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Israel's "Operation Rising Lion", as it calls its attack on Iran, is unprecedented. It is vastly more extensive and ambitious than anything that has come before, including the two missile and drone exchanges it had with Iran last year. For Iran, this is the biggest assault on its territory since the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988.

In the darkest hours before dawn the Israeli Air Force targeted not just sites linked to Iran's nuclear programme but also the country's air defences and ballistic missile bases, thereby reducing Iran's ability to retaliate.

On the ground and in the shadows, the network of operatives working for Mossad, Israel's overseas intelligence agency, reportedly helped to pinpoint the exact location of key figures in both the military command and nuclear scientists.

Those killed overnight include the head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the guardians of the Islamic Revolution that overthrew the Shah's regime in 1979, as well as the head of the mainstream armed forces and the head of the IRGC air force. Iran says at least six of its scientists have been killed.

Once again, Israel's spy agency is shown to have successfully penetrated the very heart of Iran's security establishment, proving that no one there is safe.

Iran's state TV reported that 78 people were killed and said that civilians, including children, were among the dead. (This is an unofficial figure and has not been independently verified.)

Mossad was reportedly able to launch drones from inside Iran as part of this attack. The primary targets of this whole operation have been the nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz and bases belonging to the IRGC. For Israeli military planners, this has been a long time coming.

Iran is reeling and this may be only the first wave. There will be many more potential targets on Israel's hitlist, although some may be beyond its reach, buried deep underground in reinforced bases beneath solid rock.

So what has led to this attack by Israel and why now?

Curbing Iran's nuclear programme

Israel, and several Western countries, suspect that Iran has been secretly working towards what is called "breakout capability", meaning the point of no return in developing a viable nuclear weapon.

Iran denies this and has always insisted that its civil nuclear programme – which has received help from Russia – is for entirely peaceful purposes.

For more than a decade Israel has been trying, with varying degrees of success, to slow down and set back Iran's nuclear progress. Iranian scientists have been mysteriously assassinated by unknown assailants, the military head of the nuclear programme, Brig-Gen Fakhrizadeh was killed by a remote-controlled machine-gun on a lonely road near Tehran in 2020.

Before that, US and Israeli cyber sleuths were able to insert a devastating computer virus, codenamed Stuxnet, into Iran's centrifuges, which caused them to spin out of control.

This week the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), found Iran to be in breach of its non-proliferation obligations and threatened to refer it to the UN Security Council.

Many of the concerns over Iran's nuclear programme arise from its stockpiling of highly enriched uranium (HEU) that has been enriched up to 60 per cent, far beyond the level needed to generate civil nuclear power and a relatively short hop to the level needed to start building a bomb.

There was a deal to curb Iran's nuclear programme. It was concluded in 2015 during the Obama presidency, but Donald Trump called it "the worst deal in the world" and when he got into the White House he pulled the US out of it. The following year Iran stopped complying with it.

Nobody outside Iran wants the Islamic Republic to possess the nuclear bomb. Israel, a small country with much of its 9.5 million-strong population concentrated in urban areas, views a nuclear-armed Iran as an existential threat.

It points to the numerous statements by senior Iranian figures calling for the destruction of the State of Israel. Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Gulf Arab states don't much care for Iran's revolutionary Islamic Republic regime but they have learned to live with it as a neighbour.

They will now be extremely nervous about the risks of this conflict spreading to their own shores.

For Israel, the timing was crucial. Iran has already been weakened by the effective defeat or elimination of its proxies and allies in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza. Its air defences were heavily compromised after last October's attacks by Israel.

There is a sympathetic president in the White House and lastly, Israel reportedly feared that some of Iran's key uranium enrichment equipment was about to be moved deep underground.

Where does this go from here?

It is clear what Israel wants by this operation: it is aiming to, at the very least, set back Iran's nuclear programme by years. Preferably it would like to halt it altogether.

There will also be many in Israel's military, political and intelligence circles who will be hoping that this operation could even so weaken Iran's leadership that it collapses altogether, ushering in a more benign regime that no longer poses a threat in the region. That may be wishful thinking on their part.

President Trump said on Friday that Iran had "a second chance" to agree to a deal. A sixth round of US-Iran negotiations was due to take place in Muscat on Sunday but Israel does not set much store by these talks.

Just as Russia is accused of stringing along Trump over peace talks with Ukraine, Israel believes Iran is doing the same here.

Israel believes this is its best and possibly last chance to kill off Iran's suspected nuclear weapons programme.

"Israel's unprecedented strikes across Iran overnight were designed to kill President Trump's chances of striking a deal to contain the Iranian nuclear programme," says Ellie Geranmayeh, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).

"It is clear their [the attacks] timing and large-scale nature was intended to completely derail talks."

Washington has gone to some lengths to relay to Iran that it was not involved in this attack. But if Iran decides to retaliate against any of the many US bases in the region, either directly or via its proxies, then there is a risk the US could get dragged into yet another Middle East conflict.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed "harsh punishment" for Israel but Iran is in a much weaker position today than it was two years ago and its options for retaliation are limited.

Talk of a nuclear arms race

There is, however, an even bigger risk here. Israel's operation could still backfire, triggering a nuclear arms race.

Hardline hawks inside Iran's security establishment have long argued that the best deterrence against future attacks by Israel or the US would be for it to acquire the nuclear bomb. They will have taken note of the differing fates of leaders in Libya and North Korea.

Libya's Colonel Gaddafi gave up his Weapons of Mass Destruction programme in 2003; eight years later he was dead in a ditch, overthrown by the Arab Spring protests that were backed by Western air power.

By contrast, North Korea has defied all international sanctions to build up a formidable arsenal of nuclear warheads and intercontinental ballistic missiles, enough to make any potential attacker think twice.

Whatever the final damage amounts to from Israel's Operation Rising Lion, if Iran's regime survives – and it has defied the odds before – then there is a risk it will now accelerate its race towards building and even testing a nuclear bomb.

If that happens then it will almost inevitably trigger a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and possibly Egypt all deciding they need one too.

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Who were the Iranian commanders killed in Israel's attack?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2lk5j18k4vo, today

Israel struck dozens of targets, including nuclear facilities, military sites and private residences, across Iran on Friday, killing a number of senior military commanders in what it called "Operation Rising Lion".

The Israeli attacks also targeted a number of other influential figures linked to Iran's nuclear programmes, including six nuclear scientists, IRGC-affiliated news agency Tasnim reported.

Dozens of civilians, including children, have also been reported killed.

Here's what we know so far about the high-profile individuals among the dead.

Mohammad Bagheri

Bagheri was the highest ranking military officer in Iran, being the chief of staff of Iran's armed forces - which includes both the Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and the Iranian army.

Bagheri joined the IRGC in 1980 aged 20 and, alongside his brother, helped establish the IRGC's intelligence unit during the Iran-Iraq war.

He was considered less hardline than other commanders. He had come under criticism recently for a speech he made in April in front of the ancient ruins of Persepolis in which he called for peace and urged for the avoidance of war.

Abdolrahim Mousavi has been appointed the new chief of staff of the armed forces, Iranian state news agency Irna said. He does not come from within the ranks of the IRGC, being an army general.

Hossein Salami

Hossein Salami was the commander-in-chief of the IRGC.

Salami joined the IRGC in 1980 during the Iran-Iraq war, and went on to become a deputy commander in 2009, before progressing to commander in 2019.

Known for his ability as an orator, he took a hard-line stance towards Israel and as recently as last month said Tehran would "open the gates of hell" if attacked by either Israel or the US.

Mohammad Pakpour has been appointed as the new commander of the IRGC, Iranian state media report.

Gholamali Rashid

Gholamali Rashid was the head of the IRGC's Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters, which coordinates joint Iranian military operations.

Rashid fought in the 1980s war with Iraq and was formerly the deputy chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces.

Since Rashid's death, Ali Shadmani has been appointed the emergency command's new leader, according to Iranian state media.

Amir Ali Hajizadeh

The commander of the IRGC's Aerospace Force, Hajizadeh was a prominent figure in charge of the country's missiles programme.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Hajizadeh had gathered in an underground command centre along with the majority of the IRGC's air force commanders to prepare for an attack on Israel.

The IDF said the group was then killed in a strike targeting the building.

It said Hajizadeh commanded Iran's missile attacks on Israel in October and April last year.

Hajizadeh was regarded less favourably by members of Iran's general public after he took responsibility for downing a Ukrainian passenger plane flying out of Tehran in 2020, which killed all 176 people on board.

Fereydoon Abbasi

Abbasi, a nuclear scientist, served as the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation between 2011 and 2013.

He went on to be a member of parliament from 2020 to 2024.

He promoted hardline positions to do with Iran's nuclear activities.

In May, he spoke on Iranian TV channel SNN.ir about potentially building a nuclear weapon, and said he would willingly carry out orders to do so if he received them.

Nuclear scientists

* Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, who was also the head of Azad University in Tehran

* Abdulhamid Minouchehr, head of nuclear engineering at Iran's Shahid Beheshti University

* Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari, a nuclear engineering professor at Shahid Beheshti University

* Amirhossein Feqhi, another nuclear professor at Shahid Beheshti University

In Iran, grief for civilian casualties but little pity for commanders

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czr85lpd7kyo, today

The Iranian regime remains deeply unpopular, and many citizens have shown little sympathy about the assassination of senior military commanders, figures widely seen as responsible for brutal crackdowns on peaceful protests.

But reports of civilian casualties in last night's Israeli strikes have stirred a different reaction. Explosions rocked residential areas of Tehran and other cities, with people across the country reporting blast waves.

Israel insists it targeted nuclear and military sites, but images of damaged homes have sparked fear and anger among those opposed to war.

Iranian state media says 78 people were killed in the capital alone and more than 300 injured.

These people in Iran, who got in touch with BBC Persian, expressed their feelings:

"This incident was truly horrific, especially for us living very close to the explosions and I really hope that the situation won't get worse. This should not have happened – civilians and Tehran or any other city in Iran should not have been hurt," one person said.

"I'm not pro-Islamic Republic, but this issue is about Iran, it's about home. See how they are attacking us, destroying our infrastructure, killing our people," said another.

The regime is also being blamed for dragging Iran into a war through its support for armed groups in Iraq, Lebanon, and Gaza, as well as its ongoing nuclear programme.

Many Iranians are openly critical of their leaders for failing to protect the country. They point out the hypocrisy: authorities are quick to crack down on women who refuse to wear the compulsory hijab, but when it comes to identifying and preventing a major military threat, the same authorities seem powerless - despite all their political posturing.

However others expressed defiance and told international media that Iran should be allowed to pursue a civilian nuclear programme.

Ahmed Razaghi, 56, told Agence France Presse that it was "unacceptable" for Israel to "take away our nuclear capacity".

"So many scientists have worked hard for this, we achieved it ourselves, and now they want to take it from us. That means they're trying to impose their will on us. It's completely unacceptable."

Retiree Ahmad Moadi demanded a military retaliation.

"How much longer should we live in fear? They've eliminated so many university professors, so many PhDs, and then they go and negotiate? What does negotiation even mean at this point? What's left to say?"

The overall death toll from the Israeli attacks across Iran remains unclear, but some of the victims are beginning to be identified.

They include padel tennis player Parsa Mansour, whose death was announced by the Iranian Tennis Federation.

The statement said Mansour was on his way home from training last night when he died in the attacks, without specifying a location.

Trump struggles with Iran message as Republicans diverge over attack

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq69e7nr9m5o, today

As the massive size and scope of Israel's overnight attacks on Iran have come into view on Friday, Donald Trump is presented with a major new foreign policy crisis - as well as a diplomatic dilemma.

How does the American president who promised to be a peacemaker handle a dramatic military escalation in the Middle East?

In the hours after the strike, Trump appears to be struggling to find a consistent message in the face of a grave blow to his diplomatic efforts.

Last night, US diplomats reacted coolly to the first reports of the Israeli strikes. While it was clear that American forces had advance notice of what was coming, a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasised the US was not involved in the logistics or planning of the attack.

By Friday morning, the president himself was commenting on his Truth Social account, with a sombre message directed at the Iranian leadership - more "I told you so" than a clear plan to stop the warfare.

"Certain Iranian hardliners spoke bravely, but they didn't know what was about to happen," Trump wrote. "They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!"

He followed that up with a shorter post, noting that the 60-day deadline he had given the Iranians for a deal had expired - but still holding out hope. "Now they have, perhaps, a second chance!" he wrote.

In comments to American media outlets, though, Trump's message was more muddled.

He told CNN that the US "of course" supports Israel "and supported it like nobody has ever supported it".

"I think it's been excellent," he said of Israel's strikes in an ABC interview. He added that the US gave Iran a chance, but they didn't take it. "They got hit about as hard as you're going to get hit. And there's more to come - a lot more."

In another twist, to the Wall Street Journal he said the US received more than just a heads-up from Israel: "We know what's going on." He also called Israel's move "a very successful attack, to put it mildly."

That may be just fine with some key members of the Republican Party - exposing what could be a growing divide between conservative pro-Israel foreign policy hawks in Congress and the America First, isolationist sympathies of many in the Trump administration.

"How does the America First foreign policy doctrine and foreign policy agenda... stay consistent with this right now?" Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and vocal Trump supporter, asked during an internet livestream that was broadcasting as the Israeli strikes began Thursday evening, Politico reported.

At about the same time, more bellicose Republicans were celebrating the attacks on social media.

Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina took to X to post: "Game on. Pray for Israel".

"Israel IS right - and has a right - to defend itself!" Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson wrote.

Within the White House, many of the more vocal advocates for military action against Iran have been sidelined in recent months, including former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who reportedly had consulted with Israel on Iran attack plans before Trump requested his resignation in early May.

The president's most senior advisers, including Vice-President JD Vance, have been wary of allowing America to be pulled into new conflicts – or becoming overly involved in foreign policy concerns that they view as removed from core US interests.

"Previously, it seems that those advocating for restraint were ascendant in the in the administration, but I think ultimately, this comes down to President Trump alone," said Todman. "The statements that we saw from him this morning seem to indicate that he's open to providing more support to Israel, depending on how the next few days play out."

With American forces based across the Middle East, involvement may be unavoidable. Just five months into his second term in office, the peacemaker president could have a new war on his hands.

Additional reporting by Brandon Drenon

Black box found at Air India crash site as families wait for answers

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjwqjv09q7xo, today

A black box has been found at the site of the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, India's civil aviation minister said on Friday.

The flight data recorder was recovered within 28 hours by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu confirmed.

All but one of the 242 people on the London-bound flight died when it crashed into a residential area less than 60 seconds after take-off on Thursday. An official told the BBC that at least eight people on the ground were also killed.

"The [recovery of the black box] marks an important step forward in the investigation" and will "significantly aid the inquiry" into the disaster, Mr Kinjarapu said.

Planes usually carry two black boxes - small but tough electronic data recorders.

One records flight data, such as altitude and speed. The other records sound from the cockpit, so investigators can hear what the pilots are saying and listen for any unusual noises.

AAIB is leading the inquiry into the cause of the crash, helped by teams from the US and UK. Boeing's chief executive, Kelly Ortberg, said the company was supporting the investigation.

Air India said there were 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and one Canadian on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft when it crashed moments after taking off from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 13:39 local time (08:09 GMT).

It was scheduled to land at London's Gatwick airport at 18:25 BST.

On Friday, the wreckage was still scattered across the crash site, including the blackened wing of the plane, with large pieces of the aircraft stuck in buildings.

Investigators arrived at the scene and crowds were moved further away from the wreckage.

A doctor told the BBC that they are relying on DNA from relatives to identify the victims. A police official at the post-mortem room told the BBC that the remains of six people had been released to families so far, as their relatives were able to identify them based on facial features.

The sole survivor of the crash, British national Vishwashkumar Ramesh, who was in seat 11A on the flight, is still recovering in hospital.

"I still cannot believe how I made it out alive," he told India's state broadcaster DD News on Thursday.

"At first, I thought I was going to die. I managed to open my eyes, unfastened my seat belt and tried to exit the plane."

Mr Ramesh, 40, who sustained burn injuries on his left hand, said he saw the aircraft crew and its passengers die in front of his eyes.

Meanwhile, desperate families are still waiting for news of their relatives.

Imtiaz Ali, whose brother Javed and his family were on the flight, said that until he sees his brother's body, he will not believe he has died.

"If I get sad and start crying, then I'll be uncontrollable," he told the BBC.

"No-one will be able to stop me... my heart might burst."

The plane crashed in a residential area called Meghani Nagar and, even though it had just taken off, the impact was severe. Wreckage spread over 200m (656ft), according to responders.

It is still unclear exactly how many were killed on the ground, but the BBC has been told that at least eight people, who were not on the aircraft, have died.

Dr Minakshi Parikh, the dean of the BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital, said four of their students died as the plane crashed into buildings on the campus.

"There were also four relatives of our doctors who were on the campus when the aircraft crashed - they too were killed," Dr Parikh said.

"We are relying only on DNA matching to identify them and it is something where we simply cannot rush or afford mistakes.

"We are working with sincerity. We want relatives to understand, and be a bit patient. We want to hand over [the bodies] as soon as possible."

On Friday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spent around 20 minutes at the site of the plane crash.

He did not speak to reporters afterwards but a video posted on his YouTube channel showed him walking around the site and inspecting the debris.

Modi also visited the location of a now-viral image that shows the tail of the crashed plane lodged in a building.

Earlier on Friday, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson also went to the crash site, later describing the visit as "deeply moving".

According to data by tracking website, Flightradar24, the Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 had completed more than 700 flights in the year leading up to the Thursday's disaster.

The Air India plane was 11 years old and its most common routes included flights between Mumbai and Dubai, as well as the capital New Delhi and European destinations such as Milan, Paris and Amsterdam.

The plane had operated 25 flights from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick in the past two years.

'I walked out of rubble': Survivor on how he escaped Air India wreckage

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd901xn4001o, today

The British man who was the sole survivor of Thursday's Air India plane crash said he managed to escape the wreckage through an opening in the fuselage.

"I managed to unbuckle myself, used my leg to push through that opening, and crawled out," Vishwashkumar Ramesh told Indian state media DD News.

Mr Ramesh, 40, was in seat 11A on the London-bound Boeing 787 flight when it went down shortly after take off in Ahmedabad, western India on Thursday.

Air India said all other passengers and crew were killed - including 169 Indian nationals and 52 British nationals. More than 200 bodies have been recovered so far, though it is unclear how many were passengers and how many were from the ground.

Speaking from his hospital bed, Mr Ramesh said the lights inside the aircraft "started flickering" moments after take off.

Within five to 10 seconds, it felt like the plane was "stuck in the air", he said.

"The lights started flickering green and white...suddenly slammed into a building and exploded."

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed into a building used as accommodation for doctors at the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College and Civil Hospital.

But Mr Ramesh said the section he was sitting in landed near the ground and did not make contact with the building.

"When the door broke and I saw there was some space, I tried to get out of there and I did.

"No one could have got out from the opposite side, which was towards the wall, because it crashed there."

Video shared on social media showed Mr Ramesh walking towards an ambulance with smoke billowing in the background.

He told the Indian broadcaster he could not believe that he came out of the wreckage alive.

"I saw people dying in front of my eyes - the air hostesses, and two people I saw near me," he said.

"For a moment, I felt like I was going to die too, but when I opened my eyes and looked around, I realised I was alive.

"I still can't believe how I survived. I walked out of the rubble."

Dr Dhaval Gameti, who treated Mr Ramesh, said he was "disorientated, with multiple injuries all over his body", but that he appears to be "out of danger".

On Friday morning, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the crash site before making his way to the hospital to meet injured people including Mr Ramesh, and the families of victims.

Mr Ramesh's brother, Ajay, was also onboard the plane.

Their other brother, Nayan Kumar Ramesh, told BBC News on Thursday: "When he [Vishwashkumar] called us, he was just more worried about [Ajay]... that's all he cares about at the moment."

Mr Ramesh, a businessman who was born in India but has lived in the UK since 2003, has a wife and four-year-old son.

Four detainees escape from migrant facility in New Jersey

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c626p6n7x3xo, today

Four people being held at an immigration facility in Newark, New Jersey, have escaped, according to the US Department of Homeland Security.

A department spokesperson told the BBC that four detainees have gotten out of the Delaney Hall Detention Facility and "additional law enforcement partners" are helping search for them.

Their identites have not been released and details of the escapes are unclear.

There were reports on Thursday of unrest within the facility, where crowds of protesters have been gathering and the local mayor and congresswoman were recently arrested. Lawyers for detainees said that a group of migrants inside had started a revolt over a lack of food and other poor conditions.

The detention centre had then gone into a lockdown, the lawyers told US media.

One woman whose husband was being held at Delaney Hall told the BBC's US partner CBS News that a fight began at lunch because people had not been fed in 20 hours.

"He said they were breaking things, just trying to get anybody's attention, because they are constantly ignored," the wife told CBS. "I asked my husband what was his role and part in it, and he said, 'I'm hiding. I'm scared for my life.'"

Meanwhile, outside of the facility on Thursday night protesters pushed against barricades as vehicles came through the gates.

The Bronx Defenders legal group told the BBC that all legal visits with migrants held at Delaney Hall - including phone calls and virtual meetings - had been suspended until further notice.

Karla Ostolaza, managing director of the group's immigration practice, said lawyers had not been able to contact their clients on Friday and that she had reached out to immigration officials to check on clients' safety, but not heard back.

Delaney Hall is owned by the private prison company, GEO Group, which has a $1b (£735m) contract with the Trump administration to use the 1,000-bed facility as an immigration centre.

As President Donald Trump ramps up his immigration crackdown, the centre has attracted the attention of locals who say the government should be more forthcoming about how those being held there are treated.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said in a statement: "We are concerned about reports of what has transpired at Delaney Hall this evening, ranging from withholding food and poor treatment, to uprising and escaped detainees".

Democratic Congresswoman LaMonica McIver said her office was "carefully monitoring" the situation, saying she had also heard reports of "abusive circumstances at the facility".

Baraka was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers after a scuffle at Delaney Hall on 9 May, but a federal judge dismissed the case.

McIver was arrested and charged over her involvement in the incident. She denies wrongdoing and both say they had visited the facility in an attempt to enter and review conditions there.

The unrest at Delaney Hall comes as Trump has deployed thousands of National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles during protests against his crackdown. Nearly 400 people have been arrested in LA since protests began a week ago.

'My kids are the reason I'm alive': Backstage with Shakira

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn056ky4d00o, today

Deep in the bowels of Miami's Hard Rock Stadium, a note is taped to the door of Shakira's production office. "Please come back later... unless you're actually on fire."

The handwritten pink scrawl suggests a level of stress that is entirely understandable for the team putting on the biggest stadium tour of the year.

With 64 sold out shows across North and South America, Shakira has played to more than two million fans.

"I've worked for over a year, polishing every single detail of the show, so this is really an amazing reward," the star tells BBC News.

There are no frayed nerves or screaming matches backstage before the Miami show... and no-one's on fire.

The vibe is calm and professional. Dancers stretch in the corridors, seamstresses sew crystals onto catsuits, and guitar techs check and re-check their tunings.

Hang around long enough and you discover a few surprising tour facts.

"We travel with two washing machines and two tumble dryers, which we plumb in [at] every venue," says head of wardrobe Hannah Kinkade, who has a mere 300 costumes to care for.

Every outfit has to be refreshed before a new show, she says, because "Shakira dances really hard and the dancers do as well.

"The male dancers scuff their shoes so badly that we have to repaint them every morning."

Birmingham-born stage manager Kevin Rowe shows us around the dark corridors beneath the stage, where the crew have stashed secret reserves of Gatorade and iced coffee to help them survive the sticky Miami heat.

“It either gets very hot or very wet,” he says of working on an outdoor show. “But that’s the trade-off of living in the underworld.”

At about 2:30pm, the band start their sound check. Shortly after 3pm, Shakira herself arrives with her non-deceitful hips, flanked by a police escort, and joins the team on stage.

Dressed in flared silver jeans and a white vest top, she can't help dancing as she assesses tonight's venue.

"I came here for the Beyoncé concert and that was flawless, so you'd better make me sound like that," she jokes to the crew.

Or is it a joke?

Shakira delivers the quip with a wink, but there's one thing everyone acknowledges backstage: The boss is a perfectionist.

"When she's on, she's on," says chief dancer Darina Littleton. "When she comes in, she's ready, her character's on, she's full out."

"She knows what she wants, and if she can't figure it out she'll get there one way or another," says musical director Tim Mitchell, who's been playing with Shakira since the 1990s (he even wrote the pan pipe riff on Whenever, Wherever).

"She's very particular about every aspect of the show: Sound, visual, lighting, the wristbands, every single thing. It's incredible. I don't know how she does it."

The obsession pays off.

Shakira's concert is two-and-a-half hours of musical drama - a non-stop parade of bilingual hits, 13 costume changes and non-stop movement.

She performs a Lebanese-inspired belly dance during Ojos Asi; a tribal knife routine to introduce Whenever, Wherever; thrashes a Flying-V guitar during Objection (Tango); and has the audience howling and braying through an electrifying version of She Wolf.

The tour is titled Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran (Women No Longer Cry) after Shakira's latest album, which was inspired by some of the most intense heartbreak and personal upheaval she'd ever experienced.

Her 11-year relationship with footballer Gerard Piqué fell apart, at the same time as her father had emergency brain surgery, and Spanish authorities accused her of €14.5m (£12.7m) tax fraud (she settled the case out of court).

"Many of you know that the past years haven't been the easiest for me," she says on stage. "But who doesn't have a fall here and there, right?

"What I've learned is that a fall isn't the end, but the beginning of an even better journey."

More specifically, the turbulence of her early 40s prompted a creative outburst that put Shakira back in the cultural conversation after seven years of musical silence.

In 2023, Bzrp Music Sessions Vol 53, a collaboration with Argentine producer Bizarrap, was full of barbs directed at Piqué and his new girlfriend ("you traded a Rolex for a Casio") and won song of the year at the Latin Grammys.

She continued the theme on a string of hit singles like the sarcastic Te Felicito (I Congratulate You) and TQG (Te Quedó Grande - I'm Too Good for You), a duet with fellow Colombian star Karol G, which has racked up 1.3 billion streams on Spotify.

"She's so inspiring to women," says one fan, wearing furry she-wolf ears, shortly before the show. "She's done it all. She is power."

Shakira's commitment to the show is such that she wants our interview to take place after she comes off stage. So shortly after midnight, she appears from her dressing room, somehow looking fresher than a field of daisies.

"I warn you, I might not make a lot of sense right now," she laughs. "I'm still recovering.

"It was really hot today and humid. So whenever it's like that, or there's altitude, it's very challenging... but totally worth it."

What happens when she's tired or ill?

"To put together a show of this size, and to make it happen every night, it doesn't matter if you're sad or if you had a bad day or if you're sick or you're coughing - you just have to do your best and miraculously make it happen.

"And the adrenalin actually doesn't let me feel the exhaustion, or how demanding it can be. It carries you through."

Learning from Leonard Cohen

Playing in Miami was particularly meaningful, she says, because it's the city she moved to as a teenager, hoping to break into the Western pop market.

By that point, she was already a star in Colombia, but she knew international success meant singing in English. The only problem was, she had never learned it.

"I was only 19 when I moved to the US, like many other Colombian immigrants who come to this country looking for a better future," she says.

"And I remember I was surrounded by Spanish-English dictionaries and synonym dictionaries - because back in the day I didn't really have Google or chat GPT to [help]. So it was all very precarious.

"And then I got into poetry and started reading a little bit of a Leonard Cohen and Walt Whitman and Bob Dylan, trying to understand how the English language works within songwriting. I think that's how I got good at it."

Lately, she's been reflecting on those experiences, her acceptance in America, and how that contrasts with the Trump administration's attitude to immigrants.

Accepting the Grammy for best Latin pop album earlier this year, she addressed the situation directly.

"I want to dedicate this award to all my immigrant brothers and sisters in this country. You are loved, you are worth it, and I will always fight with you," she said.

How does it feel, I ask, to be an immigrant in the US today?

"It means living in constant fear," she says. "And it's painful to see.

"Now, more than ever, we have to remain united. Now, more than ever, we have to raise our voices and make it very clear that a country can change its immigration policies, but the treatment of all people must always be humane."

It's a powerful statement – spoken partially in Spanish as Shakira addresses her Latin American fans directly.

That connection underpins the success of her tour - fans have grown up with Shakira and see themselves reflected in her.

In Miami, the audience spans generations – with mothers and daughters singing in unison to 90s hits like Pies Descalzos, Sueños Blancos and bouncing around to a celebratory Waka Waka (This Time for Africa).

That's why the emotional high point of the show comes during Acróstico – the tender ballad Shakira wrote for her children, promising them she'd stay strong amid the split from Piqué.

As she performs, Sasha (12) and Milan (10) appear on the video screens, duetting with their mum.

"My heart melts every time I see them on that screen and I hear their little voices," says the star.

"They're just everything to me. They're my engine and the reason why I'm alive. So having them every night on stage, it's just such a precious moment."

This is the first time the boys have been old enough to see their mum perform in concert, and she confesses they have "mixed emotions" about it.

"When I have a show, they're kind of stressed out because they want everything to come out perfect for me," she says.

"They're always worried, like, 'Mom, how did it go? Did you fall? Are you OK?'

"And I try to show them that there's no perfect show. It's OK to make a mistake."

The question for UK fans is, will the tour come to Europe?

"You have to stay tuned. Wait and see," Shakira teases.

"We can't say dates yet, but we're close to announcing. I really want to share this show with my fans from all over the world."

Two men jailed for £4.8m gold toilet heist

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgeg39vr3j3o, today

Two men have been jailed for stealing a £4.8m gold toilet from from an art exhibition at Blenheim Palace.

Thieves smashed their way in and ripped out the functional 18-carat, solid gold toilet hours after a glamorous launch party at the Oxfordshire stately home in September 2019.

James 'Jimmy' Sheen, 40, pleaded guilty to burglary, transferring criminal property and conspiracy to do the same in 2024, while Michael Jones, 39, was found guilty of burglary in March.

The men, from Oxford, were sentenced to four years and two years and three months in prison respectively.

Sheen was a key player in the heist - a career criminal and the only man convicted of both burglary and selling the gold.

He pleaded guilty last year after police found his DNA at the scene and gold fragments in his clothing.

Police also recovered his phone which contained a wealth of incriminating messages.

Shan Saunders, the senior crown prosecutor on the case, said it was "unusual to have a phone that when downloaded contains so much information".

'Traffic saved me': Student missed Air India flight by just 10 minutes

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgv26zz5wzo, today

Bhoomi Chauhan remembers being angry and frustrated. Bumper-to-bumper traffic had delayed her car journey to Ahmedabad airport - so much so that she missed her Air India flight to London Gatwick by just 10 minutes.

Ms Chauhan, a business administration student who lives in Bristol with her husband, had been visiting western India for a holiday.

The 28-year-old was due to fly home on AI171 on Thursday, which crashed shortly after take-off, killing 241 people on board and more on the ground.

But after arriving at the airport less than an hour before departure, airline staff turned her away.

"We got very angry with our driver and left the airport in frustration," she recalls. "I was very disappointed.

"We left the airport and stood at a place to drink tea and after a while, before leaving... we were talking to the travel agent about how to get a refund for the ticket.

"There, I got a call that the plane had gone down."

Speaking to the BBC's Gujrati service, she adds: "This is totally a miracle for me."

Ms Chauhan says she arrived at the airport at 12:20 PM local time, 10 minutes after boarding was due to commence.

Her digital boarding pass, seen by BBC News, shows her assigned to economy class seat 36G.

But despite having checked in online, she says airline staff would not allow her to complete the process at the airport.

She had travelled from Ankleshwar - 201km (125 miles) south of Ahmedabad - before being held up in Ahmedabad's city centre traffic.

Ms Chauhan says: "When I missed the flight, I was dejected. Only thing that I had in mind was, 'If I had started a little early, I would have boarded the plane'.

"I requested airline staff to allow me inside as I am only 10 minutes [late]. I told them that I am the last passenger and so please allow me to board the plane, but they did not allow me."

The Gatwick flight took off as scheduled on Thursday afternoon, but appeared to struggle to gain altitude and crashed about 30 seconds into the flight.

The plane hit a residential area, killing 241 passengers and 12 crew members. At least eight people on the ground are so far known to have died.

One passenger, British national Vishwashkumar Ramesh, survived the crash and was treated in hospital for injuries.

Indian, Portuguese and Canadian nationals were also on board.

Among the 53 Britons to have been killed were a family who lived in Gloucester, three members of the same family who lived in London, and a married couple who ran a spiritual wellness centre in the capital.

Emergency services and officials worked late into Thursday night and into Friday to clear debris and search for answers.

Additional reporting by Sajid Patel

Gary Oldman and Strictly hosts join Beckham in honours

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly30wpz01po, today

Actor Gary Oldman has been knighted alongside David Beckham on a King's Birthday Honours list that also recognises Strictly Come Dancing hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman.

The Oscar winner and the former football England captain are among 19 new sirs, while 21 damehoods have been announced, including singer and actress Elaine Paige and Regeneration novelist Pat Barker.

There are MBEs for teenage world darts champion Luke Littler and Love Island star Georgia Harrison for her work on online privacy and cyber crime.

Overall, 1,200 people are on the main honours listed issued by the Cabinet Office, of which 48% are women. The youngest person being honoured is 11 while the oldest is 106.

Sir Roger Daltrey, frontman of 1960s-formed rock group The Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust - known for its annual fundraising concerts at the Royal Albert Hall - has been knighted for services to charity and music.

Sir Roger said he was accepting the knighthood "on behalf of all those unsung people who had worked to make the charity the success it had become".

Georgia Harrison, 30, made her name on reality TV shows like Love Island and The Only Way is Essex. More recently, after her ex-partner was jailed in 2023 for posting intimate footage of her online, she has campaigned for sexual assault victims to be prioritised in the justice system and partnered with Thames Valley Police to encourage conversations about consent.

"Speaking out after what happened wasn't easy, but I knew it was important," Harrison said. "I didn't want anyone else to feel as alone or powerless as I did. I've tried to turn something painful into something positive, and this honour is a reminder that we can make change when we use our voices."

Darts player Luke Littler, 18 - the youngest winner of the PDC World Darts Championship - appears on the list with one of his main rivals - Premier League Darts champion Luke Humphries, 30, who also became an MBE. There is an OBE for veteran star of the sport Deta Hedman, 65, who is recognised for her contribution to sport and charity.

The honours system

* Companion of Honour - Limited to 65 people. Recipients wear the initials CH after their name

* Knight or Dame

* CBE - Commander of the Order of the British Empire

* OBE - Officer of the Order of the British Empire

* MBE - Member of the Order of the British Empire

* BEM - British Empire Medal

The Birthday Honours are awarded by the King following recommendations by the prime minister, senior government ministers and members of the public.

From the political world, there are damehoods for former Conservative cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt, who had a memorable role holding a ceremonial sword at the King's coronation in 2023, and Labour's Chi Onwurah, the MP for Newcastle Upon Tyne Central and West. There is also a knighthood for Labour's Mark Tami, the Alyn and Deeside MP.

Labour Glasgow MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy, the first permanent wheelchair user to be elected to Holyrood, has become an MBE for her public and political service.

Sir Philip Barton, the former top civil servant at the Foreign Office, who has previously received multiple royal honours, has become a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George for services to British foreign policy, while former Conservative health minister and MP for Lewes Maria Caulfield has been made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for political and public service.

The Foreign Office has announced an additional honours recognising the work of overseas residents or service abroad, and there are separate lists covering gallantry awards and for service personnel in the military.

Business leaders on the list include Nationwide chief executive Debbie Crosbie, who has been made a dame. Greggs chief executive Roisin Currie and Specsavers co-founder and chairman Douglas Perkins have both become CBEs.

Three trade union leaders are being recognised, with Dave Ward, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), and Dr Patrick Roach, the general secretary of the NASUWT teachers' union, being made CBEs, while Sue Ferns, deputy general secretary of the civil service union Prospect, is made an OBE.

Musicians Steve Winwood and 10cc's Graham Gouldman are both made MBEs, while there are OBEs for Stuart Worden, head of the BRIT School since 2021, and BBC Proms director David Pickard.

BBC radio presenter Martha Kearney, who hosted her final episode of the Today Programme in summer 2024, has been made a CBE for services to journalism and broadcasting.

Others from the world of stage and screen on the list include veteran theatrical star Jane Lapotaire, who is made a CBE. Bridgerton actor Adjoa Andoh and Bafta winner Samantha Morton are among the new MBEs, while former EastEnders star Anita Dobson's OBE recognises her work in charitable fundraising and philanthropy.

Another former EastEnders actress, Tracy-Ann Oberman, is made an MBE for services to Holocaust education and combating antisemitism.

The sport stars recognised include former Wimbledon champion Virginia Wade - a CBE for services to tennis and charity - and double Olympic triathlon gold medallist Alistair Brownlee and former cricketer Devon Malcolm, who both become OBEs.

Rugby League legend Billy Boston is also named on the list, making him the first person from the sport to receive a knighthood in its 130-year history. The 90-year-old trailblazer for black sports stars, who played for Wigan and Great Britain in the 1950s and 1960s, received his knighthood earlier this week because of concerns over his health.

Meanwhile, Angel of the North sculptor Sir Antony Gormley and physicist Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell have joined the elite Companions of Honour, an exclusive group limited to only 65 recipients at any one time.

But most people on the Birthday Honours list are being recognised for their work in the community.

After Samantha Madgin was murdered in Tyne and Wear in 2007, her sister Carly Barrett and mother Alison Magdin set up Samantha's Legacy to educate young people about the dangers of carrying knives. The pair are now MBEs.

Zahrah Mahmood, the president of Ramblers Scotland who is known on social media as the Hillwalking Hijabi, has been made an MBE for her contribution to voluntary service in Scotland. She is using her position as president to focus on diversity and inclusion within the outdoor community.

"If this recognition helps a little to show that the outdoors is for everyone, that would mean the world to me," Mrs Mahmood says. "But I'm also aware that visibility is often the first step. I would love to play a small part in continuing to move things in the right direction.

John and Lorna Norgrove have been made OBEs for services to women and children abroad and in Scotland after they set up a charity in memory of their daughter Linda, an aid worker who was kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan in September 2010 and died in an attempted rescue the following month.

"We dedicate this honour to all those brave women who remain in Afghanistan, or who have made the decision to leave their homes and families behind to move abroad and continue their studies and careers," the couple said. "Their struggle continues and they are the real heroes of this story."

And Duncan and Caroline Speirs and their daughter Jenna Speirs from the Isle of Bute all receive British Empire Medals for their work through Calum's Cabin, which provides holiday homes for children facing cancer, after their son Calum died in 2007.

The oldest person to be honoured on the list is 106-year-old World War Two veteran Norman Irwin, who served in North Africa and is being given a British Empire Medal (BEM). After returning to Northern Ireland, he formed the Coleraine Winemakers Club in the early 1960s, and also went on to become one of the founders of the town's Rotary Club and the Agivey Anglers Association.

Meanwhile, 11-year-old Carmela Chillery-Watson, from Dorset, is the youngest person on the list. Miss Chillery-Watson, who has LMNA congenital muscular dystrophy, has become the youngest-ever person to be made an MBE, in recognition of her fundraising and awareness campaigns for Muscular Dystrophy UK.

"I never thought anything like this would happen," she said. "I just want to make a difference to the disability community, to be able to show them: you're strong, you can do whatever you want."

Meta AI searches made public - but do all its users realise?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0573lj172jo, today

How would you feel if your internet search history was put online for others to see?

That may be happening to some users of Meta AI without them realising, as people's prompts to the artificial intelligence tool - and the results - are posted on a public feed.

One internet safety expert said it was "a huge user experience and security problem" as some posts are easily traceable, through usernames and profile pictures, to social media accounts.

This means some people may be unwittingly telling the world about things they may not want others to know they have searched for - such as asking the AI to generate scantily-clad characters or help them cheat on tests.

Meta has been contacted for comment.

It is not clear if the users know that their searches are being posted into a public feed on the Meta AI app and website, though the process is not automatic.

If people choose to share a post, a message pops up which says: "Prompts you post are public and visible to everyone... Avoid sharing personal or sensitive information."

The BBC found several examples of people uploading photos of school or university test questions, and asking Meta AI for answers.

One of the chats is titled "Generative AI tackles math problems with ease".

There were also searches for women and anthropomorphic animal characters wearing very little clothing.

One search, which could be traced back to a person's Instagram account because of their username and profile picture, asked Meta AI to generate an image of an animated character lying outside wearing only underwear.

Meanwhile, tech news outlet TechCrunch has reported examples of people posting intimate medical questions - such as how to deal with an inner thigh rash.

'You're in control'

Meta AI, launched earlier this year, can be accessed through its social media platforms Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp.

It is also available as a standalone product which has a public "Discover" feed.

Users can opt to make their searches private in their account settings.

Meta AI is currently available in the UK through a browser, while in the US it can be used through an app.

In a press release from April which announced Meta AI, the company said there would be "a Discover feed, a place to share and explore how others are using AI".

"You're in control: nothing is shared to your feed unless you choose to post it," it said.

But Rachel Tobac, chief executive of US cyber security company Social Proof Security, posted on X saying: "If a user's expectations about how a tool functions don't match reality, you've got yourself a huge user experience and security problem."

She added that people do not expect their AI chatbot interactions to be made public on a feed normally associated with social media.

"Because of this, users are inadvertently posting sensitive info to a public feed with their identity linked," she said.

Judge hears closing arguments in ice hockey sexual assault trial

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdr51x8p3d6o, today

Closing arguments have concluded in the trial of five Canadian ice hockey players accused of sexually assaulting a woman, with both sides offering competing stories on what had unfolded on the evening of the alleged assault.

The accused men, all former players for Canada's world junior hockey team, have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Their fate now rests with a judge.

Their lawyers argued that the woman consented to engaging in sexual acts with the players at a hotel room in London, Ontario, in 2018, while attending a hockey gala.

The woman testified that she had consensual sex with one player that night, but did not agree to sexual acts with the others who had entered the hotel room.

The accused are Michael McLeod, Dillon Dubé, Cal Foote, Alex Formenton and Carter Hart. All were professional players with the National Hockey League (NHL) when the assault allegations emerged.

The woman is known as EM due to a publication ban on her name. She was 20 years old at the time of the incident.

She testified that she had met Mr McLeod at a bar in June 2018, where he and other players were celebrating after the gala. In her testimony, she told the court that she had agreed to go to Mr McLeod's hotel room and they had consensual sex.

Crown lawyer Meaghan Cunningham argued that the woman was later put in a "highly stressful and unpredictable" situation after Mr McLeod invited other players by text message to the room for a "three-way".

She feared for her safety, the lawyer said, and felt pressured to perform sexual acts to protect herself, including having sex with one player and oral sex with three others.

Over days of testimony, EM said that she went on "auto-pilot" mode as the men demanded sex acts from her.

Ms Cunningham referenced a video shot by Mr McLeod at the end of the night of the woman, where he can be heard asking her "You're OK with this, though, right?" and she responds: "I'm OK with this."

She argued that the way the question is framed suggests EM had not agreed to what had just transpired.

"I want to ask Your Honour to think carefully about those words and what they tell us about what was happening at that point in time," Ms Cunningham told Justice Maria Carroccia.

Defence lawyers told the court a different story, focusing on her credibility and reliability as a witness.

They argued it was EM who was the instigator and demanded sex acts from the men in the room.

Defence lawyers also argued her actions that night made them believe she was consenting and zeroed in on one part of her testimony, where she said she had adopted a "porn star persona" as a coping mechanism during the incident.

They said that the Crown had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the woman did not consent.

"This alone warrants an acquittal against all of these defendants," said lawyer Lisa Carnelos, who represented Mr Dubé.

The closing arguments mark the end of the month-and-a-half long trial, which featured a declaration of a mistrial early on and the dismissal of the jury mid-way through.

The verdict will be decided by Justice Carroccia alone. It is scheduled to be delivered on 24 July.

US judge denies Mahmoud Khalil's release

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crr7g2129nko, today

A federal judge has denied Mahmoud Khalil's request to be released from detention, ruling on Friday that the US government is not violating his previous court order by holding him.

On Wednesday, Judge Michael Farbiarz ruled Mr Khalil could not be deported or detained based on Secretary of State Marco Rubio's determination that his presence "would compromise a compelling US foreign policy interest."

The US government told the court that Mr Khalil is being detained for a different reason - that he was "an alien inadmissible at the time of entry or admission".

Acknowledging that argument, Judge Farbiarz said Mr Khalil, a lawful permanent resident, would have to remain in detention.

In a letter to the court on Friday, the justice department said Judge Farbiarz had "expressly noted" that his order would "have no impact on efforts to remove [Mr Khalil] for reasons other than the Secretary of State's determination".

Along with holding Mr Khalil because he had been deemed a threat to US foreign policy, the government is detaining him because of alleged inaccuracies on his application to become a permanent resident.

In his response to the government letter on Friday, Judge Fabiarz agreed with the government and said Mr Khalil had not provided any "factual evidence" or any "meaningful legal arguments" as to why he may not be detained on the immigration charges.

Judge Fabiarz had addressed those harges in his Wednesday decision, saying that it was unlikely the government would hold anyone solely for alleged inaccuracies on an application and the primary reason behind Mr Khalil's detention was Secretary Rubio's determination.

But he did not say it was illegal to hold someone only on those charges.

Mr Khalil, a Columbia University graduate, was arrested by immigration agents in March and his detention part of President Donald Trump's promised crackdown on international student demonstrators he accuses of "un-American activity".

Trump has repeatedly alleged that pro-Palestinian activists, including Mr Khalil, support Hamas, a group designated a terrorist organisation by the US and pledged to deport them.

The 30-year-old has contended he was exercising his right to free speech while demonstrating in support of Palestinians in Gaza. His lawyers have accused the government of "open repression of student activism and political speech".

In his Wednesday decision, Judge Fabriarz had written that Mr Khalil's "career and reputation are being damaged and his speech is being chilled --- and this adds up to irreparable harm".

He had also written he expected Mr Khalil to win his case in court.

Mr Khalil's arrest was the highest-profile in Trump's crackdown on international student protesters, as video of his arrest whipped around social media and the birth of his first child in April, which he was still detained, made international headlines.

Kilmar Ábrego García pleads not guilty in human trafficking case

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cglerezp43no, today

A Salvadoran man who was mistakenly deported from the US before being returned to face criminal charges has pleaded not guilty to two counts related to alleged human trafficking.

Kilmar Ábrego García appeared at a hearing via video link in Nashville on Friday and denied charges of illegally transporting migrants and conspiracy.

Trump officials claim that he is a member of the MS-13 gang, an accusation that Mr Ábrego García's lawyers and family have strongly denied.

After he was deported in March, government officials initially said he could not be brought back to the US, but later had him brought to Tennessee where he was charged.

Mr Ábrego García first entered the US illegally in 2011 and was granted protection from deportation by an immigration judge in 2019 because it was determined he might face danger from gangs if returned to his native El Salvador.

However in March 2025 the Maryland resident was deported and initially held in El Salvador's Cecot mega-prison, in what Trump administration officials later admitted was a mistake. A judge ordered ordered the government to "facilitate" his return, however White House officials initially refused to bring him back.

On Friday, protesters gathered outside the courthouse in support of Mr Ábrego García in advance of the hearing, according to local news reports.

Mr Ábrego García's wife read out a message outside the hearing.

"To all the families still fighting to be reunited after a family separation, or if you too are in detention, Kilmar wants you to have faith," Jennifer Vasquez Sura said.

A judge was set to rule on whether Mr Ábrego García will be detained or released before trial.

In an indictment filed last month, US Justice Department prosecutors alleged that for years Mr Ábrego García conspired with others to bring migrants from Latin American countries into the US.

Prosecutors said that Mr Ábrego García and an unnamed co-conspirator would pick up migrants in Houston and transport them to other places in the US and that they "knowingly and unlawfully transported thousands", according to the indictment.

The charges, which date back to 2016, allege he transported undocumented individuals between Texas and his home in Maryland and other states more than 100 times.

At one point in December 2022, Mr Ábrego García was briefly detained by a Tennessee highway patrol officer. However, no criminal charges were lodged against him at the time.

His lawyers dispute the government's case, describing it as "preposterous" and an "abuse of power".

"There's no way a jury is going to see the evidence and agree that this sheet metal worker is the leader of an international MS-13 smuggling conspiracy," said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, one of Mr Ábrego García's lawyers.

North Korea claims warship launch successful on second try

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1mgd0252kpo, today

North Korea says it has successfully relaunched its new 5,000-ton naval destroyer, less than a month after it capsized during the first attempted launch, state media reports.

The country's leader, Kim Jong Un, had reacted furiously to the warship's failed launch in May, and demanded it be quickly repaired.

At least four officials - three shipyard officials and one senior official - have since been arrested over the incident.

State media says the ship has now been fully restored. But given how quickly it has been relaunched, experts are questioning whether the repairs are really complete.

Kim and his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, oversaw Tuesday's launch at Rajin Port in the country's north, according to KCNA, which published photos of them at the event.

This warship is one of two brand new 5,000-ton naval destroyers North Korea has built over the past year and launched since April.

They are now the biggest ships Pyongyang has in its fleet and are capable, in theory, of launching nuclear weapons.

Kim has made it a priority to develop a nuclear-armed navy, and says he plans to build two more of these destroyers in the coming year.

Satellite photos over the past few weeks showed the capsized ship in the harbour, before it was moved to a repair site, and then being refloated in the water, before it was moored at the pier.

According to KCNA, Kim spoke at Friday's event, saying that the initial failed launch had not set back the North's military modernisation programme.

"Soon, enemies will experience how provocative and unpleasant it is to sit and watch the ships of an adversary run rampant on the fringes of sovereign waters," it quoted him as saying.

What could have caused Air India plane to crash in 30 seconds?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c626y121rxxo, yesterday

What exactly happened to Flight AI171 between Ahmedabad and London Gatwick on Thursday afternoon will only be revealed by a detailed investigation, but the moments after take-off can be the most challenging in aviation.

Indian investigators will be joined by experts from the US and UK in the coming days, as authorities attempt to establish what caused the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner to crash shortly after take-off just 1.5km (0.9 miles) from the runway at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.

It marks the first time a 787-8 Dreamliner has suffered a fatal crash since it entered commercial service in 2011. Thursday's disaster killed 241 people onboard and more on the ground.

The BBC has spoken to aviation experts as well as pilots based in India - some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity - who regularly fly 787-8s out of India's international airports to find out what factors might have caused the plane to slam into residential buildings in the heart of Ahmedabad just moments into its flight.

Struggled to gain altitude

The 787-8 Dreamliner was flown by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and his co-pilot Clive Kundar. The two were highly experienced, with Mr Sabharwal reportedly having earned more than 22-years expertise as a commercial airline pilot and over 8,000 flying hours.

The plane was carrying 242 people as it taxied along the runway at Ahmedabad International Airport on Thursday afternoon. The jet took off at 13:39 local time (08:09 GMT), operator Air India said.

India's Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah said the plane was carrying 100 tonnes of fuel - practically a full load - as it climbed out of Ahmedabad.

Almost immediately after take-off the cockpit gave a mayday call, India's aviation regulator said. No response was given by the aircraft after that. It's unclear what prompted the mayday call, but the flight's sole survivor has told Indian media that he heard a loud bang as the plane struggled to gain altitude.

Footage authenticated by BBC Verify then showed the plane flying low over what appears to be a residential neighbourhood. The final transmitted data showed the plane reached a height of 625ft (190m). It proceeds to descend and becomes obscured by trees and buildings, before a large explosion appears on the horizon.

"There would have been no time for him to react if he lost both engines," one pilot said. CCTV footage viewed by BBC Verify showed that the plane was airborne for 30 seconds.

The plane crashed in a residential area, with images showing housing blocks heavily damaged in a densely built area which included hospitals and official buildings.

Speculation of 'very rare' double engine failure

It is almost impossible to definitively establish what caused the disaster based on videos of the plane's brief flight.

In the coming days a complex investigation involving the plane's black box - which records flight data - and an examination of debris will commence. But videos that have emerged show the plane struggling to lift off the ground, seemingly amid a lack of thrust or power.

One cause that has been speculated on by some experts is the possibility of an extremely rare double engine failure. Questions have been raised as to whether the plane had its Ram Air Turbine (RAT) deployed, an emergency back-up turbine which kicks in when main engines fail to generate power for essential systems.

Double engine failures are almost unheard of, with the most notable example being the 2009 "Miracle on the Hudson", when a US Airways Airbus A320 lost both engines to a bird strike moments after take-off from New York's LaGuardia Airport, but glided to safety.

One senior pilot told the BBC that dual engine failure could also result from fuel contamination or clogging. Aircraft engines rely on a precise fuel metering system - if that system gets blocked, it can lead to fuel starvation and engine shutdown.

Marco Chan, an ex-pilot, told BBC Verify that there isn't any evidence to suggest a double engine failure based on the available footage.

Mohan Ranganathan, an aviation expert, told the BBC that a double engine failure would be "a very, very rare incident".

Engine manufacturer GE Aerospace said it was sending a team to India to help with the investigation, while Boeing said it was offering its full support to the airline.

Bird strikes

Another possibility raised by some experts in India is a bird strike.

They occur when a plane collides with a bird and can be extremely dangerous for aircraft. In serious cases, engines can lose power if they suck in a bird, as happened in South Korea's Jeju Air disaster which killed 179 people last year.

Experts and pilots familiar with Ahmedabad airport have told the BBC that it is "notorious for birds".

"They are always around," says Mr Ranganathan, echoing what at least three Indian pilots who have flown in and out of the airport told the BBC .

Gujarat state, where Ahmedabad is located, reported 462 bird strike incidents over five years, with most occurring at Ahmedabad airport, according to Civil Aviation Ministry data tabled in Parliament in December 2023.

A Times of India report in September 2023 cited Airport Authority data noting 38 bird strikes in 2022–23 in Ahmedabad, a 35% rise over previous 12 months.

In the 2009 case, a flock of seagulls was ingested at 2,700ft – more than four times higher than the Air India flight. In this case the Indian pilots had neither the altitude nor the time to manoeuvre.

However, a senior pilot said that a bird hit is rarely catastrophic "unless it affects both engines".

Could the plane's flaps have contributed?

Three experts who spoke to BBC Verify suggested that the disaster may have occurred as the aircraft's flaps were not extended during take-off - though other pilots and analysts have challenged this.

Flaps play a vital role during take-off, helping an aircraft generate maximum lift at lower speeds.

If they're not properly extended, a fully loaded jet - carrying passengers, heavy fuel for a long-haul flight, and battling hot conditions - will struggle to lift off.

In Ahmedabad, where temperatures neared 40°C (104F) on Thursday, the thinner air would have demanded higher flap settings and greater engine thrust, one pilot told the BBC. In such conditions, even a small configuration error can have catastrophic consequences.

CCTV footage which emerged late on Thursday afternoon showed the plane taking off from Ahmedabad, struggling to achieve altitude, and then slowly descending before crashing.

But a take-off roll with retracted flaps would trigger warnings from the 787's take-off Configuration Warning System, alerting the flight crew to an unsafe configuration, according to one pilot the BBC spoke to.

Ex-pilot Mr Chan told BBC Verify that the footage that has emerged so far is too distorted to establish for sure whether the flaps were extended, but said that such an error would be "highly unusual".

"The flaps are set by pilots themselves, before take off, and there are several checklists and procedures to verify the setting," Mr Chan said. "That would point to potential human error if flaps aren't set correctly."

Additional reporting by Jake Horton

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

'If I give up searching, I might never recover': Families of air crash victims cling to hope

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgn23757jzo, today

Imtiyaz Ali Sayed refuses to grieve.

Not when the news first broke - that his younger brother Javed, along with Javed's wife and two children, had perished in the devastating Air India crash in Ahmedabad on Thursday afternoon.

Not even now, more than 10 hours later, as the clock strikes three in the morning and he paces the sterile corridors of the hospital where their bodies lie, refusing to sit, refusing to accept.

Authorities have confirmed that only one of the 242 people aboard the London-bound flight survived. DNA testing is now underway to identify the victims.

Mr Sayed, a Mumbai-based businessman, is one of dozens of families awaiting closure after one of India's worst aviation disasters.

He says that until he sees his brother's body - or "whatever remains of it" - with his own eyes, he will keep looking for him.

"You don't understand. They were my life - if I give up now, I might never be able to recover," he says.

Then he swipes through his phone, showing pictures of his niece and nephew, including some that were taken just moments before they boarded the flight.

Mr Sayed recalls how their elder sister was meant to travel to London with Javed but couldn't get a ticket. Then he falls silent. Outside, the night deepens, the sky darkening by slow degrees.

Minutes later, he picks up his phone again - this time to show a series of messages he sent Javed after hearing about the crash.

"Look," he says, holding out the screen. "They're still getting delivered. That has to mean something, right?"

The tragedy had unfolded in seconds: a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner burst into flames shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, crashing into a medical college in a densely packed residential neighborhood.

"There was a loud roar, a deafening screech and then suddenly, fire, iron and steel began to rain from the sky," said Mukesh, a driver who lives about 15 minutes away from the site of the crash.

At least eight people who were killed on the ground, a senior health official in Ahmedabad has told the BBC. When rescuers first arrived, they found fragments of the aircraft shattered with such force that it was hard to tell the pieces apart from human remains, two members of the disaster force told the BBC.

Since the crash, a foul, acrid smell has hung over the area as smoke billowed from the wreckage late into the night.

Authorities say they're working to identify victims, but the scale of destruction has made the task immensely difficult.

A volunteer at Civil Hospital told the BBC, on condition of anonymity, that many bodies are so badly charred and mangled, physical identification may be impossible.

"It's like trying to tell ashes apart from ashes."

For families, the wait has been excruciating. Many have camped outside the hospital- in cars or on the streets - their anguished cries echoing through the corridors.

Sameer Shaikh's wife can't stop crying. Their son, Irfan - an Air India crew member - didn't call often, but always messaged before takeoff and after landing.

So when the airline called that afternoon, Mr Shaikh was confused. Irfan was supposed to be en route to London.

"But instead, we found out he died in a crash."

Shaikh, who lives in Pune, flew to Ahmedabad with his family to collect his son's body. An Air India official at the Civil Hospital helped him with the identification process.

"But the police didn't let us take my son back," he says. "They asked us to come back in three days, after the DNA sampling of all the victims was completed."

Devastated, the couple have been searching for help - and answers.

"What are we to do?" he asks, pointing to his wife, sitting on a street corner, sobbing. "How can we wait three days when we know it's our son?"

The Shaikhs are not alone in their anguish. Just across the city, another tragedy is still unfolding - this one at the very site where the plane went down.

BJ Medical College Civil Hospital, one of Ahmedabad's most respected institutions, became ground zero when the aircraft crashed into its hostel on Thursday. Casualties have been reported, but the full toll remains unclear.

Payal Thakur paces anxiously, searching for any news about her mother, Sarla, who worked as a cook at the hostel. She was in the back of the building - the very spot where the aircraft struck.

Recounting the day's events, Ms Thakur says her family, who work at the hospital, had left for work around 13:00 local time.

"The plan was to serve lunch to the doctors and return home. But when my mother saw students arriving at the mess hall, she decided to stay back and make rotis (flatbreads) for them," she says.

That was the moment the plane slammed into the hostel and tore through the building's first floor. In the chaotic minutes that followed, confusion and grief hung heavy.

"There was so much black smoke pouring out of the building. People were running, trying to save their lives. We've been searching for our mother since morning, but we haven't found any trace of her," she adds.

Her father, Prahlad Thakur, says Sarla wasn't alone - "My brother's daughter was with her," he says. Both are missing.

They searched the top floor, where the kitchen was, but found nothing.

"I went there twice, hoping to find something - anything. But there was only water and debris," he says.

The crash didn't just shatter a building - it shattered a normal afternoon on campus.

"There was a loud noise. All the doors and windows of the classroom began to tremble. Everyone ran outside to check what had happened," a student, who preferred to remain unnamed, said.

As the news spread and it began to become increasingly clear that many students had been injured - possibly even killed - panic rippled across the campus. Some began to run, others, too dazed by what they had witnessed, froze on the spot, their sobs mingling with the screams.

"A student just stood there with tears in his eyes, unable to move, while others were so badly hurt they had to be carried to the hospital. Many are now being treated for severe wounds, a few of them are in the ICU," the other added.

By evening, the badly damaged corridors stood silent. Backpacks and half-eaten meals lay abandoned on tables where students had fled. The air was still thick with smoke, sirens, and the weight of what had just unfolded.

Additional reporting by Kalpesh Kumar Chavda in Ahmedabad

What we know so far after Air India flight to London crashes in Ahmedabad

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y5nq170z4o, yesterday

An Air India passenger plane bound for London's Gatwick airport crashed shortly after taking off in Ahmedabad, western India, on Thursday, killing 241 passengers and crew.

It later emerged that only one passenger, a British man, had survived.

Among those on board were Indian, British, Portuguese and Canadian nationals.

More than 200 bodies were recovered from the scene, but it is unclear how many are from those on board the plane, and how many are casualties from the ground.

Details are still emerging from the scene.

When and where did the plane crash?

Air India flight AI171 left Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 13:39 local time (08:09 GMT), Air India said.

It was scheduled to land at London Gatwick at 18:25 BST.

The plane crashed on departure from Ahmedabad - where all operations have since been suspended.

According to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, the signal from the aircraft was lost "less than a minute after take-off".

Flight tracking data ends with the plane at an altitude of 625ft (190m).

The plane gave a mayday call to air traffic control, India's aviation regulator said. No response was given by the aircraft after that.

It crashed into a residential area called Meghani Nagar.

Doctors' hostel struck

The plane crashed into a building used as doctors' accommodation at the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College and Civil Hospital.

A photograph taken after the crash shows abandoned tables and plates of food in the canteen of the hostel. At the far end of the room, people have gathered to inspect a huge hole in the wall apparently caused by the impact of the plane.

One woman at the scene told ANI that her son jumped from the second floor of the hostel, sustaining injuries, when the plane crashed there.

Verified footage taken in central Ahmedabad showed huge plumes of black smoke in the sky.

The BBC's Roxy Gagdekar said people near the scene were running to "save as many lives as possible".

He said emergency services were involved in a rescue operation and trying to extinguish a fire, and described seeing bodies being taken from the area.

Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told a press briefing that "we have lost a lot of people".

Air India later issued a statement confirming 241 people on board the plane had been killed. The airline said the "sole survivor" was being treated in hospital.

Ahmedabad's police chief GS Malik said it was highly likely that there were also casualties on the ground where the plane crashed, and warned that "some locals" would have died.

Warning: the following clip contains distressing footage.

Who was on board?

Air India confirmed that there were 242 passengers and crew members on board the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which has a total of 256 seats.

There were 169 Indians, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese nationals, one Canadian and 12 crew on the plane.

The sole survivor of the crash has been named as Vishwashkumar Ramesh, a British man who was sitting in seat 11A.

He was quoted by Indian media as saying: "Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly."

The BBC spoke to one of his relatives, Ajay Valgi in Leicester, who said Vishwashkumar had called the family to say he was "fine".

Mr Valgi said Vishwashkumar did not know the whereabouts of his brother, also called Ajay, who was also on the plane.

What do we know about the plane?

The aircraft involved was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, and the Air India crash is the first time it has come down like this.

The model was launched 14 years ago. Just six weeks ago, Boeing lauded the fact that it had reached the milestone of carrying one billion passengers.

Air India operates a fleet of more than 190 planes including 58 Boeing aircraft, according to its website.

In a statement, Boeing said: "We are in contact with Air India regarding Flight 171 and stand ready to support them. Our thoughts are with the passengers, crew, first responders and all affected."

Did wing flaps play a role in causing crash?

What have the airline and authorities said?

Air India confirmed on X that the flight was "involved in an accident today after take-off".

It said it was fully co-operating with authorities investigating the crash and would provide further updates and has set up a dedicated passenger hotline to provide further information: 1800 5691 444

A spokesperson for Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport said all operations had been suspended until further notice, and they advised passengers to check with their airline before travelling to the airport.

Tata Group, which owns Air India, has said it will give 1 crore rupees - the equivalent of around £86,000 – to the families of each person killed in the crash.

The chief executive of Air India, Campbell Wilson, described his "deep sorrow" following the incident.

"This is a difficult day for all of us at Air India and our efforts now are focused entirely on the needs of our passengers, crew members, their families and loved ones," he said in a video statement.

India's aviation minister said he had directed "all aviation and emergency response agencies to take swift and coordinated action".

Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjaparu added on X: "Rescue teams have been mobilised, and all efforts are being made to ensure medical aid and relief support are being rushed to the site."

Officials have been instructed to carry out "immediate rescue and relief operations" and to make arrangements on a "war footing," the chief minister of Gujarat said.

How have India and the UK reacted?

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "stunned and saddened" by the crash.

"It is heartbreaking beyond words," he said in a statement on X, adding he had been in touch with officials assisting those affected.

UK Prime Minster Sir Keir Starmer said the scenes emerging from Ahmedabad were "devastating".

"I am being kept updated as the situation develops, and my thoughts are with the passengers and their families at this deeply distressing time," he said.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the UK was working with local authorities in India to "urgently establish the facts" and provide support.

The King said he and Queen Camilla were "desperately shocked by the terrible events in Ahmedabad this morning" and extended his sympathy to those affected.

He said in a statement: "I would like to pay a particular tribute to the heroic efforts of the emergency services and all those providing help and support at this most heartbreaking and traumatic time."

You can also get in touch by following this link

Who are the victims of the Air India plane crash?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdd28legnzvo, today

All but one of those on board an Air India flight bound for London Gatwick Airport that crashed shortly after take-off in western India on Thursday have died, the airline has confirmed.

There were 242 passengers and crew on board the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, including 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian.

At least eight local people, including four medical students, living in a residential area of Ahmedabad where the plane came down have also died, a senior health official told the BBC.

One passenger, British national Vishwashkumar Ramesh, survived the crash and was treated in hospital for injuries.

Details are still emerging, but these are the people so far confirmed by the BBC to have died.

Ashok and Shobhana Patel

Ashok Patel, a financial adviser, and Shobhana Patel, a retired microbiologist, were living in Orpington, Kent.

The British couple were on the plane returning home to their two sons, Miten and Hemit, their daughter-in-law Shivani, as well as two grandchildren, Amyra and Arjun.

Miten, the eldest son, told the BBC the couple had spoken to him and Amyra whilst waiting for their flight to depart. They said they were excited that they would soon see their grandchildren again.

They were both full of life and never gave up when times were tough, Miten said.

"We were so fortunate and so proud to have been given them as our parents, we will miss them every day and make sure the kids remember the good times with Baa and Dada [grandma and granddad]," he added.

Renjitha Gopakumaran Nair

Renjitha Gopakumaran Nair was a nurse who had just resigned from her job at Portsmouth's Queen Alexandra Hospital.

She was finalising a permanent move back home to India to be with her two children and elderly mother, and had travelled out there to submit documents for a nursing post in Kerala.

Her family said she had even set a date for a housewarming party at her newly-built home in the city.

Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust described her as a "much-loved and valued member" of their nursing team and said her loss has come as a shock.

She had a 12-year-old daughter and a 15-year-old son.

Ketan Shah

Father-of-two Ketan Shah was among the passengers on the plane.

The 43-year-old had lived in Dorset for more than a decade, and is survived by his wife Megha, a teenage son and daughter.

He ran a village community store in Shipton Bellinger, Hampshire, and was visiting India to see his sick father.

His close friend of more than 15 years Jigneshkumar Patel said he was "still trying to process this heart-breaking news" and he was "like a brother" to him.

He said a tribute to him was being arranged in Southampton.

"Before the plane took off he called his wife to tell her he was on the flight and that's the last conversation she had with him," Mr Patel said.

The Nanabawa family

Three of the British nationals thought to have died in the incident were a family who lived in Gloucester.

Akeel Nanabawa, his wife Hannaa Vorajee and their four-year-old daughter Sara Nanabawa were all on board the flight.

A statement on behalf of their family said they were "heartbroken" and "devastated", adding that "we are still coming to terms with the enormity of what has happened".

"They were widely loved and deeply respected," Imam Abdullah said.

"His [Akeel's] quiet generosity, her [Hannaa's] warmth and kindness, and their daughter's [Sara's] bright, joyful spirit made a lasting impact on everyone who knew them.

"This tragedy has shaken our entire community. In a place where people know and care for one another, the pain is being shared by many."

Gloucester Muslim Society said it passed on its "most sincere and deepest condolences".

"No words can truly ease the pain of such a profound loss, but we pray that the family may find solace in the tremendous outpouring of compassion and solidarity from communities across the world.

"May their cherished memories provide comfort, and may they rest in eternal peace."

Adam and Hasina Taju, and their son-in-law Altafhusen Patel

Adam Taju, 72, and his wife Hasina, 70, were flying back from Ahmedabad with their 51-year-old son-in-law, Altafhusen Patel. All three lived in London.

The couple's granddaughter, Ammaarah Taju, spoke of her shock and disbelief at her parents home in Blackburn.

She said her father, Altaf Taju, had driven to London to be with his sister as they received updates about the crash from Air India and government officials.

Fiongal and Jamie Greenlaw-Meek

Fiongal and Jamie Greenlaw-Meek, a married British couple, ran a spiritual wellness centre in London.

They posted on Instagram earlier on Thursday saying they were about to board the flight from Ahmedabad airport.

In the video, they were seen laughing and joking with each other about their trip to India.

The Syed family

Also on the plane were Javed Syed and his wife Mariam, from west London.

They were onboard with their two young children Zayn and Amani, and were returning from a holiday in India.

Mrs Syed worked at Harrods and Mr Syed worked at a west London hotel.

Ajay Kumar Ramesh

Ajay Kumar Ramesh was on the flight, sat alongside his brother, the British surviving passenger Vishwashkumar Ramesh.

His cousin, Ajay Valgi, told the BBC that Vishwashkumar Ramesh had called his family to say he was "fine", but he did not know the whereabouts of his brother.

Vijay Rupani

Vijay Rupani, former chief minister of India's Gujarat state, was killed in the crash, the country's civil aviation minister told reporters.

Rupani served as the chief minister of the western Indian state from 2016-21.

He was a member of the governing BJP party.

Singson

Singson was a member of the cabin crew on board Air India flight 171, her family said.

Outside the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad, her cousin, T. Thanglingo Haokip, told the BBC he was trying to get information about her but was unsuccessful.

He added that Singson had a mother and brother who were "wholly dependent on her" as she "was the only breadwinner" in her family.

Raxa Modha and her two-year-old grandson, Rudra Modha

A woman and her grandson from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire were also on board the plane.

Raxa Modha, and her two-year-old grandson, Rudra, were believed to have been flying back to England for a memorial service for Ms Modha's late husband, Kishor, who died in April from cancer.

Raj Mishra, the mayor of Wellingborough, said: "I extend my deepest condolences to their families, friends and all those affected by this heartbreaking event.

"May their memories be a blessing, and may we come together to support one another in this time of grief."

The Joshi family

A consultant radiologist from Derby, his wife and three young children have been named among the victims.

Prateek Joshi, who worked at the Royal Derby Hospital since 2021, is believed to have been travelling back from India, where his wife Komi Vyas and their three children - five-year-old twin boys Nakul and Pradyut and eight-year-old daughter Miraya, eight - were based.

A colleague who worked closely with Dr Joshi described him as a "wonderful man" and said his passing had "left a profound void".

"Prateek was full of joy," Dr Rajeev Singh, clinical director for imaging at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton (UHDB), said. "He approached everything with a smile, radiated positivity and had a great sense of humour.

"He touched the lives of so many people, both through his clinical work and as a colleague and friend to many."

Dr Singh added it was "hard to accept" that a man with such a passion for life and his beautiful young family had been taken in this way.

The Derby Hindu Temple paid tribute to the family on its Facebook page saying: "Dr Joshi [and his family] were devotees of our Mandir and supported us through their sincere service and dedication.

"We pray to Lord Shiva to grant eternal peace to the departed souls and to give strength to the bereaved family to bear this immense loss."

Neil Ryan, who lived next door to them for two years, also described them as "the nicest family".

The Girish family

A family of four, from north-west London, have also been identified.

Hemaxi Shantilal and her husband Girish Lagli, from Wembley, were on board the London-bound flight with their young children Aadiv and Taksvi Girish.

It is believed the family were sat in row 30 of the aircraft with Taksvi sitting on an adult's lap.

Dhir and Heer Baxi

Sisters Dhir and Heer Baxi, both in their early 20s, were returning home to London on the flight, having visited India to surprise their grandmother for her birthday.

Their cousin Ishan Baxi, who lives in Ahmedabad, told PA news agency the siblings had an "amazing aura" and had ambitions to "roam around the world".

Heer worked as a product manager and "loved statistics and finance", while Dhir was a fashion designer who had studied at Parsons Paris art and design school, Mr Baxi said.

Royals to honour air crash victims at Trooping the Colour

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3d4g5eeemro, today

King Charles has asked the Royal Family taking part in the Trooping the Colour parade to wear black armbands, as a mark of respect to the victims of the Air India plane crash, Buckingham Palace said.

The King requested a minute's silence, which will come after his inspection of the parade on Saturday, in recognition of "the lives lost, the families in mourning and all the communities affected by this awful tragedy", a Palace spokesman said.

The Trooping the Colour ceremony in London marks the King's birthday, with 1,350 troops involved in the annual parade.

The King, who is receiving cancer treatment, is expected to travel in a carriage as he did last year, rather than riding on horseback.

The King had sent a message of support soon after the news broke of the air crash, which claimed the lives of all but one of the 242 passengers and crew.

Flags have been at half-mast at royal residences and the black armbands will add another sign of respect, with the King having said he was "desperately shocked by the terrible events in Ahmedabad".

Coachmen and women on carriages in the parade are also likely to wear black armbands, along with those senior royals in military uniform in the parade, including the King and the Prince of Wales.

Those royals at the ceremony but not in uniform will probably not wear armbands.

The Trooping the Colour ceremony includes an inspection of troops on Horse Guards and the parade along the Mall.

It culminates traditionally in a Red Arrows flypast over Buckingham Palace, watched from the balcony by the Royal Family.

King Charles's actual birthday is in November, but in an effort to hold the event in better weather, monarchs have traditionally held public celebrations in the summer.

The ceremony dates back to the 17th Century and sees regimental colours being displayed in front of the monarch - with the colours of the Coldstream Guards to be presented this year.

At last year's event there had been huge interest in the return of the Princess of Wales after her cancer diagnosis, for what was her first public appearance of the year. The princess is now in remission from her cancer.

The King is still receiving ongoing cancer treatment, but has seemed well enough for a busy round of engagements and is recently back from a well-received visit to Canada.

You can watch coverage of the King's Birthday Parade at 10.30am on Saturday on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Sign up here to get the latest royal stories and analysis every week with our Royal Watch newsletter. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

Israel's overnight strike on Iran in maps and images

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crr7gdr82e0o, today

Israel has hit Iran with its biggest wave of air strikes in years, targeting the country's nuclear programme, and is promising to continue its attacks.

Senior military figures and nuclear scientists were killed in the overnight strikes and there are unconfirmed reports that civilians, including children, were also among the victims. In response, Iran launched about 100 drones towards Israel, most of which were intercepted, according to the Israeli military.

Israel said it had launched a another wave of strikes on Friday evening, with reports of more explosions in Iran, but the scale of that attack and the damage caused is not yet clear.

Video analysed by the BBC shows multiple strikes overnight in the capital Tehran as well near three reported military sites and Iran's main nuclear facility in Natanz.

What has Israel targeted?

Israel's military said it had struck "dozens of military targets, including nuclear targets in different areas of Iran".

It later released a map of the sites it said it had hit which included nuclear facilities, missile facilities and radar defences, as well as scientists and military commanders.

Multiple strikes in Tehran

Explosions were first reported in Tehran at about 03:30 local time (01:00 BST), with Iranian state TV saying residential areas were among those hit.

Blasts were heard in the north-east of the capital and explosions reported at the airport, according to analysis by the US-based Institute for the Study of War.

The BBC has confirmed one of the locations as the site where Iranian media reported that former head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation Fereydoon Abbasi and nuclear scientist Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi were killed. Iran has confirmed that at least six of its nuclear scientists were killed.

Iranian state media showed footage of fires burning in buildings and plumes of smoke rising from the city's skyline.

Key Iranian commanders have also been killed, including the chief of staff of the armed forces, and the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

Nuclear facilities targeted

Among the other sites hit is Iran's main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, in the centre of the country. Iranian state TV said it was struck several times, with pictures showing black smoke billowing from the site.

Israel's military said the strikes had caused significant damage.

The facility, about 225km (140 miles) south of Tehran, has enrichment plants above and below ground.

Uranium can be used to produce fuel for commercial nuclear power plants, research reactors or weapons depending on the level of enrichment.

The Institute for Science and International Security said satellite images show damage and destruction to several buildings around the complex, including the pilot fuel enrichment plant, which holds centrifuges and research facilities, as well as the on site electrical substation that provides power to the facility.

The global nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said it was informed by Iranian authorities that there has been no increase in radiation levels at the Natanz plant.

Iran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only. It has several facilities around Iran, at least some of which have been targeted in the Israeli strikes.

But many countries - as well as the IAEA - are not convinced Iran's programme is for civilian purposes alone. It has nuclear facilities spread across much of the country.

The strikes come as US talks over Iran's nuclear programme, which began in April, appear to have stalled in recent days. The next round of talks was scheduled for Sunday.

US President Donald Trump has urged Iran to "make a deal" on its nuclear programme, "before there is nothing left". Other world leaders have called for restraint on both sides.

IAEA head Rafael Grossi said nuclear facilities "must never be attacked" and such strikes have "serious implications for nuclear safety, security and safeguards, as well as regional and international peace and security".

In a statement to board members, he called "on all parties to exercise maximum restraint to avoid further escalation", saying "any military action that jeopardises the safety and security of nuclear facilities risks grave consequences for the people of Iran, the region, and beyond".

Weekly quiz: What's Alex Warren's record-breaking number one hit called?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62vydednqeo, yesterday

This week saw Donald Trump and Elon Musk have a very public falling out, the UK government do a U-turn on winter fuel payments for pensioners, and Zia Yusuf rejoin Reform UK's party leadership, just days after quitting as chairman.

But how much attention did you pay to what else happened in the world over the past seven days?

Quiz collated by Ben Fell.

Fancy testing your memory? Try last week's quiz, or have a go at something from the archives.

Thousands of children recruited by armed groups to kill in Colombia

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

When Colombian senator and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot in the head on 7 June, it shocked the international community. After years of growing peace, the attack was a callback to Colombia's most violent years, when cartel-ordered assassinations were a common occurrence.

But the identity of the alleged shooter proved even more shocking - a 15-year-old child.

A video, shared widely online, shows police arresting a young man with a boyish face and hair over his shoulders, wearing blue jeans and a green T-shirt.

Media has reported that after he was swiftly arrested, he cried out: "I did it for money for my family."

He subsequently pleaded not guilty, the prosecutor's office said.

Turbay has remained in critical condition at a clinic in Bogotá since last Saturday. Authorities are now searching for the people behind this crime, who allegedly used the boy to carry out the hit.

Unfortunately, if it proves to be true, the boy's story is all too common. According to the Colombian Ombudsman's Office, 409 children and teenagers were recruited by armed groups in 2024, an increase from the 342 cases reported in 2023.

Authorities acknowledge that the data is underestimated.

Decades of armed conflict and organised crime have left thousands of children victims of violence in Colombia.

Over the years, many have been recruited by now-extinct drug organizations like the Medellin cartel led by Pablo Escobar and left-wing guerrillas, paramilitary forces and new armed and criminal groups.

"Minors were even used by public forces in undercover missions. Every single actor of the conflict has recruited minors," Max Yuri, director of the Institute of Political Studies at Antioquia University, told BBC Mundo.

The child hitmen hired by Escobar

In the 1980s, many youngsters and minors were picked up by Escobar to carry out hits.

"It was known as the practice of 'Los suizos'. Many youngsters and minors joined suicidal missions," Jorge Mantilla, a criminologist and security consultant and security coordinator for the Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development, told BBC Mundo.

One of the most infamous was John Jairo Arias Tascón, known as 'Pinina,' considered to be one of the hitmen closest to Escobar.

He is linked to several high-profile crimes, such as the assassination of the minister of justice Rodrigo Lara Bonilla in 1984; the attack on Avianca Flight 203, in which 110 people died in 1989; as well as several murders of politicians, journalists, civilians, and criminal adversaries.

Pinina died aged 29 in a shoot-out with police in 1990 in Medellin. It is believed he started as a hitman as young as 15-years-old.

On 22 March 1990, another 14-year-old boy named Andrés Arturo Gutiérrez Maya shot and killed presidential candidate Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa at Bogotá's El Dorado airport.

Then there was Gerardo Gutierrez, "Yerry", another young man who ended up being the main suspect in the killing of presidential candidate Carlos Pizarro Leongomez in 1990.

Escobar was initially blamed for the crime, but he denied any involvement.

According to the Historical Memory Center in Colombia, "Yerry" was shot dead by a bodyguard. Years later, the leader of the paramilitary group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, Carlos Castaño, admitted that he trained the hitman and planned the crime along with corrupted Colombian officials.

To this day, the murder of Pizarro has not been fully solved.

Minors as war weapon

Recruited children usually share a common background.

Most come from low-income urban areas or isolated rural territories where the Colombian state has a limited presence.

There is a difference, however, between rural and urban recruitment.

While minors in urban areas often seek to improve their economic and social status, many rural youths are forcibly recruited by armed groups, who also harass and threaten their families.

"It is a cheap labour force, easy to replace. Because of their malleability, they are often assigned acts of terror such as dismemberment," Mr Yuri said.

"It is common for them in cities to also be involved in the transportation of weapons, drugs, drug dealing, extortion collection, hitmen work, and murders," he added.

The Special Jurisdiction for Peace estimates that more than 18,000 children were recruited by Farc guerrilla between 1996 and 2016, when this left-wing group signed a peace deal with the government.

But continued clashes between Colombian forces and other guerrilla groups mean that the demand for child hitmen has not gone away.

Meanwhile, the recruitment methods have become more sophisticated.

In June 2024, the BBC reported how armed groups are using tools such as TikTok to reach youngsters in isolated areas in Colombia.

Rising numbers

A report by the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo states that 1,953 minors were reported missing in 2024, more than half of whom are still unaccounted for.

The information is based on data provided by the National Institute of Legal Medicine, and one of the theories behind the disappearances is that the children may have been forcibly recruited.

Children who live in impoverished regions are especially vulnerable.

Of the 409 minors the Ombudsman's Office identified as having been recruited, about 300 were detected in Cauca, a troubled part of Colombia where coca is grown to make cocaine, that has become a frequent site of military operations.

Other hotspots for recruitment were Putumayo and Cauca Valley, where the conditions of violence are similar.

Mr Mantilla said that some recent data indicated forced recruitment may have skyrocketed by 1,200% in the last few years since the pandemic.

The rise is attributed to economic decline in vulnerable areas post-pandemic, and the territorial expansion of armed groups, Mr Yuri said. He also said public institutions are better at tracking these youths than they once were, leading to a rise in the overall official numbers.

"Child recruitment has been possible because of the existence of unprotected, abandoned and marginalised children, and legal loopholes in the Colombian justice system," Mr Mantilla said.

Indian scientists search for the perfect apple

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0l05762elpo, yesterday

"My neighbours thought I'd lost my mind," says farmer Kakasaheb Sawant.

In 2022 he had decided to plant some apple trees, not crazy for a farmer unless, like Mr Sawant, you live in subtropical southern India, where temperatures can hit 43C.

He bought 100 saplings, of which 80 survived. Last year each tree produced between 30 and 40 kilogrammes of fruit.

"My farm has become something of a local miracle. People travel from far-off places just to see the apple trees growing under the hot Maharashtra sun."

It's not been an unqualified success though. One problem is that the apples are not sweet enough to sell.

Mr Sawant remains enthusiastic. He's had some success selling apple tree saplings and is optimistic about future harvests.

"This is the beginning. The trees are getting acclimatised so according to me in next four to five years these trees will start bearing good, sweet apples."

In his own small way, Mr Sawant is hoping to meet India's rising demand for apples.

Production has risen 15% over the last five years to 2.5 million tonnes.

But that is not keeping up with demand and India's imports have roughly doubled to 600,000 tonnes over the same period, according to S Chandrashekhar, who analyses India's apple trade.

"We do have a shortage of apple production," he says. "There are not many new players... at the same time, and there is no new investment."

Essential for a good apple crop is a lengthy period of winter temperature between 0C and 6C.

Countries like the UK, with around 1,000 hours of this chill-time, can produce almost any apple variety.

But in India areas with those conditions are more limited.

Most of India's apples come from two regions in the north of the country -Jammu and Kashmir and neighbouring Himachal Pradesh.

Mr Chandrashekhar says that many farms in those regions are becoming less productive.

"There are lot of old orchards producing fewer apples - that means the yield is coming down," he says.

He says that climate change is making conditions less favourable.

In the hope of expanding apple production into new areas, some scientists and farmers are experimenting with so-called low-chill varieties.

Those are apple trees that can produce crops with around 400 hours of temperatures between 0C and 6C.

Ranchi, eastern India is also not an apple growing region - its subtropical climate is too hot.

But researchers at the Birsa Agricultural University (BAU) are testing 18 saplings of three low-chill varieties.

Success has been limited so far - only one of the varieties has produced any fruit.

"The plants have not reached optimal sizes. The tree has given us only around one to two kilogrammes of apples in 2024. I would not say that they are of best quality, but they were edible," says Dr Majid Ali.

He says that as well as an unfavourable climate, the local soil is not ideal for apple trees and the trees get attacked by termites.

"This is an experimental stage. To reach a conclusion it would take three to four years to say if it is successful."

He says that some local farmers have also been experimenting with low-chill apple varieties, also with little success.

Some are sceptical that apples cultivated in hot areas will ever be a commercial proposition.

"The fruit that grows in non-traditional regions has a very short shelf life. The taste is not so sweet," says Dr Dinesh Thakur, associate director of a regional horticulture research and training centre at Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry.

"These low-chill apples can be grown as novelty fruit in a kitchen garden, but their viability as a commercial crop is not proven... most of them are a failure," he says.

Dr Thakur is based in the traditional northern apple growing region of Himachal Pradesh and his research focuses on the improvement of apples through breeding.

"Climatic change is creating havoc in apple cultivation," he says.

He says the number of those crucial chilling hours are falling and due to erratic weather conditions farmers are facing colossal financial losses every year.

In search of better conditions, some orchards are being planted in higher locations, which were once considered too cold, he says.

Under a government sponsored project his team are experimenting with 300 varieties of apples, to assess the impact of climate change.

"We are also working on climate-resilient apple genotypes that can withstand the existing climate," he says.

So far, they have developed an apple that matures with a ripe colour two months earlier than existing apple trees.

"This helps offset erratic weather patterns brought by climate change and has a quality advantage over those areas where colour formation is problem due to lack of sunlight," Dr Thakur says.

"This is just the beginning of research to create climate resilient fruit and create a fruit that is acceptable to the Indian taste bud."

For Mr Chandrashekhar, boosting India's apple output will take more than just scientific work.

"Apple orchards in the traditional apple cultivation areas are 15 to 20 years old. What is needed is replanting of new saplings," he says.

"The industry needs investment, huge investment. Who will do that?" he asks.

He would like to see the juice and jam business developed, to provide the industry with another source of income.

"That has to be a booster which can improve the apple economy and provide a better position for apple growers."

'Glimmer of hope' for marine life at UN Ocean conference

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq69e4j6jz8o, today

The UN Ocean conference has been heralded a success, with more countries ratifying a key treaty to protect marine life and more progress on curbing plastics and illegal fishing in our seas.

Nearly 200 countries came together in Nice, France to discuss how to tackle the most pressing issues facing the oceans. The conference ends today.

The world's seas are facing threats on multiple fronts from plastic pollution to climate change.

Sir David Attenborough said ahead of the conference that he was "appalled" by the damage from certain fishing methods and hoped leaders attending would "realise how much the oceans matter to all of us".

More countries also came forward with promises to put their own national waters into marine protected areas (MPAs) and restrict the most harmful fishing practices.

During the week the UK announced it would seek to ban bottom trawling in nearly a third of English MPAs.

This has been long been a demand of environmental charities, and more recently Sir David Attenborough, who argue that without such bans the protection just exists on paper.

The largest ever marine protected area was also launched by French Polynesia in its own waters, and 900,000 sq km of that will ban extractive fishing and mining - four times the size of the UK.

With this commitment and others made during the conference, 10% of the oceans are now in protection.

"This is sending a message to the world that multilateralism is important," Astrid Puentes told R4's Today programme on the final day.

"We need this leadership. The ocean is a single biome in the planet, it is all connected so we absolutely need to strengthen international law," she continued.

However, progress on limiting destructive fishing practices globally has been difficult without the participation of China - which operates the largest fleet in the world.

But at the conference its government announced it had now ratified the Port State Measures Agreement - a legal commitment to eliminate illegal and unregulated fishing.

Despite French President Macron opening the conference with a stark warning on the threats from deep sea mining, countries remained split on the issue.

Last week 2,000 scientists recommended to governments that all deep sea exploration be paused whilst further research is carried out; just 0.001% of the seabed has been mapped.

Despite this only 37 countries heeded the advice and have called for a moratorium on deep sea mining.

"More and more states need to call for a moratorium on seabed mining so that we have this regulatory framework in place before any mining activities can happen," said Pradeep Singh, an environmental lawyer and marine expert with the Oceano Azul Foundation.

President Trump abandoned the idea of a global approach in April when he declared that the US administration would start issuing permits for the activity.

But Mr Singh thinks even without calling for a ban most countries do not support the US approach.

At the final meeting of the conference countries passed the Nice Ocean Action Plan summarising their commitments.

The issue of plastic pollution is one that is particularly profound for the oceans, but in December talks on reducing the levels of production broke down.

There are nearly 200 trillion pieces in the ocean and this is expected to triple by 2040 if no action is taken.

Both the physical plastic and the chemicals within them is life-threatening to marine animals, said Bethany Carney Almroth, Professor of Ecotoxicology at the University of Gothenburg.

"There are more than 16,000 chemicals that are present in plastics, and we know that more than 4,000 of those have hazardous properties, so they might be carcinogenic, or mutagenic, or reproductively toxic," she said.

At the conference ministers from 97 countries, including the UK, signed a joint political statement saying they wanted an ambitious treaty to be signed on the issue.

But this only included one of the top ten oil-producing nations - Canada. Plastic is made from oil, so any commitment to reduce production could harm their income, the countries claim.

Reducing oil production is also crucial if countries want to see a drop in planet-warming emissions and limit the worst impacts of climate change.

The oceans are at the forefront of this - 90% of the additional heat put into the atmosphere by humans has been absorbed by the oceans, leading to increasingly destructive marine heatwaves.

This conference did not see any new commitments on reducing emissions, but poorer nations did push their richer counterparts to release previously promised money for climate action more quickly.

"I share the frustration of many small island developing nations in terms of the non responsiveness of international financial facilities," said Feleti Teo, prime minister of Tuvalu.

"We don't have influence to change their policies but we need to sustain the pressure, meetings of this sort give us the opportunity to continue to tell the story."

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Nigeria pardons activist Ken Saro-Wiwa 30 years after execution

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crmkgn309jdo, today

Nigeria's president has pardoned the late activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, 30 years after his execution sparked global outrage.

Along with eight other campaigners, Mr Saro-Wiwa was convicted of murder, then hanged in 1995 by the then-military regime.

Many believed the activists were being punished for leading protests against the operations of oil multinationals, particularly Shell, in Nigeria's Ogoniland. Shell has long denied any involvement in the executions.

Though the pardons have been welcomed, some activists and relatives say they do not go far enough.

More BBC stories about Nigeria:

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

US senator dragged out of LA news conference and handcuffed

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ygn48djrko, today

Democratic US Senator Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from a news conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles on Thursday and placed in handcuffs.

Noem was giving an update on immigration enforcement after nearly a week of protests in the city, when Senator Padilla interrupted and started shouting a question.

"I'm Senator Alex Padilla," he said as he was confronted by authorities. "I have questions for the secretary!"

Video of the incident shows the senator struggling with multiple Secret Service agents before being shoved out of the room and dragged away, before uniformed FBI agents placed him on the ground and arrested him.

Noem, who was speaking about immigration and the protests in LA, continued addressing reporters and law enforcement officers while the senator was ejected.

Padilla's removal prompted immediate condemnation and an angry backlash on Capitol Hill, where fellow Democratic members of Congress called the arrest a "sickening disgrace" and an "affront to democracy".

LA Mayor Karen Bass called it "absolutely abhorrent and outrageous", adding that the Trump administration's "violent attacks on our city must end".

Some Republicans also condemned the incident. "It's horrible," Senator Lisa Murkowski told reporters. "It is shocking at every level. It's not the America I know."

In a video posted to social media later in the day, Padilla said he "couldn't accept the rhetoric anymore" during the news conference and so tried to interject with a question.

"I'm OK," he said. "But if they can do that to me, a United States senator... what are they doing to a lot of folks out there when the cameras are not on?"

"What we've seen here should not be normalised," he added.

Kristi Noem said she met with Padilla for 15 minutes afterwards, saying while they "probably disagree on 90% of the topics", the pair would continue to talk.

"I wish he would've acted that way in the beginning rather than creating a scene," she said in a social media post.

The Trump administration accused Padilla of "disrespectful political theatre".

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said he lunged at Secretary Noem. That was disputed by the senator's office and fellow Democrats.

The department said the senator was told to back away and did not comply with officers' commands, adding that the Secret Service "thought he was an attacker".

Padilla told reporters that he was already in the federal building for a previously scheduled meeting. He said he stopped by Noem's news briefing because he and his colleagues have received "little to no information in response" to several immigration-related queries.

Padilla, the son of Mexican immigrants, is the most senior Democrat on the Senate's Border Security and Immigration subcommittee.

"I came to the press conference to hear what she had to say, to see if I could learn any new additional information," he said.

He urged Americans across the country to "continue peacefully protesting" the Trump administration and its policies.

California's Governor Gavin Newsom called on Republican congressional leadership to condemn the detaining of Padilla.

"If they can handcuff a US Senator for asking a question, imagine what they will do to you," Newsom wrote on social media.

But the White House accused the California senator of storming the press conference.

"Padilla didn't want answers; he wanted attention," Abigail Jackson, White House spokesperson said. "Padilla embarrassed himself and his constituents with this immature, theatre-kid stunt – but it's telling that Democrats are more riled up about Padilla than they are about the violent riots and assaults on law enforcement in LA."

'Masterful' romance novel wins Women's Prize for Fiction

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93yz7glw4vo, yesterday

This year's Women's Prize for Fiction has been awarded to Dutch author Yael van der Wouden for The Safekeep, a novel about an unlikely romance in the Netherlands in the 1960s.

The judges called the book an "astonishing debut... a masterful blend of history, suspense and historical authenticity".

The story follows a reclusive woman whose brother asks if his girlfriend can move in with her for the summer. Initially repulsed by her new housemate, a closer relationship gradually develops between the two women.

The Women's Prize for Non-Fiction, meanwhile, went to Dr Rachel Clarke for The Story of a Heart, an exploration of two families on either side of an organ donation.

The winners were announced at a ceremony in London on Thursday, and will receive £30,000 each.

Author Kit de Waal, chair of judges for the fiction award, described The Safekeep as a "classic in the making" which would be "loved and appreciated for generations to come".

"Books like this don't come along every day," she said. "Every word is perfectly placed, page after page revealing an aspect of war and the Holocaust that has been, until now, mostly unexplored in fiction.

"It is also a love story with beautifully rendered intimate scenes written with delicacy and compelling eroticism."

The Story of a Heart, which won the non-fiction prize, focuses on two family stories involved in organ donation.

It follows the family of a nine-year-old girl named Kiera who dies an a car accident, and a nine-year-old boy, Max, who faces heart failure due to a viral infection.

The book depicts the expertise and dedication of the medical staff who look after Kiera in her final hours, and use her organs to offer Max a new life.

Kavita Puri, chair of judges for the non-fiction prize, said it had "left a deep and long-lasting impression" on the panel.

"Clarke's writing is authoritative, beautiful and compassionate. The research is meticulous, and the storytelling is expertly crafted," she said.

"She holds this precious story with great care and tells it with dignity, interweaving the history of transplant surgery seamlessly."

The book, Dr Clarke's fourth, was adapted into an ITV series in 2024.

Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist

* Good Girl by Aria Aber

* All Fours by Miranda July

* The Persians by Sanam Mahloudji

* Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout

* The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

* Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis

Women's Prize for Non-Fiction shortlist

* A Thousand Threads by Neneh Cherry

* The Story of a Heart: Two Families, One Hart, and a Medical Miracle by Rachel Clarke

* Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton

* Agent Zo: The Untold Story of a Fearless World War II Resistance Fighter by Clare Mulley

* What the Wild Sea Can Be: The Future of the World's Ocean by Helen Scales

* Private Revolutions: Four Women Face China's New Social Order by Yuan Yang

Starmer urges Iran and Israel to 'step back'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1ld0n8m4lro, today

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has urged restraint following Israeli strikes targeting Iran's nuclear programme.

Fears of a full-scale conflict have been stoked by warnings of "severe punishment" from Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and reports of drone launches in response.

A Cobra meeting is expected early this afternoon to discuss the UK response to the emergency situation.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy has also cancelled a planned trip to Washington DC to meet his his counterpart Marco Rubio, although there is no plan for a ministerial statement in the House of Commons.

UK officials said the UK did not play any part in the action overnight but is continuing to monitor the situation.

The prime minister said: "The reports of these strikes are concerning and we urge all parties to step back and reduce tensions urgently.

"Escalation serves no-one in the region. Stability in the Middle East must be the priority and we are engaging partners to de-escalate.

"Now is the time for restraint, calm and a return to diplomacy."

Posting on X, Lammy also stressed stability in the Middle East was "vital" for global security.

"Further escalation is a serious threat to peace and stability in the region and in no-one's interest," he said.

"This is a dangerous moment and I urge all parties to show restraint."

Rubio also said that Israel acted unilaterally, adding in a post on X, that the US is "not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region".

The attack appeared to be the most significant Iran has faced since its war with Iraq in the 1980s.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel had "struck at the heart of Iran's nuclear enrichment programme" and "the heart of Iran's nuclear weaponisation programme".

Netanyahu added the "operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat".

Iranian state television reported that the leader of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Hossein Salami was killed as well as chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, General Mohammad Bagheri.

Conservative shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said the UK "must use our influence and diplomacy" to deliver "stability in the Middle East".

In a post on X, Dame Priti also called for a de-escalation of tensions, adding: "The world is an increasingly dangerous place with significant threats to our national interests, security and defence.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said international leadership is needed from the UK Government.

"People across the UK and the world will be fearing the break-out of widespread regional conflict in the Middle East, following Israel's strikes overnight," he said.

"The UK must work with allies to contain Iran's nuclear ambitions through diplomacy, not war."

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Some Jolly Rancher sweets unsafe to eat, FSA says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crr7yjrnj89o, yesterday

A number of products from a brand of US sweets are "unsafe to eat" and contain ingredients that could damage DNA and increase the risk of cancer, the Food Standards Agency has warned.

UK businesses and consumers are being urged to stop buying and selling the Jolly Rancher products, owned by US firm Hershey.

The FSA says they contain chemical compounds - mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons (MOAH) and mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons (MOSH) - that are "not compliant with UK laws".

A spokesperson for Hershey said the safety of Jolly Rancher was its "first priority", though it could not always guarantee that products produced in the US would meet the regulatory requirements of other countries.

The FSA said the Jolly Rancher products pose a safety risk if consumed regularly over time but there is "no immediate cause for concern, as [the] food safety risk is low".

In a food alert published on Wednesday evening, the FSA said: "MOAH can cause damage to DNA and has the potential to increase the risk of cancer, particularly if consumed in high quantities over a prolonged period of time.

"MOAH is a genotoxic carcinogen, therefore no exposure is without risk to human health."

MOAH and MOSH are used in confectionery to prevent stickiness and create a glossy appearance.

According to the agency, The Hershey Company has been working with the UK government body to remove the affected Jolly Rancher products from the UK market since 2024, but some businesses in Britain have continued to import the products.

The affected products are: Jolly Rancher Hard Candy, Jolly Rancher 'Misfits' Gummies, Jolly Rancher Hard Candy Fruity 2 in 1, and Jolly Ranchers Berry Gummies.

The FSA is advising people who have any of the listed products to not eat them and dispose of them at home. If consumers have any concerns, they are being asked to notify the Trading Standards department or environmental health department in the local authority they made the purchase from.

The agency said it was asking enforcement authorities to make "immediate contact" with businesses that had been supplied with or received any of the products, and take action to ensure they were withdrawn from the market.

The spokesperson for Hershey said: "The safety and quality of Jolly Rancher is our first priority, and consumers can rest assured that our products are safe to enjoy."

They urged all consumers to purchase Hershey products from "established retailers" to "ensure product integrity and compliance".

Major music festival pulls out of Serbia after backing student protests

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czr853y5vm3o, today

One of Europe's largest music festivals is pulling out of Serbia with organisers blaming "undemocratic pressures".

Exit festival will hold its 25th anniversary edition in the country between 10 and 13 July, but said it "will be the last to take place" there.

Organisers say Serbian authorities have cut off government funding for the event and some sponsors have been "forced to withdraw under state pressure".

They say this relates to the festival's support for an ongoing student-led anti-corruption protest movement in Serbia.

Provincial officials at the culture secretariat have rejected the allegations, blaming financial pressures for being "unable to provide support".

Held at Petrovaradin Fortress in Serbia's second city, Novi Sad, the festival attracted 200,000 visitors last year.

Exit has its roots in the pro-democracy protest movement which eventually led to the defeat of Slobodan Milosevic in Yugoslavia's presidential elections in 2000.

That activist tradition has continued, with each year given a theme, ranging from "Stop Human Trafficking" to "Loud and Queer".

Following last November's disaster at Novi Sad railway station – where 16 people died when a concrete canopy collapsed – students launched protests, and the festival offered its support to them.

This ranged from joining students on protest marches to providing "food, sleeping bags, and other necessities" and publishing messages of support on social media and Exit's website.

Founder Dusan Kovacevic says this has now come at a heavy financial cost for the festival, but that "freedom has no price".

In a statement about the decision to pull out of Serbia after 25 years, he calls for people to remember Exit "not for its end, but for its unity. For love. For freedom".

It is unclear whether the festival will seek to relocate to a different country, and if so where.

Headline acts over the years have included The White Stripes, Arctic Monkeys and The Cure.

Next month, The Prodigy are returning for their sixth appearance at the festival, alongside The Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter and French DJ and producer DJ Snake.

Exit has won two European festival of the year awards and grown to become one of the continent's largest multi-day music events.

Daryl Fidelak, who runs a Belgrade-based record label, says the festival has had an immense impact on Serbia's creative scene.

"It's opened the eyes of the international audience, bringing lots of foreigners who might have had a negative – or even no – impression of Serbia," he says.

"Exit has helped Serbia get to a good place with live music and culture, spawning a lot of other festivals, bookers and events."

Yung Filly faces two new sexual assault charges

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czel730jwg4o, today

British rapper Yung Filly is facing two more charges related to the sexual assault of a woman while on tour in Australia.

The YouTuber, whose real name is Andres Felipe Valencia Barrientos, appeared before Perth District Court.

In March he pleaded not guilty to three counts of assault occasioning bodily harm, one of strangulation and four counts of sexual penetration without consent.

According to court documents filed on Friday he faces two new counts of sexual penetration without consent, and no plea has been entered for them.

The attack is alleged to have taken place on 28 September.

Barrientos had been touring Australia at the time of the alleged offences.

The internet personality has been on bail since October 2024 after allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in her 20s in his hotel room after he performed at a venue in Hillarys, a coastal suburb of Perth.

Barrientos admitted to a reckless driving charge on 5 December, according to court documents.

He had been caught driving more than 96mph on the Roe Highway near the Perth suburb of High Wycombe on 17 November.

The star is known for his work with the YouTube collective Beta Squad, appearing in the celebrity version of Bake Off on Channel 4 and presenting BBC Three shows.

A 10-day trial is scheduled to start on 20 July 2026.

Tunnel reopens to walkers for 60th anniversary

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4qe2xw83qo, today

An East Sussex tunnel which was last used by passenger trains 60 years ago will be reopened to pedestrians for one weekend.

Volunteers have spent thousands of hours restoring the 256 yard (242m) Heathfield Tunnel to open to the public on 13, 14 and 15 June from 10:00 to 17:00 BST.

The tunnel was once part of the now disused Cuckoo Line, running from Polegate to Eridge via Heathfield, which was fully opened in 1880 and closed to passengers in 1965.

The reopening is part of Spa Valley Railway's Cuckoo Line gala, marking 60 years since the rail line was shut to passenger trains following a recommendation by the British Railways Board.

The last passenger train to run through the Heathfield Tunnel on 12 June 1965 was a BR Standard 4MT 80144.

The tunnel remained open to freight trains until 1968 and was closed to pedestrians in 2015.

The train line's name came from a tradition at the Heathfield Fair where the "first cuckoo of Spring would be released", says Spa Valley Railway.

In the 1990s, the Polegate to Heathfield portion on the track was turned into the 10.4-mile Cuckoo Trail, jointly owned by Wealden District Council and East Sussex County Council.

Six steam and diesel locomotives once used on the Cuckoo Line will run from Tunbridge Wells West to Eridge via Groombridge as part of the celebrations.

A spokesperson for Spa Valley Railway said: "This is as close as we're probably going to get to recreating the Cuckoo Line."

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Couple found dead in tent after suspected carbon monoxide poisoning

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cyvmde339jno, today

A couple have been found dead in a tent from suspected carbon monoxide poisoning while camping near a loch in Argyll and Bute.

The man and woman were discovered by police on the shores of Loch Awe, close to the village of Dalmally, at about 16:25 on Saturday.

It is understood the couple, who have not been named, may have died as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning related to a camping stove.

Police Scotland said the incident was not being treated as suspicious.

Global oil prices soar after Israel attacks Iran

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4qe4w1n2go, today

Global oil prices jumped after Israel said it had struck Iran, in a dramatic escalation of tensions in the Middle East.

Benchmark oil contracts, Brent Crude and Nymex light sweet, were up by more than 10% after the news emerged.

Traders are concerned that a conflict between Iran and Israel could disrupt supplies coming from the energy-rich region.

The cost of crude oil affects everything from the price of food at the supermarket to how much it costs to fill up your car.

Analysts have told the BBC that energy traders will now be watching to see whether Iran retaliates in the coming days.

"It's an explosive situation, albeit one that could be defused quickly as we saw in April and October last year, when Israel and Iran struck each other directly," Vandana Hari of Vandana Insights told the BBC.

"It could also spiral out into a bigger war that disrupts Mideast oil supply," she added.

In an extreme scenario, Iran could disrupt supplies of millions of barrels of oil a day if it targets infrastructure or shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

The strait is one of the world's most important shipping routes, with about a fifth of the world's oil passing through it.

At any one time, there are several dozen tankers on their way to the Strait of Hormuz, or leaving it, as major oil and gas producers in the Middle East and their customers transport energy from the region.

Bounded to the north by Iran and to the south by Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Strait of Hormuz connects the Gulf with the Arabian Sea.

"What we see now is very initial risk-on reaction. But over the next day or two, the market will need to factor in where this could escalate to," Saul Kavonic, head of energy research at MST Financial said.

Additional reporting by Katie Silver

China ready to drop all tariffs on African imports

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czdy6qdln4jo, yesterday

China has said it is ready to drop the tariffs it charges on imports from all 53 African countries with which it has diplomatic relations.

The move, announced at a China-Africa co-operation meeting, comes as the continent is facing the possibility of increased tariffs on its products entering the US.

China is Africa's largest trading partner – a position it has held for the last 15 years – with Africa exporting goods to the Asian nation worth around $170bn (£125bn) in 2023.

A joint ministerial statement criticised "certain countries' [efforts to] disrupt the existing international economic and trade order" through the unilateral imposition of tariffs.

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

Reeves refuses to rule out tax rises after economy shrinks

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy5e6ly9qq3o, yesterday

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has refused to rule out future tax rises after the UK economy suffered its worst contraction for a year and a half in April.

The economy unexpectedly shrank by 0.3% after taxes increased for businesses, household bills jumped and exports to the US plunged.

The figures come a day after Reeves set out spending plans aimed at boosting growth, with funding increases for the NHS and defence, but budgets squeezed elsewhere.

Economists warned that a failure to increase UK growth would "almost certainly" lead to more tax rises later this year for the government to balance its spending commitments.

Reeves acknowledged the latest economic figures were "clearly disappointing" and refused to rule out tax rises when she next lays out her plans for the economy in the autumn Budget.

"No chancellor is able to write another four years of Budgets within a first year of government, you know how much uncertainty there is in the world at the moment," she told the BBC.

Monthly figures on the economy are volatile, and the more stable three-month figure to April showed the economy grew by 0.7%.

"With spending plans set... any move in the wrong direction will almost certainly spark more tax rises," said Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), an influential think tank.

Ruth Curtice, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, agreed.

"A weaker economic outlook and the unfunded changes to winter fuel payments mean the chancellor will likely need to look again at tax rises in the Autumn," she said.

In Wednesday's Spending Review, Reeves prioritised ploughing billions into long-term projects, in a bid to boost economic growth and improve living standards.

But many of the chancellor's plans such as new railway lines and the development of nuclear power plant Sizewell C will take years, with current day-to-day spending budgets being squeezed.

Council tax is also expected to rise to pay for local services.

Opposition parties said the chancellor's previous decision to raise employers' National Insurance contributions, which took effect in April, was dragging on growth.

The government is also paying more to borrow money.

Lindsay James, investment strategist at British multinational wealth management company Quilter, said this was due to investors being cynical over the government's spending plans so demanding a higher return.

"With the economy now weakening, we can expect to see concerns around further tax rises increase as we near the autumn Budget – which is likely to weigh on growth even more."

Growth rising steadily is widely welcomed, as it usually means people are spending more, extra jobs are created, more tax is paid, and workers get better pay rises.

But growth in the UK has been sluggish for many years.

The Office for National Statistics said a poor month for the services sector, which includes businesses ranging from shops and restaurants to hairdressers and financial firms, was behind the contraction in April.

Legal firms and property companies also "fared badly", it said, following a strong March which saw many homebuyers rushing to complete purchases to avoid stamp duty increases that came in in April.

Tariff impact

Car manufacturing was also weak in April after the introduction of 25% tariffs on UK vehicles exported to the US. Cars are the UK's biggest US export, with one in eight cars built in Britain shipped across the Atlantic.

Trade data showed the value of UK exports decreased by some £2.7bn in April, with goods to America alone falling by £2bn, the largest monthly fall on record in exports across the Atlantic.

Since April, the government has agreed a deal on tariffs with the US and has also made trade agreements with the European Union and India.

Despite the tariff pact with the US, a 10% import tax still applies to most UK goods entering America, with higher taxes for steel and cars until the deal comes into force.

'More taxes coming'

Shadow chancellor Mel Stride blamed Reeves' economic choices for the weak growth.

"The chancellor should have taken corrective action to fix the problems she has caused. But instead her Spending Review has all but confirmed what many feared: more taxes are coming."

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper said the figures were a "wake-up call for the government which has so far refused to listen to the small businesses struggling to cope with the jobs tax".

In April, employers' National Insurance contributions rose to 15% from 13.8%, with the threshold for payments reduced from £9,100 per year to £5,000.

Firms also saw minimum wages and business rates go up.

Ollie Vaulkhard, director of Vaulkhard Group which owns 17 hospitality venues across Newcastle upon Tyne, said the business was under pressure from the cost increases.

"Each one of those is manageable - you put them all into a pot, ultimately we've got to charge our customers more," he said.

How the Israel-Iran conflict could affect energy prices

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg5vr2rvzg4o, today

Israel's strikes on Iran, and Iran's response, caused a shudder on global financial markets on Friday.

The price of oil surged in particular, up 7% by mid-afternoon on Friday.

That has prompted worries that we could be facing another period of sharply higher energy prices, leading to a bout of higher prices for everything from petrol and food to holidays.

That is what happened after Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago, affecting people's lives around the globe.

How much have oil prices risen?

The attacks prompted an instant reaction on the markets.

Brent Crude - the main international benchmark - rose more than 10% before falling back to around $75 a barrel.

The price of oil rises and falls all the time in response to big geopolitical events, and the state of the global economy, so it is not a surprise to see oil prices reacting to the attacks.

However, the Brent crude price is still about 10% lower than a year earlier.

It is also well below the peaks seen in 2022 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, when it spiked to nearly $130.

So will petrol and other prices go up?

When the wholesale oil price goes up, many people notice it first when it leads to higher petrol prices.

But more expensive energy also feeds through to higher prices for almost everything, from farming to manufacturing.

When it comes to food, higher energy costs can lead to higher prices on the shelf in many ways. It can make it more expensive to run farm machinery, to transport produce, and to process and package food.

However, that will only happen if energy prices stay high for a sustained period.

Even with petrol and diesel, rising crude prices only have a limited impact.

"A rough rule of thumb is a $10 rise in the oil price would add about 7p to the price at the pump," says David Oxley at Capital Economics.

However, this is not just an oil story, he cautions.

Many will remember the shock to prices that followed the beginning of the Ukraine conflict. That was in large part a response to higher gas prices, Mr Oxley says.

Many of us heat our homes with gas, and in the UK electricity prices are also set in relation to the gas price.

Gas prices have also risen after Thursday night's attacks. But the impact will feed through to households only slowly, if at all, says Mr Oxley, given the way the market works, including the role of the regulator, in capping prices.

Could oil prices rise higher?

The current situation is "very significant and concerning" says Richard Bronze head of geopolitics, global market consultancy, research firm, Energy Aspects.

But that doesn't mean it will turn out to have as big an impact as the Ukraine conflict, or even previous troubles in the Middle East.

The main questions are how long Israel and Iran remain locked in this conflict, whether other countries in the region are drawn in, and whether the US steps in to de-escalate the situation.

Above all it depends on whether we see actual disruption to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway off Iran's southern coast, which is the route to global markets for about a fifth of the world's oil production.

"It's a narrow choke point so it is a significant weak spot for global oil markets," says Mr Bronze.

That remains an unlikely scenario, but Iran has threatened it in the past and it is now marginally more likely than it was 24 hours ago. And that outside risk is part of what is driving up prices, he says.

Without interruption to shipping, oil prices are not likely to stay high.

In 2022, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, there was growing demand for energy as the global economy reopened after Covid.

Now the global economy is facing tougher times, and oil producers from Saudi Arabia to Brazil have the capacity to increase oil supply which would help lower prices.

What does it mean for the global economy?

The scale of any energy price rises, and the wider impact, will depend on the magnitude of what comes next in the conflict between Israel and Iran.

But it does have the potential to be "a bad shock for the global economy at a bad time" says Mohammed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at asset manager Allianz.

"Whichever way you look at it, it's negative short-term, it's negative longer-term.

"It's another shock to the stability of the US-led global economic order at a time when there were already a lot of questions."

Capital Economics calculates that if oil prices were to return to over $100 a barrel that could add 1% to inflation in advanced economies, making life difficult for central banks hoping to bring down interest rates.

But that's not the most likely scenario in David Oxley's view.

"Instability in the Middle East is nothing new, we've seen numerous bouts of it," he says. "In a week's time it might have all blown over."

What does the Air India crash mean for Boeing?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cje7542k0gno, yesterday

Last month, Boeing celebrated carrying its billionth passenger on the 787 Dreamliner - an impressive feat given it only launched 14 years ago. Until today's tragic Air India crash in Ahmedabad, the model was a mainstay of intercontinental travel and had an exemplary safety record.

This is a different plane from the Boeing 737 Max, which was in the headlines after fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, which killed hundreds of people in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

A software fault was found to have caused those incidents and the model was grounded worldwide for 18 months.

So far, there is nothing to suggest any fault on Boeing's side today in India. A much fuller picture will come once the plane's black boxes - the electronic recording devices that store vital flight information - have been recovered.

Various theories have been posited as to what could have caused the crash in Ahmedabad, but one pilot I spoke to said that nowadays it's rare for a manufacturer fault to cause a fatal incident.

Barring the very notable exception of the Boeing 737 Max crashes, he said, most were down to human error in the cockpit.

It's also important to remember that when you fly commercially, you will almost always either be on a Boeing or an Airbus model as the plane-making industry operates as an effective duopoly.

Even so, Boeing has found its name associated with yet another tragic aviation incident.

Chief executive Kelly Ortberg said the firm's "deepest condolences go out to the loved ones of the passengers and crew" on the flight, and that Boeing would support the investigation into the crash led by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.

When stock markets closed in New York on Thursday, Boeing shares were down nearly 5%.

The tragedy is another problem for a firm that lost nearly a billion dollars a month last year, as it grappled with a safety crisis, quality control issues, as well as a damaging workers' strike which lasted seven weeks.

After one of its doors flew off midway through an Alaska Airlines flight in 2024, Boeing was forced to pay $160m (£126m) in compensation.

Before that, the company also reached a $428m settlement with Southwest Airlines for the financial damages caused by the long-term grounding of its 737 Max fleet.

In addition to severe financial issues, Boeing has faced serious questions over its safety practices. In April, the company said it had seen "improved operational performance" from "our ongoing focus on safety and quality".

In 2019, a former employee told the BBC that under-pressure workers had been deliberately fitting sub-standard parts to aircraft on the production line.

John Barnett, who worked as a quality control manager during his more than 30 years at Boeing, took his own life in March last year. Boeing denied his assertions.

Another whistleblower, engineer Sam Salehpour, told US politicians that he was harassed and threatened after he raised concerns about the safety of Boeing's planes.

Boeing said retaliation was "strictly prohibited" and it had seen a "more than 500% increase" in reports from employees since January, "which signals progress toward a robust reporting culture that is not fearful of retaliation".

Boeing has also been embroiled in a series of legal battles related to the crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. Last month, the firm narrowly avoiding criminal prosecution by coming to an agreement with the US Department of Justice (DoJ).

To the dismay of victims' families, the DoJ said Boeing would admit to "conspiracy to obstruct and impede" an investigation by the US Federal Aviation Administration and would pay more than $1.1bn in fines.

Unsurprisingly, Boeing's top executive team has undergone a pretty significant shake-up over the past couple of years.

Its new boss, Kelly Ortberg, came out of retirement a year ago to try to revive the ailing company.

He has promised an improvement to Boeing's safety culture and recently said he was confident the aviation giant would soon return to profitability.

Today he faces more awful news to navigate.

A Belgrade landmark bombed by Nato could get Trump makeover

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp85yd5j3e0o, 2 days ago

One of the first sights that greets arrivals to the centre of Serbia's capital Belgrade are government buildings in an advance state of collapse. Nato planes bombed them back in 1999 – and they remain in much the same condition.

The message they deliver to visitors could be "welcome to Serbia, our recent history has been tumultuous and complicated – and we still haven't quite finished processing it".

Like a smile with a row of broken teeth, the Defence Ministry buildings are still standing. But they clearly took a serious hit when Nato intervened to stop Serbia's then military campaign in Kosovo.

As a member of the Western military alliance, the US was implicated in the bombing.

Given that history, last year it came as something of a jolt for Serbians when the government struck a deal with a company called Affinity Global to redevelop the site into a $500m (£370m) luxury hotel and apartment tower complex.

Not just because the business concerned is American, but due to the fact its founder is Jared Kushner, best-known as Donald Trump's son-in-law. And because the planned development is due to be called Trump Tower Belgrade.

While these has now been a major twist in the tale that puts the scheme in some doubt, the Serbian government's decision to strike the deal wasn't too surprising.

Before he became US president in 2016, Donald Trump himself expressed interest in building a hotel on the site.

The move also fits a government pattern - as alleged by the Serbian opposition - of allowing foreign investors to profit from public property.

They cite, as a prime example, the Belgrade Waterfront residential and retail project, constructed by Emirati developers on land owned by Serbia's railways.

Where there used to be rusting rolling stock and derelict sidings, there is now a swish shopping centre, smart restaurants and the oddly bulbous, 42-storey Belgrade Tower. It is not to everyone's taste.

That, however, was a brownfield site, rather than a city centre landmark. The Defence Ministry complex is an entirely different proposition – not least because it acts as a memorial to the casualties of the 1999 bombing campaign.

It is also a highly visual reminder of why the vast majority of Serbians remain opposed to Nato, and feel sympathetic towards Russia.

In that context, granting a US developer a 99-year lease on the site, reportedly for no upfront cost, is a bold move.

But Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vucic, is unapologetic. "It's important to overcome the burden from 1999," he tells the BBC.

"We are ready to build better relations with the US – I think that is terribly important for this country."

That view garners a degree of sympathy from Belgrade's international business community.

Foreign direct investment inflows have more than tripled over the past decade. But GDP per capita remains low compared to EU member states. It stands at just one third of the bloc's average.

To keep those figures moving in the right direction, attracting new investors is vital. And while the financial details of the Ministry of Defence development have not been revealed, the New York Times has reported that the Serbian government will get 22% of future profits.

"For a small and specific market – ex-Yugoslavia, outside the EU – all publicity is good publicity," says James Thornley, a former senior partner at KPMG Serbia, who is now a partner at financial consultants KP Advisory in Belgrade.

"If you have major international players coming in, it's a pull, it's a draw. You're getting the name and opportunity out there."

Mr Thornley has lived in Serbia for 25 years and is fully aware of the sensitivities surrounding the Defence Ministry complex. But he believes that views would change once people saw the benefits of the development.

"That site is an eyesore and should be resolved," he says. "Nothing's happened for 26 years, let's get it sorted out."

But not everyone involved with international investment in Serbia is so enthusiastic.

Andrew Peirson was the managing director of global real estate giant CBRE in Southeast Europe, and now holds the same role at iO Partners, which focuses entirely on the region.

He admits that the shattered state of the Defence Ministry complex is "not good for the city's image", and that the deal to develop the site is "probably good news, because it shows the country can attract big investments".

But he has serious qualms about how the government struck the deal with Affinity Global. Mr Peirson says that there was no open tendering process that would have allowed other firms to bid for the site.

"With state-owned land, you should be able to prove you're getting market value for the site. The way you usually do that is to run a proper tender process," says Mr Peirson.

"If it had been in UK, Germany, Hungary or even Romania or Bulgaria, there would have been a process; it would have gone through the open market. Developers that were looking to enter Serbia, or already active, would have been given the chance to buy it themselves."

Back in 2023 Vucic said he met with Kushner and had an "excellent conversation" with Jared Kushner regarding the "potential for large and long-term investments."

And Donald Trump Jr has since made follow up visits to Belgrade after Affinity Global announced that a Trump International Hotel would form part of the development. The role of Trump Jr and the family business is thought to be limited to the hotel.

Questions have been raised about the Trumps making commercial deals while Donald Trump is in the White House but his press secretary has rejected any suggestion he is profiting from the presidency.

Mr Peirson is concerned that the nature of the Ministry of Defence building deal may irk businesses which have already committed to Serbia.

"If I'm an investor already putting tens or hundreds of millions into the country, I would feel sad that I hadn't been given the chance," he says.

Both Affinity Global and the Serbian government did not respond to requests for comments about how the deal over the site was agreed, and whether or not there was an open tendering process.

Then there is the question of whether a commercial development should be taking place at all. The site, even in its current state, remains architecturally and historically significant.

The buildings were originally constructed to welcome visitors to the capital of Tito's Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Architect Nikola Dobrovic created two structures on either side of Nemanjina Street which, viewed together, took the form of a gate.

The design also echoes the contours of Sutjeska Gorge, the site of the Yugoslav Partisans' pivotal victory over Nazi forces in 1943. And in 2005, it was granted protected status under Serbia's cultural heritage laws.

"No serious city builds a modern future by demolishing its historical centres and cultural monuments," says Estela Radonjic Zivkov, the former deputy director of Serbia's Republic Institute for the Protection of Monuments.

"For Serbia to progress, it must first respect its own laws and cultural heritage," she insists. "According to Serbian law, it is not possible to revoke the protection of this site."

But just when it seemed the site's fate was sealed, Serbian organised crime prosecutors delivered a twist worthy of a Hollywood thriller.

On 14 May, police arrested the official who had given the green light for the lifting of the Defence Ministry complex's protected status.

Prosecutors said Goran Vasic, the acting director of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, had admitted to fabricating an expert opinion which had been used to justify the change of status. He faces charges of abuse of office and forgery of official documents.

This admission has been seized on by those opposed to the project as evidence Kushner got preferential treatment. The Serbian government denies this.

Where this leaves the Affinity Global project – Trump International Hotel and all – is not entirely clear.

Repeated efforts to arrange an interview with the company have been unsuccessful, though it did issue a statement insisting that Mr Vasic had "no connection to our firm", adding that it would "review this matter and determine next steps".

Vucic, meanwhile, denies there is any problem with the development. During a meeting of European leaders in Tirana, he said "there was not any kind of forgery".

Still, it seems the Defence Ministry's shattered visage will remain unchanged for a while at least. And thanks to the Trump connection, it will offer even more of a talking point for first-time visitors to Belgrade.

From festivals to weddings: Why drone shows are booming

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c79ewz7qej4o, 4 days ago

The wedding ceremony was almost over when newlywed Bobby Underwood stepped on a napkin-covered glass to break it, as is Jewish tradition, and everyone shouted "Mazel Tov!".

But as he and his new wife Siobhan turned to walk back down the aisle, their wedding officiants said, "Wait." There was a surprise.

"All of these drones started rising up," recalls Mrs Underwood. "It was honestly remarkable, very overwhelming – and incredibly emotional for us."

Around 300 drones appeared in the night sky, displaying lights of various colours, and forming images chosen to represent the bride and groom.

These included a baseball player hitting a ball – as Mr Underwood is a big baseball fan – and a diamond ring being placed on a finger.

The couple were married on New Year's Eve 2024, in New York State. Mrs Underwood's mother had arranged the surprise drone show with help from the couple's wedding planner – who had suggested it as a "wow factor" component of the day. It seemed to have the desired effect.

"It was kind of just shock – 'Is this really happening right now?'," says Mrs Underwood. "I can't believe my mom did this for us."

Drone shows are becoming ever more popular. Once rarities, they are now appearing at occasions ranging from birthday parties and weddings, to major sporting events. Some theme parks even have resident drone shows that take place multiple nights in a row.

Glastonbury music festival had its first drone show in 2024, flown by UK-based drone show company, Celestial.

And record-breaking displays are pushing the technology to its limits – the biggest drone show in history took place in China last October. It featured a total of 10,200 drones and broke a record set only the previous month. So, does all this spell the end for fireworks?

"They are really beautiful – they are art," says Sally French, a US-based drone industry commentator known as The Drone Girl. She says that drone shows have appeared at baseball games, corporate conferences, and even at ports, to celebrate the launch of cruises.

Drone displays are becoming highly sophisticated, she explains, with some drone shows featuring thousands of flying devices, allowing them to animate figures or patterns in incredible detail.

"I saw a Star Wars-themed drone show where there was a full-on lightsabre battle," adds Ms French.

One barrier might be the price tag, however, with the cost per drone at around $300 (£220) in the UK, says Ms French, citing industry data from drone show software firm SPH Engineering: "A 500 drone show would be over $150,000."

Mrs Underwood does not have an exact figure, but estimates that her wedding drone show cost tens of thousands of dollars.

The sky's the limit, actually. Skymagic, one of the world's largest drone show companies, has put on major displays that cost north of $1m says Patrick O'Mahony, co-founder and creative director.

Skymagic's shows have taken place in various countries – including the 2023 Coachella music festival in California.

The company has also performed drone shows in the UK, including as part of the King's Coronation concert, which was broadcast by the BBC.

Mr O'Mahony has worked with designers of fireworks displays and other, similar events. But drones have revolutionised outdoor public displays, he says.

His company has a fleet of 6,000 custom-designed drones. Each one can reach speeds of up to 10 meters per second. The drones sport LED lights and have batteries that allow for 25 minutes of flight time.

To make them easier to transport, the drones are stored in flight cases and unpacked at venues in a giant marquee before they are laid out in the take-off area, half a metre apart, in a grid pattern.

"Once the drones have received their 'go' command [they] fly the entire show," adds Mr O'Mahony, explaining that a single human pilot on the ground controls thousands of the devices at once.

The drones are geo-fenced, based on Global Positioning System (GPS) data, which prevents them from straying beyond the allotted flight area. In windy conditions, though, they can get blown off course. In such cases, they automatically return to a landing spot on the ground, says Mr O'Mahony.

Fireworks have a "boom" factor that drones generally don't, notes Ms French. However, Bill Ray, an analyst at market research firm Gartner, says that some drones can now launch pyrotechnics, for a firework-like effect. For instance, a stream of sparks raining down from the lower portion of an image created by a group of drones.

Plus, Mr Ray says it is much easier to accurately synchronise drone movements with music during a show, which could be another reason behind their appeal. But the cost of shows remains prohibitive to some, and in part comes down to the fact that laying out the devices and gathering them all up again after the performance is still a relatively slow, manual process, adds Mr Ray.

Pedro Rosário is chief executive of Drone Show Animations, a company that designs drone show performances for other companies that supply the drones themselves. Mr Rosário says that one challenging aspect of his work is in coming up with displays that adhere to various regulations applying to drone flights, since these rules differ from country to country. England has stricter regulations than countries in the Middle East, for example, he says.

Mr Rosário adds that drone shows, which might be paired with pyrotechnics, traditional fireworks or even lasers, allow for a huge degree of creative freedom: "You can really build something that has emotional value, it can tell a story."

In Mrs Underwood's case, that seems to have worked. Her guests enjoyed the spectacle too, she adds: "We've heard compliments about our wedding in general – but, consistently, the drone show is something people bring up as something they never expected to see."

Human-sized Labubu doll sells for more than $150,000

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c780p4n33kyo, yesterday

A human-sized Labubu doll was sold this week for a record 1.08m yuan ($150,324; £110,465), according to a Chinese auction house.

The 131cm (4ft 4in) figurine was sold at the Yongle International Auction in Beijing. The auctioneer said it was now the most expensive toy of its kind in the world.

Labubu dolls are quirky monster characters created a decade ago by Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung, which have increased in popularity in recent years after a number of celebrity endorsements.

Labubu dolls, sold by Chinese toy company Pop Mart, usually cost around 50 yuan ($6.95; £5.12).

This week's auction was dedicated entirely to Labubu.

Forty eight items were put on sale with around 200 people in attendance.

The auction house said it raised a total of 3.37m yuan.

The figurines have sparked a global buying frenzy after frequently appearing in social media posts by Lisa from the K-pop group Blackpink.

The soft toys became a viral TikTok trend after being worn by other celebrities including Rihanna and Dua Lipa.

Former England football captain David Beckham also posted a photo on Instagram of a Labubu attached to his bag.

Earlier this year, Pop Mart pulled the dolls from all UK stores following reports of customers fighting over them.

The Chinese retailer often sells the collectable toys in mystery "blind boxes".

These items are popular with customers who only find out the design of the figurine once they have opened the packaging.

The popularity of Labubu toys has contributed to the success of Pop Mart.

The firm's revenue was 13bn yuan for 2024, more than double the figure seen the previous year.

It opened new stores in five countries including Italy and Spain last year.

These touts made millions - and claimed staff at big ticketing firms helped

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3vrw4v3q2o, yesterday

When a judge dismissed an appeal by prolific ticket tout Peter Hunter and his husband and accomplice David Smith against their landmark conviction for fraud, he sounded an alarm.

The evidence, he said in a 2021 judgement, suggested the possibility of "connivance and collusion" between ticketing companies and touts, who buy up tickets for live events in bulk and sell them to the public at inflated prices.

A different judge sentencing another group of ticket touts for fraud, including the self-styled "Ticket Queen" Maria Chenery-Woods, last year raised similar concerns and suggested the possibility some ticketing sites had been "complicit" in the touts making "substantial profits" by reselling tickets.

Hunter fraudulently traded tickets between 2010 and 2017, Chenery-Woods between 2012 and 2017. They both used all of the four big UK ticket resale sites: StubHub, Viagogo and the Ticketmaster-owned GetMeIn! and Seatwave.

For years, fans had battled touts to get the tickets they wanted and to avoid heavy mark-ups on resale sites. Meanwhile, Ticketmaster had publicly insisted that it was trying to combat ticket touting, which can be illegal in some circumstances.

The company - one of the UK's biggest ticket sellers - was in a unique position until 2018, as a ticketing website which also owned two major resale platforms.

Although Ticketmaster was not involved or represented in either of these court cases, the judges' comments about the industry suggested that the full story may not yet have been told. We wanted to investigate what was going on before the company shut its resale sites in 2018.

We spoke to former and current ticketing staff, who enjoyed working for Ticketmaster but in some cases were concerned that fans might have been short-changed. We also spoke to promoters, venue managers and consultants, and combed through court transcripts.

What we heard was that ticket touts had inside help with their business buying and selling tickets from the ticketing platforms they used:

* Former staff at resale sites which Ticketmaster used to own told us they worked closely with touts, and court documents at Chenery-Woods' trial revealed two staff at those companies bought tickets for touts

* Touts trading huge volumes of tickets were offered financial "incentives" by resale sites, Hunter alleged during his trial

* Email evidence in court suggested one tout was offered a meeting with a top Ticketmaster lawyer to "brainstorm" ways the company could help them

* Other former Ticketmaster employees told us they were asked to develop software to help touts sell tickets in bulk on resale sites

Ticketmaster said in a statement that the allegations refer to "companies that were dissolved in 2018 and alleged events from over a decade ago, which have no relevance to today's ticketing landscape".

"Revisiting outdated claims about long-defunct businesses only serves to confuse and mislead the public," the company said.

It added that Ticketmaster has "no involvement in the uncapped resale market" now and said: "We have always been committed to fair and secure ticketing."

When reselling tickets becomes a crime

Hunter and Chenery-Woods were not the kind of touts who stand outside a venue discreetly asking passers-by to buy or sell tickets. These two turned their spare rooms into registered, tax-paying companies and made millions from trading tickets online, the courts found.

Mike Andrews, who leads National Trading Standards' e-crimes unit and was involved in the investigation into Hunter and the Ticket Queen, told the BBC how he joined the early morning raid on the anonymous townhouse in a tree-lined north London street where Hunter ran his operation.

Upstairs was a room filled with PCs, whirring away, buying and selling tickets. "It was obviously an operation that ran pretty much 24/7," Mr Andrews said. They also found rolls of tickets in seat-number order for events such as Lady Gaga concerts and the Harry Potter play, and multiple credit cards.

Reselling tickets for profit for live performances in the UK is not illegal. But Hunter and Chenery-Woods were convicted of using fraudulent practices to get around restrictions - such as limits on the number of tickets an individual can buy.

They pretended to be lots of different people, using lots of different credit cards, when they bought the tickets from companies such as Ticketmaster, See Tickets or AXS - which are known as primary ticketing websites.

The Ticket Queen used the details of family members, including a dead relative, to buy tickets, as well as using the names and addresses of dozens of people in and around the town of Diss, Norfolk where her business operated.

To sell the tickets, the touts used resale sites, which are known as the secondary ticketing websites.

The 'VIP' touts who made millions for resale sites

Touts were "working hand-in-hand with resale platforms", Mr Andrews told us.

A former staffer at Ticketmaster-owned Seatwave, who asked to remain anonymous, told us touts were "VIPs" on the resale site. "They were doing a lot of business for us. We're talking about hundreds of thousands of pounds, if not millions."

Some staff at Seatwave had a cosy relationship with touts, according to the former employee, who said he would take Paul Douglas - the Ticket Queen's former brother-in-law, also convicted of fraud - out for a pint when he visited London.

Resale sites make their money from fees paid by buyers and commission from the sellers - court papers show these could be as much as 25% of the resale price. Prosecutors calculated that Hunter's company received sales revenue of £26.4m over about seven-and-a-half years. Based on their typical commission, the UK's four main resale sites could have received £8.8m between them from Hunter's sales alone.

Touts who consistently delivered large volumes of tickets to customers were offered discounts by resale platforms, industry sources told us. During the case where he was convicted of fraud, Peter Hunter alleged that GetMeIn! - another Ticketmaster-owned company - offered him "incentives" for selling in bulk, such as £4,000 cashback if he hit sales of £550,000 over a three-month period.

Multiple sources told us that some touts also sourced tickets directly through relationships with promoters and venues, but sales at Hunter's level were far beyond what any regular customer could acquire legitimately from primary ticketing websites.

Even though the primary ticketing companies were victims of the fraud - as their purchase limits were breached by the use of false identities - Mr Andrews said none of the primary ticketing companies "directly supported" the prosecutions.

Another former employee who worked in Ticketmaster's resale technical team, who also wanted to remain anonymous, told the BBC his team would work closely with touts, developing software that helped them sell tickets in the secondary market.

"You have to build a relationship with them, they're like a customer basically," he said. The team would show touts products and ask for feedback, including if they made selling tickets easier for them and often showing them multiple versions, he said.

Tip-offs, multiple accounts and fake names

We have been told that resale sites would liaise with big sellers, like Hunter.

In court, Hunter alleged a senior boss at GetMeIn! would help him by passing on information from Ticketmaster's legal department such as "government reports maybe from select committees" and ringing him weekly to tip him off about forthcoming sales before the public learned about them.

This senior employee had described in emails how he added a "new privilege" to the accounts of "top brokers" - the resale sites' term for touts - which would allow them to automatically "drip feed" large inventories of tickets on to the site.

Other emails were read in court as evidence from Peter Hunter's defence team, suggesting that the senior GetMeIn! boss offered to help stop Hunter's tickets being cancelled by Ticketmaster when he had fallen foul of a purchase limit.

The court heard that the senior employee had written: "I think Ticketmaster are looking at cancelling primary bookings that have exceeded the ticket limit. However, if I flag them as GMI [GetMeIn!], I should be able to save them."

Hunter's defence alleged the correspondence showed the GetMeIn! boss knew the tout had multiple Ticketmaster accounts which he used to buy more tickets than the site's restrictions allowed.

Using multiple names and identities to buy more tickets than the limit allowed was one of the reasons Hunter was jailed for fraud.

In the trial of the Ticket Queen, the prosecution said this same GetMeIn! boss and a colleague had both been "complicit or at least indifferent" in her use of a false name on the resale site to conceal the fact that the account belonged to a tout.

The court heard that Maria Chenery-Woods had emailed the two men asking to change her account name from "Ticket Queen" to "Elsie Marshall" in February 2017.

In both court cases, the prosecution questioned why it was necessary for the accused to pretend to be other people to buy tickets if, as the defendants alleged, Ticketmaster knew what they were doing.

How separate was Ticketmaster from its former resale sites?

The links with touts such as Hunter went right to the highest levels of Ticketmaster's group of companies, according to emails read out in court as evidence. They record the same senior GetMeIn! boss proposing a meeting between Hunter and Selina Emeny, the company's top legal representative and a director of Live Nation Ltd, an arm of Ticketmaster's parent company.

The proposed meeting in 2015 was intended to "address any worries" Hunter might have about a change in the law around ticket resale and "brainstorm what more can be done by our legal team to help UK brokers".

Ms Emeny is currently listed as an active director of 50 companies on Companies House, all related to Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

Ticketmaster maintained that its resale platforms, GetMeIn! and Seatwave, operated as "separate entities", in the words of then chairman Chris Edmonds at a 2016 House of Commons select committee hearing.

But both Mr Edmonds and Ms Emeny were directors of Ticketmaster UK Ltd and the holding company which owned Seatwave. Ms Emeny was also a director and secretary of GetMeIn! and at one time, all three companies operated out of the same open-plan office in central London.

David Brown, who worked in Ticketmaster's technology teams between 2011 and 2017, also told the BBC the companies had close enough links that they could have found out who was buying tickets in bulk and putting them up for resale on Ticketmaster's other platforms.

He said Ticketmaster and its resale sites used "a lot of the same infrastructure" and it would have been easy to "link everything together". "You're not building completely separate databases," he said.

He said it meant Ticketmaster could have connected the accounts and credit cards originally purchasing tickets with those selling in bulk on resale sales, and stop them reselling.

"We should be able to pull enough data to say there's something not right about this, this isn't just members of the public selling tickets. If they wanted to really tackle the problem, they had all the tools in one place to do that," he said.

Christoph Homann, who was the then resale managing director of Ticketmaster/GetMeIn!, said in 2014 to a group of MPs that "they are able to cross-reference" some tickets on GetMeIn! "against Ticketmaster's records" to report suspected frauds.

The employee in Ticketmaster's resale technology team who developed software to help touts also told the BBC that there was a senior executive who had "oversight" over elements of the primary selling and resale side of the operation. That person could easily have accessed an internal list of top-selling brokers, the employee said.

He said the executive "would definitely ask that question, ask for that information. I can't believe that wouldn't be seen by him".

Mr Edmonds, Ticketmaster's chairman in 2016, had told Parliament that the company did not have "visibility" over how the sellers on its resale platforms acquired those tickets - but these accounts suggest Ticketmaster could have found out if they were buying them on their own website.

We also asked the other two large resale ticketing platforms, Viagogo and Stubhub about their relationships with large sellers, including account managers and inventory management software.

Viagogo told us such facilities are "standard industry practice", but it "takes its responsibilities under the law very seriously". It said it had a business relationship with Hunter, Smith and two of the Ticket Queen's accomplices "before they were found to be guilty of any fraudulent activity".

"Bad actors go against what we stand for and Viagogo is in full support of the legal action taken against them," the company said.

StubHub International told the BBC, it is "fully compliant with UK regulations and provides industry-leading consumer protections." It added: "As a marketplace we provide a safe, trusted and transparent platform for the buying and selling of tickets, and enforce strict measures to protect consumers against fraud."

Resale site staff were working for the touts

Some employees of companies then owned by Ticketmaster were occasionally paid by touts to buy tickets on their behalf, the prosecution told the court in the Ticket Queen trial.

The prosecution added the Ticket Queen's accomplices paid two GetMeIn! employees out of a separate bank account from the usual company one. According to a Skype message read in court, one accomplice said: "It will be best as it won't show a GMI employee being paid by TQ Tickets."

One of her buyers was an employee at GetMeIn! who received £8,500 in less than a year from this sideline, the prosecution said.

Our research found this employee's day job was to source replacement tickets when sellers failed to deliver, as they sometimes did.

The resale platforms would sometimes buy tickets from touts to fulfil orders in these circumstances, a SeatWave employee told the BBC. The touts would behave "like the mafia", and raise their prices when they knew the resale platform itself was in the market for tickets, the employee said.

Evidence presented in court suggested help for the touts to buy tickets in bulk also came from another well-known company: American Express, which offers its cardholders privileged access to tickets for events through pre-sales. Promoters say sponsors like American Express are important in making events such as Formula One and British Summer Time Hyde Park possible.

Peter Hunter told the court he had received a LinkedIn message out of the blue from a representative at the credit card company. The rep was offering "as many additional cards as you wanted" in the form of Platinum business credit cards with an "unlimited spend", according to Hunter.

The Amex representative wrote that he was aware of Ticketmaster's purchasing limit of six tickets per day on each credit card and told Hunter "there are ways around this with American Express".

The rep also suggested in an email to Peter Hunter that his vice-president at the company was "happy to waive card fees" and that the VP's "initial offer was to waive 15 card fees for £250k spend in the first two months".

American Express told the BBC: "When we identify instances of misconduct, we investigate the issues raised and take appropriate steps to address them, including disciplinary action with employees as necessary."

Has anything changed now?

Ticketmaster announced the closure of its resale sites, GetMeIn! and Seatwave in 2018, months after Peter Hunter was charged. Now it allows resales through its main site instead and says prices are capped at the ticket's face value.

Instead, Ticketmaster is now trying to "capture the value" of the resale market through different tiers of pricing for tickets labelled as "in demand" or "Platinum" tickets, as UK managing director Andrew Parsons told the House of Commons earlier this year.

"We think it is absolutely right that artists should be able to price a small amount of the tickets at a higher price to be able to keep overall prices down and capture some of that value away from the secondary market," he said.

But ticket touts are still very much active. Minutes after Beyonce's first pre-sale started in February for the UK leg of her Cowboy Carter tour, hundreds of the tickets appeared on resale sites such as Stubhub.

Stubhub told us that "speculative listings" are not allowed on its platform and that it "[does] not support the use of bots which operate during sales on the primary market".

"Although the primary platforms do say that they have measures in place to try and prevent touts buying large numbers of tickets, it's quite evident that that practice took place then and still takes place now," said Mr Andrews from National Trading Standards.

But he said "the current situation is that we're not funded or we haven't got sufficient resources to continue to pursue further touts".

* If you have information about this story that you would like to share please get in touch. Email ticketinginvestigation@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist.

Trump says rare earths deal 'done' with China

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gkmy26e2po, yesterday

Talks aimed at cooling tensions between the US and China have ended in a "deal", according to US President Donald Trump.

He said China had agreed to supply US companies with magnets and rare earth metals, while the US would walk back its threats to revoke visas of Chinese students.

"Our deal with China is done, subject to final approval from President Xi and me," Trump wrote on his media platform Truth Social.

It followed two days of intense talks in London to resolve conflicts that had emerged since the two sides agreed a truce in May, after a rapid escalation of tariffs had nearly paralysed trade between the world's two largest economies.

But the limited nature of the announcement underscored questions the White House is facing about whether its tariff strategy can quickly yield solid trade deals.

Speaking on Thursday, President Trump said he will set unilateral tariff rates with trading partners in the next one or two weeks.

The US president said he would send out letters specifying the terms of the new deals ahead of a 9 July deadline to reimpose higher tariffs on countries around the world.

Separately, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he expected the US would extend the existing pause on some of its most aggressive tariffs to allow trade talks with other countries to continue.

Details about the new agreement with China were limited. Trump and China's leader Xi Jinping spoke over the phone last week to kickstart the negotiations, which involved top officials from both countries.

Officials said it would not alter the broad outlines of the May truce, which lowered - but did not eliminate - new tariffs announced by the two countries since Trump launched a new trade war earlier this year.

"The two sides have, in principle, reached a framework for implementing the consensus reached by the two heads of state during the phone call on 5 June and the consensus reached at the Geneva meeting," China's Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang said.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters the two sides had "reached a framework to implement the Geneva consensus".

"Once the presidents approve it, we will then seek to implement it," he added.

Speaking to broadcaster CNBC on Wednesday, he said the talks had "cleaned up" the Geneva agreement.

"We're totally on the right track," he said. "Things feel really good."

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was currently reviewing the details of the deal. "But what the president heard, he liked," she added.

The negotiations in London were triggered in part by US concerns that China was being too slow to release exports of its magnets and rare earth minerals, which are essential for manufacturing everything from smartphones to electric vehicles.

Beijing in turn has criticised controls the US has put in place to limit the country's access to semiconductors and other related technologies linked to artificial intelligence (AI) and the Trump administration's plans to limit visas for Chinese students.

Speaking to CNBC, Lutnick said the US had agreed to remove some "counter-measures" without being specific about the response.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was testifying before Congress on Wednesday, said the recent talks had been narrowly focused and a more comprehensive deal would take time.

"It will be a much longer process," he said.

In the same hearing, he acknowledged that trade talks with other countries might extend beyond the administration's self-declared 90-day deadline.

"It is highly likely that for those countries that are negotiating - or trading blocs, in the case of the EU - who are negotiating in good faith, we will roll the date forward to continue the good-faith negotiation. If someone is not negotiating, then we will not," he said.

When Trump announced sweeping tariffs on imports from a number of countries earlier this year, China was the hardest hit.

China responded with its own higher rates on US imports, triggering further tit-for-tat increases.

In May, talks held in Switzerland led to a temporary truce that Trump called a "total reset".

It brought Trump's new US tariffs on Chinese products down from 145% to 30%, while Beijing slashed levies on US imports to 10% and promised to lift barriers on critical mineral exports. It gave both sides a 90-day deadline to try to reach a trade deal.

But the US and China subsequently claimed breaches on non-tariff pledges.

In his social media post, Trump said the US would have tariffs on Chinese goods of 55%, but officials said the figure included tariffs put in place during his first term.

Markets showed little response to the deal, which Terry Haines, founder of the Washington-based consultancy Pangaea Policy, described as having both "very limited scope and unfinished status".

"Setting the Geneva 'pause' back on track is the smallest of accomplishments, and doesn't suggest that a broad US-China trade deal or geopolitical rapprochement is any closer in the foreseeable future," he wrote.

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.

The Korean bakery chain that says croissants don't have to be French

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c629q4v05pwo, 2 days ago

Head into the basement of any bustling mall in Singapore and the chances are you will smell the sweetness of fresh, buttery baked goods.

Long lines of people swarm the counters of Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese and Singaporean bakeries – tray and tongs in hand, after picking out cream rolls and milk breads or filled croissants and fruity pastries from crowded display cabinets.

For Paris Baguette, its inspiration is clearly in the name, the outlets are also decorated with the colours of the tricolour, the signage shows the Eiffel Tower and the ambience seems to be aiming for something close to the charm of a Parisian cafe.

But it is 100% Korean.

"I wouldn't limit our bread to everything from France. We are an international brand," says Jin-soo Hur, president and chief executive of SPC Group, which owns Paris Baguette.

"Like croissants, could you say this is a European product? I would say it's a universal product."

SPC traces its roots back to a small family-owned bakery shop that opened 80 years ago.

It is now a key player in mass producing bread and pastries in South Korea, employing 20,000 people across all its brands. SPC says its sales hit $5.6bn (£4.26bn) last year.

In 1988, Paris Baguette was born becoming the first Korean bakery brand to open an international store in China, which continues to be a big market.

Today it has 4,000 stores across 14 countries including in Asia, Europe and the US.

Paris Baguette has big overseas expansion plans, setting a target of more than 1,000 new branches internationally by 2030 – many of them in the US.

It's investing in a factory in Texas which will become its largest overseas production facility when it is completed in 2027, supplying the US, Canada and Latin America.

For Mr Hur, capturing the American market is a priority because it would mean Paris Baguette has succeeded internationally.

Food as culture

Sport is central to Paris Baguette's strategy through a partnership with English Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur.

It had a similar deal with France's Paris St Germain for two seasons, providing fans with its baked products and desserts on match days of home games.

"I think food is culture. Sports brings a lot of people into the stadium, and there's always good vibes in London," said Mr Hur.

The captain of South Korea's national team was also the captain of Spurs. Son Heung-min led his team to victory in the Europa League last month, ending the club's 17-year wait for a trophy.

It's not about a Korean leading Spurs for Mr Hur though.

Tottenham is a "top club and Paris Baguette wants to be best in class too," he says.

K-mania

Workers don't like to wake up early to knead dough by hand, Mr Hur says softly.

He credits his company's system of delivering frozen dough to franchises around the world for improving efficiency and extending shelf life.

Asia has a strong heritage of baked goods, but with rapid urbanisation, and changing lifestyles demand for on-the-go convenience foods is growing steadily.

Bakeries across the region already offer a huge variety of items.

Staples like pain au chocolat and sandwiches are abundant, but they are also known for Asian-inspired flavours - be it pandan, durian, salted egg, red bean or matcha-filled croissants and pastries.

Paris Baguette is responding to the demand through a halal-certified plant in Malaysia, to supply customers in South East Asia and the Middle East.

With the fascination around Korean culture globally, experts say there could be an opportunity for Asian bakeries to see even more success.

Korean and Japanese culture is so popular around the world now that maybe they're seeing things on their screen, and then they're willing to try it as well, said Saverio Busato, a pastry and bakery chef at the Culinary Institute of America in Singapore.

"I just came back from a trip to Italy and I was quite surprised to see a lot of Asian bakery and pastry shops in Italy and I was super happy.

To see the local people, the Italian people, that they were kind of exploring."

But can frozen dough produce the same quality of goods as an artisanal bakery?

I put Chef Busato to a blind taste test. He pulls apart a croissant made with frozen dough (although he doesn't know it), inspecting the elasticity and smelling it.

"This is quite bad. There is no honeycomb inside, it's totally hollow. The lamination doesn't have much strength because the internal part collapses. There is no butter profile. It's gluey and dense. There is no smell," he tells me.

Chef Busato acknowledges that it isn't practical to seek artisanal standards if you're mass-producing baked goods, and so big players will have to rely on frozen dough.

What about the traditional Asian baked goods though? Chef Busato on tasting a Korean milk bread, a fluffy white bread filled with cream, said he thinks it would do well in Europe.

"It's fantastic. It's very good. The smell of milk is coming over is nice. It's fluffy. It's refreshing... Reminds me of some kind of snack when I was younger that I was bringing to school."

Adapting tastes

The cost-of-living crisis is a major challenge for Paris Baguette – not least because of the US inflation rate as it seeks to push into the American market. A lot of companies are having to change their business because it's not profitable for them, Mr Hur says.

One of Paris Baguette's biggest competitors globally – Pret A Manger – has had to experiment with subscription services and expand dine-in options after Covid pushed the sandwich and coffee chain into loss, and it was forced to close dozens of outlets and cut more than 3,000 jobs.

The global economic environment weighs on Mr Hur too but he insists profit is not his only goal. "If we are only trying to make profit, we'll just stay in Korea," he says.

"We want to change the bread culture around the world. I want to find a way to keep opening up a lot of bakeries. It is good for my country, and good for people."

Disney and Universal sue AI firm Midjourney over images

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg5vjqdm1ypo, 2 days ago

Disney and Universal are suing artificial intelligence (AI) firm Midjourney over its image generator, which the Hollywood giants allege is a "bottomless pit of plagiarism".

The two studios claim Midjourney's tool makes "innumerable" copies of characters including Darth Vader from Star Wars, Frozen's Elsa, and the Minions from Despicable Me.

It is part of the entertainment industry's ongoing love-hate relationship with AI. Many studios want to make use of the technology but are concerned that their creations could be stolen.

Midjourney's image generator makes images from typed requests or prompts.

In the lawsuit filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, the studios gave examples of Midjourney-generated images that included Disney characters such as Star Wars' Yoda and Marvel's Spiderman, the Incredible Hulk and Iron Man.

Disney's chief legal officer Horacio Gutierrez said the firm was "optimistic" about how AI "can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity".

"But piracy is piracy, and the fact that it's done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing," he said.

In the complaint, Disney and Universal said Midjourney made $300m (£221m) last year alone and is planning a "soon-to-be-released video service".

Syracuse University law professor Shubha Ghosh said: "A lot of the images that Midjourney produces just seem to be copies of copyright characters that might be in new locations or with a new background."

"It doesn't seem like they're being transformed in a creative or imaginative way."

He added that there is a recognition in copyright law that creativity can build on other works as long as it adds something new.

Randy McCarthy, head of the IP Law Group at US law firm Hall Estill said: "No litigation is ever a slam dunk, and that is true for Disney and Universal in this case."

"There are several issues such as terms of service provisions by Midjourney, and basic fair use analysis, that will need to be sorted out by the court before we can determine the likely outcome," he added.

Midjourney did not immediately respond to a BBC request for comment.

On its website, the San Francisco-based startup says it has a "small self-funded team" with less than a dozen full-time staffers.

It refers to itself as "an independent research lab."

The firm is run by David Holz, who previously founded a hardware sensor firm called Leap Motion.

Midjourney lists former Github chief executive Nat Friedman and Philip Rosedale, founder of Second Life, among its advisors.

Hollywood sees both potential upsides and downsides to AI.

It was only two years ago that actors and writers shut down the entertainment industry hub with strikes demanding protections against new technology.

But now AI is being used more in TV, films and video games.

Two movies competing at the Oscars used AI to alter voices: Emilia Perez and The Brutalist.

The technology has also been used to de-age actors like Tom Hanks and Harrison Ford.

Elon Musk says he regrets some posts about Donald Trump

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyn4d33yyno, 2 days ago

Billionaire Elon Musk has said he regrets some of the posts he made about US President Donald Trump during their war of words on social media.

"They went too far," he wrote on his social media platform X.

The two were embroiled in a public fallout after the Tesla owner stepped back from his White House role and called Trump's tax bill a "disgusting abomination".

His post comes after Trump said he was open to the possibility of reconciliation in an interview with the New York Post on Wednesday. The president said he was a "little disappointed" about the fallout, but there were "no hard feelings".

"I think he feels very badly that he said that," Trump said of Musk's blistering social media barrage.

The budget, which includes huge tax breaks and more defence spending, was passed by the House of Representatives last month and is now being considered by senators.

Musk urged Americans to call their representatives in Washington to "kill the bill" as he believed it would "cause a recession in the second half of the year".

The tech entrepreneur claimed, without evidence, that Trump appears in unreleased government files linked to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The White House rubbished those claims.

In response, Trump said Musk had "lost his mind" and threatened to cancel his government contracts, which have an estimated value of $38bn (£28bn). A significant chunk of that goes to Musk's space technology company SpaceX.

"I think it's a very bad thing, because he's very disrespectful. You could not disrespect the office of the president," Trump said in an interview with NBC on Saturday.

Musk appeared to have deleted many of his posts over the weekend, including one calling for Trump's impeachment.

Musk was the largest donor for Trump's 2024 presidential campaign and had been considered the president's right-hand man.

Former Trump aide Steve Bannon called for Musk, who was born in South Africa, to be deported.

US Vice-President JD Vance told reporters on Wednesday that while Trump was frustrated with Musk, the president does not want a long-term feud with the Tesla CEO.

Vance also said he had spoken to both Trump and Musk about the billionaire donor remaining supportive of the administration.

Most Republicans have called for the two men to reconcile, while Democrats have watched on as the feud unfolded.

Their fallout came shortly after Musk left the task force he headed called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), which he had promised would make trillions of dollars of federal spending cuts, 129 days into the job. So far, those cuts appear to have been smaller. After his departure, many of the Doge staff he hired have stayed on at a variety of federal agencies.

WhatsApp tells BBC it backs Apple in legal row with UK over user data

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgmjrn42wdwo, 2 days ago

WhatsApp has told the BBC it is supporting fellow tech giant Apple in its legal fight against the UK Home Office over the privacy of its users' data.

The messaging app's boss, Will Cathcart, said the case "could set a dangerous precedent" by "emboldening other nations" to seek to break encryption, which is how tech firms keep customers' information private.

Apple went to the courts after receiving a notice from the Home Office demanding the right to access the data of its global customers if required in the interests of national security.

It and other critics of the government's position say the request compromises the privacy of millions of users.

The Home Office told the BBC it would not comment on ongoing legal proceedings.

"But more broadly, the UK has a longstanding position of protecting our citizens from the very worst crimes, such as child sex abuse and terrorism, at the same time as protecting people's privacy," it said in a statement.

Awkward row

WhatsApp has applied to submit evidence to the court which is hearing Apple's bid to have the Home Office request overturned.

Mr Cathcart said: "WhatsApp would challenge any law or government request that seeks to weaken the encryption of our services and will continue to stand up for people's right to a private conversation online."

This intervention from the Meta-owned platform represents a major escalation in what was an already extremely high-profile and awkward dispute between the UK and the US.

Apple's row with the UK government erupted in February, when it emerged ministers were seeking the right to be able to access information secured by its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) system.

The argument intensified in the weeks that followed, with Apple first pulling ADP in the UK, and then taking legal action against the Home Office.

It also sparked outrage among US politicians, with some saying it was a "dangerous attack on US cybersecurity" and urging the US government to rethink its intelligence-sharing arrangements with the UK if the notice was not withdrawn.

Tulsi Gabbard, the director of US National Intelligence, described it as an "egregious violation" of US citizens' privacy.

Civil liberties groups also attacked the UK government, saying what it was demanding had privacy and security implications for people around the world.

The campaign organisation Open Rights Group welcomed WhatsApp seeking to become involved in the case.

"WhatsApp's intervention shows the breadth of concern about the threat to privacy and security," said Jim Killock, its executive director.

"It's important that the court hears from as many companies and organisations as possible so they understand the full impact of what the Home Office is trying to do," he added.

Privacy versus national security

Apple's ADP applies end-to-encryption (E2EE) to files such as photos and notes stored on the iCloud, meaning only the user has the "key" required to view them.

The same technology protects a number of messaging services, including WhatsApp.

That makes them very secure but poses a problem for law enforcement agencies.

They can ask to see data with lower levels of protection - if they have a court warrant - but tech firms currently have no way to provide access to E2EE files, because no such mechanism currently exists.

Tech companies have traditionally resisted creating such a mechanism not just because they say it would compromise users' privacy but because there would be no way of preventing it eventually being exploited by criminals.

In 2023, WhatsApp said it would rather be blocked as a service than weaken E2EE.

When Apple pulled ADP in the UK it said it did not want to create a "backdoor" that "bad actors" could take advantage of.

Further complicating the argument is that the Home Office has submitted its request to Apple via what it is known as a Technical Capability Notice (TCN), something which by law is secret

Neither Apple nor the Home Office has confirmed its existence. WhatsApp says so far it has not received a TCN.

When the matter came to court, government lawyers argued that the case should not be made in public in any way for national security reasons.

However, in April, a judge agreed with a number of news organisations, including the BBC, and said certain details should be made public.

"It would have been a truly extraordinary step to conduct a hearing entirely in secret without any public revelation of the fact that a hearing was taking place," his ruling stated.

In its statement to the BBC, the Home Office said: "The UK has robust safeguards and independent oversight to protect privacy and these specific powers are only used on an exceptional basis, in relation to the most serious crimes and only when it is necessary and proportionate to do so."

US inflation ticks higher but tariff impact remains muted

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62vyr0d07po, 2 days ago

Prices of toys, car parts and major appliances jumped in the US last month, but the overall impact of Donald Trump's new tariffs on consumers remained relatively muted.

Prices were up 2.4% in May compared with a year ago, up from a rate of 2.3% in April, the latest official inflation figures showed.

Housing and grocery prices continued to rise, but those increases were offset by declines in other areas, such as petrol, airfares and clothing.

The monthly report from the Labor Department is being closely watched to see how Trump's decision to raise taxes on imports plays out across the world's largest economy.

Since re-entering the White House in January, Trump has imposed new tariffs on imports from around the world, putting in place a 10% tariff on most items, while targeting goods from some countries and sectors with even higher duties.

Economists have warned that the new levies will raise costs for companies, and lead to higher prices for households, risking the return of an inflation problem that appeared to be subsiding.

The White House, which put some of its most aggressive plans on hold to allow for talks, has rejected those forecasts. Officials have argued that companies in other countries will shoulder the burden of the new costs, while the tariffs benefit American producers and the wider economy.

For now, the consumer price report indicated that the impact on households remained relatively limited, primarily hitting items such as appliances, where the US depends heavily on China for supply.

Prices of major appliances jumped 4.3% over the month, while toys rose 2.2%, according to the report.

Overall, however, prices rose just 0.1% between April and May, after rising 0.2% a month earlier.

Analysts said they expected it would take time for the tariffs to work their way into the data, as companies work through their stock of products brought in before the tariffs were in place.

"Today's below forecast inflation print is reassuring – but only to an extent," said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management.

"Tariff-driven price increases may not feed through to the CPI data for a few more months yet, so it is far too premature to assume that the price shock will not materialise."

Interest rate impact

The US central bank, the Federal Reserve, wants to see an inflation rate of about 2%.

It hiked interest rates dramatically starting in 2022 in an attempt to get then-rapidly rising prices back under control, and has made only limited cuts since then, even as the issue has moderated.

On Wednesday, Trump revived his call for the Fed to borrowing costs, arguing that inflation problems have faded.

But analysts said the Fed was likely to remain hesitant, given the uncertainty about the path ahead.

"The Fed will be reactionary and want to see how inflation does this summer when the tariffs hit inflation harder," said Ryan Sweet of Oxford Economics.

Budget airline Jetstar Asia to close in weeks, customers offered refunds

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1e65yypd87o, 3 days ago

Singapore-based budget airline Jetstar Asia will close down at the end of July, with affected passengers to be offered full refunds.

The low-cost airline has struggled with rising supplier costs, high airport fees and increased competition in the region. More than 500 employees will be laid off.

The shutdown of Jetstar Asia will not impact the operations of Australia-based Jetstar Airways, nor those of Jetstar Japan, according to its part-owner Qantas.

The budget carrier will offer a progressively reduced service over the next seven weeks and travellers will be notified if their flight is affected. Passengers with tickets to fly after the 31 July closure will be contacted by the airline.

Some affected customers could be moved onto alternative flights operated by the Qantas Group. Jetstar Asia is advising people who booked through a travel agent or separate airline to contact those providers directly.

Sixteen routes across Asia will be impacted by the shutdown, including flights from Singapore to destinations in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The closure of Qantas' low-cost arm will provide Australia's national airline with A$500m ($325.9m; £241.4m) to invest towards renewing its fleet of aircraft. It will also redeploy 13 planes for routes across Australia and New Zealand.

"We have seen some of Jetstar Asia's supplier costs increase by up to 200%, which has materially changed its cost base," said Qantas Group Chief Executive Vanessa Hudson in a statement.

The discount airline, which has operated flights for over 20 years, is set to make a A$35m loss this financial year.

Fifty one per cent of the company is owned by Singapore firm Westbrook Investments, with the remainder held by Qantas.

Former customers have expressed their shock and sadness at its closure.

In a comment under Jetstar Asia's Facebook post about the shutdown, one user said they were "very saddened to hear this news about a very warm, efficient, wonderful airline".

Another thanked the airline for "opening up and popularising the budget travel market".

All employees affected by Wednesday's announcement will be provided with redundancy benefits.

"We have an exceptional team who provide world leading customer service and best in class operational performance and our focus is on supporting them through this process and helping them to find new roles in the industry," said Jetstar Group chief executive Stephanie Tully.

Qantas, Australia's national carrier, will continue to provide low-cost flights to Asia through its Jetstar Airways arm, which offers services from Australia to destinations in Thailand, Indonesia and Japan, among others.

Jetstar Asia was launched in 2004 as Qantas looked to gain a foothold in the growing low-cost air travel market in Asia, but has faced increased competition from other budget outlets including AirAsia and Scoot.

India 'hopeful' of reaching deal with US before Trump's tariff deadline

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdd2vvvg770o, 3 days ago

Delhi is "hopeful" of reaching a trade agreement with the US before the 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs ends on 9 July, India's foreign minister has said.

In an interview with French daily Le Figaro on Tuesday, S Jaishankar, who is on a four-day visit to Belgium and France, said India and US had already begun trade negotiations before Trump unveiled his 2 April 'Liberation day' tariffs on global partners, including up to 27% on India.

"Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi met with Donald Trump in February and they decided to further open access to our respective markets," Jaishankar told the paper.

"We are hopeful of reaching an agreement before the end of the tariff suspension on 9 July."

Earlier in the day, a US delegation held closed-door meetings with Indian trade ministry officials in Delhi.

An unnamed Indian official told Reuters news agency that the recent set of trade talks with US officials had been productive and "helped in making progress towards crafting a mutually beneficial and balanced agreement including through achievement of early wins".

Until recently, the US was India's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching $190bn.

India has already reduced tariffs on a range of goods - including Bourbon whiskey and motorcycles - but the US continues to run a $45bn (£33bn) trade deficit with India, which Trump is keen to reduce.

Trump and Modi have set a target to more than double this figure to $500bn, though Delhi is unlikely to offer concessions in politically sensitive sectors such as agriculture.

Earlier this month, the White House told its trade partners that the US wants them to make their best trade offers, with the deadline fast approaching, Reuters news agency reported.

Last week, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said he was "very optimistic" about a deal between India and US, which he said said would come in the "not too distant future".

In May, Trump made global headlines by claiming that Delhi had offered to drop all tariffs on goods imported from the US. These claims were swiftly disputed by India, with the foreign minister saying that "nothing is decided till everything is".

Jaishankar had previously emphasised that any trade deal must be mutually beneficial and work for both countries.

Speaking separately about US foreign policy under Trump, Jaishankar told Le Figaro he sees the US "looking at things from the perspective of its immediate interest and seeking benefits for itself".

"Frankly, I will do the same with them," Jaishankar added.

Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

Twix ad banned for encouraging unsafe driving

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y5ez8189lo, 3 days ago

A TV ad for chocolate bar Twix has been banned for encouraging unsafe driving.

The advert shows a man with flowing hair involved in a car chase and crash that results in his and an identical, caramel-coloured car sandwiched on top of each other, like a Twix.

Five complaints issued against the advert said it encouraged dangerous driving and was irresponsible.

Mars-Wrigley, who own Twix, argued that the ad had a "cinematic presentation" and was set in a "world that was absurd, fantastical and removed from reality", which Clearcast, the non-governmental organisation that approves adverts before broadcast, echoed.

But the watchdog the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled the ad "must not appear again" in its current form because it "condoned unsafe driving".

While the ASA acknowledged that the stunt performed highlighted the fantastical nature of the advert, it took issue with the first half of the video that showed driving "that appeared likely to breach the legal requirements of the Highway Code".

It said there was an "emphasis on speed" including with "fast paced beat and music" in the car chase, noting the "visible skid marks" left on the road.

Mars defended the advert, saying "the cars were shot driving at lawful speeds and any emulation would only reflect the legal and safe driving presented".

The sweet giant, who also own M&Ms, Celebrations and Maltesers, added that Twix is known for its absurd and playful humour, which was reflected in the advert.

The final scene shows a Twix bar falling through the sunroofs of the two cars, before they drive off - still attached - and with the tagline "two is more than one".

For its part, Clearcast told the ASA that the style of the video made it clear it wasn't meant to be emulated nor did it suggest "safe driving was boring."

In the ASA's ruling, it said it told Mars "not to condone or encourage irresponsible driving that was likely to breach the legal requirements of the Highway Code in their ads."

Average Australian home passes A$1m amid housing crisis

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9vg923vkdko, 3 days ago

The average price of an Australian home has surpassed A$1m ($652,000; £483,000) for the first time, as the nation grapples with a housing affordability crisis.

Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) this week estimate the average home was worth A$1,002,500 in the March quarter, up 0.7% from the previous quarter.

The nation is home to some of the least affordable cities on Earth, where buying or renting a place is increasingly out of reach for many Australians.

Experts say the crisis is being driven by a lack of homes, a growing population, tax incentives for property investors, and inadequate investment in social housing.

The country's most populous state, New South Wales (NSW), continues to have the priciest homes on average, at A$1.2m, followed by Queensland at A$945,000, according to the ABS.

The agency's Mish Tan said the states of Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland were the "main drivers of the rise".

While the average price of homes climbed in all states and territories in the March quarter, the annual growth rate is slowing, she added.

The figures take in Australia's 11.3 million dwellings - including the full gamut of property types, from freestanding homes, to terrace houses and apartments.

Michael Fotheringham, head of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, is not surprised to see the $1m benchmark crossed.

Though a "daunting" and "compelling" statistic, he says it is the result of a years-long national trend of home prices outpacing wages and leaving the housing system "very strained".

"This isn't just an affordability problem for lower income households - this is very much a problem for medium-income households as well," he said.

"Globally we're seeing the term housing crisis being used in many developed countries," he added, "[but] our housing prices have risen sharply so it's one of the less affordable countries overall."

Rental availability has also been a problem in recent years, and there isn't enough social housing to meet demand either.

The average price of a home in Britain is about half that of Australia (A$560,000; £270,000), while homes in Canada will, on average, set you back about A$763,000 (C$680,000), according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.

Canada is facing similar challenges to Australia, Dr Fotheringham said, but the UK is markedly different as it has more council estates and social housing in the mix.

However, the UK and Australia do share what he called "ambitious housing targets" with Australia hoping to build 1.2 million homes and the UK 1.5 million homes within the next five years.

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese - who won a second term last month at an election where housing was a top issue - on Tuesday said his government was looking to further reduce red tape for developers. They have long complained that planning laws prevent them from building enough homes.

"One of the things that we have to do is to make it easier," he said, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, adding "developers say that it's just too complex [and it] adds to costs as well".

World Bank predicts worst decade for global growth since 60s

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg4v9nr23r7o, 3 days ago

The global economy will see the slowest decade for global growth since the 1960s as the effect of Donald Trump's tariffs are felt, the World Bank has predicted.

Nearly two thirds of countries in the world had their growth forecasts cut from the bank's last set of predictions six months ago.

The bank predicts global growth of only 2.3% in 2025, which is 0.4% lower than was forecast in January, and for 2027, it predicts growth of 2.6%

Japan, Europe and the US were among those downgraded in the bank's twice yearly report.

The bank's last set of forecasts in January were made before Donald Trump took office.

Since then, his introduction of a universal 10% tariff on all imports into the US, as well as higher tariffs on steel and aluminium, caused financial markets to plunge in early April.

A trade ruling found the bulk of his global tariffs to be illegal in May, although the Trump administration won an appeal to keep them in place for now.

The World Bank downgraded its growth forecast for the US in both 2025 and 2026, because of escalating trade tensions rattling investor confidence as well as private consumption.

However, it did not downgrade the US's main rival, China, which the bank said had enough financial stability to weather the "significant headwinds" from global political uncertainty.

"Against the backdrop of heightened policy uncertainty and increased trade barriers, the global economic context has become more challenging," the report said, adding that more "sentiment-sapping policy uncertainty" would come because of the potential for "further rapid shifts" in trade-restrictive moves by countries.

The bank said there would be further cuts in growth if the US increased tariffs, and warned of rising inflation.

Tariffs could lead to "global trade seizing up in the second half of this year, accompanied by a widespread collapse in confidence, surging uncertainty and turmoil in financial markets," the report said.

However, it stopped short of predicting a global recession, saying the chances of that were less than 10%.

The report comes after the OECD also downgraded its outlook for the world economy. It said global growth is now expected to slow to a "modest" 2.9%, down from a previous forecast of 3.1%.

In the mean time, a new round of talks aimed at resolving the trade war between the US and China has taken place in central London.

Is Google about to destroy the web?

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250611-ai-mode-is-google-about-to-change-the-internet-forever, today

Google says a new AI tool on its search engine will rejuvenate the internet. Others predict an apocalypse for websites. One thing is clear: the current chapter of online history is careening towards its end. Welcome to the "machine web".

The web is built on a simple bargain – websites let search engines like Google slurp up their content, free of charge, and Google Search sends people to websites in exchange, where they buy things and look at adverts. That's how most sites make money.

An estimated 68% of internet activity starts on search engines and about 90% of searches happen on Google. If the internet is a garden, Google is the Sun that lets the flowers grow.

This arrangement held strong for decades, but a seemingly minor change has some convinced that the system is crumbling. You'll soon see a new AI tool on Google Search. You may find it very useful. But if critics' predictions come true, it will also have seismic consequences for the internet. They paint a picture where quality information could grow scarcer online and large numbers of people might lose their jobs. Optimists say instead this could improve the web's business model and expand opportunities to find great content. But, for better or worse, your digital experiences may never be the same again.

On 20 May 2025, Google's chief executive Sundar Pichai walked on stage at the company's annual developer conference. It's been a year since the launch of AI Overviews, the AI-generated responses you've probably seen at the top of Google Search results. Now, Pichai said, Google is going further. "For those who want an end-to-end AI Search experience, we are introducing an all-new AI Mode," he said. "It's a total reimagining of Search."

You might be sceptical after years of AI hype, but this, for once, is the real deal.

People use Google Search five trillion times a year – it defines the shape of the internet. AI Mode is a radical departure. Unlike AI Overviews, AI Mode replaces traditional search results altogether. Instead, a chatbot effectively creates a miniature article to answer your question. As you read this, AI Mode is rolling out to users in the US, appearing as a button on the search engine and the company's app. It's optional for now, but Google's head of Search, Liz Reid, said it plainly when launching the tool: "This is the future of Google Search."

Here's the problem critics foresee – AI Overviews already sends much less traffic to the rest of the internet, and many fear AI Mode could supercharge that trend. If this comes to pass, it could crush the business model that's fuelled the digital content you've enjoyed for almost 30 years.

"If Google makes AI Mode the default in its current form, it's going to have a devastating impact on the internet," says Lily Ray, vice president of search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy and research at the marketing agency Amsive. "It will severely cut into the main source of revenue for most publishers and it will disincentivise content creators who rely on organic search traffic, which is millions of websites, maybe more. Google holds all the power."

Google says these concerns are overblown. In fact, the company believes AI Mode will make the web healthier and more useful.

"Every day, we send billions of clicks to websites, and connecting people to the web continues to be a priority," a Google spokesperson says. "New experiences like AI Overviews and AI Mode enhance Search and expand the types of questions people can ask, which creates new opportunities for content to be discovered."

But Google and its critics agree on one thing: the internet is about to look very, very different. The next year or so will likely mark the end of an era online. The only question is what our world will look like when the dust settles.

The publisher's lament

It's important to note that the internet isn't going anywhere. Social media platforms are doing better than ever. Some popular sites with paywalls are thriving. What is about to change is how people find and discover information online. It's the "open web" that some fear is at risk – the ecosystem of freely accessible independent websites, where people and businesses, often called "publishers", share information, images and video.

We've heard this before, however. A Wired magazine cover declared "The web is dead" in 2010, yet here we are. Smartphones, apps and social media have all sparked doomsday predictions about the World Wide Web. But following Google's announcement in May, the BBC spoke to over a dozen experts who say AI Mode poses an unprecedented threat to the digital economy.

"I think 'extinction' is too strong of a word for what's going to happen to websites," says Barry Adams, founder of the SEO firm Polemic Digital. "'Decimation' is the right word."

Google disagrees. In fact, the company tells the BBC that AI Overviews have been good for the web, and AI Mode will be no different. Google insists these features send users to "a greater diversity of websites" and the traffic is "higher quality" because people spend more time on the links they click.

However, the company hasn't provided data to back up these claims. Google has an AI guide for curious publishers, but it hasn't give websites a clear picture of how AI Overviews affect them. Google did not respond to questions on this point. And what Google doesn't deny, at least not outright, is that these AI tools reduce the total amount traffic that Search sends out to the web.

Critics say it's simple – AI Overviews and AI Mode both include links to sources, but if AI gives you the answer you're looking for, why would you bother to click?

Data seems to support that logic. (Don't believe me? Ask Google's AI.) Numerous analyses have found that AI Overviews appear to cut the amount of traffic Google sends to websites – known as the "click-through rate" – by between 30% and 70%, depending on what people are searching for. Analyses have also found that some 60% of Google searches are now "zero-click", ending without the user visiting a single link.

Experts believe that some version of AI Mode will soon become the default, and that would supercharge the effects AI has on traffic because it completely does away with the traditional list of links.

"I expect that the amount of clicks that go from Google's AI Mode to the web will be about half, and that's in the optimistic scenario," says Adams. "I think a lot of users will just be happy with what the AI gives them. It could be the difference between having a viable publishing business and going bankrupt. For a lot of publishers, it will be that dramatic."

This isn't just about a bunch of bloggers losing their jobs. It will also change how users themselves interact with the web and how they find information.

"The web is all these communities at the tip of your fingers and that could disappear," says Gisele Navarro, managing editor of HouseFresh, a site that reviews air quality products. Navarro is an advocate for websites that feel sidelined by Google and she argues the sources of information users are able to find could become far less diverse. "It's like asking a librarian for book, but they just tell you about the book instead," she says. "This feeling of the web being a big library for all of us, I think that is gone."

A Google spokesperson says predictions and analyses like these are unsound. The company says sites can lose traffic for a variety of reasons, and studies addressing these issues often use skewed data and flawed methodology.

"From our point of view, the web is thriving," Nick Fox, Google's senior vice president of knowledge and information, said on a recent podcast. "There's probably no company that cares more about the health and the future of the web than Google." In fact, Fox said the amount of content on the web has grown by 45% in the last two years, and that's excluding spam. "We see this in the data," he said. "People are still very actively clicking through to the web."

Despite those reassurances, some websites are struggling with the arrival of AI-powered chatbots and search.

Last year, HouseFresh was one of countless small online businesses that said it was hit by updates to Google's algorithms that often rerouted traffic to big-name brands. Now, Navarro says, AI is compounding the damage.

"A few weeks ago, we noticed a spike," Navarro says. Impressions, the number of times HouseFresh appears on Google Search, are trending upwards. "But at the same time, clicks are trending down. So Google is showing our links more often, but no one clicks. It correlates with AI Overviews."

According to the data analysis firm BrightEdge, AI Overviews have caused impressions to rise 49% across the web, but clicks have fallen 30% because people just get their answers from the AI.

"Google wrote the rules, they created the game and they rewarded the players," Navarro says. "Now they're turning around and saying, 'That's my infrastructure, the web just happens to live in it.' I think it's going to destroy the open web as we know it, for sure. It probably already has."

Say hello to the machine web

The greatest impact of AI Mode will be on the experience you have online every day. We may, some believe, be at the dawn of a new paradigm, a future you might call the "machine web". One where websites are built for AI to read rather than for humans, and reading summaries by chatbots becomes a primary way we consume information.

Demis Hassabis, head of Google DeepMind, the company's AI research lab, said in a recent interview that he believes publishers will want to feed their content directly to AI models to facilitate this and some may not bother putting that information on websites for human beings to read. "I think things will be pretty different in a few years," he said.

It would be a world with the answers always conveniently on tap. But it could also bring an end to some of those things that have made the open web so popular in the first place – the opportunity to fall down online rabbit holes, to chance upon something delightful or to find something new. In an interview with the podcast Decoder, Pichai said that in the end, it will come down to what users prefer.

Matthew Prince, chief executive of Cloudflare, which provides network services for nearly a fifth of all websites, foresees a bigger problem. "Robots don't click on ads," he says.

If AI becomes the audience, how do creators get paid? One possibility is direct compensation. The New York Times is licensing content to Amazon for its AI. Google pays Reddit $60m (£44m) a year to train AI on user data. Dozens of giant publishers and media conglomerates have reportedly signed similar deals with OpenAI and others.

But so far, only massive websites with lots of data are pulling in these deals. "I don't think that paying for content like this is a model that will work at the scale necessary to sustain the web," says Tom Critchlow, executive vice president at advertising technology firm Raptive. "It's difficult to see how that would work as a replacement for the decline in clicks."

If making money on the web gets harder, Adams and others expect there will also be a mass exodus to social media. For many, like Navarro, that's already happening.

HouseFresh has pivoted to YouTube. But Navarro says the whims of social media algorithms are even more fickle, and the platforms force creators to sacrifice depth and detail in favour of showmanship. "There's no incentive to build the same high-quality content," Navarro says. "Everything becomes about monetisation and transition, and it forces you to inform less and sell more." Across the board, Navarro says the loss of autonomy publishers had on the web means lower quality content for you as the audience.

There are other search engines people could try instead, of course, although they too are integrating AI into their search tools – Microsoft, for example, has been building AI into its Bing search engine. But Google's smaller competitors have so little market share it's difficult to see them making a dent in the economy – and many are adding their own AI tools.

The machine web, if that is where things are going, may be more closed, less diverse and in a real sense, flatter for the people who spend their time online.

But some observers aren't panicking. "I'm not worried in the sense that this is all an evolution," says Dame Wendy Hall, a computer science professor at University of Southampton and one of the early pioneers who designed the architecture that was a forerunner of the World Wide Web in the 1980s. "AI is now coming into the equation and it's going to change all the dynamics. I wouldn't want to say exactly what's going to happen," she says. "The web is still there and it's still open. If Google goes this way, some bright spark will come up with a new way of making money.

"Something will happen. But I guess for many people along the way, it will be too late."

What users want

There is little doubt AI Mode is an impressive piece of technology. It deploys a "fan out method" where the AI breaks your question into subtopics and does multiple searches simultaneously. Google says this lets AI Mode recommends more diverse sources, produce deeper answers to more complex queries, dives deeper – and you have the ability to ask follow-up questions.

According to Google, reactions to AI Overviews suggest AI Mode will be extremely popular. "As people use AI Overviews, we see they are happier with their results, and they search more often," Pichai said at Google's developer conference. "It's one of the most successful launches in search in the past decade." In other words, Google says this makes Search better and it's what users want.

But that's no justification, says Danielle Coffey, president of News/Media Alliance, a trade group representing more than 2,200 journalism and media outlets. (The BBC is a member of the News/Media Alliance.)

"This is the definition of theft. The AI answers are a substitute for the original product. They're making money on our content and we get nothing in return," Coffey says. "It's not Google's place to make this business decision on behalf of the people who are producing the goods being sold."

The problem, Coffey and others say, is publishers have no choice. Internal documents released in a court case show Google chose to "silently update" its rules, so participating in Google Search means websites automatically give their permission to use content for AI. Publishers can opt-out – but only if they opt-out of search results altogether.

A Google spokesperson says these documents show early discussions that don't reflect the company's final decision-making process, and publishers have always controlled whether their content is available on Google. The spokesperson says Google offers controls that let website owners choose to keep their content out of responses from AI Mode and AI Overviews.

"The AI answers are a substitute for the original product," says Coffey. "I don't see that being a business proposition that we would ever willingly opt into."

Over the past year, US courts have found Google operates not one but two illegal monopolies in the search engine and digital advertising businesses. The courts are still determining the consequences, and there's a real possibility of a breakup that could deal a serious blow to Google's control of the web. Google says it disagrees with the courts' decisions and plans to appeal. The company argues it faces immense competition, and proposals to break up the company would be worse for consumers and slow innovation.

But Google's grip may already be loosening, in small ways. During these trials, Apple executive Eddy Cue said Google searches in Safari have fallen for the first time in 22 years, probably because people are using AI chatbots instead. Google issued a statement arguing the company continues to see overall query growth, including from Apple devices.

A recent survey found nearly 72% of Americans sometimes use AI tools such as ChatGPT in place of search engines. "I think you learn more when you do the searching yourself," says Mike King, founder of SEO agency iPullRank. "But a lot of people feel they don't need all that."

But AI may come with significant costs. "It's going to create more filter bubbles, because now Google is interpreting that information rather than giving it to you," King says. Research on AI chatbots suggests they have a tendency to act as echo chambers. "The info you expect is going to be reinforced," King says.

Then, of course, there are fundamental concerns about the quality of AI answers. Some research suggests AI hallucinations are getting worse as their technical abilities improve. Even Sundar Pichai said on a podcast interview that hallucinations are "an inherent feature" of the technology – though Google is using its traditional search methods to ground AI responses, and the company says accuracy is improving. Google tells the BBC the vast majority of AI search responses are factual, and their accuracy is on par with other Search features.

Still, early slip ups – like the times when Google's AI Overviews told people to eat rocks and add glue to pizza recipes – linger in the public consciousness. Google jumps to fix errors, but on a recent Thursday in 2025, one year into AI Overviews, the AI said it wasn't Thursday and it wasn't 2025. My mistake.

Research suggests that AI could even produce an echo-chamber effect with the very misinformation it hallucinates – something computer scientists have coined "chat chambers". A Google spokesperson says its AI is designed to match your interests without limiting what you find on the web.

While the spectre of the machine web is disquieting for many who build and depend on the internet, Google paints a different, vibrant picture. "You will see us five years from now sending a lot of traffic out to the web. I think that's the product direction we are committed to," Pichai told Decoder. Google tells the BBC its vision is one where AI enhances search, builds on the types of questions users can ask, and ultimately expands opportunities to create and discover content, albeit in potentially different ways.

"I'm not going to predict what is going to happen, because, of course, the future is multifactorial," says Cory Doctorow, a longtime technology advocate and writer of the upcoming book Enshittification about the decay of online platforms. "But, if I were still someone who valued Google as a way to find information or to have my information found, I'd be really worried about this."

But he also feels it could be a moment for internet users to push for the changes they want to see. "It's a crisis we shouldn't let go to waste," says Doctorow. "Google's about to do something that's going to make people really angry. My first thought is 'Okay, great. What can we do to capitalise on that anger?' It's a chance to build a coalition."

More like this:

• The hidden world beneath the shadows of YouTube's algorithm

• The Ghosts of India's TikTok

• The people stuck using ancient Windows computers

Some aren't waiting for Google's vision to materialise or for regulators to act. Matthew Prince of Cloudflare is championing direct intervention. His plan is to have Cloudflare and a consortium of publishers of all sizes collectively block AI crawlers unless tech companies pay for the content. It's an audacious bid to "reset the norms of what's allowed online" and force Silicon Valley to negotiate for the data that fuels their models. (Google did not respond to questions about this proposal.) "My very optimistic version," Prince says, "is one where humans get content for free and bots have to pay a tonne for it."

Navarro says it's hard not to feel nostalgic for what might be lost, even if something new and great might come in its place. "That web is what happens when a bunch of people connect on the topics they care about," she says, reminiscing about a Spanish language fan site she created as a child for the rock band Queen. "I went searching for Queen but there wasn't a lot of content about the band at the time in Spanish. So I went and started making it, adding something to the web when I was 10 years old because I felt I could just do that.

"I want to believe that this isn't the end."

* Thomas Germain is a senior technology journalist for the BBC. He's covered AI, privacy and the furthest reaches of internet culture for the better part of a decade. You can find him on X and TikTok @thomasgermain.

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Meta urged to go further in crackdown on 'nudify' apps

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgr58dlnne5o, yesterday

Meta has taken legal action against a company which runs ads on its platforms promoting so-called "nudify" apps, which typically using artificial intelligence (AI) to create fake nude images of people without their consent.

It has sued the firm behind CrushAI apps to stop it posting ads altogether, following a cat-and-mouse battle to remove them over a series of months.

"This legal action underscores both the seriousness with which we take this abuse and our commitment to doing all we can to protect our community from it," Meta said in a blog post.

Alexios Mantzarlis, who authors the Faked Up blog, said there have been "at least 10,000 ads" promoting nudifying aps on Meta's Facebook and Instagram platforms.

Mr Mantzarlis told the BBC he was glad to see Meta take this step - but warned it needed to do more.

"Even as it was making this announcement, I was able to find a dozen ads by CrushAI live on the platform and a hundred more from other 'nudifiers'," he said.

"This abuse vector requires continued monitoring from researchers and the media to keep platforms accountable and curtail the reach of these noxious tools."

In its blog, Meta sad: "We'll continue to take the necessary steps - which could include legal action - against those who abuse our platforms like this."

'Devastating emotional toll'

The growth of generative AI has led to a surge in "nudifying" apps in recent years.

They have become so pervasive that in April the children's commission for England called on the government to introduce legislation to ban them altogether.

It is illegal to create or possess AI-generated sexual content featuring children.

But Matthew Sowemimo, Associate Head of Policy for Child Safety Online at the NSPCC, said the charity's research had shown predators were "weaponising" the apps to create illegal images of children.

"The emotional toll on children can be absolutely devastating," he said.

"Many are left feeling powerless, violated, and stripped of control over their own identity.

"The Government must act now to ban 'nudify' apps for all UK users and stop them from being advertised and promoted at scale."

Meta said it had also made another change recently in a bid to deal with the wider problem of "nudify" apps online, by sharing information with other tech firms.

"Since we started sharing this information at the end of March, we've provided more than 3,800 unique URLs to participating tech companies," it said.

The firm accepted it had an issue with companies avoiding its rules to deploy adverts without its knowledge, such as creating new domain names to replace banned ones.

It said it had developed new technology designed to identify such ads, even if they didn't include nudity.

Nudify apps are just the latest example of AI being used to create problematic content on social media platforms.

Another concern is the use of AI to create deepfakes - highly realistic images or videos of celebrities - to scam or mislead people.

In June Meta's Oversight Board criticised a decision to leave up a Facebook post showing an AI-manipulated video of a person who appeared to be Brazilian football legend Ronaldo Nazário.

Meta has previously attempted to combat scammers who fraudulently use celebrities in adverts by the use of facial recognition technology.

It also requires political advertisers to declare the use of AI, because of fears around the impact of deepfakes on elections.

New species of dinosaur discovered that 'rewrites' T.rex family tree

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8dzv3vp5jo, 2 days ago

Scientists have discovered a new species of dinosaur - in the collection of a Mongolian museum - that they say "rewrites" the evolutionary history of tyrannosaurs.

Researchers concluded that two 86 million-year-old skeletons they studied belonged to a species that is now the closest known ancestor of all tyrannosaurs - the group of predators that includes the iconic T.rex.

The researchers named the species Khankhuuluu (pronounced khan-KOO-loo) mongoliensis, meaning Dragon Prince of Mongolia.

The discovery, published in Nature, is a window into how tyrannosaurs evolved to become powerful predators that terrorised North America and Asia until the end of the reign of the dinosaurs.

"'Prince' refers to this being an early, smaller tyrannosauroid," explained Prof Darla Zelenitsky, a palaeontologist from the University of Calgary in Canada. Tyrannosauroids are the superfamily of carnivorous dinosaurs that walked on two legs.

The first tyrannosauroids though were tiny.

PhD student Jared Voris, who led the research with Prof Zelenitsky, explained: "They were these really small, fleet-footed predators that lived in the shadows of other apex predatory dinosaurs."

Khankhuuluu represents an evolutionary shift - from those small hunters that scampered around during the Jurassic period - to the formidable giants, including T.rex.

It would have weighed about 750kg, while an adult T.rex could have weighed as much as eight times that, so "this is a transitional [fossil]," explained Prof Zelenitsky, "between earlier ancestors and the mighty tyrannosaurs".

"It has helped us revise the tyrannosaur family tree and rewrite what we know about the evolution of tyrannosaurs," she added.

The fact that this group of dinosaurs were able to move between North America and Asia - via land bridges that connected Siberia and Alaska at the time - also helped them to find and occupy different niches.

Mr Voris explained: "That movement back and forth between the continents basically pushed the evolution of different tyrannosaur groups" over millions of years.

Prof Zelinitsky added: "This discovery shows us that, before tyrannosaurs became the kings, they were princes."

World-first blood cancer therapy to be given on NHS

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg4kj2nxjgo, yesterday

A "Trojan horse" therapy that sneaks toxic drugs inside cancer cells is being made available on the NHS in England in a world first.

It can halt the blood cancer myeloma for nearly three times longer than current therapies.

The drug is an advanced form of chemotherapy that hits cancer with a bigger dose, while reducing side-effects.

Paul Silvester, one of the first people to get it, says the therapy has been "life-changing" and he's now planning history-themed adventures.

Myeloma – also known as multiple myeloma – affects part of the immune system called plasma cells. These are made in the spongey bone marrow in the centre of our bones.

Paul, who is 60 and from Sheffield, was diagnosed nearly two years ago after the cancer led to broken bones in his back.

He had a bone marrow transplant last year, but relapsed around Christmas. He has since been on the new therapy – called belantamab mafodotin – as part of an early access scheme.

Within weeks he was in remission.

Other treatments could have left him isolating in his bedroom for months, so Paul says the therapy "is absolutely life-changing" and was "creating that opportunity to enjoy" life.

Visiting Hadrian's Wall is next on the agenda for history buff Paul; and he's looking forward to one of his daughters graduating later this year.

"Most people say 'you look really really well'... I have a good normal life," he told the BBC.

How does this therapy work?

Paul's therapy - belantamab mafodotin – is a lethal chemotherapy drug that has been bound to an antibody, similar to the ones the body uses to fight infection.

However, these antibodies have been designed to spot markings on the outside of plasma cells.

So they travel to cancerous cells, stick to the surface and are then absorbed. Once inside they release their toxic payload, to kill the cancer.

The therapy is named Trojan horse therapy after the siege of the city of Troy in Greek mythology, when a giant wooden horse was used to smuggle soldiers into the city.

Myeloma cannot be cured, but clinical trials last year showed the Trojan horse therapy halted the cancer for three years, compared to 13 months with current therapies.

Prof Peter Johnson, the national clinical director for cancer at NHS England, said the difference was "life-changing".

He told me: "This is a really important development for people with myeloma, because although we may not be able to cure the illness, giving them time free of the disease and free of the symptoms is really important.

"We've seen in the last few years that using antibodies to deliver chemotherapy drugs directly into cells can make a big difference for a variety of different types of cancer."

Around 33,000 people are living with myeloma in the UK. The new drug will be used when the first-choice therapy fails, so around 1,500 patients a year could benefit.

The decision comes after a review by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) concluded the drug was cost-effective for NHS use. NICE recommendations are normally adopted in England, Wales and Northern Ireland while Scotland has its own process.

The therapy is kinder than other cancer treatments, but is not free from side-effects.

After a cancer cell has been destroyed, the remaining chemotherapy drug will leak into the body. This can cause dry eyes and blurred vision.

'These are very smart drugs'

The technical name for these drugs is an antibody-drug-conjugate.

This therapy was developed by GSK in the UK with early research taking place in Stevenage and the first clinical trials in London.

Prof Martin Kaiser, team leader in myeloma molecular therapy at the Institute of Cancer Research, said these "are very smart drugs" and the difference in side effects compared to other drugs "is really remarkable".

While myeloma is still considered an incurable cancer, Prof Kaiser says drugs like this are "an important step towards a functional cure" and he thinks long-term remission will go "above 50% in the next five years".

Antibody drug conjugates are being developed for a range of cancers. The limitation is being able to design an antibody that can target the cancer alone. There is one that can target some types of breast cancer. Research is already taking place on stomach and bowel cancer.

Shelagh McKinlay, from the charity Myeloma UK, said the approval would "transform the lives of thousands" and it was "fantastic to see the UK at the forefront of myeloma treatment".

Health Minister Karin Smyth, said: "This ground-breaking therapy puts the NHS at the forefront of cancer innovation."

The everyday activity that can reveal your brain's age

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250609-can-your-walking-speed-reveal-your-brains-rate-of-ageing, 4 days ago

The speed at which you walk can reveal profound insights into your brain's rate of ageing – with slower walkers having smaller brains and fundamental differences in crucial structures.

It might seem trivial, but how quickly you can walk from A to B can reveal a great deal about the inner workings of your body and mind. Research has shown that the speed at which you walk to the shops, the local park, or the bus stop, can predict your chance of being hospitalised, suffering a heart attack, and even dying. In fact, a person's gait speed can even be used to reveal their rate of cognitive ageing.

The walking speed test is a way of assessing someone's functional capacity – their ability to perform daily tasks around the house and maintain independence. It can also reveal how frail a person is, and predict how well they will respond to rehabilitation after a stroke.

Although it is normal for people to walk more slowly as they age, a precipitous decline in the speed of someone's gait could indicate that something more serious is going on.

"When a person's normal walking pace declines, it is often associated with underlying health declines," says Christina Dieli-Conwright, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, who studies the effects of exercise on cancer prognosis.

"It might be that the person has a chronic condition which has meant that they haven't been moving as much or have become sedentary. That means that, more than likely, they've experienced a decrease in muscle strength, and joint mobility, which unfortunately leads to further health declines," says Dieli-Conwright.

A simple technique

To perform the walking speed test, all you need is a stopwatch and a way of measuring distance, such as a tape measure. There are two common versions.

If you are outside and you have lots of space, you could try the 10m (33ft) walking speed test. First, measure out 5m (16.5ft), followed by another 10m. To get started, it's recommended to walk for 5m to get up to your normal speed, then walk at your normal pace for 10m. To calculate your walking speed simply divide 10m by the number of seconds it took to walk that distance.

If you're at home and space is more limited, you could try the 4m (13.2ft) walking speed test. With this test, measure out 1m (3.3ft), followed by 4m. The idea is to use the first metre to get up to speed, then time how long it takes to walk for 4m at your usual pace. To work out your speed, divide four metres by the number of seconds it took you to walk that distance.

Alternatively, there are many apps you can use to measure your walking speed, including fitness trackers like Walkmeter, MapMyWalk, Strava, and Google Fit, which use GPS to track distance and time, allowing them to calculate your speed.

Studies have shown that gait speed is a significant predictor of life expectancy in older adults. For example, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh pooled together the results of nine studies which collectively tracked more than 34,000 community-dwelling adults aged 65 years or older aged between six and 21 years. The study showed that that gait speed was significantly associated with lifespan. For example, men with the slowest walking speeds at age 75 had a 19% chance of living for 10 years, compared to men with the fastest walking speeds who had an 87% chance of survival.

One explanation is that people who are already unwell tend to be less mobile. However a 2009 study in France found that even amongst healthy adults aged over 65, participants with low walking speed were around three times more likely to die of cardiovascular disease during the study period compared with people who walked faster.

"Walking seems like such a simple thing – most of us don't think about it, we just do it," says Line Rasmussen, a senior researcher in the department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University, North Carolina.

"But walking actually relies on many different body systems working together: your bones and muscles carry and move you, your eyes help you see where you're going, your heart and lungs circulate blood and oxygen, and your brain and nerves coordinate it all," Rasmussen adds.

According to Rasmussen, as we age, the function of these systems starts to slow down – and a slower walking speed can therefore reflect this overall decline and be a sign of advanced ageing.

This doesn't just apply to older adults. In a 2019 study, Rasmussen and colleagues found that, even amongst 45-year-olds, a person's walking speed could predict the rate at which their brain and body were ageing.

Rasmussen and researchers at Duke University took 904 people aged 45 who were part of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, a longitudinal research project which has followed the lives of over 1,000 people born between 1972 and 1973 in Dunedin, New Zealand. Individuals in the cohort have had their health and cognitive function assessed regularly over their entire lifespans.

"I was surprised by how much variation there was in walking speed among people who were all the same age," says Rasmussen. "You might expect everyone at 45 to be somewhere in the middle, but some walked as quickly as healthy 20-year-olds, while others walked as slowly as much older adults," she says.

The study revealed that 45-year-olds with slower gait speeds showed signs of "accelerated ageing", with their lungs, teeth and immune systems in poorer shape compared to those who walked faster. They also had 'biomarkers' associated with a faster rate of ageing, such as raised blood pressure, high cholesterol, and lower cardiorespiratory fitness. The found that slow walkers had other signs of physical ill health, too, such as weaker hand-grip strength and more difficulty rising from a chair. (Read more from the BBC about the test for your chances of living to 100 and the test that reveals how well you're ageing.)

Rasmussen and colleagues also found that slow walkers showed signs of advanced cognitive ageing. For example, they tended to score lower on IQ tests overall, performing worse on tests of memory, processing speed, reasoning and other cognitive functions. MRI scans also showed that this cognitive deterioration was accompanied by observable changes in the participants' brains. Slower walkers had smaller brains, a thinner neocortex – the outermost layer of the brain, which controls thinking and higher information processing – and more white matter. Intriguingly, even the faces of slow walkers were rated as ageing at a faster rate than the other participants.

More like this:

• Sit-to-stand: The simple test that reveals how you're ageing

• Quick home health tests: Check your reaction times

• Grip strength: The test for your chances of living to 100

In all, the research suggests that the bodies and brains of slow walkers age at a faster rate to those of quick walkers. There were also signs that these health differences were present from an early age, as researchers were able to predict the walking speed of 45-year-olds based on intelligence, language and motor skills tests taken when the participants were just three years old.

"What surprised me most was finding a link between how fast people walked at age 45 and their cognitive abilities all the way back in early childhood," says Rasmussen. "This suggests that walking speed is not just a sign of ageing, but also a window into lifelong brain health."

However, readers who class themselves as slow walkers needn't be too disheartened, as there are many things we can do to improve our walking speed. As part of her research to help cancer patients, Dieli-Conwright produces exercise regimes to help people recovering from chemotherapy regain their strength. Participants are advised to increase the duration and intensity of their walking exercise every three to four weeks to improve their fitness. And there are even simpler things that people can do.

"Take any opportunity you can to walk more regularly, as remaining physically active is so important," says Dieli-Conwright. Her tips include parking further away from your destination, meeting up with friends to walk socially, or taking a pet to the local park.

"It's important to take walking breaks, especially for individuals who have a more sedentary job," says Dieli-Conwright. "Even if it's just a five-minute walking break to go to the bathroom, or a five-minute quick walk around the block – it's vital to interrupt that sitting time."

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The hunt for Marie Curie's radioactive fingerprints in Paris

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250605-the-hunt-for-marie-curies-radioactive-fingerprints-in-paris, 5 days ago

Marie Curie worked with radioactive material with her bare hands. More than 100 years after her groundbreaking work, Sophie Hardach travels to Paris to trace the lingering radioactive fingerprints she left behind.

The Geiger counter starts flashing and buzzing as I hold it against the 100-year-old Parisian doorknob. I am standing in the doorway between the historical lab and office of Marie Curie, the Polish-born, Paris-based scientist who invented the word "radioactivity" – and here is an especially startling trace of her. The museum that houses the lab has invited me in here to track radioactive handprints left by her when she worked here in the early 20th Century. Here, on the doorknob, is one such trace. There's another one on the back of her chair. Many more of these invisible traces are dotted all over her archived notes, books and private furniture, some only discovered in recent years.

The Geiger counter's reaction, and the numbers on the display, suggest the presence of above-background radioactivity, though only at low and non-threatening levels. In microsievert, which measures the potential impact of radiation on the human body, it comes to about 0.24 microsievert per hour, well within safe limits, according to experts.

Marie Curie worked here from 1914 until 1934, the year of her death, handling radioactive elements including radium, which she and her husband Pierre Curie had discovered in 1898. For most of her life, she did this with bare, increasingly radium-scarred hands. She then transferred traces of these elements onto other things she touched. Tracking the handprints through her work spaces, one can imagine how she might have gone "from the lab to the office, opened the door and pulled out the office chair to sit down", says Renaud Huynh, the director of the Curie Museum, as he guides me from trace to trace.

Some radioactive traces, for example in the Curies' lab notes and notebooks, have long been known about: one analysis in the 1950s made some of them visible by using a photographic plate. The contamination showed up as dots and splodges, suggesting radioactive lab dust settling on the page, or droplets from boiling solutions of radium salts spraying onto it.

Other traces have been revealed in more depth by further tests in recent years: they have been found on the doors of a cupboard from her home, on drawers, on the pages of books, on lecturing notes, and even on an extendable dining table from the Curies' family home.

For every item, experts face the agonising question of whether to save it as heritage – or, in cases where the contamination is considered a public safety risk, put into a nuclear waste facility. The cupboard, for example, ended up being destroyed.

Marie Curie's lab and office, whose tall windows overlook a rose garden she designed, are usually closed off by a red cordon, to be viewed but not entered by the museum's visitors. They were part of the Radium Institute, which she founded, and still sit in the heart of an active, bustling research campus.

"There's a great probability that the radioactive traces were left by Marie Curie, but it could have been her daughter [Irène Joliot-Curie], who later used the same office," says Huynh. "Either way, it's a material trace of the past, it's a form of heritage. If we were to erase these traces, we would lose this memory. It might be a detail, but it evokes a mode of contamination, it evokes a certain way of working – and it also evokes an era."

Huynh has invited me into the museum outside opening hours, and also into the nearby archive, to talk about these traces. Since radioactivity is invisible, I had asked him before the visit if I could bring a Geiger counter to bring the traces to life for our readers. He agreed, and also let me invite Marc Ammerich, a radiation expert, to help me measure and interpret the results.

Ammerich spent 40 years working for French radioprotection agencies, inspecting the safety of France's nuclear power plants. Since 2019, he has been tasked with comprehensive tests on the museum's collection. He has tested about 9,000 items from the Curies and their family so far, including the extendable dining table, where he found two radioactive patches next to each other, like two handprints, where a person would grab the table and pull it out for visitors.

Turning his attention to the Curies' legacy has been a special experience, Ammerich says: "To measure the notebooks where they write about their discoveries of radium and polonium, to measure the instruments they used – it's extraordinary. It's like holding the history of radioactivity in my hands".

The 'shed years'

Marie Curie was a doctoral student in Paris in the 1890s, when she came across a curious phenomenon.

She was studying the recently discovered mysterious rays emitted by uranium. The scientist Henri Becquerel had described their interesting properties. The rays gave off light, and also, they made air conduct electricity. Curie proposed the word radioactivity for these peculiar rays – coining the word still used today. Testing various ores for their levels of radioactivity, Marie Curie then noticed something surprising: some of these ores were much more radioactive than the known radioactive elements they contained (uranium and thorium).

After checking her measurements, she concluded that there was only one explanation: there must be another, not yet known, highly radioactive element in these ores.

To find this unknown element, she began refining a uranium ore called pitchblende, removing all known elements from it, until only the mystery element would be left. Excited by the project, Pierre joined her. They crushed the ore, dissolved the resulting powder in acid, filtered it in many different steps, and obtained an increasingly concentrated, and increasingly radioactive product, Huynh explains.

It was an arduous process. As Marie Curie herself put it: "The life of a great scientist in his laboratory is not, as many may think, a peaceful idyll. More often it is a bitter battle with things, with one's surroundings, and above all with oneself".

Not having access to a proper lab, they worked in a store room, and then, a leaky shed behind a university building. In Marie Curie's description, the shed was furnished with "some worn pine tables, a cast-iron stove" – and it lacked any safety provisions whatsoever: "There were no hoods to carry away the poisonous gases thrown off in our chemical treatments". And yet, "it was in this miserable old shed that we passed the best and happiest years of our life, devoting our entire days to our work", she writes.

In 1898, at the end of this backbreaking process of refining the pitchblende and then further refining tiny, highly radioactive crystals, they announced that they had discovered two new elements: polonium, which they named after Marie Curie's homeland, Poland; and radium.

"It was a very toxic environment," says Huynh. "Because there were not only radioactive vapours, and radioactive dust, but they also used many chemical products to break up the pitchblende that are banned from laboratories today, such as mercury."

The shed no longer exists, having been torn down; the lab in the museum is where Marie Curie later worked. In recent years, Ammerich conducted a wide-ranging inspection and safety review for the museum. He and his team removed surface contamination, such as weakly radioactive dust, from furniture in the preserved office. The remaining, faint radioactivity is from traces that sunk into the wood or metal and are now inside it, meaning that even if someone were to now touch the furniture, they would not transfer any contamination.

"The lab was already decontaminated in the 1980s," says Huynh. At the time, the practice in the museum was to "try and scrub off the contamination with abrasive sponges, and if radioactivity was then still detected, it meant it had sunk into the material, and they'd throw away the whole thing and replace it" with a copy, he says.

The lab bench, for example, was replaced with a replica, Huynh explains. Today, weakly radioactive traces such as the ones on the chair and doorknob are allowed to stay in place, he says, and are considered as heritage.

"These historical traces of radioactivity are so important because they show the working conditions of Marie Curie at the time. They should be preserved at all costs," says Thomas Beaufils, a professor and museologist at the University of Lille who specialises in the conservation and protection of radioactive heritage. "There is no other place in the world where radioactivity has been spread throughout a lab and office by Marie Curie. It has a huge heritage value."

Today, radium – which Marie Curie discovered during her PhD research – is no longer used in France, having been replaced with safer and more manageable elements, Ammerich explains. And the way scientists work with radioactive elements has of course fundamentally changed, he says.

"If Marie Curie were a PhD student today, she would first of all need to apply for a range of permits to work with these radioactive materials," says Ammerich. "And she would only be allowed to do her research in an authorised lab, with all the necessary safety and ventilation equipment. She certainly wouldn't be handling the materials on a table or lab bench, she would be using a glove box," a sealed container with the radioactive material inside, he adds.

Testing history

When we planned the visit, Huynh said we could measure anything we wanted in the lab, office and archive, as long as it could be done safely. Two photographers accompanied me and documented our tests – which ended up taking six hours, as we journeyed through Marie and Pierre Curies' spellbinding research and discoveries. Given the wealth of objects in the archive, I decided to focus on things that might transport us to two crucial periods in the Curies' story: their early years, discovering radium together; and Marie Curie's time leading research at the Radium Institute, alone, after Pierre's death in 1906.

Ammerich shows me how to take meaningful measurements. He has brought a briefcase filled with different detectors. One is a yellow Geiger counter, about palm-sized, for two types of measurements. The first of these tests, measured in "counts per second", detects whether radiation is present, in the form of alpha, beta or gamma rays. This overall test helps detect whether the object we are measuring is radioactive, or not.

If an object does register above-background radioactivity, the second measure we take shows the potential impact of these rays on the human body, measured in microsievert per hour. This helps check if an object's level of radioactivity poses a risk to human health, by potentially raising the long-term risk of cancer. We also use a spectrometer, which can pick up more detailed information, such as which radioactive element is being measured. And we test some non-radioactive surfaces, as a control.

Ammerich had already previously tested all the objects we look at, as part of his evaluation of the collection. He has also assessed if there was a risk to museum visitors or staff, from the weakly radioactive objects. "There's no danger, nothing," he says, for either of those groups, based on his assessment. Nor was there any risk to us as we measured these objects – which we simply did to allow me to understand, and report on, the radioactive traces.

A radioactive lab note

In an office above the museum's archive, Huynh opens a box with a small radioactivity warning sticker on the side. It contains a handwritten, faded document, a lab note written by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1902.

"On the top of the page you see Pierre Curie's handwriting, and below that, the neater handwriting, that's Marie Curie's," he says, pointing at the faded lines.

The two habitually shared notebooks, he explains: "In their lab notes, you see very clearly how they worked together as equals, with mutual respect. It was a really intense and very respectful scientific collaboration, a real exchange."

When Pierre Curie was put forward for the Nobel Prize together with Becquerel in 1903, "it was he who insisted that his wife should also be included", Huynh adds – leading to all three jointly winning the prestigious prize, which had never been awarded to a woman before.

Dating from those early years in the hangar, the note captures a crucial moment in their research, Huynh explains: "It's where she calculates the atomic weight of radium," a key step in their quest to prove that this new element exists, he says. Marie Curie writes the result down as 223.3 – very close to the weight as it is known today, of 226.

"It's a remarkable document," Huynh says. "It's the calculation proving that, yes, it has an atomic weight that makes it different from other elements, that gives it a place in the periodic table, and it's also written during a period of such intellectual energy."

In fact, Frédéric Joliot, the Curies' son-in-law, made a print of this lab note with a photographic plate in the 1950s to show the contamination, and also measured it with a ticking Geiger counter – possibly making him the first person to investigate his extended family's radioactive heritage. "It's moving to hear ... the very same radium extracted and handled by Pierre and Marie Curie", making itself known through the detector's sound, he wrote at the time.

The secrets of Parisian pavements

As we measure the objects, we also take measurements of surfaces that have nothing to do with the Curies and their legacy, to give us something to compare our other readings against.

An ordinary Parisian parquet floor, in a building that was never used by the Curies, gives a reading of 0.11 microsievert per hour. This is the background radiation which an average person is exposed to every day, from natural sources such as the ground and cosmic radiation, Ammerich says. He points out that we humans are also radioactive ourselves, as we contain radioactive elements such as potassium. In France, the legal limit of a person's exposure to radioactivity, in addition to natural and medical exposure, is 1 millisievert (1,000 microsievert) per year for members of the public. For workers in nuclear facilities, it's 20 millisievert (20,000 microsievert) per year.

Placed on an ordinary stretch of pavement outside the building, the reading rises slightly, to 0.19 microsievert per hour. That's because Parisian pavements are made of granite, which can contain radioactive elements such as uranium, Ammerich says.

We take turns carefully hovering the Geiger counter over the Curies' lab note. It buzzes, having detected above-background levels of radioactivity, especially towards the bottom of the page, where human hands may have touched it more. But the levels are very low, and from a human health and safety perspective, the lab note is not dangerous at all, Ammerich and Huynh say.

In the museum, we measure the public areas where visitors walk – they measure at background levels, of around 0.11 microsievert per hour: "It's the level of natural radioactivity, of the ground, the Sun, the people all around us, with their potassium," says Ammerich. The back of Marie Curie's office chair; the doorknob; and an instrument called a piezoelectric quartz electrometre, which the Curies used to measure radioactivity, all measure somewhat above those background levels, but still well within safe ranges.

The overall safety assessment of any given place or object is not only based on such measurements, Ammerich explains. Instead, it is estimated based on a range of factors, including the length of time of the exposure, the distance to the object, and which parts of the body are exposed to it. The different types of rays also matter: alpha rays can be mostly stopped by human skin, and completely stopped by a sheet of paper, he explains. Gamma rays are more penetrating, but can be stopped by concrete or lead. Radium, the chief source of contamination for the Curies' heritage, gives off alpha, beta and gamma rays, but mostly alpha. Ammerich's risk assessment for the museum's visitors as well as for museum staff was based on thorough measurements of all the objects, along with those comprehensive factors, and found that there was no risk.

'Glowing like fairy lights'

The Curies themselves noticed that their radioactive materials, such as radium salts and radioactive gases, were contaminating everything else in the shed.

"The dust, the air in the room, the clothes are radioactive," Marie Curie reports in her doctoral thesis in 1903.

Still, at this stage, the Curies did not seem worried for their safety: their only concern was that the contamination might muddle their scientific results.

Marie Curie and others noticed, over time, that her hands were "calloused, hardened, deeply burned by radium". Pierre Curie repeatedly put radium salts against his skin, to test the effect. Burn-like, red lesions appeared on his skin. This did not seem to scare him; on the contrary, he and other scientists thought this effect could be useful for treating tumours – an insight that led to the first effective cancer treatments. Only later did scientists discover that being exposed to radium, and other radioactive materials, can also raise one's risk of cancer.

Other scientists at the time also experimented freely with radium, for example, dabbing radium salts on their temples or their closed eyelids, and reporting that it filled their closed eyes with light.

Mainly, the Curies observed their newly discovered radium with hope and wonder: it gave off warmth, and glowed beautifully in the dark. They went to the shed at night to marvel at the bottles and tubes of radium salts on the rickety shelves and tables: "Like faint fairy lights," Marie Curie observed.

The Curie cupboard

Not all of the Curies' heritage is being preserved. Even today, some of it ends up in nuclear waste facilities, in cases where public safety concerns override heritage protection.

The day before my visit the Curie Museum and its archive, I meet up with experts from Andra, France's agency in charge of radioactive waste. Over lunch on a cobblestoned square close to Andra's headquarters just outside of Paris, they tell me about some of the more surprising tasks that fall into their remit.

Andra oversees radioactive waste from France's nuclear power plants, as well as from research labs, hospitals and so on. About once a week, they get a call from people who have found potentially radioactive antiques in their home – alarm clocks, for example, from the 1920s, when radium was considered harmless, and used in paint on clocks. It was even used in cosmetics and special soda fountains with radium in them, to make radioactive water, which was thought to be healthful.

Andra's experts test these heirlooms, and put the contaminated ones into radioactive waste facilities. In some cases, antiques such as the fountains are decontaminated by removing the radium, then given to the Curie Museum.

"We walk in Marie Curie's footsteps," says Nicolas Benoit, a specialist at Andra who oversees the remediation of sites polluted by radioactivity. "Every time we visit a site where there's radium, we think of her. And we aren't angry with her, not at all, because at the end of the day – yes, they handled the radium in a bit of a slapdash way, but at the time, there wasn't an awareness of its dangers."

He pauses, then adds: "And there's a bit of pride as well, because it's as if we're closing the circle, we're finishing her work", by taking care of the contaminated objects from the radium era.

In 2020, Benoit led an unusual operation: a visit to the home of Hélène Langevin-Joliot, a nuclear physicist and part of the Curies' dynasty of scientists. She is the granddaughter of Pierre and Marie Curie; her parents, Irène Joliot-Curie and Frédéric Joliot, won a joint Nobel Prize in 1935 for their discovery of artificial radioactivity. In fact, Irène thanked her mother, Marie, for sharing her stash of rare polonium with her, which helped h Irène and Frédéric with the research that led to the discovery. A love of science was passed down in the family, along with friendships with other scientists and their families, including Albert Einstein.

Langevin-Joliot had a number of family heirlooms from her parents and grandparents in her home, which she suspected might be slightly contaminated. She was not worried for herself, having lived with them for many years, being in good health, and considering the risk to be low. But she did not want to leave them behind, and force others to deal with them. After talking to Huynh, the museum director, she invited Andra's experts into her home, to measure the heirlooms.

"It's one of the best memories of my life," Benoit says, of the operation. "If you imagine that Marie Curie used those objects – that was really moving for us, it's not something you get to do every day."

They tested a cupboard that used to belong to Marie Curie – photos exist of her standing next to it, he says – and had been handed down in the family.

"We emptied it, and tested it. The contamination was above all on the doors, where you open the cupboard. And on the locks, on the drawers ... everywhere she [Marie Curie] touched," he says. "We tried decontaminating the wood, without damaging it, but it wasn't possible," because the radium traces had sunk into it, he adds. The worry was that leaving it in place could mean it would end up with a future owner who might not know about its past, and might use or process the wood in ways that would spread the contamination.

With Langevin-Joliot's agreement, the cupboard was cut into pieces and incinerated in a radioactive waste facility, Benoit explains: "The cupboard doesn't exist anymore. It's sad, it was heartbreaking, but that's how it is."

Thinking about risk

Today, radium is sometimes described as the most radioactive natural element ever discovered. But Benoit challenges that description. From a safety perspective, "saying that one element is more radioactive than another, doesn't really make sense", he says, since estimating radioactivity is more complex than just measuring an element's level of activity (the rate at which the radioactive element decays, measured by counting the number of disintegrations per second). One must also consider its half-life, the time required for half of it to decay – in the case of radium, 1,600 years – he says, as well as the actual impact on humans, which in turn depends on a range of factors.

"If you take carbon-14, for example – yes, that's an element that emits radiation. But only over a very weak distance, only a few centimetres," he says. He puts his finger on the table, between our coffee cups. "So if it were placed here, we could sit where we're sitting, and we wouldn't risk anything."

The lead coffins

There is a tragic side to the Curies' legacy. Already in the early days of working with radium in the shed, Pierre noticed that he felt increasingly sick. Marie Curie also felt sick, struck by a mysterious fatigue. She died at 66, of leukaemia, a cancer of the blood. It may not have been radium that killed her: Huynh says the culprit was more likely her work with X-Rays during World War One, which would have exposed her to the kind of radiation known to raise the risk of leukaemia.

Irène and Frédéric Joliot-Curie died in their late 50s, also of cancer. Before his death, Frédéric had been especially active in improving safety regulations and equipment for people working with radium, Huynh says.

Today, the Curies are entombed in a crypt of the Panthéon monument in Paris, in lead coffins, to block any potential radiation from traces inside (or on) their bodies. They were previously buried in a cemetery just outside of Paris. In the 1990s, before they were transferred to the Pantheon, radiation experts exhumed and tested their bodies, detecting some radioactive contamination, before laying them to rest in the lead coffins.

For Ammerich, the experience of handling the couple's belongings remains very moving. "When I tested Marie Curie's diary, where she writes about her husband's death – I'll be honest with you, I had tears in my eyes," he says.

In his view, it would be a shame to remove the small remaining traces in her Paris office: "Imagine if you cleaned everything off, and then in the future, nothing would prove what happened here."

Beaufils, the museologist, also emphasises how important it is to save and protect this kind of radioactive heritage.

"From a historical point of view, our societies are built on these kinds of objects and memories from the past. If we don't protect our material heritage, we'll be a nation, a society, without any historical depth," Beaufils says. "And a society without depth will struggle to develop, and to thrive," both from a social and technological point of view, he adds.

Huynh sees the Curie Museum as "a link between the past and the future", especially given its location on a busy cancer research campus, the Institut Curie Research Center. When I visit, I see researchers mingling in the rose garden by Marie Curie's lab – dressed in jeans and T-shirts, not suits and long dresses, as they would have been during her time. Huynh tells me there are also active labs on the floors above and below the museum.

"Many researchers here are very proud of that heritage," he says. "It's a kind of 'Curie spirit'."

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The pandemic generation: How Covid-19 lockdowns is having a long-lasting effect on children

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250605-the-pandemic-generation-how-covid-19-has-left-a-long-term-mark-on-children, 7 days ago

The stress and isolation of the pandemic have left social and emotional scars that are already being seen in children, but scientists also predict there could be huge economic costs due to disrupted education.

For US pre-school teacher Rebekah Underwood, there is something different about the class of 2025. She's noticed that the children she teaches – aged between five and six years old – are physically more cautious than the group who attended the pre-school in Santa Monica in California before the pandemic.

"Many kids are not able to roll, not able to jump on two feet, they are very hesitant to climb," she says. She wonders if it has something to do with a lack of outdoor exploration that happened when these children were toddlers. They are among the group who were babies when Covid-19 hit.

In March 2020, schools around the world began to suddenly close and life for the 2.2 billion children and young people around the world took a dramatic change. Whole families found themselves stuck at home, venturing outside only for short, allotted periods while children of school age were taught by their parents or learned via a screen.

It meant that children lost the rhythm of everyday life – the opportunity to attend clubs, play sports, practice hobbies were replaced with activities at home, crafts and television. Many also missed out on milestones like school dances, parties and graduations. In some places, students wouldn't be back, mixing with their peers, for a year. The average school was closed for 5.5 months, but some were shuttered much longer. Combine that with the stress of the pandemic and of their parents in an unprecedented situation, it triggered widespread speculation about what impact the Covid-19 pandemic would have on the generation of young people experiencing it.

Childhood experiences, after all, tend to have an outsized effect on life trajectories because they can alter brain development, behaviour and overall wellbeing.

Underwood and her colleagues saw a difference in the children they were teaching almost as soon as schools reopened in 2021. This year, which includes children who were only just being born as the pandemic hit, they are seeing some improvements on previous years.

The children in Underwood's young classes, for example, are easily overstimulated. The school where she works had to suspend music classes two years ago, because instruments in the classroom were simply too much for the young children to handle – the raucous noise, both joyful and chaotic, made them very upset. "Half the class sat outside because they were so overstimulated," Underwood says. "Especially in a hands-on classroom, it's hard to manage." She wonders if these children who didn't experience music groups or playgrounds when they were little now struggle with loud, chaotic environments. This year, they have slowly started reintroducing music into the curriculum.

Five years after Covid-19 first began spreading around the world, triggering widespread lockdowns, researchers are starting to unravel the effect of the abrupt societal changes may have had on children. The pandemic has left its mark on their behaviour, mental health, social skills and their education. But how deep those scars may run and their effects in the long term may only become clear in the decades to come.

As a baby, everything is new: every visit to the park, every smell inside a grocery store, every touch of a soft pet. So what happens when a baby doesn't experience a rich tableau of life experience?

In England, the Born in Covid Year Core Lockdown Effects (Bicycle) study is trying to tease apart the role of lockdowns on children born between March and June 2020.

"We were really concerned during Covid that children were getting a very unusual experience," says Lucy Henry, a professor of speech and language at City St George's, University of London.

The study follows three groups of 200 children born before the pandemic, during the lockdowns of 2020 and after they were lifted in 2021, focusing on language skills and executive functioning at age four. The researchers play simple games with the children – including one where they have to click when a cat appears on a screen. The aim is to "splat the cat" but avoid clicking when they see a dog – a measure of inhibition and other executive functions.

Their preliminary findings are due to be published later this year, but the researchers say their results seem to indicate that children who were babies during the pandemic have fewer words and may struggle more with higher-level thinking skills. "The overall picture across the evidence is that communication seems to be something that might have been impacted," says Nicola Botting, a developmental psychologist at City St George's, University of London, who is the co-lead of the study.

The researchers are hoping their work will help them understand the reasons for this delay, although they speculate that the lack of social opportunity in the first year of life may have had an outsized impact on children's development. Babies born in the strictest of lockdowns didn't get the more public social communication opportunities, like waving at people, going on a swing, seeing different faces talking, or hearing different voices talking.

"We know from a wide body of research, those early few months are super important in terms of learning the foundations of social communication," says Botting. "Although babies look like they're doing nothing, they are doing things, and one of those things is taking in diverse social opportunities."

While the longer-term implications of those developmental delays will take time to understand – and it may be possible that such young children can catch up relatively quickly – one of the main areas of research on the effects of the pandemic on youngsters has been on education.

An estimated 1.6 billion students in more than 190 countries had their education disrupted by the pandemic. When schools closed, large portions of learning passed to parents who home-schooled their children alongside remote learning sessions over the internet. Children without access to computers or reliable internet connections inevitably suffered more.

In 2023, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in the US published a wide-ranging report on the effects that Covid-19 pandemic had taken on children, finding that "across all measures of school engagement and learning outcomes, students appear to be worse off" than they would have been without the pandemic. The effects are particularly pronounced among those from low-income families and marginalised communities, a pattern that crops up repeatedly when looking at many aspects of how Covid-19 has affected children.

Chillingly, the report concludes that the losses in learning that occurred during the pandemic era could have lasting economic implications once these children reach adulthood.

One recent study published in January 2025 tried to quantify the learning loss, using global test score data. They found that mathematics scores declined an average of 14% – roughly equal to seven months of learning for a student.

Some groups – including students in schools that faced relatively longer closures, boys, immigrants, and disadvantaged students – fared even worse. And distance learning, where students logged onto screens for class, didn't seem to do much to stem the tide of learning loss. In the end, they say, these learning losses could translate to earnings losses and could cost this generation of students trillions of dollars.

"The gaps are there, and they are not disappearing," says Maciej Jakubowski, an education researcher at the University of Warsaw in Poland, who led the study. The findings match those from other studies. Across Europe, for example, children lost the equivalent of one-to-three months'-worth of learning, with some countries such as Poland and Greece seeing three times that level. Even more significant effects were found in countries including Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and the United states, with more ground being lost in maths and science than other subjects. Another major review of 42 studies across 15 different countries over a year and a half of the pandemic estimated that pupils lost a third of a school year's worth of learning due to the shutdowns.

These deficits also persisted as the pandemic progressed, with no clear catch up even after schools began to reopen, says Bastian Betthäuser, who studies social inequalities at the University of Oxford in the UK and led that review. "We saw that those early learning deficits were very sticky," says Betthäuser. "That didn't grow much worse as the pandemic continued, but we didn't at that point see a clear trend towards recovery."

The results were also similar for primary and secondary school students. That came as a bit of a surprise, as the researchers thought the deficits would be greater for younger students, who were less likely to be able to learn on their own. Betthäuser says that could be because school closures were longer and more intense for older students – so they ended up being out of school for longer and missing more material.

Since the pandemic, many schools have tried to catch up students through accelerated learning, but with varying success. But Betthäuser says there are glimmers of hope – evidence from the UK and the US shows there has been some recovery to those large learning deficits – but that it hasn't been complete. "This recovery tends to be faster for kids from more advantaged backgrounds, meaning that the achievement gaps between kids from different socioeconomic backgrounds remain very large, at times even larger than they were before the pandemic," adds Betthäuser.

The effects of this sort of unfinished learning can linger, manifesting into hard economic costs to society, says Jakubowski.

For some countries, such as Poland, the learning losses translate into a decline in economic growth of 0.35%. An analysis by management consultant McKinsey estimates that unfinished learning by students during the pandemic could see them earn tens of thousands of dollars less over their lifetime than those whose studies were uninterrupted. This could hurt the US economy by $128bn-$188bn (£94.6bn to £139bn) every year once the students of 2020 enter the workforce.

"That's a huge economic impact," says Jakubowski.

Jakubowski says that there are targeted interventions that can help to address learning gaps, such as small-group instruction, or tutoring on specific topics, although it is an expensive solution.

The long-term cost to society may go beyond education though. The Covid-19 lockdowns led to concerns about how children's physical health may have altered during the pandemic. One study in the UK found that obesity among young children aged between 10 and 11 years old increased during the pandemic, and have persisted. This, the researchers estimate, amounts to an additional 56,000 children being obese. This is likely to be due to changes in eating behaviour and physical activity that occurred in many countries during the pandemic and have perhaps continued. In the long term, this could cost UK society an estimated £8.7bn, the researchers say.

But while the pandemic led to a sudden shock to children's lives and education, it also exacerbated trends that were already taking place prior to the appearance of Covid-19.

Judith Perrigo, an education researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, had been watching scores in reading and maths slowly decline in the US for years. Perrigo leads a long-term study of kindergarteners that has been going on for 14 years. The study asks their teachers to give a score on each student's physical health and well-being; social competence; emotional maturity; language and cognitive development; and communication and general knowledge.

But she and her colleagues found that the pandemic led to an even sharper drop in language, cognitive and social competence skills. The study was unique in that the researchers had been collecting the same data for over a decade, allowing them to see the impact of a universal shock like Covid-19 over the population and over time.

"The story is that the Covid pandemic hurt children developmentally," she says, although she says her study shows the downward trajectory was already underway when it hit.

Perrigo and her colleagues expected to see declines in all areas the teachers were assessing, but instead, they found that three out of the five dropped – language and cognitive skills, communication skills and social competence. Physical health stayed the same – possibly because there was so much emphasis on public health during the time that it made it easier to stay healthy, or the time at home during the first lockdowns saw children spend more time outdoors when they were allowed.

Perhaps surprisingly, the researchers also saw children's scores for emotional maturity improved during the pandemic. While that may seem counterintuitive at first, Perrigo says, there is a body of research that connects the threads between adversity and emotional maturity.

"When children experience adversities, this could be parental divorce, it can be neighborhood violence, they experience emotional maturity that comes along with those adversities," she says. "During Covid, there was nowhere to go. The news was on. We saw fatality counts every day. Children were exposed to a lot of big, complicated topics. And so their emotional maturity scores actually increased."

Whether this will help better equip this generation for the trials they face later in life remains to be seen. But the stress of the pandemic may have left other marks on the mental health of children and adolescents – with many studies revealing elevating levels of anxiety, depression, anger and irritability during the lockdowns. Children also showed increased signs of internalisation and behavioural problems due to the long periods of confinement. Those who did more exercise, had access to entertainment and had positive family relationships tended to fare better. And perhaps unsurprisingly, the more stressed parents were by the lockdowns, the more volatile their children's wellbeing tended to be.

There is also evidence that some of the problems continued after schools and universities reopened. One study in China found children tended to be less prosocial, or willing to act in ways that benefited others.

Tandy Parks, a social worker who leads parenting groups in Los Angeles, says she finds families still managing the fallout of disruptions to learning and social connections during the pandemic. Many children she works with are slow to separate from parents and gain a sense of independence. "I get calls from parents of kids four to seven, and it's almost the conversations that I used to have with people with 2.5-year-olds," she says. Parents are struggling with setting appropriate limits and communicating clearly with children, while even developmental milestones such as potty training occurring on a much slower timeline, Parks says.

There are hopes, however, that by researching how children fared during and after the pandemic, it may also be possible to identify strategies to support them in future. "We hope that some of what we find isn't just applicable in case there's another pandemic, but also speaks to limited social opportunities of different kinds," including growing up as part of groups that may be isolated for cultural or other reasons, says Henry. "So there's a sort of a breadth, as well as a longitudinal viewpoint there."

UCLA's Perrigo warns that more aid is needed to help young people – around the world – who have faced such an abrupt change to their lives. Unless policy makers, parents and teachers start to concentrate efforts and use approaches shown by science to improve wellbeing, the trends will continue to worsen over time, she says. "Those trajectories are very clear – they are all going down, and they have been going down for some time," she says. "So I think that there's no reason to believe that those are going to improve on their own in the next five years, in the next decade, unless we do things in a concentrated fashion to make sure that those things do improve."

The full implications of the Covid-19 pandemic for a generation of children will only be realised as they play out in the years and decades to come. But for pre-school teacher Rebekah Underwood, she's seeing signs of hope with her latest class. They jump, roll and enjoy music lessons far more than their peers a year or two ago. "It's on the upswing for sure," she says. "They are more adventurous, although the social-emotional development is a little tricky."

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The mystery rise of lung cancer in non-smokers

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250605-the-mystery-rise-of-lung-cancer-in-non-smokers, 8 days ago

The number of lung cancer cases in people who have never smoked is increasing. The disease is different from lung cancer caused by smoking, so what causes it?

Martha first realised that something was wrong when her cough changed and the mucus in her airways became increasingly viscous. Her doctors put it down to a rare disorder she had that caused her lungs to become chronically inflamed. "No worry, it must be that," she was told.

When she finally had an X-ray, a shadow was detected on her lung. "That set the ball rolling," Martha recalls. "First, a CT scan was done, then a bronchoscopy [a procedure that involves using a long tube to inspect the airways in a person's lungs] to take tissue samples." After the tumour was removed, about four months after she'd first reported symptoms to her GP, she received the diagnosis: Stage IIIA lung cancer. The tumour had infiltrated the surrounding lymph nodes but had not yet spread to distant organs. Martha was 59 years old.

"It was a total shock," says Martha. Although she would occasionally light up a cigarette at a party, she never considered herself a smoker.

Lung cancer is the most common cancer worldwide and the leading cause of cancer death. In 2022, about 2.5 million people were diagnosed with the disease and more than 1.8 million died. Although tobacco-related lung cancers still account for the majority of diagnoses worldwide, smoking rates have been declining for several decades. As the number of smokers continues to fall in many countries around the world, the proportion of lung cancer occurring in people who have never smoked is on the rise. Between 10 and 20% of lung cancer diagnoses are now made in individuals who have never smoked.

"Lung cancer in never-smokers is emerging as a separate disease entity with distinct molecular characteristics that directly impact treatment decisions and outcomes," says Andreas Wicki, an oncologist at the University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland. While the average age at diagnosis is similar to that of smoking-related lung cancers, younger patients with lung cancer are more likely to have never smoked. "When we see 30- or 35-year-olds with lung cancer, they are usually never-smokers," he says.

Another difference is the type of cancer being diagnosed. Until the 1950s and 1960s, the most common form of lung cancer was squamous cell carcinoma – a type which begins with the cells that line the lungs. In contrast, lung cancer in never-smokers is almost exclusively adenocarcinoma – a type which starts in mucus-producing cells – which is now the most common form of lung cancer in both smokers and never-smokers.

Like other forms of lung cancer, adenocarcinoma is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage. "If there's a 1cm (0.4in) tumour hidden somewhere in your lungs, you won't notice it," says Wicki. The early symptoms, which include persistent coughing, chest pain, shortness of breath or wheezing, often only appear when the tumour is larger or has spread. In addition, the historically strong link between smoking and lung cancer may inadvertently lead non-smokers to attribute symptoms to other causes, says Wicki. "Most cases in never-smokers are therefore only diagnosed at stage 3 or 4."

Lung cancer in never-smokers is also more common in women. Women who have never smoked are more than twice as likely to develop lung cancer as male never-smokers. Aside from lung anatomy and environmental exposures, at least part of the answer may lie in genetic mutations that are more common in women, especially in Asian women. One of the most prevalent is a mutation known as EGFR.

Lung cancer cells in people who have never smoked usually have a number of mutations that could be causing their cancer, explains Wicki – so-called driver mutations. These genetic changes drive tumour growth, such as the EGFR gene which codes for a protein on the surface of cells and is called epidermal growth factor receptor. The reasons why these driver mutations are more frequently found in female patients, particularly those of Asian descent, are not entirely understood. There is some evidence that female hormones may play a role, with certain genetic variants that affect oestrogen metabolism being more prevalent in East Asians. This could potentially explain the higher incidence of EGFR-mutant lung cancer in Asian women, although the data is very preliminary.

Following the discovery of mutations which can lead to lung cancer in non-smokers, the pharmaceutical industry began to develop drugs that specifically block the activity of those proteins. For example, the first EGFR inhibitors became available around 20 years ago and most patients showed an impressive response. However, treatment often led to resistant cancer cells, resulting in tumour relapse. In recent years, much effort has been put into overcoming this problem, with newer types of drugs now entering the market.

As a result, the prognosis for patients has steadily improved. "The median survival rate of patients who carry such driver mutations is now several years," Wicki explains. "We have patients who have been on targeted therapy for more than 10 years. This is a huge step forward when you consider that the median survival rate was less than 12 months about 20 years ago."

As the proportion of lung cancer in never-smokers increases, experts say it is crucial to develop prevention strategies for this population. A number of risk factors have been implicated. For example, studies have revealed that radon and second-hand smoke can elevate the risk of lung cancer in non-smokers. Additionally, exposure to cooking fumes or to stoves burning wood or coal in poorly ventilated rooms may also increase this risk. Since women traditionally spend more time indoors, they are particularly vulnerable to this type of indoor air pollution. However, outdoor air pollution is an even more significant factor in the development of lung cancer.

In fact, outdoor air pollution is the second leading cause of all lung cancer cases after smoking. Studies have revealed that people who live in highly polluted areas are more likely to die of lung cancer than those who do not. Particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter (about a 30th of the width of a human hair), typically found in vehicle exhaust and fossil fuel smoke, seems to play an important role. And intriguingly, research has shown a strong link between high levels of PM2.5 and lung cancer in individuals who have never smoked and who carry an EGFR mutation.

How air pollution may trigger lung cancer in never-smokers carrying the EGFR mutation has been the focus of research at the Francis Crick Institute in London. "When we think about environmental carcinogens, we usually think about them as causing mutations in the DNA", says William Hill, a post-doctoral researcher in the cancer evolution and genome instability laboratory of the Francis Crick Institute. Cigarette smoke, for example, damages our DNA, thus leading to lung cancer. "However, our [2023] study proposes that PM2.5 doesn't directly mutate DNA, rather it wakes up dormant mutant cells sitting in our lungs and starts them on the early stages of lung cancer."

In their experiments, the researchers showed that air pollutants are taken up by immune cells called macrophages. These cells normally protect the lung by ingesting infectious organisms. In response to PM2.5 exposure, macrophages release chemical messengers known as cytokines, which wake up cells carrying the EGFR mutation and causes them to proliferate. "Both air pollution and EGFR mutations are needed for tumours to grow," says Hill. Understanding how PM2.5 acts on the microenvironment of cells carrying EGFR mutations to promote tumour growth, he adds, could pave the way for new approaches to preventing lung cancer.

The association between air pollution and lung cancer is not new. In a landmark paper establishing the link between smoking and lung cancer in 1950, the authors suggested outdoor pollutants from the burning of fossil fuels as a possible cause. But policies to date have focused almost exclusively on tobacco control. But 75 years later, air pollution is finally coming into focus.

Air pollution levels in Europe and the US have fallen in recent decades. But the effect of changes on lung cancer rates has not yet become apparent. "It probably takes 15 to 20 years for changes in exposure to be reflected in lung cancer rates, but we don't know for sure," says Christine Berg, a retired oncologist from the National Cancer Institute in Maryland, US. Moreover, the picture is not static: climate change is likely to have an impact in the future. "With the increasing risk of wildfires, air pollution and PM2.5 levels are rising again in certain regions of the US," says Berg. "At least one study has shown an association between wildfire exposure and increased incidence of lung cancer. Transitioning away from coal, oil and gas is therefore crucial not only to slow global warming but also to improve air quality."

In 2021, the WHO halved the annual mean air quality guideline for PM2.5, meaning it has adopted a more stringent approach to particulate matter. "But 99% of the world population lives in areas where air pollution levels exceed [these updated] WHO guideline limits," says Ganfeng Luo, a postdoctoral researcher at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France.

In a recent study, IARC researchers estimated that approximately 194,000 cases of lung adenocarcinoma worldwide were attributable to PM2.5 in 2022. "The highest burden is estimated in East Asia, especially in China," says Luo.

In the future, the number of lung cancer deaths attributable to air pollution could increase in countries such as India, which currently has some of the highest levels of air pollution, according to the WHO. In Delhi, the average PM2.5 levels are above 100 micrograms per sq m, which is 20 times above the WHO air quality guidelines.

In the UK, 1,100 people developed adenocarcinoma of the lung as a result of air pollution in 2022, the IARC study found. "But not all of these cases will be in never-smokers," says Harriet Rumgay, an epidemiologist and a co-author of the study. Adenocarcinoma also occurs in smokers, especially in those using filtered cigarettes. "There's still a lot we don't know," says Rumgay. "More research is needed to disentangle the different factors and also to understand, for example, how long you would need to be exposed to air pollution before developing lung cancer."

As treatments continue to improve, lung cancer in never-smokers is becoming more survivable. It is conceivable that this type of lung cancer will one day become the most common form of a disease that has historically been associated with older male smokers, changing the way we think about the disease in popular culture; "…the idea that they [patients] are at least partly to blame for their disease is unfortunately still widespread," says Wicki.

Martha was found to have an EGFR mutation and has been taking an inhibitor since her diagnosis almost three years ago. "It's definitely not a vitamin pill," she says. The drug has some nasty side effects: chronic fatigue, muscle pain, skin problems. Balancing the risks and benefits of drug treatment and maintaining a reasonable quality of life is not always easy, she says. But the drug is working. "And the fatalistic view of the disease is changing, and that is good."

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Panjandrum: The 'giant firework' built to break Hitler's Atlantic Wall

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250603-the-giant-firework-built-to-break-hitlers-atlantic-wall, 10 days ago

To make D-Day a success, the Allies thought they might have to break through formidable German defences. One unconventional idea was a "giant firework" that would deliver a one-tonne bomb: the Panjandrum.

After conquering much of Western Europe in the first few years of World War II, Nazi Germany then diverted a huge effort into protecting what it had invaded.

Once the United States entered the war on the side of the Allies in late 1941, the threat of invasion from the sea went from a distinct possibility to certainty.

To prevent it, hundreds of thousands of forced labourers – some of them Russian prisoners captured on the Eastern Front – were set to work. They built walls, tank traps and reinforced-concrete emplacements. The fortifications stretched around 5,000km (3,105 miles) from France's border with Spain all the way to the northern tip of Norway.

Adolf Hitler called it the "Atlantic Wall", and there are still many traces of it, littering beaches from the Bay of Biscay to the sub-Arctic fjords.

Allied military planners had many challenges to wrestle with during their long preparations for the liberation of Europe. Seizing a port made the most sense – it would be easier to get vital supplies to the troops on the beachhead by unloading ships more speedily on the docks. But the ports on the English Channel coast had been heavily fortified by German defenders.

A bold plan to temporarily take over one of these ports – Dieppe, in France – in August 1942 showed how difficult a port would be to capture. Thousands of mostly Canadian troops were killed or captured in a botched attempt to push through defences; supporting tanks became bogged down on loose shingle sand and the built-up surroundings gave the defenders plenty of cover from which to fire on the invading forces.

Dieppe, it turned out, had the wrong kind of beach. The French coast had plenty of beaches firm enough to support tanks and other vehicles coming ashore, but these beaches would be overlooked by the Atlantic Wall defences the Germans were quickly building. How could they be breached, with the minimum loss to Allied soldiers? An eccentric plan was born…

The brilliant engineer behind a bizarre idea

Nevil Shute Norway was an accomplished aeronautical engineer who had worked on one of Britain's most high-profile airship designs. The R100 airship had been designed by engineer Barnes Wallis – who would later invent the bouncing bomb of Dambusters fame – for engineering firm Vickers, with funding from the government. Norway later took over as chief engineer when Wallis left to work on other projects.

The R100, intended for long-distance voyages across the British Empire, carried out successful publicity tours as far afield as Canada. It was developed alongside a similar airship designed and built by the UK's Air Ministry, called R101; this design was fatally flawed, and crashed with the loss of 48 lives in northern France while on its maiden flight.

News of the crash flashed around the world, killing Britain's emerging airship industry for good, and Norway drifted into more conventional aircraft designs, including the highly successful Oxford trainer designed by his own aircraft company, Airspeed.

When war broke out, Norway joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve, initially serving on naval ships. But his flair for engineering took him in a different direction: into the navy's secret department for experimental weapons.

The Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapon Development was known informally as the "wheezers and dodgers". They drew bookish, lab-bound talent from the UK's universities and research institutes and challenged them to come up with new weapons that could be used in the war. No idea, however outlandish, was discouraged.

One of the weapons the British armed forces needed was something that could be deployed from a ship and was powerful enough to breach the strong concrete sea wall now in place across much of Europe. From there, Allied forces could hopefully capture the ports needed to sustain a sea invasion from behind, where they would be less well-defended.

Norway and team did the calculations and arrived at a minimum explosive weight to break through the concrete defences: a tonne of high explosives. Placed against the wall, this should be enough to blow a tank-sized hole that will allow invading troops and vehicles to pour through. But to drive it up across a well-defended beach was likely to be too hazardous.

Norway and the naval research team turns to an unlikely inspiration: a firework known as the Catherine wheel. The firework uses part of the energy of the rocket, which is usually pinned to the structure, to spin; it makes a much more impressive display. Enough rockets, the team calculated, could generate enough energy to propel a one-tonne bomb all the way up to the beach to hit the concrete wall.

Obviously, to be able to hold a one-tonne bomb, the device would need to be a very large Catherine wheel, one that could be controlled remotely.

Norway and his team eventually came up with a device that looked like a large film reel, with two wheels 10ft (3m) high, on either side of a large steel tank that contained the explosive charge. Spaced around either side of the two giant wheels were a series of rockets containing cordite (gunpowder) which could be controlled remotely and would propel the device forward once the rockets ignited. The contraption might reach speeds in excess of 60mph (100 km/h), giving it enough momentum to push through any obstacles until it hit the wall. Norway and his team called their device "the Panjandrum".

The Panjandrum exemplifies the anything-goes attitude that British military thinkers adopted, says David Willey, the recently retired curator at The Tank Museum in Bovington in the UK. And it also feeds into a kind of "national myth", he says, that there is always some kind of unconventional inventor that will save the day.

"We love this idea," he says. "We've got all these boffins with round thick glasses in back rooms all over the place that we task to come up with answers and they're always going to be saying 'If only they'd listened to me earlier'. They're fed questions, they're told the problem."

"This idea of blasting holes in sea walls or major defensive wall is quite a big one," Willey adds. The idea, however far-fetched it sounds now, the idea of some massive Catherine wheel with rockets on and it goes over rolls towards wherever where it's then detonated with a huge charge."

The Panjandrum comes before an age of miniaturised electronics, but in a way it presages the age of the drone – a weapon that can be sent into battle without a human needing to pilot it.

"In its broadest sense the Panjandrum makes a lot of sense because you're delivering a huge amount of explosives to one single point, the concrete encasements and the Atlantic Wall," says Rob Rumble, a curator at the Imperial War Museums in the UK.

He says the Panjandrum had to do three things: it had to be robust enough to carry its heavy load up the beach, it had to be able to carry enough explosives to successfully breach the concrete, and it had to be able to do this accurately – "which was the great failing in the end".

"In many ways, I'm also sceptical as to its ability to roll over those defences as well," adds Rumble. "So in a way, the only thing going for it was the fact that it could carry a huge amount of explosives."

The Panjandrum was built in secret in east London and then transported to the west of England for testing. The first test took place at Westward Ho! in Devon in September 1943. The need to test it on a beach conditions completely scuppered the project's secrecy. The team had to test it in front of a crowd of curious civilians, who ignored military warnings that the machine was possibly hazardous. The Panjandrum was successfully launched from a landing craft, but as it moved up the beach rockets on one of the wheels detached, and the lumbering machine quickly blundered off to the side.

Norway and his team made many modifications to the Panjandrum and its array of rockets, but several more tests fared little better. One video which has been preserved by the Imperial War Museum in London shows the weapon careering over the beach throwing up a huge spray of sand and seawater – all the while being chased by an excited dog. (Panjandrum footage starts at 2.51.)

"You know it always makes me laugh when we see this footage of this top-secret stuff and there seems to be half a dozen families down there sitting around having a picnic at the same time in the background."

With the planned invasion of France drawing ever closer, time was running out to finetune the Panjandrum. In January 1944 – just five months before the eventual D-Day landings – a last test took place in front of a crowd of military observers.

In 1977, the BBC produced a documentary series called The Secret War, and producer Brian Johnson described the final Panjandrum test:

"At first all went well. Panjandrum rolled into the sea and began to head for the shore, the brass hats watching through binoculars from the top of a pebble ridge [...] Then a clamp gave: first one, then two more rockets broke free: Panjandrum began to lurch ominously. It hit a line of small craters in the sand and began to turn to starboard, careering towards [photographer Louis] Klemantaski, who, viewing events through a telescopic lens, misjudged the distance and continued filming. Hearing the approaching roar he looked up from his viewfinder to see Panjandrum, shedding live rockets in all directions, heading straight for him.

"As he ran for his life, he glimpsed the assembled admirals and generals diving for cover behind the pebble ridge into barbed-wire entanglements. Panjandrum was now heading back to the sea but crashed on to the sand where it disintegrated in violent explosions, rockets tearing across the beach at great speed."

Panjandrum had failed for the final time, and the project was quietly scrapped.

The idea of a weapon that would make its way to its target under its own steam was outlandish for the time, but makes far more sense today, says Rumble. "In its concept the Panjandrum was a good idea, you know, the sort of indirect unmanned weapons that you see today but in much more advanced form with drone warfare. But otherwise, the technology to drive and navigate the machine just wasn't there at the time."

"Hindsight is wonderful," says Willey. "'This one doesn't work.' Lots of experiments we do don't work. Now, that doesn't mean to say all those experiments are therefore failures. Because number one is you're writing something off the list. So often technology jumps from one project to another, you'll see that happening loads of times.

"In many ways, it baffles me to a certain extent, that the, the solid rocket power was even considered an idea," says Rumble. "Little solid booster rockets aren't 100% an exact science either, depending on how much fuel you have in each one, and how successfully they ignite."

In the end, success on the D-Day beaches came partly due to another unconventional weapon – modified tanks collectively known as "Funnies". Led by the eccentric Percy Hobart, normal tanks were modified to do everything from swim to shore using canvas floatation devices, clear minefields with whirling chains, lay steel matting over soft sand or lob dustbin-sized shells at concrete emplacements. They played a massive part in making the landings on 6 June 1944 a success.

As for Norway? Panjandrum was a failure, but other projects Shute Norway masterminded during his time in the Navy – such as an anti-submarine depth charge system called "Hedgehog" – were far more successful. But engineering was just one of his callings. Since the 1920s, he had been publishing stories and novels, writing under a pen name because he worried his fiction could detract from the seriousness of his engineering. His pen-name? Nevil Shute. In the years after the war, he became one of the world's most popular novelists.

The Panjandrums built in peacetime

The Panjandrum remains a dazzling example of an unconventional approach to warfare, abandoned when tests proved its shortcomings. But could it have been made to work?

In recent years, some non-military minds have decided to give the idea another pass, such as Adam Savage, the former Mythbusters host who now fronts the TV programme Savage Builds. In 2020, Savage decided to see if he could improve the design enough that it might be able to carry out a peacetime mission, building a miniature Panjandrum. Putting five rockets on each wheel generated more than 10 times the thrust-to-weight ratio, and a slight delay in one of the rockets firing caused the machine to careen wildly off course. Cutting it down to three rockets each side helped, but the results were still far from successful.

Another, bigger Panjandrum was built in 2009 to mark the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Constructed for the Appledore Book Festival, it was created by Skyburst, an industrial pyrotechnics company based in Bristol in the UK.

"We got contacted by a chap from the book festival, to say, 'You know, we're thinking of doing this, is this something you could help with?'" says Alan Christie, the owner of Skyburst. "I mean, we love doing fireworks, but it's always great to have something different, you know."

Skyburst's Panjandrum, like Savage's, did not contain an explosive charge. But it was much bigger, with the wheels reaching 6ft high (1.8m). Christie knew very little about the Panjandrum, and had do a crash course in the weapon's design. "It was really good to actually get involved and learn more about it."

Christie says wistfully that it was "a shame" they couldn't use the same kind of solid-fuel rockets as the wildly unpredictable original. The centre of their Panjandrum was a large cable drum, to which the team from Skyburst attached a number of rocket motors, before it was moved down to the beach and launched.

"It probably took us about five, six hours in total, to attach all the drivers and get it in position on the beach," says Christie. "One of the things I wanted to try and simulate it as the landing craft pulled up they dropped down the front of it like a ramp, and it [the Panjandrum] was supposed to roll off. So we built a small ramp ourselves, and then we tied it up with what we call it 'black match', it's just like plastic-covered gunpowder rope.

"We fired it, and it fired the black match as well, which released it and let it go." Christie says Skyburst tried to make their miniaturised Panjandrum as faithful as possible to the original.

More like this:

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"We got it about 50m (165ft)," he says. "It looked spectacular. I think it actually looked better than the originals did, with all the sparks snarling off it and stuff."

There is no doubt that this odd weapon was built – we have the pictures, footage and testimony of confused onlookers to corroborate it – but there remains a tantalising hint that the Panjandrum may have been an elaborate ploy to fool the German defenders that the Normandy landings were to take place far closer to one of the fortified ports. Was the Panjandrum ultimately an intelligence tool, rather than something that would have been used in anger?

"I think it was a trick, to be honest," says Christie. "They were very open about testing it. A lot of the other secret weapons that they built, nobody got to see what they were or knew anything about them. It was supposed to roll up the beach and hit certain defences. When you look at the Normandy beaches, there was barbed wire and things like that, but there wasn't anything for them to actually crash it into."

Perhaps the Panjandrum was not intended to be a secret weapon at all…

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How your pets alter your immune system

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250602-how-your-pets-alter-your-immune-system, 11 days ago

Living with animals is thought to have profound effects on our immunity – potentially reducing the risk of allergies, eczema and even autoimmune conditions.

Since they first emigrated from Central Europe to North America in the 18th Century, the Amish have become known for their unique lifestyle. Today they are reliant on the same practices of dairy cattle farming and horse-borne transportation that were followed by their ancestors for centuries.

The Amish have gripped the imaginations of Hollywood scriptwriters, documentary makers and sociologists for decades. But in the past 10 years, their way of life has become of increasing interest to the medical world too, as they seem to defy one particularly concerning modern trend. While rates of immune-related conditions which begin in childhood, such as asthma, eczema and allergies, have soared since the 1960s, this has not been the case for the Amish.

The reason for this is revealing insights into how our immune systems operate – and the profound ways that the animals in our lives are affecting them.

A diverse community

To try and understand why the Amish have lower rates of certain immune conditions, a group of scientists spent time back in 2012 with an Amish community in the state of Indiana, and with another farming community known as the Hutterites, in South Dakota. In both cases, they took blood samples from 30 children and studied their immune systems in detail.

There are many similarities between the two groups. Like the Amish, the Hutterites also live off the land, have European ancestry, have minimal exposure to air pollution and follow a diet which is low in processed foods. However, their rates of asthma and childhood allergies are between four and six times higher than among the Amish.

One difference between the two communities is that while the Hutterites have fully embraced industrialised farming technologies, the Amish have not, meaning that from a young age, they live in close contact with animals and the plethora of microbes that they carry.

"If you look at an aerial drone photographs of Amish settlements, and compare them with Hutterite communities, the Amish are living on the farm with the animals, whereas the Hutterites live in little hamlets, and the farm could be a few miles away," says Fergus Shanahan, professor emeritus of medicine at University College Cork, Ireland.

In 2016, a team of scientists from the US and Germany published a now-landmark study concluding that Amish children have a lower risk of allergies because of the way their environments shape their immune systems. In particular, the researchers found that the Amish children in their study had more finely tuned so-called regulatory T cells than those from Hutterite backgrounds. These cells help to dampen down unusual immune responses.

When the researchers scanned dust samples collected from the homes of Amish and Hutterite children for signs of bacteria, they found clear evidence that Amish children were being exposed to more microbes, likely from the animals that they lived among.

Around the world, other scientists have been making similar findings. A group of immunologists reported that children growing up on Alpine farms, where cows typically sleep in close proximity to their owners, seemed to be protected against asthma, hayfever and eczema. Other research has found that a child's allergy risk at ages seven to nine seems to decrease proportionally with the number of pets which were present in the home in their early years of life, dubbed the "mini-farm effect".

"It's not a universal cure-all, and every time I give a lecture on this, someone goes, 'Well I grew up on a farm and I've got allergies', but we know that if you grow up physically interacting with farm animals, you have about a 50% reduction in your likelihood of developing asthma or allergies," says Jack Gilbert, a professor at the University of California San Diego who was involved in the Amish study, and also cofounded the American Gut Project – a citizen science project studying how our lifestyles affect our microbiomes. "Even if you just grow up with a dog in your home, you have a 13-14% reduction in risk," he says.

A new study published in January 2025 found that having a dog at home could help to prevent eczema in some children who are genetically prone to the condition. In an analysis of almost 280,000 people, researchers found that for those with a known risk factor for eczema – a particular variant of a gene involved in immune cell function and inflammation known as interleiukin-7 receptor (IL-7R) – they were less likely to develop the condition if they had lived with a family dog in their first two years of life.

Laboratory tests confirmed that molecular signals from dogs can suppress skin inflammation. However, the researchers warned that introducing a dog may not help with existing eczema and could even make symptoms worse.

Protective pets

Since the Amish study was first published, the potentially protective effect of interacting with animals during childhood has been the subject of much fascination, with the New York Times even publishing an article asking whether pets are the new "probiotic".

So what's going on? Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the tactile nature of humans and our fondness for stroking and fondling our pets, when we live with animals, microbes from their fur and paws have been shown to end up on our skin – at least temporarily.

This has led to suggestions that the "microbiome" could be colonised by bugs from our pets. This is the collection of vast colonies of microbes that live on our skin, in our mouths and most notably in the gut, which hosts a significant concentration of our body's immune cells. According to Nasia Safdar, an infectious disease professor at the University of Wisconsin in the US, this concept has attracted interest from the pet food industry. The idea would be to develop products marketed as promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria in cats and dogs, which might then be transferred to their owners, she says.

"That angle has been an attractive one for people to fund, because for most of us, it's the human condition that we're interested in," says Safdar. "So what role can the animal play in that?" she asks.

Safdar says she is considering running a study which would involve collecting faecal samples from both pets and their human owners when they come for repeated veterinary appointments to see if their guts become more microbially similar with time. She also wants to see if she can identify similar bacterial species which could confer health benefits.

However, others feel that the idea of dog or cat or any other kind of non-human animal microbes being incorporated into our microbiomes is dubious. "There's zero evidence of that whatsoever," says Gilbert. "We don't really find long-term accumulation of dog bacteria on our skin, in our mouth, or in our guts. They don't really stick around."

In response to this, Safdar says that she still feels the study is very much worthwhile, stating she feels it is plausible that gut microbes can be transferred from pets to their owners and vice versa. "It's worth studying and hasn't been closely looked at yet," she says.

Gilbert believes that pets are playing a different, yet equally vital role. His theory is that because our distant ancestors domesticated various species, our immune systems have evolved to be stimulated by the microbes that they carry. These microbes do not reside with us permanently, but our immune cells recognise the familiar signals as they pass through, which then keeps the immune system developing in the right way.

"Over many millennia, the human immune system got used to seeing dog, horse and cow bacteria," says Gilbert. "And so when it sees those things, it triggers beneficial immune development. It knows what to do," he says.

Studies have also shown that humans who live in the same household as a pet end up with gut microbiomes which are more like each other, and Gilbert suggests that the animal is likely acting as a vehicle to help transfer human microbes between its owners. At the same time, regular exposure to the pet's own microbes will also be stimulating their immune systems to stay more active and better manage the bacterial populations in their own gut and skin microbiomes, keeping pathogens out and stimulating the growth of useful bacteria.

Ancient microbes

This is all good news for animal lovers, with research continuing to suggest that living with pets across our life course can be good for our immune system.

After reading the study on the Amish and the Hutterites, Shanahan was inspired to conduct his own research on Irish travellers, a marginalised population who typically live in confined spaces amongst multiple animals – from dogs and cats to ferrets and horses.

Shanahan sequenced their gut microbiomes and compared them with Irish people living more modern lifestyles today, as well as microbiomes sequenced from indigenous populations in Fiji, Madagascar, Mongolia, Peru and Tanzania who still live a lifestyle akin to our hunter-gatherer ancestors. He discovered that the microbiome of Irish travellers was more similar to the indigenous groups. He said that their microbiome also bore similarities to that of humans from the pre-industrialised world, which other scientific groups have been able to study by collecting ancient faecal samples preserved in caves.

"The Irish travellers have retained an ancient microbiome," says Shanahan. "It's far more similar to what you see from tribes in Tanzania who still live like hunter-gatherers or the Mongolian horseman who live in yurts, close to their animals."

Shanahan believes that this may explain the low rates of autoimmune diseases in Irish traveller populations: conditions like inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, multiple sclerosis and other diseases, which like asthma and allergies, have become increasingly common in recent decades.

"This isn't to say that their health is good," says Shanahan. "Irish travellers are dying much earlier than the settled community. But they're dying from things like alcoholism, suicide and accidents, driven by poverty and marginalisation and their culture being eroded. But go to an Irish rheumatologist and ask if they've ever seen a traveller with systemic lupus [an autoimmune condition], they've never seen it."

Now researchers are looking to see whether introducing animals back into our lives in various ways can be beneficial for our health across the life course. Researchers at the University of Arizona in the US have explored whether rehoming unwanted dogs with older adults could help to improve their physical and mental health by boosting their immune systems. And results from an Italian research group which created an educational farm where children from homes with no pets could regularly pet horses under supervision suggested that the children's gut microbiomes started to produce more beneficial metabolites.

Gilbert says it's plausible that this could be a means of improving childhood immunity. "If you're exposed to more types of bacteria, you are going to stimulate your immune system in more variable ways, which may then improve its ability to manage the microbes on your skin and in your gut," he says. "But you're not being colonised by animal bacteria, that's not happening."

Researchers point out that having pets throughout your life can also facilitate more microbial interactions with your immune system in other ways. For example, having a dog makes you more likely to go for regular walks, notes Liam O'Mahoney, professor of immunology at APC Microbiome Ireland, a microbiome-dedicated research centre at University College Cork.

"If you have a pet, you get out and about in the environment and go for walks in the park," says O'Mahoney. "And by doing that, you're also being exposed to microbes from the park, the soil, everywhere which can all be useful."

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'It's terrifying': The Everest climbs putting Sherpas in danger

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250530-the-everest-climbs-putting-sherpas-in-danger, 13 days ago

Long portrayed as "superhuman" guides and porters, Sherpas face many dangers in the mountains and are beginning to tell their side of the story. Are there ways to make their work safer?

The radio at Mount Everest Base Camp crackled once, then fell silent. Dorchi Sherpa, the base camp leader in charge, pressed the device against his ear, straining to hear another transmission. Outside his tent, the massive silhouettes of the high Himalayas cut into the dawn sky. Expedition tents dotted the rocky moraine below, buzzing with activity on 22 May, the busiest day of the 2024 spring climbing season.

"When I heard that final transmission, my heart sank," Dorchi tells me later, his face solemn as he recalls the moment. "The weather was clear, but something had clearly gone wrong up there."

The crackling message had been the last of several distressed calls from Nawang Sherpa, a 44-year-old guide who was leading Cheruiyot Kirui, a Kenyan climber, towards the summit of the world's highest mountain.

The tragedy unfolding that day shines a spotlight on an issue which, according to people working on Everest, has been ignored for far too long: the deadly risks and impossible safety dilemmas faced by Sherpas. The famous guides and porters of the Himalayas are, in the words of one Sherpa climber, often wrongly portrayed as "superhuman", as if they were untouched by altitude, effort and oxygen deprivation. But their legendary feats on Everest come at a huge sacrifice, as growing research, and interviews with climbers, doctors and officials, reveal.

So what exactly happened on 22 May 2024 — and what does it reveal about the bigger struggles over Sherpa health and welfare?

'The client seems unwell'

Like most tragedies on Everest, this one began with ambition, and, for the guide, economic need.

Nawang Sherpa, who was working for a Nepal-based trekking company, had begun his final push toward the Everest summit with Kirui. The term "Sherpa", now often used as a job title for any high-altitude guide in the Himalayas, originally refers to an ethnic group from Nepal's eastern highlands. Nawang Sherpa, and the other people with the surname Sherpa featured in this article, belong to that ethnic group, as well as being guides. Since mountaineering began in the region, Sherpas have carried the heaviest loads on Mount Everest, working first for colonial explorers, and later, for tourists.

Kirui sought to join a rarified club of climbers reaching the summit without supplemental oxygen. Since 1953, when Everest was first summited, only around 2% of all successful climbs have achieved this, according to records from the Himalayan Database.

In his social media posts before the expedition, Kirui revealed his excitement about attempting this "pure" ascent, having previously conquered other mountains without oxygen assistance. The challenge of climbing without artificial support clearly represented a new frontier of adventure for the experienced mountaineer.

In those critical moments high on the mountain, when oxygen was offered, it remains unclear whether his refusal was a deliberate choice aligned with his stated ambitions or if his judgement had already been compromised by the impact of high altitude.

Dorchi Sherpa, the base camp manager, received a radio transmission from Nawang when they reached 8,800 metres (28,871ft). At that height, in what mountaineers call the death zone, the human body begins to shut down. With atmospheric pressure at a third of sea level, each laboured breath delivers barely enough oxygen to sustain basic bodily functions.

"The client seems unwell," Nawang Sherpa's voice crackled through to Base Camp at 08:07, wind interference fragmenting his words as he reported to Dorchi.

"Oxygen," came Dorchi Sherpa's immediate response. "Put him on oxygen and begin descent."

According to Dorchi Sherpa, Nawang pleaded with Kirui for several minutes to accept the supplemental oxygen canister from his pack. Kirui refused, Dorchi says. "No oxygen," he repeated with growing agitation. "No oxygen. Pure summit only."

By 09:23, when Nawang Sherpa's voice returned over the radio, fear had replaced concern. "Cannot move him," he reported. "He becomes... angry. I cannot drag him down alone."

For the next two hours, Kirui refused the supplemental oxygen that Nawang Sherpa repeatedly urged him to use, according to Dorchi Sherpa. Despite showing clear signs of altitude sickness, including confusion and slurred speech, the Kenyan climber remained determined to continue his ascent without artificial air.

This impasse proved fatal. Both men died on Everest. Their bodies are still there: the Kenyan climber's body remains at the same location where he was last seen, while Nawang's body has not been located. (Read more about why it is so difficult to recover bodies from Everest.)

It's unclear what exactly happened in those crucial last moments – and in all likelihood, we will never know. Certainly, everyone started the journey with the best intentions. Kirui's girlfriend, Nakhulo Khaimia, describes the trip as a long-held dream for him, which he prepared for carefully.

"He poured his time, energy, and entire lifestyle into it," she says. "His social life revolved around getting ready for Everest. His journey was intentional, disciplined and deeply personal."

James Muhia, who was not on the Everest expedition but had climbed with Kirui on an expedition to summit another mountain without oxygen, says he believes his friend had an oxygen cylinder with him to use in case of an emergency. "Whether he used this emergency bottle or not, we cannot tell," he says.

For his part, Nawang was an experienced mountain guide who had never been to the summit of Everest before but had summited other tall peaks in the Himalayas, according to his family. But those working on the mountain warn that a number of factors, including the conditions Sherpas work in, can make these kinds of deadly situations especially complicated, and difficult to resolve safely.

Spotlight on Sherpas

According to Sanu Sherpa, a veteran guide who holds the distinction of being the only person to have summited all 14 8,000m (26,247ft) peaks twice, Nawang's death represents no isolated tragedy but rather, a predictable pattern in high-altitude mountaineering.

I spoke to Sanu Sherpa at his flat in Kathmandu, as he was preparing for his 45th summit of an 8,000m peak. Despite having twice climbed all 14 of the world's highest mountains, he speaks not of personal glory but of professional obligation.

"I don't think Nawang was being reckless or foolish," he says. "He was being exactly what we've all been trained to be, responsible to the end. The tragedy isn't just that he died, but that dying was the most professionally appropriate choice he could make."

On Everest and other Himalayan giants, such tragedies involving Sherpas unfold annually with little public attention, says Sanu Sherpa, creating a growing ledger of sacrifices made in service to foreign ambitions.

A complex web of professional expectations shapes guides' decisions and can place them in great danger, when paired with the inherent risk of undertaking strenuous work in an extreme environment, studies suggest. Sherpa guides often find themselves caught between traditional values of service, the economic pressures of an industry where guides are hired based on their personal reputation, and the life-or-death realities of working at extreme altitude, with client satisfaction frequently prioritised over personal safety.

The tragedy highlights the risk Sherpas like Nawang take on when they agree to accompany a client.

Working as a guide or porter on Everest offers a rare economic opportunity in one of the world's poorest regions, but demands a toll unmatched in any service profession, where workers routinely sacrifice their well-being in service to their clients. When tragedy strikes, Sherpas often vanish from the story.

According to the Himalayan Database, the ledger-keeper of the human death toll in mountaineering, 132 climbing Sherpas have perished on Everest's slopes, 28 in the past decade alone. They fell in crevasses, were crushed beneath collapsing seracs (huge towers of ice), or simply vanished into the mountain's vastness while tending to their clients.

While foreign climbers may view these hazards as acceptable risks for their singular attainment, for the guides and porters on Everest, the data presents a stark workplace reality: 1.2% of these workers die on the job, an extraordinary occupational danger by any standard measure.

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In the past, that risk to Sherpas was often downplayed, and instead, foreigners tended to highlight Sherpas' strength and resilience. It's a portrayal the Sherpas themselves are starting to openly challenge.

Dawa Sherpa, the first Nepali woman to summit all 14 8,000m (26,247ft) peaks, highlights a dangerous misconception about Sherpas having superhuman abilities. She's witnessed the physical toll: guides supporting struggling clients for hours, preparing high-altitude meals, and rationing their oxygen so clients can continue climbing.

"They aren't superhumans. Sherpas often push themselves beyond safe limits while prioritising others' summit goals," Dawa Sherpa says. "I've seen them return with frostbite or oxygen deprivation because they sacrificed their safety for someone else's achievement."

She notes that wealthy climbers sometimes hire multiple Sherpas per expedition and, when exhausted during descent, expect to be physically assisted downward. This dynamic, she emphasises, makes the mountain even more hazardous for those carrying the heaviest burden.

Unequal power

When talking about the dangers they face, Sherpas interviewed by the BBC keep returning to the fundamental problem of the dramatically unequal power balance: the guide's inability to refuse a client's dangerous requests, even when their health is at risk, for fear of losing work and income.

"Sherpas don't climb for the fame and glory of it, nor for some accomplishment. They climb because it is sometimes the only source of livelihood. That fundamental reality shapes every decision made on the mountain," says Nima Nuru Sherpa, president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA). The association provides training programmes for guides and porters to improve safety standards and professional qualifications.

"These systemic constraints help explain why guides like Nawang make the choices they do," Nuru Sherpa says. "The professional consequences of abandoning a client, potentially losing future work in a reputation-based industry, likely weigh as heavily as immediate safety concerns in those oxygen-deprived moments of decision. When your entire family depends on your work as a mountain guide, walking away becomes nearly impossible."

Meanwhile, the Sherpas' own extraordinary achievements tend to attract little attention. In May 2025, Nepali Sherpa Kami Rita broke his own record for the most climbs of Mount Everest, when he scaled the world's tallest peak for the 31st time.

Sanu Sherpa says that his accomplishments remain largely unrecognised even within Nepal itself, whereas far lesser feats by foreign mountaineers often receive greater celebration and financial rewards.

Carrying champagne up Everest

The unequal relationship between Western climbers and Sherpas was born in the shadows of colonialism. When British expeditions first approached Mount Everest in the 1920s, they recruited local men as "coolies", a term borrowed from colonial India – to carry their extensive gear, which included everything from silver cutlery to cases of champagne. These early Sherpas received little recognition. Their names rarely appeared in expedition accounts, except when catastrophe struck. In his chronicles of one of these early expeditions, British adventurer George Mallory mentioned them primarily when seven porters died in an avalanche – the first recorded Everest fatalities.

By the mid-20th Century, as mountaineering shed its imperial trappings, the dynamic began to shift. Tenzing Norgay's 1953 summit alongside Edmund Hillary forced a reluctant recognition of Sherpa skill, after the international press initially downplayed his achievement, portraying him as an admirable sidekick and a cheerful companion to the heroic Hillary.

The commercial era dawned in the 1980s, recasting Everest into a marketplace and Sherpas into essential service providers. As wealthy clients with limited technical skills began pursuing the summit, Sherpa responsibilities expanded dramatically. No longer just load carriers, they became guides, safety technicians, and sometimes rescuers, roles that demanded greater skill but came with limited additional authority. Western expedition leaders maintained decision-making power while Sherpas shouldered increasing physical risk.

Disaster marked a turning point. When, in 2014, 16 Nepali workers died in a single avalanche while preparing the route for commercial clients, Sherpas across Everest staged an unprecedented work stoppage. Their collective action forced a reckoning with the industry's inequities and led to modest improvements in insurance coverage and compensation.

Experts warn that the root of the problem is the power imbalance between guides and clients, in an extreme environment where one's thinking becomes clouded from the altitude, and every wrong decision can be fatal. The result, they tell the BBC, is an industry that has normalised life-threatening conditions as simply part of the job description for guides, who must routinely place themselves in mortal danger to satisfy their customers' aspirations.

Brain fog

In Dingboche, at 14,470ft (4,410m) on the trail to Everest Base Camp, expedition medical officer Abhyu Ghimire moves between examination rooms in the Mountain Medical Institute. Outside his window, the jagged peaks of Ama Dablam rise against a cerulean blue sky. It's expedition season, and his days stretch from dawn until well after dusk. Having summited Everest himself and worked as a medical officer for almost a decade, he's witnessed firsthand how altitude transforms both mind and body. The effect can further complicate the client-guide dynamic, his insights suggest – and put lives at risk.

"The brain gets pretty foggy at high altitude," he explains in a video call between patient consultations. "The brain is meant to function at 99% oxygen saturation at sea level. Up there, even 50-60% oxygen saturation is frequently seen."

This cognitive deterioration, invisible but potentially deadly, transforms personality and decision-making in ways that defy rational explanation. "The brain functions far under capacity and decision-making becomes grossly altered," says Ghimire. "This can even lead to hallucinations."

The transformation can be profound and disorienting: "[Even] your best friend at that altitude can trigger such intense reactions up there, that if someone simply asks you to pass a water bottle, you might throw it at their face. Someone familiar becomes a stranger," he explains.

According to Ghimire, Kenyan climber Kirui would have experienced progressive cognitive breakdown as he pushed higher without supplemental oxygen. By the time Nawang Sherpa radioed base camp to report his client seemed unwell, Kirui's rational thinking centres would probably have effectively shut down, Ghimire says. Kirui's apparent refusal of supplemental oxygen is in line with a known paradoxical effect of hypoxia (oxygen deprivation): the more oxygen-deprived the brain becomes, the less capable it is of recognising its impairment.

Nawang Sherpa's own judgement would have been increasingly compromised by altitude despite his use of supplemental oxygen, Ghimire says, as such bottled oxygen is not enough to provide the climber with sea-level oxygen conditions – instead, it only gives them about as much oxygen as they would have at roughly 6,000 – 7,000m (19,685 – 22,966ft) altitude. This limited oxygen supply, along with the exhaustion, potential dehydration and extreme cold the guide faced, could have diminished his own mental clarity, Ghimire says. In addition, Nawang Sherpa would have faced what Ghimire describes as a common problem: "Many times, clients facing hypoxia become difficult and refuse to listen to what their guide tells them".

Lurking danger at lower altitudes

The health challenges facing Nepal's mountain workers extend far beyond the crisis moments above Base Camp. The everyday physical toll begins much lower on the mountain, accumulating over the years of service.

"At altitudes above 4,000m (13,123ft), staying for extended periods can cause chronic mountain sickness," Ghimire explains. This condition, known medically as Monge's disease (or Chronic Mountain Sickness), manifests as a triad of dangerous symptoms: "polycythemia, where the blood becomes dangerously thick, pulmonary hypertension, where the lungs become pressurised, and chronic hypoxia, which is persistently low oxygen in the blood," he says.

There are also different risks for Sherpa and non-Sherpa guides. Ethnic Sherpas possess generations of genetic adaptations to altitude, while workers increasingly recruited from other Nepali groups lack these biological advantages, Ghimire says. This distinction matters medically, as those without altitude adaptations face substantially higher risks while performing identical work in oxygen-depleted environments.

The population dynamics of the Khumbu region compound these risks. "Many people from lower elevations come here seeking employment," Ghimire says. "They migrate to high altitude but lack the two genes that have been studied that would make them more robust to these conditions. They're forced to spend long periods at high altitude, which causes heart problems, blood issues, vitamin D deficiency, and numerous other health problems."

According to Nima Ongchuk Sherpa, a physician from Khunde, three porters from lower regions have already lost their lives to altitude-related complications this year, all even below base camp.

More support for Sherpas?

In the Department of Tourism headquarters in central Kathmandu, Rakesh Gurung, the former director of the mountaineering section, speaks with measured concern. Seated behind a weathered wooden desk in a modest government office, where climbing permits are processed and expedition regulations are drafted, he reflects on the industry's challenges.

"There's a systematic failure in being able to provide Sherpas with the safety they deserve," he acknowledges. "While we have basic regulations in place, creating and enforcing a comprehensive code of conduct has proven incredibly difficult. The industry is fragmented, with dozens of operators competing on price rather than safety standards."

He says the tourism department lacks both the resources and specialised expertise to effectively monitor what happens at extreme altitudes. In addition, Nepal's constantly shifting political landscape makes it difficult to come up with an effective plan, he says. "We've had multiple different governments in the past decade alone, consistent policy development has been nearly impossible. Each new administration brings different priorities to tourism management."

This power imbalance extends beyond individual guide-client relationships to the regulatory framework itself, as well as the economics of high-altitude labour. A veteran Sherpa guide might earn between $5,000 and $12,000 (£3,788 and £9,092) in a climbing season, which is substantial in a country where annual per capita income hovers around $1,399 (£1,060). But these earnings support extended families and come at extraordinary physical risk. When tragedy strikes, the financial safety net remains inadequate, guides say.

"What's missing is any sustained reckoning with the structural inequalities that keep Nepal tethered to this dangerous economy, and the absence of real alternatives," says Nima Nuru Sherpa, the president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association. "When a community has limited options, the mountains become not just our backdrop but a necessity, regardless of the physical toll."

The government recently increased mandatory life insurance for high-altitude workers to approximately $14,400 (£10,825), but guides say this falls short of compensating dependent families for a lifetime of lost income and care. Nawang Sherpa's family received this standard insurance payout after his death, with his employer pooling additional resources to provide some supplementary support.

Even basic safety regulations prove difficult to enforce in the world's highest workplace. According to the Department of Tourism, Nepal's mountaineering regulations, solo ascents above 8,000m (26,247ft) are explicitly prohibited, for safety reasons. Yet each season brings high-profile climbers attempting precisely such feats, with little consequence.

Sandesh Maskey, an expedition officer at the Department of Tourism, says that climbers are banned from scaling Everest solo. "We haven't given [solo climbers] any permission to do this solo. It is unethical and they will be going against the law if they do so."

"We expect climbers to be ethical, but people with power and money break rules because they know that once they're on the mountain, we have no practical way to monitor or stop them," he says. "Once climbers move above Base Camp, traditional oversight mechanisms become impractical."

This spring, in response to mounting safety concerns, the Department of Tourism implemented new regulations for the 2025 climbing season. All expeditions to peaks above 8,000m (26,247ft) must now maintain a ratio of one guide for every two climbers. The department has also made reflector technology devices mandatory for all high-altitude expeditions to aid in locating missing climbers. But Sanu Sherpa, the experienced guide in Kathmandu preparing for his next expedition, is doubtful that this will change things – given how hard it is to enforce these rules on Everest.

As he prepared to embark on another expedition up Everest the next day, he admitted he was always on the verge of quitting his job. "It's terrifying with four kids and their lives fully dependent on me. They ask me why I climb the mountains at all."

This story was updated on 02/06/2025 to make it clear that Cheruiyot Kirui had not previously ascended Mount Everest without oxygen.

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AI 'co-pilot' used to speed up cancer diagnosis

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04e6vxkky5o, today

AI software has been introduced by a West Yorkshire NHS Trust in a bid to speed up diagnosis of conditions such as lung cancer and infections.

It was hoped the technology, which would help interpret chest X-rays, would allow patients to get treatment faster, as well as play a key role in patient safety, according to Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

The AI software would act as a "co-pilot" for doctors and could identify up to 85 different findings in minutes, a spokesperson said.

Dr Fahmid Chowdhury, project clinical lead, said: "The real benefit will be once we start using the AI to flag the abnormal reads we will see over time, and the abnormal X-rays will get reported more quickly."

Dr Chowdhury, a consultant radiologist, said it was hoped it would also benefit patients with X-rays which showed no issues "as it gives peace of mind to the patients as well as the clinicians looking after the patient".

According to the trust, it carries out at least 135,000 chest X-rays every year.

The project is part of the Yorkshire Imaging Collaborative, a region-wide imaging network, and is backed by the NHS AI Diagnostic Fund which has provided £21m to 11 imaging networks across the country.

Dr Chowdhury said the pilot scheme in Leeds, which was launched last month, had already proved its worth.

"I've seen at least one example myself where at initial first pass you may not have seen the abnormality, but the AI highlighted it straight away."

However, Dr Chowdhury said he believed AI would not replace doctors, but instead it would work alongside them.

"It's still the doctor or the healthcare worker who is making the call," he explained.

"The AI is a co-pilot rather than a pilot - it's not flying the plane. The doctor or the trained healthcare worker is.

"The AI sits next to them and supports them in doing that job."

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

Data bill opposed by Sir Elton John and Dua Lipa finally passes

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8e6z590wweo, yesterday

A bill which sparked an extraordinary stand-off between some of the UK's most high-profile artists - and their backers in the House of Lords - has finally been passed.

Peers wanted an amendment to the drably-titled Data (Use and Access) Bill which would have forced tech companies to declare their use of copyright material when training AI tools.

Without it, they argued, tech firms would be given free rein to help themselves to UK content without paying for it, and then train their AI products to mimic it, putting human artists out of work.

That would be "committing theft, thievery on a high scale", Sir Elton John told the BBC.

He was one of a number of household names from the UK creative industries, including Sir Paul McCartney and Dua Lipa to oppose the government.

The government refused the amendment. It says it is already carrying out a separate consultation around copyright and it wants to wait for the outcome of that.

In addition there are plans for a separate AI bill. Critics of the peers' proposal say it would stifle the AI industry and result in the UK getting left behind in this lucrative and booming sector.

So, this left the bill in limbo, pingponging between the Houses of Commons and Lords for a month.

But it has now finally been passed, without the amendment, and will become law once royal assent is given.

"We can only do so much here. I believe we've done it. It's up to the government and the other place (the Commons) now to listen," said composer and broadcaster Lord Berkeley.

The government has welcomed the wide-ranging bill passing.

"This Bill is about using data to grow the economy and improve people's lives, from health to infrastructure and we can now get on with the job of doing that", a Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) spokesperson said.

More than AI

* New rules on the rights of bereaved parents to access their children's data if they die

* Changes to allow NHS trusts to share patient data more easily

* A 3D underground map of the UK's pipes and cables, aimed at improving the efficiency of roadworks by minimising the possibility of them being accidentally dug up.

Strawberry Moon stuns skies across Yorkshire

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgvx5lz4deo, yesterday

People in Yorkshire marvelled as a full Strawberry Moon made its most vivid appearance in almost two decades.

The phenomenon lit up skies across the UK on Wednesday night, prompting residents to capture the moment on camera.

It hung low in the sky on Tuesday - making it appear larger than usual - and took on hues of orange and red as it approached a major lunar standstill on Wednesday.

The name for June's full moon relates to the start of summer and the beginning of the strawberry harvest season observed by indigenous Americans.

There will not be a chance to see the moon this low in the sky again for 18 years.

Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.

Strawberry Moon captured in rare state across Wales

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyg35g8p50o, yesterday

People across Wales marvelled at a phenomenon not seen so clearly for nearly 20 years on Wednesday evening.

Cameras were turned to the skies as a full Strawberry Moon graced the UK.

It is the name given to the full moon in June and is named after the harvest season of indigenous Americans because it appeared when wild strawberries were to be harvested.

But, following a full moon spotted sitting low in the sky on Tuesday - making it appear much larger than usual - Wednesday saw its peak, caused by an event known as a major lunar standstill, which last occurred in 2006.

The opportunity to see the moon this low in the sky will not arise again until 2043.

First view of the Sun's south pole filmed by spacecraft

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyqry9ppl9o, 2 days ago

The first ever video and images of the Sun's south pole have been sent back to Earth by the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter spacecraft.

The new images will enable scientists to learn how the Sun cycles between periods of raging storms and quiet times.

This is important because intense solar activity can affect satellite communication and knock out power grids on Earth.

The new images show a shimmering bright atmosphere which in parts reaches temperatures of a million degrees Celsius. Interspersed are darker clouds of gas, which although much cooler, are still a searing one hundred thousand degrees.

The pictures are the closest and most detailed ever taken of the Sun and will help scientists learn how the star that gives us life on Earth actually works, according to Prof Carole Mundell, ESA's Director of Science

"Today we reveal humankind's first-ever views of the Sun's pole," she says.

"The Sun is our nearest star, giver of life and potential disruptor of modern space and ground power systems, so it is imperative that we understand how it works and learn to predict its behaviour".

From Earth, the Sun is so bright that it appears like a featureless disc. But at different frequencies and using special filters, scientists can see it in its true form: as a dynamic fluid ball, with magnetic fields twisting and turning on the surface and conjuring up flares and loops of gas into its atmosphere.

It is these magnetic fields that determine when the Sun rages and spits out particles toward the Earth.

Scientists know that the Sun has a quiet period when the magnetic fields are ordered, with our star having a fixed magnetic north and south pole. This is a phase when the Sun is not able to produce violent explosions, but these fields then become complex and chaotic as they reorientate with the north and south poles flipping approximately every 11 years.

During the chaotic period the Sun tries to reduce its complexity and violence spills out, as bits of the Sun hurtle toward the Earth. These solar storms can damage communications satellites and power grids, though they can also cause beautiful auroras in the sky.

According to Prof Lucie Green of UCL, it has been hard to predict this activity with computer models of the Sun because there has been no data on the migration of the magnetic fields towards the poles. But that has now changed

"We now have the missing piece of the puzzle," she told BBC News.

"The reversal of the polar magnetic fields on the Sun has been one of the big open questions in science and what we will be able to do with Solar Orbiter is measure for the first time the really important fluid flows that grab pieces of the magnetic field across the Sun and transport them to the polar regions".

The ultimate goal is to develop computer models of the Sun so that this so-called space weather can be predicted. Accurate forecasts will enable satellite operators, power distribution companies, as well as aurora watchers, to better plan for intense solar storms.

"This is the Holy Grail of solar physics," says Prof Christopher Owen, who specialises in solar wind studies using data from the spacecraft.

"Solar Orbiter will enable us to get to the bottom of some of the basic science of space weather. But a little more work needs to be done before we get to the point where we see signals on the Sun that we can rely on to predict eruptions that might hit the Earth".

Solar Orbiter also has captured new images of chemical elements at different layers of the Sun and their movement. These have been taken using an instrument called SPICE, which measures the specific frequencies of light, called spectral lines, which are sent out by specific chemical elements hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, neon and magnesium at known temperatures.

For the first time, the SPICE team has tracked spectral lines to measure how fast clumps of solar material are moving. These measurements can reveal how particles are flung out from the Sun in the form of solar wind.

'Smoke and mirrors': Who was the real Andy Warhol?

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250611-who-was-the-real-andy-warhol, today

With his famous wig and shades, Warhol cultivated a mysterious, enigmatic persona. Now a new exhibition with unprecedented access reveals the man behind the elaborate façade.

"If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface of my paintings and films and me, and there I am. There's nothing behind it," the visual artist − famous for his Campbell's soup can paintings, Brillo box sculptures and screen prints of film stars − told journalist Gretchen Berg in 1966.

A new exhibition in West Sussex, UK, Andy Warhol: My True Story, disagrees. Spanning 11 rooms at Newlands House Gallery in Petworth, the show reveals the hidden depths of this key figure in pop art − a movement that peaked in the 1960s and drew on popular culture, advertising and mass media. It demonstrates the gulf between the artist's public persona as a slick-quipping pop icon, and the private Andy, a profoundly shy and sensitive character. Family ephemera, early sketches unearthed from the archives, and intimate photographs that have never been exhibited all offer a new perspective on a figure as familiar to us as the Marilyn and Mona Lisa prints that are on display.

The show is curated by British art historian and author Professor Jean Wainwright, a world expert on Warhol and a longstanding friend of the Warhola family (Andy later dropped the "a"), who pours her extensive knowledge into a major exhibition on the enigmatic artist for the first time. A decade after Warhol's death in 1987, Wainwright, then writing a doctorate on Warhol's audio tapes, travelled back and forth to his home town of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to interview the artist's inner circle and to work her way through the more than 2000 cassette recordings made by Warhol of the events he attended, the conversations he had and his private thoughts. The Andy Warhol Foundation has now placed the tapes under embargo until 50 years after his death (2037), meaning that people can listen to them but not transcribe them. So, no-one knows their contents better than Wainwright. "I had been given access in a way that nobody had before," she tells the BBC. "I got a real sense of him as a person."

Say the name "Andy Warhol", and a very particular image springs to mind: an aloof and effortlessly cool member of the New York avant-garde art scene; a style-setter dressed in dark glasses, leather jacket and spiky "fright" wig, who attracted a constellation of stars to the hedonistic gatherings at his studio, The Factory. "We think of him being a party animal and the epicentre of New York," says Wainwright, but that perception of him changed as her research deepened. "I realised as soon as I started listening to the tapes and meeting the family that he was such a multi-faceted person," she says, describing herself "like a detective piecing things together".

The biggest misconception about Warhol, maintains Wainwright, is "that he didn't care and he's all about surface". A 1971 Gerard Malanga photograph titled Andy Warhol in a pensive moment at the Factory, shown for the first time in a museum, helps dispel such myths. Taken the day he learnt that Valerie Solanas, who shot him in 1968, had been released from prison, it depicts a downcast Warhol with a distant look in his eyes. Later in the exhibition, a sketch from 1985/6 – of a disembodied brain and a laser focus on a small area of torso – illustrates the profound physical and mental effects of the attack, so grievous that Warhol needed to wear a corset for the rest of his life. A year later, he would die from complications following surgery.

"Actually, he did deeply care," says Wainwright. "He made himself into that character [with wig and glasses], but underneath, there was so much going on, so many human traits: self-doubt, worry, nervousness, shyness, anxieties – all these things that we don't necessarily associate with Warhol." In his diaries, for example, he described being handed a microphone at a Studio 54 anniversary party in 1978, and being unable to articulate any thoughts into speech: "I just made sounds… and people laughed," he said.

Further clues to the real, more tender Warhol seep through the exhibits. Downstairs, a 1956 drawing of a topless man reclining as tiny hearts wing their way like butterflies from his left hand, hints at Warhol's sexuality, which was not openly expressed. While upstairs, his good humour is apparent in an unseen Bob Adelman image from 1965 that shows a soaking wet Andy laughing as he pours water from a boot after being pushed into a pool by actor and close friend Edie Sedgwick.

'Surprisingly domestic'

Most surprising of all, perhaps, is the central role played by family in the life of this cult figure, communicated in the exhibition through private artefacts: postcards written to his mother from exotic locations, each beginning "I'm OK" or "I'm alright", and taped interviews revealing that he was also a doting uncle who'd play jokes on the children, such as pretending to be on the phone to someone famous. "We loved to visit him in New York," says his niece, Madalen Warhola on one of the tapes, which can be listened to in the exhibition. "His townhouse was like Never-Never Land [with] robots, tons of candy, toys and lots of Bazooka bubble gum."

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For a famous artist, Warhol's private life was surprisingly domestic. His widowed mother Julia, whose legacy is felt throughout the exhibition, lived with him from 1952. She had migrated from what is now eastern Slovakia, and the two spoke her native Rusyn together and were regular attendees at a Catholic church. Warhol's footage of her from 1966 offers a rare glimpse into their home: the washing up accumulating by the kitchen sink, the net curtains and the chipped paint – a scene that is far removed from the upscale lifestyle we might imagine.

Few people would know this side of him, says Wainwright, due to his "smoke-and-mirrors façade" and his tendency to "put out a different kind of image into the world". Speaking to the BBC in 2019, Eric Shiner, former Director of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, describes Warhol as "a great artful dodger" who enjoyed sharing misleading information. "He really did like to get people off the scent," he continues. "When asked where he was born, he would sometimes say Cleveland, sometimes say Buffalo, other times say Pittsburgh… It was all in an effort to create a mythology around himself so that no one ever really knew the real Andy Warhol."

Photographers also remarked on this elusive quality. "When I was photographing him, it felt like I was going after smoke," recalled David Bailey in 2019, whose rarely seen image of Warhol, Hallway (1973), appears in the show. "It's right there in front of you, you can see it, but when you reach out to grab it, it disperses and disappears."

As for his striking look, that too was smoke and mirrors. It not only hid his insecurities (thinning hair, the requirement for eye contact), but also helped fabricate his distinctive brand. "He'd learnt how to make yourself memorable from cinema," says Wainwright, and he made himself into something "instantly recognisable", just like his soup cans.

He also hid behind pithy soundbites, but even some of these, including the "surface" quote at the start, were reputedly fed to him by others, with Warhol simply agreeing with the statement. Often, he deliberately allowed others to build his image on his behalf. "I'm so empty today. I just can't think of anything," he told an interviewer in 1966. "Why don't you tell me the words and they'll just come out of my mouth?" The following year, he even employed the actor Allen Midgette to impersonate him at events: a clever act of performance art and publicity that again separated the quiet, unassuming Warhol from his uncomfortably famous identity.

His glittering entourage was the ideal way to divert attention from himself and build his myth. In a bizarre appearance on the Merv Griffin show in 1965, Edie Sedgwick became his mouthpiece. "Andy won't say a word," she warned the presenter. "He'll whisper answers to me if you ask him a question." It was a ploy that added to the artist's mystique, while providing a convenient solution to his shyness.

The copious recordings he made on his tape recorder, which he nicknamed his "wife", also played a role. "He wanted to hear somebody else talk so he wouldn't have to talk about himself," his brother, John Warhola, told Wainwright. "We think of him as a pop artist, but he was almost an anthropologist," Wainwright says. "He was at the parties, but he's the quiet epicentre, and things are going on around him." As the photographer Billy Name told her in 2001: "He wasn't such a cultural hero as a cultural zero. You could pass right through him."

In a room dedicated to Warhol's Silver Factory period of the mid-1960s, when he also managed the band The Velvet Underground, we see him peering into his camera, or with it tucked under his arm − hoping, perhaps, to catch you before you caught him. The predatory way Warhol fed off those around him was noted by the Factory's resident photographer, Nat Finkelstein, who described him as "a black widow spider". "He consumed people like he consumed pizza," he told Wainwright in a 2002 interview. "He sucked the top off and discarded the rest."

But, in this section of the show, it's a photograph by Bob Adelman from 1965 that most lingers in the mind. It's Warhol in the spotlight, surrounded by portrait lighting. His bare face, unhidden by sunglasses, wears an apprehensive, exposed expression. The seated figure is unremarkable and almost unrecognisable – an Andy Warhol without his entourage and accoutrements.

Andy Warhol: My True Story is at Newlands House Gallery in Petworth, West Sussex, UK, until 14 September 2025.

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Mood swings fuelled Heston Blumenthal's genius. But the highs got higher and the lows got darker

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy5e6l06rlvo, today

"We just wanted a relaxing conversation with our dad and we weren't able to have one," says Jack Blumenthal. "It was horrible. And it was constant."

Raw pain is etched on Jack's father's face as he finally realises how his undiagnosed mental illness - and erratic manic behaviour - hurt the ones he loves the most.

In a new BBC documentary, celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal is talking to his son for the first time about how he became impossible to live with.

"We'd plan it three weeks in advance, getting prepared just to see you for half an hour," says Jack, who now runs a restaurant himself. "And there was nothing I could do to help you."

Heston wipes a tear away. "I'm sorry," he says.

'Wired differently'

At the height of his fame in the 2000s, Heston Blumenthal was a culinary icon. Known for bacon-and-egg ice cream, snail porridge, and theatrical dining, he was a big brand worth big bucks. But behind the molecular gastronomy and Michelin stars, his mind was increasingly in turmoil.

For years, he thought he was simply "wired differently".

Heston had long believed his emotional highs and lows were just part of who he was - part of the creative chaos that fuelled his culinary genius. In the early years, his imagination ran riot in a positive way, he says.

But gradually, the depression worsened. The highs became higher and the lows much darker.

He recalls having to "lie on the floor to cope" during the filming of a cooking programme several years ago. At one point, he felt as though his new ideas were like thousands of sweets falling from the sky - and he could only catch a few.

But in late 2023, a manic episode escalated into psychosis. Heston was hallucinating guns and had become obsessed with death.

He was admitted to hospital for the first time - and finally diagnosed with bipolar disorder. "How did I get to 57 years-old before I was diagnosed?" he asks.

I recently sat down with world-renowned psychiatrist Prof John Geddes to watch a new BBC new documentary I'd been collaborating on - "Heston: My Life with Bipolar".

In the programme there's a clip of Heston being interviewed by the BBC in 2020 about using robots in the kitchen. He uses surreal, nonsensical metaphors: "I want to put the shadow back into the sunlight, I want to put the inside out back into the outside in… I want to put the being back into the human."

Watching the interview, Prof Geddes says it's clear Heston was "in the midst of mania" at the time. "If I'd seen that then I would have immediately thought, 'That is a sick man'," he says.

The high-octane celebrity chef's environment allowed his erratic behaviour to thrive. His eccentricity wasn't only accepted, but celebrated. His brand flourished, nurturing the capricious genius, and he was supported by a team that kept him functioning. But at home there was no such infrastructure - no such buffer.

Research from Bipolar UK suggests that for every person with bipolar disorder, a further five family members - like Heston's son Jack - are profoundly affected.

"Families fall apart because of the mania more than the depression," says Prof Geddes.

Lithium lifeline

During six months of filming, Heston's psychiatrists wean him off the cocktail of pills prescribed to him after his hospital visit, and he is moved onto the mood-stabilising medicine, lithium.

This isn't an easy process. Changing medications can offer trigger extreme reactions, so to do it on camera is brave.

Initially, Heston is subdued. He says the antipsychotics and antidepressants make him feel "zombified" and his memories are clouded.

But as time passes his mood lifts, his energy returns, and he regains some of his old swagger. Lithium is working for him - and you start to recognise the Heston of years gone by.

Towards the end of filming the documentary, Heston is keen to ask me about my own research into bipolar care in the UK.

The man I speak to is definitely still Heston - obsessing over the perfect peppercorn ratio - but now he's calm, focused, and self-aware.

Prof Geddes isn't surprised.

"Lithium is the gold standard of care, but in the UK we don't use it enough," he says. "It requires careful management from GPs and psychiatrists. In the NHS, the system simply can't keep up - that's probably one of the reasons why lithium use is falling in the UK, when it should be rising."

The UK has a stark shortage of psychiatrists and mental health professionals so patients face waits that often stretch over years. On average it takes someone more than nine years to be diagnosed with bipolar disorder from first contact with a GP.

During my many interviews about the disorder, I heard psychiatrists describe bipolar patients as "ghosts in the system", "the ones that fell through the cracks" and simply as "forgotten" or "let down".

Lithium use, and timely access to psychiatrists are both directly linked to a reduction in suicidal thoughts in people with bipolar disorder. In the UK, death by suicide is rising for people living with the illness. This bucks all other downward trends for suicide.

Learning to live with the fire

Heston's diagnosis came only after he became a danger to himself - hallucinations, paranoia, and eventually a call from his wife to emergency services.

Despite weeks spent in a mental health clinic, and a year of medication and rebuilding his mind, given the choice Heston says he wouldn't turn off his bipolar disorder if he could. It is a part of him. This answer captures the essence of his journey - of learning to live with the fire, not extinguish it.

"Someone living with bipolar cannot be separated from it - their personality is entirely and intrinsically connected to the condition," says Prof Geddes. "Treatment doesn't erase it, but it does make the mood changes manageable and helps a person function within their ecosystem - with their family, friends and job."

Heston's journey mirrors that of many: misunderstood mood swings, delayed diagnosis, and the long road to balance. But it's also a story of identity, resilience, and the power of clarity after chaos.

The culinary world once masked his illness. Now, it gives him a platform to speak out - and he's using it.

If you have been affected by any issues in this report, help and support is available at BBC Action Line.

Pulp celebrates first number one album in 27 years

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y5152zy1po, today

Rock band Pulp have achieved their first official number one album in 27 years with their new release More.

The Sheffield band have not topped the album chart since they released This Is Hardcore in 1998.

Their eighth studio album was also the best selling vinyl album this week, according to Official Charts.

It was one of three new entries in the top five this week alongside Addison Rae's self-titled debut Addison which reached number two.

Little Simz' sixth album Lotus has reached number three, the highest charting position of the Mercury Prize winner's career so far.

Released on 6 June, the new Pulp album was produced by James Ford, who has worked with bands such as Arctic Monkeys, Florence and the Machine and Kylie Minogue.

More was their first studio album since the release of We Love Life in 2001 which made it to number six in the chart.

Their only other number one album was 1995's Different Class which featured the hit single Common People.

Sabrina Carpenter returns

Meanwhile in the singles charts, Sabrina Carpenter has ended Alex Warren's 12-week stint at the top of the chart and secured her fourth number one.

The track Manchild is the first release from her upcoming album Man's Best Friend.

It has also become the most streamed song of the last week after it was played 6.8 million times.

Warren's track Ordinary had spent 12 weeks at number one, making him the US artist with the longest-running number one single in UK chart history.

Dua Lipa confirms engagement to Callum Turner

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3d4jlgpg30o, yesterday

Dua Lipa has confirmed that she's engaged to actor Callum Turner, saying it's "a really special feeling".

The singer, 29, has been with 35-year-old Londoner Turner for almost a year and a half.

He's best known for roles in Fantastic Beasts and Masters of the Air, and was Bafta nominated in 2020 for BBC One's The Capture.

"Yeah, we're engaged," she told British Vogue. "It's very exciting. This decision to grow old together, to see a life and just, I don't know, be best friends forever - it's a really special feeling."

The couple sparked engagement rumours last Christmas when she posted pictures of herself wearing a ring.

She told Vogue that Turner had the ring made for her after consulting with her best friends and sister.

"It's so me. It's nice to know the person that you're going to spend the rest of your life with knows you very well."

They have not yet set a wedding date, with Lipa saying she must first finish her current world tour - which ends in Mexico in December - and Turner is busy filming.

He is due to play the lead in the Apple TV sci-fi series Neuromancer, adapted from William Gibson's 1984 novel.

"We're just enjoying this period," she said. "I've never been someone who's really thought about a wedding, or dreamt about what kind of bride I would be. All of a sudden I'm like, 'Oh, what would I wear?'"

'It's hard not to be blown away': The 70s rock band putting 'Zamrock' back on the map, 50 years on

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250611-the-70s-rock-band-putting-zamrock-on-the-map, yesterday

Blending the style of The Rolling Stones with African beats and instruments, Zambian group Witch were revolutionary – then disappeared. No one could have predicted their amazing return.

In the early 1970s, Zambia produced a unique music scene of its own creation. Zamrock, as it became known, was the southern African country's take on western rock music – a take that mixed the sounds of The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and Black Sabbath with its own fuzz-guitar psychedelia and African instrumentation, beats and rhythms. Forged out of the country's independence from its British colonisers in 1964, its blossoming came during one of the most significant, fascinating and prosperous periods in Zambian history, and its decline and fall mirrored that of Zambia itself in the late 1970s and early 1980s. A once thriving local music scene became devastated by economic, cultural and health factors that also decimated the wider population, leaving Zamrock as a relic, unknown outside of its own region.

Yet over 50 years later, Zamrock is enjoying an ongoing revival. While many of the scene's originators – acts like the influential Rikki Ilonga and his band Musi-O-Tunya, The Ngozi Family, The Peace and Amanaz – have long since either died, stopped performing or are little known, one band has brought Zamrock to a contemporary global audience. Formed in 1971, Witch (an acronym for "We Intend to Cause Havoc") were the scene's biggest and most popular band. Fronted by the charismatic Emmanuel Chanda – better known as "Jagari", a name inspired by Mick Jagger – Witch released five albums between 1972 and 1977 that epitomise the Zamrock sound. "We had the influence of rock and roll, but we were Africans, so we couldn't play the actual rock and roll," Jagari tells the BBC. "We had to fuse some things in."

Witch's unlikely rediscovery started in 2011, when Now-Again Records released a compilation of the band's music, We Intend to Cause Havoc!, leading to a resurrection that has seen Witch tour the world, release new music and become the subject of Italian film-maker Gio Arlotta's 2019 documentary, We Intend To Cause Havoc. "It's hard not to be blown away when you hear Witch," says Now-Again founder Eothen Alapatt, known as Egon. "The first two Witch records [1972's Introduction and 1974's In the Past] have this garage, Rolling Stones type of vibe to them, and those are really great. They're heavy and just really raw expressions of rock music. But then you get to the third one [1975's Lazy Bones] and out of nowhere, it becomes like this progressive psychedelic thing. I was like, 'There has to be a breadth of music here that's worth exploring.'"

The Witch revival has spread far and wide, leading to renewed interest in Zamrock as a whole. Jack White is a fan, releasing Witch live music on his Third Man Records label; Beastie Boys' Mike D, Clairo and Madlib are admirers. Moreover, rappers Tyler, The Creator, Travis Scott and Yves Tumour have all recently sampled Zamrock bands, extending the genre's sphere of influence to the biggest names in cutting-edge hip hop. This week, they release a new album, Sogolo, while later this month they will become the first Zamrock band to perform at Glastonbury Festival. "Zamrock is facing a rebirth, if you like," Jagari says. "It had died down, it had sunk in oblivion. But the interest is growing."

How Witch formed

Zamrock originated amid the copper mines of northern Zambia, known then as Northern Rhodesia. Jagari had grown up in one such area, Kitwe, having moved there at the age of eight to be brought up by his older brother. "The colonial masters didn't completely neglect the black community," Jagari says, and it was at the weekend social clubs built for the miners that a young Jagari first saw music performed. "In the village, I heard people sing, and I saw them dance. Those little things stuck in my head."

Jagari would listen to a radio station in Mozambique that played the UK top 40 (often when his brother was working night shifts) as well as jukeboxes in pubs. He was part of a generation hooked on western acts, who wanted to play their music. "Whoever played the guitar during that time was judged by how well he would play [Jimi Hendrix's] Hey Joe," Jagari smiles.

Encouraged by his schoolfriends, who saw him dance and mime at local ballrooms, Jagari auditioned for the band that became Witch. He changed his name because he reminded friends of Jagger when performing, although he was initially ambivalent about making the switch. "That bothered me. I don't want to live in somebody's shadow. Yeah, he's a great man. But I'm an African and my nose is flat, and how can I be compared to someone?" But he went to the dictionary and discovered Jagari "meant a brewer of dark brown sugar [in the local language]. Now it made sense to me."

It was Zambian Independence in 1964 that laid the cultural foundations for Zamrock. The economic boom that followed, thanks to the rise in demand for copper, had a twofold effect: allowing people more disposable income to spend on going out and on buying instruments, and giving them more exposure to western music on TV and film. But what made a greater difference was President Kenneth Kaunda's "Zambia first" policy. As a former musician himself, Kaunda wanted to promote local talent and gave bands the platform to succeed, ruling that 95% of radio play should go to Zambian artists. "He declared that we should not always be copycats," Jagari says. "So it opened Pandora's box, musically. Now everyone had an opportunity to go and record so they could be heard on the radio."

For Jagari and Witch, this meant that rehearsals cultivated a merging of western and African sounds. Witch would practice covers in the morning, then "after lunch, we were experimenting with our own ideas. And it worked," says Jagari. He calls what they came up with as "the Zambian type of rock and roll. That's the Zamrock interpretation. When we tried them at the gigs, we found the audience were overwhelmed. So then we had an opportunity." With no real infrastructure – recording studios were rudimentary, even the studio in Zambian capital Lusaka where Witch made 1975's highpoint Lazy Bones – and no real record industry to speak of, Witch self-released Introduction, the first ever Zamrock record, printing the vinyl in Nairobi, and sold it at their own shows. "I came with 300 copies, because they were all we could carry, and in two shows, they were gone. Because for the people, it was the first time they were going to have a local band, having local material and a local record out, so everyone wanted to have a copy." Witch self-released their first two albums, but would eventually release music under a subsidiary of Teal Records.

Zamrock was soon thriving. "There was the exotic element of it being the only scene in Africa that played such fuzzed-out guitars and were really into this heavier side of rock music," says Arlotta. "Whilst in Nigeria it was funky, in Ethiopia it's more jazz and so on." While Witch went heavy on the psych-rock, other acts took the same source material and took slightly different approaches. "The Zambian scene has all the subgenres," Egon says. "It was complete. And that you don't really find in many scenes."

Witch's gigs are the stuff of legend – they toured in a truck with a canopy emblazoned with the words: "Trespassers will be eaten" – and were must-see events: these marathon shows could last from 7pm to 2am, and were so popular that there crowds outside the venues, locked out but clamouring to come in. The Times of Zambia once wrote: "The hall where the boys played had its roof ripped off as exuberant fans tried to find their way through the windows." Jagari earned a reputation as a wild and flamboyant frontman. "He just moves around like a madman," Arlotta says. "He's a very hard worker, on stage he gives it 110% every single time." "I don't know whether we should call it a secret ability," Jagari says. "I don't usually plan my moves, I let the music determine what I should do."

Perhaps one surprising aspect of Zamrock was its lack of politics. While you might assume a scene spawned from a specific locale known for its historical struggles might carry with it a message, there was – initially at least – little angst or social commentary. That did change towards the end of the scene – Witch's 1975 track Motherless Child being one such example – but for Zamrock bands, most of whom sang in English, music was a celebration of freedom.

"Initially, when I first heard Zamrock, I thought it was a very rebellious sort of music," Arlotta says. "When I spoke to the people that lived it, I realised that they had won the battle for their independence 10 years prior to that. So it was more of an aesthetic and a fashion that they followed. There's many of the lesser known Zamrock songs that praise the President, saying, 'He's our leader,' 'We love Zambia,' and stuff like that. You think it's punk, but it's really not. Its [sentiment is]: "We were free doing whatever we wanted.'"

A devastating decline

Eventually, though, politics became impossible to ignore. Like most scenes, Zamrock couldn't last. But its eventual decline was slow, devastating, and attached to much wider existential events across the country. Copper accounted for 95% of Zambia's exports, so when the price of the metal fell dramatically in the mid-70s, it brought about a sharp economic decline. "If you have to debate between buying [music] or buying a bag of staple food, that impacts negatively," Jagari says. "And to an extent, musical instruments were regarded as luxury. They attracted high taxes. So we couldn't afford instruments."

Furthermore, civil war in the neighbouring countries on the Zambian border was intensifying. Unlike in Zambia, where independence had been achieved by peaceful means, conflicts in Mozambique, Namibia, and South Africa became violent: as one of the so-called Frontline States – a coalition of countries who opposed South Africa's apartheid rule and supported black liberation – Zambia became a target in the crossfire. "They would bomb some camps in Zambia, where they suspected they had freedom fighters camped," Jagari says.

President Kaunda's answer was to declare blackouts and a curfew between 6pm and 6am. It left Zamrock bands with nowhere to play (other than "teen shows" in the afternoon that "nobody wanted to come to", as Jagari says) and no means of income. "The curfews and blackout impacted us negatively, because we couldn't play music at night. If you wanted to play music, you had to be in a venue from that time until the following morning, which was not practical, only machines would do that." In its place, many venues became discotheques, popularising disco and funk music, and moving Zamrock to the margins.

To compound matters, Zambia suffered a catastrophic Aids crisis that killed an estimated 1.4 million people up to 2023. This included many leading figures on the Zamrock scene – among them Jagari's original Witch bandmates Chris "Kims" Mbewe, "Giddy King" Mulenga, Paul "Jones" Mumba, John "Music" Muma and "Star MacBoyd" Sinkala. "It was not a very nice time," Jagari says. "And it was not only the musicians that died that during that time, all across the board, soldiers died, teachers died. The economy wasn't too good, we had curfew and blackouts, and then the Aids came to finish the sad story."

After Jagari left Witch in the late 1970s, they continued without him as a disco-influenced band under the leadership of keyboardist Patrick Mwondela, who changed the line-up until the band ended in 1984. However, Zamrock slid into obscurity, a once vibrant expression of freedom all-but forgotten by anyone who wasn't there. "A 15-year period where they're making all these records, and then all of a sudden they're all gone." Egon says. "The cassettes have taken over, just like they did in other parts of the world, the turntables get thrown out, and the records become worthless artefacts that no one cared about."

Jagari left music behind at the start of the 1980s, training as a teacher before becoming a born-again Christian in the 90s and going into gemstone mining. "It wasn't easy." Jagari says. "I tried to become a gemstone miner, and the purpose was if I struck big in the gemstone mining, I would buy my own equipment and set up a studio. That was my dream."

A watershed moment

The course of history changed for Jagari, Witch and Zamrock more widely when Now-Again released We Intend to Cause Havoc! in 2011. Around 20 years ago, Egon, who specialises in unearthing and re-issuing forgotten music, was given unmarked cassettes of Zamrock music via friends of friends through his hip hop label Stones Throw Records. Most of it was Witch; Egon then tracked down Jagari. "He had bought the master tapes, then lost them. But he had the tapes transferred. When I met him, he was selling CDRs of Witch's music on the streets in Lusaka."

It led to interest in the band outside of Africa for the first time. In 2012, Arlotta was sent the 1975 song Strange Dream by a friend. "And I was like, what is this? It was something that sounded very familiar, but also completely different, because they had their own twist to it. The recording quality and the way it was recorded was different. The drummer was a lot groovier." He took a trip to Zambia with some childhood friends in 2014 and decided to track Jagari down to make a documentary. He found Jagari at work in a mine, doing what looked like hard labour. "He's an intelligent man," Arlotta says. "I think at first he thought that music was 'something that I used to do'. And there was this battle between being a rock star and being a born-again Christian. Obviously, in church, if you're leading a band called Witch, they're very superstitious about these things down there."

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Both Egon and Arlotta, who managed Witch until January 2025, brought Jagari out of Africa for events and one-off gigs. Arlotta organised Witch's first tour outside Africa in 2017, with a band including second-era member Patrick Mwondela. Rapturously received shows across the UK, Europe and America led in 2023 to Witch releasing their first album in 39 years, Zango, recorded at Lusaka studio and released on Desert Daze Sound, in partnership with Partisan Records. Witch's new album, Sogolo, cements their position as pioneers. "It's pushed a lot of boundaries," Arlotta says of Sogolo. "It's got the roots there, but it's also experimenting a lot with a more modern sound, which is what they were doing back then."

In many ways, Jagari is the last man standing: Arlotta calls him "an evangelist" for Zamrock. "There are others just as important," Arlotta. "But he is certainly the only one touring the world." He is the artist shaping the legacy of Zamrock. "Legacy is an interesting question," Egon says. "Because I think the Zamrock legacy is that great creativity can come from anywhere, and it can last. The stuff about Zamrock is that there were artefacts left. And it proves you could be from anywhere. You didn't have to have a great studio, you didn't have to have a major distribution deal. You didn't have to have anything. Your music could literally stay in the confines of one country. And you could create something so good that decades later, people aren't just going out and looking for it, but people are totally taken by it."

"I think the success that Witch is having worldwide," Arlotta says, "and with things that are happening, like Tyler, The Creator, sampling [Ngozi Family] in one of his latest tracks, it's slowly putting Zamrock on the map."

As for Witch, they have reached an audience around the world. "With Witch, you can make a case for them alongside any other great band, from anywhere," Egon says. "Anybody who hears their music doesn't say, 'That's cool for African rock music.' They're just like, 'Wow, that's great.'"

And now Witch will become the first Zamrock band to play at Glastonbury, a hugely significant moment for a genre that began 55 years ago. "It's a good feeling," Jagari says with a smile. "But there's this tendency at the back of my mind to think how I wish that the [rest of the original] band was still alive, and some of those bands which were prominent that time, if they were alive, then the world would see what Zambia was doing that time. Unfortunately, somebody has to carry the torch on. And that is me. Because it's ours. The way Rhumba is to Cuba and Congo. The way Amapiano is to South Africa. The way highlife is to Nigeria. Zamrock is our own."

Witch play the Shangri La stage at Glastonbury on 26 June. The Glastonbury Festival takes place from 25 June to 29 June.

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'There was a real gutsiness about them': How the heiresses dubbed the 'dollar princesses' brought US flair to the UK

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250609-how-dollar-princesses-brought-us-flair-to-the-uk, 3 days ago

The rich, glamorous, American women of the gilded age who married into the English aristocracy faced some challenges – but they were resilient, formidable characters. As TV's The Buccaneers season two begins, and an exhibition in London is devoted to them, we explore the lives of the women who inspired writers and artists.

Can the new Duchess of Tintagel steer clear of scandal? Will her fugitive sister, Jinny, keep her baby from the clutches of her husband, the monstrous Lord Seadown? Can Mabel and Honoria's forbidden love flourish?

The Buccaneers, Apple TV+'s hit period drama, is back for a second season, and its legions of fans expect answers to all of the above. The show charts the romantic adventures of a group of young American women – two pairs of sisters and their friend – who, looked down upon as nouveau riche by older, grander New York families, come to England in the 1870s and cut a swathe through high society. Fast-moving, fun and visually sumptuous, it looks as though the costume budget alone could dwarf the entire expenditure of lesser shows. It is lavish, colourful escapism – yet the unfinished Edith Wharton novel of 1938 upon which it is based was inspired by a real phenomenon.

Between 1870 and 1914, 102 American women – 50 of them from New York – married British peers or the younger sons of peers, and many more married into the upper classes. They were dubbed "dollar princesses" and the popular view was that these were purely transactional marriages – cash for class. The women gained a title and status; the often cash-strapped aristocrats got a welcome injection of money to help them fix the leaking roof of the crumbling family seat.

"The decline in landed income during the Great Agricultural Depression, beginning in the 1870s, necessitated numerous male aristocrats to seek marital alliances outside the inner social network of the British aristocracy," explains Maureen Montgomery, a historian and Wharton scholar who is currently editing The Buccaneers for the Oxford University Press's The Complete Works of Edith Wharton.

"Another factor was the openness of the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, to wealthy businessmen being part of his inner social circle and his penchant for the beautiful and entertaining daughters of the American bourgeois elite who were travelling in ever larger numbers, after the Civil War, to Europe."

The first inklings of a novel to be called The Buccaneers appear in Wharton's notebook for 1924-1928. There she set out the plot, revolving around the "conquest of England by American adventurers & adventuresses/families".

"In the summer of 1928, during one of her many annual trips to England in her later years, she visited Tintagel in Cornwall and stayed with her close friend Lady Wemyss at her Cotswold estate, Stanway," Montgomery tells the BBC. "Both of these places became significant settings for the novel."

However, Montgomery doesn't believe that there is any one particular story or person that the writer drew upon.

"Wharton had close friends among the British aristocracy, and went to weekend country house parties. She personally knew a number of titled Americans. She would have been familiar with various scenarios for these marriages, how they were received, the different motives for marrying," she says.

Some historians have suggested Consuelo Vanderbilt as one of the possible models for The Buccaneers' Conchita Closson. Considered a great beauty, Consuelo was a "dollar princess" whose father made a fortune in railroads. Her dowry was worth tens of millions in today's money. She was more or less bullied by her mother into marrying Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough, and was said to have wept behind her veil at the altar on her wedding day in 1895 (one of nine US heiresses to marry English aristocrats that year).

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The marriage was deeply unhappy. "Sunny", as the Duke was known, wasted little time in telling her he'd only married her for her money and in order to save Blenheim Palace, the ducal seat. In her memoir, The Glitter and the Gold, Conseulo wrote of a Blenheim Palace butler who had drowned himself: "As one gloomy day succeeded another I began to feel a deep sympathy for him." Her marriage produced two children but both Consuelo and her husband had lovers.

Consuelo had been preceded into the aristocracy by the godmother after whom she was named. The Cuban-American heiress Consuelo Yznaga Montagu, another model for Conchita, married George Montagu, Viscount Mandeville, in 1876 and became the Duchess of Manchester when he inherited the title. The profligate duke burned through his wife's money and had numerous affairs. Consuelo, who is mentioned in Wharton's notebook, was reportedly very close to the Prince of Wales.

'Swashbuckling beauties'

Both Consuelos feature in Heiress: Sargent's American Portraits, an exhibition of 18 works by John Singer Sargent at Kenwood House on London's Hampstead Heath. The show has been curated by Wendy Monkhouse, English Heritage Senior Curator (South), and is the result of two years' work.

"There was a real gutsiness about these heiresses," Monkhouse tells the BBC. "They were brave. They had a hard time entering British society as foreigners, and foreigners of whom everybody was envious and resentful and wanted to take down a peg or two because of this 'buccaneer' trope."

They were, supposedly, swashbuckling beauties who leapt aboard the good ship Britannia and, with piratical ruthlessness, bagged themselves a baron or an earl or maybe even a duke. The English newspaper editor WT Stead used the expression "gilded prostitution" when writing about these transatlantic marriages.

There was opposition from the US too, at the highest level. President Theodore Roosevelt wrote to his ambassador to the UK Whitelaw Reid in 1906, "I thoroly [sic]… dislike these international marriages… which are based upon the sale of the girl for her money and the purchase of the man for his title." And plenty of ordinary Americans hated the idea of all that wealth leaving the country and being squandered on wastrel British aristocrats. This wasn't what they'd fought a war of independence for.

But Monkhouse argues that the moniker "dollar princesses" does the women a disservice. "I think it's a term that has been tossed around for a hundred years without very much thought, apart from in academic circles," she says. "The more that you delve into it, the more it falls apart. I think Consuelo Vanderbilt, though she doesn't call herself a dollar princess, sort of defined the genre in that she was a very rich American who was, not by her own choice, married for a title and then was unhappy."

However, other women whose images are featured in the exhibition had very different stories. Daisy Leiter, glamorous and independent-minded daughter of a Chicago real estate magnate, was considered quite the catch and not just for her money, as Sargent's magnificent portrait shows. She was bombarded with proposals but married Henry Howard, the 19th Earl of Suffolk. It seems to have been a very happy love match and produced three sons. In later life, Daisy further exemplified the adventurous spirit of many of these women by becoming a helicopter pilot.

Another of Sargent's subjects was Cora, Countess of Strafford. Her name is echoed by that of a famous fictional "dollar princess", Cora, Countess of Grantham, in Downton Abbey. Julian Fellowes has said that one of the inspirations for the series was a book about American heiresses called To Marry an English Lord. The real Cora was a Southern belle who married the 4th Earl of Strafford after the death of her first husband, toothpaste baron Samuel Colgate. The Earl died just five months after the wedding when he fell on to railway tracks at Potter's Bar. The incident prompted much gossip, as did the fact that Cora wore her coronet sideways at Edward VII's coronation.

One of the best known of the women in the Heiress exhibition, represented in both an oil portrait and a charcoal drawing, is Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, the daughter of a Virginian railway tycoon and the first woman to take her seat as an MP in the House of Commons. She had regular clashes with Winston Churchill, whose own mother, Jennie Jerome, was the daughter of a wealthy New York speculator and financier.

There's a splash of politics in the new season of The Buccaneers that sees Nan realising that her elevated social status gives her power and influence, and beginning to wield it. Buccaneers showrunner Katherine Jakeways read extensively on the "dollar princesses" before writing began on the series, and she draws on their stories, as well as the Wharton text.

"You imagine that the girls who came over were interesting to the men because (a) they were beautiful, (b) they were American and (c) they were rich, but actually what's really interesting is that (d) they were much better educated and much more encouraged to be confidently involved in society [than their English counterparts]," she tells the BBC. "In New York their opinions were sought whereas girls in England, as we show with Honoria in Season one, were asked not to speak or have an opinion."

Like their real-life counterparts, the women in the show don't conform to reductive stereotypes. "Our characters are complicated and have depth, and we try to make all the relationships have some kind of resonance for a contemporary audience," says Jakeways. "And hopefully it's just really good fun."

Season two is another rollercoaster ride that remixes all the successful ingredients from the first series. Will there be a season three? I'd bet an heiress's dowry on it.

The Buccaneers Season Two premieres on Apple TV+ on 18 June.

Heiress: Sargent's American Portraits is at Kenwood House, London, until 5 October.

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'Humans need solitude': How being alone can make you happier

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250609-how-being-alone-can-make-you-happier, 4 days ago

From spending time by yourself to making the most of being single, flying solo can be fulfilling – a philosophy championed by a new wave of books.

In Wim Wenders' recent film Perfect Days, the main character, a Tokyo toilet cleaner, spends many of his hours in solitude; watering plants, contemplating, listening to music and reading. While more characters are introduced as the film develops, for many viewers its earlier moments are, indeed, perfect; described by the BBC's own Nicholas Barber as a "meditation on the serenity of an existence stripped to its essentials", it really struck a chord. No wonder. Thoughtful and positive outlooks on solitude have been taking up more and more space on our screens, bookshelves and smartphones, from podcasts to viral TikToks. Seemingly, there's never been a better time to be alone.

In the past couple of years, several titles on the topic have been released, with a few more in the works. Solitude: The Science and Power of Being Alone, and Solo: Building a Remarkable Life of Your Own hit the shelves in 2024, and Nicola Slawson's Single: Living a Complete Life on Your Own Terms was published in February. Then last month saw the release of Emma Gannon's much-anticipated novel Table For One; having made her name with non-fiction books questioning traditional ideas of success and productivity, Gannon is now reconsidering modern relationships, in a love story focusing on a young woman finding joy in being alone, rather than with a partner.

Later this year, two more self-help guides, The Joy of Solitude: How to Reconnect with Yourself in an Overconnected World and The Joy of Sleeping Alone, are coming out, as well as a paperback, English translation of Daniel Schreiber's Alone: Reflections on Solitary Living, which originally came out in Germany in 2021.

A shift in attitudes

Packed with keen observations and helpful tips, this new wave of books aims not only to destigmatise solitude, but also to make a case for its benefits and pleasures. Such a powerful stream of publications might come as a surprise, at first, to everyone who has lived through the pandemic and inevitably heard of – or got a bitter taste of – the so-called "loneliness epidemic", a term popularised in 2023 by then US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. "Post pandemic, there [was] a huge focus on loneliness, for a really good reason," says Robert Coplan, a professor in psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa and author of The Joy of Solitude: How to Reconnect with Yourself in an Overconnected World. But because of the concerns about the effects of loneliness, he says, solitude ended up "with a bit of a bad reputation – throwing the baby out with the bath water, so to speak".

Now, though, the discourse is course-correcting itself. The distinction between loneliness and solitude, according to Coplan, is an important one, and many writers echo this sentiment. "While loneliness is a serious and harmful problem for some people, it is a subjective state very different from solitude, that someone has [actively] chosen for positive reasons," says journalist Heather Hansen. In 2024, she co-authored the aforementioned Solitude: The Science and Power of Being Alone with Netta Weinstein and Thuy-vy T Nguyen. Hansen had watched the media telling us we're very lonely for a while; but as a counter to this narrative, she says, "people are reflecting on their own lives and recognising that they are choosing solitude for various reasons that benefit them".

"I have a theory that since the pandemic we've been able to clearly understand the difference between loneliness and chosen solitude," says Emma Gannon, who is also a big proponent of "slow living". The extremes of the pandemic – being cooped up with all your loved ones, or, contrastingly, going for months without human contact – had prepared us, Gannon says, "to have nuanced conversations about the differences between isolation and joyful alone time".

Nestled cosily within these timely conversations is Gen Z-ers and millennials' re-evaluation of romantic relationships and enthusiastic embracing of single life, alongside a careful reassessment of interpersonal relationships in general. Gannon's new novel might be a fictional depiction of a young woman reinvesting in a relationship with herself, but it will ring true to many readers who grapple with what are increasingly seen as outdated societal expectations to "settle down". According to a 2023 US survey, two out of five Gen Z-ers and millennials think marriage is an outdated tradition, and in the UK only just over half of Gen Z men and women are predicted to marry, according to the Office of National Statistics.

In April, a viral TikTok, with over one million likes and close to 37,000 comments, showcased one man's perspective on dating women who live alone, and like it this way. Many women deemed the analysis "spot on" and related eagerly. Nicola Slawson, who based Single: Living a Complete Life on Your Own Terms on her popular Substack The Single Supplement, isn't surprised. "The number of people living alone in the UK has been steadily increasing over the last decade or so," Slawson points out, with this fuelling a cultural shift towards the acceptance of single people, and putting a focus on "freedom and independence, and especially a rejection of domesticity, as women are realising they don't have to put up with things they might have been expected to in previous generations".

Having said that, our cultural fascination with being alone is deeply rooted. Capturing the beauty of solitude has been a focus for numerous artists over the centuries – from German romanticist Caspar David Friedrich, whose great works include Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, (c. 1817), which can be seen in the Hamburger Kunsthalle art museum's collection in Germany, to the revered 20th-Century US artist Edward Hopper, and his paintings of solo city dwellers. A New Yorker review of the 2022 Hopper retrospective at the city's Whitney museum noted, "Everything about the urban life he shows us is isolated, uncommunal – and yet his images of apparent loneliness seem somehow anything but grim, rather proudly self-reliant."

Daniel Schreiber believes the correlation between people living alone, sans partner, and being lonely has traditionally been overestimated. "Society understands better now that romantic love is not the only model to live by, or something to wish for," he adds. "There are different ways of life, and it's not as necessary to be in a traditional romantic relationship."

In Solo: Building a Remarkable Life of Your Own, Peter McGraw, a self-titled "bachelor", and professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Colorado, makes a similar point, with gusto. "There's a lot of mythology around single living, and a failure to understand the reasons marriage was invented – mostly as a business arrangement," he says. "Frankly, the message of rom-coms, love songs and Jane Austen novels" – that we need a partner to be fulfilled – "isn't backed by data," he says, "if we look at the longitudinal data": many studies cited in Solo show that even if personal happiness spikes around marriage, it doesn't last.

Even within a relationship, traditional routines can be upended to allow for more alone time, as advocated in The Joy of Sleeping Alone. Its author, yoga and meditation teacher Cynthia Zak, noticed that many women prefer sleeping alone to sleeping in the same bed as their partners, and decided to write the book, originally in Spanish, in order to advocate for "more space to express what we need and feel, more opportunities to let go of fears and limiting beliefs, and more freedom to choose".

How to be alone well

If being, and doing things, alone is increasingly widespread – and stigma-free – then how to make the most of it? A couple of key factors everyone agrees on are finding a healthy balance between solo time and communing with others – and having the ability to choose solitude, rather than being forced to experience it. "The greatest indication of success in time alone is that a person has chosen that space believing that there is something important and meaningful there," says Hansen, adding that solitude is a "neutral blob of sculpting clay; it can be whatever we mould it into".

Fittingly, according to McGraw it's perhaps best to not mould said blob into "lying in bed, vaping and ordering Uber Eats". Rather, he suggests channelling alone time into creative pursuits and pastimes that tend to blossom in solitude; a walk or a run, people-watching at a cafe, going to a museum and "taking it all in, as fast or slow as you can". Or how about "sitting in a bath listening to Vivaldi", he adds more specifically, or taking an online course?

For those who are single, leaning into potentially blissful solitude – instead of waiting for it to be over – is advised, Slawson says. "I used to find myself putting off doing things until I 'settled down' or until I found a partner, but you need to live the life you have got and squeeze as much joy as possible from it instead of feeling like you're in a waiting room, waiting for your life to start," she says. And when societal pressure builds? "Don't default to any type of thinking or a script," McGraw suggests. "The nice thing is, that there's now an alternative script."

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More broadly, alone time is full of potential and possibilities. "I think solitude inspires a wonderful sense of creativity, it gets the juices flowing and encourages problem solving," Gannon says. She suggests treating solitude as an adventure – or a chance to reconnect with yourself, through journalling or revelling in your senses: "The soft blanket, the sound of music, the taste of your food. What can you see, smell, touch and sense when you are alone?".

Further turning inward, says Zak, can deepen one's understanding of solitude; she suggests paying attention to moments of solitude, and turning these moments into recurring rituals that aid relaxation and reflection by practice. "Ask yourself, what is the thing that you most enjoy being alone with? Make a jewel of the moment you choose and give yourself the task to cherish this specific space more and more," she says.

And most importantly, if obviously? It's about mixing things up. "Humans do need social interaction – but I would also say that humans need solitude," says Coplan. "It's finding the right balance that is the key to happiness and wellbeing. Everyone has a different balance that's going to work for them."

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Materialists review: This 'captivating' romantic drama explores love and money with 'piercing honesty'

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250606-materialists-review, 4 days ago

Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal make for a starry love triangle in this exquisite new film from director Celine Song, who previously made the Oscar-nominated Past Lives.

If you've seen any of the trailers for Celine Song's Materialists, ignore them. In those previews and on paper, the film seems like a well-cast but stock romantic comedy, with Dakota Johnson as a professional matchmaker torn between a former love (Chris Evans) and a dazzling new possibility (Pedro Pascal). In fact, the film is hardly a romcom at all, but something far more original and captivating: a piercingly honest exploration of love and money and the inevitable connection between the two. (Just ask Jane Austen about the connection between a man with a fortune and the want of a wife.) Song doesn't reinvent the romcom here. She cleverly sidesteps it.

Materialists is more akin to her first film, the nuanced Past Lives, than it might seem. As in Past Lives, with its delicate story of a woman whose childhood love from Korea re-enters her happily married New York life, Materialists is exquisitely made, character-driven and talky, with some glittering dialogue. It's the kind of idiosyncratic film a director sometimes gets to do after a great success – Past Lives earned Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Original Screenplay – and Song makes the most of it.

Lucy's job as a matchmaker for high-end clients might seem like a strained device, but Song herself briefly had that job before she broke through as a playwright and film-maker. And Lucy is very good at her job, as we see when she cajoles a reluctant bride (Louisa Jacobson) on her wedding day to go through with the marriage. From there the plot follows a romcom trajectory, setting up a choice. At that wedding Lucy meets the groom's rich, handsome brother, Henry (Pascal), and is served a drink by John (Evans), the ex she broke up with after five years, who is still a struggling actor working the wedding as a waiter. A quick flashback shows that they broke up over money. Eating dinner from a food cart on their fifth anniversary was not what Lucy wanted. As always, Song creates great textured backdrops, with the breakup happening on a crowded New York street filled with traffic.

In Lucy's new life, her non-negotiable demand is for a rich husband. "Marriage is a business deal and it always has been," she says. That might have come across as harsh and cynical, but Johnson's smooth performance makes Lucy seem refreshingly honest with herself about the life she wants, a reflection of the film's clear-eyed view of how money can make or break a long-term relationship.

Pascal makes Henry utterly charming and suggests a layer of vulnerability beneath that charm. He has very little chemistry with Johnson, and whether that's intentional or not the film gets away with it because their characters' bond is based on a shared sense that money and lifestyle matter. "Once you've had your first $400 haircut you can't go back to Supercuts," Henry says, a line that suggests it's improbable Lucy can go back to John. But Song is too smart to make Lucy's decision easy or obvious. Henry doesn't simply check all the boxes for her. He actually listens to her, and they might genuinely fall in love. Maybe she can have love and money.

Johnson does have chemistry with Evans, who makes it clear from John's first glance at Lucy that she is the woman he will never get over, whatever happens in the future. They have some lovely, tender moments together, which they realise they have to snap out of – or not. Why recycle a past that didn't work?

Song gets comedy from Lucy's clients and their impossible checklist of demands for a mate, from men's height and amount of hair to women's age and fitness. Johnson is so convincing we almost believe Lucy when she tells them, "I promise, you will marry the love of your life." When she finally snaps in exasperation at one of them, she sarcastically says that of course she can deliver their perfect match "because I'm Dr Frankenstein". But there is also drama, when another of Lucy's clients has a date that turns violent. That's a twist you'd never see in a standard, breezy romcom, a sign of how much Song is determined to keep the film tethered to reality.

Towards the end, Lucy dances at yet another wedding with one of her suitors to the old standard That's All, the least materialistic love song ever, with its lyric, "I can only give you love that lasts forever." It is the perfect song for a film that questions whether that kind of love can be real or if it's just a fantasy in today's material world.

Moving on from its cynical beginning, Materialists takes the long way around to an ending that is decidedly hopeful. It offers an unblinkered, earned romanticism that suits this moment, and bolsters Song's reputation as one of our most astute observers of relationships.

Materialists is released in US cinemas on 13 June and UK cinemas on 15 August.

★★★★☆

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'They've become extinct, and are we next?': How Jurassic Park made dinosaurs into film stars

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250606-how-jurassic-park-made-dinosaurs-into-film-stars, 5 days ago

In June 1993, Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel brought prehistoric monsters to life. That year, Crichton spoke to the BBC about why dinosaurs continue to fascinate us.

One of the most celebrated moments in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park has two scientists, played by Sam Neill and Laura Dern, staring agasp at a Brachiosaurus towering above them – it's the first time these characters and the audience have glimpsed the colossus in all its onscreen glory. As John Williams's iconic overture swells, a wave of childlike wonder washes over their faces. And ever since the film premiered 32 years ago, on 9 June 1993, audiences have felt a similar awe. The franchise now includes animated television series, comics, video games, and seven major films, including the latest instalment, Jurassic World Rebirth, which is released in July. But it all started with Michael Crichton's bestselling novel, published in 1990.

While writing the novel, Crichton visited a museum in the UK which featured a video exhibit on dinosaurs. "Little boys and girls of three [years old] would scream 'Stegosaurus!' and 'Tyrannosaurus!' when they would appear," Crichton told the BBC's The Late Show in 1993. "You wouldn't think they'd know how to pronounce these words, but they do."

Since the discovery of the first dinosaur fossils two centuries ago, and the first official scientific naming of a dinosaur – the Megalosaurus – in 1824, our fascination with these titans of the natural world has never really waned. But it has evolved. "We have in every period some [new] aspect of interest, not so much in our own reinterpretation of the dinosaurs from a scientific standpoint, but from a cultural standpoint," said Crichton.

In 1854, a number of supposedly life-sized model dinosaurs, sculpted by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and cast in cement, were displayed in Crystal Palace Park in south London. At this point, Crichton believed, "the underlying issue soon became whether these were evidence that ought to be employed for or against Darwinian evolution, so after the initial interest in dinosaurs as simply large extinct animals, they came to be viewed from the standpoint of their religious significance."

By the time Crichton wrote Jurassic Park, however, our view of dinosaurs had moved on, both scientifically and philosophically. The podgy beasts sculpted by Hawkins had been replaced in the imagination by fast, agile, birdlike creatures – and the issue of the dinosaurs' extinction was considered of greater philosophical interest than their creation. "The question that we have when we look at dinosaurs is, 'They've become extinct, and are we next,'" Crichton said.

In between these two periods, dinosaurs stomped through cinema history. The first onscreen dinosaur starred in an animated film, Gertie the Dinosaur, in 1914. A classic silent film, The Lost World (1925), boasted stop-motion dinosaurs created by Willis O'Brien, who went on to animate the prehistoric monsters who fought King Kong in 1933. The dinosaurs in King Kong then inspired legendary animator Ray Harryhausen to create his own unique dinosaur hybrid for the film 20,000 Fathoms (1953), a Tyrannosaurus-Brontosaurus mix that rampaged through the streets of New York City. Harryhausen would go on to direct his own prehistoric monster film, One Million Years B.C. (1966), in which Raquel Welch and other fur-clad cave-people came face-to-face with dinosaurs. "We were criticised many times that human beings, particularly cavemen… never lived anywhere near the time of the dinosaur," Harryhausen said on The Late Show. "But that's a licence one has to take for the cinema because you have no drama unless you have people in with the dinosaurs."

Breaking box-office records

The film of Jurassic Park, with a screenplay co-written by Crichton, brought together people and dinosaurs more believably than ever before. Spielberg used a groundbreaking and earth-shaking combination of computer-generated imagery and practical animatronics for his cautionary tale of a corporation miraculously resurrecting long-extinct species. The corporation's CEO, John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), intends to use the creatures to populate a wildlife amusement park on an island off the coast of Costa Rica. But when the dinosaurs escape their enclosures, a group of scientists learn the hard way that Hammond's plan may have its drawbacks.

The film was a blockbuster hit in the summer of 1993, grossing $357 million domestically and $914 million worldwide in its original theatrical run. It shattered box office records, becoming the highest grossing film ever at the time of its release. Jurassic Park "delivers where it counts, in excitement, suspense and the stupendous realization of giant prehistoric reptiles", said Variety's 1993 review. In 2018, it was added to the Library of Congress's National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

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None of the sequels or spin-offs has been quite so significant, but all of the films have been Brachiosaurus-sized hits. Spielberg directed The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), and then Joe Johnston took the reins for Jurassic Park III (2001). That film appeared to be the end of the big-screen series, but eventually Jurassic World (2015) roared into cinemas, beginning another trilogy: at the time, it was the third highest-grossing film ever released.

Dinosaurs still instil childlike wonder, it seems, and as long as they do, the Jurassic Park franchise won't remain extinct for long.

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'They were adrenaline junkies': The remarkable all-female flying team that helped defeat the Nazis – with wooden planes

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250604-remarkable-all-female-flying-team-that-helped-defeat-the-nazis, 8 days ago

A new episode of the BBC's History's Secret Heroes podcast focuses on the Night Witches, a group of Russian female pilots who bombed German forces under the cover of darkness.

World War Two is filled with so many extraordinary tales of heroism that not all of them have got their due. Now BBC Radio 4's History's Secret Heroes podcast, narrated by Helena Bonham Carter, has set out to celebrate these unsung war heroes. And none, arguably, are more remarkable than those covered in a new episode – a squadron of Russian female pilots who flew under the cover of night and carried out covert bombing missions.

The Germans would go on to call these women die Nacht Hexen, or the Night Witches. They were an elite band of pilots, navigators, ground crew and mechanics, whose passion for aviation and strong sense of duty led them to break gender barriers.

Those who were part of the squadron included aspiring pilots and best friends Polina Gelman and Galya Dokutovich. Both had learnt to fly when young – and when in October 1941, the order was given to famed Soviet aviator Marina Raskova to recruit women into female flying units, including the Night Witches, they jumped at the chance.

"They definitely were adrenaline junkies. They wanted to fly, they were crazy about flying," historian Lyuba Vinogradova, author of Avenging Angels: Soviet Women Snipers on the Eastern Front (1941-45), says of the two women. "And second of all they were extremely patriotic. So, they, both of them, volunteered."

Their commander Raskova was an inspiration. "She was a great celebrity of her time. Her name, her picture, her face were known all over [the country]. She was a role model. She was a woman that showed that women are perfectly capable of this kind of flying," Vinogradova says.

Turning limitations to their advantage

The Night Witches trained near the Volga River near Engels, Russia, and had to fit what would have typically been three years of training into just three months. The women found themselves both selected as navigators, rather than pilots, something which initially disappointed Dokutovich – though after she got up in the air, she became more positive about this outcome, writing: "Now I see how exciting being a navigator is! When you have done a little flying you walk around in a dream, and just want to get back up in the sky."

Because the Soviet forces were short of aircraft, the women were issued wooden Po-2 planes, which were not fit for battle, having typically been used to spray pesticide. On top of that, they weren't given guns, radios or parachutes. As a result, they prioritised carrying bombs.

When it came to their planes, they used their limitations to their advantage: the Po-2s made hardly any noise, couldn't be tracked by radio location, and were too small to show up on infrared locators. So the women were able to fly over German territory, shut off their engines and glide – and more easily release their bombs without detection.

According to Vinogradova, the pace of their operations was relentless: "Every four minutes an aircraft would take off, bomb the target and turn back, and the other aircraft would take their place."

The Germans spread stories of the attacks across areas they occupied, depicting the Night Witches as a supernatural force. They were given the name die Nacht Hexen, or the Night Witches, because their wooden aircraft were likened to brooms, while their tactics made it feel as if they could appear and disappear without a trace.

The Night Witches' victories earned them distinction, and in 1943 they officially became the Forty-Sixth Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment. However, in July 1943, the Germans surprised the pilots with a new tactic: they kept their anti-aircraft guns silent, and instead waged a night fighter air attack against the bombers. Dokutovich was killed on 31 July, along with seven of her fellow "Witches" in what Vinogradova calls "the worst night probably in the entire history of the regiment". Nevertheless, the women continued to fight right up until the Allies declared victory in May 1945.

"They were at the airfield ready to fly a mission when it was announced to them," Vinogradova says of Gelman and the other Witches' commitment to the cause.

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In October 1945, the regiment was officially disbanded and it would hold the distinction of being the only unit within the Red Army to still be entirely female at the end of World War Two. Gelman would later join the Military Institute of Foreign Languages, and name her daughter Galya after her fallen friend.

Gelman died in 2005, and towards the end of her life she reflected on why the Witches were so successful – crediting the fact that they performed their duties voluntarily. Speaking to historian Reina Pennington, Gelman said, "It was their free will, and that which is done at the call of the heart is always done better than that which is done out of obligation."

* This article is adapted from a script by Alex von Tunzelmann.

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'The press went absolutely mad': The 1960s sex scandal that rocked British politics

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250530-the-1960s-sex-scandal-that-rocked-british-politics, 11 days ago

The Profumo affair led to a government minister's resignation on 5 June 1963. In 1983, Christine Keeler talked to the BBC about her part in a story of sex, lies and Cold War paranoia.

"For 20 years, I think I've just been a newspaper clipping, I've never really had my say," Christine Keeler told the BBC's Sue Lawley on Nationwide in 1983. She was recalling the notorious political scandal that had engulfed her life and made her a household name: the Profumo Affair.

The 21-year-old model found herself thrust into the media spotlight when, on 5 June 1963, John "Jack" Profumo resigned as UK Secretary of State for War after admitting that he had lied to Parliament about having an affair with her. The press alleged that during their dalliance two years earlier, Keeler was also seeing a Soviet naval attaché, Yevgeny Ivanov, who was believed to be a spy.

The story seemed to have everything: sex, showgirls and the British upper class; lying, a shooting and Cold War spying. Keeler was unprepared for the scandal she was caught up in, and whose fallout would play a role in the collapse of the UK government. "I was an uneducated girl, and when I was 19, politics to me was something totally beyond my scope," she told the BBC in 1983. As the affair's details emerged, Keeler would find herself pursued and then vilified by the tabloid press, their coverage defining the public's perception of who she was. A photograph taken at the time of an unclothed Keeler posing on a chair, would become one of the defining images of London's Swinging '60s.

Keeler had already endured a hard and traumatic early life before the Profumo affair exploded. Born in Uxbridge, UK, in 1942, Keeler grew up in poverty after her father left the family when she was a child. She went on to suffer sexual abuse as a teenager at the hands of her stepfather and his friends. At the age of 17, she found herself pregnant by a US serviceman. After he returned to America, she tried unsuccessfully to give herself an abortion. She eventually gave birth to a son, who died six days later.

Having left school at 15 with no qualifications, she worked variously as a model and a waitress, before landing a job as a showgirl at Murray's Cabaret Club in Soho, London. It would be at the club that she would meet a fellow model, the 16-year-old Mandy Rice-Davies, and befriend the man who would act as her gateway into the elite of British society, Stephen Ward.

Ward was a successful Harley Street osteopath whose clients included both members of the aristocracy and some of the leading cultural figures of the early 1960s. This enabled him to socialise with some of the most influential people in the country. He also had a sideline as a portrait artist, often sketching those he came into contact with, including Queen Elizabeth II's husband Prince Philip and her sister Princess Margaret. "Stephen was himself a handsome man, intelligent, whose address book read like something out of Who's Who," Rice-Davies told BBC's Witness History in 2013. "His client list included Liz Taylor, Sophia Loren, half the aristocracy of England. In his own way, he was quite powerful."

Ward had a habit of setting up his young female friends with older, more powerful men. After meeting the two showgirls, he took them under his wing, and Keeler moved into his flat. Their friendship, while close, remained platonic. The well-connected Ward then began to take Keeler and Rice-Davies to society parties, where he would introduce them to his many wealthy and influential friends and encourage liaisons between them.

The fateful meeting

"Well, anyone who met Stephen would understand that Stephen had a marvellous charm, and he had a way with him, and I was very close to him," Keeler told the BBC. "I suppose he was wrong with his attitudes, and he was a bad man – wicked to a degree, he was – but I don't know, I cared for him." It would be through Ward that Keeler would go on to have her fateful meeting with Profumo.

Among Ward's circle of friends was the former Conservative MP Lord Astor, who regularly hosted weekend parties at his Cliveden estate in Buckinghamshire. At one of these events on 8 July 1961, among the illustrious guests that Lord Astor had invited was Profumo and his actress wife Valerie Hobson, who was famous in her own right for starring with Boris Karloff in Bride of Frankenstein in 1935 and in David Lean's Great Expectations in 1946.

Ward, who rented one of the estate's cottages from Lord Astor, was there with some friends, including Keeler, and they decided to make use of Cliveden's swimming pool. "We were all having a swim except Stephen, because he never went swimming, and I got one of the bathing suits that was too big and whatever," Keeler told BBC Woman's Hour in 2001. "And Stephen said, 'Take your swimming suit off, then, if you are complaining about it.' And so I did – because it kept virtually falling off, it was so big – and threw it to one side. And then Bill Astor and Profumo walked in." Upon seeing the naked teenager, the 46-year-old Profumo was smitten.

However, also staying at the cottage was another friend of Ward's, Captain Ivanov, a naval attaché at the Russian embassy in London. "Yevgeny was a very charming man. I used to have conversations with him about the principles of Communism, he really was a nice chap," Rice-Davies told the BBC in 2013. "There were several moments when I would say to Stephen, 'Is he a spy?' And he would say, 'Oh darling, everybody in the Russian embassy is a spy.'"

Keeler would later admit that she had once slept with the Russian, but she told Lawley they hadn't been in a relationship. "I was never really close to Ivanov, as you read in my book. An encounter happened between us, but we were never lovers. But with Profumo, well, I suppose I was a bit intrigued because he was a war minister, but I didn't realise just how dangerous the situation was because there was no manipulating on my side."

Profumo asked for her telephone number, but Keeler told Woman's Hour that she initially tried to put him off, telling him "to ask Stephen, because I certainly didn't want him to phone me. He was an older man, and I didn't fancy him at all."

"[But Ward] certainly wanted me to go off with Jack Profumo, he persuaded me to see him," Keeler told the BBC in 1983. Spurred on by Ward, she agreed to go out to dinner with the politician, and the pair embarked on an affair that lasted "a few weeks, about a month at most", before it ended amicably.

Ward on trial

Rumours of their relationship circulated among the press, but it might never have become public knowledge were it not for an incident that took place outside Ward's flat in December 1962. By this time, Keeler had begun seeing two other men, a jazz singer, Aloysius "Lucky" Gordon and a small-time criminal called Johnny Edgecombe. Both men had violent pasts and were engaged in a jealous row over Keeler. When she broke things off with Edgecombe, he turned up outside Ward's flat and demanded to be let in. After Rice-Davies refused, he produced a gun and began firing at the door. "We called the police, and the police came along, and following hot on the tail of the police were, of course, the press," Rice-Davies told Witness History in 2013.

By this time in the 1960s, the Cold War was in full swing, and the media had already covered a number of high-profile spying stories. In 1961, UK Secret Service officer George Blake had been exposed as a KGB double agent and the same year five Britons, who became known as the Portland Spy Ring, had been discovered plotting to pass official secrets to Moscow. Just the year before the Profumo scandal, John Vassall, a gay Admiralty clerk, had been blackmailed into spying by the Soviet Union. With news of Edgecombe's arrest, the press took a renewed interest in the swirling rumours of the war minister's affair – and the possibility that Keeler could have obtained secrets from him and passed them to Ivanov.

As speculation intensified, Keeler fled to Spain, avoiding giving evidence at Edgecombe's trial; he would end up being sentenced to seven years in prison for possessing a firearm with the intent to endanger life. But her disappearance merely served to heighten the press's scrutiny. Questions were raised in Parliament about the allegations of Profumo's affair and its national security implications. In response, the Secretary of State for War vehemently denied to Parliament that there was any "impropriety whatsoever" in his relationship with Keeler.

Keeler's appearance in another court case involving Lucky Gordon, who was charged with assaulting her, gave the press reasons to run ever more headlines about her and Profumo. "Of course, the press went absolutely mad," said Rice-Davies. "The situation was so overwhelming for John Profumo that he had to stand up in the House of Commons and deny that he had ever met Christine on any occasion, apart from a social occasion where his wife was present – except of course the press came to me for confirmation that she had been having this fling with Profumo."

Ten weeks after denying their affair, Profumo finally admitted that he had lied to Parliament, and resigned. But the scandal continued to reverberate. Days after Profumo's resignation, police arrested Ward and charged him with procuring women and living off immoral earnings. At his court case, the prosecution accused Keeler and Rice-Davies of being prostitutes and Ward of being their pimp. The evidence presented for this was that the women had sometimes been given gifts by the men they had had relationships with, and they had given Ward cash for electricity and food while living at his flat.

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The trial and its witnesses' testimonies, detailing the sex lives of the upper echelons of society, generated reams of newspaper coverage. The press and the public flocked to the court every day to catch a glimpse of the colourful characters involved. And Rice-Davies became notorious for the phrase she used when she was told, in the witness box, that Lord Astor had denied that they had slept together: "Well, he would, wouldn't he?"

None of the influential friends that Ward had so carefully cultivated would testify in his defence. "Stephen had decided that he couldn't handle the situation anymore, and the jackals were out to get him no matter what," Rice-Davies told the BBC. On the last day of the trial, after the judge began his damning summing up, Ward took his own life, dying three days after he was found guilty. Lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC is one of people who now regard the case as a miscarriage of justice. He argues that neither woman was a prostitute, that Ward had, in fact, subsidised both women off his earnings as an osteopath, and that he was the victim of a government cover-up. In 2017, a submission to review Ward's conviction was denied, and the official material from his trial is currently sealed until 2046.

Into the shadows

Following his death, Keeler would also find herself in trouble with the law. In December 1963, Gordon's three-year sentence for her assault was overturned by the Court of Appeal, and Keeler was accused of lying at his trial, because she had protected two of the men present at the assault by testifying that they weren't there. She pleaded guilty to perjury and was sentenced to nine months in Holloway Prison.

In the wake of the scandal, the Conservative Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, ordered an inquiry into the Profumo affair. The report by Lord Denning in September 1963 concluded that national security had not been compromised and there was no evidence to link ministers to certain stories of "vile and revolting" sexual activities. Although it was critical of the government's inept handling of the scandal, it largely laid the blame on the "utterly immoral" Ward. The report was accused of being a whitewash, and Lord Denning's files regarding the Profumo scandal have been withheld from being publicly released. In 2020, the Cabinet Office decided to keep the files confidential until 2048.

The whole episode served to damage the credibility of Macmillan's government. The PM resigned in October 1963, citing ill health, and the Conservatives lost the general election the following year. Profumo would never return to politics but spent the rest of his days as a volunteer at an east London charity called Toynbee Hall. He was awarded a CBE for his efforts by the Queen in 1975.

Keeler was not so lucky. On her release from prison, she struggled to find work to support herself. By the time she came to speak to the BBC in 1983 about her ghost-written autobiography Nothing But…, Keeler had gone from being one of the most talked about women in the UK to living in a council flat with her young son and relying on social security.

Having lived in the shadow of the Profumo affair for two decades, Keeler told Lawley that the book was an attempt to get across her side of the story. "Other people have come along with their books and rubbish and complete lies, writing about my life, and I thought it was only fair, after all, that I should get my book published."

The book would be one of five that Keeler would publish about her life, reflecting her conflicted relationship with the episode that brought her infamy. One of her books, Scandal, went on to be the basis for the 1989 film of the same name, with Joanne Whalley starring as her.

Douglas Thompson, the author who worked with Keeler on her 2001 memoir The Truth at Last, told the BBC when she died in 2017 that he believed she was forever trapped by the legacy of the Profumo affair.

"I don't think she ever got away from it – that was a tragedy. She could never stop being Christine Keeler."

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Noel Gallagher gave me his Oasis Wonderwall guitar

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0n57gg7k1o, today

When she was called by a grovelling Liam Gallagher apologising, Lynne Brine wondered what on earth was going on.

"Hi, it's Liam Gallagher here, there's been a bit of an incident at Abbey Road," said the voice on the other end of the line.

The Oasis circus was at its 1990s peak and her teenage son was part of the band's inner circle as an engineer for their third album - as Mrs Brine thought "what has happened to my boy?".

It turned out a furious Liam had smashed up the guitar she gave to her son Nick, thinking it belonged to Liam's brother and bandmate Noel.

Nick's compensation was something money can't buy and a piece of rock'n'roll memorabilia - a guitar Noel used to create Oasis anthems like Wonderwall and Don't Look Back in Anger.

"It was the morning after a heavy night and Liam was worse for wear," recalls Nick, who was at Abbey Road as a studio engineer on their third album Be Here Now.

"Noel had said something about him in the papers and Liam kicked off. I'm in Abbey Road's famous Studio Two setting up equipment and hungover myself, then looking up I saw a guitar come flying over from the control room.

"It was Noel's Fender Jag and it smashed to bits. I run to the control room and Liam also made a big dent in Abbey Road's mixing desk."

Nick had worked with the Gallagher brothers previously on their hit record (What's The Story) Morning Glory and had seen flashpoints like this before, so he just left Liam alone.

"Then I see another acoustic guitar flying over the top and in a thousand pieces on the floor - and realise that's my guitar," Nick added.

"I thought it best if I didn't say anything. Noel came in and said 'what the hell is going on?'. It kicked off.

"Noel saw his guitar smashed up, then points to my smashed guitar and says 'whose is that?' Liam replies 'that's your guitar too', to which Noel replied 'it ain't mine'."

It was Nick's £100 1970s Japanese Fender that was in pieces.

"I sheepishly put my hand up and said 'actually Liam, it's mine!'

"Then there was a big argument about who was going to buy me a new one. I told them it's not valuable but it has quite sentimental value as my mum gave it to me."

Liam promised to take Nick to Denmark Street, an area of London famous for musical instrument shops, to buy "whatever guitar I wanted".

"Noel replied to Liam 'what the hell do you know about guitars?'," recalled Nick. "He said 'I'm going to get him a guitar'. There was another kick off about who was going to buy me a new one."

After giving his temperamental younger brother a telling-off, Noel insisted Oasis frontman Liam call Nick's mum Lynne, at home in south Wales, to apologise.

"It was like: 'Hello Mrs Brine, Liam Gallagher here, I'm ringing to apologise...', he told her what he'd done and was sorry.

"That typified Liam, angry one minute then angelic the next, I've always enjoyed his company."

The Oasis superstar then handed Nick a piece of history - a Takamine Acoustic, the guitar Noel used in their iconic Knebworth and MTV Unplugged concerts.

"Did I give it to you? No way," Noel said to Nick when the songwriter returned to Rockfield Studio in south Wales in 2020 for the 25th anniversary of (What's The Story) Morning Glory.

"I used it on this record, so that's the one I played Wonderwall on."

For comparison, last year an Epiphone Les Paul electric guitar used by Noel sold for £130,000 while a Silver Sparkle Gibson Les Paul sold for £226,000.

Nick has, in fact, had to insure the guitar as a piece of fine art and auction houses have estimated a starting guide price of £100,000 if Nick were ever to sell it.

"I was gobsmacked, I said 'it's OK, it's fine' but Noel insisted I take it," recalled Nick. "It more than made up for the smashed guitar, I couldn't believe it."

It's just another pinch me moment that became the norm for Nick from the moment Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown gave him a lift to pick up his GCSE results.

One of his first engineering jobs was with the Roses for the epic 14-month recording of their Second Coming record at Rockfield.

"Ian was in the studio reading about GCSE results in the paper and asked 'Nick, how did you get on?'," recalled Nick.

"I'd got a job at Rockfield straight after leaving school and said 'I'm working here now' so I wasn't bothered.

"He said 'come on, I'll take you down. You've got to find out your GCSE results'."

Nick arrived at Monmouth Comprehensive School minutes later in Brown's red Ford Fiesta and the singer, one of the biggest names in British music at the time, walked in with him to get his results.

"It was surreal, my mates couldn't believe it," remembered Nick.

"But the Roses were so down to earth, a great friendly band to work with that allowed my band to use their kit when they weren't using it. It was incredible."

The Roses gave Nick his first recording credit too as the then 16-year-old played tambourine on their hit single Love Spreads, still their highest-placing single which reached number two in 1994.

"I still get a nice cheque from it every year," joked Nick.

It was around this time when Nick first met Oasis as they were recording their debut album Definitely Maybe up the road at Monnow Valley Studios.

They had come down to give their demo tapes to Nick, hoping he would pass them on to the Roses.

The following year he first shared a studio with them at Rockfield as they recorded their seminal album (What's The Story) Morning Glory in Monmouth in a six-week session - before joining them at Abbey Road to make Be Here Now.

"Those Be Here Now Sessions were crazy," recalled Nick.

"We had press hounding us all the time to hear the songs, get any info because in 1997 Oasis were headline news virtually every day.

"I was in charge of locking the tapes away every night so if anyone snuck or broke in, no-one could get to the tapes.

"Keeping them secret was almost a military operation which was made difficult as Liam used to bring people back to the studio from the pub to hear the recordings!"

One welcome visitor was Hollywood movie star Jim Carrey who unexpectedly visited the studio made famous by The Beatles while Brine was working with Oasis.

"Jim was a huge Beatles fan and their legendary producer Sir George Martin had invited him in for a look around," recalled Nick.

"I loved his films, especially Dumb and Dumber. The Mask and Ace Ventura, then all of a sudden he's standing next to me, whispering 'this is crazy, I'm in Abbey Road and George Martin's showing us around!'

"I remember thinking if you think that and you're a proper Hollywood A-lister, what about me?! I'm just a normal teenager from south Wales!"

Love Island’s Georgia Harrison: 'I re-read my MBE letter three times'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce80rk0yw7jo, today

The sexual abuse campaigner and former reality star Georgia Harrison has told the BBC she is "honoured" to be receiving an MBE.

Harrison, 30, will be awarded for her efforts to tackle violence against women and girls, which includes working with the government on the Online Safety Act in 2023.

She says she feels "a responsibility to help" the many women who are victims of crimes such as intimate image abuse and deepfaking.

Her ex-partner Stephen Bear was jailed for 21 months in 2023 after uploading sexual footage of himself and Harrison to OnlyFans filmed without her consent.

Harrison, who is being awarded her MBE as part of the King's Birthday Honours, said she had to re-read the letter she received from King Charles "three times" as she "just couldn't believe it".

"It's definitely not something I anticipated and it feels nice to have my work recognised because with campaigning sometimes you feel like a lot goes unnoticed," she told the BBC.

The former reality star appeared on ITV shows such as The Only Way is Essex in 2017 and Love Island in 2018, where she entered the villa as a bombshell and gained nationwide fame.

It was during 2019 that she entered MTV's The Challenge, where she met fellow reality star Bear.

The pair dated on and off for a few months, with Harrison discovering in December 2020 that the now 35-year-old Bear had uploaded intimate CCTV footage of them to streaming service OnlyFans without her consent.

She subsequently reported the crime and Bear was sentenced after being found guilty of voyeurism and discussing private, sexual photographs and films.

Harrison was then awarded compensation in a damages claim and said she would donate some of the £207,900 to charity.

She says she often feels a "responsibility to help" as she worries about the increase of social media influencers fuelling misogyny and sexism.

Harrison, who is currently expecting her first child, said: "I'd be scared to have a teenager right now, being completely honest, I really would be terrified".

"We've seen with the rise of Andrew Tate and some men thinking the thing to do with women is to mistreat them and think they can do what they want with them," she said.

She added she feels the need to let women know, "they deserve to be treated fairly, they deserve consent and the right to their own bodies".

A recent poll of teachers in the UK found three in five believe social media use has had a negative effect on behaviour in schools - with Tate being named as a reason by a number of teachers in the poll.

Harrison says she has been into some schools recently to watch consent workshops with primary school age children, describing them as "brilliant".

She hopes that these type of lessons will have an impact for the next generation.

"I'd like to think by the time my child gets to the age where consent becomes an issue, things are going to be a lot better, because we are doing something to educate around consent and that's something that's never really been done before in this generation," she added.

'It should be a lot easier for women'

Harrison says "on a positive note" women have told her case and "the strength you found" has encouraged them to take their perpetrators to court for causes of rape, domestic abuse and intimate image abuse.

Since Bear's conviction in 2022, she has campaigned to increase the support for women and girls who have faced similar crimes to her by working on the Online Safety Act and as part of the Women and Equalities Committee.

She says she has been working with the committee on improving timescales for women who want to report crimes against them - as currently they only have six months after a crime has taken place to tell the police about it.

"It took me about four months to even realise a crime had been committed to me when it happened so its scary to think, had I been notified a few months later, I may not have had the right to justice.

"It should be a lot easier for women out there," she added.

Harrison says she has also been receiving more and more messages from victims of deepfakes, which are videos, pictures or audio clips made with AI to look or sound real.

There have been recent concerns about schoolchildren using apps to distribute AI-generated deepfake content, despite the practice being illegal.

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) - a UK-based charity partly funded by tech firms - said in February there had been 245 reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse in 2024 compared with 51 in 2023, a 380% increase.

"I think [deepfake] technology is getting a lot more impressive and easier to access," Harrison said.

Earlier this year, the government announced laws to tackle the threat of child sexual abuse images being generated by AI, which include making it illegal to possess, create, or distribute AI tools designed to create such material.

Artist among those honoured in King's Honours list

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy5e6v9k5ezo, today

A Lincolnshire artist has been awarded a MBE in the King's Birthday Honours list.

Jason Wilsher-Mills, from Sleaford, described it as a "wonderful honour".

His recent exhibition Are We There Yet? attracted more than 50,000 visitors to the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull.

The Wakefield-born artist has used a wheelchair since he was 11 after suffering damage to his central nervous system from contracting chickenpox.

He said it was "one of the highest accolades that I could receive".

"As it acknowledges my work as an artist, and the work I do to raise awareness about disability related issues," he said.

Others on the list include Paul Boucher, director of the Lincolnshire Traveller Initiative, who is awarded an OBE for services to the traveller community in the county.

Eleanor Hutton, manager of Grimsby pre-school centre Explorosity Education, receives a MBE

Also honoured was Helen Keneally, who received a British Empire Medal (BEM).

Ms Keneally, from Scunthorpe, works as a children centre manager and involves families in activities such as community picnics and summer barbeques.

Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.

Why do we dress like someone else when we go on holiday?

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250612-why-do-we-dress-like-someone-else-on-holiday, today

Why do we dress like someone else when we go on holiday? From multipurpose utility garments to Instagrammable maxi dresses and floppy hats, one thing is for sure – we don't dress this way at home.

An American friend recently asked me what to wear on her first flight to Europe. "I want to be comfy but chic," she said. She'd come to the wrong person. As a travel journalist, I'm either on assignment, sun cream-smeared in hiking boots and hauling a rucksack like a tortoise shell; or travelling light with a five-piece capsule wardrobe in beige neutrals to leave space for edible souvenirs.

Meanwhile, many of my fellow travellers parade past in floral gowns, breezy summer whites or cosy pyjama-like layers. Sometimes I glimpse my own reflection and feel a pang of FOMO. Should I have worn a floral dress to photograph ruins? I don't even own one. Or perhaps instead of clunky hiking boots, I would be more comfortable in a pair of Birkenstocks, with thick white socks hiked up to my knees.

As disparate and sometimes dramatic as travel get-ups can be, one thing is for sure: we don't dress this way back home.

The dawn of holiday wear

So why do we dress so differently when we're on holiday – almost as if we're someone else?

Marta Franceschini, head of communications and editorials at the European Fashion Heritage Association, says that the holiday wardrobe emerged alongside leisure travel in the 19th Century. "Prior to this, clothing for travel was primarily utilitarian, associated with migration, pilgrimage or military and trade expeditions," she explained. According to Franceschini, the growth of the middle class and the expansion of railways in Europe in the mid-1800s meant that seaside resorts became fashionable destinations, prompting the development of travel wardrobes that fused elegance with comfort. Warm weather necessitated lighter, breathable fabrics such as linen and silk, and by the interwar period, designers like Coco Chanel were championing relaxed styles such as casual knitwear, wide-leg trousers and swimwear.

"The post-World War Two economic boom, coupled with the advent of commercial aviation, democratised travel further," Franceschini added. "From the 1950s to the '70s, leisurewear evolved into a distinct genre: Capri pants, resort prints, kaftans and cruise collections became staples."

Franceschini also notes that the need to dress for unfamiliar temperatures "[permits] a certain relaxation of social dress codes".

That explains sandals with socks.

Backpacks and backlash

And yet, it is a universally acknowledged truth that no one wants to look like a tourist.

Lifestyle publications teem with articles steering travellers away from the reviled traditional tourist kit – T-shirt, backpack and hat – proposing, instead, luggage-conscious capsule wardrobes inspired by the destination itself. When Vanessa Friedman, chief fashion critic at the New York Times, receives reader questions about how not to look like a tourist on holiday, she taps locals for their input to make her recommendations. "I think people dress to belong," she told the BBC. "So, when you're travelling, you don't want to stand out."

But if the term "tourist" conveys a sense of escape from the everyday, what's so terrible about looking like one?

"There are some interesting negative connotations about being a tourist," said Dr Charlotte Russell, founder of The Travel Psychologist. "Ideas around being seen as naïve, not being experienced or well-travelled, perhaps clumsy with regard to cultural differences and potentially falling prey to unfair pricing. None of us want to be any of these things, so it's unsurprising that people want to differentiate themselves from these stereotypes."

Franceschini believes that this wariness likely emerged in the late 20th Century, "as global travel became more accessible and distinctions between the traveller and the tourist became increasingly codified".

Anyone booking travel back then – the dawn of internet travel planning and the expat blog boom – would have witnessed that ever-growing chasm between the two. The smug verdict: tourists, who visit a place for mere days, are less culturally savvy than travellers, who may be privileged enough to spend months or even years overseas.

Dr Andrew Stevenson, author of the book The Psychology of Travel, believes this dichotomy reveals something deeper: how we want to be seen.

"Do you want to present yourself as somebody who's trying to blend in, like an anthropologist?" asked Stevenson. "Or do you want to erect a barrier between yourself and the host location, because maybe you've got safety concerns, or you want to travel in a bubble with your travel party? I think clothes are a symbol of how much belongingness we want to have with the place we're visiting."

Do my day-to-night layers and rugged footwear merely reflect that I'm segueing from 10km hikes to interviewing government officials? Or that I want to signal my identity as a travel journalist?

'Monica Vitti is dead'

Picture it: Sicily, The White Lotus Season Two. Jennifer Coolidge as the daffy, doomed Tanya McQuoid has rented a Vespa and is ecstatic in her flowy pink dress, pink headscarf and giant sunglasses.

"Guess who I am?" she asks the hotel manager, Valentina. "Watch, watch." Tanya takes a drag from her cigarette, exhaling smoke in a sultry stream.

Valentina, a bona fide Italian woman in a no-nonsense double-breasted blue pantsuit, is nonplussed. She hazards a guess: "Peppa Pig."

Tanya beams: "I'm Monica Vitti!"

"Monica Vitti is dead," snaps Valentina.

Rarely has a scene of television so perfectly encapsulated the yawning gulf between what people wear and what overseas visitors believe they wear. I've been based in Southern Italy for 15 years; if you see someone swanning around in a flowy dress and hat, they are 100% a tourist.

Franceschini calls it a kind of "sartorial mimicry", observing that "clothing choices are often influenced by an imagined or real desire to either assimilate with the local culture or to symbolically participate in it". Like Bermuda shorts or Hawaiian shirts, she says, these outfits are clichéd, but they are also signs of cultural aspiration and symbolic belonging.

However, she cautions that they can also veer into cultural appropriation, where items are worn "without an understanding of their cultural context or significance".

Tanya's "Dolce Vita" look, Franceschini added, is a contemporary iteration of long-romanticised visions of Mediterranean leisure, femininity and glamour. "Rooted in cinematic depictions from Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita to more recent iterations like the season of The White Lotus set in Italy, this mode of dress draws heavily on idealised representations of Italy as a sensual, timeless and emotionally unburdened destination… These choices are often less about actual cultural integration and more about performing a version of Italy that aligns with global stereotypes – sun-drenched, stylish and hedonistic."

In other words, imagine an overseas visitor visiting London dressed as Twiggy, or the US dressed as Marilyn Monroe.

The Instagram effect

It's hardly news that social media presents a highly curated view of everyday life. But, that knowledge doesn't stop us from consuming holiday content, where influencers and celebrities pose thirstily in front of beautiful places while wearing beautiful things.

Russell believes that these aspirational travel posts have a significant impact how people dress when they travel. "We see a lot of images of people looking dressed up from everywhere to the Colosseum to natural places and even at the top of mountains," she said. "This certainly was not the case 15 years ago, and I definitely think there has been a shift."

"I remember when people used to take photographs of places and things," echoed Stevenson. "But now people take photographs of themselves, and the places and things are in the background."

The result? "A convergence of fashion and digital spectacle: locations become backdrops," said Franceschini. "Outfits become integral to the performative self-branding of the traveller. Influencer culture has further accelerated this dynamic, with sponsored wardrobes, coordinated colour palettes and editorial-style holiday shots becoming standard."

It brings to mind a quote from the legendary late American actress Betty White: "Facebook just sounds like a drag; in my day, seeing pictures of people's vacations was considered punishment."

Time to celebrate

Of course, it's exciting to go somewhere new, and how we dress on holiday is a reflection of that joy.

"Holiday dress often functions as a performative break from the conventions of daily life," said Franceschini. "On holiday, people permit themselves to wear clothing that might be deemed inappropriate, excessive or impractical in their everyday environments. Holiday wear can thus be read as a sartorial manifestation of the freedom, or at least escapism, and sensory indulgence associated with travel."

Russell agrees: "For many of us, we are working on laptops all day or may have uniforms at work, and we dress for function and comfort. So, a holiday is an opportunity to explore a different part of ourselves. A part that is perhaps more carefree, joyful and relaxed."

Whether that self wears hiking boots or pink chiffon, the same truth applies.

"If you want to wear a beautiful dress or bright shirt, and it feels right to you, then this is totally okay," said Russell. "Life is too short for worrying about judgements from others."

And so is your holiday.

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Exhibitions celebrate 'Brummie icon' Ozzy Osbourne

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyg0m2m1v4o, today

Two city centre exhibitions dedicated to the achievements of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath are set to celebrate "a true Brummie icon", organisers say.

The shows, to coincide with the band's final reunion gig in Birmingham in July, were "a thank you to the fans and the city of Birmingham – the place where it all began", said Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy's wife.

"Ozzy is proof that no matter where you start in life, with passion, grit, and a little bit of madness, you can achieve the extraordinary.

"We're so proud to bring it home."

A free exhibition entitled Working Class Hero will run at the city's Museum and Art Gallery, showcasing the singer's most prestigious international honours, including Grammy Awards and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

A selection of platinum and gold discs, recognising millions of record sales, will also be on show.

Other photographs and videos chart Ozzy's journey from "a working class kid from Aston" to becoming one of the world's most recognisable rock stars.

Further images showcasing the band's archive and iconic album artwork will also go on display in the city's Victoria Square.

Artist Mr Murals has also created a 120ft (36.5m) mural depicting all four original members of Black Sabbath.

Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward are being immortalised on Navigation Street near Grand Central Station, creating the "perfect spot for a Sabbath Selfie", said organisers.

The exhibitions were a "celebration of our city's creativity, heritage and influence – and a chance for fans to walk in the footsteps of legends", said Sam Watson, chair of Central BID Birmingham, which has helped organise them.

Together they form a "landmark tribute to one of the most influential rock bands in history", organisers said.

"Celebrating the life and achievements of someone so deeply connected to the city aligns perfectly with our mission to reflect and share Birmingham's rich and diverse cultural heritage," added the joint chief executives of Birmingham Museums Trust, Sara Wajid and Zak Mensah.

Working Class Hero will run at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery from 25 June to 28 September.

Follow BBC Birmingham on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk

AJ Tracey says he ready to open up on his new album

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj93knmwdvjo, today

AJ Tracey is back with his first album in four years, and this time it's personal.

"I've avoided speaking about quite personal things," he says, reflecting on his earlier music.

The rapper, real name Ché Wolton Grant, tells 1Xtra's DJ Target he's always preferred to keep his real self separate.

"I like to keep AJ Tracey as a persona and a person that I don't have to always be connected to," he says.

"When I speak about personal things I've gone through as AJ Tracey, then I can't really get away from it."

But on his latest album, Don't Die Before You're Dead, he says that's about to change.

As his career's progressed, Ché and AJ Tracey can be "quite hard to separate", he says.

It's made even harder as an independent artist, AJ says, because "you don't want to ever miss an opportunity".

"I feel like when I should be turning off, I'm still awake."

Now though, the 31-year-old says he feels "secure and stable enough" to open up more in his music.

"If Ché's gone through something and I can speak about it as AJ Tracey I'm willing to receive whatever conversation arises as AJ or as Ché," he says.

"I'm happy to divulge, especially if it's going to help someone."

Don't Die Before You're Dead delves into British identity, resilience and stories of the west London rapper's journey from Ladbroke Grove to the heights of the UK scene.

Single 3rd Time Lucky, which was released in advance of the album, explores AJ's relationship with his mum and her recovery from cancer.

She's meant "everything" to his journey, he says.

"My mum gave the mandem somewhere to just chill that's away from danger and let us really foster our talent and be creative without being outside on the roads.

"Instead of having mandem outside on the streets, it's better that we're in the house and she knows she can keep an eye on us. Even just that gave us the platform to jump off and go do what we're doing."

AJ Tracey is speaking to DJ Target at an intimate gig at Maida Vale Studios, performing tracks from the new album in front of friends and family.

TV chef and rapper Big Zuu, who's also AJ's cousin, is there and says they used the family's front room as a "harbour".

"We would go there and write bars," he says.

"It gave us a safety net to just be ourselves, have fun, connect."

AJ has been a passionate supporter of dedicated services for young people, lending his voice to calls for more youth clubs and even partnering with Children in Need and McDonald's to pair restaurants with youth workers.

"It's essential," he says. "We need safe spaces."

With more personal tracks, AJ says it's important his music stays relatable.

"That's how you build your fanbase and keep them locked in, by giving them things and showing them you're human," he says.

"Like some of Drake's lyrics, I'm not rich enough to relate to any of that stuff.

"It's nice to sometimes show people it's not easy but we're kicking on."

AJ acknowledges four years has been a long time to keep his followers waiting for new music, and in a promotional video announcing the album earlier this year fans at his beloved Tottenham Hotspur Stadium ask "where is he?"

But he thinks it will be worth the wait.

"I don't like rushing music," he says.

"Music lasts forever - when I'm not here no more the music will still be here and if you put out music that you rush, it's just going to leave a legacy you're not really proud of.

"I want to be proud of all my music."

1Xtra's Album Launch Party with AJ Tracey is available on BBC Sounds and will air on DJ Target's 1Xtra show at 20:00 on Monday 16 June. It's also available to watch on YouTube and BBC iPlayer.

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

Unseen works by Alasdair Gray to go on display

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1mg4jmgep0o, today

Art works by the artist and writer Alasdair Gray will go on display for the first time this weekend.

The works - given to Glasgow Life Museums a decade ago in memory of his wife - will go on display at Kelvingrove, the gallery he said inspired his love of art.

The nine creations - including the original art for his 1992 novel Poor Things which was made into a major feature film in 2023 - were given to Glasgow Museums in 2014 following the death of Gray's wife Morag.

The items were personal gifts for anniversaries and birthdays, and include portraits later transformed into characters and framed drawings for his own book covers and those he created for others.

They go on display in what would have been his 90th year.

Gray died in December 2019 at the age of 85. He was one of Scotland's most multi-talented artists.

Born in Riddrie, in the east of Glasgow, he was also a prolific poet, playwright, novelist, painter, and printmaker whose work continues to be celebrated in books, exhibitions, conferences, and the annual Gray Day on 25 February.

The Morag McAlpine Bequest enriches the existing Alasdair Gray collection held by Glasgow Life Museums, which includes the City Recorder series (1977–78), some of which can be viewed at the Gallery of Modern Art.

The new exhibition celebrates 10 years since the works were donated. The collection will be exhibited in the Fragile Art Gallery.

As well as the Poor Things artwork, the display will include the wrap-around jacket for Old Negatives, artwork in progress for the jacket design of Agnes Owens' People Like That, and A Working Mother.

The display offers insight into key aspects of Gray's artistic practice and explores how he reused imagery, and reimagined the influence of historical artworks in his own distinctive style.

Katie Bruce, producer curator with Glasgow Life, said: "Alasdair Gray showed great generosity when he gifted The Morag McAlpine Bequest to the city, following the passing of his wife.

"These personal gifts for anniversaries, birthdays, and Christmas, include portraits later transformed into characters in his work and framed drawings for book covers and dust jackets, both for his own publications and those of fellow writers.

"It is fitting and wonderful to display this collection in a place that meant so much to Gray, and to offer audiences a deeper understanding of his innovative practice and extraordinary talent."

Visitors to Kelvingrove Museum can also see Cowcaddens Streetscape in the Fifties, which shows life in an area of Glasgow where the landscape and community radically changed post-war.

Painted in 1964, it is one of Gray's best-known works and what he referred to as "my best big oil painting".

It represents a significant example of his painting within the decade following his graduation from Glasgow School of Art in 1957.

Five works that reveal the philosophy of Banksy

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250602-five-works-that-reveal-the-philosophy-of-banksy, 11 days ago

Banksy's new mural in Marseille is not the first image he has connected to the history of ideas. From Plato to Foucault, a Banksy expert reveals the philosophy behind these popular artworks.

Which is the real you, the person you are now or the one you are capable of becoming? It's a heady question, to be sure, and not one you would expect to be confronted with while strolling down a street in Marseille in the waning days of May. Yet it's precisely the existential dilemma that Banksy, who once asserted "being yourself is overrated" – has surreptitiously installed in a cloistered stretch of the quiet Rue Félix Fregier, the site of a new work – the latest installment in the elusive artist's decades-long career as a provocative philosophical prankster.

For more than 30 years, Banksy has spiked many of his most iconic works – from his girl reaching hopelessly for a heart-shaped balloon to his masked rioter hurling a bouquet of flowers – with barbed allusions to Old Masters, from Michelangelo to Monet, Vermeer to Van Gogh. But there's more. Beneath his stealthy stencils lies a deep and deliberate engagement with the history of ideas as well, from classical Stoicism to postmodern deconstructionism.

On 29 May, Banksy posted on Instagram a photo of his first new piece in more than five months, piquing the internet's interest by withholding its precise location. Discovered shortly thereafter in the major port city in southern France, Marseille, the mural is, at first glance, deceptively simple: a tall silhouette of a lighthouse spray-painted on to a blank beige urban wall; a rusting street bollard positioned nearby; and a painted shadow stretching across the pavement, joining the real-world object to its augmented, if two-dimensional, echo. Stencilled across the black lighthouse are the words: "I want to be what you saw in me."

Anyone keen to find a source for the ideas that inform Banksy's new work needs merely to flip open any history of philosophy to Plato's seminal allegory of the cave (from the Fourth-Century BC treatise The Republic), then flip the ancient metaphor on its head. In Plato's parable, prisoners chained inside a cave mistake shadows on the wall for reality, unaware of the truer forms that cast them outside. But here, Banksy, being Banksy, baits us by switching the set-up, reversing the relationship between essence and shadow. In Banksy's mural, the drab bollard casts not a diminished imitation of itself, but something far grander – a lighthouse, a symbol of illumination and guidance. Here, it's the silhouette, not reality, that's true.

Banksy's inversion urges us to ask where reality really resides: in what is, or in what might be? His poignant phrase – "I want to be what you saw in me" – is alluringly elastic. Is this the bollard dreaming of being more than it appears? Or the shadow wishing to become light? Or is it all of us – Banksy included – struggling to live up to the better versions imagined by those who believe in us? The answer is surely yes to all of the above. And it's a yes too to the question: 'is this new work a lamp capable of shining light on further levels of meaning in Banksy?' What follows is a brief look back at some of the artist's best-known works and how they too are invigorated by, and often upend, many of the most important philosophical tenets – both social and intellectual – that underwrite who we are and who we might be.

Girl with Balloon, 2002

Banksy's new mural in Marseille is not the first to be accompanied by an affecting caption connecting the piece to the history of ideas. Among his most famous murals, Girl with Balloon, which portrays a child reaching towards a heart-shaped balloon drifting away from her, first appeared in 2002 in various locations in London, including on the South Bank, alongside the consoling assertion, "there is always hope". That conviction, which fuels the ceaseless striving for an ideal that is seemingly unobtainable in the mural (there's no way that balloon is coming back) rhymes richly with aspects of 19th-Century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer's ideas concerning an unquenchable and irrational "Will" as a fundamental force that drives humanity. When, years later, Banksy mischievously concealed a remote-controlled shredder in the frame of a version of Girl with Balloon that came up for auction in 2018, and sensationally destroyed the work before the eyes of aghast auction-goers, he succeeded in upping the ante on Schopenhauer's belief in the futility of desire by boldly manifesting it himself. Where there's a will there's a fray.

Flower Thrower (or Love is in the Air), 2003

Banksy's famous mural of a masked man frozen forever in the instant before he unleashes not a brick or a bomb but a bouquet of flowers may seem, at first blush, to exemplify a pacifist's commitment to peaceful disobedience. The work appears to echo the precepts of Mahatma Gandhi's Satyagraha – a philosophy of non-violence that the Indian ethicist coined in 1919. Banksy's fully flexed figure, incongruously armed with a fistful of beauty, appears to epitomise Gandhi's insistence on wielding moral, not physical, strength. Doesn't it? Or has Banksy slyly subverted the philosophical assertion of pacifistic force by portraying his hero as an enraged rioter? The figure's anger has not been tempered by an appeal to the higher ideals of beauty and truth. Instead, those ideals have been weaponised by Banksy. Here, beauty and truth are not disarming, they are devastatingly explosive.

One Nation Under CCTV, 2007

Banksy's mural in Marseille employs a tried-and-true technique to ensure the work protrudes into the urban space in which we'll encounter it – elevating its philosophical potential from something flimsy and flat to something undeniably urgent. It's a tactic he used in a 2007 work that appeared near London's Oxford Street in which he depicts a boy atop a precariously high ladder, spray-painting the penetrating observation that we are "One Nation Under CCTV" in outlandishly outsized letters. Also portrayed within the mural is a uniformed officer and his obedient police dog who surveil the young vandal, while above them all an actual CCTV camera, presumably recording everything, juts out from the wall. The endless layers of surveillance-within-surveillance to which the work attests – as we watch the state watch an officer watch the boy – captures with uncanny precision the philosophical contours of the vast and all-encompassing prison machine in which the French poststructural philosopher Michel Foucault believed everyone in society was now irredeemably enmeshed. In Foucault's study Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, he resuscitates a blueprint for a prison proposed by the British utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham at the end of the 18th Century, "The Panopticon" (meaning "all seeing"), and uses it as a menacing metaphor for how no one can escape the perniciously penetrating eye of the panoptical state.

Mobile Lovers, 2014

Banksy's witty 2014 work Mobile Lovers shines a chilling light on the state of contemporary relationships. The mural depicts a couple whose almost affectionate embrace is interrupted by the deeper fondness they have for the warm glow of their smartphones. The French existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, who died in 1986, may not have lived long enough to witness the emergence of mobiles. Yet her profoundly influential 1947 book The Ethics of Ambiguity – published exactly 60 years before the iPhone was launched in 2007 – with its exploration of the devastation that detachment and disconnection can wreak on the realisation of our truest selves, is profoundly proleptic of our modern predicament. To be free, de Beauvoir insisted, requires a deep attentiveness to each other. She believed in the authenticity of human encounters, without which life is a futile performance, dimly lit by disposable devices, rather than something profound and meaningful.

How Banksy Saved Art History by Kelly Grovier, published by Thames & Hudson, is out now.

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South Korea cements cultural status with six Tonys for Maybe Happy Ending

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0j71xgrv8o, 5 days ago

South Koreans are celebrating their first win in the Tony Awards, which they say highlights their country's status as a cultural powerhouse.

The acclaimed Broadway production of Maybe Happy Ending, which debuted in South Korea almost a decade ago, won six Tonys, including best musical.

Maybe Happy Ending is about the romance between two humanoid robots living in an apartment building on the outskirts of Seoul. It entered Sunday night's awards ceremony with 10 nominations.

With the Tonys, South Koreans have now won the four most coveted awards in US entertainment. Squid Game won Emmy awards in 2022 while Parasite won four Oscars in 2020. Soprano Sumi Jo won a Grammy in 1993.

On Sunday, South Korean lyricist Hue Park and American composer Will Aronson took home the Tony for best original score and best book of a musical.

Before making their Broadway debut with Maybe Happy Ending in 2024, the pair, who met as students at New York University, had written the musical in both English and Korean.

"This is amazing!" one post on Threads reads. "I heard the Broadway version got even more polished. I'm so proud that Korea is becoming a true cultural powerhouse."

"This feels like a dream come true for the Korean Wave," reads another post. "I'm just as thrilled as when Parasite won the Oscars, Squid Game won the Emmys, and Han Kang received the Nobel Prize."

Former Glee star Darren Criss, who played one of the robots, Oliver, won best lead actor in a musical. It was his first Tony win.

The musical, which also stars Helen J Shen as robot Claire, was already on a streak this awards season.

It bagged some of the top prizes at the Outer Critics Circle Awards and Drama League Awards this year.

First directed by Kim Dong-yeon, Maybe Happy Ending premiered in Seoul in 2016 to much critical acclaim. It has since been revived several times in South Korea and abroad - in both Korean and English.

Maybe Happy Ending's success comes as South Korean artists continue to break ground in entertainment, especially with K-pop acts like BTS and Blackpink dominating music in the last few years.

It also serves as a window into Korean culture, some social media users say.

"It's amazing that Korean elements like Jeju Island, fireflies, and hwabun (a plant pot) were kept in the Broadway version too," reads one post on Threads.

"I already felt proud just seeing it nominated, but watching the local audience react so positively made it even more special."

Theatre director among those honoured by King

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce82rpe8v00o, today

The founder of a Hull theatre for children with learning disabilities has been named in the King's Birthday Honours list.

Daniel Swift, 28, who set up the Concrete Youth charity in 2019, was awarded a MBE for services to the arts and to people with disabilities.

Mr Swift said he was "incredibly grateful and honoured".

Other people in East Yorkshire and Hull who were honoured include Leon Myers, head teacher of Swinemoor Primary School in Beverley, Michael Mitchell, who runs the Developing Minds project, Hull College vice principal Ranjit Singh, Jacqueline Crawford and Anita Barnard.

Mr Swift said: "I'm excited that this recognition marks a moment of visibility for sensory theatre created with and for audiences labelled with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD)."

He added that the honour reflected "the collective efforts of so many incredible colleagues, collaborators and artists who are dedicated to making the arts more inclusive".

He has run special school workshops and supported young people who wish to embark on a career in accessible theatre and produced the first ever West End production specifically designed for audiences labelled with PMLD.

Also awarded a MBE is John Thirkettle, who is the manager of Mental Health Operations at Humberside Police.

The service ensures that officers responding to emergency calls get the most appropriate care and support for people with mental health issues, the force said.

Mr Mitchell will receive a British Empire Medal (BEM) for his work supporting young people entering the railway industry.

The Developing Minds project aims to get youngsters from deprived areas into rail engineering and IT.

Mr Myers, meanwhile, has been awarded a MBE for services to education.

Ms Crawford, who was awarded a MBE for services to the community in Goole, and Ms Barnard, who received a MBE for her work in foster care in the East Riding, were also honoured.

Elsewhere, Mr Singh was awarded an OBE for services to further education.

He said it was an "incredible honour".

"This recognition is a reflection of all the amazing staff at Hull College, who I have the privilege of working with every day," he said.

Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.

Joy as grandad's painting tops railway art poll

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yqnxq73dqo, today

The granddaughter of war artist Eric Ravilious said she was "delighted" one of his works had been named as the world's best-loved railway artwork from the UK.

Painted in 1940, Train Landscape shows the chalk white horse of Westbury, Wiltshire, through the window of a third-class train carriage.

Kate Ravilious, who is a Labour councillor in York, said it was "really lovely" to hear how many people loved the painting.

Art UK and Railway 200 organised the ballot, which drew votes from around the world, as part of events to mark the 200th anniversary of the modern railway.

She said the watercolour may never have seen the light of day however, were it not for her grandmother, Tirzah Garwood, who pieced it together from works her grandfather had discarded.

"I think my granddad and my grandmother would have been delighted because she had a lot to play in this painting too," Ms Ravilious said.

"My granddad was a perfectionist in his work and about a third of the pieces he decided weren't worth keeping and in this case my grandmother could see the potential.

"He had a whole series of paintings that he'd done that he wasn't happy with."

Asked why the painting, which is on display at Aberdeen Art Gallery, had topped the poll, she said she believed that era of artwork was gaining popularity.

"Perhaps it's a bit of a nostalgia for a past. His view of the landscape, other people have described it as evoking a kind of Englishness we all love."

Ravilious, who grew up in Sussex, was a painter, designer, book illustrator and wood-engraver who later became a war artist.

He was the first war artist to die on active service in 1942, meaning Ms Ravilious would never meet him.

"Sadly in 1942 he was sent to Iceland and he went off on an air-sea rescue mission and the plane never returned."

She said he had left a vast amount of work behind.

"We still have his lovely paintings to remember him by and that's how I know him, through his paintings."

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

'Brave and beautiful people' remembered in Aids quilt display

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgmjrm0m20mo, yesterday

Frankie O'Reilly was nine-years-old when he met his future partner Georgie Long at primary school in Northern Ireland.

The pair moved to London at the start of the 1980s, where Frankie worked as a traffic warden by day and a drag queen by night. By that time the two had long been inseparable - first as childhood best friends, and then as partners.

In 1985, both aged 25, Frankie and Georgie were diagnosed with HIV.

"I started seeing friends slowly dying," Frankie says.

"It was like being at a bus stop with your friends and they start getting on buses, and then you're the last person at the stop."

In 1992, Georgie died of an Aids-related illness.

Now, Georgie and hundreds like him are being remembered as part of the UK Aids Memorial Quilt, a patchwork creation of 42 quilts and 23 textile panels representing nearly 400 people who lost their lives to HIV/Aids in the UK, made by the people who loved them.

The huge quilt will be on display in the Tate Modern's Turbine Hall in London between 12 and 16 June.

Although different parts of it have been on display before, the showing at the Tate will be the largest public display of the quilt in its entirety since it was created in 1994.

It was a month after Georgie died that Frankie decided to take part in the memorial quilt project, which had been brought to the UK from America by Scottish activist Alistair Hulme, who had seen an early display of the American version of the quilt, which was created in 1985, in San Francisco.

"I had nursed Georgie at home while he was sick and the last three years had been just awful," Frankie says, adding that helping to create the quilt helped him through the worst of his grief.

Now 65 and describing himself as the "last man standing" of his friendship group, he says the quilt is a "reminder of the bravest and most beautiful people" he knew.

Cathy Johns and Grace McElwee also took part in creating the UK Aids memorial quilt in the 1990s by making a panel for friend Michael Trask, who died in 1993.

"We were both librarians and got on like a house on fire as soon as we met in 1985," Cathy says.

Michael became ill five years later, but "didn't want to talk about it" at first. For a while Cathy says they "didn't know what was wrong with him", before eventually coming to terms with the fact that he had Aids.

She chose to take part in the project after Michael died as a way to "create an enduring tribute to him".

It took Cathy and Grace around a month to complete the textile, which Cathy says was "part of the healing process".

The women chose to stitch on to their panel the houses of Camden, where Michael lived, and the tree of life, to represent the parks in London he was fond of.

The quilt was last on show in Hyde Park in 1994, when Cathy worked as a volunteer on the display.

The project has always been more than a display of activism for Cathy - she says the quilt has "got the stitches of love in it".

She says she is excited to see the quilt on display at the Tate Modern as an "outpouring of love and friendship and dedication".

Author Charlie Porter initiated the exhibition after writing to the Tate's director in July 2024 asking them to display the quilt.

"The history of the quilt involves it being displayed in iconic locations," Porter tells the BBC, referencing how the US quilt was displayed for the first time on the National Mall in Washington DC, during the national march for lesbian and gay rights.

He hopes the UK quilt being on display again will allow more people to see it, but also "give people a chance to grieve", after many were unable to do so properly at the time of their loved ones' deaths in the 80s and 90s due to the stigma attached to HIV.

The 384 people commemorated on the quilt include notable figures such as novelist Bruce Chatwin and actors Denholm Elliott and Ian Charleson.

Alongside the quilt, a documentary will be played that captures footage from when the quilt was last displayed in 1994 in Hyde Park.

"A documentary was made at the time but no one would take it," Porter says.

"We thought the footage was lost, but it has been found and digitised."

In the mid-90s there was no treatment for people living with HIV, and Porter says the documentary along with the quilt highlights "the breadth of devastation" caused by the disease.

Karin Hindsbo, Tate Modern director, says the quilt is "an incredible feat of creative human expression" and believes it will be a "deeply moving experience" for those who come to see it.

£50m Joshua Reynolds portrait goes on show

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yk414lpm3o, 3 days ago

An 18th Century painting described as "the finest portrait by one of Britain's greatest artists" has gone on display in Bradford.

Valued at £50m, Portrait of Mai by Sir Joshua Reynolds is on show at the city's Cartwright Hall, in Manningham.

The painting, which depicts the first Polynesian to visit Britain, is touring the country for the first time since it was saved for the nation in 2023.

The National Portrait Gallery said the artwork was the "most significant acquisition ever made" and would be shared between galleries in the UK and the US.

Mai was a native of Raiatea, an island now part of French Polynesia.

He travelled to England as part of Captain James Cook's second voyage and was received by royalty and the intellectual elite between 1774 and 1776.

After embarking on a grand tour of Britain, Mai became something of a celebrity and had his portrait painted in London.

Mai returned to his homeland in 1777, where he died two years later.

During its time in Bradford, Portrait of Mai will be accompanied by a new engagement programme, created with youth panel members from Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture and young people from Common/Wealth theatre company.

A summit, led and arranged by young people, will take place on 9 August and a late museum event is being organised for 14 August, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Miranda Stacey, Head of National Partnerships at the National Portrait Gallery, said: "We are delighted to be launching Journeys with Mai in Bradford during its important UK City of Culture year."

She thanked supporters for making their portraits accessible to people across the UK.

It will be on show at Cartwright Hall until 17 August before going on display in Cambridge and Plymouth before it travels to the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles in 2026.

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

Theatre company pledges to be a 'home for all'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g2jzvd5x9o, 3 days ago

An amateur dramatics group started by a husband and wife team say they want more people with disabilities to try acting.

Richard Prior, who has muscular dystrophy, founded The Whodunnit Theatre Company with his wife Kayley in 2019 and said performing "changed his life".

Mr Prior said the Bristol group is a "home for all" regardless of acting experience or ability and that it can be "off-putting" to join a new group, especially when you have additional needs.

The company is currently rehearsing its play for 2025, Blackadder II, for which it received special permission from original screenwriter Richard Curtis.

Diagnosed with muscular dystrophy aged nine, Mr Prior said drama had given him "hope and enjoyment in life".

He said the group wanted "to give everybody an opportunity", adding "performance is important but we're friends and we have a laugh and that's the most important thing".

He will be playing the role of Lord Percy in this year's production and said "it's going to be worth the ticket money alone to see me dressed as him".

Adam Elms has previously worked as a professional actor and will lead the performance as Edmund Blackadder in this year's show.

He has been partially-sighted since birth and is almost blind in one eye, with 35% vision in the other.

Mr Elms said the company had been "brilliant" at providing what he needed.

Excited about the forthcoming performance, he said Rowan Atkinson - who played Blackadder in the popular sitcom - is a "comic hero" to him.

The production will be at the Warmley Community Centre from Thursday to Saturday.

Theatre's future in balance after concrete found

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g65r0d098o, 3 days ago

A Surrey council's executive will meet to decide the future of a theatre, which had to close in September 2023 due to the discovery of Raac (Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete).

Reigate & Banstead Council (RBC) will meet to decide the future of the Harlequin Theatre in Redhill on 19 June, as well as discussing the creation of a new arts and cultural venue.

A report makes recommendations to secure the future of the theatre and bring it back into use as soon as possible, including to proceed with removal of the Raac and essential works to allow the theatre to reopen at previous capacity.

Before the discovery of the concrete, the theatre had a capacity of over 500 people.

The report advises the council to appoint a specialist company to market and seek expressions of interest for the Harlequin to be run by a third-party operator, with a budget of up to £40,000 for this work, funded by council reserves.

It also says RBC should allocate up to £4.5m in funding from council reserves to fund a design team and the works required to bring the Harlequin back into operation.

If approved this will also need to be agreed by the full council.

Council leader Richard Biggs said: "We remain committed to bringing the Harlequin Theatre back into use and securing its future.

"The recommendations seek to balance the community aspirations to bring the theatre back into use as quickly as possible with the need to prioritise community safety.

"The recommendation to secure a third party to operate the theatre in the future, is about seeking to ensure the financial sustainability of the theatre by reducing the council's subsidy contribution."

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'Good karma': Laos' new monk-led travel experiences

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250611-laos-new-monk-led-travel-experiences, yesterday

Laos' spiritual heart, Luang Prabang, has seen a surge in tourism. Now, a series of immersive monk-guided experiences are educating visitors about the city's Buddhist heritage.

The city of Luang Prabang is Laos' spiritual heartland, renowned for its rich Buddhist heritage, ornate temples and a significant population of saffron-robed monks. In fact, the 50,000-person spiritual hub is said by many to have the highest population of monks per capita anywhere in the world.

This was once one of Southeast Asia's more off-the-beaten-track destinations, but the opening of the high-speed Laos-China Railway in 2021 has seen a sharp surge in visitors to the Unesco World Heritage-listed city. In recent years, locals say this tourism boom has heavily affected the city's ancient traditions and caused greater commercialisation of sacrosanct Buddhist rituals such as the morning alms-giving.

"Tourism has its pros, but also plenty of cons," says Anat Khamphew, a former monk at Wat Xieng Mouane monastery. "We see people behaving very disrespectfully towards the monks. Historic Buddha statues have been stolen from monasteries, and important symbols of devotion are used as backdrops for an Instagram selfie."

In response, Kamphew set up a YouTube channel to show travellers coming to Luang Prabang how to have a more positive impact, encouraging them away from over-touristed hotspots and underlining the importance of the city's Buddhist roots. "I wanted to help play a part in recovering Luang Prabang's spiritual heart and soul," he says.

Khamphew isn't alone. A handful of other former monks in the city have also set up tour-guiding companies, like Orange Robe Tours and Spirit of Laos, to help promote a better understanding of Luang Prabang's traditional Buddhist culture and customs. One of Khamphew's former monastery classmates also established the artisan store LaLaLaos to help girls from poor rural areas get a secondary education, and another ex-monk created Kaiphaen, a highly regarded vocational restaurant that trains marginalised youths from local villages.

"These businesses not only give you a more authentic and ethical experience, but the chance to give back," Khamphew says. "It's how travel should be: thoughtful and beneficial to all. And that's good karma."

World capital of monks

Located at the confluence of the Mekong and Khan rivers at the foot of jungle-swathed Mount Phou Si ("Sacred Mountain"), Luang Prabang is the former royal capital of Laos. Established in the 14th Century, it soon became a centre of Buddhist learning and monastic life, a role that continues to this day. Some 33 opulently decorated wats (Buddhist monasteries or temples) are scattered across the city, many dating to between the 16th and 19th Centuries, and the city is home to an estimated 1,000 monks.

Centre of spirituality

Luang Prabang takes its name from the golden Phra Bang, the country's most sacred Buddha icon, which is housed in the city's National Museum complex in a dedicated temple. "It represents Buddhism coming to Laos and is believed to protect the nation; it's why the city is so venerated," says Khamphew. Visiting wats, performing pujas (devotional acts), offering alms and cultivating merits with good deeds form a key part of daily life among Luang Prabang's largely Buddhist population.

The tourism paradox

Luang Prabang's profound and omnipresent spirituality, coupled with its eclectic architectural styles – a blend of Laotian, Buddhist and French colonial – have made it increasingly popular with visitors, including Instagrammers and influencers.

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"The problem is that what was once a spiritual place has now been transformed by the digital world," says Khamphew. "Many people are led by 'Top-10' or 'Most-Instagrammable' lists; they go to the same places, experiencing the exact same things – all through their phones. They end up missing the essence of Luang Prabang and ultimately spoiling what they came to enjoy."

Cultural erosion

One of the rituals affected by the city's tourism growth is the Tak Bat, a solemn daily ceremony dating back more than 600 years, where hundreds of barefoot monks file through the streets before dawn collecting alms. Despite signs requesting appropriate behaviour from onlookers, these are often ignored. "It hurts my heart to see such disrespect,” says Parn Thongparn, a local nun-turned-tour guide who avoids the ceremony and takes her guests elsewhere for a more peaceful experience. "We love visitors, but if they took a little time to understand our culture better, it would help protect our beautiful traditions."

Food for thought

One particular problem is the offering of inappropriate alms by tourists, such as plastic-wrapped junk food or leftovers. "Food eaten by monks must be fresh, clean and pure; any dishes should be vegetarian, avoid spices and ideally be prepared at home that same morning," explains Linda Heu, a cook at the city's Wat Munna monastery. "Most importantly, it should be a meaningful gesture, not just something for a photo opportunity."

Travel the monk's way

Former novice monk Bounthan Sengsavang set up his guiding business Spirit of Laos in 2024 to ensure a more respectful approach towards Luang Prabang's monks, as well as a chance to take visitors on a deeper journey into Buddhism. "The people most closely related to the subject should be the ones who guide you," says Sengsavang. "If you haven't been a monk and lived in a monastery yourself, you don't know what it's like. Buddha himself taught from experience. I like to do the same."

A simple life

Rather than offer a long checklist of temples to visit on a whirlwind city tour, Sengsavang prefers to spend quality time in a small handful to show the monks' daily lives to his guests in detail. "The monks live very simply," he says. "Wealth and possessions are seen as the roots of suffering. Without them, monks can dedicate themselves to meditation, study and ethical living. And by relying solely on alms from the community for food, they practice humility and gratitude."

Together in harmony

Sengsavang can also facilitate sessions of prayer, chanting and meditation in the company of monks upon request. He tells me that meditation can be learned in one or two days; be performed walking, sitting, standing or sleeping; and that its benefits include stilling a stressed mind and overcoming depression. "The monks are always happy for us to join them," he says, noting that they often enjoy interacting with visitors afterwards. "It's a great way to connect with them and find out who they are, why they joined the monastery and help them practice their English."

Mother love

The majority of boys in Laos spend time in a monastery, from a few weeks up to a lifetime. As well as receiving a free education, their ordination is considered vital for their parents' spiritual wellbeing and reincarnation – particularly that of their mother. "In the Lao Buddhist tradition, when a boy becomes a monk, the merit helps elevate the mother's karma," Sengsavang explains. "That improves her chances of a good and happy rebirth after death."

Circle of life

Sengsavang's tours don't shy away from life's realities, and can include a visit to a Buddhist cremation. (Visitors are welcome to attend as long as they remain at a respectful distance.) "Everything ends; we just don't know when," he says. "Seeing a cremation is important; it reminds people of the value of the short life we have. Perhaps it will also help them find their purpose or inspire them to live their own lives better. If that happens, it's a form of enlightenment."

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Caravan owners felt 'bullied' by holiday parks

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2016lxnepno, yesterday

* Misleading claims from sales staff about potential income from the caravan

* Site fees which holiday parks increased steeply and allegedly without warning

* Feeling pressured to sell caravans back to parks at a loss, and for significantly less than their market value

'We know where you are'

Mr and Mrs Ross were looking for an investment opportunity, and thought they'd found the perfect solution when they came across Malton Grange Country Park, a static caravan site in North Yorkshire.

They bought a lodge – a deluxe static caravan - for £125,000 from the site owner, Prestige Country Parks. They say they were told that it had come up for sale because the previous owner had died.

The Rosses say the company's sales manager, Patrick O'Donovan, assured them they could make a good income from renting out the lodge.

They also saw social media posts from Prestige, claiming investors could make £1,000 per week this way, and that the lodge would appreciate in value, like a house.

Yet the advice given by industry bodies such as the National Caravan Council (NCC), is that buyers should treat a caravan as a "depreciating asset" which will fall in value over time.

After six weeks, the Rosses had only received two bookings, totalling £180.

They decided to abandon their plan, and asked the park to buy the lodge back. Mr Ross says that the park owner eventually agreed a price below what the Rosses had originally paid.

The couple say their financial loss was "huge", but they are too embarrassed to admit how much it was.

"You feel, you feel ashamed, you feel stupid," says Mrs Ross.

When the couple decided to seek legal advice about recouping their losses, Mr Ross received – and recorded - a call from Mr O'Donovan, who was abusive and swore at them.

He issued what the couple interpreted as a veiled threat: "We know where you are, don't we?"

Mrs Ross said the phone call left her feeling shaken: "You start thinking who are we actually dealing with here and how dangerous are they?"

When we looked further into this case, we also found out that the previous lodge owner had not died, as the Rosses say Mr O'Donovan claimed.

His name was – and is - Paul Gordon. When we tracked him down, he alleged a similar experience to that of the Rosses - being left with no choice but to sell his caravan at a loss.

Mr Gordon says he paid £140,000 for the same lodge in May 2021. But after 16 months he decided the site wasn't for him and sold the lodge back to Prestige for £70,000.

The BBC has consulted industry insiders and estimated that this one lodge may have returned a profit for the company of about £180,000 in less than five years.

Prestige has told the BBC that it does not condone any form of unprofessional or threatening conduct and is investigating the phone call and the information provided about previous ownership.

It says that the price offered was because the company was overstocked, and the couple wanted a quick sale. It also says it told them that rental income was not guaranteed and that six weeks was a short time to generate consistent bookings.

'An unregulated sector'

"The holiday park sector... is essentially an unregulated sector," says Hugh Preston KC, a lawyer currently representing a group of about 1,200 caravan owners taking legal action against holiday parks.

If a caravan or lodge in England is used as a permanent residence, then its owners are covered by the Mobile Home Act 1983, which gives them tenancy rights. Similar rules apply elsewhere in the United Kingdom.

However, if a static caravan is a holiday home, any agreement between its buyer and a caravan site is covered by private contract law, which is much looser.

Many buyers face problems because they will not have studied the small print on their contract with the holiday park, according to second-hand caravan dealer Peter Preidel.

A contract can often allow a park to "do what it wants, when it wants", he says, and can charge the buyer "what it wants, when it wants". The buyer, he adds, has no redress against this.

Site fees

A further way this power can be used is to hike site fees for the caravan.

In 2019, Mark and Sandra Thompson from Coventry bought a static caravan at Allerthorpe Golf and Country Park near York. The price was £66,000 including decking.

Their annual site fees were free for the first year, and then £3,995. But in just three years, Mr Thompson says they were facing a demand for £7,000.

"I did feel bullied in the end," Mr Thompson said. "I just felt it wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth all the hassle and the arguments and the stress that it was causing."

It's a feeling former owners from other parks recognise.

The BBC interviewed one who said they felt bullied when a park company forced them to replace their wooden decking with plastic, at a cost of £20,000.

"It wasn't a case of you could get another contractor in and ask them for a price," he said. "It was a case of 'we are going to do it' and you had no [other] option."

A salesman offered to sell the caravan for £90,000 including the first year's site fees – nearly £70,000 more than the Thompsons had received for it.

He also said that site fees would only ever rise by the rate of inflation, and that the park couldn't "just put them up to £7,000" - even though this is exactly what they had planned to do, according to the Thompsons and others from the site the BBC has spoken to.

Allerthorpe Golf and Country Park says site fee increases "reflect the growing cost of operations" and "the significantly enhanced offering".

It strongly rejects any suggestion of deception, saying "the final decision on whether a caravan remains on park is a business and operational matter and the listing price reflects significant upgrades and premium location, not simply the original unit value".

We also heard from Vivian Vincent who – with her late husband, James - bought a lodge at Far Grange Holiday Park on the East Yorkshire coast in 2010, for £80,000.

After her husband's death in 2023, Mrs Vincent decided to sell. The park owner, Haven, offered to buy the lodge back for £26,500.

It wasn't long before Mrs Vincent saw her lodge being readvertised in a Haven sales video: "I gave them the keys, and two days later they put it up for £74,999, which absolutely devastated me. I've been in business, and I understand you have to make money, but this isn't right."

In response, a Haven spokesman said the company was sorry Mrs Vincent felt she had been treated badly, and that it was always the company's intention to treat owners fairly, and with transparency. The spokesman added that the sale price of the lodge was considerably lower than implied in the sales video.

Speaking about the industry generally, Peter Preidel says that selling caravans is how holiday parks make most of their money, and that hiking up site fees is a way of pressurising caravan owners to sell back to them.

"The parks can only sell as many caravans as they've got bases for," he says. "These days a lot of people will pay cash for [caravans] outright, and as soon as they have, the park would actually quite like [the buyer] to go, so they've got another base to sell again."

He adds: "I know this sounds cut-throat and well, basically it is cut-throat."

The NCC told us they were saddened to hear that some holiday caravan owners felt let down by the industry.

It advises buyers to research their purchase and carefully read contracts before signing.

Hostel linked to methanol deaths of six tourists set to reopen

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg7x4x1lk5o, yesterday

A backpackers' hostel linked to the deaths of six tourists is set to reopen under a new name.

Bethany Clarke and her friend Simone White, who later died, fell ill after drinking free vodka shots in the town of Vang Vieng last November.

It's suspected their drinks at the Nana Backpacker Hostel were laced with methanol - a deadly substance linked to bootleg alcohol.

BBC Newsbeat has found evidence the hostel is due to reopen at the same address in August. Bethany believes the same management is still in charge.

Bethany says she and Simone, from London, became unwell a day after being offered drinks at the Nana hostel.

They initially mistook symptoms for food poisoning but were eventually taken to hospital.

Bethany recovered but Simone, 28, died several days later, as did five other tourists from Australia, Denmark and the US.

'Unbelievable'

The owners of the Nana hostel denied serving illicit alcohol but it has remained closed since the deaths.

However, a listing for Vang Vieng Central Backpacker Hostel - taking bookings from 23 August this year - has appeared on travel websites Tripadvisor and Agoda.

A link that previously took users to the Nana hostel's page redirects them to the amended page.

Images showing the Nana Backpacker Hostel name painted on a sign and printed on menus remain on the page, as well as guest reviews naming the former hostel.

Tripadvisor told Newsbeat it had received a request to change the name of the hostel.

A spokesperson said it had not received proof of a change in ownership, so previous reviews would remain visible on the listing.

Bethany's concerned that the new business is being run by the same people it was before.

"I'm shocked. If it's the same management or ownership involved, I wouldn't trust them.

"It's just unbelievable because we know that was where we were poisoned."

Tripadvisor said that anyone who had stayed at the Nana Backpacker Hostel before the name change would still be able to leave reviews about their stay, and its system would flag any mentioning "serious safety incidents".

Newsbeat was told that proof of ownership was not required to change the name on a listing, but there is further evidence suggesting the Vang Vieng hostel and the Nana hostel are linked.

Building work is currently being carried out at the address, according to travellers staying in the area.

Backpacker Frankie, who shared photos of the site with Newsbeat, says there was "building equipment everywhere" when she walked past on Tuesday.

"They're clearly refurbishing it," she says.

In one photo, showing a sign reading Vang Vieng Central Backpacker Hostel, a phone number is visible.

The same number appears in messages, seen by Newsbeat, sent between Bethany and staff at the Nana hostel.

When a reporter called the number, the person who answered hung up.

Further calls and messages, including those from BBC colleagues based in the region, were blocked.

Frankie, 23, says it's "horrendous" to think the business could "carry on like normal".

"[Vang Vieng] is kind of empty in terms of backpackers. People are drinking, but it feels a bit eerie and quiet."

Frankie says people she's met on her travels are well aware of the methanol poisonings last year.

"A lot of the backpackers we've met have mentioned the name of Nana hostel. There's definitely an awareness about it,” she says.

She adds the name change makes her "very uneasy" and she'll tell her friends about it when they travel to the country.

Bethany, who previously called for more education on the dangers of drinking abroad, says she wants to warn others.

"I was not completely convinced we would end up getting justice for Simone and the other victims, so I thought the best thing I can do is to try and educate the younger generation."

And while she waits to find out whether anyone will face action over Simone's death, what little hope she had for answers is starting to fade.

In November, authorities in Laos promised an investigation into the deaths of Simone and Australians Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones, both 19, Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21, both from Denmark, and US national James Louis Hutson, 57.

Eight workers, including the manager of the Nana hostel, were detained for questioning by police. The manager denied any responsibility, saying hundreds of guests had been given shots without becoming unwell.

Bethany shared a recent email sent by the UK Foreign Office stating that authorities in Laos had proposed charges against 13 people over food safety breaches.

Newsbeat has seen an email from the Australian government with the same update and has approached its foreign office for comment.

A Foreign Office spokesperson declined to comment on the email but confirmed the UK government was in contact with authorities in Laos and supporting the family of a British woman who died in the country.

Newsbeat has contacted Agoda for comment.

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

From terror to tourism: How Georgia's Pankisi Valley rewrote its story

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250606-how-georgias-pankisi-valley-rewrote-its-story, 5 days ago

Long overshadowed by headlines of extremism, Georgia's Pankisi Valley is now welcoming travellers with Sufi rituals, mountain trails and home-cooked Kist food.

The chants start quietly. Sitting cross-legged in a circle, the women respond to one another in softly sung words of Arabic and Chechen. Words praising God, words calling for peace in the world. As their voices rise, they stand up. They begin to clap.

"ā ilāha illa ʾllāh..."

Carried by the growing rhythm, they start moving in a tight circle. Beads of sweat form on the forehead of one elderly woman who is a head shorter than the others. She keeps going. The spinning and chanting get faster and faster, louder and louder, building to a meditative, whirring trance. Then the singing breaks, and the women embrace each other.

This is dhikr, a Sufi ritual that means "remembrance" in Arabic and is meant to bring the soul closer to Allah. Duisi, this small village in Georgia's Pankisi Valley, is the only place in the Caucasus where women perform dhikr in the mosque as men do. In a corner of the room, a small group of visitors – from the US, Europe and the Middle East – watches on.

Two decades ago, few tourists would have dared set foot in Pankisi Valley. This narrow green dale in the Caucasus Mountains, home to ethnic Kists (a Muslim community with Chechen roots), had landed a reputation it struggled to shake. News reports labelled it "notoriously lawless" and travel advisories warned people to stay away. Today, local families are determined to do away with those stereotypes by hosting tourists and showing them the real Pankisi Valley: a place where people ride horses, make dumplings and sing echoing songs of peace and devotion.

Pankisi Valley's troubled reputation dates to the early 2000s when it became a refuge for Chechens fleeing war in Russia. The Kists speak a Chechen dialect, and the valley is located just across the border from Chechnya, making it a logical destination for many refugee families.

Among the civilian refugees were some militants and former soldiers, prompting unfounded rumours that members of Al Qaeda – and even Osama Bin Laden – were hiding in the valley. Under pressure from Russia and the US, the Georgian government launched anti-terrorist operations in the marginalised region. At the same time, the government's efforts failed to address the local community's economic and social struggles, as the arrival of thousands of refugees placed strain on already limited resources. "It was only through anti-terrorist special operations that the state reminded the residents of its existence," wrote Georgian academics Maia Barkaia and Barbare Janelidze in a 2018 paper.

The so-called "Pankisi Crisis" eventually subsided, and most Chechen refugees left the valley for Central and Western Europe. But years of economic and social pressure, teamed with neglect by the central government, opened the doors for ISIS influence in the 2010s, when its propaganda machine started preying on disenfranchised young people from around the world. Between 2010 and 2016, an estimated 50 to 200 people left Pankisi Valley for Syria, lured by ISIS messaging. The most infamous was Abu Omar al-Shishani, a top ISIS commander, whose origins reignited global media interest in Pankisi – once again casting it as a terrorist hotspot.

Pankisi's dangerous image persists to this day, despite the fact that crime rates are very low. In 2020, the Danish Ministry of Immigration noted in a report that: "There is not a high criminal rate in Pankisi. The region is very calm." Locals often joke that the police have nothing to do all day but drink tea.

"When I started university in Tbilisi, my classmates still had these stereotypes about Pankisi being unsafe," says Fatima, who works as a tourist guide when she's back home in Duisi. "I had to explain to them that that time is long gone. This is a very peaceful place. That's what I love about it."

As part of a cultural walking tour of Duisi and Jokolo villages, Fatima leads me up a steep trail to a crumbling old watchtower with sweeping views. Around 3km wide, the vivid green valley contains a string of villages along a river. Cows wait at the front gates of intricately carved wooden houses with rows of windows on the upper floors that let in the gentle spring sunshine.

Around the villages, sheep-dotted fields climb into forest-covered hills. To the north, I see the snow-capped peaks of the Caucasus Mountains. Out of sight, to the south, are the sun-drenched vineyards of Kakheti, Georgia's biggest wine-producing region.

"People here love the outdoors. In summer, we take picnics up the mountain or go horse riding in the hills," Fatima says. "I don't think I could ever live in the city, coming from a place like this."

I could understand why. Pankisi Valley feels idyllic. After the last village, the road simply stops; the end of Georgia marked by a wall of mountains. I feel like I'm at the edge of the world, wrapped in a cosy coat of green hills and blue skies. The friendliness of locals adds to this feeling of comfort. Children run up and ask, in perfect English, where I am from, and show me tricks on their bikes. Adults give me cups of herbal tea and gesture directions at me whenever they think I might be lost.

"A lot of people who visit Georgia want to experience the country's legendary hospitality. Pankisi is one of the places where you can still find that," says Emily Lush, the creator of Wander-Lush, a travel resource for Georgia. "In terms of the culture, the traditions, the cuisine – there is nowhere else like it."

As Sufi Muslims, the Kist population has different traditions from Georgia's mainly Orthodox population. Spiritual music and rituals are an integral part of everyday life, and the food and language of the valley are also distinct, brought across the mountains by Chechen migrants who settled in the valley in the early 19th Century.

And yet, despite the valley's unique culture, it hasn't been easy to attract tourists here. This isn't due to remoteness. Pankisi Valley is just a two-and-a-half-hour drive north-east of Tbilisi and less than 20km from the town of Akhmeta, which attracts many tourists due to its winemaking.

Nazy Kurashvili was the first to encourage travellers to make it those extra few kilometres to Pankisi Valley. She opened the area's first guesthouse, Nazy's Guesthouse, in 2013. She then spent years convincing the Georgian Tourism Ministry to include information about Pankisi Valley on their website, and invited foreign ambassadors to the guesthouse to show them the area. In 2018, she set up the Pankisi Valley Tourism and Development Association to help others start tourism businesses.

Little by little, word got out about this picturesque valley. Pankisi was featured in Lonely Planet's 2020 Georgia, Armenia & Azerbaijan guidebook, and tour companies such as Intrepid Travel began including it in their itineraries.

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Today, hundreds of tourists visit Pankisi each year – and there is plenty waiting for them when they arrive. Visitors can join horse treks or hikes into the mountain and visit heritage houses, historic churches and mosques. They can take cooking classes in Kist cuisine or join felt-making workshops. The village of Duisi has a small ethnographic museum and hosts the weekly Sufi dhikr ceremony. The nearby Batsara Nature Reserve is home to one of the world's largest and oldest yew forests, where rangers can organise hikes and birdwatching excursions.

"Tourism has played an important role in breaking down the negative stereotypes that surround the valley," says Lush. "Most importantly, tourism has given people a chance to speak for themselves."

One woman who has seized the growing opportunities in the valley is Khatuna Margoshvili, who spent several years working abroad to save enough money to open a guesthouse back home. "I love hosting people," she tells me. "Some just stay in the garden. Others want to explore. And lots of them want to learn how to cook."

Kist cuisine, like its culture, is a mix of Chechen and Georgian influences, with ingredients drawn straight from the valley: homegrown vegetables, local cheeses and honey. The most popular dish is zhizhig galnash, a pasta-like dough served with melt-in-the-mouth lamb and ground garlic. Another favourite is khinkali, traditional Georgian dumplings, except here they are stuffed with nettles rather than meat.

Back at Nazy's Guesthouse, the table is laden every night with Kist dishes as well as jugs of locally brewed alcohol-free beer made from rosehip. Dinner is a communal affair. Guests sit around a long table and share stories from the day's adventures: hikes through ancient forests, horse treks up past the snow line, cultural tours or cooking lessons. Many guests extend their stays to have one more night tucked away in the valley. Just a little bit longer to relax, ride a horse, fold a dumpling or pour another glass of rosehip beer.

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The great iceberg hunt on Canada's epic new road

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250603-the-great-iceberg-hunt-on-canadas-epic-new-road, 9 days ago

A sweeping new highway – nearly 25 years and C$1bn in the making – is reshaping life in Newfoundland and Labrador and opening up Canada's iceberg coast.

Standing on a windswept outcrop on the island of Newfoundland's northern coast, I scanned the churning, blue-steel sea for icebergs. Somewhere beyond the restless waves lay the glaciers of Greenland and the ice fields of Arctic Canada. I was hoping to glimpse their offspring – behemoths calved from ancient ice shelves, carried south over two or three years by the Baffin Island and Labrador Currents into a region known as Iceberg Alley, a stretch of water between the southern coast of Labrador and the south-eastern shore of Newfoundland.

Squinting, I caught sight of a solid white shape; a still patch in the Labrador Sea. For a heartbeat, I thought I'd found one. Then it vanished in a burst of froth and spray.

My husband Evan and I continued along the rocky trail, ducking out of the wind behind a patch of tangled tuckamore. Made up of hardy, slow-growing boreal trees like balsam fir and black spruce, the wind-contorted forest barely reached my chin. Up ahead, Evan pointed out an osprey, fragile and exposed, as it spread its wings to dry. Beyond it, the ocean vista was punctuated by sea stacks, sculpted cliffs and a small, curved bay dotted with abandoned homes.

Despite the blue sky and warmth of late spring, life in Newfoundland and Labrador demands ingenuity and resilience. Like the meadow grasses and wildflowers clinging to the salt-laced soil, the people here have only ever held a precarious grip on this wondrous place. I inhaled deeply, marvelling at the austere beauty – then another glint of white caught my eye.

"Only a boat," Evan said, following my gaze.

One week into a two-week road trip across Newfoundland, we had yet to spot an iceberg. They were out there; each morning, the iceberg-tracking map showed giants drifting to our west. The problem was geography. Newfoundland and Labrador's pleated coastline means a berg 50km away by water could be 400km by road – and this season, they were clustered in the southern bays of Labrador, a region that was, until recently, among the hardest to reach.

In a place where the ocean long served as the main highway, roads came late. When Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949, there were just 195km of pavement for a province with more than 29,000km of coastline. The obvious solution was to build roads, with the goal of improving access to jobs, schools and healthcare. But this came at a cost. Building takes time and the initial roadways bypassed many small coastal settlements, leading to the abandonment of more than 300 outport communities.

"But a new road can change everything," Keith Pike, the city manager in Red Bay, an outport on Labrador's southern coast told me, after I'd continued my trip west. Just 80km north of the Quebec border and the Newfoundland-Labrador ferry terminal in Blanc-Sablon, Red Bay hugs the edge of the Strait of Belle Isle. Not long ago it also marked the end of the old gravel road; isolation that forced Pike to leave the place his family had called home for generations. But with the recent completion of the Trans-Labrador Highway – known as Expedition 51 for the latitude it follows – he has returned, and is hopeful others might do the same.

The 1,200km highway, nearly 25 years and C$1bn in the making, threads across Labrador's sweeping terrain, linking inland towns, distant outports and more than 9,000 years of human history. It's the kind of rugged drive that road-trippers dream of, forming a loop through Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and even touching into the US and the French islands of St Pierre and Miquelon. While only a few people are expected to drive the entire circuit, Pike sees the road's greatest legacy in its promise. "People like me are able to come home because of the opportunities it's creating," he said.

In simple terms: the places Newfoundlanders and Labradorians call home have proven to be alluring to travellers looking for wild landscapes and meaningful cultural encounters. And along Expedition 51, visitors aren't just welcome, they're needed. It's a place where thoughtful tourism can help sustain places that have endured against the odds.

In Indigenous communities, the road is already sparking new ventures. Barbara Young, marketing coordinator for the Newfoundland and Labrador Indigenous Tourism Association, says local entrepreneurs are building businesses rooted in tradition. From guided hikes with Kaumanik Adventure Tours in Port Hope Simpson to Inuit art at Caribou Place in Mary's Harbour, these stops invite travellers to engage with cultures that have thrived here since time immemorial.

History, too, is central to Red Bay's story. A major Basque whaling station in the 1500s, the long-abandoned settlement grew out of the whale oil that once lit Europe's lamps. Today, Parks Canada and the townspeople are betting on the new highway drawing more visitors to the Red Bay National Historic Site. They've invested in a new interpretive centre, expanded boardwalks through Saddle Island's archeological sites and improved hikes like the Boney Shore Trail where whale bones still line the coast.

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As Evan and I chased icebergs, I realised Expedition 51 is also opening more of Iceberg Alley. New operators like Whaler's Quest Ocean Adventures now offer boat tours out of Red Bay, often with a side of traditional music by locals like Pike.

It may seem ironic that a seafaring province closely associated with the Titanic – just one of the more than 600 documented ship-iceberg collisions that have claimed more than 3,400 lives over the past two centuries – is embracing iceberg tourism. Back when most communities relied on the cod fishery, the massive bergs that drifted by each spring were deadly navigational hazards. But as coastal populations dwindled, the icy giants offered a glimmer of hope.

Twillingate was one of the first to embrace the shift. Straddling two islands linked by a narrow tickle, and just 100km from Gander's airport, Twillingate gained road access in the 1970s. After the cod fishery collapsed in the 1990s, the town began to reinvent itself. Locals transformed old footpaths – once used to reach now-abandoned communities or favourite berry-picking patches – into hiking trails, launched iceberg tours and started businesses like Great Auk Winery, which uses iceberg water in its products.

Drawn to the now-famous town, Evan and I continued our daily scan of iceberg-tracking sites. Even though the icebergs drifted stubbornly west, locals helped us build a very Newfoundland bucket list. We were directed to puffin and whale lookouts, tipped off about the perfect fog-free window for visiting the lighthouse, told where to buy fresh-caught lobster, sent to see several root cellars and urged to visit the Beothuk Interpretation Centre to learn about the tragic demise of the Indigenous Beothuk people.

On the hiking trails, we reflected on the empty outports and watched for untracked icebergs.

"They've given people a reason to come home," an employee at Great Auk Winery told us as we sampled a flight of wines. The bakeapple iceberg wine – infused with golden-orange berries handpicked from nearby bogs – offered a honeyed apricot note. Blended with harvested iceberg water, it showcased how seafaring traditions are being reimagined. We bought a bottle; even if we didn't spot one of the elusive giants, we could still savour the taste of 50,000-year-old water.

In a typical year, 700 to 800 icebergs drift through Iceberg Alley; some years, none appear at all. I had nearly given up when I glimpsed my first one at Red Bay. Floating offshore from Expedition 51, the glittering hulk told the story of a snowflake's improbable journey from cloud to glacier to sea to tourist attraction. It had taken thousands of years to get here – but without the new highway, I wouldn't have seen it at all.

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Jimmy Choo's well-heeled guide to Kuala Lumpur

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250602-jimmy-choos-guide-to-kuala-lumpur, 9 days ago

His shoes ignited a worldwide sartorial revolution, but he hangs his hat in KL. Here are his top hometown experiences, from enjoying street food to designing your own bespoke suit.

Home to the Petronas Twin towers and one of the world's most recognisable skylines, the Malaysian capital has evolved over the last four decades from a modest metropolis known for its charming colonial architecture to a thriving, ultra-modern city.

"Many years ago, when I came to Kuala Lumpur for the first time, it wasn't as modern," says legendary shoe designer Jimmy Choo, who hails from Penang, an island on Malaysia's north-western coast. "It has changed a lot. There are now lots of high-rise apartments and hotels and it's a lot more multicultural."

The perennially fashionable Choo, who splits his time between London and Kuala Lumpur where he owns a penthouse apartment a stone's throw from the Petronas Towers in the upmarket KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre) neighbourhood, says the city has also become a major destination for fashion fans on the hunt for high-end bargains. "A lot of people come here to shop because we have a lot of designer shops and the prices are not too high," he says. "Whether you want to buy shoes, bags, accessories – you can get them all in KL."

If your budget won't stretch to luxury labels, Choo recommends seeking out homegrown talents. "Malaysia has a lot of local designers who have been very well trained overseas," he says. "They go to study fashion in places like the UK or Australia, then when they've finished their studies, they often come back to their own country to promote their designs."

Beyond retail therapy, the cosmopolitan city is famous for mouthwatering street food from all corners of Asia and plentiful people-watching opportunities at fancy rooftop bars, where you can show off your designer finery while sipping an ice-cold cocktail.

Here are Choo's favourite places for shopping, dining and drinking in the incredible views of Kuala Lumpur.

1. Best for bespoke fashion: Lord's Tailor

Founded in 1974 by designer Robert Loh, Lord's Tailor specialises in custom suits for men and women and is beloved by many of Malaysia's most stylish celebrities.

"It was recently the 50th anniversary of the designer Robert, who learned tailoring and design in London," says Choo, a loyal customer since the 1990s. "Whenever I travel to different parts of the world, they will design all my outfits – daywear and evening wear."

Providing exceptional sartorial skills at a fraction of the Savile Row price, the atelier's team of tailors and seamstresses can whip up a bespoke or made-to-measure suit in a matter of days.

"They have their own factory, and all the staff have been very well trained," Choo says. "If you go on a Monday for the measurements, they will have everything ready by Wednesday or Thursday to bring home."

How much will a Lord's Tailor suit set you back? "It depends on the fabric you choose," says Choo. "Prices start at around 3,000 ringgit (around £515) for a jacket and trousers with one shirt, going up to 10,000 ringgit (around £1,750) if you choose Italian fabric."

Website: www.lordstailor.com.my

Address: F18 & F19, 1st floor, Bangsar Shopping Centre, 285 Jalan Maarof

Phone: +6 017 670 7217

Instagram: @lordstailor/

2. Best for designer shopping: Pavilion shopping centre

A fashionista's paradise, glitzy Pavilion shopping centre is where you'll find the flagship stores of luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Dior and Hermès alongside high street favourites like Zara and COS.

"Pavilion has got a lot of different brands so there's something to suit every budget," Choo says. "For example, if you want to spend £30 on a shirt or trousers, or if you want to spend thousands and thousands on those higher-level designers."

To sample Malaysian style, try cool handbag brand Sembonia, trendy plus-size fashion pioneer Ms. Read, or Fipper, which sells rubber flip-flops in a vast array of colours. And if you've exhausted your options at Pavilion, pop over the road to another of Choo's favourite retail hotspots, The Starhill, a luxurious shopping centre home to the world's biggest watch gallery.

Website: www.pavilion-kl.com

Address: 168 Jalan Bukit Bintang

Phone: +6 032 118 8833

3. Best for sartorial souvenirs: Kuala Lumpur Craft Complex

Showcasing Malaysian handicraft techniques, the Kuala Lumpur Craft Complex is a series of buildings in the Terengganu style with gabled roofs and intricate wood carvings and features a museum where visitors can see how traditional textiles are woven and dyed.

"Batik is hand-painted and uses wax to create the designs," Choo explains. "Songket comes in lots of different colours and has the gold and silver thread woven through. It's quite expensive because it takes some time to weave by hand."

Typically worn on formal occasions, a songket outfit usually comprises a baju kurung long-sleeved shirt, a sarong or trousers, a sampin decorative scarf around the waist and a songkok cap for men.

"Usually when I'm attending my birthday event I wear songket because one of my students designs with songket material," Choo says. "It's common at Malaysian weddings as well. When government people go to functions, they usually wear batik."

Travellers can purchase songket and batik fabric as well as readymade garments and accessories in the Karyaneka Boutique at the Kuala Lumpur Craft Complex.

Website: www.kraftangan.gov.my

Address: Section 63, Jalan Conlay

Phone: +6 032 162 7459

Instagram: @kraftanganmalaysia

4. Best for local delicacies: Petaling Street Market

To refuel after all that shopping, cheap – and delicious – eats are just a five-minute taxi ride from the city's major shopping centres to Chinatown; namely, Petaling Street Market.

Reflecting Kuala Lumpur's history as a trading hub since the 6th Century, the market features a blend of Malay, Indian, and Chinese cuisine with hints of Arab, Thai and Portuguese flavours to boot.

Choo lists his favourite Petaling Street eats: "I love char kway teow [stir-fried flat noodles], Hainanese chicken with rice, roti canai [flaky Malaysian flatbread], nasi lemak [rice cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaves served with chilli paste, anchovies and boiled egg], and nasi kandar, which is chicken with spicy curry sauce."

For dessert, he suggests sniffing out a helping of durian, the divisive yellow-fleshed fruit with a spiky exterior and a distinctive aroma. "Some people like it, some don't," says Choo. "They say it smells like cheese or something like that. But you cannot bring it back to the hotel, they won't allow it because it smells so strong!"

Address: Jalan Petaling, City Centre

5. Best for cityscape views: WET Deck

While many of Kuala Lumpur's rooftop bars look down on the city, WET Deck at the W Hotel is situated on the 12th floor, meaning the neighbouring Petronas Twin Towers provide a dramatic and glittering backdrop when night falls.

"If I want to have a drink and some good western or Malay food, I normally go to W Hotel bar," Choo says. "You can sit by the swimming pool and see the Twin Towers right in front of you. It's a place you can relax and take some nice pictures. You can see the whole of KL."

Choo's tipple of choice is a nod to his international lifestyle. "People in Malaysia like to drink cognac and whisky," he says. "But my favourite drink is actually a very English one; I love a lager and lime."

A minimum spend of 500 ringgit (around £90) per table is required at WET Deck on Friday and Saturday nights, so choose a weeknight if you're looking for a more affordable option.

Website: www.wkualalumpur-wetdeck.com

Address: W Kuala Lumpur, 121 Jalan Ampang

Phone: +6 012 365 4188

Instagram: @wetdeckkualalumpur

6. Best for a serene stroll: KLCC Park

An urban oasis nestled among the skyscrapers, KLCC Park is popular with city dwellers and tourists alike. With a jogging track, children's playground and wading pool, it's great for families, or anyone who wants a breather and a shady spot to escape the heat.

"You can have a beautiful morning walk in the park or go for a run, you can see water features and birds during the day," says Choo. "And at night it's very romantic. You often see couples walking around the lake."

Open from 10:00 to 22:00, with the main entrance on Jalan Ampang, the park also offers a brilliant vantage point to grab some snaps as the sun sets and the skyscrapers light up.

Address: Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur City Centre

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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From Tabasco sauce to Taiwanese Tex-Mex: Felicity Cloake's American odyssey

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250606-felicity-cloakes-american-food-odyssey, 5 days ago

For her new book, Peach Street to Lobster Lane, British food writer Felicity Cloake cycles across the US from coast to coast in search of a definition for its national cuisine.

Gordon Ramsay famously credits his success in the US to Americans knowing nothing about good food. Felicity Cloake begs to differ.

In her new book, Peach Street to Lobster Lane, the award-winning British food writer sets out to challenge the stereotype of American food as deep-fried and cultureless. "On this trip, I'm determined to find this unicorn, cover it with ketchup and pickles and have it for lunch," she writes.

Over the course of 10 weeks and several thousand kilometres, she cycles coast to coast across the US, discovering independent restaurants, fusion cuisine and an attitude towards food she's seen nowhere else in the world. Her food-filled obsession takes her from San Francisco's most refined sourdough to the home of the hamburger in Columbus, Ohio. Along the way, she explores the source of Tabasco on Avery Island and feasts on crawfish on an accidental stop in Houston.

Her mission? To discover what, if anything, ties American cuisine together and to celebrate the creativity, history and heart she finds everywhere she goes.

We caught up with Cloake to talk about the good, the greasy and the gloriously surprising food that fuelled her adventures.

Why did you decide to write a book about American food?

I don't think my publisher will mind me saying that they were a bit reluctant, because the theme is a bit tricky. If you don't already love America and its cuisine, it's difficult to see beyond the top-line stereotypes of McDonalds, KFC, ridiculous eating competitions and too much on the plate. It doesn't sound very attractive.

But I was thinking about the amazing Mexican food and all the different immigrant cuisines there. There's much more of a sense of possibility, fun and flexibility when it comes to cooking in America. They don't feel so hide-bound to tradition for a lot of things as we do in Europe. And that was so exciting to me; uncovering this really playful attitude to food that manifests in potentially fun but unhealthy things like, you know, a cheeseburger that has doughnuts instead of a bun.

There is some fantastic food and fantastic produce in the US, but it just gets sort of swept under the carpet because we only see this cartoonish version. For me, there's always been a glamour about America, which I find hard to shake. It's a sense of "wow, everything's like it is in the movies". And it is!

You spent 10 weeks cycling across the US in search of the best food. Why did you decide to travel by bike?

I thought: I've cycled in Italy, I've cycled in France. How different can it be? And then when I got closer to the trip, I was more concerned. Everyone I knew tried to put me off. But I actually found that it was a great place to cycle. I did end up riding down a six-lane freeway in LA, but there are lots of little roads too. It's a bit like France in that way; because the country is so vast, the smaller roads tend to be quite quiet. It gave me access to a side of America that I hadn’t seen before because I'd always been in a car, passing through at speed.

Did you discover a culinary style that is distinctly American?

Yes! I think it centres around the idea of playfulness and a lack of concern for tradition and the "right" way of doing things. That's what annoys so many people from the more established and conservative food cultures about American food; that's why they are so dismissive. It's a fun place to eat and they've got some great produce. They don't overcomplicate it either.

I had some brilliant farm-to-table food in New England in particular. When American food is good, it's up there with the world's best. People need to look beyond the American businesses that are on their local high streets to find real American cuisine. It's a very fun place to eat.

What was your favourite meal?

I find mashups of unexpected food cultures really exciting. My best meal was at a restaurant in San Antonio where a Taiwanese American chef was making the Tex-Mex food she had grown up with, under Taiwanese influences. So it was things like an orange chicken fried steak and mochi hush puppies. I found that exciting because it's not something that you would ever find somewhere else. Tex-Mex is seen as a mash up in itself, and to add a third culture to the mix just feels mind blowing. There was so much creativity and fun, but it was also delicious. It was clever cooking but it was light-hearted as well, and I love that.

What surprised you most about the trip?

America is expensive! Ten years ago, travelling in America was very cheap. Food was cheap, motels were cheap. But that is no longer the case – and it was a bit of a shock to the system. I bought a grapefruit in Ohio that cost $2.99 – it would have cost 60p in the UK, and it had surely been grown in Florida. So that was extraordinary. Then the whole tipping culture thing… it's just a really expensive place to be.

What struck you most about the differences between English and American food culture?

It was difficult getting food that wasn't processed in some way. It's not that people aren't health conscious, it's more that the stuff being marketed as health food is at odds with what I would regard as healthy food. It's very processed, it's packaged. I found it hard to find an unprocessed fruit or vegetable.

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Then the throwaway nature of everything really bothered me. It's hard to recycle there. And I don't get the same enjoyment from eating from a plastic plate. There are a few issues surrounding food that made me proud of how much British food has changed.

What was your biggest learning from the trip?

I hadn't appreciated that all stereotypes of American food in my mind – the hotdogs, burgers and ice cream sundaes – were all imports as well. I had thought about Mexican food and Korean food, and then the rest was American food. But I realised that no; all the food bar Native American food heritage – which is being reclaimed these days – all of it is an import. I would love to go to the Lakes region and learn more about that food culture. There's popcorn, jerky and wild rice, although that's more of an ingredient than a dish.

Overall, it's a much more exciting cuisine than I imagined it would be. As different waves of people come in and mix, there's more to see and try. It's evolving and changing – it feels like boundless possibility.

Is there anything you'd do differently if you had the chance to do it again?

I do slightly regret that I didn't eat any really trashy fast food that we don't get here yet. There is a lot more that I could have found. Another odd regret is that I didn't eat more. I was obsessed with the idea that I was going to die if I didn't eat enough vegetables. I ate a lot of salads out of the bag. I think I might have been a bit overanxious with that, looking back. And if it wasn't for my dog, I would have gone for longer. I would have liked to have spent more time in Texas, for sure. There's so much more to explore.

Peach Street to Lobster Lane: Coast to Coast in Search of American Cuisine by Felicity Cloake, is published by Mudlark and is released on 5 June 2025.

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Who drank all the matcha? How tourism drained a Japanese town

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250606-matcha-how-tourism-drained-a-japanese-town, 6 days ago

In Uji, Japan's historic matcha capital, demand for premium green tea is outpacing supply. As tourists scramble for tins, locals fear that tradition may be getting diluted.

10:00 is an important time in Uji, Japan. It's when the matcha shops open.

The town is just a half hour train ride from Kyoto and is world-renowned for matcha, the pulverised green tea traditionally frothed with hot water.

Just before the hour, I stroll off the subway and head straight to nearby Nakamura Tokichi Honten; once the supplier of tea to the emperor and now arguably the most prestigious matcha purveyor in Japan. I've heard securing a table at their cafe can be difficult, so I grow nervous as two girls scamper ahead of me. The cafe hasn't officially opened yet, so I grab a numbered ticket to reserve a spot. Somehow there are already 35 people ahead of me in line.

While I wait, I stroll through the shop and browse the many matcha products lining the shelves – ice creams, confections, even matcha-infused noodles. But I'm looking for some of the actual stuff: matcha powder.

I notice a lady with a basket full of green tins, and a commotion breaks out in the corner. A diminutive Japanese store worker tries to restock a shelf, but she barely places a tin down before it is eagerly snatched up in the throng of tourists. She is swarmed on all sides by grabby arms, and some people even reach directly into her basket to snag canisters of the precious powder. She yells out in Japanese, but her message is lost on the foreign ears surrounding her.

Realising these are the few matcha tins left in the shop, I reach into the crowd to wrap my fingers around a white canister. Someone grabs my hand, then grunts and lets go. A second later, a tall woman with an American accent yells out, "It's gone. All the matcha's gone." My guess is that it's not past 10:05.

I join the queue to pay for my 30g tin, not knowing exactly what I've grabbed or how much it costs. I surmise that I didn't get the more potent of matchas, as others have tins of varying shades of green. I watch enviously as a man in the front of the line has 30 or so tins sealed in a tax-free plastic bag. In a German accent he says, "I can't believe I just spent 250 euros on tea." He seems proud.

Unlike many of the other prestigious tea purveyors in Uji, Nakamura Tokichi has not imposed a limit on the number of matcha tins visitors can buy. I spend the rest of the morning wandering around town, picking up whatever is still available here and there. Tsujirihei Honten, another prestigious brand established in 1860, advertises 20 or so types of matcha, but only has three or four varieties on offer. Even with a purchase limit, most of the stores in Uji, the matcha capital of the world, are sold out.

Rich with antioxidants and with a more tempered caffeine boost, matcha has seen skyrocketing demand around the world. Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries reports that 4,176 tons of matcha were produced in 2023, a threefold increase since 2010. Ballooning in parallel is Japan's tourism industry: 2024 saw nearly 37 million tourists, a record high. Market reports show that the beverage's popularity is largely attributed to its health benefits, and the grinch-green drinks and desserts also play well on social media.

There's no singular grading system for matcha, but many shops will broadly categorise their powders as ceremonial, premium or culinary. Ceremonial matchas are typically made from the newest leaves of the season and are valued for their rich, almost umami flavour, with no bitterness. On the other end of the matcha-tasting spectrum is culinary matcha, which tends to be coarser and has a slight bitter taste – better suited for saccharine confections. Falling in between the two are premium or daily use grades, which are versatile in use.

Tomomi Hisaki, general manager at the Tsujirihei flagship store, says that international visitors have a particular proclivity for top-grade ceremonial matchas and often buy stashes in bulk. But she says supply cannot keep up with demand. "High-grade Uji matcha is not something that can be mass-produced in the first place," she says. For one, tea leaves destined for ceremonial matcha are grown in the shade, as the darkness produces a richer, more umami and astringent flavour. "However, if you cover it, it will not be able to photosynthesize, so it will not grow, and the harvest will be small," she says.

Another bottleneck in production, Hisaki explains, is the traditional stone mills. These mills produce a particularly fine powder, but each mill can only yield about 400g of tea after eight hours – enough for 13 tins. Matcha production could be boosted by planting more tea farms, Hisaki says, but it would take years for current investments to reach store shelves.

This scarcity of Uji-made ceremonial matcha fosters a sense of exclusivity, which further fuels the zeal of tourists. Hisaki says that since the start of the year, their store will sell a month's supply of matcha powder in a single day. And if the frenzy continues, she says, tea ceremony instructors, temples and shrines could have difficulty securing supply.

"We have heard reports of ceremonial matcha being used for lattes and smoothies, which can reduce the availability of high-quality matcha for those who wish to enjoy it in its traditional form," says Simona Suzuki, president of the Global Japanese Tea Association. "Our hope is that foreign tourists will consider the intended use when purchasing matcha."

I kept thinking back to the man at the front of the line and those like him, hoarding hundreds of dollars' worth of matcha. What could one possibly do with so much of the finest quality tea?

I don't know that man, but I suspect he wasn't buying the matcha for tea ceremonies. I suspect that like me, he and the folks back home enjoy diluting the beverage with milk and sugar in the form of a matcha latte, maybe even baking a batch of cookies. I also suspect that most folks, like me, don't have a refined enough palate to distinguish between the top tiers of matcha. Plus, the grassy green product loses its freshness after sitting in a pantry for months.

Yet I see that when we're hundreds of miles from home and the opportunity arises, it can be all too tempting to drop our polite inhibitions and allow greed to overtake our graces. How many tins would I have taken, given the opportunity?

"I think it's wonderful that the matcha of Japan is spreading," says Hisaki, "I would like more people to enjoy it for health, tea ceremonies and cultural inheritance." But she urges visitors not to hoard supplies for resale.

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Shopping in Uji became more stressful than I anticipated, as I spent my time wondering if I should be trying to snag the last remaining tins of matcha in town. But even if visitors miss out on taking home a stash of ceremonial matcha, there's no shortage of other products to enjoy. Suzuki hopes that travellers will turn an eye toward other teas such as vibrant senchas or earthy gyokuros. There's also hojicha, the roasted cousin to matcha that tastes more of nuts and chocolate than chlorophyll, and – in my opinion – tastier than matcha.

Despite the shortage of matcha powder, Uji is still like a tea-themed park with an endless diversity of products. At Nakamura Tokichi I order a tea-infused soba noodle and matcha parfait, and from souvenir shops I purchase matcha fettuccine and curry. Eateries dish up matcha gyozas, takoyaki and ramen.

At Tsujirihei, I purchase a bag of sweetened matcha powder, a product designed to be easily dissolved in water – ideal for matcha lattes or other sweet drinks. I'm sipping on this sort of instant matcha latte now, enlivened by its verdant greenness and soothed by its warmth. Sure, this drink wasn't served to the emperor, but it suits my purposes just fine.

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How World War Two changed how France eats

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250605-how-world-war-two-changed-the-french-diet, 8 days ago

More than 80 years after D-Day, the recipes and ingredients introduced during France's wartime occupation are slowly making a comeback.

By June 1940, German forces had blitzed through France in just six weeks, leading more than half of the country to be occupied. As a result, French staples like cheese, bread and meat were soon rationed, and by 1942 some citizens were living on as few as 1,110 calories per day. Even after World War Two ended in 1945, access to food in France would continue to be regulated by the government until 1949.

Such austerity certainly had an impact on how the French ate during and just after the war. Yet, more than 80 years after Allied forces landed in Normandy to begin liberating the nation on D-Day (6 June 1944), few visitors realise that France's wartime occupation still echoes across the nation's culinary landscape.

In the decades following WW2, the French abandoned the staples that had got them through the tough times of occupation; familiar ingredients like root vegetables and even hearty pain de campagne (country bread) were so eschewed they were nearly forgotten. But as wartime associations have slowly faded from memory, a bevy of younger chefs and tastemakers are reviving the foods that once kept the French alive.

There aren't many French residents old enough to vividly recall life in wartime France today, and fewer still would deign to discuss it. Author Kitty Morse only discovered her great-grandparents' "Occupation diary and recipe book" after her own mother's death. Morse released them in 2022 in her book Bitter Sweet: A Wartime Journal and Heirloom Recipes from Occupied France.

"My mother never said any of this to me," she said.

Aline Pla was just nine years old in 1945 but, raised by small-town grocers in the south of France, she remembers more than others might. "You were only allowed a few grams of bread a day," she recalled. "Some [people] stopped smoking – especially those with kids. They preferred trading for food."

Such widespread lack gave rise to ersatz replacements: saccharine stood in for sugar; butter was supplanted by lard or margarine; and instead of coffee, people brewed roots or grains, like acorns, chickpeas or the barley Pla recalls villagers roasting at home. While many of these wartime brews faded from fashion, chicory coffee remained a staple, at least in northern France. Ricoré – a blend of chicory and instant coffee – has been on supermarket shelves since the 1950s. More recently, brands like Cherico are reimagining it for a new generation, marketing it as a climate-conscious, healthful alternative traditional coffee.

According to Patrick Rambourg, French culinary historian and author of Histoire de la Cuisine et de la Gastronomie Françaises, if chicory never wholly disappeared in France, it's in large part thanks to its flavour. "Chicory tastes good," he explained. "It doesn't necessarily make you think of periods of austerity."

Other products did, however, such as swedes and Jerusalem artichokes, which WW2 historian Fabrice Grenard asserted "were more reserved for animals before the war." The French were nevertheless forced to rely heavily on them once potato rationing began in November 1940, and after the war, these vegetables became almost "taboo", according to Rambourg. "My mother never cooked a swede in her life," added Morse.

Two generations later, however, Jerusalem artichokes, in particular, have surged to near-omnipresence in Paris, from the trendy small plates at Belleville wine bar Paloma to the classic chalkboard menu at bistro Le Bon Georges. Alongside parsnips, turnips and swedes, they're often self-awarely called "les legumes oubliés"("the forgotten vegetables") and, according to Léo Giorgis, chef-owner of L'Almanach Montmartre, French chefs have been remembering them for about 15 years.

"Now you see Jerusalem artichokes everywhere, [as well as] swedes [and] golden turnips," he said. As a chef dedicated to seasonal produce, Giorgis finds their return inspiring, especially in winter. "Without them, we're kind of stuck with cabbages and butternut squash."

According to Apollonia Poilâne, the third generation of her family to run the eponymous bakery Poilâne, founded in 1932, a similar shift took place with French bread. Before the war, she explained, white baguettes, which weren't subject to the same imposed prices as sourdough, surged to popularity on a marketplace rife with competition. But in August 1940, bread was one of the first products to be rationed, and soon, white bread was supplanted by darker-crumbed iterations bulked out with bran, chestnut, potato or buckwheat. The sale of fresh bread was forbidden by law, which some say was implemented specifically to reduce bread's palatability.

"I never knew white bread!" said Pla. When one went to eat at a friend's home during wartime, she recalled, "You brought your bread – your bread ration. Your own piece of bread."

Hunger for white bread surged post-war – so much so that while Poilâne's founder, Pierre Poilâne, persisted in producing the sourdoughs he so loved, his refusal to bake more modern loaves saw him ejected from bakery syndicates, according to his granddaughter, Apollonia. These days, however, the trend has come full circle: Baguette consumption fell 25% from 2015 to 2025, but the popularity of so-called "special" breads made with whole or heirloom grains is on the rise. "It's not bad that we're getting back to breads that are a bit less white," said Pla.

For Grenard, however, the most lasting impact the war left on French food culture was a no-waste mindset. "What remains after the war is more of a state of mind than culinary practices," he said. Rambourg agreed: "You know the value of food when you don't have any."

The French were forced to get creative with what they had. In France's south-eastern Ardèche department, Clément Faugier rebranded its sweetened chestnut paste as Génovitine, a name whose medical consonance made it easier to market as a fortifier and even prescribe. In the coastal Camargue region, local samphire suddenly stood in for green beans. Morse's great-grandfather foraged for wild mushrooms in the nearby Vosges mountains, and in cities, those with balconies planted their window boxes with carrots or leeks. Paris' public Jardin des Tuileries was even transformed into collective kitchen gardens.

According to Rambourg, this subsistence mindset "would affect the entire generation that lived through the war, and our parents, because they were the children of our grandparents, who knew the war."

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As the need for these subsistence methods dissipated, French cuisine underwent another period of change. In 1963, the country welcomed its first Carrefour hypermarket, and large-scale supermarkets soon supplanted small shops. According to Grenard, this was partly due to "suspicion" following corruption during the German occupation, when some grocers inflated prices far past the norm, just because they could . "At the end of the war, consumers held real rancour against small shopkeepers," said Grenard. "In a supermarket, the prices are fixed."

Fast-forward eight decades, and some locals, now motivated by climate change are turning back to small, local grocers, such as the locavore Terroir d’Avenir shops dotting Paris. Others are reaching into the nation's past to resuscitate techniques like canning, preserving and foraging that saved many French residents during the war, according to Grenard. "The people that got by the best were the ones who had reserves."

Today, filling the larder with foraged food has become popular once again. In Kaysersberg, Alsace, chef Jérôme Jaegle of Alchémille puts this ancestral knowledge centre-stage by offering wild harvesting workshops culminating in a multi-course meal. And in Milly-la-Forêt, just outside Paris, François Thévenon highlights the foraging techniques he learned from his grandmother with classes teaching others how to seek out these edible plants themselves.

"After the war", he explained, "people wanted to reassure themselves that they wouldn't lack anything anymore." They turned, he said, to overconsumption, specifically of meat, which even his foraging grandmother ate every day, at every meal.

"You often hear when you ask older folk why they no longer eat wild plants, that it's because they don't have to," Thévenon said, who forages for wild plants because he believes it's good for his health and that of the planet.

According to Apollonia, the war didn't only change how France eats. "It probably changed the way the world eats," she asserted. Today, the techniques and philosophies that helped the French survive are slowly coming back to life.

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Eight rare juices you can only try in the Amazon

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250529-eight-rare-juices-you-can-only-try-in-the-amazon, 12 days ago

Far from smoothie bars and powdered sachets, these wild Amazonian juices are pulped just hours after picking – making them rich in flavour and cultural meaning.

The Amazon is not only the world's largest and most biodiverse ecosystem – it's also one of the most delicious. Among the thousands of native species, around 220 trees are known to bear edible fruit, many of which never leave the jungle. Some are too delicate to export, while others are little known beyond the communities that have nurtured them for generations. But along the Amazon River and its tributaries – from Peru's misty highland jungle to the floodplains of northern Brazil – travellers can find market stalls and cafe counters brimming with thick, vibrant juices that capture the flavour of the forest.

These are the fruits you're unlikely to find bottled or powdered at home, often pulped just hours after harvest, served chilled in the tropical heat and prized not only for their nutrients but for their rich textures and sharp tangs.

Here are eight juices worth seeking out, whether for their bold flavours, cultural significance or the thrill of trying something new.

Aguaje

On the eastern slopes of the Andes, where rivers cascade in dramatic waterfalls into the Amazon Basin, travellers will find the aguaje fruit of the Moriche palm. In the small Peruvian city of Tingo Maria, markets are piled high with silver trays of the armadillo-like fruit. Locals soak them in water for a day or two, before peeling the brown armour to reveal an intensely orange flesh. The pulp is soaked, mashed and transformed into aguajina – a thick and custardy drink that tastes like cross between pumpkin pie and flan.

Some locals say that the fruit contains oestrogen compounds and men should be careful of drinking too much of it, though there is little scientific evidence. "The aguajina is very useful – for the bone, for the skin, for the complexion – especially for women," says Gianina Pujay, an aguajinera who sells the drink across from Tingo Maria's fruit market.

Cocona

In the same region, the cocona fruit, a tropical relative of the common tomato, yields a tangy juice that tastes like a pineapple-papaya hybrid with a thick, almost oily body.

"Many Amazonian fruits are consumed in juice form because their pulp is acidic, fibrous or difficult to eat raw, like the cocona," explains Miluska Carrasco, a researcher and nutritionist at Peru's Instituto de Investigación Nutricional, "It's also a practical way to use them quickly before they spoil."

Camu camu

Descending from the verdant slopes of the Andes into the Amazon Basin, the rivers slow down and transform into thoroughfares of commercial activity. On the banks of the Ucayali River is the river port city of Pucallpa, the furthest Peru's road system will take you into the centre of the Amazon. Here, where container barges, passenger ships and canoes all move goods around the forest, camu camu is a must-drink juice.

The small, tart, plum-like fruit tastes like a sour strawberry with a hint of peach, and is a favourite of local juice vendors. "[It] has more vitamin C than oranges," says Carrasco, "[as well as] other bioactive compounds." Where a navel orange provides about 6mg of vitamin C per 100g, the camu camu contains more than 2,000mg for the same amount of flesh.

The season for camu camu is short, however, typically between January and March, so take advantage of the fresh juice when it's available. Locals also eat the little plums with salt; just spit out the seeds.

Tucumã

In the heart of Brazil's vast Amazonas state, 700 miles east of Pucallpa as the toucan flies (and at least a week or more on a river boat), tucumã palms provide an orange fruit that's only in season from February to August. During this time, it's often eaten for breakfast with cassava flour and is a key ingredient in the state's signature x-caboquinho sandwich, where slices are layered with salty coalho cheese and sweet chunks of fried plantains.

To make juice from the notoriously fibrous tucumã, vendors use peelers, blenders and sieves to reduce shavings of the fruit to a pulp and then filter out the lightly nutty liquid.

According to Francisco Falcão, a farmer in the community of Bom Jesus in the Tefé National Forest, "people say that tucumã is good to eat and improves sight and skin". Indeed, the fruit is rich in both manganese and calcium. Where kiwi, which is relatively high in calcium, contains around 30mg of calcium per 100g, tucumã has been measured to contain around four times as much.

Pupunha

Also in the Tefé region, "there's a palm tree that people eat the fruit of," says Falcão. "Pupunha is a plant that we harvest starting in December and ending February." Spanish-speaking parts of the Amazon know this oily palm fruit as pejibaye or pijuayo, and it is a key source of natural fats as well as vitamin B1 and vitamin E.

The pupunha grow in clusters of orange and red acorn-shaped fruit. They cannot be eaten raw, but once boiled they make a filling snack akin to an oily sweet potato. The boiled fruits also produce a creamy orange juice once fully pulped. In Peru, forest communities ferment the pulp into a lightly alcoholic drink called chicha or masato – especially during times of harvest.

Cupuaçu

In Manaus, capital of the Amazonas, reliable refrigeration means locals and visitors can enjoy fruits in various forms. The thick shell of the cupuaçu contains a collection of seeds surrounded by a fleshy white pulp. That pulp can be transformed into silky, tangy juice. But lately, locals have been incorporating its juice into ice cream. Indeed, the rest of Brazil is catching on, with ice cream parlours in Rio de Janeiro now offering the flavour too.

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Cupuaçu tastes like a creamy pineapple – surprising given that it's a close relative of cacao. "It's the same genus as cacao and people make cupulate [as opposed to chocolate from it]," says Daniel Tregidgo, a researcher at Brazil's Mamirauá Institute for Sustainable Development. "When you go to the markets there are huge piles of cupuaçu seeds. I look at that and I say that's hipster chocolate right there."

Why haven’t we heard of cupulate yet? In Tregidgo's opinion, "It's a matter of investment. If you take something from the middle of Amazon and you try to get it out into the global market without being exploitative, it is a bit tricky." Bars produced from cupuaçu have the flavour of chocolate but retain some of their citrus piquancy.

Jenipapo

In the Amazon delta, jenipapo is known for its traditional use as a blue dye and a temporary tattoo ink. The fruit itself, which grows all along Brazil's coast in addition to the Amazon, has a yellowish pulp that's a great source of vitamin B1 and zinc.

While jenipapo can be consumed as a fresh juice that tastes a bit like dried apricots, try ordering licor de jenipapo, an infused cachaça liqueur served in small bars and botecos.

Açaí

While açaí has become a global wellness trend, the version served in the Amazon bears little resemblance to the frozen bowls found abroad.

What many travellers don't realise is that there are seven distinct açaí palm species. Locals distinguish between açaí-do-Pará, açaí-do-mato and juçara, depending on region. In Belém, for example, vendors use pneumatic presses to extract the berry's thick, purplish pulp – sold in clear bags and consumed straight out of bowls with spoons, as if a purple gazpacho. Outside of its natural range in Brazil, the rest of the country enjoys the pulp prepared in yogurts and ice creams.

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Five historic restaurants that fed the civil rights movement

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250610-5-restaurants-that-fed-the-civil-rights-movement, 2 days ago

From a Memphis fried chicken joint to a tamale counter in Jackson, these restaurants didn't just feed civil rights leaders – they funded, sheltered and fuelled the fight for equality.

The unassuming brick-and-siding facade of Lannie's BBQ Spot in Selma, Alabama, belies the rich history within. Named one of the nation's best restaurants by USA Today, this family-run eatery has long been more than a place for charred ribs and tangy sauce. As BBC Travel show host Reece Parkinson discovered on a recent trip to mark the 60th anniversary of the protest march from Selma to Montgomery, Lannie's also played a vital role in the civil rights movement.

"My mother and my grandmother fed a lot of people in the march," said Floyd Hatcher, who runs Lannie's today. His grandmother, Lannie Moore Travis, opened the restaurant in 1942 and made it one of Selma's first racially integrated dining spaces. During the 1965 Selma march for equal voting rights – which was met with extreme violence – Lannie's became a safe haven for protestors to gather.

"Barbecue brings people together," Hatcher added. "Don't care what race you are."

Today, restaurants like Lannie's are still bringing people together, serving up delicious dishes alongside a deeper understanding of the role these spaces played in the fight for justice. This year marks both the 60th anniversary of the Selma March and the 70th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, where African Americans refused to ride the city's public transportation in protest of segregated seating laws. These historical milestones shine a light on the movement's famous activists as well as on the small, Black-owned businesses that helped make the fight for equality possible.

"Food was always a crucial component of the civil rights movement," explained Bobby J Smith, associate professor of African American studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and author of the book Food Power Politics: The Food Story of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement. "Bringing food to the conversation really just expands the story that we already know. It also introduces new characters, new programmes [and] new actors. There [were many] unnamed women who were doing that kind of work."

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According to Smith, Black-owned restaurants, and even home cooks, were in many ways the bedrock of the movement, putting lives and livelihoods on the line for justice. They provided more than meals; they offered safe spaces to meet and strategise, gave moral support, and in some cases, covered travel and bail costs that were out of reach for many of the working-class activists. Whether through fundraisers, bake sales or out-of-pocket donations, Black business owners throughout the US South used their success and community status to do the quiet work of funding a revolution.

The anniversaries of these momentous events come as the US wrestles with the implications of sweeping funding cuts to institutions that support African American history. "Whether it's in university spaces, in federal agencies [or] just in everyday lives, these kinds of stories are being erased or sidelined," Smith said. "But food can be that space to recover [them]."

Though many of the businesses from the movement have closed, there are several restaurants across the South that were once important hubs for strategy, solidarity and community. Here are five you can still visit:

Dooky Chase in New Orleans, Louisiana

A New Orleans institution known for its classic Creole cooking, Dooky Chase was a hotspot for civil rights organisers, lawyers and freedom fighters in the 1950s and still offers classic New Orleans dishes like seafood gumbo to politicians and celebrities today. Not only were civil rights icons like Thurgood Marshall, Ernest "Dutch" Morial and Oretha Castle Haley all frequent patrons, but chef Leah Chase, sometimes called the "Queen of Creole Cuisine", transformed its dining room into a gallery space for the city's African American artists.

Brenda's Bar-B-Q Pit in Montgomery, Alabama

Originally opened in 1942 as the Siesta Club, Brenda's Bar-B-Q Pit has been a staple in Montgomery ever since. Brenda's back room was used as a safe haven during the Montgomery bus boycott, where organisers could meet and create leaflets to hand out in support of the movement. It was also where owner Jereline Bethune taught reading and writing classes to help African Americans pass the discriminatory literacy tests required to vote in elections. Today, the tiny, brick take-out joint still serves up some of the best barbecue in the city, though visitors should be sure to bring cash.

The Four Way Grill in Memphis, Tennessee

Located in the historic neighbourhood of Soulsville, near the legendary Stax recording studio (now the Stax Museum of American Soul), The Four Way is a classic soul food restaurant with long ties to the African American community. It hosted many of the city's civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr, who frequently dined here before his assassination in 1968 at the Lorraine Motel in downtown Memphis, now the National Civil Rights museum. Visitors can order a classic "meat and three", a main meat dish with three sides, while perusing photos of the icons who dined here.

Paschal's Motor Hotel and Restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia

Once referred to as the unofficial headquarters of the civil rights movement for the number of activists that visited, Paschal's has prepared Southern dishes, like their famous fried chicken, since 1947, first at the original location on West Hunter Street and now in the Castleberry Hill Arts District, where it moved in 2002. The Paschal brothers, who owned the restaurant, were key figures in the movement, often posting bond for protestors and serving complimentary meals to families reuniting with loved ones who had been detained or arrested by police for their involvement in protests.

Big Apple Inn in Jackson, Mississippi

Known for its pig ear sandwiches and Mississippi hot tamales, the original Big Apple Inn was a fixture on Farish Street, which was the centre of Black life in Jackson in the 1950s and '60s. In 1954, the space above the small family-owned takeaway spot served as the offices for the activist Medgar Evers, the Mississippi field secretary for the NAACP (the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), a civil rights organisation dedicated to equality for African Americans. Evers was instrumental in leading the fight for desegregation of Mississippi schools, beaches and parks before his assassination in 1963.

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Morocco's new cross-country cycling route

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250609-moroccos-new-cross-country-cycling-route, 3 days ago

Winding from southern deserts into snowcapped mountains towards northern beaches, the Route of Caravans offers adventurous travellers a stunning glimpse of the nation few tourists see.

"No route, no route!" said a smiling man wearing a long white robe and holding a stout shepherd's staff, his donkey in tow. He pointed over his shoulder, down the U-shaped canyon I had planned to follow to the nearest road, which was still several kilometres away. He then motioned towards the ground, indicating that the rough terrain my travel companion and I were pushing our bicycles over continued long into the canyon.

"That's okay," I said to him in French, shrugging in the direction we'd come from. "There's no route back that way, either." It wasn't precisely true. While the canyon trail we'd been traversing in Morocco's soaring High Atlas mountains wasn't exactly manicured, it was nevertheless part of a brand-new bikepacking route.

We had just set out on the 837km Route of Caravans: Morocco Traverse (North), the second leg of a recently completed two-tier cycling trail traversing the length of Morocco from the town of Tiznit on the country's south-western coast to Tangier in the north. Since a digital map of the route's northern leg debuted on the adventure-cycling website Bikepacking in autumn 2024, it has lured bikepackers (off-road cyclists who carry overnight gear) to wind, slalom and climb their way from the town of Imilchil in the High Atlas Mountains past rolling hills and alpine passes to the Mediterranean port city, where they can catch a ferry across the Strait of Gibraltar to Spain.

Tracing its arc from southern desert to northern beaches, the trail's two legs make use of ancient caravan roads trod by camels' hooves and shepherd paths used by the country's Indigenous Amazigh (long referred to as "Berber" by outsiders) communities who have called Morocco home for some 20,000 years. The route is the result of a long-held dream of a handful of adventurous international cyclists keen to forge a path through some of Morocco's least-visited regions.

To me, it felt like slipping through the country's backdoor and, occasionally, a bit like time travel. Following narrow paths through pastures where shepherds graze flocks on rain-fed grass, I got a firsthand glimpse of the seasonally nomadic lifestyle that still thrives in the mountains. In remote canyons, I met Amazigh women who piled their donkeys high with edible herbs and wildflowers foraged in meadows far from their mud-brick homes.

The Route of Caravans is one of many long-distance bikepacking routes sprouting up around the world in places like the Peruvian Andes, North America's Continental Divide and the Scottish Highlands where intrepid two-wheeled travellers can immerse themselves in stunning natural settings and remote communities. The challenges these routes present – such as terrain so rugged you may occasionally "hike-a-bike" instead of pedalling it – are all part of the appeal.

The new route also had a personal draw for me. Having travelled to Morocco decades earlier and following the classic tourist's itinerary between cities like Fez, Marrakech and Essaouira, I was haunted by glimpses of the more remote places I passed between such sites, and curious about those who lived there. Riding the Route of Caravans would be a return, of sorts – one focussed less on sites themselves than on the places in between.

After checking my steel mountain bike as baggage on the flight and strapping it with bags to carry my clothes, camping gear and equipment, I set off from the bus station at Beni Mellal, a 135km ride from the route's starting point in Imilchil, beginning a slow climb into the still-snowy summits of the High Atlas mountains. Over the next two weeks, the Route of Caravans would carry me across three mountain ranges, into ancient cities, through Amazigh villages and towards Tangier, where two seas and continents meet.

"[The route is] shockingly diverse," said Evan Christenson, a cyclist from San Diego, California, who scouted and designed the route for Bikepacking. "You go from the High Atlas, which is just exposed raw granite, and into the green and rolling pastures of the Rif Mountains… There are different cultures you go through, too."

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Cycling between the villages of the High Atlas mountains, I saw the anthropomorphic yaz symbol (representing freedom and independence for the Amazigh) scrawled on the houses and shepherd huts. And while I'd heard intermingled French and Arabic in the streets of Marrakech, many of the people we met in the mountains spoke dialects of the Amazigh language Tamazight.

"Azul," I said, on the second day on the route, when I joined a handful of women filling bottles at a public tap in a community too small to be named on the map. The oldest among them had geometric facial tattoos on their chins and cheeks, the intersecting lines creased and blurred with time. I sat down to wait my turn, but they ushered me to the front of the line. "Azul," they said, smiling. The Tamazight greeting translates, literally, as "from the heart".

In such moments, I felt a world away from the Morocco that has recently seen explosive tourism growth – 17.4 million travellers arrived in 2024, representing a 20% increase compared to 2023. A 2024 McKinsey & Company report on global tourism listed Marrakech as one of the cities most impacted by overtourism worldwide, with an additional 86% rise in tourism projected by 2030. Yet the Route of Caravans' far-flung villages, sheep-dotted meadows and remote stone shelters offer travellers a glimpse of Morocco few experience.

Arriving in the small town of Boumia after days camping under stars and frost-touched pines, we shopped for dates and bread on the single main street and met Nabil Abdullah, a young man who'd clocked us as outsiders and hoped to practice his English. "Here, we get maybe five or 10 tourists a month. With you, this month, I think it's seven," he said, before inviting us to his home for lunch.

Creating an 837km cycling route that avoids main roads in settings that are sometimes profoundly isolated requires a huge amount of work – and in this case, collaboration. In spring 2024, Christenson spent about six weeks crisscrossing the northern half of Morocco on two wheels, riding back roads and donkey trails, and exploring shepherd paths he'd spotted on satellite maps of the region. "I had a pretty good idea of where I wanted to go," he explained. "And then, if it didn't go through, I would turn around and try again."

As Christenson created the digital map, he dropped occasional hints for riders about where to sleep, find water and buy food. Fortunately for cyclists, wild camping is tolerated across much of rural Morocco: we set up our two-person tent in rocky canyons; pine forests; and in an ancient, long-abandoned mudbrick building. One night, as dusk fell on a hilltop site in the Middle Atlas mountain range, we watched as a family of endangered Barbary macaques leaped between the crowns of towering Atlas cedars.

"It's a special perspective to be travelling through these places on a bicycle," said Sarah Swallow, an American cyclist who completed the 1,266km southern portion of the Route of Caravans this spring. "It's more intimate – not only with the landscape and the natural environment, but also the people… you're vulnerable in a lot of ways, so you open yourself up to more experiences, like needing people's help, or leaning on people at times."

Already, some ambitious cyclists are linking up the two halves for an extraordinary, country-spanning journey. Early on our trip, we met south-bound cyclists Julia Winkelbach and Christian Wagner, who had left their home in Germany the previous summer and were riding the entire 2,103km route from Tangier to Tiznit. They told me they sometimes carried 20 litres of water while riding through the Sahara, had camped through a sandstorm and found scorpion tracks around their tent.

It speaks to Morocco's astonishing contrasts that as Winkelbach and Wagner travelled deeper into the world's largest hot desert, we wound north through the softening topography and lush vegetation of the Rif Mountains. The increasingly gentle landscape and hint of sea salt in the breeze hinted that Tangier wasn't far. Approaching the coast drew us closer to the city's big resorts and tourist crowds, yet our route still felt like a rolling ramble through remote landscapes cloaked in green.

Wishing to savour the quiet for one night more, we gave a final glance towards the path leading to Tangier and turned onto a paved road that hugged a quiet stretch of coastline. Our final campsite was on a sandy beach at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. With bare feet in the sand, we stood by our bikes and waited for sunset, watching as Venus flickered above the far horizon.

The mountains at our back, we woke to the sound of waves.

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Scotland's epic 210-mile bikepacking adventure

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250604-scotlands-epic-210-mile-bikepacking-adventure, 8 days ago

The Badger Divide lets bikepackers wind, climb, dip and slalom through some of Scotland's most stunning scenery by day, and wild camp along its moors, glens and lochs at night.

"Are you doing the Badger?" asked a fellow passenger at Perth station as I waited for my train to Inverness.

"What gave me away?" I replied, standing with a mountain bike fully loaded with gear.

"The size of your wheels," he said. "Good luck; you'll need it."

The "Badger" in question, officially known as The Badger Divide, is a 210-mile off-road route that winds, climbs, dips and slaloms through the Scottish Highlands from Inverness to Glasgow. Along the way, it passes through some of Scotland's greatest lochs (including Ness and Laggan), most expansive glens, least touched moorland, richest forests and the 25-mile Corrieyairack mountain pass.

The route attracts a growing number of long-distance, off-road cyclists who carry their gear with them on two wheels. Known as "bikepackers", these self-propelled adventurers are eager to test their physical and mental resolve on the Badger while also getting to sleep under the stars, wild camp at lochs and experience remote landscapes.

But for all its splendour, the trail isn't found on any official map or signpost.

Conceived by Scottish cyclist Stuart Allan roughly eight years ago, the route weaves together public rights of way, old drovers' roads, farm tracks, forest paths and remnants of 18th-Century military roads to connect the Lowlands and Highlands. Allan designed the Badger for friends, but as word of its varied terrain, sights and accessibility have spread, it's become a destination for bikepackers.

"I've had people come from Australia, a couple from Canada and many weekends I get messages to say a group is coming to do it, asking questions," said Allan. "The route came along when people were figuring out what bikepacking was all about, and it's just stuck."

And the odd name?

"At the time, the Baja Divide (a bikepacking route in Mexico) was the big new thing. And one of my friends mispronounced 'Baja' as 'Badger', so another friend suggested we call it the Badger Divide," Allan explained.

The Badger is typically ridden southbound, with cyclists starting at Inverness Castle and finishing at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Library in Glasgow. I was tackling it over five days in May, hoping for good weather and avoiding Scotland's infamous midges that come out to bite each summer.

There are easier ways to enjoy Scotland, but bikepacking's allure is the mix of adventure, camping and off-road trails that take you to places no car can reach. While cycle touring (which is on paved roads) has been popular for decades, bikepacking has grown in popularity in recent years thanks to more affordable off-road bikes and gear.

After a night at the Inverness Youth Hostel, I started pedalling towards the hills above Loch Ness' northerly shore. Ahead of me were two nights of wild camping, a stay in a Forestry Scotland campsite, a glamping pod and more than 17,000ft of elevation.

My first day was largely spent pedalling along a dirt track through a thick forest of pine, hazel, oak and birch. As I burst over gorse moorland along Loch Ness' shore, I caught glimpses of a lake so big it holds more water than all of the lakes in England and Wales combined, before later enjoying its full blue glory as I approached Fort Augustus.

"Beautiful weather," a French hiker remarked to me, as she and her family stopped at one of the viewpoints overlooking the loch. "It's too hot; prefer it colder," a local Scot had jokingly complained minutes earlier.

According to Rosie Baxendine, a guide who leads bikepacking and cycling trips across Scotland, biking through these remote landscapes is an unforgettable experience no matter the weather.

"I love Scotland when she's moody," Baxendine told me. "I remember riding over the Corrieyairack Pass in June, coming up through the clouds and it was snowing at the top. The power of Scotland's wild nature leaves me more speechless than a beautiful day."

Much of my what made my journey through Scotland's great glens, its big estates (including Ardverikie and Corrour) and under its star-filled skies so memorable was thanks to the nation's Outdoor Access Code. This gives everyone access to explore and wild camp in the nation's hills, beaches, rivers, moorland, forests and lochs, so long as they do so responsibly.

I didn't see a soul for nearly four hours as I ground my way up the Corrieyairack Pass on day two. Loch Ness dwindled to a dot while a parade of giant electricity pylons in the valley below felt like sentinels judging my slow progress.

"Remember to look up," Baxendine had told me. "So many people get caught up in speed or in how much it's hurting." As I inched up the pass, I took her advice, stopping to enjoy the views. Just yards from the trail was a wild deer grazing near the vibrant yellow gorse.

My bikepacking adventure was full of special moments like these: flying down a forest track with mad abandon near Aberfoyle; falling asleep in my tent to the sound of water lapping on the shores of Loch Ness; marvelling at the white sands of Loch Laggan and Lochan na h-Earba; and pedalling along the gravel tracks skirting the mighty crags of Creagan nan Nead and Creagan nan Ghabar.

As I cruised along the glorious Road to the Isles towards Corrour Station under clear blue skies on day three, the only sounds I heard were the crunch of my tyres on the gravel and the distinctive thrum of the common snipe's vibrating tail feathers.

I felt as though I had Scotland all to myself.

The UK's highest railway station, Corrour, sits nestled below the foot of Leum Uilleim mountain, just beyond the shores of Loch Ossian. As I neared and looked west, the snowcapped summit of Ben Nevis, the UK's tallest mountain, appeared. The station is now a request stop for the Caledonian Sleeper train that travels between Aberdeen and London, and its cafe has become a hub for hikers and cyclists.

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There, I met two southbound solo Badger riders: Stuart Cooper from Preston, and Scotsman Ian King, from Coldstream. Over two hours and a hearty Scottish breakfast, we swapped tales from the trail and explained what led each of us here.

"It's the freedom. That's why I love bikepacking. You pick your route, you stop when you want to stop," said Cooper, who has cycled across much of Asia and South America and made a last-minute decision to embark on the Badger because of the good weather. "I wanted to experience the spectacular scenery of the Scottish Highlands, which has been stunning, getting better and better as the ride has gone on."

For King, who was nearing his 73rd birthday, the inspiration had come from his son, who had done the route some years before.

"He had shown me photos; gave me lots of advice," he said. "My highlight has been the Corrieyairack Pass. Not the summit, but the first section looking back at the incredible scenery."

Both men would complete the route far faster than I did. But even after parting ways, I was able to follow their tyre tracks above the vast and brooding Great Moor of Rannoch for miles before eventually falling asleep in my tent at the basic but pleasant Kilvrecht Campsite near Loch Rannoch.

Day four started with a challenging pedal up a narrow, forested valley as the trickling sounds of the river below slowly faded away. A rolling and rough track across moorland eventually led to Glen Lyon, Scotland's largest enclosed glen. Here a sinewy road alongside the River Lyon took me to a sharp ascent up the Kenknock Pass with a lovely freewheel into the picturesque town of Killin.

My respite was short, however. The Badger dragged me along rough timber logging roads before I was able to enjoy another tree-lined and shady track that would take me to the town of Callander and my glamping pod. The pods are part of the youth hostel in the town, and though small, they boast a double bed, kitchenette, shower room and terrace with glorious views of Ben Ledi, the highest mountain in the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park.

Buoyed by my glamping experience and knowing the last miles of the Badger into Glasgow were the easiest of the trip, I rode along the sun-filled shores of Loch Venachar in great spirits on my final day. Amidst the trees, I spied a group of cyclists emerging from their tents after a night wild camping.

"Are you doing the Badger?" one of them asked me. They were on day two of their north-bound Badger journey.

I grinned from ear to ear. "Pretty much done it," I replied. "You're going to have the greatest trip."

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Why Minneapolis is one of the world's happiest places

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250530-why-minneapolis-is-one-of-the-worlds-happiest-places, 11 days ago

Minneapolis ranked among the world's happiest cities for 2025. Locals say the secret lies in its Nordic roots, creative energy and community spirit that bring all-season joy.

When it comes to measuring the happiest places in the world, the Nordic countries often come out on top. That was certainly the case in this year's 2025 Happy Cities Index, conducted by the Institute for the Quality of Life, where Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden all had at least one city rank in the top-marked "Gold" category. So perhaps it's no surprise that Minneapolis – the only US city aside from New York City to earn a Gold happiest city designation – has its own ties back to Scandinavia.

Home to the largest population of Norwegians, Finns and Swedes outside of Europe, Minnesota and its largest city Minneapolis still maintain strong ties to their early settlers who came to the United States in the mid-19th Century, fleeing religious persecution and famine. With its long, cold winters and abundant lakes, Minneapolis's climate and landscape certainly can resemble its Nordic counterparts. In the same vein, its residents have long learned to embrace the four seasons, and even say it contributes to their overall sense of happiness.

"Although the winters do get cold and the summers can be hot and humid, we have a lot more sunny days than many metros," says Steven Rothberg, who moved here from Winnipeg in 1988. "People here embrace the outdoors. It is a rare day that is cloudy, gloomy or drizzling, which makes outdoor activities much easier to plan and enjoy, even if it is cold or hot." He notes that the city consistently ranks among the country's highest number of commuters who bike to work, with more than two thirds of the population reporting they often or sometimes ride a bike to go to school or run errands.

The Midwest city has made continuous improvements to its cycling infrastructure, with the 51-mile loop Minneapolis Grand Rounds Scenic Byway as its crown jewel, connecting the downtown riverfront with the Mississippi River and Chain of Lakes region to the north-east part of the city. In total, Minneapolis has 21 miles of on-street protected bike lanes and 106 miles of off-street sidewalk and trail miles – many which were converted from former railway lines.

"The Rails-to-Trails paths converted abandoned former rail lines into bike and walking paths. If you look at a map of them, you can see how easy it is to get from almost anywhere in the Twin Cities to almost anywhere else without having to bike more than a mile on a city street," said Rothberg. "The beauty, serenity and safety of the trails is a massive benefit to living here, and one that I take advantage of almost every day, year-round."

The Happy Cities Index gave Minneapolis particularly high marks in the environment category, measuring green spaces, pollution and overall sustainability – a factor that residents resoundingly agree with. Whether walking or cycling, the trails give residents easy access to the city's abundant park system, clocking in at 22 lakes and 180 parks. "The parks and lakes are incredible. Whether I'm shooting an engagement at Lake Harriet or a family session at Minnehaha Falls, I'm constantly reminded how much access we have to beautiful, natural spaces right in the city," said local wedding photographer Kristine Barron. "The city puts a lot into bike trails, public libraries and community centres, which shows how much they value wellness and connection."

Minneapolis was also a standout in the economy category, ranking fourth of all measured cities in the index for its strong growth, reasonable cost of living, innovation and prioritisation of education. The index noted that nearly a quarter of residents hold a master's degree and one in five people speaks a second language.

"The welcoming nature of the people and policies that mean anyone can come here or live here and feel at home," said Kristen Montag, senior public relations and communications manager at Meet Minneapolis Convention & Visitors Association, who lives in nearby St Paul, Minneapolis' "Twin City", which makes up the large metro area.

The cultural diversity is held together by a sense of community. "Culturally, people here are kind, community-focused and resilient," said Barron.

The city has been under the spotlight again recently as it marks the five-year anniversary of the killing of George Floyd. In honour, the city holds an annual Rise & Remember Festival to showcase the power of art and community activism to continue the healing process.

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This creative energy reshapes the city from season to season. "Summertime means outdoor cafes, concerts and festivals that keep your calendar full, while wintertime brings a cosy embrace of sauna culture, outdoor recreation like cross-country skiing, snowboarding, ice skating and more, and the coffee culture, dining next to fireplaces (indoor and outdoor!) and outdoor beer festivals like the Winter Beer Dabbler," said Montag. "Spring and fall are gorgeous seasons too."

For first-time visitors, residents recommend visiting the Stone Arch Bridge, the National Civil Engineering Landmark that offers views of St Anthony Falls. "Start around sunset," recommends Barron. "You'll get skyline views, riverfront beauty and a true sense of the heart of Minneapolis. It's also one of my favourite photo spots, so bring a camera."

Locals also raved about Native American restaurant Owamni, winner of the 2022 James Beard national best new restaurant award. The restaurant proudly serves a "decolonised dining experience", removing colonial ingredients such as wheat flour, cane sugar and dairy from its recipes. Instead, it prioritises Indigenous food producers for its signature seasonal dishes, like bison ribeye, huckleberry-cured salmon and stuffed poblanos.

Montag also recommends heading to one of Minneapolis go-to burger joints and ordering a "Jucy Lucy" – a Minneapolis-invented cheeseburger where the cheese is stuffed in the middle of the burger instead of on top. While its exact origins are hotly debated, former speakeasy 5-8 Club Tavern & Grill and Matt's Bar both claim an early version.

Although the famous Mall of America – the largest shopping mall in the country with more than 580 stores – is a popular tourist draw, residents warn that it's not too dramatically different from a mall you might have visited before. "Just larger and with a small amusement park in the centre," says local author Michael MacBride.

Instead, the truly unique photo ops are at the free Minneapolis Sculpture Garden with its 60 creative and oversized sculptures, including the city's iconic pop art-inspired Spoonbridge & Cherry fountain. The nearby Walker Art Center also has free nights on Thursdays and showcases contemporary art, performances and films.

"Minneapolis has strong creative energy," said Barron. "Lots of art, music and photography. "It's a city that appreciates the little things."

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The women saving Japan's vanishing cuisine

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250530-the-women-saving-japans-vanishing-cuisine, 12 days ago

For 450 years, the little-known Ryukyu Kingdom thrived in what is now Japan. Now, after nearly vanishing, its unique fusion cuisine is being revived.

"You can learn a lot about a person by looking at their tongue," Yukie Miyaguni tells me in the kitchen-classroom of her second-storey apartment in Uruma, a city on the Japanese island of Okinawa. I've taken a few cooking classes over the years, but this is the first time anyone's ever asked to examine my tongue.

With my mouth agape, Miyaguni – a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioner and Ryukyuan chef – gives my tongue a long look before drawing its likeness on a whiteboard and offering a prescription: "More cacao at night, honey in the morning and more butter," she concludes, noting it will help improve my blood circulation and dry skin.

I didn't come to Okinawa for a diagnosis per se, but in many ways, it was my taste buds that led me to Miyaguni's kitchen. I had been hoping to learn more about the island's elusive and indigenous Ryukyuan cuisine, which can be traced back to the 12th Century when the Ryukyu Islands began trading with other East Asian states.

The Ryukyu Islands stretch more than 1,100km, from the southern tip of Kyushu to north-eastern Taiwan. From 1429-1879, the archipelago flourished as a semi-autonomous state known as the Ryukyu Kingdom and was an important cross-section of maritime trade during its 450-year history. Over time, the islands developed a distinctive cultural and culinary identity that blended endemic ingredients like bitter melon, shikuwasa (a lime-like citrus fruit), beni-imo (purple sweet potatoes) and mozuku seaweed with non-native cooking techniques and ingredients. Siamese (modern-day Thai) traders brought indica rice; the Chinese introduced a variety of herbs, teas and pork; and Korean merchants taught residents how to pickle and ferment seafood and vegetables.

As Miyaguni explained, when the Kingdom's royal family welcomed visiting envoys and magistrates, they did so with a refined style of cooking and customs called "court cuisine" (Ukwanshin Ryori), in which portions of hana-ika (sliced squid), minudaru (steamed pork in seasame sauce), gunbomachi (burdock root wrapped in pork) and more were presented in a Ryukyuan lacquerware called a tundabun.

When Japan annexed and renamed the island chain Okinawa in 1879, court cuisine spread from the upper echelons of Ryukyuan society to the countryside. Everyday households continued to pass down home-cooked recipes from the islands' more relaxed "folk cuisine" as well. But when US forces occupied Okinawa for several decades after World War Two, a mixture of American fast food influence, a rapid assimilation to Japanese culture, food shortages and economic hardships led to the near disappearance of the islands' ancient fusion food culture.

Now, thanks to a growing contingent of women like Miyaguni, a resurgence of Ryukyuan cuisine is quietly underway.

"This was the food of our ancestors," Miyaguni says, slicing into a pimply green bitter gourd called goya and tossing it into a small mixing bowl along with tofu, eggs and pork to make a traditional style of stir fry called champaru. Meaning "to mix together", champaru dishes are often considered the spirit of Okinawa because they reflect the islands' diverse influences. "By cooking this way," Miyaguni continued, "we honour their [memories] and keep this ancient culture alive."

As with traditional Japanese cuisine on the mainland, Ryukyuan food is rooted in locally sourced and seasonal ingredients. Dishes and ingredients like goya champaru, jimami (peanut) tofu, slow-boiled agu (pork) and umibudo (sea grapes) served in tundabun or Okinawan pottery called yachimun are integral to keeping the traditions of Ryukyuan court cuisine and folk cuisine alive.

"Ryukyuan cuisine is not colourful, so using these plates and lacquerware helped make the food look more vivid," Miyaguni explained, pointing to the fire engine-red tundabuncontaining each dish on the table.

After we finished kneading the dough for chinsuko (a traditional Okinawan shortbread made of lard, flour and sugar) and placed it in the oven, we sat down to enjoy the fruits of our labour. As I savoured delicate bites of buttery soft peanut tofu, slices of black sesame-coated pork loin and mung bean rice balls wrapped in banana leaves, Miyaguni explained the health benefits of Ryukyuan food. She said ingredients like bitter melon and purple sweet potatoes are high in antioxidants and help lower blood sugar and aid digestion, while awamori, a locally distilled spirit, can aid in gut health.

Miyaguni's interest in preserving Ryukyuan food culture is rooted in the Chinese philosophy of food as medicine. After retiring as a nutritionist at a hospital in Okinawa in 2008, Miyaguni encountered TCM and began to learn about its "deep connection" to Ryukyuan cuisine. For the last 10 years, Miyaguni has been teaching locals and visitors about the health components of Ryukyuan cuisine from her home. In 2018, she was selected as a representative of Ryukyuan cuisine by the Okinawa Prefectural Governor.

"Until now, Okinawa has been the pride of the world as the island of longevity. However, now the health of the people is deteriorating," Miyaguni said.

Miyaguni explained that even after the islands were annexed, Ryukyuan folk cuisine was still governed by the Chinese philosophy of ishoku dogen, which emphasises the importance of using high-quality, seasonally available ingredients. Homemade tofu, mugwort soup, purple potato and bitter melon remained staples of folk cuisine, along with the Confucian belief of using all parts of the pig. "Everything but the oink," Miyaguni said.

Today, Miyaguni still keeps a book in her kitchen called Gozen Honzō (Edible Plants of Ryukyu), which was written by a chief physician to the king of the Ryukyuan Kingdom. "Gozen Honzō… explains the types of and used of edible plants, animals and many other foods and a number of sections describe methods of preparing them," Miyaguni said.

"We've lost the Ryukyuan language because it isn't taught, but understanding how our ancestors cooked, and teaching these traditions is how we will continue to protect the Ryukyuan culture for future generations," she added.

While Miyaguni's interest in preserving Ryukyuan cuisine stems from her medicinal background, Kazumi Kayo, a Ryukyuan cooking instructor and food culture ambassador for the Okinawa Prefecture, says her interest in reviving these culinary traditions goes back to her mother.

"When I was young, I was not interested in Ryukyuan cuisine," Kayo said. "However, the memory of the taste that my mother made for me since I was a child came back to me, and I wanted to maintain a cooking method that brought out the taste of these simple ingredients, so I specialised in cooking, obtained a qualification and started a cooking class."

But Kayo is aware that the region's famous longevity – which many believe is inextricably linked to its diet – is increasingly in peril.

"For a long time, Okinawa prefecture has maintained the world's longest life expectancy, but with the Westernisation of food, that ranking has dropped, and now the number of people suffering from lifestyle-related diseases is increasing, which is a problem for the prefecture," Kayo said.

In 2016, Okinawa's prefectural government developed a programme called Ryukyuan Cuisine Masters to help preserve Ryukyuan food while also addressing rising health concerns.

"About five years ago, we strengthened training for chefs in the food and beverage industry and nutrition associations, provided them with qualifications and started activities to pass on and popularise Ryukyuan cuisine, including traditional cooking methods," Kayo added. "I think the residents of the prefecture will realise the goodness of Ryukyuan cuisine again."

Now in her 18th year as a Ryukyuan cooking instructor, Kayo runs the Yonner Food Cooking Studio, whose classes start by taking locals and visitors to Makishi Public Market in downtown Naha. "Yonnerfood' means 'slow food' in Okinawan dialect, and by having a leisurely chat while shopping and taking a cooking class, I hope to help people learn about Okinawa's food culture and develop a love for Okinawa," Kayo said.

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In 2019, in an effort to further prevent the decline of Ryukyuan cuisine, the non-profit Ryukyu Cuisine Preservation Association was established to safeguard and promote the culinary heritage of the Ryukyu Kingdom. The same year, "The Unbroken Legacy of the Ryukyu Kingdom" and its unique food culture was registered as a national heritage of Japan.

In addition to educational cooking classes like Miyaguni's and Kayo's, a handful of Ryukyuan restaurants and food tours have also cropped up across the islands.

Local tour guide Junko Yokoo's Blue Zone Okinawa Home Cooking Tour takes guests to the home of Hiromi Nerome, another certified Ryukyuan cuisine specialist and chef whose own cooking class is based out of her home in the seaside village of Nakijin.

"I started offering this tour in 2022 in response to tourists' interest in Okinawa's 'longevity' cuisine," Yokoo tells me. "Locally grown vegetables like bitter melon and purple sweet potato are quite different from mainland Japan, so people are curious to taste them and learn about what makes Okinawan food so healthy."

In 2024, Suitenrou opened in downtown Naha and offers a mix of Ryukyuan folk and court cuisine along with traditional music and dancing. For a more formal court cuisine-inspired affair, Kuninda also in downtown Naha serves classic dishes like stewed pork cubes in white miso and sea grapes topped with freshly grated wasabi.

But if you ask Miyaguni or Kayo, they will tell you that the key to preserving Ryukyuan food culture starts in the kitchen and is best learned through hands-on experience.

"I think that if we can spread the word and attract attention outside the prefecture and abroad, the people of the prefecture will once again realise the goodness of Ryukyuan cuisine," Kayo said. "If Ryukyuan cuisine disappears, we will lose the identity of Okinawa, so we must preserve it."

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Britain's five best slow train journeys

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250529-britains-five-best-slow-train-journeys, 13 days ago

As England celebrates the 200th anniversary of rail travel, author and train expert Tom Chesshyre reveals his favourite rides across the UK.

Two hundred years ago in a small market town in north-east England, something happened that had never been seen before: ticket-holding travellers boarded carriages and eagerly awaited as a steam locomotive hauling passenger cars began to slowly rattle along wrought-iron tracks. The locomotive-powered series of cars and carriages was called a train, and this first 26-mile journey in 1825 from Darlington to Stockton birthed the modern railway and forever changed the world.

The bicentennial of this momentous event was the impetus for author, traveller and train enthusiast Tom Chesshyre's most recent book, Slow Trains Around Britain. For more than 20 years, Chesshyre has been riding the rails across the UK and around the world, totalling more than 40,000 miles in all.

Chesshyre recently sat down with the BBC to talk about his new book, what still makes rail travel so alluring and his favourite "slow-train" rides (regional train trips) in Britain.

What inspired you to write Slow Trains Around Britain?

Well, it's a simple one, really, because it's the 200th anniversary of the first public passenger steam train! We, the British, invented the trains. It was a proud moment.

I've been interested in railways for some time. It's a slower way [to travel]. You see places off the beaten track out of the train window. But it was the anniversary that really inspired it.

Considering that trains are a more eco-friendly way to travel than flying and people are increasingly concerned about their carbon footprints, do you think we're on the verge of a resurgence in train travel?

I think we've got a way to go. As long as the flight prices are so cheap, it's very tempting if you're in Britain to fly to Barcelona. You could fly there maybe for £60 return. But to get a train, it might cost £150 each way. The prices are so against it. However, there's a pass in Europe called the Interrail Pass, which is offered by a company called Rail Europe. In the past, it used to be mainly youthful backpackers, but I think now people are aware that if they've got two or three weeks off, they can book one of these rail passes and have an adventure around Europe by taking trains. Buying these passes makes it more affordable.

The other thing is the high-speed train networks in Europe have [gotten] much better. Spain now has the best high-speed network in Europe, so now most people in Spain would not consider flying from the north to the south.

Why do you think travellers remain fascinated by trains?

There's a kind of nostalgia for the golden age of trains, when there was a kind of Agatha Christie feel: plush velvet seats (they were normally in the first class) waiters with bow ties and a mystique. This was very much where princes, royalty, celebrities, writers, actors and the aristocracy of Europe used to ride around on trains, say, from the 1890s to around the Second World War. This was the glamorous way of getting about, and I think in the back of people's minds, there's a belief that there's a kind of romance connected to train travel.

You've [still] got these beautiful old stations, too. People may go to a station such as St Pancras in London with all this beautiful Gothic style, and they think: 'This is a beautiful setting.'

Do you have a favourite international train trip that you've taken?

Just for the sheer adventure of it … I enjoyed the Trans-Siberian Railway. I went from Moscow to Beijing, which was many thousands of miles; it took nine days. I liked it because you could see the scenery. We went into Siberia; we went above Mongolia. And when you're on a train for that long as a writer, I met all sorts of characters.

I was confronted by a drunken Russian who was unhappy with me for some reason I didn't understand. I got to know the people who worked at the dining carriage and how the waitress was having an affair with the steward who ran the carriage. The actual train [becomes] its own ecosystem. I got to see the beautiful Ural Mountains, these industrial cities with their smokestacks, the great big pine forests and the expanse of the tundra. [It was] a sleeper car for eight nights, nine days, so this was quite an adventure.

What do you hope readers take away from your book?

Well, [train travel is] a way of getting about that opens up parts of the country you might not normally see – not just in Britain, but anywhere. And if you use a train line as a kind of means of getting about, you can stop off, and you don't have to worry about traffic jams. You don't have to worry. You're not having a big carbon footprint.

You're not stressed out in a car, you can read a book, you can visit places that you wouldn't really see [otherwise] and I think we rush around so much in our lives that it's time that we should think about slowing down. There's no need to hurry, and that's what trains allow you to do. So just take it slow.

These are Chesshyre's favourite slow train rides in Britain.

Overall favourite: Inverness to Thurso on ScotRail

Inverness is in the middle of Scotland, and then I went all the way up to the most northerly station in the whole of the UK, which is called Thurso. You go through this kind of moorland, almost like a kind of desolate landscape. It's really awe-inspiring and so quiet. You feel like you're taking a train and disappearing from modern life, leaving it behind. It's not an expensive ticket either; it's a regular train. You end up in this little town overlooking the Atlantic Ocean up there, and it's just a feeling of escape. (Interested? Check out this recent BBC Travel story: Scotland's most remote railway adventure.)

Most picturesque: St Ives Bay Line

The most picturesque of all was probably just the short journey from St Erth in Cornwall to St Ives, which is a kind of [an] old fishing village that all these artists went to live in. You go along this clifftop with a beach down below and all the waves crashing on the shore. You must sit on the right going in and on the left going out if you want to get the perfect view.

Most fun: Craven Arms to Llanelli on Transport for Wales

Going through the middle of Wales, it's called the Transport for Wales train line. You'd be [starting] in a place called Craven Arms and [going] as far as a place called Llanelli. This journey took about three hours, but it was on a Saturday evening, and people had brought their beer or wine and their snacks. I kind of sat, and I watched as people began singing some Welsh songs. [It became] a singalong!

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It wasn't like people were getting drunk; it was just kind of jolly. It was only one carriage for this train, so there was a small little party going on as the darkness fell, with the green hills around us on a very remote line. It was a very happy experience.

Best for history buffs: New Romney to Dungeness on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway

There are lots of these heritage lines; they're kind of like the old steam trains. You have in Britain 170 [of them], which is unbelievable, heritage lines covering around 600 miles. These are special little lines that might only just be open at the weekend.

One of them went from a place called Hythe in Kent to Dungeness, which is where there's a former nuclear power station. It's tiny, and they have what are called 'narrow gauges'. So it's not the big, wide train, like a normal train. It's narrow … a 1-ft or 2-ft-wide track. It was created by an eccentric aristocrat who had a lot of money and decided to build a little toy train just for himself. It was like a little baby train. So, that was maybe a historic train line that I wouldn't have discovered if not for the book.

Best for rail enthusiasts: North Yorkshire Moors Railway

There was one place called the North Yorkshire Moors Railway that is up in the north-east, near the Stockton and Darlington, where I began the whole journey.

In the 1960s, when motorways came along [in the UK], it began to basically make railways not so important. There was a massive cutback in railways in Britain. There were as many as 23,000 miles of train tracks, and now there are only 10,000 miles of train routes. But on one of these routes on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, rail enthusiasts reopened it in the 1970s.

So, you can go along this little train track with all these old steam trains through beautiful moorlands, very remote. Lovely bracken and gorse on the hillside, and you see the steam trailing past the carriage windows. I was allowed to go in where they put the coal in, you know, and actually see the furnace at the front.

At least 30,000 people volunteer to help these [old steam trains.] They're not for profit, most of these things. It shows that 200 years on, there is still a lot of respect and pride in Britain for the fact that trains were invented here. That was quite touching to see.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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'The sea is like a minefield': The web of illegal fish traps in Italy's Mediterranean

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250609-the-illegal-web-of-fish-traps-in-the-italys-mediterranean, yesterday

Off the coast of Sicily, Sea Shepherd and its volunteers are hunting down illegal fish traps and working with Italian authorities to crack down on this environmental crime.

The flat water melts into the teal-coloured sky as a former pilot vessel, the Sea Eagle, sails through the calm Tyrrhenian Sea surrounding the Aeolian Archipelago of Sicily.

The ship is operated by Sea Shepherd, an international marine conservation non-profit. Today, the team is searching for fish aggregating devices (FADs), man-made plastic structures used to attract fish. They float in the water, anchored to the seafloor, with hanging nets to catch fish. FADs made from plastic, without GPS tracking devices attached, are illegal in Italy.

While listening to techno music, a group of volunteers uses a winch to detach one of the FADs from the seafloor. A large plastic container labelled "corrosive" emerges from the sea.

"The [techno] rhythm gives us the right energy," says James* (the crew do not wish to use their full names for safety reasons), a young Canadian volunteer who is running the operation and whose arms are covered in ocean-inspired tattoos. The volunteers work tirelessly to extract the plastic FADs from the sea and pile the tangled trash heaps into big bags. The retrieved plastic will be turned into plastic crates for sea turtle rescue operations.

FADs are used worldwide by fishermen to attract pelagic fishes into surrounding nets. These fish-trapping devices are typically composed of used fuel, pharmaceutical and other chemical containers among other types of plastic waste, dark plastic nets and rocks, all of which is held together by a few miles of nylon thread. Marine wildlife is attracted to the shade provided by FADs.

Abandoned FADs are illegal. They can cause a wide range of adverse environmental impacts, including the entanglement of marine life (particularly sharks and turtles), act as a habitat for the spread of invasive species, and wash ashore on beaches or become stranded on coral reefs. Many lost or abandoned FADs sink, causing environmental harm to deep-sea habitats.

The material the FADs are made of matters too. FADs are required by Italian law to be biodegradable. All the FADs removed by the Sea Shepherds from the South Tyrrhenian Sea are illegal and made of plastic, says Nicola Silvestri, frigate captain and head of the Fishing Control Centre area in Western Sicily. They also lack markings which allow them to be traced back to the fishing boat that used them, he says.

"Illegal FADs are very cheap to produce, but at the same time highly dangerous for ecosystems," says Andrea Morello, president of Sea Shepherd Italy. "These devices are installed by fishers in the month of August, then they catch fish around them in summer. Eventually, winter storms remove the devices, creating tonnes of hazardous and plastic waste floating in the sea."

In this stretch of sea around Sicily's Aeolian Archipelago, the target fishing species in the summer are juvenile ricciola, bluefin tuna, juvenile swordfish and pilot fish. FADs can damage the entire population, by preventing juveniles from maturing and reproducing.

The Sea Shepherd mission is part of the organisation's ongoing Siso operation in Sicily to combat these illegal fishing devices.

"We are witnessing the biggest marine environmental disaster ever," says Morello. "The sea is like a minefield full of FAD lines in every direction, placed by fishers who split the sea surface among them, threatening biodiversity."

The Sea Shepherd volunteers remove the long nylon threads attached to the FADs which can harm fish, turtles, humpback whales and dolphins by trapping and suffocating them. According to Sea Shepherd, there are more than 36,000 FADs, each one composed of almost 1.2 km (0.7 miles) of nylon lines in the South Tyrrhenian Sea, part of the Mediterranean Sea.

It takes the volunteers one hour to extract almost 2km (1.2 miles) of a FAD line, it's the first out of seven removed that day. Not far away, a police coast guard boat is monitoring the work: later it will seize the illegal plastic materials. The use of FADs made from plastic waste, without GPS trackers, is an environmental crime in Italy.

Sarah, a young German volunteer, rings the bell installed on the deck of the vessel, to celebrate and notify the crew that another FAD has successfully been extracted from the seabed. In total, the volunteers haul seven FADs onto the deck that day – their combined mass is the same size as a small car.

Sea Shepherd runs covert missions, so that they are undetected by illegal fishers. The organisation maps the FADs using deep-sea radar technology and binoculars and removes them in collaboration with national maritime authorities.

Between 2017 and 2024, the organisation removed 676 FADs from the Mediterranean Sea, says Morello. "We define ourselves as FAD hunters: here to protect the sea. We are also carrying out the first census of FADs ever realised in the Mediterranean Sea," he says.

The data collected during this mission will be analysed as part of a research project that Sea Shepherd runs with the National Biodiversity Future Centre of the University of Palermo in Sicily and the Cima Research Foundation, based in Liguria, Italy. Using statistical analysis, Sea Shepherd has been producing maps since 2017 to identify for the first time the extent of this ghost labyrinth created by FADs anchored to the seabed.

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"With the information provided by Sea Shepherd, we were able to have a precise mapping of the location and composition of these devices," says Alberto Sechi, a marine biologist at Cima Foundation. "Since 2017, the plastic lines (mostly polypropylene) used to anchor the FADs exceeds 2,500km (1,553 miles): that corresponds to the distance between Paris and Moscow."

In a single night, Morello says the Sea Shepherds discovered around 912 FADs in the waters surrounding the Sicilian island of Alicudi, each one composed of more than 1km (0.6 miles) of nylon threads. "Multiplying the number of FADs we found by the medium length of each thread, the total length of lines used in this area is a staggering 43,200 km (26.284 miles) of nylon: this is more than the circumference of the entire planet Earth," says Morello.

Sea Shepherd's work involves removing as many FADs as possible, but then, the disposal problem arises. In 2022, the non-profit started collaborating with iMilani, an Italian company that specialises in building plastic crates from recycled materials. Together, they have created the Sea Turtle Crates project, which aims to transform the FADs into plastic crates for sea turtle rescue operations. After the entangled turtles have been freed from the FADs, they are put into the crates which Sea Shepherd uses to transport them to veterinarians. Six loggerhead turtles have been rescued to date and 100 turtle recovery boxes have been created from FADs, says Roberto Milani, founder of iMilani and a freediver.

The company is hoping to design other items with FADs waste in future, including pens and other gadgets, which can be sold to finance Sea Shepherd's activities, says Milani.

On the bow of the Sea Eagle vessel, the boxes for injured turtles are piled to the side of big bags full of plastic lines extracted from the FADs. In one day at sea, the crew removed seven FADs composed of 6.5km (4 miles) of nylon lines and plastic containers. Their labels reveal their previous lives: from hospital waste and corrosive liquids, to oil, gas and detergent jerrycans. Using radar, the Sea Shepherds map more than 100 FADs throughout the day.

The crew's work begins early in the morning, and continues until sunset, with brief breaks for meals. Tuti, 23, an Israeli volunteer, prepares a vegan buffet each day. Today's menu is inspired by Latin American foods, such as empanadas, chimichurri, black beans mole and corn tortillas, which Tuti learned to cook during a Sea Shepherd mission in the Gulf of California, where she worked to protect the last vaquita dolphins.

Onboard are 20 volunteers, from four continents with different ages and backgrounds: from Willie, a 20-year-old German student, to retired engineer and sea captain Gigi, 63, who joins Sea Shepherd's missions several times a year.

"We are here because we want to be part of the solution. We are sort of part of it, by removing all those plastics from the seas," says Zafar from Pakistan, who is in charge of measuring and cataloguing each FAD for the database. "I don't understand people's insensitivity towards the sea and its inhabitants," he says.

Many FADs are anchored to the seafloor with stones or buckets full of cement, says Teresa Romeo, director of the Sicily Marine Centre at the Anton Dohrn Zoological Station in Naples, Italy. She has been studying FADs since the 1990s. "They modify the seabed environment and affect all the species living there," she says.

Romeo says a mandatory recovery of all FADs should be implemented. "We need to establish a spatial management plan to define a specific area [for FADs] and replace floating materials with biodegradable ones, in order to have a more sustainable fishing practice in the Mediterranean Sea," says Romeo.

Sea Shepherd makes "a great contribution to the mapping actions of FADs and their efforts are useful for monitoring impacts, but in my opinion the aim cannot be drastic removal, but to regulate their use," she says.

But creating biodegradable devices from materials such as hemp is difficult due to the high cost, according to Sechi. "Creating a completely biodegradable FAD is a significant challenge, and so far, no one has come up with a solution," he says. "One alternative could be hemp, but kilometres of hemp thread are very expensive, and no angler would spend that much."

Experts such as Romeo say that the transition to biodegradable and non-toxic materials would be an important part of the solution to reduce marine pollution from fisheries based on FADs. As well as breaking down in the ocean, biodegradable materials may contain fewer toxins and heavy metals, compared to plastic, says Romeo, though she agrees that cost is a major barrier for materials such as hemp.

In the meantime, the Sea Shepherds continue to sail the seas to map and remove illegal fish-trapping devices, collaborating closely with the local coastguard, researchers and private enterprises to crack down on this environmental crime.

"This alliance is a solution to protect the deep sea," says Morello.

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Surveys to assess impact of major solar farm

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cnv14qpjmd0o, today

Surveys to assess how a major new solar farm would impact the countryside have begun.

The Kingsway Solar Farm could power up to 175,000 homes if built on 3,700 acres (1,500ha) of land south of Cambridge.

But residents said they were concerned it would "envelope" the surrounding villages of Balsham, West Wratting, Weston Colville and Weston Green.

A spokesman for the development said all views would be "fully considered" before any work started.

They added that experts were assessing the potential impact on the landscape and urged people to engage with consultations.

Kingsway Solar stressed battery storage at the site would meet "rigorous" UK safety standards.

The scheme was deemed a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, meaning it was up to the Secretary of State to have the final say.

Campaigner Vicky Moss feared the countryside would be "industrialised" if it went ahead.

"I do not think it has sunk in for some people that it may be at the end of their gardens," she said.

She accused the developer of ignoring the "ideas, wishes, thoughts and feelings" of residents.

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Ministers back '20,000-job' carbon capture project

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn9jr8p3zv4o, today

The company behind a major carbon capture scheme on the south bank of the Humber – which could support 20,000 jobs during construction – says it will work with the government on the "critical steps" needed to bring it to fruition.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed support for the Viking CCS Humberside project during her Spending Review speech on Wednesday.

The technology would extract emissions from industry in the Immingham area before transporting the gas via pipelines to be stored under the North Sea.

Graeme Davies, executive vice president at Harbour Energy, said the announcement sent "a strong signal" that the scheme was "an infrastructure-led economic growth priority in this parliament".

The government has earmarked £9.4bn in capital budgets towards carbon capture clusters, which it said would help the UK "achieve energy security and clean power".

The Viking scheme is one of two projects to be backed in the Spending Review, with a £200m investment announced for the Acorn Project, based in St Fergus, Aberdeenshire.

Planning consent for Viking was granted by the government in April and a final investment decision is expected to be taken later in this parliament.

A 55km (34-mile) pipeline would carry the extracted emissions from the Immingham area to the site of the former Theddlethorpe Gas Terminal on the Lincolnshire coast.

According to the government, Viking could support approximately 20,000 jobs, including 1,000 apprenticeships, at the peak of construction work.

Once operational the Viking and Acorn clusters are expected to remove a total of 18-million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere per year.

The technology could also generate low-carbon power and enable hydrogen power.

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Badenoch calls for end to oil and gas windfall tax

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czdy9lg89gpo, today

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has called for an end to the windfall tax on oil and gas companies and said new licenses should be issued for drilling in the North Sea.

Addressing the Scottish Conservative party conference in Edinburgh, Badenoch said the tax - known as Energy Profits Levy - should be scrapped before its current 2030 expiration.

The levy was brought in by the previous Conservative UK government but Badenoch said her party had got this wrong.

The Tory leader also claimed that Scotland had "declined" under left wing parties and that the SNP had wasted millions on "independence propaganda".

The Energy Profits Levy was introduced in May 2022 after oil and gas companies recorded skyrocketing profits due to a sharp rise in energy prices, in part due to the war in Ukraine.

It has since been both extended and increased, with the current scheme due to end in 2030.

The oil and gas sector says the windfall tax is holding back investment.

Badenoch told the Scottish Conservative conference that as part of renewing her party she would be "standing up for our oil and gas".

She claimed the windfall tax on the sector is wrong as "for months there has been no windfall to tax".

The Tory leader said: "The strikes overnight in the Middle East remind us of how vital it is that we can rely on our own energy security, our own natural resources."

Badenoch said Labour's extension of the tax is "killing the oil and gas industry".

To applause from the conference, she said a Tory government would "scrap the ban on new licences".

Scottish Conservatives leader Russell Findlay earlier said it would be a "complete act of national self-harm" not to continue drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea.

He told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme: "We are the party who completely support the North Sea oil and gas industry.

"The SNP in Edinburgh are completely hostile to any form of new exploration, and it's exactly the same with Sir Keir Starmer and Ed Miliband in London.

"They want to leave this oil and gas in the North Sea and import oil and gas from further afield. It makes absolutely no sense."

'Out of touch'

Responding to Badenoch, Simon Francis of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition said her comments were "out of touch", adding: "Even with the windfall tax in place, the energy industry made over £115bn in profits in 2024 alone.

"Meanwhile, average household energy bills remain hundreds and hundreds of pounds higher than they were before the energy crisis started."

SNP MSP Kevin Stewart said: "The Tories wrecked our economy, presided over soaring household bills and ripped Scotland from the EU against our will."

Dame Jackie Baillie, the deputy leader of Scottish Labour, claimed the Tories are on the side of oil and gas companies "rather than working Scots".

First beaver born in Lincolnshire in 400 years

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2q7vvex11o, today

A baby beaver has been born in Lincolnshire for the first time in 400 years.

A kit was spotted on CCTV on 13 June at an enclosure in North Lincolnshire- making it the first born in the county since they went extinct in Britain in the 16th Century.

In December 2023, two Eurasian beavers were released under licence into a 70-acre enclosure at Wild Wrendale, near Searby, as part of a rewilding project by farmers Hannah and Jack Dale.

Ms Dale, 43, said it marked an important milestone in the return of the species: "Beavers belong in our landscape."

In 2019, the couple had their last harvest and soon made the decision to dedicate their unproductive farm to nature restoration.

With support from the Beaver Trust and other wildlife organisations, in 2023 the pair released two beavers.

Two years later, Ms Dale said it was a "lovely surprise" to see footage of a kit scurrying past one of her cameras.

It confirmed their mission to encourage the species had worked.

Although only one was spotted on camera, Ms Dale said it was likely there were more, as beavers tend to have two to four kits per litter.

"It's really exciting that the first baby beavers have been born in Lincolnshire for about 400 years," Ms Dale said.

'They belong here'

Ms Dale said she believed beavers offered far more than just a cute face.

"They're a really good tool to have in our armoury for becoming more resilient in the fight against climate change," she said.

According to Ms Dale, when beavers were present in the landscape during storm events, their way of life was able to reduce flood pressure.

"During periods of drought they can hold the water back on land," she said.

Ms Dale said the species are vital and said she was proud to play a small part of their return to Lincolnshire.

"There is absolutely a lace for them in the countryside and the landscape," she said.

"They belong here."

Singing cicadas return to UK after three decades

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c989zr19nj4o, today

Musical insects that went extinct in the UK have been brought back to the country from France by conservationists hoping to re-establish their population.

Scientists from the Species Recovery Trust (SRT) this week released 11 New Forest cicadas into a specially created habitat at Paultons Park - just outside the Hampshire woods where they once sang.

The New Forest cicada was once found across the national park - but the last confirmed sightings were in the 1990s.

Charlotte Carne, from the SRT, said the reintroduction project was "like bringing them back from the dead."

She added that it was "amazing to see New Forest cicadas in England after all this time" following the "really challenging project".

Conservationists believe the insects became extinct in the UK because of changes to the way land was managed.

Earlier this week 11 female cicadas were captured in northern France, before being shipped to the UK.

It is thought that some of the insects are already pregnant and have been laying eggs in their specially created habitat near Romsey.

The species' young spend at least four years underground, meaning the trust will not know if the re-introduction has been successful until 2029 at the earliest.

If they survive, the conservationists plan to release the adults at secret locations in the New Forest.

The first-of-its-kind project has been partly funded by Natural England, which said it represented a "remarkable achievement".

Graham Norton, from Natural England, added: "After years of absence, we finally have New Forest cicada on English shores again and we look forward to the next phase of the project to explore re-establishing this species in the New Forest."

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Weather makers: How microbes living in the clouds affect our lives

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250610-the-microbes-that-thrive-in-the-clouds, 3 days ago

Trillions of bacteria, fungi, viruses and single-celled organisms travel the globe high in the atmosphere. Scientists are discovering they play a vital role in the weather and even our health.

Clouds are our lifelong companions. Sometimes they drift overhead as wispy filigrees. On other days, they darken the sky and dump rain on us. But for all our familiarity with these veils of water vapour, they have been keeping a secret from us. Clouds are actually floating islands of life, home to trillions of organisms from thousands of species.

Along with birds and dragonflies and dandelion seeds, a vast ocean of microscopic organisms travels through the air. The French chemist Louis Pasteur was among the first scientists to recognise what scientists now call the aerobiome in 1860. He held up sterile flasks of broth and allowed floating germs to settle into them, turning the clear broth cloudy. Pasteur captured germs on the streets of Paris, in the French countryside and even on top of a glacier in the Alps. But his contemporaries balked at the idea. "The world into which you wish to take us is really too fantastic," one journalist told Pasteur at the time.

It took decades for people to accept the reality of the aerobiome. In the 1930s, a few scientists took to the sky in airplanes, holding out slides and Petri dishes to catch fungal spores and bacteria in the wind. Balloon expeditions to the stratosphere captured cells there as well. Today, 21st-Century aerobiologists deploy sophisticated air-samplers on drones and use DNA-sequencing technology to identify airborne life by its genes. The aerobiome, researchers now recognise, is an enormous habitat filled only with visitors.

Those visitors come from much of the planet's surface. Each time an ocean wave crashes, it hurls fine droplets of sea water into the air, some of which carry viruses, bacteria, algae and other single-celled organisms. While some of the droplets fall quickly back to the ocean, some get picked up by winds and rise up into the sky, where they can be carried for thousands of miles.

On land, winds can scour the ground, lofting bacteria and fungi and other organisms. Each morning when the sun rises and water evaporates into the air, it can draw up microscopic organisms as well. Forest fires create violent updrafts that can suck microbes out of the ground and strip them off the trunks and leaves of trees, carrying them upwards with the rising smoke.

Many species do not simply wait for physical forces to launch them into the air. Mosses, for example, grow a stalk with a pouch of spores at the tip, which they release like puffs of smoke into the air. As many as six million moss spores may fall on a single square metre of bog over the course of one summer. Many species of pollinating plants have sex by releasing billions of airbourne pollen grains each spring.

Fungi are particularly adept at flight. They have evolved biological cannons and other means for blasting their spores into the air, and their spores are equipped with tough shells and other adaptations to endure the harsh conditions they encounter as they travel as high as the stratosphere. Fungi have been found up to 12 miles (20km) up, high above the open ocean of the Pacific, carried there on the wind.

By one estimate about a trillion trillion bacterial cells rise each year from the land and sea into the sky. By another estimate, 50 million tonnes of fungal spores become airborne in that same time. Untold numbers of viruses, lichen, algae and other microscopic life forms also rise into the air. It's common for them to travel for days before landing, in which time they can soar for hundreds or thousands of miles.

During that odyssey, an organism may fly into a region of the air where the water vapor is condensing into droplets. It soon finds itself enveloped in one of those droplets, and updrafts may carry it up deeper inside the water mass. It has entered the heart of a cloud.

Much of what scientists have learned about the life in clouds has come from the top of a mountain in France called Puy de Dôme. It formed about 11,000 years ago when a fist of magma punched up into the rolling hills of central France, creating a volcano that spilled out lava before going dormant just a few hundred years later. For the past twenty years or so, a weather station on top of Puy de Dôme has been equipped with air samplers. The mountain is so high that clouds regularly blanket its peak, allowing scientists to capture some of the life they ferry.

Studies led by Pierre Amato, an aerobiologist at the nearby University of Clermont Auvergne, have revealed that every millimeter of cloud water floating over Puy de Dôme contains as many as 100,000 cells. Their DNA has revealed that some belong to familiar species, but many are new to science.

Scientists who use DNA to identify species are perpetually anxious about contamination, and Amato is no exception. A hawk soaring over Puy de Dôme might fly over Amato's tubes and shake microbes off its feathers, for example. In Amato's laboratory, a graduate student may exhale germs into a test tube. Over the years, Amato has rejected thousands of potential species, suspicious that he or his students have inadvertently smeared skin microbes onto the equipment. But they have confidently discovered over 28,000 species of bacteria in clouds, and over 2,600 species of fungi.

Amato and other scientists who study clouds suspect that they may be particularly good places for bacteria to survive – at least for some species. "Clouds are environments open to all, but where only some can thrive," Amato and a team of colleagues wrote in 2017.

For bacteria, a cloud is like an alien world, dramatically different from the habitats where they usually live on land or at sea. Bacteria typically crowd together. In rivers they may grow into microbial mats. In our guts, they form dense films. But in a cloud, each microbe exists in perfect solitude, trapped in its own droplet. That isolation means that cloud bacteria don't have to compete with each other for limited resources. But a droplet doesn't have much room to carry the nutrients microbes need to grow.

Yet Amato and his colleagues have found evidence that some microbes can indeed grow in clouds. In one study, the researchers compared samples they gathered from clouds on Puy de Dôme to others they collected on the mountain on clear days. The researchers looked for clues to their activity by comparing the amount of DNA in their samples to the amount of RNA. Active, growing cells will make a lot of copies of RNA from their DNA in order to produce proteins.

The researchers found that the ratio of RNA to DNA was several times higher in clouds than in clear air, a powerful clue that cells thrive in clouds. They also found that bacteria in clouds switch on genes essential for metabolising food and for growing.

To understand how these bacteria can thrive in clouds, the researchers have reared some of the species they've captured in their lab and then sprayed them into atmospheric simulation chambers. One kind of microbe, known as Methylobacterium, uses the energy in sunlight to break down organic carbon inside cloud droplets.

In other words, these bacteria eat clouds. By one estimate, cloud microbes break down a million tons of organic carbon worldwide every year.

Findings such as these suggest that the aerobiome is a force to be reckoned with – one that exerts a powerful influence on the chemistry of the atmosphere. The aerobiome even alters the weather.

As a cloud forms, it creates updrafts that lift water-laden air to high altitudes that are cold enough to turn the water to ice. The ice then falls back down. If the air near the ground is cold, it may land as snow. If it is warm, it turns to rain.

It can be surprisingly hard for ice to form in a frigid cloud. Even at temperatures far below the freezing point, water molecules can remain liquid. One way to trigger the formation of ice, however, is to give them a seed of impurity. As water molecules stick to a particle's surface, they bond to one another, a process known as nucleation. Other water molecules then lock onto them and assemble into a crystal structure, which when heavy enough, will fall out of the sky.

It turns out that biological molecules and cell walls are exceptionally good at triggering rain. Fungi, algae, pollen, lichens, bacteria and even viruses can seed ice in clouds. It's even possible that clouds and life are linked in an intimate cycle, not just living and devouring the clouds, but helping them to form in the first place.

One of the best rainmakers is a type of bacteria called Pseudomonas. Scientists are not sure why those bacteria in particular are so good at forming ice in clouds, but it could have to do with the way they grow on leaves. When cold rain falls on a leaf, Pseudomonas may help the liquid water to turn to ice at higher temperatures than it normally would. As the ice cracks open the leaves, the bacteria can feast on the nutrients inside.

Some scientists have even speculated that plants welcome bacteria like Pseudomonas, despite the damage they cause. As the wind blows the bacteria off the plants and lofts them into the air, they rise into clouds overhead. Clouds seeded with Pseudomonas pour down more rain on the plants below. The plants use the water to grow more leaves, and the leaves support more bacteria, which rise into the sky and spur clouds to rain down even more water to nurture life below. If it turns out to be true, it would be a majestic symbiosis, connecting forests to the sky.

Research on the life in clouds also raises the possibility that airborne organisms might exist on other planets – even ones that might seem the worst places for life to survive. Venus, for example, has a surface temperature hot enough to melt lead. But the clouds that blanket Venus are much cooler, and perhaps able to sustain life.

Sara Seager, an astrobiologist at MIT, has speculated that life might have arisen on the surface of Venus early in its history, when it was cooler and wetter. As the planet heated up, some microbes could have found refuge in the clouds. Instead of sinking back to the surface, they may have bobbed up and down in the atmosphere, riding currents for millions of years, she says.

Thinking about Seager's alien aerobiome can make cloud-gazing even more enjoyable. But when we look at clouds, Amato's research has revealed, we are also looking up at our own influence on the world. When Amato and his colleagues have surveyed the genes in the microbes they capture, they find a remarkable number that endow bacteria with resistance to antibiotics.

Down on the ground, we humans have spurred the widespread evolution of these resistance genes. By taking excessive amounts of penicillin and other drugs to fight infections, we favour mutants that can withstand them. Making matters worse, farmers feed antibiotics to chickens, pigs and other livestock in order to get them to grow to bigger sizes. In 2014 alone, 700,000 people died worldwide from infections of antibiotic‑resistant bacteria. Five years later, the toll rose to 1.27 million.

The evolution of antibiotic resistance occurs within the bodies of humans and the animals humans eat. The bacteria endowed with this resistance then escape their nurseries and make their way through the environment – into the soil, into streams, and it turns out, even into the air. Researchers have found high levels of resistance genes in the bacteria floating through hospitals and around pig farms.

But airborne resistance genes can waft even further. An international team of scientists inspected the filters in automobile air conditioners in nineteen cities around the world. The filters had captured a rich diversity of resistant bacteria. It appears, in other words, that resistance genes float through cities.

In recent years, Amato and his colleagues have charted even longer journeys. In a 2023 survey of clouds, they reported finding bacteria carrying 29 different kinds of resistance genes. A single airborne bacterium may carry as many as nine resistance genes, each providing a different defense against the drugs. Every cubic metre of cloud, they estimated, held up to 10,000 resistance genes. A typical cloud floating overhead may hold more than a trillion of them.

Amato and his colleagues speculate that clouds hold such a high number of resistance genes because they can help the bacteria survive there. Some genes provide antibiotic resistance by allowing bacteria to pump the drugs out of their interiors quickly, getting rid of them before they can cause damage. The stress of life in a cloud may cause bacteria to produce toxic waste that they need to pump out quickly as well.

Clouds may be able to spread these resistance genes farther than contaminated meat and water. Once in a cloud, bacteria can travel hundreds of miles in a matter of days before seeding a raindrop and falling back to Earth. When they reach the ground, the microbes may then pass along their resistance genes to other microbes they encounter. Every year, Amato and his colleagues estimate, 2.2 trillion trillion resistance genes shower down from the clouds.

It is a sobering thought to hold in one's mind on a walk through the rain. We walk through downpours of DNA of our own making.

* Carl Zimmer's latest book Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe is out now.

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Is it better to neglect your garden?

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250606-is-it-better-to-neglect-your-garden, 6 days ago

Gardens packed with blooming flowers or adorned with neat insect hotels, are extremely popular. But are these highly curated creations actually helpful – or would it be better to allow nature to take its own course?

When she's not leading garden-based learning at Cornell University's School of Integrative Plant Science in New York, Ashley Louise Miller Helmholdt is a mum who likes to garden. She has a few different gardens on her property, as well as a patch of lawn for her son to play on where clover occasionally crops up. "I have a little plot that's just wild," she says. "I have a native plant and pollinator garden. So I have a little bit of everything."

Miller Helmholdt doesn't consider herself a master gardener by any means. Still, she has "a bit of background in this" and knows that a biodiverse, native plant-based garden, even with some so-called "weeds" in it, bolsters the biodiversity in her local ecosystem.

There's a lot of emphasis today on creating gardens designed to support pollinators. Pollinator populations have been declining precipitously worldwide since the 1990s due to habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change. The US Western Monarch butterfly population, for example, dropped to just 9,119 individuals in 2024, the second lowest count since records began in 1997. Expanding lawns and a lack of native flowers in urban and suburban areas are doing them a disservice.

Even a small, pollinator-friendly wildlife garden on your property can help revive pollinator populations in your area. "Gardens, backyards, community gardens, school yards, parks, we have this incredible mosaic of green spaces scattered across the country that can help bring habitat back into our neighbourhoods and communities," says Matthew Shepherd, director of outreach and education for the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation in Portland, Oregon.

But what's the best way to go about this? As beautiful, pollinator-friendly gardens pop up across the globe, with neat "bee hotels" attached to fences and immaculate patchworks of wildflowers, some experts are questioning whether this is truly what wildlife needs – or if a bit more neglect could be more environmentally supportive in the long run. The leaves of many so-called weeds are food for insects at different life stages, while heaps of messy debris provide vital habitats – should we really clear these things away?

A new approach

As it happens, creating a wildlife garden doesn't just mean planting flowers that provide nectar and pollen. A true wildlife haven offers a year-round habitat for local species, and this may translate to letting areas of your green space get a little messy.

"There's new excitement about supporting the full annual cycle of insects," says Desirée Narango, a conservation biologist at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, Vermont. This doesn't just mean the plants that they need for food, for example, but also where they spend the winter, she says. "We want to support everything that these insects need to have sustainable populations, because then they can be more resilient against the myriad of other things that they have to deal with out there," she says.

Narango lives in rural Vermont, and her entire backyard is a meadow of native plants that basically takes care of itself. "We have a beautiful, pristine habitat all around us that's sourcing a lot of really amazing native plants, and so I don't have to do anything, because they're dispersing into that area on their own," she explains. She does have to remove dandelions from time to time to keep the non-native, invasive species from getting a foothold, but she picks her battles.

"There is evidence from North America and Europe that native plants support a greater variety of species than non-native plants," says Shepherd. Having some non-native plants in the mix can also support pollinators by increasing the nectar supply, as long as they're kept in check (invasive species have a proclivity for taking over and wiping out less hardy native species).

Narango's scenario, however, is not what you'll find in the typically suburban backyard where turf often reigns supreme. If you're hoping to create a wildlife garden in this environment, you'll likely need to remove what's there and start from scratch to give native plants a chance to thrive, says Miller Helmholdt.

"If you're starting from scratch, you'll be getting rid of some of those weed seeds in the seed bank that aren't going to be great." She recommends tilling the soil a few times to remove weed seeds in the soil so they don't all germinate and compete with the native species you plant.

A moment for weeds

Despite their reputation, so-called “weeds” in a garden or lawn serve a purpose in supporting pollinators. A 2016 study found that increasing the amount of white clover in the UK would help significantly with increasing the amount of nectar available to pollinators. Meanwhile, stinging nettles are known to support over 40 species of insects in their native range across Europe, parts of Asia and North Africa. Considering that, it might seem counterintuitive to constantly remove these plants if you're trying to promote biodiversity. But Narango says there's a catch.

Outside their native range, Narango explains that so-called weeds such as clover and dandelions mostly just support generalist species of insect – pollinators which aren't picky about which flowers they visit. "…they're not really supporting specialist species, vulnerable species, or species of high conservation concern. That's where you need the native [plant] species," she says.

That said, in some areas, white clover is native and therefore not considered invasive.

"If you live in an area where clover is native, it's a very different story than if you're in an area where it's non-native," says Narango.

You don't need to go entirely native

Turning your entire plot into a wildlife garden is a boon for biodiversity, but it's not an attainable goal for everyone. According to a recently published study Narango co-authored, converting at least 70% still makes a notable difference. It considered the impacts native and non-native landscaping have on food availability for birds (largely insects), and found non-native plants do reduce insect count, which ultimately impacts bird population growth. But there's a silver lining: "We were able to identify a threshold so that we could provide targeted [non-native plant] goalposts for people to strive for," says Narango. The researchers found that if more than 70% of your garden's biomass is native, that allows birds to sustain their populations.

Doing less with your garden and letting things get a little messy, especially during strategic times of year, such as early spring, can help to protect emerging wildlife. For example, the international campaign No Mow May encourages people [in the Northern hemisphere] to stop mowing for the entire month of May, to allow plants to bloom and set seed without being flattened or decapitated.

However, Susannah Lerman, a research ecologist for the United States Department of Agriculture's Forest Service Northern Research Station and adjunct professor at the University of Massacresetts in Amherst, US, prefers the term "Slow Mow Summer". Her research on the effects of mowing frequency found that mowing less in general leads to more flowering plants and therefore more bees.

"A lot of [pollinators] are ground-nesting bees, so actually not mowing until April or May is a good thing, because it allows them to come out of their winter nesting grounds. So, there are benefits to a little bit of neglect," says Miller Helmholdt.

What if you just do nothing?

There are benefits and challenges to letting your garden go completely.

For one thing, in the absence of human intervention, the most aggressive, non-native species have an opportunity to take over. "When you have hyper-aggressive plants, that's the enemy of diversity, because they outcompete a lot of what could have been there," says Larry Weaner, an ecological landscape designer and founder of Larry Weaner Landscape Associates Designs, based in Pennsylvania. What you're left with is a more homogenised garden, which is not great for native pollinators who might be struggling to sustain their population. "You might get an overabundance of some weedy species that might look like they're good for bees, but in reality, are not doing very much," says Narango.

Shepherd says the result could be a "tangled mess" that "will provide some food and shelter, but I'd expect its overall value for wildlife will be less than if it were a tended plot supporting a greater diversity of native plants."

However, there are totally neglected landscapes that have seen wildlife proliferation. Some so-called brownfield sites – areas of land that previously had a commercial or industrial use – such as defunct and derelict factory properties, are now home to endangered species in the UK. This includes the distinguished jumping spider, which enjoys salty, sandy environments, and is found at just two locations – both brownfield sites near London.

Though brownfield sites were never managed gardens, they demonstrate how, when properties are just left, "there were lots of opportunities for plant communities to reoccupy the sites," says Shepherd. Similarly in the US, Detroit's industrial decline led to a multitude of abandoned sites that now teem with wildlife.

While experts recommend doing a little less mowing and pruning in the spring and summer, it's also recommended to let some things pile up in the autumn, specifically leaves. The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, a non-profit organisation focused on the conservation of invertebrates, promotes an initiative called Leave the Leaves that advocates for this to protect insects that overwinter on your property.

More like this:

• The alien shrub that can’t be stopped

• The beautiful flowers that bees can’t use

• What is 'low-carbon gardening'?

"[You shouldn't] take the rake and the leaf blower and cut down all the dead things, especially under trees, and in your meadow areas, because a lot of insects are overwintering in those dead stems and in that leaf litter," cautions Narango.

Take the luna moth. In its caterpillar stage, the insect drops from a tree in the hope of finding a safe place to pupate. A leaf pile or a small native garden can provide this "soft landing", a term coined by the pollinator conservationist Heather Holm.

"If all [the caterpillar] finds is compacted soil and lawn, it can't do anything. It's dead. It didn't matter that you even planted the tree [as far as the insect is concerned]," says Narango.

Meanwhile, other pollinators benefit from slightly different forms of neglect.

"The majority of bees nest underground, so leaving areas of bare or unmulched soil [without a covering of compost, leaf mould or wood chippings to suppress weeds or retain moisture] is important," says Lerman. "Other species are pith-nesters, so leaving dead plants in the yard is beneficial since bees (and wasps) either excavate or use existing tunnels in the spongy inner part of stems. In general, less intensive management of our yards can benefit a whole suite of species," she says.

Starting a pollinator garden

If you're ready to start a pollinator garden, Narango suggests first taking a look around your property and seeing what native species you already have.

Narango recommends using a plant-identifying app to take photos of plants and insects to learn about the present ecosystem. Once you get a sense of what's there, she recommends going to a plant nursery specialising in selling native plants. "Many of these nurseries also sell plants that they can guarantee don't have systemic pesticides," she notes.

If you're specifically hoping to attract native bees, Miller Helmholdt explains that you might want to research which flowering plants the native bees in your area like the most. "In New York, [for example], there are over 90 native bees, and each one has specific flowers that they're attracted to," she says.

You can even create a bee lawn, a specific grass mix that won't grow tall but has flowers that will attract pollinators, in case you're worried about any residential rules in your area. "Many cities in the US have weed ordinances, and many homeowners' associations have landscaping rules that are often restrictive and at odds with a wildlife garden," says Shepherd.

Shepherd says that making wilder gardens can help to expand the area of usable habitat and directly contribute towards the recovery of insects. "If you do it, your neighbour, your friend in the next block, incrementally, we can create a patchwork of habitat that will collectively transform our landscapes," he says.

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What a US mission to control hurricanes taught us about deadly storms

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250603-project-stormfury-the-us-quest-to-control-hurricanes, 9 days ago

An ambitious project to weaken or divert hurricanes generated decades of suspicion and disagreement. What did we learn – and will it ever be revived?

As a grad student in the 1960s, Joe Golden flew on about a dozen of missions into the "eyewall" of a hurricane, where winds of 160mph (260km/h) battered the sides of his propeller-powered plane. "You could think of it as a ring of thunderstorms that often tower over 40,000ft [12,200m]," says Golden, who photographed hurricanes and gathered data on their development. "And it can also have frequent lightning in it," he adds, matter-of-factly. "So that's another hazard."

Crews on the "hurricane hunting" flights padded their planes' cabin and learned to never ignore orders to strap in when penetrating the wall. But meteorologist Hugh Willoughby recalls thrilling "white-knuckle" flights, including one when life rafts and safety equipment crashed against the ceiling when the plane began falling about 200ft (60m), its engine flaming out. "This is something I dearly loved: get up at 2:00 in the morning, put on my flight suit, lace up my boots," says Willoughby. "Go into the kids' room, pull the covers up over them, kiss them on the forehead, and go out and fly into a raging tempest."

Since the 1940s, pioneers like Willoughby and Golden have been embarking on daring flights into this most intense region of a hurricane to gather data that has expanded scientific knowledge about them and revealed how they develop their lethal force.

But, for a brief window of a few decades, the US Department of Defense and weather services flew missions into the eyewall with an even more ambitious objective: to not only observe these towering storms but to change them. Between 1962 and 1983, under the name Project Stormfury, navy pilots flew missions that released a silver compound into "the belt of maximum winds", just beyond the wall, in the belief that this region was violent but unstable. If so, perhaps it could be disrupted, calming the storm's vicious force.

Six decades after its first flights – and 42 years since it was cancelled – Stormfury veterans Golden and Willoughby remember a project that gave us vital knowledge that has helped to save lives. But along with this, US attempts to control storms have left behind a controversial legacy that has fueled distrust and conspiracy theories, with some unanswered questions that linger today.

From nuclear weapons to hurricane experiments

Both Golden and Willoughby recall that weather modification projects emerged at a time of enormous optimism following the end of World War Two, when there was a widespread perception that there was no limit to what science could achieve.

In the background was the nuclear bomb, says Kristine Harper, professor of history and sciences at the University of Copenhagen. After the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was expectation that constructive uses of atomic energy would follow, from nuclear power to "atomic gardening" that used radioactive substances to breed new mutant crops.

In 1946, newspaper and radio stations speculated that nuclear weapons might soon safeguard us from acts of God, recounts Harper in her book Make It Rain, an account of the US government's attempts at weather control. One New York Times article asked whether atomic energy "by its explosive force" could divert hurricanes away from cities. "You know, maybe we could destroy hurricanes with nuclear bombs?" laughs Harper. (This is not a good idea, meteorologists have repeatedly clarified.)

Early efforts to explore weather control were backed by veterans of the Manhattan Project, including John von Neumann and the so-called "father of the H-bomb" Edward Teller. But the most important breakthrough arrived, instead, inside a small, adapted freezer. At the research laboratory at US firm General Electric run by Nobel Prize-winning chemist Irving Langmuir, experiments had shown it might be possible to induce rain in clouds, by releasing substances that would cause supercooled water in the clouds to crystallise into snowflakes.

To test this "cloud seeding" technology in the field, Langmuir's assistant dropped dry ice out of the window of a single-engine airplane into a cloud hanging over western Massachusetts in November 1946. Langmuir was watching through binoculars from the ground below as snow began to fall in autumn toward a mountain called Mount Greylock. "This is history!" he cried down the phone to reporters, according to Caesar's Last Breath: The Epic Story of the Air Around Us by Sam Kean. At a time when many dreamed they might soon "be able to choose their weather much as they chose a radio station", writes Harper, the era of weather control appeared to be startlingly close at hand.

How to weaken a hurricane

Although little was known at the time about hurricane structure and behaviour, the US Navy and Army agreed to collaborate with Langmuir's lab on Project Cirrus, which aimed to understand if cloud seeding technology might be able to help extinguish hurricanes at birth, divert them off-course, or else weaken deadly tropical cyclones before they hit land.

Data gathered by weather balloons and aircraft indicated that hurricane clouds might contain large quantities of supercooled water, like the cloud Langmuir had seeded. During the hurricane season of 1947, on October 13, he convinced a navy crew to drop 80kg (200lb) of dry ice into an ice crusher in the belly of a B-17 bomber, sprinkling powder into a hurricane crossing Florida. This would be the historic first attempt to use this technology to modify a tropical cyclone. Although the adapted World War Two bombers did not have the technology to precisely target areas of the hurricane, their mission was enough to encourage the project's directors. Flying in a B-17 half-a-mile behind the seeding plane, a US Navy meteorologist observed overcast clouds turned into snowfall, noting the hurricane appeared to undergo "pronounced modification", recounts Fixing The Sky by Jim Flemming.

But in the days after, the unexpected happened. The hurricane that had been heading out harmlessly to sea, swerved from its course. Hitching westward, toward shore, it smashed the city of Savannah, Georgia, resulting in one recorded death and damage estimated at millions of dollars. Despite no firm evidence, Langmuir said he was "99% sure" the storm had changed course due to the seeding.

Stormfury's goal

Fears among the public and questions from meteorologists plagued Project Cirrus until it ended in 1952. But the US military maintained a strong interest in storm modification as their involvement in the Vietnam War escalated in the 1960s, says Harper.

"The Navy had a secret programme out at China Lake Naval Air Station [in California] where they were working on seeding techniques or weather-control techniques that were going to be used in Laos in Vietnam," she says. These classified missions, codenamed Operation Popeye, aimed to develop a "weather weapon" that could seed rain storms to wash out the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the North Vietnamese military supply line. For these efforts, says Harper, a civilian programme to research weather modification would provide the "perfect cover".

According to Stormfury's working hypothesis, by seeding the area just outside the eye wall with silver iodide, they could cause clouds to form a second eyewall, which in turn would compete with the inner eye wall. If they could make an eyewall to reform at a greater width, they expected that they would slow the hurricane's speed, Harper explains – like an ice skater extending their arms to slow their twirl.

"If they could reduce the wind speed by 10% or so, that could make a difference in the category of intensity at landfall," says Willoughby, who started out flying storm-monitoring missions in the Pacific for the US Navy during the early 1970s. If a 100mph (160 km/h) wind could be slowed to (80km/h), it would actually lose 75% of its force. Hurricane Esther would provide the crucial test for the theory. Emerging around the islands of Cabo Verde (Cape Verde) in September 1961, the storm was becoming more intense as it swept through the Atlantic, about 400 miles (640km) north of Puerto Rico. On 16 September, an aircraft belonging to the US Weather Bureau flew through Esther's eyewall and dropped eight canisters of silver iodide into the raging winds. On a radar instrument monitoring Esther, US Weather Bureau planes detected a weakening of the eyewall. Despite other checks showing no change, it was declared a success, the Stormfury era was officially launched.

Penned in

The 1947 Project Cirrus mission still loomed large, despite research indicating the hurricane had already begun to turn before the seeding flight. As a result, Stormfury was restricted by a stringent set of requirements for how and where hurricanes could be modified. What resulted was a polygon zone drawn on a map: a confined experimental area, over the open Atlantic far from the US – yet close enough to Cuba that Fidel Castro accused the US of trying to attack his communist regime.

As a result of these restrictions, many storm seasons came and went during the 1960s, as Stormfury waited on call, frustrated. After another seeding mission in 1963, which produced mostly inconclusive results, Hurricane Betsy in 1965 appeared the perfect candidate, explains Golden, who joined Stormfury in 1964 and spent four decades at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa). As the hurricane approached the Caribbean, Golden recalls Stormfury's leaders, the pioneering meteorologists Joanne and Robert Simpson, waiting on the line for Noaa's chief Robert White to give the go-ahead.

"We could only seed if the eye was within a prescribed area – and it was 50 miles [80km] outside the prescribed area," he says, so the crew stood down. Although a huge disappointment to the team, that turned out to be a stroke of luck, he adds, which avoided a repeat of Project Cirrus's controversy. "Hurricane Betsy made a very strange loop and it actually tracked to the south-west and hit just south of Miami."

Stormfury's biggest mission would finally arrive in 1969. On 18 and 20 August, 13 aircraft were involved in five runs across Hurricane Debbie, including a Navy A-6 Intruder jet, which dropped 1,000 silver iodide canisters each day. After nearly a decade of false starts, the data they gathered was jaw-dropping: most encouragingly, they documented a second eye wall emerging after seeding flights, with weaker winds, matching the hypothesis. During the two seeding days, winds decreased by 31% and 15%. Stormfury director R Cecil Gentry concluded that there was less than a one-in-10 chance of this happening naturally and his paper in the journal Science found that the data suggested the storm had been successfully modified by the scientists.

The end of Stormfury

Debbie was not the springboard to greater success that many involved in the project hoped. The last seeding flight flew in 1971, dropping canisters into the ill-defined eyewall of Hurricane Ginger with no discernible effect. Later the same year the Navy pulled support. The Navy's exit was in part because they no longer needed to test it, says Harper: "They were using the techniques in Vietnam and Laos – they didn't need to test them in the Atlantic anymore on hurricanes." Figures revealed in the Pentagon Papers in 1974 showed a far less cautious use of silver iodide and similar compounds in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, where Air Force and Navy planes dropped in a total of 47,409 canisters in 2,600 seeding missions.

In total, Stormfury's seeding flights had dropped canisters of silver iodide into four hurricanes on eight different days. Data across these flights found that on four days, winds reduced, falling in wind-speed by between 10% or more. Other days, nothing happened, which was blamed on flights failing to hit targets or poorly chosen storms.

With few candidate storms in the Atlantic, during the 1970s, the US attempted to strike deals with Australia and the Philippines to run further tests on storms in the Pacific Ocean, off their coastlines. "The countries in the Pacific Rim just said, no," says Harper. "Just: 'No. That's not going to happen.'"

Around the time of Debbie's apparent success, the scientific basis of the project began to crumble. Images appeared to show some hurricanes spontaneously developed multiple concentric eyewalls, a phenomenon that Willoughby personally observed while flying through tropical storms with the Navy. If this was the case, Debbie's results could be mere coincidence.

At the same time, research increasingly questioned whether hurricanes contained the vast clouds of supercooled water that Stormfury believed could be seeded, instead finding ice, which would be unaffected by silver iodide. "Probably [either] one would have carried the day in an objective scientific evaluation," says Willoughby.

Although he had joined Stormfury with the intention of contributing to storm modification, being assigned to seeding crews, Willoughby never flew a seeding mission and found a project adrift. "Frankly, to my mind, the experiment did not seem to be well-thought-out in those later days," he says. Writing the final evaluation of the project in 1985, Willougby concluded that despite the team's determined efforts, "the expected results of seeding are often indistinguishable from naturally occurring intensity changes".

Did Stormfury fail?

To all involved, it was clear that Stormfury was never a normal meteorological study – instead, an experiment that began "at the wrong end", according to the Navy's project leader Pierre St Amand, quoted in Make it Rain. Because of the project's military value, and potential impact on civilian safety, Stormfury received millions of dollars in funding and support that most meteorological studies can only imagine. At the same time, hurricane science was still in its infancy, with not enough known to make accurate predictions about their interior structure and behaviour. "There was a germ of science," Harper summarises. But it's a pretty safe bet Stormfury would've remained in the lab if it weren't for military interests, she adds.

Nevertheless, the project delivered results that are still keeping us safe in other ways. "The aircraft measurements taught us a lot about hurricane structure and behaviour," says Joe Golden. "And those data helped to improve the models at the time." The funding it generated for meteorology helped address these knowledge gaps.

Willoughby, who is currently a research professor at Florida International University, says that since the start of Stormfury, the 24-hour forecast for hurricane's path has vastly increased in accuracy, from an error of more 120 nautical miles (138 miles/222km) to around 50 nautical miles (58 miles/93km), and forecast of hurricane intensity have improved from vague guidance to predictions accurate to within 10 knots (12mph/19km/h). Data gathered by the observer planes are still being researched, and instruments developed by Stormfury provide more accurate ways for airplanes to track hurricanes. Two highly modified P3 airplanes that were purchased for Stormfury – known affectionately as Kermit and Miss Piggy – continue to be used, some 50 years on.

A future for storm modification?

For some, Stormfury is unfinished work. "Stormfury was one of the most frustrating scientific experiments in my life," Golden says. "In a nutshell, I think that Noaa gave up too soon."

Over the years, Golden has continued to make a case for government agencies to step up and show ambition to make hurricane modification a reality. Spurred by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, in which nearly 2,000 people died, Golden began working with the US Department of Homeland Security on "Hamp", the Hurricane Aerosol and Microphysics Program. "It was also aimed at weakening hurricanes, but it had a whole different approach. Instead of silver iodide, we were going to use very tiny salt aerosols as the seeding agent," he says. "Had the funding continued, we were going to do some field experiments – not on hurricanes initially, but just on cloud lines."

"The modeling results were very, very encouraging," he says, indicating that aerosols could not only diminish a hurricane's intensity but alter its course. "That's very important: if you can steer a hurricane like Katrina away from New Orleans, think of all the lives and the property damage that you would have saved."

"That had some very tantalising results but – yet again – the funding ran out," he says.

Willoughby, meanwhile, feels Noaa was right to end research. "It was a beguiling idea – what's not to like about making it rain in the desert or keeping typhoons and hurricanes from wrecking cities?" he asks. "But the science didn't work out."

For anyone with a theory of how to stop hurricanes, the hurdles are clear, says Willoughby. "What you do is you come up with an idea, you'd have to do a tabletop experiment or a small-scale field trial, and then use that to simulate it in a numerical model." Yet he doubts a solution will find a way to match the force of a tropical storm – even if we use nuclear weapons.

Stormfury was a humbling reality check, says Willoughby, pitting humans against the "immense" energy of a hurricane – estimated to be equivalent to a 10-megatonne nuclear bomb exploding every 20 minutes. "Perhaps some day, somebody will come up with a way to weaken hurricanes artificially," he writes in an email. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could do it."

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How electric scooters are driving China's salt battery push

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250530-how-electric-scooters-are-driving-chinas-salt-battery-push, 12 days ago

The country is racing ahead of the rest of the world in bringing sodium-ion batteries to the mass market. This time, through scooters.

Dozens of glitzy electric mopeds are lined up outside a shopping mall in the city of Hangzhou in eastern China, drawing passersby to test them.

But these Vespa-like scooters, which sell for between £300 and £500 ($400 and $660), are not powered by the mainstream lead-acid or lithium-ion cells, commonly used in electric two-wheelers. Instead, their batteries are made from sodium, an abundant element that can be extracted from sea salt.

Next to the scooters stand a few fast-charging pillars, which can replenish the vehicles' power level from 0% to 80% in 15 minutes, according to Yadea, the major Chinese two-wheeler manufacturer holding this promotional event in January 2025 for its newly launched mopeds and charging system. There is also a battery-swapping station, which enables commuters to drop in their spent cells in exchange for fresh ones with a scan of a QR code. (Read more about China's battery swap stations for electric vehicles here.)

Yadea is one of many companies in China trying to build a competitive edge in alternative battery technologies, a trend that shows just how fast the country's clean-technology industry is developing.

Even as the rest of the world tries to close its gap with China in the race to make cheap, safe and efficient lithium-ion batteries, Chinese companies have already taken a head-start towards mass producing sodium-ion batteries, an alternative that could help the industry reduce its dependence on key raw minerals.

Chinese carmakers were the first in the world to launch sodium-powered cars. But the impact of these models – all of them tiny with short ranges – has been low so far.

In April 2025, the world's largest battery manufacturer, China's CATL, announced its plan to mass-produce sodium-ion batteries for heavy-duty trucks and cars this year under a new brand Naxtra.

China's grid operators have also started to build energy storage stations using sodium-ion batteries to help the grid absorb renewables. This is an area considered by many researchers spoken to by the BBC as the main playground for the emerging technology.

Chinese companies' multi-pronged strategy in driving sodium-ion batteries will put it in a leading position of a global race – should there be one, says Cory Combs, who researches critical minerals and supply chains at Beijing-based consultancy Trivium China. He says it remains to be seen whether sodium-ion batteries will really take off.

But one segment that is betting big on sodium-ion batteries is the two-wheeler, a fast-growing and highly competitive market in China.

Yadea has brought three sodium-powered models to the market so far and is planning to launch more. It has also established the Hangzhou Huayu New Energy Research Institute to research emerging battery chemistries, particularly sodium-ion.

"We want to bring technology from the lab to customers fast," Zhou Chao, the company's senior vice president, said in January during a talk show on China Central Television in January.

Cue the 'little electric donkey'

Two-wheelers are an extremely popular mode of transport in many Asian countries, including Vietnam and Indonesia. In China, they are ubiquitous, carrying their owners to shops, offices, metro stations and everywhere in between. Because they are practical and versatile, the Chinese have given them an endearing nickname: "little electric donkeys".

"Two-wheeled vehicles typically operate over shorter distances and at lower speeds [than cars], making them less demanding in terms of energy density and power output," says Chen Xi, who researches energy storage materials and devices at Xi'an-Jiaotong Liverpool University in China. A sodium-ion battery carries significantly less energy than a lithium-ion battery of the same size, which means it has a lower energy density.

For two-wheelers, sodium-ion batteries' main rivals are lead-acid ones, whose energy density and rechargeable cycles are even lower. Their only advantage is that they are cheaper than both sodium and lithium-ion batteries currently, Xi says.

The sheer number of two-wheelers in Asia paves a promising pathway to achieving economies of scale. In China alone, around 55 million electric two-wheelers were sold in 2023 – nearly six times the number of all pure, hybrid and fuel-cell electric cars combined sold in the country that year – according to Shanghai-based consultancy iResearch.

Scale production was the goal of Yadea. Zhou said at the talk show that the firm was seeking to bring sodium batteries to tens of millions of ordinary commuters by not only fitting them into two-wheelers, but also building a charging ecosystem to enable people to use these models without stress.

To test the waters, in 2024 Yadea began a pilot programme with 150,000 food delivery couriers working in Shenzhen, a mega city of 17.8 million people in southern China, reported Shenzhen News. The goal was to enable them to hand in a spent Yadea sodium-ion batteries at its partners' battery-swapping stations in exchange for a fully charged one within 30 seconds, Yadea said.

Yadea and other companies, such as battery-swapping firm Dudu Huandian, have grown so rapidly in Shenzhen the city now aims to become a "battery-swapping city". It aims to install 20,000 charging or swapping pods for various types of batteries for electric scooters in 2025, and 50,000 by 2027, according to Shenzhen Electric Bicycle Industry Association, a trade body that is working with the Shenzhen government to promote battery swapping. The city – which already has a "battery-swapping park" – will build a vast network of battery swapping facilities to enable residents to find a station every five minutes, the trade body says.

Boom and bust

Sodium-ion and lithium-ion batteries have similar structures. The main difference is the ions they use – the particles shuttling back and forth between a battery's positive and negative sides to store and release energy.

Sodium is widely dispersed in the sea and the Earth's crust, making it about 400 times more abundant than lithium. Sodium-ion cells are therefore more accessible and potentially cheaper to produce at scale. They could also free the battery industry from choking points in current supply chains.

Lithium ore is currently predominantly mined in Australia, China and Chile, but the processing of the mineral is concentrated in China, which has nearly 60% of the world's lithium-refining capacity.

Sodium-ion batteries are not a recent invention. Their fate has been intertwined with that of lithium-ion batteries. The research and development of both cells began about half a century ago, with Japan leading the global effort. But after Japanese electronics company Sony launched the world's first lithium-ion battery in 1991, its huge commercial success led the development of sodium-ion technology to be largely paused – until the beginning of this decade. By then, China had become the dominant battery force worldwide through years of an industrial push by the government.

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2021 proved to be a turning point for sodium-ion batteries. The global prices for battery-grade lithium skyrocketed, multiplying over fourfold in a year due to strong demand for electric vehicles (EV) and the Covid-19 pandemic. Battery and EV manufacturers began to look for alternatives.

CATL launched its first-ever sodium-ion battery in July that year, and the move "triggered high industry interest", says Phate Zhang, founder of the Shanghai-based EV news outlet CnEVPost. Lithium's prices continued to soar in 2022, driving more cost-conscious Chinese companies towards sodium, he notes.

"The relative abundance of sodium and China's interest in a resilient battery supply chain has been a central factor in driving research and development efforts," says Kate Logan, a director at the Asia Society Policy Institute in Washington DC who focuses on China's climate and clean energy policies. Around the time of the mineral's price hike, the country imported roughly 80% of the lithium ore it refined, mainly from Australia and Brazil.

But the price of lithium started to plunge in late 2022 and is at a fraction of its peak level today. One reason is that major Chinese battery makers such as CATL and Gotion have expanded their lithium-processing capacity, Zhang says. China has also boosted efforts to find and develop domestic lithium reserves.

As a result, the "frenzy" around sodium-ion in the last couple of years has "relaxed", Combs notes. "Lithium is pretty squarely back in the leadership role again within China."

Seeking safety

For many, though, there are other good reasons to take up sodium-ion batteries. One is safety.

In 2024, China was shocked by a wave of battery fires, mostly triggered by the self-combustion of lithium-ion batteries in two-wheelers. Globally, fire risks at energy storage stations have become a concern. In a recent example, a blaze broke out at one such facility inside a major battery plant in California in January 2025.

Some industry insiders believe that sodium-ion batteries are safer. They are less prone to overheating and burning compared to lithium-ion ones because sodium's chemical traits are more stable, according to some studies. But others warn that it is still too early to be certain about their safety due to a lack of relevant research.

Cold weather also makes a difference. The energy a lithium-ion battery can store and the times it can be recharged drop at sub-zero temperatures. Sodium-ion batteries are less affected by harsh conditions.

"Compared to lithium ions, sodium ions move more easily through the liquid inside the battery. This gives them better conductivity and means they need less energy to break free from the surrounding liquid," says Tang Wei, a professor of chemical engineering at China's Xi'an Jiaotong University.

Tang and his team have developed a new type of battery liquid they say can enable sodium-ion batteries to achieve more than 80% of their room-temperature capacity at −40C (-40F). They are working with Chinese battery firms to apply the technology onto vehicles and energy storage stations in the country's cold regions.

Sodium-ion batteries are also expected to reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing the metals used in lithium-ion cells, particularly cobalt and nickel – heavy metals that can negatively impact humans and nature.

A 2024 study concluded that sodium-ion batteries can help the world avoid excessive mining and possible depletion of critical raw materials, but that the production process generates similar volumes of greenhouse gas emissions to lithium-ion cells.

As these batteries are still being developed, "their production processes, lifespans and energy density can all be improved", says Zhang Shan, the study's lead author and a researcher at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. "Their impact on the climate may be lower than that of lithium-ion batteries in the future."

Fuelling four-wheelers

Two of the earliest electric cars powered by sodium batteries rolled off the assembly lines in December 2023. So far, all available models have been "microcars", officially classified as A00 in China.

But their sales only made up a tiny number of the tens of millions of EVs sold in 2024 in China, says Xing Lei, an independent analyst of the Chinese auto industry (one report found just 204 were sold in 2024).

A big downside of sodium-ion batteries is their low energy density: a 2020 study found it is at least 30% lower than their lithium counterparts. This means cars using them typically cannot travel very far on a single charge, Zhang says. "And range is a big deciding factor for people when they buy an EV."

Sodium-ion batteries have yet to achieve mass production and currently "cannot compete with lithium-ion batteries on price or performance" in four-wheelers, making large-scale use in the next two or three years difficult, says Chen Shan, a Shanghai-based analyst on battery markets at Norwegian consultancy Rystad Energy.

The uptake of sodium scooters across China has been gradual but encouraging. A spokesperson from Yadea – which sold more than 13 million electric bikes and mopeds globally in 2024 – told the BBC that the sales of its sodium two-wheelers reached nearly 1,000 in the first three months of 2025. The company intends to build around 1,000 fast-charging pillars specifically designed for sodium-ion batteries this year in Hangzhou enabling commuters to find a station every 2km (1.2 miles), Zhou said at the talk show.

Yadea is not alone in its sodium push. Another Chinese scooter manufacturer, Tailg, has been selling sodium-powered models since 2023. FinDreams, the battery arm of EV major BYD, is building a plant in east China's Xuzhou to make sodium batteries in partnership with Huaihai Group, a manufacturer of two and three-wheelers, according to local media.

Although lead-acid batteries will continue to dominate this industry, the market share of sodium-ion batteries has been projected to grow rapidly over the next five years. By 2030, 15% of China's electric scooters will be powered by them, compared to 0.04% in 2023, according to an analysis by the Shenzhen-based Starting Point Research Institute, which assesses China's battery industry.

Greening the grid

In fact, a bigger market for sodium-ion batteries may be energy storage stations, which absorb power produced at one time so it can be used later.

When they are installed in fixed locations, the disadvantages of using sodium-ion batteries in vehicles disappear. "You can just make a slightly bigger energy storage plant. It's not moving anywhere. The weight [of the batteries] doesn't matter," Combs says.

Energy storage is expected to be an enormous and a rapidly growing market as countries across the globe aim to reach their climate goals. The world's grid-scale energy storage capacity will need to grow nearly 35-fold between 2022 and 2030 if it is to achieve net-zero by 2050, according to International Energy Agency (IEA).

"This is going to be a really important market in the future, especially as renewables become more present on the grid. You'll have more need for storage systems to balance out the variability in electricity generation, " says Ilaria Mazzocco, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington DC-based non-profit.

Using sodium-ion batteries in energy storage stations also means that these facilities are not competing with auto companies for batteries, she notes.

China, which has seen breakneck growth of wind and solar power plants, leads the world in using energy storage to support renewables. In May 2024, it switched on its first energy storage station powered by sodium-ion batteries. Situated in southern China's Guangxi, the plant can hold 10 megawatt-hours of power in one go, equivalent to the daily electricity needs of 1,500 households, according to Chinese state media. It is the first phase of a sodium-ion energy storage station 10 times its size.

The Guangxi project was quickly followed by another sodium-ion energy storage site in central China's Hubei province. In fact, roughly one-fifth of the capacity of all energy storage projects planned by China's state-run companies last year used sodium technology, according to Chinese outlet Beijixing, which tracks the power industry.

But for sodium-ion batteries to succeed in mass production the main question is whether companies can make them cheaper than lithium-ion cells, according to Zheng Jiayue, a consultant with research and consulting firm Wood Mackenzie who specialises in the energy storage supply chain.

Currently, the unit price of sodium-ion batteries for energy storage is about 60% higher than that of lithium-ion ones, but the gap is projected to narrow, China Central Television reported, citing analysis by the China Energy Storage Alliance, a Beijing-based non-profit.

China to lead the charge

Some entrepreneurs and researchers believe that sodium is a shortcut for other countries to reduce their battery dependence on China.

But it is Chinese companies that are poised to lead global production if the technology breaks into the mass market. Major Chinese battery makers have included it in their strategies to stay competitive in the long run, says Combs, meaning sodium-ion batteries are no longer a way to bypass their stronghold.

The "biggest difference" between companies in China and other countries is that the former can bring a technology from the lab to mass production much faster, Zheng says.

And because of the similarities between the two types of cells, says Logan, existing manufacturing infrastructure for lithium-ion batteries can be adapted to produce sodium-ion batteries, reducing the time and cost for commercialisation in China.

"The same synergies don't necessarily hold true for other battery chemistries," however, she adds.

One example is the all-solid-state batteries, which do not use liquid electrolyte to transport ions, the principle driving the current generation of batteries, says Mo Ke, founder and chief analyst of Beijing-based battery-research firm, RealLi Research. Therefore, it will have less reliance on the current industrial chain, Mo says.

A fleet of large factories devoted to making sodium-ion cells are now being built in China, some already in operation. In 2024, Chinese manufacturers announced plans to build 27 sodium-ion battery plants with a combined capacity of 180 GWh, according to Chinese thinktank Gaogong Industrial Research, including BYD's upcoming 30GWh plant in Xuzhou.

The planned global sodium-ion battery capacity will exceed 500 GWh by 2033, and China is projected to account for more than 90% of that, Zheng says, citing Wood Mackenzie analysis.

Outside China, Natron Energy in the US and Faradion in the UK are forerunners. But it typically takes foreign companies much longer to build production lines and it will be hard for their capacities to compete with China's, Zheng says.

In 2023 alone, Chinese firms collectively spent more than 55 billion yuan (£5.7bn, $7.6bn) on the research and development of sodium-ion batteries, according to Alicia García Herrero, an economist and senior fellow at Brussels-based think tank Bruegel. This beats the $4.5bn (£3.4bn, $4.5bn) raised by all US battery start-ups cumulatively by 2023 on non-lithium battery solutions, she says.

Chinese companies' incentive is simple, according to Combs: "Don't lose market share, and future markets are included." Yadea is already expanding operations in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa, where electric scooters are also popular, Zhou said in the talk show.

Yadea's goal is clear: to mass-produce sodium-ion batteries and improve scooter charging infrastructure, according to Zhou, "so as to enable hundreds of millions of people to enjoy green transport".

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Six Gaza aid boat activists deported from Israel after three days in detention

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx273w1032yo, yesterday

Six activists who were detained by Israel after their boat was intercepted on its way to try to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza have been deported, the Israeli foreign ministry has confirmed.

Earlier, Israeli human rights group Adalah said they were being transferred to Ben Gurion Airport "after more than 72 hours in Israeli custody following the unlawful interception of the Madleen Freedom Flotilla in international waters".

Adalah, which provided legal advice to the activists, said two others who were on board remained in Israeli custody as they awaited deportation on Friday.

Among those who left on Thursday was Rima Hassan, a French-Palestinian Member of the European Parliament.

In a post on X, the Israeli foreign ministry said: "Six more passengers from the 'selfie yacht,' including Rima Hassan, are on their way out of Israel.

"Bye-bye-and don't forget to take a selfie before you leave," it added.

The post also showed pictures of the activists getting onto and then sitting on a plane.

A post on Hassan's X account said she had left prison and was inviting people to meet in Paris' Place de la République at 21:00 (20:00 BST).

The other five activists being deported are Mark van Rennes from the Netherlands, Suayb Ordu from Turkey, Yasemin Acar from Germany, Thiago Avila from Brazil, and Reva Viard from France, Adalah said.

The rights organisation said the two other people yet to be deported were Pascal Maurieras and journalist Yanis Mhamdi, both French nationals. It said they were still in custody in Givon prison and were expected to be deported on Friday afternoon.

In a statement issued before the six were deported, Adalah said: "While in custody, volunteers were subjected to mistreatment, punitive measures, and aggressive treatment, and two volunteers were held for some period of time in solitary confinement."

It added: "Adalah calls for the immediate release of all eight volunteers and for their safe passage to their home countries. Their continued detention and forced deportation are unlawful and a part of Israel's ongoing violations of international law."

The Israeli foreign ministry previously said those who refused to sign deportation documents would face judicial proceedings to have them deported, in accordance with Israeli law.

A group of 12 people had been sailing on the yacht Madleen when it was intercepted by Israeli authorities on Monday, about 185km (115 miles) west of Gaza.

The expedition, organised by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), had been aiming to deliver a "symbolic" amount of aid to Gaza in defiance of Israel's blockade and to highlight the humanitarian crisis there.

At the time, the Israeli foreign ministry dismissed it as a "selfie yacht" carrying "less than a single truckload of aid".

Following the activists' detention, four, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and two French nationals, agreed to be deported immediately.

Upon her arrival in France, Thunberg accused Israeli authorities of kidnapping her and other activists on the boat while they were in international waters.

Israel's foreign ministry said unauthorised attempts to breach its blockade of Gaza were "dangerous, unlawful, and undermine ongoing humanitarian efforts".

It added that the aid transported on the FFC boat, which included baby formula and medicine, would be transferred to Gaza "through real humanitarian channels".

Elsewhere, activists planning to join a pro-Palestinian march from Egypt to the southern Gaza border were stopped at Cairo airport on Thursday, an organising group said.

The Global March to Gaza said about 170 people were facing "delays and deportations" at the airport.

"Our legal services are working on these cases, as we have all complied with all the legal requirements of the Egyptian authorities," it said.

Egypt's interior ministry has not commented on the arrests. Its foreign ministry issued a statement on Wednesday saying prior approval by state bodies was required to travel to the Gaza border area.

The march aims to begin from El Arish in northern Egypt on Friday with the aim of arriving at the Egyptian side of the Rafah border with Gaza by Sunday, Global March to Gaza said. The aim is to challenge Israel's blockade of humanitarian aid.

About 1,500 pro-Palestinian protesters have also travelled in a multi-vehicle convoy from Tunisia through to Libya, and were also aiming to enter Egypt to travel onto the Gaza border.

Israel and Egypt have managed a blockade of Gaza since 2007, when Hamas seized control of the territory by ousting its rivals, a year after winning legislative elections.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has called on Egypt to prevent what he called "the arrival of jihadist protesters at the Egypt-Israel border".

Israel stopped all deliveries of humanitarian aid and commercial supplies to Gaza on 2 March and resumed its military offensive two weeks later, collapsing a two-month ceasefire with Hamas.

It said the steps were meant to put pressure on the group to release the hostages still held in Gaza, but the UN warned that Gaza's 2.1 million population were facing catastrophic levels of hunger because of the resulting shortages of food.

Three weeks ago, Israel launched an expanded offensive to take control of all areas of Gaza. It also partially eased the blockade, allowing in a "basic" amount of food.

Israel is now prioritising distribution through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which it backs along with the US. The UN and other aid groups are refusing to co-operate with the new system, saying it contravenes the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality, and independence.

It has been 20 months since Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led cross-border attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 55,207 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

US-backed aid group says Hamas killed at least eight Palestinian staff in bus attack

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gr1rk5nvxo, yesterday

The new group backed by Israel and the US for aid distribution in Gaza says Hamas attacked a bus transporting some of its Palestinian workers, killing at least eight people.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said the attack happened on Wednesday night as the bus carrying more than two-dozen workers travelled to a distribution centre in southern Gaza, and that it came after days of threats from Hamas.

The BBC cannot independently verify the statement, and Hamas has not commented but it previously denied it had threatened the foundation's staff.

Meanwhile, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said 103 Palestinians were killed and more than 400 wounded across Gaza in the past 24 hours.

This included 21 people who the ministry said were killed near areas designated for aid distribution on Tuesday morning.

The GHF started operating on 26 May, to bypass the United Nations (UN) and other established organisations to distribute aid in Gaza. Since then, its work has been marred by controversy and violence, with deadly incidents happening near its hubs almost every day.

The UN, which has refused to co-operate with the system, and aid organisations say it contravenes the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality, and independence.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said the bus attack followed days of threats from Hamas - and that they feared some workers had been "taken hostage".

"We condemn this heinous and deliberate attack in the strongest possible terms," it said in a statement.

The Israeli military did not immediately corroborate the allegation, but shared part of the GHF's statement, adding: "Hamas will stop at nothing to maintain control and prevent the effective delivery of aid."

GHF's interim director John Acree said the group considered closing its centres on Thursday but opted to remain open.

"We decided that the best response to Hamas' cowardly murderers was to keep delivering food for the people of Gaza who are counting on us," he said in a statement.

On Saturday, the GHF accused Hamas of making threats that "made it impossible" to operate in Gaza. Hamas denied this and said the GHF operation had "utterly failed on all levels".

The GHF's mechanism has been criticised as insufficient, as a limited amount of supplies is being handed out, and inhumane, as it requires people to travel to crowded distribution hubs, at great risk.

Almost every day since it began operating, there have been deadly shootings near one or other of the four centres it has opened, by Israeli soldiers and armed Palestinians.

On Wednesday, at least 25 people were killed near a GHF site in Gaza's Netzarim corridor, according to two hospitals in Gaza City.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says 245 people have been killed and 2,152 others injured while trying to reach areas designated for aid distribution since the GHF began operating.

The US and Israel say delivering aid through the GHF will prevent it being stolen by Hamas. The UN says this is not a widespread issue, while Hamas denies doing it.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said internet and fixed-line communication services were down in Gaza on Thursday, following an attack on the territory's last fibre optic cable.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said the outage was affecting its emergency response by impeding communication with its staff.

The war has caused major infrastructural damage across Gaza, affecting power, roads, transport and water.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to 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.

At least 55,104 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.

Video shows crowd of Palestinians climbing fence and rushing to aid site

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8xgzj5ln5do, 2 days ago

Footage shared online shows hundreds of Palestinians climbing over a large mound of dirt - with some seen scaling a metal fence - as they rush to enter an aid site in Gaza run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Palestinians are first seen waiting behind a fence, before a voice - off-camera, with an American accent - shouts instructions. They are then seen entering the site and shouting as they run towards what is assumed to be aid.

BBC Verify geolocated the video to the SDS1 distribution site, west of Rafah. It is said to have been filmed on Tuesday.

The GHF is a controversial Israel- and US-backed group that aims to bypass the UN as the main supplier of aid to Palestinians.

The UN and other aid groups refuse to co-operate with the GHF system, saying it contravenes the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality, and independence.

The BBC has approached the GHF for comment.

The video was shared by Alon Lee-Green, an Israeli anti-war activist, who said he had obtained it from an employee of "the American company in Gaza". It was unclear if this referred to GHF or one of the private security contractors that staff its aid sites.

In a post on X, Green described the scene as "apocalyptic".

"But this is not a disaster movie, but the hell we created in Gaza," he wrote. "This is what starving people look like, rushing for food while risking their lives. This is what the dehumanization of millions of people looks like."

Israel does not allow international news organisations, including the BBC, into Gaza, making verifying what is happening in the territory difficult.

Almost every day since the GHF began distributing aid on 26 May, Palestinians have been killed trying to access aid near one or other of the four centres it has so far opened.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says a total of 223 people have been killed and 1,858 others injured while trying to reach areas designated for aid distribution since then.

The US and Israel say the GHF's system will prevent aid being stolen by Hamas, which the group denies doing.

On Wednesday, another six people were reportedly killed by Israeli fire near a GHF site in Rafah, in southern Gaza. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.

After reports of aid-related killings on Tuesday, Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN's refugee agency for Palestinians, said "another day of aid distribution, another day of death traps".

"Day after day, casualties & scores of injured are reported at distribution points manned by Israel & private security companies.

"This humiliating system continues to force thousands of hungry & desperate people to walk for tens of miles excluding the most vulnerable & those living too far."

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to 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.

At least 55,104 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.

UK sanctions far-right Israeli ministers for 'inciting violence' against Palestinians

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8xgk1ek19lo, 3 days ago

The UK has sanctioned two far-right Israeli ministers over "repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities" in the occupied West Bank.

Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich will both be banned from entering the UK and will have any assets in the UK frozen as part of the measures announced by the foreign secretary.

It is part of a joint move with Australia, Norway, Canada and New Zealand announced on Tuesday.

In response, Israel said: "It is outrageous that elected representatives and members of the government are subjected to these kind of measures."

David Lammy said Finance Minister Smotrich and National Security Minister Ben-Gvir had "incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights".

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the move, writing on X: "These sanctions do not advance US-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire, bring all hostages home, and end the war."

He urged the nations to reverse the sanctions, adding that the US "stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel".

The US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, joined Rubio's condemnation, describing the move as a "shocking decision" in an interview with the BBC.

Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have also been criticised for their stance on the war in Gaza. Both ministers oppose allowing aid into the Strip and have called for Palestinians there to be resettled outside the territory.

The Foreign Office said: "As Palestinian communities in the West Bank continue to suffer from severe acts of violence by extremist Israeli settlers which also undermine a future Palestinian state, the UK has joined Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway in stepping up the international response."

After the announcement, Lammy said: "These actions are not acceptable. This is why we have taken action now – to hold those responsible to account.

"We will strive to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the immediate release of the remaining hostages by Hamas which can have no future role in the governance of Gaza, a surge in aid and a path to a two-state solution."

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the cabinet would meet next week to respond to what he called an "unacceptable decision".

The Foreign Office added that the five nations were "clear that the rising violence and intimidation by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities in the West Bank must stop".

It said in a statement that the sanctions against the ministers "cannot be seen in isolation from events in Gaza where Israel must uphold international humanitarian law".

The ministers lead ultra-nationalist parties in the governing coalition, which holds an eight-seat majority in parliament. The support of Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, which holds six seats, and Smotrich's Religious Zionism party, which holds seven seats, is crucial to the government's survival.

Speaking at the inauguration of a new settlement in the West Bank, Smotrich said he felt "contempt" towards the UK's move.

"Britain has already tried once to prevent us from settling the cradle of our homeland, and we cannot do it again," he said. "We are determined, God willing, to continue building."

The minister was alluding to the period when Britain governed Palestine and imposed restrictions on Jewish immigration, most significantly from the late 1930s to late 1940s.

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing some 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war.

The vast majority of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law - a position supported by an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last year - although Israel disputes this.

Speaking in the Commons on Tuesday, Foreign Office Minister Hamish Falconer said that 2024 had seen the "worst settler violence" in the West Bank in the past two decades and this year was "on track to be just as violent".

Commenting on the sanctions imposed on the two ministers, Falconer said they were "responsible for inciting settler violence" in the West Bank which has "led to the deaths of Palestinian civilians and the displacement of whole towns and villages".

Falconer said Smotrich and Ben-Gvir had continued their "appalling" rhetoric despite warnings from the UK government, and so action had been taken.

The possibility of sanctioning these two ministers has long been in the pipeline.

In October, Lord Cameron said he had planned to sanction the pair, when he was foreign secretary from 2023 to 2024, as a way of putting pressure on Israel.

The UK's decision reflects growing popular and parliamentary pressure to take further action against the Israeli government for its operations both in Gaza and the West Bank.

It also comes after a steady escalation of pressure by the UK and other allies.

Last month the leaders of Britain, France and Canada issued a joint statement saying that Israel was at risk of breaking international law. The UK also broke off trade talks with Israel.

In the Commons last month, Lammy described remarks by Smotrich about "cleansing" Gaza of Palestinians as "monstrous" and "dangerous" extremism.

Timeline of UK-Israel tensions

* 19 May: UK, France and Canada denounce expanded Israeli offensive on Gaza and continuing blockade, warn of "concrete" response; Israeli PM calls move a "huge prize" for Hamas

* 20 May: UK suspends free trade talks with Israel, sanctions settlers, and summons Israel's ambassador; Israel foreign ministry calls move "regrettable"

* 22 May: Israeli PM links criticism of Israel by leaders of UK, France and Canada to deadly shooting of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington DC on 21 May

* 10 June: UK sanctions Israeli ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir for advocating forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza; Israel's foreign minister calls move "outrageous"

Conservative shadow home secretary Dame Priti Patel did not directly comment on the sanctions, but said: "We have been clear that the British government must leverage its influence at every opportunity to ensure the remaining hostages [held by Hamas] are released, that aid continues to reach those who need it, and a sustainable end to the conflict is achieved."

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey welcomed the sanctions, but said it was "disappointing" that the Conservative government and Labour "took so long to act".

It is 20 months since Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the unprecedented Hamas-led cross-border attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 54,927 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Greta Thunberg deported, Israel says, after Gaza aid boat intercepted

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y264x3nnno, 3 days ago

Israel says it has deported Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, a day after the Gaza-bound aid boat she and 11 other people were on was intercepted by Israeli forces in the Mediterranean.

Thunberg departed Tel Aviv on Tuesday morning on a flight to France after she agreed to be deported, the Israeli foreign ministry said.

Upon arriving at an airport in Paris, Thunberg accused Israel of illegally kidnapping her and other activists on the boat while they were in international waters.

France said five of the six French citizens detained alongside her had refused to sign their deportation orders and would now be subject to judicial proceedings.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), the activist group operating the yacht The Madleen, has demanded the immediate release of everyone detained.

The vessel was intercepted early on Monday while the activists tried to deliver a "symbolic" amount of aid to Gaza in defiance of Israel's maritime blockade and highlight the humanitarian crisis there.

The Israeli foreign ministry dismissed it as a "selfie yacht", and announced in a post on X on Monday night that the passengers had been transferred to Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport following the vessel's arrival at the port of Ashdod on Monday night.

"Those who refuse to sign deportation documents and leave Israel will be brought before a judicial authority, in accordance with Israeli law, to authorize their deportation," it said.

On Tuesday morning, the ministry said Thunberg had "just departed Israel on a flight to Sweden (via France)", and posted a photo of her sitting on a plane.

Speaking to reporters at Charles de Gaulle airport, Thunberg said Israel had committed "an illegal act by kidnapping us on international waters and against our will, bringing us to Israel, keeping us in the bottom of the boat, not letting us getting out and so on".

She added: "But that is not the real story here, the real story is that there is a genocide going on in Gaza, and a systematic starvation following the siege and blockade now, which is leading to food, medicine, water - that are desperately needed to get into Gaza - is prevented from doing so."

The Israeli foreign ministry has insisted the blockade was "consistent with international law", and that unauthorised attempts to breach it were "dangerous, unlawful, and undermine ongoing humanitarian efforts".

Asked why she was free while others were still detained, Thunberg said it was "a bit unclear". She said she and some others had signed a document saying they wanted to go back as soon as they could, but did not accept they had entered the country illegally, but others hadn't signed this document.

She added she had been unable to say goodbye to fellow activists before her deportation, and was unsure what was happening to them. "I'm very worried about them," she said.

France's Foreign Minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, earlier wrote on X: "Our consul was able to see the six French nationals arrested by the Israeli authorities last night."

"One of them has agreed to leave voluntarily and should return today. The other five will be subject to forced deportation proceedings."

Barrot did not identify them, but the six French nationals include MEP Rima Hassan and two journalists, Omar Faiad of Qatar-based Al Jazeera and Yanis Mhamdi of online publication Blast, who Reporters Without Borders said were documenting the Madleen's journey.

As well as France and Sweden, citizens of Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Turkey were on board the vessel.

The FFC confirmed in a statement on Monday night that all 12 had reached Ashdod and that it expected any who refused to be deported to be transferred to a detention facility in Ramle, near Tel Aviv.

"We continue to demand the immediate release of all volunteers and the return of the stolen aid. Their kidnapping is unlawful and a violation of international law," it added.

Israel's foreign ministry said the aid, which includes baby formula and medicine, would be transferred to Gaza "through real humanitarian channels".

The FFC said the Madleen was intercepted by the Israeli military inside international waters about 185km (115 miles) west of Gaza early on Monday.

According to the group, the vessel was surrounded by quadcopter drones, sprayed with a "white irritant substance", and had its communications jammed.

Video footage released by the group showed the passengers sitting down with their hands raised as Israeli forces boarded.

It also posted a pre-recorded clip showing Thunberg saying: "If you see this video, we have been intercepted and kidnapped in international waters by Israeli occupational forces or forces that support Israel."

"I urge all my friends, family and comrades to put pressure on the Swedish government to release me and the others as soon as possible."

The foreign ministry later said all the passengers were "safe and unharmed", and posted a video showing troops handing them food and water.

When the Madleen set sail from Italy on 1 June, the FFC said it was "carrying humanitarian aid and international human rights defenders in direct defiance of Israel's illegal and genocidal blockade". The Israeli foreign ministry called it a "gimmick", while Israel has rejected accusations of genocide.

On Sunday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the maritime blockade was necessary to prevent the smuggling of weapons to Hamas.

Israel and Egypt imposed a land, sea and air blockade on Gaza when Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007 by ousting its rivals, a year after winning legislative elections.

Israel stopped all deliveries of humanitarian aid and commercial supplies to Gaza on 2 March this year and resumed its military offensive two weeks later, collapsing a two-month ceasefire with Hamas.

Three weeks ago, Israel launched an expanded offensive to take control of all areas of Gaza. It also partially eased the blockade, allowing in a "basic" amount of food.

At least 54,927 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Dozens of Palestinians killed while seeking aid in Gaza, hospitals say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1mg4ld5951o, 2 days ago

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed as they tried to access aid in Gaza, hospitals say.

Two hospitals in Gaza City said 25 people were killed overnight, near a convoy transporting flour and a food distribution site run by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the area of the Netzarim corridor, an Israeli military zone.

The Hamas-run Civil Defence agency said Israeli forces opened fire. There are also reports of people being crushed by lorries and being shot by Palestinians. Israel's military said troops fired warning shots as suspects approached them.

Another 14 people were killed by Israeli fire near a GHF site in Rafah, in the south, a hospital in Khan Younis said.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports from Rafah.

The GHF said more than 43,000 food parcels were handed out at its three distribution centres in Rafah and central Gaza "without incident" on Wednesday.

However, there have been deadly incidents near the GHF's sites almost every day since its controversial aid system began operating on 26 May.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said 223 people had been killed while trying to reach areas designated for aid distribution over the past two weeks, including 57 on Wednesday.

On Wednesday afternoon, Israeli anti-war activist Alon Lee-Green shared a video showing scenes of total chaos as hundreds of young Palestinian men rush from all directions into a GHF distribution centre to get boxes of food.

Many are seen climbing over earth mounds and metal fencing, and there appears to be no organisation or control.

BBC Verify geolocated the video to the GHF's Tal al-Sultan site, which is inside an Israeli military zone in western Rafah. It is said to have been filmed on Tuesday.

In a post on X, Green described the scene as "apocalyptic", adding: "This is what starving people look like, rushing for food while risking their lives."

It came after officials at al-Shifa and al-Quds hospitals in Gaza City said at least 25 people were killed by gunfire from Israeli troops as people gathered early on Wednesday near the GHF's Wadi Gaza site in the Netzarim corridor.

The director of al-Shifa's emergency department, Moataz Harara, said the hospital received around 200 injured people at the same time, many of them with gunshot or shrapnel wounds to the abdomen and pelvis.

Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told news agency AFP that the deaths and injuries were the result of "Israeli tank and drone fire on thousands of civilians".

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement: "Overnight, IDF troops fired warning shots toward suspects who were advancing while posing a threat to the troops, in the area of the Netzarim Corridor. This is despite warnings that the area is an active combat zone.

"The IDF is aware of reports regarding individuals injured, the details are under review."

Later on Wednesday, officials at Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said another 14 people were killed by Israeli gunfire near GHF sites in Rafah.

For the past few days, people have been saying that Palestinian gunmen have also fired at them. It is not clear whether they were members of militias linked to the Israeli military, or criminal gangs intent on looting supplies from aid convoys.

Eyewitnesses have expressed their sense of utter despair.

"They shoot and throw missiles at us, the gangs attack us - everyone attacks us for a bag of flour. They kill their own people for a bag of flour," one man said.

Another said their child had not eaten in two or three days.

"Our children are being pushed from one community kitchen to another, and the situation is dire. We call on the whole world to stand with the people and demand a ceasefire. We have no part in this war."

Much of the focus in the past two and a half weeks has been on the deadly incidents connected to the new aid mechanism run by the GHF.

But what is becoming clearer by the day is that the entire aid distribution system in Gaza - such as it is - appears to be close to complete breakdown.

UN agencies and other aid groups are refusing to co-operate with the GHF, saying its system contravenes the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence.

They also warn that Gaza's 2.1 million population faces catastrophic levels of hunger after an almost three-month total Israeli blockade that was partially eased on 19 May.

The US and Israel say the GHF's system will prevent aid being stolen by Hamas. The UN says this is not a widespread issue, while Hamas denies doing it.

UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters in New York on Wednesday: "We reiterate in the strongest terms possible that no-one should be forced to risk their lives to receive aid."

He also said the UN's World Food Programme had only been able to deliver small amounts of food and other aid since Israel started allowing limited supplies into Gaza three weeks ago, and that this was largely due to delays or denials of permission for convoys due to expanded Israeli military operations.

The WFP said it dispatched 59 aid lorries carrying 930 tonnes of flour to northern Gaza on Monday night, but that the convoy was "stopped along the way and offloaded by hungry civilians in critical need of food to feed their families".

A GHF spokesman told news agency Reuters: "Ultimately, the solution is more aid, which will create more certainty and less urgency among the population.

"There is not yet enough food to feed everyone in need in Gaza. Our current focus is to feed as many people as is safely possible within the constraints of a highly volatile environment."

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to 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.

At least 55,104 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.

Israeli forces recover bodies of two hostages in Gaza, PM says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm263j1g2rmo, 2 days ago

Israeli security forces operating in Gaza have recovered the bodies of two Israeli hostages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says.

He named one of them as Yair (Yaya) Yaakov, a 59-year-old father of three who was killed inside his home at Kibbutz Nir Oz by Palestinian Islamic Jihad gunmen during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

His teenage sons, Or and Yagil, and partner, Meirav Tal, were abducted alive and released in November 2023, as part of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

Netanyahu said the name of the other male hostage had not yet been released, but that his family had been informed.

There are now 53 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

News of the recovery of Yair Yaakov's body initially came from his sons.

"Dad, I love you," Yagil wrote in an Instagram post on Wednesday evening, according to the newspaper Haaretz. "I don't know how to respond yet. I'm sad to say this. I'm waiting for your funeral, I love you and knew this day would come."

Yagil also thanked the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Shin Bet internal security service, and expressed hope that the remaining hostages "will be brought [back] in a deal that doesn't risk soldiers".

Netanyahu later issued a statement saying: "Together with all the citizens of Israel, my wife and I extend our deepest condolences to the families who have lost their most beloved.

"I thank the soldiers and commanders for another successful execution of the sacred mission to return our hostages."

The IDF said the hostages' bodies were recovered in the Khan Younis area, in southern Gaza.

The operation was made possible by "precise intelligence" from its Hostage Task Force and Intelligence Directorate, as well as the Shin Bet, it added.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents many hostages' families, said in a statement that it "bows its head in sorrow over the murder of Yaya and shares in the profound grief of the Yaakov family".

"There are no words to express the depth of this pain," it added. "The hostages have no time. We must bring them all home, Now!"

On Tuesday, Netanyahu said there had been "significant progress" in efforts to secure the release of the remaining hostages, adding: "We are working tirelessly right now, and all the time. I hope we will be able to move forward."

However, senior Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi rejected the prime minister's remarks on Wednesday, saying they were "illusive and misleading" and intended to "abort any real deal to return the captives", according to the Shehab news agency.

Israeli forces have retrieved the bodies of three other hostages who were taken from Nir Oz in southern Gaza over the past week.

On Friday, they found the body of Nattapong Pinta, a Thai national, in the Rafah area.

The 35-year-old had been working as an agricultural labourer at the kibbutz when he was kidnapped by the Mujahideen Brigades group on 7 October. An Israeli military official said he was likely to have been killed during his first months of captivity.

And on Wednesday night, Israeli forces in Khan Younis found the bodies of two Israeli-American residents of Nir Oz.

Judi Weinstein Haggai, 70, who was also a Canadian citizen, and her husband Gadi Haggai, 72, were killed by Mujahideen Brigades gunmen on 7 October.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the unpresented attack, in which about a total of 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

Another four people, two of whom were dead, were already being held captive in Gaza before the conflict.

So far, 202 hostages have been returned, 148 of them alive, mostly through two temporary ceasefire deals with Hamas.

At least 55,104 people have been killed in Gaza during the war, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Hamas faces leadership vacuum at critical time with demise of Gaza 'War Council'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7v7p9p0rn7o, yesterday

With the confirmed killing of Hamas's top military commander Mohammad Sinwar in an Israeli strike, a chapter has closed on the elite leadership group in Gaza that orchestrated the events of 7 October, 2023.

Sinwar's demise follows the confirmed killings of other central figures who sat on what came to be known inside Hamas as the War Council.

Sinwar, his brother Yahya, Marwan Issa and a fifth unidentified figure formed the clandestine core that decided on and directed the unprecedented assault on Israel - one which shook the region and set off the conflict still unfolding in Gaza.

The War Council, sometimes also known as the Quintet Council, operated under conditions of extreme security and secrecy.

Direct meetings between its members were exceedingly rare. Instead, communication occurred through older technology deemed more secure, like cable phones, or via trusted intermediaries, all in an effort to minimise the risk of interception or detection.

This level of secrecy was not just tactical: it reflected the council's critical role in Hamas's strategic decision-making, especially in preparation for what became the most complex and deadly attack in the organisation's history.

* Mohammed Deif - the commander of Hamas's military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, who is believed to have masterminded the 7 October attack. He was killed in an Israeli air strike in July 2024

* Yahya Sinwar - the political leader of Hamas in Gaza and its most influential decision-maker in recent years. He was killed in a firefight with Israeli troops in October 2024

* Mohammad Sinwar - a senior military figure and Deif's trusted lieutenant. Israel said this week that it had identified his body in Gaza following an air strike in May

* Marwan Issa - Deif's deputy and a vital link between Hamas's military and political spheres. He was killed in an Israeli air strike in March 2024

* A fifth figure - whose identity remains unknown to the public - who was in charge of organising Hamas's security apparatus. He was targeted in assassination attempts before the war and an air strike during it, and suffered such severe injuries that he can no longer communicate or carry out any activities, according to one source

The 7 October attack marked a seismic shift in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The scale and brutality of the attack stunned observers worldwide - not just for its immediate impact, but for its unprecedented scale.

Hamas's military preparations took years - including extensive tunnel construction and the steady accumulation of rockets and weapons - but few analysts, regional actors, or even rival Palestinian factions foresaw the magnitude of the offensive.

The group had long maintained strict control over Gazans and had often imposed harsh economic measures, including heavy taxes, on an already impoverished population to fund its military build-up.

Yet even within the movement, there appears to have been a limited understanding of the scale and consequences of the plan hatched by the War Council.

Its demise raises a profound question: what exactly drove its members to pursue a course that many Palestinians have described as politically suicidal?

With Israel's overwhelming military response and the international isolation that followed, the 7 October attack has increasingly been viewed as a desperate gamble - one that lacked a clear political exit strategy and led to massive suffering for Gaza's civilian population.

Now, with most of the core decision-makers dead, uncovering the deeper motivations and strategic calculus behind the attack may no longer be possible.

What internal debates occurred within the council? Were there dissenting voices? Was this a bid for regional relevance, a provocation timed with regional shifts, or a last-ditch effort to break a long-standing siege?

Answers to these questions may have died with the men who conceived the plan.

The dismantling of the war council leaves Hamas facing a potential leadership vacuum at a critical time.

Its military capabilities have been severely degraded, its political leadership - who operated out of Qatar until November 2024, after which their whereabouts became unclear - is under intense pressure, and its traditional mechanisms of control within Gaza have been deeply disrupted.

The absence of a centralised strategic command may lead to fragmentation within Hamas, or the rise of new, perhaps more radical factions.

Alternatively, it may open a pathway for recalibration - if not by Hamas, then by other Palestinian actors seeking to fill the void left behind.

The fall of Hamas's War Council marks the end of a shadowy but powerful inner circle that shaped one of the most consequential decisions in the movement's history.

Whether their legacy will be seen by Palestinians as one of bold resistance or catastrophic miscalculation, one thing is certain: with their departure, a defining era in the leadership of Hamas has come to a close.

Israel is accused of the gravest war crimes - how governments respond could haunt them for years to come

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0r1xl5wgnko, 6 days ago

Even wars have rules. They don't stop soldiers killing each other but they're intended to make sure that civilians caught up in the fighting are treated humanely and protected from as much danger as possible. The rules apply equally to all sides.

If one side has suffered a brutal surprise attack that killed hundreds of civilians, as Israel did on 7 October 2023, it does not get an exemption from the law. The protection of civilians is a legal requirement in a battle plan.

That, at least, is the theory behind the Geneva Conventions. The latest version, the fourth, was formulated and adopted after World War Two to stop such slaughter and cruelty to civilians from ever happening again.

At the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva (ICRC) the words "Even Wars Have Rules" are emblazoned in huge letters on a glass rotunda.

The reminder is timely because the rules are being broken.

Getting information from Gaza is difficult. It is a lethal warzone. At least 181 journalists and media workers have been killed since the war started, almost all Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Israel won't let international news teams into Gaza.

Since the best way to check controversial and difficult stories is first hand, that means the fog of war, always hard to penetrate, is as thick as I have ever experienced in a lifetime of war reporting.

It is clear that Israel wants it to be that way. A few days into the war I was part of a convoy of journalists escorted by the army into the border communities that Hamas had attacked, while rescue workers were recovering the bodies of Israelis from smoking ruins of their homes, and Israeli paratroopers were still clearing buildings with bursts of gunfire.

Israel wanted us to see what Hamas had done. The conclusion has to be that it does not want foreign reporters to see what it is doing in Gaza.

To find an alternative route through that fog, we decided to approach it through the prism of laws that are supposed to regulate warfare and protect civilians. I went to the ICRC headquarters as it is the custodian of the Geneva Conventions.

I have also spoken to distinguished lawyers; to humanitarians with years of experience of working within the law to bring aid to Gaza and other warzones; and to senior Western diplomats about their governments' growing impatience with Israel and nervousness that they might be seen as complicit in future criminal investigations if they do not speak up about the catastrophe inside Gaza.

In Europe there is also now a widely held belief, as in Israel, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is prolonging the war not to safeguard Israelis, but to preserve the ultra-nationalist coalition that keeps him in power.

As prime minister he can prevent a national inquiry into his role in security failures that gave Hamas its opportunity before 7 October and slow down his long-running trial on serious corruption charges that could land him in jail.

Netanyahu rarely gives interviews or news conferences. He prefers direct statements filmed and posted on social media. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar declined a request for an interview.

Boaz Bismuth, a parliamentarian from Netanyahu's Likud party, repeated his leader's positions: that there is no famine in Gaza, that Israel respects the laws of war and that unwarranted criticism of its conduct by countries including the UK, France and Canada incites antisemitic attacks on Jews, including murder.

Lawyers I have spoken to believe that there is evidence that Israel followed war crimes, committed by Hamas when it attacked Israel, with very many of its own, including the crime of genocide.

It is clear that Israel has hard questions to answer that will not go away.

It also faces a legal process alleging genocide at the International Court of Justice and has a prime minister with limited travel options as he faces a warrant for arrest on war crimes charges issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Rival politicians inside Israel accuse Netanyahu of presiding over war crimes and turning Israel into a pariah state.

He has pushed back hard, comparing himself - when the warrant was issued - to Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish officer wrongly convicted of treason in an antisemitic scandal that rocked France in the 1890s.

Evidence in the numbers

The evidence of what is happening in Gaza starts with the numbers. On 7 October 2023 Hamas broke into Israel, killing 1,200 people. More than 800 were Israeli civilians. The others were members of Israel's security forces, first responders and foreign workers. Around 250 people, including non-Israelis, were dragged back into Gaza as hostages.

Figures vary slightly, but it is believed that 54 hostages remain in Gaza, of whom 31 are believed to be dead.

Collating the huge total of Palestinian casualties inside Gaza is much more difficult. Israel restricts movement inside Gaza and much of the north of the strip cannot be reached.

The latest figures from the ministry of health in Gaza record that Israel killed at least 54,607 Palestinians and wounded 125,341 between the 7 October attacks and 4 June this year. Its figures do not separate civilians from members of Hamas and other armed groups.

According to Unicef, by January this year 14,500 Palestinian children in Gaza had been killed by Israel; 17,000 are separated from their parents or orphaned; and Gaza has the highest percentage of child amputees in the world.

Israel and the US have tried to spread doubt about the casualty reports from the ministry, because like the rest of the fragments of governance left in Gaza, it is controlled by Hamas. But the ministry's figures are used by the UN, foreign diplomats and even, according to reports in Israel, the country's own intelligence services.

When the work of the ministry's statisticians was checked after previous wars, it tallied with other estimates.

A study in medical journal The Lancet argues that the ministry underestimates the numbers killed by Israel, in part because its figures are incomplete. Thousands are buried under rubble of destroyed buildings and thousands more will die slowly of illnesses that would have been curable had they had access to medical care.

Gaza's civilians had some respite during a ceasefire earlier this year. But when negotiations on a longer-term deal failed, Israel went back to war on 18 March with a series of huge air strikes and since then a new military offensive, which the prime minister says will finally deliver the elusive "total victory" over Hamas that he promised on 7 October 2023.

Israel has put severe restrictions on food and aid shipments into Gaza throughout the war and blocked them entirely from March to May this year. With Gaza on the brink of famine, it is clear that Israel has violated laws that say civilians should be protected, not starved.

A British government minister told the BBC that Israel was using hunger "as a weapon of war". The Israeli Defence Minister, Israel Katz, said openly that the food blockade was a "main pressure lever" against Hamas to release the hostages and accept defeat.

Weaponising food is a war crime.

A failure of humanity

More importantly, she says, the world is watching an entire people, the Palestinians, being stripped of their human dignity.

"It should really shock our collective conscience… It will haunt us. We are seeing things happening that will make the world an unhappier place far beyond the region."

I asked her about Israel's justification that it is acting in self-defence to destroy a terrorist organisation that attacked and killed its people on 7 October.

"It is no justification for a disrespect or for a hollowing out of the Geneva Conventions," she said. "Neither party is allowed to break the rules, no matter what, and this is important because, look, the same rules apply to every human being under the Geneva Convention.

"A child in Gaza has exactly the same protections under the Geneva Conventions as a child in Israel."

Mirjana Spoljaric spoke quietly, with intense moral clarity. The ICRC considers itself a neutral organisation; in wars it tries to work even-handedly with all sides.

She was not neutral about the rights all human beings should enjoy, and is deeply concerned that those rights are being damaged by the disregard of the rules of war in Gaza.

'We will turn them into rubble'

On the evening of 7 October 2023, while Israel's troops were still fighting to drive Hamas invaders out of its border communities, Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a brief video address to the Israeli people and the watching world.

Speaking from Israel's military command centre in the heart of Tel Aviv, he chose words that would reassure Israelis and induce dread in their enemies. They were also a window into his thinking about the way that the war should be fought, and how Israel would defend its military choices against criticism.

The fate of Hamas was sealed, he promised. "We will destroy them and we will forcefully avenge this dark day that they have forced on the State of Israel and its citizens.

"All of the places which Hamas is deployed, hiding and operating in, that wicked city, we will turn them into rubble."

Netanyahu praised allies who were rallying around Israel, singling out the US, France and the UK for their "unreserved support". He had spoken to them, he said, "to ensure freedom of action".

But in war freedom of action has legal limits. States can fight, but it must be proportionate to the threat that they face, and civilian lives must be protected.

"You're never entitled to break the law," says Janina Dill, professor of global security at Oxford University's Blavatnik School.

"How Israel conducts this war is an entirely separate legal analysis… The same, by the way, is true in terms of resistance to occupation. October 7 was not an appropriate exercise [by Hamas] of the right of resistance to occupation either.

"So, you can have the overall right of self-defence or resistance. And then how you exercise that right is subject to separate rules. And having a really good cause in war legally doesn't give you additional licence to use additional violence.

"The rules on how wars are conducted are the rules for everybody regardless of why they are in the war."

What a difference time and death make in war. Twenty months after Netanyahu's speech, Israel has exhausted a deep reservoir of goodwill and support among many of its friends in Europe and Canada.

Israel always had its critics and enemies. The difference now is that some countries and individuals who consider themselves friends and allies no longer support the way Israel has been fighting the war. In particular, the restrictions on food aid that respected international assessments say have brought Gaza to the brink of famine, as well as a growing stack of evidence of war crimes against Palestinian civilians.

"I'm shaken to my core," Jan Egeland, the veteran head of the Norwegian Refugee Council and former UN humanitarian chief, told me. "I haven't seen a population like this being so trapped for such a long period of time in such a small, besieged area. Indiscriminate bombardment, denied journalism, denied healthcare.

"It is only comparable to the besieged areas of Syria during the Assad regime, which led to a uniform Western condemnation and massive sanctions. In this case, very little has happened."

But now the UK, France and Canada want an immediate halt to Israel's latest offensive.

On 19 May, prime ministers Sir Keir Starmer and Mark Carney, and President Emmanuel Macron, stated, "We have always supported Israel's right to defend Israelis against terrorism. But this escalation is wholly disproportionate… We will not stand by while the Netanyahu Government pursues these egregious actions."

Sanctions may be coming. The UK and France are actively discussing the circumstances in which they would be prepared to recognise Palestine as an independent state.

War and revenge

Netanyahu quoted from a poem by Hayim Nahman Bialik, Israel's national poet, in his TV speech to the Israeli people on 7 October as they wrestled with fear, anger and trauma.

He chose the line: "Revenge for the blood of a little child has yet been devised by Satan."

It comes from In the City of Slaughter, which is widely regarded as the most significant Hebrew poem of the 20th Century. Bialik wrote it as a young man in 1903, after he had visited the scene of a pogrom against Jews in Kishinev, a town then in imperial Russia and now called Chişinǎu, the capital of present-day Moldova. Over three days, Christian mobs murdered 49 Jews and raped at least 600 Jewish women.

Antisemitic brutality and killing in Europe was a major reason why Zionist Jews wanted to settle in Palestine to build their own state, in what they regarded as their historic homeland. Their ambition clashed with the desire of Palestinian Arabs to keep their land. Britain, the colonial power, did much to make their conflict worse.

By 1929 Vincent Sheean, an American journalist, was describing Jerusalem in a way that is grimly familiar to reporters there almost a century later. "The situation here is awful," he wrote. "Every day I expect the worst."

He added that violence was in the air, "The temperature rose – you could stick your hand out in the air and feel it rising."

Sheean's account of the 1920s illustrates the conflict's deep root system in the land that Israelis and Palestinians both want and have not found a way, or a will, to share or separate.

Palestinians see a direct line between the Gaza war and the destruction of their society in 1948 when Israel became independent, which they call the Catastrophe. But Netanyahu, and many other Israelis and their supporters abroad connected the October attacks to the centuries of persecution Jews suffered in Europe, which culminated with Nazi Germany killing six million Jews in the Holocaust.

Netanyahu used the same references to hit back when Macron said in May that the Israeli blockade of Gaza was "shameful" and "unacceptable".

Netanyahu said that Macron had "once again chosen to side with a murderous Islamist terrorist organisation and echo its despicable propaganda, accusing Israel of blood libels".

The blood libel is a notorious antisemitic trope that goes back to medieval Europe, falsely accusing Jews of killing Christians, especially children, to use their blood in religious rituals.

After a couple who worked for the Israeli embassy in Washington DC were shot dead, the gunman told police, "I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza." Netanyahu connected the murders with the criticisms of Israel's conduct made by the leaders of the UK, France and Canada.

In a video posted on X, he declared: "I say to President Macron, Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Starmer: When mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers thank you, you're on the wrong side of justice. You're on the wrong side of humanity, and you're on the wrong side of history.

"For 18 years, we had a de facto Palestinian state. It's called Gaza. And what did we get? Peace? No. We got the most savage slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust."

Netanyahu has also referred to the long history of antisemitism in Europe when warrants calling for his arrest, along with his former defence minister Yoav Gallant, who was defence minister for the first 13 months of the war, were issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

The court had also issued arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, considered the mastermind behind 7 October. All three have since been killed by Israel.

A panel of ICC judges decided that there were "reasonable grounds" to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant bore criminal responsibility. "As co-perpetrators for committing the acts jointly with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts."

In a defiant statement, Netanyahu rejected "false and absurd charges". He compared the ICC to the antisemitic conspiracy that sent Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French army, to the penal colony on Devil's Island for treason in 1894. Dreyfus, who was innocent, was eventually pardoned but the affair caused a major political crisis.

"The antisemitic decision of the International Criminal Court is a modern Dreyfus trial – and will end the same way," the statement said.

"No war is more just than the war Israel has been waging in Gaza since October 7th 2023, when the Hamas terrorist organisation launched a murderous assault and perpetrated the largest massacre against the Jewish People since the Holocaust."

The legacy of persecution

British barrister Helena Kennedy KC was on a panel that was asked by the ICC's chief prosecutor to assess the evidence against Netanyahu and Gallant. Baroness Kennedy and her colleagues, all distinguished jurists, decided that there were reasonable grounds to go ahead with the warrants. She rejects the accusation that the court and the prosecutor were motivated by antisemitism.

"We've got to always remember the horrors that the Jewish community have suffered over centuries," she told me at her chambers in London. "The world is right to feel a great compassion for the Jewish experience."

But a history of persecution did not, she said, give Israel licence to do what it's doing in Gaza.

"The Holocaust has filled us all with a high sense of guilt, and so it should because we were complicit. But it also teaches us the lesson that we mustn't be complicit now when we see crimes being committed.

"You have to conduct a war according to law, and I'm a firm believer that the only way that you ever create peace is by behaving in just ways, and justice is fundamental to all of this. And I'm afraid that we're not seeing that."

Stronger words came from Danny Blatman, an Israeli historian of the Holocaust and head of the Institute of Contemporary Jewry at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Prof Blatman, who is the son of Holocaust survivors, says that Israeli politicians have for many years used the memory of the Holocaust as "a tool to attack governments and public opinion in the world, and warn them that accusing Israel of any atrocities towards the Palestinians is antisemitism".

The result he says is that potential critics "shut their mouths because they're afraid of being attacked by Israelis, by politicians as antisemites".

Lord Sumption, a former justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, believes Israel should have learned from its own history.

"The terrible Jewish experience of persecution and mass killing in the past should give Israel a horror of inflicting the same things on other peoples."

History is inescapable in the Middle East, always present, a storehouse of justification to be plundered.

America: Israel's vital ally

Israel could not wage war in Gaza using its chosen tactics without American military, financial and diplomatic support. President Donald Trump has shown signs of impatience, forcing Netanyahu to allow a few cracks in the siege that has brought Gaza to the edge of famine.

Netanyahu himself continues to express support for Trump's widely condemned proposal to turn Gaza into "the Riviera of the Mediterranean", by emptying it of Palestinians and turning it over to the Americans for redevelopment. That is code for the mass expulsion of Palestinians, which would be a war crime. Netanyahu's ultra-nationalist allies want to replace them with Jewish settlers.

Trump himself seems silent about the plan. But the Trump administration's support for Israel, and its actions in Gaza, looks undiminished.

On 4 June, the US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for an "unconditional and permanent" ceasefire, the release of all the hostages and the lifting of restrictions on humanitarian aid. The other 14 members voted in favour. The next day the Americans sanctioned four judges from the ICC in retaliation for the decision to issue arrest warrants.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was protecting the sovereignty of the US and Israel against "illegitimate actions".

"I call on the countries that still support the ICC, many of whose freedom was purchased at the price of great American sacrifices to fight this disgraceful attack on our nation and Israel."

Instead the ICC has had statements of support and solidarity from European leaders. A broad and increasingly bitter gap has opened up between the US and Europe over the Gaza war, and over the legitimacy of criticising Israel's conduct.

Israel and the Trump administration reject the idea that the laws of war apply equally to all sides, because they claim it implies a false and wrong equivalence between Hamas and Israel.

Jan Egeland can see the split between Europe and the US growing.

"I hope now that Europe will grow a spine," he says. "There have been new tones, finally, coming from London, from Berlin, from Paris, from Brussels, after all these months of industrial-scale hypocrisy where they didn't see that there was a world record in killed aid workers, in killed nurses, in killed doctors, in killed teachers, in killed children, and all while journalists like yourself have been denied access, denied to be witnessing this.

"It's something that the West will learn to regret really — that they were so spineless."

The question of genocide

The question of whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza outrages Israel and its supporters, led by the United States. Lawyers who believe the evidence does not support the accusation have stood up to oppose the case brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) alleging genocide against Palestinians.

But it will not go away.

The Netanyahu loyalist Boaz Bismuth answered the genocide question like this.

"How can you accuse us of genocide when the Palestinian population grew, I don't know how many times more? How can you accuse me of ethnic cleansing when I'm moving [the] population inside Gaza to protect them? How can you accuse me when I lose soldiers in order to protect my enemies?"

It is hard to prove genocide has happened; the legal bar prosecutors have to clear has been set deliberately high. But leading lawyers who have spent decades assessing matters of legal fact to see if there is a case to answer believe it is not necessary to wait for the process started in January last year by South Africa to make a years-long progress through the ICJ.

We asked Lord Sumption, the former Supreme Court justice, for his opinion.

"Genocide is a question of intent," he wrote. "It means killing, maiming or imposing intolerable conditions on a national or ethnic group with intent to destroy them in whole or in part.

"Statements by Netanyahu and his ministers suggest that the object of current operations is to force the Arab population of Gaza to leave by killing and starving them if they stay. These things make genocide the most plausible explanation for what is now happening."

South Africa based much of its genocide case against Israel on inflammatory language used by Israeli leaders. One example was the biblical reference Netanyahu used when Israel sent troops into Gaza, comparing Hamas to Amalek. In the Bible God commands the Israelites to destroy their persecutors, the Amalekites.

Another was Defence Minister Yoav Gallant's declaration just after the Hamas attacks when he ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip: "There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly."

Ralph Wilde, UCL professor of international law, also believes there is proof of genocide. "Unfortunately, yes, and there is now no doubt legally as to that, and indeed that has been the case for some time."

He points out that an advisory opinion of the ICJ has already determined that Israel's presence in Gaza and the West Bank was illegal. Prof Wilde compares Western governments' responses to the war in Gaza to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

"There has been no court decision as to the illegality of Russia's action in Ukraine. Nonetheless, states have found it possible already to make public proclamations determining the illegality of that action. There is nothing stopping them doing that in this case.

"And so, if they are suggesting that they are going to wait, the question to ask them is, why are you waiting for a court to tell you what you already know?"

Helena Kennedy KC is "very anxious about the casual use of the word genocide and I avoid it myself because I do think that there has to be a very high level in law, a very high level of intent necessary to prove it".

"Are we saying that it's not genocide but it is crimes against humanity? You think that makes it sound okay? Terrible crimes against humanity? I think we're in the process of seeing the most grievous kind of crimes taking place.

"I do think we're on a trajectory that could very easily be towards genocide, and as a lawyer I think that there's certainly an argument that is being made strongly for that."

Baroness Kennedy says her advice to the British government if it was asked for would be, "We've got to be very careful about being complicit in grievous crimes ourselves."

Eventually, a ceasefire will come. It will not end the conflict, or head off the certainty of a long and bitter epilogue. The genocide case at the ICJ guarantees that. So do the International Criminal Court's arrest warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.

Once journalists and war crimes investigators can get into the Gaza Strip, they will emerge with more hard facts about what has happened.

Those who have been into Gaza with the UN or medical teams say that even people who have seen many wars find it hard to grasp the extent of the damage; so many islands of human misery in an ocean of rubble.

I keep thinking about something an Israeli officer said the only time I've been into Gaza since the war started. I spent a few hours in the ruins with the Israeli army, one month into the war, when it had already made northern Gaza into a wasteland

He started telling me how they did their best to not to fire on Palestinian civilians. Then he trailed off, and paused, and told me no-one in Gaza could be innocent because they all supported Hamas.

Israeli army admits to Gaza strike after BBC Verify investigation

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr7zplv35l1o, 8 days ago

The Israeli military has admitted to BBC Verify that it conducted a previously unacknowledged strike on the al-Mawasi area of southern Gaza, which reportedly killed at least one Palestinian and injured 30 others.

The strike took place on Sunday - hours after 31 Palestinians were killed in an incident near a new aid distribution centre in the city of Rafah, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency.

While reviewing footage purporting to show the incident near the aid distribution centre, BBC Verify identified a separate strike in the nearby city of Khan Younis.

The blast was not previously announced by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which regularly publishes operational updates online.

It was only when approached by BBC Verify that the IDF admitted it had carried out an artillery strike and said the incident was the result of "technical and operational errors".

They said troops had fired towards a "target" but the artillery had "deviated" and "wrongfully hit the Mawasi area" - a coastal strip of Khan Younis. The IDF did not provide evidence for these assertions.

The IDF rarely acknowledges such "errors". A BBC Verify analysis of statements on the IDF's official Telegram account could only find four previous instances of it admitting to making a "mistake", "technical" or "operational" error relating to the war in Gaza since it began in October 2023.

The footage we reviewed from the Khan Younis blast first began to emerge late on Sunday evening. It showed bloodied bodies surrounded by dust clouds in an area where Palestinians were living in tents. Women and children could be seen running and screaming as they watched injured people carried away.

The Israeli strike hit an area where a number of displaced Palestinians had been sheltering. The UN has estimated that 90% of the strip's population of 2.1 million people have been forced to flee their homes.

Ambulances arrived on the scene to collect the injured shortly after the incident. BBC Verify identified a number of the same injured Palestinians in both the footage from the scene and later images from the hospital where they were treated.

One Palestinian was killed and 30 others were injured by the strike, according to the Kuwaiti Field Hospital.

The footage was initially falsely linked to killings near a controversial new aid distribution site in Rafah.

But BBC Verify geolocated the footage to a location in Khan Younis - 4.5km (2.8 miles) away from the distribution site.

The Hamas-run Civil Defence agency said "Israeli gunfire" had killed 31 Palestinians near the aid distribution centre. The Israeli army at first said it did not fire on Palestinians near the site, but a military source later told BBC Verify that troops had fired warning shots.

We used the position of the sun to ascertain that the footage was filmed in the evening, shortly before sunset. A local journalist who filmed footage of the scene also told BBC Verify that the incident occurred around 19:00 local time on Sunday - hours after the killings near the aid site.

The IDF statement did not offer a figure for those killed in the Khan Younis blast and said that "the incident is under review".

The footage showing the strike has been at the heart of a dispute between the BBC and the White House.

On Monday, BBC Verify reviewed the footage and debunked claims that it was connected to the killings near the distribution centre in Rafah.

Our debunk post was then picked up by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who wrongly claimed that it showed the BBC had retracted its coverage of the aid centre killings.

In a statement, the BBC said her comments were "misleading", adding that she had been "conflating" the two stories.

"We did not remove any story and we stand by our journalism," the BBC statement said.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas' cross-border attack, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 54,607 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including 4,335 since Israel resumed its offensive on 18 March, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

What we know about killings near US-Israeli backed Gaza aid site

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8xg7rv9g4yo, 9 days ago

Over the past three days, there have been a series of deadly incidents on the route to an aid distribution site in Gaza run by a controversial group backed by the US and Israel.

The three incidents took place on roads approaching one of the new sites in the extreme south-west of Gaza, which is under full Israeli military control. The facility is being operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

The first incident took place early on Sunday morning when 31 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency. Another three people were killed by gunfire on Monday morning, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Meanwhile, a further 27 people were killed by Israeli fire near the site on Tuesday morning, according to health officials.

Israel has denounced what it called "false reports" that its troops fired on civilians at or near the sites. It said that some soldiers fired warning shots on Sunday 1km away, and that they also opened fire after identifying "several suspects" on Monday and Tuesday.

Very few videos have emerged from Gaza that show the incidents themselves, but BBC Verify has examined available footage and attempted to map how they unfolded.

Where have the incidents taken place?

All three are reported to have taken place near an aid distribution centre in the south-west of Gaza, in the Tal al-Sultan area.

The site, named Safe Distribution Site 1 (SDS 1) by the GHF, opened on the 26 May. It is one of four such facilities, three of which are based in southern Gaza.

The facilities are part of a new aid system - widely condemned by humanitarian groups - aiming to bypass the UN, which Israel has accused of failing to prevent Hamas diverting aid to its fighters. The UN says that has not been a big problem and that the GHF's system is unworkable and unethical.

However, only SDS 1 has been open and operational since Friday, according to official GHF posts online. It follows a chaotic opening week which saw the site overrun by desperate civilians, and projectiles being thrown towards Gazans at another facility at the GHF's northern site near Nuseirat on Thursday.

A spokesperson for the foundation did not respond to messages asking why the other facilities have been closed for several days.

The GHF has also encouraged civilians to follow a set route when approaching SDS 1, directing them along a coastal road called al-Rashid Street.

The instructions have been issued on the foundation's official Facebook page.

Chris Newton, a senior analyst at the Brussels-based think tank Crisis Group, said the route was neither "safe nor effective".

He added that directing civilians down a single route towards the site was "a very far cry from what was possible" under the UN-based system, which saw 400 distribution points scattered across the strip.

"This all looks designed to fail," he said of the new aid system.

How Sunday's incident unfolded

According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, some 31 people were killed by gunfire on Sunday.

The GHF posted on its official Facebook page early on Sunday, telling civilians that SDS 1 would be open from 05:00 local time.

However, just an hour later it posted again saying that the site was closed. By this time many Gazans had gathered at the Al-Alam roundabout as they waited to be granted access to the site, Mohammed Ghareeb, a journalist based in Rafah, told the BBC.

We have seen a limited amount of video that is claimed to relate to the shootings. In one video filmed on the route to the aid site, purportedly on Sunday, people lie on the ground and an explosion is heard.

There is a "realistic possibility" this blast sound was a battle tank firing its main armament, says David Heathcote, an intelligence manager with security analysts McKenzie Intelligence, but he adds that "there could be other explanations". Another expert we spoke to said the source of the sound was unclear.

An audio recording provided to the BBC by international staff at the UK-Med field hospital about 3km away from the site captured two apparent explosions and protracted gunfire for over five minutes.

Video footage posted at 06:08 showed dozens of people lying prone on sand, with automatic gunfire audible. BBC Verify could not definitively geolocate the footage.

Another clip reviewed by BBC Verify, which claimed to be from the aftermath of the incident, showed a number of bodies lying on a beach on Gaza's coast. As the video progresses, several of the bodies were covered by white bags. One of those lying on the beach appeared to be a young woman.

We cannot definitively geolocate the footage. However, lights seen in the distance suggest that the footage may have been filmed in an area about 1km from SDS 1.

Images - provided to the BBC by doctors - of bullets recovered from those killed and wounded in the incidents showed that both 5.56mm and 7.62mm rounds were used.

But Benedict Manzin - an analyst with the risk consultancy Sibylline - said that the source of the rounds was unclear, noting that both the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Palestinian armed groups "will have access to weapons that fire 5.56mm and 7.62mm rounds".

The IDF denied its troops fired at civilians "near or within" the site and said reports to this effect were false. But an Israeli military source later said warning shots were fired approximately 1km (0.6 miles) away from the site "to prevent suspects from approaching the troops".

The GHF said in a statement: "There were no injuries, fatalities or incidents during our operations yesterday. Period. We have yet to see any evidence that there was an attack at or near our facility."

What happened in the later incidents?

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

A frail cry and relief: Malnourished baby Siwar evacuated from Gaza

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn0g45z792do, 2 days ago

The cry was frail but I could hear Siwar Ashour even before she was carried out of the coach.

It was the cry of a voice that won't give up, of a child born in this war and who has now, for a while at least, managed to escape it.

In person six-month-old Siwar is tinier than any visual image can convey. She weighs 3kg (6.6lb) but should be twice that. Her mother, Najwa, 23, smiled as she described her feelings on crossing into Jordan on Wednesday, when her daughter was evacuated from Gaza with other Palestinian children. The first thing she noticed was the quiet.

"It feels like there is a truce," she told me. "We will spend our night without rockets and bombing with God's will."

Siwar was also accompanied by her grandmother Reem and her father Saleh who is blind.

"The first and last goal of this trip is Siwar," said Saleh. "We want to get her to a safe shore. I want to make sure she is safe and cured. She's my daughter, my own flesh and blood. And I'm so deeply worried about her."

It was Reem who carried Siwar off the bus onto Jordanian soil, forming her fingers into a V sign as she came.

"Until now I can't believe that I have arrived in Jordan. I saw King's Abdullah's photo at the border and I felt so happy I got off the bus and made the sign of victory…for the sake of Siwar."

Back in April when the BBC first filmed Siwar at Nasser hospital in southern Gaza, her mother and doctor said she was suffering from malnutrition because the special milk formula she needed could not be found in sufficient quantity. Her body was emaciated. Najwa said then she could not breastfeed Siwar because she herself was suffering from malnutrition.

Tins of milk formula were found and delivered by the Jordanian Field hospital and by private fundraisers. But with an Israeli blockade on aid, which was partially eased three weeks ago, and an escalating military offensive it was clear Siwar's condition needed more comprehensive testing and treatment.

In a deal announced between King Abdullah and US President Donald Trump in February, Jordan offered to bring 2000 seriously ill children to Amman for treatment.

Gaza's devastated medical system cannot cope with the level of sickness and war wounded. Since March, 57 children along with 113 family escorts have been evacuated. Sixteen children came on Wednesday, including Siwar.

Cradled in her grandmother's arms, Siwar stared with her large eyes at the unfamiliar crowds of police, medical workers, and journalists gathered on the border.

She was taken to an air conditioned hall where Jordanian medics handed out drinks and food to the children. There was peace and plenty.

What was most obvious was the exhaustion of parents and children alike. In several months of covering these evacuations this latest was the most striking in terms of a sense of communal trauma.

All of these families know what it is to be driven from one area to another by Israeli evacuation orders, or to queue for hours in the hope of finding food. If they have not experienced death in their family, they will definitely know friends or relatives who have been killed.

Families are often separated by conflict as parents search for food or medical treatment. One day Najwa took Siwar to hospital and that was the last time husband Saleh was with them for two months.

"I thought she would be gone for just three or four days and then come back, a simple treatment and she'd return," he recalled. "But I was shocked that it dragged on and took so long…and eventually I realised that her condition is very serious and difficult."

We travelled from the border to Amman with Siwar and her family. Najwa is pregnant and fell into a deep sleep. Siwar remained awake in her grandmother's arms. On the same ambulance were two boys suffering from cancer, along with their mothers and two younger siblings. One of the siblings, a boy of four, cried constantly. He was tired and scared.

After an hour we reached Amman and Siwar was transferred into the arms of a nurse and then to another ambulance. Over the next few days she will be tested and given the kind of treatment that is simply impossible under current conditions in Gaza. And her mother, father and grandmother - those who watch over her - will sleep without fear.

With additional reporting by Alice Doyard, Suha Kawar, Matthew Goddard and Malaak Hassouneh.

Gaza doctor whose nine children were killed in Israeli strike evacuated with son

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgmj09ggdnro, 2 days ago

A Palestinian doctor whose nine children and husband were killed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza last month is being evacuated to Italy with her only surviving child.

Dr Alaa al-Najjar and her 11-year-old son Adam al-Najjar were scheduled to fly to Milan in northern Italy on Wednesday evening, Italy's foreign ministry said. The boy will receive treatment for his injuries there.

Alaa's husband, Dr Hamdi al-Najjar, and nine of their children were killed after their home in the southern city of Khan Younis was struck on 23 May.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said at the time the incident was being reviewed. The BBC has contacted the IDF for an updated comment.

Footage posted online by Palestinian journalists Mohammad Salama and Hala Asfour on Wednesday showed the boy and his mother getting into a Red Crescent ambulance and waving goodbye as they made their way out of Gaza.

In an interview with Italian newspaper la Repubblica published ahead of their evacuation, Alaa said Adam's condition was stable but "his left arm is in bad shape, the bones are fractured and the nerves are damaged".

The mother and son, along with 17 other injured Palestinians, plus their relatives, were set to cross the border to the Israeli city of Eilat on Wednesday, where they would then be flown to various cities in Italy on chartered flights by the Italian Air Force, the country's foreign ministry said in a statement.

The flight carrying Adam was due to land at Milan's Linate airport, the statement said.

Including Wednesday's mission, 150 Palestinian patients have been evacuated from Gaza to Italy for medical treatment, as well as more than 450 accompanying family members, the foreign ministry added.

Alaa's husband, Hamdi, had just returned from dropping his wife at Nasser Hospital where they both worked when the deadly attack on their home took place in May.

Hamdi was taken to hospital with brain and internal injuries but died days later.

Adam was severely injured but survived the attack.

A British surgeon who treated him said Adam's "left arm was just about hanging off, he was covered in fragment injuries and he had several substantial lacerations" when he arrived at the hospital.

At the time, the IDF said in response to reports of the strike that "an aircraft struck several suspects identified by IDF forces as operating in a building near troops in the Khan Younis area, a dangerous combat zone that had been evacuated of civilians in advance for their protection. The claim of harm to uninvolved individuals is being reviewed."

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas's cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 55,104 people have been killed in Gaza during the war, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

'I begged for help, but only God answered': Growing dangers of pregnancy and childbirth in Gaza

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c626ljrp21yo, 11 days ago

Amid a deadly war in Gaza, new lives begin. But newborn babies and those still in the womb are among the worst hit by the harsh conditions.

With acute shortages of food, the UN says that one in 10 new babies is underweight or premature. There has also been an increase in miscarriages, stillbirths and congenital abnormalities.

At Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, Malak Brees, now seven months pregnant, fears the Israeli bombings and evacuation orders, and losing her baby.

"I'm frightened that I could have a premature birth at any time and that my amniotic fluid isn't enough for the baby to grow in," she tells the BBC.

Malak did not expect to conceive her second child. Six weeks ago, she lost a lot of amniotic fluid, putting her baby in danger.

"The doctors told me it was due to malnutrition and exhaustion... They told me it was in the hands of God - the foetus could survive or die."

While poor nutrition is causing new hazards in pregnancy, childbirth too has become far riskier.

Israel's total blockade on Gaza imposed on 2 March - which it said was to pressure Hamas - was only partly eased two weeks ago. There is a lack of basic medical supplies, including painkillers, and basic hygiene products.

Sometimes Israeli military action and displacement mean that women are giving birth in their tents or shelters with no medical help.

"If mothers are lucky enough to come to the hospitals to deliver their babies, women who give birth vaginally are typically being sent home three to four hours afterwards," says Sandra Adler Killen, an American registered emergency and paediatric nurse, who recently worked at the hospital in Gaza.

"Women who have had surgical C-sections [Caesareans] are discharged after 24 hours," she said.

"They're discharged to their homes quite often with babies who have conditions and various issues that in normal circumstances we would have stay at the hospital to get more support.

"Most babies, outside of Gaza, born under 32 weeks, under 1,400g (3.1lb), they would be in the NICU [neo-natal intensive care unit]. These babies are sent home. There's just no space for them."

Nasser hospital still has a working neo-natal intensive care unit, and it is full. Doctors say they have been overwhelmed by patients since the nearby European hospital was targeted in a deadly Israeli bombing on 13 May and put out of use.

Israel's military has repeatedly attacked hospitals during nearly 20 months of war and says it targeted the local Hamas leader, Mohammed Sinwar, in an underground base beneath the European hospital's compound.

It accuses Hamas of routinely hiding its fighters and infrastructure behind the sick and wounded, something the armed group denies.

With access to basic healthcare now very difficult, most of what the UN estimates are 55,000 pregnant women in Gaza are not able to get regular pre-natal checks.

"The psychological state of the women at the point of childbirth is heartbreaking, may God help them," says Dr Ahmad al-Farra, a head of paediatric and maternity care at Nasser hospital.

"They are fully aware that their unborn babies are not being properly monitored and they themselves did not receive adequate nutrition, so they expect their babies to suffer from low birth weight or other complications. That's the first concern."

"The second is that after giving birth, they are deeply worried about how they will manage to breastfeed or even secure formula, especially with the ongoing lack of food. Both options are equally difficult."

Wiping away tears, Aya al-Skafi is looking at photos of her daughter, Jenan, in a shelter in Gaza City.

The baby was born during the ceasefire earlier this year and initially she was in good health. But as food became scarce, her mother struggled to breastfeed.

"After the crossings were closed, everything was closed on us," Aya says. "There was no flour, no clean water, no food like fruits and greens that you need to be healthy. When my condition worsened, Jenan's condition worsened even more."

Jenan was diagnosed with malnutrition and dehydration and had problems with digestion. Doctors could not find her the special formula that she needed.

"I was torn into a thousand pieces to the extent that I wanted to scream to the whole world, saying: 'Save my daughter from death, save her!'" Aya recalls.

"I begged for help but only God, Lord of the World answered. Only God saved her from the cruelty of this world."

Jenan died last month - she was four months old.

Many mothers are struggling to breastfeed because of their own poor health, but a Scotland-based organisation, the Gaza Infant Nutrition Alliance, has been training local medics to give more support.

Sandra Adler Killen, who is also a lactation specialist, works with them.

"We absolutely recommend breastfeeding, even when mothers are malnourished unless they are acutely malnourished," she says.

"Quite often mothers who have been given formula, they become dependent on it, their milk supply decreases then they don't have access to formula, or they don't have clean water."

Now back home in the US, Sandra recounts some distressing cases that she encountered in Khan Younis and at the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah.

A first-time mother had visited the hospital ahead of giving birth, but Israeli air strikes meant she ended up delivering her baby alone with her husband in their tent camp.

For five days, she had difficulties getting her newborn to breastfeed. When it was finally safe to travel to the hospital, it was too late to save her baby.

Another woman and her infant survived a tank shelling near her home, but she had shrapnel in her chest, part of which severed her milk duct. She needed expert advice on how to continue feeding.

A mother of four was responding well to help feeding her premature newborn but then her tent was bombed. Her husband was killed and, a few hours later, they received an Israeli military evacuation order.

The woman fainted as she fled with her children and was unable to breastfeed for three days. In her case, fortunately, they managed to find baby formula.

"There is story, upon story, upon story," says Sandra. "Overall, we're experiencing a huge, huge increase in desperation, in hopelessness and suicidal ideation."

Big families are the norm in Gaza, but in displaced people's camps, many women do not have the usual support from relatives and friends as they go through their pregnancy and then their struggle with newborns.

As well as working in Gaza twice in the past year, Sandra has been giving advice to women remotely. She became close to a pharmacist, Jomana Arafa, during her high-risk pregnancy with twins.

"I gave birth yesterday, Sandra, with a C-section and, thank God, my babies and I are in a good condition and health," Jomana says in a voice-message in English which she sent with photographs last August. She had named her baby boy Asser and the girl Aysal.

But the joy for Jomana and her family was to be horribly short-lived.

Three days later, her husband, Mohamed Abul-Qomasan, was getting the babies' birth certificates when he got news that his wife, their newborns and his mother-in-law had been killed in an Israeli missile strike at their shelter in Deir al-Balah.

Journalists at the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital filmed Mohamed as he collapsed in the courtyard.

At the time the Israeli military said it did not have knowledge of the incident, adding that it targeted "only military objectives", taking steps to minimise harm to civilians.

For Sandra, the death of Jomana, her mother and new babies was "devastating beyond devastating, heartbreaking beyond heartbreaking". "I still think about it, and I sob," she says.

In Gaza, for most women, pregnancy and childbirth were once a time of eager anticipation and excitement but now they are times of heightened stress and fear.

Rather than representing the hope of new life, babies have come to epitomise the struggle to survive.

Trump vowed to make the world safer - has he?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj4270jp19xo, yesterday

Trump has, however, pushed Russian and Ukrainian officials back to the negotiating table, but there's been little progress beyond some important prisoner swaps. President Putin shows no signs he is ready to end this grievous war.

Trump's threats of "hell to pay" ultimatums to Hamas, as well as pressure on Israel, helped get a Gaza ceasefire deal over the line in January, even before he was sworn into office on 20 January. But the truce, described by Trump as "epic", collapsed in March.

"He doesn't like to get into the detail," one Arab diplomat told me, underlining the president's preference for quick easy deals in what are deeply complex conflicts.

"We all want deals, but we know deals don't work or don't last, if they're not peace deals, as opposed to end-of-war deals," said Martin Griffiths, a former UN Under-Secretary General who is now the Executive Director of Mediation Group International.

Trump, who prides himself on being the world's disruptor-in-chief, has also dissed the skills of seasoned career diplomats. "They may know the rivers, the mountains, the terrain, but they don't know how to do a deal," he said.

Instead, his preference is to use the deal-makers of his own property world, most of all his golf buddy and former real estate lawyer and investor Steve Witkoff, who is juggling all the tortuous and tricky files on Ukraine, Gaza, Iran, and more.

President Trump's Make America Great Again crusade goes beyond individual deals. He has run roughshod through the rules-based world order that forged the foundation for global stability and security in the aftermath of World War II.

His repeated threats to seize control of the Panama Canal, buy Greenland, and turn Canada into the 51st US state have stunned - and scared - capitals the world over.

His steep tariffs imposed on both ally and adversary have unleashed retaliatory taxes and fears of a debilitating global trade war, while also straining age-old international alliances.

But he's also galvanised others, including in the NATO military alliance - whose own chief is now amplifying Washington's order for members to significantly step up their own military spending.

The American president also took credit for a ceasefire brokered between India and Pakistan after days of cross-border strikes between the neighbours last month. The US's belated intervention made a big difference, but many other players pitched in.

His business-oriented "America First" approach has also meant that other conflicts, including the terrible killing fields in Sudan, are not beeping loudly on his own radar.

But warring sides in many regions are now courting him, wielding their mineral wealth and investment potential as a bargaining chip. The president's proposed security-for-minerals deal in war-torn Congo, for example, has provoked a chorus of concern that it doesn't tackle the root causes of the conflict.

"If you could use a mineral deal to end decades of war, then there are countries who would have fixed that already," International Crisis Group President Comfort Ero said.

His administration's cuts to UN aid agencies, and his dismantling of the American aid agency USAID, have also deepened the suffering of displaced and marginalised people in many regions and exacerbates tensions.

And, after only a few months of his second presidency, Trump's frustration with intransigent actors has led him to issue threats to "take a pass" and walk away from conflicts like Ukraine.

"Deals take forever," Martin Griffiths, the former UN Under-Secretary General, told me. "You have to start and you have to stay."

The BBC World Service Debate – Is Donald Trump making the world safer or more dangerous?

The BBC World Service Debate considers the rapidly changing international landscape during Trump's presidency. Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet is joined by a panel of guests to discuss whether the new international order emerging will make the world a safer place.

You can watch the debate on the BBC News Channel at 21:00BST on Friday 13 June and it will be streamed on the BBC News website. It will air on BBC Radio 5Live and World Service radio on Saturday 14 June.

Who is Mahmoud Khalil, Palestinian student activist facing US deportation?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgj5nlxz44yo, 2 days ago

Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent figure during the Gaza war protests at Columbia University in the spring of 2024, has drawn global attention after the Trump administration arrested and moved to deport him.

The case has raised questions about free speech on college campuses and the legal process that would allow for the deportation of a US permanent resident.

Mr Khalil was held in an immigration facility Louisiana for three months before a federal judge ruled that President Donald Trump could no longer detain or deport him. The decision will be stayed until 13 June, giving the Trump administration a chance to file an appeal.

Born in Syria, the Columbia graduate's arrest by immigration agents was linked to Trump's promise to crack down on student demonstrators he accuses of "un-American activity".

Trump has repeatedly alleged that pro-Palestinian activists, including Mr Khalil, support Hamas, a group designated a terrorist organisation by the US. The president argues these protesters should be deported and called Mr Khalil's arrest "the first of many to come".

The 30-year-old's lawyers say he was exercising free speech rights to demonstrate in support of Palestinians in Gaza and against US support for Israel. They accused the government of "open repression of student activism and political speech".

Khalil's work for UK in Middle East

Born in Syria to Palestinian refugees, Mr Khalil earned a degree in computer science from the Lebanese American University before working with the Syrian-American non-profit Jusoor.

More recently, he managed the Syria Chevening Programme for the British Embassy in Beirut, offering scholarships for study in the UK, according to his biography on the Society for International Development website.

The UK Foreign Office said Mr Khalil stopped work there more than two years ago.

Mr Khalil moved to the US in 2022, where he earned a master's degree at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. He has since married an American woman, who is eight months pregnant, and initially faced arrest threats herself, according to his lawyer.

His role in the student protests

Mr Khalil's role in Columbia's 2024 protests placed him in the public eye. On the front lines of negotiations, he played a role in mediating between university officials and the activists and students who attended the protests.

Activists supporting Israel have accused Mr Khalil of being a leader of Columbia University Apartheid Divest (Cuad), a student group that demanded, among other things, the university to divest from its financial ties to Israel and a ceasefire in Gaza.

Mr Khalil has denied that he led the group, telling the Associated Press (AP) that he only served as a spokesperson for protesters and as a mediator with the university.

After Mr Khalil's arrest the Department of Homeland Security accused him of "leading activities aligned to Hamas" but did not provide further details.

On Tuesday, the White House alleged that he had organised protests where pro-Hamas propaganda was distributed. His lawyers responded that there was no evidence that he had provided support of any kind to US-designated terror groups.

"They're trying to make an example of him to chill others from making similar speech," Samah Sisay told the AP.

Some Jewish students at Columbia have said the protests veered into antisemitism and made them feel unsafe on campus.

The Columbia Jewish Alumni Association said Mr Khalil had "spent over a year abusing the privileges this country and Columbia gave him".

The Trump administration recently cut $400m in funding to the university over what it said was "continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students".

Students affiliated with Cuad and the protests have rejected these characterisations, and many Jewish students and groups participated in the campus rallies.

Columbia was just one college campus that played host to mass student protests over the war in Gaza. And activists say they fear the Trump administration will continue to target protesters who are not US citizens.

Legal experts say green card holders can be deported on national security grounds, but add that the case against Mr Khalil is unprecedented.

"Targeting individual protesters just for protesting... is highly unusual and something that we haven't seen before, even under the first Trump administration," said Jacob Hamburger, a visiting assistant professor at Cornell Law School.

Khalil had been briefly suspended from Columbia

Amid the protests early last year, Mr Khalil was briefly suspended from the university, after police swarmed the campus following the occupation of a building.

At the time, he told the BBC that while he was acting as a key protest negotiator with Columbia officials, he had not participated directly in the student encampment because he was worried it could affect his student visa.

It is unclear when he obtained his green card, which provides permanent residency.

"[They said] that after reviewing the evidence, they don't have any evidence to suspend (me)," he said in an interview in early May. "It shows how random the suspension was … they did that randomly, and without due process."

At the time he said he would continue protesting, but more recently, Mr Khalil's wife said her husband had grown worried about deportation, after facing online attacks that "were simply not based in reality". She said he sent Columbia University an email asking for urgent legal help on 7 March, the day before immigration agents arrested him.

Protests surge in wake of arrest

Mr Khalil's arrest has sparked demonstrations in New York City, where Columbia is located. On Monday, hundreds of people gathered at a Manhattan protest, including students and professors from Columbia University.

Donna Lieberman, president of New York Civil Liberties Union, called the attempted deportation of Mr Khalil "targeted retaliation and an extreme attack on the First Amendment". New York Attorney General Letitia James said she was "extremely concerned".

The American Civil Liberties Union called the arrest "unprecedented" and "obviously intended to intimidate and chill speech on one side of a public debate"

"The federal government is claiming the authority to deport people with deep ties to the US and revoke their green cards for advocating positions that the government opposes," it said.

The White House has continued to defend its move.

"This administration is not going to tolerate individuals having the privilege of studying in our country and then siding with pro-terrorist organisations that have killed Americans," said Karoline Leavitt, Trump's press secretary.

Ukraine collects 1,212 bodies in latest swap with Russia

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg752y13meo, 2 days ago

The bodies of 1,212 Ukrainian soldiers have been returned from Russia, Kyiv says, as part of a prisoner exchange agreement between the warring countries.

In return Russia received 27 bodies, Moscow's chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said.

The prisoner exchange deal was the only tangible result of peace talks in Turkey last week, with both sides agreeing to hand over as many as 6,000 dead bodies each, as well as sick and heavily wounded prisoners of war, and those aged under 25.

Medinsky announced that Russia would begin exchanging "severely wounded prisoners" on Thursday.

The dead soldiers were from various regions of Ukraine, including Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine's co-ordination centre for the treatment of prisoners of war said on Telegram.

The centre added it would "establish the identities of the deceased as soon as possible".

This is not the first time that dead bodies have been repatriated in this conflict - thousands have already been exchanged in more than 70 separate repatriations.

This exchange follows several days of accusations from Moscow that Ukraine was failing to collect the bodies, which Medinsky said had been sitting in refrigerated trucks at an exchange point since Saturday.

Medinsky also said on Saturday that Ukraine had "unexpectedly postponed" the prisoner swaps. In response, Ukraine said that Russia was playing "dirty tricks" and manipulating the facts.

The first round of exchanges took place on Monday. There were emotional scenes as the families of missing Ukrainian soldiers gathered near the border with Belarus to press the returning prisoners for information about their loved ones.

Soldiers on both sides were exchanged that day, but neither Russia nor Ukraine gave an exact number of how many people were swapped.

Russian strikes in Ukraine hit Kyiv and kill two in Odesa

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2jzp0ewe0o, 4 days ago

Russia has launched one of its largest strikes on Kyiv, injuring four people and causing widespread damage across seven of the capital's ten districts, officials said.

Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia launched 315 drones overnight across the country.

Further south in the port city of Odesa, two people were killed after drone attacks hit residential buildings and medical facilities, including a maternity ward, officials said. Zelensky later said 13 people had also been injured there.

The overnight attack was "one of the largest strikes on Kyiv", Zelensky said on social media.

Witnesses said they heard loud explosions across the city, and pictures showed the night sky lit in orange and heavy smoke rising from buildings.

Elsewhere in the country, the Dnipro region and Chernihiv region were also targeted, Zelensky said.

He said two of the seven missiles fired in the overnight strikes were "ballistics of North Korean production."

Zelensky said "for yet another night, instead of a ceasefire, there were massive strikes".

Ukraine also launched drone attacks on Russia overnight, causing several airports to close temporarily.

The latest strikes come after massive Russian attacks across Ukraine in the past few days. Moscow said those strikes were in response to Ukraine's recent attacks inside Russia.

A covert Ukrainian drone strike named "Operation Spider's Web" struck air bases deep inside Russia on 1 June. Russian leader Vladimir Putin had promised to respond "very strongly" to the attacks in a call with US President Donald Trump, according to the American leader.

During the attack early on Tuesday, air raid alerts were in place across large parts of Ukraine, the country's official air raid map showed, including in Kyiv and the Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv regions in the east.

"Stay in shelters! The massive attack on the capital continues," Kyiv Mayor Klitschko warned on Telegram.

The head of Kyiv's military administration Timur Tkachenko said on Telegram that the attacks on various districts happened "simultaneously".

Debris from "downed targets" fell on several different buildings across the city and fires broke out at a residential building and in warehouses, he added.

The attacks "terrorised" the city and it was "a difficult night for all of us," the head of Kyiv's military district, Timur Tkachenko, said.

In Odesa, Governer Kiper said patients and staff managed to evacuate the medical station and maternity ward that were targeted, while ambulances were damaged.

Those that were injured were receiving medical assistance, he added.

This attack follows the start of a prisoner swap on Monday. The swap will see sick and seriously injured prisoners of war, those under the age of 25 and the bodies of 12,000 soldiers returned.

Zelensky said the exchange would unfold "in several stages", describing it as a "complicated" process with "many sensitive details".

Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Families of Ukraine's missing fear peace will not bring them home

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9wg2jelpyno, 6 days ago

Tatyana Popovytch had contacted every agency she could think of. She had walked every step her son Vladislav could have taken after the Russians opened fire at his car, leaving him to flee with a bullet in his leg. She had looked in mass graves, reviewed pictures of the dead, watched exhumations. And after a month, she knew no more than when she had started.

Then a stranger called.

Serhii had just been released from a Russian prison in Kursk. At morning roll call, the prisoners could not see one another, but they could hear each person state their full name and home village. Serhii memorised as many names and places as he could – 10 in total, he said – and on 9 May 2022 he called Tatyana to say that he had heard her son's voice.

Like Vladislav, Serhii was a civilian captured from Bucha at the start of the war, when hundreds of civilians were taken from this area. Vladislav was 29 at the time. Now 32, he is still in the prison in Kursk. Serhii couldn't explain to Tatyana why he had been released and Vladislav hadn't. Tatyana was just glad to hear that her son was alive. "I was so overjoyed I lost the stutter I'd had since he was taken," she said.

Three years later, to the day, Tatyana was sitting in a café in Bucha, not far from where her son was abducted, looking over the scant evidence that he was still alive: two letters from him – short, boilerplate texts, written in Russian, telling her he was well fed and well looked after. Each letter had taken around three months to reach Tatyana, making it hard for her to feel very connected to her son at any point in time.

"My son is very gentle and sensitive," she said, with the pained expression of a parent who cannot protect their child. She was looking at pictures of Vlad ballroom dancing – a hobby from a young age. "He is so vulnerable," she said. "I worry that he will lose his sanity there."

According to Ukrainian authorities, nearly 16,000 Ukrainian civilians are still in captivity in Russian prisons after being abducted by the invading army – not counting the more than 20,000 Ukrainian children estimated to have been taken to Russia.

There are growing fears now among their many thousands of loved ones, amid the apparent progress towards peace talks, that they could be forgotten or lost in the process. And those fears appear to be justified.

Under the Geneva Convention, there is a recognised mechanism for exchanging prisoners of war, but no such mechanism exists for the return of captured civilians, leaving even top Ukrainian and international officials searching for an explanation as to how they might be brought home.

"When I attend official meetings, at the ombudsman's office or elsewhere, no one talks about getting the civilians back in the event of a ceasefire," said Yulia Hripun, 23, whose father was kidnapped early on in the war from a village just west of Kyiv.

In the weeks after learning of her father's captivity, Yulia used Facebook to contact another daughter of an imprisoned Ukrainian and the pair launched a new organisation to campaign for all the civilians' release.

The group has met representatives from the UN, the European Parliament, the governments of several EU countries and the US embassy in Ukraine.

"We spoke with them but it came down to the fact that they honestly don't understand what's going to happen," Yulia said, of meeting the Americans.

"The only thing they said is that Trump is interested in the issue of deported children and that maybe civilians could somehow fit into that category. But they are actually different categories that can't be combined."

Worryingly for Yulia and other relatives of the captured civilians, top Ukrainian officials are not pretending to have a stronger idea.

"I do not see the real, effective approach to returning the civilian detainees to Ukraine," said Dmytro Lubinets, the country's human rights ombudsman. "We do not have a legal basis or the mechanisms for returning them," he said, frankly.

Further complicating the problem is Russia levelling criminal charges against some of those captured during the invasion.

"And when you see these charges, it is often 'actions against the special military operation'," Lubinets said. "Can you imagine opening an investigation against a Ukrainian civilian for simply resisting the invading Russian army, on Ukrainian territory?"

In May, Russia released 120 civilian detainees as part of a larger swap of prisoners of war, and further exchanges are expected. But the numbers are still vanishingly small compared to the tens of thousands said to have been seized – adults and children. And great uncertainty remains over the path towards a negotiated peace.

"You want to believe he is coming home, at the same time you can't believe it," said Petro Sereda, 61, a bus driver from Irpin, near Kyiv, whose son Artem was taken prisoner more than three years ago. "It is extremely difficult."

Petro and his wife live in shipping container-style temporary accommodation in Irpin, because their home was destroyed in the invasion. Even three years on, every time the phone rings Petro thinks it might be Artem.

"It is one thing to have a letter saying he is alive, but to hear his voice… That would be the joy that he is really alive."

The families live like this, in desperate hope. The dream is that they get to see their loved ones again. It is not a straightforward dream, though – some fear that Russian captivity will have caused lasting damage.

Tatyana, whose ballroom-dancing son Vladislav was abducted from Bucha, said she shuddered to hear the Russian language now "because it is the language my son is being tortured in."

There is also the issue of what is missed. During Vladislav's detention, his father passed away unexpectedly at just 50, carrying a well of guilt that he was not able to protect his son.

All Tatyana can do is prepare mentally for Vladislav's return. She expected to "feel every possible emotion," she said. "It is all I think about. All the time, every day."

Daria Mitiuk contributed to this report. Photographs by Joel Gunter

'Massive' Russian strike days after air base attacks

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg7zy1jq7no, 7 days ago

Russia launched a "massive" drone and missile strike on Ukraine's capital and other areas early on Friday, days after Ukraine's surprise attack on its air bases.

Five people were killed and 80 injured, Ukrainian officials said, with cruise missiles and hundreds of drones launched.

Strikes targeted the capital Kyiv, and the northern city of Chernihiv, as well as Lutsk and Ternopil in the north-west.

Russia said the strikes were in response to "terrorist acts by the Kyiv regime", saying military sites were targeted.

Moscow also reported downing 174 Ukrainian drones over parts of Russia and occupied Crimea. Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles, it said, were intercepted over the Black Sea.

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Russia's defence ministry said its armed forces had "launched a massive strike with high-precision long-range air, sea and ground-based weapons, as well as attack drones" on Thursday night.

The attack came after Putin warned US President Donald Trump he would respond to Ukraine's recent strikes in several Russian regions.

Late on Friday, Trump told reporters that the Ukrainians had given "Putin a reason to go in and bomb the hell out of them last night".

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the war in Ukraine as "existential" for Russia, saying it was an "issue of our national interests, an issue of our security".

Moscow blamed Ukraine for three bomb attacks on railways in Russia's western Bryansk and Kursk regions which reportedly killed seven people and injured more than 100 last weekend. Kyiv has not commented on those attacks.

Ukraine did say however that it had carried out its largest long-range drone strikes on at least 40 Russian warplanes at four military bases deep inside Russia last Sunday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said 117 drones had been used in Operation Spider Web by the SBU security service , striking "34% of [Russia's] strategic cruise missile carriers".

Ukrainian officials say Russia's latest aerial assault included 38 cruise missiles, the kind Ukraine targeted on Sunday.

Ukraine's state emergencies service DSNS said the three people killed in Kyiv had all been its employees.

One person was killed in Lutsk, and the body of another victim was pulled from the wreckage in Chernihiv late on Friday.

Zelensky said the Russian attack had used more than 400 drones.

"Now is exactly the moment when America, Europe, and everyone around the world can stop this war together by pressuring Russia," he added.

In a thinly veiled reference to Trump's apparent unwillingness to put pressure on Russia, he added: "If someone is not applying pressure and is giving the war more time to take lives – that is complicity and accountability."

Air raid alerts were in place in Kyiv, where a residential building was hit, and the city's metro system was disrupted after shelling damaged tracks.

Tens of thousands of civilians in the capital spent a restless few hours in underground shelters.

From the centre of the city, prolonged bursts of machine gun fire could be heard as air defences on the outskirts attempted to bring down scores of drones aimed at the capital.

From time to time, the distinctive buzz of drones overhead could also be heard.

Bright flashes of light, sometimes reflected on nearby buildings, would be followed, five or 10 seconds later, by thunderous explosions.

In Ternopil, military chief Vyacheslav Negoda said Friday's strike had been the "most massive air attack on our region to date", injuring five people and damaging homes and schools.

Earlier this month, the second round of direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine took place in Istanbul, but ended without a major breakthrough.

Ukrainian negotiators said Russia had rejected an unconditional ceasefire - a key demand of Kyiv and its Western allies, including the US.

The Russian team said they had proposed a two- or three-day truce "in certain areas" of the vast front line, but gave no further details.

Last week, Trump appeared to set a two-week deadline for Putin, threatening to change how the US was responding to Russia if he believed Putin was still "tapping" him along on peace efforts in Ukraine.

The US president has so far not acted on his threat.

Families of missing Ukrainians gather as prisoner exchange begins

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20q4wgx5xxo, 4 days ago

The families of missing Ukrainian soldiers gathered close to the border with Belarus on Monday, as a planned prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine took place.

As the bus carrying prisoners of war arrived, a crowd of relatives surged forward, many brandishing photos of missing fathers, brothers and sons.

Faces were filled with apprehension. Few expected to be reunited, and most were just desperate for information after waiting years for any news.

During the latest round of direct talks in Turkey last week, the two warring sides agreed to exchange sick and heavily wounded prisoners of war, those aged under 25, and the bodies of 12,000 soldiers.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said the exchange would unfold "in several stages" over the coming days.

Writing on Telegram, he said: "The process is quite complicated, there are many sensitive details, negotiations continue virtually every day."

Russia's defence ministry said "the first group of Russian servicemen under the age of 25 were returned from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime" and that a "similar number" had been returned to Ukraine. Neither side provided an exact figure of how many people had been exchanged.

As with past exchanges, Moscow said the repatriated Russian soldiers were receiving psychological and medical assistance in Belarus.

Officials in Kyiv said some of the Ukrainian prisoners who returned on Monday had been in Russian captivity since the beginning of the war.

Tetiana, who had gathered with other Ukrainians in the Chernihiv region close to Belarus, carried a cardboard sign with photos of her father, Valentyn, and cousin, Mykola, both still missing.

"When my father went to fight, my biggest fear was that he would go missing," she said, her eyes filling with tears. "I hoped maybe he'd be wounded and come back."

The war has exacted a heavy toll on the family. Tetiana's uncle was killed last September, but his body was only recently returned for burial.

When one of the returned prisoners appeared at an upstairs window, women waiting below hurled the names of regiments at him, hoping he might have news.

He apologised, made a heart sign with his hands and called out "slava Ukraini" - glory to Ukraine. "Heroiam Slava" - glory to the heroes - the crowd replied in unison.

Glimpsed briefly through the crowd as they were escorted inside, some of the soldiers looked gaunt.

"They spent a lot of time in Russian places of detention, without any visits of International Red Cross," Petro Yatsenko, of Ukraine's Coordination HQ for prisoners of war, told the BBC.

"Their health conditions are very poor. They have not had sufficient food. Of course they need a long period of rehabilitation."

But 23-year-old Valera, back on home soil after three years and three months of captivity, seemed happy enough after a bowl of Ukrainian soup.

As he turned to leave, women pressed forward, pushing pictures of the missing into his arms, hoping he might recognise someone.

Last week, Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of disrupting the planned repatriation of the bodies of dead soldiers.

Russia said that the bodies of more than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been taken to an agreed exchange point but that Ukrainian officials had never arrived. Ukraine accused Moscow of "playing dirty games" and alleged that Russia was not sticking to the agreed parameters of the swap.

In late May, Russia and Ukraine each handed over 390 soldiers and civilians in the biggest prisoner exchange since Russia launched the full-scale invasion in 2022.

Meanwhile, war continued overnight, with Moscow launching a record 479 drones at Ukraine, including in the western region of Rivne that had been largely spared from attacks.

Russia's defence ministry said it had targeted Rivne's Dubno base and described this as "one of the retaliatory strikes" in response to Ukraine's audacious drone attacks on Russian airfields on 1 June.

The overnight Russian launches caused damage in several Ukrainian regions but there were no reports of casualties.

Russia has recently escalated its attacks on Ukraine, with each week bringing a new record of drones fired at the country.

For its part, Kyiv said it attacked another Russian airbase in the Nizhny Novgorod region, which lies 400 miles from the Ukrainian border.

Ukraine said the base houses planes that launch hypersonic missiles and that it had damaged "two units of enemy aircraft".

It also targeted an electronics factory that Kyiv says manufactures equipment to guide drones and aerial bombs.

Video shows one of the explosions caused by an attack drone, and a large fire at the plant. Production there has been suspended.

Biggest drone strike hits Ukraine's second city

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyjd1z8yg5o, 6 days ago

Russia has hit Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, with a massive drone and bomber attack, killing four people and injuring nearly 60, officials say.

Two people were also killed in Russian strikes on Kherson, in southern Ukraine, local authorities said.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said 48 drones, two missiles and four glide bombs had been used against his city on Friday night, while more glide bombs were reportedly dropped on Saturday.

Earlier, Moscow said a massive wave of drone and missile attacks across Ukraine on Thursday night was in response to "terrorist attacks by the Kyiv regime", after attacks on Russian railway infrastructure and air bases last weekend.

In another development, Russian and Ukrainian officials released conflicting accounts about when a prisoner swap agreed at earlier talks would happen.

In Kharkiv, some 18 apartment buildings and 13 other homes were hit on Friday night, the mayor said. A baby and a 14-year-old girl were among the injured, he added.

One civilian industrial facility was attacked by 40 drones, one missile and four bombs, Kharkiv governor Oleh Syniehubov said, adding that there might still be people buried under the rubble.

In the later Russian attack using glide bombs on Kharkiv on Saturday evening, one more person was killed and at least another 18 people injured, the city's mayor said.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha urged allies to increase pressure on Moscow and to take "more steps to strengthen Ukraine" in response to Russia's latest attacks.

Six people were killed and 80 injured across Ukraine on Thursday night, when Russia attacked the country with more than 400 drones and nearly 40 missiles.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the strikes on Kharkiv made "no military sense" and were "pure terrorism".

He accused his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, of "buying himself time to keep waging the war", and said "pressure must be applied" to stop the attacks.

During the latest round of direct talks in Istanbul earlier this week, the two warring sides agreed to exchange all sick and heavily wounded prisoners of war, those aged under 25, as well as the bodies of 12,000 soldiers.

Moscow's chief negotiator at the meeting, Vladimir Medinsky, said on Saturday that Ukraine had "unexpectedly postponed both the acceptance of bodies and the exchange of prisoners of war for an indefinite period".

He further said that the bodies of more than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been taken to an agreed exchange point but that Ukrainian officials had never arrived.

A list of 640 prisoners-of-war had also been handed to Ukraine "in order to begin the exchange", Medinsky wrote on social media.

Ukrainian officials responded angrily to the allegations, telling Russia to "stop playing dirty games".

A statement from Ukraine's Co-ordination for PoWs office said that the comments did "not correspond to reality or to previous agreements".

The Co-ordination HQ said both sides had been working on preparations for the exchange over the past week and alleged that Russia was not sticking to the agreed parameters of the swap.

It added that Ukraine had submitted its PoW lists according to the "clearly defined categories" of the deal, but that Russia had submitted "alternative lists that do not correspond to the agreed-upon approach".

While an agreement on the repatriation of bodies had been reached, a date had not been set, Ukraine said, with Russia taking "unilateral steps that had not been co-ordinated".

Russian air strikes over the past two nights came after bomb attacks on railways in western Russia reportedly killed seven people and injured more than 100, and Ukrainian drone strikes targeted strategic warplanes at four air bases deep inside Russia.

Ukraine's security service SBU said at least 40 Russian aircraft had been struck during "Operation Spider's Web" last Sunday.

Ukraine says it used 117 drones that were first smuggled into Russia, then placed inside wooden cabins mounted on the back of lorries and concealed below remotely operated detachable roofs.

The lorries were then apparently driven to locations near the Russian air bases by drivers who were seemingly unaware of their cargo. The drones were then launched remotely.

On Saturday, Ukraine released more footage from that attack - showing a single drone's entire flight.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that the Ukrainians had given Putin "a reason to go in and bomb the hell out of them last night".

He earlier said that during a phone call, Putin had told him "very strongly" that Moscow would "have to respond" following Ukraine's airfield attacks.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It currently controls around 20% of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean peninsula it annexed in 2014 after the overthrow of Ukraine's pro-Russian president.

Peace talks between the two sides have so far failed to secure a ceasefire, and both sides remain deeply divided on how to end the war, with Ukraine pushing for an "unconditional ceasefire" as a first step, something Russia has repeatedly rejected.

Additional reporting by Jaroslav Lukiv and Vitaliy Shevchenko

Record number of drone attacks signals dangerous shift in war

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg5yjnw7dlo, 3 days ago

Large-scale Russian drone attacks on Ukrainian cities are on the rise.

Monday night's bombardment, while not record breaking, was typical of the new norm.

For several hours after midnight, drones buzzed incessantly over Kyiv.

It seemed they were coming from almost every direction, as searchlights raked the sky and skeins of orange tracer fire rose from air defence units stationed around the city.

As each drone approached, the streets would echo with the deep rattle of heavy machine gun fire.

From our hotel, a fire could be seen raging in the distance, as a fiery orange moon, nearly full, slowly faded as if unwilling to compete.

Loud explosions would mark a successful interception, or a drone reaching its target.

Sitting underneath all this drama, it is hard to keep a sense of perspective.

The word "massive" is routinely used in official statements.

But a glance at the statistics tells an unmistakable story: away from the front lines, Ukraine is in the midst of the most sustained bombardment since the early stages of Russia's full-scale invasion, with a sharp increase in the number of drones.

In the three months before August last year, Russia fired a total of 1,100, according to a report by Ukraine's general staff.

A steep rise followed, with 818 drones recorded in August, 1,410 in September and more than 2,000 in October.

But the numbers just keep going up.

In May, for the first time, the number of drones exceeded 4,000. This month is likely to set a new record.

Since the start of June, Russia has fired an average of 256 projectiles every 24 hours, according to figures compiled by the Ukrainian air force.

The overwhelming majority of these are drones, including Shahed-type models and various decoys designed to confuse Ukraine's air defence systems.

Russia first started using Iranian-supplied Shaheds - the word means "martyr" - in late 2022.

But by the following summer, it was producing its own variant, known as Geran, at a special economic zone in Yelabuga, in the Russian republic of Tatarstan.

According to Artem Dehtiarenko, spokesman for Ukraine's security service, the SBU, 25,000 drones have been produced there, with a further 20,000 assembled from previously supplied Iranian components.

Of 315 detected during Monday night's bombardment, 250 were actual strike drones, according to Ukraine's air force spokesman, Yurii Ihnat.

"Most of them were headed specifically for Kyiv," he told the Ukrainian RBC news agency.

A total of seven ballistic and cruise missiles were also fired at the capital.

It meant another sleepless night for Kyiv's long-suffering population.

"It's become more intense," Katya, a Kyiv resident told me.

"It used to be easier emotionally. Now it's somehow become harder."

And it's not just the intensity of the strikes. After hundreds of similar nights, people in Kyiv can sense the subtle shifts in technology as Russia develops its capability.

"There are more drones with a slightly different sound than before," Katya said.

The SBU's Dehtiarenko says Russia is making constant modifications.

"Russian engineers have been tasked with increasing their destructive power in order to maximise devastation and civilian casualties," he said.

"In addition, efforts are being made to make the Geran drones less vulnerable to Ukrainian air defences."

Apartment blocks and office buildings were among the locations hit on Monday. Kyiv generally avoids saying if damage was caused to anything that might be considered a military target.

But a statement from the culture ministry said that for the first time, Kyiv's St Sophia cathedral felt the impact.

St Sophia's is a Unesco World Heritage Site and one of Ukraine's most significant cultural and religious monuments, with spectacular 11th Century mosaics and frescoes.

A blast wave is said to have damaged a plastered cornice on the eastern façade but not affected the interior.

"However, any vibrational impact caused by explosions poses a serious threat to the integrity of the structure," the ministry said in a statement.

How Ukraine carried out daring 'Spider Web' attack on Russian bombers

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq69qnvj6nlo, 11 days ago

It was an attack of astonishing ingenuity – unprecedented, broad, and 18 months in the making.

On 1 June more than 100 Ukrainian drones struck air bases deep inside Russia, targeting nuclear-capable long-range bombers.

The scale of the operation dubbed "Spider Web" became clear almost as soon as it began, with explosions reported across several time zones all over Russia - as far north as Murmansk above the Arctic Circle, and as far east as Irkutsk, over 4,000km from Ukraine.

The Russian Defence Ministry confirmed the attacks had occurred in five regions of Russia - Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Ryazan and Amur - but stated planes had been damaged only in Murmansk and Irkutsk, while in other locations the attacks had been repelled.

In photos released shortly after the attack, Vasyl Maliuk, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), can be seen looking at a satellite map of airfields in which the bases in the locations listed by Russia are clearly identifiable.

The operation

Maliuk said the drones were first smuggled into Russia, then placed inside wooden cabins mounted on the back of lorries and concealed below remotely operated detachable roofs.

The lorries were then apparently driven to locations near airbases by drivers who were seemingly unaware of their cargo; then, the drones were launched and set upon their targets.

Videos circulating online show drones emerging from the roof of one of the vehicles involved. One lorry driver interviewed by Russian state outlet Ria Novosti said he and other drivers tried to knock down drones flying out of a lorry with rocks.

"They were in the back of the truck and we threw stones to keep them from flying up, to keep them pinned down," he said.

According to unverified reports by Russian Telegram channel Baza – which is known for its links to the security services – the drivers of the lorries from which the drones took off all told similar stories of being booked by businessmen to deliver wooden cabins in various locations around Russia.

Some of them said they then received further instructions over the phone on where to park the lorries; when they did so, they were stunned to see drones fly out of them.

In a triumphant post shared on social media on Sunday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – who directly supervised the operation - said 117 drones had been used in the daring attack that took "one year, six months and nine days" to prepare.

He also said one of the targeted locations was right next to one of the offices of the FSB Russian security services.

Russia has said it has detained people in connection with the attack, although Zelensky stated the people who had helped facilitate the operation "were withdrawn from Russian territory... they are now safe".

In a now-deleted Telegram post, local authorities from the city of Ust-Kut in the Irkutsk region said they were looking for a Ukrainian-born 37-year-old in connection with the drone attack on the Belaya military airfield.

The drones

Images shared by the SBU show dozens of small black drones neatly stashed in wooden cabins inside a warehouse, which Russian military bloggers pinpointed to a location in Chelyabinsk.

Dr Steve Wright, a UK-based drone expert, told the BBC the drones used to hit Russian aircraft were simple quadcopters carrying relatively heavy payloads.

He added that what made this attack "quite extraordinary" was the ability to smuggle them into Russia and then launch and command them remotely – which he concluded had been achieved through a link relayed through a satellite or the internet. Zelensky said each of the 117 drones launched had its own pilot.

Dr Wright also suggested it was likely the drones were able to fly in using GPS but may have also overcome localised Russian jamming measures by manually piloting drones remotely.

Kyiv has not shared details on the origin of the drones, but since the start of the war Ukraine has become extremely efficient at manufacturing them – and it is possible the ones used in this operation were produced at home.

The targets

"Russia has had very tangible losses, and justifiably so," said Zelensky in his nightly video address.

According to Ukraine, 41 strategic bombers were hit and "at least" 13 destroyed. Moscow has not confirmed any losses of aircraft beyond saying some planes had been damaged.

Videos verified by the BBC show damaged aircraft at the Olenegorsk air base in Murmansk and the Belaya air base in Irkutsk.

The strategic missile-carrying bombers targeted in the attack are thought to be – among others - the Tu-95, Tu-22 and Tu-160. Repairing them will be difficult and, because none are still in production, replacing them is impossible.

Radar satellite imagery shared by Capella Space reveals at least four badly damaged or destroyed Russian long-range bombers at Belaya airbase. This matches Ukrainian drone footage also showing an attack on a Tu-95 bomber.

"According to the laws and customs of war, we have worked out absolutely legitimate targets – military airfields and aircraft that bomb our peaceful cities," said SBU head Vasyl Malyuk.

Tu-95 bombers are said to have launched a large-scale Kh-101 missile attack on Ukraine as recently as last week. Each bomber can carry eight guided cruise missiles and each missile itself carries a 400kg (882lb) warhead.

A-50 military spy planes were also reportedly targeted. They are valuable aircraft that boost Russia's ability to both intercept Ukrainian missiles and to launch its own strikes.

It is not known how many A-50s Russia has - but in February 2024 military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov put that number at eight, so any loss or damage could be a serious blow to Moscow.

In a post on social media, the SBU said operation Spider Web cost Russia $7bn (£5.2bn).

Russian state media stayed studiously quiet on the attacks, with primetime Sunday TV shows merely quoting statements by regional authorities. By Monday morning, the story had disappeared from the bulletins.

On the internet and beyond Ukrainians celebrated, with one lauding the operation as "titanic".

"Of course, not everything can be revealed at this moment," Zelensky wrote on Telegram, "but these are Ukrainian actions that will undoubtedly be in history books."

Additional reporting by Kumar Malhotra, Tom Spencer, Richard Irvine-Brown, Paul Brown and Benedict Garman

Are the surprise airfield attacks a turning point for Ukraine?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4gp2g7g47o, 9 days ago

Three days on, and Ukraine is still digesting the full implications of Operation Spider's Web, Sunday's massive assault on Russia's strategic aviation.

On Wednesday, the agency which orchestrated the attack, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), released additional, vivid footage of the attacks in progress, as well as tantalising glimpses into how the whole complex operation was conducted.

Satellite images that have emerged since Sunday, showing the wrecked outlines of planes sitting on the tarmac at the Olenya, Ivanovo, Dyagilevo and Belaya airbases, also help tell the story of the operation's unprecedented success.

For Ukrainian observers, the whole operation, a year-and-a-half in the making, remains a marvel.

"This can be considered one of the most brilliant operations in our history," Roman Pohorlyi, founder of the DeepState, a group of Ukrainian military analysts, told me.

"We've shown that we can be strong, we can be creative and we can destroy our enemies no matter how far away they are."

It's important to note that almost all the information that has emerged since Sunday has been released by the SBU itself.

Flushed with its own success, it is keen to cast the operation in the best possible light. Its information campaign has been helped by the fact that the Kremlin has said almost nothing.

Speaking to the media on Wednesday after handing out medals to SBU officers involved in the operation, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky repeated the claim that 41 aircraft had been damaged or destroyed.

"Half of them cannot be restored," he said, "and some will take years to repair, if they can be restored at all."

Had a ceasefire been in place, he added, Operation Spider's Web would not have happened.

The latest four-minute compilation released by the SBU shows a number of key details.

Shot from the perspective of some of the 117 drones involved, we see Russian strategic bombers, transport aircraft and airborne warning and control (AWACS) being hunted down.

Fires can be seen raging on a number of stricken planes.

For the first time, we get glimpses under the wings of some of the bombers, revealing that they were already armed with cruise missiles, which Russia has used to devastating effect in its air raids on Ukraine.

The drones, many flown remotely by a separate pilot, sitting far away in Ukraine, are carefully and precisely aimed at vulnerable points, including fuel tanks located in the wings.

Some of the resulting fireballs also suggest the tanks were full of fuel, ready for take off.

One significant section of the video shows drones homing in on two Ilyushin A-50s, giant AWACS aircraft first produced in the Soviet Union.

Of all the aircraft targeted by Operation Spider's Web, the A-50, with its radar capable of seeing targets and threats more than 600km (372 miles) away, is arguably the most important.

Before the full-scale invasion in 2022, Russia was thought to operate around nine A-50s. Before last Sunday, as many as three had been shot down or damaged in an earlier drone attack.

The latest footage strongly implies that drones hit the circular radar domes of the two A-50s parked at the Ivanovo Severny airbase, north-east of Moscow.

However, since the video feed cuts out at the moment of impact, this is hard to completely verify.

Satellite imagery, which clearly displays the wreckage of numerous bombers, is inconclusive when it comes to the A-50.

But Russia's fleet of these crucial aircraft could now be down to as few as four.

"Restarting production of the A-50 is presently highly unlikely, due to difficulties with import substitution and the destruction of production facilities," defence analyst Serhii Kuzan told me.

"As such, every loss of this type of aircraft constitutes a strategic problem for Russia, one it cannot quickly compensate for."

Earlier on Wednesday, the SBU offered a brief glimpse into another of Sunday's remarkable features: the use of specially constructed containers, mounted on flatbed trucks, to transport armed drones to sites close to the four Russian airbases.

Two videos show a truck carrying what appear to be two wooden mobile homes, complete with windows and doors.

In one video, roof panels are clearly visible. Reports suggest these were retracted or otherwise removed shortly before the attacks began, allowing dozens of drones stored inside to take off.

It's not known when or where the videos were filmed, although snow visible beside the road in one suggests it could have been weeks or months ago.

In another video, posted on a Russian Telegram channel on Sunday, a police officer was seen entering the back of one of the containers in the wake of the attack.

Seconds later, the container exploded, suggesting it may have been booby-trapped.

How to assess the impact of such a spectacular operation?

"From a military point of view, this is a turning point in the war," aviation expert Anatolii Khrapchynskyi told me.

"Because we have dealt a significant blow to Russia's image and the capabilities of the Russian Federation."

A little over three months after Donald Trump berated Volodymyr Zelensky, telling him he had "no cards," Ukraine has offered an emphatic riposte.

"Ukraine has shown the whole world that Russia is actually weak and cannot defend itself internally," Khrapchynskyi said.

But that doesn't mean that Russia is about to change course.

After his latest conversation with Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump said the two leaders had discussed Ukraine's attacks.

"It was a good conversation," President Trump posted on Truth Social, "but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace."

"President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields."

Film wins award for Ukraine aid worker story

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74qk0pk3kqo, 3 days ago

A BBC film about a Truro man killed in Ukraine after helping rescue hundreds of people from the front line has won an award at a world media festival.

The documentary Hell Jumper, depicting aid worker Chris Parry, won the Grand Jury Prize at the Rockie Awards.

The 28-year-old went to the country shortly after it was invaded by Russia and died from gunshot wounds alongside fellow volunteer Andrew Bagshaw in January 2023.

The organisation said the director Paddy Wivell brought a "tenderness and empathy to his interviewing" within the documentary, which also won in the Social Issues and Current Affairs category.

'Breathless sequence'

It said: "These interviews are the architecture of the whole film, giving it its tone and emotional heart.

"Stylistically the master interviews were laced with social media posts, personal voice messages, and self-shot go-pro footage to create a first-person quality throughout."

Most of Chris Parry's work was captured on 10 hours of bodycam footage, making up a large part of the film.

It added: "The team wanted the audience to be fully immersed in Chris' experiences, so chose to run much of their footage at length.

"It's an extraordinary, breathless sequence that perfectly captures Chris' character."

Follow BBC Cornwall on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk.

Trump administration blocked from deploying National Guard to LA

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd62d8jp046o, today

A federal judge has said the Trump administration cannot deploy California's National Guard troops to Los Angeles.

The judge's order to return control of the troops to California Governor Gavin Newsom will not go into effect immediately, giving the administration time to respond.

The state sued President Donald Trump on Monday over his order to deploy the troops without Gov Newsom's consent. Trump said he was sending the troops - who are typically under the governor's authority - to stop LA from "burning down" in protests against his immigration crackdown.

Local authorities have argued they have the situation in hand and do not need the National Guard.

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

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

Trump loses bid for appeals court to reconsider $5m loss to E Jean Carroll

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20x59gvn5xo, today

A federal appeals court on Friday declined to rehear President Donald Trump's challenge to a $5m (£3.6m) sexual abuse and defamation suit he lost to writer E Jean Carroll two years ago.

In May 2023, a New York jury awarded Ms Carroll damages over her civil claim that Mr Trump sexually assaulted her in the 1990s, and then branded the incident a hoax on social media. He denied the allegations.

Mr Trump, 78, had asked for a hearing before the full US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, after a three-judge panel rejected his appeal.

The appellate court did not offer an explanation, though two of the 13 judges, both appointed by Mr Trump, dissented.

Ms Carroll, a former magazine columnist who is now 81, accused Mr Trump of attacking her in the mid-1990s in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan, and later defaming her on Truth Social in a 2022 post denying her claim.

Mr Trump has called her accusations a lie on several occasions, claiming she was "not my type".

The US Supreme Court is the last place Mr Trump can appeal the $5m decision.

He has also appealed a separate jury's decision in 2024 finding him liable of defaming Ms Carroll and awarding her nearly $84m.

In a statement to US media, Ms Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said her client was "very pleased" with the news.

"Although President Trump continues to try every possible manoeuvre to challenge the findings of two separate juries, those efforts have failed. He remains liable for sexual assault and defamation," she said.

The BBC has contacted Mr Trump's legal team for comment.

In their written two dissent, the two Trump-appointed judges, Steven Menashi and Michael Park, said the decision not to rehear the case "sanctioned striking departures" from legal precedent.

RFK Jr appoints new US vaccine advisers after sacking committee

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr4zyp26xn2o, yesterday

US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has appointed eight new people to the committee that issues official government recommendations on immunisations, days after removing all 17 previous members.

In an announcement on X, Kennedy, a vaccine sceptic, said reconstituting the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (Acip) was a "major step towards restoring public trust in vaccines".

Kennedy said the new members "have each committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations."

Health experts have criticised his questioning of the safety and efficacy of vaccines, although he previously told the Senate he is "not going to take them away".

Kennedy named the new members as Joseph R Hibbeln, Martin Kulldorff, Retsef Levi, Robert W Malone, Cody Meissner, James Pagano, Vicky Pebsworth and Michael A Ross to the committee.

Some of new members are close allies of Kennedy and have histories of vaccine scepticism.

Dr Malone was accused of spreading misinformation about the mRNA vaccines during the pandemic, while Dr Kulldorf claimed he was fired from his position at Harvard university for criticising the university's Covid-19 requirements.

Kennedy praised the new members in his announcement, saying this slate includes "highly credentialed scientists, leading public-health experts, and some of America's most accomplished physicians", he said in his post.

"All of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense," the health secretary added.

Dr Jason Goldman, the president of the American College of Physicians, criticised the new committee.

"The speed with which these members were selected, and the lack of transparency in the process, does not help to restore public confidence and trust, and contributes to confusion and uncertainty," he said in a statement to CBS, the BBC's American news partner.

On Monday, Kennedy announced in a Wall Street Journal editorial that he was "retiring" all 17 members of the Acip over conflicts of interest.

Eight of them were appointed in January 2025, in the last days of President Biden's term.

He noted that if he did not remove the committee members, President Trump would not have been able to appoint a majority on the panel until 2028.

"The committee has been plagued with persistent conflicts of interest and has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine," Kennedy wrote.

However, critics and former members said the board adhered to rigorous conflict of interest and ethical standards.

Kennedy claimed that health authorities and drug companies were responsible for a "crisis of public trust" that some try to explain "by blaming misinformation or antiscience attitudes."

After the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves vaccines based on whether the benefits of the shot outweigh the risks, Acip recommends which groups should be given the shots and when, which also determines insurance coverage of the shots.

Mistrial declared on rape charge in Weinstein case after juror won't return to jury room

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpqegx8jx59o, yesterday

A New York judge declared a mistrial on a rape charge in Harvey Weinstein's sex crimes trial after one juror refused to continue deliberations over an alleged attack in 2013 on actress Jessica Mann.

The jury had found Weinstein guilty of one count of sexual assault and not guilty of another count on Wednesday, but kept deliberating about a final rape charge.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said after the mistrial was announced that his office plans to retry the rape charge again - meaning a third trial for Weinstein in New York.

Thursday's mistrial came after Weinstein's earlier sex crimes conviction in the state was overturned last year, leading to new charges last September.

The rape charge was brought by actress Jessica Mann, who said in a statement on Thursday that she was prepared to testify again.

"I have told the District Attorney I am ready, willing and able to endure this as many times as it takes for justice and accountability to be served," she said. "Today is not the end of my fight."

At a news conference, Bragg said that after the judge declared a mistrial, he "immediately informed the court that we are ready to go forward to trial again on that charge, after conferring with Jessica Mann".

A panel of seven female and five male jurors deliberated for six days in the six-week trial before one juror on Thursday declined to continue discussions.

Deliberations in the trial were plagued with tensions. The jury foreperson brought concerns to the judge earlier this week, saying jurors were "attacking" one another and trying to change his mind.

On Wednesday, he brought more complaints to the judge, indicating that "at least one other juror made comments to the effect of 'I'll meet you outside one day,' and there's yelling and screaming", Judge Curtis Farber told the court.

On Thursday, the foreperson said he would not go back to the jury room to deliberate because he was afraid of others yelling at him, so the judge declared a mistrial on the last rape charge.

"Sometimes jury deliberations become heated. I understand this particular deliberation was more needed than some others," Judge Farber told the 12-person jury, according to US media.

In a statement, a Weinstein spokesperson said his team believed the conviction would be "set aside" due to "gross juror misconduct".

"8 years, dozens of accusers, three trials, one conviction," spokesperson Juda Engelmayer said. "Harvey is disappointed in the single verdict, but hasn't loss faith or the heart to continue fighting to clear his name."

An appeals court overturned Weinstein's previous conviction for sex crimes in New York last April, finding the 73-year-old did not receive a fair trial in 2020 because a judge allowed testimony from women who made allegations against him beyond the charges at hand.

The 2025 trial was based on the testimony of three women - Ms Mann, former television production assistant Miriam Haley, and Polish model Kaja Sokola. All three accused Weinstein of using his power in the entertainment industry to sexually abuse them. Ms Haley and Ms Mann both testified in the first trial against Weinstein, when he was found guilty.

This time, the jury found Weinstein guilty of sexually assaulting Ms Haley, but acquitted him of assaulting Ms Sokola.

The latest conviction is in addition to a 16-year sentence that Weinstein has yet to serve after being convicted of sex crimes in Los Angeles.

Jury deliberations proved tense last week as well, when one juror said others were "shunning" one member of the panel, calling it "playground stuff".

The foreperson also claimed jurors were considering Weinstein's past and other allegations outside the realm of the case in making decisions.

This led the judge to give the jury an instruction about only considering the allegations in the case, and nothing else.

Weinstein - who has cancer and diabetes - stayed at Bellevue Hospital rather than Riker's Island jail during the trial. He sat in a wheelchair for the proceedings.

In total, Weinstein has been accused of sexual misconduct, assault and rape by more than 100 women. While not all reports resulted in criminal charges, the California conviction means he is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Weinstein and his brother Bob were among the biggest figures in Hollywood, founding Miramax film studio, whose hits included Shakespeare in Love, which won the Oscar for best picture, and Pulp Fiction.

What to expect at Trump's military parade and 'No Kings' protests

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9dqz4jdzy2o, yesterday

Washington DC is set to a host a military parade on Saturday to mark the 250th anniversary of the US Army.

The event will also coincide with the 79th birthday of US President Donald Trump, who says the parade will be "like no other".

The event - which the Army has said could cost up to $45 million (£33 million) - will include over 7,000 uniformed soldiers, dozens of tanks and military vehicles, plus marching bands and a fireworks show.

Meanwhile, 'No Kings' protests against the Trump administration are planned in more than 1,500 cities across the US. Organisers are billing the demonstrations as a "nationwide day of defiance" in response to "corruption" in the government.

When is the military parade?

The military parade is scheduled to begin at around 18:00 local time (23:00 GMT) on Saturday, 14 June and take place around the National Mall which includes the Washington Monument Grounds.

Tickets are not required but registering for them on the US Army's website is said to ensure a better view.

The massive parade and festivities are estimated to cost between $25m and $45m (£18.3m and £33m), according to an Army spokesperson. Part of the budget is expected to include millions of dollars to repair DC streets, not built to handle tanks and other heavy armoured vehicles.

"Thundering tanks and breath-taking flyovers will roar through our capital city," Trump said.

The last time a military parade was held in the US was 1991 under former President George HW Bush marking an end to the Gulf War.

An estimated 200,000 people filled the streets for the event, the largest military celebration since the end of WWII.

Other military parades were held in 1961, during former President John F Kennedy's inauguration; 1953, during former President Dwight Eisenhower's first inauguration; and in 1942 and 1946 around WWII.

Where are 'No Kings' protests?

The 'No Kings' movement is planning demonstrations in more than 1,500 cities and towns across the US to oppose the Trump administration.

"President Trump wants tanks in the street and a made-for-TV display of dominance for his birthday. A spectacle meant to look like strength. But real power isn't staged in Washington. It rises up everywhere else," the group's website says.

This includes frustration over Trump sending National Guard troops and US Marines into Los Angeles, California in response to immigration protests, against the governor's wishes.

The group behind the demonstrations, the 50501 Movement, has staged protests against the administration since April. The name 50501 stands for 50 states, 50 protests, one movement.

Major rallies and marches are being planned in cities including Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Atlanta, Houston and Phoenix.

A map of the planned protests shows them taking place in all 50 states, from Alaska to Florida. Dozens of protests are also planned in Texas and Florida, both Trump strongholds.

What to know about Karen Read's second murder trial

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c880r1l7dn5o, today

The prosecution of Karen Read, who is accused of murdering her police officer boyfriend in January 2022, has garnered massive internet attention and drawn crowds to the Massachusetts courthouse where her second trial began in April.

Ms Read's first trial stemming from the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, collapsed in July 2024 after the jury could not reach a verdict.

Mr O'Keefe was found unresponsive in the snow outside a colleague's suburban home and later pronounced dead.

Ms Read was charged with murder, although she maintains innocence and argues she is being framed by police.

She faces multiple charges and is accused of dropping Mr O'Keefe off at a fellow police officer's home after a night of drinking, hitting him with her car and driving away from the scene.

Here's everything you need to know about the case.

How did the second trial go?

The second trial has gone ahead as planned after the US Supreme Court decided not to hear Ms Read's appeal arguing that the case violated double jeopardy protections.

Testimony included expert witnesses evaluating location data from Mr O'Keefe's phone, as well as a survey of damage to Ms Read's vehicle.

Among those called to testify was Jen McCabe, a friend of Mr O'Keefe and Ms Read, who was inside the house during the party.

Ms McCabe testified she was expecting the couple, that she saw a car she believed to be Ms Read's, but that they never came inside the house.

According to evidence introduced during the trial, Ms McCabe also searched for "how long to die in the cold" on her phone, although there was conflicting testimony as to when exactly she carried out the search.

Ms McCabe was one of the people who found Mr O'Keefe outside the house along with Ms Read the following morning.

The prosecution witness list also included a state trooper who was fired after he disclosed during the first trial that he used unprofessional language to describe Ms Read, and two other policemen who were formally disciplined after the first trial.

In their closing arguments, prosecutors zeroed in on Ms Read's own statements to a documentary series, in which she said, "I didn't think I hit him," referring to Mr O'Keefe, but that she may have "clipped him."

The defence, meanwhile, suggested that Ms Read was framed by law enforcement officers in Mr O'Keefe's social circle. They pointed to "obvious dog bites" on his arm and a head injury he suffered from falling backwards, arguing he was beaten then left outside in the cold.

Protesters have been banned from the areas around the courthouse, to reduce the risk of influencing the jurors.

Ms Read gave several media interviews after declining to take the stand in her first trial. She also gave permission to HBO to create the mini-series, A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read, which has been watched by millions.

"I have nothing to hide," Ms Read told Boston 25 News in February. "My life is in the balance, and it shouldn't be. The more information the public has, the more they understand what we already know."

She did not testify in the second trial.

Who are Karen Read and John O'Keefe?

Before the case, Ms Read, 44, worked as an adjunct professor at Bentley University and an equity analyst at Fidelity Investments.

She and Mr O'Keefe were together for about two years before his 2022 death, but the latter part of the pair's relationship was troubled, prosecutors have argued.

Mr O'Keefe, who died at age 46, spent 16 years with the Boston Police Department.

Ms Read faces charges including second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and leaving the scene of a collision resulting in death.

If she is found guilty of second-degree murder, she could face a maximum sentence of life in prison under Massachusetts law.

She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

What do prosecutors allege?

Prosecutors allege the couple were drinking the evening before Mr O'Keefe's body was found.

Ms Read allegedly dropped her boyfriend off at a house party. When leaving she made a three-point turn, struck Mr O'Keefe, then drove away, according to prosecutors.

She returned to the party a few hours later with two other women and found Mr O'Keefe in a snowbank.

His cause of death was later determined to be blunt force trauma to the head and hypothermia, NBC News reported.

Throughout their case, prosecutors alleged the couple had a rocky relationship.

They claim Ms Read intentionally struck her then-boyfriend with her car because of their relationship problems.

Mr O'Keefe's brother, Paul O'Keefe, was among witnesses called to the stand who detailed the couple's disagreements.

The first trial ended in a hung jury. Seventy witnesses testified and more than 600 pieces of evidence were scrutinised.

What does the defence argue?

In her first trial, Ms Read did not take the stand as part of her defence, although she had the option of testifying during the second trial.

Her lawyers argued that investigators had inappropriate relationships with witnesses and others involved in the case.

The defence claimed Mr O'Keefe was beaten inside the house party and later dragged outside where he was found. They allege that a police cover-up resulted in Ms Read being framed.

Much of the case they presented in the first trial focused on what the defence called a poorly done investigation into O'Keefe's death by local law enforcement.

Some of the investigators who oversaw the case knew the police officers who attended the house party that January night, the defence claimed.

For example, the lead investigator, Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, admitted he was friends with the the Boston police officer who hosted the party where Mr O'Keefe died.

Ms Read was a "convenient outsider" who was targeted to ensure investigators did not look at other suspects, the defence alleged.

Among the witnesses who took the stand as part of the defence's case was a retired forensic pathologist, Dr Frank Sheridan.

He claimed that Mr O'Keefe's body would have had more bruising if it were hit by a heavy vehicle.

Who is 'Turtleboy'?

Aidan Kearny, also known as "Turtleboy", is an intriguing character to have come out of this trial.

He now faces charges for allegedly intimidating witnesses involved with the trial.

Mr Kearny runs the website "TB Daily News" where he writes under the name "Turtleboy".

He has asserted that Ms Read is innocent and has followed the case closely.

His writing frequently questions the investigation into Mr O'Keefe's death and he often publicly confronts witnesses about the case.

During the case, prosecutors shared several examples of witness intimidation with the jury.

Mr Kearny was charged with witness intimidation in October 2023 and later pleaded not guilty.

"They will never shut me up, they will never, ever, ever stop me from reporting the truth about what happened to John O'Keefe," Mr Kearney told reporters after his 2023 arraignment. "Reporting the news is not harassment. Asking questions is not harassment."

In December, he was indicted again. This time on 16 new charges that include witness intimidation and conspiracy to intimidate witnesses.

Prosecutors alleged Mr Kearny and Ms Read were in communication and she was sharing information from the case that was not yet public.

Judge Cannone, who is overseeing the case, ruled Mr Kearny would have to leave the courtroom when certain witnesses testified because of the witness intimidation charges brought against him.

'For the sake of truth': A Weinstein victim's decision to take the stand again

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyw8z2e5ljo, yesterday

On Wednesday, 12 New York jurors found disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein guilty of sexually assaulting Miriam Haley in 2006, after his previous sex crimes conviction in the state was overturned last year.

When Miriam Haley heard the news last year that a New York court had thrown out a rape conviction against Harvey Weinstein, the man she helped put behind bars four years before, she was shocked.

In 2020, Ms Haley told a Manhattan courtroom every detail of the time Weinstein sexually assaulted her in his New York apartment in 2006.

This time, she was planning to turn down prosecutors, not wanting to put herself through it all again. But just weeks before the retrial, she saw a link to a new podcast series aimed at "exonerating" Weinstein.

"I just thought, I have to stand up for myself. I have to stand up for the truth," Ms Haley told the BBC.

She was one of three women to testify against Weinstein during his six-week retrial, accusing him of using his power as a Miramax Hollywood tycoon to sexually abuse young women.

Ultimately, the jury found Weinstein guilty of sexually assaulting only Ms Haley. They acquitted him of sexually assaulting another woman, and a mistrial was declared on a third rape count.

The verdict "gives me hope - hope that there is new awareness around sexual violence and that the myth of the perfect victim is fading", Ms Haley said outside the Manhattan courthouse on Wednesday.

A court of appeals overturned Weinstein's previous conviction for sex crimes in New York last April. The judges found Weinstein's original trial was not fair because it included testimony from women who made allegations beyond the official charges against him.

In September, the 73-year-old was indicted on sexual assault charges for a new trial.

He pleaded not guilty and again vehemently denied the allegations. His lawyers argued at the retrial that his accusers were "friends with benefits" who had consensual sex with him in exchange for work opportunities.

Those portrayals were insulting, said Ms Haley, adding that Weinstein's continued denial of the allegations pushed her to "keep showing up" in court.

Facing Weinstein again

Warning: This article contains distressing content

For this trial, Ms Haley spent four days on the stand - three more than she did the first time.

This trial, she could look straight at her assailant, who sat in a wheelchair next to the defence table, unlike during the first trial, when he was blocked by the judge's booth.

Going in, she worried, as she had in the previous trial, about how she would feel.

"Would I feel intimidated? Would I maybe even feel sorry for him?" she said. "And then when I did see him, it was just like nothing."

With Weinstein watching, Ms Haley told the court about their first meeting in France in 2006. She said she went to his hotel thinking they would discuss work opportunities, but Weinstein asked her to give him a massage. She declined and left in tears.

They remained in contact, and Weinstein later helped Ms Haley find work as a production assistant for the television show Project Runway.

Then, one night she accepted an invitation to his New York apartment, she said, because he had just asked her to attend a movie premiere in Los Angeles.

On that evening of 10 July 2006, the film mogul "lunged" at her from across a couch and kissed her. He pushed her into a bedroom, where he forcibly performed oral sex on her, Ms Haley testified.

"I couldn't get away from his grip," she told the court. "I realised, I'm getting raped, this is what this is."

Recounting those intimate details to a room full of strangers for the second time was "exhausting", Ms Haley later told the BBC.

"It's just so invasive," she said.

An 'offensive' cross-examination

After direct questioning, Ms Haley faced cross-examination from Weinstein attorney Jennifer Bonjean, who is known for her combative style and has defended other major Hollywood figures accused of sexual assault, including Bill Cosby and R Kelly.

When Ms Bonjean grilled her about who removed her clothing on that July evening, Ms Haley answered through tears.

"He took my clothes off…I didn't take my clothes off," she said. "He was the one who raped me, not the other way around."

"That is for the jury to decide," Ms Bonjean replied.

The comment was disrespectful, said Ms Haley, who added that she could "feel my eyes balling up, and everything, just because it was just so deeply offensive in that moment".

"Regardless of the verdict, it still happened, from my perspective," she said. "I'm still the one who has to live with it."

Ms Haley was followed on the stand by actress Jessica Mann, who was involved in Weinstein's first New York trial, and former model Kaja Sokola, who testified for the first time, accusing Weinstein of sexually assaulting her when she was 19.

The jury found Weinstein not guilty of assaulting Ms Sokola, and a mistrial was declared on the rape count brought by Ms Mann, after one juror refused to continue deliberations.

Weinstein still must serve a separate 16-year sentence for sex crimes in California, meaning he was already expected to spend the rest of his life in prison regardless of the retrial's outcome.

In total, he has been accused of sexual misconduct, assault and rape by more than 100 women.

A 'small victory' in showing up to court

Like many victims of sexual assault, Ms Haley did not come forward publicly about the abuse for years.

She said she adopted a strategy from her difficult childhood - one that included abuse - where she suppressed the traumatic memories and went on with life as usual.

Nonetheless, the assault had emotional consequences.

"I lost confidence in a lot of things," Ms Haley said. "All I could see on the surface was all these people fawning over him. It was extremely humiliating and embarrassing."

Ms Haley eventually decided to come forward after other women accused Weinstein of assault, helping to galvanise the #MeToo movement.

She was sent death threats - but also dozens of messages from women who said she had motivated them to speak out about their own abuse.

"It does have this ripple effect," she said.

Ultimately, the verdict was evidence of the "lasting and real change" around sexual assault awareness, Ms Haley said, calling the conviction a "release".

Now a freelance producer who spends time in Mexico, Ms Haley believes the end of the retrial will close a painful chapter, one she thought was already sealed with Weinstein's first conviction.

"Even me showing up this time feels like a small victory," she said. "I definitely wasn't really doing it for myself. I was doing it for the sake of truth, and for other women."

Jesús polished luxury vehicles at an LA car wash for years. Then ICE showed up

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czxylvq392xo, yesterday

When US immigration agents pulled up outside a Los Angeles car wash on a quiet Sunday afternoon, it sparked instant chaos.

Some customers at the Westchester Hand Wash, which sits in the centre of a busy shopping area just blocks from the city's airport, froze as the officers in olive-green uniforms approached, CCTV footage obtained by the BBC shows.

Two employees who spotted them ducked behind a luxury SUV they were wiping down with a rag. Another worker halfway through cleaning the back window of a car looked up.

Then all at once they scattered and ran, some jumping over a nearby fence as agents raced after them on foot and in US Customs and Border Protection pick-up trucks.

Agents came the following day to make more arrests.

Tense street protests

Days earlier, there was another operation at Ambiance Apparel, a clothing wholesale business in the Fashion District near downtown LA.

More than a dozen people were arrested, witnesses said, although DHS did not respond to a BBC inquiry about this operation and the total number of arrests.

Border tsar Tom Homan denied that agents were conducting an immigration raid at Ambiance. He said it was a criminal investigation that also uncovered undocumented immigrants.

"I said it from day one: if you're in the country illegally, you're not off the table," he told the New York Times recently.

Enrique Lopez was one of several witnesses who started posting on Instagram about the operation, before a large group of protesters formed outside, trying to prevent the workers from being taken away.

Officials eventually deployed flash bangs and tear gas to push past the crowd - one of the first protests in the LA area as the spate of immigration raids kicked off.

"It's sad that it's hardworking people," he said about those arrested. "And they're trying to make it seem like it's bad people."

Protests first broke out on 6 June, with confrontations between demonstrators and federal agents in the streets, before spreading more widely and at times turning violent. Hundreds have been arrested and an overnight curfew in one area is being enforced.

Immigration enforcement agencies have said the protests will not deter their operations. President Trump has deployed the National Guard and US Marines to help ensure the immigration crackdown continues.

But what exactly comes next as raids continue is still unknown.

Raids nationwide in recent days have netted hundreds of arrests, including recent operations in agricultural sectors and a meat-packing plant in Nebraska. In response, protests have spurred in all corners of the country - including in major cities like New York, Dallas, Washington and Boston.

"California may be first - but it clearly won't end here," California Governor Gavin Newsom said in an evening address on Tuesday. "Other states are next."

Immigration attorney Karla Navarrete, who is representing multiple people who have been arrested in the immigration sweeps, said the mass arrests have overwhelmed the system.

Databases aren't being updated with arrests, families and lawyers cannot find those who have been detained and when they do the person sometimes is in a different state or has already been deported to another country.

Ms Ciau, whose husband was arrested at the car wash, said she learned late on Tuesday that he was no longer in Los Angeles, or even the state of California.

She was told by her lawyer that Mr Cruz is being held at a detention centre in El Paso, Texas, more than 800 miles (1,300km) from their home.

Her youngest child - a five-year-old boy - is having the hardest time with the change, she said.

"He just keeps asking for his dad. I don't know what to tell him," she added, through tears.

"He doesn't understand what is going on. He still thinks his dad is at work."

Brian Wilson obituary: Troubled genius who wrote most of The Beach Boys' hits

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crmkyn981zvo, 2 days ago

Wilson often encouraged his younger brothers Carl and Dennis to sing along with him in the complex harmonies he was already devising.

While at school he excelled in sport, both on the athletics track and as a useful football quarterback.

But it was as a 19-year-old that Wilson - who was deaf in his right ear - finally discovered the musical talent that would define his life.

He had been given a tape recorder and he soon learned the art of overdubbing, a vital part of what would become the trademark Beach Boys' sound.

Teenage dreams

Staying at home with his brothers Dennis and Carl, while their parents holidayed in Mexico, Brian invited his cousin Mike Love and close friend Al Jardine to rehearse a song that he and Mike had written.

The $250 left by Mr and Mrs Wilson for the boys to buy food was used to hire musical equipment. Thus, with the song Surfin', were The Beach Boys born.

The following year, with Surfin' having proved a popular debut, the group were signed by Capitol Records. Riding on the "surf boom" then enthralling the United States, The Beach Boys were soon enjoying spectacular chart success.

Songs such as Surfin' Safari, Surfin' USA, Fun, Fun, Fun, Help Me Rhonda and their first US number one single I Get Around, celebrated the teenage dreams of surfing, hot rod racing and first romance.

While the band traded heavily on the California surfing scene, posing with boards on the beach, it was only Dennis Wilson who was actually keen on the sport.

Many of these early hits were written and arranged by Brian Wilson, who also showed a more mature and introspective side on tracks such as In My Room.

As the only US band to rival The Beatles, The Beach Boys endured a breathless schedule of recording, touring and promotional work, something that Wilson soon came to both despise and fear.

Sublime

"I have stage fright every single concert I've ever done," he later recalled. "I have at least four or five minutes of it. It's absolute living hell."

The first intimation of his fragile state came in 1964 when he had a mental breakdown during an airline flight. Aged just 22, he decided to stop touring with the band in order to concentrate on writing and producing.

Having listened entranced to The Beatles' Rubber Soul album, Wilson responded with his own masterpiece, Pet Sounds.

The album, which featured the sublime God Only Knows, Wouldn't It Be Nice and Sloop John B, was a huge critical success.

But the artistic change of direction that it represented, and the angst-ridden nature of some of its tracks, mystified many listeners.

When The Beatles replied with Revolver in 1966, Brian Wilson embarked on writing what he called his "teenage symphony to God".

But the resulting album, Smile, which would take 37 years to complete, led to Wilson's total mental breakdown and effectively ended his association with The Beach Boys.

Chaotic recording session

Written in collaboration with lyricist Van Dyke Parks, and recorded with a vast coterie of session musicians, the original Smile album, featured groundbreaking songs such as Good Vibrations, Heroes and Villains, and Surf's Up.

Wilson, by now increasingly paranoid, installed a large sandpit in his living room, and worked on the album with the aid of a piano in the sand.

The chaotic recording sessions featured a bucket of fire and musicians chomping vegetables.

The work was dismissed by the other Beach Boys as being too experimental.

Most cutting of all, Mike Love - Wilson's co-writer on many of The Beach Boys' biggest hits - damned Smile as "a whole album of Brian's madness".

Discouraged by the reception given to Smile, and beset by mental illness, Brian Wilson pulled the plug on this work-in-progress in 1967.

Despite some limited involvement with The Beach Boys, including working on their 1968 hit single Do It Again, Wilson became a recluse, remaining at home in bed with his thoughts and his cocaine.

Return

In 1976, increasingly worried about their brother, Carl and Dennis hired Dr Eugene Landy, a controversial psychiatric therapist.

Moving into Wilson's house, Landy instituted a 24-hour drug watch, overseen by a group of burly minders.

Initially, the results were encouraging, with Wilson losing much of his excess weight and making a partial recovery from his drug dependence.

But, after setting himself up as Wilson's business partner and acting as executive producer on his albums, Landy was found guilty of breaching the doctor-patient relationship and promptly left the scene.

However, during the 1990s, things started to look up. Wilson married for a second time - his first wife, Marilyn, had left in 1978 - returned to the studio with, initially, little success and was reconciled with his daughters Carnie and Wendy.

But it was his discovery of a young Californian band, The Wondermints, that would finally bring Wilson new recognition, after they inspired him to revisit both Pet Sounds and Smile.

After fighting his personal demons for 30 years, he made a spectacular comeback with re-workings of his own Beach Boys classics and the revival of the legendary, long-lost, Smile album.

Complex

Wilson gave the first live performance of the substantially reworked Smile at the Royal Festival Hall in London in 2004 and went on to delight audiences around the world.

What struck critics and fans was the obvious joy on Wilson's face as he performed.

The man who had stopped touring at 22 because of his inability to cope with live performances had finally conquered his fears.

It marked a return to creative form as, in the ensuing years, he embarked on a series of recordings, including an interpretation of Gershwin classics that made number one on the Billboard jazz chart.

Wilson said: "Gershwin inspired me very much. The concept of That Lucky Old Sun was inspired by Rhapsody in Blue - not influenced, but inspired."

In 2012, Wilson officially reunited with the surviving members of the Beach Boys, both for a tour and an album, That's Why God Made The Radio, that represented his first original recordings with the band in more than 15 years.

The reunion was also accompanied by the release of The Smile Sessions - a five-CD box set that featured a comprehensive collection of recordings and outtakes from the fabled "lost" album, finally giving fans the chance to imagine the record as it could have been.

The compilation was a critical hit - earning a place on Rolling Stone's 2012 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and winning best historical album at the 2013 Grammy Awards.

However, the reunion was short-lived, and by 2014 Wilson was recording the songs he'd written for the next Beach Boys record as a solo artist, with the help of guest stars including actress Zooey Deschanel and country star Kacey Musgraves.

A biopic of his life and career, Love & Mercy, starring John Cusack and Paul Dano playing Wilson at different stages, was released to critical acclaim in the same year.

He continued to tour into his late 70s, but suffered a blow in 2024 when his wife, Melinda, died at the age of 77.

Soon after, the musician was placed under a conservatorship, with his family saying he was "unable to properly provide for his own personal needs for physical health, food, clothing, or shelter".

The development reinforced his image as a fragile, almost childlike figure, who nonetheless inspired thousands of musicians to follow in his steps.

The combination of his creativity as a writer and his technical skills in the studio made him one of the great figures of 20th Century popular music.

Newsom v Trump holds promise and peril for California governor

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1ld3pzg2n2o, 2 days ago

In a televised address on Tuesday night, California Governor Gavin Newsom accused President Donald Trump of a "brazen abuse of power".

The Trump administration's immigration enforcement efforts were terrorising his state's immigrant neighbourhoods, he said.

"California may be first, but it clearly will not end here," he warned. "Democracy is under assault before our eyes."

Newsom's speech was the latest salvo between the US president and the Democrat who heads America's most populous state.

The clash between the two leaders presents a formidable challenge to the 57-year-old governor.

But it also offers a political opportunity for a man whose term in office ends next year and has his own presidential ambitions.

"This is unquestionably an opportunity for Gavin Newsom," said Darry Sragow, a long-time California Democratic strategist.

He adds, however, that as the state's governor, Newsom has an obligation to defend California - whether it's in his political interests or not.

"It's a call to duty," he said.

Trump has accused Newsom of being "grossly incompetent" and of failing to adequately respond as some of the Los Angeles protests turned violent.

He's dusted off an earlier derisive nickname for the governor, "Newscum", and said on Tuesday that he believed arresting him would be a "great thing".

According to media reports, the White House is considering whether to cut off federal aid to California, including billions of dollars of education grants.

"Gavin Newsom's feckless leadership is directly responsible for the lawless riots and violent attacks on law enforcement in Los Angeles," White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson said in a statement.

"Instead of writing fundraising emails meant to score political points with his left-wing base, Newsom should focus on protecting Americans by restoring law and order to his state."

Newsom called the arrest threat a step toward authoritarianism and said Trump's deployment of military personnel to secure federal buildings and protect immigration officials had inflamed protests that had been isolated and controlled.

"The rule of law has increasingly given way to the rule of Don," he said in his Tuesday night address.

Over the past few days, Newsom has become the face of a Democratic Party that has often struggled to present a clear and unified alternative to Trump's Republican administration on the national stage.

The governor's set-piece speech, delivered in a suit while standing in front of California and US flags, received widespread press coverage and attracted well over a million views on assorted YouTube channels.

Newsom's press team has also been active on social media, comparing Trump to the evil Emperor Palpatine from the Star Wars films.

According to the Washington Post, the TikTok followers on his official governor's account have doubled to 897,000 in the past few days.

"There is a very real possibility that Newsom will come out of this with a significant and favourable national profile," Sragow said.

He says that the more Newsom can outline a story of Trump against California - a state with whom the president has a very clear grudge - the better the chances for the governor to benefit.

"Don't make this into a mano-a-mano shootout between two gunslingers on the streets of Laredo," he said.

Trump and Newsom have always presented a contrast in stories and styles – the brash outer-borough New Yorker versus the polished San Francisco cosmopolitan.

Newsom was elected to office in 2018, in the Democratic mid-term wave election that marked the first major voter pushback against Trump's first presidential term.

He promised to make his state a counterpoint to Trump's national right-wing populism, but his political journey hasn't always been a smooth one.

He flirted with controversy during the Covid pandemic, as he backed aggressive lockdowns of public spaces – but gathered for a birthday celebration at a posh French restaurant in November 2020.

His political opponents, sensing weakness, triggered a recall election in September 2021 – but Newsom won the vote by a comfortable margin.

Newsom won re-election to a second four-year term in 2022 and became more involved in national Democratic politics, fuelling speculation that he harboured presidential ambitions.

He became a high-profile surrogate for Joe Biden's re-election campaign and took to Fox News for high-profile debates with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who was at the time running for the Republican presidential nomination, in December 2023.

After Trump's re-election last November, Newsom made a noticeable tack to the political centre.

He expressed new discomfort with transgender athletes in women's sports, called for curtailing health benefits for undocumented workers, and hosted conservative guests like former White House senior adviser Steve Bannon on his political podcast – provoking the ire of some in the Democratic Party.

In January, he toured the devastating fire damage in a Los Angeles suburb with Trump and pledged to work with the new Republican administration in recovery efforts.

The Los Angeles protests have brought a sudden and decisive end to that detente, as the two men square off across a deep political divide.

Trump has frequently benefitted from having a political foil with which to contrast himself – whether it was Hillary Clinton in 2016, Nancy Pelosi in the latter years of his first presidential term or Joe Biden during his drive back to power.

While there are risks for Newsom in this fight – suspension of federal aid to California and the threat of arrest being just two notable ones – it is also a clash he seems more than willing to embrace.

Trump has long called for using the military to quash protests. Los Angeles gave him an opening

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c626y7gjdzeo, today

Donald Trump has long spoken of using military force to suppress protesters demonstrating against his policies and presidency. This week, Los Angeles gave him the chance.

After some protests against federal immigration sweeps grew chaotic, Trump overrode the wishes of California Governor Gavin Newsom and activated the state's National Guard – a move former military leaders told the BBC was an escalation of Trump's previous pledges to use troops to quash protests and set a new precedent.

Combined with Trump's penchant for military optics – he has planned a military parade in Washington, DC on Saturday to mark the Army's 250th anniversary – the president's intervention in Los Angeles has raised fears that he is "politicizing the military," said Major General Randy Manner, US Army Retired.

"He escalated immediately for reasons that are only political reasons. They are not reasons that are justifiable," said General Manner, who served as the acting vice chief of the National Guard Bureau.

But the Trump administration maintains it took over California's National Guard to restore order, and protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers as they conducted sweeps for undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles.

ICE "has the right to safely conduct operations in any state, in any jurisdiction in the country", Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth said at a congressional hearing on Tuesday.

Trump also posted that Newsom "was unable to provide protection in a timely manner" for ICE officers.

"If our troops didn't go into Los Angeles, it would be burning to the ground right now," he wrote on TruthSocial on Wednesday.

But Newsom - a Democrat and outspoken critic of Trump - maintained that the state could handle protesters on its own. He called Trump's intervention a "brazen abuse of power" that inflamed a "combustible situation."

On Thursday, a federal judge said Trump's deployment was illegal and ordered him to return control of the Guard to Newsom. That order is on hold as the government appeals against it.

The protests have continued for nearly a week and Los Angeles police have made hundreds of arrests, mainly for failure to disperse, but also for breaking curfew around downtown Los Angeles, posession of a firearm and assaulting a police officer.

Trump's decision to wrest control of the Guard from Newsom goes beyond past tough stances on protests, particularly in states led by Democrats.

After the death of George Floyd in 2020 sparked nationwide demonstrations for police reform and racial justice, Trump called for a militarized response.

Trump had criticised his death, which occurred in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota. But as protests broke out and some devolved into looting, Trump later called for Democratic governors to get "much tougher", warning "the Federal Government will step in and do what has to be done, and that includes using the unlimited power of our Military and many arrests."

When protesters marched in Washington, DC, Trump tweeted that they would "have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen" if they had breached the White House.

During the DC protests, National Guard helicopters flew low over crowds to disperse them. A subsequent investigation by the US Army concluded the incident was a misuse of military medical aircraft, the Washington Post reported.

"What we're seeing in Los Angeles is a perfect storm," said John Acevedo, an associate dean at Emory Law School who studies free speech and protests in the US. "There are protesters, they are violent. A perfect setup situation for President Trump, where he can use his goal of using troops against protesters."

The president does have the power to federalise National Guard troops, and will do so when they are needed overseas or states request additional assistance. But under normal domestic circumstances, the request for their assistance starts at the local level. The governor then can activate the state's Guard, or ask the president for federal assistance.

US presidents have not taken control of a state's National Guard against a governor's wishes since the Civil Rights era, when President Dwight Eisenhower intervened to aid school integration in Arkansas, and President Lyndon B Johnson later called on Alabama's troops to protect demonstrators.

"We have, over the decades, developed statutes and regulations and protocols that govern how we handle civil disturbances for very solid reasons," said Major General (Ret.) William Enyart, a former congressman who also led the Illinois National Guard from 2007 to 2011.

Trump chose to "ignore all that hard-earned experience," General Enyart said.

He saw the president's actions in Los Angeles as "political theatre" and referenced a small number of protesters who burned Waymo self-driving cars over the weekend.

"Trump is the master of reality television. He understands this is great TV. What is more exciting than seeing a couple self-driving cars burning in the street?" said General Enyart.

Kenyan policeman appears in court in connection with blogger's killing

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq54vl9wl77o, today

A Kenyan police officer has appeared in court after being arrested in connection with the killing of a young blogger in police custody.

Albert Ojwang's death sparked protests in the capital, Nairobi, after doctors refuted a police claim that he had died from self-inflicted injuries caused by hitting his head on a cell wall.

Instead they concluded that it was likely the result of an assault.

At least 23 people, including 17 police officers, have been questioned and five others removed from active duty while an independent investigation takes place.

After his initial court appearance, PC James Mukhwana will remain in custody until his bail hearing an a week's time.

Preliminary investigations allege that the constable, together with other suspects still at large, "was likely involved in the planning and execution" of Mr Ojwang's killing, court papers submitted by detectives said.

PC Mukhwana officer is also alleged to have been involved in tampering with CCTV cameras at Nairobi's Central Police Station in an attempt to cover-up the killing.

The policeman is yet to respond to the accusations but his lawyer asked the court to grant him bail saying the constable willingly submitted himself to the authorities when summoned.

Mr Ojwang, 31, died in police custody last weekend after he was arrested over a post on X that was allegedly critical of Deputy Inspector-General of Police Eliud Lagat.

In an initial statement, police said Mr Ojwang was found unconscious in his cell and rushed him to a city hospital, where he succumbed to head injuries allegedly sustained from banging his head against the wall.

But an autopsy report and an investigation by the police watchdog, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), ruled out the possibility that Mr Ojwang might have killed himself.

Inspector-General of Police Douglas Kanja has since retracted the earlier statement and apologised for what he called "misinformation" from his juniors.

Police on Friday arrested a technician who is suspected to have disabled the surveillance system in Central Police Station, effectively obscuring potential evidence on Mr Ojwang's killing, local media reported.

On Thursday, hundreds of protesters angered by the killing took to the streets of Nairobi calling for the resignation of Deputy Inspector-General Lagat.

He is facing mounting pressure from the public, opposition leaders and civil society groups to step aside or be suspended.

President William Ruto has called for a swift investigation, and promised on Friday that his government would "protect citizens from rogue police officers".

Ruto had pledged to end Kenya's history of police brutality and extrajudicial deaths when he came into power in 2022.

But nearly 160 cases of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances were reported across Kenya last year, according to the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC).

At least 20 people have died while held by police in the past four months alone, according to the IPOA.

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

Legal win for son tricked into moving to Africa by parents

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyg0p88z83o, yesterday

A teenager who was tricked into going to boarding school in Africa has won a significant legal victory against his own parents.

The 14-year-old boy, who cannot be identified, was taken from London to Ghana in March 2024 after being told a relative was ill.

In fact, his parents wanted to get him out of London as they feared he was being drawn into criminal activity.

Unhappy and homesick in Ghana, the boy found lawyers and brought a case against his parents to the High Court in London, which ruled against him in February. On Thursday, he won a Court of Appeal bid, so the case will be reheard.

The most senior judge in the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, said there had been confusion in the previous decision.

"We have become more and more concerned as to the exercise the judge undertook," he added.

"For those reasons - we are agreed remittal should be allowed."

He urged the family to find a solution through constructive dialogue.

At the hearing, the boy's barrister, Deirdre Fottrell KC, said he is "desperate" to return to the UK.

"He is culturally displaced and alienated," she said.

"He considers himself abandoned by his family. He feels he is a British boy, a London boy."

The boy remains in Ghana and has been attending a day school there.

His solicitor, James Netto, described the appeal ruling as a "hugely significant" decision that would "resonate across international family law."

He said: "We are very pleased indeed that the Court of Appeal has allowed our client's appeal, and has recognised the critical importance of listening to and assessing the voices of young people at the heart of legal proceedings that profoundly affect their lives."

The parents' barrister, Rebecca Foulkes, said that staying in Ghana was the "least harmful" option for the boy.

"The parents found themselves in a wholly invidious decision when they made the decision they made," she said.

"Ghana provided a safe haven, separate from those who exposed him to risk.

"The least harmful option is for him to remain in Ghana."

At the heart of the case is the tension between conflicting legal entitlements - the parents' responsibility for their child, and the child's own rights to make decisions about what happens to them.

The High Court had ruled the parents could send the boy to Ghana. But the Court of Appeal found that judge had not taken sufficient account of the boy's own best interests and welfare, given he had recognised the boy was mature enough to make certain decisions for himself.

The boy previously told the court that he felt like he was "living in hell".

He said he was "mocked" at the school in Ghana and "could also barely understand what was going on".

During the previous judgment, High Court judge Mr Justice Hayden said the parents' wish for their son to move to Ghana was "driven by their deep, obvious and unconditional love".

He found that the boy, who had lived in the UK since birth, was at risk of suffering greater harm by returning to London.

He said that the boy's parents believe "and in my judgement with reason" that their son has "at very least peripheral involvement with gang culture and has exhibited an unhealthy interest in knives".

Sir Andrew said the case will now be reheard by a different judge, with the next hearing planned to take place in the next few weeks.

A full decision will be given in writing at a later date.

Burundi's ruling party wins every seat in poll as rivals say democracy 'killed'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9wgzvn20gdo, yesterday

The ruling party in Burundi has won all 100 seats in a parliamentary election that the opposition says has "killed" democracy in the central African state.

Giving the provisional results for last week's poll, electoral commission head Prosper Ntahorwamiye said the CNDD-FDD party secured more than 96% of votes in all provinces.

The election had seen only "some minor irregularities", he added.

The opposition Uprona party came second with a little over 1% of the vote. The party denounced the election as rigged, with its leader Olivier Nkurunziza telling the AFP news agency: "We have killed democracy."

The main opposition party, the National Congress for Liberty (CNL), fell into third spot, getting only 0.6% of the vote.

Campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the result showed that democracy had been "hollowed out" in Burundi.

It added that the CNDD-FDD, in power since 2005, "sought to dismantle all meaningful opposition", including from its biggest rival, the CNL.

Freedom of expression is limited in Burundi and critics say these polls followed a prolonged campaign of intimidation and harassment.

Election observers from the Catholic Church were turned away from some polling centres, according to HRW.

The African Union meanwhile has been criticised for praising the "climate of freedom and transparency" of the polls, which it declared were "peaceful".

Correspondents say there was little sign of celebrations in the main city of Bujumbura after the provisional results were announced on Wednesday.

The electoral commission said the results would be submitted to the Constitutional Court, which has to then certify them and provide the final results by 20 June.

Ntahorwamiye said there were "some minor irregularities - shortcomings that came about which have been resolved - because as you know, nothing is completely perfect".

In line with the Arusha Accords that brought an end to the bitter Burundian civil war more than two decades ago, the ethnic composition of the country's parliament has to mirror the proportions of Hutus, Tutsis and Twa people in the population at large.

After this month's vote count, the electoral commission announced that an additional 11 seats were to be created and filled to remedy an imbalance - which will bring the total number of MPs to 111.

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Zambia's president not wanted at predecessor's funeral, family says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4qe2gnl5no, today

Zambia's former President Edgar Lungu, who died last week, left instructions that his successor Hakainde Hichilema "should not be anywhere near" his body, a family spokesman has said.

This is the latest development in the bitter feud over funeral plans for the late president following his death in South Africa at the age of 68.

The government had planned to fly his body back home on Wednesday, but failed to do so because of a dispute with Lungu's family and his political party, the Patriotic Front (PF), over mourning and funeral arrangements.

The two leaders were long-standing political rivals, with Hichilema defeating Lungu in the 2021 election after failing in five previous attempts.

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Starvation alert as children fill Kenya refugee ward after US aid cuts

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1dew7zyg49o, yesterday

Hundreds of thousands of people are "slowly starving" in Kenyan refugee camps after US funding cuts reduced food rations to their lowest ever levels, a United Nations official has told the BBC.

The impact is starkly visible at a hospital in the sprawling Kakuma camp in the north-west of the East African nation. It is home to roughly 300,000 refugees who have fled strife in countries across Africa and the Middle East.

Emaciated children fill a 30-bed ward at Kakuma's Amusait Hospital, staring blankly at visitors as they receive treatment for severe acute malnutrition.

One baby, Hellen, barely moves. Parts of her skin are wrinkled and peeling, leaving angry patches of red - the result of malnutrition, a medic tells the BBC.

Across the aisle lies a nine-month-old baby, James, the eighth child of Agnes Awila, a refugee from northern Uganda.

"The food is not enough, my children eat only once a day. If there's no food what do you feed them?" she asks.

James, Hellen and thousands of other refugees in Kakuma depend on the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) for vital sustenance.

But the agency had to drastically reduce its aid operations in many countries after President Donald Trump announced sweeping cuts to US foreign aid programmes earlier this year, as part of his "America First" policy.

The US had provided around 70% of the funding for the WFP's operations in Kenya.

The WFP says that as a result of the cuts, the agency has had to slash the refugees' rations to 30% of the minimum recommended amount a person should eat to stay healthy.

"If we have a protracted situation where this is what we can manage, then basically we have a slowly starving population," says Felix Okech, the WFP's head of refugee operations in Kenya.

Outside Kakuma's food distribution centre, the sun beats down on the dry, dusty ground and security officers manage queues of refugees.

They are led into a holding centre and then a verification area. Aid workers scan the refugees' identity cards and take their fingerprints, before taking them to collect their rations.

Mukuniwa Bililo Mami, a mother of two, has brought a jerrycan to collect cooking oil, along with sacks for lentils and rice.

"I am grateful to receive this little [food] but it is not enough," says the 51-year-old, who arrived in the camp 13 years ago from South Kivu, a region in conflict-hit eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Ms Mami says the refugees used to "eat well" - three meals a day. But now that rations are at 30% of their usual amount, the food she has been given is not enough to last one month, let alone the two that she has been asked to stretch it for.

She has also been affected by another casualty of the cuts - cash transfers.

Until this year, the UN was giving around $4m (£3m) in cash directly to refugees in Kenya's camps each month, intended to allow families to buy basic supplies.

Ms Mami, who is diabetic, used the cash to buy food, like vegetables, which were more appropriate for her diet than the cereals handed out at the distribution centre.

Now, she is forced to eat whatever is available.

She also used the money to start a vegetable garden and rear chicken and ducks, which she sold to other refugees, at a market.

But the discontinuation of the cash transfers, locally known as "bamba chakula", has meant that the market faces collapse.

Traders like Badaba Ibrahim, who is from the Nuba Mountains in Sudan, are no longer able to extend lines of credit to fellow refugees.

The 42-year-old runs a retail shop in the local shopping centre. He says his customers, now unable to purchase food, at times camp at his shop all day, begging for help.

"They will tell you, 'My children have not eaten for a full day,'" Mr Ibrahim says.

Elsewhere in the Kakuma camp, 28-year-old Agnes Livio serves up food for her five young sons.

They live in a cubicle, which is roughly 2m (6ft 6in) by 2m made from corrugated iron sheets.

Ms Livio serves the food on one large plate for all to share. It is the family's first meal of the day - at 1400.

"We used to get porridge for breakfast but not anymore. So, the children have to wait until the afternoon to have their first meal," says Ms Livio, who fled from South Sudan.

Back at Amusait Hospital, medics are feeding a number of malnourished infants through tubes.

Three toddlers and their mothers are being discharged - back to the community where food is scarce and conditions are deteriorating.

And the prospect of more funding is not very promising and unless things change over the next two months, the refugees are staring at starvation come August.

"It is a really dire situation," admits Mr Okech.

"We do have some signals from some one or two donors about support with that cash component.

"But remember, the very kind and generous US has been providing over 70% - so if you're still missing 70%… those prospects are not good."

* Africa is important to Trump, despite aid cuts, envoy tells BBC]

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

Funeral row causes chaos for mourners of Zambia's ex-president

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czr8jz0jxn3o, 3 days ago

Arranging a funeral can be testing at the best of times - let alone for a former head of state. Amid that intense, initial stage of grief, loved ones must juggle cost, the wishes of the deceased and numerous other factors in order to throw a fitting send-off.

Add the clashing desires of a national government and its political opponents into the mix, and things become doubly complicated.

Edgar Lungu, who led Zambia from 2015 to 2021, died last Thursday. His death at the age of 68 has shocked Zambians - and there is genuine sense of grief with all radio stations playing gospel music for the man who had remained influential in Zambian politics despite being barred from contesting next year's election.

Zambia is officially a Christian country - and most people take their religion and periods of mourning seriously.

But a standoff between his family, the government and Lungu's political party, the Patriotic Front (PF), has left mourners confused about how exactly the former president should be honoured.

The government announced there would be a state funeral and declared that the official venue for mourning would be a lodge it owns in the capital, Lusaka, but the PF dismissed this plan, directing mourners to its headquarters instead.

As for Lungu's family, they have said they are not opposed to a state funeral, but have insisted on choosing who will preside over it, family lawyer Makebi Zulu has told the BBC.

Then there is the official book of condolence, in which mourners can pay tributes to Lungu. The government has set up an official book - at the lodge - but the PF has urged people to sign theirs instead - at their headquarters.

The government wanted to repatriate his body from South Africa last week - Lungu died there after receiving treatment for an undisclosed illness.

However, the PF and Lungu's family intervened, wanting to organise the safe passage of the ex-leader themselves.

"The state was saying, 'We are giving him full military honours, therefore we're taking over from here' - as if to say that 'you have no say over what happens,'" Mr Zulu said.

Plans for returning Lungu's remains are still unclear, though the family are now engaging with the government on this issue.

There has also been confusion over the "official" mourning period when all forms of entertainment like big football matches and concerts are stopped.

The government declared a seven-day national mourning period starting last Saturday, even though the PF announced one days earlier.

This chaos is, in short, a continuation of the tumultuous relationship between Lungu and his successor, President Hakainde Hichilema.

The pair are long-time rivals - in 2017, when Lungu was president, he had Hichilema locked up for over 100 days on treason charges after Hichilema's motorcade allegedly refused to give way for him.

It took the intervention of the Commonwealth for Hichilema to be released. Four years later, and after five attempts at the presidency, Hichilema defeated Lungu.

Now, the PF and the Lungu family's lawyer are accusing Hichilema's government of being partly responsible for the former president's death.

Lungu returned to frontline politics in 2023, frequently accusing Hichilema's government of victimising him and other PF members.

Now, after Lungu's death, his party allege that Lungu was banned from leaving the country for years and that if he had been allowed to travel to seek medical treatment sooner, he might still be alive.

The government has vehemently denied any responsibility for Lungu's death, with spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa insisting that the ex-president was never prohibited from travelling.

Mr Mweetwa told the BBC that the PF was trying to use Lungu's death as a "springboard" for a "political comeback".

It is not the first time conflict has broken out following a Zambian leader's death.

In 2021, the family of Kenneth Kaunda, the country's first post-independence president, said he wanted to be laid to rest next to his wife and not at the site designated by the government.

Despite this, the government went ahead and buried Kaunda at Embassy Memorial Park in Lusaka.

"The High Court ruled that national interest takes precedence over individual or family preferences because there is a designated burial place for former presidents, and there is a designated set of protocol to handle those proceedings that are conducted by the state, not a political party," Mr Mweetwa said.

This argument - about the state's rights to a dead president's body - has played out numerous times across Africa.

In 2019, Robert Mugabe died almost two years after being unseated as Zimbabwe's president by his former right-hand man, Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Mugabe's family refused to allow him to be buried at the national Heroes' Acre, arguing that he had been betrayed by his former colleagues.

After a bitter feud, the man who had led Zimbabwe to independence was laid to rest after his state funeral in his home village.

But a legal row rumbles on over his burial site, with some still wanting him to be interred at Heroes' Acre, where a mausoleum has now been completed for him.

And loved ones rarely won such disputes. The relatives of Angola's José Eduardo dos Santos and various Ghanaian presidents have clashed with the government over post-death arrangements, but all eventually had to yield to the state.

In Lungu's case, the government has the constitution - the supreme law of the land - behind it, but the PF has significant clout as the former leader's long-time political home.

In an attempt to break the standoff, the government has sent envoys to South Africa to negotiate with Lungu's family, where a private memorial service was held at Pretoria's Sacred Heart Cathedral on Tuesday - organised by the PF.

This was attended by his widow and daughter and where it was announced to the congregation that the former president's body would not be flown home on Wednesday as had been expected.

So for those in Zambia, there is still no clear direction on how to send off the nation's sixth president.

More BBC stories about Zambia:

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Culture and colour come out in praise of a Nigerian king

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn5yndv251qo, 4 days ago

Thousands gathered on Sunday in an ancient town in south-west Nigeria for a spectacular display of culture, colour and tradition.

The Ojude Oba festival in Ijebu-Ode, brought together locals and visitors to pay homage to the Awujale - the traditional ruler of the Ijebu people.

This union of drummers, musicians and dancers coupled with a fashion parade told a tale of people deeply connected to their roots.

Ojude Oba - a Yoruba phrase meaning "the kings forecourt" - began over two centuries ago.

Earmarked for the third day after Eid, this was originally a modest gathering of the Muslim faithful, thanking the king for allowing them to practise their religion freely.

But it has grown to symbolise pride, unity and identity among all the Ijebu people regardless of religion.

The women were elegantly turned-out in colourful traditional dresses, known here as iro and buba, along with the gele, or head wrap.

Their outfits were made from lace or aso-oke, a locally sourced fabric woven by the Yoruba people.

The sunglasses and hand fans meant to provide respite for the blistering sun were must-have accessories, complementing the looks.

Dressed in traditional Yoruba agbada, the men agree months ahead on what outfits, colour and accessories to use for the festival.

Each year, they tweak the style and colour and display. Accessories include matching caps, beads and shoes.

Regardless of social status, the people are classified into age groups known as regbe-regbe, with hundreds belonging to each one. They are aimed at fostering unity among the locals.

The horses were adorned in colourful ornaments of gold and silver. Their riders displayed their prowess and the strength of their horses circling the arena to thunderous applause from spectators.

Shots from locally made guns sent white smoke into the air, signalling the arrival of each of the traditional warrior family, known as Balogun or Eleshin.

They protected the Ijebu kingdom from external aggression at one time.

The flamboyant parade of culture provides an economic boost to the area as dress makers, weavers, shoe makers, jewellers and others are contracted to make the desired outfits and matching accessories.

Additional reporting by Ayo Bello and Kyla Herrmannsen

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

An ancient writing system confounding myths about Africa

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ye50xgw8vo, 6 days ago

A wooden hunter’s toolbox inscribed with an ancient writing system from Zambia has been making waves on social media.

"We've grown up being told that Africans didn't know how to read and write," says Samba Yonga, one of the founders of the virtual Women's History Museum of Zambia.

"But we had our own way of writing and transmitting knowledge that has been completely side-lined and overlooked," she tells the BBC.

It was one of the artefacts that launched an online campaign to highlight women's roles in pre-colonial communities - and revive cultural heritages almost erased by colonialism.

Another intriguing object is an intricately decorated leather cloak not seen in Zambia for more than 100 years.

"The artefacts signify a history that matters - and a history that is largely unknown," says Yonga.

"Our relationship with our cultural heritage has been disrupted and obscured by the colonial experience.

"It's also shocking just how much the role of women has been deliberately removed."

But, says Yonga, "there's a resurgence, a need and a hunger to connect with our cultural heritage - and reclaim who we are, whether through fashion, music or academic studies".

"We had our own language of love, of beauty," she says. "We had ways that we took care of our health and our environment. We had prosperity, union, respect, intellect."

A total of 50 objects have been posted on social media - alongside information about their significance and purpose that shows that women were often at the heart of a society's belief systems and understanding of the natural world.

The images of the objects are presented inside a frame - playing on the idea that a surround can influence how you look at and perceive a picture. In the same way that British colonialism distorted Zambian histories - through the systematic silencing and destruction of local wisdom and practices.

The Frame project is using social media to push back against the still-common idea that African societies did not have their own knowledge systems.

The objects were mostly collected during the colonial era and kept in storage in museums all over the world, including Sweden - where the journey for this current social media project began in 2019.

Yonga was visiting the capital, Stockholm, and a friend suggested that she meet Michael Barrett, one of the curators of the National Museums of World Cultures in Sweden.

She did - and when he asked her what country she was from, Yonga was surprised to hear him say that the museum had a lot of Zambian artefacts.

"It really blew my mind, so I asked: 'How come a country that did not have a colonial past in Zambia had so many artefacts from Zambia in its collection?'"

In the 19th and early 20th Centuries Swedish explorers, ethnographers and botanists would pay to travel on British ships to Cape Town and then make their way inland by rail and foot.

There are close to 650 Zambian cultural objects in the museum, collected over the course of a century - as well as about 300 historical photographs.

When Yonga and her virtual museum co-founder Mulenga Kapwepwe explored the archives, they were astonished to find the Swedish collectors had travelled far and wide - some of the artefacts come from areas of Zambia that are still remote and hard to reach.

The collection includes reed fishing baskets, ceremonial masks, pots, a waist belt of cowry shells - and 20 leather cloaks in pristine condition collected during a 1911-1912 expedition.

They are made from the skin of a lechwe antelope by the Batwa men and worn by the women or used by the women to protect their babies from the elements.

On the fur outside are "geometric patterns, meticulously, delicately and beautifully designed", Yonga says.

There are pictures of the women wearing the cloaks, and a 300-page notebook written by the person who brought the cloaks to Sweden - ethnographer Eric von Rosen.

He also drew illustrations showing how the cloaks were designed and took photographs of women wearing the cloaks in different ways.

"He took great pains to show the cloak being designed, all the angles and the tools that were used, and [the] geography and location of the region where it came from."

The Swedish museum had not done any research on the cloaks - and the National Museums Board of Zambia was not even aware they existed.

So Yonga and Kapwepwe went to find out more from the community in the Bengweulu region in north-east of the country where the cloaks came from.

"There's no memory of it," says Yonga. "Everybody who held that knowledge of creating that particular textile - that leather cloak - or understood that history was no longer there.

"So it only existed in this frozen time, in this Swedish museum."

One of Yonga's personal favourites in the Frame project is Sona or Tusona, an ancient, sophisticated and now rarely used writing system.

It comes from the Chokwe, Luchazi and Luvale people, who live in the borderlands of Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Yonga's own north-western region of Zambia.

Geometric patterns were made in the sand, on cloth and on people's bodies. Or carved into furniture, wooden masks used in the Makishi ancestral masquerade - and a wooden box used to store tools when people were out hunting.

The patterns and symbols carry mathematical principles, references to the cosmos, messages about nature and the environment - as well as instructions on community life.

The original custodians and teachers of Sona were women - and there are still community elders alive who remember how it works.

They are a huge source of knowledge for Yonga's ongoing corroboration of research done on Sona by scholars like Marcus Matthe and Paulus Gerdes.

"Sona's been one of the most popular social media posts - with people expressing surprise and huge excitement, exclaiming: 'Like, what, what? How is this possible?'"

The Queens in Code: Symbols of Women's Power post includes a photograph of a woman from the Tonga community in southern Zambia.

She has her hands on a mealie grinder, a stone used to grind grain.

Researchers from the Women's History Museum of Zambia discovered during a field trip that the grinding stone was more than just a kitchen tool.

It belonged only to the woman who used it - it was not passed down to her daughters. Instead, it was placed on her grave as a tombstone out of respect for the contribution the woman had made to the community's food security.

"What might look like just a grinding stone is in fact a symbol of women's power," Yonga says.

The Women's History Museum of Zambia was set up in 2016 to document and archive women's histories and indigenous knowledge.

It is conducting research in communities and creating an online archive of items that have been taken out of Zambia.

"We're trying to put together a jigsaw without even having all the pieces yet - we're on a treasure hunt."

A treasure hunt that has changed Yonga's life - in a way that she hopes the Frame social media project will also do for other people.

"Having a sense of my community and understanding the context of who I am historically, politically, socially, emotionally - that has changed the way I interact in the world."

Penny Dale is a freelance journalist, podcast and documentary-maker based in London

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'They have perfect dark skin': The African nation home to fashion's favourite models

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cre99ldr515o, 7 days ago

Wearing an understated but chic outfit, flowing braids and a dewy, make-up free face, Arop Akol looks like your typical off-duty model.

She sinks into the sofa at the offices of her UK agency, First Model Management, and details the burgeoning career that has seen her walk runways for luxury brands in London and Paris.

"I had been watching modelling online since I was a child at the age of 11," Akol, now in her early twenties, tells the BBC.

In the last three years, she has been streamed across the world while modelling, even sharing a runway with Naomi Campbell at an Off-White show.

Travelling for work can get lonely, but Akol is constantly bumping into models from her birth country - the lush, but troubled South Sudan.

"South Sudanese people have become very well known for their beauty," says Akol, who has high cheekbones, rich, dark skin and stands 5ft 10in tall.

Flick through a fashion magazine or scan footage of a runway show and you will see Akol's point - models born and raised in South Sudan, or those from the country's sizable diaspora, are everywhere.

They range from up-and-comers, like Akol, to supermodels like Anok Yai, Adut Akech and Alek Wek.

After being scouted in a London car park in 1995, Wek was one of the very first South Sudanese models to find global success . She has since appeared on numerous Vogue covers and modelled for the likes of Dior and Louis Vuitton.

And the popularity of South Sudanese models shows no signs of waning - leading industry platform Models.com compiles an annual list of modelling's top 50 "future stars" and in its latest selection, one in five models have South Sudanese heritage.

Elsewhere, Vogue featured four South Sudanese models in its article about the "11 young models set to storm the catwalks in 2025".

"The expectation of what a model should be - most of the South Sudanese models have it," says Dawson Deng, who runs South Sudan Fashion Week in the country's capital, Juba, with fellow ex-model Trisha Nyachak.

"They have the perfect, dark skin. They have the melanin. They have the height," Deng continues.

Lucia Janosova, a casting agent at First Model Management, tells the BBC: "Of course they are beautiful... beautiful skin, the height."

However, she says she is unsure exactly why fashion brands seek out South Sudanese models over other nationalities.

"I'm not able to tell you because there are lots of girls who are also beautiful and they are from Mozambique, or Nigeria, or different countries, right?" Ms Janosova adds.

Akur Goi, a South Sudanese model who has worked with designers like Givenchy and Armani, has a theory.

She believes South Sudanese models are in demand not just for their physical beauty, but for their "resilience" too.

Goi was born in Juba but as a child she moved to neighbouring Uganda, like Akol and hundreds of thousands of other South Sudanese.

Many fled in the years after 2011, when South Sudan became independent from Sudan.

There were high hopes for the world's newest nation, but just two years later a civil war erupted, during which 400,000 people were killed and 2.5 million fled their homes for places like Uganda.

Although the civil war ended after five years, further waves of violence, natural disasters and poverty mean people continue to leave.

Recently, fighting between government and opposition forces has escalated - sparking fears the country will return to civil war.

After leaving a war-weary South Sudan for Uganda, Goi's "biggest dream" was to become a model.

Fantasy became reality just last year, when she was scouted by agents via Facebook. For her very first job, she walked for Italian fashion giant Roberto Cavalli.

"I was super excited and ready for my first season... I was really nervous and scared but I said to myself: 'I can make it' - because it was a dream," Goi says, speaking to the BBC from Milan, having flown out for a job at the last minute.

But some South Sudanese models have had more tumultuous journeys.

An investigation by British newspaper the Times found that two refugees living in a camp in Kenya were flown to Europe only to be told they were too malnourished to appear on the runway.

After completing modelling jobs, several others were informed that they owed their agencies thousands of euros - as some contracts specify that visas and flights are to be repaid, usually once the models start earning money.

Akol says she encountered a similar issue. When she was scouted in 2019, the agency in question asked her to fork out for numerous fees - fees which she now knows agencies do not normally request.

"I was asked for money for registration, money for this, for that. I couldn't manage all that. I'm struggling, my family is struggling, so I can't manage all that," she says.

Three years later, while living in Uganda, she was eventually scouted by a more reputable agency.

Deng, who helps fledgling South Sudanese models produce portfolios, tells the BBC that some have complained about being paid for jobs in clothes, rather than money.

Many models also come up against another challenge - their family's perception of their career choice.

"They didn't want it and they don't want it now," Akol, who now lives in London, says of her own relatives.

"But we [models] managed to come up and say: 'We are [a] young country. We need to go out there and meet people. We need to do things that everyone else is doing.'"

Deng says those living in urban areas have become more open-minded, but some South Sudanese liken modelling to prostitution.

Parents question the whole concept - wondering why their daughters would be "walking in front of people", he says.

Deng recalls a young woman he was assisting who was about to fly out for her first international job. Unhappy that she would be modelling, the woman's family followed her to the airport and prevented her from getting on the plane.

But, Deng says, the woman's relatives eventually came around and she has since modelled for a top lingerie brand.

"This girl is actually the breadwinner of the family. She's taking all her siblings to school and nobody talks about it as a bad thing any more," he says.

He is "proud" to see this model - and others from South Sudan - on the global stage and although the industry cycles through trends, Deng does not believe South Sudanese models will go out of fashion.

Goi agrees, saying there is an "increasing demand for diversity" in fashion.

Akol too believes South Sudan is here to stay, stating: "Alek Wek has been doing it before I was born and she is still doing it now.

"South Sudanese models are going to go a long way."

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

Stars, stitches and stripes: Africa's top shots

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gryeye907o, 7 days ago

A selection of the week's best photos from across the African continent and beyond:

From the BBC in Africa this week:

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

Italy citizenship referendum: 'I was born here - but feel rejected'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c780yk3z2lyo, 6 days ago

Sonny Olumati was born in Rome and has lived in Italy all his life but the country he calls home does not recognise him as its own.

To Italy, Sonny is Nigerian, like his passport, and the 39-year-old is only welcome as long as his latest residence permit.

"I've been born here. I will live here. I will die here," the dancer and activist tells me in what he calls "macaroni" Italian-English beneath the palm trees of a scruffy Roman park.

"But not having citizenship is like... being rejected from your country. And I don't think this is a feeling we should have".

That is why Sonny and others have been campaigning for a "Yes" vote in a national referendum on Sunday and Monday that proposes halving the time required to apply for Italian citizenship.

Any children under 18 would automatically be naturalised along with their parents.

Cutting the wait from 10 years to five would bring this country in line with most others in Europe and, proponents argue, improve integration.

The referendum was initiated by a citizens' initiative and is supported by civil society groups. But for such a referendum to be valid, 50% of all voters in Italy have to turn up.

Giorgia Meloni, the country's hard-right prime minister, has announced she will boycott the vote, declaring the citizenship law already "excellent" and "very open".

Other parties allied to her are calling on Italians to go to the beach instead of the polling station.

Sonny will not be taking part either. Without citizenship, he is not entitled to vote.

The question of who gets to be Italian is a sensitive one.

Large numbers of migrants and refugees arrive in the country each year helped across the Mediterranean from North Africa by smuggling gangs.

Meloni's populist government has made a big deal about cutting the number of arrivals.

But this referendum is aimed at those who have travelled legally for work to a country with a rapidly shrinking and ageing population.

The aim is limited: to speed up the process for getting citizenship, not ease the strict criteria.

"Knowledge of the Italian language, not having criminal charges, continuous residence et cetera - all the various requirements remain the same," explains Carla Taibi of the liberal party More Europe, one of several backers of the referendum.

The reform would affect long-term foreign residents already employed in Italy and their families: from those on factory production lines in the north to those caring for pensioners in plush Rome neighbourhoods.

Up to 1.4 million people could qualify for citizenship immediately, with some estimates ranging higher.

"These people live in Italy, study and work and contribute. This is about changing the perception of them so they are not strangers anymore - but Italian," argues Taibi.

The reform would also have practical implications.

As a non-Italian, Sonny cannot apply for a public sector job, and even struggled to get a driving licence.

When he was booked for hit reality TV show Fame Island last year, he ended up arriving two weeks late on set in Honduras because he had had so many problems getting the right paperwork.

For a long time, Meloni ignored the referendum entirely. Italy's publicly owned media, run by a close Meloni ally, have also paid scant attention to the vote.

There is no substantive "No" campaign, making it hard to have a balanced debate.

But the real reason appears strategic.

"They don't want to raise awareness of the significance of the referendum," Professor Roberto D'Alimonte of Luiss University in Rome explains. "That's rational, to make sure that the 50% threshold won't be reached."

The prime minister eventually announced she would turn up at a polling station "to show respect for the ballot box" - but refuse to cast a vote.

"When you disagree, you also have the option of abstaining," Meloni told a TV chat show this week, after critics accused her of disrespecting democracy.

Italy's citizenship system was "excellent", she argued, already granting citizenship to more foreign nationals than most countries in Europe: 217,000 last year, according to the national statistics agency, Istat.

But about 30,000 of those were Argentines with Italian ancestry on the other side of the world, unlikely even to visit.

Meanwhile, Meloni's coalition partner, Roberto Vannacci of the far-right League, accused those behind the referendum of "selling off our citizenship and erasing our identity".

I ask Sonny why he thinks his own application for citizenship has taken over two decades.

"It's racism," he replies immediately.

At one point his file was lost completely, and he has now been told his case is "pending".

"We have ministers who talk about white supremacy - racial replacement of Italy," the activist recalls a 2023 comment by the agriculture minister from Meloni's own party.

"They don't want black immigration and we know it. I was born here 39 years ago so I know what I say."

It is an accusation the prime minister has denied repeatedly.

Insaf Dimassi, 28, defines herself as "Italian without citizenship".

"Italy let me grow up and become the person I am today, so not being seen as a citizen is extremely painful and frustrating," she explains from the northern city of Bologna where she is studying for a PhD.

Insaf's father travelled to Italy for work when she was a baby, and she and her mother then joined him. Her parents finally got Italian citizenship 20 days after Insaf turned 18. That meant she had to apply for herself from scratch, including proving a steady income.

Insaf chose to study instead.

"I arrived here at nine months old, and maybe at 33 or 34 - if all goes well - I can finally be an Italian citizen," she says, exasperated.

She remembers exactly when the significance of her "outsider" status hit home: it was when she was asked to run for election alongside a candidate for mayor in her hometown.

When she shared the news with her parents, full of excitement, they had to remind her she was not Italian and was not eligible.

"They say it's a matter of meritocracy to be a citizen, that you have to earn it. But more than being myself, what do I have to demonstrate?" Insaf wants to know.

"Not being allowed to vote, or be represented, is being invisible."

On the eve of the referendum, students in Rome wrote a call to the polls on the cobbles of a city square.

"Vote 'YES' on the 8th and 9th [of June]," they spelled out in giant cardboard letters.

With a government boycott and such meagre publicity, the chances of hitting the 50% turnout threshold seem slim.

But Sonny argues that this vote is just the beginning.

"Even if they vote 'No', we will stay here - and think about the next step," he says. "We have to start to talk about the place of our community in this country."

Additional reporting by Giulia Tommasi

On the hunt for Tiger, the fugitive linked to illegal South African gold mine where 78 died

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg5k518gq2o, 10 days ago

Nobody in South Africa seems to know where Tiger is.

The 42-year-old from neighbouring Lesotho, whose real name is James Neo Tshoaeli, has evaded a police manhunt for the past four months.

Detained after being accused of controlling the illegal operations at an abandoned gold mine near Stilfontein in South Africa, where 78 corpses were discovered underground in January, Tiger escaped custody, police allege.

Four policemen, alleged to have aided his breakout, are out on bail and awaiting trial, but the authorities appear no closer to learning the fugitive's whereabouts.

We went to Lesotho to find out more about this elusive man and to hear from those affected by the subterranean deaths.

Tiger's home is near the city of Mokhotlong, a five-hour drive from the capital, Maseru, on the road that skirts the nation's mountains.

We visit his elderly mother, Mampho Tshoaeli, and his younger brother, Thabiso.

Unlike Tiger, Thabiso decided to stay at home and rear sheep for a living, rather than join the illegal miners, known as zama zamas, in South Africa.

Neither of them has seen Tiger in eight years.

"He was a friendly child to everyone," Ms Tshoaeli recalls.

"He was peaceful even at school, his teachers never complained about him. So generally, he was a good person," she says.

Thabiso, five years younger than Tiger, says they both used to look after the family sheep when they were children.

"When we were growing up he wanted to be a policeman. That was his dream. But that never happened because, when our father passed away, he had to become the head of the family."

Tiger, who was 21 at the time, decided to follow in his father's footsteps and headed to South Africa to work in a mine - but not in the formal sector.

"It was really hard for me," says his mother. "I really felt worried for him because he was still fragile and young at that time. Also because I was told that to go down into the mine, they used a makeshift lift."

He would come back when he got time off or for Christmas. And during that first stint as a zama zama his mother said he was the family's main provider.

"He really supported us a lot. He was supporting me, giving me everything, even his siblings. He made sure that they had clothes and food."

The last time his family saw or heard from him was in 2017 when he left Lesotho with his then wife. Shortly after, the couple separated.

"I thought maybe he'd remarried, and his second wife wasn't allowing him to come back home," she says sadly.

"I've been asking: 'Where is my son?'

"The first time I heard he was a zama zama at Stilfontein, I was told by my son. He came to my house holding his phone and he showed me the news on social media and explained that they were saying he escaped from the police."

The police say several illegal miners described him as one of the Stilfontein ring leaders.

His mother does not believe he could have been in this position and says seeing the coverage of him has been upsetting.

"It really hurts me a lot because I think maybe he will die there, or maybe he has died already, or if he's lucky to come back home, maybe I won't be here. I'll be among the dead."

A friend of Tiger's from Stilfontein, who only wants to be identified as Ayanda, tells me they used to share food and cigarettes before supplies dwindled.

He also casts doubt on the "ringleader" label, saying that Tiger was more middle management.

"He was a boss underground, but he's not a top boss. He was like a supervisor, someone who could manage the situation where we were working."

Mining researcher Makhotla Sefuli thinks it was unlikely that Tiger was at the top of the illegal mining syndicate in Stilfontein. He says those in charge never work underground.

"The illegal mining trade is like a pyramid with many tiers. We always pay attention to the bottom tier, which is the workers. They are the ones who are underground.

"But there is a second layer… they supply cash to the illegal miners.

"Then you've got the buyers… they buy [the gold] from those who are supplying cash to the illegal miners."

At the top are "some very powerful" people, with "close proximity to top politicians". These people make the most money, but do not get their hands dirty in the mines.

Supang Khoaisanyane was one of those at the bottom of the pyramid and he paid with his life.

The 39-year-old's body was among those discovered in the disused gold mine in January. He, like many of the others who perished, had migrated to South Africa from Lesotho.

Walking into his village, Bobete, in the Thaba-Tseka district, feels like stepping back in time.

The journey there is full of obstacles.

After crossing a rickety bridge barely wide enough to hold our car, we are faced with a long drive up unpaved mountain roads with no safety barriers.

More than once it feels likely we will not make it to the top.

But when we do, the scenery is pristine. Seemingly untouched by modernity.

Dozens of small, thatched huts, their walls made from mountain stone, dot the rolling green hills.

Right next door to the late Supang's family home is the unfinished house he was building for his wife and three children.

Unlike most of the dwellings in the village, the house is made of cement, but it is missing a roof, windows and doors.

The empty spaces are an unintentional memorial to a man who wanted to help his family.

"He left the village because he was struggling," his aunt Mabolokang Khoaisanyane tells me.

Next to her Supang's wife and one of his children lay down on a mattress on the floor, staring sadly into space.

"He was trying to find money in Stilfontein, to feed his family, and to put some roofing on his house," Ms Khoaisanyane says.

The house was built with money raised from a previous work trip to South Africa by Supang - a trip that many of those from Lesotho have made over the decades drawn by the opportunities of the much richer neighbour.

His aunt adds that before he left the second time, three years ago, his job prospects at home were non-existent.

"It's very terrible here, that's why he left. Because here all you can do is work on short government projects. But you work for a short time and then that's it."

This landlocked country - entirely surrounded by South Africa - is one of the poorest in the world. Unemployment stands at 30% but for young people the rate is almost 50%, according to official figures.

Supang's family say they did not realise he was working as a zama zama until a relative called them to say he had died underground.

They thought he had been working in construction and had not heard from him since he left Bobete in 2022.

Ms Khoaisanyane says that during the phone call, they were told that what caused the deaths of most of those underground in Stilfontein was a lack of food and water. Many of the more than 240 who were rescued came out very ill.

Stilfontein made global headlines late last year when the police implemented a controversial new strategy to crack down on illegal mining.

They restricted the flow of food and water into the mine in an attempt to "smoke out" the workers, as one South African minister put it.

In January, a court order forced the government to launch a rescue operation.

Supang's family say they understand what he was doing was illegal but they disagree with how the authorities dealt with the situation.

"They tortured these people with hunger, not allowing food and medication to be sent down. It makes us really sad that he was down there without food for that long. We believe this is what ended his life," his aunt says.

The dead miner's family have finally received his body and buried him near his half-finished home.

But Tiger's mother and brother are still waiting for news about him. The South African police say the search continues, though it is not clear if they have got any closer to finding him.

More BBC stories from South Africa:

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

Kenyan blogger was hit and assaulted to death, autopsy reveals

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn9jw20nr5ro, 2 days ago

A Kenyan blogger who died in police custody was hit on the head and his death was likely to have been caused by assault, a post-mortem has revealed.

This contradicts earlier police claims that Albert Ojwang "sustained head injuries after hitting his head against a cell wall".

His death has sparked widespread outrage in Kenya, with rights groups demanding that police be held accountable. Mr Ojwang was detained following a complaint by the deputy police chief, who accused him of tarnishing his name on social media.

"The cause of death is very clear; head injury, neck compression and other injuries spread all over the body that are pointing towards assault," state pathologist Bernard Midia said.

Inspector-General of Police Douglas Kanja retracted the earlier police statement which said that Mr Ojwang died after hitting his head against a wall.

"I tender my apology on behalf of the National Police Service for that misinformation," Mr Kanja said while appearing before the senate on Wednesday.

Mr Ojwang, a digital creator who microblogged on X and Facebook on topical political and social issues, was arrested in Homa Bay, a town in western Kenya, on Friday.

The 31-year-old, who is also said to be a teacher, was detained over a post on X that was allegedly critical of Deputy Inspector General of Police Eliud Lagat.

He was subsequently transferred over 350km (220 miles) to the capital, Nairobi, and booked into the Central Police Station on Saturday.

Police said he was later found unconscious in his cell with self-inflicted injuries.

But an autopsy, conducted by five pathologists who released a unanimous report, revealed that Mr Ojwang had severe head injuries and suffered neck compression and multiple soft tissue trauma.

Dr Midia, who led the team of pathologists, said that Mr Ojwang did not hit himself on the wall, as police had said in a statement on Sunday.

He said if Mr Ojwang had done this, the pattern of injuries would have been different, and frontal bleeding on the head would be seen.

"But the bleeds that we found on the scalp… on the skin of the head were spaced, including on the face, sides of the head and the back of the head," Dr Midia said at a press conference.

"There were also multiple soft tissue injuries spread all over the body, including the head, neck, upper limbs and the trunk and lower limbs... these were injuries that were externally inflicted," he added.

The injuries were consistent with "external assault" and there were also signs of a struggle, according to the pathologists.

Kenya's Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) has also ruled out the possibility that Mr Ojwang might have killed himself.

The agency added that its premilitary findings showed that CCTV systems at the Central Police Station had been interfered with.

Mr Ojwang's father, Meshack Ojwang, has appealed to President William Ruto to help him get justice for his son.

"Help me as a taxpayer. The officers who picked up my son saw our home was humble and assumed we didn't matter," the father said.

In a statement, Ruto said he was shocked by Mr Ojwang's death and ordered a "swift, transparent, and credible" investigation.

"This tragic occurrence, at the hands of the police, is heartbreaking and unacceptable," the president added.

He, however, cautioned the public against making "premature judgments or drawing conclusions that could compromise the process and its outcome".

The Digital Content Creators Association of Kenya paid tribute to Mr Ojwang, saying: "Albert was more than a content creator - he was a voice of the youth, a symbol of resilience, and an embodiment of the dreams and hopes of a generation that uses digital platforms to inspire change. His legacy will not be silenced."

Faith Odhiambo, president of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), said the autopsy report clearly showed that Mr Ojwang had been "tortured" and "brutally murdered" in police custody.

"We will continue to pile pressure until every single officer involved is held personally liable. We won't accept more excuses," Ms Odhiambo said.

Veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga has condemned Mr Ojwang's "horrifying" death, saying it added to a long list of "young and defenceless Kenyans whose lives have been taken too soon, in brutal and senseless circumstances, at the hands of the police".

Mr Kanja earlier said that several officers who were on duty at the time of Mr Ojwang's death had been "interdicted".

Police spokesperson Michael Muchiri told the BBC that this means the officers could not perform their duties, and would receive half their salaries, pending the outcome of investigations.

But human rights groups have demanded more action, terming the blogger's death as a possible attempt to silence the digital community through intimidation and fear.

A crowd of activists, holding placards and chanting "Stop killing us", protested on Monday outside Nairobi City mortuary, where Mr Ojwang's body is being kept.

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

UK soldier accused of raping British woman in Kenya

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ceqg3xjp4rgo, 2 days ago

A UK soldier accused of raping a woman near a controversial British army base in Kenya allegedly attacked a British national, not a Kenyan, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed.

In a statement the military said the man had been arrested and sent back to the UK following the alleged incident last month near the British Army Training Unit in Kenya (Batuk).

The allegation is being investigated by the UK military, which has jurisdiction over the matter, and does not involve Kenyan police.

The alleged rape is the latest allegation of misconduct made against British soldiers at Batuk, which is near the town of Nanyuki around 200km (125 miles) north of Kenya's capital, Nairobi.

A MoD spokesperson said: "We can confirm the arrest of a British service person in Kenya in relation to a report of a sexual offence. The service person has been repatriated to the UK and the victim is a British adult, not a Kenyan.

"The matter is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the UK Defence Serious Crime Command, in accordance with the Defence Co-operation Agreement between the UK and Kenya and we will not comment further."

A UK soldier has previously been accused of murdering a local woman, Agnes Wanjiru, whose body was found dumped in a septic tank in 2012.

The UK has said it is co-operating with a Kenyan investigation into her death.

The Batuk base was established in 1964 shortly after the East African nation gained independence from the UK.

The UK military has an agreement with Kenya under which it can deploy up to six army battalions a year for periods of training at the site.

But the British army has faced a string of allegations about the conduct of some UK personnel at the camp.

A public inquiry set up by Kenyan MPs last year heard details of alleged mistreatment of local people by British soldiers.

The allegations included a reported hit-and-run incident, as well as claims that some British soldiers had got local women pregnant before abandoning them and their children when they returned to the UK.

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

Nearly 50 people killed in South Africa floods

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgqwg9gej7o, 2 days ago

At least 49 people, including several schoolchildren, have been killed in the floods that have swept through South Africa's Eastern Cape province as torrential rain and snow have hit parts of the country.

"The numbers are just escalating hour after hour. The situation is so bad on the ground," provincial premier Oscar Mabuyane said.

Among the bodies recovered are those of four children, a driver and a conductor who were on a bus that was carried away in flood waters as it was crossing a bridge in the town of Mthatha on Tuesday morning.

Mabuyane said rescue efforts were continuing to find four more children who had been in the vehicle that has since been found on a riverbank with no-one inside.

Earlier, an official had told private TV station Newzroom Afrika that eight bodies, including that of the bus driver, had been found.

Public broadcaster SABC reported that three children were rescued alive on Tuesday, found clinging to trees.

It is now known that there were 13 people on the bus, 11 of them schoolchildren.

On Wednesday morning, Mabuyane visited the scene to witness rescue efforts, and to meet affected communities in Decoligny, a village outside Mthatha.

Hundreds of residents had been left displaced, many spending the night in makeshift shelters, he said.

Mabuyane praised those who were assisting officials in locating the missing and for alerting their neighbours when the floods began.

Officials said 58 schools in Eastern Cape had been affected across three districts: OR Tambo, Amathole and Alfred Nzo.

"For all these years that I've lived, I've never seen something like this," Mabuyane said.

In neighbouring KwaZulu-Natal, 68 schools across nine districts have been damaged but no fatalities have been recorded.

The heavy snow, rains and gale force winds have also left nearly 500,000 homes without electricity since Tuesday - and state-owned power provider Eskom says efforts are being made to restore connections.

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has offered his condolences to the families of those who died as he urged citizens to "display caution, care and cooperation as the worst impacts of winter weather take effect across the country".

The Eastern Cape - the birthplace of anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela - has been worst-affected by the icy conditions, along with KwaZulu-Natal province.

The bad weather has forced the closure of some major roads in the two provinces to avoid further casualties.

More BBC stories on South Africa:

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

Scrap Chagos Islands deal and agree new one, UN panel urges UK

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cyvmz0q0335o, 3 days ago

A UN panel has urged the UK to renegotiate a deal returning the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, saying it "fails to guarantee" the rights of the Chagossian people.

The deal, signed last month, handed sovereignty of the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius, but the UK retained the right to run a military base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos Islands.

By preventing the Chagossian people from returning to Diego Garcia, "the agreement appears to be at variance with the Chagossians' right to return," the UN experts wrote.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said the UK-Mauritius deal had been "welcomed by international organisations, including the UN secretary general".

The panel of four experts were appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, but are not UN staff and are independent from the UN.

They said by the UK keeping the military base of Diego Garcia, the Chagossian people were hindered from being able to "exercise their cultural rights in accessing their ancestral lands from which they were expelled".

The panel called for the current deal to be suspended and for a new agreement to be negotiated.

Under the agreement, the UK would pay an average of £101m a year for 99 years to continue operating the military base on Diego Garcia, in concert with the US.

The Chagos Islands are located in the Indian Ocean about 5,799 miles (9,332km) south-east of the UK, and about 1,250 miles north-east of Mauritius.

The UK purchased the islands for £3m in 1968, but Mauritius has argued it was illegally forced to give away the islands in order to gain independence from Britain.

Diego Garcia was then cleared to make way for a military base, with large groups of Chagossians forcibly moved to Mauritius and the Seychelles, or taking up an invitation to settle in England, mainly in Crawley, West Sussex.

Since then, Chagossians have not been allowed to return to Diego Garcia.

Before the UK-Mauritius deal was signed last month, two Chagossian women living in the UK - who were born on Diego Garcia - launched a last-minute legal bid to stop it, saying the agreement did not guarantee the right of return to their island of birth.

Philippe Sands KC, who represented Mauritius in its legal battle with the UK, defended the deal, saying former Chagos Islands residents in Mauritius and the Seychelles had been consulted, but not the community in Crawley.

He told a House of Lords committee that he wanted to "knock on the head this idea that all of the Chagossians were not involved" in negotiations.

"The Chagossian community is divided and I respect that division," he said, but added: "Most in Mauritius and Seychelles have made very clear... that they wish this deal to go ahead."

The deal includes a £40m trust fund to support Chagossians, a component that the UN panel also questioned would "comply with the right of the Chagossian people to effective remedy... and prompt reparation".

"The agreement also lacks provisions to facilitate the Chagossian people's access to cultural sites on Diego Garcia and protect and conserve their unique cultural heritage," the panel added.

The Foreign Office spokesperson said: "We recognise the importance of the islands to Chagossians and have worked to ensure the agreement reflects this."

Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel said the Conservatives "have been warning from the start that this deal is bad for British taxpayers and bad for the Chagossian people".

"It is why I have introduced a bill in Parliament that would block the [agreement] and force the government to speak to the people at the heart of their surrender plans," she said.

Both the House of Commons and House of Lords have until 3 July to pass a resolution to oppose the deal being ratified.

Aukus: Could Trump sink Australia's submarine plans?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg4jd7r7vro, today

Australia's defence minister woke up to a nightmare earlier this week - and it's one that has been looming ever since the United States re-elected Donald Trump as president in November.

A landmark trilateral agreement between the US, UK and Australia - which would give the latter cutting-edge nuclear submarine technology in exchange for more help policing China in the Asia-Pacific - was under review.

The White House said on Thursday it wanted to make sure the so-called Aukus pact was "aligned with the president's America First agenda".

It's the latest move from Washington that challenges its long-standing friendship with Canberra, sparking fears Down Under that, as conflict heats up around the globe, Australia may be left standing without its greatest ally.

"I don't think any Australian should feel that our ally is fully committed to our security at this moment," says Sam Roggeveen, who leads the security programme at Australia's Lowy Institute think tank.

A pivotal deal for Australia

On paper, Australia is the clear beneficiary of the Aukus agreement, worth £176bn ($239bn; A$368bn).

The technology underpinning the pact belongs to the US, and the UK already has it, along with their own nuclear-powered subs. But those that are being jointly designed and built by the three countries will be an improvement.

For Australia, this represents a pivotal upgrade to military capabilities. The new submarine model will be able to operate further and faster than the country's existing diesel-engine fleet, and allow it to carry out long-range strikes against enemies for the first time.

It is a big deal for the US to share what has been described as the "crown jewel" of its defence technology, and no small thing for the UK to hand over engine blueprints either.

But arming Australia has historically been viewed by Washington and Downing Street as essential to preserving peace in the Asia-Pacific region, which is far from their own.

It's about putting their technology and hardware in the right place, experts say.

But when the Aukus agreement was signed in 2021, all three countries had very different leaders - Joe Biden in the US, Boris Johnson in the UK and Scott Morrison in Australia.

Today, when viewed through the increasingly isolationist lens Trump is using to examine his country's global ties, some argue the US has far less to gain from the pact.

Under Secretary of Defence Policy Elbridge Colby, a previous critic of Aukus, will lead the White House review into the agreement, with a Pentagon official telling the BBC the process was to ensure it meets "common sense, America First criteria".

Two of the criteria they cite are telling. One is a demand that allies "step up fully to do their part for collective defence". The other is a purported need to ensure that the US arms industry is adequately meeting the country's own needs first.

The Trump administration has consistently expressed frustration at allies, including Australia, who they believe aren't pulling their weight with defence spending.

They also say America is struggling to produce enough nuclear-powered submarines for its own forces.

"Why are we giving away this crown jewel asset when we most need it?" Colby himself had said last year.

A chill in Canberra

The Australian government, however, is presenting a calm front.

It's only natural for a new administration to reassess the decisions of its predecessor, officials say, noting that the new UK Labor government had a review of Aukus last year too.

"I'm very confident this is going to happen," Defence Minister Richard Marles said of the pact, in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

But there's little doubt the review would be causing some early jolts of panic in Canberra.

"I think angst has been inseparable from Aukus since its beginning… The review itself is not alarming. It's just everything else," Euan Graham, from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, tells the BBC.

There is growing concern across Australia that America cannot be relied upon.

"[President Donald Trump's] behaviour, over these first months of this term, I don't think should fill any observer with confidence about America's commitment to its allies," Mr Roggeveen says.

"Trump has said, for instance, that Ukraine is mainly Europe's problem because they are separated by a big, beautiful ocean. Well of course, there's a big, beautiful ocean separating America from Asia too."

Washington's decision to slap large tariffs on Australian goods earlier this year did not inspire confidence either, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying it was clearly "not the act of a friend".

Albanese has stayed quiet on the Aukus review so far, likely holding his breath for a face-to-face meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada next week. This is a chat he's still desperately trying to get the US president to agree to.

But several former prime ministers have rushed to give their two cents.

Scott Morrison, the conservative leader who negotiated the Aukus pact in 2021, said the review should not be "over-interpreted" and scoffed at the suggestion another country could meet Australia's security needs.

"The notion… is honestly delusional," he told ABC radio.

Malcolm Turnbull, who was behind the French submarine contract that Morrison dramatically tore up in favour of Aukus, said Australia needs to "wake up", realise it's a "bad deal" which the US could renege on at any point, and make other plans before it is too late.

Meanwhile, Paul Keating, a famously sharp-tongued advocate for closer ties with China, said this "might very well be the moment Washington saves Australia from itself".

"Aukus will be shown for what it always has been: a deal hurriedly scribbled on the back of an envelope by Scott Morrison, along with the vacuous British blowhard Boris Johnson and the confused President Joe Biden."

The whiff of US indecision over Aukus feeds into long-term criticism in some quarters that Australia is becoming too reliant on the country.

Calling for Australia's own inquiry, the Greens, the country's third-largest political party, said: "We need an independent defence and foreign policy, that does not require us to bend our will and shovel wealth to an increasingly erratic and reckless Trump USA."

What could happen next?

There's every chance the US turns around in a few weeks and recommits to the pact.

At the end of the day, Australia is buying up to five nuclear-powered submarines at a huge expense, helping keep Americans employed. And the US has plenty of time - just under a decade - to sort out their supply issues and provide them.

"[The US] also benefit from the wider aspects of Aukus - all three parties get to lift their boat jointly by having a more interoperable defence technology and ecosystem," Mr Graham adds.

Even so, the anxiety the review has injected into the relationship is going to be hard to erase completely – and has only inflamed disagreements over Aukus in Australia.

But there's also a possibility Trump does want to rewrite the deal.

"I can easily see a future in which we don't get the Virginia class boats," Mr Roggeveen says, referring to the interim submarines.

That would potentially leave Australia with its increasingly outdated fleet for another two decades, vulnerable while the new models are being designed and built.

What happens in the event the US does leave the Aukus alliance completely?

At this juncture, few are sounding that alarm.

The broad view is that, for the US, countering China and keeping the Pacific in their sphere of influence is still crucial.

Mr Roggeveen, though, says that when it comes to potential conflict in the Pacific, the US hasn't been putting their money where its mouth is for years.

"China's been engaged in the biggest build-up of military power of any country since the end of the Cold War and the United States' position in Asia basically hasn't changed," he says.

If the US leaves, Aukus could very well become an awkward Auk – but could the UK realistically offer enough for Australia to sustain the agreement?

And if the whole thing falls apart and Australia is left without submarines, who else could it turn to?

France feels like an unlikely saviour, given the previous row there, but Australia does have options, Mr Roggeveen says: "This wouldn't be the end of the world for Australian defence."

Australia is "geographically blessed", he says, and with "a reasonable defence budget and a good strategy" could sufficiently deter China, even without submarines.

"There's this phrase you hear occasionally, that the danger is on our doorstep. Well, it's a big doorstep if that is true… Beijing is closer to Berlin than it is to Sydney."

"There is this mental block in Australia and also this emotional block - a fear of abandonment, this idea that we can't defend ourselves alone. But we absolutely can if we have to."

British man is only passenger to survive India plane crash

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3v6drp96zo, yesterday

A British man has walked away from the wreckage of the Air India crash that killed 241 people in an extraordinary tale of survival.

Vishwashkumar Ramesh was in seat 11A on the London-bound Boeing 787 flight when it crashed shortly after take off in Ahmedabad, western India.

Mr Ramesh's brother, Nayan Kumar Ramesh, told BBC News Vishwashkumar "has no idea how he survived" and escaped the plane as the only survivor.

Air India said all other passengers and crew were killed - including 169 Indian nationals and 52 Britons.

Nayan told the BBC "it feels great seeing him [Vishwashkumar] doing well" but he was worried about his other brother Ajay, who was also onboard.

"We were all in shock as soon as we heard what happened, just utter shock. Speechless," he said.

"He [Vishwashkumar] himself has no idea how he survived, how he got out the plane.

"When he called us he was just more worried about my other brother, like 'Find Ajay, find Ajay.' That's all he cares about at the moment."

A relative called Jay told the PA news agency: "He's got some injuries on his face. He was painted in blood. He's doing well I think. It's a big shock."

Video shared on social media showed Mr Ramesh walking towards an ambulance, with smoke billowing in the background.

He was later seen in a hospital bed meeting Indian interior minister Amit Shah.

Dr Dhaval Gameti, who treated Mr Ramesh, said: "He was disorientated, with multiple injuries all over his body. But he seems to be out of danger."

Indian media said he shared his boarding pass, which showed his name and seat number.

The businessman, who was born in India and has lived in the UK since 2003, has a wife and four-year-old son.

The plane crashed into accommodation used by trainee doctors less than a minute after take-off in Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat. It is not clear how many people on the ground died and the cause of the crash is still unknown.

Three Britons thought to have died on the flight have been named by Gloucester Muslim Society as Akeel Nanabawa, his wife Hannaa Vorajee and their daughter Sara.

"They touched lots of people and they will be missed by lots of people," imam Abdullah Samad.

Couple Fiongal and Jamie Greenlaw-Meek, who run a spiritual wellness centre in London, are also thought to have been on the flight.

They laughed and joked in an Instagram video as they told of their "10-hour flight back to England".

Their firm the Wellness Foundry has been approached for comment.

Also on the plane were Javed and his wife Mariam Syed, from West London, alongside their two young children.

Ammaarah Taju, the granddaughter of a couple from Blackburn who were onboard the flight, said she was in shock and disbelief.

Adam Taju, 72, and his wife Hasina, 70, were flying back from Ahmedabad's International Airport with their 51-year-old son-in-law, Altafhusen Patel who lives in London with his wife.

In a statement from the King, he said he and his wife were "desperately shocked by the terrible events in Ahmedabad this morning".

"Our special prayers and deepest possible sympathy are with the families and friends of all those affected by this appallingly tragic incident across so many nations, as they await news of their loved ones," the statement added.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said his thoughts were with the families who were going to be "absolutely devastated by this awful news", while his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi said it was "heart-breaking beyond words".

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has arranged crisis teams in India and the UK, and has chaired a meeting of the government's emergency committee in response to the crash.

London Gatwick Airport confirmed that a reception centre for relatives of passengers was being set up where information would be provided, and that it was liaising closely with Air India.

It said on X: "British nationals who require consular assistance or have concerns about friends or family should call 0207 008 5000."

Air India flight AI171 left Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 13:39 local time (08:09 GMT), Air India said.

It was scheduled to land at London Gatwick at 18:25 BST.

One video verified by the BBC shows the plane descending before a large explosion as it hits the ground.

You can also get in touch by following this link

The sound of jet engines was deafening - then it was chaos

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz0dkrz1kneo, today

It was a balmy Thursday afternoon at the residential hostel of the BJ Medical College and the canteen was teeming with students getting lunch.

The room buzzed with the sound of jokes, banter between friends, and the odd bit of academic discussion.

By 13:39 local time, there were at least 35 people in the cafeteria. Some had already collected their food and were lounging around, while others were in the queue waiting for their turn.

The students mixed with doctors and family members. Then, everything changed.

The general hum of the canteen was pierced by the sound of approaching jet engines - and then the room exploded.

Less than a minute earlier, Flight AI171 had taken off from the runway at Ahmedabad's airport, just 1.5km (4,800ft) away.

The Air India 787 Dreamliner was bound for London, carrying 242 people.

But something had gone catastrophically wrong, and mere seconds after its wheels left the ground, the plane was in trouble. A mayday call was sent before it came crashing down into a busy residential area - on top of the doctors' hostel - sending a massive fireball into the sky and killing all but one person on board.

The BBC has spoken to eyewitnesses, including students who were in the hostel, along with friends of the trainee doctors who died and their teachers, to piece together what happened in those terrifying few seconds - and the aftermath that followed.

People on the ground nearby couldn't immediately work out what had happened.

A doctor, who works with the college's kidney sciences department, says he and his colleagues were in their building, about 500 metres away, when they heard a "deafening sound" outside.

"At first, we thought it was lightening. But then we wondered, could that be possible in 40C dry heat?"

The doctors ran outside.

That's when they heard a few people screaming: "Look, come here, a plane has crashed into our building."

The next few minutes were a blur. Scenes of chaos descended on the campus as people ran around trying to escape - or find out what had happened.

Brothers Prince and Krish Patni were on their bikes just a few metres from the hostel when they heard the noise.

"Within seconds we could see something that resembled a wing of a plane," Prince, 18, told the BBC.

"We rushed to the scene, but the heat from the explosion was intense and we couldn't enter the hostel. There was a lot of debris."

The brothers, along with a few other volunteers from the local area, waited for the heat to subside before attempting to physically enter the building. They worked together with the police to move some of the debris from the entrance.

When they finally reached the canteen, they couldn't see anyone.

Dark, dense clouds of smoke had engulfed the room. The air smelled of burned metal. The brothers, who just minutes before had been heading to play cricket, began removing cooking gas cylinders to avoid any further explosions, Krish, 20, explained.

The brothers and other volunteers then spotted a pile of suitcases and went to move them. What unfolded next, they said, was gut wrenching.

Behind them, they began to make out the shapes of people.

Most were alive. Some had spoons full of food in their hand, some had plates of food in front of them, and some had glasses in their hand.

They were all badly injured.

They were also silent, in shock. Just minutes before they were having their usual afternoon. Now, they were surrounded by charred metal pieces of aircraft.

"They didn't even get a chance to react," another doctor, who was in a nearby building, said.

A second year student, who lives in the hostel, was among those who managed to escape.

He was sitting at his usual spot - a large table at the corner of the mess, next to one of the walls - with nine others when the plane crashed.

"There was a huge bang and a horrible screeching sound. Next thing we knew, we were under huge boulders, stuck without anywhere to go," he says. "The fire and smoke of the crashed plane was close to our face and it was hard to breathe."

He received severe chest wounds in the accident and is still undergoing treatment at a local hospital. And he doesn't know what happened to his friends.

Multiple eyewitnesses told the BBC the massive wing of the plane first pierced through the roof followed by parts of the fuselage. The damage was most severe where the wing fell.

In the chaos, students began to jump from as high as the second and third floors to escape. Students later told how one of the only staircases out was blocked by debris.

It is not known how many people were killed on the ground.

Dr Minakshi Parikh, dean of the BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital, told the BBC that four of their students had died, as well as four students' relatives.

But exactly how many and who was killed may take days to establish: investigators need to rely on DNA to formally identify the bodies found in the wreckage.

And it was not just people in the canteen at that moment who were killed.

Just a few kilometres away was Ravi Thakur, who worked in the hostel kitchen. He had gone out to deliver lunch boxes in other hostels around the city. His wife and their two-year-old daughter stayed behind as usual.

When he heard the news, he rushed back but found utter chaos. Around 45 minutes had passed and the place was full of locals, firefighters, ambulance workers and Air India staff.

He tried to look for his wife and child but couldn't find them.

Back at the main hospital block, teachers are still trying make sense of the chaos.

"I used to teach these students and knew them personally. The injured students are still being treated in the hospital, and they are our priority at the moment," one professor at the college told the BBC.

Meanwhile, Ravi Thakur is still searching for his loved ones, even as his hopes fade fast.

Pope names Chinese bishop as he keeps historic Vatican-Beijing accord

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4g9dlnynmo, yesterday

Pope Leo XIV has appointed the first Chinese bishop of his papacy, signalling that he will continue a historic agreement that sought to improve relations between the Vatican and China.

Both sides have hailed the appointment of Fuzhou Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Lin Yuntuan as an affirmation of their commitment to the 2018 accord, which was reached under the late Pope Francis.

The agreement gave Chinese officials some input on the appointment of bishops. However, its contents were never fully disclosed to the public.

Beijing insists that the state must approve the appointment of bishops in China, running contrary to the Catholic Church's insistence that it is a papal decision.

China has some 10 million Catholics.

Currently, they face the choice of attending state-sanctioned churches approved by Beijing or worshipping in underground congregations that have sworn allegiance to the Vatican.

On Wednesday, the Vatican said Yuntuan's ministry had been "recognised" by Chinese law.

"This event constitutes a further fruit of the dialogue between the Holy See and the Chinese Authorities and is an important step in the journey of communion of the Diocese," the Vatican said.

When asked about Yuntuan's appointment, foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters on Thursday that this showed how the 2018 agreement had been "smoothly implemented", state media reported.

China is willing to work with the Vatican to continue improving relations, he said.

The Pope's move shows a "willingness to support reconciliation instead of antagonism", Michel Chambon, a research fellow at the Asia Research Institute in Singapore who has written extensively about the Catholic Church, told Reuters news agency.

In September 2018, Pope Francis recognised seven bishops appointed by China. The Vatican also posthumously recognised an eighth bishop who died the year before.

China first broke off diplomatic ties with the Holy See in 1951, and many Catholics were forced to go underground during former communist leader Mao Zedong's rule, emerging only in the 1980s when religious practices were tolerated again.

Taiwan jails China captain for undersea cable sabotage in landmark case

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy3zy9jvd4o, yesterday

A Chinese national has been sentenced to three years in prison for damaging an undersea cable connecting Taiwan's main island and the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait.

The man, identified by his surname Wang, was the captain of the Togolese-registered vessel Hong Tai 58.

The Tainan District Court's verdict on Thursday marks the first sentencing after reports in recent years of undersea cables around Taiwan being severed.

Taipei has accused Beijing of sabotaging its cables, describing it as a "grey zone" tactic to pressure the self-ruled island, which China claims as its territory.

But China has denied its involvement, calling the incidents "common maritime accidents" that have been "exaggerated" by Taiwanese authorities.

Undersea cables - insulated wires laid on the seabed - carry nearly all of the world's internet traffic.

An estimated 150 to 200 faults occur across the world's undersea cable systems every year, according to the International Cable Protection Committee.

Taiwan has 10 domestic and 14 international undersea cables.

The damage to cables linking Taiwan to the Penghu islands "seriously interferes with the government and society's operations", the court said in a statement about Thursday's sentencing.

"The impact is enormous, and the defendant's actions should be severely condemned."

In February, Taiwan's coast guard spotted Hong Tai 58 anchored off the island's southern coast for several days and broadcasted warnings asking it to leave.

Minutes after Hong Tai 58 departed the waters in the early hours of 25 February, the coast guard learned that an undersea cable in the area had been severed.

Hong Tai 58 was escorted back to Taiwan for investigation, and its crew of eight Chinese nationals were detained.

Mr Wang is the only one to face charges, and the remaining crew members have reportedly been sent back to China.

While Mr Wang initially denied damaging the undersea cables, he said during his trial that he "might have broken the cable".

Mr Wang, who did not appoint a lawyer, told the court that the rough waters had made navigation tricky, and he instructed the crew to drop the anchor without knowing that the area contained undersea cables.

However, prosecutors argued that he had intentionally damaged the cable, pointing to electronic charts on the ship clearly showing the cable's location.

Hsu Shu Han, a prosecutor in the case, told BBC Chinese in May that the vessel was "highly suspicious". It had only one cargo record in the past year and was in poor condition, "but they were still sailing that ship around the Taiwan Strait", he said.

Mr Hsu also said the ship had gone by multiple names, and that Mr Wang had deliberately concealed information about the vessel's owner, who has yet to be identified.

The Coast Guard told the court that ships typically move in a circular motion around the anchor, but the Hong Tai 58 had dragged its anchor straight across the seabed.

Prosecutors said the ship had sailed in a zigzag pattern around the cable.

The damaged section of the cable also matched the ship's anchoring location and showed signs of being snagged by an external force.

Between 2019 and 2023, there were 36 cases of undersea cables being damaged by external forces, according to Taiwan authorities.

Taiwan has been increasingly wary of potential sabotage, especially from China. In January, it accused a Chinese-owned ship of damaging an undersea cable near its northern coast - claims that have been denied by the ship's owner, Reuters reported.

Kuan Bi-ling, Taiwan's ocean affairs council minister, said that Hong Tai 58 was among the 52 vessels that Taiwan had been monitoring for suspicious activities.

Such suspicions are not just surfacing in Taiwan: Last November, a Chinese carrier was accused of severing two fibre-optic undersea cables in the Baltic Sea. But a Swedish probe earlier this year said it found no conclusive evidence to suggest this - though a separate investigation remains under way, said Reuters.

"Some scholars have said that World War III could begin with the cutting of undersea cables. I think that's quite realistic," Herming Chiueh, deputy minister of Taiwan's Ministry of Digital Affairs, told BBC Chinese.

"From the Ministry's perspective, our job is to ensure timely reporting and response for these critical infrastructures."

Mr Hsu said that Mr Wang's phone records showed no links to Chinese authorities, and there was no direct evidence proving that the crew had been acting under Chinese government orders.

Tensions have ratcheted between Taiwan and China over the past year. Taiwanese President William Lai has adopted a tough stance against Beijing, calling it a "foreign hostile force". Meanwhile, China has held regular drills around Taiwan to simulate a blockade of the island.

Bangladesh leader declines to meet Tulip Siddiq

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly30pgldewo, yesterday

Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus has refused to meet Labour MP Tulip Siddiq to discuss corruption allegations against her during his visit to London.

Yunus told the BBC the allegations were a "court matter" and said he had confidence in Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), which is investigating Siddiq.

The ACC has accused Siddiq of illegally receiving land from the regime of her aunt Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted as Bangladesh's prime minister last year.

Siddiq, a former Treasury minister, has denied the allegations and accused the Bangladeshi authorities of a "politically motivated smear campaign".

In a letter, Siddiq requested a meeting with Yunus, a Nobel-prize winning economist who has led an interim government in Bangladesh since a student-led protest movement toppled Hasina from power.

Siddiq said a meeting "might also help clear up the misunderstanding perpetuated by the Anti-Corruption Commission in Dhaka".

In an interview with the BBC, Yunus was asked whether he would meet Siddiq during his four-day visit to the UK this week.

"No I'm not because it's a legal procedure," Yunus said. "I don't want to interrupt a legal procedure. Let the procedure continue."

Siddiq has argued Bangladeshi authorities have not provided any evidence to back up their allegations and refuse to engage with her lawyers.

Responding to those arguments, Yunus said: "It's a court matter.

"A court will decide if enough materials are available to pursue the case or cancel it".

When asked if prosecutors in Bangladesh needed to be more transparent and provide evidence of wrongdoing to Siddiq, Yunus said: "As chief adviser I have full confidence in our Anti-Corruption Commission and they are doing the right thing."

On the question of whether he would seek Siddiq's extradition if she was found guilty of any crimes in Bangladesh, Yunus said: "If it is part of the legal procedure, of course."

'Fantasy accusations'

In a statement, Siddiq said she was disappointed Yunus had refused to meet her.

She said: "He's been at the heart of a political vendetta based on fantasy accusations with no evidence relentlessly briefed to the media.

"If this was a serious legal process they would engage with my lawyers rather than sending bogus correspondence to an address in Dhaka where I have never lived.

"I hope he is now serious about ending the practice of smearing me in the press and allowing the courts to establish that their investigations have nothing to do with me - a British citizen and a proud member of the UK Parliament."

Siddiq quit her ministerial post earlier this year, following an investigation into the allegations by the prime minister's ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus.

In his report, Sir Laurie said he had "not identified evidence of improprieties".

But he said it was "regrettable" that Siddiq had not been more alert to the "potential reputational risks" of her ties to her aunt, who is leader of Awami League party in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh authorities estimate that about $234bn (£174bn) was siphoned off from Bangladesh through corrupt means while Hasina was in power.

The Bangladeshi authorities allege that much of this money has been stashed or spent in the UK.

Yunus said he had not been able to arrange a meeting with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, a close friend and constituency neighbour of Siddiq.

He said: "I don't know whether I should be disappointed or he should be disappointed. It's a missed opportunity.

"That's why I'm saying coming to Bangladesh would be a good opportunity to relax and see and feel the moment."

When asked if Downing Street had given a reason for not scheduling a meeting with Starmer, he said: "I don't think we have received an explanation from that kind of thing. Probably he is busy with other important things."

A Downing Street spokesperson did not comment.

But Yunus did have an audience with King Charles at Buckingham Palace and met Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds in Parliament.

In a post on X, Reynolds said they discussed "our shared ambitions for economic growth, job creation and prosperity".

Some anti-Yunus protesters from the Bangladeshi community in the UK gathered on Parliament Square during his visit.

Yunus said Bangladesh's interim government had hired lawyers to try to recover any allegedly stolen funds from the UK.

He said the UK government was "extremely supportive" of this effort.

"I have a lot of admiration for the promptness with which they're treating the whole subject," Yunus said.

The BBC understands the International Anti-Corruption Co-ordination Centre (IACCC) is exploring opportunities to assist Bangladesh's interim government and its law enforcement agencies in their efforts to investigate allegations of corruption under Hasina's rule.

The IACCC is hosted by the National Crime Agency in London.

An NCA spokesperson said: "The NCA does not routinely comment on the nature of international assistance, nor confirm or deny if the Agency has opened an investigation or is supporting a partner's investigation."

What is Aukus, the submarine deal between Australia, the UK and US?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgr589k5yleo, yesterday

A multi-billion dollar submarine deal between long-standing allies - Australia, the UK and the US - has come under the spotlight after the Trump administration said it was reviewing how the deal fits in with its heavily-touted "America First" agenda.

The Aukus security pact, Australia's biggest ever defence project, is set to play a key part in the country's ability to replace its ageing Collins-class submarine fleet - and, crucially, its military standing in the region.

The 30-day review will be led by Elbridge Colby, who has previously been critical of Aukus. In a speech last year, he questioned why the US would give away "this crown jewel asset when we most need it".

A US defence spokesperson said the review is about ensuring "this initiative of the previous administration is aligned with the President's America First agenda".

Fears the review may torpedo the deal have been downplayed by the UK and Australia, with both saying the review is a normal process when a new government takes power.

What is Aukus?

Billed as a trilateral security partnership, the Aukus deal - worth £176bn ($239bn; A$368bn) over 30 years - involves two so-called pillars.

Pillar 1 is about the supply and delivery of nuclear-powered attack submarines.

Australia will buy three second-hand Virginia-class submarines from the US from 2032 with options to purchase two more.

After that, the plan is to design and build an entirely new nuclear-powered submarine model for the UK and Australian navies.

This attack craft will be built in Britain and Australia to a British design, but use technology from all three countries.

Pillar 2 is about the allies collaborating on their "advanced capabilities". This involves sharing military expertise in areas such as long-range hypersonic missiles, undersea robotics and AI.

What's the purpose of the deal?

At its core, the deal is believed to be about countering China's growing presence in the Indo-Pacific region, and its role in rising tensions in disputed territories such as the South China Sea.

While none of the allies have directly pointed at China as a reason for the deal, the three countries have spoken about how regional security concerns have "grown significantly" in recent years.

China condemned the agreement as "extremely irresponsible" when it was first announced.

Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said it "seriously undermines regional peace and stability and intensifies the arms race".

Who negotiated it?

The deal was unveiled in September 2021 by three former leaders: Australia's Scott Morrison, the UK's Boris Johnson and the US's Joe Biden.

The UK reviewed the security pact last year after Sir Keir Starmer's Labour government won the general election.

What does Australia get out of it?

For Australia, the deal represents a major upgrade to its military capabilities. The country is set to become just the second to receive Washington's elite nuclear propulsion technology, after the UK.

Such submarines will be able to operate further and faster than the country's existing diesel-engine fleet. They would also mean Australia would be able to carry out long-range strikes against enemies for the first time.

Under the deal, sailors from the Royal Australian Navy are due to be sent to US and UK submarine bases to learn how to use the nuclear-powered submarines.

What do the UK and US get out of it?

From 2027, the pact will allow both the US and UK to base a small number of nuclear submarines in Perth, Western Australia.

It will also create about 7,000 jobs in Britain, with the design and construction of the new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines set to take place in the UK.

The benefits for the US are less obvious - but sharing its defence technology could give the nation an opportunity to grow its presence in Asia-Pacific.

Arming Australia has historically been viewed by Washington and Downing Street as essential to preserving peace in a region that is far from their own.

Gangster tells BBC why India's biggest hip-hop star was murdered

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c87j5v4xjxqo, 3 days ago

It was a killing that shocked India: Punjabi hip-hop star Sidhu Moose Wala shot dead through the windscreen of his car by hired gunmen.

Within hours, a Punjabi gangster named Goldy Brar had used Facebook to claim responsibility for ordering the hit.

But three years after the murder, no-one has faced trial - and Goldy Brar is still on the run, his whereabouts unknown.

Now, BBC Eye has managed to make contact with Brar and challenged him about how and why Sidhu Moose Wala became a target.

His response was coldly articulate.

"In his arrogance, he [Moose Wala] made some mistakes that could not be forgiven," Brar told the BBC World Service.

"We had no option but to kill him. He had to face the consequences of his actions. It was either him or us. As simple as that."

On a warm May evening in 2022, Sidhu Moose Wala was taking his black Mahindra Thar SUV for its usual spin through dusty lanes near his village in the northern Indian state of Punjab when, within minutes, two cars began tailing him.

CCTV footage later showed them weaving through narrow turns, sticking close. Then, at a bend in the road, one of the vehicles lurched forward, cornering Moose Wala's SUV against a wall. He was trapped. Moments later, the shooting began.

Mobile footage captured the aftermath. His SUV was riddled with bullets, the windscreen shattered, the bonnet punctured.

In trembling voices, bystanders expressed their shock and concern.

"Someone get him out of the car."

"Get some water."

"Moose Wala has been shot."

But it was too late. He was declared dead on arrival at hospital - hit by 24 bullets, a post-mortem would later reveal. The 28-year-old rapper, one of modern-day Punjab's biggest cultural icons, had been gunned down in broad daylight.

Outside the UK, watch on YouTube, or listen on BBC.com

A cousin and a friend who had been in the car with Moose Wala at the time of the ambush were injured, but survived.

Six gunmen were eventually identified. They carried AK-47s and pistols. In the weeks that followed the murder, about 30 people were arrested and two of the suspected armed men were killed in what the Indian police described as "encounters".

Yet even with arrests piling up, the motive remained murky.

Goldy Brar, who claims to have ordered the hit, wasn't in India at the time of the killing. He is believed to have been in Canada.

Our conversation with him unfolded over six hours, pieced together through an exchange of voice notes. It gave us a chance to find out why Moose Wala had been killed and to interrogate the motives of the man who claimed responsibility.

Sidhu Moose Wala was born Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu in a Jat-Sikh family in rural Punjab, before moving in 2016 to Canada to study engineering - a journey familiar to hundreds of thousands in the Punjabi diaspora.

But it was there, far from his village of Moosa - the inspiration for his rap name - that he reinvented himself as one of Punjabi music's most influential artists. In just five years, Moose Wala became the unmistakable voice of Punjabi hip-hop.

With his signature swagger, flashy style, and lyrical grit, Moose Wala sang openly about identity and politics, guns and revenge, pushing the boundaries of what Punjabi music had been willing to say.

He was fascinated by rapper Tupac Shakur, who had been murdered, aged 25, in 1996. "In terms of personality, I want to be like him," Moose Wala once told an interviewer. "The day he died, people cried for him. I want the same. When I die, people should remember that I was someone."

Over a brief but explosive career, the singer spotlighted the darker undercurrents of India's Punjab region - gangster culture, unemployment, and political decay - while evoking a deep nostalgia for village life.

Moose Wala was also a global force. With more than five billion views of his music videos on YouTube, a Top 5 spot in the UK charts, and collaborations with international hip-hop artists including Burna Boy, Moose Wala swiftly built a fan base stretching across India, Canada, the UK and beyond, powered by a diaspora that saw him as both icon and insurgent.

But fame came at a cost. Despite his rising star and socially conscious lyrics, Moose Wala was drifting into dangerous territory. His defiant attitude, visibility, and growing influence had drawn the attention of Punjab's most feared gangsters. These included Goldy Brar, and Brar's friend Lawrence Bishnoi, who even then was in a high-security jail in India.

Not much is known about Brar, apart from the fact he is on the Interpol Red Notice list, and is a key operative in a network of gangsters operated by Bishnoi – orchestrating hits, issuing threats and amplifying the gang's reach. It is thought he emigrated to Canada in 2017, just a year after Moose Wala himself, and initially worked as a truck driver.

Bishnoi, once a student leader steeped in Punjab's violent campus politics, has grown into one of India's most feared criminal masterminds.

"The first [police] cases filed against Lawrence Bishnoi were all related to student politics and student elections… beating a rival student leader, kidnapping him, harming him," according to Jupinderjit Singh, deputy editor of Indian newspaper the Tribune.

This led to a spell in jail which hardened him further, says Gurmeet Singh Chauhan, Assistant Inspector General of the Anti-Gangster Task Force of Punjab Police.

"Once he was in jail, he started to get deeper into crime. Then he formed a group of his own. When it became an inter-gang thing, he needed money for survival. They need more manpower, they need more weapons. They need money for all that. So, for money, you have to get into extortion or crime."

Now 31, Bishnoi runs his syndicate from behind bars - with dedicated Instagram pages and a cult-like following.

"So while Bishnoi sits in jail, Brar handles the gangs," says Assistant Inspector General Chauhan.

Securing BBC Eye's exchange with Brar took a year of chasing - cultivating sources, waiting for replies, gradually getting closer to the kingpin himself. But when we got through to Brar, the conversation cast new light on the question of how and why he and Bishnoi came to see Moose Wala as an enemy.

One of the first revelations was that Bishnoi's relationship with Moose Wala went back several years, long before the singer's killing.

"Lawrence [Bishnoi] was in touch with Sidhu [Moose Wala]. I don't know who introduced them, and I never asked. But they did speak," said Brar.

"Sidhu used to send 'good morning' and 'good night' messages in an effort to flatter Lawrence."

A friend of Moose Wala's, who spoke anonymously, also told us that Bishnoi had been in touch with Moose Wala as early as 2018, calling him from jail and telling him he liked his music.

Brar told us that the "first dispute" between them came after Moose Wala had moved back to India. It began with a seemingly innocuous match of kabbadi - a traditional South Asian contact team sport - in a Punjabi village.

Moose Wala had promoted the tournament which was organised by Bishnoi's rivals - the Bambiha gang - Brar told us, in a sport where match-fixing and gangster influence are rampant.

"That's a village our rivals come from. He was promoting our rivals. That's when Lawrence and others were upset with him. They threatened Sidhu and said they wouldn't spare him," Brar told BBC Eye.

Yet the dispute between Moose Wala and Bishnoi was eventually resolved by an associate of Bishnoi's called Vicky Middhukhera.

But when Middukhera himself was gunned down by gangsters in a parking lot in Mohali in August 2021, Brar told us Bishnoi's hostility towards Sidhu Moose Wala reached the point of no return.

The Bambiha gang claimed responsibility for killing Middukhera. The police named Moose Wala's friend and sometime manager Shaganpreet Singh on the charge sheet, citing evidence that Singh had provided information and logistical support to the gunmen. Singh later fled India and is believed to be in Australia. Moose Wala denied any involvement.

The Punjab police told the BBC there was no evidence linking Moose Wala to the killing or to any gang-related crime. But Moose Wala was friends with Shaganpreet Singh, and he was never able to shake off the perception that he was aligned with the Bambiha gang - a perception that may have cost him his life.

Although he can cite no proof of Moose Wala's involvement, Brar remains convinced that the singer was somehow complicit in the killing of Middukhera. Brar repeatedly told us that Shaganpreet Singh had assisted the gunmen in the days before Middukhera's shooting - and inferred that Moose Wala himself must have been involved.

"Everyone knew Sidhu's role, the police investigating knew, even the journalists who were investigating knew. Sidhu mixed with politicians and people in power. He was using political power, money, his resources to help our rivals," Brar told BBC Eye.

"We wanted him to face punishment for what he'd done. He should have been booked. He should have been jailed. But nobody listened to our plea.

"So we took it upon ourselves. When decency falls on deaf ears, it's the gunshot that gets heard."

We put it to Brar that India has a judicial system and the rule of law - how could he justify taking the law into his own hands?

"Law. Justice. There's no such thing," he says. "Only the powerful can... [obtain] justice, not ordinary people like us."

He went on to say that even Vicky Middukhera's brother, despite being in politics, has struggled to get justice through India's judicial system.

"He's a clean guy. He tried hard to get justice for his brother lawfully. Please call him and ask how that's going."

He appeared unrepentant.

"I did what I had to do for my brother.  I have no remorse whatsoever."

The killing of Moose Wala has not just resulted in the loss of a major musical talent, it has also emboldened Punjab's gangsters.

Before the singer's murder, few outside Punjab had heard of Bishnoi or Brar.

After the killing, their names were everywhere. They hijacked Moose Wala's fame and converted it into their own brand of notoriety - a notoriety that became a powerful tool for extortion.

"This is the biggest killing that has happened in the last few decades in Punjab," says Ritesh Lakhi, a Punjab-based journalist. "The capacity of gangsters to extort money has gone up. [Goldy Brar]'s getting huge sums of money after killing Moose Wala."

Journalist Jupinderjit Singh agrees: "The fear factor around gangsters has risen amongst the public."

Extortion has long been a problem in the Punjabi music industry, but now after Sidhu's murder, Singh says: "It's not just people in the music and film industry who are being extorted - even local businessmen are receiving calls."

When BBC Eye quizzed Brar on this, he denied this was the motive, but did admit - in stark terms - that extortion was central to the gang's working.

"To feed a family of four a man has to struggle all his life. We have to look after hundreds or even thousands of people who are like family to us. We have to extort people.

"To get money," he says, "we have to be feared."

US reviewing Aukus submarine pact as part of 'America First' agenda

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8d3d5l9l1o, yesterday

The US has launched a review of its multi-billion dollar submarine deal with the UK and Australia, saying the security pact must fit its "America First" agenda.

Under the trilateral pact, believed to be aimed at countering China, Australia is to get its first nuclear-powered subs from the US, before the allies create a new fleet by sharing cutting-edge tech.

Both Australia and the UK - which did its own review last year - have played down news of the US probe, saying it is natural for a new administration to reassess.

The move comes as both Australia and the UK face pressure from the White House to lift military spending, demands heeded by Downing Street but largely resisted by Canberra.

The Aukus agreement - worth £176bn ($239bn; A$368bn) - was signed in 2021, when all three countries involved had different leaders.

A US defence official told the BBC the pact was being reviewed "as part of ensuring that this initiative of the previous administration is aligned with the President's America First agenda".

"As [US Defence] Secretary [Pete] Hegseth has made clear, this means ensuring the highest readiness of our servicemembers [and] that allies step up fully to do their part for collective defence," the defence official said.

The US has been pushing allies to start spending at least 3% of GDP on defence as soon as possible.

The UK has agreed to spend 2.5% of GDP on its defence by 2028, and 3% by the next parliament, while Australia has also said it will lift funding, but not to the 3.5% that the US wants.

The review will be headed up by Elbridge Colby, who has previously been critical of Aukus, in a speech last year questioning why the US would give away "this crown jewel asset when we most need it".

Defence Minister Richard Marles, speaking to local Australian media on Thursday morning local time, said he was optimistic the deal would continue.

"I'm very confident this is going to happen," he told ABC Radio Melbourne.

"You just need to look at the map to understand that Australia absolutely needs to have a long-range submarine capability."

Some in Australia have been lobbying for the country to develop a more self-reliant defence strategy, but Marles said it was important to "stick to a plan" - a reference to the previous government's controversial cancellation of a submarine deal with France in favour of Aukus.

An Australian government spokesperson told the BBC it was "natural" that the new administration would "examine" the agreement, adding the UK had also recently finished a review of the security pact between the long-standing allies.

There is "clear and consistent" support for the deal across the "full political spectrum" in the US, they said, adding Australia looked forward to "continuing our close cooperation with the Trump Administration on this historic project".

A UK defence spokesperson told the BBC it was "understandable" for a new administration to look at the deal, "just as the UK did last year".

Aukus is a "landmark security and defence partnership with two of our closest allies", the spokesperson said, and "one of the most strategically important partnerships in decades, supporting peace and security in the Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic".

Jennifer Kavanagh, from American thinktank Defense Priorities, told the BBC that the US was "absolutely right to take another look at this deal" as its submarine capacities were already stretched.

"The US cannot meet its own demand for these nuclear-powered submarines," she said.

The other concern the US might have is whether Australia would use the submarines they buy in the way the US wants them to, she said, particularly if conflict erupts over Taiwan.

Dr Kavanagh said the review might see the security pact shift its focus away from providing submarines to sharing other long-range weapons technology.

However, if the US were to pull out of the deal, China would "celebrate" as they have long criticised the deal, Dr Kavanagh added.

What is Aukus?

For Australia, the deal represents a major upgrade to its military capabilities. The country becomes just the second after the UK to receive Washington's elite nuclear propulsion technology.

Such submarines will be able to operate further and faster than the country's existing diesel-engine fleet and Australia would also be able to carry out long-range strikes against enemies for the first time.

It is a big deal for the US to share what is often called the "crown jewels" of its defence technology.

But arming Australia has historically been viewed by Washington and Downing Street as essential to preserving peace in a region they themselves aren't a part of.

From 2027, the pact will allow both the US and UK to base a small number of nuclear submarines in Perth, Western Australia.

Canberra will also buy three second-hand Virginia-class submarines from the US at a yet-to-be-determined date in the early 2030s - with options to purchase two more.

After that, the plan is to design and build an entirely new nuclear-powered submarine model for the UK and Australian navies.

This attack craft will be built in Britain and Australia to a British design, but use technology from all three countries.

The security alliance has repeatedly drawn criticism from China, with the foreign ministry in Beijing saying it risked creating an arms race.

British woman charged over death of Australian in e-scooter crash

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c628122ex94o, 6 days ago

A British woman has been charged in Australia over the death of a man she allegedly hit while riding an e-scooter after a night of drinking.

Prosecutors told magistrates that Alicia Kemp, 24, hit Thanh Phan, 51, from behind at speeds of 20-25km/h (12-15mph) on a pavement in Perth city centre on 31 May.

The father-of-two hit his head and died two days later, prompting police to charge Ms Kemp with death by dangerous driving while under the influence. The charge carries a maximum 20-year prison term.

In a subsequent court hearing, prosecutors alleged Ms Kemp, of Redditch, had been drinking with a friend before both boarded the same scooter. She was denied bail and faces court again on 15 July.

Prosecutors told Perth Magistrates' Court that CCTV footage showed Ms Kemp's "inexplicably dangerous" driving, "evasive action" taken by others in her path, and the moment of collision with Mr Phan as he waited to cross the road.

Ms Kemp was denied bail by a magistrate on the basis that she posed a "flight risk", after prosecutors argued that she was in Australia on a working holiday visa and could attempt to leave.

British media reported on Saturday that her parents were flying to Australia to support her. Her boyfriend has been present at the court hearings in Perth.

Ms Kemp faces an additional charge of dangerous driving occasioning bodily harm while under the influence for injuries suffered by her passenger, who was thrown from the e-scooter and suffered a fractured skull and broken nose.

Police say Ms Kemp had a blood alcohol content level of 0.158 when she hit Mr Phan. The legal drink-driving alcohol limit in Australia is 0.05.

The court heard that the pair had been drinking on the day since 14:30 and were forcibly evicted from the bar because of intoxication.

The pair hired the e-scooter just before 20:30.

In a statement last week, Mr Phan's family described him as a a beloved husband, father, brother and dear friend.

He had worked as a structural engineer and had previously lived in Sydney, as well as Vietnam and Singapore, Australian media reported.

They called for a review of safety regulations around the use of hire e-scooters "to help prevent further serious incidents that put lives at risk".

Perth's city council suspended the use of hire e-scooters on Thursday, with authorities removing the vehicles from the street this week. Deputy Lord Mayor Bruce Reynolds called Mr Phan's death a "tragic event".

Western Australia's police minister is also reviewing e-scooter regulations.

Australian mushroom lunch cook tells trial meal was 'special'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y8e1l55kko, 8 days ago

An Australian woman accused of intentionally cooking a fatal mushroom lunch has told her trial she had wanted the beef Wellington meal to be "special".

Erin Patterson has pleaded not guilty to murdering three people and attempting to kill another at her home in regional Victoria in July 2023.

The 50-year-old says it was a tragic accident, and that she never intended to hurt family members she loved. But prosecutors argue Ms Patterson put poisonous fungi into their food in a carefully crafted plot to kill them.

On Friday, the court heard it was "unusual" for Ms Patterson to host such an event at her house, and she was quizzed about her relationships with her guests.

Ms Patterson's in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, along with Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, all fell ill and died days after the lunch.

Heather's husband, local pastor Ian Wilkinson, was also hospitalised but recovered after coming out of a weeks-long induced coma. Simon Patterson, the accused's estranged spouse, had been invited too, but pulled out the day before.

More than 50 prosecution witnesses have given evidence at the trial, which began six weeks ago, but Ms Patterson became the first for the defence when she took to the stand on Monday.

On her second day of cross-examination on Friday, Ms Patterson told the court she accepted that invitations to her house were rare, but said she'd arranged the occasion to discuss a health issue and wanted to make a nice meal for her relatives to thank them for their support.

"I wanted it to be special," Ms Patterson said.

She has previously admitted she misled her guests into believing she may need cancer treatment, telling the jury she did so as a cover for weight-loss surgery she was planning to have but was too embarrassed to disclose.

Prosecutor Nanette Rogers, however, put to her that there was no health issue to discuss, and that she had invited Simon and his relatives over to kill them. She had even prepared a spare toxic meal in case Mr Patterson changed his mind and came over, Dr Rogers suggested.

Over and over this week, Ms Patterson has denied these allegations, often becoming emotional as she told the court she loved the lunch guests like her own family.

She has also repeatedly told the court that she realised, in the days after the lunch, that the beef Wellington may have accidentally included dried mushrooms she had foraged, which were kept in a container with store-bought ones.

Lies to the police and health authorities about the source of the mushrooms and her decision to dispose of a food dehydrator were both because she was scared of being blamed for the guests' dire illnesses, she said.

"Surely if you had loved them, then you would have immediately notified the medical authorities?" Dr Rogers asked.

Ms Patterson said she didn't tell doctors about the possibility that wild mushrooms had been unintentionally included because the lunch guests were already getting treatment for death cap mushroom poisoning.

"Even after you were discharged from hospital you did not tell a single person that there may have been foraged mushroom used in the meal," Dr Rogers said.

"Instead you got up, you drove your children to school... and drove home. And then you got rid of the dehydrator."

"Correct," Ms Patterson said.

The court heard there'd been conflict between Ms Patterson and her husband, and Dr Rogers suggested the accused was still angry at her in-laws for taking their son's side.

"You had two faces," Dr Rogers said, after making Ms Patterson read aloud messages in which she is critical of both Simon Patterson and his parents.

There was her "public face" of appearing to have a good relationship with Don and Gail, Dr Rogers said, and a "private face" which she showed in the messages.

"How you truly felt about Don and Gail was how you expressed it [there]," she said.

"And that is how you really felt about Simon Patterson... you did not regard him as being a decent human being at his core, correct or incorrect?"

That was "incorrect", Ms Patterson replied, her head shaking and voice faltering.

Ms Patterson's use of the iNaturalist website - which listed locations of death cap mushrooms in areas close to her home - was also scrutinised, with the accused repeatedly saying she couldn't clearly recall ever using the site.

She will resume being cross examined next week. The trial, initially expected to take six weeks, is now expected to run for at least another fortnight, the judge has told the court.

How Bondi mass killer slipped through the cracks in Australia

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyjxdwnp60o, 14 days ago

For many, Saturdays are something to look forward to - relaxed times, enjoyed with family and friends. But Elizabeth Young "dreads" them. It's a weekly reminder of her daughter Jade's violent murder at Westfield Bondi Junction.

"On a lovely autumn afternoon, to learn your daughter is dead, stabbed in broad daylight, killed amidst fellow unsuspecting shoppers... [when she] was living, breathing, just an hour ago... it's the stuff of nightmares, of a parallel universe," Elizabeth told an inquiry into the mass killing this week.

"The moment [the attacker] casually plunged that knife into Jade, our ordinary lives were shattered."

Her pain was echoed by families of the other victims who gave emotional testimonies on the final day of a five-week coronial inquest into the fatal stabbings on 13 April last year.

The inquiry sought to understand how a 40-year-old Queensland man with a long history of mental illness was able to walk into the popular Sydney shopping centre on a busy Saturday afternoon and kill six people, injuring 10 others including a nine-month-old baby.

The court heard hours of evidence from dozens of witnesses - doctors, survivors, victims' families, police - in a bid to find out how, or if, Australia can prevent a such a tragedy happening again.

"It seems to me that my daughter and five others were killed by the cumulative failures of numbers of people within a whole series of fallible systems," Elizabeth told New South Wales (NSW) Coroners Court.

Shopping centre stabbings shock nation

It was a mild, sparkling afternoon - the first day of school holidays – when Joel Cauchi walked into the sprawling shopping centre, just minutes from Australia's most famous beach.

Just before 15:33 local time, Cauchi took a 30cm knife from his backpack and stabbed to death his first victim, 25-year-old Dawn Singleton.

Within three minutes, he had fatally attacked five others – Yixuan Cheng, 27; Jade Young, 47, Ashlee Good, 38; Faraz Tahir, 30; and Pikria Darchia, 55. Cauchi also injured 10 others including Good's infant daughter.

At 15:38, five minutes after his rampage started, Cauchi was shot dead by police officer Amy Scott, who had been on duty nearby and arrived at the centre about a minute earlier.

As news outlets reported on the killings, Cauchi's parents recognised their son on TV and called the police to alert them about his decades-long struggle with serious mental health problems.

Jade Young's family was also confronted by images of her on TV, describing to the inquest the horror of seeing video which showed her "lifeless body being worked on". Similarly, Julie Singleton, whose daughter Dawn was killed while queueing at a bakery, heard her daughter named as a victim on the radio before her body had even been formally identified and other relatives informed.

The scenes at Bondi sent shockwaves across the nation, where mass murder is rare, and prompted a rush of anger and fear from women in particular. All except two of the 16 victims were female, including five of the six people who died.

Missed opportunities for intervention

A key focus of the inquest was to scrutinise the multiple interactions Cauchi had with police and mental health professionals in the months and years leading up to the attacks.

The inquest heard that Cauchi was once a bright young man with a promising life ahead of him. His family say he was a gifted student, and had attended a private school on scholarship before topping his class at university.

At the age of 17, in 2001, Cauchi was diagnosed with schizophrenia and soon started taking medication for his condition.

After a decade of managing it in the public health system, Cauchi started regular sessions with psychiatrist Dr Andrea Boros-Lavack in his hometown of Toowoomba in 2012.

In 2015 he complained about the medication side effects, so Dr Boros-Lavack started to gradually reduce his dosage of clozapine – used for treatment-resistant schizophrenia – after seeking a second opinion from another psychiatrist, the inquest heard.

She weaned him off clozapine entirely in 2018 and Cauchi also stopped taking medication to treat his obsessive-compulsive disorder the year after, she said.

In 2019, for the first time in about 15 years, Cauchi was no longer on antipsychotic medications. No second opinion on completely stopping either drug was sought by Dr Boros-Lavack, she admitted under questioning.

The inquest heard from medical professionals who said that in most cases, patients coming off antipsychotic medications transition to another one, rather than ceasing treatment altogether.

Within months, Cauchi's mum contacted his psychiatrist with concerns about her son's mental state after finding notes showing he believed he was "under satanic control". Around the same time, Cauchi developed what Dr Boros-Lavack told the inquest was "a compulsive interest in porn". She wrote a prescription but told the inquest it was up to Cauchi to decide if he would start taking the medication again.

In 2020, Cauchi left his family home, moved to Brisbane and stopped seeing Dr Boros-Lavack.

At this time, after almost two decades of treatment, Cauchi had no regular psychiatrist, was not on any medications to treat his schizophrenia and had no family living nearby.

The inquest heard he began seeking a gun licence, contacting three Brisbane doctors for a medical certificate to support his application. They either didn't request access to his medical file or weren't given his whole history by Dr Boros-Lavack, who said if they needed more information they could have asked her for it. The third doctor gave Cauchi the clearance he was after, but he never applied for a gun, the court was told.

Meanwhile Cauchi was increasingly coming into contact with police. After moving to Brisbane, he was pulled over three times for driving erratically. In 2021, officers were called to Cauchi's unit in Brisbane after residents heard a man screaming and banging sounds.

In 2022, Cauchi was reported to police after calling a girl's school to ask if he could come and watch the students swim and play sports. Officers tried to call Cauchi but weren't able to reach him.

In January 2023, Cauchi had moved back in with his parents in Toowoomba and called police to complain that his father had stolen his collection of "pigging knives". At this time, his mother raised concerns with the officers, saying he should be back on medication.

Authorities can't detain people for mental health reasons unless they are a risk to themselves and as the officers had assessed Cauchi did not meet that description, they left, the court heard.

After the call-out, one of the attending police officers sent an email to an internal police mental health coordinator, requesting they follow up on Cauchi. However, the email was overlooked due to understaffing, the inquest was told.

Months later, police in Sydney found Cauchi sleeping rough near a road after being called by a concerned passerby.

By 2024 Cauchi's mental health had deteriorated, he was homeless, and isolated from his family.

Three minutes that changed everything

The inquest looked closely at Cauchi's mental health treatment in Queensland, with a panel of five psychiatrists tasked with reviewing it.

They found that Dr Boros-Lavack had missed opportunities to put him back on anti-psychotic medication, one member of the panel saying she had "not taken seriously enough" the concerns from Cauchi's mother in late-2019.

The panel also gave evidence at the inquest that Cauchi was "floridly psychotic" - in the active part of a psychotic episode – when he walked into the shopping centre.

When questioned by the lawyer assisting the coroner, Dr Boros-Lavack stressed: "I did not fail in my care of Joel."

She had earlier told the inquest she believed Cauchi was not psychotic during the attack and that medication would not have prevented the tragedy.

Dr Boros-Lavack said the attacks may have been "due to his sexual frustration, pornography and hatred towards women".

But the next day, she withdrew that evidence, saying it was simply "conjecture" and she was not in a position to assess Cauchi's mental state, having not treated him since 2019.

However the inquest is investigating whether Cauchi targeted specific individuals or groups.

For Peter Young, the brother of Jade, the answer seemed clear. "Fuelled by his frustration with not finding a 'nice' girl to marry", his "rapid hunt found 16 victims, 14 of which were women," he told the inquest.

The NSW Police Commissioner in the days after the attack said it was "obvious" to detectives that the offender had focussed on women.

However, during the inquest, the homicide squad's Andrew Paul Marks said he did not believe there was evidence that Cauchi had specifically targeted women.

The inquiry also heard about a number of failings or near misses in the way security, police, paramedics and the media responded to the attack.

It was told that recruitment and training pressures for the security provider meant that the centre's control room operator was "not match fit" for the role. At the exact moment when Cauchi stabbed his first victim, the room was unattended as she was on a toilet break.

Security guard Faraz Tahir, the sole male victim of the stabbings, was working his first day in the job when he was killed trying to stop Cauchi, raising questions over the powers and protection given to personnel like him.

His brother, Muzafar, told the inquest how Faraz died "with honour as a hero" and also acknowledged that Cauchi's parents had lost their son: "We know that this tragedy is not their fault."

The contractor responsible for security at the shopping centre has since updated its training and policies, as well as introducing stab-proof vests for guards.

Several families criticised media coverage in the wake of the attack, telling the inquiry they hoped the industry would reflect on how they should report sensitive stories so as not to further traumatise those affected.

Lessons to be learnt

After weeks of evidence, the inquest was adjourned on Thursday with NSW state coroner Teresa O'Sullivan expected to deliver her recommendations by the end of the year.

At the start of the inquest, O'Sullivan said the hearings weren't about who was to blame for the attacks, but rather to "identify potential opportunities for reform or improvement to enable such events to be avoided in the future".

"I want the families to know their loved ones will not be lost in this process."

Elizabeth Young, though, told the court, for her, "nothing good" will come from the inquest.

"At 74, I have lost my way in life," she said, describing the crippling impact of the killings.

But she said the action the country needed to take was already obvious to her.

"My daughter was murdered by an unmedicated, chronic schizophrenic... who had in his possession knives designed for killing.

"[This is] another cry out to an Australia that doesn't seem to want to acknowledge that what happened... is essentially the catastrophic consequence of years of neglect of, and within, our mental health systems."

Bouncy castle operator cleared in tragedy that killed six

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gr5kn5d7go, 8 days ago

An Australian bouncy castle operator at the centre of a tragedy in 2021 that killed six children and seriously injured three has been cleared of breaching safety laws.

A court found Rosemary Anne Gamble, who runs the business Taz-Zorb, not guilty, ruling that the incident was "due to an unprecedented weather system" that was "impossible to predict".

The victims, who were on a bouncy castle at a primary school fun day in Devonport, Tasmania, fell about 10m (33ft) after strong winds blew the castle skywards at a school fair.

The verdict on Friday caused anguish among their families, with some crying out in court in disbelief, ABC News reported.

Prosecutors had accused Ms Gamble of failing to anchor the castle adequately, but her defence argued she could not have done more to eliminate or reduce hazards that led to the tragedy.

Magistrate Robert Webster agreed with the defence and found that the incident happened due to a dust devil - an upward spiralling vortex of air and debris - that was "unforeseen and unforeseeable".

"Ms Gamble could have done more or taken further steps, however, given the effects of the unforeseen and unforeseeable dust devil, had she done so, that would sadly have made no difference to the ultimate outcome," the magistrate said.

The six children killed in the accident - Addison Stewart, Zane Mellor, Jye Sheehan, Jalailah Jayne-Maree Jones, Peter Dodt and Chace Harrison - were aged between 11 and 12.

They were all at a Hillcrest Primary School fair when the accident took place on the last day of term before the school holidays in December 2021.

Five of the children were on the castle when the gales swept it up and flung it across the school oval.

The sixth child, who was waiting in line, died after being struck in the head by the inflatable blower.

The tragic accident shattered Devonport, a city on the north coast of Tasmania with some 30,000 residents.

Ms Gamble was charged nearly two years after, in November 2023.

Andrew Dodt, the father of one of the young victims Peter, said after Friday's verdict that "our hopes are just shattered now".

"At the end of the day all I wanted was an apology for my son not coming home, and I'm never going to get it, and that kills me," he said in a statement to local media.

"I've been broken for a long time, and I think I'm going to be broken for a lot more."

Ms Gamble's lawyer Bethan Frake spoke on her behalf, acknowledging that the incident has caused "scars that will remain for an extremely long time, likely forever".

"I am a mother," she said, quoting Ms Gamble. "I can only imagine the pain that other parents are living with each and every day because of this terrible thing that happened."

"Their loss is something I will carry with me for the rest of my life."

Deadly mushroom cook weighed fatal dose on kitchen scales, says prosecutor

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93yxgyln5po, 9 days ago

An Australian woman accused of murdering relatives with beef Wellington documented herself using kitchen scales to calculate a lethal dose of toxic mushrooms, prosecutors allege.

Erin Patterson has pleaded not guilty to killing three people and attempting to murder another at her home in regional Victoria in July 2023. The 50-year-old says she never intended to hurt them and it was a tragic accident.

Prosecutors on Thursday suggested photos found on her phone showing wild fungi being weighed depict her measuring the amount required to kill her guests.

Ms Patterson told the court she had likely taken the photos in question but said she didn't believe the mushrooms in them were death caps.

Ms Patterson's in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, along with Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, all fell ill and died days after the lunch.

Heather's husband, local pastor Ian Wilkinson, was also hospitalised but recovered after coming out of a weeks-long induced coma.

The high-profile trial, which started almost six weeks ago, has already heard from more than 50 prosecution witnesses. Ms Patterson became the first defence witness to take the stand on Monday afternoon.

Under cross-examination from the lead prosecutor, Ms Patterson admitted she had foraged for wild mushrooms in the three months before the July lunch, despite telling police and a health official that she hadn't.

The court was also shown images, taken in late April 2023 and recovered from Ms Patterson's phone, which depicted mushrooms being weighed.

Ms Patterson previously admitted she had repeatedly deleted electronic data in the days following the lunch because she feared that if officers found such pictures they would blame her for the guests' deaths.

Pointing to earlier evidence from a fungi expert who said the mushrooms in the images were "highly consistent" with death caps, crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers alleged Ms Patterson had knowingly foraged them days before.

She had seen a post on iNaturalist - a website for logging plant and animal sightings - and travelled to the Loch area ten days later on 28 April to pick the toxic fungi, Dr Rogers alleged.

Ms Patterson said she couldn't recall if she went to the town that day, but denied she went there to find death cap mushrooms or that she had seen the iNaturalist post.

"I suggest that you were weighing these mushrooms so that you could calculate the weight required for... a fatal dose," Dr Rogers put to her.

"Disagree," Ms Patterson replied.

The mother-of-two also spoke about putting powdered dried mushrooms into a range of foods like spaghetti, brownies and stew, which prosecutors allege was practice for the fatal lunch.

Ms Patterson said this was not true, but rather an attempt to get "extra vegetables into my kids' bodies".

Prosecutors repeatedly asked her, with different wording each time, whether she had knowingly used the same food dehydrator to prepare death cap mushrooms for the lunch.

CCTV played at the trial shows Ms Patterson disposing of the appliance at a local dump.

"That's why you rushed out, the day after your release from [hospital], to get rid of the evidence," Dr Rogers said.

"No," replied Ms Patterson.

Earlier, Ms Patterson's barrister asked her why she repeatedly lied to police about foraging mushrooms and having a food dehydrator.

"It was this stupid knee-jerk reaction to dig deeper and keep lying," she told the court. "I was just scared, but I shouldn't have done it."

Ms Patterson also repeated her claim that she never intentionally put the poisonous fungi in the meal.

She said the mushrooms used in the beef Wellington may have accidentally included dried, foraged varieties that were kept in a container with store-bought ones.

Ms Patterson was also quizzed on evidence given by other witnesses that she had asked her guests to come to the lunch to discuss health issues, namely a cancer diagnosis.

She said she didn't outright say she had cancer, but still shouldn't have misled her relatives, saying she'd done so partly because their concern made her feel loved.

"I suggest that you never thought you would have to account for this lie about having cancer because you thought the lunch guests would die," Dr Rogers said. "Your lie would never be found out."

"That's not true," Ms Patterson said.

She will resume being cross examined on Friday. The trial, initially expected to take six weeks, is now expected to run for at least another fortnight, the judge has told the court.

Deadly mushroom lunch cook tells court she threw up toxic meal

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yx7vewn75o, 10 days ago

An Australian woman on trial for murder says she threw up the toxic mushroom meal which killed her relatives, after binge eating dessert.

Erin Patterson has pleaded not guilty to four charges - three of murder and one of attempted murder - over the beef Wellington lunch at her regional Victorian house in July 2023.

Prosecutors allege Ms Patterson deliberately served toxic death cap mushrooms, but only to her guests. Her defence team say the contaminated meal was a tragic accident, and argue it had made their client sick too.

Ms Patterson told the court she had only eaten a small part of lunch but later consumed two-thirds of a cake, before becoming "over-full" and vomiting.

Doctors have previously told the trial Ms Patterson did not have the same intense symptoms as the other people who'd eaten at her house.

On her third day of wide-ranging testimony, Ms Patterson also admitted she had lied about a cancer diagnosis - which prosecutors say she used to coax the guests to her house - instead of revealing she was actually planning to undergo weight-loss surgery.

She said she had dumped a food dehydrator and wiped her phone in the days after the incident out of fear of being blamed for her relative's deaths, telling the court her estranged husband had accused her of poisoning them.

Three people died in hospital in the days after the meal, including Ms Patterson's former in-laws, Don Patterson, 70, and Gail Patterson, 70, as well as Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66.

A single lunch guest survived, 71-year-old local pastor Ian Wilkinson, after weeks of treatment in hospital.

The Victorian Supreme Court trial - which started almost six weeks ago - has heard from more than 50 witnesses, and attracted huge global attention.

In the Morwell courthouse, Ms Patterson gave a detailed account of the fatal lunch, saying she had invited her guests under the premise she wanted to talk about health issues.

The 14-member jury heard that Ms Patterson went through "quite a long process of trying to decide what to cook" for the lunch before choosing to make beef Wellington.

The dish - usually prepared with a long strip of fillet steak, wrapped in pastry and mushrooms - was something Ms Patterson's mother made when she was a child, to mark special occasions, she said.

After deciding the mushrooms she'd prepared tasted "bland", she said she'd added some dried ones - bought from an Asian grocer in Melbourne months earlier - from a container in her pantry.

Asked if that container may have had other types of mushrooms in it, Ms Patterson, choking up, said: "Now I think there was a possibility that there were foraged ones in there as well."

Yesterday, the court heard that Ms Patterson had started hunting for mushrooms in locations close to her Leongatha home in 2020, and her long-standing love for fungi had expanded to include wild varieties as they had "more flavour".

Ms Patterson told the jury she had served up the food when it was ready, and instructed her guests to grab a plate themselves as she finished preparing gravy.

There were no assigned seats or plates, she said.

Mr Wilkinson previously told the trial the guests had each been given grey plates while Ms Patterson had eaten off an orange one. Ms Patterson on Wednesday said she didn't have any grey plates.

During the lunch, Ms Patterson recalled that she didn't eat much of her food - "a quarter, a third, somewhere around there" - because she was busy talking.

She conceded she had told her guests she had cancer, but in court explained she told this lie to make sure she had help with childcare when she underwent gastric bypass surgery.

"I remember thinking I didn't want to tell anybody what I was going to have done. I was really embarrassed by it," she said.

After the guests left, she cleaned up the kitchen and ate a slice of orange cake Gail had brought.

"[I ate] another piece of cake, and then another piece," she said, before finishing the rest of the dessert.

"I felt sick… over-full so I went to the toilets and brought it back up again."

"After I'd done that, I felt better."

Yesterday, the court heard that Ms Patterson had secretly struggled with bulimia since her teens and was prone to regularly binge eating and vomiting after meals.

Ms Patterson told the court that she started to develop gastro-like symptoms hours after the lunch and took herself to hospital to "get some fluids" two days later. She was "shocked but confused" when medical staff asked if she could have eaten death cap mushrooms.

While in hospital for observation overnight, Ms Patterson said her former husband Simon asked her about a dehydrator she owned.

"Is that how you poisoned my parents?" she told the trial he'd said to her - something Mr Patterson denies.

After this encounter, she'd been "frantic", Ms Patterson said, and upon being sent home had disposed of her food dehydrator at the local tip.

"I had made the meal and served it and people had got sick."

"I was scared that they would blame me for it."

The court also heard that Ms Patterson erased the data on one of her phones several times - including while police were searching her house - because she did not want detectives to see her photos of mushrooms and the dehydrator.

Ms Patterson will continue giving evidence on Thursday, before prosecutors will have the opportunity to cross-examine her.

Spanish PM sorry for corruption scandal as opposition demands resignation

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0r1l2x1jgvo, yesterday

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has apologised to the Spanish people after an escalating corruption scandal brought down a senior Socialist party colleague.

Sánchez, who has led Spain since 2018, said there was no such thing as "zero corruption" and he sought to put to distance himself from the affair, ruling out early elections.

Opposition conservative leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo said it was time for Sánchez to resign: "Survival is no longer an option."

A downbeat Sánchez admitted he had been wrong to trust Santos Cerdán, the secretary of his Socialist party, and spoke of his deep disappointment.

Cerdán has been asked to testify in court after a judge suggested he may have acted with former party officials in improperly awarding public contracts in exchange for kickbacks.

He said on Thursday he was stepping down to defend himself in the Supreme Court on 25 June, maintaining he had "never committed a crime nor have I been complicit one".

Despite his seven years in power, Sánchez heads a shaky, minority coalition, secured after the conservative Popular Party won 2023 elections but failed to form a government.

Amid mounting speculation over his own future, he called a news conference in a bid to head off the creeping scandal.

In a statement followed by media questions, he said he knew absolutely nothing about the corruption affair and instead pledged to restructure the leadership of his Socialist PSOE party.

"This is not about me, and it's not about the Socialist party," he said.

His government would continue its "political project", insisting that no new elections would take place until 2027.

However, Sánchez may face pressure from within his coalition, after deputy prime minister Yolanda Díaz from left-wing coalition partner Sumar said she also wanted explanations.

The opposition Popular Party has been buoyed by a weekend rally in the centre of Madrid that attracted tens of thousands of supporters, calling for Sánchez to go under a slogan "mafia or democracy".

Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo appealed to other coalition parties to abandon the prime minister. There was no possible firewall, he told reporters on Thursday: "Corruption is already the hallmark of this government and it must end."

Little over an hour earlier, Sánchez had made his first appearance answering media questions since a national power outage that hit Spain in April.

Speaking from Socialist party (PSOE) national headquarters in Madrid, the prime minister said he had until Thursday morning been persuaded of Santos Cerdán's integrity and wanted to apologise to Spanish citizens.

"There is no such thing as zero corruption, but there must be zero tolerance when it takes place," said Sánchez, the secretary-general of the PSOE. "We shouldn't have trusted him."

Sanchez accuses the opposition of conducting a smear campaign. Like many others he said he had his faults and asked the Spanish people for forgiveness.

He went on to accuse the conservatives of besieging his government on a multitude of issues and followed up his appearance with a message on social media, vowing to continue working for what he had always stood for: "clean politics and democratic renewal."

Sánchez has faced repeated political crises and in April 2024 threatened to stand down.

He took five days to decide on his future, when a court decided to open preliminary proceedings against his wife over allegations surrounding her business dealings.

Then too he called a televised news conference, and in a moment of high drama announced he had decided to stay on in the job.

However, the Cerdán resignation represents a moment of political jeopardy for the prime minister.

Even though he is not personally implicated in the corruption allegations, one of his closest political allies is, along with two other officials.

Supreme Court Judge Leopoldo Puente acted after a lengthy report from Spain's Civil Guard Central Operative Unit concluded that Socialist party organiser Cerdán would have had full knowledge of payments made in the alleged kickbacks scandal.

The judge said the report revealed that evidence suggested Cerdán had acted in collusion with a former Sánchez-era transport minister, José Luis Ábalos, and the minister's ex-adviser Koldo García.

Ábalos lost his job in a reshuffle 2021 and was then forced to resign from the Socialist party as well in 2024. He remains an independent MP.

The police report is based on a number of recordings made by Koldo García over a four-year period and it estimates that the payments were worth €620,000 (£530,000).

Transcripts of some of the recordings appeared in Spanish media on Thursday alleging that Cerdán and Koldo García had discussed payments of substantial sums of money.

Koldo García and José Luis Ábalos have also been called to testify by the judge. The former minister denies he has done anything wrong.

UK agrees post-Brexit deal over Gibraltar

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd903neydwjo, 2 days ago

The UK has agreed a deal with the European Union over Gibraltar's status after Brexit.

Talks on rules governing the border between Spain and the British Overseas Territory have been ongoing since the UK left the EU in 2020.

The UK said the agreement would avoid the need for checks on people and goods crossing the Gibraltar-Spain border.

For travellers arriving at Gibraltar airport, passport checks will be carried out by Gibraltar and Spanish officials.

Spanish border officials would be able to deny entry as it would be possible for British arrivals to continue their travel into Spain and the EU free-travel area without further checks.

This is similar to the system in place for Eurostar passengers at London's St Pancras station, where travellers pass through both British and French passport control before boarding international trains.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the deal protected British sovereignty and supported Gibraltar's economy.

He said the "breakthrough" delivered a practical solution, adding: "This government inherited a situation from the last government which put Gibraltar's economy and way of life under threat."

Chief Minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo also welcomed the agreement, saying: "I have worked hand in glove with the UK government throughout this negotiation to deliver the deal Gibraltar wants and needs – one that will protect future generations of British Gibraltarians and does not in any way affect our British sovereignty."

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer agreed in a Wednesday evening phone call that the deal "unlocks significant opportunities to strengthen UK-Spain relations".

Downing Street said Sir Keir also called Picardo to congratulate him on the deal and thank him for "his years of hard work, commitment, and leadership to reach an agreement".

Gibraltar is a 2.6 square mile headland to the south of Spain.

The UK has had sovereignty over Gibraltar since 1713, although this is disputed by Spain, who claim the territory as their own.

The territory's status and that of its border with Spain has been a key sticking point and has remained unresolved since Brexit.

An estimated 15,000 people cross the Gibraltar-Spain border every day for work and leisure.

Currently, Gibraltar residents can cross using residence cards without needing to have their passports stamped. Spanish citizens can cross using a government ID card.

But there were concerns this would end with the introduction of the EU's Entry/Exit system later this year, causing huge delays at the border.

The UK said all sides had agreed a clause making clear the final treaty does not impact the territory's British sovereignty.

It said there would also be full operational autonomy of the UK's military's facilities in Gibraltar, where the airport is run by the Ministry of Defence and hosts an RAF base.

Public opinion in Gibraltar, which has a population of around 32,000, is in favour of keeping British sovereignty. The most recent referendum, held in 2002, saw almost 99% of voters reject a proposal to share sovereignty with Spain.

The breakthrough came after Lammy met Picardo and his cabinet in Gibraltar earlier, before the pair headed to Brussels for discussions with EU and Spanish ministers.

Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister José Manuel Albares and EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic both hailed the deal as "historic", with Sefcovic saying it "reinforces a new chapter" in the EU-UK relationship.

All parties have committed to finalising a UK-EU treaty text on Gibraltar as quickly as possible, the UK government said.

However, Reform UK criticised the deal, with deputy leader Richard Tice saying: "Once again this Labour government have shown utter disregard for our overseas territories. This is another surrender."

Conservative shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel said her party would examine the full legal text of the treaty to see if it met their "red lines".

"The Conservative Party in government, and now in opposition has always been clear that any deal must ensure that the sovereignty and rights of Gibraltar are safeguarded in full and must carry the support of the government and people of Gibraltar, as well as protect constitutional arrangements. We also consistently opposed any efforts by Spain to disrupt the flow of goods at the border," she said.

"Gibraltar is British, and given Labour's record of surrendering our territory and paying for the privilege, we will be reviewing carefully all the details of any agreement that is reached."

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Calum Miller said the agreement brought the UK "one step closer to a proper trade deal with the EU" but added that "it's vital that Parliament is given the opportunity to scrutinise the details".

French antiques fraudsters found guilty of Versailles chair scam

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr7zye2l2r1o, 2 days ago

Two French antiques experts have been convicted of forging historic chairs that they claimed had once belonged to French royals such as Marie Antoinette.

Georges "Bill" Pallot and Bruno Desnoues were given four months behind bars as well as longer suspended sentences for selling a number of fake 18th Century chairs to collectors including the Palace of Versailles and a member of the Qatari royal family.

As both have already served four months in pre-trial detention, they will not return to prison.

Another defendant, Laurent Kraemer, who - along with his gallery - was accused of failing to adequately check the chairs' authenticity before selling them on, were acquitted of deception by gross negligence.

Wednesday's judgement was the culmination of a nine-year investigation that rocked the French antiques world.

At a court in Pontoise, north of Paris, the judge also handed out hefty fines to Pallot and Desnoues of €200,000 (£169,500) and €100,000 respectively.

Reacting to his sentence, Pallot said it was "a little harsh financially", but he was glad that his Paris apartment would not be seized, according to AFP news agency.

During the trial, the prosecution had argued that Laurent Kraemer and his gallery in Paris were at fault for failing to sufficiently check the authenticity of the items they bought, before selling them on to buyers such as Qatari prince Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani, who bought two chairs said to have belonged to Marie Antoinette for €2m.

But on Wednesday, Mr Kraemer and the gallery were acquitted. They always denied knowing about the forgeries.

In a comment sent to the BBC, his lawyers said the verdict "demonstrated the innocence that the Kraemer gallery has been claiming since day one of this case".

"The gallery was the victim of counterfeiters; it didn't know the furniture was fake, and it couldn't have detected it, as the judgment indicates," Martin Reynaud and Mauricia Courrégé said.

"For almost 10 years, our clients have been wrongly accused. They have waited patiently for the truth to appear. It is now done, and it is a great relief for them to see their innocence recognized today," they added.

At the height of his career, Pallot was considered the top scholar on French 18th-Century chairs, having written the authoritative book on the subject.

He was also a lecturer at the prestigious Sorbonne University in Paris, with access to Versailles Palace's historical records, including inventories of royal furniture which had existed at the palace in the 18th Century.

Pallot was able to pinpoint which chairs were unaccounted for in collections and then make replicas with the help of Desnoues, an award-winning sculptor and cabinetmaker who was employed as the main furniture restorer for Versailles.

"I was the head and Desnoues was the hands," Pallot told the court during the trial in March.

"It went like a breeze," he added. "Everything was fake but the money."

Prosecutor Pascal Rayer said in his closing arguments at the trial that the case shone a "rare and remarkable spotlight on the market for historical furniture, bringing to light a world that has been stamped with confidentiality and discretion."

He said it revealed the flaws of the market and "the conflicts of interest inherent in its structure, particularly where experts such as Bill Pallot, and his accomplice woodcarver Desnoues, are also merchants, undisclosed to the buyer".

Mr Rayer said the case had "resulted in the disruption of an entire marketplace, thereby highlighting the need for more robust regulation of the art market to achieve transparency and fairness of transactions".

Other cases that have emerged from the murky world of antiques dealings in France in the past decade include that of the late Jean Lupu, who was also accused of selling fake royal furniture of the 17th and 18th Centuries to galleries around the world. He died in 2023 before he was due to appear in court.

Bomb attack plans found at Austria gunman's home

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2kdy74v7go, 2 days ago

Abandoned plans for a bomb attack have been found at the home of the suspected gunman in a school shooting in Austria, police have said.

Police in the south-eastern city of Graz also found a non-functional pipe bomb, and a "farewell" letter and video during the search, they said in a statement.

Ten people were killed in the attack at the secondary school on Tuesday - the deadliest in the country's recent history.

The suspect, a 21-year-old former student at the school, took his own life in a school bathroom shortly after the attack, according to police. Authorities have not yet drawn any conclusions on the gunman's possible motive.

The incident, which left a further 11 people injured, took place at Dreierschützengasse secondary school in the north-west of the city.

Six females and three males were killed in the attack, and a seventh female later died in hospital.

The victims were a teacher and nine students aged between 14 and 17, police said. All were Austrian citizens, except for one who was Polish.

The 11 injured - aged between 15 and 26 - are not in a critical condition, police said.

Police said the suspect was born in Styria - the region in which Graz sits - and lived with his single mother, who was also Austrian, in the Graz-Umgebung District.

They added that his father, of Armenian origin, had not lived with them since his parents' separation.

Current information suggests the shooter legally owned the two guns used in the attack - a pistol and a shotgun - and had a firearms licence, police said. They added that the guns would be forensically examined.

The gunman, who has not yet been named, did not graduate from the school, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner told a news conference earlier. He was not known to the authorities prior to the attack, police also confirmed.

Analysis of evidence and data storage devices will continue over the coming weeks and hundreds of people will be interviewed, they said.

The incident would be reconstructed to shed light on how events unfolded, police added.

They said police first arrived at the school six minutes after the first emergency call was made at 10:00 on Tuesday, with a rapid response unit and specialist Cobra tactical unit - which handles attacks and hostage situations - arriving by 10:17.

Styrian police said this quick reaction "appears to have saved several lives".

Police have increased security measures around schools in the city since the attack.

Speaking in Graz, President Alexander van der Bellen suggested Austria's gun laws could be changed in the wake of the attack: "If we come to the conclusion that the gun law needs to be changed, then we will do so."

Local media reports that relatives of the victims and school pupils are being cared for at a crisis intervention centre set up across the road from the school.

A teacher there told news agency AFP that he narrowly escaped after finding himself in a corridor with the shooter.

Paul Nitsche, who teaches religion, said that he was working by himself with the door open on the upper floor of the school when he heard gunshots.

The 51-year-old said he then ran out of the room and saw the gunman when he was in the corridor on the floor below.

"He was trying to shoot the door [of a classroom] open with his rifle," he said. "He was busy [...] and I didn't look around much either [...] I didn't hang around."

Astrid, who lives with her husband Franz in a residential building next to the school, told the BBC she had just finished hanging out the washing when she heard 30 to 40 gunshots.

"We saw one pupil at the window - it looked like he was getting ready to jump out... but then he went back inside," Franz said.

The couple later saw students exiting the school and gathered on the street.

Three days of mourning were declared in Austria following the attack, and a nationwide minute's silence was held on Wednesday at 10:00 local time (08:00 GMT) in memory of the victims. The Austrian flag has been lowered to half-mast on all public buildings.

After the minute's silence in Graz's main square, one woman, Tores, told BBC News that she knew one of the boys who had died. He was 17.

"I've know this family for a long time, including the son of the family, and knew that he attended that school. I rang immediately, to ask if everything is OK. Then they let me know at midday, that the boy was one of those slaughtered," she said.

The incident is the deadliest mass shooting in Austria's recent history.

In 2020, jihadist gunman Kujtim Fejzulai shot four people dead and wounded 23 others on a rampage through Vienna's busy nightlife district.

Meanwhile, in 2016, a gunman opened fire at a concert in the town of Nenzing, killing two people before shooting himself dead. Eleven other people were injured in the attack.

What we know about Austria school shooting

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2d5w9rxr5eo, 2 days ago

Students were sitting in their classrooms at a secondary school in Graz when a 21-year-old Austrian man shot dead nine people, before killing himself.

Twelve people were injured in Tuesday morning's violence, with one person dying hours later in hospital from their injuries.

The incident was the deadliest mass shooting in Austria's recent history and the country has declared three days of mourning.

Police are still investigating why the gunman - a former student who did not graduate - carried out the attack.

Here is what we know so far.

What happened?

The first shot echoed through Dreierschützengasse secondary school, in the north-west of Graz, close to the main train station, at about 10:00 local time (09:00 BST), initially sparking confusion as to what was happening.

"Was that a shot? That can't be true. Something must have fallen at the construction site across the street," a 17-year-old student, identified as F, said to his friends, according to the Kleine Zeitung newspaper.

One student told Die Presse that when shots rang out, his teacher immediately locked the classroom.

Another student told the paper that at first she thought the shots were firecrackers, but "then there was screaming, and we ran".

Paul Nitsche, a religious studies teacher at the school, told the AFP news agency he was in a classroom when he heard a "bang" followed by the sound of bullet casings hitting the floor of the corridor.

"Something snapped inside me, I jumped up, and decided to run," he said.

As he fled, he caught a glimpse of the shooter. "As I ran down the stairs, I thought to myself, 'This isn't real".

He said he realised what had happened when he "saw a student lying on the floor and a teacher was there".

Local resident Astrid, who lives in a building next to the school, told the BBC she heard 30 or 40 shots. Her husband Franz called the police.

"We saw one pupil at the window - it looked like he was getting ready to jump out... but then he went back inside," Franz said.

The couple later saw the students had "got out of the school on the ground floor, from the other side" where they "gathered on the street", Franz said.

The shooter took his own life in a school bathroom shortly after the gun attack, the authorities said.

The first emergency calls reached police at exactly 10:00, with the first patrol arriving on scene at 10:06, police said on Wednesday. Shortly after, a Cobra tactical unit, which handles attacks and hostage situations, and other specialist units arrived.

Police brought the situation under control in 17 minutes. More than 300 police in total were deployed to the school.

Who are the victims?

Nine students - six girls and three boys - between the ages of 14 and 17 were killed in the shooting, police said. A teacher died of her injuries in hospital.

All were Austrian citizens, except for one Polish citizen.

The victims have not yet been named by the authorities.

One woman, Tores, told BBC News in Graz's main square on Wednesday that she knew one of the boys who had died. He was 17.

"What happened yesterday is completely awful, the whole of Austria is in mourning," she said. "This is terrible for the whole of Austria."

The other eleven injured people are currently out of danger, police said on Wednesday. They are between the ages of 15 and 26. Eight are from Austria, two from Romania and one from Iran.

What do we know about the shooter?

The 21-year-old, who has not yet been named, was an Austrian man from the wider Graz region who acted alone, police said.

He lived with his single mother, who is also Austrian, in the Graz-Umgebung district, police said in a press release on Wednesday.

His father, who is originally from Armenia, had not lived in the same household since their separation.

He was a former Dreierschützengasse student who did not graduate from the school, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner told a news conference on Tuesday.

In a statement on Wednesday, police said they found a "farewell letter", "farewell video", a non-functional pipe bomb and apparently abandoned plans for a bomb attack during a search of the suspect's home.

He legally owned the pistol and shotgun used in the attack, police added.

Police said they are still investigating a possible motive.

What are Austria's gun laws?

* In 2018, a 19-year-old was shot by another youth in Mistelbach, north of Vienna

* In 2012 in St Pölten, a pupil was shot dead by his father

* In 1997, in Zöbern, a 15-year-old killed a teacher and seriously injured another

* In 1993, a 13-year-old boy in Hausleiten seriously injured the head teacher and then killed himself

Austria's most violent gun attack in recent years took place in the heart of Vienna in November 2020. Four people were killed and 22 injured when a convicted jihadist ran through the centre of the city opening fire, before he was eventually shot by police.

Tuesday's shooting took place almost a decade after three people were killed when a man drove his car into crowds in Graz on 20 June 2015.

Fanny Gasser, a journalist for the Austrian daily newspaper Kronen Zeitung, told BBC News the school was likely unprepared for the possibility of an attack.

"We are not living in America, we are living in Austria, which seems like a very safe space."

Polish PM Donald Tusk wins confidence vote

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2ez231mpdo, 2 days ago

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk has won a vote of confidence in his pro-EU government after his political camp narrowly lost the recent presidential election.

Some 243 parliamentarians voted in favour of the coalition government, with 210 voting against and no abstentions.

This vote has been seen by some as a piece of political theatre on the part of Tusk - a way of showing his broad coalition still has a mandate despite the presidential election defeat.

Wednesday's vote was also a formality. Tusk's coalition has a 12-seat majority in the lower house, the Sejm, and only a simple majority in the presence of half the 460 parliamentarians was required to win.

Ahead of the vote, Tusk told the house that they could not "close their eyes" to the reality that his government faces "greater challenges" thanks to the election of Karol Nawrocki, who is supported by the Law and Justice (PiS) opposition.

Poland's president can veto legislation and Nawrocki - a socially conservative supporter of US President Donald Trump who opposes a federal Europe and Ukraine's entry to Nato and the EU - is expected to continue to use this power as the conservative incumbent, Andrzej Duda, has done during the first 18 months of Tusk's term in office.

Tusk's coalition lacks a big enough parliamentary majority to overturn a presidential veto. Nothing can be done about that, but a reconfirmation by parliament puts Tusk's government on the front foot again, at least for now.

He has also announced a cabinet reshuffle would take place in July.

"I'm asking you for a vote of confidence because I have the conviction, faith and certainty that we have a mandate to govern, to take full responsibility for what is happening in Poland," Tusk said.

"We are facing two and a half years, in difficult conditions, of full mobilisation and full responsibility."

He referred to Polish tennis star Iga Swiatek's recent unsuccessful attempt to win a fourth straight French Open title at Roland Garros, quoting the Frenchman's famous quote: "Victory belongs to the most tenacious."

The opposition in parliament would likely say that Tusk will ultimately be as unsuccessful as Iga Swiatek was at retaining his title. A promise as empty, indeed, as the PiS benches were during Tusk's speech.

Tusk said his government had been more effective on issues that PiS prides itself on – increased defence spending and tougher on migration.

He argued Poland had returned to Europe's top table, citing a recently signed bilateral treaty with France in which both countries declared they would come to each other's mutual aid in the event of an attack.

At the end, he received a standing ovation from his own benches.

Issues close to the government's small left-wing coalition partner were largely absent from the speech.

There was no mention of his campaign promise to give Polish women legal abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy.

That promise has got nowhere in the face of opposition from conservatives within the coalition and the knowledge that Duda would veto it.

His government has also made little headway, thanks to Duda's vetoes, on another campaign promise - removing political influence from Polish courts - which caused the European Commission to take legal action against Poland and withhold EU funds.

Brussels released the funds after Tusk's government promised to undo PiS's judicial reform, causing PiS to accuse the Commission of double standards.

Tusk said that no-one was as keen as he was to end Poland's legal chaos, but he knows that President-elect Nawrocki will likely continue to use the veto.

French ID scheme likely to be extended

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr58j2795e2o, 4 days ago

Guernsey's next government is likely to extend a scheme that allows French day trippers to visit the island using a national ID card rather than a passport.

The scheme was introduced in 2023 in response to declining tourism numbers from the continent.

Doubt was cast over its future when the UK introduced an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) system which requires anyone who is not a British or Irish citizen to get the permit, which is linked to a passport, before entering the country.

The Guernsey Border Agency (GBA) told the BBC the extension was due to be approved on the condition that Guernsey's membership in the Common Travel Area (CTA) was not at risk.

"GBA Officers have been in contact with the UK to discuss the matter from a Bailiwick of Guernsey perspective, and will continue to work with UK counterparts around the introduction of ETAs," it said.

The CTA is a free movement agreement between the UK, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey.

A final decision is yet to be made on extending the scheme, which will be down to the next committee - due to be voted in following the general election next week.

The GBA said that any changes to immigration laws must be approved by the island's lieutenant-governor.

Jersey's government extended the scheme there, with ministers saying UK counterparts were not supportive of it continuing.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp criticised the scheme after politicians in Jersey voted unanimously to extend the day trip scheme there, despite the upcoming introduction of the ETA travel permit in the Channel Islands.

He said it risked opening a "dangerous backdoor" into the UK.

Larry Malcic, chair of the Victor Hugo Centre, said the use of passports was still a "fairly modern thing".

"Before the First World War people used to travel freely from France to Guernsey and, in fact, there was as much travel and trade with France than there was with the UK," he said.

"Yes, in modern times you need a passport and you need passport control, but people coming for the day for a good time in Guernsey are not the people who really need to be taken care of.

"I think the fact that the UK are concerned about this, [shows] that sometimes Guernsey has to act in its own interests."

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Solved after 47 years: The mystery of the North Sea message in a bottle

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgxwg4738eo, 3 days ago

The mystery of a North Sea message in a bottle found on a Swedish island after 47 years has been solved by BBC Scotland News.

Friends Ellinor Rosen Eriksson and Asa Nilsson found the washed-up bottle earlier this year.

The damp and faded letter was hard to read, but they were able to make out the name Addison Runcie, the year 1978, and an address in Cullen, Banffshire.

It has now been established the letter referred to fisherman James Addison Runcie who had been on board the fishing boat Loraley, but who died in 1995. It was written by his then crewmate Gavin Geddes - who was amazed to be told it had been found 47 years after they dropped it overboard.

The two finders in Sweden said it was "fantastic" the mystery of the source had been solved, and Jim's sister described the story unfolding as "amazing".

Ellinor, 32, and Asa, 55, found the bottle on Sweden's west coast back in February.

"I was out exploring the Vaderoarna islands with my best friend Asa," Ellinor said.

"We both love searching for beach finds, and that day we took the boat out to Torso, the northernmost island in the archipelago.

"Deep in the bushes on the island, Asa spotted something unusual - a thick glass bottle sticking out of the ground."

Inside was a damp note that was almost unreadable.

They laid it out in the sun to dry, and were eventually able to make out some text.

The full date appeared to be: "14.9.78".

They could also make out the name and address "Addison Runcie, Seatown, Cullen, Banffshire, Scotland".

Ellinor said they were "completely amazed" to find a "real message in a bottle", and hoped to discover the story behind it.

They posted about it on social media in the hope of learning more.

On closer inspection, the letters "es" could also be made out before Addison Runcie, as well as the number 115 before the address.

BBC Scotland News then established that James Addison Runcie had lived at that Seatown address in Cullen at the time - the "es" was the end of James - and started to investigate more.

Jane Worby, 78, who now lives at the house, described it as "nice to have a little bit of history" when told of the story.

"It does catch the imagination," she said of the message in a bottle. "It almost makes me want to do it myself."

Jim Runcie - who was known locally as Peem - died in 1995 at the age of 67.

The story took an unexpected twist when we spoke to Gavin Geddes, one of Jim's former crewmates on the Buckie-registered Loraley, which sailed out of Peterhead.

"As soon as I saw the letter I thought that is definitely my writing," Gavin, 69, said.

Gavin, who lives a few miles from Cullen in Rathven, said he remembered writing it, and even compared his own hand-writing to confirm it.

They had put a "couple of bottles" overboard, and had wanted one to be from Jim Runcie.

"We put one away for Jim - and now that's the only one found in 47 years," he said.

"Now at least we got one reply."

Mr Runcie's sister Sandra Taylor, 83, happened to be visiting Cullen where she is originally from, and was stunned to be told the story behind the find in Sweden.

"It's absolutely amazing," she said.

"To be bobbing around in the sea for 40-odd years and then just all of a sudden go onto the shore, it's unbelievable.

"The name and address means it was definitely him.

"All my family were in fishing, and it was never going to be anything but the sea for Jim. He was a fisherman all his life."

Asked what she thought her older brother would have made of it all, she said: "He would have been in stitches, he would find it hard to believe.

"He would have poured out a dram and said 'cheers'."

Back in Sweden, Ellinor and Asa described finding out where the message came from as meaning the world to them.

"This is such a cosy and fantastic story," Ellinor said.

"Finding a message in a bottle from someone far away, on a freezing February day, far out on a remote island with your best friend, that's truly magical."

She explained that if they had known how it would turn out, they would have tried to save the bottle itself too.

"I myself come from a fishing family and absolutely love the sea, spending time on the islands and searching for treasures," she said.

"Where I live, we call this activity vraga - it means going out to find something lost or hidden, and to uncover its story. And that's exactly what we've done here, with your amazing help."

Ellinor added: "Asa and I would absolutely love to come to Cullen one day - to talk about the bottle and the story, and experience your beautiful coast and community.

"We are truly thrilled about this."

Ketamine swapped for salt as smugglers exploit Europe loophole in booming market

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c201jjgkvjlo, 4 days ago

The customs officers at Brussels Airport were stunned. They had opened crates in the back of a lorry expecting to find a tonne of medical ketamine. But somewhere on its journey, the white powder had been switched for salt.

After zigzagging hundreds of miles across Europe, the contents of the consignment had been verified five days earlier by customs officers at Schipol Airport in the Netherlands, ready for its road trip to Belgium.

But somewhere between Amsterdam and Brussels the ketamine had vanished - the authorities believe most likely into the black market - replaced by the salt and freshly forged documents.

While it is not known where the drug ended up, and no-one responsible has been caught, this case shows the increasingly elaborate methods crime gangs are using to traffic ketamine across Europe and into the UK.

They exploit its classification in some countries as a legal medicine by transporting it across multiple borders to confuse the authorities. Consignments then disappear and are illegally sold as a hallucinogenic drug.

"It's clear that criminal organisations are misusing all these long routes," says Marc Vancoillie, head of Belgium's central directorate of drugs.

Belgian investigators have uncovered at least 28 similar consignment switches - involving an estimated 28 tonnes of ketamine - since this case in 2023.

Some criminal gangs are now making more money from selling ketamine than other illegal drugs such as cocaine, Mr Vancoille told us, describing the situation as an epidemic.

In the UK, ketamine consumption has risen 85% between 2023 and 2024, wastewater analysis - sampling human waste from sewage plants to measure the scale of illicit drug use - suggests.

Latest figures show there were 53 deaths involving ketamine in 2023. It has been linked to high-profile deaths including those of Friends actor Matthew Perry and drag star The Vivienne. Abuse of the drug can also lead to cognitive problems and permanent bladder damage.

UK organised crime groups "are clearly stepping into this new market", says Adam Thompson from the National Crime Agency (NCA).

The challenge for European law enforcement agencies is compounded by the fact that ketamine is used as a vital legitimate anaesthetic in hospitals and veterinary clinics, as well as being a popular illegal recreational drug.

File on 4 Investigates has examined how organised crime groups are exploiting this dual classification. In countries such as the UK and Belgium, ketamine is classified as a narcotic.

But in countries including Austria, Germany and the Netherlands, it is regulated as a medicine, meaning it faces less scrutiny during its import and transit.

"It starts off being produced for those markets and exported from countries like India," said Mr Thompson. "But then it's diverted by organised crime groups into illicit supply."

Armed with this knowledge, the smugglers have developed a preferred route - shipping the drug from India, where it is legitimately produced as a medicine, into Germany, through the Netherlands and Belgium, then on to the UK.

In the case of the disappearing consignment at Brussels Airport, the drug was originally flown from India to Austria. It was then driven to Germany before being flown to the Netherlands where it was unloaded again and readied for the road trip to Belgium. During all of these connections it was being moved legally.

But, somewhere during this last leg, it was swapped with salt - and it is thought the ketamine entered the black market for illegal sales.

In another case, a container arriving at the Belgian port of Antwerp which had been verified as containing ketamine, was found to hold sugar.

Criminal groups are also exploiting legal supply chains by setting up front companies to import ketamine under the guise of legitimate use, only to divert it into illicit markets once it arrives in Europe.

The more countries and jurisdictions it goes through, the more difficult it is to investigate, requiring liaison between law enforcement agencies, Belgian and Dutch Police told the BBC. It also helps disguise where the front company - an import company which obtains a legitimate licence - is based.

"They [the criminals] will put all kinds of steps - companies in different countries - in between. So it's hard for us to backtrack if we find any large quantities of ketamine," said Ch Insp Peter Jansen, a drug expert from the Dutch police.

Germany, Europe's biggest importer of ketamine, has a huge pharmaceutical industry, so large consignments are less likely to raise suspicions.

In 2023 alone,100 tonnes of ketamine were imported from India, Mr Vancoillie says - far more than would be expected for legitimate medical and veterinary use.

"Between 20 to 25% will be necessary for legal purposes and not more," he told us. "It's tonnes and tonnes and tonnes that disappeared in criminal routes."

European police forces say they are planning to liaise with the Indian authorities to try to tackle the problem, with Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office telling us it carries out intensive monitoring of new psychoactive substances like ketamine.

It added it was "in close contact with national and international authorities, organisations and institutions in order to be able to anticipate and react to further developments and new trends".

'Needle in a haystack'

The smuggling network sees plenty of reward in England and Wales, where an estimated 269,000 people aged 16-59 reported using ketamine in the year ending March 2024, government figures show. Among young people aged 16-24, usage has soared by 231% since 2013.

"Ketamine is a very cheap drug compared to some other illicit drugs," the NCA's Adam Thompson explained. "It's sold for about £20 a gram at street level, compared to £60 to £100 for cocaine."

The drug is being smuggled into the UK through two main routes - concealed in small parcels sent by post, or hidden in lorries and vans arriving via ferries and the Channel Tunnel, the NCA believes.

With hundreds of thousands of parcels arriving in the UK only a small percentage are spotted. It's "very easy to hide that needle in the haystack," Mr Thompson added.

In Belgium, some criminal groups are using AirBnBs to store ketamine before sending it through France to the UK, by cars, lorries or trucks, according to Mr Vancoillie.

In one case, somebody reported as suspicious a group of men who were moving IKEA boxes into a van. The vehicle had been hired, which meant the authorities were able to track its prior movements back to an AirBnB in Staden, Belgium.

There, they found 480kg (1,058lbs) of ketamine, along with 117kg of cocaine, and 63kg of heroin, stored in a garage.

Eight British nationals were eventually linked to the case and prosecuted.

As ketamine use continues to rise and trafficking methods grow more inventive, authorities across Europe are calling for greater international co-operation.

"It's a responsibility of agencies and countries across the globe," Mr Thompson warned, "to think about this."

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School shooting leaves Austria's second city in shock and grief

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cewd980dgl9o, 3 days ago

There is shock, sadness and disbelief in Graz, after the worst shooting in modern Austrian history left 11 people dead, including the gunman.

"We never could have imagined that this could have happened here, in our place. It's a sad day for the whole city," said Reka, who lives close to the school.

For many years, Austria had been spared the pain of mass school shootings.

But that all changed at about 10:00 on Tuesday when a former student ran amok at a secondary school in the Dreierschützengasse, close to the main station in Austria's second largest city.

Morning classes were under way when the attack took place. Some students at the school would have been taking their final exams.

It took police 17 minutes to bring the situation under control.

By the time it was over six female victims and three males had died. Hours later, a seventh female victim, an adult woman, died in hospital. Several others remain in hospital, some with critical injuries.

The gunman, a 21-year-old Austrian citizen with two firearms, took his own life at the school.

A former pupil who never passed his final exams, he is reported to have seen himself as a victim of bullying.

Local resident Reka told me she couldn't understand how an attack like this could have happened in her well-ordered city.

"This area is quiet, safe and beautiful," she said. "People are nice, the school is good."

Austria's President Alexander Van der Bellen said: "This horror cannot be put into words. What happened today in a school in Graz, hits our country right in the heart. These were young people who had their whole lives ahead of them. A teacher who accompanied them on their way."

He said there was "nothing at this moment that can alleviate the pain that the parents, grandparents, siblings and friends of those murdered are feeling".

* In 2018 a 19-year-old was shot by another youth in Mistelbach, north of Vienna

* In 2012 in St Pölten, a pupil was shot dead by his father

* In 1997, in Zöbern, a 15-year-old killed a teacher and seriously injured another

* And in 1993 a 13-year-old boy in Hausleiten seriously injured the head teacher and then killed himself.

US tariff turmoil makes Spain's flagship foods seek other markets

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2r1lp8e7go, 3 days ago

It's lunchtime in a bar in the southern Spanish city of Seville. The kitchen is humming with activity, and behind the bar a member of staff pours cold beer from a tap into a glass.

Nearby, another uses a carving knife to cut slices from a large leg of jamón ibérico, or Iberian ham, placing each one on a plate, to be served as an appetiser.

There are few more Spanish scenes. And there are few more Spanish products than jamón ibérico, whose unique salty flavour is renowned across the world, and part of a national cured ham industry worth nearly €750m ($850m; £630m) each year in exports.

As he watches the jamón being carved, Jaime Fernández, international commercial director for the Grupo Osborne, which produces wine, sherry and the renowned Cinco Jotas brand of ham, describes it as a "flagship" national foodstuff.

"It's one of the most iconic gastronomic products from Spain," he says, pointing out how the pigs used to make the ham are reared in the wild and fed on acorns. "It represents our tradition, our culture, our essence."

But jamón ibérico, like products across Spain and the rest of Europe, is facing the threat of trade tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.

There was no tariff on Spanish ham exports to the US until April of this year, when a 20% charge on all European imports was suddenly introduced, dropping to 10% pending negotiations.

However, in May Trump unsettled European exporters again when he said that the tariff for all EU goods could rise as high as 50% if trade talks with Brussels do not come to a successful agreement. The current deadline for this is 9 July.

"The United States is one of our top, priority markets," says Mr Fernández. "The uncertainty is there, and it complicates our medium-and long-term planning, investments and commercial development."

The tariffs, he adds, "pose a threat to our industry."

Spain's overall economy is in rude health. The IMF has forecast growth this year of 2.5% – much higher than the other main EU economies – and unemployment is at a 17-year low.

But the tariff issue comes as a blow for the country's pork industry, which represents more than 400,000 direct and indirect jobs, and is Europe's largest.

Demand for cured ham in the US has grown substantially in recent years, and it has become the biggest importer of Spanish ham outside the EU.

But the Spanish industry now faces the prospect of having to raise retail prices for US consumers and therefore losing competitivity to local products, or those not subject to the same tariffs.

Spain's olive oil sector is in a similar quandary. The world's biggest producer of olive oil, Spain had set its sights on the US as a burgeoning market whose growth was driven by growing awareness of the health benefits of the product.

Yet the the tariff turmoil comes just as Spanish producers and exporters have recovered from a drought that slashed harvests in the south of the country, and sent prices temporarily soaring.

The US represents half of world olive oil consumption outside the EU.

It is also the country whose imports of the foodstuff from Spain have grown the most in recent years, increasing from approximately 300,000 tonnes per year a decade ago to around 430,000 tonnes, says Rafael Pico Lapuente, director general of the Spanish association of olive oil exporters (ASOLIVA).

Much will depend, he says, on the final tariff set for the EU.

"If there is a 10% tariff which is permanent, without differentiating between countries of origin, it's not going to create a distortion on the international market," says Mr Pico Lapuente.

He explains that American consumers might have to absorb the extra cost. And although local US producers of olive oil or similar products would gain a competitive edge, their output is small enough for it not to concern the likes of Spain.

However, he says it would be "a different story" if Trump introduced higher tariffs for the EU than for competitor olive oil countries outside the bloc – such as Turkey, the world's second-largest producer, or Tunisia, an emerging grower. That scenario, he says, would have a major impact on the world market and Spanish producers.

But variations in tariffs between countries or trade blocs would also lead to a certain amount rule-bending and even chaos, according to Javier Díaz-Giménez, a professor of economics at the IESE business school in Madrid. He suggests two of Spain's direct neighbours as a hypothetical example.

"If Spain has a 20% tariff and Morocco and Andorra have a 10% tariff, all the Spanish products that can go through Morocco or Andorra… will do so."

He adds: "They will be first exported to Morocco and Andorra and from there re-exported to the United States with a 10% tariff.

"And it's going to be really hard to make sure that these olives came from Andorra proper and not from Spain. Is Trump going to do something about that?"

For now, Spanish producers and exporters must hold their breath as EU negotiations take place with Washington. For Mr Pico Lapuente, a big cause of concern is the influence – or as he sees it, lack of influence – his sector wields within the European trade bloc.

"The negotiations representing the EU's 27 countries are carried out by Brussels," he says. "In these negotiations, industrial products have a much bigger influence than food.

"I wouldn't like it if, in this negotiation, food products like olive oil were used as mere bargaining chips in order to get a better deal for Europe's industrial products. That worries me. And I hope it doesn't happen."

A spokesperson for the European Commission told the BBC that in negotiations with the US it will act "in defence of European interests, protecting its workers, consumers and its industries".

Jaime Fernández, of the Grupo Osborne, believes his industry could live with the 10% tariff that is currently in place without suffering too much fallout.

However, a 20% charge, he says would cause the industry "to reconsider how to accelerate growth in some other markets, which would eventually lead to the relocation of resources from the US".

He says his company is already looking at alternative markets in which to invest, such as China, or proven European ham consumers such as France, Italy and Portugal.

Mr Díaz-Giménez says that is the logical response to the current uncertainty.

"If I was the CEO of any company with a high exposure to the United States… I would have sent my entire sales team to find other markets," he says.

"And by now, they would have found them. There would be plan Bs and plan Cs, to make sure that we have reduced this exposure to the US."

Oceans cannot become 'wild west', warns UN chief

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c057qrd9eejo, 5 days ago

Unregulated mining in the deep sea should not be allowed to go ahead, the head of the United Nations has warned.

"The deep sea cannot become the Wild West," UN Secretary General António Guterres said at the opening of the UN Oceans Conference in Nice, France.

His words were echoed by French President Emmanuel Macron, who declared the "oceans are not for sale".

The remarks appear to refer to the decision by President Trump in April to begin issuing permits for the extraction of critical minerals in international waters.

There is increasing interest in extracting precious minerals from what are called metallic "nodules" that naturally occur on the seabed.

But marine scientists are concerned about the harm that could be caused.

"The ocean is not for sale. We're talking about a common shared good," President Macron said. "I think it's madness to launch predatory economic action that will disrupt the deep seabed, disrupt biodiversity, destroy it."

This issue is one of a number on the agenda in France, including over-fishing, plastic pollution and climate change.

Over 2,000 of the world's scientists met last week to review the latest data on ocean health - they recommended to governments meeting this week that deep sea exploration be halted whilst further research be carried out on the impacts.

More than 30 countries support this position and are calling for a moratorium - but President Trump has not rowed back on his executive order.

A treaty for our oceans

A key aim of the UN oceans conference, which runs until Friday, is to get 60 countries to ratify a High Seas Treaty and thus bring it into force.

This agreement was made two years ago to put 30% of international waters into marine protected areas (MPAs) by 2030, in the hope it would preserve and help ecosystems recover.

President Macron declared in his opening speech that an additional 15 had ratified but that only brings the total number to 47.

The UK government has not yet ratified the agreement, though on Monday it said a ban on a bottom "destructive" type of fishing that drags large nets along the seafloor could be extended across MPAs in England.

Even if enough countries sign there are concerns from environmentalists, including Sir David Attenborough, that there is nothing explicit in the Treaty to ban bottom trawling in these MPAs.

Bottom trawling is one of the more destructive fishing practices that can lead to accidentally killing larger marine species.

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Man arrested on suspicion of McCarrick murder released without charge

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgrd551x8po, today

A man who was arrested on suspicion of murdering an American woman in Ireland more than three decades ago has been released without charge.

Annie McCarrick was 26 years old when she disappeared in Dublin in March 1993.

The Irish broadcaster RTÉ has reported that the man who had been questioned about her murder knew Ms McCarrick in the 1990s and is described by Gardaí (Irish police) as an associate who moved in her circle.

He had been in custody since Thursday morning.

Meanwhile, Gardaí have brought a cadaver dog to the scene of searches which are taking place at a house in Dublin in connection with the investigation.

Cadaver dogs are trained to detect signs of human remains.

The dog being used by Gardaí during the searches at the house and garden in the Clondalkin area of Dublin has been borrowed from the PSNI, as Gardaí don't have one of their own.

The search teams are also using heavy tools and excavation machinery.

Gardaí have stressed that the current residents at the property are not connected in any way with Annie McCarrick or her disappearance.

Ms McCarrick had moved from her home in the United States to live permanently in Ireland prior to her disappearance

Her family is being kept updated about the latest developments and Gardaí have renewed their appeal to anyone with information about the case to come forward to assist their inquiries.

Who was Annie McCarrick?

Annie McCarrick was the only child of her father John and mother Nancy and was originally from New York, USA.

As a teenager, she visited Ireland on a school trip.

Her parents have previously described how she fell in love with the country and the way of life, and how upon her return to New York she indicated her intention to return to Ireland to live.

In the late 1980s, she completed her third level studies at St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra in Dublin and at St. Patrick's College, Maynooth before returning to New York in 1991, when she completed her studies at Stoney Brook University.

In January 1993, the young woman moved to Ireland to live permanently and settled into rental accommodation with two flatmates at Sandymount in Dublin.

Two months later, when her flatmates had gone home for a weekend, she invited friends around for dinner, but she was not at home when they called to the flat.

Groceries had been left unpacked in shopping bags, and the young woman has not been seen since that time.

The case had been a high-profile missing persons investigation in Ireland for 30 years before it took a significant turn two years ago when it was upgraded to a murder inquiry.

At the time of her disappearance, Annie McCarrick was said to be excited and making plans for her mother Nancy's impending visit to Ireland the following week.

Ryanair to hand 'disruptive' passengers fines of £500

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdd28p889j0o, yesterday

Ryanair has announced passengers who have to be taken off their aircrafts because of disruptive behaviour are to be fined £500.

The Irish airline said said it hopes the fine will "act as a deterrent" to eliminate unacceptable behaviour onboard planes.

"It is unacceptable that passengers are made suffer unnecessary disruption because of one unruly passenger's behaviour," the airline said in a statement.

Ryanair has previously pursued legal action against disruptive passengers.

The statement added: "To help ensure that our passengers and crew travel in a comfortable and stress-free environment, without unnecessary disruption caused by a tiny number of unruly passengers, we have introduced a £500 fine, which will be issued to any passengers offloaded from aircraft as a result of their misconduct."

Last year. the airline's boss Michael O'Leary said introducing alcohol limits at airports would help tackle a rise in disorder on flights.

On Thursday, Ryanair said alongside the introduction of the £500, it will continue to pursue disruptive passengers for civil damages.

No threat to British sovereignty over Gibraltar deal, says Lammy

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2490dz4z3po, yesterday

British sovereignty over Gibraltar remains "sacrosanct", the foreign secretary has said, after the UK agreed a deal with the European Union over the territory's post-Brexit future.

David Lammy told the House of Commons the agreement included a clause "explicitly protecting our sovereignty".

The deal removes checks on people and goods crossing the Gibraltar-Spain border.

However, some MPs raised concerns Spanish border officials would be able to deny entry to UK citizens flying into the British Overseas Territory.

For travellers arriving at Gibraltar airport, passport checks will be carried out by both Gibraltarian and Spanish officials.

This means it will be possible for arrivals to continue their travel from Gibraltar into Spain and the rest of the EU without further checks.

But Lammy insisted Gibraltar would not be joining the Schengen free travel area - 26 European states that have abolished passport control at their mutual border so people can travel freely.

Schengen countries also have common rules on asylum and countries whose nationals require visas.

Lammy said it was "fake news" that Gibraltar would be joining Schengen and "this was never on the table".

"Immigration, policing and justice in Gibraltar will remain the responsibilities of Gibraltar's authorities," he added.

Talks on the rules governing the border between Spain and Gibraltar - a 2.6 square mile headland to the south of the country - have been ongoing since the UK left the EU in 2020.

The issue had been a key sticking point, which has remained unresolved since Brexit.

MPs broadly welcomed the deal, which has been hailed as "historic" by Gibraltar, Spain and the EU.

Giving a statement in the Commons, Lammy said Labour was "solving the problems leftover from the last [Conservative] government and their thin Brexit deal".

He added that the deal "removes another obstacle to closer ties with our EU friends" and "provides much needed certainty for people and businesses in Gibraltar".

An estimated 15,000 people cross the Gibraltar-Spain border every day for work and leisure.

Currently, Gibraltar residents can cross using residence cards without needing to have their passports stamped, while Spanish citizens can cross using a government ID card.

But there were concerns this would end with the introduction of the EU's Entry/Exit system later this year, causing huge delays at the border.

Lammy said without a deal every passport and all goods would need to be checked leading to "chaos and backlogs, endangering livelihoods of British citizens in Gibraltar, wrecking the territory's economy and possibly costing hundreds of billions of pounds a year, placing pressure ultimately on the UK taxpayer to pick up the bill".

The next step is for a full legal text to be finalised, which Lammy said all parties were "committed to completing as quickly as possible".

The Conservatives have said they will examine the the final treaty to ensure it meets their red lines, including that it safeguards the sovereignty and rights of Gibraltarians.

Shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel also questioned whether Spanish officers would be able to stop British citizens coming to stay in Gibraltar.

Lammy insisted the only difference to what Conservative ministers had previously been negotiating was the sovereignty clause, which he said would ensure there was no question over Gibraltar's status.

The UK has had sovereignty over Gibraltar since 1713, although this is disputed by Spain, who claim the territory as their own.

The UK said there would also be full operational autonomy for the UK's military's facilities in Gibraltar, where the airport is run by the Ministry of Defence and hosts an RAF base.

Liberal Democrat spokeswoman Helen Maguire welcomed the agreement, while calling for Parliament to get the opportunity to scrutinise and vote on it.

However, Reform UK have described the deal as a "surrender".

Deputy leader Richard Tice raised concerns Spanish border officials would have "an effective veto" on British citizens from the UK landing in Gibraltar.

Lammy clarified that if there was an alert in relation to an arrival Spanish border guards and police would work alongside Gibraltarian police.

An individual would have the right to legal advice and be able to either return to their country of origin or go to Spain to face questions.

Man arrested over disappearance and murder of US woman

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c80kzx831j4o, yesterday

A man in his 60s has been arrested in connection with the disappearance and murder of an American woman in the Republic of Ireland more than 30 years ago.

Annie McCarrick, who was 26 at the time, had been living in Dublin when she went missing on 26 March 1993.

The case was treated as a missing persons inquiry for more than 30 years until it was upgraded by gardaí (Irish police) to a murder inquiry in 2023.

The man was arrested on suspicion of Ms McCarrick's murder on Thursday morning and a search operation is also underway at a house in the Clondalkin area of Dublin.

Gardaí have said that part of the house and garden will be searched and forensic examinations carried out.

This search operation will be supported by other agencies, if required, according to Gardaí.

It is being directed by a senior investigating officer, with the assistance of the serious crime review team from the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

The family of Annie McCarrick are being kept fully updated on the latest developments in the investigation.

Gardaí are also appealing to anyone who may have previously come forward, but who felt they could not provide all the relevant information they had at the time, to contact them again.

With the passage of time, according to a spokesperson, these individuals may now be willing to speak again with the investigation team.

Groceries had been left unpacked

Annie McCarrick was the only child of her father, John, who is deceased, and her mother, Nancy, and was originally from New York.

As a teenager, she visited Ireland on a school trip.

Her parents had previously described how she fell in love with Ireland and the way of life and how, upon her return to New York, she indicated her intention to return to Ireland to live.

In the late 1980s, she completed her third level studies at St Patrick's College, Drumcondra in Dublin and at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, before returning to New York in 1991 to complete her studies at Stoney Brook University.

In January 1993, she moved to Ireland to live permanently and settled into rental accommodation at Sandymount in Dublin with two other tenants.

That March, Annie spoke to both her flatmates before they left separately to travel home for the weekend.

She also made arrangements with friends, inviting them to her apartment for dinner the following day, 27 March 1993.

She was also said to be excited and making plans for her mother Nancy's impending visit to Ireland the following week.

On 28 March 1993, friends of Annie McCarrick became concerned for her welfare after she was not at home when they called for the prearranged dinner.

Groceries had been left unpacked in shopping bags and a receipt in the shopping bags was the last confirmed activity of Annie McCarrick.

At least seven dead in Colombia attacks, local media reports

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdd2vn0j3gvo, 3 days ago

At least seven people have died in a wave of bomb and gun attacks in south-western Colombia, according to local media reports.

Two police officers were said to be among those killed in the attacks, which targeted Cali, the country's third-largest city, and several nearby towns.

Car bombs, motorcycle bombs, rifle fire and a suspected drone were reportedly used in the attacks. The Colombian Ministry of Defence said 19 attacks had taken place.

Local media have linked some of the attacks to a faction of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a once-powerful guerrilla group. The BBC has not been able to independently verify this.

Police stations, municipal buildings and civilian targets were hit as an escalating security crisis grips the South American country.

Police put the toll at seven dead, according to Reuters and Agence France-Presse, while the number of injured ranged from 28 to more than 50.

In a statement posted to social media, the Colombian Ministry of Defence said there were 12 attacks in the Cauca region and seven in the Valle del Cauca region, the ministry said.

The ministry described the violence as "a desperate reaction by illegal armed groups to the massive operations of the [military and police], which have devastated their illicit structures and economies".

The mayor of the region's biggest city, Cali, said the city had returned to 1989, when it was blighted by the drugs trade and cartel violence.

The attacks come days after the attempted assassination of presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay in the capital city, Bogota, while he addressed supporters.

A 15-year-old was arrested on the scene at the time. On Tuesday, the Attorney General's office said the teenager did not accept the charges levelled against him, including attempted murder and illegal possession of a firearm.

A judge has ordered the detention of the teenager, the Attorney General's office added.

Colombia presidential hopeful shot in head at rally

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9dq8yxxy8zo, 5 days ago

A Colombian presidential candidate remains in intensive care after he was shot three times - twice in the head - at a campaign event in the capital, Bogotá.

Miguel Uribe Turbay, a 39-year-old senator, was attacked while addressing supporters in a park on Saturday. Police arrested a 15-year-old suspect at the scene, the attorney general's office said.

Uribe's wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, called on the nation to pray for his survival, saying: "Miguel is currently fighting for his life. Let us ask God to guide the hands of the doctors who are treating him."

Uribe's Centro Democratico party condemned the attack, calling it a threat to "democracy and freedom in Colombia".

Footage shared online appears to show the moment when he was shot in the head mid-speech, prompting those gathered to flee in panic.

He was airlifted to the Santa Fe Foundation hospital where supporters gathered to hold a vigil.

Uribe was rushed into surgery while in a critical condition, Bogotá Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán said late on Saturday night.

The hospital said on Sunday morning that Uribe had undergone procedures to his head and left thigh, before being taken to be stabilised in intensive care.

He remains in an extremely serious condition, it added.

The 15-year-old suspect was shot in the leg as police and security officers pursued him following the attack, according to local media.

He was arrested carrying a "9mm Glock-type firearm", a statement from the attorney general's office said. An investigation is under way.

The government of left-wing President Gustavo Petro said it "categorically" condemned the attack as an "act of violence not only against his person, but also against democracy".

Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez deplored the "vile attack" and offered a 3bn peso ($730,000; £540,000) reward for information about who may have been behind it.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also condemned the shooting as a "direct threat to democracy".

He blamed the attack, without providing examples, on "violent leftist rhetoric coming from the highest levels of the Colombian government". The suspect's motivation remains unclear.

Many Colombians have condemned the hostile rhetoric increasingly used by the government and opposition parties alike.

The week before the shooting was particularly tense, with Petro seeking popular backing for his reforms in a move that opposition leaders - including Uribe - dubbed unconstitutional.

Petro urged Colombians to wish Uribe well, on what he described as a "day of pain" in a video address to the nation.

There was a "political difference" between Uribe and the government, but it was "only political", he said.

"What matters most today is that all Colombians focus with the energy of our hearts, with our will to live... on ensuring that Dr Miguel Uribe stays alive," the president added.

Uribe, a right-wing critic of Petro, announced his candidacy for next year's presidential election in October. He has been a senator since 2022.

He is from a prominent political family in Colombia, with links to the country's Liberal Party. His father was a union leader and businessman.

His mother was Diana Turbay, a journalist who was killed in 1991 in a rescue attempt after she had been kidnapped by the Medellin drugs cartel run at the time by Pablo Escobar.

For many, Saturday's shooting harked back to Colombia's violent history, when figures like Escobar attacked politicians to pressure the government.

"We cannot return to situations of political violence, nor to times when violence was used to eliminate those who thought differently," Bogotá Mayor Galán said shortly after the attack.

Petro had been elected on a promise to bring "total peace" to the country.

He made early progress in talks with gangs and rebel groups, but his interior minister recently acknowledged that the strategy was "not going well".

Dozens of soldiers and police officers were killed over a two-week span in April, in attacks the Colombian government blamed on armed groups.

Earlier in the year, more than 32,000 people fled their homes in the northern Catatumbo region, where to rival rebel groups engaged in bloody fighting despite a peace treaty.

Additional reporting by José Carlos Cueto, BBC Mundo Colombia correspondent

What we know about Trump's latest travel ban

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx271g270v7o, 8 days ago

Donald Trump has signed a ban on travel to the US from 12 countries, citing national security risks.

There are also seven additional countries whose nationals will face partial travel restrictions.

The US president said the list could be revised if "material improvements" were made, while other countries could be added as "threats emerge around the world".

It is the second time he has ordered a ban on travel from certain countries. He signed a similar order in 2017 during his first term in office.

Which countries are affected?

* Afghanistan

* Myanmar

* Chad

* Congo-Brazzaville

* Equatorial Guinea

* Eritrea

* Haiti

* Iran

* Libya

* Somalia

* Sudan

* Yemen

* Burundi

* Cuba

* Laos

* Sierra Leone

* Togo

* Turkmenistan

* Venezuela

Why has a ban been announced?

The White House said these "common sense restrictions" would "protect Americans from dangerous foreign actors".

In a video posted to his Truth Social website, Trump said the recent alleged terror attack in Boulder, Colorado "underscored the extreme dangers" posed by foreign nationals who had not been "properly vetted".

Twelve people were injured in Colorado on Sunday when a man attacked a group gathering in support of Israeli hostages, throwing two incendiary devices and using a makeshift flamethrower.

The man accused of carrying out the attack has been identified as an Egyptian national, but Egypt is not included on the list of banned countries.

Trump has close ties with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has in the past been described by the US president as his "favourite dictator".

Only two of the 19 countries are on the US government's State Sponsors of Terrorism list - Iran, which has a full ban, and Cuba, which faces partial travel restrictions.

But national security is given as a partial reason for the choices.

In the proclamation, Trump said many of the countries listed have a "historic failure to accept back their removable nationals" from the US, as well as having "taken advantage" of the US by exploiting its visa system.

He added that nationals from certain countries also "pose significant risks" of overstaying their visas.

World Cup players allowed - who else is exempt?

* "Lawful permanent" US residents

* Their immediate family members who hold immigrant visas

* US government employees with Special Immigrant Visas

* Adoptions

* Dual nationals when the individual is not travelling on a passport from one of the affected countries

* Afghan nationals holding Special Immigrant Visas

* Holders of "immigrant visas for ethnic and religious minorities facing persecution in Iran"

* Foreign nationals travelling with certain non-immigrant visas

* Athletes, their teams (including coaches and supporting staff), and their immediate family when travelling for major sporting events, such as the men's football World Cup in 2026 and the Summer 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles

What has been the reaction to the ban?

Trump's latest order, which is expected to face legal challenges, drew a swift response, at home and abroad.

Chad has retaliated by suspending all visas to US citizens, with President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno saying the country "has its dignity and pride".

Somalia promised to work with the US to address any security issues, with ambassador to the US, Dahir Hassan Abdi, saying his country "values its longstanding relationship" with the US.

Venezuela's Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello warned that "being in the United States is a great risk for anyone, not just for Venezuelans".

The African Union, which represents all 55 countries on the continent, called on the US to "engage in constructive dialogue with the countries concerned".

It appealed to the US to exercise its right to protect its borders and its citizens' security "in a manner that is balanced, evidence-based, and reflective of the long-standing partnership between the United States and Africa".

The union said it remained concerned about the "potential negative impact of such measures".

The UN's human rights chief, Volker Turk, said the ban "raises concerns from the perspective of international law"

"The broad and sweeping nature of the new travel ban raises concerns from the perspective of international law," Volker Turk said in a statement.

That included "the principle of non-discrimination and of the necessity and proportionality of the measures deployed to meet the security concerns stated", he told news agency AFP.

In the US, Democrats were quick to condemn the move.

"This ban, expanded from Trump's Muslim ban in his first term, will only further isolate us on the world stage," Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal wrote on social media.

Congressman Don Beyer said Trump had "betrayed" the ideals of the founders of the US.

Human rights organisation Amnesty International USA described it as "discriminatory, racist, and downright cruel", while the US-based Human Rights First called it "yet another anti-immigrant and punitive action taken" by the president.

But others support the ban.

Congressman Clay Higgins of Louisiana said travel to the US was "a privilege, not a right".

He claimed on BBC Radio's Today programme that Americans had "had enough of immigrants coming to our country, violating our laws and committing violence among our people".

Greg Swenson, chairman of Republicans Overseas UK, said the list of countries subject to the travel ban proves the White House is using a "common sense policy", but expressed suprise that Egypt had not been included.

"I think what the president has decided was that Egypt, despite having one particular incident from an illegal migrant, might have some policies that are in place which are better than other countries," he said.

How is it different to last time?

Trump's original ban took place in 2017, during his first White House term, and featured some of the same countries as his latest order, including Iran, Libya and Somalia.

Critics called it a "Muslim ban" as the seven countries initially listed were Muslim majority, and it was immediately challenged in courts across the US.

The White House revised the policy, ultimately adding two non-Muslim majority countries, North Korea and Venezuela. It was upheld by the US Supreme Court in 2018.

Joe Biden, who succeeded Trump as US president, repealed the ban in 2021, calling it "a stain on our national conscience".

US immigration law expert Christi Jackson said the new ban suggested "lessons have been learned" from Trump's first attempt.

The latest ban was not being implemented immediately, the restrictions were "wider in scope" and it had "clearly defined" exemptions, she told the BBC.

Professor of law and former US attorney Barbara McQuade said the last travel ban had "caused chaos at the border", while this time Trump had given some advance notice.

"The first time around it included lawful permanent residents or Green Card holders, people who had established status in the United States, which courts found to be a violation of the Constitution," she told BBC Newshour.

"This time I think there has been more thought given to this," she said, adding it was "very likely" to be upheld by the Supreme Court.

Indigenous lawyer leads race for chief justice in Mexico

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c14k56dmxx7o, 10 days ago

An indigenous lawyer, Hugo Aguilar, looks set to become Mexico's new chief justice following Sunday's ground-breaking judicial election.

Mexicans were asked to choose the country's entire judiciary by direct ballot for the first time after a radical reform introduced by the governing Morena party.

With almost all the votes for the Supreme Court counted, Mr Aguilar was in the lead for the top post.

President Claudia Sheinbaum declared the elections a success, even though turnout was low at around 13%.

Electoral authorities said Mr Aguilar, who is a member of the Mixtec indigenous group, was ahead of Lenia Batres, the candidate who had the backing of the governing Morena party.

Hugo Aguilar has long campaigned for the rights of Mexico's indigenous groups, which make up almost 20% of the population according to the 2020 census in which people were asked how the identified themselves.

For the past seven years, the 51-year-old constitutional law expert has served as the rights co-ordinator for the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI).

He was also a legal advisor to the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) - an indigenous guerrilla group which staged a short-lived uprising in southern Chiapas state in 1994 - during the EZLN's negotiations with the government in 1996.

During his campaign for the post of chief justice he had said that it was "the turn of the indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples to take a seat in the Supreme Court", accusing the highest court of being stuck in the past and wedded to "principles which don't drive real change for the people".

Candidates with links to the governing Morena party look set to win the majority of the remaining eight posts on the Supreme Court, according to early results.

Critics of the judicial reform which led to the direct election of all the country's judges say the dominance of the governing party is undermining the judiciary's independence.

Those who backed the reform argued that it would make the judiciary more democratic and beholden to voters.

However, the turnout was the lowest in any federal vote held in Mexico, suggesting that there was little enthusiasm among voters for choosing members of the judiciary directly.

US brings back El Salvador deportee to face charges

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7v7ynv98r8o, 6 days ago

Kilmar Ábrego García, a 29-year-old from El Salvador mistakenly deported in March, has been returned to the US to face prosecution on two federal criminal charges.

He has been accused of participating in a trafficking conspiracy over several years to move undocumented migrants from Texas to other parts of the country.

El Salvador agreed to release Mr Ábrego García after the US presented it with an arrest warrant, US Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Friday. His lawyer called the charges "preposterous".

The White House had been resisting a US Supreme Court order from April to "facilitate" his return after he was sent to a jail in El Salvador alongside more than 250 other deportees.

In a two-count grand jury indictment, filed in a Tennessee court last month and unsealed on Friday, Mr Ábrego García was charged with one count of conspiracy to transport aliens and a second count of unlawful transportation of undocumented aliens.

Bondi said the grand jury had found that Mr Ábrego García had played a "significant role" in an alien smuggling ring, bringing in thousands of illegal immigrants to the US.

The charges, which date back to 2016, allege he transported undocumented individuals between Texas and Maryland and other states more than 100 times.

The indictment also alleges he transported members of MS-13, designated a foreign terrorist organisation by the US.

The Trump administration had previously alleged Mr Ábrego García was a member of the transnational Salvadorian gang, which he has denied.

Bondi also accused Mr Ábrego García of trafficking weapons and narcotics into the US for the gang, though he was not charged with any related offences.

He appeared in court for an initial hearing on Friday in Nashville, Tennessee. An arraignment hearing is scheduled 13 June, where US Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes will determine if there are grounds to keep him detained ahead of his trial.

For now, Mr Ábrego García remains in federal custody.

Mr Ábrego García's lawyers have previously argued that he had never been convicted of any criminal offence, including gang membership, in the US or in El Salvador.

Trump's 50% tariffs on metals come into effect

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj3j7z73yv2o, 9 days ago

US President Donald Trump has signed an order doubling tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from 25% to 50%.

The move hikes import taxes on the metals, which are used in everything from cars to canned food, for the second time since March.

Trump has said the measures, which came into effect on Wednesday, are intended to secure the future of the American steel industry.

Critics say the protections could wreak havoc on steel producers outside the US, spark retaliation from trade partners, and come at a punishing cost for American users of the metals.

Hours before he hiked the duties, many firms directly affected could hardly believe the plan was moving forward, hoping it would turn out to be temporary or some kind of negotiating ploy.

Even as Trump signed the orders, the UK was granted a carve-out from the measures, leaving duties on its steel and aluminium at 25%, a move Trump said reflected its ongoing trade discussions with the US.

"Always the question with Mr Trump is, is this a tactic or is this a long-term plan?" said Rick Huether, chief executive of Independent Can Co, a Maryland-based business, which brings in steel from Europe and turns it into decorative cookie tins, popcorn boxes, and other products.

Trump's moves earlier this year had prompted him to put investments on hold and raise prices. He said he feared his customers would turn to alternatives such as plastic or paper boxes due to all of the uncertainty.

"There's a lot of chaos," he said.

The US is the biggest importer of steel in the world, after the European Union, getting most of the metal from Canada, Brazil, Mexico and South Korea, according to the US government.

During his first term, Trump imposed tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminium, citing a law that gives him authority to protect industries considered vital to national security.

But many imports ultimately escaped the duties after the US struck trade deals with allies and granted exemptions to certain imports at the request of firms.

Trump ended those carve-outs in March, saying he was unhappy with the way the protections had been weakened.

At Friday's rally at the US Steel factory, he said he wanted to make tariffs so high that US businesses would have no alternative but to buy from American suppliers.

"Nobody's going to get around that," he said of the 50% rate. "That means that nobody's going to be able to steal your industry. It's at 25% - they can get over that fence. At 50%, they can no longer get over the fence."

Steel and aluminium manufacturers in Canada, a major supplier of the metals to the US, have said the doubled tariffs will devastate their industry.

Lisa Hepfner, a member of parliament from the city of Hamilton, a major steel hub, said the tariffs mean "thousands of jobs lost", and "the end of the industry". She called for Canada to amp up its retaliation.

But Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters on Wednesday he would "take some time" before responding, citing ongoing "intensive discussions" with the Trump administration on trade.

Reaction in the UK and Europe

As of May, imports and the rate of raw steel production in the US had changed little since last year before Trump raised tariffs, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.

But steel imports fell 17% in April, compared to March. And businesses selling the metals into the US said they expected Trump's latest announcement to lead to an even more dramatic drop.

Trump's moves in March had already prompted Canada and the European Union to prepare to hit back with tariffs of their own American products.

On Tuesday, Olof Gill, spokesperson for economic security and trade for the European Commission told the BBC the two sides were engaged in intense talks to try to make progress toward an agreement.

"We're negotiating hard to try and make good deals," he said.

"We really hope that the Americans will roll back on this latest tariff threat, as they have done on others, but that remains to be seen."

In the UK, Trump's announcement put new pressure on the government to pin down the trade deal in the works with the US, which had been expected to provide some protection from the March metals tariffs.

Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds met with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Paris on Tuesday.

His office said it was "pleased" that the trade talks had protected UK steel from the latest duties.

"We will continue to work with the US to implement our agreement, which will see the 25% US tariffs on steel removed," he said.

Gareth Stace, director general of UK Steel, which represents steelmakers, told the BBC that his members had already seen orders cancelled and delayed as a result of the 25% tariffs put in place in March.

He warned that a 50% tariff would be "catastrophic" for UK exports to the US, about 7% of overall exports.

"The introduction of 50% tariffs immediately puts the shutters up," he said. "Most of our orders, if not all of them, will now be cancelled."

Economists said the US economy is also facing headwinds, as prices rise as a result of the new measures.

A 2020 analysis estimated that Trump's first term tariffs created roughly 1,000 jobs in the steel industry, but cost the economy 75,000 jobs in other sectors, such as manufacturing and construction.

Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation, said that she expected to see even more extreme job losses this time.

"Some of the strongest evidence is against tariffs on intermediate inputs like steel and aluminium, finding they are much more harmful because they increase the cost of production in the United States," she said. "It's just very foolish to double down on this type of tariff in particular."

Chad Bartusek is director of supply chain management at Drill Rod & Tool Steels, a small, family-owned manufacturing business in Illinois, which brings in about 800,000 pounds of Austrian-made steel each year, at specifications he says are not produced in the US.

Mr Bartusek said he was currently waiting on three containers worth of steel rod, which would have entered the US without duties at the start of the year.

As of last week, he had expected to pay tariff costs about $72,000. Instead, he is looking at a tariff bill of almost $145,000.

"I woke up Saturday morning, looked at the news and my jaw dropped," he said of Trump's announcement.

Mr Bartusek said business had been steady until a few weeks ago.

But his firm raised prices earlier this year by 8% to 14% to help cover the new cost of the tariffs. Now customers have been ordering more cautiously and he has had to cut back hours for workers.

"It's one punch after the other," he said. "Hopefully, this settles down quickly."

Shakira cancels second concert over production issues

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgxvx8gvw4o, 14 days ago

Shakira has cancelled her upcoming concert in Washington DC after "complications" with the stage at her previous show in Boston - an event that was also called off.

The Colombian pop star had been due to perform on Saturday as part of WorldPride, one of the largest LGBTQ+ festivals in the world.

In a statement released by the baseball stadium where the performance was set to take place, Nationals Park said "complications with the previous show in Boston" meant "Shakira's full tour production cannot be transported to Washington, D.C" in time.

The Wherever, Whenever singer said she was "devastated" that the shows "were just not possible this time".

"Because of the unforeseen and unfortunate circumstances that affected me and other artists in Boston, my full tour production is not able to be moved to Washington, DC in time for my scheduled performance on Saturday," said Shakira, 48.

"I have been counting the days, excited to be reunited with my fans in both Washington and Boston", she added.

"I promise that I will do everything in my power to be with you as soon I can."

Nationals Park said that "despite every effort", it was not possible for the concert to take place as planned. The venue promised automatic refunds for ticketholders.

The previous performance in Boston's Fenway Park stadium was cancelled shortly before Shakira was due to take to the stage on 29 May, and performances by country singers Jason Aldean and Brooks & Dunn on 30 May were also cancelled.

According to the BBC's US partner CBS News, the Boston gigs were called off because of a safety issue with the stage.

Entertainment company Live Nation said "structural elements were identified as not being up to standard" and the issues were discovered during a routine pre-show check.

Responding to the cancellation of the Washington DC show on social media, several fans said they had travelled to the city specifically to catch the performance.

"Flew in from LA for this. I'm experiencing a second cancellation of this tour," one user wrote, adding: "Rather disappointing."

Meanwhile, several users expressed their support for the singer. "She doesn't deserve this horrible situation," wrote one.

Shakira is currently performing in stadiums across north America as part of her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran tour, in support of her 12th studio album.

She is due to perform in Atlanta on Monday, 2 June.

Why are these 12 countries on Trump's travel-ban list?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz6329yvwdvo, 9 days ago

A travel ban issued on Wednesday by US President Donald Trump is set to primarily affect countries in Africa and the Middle East.

Twelve countries face full bans, which will come into force on Monday. People from a further seven nations are facing partial restrictions.

Trump has depicted it as a matter of national security. He cited a recent attack on members of Colorado's Jewish community, which was allegedly carried out by an Egyptian national. Egypt itself is not on the banned list.

Other reasons cited include alleged breaking of US visa rules by people from the countries in question. Here is a closer look at some of the president's reasoning.

Afghanistan

A range of accusations have been made against Afghanistan in a presidential proclamation signed by Trump. The document highlights that the Taliban, which controls the country, is a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) group.

The move comes just weeks after the Trump administration appeared to signal that it believed the situation had improved in Afghanistan, when it announced the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghans living in the US.

Afghanistan is further accused by Trump of lacking a "competent or co-operative" central authority for issuing passports or civil documents. As with other countries on Trump's list, the issue of Afghan nationals overstaying their visas is also cited.

Iran

Trump's proclamation identifies Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism - a longstanding charge that the Middle Eastern nation has previously rejected.

The US has previously censured Tehran, Iran's capital, for its alleged sponsorship of proxy groups operating in the region, such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

The new proclamation from Trump says the country is "the source of significant terrorism around the world", does not co-operate with the US on security risks and has "historically failed to accept back its removable nationals".

The move comes amid diplomatic wrangling between the two sides over the creation of a new deal over Iran's nuclear weapon-building capabilities.

Somalia and Libya

Similar reasons are given in the case of Somalia. The east African country is branded by Trump as a "terrorist safe haven". Like Iran, it is also accused of failing to accept its nationals when removed from the US.

However, a further point was made by Trump: "Somalia stands apart from other countries in the degree to which its government lacks command and control of its territory, which greatly limits the effectiveness of its national capabilities in a variety of respects."

Somalia's internationally-based government faces a significant challenge from armed Islamists. It has pledged to "engage in dialogue to address the concerns raised" by Trump.

Libya, in north Africa, is cited for its "historical terrorist presence", which is painted as a security threat to Americans.

Libya and Somalia are also among the countries on Trump's list which have been criticised for their perceived incompetence at issuing passports.

Haiti

The document highlights that "hundreds of thousands of illegal Haitian aliens flooded into the United States during the Biden Administration".

Trump points to various perceived risks that this has entailed - including the creation of "criminal networks" and high visa overstay rates.

Data from the US Census Bureau suggested more than 852,000 Haitians were living in the US in February 2024, though it does not give a breakdown of when those migrants arrived.

Many came after a devastating earthquake in 2010, or after fleeing gang violence that took hold in the Caribbean nation. The US president also points to a lack of central authority in Haiti for matters including law enforcement.

Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea

These countries are solely accused by Trump of having relatively high visa overstay rates.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defines an "overstay" as a person who remains in the US beyond their authorised period of admission, with no evidence of any extension. The "rate" signals the proportion of people who overstayed.

The central African nation Chad is singled out for showing a "a blatant disregard for United States immigration laws".

The document highlights an overstay rate of 49.54% by Chadians on business or tourist visas in 2023, citing a DHS report.

Congo-Brazzaville and Equatorial Guinea have equivalent rates of 29.63% and 21.98% respectively. But these rates are lower than Laos, which faces a lesser restriction.

Myanmar

Myanmar - referred to as Burma in the Trump proclamation - is similarly accused of a high visa overstay rates.

As with others on the list, including Iran, the country is further accused of not co-operating with the US to accept deported Burmese nationals.

Eritrea, Sudan and Yemen

For each of these countries, the first allegation made by Trump is that they have questionable competence at issuing passports and civil documents.

Eritrea and Sudan are further accused of having relatively high visa overstay rates. Eritrea is also blamed for failing to make the criminal records of its national available to the US, and of refusing to accept deported nationals.

As with Somalia, Yemen is also accused of lacking control over its own land. Trump's proclamation highlights that it is the site of active US military operations. The US has been combating Houthis, who have seized much of the north and west of the country during an ongoing civil war.

Partial restrictions

* Venezuela is accused of lacking a "competent or co-operative" central authority for issuing passports and similar documents. Allegations of visa overstays and a refusal to accept deportees are again mentioned. In response, the South American country has described the Trump administration as "supremacists who think they own the world"

* Cuba is labelled as another "state sponsor of terrorism" - a designation that was made by the US in 2021, and condemned by Havana. An alleged refusal to accept deportees is also mentioned, as are visa overstays

* Visa overstays are again presented as the key issue in the cases of Burundi, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo and Turkmenistan

Turning used cooking oil into soap in a country where deep-fried foods rule

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9djx7llj44o, 13 days ago

Few 27-year-olds look at used cooking oil and see a green business opportunity to produce soap or dog food.

But that is what Hugo Daniel Chávez, a project manager for the NGO Sustenta Honduras, has done.

"We have so many businesses and domestic practices that create waste, so we are trying to transform waste and give it a second life," he tells the BBC.

Across Latin America, several million tonnes of cooking oil are consumed every year. It is often used to fry food, mostly chicken, plantain strips, chips and pork.

But reusing and heating it too often - as is often the case in Honduras, where there is a huge black market for used cooking oil - can create compounds which are bad for consumers' health.

Improperly discarded, it can also have a massive detrimental impact on the environment.

If it is drained down the sink, it can damage pipes and contaminate groundwater, and when it is tossed by the side of the road, it can contaminate freshwater and crops many communities rely on.

Faced with these health and environmental hazards, the young green entrepreneurs behind Sustenta tried to come up with a solution which would not only give businesses an incentive to dispose of their oil and grease properly, but also turn these waste products into something useful.

The NGO's executive director, Ricardo Pineda, explains that their idea originated from earlier efforts by different companies and organisations to transform used cooking oil into biodiesel. "But in Honduras, we don't have a market for biodiesel," he says.

"So we decided to produce products that can do well in our domestic markets [such as soap and dog food]."

In order to make it more attractive to people to get rid of the oil legally rather than sell it to unscrupulous buyers, Sustenta offers to buy the used cooking oil and pick it up regularly from the shops that participate in their project.

Their efforts have gained international recognition, most notably when they were awarded a $20,000-prize as one of the winners of the 2023 Youth4Climate Energy Challenge, a global initiative co-led by the Italian government and the United Nations Development Programme.

Sustenta also receives funding from the embassy of the The Netherlands in the region, which told the BBC that it chose Sustenta because "their project offered an innovative and viable solution, using an enterprising approach which has a social impact".

"It [their project] not only contributes to lessening the environmental impact through an emphasis on creating a circular economy, but also empowers young people and women - the groups most affected by climate change - and generates green jobs."

Sustenta offers between 2.50 and 3.50 Lempiras (£0.08 and £0.11) per pound of used cooking oil.

And it is not just small businesses it deals with.

In May of 2024, the NGO signed a contract with the Mexican and Central American division of the retail giant Walmart.

This contract guarantees a flow of used cooking oil and grease from all companies related to Walmart to Sustenta, which Mr Pineda says is critical to Sustenta's project.

"We needed a reliable flow to scale up production. (...) Otherwise, we could quickly run out of used cooking oil, because of the black market that is competing with us," adds Mr Chávez.

It then brings the cooking oil and grease to a plant in Comayagua, where they are purified and processed in a reaction known as saponification. This process combines fats or oils with an alkali to produce soap.

Mr Pineda says that Sustenta is keen to develop "a circular ecological system in which we reuse everything".

"Next to our plant that produces the soap and dog food, someone else has a water purification plant and we use the water that plant cannot purify, its waste so to say, for our water cooling system," he explains.

The idea of teaming up with Walmart, Mr Pineda says, is "to sell the dog food and soap we have refined from their waste at Walmart".

"They could profit from their own waste and also see the economic value behind circular economies, " he tells the BBC.

At 15 lempiras (£0.45) per bar of soap, the project makes a monthly revenue of over 106,000 Lempiras (£3,194.70), which excludes fixed costs like salaries, commission and distribution.

Mr Pineda emphasises that "the money doesn't stay with us". "We just help with the implementation of the project and as soon as it's up and running we seek new opportunities," he says.

The recycling of cooking oil is just one several projects running simultaneously at Sustenta.

The organisation is comprised of young people, all under 30 and averaging 23 years of age, and their youthful enthusiasm and impatience with established ways of doing things has been key to their approach.

"We started as a young group that was sick of the regular ways large institutions handle issues with climate change and the environment," Mr Pineda says.

"We want to create actual solutions and not sit around only talking about what could be done."

Their strategy also differs from that of other young environmental organisations in the region, who often focus on a confrontational approach, trying to halt large mining or energy projects and holding politicians accountable for corruption.

But Sustenta's project coordinator, Paola Acevedo, says the two approached are not at odds, but rather complement each other: "This type of [classical] environmentalism is very important and there is no doubt that we need it."

"We try to focus on solutions, while the others fight on the front lines," she adds.

Bolsonaro denies involvement in alleged coup plot

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0j73573v4qo, 3 days ago

Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro has denied his involvement in an alleged plot to overthrow the country's current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Speaking for the first time in court, Bolsonaro, who ruled the country between 2019 and 2022, said a coup was an "abominable thing" and there was "never even a possibility of a coup in my government".

Along with seven "co-conspirators", the 70-year-old is standing trial over the events which led up to the storming of government buildings by his supporters on 8 January 2023, a week after Lula's inauguration.

The former president could face decades in prison if he is convicted. He has always denied the charges against him.

Questioned by Judge Alexandre de Moraes in court on Tuesday about the alleged charge of plotting a coup, Bolsonaro said the charge "does not hold, your Excellency".

Speaking later, he said: "I only have one thing to affirm to your excellency: on my part, on the part of military commanders, there has never been talk of a coup. A coup is an abominable thing."

"Brazil couldn't go through an experience like that. And there was never even the possibility of a coup in my government," he added.

Bolsonaro narrowly lost the presidential election to Lula in 2022.

Following Lula's victory, Bolsonaro ramped up false claims that there had been faults with electronic voting machines in the run-up to the election.

The prosecution alleged Bolsonaro's claims of voter fraud started as early as 2021 as a pretext that could be used to question a possible defeat in the 2022 election.

Responding in court, Bolsonaro said he wasn't the only person who distrusts electronic voter machines and said he had acted within the rules of the constitution.

"Many times I rebelled, I swear. But, in my opinion, I did what had to be done," he told the court on Tuesday.

Bolsonaro is the sixth defendant to take the stand since the trial started in May.

The eight defendants are accused of five charges, which include attempting to stage a coup, involvement in an armed criminal organisation, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, aggravated damage and deterioration of listed heritage.

Most have so far denied the charges against them.

Bolsonaro, a former army captain and admirer of US President Donald Trump, governed Brazil from January 2019 to December 2022.

He narrowly lost a presidential election run-off in October 2022 to his left-wing rival, Lula.

Bolsonaro never publicly acknowledged his defeat. Many of his supporters spent weeks camping outside army barracks in an attempt to convince the military to prevent Lula from being sworn in as president as scheduled on 1 January 2023.

A week after Lula's inauguration, on 8 January 2023, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed government buildings in the capital, Brasilia, in what federal investigators say was an attempted coup.

Bolsonaro was in the United States at the time and has always denied any links to the rioters.

He has already been barred from running for public office until 2030 for falsely claiming that Brazil's voting system was vulnerable to fraud, but he has declared his intention to fight that ban so that he can run for a second term in 2026.

British journalist missing in Brazil found safe

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgvlpd5j8do, 10 days ago

A British journalist reported missing in Brazil since February has been found safe and well, police have said.

Charlotte Alice Peet, 32, was reported missing to authorities by her UK-based family after losing contact with her in February.

At time the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in Brazil (ACIE) released a statement "expressing concern over her disappearance".

On Monday, Brazilian police told the BBC they had found Ms Peet in a hostel in São Paulo in March and she expressed a desire not to have contact with family members.

"In view of this, the investigation of the disappearance was concluded," a spokesperson for Rio state's Civil Police said.

At the time of her disappearance, Ms Peet was understood to have last contacted a friend on 8 February, saying she was in São Paulo and planned to travel to Rio de Janeiro. She had not been heard from since.

Days later, her UK-based family told the friend they had lost contact with her and provided authorities with details of her flight and a copy of her passport to aid the search.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Ms Peet has worked as a freelance journalist in Rio and London for organisations including Al Jazeera and The Times.

Mexican police arrest suspect in killing of five band members

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clygr1v6z2mo, 11 days ago

Police in Mexico have detained a man known by the alias of M-47, whom they suspect of ordering the murder of members of the band Grupo Fugitivo.

The bodies of four musicians from the band and their manager were discovered on Thursday in Tamaulipas state, four days after the men had been reported missing.

Their relatives had reported receiving ransom demands in the days after the men's disappearance.

While kidnappings for ransom are not uncommon in violence-wracked Tamaulipas, the way band members were apparently lured to an abandoned lot by their kidnappers with the promise of a gig at a private party and then killed has shocked locals, who held rallies demanding their release.

Police said they arrested M-47 during raids on three properties, in which they also seized drugs, weapons, cash and suspicious vehicles and detained two other suspects.

Federal officials said they suspect M-47 of being one of the bosses of a gang known as "Metros", which forms part of the Gulf Cartel.

The Gulf Cartel has its stronghold in Tamaulipas state and engages in the smuggling of drugs and migrants across the US-Mexico border, as well as kidnapping for ransom.

It is not clear why the members of Grupo Fugitivo were targeted.

The singer - who survived because he was late on the night - told local media that his band had been hired to perform at a private party and given an address.

The singer said that when he made his own way to the location they had been given to meet up with his fellow musicians, he found the address to be a vacant lot and no sign of the band members or their SUV.

The band's SUV was found abandoned three days later a few kilometres away. The trailer with their instruments and sound equipment was also found dumped at another nearby location.

Investigators believe the five were taken by their captors to a property, where they were killed.

Grupo Fugitivo were known for playing norteña music - a genre characterised by catchy lyrics often sung to a polka-inspired rhythm - which has been targeted by criminal gangs.

Some bands rely on income early in their careers from being hired to play at private parties, many of which are hosted by people involved in or with connections to the cartels.

They sometimes also compose songs praising drug lords and there have been instances in the past when singers of such songs, known as "corridos" have been threatened and even killed by rival gangs.

In total, 12 suspects have been arrested in connection with the murder of the members of Grupo Fugitivo so far.

Global watchdog finds Iran failing to meet nuclear obligations

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3v6w2qr12o, yesterday

The global nuclear watchdog's board of governors has formally declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in 20 years.

Nineteen of the 35 countries on the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) voted for the motion, which was backed by the US, UK, France and Germany.

It says Iran's "many failures" to provide the IAEA with full answers about its undeclared nuclear material and activities constitutes non-compliance. It also expresses concern about Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium, which can be used to make reactor fuel but also nuclear weapons.

Iran condemned the resolution as "political" and said it would open a new enrichment facility.

It follows a report from the IAEA last week which criticised Iran's "general lack of co-operation" and said it had enough uranium enriched to 60% purity, near weapons grade, to potentially make nine nuclear bombs.

Iran insists its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful and that it would never seek to develop or acquire nuclear weapons.

Under a landmark 2015 deal with six world powers, Iran agreed to limit its nuclear activities and allow continuous and robust monitoring by the IAEA's inspectors in return for relief from crippling economic sanctions.

Iran also committed to help the IAEA resolve outstanding questions about the declarations under its Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Safeguards Agreement.

However, US President Donald Trump abandoned the agreement during his first term in 2018, saying it did too little to stop a pathway to a bomb, and reinstated US sanctions.

Since 2019, Iran has increasingly breached restrictions of the existing nuclear deal in retaliation, particularly those relating to production of enriched uranium.

Diplomats said three countries - Russia, China and Burkina Faso - voted against the resolution at the IAEA board's meeting in Vienna. Eleven others abstained and two did not vote.

The text, seen by the BBC, says the board "deeply regrets" that Iran has "failed to co-operate fully with the agency, as required by its Safeguards Agreement".

"Iran's many failures to uphold its obligations since 2019 to provide the agency with full and timely co-operation regarding undeclared nuclear material and activities at multiple undeclared locations in Iran... constitutes non-compliance with its obligations," it adds.

As a result, it says, the IAEA is "not able to verify that there has been no diversion of nuclear material required to be safeguarded". The "inability... to provide assurance that Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful," it adds, "gives rise to questions that are within the competence of the United Nations Security Council".

The issue could now be referred to the Security Council, which has the power to "snap back" the UN sanctions lifted under the 2015 deal if Iran fails to fulfil its obligations. European powers have said that could happen later this year unless Iran reverses course.

France, Germany, the UK and US said in a joint statement that the board's action "creates an opportunity Iran should seize".

"Iran still has a chance to finally fulfil its obligations, in full candour, and answer the IAEA's crucial, longstanding questions on undeclared nuclear material and activities," they added.

But the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) and the Iranian foreign ministry condemned the "political action" by countries who voted in favour of the resolution and insisting that it was "without technical and legal basis".

They announced that Iran would respond by setting up a new uranium enrichment facility at a "secure location" and by replacing first-generation centrifuges used to enrich uranium with more advanced, sixth-generation machines at the underground Fordo facility.

"Other measures are also being planned," they added.

Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, said the resolution also "adds to the complexities" of the talks between Tehran and Washington on a new nuclear agreement.

Donald Trump wants a deal that will see Iran end its uranium enrichment programme, saying that is the only way to ensure it cannot develop a nuclear weapon, and has threatened to bomb the country if the negotiations are not successful.

A sixth round of talks is due to be held this Sunday in Oman. However, Trump said in an interview on Wednesday that he was growing "less confident" of a deal. Iranian negotiators have so far refused to stop enriching uranium, describing it as a "non-negotiable" right.

Earlier this week, Trump also held a reportedly tense phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long argued for a military rather than diplomatic approach. Israel considers the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran as an existential threat.

It comes amid mounting tensions in the Middle East, with the US advising non-essential staff at some of its embassies in the region to leave and reports saying that Israel is ready to launch strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Iran's defence minister has warned that it would respond to any attack by targeting all US military bases "within our reach".

CIA analyst who leaked Israel strike plan sentenced to three years

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdxv3ledlvyo, yesterday

A former CIA analyst who leaked classified documents about Israel's plans to strike Iran has been sentenced to 37 months in prison.

Asif William Rahman, 34, pleaded guilty in January to two counts of willful retention and transmission of national defence information under the Espionage Act.

Authorities say that, using his high-level security clearance, Rahman printed, photographed and sent out top secret documents. They later ended up being circulated on social media.

Israel carried out air strikes on Iran last October, targeting military sites in several regions, in response to the barrage of missiles launched by Tehran weeks earlier.

"For months, this defendant betrayed the American people and the oaths he took upon entering his office by leaking some of our Nation's most closely held secrets," John Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a press release.

In October 2024, documents appearing to be from a Department of Defense agency were published on an Iranian-aligned Telegram account.

The documents, bearing a top-secret mark, were viewable between the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, made up of the US, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

The leaked documents are also said to have contained the US' assessment of Israeli plans ahead of the strike on Iran and the movements of military assets in preparation.

One referred to Israel's nuclear capabilities, which have never been officially acknowledged.

When asked about the leak, former President Joe Biden said he was "deeply concerned".

Israel ended up carrying out those air strikes later in the month, targeting military sites in several regions in response to missiles fired by Tehran weeks prior.

Rahman, who worked abroad, was arrested by the FBI in Cambodia and brought to the US territory of Guam to face charges.

Syria government says women must wear burkinis at public beaches

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgq7d9qdego, 2 days ago

Syria's Islamist-led interim government has decreed that women must wear burkinis - a swimsuit that covers the body except for the face, hands and feet - or other "decent" clothes at public beaches and swimming pools.

The regulations, issued by the tourism ministry, were "aimed at enhancing public safety standards and preserving public decency", Syrian state news channel Al-Ikhbariyah al-Suriyah reported.

Private beaches, clubs and pools, as well as hotels with more than four stars, are exempt, the directive said.

Women often dress modestly on public beaches in Syria, but some women do opt for more Western styles of swimwear. The new government previously pledged to govern inclusively.

Under the new directive, beachgoers and visitors to public pools must wear "more modest swimwear", specifying "the burkini or swimming clothes that cover more of the body".

The decree added that women should wear a cover-up or loose clothing over their swimwear when they move between swimming areas.

"Travelling in swimwear outside the beach without appropriate cover is prohibited," it said.

Men should also wear a shirt when they are not swimming, and are not allowed to be bare-chested outside swimming areas.

The statement said "normal Western swimwear" was generally allowed in exempted places "within the limits of public taste".

More generally, people should wear loose clothing that covers the shoulders and knees and "avoid transparent and tight clothing", the decree added.

The directive did not say whether those who fail to follow the rules would be penalised or how the rules would be enforced. But it did say lifeguards and supervisors would be appointed to monitor compliance on beaches.

It also included other safety regulations around pools and beaches.

Reacting to the new rule, one woman from Idlib in the north-west of the country told the BBC's World Service OS programme that, while she could see both sides of the argument, "I do think there is a positive to this, from a moral and respectful point of view."

Celine said: "Some people and families don't feel comfortable seeing or wearing too much exposed skin and I believe that is a valid perspective."

But another woman, Rita, who lives in the capital, Damascus, said she was "not comfortable" with the new rule, "especially as we are not used to such laws".

"In the coastal area, different ladies from different religions all have been going there and until now, we wore what we wanted," she said. "Religious people could avoid those in bikinis. But this law makes us scared of where to go."

She added: "We have no problem with the burkini itself, but it's a problem with the concept that the government are controlling this."

In December last year, Islamist rebel forces led by Ahmed al-Sharaa toppled Bashar al-Assad's regime, bringing years of civil war to an end.

Since then, al-Sharaa, now the country's interim president, has promised to run the country in an inclusive way.

In an interview with the BBC shortly after he took power, he said he believed in education for women and denied that he wanted to turn Syria into a version of Afghanistan - which has severely curtailed women's rights.

In March, Sharaa signed a constitutional declaration covering a five-year transitional period.

The document said Islam was the religion of the president, as the previous constitution did, and Islamic jurisprudence was "the main source of legislation", rather than "a main source".

The declaration also guaranteed women's rights, freedom of expression, and media freedom.

Additional reporting by Rachel Hagan

Israel has inflicted unprecedented damage on Iran's elite - why now?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g3nz1p9wdo, today

Not only has Israel's attack on Iran been more wide-ranging and intense than its two previous military operations last year, but it also appears to have adopted some of the strategy that was used in the Israeli offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon last November.

That is not only to hit Iran's missile bases - and thus its ability to respond with force - but also to launch strikes to take out key members of Iran's leadership.

That strategy of decapitation of Hezbollah senior figures had devastating consequences for the group and its ability to mount a sustainable counter offensive.

Footage from Tehran has shown what seem to be specific buildings hit, similar to images from Israel's attacks on the southern suburbs of Beirut, which culminated in the killing of Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

No figure of that magnitude appears to have been killed in Iran. The Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has not been targeted.

But to kill Iran's military chief of staff, Hossein Salami, the commander of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, and several of the country's top nuclear scientists in the first hours of an operation that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has suggested might go on for days is to have inflicted an unprecedented degree of damage on Iran's elite.

That would seem to necessitate a fiercer response from Iran than we saw in its two attacks on Israel last year.

But it may also make Tehran's ability to summon up such a response that much harder. That presumably is the calculation that Netanyahu made in ordering this escalation in the conflict.

Why he decided to go ahead with the attack right now - one that he has for so long advocated - could be for the reasons he has given.

In a statement released not long after the operation began, he said that it was a matter of Israel's survival.

But Netanyahu has been making the argument that Israel faces existential threat if Iran gets a nuclear bomb for many years. To underline the renewed urgency, a senior Israeli military official has said that there was information that Iran had enough material to make fifteen nuclear bombs within days.

But there may also have been a very different factor at play.

The talks between the US and Iran on a deal over Tehran's nuclear programme was about to enter its sixth round on Sunday. There have been conflicting signals over how much progress has been made in this.

For Netanyahu, though, it may have seemed that this was a crucial moment to ensure that what he sees as an unacceptable deal would be stopped in its tracks.

Militarily, he and his advisors may have felt that not only Iran but its proxies in the region - Hezbollah in particular - have been weakened to such an extent that the threat they once posed is now no longer as potent.

The coming hours and days will show whether that is proved to be correct or a dangerous miscalculation.

China's electric cars are becoming slicker and cheaper - but is there a deeper cost?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8d4v69jw6o, 4 days ago

Listen to Theo read this article

In China, they call it the Seagull, and it has looks to match. It is sleek and angular, with bright, downward-slanting headlights that have more than a hint of mischievous eyes about them.

It is, of course, a car. A very small one, designed as a cheap city runabout – but it could have huge significance. Available in China since 2023, where it has proved extremely popular, it has just been launched in Europe with the name Dolphin Surf (because Europeans apparently aren't as keen on seagulls as Chinese people).

When it goes on sale in the UK this week, it's expected to have a price tag of around £18,000. That will still make it, for an electric car on western markets, very cheap indeed.

It won't be the outright lowest-priced model on offer: the Dacia Spring, manufactured in Wuhan jointly by Renault and Dongfeng, and the Leapmotor T03, which is being produced by a joint venture between Chinese startup Leapmotor and Stellantis, both cost less.

But the Dolphin Surf is the new arrival that has long-established brands most worried. That is because the company behind it has been making ever bigger waves on international markets.

BYD is already the biggest player in China. It overtook Tesla in 2024 to become the world's best-selling maker of electric vehicles (EVs), and since entering the European markets two years ago, it has expanded aggressively.

"We want to be number one in the British market within 10 years," says Steve Beattie, sales and marketing director for BYD UK.

BYD is part of a wider expansion of Chinese companies and brands that some believe could change the face of the global motor industry – and which has already prompted radical action from the US government and the EU.

It means once-unknown marques like Nio, Xpeng, Zeekr or Omoda could become every bit as much household names as Ford or Volkswagen. They will join classic brands such as MG, Volvo and Lotus, which have been under Chinese ownership for years.

The products on offer already encompass a huge range, from runabouts like the tiny Dolphin Surf to exotic supercars, like the pothole-jumping U9, from BYD's high-end sub-brand Yangwang.

"Chinese brands are making massive inroads into the European market," says David Bailey, professor of business and economics at Birmingham Business School.

In 2024, 17 million battery and plug-in hybrid cars were sold worldwide, 11 million of those in China. Chinese brands, meanwhile, had 10% of global EV and plug-in hybrid sales outside their home country, according to the consultancy Rho Motion. That figure is only expected to grow.

For consumers, it should be good news – leading to more high-quality and affordable electric cars becoming available. But with rivalry between Beijing and western powers showing no sign of subsiding, some experts are concerned Chinese vehicles could represent a security risk from hackers and third parties. And for established players in Europe, it represents a formidable challenge to their historic dominance.

"[China has] a huge cost advantage through economies of scale and battery technology. European manufacturers have fallen well behind," warns Mr Bailey.

"Unless they wake up very quickly and catch up, they could be wiped out."

Cut-throat competition in China

China's car industry has been developing rapidly since the country joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. But that process accelerated rapidly in 2015, when the Communist Party introduced its "Made in China 2025" initiative. The 10-year plan to make the country a leader in several high-tech industries, including EVs, attracted intense criticism from abroad, and particularly the US, amid claims of forced technology transfers and theft of intellectual property – all of which the Chinese government denies.

Fuelled by lavish state funding, the plan helped lay the groundwork for the breakneck growth of companies like BYD – originally a maker of batteries for mobile phones – and allowed the Chinese parent companies of MG and Volvo, SAIC and Geely, to become major players in the EV market.

"The general standard of Chinese cars is very, very high indeed," says Dan Caesar, chief executive of Electric Vehicles UK.

"China has learned extremely quickly how to manufacture cars."

Yet competition in China has become ever more cut-throat, with brands jostling for space in an increasingly saturated market. This has led them to hunt for sales elsewhere.

While Chinese firms have expanded into East Asia and South America, for years the European market proved a tough nut to crack – that is, until governments here decided to phase out the sale of new petrol and diesel models.

The transition to electric cars opened the door to new players.

"[Chinese brands] have seen an opportunity to get a bit of a foothold," says Oliver Lowe, UK product manager of Omoda and Jaecoo, two sub brands of the Chinese giant Chery.

Low labour costs in China, coupled with government subsidies and a very well-established supply chain, have given Chinese firms advantages, their rivals have claimed. A report from the Swiss bank UBS, published in late 2023, suggested that BYD alone was able to build cars 25% more cheaply than western competitors.

Chinese firms deny the playing field is uneven. Xpeng's vice chairman Brian Gu told the BBC at the Paris Motor Show in 2024 that his company is competitive "because we have fought tooth and nail through the most competitive market in the world".

'Naked protectionism' from the US?

Concerns that Chinese EV imports could flood international markets at the expense of established manufacturers reached fever pitch in 2024.

In the US, the Alliance for American Manufacturing warned they could prove to be an "extinction-level event" for the US industry, while the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen suggested that "huge state subsidies" for Chinese firms were distorting the European market.

The Biden administration took dramatic action, raising import tariffs on Chinese-made EVs from 25% to 100%, effectively making it pointless to sell them in the US.

It was condemned by Beijing as "naked protectionism".

Meanwhile, in October 2024, the EU imposed extra tariffs of up to 35.3% on Chinese-made EVs. The UK, however, took no action.

Matthias Schmidt, founder of Schmidt Automotive Research, says the EU's tariffs have now made it harder for Chinese firms to gain market share.

"The door was wide open in 2024... but the Chinese failed to take their chance. With the tariffs in place, Chinese manufacturers are now unable to push their cost advantage onto European consumers."

Renault's ultra-modern EV hub

European manufacturers have been racing to develop their own affordable electric cars. French car-maker Renault is among them.

At its factory in Douai, in northeastern France, an army of spark-spitting robots weld sections of steel to form car bodies, while on the main assembly line, automated systems mate together bodyshells, doors, batteries, motors and other parts, before human workers apply the finishing touches.

The factory has been making cars for Renault since 1974, but four years ago, the ageing production lines were replaced with new highly automated, digitally-controlled systems.

Part of the site was also taken over by the Chinese-owned battery firm AESC, which built its own "gigafactory" next door.

It's part of Renault's wider plan to set up an ultra-modern EV "hub" in northern France. Mirroring the lean production techniques of Chinese manufacturers, the hub cuts costs by maximising efficiency and ensuring that suppliers are located as close as possible.

"Our target was to be able to produce affordable electric cars here to sell in Europe," explains Pierre Andrieux, director of the Douai plant, arguing that automated processes "will enable us to do that profitably".

But the company is also exploiting something the Chinese brands do not have: heritage. Its latest model, the Renault 5 E-tech, built in Douai, borrows its name from one of the company's most famous products.

The original Renault 5, launched in 1972, was a quirky little everyman car with boxy looks and low running costs that became a cult classic.

The new design, despite being a state-of-the art EV, pays homage to its predecessor in name and appearance, in an effort to emulate its popular appeal.

Security, spyware and hacking concerns

But irrespective of how desirable Chinese cars are in comparison with European rivals, some experts believe we should be wary of them – for security reasons.

Most modern vehicles are internet-enabled in some way – to allow satellite navigation, for example – and drivers' phones are often connected to car systems. Pioneered by Tesla, so-called "over-the-air updates" can upgrade a car's software remotely.

This has all led to concerns, in some quarters, that cars could be hacked and used to harbour spyware, monitor individuals or even be immobilised at the touch of a keyboard.

Earlier this year, a British newspaper reported that military and intelligence chiefs had been ordered not to discuss official business while riding in EVs; it was also alleged that cars with Chinese components had been banned from sensitive military sites.

Then in May, a former head of the intelligence service MI6 claimed that Chinese-made technology in a range of products, including cars, could be controlled and programmed remotely. Sir Richard Dearlove warned MPs that there was the potential to "immobilise London".

Beijing has always denied all accusations of espionage.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in London says that the recent allegations are "entirely unfounded and absurd".

"China has consistently advocated the secure, open, and rules-based development of global supply chains," the spokesperson told the BBC. "Chinese enterprises operating around the world are required to comply with local laws and regulations.

"To date, there is no credible evidence to support the claim that Chinese EVs pose a security threat to the UK or any other country."

Chinese government is 'not hell-bent on surveillance'

Joseph Jarnecki, research fellow at defence and security think-tank The Royal United Services Institute, argues that potential risks can be mitigated.

"Chinese carmakers exist in this highly competitive market. While they're beholden to Chinese law and that may require compliance with national security agencies, none of them want to damage their ability to grow and to have international exports by being perceived as a security risk," he says.

"The Chinese government equally is conscious of the need for economic growth. They're not hell-bent on solely conducting surveillance."

But the car industry is just one area in which Chinese technology is becoming increasingly enmeshed in the UK economy. To achieve the government's climate objectives, for instance, "It will be necessary to use Chinese-supplied technology", adds Mr Jarnecki.

He believes that regulators of key industries should be given sufficient resources to monitor cyber security and advise companies using Chinese products of any potential issues.

As for electric cars powered by Chinese technology, there's no question that they're here to stay.

"Even if you have a car that's made in Germany or elsewhere, it probably contains quite a few Chinese components," says Dan Caesar.

"The reality is most of us have smartphones and things from China, from the US, from Korea, without really giving it a second thought. So I do think there's some fearmongering going on about what the Chinese are capable of.

"I think we have to face the reality that China is going to be a big part of the future."

Top image credit: Reuters

Britain's energy bills problem - and why firms are paid huge sums to stop producing power

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdedjnw8e85o, 5 days ago

It is 1am on 3 June. A near gale force wind is blasting into Scotland. Great weather for the Moray East and West offshore wind farms, you would have thought.

The two farms are 13 miles off the north-east coast of Scotland and include some of the biggest wind turbines in the UK, at 257m high. With winds like that they should be operating at maximum capacity, generating what the developer, Ocean Winds, claims is enough power to meet the electricity needs of well over a million homes.

Except they are not.

That's because if you thought that once an electricity generator - whether it be a wind farm or a gas-powered plant - was connected to the national grid it could seamlessly send its electricity wherever it was needed in the country, you'd be wrong.

The electricity grid was built to deliver power generated by coal and gas plants near the country's major cities and towns, and doesn't always have sufficient capacity in the wires that carry electricity around the country to get the new renewable electricity generated way out in the wild seas and rural areas.

And this has major consequences.

The way the system currently works means a company like Ocean Winds gets what are effectively compensation payments if the system can't take the power its wind turbines are generating and it has to turn down its output.

It means Ocean winds was paid £72,000 not to generate power from its wind farms in the Moray Firth during a half-hour period on 3 June because the system was overloaded - one of a number of occasions output was restricted that day.

At the same time, 44 miles (70km) east of London, the Grain gas-fired power station on the Thames Estuary was paid £43,000 to provide more electricity.

Payments like that happen virtually every day. Seagreen, Scotland's largest wind farm, was paid £65 million last year to restrict its output 71% of the time, according to analysis by Octopus Energy.

Balancing the grid in this way has already cost the country more than £500 million this year alone, the company's analysis shows. The total could reach almost £8bn a year by 2030, warns the National Electricity System Operator (NESO), the body in charge of the electricity network.

It's pushing up all our energy bills and calling into question the government's promise that net zero would end up delivering cheaper electricity.

Now, the government is considering a radical solution: instead of one big, national electricity market, there'll be a number of smaller regional markets, with the government gambling that this could make the system more efficient and deliver cheaper bills.

But in reality, it's not guaranteed that anyone will get cheaper bills. And even if some people do, many others elsewhere in the country could end up paying more.

The proposals have sparked such bitter debate that one senior energy industry executive called it "the most vicious policy fight" he has ever known. He has, he says, "lost friends" over it.

Meanwhile, political opponents who claim net zero is an expensive dead end are only too ready to pounce.

It is reported that the Prime Minister has asked to review the details of what some newspapers are calling a "postcode pricing" plan. So is the government really ready to risk the most radical shake-up of the UK electricity market since privatisation 35 years ago? And what will it really mean for our bills?

Net zero under attack

The Energy Secretary, Ed Miliband, is certainly in a fix. His net zero policy is under attack like never before. The Tories have come out against it, green politicians say it isn't delivering for ordinary people, and even Tony Blair has weighed in against it.

Meanwhile Reform UK has identified the policy as a major Achilles heel for the Labour government. "The next election will be fought on two issues, immigration and net stupid zero," says Reform's deputy leader Richard Tice. "And we are going to win."

Poll after poll says cost of living is a much more important for most people, and people often specifically cite concerns about rising energy prices.

Miliband sold his aggressive clean energy policies in part on cutting costs. He said that ensuring 95% of the country's electricity comes from low-carbon sources by 2030 would slash the average electricity bill by £300.

But the potential for renewables to deliver lower costs just isn't coming through to consumers.

Renewables now generate more than half the country's electricity, but because of the limits to how much electricity can be moved around the system, even on windy days some gas generation is almost always needed to top the system up.

And because gas tends to be more expensive, it sets the wholesale price.

Could 'zonal' pricing lower bills?

Supporters of the government's plan argue that, as long as prices continue to be set at a national level, the hold gas has on the cost of electricity will be hard to break. Less so with regional – or, in the jargon, "zonal" - pricing.

Think of Scotland, blessed with vast wind resources but just 5.5 million people. The argument goes that if prices were set locally, it wouldn't be necessary to pay wind farms to be turned down because there wasn't enough capacity in the cables to carry all the electricity into England.

On a windy day like 3 June, they would have to sell that spare power to local people instead of into a national market. The theory is prices would fall dramatically – on some days Scottish customers might even get their electricity for free.

Other areas with lots of renewable power - such as Yorkshire and the North East, as well as parts of Wales - would stand to benefit too. And, as solar investment increases in Lincolnshire and other parts of the east of England, they could also see prices tumble.

All that cheap power could also transform the economics of industry. Supporters argue that it would attract energy-intensive businesses such as data centres, chemical companies and other manufacturing industries.

In London and much of the south of England, the price of electricity would sometimes be higher than in the windy north. But supporters say some of the hundreds of millions of pounds the system would save could be used to make sure no one pays more than they do now.

And those higher prices could also encourage investors to build new wind farms and solar plants closer to where the demand is. The argument is that would lower prices in the long run and bring another benefit - less electricity would need to be carried around the country, so we would need fewer new pylons, saving everyone money and meaning less clutter in the countryside.

"Zonal pricing would make the energy system as a whole dramatically more efficient, slashing this waste and cutting bills for every family and business in the country," argues Greg Jackson, the CEO of Octopus Energy, one of the biggest energy suppliers in the UK.

Research commissioned by the company estimates the savings could top £55 billion by 2050 - which it claims could knock £50 to £100 a year off the average bill. Octopus points out Sweden made the switch to regional pricing in just 18 months.

The supporters of regional pricing include NESO, Citizens Advice and the head of the energy regulator, Ofgem. Last week a committee of the House of Lords recommended the country should switch to the system.

Energy firms push back

There are, however, many businesses involved in building and running renewable energy plants that oppose the move.

"We're making billions of pounds of investments in renewable power in the UK every year," says Tom Glover, the UK chair of the giant German power company RWE. "I can't go to my board and say let's take a bet on billions of pounds of investment."

He's worried changing the way energy is priced could undermine contracts and make revenues more uncertain. And he says it risks undermining the government's big push to switch to green energy.

The main cost of wind and solar plants is in the build. It means the price of the energy they produce is very closely tied to the cost of building and, because developers borrow most of the money, that means the interest rates they are charged.

And we are talking a lot of money. The government is expecting power companies to spend £40bn pounds a year over the next five years on renewable projects in the UK.

Glover says even a very small change in interest rates could have dramatic effects on how much renewable infrastructure is built and how much the power from it costs.

"Those additional costs could quickly overwhelm any of the benefits of regional pricing," says Stephen Woodhouse, an economist with the consultancy firm AFRY, which has studied the impact of regional pricing for the power companies.

That would come as already high interest rates have combined with rising prices for steel and other materials to push up the cost of renewables. Plans for a huge wind farm off the coast of Yorkshire were cancelled last month because the developer said it no longer made economic sense.

And there's another consideration, he says. The National Grid, which owns the pylons, substations and cables that move electricity around the country, is already rolling out a huge investment programme – some £60bn over the next five years - to upgrade the system ready for the new world of clean power.

That new infrastructure will mean more capacity to bring electricity from our windy northern coasts down south, and therefore also mean fewer savings from a regional pricing system in the future.

There are other arguments too. Critics warn introducing regional pricing could take years, that energy-intensive businesses like British Steel can't just up sticks and move, and that the system will be unfair because some customers will pay more than others.

But according to Greg Jackson of Octopus, the power companies and their backers just want to protect their profits. "Unsurprisingly, it's the companies that enjoy attractive returns from this absurd system who are lobbying hard to maintain the status quo," he says.

Yet the power companies say Octopus has a vested interest too. It is the UK's biggest energy supplier with some seven million customers, and owns a sophisticated billing system it licenses to other suppliers, so could gain from changes to the way electricity is priced, they claim.

And the clock is ticking. Whether the government meets its clean power targets will depend on how many new wind farms and solar plants are built.

The companies who will build them say they need certainty around the future of the electricity market, so a decision must be taken soon.

It's expected in the next couple of weeks. Over to you, Mr Miliband.

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Spending Review: Massive cheques from the chancellor for some - but what do totals hide?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2x1e441p2o, 6 days ago

The next few days are vital – "one of the last moments to weave it all together – to look politically credible to the people Labour has lost", one senior figure reckons.

There have been huge fights inside government about the looming Spending Review.

As I write, the home secretary and deputy prime minister are both still in dispute with the mighty Treasury over the amount of cash they'll have to spend.

But the Treasury's already trying to convince the public the review is about significant investment.

On Wednesday Rachel Reeves boasted of funnelling billions more taxpayers' cash to big transport projects outside the wealthier south east of England, having tweaked the Treasury rules to do it.

Now, with five days still to go, I've been passed some of the information that'll be in the pages of Wednesday's review.

It's one crucial chart that will be in the huge bundle of documents heading to the printing presses on Tuesday night that shows what's called TDEL – the Total Departmental Expenditure Limit.

In other words, the total that government spends, including the day-to-day costs of running public services and long-term spending on big projects.

But it doesn't include costs that government can't set in advance – like pensions and benefits, or debt interest.

The chart spans 2010 to 2030, so takes in the coalition years, where you can see the total sliding down, then the Conservative years when spending starts rising after the Brexit referendum, then leaps up during Covid.

And then, when Labour took charge, the red line going up steeply at first, then more slowly towards the end of this parliamentary term.

The total real terms spending by 2029-30? More than £650bn – roughly £100bn more than when Labour took office.

The pale blue line is what would have happened to spending if the Conservatives had managed to hang on to power last year.

The government now is allergic to accusations that any cuts they make will be a return to austerity. And this chart shows that overall spending is going up considerably, compared to those lean years.

The political argument around spending will rage but the chancellor did - to use the ghastly technical term – set out the "spending envelope" in her autumn Budget, indicating rises were coming.

You can bet they'll want to use every chance they have to say they are spending significantly more than the Tories planned to under Rishi Sunak.

The government's political opponents on the other hand, may look at that red line as it climbs steeply upwards and say: "See, public spending is ballooning out of control".

This chart does illustrate very significant rises in public spending. But be careful. What this chart doesn't give us is any idea of how those massive totals break down. Massive chunks will go to favoured departments, suggestions of an extra £30bn for the NHS today.

And a very significant part of that steep rise will be allocated to long-term projects, not running public services, some of which are struggling.

The overall total may be enormous, but a couple of parts of government greedily suck in billions - others will still feel the pain.

A case in point – as I write on Saturday morning, the Home Office is still arguing over its settlement, believing there isn't enough cash to provide the number of police the government has promised, while the front pages are full of stories about the NHS receiving another bumper deal.

So observe this big health warning. The chart gives us a sense of the political argument the chancellor will make.

But it doesn't tell the full story or give the crucial totals, department by department, decision by decision.

It's worth saying it's incredibly unusual to see any of this before the day itself, hinting perhaps at jitters in No 11 about how the review will be received.

Until we hear the chancellor's speech, and then see all of the documents in full on Wednesday, the story of the Spending Review won't be clear.

There will be reams of statistics, produced by government, and the official number crunchers, the OBR, and then days of analysis by think tanks and experts in the aftermath.

But bear in mind these three core facts. Rachel Reeves will put a huge amount of cash, tens and tens of billions, towards long term projects. Short-term spending money will be tight, with no spare cash for sweeteners. And the government is not popular, so there's huge pressure to tell a convincing story to try to change that, not least because of what went wrong the last time.

"We can't ever do it like this again." After Labour's first Budget, government insiders concluded next time, it had to be different.

A source recalls: "It was a very brutal exercise - it was literally just making the sums add up, there was no collective approach to what the priorities were."

Alongside a lot of extra cash for the NHS, there was a big tax rise for business that came out of the blue. No one wants a repeat of that experience.

The "next time" is now – and a Labour source warns the review might be as "painful as hell" .

So the task for a government struggling in the polls is to make this moment more than just a gruesome arithmetic problem, instead, to use the power of the state's cheque book to make, and go on to win an argument.

Stick a fiver on Rachel Reeves referring back to that first Budget as "fixing the foundations" of the economy and public services, this week then being the moment to start, "rebuilding Britain".

Sources suggest she has three aspects in mind: security for the country (which will explain all those billions for defence), the health of the nation - that does what it says on the tin, and "investing", all that cash for long-term projects.

Next week's decisions will be followed soon after by the government's industrial strategy which will promise support for business, possibly including cash to help with sky-high energy costs.

And it comes after several big staging posts – the immigration white paper, trade deals, the defence review.

In government circles there's hope of denting some of the criticisms that they have been slow to get moving in office, that, frankly, Sir Keir Starmer arrived in government without having worked out what he really wanted to do.

One Whitehall insider tells me, "Now the buses are all arriving at once – maybe the idea of this lacklustre government that didn't have a plan will be blown away by July?"

Another Labour source suggests the threat from Nigel Farage has actually forced the government to get moving, visibly, and decisively: "Reform gives us the impetus to actually shake this stuff down."

That's the rosy view of how the chancellor might be able to play a difficult hand. It might not be reality. It is profoundly uncomfortable for a Labour government to make cuts.

There is already a whiff of rebellion in the air over ministers' welfare plans. Expanding free school meals for kids in England seems designed to placate some of those critics in advance, but there could be more to make them mutinous.

Don't forget Reeves has several different audiences – not just the public and her party, but the financial bigwigs too.

This time last year all Labour's schmoozing was paying off, and she enjoyed good reviews in the City.

One year on, that mood has shifted, in part because of the autumn budget.

According to one city source, it "damaged her. People saw it as an about turn on her promises. Raising National Insurance, however they want to present it, went against the spirit of the manifesto… confidence in her in the City is diminished and diminishing", not least because there is chatter about more tax hikes in the autumn budget.

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You probably don't need me to remind you that the level of taxes collected by government are historically sky high.

So too, at the other end, is the amount of government debt. A former Treasury minister told me this morning, "debt is the central issue of our time, nationally and globally".

"There is a real risk our debt becomes unsustainable this Parliament, unless we make tough choices about what the state does. We can't keep on muddling through."

Add in the twists, tariffs and tantrums of the man in the White House, that make the global economic situation uncertain and the picture's not pretty.

But politics hinges on finding advantage in adversity. Polling suggests much of the country reckons Labour inherited a bad hand and has played it badly.

This week, the chancellor has a chance to change the game. No 11 is determined to prove that she has made decisions only a Labour chancellor would make.

And Reeves is gambling that her decisions to shovel massive amounts of money into long term spending helps the economy turn, and translates into political support well before the next general election.

A senior Labour source said, Wednesday will be "the moment, this government clicks into gear, or it won't". There's no guarantee.

The country where the left (not the far right) made hardline immigration laws

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1mgkd93r4yo, 9 days ago

Think, Denmark. Images of sleek, impossibly chic Copenhagen, the capital, might spring to mind. As well as a sense of a liberal, open society. That is the Scandinavian cliché.

But when it comes to migration, Denmark has taken a dramatically different turn. The country is now "a pioneer in restrictive migration policies" in Europe, according to Marie Sandberg, Director of the Centre for Advanced Migration Studies (AMIS) at the University of Copenhagen - both when it comes to asylum-seekers and economic migrants looking to work in Denmark.

Even more surprising, perhaps, is who is behind this drive. It's generally assumed 'far right' politicians are gaining in strength across Europe on the back of migration fears, but that's far from the full picture.

In Denmark – and in Spain, which is tackling the issue in a very different but no less radical way by pushing for more, not less immigration - the politicians taking the migration bull by the horns, now come from the centre left of politics.

How come? And can the rest of Europe - including the UK's Labour government - learn from them?

Unsettling times in Europe

Migration is a top voter priority, right across Europe. We live in really unsettling times. As war rages in Ukraine, Russia is waging hybrid warfare, such as cyber attacks across much of the continent. Governments talk about spending more on defence, while most European economies are spluttering. Voters worry about the cost of living and into this maelstrom of anxieties comes concern about migration.

But in Denmark, the issue has run deeper, and for longer.

Immigration began to grow apace following World War Two, increasing further – and rapidly - in recent decades. The proportion of Danish residents who are immigrants, or who have two immigrant parents, has increased more than fivefold since 1985, according to the Migration Policy Institute (MPI).

A turning point was ten years ago, during the 2015 European migration and refugee crisis, when well over a million migrants came to Europe, mostly heading to the wealthier north, to countries like Denmark, Sweden and Germany.

Slogans like "Danskerne Først" (Danes First) resonated with the electorate. When I interviewed supporters of the hard-right nationalist, anti-immigration, Danish People's Party (DPP) that year they told me, "We don't see ourselves as racists but we do feel we are losing our country."

Denmark came under glaring international attention for its hardline refugee stance, after it allowed the authorities to confiscate asylum seekers' jewellery and other valuables, saying this was to pay towards their stay in Denmark.

The Danish immigration minister put up a photo of herself on Facebook having a cake decorated with the number 50 and a Danish flag to celebrate passing her 50th amendment to tighten immigration controls.

And Danish law has only tightened further since then.

Plans to detain migrants on an island

Mayors from towns outside Copenhagen had long been sounding the alarm about the effects of the speedy influx of migrants.

Migrant workers and their families had tended to move just outside the capital, to avoid high living costs. Denmark's famous welfare system was perceived to be under strain. Infant schools were said to be full of children who didn't speak Danish. Some unemployed migrants reportedly received resettlement payments that made their welfare benefits larger than those of unemployed Danes, and government statistics suggested immigrants were committing more crimes than others. Local resentment was growing, mayors warned.

Today Denmark's has become one of the loudest voices in Europe calling for asylum seekers and other migrants turning up without legal papers to be processed outside the continent.

The country had first looked at detaining migrants without papers on a Danish island that used to house a centre for contagious animals. That plan was shelved.

Then Copenhagen passed a law in 2021 allowing asylum claims to be processed and refugees to be resettled in partner countries, like Rwanda. The UK's former Conservative government attempted a not dissimilar plan that was later annulled.

Copenhagen's Kigali plan hasn't progressed much either but it's tightened rules on family reunions, which not long ago, was seen as a refugee's right. It has also made all refugees' stay in Denmark temporary by law, whatever their need for protection.

But many of Denmark's harsh measures seemed targeted as much at making headlines, as taking action. The Danish authorities intentionally created a "hostile environment" for migrants", says Alberto Horst Neidhardt, senior analyst at the European Policy Centre.

And Denmark has been keen for the word to spread.

It put advertisements in Lebanese newspapers at the height of the migrant crisis, for example, warning how tough Danish migration policies were.

"The goal has been to reduce all incentives to come to Denmark," says ⁠Susi Dennison, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

"The Danes have gone further than most European governments," she explains. Not just honing in on politically sensitive issues like crime and access to benefits but with explicit talk about a zero asylum seekers policy.

And yet "before the 2015 refugee crisis, there was a stereotype of Nordic countries being very internationalist… and having a welcoming culture for asylum seekers," says Ms Dennison.

Then suddenly the reaction was, "No. Our first goal is to provide responsibly for Danish people."

The turning-point was, she argues, also triggered by Denmark's neighbour, Germany, allowing a million refugees and others to stay in the country, during the migrant crisis.

"That was a political choice that had repercussions across Europe."

Where Denmark's left came in

By 2015 the anti-migration Danish People's Party was the second biggest power in Denmark's parliament. But at the same time, the Social Democrats - under new leader Mette Frederiksen – decided to fight back, making a clear, public break with the party's past reputation of openness to migration.

"My party should have listened," Frederiksen said.

Under her leadership, the party tacked towards what's generally seen as the political "far right" in terms of migration and made hardline DPP-associated asylum policies, their own. But they also doubled down on issues more traditionally associated with the left: public services.

Danes pay the highest tax rates in Europe across all household types. They expect top notch public services in return. Frederiksen argued that migration levels threatened social cohesion and social welfare, with the poorest Danes losing out the most.

That is how her party justify their tough migration rules.

Frederiksen's critics see her 'rightwards swing' as a cynical ploy to get into, and then stay in, power. She insists her party's convictions are sincere. Whatever the case, it worked in winning votes.

Federiksen has been Denmark's prime minister since 2019, and in last year's election to the European Parliament, the populist nationalist Danish People's Party scrambled to hold on to a single seat.

A blurring of left and right?

The political labels of old are blurring. It's not just Denmark. Across Europe, parties of the centre - right and left - are increasingly using language traditionally associated with the "far right" when it comes to migration to claw back, or hold on to votes.

Sir Keir Starmer recently came under fire when, during a speech on immigration, he spoke of the danger of his country becoming 'an island of strangers'.

At the same time in Europe, right-wing parties are adopting social policies traditionally linked to the left to broaden their appeal.

In the UK, the leader of the anti-migration, opposition Reform Party Nigel Farage has been under attack for generous shadow budget proposals that critics say don't add up.

In France, centrist Emmanuel Macron has sounded increasingly hardline on immigration in recent years, while his political nemesis the National Rally Party leader Marine Le Pen has been heavily mixing social welfare policies into her nationalist agenda to attract more mainstream voters.

Avoiding 'hysterical rhetoric'

But can Danish - and in particular, Danish Social Democrat - tough immigration policies be deemed a success?

The answer depends on which criteria you use to judge them.

Asylum claim applications are certainly down in Denmark, in stark contrast to much of the rest of Europe. The number, as of May 2025, is the lowest in 40 years, according to immigration.dk, an online information site for refugees in Denmark.

But Nordic Denmark is certainly not what's seen as a frontline state - like Italy - where people smugglers' boats frequently wash up along its shores.

"Frederiksen is in a favourable geographical position," argues Europe professor, Timothy Garton Ash, from Oxford University. But he also praises Denmark's prime minister for addressing the problem of migration, without adopting "hysterical rhetoric".

But others say new legislation has damaged Denmark's reputation for respecting international humanitarian law and the rights of asylum-seekers. Michelle Pace, Professor in Global Studies at Roskilde University, says it has become hard to protect refugees in Denmark, where "the legal goalposts keep moving."

Danish citizens with a migrant background have also been made to feel like outsiders, she notes.

She cites the Social Democrats' "parallel societies" law, which allows the state to sell off or demolish apartment blocks in troubled areas where at least half of residents have a "non-Western" background.

The Social Democrats say the law is aimed at improving integration but Prof Pace insists it is alienating. The children of immigrants are told they aren't Danish or a "pure Dane," she argues.

In February this year, a senior advisor to the EU's top court described the non-Western provision of the Danish law as discriminatory on the basis of ethnic origin.

Whereas once a number of European leaders dismissed Denmark's Social Democrats as becoming far right, now "the Danish position has become the new normal - it was the head of the curve," says Alberto Horst Neidhardt.

"What's considered 'good' migration policies these days has moved to the right, even for centre left governments, like the UK."

Before Germany's general election this year, then centre-left Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, pledged to tighten asylum regulations, including reducing family reunification.

And earlier this month, Frederiksen teamed up with eight other European leaders - not including the UK - to call for a reinterpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights, whose tight constraints, they claim, prevent them from expelling foreign nationals with criminal records.

Contesting international laws on asylum is a trend Denmark is establishing at a more European level, says Sarah Wolff, Professor of International Studies and Global Politics at Leiden University.

"With the topic of migration now politicised, you increasingly see supposedly liberal countries that are signatories to international conventions, like human rights law, coming back on those conventions because the legislation no longer fits the political agenda of the moment," says Ms Wolff.

Despite the restrictive migrant legislation, Denmark has continued to admit migrant workers through legal channels. But not enough, considering the rapidly aging population, say critics like Prof Pace.

She predicts Denmark will face a serious labour shortage in the future.

The other extreme: Spain's model

Spain's centre-left government, meanwhile, is taking a very different road. Its Social Democrat prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, loves pointing out the Spanish economy was the fastest growing amongst rich nations last year.

Its 3.2% GDP growth was higher than America's, three times the UK's and four times the EU average.

Sanchez wants to legalise nearly a million migrants, already working in Spain but currently without legal papers. That extra tax revenue plus the much-needed extra workers to plug gaps in the labour market will maintain economic growth and ensure future pension payments are covered, he says.

Spain has one of the lowest birth rates in the EU. Spanish society is getting old, fast.

"Almost half of our towns are at risk of depopulation," he said in autumn 2024. "We have elderly people who need a caregiver, companies looking for programmers, technicians and bricklayers... The key to migration is in managing it well."

Critics accuse Sanchez of encouraging illegal migration to Spain, and question the country's record of integrating migrants. Opinion polls show that Sanchez is taking a gamble: 57% of Spaniards say there are already too many migrants in the country, according to public pollster 40dB.

In less than 30 years, the number of foreign-born inhabitants in Spain has jumped almost nine fold from 1.6% to 14% of the population. But so far, migration concerns haven't translated into widespread support for the immigration sceptic nationalist Vox party.

The Sanchez government is setting up what Prof Pace calls a "national dialogue", involving NGOs and private business. The aim is to balance plugging labour market gaps with avoiding strains on public services, by using extra tax revenue from new migrant workers, to build housing and extra classrooms, for example.

Right now the plan is aspirational. It's too early to judge, if successful, or not.

So, who's got it right?

"Successful" migration policy depends on what governments, regardless of their political stripe, set as their priority, says Ms Dennison.

In Denmark, the first priority is preserving the Danish social system. Italy prioritises offshoring the processing of migrants. While Hungary's prime minister Victor Orban wants strict migrant limits to protect Europe's "Christian roots", he claims.

Overstaying visas is thought to be the most common way migrants enter and stay in Europe without legal papers.

But recent UK governments have focused on high profile issues like people smugglers' boats crossing the Channel.

Ms Dennison thinks that's a tactical move. It's taking aim at visible challenges, to "neutralise public anger" she says, in the hope most voters will then support offering asylum to those who need it, and allow some foreign workers into the UK.

It would be hard for Starmer to pursue the Denmark approach, she adds. After taking over from previous Conservative governments, he made a point of recommitting the UK to international institutions and international law.

So, does the 'ideal' migration plan exist, that balances voter concerns, economic needs and humanitarian values?

Martin Ruhs, deputy director of the Migration Policy Centre, spends a lot of time asking this question to voters across the UK and the rest of Europe, and thinks the public is often more sophisticated than their politicians.

Most prefer a balance, he says: migration limits to protect themselves and their families, but once they feel that's in place, they also favour fair legislation to protect refugees and foreign workers.

Top picture credit: SOPA Images via Getty

Why Labour is strengthening ties with China after years of rollercoaster relations

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c071jr159p0o, 10 days ago

Listen to Ankur read this article

The sprawling city of Chongqing in southwestern China is an incredible sight. Built on mountainous terrain and crisscrossed by rivers, it is connected by vast elevated roads. Trains even run through some buildings.

TikTokers have begun documenting their commutes in the striking urban architecture, generating millions of likes and much hype.

But it is also where, on a somewhat quieter trip, mayors and their deputies from the UK recently visited - the largest British civic delegation to go there in history.

The whole trip, which took place in March, received substantial Chinese media coverage, despite flying more under the radar in the UK. The impression it left on some of the politicians who travelled there was vast.

"[The city is] what happens if you take the planning department and just say 'yes' to everything," reflects Howard Dawber, deputy London mayor for business. "It's just amazing."

The group travelled to southern Chinese cities, spoke to Chinese mayors and met Chinese tech giants. So impressed was one deputy mayor that, on returning home, they bought a mobile phone from Chinese brand Honor (a stark contrast from the days the UK banned Huawei technology from its 5G networks, just a few years ago).

Roughly half-a-dozen deals were signed on the back of the trip. The West Midlands, for example, agreed to establish a new UK headquarters in Birmingham for Chinese energy company EcoFlow.

But the visit was as much about diplomacy as it was trade, says East Midlands deputy mayor Nadine Peatfield, who attended. "There was a real hunger and appetite to rekindle those relationships."

To some, it was reminiscent of the "golden era" of UK-China relations, a time when then-Prime Minister David Cameron and Chinese President Xi Jinping shared a basket of fish and chips and a pint.

Those days have long felt far away. Political ties with China deteriorated under former UK Conservative Prime Ministers Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss. The last UK prime minister to visit China was Theresa May, in 2018.

The recent delegation - and the talk of Sir Keir Starmer possibly visiting China later this year - all suggests a turning point in relations. But to what greater intent?

A 'grown up' approach

The course correction seemed to begin with the closed-door meeting between Sir Keir and Chinese President Xi in Brazil last November. The prime minister signalled that Britain would look to cooperate with China on climate change and business.

Since then, Labour's cautious pursuit of China has primarily focused on the potential financial upsides.

In January, Chancellor Rachel Reeves co-chaired the first UK-China economic summit since 2019, in Beijing. Defending her trip, she said: "Choosing not to engage with China is no choice at all."

Reeves claimed re-engagement with China could boost the UK economy by £1bn, with agreements worth £600m to the UK over the next five years — partially achieved through lifting barriers that restrict exports to China.

Soon after, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband resumed formal climate talks with China. Miliband said it would be "negligence" to future generations not to have dialogue with the country, given it is the world's biggest carbon emitter.

Labour simply describes its approach as "grown-up". But it all appears to be a marked shift from the last decade of UK-China relations.

During the so-called "golden era", from 2010, the UK's policy towards China was dominated by the Treasury, focusing on economic opportunities and appearing to cast almost all other issues, including human rights or security, aside.

By September 2023, however, Rishi Sunak said he was "acutely aware of the particular threat to our open and democratic way of life" posed by China.

'The world will become more Chinese'

Labour claimed in its manifesto that it would bring a "long-term and strategic approach".

China has a near monopoly on extracting and refining rare earth minerals, which are critical to manufacturing many high-tech and green products. For example, car batteries are often reliant on lithium, while indium is a rare metal used for touch screens. This makes China a vital link in global supply chains.

"China's influence is likely to continue to grow substantially globally, especially with the US starting to turn inwards," says Dr William Matthews, a China specialist at Chatham House think tank.

"The world will become more Chinese, and whilst that is difficult for any Western government, there needs to be sensible engagement from the get-go."

Andrew Cainey, a director of the UK National Committee on China, an educational non-profit organisation, says: "China has changed a lot since the Covid-19 pandemic. To have elected officials not having seen it, it's a no brainer for them to get back on the ground".

Certainly many in the UK's China-watching community believe that contact is an essential condition to gain a clearer-eyed view of the opportunities posed by China, but also the challenges.

Questions around national security

The opportunities, some experts say, are largely economic, climate and education-related. Or as Kerry Brown, Professor of Chinese Studies at King's College London, puts it: "China is producing information, analysis and ways of doing things that we can learn from". He points to the intellectual, technological, AI, and life sciences opportunities.

Not engaging with China would be to ignore the realities of geopolitics in the 21st century, in Dr Matthew's view, given that it is the world's second largest economy. However he also believes that engagement comes with certain risks.

Charles Parton, who spent 22 years of his diplomatic career working in or on China, raises questions about the UK's economic and national security.

For example, the government is reportedly weighing up proposals for a Chinese company to supply wind turbines for an offshore windfarm in the North Sea. Mr Parton warns against allowing China access to the national grid: "It wouldn't be difficult in a time of high tension to say, 'by the way, we can turn off all your wind farms'".

But earlier this year, the China Chamber of Commerce to the EU issued a statement expressing concern over the "politicisation" of deals between wind developers in Europe and Chinese turbine suppliers.

James Sullivan, director of Cyber and Tech at defence think tank Rusi, notes there are also some questions around cyberspace. "China's activities in cyberspace appear to be more strategically and politically focused compared to previous opportunistic activities," he says.

As for defence, the UK's recently published defence review describes China as a "sophisticated and persistent challenge", with Chinese technology and its proliferation to other countries "already a leading challenge for the UK".

Ken McCallum, MI5 director general, meanwhile, has previously warned of a sustained campaign on an "epic scale" of Chinese espionage abroad.

But Prof Brown pushes back on some concerns about espionage, saying some media narratives about this are a "fairytale".

Beijing has always dismissed accusations of espionage as attempts to "smear" China.

Is the UK really a 'compliant servant'?

Sir Keir and his team will no doubt be closely monitoring how this is all viewed by Washington DC.

Last month, President Donald Trump's trade advisor Peter Navarro described Britain as "an all too compliant servant of Communist China", urging the UK against deepening economic ties.

"When it comes to foreign policy towards China, America's influence on policy will be quite substantive compared with say continental Europe," says Dr Yu Jie, senior research fellow on China at Chatham House think tank.

Most analysts I speak to in both the UK and China are still clear on the need for the two countries to get back in the same room, even if they differ on where to draw the line: in which areas should Westminster cooperate and where should it stay clear.

These red lines have not yet been drawn, and experts say that without some kind of playbook, it is difficult for businesses and elected officials to know how to engage.

"You can only keep firefighting specific issues for so long without developing a systematic plan," warns Mr Cainey.

Certain thorny issues have arisen, including Chinese investments in the UK. For example in April when the government seized control of British Steel from its former Chinese owner Jingye, to prevent it from being closed down, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds admitted that he would "look at a Chinese firm in a different way" when considering investment in the UK steel industry.

China's foreign ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian, warned that Labour should avoid "linking it to security issues, so as not to impact the confidence of Chinese enterprises in going to the UK".

After Starmer met Xi last year, he said the government's approach would be "rooted in the national interests of the UK", but acknowledged areas of disagreement with China, including on human rights, Taiwan and Russia's war in Ukraine.

Securing the release of pro-democracy activist and British citizen Jimmy Lai from a Hong Kong prison is, he has said, a "priority" for the government.

'Go with your eyes open'

Labour's manifesto broadly pledged: "We will cooperate where we can, compete where we need to, and challenge where we must."

What is still lacking, however, is the fine print. Asked about the British government's longer-term strategy, Mr Parton replied: "No.10 doesn't have a strategy."

He tells me he has some specific advice: "Go with your eyes open," he says. "But have a clear idea of what needs protecting, and a willingness to take some short-term financial hits to protect long-term national security."

Labour has suggested that some clarity on their approach will be provided through the delayed China "audit", a cross-government exercise launched last year, which will review the UK's relations with China.

The audit is due to be published this month, but many doubt that it will resolve matters.

"If we see a visit from Starmer to Beijing, that will be an indication that the two sides have actually agreed with something, and that they would like to change and improve their bilateral relationship," says Dr Yu.

But many people in Westminster remain China-sceptic.

And even if the audit helps Britain better define what it wants out of its relationship with China, the question remains, do MPs and businesses have the China-related expertise to get the best out of it?

According to Ruby Osman, China analyst at the Tony Blair Institute, there is an urgent need to build the UK's China capabilities in a more holistic way, focusing on diversifying the UK's points of contact with China.

"If we want to be in a position where we are not just listening to what Beijing and Washington want, there needs to be investment in the talent pipeline coming into government, but also think tanks and businesses who work with China," she argues.

And if that's the case, then irrespective of whether closer ties with China is viewed as a security threat, an economic opportunity, or something in between, the UK might be in a better position to engage with the country.

Top image credit: PA

Labour tiptoed cautiously through its first year - will it now decide to escape its own shadow?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czdye1963jmo, 6 days ago

The strategising and multi-year planning going on ahead of this week's Spending Review is the bread and butter of any well-run economy.

A Spending Review shows how resources are being allocated between departments and so indicates the government's "when-push-comes-to-shove" priorities. But this time it will be a "different sort of Spending Review", the chancellor's helpers are saying.

That's because with the new government nearly one year old, this Spending Review is also a one-off opportunity to show the private sector and international investors that it has a confident, deliverable vision.

But having tiptoed cautiously throughout its first year in office, the question is whether this government can convince those potential investors that the economic vision is real? And will other long-term challenges, such as industrial energy prices, social care costs, and worker illness be prioritised or parked?

'Stop playing tiny domestic politics'

Some chief executives tell me they cannot fathom why a government with such a huge majority can sometimes appear to be scared of its own shadow.

There had been talk of Downing Street "wanting to have fights" over planning for major projects. But companies that have major investors waiting to invest in the factories that could start rolling out the mass adoption of green technologies are wondering whether Downing Street really will back them, given the polls, and possible net zero backlash.

"They need to stop playing tiny domestic politics," one boss of a major consumer company told me, as he awaits a convincing solid vision.

It is with big investors in mind that the chancellor's focus at this spending review has been on long-term capital spending - that's where the big numbers come in.

The proportion of the country's GDP that is being earmarked for capital spending, is 2.7% on a five-year average. If that doesn't strike you as eye-watering, it's worth noting it will be at its highest sustained level for nearly half a century. It will be significantly higher than under Brown-Darling in 2010. In 2000 this number was 0.5%.

Of course, allocating significant sums is not a guarantee that the money will be spent effectively, or even at all. Spending on capital is often subject to the rollercoaster of short-term government priorities.

In a crisis it tends to be the first thing to get hacked back, because the loss of future buildings or roads or rail lines is less politically troublesome than cutting back a public service or, say, teachers' pay in the here and now.

That's why under the chancellor's new borrowing rules, the money can at least be allocated to big capital projects. Her reforms to those rules - keeping them strict on day-to-day spending, but consciously allowing more space for long-term investment - were designed for this.

The main goal being future growth.

Time to 'rewire the state'

Long-term certainty over the capital sums that are being allocated over the next week or so, could be a gamechanger. Private investment is more likely to follow if there are long-term plans in place, especially after so many years of political uncertainty.

As part of all this, the chief secretary to the Treasury is also announcing increases in spending on research and development. That is designed to boost science-led growth.

But the marquee project for this announcement will surely be the long-awaited high-speed rail line between Liverpool and Manchester. It is a piece of infrastructure forged in the fires of the UK's industrial heritage, including the world's first inter-city passenger line, and of course Stephenson's Rocket, the original steam locomotive.

Now, 200 years on from its launch in 1829, it may well be time for another industrial revolution, of sorts.

But make no mistake, the government has still had to make some big choices, even within a more generous capital budget. Most of the increase in defence spending announced last week is in the form of capital spending.

When the documents are published on Wednesday, it is possible that some other capital projects will have been squeezed to make room.

All departments have also reassessed spending from first principles, as part of a "zero-based" review. In theory there could be entire projects axed. There will also be a lot of "investing to spend less". Using the capital budget to invest in, say, AI scanners in the health service, in a way that ultimately is supposed to save money.

The aim, ambitiously put, is to "rewire the state" and "get Britain moving".

It is with this in mind, that the chancellor will promise the government has learnt the lessons of capital spending debacles, such as HS2.

She believes that by waiting, and carefully preparing an infrastructure strategy, she is making sure the spending will go where it will most boost growth. Freeing up supply, for example in the planning system, is supposed to help the rebuilding boom, but without provoking inflation.

The long shadow of Covid-19

Those new borrowing rules that freed up spending on big projects, also mean tight settlements on day-to-day spending.

The travails of Elon Musk and Donald Trump show the challenges for G7 countries in managing public finances. And Labour are operating in an environment where some opposition parties are now advocating more radical surgery to the size of the state in the UK.

Moreover, when it comes to public spending there is still the long shadow from the pandemic. Demand for acute services and benefits related to ill health and care, or special needs, is eating far into budgets for councils, schools and health.

The public seems to expect more from the state since the pandemic, even if it does not want to stump up the taxes to pay for it.

So budgetary pressures have not gone away. It is, right now, difficult to square extra welfare spending on winter fuel payments and child benefit, extra defence spending, and sticking to the chancellor's rules without some further tax rises in the autumn.

Faster growth numbers, and an upturn in confidence after the series of trade deals, could help make the numbers add up, but there are any number of economic uncertainties out there too.

While there have been some strained moments in negotiations with Cabinet colleagues, all parties have already negotiated a mini-Spending Review for this year.

But that is not to say the chancellor doesn't have to perform a massive balancing act: juggling demands to keep the short-term budget numbers adding up, while unleashing the long-term investment that could finally get the economy growing again.

The fallout from Trump's war on Harvard will long outlast his presidency

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0ln9lexyedo, 13 days ago

Donald Trump has had a busy seven days. On Monday, he threatened to redirect $3bn in Harvard research funding to vocational schools. On Tuesday, the White House sent a letter to federal agencies, instructing them to review the approximately $100m in contracts the government has awarded Harvard and "find alternative vendors" where possible. On Wednesday, he had more to say on the matter still.

"Harvard's got to behave themselves," he told reporters gathered in the Oval Office. "Harvard is treating our country with great disrespect, and all they're doing is getting in deeper and deeper and deeper."

When combined with other administration attempts – freezing more than $3bn in research grants and suspending foreign students from enrolling in Harvard – Trump's directives represent a frontal attack on one of America's most prestigious, and wealthy, institutions of higher education.

Even if court challenges overrule some of these actions – some have already been put on hold – the impact is being felt across the landscape of American higher education.

"They're doing multiple things every single day, some of those things are sneaking through," says Greg Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors. "But more importantly, they're changing the culture. They're changing people."

At Harvard's commencement ceremonies on Thursday, students said there was a "palpable concern" on campus.

"People sort of knew Trump was trying some of these moves but [they were] shocked when it happens," admits one graduate, a British national who requested anonymity because he was concerned public comments could threaten his US work visa. "It feels like the nuclear option."

"If this can happen to Harvard it can happen to any university in the country," he adds.

But the repercussions of this apparent Harvard-Trump fight run far deeper than the management of a single Ivy League university. Could the measures Trump is taking mark, as some suggest, the latest, albeit most ambitious, step by conservatives to erode some of the traditional pillars of support for the Democratic Party?

If that is the case, the campus has become a pivotal battle in shaping America's cultural and political landscape.

Accusations of antisemitism and bias

Trump and his administration have offered various explanations for their actions, including a perceived lack of conservatives among the ranks of Harvard's professors, along with suggestions of admitting too many foreign students and financial links to China.

But according to the White House, the most immediate cause has been the university's apparent failure to address antisemitism on campus, in the wake of anti-Israel protests at universities across the US since the start of the Gaza war.

In December 2023, three prominent university presidents - including the then-president of Harvard, Claudine Gay - struggled to answer whether calling for the "genocide of Jews" violated their student conduct codes on bullying and harassment, sparking a firestorm of criticism.

Dr Gay, who was asked the question at a congressional hearing about antisemitism on US college campuses, answered that it depended on the context. She later apologised, telling the student newspaper: "When words amplify distress and pain, I don't know how you could feel anything but regret."

On the campaign trail last year, Trump promised to cut off federal funding and government accreditation for colleges that he said were engaging in "antisemitic propaganda". Once Trump returned to the White House in January, he began following through on this.

Several universities - including Columbia, which saw some of the most high profile protests - agreed to sweeping changes in campus security rules and closer supervision of its Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies departments.

In April, Harvard released the results of a university task force review (commissioned before Trump's election) of antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice on its own campus. It found that many Jewish and Muslim students faced bias, exclusion and alienation from the university curriculum and its community.

However, the administration's demands go well beyond calls to address antisemitism. In a letter to the university, its "Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism" laid out a laundry list of changes that Harvard must make, including terminating diversity programmes, reforming admissions and hiring, screening foreign students for views hostile to "American values", and expanding and protecting "viewpoint diversity" among students and faculty.

Trump's shock-and-awe strategy of rapid and aggressive pressure has stunned many in higher education, who never imagined the scope of the demands or the force behind them.

"It's not about higher education," argues Mr Wolfson. "Higher education is one of the levers they see as critical to transforming our society."

But the potential for a long-term transformation could largely depend on whether the majority of American universities choose to accommodate the administration's demands - or whether it stands and fights, as Harvard is trying to do.

An across-the-board war

While Harvard has been the most prominent target of the administration's ire, and the most visible in its resistance, it is just one of many high-profile American universities that has received funding cuts or been subject of investigations.

Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania have reported that the administration has suspended hundreds of millions of dollars in their research grants. The Department of Education has launched investigations of 10 universities for alleged antisemitism - and warned dozens of others that they could face similar inquiries. It is also investigating 52 universities for illegal race-based programmes.

To some, this all amounts to an across-the-board war on elite higher education by the Trump administration in an effort to reshape universities in a more conservative-friendly image. To others, this is no bad thing.

"Universities are not about the pursuit of knowledge, they're about the forceful pushing of a left-wing world view," Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative group Turning Point USA, said in a Fox News interview last month. "We're here to shake it up."

Many on the right have long viewed American college campuses as hotbeds of liberal indoctrination, whether it has taken the form of left-wing anti-war radicalism in the 1960s, "political correctness" of the 1990s, Occupy Wall Street anti-capitalism of the 2000s or the Black Lives Matter movement and anti-Israel demonstrations in recent years.

Polling has illustrated a certain divide in beliefs between those who have and haven't attended college. In a recent survey by the polling company Civiqs, non-college graduates were split on the job Trump is doing in office, with 49% disapproving and 47% approving.

College graduates, on the other hand, had a significantly different view, as 58% disapproved of Trump's performance in office versus only 38% who approved.

"I think a lot of this blowback is from the sense that they have become the universities of blue [Democratic] America, and that this is the consequence," says Rick Hess, senior fellow and director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.

Universities 'brought this on themselves'

In recent years, according to Mr Hess, American higher education has become more closely tied to the government and more reliant on government funding.

He says that the new Trump team has simply adopted levers of control over higher education employed by recent Democratic administrations – including civil rights investigations, federal anti-discrimination laws and control over funding.

"In classic Trump form," he added, "it's absolutely the case that these levers have been turned up to 11."

And there are fewer procedural and legal safeguards than there were under the Joe Biden and Barack Obama presidencies.

"It's both an evolution and a revolution," says Mr Hess.

But it is one, he argues, that universities have brought on themselves by being overtly political during Trump's first term and making elite school the face of American higher education.

"The price for collecting billions a year in tax dollars is that institutions should both honour the promises they make, such as enforcing civil rights law, and hew to a mission in which they explicitly serve the whole nation," says Mr Hess.

Withholding federal funding from universities may be a new challenge for higher education, but to some this is just the latest in a long effort by conservatives to undercut key traditional pillars of liberal power.

Through a combination of legislation and court rules, the influence of labour unions – which had provided the Democratic Party with volunteer personnel and funds – had diminished long before Trump succeeded in winning over white working-class voters in his three presidential runs.

State-level lawsuit reforms have also curtailed the vast sums that trial lawyers could contribute to Democratic coffers. And ongoing efforts to shrink the government workforce – which reached a peak with Elon Musk's Doge reductions – have eroded another traditionally Democratic bloc.

However, Mr Wolfson fears that something greater could be lost if some of the Trump administration's measures are enforced.

"The fact that we have multiracial, multicultural, multinational universities is a boon to our universities," he says. "It creates really diverse communities, really diverse intellectual thought."

How the Ivy Leagues fought back

Harvard - perhaps best known for its renowned law school - has turned the courts into its principal tool to resist Trump's pressure.

On Thursday, a federal judge indefinitely suspended the administration's attempts to prohibit foreign students from receiving visas to attend the university.

The university has also sued to prevent the Trump administration from terminating more than $2.2bn in federal grants, although that case is pending.

"The trade-off put to Harvard and other universities is clear," Harvard wrote in its complaint filed with a Massachusetts federal court. "Allow the government to micromanage your academic institution or jeopardise the institution's ability to pursue medical breakthroughs, scientific discoveries, and innovative solutions."

Harvard's president, Alan Garber, has also defended his university, saying that Harvard would be "firm" in its commitments to education and truth, during an interview with NPR.

"Harvard is a very old institution, much older than the country," he continued. "As long as there has been a United States of America, Harvard has thought that its role is to serve the nation."

Trump, meanwhile, has shared strong words of his own. "Harvard wants to fight," he said on Wednesday. "They want to show how smart they are, and they're getting their ass kicked."

Breaching the walls of the ivory tower

Opinion polls show that Trump's political base supports his efforts, and the underlying message. Yet those same polls suggest a majority of the general population support American universities and don't approve of his proposed funding cuts.

And opinion aside, the practicality of achieving such a fundamental reordering of America's system of higher education, even with all the tools at the federal government's disposal, is a daunting task.

According to Mr Wolfson, however, repairing what he says is the damage being done to academic independence will be equally challenging.

A growing number of members of the American Association of University Professors fear the consequences of expressing political views or conducting disfavoured research.

"The destruction is real," argues Mr Wolfson. "Even if the courts step in, there will still be a massive undermining of the higher education project in this country due to Trump's reckless, reckless moves."

Mr Hess, who has pushed for conservative education reform for years, is less concerned. He believes that Trump's chaotic, scattershot approach - including last week's comments - could end up less effective than a more methodical restructuring of American universities.

"This is all an ambitious experiment," Mr Hess said. "Whether it's a strategy that's going to work is very much an open question."

One thing seems clear, however. Even if American universities resist - or outlast - Trump's efforts, they are no longer insulated from the scorched-earth warfare of American politics. The walls of the ivory tower have been breached, regardless of whether one believes it is the barbarians - or liberators - at the gate.

Top image credit: Getty Images

Will Starmer's military review match the threats we're told we face?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3e50g0vzl5o, 13 days ago

Down a discreet road, on the fringes of a quiet home counties commuter town, is a set of grey buildings worth many hundreds of millions of pounds. In one, behind a secure fence, a handful of workers are on shift this weekend, making Storm Shadow missiles by hand. Each one is worth hundreds of thousands, the product of months of work, made of myriad components.

Storm Shadows, like mini-aircraft, have been flying in the skies above Ukraine with a range of 250km (155 miles). They're part of the UK's backing of President Volodymyr Zelensky's efforts to keep Russia's Vladimir Putin at bay. The factory is calm and quiet - a world away from the fire and fury of the conflict on the edge of Europe.

We've been allowed to see the missiles up close because the government is warming up for a big moment on Monday, when the prime minister will unveil a major review of the military, the strategic defence review. Sir Keir Starmer has already said we are living in a "new, dangerous era", with a malevolent Russia and its friends hungry to disrupt and damage the West - while the White House is less eager to cough up to defend Europe.

So will this review meet the risk that politicians tell us we face?

We have gone through many years in which defence has been a lower priority for politicians and the public, largely because peace has prevailed in the UK. Since the end of the Cold War, a former minister says, "we've been going round the world making sure we are reassuring allies, and there have been some very nasty wars in the Middle East".

But at the same time, the proportion of cash spent on defence has shrunk and the ability of the military to fight "peer-on-peer" wars has decreased. There are well known worries about stockpiles, a lack of munitions, and weapons being decommissioned that haven't yet been replaced. We now have a smaller armed forces - one that is "hollowed out", in the words of the current Defence Secretary John Healey, who we'll talk to on this week's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

Yet now, the government certainly confronts a more alarming picture - and there is a concerted focus on trying to address it. With conflict in Ukraine, a former minister says "if you are going to credibly deter Russia, you need to persuade them, actually, if they mess around with Nato, they lose".

And that's before you consider that Donald Trump is a lot less willing than his predecessor to pay for other countries' defence, and China's "imminent" threat to Taiwan highlighted by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth overnight.

So what will next week's review suggest for the here and now, as well as the long term future? First, a caveat. The report is not published in full until Monday; it will be important to examine what it recommends. But the broad outline seems pretty clear: expect it to underline the importance of nuclear weapons and the UK's commitment to Nato, the Western defence alliance.

There will be an emphasis on modernising the forces, not least because the war in Ukraine has demonstrated the importance of drones and adapting existing kit quickly to lethal effect. We have clues from the announcements ministers have already made about technology and protecting the country from cyber attacks.

The review, and ministers' messaging alongside it, will stress a greater need, in their view, for the public to play a part in protecting the country. A government source says "it's about making sure we think more about national resilience", and a "whole society approach" towards threats.

That is expected to include announcements about British industry creating more defence kit, expanding the cadet forces, and bolstering the number of men and women in the military reserves.

There have been suggestions of a new civilian force - a new "Home Guard" - to protect infrastructure such as power plants, airports and telecommunications hubs.

As another source says, "there is a lot of talk about resilience, a push across the whole of society, the kind we have only done twice in our history, in World War One and World War Two".

This is "not telling everyone they need to go out and build an Anderson shelter," jokes a former minister, but No 10 does want to usher in a new way of thinking among ordinary people geared towards keeping the country safe.

Whether any of these potential recommendations will change much is up for debate, though. While government sources claim it will be "transformative" and hail a "bold new vision", others are playing down its likely impact. A former Conservative defence minister suggests ministers have "massively overegged" what the review will really promise, and "we'll get a lot of things that sound great, but not many things that actually get moving".

A source involved in discussion around the review explained: "What will change? Substantively not much - there is a rhetorical change towards Nato and Europe, but it's not a major change in terms of capability - it's all pretty marginal."

The Ministry of Defence's permanent secretary David Williams has already said in public that it won't be until the autumn that we'll get specific details about exactly what is going to be ordered, spent and when.

The PM has already sped up his plans to spend 2.5% of the size of Britain's economy on defence by 2027, rather than the initial timescale of 2029. UK Defence Secretary John Healey said on Saturday there was "no doubt" UK defence spending would rise to 3% of GDP by 2034 at the latest.

All that doesn't make the problems go away.

The first is that after inflation and public sector pay rises, insiders question if 2.5% is enough to meet current defence plans - let alone the government's increasing ambition. Existing, expensive plans will remain - such as recapitalising the army, investing in nuclear, carrying on with the Aukus submarine deal with America and Australia, and the global combat air programme to build a next-generation fighter jet - which will gobble up billions of pounds now and for years to come.

Second, the chancellor doesn't want to change her self imposed rules on borrowing and spending again, so as we talked about last week, money is tight in government. Defence is already a relative winner in the review of government spending that's coming down the tracks.

Third, the PM faces a political dilemma - a pound on defence is a pound that doesn't go on health or welfare, and you won't find huge numbers of Labour MPs who stood for Parliament with the goal of giving more to the military, while trying to reduce benefit payments. Defence has long been one of the PM's big signals to the party and country that he is different to his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn. His version of Labour is comfortable appearing in front of Union Jacks, posing with soldiers or clambering in and out of submarines, though not all of his colleagues are.

And fourth, fundamentally there is a political question about whether a promise of big cash coming in the 2030s matches increasingly urgent rhetoric about the dangers we face which other allies are using to speed up defence spending more dramatically. At the end of June, Nato allies will gather for a major summit in The Hague. Nato's secretary general Mark Rutte has already made abundantly clear he wants the UK and its allies to be spending at least 3% on defence as soon as possible.

The US, the country with the biggest cheque book, wants countries to aim for as much as 5% and if it's to be less, to stop claiming that pensions, health care for veterans or other costs, can be counted as defence spending. I'm told the summit could set a new target for Nato allies to spend 3.5% on defence either by 2032 or by 2035. If that happens, the UK could seem to be lagging behind.

As a senior figure warns, for some Nato members, spending 3.5% of GDP on defence is a already a "done deal" - but the UK is still "hopping around". Almost before the ink is dry on the defence review, the government's critics may be able to warn it falls short.

Perhaps then, the government's approach is as far as it is currently financially or politically possible to go. But with the PM warning defence should be the "central organising principle" of government - the first thought in the morning and the last at night - threats to our security might evolve faster than politics.

This week there will be fierce scrutiny of whether we're really keeping up.

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How controversial US-Israeli backed Gaza aid plan turned to chaos

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4g0xmem2lo, 14 days ago

The masked and armed security contractor atop a dirt mound watches thousands of Palestinians who have been kettled into narrow lanes separated by fences below.

He makes a heart shape with his hands and the crowd responds - the fence begins to bend as they push against it.

This jubilant scene was filmed on Tuesday, the opening day of an aid distribution centre - a vital lifeline for Gazans who haven't seen fresh supplies come into the strip for more than two months due to an Israeli blockade.

But by that afternoon, the scene was one of total chaos. Videos showed the distribution centre overrun by desperate civilians trampling over toppled barriers; people flinched as sounds of gunshots rang out.

This was the disorderly start to a controversial new aid distribution scheme operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a newly created body backed by the US and Israel.

GHF has been tasked with feeding desperately hungry Gazans. The UN said more than two million are at risk of starvation.

The foundation, which uses armed American security contractors, aims to bypass the UN as the main supplier of aid in Gaza. It has been roundly condemned and boycotted by aid agencies and the UN. But Israel has said an alternative to the existing aid system was needed to stop Hamas stealing aid, which the group denies doing.

To get a picture of the first few days of this new aid delivery system, BBC Verify has authenticated dozen of images at distribution sites, interviewed humanitarian and logistics experts, analysed Israeli aid transport data and official statements released by the GHF, and spoken with Gazans searching for supplies.

Chaotic scenes at distribution centres

GHF said it aimed to feed one million Gazans in its first week of operations through four secure distribution sites.

A foundation spokesperson said on Friday, its fourth day of operations, that it had distributed two million meals. The BBC has not been able to verify this figure, which would be less than one meal per Gazan over the course of four days.

GHF did not respond to our inquiries about how it was tracking who had been receiving them.

In a video filmed at GHF's northern site near Nuseirat on Thursday, Palestinians can be seen running away from a perimeter fence after GHF contractors threw a projectile that exploded with a loud bang, a flash and smoke.

GHF in a statement said its personnel "encountered a tense and potentially dangerous crowd that refused to disperse".

"To prevent escalation and ensure the safety of civilians and staff, non-lethal deterrents were deployed - including smoke and warning shots into the ground," it said.

"These measures were effective", it added, "and no injuries occurred." BBC Verify cannot independently confirm this.

Later that evening, GHF warned Gazans via Facebook that it would shut down any site where looting occurred.

The GHF is not the only aid organisation facing serious challenges. The night before the GHF warning, a World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse was looted, resulting in several deaths which are still being investigated.

In response to the incident, the WFP said humanitarian challenges "have spiralled out of control" and called for "safe, unimpeded humanitarian access" to Gaza immediately.

The WFP did not respond to BBC questions about how it would implement further security measures at its warehouses.

Disorganised GHF communication

Palestinians seeking aid have characterised the GHF-led operation as disorganised, saying a lack of communication has contributed to the chaotic scenes seen this week.

Things have been further muddied by misinformation. BBC Verify has seen at least two Facebook profiles purporting to be official GHF accounts, sharing inaccurate information about the status of the aid distribution centres.

One page with more than 4,000 followers posted inaccurate information, sometimes alongside AI-generated images, that aid had been suspended or that looting at GHF centres had been rampant.

A GHF spokesman confirmed to BBC Verify that both these Facebook accounts were fake. He also said that the foundation had launched an official Facebook channel.

Transparency information online showed the page was first created on Wednesday, the day after distribution operations started.

Aid organisation Oxfam and local Gazan residents have told the BBC that residents are instead relying on word of mouth to circulate information when aid was available.

"All of the people are hungry. Everyone fights to get what they want, how are we supposed to get anything?" said Um Mohammad Abu Hajar, who was unable to secure an aid box on Thursday.

Aid agency concerns

Oxfam criticised the location of the GHF distribution sites, telling BBC Verify that it imposed "military control over aid operations".

Its policy adviser, Bushra Khalidi, also questioned how vulnerable people, such as the elderly, would be able to reach these sites, which are located some distance away from some population centres.

When the UN had been delivering aid before Israel's humanitarian blockade, there were 400 distribution points spread across Gaza. Under the present GHF distribution system there currently are four known sites.

"By and large, it's designed to dramatically increase the concentration of the population by having the only sources of food remaining in a very small number of places," said Chris Newton, a senior analyst at the Brussels-based think tank Crisis Group.

"You either follow all their rules and probably survive in a small radius around these sites or you are very unlikely to survive."

The presence of armed security and Israeli soldiers at or near the distribution sites has also alarmed experts, who said it undermined faith in aid operations.

"Distributing assistance in this kind of environment is extremely difficult. [It's] much more effectively done when you are trying to work with, and through, the people there… rather than at the point of a mercenary's gun," said Prof Stuart Gordon at the London School of Economics.

A GHF spokesperson said: "Our ability - and willingness - to act under pressure is exactly why GHF remains one of the only organisations still capable of delivering critical food aid to Gaza today."

Images and videos taken by eyewitnesses and the Israeli military showed the GHF boxes appeared limited to canned food, pasta, rice, cooking oil and some biscuits and lentils.

"Humanitarian aid is not just a food box that you slap humanitarian on and you call it humanitarian aid," Ms Khalidi said.

The supplies being given to families should be accompanied by medical support, hygiene and water purification kits, said Prof Gordon.

A 14-page document from GHF, seen by the BBC, promised to hand out water and hygiene kits at the sites.

On Friday, only one of the four GHF sites was distributing aid. It opened for less than an hour after which GHF announced on Facebook that it had closed because all its supplies had been "fully distributed".

When asked by BBC Verify why only a single site was operational and why its boxes ran out so quickly, a GHF spokesperson said supply "will vary day by day".

"Good news is we have provided two million meals in four days and will be ramping up in the coming days and weeks," the spokesman said.

But many are still returning from distribution sites without boxes for their families.

"I am empty-handed like God created me," said Hani Abed outside the centre near the Netzarim Corridor on Thursday.

"I came empty-handed and I left empty-handed."

Additional reporting and verification by Emma Pengelly, Rudabah Abbass, Alex Murray, Thomas Spencer, Benedict Garman and Richard Irvine-Brown.

Correction, 11 June: an earlier version of this story referred to an aid centre being near Netzarim - the site of a Jewish settlement in Gaza which no longer exists. We have changed the name of the location to the Netzarim Corridor.

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The winter fuel payment U-turn in numbers

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c79eg2x5qnno, 4 days ago

The government's decision to largely reverse its cuts to winter fuel payments has raised questions about its spending and savings plans - and its fiscal rules.

BBC Verify has been looking at the the key numbers.

What has changed on winter fuel?

At the time Labour won the 2024 general election, the Department for Work and Pensions was projecting that 10.8 million pensioners in England and Wales would be eligible for winter fuel payments in 2024-25.

The payments are worth either £200 or £300 per household.

The new government, in order to save money, decided that only pensioners in receipt of pension credit (a separate benefit aimed at low-income pensioners) would receive winter fuel payments that winter - and said that would reduce the number of individual recipients to 1.5 million.

Now the government has changed course - after widespread criticism - and said that, from 2025-26, all pensioners will get it, although it will be clawed back in the following tax year from individuals earning £35,000 and above.

It claims this means about 9 million pensioners will now be eligible..

The effect of this is largely to undo the impact of its initial policy in terms of the numbers affected.

How much will this cost?

The government estimated that the cost of the winter fuel payment system it inherited in 2024-25 would have been £1.9bn.

It estimated that its initial reform last year would cut this bill by £1.4bn in 2024-25 (rising to £1.5bn in 2025-26) taking the cost of the system down to £0.5bn

Now the government says the cost of the system after its latest change will be £1.25bn - a saving of £450m relative to a system in which all pensioners were eligible to receive the payments.

The government added that this £450m saving has not yet been certified by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) - the government's official forecaster.

But, if it transpired, this saving would be only a third of the original £1.5bn savings target.

And some analysts think the overall net saving for the government could actually be lower still.

Under Labour's initial 2024 reform, winter fuel payments were only available to those in receipt of a separate benefit aimed at low-income pensioners, called pension credit.

Last year, the government initiated a campaign to encourage the hundreds of thousands of pensioners who are eligible for pension credit, but who do not claim it, to start doing so.

The latest data shows almost 60,000 more pension credit claims were awarded than otherwise might have been, likely because of the government's awareness campaign.

With each annual pension credit claim costing the government £3,900 a year on average, the former Lib Dem pensions minister Steve Webb has calculated that the total annual cost of these new claims could be about £234m.

That additional cost would offset around half of the £450m savings claimed by the government for its latest changes to winter fuel eligibility.

How can the government afford this U-turn?

When Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the tightening of winter fuel payments in 2024, she said the £1.5bn per year savings were needed to stabilise the public finances.

And those savings were entered into the OBR's budget calculations.

Now the savings will only be £450m per year - or even lower - a gap of at least £1bn will open up in the government's finances.

The Treasury said it will address this gap in the next Budget in the Autumn of 2025 and said "it will not lead to permanent additional borrowing".

Assuming the OBR does not raise its GDP growth and tax revenue forecasts in the Budget, giving the government more money to fill the gap, this will imply ministers would either have to raise additional taxes or cut spending elsewhere to close this roughly £1bn gap .

However, it should be noted that £1bn is a relatively low sum in the context of the public finances.

In 2025-26 the government is projected by the OBR to spend £1,347bn and to borrow £129bn.

It is also worth noting that the projected savings from the government's working age welfare reforms, announced earlier this year, are considerably higher than the savings from changing eligibility for winter fuel payments.

The changes in eligibility for personal independence payments and the cuts to universal credit incapacity payments are projected by the OBR to save the government £4.8bn a year by 2029-30.

If the government were to reverse or water down those reforms, as some Labour MPs are urging, it would create a considerably larger financial headache for the chancellor in terms of meeting her fiscal rules.

Those rules specify that she has to be projected to be on course to balance the government's day-to-day spending budget (which excludes spending on infrastructure) by 2029-30.

In March 2025, the OBR projected that she had just £9.9bn of "headroom" against this rule, a very small amount of leeway given the size of overall government spending and borrowing.

Reversing the welfare cuts would wipe out around half of it.

And many economists expect the chancellor's projected headroom to be further eroded by the OBR in any case in the Autumn Budget as a result of downgraded growth forecasts and an increase in government market borrowing costs in recent months.

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Has good weather helped to fuel record small boat crossings?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy3vq22xqzo, 10 days ago

Good weather and the willingness of people smugglers to cram more people onto small boats have been highlighted by the government as factors driving the level of migrant Channel crossings.

The Home Office has released figures showing that the number of "red days" - when conditions are considered favourable for small boat crossings - peaked in 2024-25.

The figures also show a rise in "severely overcrowded boats" in the same period.

The Conservatives and Reform have accused the government of "blaming the weather" for the record crossings so far this year. The government has said it is working to fix "a broken asylum system" left by the Tories.

Rising numbers

The Home Office figures reveal there were 190 red days in the 12 months to April 2025 - an 80% increase on the previous year and the highest number since records began.

Red days are defined as days which the Met Office has assessed as "likely" or "highly likely" to see small boat crossings, based on things like the height of waves, wind speed and rainfall.

By publishing the red day figures, the first official release of this kind, the government is suggesting a link between good weather conditions and the level of migrant crossings.

So far this year, 14,812 people have arrived in small boats - up about 40% on the same period last year. Almost 1,200 people arrived on Saturday alone.

BBC Verify asked Peter Walsh from the Migration Observatory, based at the University of Oxford, exactly what impact the weather has on Channel crossings.

He said it was a factor but other issues, such as the effectiveness of smuggling gangs and the number of people wanting to reach the UK are likely to be more important.

"A migrant's decision to come to the UK by small boat is important and life-changing for them: will they casually drop their plans and decide not to migrate because of a few consecutive days of bad weather? Or will they just wait until the next safe-weather day," he told BBC Verify.

While acknowledging that gangs have exploited periods of good weather to increase crossings, a Home Office spokesperson insisted the government is "restoring grip to the broken asylum system it inherited".

"That's why we are giving counter-terror style powers to law enforcement, launching an unprecedented international crackdown on immigration crime and have prevented 9,000 crossings from the French coastline this year alone", the spokesperson said.

Responding to the red day figures, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp, said:

"Blaming the weather for the highest ever crossing numbers so far this year is the border security equivalent of a lazy student claiming 'the dog ate my homework'."

Reform MP Lee Anderson said: "This Labour government blaming small boat crossings on the weather is like blaming the housing crisis on homebuilders - it's pathetic."

More people per boat

The figures also show a rise in what the Home Office has called "severely overcrowded small boats".

In the year to April 2025, there were 33 boats which carried 80 or more people on board.

The year before, there were only 11 boats with 80 or more people and there was just one of these boats recorded in the year to April 2023.

While the number of people per boat has increased, the total number of boats has fallen from 1,116 in 2021–22 to 738 last year.

Last year a record number of people died attempting to cross the channel in small boats, something which the Home Office attributes to "more people [being] crammed into flimsy and dangerous boats" by people smugglers.

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Is the government meeting its pledges on illegal immigration and asylum?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9dqqj0v1ndo, yesterday

The prime minister has made tackling illegal immigration and "restoring order" to the asylum system a priority for the government.

Sir Keir Starmer has promised to "smash the gangs". It follows predecessor Rishi Sunak's pledge to "stop the boats".

BBC Verify looks at key government pledges - from ending the use of asylum hotels to returning more people with no right to be in the country.

The asylum process determines whether a person can remain in the UK because they have a "well-founded fear of persecution" in their home country.

'End asylum hotels'

Labour promised to "end asylum hotels, saving the taxpayer billions of pounds" in its general election manifesto, and re-iterated it in the most recent Spending Review.

The government wants to fulfil this pledge by 2029.

However, recent figures show there were more asylum seekers staying in hotels in March 2025 than at the end of June 2024, a few days before the general election.

At the end of June, 29,585 people were in hotels, by March this year there were 32,345.

The government does not regularly publish figures on the number of actual hotels in use but figures obtained by BBC Verify show there were 218 asylum hotels in December, up from 212 in July.

Once someone applies for asylum, they gain legal protections while awaiting a decision - including accommodation if they cannot support themselves financially.

Almost everyone who arrives by small boat claims asylum - they made up a third of all asylum applications over the past 12 months. Another large group of claimants were people already in the UK who had overstayed their visas.

Since 2020, the government has been increasingly reliant on hotels, partly because the supply of other types of asylum accommodation has not kept up with the numbers arriving in small boats.

But using asylum hotels is expensive - costing £8m per day in 2023-24. The government has started to save money by adding beds to rooms in hotels to maximise the number of people in each site.

'Smash the gangs'

As of 11 June, 15,212 people had arrived in the UK in small boats this year- up by nearly a third compared with this time last year.

To reduce the number of crossings, the government has pledged to disrupt the people-smuggling gangs behind them.

But it is unclear how the government plans to measure its progress, or when the goal will be met.

The Home Office told us data on actions taken by officials to disrupt criminal gangs was "being collected and may be published in the future".

There is some information on efforts to prevent small boat crossings by French authorities - who, under a 2023 deal, are receiving £476m from the UK over three years.

They say about 24,791 people were prevented from crossing between July 2024 and May 2025. We do not know what happened to them or whether they tried to cross again.

There have been high-profile cases of UK-based smugglers being sentenced, including a man who helped smuggle more than 3,000 people and raids on the continent.

And at the recent UK-EU summit both sides pledged to work together on finding solutions to tackle illegal immigration.

This includes people who arrive on small boats, or hidden in lorries, and people who remain in the UK after their legal visa expires.

The vast majority of UK immigration is legal - this includes people who have been granted permission to come to work, study, claim asylum or for other authorised purposes.

Over the past 12 months about 44,000 people entered the UK illegally - about 5% of the nearly one million people who immigrated to the UK between April 2024 and March 2025.

'Clear the asylum backlog'

The government has also promised "to clear the asylum backlog".

This refers to the backlog of claims by asylum seekers who are waiting to hear whether they will be granted refugee status and be allowed to remain in the UK.

Since last summer, there has been a 58% increase in decisions on asylum cases.

This, combined with a recent fall in applications has meant the overall backlog of asylum cases has fallen compared with the end of June 2024.

Under Labour, 40% of asylum claims were granted between January and March 2025.

Another backlog the government wants to clear is the high number of court appeals from asylum seekers following rejected claims.

That backlog has got worse since last summer's election. There were nearly 51,000 in March 2025 - a record high.

'Increase returns'

The government has also promised to "increase returns" of people with no legal right to be in the UK. It said it would set up a new returns and enforcement unit with 1,000 extra staff.

Between July 2024 (when Labour came to power) and May 2025, there were 29,867 returns recorded by the Home Office.

This is up 12% compared with the same period 12 months ago.

So the government is meeting this pledge but it is worth noting that just 7,893 people were forcibly removed - which could involve being escorted on a plane by an immigration official.

The figures also show 8,511 failed asylum seekers were returned in this period but they do not say how many were enforced or voluntary.

Separate government figures from January to March gave a fuller breakdown showing many of those who did leave voluntarily did so without government assistance or even its knowledge at the time, as BBC Verify has previously pointed out.

This is despite repeated claims from ministers that the government has "removed" or even "deported" this many people.

The Home Office says all returns outcomes are the result of collective efforts by the department.

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How satellite images show scale of Ukraine's drone attack on Russian bombers

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg9zdxwk29o, 9 days ago

New satellite images and drone footage show serious damage inflicted on aircraft at several Russian airbases during Ukraine's surprise drone strike on Sunday.

The images of two Russian airbases in north-western and central Russia, taken on Wednesday morning, show 12 aircraft damaged or destroyed.

Meanwhile, drone footage, released by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on Wednesday, showed attacks on these two bases as well as two more targeted elsewhere.

Ukraine claims that it targeted 41 strategic bombers in the operation, adding that "at least" 13 were destroyed. Security officials say the shock incursion took 18 months to plan and saw many drones smuggled into Russia.

Drone attacks recorded

The SBU video is almost five minutes long and consists of edited footage taken by drones in the process of conducting attacks on Olenya, Ivanovo, Dyagilevo and Belaya airbases.

In each shot the feed cuts out before any explosion, but in some instances we see other planes on fire in the background.

At no point do we see any indication of defensive measures from Russian forces, even after the attack was clearly well underway.

Many of the aircraft are covered in tyres - a Russian tactic said to be aimed at mitigating against drone strikes.

Some of the aircraft are seen apparently loaded with cruise missiles and well fuelled - judging by the extent and spread of fires. This suggests they were prepared to conduct strikes.

The clearest satellite imagery covers Olenya and Belaya and shows five damaged or destroyed planes at the former and seven at the latter.

Olenya

Olenya is a major Russian airbase in the north-west of the country.

The SBU footage shows smoke pouring from three aircraft, identified as Tu-95 strategic bombers and an approach to a fourth. Video footage also shows a drone approaching a Tu-22M strategic bomber sitting on the runway in this very same position.

Satellite imagery from Maxar clearly shows a destroyed aircraft sitting beside a row of Tu-22M type aircraft.

Manufacturing of both the Tu-95 and Tu-22 ended at the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, which will make repair difficult and replacement near impossible.

Elsewhere in the SBU video, an AN-12 Transporter can be seen being approached. The Maxar satellite image does not show the aftermath of this, but other imagery reviewed by BBC Verify from AviVector - a satellite image analyst on X - suggests that it too was destroyed.

Belaya

Imagery provided by Planet Labs from this morning shows the entirety of Belaya airbase in Irkutsk Oblast, nearly 3,000km from the Ukrainian border.

It shows three damaged Tu-95s and four Tu-22s and in various parts of the base. The SBU footage shows many of the same aircraft being approached.

In two instances we see the drone carefully position itself on the wing of a Tu-95 - next to one of its fuel tanks.

The final shot of the footage shows smoke rising from numerous sites across the base.

Ivanovo

At Ivanovo airbase two A50-AWACS planes are seen being targeted. The aircraft serves as an early warning and control asset - or spy plane - and is identifiable by the sizeable radar system on its fuselage.

Ukraine previously shot down two of these aircraft in January and February 2024.

As yet we have not seen any imagery or footage that captures any damage to these aircraft at Ivanovo.

While satellite imagery from the site does show wreckage, BBC Verify has confirmed that the damage was present at the site before Sunday's attack and is likely from another incident.

Dyagilevo

The SBU footage from Dyagilevo in Ryazan region shows three Tu-22s being approached, but there is no clear indication of damage sustained in either the footage or available satellite imagery.

Additional reporting by Shayan Sardarizadeh

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