US President Donald Trump has said he will slap a 35% tariff on Canadian goods starting 1 August, even as the two countries are days away from a self-imposed deadline to reach a new deal on trade.

The missive came as Trump also threatened blanket tariffs of 15% or 20% on most trade partners, and said he would soon notify the European Union of a new tariff rate on its goods.

Trump announced the new levies on Canada on Thursday in a letter posted to social media and addressed to Prime Minister Mark Carney.

The US has already imposed a blanket 25% tariff on some Canadian goods, and the country is feeling the pain of the Trump administration's global steel, aluminium and auto tariffs.

The letter is among more than 20 that Trump had posted this week to US trade partners, including Japan, South Korea and Sri Lanka.

Like Canada's letter, Trump has vowed to implement those tariffs on trade partners by 1 August.

The US has imposed a 25% tariff on all Canadian imports, though there is a current exemption in place for goods that comply with a North American free trade agreement.

It is unclear if the latest tariffs threat would apply to goods covered by the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

Trump has also imposed a global 50% tariff on aluminium and steel imports, and a 25% tariff on all cars and trucks not build in the US.

Canada sells about three-quarters of its goods to the US, and is an auto manufacturing hub and a major supplier of metals, making those tariffs especially damaging to those sectors.

Trump's letter said the 35% tariffs are separate to those sector-specific levies.

"As you are aware, there will be no tariff if Canada, or companies within your country, decide to build or manufacture products within the United States," Trump stated.

He also tied the tariffs to what he called "Canada's failure" to stop the flow of fentanyl into the US, as well as Canada's existing levies on US dairy farmers and the trade deficit between the two countries.

Canada has been engaged in intense talk with the US in recent months to reach a new trade and security deal.

At the G7 Summit in June, Prime Minister Carney and Trump said they were committed to reaching a new deal on within 30 days, setting a deadline of 21 July.

In late June, Carney removed a tax on big US technology firms after Trump labelled it a "blatant attack" and threatened to call off trade talks.

Carney said the tax was dropped as "part of a bigger negotiation" on trade between the two countries.

The BBC has reached out to the Canadian officials for comment.

There are "reasonable grounds" to believe war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed in western Sudan, said the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the United Nations Security Council on Thursday.

Targeted sexual violence against women and girls of specific ethnicities was named as one of the most disturbing findings to emerge from the ICC probe on crimes committed in Darfur.

War broke out between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023, leading to what the UN calls "devastating civilian casualties".

ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan said it was "difficult to find appropriate words to describe the depth of suffering" in the region.

The UN Security Council gave the ICC a mandate to investigate and prosecute crimes in Darfur two decades ago, with the body opening multiple investigations into war crimes and genocide committed in the region from July 2002 onwards.

The ICC launched a fresh probe in 2023 after civil war broke out once again, interviewing victims who had fled the most recent iteration of the conflict to neighbouring Chad.

Ms Khan described an "inescapable pattern of offending", and stressed that the team were working to translate such crimes into evidence for the court.

Allegations of war crimes have persisted throughout the past two years, and in January 2025 the US determined that the RSF and allied militias had committed a genocide.

The RSF has denied the claims, and said it was not involved in what it describes as a "tribal conflict" in Darfur.

Reports from the UN indicate that conditions in Darfur have continued to worsen, with hospitals and humanitarian convoys suffering targeted attacks, and food and water deliberately withheld.

Civilians in the capital city of El-Fasher have been cut off from aid entirely due to armed encirclement by RSF forces, and an outbreak of cholera across conflict zones poses a serious threat to already scarce water supplies.

An escalating famine has gripped the region, with the UN's children's agency (Unicef) reporting that more than 40,000 children were admitted for treatment due to severe acute malnutrition between January and May 2025 – more than double the number admitted in the same period last year.

"Children in Darfur are being starved by conflict and cut off from the very aid that could save them," said Sheldon Yett from Unicef.

In the past two years, more than 150,000 people have died in the conflict and approximately 12 million have fled their homes, but Ms Khan warned that "We should not be under any illusion - things can still get worse."

After 40 years of armed struggle against the Turkish state, the outlawed Kurdish PKK will hold a ceremony on Friday to mark a symbolic first step in laying down its arms.

The disarmament process will start under tight security in Iraqi Kurdistan and is expected to take all summer.

Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has hailed the move as "totally ripping off and throwing away the bloody shackles that were put on our country's legs".

Some 40,000 people have been killed since the conflict began, and the PKK is listed as a terror group in Turkey, the US, EU and UK. Its disarmament will be felt not just in Turkey but in Iraq, Syria and Iran.

How and where will the PKK disarm?

A small group of PKK members will symbolically lay down their weapons in a ceremony near Suleymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan, before going back to their bases.

For security reasons, the exact location is not being revealed, although it's thought members of Turkey's pro-Kurdish opposition Dem party will be there, even if other major Turkish political parties will not.

Disarmament will then continue over the coming months at points set up with the involvement of the Turkish, Iraqi and Kurdistan regional governments, BBC Turkish has been told.

In a video, the PKK's long-imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, said it was "a voluntary transition from the phase of armed conflict to the phase of democratic politics and law". He has been in solitary confinement on the small prison island of Imrali, south-west of Istanbul, since he was captured in 1999.

Who are the Kurds?

Who are the PKK and why has the conflict lasted so long?

This is not the first attempt at peace involving Turkey and the PKK, but this is the best hope so far that the armed struggle that began in 1984 will come to an end.

Originally a Marxist group, the Kurdistan Workers' Party took up arms calling for an independent state inside Turkey.

In the 1990s, they called instead for greater autonomy for Kurds, who make up about 20% of the population.

Ocalan announced a ceasefire in 2013, and urged PKK forces to withdraw from Turkey. The 2015 Dolmabahce Agreement was supposed to bring democratic and language rights for Kurds, but the fragile truce collapsed amid devastating violence, especially in the Kurdish-dominated cities of the south-east, including Diyarbakir.

Turkey's air force targeted PKK bases in the mountains of northern Iraq. Several military campaigns have also targeted Kurdish-led forces in Syria.

The government in Ankara ruled out further talks until the PKK laid down its arms. That is now on the verge of happening.

Why has the PKK decided to disband?

In October 2024, a prominent nationalist leader and key Erdogan ally called Devlet Bahceli began a process described by the government as "terror-free Turkey". He urged the PKK's imprisoned leader to call for the dissolution of the outlawed group. It could pave the way for his possible release from Imrali island, he suggested.

The Turkish government launched talks with Ocalan via the pro-Kurdish Dem party, and then in February came his historic appeal for the PKK to disband, read out by two Dem MPs who had just returned from a visit to the prison island.

"All groups must lay their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself," read Ocalan's letter.

The PKK had been formed primarily because "the channels of democratic politics were closed", he said, but Devlet Bahceli and Erdogan's own positive signals had created the right environment.

The PKK followed Ocalan's lead and declared a ceasefire and later declared that it had "completed its historical mission": the Kurdish issue could now "be resolved through democratic politics".

President Erdogan said it was an "opportunity to take a historic step toward tearing down the wall of terror" and met pro-Kurdish politicians in April.

Why is Ocalan so important?

As founder of the PKK, Ocalan continues to be reviled by many Turks, even after 26 years in solitary confinement.

And yet he still plays an important role in the eyes of Kurds.

"I think he really has this authority; he is a main symbol for many Kurds, not all," says Joost Jongerden, a specialist on the 41-year conflict at Wageningen University in the Netherlands.

Two days before the PKK were due to begin disarmament, Ocalan appeared on video for the first time since he was put on trial more than 20 years ago.

Speaking for seven minutes, he addressed the outlawed group: "I believe in the power of politics and social peace, not weapons. And I call on you to put this principle into practice."

Ocalan was wearing a branded Lacoste polo shirt, and in an indication of his enduring relevance, the shirt quickly went viral and websites ran out of stock.

What happens next?

After Friday's ceremony, the scene switches to Turkey's parliament in Ankara where a commission will be set up to make decisions on the next steps for the government.

As the summer recess is around the corner, no concrete decisions are expected for several months, when MPs vote on the commission's recommendations and President Erdogan has the final say.

What happens to Abdullah Ocalan is not yet clear. The government says his conditions in jail could be reviewed as the process unfolds, but any chance of release will be left to the latter stages.

What's in this process for Erdogan?

Erdogan's AK Party has begun work on changing the constitution, and there has been speculation that this would mean Erdogan would be able to run for the presidency again when his final term runs out in 2028.

The AKP and pro-Kurdish Dem party deny there is any link between the peace process and reshaping the constitution, but if Erdogan secures Dem support he would have a far greater chance of pushing through changes.

Erdogan is behind in the polls, but his main opposition rival, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, is in jail accused of corruption, which he denies, and more opposition mayors have been arrested as part of a crackdown in the past week.

The silence is shattered by a guttural scream. A group of people scrabble on the ground, sifting through the soil. One of them holds up a watch they have uncovered; another, a sandal.

The scene on stage at Sarajevo's War Theatre is uncomfortably familiar for the audience at the world premiere of the Flowers of Srebrenica. The play reflects the grim reality of the events not just of July 1995 – but the ensuing decades of unresolved grief and divisions in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Srebrenica massacre remains the most notorious war crime committed in Europe since World War Two. Bosnian-Serb forces overran Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia, where thousands of Bosniaks, who are mostly Muslim, had taken refuge, believing they were safely under the protection of the United Nations.

Instead, Dutch soldiers stood aside as Bosnian-Serb General Ratko Mladić directed his troops to place women and the youngest children on buses for transport to majority-Bosniak areas. Then, over the following days, he oversaw the systematic murder of around 8,000 people – most, but not all of them, men and boys.

Mladić's troops dumped the bodies in mass graves. But later, to cover up their crimes, they exhumed then reburied the remains in multiple sites.

As a result, body parts were distributed across multiple graves, causing endless anguish for the victims' families. Many of them are still searching for their relatives' remains decades later, though DNA testing has helped thousands of families to bury their family members at Potočari Cemetery, adjacent to the former UN base.

Others have been able to identify body parts through scraps of clothing or personal belongings – as depicted in scenes in the Flowers of Srebrenica.

The play also reflects the apparently deepening divisions in contemporary Bosnia and Herzegovina. While the audience in Sarajevo delivers a standing ovation to the cast and crew, in majority-Serb Republika Srpska, political leaders repeatedly deny that genocide took place at Srebrenica, despite Mladić's conviction for the offence at an international tribunal in The Hague, as well as the earlier conviction of the Bosnian-Serb political leader Radovan Karadžić.

"I thought that when 30 years passed, we'd come to our senses," says Selma Alispahić, the lead actress of the Sarajevo War Theatre – herself a former refugee from Bosnia's conflict.

"People get tired of proving the truth that's been proven so many times, even in international courts. The story of the hatred and spinning of facts serves only the criminals who profited from the war and who want to preserve their fortune today."

Genocide denial is not the only symptom of the country's divisions. The Dayton Peace agreement brought an end to the war, just four months after the massacre. But it also divided Bosnia and Herzegovina into two "entities", on ethnic grounds. Most Bosniaks and Croats live in the Federation, while the majority of Serbs are in Republika Srpska.

There is also a state-level government, with a member of the presidency for each of the three main ethnic groups. But most of the power lies at the entity level.

In recent months, Republika Srpska's president has been exploiting that to make mischief. Milorad Dodik has been pushing through legislation to withdraw from numerous national institutions, including the judiciary. This has brought him into conflict with Bosnia's ultimate power, the international High Representative.

The current holder of that position, Christian Schmidt, annulled the laws concerned. But Dodik refused to recognise those rulings.

Earlier this year a court sentenced him to a year in prison and a six-year ban from public office for ignoring the High Representative's decisions. The verdict is currently under appeal.

Further shenanigans have ensued – including legislation to establish a "reserve police force". The same terminology was used for murderous Serb militia during Bosnia's conflict.

"This is dangerous, playing with the memory of those who have experienced the 1990s," says Mr Schmidt.

"I see the irresponsible part of the political class playing with this. We need a clear presence of the international community on a military level – so EUFOR [the EU peacekeeping force] gets more responsibility in the sheer presence, promising people they will be supported in a peaceful manner."

In the centre of Sarajevo, reminders of the anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre are hard to miss. Hundreds of people huddled under umbrellas in the pouring rain to pay their respects to the convoy carrying the remains of seven recently-identified victims who will be buried at Potočari Cemetery during the commemoration. Outside the city's shopping centres, video screens urge passers-by to "Remember Srebrenica".

But just 15 minutes up the road, in East Sarajevo, there are no public references to the massacre. The Cyrillic script signs and Jelen Beer umbrellas indicate that this is Republika Srpska. And in the entity government's building, there is little enthusiasm for the commemorations.

Indeed, state-level foreign trade minister Saša Košarac – a leading member of Dodik's SNSD party – claims that Srebrenica is used to deepen divisions and prevent reconciliation.

"In this country, Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs were killed – and crimes were committed on all three sides. It's important, when thinking about the future, that all the perpetrators, on all sides, should be held accountable," he says.

"Bosniaks insist on talking only about Bosniak victims. A crime has been committed in Srebrenica – no Serbs deny that – but we have the right to point out the crimes against Serbs in and around Srebrenica."

But thousands of other people are focusing on solidarity with Srebrenica. On the eve of the commemoration, the Memorial Centre and Potočari Cemetery were already busy with people paying their respects. And they cheered the arrival from around the country of groups of cyclists, runners and motorcyclists.

Mirela Osmanović says this support is crucial to Bosniaks who have returned to live in the area where their family members died. She was born two years after her two brothers were murdered at Srebrenica and now works at the Memorial Centre. But the recent tensions have left her rattled.

"The intense atmosphere produced by Republika Srpska's leaders really disturbs us, making us feel we're not protected anymore – and we're really worried about our future."

"My parents say it looks the way it looked in 1992."

For Milorad Dodik, manipulating the cycle of tensions is just part of his strategy to remain in power. But for people in Srebrenica, the ongoing ethno-political games only make the healing harder.

Canadian singer Justin Bieber has surprised fans by releasing a new album titled Swag.

The record features 20 songs with track names including Dadz Love, Devotion and Therapy Session and follows online concern for the singer's mental health after a confrontation with paparazzi.

Promotional pictures shared by the singer feature his wife, Hailey Bieber, and their son - at points being held over his head.

Fellow artists and fans have reacted with glee to the new music, which comes four years after Bieber's last album, Purpose.

With a run time of just under an hour, the once-teen-icon turned megastar collaborates with a host of rappers on Swag including Sexxy Red, Cash Cobain and Gunna.

Its title appears to hark back to the singer's 2012 hit Boyfriend, featuring the line "swag, swag, swag, on you".

American rapper Big Sean was among the famous names to welcome the news of the album's release, commenting on the singer's Instagram post "Yes!!!!".

The album drop also comes on the back of fans' worries for Bieber's mental health. In recent months, the singer has shared multiple posts online about the intrusion of paparazzi in his personal life.

One video, filmed on Father's Day when he confronted a photographer, shows the singer saying "I'm a dad. I'm a husband. You're not getting it. It's not clocking to you. I'm standing on business."

The video was widely circulated and remixed online. Now, it not only features as part of the promotion of the singer's new album, but is sampled in one of its songs, Butterflies.

Bieber's marriage has also been under the spotlight recently after another controversial social media post. The singer celebrated his wife featuring on the cover of Vogue with a social media post detailing an argument between them.

The lyrics of Daisies, the second song on Swag, appear to allude to the couple's relationship with "falling petals do you love me or not" and "you said forever babe, did you mean it or not?"

Other song titles on the album seem to touch on religious themes including Devotion, Soulful and Forgiveness, in keeping with Bieber's Christian faith.

Texas officials are facing mounting questions about when Kerrville's residents were notified about deadly flash floods that killed 96 locals, with over 160 others still missing.

Asked about a possible police radio failure at a press conference on Thursday - almost a week after 4 July flooding - Kerrville Police community services officer Jonathan Lamb said, "I don't have any information to that point."

The questioning followed a tense exchange the day before when reporters asked officials repeatedly about a possible lag in emergency communications.

Early Friday, the Guadalupe River rose several metres in a matter of minutes, after an estimated 100bn gallons of rain.

At least 120 people have died in the Texas Hill Country flash floods. Kerr County, which includes Kerrville, absorbed the brunt of the devastation, with 96 confirmed deaths, including 36 children, many of whom attended a nearby Christian camp.

Kerr County officials have been pressed on the various reasons behind the tragedy.

According to an audio recording obtained by an ABC News affiliate, a firefighter located upstream from Kerrville asked the Kerr County Sheriff's Office to alert nearby residents about the rising water around 04:22 local time on 4 July.

But, ABC News reported, Kerr County officials did not notify residents until nearly six hours later, after hundreds of people had been engulfed in floodwater.

The first alert from Kerr County's CodeRED system did not arrive until roughly 90-minutes later, the news outlet reported.

"The Guadalupe Schumacher sign is underwater on State Highway 39," the firefighter said in the dispatch audio obtained by ABC News. "Is there any way we can send a CodeRED out to our Hunt residents, asking them to find higher ground or stay home?"

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"Stand by, we have to get that approved with our supervisor," a Kerr County Sheriff's Office dispatcher replied.

Officials were asked during a press conference on Wednesday about any delays in emergency communications.

Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said he was first notified around the "four to five area", and said prior to that "we're in the process of trying to put a timeline".

"That's going to take a little bit of time," he continued. "That is not my priority this time."

He said he was instead focused on locating those missing and identifying victims. Over 160 people were still listed as missing on Thursday morning, including five campers and one counselor from Camp Mystic.

Kerr County officials say they have not rescued anyone alive since the day of the floods.

Weather alerts preceded the storm. The National Weather Service sent several about rain and possible flooding starting Thursday afternoon, and the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) activated state resources because of flooding concerns.

Officials have cited lack of cell phone service, no sense of the storm's intensity and public desensitisation to such alerts in the flood-prone area, as reasons some did not evacuate.

President Donald Trump signed a federal disaster declaration at the request of Texas Governor Greg Abbott. This enabled the Federal Emergency Management Agency to deploy to Central Texas and open a disaster recovery centre in Kerr County.

Rescue efforts included over 2,100 responders on the ground, private helicopters, drones, boats and cadaver-detecting dogs. They are searching for the missing and the dead buried beneath mounds of mud-soaked debris.

"These large piles (of debris) can be very obstructive, and to get deep into these piles is very hazardous," Lt Colonel Ben Baker of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department said on Wednesday.

"It's extremely treacherous, time consuming. It's dirty work. It's the water still there. So, we're having to go layer by layer, peeling these off, to make those recoveries," he said.

Watching the president of France and the prime minister close up was to see two men under the cosh, behind in the opinion polls and fighting for what they see as the essence of their political creed.

It boils down to this - how do Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron make the case for what they see as the virtues of patience, nuance, subtleties and trade-offs in an era of growing impatience at the perceived repeated failures of those in high office?

There were just two lecterns and two speakers at the news conference the leaders hosted, but two other parties hovered in the air.

Reform UK and National Rally, the party of Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen, were never mentioned explicitly. Nor were their leaders. But they were repeatedly mentioned implicitly.

The two parties on either side of the Channel are not the same, but they have the same capacity to frighten the life out of those in power now.

They do it with an anti-establishment zeal, a knack of communicating in plain language and at a time of disillusionment with the traditional political classes. Quite the combination.

"Whilst we have been working hard to get a returns agreement, others have been simply taking pictures of the problem," the prime minister told us.

Whoever could he possibly have been thinking of?

"That is where the politics is. We have to show that pragmatic politics is the way to deliver the results that matter for both of our peoples," he added, to ensure people weren't seduced by what he called "the politics of easy answers".

Reform leader Nigel Farage had spent the morning on a boat in the English Channel in the company of a camera from GB News and regards this new deal between Paris and London as a humiliation for the UK.

He says the UK should abandon the European Convention on Human Rights and makes a wider argument that the country can escape the funk many feel it is trapped in by embracing a party willing to be unorthodox, noisy and pick a few fights. Why not, after the last few years, goes the argument.

President Macron, confronting similar arguments back home from National Rally, made similar arguments to the prime minister.

There was a need, the president argued, to recognise "the complexity of the world" and to avoid what he saw as the "temptation" for some of those he described as "populists".

As I wrote here the other day, this is the latest evidence we are seeing of the prime minister's shifting argument – a sharpening public critique of Farage and what Sir Keir believes will be the choice at the next election: one of the two of them in Downing Street.

And an outsized part of the argument between the two of them, today and in the coming years, will be over small boat crossings.

New polling for Portland Communications suggests 26% of Labour's voters in last year's general election who have since switched to Reform would be much more likely to come back to Labour if the number of small boat crossings fell.

The same polling suggests that eight out of ten Reform-leaning voters say that after one year, Labour has had enough time to improve things across the piece.

And nearly half of all voters see Nigel Farage as the leader who most represents change.

This is an insight into the challenge and, potentially, opportunity for the prime minister.

Hoping for patience in an era of the opposite, but arguing his opponent is offering a false promise.

Hoping the levers of government can, in time, deliver. Let's see.

One final thought.

On two separate occasions this week I have spoken privately to senior figures in both the Labour Party and the Conservative Party, who, unprompted, offered near identical reflections about how the next few years may pan out.

It won't surprise you that both the people I spoke to don't want to see Reform UK win a general election.

Both acknowledged that it was a real possibility, but both had a deep worry beyond that.

They both reflected that many in the electorate concluded last year that the Conservatives had failed and many in the electorate are concluding this year, or may soon conclude, that Labour are failing too.

Reform could deliver in a way its predecessors never managed.

But what happens, pondered the two people I spoke to, if Nigel Farage was to win and he too was subsequently deemed to have failed?

Where, they wonder, and in what political direction would the country turn in next?

US President Donald Trump has said he will slap a 35% tariff on Canadian goods starting 1 August, even as the two countries are days away from a self-imposed deadline to reach a new deal on trade.

The missive came as Trump also threatened blanket tariffs of 15% or 20% on most trade partners, and said he would soon notify the European Union of a new tariff rate on its goods.

Trump announced the new levies on Canada on Thursday in a letter posted to social media and addressed to Prime Minister Mark Carney.

The US has already imposed a blanket 25% tariff on some Canadian goods, and the country is feeling the pain of the Trump administration's global steel, aluminium and auto tariffs.

The letter is among more than 20 that Trump had posted this week to US trade partners, including Japan, South Korea and Sri Lanka.

Like Canada's letter, Trump has vowed to implement those tariffs on trade partners by 1 August.

The US has imposed a 25% tariff on all Canadian imports, though there is a current exemption in place for goods that comply with a North American free trade agreement.

It is unclear if the latest tariffs threat would apply to goods covered by the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

Trump has also imposed a global 50% tariff on aluminium and steel imports, and a 25% tariff on all cars and trucks not build in the US.

Canada sells about three-quarters of its goods to the US, and is an auto manufacturing hub and a major supplier of metals, making those tariffs especially damaging to those sectors.

Trump's letter said the 35% tariffs are separate to those sector-specific levies.

"As you are aware, there will be no tariff if Canada, or companies within your country, decide to build or manufacture products within the United States," Trump stated.

He also tied the tariffs to what he called "Canada's failure" to stop the flow of fentanyl into the US, as well as Canada's existing levies on US dairy farmers and the trade deficit between the two countries.

Canada has been engaged in intense talk with the US in recent months to reach a new trade and security deal.

At the G7 Summit in June, Prime Minister Carney and Trump said they were committed to reaching a new deal on within 30 days, setting a deadline of 21 July.

In late June, Carney removed a tax on big US technology firms after Trump labelled it a "blatant attack" and threatened to call off trade talks.

Carney said the tax was dropped as "part of a bigger negotiation" on trade between the two countries.

The BBC has reached out to the Canadian officials for comment.

Delays, infrastructure gaps and personnel shortages to Britain's most advanced warplane programme are undermining the UK's warfighting capability, the public spending watchdog has said.

The F-35 stealth jet used by the RAF is "significantly superior" to all previous UK aircraft, the National Audit Office (NAO) said.

But the NAO said there had been a "disappointing return" on the £11bn spent so far, adding that it estimated plans to expand the fleet would cost more than three times initial Ministry of Defence (MoD) forecasts.

An MoD spokesperson said the programme was within its "approved budget" and there would be two full squadrons of F-35s ready for deployment by the end of the year.

As of June 2025, there are 37 F-35s in service, which are deployed from the Royal Navy's two aircraft carriers.

The F-35s, made by the American company Lockheed Martin, are technologically superior to all previous UK fighter jets and are expected to remain in service until 2069.

But last year, the F-35 fleet's "full mission capable rate" – the aircraft's ability to carry out all of the missions it is needed for – was around a third of the MoD's target.

Plans to equip the new aircraft with weapons that can attack ground targets from a safe range - while ensuring they can retain their stealth characteristics - have been delayed until the early 2030s.

The report from the NAO published on Friday said the capability gained by spending £11bn so far - also higher than initial 2013 estimates - was a "disappointing return".

The £18.76bn the MoD had estimated for the project was "considerably lower" than the NAO's £71bn estimate, the report added.

Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: "The MoD now needs to decide where to prioritise its resources to improve capability in a way that maximises the full benefits of the F‑35 programme to the UK."

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said last month that UK spending on national security would increase to 5% of GDP by 2035.

The committment is in line with Nato's target, with countries at this year's summit agreeing to boost defence spending due to "profound" security challenges and a "long-term threat posed by Russia".

An MoD spokesman said: "The National Audit Office's report rightly recognises the world-class capabilities of the F-35 fighter jet, as well as its significant economic benefits - including £22bn of work for UK companies, creating thousands of jobs.

"We also recently announced we will purchase 12 F-35As, supporting 20,000 jobs in the UK, and join Nato's dual capable aircraft nuclear mission."

Lord Robert Winston, a professor and TV doctor who was a pioneer of IVF treatment, has resigned from the British Medical Association (BMA) over planned strikes by resident doctors.

Resident doctors, previously known as junior doctors, are planning a walkout for five consecutive days from 25 July until 30 July over a pay dispute with the government.

In an interview with The Times, the Labour peer and host of the BBC series Child of Our Time urged against strike action, arguing it could damage people's trust in the profession.

The BMA met with the health secretary earlier this week and said the government had "stated it will not negotiate on pay".

Lord Winston, 84, has been a member of the BMA since 1964.

"I've paid my membership for a long time. I feel very strongly that this isn't the time to be striking. I think that the country is really struggling in all sorts of ways, people are struggling in all sorts of ways," he told The Times.

"Strike action completely ignores the vulnerability of people in front of you," he added.

Resident doctors have been awarded a 5.4% pay rise for this financial year - which will go into pay packets from August - following a 22% increase over the previous two years.

But the BMA says wages are still around 20% lower in real terms than in 2008.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the move was "unnecessary and unreasonable", adding: "The NHS is hanging by a thread - why on earth are they threatening to pull it?"

The BMA's resident doctors committee co-chairs Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt said they had "no choice" but to strike without "a credible offer to keep on the path to restore our pay".

Lord Winston's comments come after doctors and patient groups warned that the NHS in England was struggling to reduce wait times - a top priority for the NHS.

"Doctors need to be reminded that every time they have a patient in front of them they have someone who is frightened and in pain. It's important that doctors consider their own responsibility much more seriously," he said.