生活被摧毁：根据莫斯科方面的说法，对乌克兰的“特别军事行动”原本只打算持续三天时间。然而三年过去了，战争仍在继续。根据智库“战争研究所”（Institute for the Study of War）的最新报告，目前俄罗斯控制着乌克兰约20%的领土，主要集中在东部。这张照片拍摄于2023年5月的顿涅茨克（Donetsk）。
马里乌波尔——乌克兰抵抗的象征：2022年，俄罗斯对乌克兰南部城市马里乌波尔（Mariupol）围攻长达82天。该市遭到猛烈轰炸，最后乌克兰守军被围困在钢铁厂内。俄罗斯轰炸一家医院后，一张孕妇被紧急撤离的照片震惊世界。这张照片由乌克兰记者拍摄，后来凭借纪录片《马里乌波尔的20天》（20 Days in Mariupol）获得奥斯卡奖。
The letter to Canada is among more than 20 that Trump had posted this week to US trade partners.
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.
President Trump has extended the deadline for tariff negotiations - again
"Deeply regrettable" is how Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has described US President Donald Trump's latest tariff threat - a 25% levy on Japanese goods.
Tokyo, a long-time US ally, has been trying hard to avoid exactly this. It has been seeking concessions for its beleaguered car makers, while resisting pressure to open its markets to American rice.
There have been many rounds of negotiations. Japan's trade minister has visited Washington DC at least seven times since April, when Trump announced sweeping tariffs against friends and foes.
And yet, those trips seem to have borne little fruit. Trump's label for Tokyo moved from "tough" to "spoiled" as talks dragged on.
And then this week, Japan joined a list of 22 nations that were sent tariff letters - 14 of those are in Asia. From South Korea to Sri Lanka, many are export-driven manufacturing hubs.
They have until 1 August to strike a deal with the US. But they are likely wondering about their chances given that Japan, a staunch ally that has been openly pursuing a deal, is still facing a steep levy.
In one sense, almost all of the countries targeted by Trump earlier this year benefit from the deadline extension - they now have more than three weeks more to strike deals.
"The optimistic case is that there is pressure now to engage in further negotiations before the 1 August deadline," said Suan Teck Kin, head of research at United Overseas Bank.
Growing economies like Thailand and Malaysia, which received tariff letters this week, will be especially eager to seek a solution. They are also caught in the middle of US-China tensions as Washington targets Chinese exports rerouted through third countries, what are known as transhipped goods.
Economists have told the BBC that further extensions are likely, given the complexity of trade agreements.
Countries will need time to implement Trump's demands, which, going by the letters, are not entirely clear, said business lecturer Alex Capri from the National University of Singapore.
For instance, transhipped goods have been specifically levied as part of Vietnam's trade deal with the US. But it is unclear whether that applies to finished goods, or to all imported components.
Either way, it will involve far more sophisticated technology to keep track of supply chains, Mr Capri said.
"It's going to be a slow, long-term and evolving process involving many third parties, tech companies and logistic partners."
Loser: Asian manufacturers
It seems clear that tariffs are here to stay, which makes global trade the loser.
Companies from the US, Europe and China with global businesses remain at risk, Mr Capri said. This hurts not just exporters, but also US importers and consumers.
And it is a blow for the economic ambitions of large parts of Asia, whose rise has been fuelled by manufacturing, from electronics to textiles.
Getty Images
Cambodia's garment workers rely on an export-driven industry for their livelihood
It is unwise to make zero-sum observations on which countries are winning and losing, Mr Capri added, because international trade, especially between US and China is so deeply inter-linked.
Some countries, however, could lose more than others.
Vietnam was the first in Asia to strike a deal, but it has little leverage against Washington, and is now facing levies up to 40%. The same goes for Cambodia. A poor country heavily reliant on exports, it has been negotiating a deal as Trump threatens 35% tariffs.
South Korea and Japan, on the other hand, may be able to hold out longer, because they are richer and have stronger geo-political levers.
India, which too has leverage of its own, has not been issued a letter yet. A deal has seemed imminent but appears to be delayed by key sticking points, including access to the Indian agricultural market and the country's import rules.
Loser: US-Japan alliance
"Despite its close economic and military relationship with the US, Japan is being treated the same as other Asian trade partners," said economist Jesper Koll.
And that could transform the relationship, especially as Tokyo, with its large financial reserves, appears to be ready for the long game.
"Japan has proven to be a tough negotiator and I think that has annoyed Trump," Mr Koll said.
Despite a rice shortage that has sent prices soaring, PM Ishiba has refused to buy US rice, choosing instead to protect domestic farmers. His government has also refused to give in to US demands to increase its military spending.
Getty Images
Global businesses like Samsung are in limbo because of Trump's tariffs
"They are well prepared," Mr Koll argued. He said the day after Trump announced tariffs in April, Tokyo declared an economic emergency and set up hundreds of consultation centres to assist affected companies.
"Japan will be seeking a deal that is credible," he said, because what's the guarantee Trump won't change his mind again?
With Japan's upper-house election due this month, it would be surprising if a deal is agreed by August, Mr Koll said.
"No-one is happy. But is this something that is going to force a recession in Japan? No."
Winner: US or China?
Asia has long been seen as a key battleground between Washington and Beijing, and analysts say, because of tariffs, Trump may be ceding ground.
For one, given how complex these deals can be, Trump may be overplaying his hand by extending the deadline again, according to some observers.
"The bargaining position of the US has actually been diminished as they have revealed that their hand isn't actually as strong as they would like," said NUS economics professor David Jacks.
And the deals that are made could come at the cost of reshaping trade and ties built over decades.
Trump's choice of posting the letters online, rather than through traditional diplomatic channels, could backfire, said Mr Capri, who described it as "political theatre".
The confusion caused is a "great gift" to China, which is trying to portray itself as a stable alternative to Trump's unpredictability, he added.
But the US market is not easy to replace - and Beijing has its fair share of tensions with countries in this part of the world, from Vietnam to Japan.
China is in the middle of its own trade negotiations the US, although it has longer to strike a full agreement - until 13 August.
So who will win more friends in this trade war is hard to say, but the race is still on.
“Both parties see the need for a divorce," Prof Jacks said, "but getting there will be tough and involve proceedings which will span years, if not decades."
Watch: The most intense strikes on Kyiv since June
Everyone agrees: it's getting worse.
The people of Kyiv have, like the citizens of other Ukrainian cities, been through a lot.
After three and a half years of fluctuating fortunes, they are tough and extremely resilient.
But in recent months, they have been experiencing something new: vast, coordinated waves of attacks from the air, involving hundreds of drones and missiles, often concentrated on a single city.
Last night, it was Kyiv. And the week before too. In between, it was Lutsk in the far west.
Three years ago, Iranian-supplied Shahed drones were a relative novelty. I remember hearing my first, buzzing a lazy arc across the night sky above the southern city of Zaporizhzhia in October 2022.
But now everyone is familiar with the sound, and its most fearsome recent iteration: a dive-bombing wail some have compared to the German World War Two Stuka aircraft.
The sound of swarms of approaching drones have sent hardened civilians back to bomb shelters, the metro and underground car parks for the first time since the early days of the war.
"The house shook like it was made of paper," Katya, a Kyiv resident, told me after last night's heavy bombardment.
"We spent the entire night sitting in the bathroom."
"I went to the parking for the first time," another resident, Svitlana, told me.
"The building shook and I could see fires across the river."
The attacks don't always claim lives, but they are spreading fear and eroding morale.
After an attack on a residential block in Kyiv last week, a shocked grandmother, Mariia, told me that her 11-year old grandson had turned to her, in the shelter, and said he understood the meaning of death for the first time.
He has every reason to be fearful. The UN's Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) says June saw the highest monthly civilian casualties in three years, with 232 people killed and over 1,300 injured.
Many will have been killed or wounded in communities close to the front lines, but others have been killed in cities far from the fighting.
"The surge in long-range missile and drone strikes across the country has brought even more death and destruction to civilians far away from the frontline," says Danielle Bell, head of HRMMU.
Reuters
Modifications in the Shahed's design have allowed it to fly much higher than before and descend on its target from a greater altitude.
Its range has also increased, to around 2,500km, and it's capable of carrying a more deadly payload (up from around 50kg of explosive to 90kg).
Tracking maps produced by local experts show swirling masses of Shahed drones, sometimes taking circuitous routes across Ukraine before homing in on their targets.
Many – often as many as half – are decoys, designed to confuse and overwhelm Ukraine's air defences.
Other, straight lines show the paths of ballistic or cruise missiles: much fewer in number but the weapons Russia relies on to do the most damage.
Analysis by the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War shows an increase in Russia's drone and missile strikes in the two months following Donald Trump's inauguration in January.
March saw a slight decline, with occasional spikes, until May, when the numbers suddenly rose dramatically.
New records have been set with alarming regularity.
EPA
This flat was demolished when a Russian drone hit a residential building in Kyiv
June saw a new monthly high of 5,429 drones, July has seen more than 2,000 in just the first nine days.
With production in Russia ramping up, some reports suggest Moscow may soon be able to fire over 1,000 missiles and drones in a single night.
Experts in Kyiv warn that the country is in danger of being overwhelmed.
"If Ukraine doesn't find a solution for how to deal with these drones, we will face great problems during 2025," says former intelligence officer Ivan Stupak.
"Some of these drones are trying to reach military objects - we have to understand it - but the rest, they are destroying apartments, falling into office buildings and causing lots of damage to citizens."
For all their increasing capability, the drones are not an especially sophisticated weapon. But they do represent yet another example of the vast gulf in resources between Russia and Ukraine.
It also neatly illustrates the maxim, attributed to the Soviet Union's World War Two leader Joseph Stalin, that "quantity has a quality of its own."
"This is a war of resources," says Serhii Kuzan, of the Kyiv-based Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Centre.
"When production of particular missiles became too complicated - too expensive, too many components, too many complicated supply routes – they concentrated on this particular type of drone and developed different modifications and improvements."
The more drones in a single attack, Kuzan says, the more Ukraine hard-pressed air defence units struggle to shoot them down. This forces Kyiv to fall back on its precious supply of jets and air-to-air missiles to shoot them down.
"So if the drones go as a swarm, they destroy all the air defence missiles," he says.
Hence President Zelensky's constant appeals to Ukraine's allies to do more to protect its skies. Not just with Patriot missiles – vital to counter the most dangerous Russian ballistic threat – but with a wide array of other systems too.
On Thursday, the British government said it would sign a defence agreement with Ukraine to provide more than 5,000 air defence missiles.
Kyiv will be looking for many more such deals in the coming months.
At least 15 Palestinians, including eight children and two women, have been killed in an Israeli strike near a medical point in central Gaza, a hospital there says.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said the strike hit people queueing for nutritional supplements in the town of Deir al-Balah. Graphic video from the hospital showed the bodies of several children and others being treated for their wounds.
The Israeli military said it was checking the reports.
Another 26 people were reportedly killed in strikes elsewhere in Gaza on Thursday, as Israeli and Hamas delegations continued negotiations for a new ceasefire and hostage release deal at indirect talks in Doha.
Despite optimism expressed by the US, which is acting as a mediator along with Qatar and Egypt, they do not so far seem to have come close to a breakthrough.
On Wednesday night, a senior Israeli official told journalists in Washington that it could take one or two weeks to reach an agreement.
The official, who was speaking during a visit to the US by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also said that if an agreement was reached on a 60-day ceasefire, Israel would use that time to offer a permanent end to the war that would require Hamas to disarm. If Hamas refused to disarm, Israel would "proceed" with military operations, they added.
Earlier, Hamas issued a statement saying that the talks had been difficult, blaming Israeli "intransigence".
The group said it had shown flexibility in agreeing to release 10 hostages, but it reiterated that it was seeking a "comprehensive" agreement that would end the Israeli offensive.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 57,680 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
Most of Gaza's population has also been displaced multiple times. More than 90% of homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed; the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed; and there are shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter.
Watch: Trump praises Liberian president's English, the country's official language
US President Donald Trump has praised Liberian President Joseph Boakai for speaking "good English" and asked him where he went to school.
What Trump might have missed is that Liberia shares a unique and long-standing connection with the US.
English is the country's official language and many Liberians speak with an American accent because of those historical ties to the US.
It may have been this accent that Trump picked up on.
Here are five things to know about the country:
Founded by freed slaves
Liberia was founded by freed African-American slaves in 1822 before declaring independence in 1847.
Thousands of black Americans and liberated Africans - rescued from transatlantic slave ships - settled in Liberia during the colonial era.
Former US President Abraham Lincoln officially declared Liberia's independence in 1862 but the country retained a lot of US heritage and it remained in the American "sphere of influence" during the colonial period.
Due to this integration, Liberian culture, landmarks, and institutions have a heavy African-American influence.
Ten of Liberia's 26 presidents were born in the US.
AFP via Getty Images
Liberia shares a long-standing historical connection with the US
The capital is named after a former US president
Reuters
Some streets in Monrovia are named after colonial American figures
Liberia's capital, Monrovia, was named in honour of America's 5th President, James Monroe, who was a strong supporter of the American Colonization Society (ACS).
The ACS was the organisation responsible for resettling freed African-Americans in West Africa - which eventually led to the founding of Liberia.
Not surprisingly the early architecture of the city was largely influenced by American-style buildings.
Many streets in Monrovia are named after colonial American figures, reflecting the city's founding and historical ties to the US.
Nearly identical flags
AFP via Getty Images
There is a striking resemblance between the flags of the two countries
The flag of Liberia closely resembles the American flag. It features 11 alternating red and white stripes and a blue square with a single white star.
The white star symbolises Liberia as the first independent republic in Africa.
The US flag, in comparison, has 13 stripes representing the original 13 colonies and 50 stars, one for each state.
The Liberian flag was designed by seven black women - all born in America.
Ex-president's son plays for US football team
Reuters
Timothy Weah, seen here shaking hands with President Donald Trump, plays for Juventus in Italy
Timothy Weah, the son of Liberia's former President George Weah, is an American professional soccer player who plays for Italian club Juventus as well as the US national team.
The 25-year-old forward was born in the US but began his professional career with Paris St-Germain in France, where he won the Ligue 1 title before moving on loan to the Scottish team, Celtic.
His father, George, is a Liberian football legend who won the Ballon d'Or in 1995 while playing for Juventus's Italian rivals AC Milan. He is the only African winner of this award - and went on to be elected president in 2018.
Former president won the Nobel Peace Prize
Reuters
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf served as the 24th president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018
Liberia produced Africa's first elected female president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
She was elected in 2005, two years after the nation's bloody civil war ended, and served as president until 2018.
Sirleaf has a strong American background as she studied at Madison Business College and later went to Harvard University where she graduated as an economist.
She has received worldwide recognition and accolades for maintaining peace during her administration.
Her story is pitted with remarkable feats of defiance and courage.
In 2011, along with Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karmān, she won the Nobel Prize for Peace for her efforts to further women's rights.
In 2016, Forbes listed her among the most powerful women in the world.
What do Liberians make of the comments?
There has been a mixed reaction.
Accountant Joseph Manley, 40, told the BBC that Trump should have been properly briefed before meeting Liberia's leader.
"Liberia has always been an English-speaking country. Our president represents a country with a rich educational tradition."
For human resources professional Henrietta Peter-Mogballah, The US president's surprise at Boakai's eloquence reflects a broader problem of global ignorance about African nations and its peoples.
"From travel experiences and observations, most citizens of other nations outside Africa do not know a lot about African countries," she said. "The few that know a little, their minds are clouded by narratives of war, poverty, and lack of education."
While many have criticised Trump, others see nothing wrong in his comments.
"I believe President Trump's remark was a genuine compliment on President Boakai's command of English," lawyer and politician Kanio Gbala told the BBC. "There is no evidence of sarcasm. Reading it as disrespectful may reflect political agendas."
Jane Birkin owned the original bag and lent her name to all that followed
The original Birkin bag, which set the template for arguably the most coveted accessory in fashion history, has been bought for €8.6m (£7.4m; $10.1m), becoming the most valuable handbag ever sold at auction.
The black leather bag was made for singer Jane Birkin in 1985 after she spilled her belongings while sitting next to the boss of luxury fashion house Hermès on a flight.
She asked why they didn't make bigger bags, so he sketched out the design for a new, more practical but still highly desirable item on the aeroplane's sick bag.
The prototype he made was sold to a private collector from Japan at Sotheby's in Paris on Thursday, far surpassing the $513,000 (£378,000; €439,000) previous record sale.
Getty Images
Birkin owned and used the bag for a decade before donating it to charity
The auction house said there was an "electrifying" 10-minute bidding war between "nine determined collectors".
Morgane Halimi, Sotheby's global head of handbags and fashion, said the price was a "startling demonstration of the power of a legend and its capacity to ignite the passion and desire of collectors seeking exceptional items with unique provenance, to own its origin".
She added: "The Birkin prototype is exactly that, the starting point of an extraordinary story that has given us a modern icon, the Birkin bag, the most coveted handbag in the world."
The €8,582,500 total includes commission and fees. Sotheby's did not publish a pre-auction estimate.
After creating the bag for the Anglo-French singer and actress, Hermès put the bag into commercial production, and it remains one of the most exclusive status symbols in fashion.
Some styles cost many tens of thousands of dollars and have waiting lists of years, with owners including celebrities like Kate Moss, Victoria Beckham and Jennifer Lopez.
The original has some unique features, such as Birkin's initials on the front flap, a non-removable shoulder strap, the nail clippers she kept attached to the strap, and marks where she put stickers for causes she supported, such as Médecins du Monde and Unicef.
Birkin, who died in 2023 at the age of 76, owned the original bag for a decade and donated it to an auction to raise funds for an Aids charity in 1994.
It was later bought by Catherine Benier, who has a luxury boutique in Paris, who owned it for 25 years before selling it on Thursday.
Sotheby's said the previous record price for a handbag was set by a White Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Retourne Kelly 28 in 2021.
Maritime security firm Diaplous released a photo showing at least five Eternity C crew members being rescued
Six crew members have been rescued and at least three others killed after a cargo ship was attacked by Yemen's Houthis and sank in the Red Sea, a European naval mission says.
The Liberian-flagged, Greek-operated Eternity C was carrying 25 crew when it sustained significant damage and lost all propulsion after being hit by rocket-propelled grenades fired from small boats on Monday, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency.
The attack continued on Tuesday and search rescue operations commenced overnight.
The Iran-backed Houthis said they attacked the Eternity C because it was heading to Israel, and that they took an unspecified number of crew to a "safe location".
The US embassy in Yemen said the Houthis had kidnapped "many surviving crew members" and called for their immediate release.
Authorities in the Philippines said 21 of the crew were citizens. Another of them is a Russian national who was severely wounded in the attack and lost a leg.
It is the second vessel the Houthis have sunk in a week, after the group on Sunday launched missiles and drones at another Liberian-flagged, Greek-operated cargo ship, Magic Seas, which they claimed "belong[ed] to a company that violated the entry ban to the ports of occupied Palestine".
Video footage released by the Houthis on Tuesday showed armed men boarding the vessel and setting off a series of explosions which caused it to sink.
All 22 crew of Magic Seas were safely rescued by a passing merchant vessel.
Since November 2023, the Houthis have targeted around 70 merchant vessels with missiles, drones and small boat attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
They have now sunk four ships, seized a fifth, and killed at least seven crew members.
The group has said it is acting in support of the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and have claimed - often falsely - that they are targeting ships only linked to Israel, the US or the UK, which have carried out air strikes on Yemen in response.
EPA
The Houthis released video footage on Tuesday showing armed men boarding another cargo ship, Magic Seas, and detonating explosive charges
On Wednesday the EU's naval mission in the Red Sea, Operation Aspides, said it was participating in the international response to the attack on the Eternity C and that "currently six castaway crew members have been recovered from the sea".
An Aspides official told AFP news agency that five were Filipinos and one was Indian, and that 19 others were still missing.
The Greece-based maritime security firm Diaplous released a video on Wednesday that showed the rescue of at least five seafarers who it said had spent more then 24 hours in the water, according to Reuters news agency.
"We will continue to search for the remaining crew until the last light," Diaplous said.
Reuters also cited maritime security firms as saying that the death toll was four.
The US state department condemned the attacks on the Magic Seas and Eternity C, which it said "demonstrate the ongoing threat that Iran-backed Houthi rebels pose to freedom of navigation and to regional economic and maritime security".
"The United States has been clear: we will continue to take necessary action to protect freedom of navigation and commercial shipping from Houthi terrorist attacks, which must be condemned by all members of the international community."
In May, the Houthis agreed a ceasefire deal with the US following seven weeks of intensified US strikes on Yemen in response to the attacks on international shipping.
However, they said the agreement did not include an end to attacks on Israel, which has conducted multiple rounds of retaliatory strikes on Yemen.
The secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) called for intensified diplomatic efforts following the new wave of attacks.
"After several months of calm, the resumption of deplorable attacks in the Red Sea constitutes a renewed violation of international law and freedom of navigation," Arsenio Dominguez said.
"Innocent seafarers and local populations are the main victims of these attacks and the pollution they cause," he warned.
Caster Semenya won the Olympic 800m title twice and the world title three times
Published
Caster Semenya's right to a fair hearing was violated by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court when she lost a 2023 appeal against World Athletics regulations that effectively barred her from competing, Europe's top court has ruled.
The double 800m Olympic champion won a partial victory at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in her long legal battle over athletics' sex eligibility rules.
Semenya, 34, was born with differences of sexual development (DSD) and has been unable to compete in the 800m since World Athletics brought in rules in 2019 restricting testosterone levels for track events from 400m up to the mile.
The South African middle distance runner believes World Athletics has shown discrimination against athletes with DSD by insisting they reduce testosterone levels in order to be eligible.
Athletics' governing body insists the rules, which in 2023 were expanded to cover all female track and field events, are needed to ensure fair competition and to protect the female category.
Semenya was the Olympic champion over 800m in 2012 and 2016.
In 2019, she unsuccessfully challenged World Athletics' rules at the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).
The case at the ECHR was not against sporting bodies or DSD rules, but specifically against Switzerland's government for not protecting Semenya's rights and dates back to a Swiss Supreme Court ruling from 2020.
Switzerland's government requested the matter be referred to the ECHR's Grand Chamber, which has now found that the Swiss ruling "had not satisfied the requirement of particular rigour" under Article 6 (right to a fair hearing) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
However, the Grand Chamber found Semenya's complaints under Articles 8 (right to respect for private life), 13 (right to an effective remedy) and 14 (prohibition of discrimination) inadmissible as they "did not fall within Switzerland's jurisdiction".
As the case concerns the Swiss government and not World Athletics, it will not immediately affect the current restrictions on DSD athletes.
Semenya said the outcome was "great for me, great for athletes" after leaving the court in Strasbourg, France.
"This is a reminder to the leaders [that] athletes need to be protected," she said.
"Before we can regulate we have to respect athletes and put their rights first."
Decisions made by the ECHR's Grand Chamber are not open to appeal.
Semenya's case could now go back to the Swiss federal court in Lausanne.
World Athletics declined to comment.
Who is Caster Semenya?
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Media caption,
I'm not ashamed to be different - Caster Semenya
Semenya is a two-time Olympic champion and three-time world champion over 800m.
Between 2009 and 2019, the South African dominated her sport, sealing a 30th consecutive victory when she won the Doha Diamond League 800m in May 2019.
She was given a hero's welcome in South Africa after picking up her first World Championship gold in 2009, with thousands of jubilant fans turning out at Johannesburg airport to greet her.
However, her rapid rise from unknown teenager to global star was also accompanied by scrutiny over her gender and possible advantages in her biology.
It was later revealed she was born with DSD, one outcome of which means she has an elevated level of testosterone - a hormone that can increase muscle mass and strength.
It was in the Cas ruling that Semenya's specific DSD was confirmed as 46 XY 5-ARD (5-alpha-reductase deficiency). People with this particular DSD have the male XY chromosomes. Some are recorded as female or male at birth depending on their external genitalia.
Semenya said in 2023 she was turning her attention to "winning battles against the authorities" rather than collecting medals.
Cas said athletes such as Semenya with 5-ARD have "circulating testosterone at the level of the male 46 XY population and not at the level of the female 46 XX population", which gives them "a significant sporting advantage over 46 XX female athletes".
In an interview with BBC Sport in 2023 Semenya said she was "born without a uterus" and born "with internal testicles" and said: "I am a woman and have a vagina".
Ursula von der Leyen secured a second term as Commission chief last July
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has survived a confidence vote tabled by a far-right faction in the European Parliament.
Although the outcome was not a surprise, the fact that it came about at all was not a positive signal for von der Leyen, who began her second term as Commission chief only a year ago.
Confidence votes of this kind are rare and the last one was tabled against Jean-Claude Juncker more than a decade ago.
Two-thirds of all 720 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) - or 480 - would have had to back the motion for it to pass.
Instead, only 175 voted in favour; 360 voted against and 18 abstained. The remaining MEPs did not vote.
The text of the motion said that von der Leyen's Commission could no longer be trusted to "uphold the principles of transparency, accountability, and good governance essential to a democratic Union".
During a fierce debate on Monday von der Leyen slammed her accusers as "conspiracy theorists".
Hitting back at Piperea and what she called "his world of conspiracies and alleged sinister plots", she said he and his cohort were "extremists", "anti-vaxxers" and "Putin apologists".
She also said the accusations against her over so-called Pfizergate were "simply a lie."
Piperea had the backing of figures such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who posted on X a photo of von der Leyen alongside the caption "Time to go".
But his own European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group was split.
A sizeable portion of the ECR is made up by Brothers of Italy (FdI), the party of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. FdI has been fostering a good relationship with von der Leyen and its MEPs voted against the motion.
In the end the votes in favour came primarily from the far-right groups Patriots for Europe (PfE) and the European of Sovereign Nations (ENS).
Von der Leyen survived the vote thanks to the support of her own centre-right European People's Party (EPP), the Socialist & Democrats (S&D), the liberal Renew, the Greens and left-wing groups.
However, the days in the lead-up to the vote saw several groupings caveat their support with gripes over von der Leyen's leadership.
Over the last year her centre-right EPP has increasingly teamed up with the far-right to pass amendments and resolutions on issues like migration and the environment, often irking liberals and left-wing parties.
Valérie Hayer, president of the centrist Renew Europe, echoed the sentiment, warning von der Leyen that her group's support was "not guaranteed" and urging the Commission chief to "take back control" of the EPP and end "alliances with the far right."
Ahead of the vote Iratxe García, leader of the S&D, said dismantling the Commission in the midst of geopolitical crisis would have been "irresponsible".
"Our vote doesn't mean that we are not critical of the European Commission," García said, citing "the recent shifts by von der Leyen towards far-right pledges."
Earlier this week there was a suggestion that the S&D might abstain from the vote, but were eventually persuaded to back von der Leyen after she reportedly ruled out cuts to social programmes in the upcoming budget.
As the vote against her leadership was taking place, Von der Leyen was giving a speech at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome.
Shortly after the motion was turned down, however, she posted on X: "As external forces seek to destabilise and divide us, it is our duty to respond in line with our values."
The Trump administration is imposing sanctions on the UN Human Rights Council special rapporteur Francesca Albanese, an outspoken critic of Israel's military offensive in Gaza.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio linked the move to her support for the International Criminal Court (ICC), some of whose judges have already been sanctioned by the US.
Rubio said the US was sanctioning Ms Albanese for directly engaging with the ICC in its efforts to prosecute American or Israeli nationals, accusing her of being unfit for service as a UN Special Rapporteur.
The sanctions are likely to prevent Ms Albanese from travelling to the US and would block any assets she has in the country.
It is the latest escalation by the Trump administration as it wages a campaign against the ICC, having already sanctioned four its judges after the court last year issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his then defence minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza, accusations they reject.
Mr Rubio also accused Ms Albanese of having "spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism, and open contempt for the United States, Israel, and the West."
The move is likely to provoke a fierce backlash from those who argue for accountability over the civilian death toll from Israel's military offensive in Gaza.
The special rapporteur has longed argued that Western governments are not doing enough to support the rights of Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories, and with her outspoken stance has attracted significant support among those who accuse Israeli and US leaders of weaponising accusations of antisemitism in order to silence criticism of their policies.
The timing of the sanctions announcement is notable with Netanyahu currently in Washington, where he on Wednesday received an extended honour cordon at the Pentagon.
Ms Albanese has previously rejected similar claims against her, telling the BBC in October: "I don't take these remarks and the defamation they carry lightly, but at the same time, I know this is not about me, as my predecessors knew that it was not about them.
"I also know these member states [making accusations of antisemitism] have done absolutely nothing to abide by international law."
Her office has been approached for comment.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 57,575 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
Most of Gaza's population has also been displaced multiple times. More than 90% of homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed; the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed; and there are shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter.
In a letter, Trump cited Brazil's treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro as a trigger for tariff-hike.
Bolsonaro is currently on trial for allegedly attempting to stage a coup against Lula after being defeated by him in the 2022 election.
Trump referred to Bolsonaro as "a highly respected leader throughout the world". "This Trial should not be taking place," he wrote, calling on Brazil to immediately end the "witch hunt" against the former president.
Trump's support for Bolsonaro does not come as a surprise as the two men have long been considered allies.
The US president had already slammed Brazil for its treatment of Bolsonaro on Monday, comparing it to the legal cases he himself had faced in US courts.
The 50% tariff threat was met with a robust and lengthy response by President Lula.
In a post on X, he stressed that Brazil was "a sovereign country with independent institutions and will not accept any tutelage".
The Brazilian leader also announced that "any unilateral tariff increases" would be met with reciprocal tariffs imposed on US goods.
The US is Brazil's second-largest trade partner after China, so the hike from a tariff rate of 10% to an eye-watering 50% - if it comes into force - would hit the South American nation hard.
But Lula also made a point of challenging Trump's assertion that the US had a trade deficit with Brazil, calling it "inaccurate".
Brazil was not the only country Trump threatened with higher tariffs on Wednesday.
Japan, South Korea and Sri Lanka were among 22 nations which received letters warning of higher levies.
But the letter Trump sent to his Brazilian counterpart was the only one focussing matters beyond alleged trade deficits.
As well as denouncing the treatment of ex-President Bolsonaro, Trump slammed what he said were "secret and unlawful censorship orders to US social media platforms" which he said Brazil had imposed.
Trump Media, which operates the US president's Truth Social platform and is majority-owned by him, is among the US tech companies fighting Brazilian court rulings over orders suspending social media accounts.
Lula fought back on that front too, justifying the rulings by arguing that "Brazilian society rejects hateful content, racism, child pornography, scams, fraud, and speeches against human rights and democratic freedom".
Rafael Cortez, a political scientist with Brazilian consulting firm Tendências Consultoria, told BBC News Brasil that rather than hurt him, the overly political tone of Trump's letter could end up benefitting Lula.
"Those confronting Trump win at home when Trump and other conservative leaders speak out on issues pertaining to their countries. That happened, to a certain degree, in Mexico, and the elections in Canada and Australia," Mr Cortez says of other leaders who have challenged Trump and reaped the rewards in the form of rising popularity levels.
Creomar de Souza of the political risk consultancy Dharma Politics told BBC News Mundo's Mariana Schreiber that it would depend on the Lula government coming up with organised and united response if it is to "score a goal" against Trump.
Gugu used to collect her antiretrovirals from a USAID-funded clinic in downtown Johannesburg.
But when President Trump's cuts to aid funding were announced earlier this year, she and thousands of other HIV-positive patients across South Africa suddenly faced an uncertain future.
Gugu was lucky, the clinic where she got the medication that helps suppress her symptoms contacted her before it closed down.
"I was one of the people who was able to get their medication in bulk. I usually collect a three-month prescription. But before my clinic closed, they gave me nine months' worth of medication."
She will run out of antiretrovirals (ARVs) in September, and then plans on going to her local public hospital for more.
A former sex worker, the 54-year-old found out she was HIV-positive after she'd quit the industry.
Ten years ago she got a chesty cough, and initially thought it was tuberculosis. She went to a doctor who told her she had a chest infection and treated her for it.
But when the treatment failed, she went to a clinic to get an HIV test.
"By then I already assumed that I was HIV-positive, and I told the nurse this."
She was right, and she has been on ARVs ever since. We're not using her real name at her request.
She currently works as a project coordinator for an NGO.
"We help pregnant sex workers get their ARVs, to ensure their children are born HIV-negative. We also do home visits to make sure that the mothers take their medication on time, and to look after their babies when they go for their monthly check-ups."
Many HIV-positive sex workers in South Africa relied on private clinics funded by the US government's now-defunct aid agency, USAID, to get their prescriptions and treatments.
But most of the facilities closed after US President Donald Trump cut most foreign aid earlier this year.
In a report due to be released on Thursday, the UN body in charge of fighting HIV/Aids does not single out the US, but says that drastic cuts from a number of donors have sent shockwaves around the world, and the "phenomenal progress" in tackling the illness risks being reversed.
"New HIV infections have been reduced by 40% since 2010, and 4.4 million children have been protected from acquiring HIV since 2000. More than 26 million lives have been saved," UNAIDS says, warning that if the world does not act, there could be an extra six million new HIV infections and four million Aids-related deaths by 2029.
Gugu believes that many sex workers could be discouraged from going to public hospitals for their HRVs..
"The problem with going to public hospitals is the time factor. In order to get serviced at these facilities, you have to arrive at 4 or 5am, and they may spend the whole day waiting for their medication. For sex workers, time is money," Gugu says.
She adds that she recently went to her local clinic with some friends to register her details and build a relationship with staff.
"The nurse who attended to us was very rude. She told us there was nothing special about sex workers."
She thinks this could lead to many sex workers defaulting on their medication, "especially because their hospital files contain a lot of personal information, and the concern is that sometimes the nurses at these local clinics aren't always the most sensitive in dealing with this kind of information."
According to the UN, the US cuts to HIV funding could reverse some of the gains made by what has been called one of the most successful public health interventions in history.
Scientists in the UK-based Lancet medical journal last month estimated that USAID funding directly reduced Aids deaths by 65%, or 25.5 million, over the past two decades.
Getty Images
Former US President George W Bush is widely acknowledged for his commitment to tackling HIV/Aids
Then-US President George W Bush launched an ambitious programme to combat HIV/Aids in 2003, saying it would serve the "strategic and moral interests" of the US.
Known as the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), it led to the investment of more than $100bn (£74bn) in the global HIV/Aids response - the largest commitment by any nation to address a single disease in the world.
South Africa has about 7.7 million people living with HIV, the highest number in the world, according to UNAIDS.
About 5.9 million of them receive antiretroviral treatment, resulting in a 66% decrease in Aids-related deaths since 2010, the UN agency adds.
South Africa's government says Pepfar funding contributed about 17% to its HIV/Aids programme. The money was used for various projects, including running mobile clinics to make it easier for patients to get treatment.
The Trump administration's cuts have raised concern that infection rates could spike again.
"I think we're going to start seeing an increase in the number of HIV infections, the number of TB cases, the number of other infectious diseases," Prof Lynn Morris, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Johannesburg's Wits University, tells the BBC.
"And we're going to start seeing a reversal of what was essentially a real success story. We were getting on top of some of these things."
Gugu points out that treatment is a matter of life and death, especially for vulnerable populations like sex workers.
"People don't want to default on their ARVs. They're scared that they're going to die if they don't get access to them.
The cuts have also affected research aimed at finding an HIV vaccine and a cure for Aids.
"There's the long-term impact, which is that we're not going to be getting new vaccines for HIV," Prof Morris adds.
"We're not going to be keeping on top of viruses that are circulating. Even with new viruses that might appear, we're not going to have the surveillance infrastructure that we once had."
South Africa has been one of the global leaders in HIV research. Many of the medications that help prevent the virus, and which have benefitted people around the world, were trialled in South Africa.
This includes Prep (pre-exposure prophylaxis), a medication which stops HIV-negative people from catching the virus.
Another breakthrough preventive drug released this year, Lenacapavir, an injection taken twice a year and that offers total protection from HIV, was also tried in South Africa.
South African academic Prof Abdullah Ely is concerned that research will be affected by the US funding cut
In a lab at Wits University's Health Sciences campus, a small group of scientists are still working on a vaccine for HIV.
They are part of the Brilliant Consortium, a group of labs working across eight African countries to develop a vaccine for the virus.
"We were developing a vaccine test to see how well that works, and then we would trial it on humans," Abdullah Ely, an Associate Professor at Wits University, tells the BBC in his lab.
"The plan was to run the trials in Africa based on research carried out by Africans because we want that research to actually benefit our community as well as all mankind."
But the US funding cuts threw their work into doubt.
"When the stop order came, it meant we had to stop everything. Only some of us have been able to get additional funding so we could continue our work. It's set us back months, probably could even be a year," Prof Ely says.
The lab lacks funding to carry out clinical trials scheduled for later this year.
"That is a very big loss to South Africa and the continent. It means that any potential research that comes out of Africa will have to be tested in Europe, or the US," Prof Ely says.
In June, universities asked the government for a bailout of 4.6bn South African rand ($260m; £190m) over the next three years to cover some of the funding lost from the US.
"We are pleading for support because South Africa is leading in HIV research, but it's not leading for itself. This has ramifications on the practice and policies of the entire globe," says Dr Phethiwe Matutu, head of Universities South Africa.
South Africa's Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi announced on Wednesday that some alternative funding for research had been secured.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust have agreed to donate 1m rand each with immediate effect, while the government would make available 400m rand over the next three years, he said.
This would bring the total to 600m rand, way below the 4.6bn rand requested by researchers.
As for Gugu, she had hoped that by the time she was elderly, a cure for HIV/Aids would have been found, but she is less optimistic now.
"I look after a nine-year-old. I want to live as long as I can to keep taking care of him," she tells the BBC.
"This isn't just a problem for right now, we have to think about how it's going to affect the next generation of women and young people."
2025年4月2日｜宣布“对等关税”：特朗普4月2日在白宫玫瑰花园举行“让美国再次富有”（Make America Wealthy Again）记者会，宣布“对等关税”措施。美国对大多数国家征收10％的基准关税，但针对特定国家征收更高税额。中国、欧盟和越南分别面临34%、20%和46%的关税； 日本、韩国、印度、柬埔寨和台湾，分别受到24%、25%、26%、49%和32%进口关税的打击。
Marc Lamah has not responded to the BBC's latest claims
A surgeon banned from working for a private healthcare company, following an investigation into patient safety, continues to work in the NHS, the BBC understands.
Nuffield Health has stopped Marc Lamah from working in their hospitals, but he is still operating on patients for the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust.
An NHS patient left with a twisted bowel following an operation he carried out said he should never work again.
Mr Lamah did not respond to the BBC's request for comment sent via his employer.
In January the BBC revealed concerns had been raised about Mr Lamah's complication rate and that he was no longer practising at Nuffield Health's hospital in Brighton pending an investigation.
A former employee at the hospital told the BBC that internal data showed one third of Mr Lamah's patients had experienced a "moderate harm event", where, for instance, a patient had to be transferred to another hospital or re-admitted, over a 12-month period. The figure should be 5%, the BBC was told.
The Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton has been at the centre of several recent controversies
In a statement to the BBC, Nuffield Health said following an independent investigation, "we can confirm Mr Lamah's practicing privileges with Nuffield Health have been withdrawn.
"His conduct did not meet the standards of medical practice and governance we expect. Patient safety is our top priority, and we hold all consultants to the highest standards."
Mr Lamah continues to operate as a colorectal surgeon at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.
The University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, told the BBC it had audited Mr Lamah's NHS data, which showed his outcomes were within the expected national range. The trust added that Nuffield's investigation had found "no concerns with regard to technical abilities, surgical practice or patient safety".
The trust is at the centre of a large police investigation, Operation Bramber, looking into at least 200 cases of alleged medical negligence.
Sussex Police is examining concerns about avoidable harm and cover-ups in the trust's neurosurgery and general surgery departments between 2015 and 2021.
The trust runs seven hospitals across East and West Sussex and is one of the largest organisations within the NHS, providing care to a population of almost two million people.
Sheryl Hunter says she suffered "five years of hell" after complications following bowel surgery by Marc Lamah
Sheryl Hunter says she has suffered "five years of hell" after an NHS operation carried out by Mr Lamah. She has to manually excavate her bowels and has needed several emergency admissions.
After suffering from endometriosis for a number of years, in 2019 doctors decided that Ms Hunter, a mother of one, needed an operation to ease her pain.
Mr Lamah decided the best approach was to remove a part of her large intestine, the colon, and connect it to her small intestine.
A few days after she was discharged, said Ms Hunter, "I felt something pop, and this very awful fluid was coming out of me".
She was rushed back to the Royal Sussex where they discovered the joint between the two intestines had torn, and "for 10 days it had been filling up my abdomen with bowel matter."
This is a known complication of this type of surgery, the BBC understands.
Despite that problem being resolved, Ms Hunter continued to suffer extreme pain for several years, necessitating repeated visits to both her GP and the Royal Sussex hospital.
She said: "I have very little good days. By that, I mean I am curled up in a ball crying.
"When I try to go to the toilet, I scream on the toilet in tears because it is so painful to go, to open up my bowels. I have to manually do that, which means I have to wear gloves.
"The pain is very severe – it's in my stomach, it gets into my spine, down my legs, my arms."
Letters shared with the BBC by Ms Hunter show her GP wrote to Mr Lamah repeatedly requesting he see her again.
In January, 2023 the GP wrote that "we have written to you on multiple occasions to review her and discuss her options".
A few days later Mr Lamah replied to say he had not received any previous letters.
But almost 12 months later, in December 2023, the GP wrote another letter urging Mr Lamah to see her.
Ms Hunter told the BBC he was "begged" by colleagues to see her but "he refused".
Bad Medicine: Inside the hospital trust at centre of a police investigation
Finally, in April 2024, she was seen by another consultant at a different hospital run by the same trust - the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath - when she found out what was causing her pain.
"The main problem is a 180 degree twist on the small bowel causing an internal hernia and twisting the anastomosis [the surgical joint]," said the discharge sheet given to Ms Hunter by the hospital after the procedure.
"When they did the reconnection [of the intestines], they put it on backwards," Sheryl said she was told.
"That [creates] a risk of rupture. If you rupture, it's a two-hour window before death.
"Had I not been manually opening my bowels for five years, they said that would have happened."
The trust said surgical error was only presented as one of a range of possibilities.
The BBC passed the details to an independent medical expert who said the twist "certainly is a consequence of the 2019 operation".
The trust said only a further operation would confirm if Mr Lamah had made an error or whether the twist had occurred naturally.
However, the damage is now more extensive than it would have been had Ms Hunter been treated earlier.
She has been told she will need pelvic reconstruction surgery before she can have another operation to try to fix her intestines. She is on a waiting list for the first procedure and has spoken to Sussex Police about her experience.
Former NHS colleagues have also raised concerns to the BBC about Mr Lamah, but he continues to practise at the Royal Sussex County Hospital.
"I think it's disgusting. That man shouldn't be allowed to touch any other patients," said Ms Hunter.
"I was told Marc Lamah has a terrible bedside manner, but he's a fantastic surgeon.
"Marc Lamar has a terrible bedside manner, and he's a terrible surgeon. He shouldn't be allowed to operate, as far as I'm concerned."
'Robust systems'
In a statement, Prof Katie Urch, chief medical officer for the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, told the BBC: "We can't publicly discuss an individual's care, but we absolutely understand the distress and difficulty anyone living with ongoing complex health issues can face.
"Our clinical teams are dedicated to understanding their patients' needs and providing the highest standard of care.
"Whilst no medical procedure can guarantee a successful outcome, our teams strive for the best possible results every day – and if we ever have cause to think we could have done more for a patient we have robust systems, including the routine use of independent experts, to help us learn and improve."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s plan to downsize a “bloated” department had been on hold after a court ruling.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the changes would better align the department with core American values and root out pockets of “radical political ideology.”
The border crossing to Canada from Point Roberts, Wash. Tariffs of 35 percent on Canadian goods, if applied widely, could cause serious harm to Canada’s export-dependent economy.
Mr. Cathcart was known for playing the characters Professor Oak and Meowth in the long-running franchise. He also made appearances in other popular animated series such as “Yu-Gi-Oh!” and “One Piece.”
Donald Trump did not invent the phrase but he made it his own
Every political campaign needs a good slogan – a snappy phrase to energise voters and skewer opponents.
Some slogans resonate beyond polling day, capturing a national mood or a moment in time - Barack Obama's "Yes, We Can", perhaps, or the Brexit campaign's "Take Back Control".
Others are dead on arrival – clunky, overcomplicated and unmemorable, capturing nothing much beyond the desperation of the committee that devised them.
Now political strategist and pollster Chris Bruni-Lowe claims to have cracked the formula for creating the perfect slogan.
He has analysed 20,000 campaign messages from around the world to come up with eight words that, he says, have been proven to resonate with voters of all political persuasions.
They are: people, better, democracy, new, time, strong, change, together.
He is quick to stress, in his new book Eight Words That Changed The World, that they are not a guarantee of electoral success. They will not help if the candidate using them is an uncharismatic dud, with unpopular policies.
And they can not just be combined in a random order – Strong New Time or People Better Change – to produce results.
They are, rather, "emotional shortcuts", or building blocks for slogan-writers that work across cultures and even languages, Bruni-Lowe says.
"Voters instinctively know what 'people', 'better' or 'together' promise without needing a policy paper.
"They are also remarkably elastic: a socialist in South Africa, a conservative in Luxembourg and a populist in Hungary can all bend the same word to their own story."
The most commonly used word in winning campaigns is "people", according to Bruni- Lowe's analysis - he cites Bill Clinton's 1992 "Putting People First" and "For People, For a Change" as examples of slogans that made a real difference, allowing the presidential candidate to play to his strengths as a "people person" in contrast to his stiff opponent George HW Bush.
But isn't there a danger that following this formula will result in bland, catch-all slogans?
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Subtlety wasn't part of the Boris Johnson game plan at the 2019 election
Some of the most effective ones - such as Boris Johnson's 2019 general election slogan "Get Brexit Done" - were devised with a single purpose in mind.
(As were some of the worst, such as "Vote for Al Smith and he'll make your wet dreams come true". The anti-prohibitionist Smith - who wanted to legalise alcohol sales - failed to win the 1928 US presidency.)
Bruni-Lowe argues that "bespoke" slogans like "Get Brexit Done" are the exceptions that prove his rule.
"Bespoke slogans explode when one unresolved grievance crowds out every other issue and a decisive-looking outsider offers a three-word cure; they're brilliant for that election, but useless the moment the storm moves on."
Bruni-Lowe's own contributions to the genre include "Change Politics For Good", for Nigel Farage's Brexit Party, and "It's Time", for Jakov Milatovic's successful 2023 bid to be president of Montenegro on a campaign to get his country to join the EU.
He devotes a chapter of his book to "Make America Great Again" (MAGA), another slogan that does not conform to his rules.
Donald Trump claims to have dreamed it up in 2012, sitting at his desk on the 26th floor of Trump Tower, but "great again" as a political rallying cry dates back more than a century, according to Bruni-Lowe.
In 1950, the Conservative Party unsuccessfully fought a general election on the promise to "Make Britain Great Again". Ronald Reagan had more success in 1980 when he used the slogan "Let's Make America Great Again".
Whether Trump knew any of this when he claimed to have invented the phrase is, in the end, irrelevant, argues Bruni-Lowe - he managed to turn MAGA into brand, and a dividing line that, for better or worse, has reshaped American politics.
He even registering it with US Trademark Office, for a fee of $325, to prevent other politicians using it.
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Labour's general election slogan did not waste words
In the UK, the Brexit campaign's "Take Back Control" is probably the most memorable slogan of recent years.
Last year, Labour's landslide winning general election campaign boiled its message down to a single word - "Change".
The Conservative slogan - in case you have forgotten it - was "Clear Plan, Bold Action, Secure Future".
But soon there may not be any slogans at all, in the traditional sense.
Artificial Intelligence is increasingly being used to craft messages tailored to the concerns of individual voters, delivered through social media and constantly refined to have the maximum impact.
Bruni-Lowe also highlights a growing interest in neuroscience, and the use of tools such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, which measures brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow.
This allows researchers to study how people respond neurologically to political stimuli such as campaign ads, speeches and election slogans.
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Dwight Eisenhower's slogan was aimed at the broadest possible audience
Such trends could fundamentally change democratic politics, reshaping elected representatives' relationship with voters.
They could also rob us of some irritatingly catchy election slogans.
Few fit that bill more than one of the first ever political ads shown on US television, in 1952.
The 60 second spot was aimed at putting a human face on the Republican candidate, the former supreme commander of allied forces in Europe Dwight E Eisenhower, who was widely known by his nickname Ike.
It was so successful his campaign team saw no need to change the formula for his re-election bid, adding just one word, before, presumably, heading off for an early lunch.
"I still like Ike" doesn't fit Chris Bruni-Lowe's formula - but it did prove to be another winner.
The majority of Friday's papers lead with the UK-France "one in, one out" agreement to tackle migrant Channel crossings. The Daily Telegraph reports French President Emmanuel Macron said British people had been "sold a lie" that Brexit would make tackling the crisis easier. The paper says the deal was unveiled hours after hundreds of people were seen being escorted from French shores without being stopped by police.
Macron's comments on Brexit fuelling Channel crossings also lead the i newspaper. Leaving the EU without a returns agreement created an incentive for migrants to make the crossing, which he said was the "precise opposite of what Brexit promised".
"What a joke" is the Daily Mail's assessment of the "one in, one out" scheme with France. The "half-baked" deal "was already threatening to unravel", according to the paper, after the prime minister conceded it was "not a silver bullet".
The Guardian also leads with the deal, noting that it is the first time such an agreement has been struck between the UK and France.
The Daily Express front page also carries criticism of the deal, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer being accused of "caving in". Opponents say it will do little to stop the flow of boats across the Channel, the paper reports.
Metro carries comments from shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, who said the deal would not address the "migrant merry-go-round". It has been reported that the scheme would see up to 50 people a week being returned, though Sir Keir has not confirmed any figures. But with the agreement being signed on a day that hundreds of people arrived in the UK, the paper says there is "instant doubt it will work".
The UK-France deal is already facing opposition among some EU politicians, The Times reports. In its lead story, the paper reports that the Department of Health is looking to limit GPs issuing "not fit for work" notes. Last year, the NHS issued 11 million "fit notes", 93% of which declared people "not fit for work" with no alternative plan to get them back in employment, the paper reports.
The Financial Times leads with accusations of sexual harassment and gender discrimination at Moët Hennessy, the wine and spirits division of luxury brand LVMH. Maria Gasparovic, a former chief of staff to the company's global head of distribution, is seeking €1.3m (£1.1m) in damages for unfair dismissal after she raised concerns about misconduct about senior colleagues. Moët Hennessy is suing Gasparovic for defamation, saying that she was fired because she made threatening remarks to colleagues.
Celebrity chef Gino D'Acampo's relocation to Australia makes the front page of the Sun, which reports the former I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here winner is launching "multiple work projects" there.
The Daily Mirror says it has seen a leaked letter from the BBC to former Masterchef host Gregg Wallace following his dismissal. In it, the Mirror says a senior member of staff tells him his behaviour is "unlikely to improve". Wallace denies the allegations against him and has hired a "top lawyer to fight the claims", the paper reports.
And the Daily Star leads with US President Donald Trump's praise of Liberian President Joseph Boakai for his "good English", despite it being the country's official language. The paper says Trump's comments would have left the US president feeling "red faced" during their meeting earlier this week.
Officials in Kerr County made several attempts over the past decade to get funds for a flood warning system, but those applications were rejected. Christopher Flavelle, a reporter for The New York Times, breaks down what went wrong.
As UK faces third heatwave, is this 'just summer'?
Image source, Getty Images
Published
2025 is already shaping up to be an extraordinary year for weather records in parts of the UK.
Spring 2025 was the UK's warmest and sunniest on record. Hot on its heels, June became the warmest month on record for England. And now, we're already experiencing the third heatwave of the year—and it's not even mid-July.
As temperatures continue to rise, the likelihood of extreme weather events, including heatwaves, has increased dramatically.
So, what's going on this year? Are we witnessing the sharp edge of climate change impacts, or is this just another hot spell?
Temperatures in 2025 so far
Image source, Met Office
Image caption,
The red shows that for 2025 spring temperatures were above average
This map shows the temperature difference compared to the average (also known as the anomaly) for spring 2025 across the UK. Temperatures were 1.4C above the long-term average.
The first half of summer has followed hot on the heels of spring, with UK temperatures since the start of June also reaching record highs in some areas.
The highest temperature of the year so far was recorded on 1 July, when 35.8C was measured in Faversham, Kent.
While this is still well below the UK's hottest ever day - recorded in July 2022, when temperatures exceeded 40C for the first time - the trend of increasingly frequent extreme heat days is clear
Why is it so hot?
Global temperatures have risen by over 1.3 Celsius since the industrial revolution as humans continue to release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at an unprecedented rate..
This might not sound like much - would we even notice the difference of just over 1C in temperature on any given day?
However, climate scientist Professor Ed Hawkins from Reading University warns that "1C of global warming does NOT mean that heatwaves 'just' get hotter by 1C. Over large parts of the UK, global warming means that heatwaves are 3-4C warmer".
It takes an enormous amount of heat energy to raise the Earth's average temperature by this much. Oceans absorb more than 90% of the excess heat energy trapped in the climate system by greenhouse gases.
The ocean's ability to store and slowly release heat plays a crucial role in stabilising Earth's climate. However their ability to regulate the world's climate may be changing as marine heatwaves are increasing in many of the world's oceans.
Role of El Niño and La Niña?
Previous periods of extreme heat globally, such as in 2023/24, have often been partly attributed to an El Niño event. El Niño typically raises global temperatures by around 0.1C, as warmer waters in the Pacific release additional heat into the atmosphere.
The world cycles between El Niño and La Niña (cooler) phases every two to seven years, with 'neutral' periods in between—such as the one we are currently experiencing.
Historically, many of the hottest years on record have occurred during El Niño episodes. However, climate scientists at NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) now say that the warming or cooling effects of El Niño and La Niña are "no match, external" for global warming.
They note that "the global average temperature during recent La Niña years is warmer than during El Niño years in earlier decades."
What about the historic heatwave of June 1976?
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Keeping cool in London in the heatwave of 1976
When heatwaves hit the UK, many people compare them to the extraordinary summer of 1976.
That year still holds the record for the longest-lasting heatwave in the UK—16 consecutive days—and the highest June temperature ever recorded: 35.6C in Southampton.
However, June 2025 has been hotter when considering average temperatures.
Furthermore, analysis of historical weather data shows that the summer of 1976 was an isolated event within an otherwise much cooler decade. It also affected a smaller geographic area compared to today's heatwaves.
As our climate continues to warm, what was once a rare meteorological event is becoming a more regular feature of our summers.
Will it stay hot all summer?
Whilst the current heatwave is expected to persist into the start of next week, there are signs of slightly cooler and more unsettled conditions on Monday and Tuesday, particularly in the north
However, warmer and drier weather is likely to return later in the week as high pressure builds back in.
Temperatures are forecast to remain above average for much of the rest of the month, especially in the south-east.
By the end of July and into at least the start of August, there are indications of a cooling trend, although this may be short-lived.
Longer range weather forecasts looking at the next three months suggest temperatures should be at least average through the rest of summer and into early autumn, and well above average in southern England.
There is a less clear signal for rainfall, but it is most likely to be drier than normal in the south-east and wetter in the far north. September is most likely to see a return to wetter conditions.
Climate projections from the Met Office indicate that "hot spells will become more frequent in our future climate, particularly over the southeast of the UK. Temperatures are projected to rise in all seasons, but the heat would be most intense in summer."
Marc Lamah has not responded to the BBC's latest claims
A surgeon banned from working for a private healthcare company, following an investigation into patient safety, continues to work in the NHS, the BBC understands.
Nuffield Health has stopped Marc Lamah from working in their hospitals, but he is still operating on patients for the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust.
An NHS patient left with a twisted bowel following an operation he carried out said he should never work again.
Mr Lamah did not respond to the BBC's request for comment sent via his employer.
In January the BBC revealed concerns had been raised about Mr Lamah's complication rate and that he was no longer practising at Nuffield Health's hospital in Brighton pending an investigation.
A former employee at the hospital told the BBC that internal data showed one third of Mr Lamah's patients had experienced a "moderate harm event", where, for instance, a patient had to be transferred to another hospital or re-admitted, over a 12-month period. The figure should be 5%, the BBC was told.
The Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton has been at the centre of several recent controversies
In a statement to the BBC, Nuffield Health said following an independent investigation, "we can confirm Mr Lamah's practicing privileges with Nuffield Health have been withdrawn.
"His conduct did not meet the standards of medical practice and governance we expect. Patient safety is our top priority, and we hold all consultants to the highest standards."
Mr Lamah continues to operate as a colorectal surgeon at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.
The University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, told the BBC it had audited Mr Lamah's NHS data, which showed his outcomes were within the expected national range. The trust added that Nuffield's investigation had found "no concerns with regard to technical abilities, surgical practice or patient safety".
The trust is at the centre of a large police investigation, Operation Bramber, looking into at least 200 cases of alleged medical negligence.
Sussex Police is examining concerns about avoidable harm and cover-ups in the trust's neurosurgery and general surgery departments between 2015 and 2021.
The trust runs seven hospitals across East and West Sussex and is one of the largest organisations within the NHS, providing care to a population of almost two million people.
Sheryl Hunter says she suffered "five years of hell" after complications following bowel surgery by Marc Lamah
Sheryl Hunter says she has suffered "five years of hell" after an NHS operation carried out by Mr Lamah. She has to manually excavate her bowels and has needed several emergency admissions.
After suffering from endometriosis for a number of years, in 2019 doctors decided that Ms Hunter, a mother of one, needed an operation to ease her pain.
Mr Lamah decided the best approach was to remove a part of her large intestine, the colon, and connect it to her small intestine.
A few days after she was discharged, said Ms Hunter, "I felt something pop, and this very awful fluid was coming out of me".
She was rushed back to the Royal Sussex where they discovered the joint between the two intestines had torn, and "for 10 days it had been filling up my abdomen with bowel matter."
This is a known complication of this type of surgery, the BBC understands.
Despite that problem being resolved, Ms Hunter continued to suffer extreme pain for several years, necessitating repeated visits to both her GP and the Royal Sussex hospital.
She said: "I have very little good days. By that, I mean I am curled up in a ball crying.
"When I try to go to the toilet, I scream on the toilet in tears because it is so painful to go, to open up my bowels. I have to manually do that, which means I have to wear gloves.
"The pain is very severe – it's in my stomach, it gets into my spine, down my legs, my arms."
Letters shared with the BBC by Ms Hunter show her GP wrote to Mr Lamah repeatedly requesting he see her again.
In January, 2023 the GP wrote that "we have written to you on multiple occasions to review her and discuss her options".
A few days later Mr Lamah replied to say he had not received any previous letters.
But almost 12 months later, in December 2023, the GP wrote another letter urging Mr Lamah to see her.
Ms Hunter told the BBC he was "begged" by colleagues to see her but "he refused".
Bad Medicine: Inside the hospital trust at centre of a police investigation
Finally, in April 2024, she was seen by another consultant at a different hospital run by the same trust - the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath - when she found out what was causing her pain.
"The main problem is a 180 degree twist on the small bowel causing an internal hernia and twisting the anastomosis [the surgical joint]," said the discharge sheet given to Ms Hunter by the hospital after the procedure.
"When they did the reconnection [of the intestines], they put it on backwards," Sheryl said she was told.
"That [creates] a risk of rupture. If you rupture, it's a two-hour window before death.
"Had I not been manually opening my bowels for five years, they said that would have happened."
The trust said surgical error was only presented as one of a range of possibilities.
The BBC passed the details to an independent medical expert who said the twist "certainly is a consequence of the 2019 operation".
The trust said only a further operation would confirm if Mr Lamah had made an error or whether the twist had occurred naturally.
However, the damage is now more extensive than it would have been had Ms Hunter been treated earlier.
She has been told she will need pelvic reconstruction surgery before she can have another operation to try to fix her intestines. She is on a waiting list for the first procedure and has spoken to Sussex Police about her experience.
Former NHS colleagues have also raised concerns to the BBC about Mr Lamah, but he continues to practise at the Royal Sussex County Hospital.
"I think it's disgusting. That man shouldn't be allowed to touch any other patients," said Ms Hunter.
"I was told Marc Lamah has a terrible bedside manner, but he's a fantastic surgeon.
"Marc Lamar has a terrible bedside manner, and he's a terrible surgeon. He shouldn't be allowed to operate, as far as I'm concerned."
'Robust systems'
In a statement, Prof Katie Urch, chief medical officer for the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, told the BBC: "We can't publicly discuss an individual's care, but we absolutely understand the distress and difficulty anyone living with ongoing complex health issues can face.
"Our clinical teams are dedicated to understanding their patients' needs and providing the highest standard of care.
"Whilst no medical procedure can guarantee a successful outcome, our teams strive for the best possible results every day – and if we ever have cause to think we could have done more for a patient we have robust systems, including the routine use of independent experts, to help us learn and improve."
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