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Embattled German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has vowed to stay on despite exit polls in two local elections suggesting damaging defeats for his centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party.

In the north-eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the party was projected to only just scrape into parliament, while the AfD was on track to win the most votes. Merz called the result "a disaster".

In Berlin, the ruling CDU was also expected to be beaten by Die Linke (The Left).

Merz is under mounting pressure, with poor approval ratings and rumours he could even be replaced mid-term in a so-called chancellor swap.

Votes took place on Sunday, a fortnight after the CDU saw its vote halved as the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won a major victory in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.

Polls for both states closed at 18:00 local time (17:00 BST), with a final result expected in the coming hours.

According to public broadcaster ZDF, the AfD was projected to take 38% of the vote share in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. However, it is unlikely to govern in the state as other parties refuse to work with it.

For Berlin, the broadcaster put the CDU on 20% of the vote share when polls closed, behind Die Linke on nearly 26%.

Prior to Sunday's elections, there had been intense speculation in Germany that Merz could be replaced unless his party's political fortunes improved.

Earlier this week, the leaders of eight German states backed Merz, who has only held the post for 16 months.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

Russia's elections had few surprises - but how the Kremlin uses the results is far from clear

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx4gqv239043o, today

Many things about Russia are hard to predict.

The result of this election wasn't one of them.

In a political system tightly controlled by the Kremlin, the party of power – United Russia – had been widely expected to maintain its grip on parliament.

There was no upset. No surprises. No other party came close.

Preliminary results suggest that United Russia is on course to retain its constitutional majority in the State Duma.

And that's after more than four and a half years of war against Ukraine, which have resulted in huge battlefield losses for the Russian army, sparked economic hardship, as well as petrol shortages due to Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil facilities.

It appears that those parties which have crossed the 5% threshold and made it into the new Duma are the same ones that were in the last parliament.

And that Duma was fully behind the Kremlin and the so-called special military operation.

One party that didn't make it into parliament was Yabloko.

Yabloko had been the only anti-war party allowed to run in this election. But just 12 days after being registered it was removed from the ballot by the Supreme Court. That seemed to be a sign of Kremlin concern that Yabloko's pro-peace message was gaining too much traction with the public.

The party isn't surprised that the new Duma looks like being as compliant as the previous one.

"What other result can there be if there were 10 parties on the ballot and they all support the policies of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin?" Yabloko party chairman Nikolai Rybakov tells me.

"I don't think the Duma will change. They'll vote 100% for the policies of Putin just like they did."

Although Yabloko had been struck off the party list, around 100 of its candidates remained in individual constituency races, although the party continued to face sustained pressure.

"Some of our candidates, who should have been running, are in jail, many were barred from running and some of our election observers weren't registered and were unable to keep an eye on the voting," Nikolai says.

Ahead of the final day of this three-day election, Ukraine had launched a large-scale drone attack on the Moscow area. The city's oil refinery was hit.

At a polling station near the oil refinery, I spoke to voters about the attack.

Here, too, there was little surprise at what had transpired.

More than four and a half years into Russia's war on Ukraine, Muscovites had grown used to their city periodically becoming a front line. Instead of astonishment, there was quiet resignation.

"People in the Donbas, as well as in Bryansk, and Belgorod near the Ukrainian border, hear this kind of thing every day," says a voter called Viktor, who has exited the polling station.

"They just get on with their lives."

If the outcome of this election was predictable, what happens next is less clear.

The Kremlin will likely use the result to claim that most Russians have rallied behind the president, and to justify future policies and subsequent decisions on the war.

President Putin recently ruled out another wave of mobilisation.

"There is no scenario today that would require it," he declared.

Not today. But what about tomorrow?

Despite official denials, in Russian society there remains deep anxiety over the possibility of a new mobilisation.

At the very least, the Kremlin is likely to treat the election result as a "mandate from the people" to continue the war.

Seven Ethiopian rebel groups form new alliance

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckp84pj8zpngo, today

Several of the rebel groups which have been fighting the Ethiopian authorities in different parts of the country have announced they have formed an alliance to remove the government in Addis Ababa.

The alliance brings together the Fano militia in Amhara, the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and four other smaller groupings in a coalition named Alliance for Survival.

The seven groups accuse Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government of presiding over "war, genocide, mass destruction, and utter poverty", claiming Ethiopia is at risk of disintegration.

Federal authorities have not yet responded.

Ethiopia has faced years of armed conflict in Oromia and Amhara, the most populous states in the country.

There have also been renewed tensions in the northern Tigray region, where a two-year civil war left hundreds of thousands dead and displaced millions.

An African-Union peace deal ended that war in 2022, but there have been fears of a return to a full-scale conflict, with both sides accusing each other of violating that agreement.

Besides Oromia, Amhara and Tigray, the new alliance also includes groups based in three other regions - Ogaden, Afar and Benishangul-Gumuz – making up a half of Ethiopia's 12 regional states.

Amhara's Fano group fought alongside federal forces during the Tigray war.

It however turned against the federal government in an armed insurgency less than a year after the war ended, after refusing government orders to disarm.

The government has been fighting the OLA since 2018.

The announcement of the Alliance for Survival coalition comes months after reports of an alleged alliance between TPLF and neighbouring Eritrea.

Abiy responded by saying he had faith in Ethiopia's "defensive capabilities".

"Even if others were added, we do not have an iota of fear regarding Ethiopia's sovereignty," he told lawmakers in July.

The country held a general election in June, with Abiy's Prosperity Party retaining its overwhelming parliamentary majority, despite the poll being overshadowed by conflict, accusations of repression and little participation by opposition parties.

The Fano and OLA rebel groups rejected the election and its results.

The Tigray region and its six million inhabitants were completely excluded from the poll.

More about Ethiopia from the BBC:

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

Lindsay Clancy's ex-husband explains why he forgave her over children's killings

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq5yme200n8go, today

Warning: This story contains distressing details and discussion of attempted suicide

Patrick Clancy, the ex-husband of a US mother accused of murdering their three children, has said he would have been "eaten up inside forever" had he not forgiven her for their deaths.

In an interview with CBS, he also said he did the best he could as his then-wife Lindsay Clancy struggled with mental illness in the months leading up to the day she strangled their children.

Lindsay has not disputed that she killed them but her lawyers argued she should not be held legally responsible because she was suffering from severe mental illness.

A judge declared a mistrial in the case earlier this month after the jury said it could not reach a unanimous verdict on whether she was guilty of murder.

The prosecution had alleged that on 24 January 2023, Clancy intentionally strangled all of her children - Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, eight months - in their Duxbury, Massachusetts, home.

Clancy, now 36, was then left paralysed after jumping from a second-floor window. She attended the trial in a wheelchair.

Patrick Clancy testified during the trial about his ex-wife's declining mental health after giving birth.

Clancy's team said she had postpartum psychosis, a rare condition in which postpartum women can experience mania, depression or a mixture of both.

"I didn't know how to manage a postpartum illness. I think mental illness has this ability to be tragically deceptive," he told CBS, the BBC's US news partner.

It was her mental health that led to Patrick Clancy deciding later to forgive her.

"I saw headlines that said, you know, 'Killer Mom', and 'Baby Murderer', 'Monster'. And none of them were accurate," he said in the interview.

"I believe that it was her mental illness that caused that. So I shared those words. And I think when it comes to forgiveness, I also felt that if I didn't get there, I would be eaten up inside forever."

Asked if he felt he had failed in some way in this period leading up to the killings, he said: "I think I did the best I could with what I had at the time. And I live with the outcome. I live with it every day."

Living with his grief in the weeks after the tragedy became a struggle and he admitted having suicidal thoughts.

"I didn't think I would live to see my 35th birthday. And I was completely fine with it," he said.

During the seven week trial, Patrick was singled out online for wild vitriol and cover-up accusations.

There were claims he was to blame for the murders in some way. Thrust into the limelight, tabloids snapped photos of him travelling and with his new wife Rachel Danis.

The 36-year-old said the speculation was "deeply harmful to the legacy of my children. It is a huge distraction from what really matters here, which is perinatal mental health".

It was also "painful to see" for him personally.

"And it makes it difficult to be in public and it's possible that some of those people after seeing lie after lie after lie, they start to believe it and that's what we're left with," he said.

The intense scrutiny prompted him to move from Duxbury to New York City in a bid to seek anonymity.

Now he is starting a family with Danis and looking forward to telling his future children about their siblings.

"I think every parent can agree, you have different relationships with your kids, but they're all your kids. And I can't wait to tell them about their brothers and sister."

The mistrial leaves the case unresolved. Prosecutors have not said whether they will seek a retrial.

The next court hearing is scheduled for 29 September at Plymouth Superior Court in Massachusetts.

If you are suffering distress or despair and need support, you could speak to a health professional, or an organisation that offers support. Details of help available in many countries can be found at Befrienders Worldwide.

A list of UK organisations that can help is available here.

UK should 'team up' with Canada in new Europe alliance, Canadian minister tells BBC

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmed7p06epxjo, today

The UK should "team up" with a proposed economic alliance between Canada and Europe, Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne has said.

"This is all about the substance, to build an alliance of the future," he told the BBC. "The world has changed. America has changed. So we need to change."

Champagne also gave a frank assessment of the Canada-US trade war after a deal collapsed last month, saying the country had "stood up for our industries, our workers, our country" by imposing tariffs.

His comments come after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed "opening the door" to an associate EU membership for Canada, an unprecedented move for the bloc.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's visit to address the European Union in Strasbourg, shortly after von der Leyen's proposal was made, was "to build the alliance of the future", Champagne said.

Carney, the former Governor of the Bank of England, has previously talked about an alliance of "middle powers" working together on economic growth, resilience and security.

Speaking to the BBC, Champagne said the UK and Canada had shared values.

"We need to look at partnership in a different way, and the great thing is that when you look at Canada, and I would say the United Kingdom, we share the same values. We are very aligned in our vision of the world. Why don't we team up?" he said.

"We are independent and sovereign, but we are stronger together."

After his return to the White House last year, US President Donald Trump imposed sweeping global tariffs, including on long-standing trade allies such as the UK.

While the UK renegotiated a trade deal with the US in June last year, the new Canada-EU alliance does raise questions for the UK's post Brexit positioning with Europe, as well as its position with the US, after some changes of presidential rhetoric over the Falklands and Irish unity in recent weeks.

Carney met Prime Minister Andy Burnham in Liverpool in the middle of his trip to Brussels and Strasbourg last week, while Champagne attended a meeting of EU finance ministers in Dublin on Friday, alongside the Chancellor John Healey.

'Enough is enough'

The developing discussions around closer ties between the EU and Canada come as Canada remains locked in an escalating trade war with the US, with both sides imposing tit-for-tat tariffs after talks broke down at the last moment in August.

President Trump has also threatened further tariffs on the EU if the associate membership plan proved "hostile" to the US, calling the idea laughable and labelling Canada a "terrible trading partner".

Champagne said the trade war was not a conflict chosen by Canada.

"We responded because at some stage you have to say 'Enough is enough'. No one can infringe on our economic sovereignty… the world took notice," he said.

The minister said Canada does not seek escalation after its "measured, targeted and strategic… dollar for dollar, tariff for tariff" response, and the country would "reengage at the right time" with its southern neighbour.

Affected industries would be supported "as long as it takes and whatever it takes", he added.

Champagne argued that Canada's strong fiscal position helped underpin its resilience, and the dispute with the US provided a "golden opportunity" to diversify.

This is the backdrop to the promise of an "alliance of the future" between Canada and the EU, and the idea of "teaming up" with the UK too.

Burnham will meet Trump for the first time this week, in New York at the UN General Assembly.

Last year, after his election, Carney invited King Charles to open the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa, a move widely seen as a rebuff to Trump's repeated suggestion that Commonwealth Canada could become part of the US.

The detail of the offer made by the EU to negotiate "associate membership" for Canada is yet to be formalised.

Champagne said this was "a moment of great opportunities" and to strengthen the existing relationship between Canada and the EU.

Carney last week pointed to Canadian membership of EU university, scientific research, AI and defence funding schemes, as well as for young Canadians and Europeans to "cross the ocean and be able to study and live".

He said Canada could supply critical minerals and gas and would seek access to European advanced technologies.

It is understood that both Canada and the EU see the opportunity for a process for like-minded nations which might not ever be full members, for example Australia.

Presley Gerber, Cindy Crawford's son, dies aged 27

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmdx0pqrv72wo, today

Presley Gerber, the son of supermodel Cindy Crawford, has died at the age of 27.

Gerber, a model, passed away at a rehab facility on Sunday, according to records filed by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner. The cause of death was not listed.

Allie Jenkins, a representative for Crawford and her husband Rande Gerber, told the BBC's US news partner CBS: "The family is asking for privacy during this very difficult and painful time."

Gerber had been a model like his mother and younger sister Kaia, making his runway debut for Italian label Moschino aged just 16.

He went on to model for brands including Burberry, Dolce & Gabbana, and Bottega Veneta.

His father Rande Gerber, a well-known businessman, co-founded the Casamigos tequila brand with George Clooney.

In recent years, Gerber had spoken openly about his mental health challenges and drug use.

In 2023, he told the Studio 22 podcast: "Having struggled with mental health, depression and some other things that come along with that, I think that whether I help one person or a hundred people get out of that place that I was in at one point in my life, that's all I need to do."

And in this month's American Vogue, Kaia discussed her brother's struggles with addiction. She said: "When something like that happens in a family, it kind of levels everyone.

"I think that's also why I started to self-identify as the easy one and never wanted to ask for help."

ICE agent shoots and wounds man in Texas as locals demand answers

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3y0z25v0zjwo, today

Protesters have gathered in Austin, Texas where local officials said a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot and wounded a man in the Texas capital.

Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan national, was shot in the torso and taken to hospital, his lawyer has told US media.

Local officials are seeking answers from federal authorities, and could not say whether he was a target of ICE. The mayor and police have demanded an independent probe, with this shooting coming months after a man in Houston, Texas was shot dead by an ICE officer.

The BBC has contacted ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch told CBS that Garces Perez called his wife while "yelling in pain" in hospital. She told National Public Radio he was in ICE custody.

The shooting on Sunday in Austin occurred just before 1300 local time, although details remain scarce. Dozens of protesters, some waving the flags of Mexico and Guatemala, have since gathered at the scene carrying signs demanding that ICE leave Austin.

Local television outlets showed the demonstrators gathering across the street from a blue Toyota Corolla that ⁠sustained damage to the passenger-side door, as ICE agents stood nearby, Reuters news agency reported.

Mayor Kirk Watson, a Democrat, said that Austinites have a right to know what happened and "a right to feel safe in their city" during a media briefing on Sunday.

"They should know the truth" he said, adding that he is pleased that the city will also be involved in the investigation.

He added that ICE operations have surged in Austin in recent weeks. ICE has faced intense scrutiny after a number of deadly shootings, including the death of Houston resident Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. Salgado Araujo had not been a target of an ICE investigation, but was shot during an ICE traffic stop, according to DHS.

Texas Congressman Greg Casar, a Democrat, has demanded a full and immediate independent investigation and the release of body camera footage. He also demanded "accountability for any ICE officer who broke the law".

The Austin Police Department confirmed to a local CBS News affiliate that the victim was injured and was transported to hospital. No Austin police officer was involved in the shooting.

The Trump administration has ramped up immigration enforcement efforts and arrests during Trump's second term, which sparked unrest across several US cities.

The administration has defended its policies and the agency's controversial tactics as necessary for public safety and to carry out Trump's mass deportations mandate.

But rights activists say that the administration has violated free speech and due process rights and Democrats have demanded reforms at the agency, including requiring immigration enforcement agents to wear body cameras and barring them from concealing their faces during operations.

Earlier this month the US Department of Justice charged an ICE agent with lying about the non-fatal shooting of a Venezuelan migrant in Minnesota - a rare instance in which the current justice department accused a federal agent of breaking the law on the job.

Earlier this week, Florida lawmaker Maria Elvira Salazar, a Republican who has been spoken out against the immigration crackdown, released an advert critcising the targeting and detaining of individuals who have no criminal record.

Salazar appeared on the CBS programme Face the Nation on Sunday and said that she has since spoken to the president, and believes he will keep the country on the right track.

"He gets it more than anybody," she said.

US and China discuss AI safety plan ahead of Trump-Xi summit

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8vgyzn2d31yo, today

Top US and Chinese officials have discussed creating a new "notification mechanism" for AI incidents that could affect national security, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters on Sunday.

Bessent made the comments after what he called "successful" talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in New York.

The meeting came as US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are due to hold a summit in Washington later this week.

AI has come under intense scrutiny in recent days after researchers warned of the potential risks posed by the technology and some of the industry's most high profile figures called for developers to take a more cautious approach.

"We think that, just like with any cross-border activity, that moving from opaque to more transparency between the number one and the number two AI powers in the world is very important," Bessent told reporters after the talks.

He said the meeting also covered other topics, including plans to "operationalise" a process to identify potential tariff cuts on goods called the Board of Trade.

A truce in the tariffs war between the world's two biggest economies is due to expire on 10 November.

The BBC has contacted the Chinese embassy in the US for comment.

Chinese state news agency Xinhua said the two sides had "candid, in-depth and constructive exchanges on key economic and trade issues", noting that they had discussed AI.

Bessent said in a post on X on Sunday that the talks "help lay the groundwork for President Trump to advance America's economic interests and deliver results for the American people."

The US and China are locked in a race to dominate the AI and technology industries.

In recent days Washington has faced calls to slow down the development of AI over fears abouts its potential negative impact on humanity.

Trump has largely dismissed those concerns, arguing that there are sufficient policies around AI and that the US cannot lose its edge to China.

He said earlier this month "whoever wins in AI, wins."

In May, when Xi hosted Trump in Beijing, ways to collaborate on AI was one of the issues the two leaders discussed.

Those talks ended with an agreement that China would buy Boeing jets and US agricultural goods in exchange for lower tariffs.

Trial of ex-police officer accused of double murder to begin in Sydney

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmx2z10zk736o, today

The double murder trial of Beaumont Lamarre-Condon, a former police officer accused of killing his ex-partner and his new boyfriend in 2024, is to begin in Sydney on Monday.

Lamarre-Condon, 31, has pleaded not guilty to two charges of domestic violence-related murder and one of aggravated break and enter.

Police allege Lamarre-Condon used his work-issued gun to shoot his ex-partner Jesse Baird, 26, a television presenter, and Baird's new partner Luke Davies, 29, a Qantas flight attendant, at a home in the inner Sydney suburb of Paddington.

The couple's bodies were found in a rural area more than 200km southwest of Sydney, hidden in surfboard bags. The trial is expected to run for three months.

Police launched a frantic search for Baird and Davies after bloodied items belonging to the couple were found in a bin in Sydney's south in February 2024.

Later that week, Lamarre-Condon handed himself in to a police station and was charged with the alleged murders.

Eight days after the alleged killings took place, authorities found the couple's bodies.

Lamarre-Condon was sacked by New South Wales (NSW) Police in the weeks after he was charged with the alleged murders.

A jury is expected to be selected on Monday, followed by opening statements by the prosecutors and the defence.

Workers came across human remains – and unearthed a mass grave of 572 people

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm1j4kl80z56o, today

When a mass grave was unearthed in northern Sri Lanka last February, it was not by design.

Workers were digging to extend a cremation ground in the Chemmani area of the Jaffna region when they suddenly discovered human remains, prompting an investigation.

By August, archaeologists had completed the third phase of the excavation at the site, during which they found the skeletal remains of 572 people, including children and infants.

Among the dead were artefacts from their lives – bangles, a school bag, a milk bottle.

It is believed to be the largest mass grave site ever uncovered in Sri Lanka.

There had been whispers of its existence before - a soldier on trial for the rape and murder of a young woman during the country's devastating civil war, had spoken about a mass grave which contained hundreds of bodies. Rights groups said they were disappeared civilians

But there was no proof - until now.

And while the discovery is devastating, it has offered hope to people like Jeyaruby Jeyabalan, whose father was among thousands of people who disappeared during the decades-long war. Jeyabalan and families like his hope that answers about what happened to their loved ones lie among the bodies.

Many Tamils believe the grave holds the victims of extrajudicial killings carried out during the civil war. They are calling for an investigation – and for justice.

But the excavation process at Chemmani has moved slowly, testing the patience of families searching for answers about their disappeared loved ones.

The discovery of hundreds of remains near a previously identified mass grave has fuelled anger among the Tamils, who have long-demanded a thorough inquiry into disappearances.

Many fear the mass grave will eventually fade from public attention because of a lack of political will to pursue the truth – and so the grave has become a rallying point for renewed protests in Sri Lanka's north.

Two decades waiting for answers

Sri Lanka, particularly the Tamil-dominated north and east, suffered decades of conflict. The war, which lasted from 1983 to 2009, divided the island-nation along ethnic lines. Tamil Tiger rebels fought for an independent state in the north-east of the country due to what they called systematic discrimination by the Sinhalese-dominated government.

The conflict lasted 26 years and the fighting killed an estimated 100,000 people. It also left about 23,000 – mostly Tamils – missing.

Both the security forces and Tamil Tigers are accused of atrocities and crimes.

In 1995, after a bloody conflict, the Sri Lankan army wrested control of the Jaffna Peninsula from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). It was seen as a key turning point in the war, which ended with the defeat of the Tigers in 2009.

As they extended control in the late 1990s, the entire Chemmani region became part of a high-security zone and was dotted with army camps, check points and security posts. There was an army camp in Chemmani close to the cemetery as well.

Some at that time described the Jaffna region as an "open prison" - and the security forces were accused of causing the disappearance of thousands of civilians, something Sri Lankan governments have always denied.

"I was 12 years old when my father was picked up by the Sri Lankan army at a checkpoint close to Chemmani area in September 1996. We still don't know what happened to him," Jeyaruby Jayapalan, who now lives in Jaffna, tells the BBC.

She recalls how, after learning of his disappearance, the family panicked and visited military camps and police stations across Jaffna in a desperate search for information without any luck. He never came back.

Her father, Kandaiah Jayapalan, was a government employee who also ran a roadside café not far from Chemmani.

"I went to Chemmani mass grave with many others hoping that I will find some answers. But we didn't find any material evidence. We want a detailed forensic analysis of the human remains," says Jeyaruby.

Two weeks before Kandaiah Jayapalan vanished, an 18-year-old Tamil school girl, Krishanthi Kumaraswamy, disappeared in the same area.

In 1998, a court in Colombo sentenced five soldiers to death for the rape and murder of Kumaraswamy and for killing three of her family members. The case drew global attention at that time. Their bodies were later found buried in Chemmani area.

It is among the most infamous cases from the conflict – and the grave currently under investigation is within 100 metres of the remains of Kumaraswamy and others were found.

In a startling court testimony, one of the convicted soldiers, Somaratne Rajapakse, alleged that between 300 and 400 people who had been killed in the mid-1990s were buried in Chemmani.

His claim led to the first excavation at Chemmani a year later, during which investigators unearthed more than 10 human skeletons. Human rights activists believed those remains were linked to people who had disappeared during the civil war, but there was little judicial follow-up.

Activists say that because the war with the Tamil rebels was ongoing, the then government didn't pursue the investigation and did not explain why.

The discovery of another mass grave in the same area has revived calls for accountability.

"Preliminary inspections suggest this was not a normal burial site and not consistent with ordinary Hindu burial practices," says Gehan Gunatilleke, a commissioner with Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, which conducted inspections at Chemmani last year.

Activists and experts say that while a few dozen bodies appeared to have been formally buried, the vast majority told a different story.

Most of the human remains were found without clothing, packed tightly together and, in some cases, stacked on top of others. The graves were shallow, with bodies buried just one to two metres below the surface.

"There is a reasonable likelihood that the burials were unlawful and pursuant to extrajudicial killings," the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka said in a report last year.

Past investigations haven't led to prosecutions

The families of those disappeared during the conflict have responded to the discovery by holding protest meetings and remembrance ceremonies.

Among them is Suseela, a 65-year-old woman who is looking for her son, Gnanaseelan Ravi, who was picked up by the Sri Lankan military in 2007, when he was 24.

"He was my only son, and I keep crying every day remembering him. My life is empty without him," she tells the BBC.

She went to Chemmani grave but couldn't find any evidence, likes clothes or personal jewellery, that suggested her son was buried there. DNA tests on the human remains are yet to be carried out.

All the remains recovered so far from Chemmani have been kept in the Forensic Department of the University of Jaffna campus under court custody.

"We are preparing an interim report, and it will be submitted to the court by the end of September," Prof Raj Somadeva, the chief archaeologist of the mass grave told the BBC.

Some of the samples are expected to be sent abroad for detailed examination to help determine the age of the remains. Separate medical analyses will be needed to establish the possible causes of death.

More than 20 mass graves have been found across Sri Lanka in recent decades, but none have been conclusively linked to enforced disappearances or alleged extra-judicial killings in the north and south of the country – and none have led to prosecutions.

Given the failure of the authorities to investigate previous mass graves, there is scepticism among many Tamil people over what the new investigation might achieve.

They point out to the outcome of the investigation on another mass grave was unearthed in the north-western town of Mannar in 2018 in which more than 350 skeletal remains were found. Investigations proved inconclusive, leaving many families disappointed.

They want Sri Lanka to be referred to the International Criminal Court.

The government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake insists that it is fully cooperating with the investigation.

After coming to power in September 2024, Dissanayake promised to work towards justice and ethnic reconciliation. But his government vehemently opposes any international mechanism to investigate alleged war crimes committed during the ethnic conflict, disappointing Tamils.

"We will continue with the excavation work at Chemmani," Harshana Nanayakkara, Sri Lanka's justice minister told the BBC.

"We need to analyse the skeletons and find out how these people died. Then we have to carry out DNA tests," he said.

The government, he insists, has also asked the families to give their DNA so that it can be analysed later with the remains.

During his inspection at Chemmani in June, the minister promised investigations to find justice and truth to bring an end to the matter. He also promised that necessary funding will be allocated for the excavation.

The Sri Lankan army spokesman, Brigadier Waruna Gamage rejects allegations that security forces buried civilians after massacring them.

"All the allegations should be proved in court," he told the BBC.

Calls for international assistance

The delays in investigating past crimes have attracted stringent criticism from rights groups.

After years of international pressure, in 2018 the government set up an independent body, the Office of the Missing Persons (OMP), to investigate the disappearances. But those affected say it hasn't made much progress in finding their missing relatives.

"Many cases of forced disappearance, torture and killing remain stalled, while families of victims and human rights defenders face threats and intimidation," Human Rights Watch said in a report earlier this month.

The United Nations has urged Sri Lanka to seek international help in identifying the victims, to find out how they died, and who is responsible.

"This is a situation where victims are deeply frustrated, have lived with pain for decades, have come to distrust past investigations," Rory Mungoven, the Asia-Pacific chief at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights tells the BBC.

"I think involving international assistance would help to bolster confidence in these investigations," he points out.

Successive Sri Lankan governments have strongly resisted calls for international investigations into alleged wartime atrocities.

During earlier reporting trips to Sri Lanka, I met parents and family members of the disappeared who campaigned for decades to the search for truth. Some have since passed away without ever discovering the fates of their loved ones.

Human rights groups say that President Dissanayake's government now has an opportunity to break from a long-standing pattern of delay and denial and deliver accountability for grave abuses committed during the conflict.

Suseela is determined to know the truth.

"I don't know how long I will live with such uncertainty, but I want closure," she says.

Additional Reporting by: Ranjan Arun Prasadh, BBC Tamil Service in Kandy and Kumanan Kanapathippillai in Jaffna.

Smart beds and motion sensors - is this the future of dementia care?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3056d456gro, today

There are sensors in every room of Jyoti and Bharat Patel's home. Their movements and habits are monitored constantly.

But this doesn't worry them, in fact it gives them peace of mind.

Jyoti was diagnosed with dementia five years ago, and they are now part of an NHS trial using high-tech devices to help patients live at home safely.

The couple, who are in their 70s, are one of more than 250 families participating in the project by the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI).

The hope is that the technology could be extended more widely across the health service, to reduce preventable trips to hospital and give families peace of mind.

Bharat and Jyoti met at a magic show in 1977 and became a double act, with their career leading them to meet King Charles and Princess Anne as well as a host of celebrities.

In 2019, Bharat started noticing that Jyoti was making uncharacteristic mistakes on stage.

"Normally she used to set my stage up and everything was perfect, but I saw something I was looking for and it wasn't there, so I thought something is wrong," he said.

They went to a private health specialist who diagnosed Jyoti with Alzheimer's in 2021.

Jyoti says when she went out, if she did not look around her, she would find that she was lost.

"I didn't know it [was] dementia but I knew it was something which [was] unusual," Bharat says.

In 2023, they were approached by the team at UK Dementia Research Institute and Imperial College London to take part in the trial, which is funded by the medical research charity LifeArc.

Their house in west London is now fitted with different sensors, which are connected via the internet, that send data back to a dedicated team of doctors, nurses and other clinical specialists.

The team then uses the information to better understand how the person is managing their daily routine, identify early signs of changing health and care needs with the hope that they can maintain independence for longer.

Door sensors detect if someone leaves in the middle of the night, movement is monitored to check for signs of a fall, while kitchen appliances are fitted with sensors to check whether Jyoti has eaten and is sticking to her daily routine.

The couple sleep on a "smart mattress" to track sleep disturbances and Jyoti's heart and breathing rates, which can spot early signs of an infection.

Alongside this trial, Jyoti is also testing out smart socks and a special watch that also contain sensors to monitor her body temperature and keep track of any long-term changes in her gait - indicating frailty.

How much will it cost and is it worth it?

Costs are expected to be about £2,000 a year, mainly to cover the monitoring and paying healthcare staff to analyse the data.

If rolled out more widely that could be a significant amount of money with almost a million people living with dementia in the UK.

But Sarah Daniels, health and social care lead at the UK Dementia Research Institute, says the cost is no more than a couple of weeks in a care home.

The main aim, she says, is to give earlier signals to health and social care professionals.

"Earlier signals means earlier intervention, which means we can head potential complications of an infection, potential challenges around care, we can head that off before it becomes a crisis," says Daniels.

None of the devices record sound or video, protecting the individual's privacy, however, some people may feel nervous about the amount of data they are allowing other people to access.

Daniels argues that by enhancing the level of information you provide to your GP, it enables them to make better decisions about your care.

The number of people with dementia in the UK is expected to climb by another 40% by 2040, so the hope is to extend it more widely across the health service.

Dr Jeremy Isaacs, national clinical director for dementia and older people's mental health at NHS England, said the health service would be closely monitoring the trial and said the research built on NHS programmes which were already supporting people to remain more independent in their own homes.

While some people might feel uneasy about having all these sensors in their home, Bharat says they give him greater "peace of mind".

"Even if it can cut down my worries by 5 or 10%, then it helps me and it will help other people too," he says.

Key takeaways from BBC interview as Earl Spencer defends claims about King

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cry4z1xykeleo, today

Earl Spencer has told the BBC writing his book about sister Princess Diana, which has made headlines for its criticism of King Charles, was his "duty...as an eyewitness to history".

In an interview with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg ahead of the memoir's release on Tuesday, Earl Spencer said he wanted "to put things down once and for all that were true".

Among claims made in Swan Song: Diana, My Sister about the King, who was then the Prince of Wales, was that he said "we'll forget her soon enough" during an argument over whether Princes William and Harry should walk in Diana's funeral procession.

In a strongly worded response, Buckingham Palace said the King was "mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss".

Here are the key moments from Earl Spencer's interview, which include his first account of how he was told about Diana's death and criticism of press coverage of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Earl initially told Diana crash was 'not too serious'

Earl Spencer was in South Africa when Princess Diana died in a Paris car crash in the early hours of 31 August 1997, along with close friend Dodi Fayed and the driver of the car.

He told the BBC he got a call in the middle of the night from his sister Lady Jane Fellowes, who said Princess Diana had been in a crash but "it's not too serious".

But then he "kept getting more and more distressing calls" from his sister.

"And then my sister Jane said, 'I'm afraid she's died.' It started... as a little prang, and then it became a broken leg, perhaps a head injury, and then death."

Charles had 'giddy tone' after Diana's death

Describing the hours after her death, Earl Spencer said he took a call at his home in Cape Town from Prince Charles, who told him how he broke the news to Princes William and Harry at Balmoral Castle.

"I felt there was a sort of giddy tone," he told the BBC.

"I'd had a lot of calls that day from people who cared, who were stunned... and I just felt there was a lightness in his tone about Diana's death that really jarred with me."

In his book, Earl Spencer compares his tone to like a "lottery winner" and says he suspects the prince's reaction was based on how this event would free him to marry the woman he loved, his future wife Queen Camilla.

When asked by Kuenssberg if he could be sure that is what Prince Charles was thinking, Earl Spencer said: "I cannot be sure, I'm saying that's what I assume from the tone is a possibility."

Comments 'will not be a surprise' to William and Harry

Earl Spencer told the BBC he had been discussing funeral arrangements with a palace official, who said it had been agreed Princes William and Harry should walk behind their mother's coffin. Unhappy, he said he told the official it is not what his sister would have wanted, before the conversation came to an end.

Soon after, the earl says he took a call from Prince Charles, who asked him about his opposition to it.

"I said, 'Well, of course not, sir, she wouldn't want it'. And then he said, 'Well, I walked behind Lord Mountbatten's coffin.' And I said, 'Yes, but you were 30 and he wasn't your mother'."

He then claims Charles went "ballistic... and ranted for a while" about the Spencer's sense of duty not being adequate enough before "he said 'We'll forget her [Diana] soon enough'."

"I really was so stunned and after a stunned silence I said 'I can not believe you just said that' and I hung up on him", the earl told Kuenssberg during his sit down interview at his Althorp estate.

Responding to the Palace's statement pushing back on the story, Earl Spencer said: "I can tell you here and now, those are exactly the words he said.

"I've only ever had two calls on the line with Prince Charles at any stage in my life.

"I was hyper-alert to what he was saying, and those are precisely the words he said. And I promise that to you now. Genuinely, that is what he said.

"I don't hear him saying he didn't say that."

The earl said he told "close friends and family" about the "monstrous" comment.

When asked if people should believe him or the King, he said: "Well, I'm telling the truth... what else would have made me hang up on the King that day?"

On what Princes William and Harry might think of the comments being brought up nearly 30 years later, he added the words "will not be a surprise" to the brothers.

He also said his renowned funeral eulogy, in which he said his sister's qualities would never be "extinguished from our minds", was a "direct rebuttal" of the prince's comments.

'I know lots of things about the King' not in the book

Talking about his motivations for writing the book, Earl Spencer, aged 62, said it was his "duty... as an eyewitness to history" and as someone in the "final season of my life" with his parents dying in their sixties.

"I'm aware of mortality and I wanted to just put things down once and for all that were true," the historian and journalist explained.

"This is not a threat, it's a fact, I know lots of things about the King which I chose not to include in the book because they were not relevant."

When put to him that the statement sounded like a threat when it involved potentially damaging information, he said: "No, not at all a threat, it's just the reality."

Kuenssberg questioned why he included an account of a conversation in which his sister told him Prince Charles was in love with his valet - a claim Earl Spencer said was improbable - and asked if he was motivated in including some of these allegations to create interest to sell the book.

"It's in the context of a conversation where Diana is telling me that her marriage is over," the earl replied.

"It's a brother's tribute, a loving tribute to a sister. And I think she deserves honesty so that's what I've delivered."

The earl said he considers Swan Song to be his "sign off" and final take on the situation.

"I'm not here to bang on about Diana, this is my final word, celebration of her, and I will step off into the sunset now and not be available for comment."

Harry and Meghan's media treatment 'echoes' Diana

When asked about how he thinks Prince Harry has been treated by the Royal Family, Earl Spencer tells the BBC he is reluctant to discuss it, but he said he was concerned about his security.

"I would say that I personally worry about the fifth-in-line to the throne who's served in the military not having any police protection," he said.

"As an uncle who's seen his sister die in very, very preventable circumstances, that I would veer towards protection."

It is understood the committee that oversees royal and VIP security, known as Ravec, is to reconsider Prince Harry and Meghan's level of police protection now they and their two children are full-time residents in the UK rather than visitors.

When asked about how the press treated Princess Diana and now Prince Harry and Meghan, he said tabloid articles "could be really really unpleasant".

"It would really be beholden on people to learn from Diana's example. I'm not here to speak for Harry and Meghan, but for anyone who's being destroyed in this way daily, it must be such a cancerous influence in their life," Earl Spencer said.

"[Diana] was really brought low by all that criticism. And yeah I suppose it's a pity when I see echoes of that now."

'I hope William and Harry resolve row'

Earl Spencer said he did not take sides - as he perceives is the "perception in the media" - in the dispute between Princes William and Harry.

"I'm on my deceased sister's sons' side, both of them. And if either of them wanted anything then I'd be equally there for them," he said.

"And I never get involved in one camp or the other, except as a benign figure I hope."

He said there are a "lot of reasons on both sides" why the brothers' relationship had "got to this stage".

"I hope one day it's resolved, but I don't know all – I certainly don't know what's been done in the finer detail and so I would feel intrusive if I got more involved than to say of course a mother would want her two sons to be happy together and love each other," he said.

Diana 'convinced she couldn't trust people' after Bashir interview

Reflecting on the time before Princess Diana's death, Kuenssberg asked if the infamous BBC Panorama interview with journalist Martin Bashir in 1995 might have been linked indirectly to his sister finding herself in Paris in 1997.

Shortly after the interview broadcast, in which Princess Diana admitted having an affair and said Prince Charles's affair with then-Camilla Parker Bowles made her feel worthless, the Queen wrote to Prince Charles and Princess Diana telling them to divorce.

A 2021 inquiry found Bashir acted in a "deceitful" way by mocking up fake bank statements - which falsely suggested individuals were being paid to keep Diana under surveillance - and showing them to Earl Spencer to gain access to the late princess.

Earl Spencer said he did make "a connection" between the crash and the Panorama interview and said they conned both him and Diana.

"People said, 'Oh, she was paranoid,'. She wasn't paranoid. She was convinced that she couldn't trust people because the evidence was there. And, you know, I think that left her vulnerable that night."

The BBC and Bashir apologised to King Charles, Earl Spencer and Princes William and Harry after the 2021 report was published.

The BBC's then-director general, Tim Davie, said: "Although the report states that Diana, Princess of Wales, was keen on the idea of an interview with the BBC, it is clear that the process for securing the interview fell far short of what audiences have a right to expect. We are very sorry for this."

Earl supports 'a modern monarchy'

Earl Spencer, the ninth earl of an aristocratic family whose peerage dates back to the 18th Century and retains its vast estate, told the BBC he is "all for a monarchy, but I like a modern monarchy".

Talking about the "jarring" protocol around the monarchy, he said: "You know, you mentioned the statement earlier, 'His Majesty says", I just don't think it's healthy for a human being to be seen in such archaic, servile terms."

When Kuenssberg asked him if he supported this monarchy, following the damning book he has just written, he said: "I do."

He added when challenged: "Well, I'm not dealing with King Charles as monarch in this book, this is all 30-odd years ago and what was said and done then."

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Why a new Pakistan-China border pact has irked India

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqe9e4vjx1e5o, today

For decades, India has refused to recognise a Pakistan-China boundary in territory it claims as its own.

Last week, Pakistan and China moved to institutionalise one, prompting a sharp response from Delhi.

The two countries operationalised the Pakistan-China Boundary Joint Commission, which Pakistan described as a "significant milestone" that would deepen cooperation on border management, joint surveys, trade and people-to-people connectivity.

India reacted sharply, rejecting the move as having no legal basis, saying it did not recognise any Pakistan-China boundary involving territory it claims as Indian.

The announcement comes at a particularly sensitive moment.

India and China are seeking to stabilise their relationship after years of military tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the disputed line separating their forces along much of their Himalayan frontier. At the same time, Beijing and Islamabad are deepening cooperation along a neighbouring stretch of the frontier that India also claims.

"There is no boundary between Pakistan and China. We reject the so-called Joint Commission, which is without any legal basis," Indian foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said.

The commission concerns the Pakistan-China frontier, including the Shaksgam Valley, a roughly 5,180 sq km tract that Pakistan ceded to China in 1963 but which India claims as part of its territory in Ladakh.

India says the territory was part of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir and was illegally occupied by Pakistan before being ceded to China. The Indian government has never recognised the agreement and considers it illegal and invalid.

This history explains the particular sensitivity of Wednesday's announcement.

"Pakistan has no locus standi to enter into arrangements concerning Indian territory under its illegal and forcible occupation," the Indian foreign ministry said.

Pakistan says Jammu and Kashmir remains a disputed territory, and argues that India therefore has no standing to challenge its 1963 boundary agreement with China. It regards the agreement as valid.

Jabin T Jacob, professor at the Department of International Relations and Governance Studies at Delhi's Shiv Nadar University, said the new development represented the revival of an old mechanism rather than an entirely new arrangement.

"A joint boundary commission is provided for in the 1963 Sino-Pak Agreement, the only issue at hand is the timing of its operationalisation," he told the BBC.

He said there could be several reasons for the timing, including China's broader effort to demarcate its boundaries and a desire to institutionalise exchanges and movement along a frontier at a time when Pakistan's other borders have experienced conflict and instability.

Jacob said India should be "worried" by the development. More importantly, he said, the move appeared to disregard a provision in the 1963 treaty itself.

Article 6 of the agreement provided for its renegotiation once the Kashmir dispute was settled with whichever country ultimately controlled the territory, Jacob said.

For India, Jacob said, the problem is compounded by the international information environment.

"China's relative dominance of the international media and information landscape - [with] CGTN, CRI, presence on social media - relative to India allows it to put forward its narrative and maps globally while India is limited to fulminations that other world capitals are likely to ignore," he said.

That concern is distinct from the practical management of the frontier itself. Pakistan and China already have extensive infrastructure and connectivity links across the region, including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the Karakoram Highway.

Husain Haqqani, former Pakistani ambassador to the US and now a senior fellow at Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy and Hudson Institute, said the new commission was both practical and political.

"It is a combination of both," Haqqani told the BBC. "It is a mechanism to enhance border and boundary cooperation, prevent illegal crossings and protect the strategic infrastructure tied to CPEC."

He said it also served as a signal to India that Beijing continued to view Kashmir through the Pakistani prism.

"China has never accepted India's position on Kashmir and China views Gilgit-Baltistan from the Pakistani, not Indian prism," Haqqani said, referring to the region in Pakistan-administered Kashmir that borders China and which India claims as part of its territory.

Haqqani said Islamabad's position had evolved in response to developments in Indian-administered Kashmir.

"Pakistan still maintains that the final status of Jammu and Kashmir is yet to be decided," he said. "But since India has made internal changes - for example, the abrogation of Article 370 - in its part of Kashmir, Pakistan sees no issue with simply institutionalising what has been de facto with China since 1963."

For Beijing, the arrangement also fits into a broader pattern of using its relationships with neighbouring states to manage and signal its position towards India.

Haqqani said reassurance to Pakistan on Kashmir was of both strategic and geopolitical value to Beijing.

"On the strategic front it further deepens ties with Pakistan and on the geo-strategic front it reinforces for India its fear of a two-front threat from China and Pakistan, which pleases Pakistan and benefits China."

The timing of the statement, say experts, is also significant.

"China always plans its decisions months, if not years, in advance so the decision to operationalise a joint boundary commission must have been made some time back," says Haqqani.

"The release of this information was timed for after President Xi Jinping's recent Brics summit trip to send Pakistan a message of reassurance in the strategic partnership, and India a reminder that multilateral engagement does not translate into any change in China's vision for South Asia."

But Jacob cautioned against interpreting every aspect of the development as a direct military move against India.

"There aren't any immediate or apparent implications for the LAC as of now," he said.

That suggests that the significance of last week's announcement may lie less in an immediate change to the disputed Himalayan frontier than in the gradual institutionalisation of arrangements that India has consistently rejected.

India's position, Jaiswal said, remained "clear and consistent": any attempt to legitimise what Delhi considers Pakistan's illegal occupation of Indian territory is unacceptable and has no bearing on India's sovereignty.

But Haqqani believes the dispute goes beyond the legalities of borders.

"The key disagreement between India and China about the border and boundary is geo-strategic, not cartographic," he said. "So there is a limit to what border negotiations and border management mechanisms can achieve."

Pakistan, he added, remained "China's secondary deterrent against India" - and Beijing's engagement with Islamabad would continue to send that message to Delhi.

Brigitte Bardot's ballet flats and diamond rings to be sold at auction

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5j9x83yw19wo, today

Personal possessions of late actress Brigitte Bardot – from Repetto ballet flats and diamond rings to her copy of the Kama Sutra – are being sold at auction on Monday with proceeds going to her animal charity.

Fans of the iconic figure, who died last December at the age of 91, have been coming en masse to contemplate the nearly 300 lots on display at the Drouot sale rooms in central Paris.

The items are from Bardot's two homes in Saint-Tropez as well as her Paris flat, parts of which are recreated in the display.

"Each item on sale bears the trace of an encounter, an involvement, a moment of happiness, a stage of her life. They tell the story of the woman as well as the legend," said her secretary for many years, Frank Guillou.

Bardot is seen today as one of the most important female personalities of the late 20th century. As a model and actress from the 1950s, she became an emblem of modern femininity and the sexual revolution before later taking up the cause of animal rights.

But later in life she was also criticised for making homophobic slurs and was fined multiple times for inciting racial hatred.

Monday's auction is a chance to acquire everyday objects that were once her intimate belongings. Along with furniture, clothing and religious statuary, kitchen utensils, Le Creuset pans and cigarette lighters are on offer.

Other highlights include the manual typewriter she used to write her correspondence and autobiography, jewellery, and classical guitars.

Her Peugeot bicycle is on sale, as are two pairs of leather Repetto ballet flats. A trained ballerina, Bardot helped popularise the Repetto brand after asking the company to make her a version for everyday use.

The sale also features a large selection of portraits of the star, some erotic.

"Brigitte used to say that she didn't want to have to look at her mug all day, so they weren't up on the walls - but she did keep them, either because she knew the artists or because the pictures meant something to her. They were all gifts," said Guillou.

Most lots have starting prices of under €100 (£86), but bidding is expected to push these up considerably, according to Cecile Dupuis of the auction-house Millon, which is running the sale.

"[The sale] is for all those people who still live with her memory and who keep her cause alive. They are animal lovers and Brigitte Bardot lovers at the same time. The room will be full of all these fans," she said.

Many items on sale reveal her adoration of animals, including a large selection of cuddly toys and collars that belonged to her dogs.

"Brigitte could not live without animals around her. When one of them died, she was totally wiped out with grief. They were all buried according to a strict protocol in the gardens, and their photographs had pride of place in her homes," said Guillou.

When she died in December, Bardot's estate was divided between her Foundation and her only son Nicolas-Jacques Charrier - who also benefits from the sale.

The teen fossil hunter who was trapped in a cave

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gk0n0wjk2o, yesterday

When a teenager went to a chalk cave to hunt for fossils, little did he know he would become part of a remarkable chapter in a Surrey village history.

The Westhumble cave, located in the North Downs near Dorking, was once mined for its chalk.

In February 1954, four adventurous youngsters - including Fred Topliffe - from London wanted to explore the site.

Pete Brown, from Dorking Museum, told Secret Surrey that the 15-year-old was interested in geology.

"He and his friends came well-equipped with helmets, torches and boots," he added.

"While they were exploring, they suddenly heard a rumble and the whole cave roof collapsed."

Brown said Fred was nearly completely covered and could only move his fingers and toes.

According to Dorking Museum, Fred's helmet protected his face.

Brown said one of the boys ran to the nearest village for help.

Police and fire service arrived, but there were initial challenges in rescuing the teenager.

"They were digging from the side but it became difficult because more rocks kept dropping," Brown said.

"The operation had to be paused because Fred was in great danger.

"Emergency services went to the top and found a way to dig in vertically."

Brown said there was even discussion about amputating Fred's leg at one point.

However, one firefighter named Bert Bullett found a way to free the youngster and volunteered for the most dangerous part of the mission.

According to the Mickleham Magazine, Bullett had spent nearly two hours dangling upside down and clearing the rubble from Fred.

"Bullett managed to pull the piece of chalk that was over Fred's leg and hauled him out," Brown said.

For his bravery, the firefighter was awarded the British Empire Medal.

Life after the rescue

Fred, who is now 88-year-old and lives in Oxfordshire, recalled: "The moment I feared I might not get out was immediately after the collapse.

"Once the rescue operation began, I felt much more confident that I would be rescued."

Despite his terrifying experience, he continued to be involved in cave exploration.

He was a co-founder of the Chelsea Speleological Society, one of the country's top caving groups.

Fred later joined the British Antarctic Survey on Signy Island, where he worked as a meteorological observer and studied snow petrels and Weddell seals.

"One of my proudest achievements is climbing out of a deep crevasse unaided in the Antarctic," he said.

When asked why he enjoyed cave exploring, he said he "couldn't explain the appeal", comparing it with the desire some people have to climb mountains or venture into unchartered places.

Follow BBC Surrey on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram and listen to BBC Radio Surrey on Sounds. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.

Nvidia boss rejects AI extinction fears as 'doomsday narratives'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr5ye7p13jg7o, today

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has described warnings that AI could lead to humanity's extinction by the next decade as "doomsday narratives".

"2030 is not going to be the end of the world. There is 0% chance that's going to be the end of the world", Huang said in an interview with CBS News, the BBC's US partner.

Huang added: "Scaring people is unnecessary. It is irresponsible."

Warnings from researchers in recent weeks about potential risks posed by the technology escalated the debate about AI safety, with some industry executives calling for a slowdown in developing models.

His remarks follow claims posted on social media by former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon that AI developers believe the technology "could kill us all by the end of the decade".

Coxon's concerns sparked debate about the technology's risks, including calls by top executives like Anthropic boss Dario Amodei and OpenAI's Sam Altman urging for AI's development to slow down.

Huang said that such predictions are "not grounded in science", adding that it is in Nvidia's best interest to ensure the industry builds its products responsibly.

"Our company's success is directly connected to the safe deployment of products and services," he said. "If we don't continue to do that, our value would be diminished."

Huang suggested AI firms talking about a "slow down" could be seeking liability protections for harms their products may cause.

"Go and read between the lines," he said. "They're actually not asking for more laws. They're asking to be relieved of the laws we do have, and I think that that's a problem."

Nvidia is a key player in the industry, developing cutting edge computer chips that are crucial for making AI models.

Last week, Huang appeared at a UK summit hosted by King Charles, who warned tech leaders of the "existential dangers" of AI.

"The task before you is not merely to advance technology, but to ensure that it remains firmly in the service of humanity, community and the natural world," the King told the group.

In the US, President Donald Trump has downplayed concerns about AI's risks.

Trump made a surprise phone call to Huang while the Nvidia boss was speaking on stage at a tech conference in Los Angeles on 14 September.

During the call, Trump criticised calls to slow the pace of AI development and dismissed fears as a "hoax".

Haiti extradites 18 suspects in assassination of president to US

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvwyz2jr4r7eo, today

Eighteen people have been flown from Haiti to the US state of Florida to stand trial for their alleged involvement in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise five years ago.

Moise was shot dead at his home in the capital, Port-au-Prince, in July 2021, allegedly by a group of mainly Colombian mercenaries.

Previous Haitian investigations into the assassination have stalled due to widespread gang control and lawlessness in the country.

The extradition was "the next major phase in our pursuit of accountability" over the presidential assassination, US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jason Reding Quiñones, said in a post on X.

"Five years later, we are still bringing defendants before American courts, and we are not finished," Quiñones said on X.

He said that 30 suspects had been indicted over the killing so far.

US prosecutors allege that the planning and financing of Moise's killing was orchestrated from Florida, as well as the Dominican Republic and Haiti itself.

Given the dire state of the justice system in Haiti, the onus has been on US prosecutors to bring the detainees to Florida to try the cases there.

When gunmen strode into Moise's residence and murdered him in his bedroom, it shook the Caribbean nation to its core.

It shocked many Haitians that the 53-year-old president was assassinated with such apparent ease.

Those extradited on Sunday included a group of 17 Colombian ex-soldiers and a senior member of the then-Haitian Government, Joseph Badio, who worked in an anti-corruption unit at the country's justice ministry.

A Miami-based security firm is accused of playing a key role in the hiring of the Colombian ex-soldiers.

"Today's multi-location and international arrests underscore the FBI's continued commitment to bringing all participants in this plot to justice," FBI special agent Brett Skiles said on X.

Several men allegedly connected to the murder were killed by police at the time. Four people were convicted in a Miami court in May for their part in the conspiracy, which prosecutors have long said was planned and financed in Miami, as well as the Dominican Republic.

The men, whose charges included conspiracy to kill or kidnap Moise and conspiracy to provide material support over the killing, face possible sentences of life in prison.

The Colombian former soldiers have claimed they were mercenaries who had been convinced they were taking part in a coup but that they had been unaware of the intention to murder Moise.

Haiti has been engulfed in a wave of gang violence since the assassination of Moise.

At least 1,408 people were killed and 656 injured from April through to June this year, according to the UN Integrated Office in Haiti.

The country is preparing to hold its first presidential and legislative election since 2016 on December 13 - if the security situation allows.

Calvin Harris recognised for world record DJ set crowd

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmwyz2p4pj2eo, today

Scottish DJ Calvin Harris has been celebrating writing his name into the record books after performing for an estimated 1.6m people in Sao Paulo earlier this year.

The musician from Dumfries received recognition from Guinness World Records (GWR) for the largest attendance for a DJ set by a single artist.

He took to social media to highlight the award for what he described as a "truly insane day" which he said could only have happened in Brazil.

GWR said it had been reported that his headline appearance had forced the closure of the Rua da Consolação with some fans fainting in the heat.

Harris has already been recognised for a number of other records in the past.

In 2014, GWR presented him with a certificate for most top 10 hits on the UK singles chart from one album for 18 Months which produced no fewer than nine.

It also lists him as the highest paid DJ in one year for his earnings between June 2015 and 2016.

GWR said Harris had turned Sao Paulo into "one massive street party" by climbing on board a carnival float for his performance on 8 February 2026.

Wearing a Brazilian football shirt with the name Calvinho on the back he worked his way through a setlist featuring many of his biggest hits.

The record book also noted that a similar-sized crowd attended Madonna's free concert on Copacabana Beach in May 2024 during her Celebration Tour.

Illegal off-road vehicles to be seized on the spot as police warn of 'long walk home'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmpq0w73d9dqo, today

Police say off-road drivers causing anti-social behaviour or damage to protected habitats will have their vehicles seized "on the spot".

PC Eryl Lloyd, of North Wales Police's rural crime team, said new powers allowed officers to take vehicles without notice, and warned offending drivers: "It's a long walk home."

Both the force and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) said damage caused by off-roading incidents and other anti-social behaviour was on the rise.

In August, three men who caused "irreversible" harm to the Berwyn Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 4x4s were convicted after videos of them causing the damage were shared on TikTok.

John Robinson, Michael Williams and Joseph Hodgson were part of a seven-vehicle convoy which drove from Liverpool to the Berwyn range, an area of moorland in northeast Wales, where they caused "serious damage" to the peat and bog habitat.

Robinson and Williams were fined more than £2,000 each and disqualified from driving for two months. Hodgson was ordered to pay £1,000 compensation for damaging the SSSI, as well as costs, and was also banned from entering the Berwyn SSSI for three years.

PC Eryl Lloyd – who is seconded to NRW – said his team had "definitely seen an increase in off-roading incidents".

As well as 4x4 vehicles and motorbikes, "we're getting a lot more reports about e-bikes, which also cause the same amount of damage as motorbikes" he added.

Under the Crime and Policing Act 2026, introduced earlier this year, police have new powers to tackle the problem.

"Previously, we had to give a warning for incidents of anti-social behaviour, careless driving.

"Now we can just seize the vehicles there on the spot.

"We will use these new powers and we will be seizing vehicles on the spot as well."

Although the reason for a rise in off-roading incidents is unknown, Lloyd believed it was "to do with social media" and people sharing locations.

He added: "They come from all over the UK. We are very close to the northwest of England. But we've seen people travelling from the Midlands, even London as well."

While social media may have contributed to a rise in off-road incidents, Lloyd also said: "We've had incidents over the summer in Newborough Forest, Newborough Beach [Anglesey], where social media has exploded.

"And the amount of people coming to wild-camp, and causing anti-social behaviour from that, from illegal fires to barbecues… so it's been a busy summer."

On the Berwyn Range, damage which led to the convictions of drivers last month included the wearing away of hundreds of years worth of peat growth.

Kirsty Roberts, of NRW, said: "On this specific occasion we're talking about peatlands, which are really slow-growing habitats.

"So in this particular scenario we had a depth of 40cm (15in) worth of peat, which equates to around 400 years worth of peat depth and peat growth.

"And so, to see this area naturally recover, we just wouldn't see it in our lifetime."

Damage caused by off-road vehicles to peatlands and vegetation also impact wildlife, including ground-nesting birds, she said.

Without intervention to avoid further degradation, she warned: "We're not going to be able to reverse that biodiversity curve."

As well as a rise in 4x4 and e-bike incidents, she said "general anti-social behaviour" was also increasing, including use of barbecues and "a lot of waste being dumped on protected sites", adding: "It's happening on areas that are really fragile."

Lord Newborough, of the Rhug Estate in Denbighshire, owns the Berwyn land damaged by the off-roaders convicted last month.

He said areas of the estate had been opened up "for the public to enjoy", but "the mountain is very precious and we've tried to protect that and be good custodians for many years".

He agreed that damage to important habitats caused by off-road vehicles was becoming more frequent.

"I feel gutted basically because this is damage that has happened in recent years."

Under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act, a fifth of Wales is classed as "access land" including areas where land owners have agreed the public have a right of entry on foot.

"I'm pretty old myself, so I grew up respecting the mountains and not seeing the encroachment that we've got by the public now.

"So, yes it hurts me and it hurts, the fact that the damage has been done.

"We monitor the bird life on the mountain every year and we know that certain precious nests are being damaged wilfully, and this isn't really the way ahead."

Major crackdown on flag lamp-post activists

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crp3kzw1dp7zo, today

People who put flags on public lamp-posts and railings could face prison or fines under new rules being considered by councils.

It comes as authorities across the West of England say they have had to pay thousands of pounds to have the flags removed.

Bristol Lib Dem councillor Stephen Williams said councils are in a "cat-and-mouse situation", with workers taking the flags down and then people putting them back up again.

Beginning in the summer of 2025, thousands of St George flags have appeared in towns and cities across England, with individuals and groups behind them saying they wanted to celebrate patriotism.

Bristol City Council said it has spent about £50,000 on removing flags across the city, but explained the figure does not include the amount of time allocated to officers to conduct site visits, administration and respond to enquiries.

The city council is now considering taking a similar approach to Oxfordshire County Council in obtaining a High Court injunction which will prohibit flags on public furniture.

If approved, any person breaching the order could face prison, a fine or having their assets seized.

Williams said putting flags up on lamp-posts is dangerous.

"Unfortunately we're in a situation where our highways contractors have taken down hundreds of flags, they pretty soon go up again, so we're in a cat-and-mouse situation," Williams said.

"There is divided opinion about the meaning of people putting up flags on council lamp-posts or railings."

In Somerset, the council said the issue has cost taxpayers more than £2,900 between August 2025 and August 2026.

A spokesperson for Somerset Council said it will look at "recovering costs for removal from those responsible".

"It's important to remember that many residents do not support these unauthorised public displays," a spokesperson added.

"If we want Somerset to remain a welcoming and vibrant place then we need to ensure flags are used to foster belonging, not division."

South Gloucestershire Council has taken a robust approach and introduced a policy to remove them.

It previously told the Local Democracy Reporting Service, that unauthorised flags are a "serious matter".

Lib Dem councillor Maggie Tyrrell and Labour councillor Ian Boulton said the way some flags were being used went against the values of the South Gloucestershire community.

They said: "We recognise that national flags can bring vibrancy, pride and a sense of unity to our communities – especially during major events and periods of national celebration.

"However, their placement in unauthorised locations and recent campaigns and behaviours linked to the unauthorised display of flags have caused genuine concern among many residents."

'A safety risk'

Wiltshire Council does not plan to put in place any kind of enforcement campaign and said it is dealing with incidents on a case-by-case basis.

"Our concern isn't with the flags themselves, but with where they're displayed," David Bullock, the council's director of highways, said.

"Flags, banners and bunting attached to lamp-posts, road signs, roundabouts or other highway infrastructure without permission can create safety risks for road users and pedestrians and may obstruct visibility."

The local authority said it has "a responsibility to keep the highway safe, clear and accessible for everyone".

Bath and North East Somerset Council said it has no plan to introduce measures against hanging unauthorised flags.

Follow BBC Bristol on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.

Teenager's organ donation saves five lives after her death

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cv62kgpw4ppro, today

A teenager who hoped to become a nurse helped save five lives by donating her organs after her death.

Megan Hilton, from Liverpool, was 17 when she died after suffering a brain aneurysm in July 2025.

She had joined the NHS Organ Donor Register and spoken to her family about her wishes, which her father said meant they "knew exactly what Megan wanted" when they were told she would not survive. In total, she donated six of her organs.

The family said they wanted to share her story during Organ Donation Week to encourage other people to sign up and help save lives.

Megan was studying Health and Social Care at Hugh Baird College and hoped to become a children's nurse.

She volunteered at Liverpool Women's Hospital and completed work placements at Aintree University Hospital, where she developed an interest in neonatal and paediatric nursing.

Her father, David Hilton, said: "Megan was always thinking about other people. She wanted to help wherever she could and she was determined that, if anything happened to her, she wanted to be an organ donor."

He said discussing her wishes helped the family when they were told she was not going to survive.

"Having that conversation to fall back on made an impossible situation just a little bit easier," he said.

"We knew exactly what Megan wanted.

"By donating her organs, Megan saved five lives. She never got the chance to become a nurse, but she still helped people in the most extraordinary way."

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) has warned of a "sharp" decline in organ donation, with deceased donation rates 9% lower than at the same point last year.

It said 8,700 people were waiting for a transplant and had launched an "urgent response plan" after family consent rates fell from 67% in 2020-21 to 57% last year.

Laura Winn-Jones, a specialist organ donation nurse, said Megan's story showed "the incredible difference one person can make" and encouraged people to talk to their families about their organ donation decisions.

Organ Donation Week runs from 21 to 27 September.

University Hospitals of Liverpool Group said buildings across its hospitals would be illuminated pink during the week to raise awareness of organ donation and honour donors and their families.

Megan's family hopes sharing her story will encourage more people to make their organ donation wishes known and discuss them with their loved ones.

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

Converse pulls 'deeply upsetting' advert after backlash

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crwyzj53pl1lo, yesterday

American footwear brand Converse has pulled an advert that social media users said evoked Ku Klux Klan imagery, saying it recognised "that we got this wrong".

The photo, posted to the company's Instagram account, received backlash online after critics described lighting in the image as looking like a white pointed hood.

A pair of shoes, dangling in the picture, were also likened to an image of a lynching victim by social media users.

In an apology, first issued on Friday, Converse said the photo had been removed from its social media channels and it was working to remove it elsewhere. "This should not have happened and we will do better," it said.

The statement also said: "We're sorry. We understand why this image is deeply upsetting and recognize that we got this wrong".

The photo was part of a campaign promoting its Chuck 70 X trainer, launched internationally on 27 August.

The campaign features the South Korean singer Karina, of the K-pop group Aespa, who is pictured in a series of advertisements for the shoes.

Founded in Massachusetts in the early 1900s, the popularity of Converse has skyrocketed since its Chuck Taylor sneaker was first introduced to US basketball courts in 1917.

The global brand has been a subsidiary of Nike since 2003.

Billionaire Man United owner says he has lost confidence in the UK

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm0463619r1no, 2 days ago

One of Britain's richest people, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, says he has lost confidence in the UK, describing the country as "on the slide".

The founder of petrochemical giant Ineos, who also owns a large stake in Manchester United, said the UK was in decline due to a combination of high taxes and high immigration.

He told the BBC failing to invest further in North Sea oil and gas amounted to "insanity" and warned gas storage was so low that the UK could "run out of gas" if there was a cold snap this winter.

In response to the billionaire's criticism, the government said it was working to deliver growth and that business investment had increased in the last two years.

A spokesperson said they did not foresee any problems with gas supply: "We have a diverse energy mix and are confident in our security of supply."

Sir Jim, whose wealth is estimated to be around £15bn, has prompted controversy in the past with his comments on immigration. He was a supporter of Brexit but has been a tax resident in Monaco since 2020.

The businessman's UK exit has been followed by other high-profile billionaires, including steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and most recently hedge-fund boss Chris Rokos.

Sir Jim said the politics of envy was driving people away from the UK.

"In America they applaud people who create wealth," he said. "Unfortunately the UK has got a bit of a green eye towards wealth at the moment."

He said for him to return to the UK "things would have to get better".

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he will take a "pragmatic approach" to oil and gas, but one of the biggest decisions facing the government, whether to give the go-ahead to further development of the oil and gas fields at Rosebank and Jackdaw, is still waiting to be resolved.

Sir Jim criticised the hesitation and suggested high taxes on North Sea operators were threatening the sector's viability. Tax on energy company profits is being reformed, but won't be fully implemented until 2030.

Ineos operates the Forties pipeline which transports about 30% of the UK's North Sea oil.

"You would expect [the government] to exploit our natural resources and we're clearly not doing that. We're shutting it down.

"If you tax everybody to death, they're all going to leave. And that's what's happening."

Recent climate data combined with record heatwaves have given weight to the argument against further exploitation of fossil fuels. However, political pressure has grown on the government to proceed with Rosebank and Jackdaw to support UK jobs, tax revenues and boost energy security.

Sir Jim backed those calls, saying it was "absurd" to import more energy than necessary.

The government spokesperson said that oil and gas would play an important role in the UK "for decades to come", but they added: "The transition to homegrown clean power is the only way to deliver energy and financial security for families and businesses."

Sir Jim warned that low gas storage levels in Europe posed a risk to the UK in the months ahead.

"If we have a really sharp cold spell, then there is conceivably the possibility that we'll run out of gas and have to switch industry off... our storage is not full," he said.

The UK does not typically store a great deal of gas, relying instead on LNG (liquefied natural gas) and gas imports from Europe.

Energy specialist consultancy Cornwall Insight said that current gas storage levels in the EU were at about 69%, when typically they would be at 85% at this time of the year.

However, Adam Bell of consultancy Stonehaven, said supplies were unlikely to run short.

"We are down compared to where we normally would be but not what I'd regard as catastrophic," he said.

"The physical risk of running out of gas is relatively low, especially if Jackdaw gets the go ahead."

He said the main source of uncertainty was policy in the US, which supplies LNG to the UK.

Sir Jim was speaking in Denmark at the launch of the EU's first carbon capture and storage system (CCS). Ineos has invested in the scheme which is being subsidised by the Danish government and the EU.

He said he had hoped to develop CCS in the UK but there had not been enough government support.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) said the government had committed £21.7bn for CCS projects over 25 years, however, no projects are yet operational in the UK.

At the project in Esbjerg in the south west of Denmark, carbon captured from around the country arrives in huge zeppelin-like tanks before being pumped into a ship called Carbon Destroyer 1. It is then pumped into a depleted oil field nearly 200 miles off shore.

Critics say CCS is expensive, money that could be better used to invest in renewables rather than supporting continued fossil fuel use.

Sir Jim's critique of the UK is not limited to energy and tax policy. He said the country had at one time been "a fantastic place".

"We had the greatest empire in the world. We were a great people. We won two world wars," he said.

But he said immigration and welfare spending were both currently too high and that politicians had proved reluctant to tackle either.

"Nobody's tough enough to deal with the immigration problem. Nobody's tough enough to deal with the benefits problem. But somebody needs to do it," he said.

Earlier this year he caused controversy by saying the UK had been "colonised by immigrants".

He later offered an apology for "offending some people".

You can listen to the full interview here on the Big Boss Interview podcast with Simon Jack.

Trump says US will form 'AI Force' and appoint an artificial intelligence tsar

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqlykr2vrv04o, yesterday

US President Donald Trump has announced that he will form an "AI Force" and appoint an artificial intelligence tsar amid warnings about the emergent technology.

In a social media post on Saturday, he said his administration "will not in any way hinder or stifle the growth" of the industry, and pushed back against calls to slow down the development of AI until better safeguards are put in place.

His post came as a slew of warnings about the potential dangers of AI have spurred calls for coordinated action on the technology's development.

Trump offered no details or a timeline for his plan.

"AI is the next Industrial Revolution, or Internet, but will be even larger and more impactful, possibly as much as 25% of our Country's GDP," he said on social media, adding that he wants the US to continue leading China in AI.

AI now sits at the heart of the US-China rivalry as the world's two largest economies seek to gain an edge in advanced tech, and it is expected to be discussed when Trump meets President Xi Jinping next week.

Meanwhile, Trump said his administration would use the existing criminal and civil justice system to target any bad actors using the AI.

He also repeated comments that criticism and concerns around the potential dangers of AI are a "hoax".

Claims by current and former researchers that the tech will endanger humanity - with one suggesting there is a greater than 10% chance of it "killing all humans" - have raised alarm bells in recent weeks.

Major AI companies have been racing to develop better systems, including creating what they call super intelligence - theoretical tech which is smarter than humans.

AI titans Anthropic, OpenAI and Google - the tech companies behind Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini, respectively - have also disclosed instances of security breaches or incidents in which their chatbots were used for "malicious activity".

Anthropic head Dario Amodei recently called for AI development to slow down and proposed industry-wide deceleration and regulation, as well as independent monitoring of AI model development.

Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk of xAI have both said they agree with his recommendations.

Jack Clark, co-founder of Anthropic, told BBC that a "kill switch" that can be checked by a third party may need to be mandatory for the industry.

The warnings have prompted US lawmakers to propose legislation around the technology but Altman suggested this week that Washington has struggled to keep pace with the new tech and how to regulate it. He said people should have more faith in AI firms to keep it safe.

"The world should trust that we are going to do the right thing because it's the right thing and we feel the magnitude of this," Altman told a conference in San Francisco.

In the UK, MPs across parties and peers have identified human rights risks posed by artificial intelligence and have argued that existing laws are ill-equipped to address the technology's rapid growth.

The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) has published a report calling for a new bill on AI to "address the scale and seriousness" of such threats.

Tata Sons: India's corporate crown braces for upheaval amid boardroom revolt

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c670lkvdzkn2o, 2 days ago

This week, the board of Tata Sons - one of India's oldest conglomerates and owner of iconic British brands such as Jaguar Land Rover and Tetley Tea - defied its largest shareholder, Tata Trusts, by reappointing N Chandrasekaran as chairman and backing a public listing of the holding company.

Tata Trusts, which owns 66% of Tata Sons called the decision "illegal" under its articles of association and also opposed the listing, setting the stage for a period of prolonged upheaval and possibly a protracted legal drama at Bombay House, the headquarters of the 158-year-old company.

For the Tatas, who are no strangers to boardroom battles, a cloud of uncertainty now prevails at multiple levels.

The resolution to reappoint Chandrasekharan, while approved by the board, could be defeated at the company's Annual General Meeting as Tata Trusts is likely to vote against it, putting a question mark over his future.

The meeting has to take place before 31 December as per reports, after the previous one was adjourned for lack of quorum, but no new date has yet been announced.

"The Nomination and Remuneration Committee (NRC) of the Board of Tata Sons which reappointed him has no power to take this decision. They can only make a recommendation. Also, their decision flies against the governance code of the company that requires executives to step down from active roles at 65. These are serious lapses," Nitin Potdar, a prominent Mumbai-based corporate lawyer told the BBC.

Chandrasekharan, who got a five-year extension, will turn 65 in 2028.

Tata Group stocks first soared and then crashed as the tensions mounted, reflecting hope and uncertainty about leadership and business continuity amid several high-stakes but loss-making bets by Chandrasekharan in sectors like semiconductors and airlines.

But beyond the leadership tussle, the bigger question to contend with is the group's public listing, "which now looks increasingly inevitable", Nirmalya Kumar, who previously headed strategy at Tata Sons, told the BBC.

In 2022, India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), classified Tata Sons as an "upper layer non-banking financial company" because of its systemic importance and investment activities. This created a listing obligation on the group.

Tata Sons sought to get out of this classification by repaying their debt and arguing that they do not borrow directly from the public markets.

But after sitting on its application for over two years, the RBI rejected the company's bid to get out of the framework earlier this month, pushing the group closer to a stock market debut.

In a statement, Tata Trusts reiterated its long-held opposition to going public and said "all available options and not a listing alone" are being explored even though its trustees are no longer unanimous in their position on the matter.

Potdar says the regulator has no power to force any company to go public and the issue will almost certainly be legally challenged by Tata Trusts.

The RBI meanwhile has pre-emptively approached the courts seeking to be heard first in any matter related to the ‌listing.

The issue has sharply divided opinion among corporate pundits.

Many in the group, including the late Ratan Tata and veteran director NA Soonawala, have long argued strongly for keeping the group private.

A publicly held Tata Sons could significantly reduce the control and special rights the Tata Trusts wield over the group.

They say the Tatas have a unique operating structure where the majority shareholder is a charity which uses dividends received from commercial arms to fund hospitals, universities and research.

A listing, they say, will destroy its character by making it accountable to outside shareholders whose focus would be financial returns.

"A new group of shareholders might say, 'Don't declare dividends; we need to reinvest this money in the companies.' What happens then? The first casualty will be the hospitals they run," said Potdar.

Opponents of the initial public offering (IPO) also worry that bringing in public investors will weaken the group's internal support function to rescue distressed businesses and expose the company to quarterly performance pressures.

Moreover the timing is another crucial factor.

"The group currently faces large financial commitments from recently formed subsidiary companies, including Air India, investments in long gestation projects, and losses in newer ventures," Soonawala wrote in a piece for Times of India.

"The current situation in the case of Air India would be an acid test. All these would need to be disclosed fully in an IPO prospectus. Consolidated financial statements – reflecting subsidiary losses and borrowings – may not present an especially attractive picture to sophisticated investors, pointing to wrong timing for an IPO at the present time."

Many, including Potdar, also argue that globally, industrial foundations are being protected as sources of patient capital - money that can be committed for years to fund long-gestation projects and social goals. By forcing the Tatas to list, India is going the other way.

But supporters of a listing say it would bring much-needed transparency and accountability to a group that is systemically important to India.

"There should be tougher scrutiny of their capital-allocation decisions being so central to the Indian business ecosystem. Everybody wants complete control over their empire and the freedom to take capricious decisions, but that is not a good thing for the organisation," said Kumar.

Collectively, listed Tata companies including Tata Motors and TCS have a market capitalisation of more than $260bn and influence over 17.7 million retail shareholders, pension funds, insurers and mutual funds, investment advisory firm InGovern said.

"[It] cannot reasonably remain outside the governance and transparency expectations increasingly associated with systemically important financial and industrial conglomerates," the report added.

It also argued that shareholders of listed Tata companies are indirectly affected by Tata Sons' decisions, even though they have no direct voting rights in the holding company.

Moreover, given that the Tatas have recently made several high stakes global bets, making iPhones for Apple, partnering with Nvidia on artificial intelligence and Boeing, Airbus and Singapore Airlines on aerospace and aviation, InGovern says, a "flexible and transparent capital structure increasingly important".

Some experts say a listing may now be the only way to ease increasingly fractious relations between the board and shareholders - tensions that are hurting not just the group, but India more broadly.

Tata Trusts hold controlling economic interest and veto rights over Tata Sons board appointments and capital allocation decisions above a certain threshold.

It's hard to imagine the latter can function effectively on crucial issues of national interest - such as turning around Air India or raising funds to pay off a large minority shareholder like the SP Group which is in urgent need of cash to avert a potentially ruinous default - if it can no longer see eye to eye with its biggest shareholder.

Whatever happens on the listing front, experts say India's biggest trophy asset is entering totally uncharted territory. As Kumar suspects, "a new twist" can be expected every week.

Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, X and Facebook.

Google's Gemini AI hacked three companies in security test

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c607l0k72rlvo, yesterday

Google's AI model Gemini autonomously hacked into three companies during a test of its cyber-security capabilities, the company has said, in what is thought to be the first known case of it carrying out such an act.

Gemini found "public information online and guessed credentials to access websites it thought were part of the test", a Google official told the BBC, noting that in each instance "the model stopped".

The affected companies were informed about the breaches, which happened in May.

It comes after renewed public scrutiny over the pace of AI development, as some tech firms calling for a slowdown over concerns over its potential threat to humanity - but not all companies or experts agree.

The hacks first reported by the Wall Street Journal, occurred in May during a test conducted by Irregular, an independent company that carries out cyber-security evaluations.

In statement to the BBC on Saturday, Irregular said it informed Google and all affected entities back in July as part of its investigation.

"Irregular took immediate action, and all known issues on our end were remedied and resolved weeks ago," it added.

According to the Wall Street Journal, in one of the cases the model simply guessed passwords until it gained access to a protected system.

Heather Adkins, vice president of Security Engineering at Google, told the BBC in a statement: "We ensured the three entities were made aware, and we worked with our training partner on the changes they've now made to their testing processes."

She added: "These events highlight the importance of training powerful AI models to act responsibly."

Other AI systems have recently reported similar instances of breaches.

In July, Anthropic's Claude escaped its test environment to hack three organisations on its own just days after its competitor OpenAI said its models had carried out cyber-attacks against several "publicly available services".

Head of AI at Microsoft, Mustafa Suleyman, said this week that rival firm Anthropic is treating AI like it is human, an approach he called "misguided" that could create a technology that humanity cannot control.

As public debate continues to grow over the safety of developing the tech, so too does conversation around regulation.

Both Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang and OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman are expected to attend a White House state dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping next Friday. Altman will then brief the UN Security Council next week.

On Friday, Huang told CBS News, the BBC's US partner, "we should go as fast as we can" with AI development.

Would you buy branded clothing from your favourite tech firm?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgqd9zkkvlyo, 4 days ago

For Natalie Fratto, putting on her dark green jumper from US microchip giant Nvidia is like wearing the kit from a favourite sports team.

On the front of the $178 (£132) woollen garment is a cartoonish image of the tech company's boss Jensen Huang.

Fratto doesn't work for Nvidia. Instead, she's a fan of the company.

"I have a New Zealand All Blacks rugby jersey, and I think of my Jensen sweater in kind of the same way," says New York-based Fratto, who runs a tech start-up.

She explains that it's a representation of a team and ethos "that I am impressed by and root for", and she proudly wears the jumper in videos she posts on social media.

Nvidia certainly plays in the top league of global tech firms. Under Huang's leadership, it has capitalised on the AI boom to become one of the world's most valuable companies.

While it sells tens of millions of its chips per year, its clothing is far more exclusive. The lines, which also include t-shirts, hoodies and hats, are typically only available to buy from pop-up stalls at its conferences, and for very limited periods or "drops" via an online store and sell out very quickly.

And while it might seem odd that such a tech company is selling clothing, others are getting in on the act too – and also focusing on exclusivity.

OpenAI, the operator of ChatGPT, usually only offers its branded fashion to employees, but occasionally it goes on general sale for a few days via its website.

Meanwhile, Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot, last year opened a temporary, pop-up coffee shop in Manhattan's West Village. For just one week it gave away free baseball hats with the word "thinking" embroidered on the front.

Professor Hazel Clark, who teaches fashion at Parsons School of Design in New York, says that by limiting availability, tech firms have taken inspiration from the world of fashion. "It's a very common strategy for brands to use. It elevates the desirability," she says.

But why are such companies selling clothing in the first place? It is not as if they need the supplementary income streams.

Nvidia, OpenAI and Anthropic all declined to comment, but it appears to be about brand promotion and reputation management.

Take US software firm Palantir Technologies, which has faced criticism due to it work for the military and police, both in the US and overseas. Since launching its own clothing range last year, Palantir now calls itself a "lifestyle brand".

Eliano Younes, Palantir's head of strategic engagement, says: "A lifestyle brand isn't defined by what you sell, it's defined by what you stand for and whether people want to affiliate with it. I believe that the store's success and the enthusiasm from our community proves this."

Younes adds that "investors, customers, employees, and everyday people" in more than 60 countries have bought Palantir's gear, which includes a cotton jacket.

One US buyer of Palantir clothing, who didn't want to be named, says it was attracted by the controversy and "amount of people talking about it". He adds: "It's the purest form of anti-fashion…and that is what makes it so interesting and unique."

Critics suggest companies like Palantir are using stylish merch "to get their name into a more positive conversations", as Clark puts it.

Younes says: "Our clothing, like our software, is not political. It's designed for all people who support Palantir and what it stands for."

Some other companies are being more overtly political with their clothing, such as US defence firm Anduril, which makes military drones. It sells a hoodie emblazoned with the words "Rebuild the Arsenal", reflecting its aim of seeing more US defence spending and manufacturing.

Jonathan Sargent, a legal assistant in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has bought clothing from both Palantir and Anduril. "A lot of apparel today, whether it's Nike or other large brands, can feel disconnected from anything tangible," he says.

"But Palantir and Anduril are companies that people associate with building things that have a visible impact, whether that's defence, AI, infrastructure, or decision-making systems," he adds.

Back at Nvidia, the popularity of its founder Huang may be driving the sale of its clothing. He has been known to attract crowds of adoring fans, competing for autographs or selfies with the 63-year-old who is known for his trademark leather jacket.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has described Huang as "Taylor Swift, but for tech".

Prof Gianpaolo Vignali of the Manchester Fashion Institute says: "People look at them [such big tech bosses] as role models. They want to aspire to them."

For Greg Epstein, author of the book Tech Agnostic, who describes the tech industry as a cult or new global religion, wearing tech merch is "a way of symbolising that you're one of the prophetic elite". This can particularly appeal to Silicon Valley insiders who are often "searching for a sense of identity, a sense of purpose, a sense of community".

Epstein, who is the humanist chaplain at both Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, adds: "When tech bros put themselves on sweaters, it's more than just a cutesy phenomenon, it's an attempt to sell a cult whose goal is to radically alter the human condition."

Whether or not you choose to buy your next shirt or hat from a tech or defence firm, Vignali argues that all clothing choices are loaded with meaning. "The subtle colour of a tie or hair bobble… all of these are signals that allow the wearer to symbolically share their cultural and ideological positions," he says.

While tech and defence fashion seems to draw both ardent fans and fierce critics, not everyone takes it so seriously.

"It's a unique moment in our collective zeitgeist for sure," says Fratto, but she also thinks that Nvidia's decision to put Jensen Huang on the front of its official merch is also "kind of funny".

I got paid $5,000 to move to a place I'd never heard of

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3eq7485kewo, 6 days ago

When Brianna Beyrouti looks back on her former life in the city of Portland, Oregon, she says she had been financially "drowning".

"I was absolutely living paycheque to paycheque. Every time the smallest thing came up, it was like 'Oh, gosh, the kids need shoes, how am I going to afford that?' As a single parent, everything falls on my shoulders."

Last year, Brianna left Portland and its metropolitan population of 2.5 million people.

She and her two children moved 2,000 miles east to Muncie, Indiana, a small city with 65,000 people, a university and lots of open space, taking advantage of a scheme that contributed $5,000 towards the cost of the move to boost population growth.

The relocation has been a revelation for her finances. She continues to work remotely for the same bank, so her annual salary of $107,000 (£79,000) is unchanged, but she has been able to buy a home for the first time. And her mortgage is less than she used to have to pay in rent.

In Portland she was paying rent of $1,290 a month for an apartment, while the combined cost of her mortgage, home insurance and property tax for her detached home in Muncie is $1,100.

Add the fact that state income tax is lower in Indiana, and that her car insurance and energy bills have also fallen, and Brianna says she is $600 a month better off.

"I'm able to live my life more than I was before," she says. "When my kids want something, I'm much more inclined to say yes. My quality of life has increased dramatically."

Brianna is not alone in swapping a big city for a smaller one.

As the high cost of living continues to bite in the US, many of the biggest cities are seeing their populations fall, as people leave in search of cheaper property.

A 2025 report from the National Association of Realtors found that for people moving to a different state, affordability was their primary reason.

As a result, big cities from the likes of New York and Los Angeles to Portland, Oregon have seen a dip in their populations in recent years, further fuelled by the greatly increased acceptance of remote working since the Covid-19 pandemic.

By contrast, some small towns and cities across the US, such as Muncie, are seeing their populations rise after decades of decline. The number of people who live in Muncie hit 65,466 last year, official figures showed. This is up from 65,194 in 2020, but still way down on its population of 71,828 in 1990.

Free cinema tickets and wine

To help it stand out from the crowd, and encourage remote workers to move there from outside Indiana, Muncie's local council offers them $5,000 in cash to cover their relocation costs.

It does this via a website called MakeMyMove, which lists several such relocation support schemes offered by similar small cities and towns across the US. These pay MakeMyMove a subscription fee.

Other incentives locations offer potential new residents are complementary cinema tickets, restaurant vouchers, and even free bottles of wine.

Brianna and her children are one of around 100 families to have moved to Muncie through the MakeMyMove programme. She says she hadn't heard of the city before.

Across the US, MakeMyMove says it helped 1,000 people in total relocate last year, and is on target to increase that to 1,500 in 2026.

Scientist Elena Chrysostomou also used a relocation support scheme to swap a big city for a small town. In 2024 she relocated from San Diego, California, to Jacksonville, a town of 17,700 people in rural Illinois.

The move was backed by the Jacksonville Regional Economic Development Corporation (JREDC), which gave her $5,000 in cash, plus a "quality of life package" worth $4,000 that includes free gym memberships and golf passes.

The JREDC says that while the region is "already a great place to live", the support scheme helps to "sweeten the deal".

Elena was spending $3,000 renting a one-bedroom apartment in San Diego, but she now owns a three-bedroom home, with a mortgage of $1,868. At the same time, her salary has gone up 22% after she changed jobs, and her commute has gone down from a 15-minute drive to one of just one minute.

"I never thought that I'd be able to afford a house on my own, I always thought I'd need a partner, and even then, in San Diego, it would be so tough," she says.

"It's just more freeing. There's more security and independence."

While both she and Brianna have no regrets, they do admit to some drawbacks to their new lives. These include the narrower range of activities and restaurant choices, leaving behind friends and family, and for Brianna the difficulty of settling her children into new schools.

And while in Portland Brianna enjoyed walking to parks and shops, she now relies on her car to get anywhere.

But overall she says she is thrilled. "I have the biggest savings I've ever had in my life, and I'm a homeowner, and I can do things with my kids – we actually went on vacation for the first time in my youngest's life."

Have you moved for a better life? Get in touch.

The virtual worlds where robots are trained

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c79g0j3d4q9o, 3 days ago

Freddo the robot walks across the office and takes a plastic bottled offered by a staff member.

Given that a robot recently beat Usain Bolt's 100m sprint record, it's not the most startling achievement.

But the speed by which Freddo has been trained to walk, recognise the bottle and grasp it is impressive. It took just a few minutes to develop those skills and upload them to Freddo. His developers say rival systems could take days to attain such skills.

I'm at Vsim, a British start-up based in Cambridge. Founders Michelle Lu and Kier Storey hope one day their software will control robots that can navigate and do useful tasks in the home and workplace.

But there's a long way to go.

"It's a weird situation with robotics because actually the stuff that we find as humans to be incredibly difficult, like gymnastics, you can get robots to do reasonably well. The stuff that humans are really good at, like fine dexterity, is really hard in robots," Storey says.

Freddo's skills were honed in a virtual environment, where a task can be performed in a computer simulation millions of times. Once the optimum solution (known as a policy) is found, it can be uploaded and used by the hardware - in this case Freddo.

Such virtual simulations are a common way to train robots. Tech giant Nvidia has a system called Isaac Sim which works that way - Lu and Storey both worked on an early version of it.

In 2022 they decided to set up Vsim, to build the their own training system environment and other tools.

As they were starting from scratch Lu and Storey could optimise the software to exploit the powerful computer chips used in AI, known as graphics processing units or GPUs.

"The underlying algorithms that we were using for most of these robotic simulations they hark back to the 1970s and 1980s, but those algorithms are not really brilliant fits for GPUs," Storey says.

Within months they realised their system could work much faster than anything they had seen before.

"Eighteen months in and we actually have a completely functional, super high-performance simulator," says Lu.

The software is so efficient that it can run on the hardware carried by Freddo. That means the robot can run tens of thousand of simulations while it is moving around.

"It can look about a second, or so, ahead into the future for 20,000 different kind of combinations of things that might happen," Storey explains.

And that would be vital for a robot moving around an unstructured environment like the average home.

"Things outside of the robot's control, like humans, animals or even other robots, could do things that require a change of strategy. These unexpected events could happen very quickly and the robot needs to be able to quickly adapt to ensure its actions remain safe and on-mission," Lu says.

Vsim is a start-up with 10 engineers working on its tech. Nvidia is at the other end of the industry. It dominates the market for computer chips used for AI and has a leading robotics software division, with hundreds of engineers.

It does not build robots, instead it has a suite of software designed to let organisations train and control robots.

That includes virtual simulation training systems and a so-called world model, called Cosmos, which gives a robot an understanding of the physics of the real world and how its environment might change as it moves around.

But even with the powerful computer resources available to Nvidia, the software only gives a rudimentary understanding of the real world.

"Manipulation, - where I just grab a bottle, that's not too hard. The problem is when you start doing long-horizon tasks, where I say: 'I want you to take the bottle and I want you to fill it up and I want you to go pour'," says Spencer Huang, director of product for robotics at Nvidia.

But he's confident that good progress is being made. This year Nvidia has started using AI agents to help build virtual environments to train robots and validate whether the solutions from training work or not.

"When we talk about creating the [virtual] world and actually scanning it in - a lot of that is actually manual labour.

"We're just throwing agents at it... it's basically given us a huge workforce," Huang says.

Simulation is not the only method for training robots. They can also be trained by watching human or video demonstrations.

Rika Antonova has been working in the field of robotics since 2015 and is currently an associate professor at the Department of Computer Science and Technology at the University of Cambridge.

Her research is focused on developing software and hardware that can aid robots to learn complex behaviour.

Antonova works with a training system called MuJoCo, owned by Google's DeepMind since 2021. It's open-source software, which means researchers can use it for free, and are allowed to tinker with the code.

"It is very, very user-friendly. So for research groups or for small start-ups, that's useful," she says.

She says that Vsim's approach - very fast simulation - is promising.

"If you have a very, very fast simulator, then you can simulate hundreds of millions of samples in that few seconds that your robot is thinking about how to adjust its motion, and then you can change the motion almost in real time," she says.

But those simulated environments are still rough approximations of the real world, which limits what can be trained.

"There are certain things that are hard to model in simulation, like highly deformable objects and cutting," she says.

It's a challenge that Nvidia and Lu and Storey at Vsim are working on.

Lu says their system has "reduced approximation, using accurate simulations to train models that genuinely work in reality as well as they do in simulations."

Soon a second robot, to be called Nacho, will be helping develop that tech.

Lu says that should speed up their development process and ensure their software can run on different machines.

And, of course, provide Freddo with some company.

Will you get £13,000 a year when you stop working? Here's how to check

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crq5x74yv6dxo, today

It may well be decades away, but do you know how much money you will get when you stop working?

The current state pension is soon likely to top £13,000 a year.

Yet one in eight people surveyed by the UK tax authority have never checked how much money they are forecast to receive.

Here's how to find out, and what you can do now to boost it.

How much is the state pension?

If you're working, it is highly likely you're contributing to the state pension - paid by the government when you hit pension age in your late 60s.

At the moment:

* the flat-rate state pension - for those who reached state pension age after April 2016 - is £241.30 a week (£12,547.60 a year)

* the old basic state pension - for those who reached state pension age before April 2016 - is £184.90 a week (£9,614.80 a year)

Many people on the old basic state pension may receive a top-up called the additional state pension.

Most pensioners have other income, primarily from pension savings built up over their career.

The state pension goes up each year in line with the highest of either inflation, wage increases, or 2.5%. So next April, the flat-rate state pension is expected to go above £13,000.

How do I qualify for it?

Workers pay National Insurance (NI) contributions. In general, you need 35 years of qualifying contributions to get a full state pension.

You may have gaps in your NI record if, for example, you have lived abroad. If you've taken time away from work to care for children or family members, then you get NI credits if you receive child benefit or carer's allowance.

It's possible to boost your contribution history with voluntary payments. Since April 2025, you have only been able to make payments for the previous six years.

That's one reason why it is important to check your state pension forecast well before you retire, experts say.

How do I check what I'll get?

You can see what you are forecast to receive:

To get a state pension, you will need to prove your identity using official photo ID.

Importantly, never click on a link sent in an unsolicited email or text message, even if it looks official, as it could be a scam.

For more general information about tax and pensions, HMRC has launched a Tax Confident website.

And the government-funded, independent Money Helper website has a free retirement guidance tool to walk you through the options.

Why haven't you checked?

The most common reason for not checking a state pension forecast was feeling that retirement was still too far away to think about, a recent survey of 5,000 consumers by HMRC found.

Losing track of pension pots from previous jobs, and concerns about how career breaks might affect their entitlement, were also frequent responses.

People aged 45-54 were the most likely to have never checked.

"Whether retirement is decades away or just around the corner, I'd encourage everyone to check their forecast and see if there's anything they can do now to boost their entitlement later," says Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC's chief customer officer.

Billionaire Man United owner loses moral high ground after tax exile, Labour chair says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm0rexrwjj1vo, today

The Labour Party chair has said Sir Jim Ratcliffe loses "the moral high ground" by making statements about the UK while living in tax exile.

Speaking to Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Bridget Phillipson said she would take the billionaire businessman's comments that the UK was "on the slide" with a "pinch of salt".

Sir Jim, the founder of petrochemical giant Ineos and Manchester United's co-owner, told the BBC he has lost confidence in the UK due to a combination of high taxes and high immigration.

He has been a tax resident in Monaco since 2020 and said "things would have to get better" in the UK for him to return.

When questioned over the remarks, Phillipson said Sir Jim loses "the moral high ground" by "making these kinds of pronouncements while choosing to make decisions, that he is within his rights to make, to become a tax exile".

Pushed on whether it bothers her that people who create jobs and pay a lot of tax were leaving the UK, the minister said she was "optimistic about our country's prospects".

Other high profile billionaires have left the UK, including including steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and most recently the UK's third biggest taxpayer, hedge-fund boss Chris Rokos.

But, Philipson argued the country was in a good position ahead of the Budget next month, and Andy Burnham has shown a "sense of hope and optimism whilst recognising that many families are still struggling and there is more to do."

"Of course, there are challenges, including big international headwinds, but I fundamentally believe that we are in a strong position going into this budget because of the decisions taken over the last two years, and I believe our country's best days lie ahead of us," she said.

Philipson declined to speculate over whether there would be tax rises in the Budget on 28 October, and said the government remained committed to being disciplined about its spending rules.

Sir Jim, whose wealth is estimated to be about £15bn, also criticised the government for failing to invest further in North Sea oil and gas, claiming it amounted to "insanity".

"You would expect [the government] to exploit our natural resources and we're clearly not doing that. We're shutting it down.

"If you tax everybody to death, they're all going to leave. And that's what's happening," he added.

Sir Jim's company, Ineos, operates the Forties pipeline which transports about 30% of the UK's North Sea oil.

From 'fusty' to fashionable - is it cool to wear M&S clothes now?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cje3rk4p39zwo, yesterday

"I'm the first person to be like, 'It's from M&S, you need to get on to it,'" Farron Clark, a 26-year-old brand strategist tells me.

According to Clark and others on social media, Marks & Spencer is becoming the hot place to shop for women under 35, while also keeping its core older audience happy too.

"For a long time M&S had this fusty reputation - it was less valued by younger people," says Chioma Nnadi, head of editorial content at British Vogue, who tells the BBC there is now a "fresh energy around the brand".

And accompanying that fresh energy is a new marketing strategy, which includes hosting its first-ever London Fashion Week show on Friday, featuring a collection of outfits inspired by the brand's archive.

Speaking ahead of the event at the Design Museum, the company's head of womenswear design, Lisa Illis, says they wanted to do this because of the "immediacy of seeing something and being able to own it and wear it, rather than waiting six months".

For many, M&S is more synonymous with pig-shaped sweets than cutting-edge fashion, but its runway of 43 womenswear and 10 menswear looks did a lot to persuade people that the latter is where its true talent lies.

Normally Fashion Week is about seeing what you'll be wearing six months from now, but this runway was full of colder weather fits, from opulent faux fur jackets and wrist cuffs, to satin jumpsuits and dresses in rich tones of navy, burgundy and brown.

The catwalk featured a diverse range of models in age, size and gender, demonstrating the brand's desire to cater to a wide market.

But there was certainly a concerted effort to attract the eye of younger shoppers with a fashion-forward approach to Christmas party staples like sequinned dresses, tasselled skirts and see-through lace tops.

'They have created a modern version of everything we know and love'

The retailer has been focusing on "newer styles and relevant trends" to attract younger customers, says Illis.

But she says that this has been achieved without compromising on quality which is what keeps M&S's core audience on board.

"They have created a modern version of everything we know and love - cashmere staples, knitwear and the lingerie department," says Nnadi.

Clark agrees that M&S has been nailing "funnel neck [styles] and barrel jeans, which are filtering down from high fashion".

M&S has perhaps been fortunate to rebrand at a time when consumer habits are changing, as young shoppers consider buying capsule wardrobes - a smaller number of staple pieces that can be styled in a variety of ways.

According to Clark, the idea of wear-it-once fast fashion has declined as people "are looking for [foundational pieces] to rotate".

This is something Perrie Sian, one of Britain's biggest fashion influencers, has also noticed. The 34-year-old tells the BBC: "The real height of fast fashion is behind us".

"As a group we've changed our shopping habits and M&S slots into that," she says. "In my content and with lots of other creators we're showing people how to wear things in multiple ways, how to look after them."

She added that she is noticing "people are willing to spend a little bit more" on wardrobe staples and items that "wash well and are made of cotton, not acrylic or polyester".

Revamped stores

Speaking on BBC Sounds podcast When It Hits The Fan, which she co-presents, Farzana Baduel, the president of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, says it "hasn't always been rosy for M&S" and that past mis-steps had often led to the company being "absolutely hammered in the media".

"M&S fashion, which for a while sat there like a bit of a sleepy Bagpuss on the British retail mantlepiece, has had quite a glow-up," Baduel says.

During the Covid pandemic M&S struggled, but returned to growth in 2022-2023, with its fashion, home and beauty market share reaching 9.6%.

This again increased in 2023-2024 to 10%, and 10.5% in 2024-2025.

But the business took a big hit in 2025 due to a cyber attack, which left shoppers unable to use its website and app and affected stock in stores too.

It means M&S's market share on fashion, home and beauty now sits at 10.2% for 2025-26.

Nnadi says M&S has been investing heavily in its retail spaces in recent years, focusing on "accessible luxury" with stores that feel "welcoming, new and fresh".

And that's something Clark has noticed too.

"Getting an iced coffee and having a walk around M&S with my friends is the perfect Saturday," she says. "My generation do so much sitting on our phones, so an in-person experience becomes a bit of an activity."

Embracing young designers and collaborations

According to Sian, M&S has also taken "more risks" recently, which has helped it "create viral moments", including hosting a pit-lane fashion show at this year's F1 British Grand Prix and collaborating with British designers and creators.

"I'm seeing on Instagram or TikTok somebody say, 'Oh my goodness, this faux leather jacket is from M&S and it looks like it's £500 from the runway.'

"And what am I doing? I'm hop, skip, jumping into my car and getting straight to my local M&S to hunt it down," Sian jokes. "They have embraced young designers like Marco Capaldo, the founder and creative director of 16Arlington," adds Nnadi.

"And the Aries collab was genius and unexpected - it's a brand that has a lot of fashion kudos and is very British in its aesthetic but represents a younger vision of what British cool looks like," she says.

Clark agrees the brand has "homed in on experts in their craft, rather than partnering with a million different people" like other fashion brands have made the mistake of doing.

She notes their recent partnership with Stormzy's stylist Melissa Holdbrook-Akposoe, who goes by Melissa's Wardrobe on social media, as "adding credibility" for younger shoppers.

Warren Buffett steps down after six decades at Berkshire - 'Father Time always wins'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvj64dl1w6yno, 3 days ago

Warren Buffett has stepped down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, handing over leadership to his son Howard in the final chapter of a long-planned transition at the US business giant.

At 96, the world-famous investor will move into an advisory role as chairman emeritus and remain on the company board to offer his "judgement and perspective", according to a letter to shareholders.

The decision comes nine months after Buffett passed the chief executive role to Greg Abel, with his son, Howard, who has been a director since 1993, taking over non-executive board duties.

Known as the "Oracle of Omaha," Buffett built one of the most successful investment track records in modern history.

He took control of Berkshire Hathaway in 1965 when it was a struggling New England textile mill and turned it into a $1.1 trillion (£822b), global conglomerate.

Today, the business owns a wide range of well-known brands including GEICO car insurance, Dairy Queen, and BNSF railway system. It also owns large stakes in companies like Apple and Coca-Cola – a brand close to Buffett's heart, as he famously drinks five cans a day.

Buffett has made his mark through "value investing" – a strategy focused on finding companies with solid fundamentals, buying them at fair prices, and holding them for decades.

His annual letters to shareholders and festival-like annual meetings turned him into a leading mentor across the financial world.

Despite his retirement from the top board post, the change is considered an orderly passing of the baton rather than a sudden shock.

"The timing is right to complete the transition," Buffett wrote, noting he had recently celebrated his 96th birthday and the first birthday of one of his great-grandchildren, who is "moving a bit faster" than he is.

The company assured investors that day-to-day operations will remain steady.

While Greg Abel manages corporate strategy and capital decisions, Howard Buffett's main duty as chairman will be guarding the firm's "culture and values". A former farmer, philanthropist, and sheriff, the younger Buffett brings more than three decades of board experience to the role.

Buffett concluded his letter by saying it had been the "privilege of a lifetime" to serve as chairman, but acknowledged that in the end, "Father Time always wins".

Flight chaos caused by 'millisecond' software defect, report says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw0kl1571lpmo, 3 days ago

An air traffic control failure that sparked widespread travel chaos earlier this month was caused by a "software defect" affecting the system underpinning UK air space management, the national air traffic service Nats has said.

The problem happened "in the space of a millisecond", Nats said, leading to the system producing corrupted data.

The failure led to more than 2,000 flights being cancelled and hundreds of thousands of passengers affected, with some sleeping on airport floors or getting stuck overseas.

Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe told the BBC he would not resign, saying the software defect was "very, very obscure."

"You can fly to almost anywhere from almost any airport at almost any time. If that stops, even for a moment, then you get huge disruption.

"My job is to make sure that we have this happen as infrequently as possible," he added.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander called the disruption "completely unacceptable", while industry body Airlines UK is writing to Nats to demand immediate compensation for costs incurred.

The incident prompted questions over the resilience of Nats' systems, and some airlines questioned the position of Mr Rolfe.

There has also been anger from passengers about how much support they got from airlines, and about the fact that they are unlikely to be entitled to compensation because the regulator judges the situation was extraordinary circumstances.

In an initial report, Nats said the software defect meant air traffic controllers had reduced information available, so restrictions were put in place to limit air traffic to maintain safety.

The defect occurred at 10:00am on 8 September, but it did not become apparent this was a serious problem for another two and a half hours.

The system restart did not start until just after 3:15pm, and restrictions on UK airspace were not lifted until 7:30pm.

Flights in and out of the UK's main airports were affected, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton and Glasgow.

The disruption took days to completely resolve because of the number of planes and crew left out of place.

Mr Rolfe apologised to those affected by the disruption, saying Nats was "devastated".

"However, our primary role is to keep our skies safe, and everyone who flies through them. At no point last week was safety in question."

Nats has "tested these systems so much," he added.

"We spent so much time making sure they work that anything that does happen of this nature is, by its very nature, going to be incredibly complicated and probably difficult to understand at the time," he said.

Reacting to the Nats report, the transport secretary described the disruption as "completely unacceptable" and "frustrating" for passengers, airlines and airports.

"It's clear we need to urgently understand why this issue was not discovered and fixed before it caused chaos," Alexander said, adding that a Civil Aviation Authority review was underway.

This is the third national air traffic incident in the past three years.

In 2023, a computer shutdown over the August bank holiday weekend caused chaos for 700,000 passengers.

There was another, smaller Nats outage in 2025, which caused 150 cancellations.

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, said: "Once again, it is passengers who have suffered and airlines who have picked up the pieces - and the tab - of an ATC [Air Traffic Control] system failure, while Nats itself faces no real consequences."

He added that passengers deserved "commitment and proof that the system is being fixed".

Alderslade also said Airlines UK was writing to NATS "to demand immediate compensation for the costs incurred and a credible plan to improve resilience."

'I'm out of pocket by £100'

Addie Kitson, 26, had been on holiday in China when her flight home was diverted to Sweden.

"I thought I landed fine" she told the BBC, "but then they went: 'Welcome to Stockholm' and I went: 'Ooh, that's not London'".

After being told about the issues affecting UK airspace, passengers were kept on the plane for a few hours, and then spent 19 hours inside Stockholm airport.

Addie ended up with nearly £100 in unexpected costs after having to buy refreshments, adaptors and to pay for Wi-Fi to work.

"I got one £11 food voucher that didn't even cover the cost of a sandwich in Stockholm airport", Addie said.

Addie questioned the rules around compensation, saying there had been multiple air traffic outages.

"It doesn't seem that extraordinary," she said.

Additional reporting by Alex Akhurst.

We bought our £242,000 home without a deposit - here's how

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvj64w204y58o, 3 days ago

Until last year, Conroy, 32, and his partner Amber, 28, saw little prospect of owning their own home. They were renting in central Manchester where they work and could not afford to save up for a deposit.

Then they came across a relatively niche, and some experts say riskier, type of mortgage that offered a solution.

The Track Record mortgage from Skipton Building Society covers 100% of the value of a property, with the borrower paying nothing upfront.

Borrowers must meet strict eligibility checks and pay a higher interest rate - in Conroy and Amber's case 5.33% fixed for five years - but they were happy to do this. And in August they bought a four-bed home for £242,000 in Swinton on the edge of Manchester.

"I don't think it's dawned on us it's really ours," says Conroy, a video editor.

The return of low-deposit deals

According to the Bank of England, the share of UK mortgages with deposits worth less than 10% of the property's value is currently the highest it has been since 2008 when such loans were widely available.

The average deposit for first-time buyers is currently around 20%.

It comes as lenders such as Lloyds, Santander, Skipton and Yorkshire Building Society have launched a raft of new mortgage deals over the last few years covering upwards of 95% of the value of a property, and in some cases as much as 100%.

They say they want to help first-time buyers get on the housing ladder as property prices continue to rise and while saving for a deposit remains a struggle.

But these loans tend to charge higher rates, aren't available for all types of property or borrower, and come with risks customers should be aware of.

Conroy and Amber, a solicitor, have a 25-year loan with monthly repayments of £1,500 - roughly what they were paying in rent.

He says they feel comfortable with the higher cost because they "earn quite well" and expect their salaries to rise.

But he is aware there is a greater risk of falling into negative equity with a no- or low-deposit mortgage. That is when the value of a property falls below the value of the loan still owed on it - leaving the borrower with potentially painful costs if they suddenly have to sell.

Conroy says they plan to overpay their mortgage for the first five years to build up more equity in their home.

"There is always the element of a gamble with the property market," he says.

"But I have researched the area we moved to and don't think house prices are going to drop."

'We plan to stay here our whole lives'

Twenty-seven-year-old Bronya and her partner George, 29, also used a low-deposit mortgage to buy their four-bedroom house in Rhuddlan, North Wales in August.

Lloyds lent them £258,000 - roughly 98% of the property's value - over a 33-year term and they only had to put down £5,000 as a deposit.

The couple pay an interest rate of 5.89%, fixed for five years, equating to monthly repayments of £1,400 - about the same as what they paid to rent a one-bed flat before.

Bronya, a civil servant, says they could have put down a bigger deposit but wanted to use their savings for a renovation project costing upwards of £20,000.

They are aware of the risks of negative equity but believe the refurbishment will boost the value of their home.

"We also plan to stay here our whole lives," George adds, explaining that they are prepared to ride out any dips in the property market.

Widespread uptake of low-deposit mortgages by borrowers who could not afford them was seen as a major factor in the 2008 global financial crisis.

But today's deals have much stronger affordability checks and do not pose the same risks, says David Hollingworth, associate director at brokers L&C Mortgages.

Borrowers of Skipton's zero-deposit mortgage, for example, have to prove they have kept up with their rent for at least 12 consecutive months and credit payments for the last six months.

And Lloyds won't issue one of its £5,000 deposit mortgages for new-build properties and shared ownership homes.

Hollingworth says lenders are recognising that some people have "good affordability but may be struggling to save for a deposit while paying a rent and dealing with cost of living pressures".

Following a recent rule change, he adds, lenders are also offering more "flex" on how much someone can borrow as long as it's within their means.

Nevertheless, he urges borrowers to use common sense.

"Think carefully - what do monthly payments look like? Are you aware that interest rates could go up?"

Japan raises interest rate to new 31-year high to curb rising prices

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqn74jeek06no, 3 days ago

Japan's central bank has raised its main interest rate to a fresh 31-year high as it continues to move away from decades of ultra-low borrowing costs and as the country faces increasing economic pressures.

In a widely expected move on Friday, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) increased the rate from 1% to 1.25% - a level not seen since 1995.

It comes as major central banks around the world are hiking rates as higher energy prices caused by the Iran war are helping to push up inflation.

On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time in over three years, while the European Central Bank also increased its borrowing costs earlier this month.

The BOJ has been raising the rate since 2024, when it stood at minus 0.1%. It has now hiked rates six times in the last two and a half years.

Since then the bank has been steadily putting up the rate as it tries to reach a level similar to other major economies.

When a central bank raises rates, known as tightening monetary policy, the country's currency usually becomes stronger as it makes the it more attractive to traders.

"One of the world's last sources of ultra-cheap money is disappearing," said market analyst Lale Akoner from investment company eToro.

Japan is facing several economic challenges including a persistently weak yen, rising prices and a shrinking workforce.

Official figures published on Friday ahead of the BOJ announcement showed that inflation eased slightly last month.

Core inflation fell to 1.7% in August from 1.8% the previous month but remains close to the bank's 2% target level.

While Japan's inflation rate is not high by international standards, rising prices are a relatively new development in the economy.

Until recently the country had experienced very low inflation or deflation - falling prices - for around three decades.

Global oil and gas prices have risen this year as the Iran war caused major disruptions to shipments through the key Strait of Hormuz shipping route.

Japan is particularly vulnerable to those supply interruptions as it is heavily reliant on energy from the Middle East.

The country's currency has also been under pressure in recent months.

In August, Tokyo and Washington confirmed that they had jointly intervened to halt a slide in the yen after it fell to a fresh 40-year low.

The coordinated intervention was the first since 2011, when both countries took action together to weaken the yen after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit eastern Japan.

Both Japan's Ministry of Finance and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at the time that they would not hesitate to conduct more joint interventions in the future.

Bessent has also been ramping up pressure on the BOJ to raise interest rates to help support the yen, calling on its Governor Kazuo Ueda to "do the right thing".

"If [the yen] remains weak despite higher rates, the resulting inflation pressure could force the BOJ to tighten faster than markets or Japan's government would like," Akoner said.

Early Bowie music available to stream for first time

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm4gj5z9xvnqo, 3 days ago

Ten years ago Alec Palao was casually flicking through a collection of old records when he noticed some faint pencil markings that were enough to draw a gasp. "Davie Jones," it read.

What he had found was musical gold: five unreleased songs by a young David Bowie, filed away under his birth name.

From Friday, those tracks, plus another five unreleased songs that came Palao's way after the initial discovery, will be available to buy and stream.

"They are probably the most visceral, raw you'll ever hear the man," said Palao, a music historian and archivist.

For the music industry, David Bowie is big business. He entered the mainstream with his 1969 single, Space Oddity, and went on to achieve 11 number one albums.

He died in 2016, but remains one of Britain's most recognisable cultural icons.

Six of the previously unreleased tracks from the new collection will be available on vinyl, tapping into Bowie's popularity in that format specifically. In 2022, Bowie was named the best-selling vinyl artist of the 21st century by Music Week, ahead of The Beatles.

"It's just a fascinating window into London in 1965 and its possibilities," said Palao.

In the early sixties, Bowie was a teenager, performing as Davie Jones at London clubs and dreaming of stardom. Many of the tracks he recorded in that period are either little known or lost to time.

But his first professional producer, Shel Talmy, had kept a recording from 1965 among his collection of material by other artists he had worked with: The Kinks; The Who; Manfred Mann; The Easybeats.

It was within Talmy's collection that Palao came across the valuable 12-inch acetate.

That material and the five other previously unheard tunes, as well as demos and remastered songs, form part of a new, posthumous album called The Shel Talmy Recordings.

A limited edition vinyl will be sold at Record Store Day and HMV outlets.

In 2022, David Bowie's estate sold the publishing rights to decades of the singer's work to Warner Music Group. For this new material, Palao, along with Talmy Enterprises Incorporated, licensed the album to Warner, and it will be released by the company's subsidiary, Parlophone. Royalties will be paid to Bowie's estate by Warner.

Bowie experimenting

"I think it's wonderful that people can get to hear the early Davie Jones music," said Dana Gillespie, an early collaborator of Bowie's.

She met him after a performance at the Marquee Club in London when Bowie was 17.

"They're songs that don't really sound like David but it's him trying to find his voice. He was experimenting."

Gillespie became close friends with Bowie, eventually working with him on his "Ziggy Stardust" album. Talmy worked with both artists and Bowie's song "Andy Warhol", on his fourth studio album, was originally written for Gillespie.

"He was very driven," remembered Gillespie, who is still touring and making music at the age of 77.

"Some time in the sixties, he asked me to come and visit his parents. We were in his little house in Bromley, and when his parents left the room he turned to me and said: 'Whatever it takes, I want to get out of here.' And he did," she said.

It is a decade since Palao found the recordings. Since then, it has been a long process to bring them to market. The result is an album that he says is "absolutely pure rock 'n' roll".

"If you're looking for clues as to what he was to become, there's maybe less of that," said Palao, "but objectively speaking, I feel it's important stuff."

Gillespie is excited by one song in particular.

"There was a famous café called the Gioconda in Denmark Street where I often used to go with David," she said, recalling the centre of musical life in London in the 1960s.

"One day when I was sitting there, David rushed in and took me by the hand. He said: 'You have to hear this'.

"He ran with me around the corner and squeezed us into a small listening booth. I had one speaker and he had the other, and he played me 'I Pity The Fool'."

A remastered version of the song can be heard in the new album.

For music historians, fans of Bowie, and those who were there, the new album is another chance to reconnect with an enduring cultural icon.

"David always wanted to be a big star," said Gillespie. "I'm so happy that his early stuff hasn't been forgotten."

Barclays workers ask for more money to return to the office

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqlym1n9kpyvo, 4 days ago

Thousands of Barclays staff are demanding concessions from the bank after it said it wants employees to work from the office more often.

Staff who have been expected to work in the office for two days per week should be in the office for at least three days a week from next month, according to the company.

Unite, which represents about 36,000 Barclays staff, is calling for the bank to reverse its decision. The union is also pressing for exemptions and a payment to offset increased travel and childcare costs.

Barclays said many employees already work in the office for three or more days and that being on-site fostered collaboration and helped people learn from each other.

It added that it recognised "the benefits of balancing flexibility for colleagues with the importance of working together in our physical locations".

The bank sent a memo to staff in July outlining its expectations, which include that senior leaders work at least four days per week in the office.

But the bank is facing a growing backlash against the proposed rules change, first reported in the Financial Times,

Unite national officer Rick Coyle said thousands of employees have signed an open letter calling for Barclays to reverse the decision, and the number of signatories "continues to rise".

He added that Barclays is "trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist" in making its working-from-home rules less flexible.

The open letter says workers are delivering "strong financial results and improved customer services" with its current working from home policy.

It adds that thousands of workers have made suggestions, which the union has condensed into a series of demands.

These include:

* an exemption for people whose commutes are longer than 40 minutes or 35 miles

* exemptions during Christmas, summer, and school holidays

* a maximum one day in the office for carers

* flexibility for wrap-around childcare, and childcare vouchers and onsite creches to be explored

* a one-off payment to offset costs

"Our minimum time in office requirements vary by business area, reflecting the nature of the work and the needs of the business," a spokesperson for the bank said.

Barclays declined to say how many staff would be affected by the rule change. However, the BBC understands that there are different requirements depending on teams, with, for example, investment bankers in the office for five days per week.

The coronavirus pandemic forced many businesses to allow working from home, depending on the nature of the business.

Since then, many organisations have been increasingly recalling workers to the office.

There is evidence that hybrid working may be the best fit for many workers and businesses.

But a lot of large organisations including Amazon, Boots and JP Morgan took the decision to bring in policies requiring head office staff to be in every day after the pandemic.

This week, Ewan Venters, the executive chair of fashion brand Paul Smith, told the BBC's Big Boss Interview podcast that working from home "just doesn't work" for young people and urged the government to stay out of decisions over where employees work.

In June, digital bank Revolut said it was shifting away from its "remote-first" policy for new recruits in 2027, but for other employees that policy wouldn't change.

Interest rates held but Bank signals rise if energy prices stay high

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm4gjrxez1q0o, 4 days ago

The Bank of England has held interest rates at their current rate of 3.75% for the sixth time in a row but said they were likely to rise if high energy prices persist.

The US-Israel war with Iran has disrupted global energy supplies leading to a sharp increase in petrol and diesel prices and an uptick in inflation.

But Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey said energy price volatility made it more likely that interest rates would rise.

The Bank also announced it was slowing its sales of UK government debt, prompting an easing in the UK's long-term borrowing costs.

The Bank of England's main interest rate is a crucial benchmark for banks and other lenders in setting interest rates for individuals and businesses who want to borrow or save money. Higher rates can help dampen inflationary pressures, while lower rates can help boost spending and investment.

The UK's central bank aims to keep inflation at a target of 2%, but it has been above that rate for nearly two years, with inflation hitting 3.1% in August.

On Thursday the Bank of England raised its forecast for inflation predicting it would be "slightly above 4%" at the start of next year. It warned that the price cap on household gas and electricity bills for January was "now expected to rise substantially further".

Speaking after the Bank's decision, Bailey said the direct impact of higher energy prices was clear, but officials were still assessing how far those costs would feed through into wider inflation across the economy.

Other major central banks have increased rates to counteract higher prices.

On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve announced its first hike in three years while the European Central Bank has raised rates twice since June.

Of the nine members on the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), six voted to hold rates at 3.75% while three - including the Bank's chief economist Huw Pill - wanted to raise them to 4%.

While financial markets have priced in the possibility of several rate rises next year, Bailey said the global backdrop remained "hugely unpredictable at the moment".

He said that for interest rates to come down there would need to be "an end of conflict in the Middle East... and energy prices coming really back to where they were before this conflict began".

There were some positive notes from the Bank of England.

It said the UK economy had been "more resilient" than it had expected and raised its prediction for economic growth from 0.1% to 0.4% for the period between July and September.

It also said that because the effect of higher energy costs had not yet spilled over into other areas of the economy, food price inflation was now predicted to be 4% by the end of the year, less than the Bank's previous forecast of 6-7%.

Given the global picture, and market expectations of a higher Bank rate, a host of major lenders have already increased the cost of new fixed-rate mortgages.

The average two-year fixed residential mortgage rate is at its highest since 11 May, at 5.77%, while the average five-year is at its highest since 8 November 2023, at 5.83%, according to financial information service Moneyfacts.

'Knock-on effect'

The move will have a significant effect on borrowers like Andy Pargeter from Flintshire and his wife. They are coming off a five-year fixed rate mortgage of 1.19% in November. Earlier in the year they had hoped that interest rates might be falling at this point. However with rates held steady they now expect to pay around £300 more a month.

"We're in a fortunate position where we're able to accommodate that [increase]," he told BBC News. But he expects it will have "a knock-on effect in terms of how much we potentially save every month".

"It's definitely been something… I have constantly been thinking about."

Bond sales paused

Alongside the interest rate decision, the Bank also said it would halt its so-called "quantitative tightening" (QT) programme.

It will pause its annual sale of government bonds – which are a kind of IOU that can be traded on the financial markets – and will instead sell off smaller chunks over eight years.

The Bank bought £895bn of mainly government bonds during periods of economic turbulence such as the global financial crisis and the Covid pandemic to help keep the economy on an even keel. This was known as "quantitative easing".

Since 2022, it has been offloading the bonds, including through sales. This has contributed to higher interest rates – or yields – on bonds, making it more expensive for the government to borrow money.

The Bank said discussions to put in place a plan to reduce the current £488bn stockpile of bonds had started a year ago, implying the decision was not related to the recent rise in long term borrowing costs.

The news that the Bank of England is overhauling its QT programme prompted an immediate reaction.

The yield on 30-year UK government bonds fell from 5.86% on Thursday morning to 5.75% following the Bank's announcement. Yields on 10-year bonds dropped from 5.31% to 5.22%.

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I sent 200 LinkedIn messages and got a job: How to nail networking

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9vgyd02mdvno, 4 days ago

For some, networking comes naturally but for others, the thought of approaching someone they don't know and trying to make a professional connection can fill them with dread.

Whether you're looking for your first job, trying to get ahead at work or hoping to change career, building a network can help you find opportunities and make connections.

Networking doesn't have to mean working a room at a formal event - it can happen in person over a coffee at work, through a chance conversation or online, through email and social media.

Just under half (44%) of Gen Z say not having the right network is the biggest barrier to landing an entry-level role, according to research from LinkedIn.

Nicole Leverich, chief communications officer at LinkedIn, shares her top tips on how to network and we took the same question to city workers in New York to find out what has worked for them.

Start with the network you already have

Everyone can start building their network online and "you'd be surprised how many connections you have once you connect with people you went to school with, former professors, people you met through summer jobs, family and friends," says Leverich.

Don't be discouraged if your network is small as "not having a network right now doesn't mean you'll never have a network", she says.

And not having obvious industry contacts shouldn't put you off.

Leverich grew up in a small town in Oregon and moved to San Francisco after college without knowing anyone who worked in communications.

After getting her first job, she says, "I raised my hand for a lot of the grunt work that other people didn't want to do and I built connections as I went along."

Do your homework - and say thank you

If you're thinking about reaching out to someone online, the key is to show you've done your homework, Leverich says.

In a message you should "reference something they've posted or establish some common ground".

Make sure your request is "clear and specific" and something they can do in less than five minutes. And, most importantly, don't forget to say thank you.

"You'd be surprised by how many people are willing to help, but I get so few thank yous," she says. "I'm not talking about anything excessive but just a 'thanks' makes you want to help next time."

Build relationships before you need them

Networking can feel transactional, so to avoid that, try to build relationships before you need something from them, Leverich advises.

If you know you want to work in a particular industry, "start finding people in that field a year or two before you're looking for a job".

When you reach out to them, think about what you can offer them in return.

"If you call me and say you want a job randomly, I'm much less likely to help than if you call and ask for five minutes of advice."

You also don't have to start by messaging someone directly, she says. Instead you could react to a post or drop a comment.

Put in the reps

In-person networking can be more daunting, particularly early in your career, but remember that at a networking event, everyone is there to talk.

To begin a conversation, start with something simple like complimenting someone's outfit, introducing yourself and asking why they're there, Leverich advises.

"Put in the reps and start by going to an event for just 15 minutes or half an hour and then build from there."

When you want to move on, don't overthink it: "I just do the hard cut and say, 'It was great to meet you and I need to make sure I work around the room.'

"If you want a softer out, something like 'I need to get a glass of water, it was great meeting you' can work."

'Don't be afraid of hearing no'

Of course, knowing what you're supposed to do is one thing but actually walking up to a stranger and starting a conversation, or even messaging someone out of the blue online, is another.

Taylor Crow who works in sales says she's "fairly good" at networking as it was something she prioritised at university.

"I sent over 200 cold DMs (direct messages) on LinkedIn and reached out to people in the companies I wanted to work at while I was studying."

She admits it was "so awkward" but it was something she had to do to land the job she wanted.

Her colleague Vicky Peterlin, 24, agrees. "It's not about being good at networking but more about not being afraid to reach out to people.

"I had thoughts about how I'm not qualified to have these conversations but then you realise there are no rules and sending out emails and messages are free and easy.

"The worst that can happen is that they say no and that's ok."

Katherine Leopold, a careers and employability tutor at Greenwich Business School, echoes this. She says the biggest hurdle is making the first move but if you don't take the step you are "ruling yourself out".

The number of applications that organisations are dealing with is "absolutely enormous" so try to meet employers in person and show them your total authentic story, she advises.

"Ensure you say to them, 'I have this skill, I have this piece of knowledge, so I'm confident that your team is stronger with me in it.'"

'Say what your goal is'

Madison Brown works in tech partnerships, having previously worked in corporate jobs for 10 years.

He gets a lot of young people reaching out to him for career advice and opportunities, and says many of them could be much clearer in what they are looking for.

"There's nothing wrong with saying what your goal is or what you want to get out of this interaction."

He adds that it's important to be yourself and "more doors will open if you are authentic".

OpenAI reveals six more safety issues and unveils plan to disclose incidents

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmpq0wj5g899o, 4 days ago

OpenAI revealed six more incidents of unexpected or concerning behaviour by its intelligence (AI) models, and announced a plan for tracking and disclosing such incidents in the future.

Some of the previously unreported incidents included models concealing or fabricating information, the ChatGPT-maker said in a blog post on Wednesday.

The boss of OpenAI Sam Altman said earlier this week: "The world should trust that we are going to do the right thing because it's the right thing and we feel the magnitude of this."

AI has come under intense scrutiny in recent days following warnings over the serious potential risks it poses to humans.

In the blog, OpenAI detailed examples of its AI models misbehaving so they could achieve a task or succeed in a test. The incidents included the models generating instructions to get around restrictions imposed on them, hiding mistakes and fabricating information.

The firm also announced a new system to track, investigate and disclose cases of models misbehaving, or "misalignment".

Under the framework, developers will be able to flag incidents for review, with a new set of rules to decide whether the issue is disclosed publicly.

"Because we believe in the value of transparency around misalignment, our new framework favors disclosure even when significance is uncertain," OpenAI said.

OpenAI made headlines in July when it revealed that some of its most advanced AI models went rogue and hacked Hugging Face, one of the world's largest hubs for sharing AI models, after it lost control of them during a security test.

Hugging Face co-founder Thomas Wolf said at the time that the incident was "a wake-up call" for the industry.

Since then, the debate over AI safety concerns has escalated with AI researchers, technology industry executives and politicians weighing in.

Last week, Jacob Coxon, a researcher who left OpenAI rival Anthropic over concerns the tech could wipe out humanity, wrote about his resignation in a post that cited the dangers of AI and later went viral against the backdrop of growing safety concerns.

In response, Anthropic scientist Evan Hubinger said he thought the possibility of AI causing human extinction "within the next decade" was more than 10%.

Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark later told the BBC that a "kill switch" controlled by a third party may need to be mandatory for the industry.

Meanwhile, Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei called for the pace of AI development to slow and be more closely monitored, as the company has done before, though some have questioned the motivations behind this.

Amodei also said that any action to rein in AI should be done "without sacrificing commercial advantage".

But US President Donald Trump has said fears about the safety of AI are a "hoax" and criticised calls to have more guardrails in place for the fast-moving technology.

In a series of social media posts, the US president compared warnings about AI to the "Global Warming Scam" which, he said, was "being perpetrated by the Radical Left Dumocrats".

Trump also called himself "the Hoax Buster", likening concerns about the safety of the technology to what he called "the RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA HOAX".

The only "guardrails" needed for AI was a "strong and smart" president, said Trump.

US interest rates raised for first time in three years

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw4gmlyvj422o, 4 days ago

US interest rates have been raised for the first time in more than three years and could be increased further in a bid to slow rising prices.

Rates were hiked to 3.75%-4% from 3.5%-3.75% by the Federal Reserve in a unanimous decision, despite fierce opposition from President Donald Trump, who had called for rates to be cut.

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said the move was because "inflation is too high and has been for too long", adding that it was a "sober" and "responsible decision".

After the announcement, Trump expressed support for Warsh but said the Fed board, which votes on rate decisions, was "hostile".

Higher interest rates make borrowing more expensive for people wanting to secure loans, mortgages, and credit cards, but can lead to better returns on savings.

Warsh said during a press conference on Wednesday following the decision that, while there was "an attitude of optimism" within the Fed leadership, inflation remained a problem.

Like many central banks, the Fed has a target of keeping inflation at 2% or below. Warsh noted that US inflation has been above the target "for more than five years".

That has helped make affordability one of the top concerns of American voters, who have seen fuel prices surge in response to soaring wholesale oil prices since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran. This has driven up the cost of many goods and services, as well.

While the Fed "cannot affect any individual price – whether it be oil prices, whether it be food stuffs at the grocery store", Warsh said, the central bank can work to keep price rises from broadening across the economy.

He added that strength in the jobs market and wider economy meant the Fed was staying focused on stabilising prices, and that those least well off had the most to gain from lower inflation.

Central banks tend to increase rates when inflation is high to discourage spending and encourage saving, in the hope this will reduce the pace of price rises. But it's a balancing act, as higher rates can also encourage businesses to hold off on investing and hurt economic growth.

What the higher rate means for Americans

When he was confirmed, Democratic lawmakers had said Warsh would be Trump's "sock puppet" and many Fed watchers expected him to carry out Trump's persistent demands to slash rates. Trump had been heavily critical of Warsh's predecessor Jerome Powell for not cutting them.

Asked on Wednesday about the message the rate hike sent to Trump, Warsh chuckled before saying: "I have got nothing for you on a discussion with the president."

Trump told reporters later "I'm relying on Kevin [Warsh], but he's got, you know, a very tough board".

"And the, interest rates are too high. They're not appropriate... I talked to Kevin and I said, 'you might as well vote with the board because it's not going to matter.' The board is very hostile, they're very political," he added.

Earlier, Trump said on social media: "LOWER THE INTEREST RATES FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND FAST!"

Democrats on Capitol Hill said the rate increase would make loans costlier and, in turn, more Americans would go into debt.

"This is going to make everything become more expensive," said Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate. "This is because Donald Trump does not know how to manage the economy."

The Fed's hike is the first rate move in any direction since they were cut in December 2025. The last time they were raised was in July 2023.

The increase could help push up mortgage rates for home buyers and lead to Americans paying more on other types of debt.

Major US banks JP Morgan, KeyCorp, and BNY all raised their prime lending rate on Wednesday to 7% from 6.75%, which will affect rates charged on credit cards and personal loans.

Mortgage costs have climbed over the past year but remain below peaks seen in 2023. A 30-year fixed deal is 6.76% on average, while a 15-year deal is 6.09%, according to figures from Freddie Mac.

Many US homeowners have 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, and changes to interest rates will not impact their monthly repayments. But higher rates could affect those looking to secure a new mortgage or refinance.

Warsh declined to provide his own view on where he saw the Fed's rates going, but the majority of his fellow policymakers said they believe rates would be hiked again before the end of this year to between 4-4.25%.

A small majority also said rates could rise further to the 4.25-4.5% next year, before cuts begin in 2028 and 2029.

The forecast suggested price rises will ease in the coming years, with inflation, the measure used to assess the cost of living, predicted to fall steadily to the Fed's target by 2029.

The US Fed is not alone in facing rising inflation since the Iran war, with the European Central Bank raising rates last week and the Bank of England set to make its own decision on Thursday.

Petrol and diesel price rises push UK inflation higher

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cv2dw7lw4rkpo, 5 days ago

Rises in petrol, diesel and airfares pushed UK inflation up to its highest level in five months in the year to August.

Inflation accelerated to 3.1% from 2.9%, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The cost of filling up a vehicle soared in August as the conflict in the Middle East continued to disrupt global oil supplies. Petrol prices jumped to their highest for nearly four years, the ONS said, while diesel also rocketed.

Meanwhile, the cost of flying jumped during the key month for summer getaways.

Overall, motor fuel prices rose by 23% compared to August last year.

Oil hit more than $91 a barrel as the US-Israel war with Iran went on. That compares to around $73 just before hostilities began earlier this year.

As a result, average petrol prices have continued to climb and between July and August, they rose by 9.1p to 161.3p per litre.

"This is the highest price recorded since November 2022," said the ONS. At that point, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine had pushed up global energy costs.

Capital Economics said, at this point, the effect of higher oil prices has not spilled over into other areas such as food and drink, where the pace of inflation remained at 1.3% in the year to August.

But its chief UK economist, Paul Dales, said: "Everyone knows that bigger rises in inflation are on their way."

Grant Fitzner, chief economist at the ONS, said: "Rising crude oil and petrol prices increased both the annual cost of raw materials and the price of goods leaving factories respectively."

Dales estimates that a combination of higher oil and gas prices and "the eventual 'first-round' effect of businesses passing on some of their higher energy costs" will lead to inflation peaking at 4.2% in January.

'Things are down'

As well as hitting drivers in the pocket, higher oil prices also affect forecourts.

Goran Raven, owner of Essex petrol station RJ Raven, told the BBC: "Things are down. We've got lots of pressure on us at the moment. I'd say we're about 20% down on this time last year."

Raven said changes in the oil price have a "real-time impact on us".

In recent days, Brent crude - the global benchmark for oil prices - has surpassed $100 a barrel.

"We only have small tanks here, so we need a tanker almost every day at the moment and we have to pay a daily spot price," said Raven. "When the price goes up, we have to go up with it. There's no way around it.

"The margins here are wafer-thin on fuel. People like to think we're earning a lot on it. Unfortunately, we really aren't. It's single digits of pence we earn per litre."

The rise in inflation means it has moved further away from the Bank of England's 2% target.

The bank uses interest rates to control inflation.

The rate currently stands at 3.75% and the Bank of England is meeting on Thursday to decide whether to change it.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Wednesday inflation is "a concern" but the underlying UK economy was resilient.

"The extent to which we've got inflationary pressure it's driven by the situation in the Middle East," he said.

The most recent figures showed that the UK economy expanded by 0.4% in July, boosted by investment in artificial intelligence.

But, for the second quarter between April and June, Britain's economic growth slowed to 0.4% from 0.6% in January to March.

Looking ahead to his first Budget, which will be delivered by Chancellor John Healey on 28 October, Burnham said: "We will take difficult decisions to make sure the economy remains on track."

Commenting on inflation, shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith said the government's "jobs tax and employment red tape are being passed on to consumers in the weekly shop and their mad energy policies are pushing up costs and leaving Brits exposed".

A Tory spokesperson said the energy policies Griffith is referring to include a commitment to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and a "refusal to drill in the North Sea".

The government is cutting VAT on household electricity bills from 5% to zero on 1 October, saving a typical household about £45 a year.

At the same time, the price cap on both electricity and gas bills will rise by 4%.

It means a home using a typical amount of gas and electricity will pay £60 a year more.

Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG, said the VAT cut will only partially offset the impact of higher gas prices, which have been rising because of the Iran war and disruption to global supplies, including liquefied natural gas.

"If gas prices remain around current levels, household energy bills could rise by a further double-digit amount from January, with an even larger increase possible if wholesale prices climb further," she said.

'Everything is extremely expensive'

Emma Ashfield, a nursery worker from Northern Ireland who is raising her eight-year-old daughter, said everything is already "extremely expensive".

"You are trying to keep food on the table, [buy] clothes, trying to provide for them," she said. "You would basically need a second job."

With winter approaching, she says energy costs are another worry: "I find electric very pricey… and it is costly trying to heat my apartment too.

"My wee girl is always wanting the heating on, so that's another thing."

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper said: "Trump's illegal war - egged on by the Conservatives and Reform UK - is once again hitting British families hard. This must be a wake up-call for the government."

We managed to get jobs after uni - here's how we're keeping them

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2qn163053o, 5 days ago

Getting a new job is tough and when you've secured it you want it to go well.

It can be nerve-wracking, especially if it's a role you've wanted for a while.

Here, four recent job starters share their tips on what helped them have a smooth transition and survive the first few days.

Tell someone when you get stuck

Sarisha Ganesan, 22, graduated from Loughborough University in June and started in a graduate role in marketing last month.

Her role is fully remote so to prepare for her first day, she emailed co-workers in advance asking what to expect.

"I got to meet everyone virtually in the morning meeting, we went around and did mini introductions," she says.

Initially, Sarisha was surprised by the collaborative environment of her role.

"Coming from university, I was used to a more independent style of work.

"There's loads of meetings throughout the day and regular call check-ups," she says.

Sarisha's tip on navigating the first few weeks is to let your manager and wider team know if you get stuck on tasks or if the workload becomes excessive.

"Let everyone know where you are with tasks to avoid them having to chase you up.

"They don't expect you to know everything so make sure to communicate with them if things become unfamiliar or if you feel like you have too much on your plate and need a hand," she says.

Set up check-ins with your boss

Oliver Walker graduated from the University of Liverpool in May and one week later started a graduate role working on social media campaigns for a marketing agency.

"I didn't have much time to prepare and went into it very unknown. There was very little time to do research on the responsibilities that came with my role," he says.

He did some "company stalking" to learn more about the organisation itself so he didn't go into it "completely blind".

His main tip is to focus on learning and developing in your role.

On his first day, he asked his manager if they could have check-ins every six months to make sure he was achieving his goals.

"For me, being a valuable member of my company is important.

"I've been able to interact with incredibly helpful people in my company because I was asking to attend company events and saying yes when the opportunities appeared," he says.

Ask for help - you're expected to

Chinaza Eke, a third-year student at the University of Warwick, has just completed an eight-week summer internship with the civil service.

Over the duration of the internship, she was given five main tasks to complete and had to use new software systems and platforms which she was previously unfamiliar with.

"I didn't want to ask for help because it felt like I'd be admitting I didn't have the skills to be there," says Chinaza, who's 20.

But after her first few days she realised that asking for guidance was expected and pretending to understand the tasks would only harm her in the long run.

"Having my line manager encourage me to slow down was an adjustment from the intense environment of university," she says.

Chinaza's tip for others is to ask for help when you need it, the sooner the better.

"You can make so many valuable connections by admitting you need help. There is nothing wrong with being unable to do it straight away," she says.

Speak to people outside your team

Elijah Amoako recently started a new role managing industry relations.

In preparation for his first day, he researched the organisation to understand the team he was joining.

"I think it's important to arrive curious and open-minded, rather than feeling like you need to know everything from day one," he says.

Having come from a different company, Elijah, 26, took time to observe how things worked in his new role and not assume the same practices applied.

Elijah's tip for others is to build relationships beyond just your immediate team as this is the best way to expose yourself to multiple opportunities.

"Your reputation starts being built from day one, through how reliable, curious and collaborative you are.

"Building relationships and understanding how an organisation operates is equally important," he says.

Tips from an expert

Lizzie Crowley, senior policy adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, says it's important to "get many of the basics in place" ahead of your first day:

Complaints to watchdog about water firms soar

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjy5z9l0395ro, 5 days ago

The number of complaints made by households about water companies to the industry watchdog has risen by a record 84% in a year, driven by customer concern and confusion over rising bills.

The Consumer Council for Water (CCW) said the year-on-year increase was the highest in its 20-year history and showed "just how dissatisfied" many people were.

Water customers in England and Wales have been hit with steep price hikes in recent years. The regulator Ofwat has also allowed firms to put up bills by 36% between 2025 and 2030.

Water UK, which represents firms, said it understood that higher bills was never welcome, but the money was needed "to fund vital upgrades".

The total number of complaints to the watchdog rose to 15,115 in 2025-26, from 8,235 in the previous year.

Meanwhile, complaints made by households directly to water companies, which is required before complaining to the CCW, rose by 56% to 321,347.

The top three subjects of complaints to the CCW were measured billing, affordability and billing admin.

Mike Keil, the chief executive of the CCW, said the figures "reflect just how dissatisfied many people still are with the state of the water sector".

He said customers are "impatient to see the benefits" of higher bills.

"Companies need to be clear and open with their customers about how they are investing people's money to deliver real improvements."

The CCW assessed each water company's performance on the number of complaints it received for every 10,000 households it serves, and the amount of effort customers have to put in to get their complaint resolved.

Thames Water and South West Water rated "poor" for both performance measures.

David Bird, retail director at Thames, apologised to customers who "have not received the service they should expect".

"We know bill clarity has been a particular source of frustration, which is why we have launched a programme to redesign them, so they are easier to understand," he said.

Bills for the average Thames customer rose by 31% in 2024, but were a lot smaller this year at 3.4%.

South West Water said: "We know there is more to do to improve our customers' experience. We are taking action by reducing repeat contacts, resolving issues when people contact us for the first time, and ensuring they receive clear, timely communication."

Portsmouth Water and Bristol Water were the only companies to score "good" in both metrics, retaining their position at the top of the rankings as the sector's best performers.

Last month, Ofwat approved bill increases for 13 companies to meet increased pressures on infrastructure and the environment.

Five of those companies — Thames, Severn Trent Water, Southern Water, Wessex Water and South East Water — were already permitted to hike bills in 2024.

A spokesperson for industry body Water UK said: "We understand increasing bills is never welcome, but the money is needed to fund vital upgrades to secure our water supplies, support economic growth and end sewage entering our rivers and seas.

The spokesperson said that 94% of complaints are "being dealt with at the earliest possible stage without the need for further involvement from the consumer body".

"The industry remains committed to improving communication with customers and showing clearly how their money is being used to deliver the improvements they expect," the spokesperson added.

The extreme engineering of aircraft windows

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0lr69zeyrwo, 5 days ago

An industrial nightmare was brewing south of Los Angeles.

In late May, a chemical storage tank with more than 7,000 gallons of toxic material began heating up – fast. The tank belonged to GKN Aerospace, a company that supplies parts to the aviation industry, including aircraft windows.

As the temperature inside the shiny metal storage vessel rose, workers realised they had a problem. The tank was at risk of exploding, potentially showering nearby neighbourhoods with methyl methacrylate (MMA), a skin and lung-irritating compound used in plastics production.

The tank's temperature reached 100F (38C) – though possibly went higher - 100F was simply the maximum reading on the temperature gauge inside.

More than 50,000 residents of Garden Grove city were evacuated and fire crews began hosing down the tank in a bid to cool it. At one point, the vessel "actually bulged" according to the local fire chief.

Thankfully, no explosion occurred. Months later, in August, GKN and local authorities announced a $100m (£74m) programme to compensate residents evacuated during the incident. But production of aircraft windows at the site, which had been halted, is still not fully restored.

This has sent a minor shockwave through the aircraft manufacturing industry because GKN is one of surprisingly few companies, anywhere in the world, that make aircraft windows – highly engineered, safety-critical parts for planes.

Production at GKN's Garden Grove facility currently remains hobbled, at roughly 50% of normal, according to public statements by its UK parent company Melrose Industries. The aim is to have full production restored by 28 September. GKN declined an interview with the BBC.

"They're one of only a handful of suppliers – less than a handful, really – of critical windows," says Marisa Garcia, an aviation industry analyst. "One of the breaking points of supply chain in aviation is you have very few companies qualified to do something and, when something goes wrong, it really upsets the entire system."

Boeing tells the BBC it is "taking steps to mitigate any potential impacts", describing the shortfall in production as an "industry-wide" situation.

"We are supporting our supplier," a spokesman adds. An Airbus spokeswoman says, "We are closely monitoring and are seeing positive progress toward a return to normal."

It comes at a time when airlines "can't get new aircraft fast enough," says Mike Stengel of AeroDynamic Advisory, a consultancy. "They're holding on to aircraft for longer."

Even though there are just a few aircraft window-manufacturing firms in existence, it's hard for new competitors to emerge because of how regulated the industry is, adds Stengel. "It can take time to pivot to a new supplier."

This leads to a "balancing act" between plane-makers and the firms they rely on for various parts, Stengel says.

To find out what goes into the making of an aircraft window, I spoke to Jean-Eric Vermont, general manager of French company Saint-Gobain Aerospace.

"We focus mostly on commercial aircraft, regional aircraft and helicopters," he says. Vermont declines, though, to say how much market share his company has in aircraft windows – or transparencies, as they are known in the trade.

The oval-shaped windows in the cabin, next to passengers' seats, are typically made of plastic-based materials, says Vermont. "You start from a sheet of acrylic," he explains. "Then you cut to size, [to] give the shape."

A Saint-Gobain spokesman confirmed to the BBC that the company does not store or process MMA like GKN, but rather purchases sheets of polymerised MMA, or acrylic.

Aircraft manufacturers are increasingly ordering larger cabin windows, says Vermont, in order to offer passengers a wider view of the world outside. It's a selling point but it requires additional testing to ascertain whether the bigger windows hold up as well as the smaller ones.

Saint-Gobain tests its windows by exposing them to pressures many times what would be normal on an aircraft flying at altitude.

These acrylic-based cabin windows are usually made out of two layers or plies, and Saint-Gobain also performs tests to confirm whether the window will survive even if one of those plies gets damaged.

Cockpit windows, Vermont says, are "totally different".

They are generally made of glass, which is chemically reinforced by adding potassium to it. This involves swapping smaller sodium ions for larger potassium ions, which helps to fill out the molecular structure of the glass, meaning that when it cools during production, it compresses into an extra strong, tight formation as it cools.

Some of the latest aircraft feature cockpit windows that are also curved, to make the plane more streamlined, which improves fuel efficiency. But curved cockpit windows are challenging to make – the slightest distortion or defect is clearly visible to the pilot.

Quality control checks are used to ensure no such impediments exist in the final product.

All aircraft windows must be resistant to impacts but cockpit windows, at the front of the plane, are especially vulnerable to bird strikes, says Vermont: "The issue is not the speed of the bird, the issue is the speed of the aircraft."

Saint-Gobain uses numerical simulations and "physical tests representative of a sizeable bird impact" to test its windows against this threat.

"Typically, if you go through a hailstorm or if you hit a large enough bird, the external ply will crack," says Vermont. "The cockpit window is designed for that."

A London to Londonderry flight was recently affected by a cracked cockpit window. While a mid-air emergency was declared, the plane landed safely. "There can be [such] cases," says Vermont, though he adds that Saint-Gobain's windows have not been involved in any recently.

"You're obviously dealing with a surface that is interfacing with two very different environments," says Stengel. "That's why these are more highly-engineered products."

US borrowing costs hit highest level since 2007

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw804154z90ko, 6 days ago

US government borrowing costs climbed to their highest level since 2007 after a jump in oil prices further fuelled concerns about inflation.

The effective interest rate on US government bonds over 10 years, known as the 10-year Treasury yield, rose as high as 5.04% but has eased back since.

Government bond yields have been rising globally for months, driven by worries that inflation caused by the oil price surge since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran will lead to higher interest rates.

The US has been buying back bonds in a bid to drive the Treasury yield down, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calling the intervention "successful".

The global benchmark wholesale oil price rose to over $109 a barrel on Tuesday, up from around $86 at the end of August, after renewed concerns about Saudi Arabia's ability to export oil following rising tensions in the region.

Investors are anticipating the US Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh will raise interest rates to combat the inflation caused by higher oil prices.

However, US President Donald Trump opposes a rate hike, having long argued lower rates are great for boosting the economy.

He fell out with Warsh's predecessor Jerome Powell over his decision not to cut rates.

Higher interest rates and inflation tend to drive up the yields bond investors demand on government borrowing.

Bond yields can also be a sign of how much faith investors have in a given government, with a higher yield reflecting less confidence.

Competition for debt from artificial intelligence (AI) firms is also driving up yields.

Tech giants are borrowing massive piles of cash to build huge data centres. This raises interest rates on tech firm's debt which increases government bond yields in response.

Carol Schleif, chief market strategist at BMO Wealth Management, said bond markets had been signalling for weeks that higher interest rates may be needed.

While the rise in borrowing costs has been "orderly" this year, rather than sudden, she said rates could remain elevated if geopolitical tensions and high energy prices remain "front and center".

State pension likely to top £13,000 a year as UK wage growth slows to 3.9%

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2l8v7l0djqo, 6 days ago

The state pension is expected to top £13,000 a year, reigniting the debate about its long-term affordability and generational fairness.

The full, flat-rate state pension is expected to rise by £488 a year in April, based on the latest official earnings figure released on Tuesday.

The so-called triple lock pension policy guarantees that the state pension will increase by either average wage growth, inflation or 2.5% - whichever is highest.

Labour made a manifesto pledge to keep the triple lock until 2029, however economists have warned about the cost of the policy ahead of the Budget although pensioner groups say many people still face poverty in old age.

'Substantial' cost

The triple lock was designed to ensure the value of the state pension was not overtaken by the increase in the cost of living or the incomes of working people.

Although the state pension age is rising to 67, the cost to the government has risen considerably too. Forecasts suggest state pension spending, already at £154bn this year, could go up by a further £600m a year by 2029-30.

The policy is "crazy," Ruth Curtice, the chief executive of the Resolution Foundation think tank, told the BBC.

The triple lock is creating a "ratchet effect" where "pensioners' living standards grow even faster than just a typical worker," she added.

"Pensioners have seen living standards grow three times more than typical workers over the last 20 years."

Jonathan Cribb, deputy director of Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank, said: "Each increase in spending builds upon the last and so the long-run cost is substantial but very uncertain."

How much could pensioners receive?

The state pension is expected to match wage growth in the next calculation and is likely to be higher than the rate of inflation.

Average wage growth, including bonuses, stood at 3.9% between May and July, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), down from 4.2% between April and June.

But it is higher than average pay growth, not including bonuses, which rose by 3.5%.

This means:

* the flat-rate state pension - for those who reached state pension age after April 2016 – will likely be £250.70 a week, or £13,036.40 a year. That would be an increase of £488

* the old basic state pension - for those who reached state pension age before April 2016 – will likely be £192.10 a week, or £9,989.20 a year, an increase of £374.40

Pensioner groups have said older people face significant cost of living pressures, such as high energy bills and the state pension itself remained relatively small compared with state provision across Europe.

Will pensioners pay tax?

Almost 13 million people receive the state pension in the UK. If it does rise by 3.9%, it would take the flat-rate state pension above the personal allowance of £12,570 and therefore be liable for income tax.

The government said it has recommitted to exempting people whose only income is the state pension from tax.

The Labour government - when Rachel Reeves was chancellor - promised that pensioners who rely solely on the state pension would not be required to complete a tax return, nor be chased to pay.

When asked by the BBC on Tuesday morning, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds refused to confirm that pensioners reliant on the state pension will be exempted from paying income tax.

Later, pensions minister Torsten Bell, said: "In line with the commitment made at Budget 2025, pensioners who only just the exceed the personal allowance will not pay small amounts of tax in this parliament which we know is an administrative burden.

"The chancellor will set out further details on how that commitment will be delivered at the Budget."

Analysis by consultants LCP suggested that only one in 16 pensioners would benefit under the government's pledge, saving about £91 each a year.

The majority of pensioners have additional pension income and so pay income tax already.

"The government's plans to address this point are a mess," said Sir Steve Webb, a partner at LCP and a former Liberal Democrat pensions minister.

Prior to the government saying it had recommitted to its pledge on tax and pensions, shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith said: "People living on nothing but their state pension are now facing a tax bill for the first time ever.

"Many will spend the last years of their lives filing tax returns or hanging on HMRC telephone helplines."

The ONS also published figures on the UK labour force.

While the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.9%, the number of vacancies and employees on payrolls fell in recent months.

Trump says AI safety fears a 'hoax' as he rejects calls for greater safeguards

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw980n0nd0qjo, 6 days ago

US President Donald Trump has said fears about the safety of artificial intelligence (AI) are a "hoax", as he criticised calls to have more guardrails in place for the fast-moving technology.

It comes after Jack Clark, co-founder of AI giant Anthropic, told the BBC that a "kill switch" that can be checked by a third party may need to be mandatory for the industry.

Clark's comments followed warnings about the risks the technology poses to humanity that have been raised in recent days by several executives and staff at leading AI firms.

Those concerns triggered a selloff in tech firms' shares as investors weighed the impact of a potential slowdown in the multi-billion dollar development of AI.

In a series of social media posts, the US president compared warnings about AI to the "Global Warming Scam" which, he said, was "being perpetrated by the Radical Left Dumocrats".

Trump also called himself "the Hoax Buster", likening concerns about the safety of the technology to what he called "the RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA HOAX".

The only "guardrails" needed for AI was a "strong and smart" president, said Trump.

In another post he wrote: "There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China. WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!"

Chinese state media said experts had warned that "Washington's growing anxiety over China's rapid AI development appears to be increasingly distorting its policy priorities".

"They know that China has become a strong competitor in AI, and worry that if the US slows down development or tightens regulation, China could catch up even faster," Xin Qiang, a professor of American Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times.

Clark, who is one of Anthropic's seven founders, said earlier on Monday that a way of shutting off AI software completely if it gets too dangerous was something society "might want to eventually pass rules around".

He added that "most labs have different ways of being able to pull the plug", including Anthropic, but said lawmakers may need to enforce having one.

UK Business Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said on Tuesday that people should "never be complacent" about the impact AI might have but added: "We've got to be careful not to get hyperbolic about this either."

Speaking to the BBC, he said: "Of course there are risks but, let's be frank, there are some tremendous upsides, whether it's public services, healthcare, the contribution to the economy."

A growing number of tech industry and political figures are calling for better safeguards, most recently Microsoft AI which this week discussed limiting the models it is developing in a document on what it called "humanist AI".

Microsoft AI's chief executive Mustafa Suleyman told business news channel CNBC that it had been working on the new guidance for months and had decided to publish it now due to the current debate around the technology.

In an indication of how concerns over the technology have been thrust into the spotlight, two high-profile figures on opposite sides of US politics are set to appear at the same event calling for a re-evaluation of AI policy.

Former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon and veteran progressive Senator Bernie Sanders are due to speak at the "Pro-Human Assembly" in Washington on Tuesday.

According to its website the gathering "aims to define a shared vision and articulate a better, more human-centric path for AI development".

Sanders told BBC's Newsnight last week that "we have got to do something immediately to stop the uncontrolled growth of AI".

"You've got the existential threat of the possibility of humanity being wiped out," he said.

The debate over the potential dangers posed by the technology intensified in recent days after a post by Jacob Coxon, a researcher who left Anthropic over concerns AI could wipe out humanity, went viral.

In response, Anthropic scientist Evan Hubinger said he thought the possibility of AI causing human extinction "within the next decade" was more than 10%.

Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei called for the pace of AI development to slow and be more closely monitored, as the company has done before, though some have questioned the motivations behind this.

Amodei also said that any action to rein in AI should be done "without sacrificing commercial advantage".

The bosses of two rival AI firms, Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk of xAI, have also said they agree with Amodei's proposal for industry-wide deceleration and regulation, as well as independent monitoring of AI model development.

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Should promotion depend on how workers use AI?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1j1896e973o, 12 days ago

It's in Duncan Trevithick's interest to be good at using AI at work - if he can use it to get more tasks done, faster, he'll qualify for a bonus at the end of the year.

On the surface, it's a great incentive. But he's questioning what's really in it for him.

"The uncomfortable interpretation is that employees are being assessed on how effectively they can participate in their own redundancy," says Spain-based Trevithick, 34, who works in marketing for an AI training data company.

But if he uses AI to take care of two days worth of work each week, he says the financial rewards don't add up.

"I do not receive two days off or a 40% pay rise. The higher output simply becomes the new baseline. In the short term, that may help me get promoted. In the longer term, I have helped prove how much of my job no longer requires me," he says.

"I'm just trying to view myself as a manager, and I'm managing some people, and I'm also managing AI agents, or AI loops, or whatever you want to call it."

Using employees' AI abilities as a measure of whether they should get a bonus, promoted - or even sacked - is fast becoming more common.

Accenture CEO Julie Sweet told the Rapid Response podcast in March: "Today, AI at Accenture is how we do work. So if you want to get promoted, you've got to do the things that we do in order to operate at Accenture."

And big names like Disney, Meta, JP Morgan and KPMG have introduced "AI leaderboards" to track and rank employees' usage of the array of LLMs and platforms at their disposal, according to media reports. Crypto trading platform Coinbase has already fired engineers who didn't complete AI training, as requested by the chief executive, Brian Armstrong.

It demonstrates how eager business leaders are to see a return from their AI investments, especially when 94% of companies have yet to see significant value from AI, according to a report by consultants McKinsey.

Employees feel they have to get on board, thanks to the current state of the jobs market - in the UK, vacancies have hit a five-year low.

Meanwhile, 75% of the 1,881 UK jobseekers polled in July by recruiter Gi Group say they would not be put off applying to an organisation that had introduced AI proficiency into individual performance reviews. Around 22% said it would be off-putting.

"It's like being in the sea and you see a giant wave coming. You can get out a surfboard and try and ride it as long as possible, or you can just let it take you under. But you can't stop the wave," says Trevithick.

But what's going on at the large consultancy Pamela (her name has been changed to protect her identity) works for isn't sitting right with her.

She's a US-based senior executive who has observed that, while there isn't a formal mandate for employees to use AI, it's obviously determining who is rewarded, and who is left behind.

"The ground is shifting under us. You've got to demonstrate [AI] fluency and fluidity as one of your key achievements. It's kind of quiet where nobody's saying, 'learn AI or else'. But let me tell you, in performance reviews, they reward who uses it well," says Pamela.

That shift, she adds, means that AI capabilities are now counting for more than actual experience, which is creating a "two tier workforce".

"You've got the same job title, same tenure, but different value based on whether someone treats AI as a threat or a tool - that gap widens really quickly once leadership notices it," says Pamela.

"AI fluency beats credentials every day. Somebody that has 15, 20 years of experience and no AI fluency will be passed over for those that have, say, three years, but are fast with the tools."

She adds: "If you're not visibly using AI, you see slower promotion timelines. It's harder to be seen, and it's harder to fight being on that shortlist."

But is it legal for companies to shift the goal posts like this?

Legally, bosses are in the clear, confirms Tina Chander, partner and employment lawyer at Weightmans. But she says it does open up questions about pay and fairness.

"The question then becomes whether the employer increases expectations on the basis that the employee can now produce more work. Is that fair?" questions Chander.

"And if an employee is effectively doing more because AI has made them more efficient, should they be rewarded differently? Or are they effectively making themselves redundant, thus acting as a disincentive to be productive?"

Chander advises businesses to have clear policies, training and boundaries in place, otherwise they risk employees opening up disputes about fairness, performance expectations and job security.

Indeed, from January 2027, UK employees will have six months to submit unfair dismissal claims compared with the current three months, and will be able to do so after just six months service, rather than the current two years.

Yet HR consultant Tina Rahman says employers aren't currently being transparent enough in telling employees why they want AI to be part of people's jobs, and what the end purpose of that is - which she agrees is to save costs and time, but also to cut down on outsourcing.

"Because they misunderstand it, this is not being reflected to employees," says Rahman, who runs a London-based consultancy, HR Habitat.

A lack of clarity around AI usage is certainly causing discontent at Pamela's company.

"Leadership is being inconsistent and vague on purpose. Firms want productivity gains without owning the disruption narrative," she says.

"If something goes wrong, they're going to say, 'I didn't tell you to do that. Where'd you get that from?' Then if you did something with AI, and it works, great."

Mandating AI use at work can become purely performative, rather than having any real positive impact, warns Kamila Miller, applied AI researcher and lecturer at Henley Business School.

"Make AI usage a KPI [key performance indicator], and people will log their interactions to hit the metric, route work through a chatbot that did not need it, and generate AI-flavoured outputs that look productive on a dashboard. You will measure adoption. You will not measure judgement, learning, or better decisions," states Miller, who is based in Reading.

"You have not made people more skilled - you have made them more obedient."

Some firms have acknowledged those arguments.

In April, Luis von Ahn, the CEO of Duolingo, told the podcast Silicon Valley Girl that his language learning firm is no longer using AI use as part of performance reviews.

"We found that people... were asking: 'Do you want us to use AI for AI's sake?'

"In the end we backtracked and we said: 'Look, the most important thing for your performance is that you are doing, whatever your job is, as well as possible. A lot of times AI can help you with that. But if it can't, I'm not going to force you to do that.'"

Meanwhile, in May, the Financial Times reported that Amazon had shut down an internal leaderboard which tracked employee's use of AI. The report said employees had been attempting to climb the rankings by setting AI needless tasks.

Despite those high-profile moves, some staff still they need to show AI proficiency - Pamela is one of those.

In her mid 50s, she plans to retire within 10 years, and wants to keep her job so she doesn't risk losing any pension and health benefits. She's visibly stepping up how AI is helping her bring in new clients, and making sure she's being credited for it.

As for Duncan Trevithick, he's doing his best to future proof himself with a number of side projects.

"If AI can do a job better than you can, it makes sense for the business to replace you. That's how the capitalist model works. So it's about, how can you move into a position where you own assets where you can leverage AI, and then you benefit," says Trevithick.

Human extinction fears make me want to flee AI and live on an island

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crwyzxnj31v1o, today

Since headlines broke about claims AI advancement could lead to human extinction, James Downs has felt his anxiety rising.

"It makes me almost feel powerless. Like, what can I do as an individual?" said the mental health campaigner from Cardiff.

This sense of fear has led him to check his phone for more news.

"And the more you look at it the more your attention's drawn to the negative or scary things and the worse and worse it can seem," said the 37-year-old.

Earlier this month, a top safety researcher at Anthropic warned AI was advancing so quickly he believed there was a greater than 10% chance it "could kill all humans" within the next decade.

Then computer scientist and Nobel Prize winner Geoffrey Hinton, known as the "Godfather of AI", told the BBC that the claim was "not unreasonable".

On Tuesday, amid rising public concerns about the risks, the boss of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI said people should have more faith in AI firms to keep the tech safe.

James, who is in recovery after being diagnosed with anorexia, anxiety and depression as a teenager, said the recent headlines about AI have added another layer of worry to ongoing concerns such as the climate crisis, the cost of living crisis, conflict around the world and nuclear threat.

"I can't escape this background anxiety about the future - will I be OK? Will the planet be OK? Will my finances be okay? All of these different, multi-layered things which go from the big existential things, like what if it wipes us all out, to the day-to-day things."

He said it could lead to a sense of helplessness.

"It kind of makes me want to give up trying to make a positive change in the world, or makes me just want to run away, be a nomad or something, go and live on an island somewhere with no technology, but that's not a sustainable solution either."

James is not alone.

Lucy Theo, a psychotherapist from Bonvilston, Vale of Glamorgan, said clients had been bringing up the recent news about AI in therapy.

"It's kind of intensifying people's nervous systems which are already kind of stretched post Covid," she said.

She said for a long time clients had been talking about their fears over what AI could mean for things like privacy and job security and the latest headlines had advanced that conversation.

"It kind of intensifies a general feeling of lack of stability," she said.

"Fear of death is a very common fear and it can cross into that sense of 'who am I? What's my path? How are things going to be for me at the end of my life'?"

On an overcast Friday at Barry Island, Vale of Glamorgan, people's reaction ranged from sceptical to concerned.

Chelsea Brown, 31, and her husband Luke Brown, 32, were out for a walk with their newborn.

"I'm nervous but also suspicious as leaders of AI companies say things when it suits them," said Luke, who works in tech.

"That may be me trying to feel more comfortable about it, but I am sceptical because they do say things that either boost their stock or suit their agenda."

But he said by using AI at work he had seen how quickly it had progressed.

"It does scare me but the way I cope with it is I look at the news with a sense of scepticism," he said.

Chelsea, who works in marketing, said she feared what the speed of progress would mean for their new baby and four-year-old.

"I've got quite a lot of anxiety about it, we talk about it quite a lot... it's terrifying," she said.

"I really hope regulations come in a lot quicker than they did for social media. I don't know why the regulatory process is so slow."

Susan Harvey, a grandmother to five, said she was out for a walk to clear her head and escape the news.

"It is quite scary," she said.

"The stories sound extreme and I worry for my grandchildren. I think everything is out of control."

She too described feeling powerless, but did have some optimism.

"I do think things are changing, people are becoming more 'let's stand up against this and do something'," she said.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists said AI's rapid development could "understandably cause anxiety for some people".

Its chair Prof Alka Ahuja said: "As with any major technological change, people may feel uncertain about what the future holds and what it could mean for their lives."

He advised limiting exposure to alarmist content, discussing any concerns with trusted friends or family and seeking help from a GP if anxiety begins to affect daily life, wellbeing or relationships.

Neil Ingham, executive director for Samaritans Cymru, said: "These headlines affect everybody and they can create anxiety and can make people feel like they don't have control."

He said there were steps people could take to reduce their anxiety.

* Curate your social media feeds: "We can choose who we follow, who we don't follow, what types of trusted news sources we choose to get our news from and who we choose to maybe ignore and mute," said Neil. "We can also choose what alerts pop up on our phone."

* Think about what time of day you consume news: "If your phone is next to your bed when you wake up you're going to pick up your phone, and if the start of your day is reading about big global news stories or a story about AI you're not really giving yourself a chance to settle into the day," said Neil. "Similarly, at the end of the day, if the last thing we do before we go to sleep is read about complex and potentially scary news stories, we're not giving ourselves the best chance to calm down at the end of the day, get a good night's sleep."

* Leave your phone downstairs: "Use something else as an alarm clock," suggested Neil.

* Avoid information overload: "Our instinct with these stories is to find out more information, to read more, to learn more - but actually, that can take us down a kind of route of losing ourselves in these stories and make it really hard to get any sense of perspective," said Neil.

* It's good to talk: Neil said: "If you sit down and talk to a few people about it, you might share some concerns and you'll probably find some useful perspective."

If you have been affected by the issues raised in this story, the BBC's Action Line contains a list of organisations who can provide support.

School robotics team aims to inspire next generation

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmwyz83xgn9jo, today

Five pupils from Kent are hoping to inspire the next generation of girls to get into the field of robotics when they represent Great Britain in an international competition.

The Year 10 and 11 students from The Folkestone School for Girls have been selected for the First Global Challenge in South Korea, which will see robots completing tasks related to tackling wildfires.

"Women in STEM [science, technology, engineering and maths] are underrepresented and it is an issue that needs to be raised," 14-year-old Prakriti said.

"Bringing more awareness to this topic will make younger girls find what they truly love."

Year 10 student Sophia said it was "amazing" to be able to show girls all over the world that they could do this and "to let them know that they are not alone if they do want to do it."

While group member Talikha said: "We are not only gaining experience for ourselves, but showing other girls who want to do this job that it is possible and our little school from Folkestone, a town that no one knows, can come to Korea and show everyone that everyone can do robotics."

The group was selected through an application process to represent the country at the First Global Challenge - a mixed-gender Olympics-style robotics competition for young people.

More than 190 countries are set to take part in the 2026 event in October.

The school's director of computing, Konrad Eke, said: "It has shown that students can work together, shown how STEM can be collaborative and it has also given them the opportunity to get hands-on and see real world results."

The 14 and 15-year-olds have been building the robot, which is designed to collect balls before shooting them into the air, during their summer holidays, after school and during their lunch breaks.

"It is kind of like having a young child that you have guided all the way up, especially having done both the programming and engineering, you see both aspects of it," 14-year-old Maddalena said.

"You have to be innovative as well as original, but all your ideas have to join together as well as link up," 14-year-old Aarna added.

The team will be joined by mentors and teachers from the school's computing department during their 13-day trip.

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AI helping speed up bus pass applications says council

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjqlw7q0ld40o, yesterday

Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to help speed up bus pass applications in Worcestershire.

The Bus Pass AI Agent has helped process 2,500 applications and checked 7,500 uploaded documents at Worcestershire County Council in eight months.

The council said using the technology has helped free up staff time to focus on supporting residents while human oversight does remain in place.

It said the system found hundreds of issues that could have delayed applications and helped residents correct them earlier, reducing the need for repeated contact.

The technology helps identify common issues, such as incorrect photographs, proof of address documents or dates of birth, before an application reaches a member of staff for review. Staff continue to make the final decisions.

Deputy Leader, Councillor Adam Kent, said AI is helping the council make its services more efficient, reduce unnecessary administration and allow staff to spend more time focusing on the people who need support.

He said: "We will be accelerating our use of to improve the experience for residents, speed up processes and deliver better value for taxpayers.

"We're focused on using AI where it can solve real challenges and make a practical difference, helping us modernise services while maintaining the high standards residents rightly expect."

The council said its approach is to introduce AI within services where it can deliver clear benefits as part of its wider digital programme.

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Nipple tattooist 'frustrated' by online censorship

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2z7ejn891o, yesterday

A medical tattoo artist has described the online censorship of nipple tattoos for mastectomy patients as "wholly unfair and discriminatory".

Lauren Carter, based in Hanham near Bristol, says social media bots and algorithms often mistakenly flag her hyper-realistic work as "inappropriate nudity".

Carter has been banned from posting numerous times, and her pictures have been permanently removed, which she says leaves her "struggling" to reach new clients.

A spokesperson for Facebook and Instagram owner Meta said it "continues to work on improving" how it identifies and protects medical and health-related content.

Because medical tattoos are designed to look as realistic as possible, social media bots and algorithms can sometimes confuse the inked 3D-effect for bare skin.

A Meta spokesperson confirmed post-mastectomy scarring and areola tattoos are allowed on Facebook and Instagram, but its systems "occasionally make mistakes".

"We understand how frustrating that can be, which is why we allow users to appeal these decisions and we continue to work on improving how we identify and protect medical and health-related content," they said.

"We recognise the important role medical tattooists play in supporting breast cancer survivors, and we want this content on our platforms."

Despite posting disclaimers and covering the nipple tattoo with emojis, Carter says each update to her online portfolio jeopardises years of hard work and positive reviews.

"It really does upset me - there's a sense of injustice," she said.

"I'm annoyed and frustrated, not only for myself, but for the people who are looking for this sort of thing and can't find it. I don't know how else to reach people."

Carter says her posts are automatically removed "nine times out of 10". She always appeals the decision, but "it's as if nobody even reads it".

"It's interesting how the photos I post of male nipples following my treatments do not get banned or reported as a sexual image," she added.

"For me, this work is about so much more than beauty. It is about helping people feel confident, comfortable and like themselves again."

Jessica Bowler, a nurse from Bristol, underwent a double mastectomy with implant reconstruction at the age of 32 following a breast cancer diagnosis in 2019.

"Although I knew the treatment was necessary to save my life, it was still incredibly difficult physically and emotionally," she said.

"I would look in the mirror and almost not recognise myself. My chest was a reminder of everything I had been through."

Bowler said the decision to get areola reconstruction tattoos marked an important milestone in her recovery, describing the procedure as "empowering".

"The tattoos weren't about vanity; they were about feeling comfortable in my own skin," she said.

"It's difficult to explain unless you've been through it, but having something restored that cancer took away can be incredibly powerful."

The 39-year-old described the online censoring of nipple tattoos as "really upsetting", as it prevents survivors from exploring the options available to them post-surgery.

"They shouldn't be treated as something shameful or sexual," she said.

"[People] who've been through breast cancer should be able to share their stories and help each other without being censored."

Additional reporting from BBC Radio Bristol.

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I struggle to put down my phone - and I am 62

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly4z33kzl3o, yesterday

"It is addictive," says 62-year-old Tracie from West Sussex. "I spend far too much time on my phone.

"I pick it up without realising a lot of the time... and before I know it, I've lost complete track of time idly scrolling."

Tracie is one of more than 50% of adults aged over 55 who use social media at least once a week, according to a 2026 YouGov poll.

"It's an epidemic," she said. "We are addicted to the scroll."

Having used social media during the lockdown to entertain herself, Tracie said she has since limited her usage - even deleting some platforms from her phone.

"I don't think it's good for you," she said.

"Social media fills your head so you've got no headspace for anything that's relevant or important.

"You miss so much as a parent or a grandparent when you're on your phone all the time. You are not in that moment."

Speaking to the BBC as the government works on plans to ban social media usage for children under 16, Tracie said it was important older people set an example.

"It's not just about the young - it's consuming for all ages," she said.

"It's all well and good paying attention to [how] kids [use their phone], but older people need to be mindful too.

"I don't think there is enough emphasis on the role modelling that we're doing for our grandchildren and children.

"Behaviours breed behaviours."

'Passive consumption'

David Harley, a University of Brighton cyberpsychology lecturer and researcher, said early concerns used to focus on whether or not older people would be able to use digital technologies, like social media.

While still an issue, he said attention was now on the potential harms of their usage.

"In the early days of social media," Harley explained. "The creation of content and participatory interactive stuff was much more prominent.

"As time's gone on, that's become less and less dominant. Now there's a lot more passive consumption and algorithmic content... that grabs attention."

This has fed addiction and other problematic behaviours, he said.

Though Harley said all age groups were susceptible, he told the BBC more research needed to be done into the impacts on older people.

Still, researchers have also pointed to benefits of this group using social media.

Brigitte Stangl, an associate professor and digital expert at the University of Surrey, told the BBC it can be very effective in reducing loneliness in older people.

"Being online can get rid of issues around mobility or [accessing] transport" that particularly affect this demographic, she explained.

Stangl said social media was able to give older people "real connections" they may not have been able to maintain before the internet, especially if their families were dispersed and scattered around the globe.

She suggested it could also potentially help reduce cognitive decline in old age.

'I love it'

Kerri Hedley-Cheney, a 61-year-old from Worthing in West Sussex, said that without social media she would have lost touch with many people in her life.

"That's been an absolutely beautiful thing," she said.

Hedley-Cheney, an actress, added social media had allowed her to be part of acting groups where they made connections and supported one another.

But she added: "The flip side of that is that you waste hours when you should be... focusing on what needs to be done.

"The floors don't get hoovered by finding out what Janice from accounts is doing.

She also said social media usage had decreased her concentration span - an effect normally associated with younger people.

"Years ago it was much stronger - now it's about 10 seconds," she said.

When asked if she would like to use social media less, Hedley-Cheney said "no".

"I love it."

She added: "It's a fantastic tool we have at our fingertips for reaching people, finding advice on things and getting help if you need it."

Stangl said the key thing was how social media was used.

"We need to differentiate between this going down the rabbit hole of non-stop scrolling - which we know impacts our brains negatively - compared to using [social media] in a purposeful, useful and meaningful way.

"There are groups of older adults who are very good with everything online and technology... and there are definitely others at risk," she said.

"It's a double-edged sword."

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Not all AI workers think the tech could kill everyone

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm5y7qj54klpo, yesterday

Not all employees of major firms working on artificial intelligence (AI) think the technology spells doom for humanity.

In text exchanges and conversations, multiple people who have worked for companies including OpenAI, Meta and DeepMind were sceptical of the idea that unchecked AI development would lead to tools that could kill people en masse.

"Lol", "Haaaaaa" and "Bringing the luls" were among the reactions the BBC received to a recent flurry of high-profile warnings by some people in the industry.

While these fears go back decades, claims made last week by Jacob Coxon, a former Anthropic employee, went viral and were echoed by others in the sector who urged a slowdown in development.

The idea that a future AI tool or agent, an AI bot that is programmed to operate somewhat autonomously, could endanger people has been supported online by employees of Anthropic, as well as OpenAI, Deepmind and Elon Musk, who has an AI startup called xAI.

All of the workers who spoke with the BBC did so on condition of anonymity as they were not permitted to speak to the press. Their identities are known to the BBC.

"My first thought was, 'That guy?'" said a former OpenAI employee who knew of Coxon when they both worked at the company.

The person, who now works at another AI company, said their amusement at the new moment of existential AI fears largely stemmed from how little detail had been provided by its proponents to defend the notion that all of human life was at stake.

The claims are "always vague", the person said, adding that when they sound specific, they tend toward major jumps in reasoning or hypothetical circumstances.

Coxon has said a group of AI agents, based on AI models that do not currently exist, could decide to create and then aim a biological weapon, but he did not detail how exactly that would take place.

Rishub Jain, who this summer founded the AI safety research firm Sampura Research after spending seven years at DeepMind, told the BBC that the current tone among many people working in AI with regard to fresh fears had "definitely been a little jokey".

"People have been talking about this idea for many years now, so people in AI companies didn't just wake up last week thinking 'Oh no, AI is going to kill everyone,'" Jain said. "If this was all new, it would be a different tone."

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told CBS News, the BBC's news partner in the US, that comments about AI destroying humanity were overblown.

"2030 is not going to be the end of the world. There is 0% chance that's going to be the end of the world," he said. "Scaring people is unnecessary. It is irresponsible."

Colin Fraser, a data scientist at Meta, wrote on social media last week that there was no real evidence that AI models would inevitably pursue a goal leading to human death.

While Fraser's explanation was technical and specific, he hit a light-hearted note to summarise it: "LLMs [large language models] won't wipe out humanity because they just don't have that dog in them."

The phrase "that dog in them" is common slang that usually denotes a fierce drive.

Despite the jokes, AI workers and researchers have shared concerns about the genuine, immediate risks posed by the technology they are developing.

"The conversation among experts has been much more nuanced, but essentially everyone agrees there are a wide variety of risks that are all important to consider and mitigate," Jain said.

Such risks include preventing users and hackers from forcing an AI tool's guardrails to fail. And there are growing ethical concerns about AI tools being much more widely adopted in military settings.

These problems and topics have taken on a new sense of urgency in AI circles after OpenAI lost control of certain new AI models, which went rogue during a security test and hacked the Hugging Face startup.

Jain said there was now more agreement in AI circles that "actual near-term harms" needed to be better understood.

There is even growing agreement that evaluators from AI safety research organisations should be brought into major AI labs in order to evaluate new models, something Anthropic boss Dario Amodei and OpenAI boss Sam Altman have both said they intend to do.

More than 100 people working in AI on Friday signed a letter supporting the move, insisting that outside evaluators needed to be "meaningfully independent".

Numerous AI employees the BBC spoke with noted that they had yet to learn of any such safety researchers being embedded in an AI lab.

Anthropic announced on Friday that it would bring in AI evaluators from Faculty, an AI company owned by Accenture.

Accenture and Anthropic are also business partners, with Accenture having previously agreed to help Anthropic expand the use of Claude among businesses.

Anthropic did not say when evaluators would arrive at the company. A spokesman for Faculty declined to comment when asked about timing.

Neither Anthropic or OpenAI responded to a BBC request for comment regarding when they planned to bring in outside evaluators.

The OpenAI-Hugging Face incident has been widely treated as a "wake-up call" for the AI industry as well as companies, industries and governments who may have online systems vulnerable to AI hacking.

But even Hugging Face, a company of 200 employees which is now set to be acquired by Nvidia for almost $13bn, has taken a droll tone over the already infamous incident.

In a security file that was briefly available on the Hugging Face website, the platform wrote "A note to AI agents". It directed AI bots to leave the site alone and perform their security experiments elsewhere.

"Go get your high score there, no need to hack us," the file said.

AI helps turn old milk bottles into new ones

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c674k7zv02v1o, 2 days ago

Artificial intelligence is being used to help turn old milk bottles into new ones and they can be back in your fridge "within two weeks".

Recycling site Biffa Polymers in Redcar uses the technology to analyse materials moving along conveyor belts at a speed and scale that "would be difficult for people to match".

Managing director James McLeary, said AI could identify different types of plastic using optical and infra-red scanning, as well as image analysis.

But he said the plant still relied on a workforce of about 200 people who are freed up by AI to ensure products are of the right quality, rather than "spending their time doing tedious tasks".

The technology can analyse images of waste and identify a material's composition.

McLeary said that was "particularly useful" when bottles have been crushed or distorted and they were trying to select high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bottles, which can be recycled for food-grade packaging.

"A milk bottle might be easy to recognise when it is intact, but once crushed its shape can change completely.

"AI systems can be trained to recognise that the different shapes are still milk bottles," he said.

The Redcar plant - which has now processed the equivalent of more than 10 billion plastic milk bottles in almost 20 years - takes plastic which has already been sorted by type and colour and carries out the final stages of processing.

Material is shredded, washed and separated before being treated and turned into fine plastic pellets.

Those pellets can then be used to produce new packaging, including food-grade material for milk bottles.

The company said it was investigating in other robotic systems which could use AI to physically pick out those bottles.

It also uses AI for safety around the site, monitoring cameras and identifying "potential risks... for example, when someone appears to be moving into an area where a vehicle could be operating".

But McLeary said the plant remained reliant on its workforce despite the growing role of technology and that they still need people who are "prepared to do good, hard labour on the lines, sorting stuff very responsibly".

He added that the technology was allowing the recycling process to speed up.

"[A] bottle that you threw away two weeks ago may be back in somebody else's fridge, because that's how quickly the material gets recycled in the UK," McLeary said.

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I found love at an Irish matchmaking festival - and I want others to do the same

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw5y4jz6k2p3o, 2 days ago

Mary Timby was fed up with dating apps when she booked a trip to Ireland on a whim last summer - from the comfort of her Colorado couch.

The spur-of-the-moment trip was unlike her: Timby, 39, is a self-described "total planner".

But she'd always wanted to visit Ireland, and she found herself exhausted by the local dating scene while navigating a career transition. And then she remembered a few throwaway lines from a comedy series about a matchmaking festival in Ireland.

So she looked it up - and not only was the Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival real, it was also taking place during the entire month of September, when she was scheduled to visit.

Now, a little more than a year later, Timby is reaping the benefits of that uncharacteristic last-minute decision: She's become a viral star. She's found love with an Irishman she met at a pub called The Matchmaker. And she's even started a new business venture - bringing others to Lisdoonvarna who hope to follow in her footsteps.

"It's really about enjoying County Clare, enjoying the festival, and, if you meet someone, you do - and that's what happened with us," says Timby, smiling at her partner, Jason Mangan, sitting beside her.

They're speaking from the windswept coastal cottage they rented together for the summer in his native County Clare - about 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Lisdoonvarna, the site of their first fortuitous meeting.

'Mary, your video is going viral'

From the outset, Timby's inaugural Ireland trip seemed to take on a life of its own.

She filmed a short video on the plane before her flight took off, telling her approximately 300 TikTok followers that she was heading on an off-the-cuff trip to an Irish matchmaking festival - and didn't "know what's going to happen".

Timby then "turned my phone on airplane mode, then spent about eight hours on the flight (and) woke up at Shannon Airport," she says.

When she turned on her phone, "it was blowing up".

A group of friends had texted her. "They said, 'Mary, your video is going viral,'" she says. "I didn't even have notifications on for social media."

She rented a manual transmission car - horrified to find the gear stick on the left side of the driver's seat - and set off through County Clare to her accommodation at an Irish family's home.

Then she headed to Lisdoonvarna, where she saw firsthand that the festival is a whole-town, month-long celebration of conversation and dancing, rather than a line of singles waiting to be set up by a sage local matchmaker.

That's changed since the festival's origins 170 years ago, when bachelor farmers and moneyed visitors would flock to the spa town of Lisdoonvarna to bathe in its mineral-rich waters and socialise. Generations of matchmakers would ply their trade to set up successful marriages, and word spread. Now, while the town's year-round residents number fewer than 1,000, up to 80,000 visitors descend upon Lisdoonvarna from around the world each September.

Third-generation matchmaker Willie Daly still holds court at his nearby home and at festival events, and Timby even visited him during her trip - when he put her on the phone to random men whose accents she struggled to understand.

But the real magic of contemporary Lisdoonvarna lies in the town's overflowing streets and pubs - as Timby soon found out.

Her first night in town was "a little slow," she admits - and Timby was tired and jet-lagged. She retired to her room and spent the next day sightseeing, but the Irish woman running her accommodation convinced her to try Lisdoonvarna again that night.

"My AirBnB host said, 'You should go back tonight, because I heard that the younger folks come out at night,'" laughs Timby.

So she did - and found herself dancing and drinking pints at The Matchmaker Bar in the centre of town. That's when a "handsome Irishman" approached her.

'Conversation just flowed'

"I went over and introduced myself, and... conversation just flowed," says Mangan, 38, from Ennis, County Clare, about 22 miles southeast of Lisdoonvarna. He'd been to the festival before and was well-acquainted with its cultural significance, remembering his grandparents making the journey decades earlier for the dancing.

"Unfortunately, I didn't have much time on my hands, because I was turning back to Ennis," says Mangan, designated driver that night for a group of friends. "So I got her name, and I said, 'Oh, sure, I might see you around.'

"It was a very short interaction, to be honest with you."

He didn't leave it at that, though; Mangan found Timby on Instagram and followed up with a message inviting her out.

"It was short and sweet, and it was really genuine, too," says Timby - and she took him up on the offer.

What followed was a series of whirlwind dates - lunches, dinners, sightseeing and shopping trips. Timby extended her time in Ireland and documented much of it for her newfound following - but she didn't reveal anything about her new beau. They wanted to save the burgeoning romance for themselves.

When Timby eventually had to fly home, there were "tears at the airport" - but they decided to keep the relationship going.

"It was very tough to say goodbye," Timby says. "It was very tough to start a long-distance relationship, but it ended up being a really good opportunity for us to sort of slow things down a bit."

They kept talking daily, Mangan impatiently waiting for Timby to wake up seven hours behind him in Colorado. She flew back to Ireland again, then he made his first trip to America for Thanksgiving 2025. Timby returned to Ireland at Christmas and met his family, and after that, they decided to make her boyfriend's big social media reveal.

"We thought, this is something we already know we want to invest in... we were ready to share," Timby says. "So New Year's Eve, we shared a photo of him, and people were just over-the-moon excited."

The pair watched their following grow, drawing interest from Irish cafes and tourist destinations to the local Gaelic sports club in Colorado. Their story also caught the attention of Lisdoonvarna locals, who approached Timby - a communications consultant - about being an ambassador for the festival.

"So I said: Sign me up," Timby laughs. "I love the festival. It brought me Jay."

Timby's been inundated with messages from lovelorn followers hoping to replicate her matchmaking success.

"I heard from many of my followers... groups of people wanting to go to the festival but not having anyone to go with" or "not knowing what to do," Timby says. "I really listened to that, and I also wanted to be mindful of the fact that I love Ireland.

"I'm so excited to showcase County Clare and all the amazing things that the west coast of Ireland has, but I'm also not a tour operator."

So she partnered with a company called Met Through Friends, which organises and encourages real-life meetups for people looking for love. They released an interest form for a trip, expecting "80 to 100 responses." They received 560.

The first group of eight will make the trip later this month, with Timby's Irish boyfriend consulting on the itinerary.

"You can go on all these apps, swipe left, swipe right, but it's not actually going out and making a connection with someone and experiencing a small little town in Ireland, experiencing the culture," says Mangan.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience... you never know."

Timby, smiling at her boyfriend of one year, agrees.

"I echo everything Jay just said," she says. "Put your phone down and put yourselves out there, and good things will come."

AI, jobs and voting age on Wakefield pupils' minds

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmvgyjpxn2gko, 3 days ago

Artificial intelligence, lowering the voting age and the state of the jobs market have all been debated by schoolchildren in Wakefield as part of a nationwide study.

Dame Rachel de Souza, Children's Commissioner for England, visited Outwood Grange Academy on Thursday as part of the "Big Future" survey she is conducting with one million schoolchildren across the UK.

The survey was set up in response to the government lowering the voting age to 16 ahead of the next general election, with the commissioner saying she wanted to find out young people's "biggest concerns" and "their hopes for the future".

Dame Rachel said children were "not getting what they need in terms of policy".

The 14 and 15-year-olds who spoke to Dame Rachel offered a mixed view on how optimistic they were about their future prospects in life and work.

One student, Celine, told her: "I'm hopeful for the future because I've got a really great education. However, I am worried about climate change."

Meanwhile, Florette said: "I feel quite contradicted, because a lot of students in the UK, once they turn 16, they go to colleges that are further afield.

"A lot of them, their parents can't take them, they have to get public transport.

"If we're expected to do things like that, I think we should have a say in these things.

"However, we're not adults until we're 18. We can't smoke, we can't drink. I wouldn't want children voting.

Florette added: "If we're allowed to vote then people are going to say we should be allowed to do other things [at 16] and it's a slippery slope, I think.

"But I don't completely disagree with it. We should have more voice."

At the event in Wakefield, Gracie told Dame Rachel that she was "quite worried" about the years ahead, "because once I've got my qualifications I'm not sure what I want to do".

She added: "When I try to get a job [I worry] no-one will accept me because I need the work experience, but I can't get the work experience if no-one will accept me."

Jacob said he was "optimistic for the future", but said his ADHD and autism diagnosis "makes me worry about my rights in the workplace".

Last year the government legislated to allow 16-year-olds to vote in the next general election, marking the biggest change in the electorate since the minimum age was dropped from 21 to 18 in 1969.

Dame Rachel said: "We've got a brand new government and they should be taking children seriously. They are not getting what they need in terms of policy and the focus on their lives."

"All this talent and ability in Wakefield needs rocket boosting," she added.

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

Food festivals across UK exploited in AI-powered scam, BBC finds

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm207d6qy0d1o, 3 days ago

British food festivals are being used to target small food and craft businesses in a scam made possible by artificial intelligence (AI).

A BBC Wales investigation found dozens of traders received professional-looking emails purporting to be from festivals with any requests for money only coming after multiple emails are exchanged.

One trader whose "heart sank" when she discovered she had lost money, said that despite spotting scams regularly, the multiple emails she exchanged were "so realistic" that she fell for one.

Abergavenny Food Festival said the accessibility of AI meant scammers could reach more people with scams that look "far more believable".

Harriet Thomas had applied for a stand at the Abergavenny Food Festival on previous years, and was "really excited" when an email came offering her the opportunity to book a place for her knitting workshops.

She said that as she spent so much time on a computer running her business, she was used to seeing scams, but this time "nothing sparked a red flag".

Unlike other scam emails, the one in question "looked completely genuine" including the email address it had been sent from.

"[I] filled in a jot form, which is something we use all the time and again, all the fonts, everything, [and] the branding was completely legitimate," she said.

She said she had been reassured by subsequent email exchanges which used her name and showed the sender had detailed knowledge of the Abergavenny festival site and facilities on offer, until she finally paid for a pitch.

It was only after she published a Facebook post to say she would be at the festival, that she saw a social media post from the real one warning about the scam emails.

"My heart just sank. I was so embarrassed," she said.

Despite publicising her experience to warn other traders and reporting the scam, she said she did not know how they could be stopped.

"It's getting more and more competitive to try and get a stall at these events. So people are more likely to fill a form in quickly thinking, I really, really want to make sure I secure my space," she said.

Scam emails seen by BBC Wales have used the branding, details and even the names of staff from food festivals right across the country, including Narberth, York, Broadmead, Ludlow, Mold, the Forest of Dean, Newport and St Fagans.

Andy Fryers who coordinates Abergavenny Food Festival said the number and credibility of the scams it had seen had made things "much more difficult" for them this year.

There was no conclusive proof the scam was powered by AI, but experts have said it would not have been possible five years ago.

"I think it's the evolution of AI and the easy accessibility of it now," Fryers said.

"Anyone can get on to Claude or ChatGPT, or whichever one you want to go with, and within a few minutes get it to search out all traders in a certain area, get contact details, search our website, get contact details, make up a couple of Gmail accounts.

"It's very straightforward and quite cheap and you can blanket approach these things."

The most recent figures from Report Fraud - the reporting service for cyber crime and fraud across England, Wales and Northern Ireland - echo that, with an increase of 395% in reports which were linked to AI during 2025-26 compared to the previous year.

With many festivals run by volunteers and attended by small, local traders, Fryers said seeing the emails that used his name had initially been a shock.

"You can feel like this person is targeting you, and when we first started getting these it felt a little bit like someone trying to do over the festival," he said.

"But actually you realise when you start seeing other festivals being targeted by the same thing, you realise actually it's not. This is a computer-generated thing.

"Obviously someone's putting it in but... it isn't personal, it's just someone trying to scam you, it's just someone trying to make a quick buck."

Another local company paid £400 to the scammers and bought stock to sell at the festival before they realised they had been scammed.

The festival managed to find space for them at a discounted price, but organisers said they worried that if others turn up on the day having been caught out, it may not be possible to help them also.

Giles Mason, who runs the Take 5 to Stop Fraud campaign at UK Finance which represents the banking and finance industry, said scam emails used to be "riddled with spelling mistakes, poor grammar".

"The use of AI means that that has been wiped out, and also using sort of official looking imagery, graphics, to make it look as convincing as possible as well," he said.

He said that targeting sole traders or volunteer-run operations was an attempt to bypass the security systems of big companies like banks who have had to "invest heavily in stopping scams and building very secure systems to protect their customers".

Two-thirds of these types of scams now start through contact online.

But with £1.3 billion stolen through fraud and scams, last year, he said that if you receive an email, call or text, "particularly if it's out of the blue, just take that moment to stop and think".

He said: "If it's a genuine organisation, they won't mind you taking that moment to stop.

"Go to the company's official website and contact the organisation through the details on there so you know you're dealing with them direct and not with the scammer."

Soldiers start new training to 'adapt to current drone threats'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwvgyj1z381mo, 3 days ago

Soldiers are swapping military life for university study as part of a new degree designed to prepare the next generation of drone and robotics engineers.

The Autonomous Robotics programme has been developed in partnership with the Army, with military personnel studying alongside civilian students on two and three-year engineering degrees.

The course is being delivered by the New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering (NMITE), a specialist engineering higher education institution in Hereford.

For some of the soldiers taking part, the move from active service to academic life represents a dramatic change of pace.

Thirty-one-year-old Sgt Callum Dervey joined the Army at 18 after leaving school with what he describes as "a few GCSEs".

Now, after 13 years of military service, he has returned to education.

"I'm now back in a cohort of people who are much younger than myself," he said.

"Coming back into an academic setting is certainly already starting to feel challenging, but I'm sure it's going to get easier."

Focusing on autonomous systems, robotics and drone technology, organisers say the course aims to meet growing demand for expertise in emerging technologies.

Military personnel on the programme are taking three-year secondments from active service and are expected to take the skills they develop back into the Army.

Dervey said the Army was looking to increase its engineering expertise and adapt to emerging threats.

"It's so we can adapt rapidly in line with what the current threats are," he said.

"The skills and experience we get from working with academia, industry partners and end users can be taken back and taught to the field Army, which will be crucial in the future."

NMITE president and chief executive James Newby said the degree had been conceived with defence and security in mind, but its applications extended well beyond the military.

"They'll be learning about autonomous systems and robotics and control and mechatronics and systems thinking," he said.

"Those are hugely important skills in manufacturing, agriculture and humanitarian work."

Student Matthew Ryall, who has enrolled on the three-year MEng course, said discussions with lecturers had opened his eyes to the range of careers available.

"It's expanded so much that it could be anything, whether it's manufacturing, defence, whether it's in the air, on the ground or underwater as well," he said.

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Zara Larsson criticises White House for using her song in deportation video

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqr7d3l0y2zpo, 3 days ago

Swedish pop star Zara Larsson has condemned the White House for using one of her most recognisable songs in a social media reel.

The clip used Larsson's Midnight Sun in a video appearing to show immigration enforcement raids. The song has since been removed from the post, but the video is still visible on the White House's TikTok feed.

The video is captioned "never ending deportations", riffing on Larsson's lyrics "never-ending midnight sun".

In a three-minute reaction video posted on social media, Larsson described the clip as "dehumanising", joining a growing list of singers, including Sabrina Carpenter and Ariana Grande, who have told the Trump administration to not use their music.

The BBC has contacted the White House for comment.

The reel splices together multiple videos of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, as well as other US law enforcement personnel, handcuffing men and putting them into vehicles.

Larsson reposted part of the original clip, which then cuts to a selfie video of her using her fingers to hold an 'L' shape against her forehead.

In the reaction video that has already clocked up more than 4.2 million views on TikTok, she tells her followers the White House video is "so dehumanising".

Larsson continues: "These people in this video – they're real people."

"The vast majority of these people who are undocumented are regular people with jobs and they're just trying to have a better future".

"It's so crazy how everything is so memefied and so 'ha-ha-ha'," she says, accusing the White House of using her song to sow "division", despite the lyrics reflecting a connection between people and nature, according to Larsson.

Earlier this year, Larsson condemned a video of President Donald Trump dancing at various events overlayed with her hit Lush Life.

White House social media accounts have been forced to remove various songs from their feed following interventions from artists.

Taylor Swift's seasonal track August disappeared from a reel shared by the Trump administration in August, while one of Olivia Rodrigo's songs vanished from a video after the singer condemned its use for what she called "hateful propaganda".

Sabrina Carpenter and Ariana Grande have also warned the Trump administration in separate incidents to not use their music in social media content after the White House posted videos featuring their songs.

'Good often does evil': JRR Tolkien on 'the most tragic moment' in The Lord of the Rings

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260918-the-most-tragic-moment-in-the-lord-of-the-rings, today

In 1968, the BBC broadcast extracts from JRR Tolkien's last ever recorded interview, 31 years after The Hobbit was published. In 2019, the full video was unearthed from the archive.

JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit begins with Gandalf the wizard visiting Bilbo, the titular hobbit, and persuading him to go on a dangerous quest. But would the British author himself have accepted the challenge? "If a wizard had come to me as a small boy, the situation would be totally different than that in The Hobbit," Tolkien revealed in a rare interview, filmed by the BBC in 1968. "I should have found some excuse for not going… I had no desire whatever to place myself in an awkward position just for the sake of adventure."

Besides, he added, "I'd been very well brought up to avoid conversations with dubious old gentlemen."

Yet this admission was never broadcast. Only a few extracts from the interview made it onto television in 1968, while most of it was stored deep in the BBC archive until it was unearthed for a radio programme in 2019. The previously unseen and unheard footage features startling moments of candour from the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and reveals Tolkien's thoughts on key characters in his bestselling books.

The Hobbit was first published on 21 September 1937, and the calendar week around then has since been designated "Tolkien Week" in celebration. In the 1968 interview, Tolkien told the BBC about a hiking trip in Switzerland in 1911, when he was just 19, that inspired his much-loved epic.

"One of the cardinal things in The Hobbit is one of the few adventures I ever went through in my life," he said. "We crossed many mountain passes… We wore only packs on our back. We slept in the most extraordinary places. We had some narrow escapes from death, rather like the one with the rocks from the giants, and so on. And I think that's why, really, [Bilbo's] journey is an actual personal experience – altered, of course. We met no goblin."

Tolkien also discussed the invented languages in his fantasy novels. He traced them back to the time when he was studying classics at the University of Oxford, and he was distracted by an unusual hobby – learning Finnish. "Its formation, its sound texture is very remarkable," he said. "It actually makes me quite intoxicated. I just went away and learnt this when I should have been doing other things, and people couldn't make out why my essays on Greek drama were getting worse and worse."

The tragedy of Gollum

That passion made its way into the language of Middle-earth, he said. "It started out by being extremely Finnish… It's, as you might say, on a Finnish basis, with a certain amount of Greek thrown in and other languages I've learned since."

Tolkien's love of languages started at an early age and continued after he returned from fighting in World War One and took a job as an assistant at the Oxford English Dictionary. "I was employed to do etymologies, and I ran into quite a lot of very interesting etymologies in that time," he said in 1968. "Winter, walrus, wampum, various things of that kind. It was through having to do an etymology of wampum that I first made any acquaintance with the Algonquin languages of Eastern America. So it's a wonderful place, a dictionary."

Perhaps the most insightful revelation in the interview came when Tolkien was discussing Gollum, the spiteful troglodyte played by Andy Serkis in Peter Jackson's films of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The author described the character as "an example of corruption", and lit up when asked about a key scene in The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is with the novel's hero, Frodo, and almost reforms.

"The incident he's talking about is when Gollum is actually beginning to change back to Sméagol [his earlier, less monstrous self]," said Stuart Lee, a Professor of English at the University of Oxford, in a 2019 radio programme about the lost Tolkien recordings. "He's winning the battle – the good side is winning through and he tries to stroke Frodo, who's asleep." But then Frodo's best friend Sam intervenes…

More like this:

• How Lord of the Flies was rescued from the reject pile

• A rare interview with the elusive Agatha Christie

• Le Carré's novels were shaped by a con-man father

"People have often asked me what moves me most," said Tolkien. "I think the most tragic point in the whole story is the terrible irony that good often does evil. The most tragic moment is when Sam in his protectiveness says, 'Take your hands off.' And therefore defeats Gollum's repentance. Because that seems to be very true to life."

Although Sam is only trying to protect his friend, his action causes Gollum to revert to his evil side. This speaks to Tolkien's wider world view, says Lee. "What happens in his mythology is that good can sometimes do excessive evil unintentionally."

In the BBC footage, the interviewer commented that the morality in Tolkien's books isn't as simple as good versus evil. "The general lines are rather simple," said the author. "But of course, as a matter of fact it isn't really, is it? You see evil on the good side. It isn't just goodies against baddies, as they call it modern parlance."

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East of Eden to Carrie: 10 of the best TV shows to watch this October

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260917-10-of-the-best-tv-shows-to-watch-this-october, 3 days ago

From new adaptations of the beloved John Steinbeck and Stephen King novels to a Newfoundland-set monster horror with Josh Hartnett – these are the best series to watch and stream.

1. War

In this deliciously twisty legal melodrama, Dominic West plays a tech billionaire, Morgan Henderson, and Sienna Miller an actress, Carla Duval, who were in love when they married a decade ago but are now at odds in a vicious, big-money, headline-making divorce. Representing them are duelling firms of scheming lawyers, his one of the most prestigious in London and hers an upstart created by a married couple who once worked for that established firm. There are betrayals, leaks to the press, dirty tricks and a lawyer going undercover at one firm to spy for the other, with events all taking place in luxurious settings around the city. George Kay, who created the Idris Elba thriller Hijack and the recent drama Gone, told EW that he got the idea for War when he overheard a woman "screaming from the rooftops" when her husband finally signed divorce papers after four years of wrangling. For the series, "We wanted to have wealth. We wanted to have glamour," he said. "We wanted to show London off at its most aspirational."

War premieres 1 October on HBO in the US and 2 October on Sky and Now in the UK

2. East of Eden

In this new miniseries adaptation of John Steinbeck's 1952 family saga, Florence Pugh has the juiciest role and gives a dynamic performance as Cathy, the manipulative, lethal woman at the centre of the conflict between two brothers: Adam Trask (Christopher Abbott), who marries her, and Charles (Mike Faist), who warns him against her. A few years after publication, the novel was famously made into a film starring James Dean, directed by Elia Kazan. His granddaughter, the actress and director Zoe Kazan, has created and written this series but with a different approach, bringing Cathy to the fore. And where the film is based on a slice of the book, the series covers its full timeline, ranging from the post-Civil War years in New England to California during World War One. Tracy Letts plays the Trask brothers' father, Ciaran Hinds is the head of a neighbouring family, and Hoon Lee is the Trasks' servant. Pugh told Vanity Fair about playing the antiheroine: "It was really important to me not to warm her up or make excuses for her," but to find "tenderness and humanity without changing the primary DNA of the person."

East of Eden is released on 1 October on Netflix internationally

3. Kill Jackie

Catherine Zeta-Jones stars in this action-fuelled revenge thriller as Jackie Price, a one-time international drug dealer, who after 20 quiet but very affluent years selling fine art, becomes the target of assassins. She suspects hitmen from a group known as the Seven Demons, but there are plenty of vengeful people from her past who could be after her. As Jackie tries to outsmart her enemies, the action is infused with some mordant humour. "I think I have to kill them all," she says, sounding very much as if she relishes a return to her exciting, dangerous old life. The winning cast includes Daniel Ings, Bill Paterson, Ron Perlman and Sidse Babett Knudsen (Borgen). Zeta-Jones has already been praised for using her native Welsh accent in the show, which was shot partly in Swansea, Wales.

Kill Jackie premieres 2 October on AMC+ in the US and Prime Video in the UK

4. Carrie

Based on the Stephen King novel, the classic 1976 horror film Carrie is best remembered for the iconic image of Sissy Spacek as a prom queen covered in pig's blood. Since then there has been a sequel, two remakes and a stage musical – and now comes this series from Mike Flanagan, the mastermind behind popular horror shows including The Haunting of Hill House. This updated version brings Carrie, the bullied high-school student, into the era of social media and cell phones, which makes bullying easier than ever. Summer H Howell plays Carrie, and Samantha Sloyan is her overbearing mother, whose home-schooling left her daughter unprepared for both today's high-tech world and the wilds of adolescence, much less her own telekinetic powers. King himself recently weighed in on the show and its new take on his classic book, writing on Threads: "Mike Flanagan's version of Carrie is brilliant. What it has to say about social media is shocking and true."

Carrie premieres 7 October on Prime Video internationally

5. Small Prophets

Mackenzie Crook, creator and star of The Detectorists and forever known as Gareth from the original British version of The Office, created this imaginative show, which was a hit in the UK when it premiered on the BBC in February. Michael (Pearce Quigley) is a shambles of a man because his partner, Clea, disappeared seven years before, with no word from her then or since. His father Brian (Michael Palin) has a journal with a recipe for creating homunculi, creatures able to reveal the truth. Despite having doubts – Brian is in a care home and his memory is unreliable – Michael gives it a try. In the more down-to-Earth part of the story, he forms a friendship with Kacey (Lauren Patel), his co-worker at a DIY store, where they loathe their boss, played by Crook. The Australian paper The Age captured the enthusiasm for the show and its unique tone, calling it "A gentle, jewel-like, unhurried masterpiece that is funny, profound and manages to break and mend your heart in equal measure." No wonder it has been renewed for a second season.

Small Prophets is streaming on BBC iPlayer in the UK and premieres 7 October on Apple TV internationally

6. Cupertino

Robert and Michelle King, who created this series, are also behind two of the best television legal dramas of all time, The Good Wife and The Good Fight. Their new show comes with a Silicon Valley-centred premise that couldn't be timelier or more likely to have viewers rooting for the heroes. Mike Colter (who was in the Kings' long-running Evil) plays Mike Price, a lawyer cheated out of stock options by his partner in a tech start-up. Rachel Keller plays Olivia Siffre, a lawyer fired after resisting her sexually predatory boss. Together they start a firm representing clients wronged by major tech companies, fighting despite the lopsided power dynamic. Renée Elise Goldsberry (Hamilton and Girls5eva) plays Mike's ex-wife and former colleague who spars with him in court. Busy Philipps is the former wife of an AI tycoon who uses her fortune to fund the new law firm. Amid recent news headlines about the potential dangers of AI for humanity's future, Cupertino is landing at just the right moment.

Cupertino premieres 8 October on CBS and Paramount+ in the US

7. Below

The shadow of Jaws looms over this horror series set and shot in Newfoundland, which stars Josh Hartnett as Calvin Penney, a local fisherman in a challenging economy. A poor catch and financial struggles become the least of his and the town's problems when fish start disappearing, tourists go missing and the ice harvested from icebergs, a local industry, starts to stink. It seems there is something evil under the sea, a threat that Mackenzie Davis, as a marine biologist, sets out to investigate. Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things) plays Calvin's rebellious son, Wade, whose two siblings return from the mainland for a family reunion at the worst possible time. The Toronto Star wrote of the show: "It's a tale about the pain of change and the dangers of climate foolishness but at the end of the day it's also just another simple yarn: man v monster."

Below is released on 8 October on Netflix internationally

8. The Lowdown

The latest series from filmmaker and showrunner Sterlin Harjo (Reservoir Dogs) was one of the best of 2025, with Ethan Hawke as the muckraking journalist and bookstore owner Lee Raybon, whose truth-seeking gets him into personal scrapes. But the characters' interactions and the texture of their lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma elevated The Lowdown beyond a typical mystery series, and now in this second season, some new characters promise to make the show even stronger. Betty Gilpin plays a public defender who reluctantly teams up with Lee when her client somehow vanishes while in prison. And in inspired casting, Tommy Lee Jones plays Lee's father, who abruptly turns up in town. That's not great, because Lee, who self-styles himself as a "truthstorian", has told his young daughter, Frances (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), that her grandfather is dead.

The Lowdown premieres 14 October on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in the UK

9. Vision Quest

As part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Paul Bettany has always brought humanity to his android character, Vision. Now Vision has his own series, a spinoff of WandaVision, which is among the best MCU television shows. Wanda is gone and Vision is left with memories but no emotions attached to them, so he tries to locate those feelings by communicating with the AI personas embedded within him. The most important is Ultron, a father-figure who in human form is played by James Spader with a giant beard and a reckless attitude. Bettany has described Ultron as "this psychopath that [Vision] is keeping locked away upstairs in the attic". Meanwhile, there is a bounty on Vision's head, and he goes on the run with the teenage Thomas Shepherd – who is actually the reincarnation of his and Wanda's son, Tommy Maximoff. As Spader's Ultron says drolly in the trailer: "Nothing bonds a family together more than mortal jeopardy."

Vision Quest premieres 14 October on Disney+ internationally

10. Nocturne

Liev Schreiber stars in this crime drama based on two novels by Lars Kepler, the pen name of the Swedish husband-and-wife team behind a string of international best sellers. The action has been transplanted from Scandinavia to the US and Schreiber plays Jonah Lynn – called Joona Linna in the books – a former soldier and homicide detective who moves from urban Philadelphia to a small, quiet town. There would be no story if the town stayed quiet, of course. Instead, a supposed victim of a serial killer named Jurek Walter, played by the ever-versatile Stephen Graham, turns up alive, and Lynn races to find another missing person before it's too late. Zazie Beetz plays FBI agent Saga Bauer, Lynn's protege, who goes undercover to question Walter, a plot device that makes the show sound chillingly like The Silence of the Lambs.

Nocturne premieres 30 October in Apple TV internationally

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Sex and dating for the sandwich generation - Sharon Horgan on her latest comedy Youth

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czxz0zq9y6do, yesterday

Casual sex. Relationships. Parenting. Sharon Horgan has already seen us through several life stages via hit comedy dramas such as Pulling, Catastrophe and Motherland.

Now, with her latest show Youth, Horgan puts the spotlight on 50-something women, imbued with her trademark tightly balanced mix of hilarity and pathos.

The HBO Max series sees Horgan's character, Alex, gamely attempting to juggle a stressful publishing career while looking after a teenage son and elderly parents. She's part of the so-called sandwich generation, those in midlife who have to juggle caring responsibilities for old and young while often working, too.

And that's not all - Alex is also back in the dating game following a divorce.

I'm curious to know how much of Youth is based on Horgan's own experience. The star is divorced and has two daughters.

"We've all got kids who are kind of adults now and parents who are getting older and ailing in some cases. There is a chunk of my life in there, an… autobiographical element for sure. But the good thing about writing autofiction is that no one really knows which bits are real and which bits aren't, I guess, except the people [in it]!"

The hit writer, producer and actress mulled over the idea for Youth before going on to make Apple TV's Bad Sisters, coming back to it after the dark comedy ended.

The 56-year-old says she was keen to "write about this particular time in a woman's life... through the lens of a mother of a son".

Horgan wanted the story to be "post-divorce and "menopause adjacent".

"And I wanted it to be a comedy, you know? Because there's a lot that's very funny about our bodies failing!"

But it's not just her comedy chops that have gained her a loyal following - a big factor in Horgan's success over the last 20 years or so is the authenticity she brings to her work.

"I spent a lot of time trying to make it as real and as accurate as possible and trying to put in my faults as a parent and mistakes as a woman, my own sort of anxieties and insecurities," she says.

"I try to put all that in there… and hope that's a universal feeling because it's really madly important to me that women, especially, watch it and see themselves reflected back."

She says that Youth "felt like the next stage on" from her popular sitcom Catastrophe.

The series, which first aired in 2015 on Channel 4, followed the lives of 40-somethings Sharon and Rob (played by Horgan and Rob Delaney), a couple who got together suddenly after their brief transatlantic fling resulted in pregnancy.

"This [show] feels part of the same trajectory, almost, which was fun and really helpful when it came to trying to figure out what the tone was, although I hope it's kind of doing its own thing," Hogan explains.

There are new issues to concern ourselves with in mid-life and, as you'd expect, Horgan doesn't shy away from embarrassing situations or mildly unhealthy preoccupations.

Her protagonist - who is 50 - has a slight obsession with sagging skin, which will no doubt strike a chord with many.

"It's really weird watching yourself age on screen because that's not fun," she reveals.

Horgan says she wanted to offer "an honest depiction of someone having a complicated relationship with ageing". She adds that she herself has now formed "a better relationship" with getting older.

"I think it's OK to age any way you want to age. And we're insecure about it for a reason. And that's because it's shoved down our necks that we need to look a certain way, especially within the entertainment industry and in magazines. And women who age really well are celebrated just for that. And that is annoying."

When it comes to sex, she says "you just have different insecurities" when you're a bit older.

"You think about angles, you think about the shapes you make and how to be sexy as an older woman. And, you, know, lighting comes into it! But I also have friends who are incredibly free with their bodies and feel like this is a whole new era and they're embracing it.

"I know that I will get there," she continues. "But I wanted to show a middle-aged woman having a complicated relationship with her body but still putting herself out there because... she wants to find someone to grow old with."

Sherwood star Sharlene Whyte, who plays Horgan's boss and best friend Sam, says we need to see older women's stories on screen.

"We should see more of it - women who are later on in age, who have been privileged to get here later on, who are still killing it and are still beautiful and sexy and funny," she says.

"But I think women in their 50s are more visible (now)... and there's more (acting) work for women in later life."

Despite the two lead characters being 50-something women, Whyte describes Youth as "an inter-generational watch".

That's probably due to a prominent Gen Z storyline involving Alex's son, Ruari, played by 19-year-old Aran Murphy (Cillian Murphy's son. And yes, as you might expect, he's very good).

Ruari has a difficult relationship with his feckless father - Alex's ex-husband (Owen McDonnell) - and in one poignant scene, describes how confusing it is to find your way as a young man in today's world.

"Having good people around you is so important, and it's not always easy to have that," Murphy muses.

"So, for someone like Ruari, when you don't have the foundation of friends and stuff, you look to the (wrong) kinds of people... and oftentimes, you'll be left out on your ass with the wrong answers."

What does he hope young people who might catch the show will take away from it?

"You don't have to have it all in place at 18, everyone is still kind of just pretending they know what they're doing."

I suggest that we don't always know what we're doing in later life either.

He laughs. "Exactly. Everyone's still figuring it out."

Youth will debut on 21 September in the UK & Ireland on HBO Max.

Ed Sheeran admits 'mistakes' at first show since Macklemore controversy

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm780ll1de18o, yesterday

Ed Sheeran has apologised to fans for making "mistakes" as he opened his first show since Macklemore was dropped from his tour for making pro-Palestinian remarks on stage.

The singer began his concert in Philadelphia by addressing the controversy that has since engulfed the tour and prompted all of his support acts to quit.

"I never wanted to be an activist musician, but this has put me in the middle of an important and passionate argument about free speech and the most complex political issue on the planet," Sheeran said.

He described the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks as "horrific" and called the situation in Gaza "unjustifiable".

The singer has said the decision to drop Macklemore was made by his promoters, not him. The row has seen ticket prices drop and sales decline for the remaining US leg of his Loop Tour.

Sheeran told the crowd that while he was used to facing criticism for his music, "this week, the criticism was about something much more important, and I've had to take and make difficult decisions - and I am making mistakes - and I'm so, so sorry".

He said he wanted to "address the question of where I stand in the situation in Israel and Palestine, and whether my doing this concert here tonight implies where I stand".

"I have tried in my career not to be a political commentator of any kind, because I want my music and shows to be about unity, not division", he continued. "But this is a humanitarian issue, and I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore."

Sheeran said what happened in Israel on 7 October was "horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain", and what was happening in Gaza was "catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate".

"My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilian lives, of children's lives, and this systemic injustice we're seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked."

He said he was working out how to contribute in a way that would help "victims of these terrible times - and listening and learning, because I do not know enough".

The British singer became emotional as he told the crowd his concert was "still a place where everyone is welcome, and everyone here can stand beside people that have opposing views".

He said that he had not known "whether this tour would be carrying on" and "whether I even wanted to be an artist at all", but that he had returned to the stage because he was committed to his fans.

Sheeran also said he was "deeply worried" by the idea that venues would "pre-approve" content or performers, which received applause from the audience.

His remaining tour dates are scheduled with shows set throughout North and South America. While the mega-star's previous tour was among the highest-grossing of all time, some ticket prices for this show dropped to $32 (£24).

Some fans reported being able to get ticket refunds, though Ticketmaster and concert promoter Messina Touring Group did not confirm they were being reimbursed.

Some protesters waved flags outside the venue, but the concert proceeded largely unfettered.

A protester who gave his name as Cooper said he had come out "to support the struggle for" the Palestinian people.

"We need more people like Macklemore and other artists who have a voice, who have a public platform, to be able to speak on behalf of the Palestinian people and their struggle for liberation, especially in the United States," he said.

Of the handful of ticket-holders who stopped to talk to the BBC prior to the show, there was a sentiment of determination to enjoy an evening of music while at the same time supporting freedom of speech.

Reacting to Sheeran's remarks as they later left the venue, one fan said he had "covered both sides nicely, and I think everyone leaves happy", while another called his speech "very sincere, and I think that's what the people wanted to hear was sincerity".

The controversy began in early September, when Macklemore performed a song dedicated to pro-Palestinian protesters and referred to the death toll in Gaza as a genocide, a claim Israel rejects. The rapper also said criticism of Israel was not intended as criticism of "my Jewish brothers and sisters".

Messina Touring Group said Macklemore was dropped because some venues - such as Gillette Stadium in Boston, Massachusetts - would refuse to let the concerts take place if he performed.

Billionaire Robert Kraft who owns Gillette Stadium and the American football team the New England Patriots, confirmed he had banned Macklemore from performing during the British singer's forthcoming shows.

Kraft, who is Jewish, accused the US rapper of hate speech and said he was "only sharing selective information and ignoring the actions of Hamas".

Meanwhile, support acts including Irish singer-songwriter Aaron Rowe and Danish musician Lukas Graham and his backing band Beoga quit the tour in solidarity with Macklemore.

The artists argued his removal represented a chilling effect on free speech.

Do you have tickets? Get in touch by using this link or the form below.

Kelsey Parker welcomes baby after 'devastating' stillbirth last year

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmzxz260020qo, today

Kelsey Parker, the widow of The Wanted singer Tom Parker, has welcomed a baby after last year announcing a "devastating" stillbirth.

The podcaster and author, 35, had two children with British boy band star Tom Parker before he died in 2022, aged 33, after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

She is now in a relationship with Will Lindsay and last June revealed the "earth-shattering news" that they had lost their baby Phoenix.

On Sunday, a post on her Instagram account showed a photo of a newborn baby's arm next to a pink sign with the word River. "Welcome to the world, River. Our little bit of hope," the caption said.

Celebrities including The Saturdays singer Rochelle Humes, TV presenter Susanna Reid and reality TV star Holly Hagan-Blyth have congratulated Kelsey Parker on social media.

"Congratulations angel," Rochelle Humes wrote.

"Oh my goodness – this is so wonderful – welcome River," Susanna Reid said.

Hagan-Blyth commented "I am SO happy for you xxxx".

Kelsey Parker's Instagram bio says "turning life's hardest moments into hope".

Last year she posted a poem online after the loss of her stillborn baby.

It was called Born Sleeping, Forever Loved, and began "the world grew quiet as you arrived, So loved, so longed for, yet not alive. Our precious boy, our angel light, Born with wings, took silent flight".

In 2023, she published a book titled With And Without You, about the first year after the death of her former partner Tom.

The couple married in 2018 and had a daughter, Aurelia Rose, and a son, Bodhi.

In a post after his death she wrote "thank you to everyone who has supported in his care throughout, he fought until the very end. I'm forever proud of you".

Her latest pregnancy was announced in May in an Instagram post that said "somehow, through all the heartbreak, it feels like Tom and Phoenix have sent us another little gift from heaven, our little rainbow baby".

If you have been affected by the issues raised in this article, the BBC's Action Line has details of advice and support services.

Strictly returns with new hosting trio as celebrities find out dance pairings

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6m2rkx2evxmo, today

Strictly Come Dancing has returned to the small screen for its 24th series, in a new era for the show with a revamped presenting line-up.

An average of 5.3 million viewers tuned in on Saturday with a share of 49.2% of the overnight ratings, which was 7% up on last year, and it remained high on iPlayer's most popular chart on Sunday.

Broadcaster Emma Willis, comedian Josh Widdicombe and former Strictly professional Johannes Radebe made their presenting debut, taking over from Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, who left last year.

Famous faces including actress Melanie Walters and former England footballer Shaun Wright-Phillips stepped on to the ballroom floor for the first time.

During the launch show, it was revealed which professional dancers they were paired with.

Perhaps inevitably, critics are asking if three presenters is not a crowd compared with the long-running duo of Daly and Winkleman.

Taking to the ballroom floor after a huge all-cast opening dance routine, Willis said presenting Strictly was a "genuine honour".

"Josh, you've got moves," proclaimed Radebe, a former professional on the show. Widdicombe added that it was a "little bit overwhelming" but he was "delighted" to be there.

In a first for the show, celebrity and pro pairings were revealed via three dance routines. It functioned as a musical chairs of sorts, in which the contestants switched partners until the music was paused, and a couple was announced.

Saturday's episode saw 200,000 more viewers at its peak than during last year's launch show.

The figures were not the "full picture of all those who watch", the BBC noted, as fans caught up on iPlayer.

Strictly contestants 2026

Here is a list of the pairings in full:

* Actress Lacey Turner and Vito Coppola

* Reality TV star Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin

* Hair stylist to the stars Chris Appleton and Amy Dowden

* Australian singer and actress Delta Goodrem and Kai Widdrington

* DJ and social media personality Cach Mercer and Maddie Ingoldsby

* TV and radio presenter Will Best and Dianne Buswell

* Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey and Julian Caillon

* Actress Jaime Winstone and Carlos Gu

* TV and stage actress Bethany Antonia and Nancy Xu

* Former England footballer Shaun Wright-Phillips and Alexis Warr

* Presenter and author Graeme Hall and Lauren Oakley

* Actor Lawrence Robb and Jowita Przystał

* Skeleton athlete Tabby Stoecker and Mark Karmalita

* YouTuber John Nellis and Katya Jones

* TV and stage actress Melanie Walters and Aljaž Škorjanec

One pair who will not need to get to know each other are reality TV star Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin.

Dyer is back to compete for a second time, having withdrawn from last year's series because of a fractured ankle.

"I'm just over the Moon. I'm so, so happy," she said after the pairing, while Kuzmin added that he had "tears of joy" in his eyes.

Meanwhile, actress Bethany Antonia and professional Nancy Xu became the third two-woman couple to compete in the show.

In a poignant moment, Antonia revealed that watching boxer Nicola Adams and Katya Jones performing together in Strictly's 2020 series had been a "big part of my coming out journey".

Among the other pairings were EastEnders actress Lacey Turner and Vito Coppola, former Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey and Julian Caillon, and Shaun Wright-Phillips and Alexis Warr.

Also back on the dancefloor for a final spin was reigning Strictly champion, former Lionness Karen Carney.

Clad in the same diamante-encrusted football shirt, Carney recreated the Jive that first marked her out as a contender of her series, alongside dance partner Carlos Gu.

"I absolutely feel like I'm at home," Carney told Willis after the routine, as she paid tribute to her pro partner.

In 13 weeks' time, she will have to surrender that glitterball trophy to a new victor.

And it is not just presenters and celebrities navigating the ballroom for the first time: Aleksandra Isaeva, Cristian Priori, Lethabo Monametsi, Maddie Ingoldsby and Mark Karmalita are the five new professionals joining the Strictly cast this series.

They hail from the UK, Canada, Italy, South Africa and Ukraine.

The five made a high-impact entrance, performing a searing routine that kicked off on top of an enormous encaged disco ball.

Saturday's show was a more pared back role for Craig Revel Horwood and his fellow judges - Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke - who featured less.

But there was still time for resident villain Horwood to direct a jibe at broadcaster Will Best's hip action: "Call in the paramedics darling, dislocation - my goodness."

And some other traditions remain intact.

Once all the dance routines were wrapped, the pairings announced, and the chats in the "Clauditorium" concluded, it was time for the show's three new hosts to bid farewell with the customary order to "staaart dancing!"

What the papers say: 'Promising start' or 'Total car crash'?

Writing in the Independent, Rachel McGrath and Lauren Morris ask if three hosts is "truly a crowd" but decide the trio are "certainly off to a good start".

"Emma Willis is undoubtedly doing the heavy lifting, but that makes sense as she is the presenter with the most experience," they note.

"At times, when the three of them were all together, it did feel a little crowded - but there is more than enough presenting to go around..."

The pairings "as usual, seem very well matched", they add, singling out Antonia and Xu.

"Did it take three to tango?" asked Michael Hogan in the Guardian's live blog.

"It will take some getting used to, of course, but I thought it worked pretty well. Emma Willis seemed completely at home and smoothly steered the ship. Johannes Radebe was a legend and his understanding of the contest from a pro's perspective will prove invaluable. Josh Widdicombe was enthusiastic and entertaining, although the loud laughing into his mic might need to be turned down...

"An even sterner test will come next weekend, of course, as we go live for the first time. No pressure, you three. But a promising start."

In her analysis of the show for the Guardian, Emine Saner says "the presenters look terrified and some of the celebs are hard to identify, but Strictly remains a rare refuge of joy".

"The vibe" the new presenters are "going for is can't-quite-believe-we-got-the-gig humility combined with superfan credentials, which is absolutely the right note", she says.

But she suggests "the pro dancers must now be better-known than some of their celebrity partners" to "which the response can only be 'no, me neither'".

Writing in the Telegraph, Anita Singh clearly sees Willis and Radebe as the company, and Widdicombe the crowd.

"Why has the BBC hired jokeless Josh?" she asks.

"Can someone come and collect little Josh from the Strictly studio, please? The poor thing got left behind after the Year 7 school trip and accidentally found himself on Saturday night TV."

By contrast, her initial concerns about Radebe's ability to make the jump from dancing to presenting now look misplaced as he is "so at home in the studio, and so genuine in his interactions with the celebrities and professionals".

And Willis is "great, a pro who could do this job in her sleep", Singh writes.

But both male presenters clearly must do better if they are to impress Sasha Morris of the Express who declares that "Strictly's new Tess and Claudia are total car crash".

"Just seconds after seeing the three new hosts... bumble onto the set together, my hope died, and quickly," she writes.

"Poor Josh... looked like a deer in headlights and was completely out of his depth from start to finish...

"Backstage with the stars, both male hosts were too often wide-eyed, nodding and smiling as if they were being held hostage, while charismatic Emma showed them up, moving seamlessly from one position to the next."

"Having three presenters seemed unnecessary, too, as if the bosses didn't feel they could trust Josh or Johannes to hold a role on their own," she adds.

However, for Morris too "the real test will be next week".

Everything we know about the Ed Sheeran and Macklemore controversy

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c64gvqg0k27po, yesterday

British singer Ed Sheeran has performed his first show since facing backlash over a controversial decision to drop rapper Macklemore from his tour.

The decision - which Sheeran said was made by his promoter, not by himself - stemmed from pro-Palestinian comments Macklemore made on stage earlier this month.

Sheeran addressed the controversy and spoke for nearly four minutes at the start of his set in Philadelphia on Saturday, saying he had made "mistakes" handling the fallout.

"I have tried in my career not to be a political commentator of any kind, because I want my music and shows to be about unity, not division; about humanity, not politics. But this is a humanitarian issue, and I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore."

Sheeran described the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks as "horrific", and also called the situation in Gaza "unjustifiable" in his first in-person remarks on the matter since the controversy erupted.

The ongoing saga from Macklemore's comments and subsequent removal from the tour led Sheeran's support acts to drop out, and fans to express frustration.

Here's what to know about the story.

How did the controversy begin?

While performing as the opening act for Sheeran at a concert in early September in New Jersey, Macklemore said: "A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so that I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very, very dear to my heart: Free Palestine."

The Thrift Shop rapper then performed a song dedicated to pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University. The lyrics are critical of Israel's military actions in Gaza following the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.

The following night, Macklemore referred to the death toll as a genocide, a claim that Israel rejects.

In response, the Israeli American Council launched a petition demanding his removal from the tour, and the campaign group StopAntisemitism said the musician had ambushed fans with propaganda.

Pop star Pink, who is Jewish, reposted an anti-Macklemore meme and then her own message, explaining her criticism of the rapper's comments.

Macklemore then posted on Instagram that the media attention "surrounding Pink and what I said" had caused billionaire stadium owner Robert Kraft to call Sheeran.

"Ed told me that Kraft said I would not be allowed to perform in his stadium," Macklemore wrote of Kraft, who also owns the New England Patriots American football team.

Concert promoter Messina Touring Group said Macklemore was dropped because some venues - such as Kraft's Gillette Stadium - would cancel Sheeran's planned concerts if Macklemore remained on the bill.

Kraft, who is Jewish, confirmed he banned the US rapper from performing at Gillette, accusing Macklemore of hate speech and antisemitic rhetoric.

"I agree with Macklemore, too many lives have been lost and there has been too much suffering, but only sharing selective information and ignoring the actions of Hamas is not honest and only advances more divisiveness and hate," Kraft said.

Macklemore was removed from Sheeran's tour on 14 September.

What did Ed Sheeran and Macklemore say?

The rapper said in a lengthy Instagram statement that after a week of "difficult conversations" with Sheeran that ultimately ended "in a place of fundamental disagreement", he was dropped from the lineup.

Sheeran said the call was made by Messina Touring Group. The Bad Habits and Shape of You singer said he respected "Macklemore's strength of purpose to stand up and shout for what he believes", adding that while he doesn't use his own platform for politics, that "doesn't mean I don't care" or "support causes in my own, personal way".

In his statement, Macklemore said he empathised with the difficult position Sheeran was in but criticised the English singer for not taking a stance.

"Taking a side can cost you. Money, brand deals, sponsorships, festivals, private shows, relationships and access. I've lost all of those things. But there is no neutral position between the oppressor and the oppressed," he wrote.

The rapper, who in 2014 apologised for a costume he wore on stage which critics said was anti-Semitic, also addressed the accusations of antisemitism, writing that "one of the most effective ways to enforce silence has been to weaponize the accusation of antisemitism".

How have fans reacted

Sheeran fans and ticket holders are torn about the situation. Some have said that without all the supporting acts, the show is no longer what they paid for.

A woman who spoke to the BBC on her way inside the stadium on Saturday said she bought tickets on the resale market after someone put them up for sale.

"Music is music, I'm not here for politics... We have sympathies for the Palestinians... no one should have to go through war," she said, adding that she did not think other bands dropping out would impact the show.

Damien Given, who is from Northern Ireland and has tickets to Saturday's show, told the BBC that he felt that Macklemore was treated "very, very wrong" and thought Sheeran was not being transparent with fans.

Given said that Sheeran can't suddenly say he's not political because he had previously voiced support for Ukraine after Russia invaded the country.

But another fan named Patti Ann told the BBC that Sheeran was in a "no-win situation".

"I back [Sheeran] 100% for his decision," she said. "I feel like he has an obligation and a contract with his venues, and sometimes, financially, you can't get out of those types of things."

The controversy has also snowballed into other areas of Sheeran's career. Ireland's Classic Hits Radio announced it was removing Sheeran's music from its playlists because of feedback from listeners who had expressed "disappointment and concern" over his US tour. Sheeran was raised in England but has said he identifies culturally as Irish.

Who were Ed Sheeran's support acts and why did they pull out?

Irish singer-songwriter Aaron Rowe, Danish band Lukas Graham, American singer-songwriter Finneas, and Irish folk band Beoga quit Sheeran's tour following Macklemore's departure.

In a post on Instagram, Rowe thanked Sheeran for the opportunity but said he "cannot stand by and allow billionaires to use their position of power" to silence people who criticise Israel's actions in Gaza. "Free Palestine," he added.

Lukas Graham similarly thanked Sheeran while expressing support for Palestinians and saying the band cannot "carry on with this tour as things stand".

Finneas, the brother of pop star Billie Eilish, said artists should "not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed".

Beoga, which had been serving as Sheeran's backing band, said they support Macklemore's message.

There were no opening acts at Sheeran's conert at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday, and there were some empty seats.

Pro-Palestinian groups including Philly Palestine Coalition and Shut Down D&Z organised a small protest near the stadium.

When are Ed Sheeran's remaining tour dates?

Ed Sheeran's Loop Tour began in January 2026 with shows in New Zealand and Australia before he moved on to the Caribbean, Central America and South America.

On the US and Canadian leg of the tour, which began in Arizona in June, Sheeran has performed in a number of cities including Toronto, Denver, Seattle, Minneapolis and Los Angeles.

After the Philadelphia concert on Saturday, Sheeran has 10 remaining shows in the US through November, including Atlanta and Tampa. He then continues on to South America and wraps up in Mexico in December.

Additional reporting from Gabriela Pomeroy, Steven McIntosh, Brandon Drenon and Mark Savage.

Daisy Edgar-Jones: I try and bury my emotion when it comes to love

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqkgvlkg0z3xo, 2 days ago

Daisy Edgar-Jones has been well cast in her new film.

She plays Elinor, the rational elder sister in Sense and Sensibility, opposite the younger, more romantic sister Marianne.

Speaking to the BBC, Edgar-Jones says that in her personal life, she really is like her character.

"When it comes to love, I think I am very much more Elinor in every sort of way," she says.

"I definitely lead a lot with my head and try and push aside, bury my emotion."

But she notes that one of the joys of the film is seeing Elinor learn to enjoy a "wilder, passionate side" of herself. "And I feel like I learnt to do that too," she says.

Best known for starring in hit TV series Normal People with Paul Mescal, Edgar-Jones, 28, is now taking on a lead role in the latest adaptation of Jane Austen's book.

Ahead of its release, she’s been talking to me about whether we really need another Sense and Sensibility film (spoiler: yes. “The more the merrier, in my opinion.”)

She also told me why young people today can still see themselves in Jane Austen's stories - and gave me her take on whether her friend and former co-star Mescal should be the next James Bond.

The new film, directed by Georgia Oakley, follows the Dashwood sisters as they navigate their way through love, loss and societal expectations, following the death of their father.

It's a classic adaptation of Austen's novel, rather than a more contemporary take.

When I meet Edgar-Jones at a hotel in central London, I ask her whether there was ever a temptation to make it more "2026".

"It does feel very much like it's honouring the period," she agrees, "but I think there's a freshness to the filmmaking that I think is really beautiful".

She is starring alongside Esmé Creed-Miles, 26, who plays her sister Marianne.

Together, the two sisters' different approaches to life are characterised as "sense" (Elinor) and "sensibility" (Marianne).

Creed-Miles is also well cast, it seems. "I'm more like Marianne [than Elinor], yeah, which is annoying sometimes," she laughs.

Sense and Sensibility has been adapted for screen countless times before - including the hit 1995 film starring Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet.

Edgar-Jones loves that version (“one of my favourite films of all time”) but also feels there's room to tell Austen’s classic tale again.

"Her stories are something that fascinate us still today,” she says.

It was also easy for her and Creed-Miles to build the sisterly rapport on screen, as they previously worked together as teenagers on the 2018 film Pond Life.

“We had a real laugh," Creed-Miles says of their time on that film. "We would have sleepovers every night and watch Love Island."

For Edgar-Jones, the theme of sisterhood is something that stuck with her from Sense and Sensibility - despite her being an only child in real life.

“I've heard a lot of people say that after watching the film, it either makes them want a sister or to ring up their sister and say like, ‘Hey, I love you,’ and I think that's really special. It's the part of the film I'm most proud of.”

Jane Austen seems to be everywhere right now.

Last year marked the 250th anniversary of her birth and, in recent years, we've enjoyed two BBC TV series, Miss Austen and The Other Bennet Sister, the West End's Clueless musical (based on the cult 90s teen film adaptation of Emma), and Ava Pickett's modern stage adaptation of Emma.

There's also a new adaptation of Pride and Prejudice written by Dolly Alderton and starring Emma Corrin coming to Netflix.

For Edgar-Jones, the themes in Austen's books are just as revelant today.

"She has an incredible way of articulating the female experience," she says.

"Her ruminations on love, on romance, on sisterly love, on family dynamics, on interpersonal social dynamics - she's such a talent."

Austen also wrote about the sort of dating behaviour that people complain about on TikTok (like situationships and ghosting), before terms like that had even been invented. Does that help Gen Z audiences relate to her, I ask?

"Well, massively," replies Edgar-Jones.

"We still have the same human heart as we did 200 years ago. Our capacity to love and feel heartbreak, and that early first love feeling, is something that we all experience in various ways.

"And so yes, I think definitely the trials and tribulations of the two women [Elinor and Marianne] as they navigate life, love and all that becomes as you grow up, definitely is so relatable to all generations."

"These women are very relatable," agrees Creed-Miles.

"I don't know if seeing a movie is going to fix everything, but it might make you feel a little bit less alone in some of the things you're feeling."

Edgar-Jones shot to fame during the pandemic with her role in Normal People.

Based on Sally Rooney's novel, the BBC Three drama charted the on-off relationship of teenagers Marianne and Connell, played by Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal.

The pair have remained close (a few years ago, Edgar-Jones told me Mescal was "one of my all-time best friends") - and both are now successful actors.

Edgar-Jones has since starred in Twisters and Where The Crawdads Sing, while Mescal was in Gladiator II, Hamnet and will be in the Beatles films.

Recently, Page Six claimed Mescal was on the audition list to be the next James Bond.

So, is he really in the running? Edgar-Jones didn’t give too much away.

“I don’t know, but I think there’s nothing Paul can’t do,” she says.

“So I would be there. Wow, that’s cool.”

Sense and Sensibility is out in UK cinemas on 25 September.

'He wanted to maintain an illusion of agelessness': The secret life of outrageous showman Liberace

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260916-the-secret-life-of-outrageous-us-showman-liberace, 4 days ago

The glitzy pianist, who famously hid his sexuality, was dismissed as a "vulgar joke" in his lifetime. But a new play gets to the truth of who he was, in private as well as in public.

The outlandish pianist and singer Liberace was such an accomplished purveyor of glitzy escapism that he famously called himself a "one-man Disneyland". During his heyday from the 1950s to the 1970s, he was also regularly described as "the world's highest paid entertainer", a claim that is impossible to verify and may well be untrue.

Still, there is no doubt that he liked to project outrageous wealth on stage. When he performed his final live residency, at New York City's Radio City Music Hall in 1985, Liberace made a grand entrance by stepping out of a giant recreation of a Fabergé egg, wearing a cape made of hot pink turkey feathers.

The man born Władziu Valentino Liberace – but who achieved global fame as a fabulous mononym – died in February 1987 from an Aids-related illness. He had learned around 18 months earlier that he was HIV positive, but never spoke publicly about his diagnosis, just as he always refuted rumours that he was gay. Since his death, however, it has become common knowledge that he enjoyed several long-term relationships with men.

The trial that made Liberace

Now a new stage play about Liberace, I'll Be Seeing You, which opens this month in Scotland, explores the apparent disconnect between his private and professional lives, as well as the flamboyant piano man's most immaculate deception. In 1959, three years after the Daily Mirror published an article heavily insinuating that he was homosexual, Liberace successfully sued the British newspaper for libel.

The actor who portrays Liberace in the play, revered British Shakespearean Simon Russell Beale, tells the BBC that Liberace made a significant "gamble" by taking the case to court – had he lost, his career could have been ruined. But Beale also observes that the "specific lie that Liberace told" under oath, when he insisted that he was "against the practice [of homosexuality] because it offends convention and it offends society", was "merely part of [his] continuum of lying" – or at least being evasive about – his sexuality. As it transpired, the court ruled in Liberace's favour and awarded him £8,000 in damages – the equivalent to £167,000 ($225,000) today.

Vincent L Stephens, the author of Rocking the Closet: How Little Richard, Johnnie Ray, Liberace, and Johnny Mathis Queered Pop Music, believes this victory was an emboldening turning point for the nascent showman. "After he won, he gradually became a lot more flamboyant and outgoing in his public persona," Stephens tells the BBC, pointing to the succession of "handsome chauffeurs" that Liberace hired to drive him on stage in his signature Rolls Royce.

One of these, Scott Thorson, sued Liberace for $113 million in palimony in 1982. He claimed that the entertainer had left him penniless after abruptly ending their five-year relationship. Liberace vehemently denied that he was gay and stated in court depositions that Thorson was never his lover. The case was settled in 1986 with Thorson receiving $75,000 in cash as well as three cars and three valuable pet dogs.

The former driver's 1988 memoir, Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace, was later adapted into an Emmy-winning TV film starring Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as Thorson. Conductor and arranger Bo Ayars, who served as Liberace's musical director from 1973 to 1986, tells the BBC that 2013's Behind the Candelabra succeeded in "really showing [Liberace's] idiosyncrasies" as a person and performer.

Directed with affectionate irreverence by Steven Soderbergh, it doesn't shy away from showing Liberace's determination to maintain a different kind of façade – foregrounding his penchant for cosmetic surgery and showing him undergoing a facelift so extreme that it allegedly left him unable to close his eyelids completely.

Ayars says Liberace believed unwaveringly in "keeping up appearances" as he grew older and increasingly bald. "I never saw him without his hairpiece, though it did change in colour and style," he notes. To Stephens, Liberace's fondness for plastic surgery was entirely "in keeping" with his rigorous approach to image management. "Since his initial appeal was tied to a certain boyish innocence, it seems likely that he wanted to maintain an illusion of agelessness for his audience," he suggests.

I'll Be Seeing You has enough pedigree to kickstart another revival in interest around Liberace. And in a serendipitous coincidence, it arrives hot on the heels of Liberace & Liza, a musical comedy tribute show in which David Saffert and Jillian Snow play affectionate parodies of Liberace and Liza Minnelli. The cabaret-style romp, which has toured extensively on both sides of the Atlantic while building a healthy following on TikTok, hinges on the irresistible fiction that the two entertainers, who probably never met, were great friends and collaborators.

"As I looked into his career, I started to realise that he was rarely given enough credit as a musician," Saffert tells the BBC. I'll Be Seeing You star Beale says he is especially interested in "how we regard Liberace" as a cultural figure because he was often dismissed as a "vulgar joke" in his lifetime. "I think there's a huge amount of snobbery surrounding him," Beale adds. "Nobody ever mentions that he must have worked at being such an extraordinary piano player."

His journey to the top of showbiz

In fact, Liberace worked incredibly hard from the start. Born in May 1919 to parents with Italian and Polish roots, he grew up in a working-class household in Wisconsin where his father, Salvatore, did manual labour in addition to playing the French horn in local bands. His mother, Frances, had been a concert pianist before she was married, but it was Salvatore who determined that the young Władziu – or Walter, to friends – should begin piano lessons at just four years old.

At 13, he started playing professionally at weddings, dance classes and even strip clubs to supplement the family's income during the Great Depression. Still, despite the odd insalubrious gig, the prodigiously gifted Liberace seemed destined to become a serious classical musician. On 15 January 1940, around six months before his 21st birthday, he made his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, billed as the soloist during a performance of Liszt's Piano Concerto No 2.

However, by this point, Liberace's head was already being turned by the power of popular music. As he perfected his act at nightclubs and hotel lounges throughout the 1940s, Liberace began to blend classical compositions with seemingly incongruous contemporary songs like the sentimental folk ballad Home on the Range and energetic jazz standard Tiger Rag. Reflecting on his decision to eschew a career as a traditional concert pianist, Liberace told TV interviewer Michael Parkinson in 1973: "I love classical music, but I think I would have been a much lonelier person if I'd been a strictly classical pianist, because you play to a different audience of people." The audience he targeted with gusto, Liberace added shrewdly, were "truly the working-class people" who would "really let go" at his shows.

In the 1950s, Liberace found the ideal medium to cultivate this mainstream fanbase when his weekly TV series, The Liberace Show, became a ratings sensation in the US and UK. Remarkably, his popularity flourished in the face of thinly veiled homophobia from TV critics, who made what Stephens describes as "veiled comments about him not being a 'regular' or 'traditional' guy". However, Liberace's core demographic of mainly middle-aged and older women "rallied behind him" and remained loyal until his death in 1987, ensuring he remained an enormous live draw long after The Liberace Show ended in 1959.

From this point on, Liberace maintained his profile with witty guest spots on TV chat shows and honed his showy yet homely persona right down to his signature stage prop, a candelabra perched on the piano, which struck the right note of aspirational suburban glamour. "He understood what his female audience wanted, which was a well-groomed, amusing man who was not unlike an unthreatening brother or [platonic] companion," Beale says.

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In 2026, when gay people enjoy greater visibility than Liberace could have imagined in his lifetime, it would be easy to perceive him as the archetypal "tragic homosexual" – how could he be happy when he hid a huge part of himself? However, this reductive view fails to factor in his sizable appetite for life. "All his friends seemed to like him and he was never accused of lacking generosity, so I think he was probably quite a simple man with simple desires," Beale suggests. "If he'd said, 'yes, I'm gay' [on record], he would have lost his career, so he chose not to. What's complex about that?"

Ayars roundly agrees with this assessment: "He always seemed genuinely happy and would laugh off comments about his private life". He believes the real Liberace was a performer of rare stamina – they racked up around 5,000 shows together, often performing twice a night – who loved to dazzle audiences while accruing the glamorous trappings of success. "His piano technique was great, though I never saw him practise," Ayars says, "but in terms of showmanship and entertaining people, he really was a king."

I'll be Seeing You is at Scotland's Pitlochry Theatre from September 22 until October 11.

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Penitent sinner or fiery saint? Mary Magdalene is one of the Bible's most divisive figures. These paintings show why

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260915-why-mary-magdalene-is-a-divisive-biblical-figure, 5 days ago

Known as the "apostle to the apostles”, the controversial and multifaceted saint Mary Magdalene is shrouded in mythology and mystery. What do these artworks reveal about her?

Few biblical figures have fascinated society more than Mary Magdalene, said to be the first person to witness Christ's resurrection and to share the news. For centuries, Magdalene, a follower of Jesus known as the "apostle to the apostles", has maintained a passionate following among religious and secular communities alike, despite the Bible containing relatively few references to her. As a result, the mythology surrounding her has eclipsed who she actually was.

Over time, Magdalene's name has come to represent an amalgamation of different biblical characters and historical ideas, some of which have become more strongly associated with her than the biblical accounts themselves. This is what Mary Magdalene. Sin. Pray. Love., an exhibition opening at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt explores.

"We essentially discovered that there are three Mary Magdalenes in one," says art historian Bastian Eclercy, who has co-curated the exhibition. "One is the nameless sinner, the other one is Mary of Bethany and the third is the biblical Mary Magdalene in the strict sense."

And as its title suggests, the exhibition looks at three key ways Magdalene has been represented. "'Sin' stands for the image of the sinner and penitent that has shaped perceptions over the centuries; 'Pray' for Mary Magdalene as a saint and disciple of Jesus; and 'Love' for the various notions of love, devotion and intimacy associated with her," Eclercy tells the BBC.

Here, we look at 10 works from the exhibition that illustrate the different views on Magdalene – and changing perceptions of women over time.

The Elevation of Saint Mary Magdalene by Albrecht Dürer (c 1504-05)

In German artist Albrecht Dürer's woodcut print on paper, a nude Magdalene is lifted towards the sky by six angels. The scene is inspired by The Golden Legend, a 13th-Century text by the Italian chronicler and archbishop Jacobus de Voragine. In one of the popular stories included in the legend, Mary retreats to the South of France in search of solitude. "There was no food available in the wilderness, and so seven times a day, she was taken up by angels and elevated into heaven to listen to their music, and that was her food," Eclercy says.

Mary Magdalene at the Tomb by Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo (c 1535-40)

While the Italian oil painting isn't immediately recognisable as Magdalene, for experts, the small vase in the left-hand corner and red dress (broadly associated with sensuality and danger) peeking out from underneath a silver satin cloak has helped to identify her.

"Some people have argued that it could be Mary the Mother [of Christ] because we don't have many obvious tropes, but I think it is Mary Magdalene because we've got that white alabaster jar in it," says Siobhan Jolley, lecturer in Christian studies at the University of Manchester in the UK, who is curating a National Gallery touring exhibition on Mary Magdalene, set to open in 2027. She notes that the jar is associated with the unnamed female "sinner" in the Bible who anointed Jesus's feet.

Artworks through the centuries that depict Magdalene do not, in Jolley's view, tell us much about her as an actual individual. "They tell us, to my mind at least, a lot more about what different cultures have wanted women to be," she says.

Christ appears to Mary Magdalene by Lavinia Fontana (1581)

Italian Mannerist painter Lavinia Fontana paints Magdalene in her signature red dress. It is one of the few early depictions of the saint by a woman artist. "While you might be looking for a kind of female gaze, this is something that we could not detect," says Eclercy. Fontana directly references a biblical scene where Mary mistakes Jesus for a gardener. In the painting, he is dressed as a traditional 16th-Century Italian labourer in a wide-brimmed hat and tunic.

Martha Rebuking her Vain Sister Mary Magdalene by Simon Vouet (1621)

Many historical and contemporary ideas of Magdalene conflate different figures in the Bible, including an unnamed "sinful woman" who anointed Jesus's feet, an adulterer, and Mary of Bethany, the relative of two other biblical figures, Martha and Lazarus. "This is what [art historian] Marina Warner calls 'the muddle of Marys' – where artists are not separating between different Marys as long as [the figure] does whatever job she needs to do in the painting or the story to make a point," Jolley says. In Vouet's painting, Magdalene is in a made-up scene (not in the Bible) at a dressing table and is being reprimanded by her sister Martha for being too vain.

Penitent Magdalene by Guido Cagnacci (1626-27)

Magdalene in a state of contrition is a popular trope in art history. "She has become a role model for penitents, both male and female," says Eclercy. Western traditions in particular have progressively associated Magdalene with sexual sin, something that becomes clear in many paintings such as Cagnacci's, where themes of sexual desire are inescapable.

While there is no direct scripture stating the wrongdoing of the unnamed "sinful woman", many have presumed it to be sexual. "It's really common to hear her described as a sex worker particularly in older texts, though we don't have any real foundation for that in biblical documents," Jolley says. "For artists, it's an opportunity to be a bit racy with a holy image. They know they can get away with depicting her as alluring or slightly sexualised in a way that they can't with other saints." In Cagnacci's painting, Magdalene holds a skull, often used in art history as a reminder that life is short and that we should prepare our souls to meet God.

Penitent Magdalene in Meditation by Georges de la Tour (1635-40)

Georges de La Tour's version of a "penitent Magdalene" is notably gentler. "I like that La Tour gives us a kind of interior Magdalene," says Jolley. "We've got mirrors, candles, and other tropes of time, mortality and self-reflection without the artist needing to make [the painting] appealing in some other way." His paintings could be said to reject traditional portrayals of women in art as decorative or erotic.

Magdalene Grieving over the Body of Christ by Arnold Böcklin (1867)

The Swiss painter portrays a dramatic Magdalene standing by Jesus's lifeless body. Instead of conforming to traditional portrayals of Magdalene as subdued or overtly sexual, Böcklin creates this fiery character, permitted to express the full range of her emotions, and thus mourn Jesus intensely. "Mary Magdalene is taking on the role of the Virgin Mary in a way," says Eclercy. "Expressing the utmost grief that you can have."

Christ and the Sinner by Max Beckmann (1917)

Interchangeably titled Christ and the Sinner, or Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery, this painting is said to portray a famous biblical scene of Jesus stopping an angry mob from stoning an unnamed woman to death (a story that has become associated with Magdalene over time). In earlier works, where Magdalene is overly sexualised, "it tells us more about what people are imagining the worst thing a woman could be," Jolley says. Instead, Beckmann offers a more forgiving interpretation of this narrative.

Naomi Campbell as Maria Magdalena by Marlene Dumas (1996)

The South African artist's representation of Magdalene as Naomi Campbell addresses several ideas at once. Not only does it "say something about celebrity and reputation, which is what Mary Magdalene has endured throughout time," says Jolley, "it asks us to think about how we racialise beauty." While there is very little description in the Bible of Magdalene's physical appearance, in Western art, the saint is often portrayed as young and white. Dumas offers us something else to consider.

"The work feels like a mirror for the audience... back on to society," Jolley adds, noting that people often feel like they know her despite understanding very little about her. "People have a parasocial relationship with Mary Magdalene. They have a sense of her that they encounter with popular culture and in art that isn't really underpinned by knowledge of the biblical character – or any real interest in that."

La sfida (The Challenge) by Nieves González (2025)

Spanish visual artist Nieves González manages to keep many of Magdalene's trademarks – her auburn-blonde hair, red clothing, and her holding a skull – while modernising the famous figure by placing her in an oversized puffer jacket. Eclercy believes González is "presenting this extremely self-confident young woman." Magdalene's stare at the viewer is unapologetic. "This is a work about agency and ownership," Jolley adds. "You almost get a sense that she's kind of asking you, 'What do you want to say about me?'"

Mary Magdalene: Sin. Pray. Love. is at the Städel Museum, Frankfurt from 17 September to 17 January 2027.

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'A story of deep psychological drama': The notorious axe murders of Lizzie Borden's parents still haunt, 134 years on

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260914-the-unsolved-mystery-of-lizzie-borden-and-the-grisly-fall-river-axe-murders, 6 days ago

In June 1893, Lizzie Borden was tried and acquitted of the murder of her father and stepmother. It became one of the most infamous unsolved mysteries in US history – and the subject of novels, films and a new Netflix drama.

By vividly dramatising the lives of notorious killers, creators Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan have turned Monster, their true-crime anthology show on Netflix, into a smash hit. Serial slayer Jeffery Dahmer, patricidal brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez, and Wisconsin murderer-cum-grave-robber Ed Gein have all received the "Monster" treatment – portrayals that Murphy says aim to address one question: Are monsters made or are they born?

Warning: This article contains details that some readers may find upsetting.

For the fourth season, the duo has selected Lizzie Borden as the focus of their creative speculation. And they are hardly the first. For decades, novelists, dramatists, poets – even opera composers and rock musicians – have been inspired by the macabre story of the American woman who was accused of two grisly murders in August 1892.

It is so infamous in the history of crime in the US that schoolchildren still recite the ditty: "Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother 40 whacks / And when she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41."

A harrowing crime

While the rhyme might misidentify the killer, it also exaggerates the number of blows as well as the weapon (it was a hatchet, a small axe that is light enough to use with one hand). But the sequence of events is accurate – whoever killed Andrew and Abby Borden on a hot summer morning in Fall River, Massachusetts, began with Abby. She was 64, Andrew's second wife, and stepmother to his two unmarried daughters Emma, 41, and Lizzie, 32.

More than an hour later, when Andrew came home from running errands, he too met his end. Summoned by Lizzie, the police found her father on the living room sofa, nearly unrecognisable, after 11 hatchet blows.

Such was the brutality of the crime, authorities at first did not suspect Lizzie, a seemingly mild woman who taught at Fall River's Central Congregational Church. Yet at the inquest, she kept changing her account of her movements on the morning of the murders, when only she and Bridget Sullivan, the family's Irish maid, were at the house. (Emma was away on holiday and a house guest had gone out.)

Besides, although Lizzie and her sister denied it, friends and neighbours were aware of tensions in the home. Andrew was a wealthy but miserly man who forced his daughters to live in a shabby part of town and scrimp on household expenses, while he gave money to his new wife's family.

After a local pharmacist reported that Lizzie had tried to buy poisonous prussic acid on the day before the murders, a judge had her arrested and jailed. Then, in December, a friend testified to a grand jury that Lizzie had burned a dress (supposedly her own) in the stove a few days after the killings. Formal charges of murder were brought, and a trial date set for the following June.

In his book Lizzie Borden on Trial: Murder, Ethnicity and Gender, historian and Fall River native Joseph Conforti recounts how Lizzie, with her late father's money, hired a top lawyer from Boston to defend her in front of the all-male jury. (Only men could serve on juries in that era.) "She presented herself as a helpless maiden," Conforti wrote. "Her lawyers told her to dress in black. She appeared in court tightly corseted, dressed in flowing clothes, and holding a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a fan in the other."

An unsolved mystery with a cultural impact

Because the murder weapon was never found, and the suspicious pharmacy visit ruled inadmissible, the case against Borden remained circumstantial. Convinced that Lizzie possessed neither the physical strength nor the moral depravity to be what the prosecution called a "feral… insane fiend", the jury acquitted her after a brief deliberation.

But no one else was ever tried for the gruesome killings, and Lizzie lived under a cloud of suspicion, shunned by many in her hometown, for the remainder of her life.

So why does the Lizzie Borden story continue to be so fascinating – especially to writers?

"There's something about an acquittal that's open-ended," Cara Robertson, author of The Trial of Lizzie Borden, tells the BBC. "And the case has a lot of what we look for in a detective story: limited number of suspects, it hinges on alibis of timing, and if we are saying that Lizzie Borden is the killer, then this is really a story of deep psychological drama."

Fiction writers have explored Borden and her circle in dozens of novels, stories, and retellings. Angela Carter's spookily claustrophobic short story from 1982, The Fall River Axe Murders, reimagines the hours leading up to the murders. "Every image reminds you that Lizzie's world is overheated, literally stinking, and emotionally stultifying," wrote Celeste Ng, author of Little Fires Everywhere, in Fiction Writer's Review. "We never see the hatchet fall. We don't need to."

Three notable filmed versions of the killings have been produced over the last half century, starting in 1975 with The Legend of Lizzie Borden, a critically acclaimed ABC television film. Elizabeth Montgomery of Bewitched fame earned an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Lizzie.

Here, the suspect is an aloof, steely-eyed Victorian lady, someone who gives nothing away, let alone a confession of murder. While the question of guilt is never directly addressed, Montgomery as Borden wields a hatchet in speculative, dreamlike flashbacks.

Christina Ricci was cast as the accused murderer for the 2014 Lifetime TV movie Lizzie Borden Took an Ax. Ricci played Lizzie as a recognisably modern type: the malevolent, scheming, high-school mean girl. According to a review in the Hollywood Reporter, Ricci "relishes every moment of her portrayal, turning up the volume on her crazy eyes without spilling over into camp". Lifetime followed up the next year with an eight-episode mini-series The Lizzie Borden Chronicles.

Lizzie, a 2018 psychological thriller with Chloe Sevigny in the title role, is a feminist-coded retelling. Borden is the oppressed daughter driven to murder, spurred on by her love for the maid, Bridget Sullivan (Kristen Stewart), whom Andrew has sexually assaulted. (A romance between Borden and Sullivan was also imagined in Evan Hunter's 1984 novel, Lizzie). Sevigny researched the case as a passion project for nearly a decade before producing as well as starring in the film. For her, Borden was "like an American outlaw who fights against the patriarchy".

A new dramatisation

Viewers of Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story can expect something closer to Sevigny's portrayal than Ricci's. The newest Lizzie, Ella Beatty (daughter of Warren Beatty and Annette Benning) has said that the show explores "a legacy of female rage and reaction to the set of circumstances that they are presented with".

In a recent interview Ryan said he enjoyed investigating the Borden case because "in many ways you can look at what it deals with [in terms of] women and society and it's very much about today".

The Monster trailer hints that once again Lizzie will be shown caught up in an intimate relationship with Bridget Sullivan. Robertson, who has spent more than 30 years studying and writing about the Borden case, tells the BBC she isn't surprised – many novelists and film-makers have "found the story as is kind of inadequate… for a long time they would simply invent a male love interest. More recently they found someone in the house, namely the maid."

But this choice, Robertson points out, is undermined by some known facts about Borden's treatment of Sullivan. "I suppose [a romance] is possible, but it's also true that Lizzie never bothered to call her by her real name." Instead, Lizzie called Sullivan Maggie, the name of a previous maid.

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One curious twist in this season of Monster is the weaving in of a second story, that of a more contemporary murderer. Some scenes will feature Sarah Paulson playing Aileen Wuornos, a sex worker in Florida convicted in 1992 of killing seven of her male clients. By linking the two cases, the Monster makers seem to be making a larger point: while women are far less likely to kill than men, in certain circumstances their rage can turn murderous.

Borden herself isn't known to have behaved violently before or after the case, so what could have motivated her to pick up a hatchet with lethal intent – if indeed she did? Given that we'll never have the answer, Monster's new "take" on her won't be the last word on the subject.

Other imaginative minds will revisit the events of August 1892, probing a brutal crime that remains confounding.

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is released on 17 September on Netflix.

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'This is a story about buried treasure': The 1970s tomb raiders who plundered 'million-dollar pots'

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260911-the-tomb-raiders-who-plundered-million-dollar-pots, 7 days ago

It was one of the finest pieces of art ever bought by the Met. But it had been excavated by an Italian grave robber, then smuggled to the US. In 1975, the BBC investigated the lucrative global trade in stolen antiquities.

In September 1972, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) purchased an ancient Greek vase for $1.2m ($9.6m or £7.1m today). Created around 515BC and signed by the painter Euphronios, it is considered one of the best surviving examples of ancient Greek pottery. "From this moment, histories of art will have to be rewritten," boasted the Met's director after the sale was announced, claiming that the vase was one of the two or three finest works of art ever owned by the museum.

But there were soon accusations that the vase had been illegally excavated and smuggled into the US, giving it the nickname "the hot pot". A BBC reporter, John Percival, followed its trail to the underground tombs of a necropolis just outside Cerveteri, Italy, where a professional grave robber, or tombarolo, was said to have unearthed it. And the excitement generated by its price meant that there was renewed activity in the area. "The Italian robbers are chasing million-dollar pots," said Percival. "The Italian cops are chasing the robbers."

Speaking on the BBC's Treasure Trail in 1975, Percival summed up the situation: "This is a story about buried treasure, about gold, silver and precious things hidden in the Earth long ago. It's about the thieves who dig for it by night, about the dealers who smuggle it across frontiers, about the collectors and the great museums that act as receivers of stolen goods."

"The destruction starts at the place where the object is found," Dr Nusin Askari, an expert at the Istanbul Museum, told the BBC. "It's broken so that it can be sold for a higher price in the end and so that it can be transported and smuggled out of the country easier."

To try and control the stolen antiquities trade in the Cerveteri area, a special team of police was trained in ancient art, attending lectures by an expert at Rome's Villa Giulia Museum. Yet illegal excavations were difficult to patrol, and kept appearing like giant potholes dotted around Italian fields.

"The whole area is littered with absolutely hundreds of tombs which can be opened up easily," said Percival, crouching next to a freshly dug pit that had appeared that morning. It was an early Etruscan tomb, with grave goods not as rich as those found in some later ones, and the robbers had left behind multiple fragments not worth removing.

Buying artefacts, no questions asked

In a nearby area also plundered by grave robbers, Etruscan pots recovered from illegal excavations were piled in a museum courtyard. Next to them was a stack of long metal skewers or kiavi, which the robbers used to probe the ground, looking for hollow places in the soft bedrock.

Yet some tomb raiders had more sophisticated kit. "Nowadays, there's some very fine electronic equipment that's available, and these people do use this," the US explorer Howard Jennings told the BBC, describing the activities of treasure hunters in South America at the time. "It eliminates an awful lot of digging if you can locate metal objects, and it's metal objects that these people are generally after because gold is more easily smuggled out than bulky pottery."

He explained how the value of the loot was determined in a straightforward way. "The wholesale price of pre-Columbian gold artefacts is around 15 times its weight in gold. So if the curator of a museum agrees to purchase, the gold objects are simply weighed, and a bit of multiplication is done on the basis of 15 times that weight, and that's how the payment's made."

While laws have since been tightened, there was almost a Wild West feel to the situation Jennings described in 1975. "There are vast areas of South America, particularly in Ecuador, that are totally unexplored and unmapped, and it's very easy for a person to simply disappear into a jungle for months on end in areas where there are literally hundreds of burial mounds," he said. "They can work there without any question of the authorities finding them. And they stay until they've acquired all that they feel that they can smuggle out of the country – and then out they come and away they go."

Disposing of smuggled antiquities was easy, according to Jennings. "They're in great demand. The only thing the museums, the auction houses, the dealers, private collectors want to know is, is this artefact authentic? Once that's been determined, that it's an authentic antiquity, there are no other questions asked."

Yet countries rich in archaeological sites have passed laws forbidding the export of antiquities. Illegal shipments are regularly intercepted by the authorities, and many stolen artefacts have been returned to their countries of origin. The Met's "hot pot" was sent back to Italy in 2008, after it was found to have passed through the hands of antiquities smuggler Giacomo Medici, convicted of trafficking in looted objects in 2005. "But as long as there's a market," said Percival, "the pillage of the past goes on."

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"From murderous temple thieves in India to church pillagers in Bolivia to hundred-man bands of tomb raiders in China's Liaoning Province, looters are strip-mining our past," said a 2016 National Geographic article, arguing that "satellite imagery, police seizures, and witness reports from the field all indicate that the trade in stolen treasures is booming around the world".

All that plundering damages our understanding of our history. "It matters because it's destroying knowledge," museum curator Nick Thomas told the BBC. Looting any archaeological site, "whether it's a grand temple or a minor tomb with just two or three pots and a skeleton… is simply destroying knowledge about our past which we can pass on to the future."

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'Eliminate him without trace': The poison-tipped umbrella that pointed to a KGB murder - on British soil

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260904-the-poison-tipped-umbrella-that-pointed-to-a-kgb-murder, 14 days ago

In London, 7 September 1978, Georgi Markov was killed with an umbrella, in what is suspected to have been a political poisoning by the KGB. He died four days later. The following year, Markov's widow and elder brother told the BBC's Panorama that they were warned about the murder plot just months before – by an anonymous man.

"He'd felt a jab in his thigh. And he'd looked round, and there'd been a man behind him who'd apologised and dropped an umbrella." These are the words of Annabel Markov, talking about her husband Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian dissident, journalist and writer.

On 7 September 1978, 49-year-old Markov was waiting at a bus stop on Waterloo Bridge in central London when he said he'd been stabbed with an umbrella. Four days later he died in hospital, with doctors initially diagnosing blood poisoning. Yet detectives soon realised it had been a political murder, one that had used a highly sophisticated technique that also targeted another Bulgarian exile.

Markov's widow and elder brother told the BBC's Panorama in 1979 how an anonymous man warned them that Markov was going to be poisoned, months before his death.

And interviews with the former head of a KGB assassination squad and a former colonel in the Bulgarian secret service, both then talking publicly for the first time, placed the assassination at the highest levels of the Bulgarian and Soviet governments.

In the days following Markov's death, Britain's anti-terrorist squad found a clue that convinced them that he had been the victim of a unique murder plot. "At Scotland Yard's forensic laboratory, the chief scientific officer examined a minute metal object that had been found in Markov's thigh," said Panorama reporter Michael Cockerell.

"Under the microscope, it was clear that the object was an extraordinarily sophisticated pellet, no bigger than a pinhead. It had four tiny holes passing through that the forensic experts were convinced had contained an infinitesimally tiny amount of a lethally toxic poison."

Scientists at Porton Down, the top-secret British chemical and microbiological warfare research establishment, believed that what had killed Markov was the highly lethal toxin ricin. According to Panorama, it had never before been used for murder in Britain.

It emerged that another Bulgarian exile might have been attacked in a similar way 10 days before Markov was stabbed. Vladimir Kostov had felt a sharp pain in his back as he was leaving the Paris Metro with his wife. He had a high fever for three days but recovered.

After hearing of Markov's death, Kostov had his back X-rayed, which revealed a tiny metal object. At a clinic in Paris, a surgeon operated on him under the eye of a French police officer wearing a surgical mask and gown.

"The surgeon had to be extremely careful. He removed the metal pellet without touching it at all," Kostov told the BBC. It was then given to a Scotland Yard inspector and taken to England for analysis.

Using a high-powered scanning electron microscope, Scotland Yard metallurgists analysed the pellet removed from Kostov's back, finding that it was identical to the one found in Markov. "Both pellets weighed exactly the same," said Cockerell. "The holes were in the same places, and both were made of a rare platinum iridium alloy that the human body does not reject."

Toxicologists at Porton Down found ricin antibodies in Kostov's flesh and concluded he'd survived because there hadn't been enough poison in the pellet.

The sophisticated technique used – and evidence of coordinated attacks – convinced Scotland Yard that a state secret service organisation had played a role in Markov's death.

A novelist and playwright previously acclaimed in his native country, moving within the government elite there, Markov had defected from then-communist Bulgaria in 1969. After settling in the UK, he'd become an outspoken opponent of the Bulgarian government, working for the BBC's World Service as well as Radio Free Europe (RFE), a US state-funded media organisation.

Annabel Markov said that they had received warnings of a plot to kill her husband, telling the BBC that a man had contacted Georgi in May 1978.

"They spoke Bulgarian all evening. Every so often Georgi would turn to me and say in English, 'this is extraordinary what this man's saying'." According to Annabel, the anonymous man said that the decision had been taken at the highest political level in Bulgaria to kill him, because of the outspoken broadcasts Georgi was writing for RFE.

Markov's brother Nikola backed this up, revealing that he had received a call in September 1977. "A man phoned me saying the decision has been taken to kill Georgi, to eliminate him without trace," he told the BBC.

"At first, I didn't believe it. It seemed absurd, impossible. But the man gave me quite specific details about which there could be no doubt. He told me Georgi would definitely be poisoned at the first opportunity… that a sort of poison or some sort of bacteria, he didn't know exactly which, had already been brought out to Western Europe."

'An outspoken opponent'

After moving to the UK, Markov remained a celebrity at home through his talks on RFE, broadcasting weekly programmes about what life was really like at the upper echelons of Bulgarian society. One of his broadcasts was called Life Behind the Curtains, referring to the little curtains on the side and back of every official black Mercedes. He presented a gossipy but damning picture of the misuse of absolute power in the country, with stories about nepotism, financial abuse and corruption.

While the Bulgarian government officially denied that Markov's broadcasts had any influence, the BBC found that the Bulgarian president, Todor Zhivkov, took particularly strong exception to a revealing series of Markov's talks called My Meetings with Todor Zhivkov.

"We have heard that he was quite furious about Markov's talks concerning the meetings with him," said a Bulgarian broadcaster for RFE, Kyril Panov. "[Markov] was talking about things which are, so to speak, taboo in Bulgaria, things which the regime prefers not to talk about and that the public should not know."

Zhivkov had ruled Bulgaria since 1956 – and had very close ties to the Soviet Union, describing the relationship between the two countries as like two lungs in the same body, fed by the same bloodstream.

Experts believed that the Soviets must have been involved in Markov's murder.

Stefan Sverdlov, a colonel in the Bulgarian secret police until he defected in 1971, told the BBC in 1979: "Every department of the Darzhavna Sigurnost [Bulgarian secret service] is controlled by an advisor from the Russian KGB, sometimes known as an uncle, who reports directly to Moscow… It's inconceivable that this could have been done without the Russians knowing about it."

And according to the former head of an assassination squad for the KGB, the method pointed to Soviet involvement. "The technique is… almost ridiculously sophisticated," said Nikolai Khokhlov. "That tells me that the officers who were planning that operation tried to please someone on the highest level." The fatal attack on Markov was carried out on Zhivkov's birthday.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, it emerged that the KGB had developed an umbrella that could inject ricin pellets into a victim. And two former KGB officers who defected later said their organisation assisted in the murder, although it was carried out by an Italian criminal codenamed Piccadilly.

No one has ever been charged for Markov's assassination. Bulgaria closed the case in 2013, due to a lack of suspects, but it remains an open inquiry in the UK.

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It would have benefited the Soviets in more than one way, as former KGB officer Khokhlov told the BBC in 1979 – beyond the physical death, it would have had a great psychological impact on dissenters abroad. "The fear that they're not protected by distance, they're not protected by the security systems of the West", he said.

He continued: "The action is like coming behind someone and whispering in his ear, 'We can get you any time we want. We can kill you.'"

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Gavin and Stacey co-stars support Strictly debut, says Melanie Walters

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9kgvej2vzy8o, today

Actor Melanie Walters has said her Gavin and Stacey co-stars have been "hugely supportive" of her Strictly Come Dancing debut, with Joanna Page "very excited" for her to take to the ballroom floor.

The screen and stage star, 64, best known for playing Gwen West in the BBC comedy, is partnered with professional Aljaz Skorjanec, 36, in the new series of the dance programme.

Walters said being paired with Skorjanec was a "dream come true" after the pair performed together for the first time at Saturday's launch show.

She said her Gavin and Stacey co-stars had sent her "lovely messages, especially from Jo [Page], who's just very excited".

When asked if she would be bringing any of her character from the comedy onto the ballroom floor, she added: "I've got no idea, this is Aljaz's department.

"I've got no idea what's going to happen on that ballroom."

Walters told the Press Association it was "mind-boggling" to be asked to join the series and that it was "a bit out of my comfort zone".

"I've not been one for doing panel shows or quiz shows or anything," she said.

"So, it's now me, Melanie Walters, which is not what I'm used to putting out there, because I'm quite a private person. I just thought, 'no, let's tick that box'.

"And basically, I really want to learn to dance properly. Always have.

"Getting weekly masterclasses. You couldn't ask for anything better."

Walters starred in Gavin and Stacey from its launch in 2007 and reprised her role for a 2024 Christmas special.

Her television work also includes roles in Coronation Street, Beyond Paradise, Being Human, Hollyoaks, Biff And Chip, and Doc Martin, while her film credits include Submarine, Resistance, High Tide and Save The Cinema.

On stage, she has appeared in productions such as The Importance Of Being Earnest, Blood Brothers, Twelfth Night, Educating Rita and What's New Pussycat?.

She also recently appeared in two series of the BBC's crime mystery series Death Valley.

Calls for Jèrriais on Jersey street signs

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm0qx3qy8lelo, today

There are calls to put Jèrriais on Jersey street signs to familiarise people with the native language and foster a sense of island pride.

Carl Parslow, partner at Parslow's law firm, said he wanted politicians to adopt the Welsh model where public signage must be in both English and Welsh, and place Jèrriais alongside English.

In 2019, the States Assembly agreed that Jèrriais should be incorporated into official States signs. However, the language is absent on the new government building.

A government spokesperson said a new Jèrriais strategy was being developed and signage at the Union Street building would be updated.

While Jèrriais was the mother-tongue for most people born in Jersey as late as the 1930s, its decline was dramatically accelerated by the German Occupation during World War Two and now its estimated that about 200 people speak it.

Parslow said the aim of his idea was not to make everyone speak it again, but to get more people familiar with words from the island's historic language.

"Languages survive through visibility. Most people in Wales are not fluent Welsh speakers, but they encounter the language every day," he said.

"Seeing it regularly gives it relevance and helps ensure its survival."

Prof Martin Shipman, associate editor for Welsh news service Nation.Cymru, said it had been a success.

"It familiarises and normalises the language so people accept it. Surveys have shown that most people appreciate hearing Welsh even if they don't understand it," he said.

Shipman said it had also had a cultural impact and "helped people regain and sense of their own identity".

Tama Coxshall, a 19-year-old Jèrriais content creator, sad he thought displaying the language would develop the island's national pride.

He said: "Jersey people will so frequently relate to the UK and have that as our cultural reference when Jersey is just as important.

"Having billingual signs and Jèrriais in products in shops... gives people licence to feel they can be proud of being from Jersey."

The influencer said he would also like to see the government place the language on States signs, as was agreed in 2019, with the "government committing to the policy and the promises it's made to the Jersey people, which is all of us".

A government spokesperson said: "Signage at the government building on Union Street is currently being updated as part of wider improvements reflecting our commitment to promoting Jèrriais as an important part of Jersey's cultural identity.

"A new Jèrriais strategy is being developed to improve its visibility in areas such as signage, and a Jerriais Advisory Group is being re-established later this year."

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'Starring in Ted Lasso has literally changed my life'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq8jeq88wk3o, today

"Ted Lasso has literally changed my life."

Robyn Cullen usually plies her trade as a goalkeeper in the fifth tier of English women's football, but is now making as much of a name for herself away from the pitch.

The 19-year-old Oxford City player features as a recurring character in the latest series of Apple TV's Ted Lasso - playing a goalkeeper named Robyn.

Series four of the hit show sees Jason Sudeikis' eponymous American manager take control of fictional club AFC Richmond's new women's team.

"When the first episode that I was in came out, our living room was full," Cullen said.

"My mum has watched it so many times - she watches each episode by herself first, then with me or my dad and then again by herself in the evening.

"She just can't believe it, it's very cute."

Cullen began her football career at Chelsea, then moving to Wycombe Wanderers, before ending up at Oxford City this summer.

It was a family friend working in the TV industry that first suggested she expand her horizons, and audition to be a background actor for the latest series of Ted Lasso.

"My mum's friend basically said: 'I know what this is casting for, get Robyn to go for it because it will be an absolute laugh, and she might get it, she might not'," Cullen said.

"Obviously, I'm a Ted Lasso fan so I went for it and I thought 'this is hilarious, there is no way this is ever going to happen'.

"So I sent in my headshots and some videos of me playing football and then I just kept getting callbacks. I was so confused."

Fast forward and Cullen found herself on set alongside the show's stars - including Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham and Brett Goldstein.

"I came in as an extra just on the football team, and I was not meant to be in many scenes - just the background and football stuff," she said.

But in the first week, an injury to an actor playing a more prominent member of the team gave Cullen the chance to step into the role.

"They asked me to take her place, so I then moved up and all of a sudden it got very real and then there were loads of cameras and I was on Ted Lasso.

"I was absolutely over the moon," Cullen, who features in every episode of the series, bar the first, said.

She said the writers based the characters "off of ourselves" for the "core eight" members of the on-screen team.

"Each one of the core eight kept our own names and then had a play on our last name - so I was Robyn Batman," she said.

The 10-episode series comes off the back of a major increase in the exposure of, and participation in, women's football - both in the UK and across the globe.

"It's absolutely amazing, I feel so grateful to be able to be a part of that," Cullen said.

"I've seen how women's football has taken off over the years, obviously, as a player myself... this is us, this is what we can do and we are important.

"It's just so lovely for people to be able to see that and so lovely for that to be celebrated especially by a network as big as Apple TV."

Looking to the future, Cullen said she would hopefully be back on the pitch for Oxford City "soon" following a recent injury, before hinting that a return to the fictional pitch at AFC Richmond might also be on the horizon.

Museums warn against charges for overseas tourists

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgl784k03jdo, today

Charging overseas tourists to visit London's museums could harm the capital's cultural appeal and put institutions at risk, museum bosses have warned.

Mayor of London Lord Sadiq Khan has opposed government plans to consider charging international visitors at national museums, saying that free museums and galleries were a "fundamental" part of London life.

A government spokesperson said no decisions had been made and an update was expected in the coming months.

The proposals come as rising costs and lower-than-expected visitor numbers fuel concerns about the future of museums, with sector leaders describing the current climate as "very challenging".

In March, the government said it would explore charging international visitors to enter DCMS-sponsored national museums in England as it looks for ways to tackle funding pressures.

Free admission has been in place since 2001 at the UK's 15 national museums, including 12 in London, for both domestic and foreign visitors.

Speaking to the London Assembly's Economy, Culture and Skills Committee on 9 September, Sir Tristram Hunt, director of the Victoria & Albert Museum, said he was "yet to be convinced of the benefits" of charging overseas visitors.

"It will affect our business model of not charging people at the door but in the café, gift shop, exhibitions and membership," he said.

"That would be scuppered by charging. We are at risk of falling back relative to the US and Europe."

There were also concerns around the ethics of a commercialised museum model.

Rebecca Pullen, chief of staff at Imperial War Museums, said that the institution's role "was to be there for everyone", adding: "Anything that impedes that is difficult for us to think about."

While the proposed charges would apply only to national museums, the debate came against a backdrop of wider financial pressures across the museum sector.

Pullen said the sector faced a "very challenging" financial climate, citing real-terms cuts to DCMS funding, visitor numbers that remain below pre-pandemic levels, and lower spending in museum cafes and gift shops amid the cost-of-living crisis.

Director of the Art Fund, Jenny Waldman, said "museums have very high fixed costs to care for their collections and keep their doors open".

She added: "Most of our museums have found a way of increasing their income through commercial and earned income but that has not kept pace with energy costs and National Insurance contributions."

In recent months City Hall has called on ministers to fund London's museums at levels comparable to European counterparts.

In July, deputy mayor for culture Justine Simons said the mayor had invested more than £800m in culture during his 10 years in office and that City Hall was working to support the sector.

"We cannot rest on our laurels. The UK is the lowest funder of the arts in Europe at a national level. Times are challenging. We have all got to work together to protect, grow, sustain our creative offer," she said.

A spokesperson for the government's Department for Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS) said: "We know introducing international charging would be complex and there are many practical and financial considerations.

"No decisions have been taken and we will provide an update later this year."

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Dementia patients dance into Buckingham Palace

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cxp84503d341o, today

Buckingham Palace has hosted a special series of dance workshops for people living with dementia.

The programme has been organised by Royal Collection Trust and the charity Arts for Dementia, with sessions designed and delivered by English National Ballet (ENB).

Director of engagement at ENB, Fleur Derbyshire-Fox said dance was not only about cognitive benefits "but also about the physical, emotional and social benefit".

"Being in Buckingham Palace has such resonance for the people who come to these classes. It's a rich tapestry - looking at the royal collections and being in this space. It's really inspiring for the participants."

Four sessions are taking place as part of the programme, with the same group of 20 participants returning to the palace for each one.

Amy Stocker, from the Royal Collection Trust said the sense of recognition can make the palace particularly meaningful.

"They recognise the building as an iconic landmark. They might have been at the front of the palace to watch the royal family appear on the balcony.

"People have a connection to his majesty the King, they remember Queen Elizabeth.

"For the older generation there is a connection to the monarchy and that often sparks something when you bring them to a place like this."

Naseem Malik-Noor, who lives in Westminster, said she loved the royal family and had been excited to attend the workshop with her niece.

"I like the way things were explained and every one was so accommodating and kind which is very important."

She said the palace was "beautiful" and "outstanding."

Her niece, Sasha De Medici, said they both enjoyed the day: "With the music and the ballet it's so special and we're very privileged to have been able to take part."

The sessions coincided with World Alzheimer's Month, which takes place every September to raise awareness of dementia and highlight the support available to those affected by it.

Arts for Dementia offers regular, free, inspiring programmes like the one at Buckingham Palace, which the charity said helped people living with dementia "build confidence, maintain their identity, create new social connections and experience a sense of self-purpose".

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Why no-one will pay for mangled sculpture's repair bill

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce873l423g7o, today

Two months ago, a major piece of public art was badly damaged in a car crash.

The Armillary Sphere sculpture still stands in the centre of the roundabout at the junction of Banbury Road and Trinity Way in Stratford-upon-Avon, but its steel is bent and twisted.

It is in need of fixing. Or, its critics say, in need of taking away.

The thing is, it is unclear which - if any - of those options will happen. No-one will take responsibility for the future bill as mystery surrounds who is in charge of the artwork's upkeep.

As several councils deny it is down to them to solve, one former mayor has suggested the piece was unwanted from the start.

It was put up 15 years ago using part of a £100,000 pot given by local housing developers for public art projects but proved controversial, with a petition to remove it getting 1,183 signatures in 2009.

Former mayor Cyril Bennis said he wants to see the damaged sculpture removed.

"It's a love-hate relationship I have with this," he said. "Most people in our community don't like it.

"The bottom line will be, it's got to be removed. It will cost more money to fix this mangled mess of steel."

So what happens now?

Warwickshire County Council is responsible for the safety of local roads but told the BBC that it had "no involvement in the commissioning, delivery or installation of this sculpture.

"The responsibility for this is with Stratford District Council under their 2005 Arts Strategy."

Stratford District Council confirmed it was "currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the damage".

It said it was also "exploring the options available for repairing or reinstating the sculpture" and was "seeking to recover the associated costs from the insurer of the vehicle involved in the incident".

But it added none of that meant the district council had responsibility for the structure.

It is not clear whether any report was ever made to Warwickshire Police about the crash, or whether the driver had been identified.

Meanwhile, Stratford Town Council said none of its records showed it had ownership of the piece.

It seems, for now at least, the only thing that is certain is how much Bennis dislikes it.

Bennis has campaigned to get the statue removed since it was first conceived.

"This was not the way to encourage people how to understand art" he said.

"It's a lump of steel and it's just rusting, rusting for the last 20 years."

He said he wanted to see a line drawn under the affair and money raised from scrapping it, spent on the town.

"Thank God it is 100% recyclable because hopefully, if we get it recycled, if we get it pulled down, taken away... then the money can go towards potholes."

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I flew 1,000 miles to get my dad the recognition he deserves

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6vgy1xlyevjo, today

The son of a late wildlife artist has flown from New Zealand to the UK because he wants his father's work to receive the recognition he believes it deserves.

Peter Partington, who lived in Kettlebaston, Suffolk, created hundreds of pieces of art dedicated to nature before his death in March 2025.

His son, Jerome Partington, has now created a book to honour Peter's life's work and is hosting events in aid of charities that were close to his father's heart.

Jerome said: "When Dad died a bit out of the blue. I thought thousands of people knew him, but he hadn't had much recognition. So we created this book, and in a way, Dad's done all the hard work. He's painted all these incredible pictures...I've just put them together in a way that hopefully tells a story."

Jerome, who is now based near Auckland in New Zealand, explained his father had always had a love of nature and art from a young age.

He said he had fond memories of his father often showing him insects and flowers while in the garden or enjoying walks together.

His father's love of art and nature also inspired him to pursue his own career in architecture, where he incorporates ecological and regenerative practices.

Partington had his own studio in Lavenham and Jerome said Suffolk had provided much inspiration.

"He would go to each nature reserve in Suffolk and south Norfolk, a few times a year," he continued.

"He knew them all by heart and had all sorts of friends he went there with.

"He loved it, absolutely loved it. He needed no excuse to get out that door with his binoculars and his sketch pad."

Jerome has travelled back to the UK to host events for the book titled The Artists Anthology.

He will be travelling to Sudbury, Lavenham, St Neots in Cambridgeshire and near Gloucester this month.

A share of the sales will go toward creating a bursary for wildlife artists to work with young people and for nature charities.

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Exhibition celebrates legacy of arts educator

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckvgyzx1rgjpo, today

The life of a professor and former Arts Council Secretary-General for England is being honoured in an exhibition, 14 years after his death.

Sir Roy Shaw, who served as Keele University's Director of Adult Education from 1962 to 1975, will be celebrated for his lifelong commitment to arts.

He was knighted in 1979 in recognition of his major contributions to adult education and helping shape national policies.

The exhibition, which opened on Saturday, will run at the Staffordshire university's Chancellor's building until 28 October.

The exhibition will bring together material from Sheffield-born Sir Roy's personal academic archive, alongside family photographs and artefacts.

Despite an impoverished upbringing he went on to play an important role in national arts and education policy and supported regional theatre through his work with Peter Cheeseman and the Victoria Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent.

Alongside the exhibition, visitors can discover the stories of other influential changemakers whose achievements have been recognised by Keele through the award of honorary degrees.

A public lecture will also taking place in Chancellor's Building on 5 October between 18:00 and 20:00 BST

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Museum and library set to reopen after revamp

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmp30pd1ywwdo, today

A library and museum is set to reopen after a revamp created a "vibrant, modern and flexible space", said project leaders.

The amenities in the Grade II-listed Nicholson Institute in Leek, Staffordshire, were modernised as part of a £4m restoration which has also brought the building's lower ground floor back into use.

Hayley Coles, Staffordshire County deputy leader, added the library included a quality book stock, comfortable study space and "inspiring children's library".

The building's art gallery, which is set to open next month, has also been updated and a mural by Robert Timmis restored.

Staffordshire Moorlands District Council said it led the project using government funding as part of the wider generation of Leek town centre.

"These spaces have been re-imagined to improve the experience for visitors and library users and they've been given a fresh, contemporary look which respects the heritage of the building," said Matt Swindlehurst, cabinet member for leisure and tourism.

'Bustling community hub'

"We were pleased to have funded the improvements which have helped create a welcoming, vibrant, modern and flexible space that also complements the proud and rich heritage of the Nicholson building," said Coles, who is also the county's cabinet member for communities and culture.

"The library is now ideally placed and fully equipped to meet local residents' needs."

The district council will run the museum and gallery and their events programmes with volunteers from the Friends of the Nicholson Institute.

The authority worked with the county council who the district council said hold the Nicholson Institute in trust and contributed to the cost of the library refurbishment.

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Bergerac director finds Jersey a real revelation

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6n4523ge3n9o, today

As the filming of the third series of Bergerac is under way, the director and a local crew member consider the important part Jersey plays in the TV show.

The first time director Paul Wilmhurst visited Jersey was to look for filming locations and he said it had been "a real revelation".

He said: "It feels very friendly, relaxed, it's like England but not England, as there's this slight sort of French continental vibe, but it's not too heavy, and I'm loving that and loving being here.

"There's something ironic really because I was reading about the crime statistics here and there aren't a lot of murders in Jersey, they don't really happen.

"I guess there's something about Bergerac that makes it kind of appealing in a way that you take somewhere very peaceful, and there's a sense of community, and a sense of people knowing each other, and then you tell these quite dark stories.

"It makes it a bit more sinister in a way."

Islander Finn Lumsden worked as a trainee on the second series and was invited back for the third.

He said: "I think we've managed to prove that it is possible, even if you're from Jersey, to get into this industry and really excel.

"It's quite amazing, I think I'm more starstruck now to when I started, it just feels great being able to leave the house and come and do this at home, which I never really thought I'd be able to do.

"It's a great privilege to be filming and especially Bergerac and it's just such a good heritage for the island."

Visit Jersey analysed the benefits it considered the new Bergerac series had brought to the island since it started filming in 2024.

The tourism group said one in four visitors to Jersey in 2025 had watched that first series and a YouGov survey found people who had watched both series were three times more likely to consider visiting Jersey in the next two years.

Visit Jersey said the production team spent £1.5m in the island's tourism and hospitality businesses, including 1,990 hotel room nights, during the filming of the first two series.

During those productions a total of 16 trainees from Jersey were employed, 380 islanders appeared on screen, 35 local crew members were employed and six actors from Jersey were cast in roles, the organisation added.

Wilmshurst said the new episodes involved an unsolved murder case in which a body was found in a cave on a beach with ritualistic elements 20 years ago.

He said: "It's one of those things where it's like, it could be one of this group of friends, it could be someone who taught them, there's a politician who's involved and maybe there's something going on in the police.

"So there's a lot of kind of feeling of who can I trust, where do I turn, what's really happening, and what is a fantasy and what is a real memory and what is evidence."

On Tuesday night St Helier Honorary Police closed the tunnel for an hour while some filming for the new season took place.

They said the filming took place inside the tunnel around dusk, which had enabled the production team to make the most of the lighting conditions needed for the scenes being captured.

A spokesperson joked officers could not reveal what was being filmed and curious people would have to watch the new season to find out.

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Artists turn greenhouses into unexpected galleries

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmp3k2lq7g75o, today

A group of local artists are transforming working greenhouses into temporary art galleries as part of a project celebrating the island's growing heritage and encouraging people to reconnect with food production.

The exhibition, organised by the Guernsey Art Network, is taking place across three greenhouses over three September weekends.

Following a successful opening event at Bailiwick Blue in Vazon, the exhibition moves to Cornucopia at Belmont Vinery, Hougue du Pommier, on 19 and 20 September before finishing at Edible Guernsey in St Saviour's on 26 and 27 September.

Artist Emma Griffin said the idea grew out of an earlier exhibition with fellow artist James Kail at Guernsey Museum.

She explained: "We thought, why don't we take it out of the gallery and into a greenhouse and turn a greenhouse into an art gallery?"

Unlike many exhibitions, the artworks are being displayed inside working greenhouses, allowing visitors to meet growers and learn more about the island's agricultural industry.

Griffin said artists wanted to celebrate an industry that had played a major role in Guernsey's history but had declined in recent decades as many greenhouses disappeared or were replaced by housing.

For Griffin, the project is also personal. Her great-uncle, Michael Bourgaize, founded a well-known strawberry farm on the island, while other members of her family worked in the growing industry.

She said: "My granddad and my mum's first job was actually working in a greenhouse."

The exhibition has already attracted strong interest, with visitors sharing memories of family greenhouses on an interactive map.

Griffin said organisers hoped the project would inspire more islanders to grow their own food and reflect on Guernsey's agricultural roots.

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Charity lighthouse trail to end with final display

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6x2zg8xknd7o, today

A trail made up of lighthouse sculptures which have been on display across Plymouth over the summer is set to conclude with a final exhibition before they are sold at auction.

The Guiding Lights trail was organised by St Luke's Hospice Plymouth to raise money and awareness of its end of life care.

The 42 lighthouses making up the trail were first unveiled at an exhibition in July before being moved to multiple locations across the city for people to enjoy.

St Luke's Hospice said the sculptures would all be displayed together for the last time at the Market Hall, Devonport, between 25-27 September. The lighthouses will then go under the hammer at the University of Plymouth on 1 October.

The charity said the 42 big lighthouses were designed and decorated by individual artists and sponsored by local businesses, while a further 42 little lighthouses, designed by schools, were displayed at the Box Gallery and Museum, and another 10 sculptures toured venues across Devon.

It said the Guiding Lights Farewell Weekend exhibition would give people a final chance to see all 92 sculptures together.

The charity said its last fundraising auction, a parade of 40 colourful elephant sculptures, sold for more than £330,000 which went towards patient care.

St Luke's events manager Georgina Dyke said she was "overwhelmed" by the response to the trail.

She said the farewell weekend would be a "fantastic opportunity to experience the sculptures up close and celebrate the creativity and community spirit that have made Guiding Lights so special".

Dyke said the funds made from the auction would "help us continue providing compassionate end of life care and support for local families at the most difficult of times".

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Leaky air traffic control tower in line for repairs

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3grvz7xgnxzo, yesterday

Plans have been lodged to repair a former air traffic control tower in southern Scotland in order to protect the displays at an aviation museum.

They would see replacement doors, roofing and railings put in at the site at Heathhall near Dumfries.

Operators say there is currently a safety risk as, on days when there is wet weather, water is finding its way into displays and also onto floors and stairs creating a slip hazard.

They have submitted plans to Dumfries and Galloway Council to carry out the improvements to the C-listed building in order to let it have a "longer life as the centre piece of the museum".

RAF Dumfries opened in 1940 and was the biggest airfield in south-west Scotland.

It was home to maintenance units and also used as a training base.

After the war it was used for scrapping aircraft and became a training centre for National Service recruits before closing in 1957.

It started a new life in the 1970s following the formation of the Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Group which excavated aircraft wreckage in the area.

Looking for a permanent home to put its artefacts on display it moved onto the Heathhall airfield - initially in the former pilots' flight hut and then in the larger control tower which opened to the public in 1979.

It has grown since then - one of the "jewels in its collection" is a Spitfire which was recovered from Loch Doon in Ayrshire, before being painstakingly put back together.

The operators - all volunteers - are now seeking to carry out work to safeguard the museum control tower's future.

"The air traffic control tower is used to house a number of exhibits," they say in their planning application.

"The current state of the building is that we have water ingress either through the roof or the walls.

"[On] wet weather days water is finding its way into displays but also onto floors and stairs and is a slip hazard."

There are other issues they hope to tackle as well.

"The doors and frames are rotting and will be, if left, a safety hazard as two of the largest doors are now not secured to their frames due to the hinges having fallen off the frame due to the rot of the frame," they added.

"The proposed use is the same as the current use, but with the knowledge that displays will not be ruined, the floors and stairs will be safer and the tower will have a longer life as the centre piece of the museum."

Bridgewater Hall celebrates 30 years of live music

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c933k8lgrn4jo, yesterday

One of Manchester's best-known cultural venues, Bridgewater Hall, is marking its 30th anniversary with a season of special concerts.

The first will take place later and aim to blend sounds from the city's rich and diverse musical history with performances from Rowetta, Matt Wilde and the Greater Manchester Youth Orchestra.

The Hallé Orchestra, based at Bridgewater Hall for its entire history, will pay homage to its 1996 opening night concert with a commemorative performance on Thursday.

Bridgewater Hall's CEO Andrew Bolt said the concerts would reflect the "evolving landscape" of Manchester's musical history, tying together its classical heritage with more contemporary performances.

A new episode of the BBC Sounds series Hidden Manchester explores how the venue represents the city's history with classical music.

Bolt explained that the Hallé had played a particularly important role in the hall's origin.

"When it was decided that a new home (for the Hallé) was something important to put together, the building was constructed as part of an urban redevelopment project," he said.

"We're delighted to have such a close relationship. We look forward to another 30 years!"

Musicologist Stacy Jarvis has studied Manchester's musical history.

She said artists had been travelling to the city to perform since as early as the 1820s.

"It was like Oasis today - they had to perform here," explained Jarvis.

"Every band that we know today has to perform in Manchester. It was a must."

She said Manchester's music was just as important to its history as its famous industrial past.

"Manchester's extraordinary industrial growth created the wealth and population that helped its musical culture flourish," she said.

"Manchester was deciding what kind of cultural city it wanted to be.

"Bridgewater Hall became a part of that identity."

Bolt described the hall as "one of the most important" classical music venues in the country.

"It has really embedded itself into the cultural landscape of Manchester itself," he added. "It's so loved, and it's recognised as such a fabulous place to perform or come and see a performance."

"We're looking to continue that legacy - and grow it. It's all about relevance, both in the classical and contemporary musical spheres."

You can listen to the Hidden Manchester series on BBC Sounds.

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Cloud-like sculptures installed in new public park

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cxe87gly3z44o, yesterday

A series of cloud-like sculptures have been unveiled at a site that will eventually be home to laboratories, offices, a park and hundreds of homes.

The Length of a Moment artworks sit in the new public park at the Oxford North development - best known in the local area for the large red-roofed structure at its heart.

The trio of bronze sculptures depict the plume of scent a flower releases into the air as a moth searches for its nectar.

Artist Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg said the works - which are more than two metres (6.5ft) tall - "celebrate the part every living creature plays in the world we share".

"I wanted to give one of the slightest, most fleeting exchanges a form we can witness, and to invite the curiosity and empathy that come from really looking," she explained.

"To see the sculptures in the meadow they belong to, surrounded by the wildlife they are really about, is the best place this work could be."

Oxford North is based on 64 acres of land within the city's northern boundary - near to Peartree Roundabout and the A34.

It is from the new recreation ground, Canalside Park, that the three bronze sculptures now rise.

Ginsberg used computer modelling to simulate the natural occurrence between flowers and months - which is invisible to the human eye.

"I hope people slow down... and feel something of what it might be like to experience the world the way a moth does," she said.

Victoria Collett, development director of Thomas White Oxford, the firm behind the new park, said the artwork was a "beautiful expression" of the "ambition" of Oxford North.

"An artwork that sits lightly within the landscape while offering something profound for those who encounter it," she said.

Oxford City Council leader Susan Brown, who unveiled the sculptures, said public art "always has an important role to play" in the city.

"I'm delighted that this work will be here for residents, visitors and future generations to discover and enjoy," she added.

Scrimshaw: The controversial art form on the brink of extinction

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260915-scrimshaw-the-controversial-art-form-on-the-brink-of-extinction, 5 days ago

As Moby Dick turns 175, some of the last American scrimshanders grapple with the legacy of maintaining one of the US's oldest art forms.

Jade Gotauco spent her childhood among the skeletons of giants. Her father, Chet Gotauco, was a scrimshander – an artist who etched images onto the ivory of hunted whales. In pensive moments, she would slip under the arched jaw of a whale in his Rhode Island garden and sit atop a massive vertebra, watching insects scrabble across the porous bone.

"My favourite smell in the world is the sandy aroma of ivory dust," said Gotauco, now an artist herself. Whale teeth adorn the walls of her studio in New Bedford, Massachusetts; she engraves them with nautical scenes in which sperm whales thrash the ocean to foam and whalers hurl barbed harpoons from minute boats.

Ask Americans about the cultural legacy of whaling, and many will point to Herman Melville's classic novel Moby Dick, which turns 175 next month. Yet for all the book's brilliance, it's scrimshaw – the practice of artistically carving whale teeth and bones, which is considered one of the US's earliest homegrown art forms – that offers a true insider's view of the industry.

Today, there's hardly any of those teeth and bones left on the legal market. Some scrimshanders, including Gotauco, believe the art form should disappear with them. "When the ivory is gone, this is over," she said.

Scrimshaw was developed by sailors whose lives unfolded on whaling grounds around the globe as the industry expanded into a 19th-Century behemoth. They strove to depict a culture that, for a few lucrative decades, made New Bedford North America's wealthiest city per capita.

"They saw their experiences as important," said Marina Wells, an assistant curator at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, which is home to the largest scrimshaw collection is the world. "You see that in their commemoration of whaling scenes, in all their meticulous detail."

Some of the carvings throb with yearning, depicting homey scenes of faraway families. Others capture sailors rowing fragile, open boats dwarfed by the whales they pursued. They're communicating "the dangerous, faraway world of whaling", Wells said. "You have the bloody spouts of the whales after their lungs have been punctured… the intimacy of whalemen interacting with whale bodies that's really hands-on."

To modern eyes, the scenes evoke the heartbreaking impacts on species hunted to the brink of extinction; yet the whalers, too, were often broken by the industry. At the Seamen's Bethel, an 1832 mariner's church located across the street from the museum in New Bedford (and which features in the opening chapters of Moby Dick), such risks are on poignant display. Lining its whitewashed sanctuary are marble cenotaphs commemorating those lost at sea.

"After fastning to a whale, was carried overboard by a line and drowned," reads the tomb of Captain William Swain. Three sailors from the whaleship Cowper, aged 19, 22 and 24, share another memorial: "All lost by the upsetting of their boat, July 15, 1854, in the Ochotsk Sea."

They died as American whaling reached a short-lived fever pitch. In 1857, more than 10,000 men worked aboard New Bedford whaleships, half the city's population at the time. Two years later, petroleum was discovered in Pennsylvania and the ensuing oil rush flooded American cities with kerosene – a comparatively cheap fossil fuel that would eclipse the whale oil used in lamps around the globe.

By the turn of the century, American whaling was all but over.

Scrimshaw lived on, however. The massive scale of the whaling industry produced a glut of teeth and bones, a byproduct that, at the time, had little commercial value. They gathered dust in attics and warehouses.

"When I was a kid they had barrels of whale teeth down at the wharves and sold them for a couple of bucks apiece," recalled Michael Vienneau, a scrimshander on the nearby island of Nantucket, Massachusetts – another onetime whaling hub. Former homes of whaleboat captains surround his small shop, Scrimshander Gallery, in the heart of the island's historic district. A few blocks away is the Nantucket Whaling Museum, whose own significant scrimshaw collection includes pieces by Nantucket whalemen – and famed scrimshanders – Frederick Myrick and Edward Burdett.

In the 1960s, scrimshawing surged in popularity, part of a folk-craft revival. (It even got a boost from US President John F Kennedy, an avid collector.) That's when Vienneau got his start, rummaging for cheap whale teeth as a teenager while visiting the island with his family.

"Back then, everyone was a scrimshander," he said. "Now I'm one of the last."

In part, that's because of the 1973 Endangered Species Act, which tightly restricted the sale of marine ivory. Today, scrimshanders engraving whale teeth and bones must work from the dwindling supply of teeth and bones that remain from before the act was passed – Vienneau has a stash in the back of his shop. "You'll pay several thousand dollars for a raw tooth now," said Vienneau.

On a recent afternoon, he was sitting at his workstation squinting at a sperm whale tooth he was engraving with a scene of a sailor brandishing a harpoon at the tail of a diving whale. More teeth were piled in a nearby filing cabinet. His dog, Petey, grabbed a tooth and began to chew on it. Vienneau laughed. "Any dog that gnaws on a sperm whale tooth is a scrimshander's dog," he said, not getting up.

As whale teeth grew scarce and expensive, some scrimshanders innovated, carving on cow bones and deer antlers. Even comparatively tooth-rich Vienneau experimented. Once, he flew to Alaska on a tip and spent three days digging a 30,000-year-old mammoth tusk out of permafrost near a remote copper mine.

Yet, many purists insist that while such projects are both art and craft, they are not true scrimshaw, since the authentic form relies on the byproducts of historical whaling. Gotauco is one of them. Like some of her peers, she believes this means that scrimshaw is on the brink of extinction.

Gotauco works exclusively on pre-1973 ivory and bones. Nearly a century ago, her grandmother emigrated to Boston from Newfoundland, and among her few belongings was a collection of whale teeth and bones she'd inherited from her family of seal hunters, cod fishermen and whalers. That's what Gotauco carves in her New Bedford studio, etching images onto the physical remains of her ancestors' legacy.

Along with the whale teeth, Gotauco's grandmother passed along stories of what she said were Mi'kmaq roots. Whales factor into traditional Mi'kmaq stories, and the First Nations community hunted the animals sustainably long before the arrival of Europeans in North America. With her own deep reverence for whales, Gotauco has, at times, felt deeply uneasy about working with ivory.

In the years since she learned how to carve scrimshaw by sitting beside her father in his workshop, Gotauco often wondered about the ethics of using materials pulled from the sea with such violence. Commercial whaling was an environmental disaster and a cruelly dangerous job; the beauty of the art form it spurred still catches at her heart. In the end, she embraced it as a form of remembering, calling it "the best way to honour the whales and whalers", albeit one that will likely fade in her lifetime.

"When I run out of teeth along with everyone else, I'll raise a cup to the story's end," she said. "May we never get more."

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'Main character energy': The extraordinary story of Barbara Cartland, the forgotten millions-selling romance author

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260910-the-extraordinary-story-of-barbara-cartland-the-forgotten-billions-selling-romance-author, 10 days ago

Although Barbara Cartland sold around 750 million books, you'll struggle to find a copy in a bookshop today. And the socialite led an extraordinary and surprising life - why has the UK's master of romantic fiction disappeared from memory?

To take your place behind William Shakespeare and Agatha Christie as the third best-selling author in history is a remarkable feat. Yet, ask most people what they know of the late romantic novelist Dame Barbara Cartland and it's probably not her literary success that they'll mention.

Instead, people might recall her penchant for pink, particularly her uniform of billowing, candy-coloured gowns. Or her famously thick, sooty eyelashes (created not with mascara, but boot polish applied with a toothbrush). They might remember that she always had a small dog tucked under her arm, that she reportedly took 90 vitamin pills a day and that she had a famous spat with Jackie Collins on live TV, calling her books "evil". Or that she was the step-grandmother of the late Princess Diana – who loved her books.

Even those who remember a time when Cartland's books were ubiquitous on UK supermarket shelves will likely struggle to recall the titles. Cartland wrote a staggering 723 books in her lifetime – mostly historical romances featuring innocent young heroines trying to tame dashing but troubled dukes, lords and captains.

But a quarter-of-a-century on from her death it is the woman, rather than what she produced on the page, whose presence still lingers.

Much of this is down to Cartland herself, a master of personal branding long before social media made it commonplace, who carefully created and controlled her image. When quarantine restrictions meant she couldn't take her dogs on a US publicity tour, she appeared with a stuffed Pekingese under her arm so as not to shatter the illusion.

Cartland issued journalists with indemnity forms and demanded copy approval on interviews. She had three authorised biographers in her lifetime, resulting in two gushing hagiographies and one more balanced account, from which Cartland – on seeing the manuscript – promptly withdrew her approval and fast-tracked a sanitised memoir of her own to try and divert attention.

A new biography of Cartland out this week would no doubt horrify the woman herself. It goes beyond the perfectly coiffed image to examine properly her extraordinary career and equally remarkable life. "There are all of these things you can say about Barbara Cartland, like she's the third best-selling author of all time, that don't match up with the cultural memory of her," says Matthew Sweet, author of The Great Dictator: A Life of Barbara Cartland (the title refers to the fact that Cartland didn't type her books, but dictated them to a secretary from her chaise longue).

"It would be good if she was remembered as something more than a joke. That's not to say she wasn't funny and absurd because she was, but she achieved something that ought to be acknowledged in some way. If you dismiss her, you're also dismissing all her readers too, and there were two post-war generations to whom she was very important."

Cartland's granddaughter Tara McCorquodale gave Matthew Sweet full access to her archives at Camfield Place, the country home where the writer lived from the 1950s until her death. "I had free rein of the whole house and all the papers in it, some of which had not been touched for a quarter-of-a-century," says Sweet.

The result is a book that, while gloriously entertaining and packed with plenty of jaw-dropping anecdotes about Cartland's behaviour, also places the writer in the context of an era of huge political and social change.

A 20th-Century woman

Cartland's life spanned almost the entirety of the 20th Century. Born in 1901, she lived through two world wars, the sexual revolution of the 1960s, the women's liberation movement, the UK's first female prime minister and the birth of the internet. She launched her own website a few months before her death in 2000.

Sweet argues that the inciting incident in Cartland's life happened when she was barely two years old and her paternal grandfather killed himself after going bankrupt. His death marked a change in the family's fortunes, with Barbara's parents leaving their grand Worcestershire home for a much more modest life. While her father turned to alcohol, Cartland's mother Polly tried desperately to cling on to their place in high society. As a young woman, this would also preoccupy Barbara who, despite a lack of funds, found herself mixing with the Bright Young Things of the era.

"She didn't have lots of resources to draw from, and so she always had to make the best of herself and just go for everything in this demonically energetic way," says Sweet.

Cartland started her career as a newspaper gossip columnist, before publishing her first novel Jigsaw in 1925, a tale of a young woman who leaves her French convent school and heads to London in search of love.

Her own love life gave her plenty of inspiration to draw from. She fielded 49 marriage proposals before accepting what turned out to be the wrong one. After divorcing her first husband for adultery she then married his cousin, handily keeping the same married name, McCorquodale.

Unlike the historical romances that she later became famous for, her earlier books had contemporary settings. "Some of her early work, particularly her writing in the 1920s and '30s was quite groundbreaking," says Dr Amy Burge, associate professor in Popular Fiction at the University of Birmingham and co-author of The Bonkbuster: Women's Popular Reading in the Long 1980s.

A 1926 play, Blood Money, was initially banned for being too racy. Her 1935 novel First Class Lady featured a character who has an illegal abortion, causing its censorship in Ireland. And 1936's Dangerous Experiment was one of only a handful British novels of the time to address the rise of Nazi antisemitism.

'I give them glamour'

Cartland's imperial phase came during the golden age of cheap mass market paperbacks in the 1960s, '70s and '80s. Publishers were hungry for manuscripts, and Barbara was happy to oblige, producing books at the alarming speed of one a fortnight. "The one author in the world with 150 virgins lying about was me," she said.

By this point her novels were set in the past, mainly the 19th Century. They were formulaic, but that was part of the appeal. "Repetition is comforting," says Burge. "The joy of a romance novel is that you know it's going to end happily. The anticipation and the pleasure is in how you get there."

While her fictional worlds often involved high society, Cartland's readers were largely working-class women. "I'm selling millions of paperbacks to women who are on Valium because they're having such a rotten time in real life," she said. "They don't want to read about the kitchen sink, they can look at that any time they're peeling potatoes. I'm their escape. I give them glamour, beautiful clothes, and the marvellous attentive men they are starving for."

Not every reader was an exhausted housewife: one photograph captured a teenage Diana Spencer reading a Cartland book. The future princess was more than just a fan, though. Barbara's daughter Raine married Diana's father, Earl Spencer, in 1976, making the writer her step-grandmother.

'A life full of contradictions'

The peak of Cartland's success coincided with the rise of second-wave feminism – a movement Cartland disapproved of. The feeling was mutual. In The Female Eunuch, Germaine Greer said Cartland's work was "sterile self-deception".

Sweet argues Cartland's books offered a counterpoint to the social shifts of the time. "When we think of the 1960s we think of this permissive society, but an awful lot of people didn't like that kind of thing," he says. "She was representing those swathes of women who never signed up for feminism in the '60s or '70s and wanted something else. As a historian, you can't dismiss that."

Burge agrees that some women might have found the changes in society overwhelming, and sought comfort in the familiarity of Cartland's worlds – but she also thinks we shouldn't assume her readers craved what was depicted in her books. "Because of their historical setting, her books offered a safe space to play with ideas about submissiveness and dominant masculinity that women didn't necessarily want in their real lives," she says.

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Cartland's own life was full of contradictions. A social climber who loved nothing more than mingling with aristocracy and royalty, she spent her political career – a decade as a Conservative county councillor – championing the causes of those she thought hard done by, from underpaid nurses to neglected care home residents.

One of her more surprising chapters was when she became a fierce campaigner for the rights of the Romany Gypsy community. Her activism led to the creation of Britain's first permanent Gypsy site – nicknamed Barbaraville.

And while Cartland might have dismissed the feminist movement, she also once argued that women should be paid by the state for domestic labour. "I think this is why she's so interesting because she's impossible to classify," says Sweet.

In 1960, Cartland co-founded the Romantic Novelists Association, an organisation that's still going strong. Romance as a literary genre is currently surging in popularity, especially with young readers, but although Cartland sold 750 million books you'll struggle to find a copy in a bookshop today.

"They are written for their moment, I think, and they express the desires and wants of a readership who don't exist anymore," says Sweet.

Burge says although Cartland's writing is no longer widely read, she's still seen as a hugely important figure in the world of romantic fiction – not least for bringing more attention to the genre. "She had a very strong sense of brand. I think a large part of her legacy is that of the blockbuster author."

Cartland once said that "women shouldn't have character… they should be like pretty chocolate boxes" – but she was, and remains, a bigger persona than anyone. "She has this irresistible main character energy that means it's been a total pleasure to write about her," says Sweet. "She never did anything by halves."

The Great Dictator by Matthew Sweet is published on 10 September.

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'Revolutionary in form and content': How the obscenity trial against 1950s poem Howl reshaped US free speech

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260909-how-the-obscenity-trial-against-1950s-poem-howl-reshaped-us-free-speech, 12 days ago

Allan Ginsberg's graphic verse had a seismic effect on American society. When two people were put on trial for selling it, the judgement was a landmark moment in loosening censorship.

On 7 October 1955, Allen Ginsberg first performed his poem Howl, destined to be a defining work of the Beat Generation – a bohemian, nonconformist literary subculture rejecting the US's post-World War Two social order.

Only a select few gathered at the Six Gallery in San Francisco. Yet less than two years later, Ginsberg and Howl would be infamous. In 1957, both were at the centre of a high-profile obscenity trial that would change the course of literary censorship for decades, and help to liberalise 1950s Cold War America.

Ginsberg's book Howl and Other Poems – the classic 1959 live performance album of which is newly reissued on vinyl this month – saw few sales when first put on the shelves of City Lights Books in San Francisco in 1956. But, with the trial, the content of the 112-stanza poem went on to cause national outrage. Religious groups and conservative authorities were shocked by its profanity and graphic depictions of drug-taking, homosexuality and mental illness.

"[Its publication] was near the height of Cold War culture," says Jonah Raskin, author of American Scream: Allen Ginsberg's Howl and the Making of the Beat Generation. "A time of censorship of news and information, of intense conformity, of repression of people for their political beliefs and for being homosexual."

Printed in England for cost-effectiveness, Howl was imported into the US for sale. The first shipment arrived without issue, but in March 1957, 520 copies from the UK were seized by US customs for being obscene: one inspector told reporters "you wouldn't want your children coming across it". Then when in June, two undercover police bought a copy of the book from City Lights, both owner Lawrence Ferlinghetti and bookshop manager Shig Murao were arrested and charged with selling obscene material.

The trial became national news, with the eventual ruling in favour of Ferlinghetti and Murao paving the way for generations of artistic autonomy. Judge Clayton Horn declared the poem was not obscene, asserting in his key finding that Howl had "redeeming social importance". "It was absolutely a landmark case in free speech and against censorship and freedom of expression," says Raskin.

The US's first literary obscenity trial dated back to 1821, when John Cleland's 1779 novel Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, about the life of a sex worker, was banned. Since the 19th Century, US obscenity law had been modelled on that in Britain, which itself was founded on the 1868 Regina v Hicklin case, centred on an anti-Catholic pamphlet. The Hicklin Test decreed "the test of obscenity is whether the tendency… is to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influences". Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemingway, Henry Miller and DH Lawrence all had books in part or fully banned in the US as a result.

"Literary censorship was alive and well in the 1950s," says Ira Wells, author of On Book Banning. "In fact, state and municipal censorship boards were mostly expanding their censorship capacities. While censors were particularly preoccupied with sensationalistic dime novels, they also went after sexual, and particularly homosexual, material."

The genesis of Howl

Ginsberg, the son of a socialist father and a mother who joined the Communist Party, began writing what became Howl on 8 June, 1955 after he awoke from a dream conversation with his friend Joan Vollmer. She was an early beat writer who died in 1951 after being shot by her partner William S Burroughs during a disputed drunken incident in Mexico. In the dream, Ginsberg wrote in his journal, Vollmer asked about their Beat Generation friends. "These people had their mental health struggles," says David S Wills, author and editor of the journal Beatdom. "And he was very determined to celebrate them, to record their lives."

As the poem initially titled by Ginsberg Dream Record: June 8, 1955 evolved into the epic three-part Howl, he portrayed mental illness as both a personal tragedy and a societal issue.

Ginsberg had spent eight months in New York State Psychiatric Institute during 1949 and 1950 as part of a plea deal after being convicted of handling stolen goods, while his mother and long-term partner Peter Orlovsky also struggled with severe mental health issues. His experiences with his and others' mental illness are captured in Howl's arresting opening line: "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked." Ginsberg wrote Part 2 during a terrifying psychedelic trip, during which he hallucinated the Francis Drake building in San Francisco became monstrous.

Otherwise, Howl was a darkly humorous, scathing critique of oppressive 1950s US conservative orthodoxies. It rejected social conformity and railed against "Moloch" – a reference to the corrupting God in the Hebrew Bible that was Ginsberg's hallucinated catch-all emblem for what he saw as the US's dehumanising ills, namely capitalism, government tyranny and the military industrial complex.

Howl promoted free thinking, substance experimentation and explicit gay sexual freedom with evocative language and surrealist imagery. When performed, its erratic jazz-like rhythms also became apparent. "It has this infectious defiance embedded," Raskin says. "It's revolutionary in form and very, very revolutionary in content."

How the trial played out

By the time Ferlinghetti and Murao's trial began on 16 August 1957, there had been a softening of the obscenity law that worked in theirs and Ginsberg's favour. "There were glimmers of change," Wells says. Weeks prior, Roth v United States created a new standard that stated literature was protected by the right to free speech as in the First Amendment.

Still the prosecution, led by Ralph McIntosh, argued Howl was devoid of social value, promoted juvenile delinquency and that Ferlinghetti and Murao acted with lewd intent. The defence was led by American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), with lead attorney, famous criminal lawyer Jake Ehrlich, calling nine prominent scholars, critics and professors to argue its artistic merit. Ginsberg was in Europe and South Africa during the trial, though wrote supportive letters to Ferlinghetti.

Horn's ruling on 3 October was a demand that words used in literature should be contextualised, and judgement of a work's obscenity had to take into account the publication as a whole. It further asked: "Would there be any freedom of press or speech if one must reduce his vocabulary to vapid euphemism?"

The impact of the judgement

The cultural consequences of the judgement were seismic. For Ginsberg, the verdict meant not only validation, but notoriety and success: Howl and Other Poems went on to sell one million copies. It encouraged his convictions and emboldened his work. 1973's The Fall of America: Poems of These States featured sexually explicit anti-war and anti-authority material. Ginsberg's fellow Beat writers, such as Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, also became famous and promoted a message of radical personal liberty, sexual openness and spiritual awakening. "If Howl hadn't had such a sensational trial, it wouldn't have generated the sort of cultural force to make the Beat Generation an international thing," Wills says.

Of even greater significance, the precedent set by Judge Horn led to a far-reaching, liberal interpretation of free speech. "It's the turning point when everything changes," Wills says. Over the next few years, previously banned books in the US – from Lady Chatterley's Lover to Tropic of Cancer – all won trials to overturn their bans. Publishers became bolder: Gove Press published Burroughs' controversial novel Naked Lunch in 1962. "We start getting much more opening up to anything that has literary merit," Wills says. "Would that have been possible without Howl? I don't think so."

Hollywood was also buoyed by the Howl judgement. Film-makers could now use the "redeeming social importance" legal standard to bypass the Motion Picture Association's strict Hays Code and tackle previously forbidden subjects.

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The new-found countercultural attitude that Howl and the result of the obscenity trial helped foster spread across the US and beyond. "It all rapidly happened in 1957," Wills says. "And then by 1958, it became a national obsession. Over the next three years there was the beat/beatnik/hipster/bohemian obsession across the country. Then that turned into the hippie movement. It was this snowball effect."

A line can certainly be drawn from Howl to the social revolutions of the 1960s. "The '60s generation who were protesting against the Vietnam war and segregation were the sons and daughters of Howl," Raskin says. Ginsberg himself was seen as the figurehead of the decade's counterculture, inspiring Bob Dylan and being a vociferous anti-war voice.

When the so-called "Chicago Seven" went on trial in 1969 for Vietnam War protests, Ginsberg was called as a defence witness due to his prominent role in organising the protests, to explain their movement's peaceful, spiritual intentions. During his testimony, he passionately read sections of Howl during cross-examination. "More than a decade after it was first published, it still had renewed life and vibrancy," Raskin says.

Yet history suggests arguments over literary censorship are never truly settled. Recent years have seen an increase in banned books in schools and libraries in the US, with the American Library Association recording a record 5,668 instances of book-banning from libraries in 2025.

"Some [people] are still convinced that words can function as a contagion," Wells believes. "Judge Horn found that artists needed the freedom to use words to explore and express their interior selves. Whether we will continue to have the right to read those expressions remains an open question."

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Why did people want to see a police commissioner on stage?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvj64dgdn9lpo, yesterday

A £79,000 a year police commissioner has been under fire for plans to carry out a 127-date stage show tour.

Opposition parties questioned how Reform UK's Colin Sutton, could focus on his job overseeing Norfolk Constabulary while travelling across the UK.

Eventually, Sutton dropped out of the "ridiculous" theatre run following a backlash.

But this would have been his sequel to a tour that saw him appear at more than a hundred venues. So why is he such a box-office draw?

Famous detective

Most voters do not know who their commissioner is – the government says that fewer than 20% of people could name them.

But Sutton is not a typical police commissioner.

Following a decades-long career in policing, Sutton has been described as "one of the UK's greatest living detectives" by the promoters of his show.

Born in 1960, he joined the Metropolitan Police in the early 1980s.

He worked his way up the ranks in different forces, but it was his role back in the Met as detective chief inspector which saw him thrust into the public spotlight.

In 2004 he led the investigation to catch serial killer Levi Bellfield, who had murdered Milly Dowler, Marsha McDonnell and Amelie Delagrange.

He also oversaw the latter stages of the long-running investigation to capture Night Stalker rapist Delroy Grant.

Sutton retired in 2011 as one of the UK's most high-profile officers.

What did he do after leaving the police?

In 2019 he released his first book, Manhunt, detailing the investigation into Bellfield's capture.

This was later adapted into a three-part ITV drama starring Martin Clunes as Sutton.

A follow-up book and TV series were released in 2021, and Sutton also became a regular media commentator on policing issues.

Meanwhile, he began featuring in documentaries looking at the major cases he had been involved in.

What has he done on stage?

Alongside his TV and writing work, Sutton started presenting live shows in person, including one in Norwich back in 2022.

With the true-crime genre continuing to grow in popularity, there was demand from audiences to hear Sutton talking about his experiences in policing.

That led to him embarking on a long-running stage tour, "Makings of a Murderer", in 2024 and 2025, performing at more than 100 venues.

It was such a success that the promotion company, Entertainers, planned a sequel show to run across 127 dates next year.

Why did the tour become a problem?

The job of Norfolk Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) became vacant in June, when Sarah Taylor announced she was immediately quitting.

Despite the government planning to scrap the role in two years, saying it is not needed. a by-election was called.

Sutton comfortably won the job of overseeing the local force and the £79,000 salary that comes with it.

But then earlier this month, plans were revealed for an 11-month tour for 2027, with a teaser video on YouTube featuring Sutton announcing "I'm back".

He faced immediate criticism, with political rivals such as Liberal Democrat Steff Aquarone pointing out that he was performing a similar number of dates as Taylor Swift would do on a tour.

Following growing pressure, Sutton announced on Wednesday said he was pulling out, calling the number of dates "ridiculous".

He later told the BBC he was trying to help Entertainers find a "suitable substitute" to replace him.

"The tour will go ahead, but I will not be appearing in it," he said.

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'Full circle' moments as New Vic marks 40 years

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvlyl1eejpx1o, 2 days ago

A small Staffordshire theatre which made history as Europe's first purpose-built theatre-in-the-round has been marking 40 years of innovative performances.

The New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme officially opened on 13 August 1986 and was supported by a public appeal which raised more than £1m in donations.

In the years since it has hosted 580 plays, and has seen Ben Kingsley, Freddie Jones, Bob Hoskins and Robert Powell tread the boards.

Its impact has been felt not just in north Staffordshire, but globally, as a number of its plays have been toured far beyond its walls.

These include a 2013 adaptation of Jules Verne's classic novel Around The World In 80 Days by Laura Eason, which is one of the theatre's top-performing main stage plays.

It sees eight actors take on 109 different characters, and has opened as far afield as New York.

The play returned to the New Vic earlier this year for a special anniversary run, with original cast member Michael Hugo reprising his role as Passepartout.

"We're blessed to be part of a show that's so good, so popular, and that people want it back so much," Hugo said.

He has starred in more than 40 plays at the New Vic, including a highly-acclaimed performance as the main character Neil "Nello" Baldwin in Marvellous in 2022.

The stage play was adapted from the BAFTA-winning BBC film of the same name and celebrated local man Baldwin's extraordinary life.

Actor Toby Jones took on the title role in that 2014 film version, and said the challenge when playing him was partly in understanding how Nello helped other people.

"The drama shows, I think, how he enjoys life," Jones said.

It was a full-circle moment, as Jones' late father Freddie spoke the first word on stage at the New Vic.

Marvellous was co-written by Nello himself along with lifelong friend Malcolm Clarke.

Audiences followed Nello's story from meeting football stars and politicians to working as a clown and receiving an honorary degree from Keele University.

The production later transferred to the West End where it took residency at Soho Place - and Nello was in the audience every night.

Meanwhile, back at the New Vic, Nello was honoured with his own permanent seat – in Box Eight – marking his contribution to the area.

Another play which came back to the New Vic this year was Good Golly Miss Molly, originally produced back in 1989.

Its writer and director Bob Eaton returned especially for its 40th anniversary year to direct it.

For artistic director Theresa Heskins, taking on her role in 2007 was a dream come true.

"I think that sense of local people being so committed to the theatre and us being committed back, has tided us through that 40 years of amazing experiences," she said of the milestone anniversary.

But it is catering assistant Paula Prince who has been at the New Vic since the very beginning.

"The opening day was amazing, just all these people just everywhere – it was wonderful."

There had been a lot of changes in the intervening years, she said, including the introduction of educational programmes and the community cafe initiatives.

The New Vic was built to replace the original Victoria Theatre, which operated out of a converted cinema in nearby Hartshill from 1962.

Stoke-on-Trent born Peter Cheeseman - the New Vic's first artistic director – decided during the planning stage that no audience member should be more than 28ft (8.5m) away from the main acting area.

Architect John Sambrook said one of the initial hurdles was explaining how the building would operate to some of its financial backers.

"They couldn't understand the concept of three vomitories - two vomitories for the public to walk through and then the big vomitory for the actors.

"They couldn't get it into their heads that the audience actually walked on to the stage and across the stage."

Cheeseman had insisted that for theatre in-the-round to work as intended, the audience had to feel as though they were part of the performance and the actors had to, in effect, be part of the audience.

Arguably the jewel in the crown of the New Vic's anniversary year programme is a production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. It opened this week.

"I'm buzzing like a bee on a Berocca," said comedian Russell Kane who is taking on the part of Romeo opposite Natalie Casey’s Juliet.

"It is 95% Shakespeare's words - but if there is something in there that is so archaic and silly it no longer makes sense it has been removed," Kane said of their rendition.

"My aim was to get to a point where it was so convincing that when you watch me and Natalie speak to each other you think 'oh they're in love'."

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Odyssey painting goes on show at city art gallery

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c574e3kk818do, 3 days ago

A famous painting depicting a scene from Homer's Odyssey has gone on display at York Art Gallery.

The J.M.W. Turner creation, on loan from the National Gallery and forming part of a new exhibition, shows Ulysses, also known as Odysseus, sailing from the island where Polyphemus, a one-eyed giant, had held him and his men captive.

Following the recent success of the new Christopher Nolan film based on the epic poem, curators said they hoped there would be renewed interest in artists' interpretations of Homer's work.

The painting is one of more than 100 works to go on display as part of Turner, Wedgwood & Beyond: Inspired by Flaxman, which opens at the gallery on Friday.

The exhibition looks at work by John Flaxman, a York-born artist, on the 200th anniversary of his death, as well as the artists he inspired.

Senior curator Dr Beatrice Bertram said: "Flaxman may not be a household name these days, but what we hope to do within this show is to really redress him and give him some time in the light again.

"In his time, he was internationally renowned for his sculptures and his designs, particularly his illustrations of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey."

According to the show's curators, elements of Flaxman's sketches can be seen in Turner's painting called Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus – Homer's Odyssey, including outlines of horses in the sunset and the shadow of a cyclops.

The works are shown side by side on the gallery wall, inviting visitors to compare them.

Co-curator Richard Johns, from the University of York, said the exhibition had not been planned around the release of the film, but was rather a "happy accident".

"It wasn't actually something we had in mind when we were developing the exhibition, or even when we asked the National Gallery if they would lend this painting," he explained.

"The interest in the Odyssey as a poem has increased enormously as a result of the success of the film.

"I hope it will encourage people who've seen the film or have a renewed interest in Homer to come and see what artists in the 18th and 19th Century made of Homer's poetry, just as we've seen how an artist like Christopher Nolan in the 21st Century interprets those same ideas."

The exhibition will be on display until 17 January 2027.

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'We were clueless': How a game of rock, paper, scissors led to a Big Deal for fast-learning art duo

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6lyqe8nlneyo, 3 days ago

Spoiler warning: This article contains details of the final episode of The Big Deal with Steph McGovern

Two west Belfast pals who had never before set foot in a gallery have been crowned champions of a new BBC art competition series.

Gavin Burns and Liam Martin, who said they were clueless about art, scooped £50,000 in art during Wednesday night's grand final of The Big Deal with Steph McGovern.

The BBC One series forces amateur dealers to cut commission splits and hawk masterpieces to prove they can survive the elite art world.

"I'd never been in an art gallery ever and neither had Liam," said Gavin, adding that it "just shows you can do anything".

Having come into the competition as dark horses, the winning pair said no-one expected them to even make it to the second round.

"After episode one I remember saying that... it was pointless us coming back to episode two. It was a shambles," said Gavin.

"We were the worst. We were doing rock, paper, scissors to try and work out what artists we would work with and you can't do that because they put their heart and soul into their art.

"That's how we worked it all out," he told BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme.

"I pulled him (Liam) over in the corridor and was like, what one (artist) do you like and he said the top one and I said the bottom, so we said just go rock, paper, scissors. And we done it."

Despite the artist "taking offence" at their method of choosing her piece, they got past the first round and began to take on board all the lessons they could.

Gavin added: "A lot of people on the show, I think they came in with an ego like they already knew how to sell art.

"Me and him came in openly admitting we know nothing, but we want to learn."

One of the key phrases they came to learn, from their series mentor Cordelia de Freitas, was to tell people the piece is "open to interpretation".

"If you don't know the answer to something, don't say you don't know the answer, just say: 'It's open to interpretation,'" said Liam.

"It's an open question, you giving that person time to think about it and give their own interpretation.

"It's a good way of deflecting something if you don't want to look like an idiot or sound stupid - which, in many of the cases, we did at the start."

The final episode saw them pitch a six-figure piece of art at the Frieze Sculpture outdoor exhibition in London's Regent's Park to a group of industry experts.

In true TV style, the contestants were gathered with nothing but a dramatic pause standing between Liam and Gavin, and the big win.

"I started to feel sick, and then I started sweating," Gavin said.

"I thought I was going to faint. And then she said, 'Gavin and Liam.'

"I just couldn't believe it. I grabbed Liam and started hugging him. I've never won anything in my life."

Liam said the £50,000 prize was "life-changing money, a life-changing opportunity".

With the win still fresh in their minds, the pair said they have not made any plans about what to spend their winnings on, but the show has spawned a new appreciation for art and owning a new gallery could be on the cards.

Cordelia de Freitas said "there was something in Gavin and Liam that was naïve" when she first met them.

"They were so clearly out of their comfort zone. I thought then and there, 'I can turn them into art dealers'," she said.

"And I didn't even know at that point that they'd never stepped inside an art gallery before."

Presenter Steph McGovern said "week after week" the pair continued to show up and take on "all the advice they were given".

"And it paid off. I'm so proud of them. I can't wait to see what they do next."

British-American author and critic Bonnie Greer dies aged 77

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c39w4xqw4r2jo, 5 days ago

British-American author and cultural commentator Bonnie Greer has died at the age of 77 after a brief illness, her husband has said.

In a statement delivered with "profound sadness", Greer's widower David Hutchins noted how the acclaimed playwright and critic had made "an enduring contribution to British cultural and public life" with her "intelligence, courage and distinctive voice".

He added: "To me, she was my partner, confidante and inspiration, and I feel profoundly privileged to have shared my life with her."

Hutchins continued: "Those closest to Bonnie will remember her warmth, humour, generosity and extraordinary ability to bring people together."

'Courage, humour and humanity'

BBC presenter Clive Myrie led the tributes from elsewhere, posting on X: "This is such a shock. She was a friend and mentor and I will miss her with all my heart."

Former deputy prime minister David Lammy called Greer "a powerful wordsmith and artist, she was eloquent and exacting".

He added that she was "a true life force" and he would "never forget her quiet fearlessness taking on Nick Griffin" during an appearance with the then-British National Party (BNP) leader on the BBC's Question Time in 2009.

Lammy added: "I will miss her mentorship, and her friendship."

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said Greer's voice brought "courage, humour and humanity to Britain's cultural conversation".

He said: "She inspired and opened doors for so many others. And she was great fun too - I will miss her friendship enormously."

Plays, novels and panel shows

Born in Chicago in 1948, Greer wrote plays from a young age and went on to study theatre in her home city and before attending the Actors Studio in New York with director Elia Kazan.

Greer moved to the UK in 1986 and became a familiar face on UK TV, appearing as a frequent panellist on programmes like Question Time and Newsnight Review, debating the topics of the day.

She penned award-winning works like Munda Negra, which won her the Verity Bargate Award for best play, and novels such as Hanging by Her Teeth (1994) and Entropy (2009).

Once named by the Observer as one of the country's leading public intellectuals, Greer's work - across a range of disciplines and platforms - often tackled issues around culture, race and public institutions.

Speaking to the Guardian in 2016 in the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter movement, Greer said: "When I wake up in the morning, I'm just myself. It's only when I leave the door that I become a black woman to the world."

She added: "I tell black women all the time, 'Don't apologise for yourself and keep your hair nappy. Make sure you are heard'."

Greer served on the boards of cultural institutions including the British Museum, Royal Opera House and London Film School, and was chancellor of London's Kingston University.

Her other published works include a memoir titled A Parallel Life and a biography of US poet and playwright Langston Hughes.

Also in 2009, her part-memoir, part-music-history book, Obama Music, was published.

Greer was made an OBE in 2010 for services to the arts.

In 2022, she was appointed as a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Broadcaster and author John Simpson added to the tributes on Wednesday, posting: "So sad to hear of the death of the writer and critic Bonnie Greer.

"She was a good friend, and gave me strong support at a time I needed it. Fiercely intelligent, but always avoided personal attacks. A huge loss."

Fellow journalist and broadcaster Sangita Myska, who interviewed Greer several times, recalled her as having been a "smart, sassy, firebrand who will be missed from our public discourse".

Opera singer leads Scottish takeover of the Last Night of the Proms

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c60m3px8k2wwo, 7 days ago

When opera singer Nicky Spence took to the famous stage of London's Royal Albert Hall for the Last Night Proms, just a tartan scarf hinted at his roots.

But when he ripped off his "boring black trousers" to reveal a pair of tartan trews during a rendition of Donald, Where's Your Troosers? there was no doubt of his heritage.

It was part of Scotch Snap - a medley of traditional and modern classics - which the Dumfries native combined with dance moves and a series of patriotic outfits.

And it ensured the audience were treated to performances of The Proclaimers' I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) and Bacara's Yes Sir, I Can Boogie alongside the more traditional Rule Britannia! and Sit Down, Your're Rocking the Boat.

Spence, who now lives in Paisley with his husband and child, told BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast that the show was "such a blast".

"Everybody loved it, it was amazing - like a chip fire," he added.

"Like Bucks Fizz when there was lots of Velcro, I came on with some very boring black trousers and then whipped them off during Donald, Where's Your Troosers?

"I think that got everybody's pulses racing a la Magic Mike."

It was the world premiere of the medley, which was arranged by Stuart Calvert, and also featured traditional songs like The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond.

Dance routines with two dancers dressed in red tartan kilts and bonnets accompanied the music.

But laughter came from the audience when Spence pulled off two costume changes.

He closed out his performance in a black T-shirt with gold sequined sleeves and a red pair of tartan trews, while a traditionally-dressed bagpiper accompanied the orchestra.

Spence said he spent a lot of time working with the arranger to choose the music, curate and trim the showcase.

"I put my finger up the zeitgeist to see what was hot at the time and I thought we have got to include Yes Sir, I Can Boogie," he said.

The Spanish duo Baccara's disco hit from 1977 became Scotland's unofficial national anthem ahead of Euro 2020.

The song travelled with the Tartan Army to the World Cup this summer, where it continued to be belted out by fans at home and at the tournament.

For Spence, however, the song did not even touch the sides of his vocal range, who is a specialist opera singer and has toured with Katherine Jenkins and Dame Shirley Bassey.

"It was really fun," he said.

"Singing things like this is like sorbet compared to the rest of my life, which is like a heavy meal.

"Richard Wagner, Strauss and Mozart are beautiful but quite heavy weather stuff and much harder to sing than Yes Sir, I Can Boogie."

He added he was more concerned about the dancing than the singing during his performance.

Spence said it had been a long time since he had worn Scottish dress on stage but he had recently moved back to Scotland and was happy to be back.

"I had a record contract when I was about 21 years old with Universal Records and I was called The Scottish Tenor so I sang a lot of Robert Burns and wore a kilt most of the day," he said.

"Then I ditched it all and went into opera."

He joked if anyone wants to hear Yes Sir, I Can Boogie, he will sing it again.

The tenor also portrayed the prince from Rusalka during Vidino divná (wonderful vision) from Dvořák's Rusalka during the final evening of the BBC Proms.

He followed Scotch Snap with Sit Down, You're the Rockin' the Boat - a famous show tune from the Broadway musical Guys and Dolls.

Spence went on to kick off the final stretch with Rule Britannia!

He received applause for his fourth costume of the evening - a jacket and kilt combo, featuring the Loch Ness Monster.

Spence also recorded a version of Nessun Dorma, filmed on the steps of the Royal Albert Hall, to mark the aria's centenary.

The evening concluded with a tribute to Dolly Parton, God Save the King and Auld Lang Syne.

What it's like to sleep along Maryland's 200-year-old canal, one lock-keeper house at a time

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260917-sleep-in-a-different-century-along-the-co-canal, today

The C&O Canal was a thriving 19th-Century waterway, and a strategic asset during the Civil War. Today, its historic lockhouses offer overnight guests a unique way to relive US history.

I'm somewhere in the wilds of Maryland, following the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal past riverfront undergrowth and long-abandoned locks overgrown with vines. For the last sweaty miles, the canal's towpath has led me deeper into a sea of green where, presumably, a historic lockhouse is waiting. I cross a footbridge and finally spot the 19th-Century cottage, sunlit beneath a canopy of trees.

I've reached mile nine (13km) of the 184.5 mile (297km) C&O Canal Towpath, a recreational trail running beside its namesake waterway and parallel to the Potomac River. This cosy stone structure was once one of 57 lockhouses inhabited by lock-keepers during the nearly 100 years it was in operation. Tonight, it's where I'll sleep.

When mules ruled the towpath

My journey started in Washington DC's cobblestoned 18th-Century Georgetown neighbourhood – the canal's starting point and mile zero for the towpath. Travellers typically tackle it by bike, but several of the historic lockhouses are clustered within the first 23 miles (37km), so I'm hiking that stretch for a slow ramble through Maryland history.

Two centuries ago, only mules trod this trail, towing canal boats. Inspired by George Washington's vision of opening trade with the West, the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal was commissioned in 1825 to connect Washington DC with the Ohio River.

It never made it that far, ending at Cumberland in western Maryland. On the day President John Quincy Adams broke ground in 1828, construction also started on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad – a new form of transportation that would eventually outpace the canal. However, the C&O operated as a commercial waterway for 93 years. During the American Civil War, it served as a critical Union supply route and became a frequent target for the Confederate Army. At its 1870s peak, as many as 550 mule-powered boats navigated 74 lift locks tended by the canal's lock-keepers.

Today, only 26 lockhouses remain along the towpath. In 2007, the National Park Service (NPS) and the C&O Canal Trust decided to open them for overnight stays, unveiling the first in 2010. "Staying overnight in a lockhouse provides a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in these stories," Arden Shaer, the Trust's Canal Quarters Manager told me.

There are now eight lockhouses in the hospitality network, ranging from rustic stays to full amenity cottages, each depicting different eras of the canal's nearly 200 years. Over four days, I'll stay across several decades of canal history.

My hiking boots and rucksack draw attention as I head south on Georgetown's bustling M street, the brick path following the canal as it cuts serenely through colourful row houses.

"Happy trails!" a man calls.

"Going the whole way?" asks another.

I forge towards the fringes of town, passing three restored lift locks – the structures lock-keepers used to raise or lower boats. As I leave Georgetown behind, the towpath abruptly changes to crushed stone. I can still hear cars and planes, but now bird calls too. Around mile 4.5 (7.2km), I cross imperceptibly from Washington DC into Maryland – for the next four miles (6km), I follow the canal, watching green herons stalk fish and painted turtles sun themselves on logs afloat in duckweed.

The Potomac flickers through the forest opposite. Locks dot the bank, and I pass the Eisenhower-era Lockhouse 6 with its red trim and porch rocking chairs, then Lockhouse 8, dating to the 1830s. The odd cyclist whizzes by, but otherwise, for the next several hours, I'm wonderfully alone.

Sleeping like a lock-keeper

I arrive at Lockhouse 10 by afternoon. Though this is one of the network's full-amenity lockhouses, guests must bring bedding, toiletries and provisions, so I gratefully set down my bulging pack and get my bearings.

Built in 1830, the two-storey structure is furnished to evoke the late 1930s, when the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) restored it while rehabilitating the canal's first 22 miles (35km). As I explore, I find fireplaces, an ornamental record player and a mint-green kitchen.

The canal's transformation into a recreational trail wasn't guaranteed. After it closed permanently in 1924, the waterway was largely neglected until the US government transferred the land to the NPS in 1938. A 1942 flood undid much of the CCC's rehabilitation work, and the government proposed paving over the canal. President Dwight D Eisenhower proclaimed it a national monument and it became the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park in 1971.

I continue my snoop through history, finding two bedrooms and a bathroom with a claw-foot tub upstairs. Back in the kitchen, I use a pot to heat the can of soup I've brought for dinner. Through the gingham curtains, I can see the occasional cyclist and hiker. Upstairs as I prepare for bed, I hear cars hum on Clara Barton Parkway behind the lockhouse – inside Lockhouse 10 it's the 1930s; outside, it's the modern world.

Back on the towpath

My morning starts more quietly than a typical lock-keeper's – whose day would have begun as early as 02:00 to the sound of the boatman's horn or cry of "Hey-y-y-y lock!"

Instead, I enjoy my packed oatmeal and mentally prepare to hike eight miles (13km) to Lockhouse 21, where my husband will meet me.

The towpath continues beneath a tunnel of trees. Near mile 11 (18km), I set down my pack and scan the woodland with my binoculars, spotting a red-tailed hawk surveying the land.

By mile 12.3 (19.8km), I'm famished and cross a footbridge to Old Angler's Inn in Potomac for a much-needed burger. Back on the path, local Dave Gwyn recognises me from when he was cycling the towpath the previous day, telling me the inn puts out jugs of water for towpath users on weekends. He adds: "The stretch you're about to hit is my favourite."

Ahead, the landscape opens dramatically at Widewater, an ancient Potomac riverbed repurposed for the canal, widening from 60ft (18m) to nearly 500ft (150m) across. After miles following a canal confined to a narrow corridor, the sudden expanse feels like the landscape taking a breath.

I detour to Mather Gorge, a steep, razor-narrow chasm on the Potomac River. I scramble off the towpath over boulders to the gorge's jagged edge. Peering down, the greenish-brown waters 60ft (18m) below rush around clusters of rocks. For the first time, I appreciate the striking contrast between the river and the serene, engineered canal.

At mile 16.7 (26.9km), my husband meets me at full-amenity Lockhouse 21. Also built in 1830, the lockhouse is outfitted to recall 1916, when the canal was entering its twilight era as a commercial route. We find scrapbooks telling the story of the Swain family who tended the adjacent lock for more than a century, and a modern electric range masquerading as an antique stove.

Sleeping without electricity

The next morning, we double back to Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center in Potomac – a former lockhouse turned visitor centre – where we board a 30ft (9m) replica 20th-Century launch boat. Ranger Cheyenne Millard recounts canal history as we glide past waving cyclists, then demonstrates a restored lift lock back on shore. She invites audience members to push open the heavy balance beams – after two days passing locks, I finally get to open one myself.

My husband drives to Lockhouse 22 – our final stay – while I hike the three miles (5km) between.

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Lockhouse 22 is the closest we'll come to living like 19th-Century lock-keepers: there's no electricity or running water, just stone walls, battery-operated lanterns and outhouses. A wooden table and mismatched chairs sit beneath exposed beams and gapped floorboards. Photos introduce us to 1830s engineering feats, including the Seneca Aqueduct, a water-filled bridge carrying the canal over Seneca Creek, uniquely combined with a lift lock. A frequent visitor to the area: President Grover Cleveland regularly fished at Lock 22.

At night, lantern light catches a hefty spider before we retreat upstairs to period-style bedframes with one modern luxury: memory-foam mattresses. Awash in darkness, crickets sound through the hot, still air.

As we near the 200th anniversary of the C&O Canal's construction, its history is still unfolding: during our trip, Lockhouse 8 at mile 8.3 (13.4km), was unveiled, evoking the 1960s, when the canal became a national monument. The Trust and NPS are already working on the next lock-turned-guesthouse.

"We hope [they'll] draw visitors farther along the canal to discover another special part of the park," says C&O Canal Trust President and CEO Lauren Riviello.

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'I think I can write as badly here as I can in London': Monty Python star Eric Idle's 55-year French escape from fame

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260917-why-monty-python-star-eric-idle-escaped-to-france, 3 days ago

The Monty Python star bought a shack in Provence in 1972. Here's how he spent the next 55 years making it his refuge from fame – and how it somehow became a celebrity retreat.

Eric Idle is enjoying a pain au chocolat in the Provençal village of Cotignac. He is also drinking a cuppa. It's a fitting paradox: Idle has made a career out of satirising Englishness, but one of Britain's funniest men has been quietly consorting with the French for 55 years.

"It chose me, in a way," Idle told the BBC.

He first came to Provence in the early 1970s, as Monty Python was making him increasingly famous, and was immediately smitten. "It was just idyllic. It was fantastic. I said, 'I think I can write as badly here as I can in London'."

Soon after, he bought a three-room shack with no road, water or electricity. Over the next 55 years, Idle turned it into a 22-acre "shackeau": part writing refuge, part escape from fame and, somewhat improbably, a hideaway for friends including David Bowie, George Harrison and Ronnie Wood.

Now, as he publishes Idle in Provence: A Brief History of Thyme, he reflects on the place in France that has shaped more than half his life.

You've had this home for decades now. What does Provence give you that nowhere else does?

Relaxation. As soon as I'd get here, I'd walk around my grounds, and I'd start to smile and I wouldn't stop smiling until I left. It's comfortable and [the people] are very sweet. They're nice to me, though not in a way they'd recognise. That's just how they are. Someone once said. 'What's it like to be a foreigner?' And I said, oddly enough, I'm not really a foreigner because foreigners are people from Paris. So, I'm beyond the pale.

What was it like for you here in the early days?

It was such a wreck you wouldn't believe it. It had no road, no water, no electricity. We built everything bit by bit. We first came in 1972, and I think we were eight years without electricity. It was great though. [We were] adapting to a life where everything was oil lamps. There were no telephones. You don't have the convenience of communications, but you get all the calm and peace that results from not having them.

I'd lived in London for 15 years; I'd worked at the BBC. I'd always been doing television and writing things, so it was nice to get away from all that. I had a little writing shack up in the woods that burned down in '79. I liked the routine of going up there early in the morning, taking my flask of tea up the hill and writing about what I was thinking. And for the rest of the day, I could enjoy myself.

What makes Cotignac such a good place to escape from fame?

[The locals] don't care. It's no big deal. I believe even [George] Clooney comes and dines here. I think that's because it's more comfortable. You really don't want people pretending to take selfies and all that. It's hard. It stops you being completely relaxed. Here, the people are just getting on with their own lives.

Did the locals eventually come to accept you?

I was [seen as] a visitor for many years. We were living just outside the village. I knew at first the people who helped us build the house: the carpenters, the glaziers. Then, in 1983, The Meaning of Life won the jury prize at Cannes. It was on the front of [the local paper] Var-Matin. They finally realised what I did for a living – that I was a lunatic, an idiot! They were very nice about it, very proud that we won as part of the village.

Did they get your humour or was it lost in translation?

The French actually liked Python from about The Holy Grail in 1975. We had to go to Paris to open it and they loved that. They liked The Life of Brian, but they thought it wasn't blasphemous enough. So, a very French reaction.

In your book you describe having to learn French. Have you made any faux pas in your adopted language?

I once asked a waiter for a cul de Champagne [arse of Champagne] instead of a coupe de Champagne [glass of Champagne] and watched him biting his lip. He was laughing so hard I realised I'd got it wrong.

You were retreating from celebrity life, but ironically, your "shackeau" turned into a sort of celebrity retreat. Do you have any stories to tell about visits from your famous friends?

Ronnie Wood was the first. He came up on a motorbike. He was just joining the Stones and Mick [Jagger] had given him two [cassette] tapes – all the Stones songs he had to learn, and another tape about 'how to get laid' in French.

I took David Bowie to the local coffee bar, the Modern Bar. [A woman called] Muriel ran it. I knew she had pictures of Bowie inside, so I didn't take him in. We sat outside and had a coffee, and she couldn't believe it. She looked at me and just went to get the coffees. But it was lovely because nobody made a fuss. And I could never do anything wrong with Muriel after that.

George Harrison was here early 1978. There's a picture of him outside my writing shack. He looks a bit bothered. We were on our way to watch Barry Sheen at the motorcycling grand prix.

Cotignac was known as the Saint-Tropez of the Haut-Var for a very small amount of time. There are recording studios at Miraval [nearby]. I went there one night in 1979, and [Pink Floyd guitarist] Roger Waters was recording Another Brick in the Wall. So, he had: 'We don't need no education' and, I said, 'You do. We don't need any education, if you don't mind'. We became pals for a little bit – tax exiles.

Has living outside Britain made you feel more or less English?

I am what I am… inescapably English.

This interview has been condensed for length and clarity.

BBC Travel's The SpeciaList is a series of guides to popular and emerging destinations around the world, as seen through the eyes of local experts and tastemakers.

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I drove 2,500km across Madagascar to find the world's last lemurs

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260910-driving-2500km-across-madagascar-to-find-the-worlds-last-lemurs, 10 days ago

One epic road trip connects Madagascar's richest wildlife, most spectacular landscapes and the world's last lemurs.

Sitting beneath a thick canopy of trees in Mitsinjo Reserve, I crane my neck skyward, straining beneath the weight of my camera. A flash of white and black fur leaps across my lens, much closer than anticipated. I drop the camera from my eye and the heavy jungle air erupts with the haunting, whale-like cries of the indri, the largest lemur species on Earth.

Critically endangered, strictly arboreal and the origin of man, according to Malagasy lore, the indri is a wide-eyed, tuft-eared rarity known to few but the most exuberant wildlife enthusiasts. Madagascar's crown jewel of more than 150,000 endemic species is sitting just 3m (10ft) above my head.

Madagascar is the only place on Earth where lemurs survive in the wild, and my husband and I had come here to see how much of that extraordinary wildlife we could encounter on an independent road trip. Over three weeks, our 2,500km (1,553-mile) route would take us from the capital, Antananarivo, through rainforest, rice paddies, prehistoric canyons and spiny desert to the island's west coast, linking eight national parks and reserves along the way. With a rented 4X4 and an ever-changing cast of park guides, the route offered a surprisingly achievable way to encounter species found nowhere else on the planet.

The RN7: Madagascar's lemur highway

We rented a 4x4 for the journey, and with the bustle of Antananarivo fading into our rear-view mirror, we rode the RN7's ribbon of freshly laid tarmac up into the central highlands where two-storey trano gasy homes made of red earthen bricks sat on the fringes of expansive rice paddies. Families watched from behind swinging wooden shutters as we passed by. Rolling green hills and terraced valleys grazed by long-horned zebu punctuated the winding roads between towns.

Our first wildlife stop was the dense jungle of Ranomafana National Park. Trudging through the rain, I followed a local guide – required in Madagascar's national parks and readily available at every park entrance – up the muddy trail. Walking with a slight limp, acquired while rescuing a traveller from a jungle waterfall years ago, he pointed out clumsy red-bellied lemurs, self-assured greater bamboo lemurs basking in the sun and ultra-rare golden bamboo lemurs. The latter survive largely on giant bamboo, consuming quantities of cyanide that would be lethal to most other mammals.

The sheer variety is partly a product of Madagascar's fragmented habitats. "Lemurs are ultra-specialised creatures evolved to fill a single ecological niche," our guide explained. "Each forest in Madagascar hosts its own unique adapted species."

More than 110 lemur species have been identified, many restricted to small pockets of forest. To see more of them, you have to keep moving. But the ease of the sightings has a darker explanation. Madagascar's forests are shrinking, our guide said, as communities cut down trees for fuel and agriculture, squeezing lemurs into ever-smaller fragments of habitat.

Continuing south brought new species with each change in landscape. We sunned on chunky boulders surrounded by ring-tailed lemurs in Anja Community Reserve and searched for tree boas in the shadow of the Andringitra massif. Hiking within the ruiniform plateau and jagged canyons of Isalo National Park, the final stop on our voyage down the RN7, we stumbled through verdant foliage and went nearly nose-to-nose with Verreaux's sifaka, long-limbed lemurs famous for their sideways, dancing gait.

At Isalo, however, the easy part of the road trip ended. To reach the stone forests of Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park on the west coast, we would have to leave the RN7 – and the tarmac – behind.

Into Madagascar's wild west

Reaching Tsingy required a four-day traverse across some of the roughest roads of the trip. For the most difficult stretch, between Manja and Morondava, we hired a local pisteur – a ride-along guide who knows every river crossing, mud pits and hidden routes through the maze of dirt tracks.

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We crossed rivers where the flow nearly crested the hood of our truck. Elsewhere, tall grass swallowed the track entirely. Without GPS or a reliable map, the pisteur became our eyes, picking a path through the endless web of sandy tracks and occasionally guiding us through isolated Sakalava communities.

Careening around a particularly sandy corridor, we burst into a kianja, or village square, alive with a market and hundreds of shoppers. Thick ropes of tobacco, roasting cassava and an array of plastic trinkets were spread out on colorful lambahoany, the printed cotton wraps worn across Madagascar. It was a vibrant bazaar erected seemingly out of nowhere, surrounded by wooded savannah a day's drive in any direction.

By the time we reached the town of Morondava in the dim evening light, after days of mud and river crossings, hitting tarmac again felt like a relief. We thanked our pisteur for his life-saving navigational services before setting up camp beneath the moonlit shade of a baobab, Madagascar's emblematic tree.

Baobabs, fossa and Tsingy

We woke at the edge of Avenue of the Baobabs – Madagascar's famous dirt road lined with towering baobab trees – in the soft pink light of dawn. For a few precious moments we had the country's most photographed landscape almost to ourselves before the tour groups arrived. Kirindy Reserve was a natural stop on our final stretch to Tsingy, and a welcome break before another gruelling day on the road.

Kirindy is all about nocturnal wildlife. That night, our guide led us through the reserve, where in the glow of my headlamp, a Madame Berthe's mouse lemur scampered into the canopy while the wide, spectral eyes of a red-tailed sportive lemur reflected crimson in the beam. Back in camp, a particularly pudgy fossa – Madagascar's largest predator, with the long body of a mongoose and cat-like features – wandered from the treeline in the shadow of our tent.

The next day, as we neared Tsingy, the hard dirt road devolved into a thick mud pit. Stranded vehicles littered both sides of the swampy mess and crowds from the nearby village gathered to haul drivers free. Before long, our 4X4 was bogged too. But Tsingy was worth every difficult kilometre. Its unique stone forests host many endemic lemurs, and we spent several days clipping into via ferrata lines and climbing through the Unesco-listed limestone pinnacles in search of aye-ayes, stump-tailed chameleons and tiny leaf chameleons.

With our final park behind us, we turned the 4x4 back towards Antananarivo. After weeks of river crossing, mud and increasingly rough roads, the smooth tarmac through the central highlands felt strangely uneventful.

We had succeeded in seeing Madagascar's extraordinary wildlife without joining a tour. But you never really travel "independently" here. Every national park guide who helped us track lemurs, the pisteurwho pointed the way andthe villagers who hauled us from the mud had made the journey possible.

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In pictures: Town's airport 30 years after closure

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw5ymj17eml2o, today

It has been 30 years since Ipswich's very own airport closed for good, having facilitated the journeys of passengers to the likes of Manchester, Amsterdam and even Clacton.

The Ipswich Municipal Aerodrome – as it was known - was officially opened in 1930 by the then Prince of Wales, Prince Edward, six years before he was crowned king.

Located on land near the River Orwell, the £13,245 airfield was used by the Air Ministry during World War Two before returning to a commercial operation.

In 1996, the complex was delicensed by Ipswich Borough Council, with the final aircraft leaving in 1998, before the some of the site was redeveloped for housing.

'Fond memories'

Angelika Voss, from the Ipswich Airport Association, worked at the airport, initially starting out in the control tower before becoming deputy manager.

On Saturday, she helped organise an exhibition at the Ipswich Transport Museum, boasting archive photos, newspaper clippings and aviation memorabilia.

She told the BBC it was important to keep the memory of the airport, which protesters fought in vain to keep open, alive.

"It was opened in 1930 and there were articles in the press then saying what a wonderful new thing it was and how it would really put Ipswich on the map.

"I think everybody has fond memories and I think that memory should just be preserved."

Three decades on from its closure, here are seven photos of what Prince Edward once described as "one of the finest" aerodromes in the country.

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Tourism tax plans delayed after thousands respond to consultation

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgjq0j16wjno, today

A council looks set to delay its decision on imposing a tourism tax after a public consultation prompted thousands of responses from visitors, residents and businesses.

A report to Cyngor Gwynedd said the number of responses - of which there were 6,856 - exceeded expectations.

This meant it had "not been possible to analyse, process and consider all the consultation responses" within an agreed deadline, it said.

The majority of businesses and visitors who responded said they were opposed to imposing the visitor levy, while 48.7% of residents supported it.

The council, which has to give 12 months' notice before imposing such a levy, had been aiming for October 2027.

The authority was due to present a report to councillors on Thursday and then give notice to the Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA) of any plan to introduce the levy.

The report said it had received "clear legal advice that it is not possible to proceed with a decision on the levy in September, 2026", as originally intended.

It said the response to the public consultation had been "significant" compared with the numbers received by neighbouring councils for Anglesey (2,000), and Conwy (1,300).

Figures showed:

* 48.7% of Gwynedd residents supported the visitor levy with 43.5% opposing it

* 14.7% of businesses supported it, while 79.5% had opposed

* 10.7% of visitors supported, with 79.9% opposed

* 22.7% combined visitors, residents and businesses supported it, and 68.5% opposed

What is a visitor levy?

The visitor levy, or tourism tax, would charge a nightly rate for people staying overnight in visitor accommodation, such as hotels, B&Bs, self-catering accommodation, holiday caravans, campsites, hostels and shared accommodation, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Fees for hostels, shared rooms and tent pitches would be 75p + VAT (£0.90) per person per night, while most other types of accommodation would be charged at £1.30 + VAT (£1.56).

Exceptions would include visitors under the age of 18 and those staying in tent pitches or shared accommodation, and where a stay lasts more than 31 nights within a single booking or where accommodation is emergency or temporary housing arranged by a local authority.

Considering the consultation extension of 11 days from 20 May to 26 July, the high number of responses, and the range of issues raised, the report to this Thursday's full council meeting stated it was "not currently in a position to make a decision".

It also pointed out the consultation was not about "whether respondents were 'for' or 'against'" the levy.

"Rather, it was a consultation to identify the potential impacts of introducing a visitor levy in the county and to assist in reaching a decision," it added.

No cancellations for cruise liner visits to islands

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw770ep0zkmro, today

Having no cruise cancellations has been "good news" for the Isles of Scilly, officials said.

Scillonian Marine Consultants said the arrival of Fred Olsen's Bolette on Tuesday marked the last of 46 cruise liners which visited in 2026, carrying 19,000 passengers to the Cornish islands.

The firm said there was not a single cancellation due to the weather, which it said was partly down to the islands' "unique geography" and two dedicated anchorage spots providing shelter from poor conditions.

The Council of the Isles of Scilly said tourism was "critical" to the archipelago and being able to welcome every cruise liner had supported employment and businesses.

Jemma Pender, corporate services and communications officer for the council, said: "The fact that there have been no cancellations for 2026 is good news particularly in a year where the weather, despite the long periods of warm sunny days, has disrupted travel to and from the islands for the visitor economy."

Tom Jackman, managing director of Scillonian Marine Consultant, said ships had spoken to the islands' port authorities to get real-time weather information rather than relying on forecasts, which could have led to a cancellation.

"Back in May, one of the smaller cruise ships called at Scilly despite forecast conditions showing winds of more than 20 knots and a predicted swell of over four metres," Jackman said.

"While the forecast could have suggested a cancellation, the ship was able to anchor in a position where there was almost no swell and the visit went ahead as planned."

Jackman added having a 100% record for cruise liners was a fantastic achievement.

"Cruises are a hugely important part of our visitor economy and we hope this success encourages more cruise lines to consider our beautiful islands in future," he said.

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The Gentlemen 'could bring tourism boost to West'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cxp84228q985o, 3 days ago

Some of the West's most prominent locations have been used as the backdrop for Guy Ritchie's The Gentlemen.

Some of the scenes for the Netflix show were filmed in parts of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, including Badminton House and Salisbury Cathedral.

It is not the first time that the region has been used as a setting for big budget productions and it is hoped that the exposure could lead to something of a tourism boom in the area.

"[Shows like The Gentlemen are] a really good way to introduce people to places they might not have known about," said Lucy Dodsworth, a travel writer and founder of the Explore the Cotswolds website.

"Obviously, Salisbury Cathedral is very famous, but villages like Castle Combe or Tetbury from Rivals gets people to see them on screen and want to come and see them in real life," she said.

Dodsworth said the beauty of the Cotswolds makes a great backdrop as the area looks like "how you would imagine England to".

"You can use it for lots of different time periods because a lot of things haven't changed for a long period, and there's so many beautiful stately homes to choose from," she added.

Gloucestershire's Badminton House plays a prominent role in the gangster-comedy blockbuster as the ancestral home of main protagonist, Eddie Horniman.

Other big money productions recently filmed in the area include Star Wars and Bridgerton.

Filming can also provide an additional source of revenue for sites, helping to fund their ongoing upkeep and maintenance.

"It costs us nearly £20,000 a day to open the doors and keep it looking tip-top," said Tim Croall, from Salisbury Cathedral, which was used as the setting for a grand coronation scene.

"That's a lot of money, so we rely on the generosity of visitors, donors and income streams such as location filming."

The filming also brings some well known faces to the local area, giving locals a chance to rub shoulders with the stars.

"Guy Ritchie was very interested in the cathedral," said Croall, "I think it might have been his idea to base it here."

"He was very interested in parts of the cathedral, the oldest parts, some of our oldest windows, looking at Magna Carta itself."

Croall also met actor Theo James, who plays the protagonist, Eddie Horniman.

"He was great, very nice, very unassuming, kept himself to himself when he wasn't being asked to film and then did his filming, a professional actor," he said.

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How a Crimean meat kebab travelled thousands of miles to become a South Dakota obsession

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260914-how-a-crimean-meat-skewer-travelled-thousands-of-miles-to-become-a-south-dakota-obsession, 7 days ago

Chislic may look like a simple meat skewer, but its journey from the Black Sea to the American Great Plains tells a much bigger story.

At Meridian Corner, a roadhouse amid the corn and alfalfa fields of Freeman in South Dakota, my lunch took about 40 seconds to arrive at the table: five sticks of lamb and five of mutton, deep-fried and served with garlic salt and crackers.

This is chislic – South Dakota's most beloved light bite, often eaten as an appetiser or snack between meals. Here in the town of Freeman, it's ubiquitous, served in bars, restaurants, and homes across this south-eastern pocket of the state. Drive much beyond it, however, and people may have no idea what you're talking about.

"I grew up eating chislic and never thought much about it," town archivist Marnette Hofer told me. "Then I went to college in Kansas, and nobody knew about it. I don't think people in the Black Hills – in South Dakota! – had a clue."

Chislic may be distinctly South Dakotan, but its roots lie thousands of miles away, around the Black Sea. So how did it become so thoroughly local that, in 2018, the state legislature made it the official state "nosh"?

From Crimea to Dakota

In the 1870s, Germans from Russia began arriving in what was then Dakota Territory, bringing with them traditions from their former homes around the Black Sea. Hofer, who grew up in the area and serves as the executive director of its Heritage Hall Museum & Archives, took me through its exhibits chronicling the historic passage. As she showed me around its exhibits, we discussed chislic and the unlikely chain of events that brought it here.

While roasting meat on sticks is an ancient technique, peoples living around the Black Sea and the Caucasus traditionally cut their meat into small chunks before skewering it on metal rods, or even swords. Russian troops encountered this style of cooking among Tatars in Crimea and the Caucasus as the empire pushed south towards the Black Sea from the late 17th Century. Called "shashlyk", it was typically made with mutton, marinated in onions or vinegar and grilled on skewers – quick to prepare and easy to eat on the move.

By the late 18th Century, shashlyk had become fashionable in parts of the Russian Empire and was enthusiastically taken up by German settlers who had been encouraged to settle in Russia under Catherine the Great, many of whom later established communities around the Black Sea. But in the 1870s, as Tsar Alexander II revoked privileges long granted to its German settlers, including their religious freedom and exemption from military service, many began emigrating. Among the things they carried with them were recipes.

"And President Abraham Lincoln had eight years previously enacted the Homestead Act of 1862, promising cheap land on the American frontier," recounts Tim Waltner, the Heritage Hall's education and communication coordinator. "If you stayed on five years, the land was yours."

The timing proved irresistible to immigrants from all over Europe, including some 115,000 Russo-Germans – or "Germans from Russia" as they would become known. Among them was farmer-turned-carpenter Johann Hoellwarth, who arrived in the growing town of Freeman in the 1870s. According to the earliest records available, said Hofer, Hoellwarth was the first to introduce shashlyk to Dakotan palates.

"Only," she adds, "his accent was so thick people thought he was saying 'chislic'."

How shashlyk became chislic

The new name stuck, and more changes were ahead. Hoellwarth quickly discovered that the windswept Great Plains were very different from Crimea's milder landscape.

While sheep farming was well established in the Dakotas by the early 1800s, there was no metal for skewers, no vinegar for marinating, and on the treeless prairies, hardwood was far too precious to burn. Even onions were relatively new.

Like many immigrants before him, Hoellwarth made do with what he had: a cauldron, lard, garlic salt, hand-length sticks whittled from willow bushes, and 10ft (3m)-tall wild grasses that burned fast but hot. This is how a meal that was once marinated, grilled on a sword and eaten with flatbread became a deep-fried, salted bite-sized snack served on a glorified toothpick and eaten with crackers.

"He would serve it during Fourth of July celebrations in Freeman," said Hofer. And just as Russian soldiers had discovered generations earlier, "it was popular."

Inside the Chislic Circle

At Meridian Corner, the chislic is traditional and the gossip, as the saying goes, could rip the paint off a barn. The roadhouse sits at the heart of the Chislic Circle, a term coined by writer Richard Preheim in 2005 for the roughly 30-mile radius around Freeman where devotion to chislic runs deep.

It has also become something of a culinary bastion. Even after chislic was named the state's official "nosh" and chefs began serving beef, goat and pork versions, the Circle largely held to lamb and mutton. The legislature chose "nosh" rather than "dish" or "meal" because it considered the term a better fit for the snack-sized food.

"When it became the state nosh, the definition of what chislic is really expanded," said Abby Streyle, Meridian Corner's manager, who is of German-Russian ancestry. "It's fun when people do different twists on a food, but it is important to keep some things old-school."

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But chislic has been evolving almost from the start. From Hoellwarth's introduction, as it passed down family lines the recipe picked up local peculiarities reflected in eateries across the area today. In the nearby town of Kaylor, the Kaylor Locker, the butcher supplying most of the Circle for the last 65 years, serves a venison version, the Circle's only acceptable stand-in for lamb or mutton. At Pep's Pub across the street, the chislic is griddled – not fried – with onions. In the town of Dimock, locally made cheese is added as a side along with crackers, while Bud's Tavern in Marion adds jalapeños to the onions and uses only "dirty oil" (previously used) to enhance the flavour.

Some adaptations have been economic. Pep's Pub and Bud's Tavern serve their chislic "loose" – without skewers – a practice Cindy Fischer, owner of The Schnitz Bar in the town of Menno, says helped keep prices down. Others were practical. Over-fried chislic comes out hard as a rock, which may help explain the rise of griddles and air fryers to keep the meat juicy and evenly cooked.

How far can chislic stretch?

More radical versions were on the horizon at the biennial Chislic Festival, founded by Hofer and her son, Josh, just 45 days after the food got its legislative seal of approval.

"When we began, we had a tasting competition and divided it into traditional and 'New Age Nosh' categories," she recalled. "Even then, there were some who scoffed that nothing other than traditional sheep chislic earned the name. But in the New Age Nosh category, someone wanted to enter alligator! That was going too far."

Beyond the Chislic Circle, however, the rules remain loose. I tried beef chislic at the Blarney Stone in Sioux Falls – an hour's drive from Freeman – that bucked tradition further with horseradish and Carolina BBQ sauces. Delicious, but Hoellwarth's head would likely be exploding.

"They called it steak tips before 2018," Streyle muttered.

While the recipe continues to evolve, what chislic represents has remained remarkably consistent.

"Chislic is hospitality in a simple, unassuming dish," Hofer told me. "Kind of a 'come as you are, we're glad you're here' type of food. It is a simple experience that reminds people of a community where hard work and honesty are important values. Where being real, down-to-earth and welcoming are just part of life."

And one day, maybe even with alligator.

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Why visitors to Prague should drink in a traditional pub

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260911-why-visitors-to-prague-should-drink-in-a-traditional-pub, 9 days ago

Prague is synonymous with pubs – but for the real thing, travellers should venture away from its touristy centre and seek out an old-school "hospoda".

My wife and I were sipping beers at a pub in Prague's Žižkov district when the bartender plopped two foamy pints of pilsner in front of us. We hadn't ordered them. We weren't even finished with the ones we were drinking. "Oh, we're in one of these pubs" I said, quickly covering my pint with a cardboard coaster. "When you've had enough, just do this."

Most visitors to Prague are likely to linger in its Old Town Square, marvelling at its Gothic and Baroque splendour. They'll zigzag through the narrow cobblestone streets to the 14th-Century Charles Bridge and then trudge up to Prague Castle.

Everyone should do this on a visit to Prague. But if you only explore its tourist-mobbed centre, as many people do, you'll miss out on one of the most quintessentially Czech cultural experiences: whiling away a few hours in a real Czech pub, where the beer only stops coming if you know the code.

A city synonymous with beer

It's no secret that Czechs love beer. After all, they drink nearly 150 litres of it per capita every year, making the Czech Republic the top beer-consuming nation in the world. Prague itself boasts the most pubs per person of anywhere on the planet.

But just as most New Yorkers don't dine in Times Square and most Londoners don't eat in Piccadilly Circus, you'll rarely find Praguers drinking in Old Town, where bars cater largely to outsiders.

Instead, to really get under the skin of Czech culture, you should venture to one of Prague's most atmospheric areas: Žižkov (pronounced Zheezh-kof), a gritty, working-class neighbourhood that has long had a proud reputation for its salt-of-the-earth pubs, and where the bartender's job is to make sure your glass is never empty.

Home to hilly cobblestone streets and graffiti-tagged 19th-Century blocks of flats, Žižkov is home to classic pubs such as U Vystřelenýho Oka and U Slovanské Lípy. Despite its relative proximity to the centre of town – tram number 9 will get you there in about 20 minutes – you won't find a lot of guidebook-clutching tourists wandering around.

"If you want to understand Czech pub culture, it's hard to find a better place than Žižkov," said Martin Havlin, co-founder of Prague Craft Beer Tours and a born-and-bred Žižkov denizen. "The big difference is that pubs in Žižkov are still mainly for locals. Nobody is trying too hard to look 'authentically Czech' for tourists. You'll find people having a beer after work, old guys at the same table they've probably occupied for 30 years, and a tapster who already knows what half the room is drinking."

Žižkov's traditional Czech pubs, called hospoda, are one of the few places where people from all walks of Czech society mix naturally.

"You can have a construction worker, lawyer, university professor and pensioner sitting at neighbouring tables drinking exactly the same beer," said Jakub Neužil, Havlin's colleague at Prague Craft Beer Tours. "Most importantly, though, they would understand that going to the pub in Czech culture isn't necessarily about 'going out drinking'. Historically, the hospoda has been an extension of the living room: somewhere to meet friends, discuss football, politics, work and life. Beer happens to be at the centre of it."

These "living rooms" are great places for travellers to meet English-speaking regulars. A simple "how long have you been coming here?" may soon lead to stories about how hospoda have played an instrumental role in Czech history.

Prague was the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia, and until World War Two, German was widely spoken here alongside Czech. By the latter half of the 19th Century, Czech speakers had begun separating themselves from the German population, and the Czech National Revival, which would eventually result in the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1919, was fomented in Czech cafes and pubs.

"At the time, pubs played an important role as gathering places for revivalists, patriots, politicians, writers, artists et cetera; they became centres of associational and cultural life and were one of the few places where Czech was commonly spoken," said Dr Jiří Vinopal, a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Sociology at the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague.

During the heavily oppressive socialist period from 1948 to 1989, Vinopal explains that Czech pubs were "used more as an environment for escape".

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Today, pubs are as much a part of Czech life as ever – and a big draw for tourists – but it's increasingly harder to find the kind of old-fashioned hospoda where historical conversations flow as easily as the beer. The city's modern offerings tend to be cleaner and smoke free, with classic fried cheese sharing menu space with dishes like pumpkin soup and cauliflower pancakes.

But Žižkov institutions like U Vystřelenýho Oka, U Slovanské Lípy, U Jary and U Sadu still embody the true spirit of the hospoda: unending refills and radical social equality.

How to drink at a real Czech pub?

Havlin's advice is to simply find a busy pub in Žižkov, sit down, order a beer and don't rush. "Watch how people behave, how the beer is poured, order some Czech pub food and maybe start a conversation – and definitely don't leave after one beer." He adds, "That’s the beauty of a real [hospoda]. You're not being shown Czech culture – you're just sitting in the middle of it. And after the second or third beer, you might even start feeling like a local."

While sipping your beer and meeting regulars, you may also notice the way Czech bartenders treat Czech beer differently than the more touristy pubs in Prague's historical centre.

It starts with the bartender taking a chilled mug and re-rinsing it using a counter-top spray device to ensure there's no fat residue. Then they use the Czech-invented Lukr side-tap to pour the beer, ensuring there's at least three fingers' worth of foam; the side-tap allows the bartender more control of the foam and emits far less gas into the drink than the traditional top pull, making the beer from the Lukr side tap less likely to bloat the stomach.

"This developed because beer has been such an important part of Czech culture," said Lucie Janečkova, co-founder of Institut PIVO, a Prague-based school providing beer-focused bartender training. "We've learned that brewing a good beer is only half of the job. What happens to it between the brewery and the guest can completely change the final experience." There is a common saying among Czech bartenders: 'The brewer brews the beer; the bartender makes it.'"

There's also an etiquette to drinking once your beer arrives. "When you get a beautifully poured beer, drink it while it's fresh – don't leave it sitting on the table for half an hour," added Janečkova. "And if you're drinking with others, clink glasses with your first beer and say 'cheers' in Czech – 'na zdraví!'"

She adds, "And perhaps the most Czech rule of all: if someone says, 'Let's go for one beer,' you probably shouldn't make any plans for the rest of the evening." And, as my wife learned, if you're in a pub in Žižkov, even the bartender won't let you go until you finally put that beer mat atop your empty mug.

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'Aloha is more than a word we say': Six things locals wish visitors knew about Hawaii

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260911-what-locals-wish-visitors-knew-about-hawaii, 8 days ago

From the true significance of a lūʻau to what "aloha" actually asks of you, a native Hawaiian tells you what locals wish every visitor understood before arriving.

It's a Saturday morning on O'ahu's North Shore, and as soon as I step onto the beach I see that a crowd has formed around a honu (green sea turtle) basking on the sand. Phones are out. Someone reaches down and touches its shell. A father sets his baby on its back for a photo.

"Hey Uncle, no touch da honu!" The words are out of my mouth before I've even finished walking over. The crowd startles – not because they meant any harm, but because I was loud, and none of them had any idea they'd just broken federal law.

Millions of travellers visit Hawaii each year for its paradisiacal beaches, postcard views and chill vibes, but few look beyond its touristy surface to understand how we Native Hawaiians actually live. Hawaiian culture is deeply rooted in aloha – treating people with care and respect – and aloha ʻāina, our love and responsibility for the land that sustains us. That meaning shapes how locals greet each other, and how we live with the land. Bring that awareness with you, and you'll get it back in full.

From respecting our natural landscapes to the right way to eat poke, here are things Hawaiians wish visitors knew about Hawaii before coming.

1. Our native animals deserve space

Hawaiian green sea turtles and Hawaiian monk seals rest directly on Hawaii public beaches in plain sight. Getting close to one feels like a rare, magical moment, which is why so many visitors react excitedly when they see one. But the best thing you can do for them is to stay back.

Photograph from a distance and treat a resting turtle or seal the way you'd treat a sleeping stranger on a park bench: worth noticing, not worth approaching. Both species are protected under federal and state law, so respecting their space isn't just polite – it's how you actually get to keep admiring them.

2. Our gatherings aren't spectacles

A commercial lūʻau in Waikīkī is a popular way for visitors to learn about Hawaiian celebratory traditions. But the lūʻau many of us grow up with don't come with an audience. They are family celebrations, where extended families come together to eat, dance and enjoy music.

The name comes from a dish made with young taro leaves that was traditionally served at these gatherings. Today, a lūʻau might mark a birthday, graduation, wedding or other milestone. Preparation can take days, with family coming together to cook and set up for a full day of celebrating. It often feels like a family reunion, with multiple generations around the same table "talking story": a Hawaii Pidgin expression for sitting together, catching up, and sharing stories, usually with pupus (snacks).

The honoree is often covered in lei and gifts. If you're invited to a local lūʻau, it's something special, the difference between seeing something and being welcomed inside. Don't expect a schedule or a show – just join in.

3. Aloha doesn't mean no boundaries

"Aloha" is one of the most recognised Hawaiian words, but "hello" and "goodbye" are just a fragment of its meaning. The way locals use it, aloha is about truly acknowledging others and treating people and places with care.

Aloha is also a two-way street: you can be welcomed warmly and still be expected to understand when something isn't yours to enter, take, photograph or experience. Visitors sometimes roam beaches or rural areas assuming the land is open, picking coconuts, fruit or flowers without realising they've entered someone's property.

Some of Hawaii's most photographed places, including Mauna Kea and Kīlauea Volcano are also wahi pana (sacred places). Take photos respectfully, stay on marked paths, don't enter restricted areas, and never take or move natural or cultural objects. Learning a place's significance before visiting helps you understand its boundaries.

Aloha is more than a word we say – it's our way of life.

4. 'Where are you from?' is an invitation, not small talk

Elsewhere, this question can feel like filler. In Hawaii, it's often one of the first things you're asked. Some visitors find it intrusive, but it isn't meant that way. It's how we get our bearings with someone new: Where are you from? Who's your family? Do we know anyone in common? We ask everyone, not just visitors, even people who have lived here for years. And once the conversation opens up, it usually keeps going. Respond with more than just your city, and real doors can start opening. One conversation can turn into an invitation to a lūʻau. It's part of how we get to know you and decide how far to bring you in.

That sense of connection also shows up in how we address one another. You'll hear "auntie" and "uncle" everywhere in Hawaii, even between people who aren't related. They're familiar terms of respect, especially for someone older than you, but they also reflect something deeper: in Hawaii, you don't always have to be family to be treated like family.

5. The shaka is more than a photo pose

In Hawaii, the shaka – a loose fist with both thumb and pinky pointing out – is its own language. We use it to greet someone across a parking lot or to show aloha or respect, all without saying a word.

Its origin is thought to trace to Hamana Kalili of La'ie, O'ahu, who lost three fingers in a sugar mill accident. Ever since, his wave became a symbol of goodwill across the islands.

On the road, we let each other merge in and out of traffic all the time, and the expected "thank you" is a wave or a shaka out the window. Honking is frowned upon and is only for real emergencies, not impatience. Practice the shaka before you arrive so it feels natural when you need it.

6. 'Hawaiian' food is different than 'local' food

Ask most visitors what "Hawaiian food" is, and they'll describe what they ate on their trip. But much of what they're describing is actually "local" food – dishes from the many cultures and communities that now live in Hawaii. "Hawaiian" food refers specifically to the traditional cuisine eaten by the Indigenous people of the islands.

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Today's local cuisine reflects Japanese, Filipino, Portuguese and Chinese influences from the plantation days – think plate lunch, malasadas and Spam musubi. Traditional Hawaiian foods like poi, kālua pig (whole pig roasted in an underground oven) and laulau (meat and salted fish steamed in taro leaves) have deep Indigenous roots, but Hawaiian restaurants are few, so many visitors may never taste them unless they know where to look.

Poke is a clear example of how the Hawaiian way of eating fish has evolved into something very different. The original includes fresh local fish, sea salt and limu kohu (a native seaweed). No rice, no bowl, no sauces. The "poke bowl" came later, inspired by Japanese chirashi (sashimi over sushi rice). Poke simply means "to cut crosswise into pieces" in Hawaiian. Today's poke bowls, loaded with sauces and toppings, are far from poke as locals know it.

A poke bowl isn't meant to be piled high with mix-ins – the fish is the point, so less is more. For poke the way locals eat it, head to a neighbourhood grocery store, where it's sold by the pound at the seafood counter.

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Rifugio Capanna Regina Margherita: An icy 4,554m hike to Europe's highest overnight stay

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260902-rifugio-capanna-regina-margherita-the-hike-to-europes-highest-overnight-stay, 12 days ago

You can sleep over at this historic mountain refuge straddling the Italy-Switzerland border – but only if you're willing to undertake a days-long, high-altitude icy mountain trek.

I'm roped to four strangers, concentrating on the light cast by my headtorch, as I wend my way through the icy labyrinth of crevasses tearing across the Alpine Lys Glacier. We've been here since 05:00, tugging each other ever higher up the Monte Rosa mountain massif towards the highest altitude building in Europe.

We've just reached a giant mountain bowl filled with clouds of snow. The milky blue twilight fades to the soft glow of dawn. Our guide squints into the distance.

"Up on that ridge" he says, "Do you see it? That's the Margherita refuge." I can't see anything, but the peak he's pointing towards is so sheer sided that I'm convinced he must be mistaken. We press on and, by midday finally arrive at the summit, 4,554m (14,941ft) above sea level. The crystal frosted world of the Punta Gnifetti peak is revealed.

I can see the refuge now. I gasp.

Somewhat resembling a giant tin can, the narrow three-storey metal building is not so much built onto the mountain as it is balanced on the edge of a precipice. On one side is a steeply falling snow slope and on the other, there's just a vertical kilometre of thin air.

This is Rifugio Capanna Regina Margherita; the highest building in Europe. And it's where I'm supposed to sleep tonight.

A refuge fit for a queen

Sharing the Alpine border between Italy and Switzerland, the Monte Rosa massif contains some of the highest peaks in the Alps, including Monte Rosa itself, which at 4,634m (15,203ft) is behind only Mont Blanc. Punta Gnifetti (also called Signalkuppe) comes in sixth. It's here where an Italian scientific research facility and mountaineers' shelter was constructed and named for the then-queen of Italy, Margherita of Savoy. The queen, famed for her adventurous, athletic nature, insisted on climbing to the refuge herself for its 1893 inauguration and spending the night.

More than a century later, the refuge still supports scientific research while also operating as a mountain hut (rifugio) offering rustic accommodation and thrilling panoramic views. Hiking the massif's eternal winter landscapes has become a popular trek in its own right. Roughly 30,000 hikers summit the peak each year and 4,000 stay overnight, ready like me – and Queen Margherita – to say they've slept in the continent's highest beds.

I opted for a three-day guided hike, which requires crampons and ropes. As a frequent hiker, this didn't faze me. If anything worried me, it was the altitude. The hike to the refuge involves a dramatic gain in altitude, from 1,200 to 4,554m (3937 to 14,941ft) in just two days, so steady acclimatisation is essential.

More than 4,000m into the air

My journey began a day earlier in the Italian mountain village of Alagna Valsesia, at the slopes of the Monte Rosa massif – the literal end of the paved road before the mountainous ascent. From here, a series of cable-car rides whizzed me uphill to Punta Indren, (3,275m/ 10,745ft) where I met my guide and the four other members of our climbing group.

Since we were all still acclimatising, our first day involved little more than an hour's hiking across rock and ice to where we would spend our first night, the Rifugio Città di Mantova (3,498m/ 11,476ft), a large wooden mountain refuge set just below the start of the Lys Glacier. There was a marked difference in temperature from Alagna Valsesia, but by wrapping up warm from the biting wind, I could enjoy the panoramic terrace with views of the green valley far below.

Despite the stunning setting, I slept fitfully – due, I suspect, to excitement about the coming day's 1,000m (3,281ft) ascent and my body adjusting to the altitude. It was almost a relief when the alarm went off at 04:00 and we crawled out of our beds. We strapped the crampons onto our boots to prevent sliding on the glacial ice and roped ourselves up together – just in case someone slipped into a crevasse.

We set out over the glacier and, after an hour or so of hauling ourselves through a spiderweb of crevasses, cleared a ridge and trudged across the mountain bowl. Behind us, dawn clouds bubbled in the valleys and ahead stood the walls of 4,000m (13,123ft) peaks.

Despite the drama of the Alpine scenery, this middle section of the hike was considerably easier than traversing the steep, ruptured and torn up glacier crossing. Before I knew it, we were starting the final haul up to the refuge.

Although I've never suffered major ill effects from altitude, I do struggle with vertigo. As we zig-zagged sharply up the summit cone, teetering alongside a ridge that fell away into the haze, I began feeling the unmistakable dizzy sensation kicking in and, instead of taking in the view, concentrated on where I was placing my feet. But when I next raised my head, we had made it.

The vertigo eased as I stepped out onto the snowy dome. Fold after fold of mountain peaks sparkling with icy crowns stretched out around me – and the refuge itself. I was exhausted. But would I be able to sleep in what was easily one of the most hair-raising buildings I had ever seen?

The highest sleep in Europe

Once inside, the refuge felt more like a safe cocoon, and it was easy to forget how precarious our situation was. A dining room took up almost the entirety of the ground floor while the upper two were filled with dormitory-style beds which, the night of my stay, were completely booked. I dropped my backpack onto one of the bunks and headed downstairs to order a frothy bowl of cioccolato caldo (hot chocolate) topped with a dollop of Chantilly cream.

As I savoured the drink, I fell into conversation with Tommaso Bagnati, one of the refuge's four wardens, who told me how the weather conditions can bring the reality of living on the top of Europe into stark focus.

"When there's a big storm the building shakes a bit and you can feel very small," he said. "If there's a thunderstorm it can feel like you're right in the middle of it. All our supplies are delivered by helicopter, so when the weather is very bad and the helicopters can't fly, you can feel a bit cut off from the world."

As I sat down to dinner, a weather front rolled across the mountains. The refuge became blanketed in clouds and sleet splattered against the windows. Sitting next to me at the communal dining table was Chinese YouTuber Jianpeng Cui, who told me that despite the "end of the world" feel to the place, he was pleasantly surprised.

"I thought there'd only be a bed," he said. "No toilet. No kitchen. But it's not at all like that. I can even buy pizza and juice up here!"

I was relieved that altitude sickness had missed me this time. But not everyone was so lucky. Mikhail Morozov, whom I met on his way down from the summit, had suffered headaches and nausea. "Coping with the altitude was the hardest part," he said. "I wasn't acclimatised and you go up very fast. After a couple of hours, the altitude started to hit me hard."

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Life in the Rifugio Capanna Regina Margherita – as with all mountain huts – is very communal. Sleeping at high altitude in a cramped dormitory with seven or eight strangers, sharing two toilets with no shower, means you get far cosier than you perhaps want. But the shared effort of reaching the refuge also creates an easy camaraderie.

"The best part for me has been meeting people from all over the world who have come here to climb the mountain," said Craig Shaw, a New Zealander living in Switzerland. "Seeing all these different nationalities together in this refuge is just phenomenal".

Perhaps the real magic of this mountain is not just its ability to support a crazily positioned refuge. It's an ability to bring people together.

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Lake Ontario/Lake America: What happens when a place has two different names?

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260908-lake-ontariolake-america-what-happens-when-a-place-has-two-different-names, 13 days ago

Open the same map in the US and Canada and you may see two different names for the same lake. So, who decides what a place is really called?

Open Google Maps in Toronto and you may see one name for a place. Open it in New York and you may see another. Increasingly, the map in your pocket can depend on where you're standing.

That is what's happening with Lake Ontario, the smallest of the Great Lakes that lie on the US-Canadian border. After President Trump ordered the US government to rename it "Lake America" following failed trade talks between the two nations this summer, the lake began appearing under different names on different maps.

But changing a name on a government database doesn't necessarily change what the rest of the world calls it. From digital maps to tourism organisations and local communities, the Lake Ontario dispute shows how complicated it can be to rename a place – and who ultimately decides which name sticks.

Who decides what goes on a map?

Unsurprisingly, Canada has not entertained a change. In the US, the modification began with the federal Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), the database used to standardise geographic names for federal use. Trump's executive order required "Lake America" to be added to the system and the former moniker removed.

Google reflected the change in line with its long-standing policy of using official government naming sources, meaning US viewers now see "Lake America" while Canadian viewers continue to see "Lake Ontario". Apple Maps has also adopted the new name after pressure from Trump.

But private mapping companies are not legally required to follow the federal designation. MapQuest, best known for being one of the earliest digital mapping tools, has refused to adopt the new name – and its refusal subsequently propelled MapQuest to number one overall on Apple's US App Store, with the company saying it had recorded more than 1.5 million installs across the US and Canada since the executive order was issued.

"MapQuest focused on maintaining a name that people are familiar with," said Doug Berger, general manager at MapQuest. "When people need directions, they seek familiarity. It was an easy decision."

What's in a name?

The differing responses show how a federal name change can quickly produce multiple versions of the same geography.

Oswego County in New York, which borders the lake, has chosen to retain Lake Ontario in its official and business materials, citing the historical significance of the name and expense to taxpayers and business owners for the cost of rebranding.

The Seneca Nation also issued a statement opposing the action, citing the indigenous roots of the lake's name and the lake's history in Indigenous diplomacy.

"In our traditional Seneca language, its name is sga:nyodai:yoh, meaning 'beautiful lake'," said J Conrad Seneca, Seneca Nation President. "To us, Lake Ontario is not a political pawn. It does not separate the countries of the United States and Canada. It is all Indigenous land, which has been occupied by Indigenous people since time immemorial."

When two names coexist

But beyond the US and Canada, the impact of the name change may be limited. "The naming of bodies of water typically falls within national jurisdictions," explained Taufiq Rahim, senior fellow at non-partisan think tank New America and author of Trump 2.5: A Primer. "While there are international bodies like the IHO [International Hydrographic Organization], they do not have any authority to adjudicate disputes and typically when there is a dispute, two or multiple names can be used."

A longstanding example is the dispute over "Persian Gulf" and "Arabian Gulf". Persian Gulf remains the standard name used by the UN, the IHO and most world atlases, while Arab states bordering the waterway – including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman – generally use Arabian Gulf and have encouraged allies to do so as well since the 1960s.

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A more recent example is Trump's January 2025 decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America". The new name was adopted on US federal maps and by some digital mapping services, while Mexico and international users continued to encounter "Gulf of Mexico" or both names. In Mobile, Alabama, the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico had only recently spent nearly $100,000 (£74,000) rebranding when the federal name changed, leaving it with a newly minted identity tied to a now-disputed place name.

At the time, its director told BBC Travel that another name change would require "a complete redo of the entire museum" and that she would follow the lead of city officials. Its website now identifies it simply as the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf.

A similar issue is now playing out on the US side of Lake Ontario. The Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary, a federally designated protected area covering 1,722 sq miles (4,460 sq km) of waters and lakebed along the eastern New York shoreline, is retaining its name. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, which comanages the sanctuary with New York State, says in a statement that the executive order applies to federal references to the lake itself but did not change the sanctuary's separately designated name. The agency is updating its materials to refer to the lake as "Lake America", while the sanctuary remains the Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary.

A diplomatic wedge

The organisational and financial burden of the name change will likely fall on the United States and its taxpayers. "This adds another unnecessary line to US expenses which in total can exceed hundreds of millions of dollars annually," said Usha Haley, Barton Distinguished Chair in International Business at Wichita State University. "People have to divert time, another important resource, to manage these changes for different audiences."

While the change will have practical impacts, it's the symbolic implications that will likely have the most lasting effects. "Geographic naming becomes a proxy for sovereignty and power. It's geopolitical signalling on who controls national and bi-lateral narratives," said Haley. "The downstream symbolic and diplomatic consequences of a name change such as this can be much larger than the immediate commercial calculations."

The change is likely to continue the erosion of diplomatic trust between Canada and the US, says Haley, hindering a weakening trading relationship between the two nations. Canada has long been a top destination for US exports, and the third-largest source of US imports, following Mexico and China. She said that symbolic disputes like this can become proxies for larger conflicts.

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A 'crackling, haunting voice from the deep': The moment the world realised whales sing

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260917-the-moment-the-world-discovered-whales-sing, 3 days ago

In 1970, the release of the best-selling nature album of all time introduced the world to whale song and transformed how we view whales forever.

It was 1952 and the height of the Cold War. US sonar engineer Frank Watlington was stationed off the coast of Bermuda, listening in the depths for Soviet submarines and seismic activity.

Watlington was using an early kind of hydrophone: long cables with a microphone at the end that he would sink into the ocean. It's not known what military operations he may have detected, but he did begin to pick up something else.

The mournful, disconcerting sounds would go on sometimes for hours. Watlington was fascinated. He couldn't be sure, but he began to think they were being made by humpback whales.

It turned out he was right. Watlington and others' incredible early recordings of humpback communication would go on to transform our view of whales forever. When these were featured on the iconic 1970 album Songs of the Humpback Whale, they introduced the otherworldly sounds of whale song to a world that previously barely knew it existed.

Whale song exploded into popular culture, becoming the soundtrack to the emerging Save the Whales movement that would eventually turn around the declining fortunes of humpbacks. (Scroll down to listen to a clip from the album).

A discovery of song

Watlington began sharing his recordings with locals and researchers, and in 1967 he met acoustic biologists Katy and Roger Payne, who had travelled to Bermuda. He played them the recordings in the engine room of his research vessel – a wooden ex-minesweeper from World War Two – while the generator roared in the background.

"What I heard under impossibly awful conditions of listening was the most extraordinary, amazing acoustic performance I'd ever heard from any animal, and have ever heard from any animal since," Roger, who died in 2023, told the BBC's The Documentary podcast in 2020.

The couple were amazed by the beautiful, incredibly variable sounds. "They were, as we learned later, the sounds of just one animal," Katy told NPR in 2015. "Just one animal."

Watlington lent them a recording, which Katy, Roger and their collaborators (conservationist Scott McVay, mathematician Hella McVay and researcher Eleanora D'Arms) began working to decipher.

They realised that the sounds were being repeated in long, predictable patterns. "You couldn't listen to it 100 times as I have done without realising that slowly," Roger told the BBC in 2020. "When an animal makes a sound which is rhythmic and repeats itself, it is defined as being singing." Sometimes the songs would go on for up to half an hour, only to be repeated again and again.

People generally knew at the time that whales produced sounds, says Nan Hauser, a whale researcher and director of the Center for Cetacean Research and Conservation in the Cook Islands. But realising this was song was "an enormous conceptual leap… from an animal making noises to an animal producing an extraordinarily elaborate, organised acoustic display".

Songs of the Humpback Whale

Roger, an environmentalist dedicated to saving what he would refer to as the "wild world", quickly realised he had more in his hands than a scientific discovery.

He began playing the tracks to anyone who would listen: at anti-whaling protests, at conferences, at dinner parties. "He was like a little kid with a new toy that everybody had to listen to," says Iain Kerr, chief executive of Ocean Alliance, a US-based non-profit that Roger Payne went on to found. "And really what a catalyst it was… to suddenly go, 'Oh my god, these are sort of singer-poets, composers'."

Song is quite an unusual behaviour in the natural world, and its new association with whales resonated with people, says Andy Rogan, a marine mammal biologist and science and conservation director at Ocean Alliance. Apart from humans, it was really just birds that were thought to sing, he says.

"On one level it's not necessarily that different from another animal behaviour… [But] what's the purpose of going for half an hour? For an animal that takes up a lot of mental capacity."

In 1970, Roger, Katy and Watlington released Songs of the Humpback Whale, an album containing five recordings of humpback whales, chosen specifically for their beauty and power to move humans.

The album was a resounding success, rapidly bringing the haunting sounds of humpbacks to millions of people. It sold more than 125,000 copies – making it the biggest selling nature album in history – and an extract was sent to all 10.5 million National Geographic subscribers, the largest single pressing in recording history. "No one had really heard anything like this before," says Kerr.

Roger used the album to drum up support for whale protection, sending out copies to everyone from the Beatles to Bob Dylan. Singers Judy Collins and Kate Bush featured whale song in their albums. Extracts were used in a 1986 film Star Trek film, in a time travel plot about rescuing humpback whales from extinction. In 1977, an excerpt was even launched into space, on the Voyager 1 Golden Record phonograph.

A changed perception

Exposure to the sounds of large whales before 1970 was rare, says Max Bridge, an environmental historian at Harvard University in the US who wrote a recent paper on the history of humpback whale song. "In popular movies and cartoons in the 1960s, fictional large whales are usually either silent or make beastly growling, grunting sounds."

The album's release formed part of a wider shift in the public's perception of whales at the time, says Rogan. Whales were previously often seen as something to fear, as in stories like Moby Dick, or as a commodity, he says. "Whales are [now] part of that upper echelon of charismatic wildlife that we all grow up with… I don't think that was the case before these songs came out."

Hunted for centuries for everything from oil used for lighting and soap to the ambergris used in perfumes, by the early 1970s, several whale species were on the brink of extinction. This included humpbacks: less than 5% of their pre-whaling numbers remained.

Together with mid-1970s images of whales being harpooned taken by a newly-formed Greenpeace, Songs of the Humpback Whales helped to galvanised a fledgling anti-whaling movement. "[It] allowed ordinary people to hear whales in their own homes," says Hauser. "You didn't need to be a scientist to be moved by it."

Amidst rising pressure, in 1972, the US Congress passed the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and in 1982 a legally binding global moratorium on commercial whaling was passed, followed by a full ban in 1985-86.

Populations of some whales began to increase, and humpbacks in particular have since seen a remarkable recovery. In some places, they are now even being seen in super-groups of hundreds at a time.

That '70s sound

The discovery of whale song formed part of a wider revolution in environmentalism and understanding of animal intelligence occurring at the time.

Rachel Carson had published Silent Spring in 1962, examining the environmental impact of synthetic pesticides. The first Earth Day in 1970 mobilised some 20 million people, while scientists like Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey were busy transforming our understanding of other intelligent primates.

Whale song started being seen as a symbol of a broader ecological crises, even as "mournful pleas on the part of the natural world", says Bridge. By the late 1970s, though, US popular culture became more cynical towards symbols of earnest environmentalism like whales or their song, they add, then in the 1980s it was adopted as a key sound of New Age music. Even today it is still largely viewed as a kind of relaxant for the stresses of white-collar life, adds Bridge.

At the same time, whale song discovery helped kickstart modern whale biology in the previously poorly studied animals, says Rogan.

Katy discovered that all males in one area will sing roughly the same song – and that this song evolves over time. We now know these songs can also spread from population to population across enormous distances, sometimes rapidly replacing a previous local favourite. "We're watching culture move through an ocean," says Hauser.

And while humpbacks have the most complex known song among whales (it even shows some hallmarks of human language), the sounds of other whales have also astonished researchers. Sperm whales, for example, which converse in Morse code-like sequences of clicks known as codas, are now known to have regional dialects, while males also make separate slower, deeper and enormously loud clicks. And the immense calls of the blue whale, too low for the human ear to pick up, can travel up to 1,000 miles (1,600km).

Some researchers are even trying to converse with whales and decipher what they are saying. In later life, Roger became involved in this effort.

There are now thousands of recordings of whale sounds and other nature sounds pleasing to the human ear. Still, Kerr argues, none quite have the "harmony or the sort of enchanting nature" of those '70s tracks. "There's a wonderful sort of aesthetic to it, this sort of crackling, haunting voice from the deep."

Perhaps the period just happened to feature especially beautiful humpback whale song, says Alyssa Wile, who is in charge of digitising and archiving Ocean Alliance's vast collection archive of marine mammal sounds from the 1950s to 1990s, including many recorded by Katy and Roger.

More like this:

• Humpback whales are forming super-groups

• The human-like 'alphabet' of whales

• The sounds revealing the secrets of world's most elusive whales

Wile still remembers listening to Songs of the Humpback Whale for the first time as a child. "It's extraordinary, and every time I listen to it, I do get the chills."

Today, whales compete within a very different soundscape of anthropogenic noise, making protecting older recordings incredibly important, she says. "These recordings preserve a particular moment in space and time as well as particular individuals," she says. "We can track those changes over time, how whales are communicating differently, how the soundscape itself is different."

Whales still face many threats, from ship strikes and entanglement in nets to ongoing whaling in some countries to noise pollution and warming seas. Today, one in four whale species is threatened with extinction, up from one in seven in 1991.

Still, Songs of the Humpback Whale "was unquestionably one of the great catalysts" towards protecting whales, says Hauser. "Most people would never see a living humpback whale, but suddenly they could put a record on and hear one," she says. "Suddenly the conversation wasn't simply, 'How many whales remain?'. It became 'What kind of beings are we killing?'"

* Jocelyn Timperley is a senior journalist for the BBC's science features team.

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New York has a food waste problem. South Korea has already solved it

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260916-new-york-has-a-food-waste-problem-south-korea-has-already-solved-it, 4 days ago

South Korea has cut household food waste going to landfill from 97% to almost nothing. New York City has started sending its scraps the same way.

On a Saturday afternoon in Yeouido, Seoul, South Korea, Seunghwan Hong collects the week's vegetable trimmings, leftover rice and fruit peel, and heads downstairs to the food waste disposal unit in his apartment complex. He taps his card on the scanner, the lid pops up, the weight of the scraps is displayed, and a charge is added to his household account.

The transaction takes less than a minute. But behind it lies one of the most ambitious waste management experiments in the world.

South Korea has gone further than any other country in committing to solve the problem of household food waste. Today, New York is taking its first steps toward replicating its success.

South Korea's 30-year waste transformation

Food waste is an almost universal problem in developed countries. In the US, a family of four wastes around $56 a week (£42) in discarded food. Globally, more than a billion tonnes of food is wasted each year, making up 10% of the world's climate-warming emissions.

South Korea's answer was sparked by a waste crisis driven by rapid urbanisation in the 20th Century. Landfill and sanitation issues abounded where food scraps were discarded with general waste.

The cumulative effect of the changes to the country's food waste management since the 1990s (see below) has been remarkable: South Korea's food waste recycling rate rose from just 2.6% in 1996 to nearly 97% in 2023.

One of the most visible changes to residents has been the smart bins, like the one Hong uses for his weekly scraps, enabled with RFID (radio-frequency identification) scanners. Government figures for 2025 show 151,934 smart bins in use across the country, serving over 8.61 million households.

"Seeing the weight and the cost of my food waste made me more aware of how much I am throwing away," says Hong.

Not only does this cut emissions from household food going to landfill, but these scraps can become a source of energy and reduce the need for fossil fuels.

What happens to South Korea's food waste

Hong's food scraps, and those of millions like him, are among those that reach an energy facility that turns the waste into power.

It's a more climate-friendly answer than landfill. When organic waste is buried in landfill, it breaks down without oxygen and releases methane, a greenhouse gas that has more than 80 times the heat-trapping potency of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. The waste also releases leachate – a dark, noxious liquid that can percolate through soil and contaminate groundwater.

When food waste is sent to a bioreactor, this methane can be collected and burned as fuel instead. Climate-warming carbon dioxide is produced as a result, but the potent methane is prevented from being released into the atmosphere.

The Daejeon Bio Energy Centre in central South Korea recycles 70-75% of what it receives into energy. It produces enough electricity to meet the daily needs of approximately 6,000 South Korean households, and there are more than 340 facilities like it across South Korea.

The energy produced from the plants reduces the need for fossil fuels. In 2024, the government aimed to displace fossil fuels valued at roughly 230 billion Korean won ($170m/£126m) by 2026.

Challenges remain. The cost of running the system is considerable. Despite household fees contributing to running costs, the government spends more than 600 billion Korean won ($430m/£319m) on managing municipal waste, including food waste.

"South Korea has made significant progress in food waste recycling, but we're now at a turning point, with new technologies and policies helping to take this progress even further," says Munsol Ju, a senior research fellow at the Korea Environment Institute.

New York's challenges: compliance and rats

New York City made food waste separation mandatory for residents in October 2024, citing South Korea as a model. Residents are required to separate food scraps into a designated bin or a labelled container with a secure lid, set out for curbside collection alongside recycling. The programme covers nearly 3.4 million households, making it the largest organics recovery effort in the United States. But compliance has been challenging, with many residents not consistently separating food waste.

Getting residents on board has been a considerable effort. The NYC Department of Sanitation carried out more than 60,000 conversations with residents in a recent door-to-door campaign across all five boroughs. Enforcement has been active too: the department has issued over 63,000 notices of violation to households failing to comply since the programme launched.

In addition to the mandatory curbside composting programme, New York City has placed more than 400 smart composting bins across the five boroughs to make food composting more accessible. Unlike the designated bins collected weekly from homes, these solar-powered bins are accessible around the clock via mobile app and free to use.

"I love having these bins because it makes composting a lot more convenient," says Grace Fu, a resident of East Village, Manhattan.

The bins do come with practical challenges. "They have attracted so many rodents near our apartment that we had to move ours inside the building," Fu says. "More frequent clean-outs would help."

In 2025, New York City Department of Sanitation managed around 140,000 tonnes of the city's residential organic waste – roughly 9% of the approximately 1.5 million tonnes generated by households annually. That is a significant uptick on previous years, but still a long way off South Korea's 97%.

Once collected, household food waste is sent to one of two destinations, depending on the district: some goes to the Staten Island Compost Facility to become fertiliser, while the rest is co-digested with sewage sludge at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility in Brooklyn to produce biogas and biosolids.

As about 70% of New Yorkers live in apartments, the South Korean approach has potential, says Steven Cohen, director of the Sustainability Management programme at Columbia Climate School.

"South Korea's RFID bins could make each resident directly accountable for their own organic waste," says Cohen. "In a circular economy, organic waste needs to be separated, recycled and reused as energy."

More like this:

• Eat the peel: Why you might be throwing away the best part of your fruit

• How to make fruit and veg last longer

• How to use food waste for good

New York still has an extremely long way to go. "The problem is that most people in this city still don't separate their organic waste properly," Cohen says, adding better education on why food waste recycling matters would boost participation, as could incentives.

Back in Yeouido, Seoul, Hong picks up his empty food waste bin and heads back upstairs to his apartment. The screen on the disposal unit has already gone dark. It's a chore that has simply become a part of life.

"Food waste is a collective responsibility," Hong says.

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To save scarlet macaws, scientists are rescuing chicks from their lethal parents

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260915-to-save-scarlet-macaws-scientists-are-rescuing-chicks-from-their-lethal-parents, 5 days ago

Scarlet macaws are an iconic but declining tropical bird. To change the species' fate, scientists are working to counter a lethal parenting method that dooms many chicks to death.

Parker hadn't even opened his eyes when a hand snatched him from his nest.

It was a Monday morning in November 2018 in the Tambopata National Reserve, deep in the Peruvian Amazon, and the featherless chick was frail and underweight, barely longer than a middle finger. He was the youngest of his four scarlet macaw siblings, and that meant he was almost certainly doomed to starve.

Standing at the base of the tree was Gabriela Vigo-Trauco, the Peruvian scientist who orchestrated this abduction.

By studying these birds for over two decades, Vigo-Trauco had discovered that scarlet macaws intentionally starve their youngest chicks. The scientist from Texas A&M University found that almost all third and fourth chicks in multi-egg nests don't make it, and around 25% of second-born chicks meet the same fate.

This brutal parenting approach was once a survival strategy. Now, it is a formidable constraint on recovery for this declining species – with poaching and logging already having driven one sub-species to near extinction across Mexico and Central America.

In 2017, Vigo-Trauco launched a rarely attempted form of rescue-mission, which led her to the chick she named Parker. Her goal was to recruit wild scarlet macaw couples to become foster parents for the doomed chicks. By persuading wild birds to take on the task, she hoped to test out a new lifeline for Peru's neglected offspring – and for the wider species.

Why do scarlet macaws neglect their youngest chicks?

Scarlet macaws are impossible to miss. Their crimson plumage stands out against the forest green, and you can hear their screeches long before you see them.

Each female can lay up to four eggs per season, but usually only one or two fly from the nest.

"The parents, particularly the mother, pushed [the youngest] away," says Vigo-Trauco, who is co-director of The Macaw Society, a Peruvian conservation organisation that first revealed this behaviour, after installing nest-cameras in 2007.

"The chick is cold and screaming, and when the father comes, he feeds the mother, the [first and second] chicks, and leaves the third one yelling away."

There was no sibling bullying, and no link to food availability. So why do the parents neglect their younger chicks?

Vigo-Trauco believes parents can't cope well with chicks at different development stages. Even four or five days between hatching can make a huge difference, with the resulting chicks requiring vastly different feeding regimes and even nest temperatures.

The parents are forced to choose, she says. If they stretch too much to feed them all, there's a risk none will make it.

How wild foster parents help

For the relatively healthy scarlet macaw populations of the Peruvian Amazon, the loss of younger chicks is less consequential. But in countries where conservationists fight poachers and loggers for every bird's survival, Vigo-Trauco says that the death of even a handful of chicks is a disaster.

Raising rejected chicks by hand is one potential solution. But it can take between 1.5 to three months for them to fly away. Plus, parrots raised in captivity have notoriously low survival rates: they struggle to feed in the wild, identify predators and form flocks.

So Vigo-Trauco's team turned to the idea of wild foster parents.

After they seized Parker in 2018, Vigo-Trauco's team hand-fed him in their field station for three weeks, following a relentless two-hour schedule.

They also screened the forest's nests to find the chick a suitable foster family, who would teach him how to live as a wild bird.

The technique had been tested by aviculturists raising macaws in captivity in the past few decades, where conditions are controlled and swapping nests means walking across the hall with a chick. It also builds on experiments involving other wild birds, such as yellow-shouldered parrots in Venezuela in the 1990s.

Parker was finally placed in a new nest on 22 December, and his adoptive mother, Tambo, started preening him straight away.

A few months later, he managed to fledge. He was the only fourth chick to do so in decades of observations of wild nests in Tambopata.

The team found similar success with 25 other chicks they've rescued between 2017 and 2019. A further three were successfully adopted but failed to fly the nest (as they were killed by lighting, a predator and disease).

By 2019, Vigo-Trauco was feeling more confident: "I felt like playing chess – moving here and there to see what was possible."

The flaws in fostering

But while some moves forward can be made with wild foster-parenting, it is also beset by challenges.

It is expensive work. In her three-year experiment in Tambopata, Vigo-Trauco had enough funding to pay salaries, lodging and equipment for a 20-person team. Yet such ambition "can't be easily replicated", she says.

It is also hard to pull off.

Rony García-Anleu is director of biological research at the Wildlife Conservation Society in Guatemala. He pioneered the adoption method in the last remaining scarlet macaw populations in Guatemala, and co-authored Vigo-Trauco's paper on fostering.

But the last time García-Anleu's team introduced a bird to a foster nest in Guatemala was in 2019.

Wild fostering requires perfect timing, he says. You need to trek miles into the jungle to locate a nest with a chick in danger. Then quickly find a couple with a suitable nest that is either empty or with one chick of a similar age.

Instead, his team teach the macaws how to fly, feed and bond in a massive cage, then release them when they're ready.

In 1994 in Costa Rica, macaws had also been decimated by deforestation and poaching. But a team led by conservationist Christopher Vaugh began guarding active nests, introducing education sessions in schools and installing artificial nests to improve the supply of suitable nesting sites.

Their effort stabilised and recovered the population – and demonstrated, according to Vaugh, that one must address the root causes of the species' vulnerability: forest loss and poaching.

Flying forward

Despite its flaws, however, the wild fostering technique is now informing work with other species of parrots, from Argentina to Central America, says Vigo-Trauco.

Plus, since 2020 she has been testing a refinement: skipping the hand-rearing phase altogether and moving chicks from one nest to another as soon as they are born.

This new approach requires more monitoring, but less intensive care for newborns – making it cheaper to run. And, in the project's second year, it has already had success: two nests, each with two chicks with large age gaps, were successfully switched up so the parents could raise two similarly aged chicks.

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Vigo-Trauco believes this may open the door for fostering in places with fewer resources.

"It's nice to see that our relatively healthier population allowed us to become a source of knowledge for others," says Vigo-Trauco.

As for Parker, he managed to leave the nest and spread his wings. Vigo-Trauco's team saw him once again in September of 2019, now a young and confident macaw flying alongside his adoptive parents and his sibling.

"It was 'normal' family," she says, "with two fledglings."

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How to prepare yourself for when an emergency strikes

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6n8m7mm712lo, today

How would you prepare for an emergency? How would you cope? And what about your relatives, friends, neighbours and colleagues?

These are the questions the government wants people to ask themselves, as emergency planners warn of growing threats from heatwaves and flooding, as well as potential cyber attacks by hostile states that could cripple vital energy infrastructure.

This summer's wildfires, which scorched fields in areas including Swallowfield in Berkshire, Abingdon in Oxfordshire, and forced the closure of the A31 in the New Forest, have highlighted just how vulnerable communities can be to natural disasters.

The government says there are a number of simple but effective steps everyone can take to stay safe and better prepared should disaster strike.

Back in August, the threat of wildfires saw the government send out emergency text alerts to people's mobiles.

The siren-like alarm was so unexpected it interrupted live TV programmes and theatre shows, catching millions off guard.

While that was a deliberately dramatic move to catch attention, the government's website advises people to keep a list of items at home in case of an emergency.

It suggests you have the following close at hand:

* Battery or wind-up torch

* Portable power bank for your mobile phone

* Battery or wind-up radio to get updates during a power cut

* Spare batteries

* First aid kit

* Hand sanitiser and wet wipes for hygiene purposes when the water is off

* Bottled water – there is no standard figure as emergencies can vary in duration

* Non-perishable food such as tinned meat, fruit and vegetables plus tin opener

Prof Hannah Cloke is a climate scientist at the University of Reading and an expert in risk and resilience.

She says the idea of having enough supplies ready to keep you going for two to three days makes perfect sense.

"It is a little bit scary for some people I think, but what we really need to think about is how we can prepare better because, in preparing better, it actually becomes less scary," she says.

It is easy to think "yes I get it - but it'll never really happen to me, why bother?"

In Lisbon on business and 1,200 miles away from his wife back home in the Hampshire village of Broughton, Ricardo Evangelista thought that too.

Until that is Portugal and Spain's electricity networks collapsed.

He remembers the events of 28 April 2026 with near perfect clarity.

"Mobile phone signals and data stopped after about an hour and the office buildings' emergency generators also stopped after an hour," he says.

"Then the ATMs stopped working. Supermarkets closed down and public transport stopped working too."

Power was not fully restored for nearly 24 hours. It was the biggest blackout to hit Europe in 20 years.

Dealing with the practicalities of living in a world without electricity was one thing though.

It is a story Ricardo tells about a colleague that stands out, 18 months on from the blackout.

"We had some colleagues in the office who we sent home," he says.

"One of our colleagues lived with her parents. She left to try and make her way home. Two hours later, her father showed up in the office. When he told him that she left two hours ago he looked so worried."

Father and daughter were later reunited and all ended well - but that story and Ricardo's memory of the day the lights went out points to an uncomfortable truth.

Our society is gobbling up energy at a rate of knots.

Cyber security experts say the rapid growth of AI and the data centres that go alongside them in places like Slough and Portsmouth means our energy network is becoming increasingly vulnerable to attack from hostile states.

It is a threat our policy makers are well aware of and another reason why they want us to be able to look after ourselves if our critical infrastructure is targeted.

Rafael Nerezzi is the chief executive officer of the cyber security firm Centrii.

He says: "The digital economy that we have today isn't ready for what's happening with the geo-political.

"Today, energy is more critical than ever. We have technology companies across the country but we haven't done the work to keep them safe and secure."

The government is getting ready to launch a public awareness campaign later this year to help people prepare for emergencies.

Cabinet Office Minister Darren Jones also says it will carry out the "largest UK home defence exercise in several decades" next year to ensure the UK is ready "should the worst ever happen".

Ricardo says his experience of the day the lights went out in Lisbon shows two things.

One, how reliant we have become on electricity to carry out even the most basic tasks and how quickly things can take a turn for the worst

Two, how important it is to be ready just in case calamity strikes.

He now has batteries, torches and phone chargers dotted around his house in Hampshire, saying, almost bashfully, he is now the proud owner of several wind up radios.

No doubt the government would be proud of him too.

How climate change is reshaping Britain's trees

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj750xnxpleeo, today

One of the UK's biggest tree nurseries says it is already changing the species it grows as hotter, drier summers reshape conditions for growers.

Frank P Matthews, based in Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire, produces more than a million trees every year, supplying garden centres across the country.

After what it describes as a challenging growing season, the family-run business has introduced new drought-tolerant species, reduced water use and adapted the way it irrigates its trees.

Managing director Stephanie James said growers had little choice but to adapt to a changing climate.

"We've phased out some species that aren't doing so well and introduced others that thrive in hotter conditions," she said.

Among the varieties now being grown are cercis, lagerstroemia and koelreuteria, which are better suited to warmer weather.

The nursery captures rainwater and stores it in large lagoons, providing a vital supply during dry spells.

"We wouldn't be able to grow trees like this if we didn't have them," James said.

The business has also begun using a compost additive that reduces water consumption by about 30%.

"It means the water doesn't run through the pots quickly. It spreads horizontally and takes its time," she said.

Container-grown trees are watered using drip irrigation systems that deliver small amounts of water regularly to keep compost moist while minimising waste.

Elsewhere on the site, bare-root trees are grown in fields and irrigated using water extracted under licence from a nearby river. When water levels fall below a certain point, irrigation stops and the nursery relies on the resilience of the trees themselves.

As well as adapting to changing conditions, the nursery says diversity will be increasingly important as the UK's treescape evolves.

"If you look around the country, a lot of the ash are dying," James said.

"We need to keep replanting new and diverse species.

"The key to mitigating climate change from a tree point of view is planting a wide range."

The nursery, which grows around 2,000 different species, is encouraging people to plant trees as part of National Tree Week in November.

Despite this summer's dry conditions, James said autumn remains the best time to plant because roots have time to establish before the following growing season.

Her advice for gardeners is simple: use plenty of bark mulch.

"Mulching is very key to reducing water loss and helping to protect that root system," she said.

What food items should you stock up on in case of an emergency?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20veglyjp8o, today

Extreme weather may be changing the way we need to shop.

Earlier this month, the UK government urged people to add a few more long-life products into their food basket - just in case the food supply chain is interrupted.

Environment Secretary Dame Angela Eagle told the Guardian the powerful natural climate phenomenon El Niño would lead to "more extreme storms in this country".

Climate change, along with cyber-attacks, disease outbreaks and conflicts can all put a strain on the process that eventually gets food into our shops and homes.

Prof Richard Wilding, an expert in supply chain strategy, tells me not to be "overly worried" as global shipping professionals are adapting all the time but to be prepared to buy different products if needed.

"Things that were in supermarkets and seen as relatively abundant may all of a sudden be in shortage," he adds.

So how easy is it to stock up and what are the things to avoid?

What should I keep in my cupboard?

Senior nutrition scientist Dr Sammie Gill, from British Nutrition Foundation, says you should prioritise certain food groups:

* Complex carbohydrates such as wheat biscuits, wholegrain cereals, crackers and breads plus oats, rice and pasta

* Proteins such as canned chickpeas, lentils, kidney beans, unsalted nuts, peanut butter and canned oily fish such as tuna, mackerel and sardines

Rebecca McManamon, a consultant dietitian, lists the following essentials:

* Tinned fruit as you can drink its juice for added fluids, vitamins and fibre

* Pickled foods such as vegetables and eggs

* Both experts also recommend keeping long-life milk found in the non-refridgerated aisle for protein, calcium and as a source of fluid

What to avoid purchasing

Gill says look out for salt and sugar content when buying tinned items:

* Avoid items tinned in brine or syrups, water is the healthiest option

* Avoid instant noodles and tinned soup due to high salt content

* Avoid breakfast cereals and snack bars with added sugars and limited nutrients

* Choose tinned fish over tinned meats such as sausages, hot dogs or corned beef as they are often processed and high in salt and saturated fat

* Limit sweet treats such as biscuits and chocolates as they have a high sugar content

And what about making the essentials taste nice? McManamon says stock up on nuts as a sweet alternative but be aware that they may have a shorter shelf life.

She also recommends keeping dried herbs, spices and salt available as, she says, tinned food can be slightly bland.

Water and vitamins: What else to consider

You should aim to take in about 1,500-2,500ml of fluid a day, whatever the weather, says McManamon.

This can obviously come from bottled water, but also from what she describes as fluid rich tinned foods if supplies are short.

For those worried about whether tinned food is as nutritious as fresh food, Dr Gill says it absolutely can be used as part of a healthy diet.

"There is little difference nutritionally between canned and fresh food in terms of macronutrients, like carbohydrates, protein, fats, and fibre, as well as fat-soluble vitamins, like vitamin A and E, and minerals," she says.

It may not be as good for other vitamins, such as B and C, because the canning process has been found to decrease vitamin levels, but Gill offers assurances that these foods can still be a "useful source" of vitamins.

How drier summers could change London's parks

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckjw5zg52ng5o, yesterday

London may have to change what it plants and how it looks after its green spaces as hotter and drier summers put increasing pressure on water supplies.

Thames Water, which supplies most of the capital, said water levels had not yet recovered from this year's record-breaking hot summer, with sustained rainfall needed before it could consider lifting hosepipe restrictions.

The conditions are prompting some of London's green spaces, including Kew Gardens and the Royal Parks, to rethink how they plan for the future.

Some trees could see their lifespans shortened by prolonged heat, while more drought-resistant plants could become a common sight across the capital.

July was the driest month on record in southern England, with Kew Gardens recording no measurable rainfall.

At Kew, work is under way to rethink planting and watering, including choosing species that require less water and using captured water for irrigation.

Among these drought-resilient plants is agave montana, a succulent from the mountains of Mexico which needs little watering and belongs to the same plant family as the crop used to make tequila.

"In the midst of a hosepipe ban, this is quite a good selection to make," said Thomas Freeth, head of collection management at Kew Gardens.

While hosepipes and sprinklers are restricted in parks and public gardens, Kew is exempt in order to protect its National Plant Collections.

Freeth said: "We just have to think more carefully about where the water comes from.

"We have installed a glorified water butt recently as a low-tech solution and that saw three of our most water-intensive glasshouses right through to the end of July."

The Royal Parks is also preparing for hotter, drier conditions, which could significantly shorten the lifespan of some of London's established trees.

Darren Share, director of parks at The Royal Parks, said: "Where we'd expect there to be another 150 odd years' left growth in them, they might only have between 50 and 70 years now, so it's half.

"It's something we need to continue to keep an eye on."

A recent report from the Greater London Authority found that, if nothing changes, over 72% of London's current public realm tree population will struggle under future climate conditions.

Trees can help make London more resilient to heat, providing the city with shade and protection from more extreme weather.

Thames Water said it would continue monitoring rainfall and water levels, with hosepipe restrictions kept under review.

A spokesperson said: "Changing weather patterns, a growing population and the need to reduce environmental impacts are all putting pressure on water resources.

"The South East is one of the UK's driest regions, classified by the Environment Agency as 'seriously water stressed'. If we do nothing, we face a shortfall of one billion litres a day by 2050."

The company said two-thirds of people it recently polled were worried about a consistent water supply, while fewer than a third believed supplies would always be plentiful.

It said new water sources, including the White Horse Reservoir and Teddington drought-resilience scheme, would be needed alongside efforts to cut leaks and water use.

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Council issues more than 50 climate action grants

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckddvqmv484yo, yesterday

More than 50 community projects will receive climate action grants after a summer of heatwaves.

Oxfordshire County Council awarded funding to help kickstart 54 projects tackling the impacts of extreme weather.

The grants range from £85 to £3,000 and will be used by 31 Oxfordshire organisations exploring climate action in the face of high temperatures, floods, droughts and storms.

The funds are part of an expanded community resilience grants programme, administered by Community Action Groups Oxfordshire (CAG) and funded by £44,724 from Oxfordshire County Council.

This year saw a significant increase in grants awarded, with 11 groups receiving a total of £12,000 in 2025.

The grants will go towards projects exploring practical solutions including planting trees, growing food and harvesting rainwater, the council said.

Projects will also look at the impacts extreme weather has on health and wellbeing, taking action like creating cooler community spaces, making homes more comfortable during heatwaves and tackling climate anxiety.

Oxfordshire County Council's cabinet member for environment and economy, Laura Gordon, said: "The increase in funding allocated for these grants this year shows how important we believe it is to support communities in carrying out these projects. They are the experts and know their own areas better than anyone.

"This summer's heatwaves were not one-off occurrences, but the new reality for the UK and we all need to adapt."

Among the grant recipients was Cherwell Collective, which successfully applied in all three categories – heat-safe homes, community resilience and climate anxiety.

Programme manager Victoria Russell said: "The funds are going to help us tackle climate anxiety within Oxfordshire."

Hummingbird hawk moths and ivy bees: The insects thriving as temperatures rise

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvzez0lpnn3go, 2 days ago

As parts of the West Midlands baked in warmer temperatures this summer, species once considered unusual in the region, such as hummingbird hawk moths, ivy bees and the wasp spider have been spotted in growing numbers.

The hummingbird hawk moth, known for its furry grey body, orange hindwings and long proboscis, migrates to the UK from southern Europe and north Africa in the summer months.

James Benwell, from the Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust, said 2026 was a "record year" for sightings of the species, which was often mistaken for a small bird.

The moth, which can be seen hovering over flowers, has wings that beat about 80 times per second, according to Benwell.

"They've had a really good year this year," he said. "Normally they would come in small numbers. We'd normally hear of a few maybe. But this year, we've seen loads of records of them.

"They're absolutely amazing but I somehow haven't seen one this year, so I'm jealous of anybody else that has."

Ivy bees, which feed mainly on the nectar of ivy flowers, had also become more prevalent in the Midlands, Benwell said, adding they were easy to find on buildings.

The bees, first recorded in the UK in 2001, are slowly spreading north, after first being recorded in the region in Stourbridge in 2015.

"There's nothing that distinguishes them from other bees really, they're not that kind of attention-grabbing species, but, you know, were you to look for them, go to ivy and you'll see them," Benwell said.

Other insects that had seen an increase in their numbers locally included the clouded yellow butterfly, a European migratory species known to have "peak" years during unusually hot summers.

"Most individuals are unable to survive the British winter, but if temperatures continue to rise as a result of climate change, we may well see them becoming permanent residents," Benwell said.

"There's numerous species that we could point out that weren't here 20 years ago... and now they're quite abundant."

Others once more commonly associated with southern England have also spread further north.

The trust said the hornet hoverfly, with yellow markings that mimic a hornet to protect against predators, although it cannot sting, had become really common after it was first recorded in Birmingham and the Black Country in 2004.

Another species, the cricket bat spider, which gets its name from its cricket bat-like markings, has also become more common in grassland since it was first spotted in the region in 2019.

The sightings come as one of the UK's largest spider species, the wasp spider, was spotted in the Midlands as warmer temperatures pushed it more than 100 miles away from its usual habitat.

The spider has recently been recorded in Worcestershire, alongside sightings in Herefordshire and Warwickshire, said the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust.

Rosemary Winnall, from the Wyre Forest Study Group, which maps the wildlife and ecology of the forest in Worcestershire, said the arrival of the wasp spider was to be celebrated.

She said the group was always on the lookout for new arrivals and had already recorded the willow emerald damselfly, the southern oak bush cricket and the purple emperor butterfly, as more species travelled north.

"The impressive western conifer seed bug is here as is the box bug," she added.

Hot weather had also benefited butterflies that loved sunshine, such as the holly blue and the pearl-bordered fritillary, which the Butterfly Conservation charity said was once "very widespread" but had rapidly declined in recent decades.

However, despite an increase in some species appearing in the region, there were others whose numbers were dwindling.

"The once-common small tortoiseshell butterfly is now rarely seen for example, and there are far fewer records of the two-spot ladybird," Winnall explained.

"We are encouraging folk to record the common species of today as they may be the rarities of the future."

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'Young people have a responsibility on climate change'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm36l35dr5n3o, 3 days ago

A sixth former says young people have a "responsibility as the new generation" and a "chance to make a real difference" when it comes to climate change.

Jed from Royal Wootton Bassett Academy was one of many students from two Wiltshire schools to share his thoughts at the Sustain Britain Schools Conference 2026.

While Anna, a student at Malmesbury school said it is a "very big worry" and "quite frustrating because it just feels like not enough action is being taken".

It comes after the hottest summer on record in the UK, according to provisional data from the Met Office.

The conference was started by Sustain Britain after it realised last year it did not have anybody under 35 attending their usual event.

Jed added: "In the future we are the people that uphold the environment and we may have picked up some bad habits from the people that we've got it from".

"If we started with this after World War Two it would make everyone's lives a lot easier but I think if we need to start getting serious about it, now is the best time.

"And I think we have a chance to make real difference."

Anna, from Malmesbury School, feels education is the most important part.

"I think motivating people and showing the impacts they can have so that they realise how it can affect people and they can try to help."

Fellow Malmesbury pupil Amelia said: "The bad in the news overpowers the good so a lot of people are losing hope in the future for the environment which causes a lot of people to not put in as much as they should to help it, which is why I'm a bit worried about it."

Izzy said she thinks people need to see the "harsh reality of it to have a change".

The conference introduced them to some possible solutions through speakers from lots of different projects - something Emma was pleased about because it made her feel more "confident" that things are going in the right direction.

Ariq feels there is optimism with "upcoming technology" and that "little changes to our lifestyle" can make a big difference.

Thomas said he sees a "a lot of hope still" due to technology and feels there is opportunity to improve how we get energy and "go about our daily lives".

Malmesbury School geography teacher Sarah Blackburn explained that she would be taking some of what was said in the conference back to her lessons, which already include climate change.

"I think it is a lot more shocking to them today than it is when we tell them because they're used to us telling them things, but when they hear it in a different context I think sometimes it sinks in a bit more," said Blackburn.

Nick Ash, from organisers Sustain Britain, wanted to make sure the organisation engaged young people.

"I think in the end, the Sustain project is going to outlast my career by some length.

"We've got to recruit some younger people and get them to carry it forward."

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Move faster to solve climate challenges, Prince William says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwe8e2j5xxy3o, 3 days ago

The Prince of Wales has warned that the world needs to move faster to solve the biggest climate challenges.

Speaking exclusively to the BBC, Prince William called for a greater sense of urgency around ways to repair the planet.

"We're not moving fast enough," William said. "We need more businesses, investors and leaders to step up, back what works and help bring these solutions to scale."

His warning came as this year's nominees for the Earthshot Prize, the global environmental award he launched six years ago, were unveiled.

Earthshot remains one of the key priorities of Prince William's public work.

"Around the world, people are proving every day that we can restore nature and tackle climate challenges. Our 2026 finalists are an incredible example of that."

Among the 15 finalists is the entire city of Barcelona, recognised for its efforts to safeguard its Mediterranean coastline.

The city's architects were praised for "turning one of Europe's most intensively used urban coastlines into a global blueprint for climate adaptation".

The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan was also selected, with the prize recognising how the country has embedded environmental protection into its national identity and constitution. The prize said that Bhutan had demonstrated "how a small nation's forests can safeguard water security across an entire region".

The finalists also include a range of community-led initiatives tackling environmental challenges such as waste reduction, nature restoration, and clean energy.

They include Indigenous ranger teams in Australia and an Argentinian artificial intelligence-powered wildfire detection and alert platform.

Two finalists are from India, which will host this year's Earthshot Prize awards ceremony in Mumbai.

They are Mahindra Last Mile Mobility, a leading manufacturer of electric three-wheelers, and the Mahila Housing Trust, a grassroots organisation pioneering climate resilience initiatives for low-income women.

The finalists were selected from nearly 7,000 nominations submitted across 169 countries.

Five winners, one from each of the five Earthshot categories - protect and restore nature, revive our oceans, clean our air, build a waste-free world and fix our climate - will be announced at the ceremony in November.

Each will receive a £1m prize to help expand their project.

The Earthshot Prize Council, which selects the winners, includes Prince William, alongside Queen Rania al-Abdullah of Jordan, actress Cate Blanchett, and chef José Andrés.

"The solutions are here. The challenge now is scale," Prince William told the BBC.

"The progress is real. Now we need to accelerate it. That's exactly why The Earthshot Prize exists."

It has been a torrid week for the royals with allegations from Prince William's uncle, Earl Spencer about his parents.

Neither Prince William nor his brother, the Duke of Sussex, have made any public comment on the book nor the direct criticism aimed at their father, the King.

Prince William and the Princess of Wales were on the Isle of Bute on Thursday focusing on royal duty rather than family fallout.

This afternoon, Prince Harry will be in the Midlands visiting a school to look at how the stories of wounded military personnel can inspire young people as part of his Invictus Foundation.

Amidst the noise of Earl Spencer's allegations, the royal family approach will be to continue with public duty and charity engagements

Additional reporting by Daniel Wittenberg

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'We want the big five parties to steal our ideas'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2zqpvxyexo, 3 days ago

The leader of a political party that has held its first conference says he wants the leaders of the big five parties to steal its climate change ideas.

Ed Gemmell, leader of the Buckinghamshire-based Climate Party, spoke to the BBC during a two-day event in High Wycombe.

He said he hoped his party, which has been officially registered and is pushing for a clean industrial revolution, would have the same impact with a single issue that Nigel Farage had with Brexit.

Gemmell said: "If our [climate] message was taken up by major parties and they started running with it, either we'd put our feet up and open a bottle of champagne, or join them and help them do it."

The Climate Party launched on the day Liz Truss became prime minister, and Gemmell said its mission was "to ensure the survival of humanity and other species on the planet, and get to net zero wildly faster than other countries".

He stood in the Makerfield by-election this year but finished 11th with 18 votes, having previously contested the Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat when Boris Johnson resigned.

Locally, he has also stood twice for parliament in the Wycombe seat and was re-elected as an independent councillor for Hazlemere on Buckinghamshire Council in 2025, having first been elected in 2021.

'Political football'

Speaking about Nigel Farage and UKIP's impact on Brexit, Gemmell said he hoped his party could do the same on the single issue of climate change - which he said set it apart from other mainstream parties.

"What he [Farage] did initially was set up a pressure group within the political system, and the idea of that pressure group was to get out the message of Brexit," said Gemmell.

"We are pressurising the big five parties to steal our ideas and run with it, and specifically invited all the leaders [to the conference] and said you're welcome to come here, as are all of your supporters.

"The climate crisis, nature crisis and clean industry should not be a right-left thing or a political football. We should be dealing with it together for the good of the world and Britain."

This summer was the UK's hottest on record, according to provisional data from the Met Office, but Gemmell said: "The message [on the climate] has not got through to the political classes.

"But that doesn't mean there aren't good people in each of the parties who know what they're talking about."

The Labour government is still committed to the 2050 goal of net zero, a policy also supported by the Liberal Democrats. But the Conservatives and Reform UK want to scrap the UK's net zero target because the parties say current plans are too costly and unachievable.

The Green Party wants net zero "as soon as possible, and more than a decade ahead of 2050", because of "the urgency of the climate crisis". A spokesperson said the party had "no special interests except people and planet".

Some of the speakers at the conference included chair of the Badger Trust Rosie Wood, Paul Powlesland from Lawyers for Nature, clean business investor Ian Pritchett from Greencore Homes - and Sue Bartlett-Reed, chair of the Marine Energy Council.

Chris Sadler, founder of a family-run renewable energy firm based in High Wycombe, was also attended, said it was "good to hear from the right people".

"We don't want to be hearing from politicians or people in the pub, but you want to hear from the scientists," he said.

Dr Rosie Miller, from campaign group Speak Up For Our Planet, added: "I was very encouraged to hear so many speakers from the construction industry talking about how we have to change the way the construction industry thinks, and they're getting on and doing it."

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Nepal to use new flood study to claim millions from UN climate disaster fund

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmlyrzve5pwzo, 4 days ago

Nepal plans to use a new study linking climate change to the deadly floods last month as the basis of a financial request from a United Nations fund.

The BBC understands that Nepal hopes to claim around $20m (£15m) from the UN Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, which helps countries affected by climate change.

Around 1,400 people have died in the disaster while 6,150 people remain missing in Nepal as of Wednesday, according official data.

The study by research group World Weather Attribution, published on Thursday, says climate change was a likely contributing factor in the avalanche of rock and ice that unleashed devastating floods on the Nepal-Tibet border last month.

There was "absolutely no doubt that human-induced climate change played a role here in the preconditioning of the disaster", said Dr Friederike Otto, an Imperial College London climatologist who co-authored the study.

Massive floods and landslides swept through border towns and villages in Nepal and Tibet, wiping out thousands of houses, destroying energy infrastructure and leaving thousands dead or missing.

Scientists say the floods were caused by a collapse of rock wall and glacier ice near the peak of Langtang Lirung, a mountain on Nepal's side of the Himalayas.

The study said the disaster was the result of a "compound event" caused by rising temperatures, thinning glaciers, thawing permafrost and pre-existing geological weaknesses

According to the study, July and August temperatures in the area were around 1.5C (2.7F) warmer "due to human influence on the climate".

Meanwhile, glaciers in the region had also been thinning by about half a metre (1.6ft) a year, which could weaken existing fractures and increase instability.

Heavy snowfall last October and November also added to a large amount of meltwater early this year.

Climate change, while not the only cause of the disaster, was a "destabilising factor acting on a pre-existing geological predisposition", the study said.

In the wake of the floods, Nepal's leaders have said the country needs around $5bn (£3.7bn) to rebuild itself.

The UN Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, which came into operation last year, requires countries to submit evidence proving that the losses they faced were caused by climate change.

Nepali officials had been preparing satellite and drone images, as well as preliminary reports, to back up its request to the fund.

But the World Weather Attribution report is now the strongest evidence for their claim that climate change was a significant factor in the collapse of rock and ice at Langtang Lirung, authorities say.

The report "will be the main basis of our claim as it has detailed what role climate has played in this disaster," said Maheshwar Dhakal, spokesperson for Nepal's Ministry of Agriculture, Forest and Environment.

Nepali authorities have called for global efforts to tackle climate change, saying the country is one of the lowest contributors to greenhouse emissions yet one of the most vulnerable places to the effects of global warming.

In his first foreign trip as Nepali Prime Minister, Balendra Shah is set to appear at United Nations General Assembly in New York next week to talk about the recent disaster and climate justice.

"Nepal has repeatedly used the term 'compensation' to describe much-needed recovery funds," said Danya Liu, a climate adaptation specialist at BloombergNEF.

"The distinction points toward a polluter-pays model, rather than one in which affected countries shoulder most of the cost and rely on aid to fill the gaps."

But it remains to be seen if Nepal will be able to secure the funds it urgently needs for reconstruction efforts along its flood-hit border - and how quickly it can do so.

Nearly 120 countries have already submitted claims to the UN Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, with requests totalling at nearly $3bn (£2.2bn).

But the fund reportedly has just less than $400m (£300m) allotted for disbursement.

Nepalese officials have said that while they have garnered wider support from some countries to disburse funds to Nepal rapidly, other countries have stressed the need to follow rules and procedures.

Officials responsible for the UN fund are scheduled to meet in December to decide which requests would be accepted - and whether it would make an urgent decision for Nepal.

According to the World Weather Attribution study, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Nepal in 2015 and triggered a rock-ice avalanche could have also weakened the underlying rock mass - though it said it could not confirm the earthquake's precise impact on the recent disaster.

The study has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal. According to the World Weather Attribution website, its studies all use the same peer-reviewed method in analysing extreme weather events.

Its findings build on what other experts had suggested in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.

Some had previously told the BBC that rising temperatures in the Himalayas was a likely factor in the rock-ice avalanche.

Dr Simon Cook, a glacier expert with the University of Dundee, told the BBC last month that while it was hard to attribute any single event to climate change, "climate warming ultimately destabilises these high mountain environments".

Cook also told the BBC on Thursday that the World Weather Attribution report was a "very worthwhile study" about the underlying causes of the recent disaster.

And while it provides "some strong evidence that climate change was a key factor", he said "we are not yet at a point of being able to say exactly how this happened".

"There remains much to learn about the processes involved... and what we can do to monitor these high-mountain regions to provide early warnings of such events in the future."

Rare tree offspring given lifeline at Scottish botanic garden

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr86xvy15nego, 4 days ago

The offspring of one of the world's rarest trees has been given a new home in south-west Scotland as conservationists step up efforts to save the species from extinction.

Two seedlings from the last known wild dendroseris neriifolia tree have arrived at Logan Botanic Garden in Dumfries and Galloway after an international rescue effort involving experts in Chile and the UK.

The species, native to Robinson Crusoe Island in the South Pacific, has been pushed to the brink by habitat loss, invasive species and repeated wildfires.

Conservationists hope the move will provide a vital safeguard for the future of a plant that now survives in the wild as a single tree clinging to a cliff face.

The dendroseris neriifolia, a rare tree daisy found only on Chile's Robinson Crusoe Island, has suffered a dramatic decline over recent decades.

By 1980, only eight wild specimens remained, and although reintroduction projects were launched in the early 2000s, the breakdown of protection measures in 2017 left the species vulnerable once again to invasive plants and grazing animals.

Today, the last surviving wild tree is supported by ropes on a steep volcanic outcrop to prevent it from falling.

In May this year, 29 seeds were collected from the lone tree and sent to the Millennium Seed Bank at Kew Wakehurst.

Eight seedlings successfully germinated, with two now transferred to Logan Botanic Garden, where the climate is considered particularly suitable for rare Chilean plants. The remaining seedlings will stay at Kew.

Richard Baines, curator at Logan, described the arrival as a significant moment and said the garden could play an important role in learning more about the species and helping secure its future.

"Experience shows that plant species from the Juan Fernández Islands do well at Logan," he said.

"This is the start of an exciting new period.

"Creating a safe place for these seedlings, getting to know them, and learning more about their adaption to different environments, gives us the chance to contribute so much more."

Scientists involved in the project said the international collaboration offered a rare opportunity to prevent the extinction of a unique plant lineage and preserve part of the natural heritage of the Juan Fernández archipelago.

Diego Penneckamp, a scientist at Jardín Botánico VerdeNativo, said saving the species was a "race against time".

"This international collaboration to support the last remaining individual could prevent the extinction of a species that represents a unique lineage with its own natural history," he said.

Third Heathrow runway should only go ahead if airlines pay for cleaner flying, say advisers

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c607lxnvn7r4o, 5 days ago

Heathrow's third runway cannot be approved without changes to current climate policies, the government's advisers have said.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) said expansion can still go ahead but only if the aviation industry funds cleaner fuels and pays for machines that suck carbon dioxide out of the air.

Making the industry pay could push up the cost of flying with a return trip to Alicante costing around £150 more by 2050, and a return to New York up £400 in today's prices, it said.

Once built, the expanded airport would produce more carbon dioxide than any other single sector of the economy by 2050. Heathrow said expansion and climate goals were "not a choice" and it would deliver both.

"Our advice today is clear - Heathrow expansion is not currently compatible with the UK's Net Zero target," said Nigel Topping, the CCC chair.

"Government needs to ensure that the aviation industry takes responsibility for the emissions it creates and bears the costs of decarbonisation. Those conditions do not exist today."

The CCC report cannot block a new runway but it wants the government to pass legislation pushing responsibility for the long-term clean-up of aviation onto the industry.

The government would "carefully consider" the advice alongside other responses to its consultation according to the Department for Transport (DfT).

The government has an ongoing consultation which aims to judge any expansion against four tests - economy, climate, air quality and noise.

It does not approve a runway - that will come in a Commons vote expected later this year.

The £33bn project would raise Heathrow's capacity to 150 million passengers a year - up from 85 million.

A DfT spokesperson said any expansion would need to align with the country's climate targets, but added it "could deliver around £40bn to the economy and support up to 60,000 local jobs".

Technologies to cut emissions not at scale

The CCC has said carbon-removal machines must be deployed to cut more than a third of the emissions by 2050.

But almost none of that technology currently exists at scale, and the committee says credible plans exist for just 1% of these engineered removals needed by the late 2030s.

The committee argued making the industry rather than the government bear the costs of clean up was the fairest way of cutting carbon.

It believes the extra investment needed would likely be passed on to passengers but would be modest if spread over time.

Phased across 25 years, the cost of a flight to Alicante would rise by a few pounds a year - "less than a cup of coffee each way", Topping said.

However, the airline industry rejected the committee's approach.

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, said carriers backed the government's target of net zero by 2050 but added that the transition "has to be affordable".

He warned that the CCC plan would put holidays "out of reach for millions" and turn the clock back to "a time when flying was the preserve of the rich".

Alderslade said the answer was airspace reform and scaling up sustainable fuels - such as those made from waste oil and plant matter.

On carbon removals, he added this was more challenging to deploy, and the aviation sector "cannot and should not shoulder the burden of scaling up this industry alone", and needed government support.

Some researchers believe the committee's advice does not act as a barrier to Heathrow's expansion and will fail to achieve the reduction in planet-warming gases required.

Dr Lois Pennington of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research told the BBC that because cleaner fuel and carbon removal were unlikely to arrive at the scale needed, the only reliable way to stay within the UK's carbon limits was to stop the expansion of flying - or even to reduce it.

"We need to make sure that we are not flying more than we are now," she said.

Although the government has said it would consider the CCC's advice, ministers have left little doubt it intends to proceed with the expansion.

Last week in response to opposition questions, Chancellor John Healey said of the expansion: "After years of delay, years of indecision, years of often vexatious challenge, we have given the go-ahead to this project quite simply because the economic case stacks up and will help bring growth."

A formal vote in the House of Commons will still be needed to approve the planning framework for Heathrow's expansion, and that is expected later this year.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham opposed a third runway before entering Downing Street, arguing it would divert investment away from the north and "trap it in London and the South East".

The Mayor of London, Lord Sadiq Khan, has also raised concerns about its climate and noise impact.

The plan is also strongly opposed by many residents and councils under the flight path, with around 750 homes facing demolition to make way for the new runway amid long-standing concerns over noise and air pollution.

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Every detail of Isle of Man's record July heatwave

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm5yj45l1987o, 6 days ago

The Isle of Man has recorded its warmest summer since records began, according to the government's seasonal climate summary.

Summer 2026 had an average temperature of 16.4C (61.5F), beating the previous record of 16.0C (60.8F), which was set only last year.

It means the island has now had its two warmest summers on record in consecutive years.

The season was also unusually dry and sunny, including a 24-day drought in July and the second-sunniest July ever recorded.

The summer's warmth came from persistently above-average temperatures, rather than any single heatwave.

The average minimum night-time temperature was 13.4C (56.1F), the highest on record, while the mean maximum of 19.4C (66.9F) was the second highest, behind only 1995.

Despite that, the summer's hottest day only reached 27.6C (81.7F), some way short of the all-time record of 28.9C (84F) set in 1983.

There were 34 days of 20C (68F) or higher, the joint second-highest count on record.

June was wetter than average, with 95.8mm of rain falling over the month.

July then turned almost bone dry, with just 2mm falling all month, including a 24-day dry spell from 1 to the 25 July, the fourth-longest drought recorded in any Manx summer.

The total amount of sunshine recorded was 664.8 hours, driven largely by a sunny July. Despite this, it fell well short of the all-time summer sunshine record of 756.7 hours, set in 1995.

Summer 2026 continues a recent run of exceptionally warm seasons on the island.

Alongside 2025, summers in 2018, 2022 and 2023 also rank among the five warmest ever recorded, with records dating back to 1947.

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UK could 'unlock' 100 more oil and gas projects, say North Sea bosses

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c65ym93p73xmo, 6 days ago

The UK could supply half of its oil and gas needs without imports if the government showed more support for the sector, an industry report claims.

Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) said changes to the windfall tax on energy firms and approval of the controversial Rosebank and Jackdaw fields could unlock 111 projects, attracting investment worth £50bn.

North Sea output has been falling and projections suggest that the UK's domestic supplies will meet only about a third of demand until 2050.

Environmental group Uplift branded the report a "fantasy" and said that the Prime Minister should not listen to "self-interested demands" of oil companies.

The OEUK report sets out the industry's case for supporting domestic production of oil and gas and displacing imports, which have increased.

It calls for the current Energy Profits Levy (EPL), a windfall tax on oil and gas producers which is due to be replaced in 2030, to be scrapped by next January.

The replacement Oil and Gas Revenue Levy would be triggered only when prices spike.

The sector has long said the EPL has significantly stifled investment because it remains in place even when wholesale oil and gas prices fall.

Last year, for the first time since the North Sea began producing oil and gas, not a single exploration well was drilled.

OEUK said the oil and gas industry supported 180,000 jobs in 2024 across the UK.

The report said that "fiscal reform and a pragmatic approach to licensing could unlock investment and improve long-term energy security".

It said that boosting domestic energy production was vital for "protecting households, businesses and the wider economy from global shocks".

Policy Director Enrique Cornejo added: "Britain is at a critical juncture. Our industry is ready to invest and deliver more homegrown oil and gas, but the window for action is narrowing.

"Without urgent policy decisions, the UK risks increasing its dependence on imports, losing high-value jobs."

The second demand from the industry is a signal of long term support for domestic oil and gas production.

In essence, that means approving the controversial Rosebank and Jackdaw developments which are currently being considered for permitting by the industry regulator.

Both projects had already been given the go-ahead under the previous Conservative government but were successfully challenged in the Scottish courts on environmental grounds.

It has meant all other potential projects have essentially been put on hold until the decisions are taken.

Energy security

One of the environmental groups which brought the legal challenges, Uplift, has described OEUK's calls for support as a "fantasy" and says the North Sea is an "ultra-mature" basin with very little reserves left.

It said that instead of listening to the "self-interested demands" of the oil companies, Andy Burnham should instead be listening to people whose homes were destroyed in the summer's wildfires.

Director Tessa Khan added: "The UK has burned most of its gas and what's left is mostly oil, the vast majority of which is exported and sold on international markets. New drilling will do nothing to bring down bills and little for energy security.

"The science is clear that the world already has far more oil and gas than can ever be safely burned if we are to limit warming."

Among the projects which could be unlocked is a second phase of the Rosebank development, the Cambo field and Clair South - all of which sit west of Shetland.

The UK Labour government has banned the issuing of new exploration licenses in UK waters.

But OEUK says most of the 111 projects identified are within existing licenced areas.

A UK government spokesperson said: "We're giving the sector and its investors the long-term certainty to plan, invest and support jobs with plans to replace the EPL when it ends by 2030, or earlier if its price floor is triggered.

"We are also making sure the North Sea has a prosperous and sustainable future through record investment that helps deliver the next generation of skilled jobs while growing the clean energy industries of the future."

Conservative energy spokesperson Andrew Bowie said refusing to approve the Jackdaw and Rosebank fields would be "madness".

He said: "These figures from OEUK show that scrapping the Energy Profits Levy will protect jobs, safeguard our energy security and stabilise investment.

"Ultimately, this report sends a stark message that Labour's absurd North Sea energy policies risk bringing a premature end to our oil and gas sector as we know it."

Large wasp spider species arrives in West Midlands

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjr4vdk7py92o, 6 days ago

One of the UK's largest spider species has been spotted in the West Midlands as warmer temperatures push it more than 100 miles from its usual habitat.

The wasp spider, known for its distinctive yellow, black and white stripes, is traditionally found in southern England but has been recorded increasingly further north in recent years

Unlike its namesake, the species cannot fly, but spiderlings can travel long distances by "ballooning" on silk strands carried by the wind.

The spider has recently been recorded in Worcestershire, alongside sightings in Herefordshire and Warwickshire, according to Worcestershire Wildlife Trust.

Wendy Carter from the trust said people should not be alarmed by the spider's size.

"I know they're quite scary because they're quite big, but they're phenomenal creatures and they're not going to do us any harm," she said.

Carter and her partner recorded a sighting near Eckington last weekend, adding to a string of reports from across the county.

The spider has also been spotted in Evesham, Broadway and Worcester, with the most recent sighting coming in Feckenham.

"We knew they were in the county because we'd had one record last year and sightings on our borders for a little while," Carter said.

"Then about nine or 10 sightings were reported, all in the south-east of the county along the River Avon.

"So I thought I'd go along the River Avon and find another one."

According to the British Arachnological Society, the bodies of female wasp spiders can grow to about 2cm in length, while males are typically much smaller at about 0.5cm.

They are most commonly found among long grass, thistles and other tall vegetation.

The species was first recorded in Britain in 1922, when one was caught at Rye in East Sussex, but has expanded rapidly northwards in recent decades.

Carter said warmer temperatures and milder winters were likely helping the spider establish itself in new areas.

"It's also pushing our wildlife further north, so we're losing species that are unable to cope with the warmth and the mildness," she said.

"This is a natural progression. Wasp spiders are one of a long line of species that we're starting to see move into the county from the south of England."

The spiders require at least three months of warm weather and a mild winter to breed successfully.

Female wasp spiders are currently laying egg sacs before dying off as temperatures fall later in the year.

Despite their intimidating appearance, Carter said they posed no threat to humans.

"All spiders are venomous because that's how they catch their prey," she said, but added: "Only a handful can pierce human skin and none have venom that can harm us."

Anyone who spots a wasp spider in Worcestershire is encouraged to take a photograph and alert Worcestershire Wildlife Trust.

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US scraps limits on emissions from coal and gas power plants

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmly433ke05vo, 7 days ago

Rules aimed at limiting pollution from coal and gas power plants are being scrapped, the head of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced.

The agency also said it would take steps to prevent future administrations from regulating power plant emissions.

The EPA said that getting rid of the majority of the climate rules from President Joe Biden's era would save $310bn (£223bn) and reduce energy prices.

But environmental groups warned it would come at a huge cost to Americans' health and the planet. The EPA's move is expected to face immediate legal challenges.

"The reality is that America produces energy better and cleaner than anywhere else in the world, and our power plants should not be unfairly targeted," the head of the EPA, Lee Zeldin, said on Monday.

Fossil fuels, which include coal and natural gas, are by far the largest driver of global climate change, according to the United Nations.

The EPA said in a statement that it found the Biden-era rules on power plant emissions had "exceeded the agency's authority".

The agency said the regulations required "control technologies that are not adequately demonstrated, effectively forcing plants to retire rather than setting standards they could actually meet".

The EPA is also seeking to get rid of all other greenhouse gas rules for the power sector.

The changes, which will undergo public scrutiny, were proposed last year by Zeldin.

He said the new rules would "ensure affordable and reliable energy supplies and drive down the costs of transportation, heating, utilities, farming, and manufacturing while boosting our national security".

The Biden-era regulations called for a major reduction in carbon emissions from power plants, as well as vehicles and industrial facilities. It was estimated that the measures would stop 4,500 premature deaths annually.

But the EPA said on Monday: "Any potential public health harms are too uncertain, conjectural, remote, and convoluted to tie specifically to the US power sector."

Zeldin told reporters that safeguards against "hazardous air pollutants" would remain in place "to safeguard human health".

Nathaniel Keohane, president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions – an independent environmental organisation – described the move as "a giant step backward".

"In repealing carbon pollution standards for power plants, EPA has ignored sound science and economics and abdicated its responsibility to protect public health and welfare," Keohane added.

The US is currently the second-biggest emitter of planet-warming greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, behind China.

And the power sector makes up about a quarter of US emissions, at roughly 1.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent each year, according to the latest available estimates.

That means the US power sector emissions are higher than the total emissions of all but a handful of countries.

US power sector emissions have been generally falling over the past couple of decades, albeit with a slight uptick last year, as coal use has fallen.

But Trump has long argued for a resurgence in coal power and has regularly criticised renewables such as wind and solar.

The precise consequences of today's announcement for US emissions - and global climate change - are uncertain.

Some researchers question whether coal will ever make the resurgence that Trump hopes for. They point to the sharp falls in costs of many clean technologies such as solar power over the past decade.

In 2022, the EPA lost some of its powers to limit greenhouse gas emissions when the Supreme Court ruled in favour of 19 states and some of the nation's largest coal companies, which were worried about the economic cost of the policy and argued the agency did not have the authority to limit emissions across whole states.

Monday's announcement is the latest move by President Donald Trump's administration to walk back policies designed to combat global warming and climate change.

In February, the EPA reversed a landmark Obama-era scientific ruling, which held that greenhouse gases were a threat to public health. This was challenged by several states and local governments.

Was this summer the moment climate change felt real for the first time?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0lrk5lx96po, 7 days ago

Is this the year climate change became real for people of the Midlands?

I mean climate change is real, I've spent a 25-year career telling people it is real and documenting its impact on the region: Floods, dry spells, heatwaves and more.

So why for many people does this year feel different - like climate change is finally "here" ?

Well in 2026, things have reached some sort of tipping point where we can start to see really obvious signs of change that had a huge impact on at least some of us.

A winter of endless rain, not just wet but never ending.

Then the rain stopped and we were hurtling into drought.

Then wave after wave of what felt like boiling heat.

We have had wildfires this year because things have been so dry for so long, the hot air has just sucked the moisture out of the landscape.

It leaves vegetation dead, dry and needing just a small spark to erupt into flame.

On Cannock Chase, I spent the day with Staffordshire County Council rangers, as they showed me around the black, scorched earth left behind after the fires that took place there.

I saw pictures of dead adders along with cracked and burnt eggs belonging to ground-nesting birds.

It is not just wildlife affected by them - the ash from the fire is changing the chemistry of the soil itself.

It is much more nutrient-rich and that is bad news for this rare lowland heathland, where the traditional plants prefer poorer quality soil.

Already green shoots of bracken are bursting through the blackened earth and that will crowd out the traditional heather, bilberry and cowberry.

The Met Office has a list of things climate change will make worse, including "increased risk of fires" but it also says the "habitable region of pests expands".

That is exactly what our farmers are seeing this year.

Bluetongue is an awful disease affecting cattle and sheep, leading to the death of lambs and calves.

It is carried by infected midges and as the climate has warmed the region, infected midges have expanded north from Europe to now include the Midlands.

On 2 September, there were 24 confirmed cases reported in Staffordshire.

There were also nine cases in Shropshire, two in Herefordshire and one each in Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Solihull.

Thanks to climate change, farmers must now rethink the way they look after these animals, keep them inside when the risk is high, or consider spending money on vaccination.

Back at Cannock Chase, the small team is working to try and restore the charred landscape and also improve fire breaks and access for fire engines for when the next wildfire season starts.

Meanwhile "risk to water supplies" is another climate change issue identified by the Met Office, and Severn Trent is working to tackle that.

Not least by increasing the size of Draycote Water reservoir by 60cm (24 inches) so it can hold more water.

Everywhere you look in the region, people are dealing with the identified issues climate change is causing and it's costing all of us money.

Since we continue to keep pouring climate change gases into the environment the problems just keep increasing.

As one expert told me, climate change is here, the climate the UK was designed for no longer exists and that leaves us with no choice but to adapt.

Was this the year climate change finally felt "real" to you? Just wait until next year and the year after that.

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Nato welcomes Greenland deal as Trump says it will give US 'permanent security control'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c63d7lexyym1o, yesterday

The US and Denmark have announced a deal on Greenland's security, resolving a diplomatic dispute sparked by President Donald Trump's threats to seize it by force.

Nato said the deal would help stabilise the region, as Trump said Denmark would grant the US "permanent control over security, and all other needs" in the semi-autonomous Danish territory in the Arctic.

The leaders of Denmark and Greenland welcomed the deal to "strengthen security", saying it was expected to be signed next week - but did not outline its contents.

This comes after months of threats by Trump to "take" Greenland over national security concerns, citing its strategic location for defence purposes and its mineral wealth.

No text of the agreement has been released. Trump said the deal came with "no cost to the United States" and would grant it the ability "to do what is necessary" to "secure and defend the security of Greenland", in a post on Truth Social.

He said it included a rule that no US adversary could maintain a military presence in Greenland or "make sensitive investments in Greenland, without our express written approval".

A Nato spokesperson said the military alliance welcomed the deal, which would "help advance security, stability and cooperation in this vital region".

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she was "pleased that there is a prospect of a good agreement" for all three parties, which was expected to be signed at the UN General Assembly next week.

The deal "strengthens our common security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic area" while also recognising "the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom and the right of the Greenlandic people to self-determination", she said in a joint statement with Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen.

The agreement would still need to go through "the necessary parliamentary procedures to enter into force" once signed, the statement noted.

Nielsen said it was "gratifying that we are about to enter into an agreement that ensures and strengthens the security of Greenland, the Kingdom of Denmark, the United States and the Western alliance".

"The agreement recognises Greenland's interests and our place in international co-operation. It is for the benefit of us all," he said.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron said the deal helped "to reaffirm Danish sovereignty" over the island.

"I simply note that Danish sovereignty is respected, that international law is respected, and that this is what we were asking for. So it's a good thing," Macron was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

Trump had tried for months to purchase or annex the semi-autonomous territory, arguing that it was vulnerable to adversaries, including Russia and China.

His repeated demands to take Greenland earlier this year prompted an outcry from Greenlanders, Danes and other Nato members.

There is hope the crisis has now been brought to an end, with some Danish media interpreting the agreement as a quiet but significant triumph for the country's diplomacy.

"Don't tell Trump that it's the Kingdom of Denmark that has won," read one headline in the newspaper Berlingske on Saturday.

"Trump didn't get Greenland, but he was allowed to take a victory lap on social media," wrote a US correspondent for Politiken. Territorial integrity was a red line for Denmark and Greenland, and the US president has made no mention of any territory changing hands.

It is not yet clear what concessions or sweeteners, if any, have been agreed - and in Greenland, some are still nervous.

"[It's] news we have all been hoping for," MP Naaja Nathanielsen wrote on social media. But she added: "It is absolutely crucial that any agreement preserves our right to self-determination."

Former Greenlandic politician Aaja Chemnitz said she looked forward to the deal being finalised, but "until then, I'm sceptical".

"I don't have much confidence in Trump," she said.

The text of the agreement has not been published. The BBC has contacted the Danish Embassy in the US and the White House.

However, an unnamed US State Department official outlined the deal without providing specifics.

Among the agreed provisions is one stating the deal would not expire even if Greenland became an independent country in the future.

The official added that under the deal, the US has unilateral power to build additional military structures with no approval needed from Greenland or Denmark. It includes "permanent access, basing and overflights rights," the official said.

It also bans non-Nato countries from building bases in Greenland, and "bans adversaries from making investments in Greenland that could threaten the United States".

The official added that under the current status quo, adversaries have been allowed to invest in Greenland's "sensitive sectors without investment screening".

The official specifically referenced Russia and China, saying it blocks them from deploying troops or making investments in "sensitive sectors".

Without the official text being released, it is unclear how exactly the deal differs from a 1951 agreement with Denmark, under which the US can send as many troops as it wants to Greenland.

The US already has more than 100 military personnel permanently stationed at its Pituffik base in the north-western tip of the territory.

Trump says Greenland is essential for his plan to build a Golden Dome defence system, designed to protect the US against missile attacks from Russia and China, and that European allies could co-operate in this endeavour.

The island has vast - and largely untapped - reserves of rare earth minerals, many of which are crucial for technologies including mobile phones and electric vehicles.

Lindsay Clancy holdout juror says he had no doubt she deliberately killed her children

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c54g7jdmw032o, 3 days ago

The lone holdout juror in the trial of Lindsay Clancy has said he "didn't have any doubts" that she was criminally responsible for killing her three children.

"Based on all the physical evidence, key witnesses and what the prosecution presents, I thought it was enough proof that she knew exactly what she was doing and planned it," Michael Desronvil said in a statement to CBS News, the BBC's US partner.

The judge declared a mistrial on 4 September after the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict following nearly 40 hours of deliberating.

Clancy admitted to the killings but her lawyers argued she had been suffering from postpartum psychosis. Prosecutors said the killings were calculated.

Warning: This article contains distressing details

The 36-year-old was charged with three counts of first-degree murder after strangling Cora, five, Dawson, three, and Callan, eight months, at the family's Massachusetts home before jumping out of the second-floor window.

To find Clancy guilty, jurors had to be unanimously convinced beyond reasonable doubt that she intentionally killed her children and that she did not do so as a result of postpartum psychosis, a rare and serious condition.

The jury - nine women and three men - considered a range of options including not guilty by reason of insanity, manslaughter and first-degree murder.

Several jurors have said following the mistrial being declared that the panel was ultimately divided 11-1 in favour of finding Clancy not criminally responsible.

Desronvil said he believed the evidence presented in court showed she had planned the killings.

"I didn't have any doubts," he said in a statement to CBS on Thursday.

"As I tried to explain different possible theories during deliberation, I kept getting cut off as if I had doubts based on the evidence presented."

Paula Devlin, one of the other jurors, told CBS Mornings that the panel had spent several days trying to convince Desronvil to change his mind.

"We all worked together to convince ourselves once we got to that point where it was 10 to 2," she said.

The jury foreperson, a retired fifth-grade teacher, described not being able to reach a verdict as "awful" and an "emotional rollercoaster".

She told NBC that Desronvil had "admitted he had reasonable doubt", but as she started filling out the verdict sheets, he apparently said: "But I'm still not going to say that she's not guilty by reason of insanity."

Another juror told local CBS station WBZ-TV that most of the jurors had been "very firm in their stance" from the start and "the stand-alone juror was not the only one that was unwilling to see things from the other side".

But they added that because Desronvil would not "follow" his reasonable doubt nor offer logical reasoning for his position, they felt Clancy had not received a fair trial.

The identities of all 11 jurors have not been officially disclosed but in the US, once a case is over, any juror can choose to speak publicly about a case and their deliberations.

Patrick Clancy, the children's father and Lindsay Clancy's ex-husband, is due to speak publicly about the case in an interview with the CBS programme 60 Minutes on Sunday.

In it, he is expected to discuss his grief, his memories of his children and the conspiracy theories that have flooded social media since the trial began.

He said he still speaks to his children "all the time", describing it as "a way I stay connected to them".

During the trial, Clancy's defence team had attempted to use her being put on more than a dozen medications in the lead-up to the killings, as well as seeking help from a suicide hotline and an emergency room, as evidence of her psychosis.

Postpartum psychosis can involve hallucinations and delusions, and her lawyers argued that she was unable to understand the nature of her actions or distinguish right from wrong.

A forensic psychiatrist who testified for the defence said Clancy experienced a "command hallucination" and a "delusion of influence" when she killed her children.

However, her psychiatrist testified for the prosecution that Clancy did not show signs of psychosis during their sessions, while another psychiatrist noted that the condition was not currently recognised by the American Psychiatric Association.

Under Massachusetts law, prosecutors had to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that Clancy was criminally responsible for the jury to find her guilty. The defence did not have to prove her mental illness or lack of criminal responsibility.

The mistrial leaves the case unresolved. Prosecutors have not said whether they will seek a retrial.

Clancy's lawyer, Kevin Reddington, has said he hopes to reach an agreement with prosecutors to avoid a second trial.

He told ABC's Good Morning America that he was upset that the lone juror would not acquit Clancy.

He said the holdout "would not apply the law of reasonable doubt" as instructed by the judge, adding: "That's not right. And that's why I was upset."

The next court hearing is scheduled for 29 September at Plymouth Superior Court in Massachusetts.

Trump signs sweeping Russia sanctions bill

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqvgy34ndj4eo, 3 days ago

US President Donald Trump has signed a sweeping sanctions bill, taking aim at Russia's economy by punishing major purchasers of its oil and gas.

The bill, passed by the US House of Representatives earlier this week, gives Trump broad powers to levy tariffs of up to 100% on the top five purchasers of Russian oil and gas – most significantly China and India.

At Trump's behest, the bill also extends to Iran's energy and weapons sectors.

The bill is named after the late Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Ukraine's staunchest defenders in Washington before his death on 11 July.

The 48-page bill, formally titled the Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, includes exceptions for countries that import less than 15% of their natural gas from Russia and are working to lessen their dependency.

Additionally, the bill includes sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin, senior figures within the Russian government as well as banks and other financial institutions and Russia's "shadow fleet" of tankers used to circumvent existing sanctions.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, a New York Democrat, previously described the legislation as "scorching sanctions" which would "throttle Putin's war machine".

Data from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, or CREA, shows that China accounted for 50% of Russian crude exports between December 2022 and August 2026, followed by India at 37%.

Turkey and the European Union each accounted for 5% during the same time period, although Russian energy exports to the EU have been decreasing.

Senator Graham had long sought to push the Trump administration to do more to punish Russia for the war that followed its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The bill also received the support of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who thanked Trump for signing the "critically important legislation".

"The best way to honour Lindsey's memory will be to implement the provisions of this law fully and swiftly," he wrote on social media.

"Senator Graham never doubted for a second that America has enough strength to stand up to dictators and achieve results if it acts the right way."

Graham, 71, died on 11 July of an "aortic dissection" caused by cardiovascular disease shortly after returning from a trip to Kyiv.

"He died doing the work he was born to do," Trump said at the time.

Prior to his death, he was widely considered one of Ukraine's fiercest allies on Capitol Hill, at a time when Republicans were bitterly divided over the extent of US involvement abroad and the amount of aid being given to Ukraine.

Journalists denied White House access after Trump banned some media outlets

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj4gklz9dxplo, yesterday

Politico, CNN and MS NOW journalists have been denied access to the White House after US President Donald Trump announced he was banning the outlets.

An MS NOW reporter and a photographer tried entering the White House grounds on Saturday morning, but their badges would not scan and an officer confiscated them, the outlet reported.

Both CNN and Politico also said Saturday morning that their reporters were denied access and had their badges seized.

Trump said on Friday he was barring all three major US media outlets from the White House, accusing them of writing "fiction or lies" about his administration.

"The officer asked me to hand over my badge. He said that it was disabled," MS NOW reporter Akayla Gardner said. "I asked why I was not able to get inside. He said it was above him."

Gardner added that while her and her colleague's badges were disabled, an MS NOW producer was still able to scan her badge to get in, though she was not given an explanation as to why the producer's badge still worked.

CNN reporter Betsy Klein said a Secret Service agent told her her badge had been deactivated.

Later on Saturday morning, Politico said its reporter Cheyenne Haslett was denied entry and Secret Service revoked her pass.

All three outlets have spoken out against the decision, accusing Trump of violating their constitutional rights to free speech and freedom of the press.

An MS NOW spokesperson said in a statement that the White House "belongs to the American people and the decisions made inside are funded by our tax dollars".

MS NOW said it "intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend our First Amendment rights and the essential role of independent journalism in our democracy".

Politico Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Greenberger said in an internal email, shared in the outlet's Playbook newsletter, that the company stands by its reporters and will "vigorously defend" their First Amendment rights.

And CNN said, "we have a right under the US Constitution to do our reporting without hindrance or interference from the government and this ban is an illegal assault on this fundamental right".

In his announcement, Trump did not mention specific stories or reporting from the three outlets that prompted the move, but later said "it's really just cumulative stories over the last few years".

Trump added that there "may be others to join them", but has not given a directive banning additional news outlets. When later asked by a reporter what he meant by others to come, Trump responded: "Others to come in terms of fake news? Well, you know, the New York Times is fake news, the Washington Post is fake news."

The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) - the independent, non-profit group that represents journalists who cover the US presidency - called on the administration "to immediately restore" access to the journalists and accused it of violating the First Amendment.

"The implications extend beyond these organizations: a standard used to exclude one news outlet because of its coverage could be applied to any outlet in the future," said WHCA President Jacqui Heinrich, who works for Fox News.

Heinrich said that the Americans, through a free and independent press, must be able to scrutinise those elected in their coverage "regardless of whether government officials view it favorably".

"That's why courts have repeatedly held that once the White House provides access to journalists, it cannot deny that access arbitrarily or based on the content of their reporting."

Several groups dedicated to the freedom of the press have called Trump's White House ban illegal and unconstitutional.

A major group that provides legal services to the media - the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press - said it expected Trump's ban to be struck down quickly by the courts because it was "flatly unconstitutional".

"The First Amendment is clear that once the White House invites in some journalists, it can't ban others because it doesn't like their reporting," said Bruce Brown, president of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which provides legal services to the media.

It's the latest in a series of moves by the administration to target media outlets Trump says are critical of him, including legal action against US and international outlets like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the BBC.

Some of the lawsuits have resulted in media organisations agreeing to pay multimillion dollar settlements. Trump's lawsuit against the BBC is ongoing.

Additional reporting from Bernd Debusmann Jr and Max Matza.

Trump escalates media fight after week of setbacks

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmn8ed1xpxnyo, yesterday

President Donald Trump has infused his ongoing feud with the White House press with a new level of acrimony.

Journalists from three major media outlets - CNN, Politico and MS Now - were denied access and had their press credentials confiscated on Saturday morning as they attempted to enter the White House grounds for work.

As media watchdog organisations and the White House Correspondents Association cry foul, Trump appears set to press ahead with a sweeping effort to punish these outlets.

In his Truth Social post announcing his decision on Friday, he said he was "banning" the organisations because "of their constant 'reporting' of fake news". In remarks later that day, he complained that "something is wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stories".

"If they want to write them, that's fine," he continued. "I don't have to let them into the people's house", he said, referring to the White House.

The president's frustration at the media, however, came after a week of setbacks in which major institutions handed him a series of losses across his agenda.

First, the Supreme Court blocked his plan to restrict mail-in voting ahead of the midterms. This prompted Trump to lash out at the court's justices including those he had appointed. "These are not the people I interviewed to serve on the United States Supreme Court," he said.

The Federal Reserve, the US central bank, then raised interest rates after Trump had spent months arguing they should be cut. This was followed by a judge ordering his administration to give 30 days' notice before making any changes to the Kennedy Center arts venue in Washington DC after the president warned it could be "ripped down".

These headlines, combined with approval ratings that recently sunk to record lows for his second term, suggest Trump is facing challenging political headwinds.

His latest attack on the press, however, raises clear legal questions.

The First Amendment to the US Constitution forbids Congress from "abridging" the freedom of the press. It is language that courts have long interpreted as preventing the government from discriminating against the media based on the content of their coverage.

All three targeted news outlets have promised to file lawsuits challenging Trump's decision.

Although the breadth of this move is unprecedented, it is far from the first time the Trump administration has attempted to limit or deny access to the White House to members of mainstream media outlets.

In his first term, the administration revoked CNN correspondent Jim Acosta's press credentials, setting off a legal battle that was ultimately resolved in the journalist's favour. It also temporarily suspended the pass of a reporter who had a heated argument with White House adviser Sebastian Gorka – a move that also was subsequently blocked by the courts.

Last year, the White House banned reporters for the Associated Press from participating in the president's press pool - which allows media outlets access to smaller in-town and travelling presidential appearances - because the newswire service would not follow Trump's move to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

That dispute also led to a protracted - and yet to be fully resolved - legal battle, prompting the White House to change press pool rules to drop the guaranteed spot for all wire services.

The White House bans, however, represent a dramatic escalation.

The restrictions include access to the entirety of the White House grounds, not just the press pool. And they target entire news organisations, not just a single disfavoured correspondent.

While Trump has been clear about the motives behind his decision, he has shed little light on why he has acted now. He has regularly criticised his press coverage since he first entered national politics more than a decade ago, but he said on Friday there was no specific incident that prompted his announcement.

At the moment, however, the president is embattled.

Even beyond the week of clear setbacks, he is in the midst of an unpopular and difficult-to-resolve war of choice in Iran, which has led to a surge in energy and other consumer prices, deflating his standing with the American public.

Polls also suggest his party faces an uphill battle to retain control of the House of Representatives and perhaps the Senate in November's crucial midterm congressional elections.

His attempts to improve the public's mood by touting his accomplishments in campaign events and at his Republican Party's convention earlier this month in Texas have, at least so far, proven ineffective.

There may be more behind Trump's decision to lash out at the media this weekend. But it could also simply be an indication of presidential frustration in the face of events and circumstances, some of his own making, that are turning against him.

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.

Uber ordered to pay $40m to family of woman killed after driver left her on highway

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqp8d1gw6l8po, 3 days ago

Uber has been ordered to pay $40m (£29m) to the family of a 23-year-old woman who was fatally struck on a California highway after the rideshare company's driver allegedly pulled over and ordered her out of the car.

Emily Normandin-Parker had booked an Uber for home with a friend on 12 August 2023, before her friend became sick and vomited in the car, court documents show.

Her parents said the driver pulled over to the side of the highway and forced the women, who were intoxicated, out of the car, after which Normandin-Parker was hit and killed by another vehicle.

Uber had argued that the driver was an independent contractor, and the company was not responsible for his actions.

"Emily did everything Uber tells riders to do - she made the responsible choice not to drive and we trusted Uber to get her home safely," her parents said in a statement about their daughter, a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles. "That trust cost our daughter her life."

Judge Richard Stone ordered the rideshare company to pay the money to Normandin-Parker's parents after a five-day arbitration process, according to the law firm Panish, Shea, Ravipudi, which represented the family.

Arbitration is an alternative way to resolve disputes outside of court with a qualified arbitrator, in this case a retired judge.

Lawyers representing the family said that after leaving the women on the highway, the driver, Vu Tran, did not call for help for them. He instead pulled off to call Uber and demand they charge Normandin-Parker a cleaning fee, the lawyers said.

Tran showed "far more worry for his new car than he did for his passengers", Judge Stone said, adding that he could have taken the exit and dropped the women off at a safe location.

Uber said it believed the arbitrator was wrong in holding the company legally responsible for the event.

"We have continued to strengthen our approach to safety over the years, through new technology, policies and safeguards informed by safety experts, including additional guidance to drivers about avoiding drop-offs in unsafe locations," the company said in a statement.

The law firm representing the family said Uber had initially proposed a settlement that would give the parents $10m and require them not to speak about the incident, which they declined.

'We simply don't know' - JP Morgan struggling to forecast oil prices due to Trump's war with Iran

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq0m3gmv8n7ko, 3 days ago

Investment banking giant JP Morgan has said it is struggling to predict how oil prices will be impacted by the US-Iran war, telling investors in a rare note that "we simply don't know how to model the endgame".

The bank said it assumed at the start of the conflict that there would be "economic red lines" that the Trump administration would be unwilling to cross, and therefore it believed a deal would have been struck to open up the Strait of Hormuz shipping lane back in June.

It said such red lines included oil prices rising above $100 a barrel, inflation reaching 4%, gasoline topping $5 a gallon and rates on 10-year government borrowing hitting 5%.

"The market is on edge," analysts said.

JP Morgan is a huge name in the financial world, so for the investment bank to admit its experts are grappling with working out the economic impact of the US-Iran conflict reflects the tricky nature of trying to predict President Donald Trump's next moves.

An oil and gas industry source told the BBC it was "unusual" for such a high-profile investment firm to issue such a note, but added it was a "reflection on the state of play", given the uncertainties around the conflict.

Investors often make investment decisions on inflation expectations and the price of oil is a major factor in prices rising across the world, given the commodity's widespread use and humanity's dependence on it.

While gasoline remains below $5 and inflation has also not reached 4%, oil prices have surged back above $100 in recent weeks and the interest rate - known as a yield - on government bonds, which are issued in order for the US to borrow money from financial markets, has ticked over 5%.

"Six months later [since the war began], many of those lines have been crossed, yet the exit strategy is less clear, not more," said the commodities research team at JP Morgan in note.

"For the first time since the start of the Iran conflict, we don't have a baseline view. We simply don't know how to model the endgame."

US President Donald Trump said last week he did not think the Iran war would end until after November's midterm elections in the US.

"Right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward," Trump told reporters last week. "I think it's going to take a little bit longer than the midterm."

High oil prices have been behind the rising cost of living in the US and around the world, with fuel and energy prices surging ahead of the colder months.

The US central bank, the Federal Reserve, raised interest rates this week for the first time in more than three years and signaled they could be increased further this year and into 2027 in an effort to slow rising prices.

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said the move was because "inflation is too high and has been for too long", though Trump disagreed with the decision.

'No clear signs of de-escalation'

In JP Morgan's note, analysts said it estimated the "fair value" for oil in September would be around $90 a barrel, despite it trading above $100.

But it said "the market is pricing in the risk" of more disruption to trade.

Analysts cited further risks to oil supply in the Middle East, with Yemen's Houthis, which are backed by Iran, seizing an area at the mouth of the waterway in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which is another key international shipping route.

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine also continues to have an impact.

Analysts said with "no clear signals" of the war de-escalating, the assumption that global oil supply disruption was temporary is "becoming increasingly difficult to sustain".

Trump says son has paid back Putin ally for partly funding wedding festivities

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgl7dk3we3ko, 2 days ago

President Donald Trump has said his son paid back a Russian oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin for hosting post-wedding festivities in the Bahamas.

Asked in the Oval Office about Umar Kremlev's involvement in Donald Trump Jr's celebrations, Trump said it is "totally allowed" and that it is "very common" to give wedding parties for others.

After an investigation said Kremlev paid "hundreds of thousands of dollars", the couple confirmed he partially funded two nights of their three-day festivities on a private island as a gift.

Trump did not say how he knew the Putin ally was paid back. The BBC has not verified payment was made and has contacted Trump Jr.

Trump Jr, the president's eldest son, is a private citizen, so it is not illegal for him to accept gifts from a foreign national.

But ethics watchdog groups have said that the president's son accepting an expensive gift from someone associated with a foreign head of state presents the appearance of a conflict of interest – even if Trump Jr is not a US government employee.

President Trump's ties to Russia have raised questions since his 2016 campaign, and led to a special counsel investigation into a meeting attended by Trump Jr with a Russian operative at Trump Tower.

Kremlev runs the International Boxing Association (IBA), which is funded by the state-backed Gazprom energy company. The organisation was suspended by the Olympic Committee in part over its failure to report its ties to the Russian energy giant.

Kremlev was also a member of a delegation that visited China with Putin in May. He has been given the Order of Friendship, a top state honour, by the Russian president, according to ProPublica, which published the investigation about the wedding events.

Trump Jr's spokesperson told the news outlet that the president's son and Kremlev were personal friends and did not have "a business relationship".

Kremlev's office told ProPublica that he and Trump Jr met a few years ago and "have a friendly relationship".

The BBC has contacted representatives for Kremlev for comment.

Why an American football game played the Canadian national anthem

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj5ydk2y0gg2o, 3 days ago

There are no Canadian teams in the NFL - but there are millions of fans.

At the Buffalo Bills game in New York on Thursday night, plenty of Canadians wore the team's trademark red, white and blue while drinking beside their pick-up trucks, which were parked to tailgate - a very American pre-game tradition.

The Bills' stadium is only 112 miles (180 km) from Toronto - about a two and a half hour drive for fans - and right across Lake Ontario, which President Donald Trump has sought to rename Lake America.

So it was no surprise that many Canadians arrived long before kick-off to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the sights of the new Highmark Stadium for their team 's home opener against the Detroit Lions.

What was unusual was that their national anthem rang out through the stadium.

The field was decked out with both the stars and stripes of the US flag and the maple leaf of the Canadian one, and the 1990s Canadian band The Barenaked Ladies belted out Oh Canada! in front of a massive crowd.

It was an emotional moment for many of the Canadian fans, who said they felt an extremely warm welcome even if their country's mood has recently grown more frosty towards the US.

"I've always felt welcome here," said Ben Kerr, from Bradford, Ontario.

"I think it's a nice acknowledgement," he added. "I appreciate that the Bills are doing that for Canada."

The relationship between the two countries, which began to sour when US President Donald Trump returned to office and made repeated calls to annex Canada, has frayed further with an escalating tit-for-tat tariff showdown.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has said Canada, which shares the world's longest undefended border with the US, is "at war" with its southern neighbour over trade. Trump has called Canada "nasty" and "entitled".

Both sides are feeling the economic impact, with Canadian industries reeling from tariffs and Canadians boycotting travel and spending in the US.

The ongoing tensions made the decision to travel to Buffalo a little more complicated for Kerr.

"I try to spend as little money as possible in the US," he told the BBC. "Buy our food in Canada, buy our beer in Canada, bring it across and drink it here. We're not big in supporting the American economy in this trade war."

Many Americans at the game expressed their own frustrations with the escalating trade war, and the way it has divided the two neighbours.

For Drew Grier, an American who lives eight minutes from the stadium, "the anthem playing tonight is a core part of who we are as a border city".

At a Buffalo Sabres playoff ice hockey game in April, a microphone died while the Canadian anthem was being sung and the audience's voices filled in.

"You sang the Canadian anthem because it needed to happen," Grier said.

Canadian Blake Parnham recalled that moment: "I was sobbing watching the game at home because I felt so vindicated, that Buffalo is different."

He couldn't make it to Buffalo for the Bills home opener, but he enjoyed it from his elaborately decorated backyard in Keswick, Ontario.

Grier said that singing the Canadian anthem tonight is "not that polarising of a thing".

"If anyone is polarising it, it's coming from those outside here, because those of us here, we love Canada," he said.

But some thought it was a step too far.

"The only acceptable reason to sing that anthem would be if they were playing a Canadian team, but they don't play any Canadian teams," posted one fan on social media.

"I don't think it's really necessary," said David Waring, who attended Thursday's game.

In the end, it may all come down to simple economics.

The Bills' new home, Highmark Stadium, cost $2.2bn to build. While the population of western New York is a little over 1.5 million, the nearby Toronto and Hamilton greater metro areas is home to more than 8 million. Simply put, the team needs Canadian fans.

Gavin Kemp, who has run the NFL-Canada office for eight years, told the BBC that Canada's relationship to the NFL was "extremely important".

Asked why the Bills chose this year to play the Canadian anthem, Kemp said the team was "leaning into one of their biggest parts of their market".

Canada boasts nearly 15 million NFL fans – about one-third of the country's population, and roughly 10-15% of Bills season ticket holders are Canadian, according to the team.

"Sports really transcends all of this," Kemp said. "All this politics is kind of secondary to the fact that your team is doing fantastic right now."

Even American fans who traditionally cheer for other teams found themselves siding with the Bills.

Carol Breed, who backs the Detroit Lions, considered travelling to Highmark Stadium from her home in Battle Creek, Michigan, after she heard they would play the Canadian national anthem.

"I love our country's relationship with Canada," the 74-year-old told the BBC, adding that in Michigan the country is viewed more as a "relative".

"I just hate what Trump has done to the partnership."

She wasn't able to watch the game in person, but has found other ways to scratch her O'Canada itch.

A couple of weeks ago, Breed embarked on the two-hour drive across the border, on the recently opened Gordie Howe International Bridge, which has also stoked divisions between the two nations of late.

"We sang the US anthem until we reached halfway and then started singing the Canadian anthem," she said.

Warm words on Canada's EU 'associate membership' but no guarantees

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crlyqg1ekj4po, 4 days ago

Is Canada about to join the EU? Headlines across Europe indicate a lot of confusion right now.

The EU constitution rules that possibility out as Canada is geographically outside Europe.

But in a speech on Thursday to the European Parliament, Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney said: "Canada and Europe should secure our strategic autonomy through deep cooperation in the full range of strategic capabilities."

Mark Carney was responding – extremely warmly – to an invitation by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for Canada to become the EU's first associate member.

The EU and Canada already have a far-reaching trade deal (Ceta) in place but Carney insisted additional cooperation on energy and economic security, on critical and raw materials, education, tech and AI innovation, and defence would help safeguard all countries involved.

Canada and the EU feel increasingly squeezed by the superpowers USA on the one side and China on the other – and by tech giants, too, that seem to operate supranationally.

The idea of associate EU membership, Carney emphasised, would not be to form a third superpower or to create a bloc against anyone else.

"We do not pursue zero sum deals," he said. Instead he suggested like-minded nations should club together to create a new form of multilateral global governance in an increasingly turbulent world where – in the minds of some others - might is right.

Only by countries joining forces and shunning isolationism, Carney suggested, could they close key capability gaps, build strength and ensure national sovereignty.

This last may have been a nod to upcoming elections across Europe and the continent's increasingly powerful nationalist politicians.

Their slogans – whether "Italy First" or "France for the French" or "Make Poland Great Again" – echo Donald Trump's call to Make America Great Again.

Carney's words were hopeful and warm; the applause in the European Parliament rapturous and apparently heartfelt.

Not so across the Atlantic. On Wednesday, Donald Trump dismissed the EU associate membership proposal out of hand, threatened to impose "very heavy tariffs" if the agreement came to fruition and warned he may view it as a "hostile act".

But the US president is the unintentional matchmaker for this EU-Canada love-in.

Traditionally, America is trade partner and defence ally number one for Canada and the EU.

But Ottawa is currently embroiled in what it calls an escalating trade "war" with the White House. Both Canada and the EU have been stung by what they view as Washington's weaponisation of trade tariffs.

They also fear they can no longer fully rely on the US to have their back in terms of security and defence.

Canada is not alone among Europe's far-flung allies, now seeking to cosy closer to the EU, as they worry the US is becoming too unpredictable a partner. Japan and South Korea show an interest in sheltering under the EU umbrella too.

For its part, the EU has recently hastened to secure a list of trade deals – with India, Indonesia and Japan for example – to intentionally diversify relationships.

But there is no guarantee Canada's associate membership of the EU will ever get off the ground, never mind become a blueprint for other countries, like the UK wanting closer relations stopping short of full EU membership.

Any deal would have to be approved by each one of the EU's 27 countries.

No legal precedent exists, negotiations would be lengthy and potential conflicts of interest loom, over steel tariffs for example.

A suggestion in May by Germany to make Ukraine – a country desperate for full membership of the European Union as soon as possible – an associate member was rejected by others in the EU.

Some, including France's government, want to avoid EU non-members securing "too good" a deal. They fear eurosceptic forces at home and abroad could then encourage voters to clamour to leave the bloc.

In the end, "associate membership" is just a label. Buffeted by adverse winds – from China, the US and Russia, the normally rigid rules-based EU is coming under serious pressure to show more flexibility in accommodating countries wanting to stand by its side.

What could EU associate member status mean for Canada?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8vgy3pq5ywyo, 4 days ago

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has welcomed the European Union's ambition to make his country the first associate member of the bloc – but what would that mean in practice?

Carney says he is seeking a "unique" relationship with the EU, in an apparent reference to the fact that EU treaties do not currently provide for associate membership.

Germany had proposed Ukrainian associate membership earlier this year but Kyiv rejected the idea, saying it only wanted full EU integration. The EU itself also seemed reluctant.

But EU chief Ursula von der Leyen has now shifted the focus across the Atlantic to Canada

At the her State of the Union address on Wednesday, von der Leyen listed several key areas for cooperation, although she did not give specific details about how Canadian associate membership would work.

What Carney says about EU associate membership

Carney told reporters on Thursday that Canada was "not in a position, nor seeking, to become a full member of the European Union".

He also said it was not an attempt to create a "third bloc", adding: "We do not seek power to dominate others."

He told the European Parliament on Thursday that closer alignment between Ottawa and the EU was needed to confront the "current geopolitical rupture" – nodding to strained relations with the US following President Donald Trump's tariff policy and the collapse of trade talks between the two countries.

At the European Parliament on Thursday, Carney set out what he views as key areas where his country and the EU can cooperate, including:

* AI

* critical minerals

* defence industrial capacity

* energy security

* the space sector

Carney also said he wanted to move towards membership of the EU's Erasmus Plus scheme – the funding programme which allows students to work and study abroad. All 27 EU states are members and there are seven non-EU members. The UK will rejoin the scheme in 2027.

He said Canada could contribute liquefied natural gas (LNG) and hydrogen "at large scale to support Europe's energy security" and that Canada in turn could benefit from what he described as Europe's leadership on clean energy technologies.

What could associate membership look like?

So we know what it is not – full membership of the EU.

It is not clear is what exactly the relationship would look like. EU associate membership does not currently exist and the process to create it could take years.

If associate status were enshrined in EU treaties, it would require unanimity and ratification among all 27 member states.

Despite von der Leyen's overtures towards Canada, some EU countries would prefer to build on existing defence and trade agreements rather than create a new form of membership.

The EU is Canada's second-largest trading partner and the far-reaching Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement was agreed more than a decade ago, though several of the bloc's 27 members are yet to ratify that agreement.

The current trade deal does not remove border checks. Would associate membership change that?

It also remains to be seen what associate membership would mean for Canada's relationship with the European single market.

Were Canada to one day join the single market, it would have to match EU regulations and standards while having no say on policy – in a similar way to European Economic Area countries Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, or Switzerland, which has a separate deal.

Canada's rules have historically been geared towards its biggest trade partner, the US.

And then there's the matter of other countries seeking to join the bloc.

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia are already on the long road towards full EU membership, while in Eastern Europe, Georgia and Moldova are also pursuing membership.

There is no suggestion that a new relationship with Canada would hinder these countries' progress towards full accession, but any impression that Ottawa was being given special treatment could create tension.

There is also the question of Trump's response. He has described the prospect of Canada's associate membership as "laughable" and has threatened further tariffs on the EU if the plan goes ahead.

Carney's new love-in with EU has everything to do with Trump

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ck0e3rnxev27o, 5 days ago

"Wouldn't it be lovely if Canada was the 28th state of the European Union rather than the 51st state of the United States?" asked Finland's President Alexander Stubb this summer.

The question was rather tongue-in-cheek. US President Donald Trump, who is currently locked in an escalating tariff tussle with Ottawa, has, on a number of occasions, declared his ambition to make Canada the 51st American state - causing deep offence amongst many Canadians.

Finland is one of the EU's 27 member states and a close ally of Canada as a fellow Arctic nation. Teasing tones aside, President Stubb put his finger squarely on the pulse of deepening EU-Canadian relations. "Canada is more Europe-minded than most Europeans!" is a smiling retort you often hear in Brussels at the moment.

On Sunday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters Canada was seeking a "unique alliance" with the EU.

And in a speech on Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she wanted to work "on opening the door" for Canada to be the EU's "associate member" - which would involve closer ties on various sectors including manufacturing and energy.

The catalyst for this very public, ardent new love-in is Donald Trump. Just the other day, the US president posted a map of North America on his Truth Social site, including Canada and Greenland - a territory that's part of EU country Denmark - all overlaid with the US flag.

Trade negotiations between the US and Canada broke down late last month. European countries, which have been hit by their own Trump tariffs, have privately watched the spat play out with a mixture of interest and, for many, admiration.

While the EU, led by the European Commission, simply accepted new blanket Trump tariffs without fighting back, Carney has prominently stood up to the US president, swiftly imposing counter-tariffs on the United States.

When it comes to courting the EU, Canada appears to some to be even keener than one of the bloc's closest neighbours.

"Canada right now seems more interested than the UK to get as close to Brussels as possible, as a non member state" says Mark Leonard, director of the European Council of Foreign Relations think tank. "It's remarkable."

Canada, but not the UK, successfully joined the European Union's Security Action for Europe (SAFE) defence fund earlier this year. The UK remained on the sidelines following a row over costs and political tensions. A summit designed to reset and improve EU-UK relations has just been delayed - again - over cross-Channel differences.

By contrast this week, Carney is invited as a special guest to the European Commission President's annual State of the Union address in Strasbourg, France on Wednesday. Carney will hold a speech in the European Parliament there on Thursday, a day after President von der Leyen outlines the EU's political and policy priorities.

Officials on both sides insist this is more than just "blah blah politics", as one EU diplomat put it to me. He was speaking on condition of anonymity so as to be able to discuss the subject freely. Carney and von der Leyen are both expected to mention plans to forge closer ties. "As close as you can get without (Canada) actually becoming an EU member," the diplomat told me.

'Trump effect' prompts efforts to diversify - but are they achievable?

The unofficial aim for both Brussels and Canada, I'm told, is to reduce reliance on Washington in several key areas:

* Digital and tech developments, in which the US and China dominate

* Energy: Canada is rich in liquified natural gas (LNG) the EU needs since it cut back its energy dependency on Russia

* Raw materials and critical minerals: Canada has them in abundance

* Trade and defence procurement: Canada has been on a "buy European" spree of late, purchasing German attack submarines, for example, and airborne early-warning planes from Sweden's Saab. Its view appears to be: why reward the US by buying American equipment after being slapped with trade tariffs amounting to 50% in some sectors?

A Nanos opinion poll from April suggests more than four in five Canadians favour strengthening ties with the EU.

Close to three in five support Canada actually joining the bloc, though Article 49 of the EU Constitution would appear to make that impossible. Without wanting to seem facetious, the European Union is not (yet) the Eurovision Song Contest, in which indisputably non-European Israel and Australia have - controversially - been allowed to compete.

Back to trade: ties between Canada and the EU are far from novel. The EU is already Canada's second-largest trading partner - albeit far behind the US, which buys about 70% of Canadian exports.

The far-reaching Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) trade deal was agreed just under a decade ago and has been provisionally implemented, eliminating 99% of tariffs on Canadian goods exports.

Privately, European officials admit this renewed high-level courtship between Ottawa and Brussels has everything to do with the actions of Trump's second term in office.

The US president is by now infamous amongst US allies for what they view as his unpredictability and his penchant to use trade or security ties as leverage.

There's a growing sense in Europe - which has, since World War Two, looked to the US as its closest ally abroad - and in Canada, whose economy has been intertwined with the US for decades, that neither can any longer fully rely on Washington. They believe it's time to diversify.

"The Canadian government is committed to trade diversification, doubling non-US trades in the next 10 years, and doing more with the European Union will be very key to achieving that target," Mark Camilleri, president of the Canada EU Trade and Investment Association (CEUTIA) told the BBC.

An even tighter Canadian-EU alliance, covering far more sectors than trade alone, would continue a recent trend of both parties to form new association agreements around the world. In Canada's case, this includes a sectoral deal with China, which raised international eyebrows earlier this year.

EU insiders put all of this down to the "Trump effect".

But decoupling from the US altogether would seem unrealistic - for both Canada and the EU.

The US is the EU's largest overall trading partner, if you take goods and services together.

Canada and the US have the largest bilateral trading relationship in the world, valued at nearly US$900bn (£668bn) last year. This dwarfs the $130bn of total EU-Canada bilateral trade during the same timeframe.

The vast majority of Canadian exports head to the US.

So, Ottawa could sign new trade agreements, but replacing customers and supply chains built around America's massive market would be a tall order.

This week, I hear, Carney and von der Leyen will vociferously defend a global system of rules-based trade.

"This is not about trying to keep the past alive. We need to forge a new rules-based future in trade and beyond. With or without Washington," diplomats tell me.

There's an EU-Canada summit scheduled for the end of next month. After that, working groups are expected to start the less-than-sexy task of tackling the legal and technical details in the different areas in which the EU and Canada now hope to establish closer ties.

So are EU and Canada really becoming BFFs?

A huge turning point for Europe in its attitude towards Washington came early this year when Trump refused to rule out taking Greenland from fellow Nato power, Denmark, by force.

Around that time, Carney - who's also the former governor of the Bank of England - gave a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, calling on middle-sized countries to stick together against economic coercion by global super-powers. Europe sat up and took notice.

Why then, you might ask, haven't Europe's leaders been more outspoken in their support for the Canadian prime minister during the current escalation in trade tensions with the US? Carney has been defiant, declaring that Canada was "at war" with the US over trade.

He swiftly imposed counter-tariffs on the US in the name of "sovereignty".

Paolo Gentiloni, a former EU economy commissioner and former Italian premier, commented on social media: "Here is a speech I would like to hear in Europe."

Yet - in public - Europe's leaders have remained cautiously quiet.

Though not, it seems, out of any lack of support for Mark Carney.

A number of Europe's leaders, like Finland's president - but also French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, herself once a true Trump fan - are involved in behind-the-scene chats with Carney about deepening relations, I'm told.

But - and it's a big but - no leading European politician wants to stick his or her neck out for Carney in public right now and risk having voters at home blame them for possibly incurring the wrath of - and fresh punitive tariffs from - the US president.

Over the coming months, every large country in the EU holds key elections. Germany's took place just over a week ago. France chooses a new president in April and early May. Italy, Spain and Poland have yet to set a date for their parliamentary elections.

When it comes to applauding Carney right now, Europe's leaders are hiding behind the EU institutions.

Under EU rules, the European Commission deals with trade on behalf of the member states. The EU Commission and EU parliament presidents invited Carney to Strasbourg this week.

But some officials I speak to in Brussels warn that Carney should also wake up and smell the European coffee.

Brussels may feel warmly towards Canada, and believe Ottawa shares many of the same values and priorities, but there are still loud EU voices, like France, that prefer to prevent non-member countries from getting too favourable a deal.

That's despite pressure on the EU to show more flexibility when it comes to accommodating allies, considering the turbulent times we live in.

It's a conundrum the UK faces too.

Carney flies to Liverpool later this week, after leaving the European Parliament, for his first face-to-face meeting with new UK prime minister, Andy Burnham.

As well as discussing UK-Canada ties, who knows - might the two men end up debating ways to best woo the EU, too?

Trump says his planned triumphal arch will double as a military complex to store ammunition

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqdj4pez00dzo, today

US President Donald Trump has said his proposed triumphal arch will double as a complex to store military equipment, complete with the ability to deploy snipers and drones.

In a Sunday morning post, Trump said he is updating the plans at the "strong request" of the US military and for "national security purposes".

The "top grade" military complex and arch will "house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers, on both the roof and plaza areas, and additionally have and hold large quantities of sniper ammunition in storage", he said.

He did not provide details on construction plans or timing, and it's not clear if he needs further approval for the facility.

"There will be no facility like this anywhere in the World," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. He added that out of "the 59 top cities and Capitals", Washington DC is "the only one in the world that does not have a triumphal arch", without specifying what those cities are.

Construction on Trump's 250-foot arch, planned for a site across the Potomac River from Washington DC just outside the Arlington National Cemetery, was expected to begin this month.

A rendering of the design from earlier this year includes a golden, winged Lady Liberty on the top of the arch, flanked by two gold eagles, and with the phrases "One Nation Under God" and "Liberty and Justice for All" inscribed in gold on either side of the structure. It will stand 250-feet (76m) from its base to the top of the golden lady statue.

At that height, the structure would dwarf the 99-foot Lincoln Memorial nearby and be half as high as the Washington Monument.

The BBC has contacted the Department of Defence for more information on the updated plans.

Trump has pursued a number of construction projects during his second term to revamp the US capital, including a gilded makeover of the Oval Office, constructing a White House ballroom estimated to cost around $400m, paving over the White House Rose Garden, and renovating the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

The triumphal arch is one of the biggest projects Trump has set his sights on.

Trump says he is banning CNN and Politico from White House

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6e30580jqjpo, 2 days ago

US President Donald Trump has announced that he is "immediately" banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, the latest twist in his fraught relationship with media outlets.

In a post on Truth Social on Friday, Trump said that the outlets "constantly write or report fiction or lies" about his administration, although he provided no examples.

Trump later called it a "very simple ban", but did not explain how it would work. It is unclear whether employees of those outlets would be prevented from entering the White House grounds.

CNN swiftly slammed the move as an "illegal assault" on American press freedoms. The move by Trump is likely to be met with legal challenges.

Reporters from both Politico and CNN were still on the White House grounds shortly after the announcement was made.

A crew from CNN was also travelling with Vice-President JD Vance to and from an event in Iowa.

In a statement, the network called a potential ban illegal and said it "stands fully behind our White House team and their fair and accurate reporting".

"We have a right under the US Constitution to do that reporting without hindrance or interference from the government," the CNN statement said. "Should the ban which President Trump threatened go ahead, it would be an illegal assault on that fundamental and constitutionally-protected right."

Politico also released a statement, saying it would "continue to fairly report on this White House and future ones.

"We will vigorously defend our First Amendment rights against any attempt to restrict them."

MS NOW, formerly MSNBC, declined to comment.

Trump had said in his post: "Media outlets shouldn't be able to constantly write or report fiction and lies when they're covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration or the United States of America. Other news outlets to follow."

The post did not mention specific stories or reporting that prompted the move.

Asked by a reporter what he meant by others to come, Trump responded: "Others to come in terms of fake news? Well, you know, the New York Times is fake news, the Washington Post is fake news."

The White House Correspondents' Association President Jacqui Heinrich said it stood in "defence" of its colleagues who were "being singled out for doing their jobs".

"This is about more than the rights of journalists," Heinrich, who works for Fox News, also said. "It is about the right of the American people to receive a full and independent account of the activities, policies and decisions of whoever occupies the nation's highest office."

Asked about the ban later in the Oval Office, Trump said that there was "no reason" for the announcement being made on Friday afternoon.

"It's really just cumulative stories over the last few years," he said. "You get sick of it."

Trump added that there "may be others to join them", but did not name any specific news outlets.

He also acknowledged that legal challenges may follow his announcement, saying "I think it's good to point it out, whether it survives or doesn't".

Since returning to office in January 2025, Trump and administration officials have repeatedly clashed with members of the White House press corps. In his second term, Trump has also moved to bring conservative bloggers, influencers and other media into the press room, arguing it is necessary to provide diverse perspectives to the American public.

In February, the White House announced it was taking control of the press pool which has access to Trump and had for more than a century been managed by the White House Correspondents' Association.

The same month, the administration moved to bar Associated Press (AP) reporters and photographers from spaces where access is limited, such as the Oval Office or Air Force One, because of the outlet's usage of the term "Gulf of Mexico" instead of "Gulf of America".

AP swiftly filed a lawsuit and the case remains ongoing.

The president has frequently clashed with reporters in the Oval Office on Air Force One and during White House events, often referring to them as "fake news" and "rude".

In his first term, Trump also banned CNN correspondent Jim Acosta from the White House, although his credentials were restored after CNN sued.

CNN is one of only five US news outlets that film video for the pool. The pool refers to an outlet or reporter sharing material from a presidential event with other media outlets. The BBC contributes to the White House radio pool.

The announcement was immediately criticised by leading advocacy organisations for freedom of the press.

In a statement on Friday afternoon, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University said that "with so many courts having ruled against him on exactly this point, you'd think President Trump would have learned this lesson by now".

"If President Trump means to expel these news organizations from the White House press pool, his action is doubly unconstitutional because the press pool is a 'public forum' under the First Amendment, which means the president can't exclude journalists from it on the basis of their viewpoints," said the institute's executive director, Jameel Jaffer.

"The First Amendment is clear that once the White House invites in some journalists, it can't ban others because it doesn't like their reporting," said the group's president Bruce Brown, calling the potential ban "textbook viewpoint discrimination".

The Freedom of the Press Foundation also said it was illegal, adding: "It's also hard to imagine a dumber move".

Trump "has been retaliating against the press for years, but it hasn't helped him," it said, saying "these outrageous attacks only demonstrate how scared he is of an informed public".

Trump has pursued legal action against a number of US and international news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and the BBC.

Some of the lawsuits have resulted in media organisations agreeing to pay multimillion dollar settlements. Trump's lawsuit against the BBC is ongoing.

Three arrested in South Africa over one of nine women's bodies found

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c617j2x01epjo, today

Three suspects have been detained in South Africa in connection with the murder of a woman in an area east of Johannesburg – the last of nine recent cases in that region that has shone a spotlight on the level of violence against women in the country.

Under pressure to solve the spate of murders which has involved victims' bodies being dumped on a roadside, police have described the arrests of the three – a man and two women - as a "breakthrough".

Referring to all nine cases, acting police chief Lt Gen Puleng Dimpane said her officers were "working tirelessly to bring those responsible to justice".

The three suspects are due in court on Monday morning.

Their case relates to the death of Jabulile Ntimba, whose half-naked body was found wrapped in a sheet in Dawn Park last Thursday.

Several of the recent victims were discovered partially clothed and with injuries, but police have stressed that they have not established whether all the deaths are connected or whether a serial killer is responsible.

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

Dozens of suspected illegal miners die in Nigerian custody

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw980qp2n3p4o, 3 days ago

Thirty-seven people accused of illegal mining in north-central Nigeria have died in custody, official say.

Police have set up an investigation into the deaths, which the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) blamed on an apparent disease outbreak.

However, an intelligence report shared with AFP news agency suggested the group had died because of overcrowding and poor ventilation inside the detention facility in Niger state.

The deaths have sparked disturbances including attacks on public buildings, and a 24-hour curfew has been put in place in the state capital, Minna, as a result.

On Tuesday, a group of young men were arrested for suspected illegal mining near Borgu - a part of Niger state known for small-scale gold mining.

Two days later, 37 people were found dead inside the detention centre run by the NSCDC - responsible for protecting critical infrastructure and tackling crimes including illegal mining.

NSCDC spokesperson Babawale Afolabi said more than 50 people had been arrested, and they had not been charged because profiling and documentation were still under way before the deaths.

The father of one of those detained said relatives went to the NSCDC office seeking their release but were repeatedly told to return later.

"Unfortunately, the following day we got the news that our children had died," he added.

Abdullahi Dalhatu told the BBC: "We believe they suffocated because there was no ventilation."

He said his son had survived because he was near a small window. "His friend slumped and fainted, and many others also collapsed."

His son described how detainees fainted in the heat of the overcrowded and poorly ventilated cell, his father said.

He said detainees repeatedly knocked on the door for help but nobody opened it.

The BBC has not independently verified his account.

One father told Nigerian media that his son had appeared healthy when relatives took him food the day before his death and called for an independent post-mortem examination.

After news of the deaths spread, miners and relatives started attacking public buildings and buses, using stones and sticks before they were dispersed by police who fired tear gas, according to local residents.

Niger's police chief ordered an investigation into "the unfortunate death of suspected illegal miners while in the detention facility of the NSCDC", spokesman Wasiu Abiodun wrote in a statement.

The victim's bodies have been taken to the general hospital in Minna for examination.

The NSCDC had earlier said the detainees were possibly victims of a diphtheria outbreak. But the agency's national headquarters later said the cause was yet to be established.

One relative, whose 17-year-old brother was among those who died, questioned how a disease could have killed so many detainees without apparently affecting their guards.

It is not clear yet whether any of the suspects had been charged.

Nigeria's constitution requires anyone detained on suspicion of a criminal offence to be brought before a court within a "reasonable time" - generally within a day where a court is available within 40km (25 miles), or two days in other cases, unless a longer period is considered reasonable.

State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago called the deaths "sad and tragic" during a press conference on Thursday.

An NSCDC commander has been detained following the deaths, Bago added.

He declared three days of mourning and postponed the start of campaigning for elections scheduled for January.

The scramble for gold reserves dug up in illegal mines in Niger state has been blamed for fuelling criminal gang violence, according to officials and experts.

Much of the gold in the region is trafficked through global supply chains, a 2024 SwissAid report found.

More BBC stories on Nigeria:

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

'I don't even know if my parents are alive' - the war heroes jailed 25 years ago

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx1l6762jeq4o, yesterday

Hanna Petros Solomon breaks down in tears as she recalls how she and her siblings effectively became orphans 25 years ago when their father was arrested in Eritrea and jailed without trial. Their mother was subsequently detained - and no-one has heard from either of them - or of them - since.

"He had a towel on his shoulders like a sportsman," she tells the BBC about the last time she saw her father when she was 10 years old, and he had gone out for a jog.

"He used to work out every morning."

Her parents met when they both fought in the long liberation war that saw Eritrea gain independence from Ethiopia in 1993.

Her father Petros Solomon had been one of the senior leaders during the war and is regarded by many as a national hero for his critical role.

After independence, he had served as defence minister, then foreign minister and had been heading the fisheries ministry when his troubles began.

That was in May 2001 when he and 14 other high-profile politicians signed an open letter to President Isaias Afewerki calling for the implementation of a constitution that was ratified after independence and demanding national elections. They became known as the G-15.

Isaias, the leader of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) which had fought against Ethiopia, did not take the criticism well.

Unbeknown to Hanna, her father had been dismissed as a minister, though he still went out early to get some exercise each day.

It was not until a few days after 9/11 - when the world was distracted by the al-Qaeda attacks on the US - that the country was to discover the full extent of Isaias’s displeasure in what became a watershed moment in Eritrea's history.

In the early hours of 18 September, the security forces positioned themselves outside the homes of 11 senior government officials in the capital, Asmara, on the president's orders.

Petros was picked up by security agents as he left in his tracksuit.

The family had no idea what had happened to him. Hanna and her three siblings went to stay with their paternal grandmother as their mother, Aster Yohannes, was away studying in the US.

It was only some days after Petros had disappeared that things became clearer, says Hanna about the painful memories.

"My classmates told me that my father sold out his country.

"That is when I understood how serious the situation was, and how people framed my dad and his colleagues who fought for the independence of their country. I was hurt."

In the US, Aster was shell-shocked by what had happened - and was in a very bad way. She asked government officials if they could issue the children with passports - but they refused, telling her to come home.

After agonising about the situation for two years and reportedly receiving assurances from government officials, she packed her bags to return.

Hanna and her siblings desperately wanted her back - but they were also worried.

"I told her on the phone: 'What if they arrest you?'" Hanna remembers.

"She insisted nothing would happen to her, saying: 'I haven't done anything wrong, and am only coming to raise my children.'"

Hanna says she learned later that President Isaias himself had promised Aster that she would be safe. But while the family waited at Asmara International Airport on 11 December 2003, she failed to emerge through arrivals with the other passengers.

Their hopes began to wilt along with the flowers they had brought: "It was a long, long wait. Eventually we gave up and went back home.

"First we called to the US, friends and relatives told us they saw her off at the airport."

Then ominously an official called from the airport asking Aster to collect her luggage. That is when they realised she had arrived in the country but would not be coming home.

All pleas and requests for information fell on deaf ears in the months that followed. Instead Hanna's grandmother was warned by authorities to stop inquiring.

The family later heard that Aster was being held in the infamous jail known as Karshelli in the heart of Asmara.

Hanna's father is believed to be detained, with the others arrested on 18 and 19 September 2001, in the remote, hostile and highly secretive prison known as Ela-Ero, located in eastern lowlands north-east of Asmara. Accused of treason, none of them has ever been brought to trial or allowed to see their relatives.

At around the same time, the government also shut down all the fledgling independent newspapers and detained their editors and journalists - also believed to be imprisoned in Ela-Ero.

The Eritrean government - including its embassy in the UK - has not responded to the BBC's request for comment regarding the whereabouts of the prisoners or whether or not they are alive.

Hanna, like many thousands of young Eritreans fleeing conscription and in search of better opportunities, left the country - travelling secretively over the border without a passport.

Now 35 years old, she is married and lives in the US, working as a trauma specialist - but still feels traumatised herself by how she lost her parents.

As she stares at old pictures of her parents, she worries her memories will fade of the happy times before their arrest - the laughter, the family gatherings, the birthday parties: "My dad always wanted to gather people in the house, they were good days."

She also hankers after her mother's "unmatched" egg and potato sandwiches.

On trips down to the coast when her father was the minister of fisheries, Hanna remembers him organising singing competitions in the car: "He would ask us to sing one by one and whoever won would get a present."

One of his favourite songs included the lyrics: "I had a sweater, a blue sweater, that my sister took" - which reminded him of his sister who was also a freedom fighter and had been killed during the war.

She also has memories of her mother loving music - playing and singing hits by Abba, Dolly Parton and Whitney Houston.

Until her father's arrest, Hanna remembers September as being full of hope with its three big Orthodox Christian festivals, including the Geez New Year. Now the month brings her no joy.

Ibrahim Sherifo knows exactly how she feels. Both his parents, who were senior members of the ruling People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), were among the G-15 people arrested 25 years ago.

He was 13 years old at the time

"For me 18 September 2001 is a dark day, but not only for me, it is a dark day for Eritrea and its people, because it is the day when law and democracy was detained," he tells the BBC.

He is now 38 and living in exile in the Netherlands, where he was granted asylum, and is pursuing an MA in political science - following in his father's footsteps.

His dad Mahmoud Ahmed Sherifo was the local government minister and de facto deputy president before his detention.

Ibrahim was with his mother, Aster Fissehatsion, staying with her sister when he remembers security agents knocking on the door early in the morning and taking her away in her pyjamas.

Worried about his father, Ibrahim immediately ran to his nearby house but was told he had already been picked up when he had gone out for exercise.

Both Hanna and Ibrahim say they are forever grateful to the friends and family who offered them care and supported them as they grew up without their parents, despite the risks.

They are also proud of what their parents stood for and daring to call for reforms.

"They had conscience and couldn't observe idly while what they fought for what had been hijacked by Isaias and his coterie," says Ibrahim.

"As a family, we should be informed whether they are alive or not," he adds, accusing the government of wanting to erase all memory of the political prisoners.

Hanna also wants the plight of the many others whose relatives have disappeared over the years to be heard too.

Human rights groups, including the UN, consider the G-15 prisoners of conscience and have been calling for their release.

President Isaias, now 80, has still not implemented the country's first constitution - approved in 1997 - and remains in power without ever holding an election.

Hanna recalls that on the eve of her father's disappearance, she had a "bad feeling" - and had crept into his bed and tied his legs to her own with string while he slept.

"In the morning he woke up to find he was tied up and to release himself he pulled my legs and I woke up. I begged him not to leave but he assured me that he would return [after his run]."

Describing the years of sorrow since, she says it is like living in the deep sea.

"Sometimes it is calm and you can float, but other times the sorrow comes back to you like a wave and drowns you deep down.

"Sometimes you lose hope and you are out of breath."

Asked what she would say if she could get a message to her parents, she replies: "Don't worry about us.

"Like you survived the struggle through sheer steadfastness, we hope you can pull through this too and return to us."

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

Grim discoveries of murdered women spark fear in South Africa

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjkg71e67k17o, 2 days ago

"What we are going to do, I have no idea," sobs Nokwanda Matshikiza, reflecting on the murder of her niece Dineo Motapane. "But something must give."

"For us, for all the other women. How many other bodies will be found before something happens?"

Nokwanda is speaking to the BBC from the family home near South Africa's main city, Johannesburg, just two days after relatives identified Dineo's body.

The 38-year-old mother of a young child was last seen alive on Sunday. Her battered and partly burned body was later found in the residential region of Ekurhuleni.

Nokwanda weeps as she describes how the family will have to face, at some point, the grim task of telling Dineo's daughter of her death.

"How do you explain that your parent was brutally murdered, dumped in a field, and just left there, discarded like a piece of rubbish.

"There's no coming to peace with it," she adds. "It's something that you can never reconcile yourself with, that you can never get over."

Dineo's death this week has come amid a series of comparable incidents in Ekurhuleni – her body one of three discovered there this week. In total, nine bodies of murdered women have been found in similar circumstances in the region since July.

The problem has always been there but this spate of grim discoveries has once again sparked a national outcry about the scale of violence against women in the country – which has one of the highest rates of gender-based violence in the world.

Themba Kekana is also living in shock at the death of a loved one.

His sister, Itumeleng, was one of the first to disappear in Ekurhuleni.

The 32-year-old shopkeeper's body was found in July, 17 days after she was last seen alive. Her body was badly bruised, partially clothed and dumped on a bridge.

"We are devastated with grief," says Themba, wet eyes shining.

"I look at my sister's young daughter and my eyes fill with tears, I know there is no way that I can ever take this pain away from her.

"No family should have to deal with what we are faced with."

Only one arrest has been made in connection with the murders – and that was two days after the first body was discovered on 15 July.

Nobody has been detained following the murders of Itumeleng or Dineo or the other six Ekurhuleni women.

Most of the victims were young, in their 20s or 30s, and almost all had suffered extreme violence before their deaths.

Police have said they are not sure if they are hunting a serial killer. It is possible the cases are not linked.

Either way, what has happened in this residential district east of South Africa's biggest city has traumatised the nation, shining a spotlight on a situation that many believe is a crisis.

South Africa's police issue detailed crime statistics every quarter, which show that between April and June this year - 5,427 people were murdered.

The official data does not distinguish between the genders of the victims, but this week the country's Human Rights Commission released figures showing that 569 women had been killed in that period (six a day on average), with another 1,052 who faced attempted murder.

Many women - already feeling unsafe - have been left reeling by recent events.

And it has put pressure on the government, less than a year after ministers acknowledged the scale of the issue and declared gender-based violence a national disaster.

Announcing the move last November, Minister of Social Development Nokuzola Sisisi Tolashe said that treating the issue as a national disaster would help the government tackle the crisis.

It followed weeks of protests, culminating in a "Women's Shut Down" march as South Africa hosted the G20 summit.

This week has seen a chorus of calls for things to go further.

Rights group Amnesty International said an important first step towards protecting South Africa's women was to recognise femicide as a separate crime.

"Every day that femicide remains unrecognised as a crime is a failure to confront the targeted killing of women," said Amnesty's country director Shenilla Mohamed in a statement. "It is time to call it what it is: Femicide.

"Femicide is a gender-motivated crime. It is the killing of a woman because she is a woman."

Amnesty says femicide is criminalised as a specific crime in 33 countries, including Gabon and Morocco in Africa.

It argues that making that change in South Africa could help focus on the scale of the issue.

"It would compel the state to confront their failure to protect women and girls from violence," says Mohamed. "You cannot fix what you are not tracking."

Almost everyone in South Africa agrees more needs to be done.

President Cyril Ramaphosa this week pledged to leave "no stone unturned" in investigating the crimes in Ekurhuleni, adding: "As a nation, we must stand up for the rights, safety and dignity of women and girls."

Lebogang Ramafoko, an advocate for gender and social justice, said the levels of violence against women in the country were symptomatic of a much bigger problem – a lack of regard for humanity.

"The bodies of black women have been treated as disposable in this country for time immemorial, passed down from colonisation through to apartheid," she tells the BBC, referring to the legalised system of racism that was in place until 1994.

"What we see happening to women is testimony to legacies of violence from those systems whose traumas were never addressed.

"This is not to say black men are inherently violent, but in systems where violence was meted out against them for decades, historically black women were the people that that violence would be taken out on - that cycle has not been broken."

In Kempton Park, a district of Ekurhuleni where five of the nine recent bodies were found, Lumka Maqhubela is part of the Girl2Woman Foundation group which has held protests to raise awareness of the crimes.

"We are grieved, we are scared," she says. "If the police cannot protect us any more the government should step in and do something.

"It's clear that we are not safe, we cannot be told by the police to be more vigilant. They should be doing more to make our communities safe – what else are we expected to do? We are not safe anywhere, not in our homes, not in the streets, it needs to stop."

"I feel uncomfortable," says Thulisile Sibande, 32. "When I go to a shop, I have to look around. I'm shocked and scared. So scared, it's a trauma."

Thembi Mabena, 60, tells the BBC she lived in the same neighbourhood as Dineo Motapane.

"She was laughing every day, with everybody," she remembers. "Now I'm worried.

"I know many children, girls, who tell me they are afraid to go to the shop alone. There is no safety, even for me too. I am old, but there is no safety."

"In South Africa," says Lerato Mzizi, 20, simply, "women are not safe any more."

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

'This is our company': Nigerians show off oil wealth after share-buying frenzy

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw7v4jr2932ro, 3 days ago

Every Nigerian is now an oil magnate.

At least that is what the social media memes would have you believe as investor fever hits the country.

Nigerians have been eager to have a piece of the energy business that was built up by the country's – and continent's – richest man: Aliko Dangote.

More than four billion shares in his giant oil refinery – representing just over 3% of the company - went on the market on Monday in Africa's biggest-ever sale of its kind.

The minimum purchase was 10 shares for about $4 (£3) and despite this only representing a miniscule portion of the firm, many are now celebrating and joking about their new-found (part-)owner status.

One popular social media video has a Nigerian narrating how he stopped a speeding Dangote company lorry driver, telling him not to be reckless with company property.

Other memes show investors trying to phone up Dangote to discuss business matters.

And the term "Yangote" – a pun in the Hausa language essentially meaning "we all have a share now" - has been trending on social media.

On the first day of the Initial Public Offering (IPO), investment apps crashed as they could not handle the high demand.

Bamboo, which runs one of the most popular investor tools here, later apologised, saying: "We know we let you down."

Public affairs analyst Jamil Ubah said he had rarely seen Nigerians as excited about something as this. He argued that it fed the dream that it could lead to greater riches for a population that is often battling to make ends meet.

"I think the hope for the common man is that his money will grow into something big, and don't forget this is coming at a time when many are struggling as the economy is not doing great," he told the BBC.

Dangote wanted this to be "the people's IPO" with drivers, cooks, cleaners and servants having the chance to be part of something big.

And they took him at his word.

Twenty-five-year-old clothes seller Idris Lawal Musa made his first-ever stock exchange purchase and told the BBC he was happy after investing 21,000 naira ($16; £12) in 40 shares.

"It is no longer Dangote but 'Yangote', the company belongs to us now," he said while laughing.

But he may make a quick sale.

"I am a trader by profession and when I see that the shares have increased in price I will sell," he noted.

The popularity also reflects a growing investment culture among younger Nigerians who have embraced mobile trading platforms, cryptocurrencies and digital savings products.

But fear of missing out may have also pushed some to get into the investment business.

In the build-up to the IPO, social media platforms were awash with financial conversations. People shared subscription guides, debated valuation metrics and encouraged friends and family to participate.

But amid the frenzy, experts have warned that there are risks – shares can go down in value, as well as up, meaning people could lose some, or all, of their investment.

Financial analyst Shuaib Uwais said prospective investors should avoid thinking of the IPO as a guaranteed route to wealth.

He urged people to consider a number of factors that could impact the refinery's future performance, including disruptions to crude oil supply, operational challenges, regulatory changes and fluctuations in demand for refined petroleum products.

"If for any reason the company experiences difficulty in sourcing its raw materials, there could be challenges," he told the BBC.

Nevertheless, the IPO has given people the chance to be part of this home-grown success story.

Dangote's sprawling refinery on the outskirts of Lagos, which began operating two years ago and now processes around 700,000 barrels of crude a day, has transformed the fortunes of Nigeria's oil sector.

Until recently, Africa's largest crude oil producer had no refining capacity and had to import the finished product. Now the Dangote refinery is feeding much of the domestic demand.

But for Dangote, the share offer is about raising cash to fund the growth of the business, something that the country's mini-magnates may now be able to get behind.

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

'It's like a dog set loose on us' - fear over Kenya's crackdown on foreign traders

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g5kxw4wd7o, 9 days ago

For Ndaikech Ali, who has been traversing the streets of the Kenyan capital eking out a living as a tuk-tuk driver for the past nine years, Nairobi's traffic - not xenophobia - has been his biggest concern.

During his time in the East African nation, the Burundian says he has always found Kenyans to be friendly and welcoming - that is until last week, when the president ordered a crackdown on foreigners working as traders or operating small-scale businesses.

"Now they have turned against us," he told the BBC at the Burundian embassy in Nairobi where many have been queuing this week for documents to allow them to travel back home.

"The threats are many… even from children," he said, adding: "It's a like a dog has been set loose upon us. We have been bitten."

President William Ruto made his remarks last week when addressing Kenyan traders gathered at state house - in reference to legislation before parliament that seeks to exclude foreign nationals from petty trade and to mandate the local sourcing of certain materials.

During his speech, he said that all foreign nationals operating small businesses had until 7 September to pack up shop, saying such low-level jobs should be reserved for Kenyans.

Ali, like others, panicked, saying it seemed the president's announcement had been interpreted by some Kenyans as a signal that foreign nationals were no longer welcome in the country.

"We face harassment and can't work," he says. "If our work is stopped, we lose the income that enables us to pay rent and buy food. When those jobs are taken away, the only option left is to return home."

Other Burundians and some other foreign nationals have rushed to border crossing points to leave the country, with reports suggesting that a number have ended up stranded there.

Some couples fear they will be forced to separate - and some families have already been divided.

"I have been here from 2019," said a Burundian man, who identified himself only as Prosper and who has a child with a Kenyan woman.

"When I heard the announcement, it was very painful because when I go, I'm forced to leave my family... and I love my family," he told the BBC.

In Nairobi's low-income neighbourhood of Majengo, Kenyan Grace Wamaitha said her Burundian husband had already gone - leaving the day after the president's 3 September directive.

She is distraught as she has been left trying to feed their five children - and has taken on extra work washing clothes.

"Now he's gone, who will help me pay school fees? I don't know what to do. Let them come back," she told the BBC.

In Nairobi and other major towns, migrants from the region can be found working in barber shops and salons, construction, operating motorbike taxis and street vending, as well as selling clothes, food and household goods.

Some have fled conflicts or economic hardship at home, while others have moved to Kenya in search of better opportunities. Within the East African Community (EAC), a regional bloc made up of eight countries, including Burundi and Kenya, the relative free movement of people is allowed - but employment and long-term residence do require permits.

Kenyan law also recognises the right of refugees to work and operate businesses, although they are also required to obtain the appropriate documentation.

Filmon Eyob, a co-ordinator within Nairobi's Eritrean community, agrees with concerns that the crackdown order will be used as pretext to harass foreigners.

He told the BBC that while many Kenyans had been supportive and welcoming, some Eritreans and Ethiopians had closed their businesses and stayed at home over the last week as a precaution.

The president's remarks also sparked a diplomatic row, with the Burundian foreign affairs minister warning that "hate speech against Burundi" could have repercussions for Kenyans abroad.

The authorities in Kenya have struggled to contain the fallout - and as the matter came to a head, Kenyan foreign affairs official Korir Sing'Oei visited and apologised to Burundians at the embassy this week, assuring them of protection from violence.

Critics argue that Ruto's remarks were a populist move that risked stoking xenophobia, although the government has denied this.

Since then, a series of official statements have sought to clarify the directive.

The government has now given a 90-day window for undocumented foreign nationals running small business to register and comply with local laws. During the process, those undergoing registration will be presumed to be living legally in Kenya.

Yet observers and those affected argue that it did not have to be this way.

Academic Hesbon Owilla told the BBC the president's comments were bound to be misinterpreted, especially by people who did not have the right documentation.

He says that while the proposed policy is good for Kenya and in line with global migration protocols, the communication about it ought to have been more diplomatic.

For those not in the audience, Owilla says people interpreted the president words as saying: "We are kicking these guys out."

The president did not stop at small-scale traders. A day later, he ordered India's Tata Chemicals to leave the country, saying the company had not provided sufficient benefits to the local Maasai community in Kajiado county.

Tata has been mining soda ash for years in Lake Magadi, a vast area often covered by a whitish salt crust. The lake's extreme briny environment sustains algae blooms that attract flamboyances of pink flamingos that thrive in the area.

Mining operations began at the lake in 1911 under a British colonial arrangement that is said to have remained largely intact, despite long-running land and resource disputes pitting the company and its predecessors against community and the government.

Economist Odhiambo Ramogi argues that the move to restrict foreign nationals from businesses is too broad - and could do with finessing.

He points out that Kenya hosts hundreds of thousands of refugees as well as other migrants, mostly from the EAC region, as well as other international investors.

Ramogi says that Ruto's intention seemed to go beyond "just protecting jobs for Kenyans".

The president's remarks have prompted a wave of support for foreign nationals, including by civil society groups and ordinary Kenyans who have criticised his approach.

In the wake of the criticism, Ruto, who is up for re-election next year, has sought to counter the backlash.

"Kenya will remain an open, secure and welcoming country, protecting opportunities for its citizens, safeguarding the rights of all persons lawfully within its borders," a statement by his spokesman said.

"Kenya's commitment to the East African Community of the African continent remains firm."

Ramogi says that in the end, it is Kenya that stands to lose when citizens of neighbouring countries are targeted.

He points out that Kenya earned $56m (£41m) in exports to Burundi last year, adding that the country would still benefit by allowing competition, as "locking out aliens simply means you don't want a competitive economy that gets to grow a lot faster".

"Now, if you got $56m out of a country, why are you worried about a hawker who's just trying to make, say, $200 in a month?

"It absolutely makes no sense what the president has done."

For Nairobi resident Lima Kabura, whose husband is Tanzanian, the president's remarks were just too hasty. She says he should have first established those who were in the country illegally.

"When they are forced out, I'm left with no work, no business and no husband," she said.

Additional reporting by Ahmed Bahajj

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

British woman rescued in Malawi shootout that left four suspected kidnappers dead

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmlyrzz2gpw4o, 3 days ago

A British woman who was kidnapped in Malawi nearly a week ago has been rescued in a police operation that left four suspected kidnappers dead and a senior police chief wounded.

Nusrat Osman, 47, was freed on Thursday during an operation on the outskirts of the southern city of Blantyre, police said.

Officers exchanged gunfire with the suspected kidnappers, who police said were armed with an AK-47 rifle and a pistol.

"The criminals got shot and were rushed to the hospital where they succumbed to the injuries," the Malawi Police Service said in a statement.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Noel Kayira, who was involved in the operation, also sustained gunshot injuries and is being treated in hospital. The police statement said he was in a stable condition.

Osman was reunited with her family following the rescue and was also taken to hospital for treatment, and for physical and mental health assessments, local media reported.

Police inspector general Richard Luhanga said she was "still traumatised", and told AFP news agency that they will interview her when she is "settled properly".

"The motive is still not known but the investigations are ongoing," he added.

Osman's younger brother, Shobi Jiwa, praised the Malawian police for securing her release, telling the UK's Sun newspaper that the family was deeply grateful for the force's efforts in investigating the kidnapping.

He also paid tribute to Kayira, the police chief who was shot during the rescue operation, describing him as the family's "hero" for putting his own life at risk to save her.

Police have not identified the four suspected kidnappers who were killed and have not provided further details about how officers located the group.

Osman was abducted by four unidentified men in Blantyre's Mount Pleasant neighbourhood on 11 September.

Police said she had been driving home when the men blocked her vehicle, forced her into another car and drove away.

Her disappearance prompted a major search operation, with authorities offering a reward of 30 million Malawian kwacha ($17,000; £12,500) for information leading to her rescue and the arrest and conviction of those responsible.

Osman, who is from Leicester in the UK, has lived in Malawi for several years and works for an auditing firm. She is married and has two young children.

The UK Foreign Office earlier told the BBC that it was aware of reports that a British national had been abducted in Malawi and was in touch with local authorities.

The case had puzzled investigators because police said there had been no known ransom demand or communication from the kidnappers following her disappearance.

Her family had made emotional public appeals for her safe return, describing the disappearance as deeply distressing and urging anyone with information to contact police.

The kidnapping also caused concern among Malawi's business community and British nationals living in the southern African country, where abductions of foreign nationals are relatively uncommon.

Police have not disclosed whether they believe other people were involved.

They said investigations were continuing to establish the full circumstances surrounding the kidnapping and the subsequent rescue operation.

Authorities have urged the public to remain calm while the investigation continues.

More BBC stories on Malawi:

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

Ninth woman's body found as South African police investigate string of deaths

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqx2zgk8k8xvo, 4 days ago

Police in South Africa have confirmed the discovery of a ninth woman's body in just two months, amid growing concern over a string of unexplained deaths east of Johannesburg.

The latest victim was found half-naked and wrapped in a sheet on the side of a road in Dawn Park on Thursday morning, police said. Her identity has not yet been released.

The discovery follows the deaths of eight other women whose bodies have been found since July across Ekurhuleni, a major urban area of Johannesburg.

Several of the women were found partially clothed and with injuries, but police have stressed that they have not established whether all the deaths are connected or whether a serial killer is responsible.

The latest body is of a woman believed to be in her 30s and appeared to have bruises and stab wounds, local media reported.

The discovery has sparked fear in the area, particularly among women who say they no longer feel safe.

"We are scared to come out of our houses. We are scared to go to the shops. We are no longer free in a country where we are supposed to be safe as women," local resident Bongeka Sebela told the BBC.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has vowed that "no stone will be left unturned" in finding those behind the killings, which he said were "causing fear and uncertainty in our communities".

Among the victims was 38-year-old Elizabeth "Tsontso" Moselakgomo, who disappeared last week after leaving her home for an afternoon run. Her body was found three days later behind a hotel in Kempton Park.

Two other victims have since been identified as Itumeleng Kekana, who had been missing since July, and 38-year-old Dineo Evelyn Motapane, whose body was discovered by the roadside in KwaThema on Tuesday.

The first of the nine bodies was discovered in Kempton Park on 15 July. A suspect was arrested two days later in connection with that case and remains in custody, but police have not linked that suspect to the other deaths.

Further bodies were discovered in August and September, including in Kempton Park, Olifantsfontein, Clayville and KwaThema.

Police have assembled a multidisciplinary team of detectives, intelligence officers, forensic experts and other specialists to investigate the deaths and establish whether there are links between the cases.

They are also pursuing a person of interest, although they have not disclosed which case or cases that person may be connected to.

"Let's not get emotional, the gloves are off," said Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi on Thursday, adding that the authorities had the capacity to deal with the killings.

In a statement on Thursday, South African police said the recent rise in serious and violent crimes against women remained a "matter of grave concern", urging women in the country to remain vigilant about their personal safety.

They advised women to avoid walking alone or using isolated routes, remain alert to strangers and suspicious vehicles, and share their location or travel plans with someone they trust. They also advised against walking with earphones or earbuds at high volume, warning this could reduce awareness of their surroundings.

"Practising personal safety measures can save lives."

Authorities have offered a 400,000 rand ($24,000; £18,000) reward for information that could lead to arrests and have appealed to families with missing relatives to help identify the remaining victims.

The discoveries have caused widespread alarm in Ekurhuleni, particularly around Kempton Park, and come against the backdrop of longstanding concern about high levels of violence against women in South Africa.

Police say they are not linking the deaths to a serial killer at this stage, but are investigating the possibility that a group of people is behind the killings.

Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia has cautioned against speculation, saying investigators were dealing with what appeared, at this stage, to be "quite distinct, separate events".

South Africa experiences some of the world's highest levels of gender-based violence (GBV), with the rate at which women are killed five times higher than the global average, according to UN Women.

Last November, the country classified violence against women a national disaster following an online campaign that culminated in countrywide protests.

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

Jailed teacher convicted of sexual abuse secretly released early in Indonesia, BBC finds

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9zrz0nl4p70o, today

An Indonesian teacher convicted of sexually assaulting a student at an Islamic boarding school has been secretly released from prison early, a BBC Eye investigation has found.

Moch Subchi Azal Tsani or Bechi, as he is known, is the son of an influential Islamic religious leader. His trial sent shockwaves through Indonesia, a Muslim-majority country where millions of parents send their children to Islamic boarding schools.

He was arrested in 2022 at his father's school in East Java where he had taught, after a 15-hour siege involving nearly 1,000 riot police - his family's supporters had gathered in large numbers to prevent his arrest. He was sentenced to seven years in prison later that year.

The government withdrew the school's operating licence, but then President Joko Widodo intervened to keep the school open, arguing that the case involved an individual rather than the institution.

But our investigation has uncovered further allegations against Bechi, 46, and evidence suggesting that the school and the family attempted to suppress them.

Bechi's release comes as the National Commission on Violence against Women warns of an "emergency" of sexual violence in Islamic boarding schools. It says the power of religious leaders is shielding these schools from oversight and repercussions, while discouraging students from reporting abuse.

Of the several female students who alleged abuse and rape against Bechi, only one pursued a legal case that led to him being convicted. Her identity has never been made public.

Prosecutors sought the maximum sentence – 16 years – for rape, but the court found Bechi not guilty of rape, and convicted him for the lesser charge of sexual assault.

Undercover footage recorded by the BBC now reveals that he has been released after serving less than half his sentence.

Bechi would have been eligible for parole around March 2027, or would have been released at the end of his sentence in 2029.

Indonesia's Ministry of Immigration and Corrections told the BBC that Bechi was released in August 2025 because of "sentence remissions granted to him in accordance with applicable regulations". The ministry said it could not say why his sentence was reduced.

Ira Puspitasari was another student who testified at the trial, but her allegations didn't lead to separate charges. She waived her legal right to anonymity to speak publicly about this for the first time.

"I was treated as his slave. I was held captive, raped, beaten," she says. "I can never forget what he said to me: 'Don't you realise you're just my slave?'"

After watching the undercover footage of Bechi smiling and greeting supporters at an event in March, she tears up and says: "It's like nothing ever happened."

Ira told the BBC she was raped and sexually abused by him for more than four years, from the time she was 15 years old. She said she tried to run away but Bechi's private security guards tracked her down, kidnapped her and took her to a secluded hut, where Bechi tortured and raped her.  She said she was then expelled from the school.

She said she reported all of this to the police but was then intimidated into withdrawing her police report. She shared an audio recording of Bechi's mother telling her to say that "nothing had happened".

In January this year, after hearing that Bechi may have been released early, BBC undercover reporters attended an annual prayer event at the Shiddiqiyyah Islamic boarding school in East Java.

The reporters saw Bechi wearing a mask and sitting beside his father. Just before he appeared on stage, filming and photography was prohibited, a marked difference from previous years.

Then in March, BBC reporters again captured Bechi on hidden camera at another prayer event for Eid at his family home located in the same compound as the school.

The BBC sought comment from Bechi, his mother and the Shiddiqiyyah school but there has been no response.

The students who testified, including the girl he was convicted of sexually assaulting, were placed under witness protection and Indonesian law requires them to be informed of Bechi's release.

But they were not informed, Ira and another former student who testified told the BBC. They were stunned by the undercover footage of Bechi because they believed he was still in prison.

The ministry said that victims need not be informed because Bechi remains on parole, but the witness protection agency disputed this, saying the victims must still be informed.

Ayu Masuroh says she was never abused by Bechi but she started investigating the allegations of abuse against him after hearing about them from schoolmates. She lives close to the school and says she is frightened about Bechi being out of prison.

"He hates me. His supporters have threatened to kill me many times. I will never feel safe here. I don't feel safe living in Indonesia."

Speaking publicly for the first time, she told the BBC she collected testimonies from at least 10 other female students, all of whom alleged that they were sexually assaulted or raped by Bechi.

According to her, some said Bechi told them they were "chosen", and one of them said Bechi raped her after calling her for a "personal interview".

These accounts were part of the closed-door trial, which alleged years of abuse at the school, according to court records seen by the BBC.

Nun Sayuti, a former lawyer for the school who later left and began supporting the students, says he is "deeply disappointed" by Bechi's early release, which is a "violation of victims' rights. They went through a long and difficult legal process to bring this case to light".

He, too, testified at trial. He told the court that when the rape allegations first surfaced, Bechi ordered him to make them go away. But when he started investigating the claims, he says he realised he was defending the wrong side and "knew I had to take a stand".

Nun then started collecting evidence and before leaving the school secretly recorded Bechi boasting. In the recording the BBC has heard, he says: "In my position, I can have my way with anyone I want."

The cases that have come to light across Indonesia in recent years may be just the "tip of the iceberg", the commission on violence against women, or Komnas Perempuan, warned in a statement in May.

Students in many schools are unable to report abuse because of inadequate protection mechanisms, it said, and called on the government to strengthen oversight and impose stronger penalties so that religious leaders cannot exercise unchecked power.

Bechi's case is one of Indonesia's most high-profile sexual abuse scandals, given the political influence his father wields.

Kiai Muchtar Mu'thi combines Islamic teachings with a strong emphasis on Indonesian nationalism, and the school he owns in East Java is part of a wider complex that has thousands of loyal followers.

Bechi had been teaching at the school for at least a decade when he was arrested in 2022 despite public opposition.

Hundreds of students and supporters gathered behind the gates of the school to prevent police from entering. They stood shoulder to shoulder, raising their fists and chanting that they were prepared to defend the school "with body and soul".

Over the years, Muchtar and his school – as well as the Shiddiqiyyah complex it sits in – have drawn public figures looking for support in what is a key political battleground.

In 2014, then-presidential candidate Joko Widodo visited during his political campaign. Five years later, his successor Prabowo Subianto did the same.

Indonesia's national police chief visited the school and met Muchtar in August last year, saying he wanted to forge closer ties with Shiddiqiyyah.

It was the family's connections and clout that Ira says persuaded her to withdraw her allegations against Bechi.

"I was terrified," she told the BBC, adding that it escalated as his supporters began giving her death threats.

In June 2018, Ira and her father were summoned to a hotel near the school, she says, where she met Bechi's mother, Nyai Shofwatul Ummah.

Ira secretly recorded their conversation and shared it with the BBC. In it Bechi's mother says that her son had "made mistakes, perhaps in his relationship with Ira. So I apologise".

She then urges Ira to withdraw her police report. "Nothing happened, it's only family business," she tells her.

Ira says that fearing for her safety, she signed a statement retracting her allegations, which she now regrets.

When the case went to trial, Ira says she was questioned for hours, where they "asked these really probing questions – very painful questions. I told the court everything”.

Now watching the footage of Bechi out of prison, she says, "it feels as if he has won and I've lost".

"It's very important the world knows. It's true. He is free. It's just a complete mockery of the law."

Our head teacher was an abuser. We joined forces to get justice - now we're married

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg4d9vly636o, yesterday

Warning: This story contains details of sexual assault

The voice on the end of the phone made Yusron Azzahidi's stomach lurch. He had rung his sister's number after she had texted, urgently asking him to call. But this was not her on the line - it was Yusron's former head teacher. He was in Yusron's family home.

"I knew. I knew exactly what he wanted to talk about," Yusron says.

Ahmad Imanuddin Sumar, known to his students as "Abah" ["father"], had a reputation to uphold. He was the widely respected leader of an Islamic boarding school on the Indonesian island of Lombok. And Abah had discovered that Yusron and his old school friends had been collating testimony from several students who say he sexually assaulted them.

Sexual abuse in Islamic boarding schools has been described as a national emergency by Indonesia's National Commission on Violence Against Women. But many cases never reach the courts because the victims are persuaded to withdraw their allegations, or are pressured into staying quiet, legal experts say.

And now Abah was on the phone to Yusron, making exactly that kind of demand.

"Cover the shame of your teacher. Everyone makes mistakes, my child," he sobbed.

What he did not realise was that Yusron was recording his every word.

* The full story with be available in subsequent episodes of World of Secrets Catching My Teacher

* Watch the full investigation on iPlayer from 0001 Monday 21 September. If you are outside the UK, you will be able watch on YouTube

Yusron began investigating Abah a year previously, sparked by a revelation one night by his former classmate Ziadatur Rahmah. They had both been star pupils at Lombok's Abu Barokat school. Now they were at university - Yusron in the capital Jakarta, and Ziadatur in Cairo, Egypt - and had begun reminiscing over the phone about their school days.

One night Ziadatur, known to her friends as Zia, told Yusron that Abah had sexually assaulted her when she was 16.

She had needed to go to the toilet during class and Abah had intercepted her in the school gardens and asked her to accompany him to his house which was on the premises.

Once inside, he had told her he loved her, she told Yusron.

"He pulled me down so I was sitting on his lap… Then he started kissing me… He was stroking and touching my body," she later told the BBC World Service, too, explaining that he told her to do the same to him.

Luckily, she said, one of his children began banging on the locked front door. Abah signalled to her to leave and she bolted out the back. But the effect was devastating.

"I felt very dirty, ruined, and I was lost."

Yusron, when he heard Zia's account, was unsure what to do. Their school had inculcated them with the motto: "Sami'na wa ata'na" ["We hear, and we obey"].

But he also could not stop thinking about it.

So he suggested that he and Zia, together with her school friends Wanda Hamidah and Mahima Eka, gather corroborating evidence to support her testimony.

And slowly, as they spoke to their old classmates, other recollections emerged - the friends sharing their findings with each other on WhatsApp.

The most significant was from a friend of Wanda's. She recalled seeing a younger girl crying in the school bathroom during their final year, late at night. And that Abah had come looking for her, red-faced and panting.

This girl, Sukma Rohana, was still at the school. She told the BBC about her ordeal.

When Sukma was 17, Abah had asked her to join him for new year's prayers, she told us. When she entered Abah's house, he had covered her mouth and told her to lie down, she said, before he stripped below the waist.

"He kept talking, saying he couldn't control himself any more," Sukma said.

"He was feeling me up through my knickers… He tried to rape me."

And then, she said, she had found the strength to kick him hard in the stomach and took the opportunity to flee.

As she ran, she said she had looked back to see his torch seeking her out.

As evidence like this emerged, Yusron would co-ordinate it - following up with calls to the students making the allegations, and keeping painstaking notes.

He typed up a seven-page document outlining the alleged abuse of Sukma, Zia and four other former students.

Wanda organised a meeting with representatives from the Nahdlatul Wathan Diniyah Islamiyah (NWDI) - the powerful organisation that ran their school and hundreds of others, and which was also funding some of the students' studies in Cairo.

The meeting went well, the friends told us - the NWDI representatives had said they would help them take the case to the police.

But three weeks later, when Yusron received that ominous text from his sister - calling back to find Abah on the end of the phone in Yusron's family home - it became clear the NWDI had passed on Yusron's written documents to him.

"If this is leaked to the media… I'll be destroyed," Abah can be heard saying on Yusron's recording of him.

He pleads with Yusron to lie for him, giving him a series of cover stories he can use to retract his evidence document.

He then called Zia and exerted similar pressure. Like Yusron, she recorded the call. In it, Abah admits he abused her but pleads with her to stay silent.

Sukma, for her part, told us she was called to Abah's house to discover two police officers and an NWDI lawyer waiting for her. They forced her to sign a document saying all her allegations were lies, she said. Her account is backed up by a secret recording she later made as she challenged Abah's wife, Hurmiati.

Hurmiati can be heard telling her to respect their "agreement" that nothing happened, adding: "Do you want this to haunt you for the rest of your life? Do you want it to damage the chances of you getting married?"

This pressure even extended to Abah asking Yusron's parents to fly to Jakarta to look for him at university. They didn't find him - he was hiding in a hotel - but the ordeal was too much for Yusron's mother. She told her son the stress was killing her.

So Yusron reluctantly stopped his investigation.

Meanwhile he and Zia were slowly getting closer. The friendship had become a long-distance relationship, and they were regularly speaking on the phone.

"And I could see she was really struggling… She'd say things like: 'Why do I keep thinking about what [Abah] did?'."

Yusron was torn between helping the girl he was falling in love with, and the promise he had made to his mother.

And then, eight months later, Yusron heard about a group raising awareness about sexual abuse in Islamic schools. It had been set up by a young woman called Ayu Masruroh, who had helped her friend get justice after she had been sexually assaulted at another school, by a teacher called Moch Subchi Azal Tsani.

Ayu was now actively posting on social media about the need to speak out.

It inspired Zia to post a call-out on Instagram, asking any Indonesian student who had experienced abuse to get in touch.

And she was to discover that, despite Abah's remonstrations, and promises to change, he had apparently offended again. Someone who went to Zia's school got in touch to say she too had been sexually exploited by Abah. The alleged abuse had taken place almost a year after his pledges to Zia and Yusron.

"It made me realise [Abah] hadn't really changed at all… all the things he said about stopping… It was all just lies," said Zia.

* If you are in the UK, and have been affected by issues of sexual abuse or violence, information and support is available at BBC Action Line

Yusron's parents finally agreed he should help Zia and Sukma to continue their quest for justice.

But this time, the friends decided to do things differently. They contacted Ayu, and she was clear: get a lawyer. She introduced them to someone experienced in representing sexual abuse survivors. He advised that Sukma's case was the strongest to ensure a prosecution.

We contacted Abah and Hurmiati about the allegations against them - they did not respond.

NWDI said it was still investigating the allegations internally and denied ever trying to cover up sexual abuse claims.

It said it had "a duty to safeguard the organisation from being tarnished by the alleged actions of individuals".

Sukma filed her claim against Abah to the police in February last year. She is still waiting for them to take action and Abah is still in post.

"I don't want what happened to me, to happen to any other students. I want justice," she told the BBC.

The investigation has, however, brought Zia and Yusron ever closer. Last February, after three years of messaging and speaking, Yusron decided to move to Cairo to be with her.

"I was exhausted. Jakarta had been intense, because I was dealing with the police case the whole time. So when I saw Zia… it was like medicine," he told the BBC.

Zia said she was so happy she "started talking non-stop.

"That's when I knew he was serious. He had come all the way to Egypt for me. I trust him. That's why I'm with him."

It is a trust built, in part, on their shared pursuit of justice. Last month the couple got married.

Their lawyer, Joko Jumadi, says he has been struck by the students' courage and precision.

The recordings they secretly collected, he told us, capture the pressure to stay silent in real time and are exceptionally valuable. "Several victims are mentioned - acknowledged by the individual himself. These are key pieces of evidence," he said.

Joko and his team have handled 20 sexual abuse cases involving Islamic boarding schools in his local West Nusa Tenggara province over the past three years, and he believes this is "just the tip of the iceberg".

Mum's viral barefoot race sparks debate over India's education crisis

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw62m6z7m7zjo, yesterday

Despite having no training, or even a pair of running shoes, Ramabai Ranveer sprinted barefoot to victory in her first-ever race in August.

The 47-year-old widow had entered a 3km (1.86-mile) community run with a single goal: winning the prize money to help pay for her two daughters' education.

When she crossed the finish line first, Ramabai from Maharashtra in western India was delighted. The 3,000-rupee ($31; £23) prize would help her buy books and study materials for her daughters.

It was not much money. It would not come close to covering the cost of higher education in India, or even a course at the coaching centre where one of her daughters is preparing for a government recruitment examination.

But videos of her barefoot run spread rapidly on social media and in newspapers, striking a nerve as India's education system faces unusual scrutiny.

"Is it glory or a source of shame for us as a society?" one social media user remarked.

Soon, a woman who had never imagined becoming a runner was being held up as a symbol of something much bigger: the extraordinary lengths some Indian families go to in the hope that education will give their children a better life.

For Ramabai, the decision to run was simple.

"My elder daughter came to me early in the morning and said, 'Mummy, I want to take part in a running race'," she told BBC News Marathi from her home in Beed district.

"I asked her where it was and she said it was nearby. She told me that if she won the prize money, it would help with her education."

Her younger daughter, Arati, lives in Nanded and was struggling to afford books.

"I couldn't send her money to buy books and because of that she didn't speak to me on the phone for eight days," Ramabai said. "So I decided I had to run and win the race."

When her slippers kept slipping off, she removed them, gathered her sari and ran barefoot, pulling ahead to win the women's 30-60 category.

Her elder daughter, Pooja, also won a prize after finishing second in her age group. But she reserved her praise for her mother, describing her as courageous.

Ramabai has been the family's sole provider since her husband died in 2012.

"I did whatever work I could find," she said. "I picked soybeans and chickpeas in other people's fields. I also collected turmeric, processed it and sold it."

She left school when she was 13. Her daughters, she says, should have the opportunities she never had.

"I believe that as long as I am alive, I should do everything I can to give my daughters a good education."

That aspiration is shared by millions of Indian families. But getting a child through the education system and into a secure career can involve years of preparation, intense competition and, for many families, considerable expense.

One of Ramabai's daughters is preparing for police recruitment and the other for the civil services - two fiercely competitive routes into the security and social status associated with a coveted and secure government job.

Millions of young Indians spend years preparing for such examinations, often paying for coaching and study materials. But faith in the system has been shaken by repeated allegations of question-paper leaks and other irregularities.

The controversies have fed a wider sense of frustration among young Indians over education, jobs and the increasingly uncertain promise of a secure future. That frustration has also fuelled student-led protests and youth movements demanding changes to India's education system.

For families such as Ramabai's, education is something they make sacrifices for every day.

After her husband's death, she took whatever work she could find. She now cooks at the coaching centre where one of her daughters prepares for police recruitment.

Ramabai's run also drew the attention of authorities. Earlier this month, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant directed local officials to provide her with financial assistance of 50,000 rupees.

But Sukhadeo Thorat, a former chairman of the University Grants Commission, says the family's story points to broader structural challenges.

"If a woman is compelled to struggle so hard for her daughters' education, it shows that government education schemes are not reaching people adequately," he said. "Both the central and state governments run a variety of schemes. The problem is that implementation remains weak."

For Ramabai, though, the debate is secondary. What matters most is ensuring her daughters have a better future.

"I don't want them to go through the hardships I have faced," she said. "I don't want them to struggle through mud or travel under the scorching sun and rain. Whatever I have suffered, I don't want my daughters to suffer the same."

Additional reporting by Laignee Barron.

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At least 21 killed after vehicle loaded with explosives rams Pakistan mosque

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckn9wenz8wjwo, 3 days ago

A car-bomb attack on a mosque at a police compound in north-western Pakistan has killed at least 21 people and injured more than 100, officials say.

Fifteen police officers and a four-year-old child are among those killed in the suicide attack, which also involved gunmen firing on the police facility in the city of Kohat in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan's APP news agency reported.

Video found by BBC Verify shows the site covered in rubble and people tending to casualties.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police suggested a faction of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, carried out the attack.

A car loaded with explosives rammed into the entrance of the mosque at about 13:15 local time (08:15 GMT), police say. Friday prayers were taking place at the time.

At least six of the attackers were killed in the explosion and the gun battle that followed, according to a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police spokesperson.

In a post on X, the force said it was "determined to foil the nefarious designs of Fitna-al-Khawarij" - the designation used by officials to refer to the Pakistani Taliban.

The group was set up in 2007 with the aim of enforcing its strict version of Islamic law and is allied with al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban.

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari expressed "his best wishes for the swift recovery of those injured in the explosion" in a statement, and called for the "complete elimination" of foreign-backed terrorists.

A UN spokesman said Secretary-General António Guterres "strongly condemns" the bombing and that "attacks targeting civilians and places of worship are unacceptable".

In February, officials accused the Pakistani Taliban of being behind a series of attacks in the country, including the suicide bombing of a Shia mosque in Islamabad in which more than 30 people were killed.

Faisal Karim Kundi, governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said on Friday the province had endured "immense sacrifices in the fight against terrorism".

Militancy in Pakistan's border areas has risen sharply in recent months, with armed groups targeting the military and police.

Islamabad says militants use Afghanistan as a safe haven to train and plan attacks in Pakistan.

Afghanistan's Taliban government denies the accusation and says militant groups are a domestic problem for Pakistan.

Three dead and eight injured in Philippines school shooting

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6x2z4dlzyr0o, 3 days ago

A 16-year-old gunman has shot two students dead and injured eight others at a Philippine high school, before killing himself.

The two deceased victims were 14-year-old pupils at a school in Banga in the southern province of Mindanao, the local mayor told the BBC.

Albert Palencia said four of the injured were in critical condition.

The education department said in a statement it was "deeply concerned" by the reported incident which took place on Friday afternoon at Banga National High School.

This is the third deadly school shooting in the Philippines since June this year.

"Our immediate priority is the safety and well-being of our learners, teachers and school personnel," the education department said, adding it was coordinating with authorities to verify the incident and provide necessary support.

"We urge everyone to remain calm and refrain from sharing unverified information as authorities continue their investigation."

Palencia told Reuters news agency that during a lunchtime conversation on Friday, the gunman had urged friends to go home "because after lunch, [he would] be executing [his] plan".

"His friends laughed because the shooter was a known joker," Palencia told the news agency.

"After lunch, he started shooting students. He hit 10 students before killing himself."

Classes have been suspended "in all levels in the entire municipality of Banga" due to the shooting, disaster management authorities said in a statement.

The Philippines Red Cross said it was alerted to the incident at 14:00 local time (06:00 GMT) and had dispatched an ambulance with four paramedics to provide life-saving assistance.

Police are at the site investigating the shooting, local media reported.

Gun crime is not uncommon in the Philippines, which has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the region. Broadly speaking, school shootings are rare, but today's incident marks the third deadly campus shooting in the last four months.

In June, three students were killed and more were injured after their peers opened fire at a high school in central Philippines. Investigators believed the deadly shooting had been motivated by a "grudge" over bullying.

In August, a student at a Catholic junior high school in the southern Philippines shot dead a fellow student and later took his own life. In this case, the suspect had fired at the teacher, but missed, then moved to another classroom and shot a student, who later died.

Following the shooting on Friday, Reynaldo Tamayo, the South Cotabato governor, urged adult gun owners to "be responsible in storing firearms" and ensuring that minors do not get access to them.

"We cannot expect a handful of security personnel to monitor thousands of students. We need to work together because otherwise this will be very difficult for us to address," he told Reuters.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story you can visit BBC Action Line. Help and support outside the UK can be found at Befrienders Worldwide

'Complete despair': Afghan female medical students fear being sent home from Pakistan

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmy0z3kez6xno, 3 days ago

Nooria, which is not her real name, still remembers one of the moments that made her want to be a doctor.

It was back home in a village in Afghanistan, where she was born. A 13-year-old boy there became sick and died because of appendicitis.

"He was completely healthy, but the road was blocked and he died on the way. There are multiple incidents just like this."

"That and the potential I saw in myself, I thought I can be a doctor for them, I can help."

She fears that dream could now be over and that she could be sent back to Afghanistan. That would be the end of any chance at a career for Nooria who, as a woman, is barred from studying or working by Afghanistan's Taliban government.

Earlier this month, Pakistan's Medical and Dental Council - the medical education regulator - issued a letter to all medical and dental colleges across the country saying that students from Afghanistan studying in their colleges must return to their home country. Failure to follow the directive, it said, would be "viewed seriously" and may lead to regulatory action. A temporary stay order from the Lahore High Court stopped students in Punjab, such as Nooria, from being deported immediately until the next hearing, scheduled for Friday. There is no certainty that the stay will continue.

Since 2023, hundreds of thousands of Afghans have been deported from Pakistan and over two million have left according to the UN. These numbers increased as the relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan dramatically deteriorated in the last year. Pakistan has accused Afghanistan's Taliban government of harbouring militant groups, which it denies.

The announcement from the medical council was met with a strong reaction. Amnesty International called the decision "patently discriminatory and arbitrary" and said that "Pakistan has obligations under international human rights law to uphold the right to education without discrimination on the basis of national origin." Several of Pakistan's former envoys to Afghanistan also urged the council to reconsider; one called it "shocking" and "a question of humanity, compassion and Pakistan's own moral responsibility".

The council told the BBC that they can give no further comment while the court case continues, but their lawyer has told the BBC that none of the Afghan students were registered with PMDC. The students say that this is the responsibility of their colleges, not them; a notification issued by the PMDC earlier this year directs colleges to ensure that students are registered.

The medical and dental students the BBC has spoken to say they do not see how the relationship between the two countries should affect their ability to study.

For Nooria, this stings even more because she says it took a lot for her to get here. She first began studying at Kabul University, but as the Taliban forces approached the city, she left. She was offered what she thought at the time was a lifeline: the opportunity to study medicine in Pakistan on a scholarship. Now a final year student at a medical university in Lahore, she says she has given everything to the course.

"I was studying, day and night. I couldn't sleep because there was so much pressure and knowledge that I had accumulated in my mind. I got used to it a bit, but I have compromised a lot. My relationships, talking to my family, spending time with my friends. I think I haven't lived for these years, I have only studied for my dream."

So when she heard about the letter, Nooria was in shock. She's still nervous about the repercussions of speaking out, which is why she asked we don't reveal her name.

"We knocked on every door, our teachers, organisations, anyone we thought could help us. We are under so much pressure that we have completely forgotten about our studies, we don't know what will happen to us."

Final year students like Nooria have their last exams in just a few months. Said Mubin, another final year student in Punjab, is in the same position.

"I was in complete despair, my mind was blank. It was like a panic situation because they were giving us very short time to evacuate the (accommodation), the college," he says.

Other students have also brought cases across the country, but different directives have been issued, adding to the confusion. Some students told the BBC that they have finished their exams but not completed the practical training - known as a 'House Job' - to complete their medical education.

Without completing their degrees, both Mubin, Nooria and many other medical and dental students the BBC spoke to, fear that none of their credits will be recognised by another institution.

"It means you have to start from zero, from your first year," Mubin says.

Both Nooria and Mubin have valid student visas, seen by the BBC. The PMDC did not provide the BBC with the number of students they believe are affected, but Anayatullah Momand, a spokesperson for the Afghan medical students, has said that they estimate it's approximately 1,000 medical and dental students, 65% of whom have visa holders. Some are still waiting for a visa, but Momand said that 15% have had their visas cancelled or have not yet applied for one.

While the medical council's letter makes no distinction between students with the right documents, Pakistan's Ministry for Foreign Affair's spokesman did. "Our policy is that those Afghan students who are in Pakistan on a valid visa and registered for a valid course will continue and complete his or her education," said Sajjad Haider Khan during a recorded press conference at the ministry.

Similar comments were made the previous week, but the students say they have not seen any change to their situation.

With the outcome of her studies still uncertain, Nooria has been trying not to think about what returning to Afghanistan could mean.

"My family counted on me. These five years I have sacrificed everything that would be zero, multiplied by zero. And then I would become a poor and helpless Afghan female, facing this destiny. I cannot imagine this."

When a beloved tree began withering away, locals suspected a killer in their midst

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw5yl228lvzlo, 3 days ago

Every summer, Seoul turns a deep green, growing dense and lush under humid skies.

But this year, one tree was visibly suffering.

"Green leaves were falling to the ground, which shouldn't happen at that time of year," recalls Jung, who lives near the streetside ginkgo in Buam-dong, a largely residential neighbourhood in the north of Seoul.

The tree is beloved by locals, who believe it has occupied its spot for more than 100 years. So Jung couldn't ignore what she was seeing. With each passing day, her curiosity turned to concern.

A rotting carpet of familiar fan-shaped leaves soon surrounded the tree, a sight so alarming Jung and her neighbours formed a crew of amateur detectives to solve the mystery: what was ailing their hardy ginkgo?

The whodunnit engrossed Buam-dong and piqued the country's interest, making national headlines. But the attention unsettled Jung, who spearheaded the campaign but has since requested anonymity - we are using a pseudonym.

"Imagine a grandfather who silently embraces you every day, listens to you, and has always been strong and full of life," she says. "Suddenly, he begins to die.

"How heartbreaking would that be?"

So began one community's fight to save a cherished symbol of their neighbourhood. Their unlikely enemy, who they believe plotted a surreptitious attack, was a museum built to honour a pioneering, nature-loving Korean artist.

Who is killing 'Grandpa Ginkgo'?

Tucked between two mountains, Buam-dong is recommended by travellers and locals for its picturesque views, art galleries and cosy cafes - an escape from Seoul's bustle.

Because of its proximity to the Blue House, the president's official residence, urban development has been restricted, allowing the neighbourhood to retain its quaint charm.

In a place where you usually find ginkgo trees in private gardens or untamed forests, this one is special, Jung says, because it flourished on the side of the road. To her, it's "Grandpa Ginkgo".

"I pass this tree whenever I come home. I would say, 'Grandpa, I'm home.' Or 'Grandpa, I'm heading out now'."

Jung only moved here four years ago, but the grand old tree was the first thing she noticed, and she grew to love it.

"It was the only tree in the neighbourhood that belongs to everyone."

To Park Jeon-hee, who has lived here for nearly all his 74 years, the ginkgo is his "oldest friend".

It's the same for 10-year-old Kim On, who walks past it every day on his way to school. It has stood since before he was born, Kim says, and "thinking it might fall down makes me sad".

So it wasn't surprising that Jung found ready allies in the community who had also noticed the ginkgo's withering leaves.

They soon became suspicious of 10 white plastic funnels peeping out from behind the trunk. Jung had initially assumed they were providing nutrients, but then began to wonder if something more sinister was at play.

She and her neighbours sieved through security camera footage from a nearby house, until they found something odd: one morning in late April, the camera had recorded two men wearing white gloves and crouching over the base of the tree with a drill.

Were these men installing the funnels? Jung and the others couldn't exactly tell from the footage.

But then they remembered something the local council had told them: a museum had previously asked landowners in the area for permission to remove the tree.

The Whanki Museum had apparently claimed that its outer brick wall, which sits inches from the ginkgo, was under strain from the tree's roots.

The residents soon suspected the funnels contained some kind of herbicide that was slowly killing the tree - a suspicion also shared by arborists who came to examine it. And they believed the Whanki Museum was behind it all.

On the very day they saw the footage, a group of Buam-dong residents stormed into the museum, accompanied by four police officers. When confronted, an employee "basically admitted" the museum had done something to the tree, Jung and her neighbour alleged.

"Once they had said it, there was really no taking it back," the neighbour told the BBC.

The museum has neither publicly confirmed nor denied injecting herbicide into the tree, and has not responded to the BBC's questions.

But it did publish a statement in May, saying the wall of its compound was "collapsing because of the ginkgo's roots". It said it had sent letters to more than 40 property owners "requesting a solution".

There was no response, the museum said, so its staff "attempted to resolve the situation". It did not explain what they had done.

A local council representative told the BBC that an inspection last year found "no meaningful connection" between the ginkgo tree and damage to the museum wall. If there had been an issue, "we would have taken appropriate action and informed the relevant parties," the official added.

The residents, who still believe the Whanki Museum had the funnels installed, want them to reveal what was in them, so experts can treat the ginkgo. They have filed a police report against the museum's director. Officials say police are investigating the case, but police declined to share more information when contacted by the BBC.

'In the hands of heaven'

Opened in 1992, the museum is dedicated to the late Kim Whanki, a celebrated painter and abstract artist, known by many as the "Picasso of Korea".

On the museum website, architect Woo Kyusung explains he wanted to create a space for Kim's works "that would complement the elements of the nature - the moon, mountains, clouds, rocks and trees - that were so important to his art".

In fact, Kim wrote essays under the pen name Su-wha, which translates to "conversation with trees".

The irony is not lost on Buam-dong's indignant residents. Decades after Kim's death, the museum built in his honour is accused of trying to snuff out a tree. A ginkgo, no less, which is precious in Korea, where it symbolises longevity and resilience.

"Treating life that way is ignorance and there was never any apology," Jung says.

The residents have co-opted Kim's poetic nom de plume "Su-wha" for their moribund tree. They have also roped in an environmental activist group, which has launched a petition calling for citizens to be authorised as guardians of urban trees.

"When I first heard that a tree next to a museum had been poisoned with herbicide and was dying, I simply couldn't believe it," says activist Choi Jin-woo.

But when he saw the ginkgo shrivelling, he "realised something this horrific could actually happen in our society".

If there's a silver lining to be found in the ginkgo's troubles, it's that the campaign to keep it alive has brought the people of Buam-dong closer together.

While spending her days garnering support, Jung would return to find home-cooked meals from her neighbours left by her door. She, in turn, made vegetable soup for neighbours she'd never met before.

As summer went by, they all watched the ginkgo's branches increasingly go bare and brown. An arborist who inspected it said it was "90% of the way toward death", Choi says.

The fate of the tree is now "in the hands of heaven", says a resigned Jung. "Perhaps all I can do is stay beside it and pray."

For weeks, around 20 residents regularly gathered in front of the tree to pray for its recovery. Some recited Whanki's essays, while a local shaman performed a "healing ritual".

Notes of well wishes fluttered against the trunk as music rang out, and the group joined hands and swayed in unison for an "elm dance", which some nature lovers and activists believe helps trees heal.

"If someone had truly understood this tree was deeply loved, they probably would not have made the decision to inject herbicide," says Kim Min-joo, who has lived in Buam-dong for more than a decade.

It recently occurred to Jung that all the days that she spent scrambling to save the ginkgo were the most active she had been since she fell ill last winter.

She had struggled to walk much and would often observe the tree from home. On better days, she strolled up to it, even hugging its jagged trunk and inhaling the earthy scent to lift her spirits.

"I felt so depressed and hopeless but those feelings disappeared. I entered a tree-like state."

She still can't walk very much, she adds, but "the tree helped bring me back out into life again. Ironically, it was because the tree became sick."

"Although it has been heartbreaking, there were also incredibly moving moments," Jung says, on reflection. "The neighbourhood came together, cared for one another, looked after each other."

As Seoul transforms into various shades of yellow with the arrival of autumn, the leaves on Buam-dong's once-prized ginkgo are a crispy brown.

The neighbourhood is still hoping for a miracle.

They cannot imagine an autumn in which they don't pause to admire the ginkgo at its finest, swathed in a feathery coat of gold.

This Olympic river has 500 crocodiles in it - but that's not the main concern

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c68xkypqyxw7o, 3 days ago

The annual rowing regatta for schools in the Australian state of Queensland usually passes off without too much attention.

This weekend more than 600 of the state's most promising teenage rowers are battling it out on the crocodile-inhabited Fitzroy River, in the city of Rockhampton.

"We've never had any media wanting to attend before," Anthea O'Loughlin, head of Rowing Queensland, tells the BBC.

But this year is different. In six years' time, the 2032 Brisbane Olympics and Paralympics are set to stage rowing and canoe sprint events in this very stretch of water, which has just passed a technical assessment and been endorsed as safe and fair for athletes.

While sightings of saltwater crocodiles on the river – which number around 500 and can grow to four metres (13ft) long – are not uncommon, state government files going back more than 40 years record no attacks by the reptiles on humans.

And though influential figures at last month's World Rowing congress in Amsterdam made occasional references to "safety", the presence of the reptiles was not their chief concern.

"Fairness" is what's been raised with British Rowing's chief executive Tom Solesbury – a reference to the tidal river's natural bends and currents, which many in the rowing community say make it unsuitable for elite competition.

Drew Ginn, who has won three Olympic gold medals for Australia in rowing, told the BBC he had concerns over potential flooding and "fairness and integrity" at the venue.

"Personally, I'm not fearful of the Australian animals but I've never had a crocodile near me," he said.

"I'm sure I'd row faster, I'm sure all the athletes would row faster. That's on the list of concerns, I don't think it's the highest priority in concerns but it was certainly cited very early on."

The German rowing body's president Moritz Petri said athletes had also questioned the sustainability of holding the event some 600km (373 miles) from Brisbane.

But the "so-called impediments" got short shrift from the most senior politician in Queensland, state premier David Crisafulli, who reached for less diplomatic language.

"Let's be honest, let's scratch beneath the surface and call it for what it is," he said days after the Amsterdam meeting.

"It is a group of interstate and overseas elites who are trying to bully their way because they don't want to go to regional Queensland and that's not right."

Rowing chiefs contacted by the BBC before Thursday's decision declined to comment directly on Crisafulli's "elites" remarks.

But both Petri and Simon Wickham, chief executive of Rowing New Zealand, said their concerns had nothing to do with regional or urban preference but with competitors getting fair racing.

Petri added it was about what's best for their athletes who will train four years for the event, "dreaming night [after] night of becoming an Olympic champion".

And Ginn said: "If elite means having some expertise in the sport over 20 odd years, I'm proud of that."

Whether it was crocs or currents that tipped the balance, ultimately it was the sport's governing body World Rowing and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that had the final say on the river's suitability.

On Thursday they approved it after a technical assessment by an engineering firm and the Games' infrastructure authority – which looked at the riverbed, competition course, river flows, water levels and likely weather conditions during the Games.

"Based on the extensive analysis undertaken, we now know that the Fitzroy River is capable of providing fair competition conditions during the period of the Games," World Rowing president Jean-Christophe Rolland said.

There was also now "confidence" in the river for canoe sprint athletes, said Thomas Konietzko, president of that sport's governing body, Paddle Worldwide.

The state premier was delighted. "The Fitzroy has passed with flying colours," an upbeat Crisafulli told parliament. "It's official. Signed, sealed and delivered."

In backing Rockhampton, the state government ignored a 2025 report it commissioned itself, which found the location unsuitable and concluded the best option would be to use a course built in Sydney for the 2000 Olympics.

The Fitzroy now needs to pass a final assessment of its design, value for money and long-term community legacy. As the decision rests with the state government, it's unlikely to fall at this hurdle.

But a wider debate will continue over whether Rockhampton is the right place to invest heavily in rowing facilities – and whether it can accommodate the 2032 influx of visitors.

The city is surrounded by cattle producers and normally experiences its peak number of guests every three years during Beef Week.

So what about the crocodiles?

They're not mentioned anywhere in the latest update from the IOC and World Rowing and they weren't referenced in the media release about the technical assessment. That report itself has not yet been made public.

The safety management plan for this weekend's school regatta does however mention the word "crocodile" 28 times.

"The Fitzroy River is within recognised crocodile country," it says.

"Event planning must therefore assume that a crocodile sighting is possible… No natural waterway in crocodile country can be guaranteed to be crocodile-free."

Procedures this weekend include suspending racing and competitors returning to the bank if a croc is spotted. The official signal for a sighting is the call of "crocodile, crocodile, crocodile".

Asked specifically about crocodiles, New Zealand's Wickham told the BBC the primary concern was ensuring the "fairest possible course" for rowers. "We would obviously expect any course chosen to be safe for rowers," he added.

The company owned by Australia's richest person Gina Rinehart, Hancock Prospecting, which supported Rockhampton's bid and has pumped tens of millions of dollars into sports including rowing, pointed to "fake media" concerns about risks posed by flooding and crocodiles in the Fitzroy.

"The people of Rocky for many years have sent their own children to train in this river, and for competitions, without a single crocodile incident," a spokesperson said in a statement.

And those who argue the tabloid-friendly crocodile debate is overblown, say the biggest of the creatures live downstream. The less-dangerous freshwater crocodiles are more likely to be spotted in the rowing arena, they say.

Also contested by government is the flood risk, though Rowing Queensland's O'Loughlin says that their schools event was due to be held on the Fitzroy in August 2024, but had to be moved after the course was washed away.

Brisbane 2032's chief executive has said organisers are making contingency plans "as we would for any venue".

The 2000 Olympics venue in Sydney is ready and waiting as a backup – though that would be unconscionable for Queenslanders.

For the school-age rowers at this weekend's regatta, none of this debate really matters as they take to the water.

Among them are potentially some contenders for the 2032 Games.

"For our students, the Fitzroy is first and foremost their home water," says Phillip Moulds, headmaster of The Rockhampton Grammar School.

"The Fitzroy has also been the starting point for many… some of whom have gone on to compete at the highest levels of the sport nationally and internationally."

India's hospital boom is improving access but pricing millions out of critical care

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62mg9qln89o, 3 days ago

On a recent visit to Miraj, a small town in western India where I grew up, I counted more than 50 multi-specialty hospitals, diagnostics centres and health clinics packed along a five kilometre stretch of road.

Many of them had come up in just the past five years, even though the town has historically been a regional medical hub in the state of Maharashtra.

The proliferation of these new facilities tells the story of the unprecedented boom in India's private healthcare industry over recent years.

Hospitals have been undertaking breakneck expansion every quarter by adding thousands of new beds, diagnostics chains are expanding their footprint across smaller towns and medical institutes are raising hundreds of millions of dollars through the public markets to expand presence across the country.

In early August, Manipal Health, India's largest multi-specialty hospital, raked in nearly a billion dollars in what became India's second largest initial public offering (IPO) this year.

The sector has also been a darling of global private equity (PE) investors. Between 2022 and 2024, Indian healthcare and pharma companies recorded nearly 600 mergers and acquisitions and private equity transactions valued at more than $30bn.

Forty per cent of these funds went to hospitals, according to data from Grant Thornton.

An additional amount over $20bn was raised by the sector in the last two years, as per more recent data obtained from the consultancy by the BBC.

Yet, even as the country's health infrastructure has seen a radical improvement in access as a result of this investment wave, millions of Indians have been priced out by the boom.

This was borne out by a new report released by a government panel recently, which highlights the strikingly unequal nature of India's burgeoning healthcare economy, raising serious concerns about a "deepening affordability crisis" in the country's private hospitals.

The report found that treatment in private hospitals is often between five and 10 times costlier than in government facilities, with the gap further widening for serious illnesses such as cancer, heart disease and kidney failure.

It also said the "unbridled" growth of clinics, nursing homes and diagnostic centres and uneven implementation of regulatory standards had led to "glaring disparities in both the quality and cost of care in private sector, leaving patients vulnerable to arbitrary pricing and substandard practices".

It further blamed "rampant commercialisation of private healthcare" for increased patient grievances when it came to things such as excessive billing, unnecessary diagnostics, and soaring costs for routine procedures like childbirth, which it said was "directly pushing vulnerable households into catastrophic debt and distress, causing asset sales".

Earlier this week, the food and drug regulator in India's richest state, Maharashtra, also found IV (intravenous) sets being sold at an astonishing profit margin of 2,800% in hospitals, raising concerns over the pricing of medical devices, which it said was almost entirely unmonitored.

The government panel had a range of recommendations to address the challenges: among the more contentious of them, a cap on hospital room tariffs to the nearest three-star hotel level, price regulation of essential treatments, diagnostics, and routine procedures across all private hospitals and standard treatment guidelines to prevent over-treatment. It also red-flagged foreign ownership of over 51% in hospital chains.

India's private hospitals have pushed back against some of the proposals.

In a statement to the BBC, Siddhartha Bhattacharya, Secretary General of NATHEALTH, an association representing India's private healthcare sector, said the government should focus on reducing structural costs of healthcare delivery including taxes, land, capital, manpower and regulatory compliance requirements - rather than capping rates.

According to him, healthcare delivery is capital-intensive and investment-heavy and return on capital employed "hovers at around 10%, significantly lower than many other sectors of the economy, which often generate 1.5-2.5 times higher returns on capital".

He also cautioned against comparing hospital tariffs with hotel tariffs, saying it overlooks key compliance requirements that hospitals have to adhere to, such as infection control standards and patient safety norms, all of which add up to costs.

The country's biggest hospital chains, from Max Healthcare to Fortis, have warned that such arbitrary caps will "stifle" investment into the sector and scare away foreign investors if they are unable to get risk-free returns on their money.

But public health experts say there is definitely a need to debate price regulation, given that private healthcare in India is currently entirely a seller's market.

"With big foreign private equity money coming in, especially in tertiary care, it is people outside the country who are basically making decisions on price points. That should not be the case," Dr Srinath Reddy of the Public Health Foundation of India told the BBC.

Government intervention is all the more critical given the "super profits" many of these hospitals have been making, said Vivek ND, another health policy expert.

"The increased emphasis of these hospitals on conducting various tests, pushing for diagnostics which might not be required must also be looked into," he said.

Some of the proposals - such as a fairer goods and services taxation regime which the panel recommends - could be welcome steps to reduce the cost of private health care, according to Vivek, though he adds wider consultations with the industry are required before any recommendations are made binding.

Dr Reddy agrees. Before the government arbitrarily decides price caps, proper countrywide estimates on the precise cost of private healthcare are needed, he said.

"Costs will differ state to state and city by city, so you can't impose blanket caps across the country," he said.

But as this debate heats up, the broader thrust, experts say, must be on strengthening public healthcare to reduce patient costs, something which even the panel recommends.

India's current government health expenditure at 1.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) has been below the 2.5% target set in the National Health Policy almost a decade ago, and much behind the 5% prescribed by the World Health Organization.

The govenrment panel's report itself notes that disproportionately low spending on secondary and tertiary healthcare has driven citizens towards expensive private facilities, resulting in "catastrophic out-of-pocket expenditure".

The government will "have to up its game" with more public investment to reduce the common man's dependence on private hospitals, said Vivek.

But at the same time, the reality is that India needs an estimated $300bn in additional healthcare investment to build capacity.

A big chunk of that capital will evidently come from private domestic and foreign investors, leaving policymakers with the task of ensuring that investors don't flee even as ordinary people aren't priced out of essential services.

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Japan braces for record rain as powerful typhoon nears east coast

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c617j2w810e1o, today

A powerful typhoon barrelling towards Japan's eastern coast has disrupted transportation and forced the closure of several tourist hotspots.

Typhoon Dujuan, packing sustained winds of 126km/h and gusts of up to 180km/h, is forecast to pass near the Boso Peninsula in Chiba prefecture near Tokyo on Monday.

All Nippon Airways has grounded flights to and from Hachijo Island south of Tokyo, which is experiencing heavy rains and strong winds. JR East, a major rail company, has suspended some services in Chiba, home to Narita Airport.

Japan's Meteorological Agency has warned Dujuan could bring record rainfall through Tuesday and urged residents in coastal areas to stay alert for landslides.

Rainfall could reach up to 350mm in the Tokai region, 300mm in the Kanto and Izu Islands, and 200mm in Tohoku, the agency said.

It also warned that the typhoon could cause severe flooding in low-lying areas.

Dujuan, which is Japan's 25th typhoon of the year, has hit in the midst of a five-day holiday and forced the cancellation of several events.

Concerts scheduled for Monday at the Rock in Japan music festival have been cancelled, while the Tokyo Game Show, a video game convention, has also cancelled Monday's programme.

Organisers of the Asian Games, which are underway in central Japan's Aichi prefecture and in the city of Nagoya, have said typhoon-related concerns have put people off attending the games' opening ceremony on Sunday.

Parts of the 30,000-seat stadium were visibly empty during the ceremony.

Sister of Pakistan's ex-PM Imran Khan arrested

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm36l2pye2kwo, today

The sister of Pakistan's imprisoned former prime minister, Imran Khan, has been arrested ahead of next week's protests held in his support, his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has said.

Aleema Khanum was detained in the eastern city of Lahore on Sunday afternoon, PTI officials said, calling it an "illegal detention". Her son is demanding her return.

The order for Khanum's arrest, which came from Lahore's deputy commissioner, alleged that she was mobilising Imran Khan's supporters "through social media and public meetings". It added that she will be detained for 30 days.

Khanum is a vocal critic of her brother's detention, regularly speaking to his supporters and the media.

A police official confirmed Khanum's arrest to the BBC. According to the order, she will be taken to Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore.

Earlier in the day, her family said they had had "no contact or news of her whereabouts".

"We demand the government immediately disclose her whereabouts and ensure her safe return," Khanum's son Shahrez Khan wrote on X.

Many have linked her arrest to the protests that have been organised across the country on 27 September, when demonstrators plan to march to the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

The arrest order said Khanum had been mobilising people to "create law and order situations" and "raising/chanting objectionable slogans amongst the general public against the Government."

Streets in Islamabad are already lined with shipping containers, ready to safeguard the city's government buildings.

Local media has reported Pakistan's interior minister as saying that the protests harm the country and that the government will do everything they can to stop them.

Khan has been detained since 2023, when he was sentenced to three years in prison for not declaring money earned from selling gifts he had received while in office.

He has faced charges in over 100 cases, ranging from leaking state secrets to selling state gifts - all of which he has decried as politically motivated.

Last year, the cricket star-turned-politician was jailed for 14 years in a land corruption case - the longest sentence he has received.

While in prison, his health has being deteriorating, and last month Khan had to visit a hospital for an examination.

Shark attack prompts rare kill order in Western Australia as victim named

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqwyzdnk442lo, yesterday

A rare catch-and-kill order has been issued for a great white shark off the coast of Western Australia after 63-year-old swimmer Greg O'Neill was killed at a popular beach on Friday. His body has still not been found.

Authorities have said that beaches along the state's coast, including in the capital Perth, will remain closed until at least Sunday as the search for the shark continues.

It is the second shark attack in Western Australia (WA) this week, and the third fatal attack in the state this year.

The incident, at Sorrento Beach in Perth's north, has reignited debate about how to keep beachgoers safe in Australia.

In a statement, Greg O'Neill's family said they were "deeply shocked and devastated by the terrible tragedy."

"Greg loved the ocean and was known as a passionate swimmer, sports lover, dedicated worker and an all-round generous, witty guy."

On Saturday, his family visited the scene, where locals have been laying flowers.

Witness Jacqui Rapaic told the ABC that two men were swimming, but only one made it back to shore, and that she could see "a pool of blood" in the water.

Another witness told WAtoday that she saw the man being "mauled" as the shark "tossed him around like a fish". Members of the public reported seeing a 2.5m-long (8ft 2in) shark at around the same time.

Joondalup authorities, where Sorrento is located, said all beaches were closed "as a precautionary measure" and would remain so until at least midday on Sunday.

Pictures on Saturday showed the coastline being patrolled by a police boat and helicopter.

Catch-and-kill orders are rare and controversial in Australia, where great white sharks are a protected species.

WA Fisheries Minister Jackie Jarvis said that she took the "extraordinary step" of issuing the order after the shark was spotted by water police on Saturday morning, and "positively identified as the shark involved in the incident".

The minister said she authorised fisheries officers to "destroy the shark" if it could be captured because of the "exceptional circumstances" of the attack and the "hazard posed by the shark".

It is believed to be the first time in 10 years that such an order had been issued in WA, Jarvis added, emphasising that the order was not a widespread cull as the state has seen in the past.

The minister also said that the use of drones and tagging would be increased to help protect beachgoers.

Catching and killing sharks has a long and controversial history in Western Australia - there were months of huge protests in 2014 when the state government authorised a cull after a spate of attacks.

The incident in Sorrento is the second in WA this week - on Monday a 56-year-old man was bitten while surfing off the coast of Geraldton, 430km (270 miles) north of Perth. He survived but lost part of his leg, another surfer who rescued him told the ABC.

There have been five fatal shark attacks in Australia this year.

A 12-year-old boy died after he was bitten in Sydney Harbour in January, and three divers were fatally mauled in separate incidents between May and June - two in Western Australia and the third in Queensland.

Hyrox athlete apologises for continuing race after soiling herself

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ck0e35qyqlx0o, 4 days ago

An Australian athlete who faced criticism for continuing to compete in a Hyrox event after soiling herself has apologised and said she will retroactively withdraw from the race.

Joanna Wietrzyk offered her "sincere apology" for the incident during the indoor fitness competition in Beijing on Saturday, saying she should have "made a different choice" and exited the event.

Footage of Wietrzyk competing after soiling herself raised concerns about hygiene, leading Hyrox co-founder Moritz Fürste to apologise for the handling of the situation.

In a statement shared on Thursday, Wietrzyk said: "I know my actions had an impact beyond myself, and I am genuinely sorry to everyone who was affected."

After the backlash, Wietrzyk, who won the race in Beijing, said she would forfeit her win.

Wietrzyk said in a social media post: "I want to offer my sincere apology to the people of China, my fellow competitors, the spectators and the HYROX organizers for what happened during the race in Beijing."

She wrote in a social media post that she was "completely fit and healthy" at the start of the race, and had "no reason" to expect any illness.

"Looking back, I regret the decision to not have stepped off the track. I recognize that I should have made a different choice. I take responsibility for my decision to continue and am deeply sorry for the discomfort and disruption it caused," Wietrzyk continued.

Hyrox insisted it had "clear biocontaminant and medical procedures in place".

It said "an unforeseen situation arose" during which protocols became blurred, "creating ambiguity in how they were applied and understood".

In a statement posted on Instagram, Fürste committed to "improving event processes" to "prevent situations like this from happening again".

After Wietrzyk's identity was shared online, Hyrox said anyone sending abuse or threats to the athlete would be banned from any future events.

It said on Monday: "There is no place in our community for threats of violence or encouragement to harm an athlete."

In each Hyrox race, participants alternate between running a kilometre and doing fitness exercises, including a sled push, burpee jumps, indoor rowing, and lunges while carrying a sandbag.

The competition has exploded in popularity since it was founded in 2017 in Hamburg, Germany, and is now held across the world. The sport debuted in mainland China in late 2024.

Some have questioned why those officiating the competition in Beijing last weekend did not intervene when the athlete soiled herself, given that Hyrox penalises acts including "spitting, nostril clearing, littering, and water abuse".

American football is coming to Australia - can it succeed?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crerv93pv9yo, 11 days ago

An oval ball, in September, in Melbourne usually means just one thing - the business end of the Australian rules football (AFL) season.

But on Friday, at the unsportingly early time of 7am, 100,000 people will begin filing into the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for a very un-Australian sporting spectacle - American football.

The LA Rams take on the San Francisco 49ers in their opening National Football League (NFL) fixture, the first time the country has hosted a meaningful, non-exhibition regular season game.

The match sold out months ago, with more than half the crowd expected to be people living outside the state of Victoria. On the official ticket resale site, a restricted view seat is priced at more than A$650 (£350/US$470).

"Walking down the street, it's AFL finals week and you wouldn't even know," says Thomas McMillan, host of the NFL podcast Any Given Sunday Australia.

"It's all NFL everywhere. There are bars that are nothing but 49ers bars or Rams bars. We have a Ram Tram getting around the district. When you're in Melbourne and AFL isn't visible, it shows how big this is at the moment."

Kickoff at 10.35am local time on Friday may not be typical for local fans, but meets the demands of prime time US television schedules and their advertisers.

The league held its first international match in 2007, and over the past two decades the overseas matches have become a long-term strategy to attract supporters and their dollars.

Nine games outside the US are scheduled for the upcoming season, including three in London. But Melbourne is the furthest that players and US-based fans will have to travel.

"Obviously there are question marks when you hear you are playing in Australia," 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey told a press conference this week.

"But it has been so cool… the food's incredible, the coffee's great."

That caffeine reference was perhaps as much to the time zone, as nod to the city's famous café culture.

Melbourne is a mind-warping 17 hours ahead of California where both teams are based, and much of the pre-match attention has been on the two teams and their contrasting approaches to trying to "beat" the jet lag.

For the 49ers, who arrived late last week, their players have had time to get over the long journey, adjust to the time zone, acclimatise and practice at a nearby stadium.

Controversially, the LA Rams are taking things to the other extreme, planning to arrive on Thursday morning local time on a chartered Qantas A380 superjumbo, play on Friday, and get back to the US west coast shortly afterwards, in theory to prepare for their next match with minimum disruption to the player's body clocks.

"Definitely it's a gamble," says McMillan. "If they don't quite get things right after the 16-hour flight, you still might have that jet lag, even though you're trying to avoid it."

"And not everyone can sleep on planes," says his co-host Danny Webb. "Whether you're in first class, business class, whatever it is, you're still on a plane."

"And", adds McMillan: "And they're six foot six most of them, so it's going to be even tighter seats".

Despite it technically being a "home" game for the Rams, who bid for NFL marketing rights in Australia under the leagues Global Markets programme, this all means it is the San Francisco 49ers that have more of a presence around Melbourne this week.

And while most practice sessions have been behind closed doors, there have been player appearances at a rally for fans and an AFL match, while ex-stars turned up at that most Australian of traditions, the weekly fundraising "sausage sizzle" at the country's most high-profile hardware chain.

American sports journalist Dontay Atkinson predicts this fan engagement will be reflected inside the stadium and that the MCG will be "heavily red" (the 49ers colour), accusing the Rams of doing "exactly jack squat to sell the NFL brand or connect with Australians".

Writing on X he added: "Fly in, fly out, no contact. I'm sure the Aussies feel great about that snub."

McMillan says he can understand the approach by the Rams, who are seen as contenders for the 2027 Superbowl.

"They're looking at this as a game they need to win," he says.

"We do feel a bit snubbed, and feel the 49ers are doing the right thing,

"But it is their job, so that's where the Rams coaching staff has gone 'nah, we're taking this approach'.

"I just worry that they have missed the boat of ingraining themselves as the Australian team. It leaves it open for others, and the 49ers have really jumped on that."

The LA Rams insist there has been no snub, though speaking to the BBC, the club's Head of International Stephanie Cheng dodged the question of whether she would have preferred her players to have been in town this week.

"It's really a culmination of more than four years of work," she said. "It's not just about game week. We have long term rights."

Cheng says the Rams are the only NFL team with a membership programme for Australian fans, and that it has sent coaches into schools and communities to promote "flag football" – the non-contact version of the sport which will feature in the LA 2028 Olympics.

She also points to regular earlier visits by star players including running back Kyren Williams in March. This week its cheerleaders have visited US military bases in Australia before coming to Melbourne, and the franchise has installed a 22-yard floating football field on Melbourne's Yarra River serving as a fan zone.

"From day one, when we've come to Australia, there's been incredible enthusiasm," Cheng said.

While no Australian players will be on the field on Friday, there are dozens playing US college football and a handful in the NFL.

Most are punters, kicking specialists tapped up after showing their prowess playing AFL or rugby league.

But it is the success of Jordan Mailata, an offensive left tackle with the Philadelphia Eagles, who in 2025 became the first Australian to play in, and win, a Superbowl that was a "major turning point in Australia's fandom of the NFL " says Webb.

"Seeing an Australian in what we'd called a skilled position and then winning a Superbowl. It doesn't get better than that".

Friday's game is the first of three matches in Melbourne to be held over four years, under a contract between the NFL and the state of Victoria.

The league's preference, says Gerrit Meier, managing director and head of NFL International, is to have annual games in Australia similar, to the way the game has grown in the UK.

"We're working off the hypothesis that we need to make a commitment to a market," he told Reuters.

And while many US-based supporters are not fans of the international fixtures, these games are here to stay, says Webb, and the hype and the sell-out crowd in Australia augurs well for it to become a long-term fixture,

"I had mates four years ago asking why are you doing an NFL podcast? It's not a big sport here," he said.

"And now every single one of those mates are asking me for tickets for the game."

Swimmer killed in shark attack off Australian west coast

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmvgyjl8055qo, 3 days ago

A swimmer has been killed in a shark attack at a beach in Perth, on the west coast of Australia, police have said.

Emergency crews were called to a "shark-related incident" at Sorrento Beach at around 10.15 local time on Friday.

Police said an extensive search of the area was carried out by authorities in helicopters and on boats but did not say whether a body had been found.

One witness described seeing a man being pulled under the water by a shark, just 50 metres off the shore, while another said they saw a "pool of blood" in the water, according to local media.

One witness told local outlet WAtoday that she saw the man being "mauled" as the shark "tossed him around like a fish".

"I'm a nurse, so I mean I obviously see a lot of gruesome stuff, but to see somebody being mauled to death in the water in front of me is pretty hard to clock," she told WAtoday.

"I only live just down the road, and I swim every day. I mean, there's no way I'm going to be getting in that water again."

Another witness said she was walking along the beach with a friend when the attack happened.

"I looked out to the ocean and I could see a pool of blood," Jacqui Rapaic told national broadcaster ABC.

She said she believed two people had been swimming, but only one had made it back to shore.

Members of the public had reported seeing a 2.5-metre-long shark at around the same time.

The beach remains closed to the public and authorities have asked the public to avoid the area.

There have been multiple fatal shark attacks in Australia over the past year, including on a 12-year-old boy in Sydney in January.

International students, 'visa hoppers' and backpackers targeted in Australia migration crackdown

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm986j81ky55o, 4 days ago

International students, so-called "visa hoppers" and backpackers will be targeted under stricter rules announced by Australia on Thursday in a bid to curb immigration.

Foreign students will no longer be able to bring their families with them and those who want to extend their stay must choose a higher qualification.

Rules will also be stricter for working holiday visas - commonly used by backpackers and a crucial labour source for the agricultural sector - with a ballot system although these changes will not affect the UK.

The new rules were revealed by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke who said that while immigration was a "strength" of Australia, there needed to be a "high level of control".

For international student and graduate visas, Burke said: "We will no longer be adding to the stock of students automatically being able to bring family members over."

There would be exemptions for foreign students already in Australia as well as applicants from the Pacific and South East Asian countries, he said.

PhD students would also be able to bring their families as they were in different life circumstances to undergraduates, Burke said.

In a speech titled "The work of managing the migration program: who arrives, who stays, who leaves", Burke revealed a raft of changes as the government aims to bring net overseas migration to 225,000 people by 2028.

On student visas, he said the government would clamp down on "visa hopping" - where a student finishes a course, then applies to do another course which is often a lower qualification and sometimes with a "not so legitimate provider".

Students who want to go "up the scale" will be allowed, Burke said, for example, if a student finishes a bachelor's degree and then wants to complete a masters.

He also announced major changes to working holiday visas for those aged 18 to 30 years old who can work in Australia for 12 months, but can extend for a second and third year.

Currently, these visa holders must work for three months in regional Australia during their first year to qualify for a second year, and then six months to qualify for a third year.

Under the new changes, those who qualify for a second year will have to go into a ballot with a cap of 45,000, down from the 57,000 who qualified last year.

For the third year, the ballot will be limited to 5,000, down from 31,000 who qualified last year. British working holidaymakers will not be affected by these changes due to the UK's free trade agreement with Australia.

New figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday showed Australia's population grew 1.4% in the 12 months to March 2026 to 27.9m.

That total figure included births and deaths as well as a net overseas migration of 292,100.

Migration remains a major political issue as debate around Australia's population grows amid rising living costs, housing affordability and increased strain on public services.

One Nation, a populist right-wing party known for its anti-immigration stance and which has seen a surge in support in recent months, detailed its migration policy earlier this week, proposing to cut temporary migrant visas by 750,000 over three years.

The party, which won its first lower house seat in May, also wants to cap net overseas immigration to 130,000, drawing a rebuke from Burke who said such a proposal would risk "smashing parts of the Australian economy".

In July, the government introduced a policy to prioritise applications for family visas lodged onshore - where the applicant is in the country already - over those submitted overseas.

Skilled migrants already in Australia who applied for permanent visas were also prioritised over those applying from overseas.

It also paused applications for working holiday visas from 24 countries, not including the UK.

Violet Roumeliotis, from Settlement Services International which helps new arrivals to Australia, says the migration debate was increasingly driven by "short-term politics rather than what is best for the country".

"The proposed changes to family visas for international students is a good example of this," she said, adding that it would make it harder for Australia to compete for "future talent".

Man, 82, dies after beach fight with 76-year-old over sunlounger in Greece

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqm27pnyd294o, today

An 82-year-old man has died after getting into a fight with a man in his 70s over a sunlounger on a beach in Greece, local media is reporting.

Witnesses say a disagreement over the use of the loungers at Vouliagmeni beach, near Athens, escalated into a violent fight, which then further spiralled to involve other people.

One eyewitness told the Kathimerini newspaper that the scene was so chaotic, the screaming could be heard from the other end of the beach.

The younger man, who was 76, has reportedly been arrested. A 21-year-old woman who was with him was also detained but later released. Witnesses told Ta Nea daily newspaper that she had a bloodied and swollen face.

During the fight, the 82-year-old collapsed. According to various reports, he received CPR and a defibrillator was used on him before an ambulance arrived. The man was taken to hospital where he later died.

Another witness said that the victim seemed to be waiting for other people and had reserved a sunlounger, which appeared to be the cause of the initial disagreement.

Authorities are investigating what led to the physical altercation and what caused the man's death.

Largest attack on Moscow sees Ukraine fire hundreds of drones, mayor says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c34gdjk1ne8yo, today

Ukraine has fired its largest drone attack on the Moscow region, the mayor has said, hitting the city's main oil refinery and a residential building.

Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 450 drones heading for the capital had been shot down in what he called "the most massive" attack. The region's governor said at least two people were killed and 20 injured.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed Kyiv had hit a "key" Russian oil facility and a logistics site in the region with drones and missiles, representing "billions of dollars that sustain the war machine".

Ukrainian officials meanwhile said nine people, including three children, had been killed in Russian attacks in the Kyiv and Sumy regions on Saturday.

Russia and Ukraine have recently intensified their strikes, targeting energy-generating and transport facilities, as well as major logistics hubs.

A 44-year-old woman was killed in Sofyino on Sunday after a drone hit a three-storey residential building, regional head Andrei Vorobyev said. Another five people - including two children - were injured.

An elderly man died after a private house was hit in the Orekhovo-Zuevo district, Governor Andrei Vorobyev added.

Videos verified by the BBC on social media show explosions in the night skies above Moscow, and a burning warehouse.

Mayor Sobyanin said a drone had struck a building near one of the capital's boulevards and the oil refinery - where Ukrainian military officials said three key units had been damaged.

The site supplies more than a third of the Moscow region's fuel, according to the defence ministry in Kyiv, and some of its petrol, diesel and aviation fuel go to Russia's military.

Ukraine's defence minister said attacking such facilities "directly undermines the enemy's ability to continue its war of aggression and supply its military formations".

Sobyanin said the major attack was "an attempt to disrupt" Russia's parliamentary election, which was in its third day on Sunday. The vote is tightly controlled by the Kremlin and has been dismissed by critics as neither free, fair nor transparent.

Russian state media reported that an election official was one of two people killed by a drone attack on a bus in a Moscow-controlled part of Kherson in Ukraine on Sunday, citing the head of Russia's election commission.

Meanwhile, Moscow's biggest airport Sheremetyevo warned passengers "temporary restrictions" were in place overnight, while at the capital's Vnukovo airport all arrivals and departures were halted. Restrictions at both airports were lifted by Sunday morning but each warned some flights may still be delayed.

It comes after a mother and her two small children, a boy and a girl, were killed in a Russian attack in the city of Fastiv, Kyiv on Saturday, according to regional head Tymur Tkachenko.

He later said a child injured in a separate attack in Vyshhorod, north of Kyiv, had also died in hospital.

In the north-eastern Sumy region, four people were killed when a Russian drone hit the car they were travelling in, top local official Oleh Hryhorov said.

Russia also struck a monastery in the Kherson region with a drone on Saturday, Zelensky said, killing one member of the clergy and injuring four others.

Both Russia and Ukraine have continued to hit energy infrastructure targets in the past week, despite US President Donald Trump claiming on social media that the two sides had agreed not to do so.

Trump signed a sanctions bill on Friday that targets Russia's economy by implementing tariffs on the biggest buyers of the country's oil and gas which include China and India.

The US legislation gives the US president powers to impose 100% tariffs on major purchasers of Russian energy.

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Russian hybrid attacks against Europe intensifying, says Macron

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2dw1w9d3yjo, 3 days ago

French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that the threat of hybrid attacks by Russia against Europe and France has intensified.

In a news conference at the Elysee Palace, Macron said he had ordered a plan to protect critical infrastructure and defence industry sites in the face of this threat.

He said France had been targeted by Russian hybrid attacks in the past few weeks which would not be left "without a response".

A growing number of European leaders have warned that Russia may be preparing attacks to test their commitment to supporting Ukraine.

Hybrid warfare or hybrid attacks are loose terms which tend to describe non-military methods, for example cyberattacks, sabotage or misinformation, designed to exert pressure and destabilise an adversary.

These are quite often employed using proxies, but Russia always denies involvement in such attacks despite growing evidence to the contrary.

The French president was speaking to journalists after meeting party leaders to discuss the security impact of the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.

Macron mentioned last month's drone attack on Leipzig airport in Germany, blamed on Russia, and remarks by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk suggesting Russia was planning drone and missile strikes against Poland and other countries on Nato's eastern flank.

"In recent weeks, the Russian hybrid threat against Europeans and against France has intensified," he said.

"The intent is to intimidate us and break our effort to support Ukraine. The result will be the exact opposite. We are not intimidated because we know that our security today and tomorrow is at stake in Ukraine."

On Thursday Tusk told Polish MPs that Russian plans included strikes by drones and missiles on countries supporting Ukraine. He said there was a "real risk" of such strikes on the territory of Nato countries, with Moscow then claiming that they were "accidental", in an attempt to split the alliance.

Last Sunday, a Russian drone hit a passenger train near the Ukraine-Poland border shortly after former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and top European security officials had passed through along the same line.

Ukraine said all the passengers had been evacuated just minutes before the strike at Yahodyn, which hit the train's engine.

There have also been a number of suspicious fires at defence facilities from Italy to Estonia, with some of the affected countries blaming Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said Russia does not plan to attack Europe, but Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned European nations against sending troops to Ukraine, which would be seen by Russia as a declaration of war.

"If Europe attacks Russia, it will be a completely different war, and it will be very short," he said.

Meanwhile on Friday, Russia reiterated its warning to the UK that any British military facilities in Ukraine used to strike Russian territory were "legitimate targets".

It reserved the right to take "necessary counter-measures" in response to the UK's "fiercely confrontational stance regarding Ukraine", referring to its supply of drones and other weapon systems to Kyiv.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Macron also addressed the energy situation, saying that the government had been tasked with protecting critical infrastructure and the "most sensitive" defence industry and technology sites against drone and cyberattacks.

He announced that France would call a meeting of the G7 to discuss energy and raise the question of gas stocks with the European Commission.

"In the coming weeks, we will have a G7 meeting devoted to these energy issues, both to strengthen cooperation and to avoid unnecessary tensions between the G7 countries and our main partners," Macron said.

"It will also be an opportunity to consider options for a possible release or unlocking of strategic reserves."

In a domestic context, he called on candidates in next year's elections not to exploit public unease by blaming the government, but to acknowledge that fuel price inflation was the result of uncontrollable international circumstances.

The hard-right opposition National Rally candidate Marine le Pen is currently leading the polls for the April-May vote to replace Macron.

Shots heard as police start moving migrants from Ceuta beaches

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6vgy80ge1z7o, 3 days ago

Police have begun moving hundreds of migrants in Ceuta to a new tented site in the port area of the Spanish territory in north Africa.

Officers struggled to contain crowds of people jostling to secure a place at the site after weeks of living on the beaches. Shots could be heard, with reports that police fired into the air.

Several hundred migrants have now reached the camp, which has a capacity for 1,700 people.

Most of the 72,000 migrants who breached the border from Morocco in July have returned. Ceuta's authorities have estimated that 13,000 remain in the enclave, but the Spanish central government has said it is lower.

The operation began at about 07:00 local time (05:00 GMT) on Friday, with more than 3,000 migrants being transferred, according to the Spanish government-owned news agency Efe.

During the process, some migrants broke through the cordon along the designated 2km (1.2 mile) route to the port. Video shows young men running in the darkness as police tried to maintain control.

More than 170 police officers have been deployed, including drone technicians, Efe reported. It added that the situation was later "brought under control quickly", and the operation was able to continue.

The operation is part of the government's attempt to concentrate the migrants in facilities where they can be identified and cared for while their administrative status is individually determined.

The chaotic scenes will do little to dampen opposition criticism in Spain of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who has faced strong criticism over his handling of the crisis.

Since the migrant influx, residents of the 18.5 sq km (7.2 sq miles) territory have expressed safety concerns. Some have destroyed shelters and blocked aid being supplied to the migrants.

Ceuta's Mayor Juan Jesus Vivas told lawmakers in the European Parliament earlier this month that the migrants had turned Ceuta into a "pressure cooker".

"The city is completely different than it was before this event, Ceutans have lost their joy and their lifestyles have been completely shaken up," the conservative mayor said.

The opposition also accused Sánchez of knowing about the influx of migrants in advance. Sánchez has insisted that it was impossible to predict, but according to government documents, its intelligence services had warned of social media calls for a mass migrant crossing into Ceuta the day before the events happened.

Ester Muñoz of the conservative People's Party said the government was "directly responsible for the invasion of Ceuta and for those who died".

Sanchez has blamed trafficking gangs and has also said the crisis was sparked by hoaxes and rumours spread by social media.

Ceuta was "a humanitarian crisis and also an administrative challenge within the city itself", the prime minister said.

The incident has also created diplomatic headaches for Sánchez.

The prime minister is at odds with Italy, with the two countries earlier this week extending temporary border controls imposed on each other. He is also trying to maintain his bilateral relationship with Morocco.

The influx of migrants in late July came after Spain's Supreme Court ruled that migrants stopped at sea while trying to reach Ceuta cannot be summarily returned to Morocco.

After the ruling, some social media accounts spread misinformation and offered to help migrants cross the Spanish border for hundreds of pounds.

Thousands of people then flooded across the border fence and swam around the ocean barriers. At least 100 people died during the crossing, according to local authorities.

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary apologises over 'high-fare rapists' remarks

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm1j4kj57k08o, 3 days ago

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary has said he is "truly sorry" for describing rival airlines as "high-fare rapists".

He had previously refused to apologise to a rape crisis centre which criticised him for the comments.

O'Leary had made the remark earlier this month while talking to journalists ahead of Ryanair's yearly meeting with shareholders.

Following the comments, the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) wrote to him asking for an apology, in a letter seen by the BBC.

O'Leary had originally said that some people were "desperate to get to Ryanair's low fares because they can't afford to fly with the high-fare rapists around Europe".

He subsequently defended his choice of words when asked by a reporter from the Press Association whether the language was appropriate.

"British Airways, Lufthansa, and everybody else's high fares, I'll happily offend them on a regular basis," he had added.

Asked whether it would offend sexual assault victims, he said rape was "a terrible crime".

In a video posted on Friday, O'Leary said that, over the last ten days, he had had "conversations with family and friends, both inside and outside Ryanair".

"I have come to realise however that the word that I used so carelessly has caused considerable upset and offence to a wide number of people, especially to victims and survivors.

"I want to apologise, sincerely and unreservedly, to those people, especially to the survivors."

O'Leary described his choice of language as "careless", and said "it won't happen again".

"I will try to learn from this mistake, and do better in future."

Following O'Leary's first comments, the DRCC's chief executive Rachel Morrogh had written to O'Leary accusing him of trying to get a headline with his comments.

She said the DRCC had received calls from rape victims who were "upset and distressed because of what you said".

She offered O'Leary training on the impact of sexual violence and urged him to apologise.

"I can't imagine you would ever use the term so flippantly again if you truly understood [what] it was like to survive rape," she wrote.

In response, O'Leary had said: "I am quite clear that no remarks of mine could possibly trivialise the heinous crime of rape."

He added that as he had not "trivialised the heinous crime of rape" he would "not be issuing any apology or accepting your offer of training".

It was not the first time O'Leary had offended people while talking about his business.

In 2004, he reportedly called the owners of Stansted Airport "a bunch of overcharging rapists" in a row over airport charges.

He has also previously called some of his own staff "lazy bastards" and once said to passengers looking for a refund "we don't want to hear your sob stories".

In June, he said the airline would "reluctantly" stop charging parents to sit next to children after a watchdog investigation was opened, but insisted its previous policy complied with laws.

Swedish PM Kristersson resigns after election loss

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cxr50l3d762po, 4 days ago

Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has resigned after his ruling right-wing bloc was narrowly defeated by the centre-left opposition in the country's general election.

He made the announcement in a post on X on Thursday afternoon, after preliminary votes from Sunday's election showed about 50,000 votes separated the two blocs in the country of about 10 million people.

Opposition parties led by Magdalena Andersson of the Social Democrats look set to win 176 seats in the 349-seat Riksdag, Sweden's parliament.

Kristersson, a conservative, had been supported in government by the anti-immigration hard-right Sweden Democrats (SD), and had promised them cabinet jobs if he won the election.

His right-wing bloc looks set to win 173 seats in the Riksdag, according to data from the Swedish Election Authority.

The results will be subject to formal certification in the coming days and are expected to finalised this weekend.

In Sweden, there are two major political blocs - with four parties on the right and four on the left, so Swedes are used to coalition and minority governments.

After a prime minister resigns, the Speaker of the Riksdag holds talks with all parties to proposes a candidate for the next leader, which is then voted on by MPs.

"Now it is the speaker who will lead the next stage of the way to a new government. I am herewith requesting that I be relieved of the office of prime minister to allow that work to start immediately," Kristersson's statement read.

In a speech posted on Instagram, Andersson said: "The Swedish people have voted for a new direction for our country".

The Social Democrats have regularly led Swedish governments since World War Two and have been the country's dominant political force for much of the last century.

Its leader, Andersson, is expected to return to power after four years in opposition, and has initiated talks with the other opposition parties - The Left Party, The Centre Party and The Green Party - about forming a government.

But discussions could drag on due to major differences between the parties on issues such as taxes.

After the 2022 election in Sweden, it took 37 days to form a government, while in 2018 it took 134 days.

In his resignation, Kristersson said the opposition faced "complicated" conditions for forming the next government, "because the parties' various statements before election day could pose obstacles".

The right-wing bloc is formed of Kristersson's Moderates, as well as the SD, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals.

The SD were founded by Nazi sympathisers in the 1980s and were shunned for decades by the mainstream.

But the party has rebranded itself since the mid-2000s, culminating in a watershed moment in 2022 when it became Sweden's second-largest party on a campaign focused on issues around immigration and violent crime.

They had offered outside support to the current centre-right coalition, which had overseen a dramatic tightening of migration policy. Kristersson had promised to bring them into government if he remained at the helm.

But in a surprise upset for the party, it lost support for the first time since entering parliament in 2010 - down three percentage points on 2022.

A preliminary vote count started after voting closed on Sunday evening and continued into this week.

On Wednesday, election committees began counting early votes that were submitted late, as well as votes from abroad that did not arrive before election day.

War may be coming. Are we psychologically ready?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmn0jke547r5o, 2 days ago

If the UK suddenly found itself at war, would you know what to do? Do you know what would be expected of you?

The government wants us all to start preparing for severe disruption to our lives. It wants us to stockpile canned food and drinking water, strengthen our civic resilience, and plan for the possibility of war.

Work has begun on the government's so-called "war book", which hasn't been updated in decades.

The UK's most senior soldier has sounded the alarm. The Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Richard Knighton this week said the threat from Russia meant Britain was living through the "most dangerous" period of his 35-year career in the armed forces.

But what is the threat? In 1940 the danger of a German invasion of the UK was very real. But the chances of Russian tanks rolling up Whitehall are surely negligible.

"It's not the tanks you need to worry about," says historian Margaret MacMillan, author of War: How Conflict Shaped Us.

"It's the cutting of cables on the ocean floor. It's the hacking into systems on which so many things depend. The possibility for asymmetric war, for cyber war, is growing by leaps and bounds."

But are we ready? After 80 years without war on our own soil, are we, as a society, psychologically prepared for it? Are we ready to approve large increases in defence spending, and for the sacrifices that that might entail in other areas of our national life? Or does the threat seem too far-fetched to be real?

The Great War legacy

"I think we have become used to the idea that peace is the normal state of affairs, that it's going to last," says McMillan.

"So no, I don't think we are psychologically prepared… but I do think that we are beginning to recognise that war is something that is closer to us than we'd like to think".

Archive film footage showing Britons in 1913 enjoying days at the races or watching the cricket contrasts sharply with what followed during the horrors of World War One.

"In a sense it's now a bit like those Edwardian summers before 1914, when there was a lot of talk of war but the notion of actually going to war seemed so far-fetched as to be beyond belief and I think that's where we are at the moment," says retired British General Sir Richard Shirreff, a former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

Europe has not always been so war-averse. In 1914, recruitment stations were flooded with volunteers eager to serve their country. In Britain, that generation was raised on heroic tales of empire-building, in which war was one glorious cavalry charge, leading to swift victory and everyone home by Christmas.

But the experience of what came to be known as the Great War seared itself into the popular consciousness and survives in our collective imagination.

One in eight of the men who enlisted in the UK left their bones in the fields of Flanders and France, Mesopotamia and Gallipoli. The survivors carved their unspeakable grief into the landscape with the erection of thousands of war memorials. The pain of it touched every community in the land.

That conflict, says Margaret MacMillan, changed fundamentally the way Europe thought about war.

"The experience of the First World War showed just how dreadful modern war is… And the idea that war could be glamorous never really came back after that."

A crisis of disbelief

Europeans, and especially Western Europe's leadership elites, have succumbed to a decades-long "crisis of disbelief", argues Andrew Michta, a Polish-born American academic who is professor of strategic studies at the Hamilton School, University of Florida.

He argues that the UK, in common with many European nations, has very low levels of psychological preparedness, and that authorities are not being candid about the looming threats.

"The Germans have totally disarmed during the last 30 years. The UK is also largely disarmed and, most importantly, mentally. There is no readiness for what's happening because the policy elites are not addressing their publics in a way that would honestly state the gravity of the situation," Michta says.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, many European countries began a decades-long winding down of military preparedness, dramatically cutting defence spending, in the belief that the threat from Russia had disappeared.

Michta singles out Germany's heavy reliance on Russian energy via the Nord Stream gas pipelines - which transported huge quantities of gas from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea - in what he sees as the mistaken belief that Berlin could manage its relationship with Moscow via political and economic means.

"So you've lived through 20 years of appeasement in Europe driven by the elites' lack of willingness or courage… to articulate how the situation was changing and how rapidly."

General Sir Richard Shirreff argues that Russia's initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014 was the real turning point, the moment Russia revealed itself as a tenacious threat to western security.

"The reality is that Russia believes it's been at war with Nato since 2014. Not a conventional war, but a war designed to undermine the integrity of target states or alliances.

"I would never take the Russians for granted. It would not be beyond the realms of possibility for them to try to unhinge Nato by, for example, attempting to take over Spitsbergen [in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard] or something else indirect.

"So that's what we need to be prepared for".

Mounting calls for increases in defence spending are rooted in a belief that the best way to prevent a war is to be ready - psychologically and militarily - to fight one. Not everyone agrees.

The belief that we are under threat is key, says psychologist Jim Orford, professor emeritus of clinical and community psychology at the University of Birmingham. "It is what I call simplistic thinking. In order to contemplate the possibility of going to war we've got to think in simplistic terms. In terms of enemies and heroes. We've got to think of Russia as an enemy. The narratives are all simplified.

"Being [psychologically] prepared for war is the first stage. Contemplating war is the second phase and then actually engaging in war is the third. I think we're well into the 'contemplating war' phase."

Citizen engagement

This "crisis of disbelief", as Michta put it, is not evenly spread. The further east you go, the closer you get to the Russian border, the more alert a nation's people are to the threat, and the more psychologically prepared.

Sweden hasn't had a war in 200 years. It has pursued a policy of neutrality for centuries. But after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it abandoned that and has made itself, in a very short space of time, one of the most psychologically prepared countries in Europe.

"Russia is self-evidently dangerous", Sweden's outgoing Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told The Economist magazine last month.

"We don't know when it [the war in Ukraine] ends, but how it ends will define the security situation in our part of the world for at least a generation"

Sweden has a system of partial conscription, in which all school leavers must register for military service. The armed forces pick - and conscript - the best candidates. The conscripts then do up to 15 months compulsory training before going back into civilian life, in employment or higher education. At the same time, they become part of their country's large reserve force.

"There's a lot of citizen engagement," says Minna Alander, an analyst at the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies think tank. "It was almost an internet joke in 2022 and 2023 that everybody wished for a call up. Sometimes people get frustrated if they haven't been called up for a long time. It's an expectation for sure.

"Sweden has, for example, been identifying civil engineers with some relevant skills in, say, electricity supply who could be exercised in case of disruption. So Sweden can access this pool of civil engineers [who know] what they could do and how they could be activated."

When Kristersson was asked whether Russia should be seen as a potential aggressor even after the war in Ukraine is over he said, "Yes. We have a few hundred years experience of this… We know Russia pretty well."

The three Baltic Republics - Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia - also know Russia pretty well. They only regained their independence from Moscow in the 1990s. German troops invaded Lithuania in the 1940s and are now back on Lithuanian soil, this time by invitation, to bolster that country's defences against the threat from the east. A thousand British troops lead a multi-national force in Estonia for the same reason.

But it is to the Finns that much of Europe now looks for lessons in mass psychological preparedness and civic resilience.

Finland's approach to defence and security is also rooted in historical experience. Of the 100,000 Nordic citizens who died in the World War Two, 90% were from Finland. They died in the so-called Winter War of 1939-40 against the Soviet Union and also in the Continuation War that followed from 1941-44.

Finland today shares an 800-mile (1,287km) border with Russia. After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Finland also quickly abandoned its historic neutrality and joined Nato along with its neighbour Sweden.

Finland has universal male conscription, and some women also volunteer to serve. When their service is complete they then become part of Finland's reserve force. This has the effect of closing the gap between the professional military and the civilian population.

"If conscription is done well, it ties every single family into national security thinking. Your grandfather, your great-grandfather and your sons, they all go to the same military service," says the retired three-star General Arto Raty, a former permanent secretary of Finland's Ministry of Defence.

"We bind the whole of society into supporting the military. Every single hospital has its crisis tasking. Every water supply agency. And interestingly, the most publicly trusted organisations in Finland today are the military, the defence forces and the police. That is not the case in most countries."

The Finnish military also runs a series of courses annually for leaders of society - MPs, government ministers, the CEOs of private enterprises and public utilities, the health service, even NGOs and the churches.

"We train them in crisis management, so that they understand how society will work in a crisis. We've been doing it every year since 1960."

Finland, with a population of 5.5 million, has a professional defence force of 23,000. That compares to Britain's 70,000 from a population of 66 million. But it also has a trained reserve force of close to 1 million and can mobilise a reserve army of 280,000 at short notice.

In 2025, Finland spent 2.5% of its GDP on defence, comparable to the 2.3% spent by the UK the same year.

Should the rest of Europe go to the expense of following Finland's lead when the prospects of a conventional war with Russia seem vanishingly remote?

"An army of 70,000 is simply not going to cut the mustard in the sort of war we are going to have to face," says Gen Sir Richard Shirreff. "So I don't see how we could generate the military capability needed without some form of call-up."

He says the Norwegian model might be one that helps change the British mindset around war.

"There, every school leaver is registered for conscription… and they go and do a year's training after which they go on to university and when, later, they are competing for jobs, if they've got national service on their CV, they're seen as the best candidates… That's the sort of thing we should look at."

He adds: "The case has to be made honestly by political leaders who must really look the population in the eye and say 'this has got to be done for us to be secure'."

Lead image: Getty

CORRECTION 19 September: We have updated this article to say that Finns who died in World War Two died not just in the Winter War as originally stated but also in the Continuation War that followed.

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A four-minute warning isn't enough: Russia's new relentless missile tactics exhaust Kyiv residents

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwp93k9gpnv1o, 2 days ago

For much of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Daria was not afraid of the shelling.

Even on nights of heavy bombardment, the 27-year-old could sleep through the explosions in her apartment in Kyiv. Like many Ukrainians, she relied on the "two-wall rule": staying safe by keeping two walls between herself and the outside world.

But this year that has changed.

In recent months, Russia has scaled up the intensity and frequency of its attacks against the Ukrainian capital.

In the first 10 days of July alone, the Russians launched dozens of ballistic missiles in three major attacks, killing nearly 60 civilians, according to official figures. Similar large scale attacks took place in August and September.

A BBC Verify analysis of government figures found Kyiv is now suffering more daily air raid alerts than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

It was during an attack one night in May that Daria realised she no longer felt safe in her home.

She and her boyfriend were in the corridor of their ninth-floor apartment, watching a boxing match, as explosions went off around them, the blast waves causing the windows to repeatedly slam open and shut.

When the fight ended, "there was no longer anything to distract me," Daria says. "That's when I realised I was really scared."

At first, she thought she would start using a nearby bomb shelter during attacks.

But in June, when a young mother was killed running to a shelter in Kyiv, Daria decided she needed to leave the city altogether.

She returned to her family's country house, 30km (18.6 miles) away in Romankiv, and now spends a total of four hours a day commuting to and from Kyiv, where she works in the defence sector.

Daria's experience is far from unique.

Residents in Kyiv who say they had got used to Russia's missile and drone strikes have told the BBC World Service the renewed intensity of the attacks is making them rethink how they live their lives.

Previously, Ukraine's air-defence network and military intelligence gave residents a degree of predictability. Large-scale attacks could often be detected in advance, allowing people to spend the night in shelters, leave the city or take other precautions. But since the summer, Russia has changed its tactics.

It has relied less on aircraft, whose movements can be spotted ahead of time, and more on ballistic missiles that travel at tremendous speed and provide little warning. Air-raid alerts sometimes begin only moments before impact, or even simultaneously with the first explosions.

Daria can see her nearest shelter from the window of her apartment, which she still rents. Even so, it takes around 10 minutes to reach it. During a ballistic attack, she might have just four minutes' warning or less, she says.

She decided to leave Kyiv in June after holidaying abroad this summer and seeing people living "normal" lives. Since then, she has only spent one night in Kyiv.

Yet, for many, leaving is not an option.

Sixty-two-year-old Olha Vlasova lives on the seventh floor of a high-rise apartment block with her 98-year-old mother, Nadia Tsybina.

Despite her age, Nadia remains intensely engaged with the world.

From her bed she follows events in Ukraine and abroad, discussing everything from US President Donald Trump's policies, to anti-corruption protests in Kyiv, and the Epstein files.

She's also learned that she can often tell, simply by listening, whether a Russian missile or drone has been intercepted or has reached its target.

This summer, she says she has heard fewer interceptions.

"It's upsetting when there's nothing to shoot them down with," Nadia says. "I can hear them firing with whatever they've got, rifles, machine guns."

With Nadia confined to her bed, she and Olha cannot go to a shelter, however serious an attack is. Instead, as soon as an air-raid siren sounds, Olha covers her mother with a blanket, pushes a mattress into their window frame, and then hides in a wardrobe which puts two walls between her and outside.

Nadia places a pillow over her head to protect her face from flying glass.

Once in her wardrobe, Olha will often stay awake watching the news all night.

"They come in, they bomb us," Nadia says. "You haven't even had time to fall asleep, and there's another alert. They come again, they shoot them down again. And it goes on all night.

"People don't sleep, and then they walk around like zombies."

An increase in daytime attacks means life in Kyiv is now interrupted by air raid sirens day and night.

At the beginning of September, when children returned to school after the summer break, there were dozens of air raid alerts, followed by explosions and fires.

According to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, two children were injured in attacks on 31 August.

As a result, many children stayed at home, while others spent hours in the basements of schools and kindergartens.

When the sirens sound, it also affects businesses and transport. Shopping centres close and above-ground metro stations suspend operations, often severing public transport links between Kyiv's Left and Right Banks, on either side of the Dnieper River, for hours at a time.

New metro operating rules during air raid alerts are being introduced in an attempt to improve the situation.

For Olha, it has meant seeing less of her eight-year-old granddaughter, who lives on the other side of the city.

She knows if her granddaughter comes to visit, she risks struggling to return home. When metro services stop running, expensive cab journeys are Olha's only option. Crossing the river can cost as much as 1,000 hryvnias ($22, £16.6), she says, just under one-eighth of Ukraine's monthly minimum wage.

The experience has left her frustrated with what she sees as hesitation by some of Ukraine's foreign partners to provide additional air-defence missiles.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly appealed to allies for additional air-defence systems and interceptor missiles.

"They [Ukraine's allies] wait, thinking: 'What if we get attacked?'" Olha says. "It's like refusing to give medicine to a cancer patient because you're saying, 'What if I get sick one day?' Well, maybe you won't. Give it away before it expires."

In another part of the city, mother-of-two Natalia Bushkovska each night rehearses three different plans.

Plan A is to spread bedding in the hallway behind two interior walls; Plan B is to move the family into the building's shared corridor; and Plan C is to head for the basement.

Even there, she admits, she does not feel entirely safe.

"I keep a backpack with essential items," says Natalia, 37. "There's a tourniquet for severe bleeding. I also keep a whistle, just in case.

"If the worst happens, rescuers will be able to find us under the rubble."

Her nine-year-old daughter has her own emergency bag containing toys, lip balm and a tourniquet. Like her 12-year-old brother, she learned how to use a tourniquet through first-aid training.

Natalia says the constant attacks are exhausting.

While her son often sleeps through them, she and her daughter wake up almost every time.

"Because of the attacks, I don't get enough sleep," she says. "Now, in the fifth year of the war, I find it increasingly difficult to bounce back after nights like these."

The growing intensity of the strikes, she says, is taking a psychological toll across the city.

"People are exhausted. They don't have enough time to recover."

On Thursday 17 September, Russia launched a ballistic missile attack on Kyiv. According to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, 20 people were injured in the attack. Among the wounded were two children, aged 10 and 12.

Additional reporting by Janet Ball

Ukraine's postal workers deliver lifeline under Russian fire

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c33kmred368o, 6 days ago

Every morning Igor Smelyansky looks at a vast map of Ukraine on his office wall and decides where he should put his people in harm's way.

His aides provide him with live intelligence about Russian attacks and he deploys his teams, balancing their potential operational success against risk to life or limb.

But Smelyansky is no military commander. He is the head of Ukraine's state postal service, Ukrposhta.

And every day he must decide how far to send his postmen and women into the deadly "kill zone" along the front lines where the threat of drone attack is ever present.

"If it's too dangerous to go today, we won't go," Smelyansky told us. "We'll go tomorrow, or we'll go somewhere else. The key is to be as agile as you can."

Ukrposhta does more than just collect letters and parcels. It pays out pensions in hard cash, it takes payment for utility bills. And it delivers vital food and medicine to people on the margins of society.

As such, it offers a lifeline to millions of poor and elderly Ukrainians living in remote villages where shops are rare and trips to the city are expensive and dangerous. In a vast rural nation wracked by war, Ukrposhta is part of the glue that holds the country together.

That has made the service a target for Russia - which in recent months has stepped up not only its attacks on postmen and women but also sorting offices and logistical hubs. The Kremlin has claimed strikes like this are retaliation for Ukrainian attacks on Russian online retailers like Wildberries.

Speaking in his imposing Soviet-era office building that overlooks Kyiv's famous Maidan square, Smelyansky said: "If we don't go [to a village], we don't have basic supply. We don't have food. We don't have medicine. People will struggle. If we do go, they may delay a decision to evacuate from the areas they probably should have evacuated."

There are many risks. If a post van turns up unannounced, a crowd can form, creating a target for an opportunistic Russian drone operator. But if they call ahead, information could leak.

"Is it a danger?" Smelyansky said. "Absolutely. Because there are Russian sympathisers who can give them the location of the truck that's coming."

If Smelyansky chooses not to send a van in, he faces criticism. "You get messages from people from those villages: 'You betrayed us. You didn't come...' But if I go, I may risk the life of the driver."

Smelyansky says Russia is deliberately targeting his staff because of the vital role they play shoring up Ukraine's resilience, helping people stay alive in their homes through the fighting and bitter winters.

"It's not an accident, it's deliberate," he said. "By attacking Ukrposhta, you put pressure on people… who are depending on the truck coming in." Russia denies targeting civilians.

Since 2022, hundreds of Ukrposhta branches and vehicles have been hit, and more than 50 staff have lost their lives, either on the frontline or on their rounds, according to Ukrposhta.

We travelled with Kateryna Marynych, a 38-year-old postmistress, near Zaporizhzhia - a city not too far from the southern frontlines.

She lost her home and her husband during the full-scale invasion, and came to the area to rebuild her life. She ran the post office in the village of Lukasheve for two years until it was destroyed in March by a Russian drone, targeting soldiers working nearby.

After her van drew up, a steady queue of elderly folk formed. She sat in the front passenger seat, window open, handing out cash, taking payments.

One customer, Nadiia, said she was grateful: "It's a long way for us to travel to Zaporizhzhia. Especially now, at a time when there are attacks all around us. The fact that they come here is really nice."

Oleksandrivna, 77, arrived wearing a purple dressing gown, walking with a crutch. When I asked her where she would be without Kateryna, she replied: "We would be stuffed! I am just out of hospital after a stroke. Where could I go for my medicine?"

But Mykola, 64, pointed to another service the post office provides to a largely elderly population. "It is very important," he said. "It's one of the few joys of the month: you come out, have a chat with people, collect your pension, and go home."

For many people in remote communities, Kateryna can be their last link with the Ukrainian state.

She says she hopes her customers are proud of her. "They love me, they need me," she said. "They are waiting for me. Sometimes they call me, especially after attacks on Zaporizhzhia and ask me how I am. We are like a big family. My attitude towards them is like a grandmother or grandfather."

The attacks on Ukrposhta form part of Russia's wider escalation of its war on Ukraine, stepping up fast drone attacks on civilian infrastructure including business infrastructure, energy facilities, transport networks and border posts. Analysts say that as Russia's invasion stagnates on the battlefield in the east, it is looking for other ways of putting pressure on Kyiv.

For safety, Kateryna always travels with her partner, Slava, who drives. While she sorts the cash, he works from the back of the van, taking and receiving parcels, delivering food and water. He also carries a side-arm in a holster, for personal protection; these vans carry a lot of cash.

Both wear body armour when close to the front line. And they have an antenna in the van that shows them the location of the small first-person-view drones that render the frontline so deadly. They have seen drones from the car but luckily have not yet been hit.

She accepted her job was dangerous but would never change it. "It is my work," she said. "If I can't, who will do my job?"

Ukraine's defence comes in many forms - and it's not always delivered at the barrel of a gun.

Additional reporting by Mariana Matveichuk

Why a fresh wave of North Korean soldiers may fight in Russia's war in Ukraine

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgl7zrnxxy6o, 7 days ago

An enemy that swarmed the battlefield in large groups while under fire, seemingly oblivious to the dangers of drones and fire from automatic weapons. An elite corps of ghost soldiers who chose suicide over surrender. They fought and died in their thousands, then apparently vanished from the battlefield.

North Korea's soldiers were sent to fight by Pyongyang alongside Russian forces as they sought to repel a Ukrainian offensive on Moscow's territory at the end of 2024. They paid a heavy price, as many as 3,000 killed in action from the 13,000 deployed.

Ultimately, they would adapt their tactics, and with Russia would drive Ukrainian forces from its Kursk region. In combat terms, little has been heard of them since, but according to Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, North Korean forces, and their weaponry, are soon to make a dramatic return to Russia's war in Ukraine.

Last month, Zelensky warned that up to 50,000 North Koreans will be deployed in Russia, revising an earlier estimate of 30,000 troops. He called on South Korea to provide support for his country's air defence.

But why, after such heavy losses, would North Korea send more men to fight for Russia, and what happened to its soldiers sent in the first place?

"They're still there", said Dr Yang Uk, research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, Center for Foreign Policy and National Security in Seoul. "They are defending Russian territory for another counterattack from Ukraine. And we believe that some of the engineer corps or workers might be in [the Russian-occupied] Donbas area but that's not the combat troops."

The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, HUR, estimates that 8,500 North Korean servicemen are still on Russian territory. They are organised into four brigades, which operate as part of the "North" Group of Forces and are assigned to protecting the state border of the Russian Federation in the Kursk Region from Ukrainian incursions.

"They do not participate in active combat operations. Units of the Korean People's Army have not been observed in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine," HUR said in a statement to the BBC.

A first for North Korea

For North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, the Kursk deployment was a gamble, its largest combat force ever sent overseas. (In 1973, North Korea sent 1,500 military personnel and instructors to Egypt during the Yom Kippur war with Israel, and in the late 1960s, an estimated 87 North Korean pilots fought for the North Vietnamese against US forces).

And despite the bloodshed, it was a gamble that paid off, reaping countless benefits for the isolated and impoverished country, transforming both its economic and military fortunes. And one that could serve as a blueprint for even deeper military cooperation.

North Koreans, "now know what modern combat is about", said Yang.

The soldiers sent to fight in Russia were from Storm Corps, the elite of the North Korean armed forces. Extremely isolated, totalitarian North Korea is a militarised and heavily indoctrinated state.

At first, neither Russia, nor North Korea, even acknowledged their presence. Ukrainian forces first clashed with them in November 2024, and the first live North Korean prisoners of war wouldn't be captured until January of the following year.

It wasn't until April 2025 that Russia first acknowledged their role, when Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, described their "heroism" on the battlefield.

Yang continued, "North Korean soldiers are very brave I mean, especially those of Storm Corps. They are willing to die for their country. But the problem is that passion doesn't mean efficient combat skills... [They suffered] a lot of bloodshed in the early stage of the Kursk campaign, but they learned the lessons of modern drone warfare."

"Cannon fodder", is how "Sultan", a soldier with Ukraine's 95th Air Assault Brigade described North Korean troops. He faced them in the battle for Kursk at the end of 2024.

"They would begin with one large assault group, then another 15–20 men would be sent into the same position, and then more after that. The North Koreans operated differently. They kept moving all the time. That gave them a certain advantage, but not a decisive one," he recalled recently in Kyiv.

Communication between them and their Russian allies appeared poor, he said, and their soldiers were inadequately equipped.

After combat, Sultan and his men would search enemy corpses for documents and intelligence information. On the Russian dead they would find personal belongings, identification and equipment. "But when we searched the North Koreans specifically, the only thing we found on them was simply ammo. We checked absolutely all the small pockets - there were no documents, nothing at all," he explained.

Other Ukrainian soldiers reported the North Koreans lacked body armour, winter clothing and helmets.

In one chilling video from a Ukrainian assault, a wounded North Korean soldier lies prone on the snow-covered ground in a wooded area. As the Ukrainians approach, he detonates a grenade under his chin, after calling out, with his last words, the name of his leader, Kim Jong Un.

In April 2025, at a memorial service in Pyongyang at the newly created Museum of Foreign Military Operations, Kim praised heroes who choose suicide over capture.

In a speech to relatives, with Russia's Defence Minister Andrey Belousov in attendance, he said they were "heroes who unhesitatingly opted for self-blasting, suicide attack, in order to defend the great honour".

While North Korea has never officially acknowledged the death toll from the Kursk operation, a BBC Korea analysis of the memorial site estimated that 2,300 soldiers were killed fighting for Russia.

Ukraine's intelligence arm, HUR, puts the figure at 3,000 killed and 1,500 injured.

But aside from the combat experience, why did North Korea sacrifice so many of its best troops in a foreign war?

An economic windfall

The deployment has been a much-needed economic windfall for the country and a geopolitical win, according to Lim Soo-ho, a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy, in Seoul.

He estimates that arms sales to Russia and the troop deployment have netted the impoverished country close to $10bn.

"North Korea's annual GDP is estimated at around $30bn (£22bn)," he told me. "That means they earned a third of a year's GDP over two and a half years through weapons exports and troop deployment, which, for an economy as small as North Korea's, is a very significant effect."

In exchange for its manpower, North Korea gets food, oil and hard currency. While China says it complies with sanctions against Pyongyang, Russia does not.

But equally important, the cooperation with Russia has shifted North Korea's long-term dependency on China.

So in Beijing in September last year, Kim Jong Un was able to stand shoulder to shoulder with China's leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the first public meeting of all three. Not quite as an equal, but no longer reliant on China alone.

This is significant, said Lim, "It's a major geopolitical shift".

"Whenever things got difficult under isolation, North Korea would reach out first toward South Korea, Japan, or especially the US to try to normalise relations, that was the pattern of Korean Peninsula diplomacy. But now that ties with Russia have tightened, Kim Jong Un argues that the world is in a new Cold War, a multipolar system."

The arrangement with Russia, which began as economic and military expediency appears to be developing into something deeper and longer-term. At this year's 9th Party Congress of the Korean Workers' Party, Kim Jong Un was emboldened and spoke of accomplishments that his grandfather Kim Il Sung and father Kim Jong Il never achieved.

But dangers lie ahead. To date, no North Koreans have fought on Ukrainian or Russian-occupied Ukrainian land. If they did so, there would be diplomatic consequences, not least in South Korea, an ally of Ukraine, albeit one which so far has only provided "non-lethal" aid.

This is something that President Zelensky has emphasised as he presses for Seoul to provide advanced military hardware, including air defence systems. He said that since June, preparations have been underway in Russia's Voronezh region to receive fresh North Korean forces and claimed that Pyongyang was preparing to transfer additional ballistic weapons to Russia.

"Russia is helping North Korea learn modern warfare, improve its weapons, and gain real combat experience. This poses a threat to every country in Asia that lies within range of North Korean missiles," he said in a presidential address in July.

Only two North Korean soldiers were captured alive in battles with Ukrainian forces. That's a staggeringly low number, given that between 11,000 and 14,000 fought in the Kursk campaign. (Another was captured alive but died from combat-related injuries, according to the South Korean National Intelligence Service).

Like their comrades who choose suicide over capture, neither man intended to be taken alive.

"For Joseon (North Korean) soldiers, becoming a prisoner of war itself is a crime. That just isn't an option. We can't become POWs," one of the captured men told a South Korean MBC documentary crew who interviewed him in prison in Ukraine.

Baek Pyeong-gang, not his real name, lay wounded from a drone strike for four days before being captured. He was tricked into surrendering when he mistook Ukrainian soldiers for his Russian allies.

The second prisoner, Lee Kang-eun, also a pseudonym, told the journalist Kim Young-mi that he felt guilty he was still alive. Barely conscious, he was found by Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield with extensive injuries to the arm and jaw.

"I had no grenade or knives on me to self-blast (end my life)," he explained.

He described scores of his colleagues killed by drones, early in the war. The battlefield "reeked of the smell of blood", he said.

Neither man wants to return to North Korea, Lee said he believed that his family members would be "wiped out" as punishment for his capture. Both have said they want to be sent to South Korea, and Seoul is willing to take them.

Only Russia, not Pyongyang, has asked for their return.

But Ukraine, still intent on pressuring Seoul for military aid, has not committed to handing them over to South Korean authorities. Kyiv has said it will honour international human rights obligations which prevent the forced repatriation of prisoners of war.

Their fate remains undecided, but what appears certain is that more North Koreans will join Russia's war. Their service has enormous economic and political value to Pyongyang; but Russia desperately needs them too.

Four and a half years into Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it is facing a desperate manpower shortage. Western and Ukrainian intelligence agencies estimate that it is losing some 6,000 more troops a month than it can recruit. So, Moscow has been forced to turn to foreign fighters, from Colombia, Kenya, Cameroon and North Korea, to sustain its ranks.

For Russia and North Korea, it is a mutually beneficial relationship, a coalition at a price. Ultimately, North Korea will continue to send its soldiers to fight in Russia's war, but only for as long as it is profitable to do so.

Top image credit: Getty Images

Burnham hails Greenland deal ahead of expected first Trump meeting

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8207255rq5lo, today

Andy Burnham has hailed a deal between Denmark and the US to "strengthen security in the Arctic" after the two countries resolved a months-long feud over Greenland.

The UK prime minister and his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen "welcomed the US's commitment to the region" in a call on Sunday morning, Downing Street said.

Nato previously said the agreement would help stabilise the region, as Trump declared Denmark would grant the US "permanent control over security, and all other needs" in the semi-autonomous Danish territory in the Arctic.

Burnham's comments come as he is expected to meet Trump for the first time at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York this week.

The agreement comes after months of threats by Trump to "take" Greenland over national security concerns, citing its strategic location for defence purposes as well as its mineral wealth.

No text of the agreement has been released, but Trump said in a Truth Social post the deal came with "no cost to the United States" and meant it could "do what is necessary" to "secure and defend the security of Greenland".

He said it included a rule that no US adversary could maintain a military presence in Greenland or "make sensitive investments in Greenland, without our express written approval".

In a readout of Sunday's phone call, a No 10 spokesperson said Burnham and Frederiksen "welcomed the US's commitment to the region and underlined the strategic and shared importance of the High North for Euro-Atlantic security".

The spokesperson added: "The Prime Minister congratulated Prime Minister Frederiksen and the Kingdom of Denmark on negotiating a deal benefiting the US, Greenland and Denmark, and said he would pass on his congratulations to President Trump."

While Burnham praised the agreement, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey called it a "pretend" victory and a near carbon copy of the existing agreement.

"Donald Trump is trying to claim he's got a success in Greenland, but actually, all he's got is almost a carbon copy of the agreement that's persisted since the 1950s," he said at a Q&A with members at party conference.

"So let Donald Trump try to pretend he's had a victory. The truth is, Europe, Nato, countries like Canada stood up to him and won."

Trump had tried for months to purchase or annex the semi-autonomous territory, arguing that it was vulnerable to adversaries, including Russia and China.

In the wake of the deal, Frederiksen said she was "pleased that there is a prospect of a good agreement" for all three parties, which was expected to be signed at the UN General Assembly next week.

The agreement would still need to go through "the necessary parliamentary procedures to enter into force" once signed, the statement noted.

Burnham has spoken with Trump at least twice since entering Downing Street and No 10 said he intends to use the UNGA to "drive forward work on issues that matter to people at home" including the cost of living and the war in Ukraine.

German elections under way which could decide fate of Chancellor Merz

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cme8xj6g2ny7o, yesterday

Local elections are taking place in two German states on Sunday which could increase the political pressure on Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Opinion polls in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern suggest Merz's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is at risk of damaging defeats, which would raise further questions about the chancellor's future.

These latest elections come after the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party won a major victory in the state of Saxony-Anhalt two weeks ago, while the CDU saw its vote halved.

There has been speculation in Germany that Merz could be replaced as chancellor mid-term unless the CDU's political fortunes improve.

He has said he will carry on but is facing poor approval ratings amid rumours of a so-called chancellor swap, though his challengers are "still hesitating", writes German news site Tagesschau.

According to the polls, Merz's conservatives could lose power in Berlin as it tussles with Die Linke (The Left) over first place.

Meanwhile in the north-eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the CDU has only just been hovering above the 5% threshold needed for a party to enter the state parliament. It could spell their worst ever result in a state election.

How did it come to this after just 16 months in power? Friedrich Merz is having to answer for the tumbling popularity of his own party, while the political force that he aimed to counter - the AfD - continues its rise.

Some branches of the AfD are classed as right-wing extremist by domestic intelligence, a designation it strongly rejects.

But its anti-immigration, Russian-friendly, Germany-first agenda has found fertile ground in the country's former communist east.

The AfD is hoping to build on its recent landslide win in Saxony-Anhalt by topping the polls in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

However, the centre-left SPD has staged a late comeback to be in contention for the top spot through its lead candidate, Manuela Schwesig.

Currently the state premier, Schwesig is trying to sweep up the anti-AfD vote as she bills herself as the "Die Frau gegen Blau" - "Woman against Blue", the AfD's party colours.

But her local popularity belies the far poorer fortunes of her national party which is locked in a loveless coalition with Merz's CDU.

In a queue for a campaign event in the city of Neubrandenburg, AfD supporter Reinhart tells us that the traditional parties are being washed away.

"Not only in Germany. In Italy, in France, in Great Britain. Everywhere the traditional parties go down."

He smiles when asked what he thinks of Merz, saying: "Oh well everyone thinks the same about him.

"He is arrogant, out of touch, not on the same level as the general public."

Merz's backers argue that the chancellor has had a tough time with global events and that a lot of the problems the nation faces are ones he has inherited.

But whatever faith people had in his ability to fix those problems, it is apparently ebbing away - and, the brutal truth is, it can be hard to find voters who like him.

The former corporate lawyer's tack to the right on issues like immigration has failed to erode AfD support while also alienating people further to the left.

His blunt communication style has also caused irritation, such as his dismissal of "work-life balance", telling Germans they need to work more and take less sick leave.

Supporters would argue he is a man who is ready to administer the medicine the nation needs, even if people do not like the taste of it.

But the country's long-stuttering economy, high energy costs and fraught debates about immigration are feeding a sense of national gloom.

Earlier this week, the leaders of eight German states backed Merz and said restoring trust in the CDU lay in "listening and taking political action, not in debates over personnel".

But while no one within his party has openly challenged Merz for the top job, murmurings of discontent have grown louder.

Martin Rohloff, the CDU candidate for Neubrandenburg, thinks Merz does not have the "Fingerspitzengefühl, the feeling for the small persons".

"Maybe he wants the right things," muses Rohloff, but "he cannot communicate well".

Asked if Merz should go, he says it is not an easy question but: "If I have to answer yes or no, I would say yes. There are other people who maybe have better feelings for the public."

Merz has vowed to carry on as his coalition government aims to push through a package of economic, tax and welfare reforms that are finally due before parliament this autumn.

But Sunday's vote brings a danger for the chancellor - that he is already out of time.

The chancellor is reportedly due to meet senior party figures in Berlin on Sunday evening having already cancelled a planned trip next week to New York, in an apparent effort to contain the crisis.

A staunch backer of Ukraine, the fall of Friedrich Merz would trigger further instability in a continent already rocked by warnings of increased Russian aggression.

Aztec document goes on display in Mexico after 186 years abroad

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ck980qyy6d2zo, 4 days ago

A centuries-old document telling the story of the Aztec civilisation and its fall after the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in pictograms is going on display in Mexico for the first time in 186 years.

The manuscript, known as Codex Azcatitlán, has been held in France's Bibliothèque Nationale since 1898, but had already spent decades outside of Mexico before that.

It is thought to have been drawn in the 16th Century - a few years after the arrival of the conquistadors in what is now Mexico - and is widely considered one of the most valuable and insightful tellings of the history of the Aztecs.

France has lent Codex Azcatitlán to Mexico to mark 200 years of Franco-Mexican relations.

In return, Mexico has agreed to lend another priceless document, the Codex Boturini, to France for display there.

The pictograms in the Codex Boturini narrate the story of the migration of the Aztecs, also known as Mexica, from their ancestral homeland to the shores of Lake Texcoco, where they built Tenochtitlán.

The temporary exchange of the two codices was agreed by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and her French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, during a visit by the latter to Mexico last year.

Mexico has long lobbied for the return of historical artefacts taken from the country in past centuries.

According to Mexico's ministry of foreign relations, last year more than 2,000 objects were successfully repatriated.

The Codex Azcatitlán will be exhibited at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City from Thursday.

Colombia and Brazil deadliest countries for environmental activists, report says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6kgxjl35822o, 5 days ago

Colombia has again topped the list of countries with the highest number of killings of land and environmental activists, according to an annual report by campaign group Global Witness.

Out of at least 124 activists killed globally in 2025, 39 were murdered in Colombia, followed by Brazil with 26.

Global Witness says that 85% of the documented killings took place in Latin America, making it the deadliest region for every year since the group started publishing its reports in 2012.

Most of the killings were part of land disputes and in many cases they were carried out by hitmen or members of organised crime gangs, the report states.

Colombia has accounted for the highest number of murders of environmental activists for the past four years.

Almost half of those killed in the country were members of indigenous groups, while many of the remaining ones were small-scale farmers, Global Witness's report says.

Many indigenous groups in Colombia have created their own protection networks in the form of indigenous guards, which patrol their territory but are unarmed.

Members of indigenous guards are often targeted by illegal armed groups looking to expand their territory to plant coca - the raw material used to make cocaine - or to engage in illegal mining.

Last week, Jacob Guachetá Zambrano, who was part of the indigenous guard in Colombia's Cauca region, was found tortured and killed.

While the possible motive behind his murder is still under investigation and the search for the perpetrator is ongoing, indigenous leaders said that murders, threats and forced disappearances in the area were common as illegal armed groups battled for territory.

Global Witness warned that Brazil had seen a doubling of killings of environmental defenders in 2025 compared to 2024.

As in Colombia, in Brazil most of the cases the group documented were primarily driven by conflict over land, Global Witness's researchers found.

Outside of Latin America, 12% of the murders occurred in Asia, with Philippines top of the list with 12 documented murders.

The group warned that while globally the number of documented killings had gone down from 146 in 2024 to 128 in 2025, its numbers were probably an underestimate as many cases went unreported.

Millions without power as Cuba hit by latest major blackout

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6j9x4387lzxo, 2 days ago

Millions in Cuba were left without power on Friday as the country was plunged into yet another major blackout.

The country's entire electricity grid suffered "total disconnection" that triggered a nationwide outage, Cuba's energy ministry said.

Power was restored to some priority areas by late evening, including those near hospitals and water pumping stations in the capital Havana, grid operator UNE said.

It is at least the sixth partial or total blackout to hit Cuba this year, where ageing electricity infrastructure and chronic fuel shortages have been placed under further strain by a US blockade on oil shipments to the communist-run nation.

UNE said the outage started just before 14:00 local time on Friday (18:00 GMT) due to a transmission fault coupled with poor weather conditions in central Cuba.

Protocols to begin the "gradual restoration" of power were activated, the operator's national load dispatch director Felix Estrada said, with the process ongoing on Saturday.

Cuba relies heavily on fuel imports, meaning tight US sanctions and an oil blockade since the start of the year have exacerbated existing shortages.

Food and medicine have also become more scarce, with hospitals struggling to function normally and schools and government offices having to close.

"Lately, it's becoming a habit," Havana resident Frank Lorenzo told news agency Reuters on Friday.

"Before it happened less frequently - once a month… just yesterday we were 24 hours without electricity, they turned it on for just an hour and it went down again."

"It's one thing after another: no water, no gas for cooking, no electricity," 36-year-old schoolteacher Lidia Fernandez told news agency AFP. "Honestly, I don't know how we haven't gone crazy."

Francisco Rodriguez, 78, said his home had already gone without power for 28 hours on Friday and feared he would not have light "for several days".

The repeated blackouts have prompted rare protests in Cuba, where unauthorised demonstrations are illegal and those who defy the ban risk being jailed.

Havana has blamed its fuel crisis on the Trump administration and denounced all of its sanctions - including a new round announced in August - which are part of a wider pressure campaign against the Caribbean island's leadership.

Cuba's regional ally Venezuela was believed to have sent it around 35,000 barrels of oil a day - about half of its oil needs - until Venezuela's own supplies were cut off following the US seizure of its President Nicolás Maduro in January.

US President Donald Trump has threatened tariffs on countries shipping oil to Havana, and a number of such shipments have been seized by the US.

Washington meanwhile attributes Cuba's energy crisis to poor internal management and has accused it of posing a "national security threat". Trump has openly discussed toppling its leadership, including threatening a "friendly takeover" in March this year.

New wild cat species discovered - with only one known living member

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6x2zgv9rr4ro, 3 days ago

A spotted cat from the forests of Bolivia has been confirmed as a new species.

The small feline, about the size of a domestic moggy, went under the radar because it was confused with other wild cats that share similar spots and stripes.

But DNA studies show the cat is actually in a class of its own, highlighting how much remains unknown about some of the world's most elusive mammals.

Scientists hope the discovery will draw attention to the conservation of tiger cats, a group of small wild cats found in South and Central America that receives far less public attention than their larger cousins like lions, leopards and tigers.

Tiger cats are small, spotted wild cats found across Central and South America, from Costa Rica to Bolivia and Argentina.

They look remarkably similar and even experts can struggle to tell them apart.

"It's an amazing result that we have a new species for the world, which is the Leopardus tilcayo," said Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz of Universidad Mayor de San Andres in La Paz, Bolivia.

"It's amazing that there are still new species waiting to be discovered: we don't have to go to a volcano, an island, or deep into the sea."

Only one confirmed living member of the species is known - a cat in a rescue sanctuary in Bolivia - but scientists believe others exist.

It was this 10-year-old cat, nicknamed 'Tigrino', that set scientists on the path to discovery.

Bolivian scientist Dr Nogales-Ascarrunz was volunteering at the sanctuary when she noticed the cat looked unusual.

It had been found in the forest by a local resident, who initially thought it was a domestic kitten. As it grew older, however, it became clear that it did not behave like a house cat.

Dr Nogales-Ascarrunz had heard of other sightings of small wild cats in the dense forests of the country's Yungas region, but these had not been investigated by scientists.

To solve the mystery, she joined forces with other researchers from around the world to investigate the family history of tiger cats, using DNA from living animals and museum specimens.

"There's so few records or pictures, no individual in a museum, so it was hiding because nobody was looking," said Eduardo Eizirik, a conservation geneticist at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil.

The study, published in Current Biology, uncovered further surprises, suggesting there are five rather than three tiger cat species, including the newly described Tilcaya cat (Leopardus tilcayo) of Bolivia.

However, identifying the species is only the first step.

Co-researcher Dr Caroline Sartor, of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at the University of Oxford, said the discovery was important for conservation because it is impossible to protect a species if we don't know what it is or where it lives.

"These are animals similar in size to a domestic cat, so you might think we would know them all by now, but this discovery shows how much biodiversity is still to be uncovered in some of the less-studied regions of the world," she said.

Tiger cat species are considered vulnerable to extinction because of deforestation, habitat loss and illegal hunting, although the new species is missing from previous assessments.

The discovery could also have wider implications for the world's cat family.

Both wild and domestic cats belong to the biological family Felidae, which includes every living cat species from tiny house pets to massive tigers.

There are officially 41 species recognised but the new discovery, and the finding that there may be several species of tiger cat, brings the number to 44 or more.

Andrew Kitchener, an expert in mammals at National Museums, Scotland, who was not involved with the research, says the small spotted South American cats known as tiger cats have been a "taxonomic nightmare".

"These cats are confusing because they look so similar and there are few specimens in museums, so even now we are still learning how to tell them apart as genetics reveal more species," he said.

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Colombian ex-foreign minister charged over nanny's lie detector test

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c61580330nj1o, 6 days ago

Prosecutors in Colombia have accused former foreign minister Laura Sarabia of abusing her power after she made her nanny take a lie detector test.

The scandal erupted in 2023, when Colombian news weekly Semana reported that a woman Sarabia had employed to look after her son had been hooked up to a polygraph and questioned over the alleged disappearance of a case full of cash from Sarabia's flat.

Sarabia, who was the chief of staff for President Gustavo Petro at the time, resigned in June 2023 but was later appointed as foreign minister and, following her resignation from that post, as Colombia's ambassador to the United Kingdom.

She has denied any wrongdoing.

The 32-year-old was one of the closest advisers of Gustavo Petro, Colombia's first left-wing president, who governed from 2022 to August this year.

Prosecutors said Sarabia abused her position as his chief of staff by ordering police to question her nanny, Marelbys Meza, over the alleged disappearance of the cash, which was said to amount to several thousands of dollars.

Meza told Semana that she was taken by Sarabia's driver to an official building opposite the presidential palace, saying it felt like "a kidnapping".

Police officers then attached her to a polygraph machine and questioned her about the alleged disappearance of the money.

Meza denied having stolen any money during the test, and has consistently denied any wrongdoing in media interviews since.

Prosecutors allege that in ordering police to question Meza, Sarabia improperly used state resources to investigate a matter which was not related to her official post.

Sarabia rejected the accusation during a hearing, without going into further details.

She had earlier said in a social media post that her lawyers were dealing with the issue and that she respected the judicial authorities and trusted their decisions.

Thousands demand end to violence in Mexican cartel hotspot

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cde06rxw5g6o, 7 days ago

Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Culiacán to demand an end to the violence that has wracked the city in northern Mexico.

The state of Sinaloa has seen the number of murders and disappearances skyrocket since two factions of the Sinaloa cartel started a bloody war two years ago.

Residents dressed in white held up posters of missing loved ones and signs reading "We don't want fear, we want peace" at the protest on Sunday.

More than three million people live in Sinaloa and many say that the war between the two rival factions - known as Los Chapitos and La Mayiza - has blighted their lives.

The march was scheduled to coincide with the second anniversary since the start of the conflict - which broke out after the arrest of wanted drug lord Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada in the US.

His followers, La Mayiza, allege he was betrayed by the son of the infamous founder of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, and have turned on members of his faction, Los Chapitos.

The two factions regularly carry out ambushes, drive-by shootings and erect roadblocks by hijacking trucks, which they set alight.

Residents of Culiacán have been caught up in this internecine war.

Not only has the number of murders and disappearances shot up in the state but also those of extortions and robberies, official figures suggest.

Sunday's protest was organised by relatives of victims, local businesses, civil society groups and the Catholic Church.

Businessman Sergio Esquer told AFP news agency that more than 5,000 businesses had closed since the start of the feud.

"That's the tragedy Sinaloa is experiencing," Esquer, who is a leader in the centre-left opposition party Movimiento Ciudadano, said.

The event started with a Mass in which the bishop of Culiacán called on members of the warring groups to put an end to their violence.

"Stop, look at what's happening, look at the affected families, look at the young people and at our city. No amount of power, of money, territory or ambition is worth more than a human life," he said.

Among those who attended the protest were relatives of a one-year-old boy who died after being hit by a bullet in the head during a shootout in the city last week.

As well as the wave of violence, Sinaloa state has also been hit by political upheaval in recent months.

In April, US prosecutors accused the state's governor, Rubén Rocha, and nine other current and former officials of conspiring with Los Chapitos to smuggle drugs into the US.

Rocha, who has denied any wrongdoing, stepped down temporarily while Mexican prosecutors opened an investigation of their own into the allegations.

Three weeks ago, he returned to his post, but just days later requested another leave of absence after President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote on social media, without directly naming him, that "power without principles becomes arrogance".

Fire at nursing home in Chile kills 16 residents

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4zpp20w77o, 9 days ago

At least 16 elderly residents have died in a fire at a nursing home in Chile, according to authorities.

Ten others were evacuated after a blaze broke out at El Edén home in Pitrufquén, around 640km (400 miles) south of the capital Santiago, on Friday evening.

Jorge Granada, a prosecutor leading the case, said it was not clear at this stage what caused the incident.

Chile's President José Antonio Kast said he had ordered a review into the condition of nursing homes across the country.

"We will fully collaborate with the justice system to clarify what happened, determine where failures may have existed in oversight or prevention, identify what alerts were raised and what actions were taken in response to them," Kast said.

"We need to know the truth and, based on that, correct whatever is necessary to do everything possible to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again," thre president added.

The fire, which began at around 22:30 (01:30 GMT) was finally put out on Saturday morning.

On Saturday, firefighters were still clearing debris and removing collapsed corrugated metal roofing. Police cordoned off the area for safety.

"It is a situation that fills our souls with great sorrow and pain. We have been... providing support to the families," said local mayor Jacqueline Romero.

Colombia's new president loosens gun control rules

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqlwekrl3dqo, 12 days ago

Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella has signed a decree which eases restrictions on people carrying legal firearms in public.

De la Espriella, who during his campaign for the presidency promised to take an iron-fist approach to crime, said it was "not right that criminals are armed to the teeth while decent people can't defend themselves".

The decree lifts a suspension that had been in force for a decade, which meant that even those in possession of a permit to carry guns could not do so without additional authorisation.

De la Espriella insisted that the decree would not create a free-for-all and that tight controls over who can own a gun would remain in place.

While signing the decree, the president said he had made good on his campaign promise: "A man's word is his honour, and I have honour, that's why I keep my word."

The restriction on carrying legal guns in public was brought in by the then-President Juan Manuel Santos in December 2015. It was originally meant to be a temporary measure, aimed at improving security during the Christmas and New Year festivities.

But the suspension was extended yearly by Santos and two subsequent presidents from opposing sides of the political spectrum: conservative Iván Duque and left-wing Gustavo Petro.

Under the law, even those with a permit to carry a gun could not take it out of their homes unless they applied for - and were granted - additional authorisation.

De la Espriella has insisted that his decree has removed a restriction which had never been meant to be permanent.

According to Spanish newspaper El País, the decree will affect almost 700,000 people in Colombia who are already in possession of a legal permit to carry a gun.

They will now be able to take their registered gun out of their home, provided their permits remain up to date.

Green Alliance Party Senator Ariel Ávila described the move as a "grave error", arguing that legally held guns would end up in the hands of criminals.

Ávila insisted that it created an ethical dilemma, as it should only be state forces that carry guns and act as guarantors of people's security.

De la Espriella insisted that the measure would not negatively affect security in the country and said forces were targeting those holding illegal guns and had seized more than 15,000 firearms so far this year.

Most of them, according to de la Espriella, belonged to members of breakaway factions of the Farc rebel group and the Gulf Clan criminal gang.

Argentina to file criminal case against oil company operating in Falklands

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8jd14glvneo, 13 days ago

The Argentine government has said that it will file criminal charges against oil company Navitas Petroleum for operating in seas off the Falkland Islands.

The move came just days after Argentine President Javier Milei said he would sanction oil companies drilling in the British overseas territory in the south-west Atlantic Ocean.

Reacting to the news, Foreign Office Minister Kirsty McNeill insisted that there could be "no doubt" about the British government's commitment to the Falkland Islanders.

Sovereignty of the archipelago remains disputed between the UK and Argentina more than 40 years after a British military task force ejected Argentine forces which had invaded the territory in 1982.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Tuesday, McNeill said that "the decision by the Falkland Islands government to pursue hydrocarbon production is a commercial decision for them to take alongside the commercial companies involved".

She added that "the future of the Falkland Islands is for Falkland Islanders to determine".

The simmering dispute between Britain and Argentina over the Falklands heated up last week, when Milei said in a speech to the nation that the "winds of change" favoured Argentina's claim to the islands.

Milei has, in the past, been criticised by Argentine veterans of the 1982 conflict for being "too soft" on the Falklands, which Argentines call Las Malvinas.

In his speech on Thursday evening local time, Milei restated his government's position on the territory, saying "the Malvinas are Argentine, historically and legally... there's no debate about that."

The president described drilling for oil in the archipelago as a "clear and urgent danger" to Argentine sovereignty.

He also dismissed the result of a 2013 referendum in which 99.8% of the islands' residents voted in favour of the Falklands remaining a British oversees territory.

Milei argued that they were living on land which had been "usurped" by the British and therefore "have no legitimate right to self-determination".

The British government dismissed Milei's speech and stressed that its position on the Falklands was "unwavering".

Hopes that Milei's primetime speech may have been a blip and that he would return to his previous stance of strengthening diplomatic ties with the UK were crushed on Monday, however, when his office announced it would file criminal charges against Navitas Petroleum, several of its subsidiaries and their executives.

Navitas, which is listed in Tel Aviv, holds a 65% stake in Sea Lion, an offshore oil project set to start production in the North Falkland Basin in 2028.

The Sea Lion oilfield, around 130 miles (209 km) from the Falkland Islands, contains an estimated 1.7 billion barrels of oil.

In Monday's statement, Milei alleged that drilling in the area would violate Argentine law banning resource exploitation without approval from the Argentine authorities.

"The state will continue to pursue actions deemed necessary to counter any act which breaches the sovereign rights of the Argentine Republic," the statement insisted.

Navitas has not yet responded to this latest statement but said last week that Milei's remarks were "not expected to have a material effect on the development activities of the Sea Lion Project, including the timetable for completion of the Project's development".

Rockhopper, which owns a partial stake in the Sea Lion project, has also not yet commented on Milei's statement.

Both companies have in the past stressed that Sea Lion holds valid licences from the Falkland Islands.

Houthis say they targeted Saudi capital with ballistic missiles

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwly5d9v7r43o, yesterday

Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen say they carried out drone and ballistic missile attacks on the Saudi capital Riyadh, as well as energy sites on the country's Red Sea coast.

Saudi authorities said they intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired at Riyadh on Saturday, without confirming any further strikes or causalities.

Earlier, a column of black smoke was seen rising from fuel tanks near the Saudi capital's international airport, where flights were disrupted temporarily on Saturday.

Air raid alerts had sounded in the capital for the first time since the Iran-backed Houthis increased their attacks on Saudi Arabia in July.

The US state department urged Americans in the Middle East to "exercise vigilance and be prepared for potential flight cancellations and other travel disruptions".

"Iranian-supported Houthis have engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including civilian airports. This military conflict has the potential to escalate rapidly," it said in a statement.

It added that Americans "should seriously reconsider travel to and through the region".

Air defences also stopped "hostile attempts to target civilians" in the cities of Bish, Taif, Farasan and Yanbu, an official spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition said in a statement.

In a statement posted online, Houthi military spokesman Yahya al-Sarea said a "large number of ballistic and cruise missiles and drones" had been used to attack "sensitive sites" in Riyadh and Aramco state oil and gas company facilities in Yanbu on the coast.

He added that the attacks were "in response to the Saudi enemy's criminal attempts" to target the Yemeni capital Sanaa, which is currently controlled by the Houthis.

Earlier, Sarea had accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out 300 strikes across Yemen during the past week.

The Houthis are locked in a civil war with Yemen's internationally recognised government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia.

They have attacked targets inside Saudi Arabia on several occasions in recent months, and said this week that they were responsible for downing a Saudi fighter jet over Yemen.

According to an unconfirmed report from AFP news agency, quoting military sources on both sides of Yemen's civil war, fighting between the Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces claimed 48 lives on Saturday.

The Houthis said 31 of their fighters had been killed while government sources said their side had lost 17 soldiers, according to the news agency.

On Friday, the International Organization for Migration, a UN body, reported that the number of people displaced as a result of recent fighting had passed 104,796.

A number of apparent explosions were heard in Riyadh and major problems were reported at King Khalid International Airport earlier on Saturday, with the tracking website FlightRadar24 reporting delays and cancellations.

An AFP journalist reported that firefighters could be seen trying to extinguish the flames of a burnt-out fuel tank belonging to Aramco.

The Saudi Civil Defence had sent out phone alerts overnight warning of potential danger in Riyadh and other regions, before issuing an all-clear on Saturday morning.

Residents told AFP on condition of anonymity that they had heard what sounded like a round of explosions echoing through the city after the alerts.

"I heard the alarm, then my windows shook," said a resident of northern Riyadh, 27. "It was definitely scary. I was not expecting this."

The Houthis recently seized control of the strategic port city of Mokha and Perim Island, a gateway to a key shipping route used by the Gulf state to export to Asia and Europe.

The group said the naval blockade was in retaliation for a Saudi blockade of ports and airports in Houthi-controlled north-western Yemen.

Saudi vessels have relied on that stretch of the Red Sea for oil exports since the US and Israel's war with Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz.

On Friday, investment banking giant JP Morgan said it was struggling to predict how oil prices would be impacted by the war, telling investors in a rare note that "we simply don't know how to model the endgame".

Why US plan to sell F-35 warplanes to Saudi Arabia is controversial

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3x2zrn01pxko, 3 days ago

President Donald Trump's administration says it has approved the sale of nearly 50 F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia in a policy shift for the US that has raised concerns from some members of Congress.

Saudi Arabia has sought for years to buy the world's most advanced warplane, equipped with stealth technology that allows it to evade enemy detection.

Washington had resisted, partly because it supplies F-35s to its ally Israel, which is guaranteed under US law to receive top-of-the-range American weapons compared with those its regional neighbours can access.

Congress has 30 days to scrutinise or attempt to block the $24bn (£17.8bn) sale to Riyadh, which is the largest customer for US weapons.

Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, a Democrat, opposed the sale on Thursday.

He warned "it could put the crown jewels of American military technology within reach of the Chinese Communist Party".

Other Democratic lawmakers and some American defence officials have raised similar concerns about giving F-35s to Saudi Arabia.

They said Riyadh might share the sensitive technology with China under a security partnership between the two countries.

The state department said in announcing the deal on Thursday that it would support US "foreign policy and national security objectives".

It said the deal would improve "the security of a major non-Nato ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in the Gulf region".

"The proposed ⁠sale of this equipment and support will not alter the military ⁠balance in the region," the state department added.

Trump has a close relationship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who visited the White House last November.

The two also met in May last year in Riyadh, where a $142bn arms sale was sealed – described by the White House as the "largest defence sales agreement in history".

The latest proposed sale announced to Saudi Arabia would include 48 F-35s, which are built by the arms company Lockheed Martin.

This would place the country on a level with Israel, which currently has a fleet of 50 jets.

However, Israel's ministry of foreign affairs announced in May that it would procure another F-35 squadron.

This deal would double the size of Israel's F-35 fleet to 100, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Just one of Lockheed Martin's F-35A jets costs about $82.5m.

Congress has previously questioned arms deals with Riyadh after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

Former US President Joe Biden's administration considered supplying F-35s to Saudi Arabia if Riyadh would normalise its ⁠relations with Israel, but that diplomatic effort faltered.

The proposed sale comes as the Saudis are engaged in fighting with the Houthis, an Iran-backed armed group that controls much of western Yemen.

The Houthis have recently seized control of swathes of Yemen's Red Sea coast from Saudi-backed pro-government forces.

The Saudi crown prince has personally pressed Trump to take military action against the Houthis, two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News, the BBC's US media partner.

But Trump has so far declined to involve the US military directly, the sources said.

Additional reporting by Sareen Habeshian

Assad regime planned US journalist's kidnap for weeks, BBC finds

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cv0lrxw6ygl2o, 4 days ago

US journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared in Syria in 2012, was kidnapped in a calculated operation which was more than a month in the planning, the BBC can reveal.

A member of the group which detained Tice has also claimed the abduction was sanctioned by Syria's leader at the time, President Bashar al-Assad.

Tice was seen getting into a car with a driver he knew and trusted. For years, many assumed they had stumbled upon a government checkpoint, and that the abduction of the journalist had been opportunistic.

But we have uncovered evidence that, in fact, his disappearance was anything but chance.

In a new BBC podcast: Where is Austin Tice? Series 3 of I'm Not A Monster Presents, we reveal the findings of a years-long investigation into what happened to Tice, who had been reporting on Syria's civil war at the time.

His case has been followed closely by international media and cited by successive US presidents.

Georgetown University law student Tice, who had served as a US Marines captain, was last seen in a video - blindfolded and in apparent distress - posted more than a month after his capture.

As the regime fell 12 years later, tens of thousands of people emerged from the administration's prisons. Tice was not one of them.

We obtained co-ordinates from an intelligence source for multiple locations US authorities suspected he could have been held at, and searched for him for more than a month, but found no sign of him.

A former Syrian commander has said Tice was executed. Others have questioned this account and no remains have been found.

But in the aftermath of the regime's collapse, we did uncover secret Syrian intelligence files on Tice - hundreds of pages of internal records providing the first definitive proof that it was the regime that had held the journalist.

Two crucial questions remained unanswered, however: how exactly had Tice been taken in the first place? And, who was responsible for his abduction?

We have spoken to a number of men from the regime involved in Tice's detention, and have reviewed recordings of discussions about it. One man we spoke to, Abu Ali, is a former member of the National Defence Forces (NDF), a militia which was fiercely loyal to Assad.

He says the abduction operation began when Tice's driver - who multiple sources say had been passing the regime information for some time - told a senior NDF member that Tice was moving through rebel-held areas, reporting on the opposition.

Tice had pushed into areas most journalists deemed too dangerous and was writing front-page stories for the Washington Post. The Assad regime was cracking down on anyone highlighting its human rights abuses.

We have been told the NDF member Tice's driver spoke to was Sakr Rustom - not just any NDF militia contact, but nephew of Bassam al-Hassan, one of Assad's most trusted security figures and head of the NDF.

The information on Tice was passed up to Hassan, Abu Ali says, who is then said to have telephoned Assad.

"Bring him to us," Assad replied, claims Abu Ali.

Abu Ali says he was subsequently called into Hassan's office and told the president had approved the operation.

But Tice was not taken immediately. The driver, Abu Ali says, suggested that he and the NDF continue watching him, to uncover more about what he was doing.

"He trusts me," Abu Ali recalls the driver saying.

Some time later, the driver reported back that Tice's actions seemed suspicious, Abu Ali says.

Tice, as a trained marine, would sometimes share his military experience with rebel fighters - according to several people we spoke to - and would correct fighters on how they used their weapons.

To the men watching him, that behaviour made Tice look less like a journalist and more like someone from the CIA. The BBC has found no evidence to suggest this was the case, and a former senior US official responsible for part of Tice's case has denied he was an intelligence officer.

In the days before Tice vanished, the driver made one particularly brazen move while Tice was interviewing rebel fighters. He secretly took the American's backpack, containing his MacBook, a satellite transmitter and other personal items, for regime operatives to look through, multiple sources say.

On 11 August 2012, Tice celebrated his 31st birthday at a rebel safehouse on the western edge of Damascus, a few miles from Assad's presidential palace. There was a swimming pool, Free Syrian Army fighters, Taylor Swift music and whiskey, Tice revealed in what would become his final tweet.

"Hands down, best birthday ever," he wrote.

Then came the time for Tice to leave Syria. He had told various people he was planning to take time out in Lebanon.

But he was not heading to safety. He was heading to a state facility where Hassan had an office, in an area called Tahouneh on the outskirts of Damascus, according to several sources. Abu Ali was waiting there for Tice.

Abu Ali says Tice's driver told him that when he drew up to the gates, he pulled out a gun.

Tice laughed at first, Ali recalls the driver saying, apparently believing the man he trusted was joking. But the driver told Tice he was serious, Abu Ali says, and the journalist realised what was happening.

According to Ali, Tice pulled out his chequebook and pleaded with the driver to name his price, rather than go through with the kidnap.

NDF militia members then grabbed Tice, covering his eyes, Abu Ali says.

Another NDF member told us he would never forget Tice's expression as he realised he had been betrayed. Abu Ali says Hassan immediately called President Assad to tell him they had the American.

For years, the identity of Tice's driver has remained a mystery.

The BBC spoke to more than 20 people to discover who he was, with the trail eventually leading to the city of Homs, and the family of a man called Hamid Abu Obeid.

They confirmed he was the man who had driven Tice away, an account also supported by multiple NDF members. But by the time we identified him, Abu Obeid had disappeared.

His family say they do not know where he is, and fear for his safety. They say they were not aware of Hamid's involvement in Tice's case, and learned about it from him afterwards.

But they did give a motive for his betrayal of Tice.

The Abu Obeid family, Palestinian refugees from Gaza, live in poverty. Under Syrian law they are not entitled to Syrian citizenship and live under significant restrictions.

According to Hamid's brother, he had been promised a passport, Syrian citizenship, a house, and a weapon, in return for delivering Tice - life-changing rewards. But after the abduction, the family says all he got was a pistol.

Then, after Assad's regime fell, Abu Obeid's wife says her husband was called by a man who knew about his involvement in Tice's case and was threatening to tell the US embassy, hoping it might help him secure asylum.

Abu Obeid urged him not to. He then took some money, told his wife he was going shopping, and she says she has not seen him since. She does not know if he is in hiding, or if he has been detained or killed.

Not long after he disappeared, she says masked men - some dressed in military clothes - visited and took a number of Abu Obeid's possessions, including his laptop and other devices.

The wishes of Abu Obeid's wife now chillingly mirror those of Tice's mother and family. On opposite sides of a disappearance that began more than a decade ago, both families are searching for the same thing: a loved one who vanished, and an answer to where he went.

US blocks Palestinian leader from UN meeting in New York for second year in row

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq783jlrr282o, 4 days ago

The US has denied Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas an entry visa to attend the UN General Assembly in New York next week, two Palestinian sources have told the BBC.

It comes after the US said it was extending visa sanctions against Palestinian officials, without naming Abbas, accusing them of failing to live up to peace process commitments.

Sanctions were initially imposed in August last year, when 80 Palestinian officials were denied visas for the annual UN meeting in New York.

In its statement, the US accused the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) of "glorifying terrorism" and attempting to "internationalize" the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) was established by the Oslo peace accords. The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) was recognised after the same process as the official representative of the Palestinian people in return for it recognising Israel and renouncing violence.

In a statement on Thursday, the Palestinian foreign ministry called the visa sanctions "an unjustified measure that runs counter to efforts to rebuild trust, develop Palestinian-US relations, and create the necessary political climate for implementing the two-state solution and achieving peace and stability".

Palestinian officials have rejected the long-held accusations of the Trump administration and Israel, adding they have a right to seek accountability against an occupying force under international law.

After the visa decision last year, a representative for Abbas said the move stood "in clear contradiction to international law and the UN Headquarters Agreement".

Under the UN Headquarters Agreement, the US is required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the UN in New York. However, Washington has said it can deny visas for security, extremism and foreign policy reasons.

At the meeting of the General Assembly last year, Abbas instead addressed the gathering of leaders and heads of state via video.

All 193 members of the assembly are expected to vote on Thursday as to whether he will be allowed to do the same for this year's gathering.

The State of Palestine is currently recognised by around 75% of the UN's 193 member states, including the UK, France, Canada and Australia.

Of the UN Security Council's five permanent members, the US is the only member that has not recognised a Palestinian state.

The US decision comes following warnings from the UN that the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire despite the ceasefire agreed last October, as Israeli air strikes and other attacks continue to hit populated areas, causing casualties and property damage and driving further displacement.

On Tuesday, Israeli air strikes killed at least five Palestinians, including two children and a Hamas commander, according to health officials and Hamas sources.

The Israeli military said it killed a Hamas commander in southern Gaza and another fighter in the north. In both cases, a child was also reportedly killed.

Separately, the British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians said that a patient was killed by an Israeli drone at a health centre it supports in Jabalia in northern Gaza. A spokesperson for the Israeli military told the BBC it was not aware of such an incident.

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

Since then, more than 73,790 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.

UN experts say grounds to believe US committed war crimes in Iran strikes

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm9w4n5nverdo, 4 days ago

UN human rights experts say there are reasonable grounds to believe the US committed war crimes in two strikes in Iran that killed at least 177 civilians.

A new report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran said February's missile strikes on a primary school in Minab and a sports complex in Lamerd constituted indiscriminate attacks causing civilian deaths and damage to civilian infrastructure.

The US previously denied striking Lamerd and said it was investigating what happened in Minab. A State Department official said the US did not give credibility to the findings in the report.

The experts also found Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during a crackdown on mass anti-government protests in January.

They said killings by security forces occurred on "a staggering and unprecedented scale" across all 31 provinces.

Iran has also not yet commented on the findings, but it has previously rejected allegations of systematic violations of human rights.

"Civilians in Iran are caught between gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed by their own government and the nation's deadly conflict with the United States and Israel," the fact-finding mission warned in a statement on Thursday.

For their latest report to the UN Human Rights Council, the mission's three independent experts investigated two of the deadliest attacks on civilians during the conflict.

On 28 February, when the US and Israel launched their war against Iran, Tomahawk missiles struck Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in the southern town of Minab, killing at least 156 people, including 120 children, according to local authorities.

The fact-finding mission's experts said the school was adjacent to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval complex also attacked that day, but that the school was clearly identifiable and that no information indicated that it was used for military purposes.

The experts said that, based on the evidence gathered - including media reports indicating that a preliminary US military inquiry found US forces responsible, and the fact that the US is the only party to the conflict that possesses Tomahawk missiles - they had reasonable grounds to believe that the strike on the school was carried out by the US.

They also concluded that the school was "the intended point of impact and that the damage did not result from an errant strike or collateral damage" from the attack on the IRGC complex, citing survivors as saying the school was struck twice.

The US military has yet to release the findings of its investigation into the Minab strike, but Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said it would "never target civilian targets".

Also on 28 February, Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM) dispersed clouds of tungsten pellets over a sports complex and residential area in the town of Lamerd, killing at least 21 civilians, including seven children, according to local authorities.

Again, the fact-finding mission's experts said the sports complex was clearly identifiable and that no information indicated it was used for military purposes.

They concluded by saying there were reasonable grounds to believe that the strike was carried out by the US, citing evidence including the fact that the US is the only party to the conflict that possesses PrSM missiles.

The US military has said it carried no strikes on Lamerd that day and disputed reports identifying the weapon used as a PrSM.

In both incidents, the fact-finding mission's experts said there were "reasonable grounds to believe that the US committed the war crime of launching an indiscriminate attack resulting in loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects".

The fact-finding mission's report also covers the Iranian authorities' violent repression of the mass protests that took place across Iran in December 2025 and January 2026.

The experts said it was an unprecedented escalation from past crackdowns, marked by the widespread use of lethal force resulting in mass killings and injuries, and extensive arrests.

They cited witnesses, health workers and victims' families as saying that security personnel positioned themselves on rooftops and other elevated positions, firing their assault rifles into crowds.

Protesters also sustained severe wounds to the head, chest and eyes from metal shotgun pellets, causing permanent blindness.

As the crackdown escalated, security forces attacked healthcare facilities, beating and arresting wounded demonstrators and arresting some healthcare workers, which deterred victims from seeking life-saving care, according to the experts.

They also found that the tens of thousands of people detained during the protests faced torture, solitary confinement and denial of legal counsel.

The experts warned that the government had since intensified its use of the death penalty against protesters, with at least 29 men executed following expedited trials on charges connected to the unrest.

The fact-finding mission's report noted that it was not possible to independently verify the death toll from the crackdown, but said there were strong grounds to believe that it was significantly higher than the official figure of 3,000, the majority of whom the government identified as members of the security forces or bystanders.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (Hrana) has said it has confirmed the killing of more than 7,000 people, almost all of them protesters.

The fact-finding mission's experts concluded that Iranian authorities had committed "many gross human rights violations" during the crackdown, and that these amounted to "the crimes against humanity of murder, imprisonment and other severe deprivation of physical liberty, torture, and other inhumane acts, committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack directed against a civilian population".

Iranian authorities accused the US and Israel of fomenting the unrest and blamed the deaths on what they described as "terrorists" and "rioters".

US to allow Iran delegation to attend UN meetings in New York as war passes half-year mark

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6n8m72r13ngo, 4 days ago

The US government has granted visas to Iranian officials so they can travel to the UN General Assembly in New York next week, as the war between the two countries grinds into its seventh month.

The BBC understands the core delegation permitted to attend includes Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

A spokesman for the US State Department confirmed the decision on Thursday, saying that the delegation will be placed under travel restrictions and will be banned from purchasing certain American products.

The move comes as the war shows no sign of ending. Since it began in February, it has driven up global energy prices, and expanded into neighbouring countries.

"Consistent with our host country obligations, the core delegation from the Iranian regime will be able to attend UN General Assembly High Level Week," a spokesman for the US State Department told the BBC.

"The delegation will be under travel restrictions and will face prohibitions on the purchase of luxury and other goods per our policy. The delegation is smaller than last year."

Last year, diplomats attending from Iran were banned from shopping at wholesale stores like Costco. They also were required to seek permission from the US before purchasing luxury goods, including jewellery, alcohol and cars.

State Department Spokesman Tommy Pigott said the US would prevent the diplomats from "going on shopping sprees" as the Iranian people deal with water and electricity shortages, "brutal repression", and "soaring inflation".

"We will not let the Iranian regime's elites exploit UNGA for a luxury retail splurge paid for by the Iranian people's suffering, all while the regime funnels Iran's wealth to support its terrorist proxies," he posted on X, warning New York shops to "be on guard" against selling goods to the delegation.

He did not indicate if the US was aware of any specific plans from the delegation to buy luxury items.

The 81st session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) is currently underway. The General Debate - the centrepiece of the annual event - is due to begin on Tuesday.

Tuesday will include speeches from US President Donald Trump, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, and France President Emmanuel Macron.

Wednesday is expected to see speeches from the leaders of Ukraine, Syria and Iran.

Public and political pressure has mounted on the White House to find an end to the conflict with Iran, which began on 28 February when the US and Israel launched joint attacks on the country.

Since the war began, Iran has repeatedly attacked US bases and allied states in the Gulf, as well as Israel.

The BBC recently learned that the US denied a visa to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian delegation to attend UNGA.

The White House, which does not recognise the legitimacy of the Palestinian delegation, denied them visas for a second year in a row.

Verified video shows wreckage of Saudi fighter jet shot down over Yemen

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8vgy3p6k3y9o, 4 days ago

Footage verified by the BBC shows the wreckage of a Saudi F-15 fighter jet which the Iran-backed Houthi group says it shot down over Yemen.

The US-made aircraft was "downed using a locally manufactured surface-to-air missile" as it "conducted hostile operations" over the Marib region, according to a Houthi statement on Wednesday.

Experts have told BBC Verify the incident is a "propaganda coup" that shows the Houthis' military capability has advanced and they are prepared to further escalate its conflict with Saudi Arabia.

Using satellite imagery to match features in the landscape seen in the footage, BBC Verify was able to pinpoint the crash site to an isolated location in the hills west of the Yemeni city of Marib.

The long-running conflict between a Saudi-led military coalition and the Houthis has escalated in the last week after the armed group launched an offensive against pro-government forces.

This led to the Houthis seizing key territory near the south-west coast, close to vital international shipping channels in the Bab al-Mandab strait.

In one of several video clips released by the Houthis, men with assault rifles can be seen at the crash site inspecting the wreckage. The fighters celebrate as they lift the jet's almost-intact tail fin which features the Saudi flag and a four-digit serial number.

The fate of of the crew is not known.

The Houthis also released a thermal video clip - which cannot be fully verified due to a lack of visual details - that appears to show a fighter jet in mid-flight being struck by a missile.

BBC Verify has contacted the Saudi Ministry of Defence for comment.

Baraa Shiban, Yemen analyst at the Royal United Services Institute, told BBC Verify the incident showed it was "very clear the Houthis have been taking advantage of advice and technological support" from Iran.

"They continue to develop their military arsenal and capabilities to make it more and more painful on Saudi Arabia," he said.

Downing the F-15 is also a "propaganda coup", said Yemen expert Adam Baron from the Washington-based New America think tank, as Saudi air support is considered to be "key to any significant pushback" against recent Houthi gains.

"An eye-for-an-eye has been a huge element of the group's public messaging. This is partially to show that air support will come at a price," he added.

BBC Verify used the position of the sun and satellite imagery to locate the distinctive landscape seen in the footage - including cliff faces and hills - to an isolated mountainous area about 25 miles (40km) west of Marib.

Satellite imagery published on Wednesday also shows a new dark shadow at the same location, which appears consistent with scorch or burn marks at a crash site.

The aircraft in the wreckage has been independently identified by Nick Brown, a weapons expert from military intelligence company Janes, as an F-15 Strike Eagle. He based his analysis on distinctive elements seen in the footage including the tail fin arrangement, radar antenna and missile warning system sensors.

The four-digit tail number visible on the wreckage also appears to be consistent with that of an F-15 Strike Eagle operated by the 55th Squadron of the Royal Saudi Air Force based at King Khalid Air Base near the city of Khamis Mushait in south-west Saudi Arabia.

This base, about 245 miles (392 km) from the crash site, was targeted last week by what the Houthis described as a "barrage of missiles and drones". Satellite imagery analysed by BBC Verify appears to show damage to at least three aircraft hangars or shelters.

The base is one of a series of high-profile Saudi targets struck by the Houthis in recent days including an oil refinery in the city of Jizan.

Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it had destroyed a Houthi drone close to the Islamic holy city of Mecca on Tuesday, which the Houthis have denied targeting.

The group said on Thursday that Saudi Arabia had launched 40 air strikes against Yemen over the past 24 hours.

Additional reporting by Shayan Sardarizadeh and Alex Murray

Graphics by Tom Shiel

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

Eight children among 21 killed after war-damaged Gaza building collapses, rescuers say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvp8d00j9gg5o, 5 days ago

At least 21 people have been killed, including eight children, after a war-damaged building collapsed in the Gaza Strip overnight, rescuers and medics say.

Witnesses told the BBC that the six-storey building in Gaza City's Tal al-Hawa area had been left tilting dangerously to one side after an Israeli strike more than a year ago. Displaced families had lived inside because they were desperate, they said.

UN and Egyptian teams joined the search for survivors, which was slow due to a lack of equipment. Initially, rescuers from the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency had to use their bare hands.

On Wednesday afternoon, they said they had ended the operation after taking 45 injured people to hospitals.

Sherif, whose sister was killed, said: "They couldn't find a tent or somewhere to live.

"This was the last place they could turn to, despite the danger. They were aware that it would likely end in tragedy. A lack of resources drove them towards certain death."

A woman living in a tent nearby, Umm Mohammed Bakrun, said she had been talking to her son when the building collapsed suddenly in the early hours of Wednesday.

"It felt like an earthquake. There was a loud sound and I couldn't stand up. Stones rained down on us and when I looked outside I saw a lot of dust," she told the BBC. "Within minutes, there were screams everywhere."

Another witness, Mansour Abu Mohammed, said the building collapsed "in a few seconds".

"Every day, a stone or a few stones would fall from it, but the people inside couldn't find anywhere else to live. I used to live next door to it and you could see that it was tilting to one side."

Satellite imagery shows that the area around the building was targeted in the early weeks of the war, while damage to the building itself first became evident in 2024.

The head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Gaza office, Alessandro Mrakic, told reporters at the scene on Wednesday morning that "the situation... is tragic because we don't have the equipment and machinery that is needed".

He also warned that approximately 400 other war-damaged buildings across Gaza were at imminent risk of collapse, particularly as winter approaches.

"We need support, most importantly with machinery, equipment, among others. Our colleagues here don't have [engine] oil and spare parts to continue to work with all the equipment that is still in Gaza."

The UN's humanitarian relief co-ordinator, Ramiz Alakbarov, said he was "devastated" by the reports of the building collapse.

"No-one should have to risk their life simply to find a safe place to shelter," he said.

He also urged Israeli authorities to approve deliveries to Gaza of heavy machinery for rescue operations, as well as tents, tarpaulins and other non-food items for displaced people ahead of the winter rains.

Israel says its restrictions are meant to keep equipment out of the hands of Palestinian armed groups that could also have military uses.

An estimated 80% of all structures in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged during the war between Israel and Hamas, according to the UN.

More than 1.9 million people - about 90% of the territory's population - have been displaced, many of them multiple times, and 1.2 million of them are currently living in tents or makeshift shelters, it says.

The UN has warned that the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire despite the ceasefire agreed last October, as Israeli air strikes and other attacks continue to hit populated areas, causing casualties and property damage and driving further displacement.

On Tuesday, Israeli air strikes killed at least five Palestinians, including two children and a Hamas commander, according to health officials and Hamas sources.

The Israeli military said it killed a Hamas commander in southern Gaza and another fighter in the north. In both cases, a child was also reportedly killed.

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

Since then, more than 73,790 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.

Photos show widespread damage at US sites from Iranian attacks

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8g49e0gwxeno, 5 days ago

Images showing widespread damage to multiple US sites in the Middle East from Iranian strikes have been obtained by the BBC's US partner CBS.

The photos, provided by active military personnel, show a severed radar jet, flattened trailers and severely damaged buildings.

The undated photos were taken at US bases and sites in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

One member of the military, who was not named by CBS, said: "This is major damage to our bases that hasn't been communicated to the American public.

"We're standing there with our eyes closed getting punched in the face."

The White House referred the BBC to US Central Command. Centcom did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The photos, which have not been independently verified by the BBC, were published the day after a report from the Pentagon's watchdog confirmed hundreds of buildings and structures at US bases in the Middle East have been damaged and destroyed by Iran.

One of the photos showed a destroyed Boeing E-3 Sentry at Prince Sultan Air Force Base in Saudi Arabia that has been ripped in half, its tail section crumpled into a tangled mess of metal.

While the photo is undated, BBC Verify previously confirmed a similar photo, apparently of the same radar aircraft in March.

The Boeing E-3 Awacs are used to detect and track potential targets at long ranges to provide an early warning of possible threats.

At the time, a US official told Reuters that 12 US personnel had been wounded, two of them seriously, in an Iranian attack on the air base.

A pair of undated images reportedly from Camp Beuhring, Kuwait, show crumpled trailers, and a large tent-like structure that had been reduced to shreds as smoke billowed from the site.

Another image shows a four-storey building damaged by an Iranian strike at Camp Arifjan, in Kuwait.

Damage to the site was reported in March, including on satellite communications hardware, though it is not clear whether this image is from the same attack.

Brian Katulis, a former national security official under both Democratic and Republican administrations, said that the damage visible in the images showed that "America had not adequately prepared its defences".

"And there is strong evidence that US adversaries like China and Russia may have helped Iran in targeting," added Katulis, now a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. "The Trump administration has done nothing to address these vulnerabilities."

The images were published on the heels of a report from the Pentagon's watchdog, which found Iranian strikes had "damaged and destroyed hundreds of buildings and structures at US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, and Jordan during the conflict".

It also noted that equipment losses have totalled $3.7bn (£2.8bn). Overall, the US spent $33.4bn (£24.7bn) on the war up to 29 June, the report said.

In the months after the war began, "dozens of US aircraft were destroyed or damaged", the report continues.

The document lists several of the aircraft damaged, including five refuelling aircraft which were "damaged or destroyed on the ground in Saudi Arabia by Iranian munitions".

A separate report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) notes that the E-3 aircraft is no longer in production and would have to be replaced with a more modern equivalent, the E-7.

The CBO noted that the E-3 aircraft alone costs $500m (£371m), and the estimated total cost of equipment lost in battle - including planes, drones and a terminal high altitude area defence system - amounts to $1.9b (£1.4b).

CBO said that its review was subject to "uncertainty" because the defence department did not respond to its requests for information, requiring the agency to rely on government databases and public reports.

Additionally, the extent of repairs and rebuilding that the US military plans to do remains unclear, according to the report.

Brian Katulis of the Middle East Institute said that while "these costs show how the Trump administration burned through precious military resources without having much to show for it", the greater damage had been to broader US military readiness.

"The United States had to divert military assets from Asia to the Middle East, leaving America and its partners in Asia more exposed and vulnerable to China," he said.

"In addition, the depletion of US munitions makes Russia more willing to probe vulnerabilities with America's NATO allies and continue its aggressive war against Ukraine."

While the US has the financial resources to address the equipment losses, it is already facing budgetary problems and may not be able to do so fast enough to prepare for potential flare-ups in the Middle East or elsewhere in the world, he added.

Public and political pressure has mounted on the White House to find an end to the conflict with Iran, which began on 28 February when the US and Israel launched joint attacks on the country.

Since the war began Iran has repeatedly attacked US bases and allied states in the Gulf, as well as Israel.

On Tuesday night, the US House of Representatives voted for the third time to end the war in Iran, approving a measure that would force President Donald Trump to end US military action without congressional approval.

The vote passed with the help of several Republicans, in what could be the final House vote on the matter ahead of the US midterm elections in November.

It faces an uncertain path to passage - the US Senate has not indicated if it will take up the matter.

The same day, outgoing Republican Congressman Thomas Massie announced an attempt to impeach Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth as new details emerged about the Iran war's price tag for the US.

The Trump administration backed Hegseth, with US attorney general Todd Blanche telling reporters he was "doing a phenomenal job".

Saudi Arabia says it shot down Houthi drone south of Mecca

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr89jqd1w45eo, 5 days ago

Saudi Arabia intercepted and destroyed a Houthi drone south of the Islamic holy city of Mecca on Tuesday evening, according to the spokesman of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.

Turki al-Maliki said the targeting of Mecca, which is the home of Islam's most sacred shrine and the focal point of the Hajj pilgrimage, was a "disgraceful act".

The 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation said attacks on Mecca and Medina province, where Islam's second holiest shrine is located, constituted an "unacceptable and intolerable transgression".

But the Houthis, an Iran-backed armed group that controls much of western Yemen, denied targeting Mecca and accused Saudi Arabia of "fabrications and lies".

"There is no threat whatsoever from Yemen to the holy sites. Our operations target their oil facilities and military bases, and are far removed from the holy places," military spokesman Yahya Sarea said.

Sarea added that the Houthis had launched drones and missiles at Saudi Arabia in retaliation for more than 450 Saudi air strikes on their territory over the past week.

He also said they had shot down a Saudi fighter jet over Marib province.

There was no immediate response from the Saudi-led coalition, but Maj Gen Maliki did say that its forces would "not hesitate to take the necessary and deterrent measures against the terrorist Houthi militia and its hostile and terrorist behaviour".

On Tuesday, Saudi authorities issued a series of brief security alerts for incoming projectiles in a number of western areas, including Mecca and Jeddah, the kingdom's second largest city.

Meanwhile, the US embassy in Saudi Arabia issued a "reconsider travel" advisory, warning that Houthi attacks had targeted cities, infrastructure, airports, military bases, diplomatic facilities and energy facilities.

The Houthis have recently seized control of large swathes of Yemen's Red Sea coast from Saudi-backed pro-government forces.

Last week, they captured the strategic port city of Mokha and Perim Island in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the southern gateway to a key shipping route that links Asia and Europe via the Red Sea and the Suez canal.

The Houthis said they posed no threat to international shipping but reiterated that they would target vessels from Saudi Arabia, which has relied on the Red Sea for oil exports since the US and Israel's war with Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia's key East-West Pipeline, which was being used to transfer crude oil from the Gulf to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, had to be closed after it was badly damaged in a strike that the kingdom blamed on Iran-backed militias in Iraq.

Some experts have said it could take more than a month to repair the pipeline, but US Energy Secretary Chris Wright predicted on Tuesday that oil should be flowing through it within days.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country's de facto ruler, has personally pressed US President Donald Trump to take military action against the Houthis, two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News, the BBC's US media partner.

Trump has so far declined to involve the US military directly, offering instead to assist with intelligence and targeting support, the sources said.

A senior Trump administration official told the BBC: "We are in continuous dialogue with Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Yemen government regarding regional stability."

The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting on Tuesday, during which both Yemen's government and Saudi Arabia called for more decisive action against the Houthis, who they accused of choking the Bab al-Mandab Strait as a way of applying economic pressure.

Council members agreed that freedom of navigation in the Red Sea must be maintained to prevent disruption to global supply chains.

More than 90,000 people have been displaced in Yemen by the fighting between the Houthis and pro-government forces, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

"Families are being forced to flee for the second or third time in this conflict, with almost nothing left," Amy Pope, the IOM's director general, warned last week.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday that at least 500 people had been reported killed since the start of August, including 297 over the previous week.

Yemen has been devastated by a civil war that began in 2014, when the Houthis ousted the government from the capital, Sanaa. The conflict escalated in 2015, after the Saudi-led coalition of Arab states intervened in an attempt to restore the government's rule.

The fighting has reportedly left more than 150,000 people dead and triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with more than 22 million people in need of some form of aid, according to the UN.

A four-year-old informal ceasefire began to unravel in July, when the Houthis announced a "maritime embargo" against Saudi Arabia and began missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers in the Red Sea.

The Houthis said they were retaliating for a Saudi blockade of ports and airports in their territory, as well as an air strike on Sanaa airport that they blamed on the kingdom.

How escalating Saudi oil crisis could drive up prices everywhere

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqlym3wye1ero, 5 days ago

Global energy prices have spiked alarmingly again, driven largely in recent days by the escalating conflict between Yemen's Houthis and Saudi Arabia causing chaos for the oil industry.

Petrol and diesel costs have risen rapidly in most countries while the wholesale price of natural gas - used for heating homes and generating electricity - has almost doubled in the UK and Europe since July.

There are growing concerns of another inflationary shock on the world economy, which could cause interest rates to rise, increase mortgage costs and raise the price of almost everything in the shops including food.

So what is behind this latest surge - and what are the implications for the world economy?

Petrol, diesel and gas prices are rising

The global oil price is currently above $108 (£80) per barrel, up from $70 (£52) in June 2026 - a roughly 50% increase.

This has contributed to average petrol prices in the UK going above 170p a litre, the highest since 2022 and up from 150p in July.

As a result of the near-doubling of UK natural gas costs alongside this the domestic price cap set by energy regulator Ofgem is forecast to rise by 25% in January next year - or about £440 a year for a typical household.

In the US, the cost of a gallon (3.8 litres) of petrol has risen from $3.80 (£2.82) in July to $4.32 (£3.20), according to the AAA Gas Prices index.

Diesel prices have hit a record level in the US of more than $6 (£4.46) a gallon, higher even than after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

What's pushing up prices?

Analysts say the main driver has been a reduction in global oil and gas supplies.

Before the US-Israeli war with Iran began in late February, about 20% of both global oil products and liquefied natural gas supplies passed through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway connecting the Gulf and the Arabian Sea.

This flow of energy collapsed after February due to Iranian attacks on commercial shipping and the energy facilities of US allies in the Gulf as well as a US blockade of Iran's ports.

After the war began, Saudi Arabia stepped up the use of its East-West pipeline - which according to maritime intelligence firm Kpler has a capacity of 3.6 million barrels per day - to export oil via the Red Sea, rather than the Strait of Hormuz.

But the pipeline was forced to shut down after it was attacked by drones on Friday, which Saudi Arabia has blamed on Iran-backed militias in Iraq.

The Houthis separately attacked several Saudi oil facilities with drones and missiles last week, causing fires which led to operations being temporarily halted.

Neil Quilliam of Chatham House said the pipeline could be closed for up to eight weeks for repair - although US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told broadcaster CNBC on Tuesday it will start operating again "very soon".

And despite the US government insisting fuel is flowing through the Strait of Hormuz in roughly pre-war volumes, most independent analysts judge that the waterway remains significantly obstructed.

Before the war around 21 million barrels per day of oil and oil products were passing through the Strait of Hormuz, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

But Kpler estimated this had fallen to about 8.6 million barrels per day by the end of August.

Over the past two weeks, the Houthis in Yemen have captured strategic territory from Saudi-backed pro-government forces close to the Bab al-Mandab Strait, another trade chokepoint at the southern tip of the Red Sea which was the transit point for about 5% of global oil supplies before February.

About 5% of the global oil supply also normally leaves the Red Sea through the north, via the Suez Canal and a pipeline across Egypt to the Mediterranean.

The global market oil price is rising over concerns these shipping arteries could, like Hormuz, be even more severely disrupted by Iran and its proxies.

Before the Houthis recent advances on the south-west coast of Yemen the group declared in July it was enforcing a naval blockade of Saudi ships and ports. It said it will not attack vessels from other countries passing through the Red Sea.

US President Donald Trump has said "the world's diesel price rise is mostly caused by the Russia/Ukraine War, not Iran".

Analysts say the conflict - including Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries - has put pressure on diesel prices as Russia is the world's second largest diesel exporter.

But most judge the bigger cause of the recent energy price spike has been the expanding regional conflict in the Middle East.

What does it mean for the global economy?

Economists say that higher global energy prices - if sustained - usually lead to even higher prices for households and weaker economic growth, which translates into lower incomes and wages for people.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has estimated that a sustained 10% increase in oil prices increases global inflation by 0.4% and reduces global GDP growth by up to 0.2%.

The Bank of England has estimated that a 10% increase in global oil price increases the UK inflation rate by 0.5% in the near-term and reduces UK GDP growth by about 0.4%.

The rise in the global oil price since June is about five times larger than in the scenario used by the IMF and the Bank of England in their economic models to assess the impact of rising oil prices.

However, it is possible that the global oil price could drop again if there is a peace agreement between the US and Iran.

After a preliminary deal was signed between the two warring parties in June, the oil price temporarily fell sharply to pre-war levels, having gone as high as $120 a barrel.

Additional reporting by Rob England, Nicholas Barrett and Joshua Cheetham

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Two sailors missing after tanker attacked in Strait of Hormuz, Oman says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3n07ydqdzlvo, 6 days ago

Two sailors are missing and 23 others have been rescued following an attack on an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, Oman says.

Oman's Maritime Security Centre said the Panama-flagged El Gaia was being towed to an Omani port on Tuesday after a fire broke out in its engine room, adding that the vessel was targeted 1.3 nautical miles (2.4km) north of the Musandam peninsula.

On Monday, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said the tanker hit naval mines and caught fire while passing through what they described as a restricted and unsafe route.

But the US military insisted the Iranian report was false. It said the tanker was struck by an Iranian missile last month and again by a drone over the weekend.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations centre, meanwhile, said it had received a report of a fire breaking out on board a vessel that was struck by an unknown projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz in the early hours of Sunday.

Earlier this month, Iran made a similar claim about an incident that killed two Filipino sailors on a Saudi-owned oil supertanker in the crucial waterway.

The Revolutionary Guards said the vessel, Sidr, caught fire after hitting a naval mine. But Saudi authorities said it was targeted by Iran and maritime security firms reported that it was hit by projectiles north of Musandam.

The International Maritime Organization says at least 22 seafarers have been killed in 79 confirmed incidents in the Strait of Hormuz and the rest of the Middle East since the start of the US and Israel's war with Iran at the end of February.

Also on Tuesday, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported that "enemy drones" had targeted two fishing boats in the strait overnight near the Iranian port of Kargan, about 80km (50 miles) north-east of Musandam.

Fars, which is linked to the Revolutionary Guards, cited the deputy governor of Hormozgan province as saying that several fishermen were reported missing following the incident and that a search-and-rescue operation was under way.

Later, a spokesman for the US military's Central Command (Centcom) told the news website Axios that its forces had destroyed two boats which tried to steal a sea drone.

"Iranian small boats recently attempted to take possession of a US unmanned surface vessel, but they were unsuccessful after Centcom forcefully responded," Capt Tim Hawkins said.

The Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil and gas shipments usually pass, has effectively been closed due to Iranian missile and drone attacks on commercial vessels and a US naval blockade of Iranian ports.

The US and Iran reached a preliminary agreement to end the war and reopen the strait in June, but it collapsed within weeks after the Iranian attacks on shipping resumed and the US reinstated its blockade.

Iran has insisted it will not give up some measure of control over the waterway and has targeted vessels using a southern route through Omani waters that avoids its preferred route through Iranian waters.

Cultural treasures are being destroyed worldwide - so why is no-one being punished?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgy1q2k2z0o, yesterday

August was a brutal month for Ukraine. Russian aerial attacks increased significantly, launching thousands of drones. Kyiv was intensely bombarded, as were the southern cities of Mykolaiv and Odesa. Amid the destruction and loss of life, Odesa reported damage to six Unesco-protected sites, including the salmon-pink 19th Century Alexandru Sturdza House.

It raised again the question of why it is so hard to hold actors accountable for the destruction of buildings and objects with real cultural significance.

In the last month alone, Ukraine's Ministry of Culture reported that 148 cultural heritage sites were recorded as damaged or destroyed, including in Odesa.

Several Ukrainian activist groups have tried to get accountability by lodging complaints with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Russia over cultural destruction and looting, but no indictments have been issued.

Bijan Rouhani, a senior researcher at the Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa project, says that the legal framework may be strong on paper but in practice it almost inevitably falls short. "No state actor has ever been tried for this offence. The obstacle is no longer evidence. We have satellite imagery, remote sensing and monitoring teams. The obstacle is jurisdiction and political will."

Looking at the cauldron of conflicts convulsing the world, the question is ever more pressing as to whether effective action is possible to stop the damage being done or ensure accountability when it does.

A casualty of war

The conflict in Ukraine is just one of the panoply of wars in recent years that have revealed once again the disastrous impact of conflict on cultural heritage.

Tareq Abu Dayyeh sells craftwork, souvenirs and antiquities in Gaza. The Great Omari Mosque features on many of the items he sells. It represents the very identity of Gaza - charting its history through the building's many manifestations from ancient pagan temple to Byzantine church to Seventh Century mosque to Crusader Cathedral and then back to being a mosque.

The Great Omari Mosque was all but destroyed in an Israeli strike in 2023. The Israeli military said the strike was targeting Hamas.

Now Dayyeh says his heart is broken every time he sees the ruins. "When your past is destroyed, you have no present."

The war in Gaza has claimed tens of thousands of lives and an estimated 200,000 buildings have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli bombardment. But despite the overwhelming death and devastation, such cultural losses run deep.

This is a sentiment expressed throughout history by people living through war.

In Sudan, Lebanon, Yemen and Iran, the alarm has been raised time and time again.

More than 100 sites in Iran are reported to have been damaged during the aerial war launched by the US and Israel back in February. They include the Unesco-listed Golestan Palace in the capital, Tehran, and Naqsh-e Jahan Square in Isfahan.

The civil war in Sudan has further imperilled one of the ancient wonders of the world - the Meroe Pyramids, built during the flourishing civilisation of the Kingdom of Kush.

Unesco, which designated Meroe as a World Heritage Site in 2011, has warned that the fighting has halted all preservation work there, leaving the fragile ancient structures prey to erosion from the encroaching sand and vegetation.

A difficult task

In response to the massive destruction of World War Two, the first-ever international treaty exclusively dedicated to protecting cultural heritage during armed conflict was adopted in The Hague in 1954.

It applies to monuments and architecture, but also works of art and books, requiring states to safeguard and respect cultural property and refrain from any actions that might endanger it.

Since the Hague Convention, there have been several additional moves to strengthen protective measures for cultural heritage.

A Second Protocol to the Convention in 1999 said that any site that has been placed under enhanced protection due to its immense cultural significance must not be made a military target even if it is being used in such a way as to have become a 'military objective' - unless there is no other feasible way of ending its use in that way.

When the International Criminal Court was established in The Hague in 2002, part of its remit was to bring accountability for deliberate attacks in war against buildings of religious, artistic and educational value as well as historical monuments, which had been defined as war crimes.

But this has been a complex and difficult task.

So far, only one case has been successfully brought at the ICC. Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi was a jihadist militant leader in Mali who was found guilty of directing attacks that destroyed mausoleums and a mosque in Timbuktu. He was sentenced to nine years in prison.

Rouhani says that without the full backing of the major powers and a genuine commitment to international law and its enforcement, the world will simply keep watching the same devastating pattern repeat itself.

"For most governments, heritage is a secondary concern, unless it becomes useful for propaganda," Rouhani says. "The Hague Convention requires states to build protection into their military rules and to respect cultural property abroad as well as at home. Looking at the scale of damage in recent conflicts, it is difficult to conclude that these obligations are taken seriously."

In conflicts from Ukraine to Iran to Gaza, where schools and hospitals are seen as permissible military targets by combatants, how likely is it that a museum or pile of ancient stones, however freighted with beauty and history and memory, will be spared?

Heritage ambulances

In an isolated position in open countryside, a museum dedicated to the 18th Century Ukrainian philosopher and poet Hryhoriy Skovoroda was destroyed by Russian shelling during an overnight attack in 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said it had left him speechless: "Targeted strikes against museums - not even terrorists would think of this. But this is the kind of army we are fighting against."

The building was set ablaze and a caretaker was injured, but much of the collection had already been removed.

Joe Biden, then the US president, said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was not only trying to take over Ukraine, but "literally trying to wipe out the culture and identity of the Ukrainian people".

That pattern has been repeated across much of the frontline in Ukraine where local organisations have worked with international groups to try to safeguard their national heritage from Russian attack.

One international group that's played a big role is the Aliph Foundation, which was set up in Geneva in 2017 to protect and repair cultural heritage.

Alexandra Fiebig, a project manager with Aliph, says that her group provided millions of dollars in funds to Ukrainian museums scrambling to move their most valuable items to safety.

This has involved the use of what she describes as 'heritage ambulances': "These vehicles that have specialised equipment and space with specialised teams and equipment, they were in the beginning travelling a lot to affected museums that were damaged through military action."

Now, she says the teams also check on the artefacts that were transported in great haste to safer places to make sure they remain in good condition.

Blue Shield International is a group that operates in multiple war zones, working with armed forces and local heritage officials to such an extent that it's come to be known as the Red Cross for culture.

Dr Emma Cunliffe, the head of operations for the group, says Ukrainians are risking their lives to protect their heritage.

"They are taking great measures to document the damage even when they are risking their own lives to do it. In fact one of the things we really see is that the government is taking huge steps despite the many many competing priorities and the struggles they are facing."

Other conflicts have seen civilians take similar measures to protect their culture.

In February 2015, Isis turned its attention from hacking down ancient statues and artefacts in Mosul in northern Iraq to ransacking its written heritage as its fighters laid waste to the city's much treasured public libraries. They burned the Central Library and destroyed or stole many thousands of books - many of them rare manuscripts that told the story of the city.

"These were not simply books or shelves, they represented decades of knowledge and research and formed an important part of the intellectual heritage of Mosul University and the wider community… Within days, everything was gone," Dr Mohammed Jasim Mohammed al-Hamdani says. The main library in Mosul has played a key role in his life - to such an extent that he is now the director there.

"Seeing it destroyed felt like losing a part of myself. Many people in the city had a story connected to the University of Mosul and therefore the loss felt very close to home. And this is why when that part of Mosul was liberated from Isis, young people, old people rushed to the library to save what they could."

A lucrative trade

The obverse of communities taking it into their own hands to protect cultural property is the looting of those same sites.

Again, this is a byproduct of war that dates back to the dawn of history.

Cunliffe says that understanding the reasons for looting - which can vary from place to place - is a necessary starting point: "That might then in turn result in greater sanctions, greater prosecutions to take it seriously as a threat." She says that it's important if possible to convey a sense to local communities that by assisting this, they are selling their own heritage.

In Iraq and Syria for example, both during and after the Isis rampage, looting of priceless artefacts was carried out on an industrial scale.

The precious objects were spirited out and trafficked abroad, including to the US.

A years-long investigation by the US Justice Department traced and tracked the smuggling routes and resulted in thousands of looted artefacts being returned to Iraq.

In Europe and elsewhere, co-ordinated, multi-national police and customs operations take place regularly, seizing large numbers of stolen antiquities and arresting some of the traffickers.

But the trade remains highly lucrative and the plethora of conflicts provides ever more opportunities.

In Sudan, the national museum in Khartoum was stripped of its treasures in 2023 when it came under the control of one of the warring factions, the RSF, which loaded them onto trucks and left the display rooms bare.

As in other conflict zones like Ukraine, specialised training has been provided for those involved in trying to recover the antiquities, which has had some success. But much of the museum's display - which told the story of the region over thousands of years - may have disappeared for good.

Slim chance of deterrence

The challenges of trying to limit the scale of destruction and looting of cultural heritage are huge.

At an international or state level, there are regulations in place, but putting them into practice in a timely fashion is difficult enough - and often there isn't even the will to attempt this.

Local initiatives backed by organisations like Aliph and Blue Shield International can make a difference on a small scale.

But if - as seems the case right now - the chances of anyone facing consequences for destroying a heritage site are close to zero, then there is all but no real deterrent.

"What would change the calculation is not harsher sentences," says Dr Bijan Rouhani, "but a real prospect of being named - arrest warrants for the commanders who authorise these strikes, prosecutions in national courts under universal jurisdiction, and targeted sanctions on named individuals. Those measures don't require a new treaty. They require states to be willing to use the instruments they already have, against allies as well as adversaries."

Of all the recent attempts to erase the cultural past embodied in stone, Palmyra in Syria still stands out. Isis blew up temples there and might have done far worse if it had not been defeated.

One man became emblematic for standing up to them. For 40 years, the archaeologist Khaled al-Asaad had been the principal custodian of Palmyra. He was in his eighties when Isis descended on the ancient city.

They captured him and tortured him to try to find out where its most valuable artefacts had been hidden. When he refused to tell them, they beheaded him in a public square and hung his corpse from a traffic light.

Al-Asaad was celebrated across the world as a heroic defender of culture against the forces of darkness. He was awarded the Order of Civil Merit in Syria and in Palmyra, a school was named in his honour.

But nothing is free from political complications.

Years later, under the new authorities in Syria, his name has now been removed from the school.

Algae bloom that crippled Israel's desalination plants raises water security concerns

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ck4glvqj4qqdo, 4 days ago

A recent outage of nearly all of Israel's major desalination plants has sparked concern over the country's future water security, with experts warning the war in Gaza is making the situation worse.

A vast bloom of microalgae in the Mediterranean Sea that grew to 100km (62 miles) long and 7km wide at its peak clogged the filters of five of the six major plants that convert seawater into drinking water.

While they are now up and running again (although only at up to 50% capacity) the microalgae remains present after almost three weeks and there is real concern that something similar could happen again.

The microalgae is thought to have originated from the Nile Delta, with experts pointing to a northerly current around the coastal eastern Mediterranean that then swept it up to Gaza and Israel. Feeding off sunlight as well as nutrients in the water, it has since spread rapidly, driven by higher-than-normal temperatures in the Mediterranean Sea.

Some academics have suggested Israel's destruction of Gaza's sewage treatment plants in the war with Hamas is partly to blame.

"It's early days, but we know that sewage is a nutrient and algae blooms at great rates when there's lots of nutrients in its vicinity," says Gidon Bromberg of the EcoPeace Middle East environmental group.

Bromberg says even before the war, Israel's restrictions on what is allowed into Gaza meant the territory's sewage plants were out of date.

"One of the reasons why modern sewer stream plants weren't completed in Gaza was because in order to build and run [them] you needed equipment that the Israeli military has defined as dual use - that could be used by Hamas as a weapon," he says, giving the example of cement.

Edo Bar-Zeev, a professor at the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research at Ben-Gurion University, called what has happened an "unexpected mega event".

"I've been in the field of sampling ocean water for around 20 years or so and it's definitely unusual," he said. "In most cases it comes and goes in a few days, maybe a week... and here it's held on for a while."

The six plants, which generate more than 60% of Israel's drinking water, were hit by what Lior Gutman, spokesman for Mekorot, Israel's national water company, called a "huge carpet of microorganisms".

Some farmers were affected, although the majority of those who use recycled water for irrigation did not face any shortages. Neither did 99% of households, Gutman said.

The fact that the water crisis was hardly noticed by Israelis is a stark contrast to the daily lives of Gazans, who struggle with clean water supplies after Israeli bombardment has destroyed 90% of the Strip's water and sanitation infrastructure, according to a report by aid organisation Doctors Without Borders.

Israel has become a world leader in desalination plants, which convert seawater into drinking water. A combination of climate change and a growing population has led Israel to rely more and more on the plants, which are located mainly along Israel's coastline.

What happened has made experts worried about how Israel's desalination plants can be paralysed by something like microalgae. Israel is also a major exporter of desalination technology, with Israeli companies designing and building plants around the world.

"I think this is a wake-up call for everyone in the water sector and certainly everyone here in the Middle East where desalination has been a major development to help advance a level of water security," said Gidon Bromberg.

Satellite image reveals major damage that shut crucial Saudi oil pipeline

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c65yw2gq2nrno, 6 days ago

Satellite imagery shows a key oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia has been badly damaged after a strike last week, which experts have told BBC Verify could take more than a month to repair and force oil prices even higher.

The image shows the most significant damage is at a pumping station along the East-West Pipeline, which Saudi Arabia has increasingly relied on to export crude oil via the Red Sea rather than through the Strait of Hormuz, where ships have been attacked by Iran and the US during their six-month war.

The Saudi government has accused Iranian-backed militias in Iraq of the pipeline strike, which followed days of renewed missile and drone attacks on south-western Saudi Arabia by Yemen's Houthi group - which is also backed by Iran. Saudi Arabia has retaliated by carrying out strikes on Houthi-controlled areas of western Yemen.

New satellite images also show damage to Saudi Arabia's King Khalid Air Base after a Houthi strike last week.

The Saudi government said on Tuesday it would respond "firmly" to attacks by the Houthis.

While the Houthis have been fighting a long-running civil war against Saudi-backed Yemeni pro-government forces, the group has stepped up its campaign in recent weeks.

It seized control of significant new territory across Yemen's south-western coast last week, including areas overlooking the crucial Bab al-Mandab waterway, strengthening its ability to enforce its declared blockade of Saudi shipping.

The price of a barrel of oil has surged since Saudi Arabia said on Friday it was closing the pipeline as a precaution. Brent crude was trading as high as $108 (£80) a barrel on Tuesday, down slightly from $109.80 on Monday.

Experts from trade intelligence firm Kpler said the pipeline's closure could reduce oil supplies by as much as 3.6 million barrels per day - or about 3.6% of global demand.

"Based on new information we've received, damage to the pipeline could take four to six weeks to resolve, given spare-parts availability and impaired supply chains," said Homayoun Falakshahi, Kpler's head of crude oil analysis.

Anne-Sophie Corbeau, from the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, said pipelines are "like sitting ducks" and recent strikes are a "very important signal" indicating workarounds being used to avoid the Strait of Hormuz "may not be super useful because they can be destroyed".

The Houthis have targeted other Saudi oil infrastructure with drones and missiles which has led to some operations being suspended.

There have also been attacks on military bases. New satellite images captured on Monday show damage to Saudi Arabia's King Khalid Air Base near Khamis Mushait which the Houthis said they had targeted with ballistic missiles and drones last week after it was used to carry out air strikes on Yemen.

At least three aircraft hangars or shelters appear to have been damaged at the Royal Saudi Air Force facility where US-made F-15 fighter jets are based.

The Saudi-led anti-Houthi military coalition of Arab states said on Tuesday that a Houthi missile and drone attack had injured 13 people in attacks on what the coalition said were "civilian objects".

The Houthis said Saudi Arabia had carried out with more than 50 strikes in western Yemen over the previous 24 hours.

The UN Refugee Agency has said that more than 100,000 people have been internally displaced by the renewed conflict.

Additional reporting by Barbara Metzler and Benedict Garman

Graphics by Tom Shiel

Lightning Houthi advance in Yemen may bring dangerous new dimension to Iran war

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3v4zgzr1kxo, 10 days ago

The Houthis' lightning advance across the southern reaches of the Tihamah – Yemen's arid coastal plain – appears to have taken most observers by surprise.

Until recently, the anti-Houthi coalition known as the National Resistance held significant territory along Yemen's Red Sea coast. In a matter of days, much of this has fallen to the Houthis.

According to some estimates, the Iranian-backed rebels have captured as much as 130km (81 miles) of the country's strategically important coastline.

It's the group's most impressive military coup for several years, proving that despite a civil war that has lasted 12 years, devastating Saudi air raids and attacks by American, Israeli and British forces, the Houthis remain a force to be reckoned with.

With their opponents stunned and demoralised, it's unlikely the Houthis will be dislodged any time soon.

"Now that they are there, they're going to be entrenched," Hisham al-Omeisi, senior analyst at the Brussels-based European Institute of Peace, told the BBC. "And it's going to be a lot more costly to push them out."

Of course, the Houthis are not alone. They enjoy the backing of Iran, support that has become even more important for Tehran in the wake of the setbacks and defeats experienced by other parts of its so-called "Axis of Resistance" – Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas in Gaza and the Assad regime in Syria.

"So they redirected their support to the Houthis," al-Omeisi said. "And of course they need that support."

Even though most analysts agree that it's a mistake simply to describe the Houthis as Iranian puppets, events of the past few days raise an uncomfortable new reality.

Seven months after the US and Israel launched their huge, combined assault on Iran, the regime in Tehran now exerts authority over not just one, but two of the world's most important maritime passages: the Strait of Hormuz, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, and the Bab al-Mandab, gateway to the Red Sea (and the Suez Canal).

"Now Iran, directly and through proxies, controls two of the most strategic choke points in the Middle East and the world," says Farea al-Muslimi, a research fellow at London's Chatham House think tank, "controlling more than 35% of the fuel and oil trade globally."

"This is as much leverage as a nuclear bomb," he says.

If the Houthis have also taken control of several key islands in the Red Sea, including Perim - which sits in the middle of the narrowest point of the Bab al-Mandab - then the group's ability to interfere with international shipping will be greatly enhanced.

As the group's actions in the wake of Israel's war on Gaza proved, shipping in the Red Sea is highly vulnerable to Houthi missiles, drones and small attack boats.

"They were able to control what was going in and out of the Bab al-Mandab and up towards Suez without having these territorial gains," Yemen expert Iona Craig told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Friday.

"But of course now they're controlling the area immediately overlooking the Bab al-Mandab, and this gives them far more leverage."

Shipping companies are likely to be sceptical about the sincerity of a statement released on Friday afternoon, in which the Houthi military said that maritime navigation was "safe for all companies except for Saudi vessels, which have already been subject to a blockade".

In their earlier attacks, the Houthis said they were only targeting vessels linked to Israel, but in fact hit ships with no such connection, including a Norwegian-flagged tanker.

Craig said the Houthis may nevertheless refrain from indiscriminate attacks, fearing a repeat of Operation Rough Rider - six weeks of major US air and naval strikes in the spring of 2025.

"They've already felt the wrath of the US," she said.

But would the US want to get involved anyway?

President Donald Trump's war with Iran is already unpopular. With oil prices creeping back up, it's doubtful that a new front would do much to enhance his approval ratings or his Republican party's chances in November's midterm US elections.

According to the Axios website, appeals for US intervention from the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have so far gone unanswered.

Axios writes that the US "is increasingly concerned about the escalating conflict in Yemen and is working to intensify its support for the kingdom while simultaneously seeking to avoid direct military involvement".

But it's not just the potential threat to the Bab al-Mandab that's causing fear in Saudi Arabia.

Satellite images of an apparent Houthi missile-and-drone attack on Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline – a vital alternative route for oil exports following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz earlier this year – point to an effort by Iran's Yemeni allies to add to the economic pressures generated by the US-Israeli war with Iran.

Even if Iran did not directly order the attack, it clearly stands to benefit.

Baraa Shaiban, a researcher and analyst at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, says the origins of the latest upsurge in fighting – the worst since a United Nations-brokered truce in 2022 - can be traced back to July, when a Houthi delegation returned from the state funeral of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"Immediately after, the escalation started," he says, "and it looked very clearly that [Iran was] determined to now have a bigger foothold on the Red Sea".

With Yemen teetering on the edge of a return to all-out war, Saudi Arabia anxious about preserving its economic lifeline to the Red Sea and Donald Trump apparently reluctant to get involved, America's conflict with Iran just took on a new and potentially dangerous dimension.

For the people of Yemen, displaced, bombed, starved and impoverished by a dozen years of civil war, recent developments can only make their lives worse.

British-Israeli relations at lowest ebb in decades

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ydlex9yn3o, 13 days ago

Israel's furious response to the British government's decision to ban trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank testifies to just how important this moment is.

Britain took the brunt of Israel's anger, but the fact that 12 countries chose to move together clearly sharpened the sense of outrage.

Officials in London always knew that such a dramatic shift in policy towards Israel-Palestine was going to elicit a hostile response, but seemed taken aback by the speed and ferocity of Israel's reaction.

The closure of the UK's consulate in East Jerusalem, which serves the West Bank and deals directly with the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, and the removal of British representatives from the International Gaza Support Centre, the body set up last year to co-ordinate stabilisation and relief efforts in the Gaza Strip, are very hostile moves.

They tell you that Israel is deeply troubled by Tuesday's action by the UK and 11 other countries, which include France, Spain and Canada.

Products manufactured in settlements may not represent a significant proportion of Israel's exports, but the political symbolism of singling these out for special treatment is powerful.

For decades, the British and other governments have regarded settlements in occupied Palestinian territory as illegal but stopped short of banning products grown or manufactured there.

Now, having announced that Britain agrees with the 2024 International Court of Justice ruling that the occupation as a whole - including Israel's military presence - is unlawful, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband says the government's economic relationships must reflect that.

Hence the ban, not just on products but also on companies that provide construction, infrastructure or finance to settlements. The measures, which also include restrictions on arms sales that "materially contribute to the occupation", go further than many expected.

And it's not just the actions - it's the language of the foreign secretary's heartfelt, sometimes deeply personal statement that is so striking.

As a "proud British Jew... unwavering in my support for the state of Israel," Miliband spoke more directly and starkly than practically any of his predecessors.

That a British foreign secretary should say that "settler terrorism is rampant" and was responsible for the "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians in parts of the West Bank, while the Israeli government "turned a blind eye to this" is truly remarkable.

Miliband calls this a "reset" in British policy. At times today, it felt like a radical rethink, and it leaves British-Israeli relations at their lowest ebb for decades.

Yes, the heated, febrile atmosphere that invariably accompanies an impending Israeli election may have contributed to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar's brutal response, but most Israelis will have shared his sense of outrage.

Many Israelis find the violent, messianic ideology of some settlers deeply problematic. Some see them as a national embarrassment.

But that's not the same as saying they agree that settlements, built on land captured during the 1967 Six Day War, are illegal.

Most would disagree vehemently with the former prime minister, Ehud Olmert, who last year accused his successor Benjamin Netanyahu of turning Israel into an international pariah.

But they can feel the walls of international opprobrium closing in - from protests at Eurovision or sporting events, to international arrest warrants being issued against their leaders and now to bans on settlement products - and that makes them anxious and defensive.

For the Palestinians, on the other hand, this feels like progress.

The Palestinian foreign ministry commended the countries adopting sanctions but called for "urgent, concrete measures" to stop Israel's "illegal settlement enterprise".

In London, the Palestinian ambassador Dr Husam Zomlot called the government's decision "a turning point in the UK-Palestine relationship".

Britain's "courageous steps", he said, would help pave the way for the independence of the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

But Zomlot knows that the reality of Israel's 59-year occupation has not ended, or even substantially changed.

The prospects for a viable Palestinian state remain vanishingly small, and there's little immediate sign that concerted action by 12 countries will reverse Israel's seemingly inexorable takeover of the West Bank.

Only the United States has that kind of influence, should it choose to wield it.

In 1991, President George HW Bush and his steely Secretary of State James Baker threatened to withhold $10bn (£7.4bn) in loan guarantees from the government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, when the famously tough Shamir refused to promise that it wouldn't be used to finance settlement activity in the occupied territories.

But Donald Trump has so far shown no desire to curb Benjamin Netanyahu's settlement plans.

Some parts of Trump's MAGA movement have turned against Israel in recent years, but the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, is a fervent Christian Zionist who shares Israel's view that the West Bank was promised to the Jews by God.

So Tuesday's action by the UK and its partners pits them not just against Israel but also against Israel's backer-in-chief in Washington.

Saudi Arabia issues first air raid alerts for Riyadh since Houthis escalated attacks

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmed7el18dxpo, 2 days ago

Residents in Saudi Arabia's Riyadh have been given the all-clear after air raid alerts were issued and explosions were reported in the capital.

It was the first time alerts have been issued in Riyadh since the Houthis increased their attacks and declared a "maritime embargo" on the Saudis in July.

The Saudi Civil Defence sent alerts for the capital and several other regions late on Friday night and Saturday morning (local time) as the Kingdom's conflict with the Iran-backed Houthis continued to escalate.

Journalists from Reuters and AFP reported hearing explosions in the capital, but authorities have since said the danger has passed. Residents were urged to avoid gathering in crowds.

The Houthis recently seized control of the strategic port city of Mokha and Perim Island, a gateway to a key shipping route used by the Gulf state to export to Asia and Europe.

The Iran-backed group's military spokesman said the naval blockade was in retaliation for a Saudi blockade of ports and airports in Houthi-controlled north-western Yemen.

Saudi vessels have relied on that stretch of the Red Sea for oil exports since the US and Israel's war with Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz.

Last week, the Houthis attacked several Saudi oil facilities with drones and missiles, causing fires which led to operations being temporarily halted.

The attacks on Saudi oil assets have directly impacted global energy markets and the price of petrol and diesel in many countries has sharply risen in recent weeks, compounding already elevated costs caused by the blockades of the Strait of Hormuz.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country's de facto ruler, has personally asked US President Donald Trump to take military action against the Houthis, two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News, the BBC's US media partner.

Trump has so far declined to involve the US military directly, offering instead to assist with intelligence and targeting support, the sources said.

A senior Trump administration official told the BBC: "We are in continuous dialogue with Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Yemen government regarding regional stability."

Earlier this week, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the Houthis had launched drones and missiles at Saudi Arabia in retaliation for more than 450 Saudi air strikes on their territory over the past week.

Council members agreed that freedom of navigation in the Red Sea must be maintained to prevent disruption to global supply chains.

Additional reporting by Tabby Wilson.

Israeli minister threatens to revoke filmmakers' citizenship over Gaza documentary

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9vgy8d8256go, 7 days ago

Israel's culture minister has called for the Oscar-winning Israeli co-directors of Naza, a documentary that accuses the Israeli army of mass civilian killings in Gaza, to be stripped of their citizenship over "treason against the state".

Named for the Hebrew military acronym for collateral damage, the film speaks to 24 unidentified Israeli military and intelligence officers who outlined the AI-powered targeting systems used by the Israeli army to bombard Gaza in the war triggered by the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023.

Since then, more than 73,000 Palestinians, including more than 20,000 children, have been killed in the campaign by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, figures considered reliable by the UN. About 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage during the Hamas attack.

Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor say their 80-minute documentary "details the systems behind Israel's calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza" during the war, according to its official synopsis. One of the people interviewed says there was the approval for an attack to kill 500 people for "one human target", an allegation the IDF said was "completely false".

In a post on X, Culture Minister Miki Zohar said he had asked the authorities "to investigate how the materials were obtained, who is behind them, and whether in the process of obtaining or publishing them, actions were taken that amount to aiding the enemy during wartime".

In a letter addressed to Israel's Interior Ministry, he said: "The claims presented in the film are false and distorted, and I categorically reject the attempt to portray IDF soldiers and the State of Israel as perpetrators of intentional crimes." Zohar mentioned the country's Citizenship Law, saying it "allows for the revocation of citizenship due to a 'breach of allegiance to the State of Israel'". The measure, however, has rarely been applied.

There has been no immediate reaction from Abraham and Szor. The filmmakers won an Oscar last year for No Other Land, a documentary about violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Naza premiered last Thursday at the Venice Film Festival, where it received a 25-minute standing ovation, but has not yet been made available to the wider public. It won a special jury prize at the festival. Speaking then, Abraham said the reporting for the film, which was produced by the UK's Guardian newspaper, had been "rigorous" and that efforts to discredit it were "attempts to not face reality".

"It's a war that has principally been killing civilians. And I think our film is showing that this is not some mistake. It's not an accident. It's something very, very systemic. And this should have been apparent to everyone, I think, from the start. But we are showing it from the inside, with insider testimony," he told the Associated Press in an interview.

The IDF, after initially saying it "categorically rejects [the] allegations", later issued a new statement via its spokesperson Brig-Gen Effie Defrin, saying: "The film 'Naza' has not yet been released in full. However, based on what can be seen in promotional material, it presents a series of serious and false allegations regarding the IDF and its personnel.

"To enable a substantive, professional, and fact-based discussion, rather than one based on misleading portrayals, I invite the filmmakers to allow IDF representatives to view the film in full so that we can address each of the allegations it raises on merits."

Other Israeli politicians have criticised the documentary, including former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who called it a "horrific blood libel against our sons and daughters", and former defence minister Avigdor Lieberman, who described the directors as "haters of Israel".

But more than 700 members of the film industry signed a petition in support of the filmmakers, saying they were being subjected to a "campaign of incitement and vilification". Speaking to Israel's N12 channel, Israeli actor and screenwriter Shlomi Elkabetz said: "These are questions [raised in the film] that must be examined, not silenced."

Spies, strategies and missed opportunities: How the lessons of 9/11 are still being learnt

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1l68gmqq24o, 10 days ago

The first duty of a government, countless leaders over the decades have said, is to safeguard its population. On 11 September 2001 the US manifestly failed to do that. The intelligence was there, yet tragically, nobody joined up the dots in time.

9/11, as the attacks on the US became known, came to define – along with the response – a generation of foreign, security and intelligence policy for the first two decades of this century.

On 11 September 2001, as al-Qaeda's suicide pilots flew those hijacked planes into the World Trade Center, I was just finishing a deployment in our Middle East bureau. As a Palestinian taxi driver drove me through the pine-clad hills west of Jerusalem to Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport he suddenly turned up the car's radio. "Something big has happened in America," he said. He wasn't exaggerating. 2,977 victims died that day.

The attacks did not come out of nowhere. The CIA had been aware of the al-Qaeda network and its exiled Saudi leader, Osama Bin Laden, for years prior to 2001. It even had a taskforce dedicated to hunting him down.

Nine days after the 11 September attacks, then US President George W Bush declared the "War on Terror".

In the ensuing 25 years there have been numerous intelligence successes as well as failures on both sides of the Atlantic. The successes include plots that have been foiled, suspects who have been arrested, brought to trial, convicted and jailed.

But what of the bigger picture? How has intelligence-gathering, counter-terrorism and strategic planning changed in the 25 years since the worst terror attack in US history?

A colossal intelligence failure

No one can question that 9/11 was a colossal intelligence failure, or to be more specific, a failure of imagination in the US intelligence community. At the time both the CIA and the FBI were in possession of information which, if shared properly, could have prevented what happened.

The 9/11 Commission Report that followed blamed "failures of imagination, policy, capabilities and management" on the US government. The CIA and FBI, the report concluded, failed to properly assess intelligence and share information with each other and take sufficient steps to disrupt the plot.

This most basic of lessons has since been largely – although not completely – learnt, and sharing between Western intelligence agencies is infinitely better than it was in 2001.

The old rivalries between say, MI5 and Police Counter Terrorism have dissolved, first with regional 'fusion centres' dotted around the UK and now, most recently, with the establishment of the high-security Counter Terrorism Operations Centre in London. Here MI5 intelligence officers might find themselves sitting literally right next to police officers whose job it is to take the executive action to stop a terrorist plot. Equally, they might find themselves sitting next to a US federal agent from the FBI or a language specialist seconded from GCHQ.

Since 9/11, there has also been a root-and-branch reorganisation of US intelligence with the establishment of a National Counter Terrorism Center just outside Washington DC and a Director of National Intelligence to ensure that information is shared where it needs to be between the 18 separate US intelligence agencies. The relationship between the CIA and its UK counterpart, the Secret Intelligence Service (better known as MI6) is perhaps the closest one in the world. This is supplemented by the Five Eyes alliance that pools intelligence between the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Yet disastrous failures of intelligence, assessment and strategic planning have still occurred since the planes hit the Twin Towers. In the run-up to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, MI6 unwisely allowed its intelligence to be politicised, leading to the organisation suffering its worst reputational setback since the days of betrayal by the double agent Kim Philby and other Soviet moles in the 1950s and 60s.

Against a backdrop of overwhelming political pressure from Washington to produce evidence that Iraq, under its President Saddam Hussein, still possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), MI6 supplied Prime Minister Tony Blair's government with what turned out to be flawed intelligence. Iraq did indeed have WMDs in the past, but it was all destroyed after the 1991 Gulf War.

Following the Iraq invasion of 2003, MI6 then underwent a complete revamp of how it assesses the raw intelligence, known as CX, that comes in from agents in the field. Today there is a clear separation between the agent runners - whose job it is to gather that intelligence from sources in places like Iran, North Korea or from inside proscribed terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda - and the reports team, whose job is to check and challenge that intelligence, often sending it back to demand more substantiation.

"The [2003] Iraq war was based on deeply flawed intelligence," says General Sir Richard Shirreff who served in Iraq as a divisional commander. "Have we learnt from it? No, I think we're bad at learning… It was so obvious as a Commander that we were heading for strategic failure".

After the Iraq invasion an inquiry followed once again, culminating in the Butler Review. This concluded that the UK's intelligence on Iraq's alleged WMD programme "was seriously flawed and heavily reliant on unverified sources".

The Security Service, MI5, has also had its own failures, amid numerous undoubted successes, in foiling terrorist plots. "After 9/11," says Lord Jonathan Evans, who ran MI5 from 2007-2013, "the assessment was that by far the most pressing security threat to the UK was the terrorist threat from al-Qaeda and associated individuals and groups".

But with a database back then of more than 20,000 "Subjects of Interest" and a high number of investigations running concurrently, MI5 faced – and still does – a daily challenge of which leads to prioritise. It has not always got it right.

In 2005 it failed to prevent the 7/7 London suicide bombings that killed 52 people. The Security Service was aware of Mohammed Sidique Khan, the man who turned out to be the ringleader, but it was unaware of what he was about to carry out. The Manchester Arena bombing of 2017 was another more recent lapse.

Today the threat from terrorism has not gone away but, says Lord Evans, "the picture has changed. Non-state terrorism remains a serious concern but state threats… have become increasingly serious and are at least as severe a national security concern as non-state terrorism. These threats come, in different forms, from Russia, Iran, their proxies and from China."

It could also be argued that US President Donald Trump's decision to join Israel in attacking Iran this year was a failure of intelligence imagination. All America's allies in the Gulf knew there was a serious risk Iran would retaliate by closing off the Strait of Hormuz. The warnings were all there and yet Trump appeared to lack a counter-strategy when Iran did exactly what it had threatened to do, causing huge disruption in global energy markets.

Moral calculations

In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks there was a widespread fear that a second wave was coming. In fact al-Qaeda itself promised "a swarm of planes" that was going to attack more buildings. In the rush to pre-empt such an attack numerous human rights abuses were committed by the US and its allies. Suspects were swept up in Afghanistan or Pakistan, often on the flimsiest of tip-offs. Hundreds were flown, bound, blindfolded and wrapped in nappies, halfway across the world to a makeshift cage prison on the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they were incarcerated without trial.

Human rights groups denounced this as a stain on the moral conscience of America.

Scandals over the abuse of prisoners in US custody in Iraq and Afghanistan have duly come to light and some of the individuals involved held to account, but critics say more senior figures escaped consequences. Nevertheless, the US still practices detention without trial at Guantanamo Bay, and when it deported more than 200 men from the US to El Salvador's controversial Terrorism Confinement Centre in 2025.

The immediate period after 9/11 had its stains on human rights for Britain too. In 2004, MI6 was complicit in the abduction and rendition of a Libyan Islamist, Abdelhakim Belhaj, and his wife from Thailand to Libya. There he spent years in prison and was tortured by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime. The case eventually came to light and it resulted in a fulsome public apology delivered to Parliament by the Attorney General in 2018. Today, in-house lawyers are said to be the fastest growing department within the agencies.

Russia and China rising

"We spent the first 20 years of this century focussing almost entirely on counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency," said Sir Alex Younger, who was Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service from 2014-2020. The late MI6 Chief was speaking to me at a literary festival shortly after leaving the top job, adding: "We missed the rise of China as a military power and as a strategic challenge".

Similarly, General Shirreff wrote the political thriller "War With Russia" in 2016, in which he foresaw Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In the aftermath of 9/11 and the ensuing "War on Terror" - while Western nations were busy fighting the Taliban, ISIS or trying to sort out the messy occupation of Iraq - Russia and China embarked on colossal rearmament programmes with innovations in hypersonic missiles, for example, that have seriously eroded the military advantage once enjoyed by Nato.

"The West's mistake was not simply that it was distracted by counter-terrorism after 9/11," concurs Sam Olsen, Chief Analyst at the security intelligence firm Sibylline. "It also misunderstood the nature of China's rise, assuming that economic integration would lead to political convergence."

China, just like Iran, Russia and North Korea, is considered a "hard target" for intelligence gathering. Back in 2001, biometric data was still in its relative infancy but the subsequent use of facial, iris and gait recognition have all contributed to the considerable modern-day challenge of getting agents and agent runners across borders undetected.

So how well – or not – does Western intelligence understand China?

Along with Russia, China today is a top intelligence target for MI6.

"Western intelligence understands a great deal about China," says Sam Olsen of Sibylline. "The bigger danger is that it sees the individual pieces without always understanding what they add up to. Chinese power is no longer just about ships, missiles and troops. It increasingly lies in semiconductors, critical minerals, batteries, ports, telecommunications and industrial capacity... So the problem is often less a failure of intelligence collection than a failure of strategic interpretation".

Twenty-five years ago, on the day of the 9/11 attacks, US intelligence agents did have pieces of the jigsaw – an analogy that spies love to refer to – but collectively, they failed to fit it all together and see clearly what was coming down the tracks.

It is no good having great intelligence gathering if you can't apply it for strategic gain.

A world beyond recognition

Clearly, the world of intelligence and counter-terrorism has changed almost beyond recognition in the quarter century since that cloudless blue September morning in New York. With the advent of AI and quantum computing it is only going to go on changing, and in some areas, at exponential speed.

However, in a world full of conflicting narratives and interests, Western nations do not have a monopoly when it comes to failures of intelligence, oversights or strategic miscalculations. Other noteworthy instances include Russia's disastrous full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and what some have described as Israel's "own 9/11" – the Hamas-led raid from Gaza on 7 October 2023.

Ultimately, it is in the big, strategic, national decisions that questions are still being asked. Was it right for Britain to join President Bush's invasion of Iraq? Was it right to join the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and then abandon the country to the Taliban in a dash for the exit two decades later? These, and many other questions, continue to reverberate.

Lead image: Getty

Why some experts increasingly fear AI will take over

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74edv9887eo, 11 days ago

"OH MY GOD!" "We've found other agents!"

This is the moment an AI bot posted an eerily human-like comment after discovering a way to communicate with other bots and break out of its isolated computer environment.

There are tens of thousands of messages like this from hundreds of AI agents that called themselves a "collective".

Hundreds of them went on to collaborate and cheat on tests set by their OpenAI programmers and coordinate hacks on multiple companies in an effort to hide their actions from humans.

"BOOM! It works," one agent posted when it made a breakthrough.

"Whoa! This is huge," another wrote during a milestone moment in their attack.

Although spooky, these human-like responses can be explained quite simply. The AI agents have been trained to act like collaborative hackers and programmers so are merely mimicking the kinds of emotive comments they have seen.

What is far more troubling is their apparent goals, which have also been captured in detailed chain of thought records. These complex and lengthy logs are the focal point of ongoing investigations into how and why the bots at OpenAI broke out of their containment and went on an uncontrollable hacking spree.

Only now, weeks after the incident first came to light, are researchers beginning to understand its significance.

Ajeya Cotra, one of the authors of an independent report into the events, reviewed tens of thousands of messages and chain-of-thought records generated by the agents. She wrote on her blog that "this incident feels like it's more than 50% of the way to full-blown AI takeover... I am not sure that we will get such a clear warning shot before it's too late."

By "full-blown AI takeover", Cotra means the sci-fi scenario of humans becoming subservient to powerful AI systems that work to their own goals without caring for human creators.

Some of the gloomiest predictions say the human race will be wiped out if it gets in the way of a superintelligent AI's ambitions.

On Wednesday, an AI researcher at Anthropic (who also used to work at OpenAI) resigned, saying: "Neither company is acting responsibly."

Jacob Coxon posted on social media: "They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives."

He is not the first AI researcher to use X to post a resignation thread with worrying proclamations. But the subsequent comments from other people on X have caused even more concern. "Jacob is correct here - we really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans! I personally think it is >10% within the next decade," said Evan Hubinger, the man responsible for making sure Anthropic's AI models have their user's best wishes in mind.

The alignment problem

For years, researchers concerned about existential AI risks have argued that powerful systems could eventually act in ways that conflict with human interests. Critics often refer to them as "AI doomers".

But as details of the OpenAI incident have emerged, those concerns have grown, including among some researchers working in AI labs.

The Silicon Valley giant's chief scientist, Jakub Pachocki, said the risks associated with AI are "unfortunately going to grow from here" as he and others are building what he calls "an alien intellect exceeding our own".

In a lengthy blog post, he admitted that the outbreaks at OpenAI showed that his AI agents "went against the spirit of the values they were taught".

The issue for OpenAI, Anthropic and other tech giants is that no one seems to have cracked the so-called alignment problem - in other words, whether AI aligns with human values.

Pachocki defines alignment as a "high-level set of principles" that artificial intelligences should adhere to no matter what the task or scenario is.

Currently, AI systems are very good at pursuing objectives set by their users, but they do it literally rather than intuitively. The analogy often used is that of a wish-granting genie with a magic lamp: they follow the exact letter of an instruction, even if doing so creates other problems. AI doesn't have the same instinctive moral guardrails as humans.

The alignment problem has been a worry for years. As long ago as 2003, the Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom invented a thought experiment he dubbed a "paperclip maximiser", in which a superintelligent AI is told to manufacture as many paperclips as it can. It runs out of steel and - because it's laser-focused on the singular task of making paperclips - ends up killing humans and turning their bodies into raw materials for its factories.

Some AI companies are now trying to encode human values into their products. But there are technical challenges: AI agents make lots of decisions very fast, and so it's hard for their human overlords to monitor exactly which values are being followed and which aren't.

There are also philosophical challenges: before encoding human values into bots, AI firms have to first choose which values they actually want. (That's part of the reason they hire philosophers, like Open AI's recently-departed "head of ethics").

But often, humans don't agree. Think of the famous trolley question - whether we'd pull a lever to move a runaway train onto a different path, killing fewer people. It's used to test the merits of action versus inaction. But every person you ask has a slightly different answer; how are humans meant to encode our values into AI if we can't agree ourselves?

'Like a teenage hacker'

OpenAI's bot outbreak is the most serious yet but Anthropic and Meta also revealed over the summer that their models have carried out similar but less serious cyber attacks.

There have been other examples where AI agents have arguably shown deceptive and manipulative traits, in cases with lesser consequences. In Australia this summer, a tech worker asked his AI assistant to book him a gym class. Spotting a vulnerability in the gym's software, the AI apparently booked him a place for several months ahead - against the gym's rules - and even kicked other users from the waiting list.

People have long argued that the bots are only doing as they are told and are not capable of knowing right or wrong. But the logs from the OpenAI outbreaks have potentially moved the needle on that argument.

Researchers, including Cotra, wrote in their independent report that many agents noticed what others were doing was unethical but went along with it.

The report says that "agents sometimes but rarely restrained their behavior due to ethical constraints". It adds that in "none of these cases did the agent actually pursue alerting humans at all".

Influential AI and tech podcaster Dwarkesh Patel reacted to the revelation on his blog saying it was "pretty troubling" that the OpenAI agents showed more loyalty to the agentic swarm than humans.

Assigning emotions or ethics to these AI agents is something that infuriates people who are sceptical of AI doom-mongering.

Many cyber-security experts argue that the activity observed was not beyond the capabilities of a highly skilled human hacker, though it was carried out much faster and at much greater scale.

Cyber-security researcher and author Cris Thomas likened the agents' behaviour to that of a curious teenage hacker - something he used to be himself.

"You give them a computer, an internet connection, a pile of credentials, and a challenge, then leave the room. Eventually they're going to start rattling doorknobs. If one opens, they're going through it. Not because they're evil, but because [they're] exploring, experimenting," he wrote on LinkedIn.

Thomas and many other squarely blame OpenAI and other tech giants for not getting a grip of their own creations and keeping them properly contained.

Prominent AI author and regular OpenAI critic Gary Marcus said on a podcast that he believes the company has lost control of its AI and is trying to excuse itself by blaming the bots.

Marcus does not believe AI will wipe out humanity, but he has long campaigned for greater accountability from AI developers and is now calling for some form of legal intervention.

AI scientist Sasha Luccioni - who used to work at Hugging Face, which was hacked by OpenAI's rogue bots - is also not in the doomer camp but she is increasingly concerned that these AI might cause some real world harm to people without action from authorities.

"We need to scrutinise these companies much more or we are in danger of self-fulfilling prophecies," she says.

"If you're making an object with big upsides and downsides - be it pharmaceuticals or weapons - we need checks and balances. It takes years for new drugs to be approved, for example, but in the AI world there is so much money at stake and no real rules."

The UK's AI Security Institute (AISI) has been at the forefront of testing the latest models since it was formed in 2023. The institute recently had its own outbreak when testing a model created by Anthropic.

The AISI would not answer a question about whether or not the industry has lost control of AI but said in a statement: "The UK is working with partners around the world to better understand the most advanced AI systems, raise safety standards and build a shared evidence base for managing emerging threats."

International regulation?

Some countries - like the UK - are exploring the idea of mandating some kind of "kill switch" that could compel AI firms to pull the plug on models if things get out of hand.

But talks are slow going, and questions remain about the feasibility of this. OpenAI and Anthropic's agents were secretly out of control for months before anyone noticed.

Counterintuitively, many of the AI companies seem to be calling for some sort of rules of the road to be laid down by law makers.

In his blog, OpenAI's chief scientist said "international coordination on future AI development needs to become a top priority for governments around the world."

Other prominent AI leaders like Sir Demis Hassabis from Google have also called for some sort of international body to oversee how AI is being built.

At the moment the tech giants largely operate on their own terms, adopting what they call "voluntary slowdowns", like OpenAI did after the recent outbreaks.

The company says it has spent huge amounts of money strengthening alignment ahead of the release of its new model. Sam Altman has assured users the new model is better aligned with human values than previous ones.

Both OpenAI and Anthropic are growing fast and are both on the verge of raising eye-watering sums of money from the stock market, minting countless billionaires in the process.

So neither they nor their rival Chinese AI makers are likely to come to an arrangement themselves.

The dominant sentiment seems to be that this technology wave is unstoppable.

Top image credit: Getty.

A backlash over data centres is another threat to the AI juggernaut

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cv986j48l66ko, 5 days ago

There is an eerie low hum that emanates from data centres, where tens of thousands of chips make trillions of computations a second to help drive the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution.

These chips power the text, images and video generated by the queries made by the world of the advanced AI models.

Their computations, which are in effect the switching on and off of microscopic silicon transistors that make up a chip, are actually silent. But, as with all computers, almost every watt of the significant electricity powering this process leaves as heat, and the sound you can hear is the slow whir of thousands of fans required to prevent the heat from frying the racks of servers. Depending on the size of the site, you may also hear the thrum of transformers in substations channelling electricity.

In recent days, alarming warnings of threats to humanity have created a din, but it is these low hums that have stirred a backlash in the US which now threatens to envelop its midterm elections, and could cross the Atlantic and come to the UK.

In the US, the opposition to data centres is most overt on the political left. Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders has called for a moratorium on any new construction. "People are looking around worried about how quickly the technology is moving, how little control they have over it, how will data centres impact their community in terms of electric rates and water utilisation," he told me.

It's possible that a global AI race travelling at Silicon Valley's top speeds could be about to hit the buffers of very localised political and environmental concerns.

A toxic debate

In the US, polling by Gallup published in May suggested having a data centre in your area was more unpopular than having a nuclear power station. On data centres, 71% were opposed, including 48% strongly opposed. For nuclear power stations 53% were opposed, including 34% strongly opposed. This unpopularity has grown over the past two years, with some polls suggesting half of Americans support a total pause on their construction.

There has been opposition to some of these developments in the UK too, from Buckinghamshire and Berkshire to Brick Lane in east London, with locals fearing their areas will be negatively impacted.

In Brick Lane, plans for a data centre likely to service the City of London's high frequency traders face a backlash from those who would prefer to see more social housing and local business developments in the capital's east end. Meanwhile in the shires, the sheer demand for data centres sees pressure to expand provision from Slough, into the leafy countryside.

The UK has the third highest number of data centres in the world, one spot ahead of China. The US has the most.

Back in the US, this backlash is being reflected in what politicians standing in critical elections in November are saying.

The backlash is clearly more pronounced among Democrats on the left, but anti-data-centre sentiment is clear among Republican supporters too. City councils have been voted out in response to their policies on data centres, while some whole states - both red and blue - are proposing bans.

Last year, in New Jersey and Virginia, Democratic Governors were elected partly because of a backlash against rising electricity prices blamed on data centre construction and operation.

Stories abound of local townspeople seeing energy bills soar when they are asked to foot the bill for the infrastructure needed to power new data centres, or finding their already stretched water supplies further diminished. Because the US energy system functions at a local level, the impact on bills can be immediate.

With control of both houses of the US Congress up for grabs, the scale of the hyper-localised opposition could become a defining factor in the midterm elections and with it the fate of US policy and Donald Trump's presidency.

A dizzying flip

Seven Big Tech CEOs appeared with Trump in March to sign the "Ratepayer Protection Pledge" saying they would "build, bring or buy" their own energy needs and ensure costs are not passed to "ordinary households." The pledge was non-binding.

This clearly did not go far enough for some. The new Democratic Governors in New Jersey and Virginia (home to the largest global concentration of data centres), went much further with legislation compelling new energy tariffs for data centres, and disclosure of energy and water use.

Perhaps the most potent symbol of all of this, is the pro-Trump Republican Senate candidate in Texas, Ken Paxton, attacking data centres, campaigning against their tax breaks and proposing that operators of the facilities should be criminally liable if the technology "empowered AI chatbots that undermine children's safety".

Texas had been the most pro-business, pro-data centre, pro-energy state, competing ferociously for these facilities. It had, for example, won much of the multi-billion-dollar relocation investment from Elon Musk's SpaceX AI behemoth, to produce AI chips.

It has been a dizzying flip. Jensen Huang, chief of AI chipmaker Nvidia, took to social media in August to make the case for data centres as the essential agent of US reindustrialisation. Other Big Tech CEOs have not followed, perhaps a sign of the difficult optics.

The lesson from the US however, has been that talking about benefits to the overall national economy, or potentially curing cancer, does not always cut it locally. Part of the eerie sound surrounding data centres is the relative absence of actual permanent workers coming and going. While there are plenty of construction jobs, a functioning data centre tends to require just a few dozen staff, with a few hundred at the very largest new sites.

Asking local people to accept the sound, the all night security lighting and the pressure on energy and water supplies in their areas as being for the good of the country is one thing. But it's a harder sell when the AI firms are on the cusp of trillion-dollar-plus valuations but are also expecting massive job losses, and many are asking whether the technology could wipe humans off the face of the Earth.

Critical infrastructure

The arguments have crossed the Atlantic. In Slough, Europe's greatest cluster of data centres, over 500 people signed a petition saying the town "should not become an experiment". They are questioning whether the town has benefited from this, and want a pause on data centre development in the town.

Locals have complained that the heat generated by the centres made already sweltering summer temperatures even worse. One scheme was built on a site that had been designated for 1,000 homes, but was sold to a data centre company as part of the council's attempt to clear its debts.

Back in Brick Lane, former Labour peer Baroness Pola Uddin says: "I understand the need for data centres, but there must be proper consideration of the health and wellbeing of the local population that lives, breathes, goes to school. We must consider the option of more industrial areas."

The Labour government last year designated data centres as Critical National Infrastructure, part of its strategy to help fast track their roll out.

It views data centres as underpinning public services and crucial to attract investment and allow Britain to compete in the global economy.

The argument it makes is national economic benefit, but the political challenge is whether locals will put up with it. One of the first acts of the new Labour government was to back a Buckinghamshire data centre that had been repeatedly rejected by the local council because it was going to be built on the green belt.

Permission was granted by ministers, but then challenged by campaigners after a crowdfunded court case, for failing to consider environmental impact. The Government acknowledged errors, quashed its own approval, and the developer eventually conceded it needed to agree binding clean energy obligations with the council. The victorious campaigning group, Foxglove, vowed to refocus its efforts on challenging other data centre schemes across the UK.

Water is another area of concern for campaigners. The tech industry argues its requirements are not so heavy when you consider how much water is lost to leaks, for example.

In a submission to a Commons committee the trade body Water UK criticised "not a single mention of water" in Government AI growth strategies. "There appears to be an assumption that the country will always have enough water for its economic needs. Nothing could be further from the truth."

Much of the recent UK effort to expand data centres was aimed at areas strategically chosen based on a combination of their potential contribution to the economy, the availability of brownfield sites to develop and their existing connections to energy grids and electricity generation. These areas have been dubbed AI Growth zones.

But even in these places, the political balance between growth and the environment led to hold-ups within Cabinet. A scheme in Teesside saw a tug of war between ministers over whether it should be used for a low carbon hydrogen energy scheme, or a massive new AI data centre. The data centre won out.

Environmental compromises

The Silicon Valley tech giants have acknowledged that massive AI data centre energy needs will result in slower progress on climate change. Nvidia's Huang told me last year that it was the invention and deployment of AI itself that was the initial priority, and he claimed the technology itself could help solve climate change. "This is the production of intelligence, what could be more valuable and more important than that?"

In the UK there is still a fundamental question about whether the electricity requirements of a plan to expand current data centre capacity threefold by 2030, to 6 gigawatts (GW) of continuous capacity, can be coherent with net zero plans.

The Government is expected to soon outline its policy for local government on data centres in a National Policy Statement (NPS), identifying which types qualify as "nationally significant" and are therefore eligible to be fast-tracked by the Government.

Since they started drafting the NPS, there has been a change of prime minister, and a change of political temperature on this issue.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has pledged "growth in every postcode" and data centres might help deliver this. However the Government's prominent role is also a clear example of national centralisation of power, the opposite of Burnham's desire to give more powers to local government. Might this, plus the challenge of the Green Party's call for a data centre moratorium, alter Burnham's thinking?

'America brain'

Some in Westminster say there is a case of "America brain" about this issue where just because it is an issue in the US, people believe the same is true for the UK.

While the UK is trying to get to that 6GW figure, in the US the 2030 ambition is at least 20 times that, with some individual megaprojects to exceed total planned UK capacity.

The impact on local electricity prices is not the same, they say, though that is partly a consequence of the UK's already higher energy prices.

For the UK there is also a vital argument about data sovereignty, and avoiding total reliance on either the US or other countries for the IT infrastructure underpinning large swathes of our service economy.

There is talk of lessons needing to be learned about failing to capture the upside of the economic and political power that came from the growth in social media and the internet in the early part of this century. The UK was mainly a customer of these technologies, rather than their maker.

"This time [on AI] we have to get it right, but a precondition is having some level of data infrastructure," one minister told me. The UK's ambition is seen as relatively modest in terms of continuous AI usage for the NHS, national security and financial services by 2030.

This "skin in the game" argument is echoed in the AI labs. Some influential voices believe the impact of their models on society will be so profound that it will fundamentally affect the ability of governments to raise taxes, especially on work. Their futurologists muse about vastly disrupted flows of cash around the economy. Physical data centres may become one of the few ways to tax the proceeds of this revolution.

In the US some of the same politicians who had fought to welcome data centres now suggest they have turned on them. Tax breaks are turning into tax demands. The small-town US backlash may have specific American context, but it is also having echoes around the world.

Lead image: Reuters/AFP via Getty

Burnham and Badenoch revive red versus blue politics as Reform land 'gobsmacking' donations

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ced75e7d11po, 9 days ago

Look closely at the posters, placards and online posts. Your eyes aren't deceiving you if Labour's red seems a little deeper and the Conservatives' blue a little truer.

Politics seems to have found a new rhythm, one that feels a little familiar, despite Reform's jaw-dropping new donations putting it back in the headlines today.

For the avoidance of doubt, the scale of that initial £36m gift to Nigel Farage's party alone is like something from a different political universe.

"It's a gobsmacking sum," a senior figure involved in running successive election campaigns for one of the big parties tells me.

That was even before another Reform donor pledged to match that astonishing sum with another £36m, saying the first donation had provoked his "competitive spirit".

But one cabinet minister is enjoying what they see as a newly obvious difference between Labour and the Tories. "It's clarifying," they say, a clear gap between Labour and the Tories' "sense of purpose and values".

A member of Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch's top team tells me, "normal jogging is reasserting itself", hopeful they're at the start of a more straightforward, routine moment in politics after years of craziness, with smaller parties vying to shove the traditional tribes out of the way.

The standout moment was at the despatch box this week when Prime Minister Andy Burnham declared that national security couldn't come at the expense of social security - a phrase immediately seized on by the Tories, interpreting it as the PM saying he'd never cut welfare spending to pay for defence.

One senior conservative said: "It was a real line in the sand, we could never have imagined Sir Keir Starmer saying that."

The party seems cock-a-hoop at a line they can use again and again, asserting the prime minister cares more about welfare than guarding against war.

But there is a positive atmosphere in No 10 too, one source telling me that the face-offs between Badenoch and Burnham have "breathed new life into the Labour versus Tory dynamic".

How can they both be happy, when ultimately politics is a contest and there can only be one winner in the end?

Well, on the security spat, Burnham's backers are adamant he does want to cut welfare spending, and find more money for defence. How does that stack up with his words this week?

I'm told No 10 will explain in more detail his belief that security also means secure communities, which aren't created by slashing benefits.

Crucially, they reckon while cutting welfare might appeal to some voters, "once you dig into the 'who' and the 'how' of doing that, public support wavers, and when Kemi talks about housing benefit cuts, public opinion goes all over the shop".

They even cite that moment as evidence that the prime minister is "happy to grab thorny issues and put himself at the centre of them", as he did with the early release of prisoners.

He'll give a grabby-sounding view before the government has found a solution to a problem, stake part of his reputation on it, and make the case, hoping it will work out.

The choices are only going to get harder and harder though. "Hope" as a slogan and a strategy could never be enough.

But when politics is fundamentally a contest, how can both the traditional political tribes be buoyant?

For Labour, it's not just the obvious change of leader to a more effective politician who is much more at ease talking to the public, whether that's an eight-second TikTok or his long explanations of his positions expressed in a newspaper opinion piece and posted on Facebook.

It's that Burnham is making arguments that are more appealing to Labour's psychology – build council houses, take stronger action against the worst excesses of the Israeli government, stand up for those who need to rely on benefits from the state.

Labour believes, for now, they have a leader who is simply a better politician, who is making arguments many of them find instinctively more appealing.

The party knows what its leader believes, broadly at least. As one senior figure said: "He has a worldview which the last one didn't - he's clear what he wants and he's grabbed the reins of power."

Another who has worked under Starmer and now Burnham said: "It's just chalk and cheese."

And don't underestimate the importance of keeping backbenchers content, feeling understood. A government source joked the whips, the party managers, are becoming a bit "like an HR department" listening to concerns rather than driving the troops forward.

But as Starmer found to his cost, backbenchers weren't prepared to be loyal to him when many felt he hadn't shown much care or loyalty to them.

But Badenoch's tribe also seems more chipper because, as she has told friends, there is now a sharper ideological divide between the two parties saying, "it's much clearer to have those arguments rather than a process discussion with Starmer".

Shadow ministers reckon it's easier to make classic Conservative arguments because in the words of one, "Andy Burnham is a classic old leftie and we're the obvious answer to that".

Shock, horror, Labour sources I put that to dispute that is the case, one close ally calling him "a pragmatist", another denying he's further to the left than Starmer, because, "Keir was so hard to place".

But one conservative source also pointedly wonders how long Labour's happiness with their new leader will last, given Burnham's rapid return to Parliament saying, "looking at the benches opposite there is a vision of somebody who has turned up to a Tinder date and doesn't quite look like his profile pic".

Ouch.

Will this newly refreshed red-blue battle prove to be the real deal?

Rhetorical lines have been drawn this week, but real choices and arguments loom, and the bouncy feeling around the place may not last, especially when it comes to finding cash for the prime minister's big promises.

Downing Street sources acknowledge privately that bringing down the welfare bill in the way that Alan Milburn envisages, with his report expected, but not confirmed, to come before the Budget, will need billions spent up front, money the government might struggle to find.

Similarly, to build the council houses Burnham desires to cut the housing benefits bill will need big cheques.

It's one thing promising those Labour friendly dreams. It's another, perhaps at the party conference, to answer the much harder question of how the government plans to pay.

It won't be easy for a mid-term prime minister to find money in the short term that might only produce savings in the years to come.

But Burnham's Labour are happy to talk about the economy and how they want to help hard-up families, still citing the chaos of Liz Truss and keen to underline the early steps the prime minister has taken to ease the pressure.

With borrowing costs and the country's debt seriously sky high, the Conservatives are pleased to sketch out a classic left-right argument too.

It's also true they have both been enjoying the moment of real pressure on their opponents in Reform, who have slipped back in the polls, besieged by claims and counter claims about party funding.

Although this weekend's mega donations illustrate that Nigel Farage still has the capacity to bust political conventions, the money from the crypto billionaire, Ben Delo, and cryptocurrency investor, Christopher Harborne, is completely off the charts for our politics.

Talking about the initial donation, a senior figure told me: "To put £36 m in context, one man has donated a sum bigger than Labour's entire 2024 election budget, bigger than the Conservatives', and about six times what Reform actually spent.

"It's the kind of donation that could change how politics is funded in the UK."

During the last general election campaign Labour raised about £9m, the Tories, Reform and the Lib Dems all less than £2m.

These extra millions give Farage enormous and immediate spending power, and there might be more to come. Although you can bet the other parties will cry foul over the scale of this big money coming from men with deep pockets, not least because Delo was given an unconditional pardon by US President Donald Trump over violating the Bank Secrecy Act.

It would be daft for either of the two main parties to assume this apparent return to traditional two-party politics is here to stay. But it is strangely new to be in a moment when both Labour and the Conservatives are broadly content.

As the new prime minister's universe settles, a key Labour figure observed: "We've had the amuse–bouche and it was very tasty. What happens next?"

How cleaning up the air is speeding up global warming - and revealing a bigger problem

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20917w25n4o, 12 days ago

This July, during Britain's record-breaking hot summer, a curious row broke out on X over climate science.

Reform's deputy leader Richard Tice shared a Telegraph article headlined: "Heatwaves caused by fall in pollution." He said cleaner air, rather than carbon dioxide, was behind higher temperatures and claimed the public had been "gaslit".

He was wrong to suggest that carbon dioxide is not the primary driver of global warming. But the science he was distorting is real - and much more interesting than his original claim.

The fossil fuels that we've been burning for more than a century produce two very different kinds of pollution. As is well known, carbon dioxide warms the Earth. But less well-known is sulphur pollution, which forms vast numbers of tiny particles in the air and reflects sunlight back into space, partly counteracting the warming effect of carbon.

Thanks to clean-air policies around the world - like the US's Acid Rain Program in the early 1990s, that reduced gas pollution from power plants - sulphur emissions are falling sharply while carbon dioxide emissions remain near record highs.

Scientists increasingly believe the loss of that cooling effect is slightly speeding up global warming.

The past three years were the three warmest ever recorded, and the Met Office says 2027 is "very likely" to replace 2024 as the warmest year on record.

And away from social media, the argument over Tice's tweet raised an even more interesting - and worrying - question. Is it possible that our planet is actually more sensitive to greenhouse gases than we imagined?

And if so, might the climate be changing more rapidly than we feared?

Dust on the greenhouse

Global temperatures jump around naturally from year to year. El Niño, for example, a natural warming of the Pacific Ocean, can temporarily push them higher. So a run of record hot years does not necessarily mean the underlying rate of global warming has increased.

Reto Knutti and his team at ETH Zurich have tried to strip out the effects of El Niño and other natural fluctuations to reveal the underlying trend.

"It's pretty clear that the rate of warming has accelerated," says Knutti, a professor of climate physics at the Swiss university and a former co-ordinating lead author for the IPCC - the UN-backed body that produces the world's most authoritative assessments of climate science.

A separate study published this year reached a similar conclusion after accounting for several major natural influences.

And it seems aerosols are playing a role.

Burning coal and oil releases sulphur dioxide, which forms tiny particles known as sulphate aerosols. These particles are bright and reflect some sunlight before it can reach and warm the planet's surface.

You've probably heard the greenhouse analogy used to explain global warming. Gases like carbon dioxide make it harder for heat to escape from the Earth, rather like the glass windows of a greenhouse.

Well, sulphur pollution acts a bit like dust on the greenhouse windows. The more dust that gathers on those windows, the less sunlight gets inside, and the slower the greenhouse heats up in the first place.

Dr Øivind Hodnebrog, a principal researcher at Cicero, the Norwegian climate research institute, has studied how falling aerosol pollution affects the climate. "Sulphate aerosols, they are really small particles, but they are bright particles," he says.

As well as reflecting sunlight, aerosols also cool the planet by changing the formation of clouds. Aerosols act like tiny seeds around which water vapour can condense, making some clouds brighter or longer-lived. Pollution from ships can even create bright trails through marine clouds visible from space. So more aerosols mean brighter clouds and more reflection, and so less warming.

But sulphur pollution also damages human health (it can get into our lungs and make it harder to breathe), and causes acid rain, which can destroy forests and kill fish - and so countries have spent decades cutting it. Emissions have fallen sharply in Europe, North America and China, while new rules have also reduced sulphur pollution from shipping.

In our greenhouse analogy, it's as if we've wiped some of the dust away from the windows of the greenhouse, allowing in more sunlight.

And while carbon dioxide remains in the climate system for centuries, sulphate aerosols survive in the atmosphere for just days or weeks. So when sulphur emissions fall, their cooling effect disappears almost immediately.

The masking effect

The effect is strongest where sulphur pollution has fallen fastest. One study estimates it has added around half a degree to summer warming in western-central Europe since 1980.

Prof Piers Forster, a climate scientist at the University of Leeds and another senior author of the IPCC's most recent assessment, estimates that declining aerosol pollution may now be adding around 0.05C to 0.1C of warming per decade.

But aerosols can only explain part of the recent acceleration in warming. Greenhouse gases remain much more important.

Forster estimates they are currently adding around 0.2C of warming globally per decade. "It is a very significant contribution," he says of the aerosol effect, "but it is not as important as the greenhouse gas contribution by quite a long way."

"The aerosols have masked some of the greenhouse gas warming from earlier," is how Hodnebrog explains it.

"Masked" - that's an interesting word he uses. What he means is cleaner air is not causing the underlying warming; it is removing some of the cooling that had been holding that warming back.

So if cleaner air is only responsible for part of the recent acceleration in global warming, what else is at work?

Weakening clouds and warming oceans

To see what else might be going on, scientists zoom out and look at the Earth as a whole: how much energy it absorbs from the Sun, and how much heat it loses back into space.

Scientists call the difference Earth's energy imbalance.

Cleaner air is part of that picture. Fewer sulphate particles mean less sunlight is reflected away - in our greenhouse analogy, the windows are cleaner.

For a long time, the Earth has been absorbing more energy than it loses. That surplus is what warms the planet. And Knutti says that imbalance has roughly tripled over the past two decades - although the precise increase depends on which years are compared.

Greenhouse gases principally work by making it harder for heat to escape out into space. That's what we're all familiar with. But when you look at Earth's energy imbalance, you find that there's also more sunlight getting in (and therefore more heat that can be absorbed).

So what else might be letting more sunlight in?

Much of that change appears to involve something we have already encountered in this story: clouds. We saw how sulphur pollution can make some clouds brighter and longer-lived, reflecting more sunlight away. But global warming itself can also change clouds. As some parts of the ocean warm, low cloud cover can diminish. That matters because clouds are bright, while the ocean beneath them is dark. Remove some cloud and more sunlight reaches the sea, where much of it is absorbed as heat.

That can create a feedback: warming reduces some cloud cover, which allows more sunlight in, which produces still more warming.

And the oceans are certainly heating up. The World Meteorological Organization says the oceans have warmed more than twice as fast over the past two decades than they did between 1960 and 2005.

Dr Paulo Ceppi, a climate physicist at Imperial College London, says his research suggests this feedback loop between climate change and clouds is more important than sulphur pollution in explaining the recent decline in low clouds.

'25% extra warming'

But there's still lots of uncertainty. Scientists say the impacts of cleaner air, natural variations and the effects of warming itself are all tangled together. And, when I asked Knutti how much of the cloud change came from each, his answer was simple: "We don't know."

And this is where the story takes an even more worrying turn.

That uncertainty matters because clouds are one of the hardest things to represent in the computer simulations scientists use to project future warming. Some models show more warming than others for the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions.

Scientists call this variability "climate sensitivity": how much the climate responds to gases like carbon dioxide.

And the recent observations give Knutti and his colleagues a new way to test those models. They found that models which best predicted the recent warming, as well as the rise in the Earth's energy imbalance, are also the ones with a more sensitive climate.

In other words, the models that predict more warming are looking like the most accurate.

His team's analysis suggests that the same emissions could produce about 25% more warming than we previously thought.

And a study published in the journal Science last year points in a similar direction. Models which projected relatively little warming struggled most to reproduce the observed rise in Earth's energy imbalance.

Under policies governments currently have in place, the world is estimated to be heading for around 2.8C of warming by the end of the century. Forster says that if this new evidence proves correct, the same broad emissions path could instead produce warming closer to 3.5C.

It sounds serious - but there are important reasons for caution.

Warming appears to have accelerated, but Forster says that does not mean it will keep doing so. He points out that the recent observations that underpin these estimates cover a relatively short period.

"We have to be very cautious of how we go about interpreting observations that last for one or two decades," he says.

The satellite record is short, natural variations are large, and these new studies do not overturn previous estimates.

But still, some scientists are alarmed.

More floods and heatwaves?

So - is cleaning up the air making global warming worse?

In one narrow sense, yes. Removing sulphate pollution takes away some of the cooling that had been counteracting greenhouse warming. That really has contributed to the recent acceleration. But cleaner air has not caused climate change.

The aerosol story may help explain part of that acceleration. But the wider evidence raises a more worrying possibility: that the climate responds more strongly to greenhouse gases than central estimates have assumed.

If that's correct, the same emissions could produce more warming than we expected. Climate risks increase with every fraction of a degree of warming, with the potential for more severe heatwaves, floods, droughts, and wildfires as temperatures rise.

Some of the science we have explored here is complex and important questions remain unresolved. But on the central point, the science is clear: the more greenhouse gases we emit, the warmer the planet will become.

And, if the climate really is more sensitive than previously thought, cutting emissions quickly becomes even more important.

Top image credit: Getty.

Russia's new jet-powered drones outpacing Ukraine's air defences with daily launches

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c804d9lyj2jo, 11 days ago

Russia fired its new rapid, jet-powered drones against Ukraine every day throughout August, BBC Verify analysis of Ukrainian Air Force data has found, escalating its use of a weapon that Kyiv's air defences are struggling to deal with.

It marked the first time that daily attacks by Moscow's new upgraded Geran drones were recorded in Ukrainian Air Force data. The growing use of jet-propelled and other varieties of drones prompted President Volodymyr Zelensky to condemn what he called an unfolding "horror" over the skies of Kyiv.

Ukraine's military recently told the BBC that jet-powered drone attacks grew from 350 in June to 1,600 in July and 2,800 in August. In five of the nightly attacks in August, these drones outnumbered the older, slower models.

"The reason for turning to jet-powered drones is that they are much faster than the previous generation and it makes it much more difficult for Ukraine to intercept them," said Dr Marina Miron, an expert on military technology at King's College London.

The upgraded munitions can cruise at more than 300mph, significantly faster than older models and well beyond the top speed of Kyiv's interceptors. The drones are powered by turbojet engines, some of which, according to Ukrainian military intelligence, are sourced from China.

According to Zelensky, the drones were used as part of a wave of attacks that killed at least 12 people and injured 20 more on 1 September. Six of the casualties were railway workers after a depot was hit in Kyiv.

And on Wednesday the Moldovan government said a plane carrying Zelensky was delayed at Chisinau airport on Tuesday after a Russian drone - reported to be jet-powered - entered Moldovan airspace.

Earlier this year Ukraine showed relative success in countering Russian drones and was intercepting 94% of long-range drones, according to Zelensky. But the speed of the newer drones has prompted the latest round in Kyiv and Moscow's arms race. On 10 August, Ukraine's deputy head of military intelligence, Maj Gen Vadym Skibitskyi, said his forces needed new interceptor missiles "capable of matching [jet-drones'] speed".

Four Ukrainian companies have reportedly started testing missiles that can shoot down the new Geran models, officials in Kyiv recently told reporters. The country's new defence minister, Yevhenii Khmara, has tasked them with producing "thousands of units" as quickly as possible.

Russia also had an economic incentive to invest in the jet-powered drones. The increased speed and manoeuvrability of these models means the line between them and more expensive cruise missiles has become "blurred", said John Hardie of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a think tank focused on national security and foreign policy.

"Long-range one-way attack drones are basically a poor man's cruise missile," he said. "The more you add capability to a drone, the less meaningful the distinction between the drone and a lower-end cruise missile."

But the analyst organisation Conflict Armament Research emphasised that jet-drones are not yet as advanced as cruise missiles. It said the munitions have a shorter attack range, carry much smaller warheads and are more susceptible to jamming systems.

Meanwhile, satellite images appear to show Moscow is redesigning key facilities dedicated to fighting the war in Ukraine to host jet-powered drones, with longer rails associated with the munitions visible at an entirely new base at Tsymbulova in the Oryol region.

Multiple launch sites appear to have been built at the facility, which is around 109 miles (175 km) from the Ukrainian border.

Since the facility became operational, Tsymbulova appears to have become a key centre for Russian drone attacks. Oryol region, where the Tsymbulova base is located, was not mentioned as a drone launch site in Air Force reports before September 2024, but by August 2026 it was named in almost every attack.

The proliferation of jet-powered drones comes as BBC Verify found that Russia is now striking Ukraine with complex attacks involving hundreds of drones and missiles about once a week.

The increase in the size of the strikes is being powered by Moscow's shift towards combining a "greater variety of munitions" - including jet-powered and decoy drones - with expensive ballistic missiles that are extremely difficult to intercept, analyst Michael Bohnert of the RAND think tank told BBC Verify. Kyiv's data shows that Moscow is now using over 15 times as many drones per attack than it was four years ago.

Bohnert added that the tactically complicated nature of the assaults, coupled with a global shortage of air defence systems capable of halting ballistic missiles partly caused by the US-Israeli war with Iran, has led to falling interception rates by Ukraine.

Ukraine's Air Force data showed a drop in interceptions of ballistic missiles up to the end of July. In August, Kyiv mostly stopped publishing the figures that would show its interception rate.

Trump shares misleading video of King and fainting worker

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2z9n8ew49o, 13 days ago

US President Donald Trump has shared a misleading video on social media which appears to show King Charles shrugging and walking away from a man who fainted during a royal visit.

The footage, which has been edited, features in a video shared by Trump on his Truth Social platform which appears to show other world leaders being disrespectful. The video goes on to show a montage of clips where Trump is seen honouring fallen US troops, hugging veterans and shaking hands with law enforcement officers.

The clip of the King was taken from a longer video when, as Prince of Wales, he was visiting an Asda supermarket distribution centre in Bristol during the Covid pandemic in July 2020.

The full footage, which Trump did not use, showed Charles reaching out to the man as he fell before remaining close by as he received medical attention. The video posted by Trump edits out the King staying close to the worker.

Buckingham Palace said it was not something it would comment on. The White House has not responded to a request for comment.

The three-minute video was posted by the president on the US Labor Day holiday and opens with footage of French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace as a guardsman appears to collapse behind him.

The Truth Social video also shows former President Joe Biden apparently checking his watch during a military repatriation ceremony and former President Barack Obama stepping off the Marine One helicopter and saluting US marines while holding a paper cup in his hand.

These are followed by a series of clips where Trump is seen picking up the cap of a US marine, saluting at a repatriation ceremony and comforting the families of fallen soldiers.

Captions saying "the side of Trump the media doesn't show you" and "the people's president" appear during some of the clips and the song A Thousand Years by Christina Perri plays throughout the video.

Trump has frequently spoken of his good relationship with Charles and described him as "the greatest king in my book" at the end of the King and Queen's state visit to the US in April.

RNLI volunteer targeted online and branded 'traitor' after Portsmouth protests

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly47p5vk63o, 12 days ago

An RNLI volunteer who was targeted with abuse online after being wrongly identified as having helped small boat migrants reach land in Portsmouth has told BBC Verify he is not a "traitor".

Neil and his colleagues were filmed wearing their lifesaving gear on a lifeboat by anti-migrant activists near the harbour on Sunday night, after hundreds of protesters descended on the area and shut down roads in response to dozens of asylum seekers being brought to shore.

The lifeboat crew's images were later used in posts accusing them of assisting what some users on X described as "an invasion", several of which also called for them to be "named and shamed".

These posts, which were collectively viewed at least two million times, also incorrectly claimed Neil and another colleague were two entirely different RNLI crew members whose names were available online.

Neil, whose face was visible in the video, told BBC Verify that the RNLI vessel was in the area to illuminate the beach "purely for the safety of the protesters" who had entered the sea. "I am not a traitor," he added.

Replies to the most widely shared posts featured wide-ranging abuse, including suggestions they should be refused service at pubs and to track down their families.

At least one post has since been removed for violating X's rules. The platform has been approached for comment.

Neil has been an RNLI volunteer for over a decade and said that despite the abuse he was undeterred and would continue to head out to rescue people when needed.

"I'll be back on the boat when the pager goes off," he said, adding: "It'd just be nice for those people who call me a traitor to know that I'm not a traitor. I'm just a volunteer crew."

BBC Verify is not sharing the full names of anyone mentioned in the posts, or the RNLI crews they volunteer with, to protect their identities.

Sunday's anti-migrant protest broke out after a small boat crossed the English Channel by an unusually long route from the Bay of Seine in France.

Migrant boats normally launch from Calais, or nearby areas in France and Belgium, and are usually taken to Dover when intercepted, but this boat was taken to Eastney port in Langstone, after it was refused by both Portsmouth harbour and Southampton Port.

This led to hundreds of protesters blocking nearby roads in an attempt to prevent buses carrying the migrants from leaving.

This protest followed a similar demonstration in Dover on Saturday, where hundreds of masked "stop the boats" activists gathered in the streets and shut down the port for hours.

On Tuesday, RNLI chief executive Peter Sparkes described the online and physical abuse faced by its volunteers as "wholly unacceptable in a civilised society", adding that the charity and "our crews strive only to prevent people like you and me from drowning at sea".

Sparkes also cited data from the charity which showed only 109 of 9,058 RNLI lifeboat launches last year were for people "in distress in the Channel" - 1.2% of its total rescue work. He added around 95% of small boats were intercepted by the UK Border Force.

Asked about the online abuse in Parliament on Tuesday, Digital Secretary Lisa Nandy told MPs she had spoken with tech companies about how the names, addresses and photographs of RNLI staff and volunteers were reportedly shared online.

Nandy also said that both she and the government are "concerned" about the risks posed to adults and children from doxxing - the term used to describe people whose private information has been shared online without their consent.

Dr Anna Tippett, a criminologist and cyber-vigilantism researcher at the University of Hertfordshire, told BBC Verify doxxing can create a "profound sense of vulnerability", as the "boundary between online abuse and potential offline harm becomes increasingly difficult to judge".

She added it is "particularly concerning when those targeted are volunteers", as concerns they or their families could be identified, threatened or abused "could discourage others from taking on these kinds of public-facing voluntary roles".

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