This is the moment an injured Ukrainian soldier behind enemy lines made his escape using an e-bike delivered by a drone.

Footage released by the Rubizh Brigade, part of the national guard of Ukraine, shows the wounded soldier, known as Tanker, receiving the e-bike by drone, which he says he couldn't ride at first.

Tanker managed to ride away but only to about half-way to where he needed to go, before he hit a mine, destroying his bike, but not injuring him.

His colleague Mykola watched his friend finish the rest of the journey on foot, before he reached an area where he could be evacuated.

King's nephew Peter Phillips engaged to NHS nurse

4 hours ago Share Save André Rhoden-Paul BBC News Share Save

i5 Media/PA Media

King Charles's nephew Peter Phillips has announced his engagement to NHS nurse Harriet Sperling. A photo showing Ms Sperling showing off her engagement ring as she embraces the son of the Princess Royal, Princess Anne, has been released to mark the occasion. A statement released on behalf of the couple said: "Both families were informed jointly of the announcement and were delighted with the wonderful news of their engagement." A date for the wedding has not been set.

Their statement said: "Mr Peter Phillips, the son of HRH The Princess Royal and Captain Mark Phillips, and Ms Harriet Sperling, daughter of the late Mr Rupert Sanders and Mrs Mary Sanders of Gloucestershire, have today confirmed their official engagement." The King, Queen and the Prince and Princess of Wales have also been informed of the announcement.

PA Media The couple were picture at Royal Ascot in June

Putin not swayed by Trump's Ukraine war ultimatum

President Putin was speaking during a visit to the Valaam Monastery in north-western Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was ready to meet Putin "any time".

Speaking a day after one of the deadliest Russian air attacks on Kyiv , he repeated his demands for Ukrainian neutrality and recognition of the occupied territories, which Ukraine views as a capitulation.

"All disappointments arise from inflated expectations," Putin said, in an apparent reference to Trump's "disappointment" with the Russian leader for not bringing an end to the war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has voiced hopes for further peace talks with Ukraine - but stressed his troops were "advancing on the entire front line", despite the threat of looming US sanctions if a ceasefire was not agreed upon.

An entire block of a residential house in Kyiv collapsed after a Russian drone and missile attack on Thursday

Speaking on Friday at the Valaam Monastery on an island in north-western Russia, Putin said he expected negotiations with Ukraine to continue, adding that he viewed "negotiations positively".

But in a veiled reference to growing pressure from Ukraine and its Western allies to agree to a long-term ceasefire, he said: "As for any disappointments on the part of anyone, all disappointments arise from inflated expectations.

"Our enemies and ill-wishers... now have one fiery passion: to stop our advance [on the front line in Ukraine] at any cost".

Ukraine and its allies have repeatedly accused Russia of stalling peace negotiations and rejecting any meaningful ceasefire, saying Moscow is trying to seize more Ukrainian territories.

Three rounds of Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul, Turkey, in recent months ended without any major breakthrough. The two sides, however, agreed to swap several thousands of prisoners of war.

Speaking shortly after Putin's comments, Zelensky questioned whether Russia was showing "serious readiness to end the war with dignity and establish a truly lasting peace" or whether it was "just an attempt to buy more time for war and postpone sanctions".

In recent weeks, Russia has intensified its deadly drone and missile strikes on Ukraine.

On Thursday, at least 31 people - including five children - were killed in a Russian aerial assault on the Ukrainian capital.

US President Donald Trump condemned Russia's actions, threatening new sanctions.

"Russia, I think it's disgusting what they're doing," he told journalists.

When in July Trump announced his original 50-day deadline for Russia to end the war, Putin didn't react. When that was reduced to 10-12 days, Putin said nothing.

But on Friday the Kremlin leader left little doubt that he would not be swayed by a White House ultimatum.

Trump may claim to be "disappointed" with Putin for not making peace - but the Russian leader is unrepentant.

His guest on the Valaam island, Belarus' authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, was more direct in his dismissal of Trump's deadline.

"50 days, 60 days, 10 days. You don't do politics like that," Lukashenko said.

Experience shows that, for Trump, deadlines are not set in stone. But on paper, at least, his latest deadline expires on 8 August.

If by then Russia hasn't signed up to a ceasefire in Ukraine, it will face more sanctions – so in theory will countries that buy Russian oil.

But judging by what the Russian state media has been saying in recent days, many in Moscow doubt the White House will go through with its threat of tougher sanctions.

What's more, from what Putin said on Friday about Russia advancing along the entire front line in Ukraine, he clearly believes a ceasefire now is not in Moscow's best interest.

Ukrainian officials on Friday said Kyiv had received "positive signals" from the US about potential new sanctions.

A day earlier, senior US diplomat John Kelley told the UN Security Council that Russia and Ukraine "must negotiate a ceasefire and durable peace".

"It is time to make a deal," he said.

Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, who is currently in Israel, would visit Russia next, the US president said earlier this week. He gave no further details.

Love Island finale, and Wednesday returns: What’s coming up this week?

14 minutes ago Share Save Noor Nanji • @NoorNanji Culture reporter Share Save

ITV/Shutterstock/Netflix

This week, we will finally find out which couple has been crowned winners of the latest Love Island. But that's not all the next seven days have in store. Netflix show Wednesday is back for series 2, new Sir David Attenborough-narrated series Parenthood is released, and MasterChef is scheduled to be back on BBC One - after a rocky period for the show. Read on for what's coming up this week...

A dramatic end to a drama-filled Love Island

ITV/Shutterstock

By Lizzy Bella, BBC Newsbeat There won't be any more bombshells on our screens this summer as Love Island wraps up its 12th series on Monday. The series came with less filter but more chaos and more drama than you may have bargained for – with arguably the biggest girl divide the villa has ever seen. Whether you're team Toni and Shakira or team Meg and Helena, you'll probably agree the cast have had you laughing, frustrated, teary-eyed but always craving more. It's inevitable a great cast makes a great series. And while the winners of the £50,000 cash prize may seem obvious, if there's one thing this season has taught us it's that situations change, feelings change and people do too.

Wednesday is out, on Wednesday

The first four episodes of Wednesday's second season are released this week (on Wednesday, naturally). It follows Wednesday Addams as she returns to Nevermore Academy, now under the leadership of a new principal. It also sees a bigger role for Wednesday's parents, who will have an increased presence on the school's campus. The first season of the show about the Addams family's deadpan daughter became Netflix's most popular English-language series ever after its release in 2022. Speaking ahead of the new season's launch, lead star Jenna Ortega told my colleague Lizo Mzimba that the sudden fame that came with the show was "very overwhelming". But she added she was "very grateful and glad that it was able to resonate with people in the way that it did".

Parenthood with Sir David (not Steve Martin)

Netflix

By Paul Glynn, culture reporter Sir David Attenborough returns to BBC One on Sunday with a new five-part wildlife series showing how parents from across the animal kingdom sacrifice everything in order to raise their young. No spoilers but this is quite literally true in the case of the African social spiders who, as we discover in Parenthood, eat their mothers and elderly relatives alive. Do not try this at home please, kids. "Success for all parents has perhaps the greatest of consequences," we hear Sir David - now 99 - declare at one stage. "It ensures the future of life on our planet." In other words: respect your elders.

MasterChef is back

MasterChef has been rocked by controversy in recent months. But on Wednesday, the new amateurs series of the BBC show is scheduled to begin - with both Gregg Wallace and John Torode in it. The series was filmed in 2024, before its two presenters were sacked. Earlier this month, a report by the show's production company revealed that more than 40 claims against Wallace had been upheld, while an allegation that Torode had used a severely offensive racist term was also substantiated. Last week, the BBC announced that the series would still be shown on BBC One and iPlayer. The corporation said it had taken the decision "after careful consideration and consultation with the contestants" - but it's faced a backlash from some groups. BBC News understands the new series may be re-edited in light of the findings, with the prominence of Wallace and Torode re-examined. The show is on three nights a week until the finals.

Freakier Friday hits cinemas

Getty Images

It's been a long, long time since the 2003 film Freaky Friday, but the wait for a sequel is finally over. Freakier Friday hits cinemas on Friday, and sees Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan reprise their roles as mother and daughter duo Tess and Anna Coleman. Anna, played by Lohan, is now a mother herself, and the film once again sees a body swap - with even more characters involved. Cue chaos and identity crises galore, much like what ensued in the first edition. Freaky Friday became a huge hit more than 20 years ago, and won a cult following - so you can expect many of its original fans (your writer included) to be heading out to catch this next week.

Other highlights this week

Car finance judgement 'a hard pill to swallow'

13 minutes ago Share Save Tom Espiner BBC business reporter Share Save

BBC Marcus Johnson says he is upset for the hundreds of people who won't be able to make a claim

A ruling by the UK's most senior judges later has closed down an opportunity for millions of motorists to claim compensation for motor finance mis-selling. The Supreme Court decided not to uphold an earlier ruling which found that hidden commission payments to car dealers were unlawful. However, the ruling left open the possibility of claims for compensation for large commissions that were unfair. The BBC talked to two of the people who brought the case to the Supreme Court, plus a person who is planning to make a claim.

'A really big bag of salt'

Marcus Johnson from Cwmbran, Torfaen, was one of the claimants in the landmark case. He described the the outcome as "a bitter pill to swallow", although was awarded just over £1,650 on the grounds that his relationship with the lender was unfair. Marcus said he was "pleased for myself, but not for the hundreds of others" who will now miss out. "It's weird," he said. "It's a win, but it's a really big bag of salt to go with it". He was 27 when he bought a blue Suzuki Swift in 2017, and did not know that the commission had been paid, although the lender said he had signed a document. Soon after passing his driving test in June of that year he walked into a car dealership, and within an hour was driving away in a car he liked, "very excited". It wasn't until threes years later, when he had paid off the finance on the car, that he realised he still had almost the cash price of the car left to pay. It was then he decided to contact lawyers. Had the three claimants won their test cases, it could have opened up lenders to compensation claims totalling about £30bn. As it stands, that bill could shrink to between £5bn and £13bn, according to accountancy and advice firm BDO.

'There's still meat on the bone'

Andrew Wrench Andrew Wrench says he wanted to show that people should be accountable and honest

Andrew Wrench has been described as "a postman with a penchant for fast cars". He says that description "made me chuckle". The 61-year-old is ex-forces, and also held other positions before becoming a postman, but he is proud to have been described as "the Erin Brockovich of Stoke-on-Trent". He says he is pleased that Marcus was awarded compensation, and that there will be further claims arising from that judgement. "There's still meat on the bone," he says, adding that he is glad he helped throw light on the subject, even though his own case was not successful. "I just want people to be accountable, and I don't want them getting away with being deceitful and dishonest," he adds. "It all comes down to: honesty is the best policy." Andrew's lawyer, Kavon Hussain of Consumer Rights Solicitors, says that the judgement was "a mixed bag", but showed that the Supreme Court expected car dealers to "always be acting in their own interests" and people should not expect a good deal.

'I'm going to chase my claim'

Jemma Caffrey Jemma Caffrey says she is "sad" for people who won't now be able to make claim, but that she intends to pursue her case

'You're sold a lie': How do you spot a cult?

17 minutes ago Share Save Shola Lee BBC News Share Save

BBC/Docsville Studios/Ellena Wood Psychotherapist Gillie Jenkinson specialises in helping people who have left cults

For seven years of her twenties, Gillie Jenkinson was in a religious cult. She recalls being told what to eat, when to sleep and what clothes to wear. "It was completely coercive, controlling," she says, going on to add that the group operated from an "ordinary" looking terraced house. She remembers giving all of her money to the group, believing it would go towards their mission of "saving the world". "None of that happened, we didn't save anybody or do anything with it, but you're sold a lie," she explains. After leaving the cult, she sought mental health support to help process her experiences but she was unable to find any trained therapist with experience in helping cult survivors. In the end, she decided to train as a therapist herself and has now been practising for around 30 years, specialising in helping people who have left cults.

BBC/Docsville Studios Jenkinson helps people who have left cults, including former members of the Jesus Army, a separate religious cult from the one she was involved in

This led her to appear in the two-part BBC documentary Inside the Cult of the Jesus Army, which sees her work with people brought up in the now-defunct religious cult to recognise cult dynamics and identify the group's impact on them. The BBC revealed allegations of widespread child abuse in the group, which disbanded in 2019. The Jesus Fellowship Community Trust, which has been winding up the group's affairs, said it was sorry for "the severely detrimental impact" on people's lives. Speaking to the BBC, Jenkinson explains how to recognise a cult and why more support is needed for those who leave.

How do you spot a cult?

"It's not always easy to identify a cult," Jenkinson says, explaining that there isn't one type of person that joins a cult, they don't dress a certain way and they can operate from "ordinary" houses. The Family Survival Trust (FST), a charity that offers support to those affected by cults, defines a cult as a system controlled by a charismatic and authoritarian leadership that is "rigidly bounded" and supported by a fixed set of beliefs. It involves brainwashing designed to isolate, control and exploit followers. Cults do not have to be religious. Linguist Amanda Montell, author of Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism, explains people can "erect a cult around anything, as long as you can inject it with fear and an 'us-versus-them' mentality". Montell adds that these groups don't even have to take place in person anymore and says they are becoming "easier" to find because of the internet, adding "so many cults do their recruiting online".

BBC/Docsville Studios/Alamy Archive The Jesus Army disbanded in 2019

While cults can be hard to spot, Jenkinson and Montell note some "red flags" people can look for: One possible indicator Jenkinson highlights is "love bombing" - a manipulation tactic that sees abusers use affection and declarations of love as a way of gaining power and control.

Another common theme is promising "answers to life's very complex problems", like climate change or the meaning of existance, the psychotherapist adds.

Montell says the combination of mantras, buzzwords and nicknames for insiders and outsiders of the group, as well as language that elicits a strong reaction while encouraging us not to ask further questions, can be indicators.

The linguist adds that certain texts being "off-limits" in the group can also be a warning sign.

The most "extreme" trait of a cult for Montell is a "high barrier to exit", meaning group members being made to feel they might lose their identity or friendships, or fear retaliation, if they leave the group.

What can you do if you think you're in a cult?

Millions denied car finance payouts after Supreme Court ruling

5 hours ago Share Save Rachel Clun Business reporter, BBC News Share Save

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Millions of motorists will not be able to claim compensation for hidden commissions paid on car loans following a Supreme Court ruling. The UK's highest court sided with finance companies in two out of three crucial test cases focusing on commission payments made by banks and other lenders to car dealers. The decision reversed earlier court rulings that had opened the possibility of large-scale compensation claims from motorists on a similar scale to the PPI mis-selling scandal. But many drivers who took out a certain type of finance deal could still be in line for payouts. The UK's financial regulator, who is considering a compensation scheme, said it would "take time to digest the judgement".

The Supreme Court heard three cases in the joint appeal, brought by two lenders FirstRand bank and Close Brothers. The lenders were challenging a Court of Appeal ruling which found that it was unlawful for car dealers to receive hidden commission from lenders when they sign customers up for motor finance before 2021. That ruling put millions of motorists in line for compensation depending on how their car loan interest rate was set, and exposed lenders to potentially billions of pounds worth of payouts. Delivering the court's decision, Lord Reed said the motorists had argued that the dealers had a fiduciary duty - an obligation to put the customer's needs above their own - but the court disagreed. "At no point did the dealer give any kind of express undertaking or assurance to the customer that in finding a suitable credit deal it was putting aside its own commercial interest as seller," Lord Reed said. The court ruled against the lender in one case. It said in the case of Marcus Johnson, that the commission paid to the dealer was so significant - 55% of the total charge or credit including interest and fees – that it was a "powerful indication" the relationship between Mr Johnson and lender FirstRand was unfair. The Supreme Court awarded Mr Johnson the amount of a commission plus interest. Speaking after the decision, Mr Johnson said he was "pleased for myself, but not for the hundreds of others" who will miss out. "It's weird," he said. "It's a win, but it's a really big bag of salt to go with it". About two million new and used cars are bought each year under motor finance, according to the FCA, or roughly nine in 10.

Still scope for many to get compensation

Car finance payouts have been limited, but lenders aren't off the hook

Nevertheless, the industry is not off the hook. The Financial Conduct Authority may still open a redress scheme for cases where dealers had a financial incentive from lenders to ramp up interest rates on loans as much as possible.

Lenders no longer face the prospect of having to pay £30bn to £40bn to aggrieved car buyers. The likelihood of the government stepping in also appears to have receded dramatically.

There may well be a few sighs of relief from senior finance company and banking executives following the Supreme Court's ruling, but it is unlikely you will hear the champagne corks popping.

The Supreme Court's ruling also upheld one consumer claim, in which the commission payments were deemed unfair – and that could provide a template for others to follow. All of this means the compensation bill could still be in the billions.

The Supreme Court's intervention has been eagerly awaited since October, when the Appeal Court issued a verdict in three test cases which could have triggered an avalanche of compensation claims.

In each case, people who had bought cars on finance claimed they were partially or wholly unaware that the deal had involved a commission payment being made by the lender to the car dealer. They claimed that in law the commissions amounted to bribes, or secret payments.

The Appeal Court judges agreed, essentially saying that commission payments made by a finance company to a dealer for arranging a car loan were illegal if the car buyer had not given his or her "informed consent".

They also concluded that a car dealer had a "fiduciary duty" towards the car buyer when it came to arranging a car loan. In other words, the dealer should set his or her own interests aside, and act purely on the customer's behalf.

This meant that millions of car buyers could potentially claim compensation – if they could show that the dealer had not specified what commission payments they were receiving for lining up a finance deal. It was not enough for the details to be buried in small print.

Lenders had feared that this would lead to an avalanche of claims against them – and that the same arguments could be used to challenge other kinds of consumer finance agreements as well, potentially increasing the compensation bill still further.

But the Supreme Court threw very cold water over those arguments. The President of the Court, Lord Reed, dismissed the idea that car dealers had a "single minded duty of loyalty" to their customers, and insisted they "plainly and properly" had personal interests in the finance agreements they were involved in.

The ruling clearly blocks off what could have been a very wide avenue for compensation claims.

However, the court did side with one of the claimants. In the case of Marcus Johnson, a factory worker, it decided that the finance agreement was "unfair" under the terms of the Consumer Credit Act.

This was because the size of the commission payment was very large, and because Mr Johnson had been misled about the relationship between the dealer and the lender. He was, they said, entitled to compensation.

Analysts say this could open the doors for other cases in which the commission payments are seen to be egregious.

There is also a key question the Supreme Court ruling does not answer. This is what should happen in cases involving so-called Discretionary Commission Agreements (DCAs). These were finance deals in which the car dealer could set the interest rate of a loan, within a set scale. The higher the rate, the more commission they would be paid – and the customer would be unaware of the fact.

The Financial Conduct Authority banned such deals in 2021. It is now considering whether to launch a redress scheme for consumers who were affected by them. If it goes ahead, millions of car buyers could still have a claim, though it is not clear how much compensation they would get.

According to Richard Barnwell, a financial services advisory partner at accountancy firm BDO, the bill could still be substantial.

"We believe there is still a potential for redress, for example, if discretionary commission arrangements are deemed to be an unfair relationship, redress could still be from to £5bn to £13bn or more," he said.

Other analysts agree. According to Martin Lewis, who runs the MoneySavingExpert website, "the Supreme Court has certainly narrowed the number of people who will be able to reclaim car finance. I think you're probably talking the lower end of £10bn, as opposed to £40bn."

That £10bn would still be a significant figure. But the finance industry appears to have avoided the potential free-for-all rush to claim compensation the earlier verdict had threatened to spark off.

And while the Treasury says it will "work with regulators and industry to understand the impact for both firms and consumers", the BBC understands that the likelihood of the government intervening with retrospective legislation to protect financial firms has now diminished significantly.

Trump fires lead official on economic data as tariffs cause market drop

49 minutes ago Share Save Share Save

Watch: Trump defends firing of Bureau of Labor Statistics head over "wrong" numbers

US President Donald Trump said he would fire the head of the agency charged with publishing some of America's most closely watched economic data, after a weaker-than-expected jobs report stoked further alarm about his tariff policies. In a post on social media, Trump - without evidence - accused the commissioner, Erika McEntarfer, of manipulating jobs figures for political reasons. The decision shocked Wall Street and raised alarm about White House interference in economic data at a time when many forecasters are predicting Trump's tariffs will hurt the economy. It came as global stock markets shuddered, after Trump moved forward with plans to sharply raise tariffs on goods around the world.

In the US, the three major indexes dropped, with the S&P closing 1.6% lower, following earlier sell-offs in Europe and Asia. Ryan Sweet, chief US economist at Oxford Economics, said the decision to fire the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) was concerning, noting that high-quality economic data is essential to businesses and not easily replicated with private sources. "Clearly, this is a step in a very bad direction," he said. "If there are any questions around the integrity of the data ... it's going to create a lot of problems."

Getty Images

Trump has dismissed concerns about his tariff plans, which he says will boost manufacturing in the US and rebalance global trade. But new data this week and a string of updates from companies on tariff costs have made those forecasts harder to ignore. On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that employers in the US added just 73,000 jobs in July. It also dramatically revised estimates of job growth in May and June, reporting 250,000 fewer jobs created than previously thought. Trump cited the revisions as he announced his decision to fire Ms McEntarfer. "We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY," he wrote on social media.

The head of the Labor Department, which oversees the BLS, wrote on social media that the agency's deputy commissioner William Wiatrowski would step into the role during the search for a replacement. The Labor Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The BLS revises jobs numbers every month as new data comes in, typically adding or subtracting ten of thousands of positions. Though this month's changes were significantly larger than usual, analysts said the updates were consistent with other data showing slowdown. Some speculated that they could reflect a hit to small businesses, which are typically slower to respond to surveys and are especially vulnerable to tariffs. "Revisions are normal," Mr Sweet said. "They're trying to get this right." Ms McEntarfer had worked for the government for more than 20 years before being nominated to lead the BLS in 2023. She was later confirmed near unanimously by the US Senate. Michael Strain, director of economic policy studies at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, defended Ms Entarfer, saying she had conducted herself with "great integrity". "It is imperative that decisionmakers understand that government statistics are unbiased and of the highest quality. By casting doubt on that, the President is damaging the United States, " he wrote on social media. Jed Kolko, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the firing raised serious alarm. It comes after the government has scaled back its collection of economic data, including information on inflation, amid government spending cuts. "For six months, I've said that threats to economic data have been more collateral damage than intentional harm. No longer. Firing the head of the BLS is five-alarm intentional harm to the integrity of US economic data and the entire statistical system," he wrote on social media. Trump defended the decision and said her departure was needed to ensure there were "people that we can trust" in these posts. "Why should anybody trust numbers?" the president told reporters when leaving the White House on Friday. "I believe the numbers were phony, just like they were before the election, and there were other times - so you know what I did? I fired her, and you know what I did? The right thing."

Tariffs hit global markets

The fight over the data comes as Trump is remaking trade policy, hitting goods from countries around the world with new tariffs ranging from 10% to 50%. When Trump put forward similar plans in April, shares in the US tumbled more than 10% in a week, the concerns spreading to the dollar and bond markets. The stock market recovered after he suspended some of the most drastic measures, leaving in place a less punishing, more expected 10% levy. In recent weeks, indexes in the US have been trading around all-time highs. The latest measures are less extreme than what Trump first put forward in April, but they will still push the average tariff rate to roughly 17%, up from less than 2.5% at the start of the year. "The reality is Trump got emboldened by the fact that markets came right back," Michael Gayed, a portfolio manager for The Free Markets ETF told the BBC's Opening Bell. "Now he's going to try his luck again."

Shares in the US opened lower in the morning, with losses accelerating over the course of the afternoon. The S&P 500 closed down 1.6%, while the Dow dropped 1.2% and the Nasdaq fell 2.2%. France's CAC 40 closed down 2.9%, while German's DAX fell 2.6%. In the UK, the FTSE fell 0.7%. Earlier, the leading index in South Korea fell 3.8%, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong dropped 1% and Japan's Nikkei fell 0.6%.

Trump moves nuclear submarines after Russian ex-president's comments

1 hour ago Share Save Jaroslav Lukiv BBC News Share Save

Getty Images Donald Trump did not say where the two submarines were being deployed

US President Donald Trump says he has ordered two nuclear submarines to "be positioned in the appropriate regions" in response to "highly provocative" comments by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Trump said he acted "just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that. Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances". He did not say where the two submarines were being deployed, in keeping with US military protocol. Medvedev has recently threatened the US in response to Trump's ultimatums to Moscow to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine, or face tough sanctions.

Russia and the US possess the most nuclear arms in the world, and both countries have a fleet of nuclear submarines. In Friday's post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: "Based on the highly provocative statements of the former president of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, I have ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions". The US president did not say whether he was referring to nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed submarines in his post on Truth Social. Speaking to reporters later on Friday, Trump said: "A threat was made, and we didn't think it was appropriate. So I have to be very careful. "I do that on the basis of safety for our people. A threat was made by a former president of Russia. And we're going to protect our people." The Kremlin has so far made no public comments on the issue, but Moscow's stock market fell sharply following Trump's statements. Trump and Medvedev have recently been involved in a series of personal attacks against each other on social media. It comes after Trump set a new deadline for Putin to bring the war to an end by 8 August - which Putin has shown no signs of doing. Before that on Monday, Trump had set a "10 or 12" day deadline. Earlier in July he threatened Russia with severe tariffs targeting its oil and other exports if Putin did not end the war in 50 days.

Reuters Dmitry Medvedev was Russia's president in 2008-12

Man charged after children fell ill at summer camp

Eight children and an adult from the camp at Stathern Lodge were taken to hospital

A 76-year-old man has been charged with child cruelty offences after children fell ill at a summer camp in Leicestershire.

An investigation was launched by Leicestershire Police after eight children and one adult at the camp at Stathern Lodge, Stathern, were taken to hospital on Monday. All have since been discharged.

The police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), said it was investigating the force's handling of the incident.

Jon Ruben, of Landmere Lane in Ruddington, Nottinghamshire, has been charged with three counts of wilful ill treatment of a child, relating to three children.

Ghislaine Maxwell moved to women's prison in Texas

Maxwell has been at the centre of controversy surrounding the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files, and the reasons for her transfer from the Florida prison are unclear.

Earlier in July, Maxwell held two meetings with US Deputy US Attorney General, the details of which have not been made public.

The move comes as Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, has pressed the Supreme Court to overturn her conviction while also seeking a pardon from President Donald Trump.

Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted associate of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has been moved from a Florida prison to a new minimum-security facility in Texas, authorities have confirmed.

While speculation has been rife that Trump may pardon Maxwell, the White House has previously said "no leniency is being given or discussed".

The BBC has contacted the White House for comment on Maxwell's move to Texas.

"We can confirm Ghislaine Maxwell is in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Bryan in Bryan, Texas," the BOP said in a statement on Friday.

Maxwell's attorney, David Oscar Markus, confirmed the transfer but declined further comment.

In a statement, the family of the late Virginia Giuffre - one of Jeffrey Epstein's victims - expressed their "horror and disgust" at what they described as the "preferential treatment" given to Ghislaine Maxwell.

They further condemned the move as having been made "without any notification to Maxwell's victims".

"This is the justice system failing victims right before our eyes," the statement said. "The American public should be outraged by the special treatment afforded to a pedophile and a criminally charged child sex offender."

The facility, FPC Bryant, is located about 100 miles (160km) from the Texas capital of Austin.

Like other federal prison camps, inmates at FPC Bryant are housed in dormitories, with a low staff-to-inmate ratio compared to other, more secure federal prisons. It houses inmates serving time for non-violent offences and white-collar crimes.

Also housed among the approximately 650 female inmates at the facility is disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, who is serving an 11-year prison sentence after being found guilty of defrauding investors in her blood-testing start-up in 2022.

By comparison, the facility where Maxwell was housed in Florida, FCI Tallahassee, houses over 800 inmates, both men and women. Both facilities are officially deemed to be "low-security" federal prisons.

While discipline is strict at the facility and all prisoners are expected to work, they also have access to foreign language and business classes, can play sports, watch television and attend religious services.

Contact with family members is allowed to video calls, and inmates are permitted visitors during weekends and holidays, according to a prison handbook published by authorities online.

Less than a week ago, Maxwell's legal team indicated that she was willing to testify before Congress on what she knows about the case, but only if she is granted strict legal protections.

Earlier in July, she held two meetings with Deputy US Attorney General Todd Blanche, who said he planned to see if she could provide additional information on other people who might have been helped by Epstein to sexually abuse girls.

After the meetings, he said that he would reveal what he learned at an "appropriate time". Maxwell's lawyer has said that she has not made promises or sought anything in exchange.

Pressure has been growing on President Trump to release more files related to the Epstein case, after he repeatedly promised to do so while on the campaign trail last year.

Trump has instead accused political rivals of using the case to distract from his achievements since returning to office.

Top MoD civil servant to leave in wake of Afghan data breach

Permanent Secretary David Williams will leave this autumn and recruitment for his successor has started, the MoD confirmed.

The leak, which went undetected for months and was then subject to a super-injunction, put the identities of British spies, soldiers, and vulnerable Afghan allies at risk.

The move follows one of the worst UK data breaches for decades being revealed to the public last month, in a major embarrassment for defence and intelligence services.

The chief civil servant at the Ministry of Defence will be replaced in the wake of the Afghan data breach, the department has announced.

The breach happened in February 2022, when an official working at UK Special Forces headquarters inadvertently emailed out a spreadsheet containing the personal details of almost 19,000 people seeking refuge from the Taliban in the UK.

Information identifying more than 100 UK officials were also compromised, some of whom were MI6 staff or special forces soldiers who had given information linked to the applications made by individual Afghans.

Mr Williams was the most senior civil servant in the department at the time of the leak.

The BBC understands that Defence Secretary John Healey had a "conversation" with Mr Williams before the breach became public knowledge in mid-July and "made clear that this was the right time to make a change".

A source told the BBC that it was usual for permanent secretaries running government departments to serve for about five years. Mr Williams has been in post since 2021.

The source told the BBC that this was "an appropriate time for a transition" as the recent Defence Review has led to a major restructuring including the appointments of new figures to other senior roles.

In June the government appointed a new chief of defence staff with new powers. It has also created the new post of national armaments director and established a new Military Strategic Headquarters.

The government is advertising the post of permanent secretary at the MoD externally.

The source told the BBC that the aim was to attract "successful, ambitious people" from outside government to apply, adding that would ideally include those with "senior commercial experience, or corporate leaders who have experience of driving change in big organisations, and of major procurement, handling big budgets, and delivering efficiencies".

In a statement an MoD spokesperson said "Since 2021, David has led the department through a period of significant activity, and we thank him for his contribution."

Labour MP and chairman of the defence select committee, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, said Mr Williams' "many years of dedicated public service deserve respect", notwithstanding the seriousness of the leak.

"While our committee has agreed to inquire into this shocking situation, we have yet to determine the full scope for that, including who will be called to give evidence," he added.

"The fact that this breach has put at risk our courageous British service personnel and the Afghans who bravely supported them, makes the situation even more shocking.

"I am sure the committee will want to investigate and understand how this could have been allowed to happen."

Italy plan to process migrants in Albania dealt blow by EU court

3 hours ago Share Save Sarah Rainsford Southern and Eastern Europe correspondent Reporting from Rome Share Save

Reuters

A ruling by the EU's top court has dealt a further blow to Italy's attempts to create a fast-track system in Albania for processing asylum applications offshore. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has said that the way the Italian government currently defines whether a country is "safe" to return someone whose application is rejected contravenes EU law. That "safe country" concept is central to the deal that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni struck with Albania in 2023 to send migrants intercepted at sea straight there for accelerated processing. Anyone from a "safe country" who was refused asylum was supposed to be deported within a week.

But the ECJ has ruled that a nation can only be included on the government's list if the entire population there is safe, which means Italy will have to revise its procedure. It currently identifies Egypt and Bangladesh, for example, as safe, whilst accepting that certain groups there require protection.

The ruling brought an angry reaction from the government in Rome which said the European court was overstepping its role, adding that the decision would weaken the ability of countries to "defend national borders". The European court also said that the government must make public any evidence and sources it uses in reaching its conclusions on safe countries, so that asylum seekers can challenge the decision in their cases. "Today, the court makes clear that a country cannot be designated as safe unless it offers effective, generalised protection, for everyone and everywhere, and unless that claim can be independently verified and challenged," Katia Scannavini of ActionAid Italy explained. "The so-called Albania model collapses at its legal core," she argued. The fate of Italy's Albania project is being watched closely by other governments including in the UK which are keen on handling asylum applications offshore as they try to reduce the number of irregular migrants arriving in their countries. Meant as the centrepiece of Meloni's tough approach to immigration, the Albania deal has hit legal obstacles from the very start. The handful of migrants who were sent there were all eventually returned to Italy after the intervention of lawyers. Many times over budget, the centres that were built have never yet been used as intended.

'This puts significant halt to Albania plan'

Shock and relief - businesses worldwide react to new Trump tariffs

3 hours ago Share Save Mike Wendling BBC News Share Save

Getty Images Workers sort tomatoes in a wholesale market in Mexico City

Business leaders around the globe have woken up to the reality of steeper duties on exports to the US market, following President Donald Trump's new order on tariffs on Thursday night. In an executive order, President Trump imposed new tariff rates on countries that failed to reach updated trade agreements with the US. Earlier in the week, he outlined a new framework for deals with nations that successfully negotiated revised terms. Trump's move has now reshaped America's trading relationships worldwide with new tariffs on more than 90 countries. Here's what some of the business leaders have told the BBC about what this means for them.

Mexico

Getty Images Billions of dollars worth of fruits and vegetables cross the US-Mexico border at the Nogales-Mariposa port of entry

While the White House raised tariffs on Canada from 25% to 35%, its other major North American trading partner, Mexico, got a 90-day reprieve, temporarily halting new duties. Jaime Chamberlain, president of fruit and vegetable company Chamberlain Distributing in Nogales, Arizona, says his company imports millions of boxes of produce from Mexico each year. "We are actually very fortunate that the Mexican negotiators along with the US negotiators are keeping calm and keeping cool heads," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "Both countries really don't want to get this wrong. "And if it takes 90 more days to get it right I think it's very worthwhile." But in the absence of a deal, there's still huge uncertainty about what might happen once that 90-day extension is up. "I think in the most extreme cases, many farmers would just stop farming for the export market," Chamberlain said. "It would be very difficult for the importers of record like myself to continue to pay those duties for a long period of time."

Thailand

BBC/ Lulu Luo Richard Han says the possibility of a 36% levy on Thailand was a "shock"

Thailand, which was initially staring at the possibility of a 36% levy, secured a deal to reduce the tariffs to 19%. Richard Han, CEO of Hana Microelectronics - one of the country's largest contract manufacturers - recalled his shock at Trump's initial announcement in April. "I remember waking up in the morning. It was quite early, and seeing him standing there on the White House lawn with his board. I thought: 'Did I see that right? 36%? How could it be?'" he said. But he thinks his business, which makes high-tech goods such as printed circuit boards, integrated circuits, RFID tags for pricing, can survive under the new lower-tariff deal. "If all of us in this region end up with around 20% our buyers won't seek alternative suppliers – it will just be a tax, like VAT [value-added tax], for US consumers," Han said. Shock, chaos and a hollow win: What it's like to do a tariff deal with Trump

Italy

European leaders struck a deal, holding tariffs for most goods at 15% after Trump initially threatened a rate double that. But that's still a substantial hike from the former average rate of 4.8%. According to the Italian Institute of International Political Studies, the agricultural, pharmaceutical and automotive sectors are likely to be hit hardest, with the country's gross domestic product (GDP) projected to dip by 0.2%. Cristiano Fini of the Italian Confederation of Farmers said the deal with the US felt more like "a surrender" than an agreement. Several Italian trade associations are now already clamouring for compensation from the European Union to offset projected losses. EU-US tariff deal not finished yet, say Europeans unhappy with Trump's terms

Brazil

Getty Images President Trump and Brazilian then-President Bolsonaro at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in 2020

If the EU deal managed to blunt the worst effects of the tariffs, Brazil saw its fortunes reverse. Trump initially announced a 10% rate, but on Wednesday he raised that figure to 50%, accusing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of unfairly attacking US tech companies and calling the prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro for attempting a coup a "witch hunt". However the higher tariff comes with some exemptions, for instance for orange juice and commercial aircraft. But other products are expected to face sharp price increases. Cecafé, Brazil's coffee exporters' council, said the impact on Brazilian roasters and exporters will be "significant", and warned American coffee drinkers to brace for price hikes. Brazilian producers and exporters are working on contingency plans. But Cecafé said it won't be easy to find other markets for the 8.1m tonnes of coffee currently exported to the US. New markets are opening in Asia and the Middle East - however according to Cecafé they won't be able to absorb all of the potential US shortfall. Why Trump's tariffs on Brazil are more about political retaliation than trade

Switzerland

Switzerland, once optimistic about reaching a modest 10% rate, was instead hit with a 39% tariff - the highest in Europe. Just weeks ago, Switzerland's president Karin Keller-Sutter had hinted that an agreement on a 10% rate might be possible. The sudden hike has now shocked the country, as tariffs could seriously affect companies that produce pharmaceuticals, jewellery, and machine tools. 'With its unilateral tariff increases on Swiss industrial products, the US government is sending a clear protectionist signal," machine tool industry organisation Swissmechanic said in a statement. "The government must now act with clarity and confidence – and make determined use of the existing window of opportunity for negotiations with the US."

Getty Images A luxury watch on display in Geneva

India

India was slapped with a 25% tariff with one additional footnote - Trump has threatened to impose an unspecified penalty over India's business dealings with Russia. India is currently among the largest buyers of Russian oil, and Trump is using tariffs as leverage to pressure Moscow over the war in Ukraine. Aurobindo Nayak, who runs CI Ltd, a large tea exporter in Kolkata, says US consumers will ultimately pay the price. He told the BBC's World Business Report: "We will definitely bear the brunt. But I think the people who are really going to be hit hard are the American consumers themselves. "To choose to tax tea in the United States is only going to have an inflationary effect. Assam tea has a lot of character, it is liked by the American consumers. Darjeeling tea is a specialty tea, it's not grown anywhere else. Consumption in the US is growing."

Getty Images

Laos

One of the steepest tariff rates - 40% - has been imposed on Laos in south-east Asia. "We are not very happy with the tariff… Laos is a very small country," said Xaybandith Rasphone, co-founder of sports marketing agency MKGT, and vice-president of the Lao national chamber of commerce. "Laos exports to the US only agricultural products, garments, juice and so on." Rasphone told the BBC World Service programme Newsday that 60 companies operating in those sectors collectively employing nearly 60,000 people could be affected. "Indirect jobs could be affected as well," he said, noting that the overall effect on the country's economy could be substantial.

Canada

Confusion and anger in Switzerland - hit by highest tariffs in Europe

7 hours ago Share Save Imogen Foulkes Geneva correspondent, BBC News Share Save

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39%? For Switzerland, this is a huge shock, and worse than the worst-case scenario – these are the highest tariffs in Europe. Globally, the fourth highest, behind only Syria, Laos, and Myanmar, (although if President Trump follows through on his 50% tariff threat then Brazil will jump to the top of the list). It's the one story dominating the news and the airwaves on Friday. One newspaper, Blick, described it as the country's biggest defeat since French victory in the battle of Marignano in 1515. Just weeks ago, Switzerland's government was exuding confidence. In May, a Swiss facilitated meeting between the US and China in Geneva, aimed at preventing a trade war between the two economic superpowers, allowed Switzerland's president Karin Keller-Sutter to grab a meeting with US trade secretary Scott Bessent.

She came out smiling. She had been told, she said, that Switzerland was likely to be second on the list after the United Kingdom to strike a trade deal with Washington. 10%, she hinted, was the tempting tariff offer, far lower than the 31% Donald Trump had unveiled for Switzerland on his 'liberation day' in April. Now, those illusions are shattered. Just hours before the August first deadline, one last telephone call between Ms Keller-Sutter and President Trump yielded nothing. Hours later came the news that the tariffs would not be 31% as originally threatened, but a punitive 39%. See all Trump tariffs by country

Trump's global tariffs 'victory' may come at high price Why? Some Swiss politicians are already arguing that Switzerland's negotiating tactics were not up to scratch – but some say too tough, others say too obsequious. The reality may be more straightforward: Trump was keen to make big deals, and Switzerland just isn't that big. It's not even clear how many discussions the Swiss trade negotiators were able to have with their US counterparts. The sticking point, the Swiss government says now, is the trade deficit it has with the US. Trump sees trade deficits - when a country sells more to the US than it buys - as inherently a problem for the US, although this is a view not widely shared by economists. He believes tariffs can help protect the US manufacturing sector, which for decades has lost jobs to companies overseas. The Swiss trade deficit with the US was $47.4 billion in 2024, though if service industries are included, which Trump conveniently ignored, the deficit shrinks to $22 billion. Switzerland sells more (primarily in pharmaceuticals, gold jewellery, watches and machine tools) to the US than it buys. What tariffs has Trump announced and why?

How much cash is the US raising from tariffs? To try to compensate for that, the Swiss government reduced its own tariffs on US industrial good to zero, and multiple Swiss companies (Nestle, Novartis) promised multibillion dollar investments in US plants. Switzerland is already the world's 6th largest investor in the US, creating, the Swiss say, 400,000 US jobs. But balancing the deficit looks impossible. The population of Switzerland is just 9 million, and, bluntly, many of them don't want to buy US products. The gas guzzling cars are too big for alpine roads, US cheese and chocolate…well, let's just say they're not really to Swiss taste.

Getty Images Switzerland's president Karin Keller-Sutter

Jan Atteslander, head of foreign trade at EconomieSuisse which represents businesses, told Swiss broadcasting: "We need reliable relations with the United States." This could be a signal of frustration that one of Switzerland's most important export markets has adopted an on/off trade policy, stripping Swiss business of the certainty it needs.

Car loan scandal payouts row - what's it about?

5 hours ago Share Save Kevin Peachey Cost of living correspondent Share Save

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Millions of motorists have been denied a path to claim compensation for hidden commissions paid on car loans following a Supreme Court ruling. The UK's highest court sided with finance companies in two out of three crucial test cases focusing on commission payments made by banks and other credit providers to car dealers. The decision reversed earlier rulings by the Court of Appeal that had opened the possibility of industry-wide claims for compensation from motorists. Some could still be in line for payouts, but questions remain who or how many will be eligible.

What's the scandal about?

The vast majority of new cars, and many second-hand ones, are bought with finance agreements. About two million are sold this way each year, with customers paying an initial deposit, then a monthly fee with interest for the vehicle. In 2021, the City regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), banned deals in which the dealer received a commission from the lender, based on the interest rate charged to the customer. These were known as discretionary commission arrangements (DCAs). The FCA said this provided an incentive for a buyer to be charged a higher-than-necessary interest rate, leaving them paying too much. Since January, it has been considering whether compensation should be paid to people with these deals before 2021. Any claims on this issue made to the ombudsman, which has 80,000 open cases, or the courts, were effectively on hold until a Supreme Court's ruling. The Supreme Court considered three test cases. The cases focused on whether commission payments made by finance companies to dealers, of which the car buyers were unaware, amounted to bribery - and whether the car dealers themselves had a duty to act on behalf of their customers, rather than in their own interests. If upheld, this could have paved the way for millions to claim compensation, but the court ruled against two of the test cases, siding with finance companies. This has narrowed the scope of people who will be able to claim compensation.

Who could still be in line for payouts?

Potentially, millions of motorists could still receive payouts, depending on how their interest rate was set and what they knew about it. Those who had a finance deal, which had a DCA, before 28 January 2021 could receive compensation. This would likely be done through a central scheme, organised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which wants an orderly compensation system in place. It would be simpler for consumers than filing a legal complaint and would require firms to check if customers had lost out. This compensation will now not be as wide as it might have been following the outcome of the Supreme Court decision. Guidance from the FCA revealed that any compensation scheme would have to be fair to consumers but not collapse the car market. The FCA said it would confirm on 4 August whether it would "consult on a redress scheme". "Our aims remain to ensure that consumers are fairly compensated and that the motor finance market works well," it said.

How much could they receive?

That is far from clear yet, but lenders – including some of the UK's biggest banks – have set aside billions of pounds already. A driver would likely receive the difference between the amount they paid at an inflated interest rate and the rate they should have been charged. Interest of 8% on the overpayment would be added to that loss, which could significantly increase the payout. Exact amounts would depend on individual circumstances. Lenders including major banks and specialist motor finance firms have set aside a total of more than £2bn for potential payouts. Lloyds Bank has put aside £1.15bn, and Santander has allocated £295m. Financing companies have also set aside millions, including Close Brothers (£165m), Northridge Finance (£143m) and MotoNovo (through the bank FirstRand, £140m). Some of that money has been earmarked to cover legal and administrative costs. The Financial Conduct Authority has said any redress scheme would need to balance fairness to consumers who lost out, with ensuring the motor finance market remains robust.

Is this a wider issue?

A decision by judges at the Court of Appeal at the end of last year blew open the ongoing saga into hidden commission payments, with buyers possibly in line for payouts totalling billions of pounds. But that is not the case anymore. While the initial investigations surrounded discretionary commission arrangements, which were banned in 2021, the initial Court of Appeal decision widened the scope to any car finance commissions. The Supreme Court ruling means now that the scale of compensation payouts will be limited, but the fate for those who had DCA loans remains uncertain. The decision on any payouts over the DCA loans lies with the FCA. Martin Lewis, founder of Money Saving Expert, told the BBC he would be "gobsmacked" if there was not a scheme for DCA payments.

Marcus Johnson The test case involved Marcus Johnson, 34, who bought a Suzuki Swift

'Trump sends nuclear subs to Russia' and 'holiday hell'

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"Trump sends nuclear subs to Russia" in a move that "breaks decades of Pentagon protocols on deployment", headlines the Daily Telegraph. Also on its front page, the nephew of King Charles III is engaged to an NHS nurse and the US raises the alarm over free speech in Britain.

The Times also runs Trump's "nuclear sub deployment against Putin" as its top story. The US president said he had done so due to "highly provocative" threats from Russia. Also on the front page, it's "Clarkson's worst week on the farm" as the presenter has been told "Diddly Squat Farm has been hit by a probable case of bovine TB and the death of a beloved puppy".

It's "holiday hell" in the UK as Storm Floris hits, writes the Daily Express. There will be "winds of up to 85mph in the North and 45mph in the South".

The scale of "NHS hidden waiting list crisis" is "staggering" writes The Guardian, quoting the Patients Association. "Almost half of the six million people needing treatment from the NHS in England have had no care at all since joining a hospital waiting list" it writes. Elsewhere, it's Gwyneth "Paltrow's world", we're just living in it and British Secretary of State David Lammy says "JD Vance completely relates to me."

The man that stalked the Princess Royal is "back on the streets - unrepentant and still obsessed" headlines the Daily Mail. In its other top story, her brother Prince Andrew is dubbed "His Royal Oafishness" by the Daily Mail. He is called "sex-obsessed, vulgar, ignorant, entitled and breathtakingly rude" by an "acclaimed historian".

The Daily Mirror writes that there has been a call for the Duke of York to testify in public. He has been urged to appear before US Congress to "reveal all he knows about pervert Jeffrey Epstein" by US lawyer Gloria Allred. In the meantime, Ghislaine Maxwell has been "moved to 'cushy' jail".

The FT headlines on a Supreme Court ruling on car loans that means banks have been spared "huge" payouts. Property "moguls" the Reuben brothers are in talks to to "take control of porn streaming service OnlyFans" also makes front page news.

The Sun headlines on the court's ruling over car loan compensations with "car crusher". It also touts an exclusive interview with Katie Price and Kerry Katona.

Steven Knight is "the man with the golden brum" writes the Daily Star as the Peaky Blinders writer has been picked to author the latest James Bond script. It's "Peaky Bonders" the Star adds.

Illegal house-sharing exposed by BBC undercover filming

18 hours ago Share Save Tarah Welsh and Zack Adesina BBC News Share Save

Nazmush Shahadat escaped from a fire at a dangerously overcrowded flat that killed a man

In the middle of the night, says Maria, groups of people can sometimes be seen moving into houses in her neighbourhood, far more than would seem to fit comfortably in the Victorian terraced homes. Each of these houses has 10 to 15 people living inside, she estimates. Maria, an architect, suspects they are being illegally rented. "They're everywhere," she says. Maria contacted Your Voice, Your BBC News after spending years complaining about these homes to her local authority in east London, Newham Council. We began investigating - and found a widespread black-market rental sector where people are forced to live in unsafe spaces. Photos, videos and testimony from the people living in several properties like these showed unsanitary and overcrowded homes, with adults sleeping on bare mattresses in bunk beds, contending with black mould, rats and, in some cases, conditions that proved to be deadly.

Laws across the UK say large house-shares - officially known as houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) - must have a licence, so local councils can ensure each property is suitable for the number of occupants and meets gas, electrical and fire safety requirements. But evidence in three London house-share hotspots we examined suggests that in some places there are more unlicensed, black-market HMOs than there are legal ones. One London borough told us it has 3,000 licensed HMOs, but estimates there are two or three times that number in reality. In shop windows in east London, we noticed many ads for properties that did not appear to conform to licensing laws, often offering a "bedspace" in shared rooms. We also found adverts online that appeared to show mould or dirt in the shared rooms. To investigate, BBC reporter Gopal Virdee responded to some of these adverts and viewed the rooms, filming with a hidden camera.

Secret filming by BBC reporter Gopal Virdee inside a crowded, unlicensed HMO

In one property in Waltham Forest, where there was a shared bedroom advertised at £330 a month, he was met by about 10 young men who all appeared to live there. The room on offer was shared between three people, another was shared between four - and on some of the beds, there was no bedding or even mattress. One of the men told us they were subletting and admitted there was no HMO licence - as the local authority register confirmed. A company representing the property owner later told us that the tenancy agreement "expressly forbids" subletting and multiple occupancy and that the property had never been let or advertised for those purposes. It said it had taken prompt action when it learned of the contract breach. The man who showed our reporter around later told us he had "no involvement whatsoever in the management, ownership or letting of this property". Waltham Forest Council said it would take action. Overcrowded conditions such as these can be fatal. Nazmush Shahadat escaped a deadly fire in 2023 at an HMO in Shadwell, east London. He had moved in as a last resort, after coming to the UK to study law and finding that the housing he had been promised had fallen through. The "stench" hit him when he first arrived, Nazmush says, "like an old gym with the men's sweat". He says he was bitten by bedbugs and could see mould across the ceiling from his top bunk. On the night of the fire, there were 18 people crammed into the two-bedroom flat.

Tower Hamlets Council The bunk beds where the flatmates slept were burned in the fire

Many of Nazmush's flatmates worked as food-delivery riders, and the fire started because of a faulty e-bike battery charging under a bunk-bed. When the tenants' attempts to put the blaze out failed, they fled the smoke-filled flat. Nazmush says they thought everyone had got out - until the emergency services carried out a man on a stretcher. "That's when it hit us straight away, that body - it could be any one of us," he says. Mizanur Rahman had only lived in the flat a few days. He died later in hospital aged 41, leaving behind a wife and two children in Bangladesh. Earlier this year, the landlords - husband and wife Aminur Rahman and Sofina Begum - were fined £90,000 for multiple housing offences, including cramming more people into the property than three people the licence permitted.

Father of two Mizanur Rahman, 41, died from smoke inhalation after the flat fire

Because such overcrowded properties are undeclared, the true number of unlicensed HMOs across the country is unknown. But an experimental data project to try to detect them has been developed by Ben Yarrow, who runs the landlord and letting agency review website, Marks Out Of Tenancy. It flags potential unlicensed HMOs by searching through a range of financial data sources to identify properties associated with large numbers of people who have different surnames. It has some limitations - it cannot find people relying on cash with no formal paperwork, and in some cases households with big families can be wrongly flagged. We asked Mr Yarrow to scan specific postcodes in three boroughs which we knew were HMO hotspots. In part of Newham, where there are only 75 licensed properties, he found more than 700 possible HMOs. In part of Tower Hamlets, he found nearly 500 suspected HMOs. The council has publicly listed only 50 HMO licences here, although it said more properties were licensed. And around Southwark's Old Kent Road, Mr Yarrow found more than 300 possible HMOs - despite there being only 232 official licences listed. Southwark Council told us it actively works to identify suspect properties and protect tenants. Tower Hamlets Council said it thought the data was incorrect and that it actively investigates reports of unlicensed properties. Newham Council said it uses advanced systems to identify unlicensed HMOs and follows up all resident complaints, but it said enforcement is time-consuming because tenants are often "among the most vulnerable members of society". It said it had investigated 2,307 alleged failures to license properties between January 2023 and March this year.

Many council enforcement teams appear to be overstretched. According to responses to Freedom of Information requests, only about a third of complaints raised by renters in England between 2021 and 2023 were followed by a local authority inspection. The government's Renters' Rights Bill, currently passing through Parliament, is due to create a national database of private rented properties in England, which will help councils "clamp down on unlicensed properties", London's deputy mayor for housing Tom Copley told the BBC. The growth of unlicensed HMOs means it is not only single renters caught up in them - sometimes entire families are crammed into single rooms in shared houses. Marius Judzinskas, who is originally from Lithuania, moved into a shared house in Greenwich, south-east London. Shortly afterwards, his wife joined him. A council officer later said in a report that the property should have been licensed as an HMO.

Marius Judzinskas says he had no choice but to bring up his family in a single room in a shared house

The couple spent nine years there, and went on to have a family in their small room, squeezing in two cots and all their possessions. "People like me, we don't have a choice," he says. The family had to wait to use the bathroom or the cooker, and conditions were unhygienic, he says. They captured video of rats in the kitchen. Relationships with the landlord and other tenants broke down and Marius was asked to leave, he says. The family returned home one day and found the locks had been changed, he says. They tried to climb in through an open window so they could put their nine-month old baby in the room to sleep, but the police were called. They were evicted.

A security camera filmed rats (circled) in the kitchen of the house Marius shared

Marius is now taking legal action against the people who managed his former home, through a rent repayment order, to try to claw back some of what he paid. Renters in homes where landlords have broken the law, including by failing to register an HMO, can claim up to a year's rent back. Eviction is a particular risk with unlicensed HMOs, says Roz Spencer from Safer Renting, which helps tenants in disputes with landlords. The issue of unlicensed HMOs is growing, she says. "We are being referred more people and I believe the problem is spreading and the non-compliance issue is endemic."

Police arrived when Marius and his family were locked out of the house

Chris Norris, chief policy officer for the National Residential Landlords Association, says most landlords operate within the law and only have one or two properties that are well looked after. But he says: "There is this view or perception that landlords can get away with it because, frankly, some landlords do." Local authorities do not have the capacity to enforce the licensing regime, he says, but it is only a "tiny minority" of landlords responsible for these bad practices. The government says the Renters' Rights Bill will address the situation, "empowering" tenants to act without the threat of retaliation. It says it expects local authorities to "clamp down on rogue landlords" and "HMOs must be safe, well-maintained, and properly managed". But in the meantime, many thousands of people are likely to be stuck in potentially dangerous homes.

To listen to more of this investigation, visit BBC Sounds

Zoo worker killed by leopard in Jerusalem

9 hours ago Share Save Gidi Kleiman BBC News Reporting from Jerusalem André Rhoden-Paul BBC News Share Save

Uriel Nuri Uriel Nuri was head of the carnivores team at Jerusalem Biblical Zoo

A zoo worker in Jerusalem has died after being attacked by a leopard which had escaped from its enclosure. Uriel Nuri died from injuries he sustained during a "behind-the-scenes tour" for visitors on Friday morning, Jerusalem Biblical Zoo said. The zoo said it was working with Israeli police to investigate how the big cat escaped into the courtyard where the 36-year-old was working. The site is currently closed to visitors.

Mr Nuri was rushed to the trauma unit at Hadassah University Hospital-Ein Kerem for urgent treatment after sustaining extensive injuries to his upper body. "After prolonged resuscitation efforts, the team was forced to declare him dead," Hadassah Medical Center said. "The hospital staff is accompanying his family at this difficult time and shares in their grief."

Uriel Nuri Uriel Nuri, seen with a cheetah, was head of carnivores at the zoo

Located in south-west Jerusalem, the Biblical Zoo says on its website that it exhibits big cats including tigers, lions and cheetahs. Mr Nuri was head of the carnivores team, according to his Instagram page, where he posted videos about his work. In a statement, the zoo said: "The tragic event occurred this morning, when during a routine activity to prepare the leopards for enrichment, which took place as part of a behind-the-scenes tour for visitors to the zoo, a leopard managed to escape from the leopard enclosure into the inner courtyard and attack one of the zoo employees who was preparing the activity. "At no point was there any physical danger to the visitors, who stood protected behind a glass window. "With the help of the Israel Police, we are now conducting a comprehensive investigation to understand how the leopard managed to escape into the courtyard." Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the zoo is investigating whether the cage door became loose. The zoo added the staff's "pain is immense" and "our hearts go out to Uriel's family".

Israel Police Israel Police said the worker was evacuated in a critical condition

Budapest mayor questioned by police over banned pride march

Wearing a rainbow T-shirt featuring the capitals coat of arms, Mayor Gergely Karacsony, who appeared at Hungary's National Bureau of Investigation on Friday, told supporters: "Neither freedom nor love can be banned in Budapest".

Organisers say that despite threats of fines, a record 200,000 people took part in the rally, which swiftly descended into an anti-government protest.

The event took place on June 28 despite warnings of potential legal repercussions by Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose government passed a law earlier this year banning the event.

Budapest's mayor has been questioned by police as a suspect in helping to organise a banned LGBTQ march in the city.

If charged and convicted, Karacsony could face up to a year in prison for organising and encouraging participation in a banned march.

"They described the accusation. I said that I considered this to be unfounded and that I will lodge a complaint against it," Karacsony told a crowd of some 200 supporters and journalists who had gathered outside the building where he was questioned for more than an hour.

"Neither freedom nor love can be banned in Budapest," said the mayor, who added: "If it cannot be banned, it cannot be punished."

Accompanied by his lawyer, Karacsony did not answer any questions posed by investigators but instead presented them with a statement of his own.

The annual pride march had been in doubt since the government passed a law in March restricting gatherings if they break child protection laws on the public promotion on homosexuality.

It was the latest measure from Orban's government targeting Hungary's LGBTQ+ community.

In 2020, Hungary abolished its legal recognition of transgender people, and in 2021, the government passed a law banning the depiction of homosexuality to under-18s.

Despite the ban, the mayor stood in defiance, vowing: "Budapest city hall will organise the Budapest Pride march as a local event on 28 June," and argued that police could not legally ban a municipal event.

Last month, police announced they would not take action against attendees who could have faced fines of up to €500 (£427; $586) for attending the Pride parade.

However, Hungary's National Bureau of Investigation, which is tasked with investigating serious and complex crimes, said it had launched a probe against an "unknown perpetrator" accused of organising the rally.

The English Football League is increasingly concerned about Sheffield Wednesday's financial situation and their ability to fulfil their opening Championship fixture, the BBC has been told.

The Owls are in a deepening financial crisis under the ownership of Thai businessman Dejphon Chansiri, including late payments to HMRC, multiple failures to pay the wages of players and staff members, and rising debts.

This week the club have lost multiple first-team players who have exercised their right to exit their contracts, as well as parting ways with manager Danny Rohl and closing the North Stand of its Hillsborough stadium over safety concerns.

Their Championship season is due to kick off on 10 August, but the club has a first-team squad of only 14 players, with more set to depart.

The BBC has also learned that:

Some staff members have been struggling to pay their bills because of the late payment of salaries

Players are refusing to play, leading to the cancellation of a pre-season fixture against Burnley and a risk that the opening league fixture against Leicester City is called off

Players have been informed they will have to pay for their own hotel rooms if they wish to stay overnight before upcoming away matches

One player, speaking anonymously, told the BBC that players have been left in the dark by the club and have been given no information about what the future holds for them.

Wages were paid late in March, May and June, and earlier this week players were warned that July's payments were to be delayed too.

Once players receive late payment in two consecutive months, they are entitled to hand in their notice, effectively ending their contract immediately and rendering them free agents.

BBC Sport understands English full-back Max Lowe is the latest to exercise that option, with multiple others considering following suit.

The club website currently lists 16 senior players, but one of those is Lowe, and another is former captain Barry Bannan, whose contract expired earlier this summer and is expected to finalise a transfer elsewhere imminently.

Wednesday are also currently unable to pay transfer fees for players in the next three windows because of an embargo put in place over late payments of fees owed to other clubs.

The club and Chansiri were charged by the EFL for breaching its rules at the beginning of June over the non-payment of wages. Those cases have not yet been heard as written submissions are still being worked through.

Sheffield Wednesday have been contacted for comment.

India fast bowler Prasidh Krishna says it was a deliberate tactic to try and disrupt Joe Root when the pair were involved in a heated exchange on the second day of the fifth Test at The Oval.

The exact words, which came when Root was yet to get off the mark and played and missed at Krishna, were not picked up by the stump microphones but the England batter was unusually animated in his response.

Krishna, who took 4-62 as England were bowled out for 247 in their first innings, added that he was also taken by surprise by how it unfolded.

"It was the plan [to disrupt him], but I didn't expect the couple of words that I said to get such a big reaction from him," he said.

"I love the guy that he is, he is a legend of the game. It's just when two people are out there wanting to be a winner and wanting to be the best in that moment.

"It was just a small thing, the competitive edge coming out. Both of us are good mates off the field and it was just a bit of banter."

Liverpool claim they are willing to walk away from a move for striker Alexander Isak after Newcastle United rejected their opening offer.

The Magpies, who value the Sweden international at about £150m, turned down a bid of £110m from the Premier League champions.

BBC Sport understands Liverpool do not think a deal for Isak is achievable this summer as it stands.

It is unclear whether this is a negotiating tactic and if Liverpool will maintain that stance.

The 25-year-old was left out of the Newcastle squad for their pre-season tour of Asia with a "minor thigh injury", according to the club, while he wants to explore a move away despite the Magpies qualifying for this season's Champions League.

The bid from Liverpool was lodged while Isak trains alone at former club Real Sociedad, amid continued uncertainty around his future.

He joined Newcastle in a £60m move from La Liga side Real Sociedad in 2022.

McLaren driver Lando Norris' openness in admitting his frailties is "used against him", according to his former team-mate Carlos Sainz.

Sainz, who partnered Norris at McLaren from 2019-20 and has remained friends with the Briton, told BBC 5 live Sport: "He opens [up] to the media and to people more than any other driver on the grid - and people use that against him."

Sainz, who now drives for Williams, said: "What you see on TV is what he is as a human being. He's very good at showing himself.

"I sometimes find it a bit ironic and a bit frustrating. He is probably the only guy being 100% genuine on his feelings and the way he thinks but then people are going back at him."

Norris ended Friday practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix fastest by 0.291 seconds from team-mate Oscar Piastri.

Norris is 16 points behind the Australian before this race, which marks the end of the first part of the season before Formula 1's summer break.

Sainz said Norris being criticised for his openness was "a bit sad" because "probably the 19 other drivers have a similar level of doubt and a similar level of self-criticism inside their heads, they just don't explain it out loud because we prefer to keep it inside and not say it to the media".

Norris has admitted that he has made errors this season that have cost him points.

Earlier in the year, Norris was struggling with a lack of feel from the front axle of the car, which made it difficult for him to anticipate its behaviour when he was pushing to the limit.

McLaren have made a change to the front suspension to improve this aspect of the car for him, and Norris has been more comfortable since the Canadian Grand Prix in June.

Nevertheless, Norris made errors on his qualifying laps in Canada that left him sixth on the grid, and crashed into Piastri after a misjudgement during the race.

He then won in Austria, and inherited victory at the British Grand Prix when Piastri was penalised for his driving behind a safety car.

Norris then took pole in Belgium last weekend but was overtaken on the first lap by Piastri, who went on to win.

Asked about Norris' prospects of beating Piastri to the championship this year, Sainz said: "If I base my decision on speed and talent, I'm 100% sure he has that to win a World Championship.

"But F1 also involves a bit of luck, mental resilience, being at home with a car in the right times.

"It doesn't really matter if he doesn't win this year, he'll get another chance. He has 10-15 years in F1. He has the potential, talent and speed.

"If he gets it this year, great I'll be happy for him. If not, he might get his chance later."

Miyu Yamashita shot a bogey-free 65 in her second round to lead the Women's Open by three shots at Royal Porthcawl.

Yamashita, who turns 24 years old on Saturday, was among those to take advantage of the calmer conditions in south Wales on Friday morning.

She set the clubhouse target at 11 under par, while playing partner Rio Takeda followed Thursday's round of 67 with a three-under 69 on Friday to lie second.

The Japanese duo will play together again in Saturday's final group, with a four-shot gap between Takeda and a quartet of players at four under.

England's Lottie Woad looked on course to post a similar score to Yamashita in her second round before a triple-bogey seven on the par-four 16th halted her progress.

The 21-year-old eventually finished with a two-under 70, leaving her nine shots behind the leader.