from school on public transport with friends, they're experiencing their devices together."

She also argues it's "performative… a way to rebel. 'I'm going to play music, watch stuff', that's a way to express who you are, what your tastes are."

Witchel says he began observing loudcasting around 2011, a few years after the release of the iPhone.

That year he spoke to the BBC about young people playing music aloud from their phones in public, in what he described as a "fascinating human phenomenon of marking social territory".

Fast-forward to 2026, and - alongside tech advances such as improved audio quality - he posits the idea that loudcasting is thriving with the help of a decline in social policing of public spaces and a loss of etiquette in the wake of Covid-19 lockdowns.

"People were just used to walking around their homes in their bunny slippers, and when they came back into the commons and the social space they forgot there were rules they had to follow," he says.

But what is it about the sound of someone scrolling on loud that I find so abrasive when any city or bus is already a cacophony of competing sounds?

"Noise is like weeds," Witchel says. "Noise is a sound out of place. If we think that the railway sounds are supposed to be on the railway, then we don't think of it as inappropriate.

"The issue isn't so much just pure decibels… the issue is actually attention and how we deal with certain soundscapes, and how that sound environment relates to us. It has a contextual meaning."

Witchel says we can "habituate" to a train noise, which becomes "much easier to put up with than if someone has a loud conversation".

Enforcement problems

Transport for London (TfL), which operates the capital's trains and buses, last year launched a public awareness campaign calling for passengers to be considerate after the results of a survey of 1,000 people said 70% of respondents found loud music and phone calls without headphones a nuisance.

The Liberal Democrats say such behaviour should be punishable with fines of up to £1,000.

The party's transport spokesman Olly Glover puts the trend down to a growing lack of social awareness. "Since the pandemic a lot of people live in their own head more than ever before," he says, adding, "they don't necessarily think about their impact on other people".

Glover says technology companies should bear some responsibility, suggesting they should provide headphones at railway stations or return to automatically selling them with phones.

The BBC contacted tech companies including Apple, Samsung, Meta, and TikTok about their awareness of loudcasting and whether they were responding to it in any way. None of the companies commented.

The Lib Dems' push has also garnered some Tory support. Rebecca Smith, Conservative MP for South West Devon, says "things have moved on a bit since a few people carried around a Discman", adding it wouldn't hurt to have the rules "beefed up" to allow passengers to tell others what they're doing is against the law.

Smith says she doesn't notice it in her Devon community, but it's something she's observed on the commute between Plymouth and London.

The government has previously said that under existing railway by-laws, disruptive passengers are already liable for £1,000 fines.

TfL says when its officers encounter someone playing their device out loud, they will typically ask them to stop, with most people complying. If they don't stop, then further enforcement action can be taken, such as referring them for prosecution.

In February, transport under-secretary Keir Mather told a committee hearing he would "engage with officials about how we can more robustly enforce the by-laws". Asked about the result of those discussions, the Department for Transport told the BBC it expected rail operators to use existing powers.

The department said the government was also "cracking down on nuisance passengers" with the Bus Services Act, passed in October, which empowers local authorities to create by-laws to prevent nuisance passengers.

However, the Liberal Democrats say existing by-laws aren't explicit enough, and want the law to specifically ban playing music and videos played out loud. They are currently trying to insert an amendment into the Railways Bill.

A key barrier to enforcement is resourcing.

In an exhaustive list of enforcement activities carried out between 2020/21 and 2024/25, TfL says no one has been fined but identifies prosecutions in which no further action was taken due to lack of evidence or discretion being exercised, including due to a passenger's age.

In one 2022/23 matter, a case was withdrawn from court because the defendant was not from the UK and had returned to their own country.

Despite the evidence that so many of us find it annoying, we also appear hugely reluctant to actually do anything about it. Few official complaints are made. Even though I find loudcasting intensely grating, I have never registered an official complaint and have only occasionally asked other passengers to turn the volume down on their device.

"In train carriages, if there are no conductors, it becomes more difficult in practice to make a public nuisance complaint," says Lisa Lavia, managing director of the Noise Abatement Society, a charity which addresses noise from neighbours, as well as from aircraft and trains.

TfL says it monitors enforcement activity around headphone use, but that complaints where headphones and music are cited are decreasing. It also says that there are only a "small number" of complaints that relate to people streaming content out loud in the context of the billions of journeys each year.

Similarly, Great Western Railways says it has received just 10 complaints of this nature since January 2025.

London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan said during Mayor's Question Time in June that "a lot of people are concerned" about this behaviour and acknowledged the number of prosecutions was low, adding he was happy to look at what else could be done to educate Londoners, including looking at what other cities and countries were doing.

"Sometimes people are not aware of the impact they are having on others, of their antisocial behaviour," he said.

Lavia says loudcasting is now something the organisation is asked about "quite regularly", including whether it is reasonable to be put off by it, and what can be done.

She says that while the proportion of inquiries the charity receives is small, "it's representative of something much wider", believing the organisation's relative obscurity means people are at their wits' end before they come to them.

The cultural gap

While many dislike loudcasting, do some people find it more acceptable than others to play their phone out loud in public depending on their background?

The 2022 Ofcom survey recorded statistics of people who loudcast by ethnicity, and it found higher proportions of people from non-white backgrounds said they watched videos in public without headphones. It found 43% of white respondents, 58% of people with an Asian background, 58% of black people, and 60% identifying as being from a minority ethnic group saying they did this.

Though when it came to being annoyed by loudcasting, people of all backgrounds had strongly negative reactions, including 76% from Asian backgrounds, 73% of black respondents, 72% from a minority ethnic background, and 82% of white people.

Though it's not just the UK where this behaviour is met with eyerolls. In February last year, a man in France made news for being fined €200 (£171) for making a call on loudspeaker. Portuguese authorities are also fining commuters for phone noise.

Loudcasting is a global phenomenon, but where you are in the world can make it more or less socially acceptable, says Rich Ling, a retired professor of communications at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University. He cites Japan as a classic example of a place where "you're breaking a lot more norms by doing something like that in public", adding that Scandinavia is similar. By contrast, he uses the US as an example of a more individualistic society where outlandish behaviour is more tolerated.

Furthermore, Professor Orla Muldoon, the head of the School of Psychology at Queen's University Belfast, says people aren't necessarily being antisocial by sharing their music or conversations with strangers nearby - in fact, it could be the opposite.

"It is quintessentially social to play music and hope your peers appreciate that music," she says.

Whatever your view on it, experts generally agree that loudcasting has already become ingrained.

In an effort to inject some perspective, Ling shares a paper he wrote in 1997 – nearly 30 years ago – about the appropriateness of mobile telephone calls in public spaces, including restaurants.

"You were seen as being vulgar and gauche to the highest degree," he says. "Now if you get a call in a restaurant it's no big deal."

He suggests of loudcasting that "in two years' time we're not going to worry about it", and that those ruffled by it will be more tolerant while offenders modify their behaviour somewhat.

The next time I sit through another auditory gauntlet on the number 29, I will keep that in mind.

Lead image: Getty

There's a reason child vaccination rates are falling - and it's not social media

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0qvlw2dd0no, 13 days ago

Twenty-week-old Grayson easily could have become one of the tens of thousands of British babies left unvaccinated against polio.

His mother, Lily, agrees with the principle of immunisation. But overwhelmed by the early weeks of motherhood, and suffering from post-partum depression after a traumatic birth, she was daunted by the prospect of a long journey to a doctor's surgery. "I've been through the trenches, awake all night. You don't want to leave the house, or go to a different town."

Weeks ticked by, and eventually Grayson missed the polio and diphtheria jabs he was supposed to get at eight weeks old. By that point he was officially classed by the NHS as "overdue" for vaccination; effectively, he was on his GP's naughty list.

Then Lily realised there was a clinic practically on her doorstep - at a location she hadn't expected.

That clinic - in Keighley, West Yorkshire - runs from a vacant retail unit at the Airedale shopping centre, a 1960s-era precinct that locals say has fallen on hard times in recent years, with plenty of empty, boarded-up units. The staff who created the clinic thought: why not use one of those vacant units to administer vaccines?

"This was an empty shop; there was nothing here, the windows were all blacked out," Flora Jennings, a local charity coordinator, tells me over the sound of a baby's laughter, on the morning I visit the clinic.

It's an imaginative solution to a national problem. Over the last 15 years, childhood vaccination rates have fallen across Britain. The share of five-year-olds in England who have received a four-in-one jab (which protects against viruses like polio and tetanus) is now 81%, down from 89% in 2014. About 84% have received both of their recommended MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) jabs, down from 88% a decade ago.

"If you just look at the generalised population, the decline doesn't look horrific," says Prof Dan Hungerford, an epidemiologist at the University of Liverpool who gave evidence to Parliament on this topic. "But if you compare us to other nations, particularly our European neighbours, we are one of the worst-performing countries in terms of getting early-life vaccinations to children."

Politicians are now asking how Britain - the country of Edward Jenner, the "father of immunology" - could have allowed its immunisation rates to drop so low, and what could fix it.

One Labour MP on the Health Committee has gone further, telling the BBC that it's time to consider a policy that's commonplace in some countries, but still something of a taboo in Britain: mandatory childhood immunisations.

Anti-vaxxers versus 'casual refuseniks'

Before the 1800s, between 40% and 50% of children in Europe died before their 15th birthday. Now, in Britain that number is well below 1%, according to the UN.

Scientists broadly agree that vaccines were key to this improvement.

"Along with clean water and sanitation, immunisations have had a profound impact on keeping children alive," says Ben Kasstan-Dabush, a lecturer in global health policy at the University of Edinburgh.

And that's why some find it so worrying that Britain's rates have slipped. Last year alone saw measles outbreaks in parts of Birmingham, Bristol, and north London; so far this year, two children in England have died of the disease.

In January, MPs on the Health Committee described the backslide as "national disgrace".

Some blame the rise of misinformation on social media. Last year, a group of American scientists found that reading just one anti-vax Facebook comment about the HPV jab - given to teenagers - was enough to make some parents hesitate.

But all of the public health experts who spoke to the BBC said that whilst anti-vax social media sentiment plays its part, they don't think it's the main reason immunisation rates have slipped.

Instead, they point to something more mundane: they think that parents of young children simply have fewer face-to-face contacts with medical professionals than they did 10 or 15 years ago.

Beccy Baird, a senior fellow at the King's Fund think tank, says that despite colourful media reporting around "anti-vaxxers", most parents who turn down vaccination are not ideologically opposed to it. Convenience plays a big role, she says; vaccination rates are highest when parents regularly interact with medics, who can remind them to get their children jabbed and tell them exactly where to do it.

And those interactions have become rarer. England has seen a 45% decline over the last decade in the number of health visitors (nurses and midwives who treat young children at their home), according to BBC analysis. It's part of a health visitor's job to remind parents about vaccines and, in some cases, administer jabs directly.

And over roughly the same period, the number of fully trained GPs in England struggled to keep up with rising patient demand, according to British Medical Association data; while the Nuffield Trust think tank suggests that patients have become less likely to see the same GP on repeated visits - meaning families don't build trusted relationships with doctors they recognise.

"Those touch points have become fewer," says Kasstan-Dabush.

'Bucking the national trend'

At Keighley's shopping centre, inside the vaccination clinic, nurses are passing around biscuits.

"The kitchen's there, the playpen's there," says Jennings as she points to a soft-play where parents can leave children while their siblings are vaccinated. "I wanted it to be really inviting, almost like you're walking into someone's home."

The idea of opening a vaccination clinic inside a town centre shopping arcade seemed odd to some of the staff when it was first suggested.

Now, they say it's key to the clinic's success. "We need to make it simple, we need to put services where people come," says Jennings. It means they can catch casual shoppers who "pop their head around the door" and decide on a whim to get their child vaccinated.

"We're right in the centre. And down here it's flat, so you don't have to push a pram up a hill." She says some parents simply won't attend a clinic if it involves more than one bus.

And in the families come. Over the morning, the clinic vaccinates 10 infants, some of whom are classed by the NHS as "overdue". In many cases, the parents actually turn up to use a different service, like baby weighing, but once they are inside, lead GP Dr Zoyah Hussain gently suggests an immunisation - and most parents say yes.

"I do get a lot of questions… 'why do we need to give them jabs?', 'why don't we just let nature manage itself?'," Hussain says.

There's Lily, the 18-year-old who finally gets her son Grayson his polio and diphtheria jabs. And there's Keeley, an assistant in a ceramics shop, who arrives with her baby Luca, and is impressed by the clinic's convenience, with no need for an 08:00 phone call or complicated online form. "It's easy-peasy," she says.

Most of the young mothers have come across online anti-vax posts. "I see these things on Facebook where it's like, don't give your child vaccines because it's got ADHD in them," says Lily. Indeed, Hussain says she still hears parents asking if the MMR jab causes autism, a full 28 years after a link was suggested in a now-discredited paper by the former doctor Andrew Wakefield.

The clinic - which serves a relatively poor community - has vaccinated hundreds of infants since 2023, helping to boost coverage in an area that's historically had a low rate of immunisations. As of March this year, 88% of the children registered with Modality AWC (the GP practice that runs the clinic) now receive their first MMR dose by the age of 18 months, up from 78% three years ago.

"We are bucking that national trend," says Bill Graham, a senior administrator at the practice.

Jabs in 'Tesco car park'

So what can be done about falling vaccination rates across the rest of the country?

One option is to emulate the Keighley model, and open walk-in clinics in vacant retail units. Jennings argues there are crumbling shopping centres all over the country, hit by online shopping, that could do the job.

Baird, from the King's Fund, agrees that vaccination works best when it's carried out in small, easy-to-access local venues - like shopping centres - rather than large, intimidating vaccine hubs that might involve a long journey. In a paper, she studied the roll-out of Covid vaccines in Gloucestershire - and found that "vaccines delivered locally through… familiar community venues - instead of mass-vaccination centres - made access easier, more trusted".

She says: "If you put it in Tesco car park, people will get it."

But some experts are sceptical. Whilst schemes like Keighley's can help on the margins, they say, at the national level a much bigger answer is needed. Hungerford says that child poverty is a key driver of vaccine refusal; parents who have to worry about bills often don't have the brain space to think about immunisations, he says.

'Opt out' vaccines

And some are pushing for more radical solutions.

Labour MP Paulette Hamilton, a former nurse who was recently interim chair of Parliament's Health Committee, tells the BBC it's time for a "national conversation" on whether child vaccinations should be "opt out" rather than "opt in" (though she stresses she is not speaking on behalf of the committee).

"We were a country that was free of some of these childhood illnesses, and now it's just getting really bad," she says. "The conversation should be about, do you get a small payment [for getting your child vaccinated]? Do you make it mandatory, so you opt out rather than opt in? Is it that we need more education?."

She didn't specify what an "opt out" policy would look like, but various US states already do it. In Texas, a child needs certain vaccinations to attend school, unless their parent fills out a government-issued form explaining a moral, religious, or medical exemption. Supporters say these policies capture the "casual refuseniks" - people who aren't particularly opposed to vaccination, but simply don't make the effort to get their child jabbed.

Other places go further. In Germany, parents can be fined if their children aren't jabbed against measles. Under Australia's "no jab, no pay" policy, parents who refuse immunisations are denied certain benefits.

But those tough, coercive policies leave some uncomfortable. "Mandatory vaccination has been steered away from in the UK for good reason," says Hungerford. For one thing, he thinks, "you risk excluding vulnerable people from things like childcare."

Others say that barring unvaccinated children from school is only likely to alienate their parents further from healthcare, amplifying their mistrust of authority.

At the Keighley shopping centre, Bill Graham says he doesn't think a mandatory approach would work in his corner of Yorkshire. "I think it destroys trust. Healthcare in Britain is based on trust. Maybe the trust isn't quite where it was again 10, 15 years ago, but we're not going to build that up by mandating healthcare."

Ongoing mysteries

All that said, experts stress that there's still a degree of mystery about Britain's vaccination problem.

Some parents who refuse jabs simply won't say why - and they're the same groups (poor, lower levels of educational attainment) who are hard to reach via surveys.

This becomes apparent towards the end of my morning at the clinic, when a couple in their thirties arrive to have their baby weighed. Hussain quickly notices that their 23-week-old hasn't had any of his recommended jabs - and asks if they might consider it. The couple glance at each other and quietly shake their heads.

They don't give a reason, and they turn down my request for an interview (the only parents who do so).

Still, Hussain hopes their conversation might have planted a seed. "I've sent her some information. Giving them a platform to speak about their concerns can help.

"It's not us forcing it on anyone. This is a choice."

Top image credit: Getty Images.

Major oil slick washes up on Iran coast after Hormuz ship strike

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr7kpdkg13zo, 3 days ago

Verified videos show a major oil slick washing up on Iran's Qeshm Island, which analysts have said comes from a ship hit by a strike in the Strait of Hormuz.

BBC Verify has also analysed satellite imagery suggesting the oil spill originated from an attack on a vessel in Omani waters on 3 August. A week later, the apparent fuel leakage from the Minoan Pioneer bulk carrier had spread across a large area of the strait.

Environmental experts say the spill threatens wildlife, protected ecosystems and fishing communities around Qeshm, which is home to mangrove forests, nearby coral reef habitats and nesting sites for critically endangered Hawksbill turtles.

Iranian media initially reported the origin of the pollution was under investigation and Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday its source was a "foreign bulk ship".

A local environmental protection official has since said the spill has been "almost completely cleaned up". BBC Verify has not been able to independently confirm this.

Iran did not acknowledge being responsible, but shipping analysts have said it was likely to have been behind the Minoan Pioneer attack on 3 August.

Since the US and Israel began striking Iran at the end of February, data from maritime intelligence company Kpler indicates there have been 67 strikes on vessels in the vicinity of the strait.

Tehran has effectively blockade the waterway, responsible for about a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas trade. The US has also imposed its own blockade on Iranian ports, which has led to several ships being attacked by US forces.

We have verified several videos shared on social media showing thick, black oil washing up on Suza beach in southern Qeshm. On the other side of the island is the Unesco-designated Hara Biosphere Reserve, home to vital habitats for marine life and migratory birds.

Qeshm, which lies on the northern side of the strait, is a key strategic base for Iran's military and has been heavily attacked by the US - including a wave of strikes last month which killed three people, according to Iranian state media.

Satellite imagery from 10 August shows the slick visible across an area of more than 300 sq km (116 sq miles) - the size of more than 40,000 football pitches.

"This is what I would call a major oil slick," said John Amos, CEO of Skytruth, a specialist satellite environmental monitoring group. Based on its size and colour, Amos estimates that the spill is "well over" 100,000 US gallons (380,000 litres) of oil.

While the extent of the damage to marine life is still being assessed, Dr Keyvan Hosseini, an energy and environmental expert from the University of Southampton, described the location of the pollution as "very concerning".

He told BBC Verify that Qeshm is home to "sensitive coastal and marine habitats, including mangroves, turtle nesting areas and important fishing grounds".

"This means the spill could have especially serious consequences for wildlife, ecosystems and local communities."

Tracking the slick

On 3 August, shipping security firm Vanguard reported the Liberia-flagged bulk carrier Minoan Pioneer was struck by a projectile near Oman.

Satellite imagery from 5 August showed the vessel is still on fire. Alongside it was an oil slick stretching out over roughly 10 sq km.

Two days later, satellite imagery shows the slick had doubled in size and was spreading north-west through the strait towards Qeshm.

By 10 August verified videos show large amounts of oil washing up on shores of Qeshm Island, along with an ongoing clean-up operation.

Samir Madani, co-founder of maritime intelligence company TankerTrackers.com, told BBC Verify that he believes the slick originated from the Minoan Pioneer and described the attack and subsequent oil spill as a "self-inflicted wound by Iran".

"Several vessels have been hit in that exact same spot by the Iranians when vessels use the Omani route," he told BBC Verify.

Wim Zwijnenburg, an environmental conflict expert at Dutch peace organisation PAX, also believes the visual evidence points to the Minoan Pioneer as the source of the oil.

'Tip of the iceberg'

The Minoan Pioneer is not the only vessel to have been damaged during attacks on shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz.

Some of these attacks have resulted in marine pollution, including the sinking of container ship Safeen Prestige on 4 March following an attack near Oman. The UN's International Maritime Organization reported that an oil slick was detected after that incident.

Zwijnenburg said whether an attack results in pollution depends on factors including where a vessel is hit, what cargo it is carrying and how much is on board.

He added attacks which disable a vessel can also create environmental risks even if they do not immediately cause an oil spill, as they can pose a risk to the environment by sinking or breaking down.

John Amos of Skytruth said that the oil visible on the surface may the "tip of the iceberg of the impact environmentally", as heavier components of the oil can sink to the seabed.

"The oil that settles on the seafloor, depending on when and where it is, could persist for years," he added.

Additional reporting by Ghoncheh Habibiazad, BBC Persian

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From Stonehenge to the Serpentine - satellite images show impact of hot, dry summer

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y3v7xz52yo, 6 days ago

With more parts of England set to join Wales as being officially declared to be in drought, BBC Verify has been gathering satellite imagery showing the impact of this year's extreme summer heat.

From historic sites and parks to reservoirs and golf courses, the hot, dry weather has changed how large parts of the UK usually look.

This year's consecutive heatwaves and above-average temperatures have had a noticeable effect - even compared with last summer which was the UK's warmest on record.

Drop in Welsh reservoir level

According to the UK government, almost all reservoirs in England and Wales are officially classed as having water levels below normal or low.

Five are exceptionally low - among them Clywedog reservoir in Powys which provides water supplies for parts of the West Midlands.

These satellite images show how more of the banks of the reservoir are visible this August compared with the same month last year.

Low reservoir levels have not been the primary cause of recent hosepipe bans and drought declarations - which are ultimately triggered by a lack of rain - across large parts of England and Wales.

The Environment Agency has reported that reservoir storage is now at 69% in England, which is below the long-term average of 82% for the time of year but higher than during last year's drought.

However, in its latest report the agency says water storage levels are above those recorded during similar periods in 2022 and 2025.

While Scotland has not been as badly affected as England and Wales, July's rainfall was below average for the south and east of the country, with many areas seeing less than half the long-term average for the month.

This has led the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to warn of "significant" water scarcity in the Borders and "moderate scarcity" in areas on the eastern side of Scotland.

Brown fairways at Open golf course

Hard and dry fairways were a key talking point at golf's Open Championship which was held at Royal Birkdale on Merseyside last month.

A side-by-side comparison shows how much greener the fairways appeared in summer 2025 compared with this year.

As the BBC reported earlier this month while domestic users face hosepipe restrictions the rules for commercial users - including golf courses - vary.

When hosepipe bans are in force sports grounds can use hoses or sprinklers - but only to water grass areas "actively used for play". For golf courses this means the greens and tees can be irrigated but the fairways cannot.

Algal blooms in reservoirs and lakes

Right in the heart of the UK capital, Hyde Park's famous Serpentine lake was closed for swimming on Monday because of high levels of blue-green algae.

Blue-green algae occur naturally, but warm, sunny and settled conditions can help blooms develop. Some can be harmful to people and animals.

A similar issue is affecting Killington Reservoir in south Cumbria. Satellite images show a visible change in the water between 24 May and 8 August, where a blue-green algal bloom has been confirmed.

Looking at the rest of Hyde Park and what is one of London's prime green spaces is now mostly brown following consecutive heatwaves since May.

It's a similar sight in south Wiltshire where the usually green rolling fields surrounding the ancient stone circle at Stonehenge have become almost as pale as the path around the prehistoric site.

As BBC Verify previously reported parts of the country are suffering from "vegetation stress" where the development and growth of plants, grass and crops can be severely affected.

Vegetation turning brown, even on this scale, does not mean the plants have disappeared or died, as grass, shrubs and some trees can recover once rainfall returns, provided their root systems remain intact.

Experts have said the combination of next-to-no rainfall and prolonged hot weather is likely to cause significant issues for the farming industry and could have an impact on agriculture and food prices in the coming months.

And perhaps counter-intuitively, prolonged dry weather can raise the risk of flash flooding when it eventually does rain. That is because parched, rock-hard ground may struggle to absorb water at first, so some rainwater may simply run off the surface instead.

Scientists also warn the UK is facing a growing risk of water shortages in the decades ahead, driven by human-caused climate change and increased demand.

Graphics by Tom Shiel

Car washes and vape shops can still sponsor skilled foreign workers despite visa changes

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj639rx147eo, 10 days ago

More than 1,900 small high street businesses including mini-marts, vape shops and car washes are licensed to sponsor foreign workers under a specialist scheme intended for high-earning individuals despite visa rules being tightened, BBC Verify has found.

The Home Office scheme allows registered employers to recruit workers from overseas who meet a certain skill level. The rules were tightened in July 2025 to restrict the scheme mostly to graduate-level employees who would be earning at least £41,700.

But a year on from the rule change, BBC Verify has found more than 1,500 grocery and convenience stores, 150 taxi operators, 100 barber shops, and dozens of car washes and vape shops are still on the register and able to sponsor people to apply for visas.

More than 100 of those businesses were added to the skilled worker sponsorship list after the rules were tightened. Being on the register does not mean applications for individual visas would be approved.

Health Secretary Yvette Cooper said on Thursday the government will "make sure that the rules are being properly enforced because we cannot have employers getting round the rules or finding different ways to deviate".

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood ordered an urgent review into the presence of vape shops, barbers and car washes on the skilled worker sponsor register two months ago, following concerns over the "potential misuse of the system". The Home Office said at the time that any businesses seeking to abuse the system would have their licences revoked.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "We have raised the skilled worker threshold and over 100 occupations are now ineligible for new skilled worker visas."

It is understood some of the companies that joined the register after the rules changed may have applied before they took effect. Some companies may have also remained on the register because they were approved before July 2025 or are sponsoring workers who were already in the UK.

There are more than 120,000 businesses with licences to sponsor skilled workers. The skilled worker scheme was introduced after Brexit for employers to recruit workers after EU free movement ended. Smaller firms must pay a £611 fee to apply to join the register while larger businesses, such as those with more than 50 staff, pay a fee of £1,682. Anyone can be visited by the UK Visas and Immigration service during the application process.

Until July last year, someone being hired from abroad could qualify for sponsorship if their qualifications met an A-Level or equivalent standard, as long as they were paid at least £38,700 in most cases. Since the rule change, non-graduate professions, such as shop managers, are no longer eligible to apply. There are also higher English-language skill requirements that were introduced in January this year.

The Home Office said there were 68,067 skilled worker visas granted in the 12 months to March this year - 29,745 to main applicants and 38,322 to their dependants - which is 30% lower than the year before. IT professionals were the most common type of people to be granted the visas, followed by those people working in finance, while the fall in approvals was mostly attributed to those in food preparation and hospitality trades no longer qualifying for the scheme.

Jobs including sales and retail assistants, taxi drivers and chauffeurs are currently listed by the government as ineligible for skilled worker visas, but there are some exemptions, such as bricklayers, carpenters or nursing assistants and other occupations where there is a shortage in the UK.

The Home Office revoked 3,299 licences in 2025 compared with 347 in 2023. Its register does not state how many certificates of sponsorship or visas have been issued for each business or what type of role it has hired for, but Home Office guidance states firms must offer genuine jobs that meet skill and salary rules, and only sponsor workers for eligible roles.

As businesses are only listed by name, it is not always clear what industry a company operates within. BBC Verify identified the more than 1,900 small high-street businesses that had retained a sponsorship licence by matching their names and locations to Companies House records and Google business listings to identify whether the mini marts, car washes and other small operations were on the list, and by analysing company names.

Around 1,700 of those were in England, more than 140 were in Scotland, over 80 were in Wales and just two were in Northern Ireland.

Separately, BBC Verify found 60 businesses on the register that had been fined for employing illegal workers between April 2024 and December 2025. They had been fined a combined £2.5m.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "Illegal working will not be accepted, and businesses who face two or more illegal working penalties of up to £60,000, or fail to pay a penalty the first time, will have their license to hire workers revoked."

Speaking about the visa rule change, Dr Madeleine Sumption, director of the University of Oxford's Migration Observatory, said that if businesses were on the register before the rules changed, they can continue to employ people they had already sponsored. "But they can't now bring in a new person to do those jobs."

Toby Way, a lawyer at WestBridge Business Immigration which helps businesses apply to be sponsors, told BBC Verify that while most sponsorship approvals are legitimate, "We come across a lot of exaggeration and some downright lying about sponsored roles".

"Hotels and restaurants have been hit massively by the rule changes. They're now unable to sponsor a chef or a manager, but they might claim they need someone for marketing or book-keeping, because those roles are on the temporary shortage list," he said.

"We know the Home Office looks at the finances of the businesses now and whether their revenue or profit means they can pay the required salary."

Immigration lawyer Joanna Hunt of DAC Beachcroft said that it would be difficult for a high street shop to justify sponsorship at the degree level.

"Subject to a few exceptions, a job needs to be skilled to 'degree level' to allow a business to sponsor a worker to fill it and the Home Office will consider if the role fits with the type of business the sponsor operates. A high street shop may find this requirement difficult to demonstrate."

Additional reporting by Rob England and Libby Rogers

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The serial candidates standing against Farage in the Clacton by-election

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd69q4yg0ggo, 10 days ago

A record number of candidates are standing in next week's Clacton by-election, but some names on the ballot will be more familiar than others.

As the main parties are not standing against Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, the 33 other candidates on the ballot are either from smaller political parties or are standing as independents.

Nine of these names have already appeared on multiple ballot papers elsewhere in the UK, including Reclaim Party leader Laurence Fox and satirical candidates Count Binface and Howling Laud Hope.

BBC Verify has taken a look at the serial candidates who have decided to stand in Clacton, how they have fared in previous elections, and whether they have ever won enough votes to save their £500 parliamentary - or £10,000 London mayor - deposits.

Who are the serial candidates?

The Clacton by-election takes place on 13 August, and because there are a total of 34 people contesting the seat it means people in the constituency will be casting their votes on what is understood to be the longest ballot paper in British electoral history.

Using confirmed parliamentary records, we found nine candidates standing against Farage who have stood at least twice before in Westminster parliamentary or London mayoral elections.

They are: Rejoin EU candidate John Stevens, Social Democratic Party leader William Clouston, Reclaim leader Laurence Fox, independent Joseph 77, Count Binface, independent Andy Erlam, and three candidates from the Monster Raving Loony Party - leader Howling Laud Hope, Nick the Incredible Flying Brick and Baron Von Thunderclap.

Who can stand in a by-election?

UK electoral law does not prevent a registered political party from fielding more than one candidate in a parliamentary by-election. Each candidate must have a valid nomination and be authorised by the party's nominating officer.

Nigel Farage has previously stood in seven parliamentary contests since 1994, and successfully became an MP for Clacton in the 2024 general election.

Parliamentary candidates do not have to be from the area they want to stand in to appear on the ballot, but they do have to be nominated by 10 people who live in the constituency.

A £500 deposit is also required to validate their candidacy, which they only get back if they achieve more than 5% of the vote share.

Mayoral elections have stricter eligibility rules. For example, in London candidates must either live, work or be registered to vote in the capital, or rent or own a property in the city. They must also get at least 10 nominations from each London borough and at least 10 from the City of London, and win more than 5% of the vote share to have their £10,000 deposit returned.

Howling Laud Hope

Howling Laud Hope, the leader of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, has previously stood in 37 parliamentary elections since 1983.

Real name Alan Hope, the party leader challenged David Cameron's seat when he was elected prime minister in 2010, and stood against former prime minister Theresa May in the 2017 general election.

He gained his highest share of the vote in the 2011 Leicester South by-election, which was held by Labour. Hope finished last of five candidates, with 553 votes, or 1.6%.

He has never won enough votes to get back a £500 parliamentary deposit.

Previous attempts: 37

Deposits lost: 37

Nick the Incredible Flying Brick

Nick the Incredible Flying Brick, whose real name is Nick Delves, has previously stood for the Official Monster Raving Loony Party in 13 parliamentary contests.

He stood against former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer in the 2024 general election, but his highest share of the vote came in West Derbyshire at the 2001 general election, when the Conservatives held the seat. He finished fifth of six candidates with 472 votes, or 0.9% of all votes.

Like Hope, he has never won enough votes to get back a £500 parliamentary deposit.

Previous attempts: 13

Deposits lost: 13

Joseph 77

Tom Darwood, who stands under the name Joseph 77, has previously contested eight parliamentary elections.

The strongest of those runs came in Southend West in Essex at the 2019 general election. He received 574 votes, or 1.2%, in a seat held by the Conservatives.

Darwood has never won enough votes to get back a £500 parliamentary deposit.

Previous attempts: 8

Deposits lost: 8

Count Binface

Count Binface is the satirical alter ego of comedian Jon Harvey, who has previously stood in four parliamentary elections and two London mayoral elections.

As Count Binface, Harvey has been on the same ballot as two sitting prime ministers during a general election - Boris Johnson in 2019 and Rishi Sunak in 2024 - and separately stood as a different character, Lord Buckethead, against Theresa May in Maidenhead in 2017.

In 2023 Count Binface stood in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election after Johnson resigned as an MP, and in June this year he stood against now prime minister Andy Burnham in the Makerfield by-election.

His best parliamentary result came in the Richmond and Northallerton vote against Sunak in the 2024 general election. He gained 308 votes - 0.6% of the total share - and finished sixth out of 13 candidates.

He has not previously won enough votes to get back any of his deposits.

Previous attempts: 6

Deposits lost: 6

Baron Von Thunderclap

Baron Von Thunderclap - real name Peter Berry - is the third Official Monster Raving Loony Party candidate on the ballot. He previously stood in six parliamentary elections.

The Clacton contest is his first parliamentary by-election however, and his first parliamentary race outside Mid Sussex. His strongest turnout was during the 2001 general election, when he received 601 votes, or 1.3% of the vote share. He finished fifth out of five candidates and the Conservatives held the seat.

He has never won enough votes to get back a £500 parliamentary deposit.

Previous attempts: 6

Deposits lost: 6

John Stevens

Former Conservative MEP John Stevens, who is standing for the Rejoin EU Party, has previously appeared on the ballot in four parliamentary elections.

His best result came as an independent in Buckingham in the 2010 general election, when he challenged then speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow. The main parties do not usually stand against the Speaker in a general election, and Stevens finished second of 11 candidates with 10,331 votes, a 21.4% vote share. Farage also challenged Bercow for the seat that year and came third.

It means Stevens is the only Clacton candidate to have stood against and won more votes than Farage in a parliamentary contest. Stevens also gained enough votes to qualify to have his deposit returned.

Previous attempts: 4

Deposits lost: 3

William Clouston

William Clouston, the leader of the Social Democratic Party, previously stood in three parliamentary elections.

His best result came in Durham North West, in the 2001 general election, when Labour held the seat. Clouston, standing as a Conservative, finished second of four candidates with 8,193 votes, or 20.9% of the vote share.

This was enough votes to retain his £500 parliamentary deposit.

Previous attempts: 3

Deposits lost: 2

Andy Erlam

Andy Erlam has previously contested three parliamentary elections.

His best run was in Bexleyheath in London at the 1983 general election. He received 7,560 votes, or 17.1%, in a seat held by the Conservatives.

Erlam won enough votes to get back two of his parliamentary deposits.

Previous attempts: 3

Deposits lost: 1

Laurence Fox

Actor turned right-wing commentator Laurence Fox, of the Reclaim Party, has previously stood in one parliamentary by-election and one London mayoral election.

His only parliamentary contest before Clacton was the 2023 Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election. Fox finished fourth out of 17 candidates. The Conservatives held the seat, while Fox received 714 votes, or a 2.3% share of the vote.

He did not win enough votes to get back either of his deposits.

Previous attempts: 2

Deposits lost: 2

Which records did we look at?

For this analysis, the BBC counted previous UK House of Commons elections dating back to 1955, by-elections to 1983 and Mayor of London records to 2000. Results prior to this are not included in the analysis.

The current Clacton contest counts towards the three-contest threshold to be included in the analysis.

Local council elections, local and combined-authority mayoral elections, devolved legislatures, European Parliament elections and London Assembly elections were excluded.

Official records do not track individual candidates over time and there can be discrepancies where individuals are recorded under different variations on their name, aliases, or for different parties across their careers.

Correction 6 August 2026: This article has been amended to include details found through historical data where candidate names and political parties were recorded inconsistently. We have updated the text and graphics relating to William Clouston and Joseph 77 to add one more election each to their totals, and added an additional candidate to our analysis, Andy Erlam, who met the threshold for inclusion.

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What's behind having to release some prisoners early?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp3rxlyz6w3o, 12 days ago

The government has changed its plan to release thousands of offenders in England and Wales well before the end of their sentences in an attempt to make space in prisons.

People sentenced for rape, serious child sex and grooming offences will now not be eligible for early release from October.

But some prisoners who are not excluded could be freed after serving a third of their total custodial sentence rather than after 40% or 50% of their term.

This is not the first time a government - Conservative or Labour - has had to release prisoners early to make space in England and Wales' overcrowded prisons.

BBC Verify has looked at the reasons why ministers feel the need to resort to these measures.

More prisoners than prison space

The prison population in England and Wales on 3 August was 86,495, which was 97% of useable capacity.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has warned the prison population will overtake capacity as soon as this November.

In the long-term the MoJ has projected that the capacity of all prisons will rise to around 99,000 by 2032 as a result of more prisons being built by this government.

But it also projected that the prisoner population would rise to about 104,000 by 2032 if the Sentencing Act 2026 - which provides for earlier release - did not come into force.

That is why new Justice Secretary Alex Norris says there is a "prison capacity crisis" which means the government has to implement the latest early release scheme.

Norris has said that 5,000 prisoners are now due to be released from October - down from 6,000 due to the new exclusions.

The MoJ has projected that the Sentencing Act will mean the prisoner population remains below the capacity of the prison system, rising only to around 96,000 by 2032.

More people are being sent to prison for longer

The England and Wales prison population has risen significantly in recent decades with a significant uptick starting in the 1990s before reaching a record high in 2024.

The Institute for Government (IFG) think tank says this is partly the result of longer sentences.

In 2023, the average prison sentence at Crown Courts in England and Wales - which deal with more serious offences - was more than 25% longer than those handed down in 2012.

For some crimes, the increase was greater. Sentences for robbery in 2023 were 13 months longer on average than in 2012 - an increase of 36%.

Longer sentences mean more people being held in prison at any one time.

Former Conservative Justice Secretary David Gauke, who led an independent sentencing review for Sir Keir Starmer's government, argues this is the result of a "bidding war" by political parties since the 1990s over who can imprison people for longer.

Gauke also points out that the prison population has been rising at a time when overall crime in England and Wales has been falling, according to the official Crime Survey.

So despite the fall in crime more people are being sent to prison - and for longer.

Another reason for upward pressure on the prison population is that more people than before are being returned to prison for breaching the conditions of their release.

There were 51,419 licence recalls in England and Wales in the year ending March 2026, up from 40,259 in the previous year - a 28% increase.

Cassia Rowland from the IFG said most recalls are for breaches of licence conditions, such as missed appointments, rather than offenders committing further offences or posing a serious risk to the public.

"The probation service is overwhelmed, with high caseloads and lots of vacancies putting often inexperienced staff under huge pressure," she said.

Slow pace of prison building

Successive governments have pledged to increase the number of prison places - but delivery has often fallen short of those promises.

Between 2010 and 2024, when the Conservatives were in power, around 13,000 new prison places were created.

But around 12,500 places - notably those built during the Victorian era - were closed after falling into disrepair.

That means an estimated net total of only around 500 new prison places were added over 14 years.

In a 2024 report, the National Audit Office (NAO) cited the MOJ's "unrealistic timelines", and government bodies not working together to prioritise delivery, as reasons for the slow pace of prison building.

Although three new prisons have opened in the past four years - adding approximately 5,000 more places - further expansion to existing prisons has been delayed by a major supplier going into administration, according to the Prison Reform Trust.

Pia Sinha of the Prison Reform Trust told BBC Verify: "Successive governments have found it difficult to increase prison capacity because new prisons take years to plan and build, often facing planning hurdles and local opposition."

The Labour government has pledged to build 14,000 new prison places by 2031. The MoJ told BBC Verify that it had delivered about 3,200 places as of July.

However, it has not said how many prison cells have been taken out of use so we cannot say whether there has been a net gain or loss of spaces.

Analysts argue that without a major change in thinking about the appropriateness of prison as punishment, or a significant long-term increase in prison building, the system in England and Wales will remain close to capacity.

And that means governments will continue to be under pressure to implement early release schemes to avert a capacity crisis.