The UK and the EU have reached a new deal setting out post-Brexit relations on areas including fishing rights, trade and defence.

The full details will be set out later.

But here's a look at what we know is in the deal.

Fishing

• A new deal will keep the current status quo giving EU boats continued access to UK waters until 2038, the BBC understands
• The 2020 Brexit deal, which saw the UK regain 25% EU fishing quotas, was due to run out next year
• The UK will continue to agree yearly quotas with the EU and Norway and issue licences to control who fishes in its waters
• Later, the government is due to unveil a £360m "fishing and coastal growth fund" to invest in coastal communities

Farming exports

• In return for extending current fishing rules, the UK has secured a deal to reduce checks on food exports to the EU
• Officials will drop some routine border checks on animal and plant shipments to and from the EU
• The new sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement means the UK can sell burgers and sausages back into the EU for the first time since Brexit

Security

• A formal UK-EU defence and security pact has been established
• Both sides have been pushing for closer cooperation and information-sharing since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Donald Trump has re-entered the White House
• The government says the agreement "paves the way" for UK-based arms firms to access the Security Action for Europe (Safe) - a £150bn EU fund providing loans for defence projects

Carbon tax

• The UK and EU will link their carbon markets to avoid taxes on carbon-intensive goods like steel and cement travelling between the UK and EU
• The UK launched its own carbon system after exiting the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)
• The government says it will save £800m in taxes and shield British steel from EU tariffs, thanks to a UK-only deal worth £25m a year

Passport e-gates

• British holidaymakers will be able to use e-gates at more European airports
• When Brexit ended freedom of movement, it changed the rules for people travelling to European countries. Now, British passport holders can't use "EU/EEA/CH" lanes at EU border crossings
• A new passport system will make it easier for UK pets to travel, ending the need for repeat vet certificates

Still up for negotiation

• The BBC understands some key aspects are still subject to further negotiation – such as the idea of a youth mobility scheme
• What finally makes it into this package will set the agenda for the next set of post-Brexit negotiations early next year

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France will build a new high-security prison in its overseas department of French Guiana to house drug traffickers and radical Islamists, the country's justice minister announced during a visit to the territory.

Gérald Darmanin told Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD) newspaper that the prison would target organised crime "at all levels" of the drug supply chain.

The €400m (£337m) facility, which could open as early as 2028, will be built in an isolated location deep in the Amazon jungle in the northwestern region of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni.

The plan was announced after a series of violent incidents linked to criminal gangs which saw prisons and staff targeted across France in recent months.

The prison will hold up to 500 people, with a separate wing designed to house the most dangerous criminals.

In an interview with JDD, the minister said the new prison would be governed by an "extremely strict carceral regime" designed to "incapacitate the most dangerous drug traffickers".

Darmanin said the facility would be used to detain people "at the beginning of the drug trail", as well as serving as a "lasting means of removing the heads of the drug trafficking networks" in mainland France.

French Guiana is a region of France on the north-east coast of South America. Its residents are eligible to vote in French elections and have access to the French social security system, as well as other subsidies.

Its distance from the French mainland means drug lords "will no longer be able to have any contact with their criminal networks", Darmanin told JDD.

French authorities have long struggled to control the infiltration of mobile phones into the prison network. Tens of thousands are known to circulate through French jails.

Earlier this year, the French government announced new legislation designed to crack down on the activity of criminal gangs.

The measures will create a dedicated branch of the prosecutors' office to deal with organised crime. It will also introduce extra powers for investigators, and a special protected status for informers.

It will also see the creation of new high-security prisons - including the facility in French Guiana - to hold the most powerful drugs barons, with stricter rules governing visits and communication with the outside world.

France has seen a series of attacks on prisons in recent months, which Darmanin has described as "terrorist" incidents that come in response to the government's new legislation.

The perpetrators of these attacks have set vehicles outside prisons alight, while Toulon's La Farlede prison was hit by gunfire.

In some incidents the perpetrators of these attacks have styled themselves as defenders of prisoners' rights.

The proposed new facility in French Guiana is to be built at a "strategic crossroads" for drugs mules, particularly from Brazil and Suriname, according to AFP news agency.

Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni is the former port of entry to the infamous Devil's Island penal colony, where 70,000 convicts from mainland France were sent between 1852 and 1954.

The penal colony was the setting of French writer Henri Charrière's book Papillon, which was later made into a Hollywood film starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman.

The BBC has contacted the French justice ministry for comment.

A "significant amount" of private data including criminal records has been hacked from the Legal Aid online system, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has said.

The MoJ said said it became aware of a cyber-attack on the Legal Aid Agency's online digital services on April 23 of data dating back to 2010. It then became aware the incident was "more extensive than originally understood".

Legal Aid Agency chief executive Jane Harbottle apologised for the breach, saying she understood the news "will be shocking and upsetting for people".

The group that carried out the attack claimed it accessed 2.1 million pieces of data, according to the PA news agency. The MoJ has not verified that figure, however.

The ministry urged members of the public who have applied for legal aid in this time period to take steps to safeguard themselves.

"This data may have included contact details and addresses of applicants, their dates of birth, national ID numbers, criminal history, employment status and financial data such as contribution amounts, debts and payments," it said.

It also warned the public to be alert for any suspicious activity, including unknown messages or phone calls, and to update any potentially exposed passwords.

"If you are in doubt about anyone you are communicating with online or over the phone you should verify their identity independently before providing any information to them," it said.

The ministry said it was working with the National Crime Agency and the National Cyber Security Centre, and has informed the Information Commissioner.

The Legal Aid Agency's online digital services, which are used by legal aid providers to log their work and get paid by the government, have been taken offline.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.

Uber has said it is "ready to go" now with driverless taxis in the UK - but the government has put back the date it expects to approve fully self-driving vehicles.

The previous administration said fully autonomous cars were "set to be on roads by 2026", but the new government says it is now more likely to happen in the second half of 2027.

While limited self-driving technology is already permitted on UK roads, a human driver must be at the wheel and responsible for the vehicle, even if automated technology is being used.

With some companies trialling more advanced tech on British streets, I took an automated car ride across central London in a car using a system developed by UK AI firm Wayve.

"We're ready to launch robotaxis in the UK as soon as the regulatory environment is ready for us," said Andrew Macdonald, senior vice president of mobility at Uber, who joined me for the ride.

The ride-hailing firm is working with 18 automated car tech companies including Wayve.

It is one of several companies which already offers robotaxis in the US.

They are also on the roads in China, the UAE and Singapore.

But Mr Macdonald disagreed that the UK was behind the rest of the world, arguing that the US and China were ahead largely because that is where the majority of the tech had been developed.

"We are working quickly and will implement self-driving vehicle legislation in the second half of 2027", the Department for Transport said in a statement.

"We are also exploring options for short-term trials and pilots to create the right conditions for a thriving self-driving sector," it added.

'Hands-off' experience

In the US, Mr Macdonald said robotaxis typically operate for 20 hours per day, seven days per week.

Even though there is no driver to pay, Uber says the fare is currently the same as a ride with a human behind the wheel.

The option to take one appears on the app if one is available, and customers can opt in or out.

That's partly because, aside from the regulatory environment, another potential barrier to their uptake is the public's reticence about travelling in a self-driving vehicle.

A poll by YouGov in 2024 suggested that 37% of Brits would feel "very unsafe" travelling in a car without a driver.

But Mr Macdonald insisted new customers' initial nervousness was short-lived and the experience soon "becomes the new normal".

That was certainly my experience during our ride.

I was in a Ford Mach-e, fitted with Wayve's autonomous driving sensors and software.

It uses a radar and seven cameras. In the boot there's is a computer which is running the AI-driven software that processes all that sensor data in real time and controls the car's responses.

The automated tech handled every scenario without a hitch, including pedestrians in the road, parked cars, heavy traffic, temporary traffic lights and delivery bikes.

George, our safety driver, did not touch the controls once and a big red button, which shuts off the automated system immediately, was not deployed.

If anything the robo-ride was a far more patient city driver than I am – and has no voice, making it a lot less chatty.

Whether autonomous vehicles are more or less safe than human-driven ones is still being investigated.

But numerous studies suggest that automated vehicles are less accident-prone than human drivers, based on US data.

But there have been a number of incidents involving robotaxis in the countries where they operate, ranging from road accidents to passengers being locked in.

In January, a man in Arizona, in the US, documented how his robotaxi drove round in circles in an airport carpark, with him trapped in the vehicle, unable to stop the car or get help.

General Motors paused its driverless taxi service Cruise in San Francisco in 2023 because of safety concerns.

"The reality is that one accident is too many," said Uber's Mr Macdonald.

"That said, with EV (electric vehicles), human drivers… we operate in the real world and stuff happens."

In the UK there are also practical questions around insurance, ownership and liability when a self-driving vehicle is involved in an accident. Mr Macdonald said they were all still being worked out.

Tom Leggett, vehicle technology manager at Thatcham Research - an independent car safety centre - said robotaxis would have to be "safety-led" in the UK.

"Secondly, they will have to make sure the data is available to those who need it – insurers and those investigating incidents when they occur."

The government says self-driving vehicles have the potential "to build an industry worth £42bn and provide 38,000 jobs by 2035."

But of course they are source of concern for people who earn a living driving.

Andy Prendergast, GMB national secretary, said the "significant social implications" driverless cars and taxis could have - such as potential less work or unemployment - for workers and the public must be fully considered.

Uber's Mr Macdonald meanwhile believes automated vehicles will transform the way many people travel in the near future.

"I've got young kids," he said.

"Do I think my daughters will necessarily get their drivers licences when they turn 16?" [the legal age in his home country, Canada].

"No – I think the world is changing a lot."

Additional reporting by Liv McMahon

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Gas and electricity bills are expected to fall in July, when a new price cap takes effect.

It is likely to reverse the increase for millions of households on 1 April, under the current cap.

The annual bill for a household using a typical amount of gas and electricity rose to £1,849 per year, an increase of £111, in April.

The energy price cap sets the maximum amount customers can be charged for each unit of energy, but actual bills depend on how much gas and electricity you use.

What is the energy price cap and how is it changing?

The energy price cap covers around 22 million households in England, Wales and Scotland and is set every three months by Ofgem.

It fixes the maximum price that can be charged for each unit of energy on a standard - or default - variable tariff for a typical dual-fuel household which pays by direct debit.

Between 1 April and 30 June 2025, gas prices are capped at 6.99p per kilowatt hour (kWh), and electricity at 27.03p per kWh.

This means the annual bill for a dual-fuel direct debit household using a typical amount of energy is £1,849 per year.

However, analysts at consultancy Cornwall Insight have predicted that from 1 July this annual bill will fall to £1,720.

Those who pay their bills every three months by cash or cheque pay £1,969.

The cap does not apply in Northern Ireland, which has its own energy market.

What is a typical household?

Your energy bill depends on the overall amount of gas and electricity you use, and how you pay for it.

The type of property you live in, how energy efficient it is, how many people live there and the weather all make a difference.

The Ofgem cap is based on a "typical household" using 11,500 kWh of gas and 2,700 kWh of electricity a year with a single bill for gas and electricity, settled by direct debit.

The vast majority of people pay their bill this way to help spread payments across the year. Those who pay every three months by cash or cheque are charged more.

Should I take a meter reading when the energy cap changes?

Submitting a meter reading when the cap changes means you will not be charged for estimated usage at the wrong rate.

This is especially important when prices go up.

Customers with working smart meters do not need to submit a reading as their bill is calculated automatically.

What is happening to prepayment customers?

Between April and June, households on prepayment meters are paying slightly less than those on direct debit, with a typical bill of £1,803, a rise of £113 from the previous quarter.

About four million households had prepayment meters in January 2025, according to Ofgem.

Many have been in place for years, but some were installed more recently after customers struggled to pay higher bills.

Rules introduced in November 2023 mean suppliers must give customers more opportunity to clear their debts before switching them to a meter. They cannot be installed at all in certain households.

Can I fix my energy prices?

Fixed-price deals are not affected by the energy price cap, which changes every three months and can go up or down.

They offer certainty for a set period - often a year, or longer - but if energy prices drop when you are on the deal, you could be stuck at a higher price. You may also have to pay a penalty to leave a fixed deal early.

Ofgem, the energy regulator, says customers who want the security of knowing what their bill will be should consider moving to a fixed deal. However, it says they should make sure they understand all the costs.

Martin Lewis, founder of Money Saving Expert, recommends checking whole-of-market energy price comparison sites to help find the best deal.

What are standing charges and how are they changing?

Standing charges are a fixed daily fee to cover the costs of connecting to gas and electricity supplies. They vary slightly by region.

On 1 April, the average electricity standing charge fell from 60.97p to 53.8p but the average gas standing charge increased from 31.65p to 32.67p

Some customers in London and the North Wales and Mersey region saw larger increases.

Campaigners argue standing charges are unfair because they make up a bigger proportion of the bill of low energy users.

In response, Ofgem has said that energy firms must provide a choice of price-capped tariffs from winter 2025.

One would have a standing charge and unit rate - as is the case now - and another no standing charge but a higher unit rate. However, the proposals have been criticised as being too complicated.

What help can I get with energy bills?

The Household Support Fund, which was introduced in September 2021 to help vulnerable customers, has been extended until March 2026.

The Warm Home Discount scheme continues to offer a discount to eligible pensioners and low income households.

The government's Fuel Direct Scheme can help people to repay an energy debt directly from their benefit payments.

In addition, suppliers must offer customers affordable payment plans or repayment holidays if they are struggling with bills.

Most suppliers also offer hardship grants.

Changes to the winter fuel payment mean more than 10 million pensioners have not received the money this winter.

• Ofgem: Help with bills

Gary Lineker is set to leave the BBC with an announcement expected on Monday.

Speculation is mounting the 64-year-old will step down after he presents his final Match of the Day next weekend.

Lineker, listed as the highest-paid BBC presenter, had been due to remain at the forefront of the BBC's coverage of next season's FA Cup and the World Cup in 2026, despite previously announcing he will leave Match of the Day at the end of this season.

But last week he had to apologise after sharing a social media post about Zionism that included an illustration of a rat, historically used as an antisemitic insult.

Lineker said he very much regretted the references, adding he would never knowingly share anything antisemitic.

Last week, BBC Director General Tim Davie said: "The BBC's reputation is held by everyone, and when someone makes a mistake, it costs us."

It is understood that BBC bosses considered Lineker's position untenable.

The former England striker has attracted criticism before for his posts on social media in the past.

He was temporarily suspended from the BBC in March 2023 after an impartiality row over a post in which he said language used to promote a government asylum policy was "not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s".

The BBC's social media rules were then rewritten to say presenters of flagship programmes outside news and current affairs - including Match of the Day - have "a particular responsibility to respect the BBC's impartiality, because of their profile on the BBC".

In November 2024, Lineker announced his departure from Match of the Day, but said he would remain with the BBC to front FA Cup and World Cup coverage.

In an interview earlier this year about leaving, Lineker said he believed the BBC wanted him to leave Match of the Day as he was negotiating a new contract last year, saying: "Well, perhaps they want me to leave. There was the sense of that."

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.

A "significant amount" of private data including criminal records has been hacked from the Legal Aid online system, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has said.

The MoJ said said it became aware of a cyber-attack on the Legal Aid Agency's online digital services on April 23 of data dating back to 2010. It then became aware the incident was "more extensive than originally understood".

Legal Aid Agency chief executive Jane Harbottle apologised for the breach, saying she understood the news "will be shocking and upsetting for people".

The group that carried out the attack claimed it accessed 2.1 million pieces of data, according to the PA news agency. The MoJ has not verified that figure, however.

The ministry urged members of the public who have applied for legal aid in this time period to take steps to safeguard themselves.

"This data may have included contact details and addresses of applicants, their dates of birth, national ID numbers, criminal history, employment status and financial data such as contribution amounts, debts and payments," it said.

It also warned the public to be alert for any suspicious activity, including unknown messages or phone calls, and to update any potentially exposed passwords.

"If you are in doubt about anyone you are communicating with online or over the phone you should verify their identity independently before providing any information to them," it said.

The ministry said it was working with the National Crime Agency and the National Cyber Security Centre, and has informed the Information Commissioner.

The Legal Aid Agency's online digital services, which are used by legal aid providers to log their work and get paid by the government, have been taken offline.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.

Uber has said it is "ready to go" now with driverless taxis in the UK - but the government has put back the date it expects to approve fully self-driving vehicles.

The previous administration said fully autonomous cars were "set to be on roads by 2026", but the new government says it is now more likely to happen in the second half of 2027.

While limited self-driving technology is already permitted on UK roads, a human driver must be at the wheel and responsible for the vehicle, even if automated technology is being used.

With some companies trialling more advanced tech on British streets, I took an automated car ride across central London in a car using a system developed by UK AI firm Wayve.

"We're ready to launch robotaxis in the UK as soon as the regulatory environment is ready for us," said Andrew Macdonald, senior vice president of mobility at Uber, who joined me for the ride.

The ride-hailing firm is working with 18 automated car tech companies including Wayve.

It is one of several companies which already offers robotaxis in the US.

They are also on the roads in China, the UAE and Singapore.

But Mr Macdonald disagreed that the UK was behind the rest of the world, arguing that the US and China were ahead largely because that is where the majority of the tech had been developed.

"We are working quickly and will implement self-driving vehicle legislation in the second half of 2027", the Department for Transport said in a statement.

"We are also exploring options for short-term trials and pilots to create the right conditions for a thriving self-driving sector," it added.

'Hands-off' experience

In the US, Mr Macdonald said robotaxis typically operate for 20 hours per day, seven days per week.

Even though there is no driver to pay, Uber says the fare is currently the same as a ride with a human behind the wheel.

The option to take one appears on the app if one is available, and customers can opt in or out.

That's partly because, aside from the regulatory environment, another potential barrier to their uptake is the public's reticence about travelling in a self-driving vehicle.

A poll by YouGov in 2024 suggested that 37% of Brits would feel "very unsafe" travelling in a car without a driver.

But Mr Macdonald insisted new customers' initial nervousness was short-lived and the experience soon "becomes the new normal".

That was certainly my experience during our ride.

I was in a Ford Mach-e, fitted with Wayve's autonomous driving sensors and software.

It uses a radar and seven cameras. In the boot there's is a computer which is running the AI-driven software that processes all that sensor data in real time and controls the car's responses.

The automated tech handled every scenario without a hitch, including pedestrians in the road, parked cars, heavy traffic, temporary traffic lights and delivery bikes.

George, our safety driver, did not touch the controls once and a big red button, which shuts off the automated system immediately, was not deployed.

If anything the robo-ride was a far more patient city driver than I am – and has no voice, making it a lot less chatty.

Whether autonomous vehicles are more or less safe than human-driven ones is still being investigated.

But numerous studies suggest that automated vehicles are less accident-prone than human drivers, based on US data.

But there have been a number of incidents involving robotaxis in the countries where they operate, ranging from road accidents to passengers being locked in.

In January, a man in Arizona, in the US, documented how his robotaxi drove round in circles in an airport carpark, with him trapped in the vehicle, unable to stop the car or get help.

General Motors paused its driverless taxi service Cruise in San Francisco in 2023 because of safety concerns.

"The reality is that one accident is too many," said Uber's Mr Macdonald.

"That said, with EV (electric vehicles), human drivers… we operate in the real world and stuff happens."

In the UK there are also practical questions around insurance, ownership and liability when a self-driving vehicle is involved in an accident. Mr Macdonald said they were all still being worked out.

Tom Leggett, vehicle technology manager at Thatcham Research - an independent car safety centre - said robotaxis would have to be "safety-led" in the UK.

"Secondly, they will have to make sure the data is available to those who need it – insurers and those investigating incidents when they occur."

The government says self-driving vehicles have the potential "to build an industry worth £42bn and provide 38,000 jobs by 2035."

But of course they are source of concern for people who earn a living driving.

Andy Prendergast, GMB national secretary, said the "significant social implications" driverless cars and taxis could have - such as potential less work or unemployment - for workers and the public must be fully considered.

Uber's Mr Macdonald meanwhile believes automated vehicles will transform the way many people travel in the near future.

"I've got young kids," he said.

"Do I think my daughters will necessarily get their drivers licences when they turn 16?" [the legal age in his home country, Canada].

"No – I think the world is changing a lot."

Additional reporting by Liv McMahon

Sign up for our Tech Decoded newsletter to follow the world's top tech stories and trends. Outside the UK? Sign up here.

Hidden beneath the slopes of a lush forest in Alberta, Canada, is a mass grave on a monumental scale.

Thousands of dinosaurs were buried here, killed in an instant on a day of utter devastation.

Now, a group of palaeontologists have come to Pipestone Creek - appropriately nicknamed the "River of Death" - to help solve a 72-million-year-old enigma: how did they die?

Trying to work out exactly what happened here starts with the hefty strike of a sledgehammer.

Brute force is needed to crack open the thick layer of rock that covers what Professor Emily Bamforth, who's leading the dig, describes as "palaeo gold".

As her team begins the more delicate job of removing the layers of dirt and dust, a jumble of fossilised bones slowly begins to emerge.

"That big blob of bone right there is, we think, part of a hip," Prof Bamforth says, watched on by her dog Aster - whose job today is to bark if she spots any nearby bears.

"Then here, we have all of these long, skinny bones. These are all ribs. And this is a neat one - it's part of a toe bone. This one here, we have no idea what it is - it's a great example of a Pipestone Creek mystery."

BBC News has come to Pipestone Creek to witness the sheer scale of this prehistoric graveyard and see how researchers are piecing together the clues.

Thousands of fossils have been collected from the site, and are constantly generating new discoveries.

The bones all belong to a dinosaur called Pachyrhinosaurus. The species, and Prof Bamforth's excavation, feature in a new landmark BBC series - Walking With Dinosaurs - which uses visual effects and science to bring this prehistoric world to life.

These animals, which lived during the Late Cretaceous period, were a relative of the Triceratops. Measuring about five metres long and weighing two tonnes, the four-legged beasts had large heads, adorned with a distinctive bony frill and three horns. Their defining feature was a big bump on the nose called a boss.

The dig season has just started and lasts each year until autumn. The fossils in the small patch of ground that the team are working on are incredibly tightly packed; Prof Bamforth estimates there are up to 300 bones in every square metre.

So far, her team has excavated an area the size of a tennis court, but the bed of bones extends for a kilometre into the hillside.

"It's jaw dropping in terms of its density," she tells us.

"It is, we believe, one of the largest bone beds in North America.

"More than half of the known dinosaur species in the world are described from a single specimen. We have thousands of Pachyrhinosaurus here."

Palaeontologists believe the dinosaurs were migrating together in a colossal herd for hundreds of miles from the south - where they had spent the winter - to the north for the summer.

The area, which had a much warmer climate than it does today, would have been covered in rich vegetation, providing abundant food for this enormous group of plant-eating animals.

"It is a single community of a single species of animal from a snapshot in time, and it's a huge sample size. That almost never happens in the fossil record," says Prof Bamforth.

Bigger beasts offering clues

And this patch of north-western Alberta wasn't just home to Pachyrhinosaurus. Even bigger dinosaurs roamed this land, and studying them is essential to try and understand this ancient ecosystem.

Two hours drive away, we reach the Deadfall Hills. Getting there involves a hike through dense forest, wading - or doggy-paddling in the case of Aster - across a fast-running river, and clambering over slippery rocks.

No digging is required here; super-sized bones lie next to the shoreline, washed out from the rock and cleaned by the flowing water, just waiting to be picked up.

A huge vertebra is quickly spotted, as are bits of ribs and teeth scattered across the mud.

Palaeontologist Jackson Sweder is particularly interested in what looks like a chunk of dinosaur skull. "Most of what we find here is a duck-billed dinosaur called Edmontosaurus. If this is a skull bone, this is a dinosaur that's large - probably 30ft (10m) long," he says.

The Edmontosaurus, another herbivore, roamed the forests like the Pachyrhinosaurus - and is helping palaeontologists build up a picture of this ancient land.

Sweder is the collection manager at the Philip J Currie Dinosaur Museum in nearby Grande Prairie, where the bones from both of these giants are taken to be cleaned up and analysed. He is currently working on a huge Pachyrhinosaurus skull that's about 1.5m long and has been nicknamed "Big Sam".

He points to where the three horns should be at the top of the frill, but the one in the middle is missing. "All the skulls that are decently complete have a spike in that spot," he says. "But its nice little unicorn spike doesn't seem to be there."

Throughout years working at the extraordinary site, the museum team has collected 8,000 dinosaur bones, and the surfaces of the lab are covered in fossils; there are bones from Pachyrhinosaurus of every size, from young to old.

Having material from so many animals allows researchers to learn about dinosaur biology, answering questions about how the species grows and the make-up of the community. They can also look at individual variations, to see how one Pachyrhinosaurus could stand out from the herd – as may be the case with Big Sam and his missing spike.

A sudden devastating event

All of this detailed research, in the museum and at the two sites, is helping the team to answer the vital question: how did so many animals in Pipestone Creek die at the same time?

"We believe that this was a herd on a seasonal migration that got tangled up in some catastrophic event that effectively wiped out, if not the entire herd, then a good proportion of it," Prof Bamforth says.

All the evidence suggests that this catastrophic event was a flash flood - perhaps a storm over the mountains that sent an unstoppable torrent of water towards the herd, ripping trees from their roots and shifting boulders.

Prof Bamforth says the Pachyrhinosaurus wouldn't have stood a chance. "These animals are not able to move very fast because of their sheer numbers, and they're very top heavy - and really not very good at swimming at all."

Rocks found at the site show the swirls of sediment from the fast-flowing water churning everything up. It's as if the destruction is frozen in time as a wave in the stone.

But this nightmare day for the dinosaurs is now a dream for palaeontologists.

"We know, every time we come here, it's 100% guaranteed we'll find bones. And every year we discover something new about the species," says Prof Bamforth.

"That's why we keep coming back, because we're still finding new things."

As the team packs up their tools ready to return another day, they know there's a lot of work ahead. They've only just scratched the surface of what's here - and there are many more prehistoric secrets just waiting to be revealed.

The new series of Walking With Dinosaurs starts on Sunday 25 May at 18:25 BST on BBC One, with all episodes available on BBC iPlayer.

Police in India have arrested a local YouTuber on suspicions of spying for Pakistan.

Jyoti Malhotra, a travel influencer from the northern Indian state of Haryana, allegedly travelled to the neighbouring country several times - her last trip was in March 2025.

Police in Haryana allege that she was in touch with a Pakistan High Commission official, who was expelled from India earlier this month.

The YouTuber's father has denied allegations that she was a spy, saying she went to Pakistan after acquiring necessary permissions.

Ms Malhotra describes herself on social media as a "modern girl with old ideas", and has 377,000 subscribers on YouTube and 133,000 followers on Instagram.

But officers have questioned how she financed her travel around the globe, with her videos documenting visits to places like Bangladesh, China, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Indonesia. She has also visited several Indian destinations and religious places. Police say it defies her known source of income.

Police claim Ms Malhotra was in touch with "Pakistani intelligence operatives" and had continuous contact with a Pakistani citizen.

Ms Malhotra is also being investigated for any links with the Pahalgam attack, Shashank Kumar Sawan, the superintendent of police in Haryana's Hisar district, told ANI news agency.

They say they have leads on others who may have collaborated with the influencer, who does not have direct access to any military or defence information.

"She was in touch with other YouTube influencers... She used to go to Pakistan on sponsored trips," Mr Sawan added.

Her arrest comes after the Indian government asked Ahsan-ur-Rahim, the Pakistan High Commission official with whom the YouTuber was alleged to have been in contact, to leave the country on 13 May, alleging he had indulged in activities "not in keeping with his official status in India".

Pakistan also asked an Indian embassy staff member in Islamabad to leave for indulging in activities "incompatible" with his privileged status.

According to a complaint registered by the police, Ms Malhotra met Ahsan-ur-Rahim for the first time in 2023 when she had visited the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi, seeking a visa to visit the neighbouring country.

Her last video on Pakistan was uploaded in March, in which she was seen in the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi attending a Ramadan dinner.

In other videos from Pakistan, she is seen visiting Hindu and Sikh temples, famous local markets, and interacting with locals.

Arrests in India and Pakistan over allegations of spying are not uncommon.

Ms Malhotra's arrest comes following days of military tensions between the neighbours earlier this month.

On 7 May, India struck what it calls "terror infrastructure" inside Pakistan, days after a deadly militant attack on tourists in Pahalgam, a picturesque valley in Indian-administered Kashmir. Pakistan has denied any involvement in the attacks.

After four tense days of deadly clashes between the nuclear-armed neighbours, both countries agreed to a ceasefire on 10 May, announced by US President Donald Trump.

Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, X and Facebook

British mountaineer Kenton Cool has scaled Mount Everest for the 19th time, breaking his own record for the most climbs up the world's tallest mountain for a non-sherpa.

The 51-year-old, who was accompanied by Nepali sherpa Dorji Gyaljen, reached the 8,849m (29,000ft) high summit at 11:00 local time (04:15 GMT) on Sunday.

Mr Cool first climbed Everest in 2004 and has summited it almost yearly since.

Mr Gyaljen logged his 23rd climb up Everest. Another Nepali sherpa, Kami Rita, holds the record for making the most number of Everest summits at 30, and is also currently on the mountain attempting to set a new record.

Mr Cool's record-setting feat comes after at least two climbers - Subrata Ghosh from India and Philipp "PJ" Santiago II from the Philippines - died on Mount Everest this week.

After his 16th Everest ascent in 2022, Mr Cool appeared to play down his record, noting that many Nepali climbers have surpassed it.

"I'm really surprised by the interest... considering that so many of the sherpas have so many more ascents," he told AFP in an interview then.

Four days before the latest feat, Mr Cool told his Instagram followers that he "finally [had] a positive forecast" that will allow him to go ahead with the attempt.

"Let's hope that we manage to thread the needle with regard to numbers of climbers and we have a safe and enjoyable time up high," he wrote.

Fellow climbers hailed the achievement.

Mr Cool is a "great person to share stories from two decades on the mountain", American adventurer Adrian Ballinger told Reuters news agency.

"His experience, charisma, and strength make him a valuable part of the Everest community," says Mr Ballinger, who is currently guiding a team up Everest.

"Amazing, Kenton," wrote Jordanian mountaineer Mostafa Salameh, who is one of only 20 people to complete the climb the highest mountains on all seven continents and conquer the North and South Poles.

Mr Cool is also a mountain guide who has lead British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, among others, on several notable climbs including Everest.

Endangered water voles in Wales are being fed edible glitter in a bid to save them from extinction.

Once commonly found across south Wales, water voles are now effectively extinct in all but a few locations, according to the Wildlife Trust.

With their future hanging in the balance, conservationists have been looking for new ways to track the naturally shy individuals in the wild - which is where the glitter comes in.

Nature Conservation Cymru hopes that by offering the animals something sparkly to eat, the sparkle should come out the other end - providing some much-needed answers.

Rob Parry, chief executive of Nature Conservation Cymru, said his team had consulted with vets to ensure the edible and biodegradable glitter - the type used to decorate cakes - would not be harmful to the semi-aquatic creatures.

"It's something that we've done in nature conservation before for other species, for badgers in particular where we use pellets to put in with peanuts, which badgers love," said Mr Parry.

"So we've taken that idea and scaled it down to water vole size, which means using glitter."

The hope is that if the water voles are willing to consume the glitter then it will come out in their poo, allowing the small mammals - which are often mistaken for brown rats - to be tracked by conservationists.

Different colours of glitter could be used to allow conservationists to track different families of water voles and how far they range.

It might sound like a fun idea, but Mr Parry and his team could not be more serious.

If they can track where water voles are located in the wild, they can make adjustments to the environment - like removing invasive conifers from wetland habitats or fencing off certain riverbanks to stop sheep grazing.

Measures like this could help the species to disperse through the landscape undisturbed and potentially be a life-saving intervention.

"We'll be able to see the types of territory, the size and where they go in," said Mr Parry.

"Are they just using the linear features, the ditches, or are they spreading out into the bog and the molinia grassland habitat?

"That will be really crucial for when it comes to planning for our upland habitats."

The team is first testing out their theory on some captive-bred water voles which are part of a wider Natural Resources Wales (NRW) project to reintroduce colonies into the wild.

The glitter is spread onto chunks of apple, not part of their normal diet in the wild, but a food the animals love and do well on in captivity, according to Richard Davies from NRW.

"They get everything they need from apples, carrots, and some dried rabbit food as well," he said.

He has successfully bred hundreds of water voles which have been reintroduced into the wild, though he said their release was no guarantee of survival.

"Most predators in the UK would quite happily take a water vole. They need to be able to cope with this heavy predation and replace themselves a lot," he said.

With a BBC News camera present, the glittery purple apple was placed on top of the straw bedding which covered the water voles' pen.

After 20 minutes, the food remained untouched, but an hour later most of it had disappeared.

The success of the project, however, does not just depend on the appetite of the water voles, but how well the glitter can retain its shine from end to end.

Mr Parry said without interventions like this, the future for water voles was uncertain.

"It's been a perfect storm of bad things that's happened to water voles in the last few decades," he said.

"We have drained an awful lot of their wetland habitat, forced them into linear ditches where we find them now, and then the biggest problem is the American mink, an invasive species that was let out and released from pens and they just turned out to be the perfect water vole predators. The water voles don't stand a chance, really."

But now, at least, he is more hopeful.

The water voles, known for being nervous about any changes to to their environment, had not rejected the glitter.

So, did the experiment work?

Just 24 hours later, a tiny glittery poo was spotted.

The conservation team was elated.

This story contains details, including a video, that some people may find distressing.

The most shocking thing for Jonathan, who had endured six gruelling months living and working underground in an abandoned South African gold mine, was the abuse he witnessed being meted out to children.

Some are recruited for cheap labour, but others are brought in specifically for sex, campaigners say.

Jonathan, now in his late 20s, had migrated to South Africa from a nearby country on the promise of making easy money working in one of its dozens of disused mines, closed by multinationals because they were no longer commercially viable.

We are protecting his full identity as he fears reprisals from the vicious criminal gangs that run the illegal mining industry for speaking to the media.

Details of what the young people were going though emerged after the death of dozens of illegal miners near the town of Stilfontein late last year when the mine was blockaded by police.

In a calm and steady voice, Jonathan describes the heat, long hours and limited food and sleeping options which took a toll on his body.

But an enduring memory is what happened to the underage miners in the shaft where he worked.

"I used to see these kids in the mine - teenagers actually, 15, 17-year-olds.

"Others used to take advantage of them sometimes. It was a little bit scary, and I wasn't comfortable with it."

He said they were raped by adult miners who promised to give them some of the gold they found in exchange for sex.

"If that kid is desperate for money, he will take the risk."

Jonathan describes how the children would approach teams of miners for protection but "that team would have conditions".

Sex was also used as punishment if the teenagers failed to complete a task for their team.

Jonathan says the children in the mine where he worked were all foreign and did not realise what they were getting themselves into.

Mining researcher and activist Makhotla Sefuli backs this up.

He says criminal gangs specifically target children to work in illegal mines across South Africa.

Many of them are abducted from neighbouring countries and trafficked. They are enticed by baseless promises of finding them employment in the formal mining industry.

"Their passports are confiscated when they get to South Africa… It is common knowledge that these young boys are being abused," Mr Sefuli says.

The BBC has spoken to miners who worked in at least two other illegal mines who told us they saw children being abused in the shafts where they were working.

Tshepo, not his real name, says he saw older men forcing young boys to have sex with them underground.

"In some instances, they did it for the money. Some are recruited solely for that purpose, because of the financial incentives that will come with the practice of maybe trading sex underground."

He adds that the abuse deeply affected the children.

"They change their behaviour patterns and have trust issues. They don't want you to get close to them, because they feel that they can no longer trust anyone."

South Africa's illegal mining industry made global headlines last year following a standoff between police and miners at the Buffelsfontein gold mine, near the town of Stilfontein in the North West Province.

• Trapped underground with decaying bodies, miners faced a dark reality
• Inside South Africa's 'ruthless' gang-controlled gold mines

The authorities had been trying to curb illegal mining, which the government said cost South Africa's economy $3.2bn (£2.6bn) in lost revenue last year.

They launched an operation called Vala Umgodi, or seal the hole, in December 2023, promising to take a tough stance on the gangs.

As part of the operation, the police limited the amount of food and water that went down the Stilfontein mine to, as one minister put it, "smoke out" the illegal miners. Officials said the men were refusing to come out for fear of being arrested.

Soon footage began to emerge from within the mine showing dozens of emaciated men begging to be rescued, as well as rows of body bags. Eventually a court ordered the authorities to save the men.

Among those brought up were many who said they were underage, but as a number of them were migrants without documents confirming how old they were, the authorities carried out medical tests to get an estimate.

Through this, the Department of Social Development (DSD) confirmed that 31 of the rescued Stilfontein miners were found to be children. They were all Mozambicans nationals and in November, 27 of them were repatriated.

Save the Children South Africa helped translate some of the interviews between the underage miners and the rescue workers.

"They went through trauma, because some of them also saw others being sexually exploited," the charity's CEO Gugu Xaba tells the BBC.

"Just the feeling that they may not come out of there destroyed those children mentally.

"The adult miners would start by grooming them, by acting like they like them."

She says the children were then made to perform sexual acts on the adults and they were then raped, days after day.

"You find that the adult will have three or four of them that they are doing the same thing to."

Ms Xaba says mining gangs recruit children because they are easier to manipulate and cheaper.

"Children don't understand when you say: 'I'll pay you 20 rands ($1; £0.80) per day.' The adults sometimes refuse to work, but children find themselves with no choice. So it's easier to use a child to do the work. It's easier to take a child who's kind of voiceless and to bring them down there."

Beyond being exploited financially, she says there are gangs that recruit children specifically for sex.

Many illegal miners spend months underground, rarely going up to the surface. Markets spring up underground to provide them with anything they need.

"Most children are trafficked in order to be used as sex slaves. And you've got a pimp who is taking the money, and it means every day this child is used as a commercial sex worker."

The BBC asked the police and the DSD whether anyone would be charged over the sexual abuse allegations. They did not respond to our requests.

A source working on the Stilfontein miners' cases said many of the children did not want to testify.

Meanwhile, the illegal mining industry continues to thrive.

And with an estimated 6,000 vacant mines potentially available to explore, it is a business that is unlikely to end anytime soon, leaving thousands of vulnerable children at risk.

More South Africa stories from the BBC:

• Racially charged row between Musk and South Africa over Starlink
• The expelled envoy at the heart of the latest US-South Africa row
• Race policies or Israel - what's really driving Trump's fury with South Africa?
• Even in his final seconds of life, first gay imam pushed boundaries

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica

"It's a cold world out there. We need to huddle together."

So said a European Union diplomat to me, confident of the magnetising effect on both the EU and the UK of the world having changed so significantly since the original Brexit deal.

Both sides privately talk up what is seen as the remorseless logic of closer defence and security ties.

The British government, in trying to ensure it has the political space to justify a (partial) re-writing or tweaking of the relationship, talks of now being in "the mid 2020s" as a reminder of the time that has elapsed, and events that have unfolded, since all the noise, negotiations, anger and elections that leaving the EU provoked.

Without question, Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine and President Trump's overt reluctance to subsidise European security as he sees it have changed the conversation about defence.

Whatever your views about Brexit, a word of warning: the next 24 hours or so might be triggering if the kind of headlines and phrases that made the news for years on end became mildly off-putting roughly between 2016 and 2020.

There will be talk of haggling, of fish, of sovereignty, of cash and of courts. And we have already had senior figures on both sides talking about last-minute tweaks and that old favourite in the phraseology of EU negotiations: "Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed."

It feels like a landmark moment. After the years of Brexit noise, there were the years of (relative) Brexit silence. Now, it is returning to the news again.

What will change is actually relatively narrowly defined – the government has promised it won't take the UK back into three of the biggest pillars of the EU: its customs union, single market or the freedom of movement of people around the bloc.

But that much accepted, there is plenty that is being talked about.

Over the weekend, the negotiations rumbled on, led on the UK side by Nick Thomas Symonds, the minister in charge of the UK's relations with the EU.

Alongside him has been Michael Ellam, who returned to government in January to lea, at an officials-level, the negotiations with the EU. Ellam was previously director of communications in Downing Street when Gordon Brown was prime minister.

In the last hours, the talks took place virtually.

At various points in recent months they have happened face to face.

So what can, or should, we expect?

The Labour manifesto from last year's general election is worth a look as both both a guide to what the government wants, and a tool to scrutinise what they manage to pull off.

Here is what it says:

On page 117, the party wrote that it wanted "an improved and ambitious relationship with the European Union" which would "deepen ties."

On the following page, it promises to "improve the UK's trade and investment relationship with the European Union" and remove "unnecessary barriers to trade."

It adds that they want a "veterinary agreement," which is diplomatic-speak for making it easier to move food around, an arrangement to make it easier for touring artists such as bands to travel, the mutual recognition of professional qualifications and a security pact.

So, when we get the details, we can measure what has already been achieved, where there is broad agreement but not yet agreement on the specifics, where there is no agreement at all and where things have been signed up to that were not in the manifesto.

We can expect both sides to herald the importance of improved defence and security cooperation.

Ministers have also been talking up the removal of queues for Brits visiting EU countries.

What does the EU want?

It is very keen on a youth mobility scheme, allowing young people from the UK and EU to travel more easily.

After months of denying it had any plans for such a scheme, the government has in recent weeks been acknowledging publicly that one is being discussed and has started to sell what they see as its merits.

The government is keenly aware that some will see it as freedom of movement by the back door.

Let's see precisely what, if any, details have been agreed and what the scheme is called.

Then there is fish, never far away when the EU negotiates.

And then two Brexit perennials: cash and courts.

What is the UK willing to pay to access various EU schemes and what role will the European Union's court have in settling any disputes?

Some of those who long argued for Brexit and would now see themselves as custodians of the deal Boris Johnson negotiated worry that the government will sign up to what is known as "dynamic alignment" - an acceptance not just of EU rules now in a certain area, but an agreement to accept them if they change in the future.

They would see this as a fundamental dilution of a key tenet of Brexit and, critics point out, it was not in the Labour manifesto.

So again, detail will be key here when we see what has been agreed.

Sir Keir Starmer will argue his manifesto and his majority gives him a mandate for closer ties and can point to opinion polls that also suggest support for negotiating a closer relationship.

He will argue that a deal with the EU, alongside the ones with India and the United States announced this month, show a willingness to both leverage the freedoms of Brexit while getting what he will see as a better relationship with Brussels.

But it is also true that he risks inflaming all those old Brexit rows, angering Brexiteers and doing little to pacify those who have long hated Brexit.

Negotiations for a deal between the UK and EU are still ongoing hours before the prime minister hosts a UK-EU summit on Monday.

Sir Keir Starmer will meet European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for the second time in four days as he aims to strike a deal with the EU on a range of issues.

This could include a youth mobility scheme, allowing UK passport holders to use EU airport e-gates, and announcements on trade, security, and fishing rights.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage have already described the deal as a "surrender" despite the contents not being known.

As the talks continue into the night, the BBC understands, there is no deadline for when they will conclude.

Negotiations for the UK are being led by the minister for UK-EU relations, Nick Thomas-Symonds, who told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that he was driven by "ruthless pragmatism" and was focused on jobs, lower household bills, and stronger borders.

But he declined to give specific details of any deal, saying: "Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed."

Announcements around trade and security have been expected to include British access to a 150 billion euro (£125 billion) EU defence fund, which could be a boost for UK defence companies.

Fishing could also be part of a deal, with a post-Brexit deal on fishing rights set to expire at the end of June 2026.

The Conservatives have warned that the government must "make it clear that giving up any rights to UK waters and natural resources would represent a betrayal to British fishermen".

Reports have circulated that a youth mobility scheme with the EU could be set up - something that Sir Keir told the Times on Saturday would be a "reciprocal" arrangement in which young people would be able to move abroad for up to two years.

No specific details about the ages of those who could be eligible and whether there would be a cap on numbers were given, and it has received mixed responses from opposition parties.

Badenoch described the possible scheme as "free movement through the back door" while Reform's deputy leader Richard Tice said earlier this week that such a scheme would be "the thin end" of EU free movement.

The Liberal Democrats have backed the idea of a "capped mobility scheme", although the party's Europe spokesperson James MacCleary has accused the government of "dragging their heels when it comes to properly negotiating on the issue".

Reports have also suggested there could be agreements on British travellers using EU e-gates at European airports and cutting red tape on food exports and imports.

Thomas-Symonds said he was "pushing for people to be able to go through" European airports "far more quickly" and that he was confident about a deal on food.

He added: "We know we've had lorries waiting for 16 hours, fresh food in the back not able to be exported because frankly it's just going off, red tape, all the certifications that are required, we absolutely want to reduce that."

Conservative MP Alex Burghart told the BBC on Sunday he was concerned the government was signing up to EU standards and becoming "a rule taker - one of the things we specifically left behind when we left the EU".

A world record-breaking swimmer has told BBC Panorama she was left "broken" by the harsh regime run by one of the UK's most successful swimming coaches.

Rūta Meilutytė, who won gold at the London 2012 Olympics, said Jon Rudd's focus on weighing and swimmers' diets contributed to her struggle with an eating disorder and depression.

In total, 12 ex-swimmers have told us they experienced bullying, a toxic training environment and controlling food culture at one of the UK's most prestigious clubs for young elite swimmers when he was head coach.

Rudd had faced allegations of bullying and verbal abuse during his 28-year tenure at Plymouth Leander swimming club, but the BBC has learned that no action was taken by the sport's governing body.

We have found that Swim England, the governing body, did not act on a confidential 2012 investigation which ruled Rudd should be suspended after hearing evidence about his behaviour from 17 witnesses.

Swim England's new chief executive Andy Salmon said he did not know why Rudd had not been suspended, but he was "deeply, deeply, sorry" to Plymouth's swimmers and all of those harmed by the governing body's failings.

Rudd, who is due to become high performance director of Saudi Arabia's Olympic swimming team, has not responded to the BBC.

Plymouth Leander attracted aspiring swimmers from around the world after Rudd established its reputation as a club that produced Olympic athletes.

While head coach between 1989 and 2017, he was responsible for swimmers' success, but also had safeguarding responsibilities to ensure their wellbeing.

One of Plymouth Leander's most successful swimmers was Antony James, who won silver at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and represented Team GB at the 2012 Olympics. He was jailed for 21 years in February for raping two girls he had met at the club.

Three people who trained at Plymouth Leander told Panorama that Rudd, who had coached James since he was eight years old, should have known he was interested in younger girls.

A former girlfriend of James, also an ex-swimmer, said he was well known for mixing with young teenage girls and that his status as the club's "golden boy" meant no one questioned his behaviour.

"Everyone knew - he wasn't trying to hide anything that he was doing, it was very out there and open," she said.

She was 16 and he was 22 when they started a relationship and she says she believes she was a "gateway" to his grooming of younger girls.

Rudd was a coach at Plymouth Leander in 2010 when Lithuanian Rūta Meilutyte moved to the UK to be coached by him.

She made Olympic history two years later when, aged 15, she became the youngest person to win the 100m breaststroke.

Now 28, she recalls Rudd making cutting comments about her weight.

When she confided in him that she had been making herself sick after meals to lose weight, she said he laughed and replied: "Well, at least you get the calories out."

She said that Rudd did seek help for her once he realised that she was not happy with what he had said.

She also described him saying her "ass was fat", moments before a major competition, aged 16.

Despite being hailed as the club's most successful swimmer, Meilutytė said Rudd's regime "made me for a while and then it broke me".

She left Plymouth Leander in 2017. Rudd's career, meanwhile, went from strength to strength, with him becoming Swim Ireland's director of performance swimming in the same year.

Rudd was employed by Plymouth College, an independent school, until 2017. It ran a partnership with Plymouth Leander between 2001-2024 and many swimmers boarded there.

Among the other 11 swimmers to make allegations to Panorama about Rudd was Olympic bronze medallist Cassie Patten. She said the coach had made her train with an injured shoulder and that it eventually ended her career in 2011.

Commonwealth Youth gold medallist Phoebe Lenderyou told Panorama Rudd's regime aggravated her eating disorder.

Andy Salmon, who has been CEO of Swim England since February 2024, confirmed to the BBC that no action was taken against Rudd despite evidence swimmers had suffered harm and the 2012 report's recommendation that he be suspended for four months.

The report would have remained a secret but for the BBC receiving a tip-off in 2023. It said Rudd had been subjected to a lengthy probe, but that none of the complainants had been told the outcome.

His case was reviewed after the BBC asked Swim England about it.

According to the original investigation, Rudd's assistant coach, Lindsay Trimmings, should also have been suspended from Plymouth Leander. She was later hired by Swim England to be its head of coaching but left in 2023. When Panorama wrote to her, she said she did not want to respond.

"Clearly the organisation failed to act on the independent recommendations made at the time. And I'm really sorry, on behalf of Swim England, for any suffering that that might have led to," Mr Salmon told us.

The failings of the 2012 investigation into Rudd have led to the governing body announcing it would review 1,500 safeguarding cases carried out across England between 2002 and 2022.

Swim England commissioned a listening report into all aquatic sports after the BBC first shared multiple swimmers' accounts of mistreatment in 2023. Published in 2024, the governing body's report found a culture of fear at all levels of the sport that threatened its future.

Plymouth Leander said it was "deeply concerned by the nature and severity" of Panorama's allegations, stating that the club was "fundamentally different" from when Rudd was in charge. It also said it had conducted a "thorough review" of its safeguarding policies and procedures to provide "the safest possible environment".

It said Rudd's employer, Plymouth College, was responsible for his "oversight and jurisdiction".

Plymouth College, which is now under different ownership, said the club was responsible for safeguarding and that it was "deeply concerned to hear these testimonies from swimmers who trained at Plymouth Leander".

It said the partnership with Plymouth Leander had been terminated and it now ran its own swimming organisation, Plymouth College Aquatics (PCA).

BBC Panorama has also found evidence of a bullying culture at Royal Wolverhampton School Swimming Club, another leading institution in the sport, as recently as last year.

Complaints about the behaviour of David Painter, the club's head coach at the time were made by the parents of 11 swimmers, during 2023 and 2024.

One of the swimmers, Abby, now 17, told the BBC she was forced to choose between her education and swimming because Painter would not let her have time off to prepare for her GCSEs.

She attended a different school several miles away but said she was told she would still have to train on the morning of exams.

"Towards the end I was literally having full blown panic attacks," said Abby, who told Panorama she was failing at school. She eventually decided to leave the sport.

Alison Hickman, the club's former welfare officer, told the BBC she had given the names of 11 parents who had concerns about Painter to Swim England and said none of them were contacted by the governing body.

Swim England told the BBC it had asked the school to resolve the issues.

The Royal Wolverhampton School said complaints were confidential. It said the school has "clear safeguarding procedures" and "all formal complaints are investigated swiftly and appropriately".

Painter, who left to coach in Canada last year, said his "commitment to athlete development and wellbeing has always been at the core" of his coaching, and that he had never been subject to "any disciplinary investigations or hearings". He added that the allegations against him were "untrue… and defamatory".

• If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, help and support is available via BBC Action Line

Hidden beneath the slopes of a lush forest in Alberta, Canada, is a mass grave on a monumental scale.

Thousands of dinosaurs were buried here, killed in an instant on a day of utter devastation.

Now, a group of palaeontologists have come to Pipestone Creek - appropriately nicknamed the "River of Death" - to help solve a 72-million-year-old enigma: how did they die?

Trying to work out exactly what happened here starts with the hefty strike of a sledgehammer.

Brute force is needed to crack open the thick layer of rock that covers what Professor Emily Bamforth, who's leading the dig, describes as "palaeo gold".

As her team begins the more delicate job of removing the layers of dirt and dust, a jumble of fossilised bones slowly begins to emerge.

"That big blob of bone right there is, we think, part of a hip," Prof Bamforth says, watched on by her dog Aster - whose job today is to bark if she spots any nearby bears.

"Then here, we have all of these long, skinny bones. These are all ribs. And this is a neat one - it's part of a toe bone. This one here, we have no idea what it is - it's a great example of a Pipestone Creek mystery."

BBC News has come to Pipestone Creek to witness the sheer scale of this prehistoric graveyard and see how researchers are piecing together the clues.

Thousands of fossils have been collected from the site, and are constantly generating new discoveries.

The bones all belong to a dinosaur called Pachyrhinosaurus. The species, and Prof Bamforth's excavation, feature in a new landmark BBC series - Walking With Dinosaurs - which uses visual effects and science to bring this prehistoric world to life.

These animals, which lived during the Late Cretaceous period, were a relative of the Triceratops. Measuring about five metres long and weighing two tonnes, the four-legged beasts had large heads, adorned with a distinctive bony frill and three horns. Their defining feature was a big bump on the nose called a boss.

The dig season has just started and lasts each year until autumn. The fossils in the small patch of ground that the team are working on are incredibly tightly packed; Prof Bamforth estimates there are up to 300 bones in every square metre.

So far, her team has excavated an area the size of a tennis court, but the bed of bones extends for a kilometre into the hillside.

"It's jaw dropping in terms of its density," she tells us.

"It is, we believe, one of the largest bone beds in North America.

"More than half of the known dinosaur species in the world are described from a single specimen. We have thousands of Pachyrhinosaurus here."

Palaeontologists believe the dinosaurs were migrating together in a colossal herd for hundreds of miles from the south - where they had spent the winter - to the north for the summer.

The area, which had a much warmer climate than it does today, would have been covered in rich vegetation, providing abundant food for this enormous group of plant-eating animals.

"It is a single community of a single species of animal from a snapshot in time, and it's a huge sample size. That almost never happens in the fossil record," says Prof Bamforth.

Bigger beasts offering clues

And this patch of north-western Alberta wasn't just home to Pachyrhinosaurus. Even bigger dinosaurs roamed this land, and studying them is essential to try and understand this ancient ecosystem.

Two hours drive away, we reach the Deadfall Hills. Getting there involves a hike through dense forest, wading - or doggy-paddling in the case of Aster - across a fast-running river, and clambering over slippery rocks.

No digging is required here; super-sized bones lie next to the shoreline, washed out from the rock and cleaned by the flowing water, just waiting to be picked up.

A huge vertebra is quickly spotted, as are bits of ribs and teeth scattered across the mud.

Palaeontologist Jackson Sweder is particularly interested in what looks like a chunk of dinosaur skull. "Most of what we find here is a duck-billed dinosaur called Edmontosaurus. If this is a skull bone, this is a dinosaur that's large - probably 30ft (10m) long," he says.

The Edmontosaurus, another herbivore, roamed the forests like the Pachyrhinosaurus - and is helping palaeontologists build up a picture of this ancient land.

Sweder is the collection manager at the Philip J Currie Dinosaur Museum in nearby Grande Prairie, where the bones from both of these giants are taken to be cleaned up and analysed. He is currently working on a huge Pachyrhinosaurus skull that's about 1.5m long and has been nicknamed "Big Sam".

He points to where the three horns should be at the top of the frill, but the one in the middle is missing. "All the skulls that are decently complete have a spike in that spot," he says. "But its nice little unicorn spike doesn't seem to be there."

Throughout years working at the extraordinary site, the museum team has collected 8,000 dinosaur bones, and the surfaces of the lab are covered in fossils; there are bones from Pachyrhinosaurus of every size, from young to old.

Having material from so many animals allows researchers to learn about dinosaur biology, answering questions about how the species grows and the make-up of the community. They can also look at individual variations, to see how one Pachyrhinosaurus could stand out from the herd – as may be the case with Big Sam and his missing spike.

A sudden devastating event

All of this detailed research, in the museum and at the two sites, is helping the team to answer the vital question: how did so many animals in Pipestone Creek die at the same time?

"We believe that this was a herd on a seasonal migration that got tangled up in some catastrophic event that effectively wiped out, if not the entire herd, then a good proportion of it," Prof Bamforth says.

All the evidence suggests that this catastrophic event was a flash flood - perhaps a storm over the mountains that sent an unstoppable torrent of water towards the herd, ripping trees from their roots and shifting boulders.

Prof Bamforth says the Pachyrhinosaurus wouldn't have stood a chance. "These animals are not able to move very fast because of their sheer numbers, and they're very top heavy - and really not very good at swimming at all."

Rocks found at the site show the swirls of sediment from the fast-flowing water churning everything up. It's as if the destruction is frozen in time as a wave in the stone.

But this nightmare day for the dinosaurs is now a dream for palaeontologists.

"We know, every time we come here, it's 100% guaranteed we'll find bones. And every year we discover something new about the species," says Prof Bamforth.

"That's why we keep coming back, because we're still finding new things."

As the team packs up their tools ready to return another day, they know there's a lot of work ahead. They've only just scratched the surface of what's here - and there are many more prehistoric secrets just waiting to be revealed.

The new series of Walking With Dinosaurs starts on Sunday 25 May at 18:25 BST on BBC One, with all episodes available on BBC iPlayer.

Former US President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones.

Biden received the news on Friday after he saw a doctor last week for urinary symptoms.

Here's what you need to know about prostate cancer and its treatment options.

What is prostate cancer?

Prostate cancer affects tissue of the prostate gland, the part of the male reproductive system that helps make semen. It is located between the penis and the bladder.

According to the NHS, it usually develops slowly, so it can often grow unnoticed for years. That means some people can live for decades without needing treatment. But it also means symptoms often don't appear until the cancer is already advanced.

Biden was diagnosed following urinary symptoms, one of the most common signs of prostate cancer. That's because it is often detected only when the prostate is big enough to have impacted the urethra, the tube that connects the bladder to the penis.

Those symptoms can include needing to urinate more frequently, as well as a slow or weak urinary stream.

Screening for prostate cancer is part of routine presidential health inspections, according to Dr Jeffrey Kuhlman, former White House doctor under President Barack Obama.

Prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death in American men, according to the American Cancer Society, behind lung cancer.

There will be more than 300,000 new cases in the US this year, according to projections by the American Cancer Society. About one in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime.

While it is "not uncommon" for men in their 80s to be diagnosed with prostate cancer, the grade and stage of Biden's cancer are "more advanced than most men would encounter" at diagnosis, Dr Ryan Cleary, urologist at MedStar Health, told the BBC.

What is the Gleason score?

The former president's prostate cancer is "characterised by a Gleason score of 9", his office said in the statement announcing his diagnosis.

The Gleason score is the most common way of grading how likely the disease will advance and spread - also known as metastatic cancer.

Specifically, it refers to how abnormal the cancer cells look in a sample under a microscope. The scale runs from six to 10, with a higher number indicating a more aggressive cancer.

The scale starts at six because it is calculated by combining the two most common patterns of cancer cells found in a patient. The lowest score assigned to cancerous cells is three. That's why the lowest Gleason score for a cancer diagnosis is six.

A Gleason score of nine, such as Biden's, means it is a "high-grade cancer". Cancer cells with a score of nine look very abnormal and are likely to grow quickly.

What are Biden's treatment options?

In Biden's case, the cancer is aggressive in nature and has already spread to his bones.

According to Dr Jamin Vinod Brahmbhatt, a urologist at Orlando Health Medical Group, this level of spread does limit the treatment options.

While there are medical based treatments such as chemotherapy, steroids and hormone therapy available, none of them are "curative", he said.

"There are more medical options to stabilise the patient and control the cancer, but it never gets rid of the cancer completely."

Biden's cancer is also said to be hormone sensitive, which means the cancer uses hormones to grow or develop.

These types of cancers can be managed by drugs that block or lower the amount of hormones in the body.

Dr Brahmbhatt said while this "opens up the toolkit" of treatment options for Biden, it was going to take "weeks or months" to see how he responds.

Dr Kuhlman said Biden could also have the option of entering "clinical trials for advanced disease" if he meets the inclusion criteria.

Biden and his family are said to be reviewing treatment options.

What is his prognosis?

In Sunday's statement, Biden's office said since the cancer appeared to be hormone-sensitive, that "allows for effective management".

The full details of Biden's case is not known. Dr Cleary said: "Generally about a third of patients will still be alive after five years of metastatic prostate cancer."

Advanced stages of prostate cancer can limit a person's lifespan and lead to symptoms that make daily life harder.

Dr Kuhlman describes "10 to 15 years of function" when looking at aggressive cancer treatments and said it was important to consider treatments that maintain Biden's quality of life in the next few years.

"If there's any inspiration in this, it is to go and get yourself checked out whether you have symptoms or not," Dr Brahmbhatt said.

Joe Biden's half-century in politics has been an exercise in overcoming adversity.

From the death of his wife and young daughter in a car accident in 1972, to two early and unsuccessful presidential bids, to the death of his eldest son at just 46, his decades in Washington have been defined by tragedy but often followed by triumph.

Now, just four months after leaving office as a one-term president, and as intense scrutiny is placed on his mental and physical decline during those four years, the 82-year-old has been diagnosed with aggressive and advanced prostate cancer.

It is a disease that has never been far from his mind in the 10 years since his oldest son, Beau, died of brain cancer – leaving a deep emotional scar on the father that lingers to this day.

After that tragedy, finding a cure for cancer became a cause for the elder Biden.

In 2016, then-President Barack Obama tasked him with leading a "moonshot" government-wide research effort to that end - an effort that Biden continued during his own presidency.

Now it is cancer that presents possibly the greatest threat to the Biden's health since he nearly died of a brain aneurism shortly after he abandoned his first presidential bid in 1988.

The news of the diagnosis lands as Democrats continue to grapple with the consequences of Biden's fateful decision to seek a second presidential term in the 2024 election – an attempt to extend the record he had already set for the oldest occupant of the Oval Office.

Biden ultimately dropped out of the race after intense pressure from Democrats following his halting, at times incomprehensible, performance in a general election debate with Donald Trump last June. But until that point, he had insisted that he was fit to continue in the White House for another four years.

This cancer diagnosis will underscore that the concerns about his age and the potential for health issues expressed by a majority of American voters in national polling were valid.

It coincides with the publication of several books detailing the efforts by those close to the president in the White House to accommodate, and conceal from the public, the toll the years were taking on his body and mind while he continued to serve as commander-in-chief.

While there is no reason to believe that Biden's prostate issues were at all apparent while he was in the White House, the fact that such an aggressive form of cancer could avoid detection until it had already spread, despite the wealth of medical support and evaluation available to Biden, will raise new questions and concerns.

It sets up a troubling hypothetical of how Biden's cancer might have been treated if he had successfully won a second term.

Hypotheticals notwithstanding, Biden's diagnosis may temper some of the sharper criticisms the book revelations would have otherwise prompted.

President Donald Trump, who had spent much of his recent trip to the Middle East disparaging his predecessor, released a statement extending his "warmest and best wishes" to the Biden family. That my be representative of the tenor of the public dialogue around Biden in the coming days.

Until several recent media interviews, including one with the BBC in which he defended his decision to stay in the 2024 race until a late stage, Biden had largely receded from public view since leaving power in January.

If the former president has the energy and endurance to do so, this latest medical revelation might give him a new platform, and a newly sympathetic public, to attempt to defend and burnish his presidential legacy.

Over the course of his public life, Joe Biden has defined himself by his persistence and endurance, only reaching the pinnacle of American power late in life.

His illness is another formidable challenge. But it presents one more opportunity for Biden to define himself – as a politician and as a man - by how he handles it.

The liberal, pro-EU mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, has fought off a strong challenge from a Romanian right-wing nationalist to win the presidency after months of political turbulence.

George Simion, the leader of the far-right AUR party, won a dramatic first-round victory earlier this month, riding a wave of anger from Romanians who had seen the presidential race annulled late last year because of claims of Russian interference.

But it was the softly spoken Nicusor Dan who swept to victory, winning 55% of the vote in Romania, even though Simion was well ahead in the diaspora.

"We need to build Romania together irrespective of who you voted for," said Dan, once his victory was secure.

More than 11.6 million Romanians voted in Sunday's run-off, and Dan won the support of more than six million of them.

The mathematician waited until after midnight on Sunday before he could be absolutely sure that the numbers were on his side and he could join his supporters in a park opposite City Hall in Bucharest.

They went wild, chanting his name and cheering. At one point he was almost mobbed but this was a huge moment for the president-elect and for his supporters after months of political tension.

"A community of Romanians who want a profound change in Romania won," he said.

Romanians are broadly unhappy with the dominance of mainstream parties and the turbulence in this European Union and Nato member state intensified earlier this month when the government collapsed because its candidate had failed to make the second round.

While Nicusor Dan campaigned on fighting corruption and maintaining support for northern neighbour Ukraine, Simion attacked the EU and called for cutting aid to Kyiv.

"Russia, don't forget, Romania isn't yours," Dan's supporters chanted.

Even though exit polls had given him victory, they did not include the all-important diaspora vote and Simion clung to the belief that he could still win.

"I won, I am the new president of Romania and I am giving back power to the Romanians," he insisted initially.

It was not until the early hours of Monday that he conceded victory on Facebook. His supporters were planning a protest hours later.

During the election campaign Simion had stood side by side with Calin Georgescu, the far-right fringe figure who had stunned Romania with a first-round presidential victory at the end of last year, buoyed by an enormous TikTok campaign.

The vote was annulled over allegations of campaign fraud and Russian interference and Georgescu was barred from running again. Russia denied any involvement.

Asked by the BBC on Sunday whether he was acting as Georgescu's puppet, George Simion said: "The puppets are those who annulled the elections... I am a man of my people and my people voted for Calin Georgescu.

"Do we like democracy only when the good guy has won? I don't think this is an option."

He said he was a patriot and accused what he called the mainstream media of smearing him as a pro-Russian or fascist.

The key to Simion's success in the first round was his extraordinary win among diaspora voters in Western Europe, including in the UK.

His supporters turned out in force again on Sunday, with partial results giving him 68.5% support in Spain, 66.8% in Italy and 67% in Germany. He also had the edge in the UK, where voters said they would have picked Calin Georgescu if authorities had not barred him from running.

"We didn't know anything about [Georgescu] but then I listened to what he was saying, and you can tell he's a good Christian," said 37-year-old Catalina Grancea.

She had vowed to go back to Romania if Simion had won and her mother Maria said she too had voted for change: "Our children were forced to leave Romania because they couldn't find any jobs there."

However, Nicusor Dan's voters came out in even bigger numbers both in Romania and abroad. In neighbouring Moldova 87% of Romanians backed the mayor of Bucharest.

The presidents of both Moldova and Ukraine congratulated him on his victory.

"Moldova and Romania stand together, supporting one another and working side by side for a peaceful, democratic, and European future for all our citizens," said Maia Sandu.

"For Ukraine, as a neighbour and friend, it is important to have Romania as a reliable partner," said Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on social media that Romanians had turned out in massive numbers and had "chosen the promise of an open, prosperous Romania in a strong Europe".

Warsaw's liberal mayor Rafal Trzaskowski won a narrow victory in Poland's presidential election, according to an exit poll, but a second-round run-off with conservative historian Karol Nawrocki will be required to decide the country's next president.

According to the poll released when voting ended, Trzaskowski, a deputy leader of prime minister Donald Tusk's centrist Civic Platform (PO) party, won 30.8% of the votes.

Nawrocki came second with 29.1% of the votes.

If the poll is confirmed by the final official result – not expected until late Monday – Trzaskowski and Nawrocki will compete in a second-round on 1 June as none of the 13 candidates won more than 50% of the vote.

• LIVE: Follow the latest from elections in Romania, Portugal and Poland

Trzaskowski told his supporters at a rally in Sandomierz, southern Poland: "We're going to win." But he said a lot of work and "great determination" would be needed.

"I'm convinced that all Poland will win," he said.

He pledged to cooperate with prime minister Tusk's coalition to liberalise the country's strict abortion law and accelerate reform of the Polish judiciary, which was widely seen to have been politicised by the previous PiS-led government.

Trzaskowski performed worse than opinion polls predicted before the vote, which had him between 4%-6% ahead of Nawrocki.

Poland's president has largely ceremonial powers but he or she is able to veto government legislation. Tusk's coalition does not have a big enough parliamentary majority to overturn a presidential veto.

Tusk has failed to deliver many of his campaign promises, partly because the incumbent conservative president Andrzej Duda has vetoed his government's legislation, but also due to divisions within the coalition over issues like abortion and civil partnerships.

A victory for Trzaskowski would remove the president's veto, but Nawrocki would likely be an even tougher obstacle than Duda.

Nawrocki told his supporters in Gdansk that Tusk must be stopped from winning total power in Poland.

He called on supporters of two far-right candidates, Slawomir Mentzen, who came third and won 15.4%, and of Grzegorz Braun, who came fourth and won 6.2%, to "save Poland" from Tusk.

A lot will depend on which candidate can mobilise their electorate in the second round.

Nawrocki was unknown on a national scale before Law and Justice (PiS) chose him as its candidate. But he has improved on the job, and PiS is traditionally good at getting their vote out.

Trzaskowski will need to win the votes of supporters of his centrist party, but also those supporting the candidates of the junior coalition partners, the Left (Magdalena Biejat) and conservative Third Way (Szymon Holownia).

Another worry for Trzaskowski is the better than expected result of far-right candidates because many of their supporters will not vote for him.

Mentzen's result was a strong showing and continued the improvement of his far-right Confederation party since it entered parliament in 2019.

Who will his, mainly young voters, back in the run-off?

Many would support Nawrocki for his Catholic, family-oriented views, but they dislike PiS's left-wing economic policy of generous state benefits.

Mentzen is an anti-establishment candidate, and some of his supporters may not want to vote for either Nawrocki or Trzaskowski, who represent the two parties that have dominated Polish politics for two decades.

Far-right MEP, Grzegorz Braun's result was a nasty surprise for Poland's liberal voters.

Braun made headlines in 2023 when he put out the candles on a Jewish menorah in the Polish parliament with a fire extinguisher following a ceremony for the festival of Hanukkah.

Braun called the festival "satanic". During a presidential debate last month he said: "Jews have far too much say in Polish affairs."

GPs in England are to help the NHS find more undiagnosed patients affected by the contaminated blood scandal.

It is thought thousands of people could have been exposed to the hepatitis C virus through contaminated blood transfusions in the 1970s, 80s and 90s; part of a scandal which affected more than 30,000 people in the UK.

From June, patients signing up to a GP practice, who received a blood transfusion before 1996, will be offered a test for hepatitis C.

The BBC revealed the scale of undiagnosed cases last year, as people with life-threatening liver damage caused by the virus over many years continue to be identified.

'Horrifying impact'

Hepatitis C can now be treated by modern anti-viral drugs to eliminate the virus for most patients.

But if it goes undetected and undiagnosed there may not be any noticeable symptoms for some time and it can infect the liver and cause serious damage, leaving the organ beyond repair.

Maureen Arkley, who died last year, was diagnosed with hepatitis C and cirrhosis of the liver in 2023, more than 40 years after she had an operation involving multiple blood transfusions. These were on her medical records but she was not told by her GP or anyone in the NHS that she could have been exposed to the virus.

BBC News highlighted her case as one of many people let down by the lack of testing following the infected blood scandal.

It is one of the biggest treatment disasters in NHS history - 3,000 people who were infected with HIV and hepatitis C after being given contaminated blood products have died.

Many of the victims were haemophiliacs, who were given infected blood products as part of their treatment.

Many thousands more were given transfusions using contaminated blood after accidents, emergencies or childbirth.

Maureen died in February 2024, five months after her diagnosis and 47 years after a blood transfusion infected her.

"The end was utterly horrific, she weighed less than four stone when she died," her daughter Victoria told the BBC.

NHS England says around 400,000 people each year, born before 1996, will be asked if they have ever had a blood transfusion through the online GP registration form.

This was a move recommended in the Infected Blood Inquiry report, published in May 2024.

If a previous blood transfusion is confirmed, patients will be able to test themselves for hepatitis C at home, using a finger prick blood test which is then posted to a lab for analysis.

Tests can also be carried out at GP surgeries, sexual health clinics and other places, NHS England says.

The charity Hepatitis C Trust is also encouraging anyone who had a blood transfusion before 1996, including current GP patients, to get tested.

"Every two weeks we hear from someone infected with hepatitis C through a transfusion who is only now finding out," said the charity's chief executive, Rachel Halford.

"All of these people have had hepatitis C for more than three decades; some are very ill. A more proactive approach is critical to reaching and diagnosing those who remain unaware of their infection."

NHS England medical director Prof Stephen Powis said the "simple change" to the GP registration process was "a vital step forward" to ensure nobody affected by contaminated blood is "undiagnosed and unsupported".

"The failures of the contaminated blood scandal have had a horrifying impact for patients and their families for decades, and I would like to reiterate our deepest apologies for the role the health service played in the suffering and loss for so many," he added.

Health officials say the risk of getting an infection from a blood transfusion or from blood products since screening of blood donations was introduced, is very low.

All blood donations have been screened for HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C since September 1991.

The government has announced new rules aiming to protect shoppers using buy now, pay later services, saying it wants to end the "wild west" of unregulated borrowing.

Under the plans, lenders will have to carry out affordability checks to stop people taking on too much debt and shoppers will have faster access to refunds.

The use of buy now, pay later (BNPL) has surged recently, with 11 million people in the UK estimated to have used it in the last year, but there have been fears some are spending more than they can afford.

Consumer groups welcomed the move and said many users did not realise they were taking on debt they might struggle to repay.

Under BNPL, rather than paying the full amount of a purchase in one go, shoppers can spread payments into smaller amounts over a short period of time, usually only weeks or months.

For some people this can be a convenient way of spreading the cost of shopping, but there are fears some consumers could be taking on too much debt.

BNPL products are currently unregulated and Citizens Advice said the new measures were a "crucial step" towards better protection for shoppers.

"For too long, people have been exposed to unaffordable debt from a BNPL sector that has operated in a regulatory grey area," said Tom MacInnes, director of policy at Citizens Advice.

"For some, this has had dire consequences. Many people are struggling to repay credit they can't afford, falling behind on essential bills and often needing emergency support, like food bank vouchers."

Measures to tighten oversight of the sector have been discussed for years, and the previous government unveiled plans in 2023.

Under the latest plans, due to take effect next year, the government says BNPL firms will have to follow consistent standards so shoppers know what they are signing up to, whether they can afford the purchase and how to get help if needed.

It says this means "upfront" checks on affordability, faster access to refunds, and the right to complain to the Financial Ombudsman.

Emma Reynolds, economic secretary to the Treasury, said BNPL had "transformed shopping for millions", but had left consumers exposed and operated as a "wild west".

"These new rules will protect shoppers from debt traps and give the sector the certainty it needs to invest, grow, and create jobs," she added.

Last week, a comprehensive survey by the UK financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), found the number using BNPL had "risen significantly", climbing by two million in the past three years.

It said 40% of lone parents and 35% of women aged between 25 and 34 use BNPL products.

Lisa Webb, consumer law expert at the Which? consumer association, said its research indicated "many users do not realise they are taking on debt or consider the prospect of missing payments".

A spokesman for Klarna, one of the biggest suppliers of BNPL services in the UK, said the company had supported regulation for the sector since 2020.

"It's good to see progress on regulation, and we look forward to working with the FCA on rules to protect consumers and encourage innovation," he said.

Endangered water voles in Wales are being fed edible glitter in a bid to save them from extinction.

Once commonly found across south Wales, water voles are now effectively extinct in all but a few locations, according to the Wildlife Trust.

With their future hanging in the balance, conservationists have been looking for new ways to track the naturally shy individuals in the wild - which is where the glitter comes in.

Nature Conservation Cymru hopes that by offering the animals something sparkly to eat, the sparkle should come out the other end - providing some much-needed answers.

Rob Parry, chief executive of Nature Conservation Cymru, said his team had consulted with vets to ensure the edible and biodegradable glitter - the type used to decorate cakes - would not be harmful to the semi-aquatic creatures.

"It's something that we've done in nature conservation before for other species, for badgers in particular where we use pellets to put in with peanuts, which badgers love," said Mr Parry.

"So we've taken that idea and scaled it down to water vole size, which means using glitter."

The hope is that if the water voles are willing to consume the glitter then it will come out in their poo, allowing the small mammals - which are often mistaken for brown rats - to be tracked by conservationists.

Different colours of glitter could be used to allow conservationists to track different families of water voles and how far they range.

It might sound like a fun idea, but Mr Parry and his team could not be more serious.

If they can track where water voles are located in the wild, they can make adjustments to the environment - like removing invasive conifers from wetland habitats or fencing off certain riverbanks to stop sheep grazing.

Measures like this could help the species to disperse through the landscape undisturbed and potentially be a life-saving intervention.

"We'll be able to see the types of territory, the size and where they go in," said Mr Parry.

"Are they just using the linear features, the ditches, or are they spreading out into the bog and the molinia grassland habitat?

"That will be really crucial for when it comes to planning for our upland habitats."

The team is first testing out their theory on some captive-bred water voles which are part of a wider Natural Resources Wales (NRW) project to reintroduce colonies into the wild.

The glitter is spread onto chunks of apple, not part of their normal diet in the wild, but a food the animals love and do well on in captivity, according to Richard Davies from NRW.

"They get everything they need from apples, carrots, and some dried rabbit food as well," he said.

He has successfully bred hundreds of water voles which have been reintroduced into the wild, though he said their release was no guarantee of survival.

"Most predators in the UK would quite happily take a water vole. They need to be able to cope with this heavy predation and replace themselves a lot," he said.

With a BBC News camera present, the glittery purple apple was placed on top of the straw bedding which covered the water voles' pen.

After 20 minutes, the food remained untouched, but an hour later most of it had disappeared.

The success of the project, however, does not just depend on the appetite of the water voles, but how well the glitter can retain its shine from end to end.

Mr Parry said without interventions like this, the future for water voles was uncertain.

"It's been a perfect storm of bad things that's happened to water voles in the last few decades," he said.

"We have drained an awful lot of their wetland habitat, forced them into linear ditches where we find them now, and then the biggest problem is the American mink, an invasive species that was let out and released from pens and they just turned out to be the perfect water vole predators. The water voles don't stand a chance, really."

But now, at least, he is more hopeful.

The water voles, known for being nervous about any changes to to their environment, had not rejected the glitter.

So, did the experiment work?

Just 24 hours later, a tiny glittery poo was spotted.

The conservation team was elated.

Uber has said it is "ready to go" now with driverless taxis in the UK - but the government has put back the date it expects to approve fully self-driving vehicles.

The previous administration said fully autonomous cars were "set to be on roads by 2026", but the new government says it is now more likely to happen in the second half of 2027.

While limited self-driving technology is already permitted on UK roads, a human driver must be at the wheel and responsible for the vehicle, even if automated technology is being used.

With some companies trialling more advanced tech on British streets, I took an automated car ride across central London in a car using a system developed by UK AI firm Wayve.

"We're ready to launch robotaxis in the UK as soon as the regulatory environment is ready for us," said Andrew Macdonald, senior vice president of mobility at Uber, who joined me for the ride.

The ride-hailing firm is working with 18 automated car tech companies including Wayve.

It is one of several companies which already offers robotaxis in the US.

They are also on the roads in China, the UAE and Singapore.

But Mr Macdonald disagreed that the UK was behind the rest of the world, arguing that the US and China were ahead largely because that is where the majority of the tech had been developed.

"We are working quickly and will implement self-driving vehicle legislation in the second half of 2027", the Department for Transport said in a statement.

"We are also exploring options for short-term trials and pilots to create the right conditions for a thriving self-driving sector," it added.

'Hands-off' experience

In the US, Mr Macdonald said robotaxis typically operate for 20 hours per day, seven days per week.

Even though there is no driver to pay, Uber says the fare is currently the same as a ride with a human behind the wheel.

The option to take one appears on the app if one is available, and customers can opt in or out.

That's partly because, aside from the regulatory environment, another potential barrier to their uptake is the public's reticence about travelling in a self-driving vehicle.

A poll by YouGov in 2024 suggested that 37% of Brits would feel "very unsafe" travelling in a car without a driver.

But Mr Macdonald insisted new customers' initial nervousness was short-lived and the experience soon "becomes the new normal".

That was certainly my experience during our ride.

I was in a Ford Mach-e, fitted with Wayve's autonomous driving sensors and software.

It uses a radar and seven cameras. In the boot there's is a computer which is running the AI-driven software that processes all that sensor data in real time and controls the car's responses.

The automated tech handled every scenario without a hitch, including pedestrians in the road, parked cars, heavy traffic, temporary traffic lights and delivery bikes.

George, our safety driver, did not touch the controls once and a big red button, which shuts off the automated system immediately, was not deployed.

If anything the robo-ride was a far more patient city driver than I am – and has no voice, making it a lot less chatty.

Whether autonomous vehicles are more or less safe than human-driven ones is still being investigated.

But numerous studies suggest that automated vehicles are less accident-prone than human drivers, based on US data.

But there have been a number of incidents involving robotaxis in the countries where they operate, ranging from road accidents to passengers being locked in.

In January, a man in Arizona, in the US, documented how his robotaxi drove round in circles in an airport carpark, with him trapped in the vehicle, unable to stop the car or get help.

General Motors paused its driverless taxi service Cruise in San Francisco in 2023 because of safety concerns.

"The reality is that one accident is too many," said Uber's Mr Macdonald.

"That said, with EV (electric vehicles), human drivers… we operate in the real world and stuff happens."

In the UK there are also practical questions around insurance, ownership and liability when a self-driving vehicle is involved in an accident. Mr Macdonald said they were all still being worked out.

Tom Leggett, vehicle technology manager at Thatcham Research - an independent car safety centre - said robotaxis would have to be "safety-led" in the UK.

"Secondly, they will have to make sure the data is available to those who need it – insurers and those investigating incidents when they occur."

The government says self-driving vehicles have the potential "to build an industry worth £42bn and provide 38,000 jobs by 2035."

But of course they are source of concern for people who earn a living driving.

Andy Prendergast, GMB national secretary, said the "significant social implications" driverless cars and taxis could have - such as potential less work or unemployment - for workers and the public must be fully considered.

Uber's Mr Macdonald meanwhile believes automated vehicles will transform the way many people travel in the near future.

"I've got young kids," he said.

"Do I think my daughters will necessarily get their drivers licences when they turn 16?" [the legal age in his home country, Canada].

"No – I think the world is changing a lot."

Additional reporting by Liv McMahon

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In the early hours an IT engineer raced into work through the dark, wintery streets of Redcar in north-east England.

The dash was prompted by a worrying alert about the council's computer network, and he was soon hurriedly shutting down servers to try to halt the spread of a virus. It was too late.

Hackers had scrambled Redcar and Cleveland Council's IT systems and would soon demand payment to restore it.

The cyber-attack in February 2020 caused chaos, disrupting everything from bin collections to social services and decisions about how to keep vulnerable children safe.

"I got a phone call to say: we've been hit," recalls Mary Lanigan, then leader of the council. "The destruction of our systems was total."

In recent weeks, cyber-criminals have targeted major retailers including M&S and the Co-Op, leading to empty shelves and breaches of customer data.

But the former head of the National Cyber Safety Centre (NCSC), Ciaran Martin, said his "biggest cyber-security worry" was the threat of simultaneous attacks on public services, like councils and hospitals, which had the potential to "wreck lives".

The BBC has been investigating how the attack on Redcar and Cleveland unfolded, what it took to get things back to normal and the impact on local people.

In the days before Saturday 8 February 2020, an email with a seemingly innocuous attachment arrived in a council inbox. Hidden inside was a piece of malicious software that would lie dormant in the council's network until it was activated remotely.

Within a few hours of that activation it had spread throughout the computer system, locking staff out and scrambling files.

By 11:00 GMT on Saturday, local residents began to notice the council website was offline.

"There wasn't a lot we could do," Mrs Lanigan said about efforts to stop the virus.

"You had to be practical, so it was actually getting more phones in there so that people could ring us."

News was spreading, but Mrs Lanigan, who lost her position in the 2023 local elections, claims she received pressure from council officials and central government not to speak out.

The council declined to be interviewed about the attack but said there had been no pressure or instruction not to speak publicly, either at the time or since.

What Mrs Lanigan did not say in 2020, but admits now, was the council was dealing with a crisis.

"It was devastating," she said. "Devastating for us, for the staff, for the public and for everybody else."

They had lost the ability to share information with police and the NHS, while social services and elderly care services were knocked out, she said.

"Even somebody ringing up and saying 'my bin hasn't been emptied' wasn't dealt with."

Cyber Siege: From Russia to Redcar

The inside story of a council in north east England was held to ransom by a dangerous gang of cyber-criminals.

Watch now on BBC iPlayer (UK Only)

By the morning of Monday 10 February IT staff were desperately going from desk to desk, placing infected computers in a growing pile.

"When we saw how much damage had been caused we realised it would probably take weeks, maybe years to do," said IT worker Ben Saunders.

At the same time, experts at the NCSC - part of GCHQ - were considering the council's plea for help.

Mr Martin, who was the NCSC's chief executive at the time, said it was "unusually serious".

"If a council are telling you they are worried about their ability to run services for vulnerable children, you take that very seriously."

It was feared social workers, tasked with keeping young people safe, would struggle to do their jobs without access to the online records they relied on to help inform difficult decisions.

In what Mr Martin called an "unusual" step, NCSC officers were deployed to Redcar.

On Tuesday 11 February – the second working day after the attack - hackers made their ransom demand.

The exact figure has never been made public, but Mr Martin said that, based on similar attacks, it was likely to have been in the "low single figure millions of US dollars".

The current government is considering a ban on the public sector paying ransoms to hackers but, while it is the guidance, there was no formal ban in place in 2020.

Regardless, Mrs Lanigan was in no mind to cough up. "I'm a Yorkshire woman and the thing being about that is there was no way I was paying any ransom to anybody."

The following day, Wednesday 12 February, the government held a Cobra meeting, designed to co-ordinate the response to major emergencies.

"That's when you realised just how serious it was," the former council leader said. "It wasn't just some hacker sat in a bedroom having a play with computers."

While the system was being rebuilt, the council turned the clocks back and returned to using paper and pen. Many functions ground to a halt or were dramatically slowed down.

Redcar husband and wife Paul and Clare were "very reliant on the council" at the time.

Clare needed support from care workers and specialist equipment to help with a debilitating condition called functional neurological disorder.

"You'd be waiting on the phone for hours," Paul said. "When people were coming it was handwritten notes, so the systems weren't getting updated. It was a real nightmare."

The couple waited many months before they got the support they needed. In the meantime, Paul had quit his job to care for his wife.

All the while staff continued to work on getting the council back online and within a few weeks a temporary system for social services had been restored.

By May 2020 the council said it was still only back to 90%, with the system taking 10 months to be fully restored.

"Some of it was able to be recovered; a lot of it was needed to be built from scratch," said Mr Saunders. "It was a very meticulous, very long process."

Yet it took several years before evidence emerged suggesting who was behind the cyber-attack.

In February 2022, one of the world's most prolific ransomware gangs, the Russia-based Conti Group, fell apart.

After Russia invaded its neighbour, pro-Ukrainian hackers leaked the group's private messages and data, revealing details of some of the most dangerous cyber-criminals.

A year later, in February 2023, a group of Russian hackers were sanctioned by UK and US government over a string of attacks on businesses, schools and councils, including Redcar and Cleveland.

Earlier that year, Mrs Lanigan gave evidence in Parliament about the attack. She said the response had cost £11.3m and they had received £3.68m compensation from the government.

As the authority was not insured for the attack, the difference had to be taken from its limited reserves.

A council spokesman said that while it had general insurance cover, it still did not have a specific policy which covered a cyber-attack.

They said a recent inspection by external auditors found that at the time the council had had proper arrangements and controls in place to reduce the likelihood of a cyber-security breach.

But it is far from the only council to face such an attack. According to the Information Commissioner's Office, there were 202 ransomware attacks on local authorities in 2024.

The government said it was "taking action to protect local councils by providing funding to increase their cyber defences".

But Mr Martin fears the attack on the council, and other public services, could have "shown hostile nation states how to disrupt our society".

"Redcar and Cleveland was a crisis," he said. "What about 10 Redcar and Clevelands at the same time? What about a hundred of them? That's not inconceivable."

"It's a cold world out there. We need to huddle together."

So said a European Union diplomat to me, confident of the magnetising effect on both the EU and the UK of the world having changed so significantly since the original Brexit deal.

Both sides privately talk up what is seen as the remorseless logic of closer defence and security ties.

The British government, in trying to ensure it has the political space to justify a (partial) re-writing or tweaking of the relationship, talks of now being in "the mid 2020s" as a reminder of the time that has elapsed, and events that have unfolded, since all the noise, negotiations, anger and elections that leaving the EU provoked.

Without question, Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine and President Trump's overt reluctance to subsidise European security as he sees it have changed the conversation about defence.

Whatever your views about Brexit, a word of warning: the next 24 hours or so might be triggering if the kind of headlines and phrases that made the news for years on end became mildly off-putting roughly between 2016 and 2020.

There will be talk of haggling, of fish, of sovereignty, of cash and of courts. And we have already had senior figures on both sides talking about last-minute tweaks and that old favourite in the phraseology of EU negotiations: "Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed."

It feels like a landmark moment. After the years of Brexit noise, there were the years of (relative) Brexit silence. Now, it is returning to the news again.

What will change is actually relatively narrowly defined – the government has promised it won't take the UK back into three of the biggest pillars of the EU: its customs union, single market or the freedom of movement of people around the bloc.

But that much accepted, there is plenty that is being talked about.

Over the weekend, the negotiations rumbled on, led on the UK side by Nick Thomas Symonds, the minister in charge of the UK's relations with the EU.

Alongside him has been Michael Ellam, who returned to government in January to lea, at an officials-level, the negotiations with the EU. Ellam was previously director of communications in Downing Street when Gordon Brown was prime minister.

In the last hours, the talks took place virtually.

At various points in recent months they have happened face to face.

So what can, or should, we expect?

The Labour manifesto from last year's general election is worth a look as both both a guide to what the government wants, and a tool to scrutinise what they manage to pull off.

Here is what it says:

On page 117, the party wrote that it wanted "an improved and ambitious relationship with the European Union" which would "deepen ties."

On the following page, it promises to "improve the UK's trade and investment relationship with the European Union" and remove "unnecessary barriers to trade."

It adds that they want a "veterinary agreement," which is diplomatic-speak for making it easier to move food around, an arrangement to make it easier for touring artists such as bands to travel, the mutual recognition of professional qualifications and a security pact.

So, when we get the details, we can measure what has already been achieved, where there is broad agreement but not yet agreement on the specifics, where there is no agreement at all and where things have been signed up to that were not in the manifesto.

We can expect both sides to herald the importance of improved defence and security cooperation.

Ministers have also been talking up the removal of queues for Brits visiting EU countries.

What does the EU want?

It is very keen on a youth mobility scheme, allowing young people from the UK and EU to travel more easily.

After months of denying it had any plans for such a scheme, the government has in recent weeks been acknowledging publicly that one is being discussed and has started to sell what they see as its merits.

The government is keenly aware that some will see it as freedom of movement by the back door.

Let's see precisely what, if any, details have been agreed and what the scheme is called.

Then there is fish, never far away when the EU negotiates.

And then two Brexit perennials: cash and courts.

What is the UK willing to pay to access various EU schemes and what role will the European Union's court have in settling any disputes?

Some of those who long argued for Brexit and would now see themselves as custodians of the deal Boris Johnson negotiated worry that the government will sign up to what is known as "dynamic alignment" - an acceptance not just of EU rules now in a certain area, but an agreement to accept them if they change in the future.

They would see this as a fundamental dilution of a key tenet of Brexit and, critics point out, it was not in the Labour manifesto.

So again, detail will be key here when we see what has been agreed.

Sir Keir Starmer will argue his manifesto and his majority gives him a mandate for closer ties and can point to opinion polls that also suggest support for negotiating a closer relationship.

He will argue that a deal with the EU, alongside the ones with India and the United States announced this month, show a willingness to both leverage the freedoms of Brexit while getting what he will see as a better relationship with Brussels.

But it is also true that he risks inflaming all those old Brexit rows, angering Brexiteers and doing little to pacify those who have long hated Brexit.

GPs in England are to help the NHS find more undiagnosed patients affected by the contaminated blood scandal.

It is thought thousands of people could have been exposed to the hepatitis C virus through contaminated blood transfusions in the 1970s, 80s and 90s; part of a scandal which affected more than 30,000 people in the UK.

From June, patients signing up to a GP practice, who received a blood transfusion before 1996, will be offered a test for hepatitis C.

The BBC revealed the scale of undiagnosed cases last year, as people with life-threatening liver damage caused by the virus over many years continue to be identified.

'Horrifying impact'

Hepatitis C can now be treated by modern anti-viral drugs to eliminate the virus for most patients.

But if it goes undetected and undiagnosed there may not be any noticeable symptoms for some time and it can infect the liver and cause serious damage, leaving the organ beyond repair.

Maureen Arkley, who died last year, was diagnosed with hepatitis C and cirrhosis of the liver in 2023, more than 40 years after she had an operation involving multiple blood transfusions. These were on her medical records but she was not told by her GP or anyone in the NHS that she could have been exposed to the virus.

BBC News highlighted her case as one of many people let down by the lack of testing following the infected blood scandal.

It is one of the biggest treatment disasters in NHS history - 3,000 people who were infected with HIV and hepatitis C after being given contaminated blood products have died.

Many of the victims were haemophiliacs, who were given infected blood products as part of their treatment.

Many thousands more were given transfusions using contaminated blood after accidents, emergencies or childbirth.

Maureen died in February 2024, five months after her diagnosis and 47 years after a blood transfusion infected her.

"The end was utterly horrific, she weighed less than four stone when she died," her daughter Victoria told the BBC.

NHS England says around 400,000 people each year, born before 1996, will be asked if they have ever had a blood transfusion through the online GP registration form.

This was a move recommended in the Infected Blood Inquiry report, published in May 2024.

If a previous blood transfusion is confirmed, patients will be able to test themselves for hepatitis C at home, using a finger prick blood test which is then posted to a lab for analysis.

Tests can also be carried out at GP surgeries, sexual health clinics and other places, NHS England says.

The charity Hepatitis C Trust is also encouraging anyone who had a blood transfusion before 1996, including current GP patients, to get tested.

"Every two weeks we hear from someone infected with hepatitis C through a transfusion who is only now finding out," said the charity's chief executive, Rachel Halford.

"All of these people have had hepatitis C for more than three decades; some are very ill. A more proactive approach is critical to reaching and diagnosing those who remain unaware of their infection."

NHS England medical director Prof Stephen Powis said the "simple change" to the GP registration process was "a vital step forward" to ensure nobody affected by contaminated blood is "undiagnosed and unsupported".

"The failures of the contaminated blood scandal have had a horrifying impact for patients and their families for decades, and I would like to reiterate our deepest apologies for the role the health service played in the suffering and loss for so many," he added.

Health officials say the risk of getting an infection from a blood transfusion or from blood products since screening of blood donations was introduced, is very low.

All blood donations have been screened for HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C since September 1991.

Just as India showed flickers of progress toward its long-held dream of becoming the world's factory, Washington and Beijing announced a trade "reset" that could derail Delhi's ambitions to replace China as the global manufacturing hub.

Last week, Trump's tariffs on China dropped overnight - from 145% to 30%, vs 27% for India - as the two sides thrashed out an agreement in Switzerland.

As a result, there's a chance manufacturing investment that was moving from China to India could either "stall" or "head back", feels Ajay Srivastava of the Delhi-based think tank, Global Trade Research Institute (GTRI).

"India's low-cost assembly lines may survive, but value-added growth is in danger."

The change in sentiment stands in sharp relief to the exuberance in Delhi last month when Apple indicated that it was shifting most of its production of iPhones headed to the US from China to India.

That may well still happen, even though US President Donald Trump revealed that he had told Apple CEO Tim Cook not to build in India because it was "one of the highest tariff nations in the world".

"India is well positioned to be an alternative to China as a supplier of goods to the US in the immediate term," Shilan Shah, an economist with Capital Economics, wrote in an investor note before the deal was announced. He pointed out that 40% of India's exports to the US were "similar to those exported by China".

There were early signs that Indian exporters were already stepping in to fill the gap left by Chinese producers. New export orders surged to a 14-year high, according to a recent survey of Indian manufacturers.

Nomura, a Japanese broking house, also pointed to growing "anecdotal evidence" of India emerging as a winner from "trade diversion and supply-chain shift in low and mid-tech manufacturing" particularly in sectors like electronics, textiles and toys.

Some analysts do believe that despite the so-called trade "reset" between Beijing and Washington, a larger strategic decoupling between China and the US will continue to benefit India in the long run.

For one, there's greater willingness by Narendra Modi's government to open its doors to foreign companies after years of protectionist policies, which could provide tailwind.

India and the US are also negotiating a trade deal that could put Asia's third-largest economy in a sweet spot to benefit from the so-called "China exodus" - as global firms shift operations to diversify supply chains.

India has just signed a trade pact with the UK, sharply cutting duties in protected sectors like whiskey and automobiles. It offers a glimpse of the concessions Delhi might offer Trump in the ongoing India-US trade talks.

But all of this optimism needs to be tempered for more reasons than one.

Apart from the fact that China is now back in the running, companies are also "not entirely writing off other Asian competitors, with countries like Vietnam still on their radars", economists Sonal Verma and Aurodeep Nandi from Nomura said in a note earlier this month.

"Hence, for India to capitalise on this opportunity, it needs to complement any tariff arbitrage with serious ease-of-doing-business reforms."

A tough business climate has long frustrated foreign investors and stalled India's manufacturing growth, with its share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) stuck at around 15% for two decades.

The Modi government's efforts, such as the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, have delivered only limited success in boosting this figure.

The government's think tank, Niti Aayog, has acknowledged India's "limited success" in attracting investment shifting from China. It noted that factors like cheaper labour, simpler tax laws, lower tariffs, and proactive Free Trade Agreements helped countries like Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, and Malaysia expand exports - while India lagged behind.

Another major concern, says Nomura, is India's ongoing reliance on China for raw materials and components used in electronics like iPhones, limiting Delhi's ability to fully capitalise on supply chain shifts.

"India's earnings from making iPhones will only rise if more of the phone is made locally," Mr Srivastava told the BBC.

According to him, right now Apple earns over $450 per iPhone sold in the US while India keeps less than $25 - even though the full $1,000 is counted as an Indian export.

"Just assembling more iPhones in India won't help much unless Apple and its suppliers also start making components and doing high-value work here. Without that, India's share stays small, and the export numbers go up only on paper -possibly triggering more scrutiny from the US without real economic gain for India," Mr Srivastava said.

The jobs created by such assembly lines aren't very high quality either, says GTRI.

Quite unlike companies like Nokia which set up a factory in the southern city of Chennai in 2007 where suppliers moved in together, "today's smartphone makers mostly import parts and push for lower tariffs instead of building supply chains in India", explained Mr Srivastava. He noted that, in certain instances, the investment made could be lower than the subsidies received under India's PLI scheme.

Finally there are concerns that Chinese exporters could try to use India to reroute products to the US.

India doesn't seem averse to this idea despite the pitfalls. The country's top economic adviser said last year that the country should attract more Chinese businesses to set-up export oriented factories and boost its manufacturing industry – a tacit admission that its own industrial policy hadn't delivered.

But experts caution, this could further curtail India's ability to build local know-how and grow its own industrial base.

All of this shows that beyond the headline-grabbing announcements by the likes of Apple, India is still a long way from realising its factory ambitions.

"Slash production costs, fix logistics, and build regulatory certainty," Mr Srivastava urged policymakers in a social media post.

"Let's be clear. This US-China reset is damage control, not a long-term solution. India must play the long game, or risk getting side-lined."

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