US President Donald Trump has issued an executive order on Wednesday hitting India with an additional 25% tariff over its purchases of Russian oil.
That will raise the total tariff on Indian imports to the United States to 50% - among the highest rates imposed by the US.
The new rate shall be "effective with respect to goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time 21 days after the date of this order", the executive order stated.
The US president had earlier warned he would raise levies, saying India "don't care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine".
"The Russian Federation's actions in Ukraine pose an ongoing threat to US national security and foreign policy, necessitating stronger measures to address the national emergency," according to a White House statement.
"India's importation of Russian Federation oil undermines US efforts to counter Russia's harmful activities."
The White House said that India import and subsequent reselling of Russian oil on the market "further enables the Russian Federation's economy to fund its aggression [in Ukraine]".
It stated that the US president is using the tariff to "deter countries from supporting the Russian Federation's economy".
It added that the US will determine which other countries import oil from Russia, and will "recommend further actions to the President as needed".
The threatened tariff hike follows meetings by Trump's top envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow, aimed at securing peace between Russia and Ukraine.
New Delhi had previously called Trump's threat to raise tariffs over its purchase of oil from Russia "unjustified and unreasonable".
In an earlier statement, a spokesperson for India's foreign ministry, Randhir Jaiswal, said the US had encouraged India to import Russian gas at the start of the conflict, "for strengthening global energy markets stability".
He said India "began importing from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict".
India also criticised the US - its largest trading partner - for introducing the tariffs, when the US itself is still doing trade with Russia.
Last year, the US traded goods worth an estimated $3.5bn (£2.6bn) with Russia, despite tough sanctions and tariffs.
"Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security," the foreign ministry statement said.
Steve Witkoff and Vladimir Putin met at the Kremlin on Wednesday morning
A meeting between US envoy Steve Witkoff and Russia's Vladimir Putin is under way at the Kremlin, Russian media has said.
Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Wednesday as Donald Trump's deadline for Russia to agree a ceasefire in Ukraine looms.
The US president has said Russia could face hefty sanctions or see secondary sanctions imposed against all those who trade with it if it doesn't take steps to end the "horrible war" with Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, has warned that Russia would only make serious moves towards peace if it began to run out of money. He welcomed the threat of tougher US sanctions and tariffs on nations buying Russian oil.
Expectations are muted for a settlement by Friday, and Russia has continued its large-scale air attacks on Ukraine despite Trump's threats of sanctions.
Three rounds of talks between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul have failed to bring the war closer to and end, three and a half years after Moscow launched its full-invasion.
Moscow's military and political preconditions for peace remain unacceptable to Kyiv and to its Western partners. The Kremlin has also repeatedly turned down Kyiv's requests for a meeting between Zelensky and Putin.
Meanwhile, the US administration approved $200m of additional military sales to Ukraine on Tuesday following a phone call between Zelensky and Trump, in which the two leaders also discussed defence cooperation and drone production.
Ukraine has been using drones to hit Russia's refineries and energy facilities, while Moscow has focused its air attacks on Ukraine's cities.
The Kyiv City Military Administration said the toll of an attack on the city last week rose to 32 after a man died of his injuries. The strike was the deadliest on Kyiv since the start of the invasion.
Ukrainian authorities on Wednesday reported that a Russian attack on a holiday camp in the central region of Zaporizhzhia left two dead and 12 wounded.
"There's no military sense in this attack. It's just cruelty to scare people," Zelensky said.
The effort by President Trump and his allies is the latest example of them trying to rewrite the rules to squeeze out every possible political advantage.
“The immediate plan is to scale up the number of sites up to 16 and begin to operate them as much as 24 hours a day,” Mike Huckabee, U.S. ambassador to Israel, said in a Fox News interview.
A military base in the US state of Georgia is on lockdown as officials search for an active shooter.
A Facebook post from the military base said the site was locked down at 11:04 EST (16:04 GMT) and said "casualties have been reported".
It is unclear how many people were shot or are injured in the Wednesday shooting that took place at Fort Stewart, 240 miles (386km) south east of Atlanta.
"We are currently assessing the situation, but we can confirm an active shooter," Lt. Col. Angel Tomko told the Associated Press.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
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Fiongal and Jamie Greenlaw-Meek, who ran a spiritual wellness centre in Ramsgate, were among the dead in the Air India plane crash
A woman whose brother died in the Air India crash and then received the wrong body says it has "added trauma" to her family.
Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek, 39, and his husband Jamie, 45, were among the 242 people on board the flight which crashed on 12 June soon after taking off for London Gatwick from Ahmedabad.
His sister Arwen Greenlaw told BBC Newsnight her family was seeking dignity and closure as well as accountability for those who mislabelled her brother's remains.
The Foreign Office said it continues to support families affected by the Air India crash with "dedicated caseworkers", adding that the "formal identification of bodies is a matter for the Indian authorities".
Ms Greenlaw, from Cambridge, told the BBC she wanted "dignity" for her brother and "closure for the family".
"If that is not possible - because the worst case scenario is that he has been cremated as somebody else - then we need to know that in order to move on," she added.
"Somebody mislabelled remains - that has added trauma."
She said it appeared there was a "lack of forensic protocols" at the scene of the crash, and the site was "not closed for 48 hours".
"It just can't happen again," she said.
"I think the whole family were and still are in complete disbelief because it is things that happen on the news and to other people. It was shocking and is confusing."
There were 230 passengers and 12 crew on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, including 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian.
Many people living in a residential neighbourhood near Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport where the jet came down were also killed, taking the number of confirmed casualties to at least 270. This included a number of medical students staying in the area.
A preliminary investigative 15-page report published last month said fuel to the engines of the plane cut off just seconds after take-off.
Circumstances around how or why that happened remain unclear. The report said in recovered cockpit voice recordings, one of the pilots can be heard asking "why did you cut off?" - to which the other pilot replied he "did not do so".
A final report into the crash is expected in 12 months.
In the days after the fatal crash, Ms Greenlaw said their mother flew out to India as part of the formal identification process.
"By her own words it was a chaotic scene," Ms Greenlaw recalled. "She went straight to the hospital to give a blood sample, we were told it would be up to 72 hours to get a positive identification - and that was about right.
"She returned from India with what she thought were her son's remains. It has been the equivalent of losing him twice.
"Mum had seen the situation there, smelt the smells, seen the sights, seen the crash site. I think for her that made it more real to be able to see that."
Arwen Greenlaw
Ms Greenlaw explained when the casket was returned it was tested and found to be "the remains of two different people".
As a result, a coroner in London decided to carry out further tests and the family were able to get some DNA from Fiongal's headphones that proved the remains were not his.
"I would say we go up and down with feelings," Ms Greenlaw said when asked how the family are feeling.
"We are not naïve, we understand it must have been a horrendous situation and my heart goes out to those who did the clear up - but we know Finn's remains were found.
"At that point you would expect the remains to come home. If he had not been matched we could get our heads around that."
EPA
Investigators are still trying to establish the cause of the crash
Mr Greenlaw-Meeks founded The Wellness Foundry in Ramsgate, in Kent, in 2018 with his husband joining as a managing director five years later.
They had also been due to be hosting workshops at Ramsgate Pride event in June.
Moments before boarding the Air India flight, the pair posted a video to social media on their last night in the country, where Mr Greenlaw-Meeks reflected on a "magical experience".
"They were amazing," Ms Greenlaw said.
"Two parts of the one soul. They lived together, they married and they died together. They were two halves of one."
The Foreign Office told the BBC it is continuing to liaise with the Gujarati government and the Indian government on behalf of the Inner West London Senior Coroner to support the coronial process.
"We understand that this is an extremely distressing time for the families, and our thoughts remain with them," a Foreign Office spokesperson said.
"Foreign Office staff continue to support the families and loved ones in line with our consular remit.
"We have allocated dedicated caseworkers to each family who wish to have one."
Ms Greenlaw's comments come days after a separate memorial service was held on Sunday in Wembley to remember two other victims who died on the flight - Ashok and Shobhana Patel.
India's foreign ministry previously said: "In the wake of the tragic crash, the concerned authorities had carried out identification of victims as per established protocols and technical requirements.
"All mortal remains were handled with utmost professionalism and with due regard for the dignity of the deceased.
"We are continuing to work with the UK authorities on addressing any concerns related to this issue."
A British man has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly trying to drown his daughter-in-law in a Florida swimming pool during a row over his grandchildren.
Mark Gibbon, 62, was on holiday with his family at the Solterra Resort in Davenport, near Walt Disney World Resort, when the disagreement between the pair erupted, Polk County Sheriff department said.
Mr Gibbon, from Beaconsfield, is accused of pushing and holding the 33-year-old woman's head under the water multiple times preventing her from breathing.
He is charged with attempted 2nd-degree murder and two counts of battery.
Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement: "It's great that Polk County draws visitors from all across the world.
"Because Mr Gibbon couldn't control his anger, he may find himself spending a lot more time in Florida than he had anticipated."
The woman told officers the pair began arguing about his grandchildren while they were in the holiday rental home's swimming pool, before he allegedly tried to drown her.
A young girl then jumped into the pool in an attempt to stop Mr Gibbon drowning the woman, the sheriff's office said.
Mr Gibbon is accused of only stopping when two sisters who were holidaying next door said they had called the Sheriff's office.
US President Donald Trump has issued an executive order on Wednesday hitting India with an additional 25% tariff over its purchases of Russian oil.
That will raise the total tariff on Indian imports to the United States to 50% - among the highest rates imposed by the US.
The new rate shall be "effective with respect to goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time 21 days after the date of this order", the executive order stated.
The US president had earlier warned he would raise levies, saying India "don't care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine".
"The Russian Federation's actions in Ukraine pose an ongoing threat to US national security and foreign policy, necessitating stronger measures to address the national emergency," according to a White House statement.
"India's importation of Russian Federation oil undermines US efforts to counter Russia's harmful activities."
The White House said that India import and subsequent reselling of Russian oil on the market "further enables the Russian Federation's economy to fund its aggression [in Ukraine]".
It stated that the US president is using the tariff to "deter countries from supporting the Russian Federation's economy".
It added that the US will determine which other countries import oil from Russia, and will "recommend further actions to the President as needed".
The threatened tariff hike follows meetings by Trump's top envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow, aimed at securing peace between Russia and Ukraine.
New Delhi had previously called Trump's threat to raise tariffs over its purchase of oil from Russia "unjustified and unreasonable".
In an earlier statement, a spokesperson for India's foreign ministry, Randhir Jaiswal, said the US had encouraged India to import Russian gas at the start of the conflict, "for strengthening global energy markets stability".
He said India "began importing from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict".
India also criticised the US - its largest trading partner - for introducing the tariffs, when the US itself is still doing trade with Russia.
Last year, the US traded goods worth an estimated $3.5bn (£2.6bn) with Russia, despite tough sanctions and tariffs.
"Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security," the foreign ministry statement said.
Steve Witkoff and Vladimir Putin met at the Kremlin on Wednesday morning
A meeting between US envoy Steve Witkoff and Russia's Vladimir Putin is under way at the Kremlin, Russian media has said.
Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Wednesday as Donald Trump's deadline for Russia to agree a ceasefire in Ukraine looms.
The US president has said Russia could face hefty sanctions or see secondary sanctions imposed against all those who trade with it if it doesn't take steps to end the "horrible war" with Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, has warned that Russia would only make serious moves towards peace if it began to run out of money. He welcomed the threat of tougher US sanctions and tariffs on nations buying Russian oil.
Expectations are muted for a settlement by Friday, and Russia has continued its large-scale air attacks on Ukraine despite Trump's threats of sanctions.
Three rounds of talks between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul have failed to bring the war closer to and end, three and a half years after Moscow launched its full-invasion.
Moscow's military and political preconditions for peace remain unacceptable to Kyiv and to its Western partners. The Kremlin has also repeatedly turned down Kyiv's requests for a meeting between Zelensky and Putin.
Meanwhile, the US administration approved $200m of additional military sales to Ukraine on Tuesday following a phone call between Zelensky and Trump, in which the two leaders also discussed defence cooperation and drone production.
Ukraine has been using drones to hit Russia's refineries and energy facilities, while Moscow has focused its air attacks on Ukraine's cities.
The Kyiv City Military Administration said the toll of an attack on the city last week rose to 32 after a man died of his injuries. The strike was the deadliest on Kyiv since the start of the invasion.
Ukrainian authorities on Wednesday reported that a Russian attack on a holiday camp in the central region of Zaporizhzhia left two dead and 12 wounded.
"There's no military sense in this attack. It's just cruelty to scare people," Zelensky said.
Ann Devereaux lives next to a property which has been empty for decades
Across England, the number of empty homes has been steadily rising, with councils "increasingly concerned" about both the impact they have on local communities and the lost resource.
"It makes you feel afraid because you don't know what's going to happen next."
Ann Devereaux has cherished her home in a peaceful corner of Bristol for more than 25 years. But the property next door - empty, collapsing and overrun with pests - has become a constant source of stress.
What was once just an eyesore is now a "magnet" for crime, she said.
"It's a place just available and open for misuse," she added.
"Whether it's men coming out and urinating against the wall, drug-dealing or fly-tipping.
"It makes me feel scared when I leave my house or come in at night. It's wearing me down emotionally."
She has witnessed violence outside her front door, and the rotting smell of rubbish dumped inside the building sometimes drifts into her living room.
The empty property is attached to Ms Devereaux's house
Bristol City Council said it has ordered the owner of the building to make it safe.
But Ms Devereaux and others in the tight-knit community of St Werburgh's say the situation is "only getting worse".
Just months ago, the roof of the derelict property collapsed, unleashing dozens of rats into nearby gardens.
"It's a wasted resource, and I know there are a lot of places like this which are empty and rotting and creating real problems," said Ms Devereaux.
The city council said it is "continuing to monitor the building" and will consider further action, including stepping in to carry out safety works, if the owner does not meet their obligations.
The roof of the property collapsed causing rats to escape into neighbour's gardens
The BBC contacted the owner of the building, but had no response.
Residents of St Werburgh's say they want the property brought back into use urgently - and their story is not unique.
The number of empty homes in England has risen over the last decade, even as the country grapples with a housing shortage.
There are now more than 700,000 empty homes, according to the most recent government figures. Of those, 264,884 are classed as "long-term empty", meaning no one has lived there for six months or more.
In Wales, the figure stood at 120,000 empty properties the last time the data was collated.
In 2023 the Welsh Government launched a £50m National Empty Homes scheme, which offered up to £25,000 for improvements to be made to properties to make them available again.
Empty homes are also viewed as a missed opportunity by housing charities.
Bristol charity, 1625 Independent People, is trying to change that.
Its Future Builders programme is transforming vacant properties into homes for young people facing homelessness to rent at a reduced cost.
Becky Hopkins was offered an affordable place to live through the Future Builders scheme
Becky Hopkins became homeless in the city at just 18 years old.
"I was completely lost, lonely, and isolated. I had feelings of self-hatred. I was worried all the time," she said.
But the programme gave Ms Hopkins a more affordable place to rent while she worked towards a more stable future.
"After having a stable place, I really could focus on working on my mental health and building better habits."
Now 21, she is training to become a Royal Navy engineer.
"It's a transformation I didn't think was possible," she said.
Sean Fudge said empty homes can have "a detrimental impact" on the neighbourhood
Local councils are on the frontline of the empty homes issue, and leaders are now calling for stronger powers and resources to bring more back into use.
Specific officers are tasked with tracing the owners of empty properties so they can be held accountable.
Sean Fudge leads the team at South Gloucestershire Council, which has brought 47 properties back into use so far this year.
"If left empty, they can lead to a spiral of decline, neglect and decay in a community," he said.
"We initially try to engage with the owner, but when it becomes a detrimental impact to the wider neighbourhood, then we have to take enforcement action to stop that decline."
Law change call
If the property has been empty for more than two years, and the owner is not cooperating, councils can apply for an Empty Dwelling Management Order (EDMO).
If granted, the council does not gain ownership of the property, but gets the right to manage and potentially improve it, recouping costs through rent.
But this power is rarely utilised because of the long and complex process involved.
The Local Government Association is calling for changes in the law to make it easier for councils to take over the management of vacant homes.
There are more than 700,000 empty and unfurnished homes in England
The group Action on Empty Homes is also campaigning to bring empty properties back into use.
Campaign manager Chris Bailey said: "Every empty home is a lost opportunity to improve the life of a family that's currently homeless.
"These are homes which are relevant, in the right places - in the middle of towns and cities where people want to live - where services exist already.
"It's not a case of building a whole new town and waiting for 10 years for it to happen, these are homes that are available now, they could be brought back into use within a year."
But it is not always straightforward.
Jenni Sadler inherited a house which had fallen into disrepair
When homeowners die, their property often remains empty during the probate process, during which their assets are legally assessed and distributed.
Jenni Sadler inherited her mother's house in 2011.
"It's a huge privilege to inherit a home," she said. "But it's bittersweet when it's such a close family member, because the home is them and they are the home."
The property had fallen into disrepair, and Ms Sadler struggled to afford the mounting costs of essential renovations. As a result, the house has been empty while work is ongoing.
"We found more and more things that needed work," she said.
"You find yourself thinking - how am I going to do this?"
Ms Sadler has secured a loan from Lendology which works with councils to offer low-interest loans to bring empty homes back into use.
She now hopes to complete the renovations and rent out the property through the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Ms Sadler said she had a good experience in the family home and now wants another family to experience that
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: "We are determined to fix the housing crisis we have inherited, and we know that having too many empty homes in an area can have a significant impact on local communities.
"That's why we are giving councils stronger powers to increase council tax on long-term empty homes alongside removing tax incentives for short-term lets, and we continue to consider further action."
If you want to contact us regarding this story, email westinvestigations@bbc.co.uk
A record number of 18-year-olds are likely to get into their first choice of university this year, the head of the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) has said - even if they narrowly miss their grades.
Dr Jo Saxton said universities were keen to enrol UK undergraduates because there was more "uncertainty" around international student numbers.
She said they would "quite possibly" accept students who did not meet the conditions of their offer adding that domestic students offered universities "stability" for "financial planning".
The prediction comes as thousands of students will open A-level, T-level, Btec and other level-three results next week.
Dr Saxton said it was a "really, really good year to be a UK-domiciled 18-year-old that wants to go to one of our world-class universities".
"I would anticipate a record number of 18-year-olds will wake up with confirmation, quite possibly even where they are near-misses," she said.
She added that universities were "recognising, actually, that a three-year undergraduate student is stability for your teaching and learning, for your university community, for your financial planning".
Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK, said universities were "certainly competitive" with one another, which meant applicants had "lots of choice".
Ucas says universities have made more offers this year, which it says "typically translates into more acceptances".
Dr Saxton said she expected there to be "slightly fewer" places in clearing as a result - because if more places are taken up by students who have received offers, there will be fewer places to list.
Ucas's clearing system lets students search for university courses with available places.
More than 22,600 courses had listed vacancies for undergraduate students from England this week, according to a Press Association analysis of 129 universities.
There were more than 3,600 courses advertised across 17 of the selective Russell Group universities.
Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said year 13 students were "well placed" to study where they wanted to.
"The financial plight of universities makes them very keen to fill their courses and they will be falling over themselves to sign up good potential students," he said.
Students from England and Wales will pay higher tuition fees for university this year, after the sector called for help with its finances.
Tuition fees have risen from £9,250 to £9,535 for the 2025-26 academic year.
It is the first time they have gone up in England since 2017, and comes after universities said their real-terms value had fallen.
They have become increasingly reliant on higher fees from international students in recent years to make up for frozen domestic fees - but the number of overseas students coming to the UK has fallen.
In May, the regulator in England, the Office for Students, warned that more than four in 10 universities expected to be in a financial deficit by this summer.
Maintenance loans have also gone up this year, which means students can borrow more to help with day-to-day living costs.
In England, the maximum maintenance loan for students from England who live away from their parents outside London has increased to £10,544 a year, up from £10,227.
Ucas said last month that the number of 18-year-olds from the UK applying to university had risen again to 328,390.
However, because the total number of 18-year-olds in the UK has also grown, those applicants make up a slightly smaller proportion of the total 18-year-old population than last year (41.2%).
Students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will receive A-level and other level-three grades next week.
In Scotland, the number of pupils achieving an A, B or C grade at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher rose across the board this year.
The Scottish Qualifications Authority also reported a reduction in the attainment gap between candidates from the most and least deprived areas.
UK interest rates are widely expected to be cut on Thursday, taking the cost of borrowing to its lowest level for more than two years.
Financial markets predict that the Bank of England will reduce interest rates to 4% from 4.25% in its fifth cut since last August, taking it to the lowest since March 2023.
A lower base rate can reduce monthly mortgage costs for some homeowners but it also means a smaller return for savers.
Next week, the Office for National Statistics will release data on how the UK economy performed between April and June.
It grew by 0.7% in the first three months of the year.
If the Bank does trim rates, repayments on an average standard variable rate mortgage of £250,000 over 25 years will fall by £40 per month, according to Moneyfacts.
But for savers, the average return rate would fall from 3.9% in August last year to 3.5%, the financial data firm said.
"Savings rates are getting worse and any base rate reductions will spell further misery for savers," said Rachel Springall, finance expert at Moneyfacts.
Inflation
Interest rates are expected to be cut despite inflation - which measures the pace of price rises - climbing above the Bank of England's 2% target.
In the year to June, inflation rose to 3.6% due in part to the higher cost of food and clothing as well as air and rail travel.
However, there are signs that the UK employment market is cooling which could weigh on inflation.
Recent figures show that the number of people on payrolls is falling, vacancies are lower and the jobless rate has ticked higher.
Dymtro Chubenko collects and documents evidence of Russian attacks
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Western nations have imposed far-reaching sanctions on the aggressor, in a bid to stymy its war effort.
But on the ground here in Ukraine, these sanctions seem to have limited impact.
Just outside Kharkiv, at a secret location, lies a collection of twisted metal remnants from attacks in and around the city. It's a scrapyard of savagery - the remains of many of the Russian bombs, rockets, missiles and drones used to hit in and around Kharkiv over the past three and a half years.
"This is the material evidence with which we, as prosecutors, will prove the guilt of Russia in committing war crimes," Dymtro Chubenko of the Kharkiv Region Prosecutor's Office tells me. Every piece of rocket and drone here has been carefully collected and analysed.
Dmytro shows me one of the latest editions – a Russian version of Iran's Shaheed drone. Russia has recently been firing hundreds of these Kamikaze drones at Ukraine's towns and cities. They're relatively cheap to make, he tells me – about $20,000 (£15,000) each.
He points to the nearby carcass of a Russian cruise missile. He says these cost millions.
But these weapons are not fully Russian-made - they contain "many components from western nations," Dmytro says. "It's possible [for Russia] to circumvent sanctions, but doing nothing is not an option either," he adds.
Lee Durant/BBC
Russia is launching hundreds of its own version of the Shahed drone at Ukraine
Donald Trump appears to have lost patience with President Vladimir Putin. After early efforts at rapprochement between the US and Russia, the US president has now threatened to boost sanctions on the Kremlin unless Russia agrees to a ceasefire in Ukraine by this Friday.
So, if President Trump chooses to impose more sanctions on the Kremlin, would it be enough to force Russia to change course in this war? Dymtro believes hitting Russian oil and gas exports could have a significant economic impact.
"We will not be able to stop it with a snap of our fingers, but we need to do it, we need to act," he says. There is hope that President Trump might act.
Kharkiv, just 30 kilometres from the Russian border, has borne the brunt of many strikes throughout the war. Thousands of buildings have been damaged or destroyed. Throughout the region almost 3,000 civilians have been killed, 97 of them children.
Police Colonel Serhii Bolvinov shows me the burnt-out shell of the police headquarters he used to work in. A Russian strike in 2022 killed three of his officers as well as six civilians. He points to the gaping hole in the wall where the missiles entered. Russian tactics, he says, haven't changed. "Russia tries to hit and kill as many civilians as they can."
Lee Durant/BBC
Investigators test DNA to identify casualties of Russian strikes
Colonel Bolvinov's job is to investigate every single civilian death. He's leaving no stone unturned. He has 1,000 men and women working for him, now dispersed in basement offices right across the city. They're carrying out painstaking forensic work to build a criminal case against those responsible.
Photographs of Russian military officers who've been tied to specific attacks are plastered across the wall – the wanted.
In another building, crime scene investigators carry out DNA tests to identify the latest casualties – Ukrainian civilians killed in a Russian rocket attack as they queued up to collect water. Colonel Bolvinov shows me footage from strike - unrecognisable charred bodies lie on the ground.
"It's hard to do this work, but it's very important work for future justice for us, for the Ukrainian people," he says. He shows me a three-dimensional computer image of a mass grave in Izium where more than 400 bodies were discovered. "Some of the cases leave a scar on all of us, and we will never forget this trauma," he says.
Colonel Bolvinov says he wants to see an end to this war. He hopes President Trump's increasing pressure on President Putin will work. But the police chief doesn't want peace at any price. "Peace without justice, is not really peace," he says. Even if a ceasefire can be agreed, it still won't address the wounds of most Ukrainian people.
Lee Durant/BBC
Police Colonel Serhii Bolvinov says Ukraine can't have peace without justice
At a cemetery outside Kharkiv is another reminder of the cost of the war: the ever-growing ranks of dead Ukrainian soldiers. Each grave is marked by the blue and gold of the national flag. The silence here is only broken by the sound of them flapping in the wind.
Nearby, in the civilian section of the cemetery, a mother and her family are placing flowers on their daughter's grave. Sofia was just 14 years old when a Russian glide bomb took her life last year. She was sitting on a park bench in Kharkiv, enjoying the warm summer afternoon with a friend.
I ask her mother Yulia if President Trump's increasing pressure on Russia can bring any comfort, but she's not optimistic.
"These conversations have already been going on too long," she tells me.
"But so far there are no results… Hope is fading."
Lee Durant/BBC
A Russian glide bomb struck and killed 14-year-old Sofia as she sat on a park bench last summer
New evidence suggests people returned to live among the ruins of Pompeii after the ancient Roman city was devastated by a volcanic eruption.
Archaeologists believe some survivors who could not afford to start a new life elsewhere returned to the site and may have been joined by others looking for a place to settle.
Pompeii was home to more than 20,000 people before Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD79, burying - and preserving - much of the city, before its rediscovery in the 16th century.
There had been previous speculation that survivors had returned to the ruins, and archaeologists at the site said in a statement on Wednesday that the theory appears to have been confirmed by new research.
"Thanks to the new excavations, the picture is now clearer: post-79 Pompeii reemerges, less as a city than as a precarious and grey agglomeration, a kind of camp, a favela among the still-recognisable ruins of the Pompeii that once was," the site's director, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, said.
The archaeologists' said the informal settlement continued until the 5th century.
EPA
The eruption preserved much of the city, including the remains of some caught up in the disaster
The evidence suggests people lived without the infrastructure and services typical of a Roman city, and that the ruins provided the opportunity of finding valuable objects, the researchers said.
People are thought to have lived in the upper floors of homes above the ash below, with the lower floors converted into cellars.
The city's destruction has "monopolised the memory", Mr Zuchtriegel said, and in the rush to reach Pompeii's well-preserved artefacts, "The faint traces of the site's reoccupation were literally removed and often swept away without any documentation".
The site is now a world-famous tourist attraction and offers a window into Roman life.
Melissa Smith, the mother of Kristin Smith, whose body was found in early 2023, speaking at a news conference at the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office in Portland, Ore., on Tuesday.
After the war with Israel, Iranian authorities have swept up hundreds of people deemed suspected infiltrators. But the arrest and hanging of the nuclear scientist Roozbeh Vadi was a rare move.
Thousands of people travelling to and from Birmingham Airport have been affected by delays and cancellations after a light aircraft made an emergency landing on its runway.
Woodgate Aviation, which owns the plane, said one of its Beechcraft fixed-wing aircraft had developed landing gear problems on the journey from Birmingham to Belfast.
Two crew members and one passenger were onboard, but were not seriously injured when the main undercarriage collapsed on touch down.
The runway was shut for more than six hours until the plane was removed at about 19:30 BST, after which the airport said it had reopened.
The first plane to depart from the airport after its reopening was a Wizz Air flight to Bucharest, Romania, which had been scheduled to leave Birmingham at 14:10.
A number of flights on the Birmingham Airport online departure board also showed that they were open for check-in.
Some passengers told the BBC that their planes were cancelled "moments before boarding" on Wednesday afternoon.
In a statement, a Birmingham Airport spokesperson said passengers should check flight details with their airlines.
"We understand the frustration and apologise for the disruption this has caused," it added.
"Our teams have worked as quickly as possible, in line with strict protocols, which must be followed to ensure a safe reopening of the runway following a prolonged closure."
Mr Singh
Photos on social media show a small aircraft on the runway
At least 10 flights due to depart from the airport were cancelled.
Others were delayed by more than five hours, and more than 20 due to land there were diverted to other airports.
West Midlands Police, West Midlands Fire Service, and Birmingham Airport Police were among the agencies at the scene.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch said it was investigating the incident.
Faye
Faye and her family's holiday was cancelled altogether
Faye, who was travelling with her partner and four children, said they found out about the incident on Facebook.
They had been due to fly to Antalya in Turkey with Jet2 at 14:55. While waiting at the airport, the family was given £10 per person by the airline for food and drinks.
Faye told the BBC she subsequently received a text message saying the whole holiday had been cancelled, and there would be a full refund in four to five days.
She and her family were waiting to collect their baggage along with about 400 other people, her children "sobbing and crying", she said.
"We are stuck here waiting for our baggage and it's boiling hot... and now our kids aren't going to have a holiday," she added.
James Conibere
James Conibere said passengers were frustrated with the lack of updates
James Conibere and his family of eight were hoping to board a flight to Malta on Wednesday afternoon.
He told the BBC it was a retirement gift for his mother-in-law, and they had arrived at the airport shortly before the incident, at 13:00.
While the family sat in a Wetherspoons, waiting for updates, Mr Conibere said he watched other passengers searching for somewhere to sit in the crowded pub, many of them frustrated.
"Lots of people are getting agitated and angry by the lack of information from the airport," he said.
"We have received a food voucher from Ryanair. We're relying on news outlets for information."
What do we know about the aircraft?
Flightrader24
The plane had to turn back to Birmingham
The aircraft involved in this incident was a Beechcraft B200 Super King Air, a small, twin-engine propeller plane that has been in production since the 1970s.
This flight was departing from Birmingham and headed to Belfast.
It departed at 13:11, but soon had to make a turn and flew in a holding pattern, landing back at Birmingham Airport at 13:58.
The plane transmitted a 7700 squawk code - which are broadcast to tell air traffic control that there is an emergency and the aircraft needs priority handling.
Fiongal and Jamie Greenlaw-Meek, who ran a spiritual wellness centre in Ramsgate, were among the dead in the Air India plane crash
A woman whose brother died in the Air India crash and then received the wrong body says it has "added trauma" to her family.
Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek, 39, and his husband Jamie, 45, were among the 242 people on board the flight which crashed on 12 June soon after taking off for London Gatwick from Ahmedabad.
His sister Arwen Greenlaw told BBC Newsnight her family was seeking dignity and closure as well as accountability for those who mislabelled her brother's remains.
The Foreign Office said it continues to support families affected by the Air India crash with "dedicated caseworkers", adding that the "formal identification of bodies is a matter for the Indian authorities".
Ms Greenlaw, from Cambridge, told the BBC she wanted "dignity" for her brother and "closure for the family".
"If that is not possible - because the worst case scenario is that he has been cremated as somebody else - then we need to know that in order to move on," she added.
"Somebody mislabelled remains - that has added trauma."
She said it appeared there was a "lack of forensic protocols" at the scene of the crash, and the site was "not closed for 48 hours".
"It just can't happen again," she said.
"I think the whole family were and still are in complete disbelief because it is things that happen on the news and to other people. It was shocking and is confusing."
There were 230 passengers and 12 crew on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, including 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian.
Many people living in a residential neighbourhood near Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport where the jet came down were also killed, taking the number of confirmed casualties to at least 270. This included a number of medical students staying in the area.
A preliminary investigative 15-page report published last month said fuel to the engines of the plane cut off just seconds after take-off.
Circumstances around how or why that happened remain unclear. The report said in recovered cockpit voice recordings, one of the pilots can be heard asking "why did you cut off?" - to which the other pilot replied he "did not do so".
A final report into the crash is expected in 12 months.
In the days after the fatal crash, Ms Greenlaw said their mother flew out to India as part of the formal identification process.
"By her own words it was a chaotic scene," Ms Greenlaw recalled. "She went straight to the hospital to give a blood sample, we were told it would be up to 72 hours to get a positive identification - and that was about right.
"She returned from India with what she thought were her son's remains. It has been the equivalent of losing him twice.
"Mum had seen the situation there, smelt the smells, seen the sights, seen the crash site. I think for her that made it more real to be able to see that."
Arwen Greenlaw
Ms Greenlaw explained when the casket was returned it was tested and found to be "the remains of two different people".
As a result, a coroner in London decided to carry out further tests and the family were able to get some DNA from Fiongal's headphones that proved the remains were not his.
"I would say we go up and down with feelings," Ms Greenlaw said when asked how the family are feeling.
"We are not naïve, we understand it must have been a horrendous situation and my heart goes out to those who did the clear up - but we know Finn's remains were found.
"At that point you would expect the remains to come home. If he had not been matched we could get our heads around that."
EPA
Investigators are still trying to establish the cause of the crash
Mr Greenlaw-Meeks founded The Wellness Foundry in Ramsgate, in Kent, in 2018 with his husband joining as a managing director five years later.
They had also been due to be hosting workshops at Ramsgate Pride event in June.
Moments before boarding the Air India flight, the pair posted a video to social media on their last night in the country, where Mr Greenlaw-Meeks reflected on a "magical experience".
"They were amazing," Ms Greenlaw said.
"Two parts of the one soul. They lived together, they married and they died together. They were two halves of one."
The Foreign Office told the BBC it is continuing to liaise with the Gujarati government and the Indian government on behalf of the Inner West London Senior Coroner to support the coronial process.
"We understand that this is an extremely distressing time for the families, and our thoughts remain with them," a Foreign Office spokesperson said.
"Foreign Office staff continue to support the families and loved ones in line with our consular remit.
"We have allocated dedicated caseworkers to each family who wish to have one."
Ms Greenlaw's comments come days after a separate memorial service was held on Sunday in Wembley to remember two other victims who died on the flight - Ashok and Shobhana Patel.
India's foreign ministry previously said: "In the wake of the tragic crash, the concerned authorities had carried out identification of victims as per established protocols and technical requirements.
"All mortal remains were handled with utmost professionalism and with due regard for the dignity of the deceased.
"We are continuing to work with the UK authorities on addressing any concerns related to this issue."
A British man has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly trying to drown his daughter-in-law in a Florida swimming pool during a row over his grandchildren.
Mark Gibbon, 62, was on holiday with his family at the Solterra Resort in Davenport, near Walt Disney World Resort, when the disagreement between the pair erupted, Polk County Sheriff department said.
Mr Gibbon, from Beaconsfield, is accused of pushing and holding the 33-year-old woman's head under the water multiple times preventing her from breathing.
He is charged with attempted 2nd-degree murder and two counts of battery.
Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement: "It's great that Polk County draws visitors from all across the world.
"Because Mr Gibbon couldn't control his anger, he may find himself spending a lot more time in Florida than he had anticipated."
The woman told officers the pair began arguing about his grandchildren while they were in the holiday rental home's swimming pool, before he allegedly tried to drown her.
A young girl then jumped into the pool in an attempt to stop Mr Gibbon drowning the woman, the sheriff's office said.
Mr Gibbon is accused of only stopping when two sisters who were holidaying next door said they had called the Sheriff's office.
The political and legal threats against Democrats who left Texas to protest a redrawn political map have gone further and faster than many anticipated.
Texas Democrats may have bought their party some time with their walkout, but both parties are mobilizing to redraw U.S. House maps ahead of the midterms.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an investigation into a political organization led by former presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke for helping Texas Democrats block newly proposed congressional maps.
In a Wednesday afternoon press release, Paxton said the O’Rourke-led group, Powered by People, may have violated bribery, campaign finance and abuse of office laws, citing “public reports” that Powered by People was “bankrolling” the Texas House Democrats.
The organization’s purported involvement in helping fund Democrats’ out-of-state travels was first reported by The Texas Tribune. POLITICO has not independently confirmed the report.
"The guy impeached for bribery is going after the folks trying to stop the theft of five Congressional seats," O'Rourke said in response to Paxton's announcement. "Let’s stop these thugs before they steal our country.”
Paxton — a Republican who is also primarying Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) — has vowed to seek the expulsion of Democratic state lawmakers who fled the state this weekend to prevent the legislature from hitting quorum, preventing Republicans from passing a gerrymandered congressional map that could give the party as many as five more House seats in the midterm elections.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott attempted to accelerate the process by filing an emergency petition against Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu with the state’s Supreme Court on Tuesday. But Paxton and Abbott face legal and procedural hurdles as they attempt to force Democrats back to the state for the special session called by Abbott last month.
“Texas cannot be bought. I look forward to thoroughly reviewing all of the documents and communications obtained throughout this investigation,” Paxton said in the press release. “These jet-setting runaways have already lost public trust by abandoning our state, and Texans deserve to know if they received illegal bribes to do it.”
Paxton also said he had issued a “Request to Examine,” requiring the organization to supply his office with documents and communications related to its alleged involvement in the quorum break.
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