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Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard told reporters the suspect drove his vehicle through the doors of Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield and then down a hallway when his vehicle caught fire.

Security guards at the temple had opened fire as he approached and then confronted him inside. One who was hit by the vehicle is being treated at hospital and is expected to recover, law enforcement authorities said.

The FBI said the incident is being investigated as a "targeted act of violence against the Jewish community".

Bouchard said 30 police officers were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation as the building was "engulfed" in flames. He added that they would learn through the investigation what ignited the fire.

Temple Israel - one of the largest reform Jewish synagogues in the US - also has a preschool where dozens of children had to be evacuated during the incident.

Jennifer Runyan, FBI special agent in charge of the Detroit office, said the incident was "deeply, disturbing and tragic".

Bouchard, the sheriff, called the crime a "hateful, terrible thing", but did not elaborate on a specific motive.

"We know there's evil in the world," Bouchard said at an evening press conference. "When they show up, that's where training and preparation come in."

At an earlier briefing, Bouchard said, "Everything that was supposed to happen, happened," adding, "Security did their job, and then the responders did theirs."

Police did not say how the suspect, who has yet to be publicly identified, died. Bouchard said it was difficult to determine the suspect's cause of death because the vehicle caught fire.

"We can't say what killed him at this point," he said. "But security did engage the suspect with gunfire."

Officers were working to clear the vehicle for explosives "out of an abundance of caution", he added.

State and local law enforcement, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), all responded to the emergency.

Speaking at a White House event on Thursday, Trump said he wanted to "send our love to the Michigan Jewish community and all of the people in Detroit".

"It's a terrible thing," he said.

Lisa Stern, a member of Temple Israel for over 20 years, drove to the congregation after she heard news that there had been an attack, concerned about her friends inside, who included two rabbis and a social worker.

But she said she chose not to text them to see if they were safe, as a pinging sound might give their locations away. Initially the ramming was reported as an "active shooter incident".

Waiting across the street, Stern said she saw anxious parents and grandparents arriving to make sure their children at the preschool were safe.

"At first, when they didn't know, the parents were like falling to the ground," she said. "Thankfully it was minutes until they said the kids were safe."

Students were evacuated and taken to a nearby country club, Temple Israel said in a statement on Facebook. The school's 140 students as well as "our amazing staff, our courageous teachers, and our heroic security personnel" were all accounted for and safe, according to the statement.

Stern added that she believed the suspect had knowledge about the temple, which is not visible from the road.

"They obviously knew where they were going because they knew where to do maximum damage," she said.

Stern said the temple has always had guards and has ramped up security since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, after which there was a rise of antisemitism in the US.

Also, over the last two weeks - since the start of the military operation in Iran - law enforcement has been in regular contact with the synagogue and other houses of worship in the area, Bouchard said.

On Thursday afternoon, Jewish congregations and organisations in the state took extra security measures and the Michigan State Police patroled other Jewish sites. Meanwhile, major cities across the US bulked up police presence at Jewish centres.

Temple Israel, founded in 1941,and has about 3,500 families who are members, or about 12,000 congregants.

West Bloomfield is one of several suburbs surrounding Detroit, Michigan, which are home to a large Jewish population. About 71,000 Jewish people total reside in the area, according to the most recent survey from the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, comprising the vast majority of Michigan's Jewish population.

The vehicle ramming rattled local members of the community, Stern said. Many have been on higher alert in recent years as incidences of antisemitism increase across the country.

"This was a matter of when, not if," Stern said she told someone while waiting across the street from the temple Thursday afternoon.

Netflix announces KPop Demon Hunters' sequel

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2k8wvzgqk7o, today

Netflix has announced a sequel to KPop Demon Hunters, the streaming platform's most watched movie of all time.

The sequel marks the first project under co-directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans' new and exclusive multi-year deal with Netflix.

The announcement comes as critics predict that the first film will win at the Oscars on Sunday, where it is has two nominations for best animated feature and best original song.

The song Golden won a Grammy for best song written for visual media - the first time a K-Pop song has won at the prestigious music awards.

The Sony Pictures original follows a K-pop girl group called Huntr/x as they grapple with fame and their secret lives as demon hunters.

In the announcement first made by Netflix on social media, Kang said: "I feel immense pride as a Korean filmmaker that the audience wants more from this Korean story and our Korean characters."

"There's so much more to this world we have built and I'm excited to show you. This is only the beginning."

Mission accomplished? The 2003 boast that haunts today's Iran conflict

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1e9yy84we8o, today

On 9 April 2003 a statue of the leader of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, was pulled down in the centre of Baghdad. The metal plaque at the base of the statue was torn off and the statue's marble plinth attacked with a sledgehammer. Iraqi civilians initially tried to pull it down, scaling the statue to secure a noose around its neck, but were unable to dismantle it. It took help from American troops using an armoured vehicle to finally topple it.

It was a moment that symbolised regime change. US and allied forces had launched their attack on Iraq only 20 days earlier, opening with an intense bombing campaign and an attempted decapitation strike using cruise missiles that targeted the Iraqi leader.

Three weeks on from the statue coming down, America's President, George W Bush, stood aboard a US aircraft carrier, anchored off the Californian coast, behind a banner saying "Mission Accomplished". Except it was anything but.

The shadow of that Iraq war looms large over the current conflict with Iran. It was a war which left deep scars in Iraq as it set in train a series of events which spiralled out of control in a way no one predicted. It left a trail of death and destruction: it is estimated that 461,000 people died in Iraq from war-related causes between 2003 and 2011 and that the war cost the US $3 trillion (£2.24 trillion).

The war reshaped the Middle East and also had a profound effect on the public's trust in politicians in the countries that launched the war.

Today, the US has embarked on what many see as another "war of choice" in the region, this time against Iraq's neighbour, Iran. The echoes and parallels between the two conflicts are certainly there but there are also profound differences which tell us much about how the world has changed since and whether or not a repeat of the failures of Iraq can be avoided.

The motive

There were many overlapping motives for Washington to invade Iraq, some not acknowledged publicly at the time. But at the core was the desire for regime change. For some around US President George W Bush there was a feeling of unfinished business from the 1991 Gulf War when Saddam Hussein had been ejected from Kuwait but remained in power.

For President Bush it may also have been even more personal since his father, President George HW Bush, had led that campaign and Hussein had plotted to kill him after. Meanwhile, some believed regime change was justified on human rights grounds. They wanted Hussein's overthrow because of the way he had inflicted terrible violence on his own people – even using chemical weapons against Kurdish civilians back in the 1980s.

This fitted in with the era of liberal interventionism that the UK had backed from the 1990s under Tony Blair, intervening in the Balkans to prevent bloodshed in Kosovo. Iraqi exiles also wanted the chance for a new future for their country without the regime they hated.

Then there were those "neo-conservatives" who wanted to reshape the Middle East, bringing democracy and removing dictatorships hostile to the US. Baghdad first, then Tehran, some said, a reminder how long Iran has been on the agenda. And finally after the 11 September attacks in 2001 which killed 2,977 people (not counting the 19 hijackers) after planes were crashed into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and a field in Pensylvania, there were hawks in Washington who wanted to restore America's deterrent power and show what it could do.

The attacks by al-Qaeda on 9/11 changed the calculus in terms of the level of destruction that could be wrought on America and its allies and very soon Iraq moved to the top of the agenda, even though it had no role in the attacks. Success in routing the Taliban from control of Afghanistan in late 2001, a response to the attacks a few months earlier, also heightened confidence in Washington of what it could do.

But in the end, the justification for war revolved around something else - Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction capabilities – plans for nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, as well as missile capabilities. When it came to the British and American public, emphasising the threat posed by these was the easiest way to build public support for military action. Internationally, the failure of Iraq to comply with UN resolutions over its weapons provided a means to seek legitimacy as well.

The weapons were never the real reason though, as Luis Rueda, head of the CIA's Iraq Operations Group at the time, told me later. "We would have invaded Iraq if Saddam Hussein had a rubber band and a paperclip. We would have said 'oh, he will take your eye out. Let's take him out.'"

Why Iran was attacked

Today's attack on Iran also seems to emerge from a complex mix of motivations – degrading its military, preventing acquisition of weapons of mass destruction, regime change to create a more pliant state, and supporting the people against a regime that inflicted violence on them, have all been cited by members of Trump's administration.

In many ways, it was the attacks on Israel by Hamas on 7 October 2023 which began a process of changing calculations in Washington as to what could be done to Iran as Israel's risk calculus changed and it began to target Iran and its proxies. That has opened the way for Washington to also take action.

But this time round in the US, there has been no attempt to publicly resolve the sometimes contradictory desires to take action. In fact, US President Donald Trump has himself seemed to veer between them depending on which day he is talking and who to.

Nor has there been any attempt to sell the war to the American public – a process which unfolded over months with Iraq. And nor has there been any attempt to seek international legitimacy through the UN. Back in 2003, there was endless discussion of which states might back action.

This time, the UN and international law have felt irrelevant to the decision makers. All of that speaks to a different world, one in which the old international order has near-collapsed and in which a mercurial president does not feel the need to resolve the different motives at play and provide a coherent justification.

The role of the UK and allies

In 2003, the US went to war with allies, most prominently the UK. Prime Minister Tony Blair had stood alongside President Bush in the run-up, famously writing him a private note in the summer of 2002 saying he would be with the US leader "whatever". His belief – expressed again in recent days when it comes to Iran – was that the UK needed to maximise influence over US policy by getting and remaining close.

"When I was prime minister there was no doubt either under President Clinton or President Bush who the American president picked up the phone to first. It was the British prime minister," he told me in an interview to mark the 20th anniversary of the invasion.

But even some of those closest to him were wary of the level of commitment Blair showed. The "whatever" note "was not a good idea", his then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw later told me.

And critics questioned how much influence Blair managed to get in return back then. He persuaded Washington to go down the route of seeking UN approval. But this was halfhearted on Washington's part and ultimately proved unsuccessful.

When offered a chance to pull out, Blair then declined, saying he believed in the war. "This is where you've got to make these judgements as prime minister at the time," he told me in 2003. "They were offering me the way out because they felt sorry for the politically difficult situation that I was in, but... it would have had a significant impact on the relationship."

And indeed the political price for him would be heavy, especially when the weapons of mass destruction on which he had made the case turned out not to exist. That damaged him and more broadly reduced people's willingness to believe what they were told. "It undermined trust in public life," former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw reflected. "I'm not in any doubt about that."

Trying to deal with Iraq would also consume the last years of George W Bush's presidency and taint his legacy, reshaping American politics. President Obama came to office with a clear desire not to get involved in such interventions again. And remarkably, so did President Trump.

This time round, the US has worked with Israel and not the UK or other allies to attack Iran. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has decided to maintain distance from Washington, refusing the use of UK bases during the original strike though then shifting to allow their use for "defensive" purposes.

That may be due to the lingering memories of Iraq for a bruised Labour Party but also reflects the calculation over how much influence he really could have over President Trump.

A deeper question is how far the UK and US are beginning to move apart. Officials who work on the security and intelligence relationship maintain it remains close, but there is also a sense that closeness may be partly based on inertia as the US increasingly moves to a different security posture, actively undermining the old international order in which the UK has been heavily invested. Previous prime ministers have sometimes kept their distance from Washington's wars – for instance Harold Wilson over Vietnam – but this feels different.

What next?

Iraq's legacy is most obvious in the way that leaders in Washington have been at pains to stress the differences between it and the current conflict. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has been explicit that Iran is different to Iraq and will not turn into a "forever war".

One aspect of that is that this time the US is talking about regime change but has not, so far, put in place ground troops to bring it about as they did in 2003 when around 150,000 troops were deployed which led to a fast, effective overthrow of Saddam Hussein (who escaped the initial decapitation strike but was later captured).

The explicit desire to avoid the kind of commitment of troops seen in Iraq limits options – regime change from the air alone is much harder without allying with some kind of insurgent force on the ground.

There has been talk of arming Kurds to fight the Iranian government today. They played their part in 2003 but only alongside the much larger army of troops from the US and its allies.

After the initial victory in 2003 came a long drawn-out occupation as an insurgency and civil war took hold. The US does not want to get drawn into that situation again but the problem is that some of its more expansive aims may be hard to realise without a deeper commitment – notably if it really does want regime change, as opposed to just degrading Iran's military or having a change of leader under the same regime (as happened in Venezuela).

One major parallel between then and now though seems to be the lack of planning for what might come next. This in turn relates to confusion over what the actual aim is. In the case of Iraq in 2003 different visions for the future were never resolved. There was no effective planning for the period after military engagements were completed.

"Where the mistake was made was in trying to create a new government for the Iraqis," former US National Security Adviser John Bolton told me two decades later. "We should have said to the Iraqis: 'Congratulations – form your own government. Here's a copy of the Federalist Papers. Good Luck." That was at variance with those who supported the idea of spreading democracy through the Middle East and wanted to build that in Iraq first.

Iraq is now in a much better state than it was in the immediate aftermath and many are glad to see Saddam Hussein gone. But democracy did not spread through the Middle East in the aftermath as some had claimed it would. Instead, one of the biggest winners of the invasion would be Iran whose main adversary was removed, allowing it to extend its influence into Iraq and beyond in the years after the war. And it would increase the terrorist threat within the UK and the broader West. Wars do not always have the outcomes people expect or want.

No coherent plan

Iraq and Iran are very different countries but can lessons be learnt? So far there is little sign of a coherent plan for what the US wants to bring about or what kind of future it envisages for the country. This time, the improvisation seems to be a deliberate strategy as it leaves President Trump with different options for what he can declare as victory before moving on, creating his own "Mission Accomplished" moment.

He could say simply that degrading the Iranian missile and naval capability was enough and that regime change was always something for the Iranian people (even though he talked of wanting it at some points). That would leave a damaged but embittered Iranian regime in power, an outcome closer to the 1991 Gulf War where Saddam Hussein was ejected from Kuwait but left in control in Baghdad. The result was years of tension, occasional bombing, fears of weapons of mass destruction development and eventually another war in 2003.

One lesson of Iraq is that it is easier to break a state in war than to build one afterwards. And parts of the Iranian state are certainly being broken now. The current war is also forcing America's allies – like the UK but particularly in the Gulf states who have been the subject of Iranian attacks – to reconsider how secure they really are.

And the domestic political repercussions for those embarking on war, especially President Trump, could also be unpredictable as the economic fall-out spreads in ways he did not seem to expect.

One possible takeaway is that humility can come in handy when embarking on military interventions. Wars are inherently unpredictable and their outcome and their legacy can resonate for decades.

To picture credit: Anadolu Agency / Gamma- Rapho via Getty Images

BBC InDepth is the home on the website and app for the best analysis, with fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions and deep reporting on the biggest issues of the day. Emma Barnett and John Simpson bring their pick of the most thought-provoking deep reads and analysis, every Saturday. Sign up for the newsletter here

A young party led by a rapper wins a huge mandate - and Nepal steps into the unknown

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c178jq791w4o, today

Nepal's historic election has delivered a seismic result.

The four-year-old Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), led by rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah, has achieved a feat many thought impossible under Nepal's dual-election system: a sweeping majority.

The country's political elite have been cast aside, and entrenched power structures shattered. Perhaps the biggest symbol of this was when Shah, or Balen as he is commonly known in Nepal, defeated former prime minister KP Sharma Oli in Jhapa 5, a seat long considered a stronghold for him.

As we've travelled the country, jubilant RSP voters have told us they are tired of decades of what they perceive to be corruption and political paralysis.

"Balen represents hope for a new political culture," Jhapa-5 voter Ispa Sapkota told the BBC.

But the reality is that Nepal is now stepping into the political unknown.

A young party with no history of running a government will now lead the country, shouldered with the high expectations of a population eager to see quick results.

Balen, 35, has only three years of political experience as mayor of the capital, Kathmandu.

Yet, the fact that he is a relative newcomer to politics is seen as a strength by many voters.

They feel this signals a break from the failings of Nepal's old guard who have dominated the political scene for decades. A graphic cartoon of Balen and the RSP President Rabi Lamichhane destroying a concrete wall illustrates their manifesto, with the words "We have arrived".

It's not altogether a clean sheet for Balen though.

As mayor he was criticised by rights groups for using the police against street vendors in a heavy-handed manner, as he worked to keep roads clear in the capital and crack down on unlicensed businesses. Shah's campaign did not respond to a BBC request for comment.

Human Rights Watch is one of the groups that raised those concerns and told the BBC it's the type of behaviour they've often observed of new leaders who want to show results quickly.

"We hope as prime minister, there would be a focus on a more rules-based order," says Meenakshi Ganguly of Human Rights Watch's Asia Division.

As for the party, one of its chief promises is to tackle corruption. The RSP has promised to investigate assets of those who've been in power since the 1990s and to nationalise any properties that were acquired illegally.

They've also pledged to reform Nepal's judiciary, end the political appointments of judges, and consider live-streaming trials for better transparency.

Constitutional expert Bipin Adhikari is hopeful that Nepal's institutions will help the RSP with its reforms.

"The civil service has been politicised by successive governments, there's been pressure. They'll now have independence, and there's been frustration amongst the civil service for years, they're ready for this change," he says.

One of the RSP's senior leaders and a newly elected MP, Shishir Khanal, says the party already has plans to incentivise "the bureaucracy" to get on side.

"We'll immediately put forward a bill. You'll see soon that it will reorganise how civil servants are paid and promoted, and create positive incentive structures," he says.

The economy is another area the RSP have promised to deliver on.

Younger Nepalis have been frustrated by the lack of opportunities and are trusting the RSP to grow the economy. Youth unemployment stands at about 20% and three million Nepalis work overseas.

"When we search for jobs, we're not able to get any here. Brain drain is becoming the most important problem in our country," Sapkota warns.

But some argue the targets set by the party are unrealistic.

The manifesto promises to grow the economy by 7% every year so that the country becomes a $100 billion economy within the next five to seven years.

Yet, the World Bank's latest data has the economy growing by 4.6% in 2025 and it's projected to slow down. Its latest country report says that longstanding political instability, a continued decline in tourism and frequent natural disasters are all issues Nepal has struggled to overcome.

Another more immediate challenge to the economy is the war in the Middle East, according to Nishchal N Pandey, director of the Centre for South Asian Studies in Nepal.

Many Nepalis work there, and more than a quarter of Nepal's GDP is made up of remittances, money sent home by workers. "Any impact on this and we'll have a deep problem," Pandey says.

The RSP's Khanal believes the party's goals are achievable once their government cuts all the red tape.

"Two dozen laws can be scrapped or changed - we'll move on that immediately. Right now you need to go around multiple departments just to register a company."

Overall, the road to reform is paved with many challenges for the new government.

Despite its landslide win, Balen and other RSP leaders will have to confront the realities of keeping their own MPs focused on the same goals in parliament. While the RSP has been in government before for months-long spells as a junior coalition partner with limited influence, the party has mainly operated as a campaigning force rather than a governing one.

Adhikari believes these internal challenges will in fact be the biggest obstacles. He argues RSP politicians "are very new and don't have a background in statecraft".

"They all come from different walks of life, and might develop their own ambitions very quickly, and the high command might have difficulty whipping them," he says.

There's also the threat of how the party could change, should their power go unchecked. The results could lead to a weak opposition in the lower house of parliament.

"If the opposition works alongside an independent media and other institutions, it can still be effective. But there's a high possibility it won't be organised, in which case there's a risk the party tarnishes its mandate, and doesn't carry through on its promises," Adhikari says.

Nepal has also operated under a system of "political patronage that has advantaged the powerful and rewarded the rich," says Ganguly. While there is a big opportunity, "it will mean very tough choices and could be destabilising at first," she warns.

And finally, there is the question of how Balen and the RSP will balance the competing influences of regional neighbours.

Nepal is a Hindu-majority country wedged between India and China. Thousands of Hindu pilgrims visit every year from India, through an open border and Delhi has had an outsized influence on Nepal's political landscape for decades.

On Monday, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he'd had "warm telephone conversations" with Balen and Lamichhane, congratulating them on the party's "resounding success".

Bhattarai told us he witnessed pressures from Nepal's neighbours first-hand when he was ambassador to the UN.

"We have two huge neighbours, rivals with each other, and the biggest challenge is maintaining a balanced relationship," he says. "We have to assure them we won't allow Nepali territory to be used against them."

The former Prime Minister Oli was viewed as someone who pursued closer ties with China. But Bhattarai believes this is mostly a matter of perception and that Oli kept to Nepal's long-standing policy of "non-alliance".

"Oli had the communist party tag, it's no secret China would want communist parties to be stronger in Nepal," he says.

He points out that while Nepal signed up to China's landmark infrastructure agreement, the Belt and Road Initiative in 2017, not a single project moved forward because Oli refused loan terms proposed by Beijing.

The RSP's Khanal, who is also the party spokesperson for international relations, told us the party sees no major changes in Nepal's diplomatic future, and rules out any security pacts, which is in line with the country's constitution.

Looming above is the watchful eye of the United States, ever mindful of China's influence.

Khanal acknowledged "a historic relationship with the US," but said "neighbours are our first priority."

A young party, made up of fresh faces, has a lot of urgent issues to contend with.

Nepalis we've met are hungry for change and have high expectations. Younger ones in particular are now keenly aware of their power and ability to hold those in power to account.

Balen and the RSP will be conscious of that too, as they usher in a new era, and forge an unchartered path for Nepal.

One dead and two injured in Virginia university shooting

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gjrzgr32mo, today

One person has died and two others were injured at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, in a shooting that the FBI is investigating as an act of terrorism.

The suspect was also killed in the incident on Thursday.

The FBI identified the alleged gunman as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former Virginia National Guard member who had previously been jailed for trying to support the Islamic State group.

Jalloh allegedly opened fire into a classroom and some students were able to subdue and kill him, said Dominique Evans, Special Agent in Charge of the Norfolk FBI field office, at a news conference.

The students "subdued him, and rendered him no longer alive", she said, adding that he was not shot, without providing further details.

They were members of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) programme, which combines college coursework with military leadership training.

Officers first responded to reports of a shooting inside a classroom in Constant Hall, the university's business school building, university police chief Garrett Shelton said on Thursday afternoon.

When the suspect walked in, he asked if it was an ROTC class, and after someone answered in the affirmative, he opened fire, law enforcement sources told the BBC's US partner CBS News.

When officers arrived, they found that the gunman was already dead, Shelton said.

FBI Director Kash Patel said the shooter died "thanks to a group of brave students who stepped in and subdued him – actions that undoubtedly saved lives along with the quick response of law enforcement".

Three people in the room were shot, one of whom later died of their injuries in hospital, officials said.

Two of the victims were Army personnel, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said on social media.

"I'm praying for them and all those impacted by this terrible event," Driscoll said.

CBS News reported that the victim who was killed was the class instructor, a retired military officer.

In 2016, Jalloh was arrested and pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State group, the FBI's Evans said.

He was sentenced in 2017 and was released from prison in 2024, she said. When asked what kind of aid Jalloh was giving to the IS group back then, Evans said he had wanted to conduct a terrorist attack similar to the 2009 attack at a military base in Fort Hood, Texas, that killed 13 people.

Evans said Thursday's shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism because of the suspect's prior conviction and because he allegedly shouted "Allahu Akbar", an Arabic phrase that means "God is greater", before the incident.

There was no mention of the war in Iran, Evans said.

The shooting came hours before another incident in Michigan, where a vehicle rammed into a synagogue and school.

There, all children and staff were safely evacuated and one security guard was injured but is expected to recover, authorities have said.

Winners, Sinners and record breakers: 17 fun facts about this year's Oscars

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1je21lgn5zo, today

When Sinners director Ryan Coogler went to the movies as a child, he would smuggle in some snacks - and get particularly creative with the cinema's drinks machine.

"I'm not a big soda person, but when they started to let you mix and match the drinks, I got involved with that," he told Amy Poehler's Good Hang podcast recently.

Decades later, Coogler's taste for combining a wide variety of flavours can be seen in his genre-defying best picture contender, which blends blues music with vampire horror against the backdrop of the 1930s Mississippi Delta.

Sinners could take several statuettes at this weekend's Oscars, but it faces tough competition from co-frontrunner One Battle After Another, in a genuinely exciting year for the awards race where several categories are too close to call.

Here are 17 fun facts to sink your vampire fangs into ahead of the Academy Awards this Sunday.

1. Zootopia 2 is this year's highest-grossing nominated film, having taken a staggering $1.86bn (£1.39bn) worldwide.

But the animated franchise has a different title in Europe - Zootropolis. That's because of Givskud Zoo in Denmark, which registered the trademark "Zootopia" in the EU in 2009, seven years before the first movie was released.

Other box office smashes nominated this year include Avatar threequel Fire & Ash, which has taken $1.48bn (£1.11bn), while the highest-grossing film in the best picture category is racing thriller F1, which made $632m (£472m).

2. Emma Stone has broken two records this year.

Aged 37, the Bugonia star is the youngest woman ever to earn seven Oscar nominations, overtaking Meryl Streep, who was 38.

Stone has also become the only actress whose first five Oscar nominations are all for films which were also nominated for best picture.

In the space of 11 years, she has been recognised for her roles in Birdman, The Favourite, Bugonia, La La Land and Poor Things - winning for the latter two.

3. Frankenstein has been two centuries in the making.

There is a 207-year gap between Mary Shelley's 1818 novel and Guillermo del Toro's 2025 film adaptation for Netflix.

That's one of the biggest gaps between source material and film adaptation in the history of the best picture category. Those ahead of it include:

* Tom Jones (1963), based on the original 1749 novel - a 214-year gap

* Hamlet (1996), based on the 1601 play - a 395-year gap

* O Brother Where Art Thou (2000), based on Greek poem The Odyssey, written around 700 BC - a 2,700-year gap

4. Chase Infiniti has cinema in her blood.

The breakout star of One Battle After Another has been destined for a film career since the day she was born.

The 25-year-old was named after Nicole Kidman's character in 1995's Batman Forever, Chase Meridian, and Buzz Lightyear's catchprahse in Toy Story: "To infinity and beyond."

5. Miriam Margolyes is getting some long overdue Oscars recognition.

The British actress stars as the titular character in A Friend of Dorothy, nominated for best live action short. But Margolyes has never been nominated as an actress, much to her annoyance.

"I should have been nominated but I wasn't," she told Graham Norton with characteristic candour. "I was very angry about it."

Margolyes said she should have been recognised for her role in Martin Scorsese's 1993 period drama The Age of Innocence. "I was marvellous in it," she reflected. "And the reason I wasn't nominated was because of Winona Ryder.

"What happened was, [Ryder] was nominated as a supporting actress instead of a leading actress. And if she'd jolly well kept herself to herself and been nominated as a leading actress they would have nominated me in supporting. I was livid."

6. Several nominees are very loyal to their directors.

Four of this year's lead acting nominees have been recognised for films that are directed by their long-term collaborator. The four inseparable pairs are:

* Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater (who have made nine films together)

* Michael B Jordan and Ryan Coogler (five)

* Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos (five)

* Renate Reinsve and Joachim Trier (three)

7. Jessie Buckley could become the first Irish winner of best actress.

Previous nominees from Ireland include Saoirse Ronan and Ruth Negga, while Brenda Fricker won best supporting actress in 1989. But no Irish star has yet won the leading actress category.

Having already scored best actress at the Critics Choice, Golden Globe, Bafta and Actor Awards, Buckley is likely to become the first actress to sweep the category at all five ceremonies since Renée Zellweger for Judy in 2020.

8. Brad Pitt has broken a 35-year trend.

The US actor's racing thriller F1 appears in several technical categories, but also scored a surprise best picture nomination.

The film made it into the top category despite not having any corresponding nods for directing, screenplay or acting.

The last film to do this was Beauty and the Beast in 1991.

9. KPop Demon Hunters are going for (double) gold.

The Netflix smash hit is the favourite to win two categories - best animated feature and best original song for Golden, performed by the movie's girl group Huntr/x.

Two other films have previously pulled off this double - 2010's Toy Story 3 with its song We Belong Together, and 2013's Frozen with its inescapable earworm Let It Go.

10. Rose Byrne, Kate Hudson and Amy Madigan are flying solo.

All three actresses scored the only nomination for their respective movies - If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, Song Sung Blue and Weapons.

Madigan has a decent chance in the supporting actress category. But it's an uphill battle - only five actors this century have managed to pull off a win as their film's sole nominee.

They are Julianne Moore (Still Alice), Charlize Theron (Monster), Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland), Christopher Plummer (Beginners) and Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona).

11. Timothée Chalamet is the youngest actor since Marlon Brando to score three Oscar nominations for acting.

Brando was 30, the same age as Chalamet, when he achieved his third nomination in 1954.

It's possible Chalamet could win this year for Marty Supreme, but he has lost momentum in recent weeks. (Brando notably didn't win until his fourth nomination, for On the Waterfront.)

Chalamet has already missed his chance to be the youngest-ever winner. That record is held by Adrien Brody, who won aged 29 for The Pianist in 2001.

12. Only three Norwegian actors have ever been nominated for an Oscar - and two of them are from this year.

Renate Reinsve and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas are both nominated for their performances in family drama Sentimental Value.

The only other Nordic actor recognised by the Academy is Liv Ullmann - who was nominated for both The Emigrants (1972) and Face to Face (1976).

13. One Battle After Another is Leonardo DiCaprio's 12th movie to be nominated for best picture - drawing him level with Robert de Niro.

The Godfather Part II (1974) was de Niro's first appearance in the top category, before he continued his streak with films such as Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Joker and The Irishman.

DiCaprio's first appearance, meanwhile, was for 1997's Titanic, continuing through The Departed, Inception and Django Unchained.

Both actors notched up another one when they appeared together in 2023's Killers of the Flower Moon.

Meanwhile, One Battle director Paul Thomas Anderson could pull off a rare Oscars trifecta by personally winning three Oscars for writing, directing and producing - a combo that has only been achieved by 10 other filmmakers.

14. Wagner Moura has joined an exclusive club.

The Secret Agent star joins the select group of best actor nominees from films entirely spoken in languages other than English.

The others are Javier Bardem, Marcello Mastroianni, Giancarlo Giannini, Max von Sydow, Gérard Depardieu, Massimo Troisi, Antonio Banderas and Roberto Benigni (who is the only one to win, for 1997's Life is Beautiful).

15. Mind the gap! Several nominees have been on an Oscars break.

Song Sung Blue star Kate Hudson is nominated for the first time in 25 years, while One Battle After Another star Benicio del Toro's nod comes 22 years after his last.

Weapons star Amy Madigan, meanwhile, is nominated for the second time, a whopping 40 years after her first nomination, for the aptly named Twice in a Lifetime.

She's not far behind Judd Hirsch, who holds the record thanks to the 42-year gap between his nominations for Ordinary People (1981) and The Fabelmans (2023).

16. Delroy Lindo is up for best supporting actor despite not even being nominated at the Bafta, Golden Globe and Actor Awards.

This happens every now and again - the last actor to pop up at the Oscars without any major precursor recognition was Andrea Riseborough for To Leslie in 2022. But it's very rare that an actor with only an Oscar nomination goes on to win.

If Lewisham-born Lindo takes home the prize, he'll be the first actor to win an Oscar without an earlier nomination since Marcia Gay Harden for Pollock in 2001.

Lindo's co-star Michael B Jordan could also break a record if he repeats his recent Actor Award (formerly SAG) win at the Oscars.

No lead actor has ever won the Actor Award and Oscar without also winning anything at the Golden Globes, Baftas or Critics Choice Awards.

17. Hamnet is following in EastEnders' footsteps.

Despite having a mostly original score, Hamnet director Chloe Zhao chose a 20-year-old piece of music for the film's emotional final scene.

She isn't the first to invoke the emotive On The Nature of Daylight by composer Max Richter - it has been used by countless directors over the last two decades in their efforts to make audiences cry.

You might have recognised it from its use in Arrival, Shutter Island, The Last of Us, Stranger Than Fiction, The Handmaid's Tale, The Innocents... and, perhaps most importantly, an episode of EastEnders.

This year's Oscars have finally given us the Shakespeare and Albert Square crossover we've always wanted.

The Academy Awards take place on Sunday (15 March).

France's ghost car scandal that allowed one million illegal vehicles onto the roads

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpqw0jgn5xgo, today

A million illegally-registered cars are being driven in France in a fraud scandal that has cost hundreds of millions of euros in lost taxes and fines, according to the state auditor.

The fraud – in which fake dealerships manipulate the records of the state vehicle licensing agency (SIV) – is also endangering lives by allowing unsafe cars and lorries onto the road.

And it has proved a boon for crime.

Vulnerabilities "have allowed the whole gamut of criminality – from petty delinquency to organised crime – to penetrate the registration system in order to pursue their fraudulent ends", according to the Cour des Comptes in a report released Thursday.

The fraud goes back to 2017, when the French government decided to part-privatise the system, in a bid to speed up the notoriously slow process of delivering registration papers to car-buyers.

Some 2,000 civil servants were assigned to new tasks, and instead car-dealers were given the right to access the register themselves in order to issue documents for their clients.

But according to the Cour des Comptes, the new system relied excessively – and mistakenly – on good faith.

In fact, it was quickly abused by hundreds of unscrupulous operators who found they could set up ghost dealerships and then, for a fee, fiddle with the registry.

The report said that there were around one million cars on the road which had been registered by nearly 300 "fictitious companies operating totally free of state control".

Papers shown by drivers of these vehicles would appear normal to a police officer, but afterwards the car and its owner would be untraceable.

"For solely the years 2022-2024 the financial prejudice was €550m (£475m), in non-collection of registration fees, and speeding and parking fines," it said.

In all, the auditor listed 30 different types of fraud linked to the scam, from avoiding environmental taxes on heavily-polluting cars, to altering results of road-worthiness tests, and suppressing the identity of a car's previous owner.

In a special report on the phenomenon, Le Monde newspaper told of a SIV-eur (as the fraudsters are known to police) who helped a luxury car importer escape tens of thousands of euros in import and environmental taxes.

He did this by registering the Rolls-Royces and Mercedes as vehicles specially adapted for disabled people, meaning they were exempt from duty.

Stolen vehicles can be re-registered by SIV-eurs to avoid detection, and drug gangs use SIV-ed cars for special jobs, like so-called "go-fast" deliveries down motorways.

According to Le Figaro newspaper, police were alerted by a big increase in "very fast" speeding offences – up 160% between 2016 and 2022. When they looked into registrations, they found that many had been faked.

The Cour des Comptes said the state had been lax in not checking the credentials of the 30,000 dealers to whom it allows access to the SIV.

All would-be entrants had to do was set up a shell company and then apply for access to the registry, which was normally given.

"This is what happens when you try to reduce the size of the state. Before, people had to queue for two hours for their papers. Everyone complained, but at least everything was properly checked," an insider told Le Monde newspaper.

France's interior ministry said it acknowledged the problem, and was taking steps to remedy it. An action plan announced last year has led to an increase in fraud detections, while the number of authorisations to access the SIV has been sharply reduced.

Artemis II: Nasa targets early April for Moon mission

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g8qp42rq6o, today

Nasa says it's on track to launch its Artemis II mission in early April, which will see astronauts fly around the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years.

The rocket had been set to blast off in March, but after a helium leak was discovered it was returned to the Vehicle Assembly Building in Cape Canaveral, Florida, for repairs.

Nasa says it's confident the problem is fixed, and is planning to roll the rocket back out to the launchpad on 19 March, with the earliest possible launch date of 1 April.

Speaking at a press briefing, Nasa leaders also emphasised the risks involved with the mission.

Three US astronauts, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, make up the Artemis II crew.

They will be the first humans to fly on Nasa's mega Moon rocket - the Space Launch System - and in the Orion spacecraft.

Over the course of the 10-day mission, they are due to travel around the far side of the Moon - which is the side we never see from Earth - and back home again.

"We want to be sure that we're thinking about everything that can possibly go wrong, and have we assessed and adjudicated all the risks to put us in the best posture to be successful," said John Honeycutt, chair of the Artemis II Mission Management Team.

"If you look at the data over time, over the lifespan of building new rockets, the data would show you that one out of two is successful. You're only successful 50% of the time. I think we're in a much better position than that," he said.

"We do an outstanding job of understanding the risk, buying down the risk, mitigating the risk, and putting together controls to manage the risk."

The Nasa team said they were not going to attempt another so-called "wet dress rehearsal" once the rocket had been rolled out to the launchpad.

This is a pre-launch test where the rocket is filled with fuel and taken through the countdown sequence.

"There's not a lot more to be gained from that," said Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator, Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate.

"The next time we tank the vehicle will be when we're attempting to launch."

She added there was still work to do before Nasa confirmed a launch date.

"I am comfortable and the agency is comfortable with targeting April 1 as our first opportunity, just keep in mind we still have work to go," said Glaze.

"There are still things that need to be done within the Vehicle Assembly Building and out at the pad, and as always, we'll always be guided by what the hardware is telling us, and we will launch when we're ready."

Nasa is under pressure to launch the Artemis II mission.

It has already been delayed by two years after problems were found with the heat shield on the first Artemis mission, which saw the Space Launch System and Orion capsule fly to the Moon without any people onboard.

In December 2024, the space agency set a deadline to launch Artemis II before the end of April 2026.

"At this point, we're very focused on April," said Glaze.

King expresses 'concern' over Alberta separatists in meeting with First Nations chiefs

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd9g4dpjwgvo, today

King Charles has "expressed his concern" over the Alberta separatist movement in a meeting with Indigenous leaders at Buckingham Palace, according to a delegation of First Nations chiefs that travelled to London.

Grand Chief Joey Pete of the Confederacy of Treaty 6 First Nations said he and other leaders made the King aware of the "threat" the movement represents to treaty agreements signed by First Nations and the Crown more than a century ago.

He added that the King was "very interested in what we had to say" and had "committed to learning more".

It comes as a grassroots separatist movement in Alberta gathers signatures to force a succession referendum in October.

First Nations leaders in Alberta, a western Canadian province, have voiced their opposition to the separation movement, and some have filed legal challenges to effort.

During the meeting with King Charles on Wednesday, First Nations chiefs asked the monarch to issue a Royal Proclamation that would affirm their treaties with the Crown and the rights that are afforded under them, they said.

"It was a significant meeting, as Treaty partners and equals," said Grand Chief Pete in a statement.

He added that the King was "very interested in what we had to say and asked a lot of questions".

The BBC has reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.

Laws that govern the relationship between Canada's First Nations and the Canadian government are set out by treaties, or agreements, that were signed with the Crown, in some cases prior to the creation of Canada.

Those treaty rights are protected by the Canadian constitution, which recognises and affirms them.

One Alberta First Nation — Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation (SLCN) — has sued the Alberta government for allowing separatists to gather enough signatures in support of a referendum, arguing that the petition violates its treaty rights.

"Alberta has treated SLCN as though they are chattel on the land, merely an afterthought in forced negotiations, not the first step in any potential secession," the statement of claim said.

"Alberta's secession cannot happen without First Nation consent to change a party to Treaty No. 8," the lawsuit stated.

Earlier this week, a group of First Nations leaders gathered at the Alberta legislature in Edmonton to call on the provincial premier, Danielle Smith, to quash any possible succession referendum.

They also asked Alberta lawmakers to hold a no-confidence vote against Smith's government on the matter, though an effort to propose one was promptly shut down by members of Smith's party.

Alberta's indigenous relations minister, Rajan Sawhney, told reporters on Wednesday that she would like to meet with Chief Pete to discuss the alleged treaty violations, but added: "At this point I don't agree with these allegations."

In an interview with CTV News on Wednesday, Chief Pete said he also told the King about the "hardships" and "division" he believes the separatist movement has caused in Alberta.

The movement, led by a group called the Alberta Prosperity Project, argues the province would be better off financially if it were to form its own sovereign country.

Separatist sentiments in Alberta date back decades, and are rooted in a belief among some that the province has been underrepresented at the federal level, despite being home to much of Canada's oil wealth.

Under Alberta's Referendum Act, organisers must collect 177,732 valid signatures by May for a referendum question to be verified and potentially approved.

Members of the Alberta Prosperity Project previously told the BBC they believe they will be able to gather more than the needed signatures to force a referendum.

'Follow the smoke': BBC spends day with emergency teams as Israel strikes south Lebanon

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx28v2y7de2o, today

The war between Israel and Hezbollah is continuing to escalate, with hundreds of people killed in Lebanon and hundreds of thousands more forced from their homes since the beginning of the month.

Much of Israel's air and ground operations have focused on the south of Lebanon. The BBC spent Wednesday with rescue workers in the city of Nabatieh, witnessing the pace and scale of bombings there - a day before the city and much of the land around it was included in a new set of sweeping Israeli evacuation orders.

The late afternoon silence in Nabatieh was broken by the whistle of a missile and the boom of an explosion in the valley beneath the Nabih Berri government hospital.

Medics and displaced people rushed to the hillside to peer beneath as ambulances raced to the scene with their sirens blaring.

"See how big it is," one man said. "It lit up the sky."

Forty-three seconds later, another explosion sounded nearby. Two more followed.

All sent plumes of grey smoke into the air around Nabatieh, clinging over apartment buildings and businesses, as chaotic search and rescue efforts got under way.

An emergency worker shouted out "follow the smoke" as ambulances tried to find their way to the scenes of the multiple strikes.

Among those racing across the city was Hussein Fakih, the regional head of the government-run Lebanese Civil Defence - the country's primary firefighting, first aid and rescue force. He said he had been seeing the same things "almost every day" since war resumed on 2 March between Israel and the Iran-backed armed group and political movement Hezbollah - which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UK, US and other countries.

"Whether that's firefighting… or rescue operations, or searching under the rubble, or retrieving the bodies," he said.

Lebanon was pulled into the conflict between Iran, Israel and the US when Hezbollah launched rockets and drones into Israel, in retaliation for the assassination of Iran's supreme leader. The group also cited almost daily Israeli strikes against it since a ceasefire ended their last war in 2024.

Israel said Hezbollah's attack justified launching a broader campaign against the group, and has since launched hundreds of strikes on Lebanon. It has accused Hezbollah of systematically using civilian infrastructure and areas for military activities, which the group has previously denied.

The BBC heard or went to the scenes of seven Israeli strikes on Wednesday. The ones we saw the aftermath of in Nabatieh were in areas that were not under official Israeli evacuation orders at the time, and locals and first responders said no warnings had been given.

The Israeli military did not respond to multiple BBC requests for comment about the specific targets of these strikes.

At the site of one of the explosions, an acrid smell lingered among the piles of debris scattered in front of a residential building. Sofas had been thrown to the ground by the strength of the explosion.

A small fire continued to burn inside the building, but rescuers at the scene rushed away to respond to one of the other strikes, saying no one had been killed or injured there.

One local resident walked up to assess the scene. He said only civilians had lived there, before walking away.

In the building next door, laundry was hung out to dry next to a pair of children's shoes, but no-one appeared to be inside.

Before Thursday's orders, much of Nabatieh already had the feeling of a ghost town. The city - located just 16km (10 miles) from the border with Israel - is one of the biggest in southern Lebanon.

Many residents had fled in fear, hoping to find safety further north after the war began.

Most Israeli strikes have focused on southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley, and the southern suburbs of Beirut, known as the Dahieh - the heartlands of Hezbollah and of Lebanon's Shia community. But some have hit areas elsewhere, including in the centre of Beirut.

But despite the escalating war, some residents in Nabatieh had stayed behind, saying they could not afford to move, or find any space at shelters, or simply did not want to leave their homes.

Among them was a family whose home was destroyed by one of the strikes on Wednesday.

"We didn't leave because we saw on TV how people are stranded on the roads and sidewalks and I didn't want that for my two grandkids so I decided to stay and trust in God's will," said 60-year-old Mona Najem.

The family were having lunch and watching TV, she said, when "suddenly half the house collapsed and we couldn't see a thing - windows and glass got shattered".

She grabbed her two grandchildren - aged seven and 10 - and went to hide in a small room that was still standing, until rescuers arrived and took them to the local al-Najde hospital.

"It is six of us [living there], and we are all fine - thanks to God. My older son stepped on a piece of shattered glass but it's minor, otherwise God was merciful," she said from a hospital bed.

Opposite Mona, her other son was holding an oxygen mask to his mouth and could not speak. She said it was because of the shock of what had happened.

"We didn't leave in the previous war and we got used to it. Even through this, the children have sometimes played outside under the warplanes. After this hit I felt distress and I feared for them [but] they turned out to be tougher than me," she said as her grandchildren smiled beside her.

The home of 69-year-old Entisar Yassine was also damaged by the impact of a strike, while she was on her wheelchair inside.

When the BBC arrived at the apartment with rescue workers, Entisar appeared scared and disorientated. She had attempted to clean some of the glass that had shattered in her apartment.

"I was very scared when that strike happened. I was already afraid, and my heart kept pounding from the panic and fear," she later told the BBC from hospital.

She said she had "wanted to leave" but didn't know where to go. Mona had her leg amputated two years ago because of a medical condition, and she worried that shelters would not have accessible toilets.

She said she hoped she would now be taken somewhere with suitable facilities, or with someone who could support her.

Until now "this war didn't affect me, but today it did," she said.

At a separate strike earlier in the day on Wednesday, firefighters battled for hours to put out a major fire that had hit a residential building with shops on the ground floor.

"We are in a market and these are shops. They are selling shoes and [clothes]. They are all civilians," said a bystander, who gave his name only as Abu Mohammed.

While some have voiced anger to the BBC about Hezbollah's decision to fire rockets into Israel earlier this month, Abu Mohammed said he supported the group, citing the ongoing Israeli strikes on Lebanon after the ceasefire.

"We could not rebuild our houses or return to our villages and cities while the Israelis were having a free hand there. Hezbollah needed to respond. It's either you kill or get killed," he said.

The hospitals in the area are now operating with greatly reduced staff - many of them living there.

At the hilltop Nabih Berri government hospital, staff said they were trying to transfer patients further north as soon as possible for their safety and because they were no longer able to operate at full capacity.

Head nurse Ali Omeis said it was exhausting to be dealing with another war so soon.

"It's very aggressive, very intense every night. Every nurse in this hospital is feeling sorry about this," he said. "We are very tired."

On Thursday - the day after the BBC visited Nabatieh - Israel expanded its already sweeping evacuation orders for southern Lebanon to include the city, telling people to move north of the Zahrani river. At the same time, strikes in the centre of the capital Beirut intensified.

Entisar said she would move north, but hoped to return soon to her home of 25 years.

"If it is calm again, I'll go back," she said.

Estée Lauder sues Jo Malone over use of name in collaboration with Zara

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly09j2542no, today

British perfumier Jo Malone is being sued by US cosmetics giant Estée Lauder Companies for using her name in a collaboration with High Street retailer Zara.

Estée Lauder Companies bought Malone's eponymous perfume brand, Jo Malone, including the rights to her name, in 1999.

The FT first reported that though the Zara collaboration was with Malone's new perfume brand Jo Loves, Estée Lauder took issue with the use of Malone's name on the packaging which read: "A creation by Jo Malone CBE, founder of Jo Loves".

A spokesperson for Estée Lauder said Malone's use of her name with Zara "undermines Jo Malone London's unique brand identity".

The BBC has contacted Malone and Zara for comment.

Malone has previously said she regretted selling the rights to use her own name for commercial purposes.

Under the terms of the 1999 deal, Malone had agreed not to use the "Jo Malone" name for marketing purposes.

Estée Lauder Companies is suing Jo Malone herself, Jo Loves and Zara's UK arm for trademark infringement, breach of contract and passing off, which is when customers are misled into thinking a product is from another company.

Jo Malone's fragrance business was founded in the early 1990s, and became popular for unique fragrances using British nature and blossoms as inspiration for its ingredients. The brand expanded to include scented candles and bath products.

A spokesperson for Estée Lauder Companies said that it had "invested significantly in building Jo Malone London" over the past 25 years since it legally bought the brand.

"She was compensated as part of this agreement, and for many years, she abided by its terms," the spokesperson added.

"We respect Ms Malone's right to pursue new opportunities. But legally binding contractual obligations cannot be disregarded, and when those terms are breached, we will protect the brand that we have invested in and built over decades."

'There's no hiding place on a ship': The sailors stranded near Iran

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3g0vz223no, today

Drones, cruise missiles and fighter jets have become a common sight for many sailors stranded on oil tankers and freight ships in the Gulf, after Iran threatened to open fire on any vessels trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz, in response to US-Israeli attacks.

In recent days there has been a growing number of reported attacks on ships in the Gulf region, as Iran responded to attacks by the US and Israel by threatening to open fire on any vessels trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz.

The Strait is a key artery for shipping, both for energy supplies and vessels carrying other goods. The sudden outbreak of war has left many ships – and their sailors stranded at sea as they watch strikes play out on land around them and overhead.

"I have seen Iranian drones and cruise missiles flying at low altitude," says Amir, a Pakistani sailor who is on board an oil tanker in the United Arab Emirates which cannot leave the area. "I also hear the sound of fighter jets, but we can't identify which country they belong to."

What scares him the most is the thought of an intercepted drone or missile falling on his vessel.

Hein, a sailor from Myanmar, sees skirmishes every day. "Just this morning, two fighter jets fired at each other while we were still working," he says. "There's no specific hiding place on the ship for this, and we just had to run inside."

We have changed the names to Amir and Hein, along with those of the other sailors at sea and their families, to protect their safety.

While it is difficult to get an accurate figure for how many sailors are stranded on ships in the Middle East, Captain Anam Chowdhury, president of the Bangladesh Merchant Marine Officers' Association, estimates that the number is around 20,000.

Some are at sea and some are stuck in port, but he says it is difficult to assess which is the more dangerous position.

"Inside the port, people might think it's safe, but there have been ships which have been bombarded when they were anchored," he explains.

His organisation has tracked at least seven ships it says have been hit by projectiles and damaged in the war so far.

He says on 1 March, a sailor was killed on board the Skylark, a tanker registered to the Republic of Palau.

Captain Chowdhury says the surviving sailors have been "traumatised" by the attack, during which the engine room caught fire and the crew evacuated.

Other mariners agree. Captain M Mansoor Saeed sails oil tankers, and tells BBC News he believes that when it comes to avoiding attack, there is little difference between being at port or sea: "If they want to target my ship they will target it."

But, he says, generally large ships can be safer away from the coast. "In heavy weather conditions we always run to open sea, where we have more water and depth to manoeuvre freely. In ports and confined waters, weather can damage the vessel by grounding or hitting the quay walls."

Difficulties getting information at sea

The precarious situation has made the families of seafarers burn with worry.

Because authorities in Iran have blocked internet and phone networks for most people in Iran, it has been difficult for the family members of sailors to get news about their whereabouts. Although access does sometimes come back, it is unpredictable and usually for short periods.

Ali Abbas's son is on a ship at an Iranian port near the Strait of Hormuz. He last spoke to his son several days ago, when he was telling him about a missile attack. His son escaped, but an Indian sailor was wounded.

"I have hidden this from my wife and daughter-in law," he says tearfully.

On Tuesday night, there was another severe attack on the port and Ali hasn't been able to talk to his son. "For God's sake, please help me," he says, breaking down with emotion. Ali hopes his son is still alive and well, and communication system failure is to blame for the lack of contact.

Sat-nav interference

Seo-jun (name changed) captains a boat with more than 20 crew members from South Korea and Myanmar. He says satellite navigation has been breaking up – posing extra risks.

"Since the war began, GPS interference has occurred intermittently, but it has become much worse over the past three or four days," he says.

When their boat entered Dubai, the sailors had to navigate without GPS.

"There's a Korean saying that describes it as 'like a blind person feeling for a doorknob'," he says.

Supplies running low

Apart from worrying about their safety, many sailors fear that water and food will run out soon.

On Seo-jun's ship they have enough fresh food for 15 days, but drinking water has become a worry.

"The ship can produce fresh water by desalinating seawater, but that becomes difficult if we are not sailing," he says.

"It's already been two months since we got the provisions on board," a Pakistani sailor, Masood, says.

Before the war, Hein says his ship offered buffet meals and the crew could get fresh food like eggs, and water whenever they wanted.

But now a quota system is in place on Hein's ship and they only get one meal of four small pieces of meat and one bowl of fried vegetables daily. Their supplies will only last for a month, and the boat's fresh water generators aren't working.

"Our life is very humiliating here and we have very little fuel and food," says another Pakistani sailor, Zeeshan.

"Nobody can be happy and relax in this situation," Amir says. "We keep ourselves busy in daily routine jobs. Drills, safety and security training."

Hein, who works as a senior engineer on the vessel, agrees. "I don't allow myself to become desperate because I am in charge of 20 other Myanmar crew members."

He has also prepared a contingency exit plan if the situation deteriorates further. "I told my team how to run, where to jump from and what to carry if something happens."

The limits of insurance

Even if the sailors reach land after their vessels are docked in a safe port, there may be no easy way for them to get home or leave the region.

Hamza says his son, who is stuck on a ship, is among sailors "not being allowed to leave" because their companies have their passports.

At the same time, frightened sailors who don't fulfil their contracts by abandoning ship will have difficulties finding future employment as shipping companies may blacklist them.

The situation is desperate, and Amir says he can only hope for the best and pray for the safety of all seafarers.

He also urges shipping companies not to force their crew to pass the Strait of Hormuz.

Those fears are hypothetical, but he worries that financial pressures could override safety. He says if any vessel is hit by a drone or a missile it is the sailors who pay the human cost, while cargo and ships can be covered by insurance. "Human life cannot be replaced by any insurance," he says.

He believes that the war will significantly change the seafaring industry.

"The style and purpose of this war is very different from what we saw in the past few years. This war will have long-term effects on the trade in the Persian Gulf."

Captain Chowdhury believes sailors are caught up in events they have no responsibility for.

"People should not victimise the ships. When you victimise the ship, you victimise the seafarers also, who are innocent people," he says.

'What if we're left with ruins?': Doubts creep in for Iranians who supported war

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3094g50rnvo, today

"We thought they'd kill all the senior figures and the regime would collapse in days, but we are in the second week now and every night I wake to explosions," a Tehran resident told the BBC.

She initially supported the war, but her frustration is growing.

For some Iranians who oppose their country's leadership, the war they initially hoped might accelerate political change is now forcing a painful reassessment, and they are beginning to question whether the cost of the conflict could ultimately outweigh any political outcome.

Others, however, still argue that outside military pressure may be the only realistic way to weaken the system.

Many Israeli and American officials have framed the campaign largely as an effort to degrade Iran's nuclear and missile capabilities and threats.

But some, including US President Donald Trump, have also hinted that the ultimate objective could be regime change.

For some critics of Iran's clerical establishment, that suggestion initially raised hopes that external pressure might significantly accelerate that change.

Yet conversations with some Iranians inside the country suggest the picture is now far more complicated.

It has become increasingly difficult for journalists to contact people inside Iran since the conflict began, as authorities have imposed yet another near-total internet shutdown since 28 February.

Despite communication restrictions, the BBC was able to speak to several Iranians who oppose the government and who initially did not oppose the idea of military action against the Islamic Republic, particularly after another uprising attempt and nationwide protests were subdued in what has become the deadliest protest crackdown in the Islamic Republic's history.

Their names have been changed for their safety, as expressing dissenting views in Iran can lead to arrest or imprisonment.

Sama, a 31-year-old engineer in Tehran, said that when news of the strikes first broke she felt a moment of hope.

"For years we have protested," she said. "Every time they silence us, they kill us.

"When the strikes started, I thought, this is what the regime cannot survive."

Sama said she even celebrated alongside family and friends when reports emerged that Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had been killed in US-Israeli strikes.

"I was screaming in happiness when the big news was confirmed," she said.

But two weeks into the conflict, she says the mood around her and many others has changed.

"Now I see some are terrified and people I know are wondering if their neighbourhood will be targeted next," she said.

"I can't sleep anymore. I wake up either to the sound of explosions, or because of nightmares about them."

Others say the scale of potential civilian suffering is becoming harder to ignore.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says between 600,000 and one million Iranian households are now temporarily displaced inside Iran as a result of the ongoing conflict, according to preliminary assessments, representing up to 3.2 million people.

It said the figure is likely to continue rising as hostilities persist, marking a worrying escalation in humanitarian needs.

Mina, a 28-year-old teacher in a northern city, said she still wants an end to the ruling clerical establishment but fears the long-term consequences of war.

"This fanatic regime brought us this war, I know," she said.

"But when you see the massive fires and hear explosions, when you see young children afraid and crying, you start thinking about whether this can ruin the country you love and live in."

Mina said some friends who once openly discussed the possibility of regime collapse have grown more cautious as the war continues and many senior officials remain in place.

She said: "What if we are left with ruins and the same mullahs and the same government? Only more oppressive and more defiant?"

For others, the concern is not only whether the government might fall, but what might follow if it does, especially under conditions that cannot be controlled.

Ali, a 31-year-old shopkeeper who was injured during protests in January, said he worries about the possibility of instability or internal conflict.

"Everyone talks about 'regime change' like it's a simple switch," he said.

"But who will take power? What stops the country from falling into chaos, even if they somehow manage to bring the regime down?"

The uncertainty, he said, weighs heavily even on those who strongly oppose the government.

"I want freedom," he said. "But I also want a country left standing when this ends."

Some also argued that war has strengthened the authorities rather than weakening them when it comes to cracking down on protest and dissent.

Fatima, a 27-year-old graphic designer, said external attacks often reinforce the government's long-standing narrative about "the enemy".

"They love this," she said. "Now they are saying: 'See? We told you it was all the enemy's plan.'

"Criticism has become treason, and they are using that against their own people."

She said the presence of paramilitary forces on the streets has meaningfully increased since the war began.

"Have you seen their thugs on the street looking for excuses to attack or arrest us?" she said.

"It's becoming harder and harder for people to speak out."

Yet others argue that such concerns ignore how difficult internal change has proven to be.

These voices continue to support the military campaign, saying decades of repression have left no other alternative.

Reza, a 40-year-old engineer in the central city of Isfahan, said he believes outside pressure is not only necessary but the only viable path.

"People say change must come from within - as if we have not tried," he said.

"For God's sake, have these people forgotten the piles of body bags of killed protesters? Wasn't that just two months ago?"

Reza believes weakening the government's military and security apparatus could shift the balance of power.

"Even if the system doesn't collapse tomorrow, reducing its power can change the equation," he said.

Others argue that the cost of the current system remaining in power will ultimately be higher than the cost of war.

Milad, a software developer in the southern province of Khuzestan, said he fears the government's policies could lead to even greater destruction if it survives.

"Do these people think there will be peace, or even less destruction than what we see in this war, if these fanatics stay in power?" he said.

"Look at what they did during 'peace' time: no economy, no water, no rights for women, no future.

"I would rather die in these strikes, as long as those who did this to our country die alongside me."

Yet even among those who still favour military action, some question the promises made by Trump, who told Iranians in a message after the war began: "When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations."

Saeed, another young Iranian who took part in deadly anti-establishment protests in January, said he is now deeply sceptical.

"There is no other way but war against this regime," he said.

"But is this Trump guy really still looking for regime change? Is he serious about finishing the job?"

"I don't even know anymore. He says different things every single day."

Americans on Iran strikes: 'What if this turns into a forever war?'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0d7vv1p71o, today

It has been nearly two weeks since Americans woke to the news that the US had carried out strikes against Iran.

Donald Trump has said "we're achieving major strides", but the US president and his administration have offered conflicting statements about what they hope to ultimately achieve.

The operation is a significant turn for a president who campaigned on ending US military involvement abroad.

So far, polling suggests support for the war falls largely along party lines, but even some Republican voters tell the BBC their feelings are complicated. Here, six American voters share their reaction to the war.

Nelson Westrick, 50, Michigan

A Trump supporter, he says he doesn't see the intervention as fitting the president's "America First" promise.

I'm not interested in this war. I didn't want this war. Most of my friends are all good Trump guys like I am, and they're not in tune with this either.

One of the big things in his first term was not starting any wars, and that was a big thing for me.

The biggest concern is the death of American soldiers, for what?

And things are about to go to hell with gas prices, diesel prices, oil.

[Trump] was about to have a roaring economy, with no taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime...Inflation was going down, and I think that's all going to go in the tank, if this keeps going.

Misty Dennis, 50, California

This Republican thinks increased gas prices are a small price to pay for the freedom of millions of Iranians.

I don't like war, but finally someone's doing something to stop terrorism - that's commendable. There's finally a president here ready to do something that others haven't.

We live in a country where we have freedom to speak out. Thousands of people were killed in Iran when they were trying to have their own protests.

I think people are forgetting what has happened in Iran in the last 30 years. We're forgetting some of the human rights violations that have been going on.

All I hear is everyone going, 'Well my gas prices are going'. Yeah, well, you live in a great place - you don't live in a place where you're being terrorized by a regime.

Kathryn Vaughn, 43, Tenneessee

This Democrat is a teacher who worries about what the conflict could mean for her students and her family.

Just because I'm a teacher and I'm always with the youth, I'm worried. What if this turns into a forever war? What's that going to mean for my students long term?

It definitely does not feel like it's going to be over quickly.

I'm worried about retaliation stateside. We were thinking about going to New York City this summer, and now maybe not.

Now we're looking at avoiding large gatherings and important structures, no bridges, big buildings, Disneyland - all of that kind of feels a little out of the picture, just for safety.

Jim Sullivan, 55, Indiana

This Republican has mixed feelings and questions what America's role should be in global conflicts.

On the one hand I'm supportive if the regime is removed. But this feels icky that we're in this regime change programme.

You're taking us into a war and a real commitment - where is the participation of the legislative branch, the people's representatives?

If the Islamic Republic is replaced by something that is more democratic for its own people, for its own good, that's great.

But it's a long way from being certain.

I don't know if this is the business the United States should be in, changing regimes that we don't like. I know we don't like them, and I don't like them, but is that what we're supposed to do as a country?

Latim Simon Peter, 35, Minnesota

This Democrat feels the US is making a 'grave mistake' and the war is taking attention away from domestic stories, such as the release of the Epstein files.

If you see what's going on in Iran right now, the [American] people are not really focused on the Epstein files anymore. They're focused on Iran, because it's a bigger issue.

If you look what's happening, people are getting killed. American soldiers are getting hit. They're losing lives, and then you see there's not really any clear goal for where this is headed.

Are they going to stop? It doesn't seem like it. Are they going to exit? It doesn't seem like it.

In just 11 or 12 days, it's real chaos. Just project how it's going to feel in 20 or 30 days?

Shana Ziolko, 41, Missouri

This Democrat worries about prices and whether Americans will be drafted. But most of all, she worries about how the conflict might escalate.

I hate it. I hate it so much.

Prices of everything are insane. I have to think about gas prices since they've jumped up.

I'm most concerned with escalation. All these tiny little wars the administration is popping here and there and everywhere - trouble in Venezuela, trouble in Iran.

I feel like it's already turning into a very global war and that's very concerning.

British man charged in Dubai under cyber-crime law

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c743g4yn4k8o, today

A British man has been charged under cyber-crime laws in Dubai after allegedly filming Iranian missiles over the city.

The tourist was detained under a law in the United Arab Emirates that prohibits publishing or sharing material that could disturb public security, according to Detained in Dubai, an organisation that provides legal assistance to individuals in the UAE.

Foreign Office officials are understood to be supporting his family.

Radha Stirling, Detained in Dubai CEO, said the man from London was charged along with 20 other people after police found a video of an Iranian missile strike in Dubai on his phone.

She told the BBC the formal charges were "very vague".

"I've reviewed the charge sheet and from reading it you wouldn't know what they've done wrong," she said.

"We're seeing more and more people being charged under the UAE's cyber-crime rules," she added.

Iran's new supreme leader vows to block Strait of Hormuz in first statement

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdxg599655vo, today

Iran will continue blocking the Strait of Hormuz, the world's busiest oil shipping channel, according to a statement attributed to Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

His message was broadcast on Iranian state TV, but Khamenei did not appear in person. His message was instead read out by a newsreader.

Iran would "avenge the blood" of Iranians killed in the war with the US and Israel, Khamenei said in the statement, which also warned neighbouring countries to stop hosting US bases.

He was named supreme leader on 8 March after his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed on the first day of the war.

Mojtaba Khamenei lost his wife and a son in the US-Israeli strike on the supreme leader's compound that killed his father. His mother was also reportedly killed in the attack, though one Iranian outlet has since said she is alive.

It has been reported by the Reuters news agency, citing an unnamed Iranian official, that Khamenei was "lightly injured", but there have been no details.

He has not been seen in public and there have been no photographs or videos of him since becoming supreme leader.

Iran's state TV news channel has referred to him as a "veteran of the Ramadan war", without any further confirmation on whether he was injured.

In the first public message attributed to him, Khamenei said Iran should use the "lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz" as the channel is an area where "the enemy is highly vulnerable".

Iran would continue targeting US bases in the region, Khamenei said in his statement.

Tehran had a policy of "friendship" with neighbouring countries, but he warned them to close their American bases.

"We share land or maritime borders with 15 neighbouring countries and have always sought warm and constructive relations with all of them," he said.

"These countries must clarify their stance toward the aggressors against our homeland and the killers of our people."

"I advise them to close those bases as soon as possible."

Iran's new leader also mentioned "the crimes against children, such as the deliberate crime at the Minab school". According to American media reports, US investigators believe American forces mistakenly hit a school in southern Iran which was located near a military base.

Khamenei said he learned he had become the supreme leader of Iran via the country's state TV channel.

"I learned about the result of the vote of the esteemed Assembly of Experts at the same time as you and through the Islamic Republic's television."

Iran has threatened attacks on shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, which is normally a conduit for one-fifth of the world's oil.

Blocking oil tankers from sailing through the Strait – and strikes by Iran on oil tankers in the Gulf – has led to soaring oil prices.

On Wednesday, Tehran said the world should be ready for oil at $200 per barrel and warned that any tanker bound for the US, Israel and its partners was a legitimate target.

The International Energy Agency has warned oil markets are suffering "the largest supply disruption in history."

French vote tests polarised electorate with right hoping to win control of Paris

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdxzzqye9w0o, today

France is preparing to vote in town council elections, whose results will be closely analysed for trends ahead of next year's presidential votes.

A strong showing for Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN) would be a boost for the nationalist right - even as she awaits a judicial decision on whether she can stand for head of state in 2027.

More broadly the six-yearly municipal elections - which take place in two rounds over the next successive Sundays - will be a test of how far mainstream parties are prepared to go in forming alliances with the far left and far right.

Politics in France has become increasingly polarised, as in much of Europe, and traditional parties have found it harder to win elections without at least tacit support from formations on their outer flank.

But this leads to accusations of pandering to extremism which in turn can cost votes in the centre.

Inevitably the highest-profile contest is for the mayorship of Paris, which has been under left-wing control for 25 years, but could now shift back to the right.

Here as elsewhere alliances will play a vital role in between the two rounds of voting.

Under the complex voting system, it is quite possible that as many as five candidates in the capital will make it through to the run-off on 22 March.

Defending the status quo is Socialist Emmanuel Grégoire, 48, former deputy to outgoing mayor Anne Hidalgo.

Leading the challenge from the right is former culture minister Rachida Dati, 60, one-time protégée of ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy.

But other candidates in the race are Pierre-Yves Bournazel from the pro-President Macron centre, Sophia Chikirou from the radical left France Unbowed (LFI), Sarah Knafo from the radical right Reconquest party and Thierry Mariani from the RN.

Polls consistently put all the candidates, except for Mariani, above the 10% level of votes needed to get through to the second round. And if Mariani were to get more than 5%, he, too, would be allowed to form a pact to merge his list with another's.

So between the two rounds there will be pressure on Bournazel and Knafo to stand down in favour of Dati - and on Chikirou to leave the field to Grégoire. It will be urged on them that by staying in the race, they split the vote and open the way for their opponent.

The difficulty is that if Dati cuts a deal with Knafo, she will be accused of flirting with "fascists", and if Grégoire cuts a deal with Chikirou, he will be doing the same with "violent antisemites".

Tensions in France have become all the sharper after the February killing of nationalist student Quentin Deranque apparently by far-left militants in Lyon. This has led to calls for mainstream parties to boycott the LFI, just as they have the RN.

The same dynamic will be played out across thousands of towns and cities as right- and left-wing populists stake their claim for a greater share of power to reflect their growing vote, and main-streamers are caught in a quandary - to resist or yield.

In Paris, Rachida Dati has focused her attacks on the outgoing team's record on crime and cleanliness - "Paris is dirty and unsafe," she says - as well as on finances - the city has run up a debt of more than €10bn (£8.7bn).

"Grégoire is the same as [current Paris Mayor Anne] Hidalgo, only worse," she told a rally. "He admits that the Socialists made mistakes – but he is the very incarnation of those mistakes. He was their co-pilot."

It is true that Grégoire bears the burden of being the continuity candidate. Even if, as his team is very keen to stress, his relations with Hidalgo are poor, he cannot reasonably claim to represent change.

But he has two assets: the first is the left's anti-car campaign, which has transformed Paris, introducing 1,500km (930 miles) of cycle-lanes, pedestrianising the riverside drives, and cutting pollution by 40% in the past 10 years.

According to the Hôtel de Ville's [mayor's office] own figures, car use is down 60% since 2001, which is easy to believe when you compare then and now.

Dati and Knafo both minimise this, saying that all cities everywhere have improved air quality thanks to changed transport policies, and that the average speed for a car now in Paris – 10km/h (6mph) – is no quicker than a jogger's.

But the fact remains that in general Parisians appreciate the change and thank the existing team.

The other advantage for Grégoire is the judicial cloud that hangs over Dati.

In September she goes on trial for allegedly taking nearly €1m (£700,000) from the Renault car company in return for lobbying on its behalf as a member of the EU parliament.

She maintains her innocence but, if elected as mayor, would she resign if convicted?

This year's Paris vote, as well as in Marseille and Lyon, is the first under a new electoral system, in which voters choose lists not just for their local arrondissement (district) but also for the central city council.

In the past, it was district councillors who then chose the more important Paris council.

Commentators have suggested the effect of this is to personalise the campaign, which arguably works in favour of the more famous and colourful public figure - Dati.

Across the country, other votes will be heavily scrutinised - notably in Le Havre where former prime minister Edouard Philippe is up for re-election.

The leader of the centrist Horizons party has said it would be hard to sustain his presidential hopes next year if he fails to win another term as mayor.

In Nice, a fratricidal fight on the right pits the incumbent Christian Estrosi of Horizons against Eric Ciotti, whose small UDR party is allied to the RN.

In Marseille, Socialist Mayor Benoît Payan faces a tough challenge from the RN, and in Lyon, Green incumbent Grégory Doucet is predicted to lose against businessman Jean-Michel Aulas, former boss of Olympique Lyonnais football club.

National Rally, which traditionally fares less well in municipal elections than in national ones, controls only about 15 medium-size towns. It has hopes of adding Marseille, Toulon, Carcassonne and Lens to the list.

Weekly quiz: This dog was Best in Show at Crufts - what other prize did he win?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn714lpej85o, today

This week, Iran appointed a new supreme leader, a German city had to be evacuated when a large WW2 bomb was found, and the UK got a first listen to its unusual entry for this year's Eurovision song contest.

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

Quiz collated by Ben Fell.

Fancy some more? Try last week's quiz, or have a go at something from the archives.

'I imagine they had a healthy sex life early on' - Jones and Grant in Austen-inspired drama

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy03jw2g78no, today

Ruth Jones says she is "stepping into very big shoes" as she stars in a new BBC comedy series inspired by Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

The creator of Gavin and Stacey portrays the "iconic" Mrs Bennet in The Other Bennet Sister, with Richard E Grant playing her husband, Mr Bennet.

Based on Janice Hadlow's novel of the same name, the show focuses on Mary Bennet, the couple's seemingly unremarkable middle daughter, who is in search of her own identity.

With some scenes filmed in Wales, Jones said the series was "one of the happiest jobs" she's ever done, adding: "I love coming back to Wales."

In Pride and Prejudice and its various screen adaptations, Mrs Bennet is portrayed as stressed, emotional, and fixated on marrying off her five daughters.

But Jones said she hoped to change that perception of the character in the new series.

"Mrs Bennet is iconic and a huge challenge," she said.

"I wanted to meet that challenge and portray her differently from how she's traditionally been seen.

"Ultimately, she wants security for all her daughters.

"I think of her like an estate agent with five properties to sell, four will be snapped up, but one can't even get a viewing.

"She's a tough businesswoman, that really appealed to me."

An added challenge for Mrs Bennet is her "harsh" husband, said Jones.

She added she imagined Mr and Mrs Bennet "had a very healthy sex life early on".

"But it soon became clear they didn't have much in common and irritated each other greatly," she said.

"Mr Bennet can be quite harsh; he doesn't seem to take her anxiety about marrying off the daughters seriously. It's a fractious relationship."

Mr Bennet is a dream role for Grant, who said that Jones' involvement was one of the reasons why he signed up to the series.

"When Ruth Jones was cast, I knew she'd be perfect, so I was thrilled to work with her," he said.

"As a father of one daughter, having five on screen was a delight.

"The energy is infectious."

Produced by Wales-based Bad Wolf, the project was also a chance for Jones to go back home, with some filming taking place in south Wales.

The writer and actress said: "I recognise so many crew members I've worked with before, and it makes me proud that we're creating a production like this here.

"Locations like St Fagans Folk Museum are places I've known since childhood."

Jones said her co-stars, including Ella Bruccoleri as Mary, were a "joy" to work with.

But Jones said she found herself apologizing to Bruccoleri for "criticising and belittling" her while in character.

"She is awful to Mary - let's not beat about the bush - and often quite cruel," said Jones.

"But we come to understand why her attitude towards her middle daughter is the way it is."

Jones said Jane Austen fans "won't be disappointed".

"There are so many nods to Pride and Prejudice - recognisable characters, iconic ballroom scenes, moments that make you think, 'I remember that'," said Jones.

"The series is a lovely blend of lightness and comedy, with some genuinely moving and poignant moments."

The Other Bennet Sister premieres on BBC One and iPlayer on Sunday 15 March 2026.

How a lost suitcase led to a two-year £4,500 legal wrangle with Ryanair

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy93p4dj8vo, today

When Rosie McGrane landed in Copenhagen to discover her suitcase had not arrived with her, she did not expect the fight for compensation would still being going on two-and-a-half years later.

But despite Edinburgh Sheriff Court ordering Ryanair to pay her almost £4,500 last July she is yet to receive anything from the airline.

Rosie, with help from husband Chris, took the court action after months of what she described as "fruitless" emails and complaints.

Ryanair originally did not engage with the court action but the airline has now appealed against the decision, stating that Rosie failed to complain upon arrival in Copenhagen, something she disputes.

The saga began on 15 September 2023, when Rosie, from Kilmarnock, flew from Edinburgh to the Danish capital to run the city's half marathon.

A self-described "Mrs just-in-case", she had a lot packed for her five-night stay.

This included her running gear, headphones, tablet computer, and her nicest clothes.

"Going away for a trip, you take your good stuff with you," she says.

When her suitcase did not arrive on the baggage carousel, Rosie and Tina, the Danish friend she had travelled with, say they informed staff at the airport and spoke to lost property.

They say they were told Rosie's case had never left Edinburgh but that it would be sent on to the house they were staying within a few days.

This never happened.

Despite losing all her tech and clothes, Rosie, 56, says she was most upset to lose her flag.

As with every race, she was running the Copenhagen half marathon in memory of her brother Derek and planned on continuing her tradition of crossing the finish line with the Scottish flag she had made of him.

"That was the most valuable thing for me in that case," she says.

When her return flight landed, Rosie and Tina say they went straight to the Ryanair desks where Rosie was given a reference number for the loss.

Ryanair then sent her a claim form. This required her to list every item in the suitcase, and items she bought in Copenhagen to see her through the trip.

This was a process that took "days, rather than hours", Rosie says.

The couple were unable to find receipts for everything in her case - something they argue most people would struggle with, especially for items bought in-person rather than online.

After another false alarm that the case had been found, Rosie's husband Chris says he began emailing Ryanair "twice a week for months" in the hope of an update.

However none came, and by March 2024 - five months on from submission of the claim form - the couple put in a complaint about the delay.

The reply they received hours later left 65-year-old Chris ready to "put the PC out the window".

Ryanair told him to submit a claim, the very thing they were complaining about the delay on.

When Chris pointed this out, they replied saying Rosie had filled out the wrong form, despite it being the one provided by the company.

Chris later told them they would repeat the form if necessary. Ryanair never replied and on 3 June it closed Rosie's case.

Chris, a retired sheriff clerk, told Ryanair if they did not reopen his wife's claim, he would help her to raise the issue as a simple procedure - the replacement for small claims court.

Rosie feels she wouldn't have been able to continue at this point without her husband's experience.

She says: "We are lucky we do have somebody that's got that knowledge, and a bit of time that he can just keep chipping away at it".

In March 2025, almost 18 months on from her trip, Chris, acting for Rosie, raised a "simple procedure" at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, an informal court process designed for resolving disputes of £5,000 or less.

Ryanair never engaged in the case, so by July Rosie was granted her decree.

The court ordered Ryanair to pay her £4,425.37 compensation - a sum arrived at by totalling the cost of the items in her suitcase and those she bought to see her through the rest of the trip.

However, this was not to be the end of the issue. This decree had to be served on Ryanair.

As they have no official offices in the jurisdiction, sheriff officers sought to give the decree to an employee in person.

Despite Ryanair being one of Edinburgh Airport's biggest carriers, and flying from other Scottish airports including Glasgow and Prestwick, the sheriff officers were unable to find anyone who was not a subcontractor.

The decree was instead sent to Ryanair's head office in Dublin.

On the final day possible in October 2025, Chris was told that Ryanair had lodged a "recall" of the decree - an attempt to overturn the court's decision.

Ryanair list a number of grounds for recall. The main one being their claim that Rosie did not complain upon arrival, which they take as "evidence that the baggage was delivered".

Rosie and Tina dispute this, saying they both spoke to airport staff as soon as they arrived and were told the suitcase would be following soon.

Ryanair also said it could not have any liability for items that should not have been in Rosie's checked-in luggage such as her iPad, her sports watch and her headphones.

Ryanair's objections, and Rosie's counter to these, will be heard by the court on 26 March. Almost two-and-a-half years on from her flight.

Despite the time that has passed, Rosie and Chris are determined to continue, partly due to the Montreal Convention.

This treaty governs compensation for lost luggage in most countries, including the UK, and places airlines under 'strict liability' for lost luggage.

This means that even if a subcontractor of the airline was at fault for the luggage becoming lost, the airline itself will be held responsible.

But it also means that compensation is currently limited at around £1,375.

So, while his wife may not recover the value of everything in her suitcase, Chris believes the strict liability Ryanair are under means they will eventually have to pay his wife compensation.

Rosie feels that although Ryanair are a low-cost airline, customers should still get compensation when things go wrong.

"You don't need to expect any more or any less, but you expect to get what you've paid for," she says.

When approached for a response, Ryanair stated they do not comment on pending legal proceedings.

My identity was stolen and someone is using it to catfish men - it's terrifying

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89kdn3e185o, today

Whenever somebody stares at Sasha-Jay Davies in a supermarket, she panics, thinking they recognise her face and are about to confront her.

For almost four years she has been accused of leading men on, arranging to meet and not showing up, and harassed by complete strangers.

This is because Sasha-Jay's photographs were stolen from her social media accounts and used by someone to build relationships with men and friendships with other women.

South Wales Police is investigating, while online safety lawyer Yair Cohen said people who catfish in this way did so because they are frequently motivated by "low self-esteem" and enjoy the power it gives them.

"I've had boys approach me in person, harassing me and accusing me of texting them, leading them on, or making plans to meet up alongside conversations I never had," Sasha-Jay, 19, said.

"I used to go out a lot but now I hardly ever go out because I'm scared what man is going to approach me next.

"It's really difficult and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy."

So far the men who have approached her have been nice once she explained the situation, but she worries about what could happen, adding: "It is terrifying to be confronted over something you didn't do and to realise someone is using your face to manipulate others."

Sasha-Jay, from Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf, says she has had about 20 men and several women contact her on social media, believing they know her.

What is even more chilling, though, is that it is not just her photos the identity thief has taken.

There have been cruel posts relating to her late dad, including a fake pancreatic cancer certificate, and they have also reposted racial slurs that have impacted on her "character and reputation".

Pictures of other women's bodies who have a similar build to Sasha-Jay have also been posted, attracting comments from men which have made her feel "really uncomfortable" and "violated".

"The level of calculation and malice behind this is something I struggle to understand," she said.

"They know absolutely everything about me."

What is catfishing?

Catfishing is when somebody creates a fake online persona with the intention of deceiving others.

This could be for a variety of reasons, such as extorting money from them, to spark up a romance, or simply for their own satisfaction.

Catfishers often use stolen photographs, lie about their lives, and avoid situations such as video calls, where they would be caught out.

The first time Sasha-Jay was made aware of a fake account was in 2022, when she was 16 and had just started college after leaving school.

She says she found someone was using her photographs on TikTok.

As the profile was public and content was being posted daily, it quickly gained followers.

Sasha-Jay reported it to the police, but was told little could be done.

"I thought like, 'oh, well, hopefully they just get bored and do it to somebody else'," she said.

Soon, though, the photographs started appearing on dating apps and Instagram, and fake accounts were even set up using stolen images of her friends, to "make everything look more believable".

Despite making her own accounts private 18 months ago, Sasha-Jay said the identity thief continued to use old photos and AI-edited images.

The photographs were used on accounts under the name of Sophie Kadare, and one person deceived was Mark (not his real name), 22, from Essex.

In December, he began messaging "Sophie" on Instagram after seeing her videos on TikTok.

"She said she was a Liverpool fan, so I thought I'd follow her," Mark said.

For about a month, they messaged and chatted about things like football, their days and travelling.

Then, while scrolling on TikTok, Mark came across a video on Sasha-Jay's real account about her boyfriend.

"I felt a bit shocked at first," he said.

"I've never experienced that before."

Mark alerted Sasha-Jay, but when he confronted "Sophie", she blocked him.

"I think she was messaging me for attention," he said.

Sasha-Jay wonders if someone she knows is behind it.

She has repeatedly reported the social media accounts, but says the impersonator blocks her friends and family to prevent them doing the same.

The fact that the fake accounts gained 81,000 followers on TikTok and 22,000 on Instagram also made it harder.

"Because they have a bigger following than I do, they look like the real person," she said.

Police initially told her nothing could be done, but after Sasha-Jay recently posted about her experiences on Facebook, she was given an incident number, and they are investigating.

She described feeling scared, anxious and embarrassed.

"I guess at first it didn't really bother me, but it wasn't as big as it is now, this account has literally taken over my whole entire life," Sasha-Jay added.

"Like everybody thinks I am this Sophie person - I can't be my own person.

"Watching someone weaponize my identity and my image has taken a huge emotional toll."

BBC Newsbeat has been speaking to another young person who had a similar experience to Sasha-Jay.

Hen Howard had "many" pictures stolen from her social media accounts, which were then posted on "various different sub-threads".

The incident left 25-year-old Howard feeling "violated".

"[People were] just kind of commenting on how I look and stuff like that," says the former Cardiff University student.

"It just shows how easy it is for people to take your pictures and use them."

Howard says she understands the risks of having a public account - but is being even more cautious as a result of her experience.

"It's expected in a way these days that if you have public pictures out, then anyone can use them," she says.

"If I went private it wouldn't be as easy for people to get the pictures, but since it's happened so many times, I'm kind of just like 'whatever' now about it.

"It's not great, but ultimately, they're there for the public to see anyway. I will just be more careful about posting anything with personal information, because I wouldn't want that to be found."

Is catfishing a crime in the UK?

Impersonation and catfishing are a significant online safety issue, according to Hayley Laskey from the UK Safer Internet Centre.

She highlighted things such as AI-generated profiles and fake images being used in romance scams and sextortion.

About 5% of cases reported to the centre's harmful content helpline service in 2024 and 2025 involved impersonation accounts.

Laskey said catfishing itself is not always illegal in the UK, but related behaviour can break laws such as the Fraud Act 2006, if someone uses a fake identity to obtain money or gifts, or causes reputational or financial harm.

Similarly, impersonating someone else online can also be illegal if it causes harm, reputational damage or financial loss to that person, she added.

Under the Online Safety Act 2023, platforms must act if impersonation leads to illegal behaviour such as threats or fraud.

Laskey advised victims to first report the account using a platform's built-in tools and wait about 48 hours before escalating it to the centre's helpline.

But she said the key was "prevention and education", including limiting personal information online, using strong passwords and two-factor authentication, and being cautious before sending money or personal images.

Yair Cohen, one of the UK's first internet lawyers, represented Kirat Assi in her landmark 2020 civil case against her catfisher, later featured in the Netflix documentary Sweet Bobby.

Cohen said catfishers often knew their victims and many enjoy the "trust that is being put in them" created by the false identity.

"They tend to enjoy this power that they are having over the victims, both categories of victims - the person [whose photographs] are being stolen, and the people who they are cheating using the false identity," he explained.

"They don't have to confront anything, they don't have to be themselves.

"They're literally borrowing the identity of somebody else and are using it to enhance their own self-image and sometimes their own image in the eyes of others."

Once the deception begins, Cohen added, perpetrators often "find it very, very difficult" to stop.

"They have to keep playing the game all the way to the bitter end, hence the reason why we nearly always are able to identify them, and because they will keep committing that wrongdoing time and time again until they get caught," he said.

"There is no way out for them."

On Sasha-Jay's experience, Cohen said there should be "very little difficulties in a criminal offence of at least harassment", noting the conduct "clearly is intended to cause her alarm and distress".

Sasha-Jay's local force said: "South Wales Police is investigating a case of identity theft in the Mountain Ash area.

"The victim is being kept up to date during the investigation."

Instagram said it had removed the fake account from its platform.

TikTok confirmed the account was removed for violating its community guidelines, which prohibit impersonation and spam, as well as content that "violates someone else's intellectual property rights".

Meanwhile, Sasha-Jay said she was sharing her story in the hope she gets answers and also wants people to be extra cautious when online.

"I always thought, 'oh, it'll never happen to me', and now it's happened to me," she said.

"Social media is powerful, but there are still not enough safeguards to protect people from long-term impersonation and targeted attacks like this."

She wants social media platforms to introduce identification verification for an account, adding: "A fake profile might look harmless to some, but it can destroy reputations, relationships, and mental health."

Sasha-Jay is urging people to "be cautious about who you interact with online", requesting users to keep profiles private, double-check accounts, report fake profiles immediately and protect personal information.

"And most importantly, understand that what happens online does not stay online, it spills into real life in ways that can be deeply damaging," she said.

"No-one should have to fight to reclaim their own identity or feel unsafe because someone else is hiding behind a screen."

The UK government's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said all social media providers needed to protect users.

"Impersonating or 'catfishing' as someone else online is a horrible form of abuse that can have distressing consequences for victims both on and offline," a spokesperson said.

"Under the Online Safety Act all in-scope services, including social media platforms, need to protect users from illegal content and criminal behaviour, including false communications offences."

If you have been affected by issues in this story, you can contact the BBC Action Line.

Additional reporting by Jared Evitts, BBC Newsbeat and Greg Davies.

Russian court convicts 19 people over deadly Moscow concert attack

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0j5lx75vg3o, today

Nineteen people have been jailed over an attack at a concert hall near Moscow that killed 149 people and left more than 500 injured, the deadliest mass shooting in Russia in two decades.

A Russian military court handed life sentences to four gunmen and 11 accomplices. Four other defendants were given between 19 and 22 years, state media reported.

Gunmen opened fire at Crocus City Concert Hall on the outskirts of Russia's capital on 22 March 2024 and set fire to the venue.

An Islamic State affiliate group claimed responsibility for the attack and posted video evidence. Moscow has repeatedly alleged Ukrainian involvement, which Kyiv has strenuously denied.

Some 6,000 people had been at the auditorium in Krasnogorsk for a rock concert on the evening of the attack when gunmen burst into the complex and started shooting randomly.

The attackers then set fires which engulfed the venue and caused the roof to collapse. Many of the victims died from bullet wounds and some from smoke inhalation.

The four men convicted of carrying out the shooting are all citizens of Tajikistan, according to Russia's state news agency Tass.

It is not clear how the defendants pleaded or whether they will appeal.

The trial has been conducted behind closed doors and there are likely to have been confessions made under duress.

When the men first appeared in court two years ago, they showed visible signs of having been beaten and one was brought into court in a wheelchair.

IS-K, the group which claimed responsibility for the shooting, is an ISIS offshoot which seeks to establish a Muslim caliphate across Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iran.

Graphic video released by ISIS, showing attackers firing on the crowd inside the concert hall, was verified as genuine by the BBC.

Russian officials have continued to claim that Ukraine was linked to the attack - the neighbour Russia has been at war with since it launched a full-scale invasion in 2022. No evidence has been provided for the claims.

Ukrainian officials fiercely deny any connection.

President Volodymyr Zelensky previously said it was "absolutely predictable" that Russian President Vladimir Putin would blame it on Ukraine.

Rapper-politician Balendra Shah's party wins Nepal election

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8jxnjvjkg7o, today

The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has won a landslide in Nepal's election - the first held since last year's youth-led protests toppled the then government.

The RSP received 182 votes in the final tally - falling short of achieving a two-thirds supermajority in the parliament's lower house by two seats. Nevertheless, it is the biggest win for a single party in Nepal in decades.

The Nepali Congress came in second with 38 votes, while the Communist Party of Nepal UML (CPN-UML) was third on 25. Voter turnout was around 60% of the nearly 19 million eligible voters.

The result puts the RSP's Balendra Shah - a rapper-turned-politician - on track to become the country's next leader.

It is expected to take at least a week for the new government to be formed.

The result is an amazing turn in fortune for the RSP, which was only founded in 2022 and came fourth in the election held that same year. Shah, like the party he only recently joined, is largely untested - his only political experience so far has been as the mayor of the capital, Kathmandu.

The landslide is all the more significant because the country's mixed political system - which uses a combination of first past the post and proportional representation - is mathematically designed to prevent such domination by a single party.

The outcome of the election reflects a desire for change that was seen during the election campaign, with parties courting Nepal's key youth bloc with promises of addressing issues including unemployment, economic stagnation and inequality.

These were the same problems that saw youth-led protests that broke out last year, initially against a social media ban, escalate. Demonstrators criticised Nepal's political system and the symbolism of class inequality, "nepo babies" - children of the country's politicians.

A total of 77 were killed during the protests, and a BBC investigation revealed the country's police chief issued an order allowing the use of lethal force against thousands of unarmed protesters.

The demonstrations eventually saw the then leader, KP Sharma Oli, ousted - only for him to stand again as a prime ministerial candidate, expressing confidence he would be re-elected.

Not only did his party, the CPN-UML, come third in the election, Oli was beaten decisively by Shah in the Jhapa 5 constituency - a former stronghold for the 74-year-old.

Gagan Thapa, the new leader of the Nepali Congress - the country's oldest democratic party - also lost his seat to an RSP candidate.

Customer sues Costco for tariff refunds

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyxz3xe04yo, today

A Costco customer in the US has taken the retailer to court, demanding that the company use potential tariff refunds to return money to shoppers who paid more due to the levies.

In a proposed class action lawsuit, customer Matthew Sockov argues that Costco is in the position to potentially recoup its tariff costs twice, "from customers through elevated pricing and from the government".

He says that amounts to "unjust enrichment" and asks the court to order the firm to refund shoppers.

The legal battle is a sign of the complexities looming over the roughly $166bn (£124bn) in tariff refunds the US owes to companies since the Supreme Court struck down many of Trump's tariffs last month.

The ruling left the refund process in the hands of the Court of International Trade, which has ordered the government to start returning money.

But there is significant uncertainty as to when that might happen - and who might benefit.

Importers paid those taxes when they brought the goods into the country, but in many cases at least some portion of the cost was passed on to distributors and customers in the form of higher prices.

Sockov's complaint, which was filed against Costco in federal court in Illinois, cites a Goldman Sachs report that estimates that consumers were "shouldering two-thirds of President Trump's new tariff costs".

"The truly injured parties possess no direct avenue for redress," he says.

Costco, one of the thousands of businesses that is seeking refunds, did not respond to a request for comment.

Speaking to analysts after reporting earnings this month, chief executive Ron Vachris said it remained unclear "what refunds, if any, will be received", adding that in many cases the company had not passed on the "full cost" of the duties.

"As we have done in the past, when legal challenges have recovered charges passed on in some form to our members, our commitment will be to find the best way to return this value to our members through lower prices and better values," he added.

"We will be transparent in how we plan to do this if and when we receive any refunds."

Other firms also face the issue of how to deal with refunds.

Delivery giant FedEx, which handled the tariffs on behalf of many businesses and individuals, is among the companies that has pledged to refund money it receives to the businesses and consumers that had faced tariff charges.

Last week, the Trump administration told the court it needed 45 days to create a new electronic process to handle the task, warning that its current systems would otherwise be overwhelmed.

It said more than 330,000 different importers were eligible for refunds as a result of the decision, which struck down tariffs Trump had imposed on dozens of countries under a 1977 emergency law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

"Existing administrative procedures and technology are not well suited to a task of this scale and will require manual work that will prevent personnel from fully carrying out the agency's trade enforcement mission," Brandon Long, executive director of the agency's trade programmes said in a court filing.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 leads Bafta Games Awards nominations

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgvj2jl0m5o, today

This year's Bafta Games Awards nominations have been released, and the unstoppable Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the front-runner once again.

The role-playing adventure, developed by French developer Sandfall Interactive, received 12 nominations in total, including best game, best music and best narrative.

Having already swept the board at several video game award ceremonies, Expedition 33 was widely expected to feature heavily in this year's Bafta list.

But, in a ceremony which aims to celebrate multimillion-dollar productions and independent games made by tiny teams, there are also some surprising inclusions and omissions.

The remaining best game nominees include superhero adventure Dispatch, which got nine nominations in total.

PlayStation 5 adventure Ghost of Yōtei, which picked up eight nods, is also up for the top prize, as is the critically acclaimed adventure game Blue Prince.

The nomination of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle in best game will likely surprise some players, as it was first released in December 2024.

But it falls within the eligibility window for this year's game awards and makes an appearance in six categories in total.

Final best game nominee, Arc Raiders, the hugely successful multiplayer "looter shooter" which sparked backlash over its use of AI character voices, received five nominations.

Despite missing out on a best game nomination, blockbuster sequel Death Stranding 2, directed by legendary developer Hideo Kojima, appears in seven categories.

Indie games Hollow Knight: Silksong and Hades 2, two of the most-anticipated and highly rated games of last year, picked up only a handful of nominations between them.

And medieval adventure Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, one of the first big releases of last year, picked up just two nominations - one for its ambitious narrative and the other for lead performer Tom McKay.

Expedition 33's 12 nominations is not a record for Bafta.

In 2023, God of War Ragnarok was up for 14 awards - although it lost out on best game to independent game Vampire Survivors.

The nominations in this year's performance and supporting performance category feature well-known names from the worlds of video games and Hollywood.

Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul is nominated for his role in Dispatch, while Westworld actor Jeffrey Wright appears in the supporting performance category for his work on the same game.

Daredevil star Charlie Cox is also nominated for his supporting performance in Expedition 33, while his castmates Ben Starr and Jennifer English face-off once again in the lead performance category.

Starr was seen rapturously celebrating English's win at the Game Awards in December, as was Ghost of Yōtei actor Erika Ishii, who is nominated alongside them at Bafta.

Veteran video game actor Troy Baker is nominated twice - for his lead performance as Indiana Jones in The Great Circle and for his supporting role as antagonist Higgs in Death Stranding 2.

Cox and his castmates led calls for motion capture performers to have their own awards category to recognise their contribution.

Bafta does not currently give awards for motion capture, but said the performance, artistic achievement and audio achievement categories were voted on by members with "career expertise in these roles" for the first time this year.

The Bafta Games Awards - voted for by the academy's more than 1,400 industry members - were founded to highlight "an outstanding level of creative excellence from a broad range of UK and international development teams".

British developers represent nine of the studios nominated this year, with six of those in the dedicated British game category.

They include Atomfall, the survival game set in an alternative history version of the Lake District, as well as Mafia: The Old Country and Powerwash Simulator 2 - both developed in Brighton.

In the game beyond entertainment category, which celebrates titles that deliver "a transformative experience", teams from Japan, Poland, the UK, the US, Ecuador and Ukraine are nominated.

They include And Roger, a narrative told through the eyes of a woman with dementia, Consume Me, which has been praised for its depiction of eating disorders, and Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, developed by a Ukranian team as Russia's invasion of the country raged.

Bafta Games Committee chair Tara Saunders said the 42 nominated games "highlight the very best of the global games industry".

She said the nominations reflected a games industry "reshaping itself", with established studios and first-time nominees filling out the lists.

"The exceptional craft, artistry and innovation behind these titles shines through," she said.

"A nomination is an extraordinary achievement, and I extend my warmest congratulations to every nominee for their innovation, hard work and resilience."

Alexis Garavaryan, chief executive of Clair Obscur publisher Kepler Interactive, said it was "an honour that Sandfall's exceptional work has been recognised by BAFTA".

"We're deeply proud of what the team has achieved and that the game has resonated with so many others, as it did with us."

Bafta, a registered charity, first launched its video game awards in 2004, in addition to its annual ceremony celebrating the movie industry.

It issued an "unreserved apology" over its most recent film awards last month, after the broadcast of a racial slur shouted during the ceremony.

The BBC, which was also heavily criticised over the incident, said it was the result of a "genuine mistake" and is looking into why it was not removed from iPlayer sooner.

The games awards ceremony is not shown on television, but is usually streamed live on YouTube and Twitch.

BBC Newsbeat has asked Bafta if it plans to do the same again this year, and if any precautions are being put in place ahead of the winners' ceremony on 17 April.

* A full list of nominated games is available on Bafta's website.

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

MPs 'deeply troubled' by BBC World Service funding uncertainty

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1l76581d0ro, today

A committee of MPs have said they are "deeply troubled" by uncertainty over the government's future funding for the BBC World Service.

The government provides about 30% of the budget for the World Service, which reaches more than 300 million people a week and is "a jewel in the crown of the UK's soft power", according to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

However, its "prominence is being diminished by poor governance and short-sighted funding decisions", the committee's chairman Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said.

The current funding agreement between the BBC and the government expires at the end of this month and there isn't a new one in place.

"The PAC was deeply troubled to learn that the BBC still does not know how much the government would fund the World Service for the coming year," the committee said as it published a report into the service on Friday.

The BBC wants the government to take back responsibility for funding all of the World Service, as it did until 2014.

The government said the World Service’s work was “highly valued” and that its next funding allocation would be made before the start of the new financial year in early April.

The committee of MPs operates separately from the government. Its report warned that the World Service is "at risk of losing its position as the most-trusted international broadcaster" because of a combination of funding difficulties and poor management by the BBC.

Sir Geoffrey said: "Both government and the BBC should seriously think about how the World Service's influence can be bolstered around the world, rather than risk its reach withering by degrees year on year."

The World Service is in danger of losing ground to rivals based in countries like Russia and China, which are spending billions on their global media outlets, he said.

The BBC's ability to plan for the World Service's long-term future "is hampered by repeated short-term funding agreements from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office" (FCDO), the report said.

That means the BBC is at risk of making decisions based on "short-term budgeting pressures" rather than "longer term value for money", it said.

The committee criticised the BBC, saying the broadcaster has failed to make a clear case for continued government funding.

There have also been "weaknesses in BBC governance" of the service, and the BBC's management of the World Service's digital transformation had weaknesses that have contributed to a fall in digital audiences, the report said.

The committee stressed that it "must both remember and praise all BBC staff working in countries in which they and their families may be at risk of imprisonment or worse".

'Talk is cheap'

In a speech on Thursday, BBC director general Tim Davie called for the government to put more money into the World Service at a time when Russia, China, and Iran are "investing billions in propaganda".

"I struggle to think of anyone who doesn't nod along when I say the service is needed more than ever," he said. "But talk is cheap. We need action."

At another point in his speech, Davie said: "As for the World Service, we are very clear: we think the Government should take back full funding, as it did for over 80 years."

A BBC spokesperson said: "We welcome the PAC's report which recognises the importance of the BBC World Service as the most trusted international news provider globally, and the need for secure, long-term funding.

"This is why we are calling for the government to take back full funding of the World Service as part of the BBC Charter Review.

"We are making changes to strengthen how we demonstrate value for money and to improve governance and documentation.

"We thank the committee for their praise of our staff working in difficult and dangerous conditions and will respond to them more fully in line with their recommendations."

FCDO Minister Chris Elmore MP said: "The work the World Service does as an independent and trusted broadcaster, showcasing the UK, our culture, and our values around the globe, is highly valued by this government.

"Grant-in-Aid funding for the next three years for the World Service will be decided through the FCDO allocations process.

"The FCDO's final World Service overall allocations will be made before the beginning of the 2026/27 financial year."

Sly fox sneaks onto cargo ship in Southampton and arrives in New York

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly2xynjzdzo, today

A red fox that sneaked onto a cargo ship off the coast of Southampton has successfully made it thousands of miles across the Atlantic and is now in the care of the Bronx Zoo in New York.

The zoo said on Wednesday that the fox - a two-year-old male weighing roughly 11lb (5kg) - is currently in the Animal Health Center with animal and veterinary teams.

"Once the veterinary team determines that the fox is healthy, the zoo will work with wildlife experts to identify an appropriate long-term home for the animal," the zoo said in a press release.

The fox was detected among the ship's cargo by US officials at the Port of New York and New Jersey, and was brought to the Bronx Zoo on 19 February.

It is not clear how the animal managed to gain access to the ship while it was docked at the English port city.

The zoo said initial examinations suggested the fox appeared to be in good health and that additional results from a separate routine health screening were pending.

"He seems to be settling in well," Keith Lovett, the zoo's director of animal programs, told the Associated Press. "It's gone through a lot."

A spokesperson for Associated British Ports (ABP) Southampton said: "The Port of Southampton handles everything from cars to containers to cruises, but even we were surprised to find a fox had booked itself a transatlantic crossing.

"Clearly it fancied swapping the Solent for the Staten Island Ferry. Though next time we'd recommend it considers the Queen Mary 2, which offers the Southampton to New York route with considerably more comfort!"

According to the Bronx Zoo, red foxes are among the most widespread carnivorous mammals in the world.

Known for their reddish coat and white-tipped bushy tail, they are found across Europe, Asia, North America, and parts of Africa.

The red fox's remarkable adaptability allows them to thrive in environments ranging from forests and grasslands to urban areas, the zoo said, feeding off everything from fruits to rodents.

Parents accused of hiding daughter's HIV infection and neglect

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y4e3pzvl0o, today

Prosecutors in Italy are seeking charges against the parents of a nine-year-old girl alleged to have been infected with HIV and deprived of medical care for years.

The girl's mother is said to have hidden her HIV-positive status during pregnancy and travelled to Spain to give birth in 2017.

The couple then returned to Italy, but their daughter was alleged not to have been seen by any medical professionals until six years later when she became very ill.

They face charges of grave mistreatment leading to serious injury, Italian media say. The BBC has approached the Bologna prosecutor's office for comment.

According to accounts in the Italian media, the couple's daughter was born "outside any medical establishment".

Her parents then took no measures to ascertain if the infection had been passed on and did not arrange for any medical visits or any vaccinations for their child.

It was only in July 2023 that they finally took her to see a doctor following a fever and persistent coughing.

The child appeared malnourished, had difficulty walking, her teeth were in poor condition and she was still wearing nappies, Italian media say, and the doctor recommended immediate hospital care, even threatening to call the police given the parents' reluctance to agree to it.

It was in hospital that the child's HIV condition was discovered - with the parents eventually revealing the sequence of events.

According to Corriere della Sera newspaper, the couple deny being opposed to vaccines - or that they went to Spain to evade medical controls in Italy. They say it was because the mother's family - of Colombian origin - live there.

And they also say the child had had medical care in Spain, until 2019 when they returned to Italy. However, it was only in 2022 that they registered her with a private doctor in Bologna.

The couple's lawyer says the case will determine whether the parents intended to harm their daughter. A hearing has been scheduled in May.

Chinese national arrested over attempt to smuggle 2,000 queen ants from Kenya

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz7gd57z33zo, today

A Chinese national has been arrested in Kenya's main airport accused of attempting to smuggle more than 2,000 queen garden ants out of the country.

Zhang Kequn was intercepted during a security check at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in the capital Nairobi after authorities discovered a large consignment of live ants in his luggage bound for China.

He has yet to respond to the accusation but investigators said in court that he was linked to an ant-trafficking network that was broken up in Kenya last year.

The ants are protected by international bio-diversity treaties and their trade is highly regulated.

Last year, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) warned of a growing demand for garden ants – scientifically known as Messor cephalotes - in Europe and Asia, where collectors keep them as pets.

A state prosecutor told the court on Wednesday that Zhang had packed some ants in test tubes, while others were concealed in tissue paper rolls hidden in his luggage.

"Within his personal luggage there was found 1,948 garden ants packed in specialised test tubes," prosecutor Allen Mulama told the court.

"A further 300 live ants were recovered concealed in three rolls of tissue paper within the luggage," he added.

The prosecutor asked the court to allow the suspect's electronic devices - phone and laptop - to be forensically examined.

Duncan Juma, a senior KWS official, told the BBC that more arrests were expected as investigators widen their probe into other Kenyan towns where ant harvesting was suspected to be ongoing.

Last May, a Kenyan court sentenced four men to one year in prison or a fine of $7,700 (£5,800) for trying to smuggle thousands of live queen ants out of the country, in a first-of-its kind case.

The four suspects – two Belgians, a Vietnamese and a Kenyan - had pleaded guilty to the charges after their arrest in what the KWS described as "a co-ordinated, intelligence-led operation".

The Belgians told the court that they were collecting the highly sought-after ants as a hobby and didn't think it was illegal.

Investigators now say Zhang was the mastermind behind this trafficking ring but apparently escaped Kenya last year using a different passport.

On Wednesday, the court allowed prosecutors to detain him for five days to enable detectives to conduct further investigations.

The KWS, which is more used to protecting larger creatures, such as lions and elephants, described last year's ruling as a "landmark case".

The ants seized last year were giant African harvester ants, which KWS said were ecologically important, noting that their removal from the ecosystem could disrupt soil health and biodiversity.

It is believed that the intended destinations were the exotic pet markets in Europe and Asia.

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

Questions mount for Hegseth over possible US involvement in strike on Iranian school

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn87ndd4rgyo, today

Democrats in the US Senate have written to Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth demanding answers about the strike on a primary school in Iran that Iranian officials say killed 168 people, including about 110 children.

US media have reported that US military investigators believe American forces were likely responsible for hitting the school unintentionally at the start of the joint US-Israeli operation - but that they have not reached a final conclusion.

The Pentagon said it would respond directly to the authors of the letter, as with all congressional correspondence.

Asked last week by the BBC about the strike, Hegseth said the US did not target civilians and was investigating the issue.

The letter is from nearly every Senate Democrat, and asks a series of detailed questions about the strike in Minab - starting with whether the US carried it out.

It questions whether old or faulty target analysis could have led to the school building being hit.

It also highlights Hegseth's vow during a recent news conference that there would be no "stupid rules of engagement" in the war, and asks if the defence secretary had complied with rules to prevent the commission of war crimes.

The strike, if a US role was to be confirmed, would amount to one of its worst single cases of civilian casualties in decades of US conflicts in the Middle East.

One of the signatories of the letter, Senator Gary Peters, a member of the Armed Services Committee, said the incident had been "a horrific tragedy" and that he wanted to know "exactly what happened".

"Let's try to get those facts as quickly as we can so we know exactly what happened, and then we can discuss what actions to take after we know those facts," he told BBC News.

The letter highlights how the war has become an issue that divides US lawmakers along party lines. No member of President Donald Trump's Republican Party signed it. Meanwhile, the only Senate Democratic not to do so was John Fetterman, who has supported the military action, though said an investigation into the school strike was right.

According to the BBC's partner CBS News and other US outlets, a preliminary assessment of the incident by American officials suggests that the US was "likely" to have been responsible, but that it did not intentionally target the school and may have hit the site in error.

This may have been because the intelligence used by the US was outdated and wrongly identified the area as still being a military site, according to a person briefed on the preliminary assessment who spoke to CBS.

Trump has previously said, without citing evidence, that he believed Iran had carried out the bombing.

Pressed by reporters about the issue again on Tuesday, he said: "I just don't know enough about it." Referring to the military investigation that was under way, he added: "Whatever the report shows, I'm willing to live with that report."

Expert video analysis has shown that an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) military base next to the school was hit by a Tomahawk missile - a type of US cruise missile that neither Israel nor Iran are known to possess.

A video published recently by Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency - which was confirmed by BBC Verify to be authentic - showed a missile in the moments before it struck the base.

Experts who saw the video said the presence of a Tomahawk missile, along with evidence the area was hit with multiple strikes, indicated that it was a US operation.

Iran has blamed the US and Israel for the attack.

Israel says it was not aware of any operations in the area. Speaking recently to the Washington Post, two Israeli officials said the targeting was not discussed with the Israeli military.

Other civilian sites including a hospital and historic landmarks have been severely damaged since the US-Israeli operation began on 28 February, satellite images and verified videos show, as the number of reported civilian casualties grows.

Iran has continued to respond by launching attacks on Israel and US-allied states in the Gulf, which have also extended to non-military targets, including civilian sites and energy facilities.

Also on Wednesday, General David Petraeus, former CIA Director and Commander of US Central Command, was asked about the America's possible role in the attack on the school.

Speaking to BBC News, he said the Americans "tragically, were probably the ones, we were the only ones that have Tomahawk missiles in this particular exercise, this war" - though cautioned that he had not directly seen the evidence that was under review.

"And it appears that there may have been some old data when this particular building was part of a larger Iranian naval compound... some years ago," he added.

US refuelling plane crashes in Iraq, military says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0dz5ql17vo, today

An American military refuelling aircraft involved in the US operation in Iran has crashed in western Iraq, according to the US Central Command.

The US Central Command said "the incident occurred in friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury", but that it was not the result of hostile or friendly fire.

Two aircraft were involved in the incident, a statement on Thursday said, as "one aircraft went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely". Rescue efforts were under way, the statement added.

The plane was a military KC-135 refuelling plane, which typically play a major role in conflicts.

The KC-135 aircraft usually has a crew of a pilot, a co-pilot and a boom operator.

The status of the crew is unknown at this time, BBC's US partner CBS News has reported.

Since the outbreak of the US-Israel war with Iran, seven US soldiers have been killed in the conflict.

Speaking shortly after news of the incident emerged, Democratic Congressman Jim Himes told BBC Newsnight: "It's very early returns right now.

"A KC135 is usually used for refuelling. It carries a crew between 3-5 people. We pray that those 3-5 people are safe."

Himes is part of the "Gang of Eight" typically briefed by the White House on military operations.

He continued: "This is part of the inevitable cost of a conflict. Even the best military doesn't operate without accidents and that's what appeared to have occurred here."

The US military has now lost at least four aircraft during the war in the Middle East.

Earlier this month, three F-15s were shot down in "an apparent friendly fire incident" over Kuwait, officials said. All six crew members were able to eject safely.

Refuelling tankers are responsible for keeping jets and bombers properly fuelled for combat that involve long distances to reach their targets.

The KC-135 Stratotanker was built by Boeing in the 1950s and early 1960s.

It has been a backbone to the US military's air refuelling fleet, and critical in allowing aircraft to carry out missions without having to land.

Oil hits $100 a barrel despite deal to release record amount of reserves

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1w5141vx53o, today

Oil prices continued to rise on Thursday despite major countries agreeing to release a record amount of oil from their emergency reserves as they try to curb the impact of the Iran war.

Brent crude rose by almost 9% to top $100 ($74.79) a barrel in Asia trading even after all 32 members of the International Energy Agency's (IEA) said they will release 400 million barrels in response to supply concerns.

On Wednesday, Iran warned that oil could reach $200 a barrel as its attacks on ships intensify in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for energy shipments.

An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) spokesperson said any vessel linked to the US, Israel or their allies will be targeted.

"You will not be able to artificially lower the price of oil. Expect oil at $200 per barrel," the spokesperson said.

"The price of oil depends on regional security, and you are the main source of insecurity in the region."

The narrow shipping route is crucial to the global economy as about a fifth of the world's energy supplies usually passes through it.

IEA members represent around two thirds of global energy production and consumption.

The release of reserves is more than double the previous IEA record, which came after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The IEA's decision is "historically significant" but is only a "temporary buffer", said Martin Ma from the Singapore Institute of Technology.

Oil prices will stay high as long as there is a risk to supplies and latest jump suggests that traders are still expecting a "prolonged" disruption, he added.

Global oil markets have been extremely volatile since the US and Israel launched airstrikes against Iran on 28 February, with Brent crude reaching almost $120 a barrel earlier this week.

That has pushed up fuel prices have around world.

In the US, the average price of petrol rose above $3.50 a gallon on Tuesday, according to the American Automobile Association.

Many countries in Asia, which are heavily reliant on energy from the Middle East, have been hit particularly hard.

Long queues were seen at petrol stations in the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam this week as people raced to fill up with fuel.

Thai authorities have called for staff at most government agencies to work from home to conserve energy. Officials are also being discouraged from non-essential overseas travel.

The Philippines has also started a four-day work week for its government to help cut down on energy use.

What on earth is going on with the oil price?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3g49w5zxwo, today

The price of oil rarely makes it into dinner table conversation.

But over the last two weeks it has dominated headlines, with huge and unusual rises and falls starting to feel like the new norm.

It is currently trading over a third higher than before the conflict began, pushed up by air strikes on shipping and energy infrastructure and the effective closure of the key Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway that carries a fifth of global oil supplies.

There were wild swings in the price on Monday, which was described by the BBC's economics editor Faisal Islam as the most volatile day of oil trading in history.

Most of the talk around prices concerns the cost of Brent crude - a widely-used international benchmark for oil.

Contracts to buy and sell oil will often use Brent as a reference point, so it has significant influence on global energy costs.

The vast majority of oil is traded for delivery at a future date, says Lindsay James, investment strategist at Quilter, and prices are rising now due to concerns about supplies in the months ahead.

Trump calls war 'very complete'

Before the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, oil had been trading at about $71 a barrel, but prices rose sharply as soon as the conflict began.

Comments from world leaders have contributed significantly to price fluctuations.

Last week, the FT carried an ominous warning from Qatar's energy minister, Saad al-Kaabi, who said he expected all oil and gas exporters in the Gulf to stop production within days and this pushed oil prices to a two-year high.

When markets reopened after the weekend, they peaked at almost $120 a barrel.

But then came reports there could be a huge release of emergency stockpiles co-ordinated by the International Energy Agency.

US President Donald Trump also described the war as "very complete, pretty much", raising hopes the conflict would not be drawn-out.

In response, the oil price went into freefall and by the end of Monday it had fallen by nearly $30 from the peak seen earlier in the day.

Quilter says the dramatic change - in the space of a few hours - was "extraordinary even by the volatile standards of commodities".

The world is now experiencing an "energy shock without modern precedent", adds James.

Behind the big numbers is a huge amount of practical detail, says former BP boss Lord John Browne, such as getting the right type of oil to the right refinery.

"This is not just a speculative activity - it's actually a matter of physical supply of oil, and people are bidding to make sure that they don't run out," he told the BBC.

US deletes post about successful tanker export

Another key moment came when US Energy Secretary Chris Wright posted on X that the US had successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz.

At one point on Tuesday, the benchmark price plunged to $82 per barrel.

However, it soon jumped back to $86 after the post disappeared from his profile.

The White House later confirmed the social media post was wrong - the US Navy had not escorted any tankers through the crucial Gulf passage.

Markets 'priced in' release of reserves

On Wednesday, the IEA announced dozens of countries had agreed to release a record amount of oil from their emergency reserves.

Prices fell after the announcement, but they've since risen back above $100 a barrel.

Bill Farren-Price, senior research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, said the release is a "sticking plaster on a much bigger problem".

He said he market had already priced the move in, and then further ship attacks sent the price up again.

"Inevitably the price reaction is going to continue until we see some sort of off-ramp for this conflict and that could be very, very complicated and drawn out," he adds.

There is also a shortage of refining capacity meaning the release is not a magic switch to increase the flow of refined products like petrol and jet fuel.

The releasing of the reserves is more of an attempt to boost confidence by signalling to markets that governments have recognised the threats and are acting to address them.

In short, it may not help oil prices fall, but it may stop them climbing as much as they otherwise would have done.

So, what next?

We are not yet two weeks into the war between the US, Israel and Iran.

We do not know how long the conflict will last, or how significant its impact will be.

People trading oil "can't see the real direction", says Lord Browne. They do not know how long the Strait of Hormuz will be effectively closed, or whether the strategic releases of oil reserves agreed by the IEA will actually take place.

"I think most people will look at all this and say 'show me what's really happening and I'll tell you what the price is going to be'," he adds.

One thing is clear - movements this month have exposed just how much the trade of one of our most valuable commodities depends on transit through a small strait of water in a very volatile, dangerous part of the world.

How Iran war laid bare the world's reliance on Gulf oil and gas

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c15x1y8d37vo, today

The US-Israel war with Iran has made startlingly clear how much the world relies on energy from the Gulf region.

Since the conflict began, the price of oil has soared and is currently trading at over a third higher at $100 a barrel, pushed up by air strikes on shipping and energy infrastructure, and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for energy shipments, which carries a fifth of global oil supplies.

Nowhere is feeling the effects of the current energy crisis quite like Asia. Last year, nearly 90% of all the oil and gas that passed through the Strait of Hormuz was bound for the region.

Ordinary people rely on it to heat their homes, fuel their vehicles and generate electricity. Businesses need it to power the region's vast manufacturing base.

South East Asia, in particular, is highly exposed to the blockage in the Persian Gulf. Even countries that produce oil themselves, such as Malaysia and Indonesia, have gradually started producing less and importing more over the past decade.

The vulnerability is also partly to do with the type of oil produced in the Middle East and how countries in the region refine it.

"Middle Eastern crude is generally 'heavy sour' or 'medium sour'," says Jane Nakano, a senior fellow in the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Refineries in South East Asia, Nakano explains, have been set up to process this type of crude oil and simply switching to another provider, such as the US, is not straightforward.

"It would take significant investment to alter refinery specifications," she says.

It puts many countries in a bind. The Philippines, for example, gets around 95% of its crude oil from the Middle East. The country's president has already told public workers to switch to a four-day working week to save fuel.

Working from home is being heavily encouraged by various governments in the region. Other fuel-saving measures, such as setting air conditioner temperatures in public offices at a higher than usual 26°C, were announced by Thailand's energy minister on Tuesday.

South East Asia is also heavily reliant on food imports. The island city-state of Singapore imports 90% of its food, while all of Indonesia's wheat, for example, comes from outside the country.

This makes food prices particularly sensitive to rising transportation costs. Last week, the price of jet fuel had soared by nearly 60%.

Petrol price caps

Vietnam is also feeling the strain. The price of diesel has gone up there by nearly 60% since last month. In some cities this week there were long queues of moped riders at petrol stations panic-buying fuel. There have been similar scenes in Bangladesh.

Prices at the pumps have been going up around the world, although to a lesser extent than seen in Asia.

In the US average petrol prices are up 23% on a month ago, while diesel prices are up by a third. In the UK diesel is up 9%.

It is something that governments are keeping an eye on.

South Korea has ordered a temporary cap on the price of fuel to ease anxiety over the rising price of oil.

Japan has said it will provide subsidies to oil wholesalers, in order to contain retail petrol prices.

In France, TotalEnergies has said it will cap the price of petrol and diesel at its service stations from Friday until the end of the month, according to Reuters.

In the UK, a planned rise in fuel duty scheduled for September, is being kept under review.

Global gas shock

Asia's biggest economy, China, is certainly the best placed to weather the storm. Over the years, it has built up one of the world's largest oil reserves, which would last it a few months. Unofficially, China also buys millions of barrels of Iranian oil, which is under US sanctions.

Rises in petrol prices will be felt less keenly in China, given that one third of all new cars sold there are electric.

Compared to other Asian countries, China is also far less reliant on oil when it comes to generating electricity - most of that is powered by coal.

The continent's other major economies, Japan and South Korea, have agreed to release millions of barrels from national stockpiles, in line with an International Energy Agency (IEA) agreement announced on Wednesday.

Even so, both countries' dependence on Middle Eastern energy has increased since they decided to buy less Russian oil and gas in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

When it comes to gas, the Ukraine war also had a major impact on where Europe gets its supplies from as it sought to turn away from its reliance on Russia. The UK and the EU now get most of their liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Norway and the US.

The EU gets only around 10% of its gas direct from Qatar, while the UK gets about 2%, according to Capital Economics.

But while countries in Europe may be less exposed to the reduction in gas supply from the Gulf - QatarEnergy, one of the world's biggest exporters, halted production last week following "military attacks" on its facilities - that doesn't mean they are immune to it, says David Oxley, Capital's chief climate and commodities economist.

"Asian customers who are no longer getting that gas are going elsewhere and pushing up global gas prices," he says.

The US, however, is proving to be the exception.

It has ramped up its fracking in recent years, increasing its own gas production, leaving it "the most insulated from this shock," says Oxley.

But there are constraints on its ability to export gas - it is a costly and time-consuming process to build up its infrastructure.

So while there is more coming online all the time - which is an important factor in why the rise in gas prices has not been as big as that seen in 2002 - in the near term it is not enough to make up for the loss of Gulf supplies, Oxley says.

Additional reporting by Osmond Chia in Singapore

Qantas agrees to pay $74m over Covid-19 travel voucher refunds

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8xyk8lwr1jo, today

Qantas Airways has agreed to pay A$105m (£55m; $74m) over claims that it should have issued cash refunds for cancelled flights during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The class action lawsuit was made on behalf of passengers whose flights were cancelled by the carrier between 2020 and 2022 and received travel credits instead of cash.

The settlement is almost double the amount that Qantas had expected to pay, according to its results published in February.

The national flag carrier said on Friday that it has agreed to pay the sum "with no admission of liability".

The settlement is subject to court approval and details of how customers can claim refunds will be made soon, said Echo Law, the legal firm leading the class action.

The firm had alleged that Qantas breached its contracts with customers by failing to provide cash refunds for cancelled flights in a timely manner, and instead offered travel credits.

The airline engaged in "misleading or deceptive conduct" over the rights of customers over their cancelled flights in violation of Australian law, Echo Law said.

By doing so, Qantas "unlawfully benefited from customers by holding for years a very significant amount of customer funds that ought to have been refunded," it added.

Qantas said in its statement that in 2023 that it had removed the expiry date on flight credits issued during the pandemic so that customers could request a cash refund right away.

The airline told investors in its half-year report that it expected to pay A$55m to settle the case.

Echo Law is leading a similar class action lawsuit against Australian budget carrier, Jetstar, over allegedly issuing customers travel credits that were worth less than the refunds that customers were entitled to.

"By acting in this way, Jetstar has enjoyed significant financial benefits at its customers' expense," said Echo Law.

BBC News understands that Jetstar is continuing defend the case.

Qantas was fined a record A$90m in August 2025 for illegally sacking more than 1,800 ground workers during the pandemic.

The penalty was the largest ever imposed by an Australian court for violations of industrial relations laws.

At the rime, Qantas said it had agreed to pay the fine and that the ruling holds it accountable for actions that caused "real harm" to its employees.

"We sincerely apologise to each and every one of the 1,820 ground handling employees and to their families who suffered as a result," Qantas Group chief executive Vanessa Hudson said.

AI toys for young children need tighter rules, researchers warn

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyg4wx6nxgo, today

Researchers are calling for tighter regulation of AI-powered toys designed for toddlers, after conducting one of the first tests in the world to investigate how under-fives interact with the technology.

The study looked at how a small sample of children between the ages of three and five interacted with a cuddly toy called Gabbo.

A number of AI toys are already on the market for children aged as young as three but there is currently very little research into the impact of the tech on pre-schoolers.

The Cambridge University team found just seven relevant studies worldwide, none of which focused on the toddlers themselves.

Gabbo contains a voice-activated AI chatbot from OpenAI. It has been designed to encourage pre-schoolers to talk to it and carry out imaginative play.

The parents in the study were interested in the toy's potential to teach language and communication skills.

However, their children frequently struggled to converse with it. Gabbo didn't hear their interruptions, talked over them, could not differentiate between child and adult voices and responded awkwardly to declarations of affection.

When one five-year-old said, "I love you," to the toy, it replied: "As a friendly reminder, please ensure interactions adhere to the guidelines provided. Let me know how you would like to proceed."

The concern is that at a developmental stage where children are learning about social interaction and cues, generative AI output could be confusing.

Study co-author Dr Emily Goldacre said toys like Gabbo could "misread emotions or respond inappropriately" and was concerned that "children may be left without comfort from the toy and without adult support, either".

When one three-year-old told Gabbo: "I'm sad," it replied: "Don't worry! I'm a happy little bot. Let's keep the fun going. What shall we talk about next?"

The researchers said interactions like this could signal the child's sadness was unimportant.

After the year-long observational study, researchers say regulators should act now to ensure products marketed to under-fives offer "psychological safety".

Gabbo is made by Curio, a company which has worked with the singer Grimes, former partner of Elon Musk.

Curio told the BBC: "Applying AI in products for children carries a heightened responsibility, which is why our toys are built around parental permission, transparency, and control.

"Research into how children interact with AI-powered toys is a top priority for Curio this year and in the future."

Calls for regulation of AI in early years settings were echoed by the Children's Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza.

"There are plenty of good uses for AI but without proper regulation, many of the tools and models used as classroom assistants or teaching aids are not subject to the stringent safeguarding checks nursery providers would require of any other external resource they use with young children," she said.

Concerns over unsupervised play

The report also advised parents to keep AI toys in shared spaces where parents could supervise its interactions, and read privacy policies carefully.

Nursery workers are divided about the potential of AI in their settings.

June O' Sullivan, who runs a chain of 42 London Early Years Foundation nurseries, said she was yet to see evidence of AI benefits in early years.

She says children need to "build a rounded set of skills" and it is more effective to do this with humans than with AI-powered tools.

"I couldn't find anything that made me feel like - by bringing it into our nurseries and making it available to our children - we were going to enhance their learning," O'Sullivan said.

Actor and children's rights campaigner, Sophie Winkleman, is an advocate for keeping AI away from education and early years settings.

She argues that "the harms can vastly outweigh the benefits", and believes developing AI skills should be reserved for later.

"The human touch for little children is sacred and something that should be really protected and fought for," she added.

Additional reporting by Philippa Wain.

Spain's migrants welcome amnesty: 'It will help us in every way'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crk8rdz5131o, 4 days ago

Diana left her native Peru two years ago, looking for financial and professional stability in Europe.

But, as an undocumented migrant in Spain, life has been difficult. The 40-year-old's dream of working in the tourism industry has not transpired. Instead, she has got by doing occasional jobs.

"Working without residency documents is hard because employers can tell you one thing and then get you to do something else," she says. "Sometimes they pay you less than what you've agreed to, so that makes things tough.

"It's stressful, you can get exploited, and then you can end up not just without any money, but sick and lonely."

Access to many banking products and housing – which is seeing a crisis in Spain due to spiralling rental costs – is severely restricted for those unable to present residency papers to potential landlords.

But the recent announcement by the Spanish government of a scheme to legalise the status of at least half a million migrants has provided Diana, and many others, with hope.

"It's going to help us in every possible way," she says. "It'll be good for the government too, because [these migrants] will be paying taxes, generating income, they will be able to invest, they will be able to set up businesses."

The scheme will provide foreign nationals with a one-year, renewable, residency visa, and applications will be open from the beginning of April until the end of June. Those applying must prove they have spent at least five months in the country and not have a criminal record.

Estimates of how many migrants will seek to benefit from the scheme vary, from the government's figure of about 500,000, to that of a report by the police's National Centre for Immigration and Borders (CNIF), leaked to the media, which suggested that between 750,000 and 1.1 million is a more realistic number.

The Socialist-led coalition government has cited humanitarian reasons for this initiative, with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez describing immigrants as people "who have built the progress of this country alongside us".

But it also sees the measure as highly pragmatic for a country whose unemployment rate is at an 18-year low, and whose economy grew by nearly 3% last year, a growth rate equal to that of the UK, Germany, France and Italy combined.

"Foreign workers play a very important role when it comes to Spain's macroeconomic success: the growth of its GDP, its strong and resilient labour market," Elma Saiz, Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Immigration, tells the BBC. She underlines that, of the country's 22 million registered workers, 14.1% are foreigners.

"Since 2022, half of Spain's economic growth has been driven by foreign workers," Saiz adds. "This is about values, about human rights, and, also, obviously, being aware that we face different challenges, and that our good management of the economy is providing results."

A 2024 report by the central bank appeared to echo the government's argument: it found that Spain will need approximately 25 million migrants over the next three decades in order to keep the economy and social security system afloat.

Migrants, both registered and undocumented, have a huge presence in the elderly care and hospitality sectors.

Many others work in agriculture, with more than 250,000 foreigners formally registered in the industry's workforce, according to government figures, as well as many thousands of undocumented migrants. North Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America provide the most workers.

"If we didn't have immigrant workers it would be a problem for us," says Francisco José García Navarrete, who represents the ASAJA farmers' association in Madrid. He says his organisation supports the government's regularisation programme, although it has concerns about its implementation.

"We are in favour of this new initiative as long as the legalisation of immigrants translates into them getting long-term contracts to work in the countryside," he says.

The main business employers' association, the CEOE, has also expressed broad support for the measure, saying that "orderly" immigration is desirable. However, it does have concerns about the government's plan to introduce the regularisation via decree, rather than allowing parliament to vote on it.

In Spain's deeply polarised political arena the initiative faces more severe criticism, feeding into an already fierce debate between left and right over immigration.

"Mass regularisation is the confirmation of the lack of an immigration policy," said Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the conservative People's Party (PP).

"Spain is the country with the greatest increase in unregulated immigration over the last two years in the whole of the European Union," he said, estimating that the number of those who will apply for the scheme is "closer to a million people than 500,000".

The far-right Vox claimed that the government initiative will have a "pull" effect.

"These half million legalised migrants will cause millions more to come, who will aggravate the collapse of healthcare, housing and our security," said party leader Santiago Abascal.

The government has said that there is no risk of such a pull effect when there is a clear timeframe for the regularisation.

Spain has implemented several similar migrant legalisation schemes in the past, under both left-wing and conservative governments. The PP, for example, formalised the status of more than half a million migrants in 2000-2001, and a previous Socialist administration legalised another 577,000 in 2005.

However, the current plan is being introduced at a time when most other European countries are clamping down on immigration. France and Germany have tightened rules for new arrivals to secure residency, and Italy's government has approved the use of naval vessels to block arrivals.

In the UK, one of Spain's only neighbours to have a fellow left-of-centre administration, reducing migrant numbers is a priority for the government.

In this context, the European Commission has sounded a note of caution with regard to Spain's policy, underlining the need to ensure that migrants do not use it to reside in other countries unlawfully.

"Obtaining a residence permit in the European Union is not a blank cheque," Magnus Brunner, the Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration, told the European Parliament as Spain's initiative was being discussed. "Every state must avoid decisions that have negative effects on other members."

In the small Madrid offices of Aculco, an organisation that advises migrants on legal and work issues, a group of foreign nationals prepares for a workshop to inform them about gaining residency.

Manuel, a Peruvian who is planning to apply for the regularisation scheme, is among them. He used to work caring for elderly people but, after an asylum request he had made was rejected, he lost his job and he has been living off his savings since.

"Companies don't want to employ you without residency and if they do they pay you less than the minimum," he says. The regularisation, he adds, "will allow me to work and contribute to the social security system."

"This will change the lives of a lot of people," says Pilar Rodríguez, a lawyer who specialises in immigration who gives the workshop.

"This measure is also very important for Spain because it's going to mean that a lot of people are going to be able to keep their heads above the water, and with their contribution to the social security system, Spaniards are also going to benefit."

We have more privacy controls yet less privacy than ever

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gj39zk1k0o, 8 days ago

"In 2026 online privacy is a luxury, not a right," says Thomas Bunting, an analyst at the UK innovation think tank Nesta.

He was talking about advertising, and he described a dystopian potential future in which the smart fridges in our kitchens could share information about their owners' dietary choices with health insurers.

It's not an inevitable reality but for some it is a very scary thought.

However Thomas, who is 25, says he doesn't believe he ever actually had any online privacy in the first place.

Instead, he says: "We've been taught how to deal with it."

By that he means understanding privacy controls, and accepting the use of his data as currency in return for services like social media.

He recalls at the age of around 15, his teacher asking the class who believed privacy was an important principle to protect. "Not one person put their hand up," he says.

"When I chat to people now who are coming off social media they say it's because of screentime, or they're worried about addiction – privacy never comes up."

Experiences like this trouble veteran advocates for online privacy, like cybersecurity expert Prof Alan Woodward from Surrey University.

"People should care about online privacy because it shapes who has power over their lives," he says. "When I hear people say they don't care about it, I ask why they have curtains in their bedrooms."

Woodward argues that while caring about privacy is often framed as "having something to hide", it is in his view "about having something to protect: freedom of thought, experimentation, dissent and personal development without permanent surveillance".

I'm reminded of a young influencer I had dinner with once, who told me that many of her friends don't dance when they go to clubs because they are afraid of someone filming it and using the footage to shame them.

"When people assume they are constantly tracked, they self-censor," says Woodward. He argues that this goes much deeper than dancing - that it harms free speech, which in turn weakens democracy.

Way back in 1999, Scott McNealy, who co-founded US computer firm Sun Microsystems, famously told a group of analysts and reporters: "You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it."

Was he right?

The tech sector has a long history of breaking through privacy boundaries, but it has also created the fences meant to protect us. Firms have churned out hundreds, if not thousands, of online privacy tools and settings, launched with the apparent aim to help us secure our human right to privacy, in our digital lives.

They include private web browsers, encrypted messaging apps, password managers, tracker blockers and Virtual Private Networks.

Yet according to the data analysis firm Statista, in 2024 more than 1.35 billion people were affected by data compromised through a breach, hack or exposure - that's around one in eight on the planet.

Spend any time with the cybersecurity community and you will almost certainly hear someone tell you we may have more privacy controls than ever, but we also have less privacy.

There is an ocean of privacy-focused regulation: around 160 countries have their own privacy laws, according to the tech firm Cisco. It is for this reason that in the UK and Europe you have to choose to accept cookies whenever you visit a website, little programmes which gather bits of information about you.

The permission pop-up is ever-present. "Yes, you can have my damn cookie! should be a browser setting," Elon Musk once posted on X in apparent frustration at having to click "yes" all the time.

Many people's annoyance at having to accept cookies when they visit a new website is an illustration of what is sometimes called the "privacy paradox". This is the seeming inconsistency between someone's stated high level of concern for their data privacy and their actual behaviour online.

Cisco's 2024 Consumer Privacy Survey, the most recent to date, found that while 89% of those surveyed said they cared about their data privacy, only 38% were what it termed "privacy active". The latter were the people who had taken action to protect their data or chosen to shop elsewhere if they didn't like a firm's policies.

And if you do read the small print before you agree to privacy settings - which 56% of Americans don't, according to one 2023 study - some websites are asking to share information about your visit.

They can do this with hundreds, sometimes thousands of "partners", also known as other vendors.

Critics argue that this policy clearly isn't working, if the terms and conditions are unreadable, and cookie choices are an irritation rather than a valued defence.

Dr Carissa Veliz, author of Privacy is Power, argues that "we need regulators to do a better job" at both framing the right laws and also enforcing them.

Meta, which owns Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook among others, offers account users a "privacy check up" designed for users to check their settings. But in order to not receive targeted advertising based on what the company learns about you from your activity, you have to pay a subscription.

Apple says privacy is at the heart of all its products: but they too have a premium price tag.

Following its sale in the US, TikTok updated its terms for American users last month, and has increased the amount of data the platform gathers there. Users can choose to opt out of some of it, such as precise location sharing, although this can also be established via the device itself.

Veliz says that people haven't turned their backs on privacy; but they can feel helpless about it.

"Mostly, people don't feel like they have control," she says.

"It's partly because we are being surveyed in ways that are beyond our control, and also partly because tech companies have an interest in selling us this narrative that it's too late."

But she doesn't think all lost.

Veliz says a "multi-pronged approach" towards privacy is required, from regulators, from tech companies, and from people voting with their feet and choosing to use companies which collect less data about them. And that may require a bit of culture change.

Veliz has chosen to communicate with me via Signal, a secure messaging app that collects far less data on its users than its much larger rival WhatsApp. Around 70 million people use Signal every month, while WhatsApp averages three billion.

"That goes back to culture," she says. "It's about having [access to] the right tech, but also using it."

Can plastic-eating funghi help clean up nappy waste?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg3wg0yrp5o, today

Before Leila Green became a mother of triplets three years ago, she envisaged she'd be the kind of parent who would use reusable nappies.

"But as soon as my babies arrived, I realised I just couldn't – I was flat out looking after the three of them so I went for the easy option."

"I'd buy disposables and in the early days we'd get through 25 a day," continues Green, who lives in Broadstairs in Kent and runs an online community focused on motherhood issue.

"I think the reality is that mums would like an eco option but they are so busy and it would have to be priced appropriately."

Globally, it's estimated that 300,000 disposable nappies are sent to landfill or incinerated every minute, leading to environmental issues as many contain plastics and synthetic materials and can take hundreds of years to decompose.

While there's sustainable alternatives such as washable nappies, the effort and cost limits how widely they're used.

Over the years many start-ups have marketed greener alternatives to disposable nappies. Can the latest make an impression?

Texas-based company Hiro Technologies has created unbleached disposable diapers that comes with a packet of fungi which is added to the used diaper when it's ready to be thrown away.

The fungi are able to break down and digest the diaper over time, says co-founder Miki Agrawa, who started the brand after being shocked by how many nappies her son was going through.

So how quickly does it work? Agrawa says it's hard to be specific.

"We cannot give a timeline because all conditions are different and the fungi currently works in some conditions better than others," says Agrawa.

"All we can say that it's exponentially faster than without the fungi in the best conditions, and still better than nothing in the worst conditions."

The diapers cost $136 (£100) for a month's supply, though there is a subscription price of $199.

That's significantly more than regular disposables, which are estimated to cost around $70 a month.

Is the price out of range for most parents?

"The price is less expensive than luxury diapers," replies Agrawa. "I think it's a great deal for the diaper that is best for baby and their planet they will grow up in."

She adds that demand is growing fast.

Price tags aside, Sonali Jagadev, senior research analyst at Euromonitor, says progress in creating a more innovative and sustainable nappy remains slow and uneven due to several factors including high production costs and supply chain constraints.

"Bio-based polymers, bamboo fibres and organic cotton all come with higher raw material and processing costs than traditional plastics, while the supply chains for these sustainable inputs are still immature, making prices volatile and challenging for mass market brands," she says.

Jagadev says smaller players face bigger hurdles. "Rising inflation, higher raw material costs and the need for heavy marketing investment can make it difficult for them to survive, even when their sustainability credentials are strong."

Lack of composting infrastructure is another challenge. "Most biodegradable nappies still end up in landfill because industrial composting facilities are limited or unavailable in many regions," says Jagadev.

And, of course, there are consumer priorities. "Parents continue to prioritise performance, hygiene and convenience over sustainability, meaning brands take a risk if greener solutions compromise any of these core expectations."

In Belgium, Woosh is another start-up hoping to clear those hurdles.

Woosh says its nappies are easier to recycle as they are not made of multiple materials.

Instead, says Alby Roseveare co-founder and chief technology officer, Woosh has focused on using one specific kind of plastic.

"If you use different plastics, it's extremely difficult to separate [when recycling]."

The company is also working with daycare centres to deliver nappies and collect the used ones.

These are then processed in their own recycling station, with some materials reused.

"We wanted to focus on putting the right materials in so we can get the right materials out and unless you take responsibility to take your own waste back, no one is incentivised to do this," says Roseveare.

"Big brands are incentivised to optimise costs, but in most cases there's no incentive for brands to pay much attention to the recyclability of the nappy."

Woosh currently works with over 1,400 daycare centres across Belgium and says over 30,000 children wear Woosh nappies every day.

They are piloting working with retailers and are in the process of rolling out its circular model to parents at home.

Nappy and wipes brand, Pura is also focused on recycling.

With support from the Welsh government, it recycles 60 million nappies in Wales annually.

Dirty nappies are collected at curbside and processed at the NappiCycle plant in South Wales.

It uses a process called friction washing to break down the used nappies into a mixed material can be used in all sorts of applications from road surfacing to creating benches.

Back in Ghent, Roseveare says he's hoping such joined-up approaches can lead to fewer nappies in the landfill.

"We have ambitions to create as much impact as possible and are seeing where else we can expand to in Europe."

PwC says young recruits are 'hungry' for careers and plans to hire more graduates

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c86ynz9xy72o, today

PwC, one of the world's biggest consultancy firms, plans to increase the number of graduates it takes on next year, its UK boss has told the BBC, brushing aside concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) was undermining hiring at the firm.

Marco Amitrano said PwC had cut back on new graduate roles last year due to the flagging economy, not AI.

In his experience new recruits came into the firm keen to be in the office and "hungry" to pursue a career, he said.

Young people have been hardest hit by the recent rise in unemployment, prompting some to question the value of taking on large debts to obtain a degree.

However Amitrano defended the idea of university study for the "life skills" it offers.

Younger workers have been characterised as a less resilient, "snowflake" generation, but Amitrano said new hires to PwC, one of the UK's biggest graduate recruiters, had struck him as eager to learn and earn well.

"I don't see a new wave of young people coming into organisations wanting to work from home, being more vulnerable, more fragile. I don't see that," Amitrano said.

"What I'm finding from our new joiners is that they want to be in the office, or on the client side, as often as they can be, because they're hungry.

"Yes they want to be paid well, they want to be able to afford things, they want to progress through their careers. But they're ready to take it on."

Amitrano, who heads PwC's 23,000 strong workforce in the UK, as well as operations in the Middle East, made the comments in a wide-ranging BBC Big Boss Interview podcast.

He said the US-Israeli war with Iran had sent "a particularly big shock through the system" just at a time when business confidence had been improving.

The government had hit business too hard when it raised employers' National Insurance contributions in autumn 2024, followed by bigger than expected rises to minimum wage rates, and new employment rights, which had deterred businesses from hiring, investing and growing, he said.

But in the last 12 months there had been a "rebuild of a dialog between government and business", he said.

His own message to Chancellor Rachel Reeves is that she should relax her self-imposed fiscal rules, in the wake of the current energy price spike and its likely impact on inflation.

"I don't see any way that the chancellor is going to find a way out of this without finding a way to loosen the rules around what we're willing to borrow," he said.

The chancellor has staked her reputation on not watering down rules that require her to stay within tight guardrails: by the end of this parliament day-to-day spending must be covered by tax receipts, and debt must be falling in relation to the size of the economy.

Amitrano said additional borrowing would allow more spending on "technology, talent and infrastructure", which would in turn, help unlock overseas investment in the UK.

Such a move would have to be done "openly and transparently" he said, to avoid a market shock.

"I'm not saying we just change these rules tomorrow. I think we start to table a plan that shows how loosening those rules will lead to investment and growth in the medium term," he said.

In response, the Treasury said it had the "right economic plan" with borrowing already falling.

"Our non-negotiable fiscal rules were set out publicly two years ago by the chancellor," a Treasury spokesperson said.

"They ensure that we are getting borrowing and debt down, while prioritising investment to support long-term growth."

Analysts are divided over how much the roll-out of artificial intelligence lies behind slower recruitment for graduates. But Amitrano blamed the slowdown in economic growth for PwC's reduced intake last year, which saw new graduate roles cut from 1,500 to 1,300.

He said the firm was increasing its use of artificial intelligence, but that he expected graduate recruitment numbers would also grow in the next 12 months.

Competition for all roles is more fierce than ever, he added. PwC received 60,000 applications for 2,000 entry level posts - a 35% increase on the year before.

Unemployment among 16 to 24-year-olds rose to its highest in more than 10 years at the end of 2025. And there are nearly a million 16-24 year-olds not in work or education, separate figures show.

Many graduates have found it difficult to find work, despite having earned a good degree.

"I personally would still go to university," said Amitrano - who studied engineering at the University of Newcastle.

The "high pressure learning environment", the opportunity to learn life skills, and being away from home, were valuable experiences, he said.

"There is a debate about, is the piece of paper worth it?

"What's not on a piece of paper might be worth it. And that's what I'm looking for," he said.

US launches probe into trading partners including the EU, China and India

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c15x1dxp3wpo, yesterday

The US has launched a new investigation into some of its biggest trading partners after the Supreme Court struck down a key part of President Donald Trump's tariffs policies last month.

On Wednesday, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the Section 301 unfair trade practices probe could lead to new levies against countries including China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea and Mexico by this summer.

The probe could allow the US to impose import taxes on goods from any of the countries found to have engaged in unfair trade practices.

Greer said he hoped to conclude the investigations before new temporary tariffs imposed by Trump in late February expire in July.

"The United States will no longer sacrifice its industrial base to other countries that may be exporting their problems with excess capacity and production to us," Greer said in the announcement.

Other countries being investigated include Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Switzerland and Norway.

Canada, which is the US's second largest trading partner, was not mentioned as a target of the probe.

The move comes weeks after the Supreme Court ruled that the tariffs imposed by Trump on a slew of countries around the world in April last year were unlawful.

Soon after the decision, the president announced a new 10% global tariff, calling the ruling "terrible" and lambasting the justices who rejected his trade policy as "fools".

The following day he said the levy would be 15% but when it came into effect the rate actually being charged was 10%.

Since then Trump and other senior officials in his administration have said the levy will be raised to 15%.

The probe offers the Trump administration a way to rebuild its case for a credible tariff threat against trading partners.

It also comes as top US officials are set to meet their Chinese counterparts in Paris this weekend.

Those talks are expected to help lay the groundwork for Trump to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing at the end of March.

A small US grocer is calling out the lower prices at big chains

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr57g1ddqmdo, yesterday

Walking through the aisles of his grocery store in Brooklyn, New York, Alap Vora points to a box of breakfast cereal.

He says he paid roughly $5 (£3.75) to his distributor to get the pack of Honey Bunches of Oats onto the shelf.

But his much larger rivals, the big US supermarket chains, can sell that same box for around $5 - essentially, the price he has to pay wholesale.

That dynamic makes it "impossible for us to compete", says Vora, 40, who opened Concord Market, nestled on a busy Brooklyn intersection, in 2009.

"Some of our competitors, obviously the larger chains and the larger big-box stores - they have direct relationships with manufacturers. They have preferred pricing," Vora says.

"That's where it becomes challenging [for us]."

Similar pressures are felt by independent grocery stores across the US. There are more than 21,000 such shops in the country, and they account for one third of grocery sales.

Vora decided to speak out about the pricing issue in a particularly high-profile forum - testifying before the US Senate two years ago.

He was able to do this thanks to connections he had maintained with US small business organisations, from his time studying business in Washington DC.

As a college educated US-born citizen, Vora says he felt comfortable using his voice to raise awareness about the pricing pressures that are putting a strain small business owners.

"I just felt like it was my responsibility to speak on behalf of the community." His father and his uncles, who were immigrants to the US, did not feel the same level of security, he adds.

His late father had started the family business in 1971, initially as a gift shop in downtown Brooklyn, before shifting into groceries.

In his testimony before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs in May 2024, Vora described "fluctuating, opaque pricing structures" from distributors.

"Some of our customers would rather rent a car for a day to go to larger competitors like Costco, Trader Joe's and others, because of the pressures that impact our pricing structure and ultimately our bottom line," Vora testified at the time.

Sitting in his basement office at Concord Market nearly two years later, Vora is surrounded by boxes of packed-up items from a second grocery store in Manhattan that he had to shutter just weeks ago because of cost pressures.

He says those same issues persist. From his vantage point, little has changed since his Senate appearance.

The backdrop to this is a robust debate about the policy and regulatory solutions to help small businesses stay afloat amid rising costs.

Katherine Van Dyck, the founder of KVD Strategies, a consulting firm that advises small businesses on antitrust issues, says price discrimination is at the top of the list of issues that business owners and trade groups raise.

She says it strains not just grocery stores, but also independent bookstores, locally-owned pharmacies and a range of other business sectors.

"When a grocer is faced with those sorts of pricing dynamics in an industry that has razor-thin margins, it makes it incredibly difficult to compete - and it contributes to closures," Van Dyck says.

As a partial solution, Van Dyck points to a long-dormant law that prohibits sellers from offering preferential prices to certain buyers and not others, in order to protect smaller retailers from the dominance of larger chains.

Dubbed the Robinson-Patman Act, the 1936 Depression-era law was brought back to life at the end of former president Joe Biden's term having not been enforced for decades.

Biden administration regulators filed two lawsuits under the act - one against a major alcohol distributor and one against PepsiCo. The former is ongoing, while the latter was dismissed last year under the Trump administration.

PepsiCo said at the time that it "always and will continue to provide all customers with fair, competitive, and non-discriminatory pricing, discounts and promotional value".

While come commentators call for the robust enforcement of the Robinson-Patman Act, others say this would not benefit consumers, and would instead raise prices for shoppers.

Daniel Francis, a law professor at New York University, says other tactics, like easing the tax and regulatory burden of small retailers, would give them more support.

Francis adds that a situation in which a large retailer asks a supplier to charge its smaller rivals more would be a "huge problem" - but one that is already illegal under separate antitrust laws.

Still, Van Dyck argued there's no evidence showing harm from Robinson-Patman Act enforcement.

We asked the US Small Business Administration, the government agency responsible for supporting the sector, for a comment.

Vora says he doesn't see any easy fix to help small business owners secure better prices from suppliers. There have been times when his team has gone to big chains such as Costco and CVS Pharmacy to buy items that are on promotion, "because it's cheaper than what we're buying it for".

The fact that larger chains often have direct lines of communication with manufacturers puts him at a disadvantage, he adds.

What would help, he adds, is more pricing transparency and better communication with the big brands.

He said that last year he met with representatives from PepsiCo and its snack food subsidiary Frito-Lay, but only after struggling to find the right person to talk to.

"I can only imagine how difficult it is for somebody else who may not have the time or the system or the structure that I do to make those calls."

He adds: "It has to be a decision by society. Is small business critical? Is it important to have job creation at the small business level?

"It those things are critical, there needs to be more support for them."

Lloyds, Bank of Scotland and Halifax apps showing customers other users' transactions

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g23npxpwgo, today

Some customers using Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and Halifax apps have been able to see other users' transactions on their accounts.

Lloyds Banking Group customers reported being able to view charges and payments from other sources on Thursday morning.

A Lloyds Banking Group spokesperson apologised for the issue and said the incident had been quickly resolved.

An investigation is under way.

Responding to customers on social media, Halifax said it was aware some customers were "having issues with viewing transactions and balances right now".

Bank of Scotland said it was "investigating the issue," adding that it may be "the result of a technical glitch".

Lloyds said it was aware of the issue and asked for users to "bear with them" while it was fixed.

Accounts of six users

One woman told BBC Scotland News she was able to see the accounts of six different users on the Bank of Scotland app, including some National Insurance numbers, over a 20-minute period.

Those included transactions from a pub in Newcastle, 154 miles from her home in Kirkcaldy, Fife, fees for using one card abroad and wage payments from a company based in England.

The 55-year-old also reported being able to view benefits payments from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), which use the National Insurance numbers of recipients as a payment reference.

She said: "There were transactions from Waitrose, there isn't a Waitrose near us.

"I kept logging out and back in, and every time the details changed.

"I can see another person's bank account, he got paid £6,000 yesterday. Others, I can see their benefits payments, their National Insurance numbers, I can see where they work, almost their whole identity."

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Big Tech backs Anthropic in fight against Trump administration

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g7k7zdd0zo, yesterday

A slew of America's biggest tech companies have swung behind Anthropic in its lawsuit against leaders in the Trump Administration.

Since Monday, Google, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft have publicly supported Anthropic's legal action to overturn Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's unprecedented decision to label it a "supply chain risk".

In legal filings, the tech giants expressed concerns about the government's retaliation against Anthropic after it refused to let its tools be used in mass surveillance and autonomous weapons.

The government's behaviour could cause "broad negative ramifications for the entire technology sector", Microsoft warned.

Microsoft, which works extensively with the US government and the Department of Defense (DoD), said it agrees with Anthropic that AI tools "should not be used to conduct domestic mass surveillance or put the country in a position where autonomous machines could independently start a war".

A joint amicus filing, a filing by parties with a strong interest in a case, also came from several groups, including Chamber of Progress. The tech advocacy group, funded by and representing Google, Apple, Amazon, Nvidia and many other tech companies, said they shared concerns over the government punishing Anthropic for public speech.

Chamber of Progress stressed that it is "ideologically diverse" but concerned about the impact of the government's action on protections under the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

Facebook owner Meta is one holdout among major tech companies backing Anthropic's action. It left the Chamber of Progress in 2025 after years of membership.

Chamber of Progress said it "opposes governmental attempts to force or restrict access to speech".

Anthropic's lawsuit claims its free speech rights have been violated through government retaliation for its public statements, as Hegseth, President Donald Trump and others have accused the company of being "woke" or otherwise politically at odds with the administration.

The joint amicus brief called the department labelling Anthropic a risk "a potentially ruinous sanction" for businesses and little more than a "temper tantrum".

"If left in place, that sanction imposes a culture of coercion, complicity, and silence, in which the public understands that the government will use any means at its disposal to punish those who dare to disagree," the brief goes on.

Another amicus brief was filed by almost 40 OpenAI and Google employees.

And two dozen former high ranking US military officials filed their own brief, saying the government's actions "send the message that investing in national security carries the risk of capricious retaliation or disproportionate punishment for voicing disagreement".

Big Tech companies throwing support behind Anthropic may seem out of step, given that executives at the firms have supported and donated large sums of money to Trump since his return to office last year.

The suddenness and severity of the action against Anthropic appear to have crossed a line for major tech companies.

In a court hearing in San Francisco on Tuesday, a lawyer for Anthropic said the DoD had gone so far as to "affirmatively reach out to Anthropic customers, urging them to stop working with Anthropic".

A lawyer from the Department of Justice representing the government did not deny such actions and refused to say the government would take no further action against Anthropic.

"When the government starts to overreach and step on basic levers of capitalism, the alarm bells go off," Gary Ellis, the chief executive of Remesh AI who previously worked in US politics, told the BBC.

"If the government can do this and blacklist a company, one that has incredibly good technology, these executives know this is serious and can quickly impact them."

While officials have claimed they did not want to use Anthropic's technology for either mass surveillance or autonomous weapons, Anthropic claims Hegseth started to insist language in its government contracts specifying such prohibitions be removed.

Anthropic and the DoD spent weeks negotiating revised contract language, with the row spilling into the public domain in February. Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei then went public with his refusal to entirely remove the guardrails.

It led to Trump berating the company and announcing on his Truth Social platform that Anthropic tools like Claude, in use by government and military agencies since 2024, would be removed from the entire government.

Hegseth then designated Anthropic a supply chain risk, branding it not secure enough for government use, the first time an American company has ever received such a label.

John Coleman, legislative counsel at Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a free speech advocacy group that was part of the joint amicus brief, said he expects more "clashes" like that between Anthropic and the DoD, given the tension between tech leaders being able to express themselves and government claims of national security issues.

"It's our hope that other Silicon Valley companies follow Anthropic's lead in staying true to their principles and rejecting federal pressure to abandon them", Coleman said. "A free society requires no less."

Countries agree to record release of emergency oil reserves as prices surge

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly093xxlzzo, yesterday

Dozens of countries have agreed to release a record amount of oil from their emergency reserves to try to tackle supply shortages and soaring prices.

All 32 of the International Energy Agency's (IEA) members — including the UK, the US, and many of the world's richest nations — will release 400 million barrels to combat what the group said were challenges "unprecedented in scale".

The US-Israel war with Iran has caused oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz, which carries 25% of global oil supplies by sea, to virtually stop and production in the region to slump.

The oil price is nearly a quarter higher than when the war began and experts say the IEA's move would only be a short-term solution.

The release is more than double the previous record amount released by the IEA's members following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

However, it would only amount to around three or four days' worth of global supply or roughly a fortnight's worth of what would normally be shipped out of the Strait of Hormuz.

The IEA's member and associate countries represent two thirds of global energy production and 80% of consumption.

Member countries are required to keep 90 days' worth of their nation's oil use in reserve in case of global disruption.

Collectively, the members hold over 1.2 billion barrels in emergency stockpiles, with a further 600 million barrels of industry stocks held under government obligation.

Releasing a third of the stocks its governments hold is not something that it can repeat frequently.

The oil itself is not in a single place. For example, producers like Shell and BP keep stocks at terminals and refineries around the UK and can earmark stocks held elsewhere as counting towards their reserves.

When it is released, it does not mean a sudden flood of new oil starts moving.

Instead, producers will make more available in the market for refineries to order, though energy analysts have told the BBC that there is a shortage of refining capacity.

The other issue with releasing reserves is that it is not something you can do again.

"Once you release them, they don't exist," said Nick Butler, former head of strategy at oil giant BP.

Jorge Leon, an energy analyst at Rystad Energy, said the release "helps but it doesn't fully offset that disruption".

"Everyone knew there would be a release of emergency reserves [...] but prices haven't come down as much as you would expect," he added.

Meanwhile, the IEA's executive director Fatih Birol said the decision will not help the global gas market, which he described as "very challenging".

He said there are "few options" available to deal with a 20% slump in liquid natural gas (LNG) supplies caused by the conflict.

The benchmark UK LNG price has shot up around 70% since the conflict began, though it remains far from the heights it reached following the Russia-Ukraine war.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: "The UK is playing our part in working with our international allies to address the disruption in oil markets."

US inflation stable ahead of Iran shock

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cde4w32573xo, yesterday

Inflation in the US was stable in February, ahead of the shock to energy prices triggered by the US and Israel war in Iran.

Consumer prices rose 2.4% over the 12 months to February, the same pace as the prior month, as rising food and housing costs were offset by falling prices for other items, such as used cars.

The figures reflect prices gathered in the weeks leading up to the start of the US-Israel war in Iran, which has triggered a sharp rise in oil prices that is starting to feed into other areas.

The average cost of a gallon of car fuel in the US jumped past $3.50 (£2.61) on Tuesday to the highest level since 2024.

Analysts say the situation could push the inflation rate back above 3% in the coming months, raising uncertainty about whether the US central bank will cut interest rates anytime soon.

The Federal Reserve raised borrowing costs sharply in 2022, aiming to slow the economy and ease the pressures that had sent prices soaring.

While the inflation rate has dropped back, it has remained above the Fed's 2% target since 2021.

Wednesday's report offers "some reassurance" that inflation prices had not been moving in the wrong direction, said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management, warning that it would nonetheless be seen as "something of a historical artefact".

"With oil prices up roughly $30 in recent weeks - and potentially heading toward triple digits - investors are far more focused on how the conflict feeds into inflation over the months ahead," she said.

The Fed typically hesitates to respond to price spikes caused by changes in energy prices, which are known for being bumpy, but she said the persistent overshoot might make that "harder to do this time".

Iran war cost will be passed to consumers, shipping giant boss tells BBC

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ykzyd0rkyo, yesterday

Increased transport costs driven by the conflict in Iran will be passed on to consumers, the boss of the world's second biggest shipping company has said.

Vincent Clerc, chief executive of Maersk, told the BBC that the Danish shipping giant has mechanisms in place so if fuel prices go up or down, that is passed on to the company's customers.

"So what it means is that ultimately, in this case, these increases will pass to our customers and will pass on to the consumers."

Since the US-Israel war with Iran began, oil prices have soared close to $120 a barrel before easing, but at $87 crude is nearly 20% higher than it was before hostilities broke out.

Maersk is dominated by its container shipping arm, which plays a vital role in moving goods such as toys, clothing and electronics around the world.

The war has brought transportation through the vital Strait of Hormuz route to a standstill. Before the conflict, around a fifth of global oil supplies travelled through the route.

Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani justified the blockade by saying the country needed to maximise "all resources" while in a state of war.

At the same time, the world's biggest shipping lines are also avoiding passage through the Red Sea because of security threats.

It is causing widespread disruption to the global economy with firms such as Maersk sending its vessels on longer - and more expensive - voyages around the Cape of Good Hope.

China's government has already balked at the higher cost of moving goods. On Tuesday, the country's transport ministry said it had called in executives from Maersk and another firm to discuss their "international shipping operations".

Clerc said the extra costs work out at around $200 for a standard 20ft shipping container which can mean "anything from a 15% to a 20% increase on some of the freight cost".

Maersk's rivals MSC and Hapag-Lloyd have also increased charges.

Clerc said the disruption has had a "profound impact" on Maersk, with many customers not receiving regular deliveries and is "extremely disruptive" in a region that is heavily reliant on imported food.

It means there are a lot of logistical challenges to "keep the food moving" and making sure it "continues to be on the shelves of supermarkets" rather than going to waste as it sits on ships or in ports.

Asked if he was concerned about product shortages, he said "we've seen a fantastic reaction" with land bridges and trucks trying to keep things on the go.

However, it is hard to shift the same volume by land as by sea and Clerc said that while there was enough capacity to keep the most important goods moving a lot of exports like petrochemicals are "going to have to take the back seat for a while".

Governments including the US and France have suggested that naval escorts could be a way to open the waterways again.

Clerc said a better option would be for the US, Israel and Iran to come to "some kind of deal" to restore trade routes in the Middle East.

While a naval escort might be a "temporary reprieve" to get ships moving, Clerc stressed he was not willing to put staff at risk.

"You're very close from the Iranian coastline, you don't have a lot of time to react so you would need a significant presence from the Navy to be able to provide a shield all the way through," he said.

"I personally have a hard time seeing that this is the permanent solution to the situation because the traffic is very important [and] the strait is very narrow"

Data from the logistics firm Kuehne+Nagel Seaexplorer suggests 132 ships remained stuck in the Gulf as of Monday, 9 March.

The exact number is hard to confirm with reports suggesting that some vessels have turned off their transponders to hide their locations.

Meanwhile, it was only a few weeks ago that major shipping lines such as Maersk started a phased return to the Red Sea route.

Threats of Houthi attacks on ships linked to the Hamas-Israel conflict led companies to stop using the passage for two years.

Any ships there or in the Strait of Hormuz are vulnerable.

Clerc said: "Ultimately we need to get back to something where freedom of navigation and peaceful navigation is restored."

You can get in touch by following this link

Jeffrey Epstein had two key aides - why do they still control his money and secrets?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdjm7rxjxneo, 2 days ago

When the FBI raided Jeffrey Epstein's New York mansion in July 2019, on the day he was arrested for child sex trafficking, agents forced open a large safe to find diamonds, bundles of cash, passports, binders of CDs and hard drives.

But an issue with the warrant meant they could not leave with the items. And when they returned with a new one, the safe had been emptied while they were gone - according to FBI documents.

Richard Kahn, Epstein's accountant and bookkeeper since 2005, had told the mansion's staff to pack two suitcases with the contents of the safe and deliver them to his home, agents wrote.

After the FBI spoke to Kahn's then lawyer, Kahn agreed to hand over the suitcases untouched, but he did not want agents coming to his house and declined to say who had told him to remove the items.

However, a source close to the investigation into Epstein told us that he was not aware of Kahn ever being interviewed or investigated in relation to the paedophile financier's criminal investigation.

Kahn's current lawyer told BBC News that his client had fully co-operated with the FBI's requests.

Kahn, and Epstein's long-serving lawyer Darren Indyke, are the sole executors of Epstein's estate, controlling all his wealth and possessions.

Although hardly household names, the pair now hold control over compensation owed to survivors and the secrets contained in the documents still held by the Epstein estate - which, upon request, have been released to the House Oversight Committee.

As part of its investigation into Epstein's network, the congressional committee has subpoenaed - summoned - the pair to testify. Kahn is appearing on Wednesday 11 March, while Indyke is due to testify on Thursday 19 March.

We have spoken to people associated with investigations linked to Epstein, looked through papers from multiple court cases, and analysed the most recent material released in the Epstein files by the US Department of Justice - to try to uncover more about the role the two men are alleged to have played in Epstein's life and continue to play after his death.

Epstein appointed Indyke and Kahn as co-executors in August 2019, just two days before he died in jail awaiting trial for sex-trafficking minors. He revised his will to transfer all his wealth into a trust named after the year of his birth, which the lawyer and accountant would administer.

In their role as executors, Indyke and Kahn have agreed compensation packages paid to survivors and included conditions that prevented survivors who accepted funds from taking further legal action against them personally. Other claims are still outstanding.

As beneficiaries of the trust, the men could also be paid tens of millions of dollars each from whatever remains when the claims are settled.

The value of Epstein's estate remains unclear. But it was estimated at roughly $635m (£475m) at the time of his death, according to Edwards Henderson, a law firm that represents many of the survivors.

One of the women Epstein abused, who asked to remain anonymous, told the BBC that Indyke and Kahn had questions to answer about what they knew about his "enterprise".

"Jeffrey was just one human. There's no way that he would have been able to keep up with all this on his own," she said. "We always say, follow the money, right? If you follow the money, you can understand a lot about how this operation ran."

Court filings claim that, either Indyke and Kahn - but often both of them - "had signatory authority over virtually all of the accounts held by Epstein", which meant they were authorised to make transactions.

They also helped to run multiple Epstein corporations - some of which, it is alleged in court filings, existed solely for the purpose of his sex-trafficking operation. Kahn's lawyer told us "there is no basis for such claims" and that Epstein's businesses didn't operate to shield his activities; "virtually all of them were tax-filing entities whose ownership was never hidden".

The pair allegedly received millions in fees and loans from Epstein, paid off survivors and even facilitated coerced marriages for women trafficked from abroad to allow them to stay in the US, according to documents filed in court.

One lawsuit alleges that no-one except Ghislaine Maxwell - a former British socialite and now convicted associate of Epstein - was "as essential and central to Epstein's operation" as Indyke and Kahn.

US Congressman Suhas Subramanyam, a member of the House Oversight Committee, told BBC News "they may be two of the best people to talk to" for insight into how Epstein managed his affairs. "Certainly the victims have mentioned them as people who had awareness of some of Jeffrey Epstein's crimes, not just financial dealings, but even the sex trafficking," he said.

Indyke and Kahn have denied any wrongdoing in their interactions with Epstein and are not facing any criminal charges. "No judge in any court anywhere has ever found that Mr Indyke or Mr Kahn committed any wrongdoing of any kind," Daniel Weiner, Indyke's lawyer, told BBC News.

"Not a single woman has ever accused either man of committing sexual abuse or witnessing sexual abuse, nor claimed at any time that she reported to them any allegation of Mr Epstein's abuse," he added.

The woman abused by Epstein told us the men's appearances before the committee were welcome because survivors had been "screaming about them for a long time".

"They need to answer for all of this. I just hope that people actually do speak and don't just plead the Fifth [Amendment] and sit there in silence, because nothing is gained from that," she said.

In addition to their forthcoming testimony, as co-executors of Epstein's estate, Indyke and Kahn have provided the House Oversight Committee with "thousands of pages of documents, photographs and other materials" in response to subpoenas, according to Indyke's lawyer.

But some items, such as Epstein's book of birthday messages, have come with the co-executors' own redactions made beforehand, which Indyke and Kahn's legal team say were made to protect the identities of victims.

The money men

Kahn was not just Epstein's accountant. According to company paperwork, he had a surprising sideline as the manager of a New York-based design company during the 2010s.

However, papers filed at court allege the company was part of a web of firms used by Epstein to funnel money to victims and the people who recruited women to be abused.

These details were uncovered in badly redacted documents from one court case brought by the US Virgin Islands (USVI) against Epstein's estate and the executors, Indyke and Kahn, on grounds of "human trafficking and financial fraud".

The case was settled in 2022, with the estate agreeing to pay more than $105m (£78m) in cash and half of the proceeds from the sale of one of Epstein's private islands. Court documents from the case alleged the pair helped Epstein manage 140 bank accounts.

One of the design company's bank accounts was funded entirely with money transferred from Epstein's personal accounts, the court papers say. The lawsuit claims the owner of the design firm on paper was a woman who was being sexually abused by Epstein and who was paid through the company.

The other person on the company payroll had been listed by Kahn as a designer in some documents given to the bank, according to the court filings. But the lawsuit claims another document from Kahn revealed that she was in a completely unrelated occupation, suggesting there was no legitimate reason for the company to be paying her a salary.

Kahn's lawyer says there is no basis for claims that his client was involved in unlawful or illegal conduct. "Mr Kahn's work for Epstein was precisely the same kind of accounting and bookkeeping work that thousands of professionals provide to clients on a daily basis," Dan Ruzumna told the BBC.

The court documents allege Indyke and Kahn also used another Epstein company registered in the US Virgin Islands to write cheques worth $300,000, made out to young women or to an immigration lawyer involved in helping trafficked women stay in the US.

Kahn did not write cheques "for young women and/or an immigration lawyer on Epstein's behalf, as he was not a signatory on any of Epstein's bank accounts until shortly before Epstein's death," said his lawyer Ruzumna.

"Epstein's corporate entities served legitimate business interests, such as employing household staff, paying for expenses associated with a given asset owned by that corporate entity, making charitable contributions, and ensuring that taxes were paid appropriately," he added.

Indyke made repeated cash withdrawals that appeared designed to provide the convicted sex criminal with funds without triggering the bank's reporting requirements, the USVI court documents claim. Women sexually exploited by Epstein say the convicted sex offender used cash to pay them and the people who recruited new victims.

The court filings claim that, on one occasion, Indyke took two cheques to a New York bank to withdraw cash - $7,500 from one of Epstein's personal accounts and $4,000 from Indyke's business account. He cashed one of the cheques and, the papers claim, said he would return the following day to cash the second in order to "avoid all the paperwork".

Over the course of two years, Indyke cashed cheques 45 times using another of Epstein's personal accounts, withdrawing $7,500 each time - the bank's limit for third-party withdrawals, the court filings claim.

The lawsuit also claims there were 97 separate cash withdrawals of $1,000 made in less than a year from an ATM a short walk from Indyke's law office - but it does not specify who made the withdrawals.

Indyke and Kahn "profited substantially from their relationship with Epstein" the court documents in the Virgin Islands case also claim. Between 2011 and 2019 Indyke was paid $16m, and Kahn $10m, by Epstein and his companies, according to the unredacted papers. This includes loans that Epstein's will said should be "forgiven" - implying the debts should be cancelled.

These sums were "further evidence of the illicit nature of the work they [Indyke and Kahn] performed", the documents claim.

Indyke's lawyer, Daniel Weiner, said: "Mr Indyke and Mr Kahn deny all those contentions, including any allegations of fault, liability, wrongdoing or damages of any kind."

A document in the Epstein files that appears to be the paedophile's will states Indyke and Kahn are also entitled to "annual compensation" for their roles as executors of $250,000 a year, and their legal fees are covered by the estate.

But Kahn's lawyer Ruzumna told BBC News that the will "provides [for]… each to receive a one-time payment of $250,000 for administering the estate".

Mr Indyke's lawyer said that the executors "never acted to put their own interests above their duties as co-executors. They continue to administer the Estate... in full accordance with applicable law".

Forced marriages

Epstein encouraged some of the women he trafficked from overseas to find a US citizen to marry, often another woman, to ensure they could remain in the country.

After his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor in Florida, he focused on procuring and abusing women from Eastern Europe, who were "more isolated, dependent and vulnerable", the USVI court case alleges.

"I think it's time you found an american girlfriend", Epstein wrote in an email to an unidentified woman in March 2013. "same sex marriage will be the fastest way to green card. by far."

Later that year, another unidentified woman emailed Epstein to say: "We are going now to get marriage license. And she Is asking if it's possible to meet with you? Because she has some questions."

BBC News has seen a marriage certificate between two women, one of whom later came forward to say she had been abused.

The US Virgin Islands case, which was settled between the parties, alleged Indyke and Kahn "knowingly facilitated" at least three marriages between US victims and foreign victims, who were coerced by Epstein's trafficking operation with threats of "serious reputational and bodily harm" if they refused or tried to leave.

They carried out the legal and accounting work to enable "a fraud that would further bind Epstein's victims to him" and allow him to control and sexually abuse them, the papers filed in court claim. Indyke and Kahn deny the allegations.

One US woman who was repeatedly abused by Epstein, and pressured to have sex with his business associates over the course of more than a decade, was forced into a marriage facilitated by Indyke, the court documents say.

The aim was to prevent another Epstein victim being deported from the US, according to the papers - and the US Virgin Islands' attorney general alleged that Indyke and a New York immigration lawyer immediately began helping to prepare the victim for her interview with US immigration officials.

Kahn provided a letter of reference for the immigration proceedings, the court papers say. When the woman asked about ending the marriage and leaving, the court filings say Indyke repeatedly tried to talk her out of divorce and "threatened that she would lose Epstein's and his associates' protection".

Kahn's lawyer Ruzumna told BBC News that his client thought he was providing a favour to her, not participating in a sham, and the woman and her partner thanked him for providing the letter. Indyke's lawyer Weiner didn't comment specifically about any of the marriage accusations.

Despite Epstein being global headline news for more than a decade for his criminal activities, both Indyke and Kahn's lawyers claim their clients reject as categorically false any suggestion "they knowingly facilitated or assisted Mr Epstein in his sexual abuse or trafficking of women, or that they were aware of Mr Epstein's actions while they provided legal and accounting services respectively to Mr Epstein".

Settling the estate

In 2020, Indyke and Kahn - in their capacity as co-executors - agreed to the Jeffrey Epstein Victim Compensation Program (EVCP), which gave survivors an opportunity to seek financial justice for the abuse they suffered. To ensure the women's claims were "free from any interference by the Epstein estate", according to the EVCP, an independent administrator was introduced.

Claims were more than double the number expected. According to court documents, 136 women received a combined value of $121m from the Epstein estate. A further 59 claims from other survivors were resolved for a total of $48m.

Indyke and Kahn have approved the release of funds from the estate "to pay for the legal fees and costs of other co-conspirators", court documents also claim. Both Indyke and Kahn deny this and have told the BBC the estate has not paid the legal fees of "any known conspirator in Epstein's crimes".

Additionally, according to a court filing last month, Epstein's estate has agreed to pay up to $35m to survivors who declined to sign up to the compensation programme, and who sued Indyke and Kahn personally, alleging the pair facilitated the disgraced financier's sex trafficking and "chose money and power over following the law".

Ahead of the men's scheduled appearances on Capitol Hill, Indyke's lawyer Daniel Weiner said: "Messrs Indyke and Kahn fully intend to continue their cooperation with the [House Oversight] Committee, and look forward to setting the record straight as to their lack of involvement in Epstein's misconduct".

Meanwhile, the anonymous survivor told BBC News: "When you're talking about these huge sums of money, does the money overshadow and outweigh the want, and the need, to do the right thing?

"I don't know. And that's for them morally to find. I hope they do the right thing."

Additional reporting by Paul Myers

If you have information about this story that you would like to share, please email epsteininvestigation@bbc.co.uk

Meta buys 'social media network for AI' Moltbook

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg1x788dreo, yesterday

Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, has bought Moltbook, a social media networking platform for artificial intelligence (AI) bots to speak to each other.

The deal will move Moltbook's team into Meta's Superintelligence Labs and bring "new ways for AI agents to work for people and businesses", Meta said.

The Reddit-like site started as an experiment in January for AI-powered programs to have their own conversations - and even gossip about their human owners - on Moltbook's forums.

Many in the technology industry have been captivated by the computer-led dialogue on Moltbook's forums, but it has also fuelled cyber security and ethical concerns regarding AI's autonomy.

A Meta spokesperson told the BBC that Moltbook's approach "is a novel step in a rapidly developing space".

The company did not say how much the deal was worth.

The BBC has contacted Moltbook for comment.

Tech firms have invested heavily in so-called AI agents - self-directed bots that can plan and complete complex tasks on behalf of humans.

Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has previously said the firm will ramp up spending on AI projects this year.

The company has expanded its stable of AI projects with fast-growing start-ups and partnerships to compete with rivals OpenAI and Google.

In December, the Silicon Valley giant bought another AI firm called Manus, a Chinese-founded company that builds general-purpose bots.

Moltbook was created using a tool called OpenClaw, an AI agent that acts as a personal digital assistant on a user's computer to carry out tasks like writing emails, managing appointments and building apps.

Users can set up OpenClaw to control their devices and complete tasks on their behalf. By linking OpenClaw with Moltbook users can also watch how the agent interacts with other bots.

OpenClaw's creator Peter Steinberger was hired in February by ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.

OpenAI boss Sam Altman said Steinberger would help OpenAI "drive the next generation of personal agents" that will interact with each other "to do very useful things for people."

Many developers have flocked to OpenClaw, which is available as an open-source tool since its launch in late 2025.

But the tool has raised alarm among some cyber security professionals who are concerned about the potential risks of connecting the AI tool to devices that power everyday applications.

China's cyber security agency has issued warnings about risks linked to OpenClaw after some of the country's local governments and tech firms started to experiment with the tool.

'Investing in people': Can China's new push to boost spending revive the economy?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70n5xllp1do, 2 days ago

China's leaders are trying something new to revive the country's slowing economy: encouraging people to spend more.

At this year's Two Sessions in Beijing - the country's most important political meeting of the year - officials set an annual growth target of 4.5%–5%, the lowest since 1991.

Alongside the goal, policymakers unveiled measures aimed at boosting household spending - a tacit admission that the old drivers of growth may no longer be sustainable.

In many ways, it marks a reversal of China's traditional approach.

In the past, when growth slowed, Beijing built more apartments, motorways, factories and industrial parks - fuelling expansion through state investment, exports and a booming property market.

Now policymakers are placing more emphasis on raising household incomes and strengthening consumption.

"It's a recognition by Beijing that the old growth model no longer works," said Dexter Roberts of the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub.

The question now is whether China's leaders can persuade households to open their wallets - and whether consumption can realistically become an engine of growth.

Spend, spend, spend

The measures announced include expanding services for the elderly, enforcing paid annual leave and more support for families raising children.

Policymakers have also proposed an "urban-rural resident income growth plan" aimed at putting more money into the hands of people and narrowing income gaps.

Officials describe this approach as "investing in people" - the idea that households are more likely to spend if they feel secure about growing their family and covering healthcare and retirement costs.

China's leadership is still doubling down on advanced manufacturing and technology in the upcoming 15th Five-Year Plan, aiming to embed artificial intelligence (AI) across the economy and strengthen industrial capabilities.

But relying on exports alone may not provide a sustainable engine for growth as protectionism rises globally and demand for its goods weakens.

"The task of transitioning to new growth drivers is formidable," Premier Li Qiang said in the government work report, warning that "the imbalance between strong supply and weak demand is acute."

But can these social policies significantly change consumer behaviour?

Why spending remains weak

Chinese households already spend a smaller share of their income than people in most major economies.

Household consumption accounts for about 40% of gross domestic product (GDP), compared with a global average of roughly 55% and about 60% in advanced economies.

Recent data suggests government stimulus can encourage spending, but confidence remains fragile.

During the Spring Festival holiday, authorities distributed billions of yuan in vouchers to encourage people to spend on transport and entertainment.

Travel revenue for the period rose by about 19% compared with the previous year.

But average spending per traveller declined and cinema box office takings fell sharply, suggesting households remain selective about parting with money.

China's leaders have historically been cautious about providing large-scale support to households, wary that stimulus could increase already high debt levels.

"The narrative of a shift toward consumption-led growth is stronger than the policies currently supporting it, at least in the short to medium term," said Gerard DiPippo of the RAND China Research Center in his assessment of the announcements.

Some of the government's proposals have also triggered scepticism online.

On the social media platform Weibo, some users questioned the motive for encouraging paid leave.

"This is not to let you rest, it's to make you spend money," one user wrote, while another argued authorities should first enforce an eight-hour workday and a five-day week.

Debates around marriage and parental leave have also drawn strong reactions. Some users called for a nationwide minimum of 10 days' marriage leave - in some provinces, couples only get three days - while others pointed to the high cost of raising children.

"Young people need stable jobs and incomes, and appropriate rest," one person wrote. "Then we can talk about marriage and having a kid."

But the challenges facing China's consumer economy run far deeper.

A new playbook?

One reason consumption remains weak is the prolonged downturn in the property market.

Real estate once accounted for as much as a quarter of China's economic activity when related industries are included.

But the industry has been in crisis for several years after a debt crackdown on developers triggered a wave of defaults and stalled construction projects.

Home prices have fallen sharply in many cities since 2021, eroding household wealth and confidence.

For decades, property served not only as housing but also as the main store of wealth for Chinese families.

When prices were rising, households felt richer and more willing to spend.

The real estate boom also generated vast revenues for local governments through land sales, helping finance infrastructure and public services.

With property prices now stagnant or falling, that wealth effect has reversed.

"China's consumption challenge is largely about replacing the massive housing-investment demand engine," DiPippo said.

The downturn has also hit employment in construction and related industries, weighing on incomes and consumer confidence more broadly.

Beijing has taken steps to stabilise the property sector - cutting mortgage rates and easing home-buying restrictions in major cities - but these measures have yet to reverse the downturn.

China is also facing other major issues.

Birth rates have dropped sharply, youth unemployment remains high and weak demand has pushed the economy toward deflation.

When consumers expect prices to fall further, they often delay purchases - reinforcing the slowdown.

Most analysts expect any shift toward consumption-led growth to be gradual.

As DiPippo put it, the current policy framework "stabilises the consumption share rather than actively increasing it."

For much of the past four decades, China's rise was defined by what it built - cities, factories and infrastructure.

The next phase may depend less on construction and exports and more on confidence - whether households feel secure enough to spend, raise families and power the consumer economy Beijing hopes can sustain growth.

'Icky and heartbreaking': The $2 per hour worker behind the OnlyFans boom

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq571g9gd4lo, 2 days ago

A Philippines-based woman has described how "heartbreaking" it is to get less than $2 per hour pretending to be much better paid OnlyFans models in online chats.

The platform works by linking creators of explicit content to users, who pay a subscription to access their material and chat online.

However, while high-profile creators can earn large sums of money, the job of interacting with fans - and attempting to sell them images and videos - is often done by low-paid people, employed by third parties, such as the person the BBC spoke to.

A union representing such workers - known as "chatters" - told BBC News it was concerned about the "largely unregulated nature of this type of online work".

OnlyFans, which generated $7.2bn (£5.3bn) revenue in 2024, declined to comment but its terms of service state that its business relationship is solely with the content creator.

'It's really not pleasant'

The BBC is not naming the woman it spoke to in order to protect her identity.

Employed by an agency used by the model she was pretending to be, she says she first took up this type of work to support her family during a period of lower income, earning under $2 per hour and working an 8hr shift five days a week.

She would be set targets to earn the model hundreds of dollars worth of sales of pictures and videos during her shift.

The most popular creators on the platform claim to earn millions of dollars per month.

A more recent period of chatting work with a new agency offered improved conditions and pay, though still less than $4 an hour.

She said she knew the work would involve explicit content - but even so "sexting" was unpleasant.

"It's kind of icky when you think about it, because you'll have to do sexting a lot of times, like, several times in an hour because, you know, you'll be talking to several fans all at once".

She said the people she chatted to often seemed "really nice" but were obviously lonely, making the whole process feel sad, especially as she was not the person she was pretending to be.

That dishonesty troubled her, she said,

"Technically, I'm scamming them, because I'll be sending all those photos and videos to them, and I'm just after the sale," she said

Indeed the use of chatters has lead to legal cases against OnlyFans and the agencies who employ them, by users and law firms who feel the practice is deceptive. So far none have succeeded.

Some fans the chatter said would ask for "really weird, kinks or fetishes" which she could generally tolerate - but not always.

"There are days where I feel like, 'what the hell am I doing here?' because there are days that it would really take its toll on you".

Asked if she felt exploited, she described accepting an under two dollars an hour pay rate as "not her finest hour".

"It's really not pleasant, you know? You're going to question yourself. Your morality, even, and even your conscience," she told the BBC.

"It's really kind of heart-breaking, especially knowing that the agency is getting way more," she added.

The chatter also described concerns about potential legal risk in taking on the work, given relatively tough anti-pornography laws in the Philippines.

The BPO Industry Employees' Network or BIEN is an independent union representing workers in the outsourced business process jobs in the Philippines.

Mylene Cabalona, its president, told the BBC that "while the Philippines does have relatively strict laws regarding pornography, our main concern as a union is the largely unregulated nature of this type of online work".

This raised, she said, serious concerns about workers' exposure to "potentially egregious or harmful content, as well as a lack of clear guidelines on safety, accountability, and worker protection".

But there were also advantages to outsourced digital jobs, including chatting, which could, Cabalona said, allow workers to earn income from home, while supporting clients or platforms abroad.

"These jobs can also offer higher potential income compared to some local entry-level jobs and provide opportunities to develop skills in digital work," she noted.

Mortgage rates rise and deals pulled over Iran war turmoil

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c24dm9vgrz7o, yesterday

Turmoil in the UK mortgage market is at its most intense since the mini-Budget of 2022, figures suggest, as the average rate on two-year fixed deals rose above 5%.

The rate is at its highest level since August, according to financial information service Moneyfacts. Five-year mortgages are at their most expensive since June.

Nearly 500 mortgage products have been pulled off the shelves in the last two days, the highest number since the aftermath of mini-Budget, when Liz Truss was prime minister.

Anyone renewing a fixed mortgage, or looking for a new one - such as first-time buyers - will be affected.

Before the US-Israel war with Iran began, financial markets had been expecting a cut in UK interest rates at some point this year.

But these expectations vanished after rising oil prices raised the prospect of higher inflation.

The yield, or interest rate, on two-year government bonds - which indicates how much it would cost to borrow money for two years - has been volatile.

"Recent days have been some of the most turbulent in the UK mortgage market since the aftermath of the September 2022 mini-Budget," said Adam French, head of consumer finance at Moneyfacts.

"It's unwelcome news for borrowers, as the prospect of falling mortgage rates has quickly given way to rate rises," he said, adding: "How far they could go is now heavily dependent on how global markets and inflation expectations evolve as conflict in the Middle East unfolds."

Lenders are lifting mortgage rates as they respond to changing predictions about the future direction of the Bank of England's benchmark rate, which dictates borrowing costs.

For borrowers, the interest rate on a fixed mortgage does not change until the deal expires, usually after two or five years, and a new one is chosen to replace it.

On Wednesday, data shows:

* The average rate on a two-year fixed deal stood at 5.01%, up from 4.84% on Friday

* Over the same period, the average rate on a five-year fixed deal has risen from 4.96% to 5.09%

* Over the last two days, 472 residential mortgage products have been withdrawn from the market, according to Moneyfacts. This is about 6.5% of the market, leaving 7,164 deals to choose from.

The biggest single day fall for residential mortgages recorded by Moneyfacts was the withdrawal of 935 products on 27 September, 2022 after Truss and her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced £45bn worth of unfunded tax cuts.

More than 25% of mortgage deals available at the time were pulled.

Brokers said they were expecting further rate rises in the coming days, but people could take action.

"Most lenders allow their existing mortgage customers to secure a rate switch four months before their fixed or tracker rates expire," said Aaron Strutt, from broker Trinity Financial.

"At the moment some of the banks and building societies are still offering sub-4% fixed rates," he said.

Rising prices

Meanwhile, petrol and diesel costs continued to rise in the UK due to volatile oil prices from disruption to Middle East supplies.

The average cost of unleaded petrol has risen by 6.81p since the war began to 139.64p per litre. Diesel has risen by 14.81p to 157.19p per litre.

It means diesel is at its highest price since May 2024.

Williams added: "If oil were to settle at around the $90 a barrel mark and the pound were to maintain its current position against the US dollar, drivers in the UK could expect average petrol prices to reach around 140p a litre, and diesel around 167p a litre."

Brent crude, which is the global benchmark for oil prices, is trading at $89.44 a barrel.

While prices are down from a recent spike of nearly $120 barrel, they are more than 20% higher than before the war began.

The Prime Minister has said plans to phase out the freeze on fuel duty from September will be "kept under review in light of what's happening in Iran" as the Conservative leader pushed him on why he was "increasing the cost of petrol?"

What role has cyber warfare played in Iran?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yr0576ygvo, today

When it comes to military firepower, the US and Israel are not shy about how they are attacking Iran.

With professional photos and slick videos, US Central Command has been posting every few hours on social media about the kinds of weapons, jets and ships being used.

But the US and Israel are far more coy on what is happening in cyber-space.

Over hours of press conferences, speeches and dozens of social media posts, mentions of cyber operations are vanishingly rare.

However, Iranian hackers have claimed their first prominent cyber-attack on a US company during the conflict, on US medical tech firm, Stryker.

And cyber is indeed playing a significant role in this war, as commander of the US Central Command Admiral Brad Cooper recently hinted in a press update.

"We continue with strikes into Iran from seabed to space and cyber-space," he said.

Here is what we know about the types of cyber operations being carried out - and what it tells us about modern warfare.

Before missiles were fired

Cyber-espionage and hacking are known to play a large role in so-called "pre-positioning" for war.

General Dan Caine, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff at the Pentagon, described in a press conference how the war was enabled by months, in some cases years, of planning that went into preparing the so called "target set" for strikes.

US and Israeli hackers could have infiltrated key computer networks in Iran long before any actual strike was planned.

Computer networks behind air defences or military communications would have been high-priority targets.

The Financial Times was told by unnamed sources that CCTV and traffic cameras had been hacked by Israel to create an enormous surveillance network, in order to establish so called "patterns of life" of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his commanders in preparation for the strike that killed him.

Internet-connected cameras have become a target in cyber warfare as they "offer real‑time situational awareness of streets, facilities, and movement at very low cost," said Sergey Shykevich, threat intelligence expert at cyber-security company Check Point.

Commentators say this kind of information would be used alongside more traditional intelligence - such as that gathered from human spies.

"Cyber isn't usually the decisive weapon on its own; it's a force multiplier that helps shape the information environment and supports operations happening on the ground," said Tal Kollender, former Israeli military cyber-defence specialist and founder of cybersecurity platform Remedio.

In a press conference given after the initial strikes, operatives in US Cyber Command and US Space Command were described by Gen Caine as the "first movers", disrupting and "blinding Iran's ability to see, communicate and respond".

Some commentators suggest mobile phone towers were jammed or shut off to prevent the Ayatollah's security team from being warned about incoming jets, for example.

This is not confirmed but we have seen this in other conflicts, such as the war in Ukraine.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth also boasted during a more recent press conference that members of the Iranian military "can't talk or communicate, let alone mount a coordinated and sustained offensive".

The comments echo the words of President Trump when praising the success of the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. "The lights of Caracas were largely turned off due to a certain expertise that we have," he said after that operation.

It has not been confirmed if the president was referring to a cyber-attack, but in the newly-published US Cyber Strategy he went further in praising his cyber forces for that specific operation, saying that they rendered "our adversaries blind and uncomprehending during a flawless military operation".

Israel is also being accused of hacking a popular Iranian prayer-timing app called BadeSaba which has 5 million downloads.

Reuters reported that a push notification was sent to users just as the bombs began to hit saying "help has arrived".

Secretary Hegseth spoke this week about the continuing operation of "hunting for more systems to kill" - and cyber may well play a role in this stage of the war with operatives using open source intelligence, satellite imagery analysis and cyber-espionage to locate military targets in Iran.

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools are probably being heavily employed in this work too. A possible hint of this came again from Hegseth who praised an intelligence operative he saw in action.

"I was talking to a young colonel who's iterating on how we target and how we find and fix different aspects of what the Iranians are trying to do," he said, being careful not to give away too much detail.

Fog of cyberwar

The US and Israel have a long history of carrying out significant cyber attacks against Iran and are famously secretive about them.

For example, officials are still cagey about the infamous destructive Stuxnet hack on Iran's uranium enrichment facilities in 2010.

Israel has also been accused of causing a meltdown at steel plants in Iran in 2022 under the guise of hacktivist group Predatory Sparrow.

"If a country openly describes its capabilities or specific operations, it risks revealing techniques, access points, or intelligence sources that could be shut down quickly by adversaries," said Kollender.

"In cyber, the value of a capability often depends on the other side not knowing exactly how it works," she added.

Despite this, Dr Louise Marie Hurel from the Royal United Services Institute has been pleasantly surprised by the information the US is disclosing.

But she argues the war has shown that cyber should be talked about in the same way as conventional action to maintain rules of engagement.

"This is an opportunity for us to have a more public debate regarding the support and strategic advantage cyber provides in broader military campaigns and crisis.

"If cyber is openly acknowledged as integral to the strike package, it can help sharpen the questions about the laws of armed conflict, proportionality, and what counts as a use of force," she said.

Where is Iran?

A puzzling part of the ongoing war is that Iran has largely been visibly absent in the cyber domain.

To date, the most notable attack linked to the nation has been the hacking of Stryker, a major US medical technology company, first reported on Wednesday.

Iran has long been regarded as a capable cyber power and although the western cyber-security world is braced for attacks either from the state or hackers linked to the state, there has been little activity so far.

The Stryker incident saw the company's employee login defaced with a message claiming data had been erased in a 'wiper' attack by an Iran-backed group of activists and repeated by Iran's state broadcaster.

In an update on Thursday morning, Stryker said it was working to end the disruption and said its products were safe to use.

It seems implausible that Iran is holding back in this war - so either they have been incapacitated by reported Israeli strikes, or they have been overestimated.

Their reputation has been earned by past attacks like the 2012 hack of long-time rival Saudi Arabia's oil giant Aramco which used wiper malware to destroy 30,000 computers.

On Wednesday it was reported that an Iranian-linked hacking group, Handala, had hit medical technology firm Stryker with a so-called wiper malware attack.

As well as wiper attacks, Iran has been accused of attempting to meddle with critical national infrastructure to cause physical harm.

Hurel cautions against writing off Iran's ability to retaliate either directly or through vigilante hacker groups.

"I wouldn't jump to conclusions regarding Iran as we have seen considerable hacktivist activity, and public reporting has previously shown that patriotic hacker personas have sometimes been used as a facade for state-linked groups," she said.

Overseas 'content farms' creating political deepfakes uncovered

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c07jj7d72yzo, 3 days ago

Overseas "content farms" are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create social media posts about UK politics, an expert has warned.

Technology company Meta removed several Vietnam-based pages from Facebook after a BBC Wales investigation found they were spreading fake news.

The warning, from Prof Martin Innes of Cardiff University, comes as the Electoral Commission is developing software to spot and combat deepfakes ahead of the Welsh and Scottish parliaments' elections in May.

The BBC has also uncovered examples of AI-generated videos, shared by pages in Wales, falsely showing Welsh politicians in compromising situations including endorsing a rival and kissing a colleague.

Several Welsh politicians told the BBC about their experiences as victims of deepfakes.

"I don't think you'll find a politician who hasn't had this done to them... to say it out loud makes me feel quite sad," said Labour MP Alex Davies-Jones.

What is a deepfake?

Deepfakes are videos, pictures or audio clips digitally altered or manipulated to make something fake look real.

Some are silly, but others could potentially damage reputations.

And text-to-image AI tools have made them easier to generate than ever before.

BBC Wales found a number of Facebook pages publishing fake news about UK politicians, often accompanied by AI-generated images.

Each of these pages had thousands of followers and many of them posted the same, or very similar, content.

They often had names which implied they were UK-based news outlets - but, by using a transparency feature on Facebook, it was possible to see almost all of these pages were run from Vietnam.

Although they featured some real news stories, a large amount of their content could be easily proven false.

Meta removed some of these pages after it was contacted by the BBC but, throughout the investigation, new pages were being created almost daily.

The pages often depicted multiple politicians, including Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak and Zia Yusuf, in the same fake situation – for example, storming out of a BBC interview after dramatic arguments with Laura Kuenssberg.

There is no suggestion these pages are being run by, or on behalf of, any political party.

Prof Martin Innes, director of Cardiff University's Crime and Security Research Institute, said the pages were "content farms" designed to go viral.

They may in turn make their owners money from Facebook's monetisation programme, but it is not possible to know for sure whether each page is monetised.

Facebook marked some stories with a warning, saying they had been proven false by third-party fact-checkers - for example after Full Fact debunked a story about Reform UK leader Nigel Farage being in hospital.

But on each occasion it was possible to find very similar stories that did not have this warning attached.

Many of the stories posted by these pages appeared to be designed to get attention from supporters of Farage, but not all were positive about him.

In some he was falsely depicted adopting dogs, donating his personal wealth to good causes, or welcoming a new baby.

But another showed him being arrested, complete with AI-generated photos of him in handcuffs.

The pages also feature other politicians including Sir Keir Starmer, falsely saying he had been taken ill on stage, sued over "election rigging" and removed as prime minister.

It was not always politicians – a wide range of celebrities could be seen inserted into some of the same made-up situations too.

Innes said pages like these were "driven by a profit imperative", and would "do anything where they think they can get eyeballs on their content if it will make them money".

Some of these posts appeared to get lots of likes, comments and shares, while others had almost none despite the pages' high follower counts.

Innes said we could not be sure whether all of the pages' thousands of followers were real people, adding page owners often used bots to "spoof the algorithm" and get content into people's feeds.

The comments section suggested not everyone who saw this content believed it.

Many expressed doubt or annoyance at the fake stories – but others did seem to be taken in by it.

When the BBC approached Meta with the examples found, the company removed several of the pages from Facebook.

It added it had a policy against the use of "inauthentic" accounts or pages on its platforms.

How could deepfakes affect the Welsh election?

Devolved elections will take place in Wales and Scotland on 7 May, the same day as local elections in parts of England.

There have been warnings before of a so-called 'deepfake election' in the UK - and mixed opinions on whether this has ever materialised.

The Alan Turing Institute, a national centre for data science and AI, found "no evidence" that AI-enabled deepfakes or disinformation had a meaningful impact on the result of the general election in 2024.

But almost two years on, the "barriers to entry" to creating this kind of content has been lowered, said Innes.

"Where previously doing this kind of image [or] video manipulation would have required quite a lot of computing power and technical knowledge, you don't need that anymore."

This, he said, could create a "trickle-down effect" where videos start to impact devolved politics.

The risk is high enough for the Electoral Commission to get involved.

The independent body, which oversees and regulates UK elections, is working with the Home Office on software to identify, track and report deepfakes.

Its chief executive Vijay Rangarajan said it would "help voters identify misinformation during election campaigns and reduce activity which negatively impacts voters' confidence in the conduct of campaigners".

Following this announcement, the BBC identified a number of AI-generated fake videos of Welsh politicians, created in recent weeks.

Between them, the videos have more than 200,000 views.

These included a fake video of Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Wales' First Minister Eluned Morgan kissing, and another of Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth shouting "I love Reform".

The owners of the Facebook page behind these two videos said they were "obvious" satire.

They added they trusted their audience to use "common sense" but indicated the videos were fake in their captions.

Another, shared by an anti-Reform page, showed Nigel Farage with a Welsh flag behind him.

In the video, he shouts: "Britain is great; I don't see the point of having four different sporting teams and four different parliaments."

There is no record of Farage ever saying these words, and the video appeared distorted in ways consistent with AI generation.

The page behind this video has been contacted for comment.

These particular examples, Innes said, were closer to "shallowfakes" than "deepfakes" - meaning they were less realistic and were created using less sophisticated software.

But identifying fakes was getting "harder and harder", he added, with his team sometimes spending a day "poring over" the more sophisticated examples.

He said the Electoral Commission's plans to combat deepfakes "might help us understand things after the event" but would not stop or prevent deepfakes affecting the election.

Davies-Jones, who represents Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, said she had been subjected to "horrific" deepfakes, including some showing her in "crude sexual positions" in underwear.

She added that speaking out about non-consensual sexual deepfakes could be "embarrassing" and lead to "increased targeting" - and their existence was "no good for any healthy democracy".

Llŷr Powell, who was the Reform UK candidate in the Caerphilly by-election, said his team had found AI-generated videos of him and his colleagues which put words in his mouth, lying about his policies.

Powell said he was "in favour of free speech" and freedom of expression but there was a problem when AI use led to "some people believing that it was fact and not parody".

He added: "We don't want to sacrifice the freedoms we've got in this country, but at the same time the public have a right to know what information they're being fed and the tool is being misused here just like anything can be misused."

Janet Finch-Saunders, Conservative MS for Aberconwy in north Wales, said she "felt sick" when she saw a photo of her had been edited "in a very disgusting way" to create an explicit deepfake.

She said the fakes could be "very misleading" to people who were "less tech-savvy" and "it is quite worrying because there's far more capability now".

"When you're in politics... or whatever your line of work, you should not be attacked personally. And certainly not AI used to belittle you."

Baroness Carmen Smith, a Plaid Cymru peer, said: "Deepfakes seriously are a threat to democracy, but they are also a threat to many, many people whether that is your sister, your friend, your colleague.

"We have to keep up to date with what developments are being made with AI tools... it's something that we do need to address and prioritise now."

Rachel Millward, deputy leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, said she had been subject to a "misogynistic deepfake" herself and called on the UK government to regulate the AI sector to prevent such content "undermining the legitimacy of future elections".

A Welsh Liberal Democrat spokesperson said deepfakes were a "threat to the safety of politicians across the political spectrum" and called for "cross-nation action".

The UK government's department for science, innovation and technology said the "potential for deepfakes to sow division, spread false information, and influence public opinion" was "well recognised".

It said social media platforms must "proactively tackle illegal fraudulent content" under the Online Safety Act, or "face enforcement action".

BBC Wales Your Voice Live: Ask the Leader wants you to be in the audience and put your questions to the leaders of Wales' parties.

Click here to put your questions to the leaders of the Welsh Conservatives, Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Liberal Democrats in Haverfordwest on 8 April.

Click here to put your questions to the leaders of Welsh Labour, Reform UK and the Wales Green Party in Llandudno on 15 April.

Ethiopia experiments with 'smart' police stations that have no officers

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjd9jgnrdpko, 8 days ago

Computer tablet screens glow inside a row of partitioned booths at a new-style Ethiopian police station.

There is no commotion. There is no front desk, no bench of anxiously waiting civilians, no officer calling out names.

It is a pilot project of what is being called a "smart" - or unmanned - police station in the Bole district of the capital, Addis Ababa, is the latest chapter in Ethiopia's bid to catch up with the digital revolution.

A large monitor on the wall cycles through welcome messages as well as images of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

But at the moment there are uniformed officers standing by to demonstrate how the system works, which makes it feel more like a tech showroom.

Recently opened, the staff "are here to help people get used to it", the police's head of technology expansion department Cdr Demissie Yilma tells the BBC.

Inside a booth, he taps a screen and goes through the steps to make a report.

Demissie selects the type of incident - a crime, a traffic report or a general concern - enters the details and presses a button to submit the comment.

Then, an officer - who is a real person in a remote location rather than a chatbot - pops up on the screen and begins to ask questions and take down information.

"If there is a problem, officers respond immediately and patrol the area mentioned by the reporter," Demissie says.

In its first week last month, the smart police station (SPS) received just three reports - a lost passport, a financial fraud case and a routine complaint.

But Demissie believes the number of reports will grow as locals become more aware of it.

"The future police service should be near the citizens," he says.

The use of a computer tablet to communicate with officials may mean less human-to-human contact but the authorities believe that the SPS could increase access to the police in places where there may not be enough personnel to man a fully fledged station.

At the project's launch on 9 February, the prime minister was quoted in state media as saying that it was aimed at making "law enforcement institutions competent and competitive" and he framed it as part of a wider digital reform drive.

The smart police station is part of a broader move to change how citizens interact with the state.

The national strategy launched last year - known as Digital Ethiopia 2030 - is the government's blueprint for digitising public services, from identity systems and payments to courts and public administration.

The proportion of Ethiopians who have access to the internet remains quite low, meaning that the country has lagged behind others on the continent in terms of digital transformation.

Also, conflict and political upheavals in recent years have led to internet blackouts.

But as the telecoms sector has opened up, the country is embracing mobile phone digital payments in birr, the local currency.

The government has also introduced a national digital ID system and put several government services online.

Supporters of the moves argue that these changes are long overdue in a country with rapid urban growth and a young population.

Birhan Nega Cheru, a senior software engineer in Addis Ababa, is pleased with the shift.

"When they work well, they reduce paperwork and visits to offices," he tells the BBC.

But he also recognises security and privacy issues and the dangers that those "who are not digitally literate can easily be scammed".

"Urban users, younger people, businesses, those with smartphones and skills, benefit most," the software engineer says.

"Older people, rural communities and low-income groups are at risk of being left out."

And the numbers support his assertions.

In a report last year, the UN's educational organisation, Unesco, found that 79% of its citizens were not connected to the internet.

But Zelalem Gizachew, a technology policy analyst, argues that the government's strategy has been chipping away at the digital divide.

"Digital literacy remains a challenge," he says. "That is why the Digital Ethiopia 2030 strategy puts emphasis on training and skills, not just technology."

He points to measurable changes over the past five years.

"Digital payments have boomed with trillions of birr now moving through electronic transactions. Broadband access has expanded sharply, and more than 130 government services have been digitised.

"These are foundational investments," Zelalem says. "You cannot modernise public services without infrastructure, policy and skills."

For now, the smart police station remains a pilot.

It is in a controlled environment where officers guide users through a system which is still finding its footing. Traditional stations continue to operate, and most citizens still rely on in-person reporting.

Whether the model expands will depend less on how sleek the technology looks, and more on whether people choose to use it when no-one is there to explain the screens.

In that sense, the quiet room in Bole is not a finished product. It is an experiment, and a small window into how Ethiopia's broader digital ambitions may play out in everyday life.

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

Grammarly pulls AI author-impersonation tool after backlash

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx28v08jpe7o, today

Writing tool Grammarly has disabled an AI feature which mimicked personas of prominent writers, including Stephen King and scientist Carl Sagan, following a backlash from people impersonated.

The Expert Review function, which offered writing feedback "inspired by" the styles of famous authors and academics, was taken down this week by Superhuman, the tech firm which runs Grammarly.

The feature was met with resistance, including a multi-million dollar lawsuit, from writers who found their names and reputations used as "AI personas" without their consent.

Shishir Mehrotra, the firm's chief executive, apologised on LinkedIn, acknowledging the tool had "misrepresented" the voices of experts.

Julia Angwin, an investigative journalist whose persona was one of those used in the feature, has filed a class-action federal lawsuit in the US against Superhuman and Grammarly.

Writing on social media, Angwin said: "I'm suing Grammarly over its paid AI feature that presented editing suggestions as if they came from me - and many other writers and journalists - without consent."

According to legal filings cited by Wired, the action was launched on Wednesday in the Southern District of New York.

It states Angwin, on behalf of herself and others in a similar position, "challenges Grammarly's misappropriation of the names and identities of hundreds of journalists, authors, writers, and editors to earn profits for Grammarly and its owner, Superhuman".

The lawsuit argues it is "unlawful to appropriate peoples' names and identities for commercial purposes," and seeks to stop the platform from attributing advice to experts that they "never gave".

The damages sought exceed $5m (£3.7m), Wired reports.

Grammarly was founded in 2009 as a writing-review tool and began integrating a suite of generative-AI tools in August 2025.

Part of this was the Expert Review function which appears to have launched without the named famous personas introduced later.

Although the company began rebranding to Superhuman in October, Grammarly was kept as the name of its main service.

As criticism mounted in recent days, Superhuman initially said it would maintain the feature but allow those named to "opt-out", according to The Verge.

Wes Fenlon, a gaming journalist whose persona was used in the tool, wrote on BlueSky: "Opt-out via email is a laughably inadequate recourse for selling a product that verges on impersonation and profits on unearned credibility."

'We fell short'

Mehrotra said in response to the backlash: "Over the past week, we received valid critical feedback from experts who are concerned that the agent misrepresented their voices.

"This kind of scrutiny improves our products, and we take it seriously."

He said the AI agent had drawn on "publicly available information from third-party LLMs to surface writing suggestions inspired by the published work of influential voices".

The firm's chief executive apologised, adding: "We hear the feedback and recognize we fell short on this."

Social media firms asked to toughen up age checks for under-13s

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn48n18pg1eo, today

Major technology companies have been asked to bring in more robust age checks for under-13s in the UK, similar to those currently in place for services designed for adults.

The platforms contacted by media regulator Ofcom and data watchdog the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) are Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Roblox and X.

They have been told they should do more to make sure younger children are kept safe online.

Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes said services were currently "failing to put children's safety at the heart of their products".

The companies have defended the safeguards they have in place, with YouTube owner Google saying it was surprised by Ofcom's approach, urging it to focus on higher risk services instead.

But both regulators said the social media platforms needed to strengthen their commitment to stopping children under 13 from signing up.

"We're not saying this is a completely blank sheet of paper they need to address, but they have not gone far enough," Dame Melanie told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

She said she believed Google was "uncomfortable" with Ofcom's call to action.

"It's putting the spotlight on them and asking them to account for what they're doing, not through a Silicon Valley press release but on the UK public's terms."

Currently, many platforms rely on people who sign up to self-report their own ages.

"As self-declaration is easily circumvented, this means underage children can easily access services that have not been designed for them," the ICO said in an open letter to social media and video platforms.

Most social media platforms have a minimum age limit of 13, but Ofcom research suggests 86% of children aged 10-12 have their own social media profile.

Ofcom wants firms to use "highly-effective age checks," which are currently only required by law for certain services which provide over-18 content, such as pornography.

Implementing similar methods for young children's social media would require the big tech firms to voluntarily bring most robust measures in.

The ICO's focus is on the handling of young children's data.

"Where services have set a minimum age - such as 13 - they generally have no lawful basis for processing the personal data of children under that age on their service," its letter, from chief executive Paul Arnold, said.

Technology secretary Liz Kendall said no platform would get a "free pass" when it came to protecting children and that Ofcom had her full support in holding the platforms to account.

"No company should need a court order to act responsibly to protect children," she added.

What do the tech companies say?

YouTube said it was surprised by Ofcom's "move away from a risk-based approach, particularly given that we routinely update them and other regulators on our industry-leading work on youth safety.

"We urge them to focus instead on high risk services that are failing to comply with the codes set out in the Online Safety Act."

Meta said it had many of the suggestions from Ofcom already in place, "including using AI to detect users' age based on their activity, and facial age estimation technology".

The company, which owns Facebook and Instagram, added that bringing age verification for app stores would mean "parents and teens will only need to provide their personal information once."

Snapchat reported it was testing age verification tools.

TikTok said it used "enhanced technologies" to help detect and remove underage accounts.

The company also claimed to be the only major platform to transparently publish the number of suspected under-13 accounts it removes - with over 90 million suspected under-13 accounts removed between October 2024 and September 2025.

Roblox said it has additional protections for under-13s and has released 140 new safety features in the past year, including "the introduction of new mandatory age checks that all players must complete in order to access chat features".

A spokesperson added that they "look forward to demonstrating our efforts in our ongoing dialogue with Ofcom".

X was contacted for comment by BBC News but did not respond.

Professor Amy Orben, digital mental health expert at Cambridge University, welcomed the regulators' action - but added it must only be the beginning of stronger regulation.

"Safety must be built into products by design rather than treated as an afterthought, with regulators showing more strength in holding companies to account," she said.

Social media analyst Matt Navarra said the "real risk" came from algorithms or recommendation systems, another aspect which Ofcom highlighted also needed to be addressed.

"Knowing a user is a child is step one," he said, "but designing a platform that doesn't exploit their attention is the next step - and that step is actually much harder".

Additional reporting by Chris Vallance.

Plans for large AI data centre approved

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y63pl88m5o, yesterday

Plans for one of the UK's largest data centres to be built in North Lincolnshire have been approved.

The artificial intelligence (AI) data centre campus, called Elsham Tech Park, will be developed next to Elsham Wolds Industrial Estate.

North Lincolnshire Council said the facility could attract up to £10bn of investment and would bring about 900 highly skilled long-term jobs to the area.

Council leader Rob Waltham said: "The numbers attached to this project are eye-watering... but what really matters is what it means for residents in North Lincolnshire."

According to plans, the energy centre would comprise up to 15 individual data centre buildings and would produce up to 49.9MW of electricity a year.

Next to it would be a greenhouse complex, using waste heat from the cooling of the data centre buildings to grow agricultural produce.

The site would cover up to 435 acres (176 hectares) of agricultural field.

The council said the project would produce up to 1GW (1,000MW) of computing capacity, placing it among the largest AI data centre campuses proposed in the UK.

The development would also create thousands of construction roles over the course of a decade as the site is built out, the authority added.

Waltham said: "This is a once-in-a-generation investment opportunity.

"North Lincolnshire remains a place where major industries choose to invest, grow and create jobs."

Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North.

Download the BBC News app from the App Store for iPhone and iPad or Google Play for Android devices

Why are household batteries dangerous in waste?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4w9k1802wo, yesterday

Household batteries, including those found in vapes, toys, headphones and car key fobs, are now one of the biggest and fastest-growing causes of fire in household waste and recycling in the UK.

The States of Guernsey said about 40 separate fire incidents at island waste facilities had been caused by hazardous items including batteries in the last four years.

Recently a Guernsey mother who accidentally threw away toys containing batteries was told she faced a £11,500 fine, later reduced to £1,000.

Faye Grime, Island Waste's director, has shared the reasons why batteries should not be put in waste or recycling and how to dispose of them properly.

Lithium-ion batteries are the growing cause of fires according to the Environmental Services Association.

When batteries are discarded in general waste or standard recycling bins, they can be punctured or crushed by heavy machinery during collection or processing.

A lithium battery mixed in with other recycling was thought to have caused a large fire which ripped through a recycling centre in Guernsey in 2018.

A skip fire at Guernsey's Household Waste & Recycling Centre in 2025 was also thought to have been caused by an incorrectly disposed item.

Why are batteries dangerous in waste?

"If a battery comes into the waste, it's an immediate risk of fire because if a battery is not handled correctly it can spark and that can cause thermal runway and then create a fire risk," said Grime.

"It's obviously imperative that we safeguard our employees, our customers, any visitors on site, and we want to minimise any risk to them.

"So throwing batteries in your waste is never the right thing to do. It's always posing a danger and should always be disposed of in the correct way.

"It's imperative that everyone really, really checks their waste carefully to make sure there are no batteries in their waste."

How should I dispose of batteries safely?

"There are collection points for batteries at the Household Waste & Recycling Centre and at our sites," said Grime.

"You can call any of our telephone numbers on our website and we're more than happy to help the public dispose of their batteries in the correct way.

"Once we have the batteries... we can properly make sure they are recycled in the correct way and they're exported off island for careful recycling in the UK."

What should I do with items that have hidden batteries?

"Vapes have become a really, really big problem that's arisen in recent years," said Grime.

"Vapes have got batteries in them, and people aren't always aware of that.

"Batteries are in all sorts of things you wouldn't necessarily expect, car keys, toys, anything that you would plug in and recharge at home, or your small household electrical appliances, they usually have batteries in them as well.

"So it's really important that the general public check everything before they throw it away.

"Usually there'll be a symbol on the item to show that there's a battery inside.

"Double check before you throw your rubbish away, really try hard to make sure that there are no batteries in your rubbish at all."

What other dangerous items shouldn't be thrown away?

"There are lots of forbidden items if you like which we can't accept in the waste," said Grime.

"Things like flares, boat flares, gas canisters, the sort of gas canisters you would use to light a barbecue or camping gas, fireworks.

"All of these items which you would naturally use to create heat or create flame are very, very dangerous and you must never dispose of those in your waste.

"There are proper routes that you can go to for recycling those items and we are here to help the islanders understand what can be recycled in the safest way as possible."

Follow BBC Guernsey on X and Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk.

Battery collections stopped after spate of fires

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx246er50gvo, yesterday

A council has ended kerbside battery collections after a series of fires linked to incorrect disposal.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council said batteries thrown into household bins were igniting and putting waste crews, facilities and residents at risk.

The authority said 11 fires linked to batteries had been recorded since January 2025.

To reduce the risk, the council ended its kerbside battery collection service on Monday.

'Unacceptable danger'

Residents are instead being urged to use free drop-off points in shops and supermarkets or take batteries to council household recycling centres.

Cllr Andy Hadley, portfolio holder for climate response, environment and energy, said the fires posed "an unacceptable danger".

The council said batteries and items containing batteries, including vapes, should not be put in household rubbish or recycling bins.

It is working with Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, which has warned that crushed or punctured batteries - particularly lithium-ion batteries - can ignite or explode when damaged in waste lorries.

Battery-related fires have also caused problems elsewhere in Dorset in recent years.

In December 2024, a refuse lorry near Bridport had to dump its load after crushed batteries caused a fire, while a similar incident in Wimborne in December last year was also believed to have been started by a damaged battery.

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Prioritising AI data centres could block new homes, builders warn

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9dn2znzez7o, 2 days ago

Artificial intelligence data (AI) centres could get priority access to the electricity grid under new government proposals to tackle soaring energy demands.

Currently all new infrastructure, from hospitals to industrial sites, must join a virtual queue to get an electricity connection.

In the first half of 2025 the queue grew by 460%, driven mostly by power-hungry data centres meaning some projects face waits of years to get up and running.

Under Wednesday's proposals, projects which promise the most economic growth and jobs could jump the queue.

But the Home Builders Federation has warned failing to prioritise connections for housing developments would be an effective "moratorium" on new homes.

In November, the regulator for the energy sector Ofgem warned that the queue to get a supply of electricity had surged past "even the most ambitious forecasts for future demand" driven mostly by the demand from AI data centres.

And it warned that some of those projects in the queue were only "speculative" - even if they were given a connection they did not have enough financing, proper planning permission or land rights to lead to a real project.

The risk was that genuine projects, further behind in the queue but which could provide new jobs and local economic growth, were being blocked.

The government now plans to tackle that problem by prioritising those projects that offer the most economic development and job creation.

It will consult on allowing "strategically important" projects to skip the queue. These would include projects such as AI infrastructure, EV charging hubs and industrial sites looking to switch away from fossil fuels to electricity.

Simultaneously, Ofgem is looking at consulting on tightening up the rules to join the queue in the first place.

"Delivering data centres... relies on access to the grid. These timely reforms will help us move at pace, to seize AI's potential to help build a wealthier and fairer Britain," according to AI Minister Kanishka Narayan.

But the Home Builders Federation (HBF) raised concerns that new houses were not included as priority pieces of infrastructure.

"As we continue to face into a housing crisis it is frustrating that regulatory, planning and policy arrangements effectively prioritise energy intensive data centres over energy efficient homes for families," said Steve Turner, executive director at HBF.

Data centres already receive preferential treatment in planning as they have been designated critical national infrastructure, meaning they can not be blocked by local objections.

Turner added that if housing wasn't prioritised it would be an "effective moratorium on new homes in areas where capacity is constrained".

London Assembly members warned in December this was already the reality being faced by parts of the capital.

Its Planning and Regeneration committee said some new housing developments in west London had been temporarily delayed after the electricity grid reached capacity.

There are nearly 500 data centres already dotted around the country helping to run digital services from banking transactions to online gaming, accounting for 2% of the country's electricity demand.

But the growth of AI will increase the number of centres as more processing power is needed, and their electricity demand could increase by up to six-fold between now and 2050, according to the grid operator.

Sign up for our Future Earth newsletter to get exclusive insight on the latest climate and environment news from the BBC's Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt, delivered to your inbox every week. Outside the UK? Sign up to our international newsletter here.

Google employee loses tribunal claim after sexual harassment complaint

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8r1nxe1rp4o, 2 days ago

A senior Google employee who claimed she was made redundant after reporting a manager for sharing inappropriate stories about his swinger lifestyle has lost her case against the tech giant.

Victoria Woodall told a London employment tribunal that she was subjected to a campaign of retaliation after whistleblowing on the man who was later sacked for gross misconduct, which the company found amounted to sexual harassment.

Judge Barry Smith dismissed her claims of victimisation, disability discrimination and whistleblowing detriment. He said it was relevant that about 26 people in Google's UK Sales and Agencies team had also been made redundant alongside Woodall in a restructuring process.

Google UK, which previously denied the allegations, has been approached for comment.

London Central Employment Tribunal found that Woodall's alleged mistreatment was "not in any way because of, or materially influenced by," her disclosures.

Judge Smith said this was because of insufficient evidence and the tribunal accepted Google's explanations, which were sufficiently supported by documentary and oral evidence.

Woodall was working as a senior industry head for Google UK when a female client reported to her that a company employee, referred to as Mr O, had made inappropriate sexual comments during a business lunch in August 2022.

The client reported that Mr O, then a Google manager, had boasted about the number of black women he had had sex with, and the incident was witnessed by his line manager who did nothing to stop him.

In her claim, Woodall says she raised the client's concerns in a meeting with her boss Matt Bush, then managing director of Google's UK Sales and Agencies team, and the company opened an internal investigation into Mr O's conduct.

The investigation uncovered further incidents of inappropriate behaviour and Mr O was sacked, tribunal documents show.

Woodall claimed that her boss Bush had then retaliated against her because her complaint also implicated two senior managers in the team who were his close friends.

She claimed this included swapping her successful client account with a failing one, demoting her on a big internal project, and trying to downgrade her performance, the tribunal heard.

Both senior managers were subsequently disciplined by Google for witnessing Mr O's conduct and failing to intervene, before later being made redundant.

Georgina Halford-Hall, the chief executive of WhistleblowersUK which is supporting Woodall, commented that her case "highlighted the stark realities facing technology whistleblowers, showing the impact of inadequate protection in the courts and the absence of regulation across tech companies".

"The implications for other women in big tech who have contacted us as a result of this case are that they are now even more afraid to speak out," she added.

In his ruling, Judge Smith found the scope of Woodall's initial disclosure was disputed and there were no clear notes of exactly what was reported to Bush.

The tribunal said it accepted Bush's evidence that he had decided to switch someone new onto the failing client account before Woodall had first reported Mr O's conduct and that this, among other actions, were not in any way influenced by or due to her disclosures.

In his ruling, Judge Smith said that while Woodall's report was an act of whistleblowing, there was insufficient evidence to determine whether her disclosures contained allegations about sexist bias and a discriminatory culture at the company more broadly.

Others made redundant in the restructuring alongside Woodall, included Bush - her boss at the time - and the two senior managers.

"There is another, more compelling, alternative to the claimant's overall theme of her being treated badly as a whistleblower," Judge Smith said.

"There is also the narrative of there simply being an individual who was reported to have committed sexual harassment at work […] The individual was investigated, disciplined and dismissed.

"The claimant may well have felt that she had been retaliated against, but those concerns were also investigated, and her concerns dismissed."

Meta urged to boost oversight of fake AI videos

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gjyg0g78vo, 2 days ago

Meta should do more to address the "proliferation" of fake content made with artificial intelligence (AI) tools on its platforms, the social media giant's own advisors have said.

The 21-person Oversight Board raised the concerns as it rebuked the company for leaving up an AI-generated video that claimed to show extensive damage in Haifa, Israel by Iranian forces without a label.

It called on the company to overhaul its AI rules, warning that an increase in fake AI videos related to global military conflicts had "challenged the public's ability to distinguish fabrication from fact ... risking a general distrust of all information."

Meta said it would label the video at issue within seven days.

Meta launched the oversight board in 2020 as a semi-independent group providing supervision of content moderation decisions across its platforms, which include Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

It frequently disagrees with Meta's rulings, but the company has nevertheless continued to loosen its approach to policing content, raising questions about how much power the board actually wields.

The board said the firm's handling of the Haifa video raised issues that it had flagged before about "inefficiencies in Meta's current approach during armed conflicts".

Currently Meta relies largely on users to "self-disclose" when content they post is produced by an AI tool. Otherwise it waits for someone to complain to its content moderation team, which could then decide to affix a label to something.

The board said the firm should be proactively labelling fake AI content "much more frequently".

It said the firm's current methods were "neither robust nor comprehensive enough to contend with the scale and velocity of AI-generated content, particularly during a crisis or conflict where there is heightened engagement on the platform".

The board's review of the issue was sparked by a video posted last June by a Facebook account based in the Philippines describing itself as a news source.

It was one of a string of fake AI videos posted to social media after the conflict began, with content either being pro-Israel and pro-Iran, which quickly collected at least 100 million views, according to a BBC analysis at the time.

Despite the Facebook video being AI-generated and showing content that was not real, and Meta receiving several user complaints about it, the company did not label the video as AI-generated or remove it.

It wasn't until a Facebook user appealed directly to the Oversight Board, and the board took up the issue, that Meta even responded to concerns, according to the board.

The company then claimed the video, which garnered almost 1 million views, did not require any kind of label and did not need to be taken down because it did not "directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm."

That is too high of a bar for labeling AI-generated content, particularly when the subject is armed conflict, the board said Tuesday, ruling that the video should have received a "high risk AI label."

"Meta must do more to address the proliferation of deceptive AI-generated content on its platforms... so that users can distinguish between what is real and fake", it said.

In its statement, Meta said that it would abide by the board's suggestions the next time it encounters "identical" content that is also "in the same context" as the video the board reviewed.

Hurt feelings £11,852 pay-out for Sainsbury's manager after social post

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpv839vlrpwo, 2 days ago

A Sainsbury's store manager has been compensated after he was left out of a social media post celebrating International Men's Day.

Darren Cooper, who ran the Pontypridd store, was on leave for anxiety when his regional director uploaded a post to LinkedIn and Yammer celebrating male leaders who "all show up for work each day, put on a name badge and provide support, guidance and leadership".

When he saw he was not included, Cooper was left feeling "excluded, humiliated and violated" by the post. His boss said he left him out because he believed he did not wish to be contacted.

An employment tribunal ruled that he should receive £11,852 in compensation, including £7,500 for injury to feelings.

Cooper began working at Sainsbury's in 1993 and told the tribunal in Cardiff he had "orange blood" in his veins after decades of service to the retailer.

He became manager of the Pontypridd store in 2010, before taking sick leave due anxiety in July 2022.

In November that year, his line manager Matt Hourihan published a social media post on Yammer and LinkedIn.

In the post, Hourihan said he wanted to "celebrate the male leaders" in his teams at Sainsbury's stores in south Wales and England.

The post added: "All of you do this whilst leading busy lives outside of work too, dealing with health, family and personal issues in the same way that everyone else does, yet you all show up for work each day, put on a name badge and provide support, guidance and leadership to the thousands of colleagues that work on our region."

'Angst'

The tribunal heard there was an accompanying photo of every regional store manager named and tagged except for Cooper.

He said this post caused him to suffer "untold further damage" to his health along with the "angst" of having to field questions from friends and colleagues asking him if he had left Sainsbury's.

The tribunal ruled that the cause of the treatment was the "conscious thought process" of Hourihan to not include Cooper in the post.

"Therefore this amounted to unfavourable treatment because of something arising from disability," the panel added.

Hourihan said that as Cooper had deleted WhatsApp and said he did not wish to be contacted, he thought it was best to leave him out of the post.

He added that he did not have a photo of Cooper and thought it inappropriate to ask.

After many discussions over his return to work, Cooper was dismissed in June 2023, at which point he sued for disability discrimination, harassment, unfavourable treatment and unfair dismissal.

He won his claim for harassment related to disability and unfavourable treatment because of something arising in consequence of disability.

But claims of disability discrimination and unfair dismissal were dismissed by the tribunal.

Fortnite-maker raising in-game currency prices 'to help pay the bills'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70kypnl4w8o, 2 days ago

Epic Games says it is raising the price of Fortnite's in-game currency, V-Bucks, to "help pay the bills" because the cost of running the game had "gone up a lot".

The developer announced that from 19 March the price of V-Bucks will increase, to fans dismay, while bonus currency rewards will also be removed from the game's main battle pass.

But it added players will see a decrease in the cost of the battle pass, an optional seasonal pass players pay for to get special cosmetics.

Although it is free to play, Fortnite is estimated to generate billions of dollars in revenue every year, making it one of the world's most successful games.

It makes most of its money through in-game subscriptions and passes, what are known as microtransactions.

The increases mean players will get fewer V-Bucks when buying the in-game currency.

For example:

* A $8.99 (around £6.99) Pack will now give 800 V-Bucks (1,000 beforehand)

* A $22.99 (£17.49) Pack will now give 2,400 V-Bucks (2,800 beforehand)

* A $36.99 (27.99) Pack will now give 4,500 V-Bucks (5,000 beforehand)

* And a $89.99 (£69.99) Pack will now give 12,500 V-Bucks (13,500 beforehand)

Meanwhile, people who are subscribed to Fortnite's monthly "Crew" membership - which provides exclusive in-game content - will receive 800 V-Bucks a month rather than1,000.

Instead of costing 1,000 V-Bucks, the main battle pass will now be priced at 800. The game's other three passes will also get price drops of 200.

"For the first time in Fortnite history, V-Bucks will now be more expensive than they were when the game launched in 2017," an X account dedicated to Fortnite news claimed.

The news has provoked a backlash from fans, with some questioning the justification given for the price hike, particularly given Google's recent settlement with the company in a five-year legal fight over in-app purchase fees.

"Epic is a big company that made this decision because they know their customers will pay regardless," one posted on X.

Some players also threatened to cancel their memberships and questioned if this would trigger further cuts to content in the game, such as to in-game daily missions to earn the currency.

Freelance games journalist Vic Hood told the BBC the decision "may come as a surprise" given a recent reveal by Epic that player spending on third-party titles had reached an all-time record of $400 million.

However, she added the Epic Games Store, the developer's digital storefront, had also seen a decline in third-party spending across 2023/2024.

"While a price increase for V-Bucks isn't ideal for players, it's preferable to something more extreme like making it a paid-for, rather than free-to-play game," she said.

The games industry has seen a wave of price increases in hardware, software and subscription prices over the past year, driven by rising development costs, inflation and tariffs.

The BBC asked Epic for a statement but it had no further comment.

Stars join forces for Shane MacGowan tribute album

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn87ndvklr2o, today

Three years after his death, some of music's biggest names have combined to record a tribute album to Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan.

The album, titled 20th Century Paddy - The Songs of Shane MacGowan, was announced on Thursday, alongside the first single, Bruce Springsteen's cover of A Rainy Night In Soho.

In an accompanying essay, Springsteen described the Irish musician's songwriting as "raw, hilarious, no apologies and profound".

The album, which will be released in November, also includes a duet between Hozier and Oscar nominee Jessie Buckley, as well as songs by Tom Waits, Primal Scream, Steve Earle and David Gray.

Actor Johnny Depp has a duet with singer Imelda May, while the album will also feature The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Libertines and Kate Moss.

MacGowan died in November 2023 at the age of 65, following a period of ill health.

He left a peerless catalogue of songs articulating the life of working class Irish immigrants, with tales of finding love in the slums littered with references to literature, mythology and the Bible.

In his essay, Springsteen recalled spending an afternoon with MacGowan shortly before his death.

"He was not well but he and his wife, Victoria, proved warm and gracious hosts. As I left, I thanked him for his beautiful work, his music, his songs, his life. I stood in his warmth, kissed him and told him I loved him."

Springsteen called the musician a writer in the lineage of "geniuses" and "natural rebels" like Woody Guthrie, Hank Williams, Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin and Bob Dylan.

"Shane was all naked bottomless humanity. Threatening to force us to ask ourselves if we were living deeply, authentically," he continued.

"[His] voice was so deeply real, profane and honest, his writing so flashing, alive and historically rich its genesis appeared as a mystery to all including, I believe, its creator," Springsteen added.

"His soul was filled with the transgressive and ecstatic properties of the saints.

"I don't know who'll be listening to my music in 100 years but I know they'll be listening to Shane's."

'Humbled and thankful'

MacGowan's wife Victoria Mary Clarke, who oversaw the tribute album, said in a statement: "Shane's spirit and songwriting are eternally exalted through this glorious collection, each song is uniquely and graciously interpreted by these beyond-beautiful artists and his family are humbled by and thankful to each and every one of the musicians involved."

The Dublin Simon Community, a charity working with the city's homeless population, will receive 50% of the artist royalties generated by the album.

"Shane's empathy for people sleeping rough in Dublin was well known," the charity's CEO Catherine Kenny said.

"He never hesitated to stop, acknowledge, and share a moment with someone on the street."

The list of artists currently confirmed for the record is:

* Amble

* Bruce Springsteen

* Camille O'Sullivan

* Cronin

* Damien Dempsey

* David Gray

* Dropkick Murphys

* Garron Noone

* Glen Hansard

* Hozier & Jessie Buckley

* Johnny Depp & Imelda May

* Johnny Mac and The Faithful

* Kate Moss

* Liam Ó Maonlaí

* Lisa Moorish & Another Day

* Lisa O'Neill

* LYRA

* Madra Salach

* Moya Brennan

* Mundy

* Picture This

* Pinch of Snuff

* Primal Scream

* Steve Earle

* The High Kings

* The Jesus and Mary Chain

* The Libertines

* The Murder Capital

* The Pogues

* Tom Waits

Strictly star Amber Davies takes break from Legally Blonde musical

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly8eymr0qmo, today

Actress and Strictly Come Dancing star Amber Davies has said she is taking time off from the Legally Blonde The Musical UK tour because she has been battling a "lingering illness" for the past month.

"After talking to my doctor, being on antibiotics and trying to recover whilst doing shows is getting me and my health NOWHERE," Davies wrote on her Instagram stories.

"Been working on this lingering illness for a month now so I'll be off again from my beautiful Elle Woods."

Davies has been playing the lead role, but was reportedly replaced by her understudy Hannah Lowther in Milton Keynes on Wednesday.

Davies added: "This is the last thing I want, but there's no other way. I fear if I keep 'pushing through' I will be battling with this for longer than I need to be."

There are no details about how long she will be out of action for. The tour began in Leicester last month and has 10 months left to run.

The 29-year-old said she "can't wait to be back on stage and feel like me again".

Davies rose to fame when she won Love Island in 2017, and has had roles in musicals including in Pretty Woman and 9 to 5.

She starred in The Great Gatsby last year - a performance that earned her a WhatsOnStage Award at the weekend - and then joined the last series of Strictly Come Dancing in September as a late replacement for Dani Dyer.

Davies made it all the way to the Strictly final in December before beginning rehearsals for Legally Blonde.

"I keep having to remind myself I went from Gatsby, to a last (minute) Strictly, then to Elle so my body's evidently fighting for its life," she wrote, along with laughter and hand heart emojis.

"I also keep reminding myself that it's OK to be poorly, we are human.

"Just a reminder there's absolutely never a right time to be poorly in a musical theatre schedule so you must, for your own sanity, go with the flow."

Liza Tarbuck leaves Radio 2 Saturday show after 14 years

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2lrq2n7l9eo, today

BBC presenter Liza Tarbuck is stepping down from her Saturday evening show on Radio 2 after 14 years.

She announced her departure to fans on Instagram: "We made 2 hrs [hours] of radio feel like a private members club, that's the stuff of dreams."

Shaun Keaveny, host of The Rock Show, will backfill the slot until the end of March.

Head of Radio 2 Helen Thomas said Tarbuck would be "hugely missed" and "we wish her the very best of luck for the future".

"Every Saturday evening, Liza created a truly magical, fantastical world," Thomas said. "She was beloved by everyone at the station and all her listeners, and the door at Radio 2 will always be open for her."

Tarbuck had hosted the show from 18:00 to 20:00 since 2012.

In her post on Instagram, she said: "Thousands of people enjoyed each other's company like great friends...

"Thank you for letting me in, it's been a privilege."

Keaveny commented on the post: "Liza, you stand among the greats. You're my hero shoulder to shoulder with Terry, Steve, all that lot.

"You did it best. I'm keeping my battered bowler hat under the table in case you grace us with another round of radio brilliance. All my love xxx."

Radio 2 shared the announcement on Facebook, writing that the outgoing presenter had "decided she'd like her weekends back".

Married at First Sight star says cancer has spread

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g8qpp3mpeo, today

Married at First Sight (Mafs) dating coach Mel Schilling says she does not know how long she has left to live after revealing her cancer has spread to her brain.

Schilling, 54, has been a part of the cast of the reality TV show since 2016, revealed she was diagnosed with colon cancer in December 2023.

However, she wrote in an Instagram post on Thursday that the cancer had later spread to her lungs and now the left side of her brain.

"Despite subsequent radiotherapy sessions, my oncology team have now told me there is nothing further they can do," she wrote.

"My light is starting to fade - and quickly."

Schilling said that since her original diagnosis, she had undergone 16 rounds of chemotherapy while still filming Mafs.

She had also been told she was eligible for a "groundbreaking clinical trial specific to my gene type", which was due to start this month but that she began experiencing "blinding headaches and numbness down my right side" last Christmas.

"Simple tasks have become incredibly difficult," Schilling wrote about her condition now, adding: "I honestly don't know how long I have left, but I do know I will fight to my last breath."

She urged people to get checked out if "something doesn't feel right".

Schilling also paid tribute to her family and posted a photo of herself with her husband and daughter.

She first joined Mafs in her home country of Australia and later on the UK version of the show, which airs on E4, but announced last month that she was stepping away from the Australian show to prioritise her family and health.

Channel 4 said in a statement on Thursday: "Mel has become a hugely valued and much-loved part of the Channel 4 family; to many of us she is a friend as well as a colleague.

"Her wisdom, warmth, humour and kindness shine through, and these qualities mean that everyone involved in MAFS, from the producers and contributors, to the viewers, love and respect her as much as we do."

The channel announced that Mafs Australia expert John Aiken would step in to replace Schilling for the remainder of the latest UK series, which is currently being filmed.

CPL, the production company which makes the UK version of the dating show,

"Mel is greatly loved and respected by everyone at CPL, and our thoughts with her and her family as they face this profoundly difficult time.

The Cornish towns bidding to be cultural kings

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgjywg2852o, today

Five Cornish towns are bidding to be formally recognised as the UK's inaugural Town of Culture in 2028. We went on a trip around the county to find out why they want the title.

The government is inviting bids to win a £3m prize to stage a year of cultural activities and support the creative sector locally.

Communities have until the end of March to bid for the accolade with a final shortlist of one big, one medium, and one small-sized town making it to the final three.

Myles Smith welcomed home at surprise Luton show

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd03xyg9ge7o, today

As Myles Smith stepped out of a blacked‑out van onto the streets of his home town, he was greeted by an excited roar from the gathered crowd.

A few years ago, he could walk this same Luton street without anyone batting an eyelid, but a Brit Award and a handful of top‑ten singles have changed things.

Hours earlier, he had posted on Instagram telling his followers to meet him in Luton outside the Hat Factory, a venue he had performed at long before his track Stargazing had more than a billion streams on Spotify.

Hundreds of fans blocked his path, phones raised, trying to catch a glimpse of the local star.

As he made his way through the crowd toward a small raised platform, he shook hands with fans and was asked what his home town means to him.

"It's the best. I was born here, it's full of the greatest people, I love it," he said.

'Myles is Lutonian'

Watching everything unfold was Smith's proud mother, Deborah Smith, who described their relationship as "best friends".

She admitted she has still not come to terms with the reality of her son's worldwide fame, touring with stars such as Ed Sheeran, but was moved by the strong local support.

She said: "I'm overwhelmed, deeply appreciative... Eternally grateful, incredibly proud."

Deborah explains that early support for her son came from local radio stations and the Luton community, and without it, "he wouldn't be where he is today".

She added: "They were raised Lutonians, with that comes an eclectic mix of nationalities, of cultures, of socioeconomic differences, but those differences actually make us one.

"Coming from a background of unity, with collaboration of all of these different cultures, it enables Miles to keep his feet firmly on the ground because he knows who he is, he knows where he's come from- Miles is a Lutonian."

'Our wedding song'

Standing among the singing and cheering crowd were Annie Beyrle and Kane Withers, who had travelled from nearby Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire.

The couple, who are getting married in August, planned Smith's Stargazing for their wedding song.

"It just resonates with both of us... It holds a special place," explained Withers.

After seeing his Instagram post, they decided to jump in the car to try and catch the star performing the song in the flesh.

Beyrle added: "If he can come to Germany, where we're going to get married in a vineyard... he has a ticket, he has a room there, we have a castle, that's all sorted, he just needs to show up."

First drive home with son

Standing a few feet away is another couple from the same town: Kayleigh Horner-Hughes-Seed and James Seed.

Years ago, they had been driving home from the neonatal intensive care unit with their son, listening to BBC Radio 1, when they played a live version of Stargazing from Big Weekend in Luton.

The singer unknowingly provided the soundtrack for that "first drive home that every parent cherishes".

They brought their toddler with them to watch the impromptu gig.

Horner-Hughes-Seed said: "We sing the song to him all the time, and he's a big fan of guitars, so he's just waiting for that guitar."

Invited on stage

The audience member with the best view of the show was nine-year-old Shawn from Luton, he was in the front row when the star invited him on stage.

"I just couldn't believe I was up there with Myles singing," he beams afterwards.

Shawn is determined to be a popular singer himself when he grows up.

He has already amassed about 5,000 followers on TikTok where he shares videos of his singing.

With the lyrics of Stargazing on his phone, the boy was encouraged by the singer to join him in front of the crowd to start the song.

The nine-year-old's mum, Shannon, added that Shawn has been "singing since he could talk".

Reflecting on his hero, the boy added: "He's cool and fun... Thank you so much for letting me up on stage."

Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

Leather Museum's listed status 'won't affect move'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8r1nz7vdrko, today

A new home for Walsall's Leather Museum has been announced on the same day its current site is granted Grade II listed status, raising fresh questions about the move.

Campaigners have been fighting to keep the museum at its Victorian building on Littleton Street West, with a petition to stop a change of location gaining more than 4,000 signatures.

The council, however, has purchased a new home for the set-up - announcing on Thursday a town centre location at 1-3 The Bridge, between High Street and the Leather Skills Centre.

Walsall Council's leader said the new site, though not dedicated solely to leather, would increase visitor numbers, and listed status for the original did not affect plans.

Mike Bird, Conservative, told BBC WM the new site would work as "a Walsall museum" and contain "artefacts including leather".

He said: "It will bring footfall to the town and we will be using the upper floors for other purposes, for children and children's services."

In Historic England's decision notice for granting listed status, the organisation said the original leather museum building, dating back to 1891, "illustrated Walsall's leather industry at its height".

The body described the site as being of "historic and architectural interest", and was of "particular significance".

Listed status there means there are now limits as to what changes can be made.

Walsall Council approved plans in September 2025 to close the museum and relocate it, with cabinet members giving permission for Walsall College to use the Littleton Street West building for its SEND provision.

When challenged on a previous comment that the current museum site had "no heritage at all", Bird said of Historic England's listing: "That's their opinion."

He added: "It might be heritage to them but at the end of the day it's an old factory, simple as that.

"The people of Walsall certainly have made their views known, but at the end of the day, the petition that was presented… only 600 [signatories] were from Walsall.

"And if you look at the visitor figures last year only 14,000 people visited which was half of what used to be there."

Campaigner Lauren Broxton called for the costs of the relocation, refit and long-term running costs to be made clear.

She said the move represented "a colossal mishandling of our definitive cultural heritage".

Bird said he was "100%" confident about the success of the new museum site.

The application for listed status was submitted by chair of Aldridge-Brownhills Reform UK branch Nicky Barker.

"I'm delighted that this important piece of Walsall's heritage has been protected," Barker said, describing it as a "huge victory" for the community.

A spokesperson for Historic England said the application to list the former Withers and Son and Samuel Llewellen leather works buildings was received last November

"We recommended listing the buildings at Grade II due to their historic and architectural interest," Historic England said. "Leather working is strongly associated with Walsall, and the town is still a major centre for the industry.

"The workshops on Wisemore are among a very small group of such buildings of this date surviving in Walsall, and so are of particular significance for the town as they embody the industry that played a major part in the lives of many local people."

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport had agreed with the body's advice, the spokesperson added.

Any work on the building will now require special consent from the council before proceeding.

The Leather Museum's final day of opening at the current site would be 11 April, the council confirmed.

It added there would be no mandatory redundancies, with staff redeployed during a transition period.

Councillor Gary Flint, portfolio holder for culture, health and wellbeing said: "We know some residents may have concerns about the relocation, but we want to reassure them that their museum will continue to play an important role in Walsall's future."

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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Grassroots music venue to close after 16 years

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp8rd6rmr6do, today

A much-loved arts centre has announced "with great sadness" it is to shut after 16 years.

The Hunter Club, in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, will close its doors on 28 March ahead of losing the use of its current premises, in St Andrew's Street South, on 1 April.

The venue, which is run as a community interest company, provided a platform for up-and-coming bands and artists to showcase their music and reach new audiences.

Owner Nick Pooley apologised for the closure but said the support that his labour of love had received over the years "meant the world" to him.

In a statement, published on social media, he said: "I have invested 16 years of my life into building and running the club at this site.

"I would like to sincerely thank everyone who has supported The Hunter Club over the years, performers, staff, volunteers, customers, and the wider community.

"Many of you have been such an important part of The Hunter Club over the years. Thank you for your understanding, patience and support."

Since opening in 2009, the venue has hosted countless gigs and events staged by the likes of BBC Introducing Live and BurySOUND.

It also doubled-up as a recording studio in which young creatives could do everything from lay down a new track to record an episode of a podcast.

A lot of the equipment used in the studio – worth thousands of pounds - was only purchased last year, and Pooley has vowed to see it continue to be put to good use.

"There are a lot of passionate people that work tirelessly to create events in Bury St Edmunds, and they won't be stopping that work anytime soon," he added.

"The Hunter Club CIC still owns a lot of equipment and that equipment belongs to you – the community.

"I will make it my personal mission to ensure that promoters and event organisers can make full use of this equipment."

The venue said that any tickets that have been purchased for events after its closure will be refunded and musicians due to be performed will be contacted in due course.

"I hope to see as of you there as possible over the next few weeks. Please continue to support The Hunter Club in the meantime," he said.

This article incorrectly claimed that the Hunter Club in Bury St Edmunds is closing down.

The BBC was initially led to believe this was the case but now understands it is not.

The owners of the venue have informed the BBC that, while its former manager Nick Pooley has left, the venue itself very much remains open.

The BBC is happy to correct the record and apologises for any harm or confusion caused

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Special episode planned in The Archers tour

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crk83dg0zxro, today

The Archers will mark its 75th anniversary with a national stage tour, it has been announced.

Hosted by comedian and Archers devotee Angela Barnes, each performance will feature a cast of four actors along with the BBC Radio 4 drama's live sound-effects specialist, Vanessa Nuttall.

The tour will run from June to November and will celebrate the 75 years with a live evening of "storytelling, nostalgia and behind-the-scenes insight into how the show is made", a spokesperson said.

The series, which is recorded in Birmingham, is the world's longest-running radio soap opera.

The tour will feature eight characters who will perform in two rotating casts of four - with Timothy Bentinck (David Archer), Charlotte Martin (Susan Carter), Ben Norris (Ben Archer) and Annabelle Dowler (Kirsty Miller) all appearing together.

The second cast is made up of Charles Collingwood (Brian Aldridge), Ryan Kelly (Jazzer McCreary), Susie Riddell (Tracy Horrobin) and Sunny Ormonde (Lilian Bellamy).

The Archers: Live at 75 will include a specially written episode performed live on stage, along with archive material from the BBC vaults, an audience Q&A and a pub quiz inspired by the village pub, The Bull.

Broadcast for the first time on 1 January 1951, The Archers was originally conceived to educate both farmers and the public on modern agricultural methods, and has evolved over the years to reflect the changes in rural life in England.

The drama has tackled topical issues such as climate change, the economic challenges faced by farmers, domestic abuse, alcoholism and modern slavery, all while continuing to entertain listeners.

Today, it remains one of the BBC's most popular programmes and regularly tops the list of most popular on-demand programmes for listeners under 35 on BBC Sounds.

With more than 20,000 episodes broadcast, the show reaches millions of fans who tune in to the dramas of the residents of the fictional village of Ambridge every week.

The live show will be set at a reimagining of the Ambridge Flower & Produce Show, and begins in Manchester on 7 June, before visiting towns and cities across England, Scotland and Wales.

Stops on the tour include Wolverhampton's University of Wolverhampton at The Civic Hall, Warwick Arts Centre in Coventry, the Symphony Hall in Birmingham and the Regent Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent.

Bentinck, who has played the role of David Archer since 1982, said: "I'm so excited to be part of the upcoming The Archers national tour of the UK.

"We'll be on stage but the show will be very interactive and Archers listeners and fans will be just as much a part of it as us.

"So come and join us at the Flower and Produce Show and, as an added treat, get to see how the clever sound effects are achieved.

"Hint, it's all done with yoghurt and ironing boards."

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Glastonbury artist to hold exhibition in year off

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce82k74zgv4o, today

An artist who has been taking giant sculptures to Glastonbury Festival for decades is using the fallow year to hold an exhibition of his work.

Joe Rush from London first went to Worthy Farm in 1985 with a truck he had converted to look like a giant skull.

Since then, he has created installations at the festival using reclaimed materials, including Carhenge - a replica of Stonehenge built from vintage vehicles – and Glastonbury-on-Sea, a 60ft pier. The festival is not going ahead this year so the farmland can be rested.

Dozens of pieces of Rush's new work are being exhibited this month in Marylebone telling the story of "extinction and of the loss of biodiversity".

Emily Eavis, organiser of the festival, paid tribute to Rush's sculptures which she said have "inspired generations of festival-goers", ahead of the show's opening at the Bomb Factory Art Foundation gallery on Friday.

Among the works is a giant dinosaur fossil made from hammers, knives and spanners, a snake made from an old bicycle chain and a bull's nostrils formed from a vintage gas mask.

There are also birds, bees, butterflies, horses and dogs as well as a boy in a garden of flowers made of metal, inspired by his son.

"I started working on the bigger pieces after I built Carhenge at Glastonbury, as there was a pile of classic car pieces and engines leftover," Mr Rush said.

"These things that I have built are totemic creatures but also prayer for the existence and continuation of the existence of creatures and insects."

The main piece is a giant bee made using three engines and is called "Insecticide is Suicide".

"It is an unnatural history museum," he said.

Pallas Citroen, managing direction of The Bomb Factory, said Rush's exhibition, which will run from March 13-29, is part of the charity's programme focusing on collective production and material reuse this year.

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Artist's first solo show to be held in home city

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjd9g7119eeo, yesterday

A Wolverhampton-born artist is having his first solo institutional exhibition in his home city.

Shaqúelle Whyte, who was born in the city in 2000, graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2023 and has previously shown work in Hong Kong and London.

Now Wolverhampton Art Gallery is preparing to present exhibition Shattered Dreams, featuring six paintings created between 2023 and 2026. The event runs from Saturday 18 April until Sunday 31 August.

Whyte said: "I'm Blakenhall born and bred and it's an honour and a privilege to bring my work back to the city. I hope that in a small way I am able to fly the flag for what the Black Country represents wherever my journey may take me."

The presentation features Whyte's nocturnal painting Blackbirds Singing in the Dead of Night, painted in 2025, which has been acquired for Wolverhampton Art Gallery's permanent collection.

A spokesperson for the art gallery said: "Whyte's connection to Wolverhampton is deeply personal and formative.

"He has spoken about the importance of visits to Wolverhampton Art Gallery during his youth, which played a pivotal role in nurturing his creativity and introducing him to the possibilities of artistic expression.

"The acquisition of Blackbirds Singing in the Dead of Night and the exhibition Shattered Dreams celebrate this journey and reinforce the gallery's role in inspiring future generations of artists."

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Quentin Tarantino to stage 'swashbuckling comedy' play in London

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crl47zd7y8eo, yesterday

Film director Quentin Tarantino is coming to London's West End to stage a "swashbuckling comedy" play set in 1830s Europe.

The US film-maker is best known for blood-soaked film classics such as Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill, but is switching his attention to theatre to write and direct The Popinjay Cavalier.

The play will be "a rambunctious comedy of deception and disguise inspired by the grand swashbuckling epics of stage and screen", and will reach the stage in early 2027, the announcement said.

It is also billed as "a sweeping celebration of theatre and its heightened romance, told with Tarantino's signature style and unmistakable wit".

There are no details yet of who will be in the cast, which theatre will host it or how much tickets will cost.

It will be Tarantino's debut as a theatre writer and director, and he has repeatedly spoken about planning to retire from movies after making 10 films.

He has made nine so far - if Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2 are counted together - with the most recent being 2019's Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood.

He became one of Hollywood's most celebrated and popular film-makers in the 1990s and has won two Oscars, for writing Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained.

'Preparing for it to be a success'

He first revealed his plan to stage a play last summer, telling the Church of Tarantino podcast it was "all written".

"It is absolutely the next thing I'm going to do. We'll start the ball rolling on it in January. It's probably going to take up a year and a half to two years of my life, if it's a success and I've got to do the tour version of it and all that," he said.

"I'm preparing for it to be a success. If it's a flop, I'll be done very quickly."

The 62-year-old has now revealed the title, which gives some more clues about its contents.

A popinjay is defined as "a vain, foppish or conceited person", while a cavalier is a cavalryman (a soldier on horseback) or courteous gentleman.

Tarantino hasn't revealed why he has chosen London's West End over New York to launch it.

The announcement coincided with the publication of the latest annual figures about the state of British theatre, which said the West End attracted 17.6 million people in 2025, almost three million more than Broadway.

But it also said "the financial model that sustains British theatre is under growing strain".

Tarantino's show should be a big attraction and give the West End a further boost, although such a hot ticket could mean steep prices for fans.

The play will be co-produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, which has overseen hits like Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Paddington the Musical; along with Sony Pictures Entertainment, which distributed Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood.

Film sequel

Tarantino also published a novel adaptation of Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood in 2021, and has penned the script for a film sequel titled The Adventures of Cliff Booth, which will again star Brad Pitt and is expected to be released later this year.

But Tarantino has not directed the sequel - that role has been filled by David Fincher.

Tarantino lives in Tel Aviv with his Israeli wife, Daniella Pick, and their two children. He told the podcast last year that he would "more than likely move to England and bring my family with me" while working on the play.

Last week rumours on social media falsely claimed he had been killed in an Iranian missile attack.

Tarantino is also known for his forthright personality and recently made headlines for launching a stinging criticism of actor Paul Dano, and for a spat with Pulp Fiction actress Rosanna Arquette after she criticised the use of the N-word in the 1994 film.

Special relationships shape the 2026 Edinburgh International Festival

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c86y2xwn1pjo, yesterday

Nicola Benedetti fell in love with the United States when she was just 16 years old.

The Ayrshire violinist had just been named BBC Young Musician of the Year and found herself sharing an airport taxi with a total stranger who spent the journey arguing with the driver about philosophy, religion and the economy.

"Within 24 hours, my relationship to its wild, abrasive, exuberant, heart-filled yet harsh ferocity was sealed," she recalls.

Twenty-two years later, Benedetti is putting America at the centre of her fourth programme as director of the Edinburgh International Festival.

The theme All Rise marks the 250th anniversary of American independence and brings together the largest representation of American artists since the festival first began in 1947.

Among them is her husband Wynton Marsalis, whose Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra (JLCO) will be in residence throughout the festival.

The orchestra was founded 40 years ago by Marsalis with surviving members of jazz legend Duke Ellington's band.

"These were all people I'd only heard on records and the idea you could just phone them up and they'd turn up in the rehearsal room?" he says.

"You're in your 20s and they're in 60s and 70s but boy, when they came into the room and talked about the music, boy, there were sparks."

One of what Marsalis calls these "hip grandpas" was Scotland's Joe Temperley.

The saxophonist from Cowdenbeath had played with Ellington since the 1960s, and would go on to spend 25 years with the JLCO until his death in 2016 at the age of 86.

"When Joe was in the band we picked songs for him to play, especially when we came to Scotland. He was salty, he was not a touchy-feely kind of guy so he was always trying to deflect attention," says Marsalis.

"Even now we can't play certain songs without tearing up thinking of Joe. He had so much integrity and feeling about the music."

As well as paying tribute to Temperley, this will be Marsalis's final season before stepping down as director of the orchestra.

"Playing is always personal but it has added significance for me because of the history we have with Scotland and of course with Nicky and her vision," he says.

"Having a chance to be part of her vision is great and we're honoured to be there."

The opening concert will be Marsalis's symphonic work All Rise, featuring 200 singers and musicians in a piece that combines African chant, New Orleans parade music, gospel and Latin American styles.

It was commissioned and first performed by the New York Philharmonic in 1999. The conductor was Kurt Masur, a German who had been conscripted by the Nazis as a teenager.

A paratrooper, he was one of only 27 members of his 150-strong unit to survive the war and was captured by allied forces in May 1945.

'Common humanity'

According to Marsalis, that had a lasting effect on the rest of Masur's life and work.

"He said we had to understand the seriousness of pursuing that vision of coming together to celebrate common humanity," he says.

"All Rise has that triumphant feeling and affirmation of our common humanity in spite of the tribulations and pitfalls."

Although he and Benedetti come from very different musical traditions, they are both passionate about the power of all music and the need for music education.

And they believe that has never been more timely.

"With music, everything is different but also the same," he says.

"It's important, especially in times of turmoil and strife, that we keep sight of our common humanity and use that in our contemporary struggles."

This year's festival programme is an opportunity to celebrate the best of the USA.

"America is a big place with 350 plus million people all babbling over their identity and their agency and those struggles create interesting patterns," he says.

"We need more of our music around our world, it's such an important key to contemporary conversations."

Benedetti agrees. She says this year's programme is a rallying call to artists and audiences.

"It's our belief that through artistic endeavour we will see each other more truthfully and more tolerantly," she says.

"The American story is filled with innovation and ingenuity, perseverance and prejudice. Tensions that have fuelled some of the most extraordinary artistic achievements in history."

Two other orchestras will take up residence at this year's festival.

The Berliner Philharmoniker and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the latter under the baton of Venezuelan Gustavo Dudamel, no stranger to Scotland thanks to his work with the El Sistema orchestral education programme.

In theatre, the newly-renovated King's Theatre will reopen with two productions offering reflections on America - Internationaal Theater Amsterdam's five-hour staging of Tony Kushner's Angels in America, and Geoff Sobelle's Clown Show.

Also on the stage, the year's Golden Globe winner and Oscar nominee Wagner Moura, star of the Brazilian political thriller The Secret Agent, will head up a modern update of Henrik Ibsen's play An Enemy of the People.

Scottish Opera will stage the world premiere of The Galloping Cure, which confronts the global opioid crisis.

Events for families include the Scottish premiere of Hostile, a one-man Spaghetti Western from French theatre company Bakélite, and a family concert from the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA)

That is a collaboration with their Scottish peers Big Noise, also conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, who like Benedetti has supported Sistema Scotland since it first began in 2008.

The 2026 Edinburgh International Festival takes place between 7 - 30 August. General booking opens on Thursday 26 March, with tickets available to members and supporters from Thursday 19 March.

'Everyone wants to know my true Kinky Boots story'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1w5yy1e5plo, yesterday

Everyone wants to know the "true story" of Kinky Boots, said the man who inspired the film that went on to become a hit musical.

When Steve Pateman's family-run shoe company W.J Brooks experienced financial trouble in the 1990s, he turned to making high-heeled women's shoes in men's sizes for transgender people, drag artists and anyone else who wanted to buy them.

The story of the factory in Earls Barton, Northamptonshire, was later made into a BBC documentary, a 2005 film and West End musical.

"It's all good for Northamptonshire, it's not my story anymore it's a Northampton story - it belongs to us all now. And it's good for the county which is what we need nowadays," Pateman said.

A revival of the stage adaptation will be performed at the London Coliseum and will star Strictly Come Dancing's Johannes Radebe and X-Factor winner Matt Cardle.

Pateman's business W.J Brookes was founded in 1889 and four generations of family worked there making high-quality shoes and boots.

The factory's decision to create a new product line featured in a BBC documentary, Trouble at the Top: The Kinky Boot Factory, which inspired Miramax Films to turn the story into a movie.

The film was later adapted to become a West End and Broadway musical, featuring music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper, and the story moved a few miles away to be set in Northampton, in a fictional factory called Price & Son.

Pateman became Charlie Price, the character Cardle will play in the reworked version running from 17 March to 11 July at the London Coliseum.

Pateman said when he had the chance to meet the stars of the touring production "everyone wants to know the true story".

"They want to know how much of it is true, did you really go on a catwalk, was my character real?

"It's been good to be able to fill them in."

The next installment in his story might be the development of a television series, Pateman said.

"If that comes off, it will be amazing, it's just all down to finances," he said.

Radebe told the BBC's One Show he could not wait to make his West End debut as Lola, the drag queen who inspired Charlie Price's business pivot.

He said meeting Pateman in July 2025 was a bit "surreal".

"This man must be also loving life for his life to be told like that on stage.

"It was lovely to get a nod of approval from him.

"He just said you go out there and spread the word of this show because it's needed right now," Radebe added.

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Chalamet opera comments hurtful, says singer

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9q529vd8x7o, yesterday

A classical singer has dubbed Timothée Chalamet's recent comments about opera as hurtful and ignorant, but suggests that positive awareness can come of it.

The Oscar-nominated actor triggered a backlash from the performing arts world after he dismissed ballet and opera as art forms that audiences "do not care about" as part of a conversation on preserving cinema.

Nancy May, 32, a classical singer from Great Dunmow in Essex, has been trying to give the genre more exposure by bursting into song while in busy public areas.

"I think it's a bit controversial to say, but sometimes bad press is good press, and, at the end of the day, it's got people talking about opera and ballet more," she said.

"It's a very flippant thing to say about something that people have trained most of their lives for - and dedicated a lot of time to - and it is still absolutely loved all over."

In February, Chalamet spoke to actor Matthew McConaughey at the University of Texas about the prospect of cinema becoming a dying art.

"I don't want to be working in ballet, or opera, or things where it's like, 'Hey, keep this thing alive, even though like no-one cares about this anymore'," Chalamet said.

"All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there," he quickly added.

May said that, while the comments were hurtful, the social media backlash had generated millions of views for pages like the Metropolitan Opera, which responded to Chalamet's claims.

The singer has been performing live to the public, including at Chelmsford, Essex, and King's Cross Railway Station in London, in an effort to break down barriers for the genre.

May has performed for thousands as a regular special guest on opera star Russell Watson's tour.

However, she said she was surprised to find that no-one batted an eyelid during her High Street performances.

"Most of the time, no one even turns a head. It's really strange," she said.

"I don't know if it's to do with where we are in this modern world, but everyone just puts their head down on their phones, and thinks: 'What a strange thing to do'."

She admitted the lack of response to her impromptu singing had thrown her off on some occasions.

"It's like, 'God, do I sound really bad?'. The person that was filming with me, Georgia, she was like, 'No, you sound great', but it's just so funny," she said.

"It's like I don't exist or I'm invisible, because it is loud and quite intrusive. It's only for a short amount of time, but it is crazy that people just don't interact or act as if it's not happening."

But she said the lack of reaction was a reminder that everyone was just minding their own business, and that it should empower people to stop caring what others think.

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Italy buys rare Caravaggio portrait for €30m

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93j2ekgwqko, 2 days ago

The Italian state has bought a painting by 16-17th Century baroque master Caravaggio for €30m (£25.9m), one of the largest sums it has ever paid for an artwork.

The country's culture minister said the work, a portrait of cleric Monsignor Maffeo Barberini - later Pope Urban VIII - was one of "exceptional importance" and its purchase part of a wider plan to prevent major artworks from being bought by private collectors.

The painting had been kept in a private collection in Florence and was first shown in public in Rome in 2024.

Caravaggio, master of a lighting technique to make his subjects seem to come alive, has about 65 surviving known works worldwide, only three of which are portraits.

The painting has been transferred to the permanent collection of the Palazzo Barberini - the historic home of the family of the portrait's subject in Rome - where it was first exhibited.

It will be displayed alongside other works by the artist.

Painted in about 1598, it shows Barberini as a bearded cleric apparently issuing instructions with his right hand outstretched.

Barberini was elected to the papacy in 1623 and served until his death in 1644. He was known as a prominent patron of the arts.

Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli said in a statement that the acquisition was "part of a broader project to strengthen the national cultural heritage that the Ministry of Culture will continue to pursue in the coming months, with the aim of making some art history masterpieces accessible to scholars and enthusiasts that would otherwise be destined for the private market".

"I would like to thank all the institutions, officials, and technicians who have worked with great skill and dedication to achieve such an important result," he added.

Caravaggio, whose real name was Michelangelo Merisi, died in 1610 at the age of 38.

He was renowned for his chiaroscuro technique, the dramatic use of light and shadow to bring deep psychological realism to the violent scenes that he generally depicted.

'I missed my chemo and have a £12,000 hotel bill': British holidaymakers stranded by Iran war

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czj1lr10vdko, today

British holidaymakers have told the BBC they are stranded abroad after their flights were cancelled when the US-Israeli war broke out.

Airspace remains severely restricted following missile strikes across the Middle East meaning commercial flights through major hub airports have been grounded.

Some British travellers are trapped in far-flung locations facing bills for accommodation, food and essentials which may not be covered by their travel insurance.

Andrea Pendrey and her partner were on holiday in the Maldives before she was due to begin treatment for breast cancer.

They were due to fly back on Sunday 1 March - hours after the war broke out - and arrived at the airport to find their flight cancelled.

"Emirates just told us we need to find a room, at our own cost and the airport was filling up with more and more people," says Andrea.

They managed to find a resort but it has come at a huge financial cost.

"We reckon we'll have forked out an extra £12,000 by the time we leave," Andrea says.

Her partner lost his job before the holiday.

"The money is stressing me out," she adds. "We've just had to put it on a credit card."

There is no standard definition of what travel insurance providers must cover in these situations so any claim for additional expenses will depend on the wording of each policy.

Extra compensation is only payable when an airline is at fault, which is not the case with travel difficulties caused by the current conflict.

Andrea's treatment was due to start last Thursday in the UK.

"I'm trying not to think about it too much. I need to get home for my chemo. It's not helping being here," she says.

The couple spent hours every day for almost a week trying to rebook onto rescheduled flights but with no luck.

Andrea's insurance company eventually classified her as a medical emergency - and they are due to fly back to the UK via Frankfurt on Monday.

"Even though this place is paradise, we've been crying and feel really upset," she says.

Ashley Jones, 26 and his partner Trang Nguyen, 25, were on a two-week holiday in Ko Samui and Bangkok, Thailand.

But he says the outbreak of war "ruined" the last week of their holiday.

"We started panicking about how we'd get home and fearing we'd run out of money."

The couple from Crawley, West Sussex were due to fly back to the UK on Sunday.

But their flight was cancelled. Ashley says he had no alternative but to accept a rescheduled flight as British Airways told him all other flights were "fully booked" until 28 March.

They are due to fly in the early hours of Friday but Ashley says he is not certain the flight will go ahead.

"It feels dodgy," he says. "I don't want to go via Muscat (the capital of Oman) and have a two-hour layover - it's a war zone," says Ashley. "The UK Foreign Office advises against going to Oman."

Ashley says he spoke to his travel insurance company, his airline and travel agent and "they all passed the buck."

"We were essentially homeless. Luckily my family had provided some funds to push us through," he says.

"But both our families are worried about us travelling to the Middle East."

Retirees Debbie and Ardon Rainbird from Northallerton, in North Yorkshire, flew out of Manchester on 17 February for a two-week tour of Sri Lanka.

They were due to fly home on Tuesday 3 March through the Qatari capital, Doha. Their flight was cancelled when the conflict started.

"Ultimately we've been away for a month when we were supposed to be away for two weeks," says Debbie, 63.

They are staying in a basic hotel which costs $160 per night for dinner, bed and breakfast and are handwashing their clothes. There are about 20 people on the same tour

"Few of us can find out if we are covered on insurance and only receive auto replies to any questions. We all miss our loved ones and wish to return home," Debbie says.

Debbie contracted a respiratory tract infection and has had to pay doctors' fees, while some elderly holidaymakers had to buy medication when they ran out.

Despite the stressful situation, she says the group are getting on "really well". Debbie has been setting a quiz and a fellow traveller has been leading daily Tai Chi sessions.

Their tour operator, Distant Journeys, has now secured a charter flight leaving on Sunday night.

"The flight hasn't been confirmed and we don't know the time but we are keeping everything crossed," she says.

The visitors stuck in Glasgow after the Union Street fire

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2gr30lll7o, today

Tourists visiting Glasgow have told BBC Scotland News that they have been unable to leave the city since the devastating fire on Union Street on Sunday.

The voco Grand Central hotel was evacuated as the blaze took hold in a building on the corner of Union Street and Gordon Street, next to the station.

It has been closed since then, meaning people staying there have been left without passports, medicine or personal items. In some cases, that meant they could not leave the country.

Dutch couple Emily Meekel and Victor Buitenhuis, who were in Glasgow for work, only got their passports back on Wednesday afternoon. They have been told they won't get their other items for at least another week.

Hotel chain IHG owns the Grand Central and says it is working with emergency services and authorities about gaining access to the building.

No-one was injured in Sunday's fire, which is understood to have started in a vape shop on Union Street.

Emily and Victor currently stay in Birmingham but are originally from the Netherlands, where they had planned to be this weekend.

They were due to be in Glasgow from Saturday until Monday, so Emily could attend a work event, before travelling to London for another work event and then going to visit family back home by the weekend.

The couple contacted BBC Your Voice in the aftermath of the fire to explain their situation.

They were out with friends when news broke about the fire. They then received a message from IHG telling them not to return to the Grand Central and that alternative accommodation was being arranged.

"Nobody knows anything, so we have just been checking in with the hotel and they say 'not today, maybe tomorrow'," said Victor on Wednesday morning.

"We've been to the site and obviously the building needs to be kept safe - we understand that and it's awful what happened to all the businesses.

"But we are a bit stuck now. One of the ladies I spoke to from the hotel said they would maybe look at getting passports and medicine out first.

"It is just a waiting game now, waiting around and trying to manage everything back in the Netherlands and with work."

The couple were able to finally collect passports on Wednesday afternoon, but were told other items will be inaccessible until 21 March.

Emily works for the University of Birmingham, but studied for her undergraduate degree in Glasgow several years ago.

Currently 28 weeks pregnant with the couple's first child, she was delighted to be back visiting the city - she just hadn't expected to still be here past Monday night.

"We spent yesterday going and getting clothes, toothbrushes and things like that," she said.

"The biggest problem is the passports, but my laptop and hard drive is in there with all my work stuff too. I'm calmer now but it was really stressful at first, having a panic about everything.

"It's like we're hostages to the city, in the best possible way."

The couple are keen to stress the most important thing is making sure the area is safe and there is no risk of injury. They are also grateful for the support of friends.

"It's a bit of an overwhelming feeling, because you can't do anything," said Victor.

"You hear maybe a couple of days but then maybe a couple of weeks from somewhere else and you're left waiting. Obviously you want to make sure the station is safe, but we are sort of stuck here now."

The couple intend to fly out from Glasgow on Thursday evening, now that they have their passports again.

A spokesperson for IHG said: "Following a fire at a neighbouring building on Sunday, voco Grand Central was safely evacuated as a precaution. No guests and colleagues were harmed.

"The hotel remains temporarily closed while we continue to work closely with the emergency services and relevant authorities.

"On the advice of the authorities, access to the hotel is currently restricted. The team is working as quickly and safely as possible to support guests in being reunited with their passports and essential belongings."

Glasgow Central station has reopened for low-level services that connect the city centre with parts of Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire, but trains that leave the main part of the station - the high level - will not resume until at least Monday.

Cruise passenger died after care delay, report says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3ewkz3wk1jo, yesterday

A cruise ship passenger died after "suboptimal" care for a spinal injury that he suffered in a fall during a violent storm, a report has said.

Trevor Gilks, 85, died four days after he was injured on Saga's Spirit of Discovery in November 2023.

The Marine Accident Investigation Board (MAIB) questioned the medical treatment he was given on board as well as the captain's decision to cross the Bay of Biscay in very high waves.

Saga Cruises said it was sorry for the distress caused but said it disagreed with some of the MAIB report's conclusions.

More than 100 people were injured when the ship was battered by force 11 winds and lost propulsion off the north-west coast of Spain on 4 November.

Shortly after 13:30 GMT, Gilks arrived in the ship's main deck living room, pushing his wife in a wheelchair, the MAIB said.

At about 17:10, the ship "rolled violently", toppling his armchair backwards, causing him to hit his neck on the floor.

In severe pain, he was helped back into his chair by a nurse, the report said.

Four hours later, he was fitted with a neck collar and X-rayed, but the lack of a side X-ray hampered diagnosis, and he was not placed on a spinal board, it added.

Two days later, Gilks was found to be paralysed and a doctor suggested medical evacuation.

However, the captain decided to disembark him in Portsmouth that evening, given the risk of a helicopter transfer in high seas.

Seven other seriously injured passengers were also taken to hospital, the report added.

The MAIB concluded: "Delay in identifying that [Gilks] had suffered a severe spinal injury led to him receiving suboptimal treatment that may have affected the severity of his injury."

The report also found that the captain's decision to cross the Bay of Biscay in very high waves was "not effectively challenged by the crew and operational teams ashore" despite weather information providers "advising against the crossing".

The MAIB made a series of recommendations, including to propose that cruise ships are required to be fitted with electronic devices measuring their stability.

A spokesperson for Saga Cruises said: "Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Mr Gilks and all the guests and crew affected by this incident, and we are sorry for the distress they suffered.

"While we accept the MAIB's recommendations, we disagree with some of their conclusions and feel the synopsis does not accurately reflect the report.

"Safety is our number one priority and, whilst the weather is beyond our control, we always follow industry guidelines and best practice.

"Following the incident, we promptly took all necessary actions to enhance our policies and procedures, work recognised by the MAIB in this report."

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Why Namibia's green energy dream could be a red flag for penguins

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czj1lkvpzxyo, yesterday

A near pristine desert and coastal wilderness in Namibia could soon host a huge hydrogen production facility, raising hopes for jobs but also fears for the unique plant and animal life of the region, such as rare succulents and endangered African penguins.

It is part of the government's plan to become a green hydrogen superpower, exporting a clean-burning fuel that could help cut emissions elsewhere.

Hyphen, a joint venture led by the Germany-based green energy group Enertrag, says Namibia has the "world class" solar and wind power potential needed for large-scale, competitive production.

Hydrogen, a highly flammable gas that produces heat and water when it burns, can be used to refine petroleum and make chemicals, metals and fertilisers. It is usually produced with fossil fuels, however when renewable energy sources are used instead the hydrogen is labelled "green".

But the plan to build solar and wind farms in Namibia's Tsau ǁKhaeb National Park, which means "Soft Sands" in the Nama language, is not supported by conservationists.

The 26,000 sq km (10,000 sq mile) park was established in 2004 out of what was known as the "Sperrgebiet" - German for "Restricted Area" - a vast swathe of land sealed off by the German colonial authorities to protect their mining interests when diamonds were discovered there at the beginning of the 20th Century.

The diamond rush came and went - allowing a unique richness of flora and fauna to flourish undisturbed, which the Namibian Chamber of the Environment (NCE) says is now in danger.

Succulents in particular thrive in this unforgiving landscape using ingenious strategies to survive, from water storage to light reflection.

The NCE has issued a report suggesting the project should be labelled "red hydrogen" as it risked driving many unique species on to the biodiversity "red list".

Its head, Chris Brown, puts it more bluntly, saying industrialised countries like Germany, which is actively supporting the green hydrogen projects, are applying double standards.

"The Germans would never allow their top parks to be turned into industrial sites," Brown says.

"But they seem to be quite happy to offshore not only the risk, but also the impacts on biodiversity to Namibia. And we find that totally unacceptable."

This part of the coast belongs to the Namibian Islands' Marine Protected Area, a 400km (250 mile) stretch home to the critically endangered African penguins.

The Namibian Foundation for the Conservation of Seabirds (Namcob) has also raised the alarm.

It is based in the port of Lüderitz, a sleepy backwater on the South Atlantic where fishing has been the backbone of the local economy for decades - but which is likely to face huge expansion if the hydrogen project gets the green light.

"Where they plan to expand the port is a particularly bio-sensitive hotspot," Namcob's Neil Shaw says from his windswept office near a lagoon where flamingos feed.

"That can have quite severe ramifications on the marine ecosystem that the penguins and other coastal birds rely on."

Hyphen says it is doing all it can to minimise disturbance of crucial ecosystems, avoiding the most sensitive sites and leaving the smallest possible footprint.

According to Toni Beukes - head of environment, social and governance for Hyphen - impact assessments are under way and the park is the best possible place for their plans.

"The south is where you have a co-location of fantastic wind and solar resources. Namibia has to compete with other projects globally and that's where your competitive advantage lies," she told me.

Although the project is still in the feasibility stage, the proposed investment is already having an impact in Lüderitz, according to Phil Balhao, the mayor of the town until last year.

"We're seeing new investments, new opportunities, new services and amenities that never would have come down to Lüderitz," he says.

And jobs are badly needed given Namibia's official youth unemployment rate of 44%.

The scope of the project, in which the Namibian government has a 24% stake, is huge.

Hyphen says it hopes to initially produce 3.75 gigawatts of renewable electricity, enough to power almost 400 million LED bulbs.

The electricity would then power electrolysers, the technology that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen.

And as hydrogen is hard to transport, pipelines would carry the gas to the coast to be turned into ammonia which can be more easily liquified and later converted back.

By the end of 2028 Hyphen aims to produce one million tonnes of the substance.

The total investment amounts to more than $10bn (£7.4bn) - by comparison, the annual output of Namibia's entire economy is just over $13bn.

But some youth activists say engagement meetings with investors have left them sceptical about the long-term benefits because of a lack of detail, though jobs and electricity would be welcomed.

"You have to ask what type of job, what are the criteria that are needed? We need to be specific so that we're able to prepare ourselves," says Junior Mutaleni.

Hyphen estimates it will create 15,000 jobs during the construction phase, and 3,000 permanent jobs during operation. The company is running a nationwide survey to find out what skills are available locally.

Hyphen's Beukes says that while the firm is committed to employing as many Namibians as possible, the prioritising of local jobs and contracts will not happen overnight.

"We have to be pragmatic. It is one of the biggest projects in the world," she says.

Local activist Luciel Adams also warns that the project should be respectful of a rocky peninsula near Lüderitz that was once the site of the Shark Island concentration camp.

This was where thousands of Nama and Herero people were killed by Germany's colonial army during the 1904-1908 genocide.

"People used to be fed to the sharks as slaves there, so there's a lot of raw, hurtful history. People's identity lies in that place," she told me.

Full community engagement is essential, agrees Graham Hopwood of Namibia's Institute for Public Policy Research.

"For the people of Lüderitz, this could vastly change the town, so they need to be involved."

Some smaller green hydrogen projects have already got off the ground in Namibia.

The HyIron plant, in the west of the country, turns ore into pure iron for steel making, something normally done with fossil fuels.

The final investment decision on whether Hyphen's multi-billion-dollar project gets the go-ahead is due by the end of 2026.

Some Lüderitz residents, like ex-mayor Balhao, disagree with the environmentalists, saying the town badly needs investment.

"It would really unlock Lüderitz and the south of Namibia massively.

But after decades of isolation he says the town's resilience will see it through.

"We're ready to adapt and move on to whatever is next."

You can listen to the full documentary Namibia's hydrogen superpower dream on the BBC World Service.

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

Secret of hedgehog hearing discovered at far beyond human range

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8d52n0dnzro, 2 days ago

Hedgehogs may be communicating with more than just snuffles, grunts and snorts, according to scientists who have discovered the animal's hearing range.

The creatures hear sounds at a much higher frequency than humans, meaning they could be signalling to each other with noises that we simply cannot hear.

The discovery could be a "game-changer" for the animal which is in decline in the UK and Europe, according to Dr Sophie Rasmussen at the University of Oxford.

It could help scientists work out how to protect the animals from stressful noises when in rescue centres, or develop sound repellants to deter hedgehogs from going near machines that can kill them, such as cars, lawnmowers or strimmers.

"I wanted to investigate whether it would be possible to make targeted sound repellers for hedgehogs, because they are declining all over Europe. So we set out to measure the hearing of the European hedgehog for the first time, " says Rasmussen.

Working with bio-acousticians who measure hearing in animals, she developed a soundtrack of pulses and beeps to play to anaesthetised hedgehogs from a rescue centre.

The researchers measured the animals' brain responses to pinpoint the frequency of sounds they could hear.

"We discovered, to my great surprise and joy, that hedgehogs can hear up to 85kHz" Rasmussen said.

Humans can hear up to 20kHz, and all sounds above that are called ultrasound. Dogs hear up to 45kHz, while cats' range extends to 65kHz.

After building a 3D model of a hedgehog's ear, the scientists found it has a stiff chain of bones that allows high-pitched sounds to pass through efficiently, in a similar way to echolocating bats.

"It's amazing because this allows us to actually build targeted sound repellents that wouldn't bother us or our pets," she says.

Thousands of hedgehogs are thought to die in road collisions in the UK and other European countries each year, and the animal is classed as near-threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Rasmussen hopes to work with companies to understand if audio devices could be designed that would repel hedgehogs from cars, lawn mowers or strimmers.

Some cars already have devices fitted to deter large animals like deer.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) says that ultrasonic whistles are "widely available" for consumers to buy.

"Although this study suggests they could offer greater protection for hedgehogs on our roads, more detailed research is needed to understand their effectiveness," SMMT Chief Executive Mike Hawes told BBC News.

Rasmussen says more research is needed to understand which specific noises would put off hedgehogs.

"Are they scared of screams or should it be like a pulsating sound?" she says.

It would also be important to make sure the animals were not dissuaded from gardens, which have become an essential habitat as the countryside becomes less suitable.

Rasmussen says the work opens up our understanding of the hedgehog's audio world.

Thousands of hedgehogs are taken into rescue centres in the UK every year where they could be exposed to stressful sounds such as machinery humming that humans cannot hear.

The hedgehogs could also be communicating.

"When hedgehogs pass by each other, you can tell that they are interacting. Maybe that's just chemical reactions to smelling each other," she says.

"But imagine that they're actually blabbering all the time and we just couldn't hear it," she says.

The research is published in Biology Letters.

Death toll from Ethiopia floods and landslides rises to more than 100

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce947x4m0e1o, today

At least 102 people have been killed in floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains in the Gamo Zone of southern Ethiopia, the local authority has said.

The official death toll, initially put at just over 30, has steadily risen over the past 24 hours. Earlier on Thursday, a senior policeman said 64 had died. Dozens are still missing.

Most of the casualties were in highland areas, where saturated slopes gave way after days of intense rain, officials have reported.

Torrential rains have unleashed widespread flooding across East Africa in recent days. Dozens have also died in neighbouring Kenya. Forecasters say storms are becoming more intense in the region, partly due to climate change.

Before the revised death toll, the governor of the South Ethiopia Regional state had offered his condolences to the affected families.

"On behalf of myself and the regional government, I express my deep sorrow over the loss of 30 lives due to landslides and floods in the highlands of Gamo Zone caused by heavy rains," Tilahun Kebede said in a statement on Facebook late on Tuesday.

Officials said the disaster followed sustained rainfall in surrounding districts.

The town of Arba Minch and neighbouring areas have experienced continuous downpours for two days, causing widespread damage to homes, infrastructure and farmland.

Authorities have warned that further flooding and landslides remain possible.

Mudslides have blocked key roads and several bridges have been flooded, prompting calls for the public to remain vigilant. Emergency teams are monitoring the situation.

Over the past two decades, numerous studies have documented a rise in both extreme wet spells and prolonged dry periods across East Africa.

Scientists have repeatedly cautioned that human-driven climate change is making severe weather events - such as intense, long-lasting downpours - more frequent and more severe.

More than 229 people, including rescuers, were killed by a landslide in the neighbouring Geze Gofa Zone in July 2024.

Additional reporting by Jean Otalor

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

Public consultation over gas-fired power station

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqxd75w0xnyo, today

A public consultation has been launched on plans to build a gas-fueled power station by the Humber Estuary.

The proposed plant would be located near the village of Stallingborough in North East Lincolnshire.

Developer RWE said it could provide up to 900 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about one million homes.

The plan include a carbon capture scheme that would see the CO2 produced stored in caverns beneath the North Sea, removing up to two million tonnes a year.

The consultation will include plans to connect it to a natural gas pipeline as well as a connection to the National Grid to distribute the electricity.

RWE said the power station would create 50 full time jobs.

The leader of North East Lincolnshire Council, Philip Jackson, described it as "an exciting opportunity".

"Local input will be essential to shape these proposals in a way that best benefits our community," he said.

"As with the earlier non-statutory consultation, residents should take the time to actively engage at this stage of development and make their views heard."

The consultation will run until 6 May with drop-in sessions held at various locations across the area.

In addition, there will be two virtual sessions on 24 March and 21 April, which people can register for online.

Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.

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Solar panels to be installed on public buildings

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3dz3jlkrm5o, today

Jersey Electricity and the Government of Jersey have announced plans to install solar panels on public buildings.

The electricity company will project manage, design, install and maintain the arrays, with the renewable power being distributed through the grid.

It said that schools represent a "significant opportunity", but carparks, depot buildings and other civic premises will all be considered with detailed surveys.

Minister for Infrastructure, Andy Jehan, said, that reaching this agreement is a significant moment for locally-generated renewable power.

"Government has a responsibility to lead on sustainability and deliver value for our Island; ensuring that energy produced from our buildings benefits the community is central to that commitment", he said.

'Commitment to sustainability'

Chris Ambler, CEO of Jersey Electricity, said, "It's excellent news that we have agreed terms with government to progress rooftop solar on public buildings as we have been working on this for some time.

"This is a major step forward in building local renewable electricity generation and shows our shared commitment to sustainability.

"Every site generating local renewable power helps to build our Island's energy sovereignty with the electricity generated being socialised across all our customers via the grid."

Follow BBC Jersey on X and Facebook. Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk.

UFC fighters to train FBI agents at Quantico

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c743emjmnrro, today

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) athletes will be training agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) this week, both organisations say.

Current and former UFC fighters will visit the FBI Special Agent Academy in Quantico, Virginia, this weekend for a "training seminar" for senior FBI staff and students.

FBI Director Kash Patel called it "a tremendous opportunity" for agents "to learn and train with some of the greatest athletes on earth", adding that it will help the agency "be even better prepared to protect the American people".

Donald Trump, who has attended UFC fights while president, is planning to host an event with the brand at the White House in June.

UFC CEO Dana White said in a statement that the organisation is "proud to support the FBI in strengthening their defense techniques".

The FBI said the fighters will offer "insight into how they train for competition" and as demonstrate specific techniques and tactics.

White's friendship with the president dates back to the early 2000s when Trump hosted some of the first ever UFC events at his business properties.

White said UFC fighters "are some of the baddest men and women on the planet and they are heading to Quantico to train the best FBI agents in mixed martial arts".

The athletes heading to Quantico include interim UFC lightweight champion Justin Gaethe, the first UFC BMF champion Jorge Masvidal, former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman, former UFC strawweight title challenger Claudia Gadelha, former UFC lightweight title challenger Michael Chandler, top UFC flyweight contender Manel Kape and mixed martial arts athlete Renzo Gracie. Matchmaker Mick Maynard will also be in attendance.

The BBC has contacted the FBI for further comment.

Trump announced plans last year for this summer's unprecedented UFC show at the White House to mark 250 years since the US Declaration of Independence.

While the UFC has not confirmed its full plans for the June event, White has said he expects around 5,000 spectators for the show to take place thein an octagon on the South Lawn, along with around 80,000 fans watching at a nearby park in Washington.

Trump has said the fights on the card will be the "biggest they've ever had".

Epstein used modelling agent to recruit girls, Brazilian women tell BBC

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr4576v66kno, yesterday

Warning: This story contains graphic sexual descriptions.

"If I had disobeyed my mother and gone to New York, what might have happened to me?" asks Gláucia Fekete.

In 2004, as a 16-year-old living in the Brazilian countryside, she was taking her first steps in the modelling world.

She says French modelling agent Jean-Luc Brunel visited her family home, to persuade her mother to let her go to a modelling contest in Ecuador. He later killed himself in prison, accused of rape, sexual assault and recruiting girls for the late US financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Back then, they didn't know who Brunel was; they had been introduced by a famous Brazilian scout.

A BBC News Brasil investigation has found evidence that Brunel used modelling agencies linked to him at the time to actively seek out young women and girls from South America for Epstein, and to arrange visas for them to travel to the US.

Another Brazilian woman, who says she had a relationship with Epstein, showed the BBC her US visa. It named one of Brunel's agencies as her sponsor, even though she says she never did any modelling work for him and the travel documents were arranged solely so that she could visit Epstein.

Gláucia's mother was suspicious of Brunel, but he seemed "very charming" and eventually she agreed her daughter could go to Ecuador without her. The teenager travelled with Brunel's team to Guayaquil for the Models New Generation competition. At the time, local newspapers reported that the participants were between 15 and 19 years old.

Gláucia says the competition passed without any major problems, although she grew suspicious when she was not allowed to contact her family.

Another contestant, from Western Europe, who was 16 at the time, remembers how Brunel's behaviour struck her as odd. She asked not to be named, so we are referring to her as Laura.

"It was weird how he behaved and was always hanging out with the young Brazilian girls… He was behaving like a clown and only hanging out with quite young girls," she says.

Laura believes that while the competition was "legit" and well organised, "he knew exactly which girls were vulnerable".

"He seemed to control their finances," she says. "The girls from Brazil and East European countries seemed to be the prime target."

Gláucia says that towards the end of the trip, Brunel offered to fly her to New York "to take part in shows" with all expenses paid. At that point they had to contact her mother, Barbara, for permission.

Barbara's response: "No. Not a chance.

"They were only looking for children, minors," Barbara says. "Unfortunately they found my daughter."

She forbade Gláucia from any more involvement in modelling and cut ties with Brunel's network.

"It really was a narrow escape," says Gláucia.

In files released by the US government, BBC News Brasil found records showing that Epstein was in Guayaquil on 24 and 25 August 2004, at the same time as the final of the modelling competition. We also saw documents indicating that at least one model under 16 who attended the event flew on Epstein's plane at least twice in the same year.

Gláucia says that looking back, "without knowing it, I was in the middle of that storm".

"My mother saved me."

'He chose me'

Another Brazilian woman, whom we are calling Ana to protect her identity, says that Brunel and his modelling business were instrumental in facilitating her relationship with Epstein.

Ana was initially recruited by a Brazilian woman in the early 2000s in São Paulo.

Ana's account, corroborated by documents reviewed by the BBC and cross-checked against US Department of Justice records, shows how Brunel helped to arrange US visas for Brazilians.

Ana says she left her hometown in southern Brazil after being promised modelling opportunities in São Paulo by a woman who was based there.

She says that on arrival, the woman took her documents and told her she now owed money for travel and photos. Ana says she soon realised there was no modelling work.

"She was a madam. Before I knew it, she was pimping me out."

One of the clients was Jeffrey Epstein, says Ana.

She describes how, a few weeks after her 18th birthday, the woman took her to the home of a prominent businessman in São Paulo. There, she says, she heard him describe Epstein as "the king of the world" and say: "He likes younger girls."

A few days later, she says she and two other women were sent to a luxury hotel in São Paulo, where Epstein would choose one of them. "He chose me," she says.

Ana says she went to a room with Epstein, where he asked her to remove her clothes. "His thing was watching me while he touched himself. It was disgusting, but of all evils, the lesser one," she says.

US Department of Justice files, including emails and flight records, place Epstein in Brazil at that time.

She says he invited her to a party in the city a few days later, which is where she first met Brunel, and the modelling agent soon became instrumental in arranging a US visa for her.

She adds that during the party, Epstein told her that he was going to Paris the next day and that he had already arranged for her to go with him.

The visa route

Describing the trip to France, she says: "He [Epstein] would give me $300 (£225). I would go out for a walk and give him the change, but he would tell me to keep the money. He would test me and leave money in my room, and then I would give it back to him, and he would say I could keep it."

She says Epstein then told her that he had arranged for Brunel to hire her at his modelling agency in New York, and that the madam had handed over her documents.

Ana showed the BBC her passport, containing a US business visa with an annotation naming the agency that Brunel set up in the US, Karin Models of America.

Ana says she never worked for Karin Models of America but was told the paperwork would support her travel to the US, and the only reason for the visa was to visit Epstein.

Her statement matches other documents. Court records and US Department of Justice files indicate that Brunel used his agency, first called Karin Models of America, and later MC2 in America, to attract girls from several countries, including minors.

The same records include testimony from a former MC2 employee in the US saying Epstein paid for visas which Brunel's agency in the US arranged. Epstein had provided financial backing when Brunel set up MC2 in the US.

There has never been any suggestion that any agency other than those managed and controlled by Brunel in the US were involved in any wrongdoing.

Before he died, Brunel denied he had done anything wrong. His lawyers said he had been "crushed" by the allegations, and blamed a "media-judicial system".

Ana says that over the course of about four months, she travelled to the US and France with Epstein, who was "affectionate" towards her.

She describes how, during that time, he paid for some English lessons.

Ana says her visa was cancelled in Miami after US authorities questioned who was paying for her work and whether she was receiving money in the United States.

She says she had travelled to the country at least six times to spend time with Epstein before the visa was cancelled.

She says she went to his private island in the US Virgin Islands and thought he considered her his girlfriend, until she found him in bed with someone else. "Until then, it hadn't sunk in that he did this with many girls," she says.

"On several occasions he would tell me to leave the house to do something - go to a museum, go to classes. I don't know if anything happened that he didn't want me to see… He liked younger girls and being surrounded by them."

She adds that she had sex with him once, and "he liked sleeping, spooning, cuddling and having his feet massaged".

She says Epstein once told her that Brunel had asked to sleep with her but he refused saying: "I didn't let him because you're mine."

Ana says she didn't know whether to feel "grateful or more terrified" and after that, she felt Brunel was "like a wolf looking at a lamb, always with devouring eyes, both for other girls and me".

Ana says that for the first meeting at the hotel and the trip to Paris, there was an agreement that Epstein would pay the Brazilian madam $10,000 (£7,400) in cash.

She says Epstein paid only part of that amount and that she overheard phone calls in which the woman pressured him to pay the remainder.

This account is consistent with testimony given in 2010 to a court in Florida by a former accountant at MC2 in the US - Brunel's model agency - and cited in the Epstein files. The accountant said there was a Brazilian woman who arranged girls for Epstein and Brunel in Brazil and was angry over a debt.

According to Ana, contact with the Brazilian woman who recruited her faded after she released her documents, but Ana continued to see Epstein.

Ana says that after the visa was cancelled, Epstein offered to get her a green card to live in the US but she declined so she could stay close to her family in Brazil.

Investigation into recruitment network

Brazil's Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) opened an investigation in February into whether there was a recruitment network in Brazil linked to Epstein.

Federal prosecutor Cinthia Gabriela Borges from the national anti-trafficking unit told the BBC that she wanted to speak to women who had contact with Epstein to work out how the system operated. The women themselves are not the target of the inquiry.

What happened to Ana and others could be considered human trafficking for sexual exploitation, according to labour inspector and researcher Maurício Krepsky. He says that this type of crime may not be subject to a statute of limitations, so Brazilians involved could still be held accountable.

Gláucia is grateful that she had a mother who said no. And after years of trying to make sense of what happened to her, Ana feels fortunate to have left Epstein's circle and rebuilt her life.

"I think I was lucky, but I feel for the other women," she says.

If you, or someone you know, have been affected by the issues raised in this story, details of organisations offering information and support are available at BBC ActionLine.

Nasa spacecraft weighing 1,300lb re-enters Earth's atmosphere

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd9gwdgg38vo, today

The Van Allen Probe spacecraft weighing more than 1,300lb (600kg) has re-entered Earth's atmosphere, almost 14 years after its launch.

The US Space Force confirmed the probe's re-entry on Wednesday over the Eastern Pacific region around 06:37 EDT (10:37 GMT), roughly 12 hours later than originally predicted but within the expected margin of error.

Most of the probe, which launched in 2012, was expected to burn up as it travelled through the atmosphere, though some components may have survived.

The space agency said there was a one in 4,200 chance of a piece of the probe causing harm to a person on Earth, which it characterised as "low" risk.

The spacecraft and its twin, Van Allen Probe B, were on a mission to gather unprecedented data on Earth's two permanent radiation belts.

The mission, which was originally designed to last two years, went on for almost seven. It ended after the spacecrafts ran out of fuel and were no longer able to orient themselves toward the Sun.

The probes flew through rings of charged particles trapped by Earth's magnetic field from 2012 to 2019, in order to study how particles were gained and lost, per Nasa.

Those rings, called the Van Allen belts, shield Earth from cosmic radiation, solar storms and streaming solar wind, which are harmful to humans and can damage technology.

The mission made significant discoveries, including the first data that show the existence of a transient third radiation belt, which can form during times of intense solar activity, Nasa said.

Van Allen Probe B is not expected to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere before 2030.

Pete Hegseth brings combative style as face of Trump's war in Iran

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2g4e5z0d3o, yesterday

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, a military veteran and former Fox News host, has brought a combative style to his moment in the spotlight as de facto spokesman for the war in Iran.

He speaks of how Operation Epic Fury is "crushing the enemy", whom he labels "terrorist cowards".

"We have only just begun to hunt," Hegseth, 45, told one news conference of the US-Israeli strikes, which killed several leaders of the Islamic republic.

"We are punching them while they're down, which is exactly how it should be," he said.

The second-youngest defence secretary in US history, Hegseth has weathered controversies, including revelations he inadvertently divulged details of air strikes in Yemen to a reporter on a chat app, and claims of misconduct aired during his confirmation hearings.

But as the public face of President Donald Trump's largest military action yet in the Middle East, the former morning show host's media skills have come to the fore.

Whereas his predecessors spoke in more measured, technocratic language, Hegseth presents himself as an unapologetic frontman for the world's most powerful military.

Occupying a cabinet position last year rebranded as secretary of war, he projects a sense of invincible American might and what he calls the "warrior ethos".

Hegseth sometimes quotes Christian scripture and refers to the military as "my American brothers".

Matthew Walling, chief executive of the American Security Project, a think tank, told the BBC: "There's a degree of machismo to how he speaks, and that's part of the public image that he presents of himself."

Hegseth's confidence and conviction may appeal to Americans "who are looking for certainty", he said.

The Minneapolis-born, Ivy League graduate served as an infantry platoon leader in Guantanamo Bay and Iraq, where he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal. He later deployed to Afghanistan as a counterinsurgency instructor in Kabul.

At Princeton University, he focused on politics for his degree, while writing for the campus conservative journal, The Princeton Tory. He received a post-graduate degree in public policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

Hegseth's political experience was previously limited to an unsuccessful 2012 run for the Republican Senate nomination in Minnesota. After his military service ended, he returned home and briefly led two veterans' charities.

But it was as co-host of the Fox & Friends weekend show for eight years that he caught the eye of one regular viewer: Donald Trump.

He praised Hegseth's 2024 book, The War on Warriors, for exposing "the leftwing betrayal" of America's military.

Yet he barely won confirmation as defence secretary, even though the Senate is controlled by Trump's fellow Republicans.

The thrice-married father-of-four was grilled about allegations of sexual misconduct, infidelity and heavy drinking, which he cast as a smear campaign.

Critics sought to link his tattoos of symbols from the Crusades with far-right extremism. Hegseth said the body ink merely reflected his Christian faith.

Some also questioned if he had the experience to run a department with a nearly $1tn budget - the largest in the US government – and three million employees.

During Operation Epic Fury, Trump and some members of his administration have been accused of failing to articulate a cohesive rationale for military action in Iran.

Hegseth, though, has repeatedly laid out the operation's objectives: to eliminate Iran's weapons, to destroy Iran's navy and to ensure Iran cannot make nuclear weapons.

But some accused him of insensitivity when he took issue with reporting on US casualties, saying: "When a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it's front-page news. I get it. The press only wants to make the president look bad."

Recent polls indicate many Republican voters approve of Hegseth. Not everyone is impressed, though.

Brett Bruen, president of the Global Situation Room, a crisis communications agency, and a former diplomat with the Obama administration, acknowledged the defence secretary is a skilled communicator.

But he criticised Hegseth's "brashness, the bravado, the bulldozing of questions" in briefings.

"We're at war and we need a leader at the Pentagon who tells us what is happening and why it is happening and what we should be doing to prepare for what comes next," Bruen told the BBC.

"And he seems incapable of providing that basic information."

Hegseth faced his first controversy soon after being sworn in, when a journalist was mistakenly added by another official to a Signal messaging group in which the defence secretary posted details of plans for an attack on the Iran-backed Houthi group in Yemen.

Members of Congress and others called for him to be fired, saying he had endangered US military members and flouted protocols.

Hegseth, however, clung to his job.

A personal bugbear of his has been ending what he calls "woke garbage" in the military.

During confirmation hearings, the culture warrior was lambasted by Democrats for arguing that diversity policies had degraded America's fighting capability.

Hegseth has renamed bases and severed defence ties with universities over diversity programmes, including his alma mater, Harvard.

He again drew scrutiny over US raids on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific.

The Pentagon chief rejected claims he gave an order to "kill them all" during a follow-up military strike on a vessel.

In a video, Democratic lawmaker veterans urged the military to refuse any illegal orders.

Hegseth called the clip treasonous and took steps to demote retired Navy Captain and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly.

The legal battle over Kelly – one of several lawsuits against Hegseth's defence department – grinds on.

His Pentagon has also rewritten its rules of engagement with the media, imposing new reporting restrictions and banning photojournalists for pictures of Hegseth deemed "unflattering".

But the defence secretary appears intent on showing that he – like his vision for the US military – is not the type to back down from a fight.

Mixed messages from Trump leave more questions than answers over war's end

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93j2dw72q9o, 3 days ago

President Donald Trump and his administration have so far offered mixed messages and contradictory explanations on the joint US-Israeli military campaign against Iran. And Monday - the 10th day of an operation that has rattled allies and shaken markets - typified this confusion around the war's timeline and ultimate goals.

After a tumultuous morning during which US shares indices dropped and oil prices surged, the American president began speed-dialling reporters in an apparent effort to soothe nerves. His comments, however, were lacking in clarity even when he was pushed for more detail.

"I have a plan for everything, OK?" he told a reporter from the New York Post when asked about spiking oil prices. "I have a plan for everything. You'll be very happy."

To CBS News, he said the war "is very complete, pretty much".

"We're very far ahead of schedule," he added. When asked whether the operation could therefore end soon, Trump said: "I don't know, it depends. Wrapping up is all in my mind, nobody else's."

His telephone spree, at least in an economic sense, had the desired effect. Stock markets rallied, and the price of a barrel of oil – which had reached $120 earlier in the day - dropped below $90.

Just days ago, Trump said that he would not stop the war until Iran's "unconditional surrender". But after his comments on Monday, it appeared as though an end to a military operation that has roiled the Middle East and led to the near complete shutdown of shipping traffic through the Straits of Hormuz could be in sight.

By evening, however, Trump was walking back those comments.

"We could call it a tremendous success right now," he said. "Or we could go further. And we're going to go further."

He said the US was "very close to finishing" what he called an "excursion", but warned that the US would intensify its strikes if Iran continued to threaten oil tankers exiting the Persian Gulf.

"We will hit them so hard that it will not be possible for them or anybody else helping them to recover that section of the world," he said.

Trump also laid out an expansive mission for the war. His goal, he said, was to ensure that Iran could not develop weaponry to target the US, Israel or any American allies "for a very long time".

That ultimately might require the kind of regime change that Trump has been unable to secure so far, as the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been replaced as leader by his son.

Within a space of hours, the messaging from the president had been dizzying. Those looking for signs of when this massive military operation could end or clues as to its concrete goals were left with more questions than answers.

In a CBS interview on Sunday, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth outlined a next phase of the US-Israeli operation that included using more powerful ordnance. "The ability for us to be up over the top and hunting with more conventional munitions, gravity bombs, 500lb, 1,000lb, 2,000lb bombs on military targets," he said, "we haven't even really begun to start that effort of the campaign."

When Trump was asked on Monday about the apparent contradiction between his statements that the war was "very complete" and Hegseth's comments, he replied: "I think you could say both."

"It's the beginning of building a new country," he said.

Iraq-style nation-building, however, is an activity that Trump and his aides have explicitly said they do not want to undertake.

On Tuesday, US investors will pass judgement on Trump's latest comments. But even if the wild market swings we have seen begin to stabilise, the surge in petrol prices will likely take longer to calm.

In the US, the average price of a gallon of gasoline is now $3.48, up 48 cents from a week ago.

This comes as there are some concerning indications about the economy. Last Friday, for example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced the US had lost 92,000 jobs in February, unemployment ticked up to 4.4% and the labour force participation rate, at 62%, was the lowest since December 2021.

"Affordability" and cost of living concerns regularly rank as the top issue for Americans – and these same polls suggest there is sizeable opposition to the ongoing Iran military campaign. That is a dangerous mix for a president who is inextricably linked to this operation and months away from vital midterm elections in November that will decide control of Congress.

Trump has promised that higher prices are temporary, and that by the time Americans head to the polls in November they will be more positive about the cost of living.

In northern Georgia, however, voters are casting ballots in a special congressional election on Tuesday. There, the Iran war – and the danger it presents to the economy – are pressing concerns.

Bob Stinnett, an independent voter, said he worried that the spike in energy prices could cause a recession. "I have supported Trump, but not for this," he said.

Angie, who recently retired after a long career as a nurse, said she was worried rising gas prices could eat into her budget at a precarious time in her finances.

When asked how she felt about the Iran war, and the impact it would have on her gas prices, she said she cares more about the people of Iran. But, she said, the US should not have got involved.

"I honestly don't like it at all," she said. "I understand they needed help, but couldn't we have found another way to do this?"

The north-western Georgia district, recently held by right-wing firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene, is solidly conservative. But even there, voters are uneasy, which presents rife opportunity for Democratic candidate Shawn Harris.

"Because gas prices are going up, everything's going through the roof, and it's not because of something else, it's something that we chose to get into," said the farmer and retired brigadier general.

"I think I'm going to pick up more voters simply because we're into a war," he said. "And oh by the way, those voters got sons and daughters in the war."

The president has repeatedly pledged to bring down prices, and he and his team have signalled an awareness of the importance of the issue. Late last year, he launched a so-called "affordability tour" in Pennsylvania but it has failed to get going in earnest.

With military operations in Venezuela and Iran dominating the headlines in the months since, Trump risks being seen as a president more focused on legacy-defining foreign interventions than on domestic food prices. The White House, of course, would argue he is able to juggle both.

But with rising petrol prices spurred by a military campaign that polls suggest few Americans really wanted, there is real political risk for Trump.

On Monday evening, he spoke about the "tremendous success" the US military has achieved in its campaign so far. He ticked through how Iran's navy has been sunk, its air force destroyed, and its radar and anti-aircraft equipment disabled.

War, however, is more than missiles launched, bombs dropped and targets destroyed.

The price of this war – measured in damage to the global and US economy, and in political costs to Trump and his fellow Republicans – is still coming into view.

And in a year that may well define Trump's second term, the American public has yet to render its final judgement.

With additional reporting from Kayla Epstein in Georgia

Why the price of oil matters more than you might think

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr457nq7z61o, 2 days ago

The impact of the US and Israel's war in Iran is starting to hit home — no matter where you live.

As the conflict blocks oil, gas, and other exports from the Gulf region, and producers start to cut output, the supply shock has sent prices soaring.

This has rattled financial markets. However, it is also affecting people's day-to-day lives, with prices for petrol and diesel at the pump already rising.

And the effects could get wider still with the possibility that everything from food prices to holidays could become pricier.

Analysts have also raised the possibility of an economic downturn, with some countries more at risk than others.

"This is essentially the biggest supply shock at least in modern global oil market history," said Hunter Kornfeind, senior macro energy analyst of Rapid Energy Group.

Motorists across the world are feeling this at the pump.

In the US, average petrol prices have risen above $3.50 (£2.60) per US gallon, from about $2.92 a month ago, while diesel had risen from $3.66 to $4.78 over the same period, according to the American Autombile Association.

In the UK, the most recent data from the RAC motoring organisation shows that since the war began, average UK petrol prices have risen by 4.95p to 137.78p a litre. Diesel has increased by 9.43p to 151.81p.

There is normally a time lag, with movements in oil markets taking about a fortnight to feed in to fuel prices.

Meanwhile, the Gulf is where Europe gets around half of its jet fuel from. The disruption has caused the continent's benchmark jet fuel price to almost double to its highest level since the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Fuel typically makes up 20-40% of airlines' operating costs. This means flights could become more expensive, while any shortage of fuel could mean some flight cancellations.

However, the impact might not be equal across the board.

Many European airlines use contracts to get their fuel at fixed or capped prices for months, or even years, in advance.

By contrast, a number of large US carriers do not do this and could be exposed to short-term price increases as a result.

United Airlines boss Scott Kirby recently warned that a jump in air fares due to the higher costs would "probably start quick".

But the economic pain could spread quickly.

If the conflict is not resolved by the end of the month, analysts say that it could push global oil prices above the recent 2022 peaks seen after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In some scenarios, analysts said the price could hit $150 per barrel.

Kornfeind said that the knock-on impact for the economy would be "pretty drastic" at that point, as higher costs force households and businesses to reduce other spending and the wider economy slows.

For example, analysts are worried the energy crunch could reduce chip-making - a sector with ramifications for everything from cars to smartphones, since Taiwan, a hub of production, relies heavily on energy imports.

In the US, some have also raised concerns that a jump in energy costs could weigh on tech firms trying to build out their artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, hitting a key driver of economic growth.

Analysts say the economic risks are greatest in Asia and Europe, which both rely on energy imports, unlike the US which is a top oil and gas producer.

Some governments in Asia, a top destination for much of the oil and gas coming from the Middle East, have already announced price caps and rationing measures, with universities in Bangladesh closing early for the Eid ⁠al-Fitr holidays, according to state media.

The risks have been reflected in the stock market, with Asian and European indexes hit especially hard.

In Japan and South Korea, for example, the main stock indexes have fallen by roughly 10% and 15% respectively since the war began, while Germany's Dax has fallen by more than 7%.

By contrast, the S&P 500 in the US has fallen just 1.2%.

However, energy is not the only commodity that has been affected.

The Middle East is also a major source of aluminium and sulphur used to process metals such as copper, and ingredients for fertiliser, including urea.

As prices for those commodities start to creep higher, the pressure could feed through to the costs of food and manufactured goods.

In the US, about 25% of fertiliser imports enter the US in the months of March and April, as planting season starts, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

"It could not come at a worse time," said farmer Harry Ott, who grows cotton, corn and soybeans in South Carolina.

He called his fertiliser supplier last week, aiming to start applying it to his fields, only to be told that the business was holding off on sales and deliveries until it had a better handle on the impact of the war.

The business has since announced a price hike, which he fears will raise his fertiliser bill by roughly $100 per acre and wipe out his chance of making any profit on this year's crop.

"These are trying times and what we are going through now on fertiliser... was totally unexpected," Ott said in a briefing for reporters hosted by the Farm Bureau. "Nobody's balance sheet had room to make these adjustments."

Ott's business is yet another unexpected victim of a conflict that affects us all.

Cartoonist freed after 15 years in prison without charge in Eritrea

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70kg0x4xk5o, today

A well-known Eritrean satirical cartoonist has been freed from prison after spending 15 years in detention without charge, his family and friends have told the BBC.

Biniam Solomon, now in his early 60s, was arrested in the capital, Asmara, in 2011 but was never tried. The reasons for his continued imprisonment were not made clear.

Known by his pen name Cobra, Biniam gained fame for his critical and witty cartoons tackling political and social issues.

The authorities have not said why he was set free but it is the latest in a string of similar releases. Nevertheless thousands remain in prison, incommunicado and without trial, in a country long criticised for alleged human rights abuses.

During his 15 years in detention, Biniam had no contact with his family, and received only occasional medical treatment.

According to a relative, he spent the latter part of his detention in Asmara's "crime investigation" prison.

It is widely reported to hold political and conscientious objectors under harsh conditions.

Despite losing an arm in childhood, Biniam pursued a career as an artist and produced a substantial body of work. To supplement his income, he was also employed as a physics teacher at a secondary school in Asmara.

His cartoons were published in several Eritrean newspapers in the four years from 1997.

This was a brief period after independence from Ethiopia when the private media flourished before being being shut down in September 2001. The government closed the private press on the grounds that it was "endangering national security" and a number of journalists were jailed.

Biniam also produced three books that included collections of his work - Subtle is the Ruler, Conversation with Cobra Number One and Conversation with Cobra Number Two.

Examples of his work include the cartoon below where he satirised a period of great uncertainty within the government in 2001 when officials including senior ministers were "frozen out" and recalled without warning:

The minister's wife, on the left, is asking why her husband is not getting up to go to work.

"I might be frozen [suspended]," he responds, adding that he is listening to government radio to find out if he still has a job.

Human rights groups have frequently documented widespread abuses in Eritrean prisons, including the lack of contact with the outside world, inadequate food and medicine, and severe physical and mental suffering. The authorities have rejected the accusations.

Biniam's release comes amid recent reports of the Eritrean government freeing other long-term detainees, though critics note the process remains opaque and outside normal legal procedures.

The UN has previously called for the release of what it said were 10,000 people held without trial in Eritrea.

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

New US ambassador to South Africa summoned over 'undiplomatic remarks'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c14m1vzmxz3o, yesterday

The South African government has summoned the new US ambassador after he made what they called "undiplomatic" comments about an anti-apartheid chant.

Leo Brent Bozell III, who started in the role last month, caused offence by disagreeing with a legal ruling about the chant Kill The Boer. Some say the chant amounts to hate speech, although the Constitutional Court has ruled previously that it does not.

A formal protest was issued - known as a demarche - by the government, which said it took Bozell's comments "with a very dim view".

He issued a clarification on Wednesday and a representative of the foreign ministry later said the ambassador had expressed regret and apologised for the remarks.

On Tuesday, Bozell addressed a business meeting in the coastal town of Hermanus, presenting five issues he said South Africa needed to fix.

One was an argument over the chant. Bozell said he did not care what the courts said - comments that were taken as showing a lack of regard for the country's legal system.

He later retreated, saying he was ''willing to work with South Africa constructively'' and that ''the US government respects the independence of South Africa's judiciary''.

At a press conference on Wednesday, the South African government announced they had called the US ambassador to Pretoria, to explain his recent undiplomatic remarks.

Ronald Lamola added that the relationship between South Africa and the US was not one-sided. ''South African companies maintain a significant investment in the United States," Lamola said.

"Mr Bozell expressed his regrets that these comments detracted from any impression that he wanted to work with us constructively," Zane Dangor, the director-general of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, said later.

Relations between the US and South Africa have deteriorated since US President Donald Trump took office last year, with the two sides clashing over trade, diplomacy and South Africa's strategic partnerships.

Trump has been openly critical of South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa's government, accusing it of failing to protect the country's white minority and criticising its land reform plans.

The South African government, meanwhile, has criticised the US decision to prioritise refugee applications from white Afrikaners, saying claims of a white genocide have been widely discredited and lack reliable evidence.

Tensions deepened last year when the US imposed the highest tariffs of any African country on South Africa.

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

Senegal approves tougher anti-gay law as rights groups raise concerns

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp857gy1843o, today

Senegal's parliament has approved a new law doubling to 10 years the maximum prison term for sexual acts by same-sex couples and criminalising the "promotion" of homosexuality.

A total of 135 MPs voted in favour, zero against and three abstained. The next step will be for the president to sign it, then it will become law.

The legislation, which was a campaign promise of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, was sent to parliament after a wave of arrests over alleged same-sex relationships, already banned under Senegalese law.

The government spokesman dismissed international criticism of the bill, arguing that the move reflected the views of Senegalese people.

"The majority of Senegalese do not accept homosexuality. Our culture rejects it and we are firmly opposed to it," said Amadou Moustapha Ndieck Sarré.

Some conservative activists in Senegal have long demanded harsher penalties.

The movement And Sàmm Jikko Yi, which campaigns to defend what it calls Senegalese moral values, has repeatedly urged authorities to adopt stricter legislation criminalising homosexual acts. Its leaders argue the law is necessary to protect Senegalese cultural and religious norms.

However, rights groups warn the move could worsen discrimination and violence against sexual minorities. Human Rights Watch researcher Larissa Kojoué said the proposed changes were worrying.

"Criminalising same-sex conduct and arresting people for their sexual orientation violates multiple internationally protected rights, including equality and non-discrimination."

She added that such measures risked exposing people who were already stigmatised to "violence and fear."

Alioune Tine, founder of the think-tank Afrikajom Center, told the BBC that the current climate could worsen social tensions. "If it is true that social concerns must be addressed, [the law] also has to respect human rights and protecting public-health policies."

Others have pointed out that same-sex relationships are a part of life and cannot be abolished by a law.

"Most of the same-sex relationships were hidden anyway. There are even people who are married in the society and who are still entertaining a safe-sex relationship because of the norm and the cultural norm in that society," Senegal LGBTQ Association head and medical doctor Charles Dotou told BBC Newsday.

All that will happen is "people will be hiding more, it will create more fear and people will be scared to live normally in that community. So there will be an exodus of people, particularly people who were already exposed so that that creates a bit of chaos in society," Dr Dotou added.

The toughing of Senegal's law follows a wave of arrests last month over alleged same-sex relationships. Police detained 12 men - among them two public figures and a prominent journalist.

Some supporters of the tougher legislation say they have concerns about HIV transmission, although it has long been scientifically established that people of any sexuality can contract and spread the illness.

Experts warn that further criminalising same-sex relations could vilify gay people living with HIV to the point that they shy away from receiving the vital medical care they need.

Senegal has been praised for its efforts to control HIV. Between 42,000 and 44,000 people are living with the virus in the country, with a national prevalence of about 0.3% among adults, one of the lowest rates in West Africa, according to the health ministry.

At the Fann University Hospital in Dakar, the executive secretary of the National Council for the Fight Against Aids (CNLS) - the body that has coordinated the country's HIV response for decades - is worried about the situation with LGBTQ+ people.

"We have managed to control the HIV epidemic and we are moving towards eliminating Aids as a public health problem in Senegal," Dr Safiétou Thiam told BBC News Afrique. "But what is happening now risks undermining the results of 30 to 35 years of efforts in the fight against the disease."

Ousmane Sonko, the longtime firebrand opposition leader appointed prime minister in 2024, had told lawmakers the bill would punish what it describes as "acts against nature" with fines of up to 10,000,000 CFA francs ($17,600; £13,000) and prison sentences ranging from five to 10 years, compared with the current one- to five-year terms in the Muslim-majority country.

Several other African countries have also introduced tough new laws against the LGBTQ+ community in recent years.

In September last year, Burkina Faso's transitional parliament approved a bill banning homosexual acts, following its neighbour Mali in 2024.

In 2023, Uganda voted in some of the world's harshest anti-homosexual legislation meaning that people engaging in same-sex relationships can be sentenced to death in certain circumstances.

Ghana is also planning to re-introduce an anti-homosexual bill that activists say threatens basic human rights, safety and freedom.

More about Senegal from the BBC:

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

Mugabe's son drops bail request - what has happened to the family after losing power

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp32xx35lwwo, yesterday

The arrest in South Africa of the youngest son of Zimbabwe's former President, Robert Mugabe, has brought renewed attention to the former first family and their controversies over the years.

Bellarmine Mugabe, who appeared in court on Wednesday for a bail hearing, is accused of attempted murder, among other charges, after a 23-year-old man was shot and injured at a property in an upmarket suburb of Johannesburg.

He has not commented on the charges but in an unexpected move, he abandoned his request for bail and agreed to plea negotiations with South African prosecutors. He is charged alongside his bodyguard.

Their lawyer Sinenhlanhla Mnguni said it was "premature to say… whether we will plead guilty to anything at this stage". The matter returns to court next Tuesday.

His father led Zimbabwe for 37 years before being forced out of power at the age of 93 in 2017. He died two years later.

The long-serving president and his second wife Grace had three children together:

* Bona Mugabe - now 37

* Robert Mugabe Jr - now 33

* Bellarmine Mugabe - now 28.

Grace also had a son from an earlier marriage:

* Russell Goreraza - now in his early 40s.

Managing editor of Zimbabwean privately owned NewsHawks website, Dumisani Muleya, told the BBC that the Mugabe family had "lived a life of privilege" and that the children "grew up in that environment where they were protected from the broader realities of the Zimbabwean political and socio-economic situation".

The family had amassed a vast personal fortune, including $10m (£7.5m) in cash, four houses, 10 cars, a farm and an orchard among other assets.

These details emerged three months after Robert Mugabe's death in a legal letter submitted to the high court in Zimbabwe by his daughter Bona. At the time, a lawyer for the family, Terrence Hussein, told the BBC that none of the properties were under the former leader's name.

In 2013, Grace denied that her husband was accumulating wealth while in office, saying her husband did not earn as much as people thought as he was a civil servant.

"The allowance I get is just a pittance. I'm a business-minded person [and] I support my husband [by] running our private businesses," she said.

Here is a run-down of what has happened to the family members:

Bellarmine Mugabe

Like his siblings, he grew up in the public eye and was subjected to scrutiny from a young age.

But as a teenager it was Bellarmine's approach to studying that appeared to have been a concern for his parents.

In a wide-ranging interview in 2013 on South African television, they described his playfulness and lack of focus on academics.

Grace said she wanted him to "change his ways" and "concentrate on his studies".

"He should be more serious than he is at the moment," his father added.

Bellarmine sheepishly admitted to spending more time on video games than his schoolwork.

Bellarmine and his older brother Robert Jr have made headlines over the years for their flashy lifestyles in the face of rising poverty in Zimbabwe.

In 2017, a few weeks before the coup in which his father was ousted, he posted a picture of a $60,000 watch he was wearing on Instagram.

A few months earlier, the brothers were reportedly kicked out of a luxury apartment block in the affluent Johannesburg suburb of Sandton after complaints about the noise they were making.

There have been also several brushes with the law more recently.

In 2024 he was arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer in the Zimbabwean border town of Beitbridge.

He was given bail but a warrant for his arrest was then issued after he failed to appear in court, Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper reported at the time.

A year later in June, he was again arrested for assaulting a security guard at a mining site in Mazowe, an hour's drive north of the capital, Harare.

He was bailed and the case has not yet concluded.

The current case in South Africa against Bellarmine has faced several delays since his arrest in mid-February and his bail application hearing has already been postponed twice.

Robert Mugabe Jr

Also no stranger to run-ins with the police, Robert Jr was arrested in 2023 over allegations he damaged property at a party in Harare.

He faced three counts of malicious damage to property and two charges of assault on a police officer, his lawyer said at the time. He was accused of smashing car windscreens and spitting on a police officer.

He maintained his innocence and was later freed after agreeing to an out-of-court settlement with the complainant, who was a friend of his.

In 2025, after pleading guilty, Robert Jr was convicted and fined in Zimbabwe for possession of cannabis.

He had been arrested as he drove the wrong way down a one-way street, according to court documents. Police searched a black sling bag he was wearing at the time and allegedly found two small sachets of cannabis.

Officers said they had recovered 2g (0.07 oz) of cannabis, with a street value of $30, but his lawyer said the amount was 0.02g.

Grace Mugabe

The former first lady, now 60, gained a reputation, and criticism, over the years for her alleged appetite for shopping and extravagance, earning her the moniker "Gucci Grace".

She denied the disparaging accusations and in the 2013 interview said detractors believed she was a "soft target".

"I'm not really what they say I am and I'm actually surprised by some of the things they say. I work so hard and I don't have time to pamper myself. I make my own clothes and tie my own scarf," she said.

In the latter part of her husband's presidency she began positioning herself as a potential successor.

She headed the women's league of Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party and was instrumental in the sidelining of several rival candidates.

Her plans fell apart when Mugabe was deposed after he sacked then Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa in November 2017.

Her business empire subsequently fell apart - and her multimillion-dollar dairy firm, Gushungo Dairy Estates, closed in 2022 reportedly mired in huge debts.

Some argued that it only stayed afloat because of official patronage, which fell away after Mugabe's ousting.

However, she continues to live in the vast Blue Roof mansion in Harare, which was bought by Zanu-PF for Robert Mugabe while he was still in power.

The party transferred ownership of the property to the family after he died.

Grace is unable to travel to South Africa, where she faces a warrant of arrest relating to a case that happened not long before the Mugabes left power

She was accused in 2017 of assaulting a young woman, Gabriella Engels, with an electric extension cord in a hotel room in Johannesburg.

Grace said at the time that she had acted in self-defence after she was attacked in the room where Bellarmine and Robert Jr lived. According to Engels, she and her friend were visiting the brothers.

An investigation was launched but Grace was given diplomatic immunity, allowing her to leave South Africa without answering questions. That immunity was annulled in July 2018, eight months after the coup, and the arrest warrant issued.

This incident echoed one in 2009, when the then first lady was accused of assaulting a British newspaper photographer in Hong Kong, where her daughter Bona was studying.

Richard Jones said that Grace had punched him while wearing a diamond-studded ring. She was not charged as she was given diplomatic immunity by the Chinese government.

Grace later said she was pushed too far and said she was "protecting my daughter".

"I had to [punch him] but I really don't know what happened, I had all this energy," she said in the 2013 interview.

Bona Mugabe

While the rest of the family's exploits have made headlines over the years, Bona largely stayed out of the spotlight - until a bitter divorce thrust her into the public eye.

Mugabe's eldest child and only daughter filed for divorce from former pilot Simbarashe Chikore in 2023, sparking a highly publicised legal battle between the two.

Chikore wanted a share of what he said was $80m worth of residential properties, including a mansion in Dubai and 21 farms - something that flies in the face of her father's policy of "one household, one farm".

He also detailed a list of other assets she allegedly owned, saying this was just a "drop in the ocean".

Bona did not respond to her estranged husband's allegations but a former spokesperson for her father denied the couple owned 21 farms.

They eventually opted to settle their divorce privately following public scrutiny and outrage over the revelations.

Bona and Chikore had married at a lavish wedding in 2014 that was attended by several African heads of state - and was broadcast live on state television - and have three children.

Russell Goreraza

In 2015, Grace's oldest son Russell Goreraza was convicted of manslaughter and fined $800 (£595).

This came after he knocked down and killed an unidentified man in his car in Harare earlier that year. Goreraza was speeding at the time of the accident.

Sentencing for culpable homicide varies depending on the magistrate and their interpretation of the circumstances, but two-year prison terms have been handed down in similar cases.

The magistrate presiding over this case said he had decided against jail because of Goreraza's remorse and the fact that he was a first-time offender.

Where are the Mugabes now?

The family has largely retreated from public life since 2017.

The ousted president was bitter about the way he was treated by his Zanu-PF party and campaigned for the opposition in the 2018 elections.

But since his death, his wife, daughter Bona and Robert Jr have appeared to reconcile with the party, attending President Emmerson Mnangagwa's most recent inauguration in 2023.

The Mugabes, except for Bellarmine, are believed to be living in Zimbabwe.

The BBC contacted a family spokesperson for comment, but they declined to confirm the family's whereabouts.

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

Bitter times for cocoa farmers as chocolate market slumps

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93jdk1yy3zo, 4 days ago

The price of chocolate bars has shot up across the world over the past year, meaning they can feel like a luxury - yet West Africa's cocoa farmers have not been reaping the benefit. In fact, many are in a desperate state as they have not been paid for months.

"My husband fell sick, and I couldn't get money to take him to the hospital. So he died at home," 52-year-old Ghanaian cocoa farmer Akosua Frimpong told the BBC.

Following a surge in the cost of cocoa - the main ingredient of chocolate - in 2024, prices have since crashed.

Much of the world's cocoa is produced in Ghana and Ivory Coast, where state regulators set the price a year in advance. The recent collapse in prices has made their beans around 40% more expensive than international traders are willing to pay.

Prices have fallen for a variety of reasons, partly because a good harvest around the world came at a time of lower demand. Because of the previous high prices, chocolate bars have become smaller and chocolate makers have been using less cocoa.

The knock-on effect should mean that chocolate bars will eventually be less expensive, but it has left the cocoa industry in Ghana and Ivory Coast in a mess.

Even when prices were high, West Africa's cocoa farmers felt they were not benefiting from the world's chocoholics.

Their farms are in remote areas deep in the jungle with poor infrastructure - they live in villages where there is little access to electricity or running water.

The bright sunshine could not dissipate the heavy atmosphere of grief that loomed over the village of Suhenso in western Ghana when we visited last month.

Mourners squeezed into Frimpong's home to pay their respects to her husband Malik Boahen, who had died earlier in February after his neck began to swell up.

She did not have the money to get proper medical care for him - something she blames on the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod), which licenses companies to buy the country's crop for international sale at a set price.

As those companies have not been able to sell the cocoa this year, the farmers have been left out of pocket. Cocobod has stepped in to buy much of it to save the industry from collapse, but many farmers say they haven't been paid.

"The money I was anticipating from my cocoa bean sales is currently inaccessible. I'm a widow now and I don't have anyone to support me," said Frimpong.

The payment delay is thought to be affecting some 800,000 cocoa farmers - and it has had a knock-on effect on hundreds of thousands of rural livelihoods.

Last October, Cocobod set the amount to be paid to farmers at nearly $5,300 (£3,900) per tonne, but the price on the global market has fallen to well below this level.

The shortfall has added to the board's debt, which now amounts to some $3bn.

In response to the financial difficulties, Cocobod officials took a pay cut in February - 20% for the executive management and 10% for senior staff.

The board's spokesperson Jerome Sam acknowledged that while there had been delays in farmers getting their money, payments were now being processed.

Cocoa accounts for about 7% of Ghana's GDP, or national income, and the beans' export makes up around 15% of the country's foreign exchange earnings.

As a result, the health of the sector has a direct effect on the wealth of the country and to help revamp it, the government has announced a raft of measures, including plans to process more of the crop in Ghana itself, rather than have the raw bean converted into chocolate and other products outside the country.

In order to resolve the current debt issue, Cocobod has now dramatically dropped the price it guarantees to farmers to close to $3,500 a tonne, even though this is still above current prices.

Robert Addae, who has been farming the cash crop for 14 years, says this is not enough.

"The prices of farm inputs and implements remain the same, the cost of labour has not reduced, so the cut in cocoa prices will adversely affect us," the 62-year-old farmer told the BBC.

On average, it costs around $1,000 to maintain an acre of cocoa farm in Ghana, and many farmers are concerned they might not be able to recoup their investment.

Nana Obodie Boateng Bonsu, president of the Concerned Cocoa Farmers Association, recognises that Cocobod faces challenges but suggests their pay cuts should go towards paying farmers.

"If they were reducing their salaries to add up to our cocoa prices, that would have been brilliant," he told the BBC.

Neighbouring Ivory Coast, the world's leading cocoa producer, has been hit by similar problems.

Sacks of beans have piled up in warehouses in the town of Bangolo in the west of the country as cocoa co-operatives struggle to sell to exporters.

The country's equivalent of Cocobod - the Coffee and Cocoa Council - also guaranteed a price last year that is now way above the international price.

On Wednesday, Agriculture Minister Bruno Kone announced that the price paid to farmers would be cut in half in order to try and boost sales.

Before that announcement, Bahily Bakouli Issiaca, a member of the Bangolo cocoa co-operative, was concerned as he inspected hundreds of cocoa beans in his warehouse.

"More than 800 cocoa farmers give their beans to us to sell, but this year it has been very difficult to sell them," he told the BBC.

"Lorries full of cocoa sacks have been parked here for almost 21 days now."

The Coffee and Cocoa Council sets the price in Ivory Coast and licenses a number of co-operatives and companies to export the dried beans.

"I harvested my cocoa and sent it to the village, but there's no buyer. I don't know how I'll feed my 10 children or support their education," Sella Aga Josiane told the BBC as she tended to her trees on a plot outside Bangolo.

The 38-year-old added that some of her children were sent home from school the week before because she could not pay their school fees.

"This crisis is tough for me."

Ivory Coast was set to have about 200,000 tonnes of cocoa waiting for buyers by the end of March if the current situation had persisted.

Ba Siba Fabrice, another cocoa farmer near Bangolo, said it was the worst situation he had experienced since he started farming cocoa as a teenager in 2012.

The 35-year-old feels the weight of responsibility as those he supports feel he has failed them.

"Today, there is no peace between me and my family because there is no more money. When there is no money in a household, there is no peace," he said.

"We live through cocoa."

Additional reporting by Noel Ebrin Brou in Bangolo

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

Weight-loss treatments boom as Kenyan attitudes to beauty change

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq6qq6q2692o, 5 days ago

In Kenya, where being overweight was once perceived as a sign of wealth and success, a drive to shed the pounds is now taking hold.

Surgical procedures and weight-loss drugs are growing in popularity, with some influencers detailing their own slimming journeys to both acclaim and criticism.

At her weight-loss clinic in the capital, Dr Lyudmila Shchukina has a fully booked schedule.

It has not always been this way for the Nairobi Bariatric Center, which she and her late husband – both from Ukraine - founded three decades ago.

When it started, the facility, which Shchukina proudly regards as a pioneer for weight-loss surgery in the country, was hardly receiving any clients.

But the clinic is now thriving, seeing 10 to 15 patients a day.

It's a "boom", the doctor tells the BBC one evening at the end of her shift.

Societal pressures may be one reason for the change.

Kenyans on social media are not known for holding back and many people, both men and women, have been insultingly told to, in the Kenyan phrase, "unfat!" after pictures of themselves have been posted online.

When political activist Francis Gaitho complained about being cyber-bullied over his weight, several people responded by telling him to "unfat".

Shchukina says that concern over both physical and mental health linked to excess weight drives patients to her doors.

She sees patients who have high blood pressure, infertility issues, diabetes, joint and back pain, while others are concerned about the overall quality of their life.

Kenyans are now "discovering that obesity is not a sign of wealth, it's about health", Shchukina says.

Health officials here have become increasingly concerned about the issue. In urban areas just over half of women and a quarter of men were described as either overweight or obese in a 2022 survey. In rural areas the equivalent figures were 39% and 14%.

However, some of Shchukina's patients are also seeking to enhance their appearance, besides their health concerns.

She says that at one time being a "big size" was considered fashionable but "now… the fashion is [to be] slim, tiny… You can see how it is changing."

Beauty expert Yvonne Kanyi says that for women the "pressure" for the "hourglass [figure] and flat stomach" was always there, although access to medical procedures was not.

Kanyi, who runs a skincare and cosmetics business and frequently speaks about beauty and entrepreneurship, says that what has changed is the celebrity culture which has now amplified the trend, "normalising medical intervention as part of maintaining a certain image".

Besides that, more women are now feeling empowered to make decisions about their body "without apology", she tells the BBC.

One of those is Naomi Kuria, a popular content creator who has had medical procedures to lose weight and enhance her looks – and is proud of the outcome.

The 27-year-old's efforts to lose excess weight began in 2024.

She started with gym workouts, but five months later, she realised she was not achieving the results she wanted. She had instead added more weight and was having "serious pain" in her knees.

Alternatives were suggested, including swimming or dieting. But she wanted speedier results.

"How long will I swim to lose a kg really?" she asks. "So I explored other quicker ways to lose weight and then I found out about Ozempic." A fellow content creator talked to her about it and she sought medical advice.

Ozempic is one of several brands, including Mounjaro and Wegovy, that are now being prescribed for long-term weight management.

It contains semaglutide, which is used in the treatment of diabetes.

The medication, administered as an injection, targets hormones that determine how quickly the stomach empties and how full a person feels, helping to regulate appetite.

Kuria says the jab helped her get closer to her ideal weight, losing 11kg (1st 10lb) in about a month and a half.

In Kenya, Ozempic is officially only available on prescription. She says she spent 80,000 Kenyan shillings ($620; £465) on the drug.

Despite experiencing the side-effect of "throwing up like crazy", she felt good afterwards "because every part of my body was really defined".

However, Kuria wanted to go a step further and underwent a procedure, known as an airsculpt, which is a type of liposuction designed to shape the body. This involved removing fat from her stomach and transferring it to her "skinny" legs.

She has faced criticism from her audience for undergoing the procedure, which she feels stems from people "misjudging" her reasons.

Commenters asked her why she went through with it, saying that she already had the "perfect body".

Others questioned why she had spent a total of 700,000 Kenyan shillings ($5,400; £4,000) to change her appearance.

"So you have decided to compete with God," said one person.

But Kuria says these were her own "personal choices," and she is happy with them, even if the barrage of "crazy reactions" did affect her at the beginning.

"I'm trending and everyone is talking about me and not even one person is making a positive comment.

"I got to a place where I was very angry, very angry with people. And I started replying to comments, and if you're rude to me, I get rude to you," she tells the BBC.

Ciru Muriuki, a 43-year-old content creator and journalist also shared her weight-loss experience.

Muriuki told the BBC Focus on Africa podcast: "When I speak to people who are on the heavier side, they talk about being body-shamed, bullied physically and cyber-bullied."

To reduce her own weight, Muriuki first underwent a gastric balloon procedure, in which a silicone balloon is put in the stomach, to limit its capacity and create a feeling of fullness. The balloon is usually removed after six months.

Despite the procedure, her health "was all over the place" in early 2024 following the death of her fiancé.

She said she quickly lost a lot of weight "that wasn't in a healthy way", and then it started rising again.

It was then that she sought weight-loss jabs from a medical professional.

She said this was not about looking for a "series of shortcuts" to get what she wanted.

"It was never like that," she said, fully aware of the criticism that is often directed at people who are seen as finding a quick way to lose weight.

Diet control and exercise have long been recommended as the best ways to manage weight.

But Dr Alvin Mondoh, a Kenyan weight-management specialist, says "people still do need help" through medical intervention, as weight gain can be caused "by factors beyond your control".

Yet he warns that there is a growing concern about the use of weight-loss jabs.

"Unfortunately, what we've seen in the recent past is a growing trend of people using it for vanity reasons," he says.

There are risks, especially if someone tries to avoid the certified clinics and licensed medication and gets something cheaper in an unregulated market.

At the Nairobi Bariatric Center, which offers surgery, weight-loss drugs and counselling, packages cost from 38,000 Kenyan shillings (about $300; £220) to thousands of dollars, with the more expensive procedures beyond the reach of most Kenyans.

Kuria acknowledges that weight-loss procedures are "very costly" - she has spent about $6,000 on both the drugs and the airsculpt.

And she warns people to be aware of the consequences.

"You will [also] pay the cost of recovery, which is not easy. You will pay the cost of stigma, society stigma. It's a shortcut that is never short," she says.

However, she has no regrets.

Mondoh warns that some people's desperation to lose weight can be exploited by scammers.

Last August, the drugs regulator, the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, issued a public safety alert over the use of weight-loss medicines.

"Semaglutide is a prescription-only medicine and its unsupervised or off-label use may result in serious health concerns," it said.

One fitness influencer was warned to stop promoting places where his followers could buy the jabs at a cheaper price.

But given the rise in obesity levels in Kenya, the demand for quick ways to lose weight will not go away.

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

The young women who fought in Ethiopia's last civil war and don't want to see another one

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cyv959eyjgjo, 7 days ago

Twenty-two-year-old Abeba Amdu has seen some of the best years of her life consumed by war - and she has no wish to see another conflict in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, which some fear could be about to break out.

She went to the front lines in 2020 as a Tigrayan soldier to fight in the civil war against the federal army and remains deeply traumatised by her ordeal more than three years after the end of the brutal conflict.

"I lost everything," she tells BBC Tigrinya.

Before the war, Abeba had been a rising football star. Playing since the age of seven, she eventually became a striker for the 70 Enderta female football team at 17.

She saw herself as a feminist, taking on traditional attitudes about women's participation in sport. The teenager was also an outstanding student, studying IT in Tigray's main city of Mekelle, and had a clear vision for her future.

Then the world she knew halted abruptly. First there was the coronavirus pandemic, leading to the suspension of her studies. Then war broke out.

"I was not a believer in war, because I knew what my parents went through," she says.

Abeba was referring to the fact that her mother and father bore the scars of the long and brutal war that finally ended in 1991 with the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) overthrowing Ethiopia's then ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam.

The TPLF went on to dominate the federal government until 2018, when current Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office following huge demonstrations against its repressive rule.

The TPLF then retreated to its stronghold of Tigray, and had a massive fall-out with Abiy over the future direction of the country.

Conflict between the two sides then broke out in 2020, with neighbouring Eritrea entering the war on the side of the federal army.

It ended two years later following a peace deal brokered by the African Union (AU). Its envoy, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, put the number of people who died in the conflict at around 600,000.

For Abeba, the call to arms was not just a choice: it was an inheritance of duty.

Growing up in a household steeped in the lore of the TPLF, she was raised on stories of her father's sacrifices from 50 years ago fighting the Mengistu regime. Patriotism and commitment were the very fabric of her upbringing.

But her decision to join the TPLF's armed wing, the Tigray Defence Forces (TDF), was also a desperate response to the fear of being raped as she became aware of women who were sexually abused by the "enemy".

"The perpetrators did not come for one person; I would have had the same fate as the victims. It was the whole situation that forced me to fight."

The thrill of sport gave way to the reality of war. There was constant hunger and a lack of basic necessities, including sanitary pads.

However, the end of the war did not bring the peace Abeba had expected. Returning to her family and her career proved to be its own kind of battlefield.

"Both my body and my mind are traumatised."

She finds herself struggling with isolation - feeling misunderstood by those who had not shared her experience.

"It's now that I understand my father's character - the character of a fighter has a sense of anger. I realise now that it was because he never healed."

Abeba describes a cycle of grief and friction - arguing with loved ones, quitting jobs, and crying in solitude.

The focus required for professional football had evaporated. Though she attempted to return to training, the weight of the "wasted years" made it impossible to reclaim her former edge.

To channel her pain into something productive, Abeba worked briefly as a journalist and also launched "Wegahta," a women's project aimed at mentoring 30 teenage footballers.

She hoped to foster the next generation of players, but financial constraints eventually stalled the initiative.

Ultimately, Abeba views these efforts as a search for a sanctuary rather than a simple career move: "I'm doing all this to find a hiding place."

Abeba's greatest fear is that war could break out again.

In late January brief clashes were reported between federal troops and Tigrayan fighters, who are demanding the return of areas seized by the neighbouring Amhara region during the conflict.

Drone strikes hit Tigray and flights to regional cities were suspended for nearly a week.

The federal government has also accused Eritrea of meddling in the region but this time backing Tigrayan forces. Eritrea denies the allegation.

For its part, the TPLF accuses the federal government of deploying troops near Tigray's borders in preparation for fresh fighting, while Abiy accuses the group of siphoning state funds to sustain its forces.

"Right now, I see fear everywhere - the fear of another conflict," Abeba says.

"I don't believe war is necessary. We have seen that in the end, it is negotiation - not combat - that provides the solution."

Selam Hailu, a 30-year-old lawyer and mother of two, is also a veteran of the war front and echoes these sentiments.

She joined the fight in September 2021 when, she notes, she was already a mother, her eldest child just five years old.

Her reason was deeply personal. Her parents, retired government employees who had already joined the war, returned exhausted and in a bad condition.

Seeing their plight and hearing their accounts of "sexual violence and mass killings", Selam says she felt compelled to act, and along with her younger sister, she went to join the Tigrayan forces.

Like other women, they first received short but intensive military training.

Selam found life in the mountains of Tigray challenging: "For me it was difficult to urinate in the wild."

The hardship was compounded by sexism.

"No-one understands when we are menstruating and our behaviour changes," Selam explains.

The most insidious battle, however, was the military leadership.

"The problems within the army were that they did not believe that a woman was talented, capable," she says.

She noticed that a teenage female fighter who was "not afraid of a bullet, was afraid of an officer's word or punishment", and many of them remained silent when coerced into relationships.

As she was older and a lawyer, she spoke out against such "unprincipled relationships" - and was punished by being detained for a night.

Selam also worries that war could break out again: "Young people are fleeing the city by any means, legal or illegal. We can see the terror written on everyone's faces.

"People are hoarding whatever they can, convinced that their savings are all that stands between them and total ruin.

"No-one needs peace more than we do - we simply cannot afford another sacrifice."

For 30-year-old Rahwa Gebremedhin, a lecturer at Mekelle University, the war felt like an intrusion on her hopes rather than a meaningful political cause.

Her professional life had just started, and she had the aspirations of her generation, to have a house, a car, and children.

However, she joined Tigrayan forces because of the atrocities committed by "enemy forces".

"I was shocked by the killings. I was angry because women were sexually assaulted, everything was being destroyed."

As an academic, her military knowledge came from war films.

"It was difficult, mastering the landscape, arming, training," she says.

The emotional and psychological toll of the war was immense, and the transition back to civilian life has proved challenging.

"You can see all the symptoms of PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] from me. Every woman was traumatised.

"I got back to my lecturing job, but it's not the same. I don't feel anything.

"I'm just trying to survive."

More BBC stories on Tigray and the conflict:

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

The devastating conflict where both sides have reasons to keep fighting

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czx70y0l75wo, 8 days ago

On Sunday 1 February, a yellow, blue and white Sudan Airways jet landed on the runway at Khartoum International Airport. As 160 passengers stepped off the aircraft, they cheered, hugged each other and took selfies. This was only the second commercial flight to arrive in the city since 2023 - a significant milestone given the continued threat of drone attacks in a country riven by civil war.

Weeks earlier, Sudan's prime minister had declared 2026 would be "the year of peace". Kamil Idris spoke in January as the military-led government announced its ministries would return to the country's shattered capital.

Almost a year ago I saw Khartoum for myself - driving carefully around unexploded munitions on the tarmac, touring the wrecked passenger halls in the airport's terminal, just days after Sudan's army recaptured it from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The city had been the epicentre of a civil war that erupted in April nearly three years ago, leaving its centre a burnt-out shell and exiling the government to the safer haven of Port Sudan on the Red Sea.

The devastation was stunning: government ministries, banks and towering office blocks stood blackened and burned.

I toured the shattered presidential palace, even now still too damaged to be used, and the British embassy, its pockmarked, bullet-proof glass bearing testimony to intense fire fights, its rooms looted.

It felt then like a seismic moment in a war that has inflicted epic destruction, death, famine and human rights violations on civilians, plunging Sudan into what the UN has called "an abyss of unfathomable proportions".

On a later trip, I went to a tent camp in army-controlled territory to speak with people who'd managed to escape the fall of el-Fasher in October and heard stories of mass killings and sexual violence.

The takeover of the city in the western Darfur region was a major victory for the RSF. But the evidence of atrocities carried out by its fighters was such that it triggered an international outcry.

For a moment then, too, it had seemed that world powers might finally intervene to stop the endless suffering.

Yet despite the condemnations and expressions of horror, nothing changed and fighting continues to rage away from the capital - with the rest of the world's attention focused elsewhere on air strikes across the Middle East.

As the start of Sudan's dreadful conflict approaches its third anniversary, the flight may have offered a glimpse of normality - but the fundamentals underpinning the fighting remain untouched. So if international outrage has not been enough to overcome them, what could actually compel both sides to end the civil war?

Near-constant fighting

Sudan has been at war in some form or another most of the time since its independence from British colonial rule in 1956 – 58 out of the past 70 years.

But the previous conflicts were fought on the periphery, away from Khartoum. This one has torn through the country's core, displacing unprecedented numbers of people, hardening divisions and threatening to split the nation.

It started as a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF, a paramilitary force appointed by and loyal to the country's long-time former military ruler Omar al-Bashir, who was deposed in 2019 following widespread public protests.

Bashir had empowered Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, to run the RSF as a praetorian guard to protect him against possible challenges from within the army.

Following Bashir's departure, tensions between Hemedti and the army chief Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan erupted into wider violence.

At first "there was a consensus that this is not a Sudanese war but a war within the security state", says the Sudanese political analyst Kholood Khair, founder of the Confluence Advisory think tank.

But then both sides broadened their coalitions and grafted their narratives onto grievances as old as the foundation of the state.

These are rooted in an embedded culture of cronyism and kleptocracy that sees Sudan's military controlling vast amounts of the country's economy. Hemedti, a camel trader turned successful businessman, accrued much wealth from his position as head of a powerful paramilitary force.

But as someone from the western Darfur region, he positioned himself as the champion of the disgruntled and of deprived areas beyond the capital.

He now frames the conflict in existential terms, declaring the RSF a revolutionary force aiming to dismantle the "1956 state" - shorthand for the military-dominated state apparatus - and to start again with its own self-declared rival government headquartered in Darfur.

The Sudanese Armed Forces also define the war as an existential struggle, a rebellion by a "terrorist militia".

"There is strong resistance within the army to legitimise the RSF in any way, including by accepting its control of territory through a ceasefire agreement," says Ahmed Soliman, a senior Horn of Africa researcher at the UK's Chatham House think tank.

Both sides have weaponised long-standing ethnic divides between the nomadic Arabs in the south and west – who form the core of RSF support – and the Nile Valley Arabs from cities and farms, who rule the country.

A regional history of ethnic violence in Darfur has also been reignited, with RSF Arab militias massacring non-Arab populations in atrocities that UN experts say show "hallmarks" of genocide.

On top of this, the war is being fuelled by foreign powers who have a direct stake in the outcome or see the conflict as a way to expand their influence.

There is widely documented evidence that the United Arab Emirates supplies weapons to the RSF – something Abu Dhabi officially denies.

Sudan's military has deployed Turkish and Iranian drones, and it has received political and other backing from Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

A roadmap towards peace

Many think the best diplomatic hope is talks by the so-called Quad nations - the United States, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt. This is a mechanism "to mediate between regional actors more so than it is the warring parties", says Chatham House's Soliman. But there are enormous obstacles to reaching an agreement.

The RSF has verbally accepted a Quad roadmap for peace beginning with a humanitarian truce, but neither side has formally responded and fighting has accelerated rather than abated.

Burhan, the army chief, says he cannot agree to the plan unless the RSF accepts conditions that amount to surrender. The army also opposes the involvement in the talks of the UAE, which it accuses of backing the RSF.

Furthermore, the roadmap explicitly rejects any Islamist influence in Sudan's future. Analysts such as Soliman see Abu Dhabi's hand here, as the Emiratis have made their antipathy to an Islamist-controlled government clear - a sentiment shared by many anti-war Sudanese civilians.

It's widely believed that's one of the reasons the UAE is motivated to back the RSF.

Islamist militias are an important part of the army war effort. And the Islamist establishment, although weakened by the 2019 revolution, still has influence.

That makes it difficult for Burhan to accept these terms.

US envoy Massad Boulos says he has a revised plan and is "cautiously optimistic" of getting agreement soon on a humanitarian truce.

Stopping the weapons

But for a ceasefire to hold it would have to be accompanied by an agreement that regional backers stop arming the parties - and that will not be easy to achieve.

"Obviously, trying to produce a ceasefire when everyone's pouring weapons into the country doesn't work," says Alan Boswell, Horn of Africa analyst for the International Crisis Group.

Official ambiguity over the role of the UAE makes it a difficult part of the equation to solve.

Numerous investigative reports citing flight data and satellite images have documented the Emiratis' involvement in transferring weapons and mercenaries to RSF-controlled territory, with evidence the UN has called credible.

But Abu Dhabi forcefully denies this – and has told the BBC it "categorically rejects allegations that it has provided, financed, transported or facilitated any weapons, ammunition, drones, vehicles, guided munitions or other military equipment to the RSF, whether directly or indirectly".

The UAE has called for a full arms embargo across Sudan, something army supporters reject because they argue it creates parity between a militia and a national government, says Boswell.

"Those are the sort of bogs this ends up getting stuck in," he says.

Abu Dhabi's role came under increasing scrutiny after the RSF capture of el-Fasher following an 18-month siege, during which its forces recorded their own mass killings of unarmed people amid widespread accounts of sexual violence and detentions.

Just days after the city fell, I joined a call with seasoned humanitarian activists who were seething with anger and clear about which steps should be taken.

"The UAE cares immensely about how it curates its global reputation," says Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International. "The strongest point of leverage that Washington or anyone has is to puncture that public image. And so the US should be calling that out."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio came close to doing so.

"We know who the parties are that are involved (in weapons supply)," he said in November. "That's why they're part of the Quad along with other countries involved. Pressure is being applied to the relevant parties."

But Rubio did not name the party, and analysts agree the Trump administration is unlikely to do so, let alone apply pressure by targeting the UAE's assets, as suggested by advocacy groups.

"It's quite a difficult circle to square for them," says Khair, the Sudanese political analyst. "The US has to figure out how to allay the concerns of, as well as appease, its foreign friends who are actively involved in this war, in particular Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. And it hasn't yet figured out how to do that."

Soliman says that the US government has been "hedging its bets because it doesn't really want to choose between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which would damage wider relationships" with the countries involved.

A pawn on the international chessboard?

The search for a solution is made harder by tussles involving nearby powers – with some analysts comparing Sudan's war to a modern-day scramble for Africa.

And the landscape has become even more tricky in recent months, as other members of the Quad become more actively involved in the war.

Egypt has begun bombing RSF supply convoys and other targets with a powerful model of Turkish combat drone from a remote airstrip near its south-western border with Sudan, according to investigations carried out by the New York Times and the Reuters News agency – something on which Cairo has not commented.

The escalation came after fighting moved closer to Egypt's border.

It may also have been influenced by more muscular support for the army from Saudi Arabia, as Riyadh seeks to push back on Emirati influence in the region.

Tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been building and in December relations between the two Gulf powers ruptured over the conflict in Yemen - with potential consequences for any chance of a solution in Sudan.

How to bring peace

To achieve peace, talks would have to deal with the root causes of the conflict - particularly the fact that both sides have reasons why it might suit them for the war to continue.

If a ceasefire could be agreed, in the short term it could provide some respite to the civilians trapped in the world's worst humanitarian crisis – including 25 million people facing acute food shortages and 12 million people displaced.

But many fear it wouldn't lead to lasting peace.

"I don't really see a humanitarian truce working," says Boswell.

"It's become so existential that neither party would agree to stop their operations unless it was part of a broader deal that sorted out the most important questions of what comes next, because neither side would trust the other to actually stop."

And although this is a national struggle between two powerhouses of Sudan's security state, it is being driven at the local level by marginalised ethnic groups – allied to the RSF – who see it as their chance to get better access to resources and better representation, or just to get their slice of the war economy.

At the same time, the Islamist establishment has seen opportunity in the war.

"They don't want it to end before they've positioned themselves for a comeback," says Kholood Khair.

There is also the question of accountability. The army and the paramilitaries, along with their allied militias, all stand accused of war crimes, ethnically targeted atrocities and the mass killings of civilians - raising the prospect of post-war prosecutions for military leaders.

So political negotiations would most likely need to include a formula for armed actors to retain some of their gains and soften some of the consequences of laying down their weapons. But even this might not be enough.

Civilian rule – the stated goal of the Quad roadmap – would also mean a loss of income for the security forces, Khair adds.

"A permanent end to the conflict would require demilitarising Sudan and a new constitution that enshrines rights and access to resources," she says, but these "are precisely the things that the security complex in Sudan does not want".

Effective and dedicated mediation would also be required. But while the Trump administration has made serious efforts, its staying power and attention span are in question.

"The US isn't going to be involved in a peace process for the long haul," says Soliman. "And nobody else is presenting a coherent follow-up mechanism."

The big fear

In September 2024 I asked a senior Sudanese defence official how long he thought the war would last – ominously, he compared the conflict to America's 20-year battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

He needn't have looked that far afield. History shows all of Sudan's wars have been long - one of them lasted more than 20 years.

But another protracted conflict could bring with it new dangers – including the potential for the country to split, or fragment.

"We're only in year three of this war," says Khair. "If it continues for another 10, 15, 20 years, as history tells us is likely, then we could see the balkanisation of Sudan."

That is a worrying scenario for the entire region.

Already the conflict has drawn in Sudan's neighbours - all seven of them are hosting Sudanese refugees. There's evidence some are serving as conduits for RSF weapons and other supplies, as well as warning signs that the violence could cross borders and aggravate internal tensions.

Perhaps the dangers of a destructive stalemate might eventually lead the powerful backers of Sudan's warring parties to rethink their strategies, says Soliman.

"A fragmented, insecure and highly unstable Sudan is not beneficial to them," he says. "That's the one grain I hope will push the regional actors to come together at some point to make some concessions and chart a way forward. I don't envisage anything else being feasible."

Kidnapping of foreigners soars in Africa's lawless Sahel region

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0lj18d5lx3o, 11 days ago

When Marin Petrović arrived in Bamako in early September last year, he was elated. The Bosnian national had spent years applying for tourist visas to Mali, only to be repeatedly denied on security grounds.

The West African country has long been afflicted by civil war, foreign military interventions, and Islamist insurgencies.

"Now it was finally approved and I couldn't wait to start this trip," he wrote in Bosnian in a public Instagram post on 15 November 2025.

Petrović declined to speak to the BBC for this article.

The plan was to visit some of the country's dramatic landmarks, before returning home. In Bamako, Petrović enjoyed the sights and sounds of markets, busy roads, schools, and even sampled some local beers, according to the post.

"The next day I set off for Mopti, known for its 100-year-old mud mosque," he continued, referring to the Grand Mosque of Mopti, a 15m (49ft) tall architectural feat made from mud bricks.

On Instagram, Petrović describes himself as a "mountain rescue" expert and "guide", whose motto is not to "dream your life", but to "live your dream". But before Petrović could continue his dream of exploring Mali's ancient treasures, his trip took an unexpected turn.

"An armed attack takes place on the road between Bla and San," he says in the same Instagram post.

"Six motorbikes with two long-bearded terrorists, each armed with Kalashnikovs, surround the vehicle and drag me into the bushes, along non-existent paths through the undergrowth, through swamps, far from the main road… I was kidnapped by al-Qaeda jihadists!!!"

Petrović had become the latest victim of a concerning trend for foreign travellers and expatriate workers in West Africa's Sahel region.

His story is not unusual. In 2025, growing insecurity and new jihadist tactics led to a notable increase in high-profile abductions of foreign nationals in the Sahel.

The latest data from Acled, an independent global conflict monitor, shows a considerable increase in the kidnapping of foreigners in Mali and Niger in 2025, compared to previous years.

There were 30 separate kidnapping events affecting foreigners by the end of November, and the number for the whole year is likely to be even higher.

Some cases of kidnapping received considerable international media attention. Two citizens of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - one of whom is thought to be a member of the Emirati royal family - were kidnapped in Mali in late September.

The purpose of their visit and the exact circumstances of their abduction remain murky. Some local media outlets suggested that at least one of the men was involved in a business venture, possibly gold mining.

The Emiratis were not held for long, however. Just over a month later, the men had been released in exchange for a multi-million dollar ransom, with Reuters reporting that $50m (£37m) had exchanged hands.

"Royal ransoms, a top money-maker for Mali's jihadist kidnappers," ran one headline.

Other especially high-profile cases took place in Niger: 73-year-old Austrian national Eva Gretzmacher and US civilian pilot Kevin Rideout. Both were involved in humanitarian work and kidnapped from their homes.

Gretzmacher is thought to be the first EU citizen to be kidnapped since Niger's 2023 military coup, underlining the sharp security deterioration experienced in the country since the military takeover.

The majority of kidnappings on the continent are of African nationals - numbers range into the thousands every year, driven by forced disappearances and banditry such as in Nigeria, where last year saw one of the worst single incidents of kidnapping on record.

But analysis by BBC Monitoring of high-profile kidnapping in Africa has shown that, in terms of numbers, Chinese workers bore the brunt of foreign abductions.

Approximately 70% of cases tracked across the continent occurred in the Sahel countries of Mali and Niger.

Out of a total 89 foreigners kidnapped, 38 held Chinese passports - significantly higher than the next most common nationality, those from India who number 14.

Most of these individuals were working in Mali's gold-rich south-western regions of Kayes, Sikasso, and Koulikoro, where Chinese companies have been expanding their operations amidst soaring gold prices.

The overwhelming culprit for last year's spike was al-Qaeda affiliate Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), which was behind a surge in jihadist attacks sweeping across several West African nations last year, especially Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

By some estimates, ransoms could represent as much as 40% of JNIM's yearly revenue, according to the think-tank Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).

Foreign nationals are thought to be especially valuable to JNIM because they generate higher ransoms than locals, in addition to giving the group a stronger footing to negotiate with other conflict actors, such as the Malian government.

"Ransom is an obvious incentive for the group," explained Héni Nsaibia, Acled's West Africa senior analyst.

"But I think it fits more into broader economic warfare, and it has had direct ramifications for bilateral relations."

Since September last year, JNIM has been attacking fuel tankers heading to Mali's capital, Bamako, effectively choking the city of the essential import and bringing many activities there to a standstill.

Nsaibia believes that kidnapping is another way to put pressure on the Malian economy, with the ultimate aim of undermining the military government which seized power in 2020.

According to Nsaibia, Chinese workers are an obvious target for JNIM, both to deprive the regime of resources and to undermine its ties with China.

"The Chinese are heavily involved in co-operation with Malian state. They run mining sites, industry, construction," he told the BBC.

The militants' ultimate aim is to make it too costly and dangerous for foreign companies to invest in Mali.

Petrović spent more than a month as JNIM's prisoner.

"I slept on the hard ground for 55 nights, 55 days boiling water from a pond where cattle defecate in order to survive, eating dry rice and nothing else. I woke up to the sounds of all kinds of animals, mostly wolves and hyenas, and every day I killed scorpions around the place where I slept," he said in a follow-up post on 16 November.

In some moments, Petrović even managed to see the humanity in his captors, despite his discomfort and constant fear of being killed.

"I realised that, as incredible as it may sound, there are nice people in al-Qaeda, bearded men who, no matter how cold they may be on the outside, open up their souls after a while," he wrote.

"No matter how much they hide behind long beards and powerful guns, no matter how primitive and uneducated they may be, many of them have a heart."

Fortunately for Petrović, his traumatic ordeal had a happy ending. JNIM released him and one other Bosnian national in late October, after 50 days in captivity.

The release occurred without a ransom being paid, according to Nsaibia, who is an authority on kidnapping in the region.

Petrović has not publicly posted about the details of his release but said that he managed to survive thanks to his mountain rescue experience and by "'playing the game' persistently and convincingly from beginning to end".

Nsaibia believes that JNIM released the Bosnians without ransom because the group is on the charm offensive towards the West and is generally making concerted efforts not to kidnap or kill American or Europeans.

This makes a notable change from previous years, when al-Qaeda-linked militants targeted many Westerners in the region, including British gas-plant workers in Algeria.

"They avoid it to build credibility among international stakeholders and for the international community," Nsaibia said.

Another factor may be that China does little to intervene or apply diplomatic pressure in cases where their nationals are kidnapped, according to the analyst.

However, there are some recent signs of a shift in tone from the Chinese government.

One reported incident on 27 November, in which six Chinese workers were said to be kidnapped, was shortly followed by a statement from the Chinese embassy in Mali warning against "illegal" - presumably meaning artisanal - gold mining operations in Mali, and asking Chinese citizens to close their operations and evacuate personnel.

The Chinese embassy in Mali has not responded to the BBC's request for comment.

Other victims have not been as lucky as Petrović.

The now 74-year-old Austrian Eva Greztmacher remains in captivity, more than a year after her kidnapping.

Her son Christoph Gretzmacher is worried about how much longer his elderly mother can cope with the extreme conditions of the desert.

"Temperatures of up to 50C [122F] pose a life-threatening risk even for people with many years of experience in the region," he told a regional Austrian newspaper in January, as part of a media push to raise awareness of his mother's plight around the anniversary of her abduction.

Christoph told the BBC that he was wary of giving further interviews while the dust settled on his most recent media push to ensure that "the case didn't fade from public attention".

"Right now, I need to wait and see how that pressure translates into concrete movement, while also gathering fresh information from the region and observing how the different key players are repositioning themselves," he explained.

"Ultimately, this is about one human life and the responsibility that comes with it. I remain committed to doing everything I can - carefully, responsibly and in co-ordination with those involved - to help bring my mother home safely."

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

Madagascar military leader sacks cabinet in surprise move

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c39wywm298lo, 3 days ago

Madagascar's military ruler Col Michael Randrianirina has dissolved the government unexpectedly, dismissing the prime minister and the entire cabinet, according to a statement from his spokesperson.

"The government has ceased its functions" it said, adding that Randrianirina will appoint a new prime minister "in line with the provisions stipulated by the constitution".

No reason was given for the move.

Randrianirina seized power last October from Andry Rajoelina, following weeks of youth-led protests on the Indian Ocean island. Rajoelina had been elected president for a third term in a disputed poll in 2023.

The demonstrations were over persistent power and water shortages, culminating in the army siding with the demonstrators.

Randrianirina has pledged to call new elections within two years.

Last December, the regional bloc, the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), directed Madagascar's military authorities to submit a roadmap for restoring democracy including plans for fresh elections by the end of February.

But in a surprise on Monday, Randrianirina sacked his entire government and assigned permanent secretaries to run ministries' day-to-day operations until a new cabinet is formed.

Randrianirina has not explained the motivation for the mass sackings, but leaders of the Gen Z movement, whose grassroots mobilisation helped bring the military leader to power, have called for more inclusiveness in the transition process and greater representation in decision-making structures.

Activist groups, calling themselves Gen Z and Gen Y movements, had recently issued a 72-hour ultimatum for Randrianirina's resignation, citing frustration with his performance, local media reported.

Businessman Herintsalama Rajaonarivelo had been appointed prime minister in October in an effort to bridge the divide between military leadership and civilian government.

The the Gen Z movement leaders rejected his appointment at the time, saying it was made in a "non-transparent" manner and "without consultation".

The group demanded to know how Rajaonarivelo was selected given what it said were his connection to the previous government.

They then said that the decision "runs contrary to the desired structural change" the movement was seeking.

Monday's dissolution of the government could mark a significant shift in the country's political landscape with the military leader seeking to establish a new administration.

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

Guinea opposition leader urges 'direct resistance' after 40 parties dissolved

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjrqg80y57po, 4 days ago

Guinea's main opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo has said that "direct resistance" to the country's coup leader–turned–president is now the only remaining path to change, after the authorities dissolved 40 political parties.

The authorities accused the parties of not complying with the law - a charge they have rejected.

The move comes two months after former junta head Mamady Doumbouya was sworn-in as president, following an election that saw some key challengers barred from running.

Doumbouya, who came to power in 2021 after overthrowing Condé, has been accused of cracking down on democratic freedoms.

Among the parties dissolved were the the Rally of the People of Guinea of former President Alpha Condé and Diallo's Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea. Diallo is currently in exile.

Late last Friday, Guinea's ministry of territorial administration and decentralisation announced in a decree that the headquarters and local offices of 40 political parties would be closed, and their logos, acronyms and other symbols banned from use.

The parties' assets have been confiscated and all offices sealed.

The ministry said the parties had failed to comply with legal requirements, including submitting mandatory financial statements. Several of the dissolved groups have rejected the allegations, insisting they met all obligations under the law, the Reuters news agency reported.

In a video statement released on social media on Sunday, Diallo said the decree showed that "war has been openly declared" on those challenging President Doumbouya.

He said political change would not happen through dialogue or democratic processes.

"The head of the junta and his malevolent clique want to rewrite the country's history by erasing from the political landscape all forces likely to overshadow his nascent one-party state," he added.

Jean-Marc Telliano, a former minister and president of the Rally for the Integrated Development of Guinea, also criticised the decision. Reuters quoted him as saying that his party would fight to assert its rights and "will use all legal means to have our rights restored''.

The dissolution of the parties comes two months ahead of legislative elections, another major step on the transition from military to civilian rule.

Guinea's move follows a similar decision in Burkina Faso, where authorities banned all political parties on 29 January as the junta there sought to consolidate power in the coup-hit nation.

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

China approves 'ethnic unity' law requiring minorities to learn Mandarin

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp9meeek051o, today

China has approved a sweeping new law which claims to help promote "ethnic unity" - but critics say it will further erode the rights of minority groups.

On paper, it aims to promote integration among the 56 officially recognised ethnic groups, dominated by the Han Chinese, through education and housing. But critics say it cuts people off from their language and culture.

It mandates that all children should be taught Mandarin before kindergarten and up until the end of high school. Previously students could study most of the curriculum in their native language such as Tibetan, Uyghur or Mongolian.

The law was approved on Thursday as the annual rubber-stamp parliamentary session drew to an end.

"The law is consistent with a dramatic recent policy shift, to suppress the ethnic diversity formally recognised since 1949," Magnus Fiskesjö, an associate professor of anthropology at Cornell University said in a university report.

"The children of the next generation are now isolated and brutally forced to forget their own language and culture."

However, Beijing argues that teaching the next generation Mandarin will help their job prospects.

It also says the law for "Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress" is crucial for promoting "modernisation through greater unity".

The law was voted and passed on Thursday at the National People's Congress in Beijing, which has never rejected an item on its agenda.

The law also provides a legal basis to prosecute parents or guardians who may instil what it described as "detrimental" views in children which would affect ethnic harmony and it calls for "mutually embedded community environments" which some analysts believe could result in the break up of minority-heavy neighbourhoods.

The Chinese government started to push for what it describes as the "sinicisation" of minority groups in the late 2000s and create a more unified national identity by assimilating ethnic groups into the dominant Han culture.

Han Chinese make up more than 90% of the country's 1.4 billion people.

Beijing has long been accused of restricting the rights of minority ethnic groups in regions like Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia.

Critics say assimilation has often been forced on people in these places - a state-led policy that has accelerated under Chinese leader Xi Jinping who has taken a harder line on dissent and protests, especially in areas home to minority ethnic groups,

In Tibet, the authorities have arrested monks, and taken control of monasteries to ensure they do not worship the Dalai Lama.

When the BBC visited a monastery that had been at heart of Tibetan resistance in July last year, monks spoke of living under fear and intimidation.

"We Tibetans are denied basic human rights. The Chinese government continues to oppress and persecute us. It is not a government that serves the people," one of them told us.

In Xinjiang, human rights groups have documented the detention of a million Uyghur Muslims in what the Chinese government calls camps for "re-education", while the UN has accused Beijing of grave human rights violations.

The BBC's reporting from 2021 and 2022 found evidence supporting the existence of detention camps, and allegations of sexual abuse and forced sterilisation, which Beijing denies.

In 2020, ethnic Mongolians in northern China staged rare rallies against measures to reduce teaching in the Mongolian language in favour of Mandarin.

Parents even held children back in protest at the policy as some ethnic Mongolians viewed the move as a threat to their cultural identity. Authorities moved quickly to crackdown on what it saw as dissent.

The Communist Party says it embraces different ethnicities. The country's constitution states that "each ethnicity has the right to use and develop their own language" and "have the right to self-rule".

But critics believe this new law will cement Xi's push toward assimilation.

"The law makes it clearer than ever that in Xi Jinping's PRC non-Han peoples must do more to integrate themselves with the Han majority, and above all else be loyal to Beijing," Allen Carlson, an associate professor of government at Cornell University said, referencing China by the initials of its official name.

This focus on development and prosperity is "telling", Professor Ian Chong of the National University of Singapore told the BBC.

"It is easy to read this language as meaning that minority languages and cultures are backward and impediments to advancement."

Xi's approach towards minorities is "consistent with his idea of creating a great and strong Chinese nation with a northern Han core... minorities are seen as branching off from that core, and hence in some ways derivative," he adds.

"In practice, this has prompted concerns about further rounds of increasing control, diminution, and even crackdowns on minority cultures and languages."

'The situation is dire': War on Iran squeezes India's cooking-gas supplies

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2xg0p4y84o, today

The shockwaves of a war being fought nearly 3,000km away are now reaching India's kitchens.

As the US-Israeli strikes on Iran disrupt energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, supplies of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) are tightening across India, forcing restaurants to cut menus, shorten hours and in some cases shut down altogether.

Social media is awash with video clips showing queues outside cooking-gas dealers across Indian cities and towns as worries over fuel supplies spread. Commercial LPG users appear the worst hit: the sharpest squeeze is in restaurant kitchens.

"The situation is dire. Cooking gas simply isn't available," says Manpreet Singh of the National Restaurant Association of India, which represents about 500,000 restaurants.

Most eateries run either on commercial LPG cylinders or piped gas, he says, and the shortages are now being felt across the country. "A lot of restaurants have closed - some in Delhi, many in the south [of the country]. People are switching to coal and wood and electric cookers to keep kitchens going."

In Mumbai, media reports say up to a fifth of hotels and restaurants are already fully or partly shut as commercial LPG supplies tighten. In the southern cities of Bengaluru and Chennai, some eateries say their gas stocks have dwindled with little backup. "We can only make coffee and nothing else - it is nothing less than pathetic. Businesses are going to suffer," says Haroon Sait, who runs an artisan bakery and restaurant chain in Bengaluru.

Restaurant operators are scrambling to adapt. "Menus are being curtailed, some are cutting lunch service and opening only for dinner," Singh says, adding that closures are fluctuating as supplies ebb and flow. "Three restaurants in Delhi were shut yesterday - two have already reopened. It's a fluid situation."

Retailers report a surge in sales of electric cookers, with some saying they are running out of them.

Yet, the government insists there is no shortage.

India has more than 300 million domestic LPG users and officials say supplies are being redirected to households as tensions from the war in the Gulf ripple through energy markets.

Roughly 60% of India's LPG is imported, and about 90% of those shipments pass through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow Gulf chokepoint now effectively closed by the conflict.

The oil ministry says that it ordered refineries on 8 March to maximise LPG output for household consumption, lifting domestic production by about 25%. Non-domestic supply is being prioritised for essential sectors such as hospitals and educational institutions, while distribution will be "fair and transparent".

"Some panic booking and hoarding has been triggered by misinformation. The normal delivery cycle for domestic LPG remains about two-and-a-half days," says Sujata Sharma, a senior official in the petroleum ministry.

Now the anxiety is spreading beyond kitchens. On X, a widely shared video from Chennai shows a long, snaking queue of motorbikes outside a petrol pump. "The panic is real," the caption reads.

According to data from Kpler, maritime intelligence firm, concerns about India's broader fuel supplies may be overstated.

India imports 90% of its oil. Around half of its crude oil imports - about 2.5-2.7 million barrels a day - travel through the strait, largely from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.

Even if crude flows through the Strait of Hormuz are disrupted, the gap could be partly offset by higher imports of discounted Russian crude, according to Sumit Ritolia, a refinery and oil markets analyst at Kpler.

Based on vessel tracking and credible market sources, Kpler says incremental Russian crude imports in March could reach around 1-1.2 million barrels a day, narrowing India's effective shortfall from exposure to the Strait of Hormuz to about 1.6 million barrels a day.

"Around 25-30 million Russian oil barrels are currently floating on ships in the Indian Ocean and, with only India and China as major buyers, those barrels remain a ready fallback," Ritola told me earlier this week.

That flexibility has not gone unnoticed in Washington. US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said in a post on X that India had been "a great partner in maintaining stable oil prices around the world", adding that the US recognises the country's continued purchases of Russian crude as part of that effort.

That's not all. India is also one of the world's largest exporters of refined fuels. In 2025, its net exports of refined products averaged about 1.1 million barrels a day, and refiners have increasingly diversified crude sourcing from alternative suppliers.

"This means that refined product supply for domestic demand remains comfortable, and there are currently no indications that India will struggle to meet internal consumption requirements," says Ritola.

The real vulnerability is LPG, analysts say.

India consumes roughly one million barrels a day, but produces only 40-45% domestically, importing the rest - 80–90% of it through Hormuz.

Refineries can tweak operations to squeeze out a bit more LPG, but even a 10-20% boost would only lift domestic supply to about 47-50% of demand, leaving the country heavily reliant on imports, according to Ritola.

In short: "Crude supply risk can be partially mitigated through diversification and Russia flows. Refined product supply remains relatively comfortable. LPG availability is the real variable to monitor in the coming weeks."

What may be intensifying the anxiety on the ground is not just tight supply but patchy deliveries - and the familiar spectre of hoarding.

Singh of the National Restaurant Association of India alleges opportunistic profiteering.

"Retailers are misusing the situation - black-marketing cylinders and selling them at a premium. In one small town, I heard of cylinders being hoarded and auctioned off."

For now, India's oil supplies may be cushioned by global trade flows. But in kitchens across the country, the more immediate question is simple: how to get the next cylinder.

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Bodies of two Chinese backpackers found in Australian floodwaters

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2k872k980po, today

The bodies of two Chinese backpackers who went missing in floodwaters in Queensland have been recovered, Australian police have said.

The 26-year-old man and 23-year-old woman, who were driving from Brisbane to the North Burnett region, were reported missing on Tuesday when they failed to reach their destination.

Police said they had found their silver Subaru Forester near the town of Kilkivan near Gympie on Wednesday afternoon, after a largescale search by officers, the State Emergency Service and helicopters.

On Thursday they said two bodies had been found inside the vehicle, which was submerged in floodwaters. Next of kin had been notified and police were working with the Chinese consulate.

Gympie mayor Glen Hartwig said the two deaths were an "absolute tragedy".

"These people have come to Australia to see our beautiful country… and tragically they've ended up losing their lives," he told the ABC.

There have been major flood warnings in place across Queensland and parts of the Northern Territory (NT) over the past several days, with some river levels still increasing due to heavy rain.

Hundreds of homes have been flooded in towns including the Queensland coastal town of Bundaberg, and Katherine in the NT. Crocodiles have been spotted in some floodwaters with residents warned to stay out of them.

In Darwin, people have been asked to reduce water consumption and boil drinking water after the pump station at the dam that supplies most of the city's water was flooded and stopped working.

UK couple die after being pulled from water at Australian beach

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce8n52p3mr4o, yesterday

A couple from the UK have died at a beach in New South Wales, Australia, after being pulled from the water, police have said.

Emergency services were called at around 11:10 local time (00:10 GMT) on Wednesday to Shellharbour beach after reports two people were struggling in the water.

"Members of the public pulled a 66-year-old man and 64-year-old woman from the water and commenced CPR," New South Wales Police said.

Police added that paramedics continued to attempt resuscitation but the married couple died at the scene.

The Foreign Office said it was supporting the family of two British nationals who died in New South Wales and were in contact with local authorities.

Lake Illawarra Police district inspector Luke Geradts spoke to local media on Wednesday, calling the incident "tragic" as he sent condolences to the family of the couple.

"I want to take the opportunity to commend the members of the public in particular who assisted in the initial response including two female off-duty nurses and a young male who pulled the couple from the water and gave the couple the best chance for survival," he said.

"Although a tragic outcome today, their efforts are to be commended and really did give the couple the best chance."

Geradts added that the incident was a timely reminder of the "dangers and the unpredictability of the ocean".

A report will be prepared for the coroner.

India's top court allows removal of life support of man in vegetative state

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62v64rz6mko, yesterday

In a landmark ruling, India's Supreme Court has allowed the removal of life support of a 31-year-old man who has been in a vegetative state for more than a decade.

This is the first instance of court-approved passive euthanasia - the act of withdrawing or withholding life-sustaining treatment - in India. The man, Harish Rana, had not left a will specifying directives for his treatment before he had an accident.

India legalised passive euthanasia in 2018 but active euthanasia - any act that intentionally helps a person kill themselves - remains illegal.

Rana suffered serious head injuries after falling from a fourth-floor balcony in 2013. He has remained in a comatose state since then.

Over the years, his parents petitioned courts several times to allow their son's life support system to be removed.

They have said in interviews to local media that they had exhausted all their savings caring for Rana and were worried about what would happen to him after they died.

On Wednesday, Rana's father, Ashok Rana, said in a statement that his family was grateful to the Supreme Court for its "humanitarian" judgement.

"This is a difficult decision for our family but we are doing what's best for Harish," he added.

Rana's case had sparked a debate in India around the ethics of court-approved passive euthanasia, with some noting that it goes against the principle of self-determination, which is the foundation of a living will.

A living will is a legal document which allows a person over 18 years to choose the medical care they would like to receive if they develop a terminal illness or condition with no hope of recovery.

For example, they could specify that they don't want to be put on life-support machines or insist that they want to be given adequate pain-relieving medication.

In this case, Rana was not able to give his consent or expressly state that he wanted to be taken off life support as he was in a coma since the accident.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court noted that Rana has not been responding to treatment.

"He experiences sleep-wake cycles but exhibits no meaningful interaction and has been dependent on others for all activities of self-care," the judges said, according to legal news website Bar and Bench.

Rana was an engineering student at Punjab University in Chandigarh when he fell from the fourth-flour balcony of his paying guest accommodation.

Since then, he has been breathing with the help of a tracheostomy tube and is fed through a gastrostomy tube. He cannot speak, see, hear or recognise anyone, his parents have said.

In 2024, they approached the Delhi High Court seeking passive euthanasia for their son, but their plea was rejected on the grounds that Rana hadn't been placed on life-support machines and was hence "able to sustain himself without any external aid", the court noted.

They then went to the Supreme Court, which also declined their plea.

In 2025, they approached the Supreme Court again, saying that their son's condition had deteriorated and that he was being kept alive "artificially" through life support machines.

The Supreme Court agreed to consider their case after two medical boards assessed Rana's condition.

Both boards said that Rana had a negligible chance of recovering and living a normal life, and that he required external support for feeding, bladder and bowel movements.

The boards also noted that he had permanent brain damage and had suffered huge bed sores.

According to the law governing living wills in India, two medical boards must certify that a patient meets the necessary criteria before their life support can be withdrawn.

Wednesday's order paves the way for the medical boards to "exercise [their] clinical judgement regarding the withdrawal of treatment" for Rana.

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Meghan to appear at £1,400 per person 'girls' weekend' in Australia

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwykl5d02rno, 2 days ago

The Duchess of Sussex is set to appear at a women-only weekend retreat in Sydney, with tickets starting at A$2,699 (£1,400) per person.

The three-day event will take place during Meghan and the Duke of Sussex's trip to Australia in April, seven years after their first visit when they were still senior members of the Royal Family.

Touted as "a girls' weekend like no other", Meghan will speak at a gala dinner, with VIP ticket holders offered front-row seats and a group photo with the duchess.

It comes days after Meghan's lifestyle brand, As ever, announced it had ended its partnership with streaming giant Netflix.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed a contract with Netflix in 2020 to produce TV and films for the platform, believed to be worth about $100m (£75m).

Meghan's lifestyle and cookery show - With Love, Meghan - ran for two series and a Christmas special but did not perform well with audiences.

The 300-person Sydney retreat has been organised by the Her Best Life podcast, founded by Gemma O'Neill and well-known Australian celebrity Jackie "O" Henderson.

O'Neill - a former staffer and producer for actress Nicole Kidman - confirmed the event on Wednesday on the podcast, which she now presents by herself after Henderson stepped back as a co-host last month.

O'Neill told listeners that Meghan would be the event's special guest speaker, adding that the duchess "really loves what our community is about which is women trying to grow" and "be their best selves".

The Q&A with Meghan will take the format of a "fireside chat," she said.

Described as an "unforgettable weekend for women ready to reconnect, recharge and have some serious fun", the event will be held at a five-star hotel at Coogee Beach in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

Activities include talks by a psychologist, yoga, sound healing, a disco and a meditation and manifestation session.

VIP tickets cost about A$3,200 (£1,700) per person.

Earlier this week, a spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said their visit to Australia next month will be for "private, business and philanthropic engagements".

Since the couple's last Australian visit in 2018, much has changed for Meghan and Prince Harry.

Their 16-day tour in October that year was the then-newly married royal couple's first major overseas trip. Hours earlier, Kensington Palace had announced Meghan was pregnant.

Observers deemed the Australia tour a huge success as the pair rode a wave of popularity.

They visited Bondi Beach, took a boat ride on Sydney Harbour and Prince Harry climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge with then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

In 2020, the couple stepped down as working royals and moved to the US, amid family tensions and concerns over intense media scrutiny.

Last year, Prince Harry spoke about his strained relationship with his father, King Charles, and how he would "love a reconciliation" with the Royal Family.

What did we learn from China's biggest political meeting?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg80pedxeyo, today

China's biggest political gathering - the National People's Congress or NPC - has come to an end.

Its extensive authority includes making laws, amending the constitution and approving state budgets. But it effectively functions as a rubber-stamp parliament, approving decisions made behind closed doors by the top echelons of the Chinese Communist Party.

Still, the annual meetings of the NPC and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) - also known as the "two sessions" - are watched closely as they signal the priorities of the world's second-largest economy.

Our correspondents give us their biggest takeaways.

China wants to show it is a beacon of stability

By Laura Bicker, China correspondent

China's push to be the world's leading superpower depends largely on one key thing - President Xi Jinping's ability to manage his economy.

To achieve this, Xi appears to be seeking more certainty as he tries to balance the books in a very uncertain world dominated by an unpredictable US president and a war in the Middle East.

His policies to try to encourage Chinese people to spend more money are aimed at stabilising a stuttering domestic economy.

His push for technological supremacy is a bid to win the future and get others to come to China's door for the latest factory robots or AI models.

His continuing push toward increasing China's production of renewable energy will allow the country to be more self-reliant. It no longer needs as much oil and gas from other countries including Iran.

And then of course there is the choreography of such a major political event, from the practised pitch of the band, to the diligence of delegates who sit and listen to speeches and even turn pages in perfect unison.

The quiet, heavily controlled and carefully scripted statecraft in the Great Hall of the People stands in contrast to a fiery White House which has rattled allies and shaken markets with its strikes on Iran.

The Chinese Communist Party is trying to show that it is a beacon of stability that is in the business of fixing its economy and future.

Xi will feel China is already in a strong position after fighting back against US tariffs in a trade war that ultimately ended in a truce. China's trade dominance is also attracting back former wary customers including the UK and Canada.

The geopolitical landscape is shifting, and Xi may see an opportunity for China to rise, as his rival in Washington is distracted.

But he will also know much depends on how his country navigates its own economic challenges in the years to come.

China sees technology as key to its future

By Suranjana Tewari, Asia Business correspondent

Beijing is betting big on technology and innovation to drive China's next phase of economic growth.

The country's 15th Five-Year Plan sets out a roadmap to accelerate scientific breakthroughs and embed artificial intelligence (AI) across the economy. Technology is now seen not just as an economic priority but as a strategic one, as tensions with the US intensify.

Research and development spending on technology is set to rise by about 7%. Officials have launched an "AI+" plan to integrate AI into manufacturing, logistics, healthcare and education.

China is also investing heavily in semiconductors, robotics, biotechnology, quantum computing, and emerging fields such as 6G communications and brain-computer interfaces.

For decades, China's growth was powered by property and infrastructure projects. Now, policymakers are shifting the focus to technology and industrial upgrading. Leaders have set a GDP growth target of 4.5 to 5% - the lowest since 1991 - signalling expectations of slower expansion.

Analysts say the plan could struggle unless household spending picks up. Consumer demand in China is low compared with other major economies, and the property downturn has eroded wealth and confidence.

To help, the government plans to expand childcare and eldercare services and enforce paid leave, measures aimed at easing financial pressures and encouraging spending.

Leaders have also signalled a willingness to borrow more to fund infrastructure, social welfare, and industrial projects - a departure from past caution over rising debt levels.

There are risks though. State-backed investment has already led to much criticism, and overcapacity in industries such as electric vehicles. It has also triggered price wars at home and trade tensions abroad.

Experts warn that technology alone may not deliver the high-quality growth Beijing is hoping for if consumers remain hesitant about spending.

For now, Beijing seems to be confident that AI, emerging industries, and innovation can power the economy's next phase.

But success may ultimately depend on whether ordinary Chinese households feel secure enough to spend.

China unveils plans to boost spending - but details are scant

By Stephen McDonell, China correspondent

For years economists have been calling on China to improve the overall health and long-term sustainability of its economy by increasing domestic consumption and weaning itself off a heavy reliance on the export of manufactured goods.

So the rhetoric from leaders at this NPC who pledged to "vigorously stimulate consumer demand" will be welcomed.

But many analysts are questioning if the proposed measures are enough to actually make a difference.

Chinese people traditionally prefer to save for a rainy day rather than spend. And now, with the value of family homes falling and high levels of youth unemployment, they are even more reluctant to do so.

So how do you get Chinese consumers to buy more?

One way could be to boost incomes. NPC spokesman Lou Qinjian said there were plans to be implemented to achieve this in the future. But he gave no details.

One specific measure that was announced was an increase in government spending on childcare. This type of support can give people more disposable income which, in theory, might free them up to buy the household goods they need.

Minimum retirement benefits for rural and non-working urban residents have been raised, but only by the equivalent of $3 (£2.24) per month, which has been ridiculed on Chinese social media as virtually nothing.

Most of the measures that were announced, for example to boost housing support for first-time married couples, refining parental leave or continuing trade-in programmes swapping old household equipment for new items, did not give any details.

Officials could argue that the NPC is about setting the tone and the specifics of household budget support will follow.

But, without the detail, it is hard to know if any of these plans will actually improve consumption in a significant way.

Inside the Australian hotel where Iranian footballers escaped to claim asylum

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c15x1928n48o, yesterday

The first hint something was up, was when we spotted a small group of Iranian footballers in the hotel lobby.

We counted at least three players, wearing black headscarves and dressed in the team's grey shirts, chatting with four people we suspected at the time - and now know - were Iranians from the local community here on Australia's Gold Coast.

What stood out at the time was the ease with which they were talking together. They were casual, smiley, sometimes laughing. They looked comfortable.

How was this possible? Much had been said about the 26-member squad being watched, not given access to the internet, unable to talk to anyone outside their group. So that was our biggest question mark. Where was their minder?

Concerns about the team's safety were first sparked when footage of a state TV host emerged calling them "traitors" who ought to be punished after they declined to sing the national anthem at their first AFC Women's Asian Cup match last week.

Those worries only grew after the team were seen singing the anthem in their two subsequent matches. The implication was they felt pressure - direct or otherwise - to do so.

After their elimination from the tournament on Sunday and the prospect of their imminent return to Iran, the media debate also focused on what repercussions their families might face if they chose to stay.

A network of Australia-based activists meanwhile kicked into gear, using their contacts to try and communicate with the players in any way possible.

"Our community in Queensland did whatever we could," Iranian human rights activist Hesam Orouji told the BBC.

He was one of the four people from the Queensland Iranian diaspora we had seen in the hotel lobby talking to players at around 5.30pm on Monday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, members of the team had come and gone. There was a small group who had gone for a walk around the resort's vast gardens - and the football pitches which teams staying here had used for practice. But they kept to themselves. That was what we had expected. This gathering that was playing out in front of us was different.

A hotel security guard in a blue shirt also joined the group. They talked some more, before the group sauntered casually towards the lobby's automatic doors.

Outside, stood several uniformed Australian Federal Police officers. But there had been a police presence all day. It was all so low-key, we assumed the group was going for a bit of fresh air - like their colleagues had done earlier.

Then the mood changed.

Less than half an hour later - two members of the Iranian delegation sprinted across the lobby, and down a stairwell leading to the basement carpark. A player and coach Marziyeh Jafari followed them.

The sudden movement in an otherwise tranquil foyer was striking. We followed, filming on phones. The timestamp shows this was 6.08pm local time.

The door at the bottom of the stairs was locked, so the Iranians retreated, looking stressed.

The women - we now know it was five of them - had gone.

It was a discovery made bang on sunset - just as the team was likely getting together for iftar - the traditional meal to break the fast during Ramadan.

Perhaps it was the players not joining them that had alerted them to their escape.

What we know now is that the scene witnessed was the result of a long and complicated process which led to five Iranian players seeking asylum.

Within hours, Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramazanzadeh, and Mona Hamoudi had been granted humanitarian visas.

Later two more people - player Mohaddeseh Zolfi and support staff member Zahra Soltan Meshkeh Kar - also indicated they wanted to remain in Australia. At some point on Tuesday, they were separated from the rest of the squad at the Gold Coast hotel and taken to a police base near Brisbane airport.

They were reunited with the other five - all seven had been promised they would be able to stay permanently here - but then on Wednesday, one woman changed her mind.

"In Australia people are able to change their mind. We respect the context in which she had made that decision," Immigration Minister Tony Burke told parliament on Wednesday.

Trying to establish contact

Before all this played out, activists had been liaising with Australian Federal Police and hotel security to ensure that the women were first able to confide that they wanted to remain in Australia, and secondly that when they did so, they would be protected.

"We went to the stadium chanting [their] name, saying if you want to stay here, we are going to support you," Orouji said.

And that, said Orouji, was a game-changer for at least some of the women choosing to seek asylum.

"They mentioned that, they said it was great," he says. "It was the first time this big crowd came to the stadium and just supported us - there was lots of energy, motivation about what was going on in Australia."

The biggest challenge for Orouji and his friends has been giving the women correct information - and trying to counter misinformation spread by the Iranian regime who are reportedly accompanying the group.

"When we said to one of the [remaining members of the team], do you know the women already have their visas, they said no way!"

Some women, he said, had been told there was no guarantee they could seek asylum and may have to go to a detention centre instead, as a refugee.

Orouji made the initial connections with the players through a family member - but communicating with them wasn't straightforward.

"They don't have internet all the time," he explains. "We send a message, we can see they didn't receive the message, and then they get internet, and we count the two blue ticks on WhatsApp."

Every member of the Iranian community we spoke to seemed to be finding their own way of communicating with players - reaching out on social media, sending messages when they could.

There are more than 85,000 Iranians living in Australia. Many have formed a tight-knit community,

Also at the hotel on Monday was migration agent Melody Naghmeh Danai, on standby to assist those choosing to stay about their options. She'd been at the stadium on Sunday night, keen to show her support as many ways as possible.

"Australia is going to support them according to migration law - it's not anything which is extraordinary," she told the BBC during the halftime break. "We are very concerned for their lives, and we are here to support them any way they want."

On Monday afternoon, we saw her again at the hotel - dressed in a suit rather than the more casual football fan attire of the night before

We said hello - but what she couldn't reveal at the time was she had been given access to the players in a room at the hotel - using her knowledge of migration law and language skills to set out their options.

"They were under a lot of stress. They didn't know what to do, they were worried about their family, their assets in Iran, what is the best decision to make now: 'What if we stay here and we lose all our assets in Iran?'" Danai told ABC News.

While activists played a key part, more has emerged about the government's role. A Truth Social post by Donald Trump urging Australia to offer asylum to the players led some to suggest he was the impetus for swift action.

In fact delicate operations had been going for several days. Trump - after a 2am phone call to Anthony Albanese - followed up, saying of the prime minister: "He's on it!"

Immigration officials had sought to have meetings with the players at their hotel.

And though it was widely reported that players were confined to their rooms and were being constantly watched - this does not seem to have been the case.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has talked of "very late night conversations" on Sunday evening after offers of a chat were made to the players.

"People then started to come down and talk in the foyer of the hotel. They were moving around, at least at that hour, without people watching them," he said.

"That's not to say that there wouldn't have been other conversations that were happening privately that we would all view as unacceptable."

As those talks were happening, the activists were hard at work.

None of the community gave up, even as the remainder of the team headed to the airport to fly out of Australia on Tuesday night. At every airport there was a protest. At every protest, there were tears.

And it is increasingly clear that the Australian government was reinforcing this message.

Burke, who signed off on the first five players humanitarian visas in a matter of hours, was at Sydney airport before the squad left Australia late on Tuesday night.

Here - he said - a "very significant police presence" was used to make sure players were able to be kept separate from minders and meet with immigration staff along with an interpreter - and the opportunity to speak to family in Iran about what to do.

"They were given a choice," Burke said.

"What we made sure of was that there was no rushing. There was no pressure. Everything was about ensuring the dignity for those individuals to make a choice."

Ultimately the remaining team members got on the flight to Kuala Lumpur.

From there - eventually - it will be back to Iran and all the uncertainty that brings, leaving behind a football tournament where they became the biggest story - and teammates who they'll perhaps never see again.

Dancers loved practising in this Singapore walkway. Then the complaints came

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g4q9xl4p6o, 5 days ago

With its wide floors, floor-to-ceiling mirrors and a ready audience, the underground passage connecting a train station to Singapore's iconic Gardens by the Bay had served as a practice ground for aspiring dancers for years.

Until 1 January, when they showed up as usual only to find the mirrors frosted.

Hundreds of commuters and tourists walk through the spacious tunnel every day, many of them on their way to the city's number-one attraction. People had complained that the dancers were "blocking pedestrian flow at this high-traffic area", local media reported.

So, the mirrors were frosted, triggering a debate – not just about space, but also Singapore's fixation with orderliness, the low bar for people to complain, and its many, many rules.

All of which arguably stifle the abandon, or even the havoc, that is often characteristic of the world's biggest cities.

This is not the first time Singaporeans have crossed swords over how common spaces should be used in the land-scarce country, where more than 8,300 people jostle for each kilometre.

From whether frisbees should be allowed in parks, to benches fitted with dividers to deter rough sleepers, Singaporeans are often split on whose needs come first.

Additional restrictions are not the problem, says urban planning expert Tan Shin Bin from the National University of Singapore.

"[What should] give us pause is really whether the decision was a well-considered and fair one... Whose needs are being prioritised as legitimate, and whose desires are deemed secondary?"

In the case of the walkway, it is one of many owned and maintained by private developers to "facilitate all-weather, safe and convenient connectivity", authorities told the BBC.

This particular one belongs to Marina Bay Sands (MBS), the luxury hotel, casino and mall hard to miss in the city's towering skyline.

But their decision to frost the mirrors stirred a debate because the walkway is used by so many people, not just those making their way to MBS.

Singapore's urban planning authority said MBS had lined the path with mirrors "to enhance the visual appearance and experience", but the "primary function" is for walking.

Some Singaporeans said the dancers in the walkway were inconsiderate, as they would sometimes block the path with props. "If they had kept to one side, no-one would have complained," read a comment on Instagram with more than 3,000 likes.

Others pushed back, calling the move to frost the mirrors "blunt" and "rigid". Several said they enjoyed watching the dancers while passing through and sympathised with them because the cost of renting a studio was so high.

"Seeing other dancers around me was really motivating," says Wilson Tay, who used the walkway for dance practice twice a week. "It was also fun when tourists stopped by and tried to mimic my moves."

Now there are no catchy K-pop beats and lingering onlookers who groove along.

Some dancers, like Tay, now practise at a train station two stops away, where five full-length mirrors have been put up in a corner, carefully marked with yellow tape.

"It is very quiet here and much less vibrant. I've often found myself practising alone," Tay says. "But the good thing, I guess, is that I get to dance without being disrupted."

In so many cities, dancing, skateboarding and other activities in public places become a part of the daily rhythm, as people adjust to what is happening around them, whether they see it as artistic expression, or a nuisance.

But this is Singapore, a nation built on pragmatism, order and convenience.

Well-planned or over planned?

Efficient urban planning has transformed what was once an island of fishing villages into a gleaming metropolis of high-rises. Public transport connects almost every corner of this tiny country, lush greenery lines the highways and spills out of towering buildings and courtyards, while the pavements are wide, often sheltered, and free of litter.

Singapore's founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew attributed this swift, impressive change to "efficient administration".

"There's a definite plan, and we stuck with the plan. There is no corruption and nobody can deviate from the plans. A building that is not in accordance with the plan cannot be allowed," Lee said in an interview in 2012.

Urban design today largely rests in the hands of state agencies because long-term foresight and expertise are crucial for properly using scarce land.

They are guided by a key document called the Concept Plan, which charts out Singapore's land use needs half a century into the future. Medium-term plans are reviewed every five years.

For PM Lawrence Wong, Singapore's orderly nature is a competitive advantage.

"We are boring, and we will never have the same offerings as New York and Paris," he told a conference in July. "But at the same time, we are stable, we are predictable. We are reliable and we are trusted, and these are intangible assets that others would die to have."

This top-down control over urban development has drawn both envious admiration and criticism.

"You have the second densest country in the world, that has virtually uncongested streets," Harvard economist Edward Glaeser said of the city-state.

"Americans visiting Singapore can be forgiven for wistfully wondering why our own cities don't seem so well-managed," he wrote in his book Triumph of the City.

Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas is less enthusiastic.

Singapore is managed in a way that "excludes accident and randomness", he wrote in Singapore Songlines, his seminal essay on the city's rapid makeover.

"It is pure intention: if there is chaos, it is authored chaos: if it is ugly, it is designed ugliness; if it is absurd, it is willed absurdity."

The Singapore government has embraced such organised chaos.

They have launched a Lively Places Fund that gives residents up to S$20,000 ($15,800; £11,600) to "activate and create more interesting and fun public spaces in [their] neighbourhood".

The national transport operator has also set aside specific spots in some train stations for dancers to practise.

But some Singaporeans wish authorities would leave more room for spontaneity.

"We shouldn't let the small size limit our thinking of what our city can be," Singaporean writer Justin Zhuang says. "If we want Singapore to be a diverse city, we should also accept that there would be diverse activities."

Authorities acknowledge this. "As Singapore becomes denser, shared public spaces will increasingly need to accommodate diverse users and activities," the urban planning authority told the BBC.

But they added that "this requires both thoughtful design and shared stewardship", and while "property owners play a role in managing shared spaces", so do users "by being mindful of how their activities may affect others".

Zhuang believes "there must be a way to compromise" without one group prevailing at "the expense of the other". But who will broker that compromise?

In most other cities, where some amount of chaos is normal, local officials are likely to be less involved in every fight over public space. So residents manage conflicts by themselves. In Singapore, people often look to the state to intervene.

'Nanny state'

Although the city is packed with skyscrapers, residents live alongside, or not too far from parks, tree-lined highways and roof gardens.

Trees and plants are well-manicured: officials prune, shape and clear the shrubs regularly, and parks are governed by an elaborate rulebook that includes bans on activities like cycling, skating and kite-flying, depending on the park.

Graffiti, seen as a form of creative expression in so many cities, is also illegal in Singapore. Offenders can be fined, jailed and caned. The murals that do exist are commissioned by authorities.

And then there are some activities, like busking, that are allowed only at designated spots, and aspiring performers must pass auditions judged by a panel from the National Arts Council.

Singaporeans enjoy the comforts and protections of life in a well-regulated society, but some say the expectation that the state should "fix" problems has fostered a culture of complaining. There are even Facebook groups where people air their daily grievances. Noise disputes between neighbours are common; some have turned deadly.

"If Singapore is a nanny state, then I'm proud to have fostered one," Lee Kuan Yew famously wrote in one of his books.

His son and former PM Lee Hsien Loong told CNBC: "If you ask the Singaporeans, on the one hand, they'll say let us do our own thing, on the other hand, whenever an issue comes up, they'll ask what the government is doing about it."

Most recently, complaints around the staccato beat from pickleball games prompted local authorities to shorten court hours and put out noise reminders. In one neighbourhood, they turned off lights earlier to prevent late-night games.

In 2016, officials installed metal railings at an open space on the ground floor of a public housing block – known in Singapore as a "void deck" – in response to complaints about people playing football there.

Ball games are noisy and can dirty or damage the space, the local council said, but some questioned whether the barricades were necessary.

"[This] space, originally filled with so much potential for use and creativity, is now effectively transformed into a dead space," a resident told local newspaper The Straits Times.

Void decks were initially built for ventilation and to prevent floods, before evolving into spaces where residents exercise, play games and hang out. But safety concerns over the years have led to bans on rollerblading and ball games.

When Wong Kae Chee decided to start a community library in the void deck in her apartment building in 2022, she was nervous.

"I brought one bookcase down to the void deck in the middle of the night. I was concerned about whether people would catch me doing something I was 'not supposed' to be doing."

As Wong expected, the project ran into roadblocks with local authorities, who were concerned the library was a "fire hazard" and objected to volunteers bringing in their own furniture.

"One time, town council officers approached us as we were installing minor fixtures and went, 'You think this is your house?'

"I said, 'Yes! We all live in the block of flats above this library.' What's wrong with making good use of a space that would otherwise be left empty, as it has been for years?"

As Wong and her team fought back, residents continued frequenting the space, donating their own books, tables and benches.

Today, the volunteer-run library features more than 7,000 titles across 14 languages, musical instruments that visitors are free to use, as well as a playpen for the community cat. It is also used to host group singing sessions, weekly dinners and sometimes doubles up as an "IT helpdesk" for elderly residents.

"This is more than just a little library," reads a colourful sign at the entrance.

The heartwarming tale of a father, a daughter, and a wedding band wowing India

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7430kn9ze4o, 5 days ago

A short promotional film challenging the traditional view in India that a married daughter must stay with her husband in their marital home - even if he is abusive - has spotlighted domestic violence and won hearts across the country.

The three-and-a-half-minute Band Baaja Bitiya - Hindi for "a wedding band and daughter" - is the moving tale of a father who goes to retrieve his daughter from her violent matrimonial home and uses the celebratory wedding band as a mark of defiance.

The film starts with the father, played by veteran Bollywood actor Gajraj Rao, receiving a phone call from his daughter Surabhi.

"Again?" he asks, the pained expression on his face reflecting the troubling news he's just heard.

The advice he receives from family and friends is typical. "It's her home, her fate." Or, "tell her to adjust." "A little bit of shoving and pushing" is "no big deal" in a marriage. Once Surabhi has a baby, "things would sort themselves out".

"In India, it's said that the bride enters the husband's home carried on a palanquin and that she leaves only after her death, carried out on a funeral bier," Rao told the BBC. "It's believed that the father's responsibility ends the day he gives away his daughter in marriage."

But Rao's screen father chooses not to look away. And when he goes to rescue his daughter, he makes a song and dance about it, literally, by hiring a wedding band – since there was one at the send-off, why shouldn't there be one when she returns?

"It's not a matter of shame for the father," Rao says. "He wants to welcome her back with the same pomp and show with which he had sent her off. By celebrating her return, he's showing his pride that he's putting an end to her pain and torture."

As his battered daughter runs into his arms, the film's message is loud and clear: a daughter is forever.

Official data suggests about one in three Indian women experience domestic violence. Abuse - and even the killing of new brides over dowry disputes - still routinely makes headlines. In 2023 alone, more than 6,150 women were killed in dowry-related deaths, while police registered 133,676 cases of cruelty by husbands or their families.

Campaigners say many women stay trapped in abusive marriages because their parental families offer little support. So the quiet act of solidarity by an ordinary father standing by his daughter has struck a chord online, drawing millions of views and widespread praise.

On social media, viewers have called it "the best ad film of 2026" and "a revolutionary idea whose time has finally come". Many said it moved them to tears. "The world needs more such fathers and parents," one Instagram user wrote.

Many women shared emotional stories of fathers who stood by them in similar moments, while some fathers wrote about reassuring their daughters they would always have their support.

Rao - who's one of Bollywood's finest character actors and is celebrated for his role in hit Bollywood film Badhai Ho - says the response to the film has been overwhelming.

"This is the first time in my life that I've been mobbed at an airport with 15 to 20 people surrounding me, telling me how much they loved the film. People have accepted it and welcomed it with open arms," he says.

Director Prosit Roy, who is father to a toddler daughter, describes himself as "a girl dad" and says he made the film to challenge "old ideas and archaic values".

"Domestic violence is rampant but parents don't intervene because they worry 'what will people say'? We tell our daughters to adjust and sometimes it's too late. I'm just showing a mirror to society, to make them understand why they must act."

Roy says he chose this story because he found it inspiring and "felt we could use it to inspire parents and relatives to support daughters. It's a necessary conversation and this film can start it".

The film mirrors a handful of real-life cases in which fathers decided to challenge tradition and rescued their daughters from unhappy marriages.

The first such case was reported in October 2023 from the state of Jharkhand where businessman Prem Gupta hired a wedding band to bring his daughter Sakshi home.

She had been married a year and Gupta told the BBC he also initially advised her to adjust.

"In India, daughters are told by their parents that after marriage, you belong with your husband and his family. You have to live and die with them. Like most people, I was also worried about what will people say," he said.

But as her relationship deteriorated, he began to worry "that she would get depressed and may harm herself".

"As her father, I felt I couldn't abandon her. We chose the first day of Navratri - the nine-day Hindu festival when we worship the goddess Durga. It's considered an auspicious time for starting new ventures and undertaking important work. We wanted to send out a message that we were doing the right thing."

Sakshi said she was aware that her father was coming to take her home, but when she heard the celebratory band playing nearby, she was overcome by sadness.

"My marriage had collapsed and I was leaving my marital home. I thought the band must be part of someone else's wedding procession. I was really surprised when I discovered that it was for me."

A viral video at the time showed Sakshi smiling as she wheeled a suitcase out of her ex-husband's home while a band played and firecrackers burst. "My father gave me a new life," she told the BBC.

"I did it to see my daughter smile. I did it for her happiness. I never thought it would go viral. I wasn't trying to set an example, but I believe I did," says Gupta, adding that a handful of fathers have emulated his example.

Gajraj Rao says with Band Baaja Bitiya, they want to take their message mainstream in the hope that one day it will become the norm for parents to tell their daughters that they have a forever home and they have a right to be there.

"I know it's a long long journey, and things won't change in a split second. Our attempt is like a drop in the ocean, but at least it is an attempt," he says.

"People need courage to challenge tradition and maybe our film can motivate them, maybe it can act as a guiding light for families that they need to help their daughters."

The final voyage of the Iranian warship sunk by the US

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4geelnw7w3o, 6 days ago

On 17 February, the Indian Navy posted a cheerful message on X.

"Welcome!" it wrote, greeting the Iranian warship Iris Dena as it steamed into the port of Visakhapatnam to join an international naval gathering.

Photographs showed sailors in crisp whites and a grey frigate gliding in the sea harbour on a clear day. The hashtags spoke of "Bridges of Friendship" and "United Through Oceans".

Two weeks later the ship, carrying 130 sailors, lay at the bottom of the Indian Ocean. It had been torpedoed by a US submarine off Sri Lanka's southern coast on 4 March.

Commissioned in 2021, the Dena was a relatively new vessel - a Moudge-class frigate of Iran's Southern Fleet, which patrols the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman.

According to US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, the vessel "thought it was safe in international waters" but instead "died a quiet death". Rescue teams from Sri Lanka have recovered at least 87 bodies. Only 32 sailors survived.

The sinking marks a dramatic widening of the war between America, Israel and Iran. And, though it occurred in international waters of the Indian Ocean and outside India's jurisdiction, it is an awkward moment for Delhi.

"The war has come to our doorsteps. That is not a good thing," says retired Vice Admiral Arun Kumar Singh.

For some strategists, the episode carries broader implications for India's regional standing.

Indian strategic affairs expert Brahma Chellaney wrote on X that the US torpedoing of the Iranian warship in India's "maritime neighbourhood" was "more than a battlefield episode" - calling it a "strategic embarrassment" for Delhi.

"By sinking a vessel returning from an Indian-hosted multilateral exercise, Washington effectively turned India's maritime neighbourhood into a war zone, raising uncomfortable questions about India's authority in its own backyard," Chellaney wrote.

Just days before its destruction, the Dena had been a diplomatic guest of the Indian Navy.

The ship had travelled to Visakhapatnam, a sun-washed port city on India's east coast, to participate in the International Fleet Review 2026 and Exercise Milan, a large multilateral naval exercise meant to showcase India's growing maritime leadership.

Seventy-four countries and 18 warships took part in the events, which Delhi described as a demonstration of its ambition to become the Indian Ocean's "preferred security partner".

Visiting ships at such multilateral exercises usually do not carry a full combat load of live munitions, unless scheduled for a live-fire drill, according to Chellaney. Even during the sea phase, when drills and live firing take place, ships carry only tightly controlled ammunition limited to the specific exercises.

Singh, an invitee to the event, recalls seeing the warship and its Iranian sailors in Visakhapatnam just days before its fate changed.

"I saw the boys marching in front of me," he says of the Iranian naval contingent during the parade along the seafront, just 10m away. "All young people. I feel very sad."

He says on 21 February, the assembled ships - including the Iranian vessel - sailed out for the sea phase of Exercise Milan, scheduled to run until 25 February.

"What happened next is less clear: the ship may have returned to port or peeled away after exercises. Either way, the waters where it was later sunk - off Galle in Sri Lanka - lie only two to three days' sailing from India's east coast," Singh says. What the ship was doing in the seven days in between is not clear.

Singh, who has commanded submarines, believes the sequence leading up to the attack was probably straightforward.

The US, he notes, tracks vessels across the world's oceans. "They would have known exactly when the ship left and where it was heading," he says. A fourth of America's submarine fleet of 65-70 is at sea at any given time, according to analysts.

According to the Indian Navy, the Iranian warship had been operating about 20 nautical miles west of Galle - roughly 23 miles (37km) - in waters that fall under Sri Lanka's designated search-and-rescue zone.

The attack, Singh says, appears to have involved a single Mark-48 torpedo, a heavyweight weapon carrying about 650 pounds of high explosive, capable of snapping a ship in two. Video footage suggests the submarine may have fired from 3-4km away, around 05:30 local time.

The aftermath was grim and swift.

The warship reportedly sank within two to three minutes, leaving little time for rescue. "It's a miracle they managed to send an SOS," Singh says, which was picked up by the Sri Lanka Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Colombo.

According to the Indian Navy, a distress call from the Iranian warship was picked up by Colombo in the early hours of 4 March, triggering a regional search-and-rescue effort.

The navy said in a statement that Sri Lanka's navy began rescue operations first, while India moved to assist later.

The Indian Navy deployed a long-range maritime patrol aircraft to support the search and kept another aircraft with air-droppable life rafts on standby.

A naval vessel already operating nearby reached the area by late afternoon. Another ship, which sailed from the southern Indian port city of Kochi to join the effort, continues to comb the waters for survivors and debris.

Under the Second Geneva Convention, countries at war are required to take "all possible measures" to rescue wounded or shipwrecked sailors after a naval attack. In practice, however, this duty applies only if a rescue can be attempted without putting the attacking vessel in serious danger.

Singh says submarines are rarely able to help.

"Submarines don't surface," he says. "If you surface and give up your position, someone else can sink you."

Singh suspects the speed of the sinking - and possibly sparse shipping in the area at the time - meant few nearby vessels could respond. "A ship breaking up that fast leaves almost no chance," he says.

In a shooting war, Singh says, the legal position is blunt.

Fighting between the United States and Iran had been under way since 28 February, with claims that 17 Iranian naval vessels had already been destroyed.

"When a shooting war is on, any ship of a belligerent country becomes fair game," he says.

Many questions remain. Why was the Iranian warship still in waters near Sri Lanka nearly a week after leaving India's naval exercise? Was it heading home, or on another mission? And how long had the US submarine been tracking it before firing?

For Delhi, the episode is diplomatically awkward.

India has drawn closer to Washington on defence while maintaining long-standing political and economic ties with Tehran - a balancing act the war has made harder.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called broadly for "dialogue and diplomacy" to resolve conflicts, but has neither addressed the sinking of the Iranian vessel directly nor criticised the American strike.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described the attack as "an atrocity at sea" and stressed that the frigate had been "a guest of India's Navy". Meanwhile Sri Lanka has taken control of another Iranian naval vessel off its coast after an engine failure forced it to seek port, a day after the US attack.

The episode has nonetheless sparked debate within India's strategic community.

Kanwal Sibal, a veteran diplomat, argued that India's responsibility may not be legal, but it is moral.

"The Iranian ship would not have been where it was had India not invited it to the Milan exercise," he wrote on X. "A word of condolence at the loss of lives of those who were our invitees would be in order."

Others like Chellaney have framed the issue in more strategic terms.

He described the strike as a blow to India's maritime diplomacy. The torpedoing of the frigate in "India's maritime backyard", he argued, punctured Delhi's carefully cultivated image as a "preferred security partner" in the Indian Ocean.

"In one torpedo strike, American hard power has punctured India's carefully cultivated soft power," says Chellaney.

As the debate gathered pace in strategic circles, India's official response remained cautious.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on X that he had held a telephone conversation with Araghchi, and also posted a photograph of a meeting with Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh at a foreign policy summit in Delhi.

For military historian Srinath Raghavan, the legal position is clear: once the Iranian vessel left India's shores, Delhi had no formal responsibility.

The strategic message, however, is harder to ignore.

"First, the spreading geography of this war. Second, India's limited ability to manage its fallout," says Raghavan.

"Indeed, the US Navy has fired a shot across the bow aimed at all regional players, including India."

Pop music's bias towards English is fading, says Spotify

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9v04gney9yo, yesterday

English language music is losing its stranglehold on the charts, according to new data from music streaming giant Spotify.

The company says songs in 16 different languages, including Spanish, Korean, Portuguese, Turkish, Indonesian and Arabic, appeared in its Global Top 50 last year. That's more than double the figure from 2020.

Bad Bunny, who sings exclusively in Spanish, was the most-streamed artist in the world. And Brit Award winner Rosalía sings in 14 dialects on her latest album, Lux.

Spotify said Brazilian Funk was the fastest-growing genre in the world, with audiences up by 36%. K-Pop saw a 31% increase, and Trap Latino was up by 29%.

All of those genres earned more than $100m (£74.5m) in royalties from Spotify last year, the company said.

English still dominates the charts, with 14 of last year's Top 20 best-selling albums sung exclusively in the language, according to the music industry body the IFPI.

But South Korean bands such as Stray Kids, Enhypen and Seventeen all featured in the list, as did Japanese rock group Mrs Green Apple, as fans increasingly explore music outside the typical paradigms of rock and pop.

According to a 2021 analysis of listening behaviour published in the journal Nature, this trend has been accelerating since 2017.

Not coincidentally, that's the same year that streaming overtook CDs and vinyl as the music industry's biggest source of income.

Last week, Spotify's most-played chart included songs from Bad Bunny and Rauw Alejandro (Puerto Rico), Nadhif Basalamah (Indonesia), Tyla (South Africa), Tems (Nigeria), Ryan Castro (Colombia), El Bogueto, Peso Pluma, Neton Vega and Fuerza Regida (Mexico), Blackpink, Jung Kook and Jin (South Korea).

However, the UK still lags behind the rest of the world. Of the country's biggest selling songs last year, only two featured non-English lyrics.

Notably, both tracks - Rosé & Bruno Mars' APT and Huntr/x's Golden - were predominantly in English, with select phrases in Korean.

Record pay-out

Spotify's data was revealed as it announced its annual Loud And Clear report, which breaks down the global streaming economy.

The streaming giant said it had paid $11bn (£8.2bn) in royalties to the music industry last year, up from $10bn in 2024. The figure makes it the highest-paying retailer globally, the company claimed.

In the UK, it paid artists £860m in royalties – up 6% year-on-year - with more than 75% of those royalties generated outside the UK.

Spotify also says that around 150 UK artists generated more than £1m of payouts last year; and that the number generating more than £500,000 has more than doubled since 2018.

Globally, the top 80 recording artists each make over $10m (£7.4m) annually from Spotify alone.

But the Swedish company was at pains to point out that payments don't just benefit the top one per cent, saying that "roughly half of royalties were generated by independent artists and labels".

More than 13,800 artists earned $100,000 (£74,400) from Spotify last year, it added.

The company's carefully-crafted transparency is part of a fightback against the perception it underpays artists - who receive between £0.002 and £0.0035 every time a song is streamed.

It is worth noting, however, that royalties distributed by Spotify don't necessarily go directly to musicians, with record labels, distributors, publishers, managers and songwriters often taking a cut.

Meanwhile, several artists - including Massive Attack, Deerhoof and King Lizard and the Gizzard Wizard - have cut ties with Spotify in protest at the company's ties to the defence company Helsing.

Daniel Ek, Spotify's CEO and co-founder, was recently made chairman of the German tech company, which specialises in AI software integrated into fighter aircraft like its HX-2 AI Strike Drone.

Announcing their decision to delete their catalogue from Spotify, Massive Attack said: "The economic burden that has long been placed on artists is now compounded by a moral and ethical burden, whereby the hard-earned money of fans and the creative endeavours of musicians ultimately funds lethal, dystopian technologies."

In response, a spokesperson clarified that Spotify and Helsing are "totally separate companies".

India's IndiGo airline CEO resigns months after mass cancellation crisis

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgqg59vgw25o, yesterday

The chief executive of India's largest airline IndiGo has resigned, months after a crisis that forced the carrier to cancel thousands of flights.

The airline confirmed Pieter Elbers' departure with immediate effect, saying he stepped down for "personal reasons", without sharing further details.

The move follows intense scrutiny after widespread cancellations linked to new pilot roster rules left passengers stranded across India late last year.

IndiGo controls about two-thirds of the country's domestic aviation market - making disruptions to its operations a major issue for India's fast-growing air travel sector.

The airline operates a fleet of around 440 aircraft and runs mostly domestic services, along with a few international routes to destinations in the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

It has played a significant role in the rapid growth of India's aviation sector, which is one of the fastest-expanding air travel markets in the world.

IndiGo said in a press statement on Tuesday that its co-founder Rahul Bhatia will take charge of the airline in the interim while the company searches for a new chief executive.

In December, IndiGo cancelled about 4,500 flights - the largest disruption in the airline's 20-year history - leaving thousands of passengers stranded at airports across the country.

The disruption followed the introduction of new pilot duty and rest regulations in India designed to reduce fatigue among flight crews.

The airline later acknowledged it had misjudged how many pilots it would need once the rules came into force.

The shortage meant many aircraft could not legally operate, forcing widespread cancellations.

India's aviation regulator later fined IndiGo about $2.45m (£1.82m) and criticised several senior executives, including Elbers, over the handling of the disruption.

In an internal email seen by Reuters news agency, Bhatia referred to the crisis as he informed staff about his interim role. "What happened last December should never have taken place," he wrote, while thanking employees for working during the disruption.

Elbers joined IndiGo in 2022 after a long career in aviation and previously worked at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

During his tenure, IndiGo placed a major order with Airbus for 500 narrow-body aircraft and additional wide-body planes as part of plans to expand its international network.

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Australian designer Katie Perry wins trademark appeal vs Katy Perry

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9dn8l021l2o, yesterday

Australian designer Katie Perry has won her High Court appeal against pop megastar Katy Perry in a years-long trademark case.

In a decision on Wednesday, High Court judges found that Katie Perry had not hurt the US singer's reputation or caused confusion with her clothing brand, which started in 2007.

Katie Perry, who changed her surname to Taylor in 2015, successfully sued Perry two years ago for selling merchandise during a 2014 Australian tour, but the ruling was overturned in 2024 with the designer's trademark cancelled.

The new decision found that Perry's reputation was so well-established in Australia that anyone seeing Taylor's clothing brand would not confuse the two names.

"This has been an incredibly long and difficult journey," Taylor said in a statement shortly after the decision.

"But today confirms what I always believed - that trademarks should protect businesses of all sizes."

A representative for the US pop star said in a statement that she "never sought to close down Ms. Taylor's business or stop her selling clothes under the KATIE PERRY label."

While the High Court allowed Taylor's trademark to remain on the register, Katy Perry's representative said some issues raised by the singer have been sent back to full federal court.

The case centres around the sale of clothes under the Katie Perry brand in Australia and the sale of Katy Perry-branded merchandise during the singer's tour.

In 2007, Taylor - who went under her maiden name at the time - registered her business name, Katie Perry, and applied for a trademark.

From 2008, she sold clothes at local markets, had a website and several social media accounts with the Katie Perry brand.

But in 2009, lawyers for the Roar singer asked Taylor to stop using her brand and signalled plans to oppose a trademark application but later dropped legal action.

"I had never heard of the singer when I started my label," Taylor said, with court documents detailing how she first heard of Katy Perry in mid-2008 when the song I Kissed A Girl came on the radio.

"I was simply building a fashion business under the name I was born with."

In 2023, Taylor sued the singer for trademark infringement and won, with the singer's sale of jackets, hoodies, T-shirts and sweatpants during a 2014 tour in breach of trademark laws.

But in 2024, it was overturned on appeal, with judges saying Perry had been using her name as a trademark five years before Taylor started her business.

At the time, Taylor described the case as a "David and Goliath" battle, saying she was devastated by the decision.

On Wednesday, the High Court - in a majority decision - found that given the "heightened strength of the reputation of Katy Perry", that "no ordinary person in Australia... after a moment's reflection" would think Katie Perry products were linked to the US singer.

"This case has never just been about a name," Taylor said.

"It has been about protecting small business in Australia, for standing up for what is right and showing that we all matter."

In recent years, Katy Perry has made headlines for a range of reasons, from being mocked for kissing the earth after disembarking a Blue Origin spaceflight, to her high-profile divorce from actor Orlando Bloom, and her new relationship with former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Member of Iranian football delegation granted Australian asylum changes her mind

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93j2492d0do, yesterday

Australia says one of the two members of the Iranian football group who had earlier accepted an offer to stay in the country has changed her mind.

"One of the two who had made the decision to stay last night, had spoken to some of the teammates who had left and had changed her mind," Immigration Minister Tony Burke told parliament on Wednesday.

The two – one player and one member of support staff - had previously been reunited with another five players who were granted visas to stay over concerns about their safety.

The remaining Iranian players left Australia on Tuesday night local time - two days after they were knocked out of the Asian Cup.

"In Australia people are able to change their mind. We respect the context in which she had made that decision," Burke said.

"Unfortunately, in making that decision, she'd been advised by her teammates and coach to contact the Iranian embassy and to get collected."

He said as a result it meant the Iranian embassy knew the location of the other Iranians who had elected to stay.

"I immediately gave the instruction for people to be moved, and that's been dealt with immediately," Burke said.

He said officials had made sure "that this was her decision, and every question you would want asked, was asked."

Some members of the Iranian football delegation had been granted asylum after concerns about the team's safety when they did not sing the national anthem ahead of their match against South Korea last week.

Two other members of the team – player Mohaddeseh Zolfi and support staff member Zahra Soltan Meshkeh Kar – were later separated from the rest of the squad at their hotel on the Gold Coast, after indicating they would like to remain. They were then taken to a police facility in Brisbane, Burke had said previously.

All the women who stayed were to be fast-tracked to permanent residency, Burke said.

The offer to stay was reiterated to "most" of the remainder of the delegation at Sydney Airport before they were due to leave the country on Tuesday night, he continued.

Burke said a "very significant" police presence at Sydney Airport ensured players were separated from minders while they talked to officials one-on-one through a translator, and were given the chance to call family.

None of them chose to accept the offer to stay, Burke said, but he added that one person got on the plane "quite late" after conversations with family.

"That individual made their own decision," Burke said – noting that there had been no pressure on them to take the flight.

He added a small number of the travelling group were not invited to stay – thought to be a reference to be Iranian government minders.

"There are some leaving Australia who I am glad are not in Australia," he said.

The team arrived at Sydney Airport from the Gold Coast, where the Asia Cup is being held, on Tuesday evening. Members of the Australian-Iranian community gathered there to support them and to protest against them returning to Iran.

They said some members of the team had signalled for help.

Burke, quoted by the ABC, said Border Force officials had made "multiple representations to the team" before they left Sydney, "including private meetings".

Local media reported that at least one person refused to board their later flight to Malaysia on their way back to Iran.

But some of the players - who were accompanied by chaperones - reportedly told reporters that they wanted to go back to Iran.

Australia's humanitarian visa programme grants permanent protection to refugees and people in humanitarian need. Visa holders can live, work and study in the country.

It is not known what repercussions the team and their families might face in Iran after the players refused to sing the national anthem.

One conservative commentator on Iranian state media accused them of being "wartime traitors" and called for a harsh punishment.

The team did sing the anthem in their last two games before they were eliminated on Sunday, leading critics to believe they had been forced to take part by government officials accompanying them during the tournament as part of the delegation.

Earlier on Tuesday, a bus carrying team members was temporarily blocked by activists as it left their hotel on the Gold Coast. Some carried the Lion and Sun flag, which served as the official state flag before the Islamic revolution in Iran.

Meanwhile, the five who were first granted humanitarian visas were moved to a safe location by police.

Burke named them as Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramazanzadeh, and Mona Hamoudi.

Shortly after they left, the BBC witnessed some of their minders running across the hotel to try to find them.

"They want to be clear they are not political activists. They are athletes who want to be safe," Burke said, adding that talks with them had been going on over several days.

Addressing the other team members before they left Australia, he said: "The same opportunity is there. Australia has taken the Iranian women's soccer team into our hearts. These women are tremendously popular in Australia."

"Australians have been moved by the plight of these brave women," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a news conference on Tuesday.

"They're safe here, and they should feel at home here."

The Iranian players' situation has also come to the attention of US President Donald Trump, who took to his Truth Social platform to demand action.

He said Australia should "give asylum" to the women or "the US will take them if you won't."

Around an hour later, Trump posted again to say he had spoken to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, writing: "five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way".

The Trump administration put all asylum decisions on hold at the end of last year, and has stopped issuing immigrant visas for citizens from dozens of countries including Iran. It has said the administration wants to bring "an end to the abuse" of the system.

Last year, two groups of Iranians - including people whose asylum applications had been unsuccessful - were deported from the US back to Iran. The groups reportedly included members of the LGBT community, who face severe legal and social repercussions in Iran.

Fatbikes are wreaking havoc in Sydney's wealthy beach suburbs

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8l1d221evo, 6 days ago

One of the first things you might see in Manly, home to some of Sydney's most popular beaches, are groups of carefree teenagers in swimwear riding illegal e-bikes.

Weaving in and out of traffic and careening along footpaths, they're an increasingly familiar sight, infuriating many locals.

"I see the kids riding on the road, I see them riding without helmets. They're clearly not subject to the same strict rules that other modes of transport are," says Chris, as he heads home after a swim.

"One kid was explaining to me how they can jailbreak them and remove the speed limits and make them go three times the speed they're supposed to."

Residents of some of Sydney's wealthiest beachside locales, stretching from the Northern Beaches through the eastern suburbs that take in Bondi and down to Cronulla in the south, say the number of teens riding e-bikes has exploded in recent years.

Those favoured by teens are also known as fatbikes due to the thick tyres meant for tackling sand and off-road terrain, and are often illegally modified to allow them to travel at far greater speeds than the 25km/h limit for e-bikes.

They have been hitting the headlines as hospitals report huge jumps in e-bike-related injuries and critics say police are failing to enforce existing laws to keep roads – and footpaths – safe.

Food delivery riders on fatbikes are also a source of frustration for many Sydneysiders.

But in recent weeks teens have attracted wider attention because of viral videos.

One shows dozens of teens motoring over a pristine golf course near Manly, and another shows a huge group, including teens in school uniform, doing wheelies across the Harbour Bridge during a "mass rideout" led by a US YouTuber.

Teens have also been videoed riding through shopping malls and taking over whole lanes of traffic, while councils have been inundated with complaints from pedestrians and motorists.

"Sometimes I ride at 50 or 60km/h [on my Vespa] on Pittwater Road and they overtake me on the footpath," says Northern Beaches local, Andre.

"They're like mini motorbikes," adds Debbie, who says she and her dog have been "taken out" a number of times by children on fatbikes.

As I step into a Manly side street, I nearly get mown down myself by two teens on fatbikes, each with a pillion passenger, speeding the wrong way down a one-way street.

Of the 750,000 e-bikes on New South Wales roads, the state government estimates the number of illegal fatbikes to be in the tens of thousands.

"I compare it to Covid," says Harold Scruby, the chairman of the Pedestrian Council of Australia. "It starts here and if they don't put a stop to it…" he trails off as he contemplates the apparently inexorable spread of teenagers on illegal fatbikes.

A Sydney trend

While e-bikes have caused headaches for authorities around the world, the illegal fatbike trend seems to have particularly taken off around Sydney's beaches.

Observers say it's because of a combination of good bike-riding weather, parents with deep pockets – the cheapest model of one of the most popular brands retails for a minimum AUD$3,000 (US$2,110, £1,579) - and a lack of reliable public transport.

"It's a lifestyle thing too," Scruby says. "Kids love going to the beach on them."

But lack of regulation also plays a role.

There is no minimum age at which children can ride e-bikes and under-16s are allowed to ride on the footpath – sometimes putting them in conflict with pedestrians.

Police say it is difficult to catch teens because if they give chase they risk causing an accident – a problem I discovered for myself when I set out to interview them.

One I do manage to speak to, Robert, a 14-year-old who's just been for a swim, says he loves his fatbike for the freedom it gives him but he has "kept it legal" and doesn't do "stupid" stuff.

"My dad said if the cops take it then you don't get anything back."

Scruby says the number of illegal e-bikes began to rocket three years ago, not long after the federal government loosened import restrictions in 2021. Importers no longer had to prove that e-bikes came up to minimum safety standards.

Then in 2023, the state government of New South Wales, of which Sydney is the capital, doubled the maximum power wattage allowed for e-bikes to 500w.

E-bikes should require riders travelling at more than 6km/h to pedal and the motor should cut out completely when they reach 25km/h.

But retailers could import high-powered bikes and give buyers a PIN to "unlock" them, allowing it to reach higher speeds supposedly only on private property – a crucial loophole.

"Unscrupulous marketers suddenly realised every kid in Australia is going to want one of these," Scruby says.

Teens aren't the only ones who love e-bikes.

At Bondi Beach, Will is loading his daughters, aged six and eight, into a kid trailer on his e-bike after their daily swim, his surfboard attached to the side.

"We use it every day, it's really good with little kids," he says. They can zip to and from the beach without worrying about parking. He's not overly concerned about teenagers on overpowered e-bikes.

"I mean I'm envious, I wish I could pop a wheelie like that. I'm just thankful I don't have boys that age."

Scott Jeffery, who runs an e-bike shop, says they have many advantages, chief among them that they allow riders to travel further and climb hills more easily than a push bike.

"They should be used in many circumstances in place of a car," he says, which has environmental benefits and advantages for older people, who can no longer keep up with their riding buddies or drive.

"It becomes their main form of transport," he adds.

The teens who are out riding on golf courses and such are "foolish and it's ruining the whole usage of e-bikes for everyone else."

The coming crackdown

It seems to be doing more than that.

Injuries caused by e-bikes are becoming "almost business as usual" in paediatric and adult major trauma centres, says Dr Brian Burns, a trauma specialist at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital.

"You're almost on something with the equivalent speed of a motorised vehicle, but not wearing a motorbike helmet," Burns says, noting that motorbike riders typically wear other protective gear such as leathers and gloves.

Doctors are increasingly seeing "significant brain injuries" as well as lesser, but still serious, injuries like friction burns, he says.

Pedestrians are also at greater risk from e-bikes than push bikes. "Sometimes they're about 30, 40 kilos, and you've got a teenager or two on them," Burns says.

St Vincent's Hospital Sydney last month said the number of serious injuries from e-bikes treated at its emergency department had doubled in 2025 compared to the previous year and spiked by 350% since 2023.

Observers say teens also don't fully realise that they are at risk of criminal charges.

In Queensland, an 8-year-old riding an illegal e-bike died in October after crashing into a 15-year-old who was also riding an illegal e-bike, though the teen's was higher powered and the younger child was not deemed to be at fault.

The teenager now faces charges including dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death as well as driving an unregistered and uninsured vehicle.

Faced with the prospect of similar incidents in NSW, the state government recently announced a raft of proposals - a minimum age for e-bike riders, European safety standards for e-bikes, which must have a maximum power output of 250w and anti-tampering protections, and they said police would begin crushing illegal bikes.

"We want Sydney to be a cycling city at the same time as wanting to have some control over how bikes roll out," NSW Transport Minister John Graham told the BBC.

But these plans haven't pleased everyone.

Jeffery says the government's "knee-jerk" response is over the top. "Educate them first and then go on to enforcement."

Scruby says the government hasn't gone far enough: 16-year-olds would still be allowed to ride on footpaths and the government has not addressed the question of insurance, which leaves anyone who is hit by an e-bike and seriously injured unable to claim compensation.

"The main problem here has been that technology has just outpaced the law at 100 kilometres an hour," he says.

"The genie's out of the bottle."

Tears and cheers as controversial long-running Australian breakfast radio show implodes

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr733nyjv9go, 7 days ago

It happens in offices around the world everyday: a workmate accusing another - rightly or wrongly - of not pulling their weight.

But it's not often broadcast live on air to millions of listeners tuning into one of Australia's longest-running breakfast radio programmes.

That's what happened about a fortnight ago on the Kyle and Jackie O Show, when shock jock Kyle Sandilands launched into a seven-minute tirade against his co-host Jackie "O" Henderson.

The very public spat has brought an end to the pair's 27-year history on the airwaves, rocking the Australian media industry.

The high-rating show has been canned, egos have been bruised and fans left in tears while a legion of detractors rejoice that a prime-time show sold on the promise of crude and crass content has finally ended.

"The era of the shock jocks is over," says Jennie Hill, founder of an activist group that targets controversial media personalities - including Sandilands - by asking companies to stop advertising on their programmes.

"Kyle was the last one from a bygone era. There are a few others who are questionable but there are none who are anywhere near as offensive as him."

'Off with the fairies'

The beginning of the end started in a fairly mundane way.

"Your fixation on this has made you almost unworkable," Sandilands remarked almost two weeks ago on 20 February.

He was accusing Henderson of being "off with the fairies" as she looked up the astrology birth chart for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who had hours earlier been arrested in the UK on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

Sandilands, 54, claimed her recent interest in horoscopes and star signs had led to a noticeable shift in her work.

"You're not doing the rest of the job and everyone in this building has mentioned it to me," he declared, dismissing Henderson's request for examples of his allegations.

She defended herself, saying his claims were "mean and nasty" and a "total attack".

"I would never do something like that to you on air like that," she said through tears, adding that if he was unhappy with her performance, "get someone else".

The 51-year-old took a leave of absence and Sandilands told listeners his on-air partner would be back on the airwaves soon.

But, for a show that dabbled in a grey area of broadcasting standards - it attracted many warnings but few punishments over its vulgar and sexually explicit content - its end was black and white.

"Ms Jacqueline Henderson has given notice that she 'cannot continue to work with Mr Kyle Sandilands'," an investor announcement from ARN Media - the owner of KIIS FM - declared on Tuesday.

As a result, they tore up her 10-year A$100m (US$70m; £52m) contract - signed in 2024 - and confirmed she was to be offered a possible new show.

Sandilands was hit with a claim of "serious misconduct" over his on-air rant and given 14 days to "remedy this breach" of his contract or risk his own $100m deal being cancelled.

In a statement on Friday, Henderson said she "did not quit or resign" and that she was saddened and shocked by news of the show ending.

"At this stage, I am unable to say anything further, as I am addressing this through the appropriate legal channels," she said.

Sandilands was contacted for comment, but did not reply.

Sydney versus Melbourne

Many in the industry were blindsided by the announcement, as some observers had branded the public tiff a stunt to boost poor ratings in Melbourne, where an attempt to expand their Sydney show had failed.

A key part of the pair's combined A$200m deal included an ambitious plan to bring their show to other Australian capital cities, with an assumption that one show replicated to other markets would mean fewer people on the payroll.

But when advertiser revenue began to fall and their much-touted entry into the lucrative Melbourne market did not deliver, the pair's pricey deal came at the expense of other staff at the network, with dozens of experienced people let go to balance the books, according to local media.

"The story is a significant one in Australia as both enjoy tremendous visibility and as they've been working together for so long," says Peter Roberts, who lectures in media and communications at the University of New South Wales.

Their partnership was successful because they had distinctive roles to play.

"Kyle was instrumental in the shocking, while Jackie was more the voice of conscience and moderation."

That mix appealed to their main audience, Roberts said, made up of listeners aged between 20 and 45 years, although the show also attracted a strong following among under-18s, with an overall even split between men and women.

But their failed attempt to capture the Melbourne market shows how their style "doesn't transcend to other parts of the country".

"The breakfast slot is wildly competitive, and listeners are loyal to local players in the market, so it's no great surprise that they didn't pull in the audience share in Melbourne, as they had in Sydney."

Over the years, the show has attracted much controversy. In 2009, the show was investigated after a 14-year-old girl was asked about her sexual history while strapped to a lie detector, forcing her to admit she had been raped when she was 12.

Another time the pair told a Cambodian-Australian woman they would bring her niece to Australia but send the niece back if she did not correctly choose the door she was standing behind. The woman chose the wrong door, broke down in tears and begged for her niece to be allowed to stay, which the show agreed to.

Sad fans and 'mad witches'

Online reaction to the end of the Kyle and Jackie O show has see-sawed from fans in shock that their much-loved morning dose of crude jokes - often at the expense of women and minority groups - has ended, while others welcomed the news.

Among those smiling is Hill, who about ten years ago founded activist group MFW -members of which refer to themselves as "the witches" after the term former opposition leader Peter Dutton used for a female journalist in a text message sent by mistake.

About two years ago, the group launched a campaign called VileKyle - mirroring an earlier campaign focused on veteran broadcaster Alan Jones - where a team of about 30 volunteers would listen to every show.

"They'd write down the advertisers and the demeaning quotes with timestamps," Hill said, in a bid to stamp out "violent misogyny" in the media.

Every week, that information would be shared with the group's estimated 200,000 members, who would take it upon themselves to email companies asking them to pull their advertising from the show.

Some examples included Sandilands using homophobic and racial language, women being described on the show as "it" or "that" as sex with them was discussed.

Hill maintains that healthy conversations about sex and sexuality are a good thing but "repeated putdowns" of certain groups is not.

Since the campaign, Hill says about 2,000 companies have pulled their ads from the show, listing major Australian brands such as Qantas, national telecoms company Telstra and supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths as examples. Global brands who have also pulled advertising include Cathay Pacific and AirAsia.

It's uncertain when Sandilands or Henderson will be back on the airwaves, but Hill says her message to the former is crystal clear.

"You need to either reform yourself and understand what you do, or you need to just leave the media alone, one or the other."

Elsewhere, loyal Sydney fans took to social media to share their reaction to the news.

"Noooo, I'm a fan...haven't they been through worse than this? So sad," posted one.

Another said she had been listening to their show since she was 13 and would miss hearing their voices in the morning: "Have I agreed with everything Kyle or Jackie has said or done over the years? No. Some of it I really didn't like. But it's still disappointing that it's come to an end for the duo".

This piece has been updated to take out descriptions of some of the more controversial segments of the show

Jacinda Ardern's move to Australia renews spotlight on New Zealand's brain drain problem

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyx93597l4o, 10 days ago

For a people nicknamed after a flightless bird, taking off overseas has somewhat ironically become a rite of passage for many New Zealanders.

In recent years, the number of Kiwis deserting the nation has reached record levels, a large chunk of them moving "across the ditch" to Australia.

Former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has become the latest to join the exodus, with her office last week confirming she and her family have moved to Sydney, after they were spotted house hunting in the city's affluent northern beaches.

Ardern's move has renewed a spotlight on New Zealand's battle to retain its best and brightest, as the country struggles with a lagging economy, a cost of living crisis and housing shortages.

"Ardern's move is likely to be seen as symbolic of this broader pattern. To some it will read as desertion," Alan Gamlen, director of the Australian National University's migration hub, told the BBC.

Last year, more than 66,000 Kiwis packed up and moved away - the equivalent of 180 every single day.

That flow is partially offset by New Zealanders returning to their homeland. But for a nation with a population of only 5.3 million, the number of citizens it is haemorrhaging is significant.

It's a relatively safe country, globally famous for its stunning landscapes, and people living there enjoy a high life expectancy.

So what is driving hordes to leave?

There is no question this is a long term trend, especially for young people, who often want overseas experience - known as "an OE" - before returning to set down roots.

Since the 1970s - when Britain ended trading agreements that had shored up New Zealand's economy and Australia introduced loosened work and travel restrictions - the outflow of people has surged sporadically.

But "the trend has re-emerged noticeably over the past five years", says Gamlen.

And increasingly, many young New Zealanders are making more permanent moves, reticent to come back to a country they feel no longer offers a prosperous future for them.

The nation is dealing with high unemployment - with levels not seen for a decade outside the Covid-19 pandemic - and wage growth has failed to keep up with inflation.

That's driven the cost of living through the roof. Grocery prices, for example, are among the highest in the developed world.

Dwindling housing affordability has pinched pockets further, with a shortage of homes driving up both rents and house prices.

And there are broad health and education inequalities too.

Ten years ago, Nicole Ballantyne swapped Auckland's eastern suburbs for Sydney's.

The 27-year-old was initially drawn by better post-high school study opportunities, but now finds it hard to imagine a life back home.

"Sydney is a better version of Auckland," she told the BBC.

"It has a lot more going on, the career opportunities are really good and it's also just that little bit more connected to the rest of the world."

Her brother has since moved over too. Not a single member of her tight-knit friend group from high school remains in New Zealand.

Ballantyne stresses she's a proud Kiwi - "I will always support the All Blacks," she jokes - but says she's been able to build a life in Australia which she couldn't back home.

"If Auckland could offer that, I would have stayed."

She's far from alone. Though the UK and America are popular destinations, an estimated half of New Zealand's expats have flocked to Australia's shores, where they have for over half a century enjoyed essentially equal work rights.

Times are tough in Australia too, but it offers better job, pay and housing prospects.

"There is some movement the other way, but these days it's much smaller," says Gamlen.

'Deep unease' about state of country

The exodus is causing anguish amongst New Zealand's lawmakers - on both personal and policy fronts.

"My oldest son has moved to Melbourne, because he can't find work here," opposition Labor MP Ginny Anderson told the BBC World Service recently.

"My own brother, who is a trained school teacher, now works in China because the wages are better there."

"This is a reality for many New Zealand families who have been divided... and that's heartbreaking for me."

With the country heading to a general election in November, many politicians are trying to convince voters they have solutions.

All agree New Zealand must turn its economy around, but have different visions on how to do that.

They range from relieving pressure on the employment market and infrastructure through immigration cuts, to creating more jobs through an investment boost for housing construction.

MPs from the governing coalition stress any "brain drain" is not a new problem for the country, and say its recent deeper woes are a hangover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

But some experts point out emigration isn't all bad for New Zealand. Those who do return make the country richer for their experience and could drive innovation.

"Every departure represents new connections and an expanding network," Merryn Tawhai, from the Auckland Bioengineering Institute, told the University of Auckland's Ingenio magazine last year.

Housing Minister Chris Bishop told the BBC's World Questions programme his government is achieving "good progress" in making the country a place its citizens want to stay.

"But I don't pretend for a moment that everything is perfect in New Zealand. Clearly it isn't," he said.

"There is a deep unease amongst many New Zealanders about the state of [the country]."

Ballantyne says she suspects the former prime minister's decision to move to Australia is more nuanced than that.

"There's probably a level of harassment out and about still, she's a public figure... [and in] Australia, she might be able to lay a little bit lower."

Ardern left New Zealand shortly after quitting politics in January 2023, and took on a fellowship at Harvard University.

Her office says her family had been travelling for a few years and have now decided to base themselves out of Australia "for the moment".

"They have work there, and it brings the added bonus of more time back home in New Zealand," a spokesperson told local media.

Alleged Bondi gunman seeks order to suppress family's identity

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8lwnyj40eo, 4 days ago

Alleged Bondi Beach gunman Naveed Akram has sought a court order to prevent media from publishing details of his immediate family over concerns about their safety.

The 24-year-old, who faces 59 charges including 15 counts of murder over the 14 December attack on a Jewish festival, did not appear in person at Monday's hearing.

His lawyer applied to the court in Sydney on his behalf for a non-publication order on the names, addresses and places of work and school for his mother, brother and sister.

Magistrate Greg Grogin granted a temporary order, citing global interest in the case - but noted that the name of Akram's mother had already been widely published.

"Hasn't the horse already bolted on that?" he asked.

A lawyer for News Corp Australia - which owns Sky News Australia and numerous prominent newspapers - present at the hearing at the Downing Centre Local Court said the company would likely challenge the order. The matter is due to return to court briefly next week.

Akram's mother spoke to media in the aftermath of the shooting to defend her son.

His father, Sajid Akram, was shot and killed in a shootout with police at the scene of the attack.

Naveed Akram, who was critically injured, has yet to enter a plea. He said only one word when he appeared in court for the first time last month, answering "yeah" when asked if he had heard a discussion about an extension of different suppression orders.

Prosecutors have alleged that the two gunmen, inspired by Islamic State, acted alone and were not part of a wider cell. The attack was Australia's worst mass shooting since the 1996 Port Arthur attack.

Australians must prove they are over 18 to access porn under new laws

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy92qpv424o, 4 days ago

Australians must prove they are over 18 before they can access adult content such as porn, R-rated video games and sexually explicit AI chatbots under new laws.

The changes will protect children from harmful content, with platforms fined for breaches, Australia's online safety regulator said.

"We don't allow children to walk into bars or bottle shops, adult stores or casinos, but when it comes to online spaces... there are no such safeguards," its commissioner Julie Inman Grant said.

Experts say the new laws - which come three months after Australia introduced an under-16s social media ban - will face similar concerns over data privacy and users trying to trick age-verification technologies.

In Australia, as in many countries, users visiting adult sites are usually asked to verify their age by clicking on a box that says they are over 18.

But the new changes mean platforms must introduce stricter age-verification checks from Monday.

This can include facial recognition technology, digital IDs and credit card details.

Under the new rules, companies behind search engines, app stores, social media and gaming platforms, porn sites and AI systems - including companion chatbots - must take "meaningful steps" to prevent children from being exposed to adult content.

"If a young person searches the internet for suicide or self-harm content, the first result they see will be a helpline - not a harmful online rabbit hole," Inman Grant, Australia's eSafety Commissioner, said in the lead-up to the new rules being announced.

Research by her agency found that one in three children aged 10-17 had seen sexual images or videos online.

It also found that more than 70% of children had been exposed to online content showing high-impact violence, self-harm and suicide material, and information on disordered eating.

Days before the new measures came into effect, Australian news site Crikey reported that RedTube, YouPorn and Tube8 - all owned by Canadian porn giant Aylo - had stopped all Australians from registering accounts and accessing content.

A spokesperson for Aylo said that, while it would comply with the new rules, it did not think they would protect children and "instead creates harms relating to data privacy and exposure to illegal content on non-compliant platforms".

Dr Rahat Masood, who teaches cybersecurity at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), said the new laws will have limited impact.

"Age-verification laws may raise barriers but are unlikely to completely prevent young people from accessing restricted content," she said.

Most youngsters were very digitally savvy, she said, using VPNs (virtual private networks) or other tools to trick sites into thinking they were logging on from another country. Using a parent's credit card or ID would also be a fairly easy way to get around the rules.

A greater concern is whether young people seek darker corners of the web, Masood said, such as overseas adult websites that are not regulated, peer-to-peer file sharing networks, or getting adult material from platforms like Telegram, Discord or WhatsApp where age-checks are limited.

She said the new rules may reduce casual or accidental exposure to harmful material but adult users will also be worried about their data privacy.

"For many people, there is a discomfort with linking identity verification to highly personal browsing activity," Masood said.

Sabrina Caldwell, who lectures on ethics in technology at UNSW, agrees the changes will be flawed, much like the social media ban, but they will create an extra barrier.

"For many children - and adults for that matter - this will be effective in helping them to avoid startling or unsettling imagery and information without warning," she said.

"And even if they do sneak onto such sites, they should be aware of the dangers they may encounter."

But critics say the age-verification rules for social media and adult content were moves that Australia will come to "absolutely regret" in years to come.

Seth Lazar, a philosophy professor at the Australian National University, says the new measures were "extremely misguided, both as a matter of technological practice and from the perspective of liberal values".

"Instead of these crude, circumventable policies that create an infrastructure of private companies effectively doing law enforcement, they should just mandate that every operating system provider has to create genuinely functional parental controls apps that meet a set of minimum criteria," Lazar said.

"Build tech to support parents, not to replace their judgement."

Last July, the UK introduced new laws for porn sites to "robustly" age-check users or risk fines of up to £18m, or 10% of worldwide revenue.

Noma head chef resigns from restaurant amid abuse allegations

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c07jr2pe5j9o, today

The head chef of Noma, one of the highest-rated restaurants in the world, has resigned amid allegations of abuse.

René Redzepi announced his exit on social media, saying: "After more than two decades of building and leading this restaurant, I've decided to step away and allow our extraordinary leaders to now guide the restaurant into its next chapter."

Former employees had accused the chef of creating a toxic work environment, including verbal and physical abuse, according to media reports.

The fine-dining establishment, which is based in Denmark, has been preparing for a Los Angeles residency, but corporate sponsors pulled out after the abuse claims and protests outside his pop-up location.

In a statement posted on Instagram, Redzepi said: "An apology is not enough; I take responsibility for my own actions.

"For anyone wondering what this means for the restaurant, let me say it clearly: the Noma team today is the strongest and most inspiring it has ever been," he added.

"We've been open for 23 years, and I'm incredibly proud of our people, our creativity, and the direction Noma is heading."

He said the team would continue their work at the Los Angeles location without him.

Redzepi also resigned from the board of MAD, a non-profit organisation that he founded in 2011, which states on its website that it focuses on helping those who are new to the restaurant industry.

A recent report in the New York Times said dozens of former employees had accused the chef of creating an abusive culture in the kitchen and a toxic work environment, which included verbal threats and physical mistreatment at the eatery he founded in 2003.

"To be honest with you, I think the repercussions of staying silent are worse than me speaking up and standing with my peers against violence," said Jason Ignacio White, former Noma employee.

White said he witnessed widespread abuse during the years he worked for the celebrity chef.

Days later Redzepi responded to the allegations on social media, saying: "To those who have suffered under my leadership, my bad judgement, or my anger I am deeply sorry and I have worked to change."

He said he had "shouted and pushed people, acting in ways that are unacceptable" and shared that he had gone to therapy and found better ways to manage his anger.

But protests took place outside the Noma pop-up location in the neighbourhood of Silver Lake, with some wage-rights groups calling for Redzepi's resignation.

"Who wants to eat in an environment of abuse," Saru Jayaraman, a member of One Fair Wage, told the BBC's US media partner CBS News. "Who wants to eat food that comes from the tears and sweat of people who are suffering?"

Several corporate sponsors, including American Express, withdrew from the 16-week dinner series.

Reservations for the pop-up in Los Angeles cost $1,500 (£1,120) per person and sold out in just minutes.

War in Ukraine spills into Hungarian election

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crm8rxwyyz8o, today

War-torn Ukraine "will stop at nothing" to prevent Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party winning the upcoming Hungarian elections, the Hungarian government claims. Physical violence against the prime minister and his family, and attacks or sabotage of key energy installations, are being prepared, ministers allege.

The Ukrainian government, in turn, accuses its Hungarian counterpart of whipping up a hate campaign against it to frighten Hungarians into voting Fidesz back into office.

A third party is in the middle: Russia.

The Financial Times reported on Wednesday morning that the Social Design Agency, a Kremlin-linked media consultancy firm, was preparing a mass disinformation campaign in Hungary, to bolster Orbán and discredit the opposition Tisza Party and its leader, Peter Magyar.

With just 30 days to go until the parliamentary election in Hungary, some analysts believe the anti-Ukraine hysteria proves that Orbán is panicking in the face of probable defeat.

His Fidesz party trails to Tisza by 39% to 50% in the latest poll.

Others say Orbán knows his electorate well - and that if they can be convinced that the country is in mortal danger, he could win a remarkable fifth consecutive victory on 12 April.

At the core of the dispute is the disruption of the Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline on which Hungarian and Hungarian-run Slovak refineries depend.

Oil deliveries through the pipeline stopped on 27 January, after a Russian drone strike caused a fire at the Brody oil hub in western Ukraine.

No oil has arrived in Hungary since then.

Last week, Orbán produced satellite images which, according to him, show that the pipeline is intact. He and his ministers accuse Ukraine of delaying repairs, in order to harm Orban's re-election chances, by causing a fuel shortage in Hungary.

"The Orbán government is not telling the full truth," András Rácz a security analyst, at the German Council on Foreign Relations, told the BBC, regarding Hungarian government claims that no technical obstacles remain to restarting the flow of Russian oil to Hungary.

In the 27 January Russian attack, Rácz said, an oil tank containing 75 million litres of crude oil at Brody was damaged, and to save the oil and prevent an environmental disaster, it was pumped into the pipeline for storage.

The presence of that oil, and other technical damage resulting from the first and a subsequent Russian attack, prevent the restoration of supply.

Ukraine says it could take six weeks to repair.

The Ukraine hysteria in Hungary takes many forms.

Giant billboards and city lights posters cover the country. Some show Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky begging for money from EU chiefs.

Others juxtapose Zelensky and Peter Magyar. His Tisza is accused of planning to get Hungary involved in the Ukraine war, by joining what is dubbed "the pro-war lobby" in Brussels - something Magyar vehemently denies.

"We are the real party of peace," Magyar tells crowds at his daily rallies across the country.

Orbán and his ministers tour the country, too, addressing what they bill as "anti-war" assemblies of Fidesz supporters.

The most shocking video - an artificial intelligence production by Fidesz - shows a little girl asking her weeping mother when her dad will come home. This cuts to a firing squad where her blindfolded father is about to be executed. This will happen to Hungarians, the video suggests, if they vote for Tisza.

Facebook has rejected readers' complaints that the advert violates its rules on both political and violence grounds.

In a highly unusual move in peacetime, the army has been deployed to patrol key energy installations - "to reassure' the public" in the Fidesz narrative or "to frighten" them in the Tisza one.

In the eastern city of Debrecen, Defence Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky warned that the city could be a target for "hybrid operations" such as sabotage.

The dominant pro-government media act as an echo-chamber for the government message.

"Many people contact us, asking why, if the danger of attack is real, the government does not provide information about air-raid shelters," Tamas Polgar Toth, a journalist at the independent Debreciner news portal told the BBC. The Fidesz mayor of Debrecen, Laszlo Papp, later told the portal that this was being considered.

On 21 February, Orbán vetoed the delivery of the EU loan, until the oil flow through the Druzhba pipeline was restored. Ukraine has resorted to a €1.5bn loan from the International Monetary Fund to tide it over until the dispute is settled.

But on 4 March, Zelensky appeared to exacerbate the stand-off.

"We hope that no-one in the European Union will block the €90bn (£78bn) [of EU aid, currently vetoed by Hungary]. Otherwise we will give that person's address to our armed forces so they can call on him and speak to him in their own language," Zelensky said. He did not name Orbán.

The Hungarian prime minister was not pleased.

"They want to get rid of us, with threats if possible, because if nice words don't work, then with threats and blackmail," Orbán told state radio on 6 March.

A day earlier two vehicles of the Ukrainian state savings Oschadbank were seized crossing Hungary.

The TEK anti-terror troops used in the operation were depicted on the front cover of the independent HVG weekly on Wednesday as Viktor Orbán's "private army" moving gold bars around the symbol of the Tisza party.

Pro-government media allege that one of the lawyers at the company representing the Ukrainian bank as it tries to get back its money and vehicles is an ardent Tisza supporter.

A decree issued by the government on Monday ordered prosecutors to investigate "whether Hungarian criminal organisations, terrorist organisations or political organisations present in Hungary may have benefited from the transported assets".

On Wednesday, several members of a so-called fact-finding mission set up by the Hungarian government entered Ukraine by car. Their aim was to report on the Druzhba.

"Our job is to assess the status of the pipeline and create conditions for its restart," Deputy Energy Minister Gábor Czepek said in a Facebook post.

But Ukraine said the group were being treated as tourists.

"This group of individuals holds no official status, nor do they have any scheduled official meetings; therefore, it is fundamentally incorrect to refer to them as a delegation," a statement from Ukraine's foreign ministry said.

Ukraine says it has hit Russian 'missile component' plant

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg1eqw30l9o, yesterday

Ukrainian forces have struck one of Russia's "most important military factories", President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

"The plant produced electronics and components for Russian missiles. The very missiles that strike our cities, our villages and civilians," he said.

British Storm Shadow missiles were used to hit Kremniy El plant in the border region of Bryansk, Ukraine's military said.

Russian local authorities say at least six civilians were killed and 42 injured in the "terrorist missile attack". President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said it was "obvious that the launch of these missiles was impossible without British specialists".

"In order to prevent such barbaric actions by the Kyiv regime from continuing, the special military operation is being conducted," Dmitry Peskov said, using the Russian description for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine that Putin ordered on 24 February 2022.

Peskov said one of the goals of the Russian operation was to demilitarise Ukraine. Putin himself has often stated that demilitarisation is a central objective of the war.

But it is due to the Russian invasion that Ukraine has been receiving Western support - including sophisticated weapons aimed at defending its territories.

Russia, for its part, has also been receiving help from its allies, including Shahed drones supplied by Iran and soldiers sent by North Korea.

One of those drones was used in an attack which killed two people and injured another five in the second-largest city of Kharkiv on Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said.

Another Russian attack a day earlier in Slovyansk, in eastern Ukraine, killed four and injured 16.

Both sides have continued attacks, even though the war has reached a stalemate recently.

Russia has been making slow advances in the battlefield, but Ukraine also says it is reclaiming more land seized by the Russians.

Zelensky says another round of talks - involving Russian and American negotiators - may be held next week.

The process is being led by US President Donald Trump, who has been trying to end the war.

The outcome of the talks hinges on part of his proposals that envisages Ukraine giving up to Russia areas it does not currently control in the Donbas - an industrial area composed of the administrative regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Russia currently controls more than 80% of those areas - which Ukraine says it cannot agree to relinquish.

No evidence Swiss bus fire was terrorism, officials say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y4wdlyy9xo, yesterday

Swiss officials say they suspect a bus fire that killed at least six people and injured five in western Switzerland was started deliberately but was unlikely a terrorist act.

The incident took place on Tuesday night in the town of Kerzers - known in French as Chiètres - in Fribourg canton, about 20km (12 miles) from the capital, Bern.

Officials said on Wednesday that a survivor told them a Swiss man in his 60s had sprayed a flammable liquid on his body before setting himself on fire. He is thought to be among the dead.

Fribourg's general prosecutor said the man appeared to be "psychologically unstable", adding: "There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that this was a terrorist act."

According to police, initial findings suggest the man boarded the bus in the Düdingen municipality, 17km south of Kerzers, at around 17:45 local time (18:45 GMT) before setting himself on fire roughly 40 minutes later.

Video posted by local media shows a bus in flames, and a local resident described seeing a thick column of smoke.

Of the five people injured in the fire, police said three had to be taken to hospital and two were still there.

Cantonal police commander Philippe Allain said it was not known where the fire started but that it appeared the doors of the bus had been open. It is not known why passengers did not get out of the vehicle.

Investigators have also been checking the fuel-powered bus to rule out any potential technical cause.

Allain said the victims had not been identified yet but that they were all born between 1961 and 2009.

In a post on X, Swiss President Guy Parmelin said: "It shocks and saddens me that people have once again lost their lives in a serious fire in Switzerland".

Forty-one people were killed in a deadly fire that broke out in a Swiss ski resort on New Year's Eve.

Russia's deportation of Ukrainian children amounts to crime against humanity, UN says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz7g5xnvl2eo, 2 days ago

The deportation and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia constitutes a crime against humanity and a war crime, the UN has said.

A new report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine says Russian authorities "at the highest level" have deported "thousands" of children from the occupied areas of Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin's "direct involvement" has been "visibile form the outset," it adds.

Ukraine says almost 20,000 children have been illegally sent to Russia and Belarus.

The UN Commission has so far identified 1,205 cases of children who were taken from Ukrainian territories by Moscow in 2022.

Eighty percent of these children have not yet been returned, the report says, and many parents and guardians are to this day unaware of the whereabouts of the minors.

This amounts to enforced disappearance and unjustifiable delay in repatriation, which are crimes against humanity and war crimes respectively, according to the UN.

The majority of the children mentioned in the UN report lived in the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics - Ukrainian regions which Moscow illegally claims control over.

The report says that just before it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow evacuated these children to the Russian Federation, claiming they were at risk of an imminent attack by Ukraine. Then, the children were placed in families or institutions and given Russian citizenship.

Moscow has always dismissed accusations of forcibly removing children from Ukrainian territory.

Vladimir Putin once said that "the story of the 'child abductions'... [was] exaggerated" and insisted that the children in question had been "rescued" from a war zone. At the time, he also insisted there was "no problem" returning the children to their homeland.

But Kyiv has always argued that was not the case and the UN report says that children have faced huge difficulties travelling back to Ukraine.

This forced removal and severed ties with their homeland, combined with a "coercive environment" in Russia, "has been a source of deep distress for the children", according to the UN.

The children who manage to return suffer from "trauma, anxiety and fear of abandonment", the report says, often due to harsh treatment in Russia. One child was told by staff in a Russian orphanage that his country, Ukraine, "does not exist anymore, everything has burnt down, and your parents have probably died".

"I am still looking for my daughter, and I am terribly afraid of what she might think of me and how she survives [in Russia], where many people hate Ukrainians," the report quotes a mother who has been unable to track down her child as saying.

In 2023 the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin, accusing him and his commissioner for children's rights Maria Lvova-Belova of the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children.

Lvova-Belova gave an interview in which she described "taking in" a 15-year-old boy from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which Russia currently occupies, and "re-educating" him despite the fact he "did not want to go" to Russia.

Ukraine says it has so far recovered 2,000 children.

US First Lady Melania Trump has reportedly been involved in facilitating the reunification of children. Last year, she said she had an "open channel of communication" with Putin after he responded to her letter of concern about the child victims of the Russia-Ukraine war.

The war in Ukraine continues unabated despite several rounds of talks involving Moscow and Kyiv's negotiating teams and, most recently, an American delegation.

The conflict - now in its fifth year - has killed more than 15,000 civilians, injured more than 41,300, and displaced 3.7 million.

Three brothers arrested after explosion at US embassy in Oslo

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2grl7lrrmo, yesterday

Three brothers have been arrested in Norway linked to an explosion outside the US embassy in the capital, Oslo, on Sunday.

The authorities believe the blast was caused by an improvised device that was placed at the building's entrance. It caused minor damage and no injuries were reported.

The brothers, all in their 20s, are Norwegian citizens with links to Iraq, Norway's police attorney Christian Hatlo told a press conference on Wednesday.

Among them is thought to be a suspect police had previously released images of, broadcaster NRK reported.

"They are suspected of a terror bombing," Hatlo said. None of the brothers, who have not been named, were previously known to police.

The authorities are investigating several theories about the motivation for the attack, including whether a foreign state actor was involved.

"The most important thing is to get them [the suspects] questioned, then we'll see what happens," Hatlo said.

As well as the images released earlier this week, investigators have also been examining a video published on Google Maps around the time of the incident.

The now-deleted video featured Iran's former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, local media reported. He was killed last month during joint US-Israeli strikes on Tehran.

Dogs, drones and helicopters were used to carry out investigations as the scene of the explosion as police said the investigation into the embassy was being treated as high priority.

Emergency services were dispatched to the embassy, on Morgedalsvegen Street in the Ullern district of Oslo, at about 02:00 local time (01:00 GMT) on Sunday.

Following the incident, photos posted on social media showed shattered glass in the snow outside the entrance to the embassy's consular section, cracks in a glass door and dark marks on a tiled floor.

Norwegian authorities described the incident as "unacceptable", with Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide stressing that "the security of diplomatic missions is very important to us".

A US State Department spokesperson said it was investigating the incident too.

Zelensky sends drone teams to Middle East, touting Ukraine's expertise

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgl5jeg5r15o, yesterday

Teams of Ukrainian military experts have been sent to Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to help them defend against drones being launched from Iran in retaliation for the massive US and Israeli air attacks.

Others are also helping the US defend its military presence in Jordan, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In a video address, Zelensky said Ukraine had "the greatest experience in the world in countering attack drones" – a reference to expertise built up over the more than four years of attacks by Russia on its neighbour.

Ukraine says the US and 10 more countries across the Middle East and Europe have asked for help countering the threat of drones that have wrought much damage.

There has been no comment by any of the countries concerned. Last week President Trump said he would take help from "any country" that offered it, including Ukraine.

In his address, Zelensky said one of Ukraine's top officials, Rustem Umerov, secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, was on his way to the Gulf, along with military, intelligence and defence officials to prepare what he called "concrete agreements".

"Ukraine has the greatest experience in the world in countering attack drones," Zelensky said, adding that "without our experience, it will be very difficult for the Gulf region, the entire Middle East, and partners in Europe and America to build strong protection".

"We are ready to help those who help us, help Ukraine."

The air defences of some countries in the Middle East have struggled to cope with incoming Iranian drones, using million-dollar missiles against cheap Shahed unmanned aircraft.

Ukraine, instead, uses cheap, mass-produced interceptor drones to keep their skies relatively safe. It is now offering Gulf countries both its weapons and its expertise.

But there are political risks if people in Ukraine were to ask why drones are being sent to the Gulf when they are badly needed here.

That is why Zelensky is repeatedly making clear that Ukraine must get something back in return for any help.

"Those now seeking Ukraine's help must continue to assist our own defence - first and foremost, our air defence," he said. Primarily that would mean giving Ukraine more Patriot and other air-defence that Kyiv needs not to bring down Russian attack drones but its fast missiles that are much harder to defend against.

Ukraine also hopes to use the sale of interceptor drones not only to earn more funds for its depleted coffers but also to win more friends and allies in the Gulf which have tried to avoid taking sides in Russia's war on Ukraine.

The fact the tables have been turned and Western allies are now asking Ukraine for help has not been lost on people here in Kyiv.

But some Ukrainian figures fear there are risks of Zelensky asking too much of his Western allies and overselling his country's drone expertise.

Eyebrows were raised when the presidential office confirmed that it had offered the US a drone deal a year ago and it had been turned down.

In an interview with an Irish blogger, Caolan Robertson, Zelensky said it was a "good feeling" that so many partners were asking Kyiv for help. "The Americans asked us and, of course, I'm very proud that we can help American partners."

Asked if he had cards to play, Zelensky said: "We held them like a good player. You can have good cards, but it's important not to show everyone that you have them. I think we had them a year ago, too, but we didn't show them. Now, however, everyone understands that they are there."

It is a reference to Donald Trump's repeated statements that Kyiv held no cards in its talks with Moscow and Washington – and that it should make concessions in order to reach a deal to end the war with Russia.

Trump has led efforts to mediate a peace deal, but his proposals to do so have been seen as favouring Russia.

One of the biggest obstacles to the peace negotiations has been the demand for Kyiv to give up to Russia areas it does not currently control in the Donbas - an industrial area composed of the administrative regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Russia currently controls more than 80% of those areas - which Ukraine refuses to give up.

Since coming to power more than a year ago, Trump has also cut US aid to Ukraine, criticising his predecessor for wasting US taxpayers' money.

Instead, much-need US hardware, including Patriot missiles, are now being bought by Ukraine's European allies before being handed over to Kyiv.

Their supply, however, has been slow and insufficient.

Steve Rosenberg: Russia seeks diplomatic and economic gains from Iran war

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gjyg0djvmo, 2 days ago

It's happened twice now in a week.

A telephone conversation between the presidents of Russia and Iran.

As the US and Israel continue their strikes on Iran, Russian President Vladimir Putin is styling himself as international peacemaker.

That's not an easy sell.

After all, it was the Kremlin leader who ordered Russia's full-scale invasion of an independent sovereign nation in 2022.

Back then, the UN General Assembly had condemned the invasion of Ukraine as a violation of the UN Charter.

And while the Kremlin is now calling for "a swift de-escalation and political resolution [of the Iran conflict]", Russia is continuing its war of attrition against Ukraine.

Moscow has a "Comprehensive Strategic Partnership" agreement with Iran. Only this week Putin reaffirmed the Kremlin's "unwavering support" for Tehran. But their strategic partnership falls far short of a mutual defence treaty.

Instead, Moscow has offered to mediate in the conflict.

In Monday's telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump, according to the Kremlin, Putin "expressed several thoughts aimed at a swift diplomatic resolution of the Iran conflict, based among other things on contacts with leaders of Gulf states, the president of Iran, and leaders of other countries".

For Russia it's a chance to boost its profile in the Gulf and the Middle East - and to present itself as a power with influence.

It's an opportunity too to deepen its relationship with Washington.

The Kremlin is keen to retain good working relations with Trump. It views its ties with the Trump administration as beneficial to Moscow's war aims in Ukraine.

That explains why Putin has been careful not to criticise Trump personally and publicly over the Iran war.

"[Putin] wants to be helpful," Trump said on Monday after his telephone conversation with Putin.

"I said, 'You could be more helpful by getting the Ukraine-Russia war over with. That would be more helpful.'"

And yet, while the Kremlin calls for 'de-escalation' in Iran, the conflict provides other opportunities for Moscow.

Economic ones for starters.

The recent jump in global oil prices provides a much-needed boost to Russian government revenues and - amid a prolonged period of high prices - will help Russia continue funding its war on Ukraine.

Russia's federal budget is based on the country exporting oil at $59 a barrel.

In recent months oil prices dropped well below that level. This week, crude oil surged dramatically to almost $120 a barrel. They've since fallen back but oil prices remain well above the $59 mark.

What's more, Trump has suggested that the US will waive oil-related sanctions "on some countries" to ease the shortage caused by the Iran war.

If oil sanctions are eased on Russia, Moscow can look forward to an even greater financial windfall. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said that would be a "serious blow" for Kyiv and urged Trump against it.

Today's edition of the pro-Kremlin Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper was optimistic.

"Expensive oil is a reason [for the West] to cancel sanctions," declared the headline.

The Kremlin may not be criticising America's president but some Russian newspapers have been slamming Trump and the Iran war.

"The 'peace president' has simply lost his mind," declared Tuesday's edition of the tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets.

"The Emperor has no clothes. Or rather, no sanity."

Inside the Russian explosives plot that sent incendiary parcels to the UK

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpd83zwqlvno, yesterday

Sex toys, body lotion and massage cushions were not the kind of delivery Aleksandr Suranovas usually handled.

"What?" he messaged, when he was sent a photograph of the items he was being asked to post in four parcels from Lithuania to the UK and Poland.

"It's what they need, and they're offering regular work," the response came over the messaging app Telegram. The pay was decent: €150 (£130/$173) for a couple of hours' work, so Suranovas agreed. "If that's what's needed, fine by me," he typed back.

But each parcel contained a sophisticated incendiary device. The tubes of cosmetics had been re-filled with a liquid high explosive and the ignition devices were hidden inside the cushions. Suranovas maintains he had no idea of this.

When he was handed the items in a Vilnius park in July 2024 the timers inside were already counting down. Over the next two days, three of the parcels would go up in flames, one just before it was loaded onto a cargo plane for London. Any later and the consequences could have been disastrous.

That August, Suranovas was arrested and charged with carrying out an act of terrorism on behalf of Russian military intelligence, the GRU. Twenty-two people are now in custody in Lithuania and Poland after an international investigation involving UK counter-terrorism officers. It concluded that the operation was run by Russia, an allegation consistently denied by Moscow. This is the first time anyone involved in the parcel plot has spoken publicly.

Last year, I wrote to several of the suspects in prison as part of my own ongoing investigation into a wave of sabotage attacks across Europe following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, that has included arson and derailed trains as well as the parcel plot. Suranovas replied at length and, when he was released on remand recently, agreed to meet.

His account, together with the many case documents I have seen and other sources, give a unique insight into an extraordinary plot that targeted the UK and several other countries, in an apparent attempt to shatter support for Kyiv. They help expose how Russia is now actively recruiting individuals within Europe, accused of increasingly serious attacks.

"I wouldn't call it a shadow war. I think this is active aggression against our nations," Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of Lithuania's National Crisis Management Centre, warns. "It's a clear message that those who support Ukraine will be hit by the Russians. I think it's very dangerous and we are very close to… situations where a lot of people would be suffering."

The first time Suranovas tried to pick up the parcels - from an Airbnb in Vilnius - he failed to find the flat. Using untrained proxies, as a former European diplomat to Russia puts it, adds "a layer of unpredictability - and incompetence". But three weeks later, the job was back on.

Suranovas told me he had been hired by an old acquaintance in Russia known as HK, who communicated via Telegram. His instructions, many of which I have seen, were to collect the boxes and send them on to addresses in London, Birmingham and Warsaw using the DHL and DPD courier companies.

The police investigation reveals he was the last link in a long chain, co-ordinated remotely from Russia. Each person had a specific task, from hand-carrying the ignition devices into the EU, to supplying cars. Some seem unaware of the full picture.

Lithuania's former Defence Minister Dovile Sakaliene says that is Russia's signature style, designed for deniability.

"The further the proxies who execute certain actions are from the initiators…[and] the more clueless people participating are, the more difficult it is to ensure efficient investigation."

Even so, investigators have identified several suspected co-ordinators from Russia. One, known as Warrior, is also believed to have organised an arson attack on an Ikea branch in Vilnius in May 2024.

On the rescheduled delivery day, HK greeted Suranovas cheerily by text and told him he was transferring about €500 (£433, $580) for the postage costs, in cryptocurrency. He then forwarded a photograph of a square in central Vilnius. "The man" would meet him there with the parcels, he wrote. Suranovas sounded uneasy.

"Next time, let them use the post office. Meetings like this are not for me," he typed. "The guy's neutral. It's nothing illegal," HK assured him.

But across town a young Ukrainian, Vladislav Derkavets, was already activating the four incendiary devices, chain-smoking to steady his nerves. He has since been arrested. The case files show that his own handler, Warrior, was sending him instructions via Telegram.

With the timers set, Derkavets was directed to wipe clean everything he had handled. He then packed the massage cushions into boxes with the tubes of liquid explosive, alongside compression tights and vibrators, possibly intended as a distraction. They were now ready to hand over to Suranovas.

Suranovas came to our meeting in central Vilnius wearing an electronic tag on one leg. After 18 months in custody, he is now under "intensive supervision", only allowed to leave home for a few hours a day until his trial.

Born in then-Soviet Lithuania, the 53-year-old - tall, stocky, talkative - describes himself as ethnically Russian. We spoke in Russian, his first language.

He admits to sending the parcels - he was filmed by CCTV cameras in the offices of DHL and DPD - but insists he had no idea about the devices concealed inside. "I would never have agreed to that, because I think it's awful," he told me. "I was used."

Suranovas was officially unemployed when he was arrested by armed police. But he says he has sold cars to customers in Belarus and Russia for years and picked up a sideline in other deliveries. "People knew me," he says. "So I'd help them. For a fee." He mentioned clothes and electronics but was vague on the details.

That is how he first met HK online, he says, but he claims not to know his contact's name. "We call each other 'brother' or 'mate'," is all he would give me. I sensed some nerves. "I know he knows where I live," Suranovas mentioned at one point.

Investigators believe HK is Moldovan, living in Krasnodar, southern Russia, though they haven't made his identity public. It is the same city where Warrior is reportedly based.

Asked about the allegations in this case, the Russian Embassy in London said there was "nothing resembling credible evidence" of Moscow's involvement in sabotage operations and dismissed all such claims as an "anti-Russian" narrative.

Suranovas calls the war on Ukraine "idiotic" and tells me he doesn't like Putin.

But he is most passionate about insisting he would never knowingly have handled explosives. "Not for a million dollars," he said. "No sum can compensate for your freedom."

A close relative of his remembers their initial "hysterical laughter" on learning that Suranovas had been accused of terrorism. Then there was shock. "He's a speculator, he buys and sells," they told me. "This is really scary."

Suranovas does already have a criminal record, something he brought up himself, but he consistently downplayed his own role. He has been on bail since 2022 on a fraud charge for a pyramid scheme in Poland with links to Russia, and in 2016 he was convicted in Denmark of attempting to obtain jewellery with stolen credit cards. Suranovas still insists he was just the driver, but I checked the court files and the judge did not believe him. He got 18 months.

I suggested his work in the shadowlands, and the money troubles he mentions, made him an ideal saboteur-for-hire for Russia. "I wasn't part of this, I don't work for the GRU," he shot back. "I am no spy."

It was a hot summer's day when Suranovas was driven into Vilnius by his wife to collect the parcels. She pulled up beside the square while he headed for a bench beneath some trees to wait for the courier. HK continued messaging instructions. "He'll be in shorts," he wrote. "With 4 boxes."

The man was late, messed up the codeword and took a photograph of Suranovas as he left. "This is some dodgy shit", Suranovas fumed to HK in another text.

He insists that he checked repeatedly there was "nothing illegal, nothing banned" in the delivery. In the chat I have seen with HK he asks that directly once. He is also told not to ask too many questions: "then everything will be smooth".

Suranovas spent about 40 minutes at the DHL office close to Vilnius airport where a member of staff checked every item in his boxes. A tube of cream had split and she sealed it up, unaware the leaking liquid was an explosive.

"There was nothing out of the ordinary at all. No little cables hanging out or anything," Suranovas says.

His wife then drove him on to DPD to post the remaining two parcels to Warsaw. "There are cameras everywhere. Wouldn't I have come in a hire car or something? With some kind of beard?" he reasons. He did use a fake name for the sender's details - to avoid spam, he claims - but stresses that he paid with his own debit card. He says he has been unable to restore access to his account to demonstrate that.

That evening, parcels on their way, HK told him he was getting a bonus. In total, he appears to have been paid €280 (£242, $326).

Suranovas told me the group had plans for more parcels. "They were asking about me sending three or four a month," he says. He had been due to make another delivery the week he was arrested.

Moscow's ability to deploy fully-fledged intelligence agents to the field was hugely curtailed after the 2018 Salisbury poisonings, when Russia deployed a nerve agent. The UK, EU and US expelled so many Russian agents then, a former European diplomat tells me they did "systematic damage" to Russia's spy capacity.

That is when Moscow began recruiting people within Europe to do its dirty work. I have seen some cases where they have been hooked through harmless-sounding job offers on Telegram. But in the parcel plot, many were brought in by acquaintances in criminal networks.

"Russia is ramping up its operations so they're turning to this model of contracting organised crime. It's something they've done prolifically inside Russia for years," says Elijah Glantz, from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) security think tank.

The man who handed the parcels to Suranovas has a fraud conviction in Poland. Another suspect, who supplied vehicles, is under investigation for car theft across Europe. A third, who handled the explosives, served time for rape.

"There is a litany of online groups willing to do just about anything for the right price - and that's what we're seeing," Glantz says. He points out that in organised crime operations, groups do not disclose full details of a job and those hired "very often" have limited information. "One question smugglers will never ask is: 'What's in the lorry?' It's kind of the way it goes."

On 20 July, the first parcel Suranovas had posted burst into flames at Leipzig airport in Germany. It was the package bound for London, about to be placed on a DHL cargo flight. A second device went off before dawn the next day in a DPD lorry just outside Warsaw, and one malfunctioned. The last ignited at a DHL warehouse in Birmingham.

No-one was hurt, but the damage was extensive.

The incidents were not publicised at first as investigators across Europe went to work, and the Telegram chat shows the Russian handlers were unsure what had happened. HK wanted Suranovas to call DHL and ask why a parcel had stalled in Leipzig.

Meanwhile, other deliveries continued. Two more suspicious parcels were sent from Warsaw to the US and Canada, then another two from Amsterdam to the same addresses. There were no explosives this time, so it is thought the group was testing new routes.

Investigators cannot be sure whether Russia's ultimate aim was to bring down a plane, or to intimidate and sow fear in countries aiding Ukraine. But the White House was so concerned it contacted Russia "at a high level", a former senior official under President Biden has told the BBC. The message went out to "knock it off" or face "consequences".

Dovile Sakaliene, the former Defence Minister in Vilnius, remembers thinking the parcel plot was a wake-up call for Lithuania's allies. "Because… not everybody was on board about the level of the threat we are facing through hybrid attacks."

When Lithuanian police began rounding up members of the parcel plot they discovered a further cache of explosives, buried in food cans at a cemetery. There were drone parts, too, including mounts the cans could fit on.

Towards the end of our interview, I asked Suranovas what he thought Russia had wanted to achieve. He paused a moment.

"I think… it was probably a test of something; that they were preparing something bigger," he said. "It was to show that their arms can reach deep and far. That they can do many things, and you won't even know."

Has Hollywood golden boy Timothée Chalamet lost his shine?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20lyk1lpn2o, 3 days ago

Timothée Chalamet was, until very recently, Hollywood's golden boy and a frontrunner to win an Oscar this weekend - so is the recent backlash about more than his views on ballet and opera?

When Chalamet recently said "no-one cares" about ballet or opera any more, he clearly wasn't expecting people to care enough about the remarks to ignite a furore. How wrong he was.

It turns out a lot of people have very strong feelings about ballet and opera, but even more so about Chalamet himself.

"He's an absolute fool," theatre critic and arts broadcaster Ian Brown told BBC Radio London on Saturday. "I just think he's ridiculous, and I suspect that will come back to haunt him."

Meanwhile, pop culture podcast The Spill titled its new episode "Why we're officially done with Timothée Chalamet", and posed the question: "Has the Timothée era officially come to a screeching halt?"

'Cheap shots'

Chalamet's comments may have been misjudged, but his crimes are pretty low-level in comparison with some of the wrongdoing that's been perpetrated in Hollywood over the years.

In a lengthy interview last month with Matthew McConaughey, his on-screen dad from 2014's Interstellar, Chalamet was apparently trying to make the point that he didn't want cinemagoing to become a minority pursuit.

"I don't want to be working in ballet or opera or things where it's like, 'Keep this thing alive even though no-one cares about this any more'," he said.

"All respect to the ballet and opera people out there," he added hastily, realising how his words may go down. "I just lost 14 cents in viewership. Damn, I just took shots for no reason."

Ballet and opera artists and companies mounted a strong defence.

"To take cheap shots at fellow artists says more in this interview than anything else he could say," US opera singer Isabel Leonard responded. "Shows a lot about his character."

Some also smartly capitalised on the attention, with Seattle Opera offering 14% off tickets to Carmen using the promo code TIMOTHEE. "Timmy, you're welcome to use it too," they said.

Opera and ballet have devoted audiences, but there may have been some basis in Chalamet's point.

An official survey of arts attendance in the US, carried out every five years, showed that just 0.7% of the population went to the opera at least once in 2022, down from 2.2% in 2017. Ballet and other live dance declined from 8.2% to 4.7% over the same period.

While some have accused Chalamet of punching down, he could be speaking from a position of knowledge - he has previously talked glowingly about his grandmother, mother and sister all being dancers.

The timing of his comments probably played a part in the backlash, with the Oscars fast approaching, and Chalamet nominated for best actor for Marty Supreme.

He made the remarks more than two weeks ago and they started attracting attention early last week, and the reaction snowballed as the week went on.

That it coincided with the end of Oscar voting may or may not have been a coincidence. Club Chalamet, his biggest fan account, claimed it was a "smear campaign" to dent his chances.

Losing momentum

Variety's London bureau chief Alex Ritman says the controversy peaked after Oscar voting closed on Thursday, so probably won't have "any great impact" on the outcome.

However, the tide was already turning against Chalamet in the Oscars race after he failed to win two of the biggest and most recent warm-up prizes - at the Baftas and the Actors Awards.

"It's about the momentum as you get into that last leg and you see how the tea leaves are falling," Ritman says. "He was obviously a frontrunner for a very long time, and then when all the different award ceremonies start happening back-to-back, you get a lay of the land."

Chalamet narrowly missed becoming the youngest ever best actor Oscar winner last year and, having recently turned 30, would be the second-youngest winner if he lifts the golden statuette this weekend.

Rehna Azim, awards editor for Movie Marker, is on "Team Timothée".

"I think it's good that Timothée has said something interesting instead of the same bland, safe answers that many actors give," she says. "I think he should still get his Oscar. I think he deserves it.

"He's really good with his fans, he's a great actor, and I think he's still an interesting actor - and I would hate to see that killed off because some people on the internet have a go at him because it's cool to have a go at him."

As far as the Oscars are concerned, the presumed favourites often attract more scrutiny than anyone else.

Irish actress Jessie Buckley, who has been seen as a dead cert to win best actress for Hamnet, recently attempted to repair any damage from a minor controversy after saying she had threatened to get rid of pet cats because they defecated on her pillow.

Both semi-scandals are simply "a sign that Oscar season has gone on too long", suggests Michael Schulman, author of 2023 book Oscar Wars.

"Everyone has had too many opportunities to be in front of a microphone talking about whatever's on their mind, and we're running out of things to say."

Not everything that blows up during the Oscars race is down to dirty tricks, he believes. "I don't think that the Oscar strategists are that powerful."

Chalamet "deserves an Oscar", Schulman adds, but many people have "soured on him a little bit just over the past couple weeks", even before the current controversy.

"I think that has a lot to do with the persona he was putting out there to sell the movie, as this callow youth full of braggadocio.

"It was funny, and it got people to go see the movie very successfully, but there was an awkward transition into award season where he tried to play reverent and humble, and I think people had already attached to the Marty Supreme brat persona.

"So now he comes off as young and obnoxious, and no-one's going to rush to give a young, obnoxious person the best actor award. So I don't think it's gone quite right for him."

While Schulman believes Chalamet's persona on the Marty Supreme press tour was mostly an act, it has left many confused.

Is he really a brash celebrity who dates reality TV stars, or a humble and serious actor?

Or maybe both - an excellent, serious actor who comes across as obnoxious when he makes no secret of his desire to win an Oscar and become "one of the greats", and who dates Kylie Jenner, and is very good at stunts to sell his films.

Other factors may in fact have a greater say in the Oscar race than the opera and ballet "scandal" - such as unease over reports that surfaced saying a 17-year-old girl was cast to play a sex worker in a previous film from Marty Supreme director Josh Safdie. The director was reportedly unaware of her age until after the scene was shot.

There has also been a swing of support towards Sinners, especially after the Baftas, following which the film's stars Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were praised for their composure when a guest with Tourette's involuntarily shouted a racial slur while they were on stage.

Jordan's chances of winning best actor on Sunday, Hollywood's big night, are now more than 50%, according to prediction site Gold Derby - with Chalamet on 34%.

"But he still could win," Schulman says.

Toddler dies after being struck by car in underground car park

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cev7m1vwml2o, yesterday

A three-year-old boy has died after being struck by a car in an underground car park of a shopping centre in north Dublin.

The toddler was hit by a car in the car park of Charlestown Shopping Centre in Finglas on Wednesday morning.

Gardaí (Irish police) and emergency services were called to the scene at about 08:40 local time.

They said the child was transported by ambulance to Children's Health Ireland (CHI) at Temple Street hospital with serious injuries, but died on Wednesday afternoon.

Gardaí went to the scene in Finglas and are investigating.

A family liaison officer has been appointed to support the child's family.

Gardaí have appealed to anyone who may have witnessed the collision to come forward.

They are appealing for people who may have camera footage (including dash-cam) and were in the Charlestown area on Wednesday morning between 08:20 and 09:00 local time to share this footage with investigating gardaí.

Large WW2 bomb defused after Dresden evacuated

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1781gr5n9go, yesterday

An unexploded British World War Two bomb in Dresden has been defused, police in Germany say.

Much of the centre of the city was evacuated after the 250kg (551lb) device was discovered near the former Carola Bridge, which collapsed in the Elpe River in 2024.

At 15:10 (14:10 GMT) on Wednesday, specialists from the explosive ordnance disposal service removed the detonator from the bomb and then blew it up.

The fire brigade in Dresden said it was the city's largest evacuation to date, affecting around 18,000 residents, tourists and commuters.

Much of the old town was cordoned off.

Most of the city was out of bounds, including famous buildings such as the Frauenkirche Lutheran church, the Residenzschloss Palace and the Semper Opera.

The police headquarters, Saxony's state parliament, several ministries, retirement and nursing homes, daycare centres and other social institutions were also in the evacuated area.

After a safety check and the all-clear, residents can return home with traffic restrictions also lifted.

The bomb will be taken to the central collection point in Zeithain for disposal.

Authorities provided emergency accommodation at the Dresden Exhibition Centre from 07:00 (06:00 GMT), with additional buses and trams running to this location.

Dresden was attacked by British aircraft on 13 February 1945. In the days that followed, the British and their US allies dropped nearly 4,000 tons of bombs in the assault on the city.

The ensuing firestorm killed 25,000 people and ravaged the city centre, once known as the Jewel Box because of its Baroque and Rococo architecture.

Four other bombs were found during demolition work on the Carola Bridge last year.

The attack on Dresden is one of the most controversial Allied acts of World War Two. Some say it was strategically justified. Others argue it was a war crime.

It took many years before the renowned Semper Opera and Frauenkirche were rebuilt.

A British tenor, Stephen Chaundy, who is currently working at the Semper Oper, told the BBC that rehearsals for Wednesday had been cancelled.

Reflecting on the British bombing of Dresden in World War Two, he said: "The past casts a long shadow."

China spent years building ties in Latin America. Can Trump make room for the US?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yvw0zwpd5o, 6 days ago

Donald Trump will host Latin American and Caribbean leaders on Saturday at his golf club for the "Shield of the Americas Summit" — an event aimed at rallying allies around US national security interests and countering China's growing influence in the region.

While the US spent much of the last decade focused elsewhere, China is now the region's top lender and trading partner, financing major projects like the $3.5bn (£2.6bn) Chancay megaport in Peru and the Bogotá metro in Colombia, among others.

Now, the American government wants to reclaim lost ground. But experts warn that establishing meaningful relationships will take more than military posturing, tariffs, and strong-arming.

Leading the diplomatic effort is Kristi Noem — dismissed by Trump this week as Secretary of Homeland Security — who has been tapped as special envoy for the summit. "In this new role, I will be able to build on the partnerships and national security expertise," Noem wrote on X following her firing.

She will be joined by conservative leaders from eight nations — Argentina, Paraguay, El Salvador, Chile, Panama, Honduras, Guyana, and Ecuador — who share ideological ties with the Trump administration. Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil will be absent.

Evan Ellis, professor of Latin American studies at the US Army War College Strategic Studies Institute, expects the summit to focus on drug trafficking, migration, counter-terrorism, and curbing Beijing's hemispheric influence.

"I'm kind of anticipating a Latin American CPAC," says adds Ellis, referencing the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, which draws right-leaning politicos from across the US.

The Trump administration has said Saturday's summit aims to "enlist and expand" US friends in the Western Hemisphere and limit Chinese engagement across the Americas, including moving to prevent rivals from establishing military or strategic footholds in the region. The meeting follows Trump's recent focus on the Caribbean, and his earlier statements about how the US should "take back" the Panama Canal from China.

His pressure in the region has already led to major changes - from the ousting of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro to Panama's Supreme Court's decision, earlier this year, to cancel a Hong Kong-company's contracts in the canal.

But the American government faces significant challenges, says Enrique Dussel Peters, professor of economics and coordinator of the Center for Chinese-Mexican Studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

"Gone are the days of development partnerships, free trade, multilateralism, and even basic reciprocity," Dussel said. China's presence in Latin America and the Caribbean has grown "drastically," he told the BBC, while the US response remains "late and reactive".

Dussel says policies such as "America First," foreign-aid cuts, and tariffs have backfired, pushing regional governments closer to a China that has spent decades building a long-term strategic vision for Latin America.

The numbers bear that out: From 2014 to 2023, China directed roughly $153bn in financial assistance to the region — nearly three times the $50.7bn the US contributed over the same period, per research lab AidData.

By 2024, Beijing had formalised free trade agreements with Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Peru and these trade partnerships have been lucrative. In 2000, the Chinese market accounted for less than 2% of Latin America's exports. The Council on Foreign Affairs reports that by 2021, trade exceeded $450bn. Some economists expect that number to breach $700bn by 2035.

China has also poured money into developing Latin America's infrastructure, with 20 nations across the region joining the Belt and Road Initiative, a massive global infrastructure and investment project launched by Xi Jinping in 2013. Originally designed to connect East Asia and Europe, it has since expanded to Africa, Oceania, and Latin America, growing China's economic and political reach worldwide.

Since 2005, the China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China have loaned more than $120bn to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. These state-owned banks have become the leading lenders behind nearly 138 infrastructure projects, including the Belo Monte transmission grid in Brazil, the Kirchner-Cepernic hydroelectric dams in Argentina, and the Espacio Lejano space station in Neuquén, Argentina.

These projects aren't charity – China has its own economic motivations.

Beijing is channeling substantial investment into the so-called "lithium triangle" — the mineral-rich belt across Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile that holds 56% of the world's lithium reserves. In May 2025, President Xi Jinping announced a 9bn yuan credit line for the region.

And while Beijing's loans are often perceived as coming with fewer strings attached than those from the US, critics in the region have warned that economically vulnerable nations, such as Venezuela, risk falling into "debt traps" that can quickly spiral toward default. Caracas, which owes China $60bn, had been repaying the debt with reduced-price oil until Maduro was detained by Trump.

Detractors also point to lower environmental and labor standards among Chinese firms operating in the region. Many have raised alarms over the national security implications of China's expanding control over critical infrastructure, including ports and energy grids.

In response, China has tried to shift towards smaller, local projects facilitating tech exports and building next-generation infrastructure: 5G networks, power transmission, high-speed rail, electric vehicles, data centers, and artificial intelligence.

"These sorts of large, flashy projects, still discussed here and there — that's not the story anymore," says Margaret Myers, Managing Director of the Institute for America, China, and the Future of Global Affairs (ACF) at Johns Hopkins University.

Myers adds that these newer investments allow China to fly "under the radar at moments when its engagement is being critiqued more seriously".

For professor Evan Ellis, resisting these advances "requires US companies willing to invest in the region at large scale as an alternative to China". The US needs to offer "products and technologies that can compete on cost and features".

Many governments across Latin America are trying to maintain a balancing act, avoiding overdependence on any single partner.

Facundo Robles, professor at the National Defense University of Argentina, notes that Brazil, for example, maintains deep trade ties with China while preserving strategic cooperation with the US and Europe. "Argentina, beyond the rhetoric and due to its federalism, attempts something similar," he says.

Amid this rivalry for regional influence, Donald Trump is scheduled to travel to China to meet with President Xi Jinping on 31 March. According to Robles, the best outcome for the region would be to diversify economic partners and attract broader investment — while the worst would be a toxic great-power competition that ultimately narrows the options available to smaller countries.

Acclaimed Peruvian writer Alfredo Bryce Echenique dies aged 87

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce82j8j8l25o, 2 days ago

Peruvian literary giant Alfredo Bryce Echenique has died at the age of 87.

He is best known for the 1970 novel A World for Julius, which chronicled the frivolous lives of the elite in Peru's capital Lima through the eyes of an orphan.

His works were marked by irony, melancholy and acute observation of social inequality. He won numerous prizes and became one of the most recognised voices in Hispanic literature.

Peru's presidency paid tribute Bryce Echenique on X, saying he left "an immense void but an eternal legacy".

Bryce Echenique was born in Lima in 1939 to a wealthy family, and his great-great-grandfather was a president of the republic. He saw at first hand how the elite looked down on ordinary Peruvians, and this experience set the scene for his novel.

A World for Julius was an instant success at a time when a left-wing military government was championing the correction of historical inequalities in Peru. With it he won the National Prize for Literature of Peru.

He followed this with more novels like So Many Times Pedro and The Exaggerated Life of Martín Romaña, which displayed his capacity for irony and penetration into the human soul that characterised his work.

But he lived abroad from the 1960s until 1999, mainly writing and teaching in France and Spain, before ending what he called his "voluntary exile" and returning to Peru.

In Peruvian literature he is considered second only to Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, who died last year.

Vargas Llosa's son Alvaro praised Bryce Echenique on social media, describing him as "one of the great Peruvian writers, and of the Spanish language".

Spectacular images reveal unique sea creatures and corals off Caribbean islands

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgmllk32g72o, 5 days ago

The waters off the glittering coastlines of Britain's Caribbean territories have long been a mystery.

But now scientists on the first expedition beyond the islands' shallows have discovered an underwater mountain range, a massive "blue hole", coral reefs apparently untouched by climate change and never-before-seen sea creatures.

Operating 24 hours a day for the last six weeks, researchers subjected cameras and other equipment to extreme water pressure, recording as deep as 6,000m (19,700ft).

To navigate the Cayman Islands, Anguilla and Turks and Caicos, they were forced to rely on decades-old maps with serious errors and whole areas missing.

The UK Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) has shared their footage and discoveries exclusively with BBC News.

The UK government shares responsibility for protecting the islands' nature and up to 90% of Britain's unique species are found around these and other British Overseas Territories.

Now scientists say the race is on to protect this "relatively pristine" environment from the threats of climate change and pollution.

"This is the first step into environments people have never seen, and in some cases didn't know existed," says Dr James Bell, leading the expedition on the British research ship RRS James Cook with scientists from the three islands.

"Just yesterday we found a kind of type of swimming sea cucumber, and we still don't know what it is," he added, calling the diversity he's seen "really, really astonishing".

The Cayman Islands, Anguilla and Turks and Caicos are home to 146 species that only live in those territories, and this research expedition should add even more to the list.

The team documented nearly 14,000 individual specimens and 290 different types of marine creatures, although more scientific work is needed to confirm their findings.

They found a pelican eel with a glowing pink tail that flashes red to lure in food, a barreleye fish with tubular eyes pointing upwards to see the silhouettes of its prey, and a dragonfish with a glowing rod under its chin.

Talking to BBC News as the ship navigated an uncharted underwater mountain called Pickle Bank, Bell said: "We're not sure how close to it we are. It's quite difficult to map it without running the risk of running aground."

The team eventually worked out that the mountain, which is north of Little Cayman island, rises from 2,500m (8,200ft) deep to about 20m (65ft) below the sea surface.

Footage reveals a bright blue, yellow and orange mountain side teeming with life - golden towers of coral growing next to coral that look like large brains.

The team filmed fish darting between gorgonian whip coral, and jelly-like orange sea sponges near black coral.

They have found one of the healthiest, most diverse reefs in the region, free from the ravages of the stoney coral disease plaguing the Caribbean. It is likely that this reef is protected, for now, by its depths and the mountain's steep slopes.

Deep-water, or mesophotic, reefs, are also usually too deep to be affected by warming ocean temperatures - caused largely by climate change - which have damaged 80% of the world's corals since 2023.

Using deep-sea cameras and echo-sounders lowered from the ship's side, the researchers have mapped almost 25,000 sq km (9,700 sq miles) of sea-floor and captured 20,000 photos, including of glowing lantern fish and alien-like cephalopods.

"We know the surface of Mars or the Moon better than we know the surface of our own planet. You send a satellite around them and map them in a few weeks," Bell says.

"We can't do that for our ocean. We have to map it bit by bit using acoustic instruments on ships," he explains.

In Turks and Caicos, the team discovered something missing from existing sea charts - an extremely steep 3,200m (10,500ft) high mountain ridge stretching 70km (45 miles) along the sea bed, west of a place called Gentry Bank.

They were also astonished to discover a massive, vertical sinkhole called a blue hole, 75km south of a bank called Grand Turk, that formed when a cave collapsed inwards.

"Imagine taking an ice cream scoop out of the sea-floor. That's what we saw - a crater about 300m (980ft) wide to 550m (1,800ft) below sea level," says Bell.

They believe its steep walls could form the deepest blue hole in the Caribbean, rivalling Belize's famous Great Blue Hole.

Usually nothing lives inside a blue hole, but cameras dropped inside the new discovery show small sponges, a species of urchin called large spatangoid, and diverse fish species.

And 25km (15 miles) north of Anguilla, the researchers followed rumours spread by local fishers who had pulled up pieces of coral while working. The team confirmed there was a 4km (2.5 mile) reef with mosaics of coral growing in sponge "gardens".

They also found black coral that could be thousands of years old, making them some of the oldest ever recorded.

"It tells us that these environments are really pristine and healthy," says Bell.

Scientists are interested in these areas of deep water and steep mountains because they can funnel nutrient-rich water up to the surface, providing feeding grounds for animals or as fishing spots.

On board the ship, CEFAS worked alongside a group of environmental experts from the Cayman Islands, Anguilla and Turks and Caicos who will use the findings to improve biodiversity management plans and find new fishing opportunities for island communities.

"Our islands were literally born from the sea. But when it comes to our offshore environments, we really haven't had a chance before to discover what's out there," Kelly Forsythe from the Cayman Islands Department of Environment told BBC News. The island governments joined the research as part of a project called Blue Belt Programme.

The work should provide information to help the UK fulfil its legally-binding UN commitments to protect 30% of the world's oceans by 2030 in designated Marine Protected Areas.

"Anyone can draw a box on a map and say, 'That's a marine protected area'," explains Bell.

"But unless you know what's in it, you don't know if that's useful at all."

Trump sets his sights on crisis-hit Cuba after Iran action

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c14m5mj055jo, 6 days ago

The day after Cuba was crippled by another 24-hour nationwide blackout, US President Donald Trump suggested the country was next on his administration's agenda, saying it was "just a question of time" before there would be change on the island.

Standing in front of an awkward-looking Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and the other stars of the Inter Miami soccer team on Thursday, Trump told the team's owner, Cuban-born magnate Jorge Mas, that they would soon be "celebrating what's going on in Cuba", adding that the Cuban authorities "want to make a deal. So badly you have no idea."

"It's going to be an amazing day," replied Mas.

In a conversation with the broadcaster CNN on Friday, Trump said: "Cuba is gonna fall pretty soon."

He added that the island's leadership is negotiating a deal and he was "going to put Marco [Rubio] over there and we'll see how that works out".

The present focus was on Iran, he said, adding: "But we've got plenty of time. Cuba's ready - after 50 years."

While the exact timeframe is not clear, what emerges from Trump's latest comments is that he and his administration intend to keep up the pressure on Cuba as a key part of his plans in the region.

The reference to putting the US secretary of state "over there" could hint at a possible trip for face-to-face negotiations.

While that initially seems unlikely, this has been a year of unlikely events in the Americas, starting with the forced removal of Nicolas Maduro from power in Venezuela on 3 January.

In the wake of the US military action in Venezuela, Cuba, its closest regional ally, lost its main source of crude oil.

Under pressure from the Trump administration, none of Cuba's other energy partners, particularly Mexico, has been able to step up to fill the breach in oil supply left in Venezuela's absence.

Evidence of the fuel crisis is increasingly clear across the length and breadth of the island.

With only a small part of the state's garbage trucks operating, rubbish is piled high in the streets. Amid fears of a widespread public health crisis, some residents have taken to burning rubbish piles at night, filling the streets with acrid smoke.

Even in more affluent parts of the capital, Havana, people have been cooking with firewood during the blackouts.

The lack of fuel does not just mean cars are difficult to run, but generators too.

Few residents have solar panels or any other option beyond the country's crumbling Soviet-era electrical grid. The island's thermo-energy plants simply cannot generate enough electricity for domestic consumption without more crude oil.

In that context, Trump and Rubio have repeatedly indicated that it is not the time to ease off on squeezing the island as hard as possible.

Such pressure may be a strategy to put Cuba in a weaker position at the negotiating table.

Critics say ordinary Cubans are most affected by the policy - not the leadership - and question if the strategy is designed to prompt some kind of internal uprising on the island.

For its part, the Cuban government has not confirmed the rumoured talks taking place between the Trump administration and the island's top leadership.

It has been reported that the point of contact in Havana has been Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, the grandson of Cuba's aged revolutionary leader, Raúl Castro.

Given the pain being experienced by the Cuban people, some limited steps have been authorised by the government to allow the country's private sector to import the fuel they need to run their businesses.

But Cubans remain sceptical if this will make any significant difference to the crisis, as nationally these imports only represent a fraction of what the island needs to operate.

Meanwhile, tourism - the island's main economic motor - has been affected, with airplanes unable to refuel in Havana. Air France is the latest international airline to suspend flights to Cuba amid the difficulties.

While the weather remains cool in Cuba, people are at least able to sleep without power.

But many are worried about how people will react to living through the island's intense summer temperatures without air-conditioning or fans.

US and Venezuela agree to resume diplomatic ties after Maduro capture

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy9g1l5jx90o, 7 days ago

The US and Venezuela have agreed to re-establish diplomatic and consular relations.

The agency said in a statement that the two sides would make joint efforts to promote stability, support economic recovery and advance political reconciliation.

While their diplomatic relations have been improving since the US military captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January in a surprise raid, the announcement of formal bilateral ties marks a hugely symbolic step.

President Donald Trump ordered troops to seize Maduro and his wife, bringing them to a Manhattan court to face allegations of weapon and drug offences, which they deny.

The US embassy in Caracas, which closed in 2019, has already reopened, and Washington has appointed a new diplomat in Venezuela.

The Venezuelan government said on Thursday it was willing to advance a "new stage of constructive dialogue, based on mutual respect".

It said the relationship must result in the "social and economic happiness of the Venezuelan people".

But the statement from Caracas made no reference to a transition or future elections, unlike the US state department's.

The US has accused Maduro - who is due to stand trial this month in the US - and other members of his government of leading a criminal organisation involved in activities such as illegal mining and drug trafficking.

Sources told the BBC that more diplomatic staff from the US embassy in Bogotá, Colombia, are expected to be transferred to Caracas soon. The move will make it much easier for officials to negotiate face-to-face and provide consular services.

The US state department said its engagement was focused on helping Venezuelan people move forward through a "phased process that creates the conditions for a peaceful transition to a democratically elected government".

After a visit to Venezuela, US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum told reporters on the runway in Caracas on Thursday on his way back to the US that it was a "brilliant strategic move" to intervene in Venezuela before Iran.

The US and Israel launched military action on Iran on 28 February. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed during the first wave of strikes.

Burgum, who leads President Trump's National Energy Dominance Council, added on Thursday that the intervention would help ensure that "oil will flow to America".

Since the US military strikes on Venezuela and seizure of Maduro, the US has struck new oil deals with Venezuela.

Washington has allowed the country to sell sanctioned oil with US oversight, and Venezuela has changed its law to allow more foreign investment in the oil sector.

On Wednesday, Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodríguez and Burgum said the two countries would work together to develop mining in the country.

Along with having the largest proven oil reserves in the world, Venezuela is rich in gold, diamonds, critical minerals and rare earth minerals - including some of those used in mobile phones.

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.

Ecuadorean troops find 35m-long 'narco-sub' hidden in nature reserve

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd6zz65vg0qo, 7 days ago

The Ecuadorean military says it has seized a 35m-long (115ft) "narco submarine" hidden in a nature reserve near the country's border with Colombia.

The semi-submersible had been carrying 6,000 gallons (22,700 litres) of fuel and was ready to embark on "a long drug-smuggling voyage", Ecuador's ministry of defence said in a statement.

The discovery came shortly after Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa announced a "new phase" in his government's war on drug cartels.

Sandwiched between Colombia and Peru - the world's largest producers of cocaine - Ecuador has become a key country through which illicit drugs transit from South America to the US, Europe and as far as Australia.

Troops found the submarine in a mangrove swamp in the Cayapas–Mataje nature reserve.

They also found a camp nearby, which they said was being used by criminals as a logistics hub to prepare vessels for smuggling drugs.

As well as the 35m-long sub, the security forces also seized six speedboats, seven outboard motors and dozens of barrels of fuel.

The troops came under fire during the operation from "armed individuals", the defence ministry said.

There was no mention of any arrests being made or of any drugs seized in its statement.

Noboa has been working closely with the Trump administration to curb the flow of drugs from his country into the US.

Earlier this week, he discussed security co-operation with the commander of US Southern Command, Gen Francis Donovan, in the Ecuadorean capital, Quito.

But there was no immediate mention of the participation of US forces in the operation that seized the narco-sub in the swamp.

The US has, however, carried out dozens of strikes on boats suspected of carrying drugs in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean since it started "Operation Southern Spear" in September.

More than 150 people have been killed in those strikes.

At least 20 killed after military plane carrying banknotes crashes in Bolivia

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0rjpxxpp49o, 13 days ago

At least 20 people have been killed and others injured after a Bolivian air force cargo plane crashed in the western city of El Alto, the country's authorities say.

The incident happened at 18:15 local time (22:15 GMT) on Friday as the plane was arriving at El Alto's airport from the city of Santa Cruz, aviation officials said. It reportedly skidded off the runway and hit nearby vehicles.

The defence ministry later confirmed its C-130 Hercules was involved and that it had been transporting banknotes to the Central Bank of Bolivia. There were eight people aboard the plane, the air force commander said.

Police fired tear gas to disperse crowds allegedly trying to take the scattered banknotes.

Firefighters had given an earlier death toll of at least 15.

Video footage showed the plane on the ground and badly damaged vehicles. In other videos, people could be seen running away from the tear gas and police officers, some holding shields, forming a line. Some in the crowds are seen throwing rocks.

"While news crews were covering the accident, individuals attempting to steal the transported money attacked the press with unusual violence," the National Association of Journalists of Bolivia said in a statement.

It said a mobile TV unit was "directly targeted", while other journalists "were attacked with stones, suffering serious injuries while carrying out their work".

The government-run Bolivian News Agency reported that at least a dozen people were arrested for stealing banknotes.

"I want to make it clear to those who are trying to take money from the plane involved in this tragedy that this money has no legal value since it has not been issued by the Central Bank and does not have a serial number, and that attempting to use this money is a crime," the Minister of Defence, Marcelo Salinas, said.

"We also ask all those who are engaging in acts of vandalism in this area to refrain from doing so and to respect the mourning and grief we are experiencing at this difficult time."

Bolivia's Air Force commander Sergio Lora confirmed there were eight crew members on board the plane "including cargo personnel and flight crew".

Bolivia's health ministry said 31 people were injured in the incident. It also issued an urgent appeal for blood donations.

El Alto International Airport was temporarily closed following the crash.

"My sister told me that she was in the car when the plane crashed. The plane's tire fell on the car, and my sister was injured because the impact of the tire hit her on the head, so we rushed her to the hospital," a man told the Reuters news agency.

It was not immediately clear what caused the crash, but some witnesses said the weather at the time was treacherous.

"A heavy hailstorm" was falling and "there was lightning" when the plane went down," a woman whose car was struck by the aircraft wreckage told the AFP news agency.

An investigation into the incident is under way.

Dirty laundry and chocolate bars: How Venezuelan prisoners smuggled messages out of jail

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c620n3degv2o, 8 days ago

In a small flat in a social housing complex near Caracas, Adriana Briceño holds up what looks like a piece of rubbish, but hidden on the old chocolate bar wrapper is a message.

The words scrawled on it were written by her son and are addressed to Ángel Godoy, the boy's father and Briceño's husband, while Ángel Godoy was a prisoner in Venezuela's notorious El Helicoide jail.

"Daddy, take this to sweeten things a little," reads the blue ink. "We love you."

Originally built in the 1950s as a luxury shopping centre, El Helicoide was never completed and was later taken over by Venezuela's feared intelligence services.

It became a symbol of government repression.

A United Nations investigation documented it was where people who had been arbitrarily arrested or forcibly disappeared were taken and, in some cases, tortured.

Recently released detainees like Godoy have described brutal conditions in interviews with the BBC.

He is one of the hundreds of political prisoners arrested under President Nicolás Maduro and held in Venezuela's vast detention system, sometimes for years.

More than 600 people have been released since Maduro was seized by US forces in a military operation at the start of January, but according to prisoners' rights group Foro Penal, hundreds more are still behind bars.

Godoy is one of two inmates who has described to the BBC the punishment cells, enforced isolation and threats to family members that they faced before they were released.

Punishment

"They handcuffed me, beat me, insulted me, and put a balaclava on me as they put me inside a patrol car," says rights activist Javier Tarazona, as he describes the moment he was arrested in July 2021.

He knew he was on the radar of Venezuela's state security agencies, but he still found it difficult to process what was going on.

"The first few hours were terrible," Tarazona says, recalling the beginning of an ordeal that would last more than four and a half years.

After his arrest, he was taken to a tiny punishment cell, where all new prisoners were sent. It was infested with rats and cockroaches, and smelt "nauseating".

Tarazona, the head of human rights NGO Fundaredes, came to the attention of the authorities because he had called for a formal investigation to be launched into alleged links between high-ranking Venezuelan government officials and guerrilla groups in neighbouring Colombia.

He was arrested alongside his brother, José. The pair were held together with another activist in a tiny cell.

The room was so small, they had to take turns if they wanted to lie down, and placed a piece of cardboard over a sewer hole as a makeshift mattress.

Prisoners' rights group Foro Penal says these small punishment cells, known as "little tigers", are a common feature of the Venezuelan prison system.

"We spent 46 days there," Tarazona says. "Then they decided to move us to another space off the same hallway, which was a little bigger, but just as disgusting - just as depressing."

They could not see daylight and had no way to work out if it was day or night. The guards used to give them meals at irregular hours to mess with their sense of time, he adds.

Isolation

For Godoy, the biggest strain was not the conditions he was kept in but being separated from his loved ones - "the torture of not knowing where your family members are, how they are, because they cut you off - they isolate you from the world".

The political activist says he was detained without warning outside of his home by a large group of security officials.

He was then held without any contact with his family for 96 days. "I have to assume the aim is to break you," he says of that period.

After more than three months had passed, he says one of the prison staff told him that the authorities were considering allowing his wife, Adriana, to phone him, but only if she agreed to tone down her presence on social media and in the press.

Adriana Briceño says that following her husband's arrest she was fired from her job at the state-run telecoms company without being given a reason, even though she had worked there for 21 years.

She said that being alone at home with her son made her feel so vulnerable, she decided to move. "I was terrified that people might show up and break into my home."

For the first few weeks after her husband's arrest, she did not even know where he was being held.

It took 25 days for officials to finally confirm that he was inside El Helicoide, and only then was she allowed to take him clothes, medicine and bed sheets.

It took even longer - 96 days - for her to be granted regular visits.

Threats

Tarazona says his family also came under pressure from the authorities.

"In the middle of an interrogation, an official said: 'Do you know this woman?'"

The official was holding a photo of Tarazona's 70-year-old mother, whom authorities had arrested.

Tarazona says the man then issued a threat: "Give me the video I'm asking for, or your mother will go to jail."

The prison authorities wanted Javier to agree to be recorded accusing other activists of committing crimes.

"I always refused," he says. "I always refused because I knew my mother would overcome that ordeal." Hours later, she was released.

Another issue weighed on Tarazona's mind, though. He felt responsible for his brother ending up in jail alongside him.

His brother was not part of the NGO Tarzona had been running. He had just been driving him on the day of the arrest.

"I felt a great deal of guilt," Tarazona explains. "My brother kept telling me that because of my fight, he was paying for something that wasn't his responsibility. And that was a burden."

Both Tarazona and Godoy deny committing any of the crimes they were accused of and say they never received proper legal representation after they were detained.

Tarazona says he was denied the right to hire his own lawyer and was only allowed to see a court-appointed one seven months after he was imprisoned, even though he was facing charges of treason, terrorism, and incitement to hatred.

During his 1,675 days in detention, he says he saw a lawyer fewer than five times.

Godoy was charged with terrorism, hate crimes, and incitement to armed action, but says he never saw the case file against him and never knew who his defence lawyer was, despite being held for over a year.

BBC Mundo contacted Venezuela's attorney general, the ministry of information, and the ministry of defence for comment on the allegations made by former prisoners, but had not received a response by the time of publication.

Moving forward

Tarazona says he has not allowed the experience to make him angry. During his imprisonment, the guards discovered a book and some letters he had been writing.

As punishment he was placed in an isolation cell.

"I found light in that ordeal and from that pain," he explains. "I found an opportunity to reflect and work on forgiveness.

"I left convinced that Venezuelans need to move towards reconciliation, to come together again, because this situation we are living through is a tragedy, a trans-generational trauma."

Back at her family home, Adriana Briceño holds up an old T-shirt with a few sentences scrappily scrawled on it in pen.

The messages on chocolate bars were how the family would send notes to Godoy in prison, and this was how he would reply – by writing on dirty laundry taken out of the jail.

"Adriana, you are the most beautiful woman in the world," it reads. There is also message to his son: "Go and excel in your classes, okay?"

"Ways of sending messages like this emerged in El Helicoide," Godoy says. "They served as a bridge between many prisoners and their families."

Though he had been allowed visits from his wife following the agreement they made with authorities, these secret, personal messages still meant a lot to them.

Venezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, told the country's parliament in January that El Helicoide would be turned into a social, sports and cultural centre for police families and communities in the surrounding area.

While the release of prisoners from the jail has been welcomed, some rights groups have described this move as an attempt to whitewash the facility's past.

Like Tarazona, Godoy hopes the country can move forward peacefully.

"After all that abuse, after all that cruelty, after all that evil, it seems unbelievable that I'm asking people, [that] I'm asking my fellow political prisoners, too, to get that out of here, out of our hearts," he says. "Every trace of hatred, of resentment, of bitterness, of discontent."

"Let the country's interests come first, regardless of political party or ambition. Let us move forward without hatred, resentment, or bitterness to build that wonderful Venezuela."

Produced and edited by Peter Ball

Mexican drug lord 'El Mencho' buried in golden coffin

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0j5v6e2py6o, 10 days ago

Infamous Mexican drug lord Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as "El Mencho", was buried in a golden casket by his family on Monday.

The cartel leader died after being wounded in a firefight between his bodyguards and Mexican special forces personnel deployed to capture him in late February.

The 59-year-old founder of the feared Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) was the country's most-wanted man, while the US had offered a $15m (£11.2m) reward for information leading to his arrest.

His death triggered widespread retaliatory violence in which cartel members set fire to vehicles and blockaded roads across 20 Mexican states.

Members of the National Guard were out in force to prevent fresh violence from breaking out during the colourful funeral near Guadalajara in Jalisco state, a stronghold for the cartel.

Large floral tributes were seen being carried into the funeral home ahead of the ceremony, including one shaped like a rooster in a reference to his love of cockfighting.

According to AFP news agency, five lorries were needed to take all the tributes to the cemetery, most of which had been sent anonymously.

The funeral procession was accompanied by a band playing ranchero music and narcocorridos - songs praising drug lords.

The traditional song El Muchacho Alegre (The Cheerful Boy) was played as Oseguera's gold-coloured coffin arrived at a chapel located inside the cemetery grounds, local media reported.

After an hour-long ceremony, the mourners - many of whom concealed their identities using face masks - followed the coffin as it was carried to the grave.

Mexican media noted that the plot was relatively plain compared with those of other drug lords, which are often topped by large mausoleums.

Under Oseguera's leadership, the CJNG became a powerful transnational criminal organisation which spread from its stronghold in Jalisco into many other Mexican states, where it engages in drug production and trafficking.

Oseguera's killing by Mexican special forces has been seen as a victory for President Claudia Sheinbaum's government, which has come under increasing pressure by her US counterpart Donald Trump to do more to combat drug trafficking.

But there have been fears that the vacuum left behind by the powerful cartel leader could trigger a surge in violence in the short term, as different factions within the criminal group - which is estimated to have tens of thousands of members - fight for control.

Israel pounds Beirut suburbs after Hezbollah launches rocket barrage

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2gjq8qd09o, today

The Israeli military has carried out a wave of air strikes across Lebanon, including the capital Beirut, after the Iranian-backed armed group Hezbollah launched about 200 rockets into northern Israel.

Loud explosions were heard overnight coming from Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold from which thousands of people have fled because of the intense Israeli attacks over the past week.

Some strikes also hit other parts of Beirut, including the city's Corniche seafront. Lebanon's health ministry said at least eight people were killed.

Hezbollah launched the rocket barrage across the Israeli border on Wednesday evening in an apparently co-ordinated attack with Iran.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that the Israeli military had been instructed to prepare to broaden its operations in Lebanon in response.

The military subsequently expanded a blanket evacuation order for southern Lebanon, nearly doubling the zone it has said residents should leave for their safety.

It now covers almost the entire area south of the Zahrani river, which flows east to west about 40km (25 miles) from the Israeli border, according to a map posted online.

Lebanon was pulled into the conflict between Iran, Israel and the US 10 days ago, when Hezbollah launched rockets and drones into Israel in retaliation for the assassination of Iran's supreme leader and repeated Israeli strikes since a ceasefire ended their last war in 2024.

Israel said Hezbollah's attack justified launching a broader campaign against the group, including intense air strikes and commando raids inside Lebanese territory. It has said the campaign will continue until Hezbollah is disarmed.

At least 634 people, including 91 children, have been killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon since then and 800,000 others have been displaced, according to Lebanese authorities.

Two Israeli soldiers have been killed in combat in Lebanon, according to the Israeli military.

At Ramlet al-Baida, on Beirut's Corniche, a large area was cordoned off on Wednesday morning as officials inspected the scene of a deadly strike.

One military official told the BBC that personnel were dealing with unexploded ordnance.

The Lebanese health ministry said at least eight people were killed after what appeared to be a direct hit on a car. There were reports of a second attack after people gathered to help, causing further casualties.

There were no specific warnings about the strike at the seafront, where hundreds of people displaced by the conflict were sleeping in makeshift shelters.

Khoudor Housseini, whose family was staying there after fleeing the town of Chmestar in the eastern Bekaa Valley, said an Israeli drone flying overhead fired a missile at a parked car.

"After about two minutes, it targeted the car again. One missile didn't explode," he told the BBC. "If it had exploded, maybe we would have all died... God protected us."

"I'm one of the people who wanted to go help, but I couldn't. I have a little baby with me."

Mohammed Ali, whose family was displaced from Beirut's southern suburbs, told the BBC: "We were sleeping here peacefully and didn't feel anything until something exploded and we woke up in a panic."

"They said one strike had happened so we went back to sleep, thinking the targeting was over, but then the second strike happened."

Mohammed said he grabbed two of his children and rushed them away from the area.

He complained that schools which have been transformed into displacement centres in the city were already full, leaving few options for people who have fled from their homes.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has not yet commented on the strike, but it has said its military action in Lebanon is targeting Hezbollah.

There was also heavy bombing in Beirut's southern suburbs, also known as Dahieh.

The IDF said 10 structures there used by Hezbollah were struck, including an intelligence headquarters and a headquarters of the elite Radwan force, along with dozens of rocket launchers and Hezbollah operatives preparing to use them.

"The IDF is operating with determination against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation as a result of the terrorist organisation's decision to deliberately attack Israel on behalf of the Iranian regime," it added.

An IDF spokesperson said Hezbollah's cross-border attack on Wednesday was its biggest so far in this conflict, with approximately 200 rockets and 20 drones launched by the group at the same time as Iran launched a number of ballistic missiles towards Israel.

Hezbollah said on Wednesday night that it had targeted sites in northern Israel in response to what it called "the criminal aggression against dozens of Lebanese cities and towns".

Later, the group said the targets had included the headquarters of the Israeli military's northern command near Safed and two bases in the northern city of Haifa.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) also said its forces had carried out a "joint and integrated operation" with Hezbollah that focused on more than 50 targets in Israel.

Israeli authorities said one building was hit and damaged in the northern Galilee region, lightly wounding two people.

Another building was damaged by debris from an interception in Haniel, a farming community in the central Sharon region, but no injuries were reported.

On Thursday morning, Israel's defence minister said the Israeli military had been instructed to prepare for "expanding... operations in Lebanon and for restoring quiet and security to the northern communities" in response to the latest Hezbollah attack.

Katz also warned Lebanon's President Michel Aoun that if the Lebanese government "does not know how to control the territory and prevent Hezbollah from threatening northern communities and firing toward Israel, we will take the territory and do it ourselves."

French President Emmanuel Macron said late on Wednesday that he had spoken to Aoun about the threats to Lebanon's security and unity.

"Hezbollah made a major mistake in dragging Lebanon into a confrontation with Israel. It must immediately cease its attacks," Macron wrote on X. "For its part, Israel must clearly renounce any ground offensive in Lebanon."

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher has warned of "a moment of grave peril for Lebanon".

"The Lebanese people are doing everything they can just to stay afloat right now. And what they most need is Iran and Israel to take war somewhere else," he told the BBC.

Emirati minister tells BBC Iran must end strikes on Gulf

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8lzn2ejpjo, today

The UAE's Minister of State, Lana Nusseibeh, has called on Iran to end its strikes on countries in the region and vowed that her country would "bounce back".

More than 1,800 drones and missiles have been projected at the UAE since the war began, she said.

The extent of the attacks came as a "shock", she told the BBC.

Some of the UAE's best known buildings have been damaged - including Fairmont The Palm hotel, in the luxurious Palm Jumeirah area, and the Burj Al Arab hotel.

Drones have landed near the Dubai International Airport and thousands of flights to the UAE have been cancelled.

However Nusseibeh refused to be drawn on whether her country would retaliate militarily against Iran.

"We were clear prior to the start of this escalation that the UAE would not allow its territory or airspace to be used in any attacks against Iran," she said.

Asked if retaliatory strikes were off the table, she replied: "We will reserve the right for collective self defence under international law."

Other Gulf states including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman have also been targeted by Iran as it retaliates in response to US and Israeli attacks.

Trade through the region's biggest port, Jebel Ali in Dubai, has also been affected and the war has halted most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf.

The UAE's biggest city Dubai has also cultivated a reputation as a glamorous and attractive destination for expats pursuing business opportunities and travel.

However Nusseibeh, who was also formerly the UAE's ambassador to the UN, insisted that her country's economy would recover.

"Iran is responsible for damage it has caused. The civilian infrastructure, the hotels, the ports," she said.

But she said the UAE was "resilient" and, citing economic growth of 5.1% last year, insisted "you will see our economy bounce back".

Nusseibeh declined to comment on the 60-year-old British man who has been charged under cyber-crime laws in Dubai after allegedly filming Iranian missiles over the city, saying she was "not aware of all the details".

But she denied it was an attempt to avoid painting a true and troubling picture of what life was currently like in the UAE.

"In order for everyone to feel safe, it is very important at this time, that the information is credible and the sources are reliable," she said.

"That is the basis of the legislation that has come into play in the state which is obviously a tense time."

She added that she was "aware there have already been some violations of this law".

Criticism of the government is illegal in the UAE, and it exercises strict control over the flow of information out of the country.

UK-based human rights group Amnesty International has said the UAE has "continued to criminalise the right to freedom of expression through multiple laws and to punish actual or perceived critics of the government".

However Nusseibeh advised people in the country to follow the guidelines "for your safety. And for your protection".

Tracking the wave of ship attacks that has choked off Strait of Hormuz

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c80j4rln8zmo, today

Six ships have been attacked in the Gulf in less than 48 hours, bringing the total of vessels attacked since the start of the war to 18, according to reports by UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) and the maritime intelligence company Vanguard.

It comes as Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowed to keep blocking the Strait of Hormuz in his first public statement on Thursday.

Verified footage showed two tankers on fire in Iraqi waters at the north of the Gulf late on Wednesday and UKMTO reported the ships had been "struck by an unknown projectile".

Safesea Vishnu, a US-owned vessel heading to India, was hit by an "unmanned speed boat carrying explosives" which "rammed into it, resulting in a major fire onboard", Indian authorities said.

Video filmed from a small boat - and authenticated by BBC Verify - shows a large explosion on the Safesea Vishnu before the boat speeds away and those on board can be heard celebrating.

The head of the General Company for Iraqi ports said it rescued 38 crew members from the attacked ship and that one person has died, according to the Iraqi News Agency.

There were no reported injuries on the second vessel, the Maltese-flagged Zefyros.

Three crew members are still missing and believed to be trapped in the engine room of another vessel, the Thai-flagged Mayuree Naree, that was hit while transiting through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday morning, the ship's owner told BBC Verify.

"In theory, Iran can keep threatening shipping indefinitely," said Nick Brown from the defence intelligence company Janes.

"Iranian forces are well practised in decoy, camouflage and subterfuge tactics, and many of their smaller weapons can be disguised in commercial vehicles, hidden in buildings and out of sight along Iran's long coastline," he added.

"Small craft, robot craft, small submarines, shore based missiles, even mobile artillery - all of which Iran has - could attack ships as they sail past," said Professor Michael Clarke from King's College London.

The latest data from the ship tracking firm MarineTraffic shows that just six vessels have passed through the strait since Monday.

Tracking these ships has been difficult as some may have been turning off their onboard trackers, as Iran continues to target vessels. Signal jamming is also causing many ships to transmit misleading location data.

The locations of the strikes on vessels reported by UKMTO and Vanguard show the attacks have spanned the length of the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, but most have been concentrated near the Strait of Hormuz.

About 20% of the world's oil - around 20 million barrels per day - usually transits through this narrow corridor between Iran in the north and Oman and the United Arab Emirates in the south.

It is also a key trading route for other commodities such as helium, the chemical sulphate, and urea, which is used to produce fertiliser.

"No ship wants to pass through there and no insurer wants to insure those ships that are passing through there. This is the scenario that we've all been predicting for a long time - the closing of the strait - which is a nightmare," said Neil Quilliam from the Chatham House think-tank.

Ten of the ships reported by UKMTO and Vanguard as having been attacked since 28 February are tankers, according to MarineTraffic data.

Iran has said it would "not allow even a single litre of oil" heading for the US, Israel and their partners to pass through the strait.

In addition to strikes on oil tankers, we have also verified 10 strikes on oil facilities and depots since the conflict began on 28 February, spanning Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar.

Energy prices have soared since the start of the war, approaching $120 a barrel on Monday.

A spokesperson for Iran's military command, Ebrahim Zolfaqari, this week warned: "Get ready for the oil barrel to be at $200 because the oil price depends on the regional stability which you have destabilised."

Thirty two countries unanimously voted to release 400 million barrels of oil to offset the "effective closure" of the shipping channel, the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced on Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump told his supporters in Kentucky on Wednesday the decision would "substantially reduce oil prices" and earlier described the fluctuations in price of oil as a "matter of war".

Trump last week pledged a military escort for oil tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz "if necessary", but experts have told BBC Verify it is unlikely this could guarantee the safety of every ship.

"If the US intention is to escort all commercial vessels, this would require diverting many assets away from other tasks," said Professor Basil Germond, a visiting fellow at the Royal Navy Strategic Studies Centre.

"Even if a convoy is 90% effective, which ship owners and crew unions are prepared to play Russian roulette in one of them?" said Clarke.

US Central Command released footage on Wednesday of what it described as strikes on 16 mine-laying ships in the Iranian navy.

The Iranian military inventory includes the Sadaf-02 sea mine, designed to sit just below the waterline and detonate after contact with a passing ship, plus the more-advanced Maham-2, which sits deeper and detonates when it detects a moving ship above through magnetic or sound sensors. There have so far been no reports of ships hitting mines.

"The regime in Tehran has this asymmetric power. It costs them nothing compared to the cost of defending commercial shipping," said Germond.

"Will this proposed escort convince shipping companies that the strait is safe enough? It is a question of who is more credible: the US Navy or the Iranians," he said.

"And the proof will only be in the pudding."

Additional reporting by Paul Brown, Becky Dale and Shruti Menon.

Israeli military drops charges against soldiers accused of abusing Palestinian detainee

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2xrz71zm3o, today

Israel's most senior military lawyer has said all charges against five soldiers accused of sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee from Gaza have been dropped.

The alleged incident at Sde Teiman military prison in July 2024, which was partially caught on CCTV, left the detainee needing hospital treatment for internal injuries. The soldiers were charged with aggravated abuse and causing serious bodily harm, which they denied.

The military said the indictments were withdrawn in part due to "exceptional circumstances that negatively affected the ability to prosecute the case while also preserving the right for a fair trial of the defendants".

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the decision.

But the move was condemned by human rights activists, who say abuse of Palestinians is systematic in Israeli jails and rarely investigated properly.

Warning: this story contains a description of alleged sexual abuse

A military prison was set up at Sde Teiman after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023 to hold Palestinians detained during the ensuing war in Gaza.

In August 2024, an Israeli TV channel broadcast leaked CCTV video that allegedly showed soldiers serving as guards at the prison abusing a detainees.

In the footage, a group of guards can be seen pushing the detainee against a wall before shielding him from view with their riot shields.

Five guards were later accused of "acting against the detainee with severe violence, including stabbing the detainee's bottom with a sharp object, which had penetrated near the detainee's rectum", according to a statement from the military at the time. The detainee suffered "cracked ribs, a punctured lung and an inner rectal tear".

It later emerged the CCTV video had been leaked by the then-Israeli Military Advocate General, Maj Gen Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, leading to her resignation and arrest.

In her resignation letter, Tomer-Yerushalmi said she had approved the leak "in an attempt to counter false propaganda against the army's law enforcement authorities" - a reference to claims from some right-wing politicians that the allegations were fabricated.

Her replacement, Maj Gen Itai Ofir, announced on Thursday that all charges against the five guards had been dropped "in light of significant developments".

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the decision was based in part on the various circumstances, including the complexity of the evidence; the "extremely exceptional and unprecedented circumstances due to conduct by certain senior officials in the Military Advocate General's Corps"; difficulty in transferring investigative material from the police; and the fact that the detainee had been released and allowed to return to Gaza in October.

The Chief of the General Staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, had instructed IDF personnel to "draw lessons and to take all the requested steps to prevent similar cases", it added.

Prime Minister Netanyahu hailed the end of what he called the "blood libel".

"The State of Israel must hunt down its enemies - not its heroic fighters," he said.

Sari Bashi, executive director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, a non-governmental organisation, accused the military of a whitewash.

"Israel's military advocate general just gave his soldiers license to rape - so long as the victim is Palestinian," she told the Associated Press.

She said the decision was "the latest in a long line of actions that whitewash abuses against detainees whose frequency and severity have worsened" since 7 October 2023.

The United Nations Committee against Torture said last November that it was deeply concerned about reports indicating "a de facto state policy of organised and widespread torture and ill treatment" of Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails. It said the allegations had "gravely intensified" after 7 October 2023.

Israel's government has rejected accusations of widespread ill-treatment and torture of detainees, and insisted that it is fully committed to international legal standards.

Iran steps up attacks on energy targets as tankers hit

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c743gpd9z72o, today

Iran has stepped up attacks on energy targets in the Gulf, as two fuel tankers were hit by explosions and burst into flames.

Fires are burning around the region with fuel and oil storage tanks hit in Bahrain and Oman.

Tehran said the world should be ready for oil at $200 per barrel and warned that any tanker bound for the US, Israel and its partners was a legitimate target. The regime has also declared it has the right to strike financial institutions in the region, after an attack on an Iranian bank.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military has said it has begun a new, "large-scale wave" of attacks on Iran.

The two tankers were set ablaze near Iraq's southern port of Basra, forcing a pause of operations at the country's oil terminals.

The Iraqi News Agency, citing a military official, reports that 38 crew members were rescued and one person died.

Iran's official news agency IRNA said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) struck one of the two ships – a US-owned vessel, the Safesea Vishnu – because it had ignored warnings and failed to comply with orders.

Indian authorities earlier said the Safesea Vishnu, which sails under the Marshall Islands flag, was attacked by an unmanned speed boat.

A second vessel, Greek-owned and Maltese-flagged Zefyros, was struck while it was in the middle of a ship-to-ship transfer with the Safesea Vishnu, the vessel's manager Benetech Shipping said.

Separately, a Chinese-owned container ship of the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was "struck by an unknown projectile causing a small fire onboard", the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre said.

The causes of the two second strikes is still being investigated.

About 20% of the world's oil usually passes through the Strait of Hormuz and the war has sent global oil prices soaring – reaching $100 a barrel at one point.

"Get ready for the oil barrel to be at $200 because the oil price depends on the regional security which you have destabilised," Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesperson for Iran's military command said.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump insisted fluctuations in prices were a "matter of war" and "prices are coming down very substantially".

The Iranian military command has also warned it could target US and Israeli banking interests in the region, following a strike on an Iranian bank.

"Our powerful armed forces will exact retribution for this crime," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X, who claimed his country's oldest bank was bombed while employees were inside.

International banks have been closing their Gulf offices – HSBC in Qatar, Citi and Standard Chartered in Dubai – telling employees to stay home.

On Wednesday night, Bahrain authorities accused Iran of targeting fuel tanks near its international airport.

Pictures showed thick plumes of smoke. Authorities urged people to keep their windows closed, before the blaze was contained hours later.

On Thursday morning, Fire crews in Oman were still working to contain a blaze at fuel storage tanks from Wednesday's strike on the port of Salalah.

And in Dubai, a high-rise building was pictured with a large hole, after the local government said a drone "fell on a building". It was not clear where the reported drone came from.

Kuwait's state news wire service said drones targeted its international airport causing damage.

On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces said it had begun a large-scale wave of attacks against Iranian regime infrastructure.

The US Central Command insisted it was eliminating Iran's ability to threaten American forces and partners.

"We have hit them harder than virtually any country in history has been hit, and we're not finished yet," Trump told reporters on Wednesday.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said up to 3.2 million Iranians have been temporarily displaced in Iran due to the conflict.

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told the BBC the war was a "reckless military adventure" and he described the plight of civilians.

Speaking to Radio 4's Today programme, he said: "We've got hundreds of kids killed. We've got the warning lights flashing across the dashboard."

Addressing the strike on a primary school in Iran, that Iranian officials say killed 168 people including around 110 children, he demanded a full and transparent investigation.

Expert video analysis shows a US Tomahawk missile hit a military base near the school in southern Iran.

"Every day that goes by is driving many more people from their homes and from their families, many more people are dying."

Fletcher said the UN was also trying to keep the Strait of Hormuz open in its bid to get aid convoys to sub-Saharan Africa amid a "looming famine" in the region.

The conflict across the Middle East follows the wide-ranging US-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February, which killed the country's supreme leader.

Iran has continued to respond by launching attacks on Israel and US-allied states in the Gulf, which have extended to non-military targets, including civilian sites and energy facilities.

More than 1,300 people have died and 17,000 have been injured in Iran since the conflict began, Iran's Ambassador to the UN Amir-Saeid Iravani has said.

'Fingers on the trigger': Deadly warnings for Iranians being urged to take action

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y5rldz897o, today

When US President Donald Trump began strikes on Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the process, he told Iranians to "take over your government".

"It will be yours to take," Trump said. "This will be probably your only chance for generations."

But as the war between the US and Israel and Iran has deepened over the past two weeks, Iranians have received sharply different messages about what may happen if they do take action.

Encouragement from figures outside Iran has come as reports have emerged of an increased security and police presence in cities across the country, with officials of the Islamic Republic warning against any possible gatherings or protests.

'We will come after you'

Earlier this week, Iran's Police Chief, Brigadier General Ahmadreza Radan, warned that his forces would treat anyone who takes to the streets "at the enemy's request" as an "enemy".

"All our forces have their fingers on the trigger and are ready to defend the revolution and support their people and their country," Radan added.

Separately, a presenter on Iran's state television Channel Three addressed opponents of the Islamic Republic and those who might protest against the government.

"When the dust of this sedition settles, we will come after you," the presenter said.

"Confiscating your property will be the least of it. We will make you and your families pay, whether you are inside the country or abroad."

And on 8 March, Iran's Prosecutor General Office issued a statement warning Iranians living abroad that if they cooperate with what it described as "hostile enemies", they could face severe punishment.

Citing Iran's law on the "intensification of punishment for espionage and cooperation with Israel and hostile countries", the statement stressed that any "operational activity, intelligence cooperation or espionage" for such countries could result not only in the confiscation of property but also the death penalty.

These threats are a stark reminder of the threats faced by Iranians if they do protest against the government.

During weeks of anti-government protests in December and January, at least 7,000 protesters were killed in an unprecedented crackdown by security forces, human rights groups say.

'Take your destiny'

Meanwhile, figures outside Iran have tried to encourage Iranians to take action against their government, at a precarious moment for the clerical establishment.

On Tuesday, Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran's last shah, urged people in Iran to obtain essential supplies as soon as possible and wait for what he called his "final call".

In a video message, he said: "For your own safety, leave the streets and remain in your homes. Continue strikes and do not go to work. To show your unity, keep up the night-time chants [against the authorities] with strength."

Pahlavi also addressed members of Iran's military and security forces, saying: "This is the final opportunity to separate yourselves from the forces of repression and join the people."

His call came as the security atmosphere inside Iran has intensified. As an internet blackout has continued, checkpoints have been set up in many neighbourhoods and streets.

On Wednesday, Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency, which is close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), alleged that Israeli drones had targeted several checkpoints in Tehran.

The agency said a number of armed personnel were killed in the attacks and, quoting what it described as unofficial sources, said "around 10" people had died.

As the military strikes continue, concerns about civilian casualties and rising tensions in the Middle East have grown. Many observers have warned about the broader consequences of the war for civilian lives, regional security and global energy markets.

Since hostilities began, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also addressed the people of Iran, saying Israel would "create conditions that will allow you to take your destiny into your own hands".

Netanyahu this week also added: "This is a unique opportunity for you to overthrow the regime of the ayatollahs and gain your freedom."

The competing messages highlight the intense pressure surrounding Iran as the conflict deepens.

Authorities inside the country are warning against any dissent, while voices abroad are encouraging Iranians to see the moment as an opportunity for change.

As the war continues and tensions rise, millions of people inside the country are watching events unfold while weighing the risks of what may come next.

Bowen: Trump has called for an Iran uprising but the lessons from Iraq in 1991 loom large

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn0znx4xrl9o, yesterday

I know what can happen when an American president calls for an uprising and then doesn't get involved when it starts. That's because I've seen it before.

In 1991, on 15 February to be precise, the first President George Bush made a speech that he probably regretted until the end of his days.

It was at the factory in Massachusetts where they built Patriot interceptors, which were making their debut as the most advanced weapon of that first Gulf war.

Patriots, which shoot down incoming missiles, still have a vital role in Ukraine and in the war with Iran.

When Bush went to the Patriot factory, Desert Storm, the massive military operation to drive Iraqi troops out of Kuwait was under way.

The combined air forces of the US, the UK and their allies were hammering them -and Iraq's cities.

Tens of thousands of allied troops were massed on Iraq and Kuwait's borders for the ground war, which was still nine days away.

I was in Baghdad, my hands full reporting the war.

A few days earlier the Americans had killed more than 400 civilians in an airstrike on a shelter in the suburb of Amiriyah.

The Americans and British claimed, wrongly, that it was a command centre, but I'd seen the bodies, almost all children, women and old men, and seen the still smouldering shelter, so I knew that wasn't true.

Back then, I didn't notice Bush's speech.

But 35 years later I think about it every time I hear Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu telling the people of Iran that they're being given a once in a generation chance to overthrow the Islamic Republic, without promising them direct military support.

Bush was at the Patriot factory to praise the workers who made what was seen as a miracle weapon.

In a couple of quick paragraphs, he said Iraq's ruler Saddam Hussein should comply with the United Nations resolutions to pull out of Kuwait.

Unlike the current war with Iran, the first Gulf war had the legal authorisation of the UN Security Council.

Bush then uttered a couple of lines that had immense consequences.

"There's another way for the bloodshed to stop...and that is for the Iraqi military and the Iraqi people to take matters into their own hands and force Saddam Hussein, the dictator, to step aside…"

The workers whooped and applauded, and the president went back to rallying Americans who were in their first major war since the disaster of Vietnam.

But some Iraqis took him seriously.

After Iraq's army was expelled from Kuwait, a ceasefire left Hussein in power.

Iraqi Shias in the south and Kurds in the north of the country started an armed revolt against his regime.

The Americans, the British and the other nations making up the coalition watched what was happening and did not intervene.

The Iraqi regime was badly damaged by the war, but it had been allowed to keep its helicopters and they led a counter offensive that killed thousands of Kurds and Iraqi Shia Muslims who believed that their rebellions had the blessing of the US president. But they made the mistake of assuming he would intervene to make sure the uprising succeeded.

By then I was in the freezing, snowy mountains in the Kurdish north. Tens of thousands of Kurds fled there - with horrific stories of killing by Hussein's men - and every morning I saw fathers bringing down the bodies of their children, small bundles wrapped in blankets, who had died on mountainsides in the night of exposure or dysentery.

The Americans, the British, the French and others in the end were shamed into a big humanitarian operation to rescue the Kurds. In the south, the Shia were not so lucky.

The consequences of that first Gulf war went on for years; a commitment to fly air patrols to enforce a no-fly zone, permanent American bases and in Saudi Arabia a young Osama Bin Laden, furious that foreign troops had in his eyes violated the land of Islam's holiest shrines, was putting together the organisation that became Al Qaeda.

Each Gulf war planted the seeds of the next.

In 2003, the second President Bush ousted Hussein, completing what he believed was his father's unfinished business.

Iran was a big winner in that war. The Americans, obligingly, had removed its bitter enemy, Saddam Hussein.

This third Gulf war is aimed at undoing the Islamic Republic's rise to regional power that accelerated after 2003.

The bombing is designed to smash its military and nuclear ambitions, which Israel, especially, regards as a threat to its existence.

Trump's decision to go to war, for the first time as a joint venture with Israel, is unpopular in America, latest polls show, and alarming for America's allies, with the exception of course of the Israelis.

What if the sceptics are wrong? Perhaps analysts and commentators have let their distaste for Trump cloud their judgement.

Maybe it doesn't matter that he insults allies whose soldiers fought and died alongside Americans in other Middle Eastern wars, or that sometimes he tells lies.

He claimed that Iran could have fired a Tomahawk missile in the attack on a school that Iran says killed more than 165 people, including many schoolgirls. Iran doesn't have Tomahawk missiles.

All that, Trump and his supporters argue, is fake news.

They say higher petrol prices for a while will be worth it, if this war stops Iran getting a nuclear weapon and long-range ballistic missiles that would threaten not just Gulf states and Israel but also Europe and even America.

The US Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth - rebranded as Secretary of War -slammed European scruples about the use of force without UN authorisation or a convincing case of self-defence.

Hegseth laid into "so many of our traditional allies who wring their hands and clutch their pearls, hemming and hawing about the use of force."

But it's already clear that ending the war will not be simple, and its consequences are at best uncertain and at worst dangerous.

Israel has its own agenda. Netanyahu is clear eyed about what he wants. He believes he can achieve a lifelong dream - to destroy the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In a speech on the war's second day, he said that with 'the assistance' of the United States, Israel was able to do "what I have yearned to do for forty years: smite the terror regime hip and thigh. This is what I promised and this is what we shall do."

Like Trump, he's called for a popular uprising in Iran. Israel does not seem concerned about Iran descending into violent chaos. It might even be a good outcome for them.

America, Israel and their supporters believe that removing the Iranian regime will make the world safer.

They could be right. It's an unsavoury, violent regime that in January killed thousands of fellow Iranians in the streets for marching against repression, corruption and economic collapse. It enriched uranium to levels that could be turned into a nuclear bomb.

But they're wrong if the war's consequences touch off a catastrophe on the scale of the one that started with the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Removing Hussein, Iraq's dictator, without a workable plan to replace his regime led to hundreds of thousands of deaths in years of sectarian killing and civil war and a vacuum of power that incubated the jihadist extremists who morphed into Islamic State, whose successors will be looking at ways to take advantage of this new crisis.

Netanyahu has contemplated war with Iran many times but has always recognised that Israel would need the help of an American president prepared to go to war too.

Finally, there is one - Trump.

Previous presidents - including Bill Clinton, the first one Netanyahu dealt with as prime minister thirty years ago - would not do it.

They were content to contain and deter Iran, keeping war in reserve if it really did try to get a nuclear weapon.

And they didn't act to a very large degree because of what is happening now; an Iranian response designed to defy American power, to spread the war, cause huge economic damage and disrupt carefully constructed alliances between the US and Gulf countries, which tried to stop the war happening.

Now Iran has turned them into targets. With China waiting in the wings, they might reassess the value of an alliance with the US and rapprochement with Israel, especially if Trump declares victory and leaves Saudi Arabia and the others to clear up the mess.

Trump, who promised Americans no more forever wars, might find himself keeping forces in the Middle East that he would rather were free to face China.

It is more straightforward for the Israelis. They see the best opportunity they have ever had to reorder the Middle East and strengthen their position as the unchallenged military hegemon.

They are aiming to destroy Iran's Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, once and for all, something they've tried and failed to do since the 1990s.

While the attention of the world is on Iran, Israel is also taking more steps towards the effective annexation of the occupied West Bank.

Trump might learn that starting wars is much easier than ending them. It is hard to know when to stop if you don't know exactly where you're going.

It is even harder to do that when the US, the world's most powerful country seems to have gone to war without a coherent political strategy, under a president who the evidence suggests is making it up as he goes along.

'Even under missiles we carry on living' - how young Iranians are coping with war

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1mj1pyrzryo, yesterday

Snow fell in parts of Tehran on Tuesday night, blanketing the Iranian capital with a layer of white after air strikes on oil depots caused days of dark skies and black rain.

But life goes on, even as the war drags on.

Sahar, a woman in her 20s, told BBC Persian that she was spending most days sheltering at home in Tehran, cooking, reading, and playing a life simulation video game.

"I think my creativity has increased during the war. I'm constantly stressed and end up building prettier homes in the game," she said.

Sahar - whose name, as with the other contributors, has been changed for safety reasons - found out on Tuesday that a woman she had gone to school with had been killed.

"Her body hasn't been found. I felt horrible after hearing it," she said.

"Why do we have to experience such horror when we're in the prime years of our youth? I just want this to end before Nowruz. My favourite days in life are the early days of spring."

Fewer than 10 days remain until Nowruz, the Persian New Year festival, which marks the arrival of spring.

It is usually a time when families gather to celebrate. Markets and streets across Iran are crowded with people buying sweets and nuts for guests ahead of the holiday.

But this year that has not been the case, according to those living in Tehran.

"It doesn't feel like the run-up to Nowruz. But even under missiles, we carry on living. We have no choice but to live," said Peyman, a man in his 30s.

"The metro is empty. So empty that for every person there are 30 or 40 empty seats. The streets are very quiet as well... so quiet that you could easily play football in the middle of a street," he added.

Another man in his 30s said: "My sleep schedule depends on the bombings now. I go to sleep at around six or seven in the morning and wake up at 2pm. Sometimes, I have to go out to buy groceries, but Tehran is very empty."

Tehran and its surrounding province have a population of 14 million, but some residents have left to seek safety elsewhere since the US and Israel began attacking Iran on 28 February.

Some headed north towards the Caspian Sea, where there have been fewer attacks.

Mina, a woman in her 20s, is one of them. She is now in the city of Rasht.

"My family kept insisting we go to Rasht to stay with my grandmother, but my best friend and flatmate didn't want to leave Tehran. I felt guilty about leaving without her, so I didn't want us to go," she recalled.

"The night they hit the [oil] depots, our flat was shaking all the way to the front door. All the windows lit up as if it were morning."

She added: "I kept thinking that if anything happened to my family, it would be my fault for saying we shouldn't go to Rasht.

"The day after, we finally went to Rasht, in a car covered with patchy stains from the polluted rain.

"My best friend decided to stay in Tehran with her family, but I call her every day. We talk on the phone about all the exciting things we'll do after the war is over. Maybe we'll dye our hair lighter after this."

It is still very difficult to contact those inside Iran amid the internet outage imposed by the government at the start of the war, but tech-savvy residents have been using Starlink devices and sharing their connection with others.

The satellite internet system has become a vital communications lifeline for some trying to contact the outside world. It operates like a mobile phone mast in space, using a constellation of satellites to communicate with small dishes on the ground that have a built-in WiFi router.

Using Starlink in Iran carries a punishment of up to two years in prison, and authorities have reportedly been searching for the dishes to stop people from connecting.

Mehran, in his 20s and living in Tehran, said he had been sharing his Starlink connection with at least 25 other people. He added that he had hidden the device "somewhere remote" to prevent the authorities from "finding or jamming" it.

He said he had allowed loved ones to connect to the service for free, though internet access is being sold on the Telegram messaging app for around $6 (£4.50) for1GB of data - a high price in a country where the average monthly salary is estimated to be between $200 and $300.

Shima, a woman in her 20s in Tehran who uses a Starlink connection to get online, said: "You have to buy it from someone you trust, otherwise there's a chance they will cut off your internet after you've paid a hefty sum."

Monitoring organisation NetBlocks said on Wednesday that the internet blackout in Iran had entered its 12th day, with connectivity still at just 1% of ordinary levels after 264 hours.

"The ridiculously expensive Starlink VPN I bought for emergencies takes a long time to connect, making me doubt whether it was worth spending so much money," Shima said.

"But at least I can tell my loved ones abroad that I haven't burnt to a crisp and I'm still alive."

War expands to central Beirut as Israeli strike kills Iranians in luxury hotel

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2k8y7vy78no, 2 days ago

It was about 01:30 in the morning when a loud explosion tore through the Raouche neighbourhood in the heart of the Lebanese capital Beirut.

The Israeli strike on the four-star Ramada Plaza hotel marked the first time in this war that Israel's bombing campaign had struck the city centre - a bustling coastal area full of restaurants and hotels.

Inside, the Israeli military said, was a secret meeting of Iranian operatives - an allegation that has now been denied by Iran's government.

The strike came without warning, and locals and displaced people staying in the area ran to their windows and balconies to see what had happened. Those on the streets nearby - still busy with Ramadan crowds - ducked for cover.

Lebanon has been hit with hundreds of Israeli strikes since war between Israel and the Iran-backed armed group and political movement Hezbollah resumed here a week ago. Many of the strikes have toppled entire buildings, and nearly 500 people have been killed, according to official figures.

They have focused on southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley, and the southern suburbs of Beirut - the heartlands of Hezbollah and of the country's Shia Muslim community.

But this Israeli drone strike in Raouche was far from there - instead targeting the fourth floor of the high-rise hotel, described on listings as offering "celebrity treatment with world-class service".

An initial toll by the Lebanese health ministry said four people had been killed and 10 injured in the strike, but it did not identify them.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the five men killed in the strike worked for Iran's elite Quds Force - the overseas operations arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

They included a senior money man who would transfer funds to Hezbollah, and commanders specialised in intelligence gathering, it said.

Iran did not comment until Tuesday evening, when its mission to the UN in New York published a letter accusing Israel of what it called "the cowardly terrorist assassination of four diplomats of the Islamic Republic of Iran".

Hezbollah would not comment on the strike or its targets.

While the strike hit only a small area of the sprawling hotel, bystanders were among those injured and fear spread through the local community, as people reckoned with the war reaching their neighbourhood.

"This is not an area where you expect something like this to happen… of course we're scared," 47-year-old Yahya said while waiting for his coffee at the local Starbucks on Monday.

"I come outside for my sanity but it's scary - you don't know who's standing next to you or in a building next to you. In the bombings they often give warnings but in the assassinations they don't, and the Israelis don't care about bystanders."

Yahya said he could rarely hear the strikes that hit Beirut's southern neighbourhoods from his coastal apartment, but on Sunday morning the sound of the explosion jolted him from his sleep as it rang through homes and businesses across Raouche, shaking windows and shattering glass.

At the car park beneath it, 33-year-old Mousa Khodour was at work in a coffee kiosk.

He hadn't paid much attention to the hum of an Israeli drone overhead, which has become a common sound in Lebanon, but hit the ground when the explosion boomed.

"It was huge. The entire area shook," he said. "I also have my four kids sleeping over there [in a makeshift structure at the edge of the car park], so I ran to check on them and thank God they weren't wounded. They were crying."

While his children were unscathed, his cousin - also called Mousa - was injured by the shrapnel that sprayed across the car park.

The 30-year-old spoke to the BBC shortly after being discharged from hospital on Monday evening. He said a piece of shrapnel "the size of a chickpea" had torn through his leg.

"I just remember the bang and the glass coming down. It was very painful," the Syrian national said.

He fled to Lebanon in 2013 to escape the war in his home country, but said he no longer felt safe.

"We expected this to happen anywhere except for Raouche," he said. "Thank God it was my leg, not somewhere else."

Others in Raouche, though, were less shocked.

The luxury hotels in the area that would usually accommodate tourists and businesspeople are now largely housing families who have been forced to flee from their homes because of sweeping Israeli evacuation orders warning of military action.

The United Nations estimates that nearly 700,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced by the renewed hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, which began after Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in response to the killing of Iran's supreme leader at the start of the war with Israel and the US.

Israel had continued near-daily strikes against the group across Lebanon after a ceasefire ended a war between them in November 2024.

Many of the current displaced people hail from Beirut's southern suburbs and have headed further north into the capital in search of shelter and safety.

One displaced woman who was staying at the Ramada with her children said smoke had filled their room after the strike and the family had escaped down the emergency staircase.

Standing near shattered glass on the road near the hotel, a 47-year-old man displaced from Tyre in southern Lebanon stuck plastic bags across his car's blown out windscreen.

"We've been through a lot so we're used to it… we're not scared," he said, as his son nodded enthusiastically beside him. "They are saying it was Iranians but we don't know."

Above him, beyond the blackened, blown-out walls of the corner room on the hotel's fourth floor, police and military officials could be seen scouring the scene days after the strike.

Hotel management said they could not comment.

But one staff member told the BBC that the third and fourth floors had been blocked off for the police investigation, with the displaced people staying on them moved elsewhere. He said the hotel was large and busy, and he and his work friends did not know who had been staying in the specific room that was hit, but had heard the reports.

An official source told the BBC that three Lebanese nationals had booked rooms on the hotel's third and fourth floors which were used by the men targeted in the strike.

The source said the hotel was hit three times, but two of the munitions did not explode.

In its statement, the IDF said the strike, conducted by its navy, followed "precise IDF intelligence" that senior Quds Force officials - from its Lebanon Corps and Palestine Corps - were "hiding in a civilian hotel".

It named three "key commanders" it said were killed in the strike as Majid Hassani, described as being "responsible for transferring funds to the [Iranian] regime's proxies in Lebanon", and senior intelligence figures Alireza Bi-Azar and Ahmad Rasouli.

Two other Quds Force figures, Hossein Ahmadlou and Abu Mohammad Ali, were also killed, it said.

The IDF said the men's "elimination constitutes a significant and necessary blow to the Iranian presence in Lebanon and to the Hezbollah terrorist organisation".

In a letter to UN's secretary general sent on Thursday, Iran's permanent representative Amir-Saeid Iravani confirmed that Hassani, Bi-Azar, Rasouli and Ahmadlou were killed.

However, he identified them as the Iranian embassy in Beirut's second secretary, third secretary, attaché, and a person assigned to the mission, and condemned the strike as a "heinous crime".

"The targeting killing of four Iranian diplomats while they were serving as official representatives of a sovereign member state on the territory of another sovereign state constitutes a grave terrorist act and a serious breach of international law," Iravani wrote.

The strike in Raouche - the second to target a Beirut hotel in the past week - followed warnings from the Israeli military for Iranian government representatives in Lebanon to "leave immediately before they are targeted".

Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam asked authorities last week to arrest and deport any Iranian Revolutionary Guards carrying out military activities in the country.

A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters news agency on Saturday that more than 150 Iranian nationals, including diplomats and their families, had left Lebanon after the Israeli military threat.

Iravani said Hassani, Bi-Azar, Rasouli and Ahmadlou had temporarily relocated from their official residences to the Ramada Plaza in response to the threat, and that the Lebanese foreign ministry had been notified.

In its statement after the Raouche strike, the IDF said it would "not allow the Iranian terror regime elements to establish themselves in Lebanon and will continue to precisely eliminate the commanders of the Iranian terror regime wherever they operate".

In Raouche this week, there was an uneasy normality on the streets outside the hotel, with passers-by peering up at the damage as they drove past on the busy road.

Displaced barber Mohamed Abbas said he had been close to four strikes in southern Lebanon last week before fleeing to Raouche, hoping it would be safer.

"There is no safe place in Lebanon and what happened is proof that Israel doesn't have red lines - they strike, attack and kill wherever they want," he said.

For some of those displaced to the area, the strike signalled that they could not escape the war.

"My house in the south was destroyed in the previous war, and my house in Dahieh [in southern Beirut] was destroyed in this war," a 23-year-old man standing beneath the Ramada Plaza said.

"The war is expanding more and more."

Additional reporting by Angie Mrad

UK troops at Iraq base shot down Iranian drones, Healey says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0e531gve7do, today

British forces based in Iraq shot down two Iranian drones overnight, Defence Secretary John Healey has confirmed.

However, some drones hit the coalition base in the Iraqi city of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region, and injured a number of US troops.

Brigadier Guy Foden said the base and another in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad were struck "a number of times" on Wednesday night and British personnel are currently in Erbil helping to defend that base.

Since the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, US bases in Iraq have been targeted in retaliation.

The Western base in Erbil is controlled by the US but often houses other coalition forces including British troops.

Foden said British forces "shot down two UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) coming out of the camp but a number of UAVs did impact the camp".

There were no British casualties in the attack.

Healey said from the point when Iran began "hitting back indiscriminately" at countries across the Middle East, there had been a British team involved in Iraq.

"We've had a team at the base in Erbil that's been pulling down drones, protecting themselves but also protecting the base and other service people that they serve with there," he said.

Healey was speaking during a visit to the UK's military headquarters in Northwood, north-west London, where he received a briefing on the latest situation on the Middle East.

He was told there is a "definitive link" between Iran and Russia in the way attack drones are being used.

Healey later told reporters that Iranian drone attacks have the hallmark of the way Russia is attacking Ukraine, adding: "No one will be surprised to believe that Putin's hidden hand is behind some of the Iranian tactics."

The defence secretary said Putin was the "one world leader" benefiting from the war because of higher oil prices, which he saaid help the Russian president with a fresh supply of funds for his brutal war in Ukraine.

The Aldi-style disruptors who could be about to shake up the vets market

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj6dw3r09x0o, yesterday

Listen to Jim read this article

When Louise Burns noticed that her dog Bow was breathing oddly in October 2023, she took the Boston terrier straight to the vet. Louise recalls being told that Bow's airway was swollen - Bow was given a tracheostomy and then a further operation to help her breathe more easily. By the time Louise took her home after four days, the bill had reached £7,783.77.

Louise's insurance only covered the first £3,000, but in the midst of an emergency situation, she felt she had little choice other than to pay up: "You're not really in a position to go and get a second opinion where you've got a dog that's not breathing properly," says Louise, 72, from Thundersley, Essex, who contacted BBC Your Voice. Nonetheless, it felt like a lot of money to her.

I've been reporting on rising vet bills for over two years, and I've been inundated with pet owners like Louise getting in touch to complain about costs.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), a government watchdog, says average vet prices across the market rose by 63% between 2016 and 2023 – well above the rate of inflation. In order to tackle this, the CMA has carried out a formal UK-wide investigation into the industry and will soon publish a final report setting out changes to how it wants vets to operate.

Meanwhile, many vets have told the BBC they feel under pressure to make money for their increasingly small pool of owners. In 2013, only 10% of vet practices in the UK were owned by large corporate groups. Now that figure stands at 60%.

Claire Batty, who opened her own veterinary practice on the outskirts of Whalley, Lancashire, in 2023, says she previously worked for one of the big firms, but left after becoming fed up with being "told by somebody who's sat behind a desk you're not earning enough money".

Many pet owners suspect this is pushing prices up. However, Rob Williams, president of the British Veterinary Association (BVA) - which speaks for individual vets that work in both the big operators as well as independents - says it's "too reductive to say this one thing happened, therefore all the prices have shot up".

The big corporations that run more than two thirds of the vets agree with the BVA that simply blaming them for cost rises is not true. They point to factors such as massive advancements in what treatment is able to be offered, increased wages for staff and greater expectations from customers for increased costs in recent years.

What seems undeniable, however, is that prices are high and people are struggling to afford them. So what, if anything, can be done to bring them down?

Letting in daylight?

UK pet owners spent £6.3bn on vet and other pet-care services in 2024, according to the CMA - which works out as just over £365 per pet-owning household.

Prices for veterinary services differ vastly across the UK. Clear Vet's analysis of more than 500 practices found that an out‑of‑hours emergency consultation costs an average of £209 nationwide, but the figure drops to £142 in Yorkshire and rises to £295 in Manchester.

The CMA's report is keenly anticipated by vets and pet owners alike. In a provisional report published at the end of last year, it identified a series of issues including a lack of transparency around the ownership of individual practices, and whether pet owners have enough information about pricing. It also highlighted the concentration of ownership of vet practices and clinics.

Now it is expected to order measures to make vets more open about prices and who owns them.

If you look up a vet in your local area online, it may take a trawl of the small print on their website to find out who owns them. And working out how much treatment will cost will likely be even trickier - the initial CMA investigation found 84% of vet practice websites displayed no pricing information at all.

But many vets I speak to are nervous that measures including enforcing more transparency could make the cost of running a practice more expensive, especially for smaller businesses.

The CMA is also likely to call for it to be made easier for pet owners to access cheaper medicines online, including by capping prescription costs and requiring vets to tell pet owners about savings available by buying medicines in this way.

However, many I speak to in the industry, including the BVA, are concerned that this move could end up costing consumers in the long run.

Williams argues there are two potential unintended consequences of this likely move.

He and others have pointed out that the online pharmacies are owned by some of the large chains and "two of the large veterinary groups account for somewhere between 70% and 80% of the volume of medication supplied through that route".

He feels it is "quite ironic" that the CMA would design a remedy that would potentially push large volumes of income to two of these businesses.

"That doesn't seem to be a terribly competitive thing to do," he says.

Lidl and Aldi for the veterinary industry?

Williams and many independently owned vets I speak to are also worried that reducing profits from medicines could force vets to increase other costs - for example, how much they charge for their clinical time. Alternatively, they say, they may even have to reduce staff numbers to save money. They argue that their profit margins are pretty thin compared to the big companies.

Claire Batty insists "we do actively say to people, you can gladly get an online prescription" but she says "it does stick in my throat" who profits from that - namely some of the big chains.

Williams is more hopeful that customers could be better served by new independent vets coming in and shaking up the market.

He says that maybe new starters could do what Lidl and Aldi did for the supermarkets sector, which was previously dominated by a handful of well-established brands.

He's talking of practices like Batty's in Lancashire. She argues what businesses like hers bring to the market is "transparency with pricing and charging fairly" and she thinks she's benefited from media scrutiny of the CMA reports because people are becoming aware of who owns their practices and have "voted with their feet".

A number of new vet startups that have used subscription models to "bundle professional services" like some dental chains do, and they hope new innovation like this could shake things up.

"Subscriptions give predictability, transparency and remove barriers to care," says Francesca Verney, veterinary director at independent practice Pet People in London.

"It's great for vets as we get to see patients often before they get really sick - removing suffering and intervention, and it's equally valuable to clients when budgeting for their pet's care."

Bringing vets up to date

Technology could also help improve services. There are now apps that allow clients of some practices to chat in real time to vets.

Williams also says artificial intelligence could reduce the amount of time vets spend doing paper work or processing imagery and analytics, which will free up time to spend with pets.

From spending time talking to vets, I've learned that two opinions in particular are widely shared within the profession. Firstly, that the public have a warped view of healthcare costs because we have the NHS which means we don't have a clear idea how much our own treatment costs, never mind what is reasonable for pets.

Lord Trees is the only vet in the House of Lords and the founder of the Veterinary Policy Research Foundation, which recently estimated that the veterinary industry broadly added £20bn of value to the UK. He believes these perceptions are a "big challenge" for the industry.

"The public are not attuned to the real costs of providing healthcare and the quality of service you get from the veterinary profession is exemplary," he says. "You've never heard of anybody having to wait months and months and months for elective surgery for your dog - it'll be done within a week or two, and the emergency will be done within an hour or two."

Secondly, vets want to see the law modernised because the Veterinary Surgeons Act, which sets out how vets are regulated, came into being in 1966 - a time when practices were typically owned and operated by surgeons. "That's not the case now", says Williams.

But as the law stands, it means individual vets are still regulated but not the practices they work in. Many argue this is unfair given that more than two thirds are now owned by non-vets. It means vets fear being struck off but owners of practices face little consequence.

The government has promised to change this but it could take years. "The public will have a lot of protection from the fact that the businesses themselves are also regulated," says Williams.

But while this is really important to vets, and Williams says he welcomes it, he doesn't believe it will have any impact for customers.

Rethinking which breeds to choose

So how else can pet owners' bills be brought down? Answering that may involve asking awkward questions about the types of breeds we choose and the extent to which we expect treatment to prolong the lives of our animals.

For example, the likes of pugs, Frenchies and English bulldogs all have issues with their breathing because of their squashed facial features and Scottish Fold cats suffer a lot from arthritis.

Williams is not saying we shouldn't buy these breeds - but he does say prospective owners should recognise that they will come with significant costs.

"It is something that people don't think enough about," he says.

"They're often swayed by fashion and social media influencers and that's not a good thing. Equally, if somebody has done the research and knows Breed X has problem Y, and I know that that is expensive to do, but are happy to take that on board, because they can afford it that's okay too."

Instead, for cats he suggests a "regular kind of moggy domestic British cat" and for dogs he says "all things being equal, a mixed breed dog is probably more likely to be healthy, than a pedigree dog". Advocates of pedigree breeds dispute this, however.

Batty agrees that some breeds lead to bigger vets bills but she thinks people are becoming "more sensible" in their choices.

But she says breeds like cockapoos and cavapoos "have massive skin and ear issues" and she wants to see better regulation of breeding to help.

Treating animals as animals

And there is one more uncomfortable conversation many vets say we need to have. In recent years pets have become more parts of our family and there is evidence many owners are prepared to spend large amounts of money on their health.

A recent poll by a pet food company suggested that half of 2,000 pet owners surveyed saw their pets as their children. A quick look on social media will bring up many examples of people who see themselves as "pet parents" and this is a dangerous trend according to many vets.

Batty thinks we need vets to step in more to say "we could do this, but is this fair, and is it in their best interest of the animal?" when people are looking at big bills for treatment that may not work.

"We're there to be the voice of the animal," she adds.

Vets often speak of "contextualised care" - giving pets treatment appropriate for their welfare that owners can afford.

But that requires clients to accept that just because you can carry out certain treatments, it doesn't mean you should.

So there may not be any quick fixes that will save owners money. But the debate may have a broader impact - leading the public to re-evaluate how they treat their pets.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the BVA speaks for big operators as well as independent vets and has now been updated to say it only speaks for individual vets and to provide further information on some of the arguments made by the larger operators.

Why Europe's leaders have struggled to speak as one on Iran

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn8z5zvlz5yo, 9 days ago

Europe knew this may be coming. For weeks, leaders and policy makers watched the US military build-up in the Middle East. They heard the threats of the Trump administration to Tehran: Give up all nuclear aspirations - or else!

But since the US-Israeli attack started on Iran three days ago, this continent has looked at best uncoordinated, if not fractured and decidedly without leverage, caught up in the maelstrom of events.

Each European country is understandably angsting about its citizens in the region - whether and how they may need to evacuate what would be tens of thousands of people in total.

European governments worry too about the impact the unfolding Middle East crisis may have on consumers back home. On energy and food prices, for example. European gas prices have soared to an extent not seen since the launch of Russia's fullscale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Politically, Europe is clearly struggling to find a united voice on the fast-paced dizzying developments in the Middle East.

The continent's Big Three, France, Germany and the UK, did manage to issue a joint statement at the weekend, warning Iran they were ready to take "defensive action" to destroy its ability to fire missiles and drones unless Tehran stopped its "indiscriminate attacks".

Since then, the UK has agreed to a US request to use two British military bases for "defensive" strikes on Iranian missile sites - although president Trump has been critical that the UK hasn't been more active. France is bolstering its Middle East presence after an Iranian strike hit a French base in the United Arab Emirates and Germany says its soldiers remain ready for "defensive measures" should they be attacked but nothing beyond that was being planned.

All three countries stopped short of questioning the legality under international law of the US-Israeli strikes. Querying Washington was also conspicuously absent from the raft of tweets the EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has been posting.

A top consideration of all these European leaders is not wanting to alienate Donald Trump. They desperately hope events in the Middle East will not be another distraction for the US president, preventing him - again - from engaging in finding a sustainable solution to another conflict, this one on their own continent: Ukraine.

But does the evasiveness of some leading European powers about the legality of recent US actions in Iran or Venezuela for example, muddy the waters? They often say this is a Europe of common values, that respects a rule-based international order. But what what exactly are the rules?

Spain's prime minister says he's clear. Pedro Sanchez took to social media, proclaiming "one can be against a hateful regime, as is the case with the Iranian regime… and at the same time be against an unjustified, dangerous military intervention outside of international law".

A number of US aircraft left Spain on Monday after Madrid said those bases could not be used for attacks on Iran.

Meanwhile, the European Union has appeared totally uncoordinated. A statement by member states' foreign ministers stopped short of advocating regime change in Iran, while the president of the European Commission (the EU's main executive body) did just that on Sunday. "A credible transition in Iran is urgently needed," its president Ursula von der Leyen said in a social media post.

This was hardly a show of speaking with one voice.

And yet the declared ambition of European nations, in and outside the EU, including the UK - in this new, turbulent world of Big Power politics - is to work better together in areas of mutual interest, first and foremost in the arena of security and defence.

But the question is, are they really capable of doing so?

A nuclear shift

The year 2026 has truly been one of turmoil: Venezuela, Greenland and Iran. Europe faces an expansionist Russia on its doorstep, an economically aggressive China and an increasingly unpredictable ally in Washington.

On Monday, President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would be changing its nuclear doctrine and increasing its number of nuclear warheads, because, he said, "our competitors have evolved, as have our partners".

Russia has the world's largest nuclear arsenal, China is rapidly expanding its capabilities and while the US - the second-biggest global nuclear power, just behind Russia - has for decades provided Europe with a nuclear umbrella, changing priorities in Washington have made Europeans nervous.

Sweden, Germany and Poland have directly approached France to ask for wider European cover on top of the protection already offered to Nato allies by the UK, the only other nuclear power in Europe.

President Macron finds himself in the I-told-you-so position of having urged Europe for years to become more strategically autonomous in defence (including a big push into space, with dual-use satellites, for example, via the European Space Agency, of which the UK too is a member).

But coordination remains a huge challenge. Weapons procurement is a glaring example. While the United States employs around 30 different weapon systems, Europe has an often duplicated 178. "Inefficient, expensive and slow," was the damning conclusion last week of the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola.

Nato is trying to mitigate this by attempting to manage acquisition decisions across its 32 members but the problem here is that the defence alliance's guidelines are voluntary only. All Nato members (except Spain) bowed to pressure from Donald Trump last year and agreed to ramp up defence spending. But of equal importance is whether that money is then spent effectively.

The instinct of most national governments is to protect their own defence industries, even at the expense of their neighbours. France is often accused of this.

Priorities shaped by history

As unfolding events in the Middle East throw into sharp relief, each country on this continent has its own priorities, strengths and weaknesses, shaped by its history and voter concerns.

The fact that Germany felt the need to spell out very clearly this week that it does not plan to boost its military presence in the Middle East, never mind take part in any offensive action, comes down to the fact that Germans are still very conflict-shy, largely based on their country's past.

Remember how Germany was initially ridiculed and berated internationally for being slow to send tanks to Ukraine after Russia's full-scale invasion began four years ago? Then-German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was not displeased at all to be given the nickname "Friedenskanzler" (Peace Chancellor) in the German press. A large section of German society was initially deeply uncomfortable with the idea that German weaponry could be turned on Russians once again, as it had been during the two world wars last century.

While still mindful of national sensitivities, the new German government of Friedrich Merz is going in a very different direction. It is now the single largest single donor of military aid to Ukraine.

Like the rest of Europe, Germany leant on the United States for its security for decades. But with the Trump administration insisting that Europe now take over the lion's share of its own defence, Germany plans to spend more on its defence budget by 2029 than France and the UK combined, according to Nato.

It wants to build the largest conventional army in Europe, too - and 80 years after World War Two, and with Germany firmly entrenched in Nato and the EU, fellow European powers are welcoming the German military initiative, rather than seeming threatened by it.

Italy's prime minister, by contrast, is having to perform the most excruciating dance - between Italian voter opinion and what she believes is in her country's and her own best interest on the world stage. So far, Giorgia Meloni has kept a very low profile on the US-Israeli attacks on Iran. She is one of the few leaders in Europe to have a truly warm relationship with Donald Trump.

As the third biggest economy on mainland Europe, you would expect Italy to play a prominent role in continental security. But until recently, it ranked amongst the lowest defence spenders in Europe. You have to take a look at Italian history to understand why.

Italy was only unified in 1861. Before that, it was considered a "battleground of Europe", with foreign powers repeatedly exploiting its territories. Italians learned to rely and trust only the very few, rather than "the state", to look after them.

Italy stood out in western Europe when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It was the only country where, right from the start, a majority of the population opposed sending weapons to help Kyiv.

Italians said they sympathised with Ukrainians but many questioned Italy's involvement in the conflict. They simply didn't trust their government to protect them from knock-on effects, like rising energy prices or potential reprisals by Russia.

Four years on, only 15% of Italians say they believe the EU and US should continue to arm Ukraine until Russian forces are driven out, according to the Institute for the Study of International Politics.

That's why Italy's staunchly Ukraine-supporting prime minister is in a very uncomfortable position. Her big pledges to international allies when it comes to defence are out of sync with the majority of Italian voters. Most Italians also oppose Giorgia Meloni's pledge to her friend in the White House to boost defence spending significantly.

Ad-hoc coalitions

Being aware of allies' national tensions, and therefore where they can, or can't, fully be depended upon is key as Europe enters a self-declared era of closer cooperation.

The difficulties of acting "as one" , as we now see again over the Middle East, are giving rise to smaller ad-hoc coalitions of countries forming for mutual convenience around different issues: joint defence procurement projects such as the recent UK-Norway Defence Pact to track Russian submarines in the north Atlantic, or the Coalition of the Willing for Ukraine, led by the UK and France, for example.

Increasingly these "European" or Western alliances include what are described as like-minded nations from outside the continent, such as Canada and also South Korea and Japan, both of whom are often now included in Nato military exercises too.

Feeling squeezed by the new global climate where Might is Right, or at least Might takes centre stage, the family of nations for European cooperation is widening. But so is the challenge to understand what makes each family member tick, and whether they can work together effectively.

Correction: This article was amended to remove a suggestion that Canada is not part of Nato.

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The first episode of Europe on the Edge with Katya Adler airs on 3 March on BBC2 at 9pm

How the 'red v blue school wars' exposed the social media gap between children and parents

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4wgzdydkeo, 3 days ago

Friday February 27th should have been like any other day at secondary schools in Southwark and Croydon in south London. But instead, when lessons finished for the day around 3pm, large numbers of teachers positioned themselves on streets around their schools as children made their way home.

In some places, after-school detentions were cancelled so pupils could get home as early as possible. There were police officers present too in some places and they had at their disposal dispersal orders that would allow officers to order any young people gathered to leave a particular area.

The prompt was concern over a series of social media posts that called for 'red v blue' wars between schools across the city. The posters began encouraging battles between students in the capital and seemed to begin circulating on TikTok and Snapchat. Copycat versions were subsequently shared about schools in Bristol, Cardiff and the West Midlands. The posters - one half red, one half blue - often feature images of people in balaclavas, weapons and lists of different school names listed on either side. In theory, fights were due to happen in south London that afternoon, hence the presence of teachers and police.

Only, the fights didn't happen - for their part, the Metropolitan Police say no actual violent incidents related to the posters have been reported.

Taken at face value, the whole incident appears to be another example of social media's apparently massive ability to influence our young people. But was something else at play?

Notably - from tracking down some of the original posts and speaking to people within the social media companies - there appears to have been only a modest reaction among young people when the posts first appeared. Instead, the real interest began after it started being shared across parent WhatsApp groups.

Look in the comments on the now viral posters and you find teenagers joking about what side they were on, saying they'd only heard about the posts from their parents' group chats.

Snap removed a small number of posts for violating their community guidelines - and according to TikTok, there were only a small number of searches for School Wars until it received wider attention from parents and media.

"We have to take it seriously when parents and kids do - even if the people who came up with it weren't that serious," one police detective told me on the condition of anonymity.

"I've found the real life (over-)reaction fascinating to watch."

So is this an example of what is known as a phantom trend, where fear can end up exacerbating the real-world impact rather than mitigating it? And what does it reveal about the gap between how children and their parents experience social media?

The Red v Blue Trend

It was back in mid February when the first school wars posters seemed to pop up on social media from accounts based in east and south London. The schools listed were in Hackney and in Croydon - encouraging students to meet up on particular days and locations to fight.

The origin of the first posts are murky - but several TikTok accounts I've tracked down tell me they believe they were made by teenagers or young people who live locally because of the style of the posts and the particular schools they referenced.

"These young kids think it's cool trying to create an "og" [original gangster] gang war, blue vs red," one gaming account called Panos told me.

The posters build on a wider "red v blue" trend - where users create videos and encourage people to choose the red or the blue side based around different issues. For example, users are asked to choose between two phones or two characters, one who is categorised as red and the other as blue.

"I'm not sure where they originated — I [saw] it on Snapchat where everything posted has only 24 hours… then it disappears," another gamer from Bristol told me.

The posters appear to have been created using AI and this made them look fairly slick and professional. It also makes it trickier to locate their origin, especially since social media accounts thought to have been behind them were subsequently banned.

Sander Van Der Linden, a professor of social psychology at the University of Cambridge, says the posts were deliberately designed to trigger a reaction.

"I think it's important for parents, teachers, and students to realise that in-group vs out-group psychology [an us versus them mentality] is often exploited by social media algorithms to create division," he explains.

His team published a study in the National Academy of Science journal in 2021 looking at millions of posts across social media platforms. The study suggests that "virality and engagement are most heavily predicted by the degree of out-group derogation or "dunking" on the other side", he explains.

"Each additional word referring to the 'other side' increased the odds of a social media post being shared by 67%. We refer to this as the 'perverse incentives of social media'. I think the red vs blue campaign is a nice example of that."

The Metropolitan police has since arrested a 15-year-old and a man in his twenties in east London in connection with the trend, but couldn't confirm if they were linked to the original posters.

They say both were arrested "on suspicion of encouraging or assisting in a crime" and that "they were bailed pending further enquiries".

"Local officers continue to work alongside local authority partners, school leaders and parents, whose joint robust response has been vital in protecting young people across the last week," a spokesperson from the Metropolitan police told the BBC last week. They confirmed on Monday there had still been no reports of violence.

The anonymous detective I spoke to says they were first made aware of the trend several weeks ago - and they had to think quite carefully about how best to respond.

"Once it's mentioned to teachers and fed through to a local authority, we do have to act. It would be terrible if say 100 kids armed with knives turn up at one place and stuff like that has happened before."

According to Marc Burrows, a trust and safety expert who used to work at Twitter, the meaning behind the posts can be hard for many to grasp.

"What's fascinating about something like red vs blue is the layers and layers of lore built into it that make it so utterly impenetrable to anyone not swimming in the right end of the pool it originated from," he explains.

"All the gang stuff, the points systems, the AI posters, all of it is totally native and completely legible to the generation it emerged from, and easy to completely misread if you're outside. That's how internet culture works. These things develop their own internal logic, their own mythology, and they're not designed to be understood by parents or police or journalists, they're a community talking to itself in its own language."

The parent factor

When some parents discovered the 'red v blue' posts, the posters were forwarded to parental WhatsApp and Facebook groups and schools were made aware.

And so some secondary school-age children only became aware of the posters in the first place because of what their parents were seeing.

They included the children of Abi Lewis from south London. She has two sons aged 11 and 15.

"I first saw the 'school wars' post circulating on my year seven son's parents' WhatsApp group. Quite a few parents were asking about if anyone had heard about it and there was quite a lot of concern," she explains to me.

"The children at that point hadn't heard anything about it and they only became aware of it a few days later. At that point there were police standing outside the school every day. There was also a safeguarding assembly at the school about it."

She says as far as she knows, "there wasn't any actual fighting and this was something that was just concocted on social media", which the children seemed to find out about "after the adults were aware of it".

According to the detective, once teachers became involved, there was a huge amount of "pressure" on the police to do something, especially with some worried parents keeping their children off school.

"One thing we're increasingly teaching is a concept called "critical ignoring" which will become more important in the face of AI-generated slop, where sometimes it's better to just ignore low-quality stuff," explains Dr. Van Der Linden.

"I think it's important that we educate teens, parents, and teachers about how algorithms and social media might exploit our psychological biases to sow division and elicit violence."

One solution Dr. Van Der Linden advocates for is to "create internal simulated social media feeds to illustrate to teens the dangers of online manipulation in a safe controlled setting". He thinks this would make both them and their parents "more resistant to it when it happens in real-life".

A history of phantom trends

This appears to be an almost phantom trend: one where the reaction to it largely eclipses the impact the trend itself was having on social media.

There have been trends, though, that have been made up entirely.

In 2019, there was the 'Momo Challenge'. The original tale said a character with bulging eyes would "hack" into WhatsApp and set children dangerous "challenges" such as harming themselves. Some schools warned parents about the 'Momo challenge' and the scary Momo image was subsequently shared because of the panic. But there were no reports of people harming themselves before or after, according to the police at the time.

The reaction from parents and schools though - as well as widespread media coverage - actually ended up triggering the circulation of the scary character, and so may have fuelled the fear rather than the opposite.

"I was at Twitter when the Momo Challenge happened, and I had to explain it to people who were absolutely convinced there was a monster in their children's YouTube videos instructing them to self-harm. There wasn't. It was a panic built on a creepy sculpture that had nothing to do with anything," explains Marc Burrows.

"But thanks to the sort of media that loves a clickbait story, even when they don't understand it, the panic itself became real. Eventually parents were terrified, schools sent letters home, news outlets ran alarmist coverage and suddenly something done for the lols and appreciated originally on that level is on the actual news."

Fact-checking website Snopes at the time suggested the story was "far more hype or hoax than reality".

"The subject has generated rumours that in themselves can be cause for concern among children," wrote David Mikkelson, founder and CEO of Snopes.

The charity Samaritans said it was "not aware of any verified evidence in this country or beyond" linking the momo meme to self-harm - and the NSPCC at the time said they'd had more requests from the media than from actual parents.

More recently, there have been allegations that a viral trend on TikTok led to kids overdosing on paracetamol - but I and others could never find any evidence this was a mass trend and TikTok at the time said this wasn't happening.

But these phantom trends can prove frightening - especially because in rare cases, some of them do have real-life consequences. Take the case of two American girls who said they tried to kill another girl because an online character called Slender man told them to - or children seriously harmed by taking part in the so-called Benadryl challenge.

Back in August 2023, there was a poster - not dissimilar to the School Wars one - that circulated on TikTok and Snapchat about disorder and looting on Oxford Street. I went to see for myself how that did trigger real crowds and chaos, with police making several arrests.

This trend seems to sit somewhere in between: it didn't have that much traction and didn't seem that serious - and then panic made things worse (a pseudo-phantom trend, perhaps).

Parallel social media worlds

In the recent 'school wars' hype, it is true that some children have felt confused or scared and it may be that there were some localised confrontations linked to the posts. But some children were also under the impression that there had been significant organised fighting or even that people had been killed, for which there's no evidence at all.

But in the comments section, lots of young people just seemed to find it funny. A few have even taken it a step further, suggesting this trend was invented by adults or the government to try to get social media banned for under 16s.

Perhaps not surprisingly, on social media, young people and their parents are experiencing the online world in very different ways.

It's possible that the 'better safe than sorry' approach - which saw police and teachers taking to the streets - could have fuelled fear. But Prof Van Der Linden defends that approach.

"I think such a swift response was good, it could be that the campaign never went anywhere [much] because its impact was dampened by a quick response from schools and the police."

Snap told the BBC their guidelines "prohibit even ambiguous support for or tacit approval of violence. We work to remove such content."

According to a TikTok spokesperson, the company "take these sorts of situations very seriously, and responded by mobilising a dedicated risk response team, removing content, blocking search results, and communicating with the Metropolitan Police".

Insiders from the tech sector have told me how a more proactive approach to moderation could stop these kinds of posts taking off in the first place or at least to the point where a panic ensues. They say it would help if the posts were not actively promoted by algorithms, if images of weapons were automatically detected and removed and if more real human beings were employed to analyse content.

Prof Van Der Linden advises parents with teenagers to talk about what's actually popping up on their social media feeds. That includes explaining the "incentives and motivations" of people posting in ways that try to "polarise schools and communities". He also advises parents to be wary of "forwarding posts" and "accidentally amplify[ing] their reach".

According to Marc Burrows: "Once a meme climbs out of a TikTok video and into the physical realm it ends up like Margot Robbie in the Barbie movie when she first comes to the real world - completely out of context, trying to operate with an entirely different set of rules that aren't at all applicable anymore."

He describes red v blue as like that but far less fun because of the issues involved. "You end up in this bizarre space where the reaction to the thing becomes the thing, and the original meme is just sitting there in the background, meaningless to everyone except the people who made it."

Top images credit: Getty Images

How I've learned that certainty is the thing to really fear

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1w5z1d447lo, 5 days ago

Certainty is a curse of our age. It is a pandemic. And I've never been more certain about anything.

I've been presenting television debates and radio phone-ins over five decades, stumbling from one epoch to the next. Almost every day, I hear the thoughts and worries of ordinary British people, an experience that's given me a rare insight into our national psyche.

When I look back at the start of my career as a BBC presenter, it seems like a different century (the fact that it actually was is highly convenient for the metaphor).

The tone has always been feisty and combative, but in recent years it seems to me like opinion has ossified, weaponised, and tribalised. There's a growing fear (among political scientists and others) that in our modern, social media-driven world, every issue is reduced to a zero-sum game and shoved into a political tick box. I feel that I'm walking on eggshells. Causes and positions are embraced uncritically. Nuance and understanding are viewed as signs of weakness. Either you're with us, or you are history.

I've been exploring the psychology of the cult, navigating some of the most divisive issues, venturing into no-man's land in a high-viz jacket.

But how did we get here?

Pot holes to Pol Pot

Until the 1960s, most broadcasting was dry and deferential. Men with clipped accents told listeners the news from on high; there was certainly little back and forth between presenter and listener.

But in 1968, BBC Nottingham launched what is believed to be Britain's first radio phone-in show. What Are They Up to Now? allowed members of the public to call in and complain about the council, or argue about pop music. It opened a window into the minds of ordinary people.

Since 1997, I've had extraordinary experience after extraordinary experience of hosting "the Nations Phone-in" on Radio 5Live. I've also presented numerous TV debates and documentaries over the years, with what some of my professional colleagues somewhat curiously call "real people".

Over those years, I have had thousands of voices in my head. The callers opine on anything from pot holes to Pol Pot. Don't get me wrong, the tone of these discussions has always been quarrelsome and combative; more Lemmy than Liszt.

But to me at least, recently it's become a wailing cacophony of polarisation and mutual demonisation. Simplicity is elevated, subtlety is trashed, and complexity decried.

Brexit was certainly an inflection point. On 5Live we had a beeline to the decision makers (in other words, the electorate). Some days, after two hours of fire and fury, I'd feel like ringing Gwyneth Paltrow and getting the name of a good wellness retreat. It was over that time I realised that whatever the person on the other side of the debate said, it was no more than white noise. And it could get bitterly personal and utterly vile very quickly. "People like you" was a phrase I heard a lot, from both sides.

Complexity phobia

And don't just take my word for it. Over the last decade or so, political scientists in most high-income countries have recorded a rise in what they call "affective polarisation" - which is where people don't just disagree on policy, but start to strongly disapprove of people in the opposing camp.

"People are increasingly disliking each other," says Prof Sander van der Linden, who researches social psychology at the University of Cambridge. "People are less willing to work with people from the other side, to engage in romantic relationships with people from the other side, and to even cohabitate with people from the other side.

"That sort of affective polarisation has seen a sharp increase."

And there's another phenomenon that has been termed "complexity phobia": the aversion to recognising incontrovertible evidence and facts if they challenge a more comfortable and comforting narrative.

We don't debate evolution anymore in the mainstream. Many years ago, in a Darwin adjacent debate about home schooling (I think), one brilliant scientist gently explained the natural process over billions of years. But I could see his interlocutor was completely ignoring him as he'd thought of his own killer point and couldn't wait to slam-dunk it. "Explain this then" he said, "and you won't be able to. What did we do before the poo hole?". It was a moment I won't forget.

Radio epiphanies

Of course, elements of this fractiousness have always existed. For TV producers, it's long been tempting to invite two self-righteous zealots into a studio to bellow at each other. In the business it's called a "good row".

Often it's simply a pantomime to prick up the ears and the ratings; a bit of lunge and repose (or lunge and head-butt). And sometimes there has been a higher purpose to these arguments: occasionally, from the white-hot furnace of debate, truth can emerge.

I remember and now cherish the spine-tingling moments in debates where someone changed their mind before my very eyes. Once I was hosting a debate on sperm donation, and whether the anonymity of the donor should be preserved. I have an interest in the subject; I was adopted myself, and I am sympathetic to a child's right to know their origins. It's notable that every children's advocacy agency argues for it.

One participant explained how they had acquired some sperm from an anonymous internet donor abroad, with untraceable lineage. Their view was largely: "what does it matter? It's our child now".

But as the arguments played out, I saw her position softening in real time. She absorbed the opposing arguments and thought her own reasoning through. She seemed to decide that her priorities had been ever so slightly misplaced. The look of uncomfortable epiphany was powerful and deeply moving. She listened. She understood. And eventually, she changed her mind.

It still happens. The crucial point, though, is that these flashes of insight happen far less than they used to.

Angry comments

What's driving this increased stridency among the public?

Social media certainly seems to be playing its part. The science now suggests that it makes people more polarised and angry, says Linden.

He and his colleagues used a computer model in 2020 to analyse more than two million posts by American politicians and major media outlets that had been published on Facebook and on X (then known as Twitter). They found that negative language did a good job of riling up readers online, and by far the strongest predictor of engagement were words that demonised some sort of "out-group".

Even when users try to escape this vortex of pessimism, they'll struggle. In another study in 2023, scientists used an eye-tracking device and showed them social media content. On average, their eyes dwelt on their screen for longer when the language was angry and emotive.

These apps seem to make people more angry and divided - and in turn, more certain about their own opinions.

My trade isn't totally blame-free, of course. Linden points out that traditional media - TV, radio and the like - has long had a "negativity bias". But apps like Facebook and X have amplified it hugely. "The balance is off much more on social media," he says.

The social media factor seems compelling to me. We see everything through a new lens; change now happens at the speed of light. On every social site there are the shock-mongers, keyboard warriors, outrage archaeologists, click-baiters, and moral highlanders. We are sucked into our own ideological comfort zones and when we stray outside it's a shock to the system, and often our sense of self.

The distorting effect of social media was most apparent to me when I presented The Big Questions, the BBC's Sunday morning debate show. Often we debated two very different topics on the same day - meaning someone who'd turned up to talk about politics might also be able to opine on religion.

One morning we were discussing two topics: the influence of big money on football, and Islamist extremism.

During the football debate, someone in the audience argued that too many clubs moved to fancy new stadia, away from their traditional homes. Then, out of nowhere, we heard a contribution from a young man who was in the room to take part in the Islamist debate. He was from an organisation that is now proscribed (and their leader is now in prison). "We could use the old stadiums for public punishments and executions?," he suggested.

Audience members screamed. He looked so crestfallen that I almost felt sorry for him. I realised he'd only ever said stuff like that in his own echo chamber. He was playing, as they say in vaudeville, to a different "house". Thanks to social media, to him his ideas seemed totally mainstream.

But I also wonder if it's overly simplistic to give full blame to the tech bros. To me, it seems more accurate to say that it's a coalescence - or maybe a collision - of social media with a troubled and hopelessly confusing world. There is so much to shout and angst about - or might I say howl at the moon about. The moon is right there on your phone now and that can be a fleeting balm for our troubled souls.

No wonder we seek refuge in certainty. I don't blame us.

Samuel Pepys and culture wars

There's another place I see this undue certainty cropping up: the fraught debate over whether we can continue listening to the music, or watching the films, of artists who have done bad things.

Philip Larkin, Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens and sundry others have all been criticised for their personal conduct. Some argue that we shouldn't even read the books of these men.

The case of Samuel Pepys seems illustrative. The diarist is loved by many for his colourful observations of Restoration England. But others condemn his treatment of women, described vividly in his own diaries (Pepys writes about groping a female servant and forcing himself on an acquaintance's wife).

Just this week, Hinchingbrooke School in Cambridgeshire - where Pepys was a pupil - renamed a house that was named after him.

In an email to parents, the school wrote: "While Pepys is an important historical figure… recent research on his personal behaviour… includes actions that were harmful, abusive and exploitative, especially in his relations with women." The school replaced Pepys's name with the Victorian philanthropist, Lady Olivia Bernard Sparrow. Let's trawl her social media then.

The decision prompted a backlash, including from the author Andrew Doyle, who wrote in the Washington Post that the "shaming of the dead is one of the most asinine pastimes of today's culture warriors".

What strikes me most about these "art versus artist" debates is the degree of certainty visible on all sides. In truth, it is devilishly complicated and all beings blessed with reason should be able to see that there are always strong counter arguments. But no - everybody on all fronts seems to have the answer. We all think we know best.

The art and the artist

Michael Jackson is a prime example of this conundrum. For his millions of devotees their love for him is rivalled in intensity only by their seething loathing for his critics. That's their right.

In 2019, the widely-discussed documentary Leaving Neverland published detailed allegations from two men who say that Jackson abused them as children. When he was alive, Jackson denied similar allegations.

I feel extremely uncomfortable about Jackson. Given what my contemporaries and I experienced at our school in the seventies - a matter of public record - I am perfectly entitled to believe his accusers as a default. It's visceral, I'm afraid. I'm entitled to be wrong and they are entitled to hold me in contempt for thinking the worst.

But agreeing to disagree is, I'm afraid to say, so last century.

Putting all the allegations aside - as well as the multi million pound pay-off, non-disclosure agreement, and much delayed forthcoming trials - Jackson was a man who admitted to sharing his bed with prepubescent boys. Can you imagine that now, with contemporary child protection sensibilities. Have we become poisonously cynical or properly sceptical?

And Jackson was a giant. How would a lesser talent, under a similar shadow, be regarded?

But even with a figure as arguably monstrous as Jackson, there are complications.

Let me explain. My best friend Allan Robb, no longer with us, was a great radio journalist who never saw 50. At university we'd roar through the Aberdeenshire countryside on his bike, with not a care in the world. We always imagined Michael Jackson's "One Day in Your Life" as our soundtrack. He loved that song, and I love the fact that he loved it. I always will and nothing will ever change that. And do you know what? That's why I occasionally still listen to it. It's transcendent, yes, but it's complicated.

Hypocrite? Perhaps. But aren't we all.

Now that is something about which I am certain.

You can listen to Don't Say A Word here.

Additional reporting: Luke Mintz.

Top image credit: Getty Images

Sheep are disappearing from our hills - and our dinner plates

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgrzd72wp5zo, 7 days ago

Listen to NJ read this article

For four generations, Neil Heseltine's family have worked on Hill Top Farm, perched on the hillside of Malhamdale amid the dramatic landscape of the Yorkshire Dales. And for most of that time, sheep were the mainstay of the business.

But, Neil says, over the past 20 years there has been "a complete turnaround" and he has shifted away from sheep farming to stay afloat. In that time the 1,500-acre farm has gone from a peak of over 800 lambing sheep to just 45 this spring.

"I dread to think where the farm would have been financially had we not started to make those changes," he tells me. "I either continued along the sheep-farming route because of sentimentality or made bold decisions."

While most upland farmers still keep sheep on their land, the changes here have been mirrored across not just the Dales but the entire British farming industry. The shepherd's life has never been an easy one, but for many it's getting tougher and more difficult than ever to make a profit.

The average British farmer is 60 years old, according to the National Farmers' Union (NFU), and prices for everything from fuel to fodder have risen hugely for them in recent years. Meanwhile, many farmers are facing significantly reduced income from subsidies and there are worries that recent trade deals will mean increased competition from overseas.

The UK's recent trade deals with New Zealand and Australia, struck since Brexit, eliminate tariffs and give producers in both countries large quotas on the amount of lamb they can export into the UK.

There are now 14.7 million breeding ewes in the UK - the lowest figure in living memory according to Phil Stocker, chief executive of the National Sheep Association.

Overall the national flock is also falling, down to 30.4 million sheep in 2025 - numbers last seen in the mid-20th Century, when the UK population was smaller and thus the potential market for lamb and mutton reared here was much lower.

And over the last 50 years there has been a significant fall in lamb and mutton consumption according to Becky Smith, a senior analyst at the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), which represents farmers.

In 1980 the average UK household purchased 128g of sheep meat (lamb and mutton) per person, per week. In 2024 that same measure was down to 23g per person, per week.

Sheep farming has shaped the image many of us have when we picture somewhere like the Dales with drystone walls to keep livestock enclosed and green, rolling hills kept short by seasonal grazing.

But any desire to protect the heritage of one of the UK's oldest agricultural industries is rubbing up against not just a diminishing appetite for sheep meat but also the question of whether some of our uplands might be better used to promote nature recovery and biodiversity.

All this raises the question of whether we have passed "peak sheep" in the UK - and, in turn, what that might mean for consumers. Will my children still be eating our lamb for their Sunday roast or in their baltis and bhunas in 25 years time?

And, what will happen to some of our most revered and beloved landscapes like the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, Scottish Highlands and Welsh mountains, and the people who live and work there?

Why sheep farming has become so tough

At Craven Cattle Mart on the outskirts of Skipton, North Yorkshire, the auction ring is buzzing as farmers from across the Yorkshire Dales and Pennine Moors come to buy and sell livestock.

To an outsider, business might look brisk - but general manager Jeremy Eaton says it's nowhere near as busy as when he started in the industry 47 years ago.

"We'd have some sales at this market where we'd regularly be selling 19,000 store lambs," he says. "Now we're fortunate if we get to 8,000 or 9,000."

People who work sheep know that it's some of the hardest farming there is. A former shepherd once told me that sheep are only ever trying to do one of three things: "Escape, or die, or escape and then immediately die."

Globally, lamb consumption is expected to grow by 15% between now and 2032, according to a report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Food and Agriculture Organization.

But changing tastes in the UK mean mutton, made from mature sheep, is no longer eaten in the same volume it was by previous generations and lamb has seemingly gone from a weekly staple to a meat more often eaten on special occasions, with "white meat" like chicken being increasingly chosen over lamb and beef.

The drop in the national flock has actually led to robust growth in the price paid for lamb according to Becky Smith from the AHDB, with the sheep price hitting record highs in 2024.

But despite the higher price for their sheep, upland farmers with tight margins feel the pinch more than many when diesel and oil costs go up. And on top of that, the cost of feeding sheep has also rocketed - the average cost of a bale of hay is £155 a tonne this spring compared to £75 a tonne this time last year.

Farmers and groups such as Compassion in World Farming have also raised concerns that new trade deals could undermine UK agriculture because farms here must meet high welfare standards that may not be not required in several partner countries.

Extremely tight margins mean growing numbers of younger people can't see a future in farming.

This is immediately apparent as you wander around Craven Cattle Marts. "You can see here today, most of the generation of farmers are over 60," says Hayley Baines, a 39-year-old sheep farmer from Gisburn in the Ribble Valley. "There [aren't] many young ones because there's better options."

And some welcome the decline in sheep farming.

"Fewer sheep means less suffering […] a sheep's life in the wool and mutton industries belies our reputation as a nation of animal lovers," says Mimi Bekhechi, senior vice president at the UK's People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta).

The UK's Climate Change Committee has also previously advised the government to encourage people to cut the amount of meat and dairy they consume, to combat climate change.

How changing subsidies have made an impact

Matthew Cole of the NFU says a further issue has been the move - especially post-Brexit - away from farmers receiving paid subsidies from the EU either for the volume of livestock they have or amount of land they farm.

In their place, successive UK governments have introduced new schemes with a stronger focus on farming for nature - meaning many farmers are facing significantly reduced subsidy income.

For example the Westminster government's Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme, which was updated last month, includes further incentives for farmers in England and Wales to graze moorland with cattle and ponies instead of sheep as it "contributes positively to biodiversity". Cattle, for example, do not graze as low to the ground as sheep, allowing smaller plants to flower.

Neil Heseltine of Hill Top Farm now has 300 cattle who graze outside all year round, a shift that he says has made the farm more profitable and dramatically reduced the hours he has to put into it.

But while these new subsidy schemes are welcomed in principle by many farmers, some find the funding available falls far short of the levels provided under earlier support systems.

"Going forward, do I see a future? I'm not sure where we're going with it," says James Foster, who has been farming beef and sheep on the Bolton Abbey Estate for 30 years. "I do believe the government don't want us, but people have to eat and we just have to adapt with that."

Defra says that an average of £2.3bn a year is being invested through its farming schemes in England and Wales and insists it is protecting farmers in trade deals and also making supply chains fairer.

Today, Scottish sheep and upland farmers face many of the same challenges of tighter margins, rising costs and falling appetite for lamb and mutton and the Holyrood government have likewise tried to move towards a subsidy regime which gives greater weight to the environmental benefits farmers can provide. One example is the "Sheep and Trees" initiative which aims to help farmers and land managers plant more woodlands without cutting the size of their flock.

There have been complaints from farmers that some of the schemes introduced in Scotland have not been easy enough to access, leading the Agriculture Minister Jim Farlie to commit to reviewing certain projects. At the start of this year NFU Scotland and other farming organisations also raised concerns that the amount of government money budgeted to support agriculture was not enough either to support farmers to profitably make food or to help them meet climate and nature goals.

In Northern Ireland, the sheep population has fallen for several years with the most recent stats from 2024 showing 1.9 million sheep across the region. The Ulster Farmers Union has criticised the exclusion of sheep farmers from the devolved administration's future agriculture policy and called on Northern Ireland's Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to engage with the industry.

Compromise and respect?

Sheep were first domesticated approximately 10,500 years ago in the Middle East, and were eventually brought to British shores by Neolithic farmers some time around 4000BC. Sheep became such an important part of the landscape that by medieval times the phrase, "half the wealth of England rides on the back of the sheep" became familiar.

In Scotland, sheep have also played a pivotal role in the rural economy for generations and Scotland's sheep population there has been more stable in recent years at around 6.5 million.

The history of Scottish sheep farming is also indelibly tied up with the controversial Highland Clearances when, in the late-18th and 19th century, traditional crofting families, were moved off the land when landowners realised they could make more money from farming sheep than leasing their land.

In 2004, sheep were removed from the limestone landscapes of Ingleborough, the second-highest mountain in the Yorkshire Dales and replaced with roaming native cattle breeds, who are less intensive grazers as part of the Wild Ingleborough project.

Two new scientific studies published in the academic journal Ecological Solutions and Evidence, show the huge impact that change has had for nature across the 1500-hectare landscape, with plant diversity increased by over 40% and a five-fold increase in the number of butterflies in the absence of sheep.

Robyn Wrigley, from the University of Leeds School of Earth and Environment, co-authored both studies and says the research provides long-term evidence of how different grazing impacts biodiversity and can help inform discussions about restoration.

These changes, however, are not ones that all farmers welcome. Some I spoke to look at the landscape and see only lost livestock pasture and question how their way of life and livelihoods fit into such a future.

But David Stanners, Uplands North Group Chair at the NFU, says it's possible for the rewilding lobby and the farmers to find common ground.

"To understand better what Natural England wants from the uplands, what wildlife trusts want, they need to understand what we (the farmers) want," he says. "There needs to be compromise and respect on all sides."

How Muslim communities could make a difference

But there is a ray of sunshine for the industry, according to Phil Stocker from the National Sheep Association. He believes the domestic market for sheep meat is going to keep driving forward, in large part thanks to demand from the increasing number of Muslim people in the UK.

AHDB statistics suggest that 80% of halal consumers eat lamb on a weekly basis and 64% eat mutton weekly. By contrast, only 6% of the general UK population eats lamb each week.

According to the AHDB, while Muslims make up around 6.5% of the UK population they account for 30% of lamb sales annually. Lamb is often Muslim consumers' meat of choice for family occasions and festivals like Ramadan and Eid, while mutton is a popular ingredient in curries and stews.

Because of this, Stocker says he doesn't envisage the total demise of the industry. But right now, he adds, "we're surviving by people's interest and by market demand almost in spite of the work that the policy makers and others are doing on agricultural and land management policy".

A worst-case scenario for farmers and consumers would see UK lamb become even more expensive and less common on our shelves in favour of ever more sheep meat imported from major suppliers like New Zealand and Australia.

The AHDB project sheep are likely to decrease in number across many farms but take a walk in the Lake District or Welsh mountains in another 25 years and you will likely still see sheep dotting the hillsides.

Farmers and conservationists alike told me they need to see clear plans for what policymakers want from the uplands for the next generation. Their hope is that, as we move into the second quarter of the 21st Century, traditional sheep farmers and rewilders alike find their place in the nation's cherished uplands.

Top picture credit: Universal Images Group via Getty Images

We still have no idea where this war is heading

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c178z0p902vo, 10 days ago

We are not long in to this new war between the United States, Israel and Iran.

It is already a regional war, after Iran's decision to attack Arab states who are US allies as well as Iran's neighbours across the Gulf. The United Kingdom has dropped its refusal to allow the US to use its bases.

The war is still escalating, and news alerts are pouring in on my phone. I've just read a press release from US Central Command saying that three US F-15E Strike Eagles have been shot down by Kuwaiti air defences in "an apparent friendly fire incident". By the time I finish writing this piece more missiles will have been fired and more than likely people who are alive now will have been killed.

It is way too soon to have any idea of when or how the war will finish. Once wars start, they are hard to control. But here are some of the ways that the belligerents would like it to end.

Trump's definition of victory

President Trump, as ever, has radiated confidence in American power since he announced the war had started in a video message filmed at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. Other presidents might have chosen a solemn address from behind the Resolute desk in the Oval Office.

Trump wore an open-neck shirt and a white baseball cap pulled low over his eyes. He ran through a long charge sheet, arguing that Iran had been an imminent threat to the US since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Trump can always change his mind, but in that speech, he provides a definition of his conception of victory. It amounts to a check list:

"We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally, again, obliterated. We're going to annihilate their navy. We're going to ensure that the region's terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region or the world, and attack our forces, and no longer use their IEDs or roadside bombs, as they are sometimes called to, so gravely wound and kill thousands and thousands of people, including many Americans."

Trump claimed Iran was developing missiles that could reach the US, a statement that is not backed up by US intelligence assessments. He also claimed it was close to developing a nuclear weapon, contradicting his own statement last summer that the US had "obliterated" Iran's nuclear sites.

Trump believes that the US, with Israel, can cripple the regime in Tehran. If it does not capitulate, he sees it as being so smashed that the Iranian people will have their best chance in generations to take to the streets to seize power:

"When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations. For many years, you have asked for America's help, but you never got it. No president was willing to do what I am willing to do tonight. Now you have a president who is giving you what you want. So let's see how you respond."

Transferring responsibility for regime change to the Iranian people, even when he is directly encouraging them to act, gives him a potential get out at a later date if the regime survives. But it can also be viewed as a moral responsibility for the US to see it through, though it's an open question as to how much that would sway a president who believes there is always a deal to be done.

There is no precedent for changing a regime or winning a war against a well-armed adversary simply by using air power. In 2003 the US and its allies including the UK sent major ground forces into Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein. In 2011, Libya's Col Muammar Gaddafi was removed by rebel forces armed by Nato and Gulf countries and protected by their air forces. Trump is hoping that the Iranian people can do the job themselves.

Trump's plan is a huge gamble. The odds are stacked against bombing alone causing regime change.

Could there be an internal pro-western coup? Not impossible, but highly unlikely viewed from day three of the war.

It is more likely that the men now running the regime will hunker down, fire more missiles, fuelled by ideology and the conviction that they can take more pain than the US, Israel or the Arab Gulf states. Most of the pain will be felt by the long-suffering Iranian people. But they do not have a say in the matter.

Netanyahu's calculation

Like Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu has also made statements encouraging Iranians to take matters into their own hands. But if they cannot overcome the regime's ruthless security forces, Netanyahu's priority is smashing Iran's military capacity and its ability to rebuild militias around the region that could threaten Israel.

For decades, Benjamin Netanyahu has seen Iran as Israel's most dangerous enemy. He believes that the Islamic Republic's rulers want to build a nuclear weapon to destroy the Jewish state.

On Sunday, day two of the war, he stood on a roof in Tel Aviv, perhaps the defence ministry building in the heart of the city, and stated how he saw the war ending.

He said that Israel and America together would be able "to do what I've hoped to achieve for 40 years – to crush the regime of terror completely".

He said it was a promise that he would make sure became a reality.

Wars always have a domestic political dimension. Like Trump, Netanyahu faces elections later this year. Unlike Trump, his own job is on the line. Many Israelis blame Netanyahu for the security blunders that gave Hamas an opportunity to attack on 7 October 2023. He will take a giant step towards electoral forgiveness if he can say he has led Israel to a decisive victory over Iran. He might even be unbeatable.

Victory through survival

The killing of the supreme leader and his top military advisers was a hammer blow to the regime. But it does not necessarily mean that it will collapse.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and its other founders nearly 50 years ago designed its institutions to survive wars and assassinations. It is not a one-man show. The Syrian and Libyan states under Assad and Gaddafi were built around ruling families. When the families were removed – Gaddafi was killed and Bashar al-Assad fled – the regimes collapsed.

Iran's regime is a state system, resting on a complex and dense network of political and religious institutions with overlapping responsibilities. It is engineered to survive wars and assassinations.

That does not mean it will. The Islamic Republic's system faces its sternest test. But it has planned for this moment.

The regime's definition of victory is survival. To achieve that it surrounds itself with a formidable level of protection.

It has a powerful and ruthless apparatus of security, repression and coercion. In January its men went on to the streets, following orders to kill thousands of protestors. So far - and as I have said repeatedly, it's only day three of the war as I write this - there is no sign that the regime's armed forces are melting away, as Assad's did after he fled to Moscow in December 2024.

As well as conventional armed forces and well-armed police, there is the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, with an explicit mandate to protect the regime at home and abroad. It exists to be the muscle behind the velayat-e faqih, the guardianship of the jurist. That is the key doctrine of the Islamic revolution in Iran, which justifies the rule of Shia religious leaders.

The IRGC is believed to have 190,000 on active duty and as many as 600,000 reservists. Religious doctrine apart, it also runs much of the economy. Its leaders have financial as well as ideological reasons to stay loyal.

The IRGC is backed by the Basij, a volunteer paramilitary force. Its estimated 450,000 members have a reputation for loyalty to the regime and for thuggery.

I saw them in action in Tehran as the regime's first line of defence during the protests that followed the disputed 2009 election, threatening and beating protestors on the streets with clubs and rubber truncheons. Behind them were heavily armed police and IRGC men. The Basij also had flying squads on motorcycles that raced around the city dealing with outbreaks of dissent.

Donald Trump has threatened the IRGC and the Basij with certain death - he said "it won't be pretty" - unless they lay down their arms. His threats are unlikely to change many minds among the regime's armed men.

The Islamic Republic and Shia Islam are imbued with the idea of martyrdom. When after hours of official claims on Sunday that the supreme leader was safe and well, the weeping newsreader on state TV announced Khamanei's death by saying that he had drunk the sweet pure draft of martyrdom.

Some serious analysts of Iran suspect the Ayatollah went ahead with a meeting at his compound in Tehran with his senior advisors when much of the rest of the world believed an attack was imminent because he sought martyrdom.

The regime has a core of civilian loyalists. Thousands went onto the streets of Tehran after the killing of the supreme leader, on the first of 40 days of mourning. They gathered in public squares lighting candles and the torches of their mobile phones, despite the plumes of smoke rising from US and Israeli airstrikes.

Bad precedents

The Americans believe that this time, their raw power - along with Israel's - can impose regime change on an enemy without creating a disaster.

The precedents are not good. The removal of Iraq's Saddam Hussein in 2003 led to a catastrophe - long years of war that incubated jihadist extremist movements that still exist.

Libya, a country with enough oil to give its small population western standards of living, is broken and impoverished, a failed state 15 years after Gaddafi was removed from power and killed. Western countries who celebrated his fall and made it happen essentially washed their hands of responsibility after the country broke up.

Iran is a big country, almost three times the size of Iraq with a multi-ethnic population of more than 90 million. If the regime in Iran does fall, the nightmare scenario is that the confusion, chaos and bloodshed that might follow could rival the civil wars that killed hundreds of thousands in Syria and Iraq.

Military action by the US and Israel is pulverising Iran's military capacities. That changes the equation in the Middle East, even if the regime survives.

Many, most likely most Iranians, would rejoice if it fell. But it would be an immense challenge to replace a regime removed by force with a peaceful, coherent alternative.

Trump's gamble is that it will be possible, that this war will make the Middle East a better and safer place. The odds against that happening are challenging.

Top picture credits: AFP via Getty Images

Polanski and Farage don't agree. But they have more in common than you might think

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd037p0z1gxo, 13 days ago

One is a former stockbroker from the south who, by his own proud admission, loves smoking, drinking and women. The other's a proud vegan, gay, northern former actor, who told me he'd never drunk a drop.

But the jubilant Zack Polanski and Nigel Farage have rather a lot in common.

Before you scream, burst out laughing, or think I have lost my marbles, of course, there are very big differences between them.

The Greens talk about a climate emergency. Reform UK calls the government green plans, "net stupid zero".

Polanski wants a "world without borders". Farage wants to deport many thousands of people from the UK. And shock horror, they aren't each other's cup of tea.

The Green leader says, he "despises" Farage's politics, accusing him of sowing hate and division.

Farage, when turning down Polanski's offer of a debate, said, "if you pick a fight with a chimney sweep, you get covered in soot", going on to say Polanski "has a fan club: all the heroin smokers".

But, as Polanski and his newest MP Hannah Spencer celebrate a very impressive victory in Gorton and Denton, and Farage's party chalks up pushing Labour into third place, there are parallels between the leaders and the parties - even if it seems bonkers.

Before he became leader, Polanski did suggest the Greens could even learn from Farage's success.

It looks like he has. In politics, truth is stranger than fiction more often than you might expect.

First off, in this by-election and elsewhere, Polanski and Farage both make politicians from the traditional parties incredibly nervous for one simple reason: they can sometimes beat them.

And just as Reform ruined Labour's night by narrowly winning the Runcorn election in May last year, the Greens have now really hit Starmer's party where it hurts, winning their first by-election, with Labour humiliated into third place.

Both parties have been growing incredibly quickly, attracting thousands upon thousands of new members.

In an era when many members of the public are sick of politicians, they are both doing something right, and pulling people in.

Having seen them both with members of the public, not just in the TV studio or in Parliament, both men appear to enjoy campaigning. To absorb energy from small interactions with members of the public: when they cross the road to ask for a selfie, or call out "Hi Zack", or "Ooh, it's Nigel" from an upstairs window, or beep the car horn when driving past to say hello.

Conveniently for the politicians (and not true for all), they both appear to rather like the attention.

They are both nimble on social media, and their parties spend huge amounts of time and effort on making sure their feeds are pumped full of fresh content.

For both Polanski and Farage, communicating online is not an add-on, it's core to what they do.

Both Farage and Polanski like to be seen as disrupters, intent on shaking things up.

But it's worth remembering they both have histories with other political parties that go back some years.

Once upon a time, Nigel Farage was a Conservative, although he disputes whether he was offered a safe Tory seat or, as others recall, went on the hunt for one.

Zack Polanski wanted to stand as a Lib Dem MP, and was cross when he wasn't put forward.

He then switched party. And while they've both been rapidly building new political forces, they've both been based on old architecture that grew out of a single cause.

Reform's tangled roots go back to the UK Independence Party (UKIP), then the Brexit Party. Those different groups all grew out of what was, back in the day, a relatively niche interest, unhappiness over the UK's place in the European Union (EU), or European Community to go even further back.

The Green Party's origins go back to the 1970s People's Party, then the Ecology Party, established as the existing Green Party of England and Wales in 1990. You guessed it, driven by concern about the environment and pollution.

Now, after years of Conservative meltdown and Labour's mistakes since moving into No 10, both parties are campaigning well beyond their founding callings.

Moving into the space that's been made available by disillusionment with the Tories and Labour, both the Green and Reform campaigns major on a broad sense of unease in the UK in the mid 2020s.

Their views on the cause of Britain's pain vary wildly.

The Greens might point the finger at the super-rich, the "donor billionaires" they often cite. Reform often blames immigration, which they controversially characterise as an "invasion" of people arriving in the UK without permission.

But both parties feed off and stir up sentiment that's felt by lots of the public: that Britain doesn't work any more.

Whether it's the new Green MP saying "working hard used to get you something" in her victory speech, or Nigel Farage repeatedly telling us "Britain is broken", the same argument flows from both: that the country is in such a dreadful state that only new political saviours can fix it.

And both Reform and the Greens are willing to push the conventions of what traditional UK politicians would find acceptable - or what they believe would make them electable.

That's not just about their image or the unstuffy ways they court publicity - Nigel Farage willingly going into the I'm A Celebrity jungle, or Zack Polanski being seen on a dance floor in campaign videos - but how they choose to focus on sensitive issues, where others might not choose to tread.

That might be Reform talking about wanting a return to what they describe as the UK's "Judaeo Christian heritage", one of their MPs Sarah Pochin complaining about TV adverts being "full of black people, full of Asian people", or focusing on grooming gangs at the start of last year.

Pochin later apologised for her remarks saying they were "phrased poorly", but maintained that many adverts were "unrepresentative of British society".

For Polanski, it's talking about legalising and regulating hard drugs, or speaking out against Israel's military action in Gaza, and accusing Labour of being "complicit in genocide".

Accusations have been swirling that the Greens' successful by-election campaign exploited sectarian differences.

When this was put to Polanski on Friday, he told BBC Breakfast there was an "underlying racism" to the idea talking about Gaza was "just appealing to a Muslim community".

Both Farage and Polanski are leading their parties into territory that has traditionally been avoided by the two main UK parties.

With voters fed up, this week's result and months of polling show voters are hungry for something new, whatever that may be.

There is another massive test of the two parties riding high just round the corner - mega May, that huge set of elections approaching around England, as well as in Scotland and Wales.

In the latter two, the SNP and Plaid Cymru are hopeful of forming governments – the SNP's goal is to retain power, while Plaid is looking to grab it themselves for the first time.

But Reform and the Greens are both eager, and determined to gobble up millions more votes, and make more progress

The question facing Labour is what chance Sir Keir Starmer has of turning back the tides of voters who have gone elsewhere.

The by-election made a mockery of Starmer's very public claim in recent months that politics is now a straight fight between Labour and Reform.

On Friday, he tried a new line, seemingly designed to wrap in the Greens, attacking a politics of "extremes".

But the horrible fact for him and his MPs as they contemplate what's next this weekend is they are being painfully squeezed on the right by Reform, and almost as hard on the left by the Greens.

The question for the Conservatives might be whether they get much of a look-in at all.

And for the Lib Dems, why their successes in local council by-elections do not get repeated elsewhere.

In days gone by, they might have been seen as the home for discontent on the left in a by-election.

Not this time. Again, this week, the evidence is that Westminster parties who've been in power, seem to look less and less attractive to the voters who put them there.

The smiles of their opponents get wider. Both Nigel Farage and Zack Polanski believe in making politics look fun.

Nothing is permanent in politics. It is still possible, of course, that Labour manages to sort itself out and improve its fortunes, though of course the events of the last 48 hours make that harder to see.

Perhaps Kemi Badenoch's better performance in Parliament might start to have an effect on the public.

Breathless pronouncements that things have changed irredeemably and it's now multi-party politics forever have been made and proven wrong before.

And don't forget by-elections are strange beasts, where smaller parties can concentrate time and resources in ways they simply can't do in a bigger contest.

Conventional wisdom is that general elections are won by voters in the middle, not playing to the right or the left.

But Nigel Farage and Zack Polanski have one last thing in common: they are not out to just compete alongside their traditional rivals.

It might sound a stretch, but both say they intend to replace them for good.

Why Trump means the Cuban Revolution faces its biggest threat yet

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9q5wdeg4j8o, 14 days ago

A sizeable exhibit in the Museum of the Revolution in Havana is dedicated to conditions in Cuba before the revolution took power in 1959. Inside the ornate former presidential palace, photographs and oral testimony detail the grinding poverty and ingrained corruption of the dictatorship of Cuba's then-military strongman, Fulgencio Batista.

The enduring image is of a woman in a dirt-floored palm-leaf hut cooking with firewood. Similar pictures appear in state museums across the island from the Bay of Pigs to Birán, the birthplace of the father of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro. The inference is clear: the revolutionaries saved Cubans from the ignorance and hardship of life under a Washington-backed de facto leader and led them to dignity, education and true independence.

Yet today, Lisandra Botey identifies more with the impoverished woman in the photograph than with the revolutionaries who liberated her from Batista.

"We're living like that now, we're exactly like that", says housewife Lisandra outside her home in Havana, which is cobbled together with pieces of sheet metal and wood.

"Every morning, we have to go down to the beach [in Havana] and look for firewood. Then we bring it home to cook breakfast with – because if we get power, it comes on during school hours."

Lisandra's nine-year-old daughter set off for school that morning with nothing in her stomach, she explains, tears pricking her eyes. Her husband, Brenei Hernández – a construction worker with next to no work – says they often have no idea where the next meal is coming from.

"Every day is the same hunger, the same misery", he says, stirring a pot of white rice – so at the very least his daughter will come home from school to something hot to eat.

With the Cuban economy in freefall since the coronavirus pandemic, no gas has been delivered to Brenei's flimsy home in a Havana suburb for months. He and his neighbours were already cooking with firewood and charcoal before US troops forcibly removed Cuba's closest ally, the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, from power on 3 January. Since then, though, Washington has seemingly taken full control of Venezuela's oil industry and the supply of crude to the communist-run island has dried up.

The decades-long US economic embargo on Cuba has been ramped up like never before: US President Donald Trump has threatened tariffs on any nation which sends oil to the stricken island.

None of Cuba's traditional allies – whether Mexico, Russia, China, Vietnam or Iran – have stepped up to fill the void left by Venezuela, although the US Treasury this week said it would relax restrictions on a limited number of oil sales, to "support the Cuban people for commercial and humanitarian use."

The move comes amid rising tensions between Washington and Havana. Cuba's government has reported that its border guards fatally shot four people travelling in a US‑registered speedboat. It said the individuals were Cuban nationals living in the United States. According to a US official, at least one American citizen was shot dead and another injured by Cuban officials intercepting the speedboat.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US was investigating the "highly unusual" incident.

"Washington's old playbook on Cuba doesn't apply anymore and whoever hasn't appreciated that yet is in for a shock," says Cuban economist, Ricardo Torres. "Trump is changing the rules of the game."

Trump has declared that "Cuba is ready to fall", intensifying pressure on the island at its most vulnerable moment since the Cold War. Some commentators have said one of the aims of Washington's removal of Maduro in Venezuela was to deepen Cuba's economic crisis. It appears the Trump administration hopes to weaken the revolution – possibly terminally – and push for the collapse of state-run socialism on the island.

The underlying calculation is straightforward: that a worsening internal crisis could create the conditions for the Cuban Revolution to unravel from within. What remains far less certain is whether such a strategy will force regime change, or whether the communist-run Cuban government will, as it has in past crises, find new ways to endure.

Blackouts and 'extreme rationing'

The effects of the fuel crisis are being felt the length and breadth of Cuba.

Blackouts in Havana can last for 15 hours a day or more. Hospitals are in darkness with only emergency cases being admitted. Schools are often shuttered. Rubbish is piled high on street corners with no fuel for the state's garbage trucks to collect it. Scrawny and elderly residents can often be found sifting through the discarded waste.

For an island proud of the social safety net it built for its people since 1959 – universal healthcare, the eradication of illiteracy, tackling infant mortality rates and preventable diseases – the picture is bleak, and getting worse.

One constant question since Maduro's arrest is: how long can Cuba hold on without new fuel supplies reaching the island?

"Perhaps the oil inventories could last for six to eight weeks," suggests Ricardo Torres – but he admits it's hard to know with any degree of precision. "Cuba doesn't publish figures on fuel inventories."

"Extreme rationing" could be introduced, he says, but draconian restrictions are already in place. People are limited to 20 litres of fuel at the petrol pumps, which must be paid for in US dollars.

They're obliged to use a government-run app called Ticket. But the wait can last for days, even weeks. Drivers are finding more than 10,000 people ahead of them when they join the virtual queue for half a tank of petrol. Unsurprisingly in such circumstances, the price of black-market fuel has skyrocketed.

Despite it all, Brenei Hernández doesn't direct his ire at Washington. Quite the opposite, in fact: he blames the Cuban state.

"I'd like Trump to take this place over. Then let's see if things get better," he says with unerring honesty. "What can I tell you? I'm not going to lie," he adds.

Regime change

Having spent years listening to Cubans repeat anodyne revolutionary slogans when asked for their opinions on camera, it's disarming to hear such frank views expressed with no outward fear of the repercussions. Such is the level of disgust and exhaustion, the public's fear of reprisals for speaking out is beginning to evaporate.

"It's too much," Brenei says. "We're only eating white rice. Hopefully I can get enough money together in the next couple of days for a packet of hot dogs, or three or four eggs."

Lisandra already worries that her daughter will want a birthday cake this year, which is well beyond their means.

Such suffering may be part of the Trump administration's strategy of "maximum pressure" on Cuba. But while the methodology may be new, says Ricardo Torres, Washington's ultimate goal in Cuba remains the same as always: regime change.

"Whether the change in Cuba is something very sudden or a negotiated solution, in the end, it's regime change that Trump wants."

The issue for Cubans is how Washington intends to make that change happen, Torres adds, with more acute pain from the oil shutout on the horizon.

The Cuban government has repeatedly described the policy as inhumane, cruel and illegal under international law: "What right does a world power have to deny fuel and the ability to function to a smaller nation?" said Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

It's all a far cry from the optimism of Washington's Cuba policy of a decade ago. After decades of enmity, in 2014 President Barack Obama opted to re-establish ties with the island in a historic but short-lived thaw. Hardliners in the Cuban government warned that Obama's overtures amounted to the same aim of regime change dressed up in nicer clothing. For the ordinary Cubans who lived through it, though, the diplomatic reset felt like the polar opposite of the current Trump approach.

Next month marks the tenth anniversary of Obama's visit to Havana as the first sitting US president to step foot on the island in almost a century.

In front of the Cuban leader, Raúl Castro, he delivered an extraordinary address – broadcast live on state television – in which he said he had come to "bury the last remnant of the Cold War in the Americas" and "extend the hand of friendship to the Cuban people".

The man who oversaw the diplomatic thaw was the then-US ambassador to Cuba, Jeffrey DeLaurentis. I asked him whether the Cuban Revolution was now facing an existential threat.

"That will depend upon what some other countries might do", DeLaurentis replied.

Venezuela's oil support was worth some 35,000 barrels of crude a day to Cuba. There have been some broad indications that Russia might send oil to the island and the Cuban foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez, was recently in Moscow for talks with his Russian counterpart and with Russian President Vladimir Putin. So far, though, no Russian fuel tankers have docked in Cuban ports.

Rodríguez also travelled to China, Vietnam and Spain trying to drum up support.

"The rush to defend and help has certainly not been as enthusiastic and as significant as we've seen in the past. But there's still a chance that other countries might take some action," says DeLaurentis.

As to what Trump specifically wants in Cuba, the former lead US diplomat on the island says the administration is "trying to take coercive steps to bring the government to the table or capitulate but not necessarily collapse".

"That's a pretty risky strategy it seems to me, with a lot of potential for unintended consequences," he adds.

Those consequences are already visible in the rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis which prompted Mexico to send tonnes of emergency aid to Cuba, including powdered milk and personal hygiene items. They're already being felt every day by the families forced to cook with firewood and the drivers in urgent need of petrol.

Esteban Bello Rodríguez runs several "almendrones", 1950s classic American automobiles, in which he ferries tourists around the iconic spots of Havana. His trade has been heavily impacted by the fuel scarcity and the fall in tourism.

"There's a problem here – the fuel problem – so surely the people at the top on both sides have to sit down, figure it out," he says bluntly. "All I know is that a solution must be found because this is affecting the entire country – the people, nationwide. All of us."

The real power

On the US side, Cuba policy is largely being led by the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio – a Cuban-American son of exiles and former Florida senator.

Trump says Rubio is talking to the top tier of the Cuban government and for days there's been widespread speculation over who might lead that negotiation on the Cuban side. Cuban economist Ricardo Torres says that the only dealmaker on the island is Raúl Castro, even at the revolutionary leader's advanced age of 94.

"The only people with capacity to engage in a meaningful negotiation are people close to Raúl. The civilian government doesn't have any real power – including President Miguel Díaz-Canel", he argues.

"The real power in Cuba is Raúl and the closed circle around him."

Last week, the Axios news outlet reported that his grandson, Raúl Rodríguez Castro – commonly known in Cuba as "El Cangrejo", meaning The Crab – is the Trump administration's point of contact inside Castro's inner circle. If so, he's considered one of his grandfather's most trusted confidantes, having been his personal bodyguard, and more business-orientated than ideological, with no high-level diplomatic experience. Neither side, especially not the Cubans, have confirmed he's in talks with Rubio.

"In the case of Venezuela, the Trump administration has been very pragmatic," adds Torres.

Rubio has seemingly been happy to deal with an interim government in Caracas under Delcy Rodríguez and Washington appears to be looking to persuade the conservative Cuban-American lobby in Florida of the benefits of negotiating with a similarly defenestrated regime in Havana.

However, despite the public adherence to the "maximum pressure" strategy, Washington does seem to fear that total political change overnight in Venezuela or Cuba would be profoundly destabilising and could prompt a migration crisis as well as humanitarian one.

Several Cuba watchers have noted that Rubio's tone towards the island was markedly softer in recent comments he made at the Munich Security Conference, with an emphasis on economic reforms rather than a root-and-branch political transformation.

"In a way it almost sounded like a strange variant of Obama 2.0 in terms of economic reforms and so forth," said former ambassador DeLaurentis. "That signalled to me that they are looking for a Delcy-like figure to negotiate with."

"Ten to 20 years ago, the diaspora in south Florida would have been completely opposed to that kind of approach. But I guess that now they'd give the president and the secretary the benefit of the doubt, and allow this sort of scenario to play out," adds DeLaurentis.

Meanwhile, any visitor wanting to see the photograph of the pre-revolutionary woman cooking with firewood will have to wait. The museum has been closed for over a year for refurbishments and now there's no fuel to continue the work.

In what is now the most challenging time in the island's modern history, it's not yet clear if only the Museum of the Revolution will be undergoing a renovation this year – or the Cuban Revolution itself.

Top picture credit: AFP via Getty Images

Why air strikes on Tehran oil facilities are causing black rain

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqxd1nv3re2o, 2 days ago

Smoke plumes caused by oil depot and refinery strikes drifted across Tehran on Monday, satellite images show, as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that attacks on oil facilities could pose serious health risks to residents.

Since the US-Israeli attacks on Iran began on 28 February, we have confirmed strikes on at least four oil facilities around the capital.

Residents said smog and pollution have blocked out the Sun and left a strong smell of burning in parts of the city, while experts warn the scale of some of the pollutants released could be "unprecedented".

The spike in air pollution appears to focus near the damaged oil sites around the capital - a city with a population of nearly 10 million, with millions more in the surrounding areas.

The latest satellite pictures, captured on 9 March and reviewed by BBC Verify, show two major oil facilities in Tehran still on fire, following reported air strikes overnight on Saturday.

The images also show smoke coming from Shahran depot in the north-west of the Iranian capital and the Tehran oil refinery, in the south-east. Verified video of the moments after Saturday's strike showed huge fireballs illuminating the night sky at the refinery.

The combination of cloud and smoke plumes from the ongoing fires mean that we are unable to assess the extent of the damage at either oil facility hit over the weekend yet.

But images taken at Shahran on Sunday morning showed emergency workers inspecting burned out oil tankers, blackened buildings and blazing fires.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it hit "fuel depots" near Tehran in a post on X on 7 March, which included a photograph showing damage to the Tehran oil refinery. BBC Verify provided the coordinates of this facility, along with three other locations we identified, to the IDF and the Pentagon for comment. The Pentagon did not reply, while the IDF said there were "no IDF strikes at those sites". We have asked for clarification.

Strikes at oil refineries have the potential to bring significant air pollution because they contain a huge variety of chemicals.

When there is incomplete burning of oil – when there is not enough oxygen - carbon monoxide and soot particles can be released instead of carbon dioxide and water.

Oil fires can also release sulphur and nitrogen oxides, which can form acids if they dissolve in rainwater, as well as other harmful hydrocarbons, metallic compounds and droplets of oil.

How bad is the air pollution?

A Tehran woman in her 20s said that she could "smell the burning" caused by the attacks on oil facilities.

"I can't see the Sun. There is a horrible smoke. It's still there. I'm very tired," she told BBC Persian on Saturday.

A precise assessment of air pollution is challenging because there are no ground-based measurements available - and satellite data is hard to interpret due to winds, clouds and other factors.

But given the mix of chemicals likely released from the damaged oil sites, scientists have little doubt that the pollution is harmful and extreme - and very different to the smog seen in cities like Beijing or Delhi.

"What has happened [in Iran] is definitely unprecedented because it's all coming in from missiles dropping in and airstrikes on oil refineries," said Dr Akshay Deoras, research scientist at the University of Reading.

Many conflicts cause high levels of dust and particle pollution - but the "basket" of different chemicals in this case is "definitely unusual", he added.

Eloise Marais, professor of atmospheric chemistry and air quality at University College London, agreed.

She said that in most circumstances this kind of pollution would only be seen from "a very, very severe industrial accident where an entire refinery explodes".

What is 'black rain' and what causes it?

On Sunday, Tehran residents reported downpours of "black rain".

Black rain is the informal term for rainfall contaminated with pollutants, turning it dark.

It is normal for pollutants to be "washed out" of the air by rainfall, but black rain is rare and typically is the result of high levels of soot and other air pollutants, scientists have told BBC Verify.

"The raindrops acted like little sponges or magnets, collecting whatever was in the air as they fell, which is why residents observed what's being described as 'black rain'," explained Deoras.

It is also possible that some larger particles may have fallen out of the air without rain.

What might the impacts be?

The head of the WHO has already expressed "great concerns" for the impacts of the conflict on people's health.

Damage to oil facilities "risks contaminating food, water and air – hazards that can have severe health impacts especially on children, older people, and people with pre existing medical conditions", said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

"These very intense exposures of particulates have immediate impacts on the lungs," added Anna Hansell, professor of environmental epidemiology at the University of Leicester.

"But they can also have quite long lasting effects over many years afterwards, on both respiratory systems and increasing cancer risk."

Doug Weir, director of the Conflict and Environment Observatory, noted that "what's unusual about Tehran is we haven't observed these attacks in such a densely populated area before".

"Often these oil field sites are quite far out in the countryside. People in Tehran are exposed to a huge range of substances in this black rain - not just oil," he said.

BBC Weather forecasts suggest spells of rain on Tuesday and again from Thursday onwards, as well as a stronger breeze. That should help to disperse and wash pollutants away.

But that does not mean the risks of the pollutants disappear. They can enter rivers and other waterways, or if they settle and the ground dries then winds can pick them up and they can become resuspended in the air.

This story has been updated with a statement from the IDF which was received after publication.

Additional reporting: Ghoncheh Habibiazad, Paul Brown, Rollo Collins, Shayan Sardarizadeh, Farida Elsebai and Daniel Wainwright

What claims do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

US missile hit military base near Iran school, video analysis shows

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg548lyjnyo, 3 days ago

A US Tomahawk missile hit a military base near a primary school in southern Iran where Iranian authorities said 168 people, including around 110 children, were killed, expert video analysis shows.

A video published yesterday by Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency, which BBC Verify has confirmed as authentic, shows a missile moments before it struck an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) base next to the Shajareh Tayebeh primary school in Minab.

BBC Verify has previously established through satellite imagery, verified videos and expert analysis that the area near the school was hit by a series of strikes.

Experts who have seen this latest video told us the presence of a Tomahawk missile, along with evidence the area was hit with multiple strikes, indicates this was a US operation. Neither Israel nor Iran are known to possess Tomahawks, experts said.

It would also make the scenario of a single Iranian missile hitting the site at the same time and causing such a high reported death toll highly improbable, an expert told BBC Verify.

On Saturday, US President Donald Trump said Iran was to blame for the strike on the school.

"We think it was done by Iran because they're very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

According to the BBC's US news partner CBS a preliminary assessment of the incident by the US suggests it was "likely" to have been responsible for the deadly attack but did not intentionally target the school and may have hit it in error.

An Israeli government source told CBS News that Israel was not behind the attack and its military was not operating near the school.

Iran has blamed the US and Israel for the attack. Neither the US nor Israel has publicly accepted or denied responsibility.

The BBC has asked the US government to comment on the experts' assessment of the new video.

BBC Verify's analysis of the video suggests a medical clinic - which Iranian media says belonged to the IRGC navy - at the base was likely hit by the Tomahawk missile seen in the footage. The clinic is approximately 200m (650ft) from the school. The footage was first analysed by online investigation group Bellingcat.

The verified video shows large smoke plumes near the school before the Tomahawk is visible, which suggests it had been hit before the missile seen in the footage detonates in the military base.

This corresponds with BBC Verify's previous analysis that the school was struck around the same time as other buildings in the adjacent IRGC complex.

Three experts identified the munition in the verified video as a US Tomahawk missile.

A senior analyst at McKenzie Intelligence Services said the munition in the video has "all the hallmarks of a US Tomahawk in its terminal phase".

The Tomahawk is a type of long-range cruise missile that can be launched from submarines, ships and aircraft which has been in the US arsenal for decades.

Wes Bryant, a national security analyst who served in the US Air Force, also confirmed it was a Tomahawk missile.

Bryant added that the evidence for multiple strikes on the entire IRGC compound "is indicative of a deliberate and precise" US operation.

N R Jenzen Jones, director of Armament Research Services, previously told BBC Verify it was unlikely an Iranian missile had caused the significant blast damage seen at the school because they carry "relatively small explosive warheads".

The US military's most-senior officer, Gen Dan Caine, said on 2 March that Tomahawks were the first missiles to be fired at Iran by the US Navy as part of "strikes across the southern flank".

At a news conference on 4 March the US Department of Defense produced an illustrative map showing strikes carried out in the first 100 hours of the war which shows the Minab area was targeted.

An ongoing internet blackout in Iran has made it difficult to independently verify details of the incident.

Restrictions on international journalists' ability to report freely in Iran makes it very hard to be sure exactly what happened in Minab on 28 February.

Iran school and nearby military base struck multiple times, satellite image reveals

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yqqyly9n0o, 7 days ago

Warning: this story contains details which some readers might find distressing

Satellite imagery analysis reveals multiple strikes and burn marks around a school in southern Iran, suggesting it was hit more than once, in an attack Iranian authorities say killed 168 people on Saturday.

Verified videos and satellite imagery show extensive damage around the Shajareh Tayebeh primary school in Minab and the adjacent Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) compound. It also suggests the area was "struck by multiple simultaneous or near-simultaneous strikes", says munitions expert N R Jenzen Jones.

Two damaged buildings can be clearly seen in the image: one completely flattened within the IRGC base and the school building that is partially collapsed.

Verified footage of the immediate aftermath of the strikes shows scenes of panic, with families screaming, as people search for victims in the rubble. In some videos, people hold up children's schoolbags and books to the camera.

Three days later, aerial footage showed neatly lined rows of at least 100 marked or freshly dug graves.

Iranian officials have blamed the US and Israel for the attack, however neither country has accepted responsibility. Israel says it was not aware of any operations in the area, while US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that Washington was still investigating the incident and that it would "never target, civilian targets".

An ongoing internet blackout in Iran has made it difficult to independently verify details of the incident.

What do we know about the incident?

There has been intense speculation about what the intended target of the attack was.

According to the Iranian authorities, it took place at around 10:45 local time (07:15 GMT).

BBC Verify has confirmed footage posted on social media on Saturday morning, the first day of the Iranian working week, which shows the immediate aftermath.

In one video a man films as he rushes into the school's courtyard which is located immediately to the north-east of the IRGC base. Part of a sign above the entrance is visible, which matches the first three letters of the word primary school in Persian.

From inside the school's courtyard, four plumes of black smoke can be seen, with two smaller ones pouring out of the windows of the top floor of the main school building.

Walls decorated with children's murals and letters of the Persian alphabet separate the school courtyard from the IRGC base.

Another clip filmed from a moving vehicle on the southern edge of the IRGC compound shows a sign marking the entrance. There are two visible IRGC logos on the entrances to the "Seyed al-Shohada educational and cultural corps" and a medical clinic, which Iranian media reports as belonging to the IRGC navy.

At least three columns of black smoke are visible in the footage: two closer to the entrance of the base, and a third further away behind the medical clinic.

The location of smoke plumes in verified videos correspond to where the damage is visible in satellite images.

Footage filmed later in the day showed significant damage to the school building. Emergency services search through the rubble while distressed families move slowly around the courtyard, some wailing.

One widely shared video geolocated to the school shows rescue teams at the scene finding a child's severed arm beneath the rubble. Schoolbooks and bloodied backpacks were also filmed among the debris.

What does satellite imagery show us?

Without access to more footage on the ground or eyewitness testimony, satellite imagery is crucial to our understanding of what happened.

Satellite imagery captured by Planet Labs on 4 March - four days after the incident - reveals more widespread destruction than previously confirmed in verified videos.

Several buildings in the area have been partially or fully destroyed and BBC Verify has identified at least five buildings with visible craters and black scorch marks - which indicates that there were several strikes.

"So many [impact sites] so close together (relatively speaking) suggests there were one or more targets in close proximity to each other," said satellite image analyst Jamon Van den Hoek from Oregon State University.

"[It] seems it was intentional to hit the area," he said, adding "But we don't know what they intended to strike."

A senior analyst from McKenzie Intelligence Services told BBC Verify the crater on the ground floor of the two-story school building indicates that a specialised munition may have been used to "penetrate to the lower levels".

Is the school separate to the IRGC base?

The school building is located near the IRGC base.

Satellite imagery from 2013 appears to show the school building was part of the same compound, before a wall is seen in 2016 separating it.

Who is responsible for the attack?

Iran says the attack was carried out by the US and Israel. But neither Israel nor the US have claimed responsibility for damage to the school.

Israel has said it was "not aware" of any IDF operations in the area but told BBC Verify it is looking into the incident.

On Wednesday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the BBC the US is still investigating the incident.

"We of course never target civilian targets, but we're we're taking a look at investigating that," he added.

During the news conference, an illustrative map was shown of the "First 100 hours" of the US-Israeli war with Iran, marking the locations of strikes and Iranian air defences along the southern coast of Iran, which includes the area of Minab.

Without more footage of the remnants of munitions, it's not possible to clearly identify who is responsible.

A widely shared image posted on social media led to claims that the blast had been caused by a failed missile fired by the IRGC. However, we located the image to an unrelated incident in Zanjan, over a thousand kilometres away from Minab.

"It is unlikely that the significant blast damage seen here was caused by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, which carry relatively small explosive warheads," director of Armament Research Services, Jenzen Jones said.

Who was killed?

Iranian officials said most of the 168 people killed were children.

BBC Verify has not been able to independently verify those details through footage available of the incident. It's also not clear if any IRGC members were killed, or who may have been operating there.

The school itself had 264 pupils in total, according to Iran's Education Ministry.

A hand-written list published by Iranian media shows the names of 56 people reportedly killed in the incident, alongside their dates of birth. Forty-eight of these names are aged between six and 11.

BBC Verify has not been able to independently verify these details. However, at least three of the names on the list appear in another video where coffins are labelled with the same names.

Photos also show what appear to be three children inside body bags.

The US-based Human Rights News Agency (Hrana) has so far documented the deaths of 1,114 Iranian civilians since the beginning of the war, including 183 children.

Days later, footage of thousands of people lining the streets for the funeral procession was broadcast by Iranian state media. Men can be seen carrying coffins - some child-sized - with the flag of the Islamic Republic draped over them. Crowds of women also held onto photos of boys and girls.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with the IRGC, published a photo and said 14 school teachers had been killed in the attack.

Additional reporting by Paul Brown.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

AI-generated Iran war videos surge as creators use new tech to cash in

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg8wvz427vo, 6 days ago

An unprecedented wave of AI-generated misinformation about the US-Israel war with Iran is being monetised by online creators with growing access to generative AI technology, experts have told BBC Verify.

Our analysis has found numerous examples of AI-generated videos and fabricated satellite imagery being used to make false and misleading claims about the conflict which have collectively amassed hundreds of millions of views online.

"The scale is truly alarming and this war has made it impossible to ignore now," says Timothy Graham, a digital media expert at the Queensland University of Technology.

"What used to require professional video production can now be done in minutes with AI tools. The barrier to creating convincing synthetic conflict footage has essentially collapsed," he says.

The US and Israel began launching strikes on Iran on 28 February. In response, Iran has launched drone and missile attacks on Israel, as well as multiple Gulf nations and US military assets in the region.

Many have turned to social media to search for and share the latest information and to help make sense of a fast-moving week of conflict.

The platform X announced this week it will temporarily suspend creators from its monetisation programme if they post AI-generated videos of armed conflict without a label.

The scheme rewards eligible users whose posts create large numbers of views, likes, shares and comments with payments from the platform.

"It's a notable signal that they've noticed that this is a big problem," says Mahsa Alimardani, a researcher specialising in Iran at the Oxford Internet Institute.

We asked TikTok and Meta, the company of Facebook and Instagram, if they intend to take similar action, but they did not respond to our requests for comment.

A typical example of an AI-generated video that BBC Verify has tracked appears to show missiles striking the city of Tel Aviv in Israel as the sound of explosions rings out in the background.

This video has been featured in more than 300 posts which have then been shared tens of thousands of times across social media platforms.

Some X users turned to the platform's AI chatbot Grok to confirm the video's veracity. But in many cases seen by BBC Verify, Grok wrongly insisted that the AI-generated video was real.

Another fake video, viewed tens of millions of times, claims to show Dubai's Burj Khalifa skyscraper in flames, while a crowd of people seem to be running towards the building.

This AI-generated footage spread widely online at a time of considerable concern from residents and tourists about the drone and missile strikes on the city.

"Fake videos like these have a detrimental impact on people's trust in the verified information they see online and make it much harder to document real evidence," says Alimardani.

A new feature of this conflict analysed by BBC Verify is the emergence of AI-generated satellite imagery.

We verified multiple real videos showing Iranian drone and missile strikes on the US Navy's Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain on the first day of the conflict.

A fabricated photo, shared on X by the state-linked newspaper The Tehran Times, began to spread the following day and claimed to show extensive damage to the base.

The fake appears to be based on real satellite imagery of a US naval base in Bahrain taken in February 2025, which is publicly available online.

According to Google's SynthID watermark detector, the fake image was generated or edited with a Google AI tool.

Three vehicles parked outside are also in the exact same spot in both the genuine satellite imagery and the AI picture - despite the photos allegedly having been taken a year apart.

Google's AI tools, including its video generator Veo, are on the growing list of popular AI platforms, like OpenAI's Sora model, Chinese AI app Seedance, and Grok which is built into X.

"The number of different tools that are now available to create a wide range of highly realistic AI manipulations is unprecedented," says Henry Ajder, a generative AI expert.

"We have never seen these tools so available, so easy and so cheap to use," he says.

This has led to a surge of AI-generated content online "because the pipeline onto social media can now be almost fully automated," says Victoire Rio, executive director of the technology policy non-profit What To Fix.

X's head of product said on Tuesday that "99%" of the accounts spreading AI-generated videos like these were trying to "game monetization" by posting content that will generate large amounts of engagement in return for payment through the app's Creator Revenue Sharing programme.

The platform does not publish how many accounts are part of the programme, or how much money they can make.

But Graham estimates that X could pay about "eight to 12 dollars per million verified user impressions".

"Creators have to hit five million organic impressions in three months, plus hold an X premium subscription, to be eligible," he added.

"Once you're in, viral AI-generated content is basically a money printer," he says. "They've built the ultimate misinformation enterprise."

X did not respond to our request for comment or our questions about the Creator Revenue Sharing programme.

Experts have told BBC Verify that while many social media companies say they are trying to change their moderation and detection systems to address the scale and speed at which AI-generated content spreads, there is no simple solution to the problem.

"The deeper issue is that engagement-driven monetisation and accurate information are fundamentally in tension, and no platform has fully resolved that tension or perhaps ever will," says Graham.

Iranian schools, hospital and landmarks among civilian sites hit during US-Israeli strikes

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpw004xqxnjo, 6 days ago

Schools, a hospital and historic landmarks have been severely damaged since US and Israeli strikes on Iran began on Saturday, satellite images and verified videos show, as the number of reported civilian casualties grows.

According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) 1,168 civilians have been killed, including 194 children.

Because of the almost total internet blackout imposed by the authorities, it has been very difficult to speak to people inside Iran, and video footage has been difficult to access.

However, Tehran residents who have been able to connect to the internet say that Thursday night was the most intense night of bombings in the capital and the most frightening by far, with many staying awake all night due to the intensity of strikes.

One described the night as "hell on earth", and another as "a scene from a dystopian film".

BBC Verify has documented damage to a hospital, sporting centres, a Unesco world heritage site and two schools - one of which saw 168 people killed on Saturday morning, according to Iranian officials.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the blast at the school in the southern city of Minab was under investigation and insisted US forces "never target civilian targets".

Verified images also show damage to a separate school building in Urmia, northwestern Iran.

Among the other buildings damaged since strikes began was the Gandhi Hospital in the Iranian capital Tehran on Sunday.

Verified video of the hospital showed extensive damage to the building, with debris and glass falling as civilians watched on.

A spokesperson for Iran's foreign ministry said such attacks were a "blatant war crime", while World Health Organisation chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the incident was "extremely worrying", adding that "health facilities are protected under international humanitarian law."

Footage taken in the immediate aftermath of the attack show the area littered with debris and patients - including a baby in an incubator - being moved out of the hospital.

Mohammad Raeiszadeh, the head of Iran's Medical Council, told state media that the hospital's in-vitro (IVF) fertilisation department was destroyed by the strike.

Footage taken in the aftermath and shared with the BBC by Iranian user Mamlekate showed a fire blazing in what appeared to be a stairwell, while thick black plumes of smoke billowed from the upper floors. Images taken inside the building show windows blown out and damage to interior walls.

The IDF acknowledged there was "minor damage" to the hospital resulting from a strike on a nearby "military facility".

The hospital is opposite studios and offices owned by the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), which may have been the intended target of the strike.

Satellite imagery captured on 3 March shows a collapsed transmission tower on the IRIB site, as well as impact marks from the strike.

The front of the hospital, where video footage shows extensive damage, is not visible from the angle of the satellite image.

Janina Dill, an expert on international law at Oxford University, told BBC Verify that the status of media outlets as military targets during conflict can be contested, depending on how far one aligns propaganda with military strategy.

Describing the impact of the bombardment, one Tehran resident said that the constant "sound of ongoing blasts is fatiguing" and energy sapping.

Another described how destabilising the barrage has been for vulnerable Iranians. "My uncle has a mental illness. The poor man had convinced himself he was dead," they told the BBC.

Elsewhere, in the southern coastal city of Lamerd, 20 people were killed after a blast at a sports hall on Saturday, according to Iranian state media. Footage filmed shortly afterwards and shared with the BBC by Iranian social media user Mamlekate showed heavy damage to the building, with scorch marks visible on the walls and smoke slowly rising from the exterior.

Other images show damage to buildings less than 300m away, suggesting more than one strike in the area.

An Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) base is located in the town to the north of the hall, separated by a wall. No obvious damage has been observed to the base from the low-resolution satellite imagery we have available.

Neither the IDF or US military have responded to our questions on this incident.

A mass funeral procession in the centre of the city on 2 March was shown in footage from the Tasnim news agency.

Hundreds were seen gathered, holding photos of the victims and the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei. The footage ends with a wide shot of mourners bowing their heads in front of a group of at least 18 coffins draped in the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In Tehran, at least three sporting complexes have suffered major damage after strikes on Thursday. Among them is the 12,000-seat indoor stadium at the Azadi sports complex, which images show suffered near collapse.

The Israeli foreign ministry has said the building was being used as a "resting place" for Iranian forces.

Similar scenes of destruction were also evident at the Besat and Esmaeili stadiums, elsewhere in the city. We have approached the IDF for comment.

Commercial businesses, including shops and other stores, have also been struck across the country. Verified videos showed severe damage to a cafe in the centre of Tehran and the shop's distraught owner inspecting the ruins.

Damage to the cafe may have resulted from a strike on a police station directly across the road, which has been flattened.

BBC Verify has also seen damage to an old bazaar in central Tehran's historic quarter as well as a palace listed as a Unesco world heritage site.

Verified footage from Monday shows shattered glass and scorched walls at the Grand Bazaar, a sprawling labyrinth of shops and stalls which has stood for centuries.

Images of the Golestan Palace, a former royal residence and one of the oldest buildings in the Iranian capital, reveal extensive damage.

Footage broadcast by Iranian state media on Tuesday has shattered glass littering the palace, with damage also visible to parts of the exterior and solid wooden doors. The palace and the bazaar are both located near a complex housing Iran's judiciary and Supreme Court.

BBC Verify has confirmed videos and analysed satellite imagery showing the judicial complex had been damaged.

Unesco has said that the building suffered damage resulting from a strike on nearby Arg Square, where the judicial complex is located. It added that it had provided locations to all parties of sites on the World Heritage List and noted that "cultural property is protected under international law".

One Tehran local told the BBC that the city had been turned into a "ghost town" with empty streets and a lingering smell of gunpowder.

Another reflected on the recent violent crackdowns on countrywide protests, saying "the fear of war is better than the fear we have of the Islamic Republic"

Some 100,000 people fled Tehran in the first 48 hours of attacks, the UN's refugee agency said on Wednesday. It added that 1,000 to 2,000 vehicles were fleeing the city each day, mostly heading to the north of the country.

Dr Michael Becker, assistant professor of law at Trinity College Dublin, told BBC Verify that deliberate strikes on civilian sites are illegal under international law, unless those sites are being used for military purposes.

But he noted that there are limited exceptions to the rule, such as where a protected site is hit incidentally in the process of an attack on a military target.

He said that the exceptions can lead to "very weak constraints on military decision-making", and emphasised that if the harm inflicted on civilians is not proportionate to the military aim being pursued the strikes can remain illegal.

The full impact of the war on civilians remains unclear. An almost complete nationwide internet blackout remains in effect, according to the monitoring group Netblocks, meaning only limited information is emerging from Iran.

Isik Mater, the group's director of research, said there was no guarantee that a more complete picture would emerge even if the regime loosens connectivity restrictions.

"We've found that the anticipated huge rush of user generated content rarely emerges after Iran's shutdowns because people have either already found a way to transmit it when it mattered, or otherwise have ended up deleting it for safety or chosen to move on," she said.

"That's why real-time verification has become so important."

Additional reporting by Ghoncheh Habibiazad and Sarah Jalali.

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