A jury at the Old Bailey have been shown CCTV footage of a cargo ship crashing into an oil tanker in the North Sea, causing an explosion and killing a crew member.

Footage from the bridge of the Stenna Immaculate shows the Solong hitting its left-hand side and flames engulfing the ships.

A video from a nearby ship was also shown in court, which captured the explosion on a thermal camera.

Vladimir Motin was in charge of the cargo ship when it collided with the tanker off the East Yorkshire coast on 10 March, leaving Mark Angelo Pernia, 38, missing presumed dead.

Motin, from Primorsky in St Petersburg, Russia, denies gross negligence manslaughter.

Sting pays Police bandmates £600,000 in royalties

8 hours ago Share Save Mark Savage , music correspondent and Lizo Mzimba , culture correspondent, High Court, London Share Save

Getty Images The Police, pictured on tour in Japan in 1981, from left to right: Andy Summers, Sting and Stewart Copeland

Sting has paid his former bandmates in The Police more than half a million pounds after acknowledging underpaying royalties, court documents show. In a filing at London's High Court, the musician's lawyers said Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland received a payment of "over $800,000" (£595,000) after they launched legal proceedings last year. The pair sued Sting and his publishing company in September, claiming they were owed between $2m (£1.5m) and $10.75m (£8m) in royalties for hit songs like Roxanne and Every Breath You Take. At a hearing on Wednesday, their lawyers said their claim could rise above £8m. Sting denies that they are entitled to a portion of his income from streaming and download sales.

His bandmates did not receive writing credits on most of The Police's hits, but argue that the group entered an "oral agreement" to share income in 1977, which was later formalised in written contracts. The agreement acknowledged that, although Sting was the chief composer, the other two members sometimes made crucial contributions - such as Summers' guitar line on Every Breath You Take. As a result, the trio decided that when any of them received publishing income for a song they had written, they would share a percentage of that money - usually 15% - with the other two members, in what was termed an arrangers' fee. Summers and Copeland argue he has withheld some of those payments.

Getty Images The trio famously have a fractious relationship, despite a reunion tour in 2008

None of the band members were in court for the start of the two-day preliminary hearing on Wednesday. But lawyers for guitarist Summers and drummer Copeland are asking the court for permission to bring new and additional arguments that they are owed money from all downloads and streaming income, under the terms of their prior agreements made in 1997 and 2016. They say the language of those agreements should be interpreted in light of changes to the music industry, where streaming income has largely replaced the sale of vinyl, CDs and cassettes. In court papers, they acknowledged a recent payment from Sting and his publishing company, disclosing a figure of $870,000 (£647,000), but noted that no interest had been added to the "historic underpayment". Speaking in court on Wednesday, the musicians' lawyers said the total value of their claim was "not less than £8m" and "will be considerably larger" if their amended case is allowed to proceed. Meanwhile, Sting's lawyers argue that he shouldn't have to give his former bandmates royalties when The Police's music is played on streaming services like Spotify because that counts as "public performance" rather than a sale. Furthermore, they say Summers and Copeland are not eligible for royalties from streaming and digital sales because their 2016 agreement only allows for royalty payments derived "from the manufacture of records". They added that the musicians' attempt to amend their case should be thrown out as it has "no real prospect of success". The hearing, before Mr Justice Bright, is due to conclude on Thursday, with a trial expected at a later date.

Success, collapse and reunion

Actor John Alford jailed for sex assaults on teens

5 hours ago Share Save Danny Fullbrook Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire Share Save

Hertfordshire Police John Alford was sentenced to eight and a half years in jail after sexually assaulting two teenagers

Actor John Alford has been sentenced to eight and a half years in jail after sexually assaulting two teenage girls. The former London's Burning and Grange Hill star bought a bottle of vodka for the 14 and 15-year-old girls which they drank at a friend's house in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, in April 2022. The 54-year-old, of Holloway, north London, stood trial at St Albans Crown Court under his real name of John Shannon. Jurors found him guilty on four counts of sexual activity with the younger girl, and of sexual assault and assault by penetration relating to the older teenager.

Recorder Caroline Overton said the offences had a "significant and ongoing impact" on the victims' lives. Prosecuting lawyer Chris White added: "John Shannon was fully aware of the girls' ages, yet he chose to exploit them – giving them alcohol and then committing sexual offences against them." Alford had denied the offences, and when the verdicts were delivered in September, he put his head in his hands and shouted "wrong, I didn't do this". He played Billy Ray in the ITV drama London's Burning and Robbie Wright in BBC series Grange Hill.

PA Media John Alford appeared in the ITV drama London's Burning

Both girls were at the house on the 9 April 2022 when he arrived after drinking with the homeowner at a nearby pub. The man who owned the house was friends with Alford and was the father of a third girl in the group. Alford bought about £250 worth of food, alcohol and cigarettes from a nearby petrol station in the early hours of the morning. According to the younger girl, Alford had sex with her in the garden of the house and in a toilet. She told police she asked him to stop "three or four times", adding: "I told him to stop because I didn't want to have sex with an old man." The former actor sexually touched the older girl as she was half asleep on a living room sofa. Police then received a report from the 15-year-old's mother two days later.

John Alford (left) played Robbie Wright in Grange Hill, alongside George Christopher (right) who appeared as Ziggy Greaves

Alford told police the girls were attempting to extort money from him, and claimed he was the victim of a "set-up". He began to cry as he told jurors: "I haven't done this. "No DNA. I didn't touch them. I think science proves me not guilty." Alford had previous convictions - which included supplying drugs in 1999 when he was jailed for nine months - although none for sex offences. He had told jurors he was "blacklisted" from acting roles, after he was lured to a hotel by News of the World journalist Mazher "Fake Sheikh" Mahmood, who was posing as an Arabian prince. At sentencing, defence barrister Mohammed Bashir said: "The impact upon the girls has been great but it's important to note that in that time Mr Shannon has not committed any further offences." The younger girl said in a statement, read at court on Wednesday, that being sexually assaulted had "affected me and my family in every way". In her impact statement, the older girl said "this man destroyed my mental wellbeing".

Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

California investigates Grok over AI deepfakes

2 hours ago Share Save Lily Jamali North America Technology correspondent Share Save

Reuters

California's top prosecutor has launched an investigation into the spread of sexualised AI deepfakes generated by Elon Musk's AI model Grok. Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement announcing the probe: "The avalanche of reports detailing the non-consensual, sexually explicit material that xAI has produced and posted online in recent weeks is shocking." xAI, which develops Grok, has previously said "anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content". California's inquiry comes as British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer warns of possible action against X.

In Wednesday's statement, Bonta said: "This material, which depicts women and children in nude and sexually explicit situations, has been used to harass people across the internet." The Democratic prosecutor urged xAI to take immediate action. California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, posted to X on Wednesday that xAI's decision to "create and host a breeding ground for predators... is vile". The BBC has contacted xAI for comment. On Wednesday, Musk posted to X that he is "not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok. Literally zero." "Obviously, Grok does not spontaneously generate images," Musk wrote. "It does so only according to user requests." The tech billionaire, a Republican mega-donor, has also said that critics of X were politically motivated and using the Grok controversy as an "excuse for censorship". In November, Wired magazine reported that tools from other AI companies like OpenAI and Google have also been used to digitally undress people. Last week, three US Democratic senators asked Apple and Google to remove X and Grok from their app stores. Within hours of the request, X restricted its image generation tool so that it would only be available to paying subscribers. X and Grok remain available on Apple's App Store and Google Play.

Hillsborough Law campaigners say they cannot back proposed bill

56 minutes ago Share Save Chris Bell , BBC News Investigations , Joshua Nevett , Political reporter and Iain Watson , Political correspondent Share Save

AFP via Getty Images

The families of victims of the Manchester Arena bombing say they cannot support the current form of a new law being designed to stop cover-ups. Campaigners met Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Wednesday in Parliament to press their case that the Hillsborough Law should apply to individual employees of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ and leave no public authority exempt. Last week, families bereaved by the arena attack in 2017 wrote to him saying MI5 had failed them and argued that the proposed law must apply fully to security services. But following their meeting, they said the PM had failed to address their concerns.

A public inquiry found MI5 had not given an "accurate picture" of the key intelligence it held on the suicide bomber who carried out the arena attack, which killed 22 people and injured hundreds. The Hillsborough Law Now campaign has warned that the draft legislation in its current form could allow intelligence chiefs "to hide serious failures behind a vague claim of national security". The government has tabled amendments to the draft law, formally known as the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, that would place the same "duty of candour" on security service personnel as other public servants. But MI5, MI6 and GCHQ chiefs would have the power to "review and determine whether or how" to provide any information supplied by agents to inquiries or investigations, under the amendments. Government sources said while they had the deepest respect for the families, they had gone as far as they could without compromising national security and that the security services would be subjected to unprecedented scrutiny. A government spokesman told the BBC: "We have listened to their concerns on how the duty of candour will apply to the security services and we will continue to work with them to make the bill as strong as it can possibly be, while never compromising on national security." Ruth Leney, who chairs the Manchester Arena Support Network, said the PM had "listened" during their meeting on Wednesday, but added: "It's not the outcome that we expected. "It's got to be all or nothing, they can't water down anything, especially with the security services." She added: "We can't trust the bill if not everybody is accountable to it."

Caroline Curry, whose son Liam Curry, 19, was killed in the bombing, said she was "devastated" about amendments to the bill and felt like she had been misled. "We can't bring our children back, they're gone," she said. "But what we can do is try to stand up for other people and try to protect their children." "It's not what they agreed and what they promised," said Lisa Rutherford, whose daughter Chloe Rutherford, 17, was also killed. "They have said that they will go away and have another look but we are not hopeful," she added. "All we want is honesty." "The government is in danger of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory," said Pete Weatherby KC, a director of the Hillsborough Law Now campaign which is assisting with the bill. At Prime Minister's Questions, Labour MP Anneliese Midgley accused MI5 of spending "six years misleading the public and concealing information" about the arena bombing. In response, Sir Keir said he is determined not to "water down" the legislation and argued that the amendments tabled by the government would "strengthen" it. "It is right that there are essential safeguards in place to protect national security, and we've got that balance right," Starmer said at PMQs.

'Appropriate and unambiguous': White House defends Trump over middle-finger gesture at heckler

The heckler has been suspended by Ford, the United Auto Workers union told the BBC's US partner, CBS News. Within 24 hours of the incident, two separate GoFundMe pages have raised nearly $700,000 (£521,000) for him from more than 27,000 donors.

The White House said: "A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the President gave an appropriate and unambiguous response."

Footage of the incident published by TMZ appears to show Trump responding to a man who shouted at him from afar.

The White House has defended US President Donald Trump after he aimed an offensive gesture at a heckler during his appearance at the Ford factory in Detroit on Tuesday.

A Ford spokesperson told CBS: "One of our core values is respect and we don't condone anyone saying anything inappropriate like that within our facilities.

"When that happens, we have a process to deal with it but we don't get into specific personnel matters."

According to the subtitles provided by TMZ, the heckler called Trump a "paedophile protector".

In the clip, which shows Trump from a distance, the president can be seen speaking back at the heckler, allegedly mouthing an expletive as well as using a middle-finger gesture.

A man who spoke to The Washington Post, named TJ Sabula, identified himself as the man who shouted. He said he had "no regrets" about what he did.

Sabula reportedly said he his remarks referred to Trump's handling of the Epstein files.

Trump has faced pressure for more transparency on what was uncovered by federal investigations into Jeffrey Epstein, the late convicted sex offender.

Trump signed a law that compelled the Department of Justice (DoJ) to release all the files that it held on Epstein by 19 December, although only a fraction of the files have so far been made public.

Trump was once friends with Epstein before they fell out, which Trump says was years before Epstein was first arrested. Trump has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.

United Automotive Workers (UAW), the union that represents Sabula, defended his actions, saying: "He believes in freedom of speech, a principle we wholeheartedly embrace, and we stand with our membership in protecting their voice on the job."

Trump was in Detroit on Tuesday to give a speech to the Detroit Economic Club.

The president's public use of expletives have attracted headlines in the past - for example, when discussing the relationship between Iran and Israel last June.

His predecessor Joe Biden also caused controversy for uttering an expletive during a conversation with a worker during his own visit to a factory in Detroit while on the campaign trail in 2020, before he was elected president.

Denmark warns of 'fundamental disagreement' after White House talks on Greenland

Watch: "Fundamental disagreement" with US over Greenland remains, says Danish foreign minister

Trump afterwards reiterated his interest in acquiring the resource-rich island, a position that has rattled allies across Europe and stoked tensions with Nato.

"We made it very, very clear that this is not in the interest of [Denmark]," he said.

Lars Lokke Rasmussen said the meeting with Vice-President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday had been "frank but constructive". But he added that US President Trump was insisting on "conquering" Greenland which was "totally unacceptable".

Denmark's foreign minister has said there is a "fundamental disagreement" with the US over Greenland after talks at the White House.

Rasmussen said there were "red lines" the US could not cross, and the working group would meet in the coming weeks in an effort to find a compromise. He added that Denmark and Greenland were open to the possibility of the US opening more military bases on the island.

The hour-long meeting between the US, Denmark and Greenland failed to bring a major breakthrough, although all sides agreed to set-up a high-level working group to discuss the future of the autonomous Danish territory.

Watch: What message do Greenlanders want to send to Trump?

Despite being the most sparsely populated territory, Greenland's location between North America and the Arctic makes it well placed for early warning systems in the event of missile attacks, and for monitoring vessels in the region.

Trump has repeatedly said that Greenland is vital to US national security.

The US already has more than 100 military personnel permanently stationed at its Pituffik base in Greenland's north-western tip - a facility that has been operated by the US since World War Two.

Under existing agreements with Denmark, the US has the power to bring as many troops as it wants to Greenland.

After the meeting, Denmark vowed to send armed forces to the island.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greenland Vivian Motzfeldt said the territory was open to greater co-operation with the US but also opposed a takeover.

"We have shown where our limits are," Motzfeldt said.

Vance and Rubio did not immediately comment after the meeting. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office: "We need Greenland for national security."

"The problem is there's not a thing that Denmark can do about it if Russia or China wants to occupy Greenland, but there's everything we can do," he said, adding that he does not believe the US can rely on Denmark to defend the island.

As tensions simmered in Washington, allies in Europe moved quickly to show support for Greenland.

Sweden on Wednesday pledged to send armed forces to Greenland at Denmark's request. France's foreign minister said the country planned to open a consulate on the island next month.

Germany said in a statement provided to the BBC that it would send a "reconnaissance team" to Greenland to "explore the general conditions for possible military contributions to support Denmark in ensuring security in the region".

Denmark said its military expansion in Greenland will take place "in close cooperation with allies".

"Geopolitical tensions have spread to the arctic," it said in a statement.

The White House talks were just the latest round of diplomatic discussions over Trump's growing interest in somehow taking control of Greenland.

It is unclear whether the president is considering using military force to seize the island. He declined to rule it out when asked on Wednesday.

Other options reportedly under consideration include purchasing the territory - though neither Danes nor Greenlanders have said it's for sale.

Since taking office, Vance has criticized Denmark's stewardship of Greenland. The vice president visited soon after taking office in a trip meant to signal the administration's interest in acquiring the territory.

Trump has argued control of the territory is critical for his planned missile defense system, Golden Dome.

"It is vital for the Golden Dome that we are building," Trump said in a social media post early Wednesday. "NATO should be leading the way for us to get it."

Public opinion polls show a majority of Greenland residents oppose coming under US control.

Most Americans oppose US control of Greenland as well. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday found that just 17% of Americans support the US seizing Greenland, compared to 47 percent who said they opposed Trump's push to acquire the island.

Trump's focus on Greenland comes on the heels of US attacks on Venezuela and ISIS In Syria in recent weeks. Trump has also threatened to take military action to stop Iran's deadly crackdown on a growing protest movement engulfing the nation.

US and UK pulling some personnel from Qatar military base

1 hour ago Share Save Tinshui Yeung Share Save

TSGT Scott Reed, USAF Al-Udeid is the largest US military base in the Middle East

The US and UK are reducing the number of personnel at the Al-Udeid air base in Qatar, as US President Donald Trump considers whether to take action against Iran over its crackdown on anti-government protests. Officials have told CBS, the BBC's US partner, that the partial American withdrawal was a "precautionary measure". The BBC understands some UK military personnel are also being removed. A Qatari government statement said the measures reportedly being taken by the US were "in response to the current regional tensions". The Foreign Office has also temporarily closed the British embassy in Tehran, which will now operate remotely, a government spokesperson said.

According to rights groups, more than 2,400 anti-government demonstrators have been killed in the recent violent crackdown by the Iranian authorities. Regarding the removal of military personnel, the Qatari government said it would continue to "implement all necessary measures to safeguard the security and safety of its citizens and residents as a top priority, including actions related to the protection of critical infrastructure and military facilities". A UK Ministry of Defence spokesperson declined to comment on reports that UK personnel were being withdrawn "due to operational security". Al-Udeid is the largest US military base in the Middle East and about 10,000 personnel are based there, as well as about 100 UK staff. It is not clear how many will be leaving. Earlier this week, Trump warned the US would take "very strong action" against Iran if the authorities execute protesters. Iran has said it will retaliate if attacked by the US. On Wednesday, he said his administration had been told "on good authority" that "the killing in Iran is stopping, and there's no plan for executions". When questioned by a reporter, Trump said that these were "very important sources on the other side" and that he hoped the reports were true. The US president was also asked whether military action was now off the table, to which he replied: "We're going to watch and see what the process is."

The Reuters news agency, citing diplomats, reported that while some personnel had been told to leave the Al-Udeid air base, there was no immediate sign of large numbers of troops being bussed out like in the hours before an Iranian strike last year. Speaking to Fox News on Wednesday, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned Donald Trump to "not repeat the same mistake that you did in June," adding: "You know, if you try a failed experience, you will get the same result." As well as the temporary closure of the British embassy in Tehran, the US Mission to Saudi Arabia has advised its personnel and citizens to "exercise increased caution and limit non-essential travel to any military installations in the region". Italy and Poland have published statements urging their citizens to leave Iran, while Germany has issued a notice to air operators recommending that flights do not enter Tehran, citing potential risk from "escalating conflict and anti-aviation weaponry".

'I carried my wife's body for an hour and a half' - BBC hears stories of protesters killed in Iran

2 hours ago Share Save Sarah Namjoo and Roja Assadi BBC Persian Share Save

User generated content Protesters march through Kashani, Tehran, on 8 January

Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions of death and injury Heading home after joining a protest in Tehran on 8 January, Reza put his arms around his wife Maryam to protect her. "Suddenly, I felt my arm go light – there was only her jacket in my hands," he told a family member, who later spoke to BBC Persian. Maryam had been fatally shot - and they had no idea where the bullet had come from. Reza carried Maryam's body for an hour and a half. Exhausted, he sat down in an alley. After a short time, the door of a nearby house opened. The people who lived there took them into their garage, brought a white sheet and wrapped Maryam's body in it. Days before Maryam headed out to the protests, she had told her children - aged seven and 14 – about what was happening in their country. "Sometimes parents go to the protests and don't come back," she said. "My blood, and yours, is no more precious than anyone else's." Reza and Maryam's names have been changed for safety reasons.

Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting via WANA via Reuters Iranian state television has shown this burnt-out bus, saying it was filmed in Tehran on 10 January

Maryam is one of thousands of protesters who should have returned home but never did, as the authorities responded to the rapid spread of demonstrations across Iran with a deadly crackdown. The US-based Iranian Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says it has been able to confirm the killing of at least 2,400 protesters, including 12 children, during the past three weeks. It is extremely difficult to determine the death toll, which is expected to rise in the coming days, because the country remains under a near-total internet blackout imposed by Iranian authorities on Thursday night. Human-rights groups have no direct access to the country and, along with other international news organisations, the BBC is unable to report on the ground. Iranian authorities have not provided a death toll but local media have reported 100 security personnel have been killed, and protesters - whom they have portrayed as "rioters and terrorists" - have set fire to dozens of mosques and banks in various cities.

User generated content Kashani, Tehran, on 8 January

Demonstrations began in the capital, Tehran, on 29 December, following a sharp fall in the value of the Iranian currency against the dollar. As the protests reached dozens of other towns and cities, they turned against Iran's clerical rulers. Security forces soon launched a violent crackdown, with at least 34 protesters reported killed by 7 January, the 11th day of the unrest. However, it appears the bloodiest crackdown was last Thursday and Friday, when thousands of people took to the streets across the country and called for an end to the rule of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. BBC Persian has received dozens of accounts from inside Iran. Defiant despite potential repercussions, the witnesses said they wanted to ensure the rest of the world knew of the violence against the protesters.

User generated content A demonstration outside Hoze Elmiye religious institution, in Najaf Abad, on 8 January

"Our neighbourhood smells of blood - they killed so many," one told BBC Persian. Another recalled security forces "mostly shooting at heads and faces". The protests have spread across all 31 provinces. And the information trickling in clearly shows the scale of the killings in smaller cities and towns is just as severe as in major cities.

In Tonekabon, a town of 50,000 people in the north, Sorena Golgun was killed on Friday. The 18-year-old university student was "shot in the heart" running from an ambush by security forces, according to a family member.

Family of Sorena Golgun Sorena Golgun's family say the 18-year-old university student was shot in his heart running from security forces in Tonekabon

Like Sorena, many of the other protesters killed were young and full of dreams. Robina Aminian, a 23-year-old fashion-design student who hoped to study in Milan, was shot dead in Tehran on Thursday. Her mother spent about six hours travelling from their home, in the western city of Kermanshah, to collect Robina's body from Tehran. On her way back, she held her beloved daughter in her arms. But when she arrived, the security forces made her bury the body in a remote cemetery outside the city - with no other family or friends present.

Not all those killed were protesters. Navid Salehi, a 24-year-old nurse in Kermanshah, was shot multiple times leaving work on Thursday. The bodies of many protesters were sent to the Kahrizak Forensic Medical Centre, in Tehran.

The scenes there were so distressing Sahanand, who did not want to give his real name, decided to travel almost 1,000km to a border area so he could send out video footage by using the mobile data networks of neighbouring countries. On Saturday, Sahanand had seen more than 2,000 bodies lying on the ground, he said. Again, the BBC has no means to confirm this. However, in two newly emerged videos from Kahrizak, BBC Verify and BBC Persian have counted at least 186 bodies in one piece of footage and at least 178 bodies in the other. The two videos probably show some of the same bodies, so we cannot be definitive, but the true figure is likely to be much higher.

User generated content Kashani, Tehran, on 8 January

Mahmood has no confidence in police chief after Israeli fan ban

2 hours ago Share Save Susie Rack and Alex McIntyre , West Midlands Share Save

House of Commons Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told MPs she had lost confidence in West Midlands Chief Constable Craig Guildford over the Maccabi Tel Aviv fan ban

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood says she has lost confidence in West Midlands Police's chief constable after Israeli football fans were banned from a match against Aston Villa. Mahmood told MPs a "damning" review from the policing watchdog over the intelligence that led to Maccabi Tel Aviv fans being banned showed a "failure of leadership". The force has apologised saying it did not deliberately distort evidence that was used by Birmingham's Safety Advisory Group for the 6 November game. Chief Constable Craig Guildford remains in post, but faces a meeting on 27 January to be questioned by Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster who has the authority to sack him.

Mahmood told the Commons on Wednesday she intended to restore the power for home secretaries to dismiss chief constables "who fail their communities".

Guildford has written a letter, in which he apologised for providing incorrect evidence to a Home Affairs Select Committee, which included the denial that AI was used in a report that led to the Israeli fans' ban.

Mahmood told MPs His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary Sir Andy Cooke had found "confirmation bias" in police intelligence gathering. She said: "The force, we now discover, conducted little engagement with the Jewish community and none with the Jewish community in Birmingham before a decision was taken." Sir Andy's interim report, commissioned by Mahmood, found that "rather than follow the evidence, the force sought only the details to support their desired position to ban the fans," Mahmood told MPs. "He shows that the police overstated the threat posed by the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, while understating the risk that was posed to the Israeli fans if they travelled to the area," she said.

Watch: Police chief blames non-existent game on "social media scraping" and Google search

The decision to ban the fans from match was taken by the city's safety group based on evidence shared by police. In his apology, Guildford admitted AI had assisted searches and provided incorrect evidence that helped inform the decision. Some of the intelligence referred to a fixture between Maccabi Tel Aviv and West Ham that did not take place. At appearances on 1 December and 6 January, Guildford told the Home Affairs Select Committee the force "do not use AI", rather that it was a Google search that provided the erroneous information. In his letter to the chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee published on Wednesday, Guildford said the information "arose as a result of a use of Microsoft Copilot" and offered a "profound apology" for the mistake. A Microsoft spokesperson told the BBC: "We are not able to replicate what is being reported. "Copilot combines information from multiple web sources into a single response with linked citations. It informs users they are interacting with an AI system and encourages them to review the sources."

Sir Andy's review found eight inaccuracies in a report from the force to Birmingham's safety group, including a reference to the non-existent Tel Aviv-West Ham game. Others included overstating the number of Dutch police officers deployed during a Maccabi match in Amsterdam and claims Muslim communities had been intentionally targeted by Tel Aviv fans. The decision on the ban from the safety group - which is made up of representatives from the council, police and other authorities - prompted political outrage, including from Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Guildford has insisted the decision was not politically influenced.

'Wider concerns'

In a joint statement, the Jewish Leadership Council and Board of Deputies of British Jews said the interim report confirmed their "long-held concerns". "The threats posed by Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were overstated based on numerous inaccurate claims, and the genuine risk to them was understated," they said. "The HMIC report has also confirmed there was a failure to engage with the local Jewish community." They called on Foster to "exercise his authority" and dismiss Guildford "without delay". "This case signals wider concerns about the factors influencing police judgement and decision making," they added.

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster is to question Guildford on issues around the ban later in January

West Midlands Police (WMP) said it would continue to engage with the inspection and said the findings recognised the "unintentional nature" of its errors. "We are extremely sorry for the impact these have had on individuals and their communities," a spokesperson said. "We are taking immediate action to address the matters raised in these preliminary findings. "We know that mistakes were made, but reiterate the findings that none of this was done with an intent of deliberate distortion or discrimination." They said planning around the football match was about "public safety of all communities". "We will now work tirelessly to rebuild confidence in West Midlands Police," the force added.

Foster said he wanted to question Guildford further at his Accountability and Governance Board, in a meeting scheduled for 27 January. He said he acknowledged the "significant strength of feeling" on the matter and said he had read Sir Andy's "preliminary views". "I have been sent that letter having had no sight of, or briefing on, its contents before today. I must now give it careful and detailed consideration," Foster said.

'Weakness and fear'

Foster added it was his statutory duty to hold Guildford to account and he planned to give issues "full and proper consideration". The West Midlands Mayor, Richard Parker, and Birmingham City Council leader John Cotton have both also called for Guildford to resign. Following Mahmood's statement Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, also called for the chief constable to be sacked, describing the saga as a "shameful episode". He said WMP failed to act on the threat of "vicious antisemitism" and that this was done "through weakness and fear". Philp also challenged Mahmood over her point about restoring home secretaries' authority to sack chief constables, adding: "She must stop pretending to have no power and actually act."

US launches phase two of Gaza peace plan with new technocratic government

2 hours ago Share Save David Gritten and Jon Donnison , Jerusalem Share Save

Reuters Phase two of the peace plan should see reconstruction starting in Gaza after two years of war

US envoy Steve Witkoff has announced the start of phase two of President Donald Trump's plan to end the war in Gaza, with a technocratic Palestinian government established in the territory. Under phase one, Hamas and Israel agreed a ceasefire in October, as well as a hostage-prisoner exchange, a partial Israeli withdrawal, and an aid surge. Witkoff said phase two would also see the reconstruction and full demilitarisation of Gaza, including the disarmament of Hamas and other Palestinian groups. "The US expects Hamas to comply fully with its obligations," he warned, noting these include the return of the body of the last dead Israeli hostage. "Failure to do so will bring serious consequences."

However, two key points of phase two could be problematic. Hamas has previously refused to give up its weapons without the creation of an independent Palestinian state, and Israel has not committed to fully withdrawing from Gaza. The ceasefire is also fragile at best, with both sides accusing each other of repeated violations. Almost 450 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since it came into force, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry. And humanitarian conditions in the territory remain dire, according to the UN, which has stressed the need for the unrestricted flow of critical supplies.

In his statement, Witkoff declared that with the launch of phase two of Trump's 20-point peace plan on Wednesday, Gaza was "moving from ceasefire to demilitarisation, technocratic governance, and reconstruction". "Phase Two establishes a transitional technocratic Palestinian administration in Gaza, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), and begins the full demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza, primarily the disarmament of all unauthorized personnel," he said. Following the announcement, regional mediators Egypt, Qatar and Turkey welcomed the formation of what they called the "Palestinian Technocratic Committee to Administer the Gaza Strip", saying it would contribute to "efforts aimed at consolidating stability and improving the humanitarian situation". They also revealed that the 15-member committee would be headed by Ali Shaath, a former deputy planning minister in the Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs parts of the occupied West Bank not under Israeli control. Gaza's transitional administration will operate under the supervision of a "Board of Peace", which will be chaired by Trump, according to the 20-point plan he unveiled three months ago. Announcements related to the board are expected in the coming days, including when the president visits the World Economic Forum in Davos next week. Nickolay Mladenov, a Bulgarian politician and former UN Middle East envoy, is set to be the board's representative on the ground in Gaza. Trump's plan says an International Stabilisation Force (ISF) will also be deployed to Gaza to train and support vetted Palestinian police forces.

Israel's prime minister told Ran Gvili's parents that his return was "a top priority"

Nasa astronauts begin 'bittersweet' medical evacuation from space station

20 minutes ago Share Save Georgina Rannard Science reporter Share Save

NASA Oleg Platonov, Mike Fincke, Zena Cardman and Kimiya Yui will end their ISS stay one month early

Four astronauts have left the International Space Station a month early, in the first medical evacuation since the station was put into Earth's orbit in 1998. The astronauts, known as Crew 11, are expected to splash down off the coast of California in the early hours of Thursday local time. Their journey was cut short because of medical issue involving one crew member, Nasa said. The agency did not provide details about the crew member or the nature of the medical issue, but said they were in stable condition. Control of the ISS has been handed over to Russian cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and two other crew members.

The astronauts, Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Japan's Kimiya Yui and cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, arrived on the ISS on 1 August expecting to complete a standard six and a half month stay. They were due to come home in mid-February. But last week, a scheduled spacewalk by Fincke and Cardman was called off at the last minute. Hours later, Nasa revealed a crew member had become ill. "It's bittersweet," said Mr Fincke when he handed over the keys to the ISS to Kud-Sverchjov on Monday. In a social media post, he stressed that all crew members on board were "stable, safe, and well cared for". Orbiting Earth at an altitude of 250 miles, the International Space Station (ISS) makes 16 orbits of our planet a day, travelling at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour. It is run by five space agencies and carries out wide-ranging scientific research about space and the effects on humans, animals and plants of living in microgravity.

NASA The International Space Station has been continuously inhabited since the year 2000

The ISS carries some medical equipment and astronauts are trained to deal with minor medical issues, but it does not have a doctor on board. The early departure leaves the ISS with a slim crew of just three astronauts - Nasa's Chris Williams and cosmonauts Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev - until another four arrive in February. "Despite all the changes and all the difficulties, we are going to do our job onboard ISS, performing all the scientific tasks, maintenance tasks here, whatever happens," Kud-Sverchkov said on Monday. He then issued his first command - a group hug. The reduced crew will probably mean that scientific work on the ISS will be dialled back.

Tehran morgue videos show the brutality of Iran's crackdown on protesters

6 hours ago Share Save Shayan Sardarizadeh , Merlyn Thomas , BBC Verify and Ghoncheh Habibiazad , BBC Persian Share Save

BBC Crowds of masked protesters gather in Tehran

Warning: this story contains content which some readers might find distressing Distressing new videos have emerged from a mortuary in Tehran showing rows of bodies, blood soaked floors and crowds of people searching for loved ones following a deadly government crackdown on protesters in Iran. The videos analysed by BBC Verify and BBC Persian, which are too graphic to show, contain some of the most shocking examples so far of how brutal the government's retaliation has been since the unrest began on 28 December. Forensic examination of the footage reveals nearly 200 bodies laid throughout the mortuary complex, many with visible wounds and one victim identified as young as 16. Anti-government demonstrations have spread to more than 68 towns and cities, verified videos show, though the true figure is likely to be much higher. The near total internet blackout imposed by the government since last week has left more than 90 million Iranians almost completely cut off from the outside world. The number of people who have been killed in the protests is not fully known. US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) places the estimate at more than 2,500. An Iranian official previously told Reuters 2,000 people have been killed but claimed "terrorists" were to blame.

A black body bag shows the date of birth of a 16-year-old victim

BBC Verify and BBC Persian have previously reported on images emerging from this mortuary but we are not showing these new videos because the images are too graphic. The footage was posted on Tuesday by Vahid, a US-based Iranian social media influencer and activist, who said they were filmed on 10 January inside the Kahrizak Forensic Medical Centre in south Tehran. Vahid said the videos were filmed by a man who had travelled nearly 1,000km to find internet access. The man told BBC Persian he used mobile networks from neighbouring countries to upload the footage. Vahid has been posting dozens of videos documenting events inside the country for the outside world to see. Two of the videos show rows of body bags on the floor as the man walks up and down a road that runs through the northern section of the vast mortuary complex. He later moves through a courtyard and inside a large warehouse, and walks in and out of adjacent rooms filled with more body bags. At one point he is heard describing the scene as "the apocalypse".

The man filming is heard saying, "Today is Saturday, a day after the call". He is referring to the call made by Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the late Shah, for nationwide protests that took place last Thursday and Friday night. Two more clips contain a collection of photos taken from the mortuary showing several bodies wrapped in the zip-up bags, including one which appears burnt. BBC Verify and BBC Persian have counted at least 186 bodies in the five-minute video and at least 178 bodies in the 16-minute clip. The two videos likely show some of the same bodies so we cannot be definitive, but the true figure is likely to be much higher. The videos contain at least nine separate clips edited together. The positions of shadows in the footage indicate these sections were likely filmed at different times throughout the day. We have matched identifiable features from the complex, including separate buildings, the red roof of a warehouse and fences with satellite images on Google. The man films as he moves around inside the centre, where more bodies are kept on stretchers as well as the floor. The footage shows some body bags fully zipped up while others are either half or entirely unzipped, revealing victims' faces and injuries. Some are completely uncovered. We can see blood-soaked towels and sheets scattered around the complex with streaks of blood on the floor.

Body bags laid outside in the courtyard of the mortuary complex

A number of the bodies have visible wounds. Two bodies appear to be soaked in blood, and another is seen with a deep stomach wound. Some body bags have papers attached to them or details written on the body bags in a white marker such as a name, national ID number, date of birth and death, and in some cases their father's name. At least two men are described as unidentified on a sheet of paper attached to their bag, and at least one woman and one teenager are among the victims. The date of death on three of the male victims' body bags states 9 January. Another body bag shows a date of birth using the Iranian calendar. It says 1/1/1388, which corresponds to 21/3/2009, indicating that it belongs to a 16-year-old. During one moment in the 16-minute clip the man points his phone at a building to his right and a voice can be heard saying: "There are many [bodies] inside. It's not possible to go inside… this is the women's area". Iranian mortuaries separate the bodies of men and women for religious reasons. At a different point we can see a body bag at the back of a hearse and a man nearby is heard telling a female official that it is his sister.

Verifying Iran protest footage as internet blackout passes 100 hours

Starlink reportedly made free in Iran - but protesters are taking huge risks by using it

5 hours ago Share Save Reha Kansara and Ghoncheh Habibiazad BBC News and BBC Persian Share Save

Getty Images The latest protests in Iran began at the end of December following the collapse of the currency but have widened into demands for political change

Starlink has reportedly waived monthly subscription payments for users inside Iran after its government shut down the internet last Thursday - cutting off millions of people from their families, livelihoods and access to information, during a deadly crackdown on protests. The satellite technology has become a vital communications lifeline for some of those in the country trying to tell the outside world what has been happening on the ground in recent days. Two people in Iran told BBC Persian their device was running on Tuesday night even though they had not been keeping up with subscription payments. The director of an organisation that helps Iranians get online also told BBC Persian that Starlink had been made free. The satellite technology, which belongs to Elon Musk's SpaceX company, provides internet to tens of thousands of people in Iran, despite the fact it is illegal there. Since the internet was shut down, it has become one of the last, if not the last, remaining channels for Iranians to communicate with the outside world. The BBC has approached SpaceX to confirm it has waived the fee, but they are yet to respond.

Using the service in Iran carries a punishment of up to two years in prison and authorities have reportedly been searching for Starlink dishes to stop people from connecting to the internet. "They're going onto rooftops and checking the surrounding buildings," says Parsa - not his real name - who spoke to BBC Persian using a Starlink connection. "What people need to know is that the government is searching areas where a lot of footage has come out, so they need to be even more cautious," he says. The device operates like a mobile phone mast in space, using a constellation of satellites to communicate with small dishes on the ground with a built-in WiFi router. But the device is costly and beyond the means of many in Iran - so making it free may lead to its wider use.

Speaking to Al Jazeera TV on Monday, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the internet had been cut off "after we confronted terrorist operations and realised orders were coming from outside the country". Iran's Fars news agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), claimed internet restrictions were imposed to stop foreign social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Instagram being used "to organise violence and unrest." Human rights groups have condemned the blanket blackout as an abuse of power and a spokesperson for the UN's Human rights office told the BBC the shutdown "impacts the works of those documenting human rights violations." So far, one human rights group has confirmed the killing of more than 2,400 protesters during the unrest, as well as almost 150 people affiliated with security forces, although these numbers are believed to be much higher. It is difficult to gauge the true scale of bloodshed because, like other international news organisations, the BBC is not able to report from inside the country.

Getty Images Starlink terminals, like the one pictured here, can allow users to connect directly to the internet via satellites, bypassing the blackout

The internet shutdown has also made it hard to gather and verify evidence of what is happening on the ground. "I think a lot of people are connected, but only a very small number are taking the risk of sending information out," explains Parsa. According to human rights organisation Witness, at least 50,000 people are using Starlink to access the internet. Mahsa Alimardani, who works as its associate director for technology, threats and opportunities, says the Iranian authorities have tried "aggressively jamming" Starlink to stop people accessing the internet but it has not been successful. "That's why they are resorting to physical confiscations," she adds. But those who are taking the risk are going to great lengths. One man who spoke to BBC Persian said he travelled almost 1,000km (620 miles) to a border area so he could use mobile networks of neighbouring countries to send video he recorded. The scene he witnessed - of a huge number of bodies lying on the ground at a forensic medical centre in Tehran - was so distressing that he felt compelled to share it, he told the BBC.

The Iranian government has a long track record of spying on its citizens, including digitally, to tighten its grip on society. Phishing techniques have reportedly been used to hack phones and access people's data and Iran's access to the internet is largely restricted to a domestic service that mimics a private intranet. Access to Western social media platforms such as Instagram, WhatsApp and Telegram is blocked, meaning Iranians have to use virtual private networks (VPNs) in order to access them. But despite this, Instagram is one of the most popular platforms in Iran, with an estimated 50 million users.

BBC News

Though some news is being shared online, experts say the Iranian government aims to control the narrative by limiting what information gets out. Ana Diamond, research associate at the Oxford Disinformation and Extremism Lab, says the government is weaponising information by carefully curating it. "Such material is designed less to inform than to condition; to almost normalise casualties, especially as the Iranian government calls them rioters, eroding collective resistance, and preparing the public - both inside and outside of Iran - for escalations of violence that may be yet to come if the protests continue," Diamond says.

'Sentenced to death within days': Who is Erfan Soltani, Iranian protester reportedly facing execution?

1 hour ago Share Save Malu Cursino Share Save

Hengaw Organization for Human Rights

A man arrested in connection with the current wave of protests in Iran has been sentenced to death and told he faces execution, his family and a human rights group say. Erfan Soltani, 26, was arrested last Thursday in the city of Fardis, just west of Tehran. Days later, authorities informed his family his execution had been scheduled for Wednesday without giving any additional details, according to Norway-based Kurdish human rights group Hengaw. On Wednesday, Hengaw said it had "serious and ongoing concerns regarding Soltani's right to life" but that, according to information obtained through relatives, his execution had been postponed. Iran's judiciary has not yet commented on Soltani's case or announced any execution in connections with the protests. The internet blackout imposed by the government has also made obtaining information on his status - and others in potentially similar situations - difficult. Awyer Shekhi of Hengaw told the BBC she feared there were "many" cases like Soltani's, highlighting the scale and speed to which Iranian authorities were carrying out violent crackdowns compared to previous protests.

On Tuesday, one of Soltani's relatives told BBC Persian that a court had issued a death sentence "in an extremely rapid process, within just two days". Soltani is a resident of Fardis, Karaj, where he owns a clothes shop. He was arrested "at his private residence", Hengaw said in a statement. Iranian authorities have reportedly failed to give Soltani's family any more information about his case, citing only that he had been arrested in connection with a protest. His sister, who is a lawyer, tried to pursue the case but authorities told her there was nothing to pursue, Shekhi told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "He is just someone who is against the current situation in Iran... now he's received a death sentence for expressing his opinion." Shekhi said prisoners on death row in Iran were typically granted a final visit by their loved ones before their execution. While the Iranian authorities had told the family they would allow a meeting with Erfan before his execution, he had not been allowed any contact with his family since his arrest, she added. There was a "high chance" other people in Iran were in a similar position to Soltani, but there was little information about them because of the internet shutdown, according to Shekhi. President Donald Trump has said the US will take "very strong action" against Iran if it executes protesters - telling Iranians to "KEEP PROTESTING" in a post on his Truth Social platform. He also said he has cancelled all meetings with Iranian officials "until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY". He has since said that his administration had been told "on good authority" that "the killing in Iran is stopping, and there's no plan for executions".

Authorities in Tehran imposed an internet blackout last Thursday, as the protests escalated and authorities stepped up their deadly crackdown. The BBC and most other international news organisations are also unable to report from inside Iran, making obtaining and verifying information difficult. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it had so far confirmed the killing of 2,417 protesters, as well as 12 children and 10 uninvolved civilians, despite the blackout. Nearly 150 people affiliated with the security forces or government had also been killed, the group said. At least 18,434 protesters have been arrested during the unrest, according to HRANA.

Iran's judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei has pledged swift legal action against what he called "rioters". According to Mohseni-Ejei, those who have "committed terrorist acts should definitely be given priority for trial and punishment". Authorities were planning to hold open trials for some of the main figures involved in recent unrest, with proceedings accessible to the media, he said on Wednesday. But Iran's handling of Soltani's case "constitutes a clear violation of international human rights law", Hengaw's statement said, adding: "The rushed and non-transparent handling of this case has heightened concerns over the use of the death penalty as a tool to suppress public protests." "Erfan is the first protester to be sentenced to death, but he won't be the last," the US State Department said on its Farsi-language X account. The protests, which have reportedly spread to more than 180 cities and towns in all 31 provinces, were sparked by anger over the collapse of the Iranian currency and soaring cost of living. They quickly widened into demands for political change and became one of the most serious challenges to the clerical establishment since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Why banning of Maccabi fans raises questions about police integrity

4 hours ago Share Save Lucy Manning Special correspondent Share Save

PA Media

When a police force is supposed to seek the truth and uphold the law, what happens when the evidence they present to officials and the public is, as Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood put it, "exaggerated or untrue"? The police inspectorate has concluded the leaders of West Midlands Police fell foul of "confirmation bias". In simple terms, that means senior officers had already reached a decision and were looking for intelligence to justify it. The list of errors and inaccuracies set out in an independent review of the decision-making that led to fans of Israeli football club Maccabi Tel Aviv being banned from attending a fixture at Villa Park in November have been described by Mahmood as "damning". They include: A report of a football match in an intelligence report produced using AI which never happened; a twice-repeated denial by senior police leaders to MPs that AI had not been relied on to produce the inaccurate report; the claim that local Jewish groups had been consulted on the move when they had not been; inaccurately presenting evidence from Dutch police reports from a previous fixture involving the club. This is about a police force that has been accused by MPs of misrepresenting evidence, bending it to make it fit a pre-determined decision, while ignoring evidence that could have presented a different picture. It led to Israeli and some British-Jewish fans being banned from attending a football match, when the intelligence the police had actually gathered suggested they were at risk, not the risk. West Midlands Police was, as Nick Timothy MP - who has led some of the criticism of the force - put it, "gaslighting them". On Wednesday, the force said it would "work tirelessly" to rebuild confidence and that it was "extremely sorry" mistakes had been made, but not with "an intent of deliberate distortion or discrimination".

House of Commons On Wednesday, Shabana Mahmood said she no longer had confidence in the chief constable of West Midlands Police

When Aston Villa were drawn to play Maccabi Tel Aviv last August, tensions around the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza were running high nationally. There were demands from some in the Birmingham community that the Israeli team should be banned from playing or their fans barred from attending. In October 2025, a group made up of local officials, including the police and council, and tasked with making decisions about security at public events, decided the game was high-risk and banned away fans. It was a decision Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and others condemned, saying the role of the police was to ensure all football fans could enjoy the game without fear of violence. "We will not tolerate antisemitism," he said. If it was not for some dogged reporting by journalists, including at the Sunday Times, and hard questioning from MPs the truth would never have come to light. There had been problems with Maccabi Tel Aviv before, including clashes between the club's fans and Dutch supporters at a match in Amsterdam in 2024. As reported by the Guardian, West Midlands Police said intelligence gathered from a Dutch police report showed Maccabi fans had thrown Muslims into a river, that 5,000 Dutch officers were needed to police the game, and Israeli fans had intentionally targeted Muslim communities. In fact, Dutch police told the Sunday Times it was not all true. Wednesday's report confirms inaccuracies and exaggerations despite being there "a significant level of disorder" around the fixture. It was, in fact, a Maccabi fan who was found in the river and 1,200 officers were deployed. It also found that Israeli fans did not intentionally target Muslim communities, though some individual Muslims and pro-Palestinians were. There were reports of hundreds of Israeli fans pulling down Palestinian flags and chanting against Arabs - but Dutch police evidence recorded just three incidents involving flags, and also instances of Dutch locals ambushing and attacking Israeli fans. Earlier this month, West Midlands Police Chief Constable Craig Guildford was called to give evidence to the home affairs select committee for a second time. MPs had been less than impressed with his first appearance. Guildford denied there was any conspiracy to ban Maccabi fans. But MPs were astonished to discover that information gathered before the scheduled match in Birmingham contained "high confidence intelligence" about "elements of the community in [the] West Midlands wanting to 'arm' themselves'" and target Maccabi fans. Asked why this information had not been made public, the chief constable said to the consternation of MPs that it was because "he wasn't asked about it" before.

Reuters Maccabi Tel Aviv fans at a football game

Why the Northern Powerhouse Rail plan will really go ahead this time

7 hours ago Share Save Faisal Islam Economics editor Share Save

PA Media

"Build it from the north" was the cry from transport experts for years as tens of billions of pounds were channelled into projects in the south east, London, and even HS2's viaducts, verges, and bat tunnels in the home counties. The wide-ranging Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) plan is not just about rail expansion to realise the potential of the "untapped goldmine of the North of England" — although that is a big part of it. In the 2030s, it will see a new high speed line between Liverpool and Manchester, and later a line between Birmingham and Manchester to replace the cancelled leg of the HS2 project. As it seeks to right a long history of cross-party overpromising and under-delivery, the infrastructure plans unveiled on Tuesday are central to the political challenge facing Labour and its hopes of reviving economic growth.

As well as championing HS2, former Chancellor George Osborne in 2015 pronounced in an old train shed near Old Trafford that the newly-elected majority Conservative government would roll out a high speed rail line across Labour's northern heartlands. Boris Johnson, elected on a pledge to "level up" northern England, latched onto the idea after winning a majority in 2019. But the political consensus behind the rail project was broken in 2023 by Rishi Sunak, who scrapped the northern leg of HS2 and left NPR alive in accounting terms only. Rail insiders said it had not even reached the "crayons on a map" stage. After winning a massive majority rooted in northern England, a nervous Labour government kicked a decision on NPR into the long grass. On Tuesday, however, its big decision finally came. Sources in Manchester suspect it was an upcoming deadline on the use of powers over HS2 land along this route that forced the government's hand in recommitting to a plan of some sort. What we are left with includes Manchester Airport becoming the most connected airport outside London with high speed. Better connections from Liverpool to Manchester and on to Leeds and Hull could also help create even more economic growth than the vital Oxford to Cambridge link currently being constructed. The timing is crucial. Manchester's council leader has warned the government the cancellation of HS2 was starting to see long-term investment in office space and regeneration shifted to Birmingham instead. Buildings that take a decade to open need at least the outline of a plan for connectivity, even if passengers won't see trains for a decade and a half. HS2's entire premise was "for the north", but its budget was blown on overspecified beautified lines in the south, so much so that it will never actually reach the north. It is effectively an extension of the London Tube to Birmingham.

Julian Barnes on his last novel: 'I hope it's a good one to go out on'

6 hours ago Share Save Katie Razzall Culture and Media Editor Share Save

BBC/Adam Walker Barnes said he didn't want to continue writing novels "if I didn't do it with full conviction"

Julian Barnes is sitting at an ancient electric typewriter in his study in north London. He turns on the machine, and a sound fills the room. "A hum that says, 'I'm here when you need me. Just alerting you to the fact that I'm turned on and ready,'" is how the acclaimed novelist describes it. The typewriter "suits the way that I think as a writer", he adds, and he starts to bash the keys. There's a reassuring clacking as the individual letters hit the blank white page in quick, noisy succession: The other day I discovered an alarming possibility... It's the opening line of his new novel, Departure(s).

BBC/Roxanne Panthaki The author in his study, writing on the trusted typewriter on which he would write the first drafts of his novels

Whatever the alarming fictional discovery, more alarming for his loyal fans is the news that Barnes says he will never write another novel. Departure(s) is to be his last - and is being published just ahead of his 80th birthday. "You get a sense of having played your tunes," he explains. "As I wrote this book, I both thought, this feels like the last book, and it should be." Will he miss writing fiction? "I will miss it, but at the same time it would be foolish to do it if I didn't do it with full conviction... I think it's just a correct decision." Is Departure(s) a good book to go out on? "I think so, yes," he replies. "I hope so."

Barnes has already published 14 novels, three of which were turned into films. He has been translated into 50 languages and sold 10 million copies of his works across the world. Since Metroland, his first, was published in 1980, he's scaled the literary heights.

Alamy Barnes's first novel Metroland was made into a film in 1997 with Christian Bale and Elsa Zylberstein

Picked by Granta in 1983 as one of Britain's top 20 young novelists, he stares out of the famous publicity photo alongside Martin Amis, Pat Barker, Rose Tremain, Kazuo Ishiguro and Ian McEwan, among others. (Salman Rushdie was also on the list but couldn't make the photoshoot.) Granta's once-in-a-decade list is a barometer of Britain's changing literary landscape, and that 1983 photo is a roll-call of some of the greats. "I was excited to be in a generation of novelists, all under 40, and all being celebrated. It was a strange time because it was a time when fiction suddenly became sexy, and also suddenly money was available."

Snowdon/Trunk Archive Julian Barnes (back centre with red tie) featured on the famous Granta List of the 20 Best of Young British Novelists in 1983 - many of whom were to become household names

Barnes won the Booker Prize in 2011 for his 11th novel, The Sense of An Ending, after being previously shortlisted three times. His 15th, Departure(s), is classic Barnes in many ways, blurring the lines between what's real and what's not. Described as part fiction, part memoir and part essay, at its heart is a love story between a couple who part as students and rekindle their relationship years later. I ask him if they are real people. "That's for me to know and my biographer to find out," Barnes replies, somewhat enigmatically.

Gagosian/Suzanne Dean The book cover shows the painting Evening, 1994-1995 by one of Barnes' favourite artists, Howard Hodgkin

The novel is narrated by a writer called Julian who has blood cancer, who lives in north London and whose wife has died of a brain tumour. "I don't think it's my most autobiographical work... but it's obviously a personal book," he tells me.

The real Julian Barnes does have blood cancer, and in 2008 his first wife, the literary agent Pat Kavanagh, died of a brain tumour just 37 days after being diagnosed. She represented authors including Joanna Trollope, Robert Harris, Margaret Drabble and, for more than 20 years, Amis.

Barnes says he's "completely at ease" with his own cancer and supports assisted dying, although "that's not related to my cancer". "My condition is stable and it's kept stable by taking chemo every day of my life." Later, he tells me: "The phrase I came up with when my wife was dying of brain cancer and I was struggling with sanity was, it's just the universe doing its stuff."

Getty Images Barnes said after his wife Pat Kavanagh died just 37 days after she was diagnosed with a brain tumour, that he "raged against the dying of her light"

Death has often preoccupied him in his writing. "I have had a lifelong engagement with death, both theoretical and actual, and have written about it many times," he writes in Departure(s). I want to know why he's so interested in death, and he looks almost as if he can't fathom the question. "I think we should think about death more," he says.

Until about 10 years ago, in the night he would wake up with a roar and "the notion of oblivion, and I'd be out of the bed, often out onto the landing before I really woke up, shouting 'I'm going to die!' "What a banal remark," he says, but adds: "That's how I'm constituted. It doesn't mean I don't enjoy life just as much as anyone else. "In fact, you could argue that if you're aware that it's all going to come to an end suddenly, possibly, or after a long illness, you appreciate more the hours and the minutes that you're going to be alive."

French honour

It's certainly an insight into the mind of an author who really made his name in 1984 with his third novel, Flaubert's Parrot, about a retired doctor obsessed with the renowned French writer behind Madame Bovary. It showcased Barnes' ability to blend fact and fabrication creatively as well as his literary knowledge of all things French. In 2017, France even awarded him the prestigious Legion D'Honneur for his contribution to literature and engagement with French culture.

As a young man, Barnes says he was unconfident. He wanted to be a writer but worried, "what have I got to bring to the table?" It was only after the success of Flaubert's Parrot that he began to put 'writer' on his passport. "It felt bloody marvellous."

Dafydd Jones Barnes says he doesn't regret falling out with Martin Amis after he dropped Barnes' wife, Pat Kavanagh as his agent

Famously, Barnes fell out with Amis, who he'd known since they worked together as journalists at the New Statesman in the 1970s, after Amis ditched Kavanagh as his agent. I ask if he regrets the disagreement. "No, not at all," is the firm response. "He behaved deceitfully towards my wife... While you can forgive a hurt done to yourself, it's much harder to forgive a hurt done to someone you love. So our relationship didn't really entirely recover, but we got back a bit, towards the end of his life."

He is still good friends with McEwan, who rings him while we're filming in his study. You're sitting with one of Britain's greatest living novelists, and another one happens to call!

Julian Barnes The author with his beloved Jack Russell, Jimmy, who features in Departure(s), and who died last year

Even though he is giving up publishing novels, Barnes will continue to write journalism, and tells me "I decline to be pessimistic about the future of the novel", referencing the new and diverse generations of writers being published. He also backs efforts to ensure writers' works aren't scraped by artificial intelligence without being compensated. Ahead of the interview, I'd asked an AI chatbot to write an opening paragraph in the style of Julian Barnes. It began: "He had always believed that memory behaved like a courteous guest - arriving when invited, leaving when ignored - but lately it had begun to loiter, hands in pockets, humming tunelessly in the corners of his mind." The real author describes it as a combination of plagiarism and banality. "If I'd written that sentence, 'He'd always believed that memory behaved like a courteous guest', I'd stop there because all the stuff about 'loitering hands in pockets, humming tunelessly in the corners of his mind' is just crass". Overall, he says the AI paragraph "doesn't make you laugh and it doesn't make you cry. It doesn't move you. It's just a pastiche. "They need to have some sort of law which says you can't just scrape things and then publish it as an original work."

Analogue methods

Spending time in the company of a man who has been at the heart of British literary culture for nearly 50 years is balm for the soul. I was first introduced to his writing in the early 1990s when I read A History of the World in 10½ Chapters and was beguiled by its playful retelling of events from unexpected perspectives - the story of Noah's Ark is told by a stowaway woodworm. So it was a treat to be shown the notebook in which he began Departure(s), filled with his neat handwriting exploring creative ideas and potential dialogue as well as newspaper cuttings that sparked his imagination. He has always started his novels in notebooks, he says, before typing a first draft on his trusted typewriter, then moving onto a computer.

BBC/Roxanne Panthaki The author showing his very neat notes for his novel Departure (s) to Katie Razzall

I wonder why the book title Departure(s) has the "s" in brackets. "Because there's one main departure, which is our departure from life, and then there are several others referred to in the books, which are departures from love and so on." He tells me, with a smile, that "it's a slightly enigmatic, possibly annoying title, but I like it". In fact, the title feels fitting. His departure is a literary moment. "I shall miss you," he writes to his readers towards the end of the book. "Your presence has delighted me."

UK ready to 'tighten chokehold' on Russia's shadow fleet

6 hours ago Share Save James Landale Diplomatic correspondent, Helsinki Share Save

PA Media Yvette Cooper watched Finnish border agents demonstrate how they seize Russian boats

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has told the BBC the UK is ready to work with European allies to intercept sanction-busting oil tankers in Russia's shadow fleet. She was speaking on board a patrol ship in Helsinki harbour where she watched armed border agents rappel from a helicopter to show how they seize Russian vessels. Cooper promised more "assertive action" to "tighten the chokehold" on the shadow fleet with more "disruption" and "enforcement measures". Last week British armed forces supported a US operation to seize a Russian-flagged tanker in the Atlantic which US officials said had broken sanctions by carrying oil for Venezuela and Russia.

The foreign secretary told the BBC: "We've already acted in support of US action, and you've seen the interdiction we've taken, we also stand ready to work with other countries and with other allies on the kind of enforcement action we need there." Cooper was briefed on the Turva offshore patrol vessel which two weeks ago detained a cargo vessel called the Fitburg suspected of damaging an undersea cable in the Baltic Sea by dragging its anchor. "We're going to look at a wide range of ways in which to increase that pressure on the Russian shadow fleet," she said. "We need to protect our undersea cables. We need to protect our critical national infrastructure and protect our environment from these often decrepit and dangerous vessels that are also fuelling the war in Ukraine, and that's why we'll take that stronger action. "We're ready for much stronger enforcement, a much more assertive and robust approach, so that we don't have that navigation becoming sabotage instead." To date, no UK military personnel have boarded any vessels.

PA Media

BBC News understands the government has identified a legal basis to allow the UK military to board and detain vessels in so-called shadow fleets. The Sanctions and Money Laundering Act, from 2018 can be used to approve the use of military force, ministers believe. Cooper said the shadow fleet was not just fuelling the war in Ukraine by allowing Russia to evade sanctions, but it was also a threat to UK national security. She told the BBC: "I've been talking to our Finnish allies about the action that they're taking against the shadow fleet, but also the intensifying action that we all want to take together now we're determined to have a much more assertive approach to tighten that chokehold on the Russian shadow fleet." Cooper added that the government was also working internationally to pursue a maritime services ban.

Reuters Oil tanker Marinera was seized by the US Coast Guard last week

David Hockney says moving Bayeux Tapestry to UK is 'madness'

5 hours ago Share Save Lauren Turner Share Save

Getty Images David Hockney said he has visited the Bayeux Tapestry more than 20 times in the past three years

Artist David Hockney has described a plan to move the Bayeux Tapestry from France to the UK later this year as "madness", describing it as too much of a risk. The 70m-long embroidery, more than 900 years old, is due to go on display at the British Museum in London in September. But Hockney, writing in the Independent, said the "beautiful as well as historically important" masterpiece could be damaged in transit and "will be put in jeopardy if it is moved to London". In response, British Museum director Nicholas Cullinan said: "While we understand these concerns, the museum has a world-leading conservation and collections team who are experts at handling and caring for this type of material."

The tapestry is being loaned to the British Museum until July 2027 in an agreement between the French and British governments while its current home, the Bayeux Museum in Normandy, is renovated. Some French art experts have also expressed concerns about the plan, saying the tapestry is too delicate to be transported. French officials have said that's not the case.

Getty Images

Hockney, who now lives in Normandy, said he first visited the tapestry in 1967 and has seen it more than 20 times in the last three years alone, describing it as "something that has defined my life for more than eight decades". "Some things are too precious to take a risk with," the 88-year-old wrote. "Moving the Bayeux Tapestry is one of them. "It is nearly a thousand years old, the most complete narrative work of art in Europe and remember it is very long, more than 70 metres in length. "It is fragile, which makes it madness to think of moving it. It is too big a risk."

Getty Images Hockney's artwork A Year in Normandy was inspired by the tapestry

Reeves doesn't rule out wider business rates support across hospitality

5 hours ago Share Save Simon Jack Business editor Share Save

Getty Images Rachel Reeves said the government wants to support the hospitality sector

The Chancellor has declined to rule out extending support for hospitality businesses hit by rising business rates, beyond the help she has promised pub owners. Last week, the BBC reported that the Treasury was poised to announce further assistance for pubs which - like all hospitality businesses - are facing the end of Covid-era business rates relief in April. That scheme will end at the same time as sharp increases in the rateable value of their premises take effect. Earlier in the day Reeves had hinted she was resisting calls for more support for the rest of the hospitality sector and link.

However, speaking at a press conference later the chancellor said she was "working with the hospitality sector". Treasury officials told the BBC that a package to specifically help pubs would be announced "in the coming days" but also declined to rule out additional relief for the wider sector. Opposition MPs and industry bodies have been pressing for any additional help to be extended to other businesses in the sector including hotels and restaurants. Speaking to the BBC, Rachel Reeves said: "As that transitional relief comes to an end, although we've put in £4.3bn over the next three years, we need to make sure that we do that in a balanced way that particularly supports our pubs and the hospitality sector." The £4.3bn figure refers to the value of caps placed on rate rises in the next three years to smooth out increases that will eventually see rates bills for pubs rise 76% in three years, while hotels face rises of 115% over the same period. Kate Nicholls from the trade body Hospitality UK said she was encouraged that the door appeared to be open for non-pub businesses also facing steep rises in business rates. "It's good to see recognition of wider hospitality and that she is talking about support beyond pubs," she said.

Italian influencer Chiara Ferragni cleared of cake fraud

Chiara Ferragni told reporters she was very happy her "nightmare" was over

Ferragni, 38, told reporters the judgment marked "the end of a nightmare that lasted two years".

After a fast-track trial in Milan, a judge found her and two other defendants not guilty. Had she been convicted, she could have faced a jail term.

Chiara Ferragni had been accused of misleading consumers by promoting the sale of a designer pink pandoro as well as Easter eggs that were said to be helping to raise money for a children's hospital and a charity.

An Italian fashion influencer has been acquitted of aggravated fraud, bringing a long-running scandal involving a charity Christmas cake to an end.

The scandal - dubbed "pandorogate" - started with the sale of pink special edition Christmas cakes in 2022.

Consumers were led to believe that sales of the pandoro would go towards raising funds for a children's hospital in Turin. But it turned out that the cake's producer, Balocco, had given a one-off €50,000 (£43,300) donation to the hospital before the cake's launch.

Ferragni has 28 million followers on Instagram and, after her companies made €1m from the promotion, she pledged to donate the same sum to the hospital.

The outcry led authorities to initiate a formal investigation and the influencer was handed a €1m fine in 2023 by Italy's competition authority over the pandoro cakes, branded with her name and mentioning the children's hospital.

Ferragni-branded Easter eggs also became part of the scandal, leading the influencer to agree to pay €1.2m to a children's charity to settle complaints that the eggs' sales allegedly misled consumers.

She was later indicted on the aggravated fraud charges, along with business associate Fabio Damato.

Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of one year and eight months in prison for Ferragni but the judge rejected their accusation that the fraud should be seen as aggravated.

The Milan court found that no aggravation had been involved as a consumer group had withdrawn its original complaint. Ferragni had agreed with consumer organisation Codacons that she would compensate consumers and donate money to a charity for women who had suffered gender violence.

"We are all moved," Ferragni told reporters at the end of the trial. "The last two years have been very hard. I had faith in justice, and justice has been done."

Despite her acquittal the scandal has proved damaging to Ferragni's brand and affected her personal life. Her marriage to Italian rapper Fedez fell apart last year.

It has also led to tighter rules for Italian influencers to show greater transparency in their fund-raising initiatives.

Apprentice contestant struck off over social posts

4 hours ago Share Save Chloe Aslett Yorkshire Share Save

BBC Dr Asif Munaf appeared on the 2024 edition of the BBC series

A former Apprentice contestant has been struck off the medical register after a tribunal found he posted antisemitic, racist and sexist posts on social media. Dr Asif Munaf, 37, from Sheffield, posted or reposted a total of 36 "seriously offensive" comments on X between October 2023 and July 2025, a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing was told. Munaf, who did not attend the tribunal and was not legally represented, denied the posts were antisemitic at a previous hearing, adding they were said "in the heat of the emotion". According to the General Medical Council (GMC), Munaf's posts included Holocaust denial, conspiracy theories and rhetoric equating Jews with Nazism.

He appeared on the 2024 edition of The Apprentice but was dropped from The Apprentice: You're Fired! after he was accused of posting antisemitic comments on social media. Harriet Tighe, lawyer for the GMC, said one post was accompanied by an image of a flag including the Star of David above a swastika. Munaf also reposted a comment which referred to boxer Floyd Mayweather using a derogatory racial slur. In a separate post, Munaf argued that certain professions should be restricted by gender and criticised female empowerment. The tribunal concluded the posts were "objectively antisemitic, racist, sexist, seriously offensive and/or motivated (in whole or in part) by racial or religious hostility and/or prejudice". He had previously said the comments were "not befitting of someone as educated as myself and were said in the heat of the emotion". Tighe said he had demonstrated a "deep-seated and ongoing attitudinal issue" and there had been no "insight or efforts to remediate".

'Flagrant' breaches

In a separate allegation, the tribunal heard he provided a sick note to a patient in November 2024 while suspended from practicing medical duties. In the same year, he walked out of a five-day locum cardiologist placement at University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire without notice or good reason, the tribunal found. The sick note and abandonment of placement were "isolated incidents of these types of behaviours", the hearing concluded. However, it found he had committed "clear and flagrant" breaches of medical guidance. MPTS chairwoman Kate Kirwin said Munaf's conduct on social media was "sustained and repeated". "The seriousness of the facts found proven and associated ongoing risk to public protection mean the effect of Dr Munaf continuing to hold registration would undermine public confidence in the profession," she said. Following the conclusion of the tribunal, a spokesperson for the GMC said: "There is no place for antisemitism, sexism or misogyny in medicine, and we will always seek to strike off doctors for such conduct." Additional reporting by PA Media.

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More on this story Apprentice contestant accused of racist posts

France bans 10 British 'far-right activists' over anti-migrant activity

In a statement, Raise the Colours said it had always maintained that its activities must remain peaceful and within the law and it "does not support violence or any unlawful activity".

Authorities have not released their identities. BBC News has contacted the UK Foreign Office for comment.

It said the activists, who belonged to a group called Raise the Colours, had been searching for and destroying small boats along France's northern coast, and were involved in "propaganda activity".

Ten British "far-right activists" have been banned from France after engaging in actions to stop migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats, the French interior ministry said on Wednesday.

The ministry said it became aware of the group's actions in December 2025 which were likely to cause "serious disturbances to public order".

Their efforts were "aimed at the British public, called upon to strengthen the ranks of the movement to put an end to the migratory phenomenon", the ministry said.

The 10 British nationals are prohibited from entering and residing in France.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said in a post on X that France's "rule of law is non-negotiable; actions that are violent in nature or incite hatred have no place on our territory".

Raise the Colours said it had not received any formal notification of France's measure but understood the ban was against "specific individuals, rather than the organisation as a whole".

The group described itself as a "grassroots movement for unity and patriotism" involved in a UK flag-raising campaign and that it had documented events in northern France around "illegal Channel crossings".

Its website stated that it did not support "vigilante behaviour, unauthorised activity, or attempts by individuals to take the law into their own hands".

Home Office figures show that 41,472 migrants crossed the Channel in 2025, a 13% rise from 2024. It is the highest number since 2022, when nearly 46,000 migrants crossed.

Between 1 January and 5 January 2026, a total of 32 people crossed the English Channel by small boat from France.

Since last year, a social media account called Raise the Colours has been circulating videos of its activities in France.

Small boat crossings have become the most common way for people to be detected entering the UK illegally since 2020.

In November, following months of pressure from the UK, France agreed to start intercepting small boats in the Channel.

For Mohamed Salah, it was a familiar feeling of anguish on the international stage.

The Liverpool forward looked on in dismay and disbelief as the referee's whistle sounded at the Grand Stade de Tangier on Wednesday night and consigned Egypt to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Senegal in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations semi-final.

In a stale and largely uneventful affair in Morocco, it was Sadio Mane's thumping effort 12 minutes from time that was enough to secure Senegal's place in Sunday's final.

This was not in the script for Salah nor Egypt, who arrived in Morocco last month openly targeting a first Afcon title since 2010.

Speaking to BBC World Service after the game, Mane said of his former Liverpool team-mate: "It is not easy for him - but still best of luck.

"He did everything to carry his team until now. Unfortunately one of us had to [lose]. I'm happy [to be] in the final."

For Salah, the sight of Mane - with whom he reportedly had an indifferent relationship with at Anfield - soaking up glory on the international stage, while he suffered hurt, has been one that has become all too familiar in recent years.

In the 2021 Afcon final, Mane - still at Liverpool with Salah - scored the decisive spot-kick to upset Egypt and clinch his nation's maiden title.

A couple of months later, when the two sides met in a two-legged tie for a place at the 2022 World Cup, it was Mane again who converted the winning penalty in the shootout to seal his side's place at the Qatar showpiece after Salah had blazed his effort over the bar.

Now, nearly four years on, this dispiriting loss - after a timid and uninspiring performance from his side in the last-four tie - will cut just as deep for Salah.

The star of Bayern's goal-happy show has undoubtedly been striker Harry Kane, whose prolific form since swapping north London for Germany has reached new levels this season.

The England captain has already scored 31 goals in just 27 games, including 20 in 17 league appearances - and only failed to find the net in eight.

In Kane's first campaign with Bayern in 2023-24, he averaged a goal every 79 minutes. In his second it was every 92 minutes.

Before Wednesday's match, the 32-year-old was scoring a goal every hour he is on the pitch.

And Kane's goals come in flurries - his hat-trick in the 5-0 win at Stuttgart on 6 December was his third of the season and a remarkable 11th overall since joining Bayern in 2023.

Overall, the former Tottenham striker has scored 82 goals in the Bundesliga for Bayern - the most of any player in the top five European leagues since his debut.

After Kane became the quickest player in Bundesliga history to reach 100 goal contributions against Heidenheim in December, Kompany said: "He'll keep having a lot of individual records because he's a special player."

Neil Robertson completed an unprecedented eighth 6-2 win in the first round of the Masters as he advanced past Chris Wakelin into the quarter-finals.

Wu Yize started the sequence when he defeated defending champion Shaun Murphy on Sunday at Alexandra Palace.

And by the time world number one Judd Trump progressed past Ding Junhui on Wednesday afternoon, the odds of such a remarkable run of repeat scorelines were at 44,000-1.

No more than four first-round contests had previously ended 6-2 at any Masters tournament, but when two-time winner Robertson made superb back-to-back century breaks after the interval to establish a 4-2 advantage, a clean sweep appeared inevitable.

Wakelin, making only his second appearance at the Masters, as a last-minute replacement for record eight-time champion Ronnie O'Sullivan, was unable to arrest the trend.

"I wasn't even thinking about winning the match - I was thinking just win it 6-2," joked Robertson on BBC Four.

"I didn't know if someone in the audience had maybe had a pound on all the matches being the same scoreline or something. It is amazing. I hope I have made someone a multi-millionaire. I have never seen anything like that before."

Seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry, added: "It is phenomenal. You would normally at least three 6-5 scores because of the nature of the tournament.

"It has been incredible. After the interval players have really stepped up."

Ken Doherty, who won the 1997 world title, echoed those comments, adding: "I have never seen anything like this in snooker."

Australia's Robertson, who knocked in superb breaks of 116, 135 and 102, will now face Kyren Wilson in the last on Friday (19:00 GMT).