US President Donald Trump has issued an executive order on Wednesday hitting India with an additional 25% tariff over its purchases of Russian oil.

That will raise the total tariff on Indian imports to the United States to 50% - among the highest rates imposed by the US.

The new rate shall be "effective with respect to goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time 21 days after the date of this order", the executive order stated.

The US president had earlier warned he would raise levies, saying India "don't care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine".

"The Russian Federation's actions in Ukraine pose an ongoing threat to US national security and foreign policy, necessitating stronger measures to address the national emergency," according to a White House statement.

"India's importation of Russian Federation oil undermines US efforts to counter Russia's harmful activities."

The White House said that India import and subsequent reselling of Russian oil on the market "further enables the Russian Federation's economy to fund its aggression [in Ukraine]".

It stated that the US president is using the tariff to "deter countries from supporting the Russian Federation's economy".

It added that the US will determine which other countries import oil from Russia, and will "recommend further actions to the President as needed".

The threatened tariff hike follows meetings by Trump's top envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow, aimed at securing peace between Russia and Ukraine.

New Delhi had previously called Trump's threat to raise tariffs over its purchase of oil from Russia "unjustified and unreasonable".

In an earlier statement, a spokesperson for India's foreign ministry, Randhir Jaiswal, said the US had encouraged India to import Russian gas at the start of the conflict, "for strengthening global energy markets stability".

He said India "began importing from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict".

India also criticised the US - its largest trading partner - for introducing the tariffs, when the US itself is still doing trade with Russia.

Last year, the US traded goods worth an estimated $3.5bn (£2.6bn) with Russia, despite tough sanctions and tariffs.

"Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security," the foreign ministry statement said.

A meeting between US envoy Steve Witkoff and Russia's Vladimir Putin is under way at the Kremlin, Russian media has said.

Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Wednesday as Donald Trump's deadline for Russia to agree a ceasefire in Ukraine looms.

The US president has said Russia could face hefty sanctions or see secondary sanctions imposed against all those who trade with it if it doesn't take steps to end the "horrible war" with Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, has warned that Russia would only make serious moves towards peace if it began to run out of money. He welcomed the threat of tougher US sanctions and tariffs on nations buying Russian oil.

Expectations are muted for a settlement by Friday, and Russia has continued its large-scale air attacks on Ukraine despite Trump's threats of sanctions.

Three rounds of talks between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul have failed to bring the war closer to and end, three and a half years after Moscow launched its full-invasion.

Moscow's military and political preconditions for peace remain unacceptable to Kyiv and to its Western partners. The Kremlin has also repeatedly turned down Kyiv's requests for a meeting between Zelensky and Putin.

Meanwhile, the US administration approved $200m of additional military sales to Ukraine on Tuesday following a phone call between Zelensky and Trump, in which the two leaders also discussed defence cooperation and drone production.

Ukraine has been using drones to hit Russia's refineries and energy facilities, while Moscow has focused its air attacks on Ukraine's cities.

The Kyiv City Military Administration said the toll of an attack on the city last week rose to 32 after a man died of his injuries. The strike was the deadliest on Kyiv since the start of the invasion.

Ukrainian authorities on Wednesday reported that a Russian attack on a holiday camp in the central region of Zaporizhzhia left two dead and 12 wounded.

"There's no military sense in this attack. It's just cruelty to scare people," Zelensky said.

Across England, the number of empty homes has been steadily rising, with councils "increasingly concerned" about both the impact they have on local communities and the lost resource.

"It makes you feel afraid because you don't know what's going to happen next."

Ann Devereaux has cherished her home in a peaceful corner of Bristol for more than 25 years. But the property next door - empty, collapsing and overrun with pests - has become a constant source of stress.

What was once just an eyesore is now a "magnet" for crime, she said.

"It's a place just available and open for misuse," she added.

"Whether it's men coming out and urinating against the wall, drug-dealing or fly-tipping.

"It makes me feel scared when I leave my house or come in at night. It's wearing me down emotionally."

She has witnessed violence outside her front door, and the rotting smell of rubbish dumped inside the building sometimes drifts into her living room.

Bristol City Council said it has ordered the owner of the building to make it safe.

But Ms Devereaux and others in the tight-knit community of St Werburgh's say the situation is "only getting worse".

Just months ago, the roof of the derelict property collapsed, unleashing dozens of rats into nearby gardens.

"It's a wasted resource, and I know there are a lot of places like this which are empty and rotting and creating real problems," said Ms Devereaux.

The city council said it is "continuing to monitor the building" and will consider further action, including stepping in to carry out safety works, if the owner does not meet their obligations.

The BBC contacted the owner of the building, but had no response.

Residents of St Werburgh's say they want the property brought back into use urgently - and their story is not unique.

The number of empty homes in England has risen over the last decade, even as the country grapples with a housing shortage.

There are now more than 700,000 empty homes, according to the most recent government figures. Of those, 264,884 are classed as "long-term empty", meaning no one has lived there for six months or more.

In Wales, the figure stood at 120,000 empty properties the last time the data was collated.

In 2023 the Welsh Government launched a £50m National Empty Homes scheme, which offered up to £25,000 for improvements to be made to properties to make them available again.

Empty homes are also viewed as a missed opportunity by housing charities.

On one single night last autumn there were 4,667 people sleeping on the streets in England, according to official statistics - a near-record high and the third annual rise in a row.

Bristol charity, 1625 Independent People, is trying to change that.

Its Future Builders programme is transforming vacant properties into homes for young people facing homelessness to rent at a reduced cost.

Becky Hopkins became homeless in the city at just 18 years old.

"I was completely lost, lonely, and isolated. I had feelings of self-hatred. I was worried all the time," she said.

But the programme gave Ms Hopkins a more affordable place to rent while she worked towards a more stable future.

"After having a stable place, I really could focus on working on my mental health and building better habits."

Now 21, she is training to become a Royal Navy engineer.

"It's a transformation I didn't think was possible," she said.

Local councils are on the frontline of the empty homes issue, and leaders are now calling for stronger powers and resources to bring more back into use.

Specific officers are tasked with tracing the owners of empty properties so they can be held accountable.

Sean Fudge leads the team at South Gloucestershire Council, which has brought 47 properties back into use so far this year.

"If left empty, they can lead to a spiral of decline, neglect and decay in a community," he said.

"We initially try to engage with the owner, but when it becomes a detrimental impact to the wider neighbourhood, then we have to take enforcement action to stop that decline."

Law change call

If the property has been empty for more than two years, and the owner is not cooperating, councils can apply for an Empty Dwelling Management Order (EDMO).

If granted, the council does not gain ownership of the property, but gets the right to manage and potentially improve it, recouping costs through rent.

But this power is rarely utilised because of the long and complex process involved.

In England, between 2017 and 2020, only 20 decisions were made on EDMO applications, according to government research.

The Local Government Association is calling for changes in the law to make it easier for councils to take over the management of vacant homes.

The group Action on Empty Homes is also campaigning to bring empty properties back into use.

Campaign manager Chris Bailey said: "Every empty home is a lost opportunity to improve the life of a family that's currently homeless.

"These are homes which are relevant, in the right places - in the middle of towns and cities where people want to live - where services exist already.

"It's not a case of building a whole new town and waiting for 10 years for it to happen, these are homes that are available now, they could be brought back into use within a year."

But it is not always straightforward.

When homeowners die, their property often remains empty during the probate process, during which their assets are legally assessed and distributed.

Jenni Sadler inherited her mother's house in 2011.

"It's a huge privilege to inherit a home," she said. "But it's bittersweet when it's such a close family member, because the home is them and they are the home."

The property had fallen into disrepair, and Ms Sadler struggled to afford the mounting costs of essential renovations. As a result, the house has been empty while work is ongoing.

"We found more and more things that needed work," she said.

"You find yourself thinking - how am I going to do this?"

Ms Sadler has secured a loan from Lendology which works with councils to offer low-interest loans to bring empty homes back into use.

She now hopes to complete the renovations and rent out the property through the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: "We are determined to fix the housing crisis we have inherited, and we know that having too many empty homes in an area can have a significant impact on local communities.

"That's why we are giving councils stronger powers to increase council tax on long-term empty homes alongside removing tax incentives for short-term lets, and we continue to consider further action."

If you want to contact us regarding this story, email westinvestigations@bbc.co.uk

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A record number of 18-year-olds are likely to get into their first choice of university this year, the head of the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) has said - even if they narrowly miss their grades.

Dr Jo Saxton said universities were keen to enrol UK undergraduates because there was more "uncertainty" around international student numbers.

She said they would "quite possibly" accept students who did not meet the conditions of their offer adding that domestic students offered universities "stability" for "financial planning".

The prediction comes as thousands of students will open A-level, T-level, Btec and other level-three results next week.

Dr Saxton said it was a "really, really good year to be a UK-domiciled 18-year-old that wants to go to one of our world-class universities".

"I would anticipate a record number of 18-year-olds will wake up with confirmation, quite possibly even where they are near-misses," she said.

She added that universities were "recognising, actually, that a three-year undergraduate student is stability for your teaching and learning, for your university community, for your financial planning".

Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK, said universities were "certainly competitive" with one another, which meant applicants had "lots of choice".

Ucas says universities have made more offers this year, which it says "typically translates into more acceptances".

Dr Saxton said she expected there to be "slightly fewer" places in clearing as a result - because if more places are taken up by students who have received offers, there will be fewer places to list.

Ucas's clearing system lets students search for university courses with available places.

More than 22,600 courses had listed vacancies for undergraduate students from England this week, according to a Press Association analysis of 129 universities.

There were more than 3,600 courses advertised across 17 of the selective Russell Group universities.

Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said year 13 students were "well placed" to study where they wanted to.

"The financial plight of universities makes them very keen to fill their courses and they will be falling over themselves to sign up good potential students," he said.

Students from England and Wales will pay higher tuition fees for university this year, after the sector called for help with its finances.

Tuition fees have risen from £9,250 to £9,535 for the 2025-26 academic year.

It is the first time they have gone up in England since 2017, and comes after universities said their real-terms value had fallen.

They have become increasingly reliant on higher fees from international students in recent years to make up for frozen domestic fees - but the number of overseas students coming to the UK has fallen.

In May, the regulator in England, the Office for Students, warned that more than four in 10 universities expected to be in a financial deficit by this summer.

Maintenance loans have also gone up this year, which means students can borrow more to help with day-to-day living costs.

In England, the maximum maintenance loan for students from England who live away from their parents outside London has increased to £10,544 a year, up from £10,227.

Ucas said last month that the number of 18-year-olds from the UK applying to university had risen again to 328,390.

However, because the total number of 18-year-olds in the UK has also grown, those applicants make up a slightly smaller proportion of the total 18-year-old population than last year (41.2%).

Students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will receive A-level and other level-three grades next week.

In Scotland, the number of pupils achieving an A, B or C grade at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher rose across the board this year.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority also reported a reduction in the attainment gap between candidates from the most and least deprived areas.

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UK interest rates are widely expected to be cut on Thursday, taking the cost of borrowing to its lowest level for more than two years.

Financial markets predict that the Bank of England will reduce interest rates to 4% from 4.25% in its fifth cut since last August, taking it to the lowest since March 2023.

A lower base rate can reduce monthly mortgage costs for some homeowners but it also means a smaller return for savers.

The Bank of England will also publish its forecasts for an economy that failed to grow in April and May - potentially creating a yawning spending gap which the government could choose to fill by announcing tax rises in the Autumn Budget.

Next week, the Office for National Statistics will release data on how the UK economy performed between April and June.

It grew by 0.7% in the first three months of the year.

If the Bank does trim rates, repayments on an average standard variable rate mortgage of £250,000 over 25 years will fall by £40 per month, according to Moneyfacts.

But for savers, the average return rate would fall from 3.9% in August last year to 3.5%, the financial data firm said.

"Savings rates are getting worse and any base rate reductions will spell further misery for savers," said Rachel Springall, finance expert at Moneyfacts.

Inflation

Interest rates are expected to be cut despite inflation - which measures the pace of price rises - climbing above the Bank of England's 2% target.

In the year to June, inflation rose to 3.6% due in part to the higher cost of food and clothing as well as air and rail travel.

However, there are signs that the UK employment market is cooling which could weigh on inflation.

Recent figures show that the number of people on payrolls is falling, vacancies are lower and the jobless rate has ticked higher.

Meanwhile, annual growth in average regular earnings, excluding bonuses, slowed to 5% between March and May.

Employers are facing higher costs, including an increase in National Insurance Contributions and the national minimum wage.

We will bring you live reporting from the Bank when we get the decision at 1200 along with expert analysis on what it means for you and your money.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Western nations have imposed far-reaching sanctions on the aggressor, in a bid to stymy its war effort.

But on the ground here in Ukraine, these sanctions seem to have limited impact.

Just outside Kharkiv, at a secret location, lies a collection of twisted metal remnants from attacks in and around the city. It's a scrapyard of savagery - the remains of many of the Russian bombs, rockets, missiles and drones used to hit in and around Kharkiv over the past three and a half years.

"This is the material evidence with which we, as prosecutors, will prove the guilt of Russia in committing war crimes," Dymtro Chubenko of the Kharkiv Region Prosecutor's Office tells me. Every piece of rocket and drone here has been carefully collected and analysed.

Dmytro shows me one of the latest editions – a Russian version of Iran's Shaheed drone. Russia has recently been firing hundreds of these Kamikaze drones at Ukraine's towns and cities. They're relatively cheap to make, he tells me – about $20,000 (£15,000) each.

He points to the nearby carcass of a Russian cruise missile. He says these cost millions.

But these weapons are not fully Russian-made - they contain "many components from western nations," Dmytro says. "It's possible [for Russia] to circumvent sanctions, but doing nothing is not an option either," he adds.

Donald Trump appears to have lost patience with President Vladimir Putin. After early efforts at rapprochement between the US and Russia, the US president has now threatened to boost sanctions on the Kremlin unless Russia agrees to a ceasefire in Ukraine by this Friday.

Trump has said secondary sanctions will also come into force that day, affecting any country trading with Russia. He has already imposed an additional 25% tariff on India for buying Russian oil. US envoy Steve Witkoff met Putin in Moscow on Wednesday for talks ahead of the looming deadline.

So, if President Trump chooses to impose more sanctions on the Kremlin, would it be enough to force Russia to change course in this war? Dymtro believes hitting Russian oil and gas exports could have a significant economic impact.

"We will not be able to stop it with a snap of our fingers, but we need to do it, we need to act," he says. There is hope that President Trump might act.

Kharkiv, just 30 kilometres from the Russian border, has borne the brunt of many strikes throughout the war. Thousands of buildings have been damaged or destroyed. Throughout the region almost 3,000 civilians have been killed, 97 of them children.

Police Colonel Serhii Bolvinov shows me the burnt-out shell of the police headquarters he used to work in. A Russian strike in 2022 killed three of his officers as well as six civilians. He points to the gaping hole in the wall where the missiles entered. Russian tactics, he says, haven't changed. "Russia tries to hit and kill as many civilians as they can."

Colonel Bolvinov's job is to investigate every single civilian death. He's leaving no stone unturned. He has 1,000 men and women working for him, now dispersed in basement offices right across the city. They're carrying out painstaking forensic work to build a criminal case against those responsible.

Photographs of Russian military officers who've been tied to specific attacks are plastered across the wall – the wanted.

In another building, crime scene investigators carry out DNA tests to identify the latest casualties – Ukrainian civilians killed in a Russian rocket attack as they queued up to collect water. Colonel Bolvinov shows me footage from strike - unrecognisable charred bodies lie on the ground.

"It's hard to do this work, but it's very important work for future justice for us, for the Ukrainian people," he says. He shows me a three-dimensional computer image of a mass grave in Izium where more than 400 bodies were discovered. "Some of the cases leave a scar on all of us, and we will never forget this trauma," he says.

Colonel Bolvinov says he wants to see an end to this war. He hopes President Trump's increasing pressure on President Putin will work. But the police chief doesn't want peace at any price. "Peace without justice, is not really peace," he says. Even if a ceasefire can be agreed, it still won't address the wounds of most Ukrainian people.

At a cemetery outside Kharkiv is another reminder of the cost of the war: the ever-growing ranks of dead Ukrainian soldiers. Each grave is marked by the blue and gold of the national flag. The silence here is only broken by the sound of them flapping in the wind.

Nearby, in the civilian section of the cemetery, a mother and her family are placing flowers on their daughter's grave. Sofia was just 14 years old when a Russian glide bomb took her life last year. She was sitting on a park bench in Kharkiv, enjoying the warm summer afternoon with a friend.

I ask her mother Yulia if President Trump's increasing pressure on Russia can bring any comfort, but she's not optimistic.

"These conversations have already been going on too long," she tells me.

"But so far there are no results… Hope is fading."

New evidence suggests people returned to live among the ruins of Pompeii after the ancient Roman city was devastated by a volcanic eruption.

Archaeologists believe some survivors who could not afford to start a new life elsewhere returned to the site and may have been joined by others looking for a place to settle.

Pompeii was home to more than 20,000 people before Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD79, burying - and preserving - much of the city, before its rediscovery in the 16th century.

There had been previous speculation that survivors had returned to the ruins, and archaeologists at the site said in a statement on Wednesday that the theory appears to have been confirmed by new research.

"Thanks to the new excavations, the picture is now clearer: post-79 Pompeii reemerges, less as a city than as a precarious and grey agglomeration, a kind of camp, a favela among the still-recognisable ruins of the Pompeii that once was," the site's director, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, said.

The archaeologists' said the informal settlement continued until the 5th century.

The evidence suggests people lived without the infrastructure and services typical of a Roman city, and that the ruins provided the opportunity of finding valuable objects, the researchers said.

People are thought to have lived in the upper floors of homes above the ash below, with the lower floors converted into cellars.

The city's destruction has "monopolised the memory", Mr Zuchtriegel said, and in the rush to reach Pompeii's well-preserved artefacts, "The faint traces of the site's reoccupation were literally removed and often swept away without any documentation".

The site is now a world-famous tourist attraction and offers a window into Roman life.

Thousands of people travelling to and from Birmingham Airport have been affected by delays and cancellations after a light aircraft made an emergency landing on its runway.

Woodgate Aviation, which owns the plane, said one of its Beechcraft fixed-wing aircraft had developed landing gear problems on the journey from Birmingham to Belfast.

Two crew members and one passenger were onboard, but were not seriously injured when the main undercarriage collapsed on touch down.

The runway was shut for more than six hours until the plane was removed at about 19:30 BST, after which the airport said it had reopened.

The first plane to depart from the airport after its reopening was a Wizz Air flight to Bucharest, Romania, which had been scheduled to leave Birmingham at 14:10.

A number of flights on the Birmingham Airport online departure board also showed that they were open for check-in.

Some passengers told the BBC that their planes were cancelled "moments before boarding" on Wednesday afternoon.

In a statement, a Birmingham Airport spokesperson said passengers should check flight details with their airlines.

"We understand the frustration and apologise for the disruption this has caused," it added.

"Our teams have worked as quickly as possible, in line with strict protocols, which must be followed to ensure a safe reopening of the runway following a prolonged closure."

At least 10 flights due to depart from the airport were cancelled.

Others were delayed by more than five hours, and more than 20 due to land there were diverted to other airports.

West Midlands Police, West Midlands Fire Service, and Birmingham Airport Police were among the agencies at the scene.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch said it was investigating the incident.

Faye, who was travelling with her partner and four children, said they found out about the incident on Facebook.

They had been due to fly to Antalya in Turkey with Jet2 at 14:55. While waiting at the airport, the family was given £10 per person by the airline for food and drinks.

Faye told the BBC she subsequently received a text message saying the whole holiday had been cancelled, and there would be a full refund in four to five days.

She and her family were waiting to collect their baggage along with about 400 other people, her children "sobbing and crying", she said.

"We are stuck here waiting for our baggage and it's boiling hot... and now our kids aren't going to have a holiday," she added.

James Conibere and his family of eight were hoping to board a flight to Malta on Wednesday afternoon.

He told the BBC it was a retirement gift for his mother-in-law, and they had arrived at the airport shortly before the incident, at 13:00.

While the family sat in a Wetherspoons, waiting for updates, Mr Conibere said he watched other passengers searching for somewhere to sit in the crowded pub, many of them frustrated.

"Lots of people are getting agitated and angry by the lack of information from the airport," he said.

"We have received a food voucher from Ryanair. We're relying on news outlets for information."

What do we know about the aircraft?

The aircraft involved in this incident was a Beechcraft B200 Super King Air, a small, twin-engine propeller plane that has been in production since the 1970s.

This flight was departing from Birmingham and headed to Belfast.

It departed at 13:11, but soon had to make a turn and flew in a holding pattern, landing back at Birmingham Airport at 13:58.

The plane transmitted a 7700 squawk code - which are broadcast to tell air traffic control that there is an emergency and the aircraft needs priority handling.

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A woman whose brother died in the Air India crash and then received the wrong body says it has "added trauma" to her family.

Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek, 39, and his husband Jamie, 45, were among the 242 people on board the flight which crashed on 12 June soon after taking off for London Gatwick from Ahmedabad.

His sister Arwen Greenlaw told BBC Newsnight her family was seeking dignity and closure as well as accountability for those who mislabelled her brother's remains.

The Foreign Office said it continues to support families affected by the Air India crash with "dedicated caseworkers", adding that the "formal identification of bodies is a matter for the Indian authorities".

Ms Greenlaw, from Cambridge, told the BBC she wanted "dignity" for her brother and "closure for the family".

"If that is not possible - because the worst case scenario is that he has been cremated as somebody else - then we need to know that in order to move on," she added.

"Somebody mislabelled remains - that has added trauma."

She said it appeared there was a "lack of forensic protocols" at the scene of the crash, and the site was "not closed for 48 hours".

"It just can't happen again," she said.

"I think the whole family were and still are in complete disbelief because it is things that happen on the news and to other people. It was shocking and is confusing."

• What we know so far about Air India crash investigation
• Read the preliminary report
• Are India's skies safe? Air safety watchdog responds amid rising concerns

There were 230 passengers and 12 crew on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, including 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian.

Many people living in a residential neighbourhood near Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport where the jet came down were also killed, taking the number of confirmed casualties to at least 270. This included a number of medical students staying in the area.

A preliminary investigative 15-page report published last month said fuel to the engines of the plane cut off just seconds after take-off.

Circumstances around how or why that happened remain unclear. The report said in recovered cockpit voice recordings, one of the pilots can be heard asking "why did you cut off?" - to which the other pilot replied he "did not do so".

A final report into the crash is expected in 12 months.

In the days after the fatal crash, Ms Greenlaw said their mother flew out to India as part of the formal identification process.

"By her own words it was a chaotic scene," Ms Greenlaw recalled. "She went straight to the hospital to give a blood sample, we were told it would be up to 72 hours to get a positive identification - and that was about right.

"She returned from India with what she thought were her son's remains. It has been the equivalent of losing him twice.

"Mum had seen the situation there, smelt the smells, seen the sights, seen the crash site. I think for her that made it more real to be able to see that."

Ms Greenlaw explained when the casket was returned it was tested and found to be "the remains of two different people".

As a result, a coroner in London decided to carry out further tests and the family were able to get some DNA from Fiongal's headphones that proved the remains were not his.

"I would say we go up and down with feelings," Ms Greenlaw said when asked how the family are feeling.

"We are not naïve, we understand it must have been a horrendous situation and my heart goes out to those who did the clear up - but we know Finn's remains were found.

"At that point you would expect the remains to come home. If he had not been matched we could get our heads around that."

Mr Greenlaw-Meeks founded The Wellness Foundry in Ramsgate, in Kent, in 2018 with his husband joining as a managing director five years later.

They had also been due to be hosting workshops at Ramsgate Pride event in June.

Moments before boarding the Air India flight, the pair posted a video to social media on their last night in the country, where Mr Greenlaw-Meeks reflected on a "magical experience".

"They were amazing," Ms Greenlaw said.

"Two parts of the one soul. They lived together, they married and they died together. They were two halves of one."

The Foreign Office told the BBC it is continuing to liaise with the Gujarati government and the Indian government on behalf of the Inner West London Senior Coroner to support the coronial process.

"We understand that this is an extremely distressing time for the families, and our thoughts remain with them," a Foreign Office spokesperson said.

"Foreign Office staff continue to support the families and loved ones in line with our consular remit.

"We have allocated dedicated caseworkers to each family who wish to have one."

Ms Greenlaw's comments come days after a separate memorial service was held on Sunday in Wembley to remember two other victims who died on the flight - Ashok and Shobhana Patel.

Their son Miten Patel told the BBC last month that he had discovered "other remains" were in his mother's casket when her body was returned to the UK.

Doctors had to re-identify Mr Patel's mother's remains and his family were also able to recover his father's ring, which he was wearing when the plane crashed.

India's foreign ministry previously said: "In the wake of the tragic crash, the concerned authorities had carried out identification of victims as per established protocols and technical requirements.

"All mortal remains were handled with utmost professionalism and with due regard for the dignity of the deceased.

"We are continuing to work with the UK authorities on addressing any concerns related to this issue."

A British man has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly trying to drown his daughter-in-law in a Florida swimming pool during a row over his grandchildren.

Mark Gibbon, 62, was on holiday with his family at the Solterra Resort in Davenport, near Walt Disney World Resort, when the disagreement between the pair erupted, Polk County Sheriff department said.

Mr Gibbon, from Beaconsfield, is accused of pushing and holding the 33-year-old woman's head under the water multiple times preventing her from breathing.

He is charged with attempted 2nd-degree murder and two counts of battery.

Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement: "It's great that Polk County draws visitors from all across the world.

"Because Mr Gibbon couldn't control his anger, he may find himself spending a lot more time in Florida than he had anticipated."

The woman told officers the pair began arguing about his grandchildren while they were in the holiday rental home's swimming pool, before he allegedly tried to drown her.

A young girl then jumped into the pool in an attempt to stop Mr Gibbon drowning the woman, the sheriff's office said.

Mr Gibbon is accused of only stopping when two sisters who were holidaying next door said they had called the Sheriff's office.

He has been taken to Polk County Jail.

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US President Donald Trump has issued an executive order on Wednesday hitting India with an additional 25% tariff over its purchases of Russian oil.

That will raise the total tariff on Indian imports to the United States to 50% - among the highest rates imposed by the US.

The new rate shall be "effective with respect to goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time 21 days after the date of this order", the executive order stated.

The US president had earlier warned he would raise levies, saying India "don't care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine".

"The Russian Federation's actions in Ukraine pose an ongoing threat to US national security and foreign policy, necessitating stronger measures to address the national emergency," according to a White House statement.

"India's importation of Russian Federation oil undermines US efforts to counter Russia's harmful activities."

The White House said that India import and subsequent reselling of Russian oil on the market "further enables the Russian Federation's economy to fund its aggression [in Ukraine]".

It stated that the US president is using the tariff to "deter countries from supporting the Russian Federation's economy".

It added that the US will determine which other countries import oil from Russia, and will "recommend further actions to the President as needed".

The threatened tariff hike follows meetings by Trump's top envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow, aimed at securing peace between Russia and Ukraine.

New Delhi had previously called Trump's threat to raise tariffs over its purchase of oil from Russia "unjustified and unreasonable".

In an earlier statement, a spokesperson for India's foreign ministry, Randhir Jaiswal, said the US had encouraged India to import Russian gas at the start of the conflict, "for strengthening global energy markets stability".

He said India "began importing from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict".

India also criticised the US - its largest trading partner - for introducing the tariffs, when the US itself is still doing trade with Russia.

Last year, the US traded goods worth an estimated $3.5bn (£2.6bn) with Russia, despite tough sanctions and tariffs.

"Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security," the foreign ministry statement said.

After nearly two years of war, Hamas's military capability is severely weakened and its political leadership under intense pressure.

Yet, throughout the war Hamas has managed to continue to use a secret cash-based payment system to pay 30,000 civil servants' salaries totalling $7m (£5.3m).

The BBC has spoken to three civil servants who have confirmed they have received nearly $300 each within the last week.

It's believed they are among tens of thousands of employees who have continued to receive a maximum of just over 20% of their pre-war salary every 10 weeks.

Amid soaring inflation, the token salary - a fraction of the full amount - is causing rising resentment among the party faithful.

Severe food shortages – which aid agencies blame on Israeli restrictions - and rising cases of acute malnutrition continue in Gaza, where a kilogramme of flour in recent weeks has cost as much as $80 - an all-time high.

With no functioning banking system in Gaza, even receiving the salary is complex and at times, dangerous. Israel regularly identifies and targets Hamas salary distributors, seeking to disrupt the group's ability to govern.

Employees, from police officers to tax officials, often receive an encrypted message on their own phones or their spouses' instructing them to go to a specific location at a specific time to "meet a friend for tea".

At the meeting point, the employee is approached by a man - or occasionally a woman - who discreetly hands over a sealed envelope containing the money before vanishing without further interaction.

An employee at the Hamas Ministry of Religious Affairs, who doesn't want to give his name for safety reasons, described the dangers involved in collecting his wages.

"Every time I go to pick up my salary, I say goodbye to my wife and children. I know that I may not return," he said. "On several occasions, Israeli strikes have hit the salary distribution points. I survived one that targeted a busy market in Gaza City."

Alaa, whose name we have changed to protect his identity, is a schoolteacher employed by the Hamas-run government and the sole provider for a family of six.

"I received 1,000 shekels (about $300) in worn-out banknotes - no trader would accept them. Only 200 shekels were usable - the rest, I honestly don't know what to do with," he told the BBC.

"After two-and-a-half months of hunger, they pay us in tattered cash.

"I'm often forced to go to aid distribution points in the hope of getting some flour to feed my children. Sometimes I succeed in bringing home a little, but most of the time I fail."

In March the Israeli military said they had killed the head of Hamas's finances, Ismail Barhoum, in a strike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. They accused him of channelling funds to Hamas's military wing.

It remains unclear how Hamas has managed to continue funding salary payments given the destruction of much of its administrative and financial infrastructure.

One senior Hamas employee, who served in high positions and is familiar with Hamas's financial operations, told the BBC that the group had stockpiled approximately $700m in cash and hundreds of millions of shekels in underground tunnels prior to the group's deadly 7 October 2023 attack in southern Israel, which sparked the devastating Israeli military campaign.

These were allegedly overseen directly by Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and his brother Mohammed - both of whom have since been killed by Israeli forces.

Anger at reward for Hamas supporters

Hamas has historically relied on funding from heavy import duties and taxes imposed on Gaza's population, as well as receiving millions of dollars of support from Qatar.

The Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing which operates through a separate financial system, is financed mainly by Iran.

A senior official from the banned Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood, one of the most influential Islamist organisations in the world, has said that around 10% of their budget was also directed to Hamas.

In order to generate revenue during the war, Hamas has also continued to levy taxes on traders and has sold large quantities of cigarettes at inflated prices up to 100 times their original cost. Before the war, a box of 20 cigarettes cost $5 - that has now risen to more than $170.

In addition to cash payments, Hamas has distributed food parcels to its members and their families via local emergency committees whose leadership is frequently rotated due to repeated Israeli strikes.

That has fuelled public anger, with many residents in Gaza accusing Hamas of distributing aid only to its supporters and excluding the wider population.

Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid that has entered Gaza during the ceasefire earlier this year, something Hamas denies. However BBC sources in Gaza have said that significant quantities of aid were taken by Hamas during this time.

Nisreen Khaled, a widow left caring for three children after her husband died of cancer five years ago, told the BBC: "When the hunger worsened, my children were crying not only from pain but also from watching our Hamas-affiliated neighbours receive food parcels and sacks of flour.

"Are they not the reason for our suffering? Why didn't they secure food, water, and medicine before launching their 7 October adventure?"

Two women were left "gobsmacked" after an Airbnb host rejected a request from them because they are from Wales.

Jemma Louise Gough, 38, and Jamie Lee Watkins, 37, from Cwmbran, Torfaen, booked a stay in Manchester ahead of watching Australian DJ Sonny Fodera at the Co-op Live Arena in November.

In their booking the friends told the Airbnb host they were coming from Wales for the gig, before seeing their payment had been refunded and their booking request had been declined.

When they asked the host why, she replied: "Because you're from Wales."

Airbnb said the host, who did not respond further to the pair, had been suspended while it investigated, adding discrimination "has no place on Airbnb".

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales Breakfast, Jemma said "my flabber had never been so gasted".

"When I heard that my mouth hit the floor, utter shock," said Jemma, adding they were "pretty much speechless".

"It was pure discrimination of where we are from.

"I am so proud to be Welsh and that's why I decided to speak out about what happened to us. I want to challenge these narrow views."

Jemma said the interaction made her feel "instantly like an outsider" and not welcome in Manchester.

The pair said they were even more baffled as the message was from a verified Airbnb "superhost", which requires maintaining a 4.8 or higher overall rating and a 90% or higher response rate.

Being a superhost also requires maintaining a less than 1% cancellation rate, with exceptions for cancellations due to "major disruptive events or other valid reasons", according to Airbnb.

The host had a high rating and had been described as "friendly" and "lovely", said Jemma, who added previous reviews were from people across the world including guests from Wales.

"I don't know what the entire country has done to her but we're so confused, we've had no answers."

Reasons why a host can cancel

For home hosts, valid cancellation reasons include but are not limited to:

• Circumstances beyond the host's control, such as major damage to a home listing, emergency repairs or unexpected issues with the service or experience venue that prevent hosting
• Serious personal illness that prevents hosting
• Proof that a guest intends to break one of the house rules included in the home listing details, have an unauthorised party or otherwise violate the party and events policy
• A major disruptive event, such as declared public health emergencies or government travel restrictions

Source: Airbnb

Jemma said questions were still left unanswered as the pair continued to chase Airbnb.

"I firmly believe discrimination takes form in many, many ways, and it all warrants attention and are all equally unacceptable," said Jemma.

She added she did not want others to be affected by such behaviour.

In a statement, Airbnb said: "As soon as this report was brought to our attention, we reached out to the guest to provide our support and suspended the host while we investigate this matter."

A 24-year-old British woman has been given a two-year suspended sentence by a court in Germany for trafficking drugs from Thailand.

Cameron Bradford, from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, was arrested at Munich airport on 22 April while while travelling from Bangkok.

Munich District Court heard how Bradford had worked as an escort for a man in the UK who had threatened her, telling her to go to Thailand to pick something up for him.

On her way back to the UK, customs officials in Munich found 20kg (about 45lb) of marijuana in her suitcase.

She told the court that when she was robbed of a week's earnings by a regular client, she was threatened by the man she worked for, Joseph Coleman, who usually took 60% of her earnings.

Bradford said he had shouted at her, believing she had set up the situation, and told her she would never work as an escort for him again, the court heard.

She said she tried to escape from him, and moved with her young son, but was caught by Mr Coleman who said the only way to resolve the problem was to go to Thailand.

"I was really scared," she told the court.

On 11 April Bradford left the UK and arrived in Phuket, Thailand, on 12 April, on flights she said Mr Coleman had bought.

Some days later she went to Bangkok, following what she said were instructions from Mr Coleman.

There she was given a suitcase, swapping it for her own bag of clothes.

On her way back to Britain, in transit at Munich airport, German customs officials found marijuana in the suitcase.

She told the court she did not know what was in the case, which was locked.

"I'm not a criminal," she said. "I don't know what I was doing."

Judge Wilfried Dudek said Bradford's life had not gone well. She had been through an early pregnancy and had mixed with the wrong people.

He said he found it strange that she had not suspected what was in the case, but accepted she had been under pressure.

Bradford said she had never been so sorry in her life and all she wanted to do was go home to her parents and her seven-year-old son.

She said she wanted to have a normal life.

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the first world leaders to visit Washington weeks after US President Donald Trump started his second term.

He called Modi his "great friend" as the two countries set an ambitious target of doubling their trade to $500bn by 2030.

But less than six months later, the relationship appears to have hit rock bottom.

Trump has now imposed a total of 50% tariffs on goods imported from India, and his earlier threat of levying an extra 10% for the country's membership in the Brics grouping, which includes China, Russia and South Africa as founding members, still stands.

He initially imposed a 25% tariff, but announced an additional 25% on Wednesday as a penalty for Delhi's purchase of Russian oil - a move the Indian government called "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable".

And just last week, Trump called India's economy "dead".

This is a stunning reversal in a relationship that has gone from strength to strength over the past two decades, thanks to efforts by successive governments in both countries, bipartisan support and convergence on global issues.

In the past few weeks, there were positive signals from Washington and Delhi about an imminent trade deal. Now that looks increasingly difficult, if not impossible.

So what went wrong?

A series of missteps, grandstanding, geopolitics and domestic political pressure seem to have broken down the negotiations.

Delhi has been restrained in its response so far to Trump's tirades, hoping that diplomacy might eventually help secure a trade deal. But in Trump's White House, there are no guarantees.

Trump has commented on many issues that Delhi considers red lines. The biggest among them is Trump repeatedly putting India and its rival Pakistan on an equal footing.

The US president hosted Pakistani army chief Asim Munir at the White House just weeks after a bitter conflict between the two South Asian rivals.

He then signed a trade deal with Pakistan, offering the country a preferential tariff rate of 19%, along with a deal to explore the country's oil reserves. He went as far as saying that some day, Pakistan might sell oil to India.

Another constant irritant for Delhi is Trump's repeated assertion that the US brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan.

India sees its dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir as its internal affair and has always rejected third-party mediation on the issue. Most world leaders have been sensitive to Delhi's position, including Trump in his first stint as president.

But that's no longer the case. The US president has doubled down on his claim even after Modi told India's parliament that "no country had mediated in the ceasefire".

Modi didn't name Trump or the US but domestic political pressure is mounting on him not to "bow down" to the White House.

"The fact that this is happening against the backdrop of heavy and high-level US engagement with Islamabad immediately after an India-Pakistan conflict is even more galling for Delhi and the wider Indian public. This all sharpens concerns harboured by some in India that the US can't truly be trusted as a partner," says Washington-based South Asia analyst Michael Kugelman.

He adds that some of the anger in Delhi might "be Cold War-era baggage coming to the fore", but "this time around it's intensified by real-time developments as well".

Modi's government thrives on nationalist issues, so its supporters would likely expect a firm response to the US.

It's a Catch-22 situation - Delhi still wants to clinch a deal but also doesn't want to come across as buckling under Trump's pressure.

And it appears that Delhi is gradually releasing the restraint. In its response to Washington's anger over India's purchase of Russian oil, Delhi vowed to take "all necessary measures" to safeguard its "national interests and economic security".

But the question is why Trump, who loved India's hospitality and called it a great country earlier, has gone on a tirade against a trusted ally.

Some analysts see his insults as a pressure tactic to secure a deal that he thinks works for the US.

"Trump is a real estate magnate and a tough negotiator. His style may not be diplomatic, but he seeks the outcomes diplomats would. So, I think what he's doing is part of a negotiating strategy," says Jitendra Nath Misra, a former Indian ambassador and now a professor at OP Jindal Global University.

A source in the Indian government said that Delhi gave many concessions to Washington, including no tariffs on industrial goods, and a phased reduction of tariffs on cars and alcohol. It also signed a deal to let Elon Musk's Starlink start operations in India.

But Washington wanted access to India's agriculture and dairy sectors to reduce the $45bn trade deficit it runs with Delhi.

But these sectors are a red line for Modi or, for that matter, any Indian prime minister. Agriculture and related sectors account for more than 45% of employment in India and successive governments have fiercely protected farmers.

Mr Kugelman believes giving in to Washington's demands isn't an option for India.

"India first needs to assuage public anger and make clear it won't give in to the pressure. This is critical for domestic political reasons," he says.

He also believes that Trump's insistence that India stop importing oil from Moscow has more to do with his growing frustration over Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"We're seeing Trump continuing to ratchet up his pressure tactics, trying to cut Russia off from its most important oil buyers by penalising them for doing business with Moscow," he says.

But Delhi can't afford to stop importing oil from Russia overnight.

India is already the world's third biggest consumer of crude and may surpass China in the top position by 2030 as its energy demand is likely to increase with a fast-growing middle class, according to International Energy Agency (IEA).

Russia now accounts for more than 30% of India's total oil imports, a significant jump from less than 1% in 2021-22.

Many in the West see this as India indirectly funding Moscow's war but Delhi denies this, arguing that buying Russian oil at a discount ensures energy security for millions of its citizens.

India also sees Russia as its "all-weather" ally. Moscow has traditionally come to Delhi's rescue during past crises and still enjoys support among the wider Indian public.

Moscow is also Delhi's biggest arms supplier, though its share in India's defence import portfolio dropped to 36% between 2020-25 from 55% between 2016 and 2020, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

This was largely due to Delhi boosting domestic manufacturing and buying more from the US, France and Israel.

But Russia's role in India's defence strategy can't be overstated. This is something the West understood and didn't challenge - until Trump decided to break from established norms.

So far, India was able to successfully walk the diplomatic tightrope with the West overlooking its strong ties to Russia.

The US has long viewed India as a bulwark against China's dominance in the Indo-Pacific region, which ensured bipartisan support for Delhi in Washington.

And Moscow (though sometimes reluctantly) didn't react harshly to its ally forging close ties with Washington and other western countries.

But now Trump has challenged this position. How Delhi reacts will decide the future of the India-US relationship.

India has been measured in its response so far but is not holding back completely. In its statement, it said that the US had encouraged it to keep buying oil from Russia for global energy market stability.

It also said that targeting it was unjustified as the EU continues to buy energy, fertiliser, mining and chemical products from Russia.

While things seem bad, some analysts say that all is not lost. India and the US have close links in many sectors, which can't be uprooted overnight.

The two countries cooperate closely in the space technology, IT, education and defence sectors.

Many large domestic IT firms have invested heavily in the US, and most big Silicon Valley firms have operations in India.

"I think the fundamentals of the relationship are not weak. It's a paradox that the day Trump announced 25% tariffs and unspecified penalties, India and the US collaborated in a strategic area when an Indian rocket sent a jointly-developed satellite into space," says Mr Misra.

It will be interesting to see how India reacts to Trump's sharp rhetoric.

"Trump is unapologetically transactional and commercial in his approach to foreign policy. He has no compunction about deploying these potentially alienating harsh tactics against a close US partner like India," says Mr Kugelman.

But he adds that there's a lot of trust baked into the partnership, given the work that has gone into it over the past two decades.

"So what's lost can potentially be regained. But because of the extent of the current malaise, it could take a long time."

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US President Donald Trump has issued an executive order on Wednesday hitting India with an additional 25% tariff over its purchases of Russian oil.

That will raise the total tariff on Indian imports to the United States to 50% - among the highest rates imposed by the US.

The new rate shall be "effective with respect to goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time 21 days after the date of this order", the executive order stated.

The US president had earlier warned he would raise levies, saying India "don't care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine".

"The Russian Federation's actions in Ukraine pose an ongoing threat to US national security and foreign policy, necessitating stronger measures to address the national emergency," according to a White House statement.

"India's importation of Russian Federation oil undermines US efforts to counter Russia's harmful activities."

The White House said that India import and subsequent reselling of Russian oil on the market "further enables the Russian Federation's economy to fund its aggression [in Ukraine]".

It stated that the US president is using the tariff to "deter countries from supporting the Russian Federation's economy".

It added that the US will determine which other countries import oil from Russia, and will "recommend further actions to the President as needed".

The threatened tariff hike follows meetings by Trump's top envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow, aimed at securing peace between Russia and Ukraine.

New Delhi had previously called Trump's threat to raise tariffs over its purchase of oil from Russia "unjustified and unreasonable".

In an earlier statement, a spokesperson for India's foreign ministry, Randhir Jaiswal, said the US had encouraged India to import Russian gas at the start of the conflict, "for strengthening global energy markets stability".

He said India "began importing from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict".

India also criticised the US - its largest trading partner - for introducing the tariffs, when the US itself is still doing trade with Russia.

Last year, the US traded goods worth an estimated $3.5bn (£2.6bn) with Russia, despite tough sanctions and tariffs.

"Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security," the foreign ministry statement said.

Former sub-postmaster Lee Castleton is suing the Post Office and Fujitsu for more than £4m in damages over the Horizon IT scandal, court documents reveal.

Mr Castleton is one of the most high-profile of hundreds of sub-postmasters who were wrongly convicted after faulty software said money was missing from their branch accounts.

He became the first individual to take legal action against both organisations and this is the first time full details of a complex compensation claim have been made public.

The Post Office said it could not comment on ongoing legal proceedings but was "engaging fully" in the process.

Mr Castleton was portrayed by actor Will Mellor in the hit ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office. The former sub-postmaster was awarded an OBE for services to justice in recognition of his tireless campaigning.

Speaking to the BBC about his £4,487m claim he said: "I want it to be made public. This is what they did to me and my family.

"It's not about the money. What matters to me is that I get vindication from the court."

In 2007, Mr Castleton lost a two-year legal battle against the Post Office after it pursued him to recover £25,000 of cash it alleged was missing from his branch in Bridlington, East Yorkshire.

When his legal insurance ran out, Mr Castleton represented himself in court and was landed with a bill of £321,000 in legal costs which he couldn't pay and declared bankruptcy.

His was the only civil claim the Post Office brought against a sub-postmaster.

The official inquiry into the scandal heard evidence that the Post Office knew Mr Castleton would likely be made bankrupt by the action but wanted to make an example of him to dissuade others from pursuing claims.

Claimed losses

The court documents reveal that in Mr Castleton's case his quantifiable financial losses include:

• £940,000 past lost earnings plus interest
• £864,000 future loss of earnings
• £933,000 past pension losses
• £133,000 past property losses
• £232,000 past losses of rental profits plus interest
• £109,000 loss from sale of business plus interest

He's also seeking general damages – these are losses that can't be measured in pounds and pence. They include:

• £30,000 for mental distress plus interest
• £30,000 for stigma and damage to reputation plus interest
• £45,000 for harassment
• £50,000 for maliciously causing his bankruptcy

'Startling'

"When your life, as well as your family's, has literally been ruined it results in a substantial claim," said his solicitor Simon Goldberg, from Simons Muirhead Burton.

"The reason it's so startling is that it's the first time that the forensic details of a sub-postmaster's claim been made public. Like many others, Lee has a very complex case, and the figures have been calculated by experts who are leaders in their field," he said.

Mr Castleton has never applied to the relevant compensation scheme after losing faith in the fairness of the process. He wants a judge to decide what he is owed and to have "justice" through the courts.

His legal team allege that the Post Office's decision to pursue a civil claim against him was an "abuse of process of the court." And that the eventual judgment against him was obtained by fraud.

They also all claim the state-run institution conspired with Fujitsu to pervert the course of justice by "deliberately and dishonestly" withholding evidence.

This included knowledge of bugs and errors as well as the issue of remote access – the ability of some Fujitsu employees to access sub-postmasters' branch accounts without their knowledge.

The Japanese owned company developed the software and is responsible for operating and maintaining the Horizon IT system.

Mr Castleton was one of the 555 sub-postmasters who took part in the landmark court case against the Post Office and won.

Both sides agreed to end the legal dispute. But Mr Castleton claims the settlement doesn't apply to his current claims as well as alleging it was obtained by fraud.

Specifically, he argues the Post Office concealed the true reason why the former Fujitsu software engineer, Gareth Jenkins, wasn't called as a witness at the trial.

Mr Jenkins provided testimony in a number of prosecutions. But in 2013, the Post Office was warned that he had failed to disclose information "in plain breach of his duty as an expert witness".

The sub-postmasters weren't told about the concerns as they fought their case.

Mr Castleton is seeking both the civil judgement and the bankruptcy order against him to be set aside on these grounds.

A Post Office spokesperson said: "We recognise the devastating impact of the Horizon IT Scandal on former postmasters like Mr Castleton. Post Office today is committed to doing all we can to help those affected get closure.

"We cannot comment on ongoing legal proceedings but are engaging fully in the process."

Fujitsu declined to comment to the BBC.

mRNA vaccines were heralded as a medical marvel that saved lives during the Covid pandemic, but now the US is pulling back from researching them.

US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has cancelled 22 projects - worth $500m (£376m) in funding – for tackling infections such as Covid and flu.

So does Kennedy - probably the country's most famous vaccine sceptic – have a point, or is he making a monumental miscalculation?

Prof Adam Finn, vaccine researcher at the University of Bristol, says "it's a bit of both" but ditching mRNA technology is "stupid" and potentially a "catastrophic error".

Let's unpick why.

Kennedy says he has reviewed the science on mRNA vaccines, concluding that the "data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu".

Instead, he says, he would shift funding to "safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate".

So are mRNA vaccines safe? Are they effective? Would other vaccine technologies be better?

And another question is where should mRNA vaccines fit into the pantheon of other vaccine technologies - because there are many:

• Inactivated vaccines use the original virus or bacterium, kill it, and use that to train the immune system - such as the annual flu shot
• Attenuated vaccines do not kill the infectious agent, but make it weaker so it causes a mild infection - such as the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine
• Conjugate vaccines use bits of protein or sugar from a bug, so it triggers an immune response without causing an infection - like for whooping cough
• mRNA vaccines use a fragment of genetic code that temporarily instructs the body to make parts of a virus, and the immune system reacts to that

Each has advantages and disadvantages, but Prof Finn argues we "overhyped" mRNA vaccines during the pandemic to the exclusion of other approaches, and now there is a process of adjusting.

"But to swing the pendulum so far that mRNA is useless and has no value and should not be developed or understood better is equally stupid, it did do remarkable things," he says.

• Full story: RFK Jr cancels $500m in funding for mRNA vaccines
• BBC Verify: Fact-checking RFK Jr's views on health policy

Do mRNA vaccines work?

The claim that mRNA vaccines do not protect against upper respiratory infections like Covid and flu "just isn't true", says Prof Andrew Pollard from the Oxford Vaccine Group, who is soon stepping down as the head of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which advises the UK government.

The vaccines were shown to provide protection – keeping people alive and out of hospital – in both clinical trials and then during intense monitoring of how the vaccines performed when they were rolled out around the world.

In the first year of vaccination during the Covid pandemic, it was estimated that the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine alone saved nearly 6 million lives.

Against that there were a small number of cases of inflammation of heart tissue – called myocarditis – particularly in young men.

"Very rare side effects should be balanced against the huge benefit of the technology," says Prof Pollard.

The pandemic was an era when the world was single-mindedly focused on Covid and the rollout of vaccines was monitored intensely. The consensus opinion remains they did overwhelmingly more good than harm.

But that does not mean they are a perfect technology.

The mRNA Covid vaccines train the immune system to target just one protein out of the whole virus. If that protein in the coronavirus changes or mutates then the body's protection is lessened.

We have seen the consequences of that – immunity wanes and the vaccines need to be updated.

One theoretical argument is that a different vaccine approach – such as using the whole virus – would give better protection, as the immune system would have more to target.

However, Prof Pollard says the mRNA vaccines performed better than the inactivated ones when tackling Covid.

He says that is probably down to the way they are made - and the fact that the process of killing the virus also "changes the viral proteins so there is less stimulation of the immune system" in comparison with mRNA vaccines.

The need to update vaccines is not a failing of mRNA technology that can be easily solved by pivoting from one technology to another - instead, it is down to the fundamental nature of some viruses.

The same measles or HPV (human papilloma virus) vaccines have been effective for decades and show no sign of failing as the virus's genetic codes are more stable in each case.

But some viruses live in a perpetual state of flux.

Flu, for example, is not one virus - but instead a constantly-shifting target. At any time, one strain will be in the ascendancy and be the most likely to cause trouble in winter.

In flu, the inactivated flu injection that is given to adults is updated every year - as is the live vaccine that is given to children as a nasal spray. A future mRNA form of flu vaccine would work the same way.

"The point about keeping up with variants is about all technologies, not just mRNA," says Prof Pollard.

mRNA is 'streets ahead' when speed is needed

There is a legitimate scientific question about which vaccine technology is used for which disease.

What is causing concern among scientists is that pulling mRNA research means we will not have those vaccines at times when we need to do what no other technology can.

Prof Pollard says: "I don't think there's the evidence they are hugely better for protection, but where RNA tech is streets ahead of everything else is responding to outbreaks."

The world is highly drilled at making new flu vaccines each year. But even then, there is a six-month process of deciding on the new flu strains to be targeted, growing the vaccine at scale in chicken eggs and then distributing it. Brand new vaccines take even longer.

But with mRNA, you can have the new vaccine in six to eight weeks, and then tens or hundreds of millions of doses a few months later.

Some of the projects that have had their funding pulled in the US were preparing for a bird flu pandemic. That virus, H5N1, has been devastating bird populations and jumping into a wide range of other animals including American cattle.

"That doesn't make sense and if we do get a human pandemic of bird flu it could be seen as a catastrophic error," says Prof Finn.

But the ramifications of the US turning away from mRNA research could be felt more widely.

What impact does this move have on confidence in the current vaccines, mRNA or otherwise? How does it affect the world when the US is one of the most influential countries in medical research? And will it have a knock-on impact on other types of mRNA technology, such as cancer vaccines - or using the approach to treat rare genetic diseases?

Prof Pollard poses another question after RFK Jr's move: "Does it put us all at risk if a huge market is turning its back on RNA?

"It is one of the most important technologies we'll see this century in infectious disease, biotherapeutic agents for rare disease and critically for cancer. It's a message I'm troubled about."

An elderly woman has died and another person is missing after a massive wildfire swept through parts of southern France, destroying homes and forcing thousands to flee.

The woman died in her home, seven firefighters have also been treated for smoke inhalation and one person is still missing, authorities said. Two people are in hospital, one of whom is in a critical condition.

The blaze broke out on Tuesday near the village of La Ribaute in the Aude region, and has already burned more than 13,000 hectares (50 sq miles) - an area larger than Paris - making it the largest wildfire in France this year.

More than 1,800 firefighters, supported by 500 vehicles, were deployed to the area.

The main affected villages are Lagrasse, Fabrezan, Tournissan, Coustouge and Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse.

Officials say the fire is advancing rapidly, driven by strong winds, dry vegetation and hot summer weather.

Jacques Piraud, mayor of the village of Jonquières, where at least four houses burned, told Le Monde that around 80% of the village was burnt.

"It's dramatic. Its black, the trees are completely charred," he said.

Images show blackened, burnt out cars and people sat on beaches three hours away where thick black clouds were still visible.

"This is a disaster of unprecedented scale," firefighter spokesman Eric Brocardi told RTL radio.

At least 25 homes have been destroyed and more than 2,500 households are without electricity. Authorities have closed roads across the region and warned it is still too dangerous for residents who fled on Tuesday night to return home.

President Emmanuel Macron expressed his support for firefighters and local officials on X, saying all government resources were being mobilised. He urged residents to follow evacuation orders and exercise "the utmost caution".

Prime Minister François Bayrou is expected to visit the affected area later on Wednesday.

Lucie Roesch, secretary general of the Aude area, said firefighters were monitoring the fire's perimeter to prevent new outbreaks. She said: "The fire is advancing in an area where all the conditions are ripe for it to progress."

The region has become increasingly vulnerable in recent years due to lower rainfall and the removal of vineyards, which once helped slow the spread of wildfires.

Despite planes dropping water bombs on the flames, Roesch warned the fire "will keep us busy for several days. It's a long-term operation".

A combination of low rainfall, high temperatures and the removal of vineyards - which once helped act as natural firebreaks - has made for worsening fire conditions in Aude.

Scientists have long warned that the Mediterranean's soaring hot and dry summers place the region at high risk of severe wildfires. According to France's emergency management service, nearly 15,000 hectares (57.9 square miles) have burned nationwide this summer in more than 9,000 separate fires. The Aude blaze now accounts for the vast majority of the damage.

MasterChef has returned to TV screens with both of its sacked co-hosts, Gregg Wallace and John Torode, in it.

The pair were both sacked last month after a report into conduct on the cooking show upheld allegations against them.

The BBC decided to still show this year’s amateurs series - filmed last year - saying it was “the right thing to do” for the chefs who had taken part.

But it faced a backlash from some groups, including the broadcast union Bectu which said bad behaviour "should not be rewarded with prime-time coverage".

Both presenters appear within the first minute of the new series but there are fewer jokes than usual, and less chat between them and the chefs.

One of the chefs has also been edited out after asking for the new series not to be broadcast following claims against the two hosts.

• MasterChef crisis: Wallace and Torode were 'never friends'
• Gregg Wallace sacked as 50 more people make claims
• John Torode sacked as MasterChef presenter

The first three episodes of the new series were released on iPlayer on Wednesday morning, with the show starting on BBC One later at 20:00 BST.

In previous years, Wallace and Torode have been a near-constant presence throughout the episodes.

And in the first episode of the new series, both presenters appear from the outset and throughout.

They welcome the new contestants, introduce the challenges, interview the chefs while they cook, announce when "time's up", and taste the dishes.

But there are fewer jokes, with the usual banter between the presenters and the chefs appearing to have been reduced.

It is thought there would have been limitations on how much Wallace and Torode could be edited out, but that the focus would be placed on the contestants.

Six chefs feature in the first episode, with the next episodes set to introduce a new set of contestants.

This year's series is starting much later than usual, in August, compared with the last few years which began in April, which could have an impact on viewing figures.

The series runs for three days a week until the finals.

‘Not an easy decision’

Last week, one of the contestants on the new series of MasterChef said she was edited out after asking for it not to be broadcast.

Sarah Shafi told BBC Newsnight that "in an ideal world, what would have happened is that it would have been axed" out of respect to those people whose complaints had been upheld.

Her comments came as the BBC faced mounting pressure to reconsider airing the series.

Bectu said that freelancers whose complaints had been upheld would "undoubtedly be triggered" by the decision to air the series, while a leading women's rights charity warned many people would feel "deeply uncomfortable" to see the show on their TV screens.

Some of the women who made allegations against Gregg Wallace have also told BBC News that they didn’t think it should be aired, with one saying it showed "a blatant disregard for the people who have come forward".

The BBC previously said it had not been "an easy decision" to run the series, adding that there was "widespread support" among the chefs for it going ahead.

“In showing the series, which was filmed last year, it in no way diminishes our view of the seriousness of the upheld findings against both presenters,” it said.

"However, we believe that broadcasting this series is the right thing to do for these cooks who have given so much to the process. We want them to be properly recognised and give the audience the choice to watch the series."

The controversy over MasterChef started last year, when BBC News first revealed claims of misconduct against Gregg Wallace.

In July, a report by the show's production company Banijay revealed that more than 40 complaints against Wallace had been upheld, including one of unwelcome physical contact and another three of being in a state of undress.

He has insisted he was cleared of "the most serious and sensational allegations".

The upheld complaint against Torode related to a severely offensive racist term allegedly used on the set of MasterChef in 2018.

The presenter said he had "no recollection" of it and that any racist language is "wholly unacceptable".

Additional reporting by Emmanuella Alausa.

A meeting between US envoy Steve Witkoff and Russia's Vladimir Putin is under way at the Kremlin, Russian media has said.

Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Wednesday as Donald Trump's deadline for Russia to agree a ceasefire in Ukraine looms.

The US president has said Russia could face hefty sanctions or see secondary sanctions imposed against all those who trade with it if it doesn't take steps to end the "horrible war" with Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, has warned that Russia would only make serious moves towards peace if it began to run out of money. He welcomed the threat of tougher US sanctions and tariffs on nations buying Russian oil.

Expectations are muted for a settlement by Friday, and Russia has continued its large-scale air attacks on Ukraine despite Trump's threats of sanctions.

Three rounds of talks between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul have failed to bring the war closer to and end, three and a half years after Moscow launched its full-invasion.

Moscow's military and political preconditions for peace remain unacceptable to Kyiv and to its Western partners. The Kremlin has also repeatedly turned down Kyiv's requests for a meeting between Zelensky and Putin.

Meanwhile, the US administration approved $200m of additional military sales to Ukraine on Tuesday following a phone call between Zelensky and Trump, in which the two leaders also discussed defence cooperation and drone production.

Ukraine has been using drones to hit Russia's refineries and energy facilities, while Moscow has focused its air attacks on Ukraine's cities.

The Kyiv City Military Administration said the toll of an attack on the city last week rose to 32 after a man died of his injuries. The strike was the deadliest on Kyiv since the start of the invasion.

Ukrainian authorities on Wednesday reported that a Russian attack on a holiday camp in the central region of Zaporizhzhia left two dead and 12 wounded.

"There's no military sense in this attack. It's just cruelty to scare people," Zelensky said.

Twenty people have been killed and more than 30 injured in central Gaza after four lorries overturned on a crowd, the Hamas-run civil defence agency says.

Crowds rushed to the vehicles on a road south east of Deir al-Balah on Tuesday evening. They climbed on top of the lorries, causing the drivers to lose control, local journalists told the BBC.

The area was under Israeli military control and the roads were rugged and dangerous, civil defence agency spokesman Mahmoud Basal said.

The private transport association now operating in Gaza said that 26 commercial trucks entered the territory on Tuesday. Six were looted, and four of those overturned, resulting in deaths and injuries.

Israel announced that is would start to allow the gradual entry of goods into Gaza via the private sector to "increase the volume of aid" entering the enclave while reducing reliance on the UN.

The approved supplies include baby food, fruits, vegetables, hygiene products and basic staples.

The BBC has contacted the Israeli ministry of defence for comment.

Hamas said civilians had been waiting for basic supplies to be delivered via road for weeks. "This often results in desperate crowds swarming the trucks," its media office said.

Aid trucks have been frequently rushed, leading to chaotic scenes.

In a separate incident on Wednesday, Jordan said Israeli settlers attacked a Gaza-bound aid convoy of 30 lorries and accused Israel of failing to prevent such attacks.

The convoy crossed the Jordanian border and was heading towards Gaza's Zikim crossing. Settlers blocked the road and pelted the trucks with stones, smashing windscreens.

"This requires a serious Israeli intervention and no leniency in dealing with those who obstruct these convoys," government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said.

He added this was the second attack on a Jordanian aid convoy, following a similar incident on Sunday.

On Wednesday the Hamas-run health ministry reported five new deaths as a result of malnutrition, bringing its total to 193 since the start of the war, including 96 children.

More than 100 international aid organisations and human rights groups have warned of mass starvation in Gaza, and accuse Israel of impeding the distribution of crucial aid.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, denies there is starvation in the territory and insists his country is not blocking aid.

Last week, Israel's military said it would open humanitarian corridors to allow aid convoys into Gaza following mounting international pressure.

It also announced what it called a "local tactical pause in military activity" for humanitarian purposes in three areas, and permitted foreign aid drops.

About 90% of Gaza's 2.1 million people have been displaced, some repeatedly, and are living in overcrowded and dire conditions.

The UN has repeatedly called for the full and sustained entry of humanitarian supplies, but access remains sporadic and many aid trucks are looted.

Israel insists there are no restrictions on aid deliveries and has repeatedly refuted what it describes as "the false claim of deliberate starvation".

Israel launched its military offensive in Gaza in response to Hamas's attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken to Gaza as hostages.

At least 61,020 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since then, the Hamas-run health ministry says.

A "dangerous" fugitive who savagely murdered a woman while she was walking her dog has been jailed for life.

Roy Barclay had been on the run from police for two years when he attacked Anita Rose, 57, on a footpath in Brantham, Suffolk, on 24 July last year.

Anita died four days after she was found with serious injuries and Barclay, 56, of no fixed address, was sentenced to a mandatory life term of life - and will serve a minimum of 25 years after he was found guilty of murder following a trial at Ipswich Crown Court.

Judge Martyn Levett told the killer there were still unanswered questions as to why he did what he did.

On the day she was attacked Anita left her house at about 05:00 (BST).

She was found less than two hours later by members of the public on a track off Rectory Lane next to the London-Ipswich railway line.

The mother-of-six had suffered serious injuries after being kicked and stamped by Barclay and died four days later in Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.

The killer's DNA was discovered on Anita's jacket and on the earbuds of her headphones.

Barclay was finally arrested after he was spotted in Brantham by an officer from Suffolk Police.

The trial heard he had been living in a makeshift camp in the area while "on the run" from police for two years following an earlier attack.

Prosecutors argued he also kept some of Ms Rose's belongings as trophies.

At the time of the attack, Barclay had been wanted on recall to prison having breached the conditions of his licence.

He had previously been jailed for attacking an 82-year-old man in Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex 10 years ago.

Anita's family were in the court room for Wednesday's sentencing.

Prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC outlined 11 aggravating factors in the case for the judge to consider in his sentencing.

These included Barclay's use of "sustained and excessive violence", killing in public, and the stealing and taking of Anita's property.

Mr Paxton said the defendant had also broken the conditions of the licence of his parole following the 2015 attack.

Simon Spence KC, mitigating, said Barclay's actions were not premeditated - which Judge Levett agreed with.

Barclay sat emotionless as he listened on from the dock.

The court first heard how Anita had enjoyed living in Brantham and had taken to help neighbours and other vulnerable residents when they were in need.

Statements from several of her children were read out to the court.

They talked of their mother's love for walking and how she was the "centre" of their family.

Anita's partner, Richard Jones, described how the couple "planned to grow old together" and he had been haunted by her death.

Her daughter, Gemma Rose, described the "immeasurable" loss and revealed she had taken to telling her own children about "how dangerous the world is" in an effort to protect them.

One of her sons, Ashley Rose, told the court he had desperately tried to help the investigation by buying a drone to find some of his mother's personal items that had been missing and were later found in Barclay's possession.

Judge Levett said Barclay was an "unpredictable, dangerous" man who was "prone to terrible outbursts of violence".

He highlighted how in the 2015 attack on a "helpless" 82-year-old, he had beaten the pensioner for 53 seconds causing severe injuries.

Barclay only served five years in prison before he was released on parole but Judge Levett told him this should have been enough time for him to work on his "temper".

When Barclay breached the conditions of his licence in 2022 he became a wanted man and was on the run from police.

Judge Levett also questioned why Barclay had chosen to remain silent by not answering police questions when he was arrested or why he did not give evidence in his trial.

He said: "We will, perhaps, never know what triggered this outburst of violence against Anita.

"You are still, and will remain, for an unpredictable length of time, this dangerous person."

Barclay had previously pleaded guilty to remaining at large after being recalled to prison.

For this he was sentenced to 12 months in prison which will run concurrently with his life sentence for Anita's murder.

Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

A forecast is just a forecast, but the significance of today's pessimistic analysis by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr)is that it does reflect scenarios being considered in the Treasury ahead of the Budget in the autumn.

As I wrote last month, it is not just the accumulation of U-turns, and sluggish economic news which is driving the framing of another important Treasury moment in the autumn.

The Chancellor Rachel Reeves may choose to make a strategic decision to reflect the current global uncertainties by establishing significantly greater room for manoeuvre to hit her borrowing limits.

Currently that buffer is a very tight £10bn.

The Niesr report points to the need to re-establish what it calls "a large buffer" against missing her fiscal rules.

The absence of this has led to what Niesr called "piecemeal policy tinkering" that had given rise to "prolonged economic uncertainty".

So there could be a move towards getting more bad news out of the way now, to break the doom loop of people constantly expecting policy changes and tax rises.

The borrowing rules stipulate that day-to-day government costs will be paid for by tax income, rather than borrowing and debt should be falling as a share of national income by the end of this parliament in 2029-30.

Niesr does not recommend changing the new borrowing rules, which have only just been established, at this stage.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and others have floated the idea that the Treasury should only really make Budget changes once a year to stop the uncertainty.

The IMF also suggested bigger buffers as the best idea.

All this matters because it could mean that earlier estimates of a need to bridge a budget gap of £15-20bn a year with tax rises or spending cuts in the autumn, are a material underestimate.

Niesr's forecast of a £40-50bn gap is on the pessimistic side, and there are still many moving parts before the Autumn, but it does show that the scale of the challenge is not easing for the chancellor.

With most spending now fixed, and political challenges over welfare cuts, that would leave tax rises as the main lever.

While the government promised not to change the main rates of tax, Niesr points to scope to further raise revenue through changes to the scope of VAT, pensions allowances, council tax and prolonging the freeze in income tax thresholds.

If Niesr are right, it could be all of the above.

Of course, economic news has been mixed in recent weeks.

We'll get further information on Thursday when the Bank of England is set to decide on a further interest rate cut and issue its new economic forecasts.

And next week, the important GDP figures for the second quarter are due to be released and they're expected to show the UK is no longer the fastest growing economy of the major G7 economies.

Despite being the world's most sanctioned country, Russia has continued to use its vast energy wealth to bankroll its war in Ukraine.

US President Donald Trump is hoping to change that. He has announced that sweeping new secondary tariffs will impact any country still trading with Russia if a ceasefire with Ukraine is not agreed by Friday 8 August.

Secondary tariffs would see goods from any country that trades with Russia face a 100% tax when they are imported into the US.

Oil and gas are Russia's biggest exports, and Moscow's biggest customers include China, India and Turkey.

"I used trade for a lot of things, but it's great for settling wars", said Trump last month.

This would not be the first time the Trump administration has imposed secondary tariffs, which are also in place to punish buyers of Venezuelan oil.

However, using them against Russia would have far bigger implications for the global economy.

Russia remains the world's third biggest oil producer, behind only Saudi Arabia and the US itself. But its shipments have been falling this year, according to a Bloomberg analysis of ship-tracking data.

Increased energy prices

"The key channel by which secondary tariffs on buyers of Russian energy could impact the global economy would be through the level of energy prices," says Kieran Tompkins from the consultancy Capital Economics.

If the tariffs work, they will cut the flow of Russian oil and gas to global markets.

And with less supply, prices could go up, just as they did when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. That led to a spike in inflation around the world. President Trump says he isn't worried because of record US oil production.

Mr Tompkins points out that, this time, there are also other reasons to suggest the impact on prices would not be as marked.

He explains that "the current backdrop is one where OPEC+ [the group of major oil producing countries and its allies] have significant spare capacity to draw upon."

Russia has devised a whole system for avoiding existing sanctions, which could be useful for helping its trading partners avoid the secondary tariffs threatened by Trump.

For example, its so-called "shadow fleet" - consisting of hundreds of tankers with obscure ownership - could be used to conceal the origin of exported Russian oil and gas.

"Sanctions maintenance is as big a task as the imposition of sanctions in the first place," US sanctions expert Richard Nephew of Columbia University says.

"That's because the party that is being sanctioned takes steps to evade them."

Pricier iPhones from India

Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 India has been the second biggest buyer of Russian oil, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

"They're fuelling the war machine. And if they're going to do that, then I'm not going to be happy," President Trump told US outlet CNBC on Tuesday.

If secondary sanctions take effect, US companies buying goods from India will have to pay a 100% import tax - or tariff - when those products reach US shores.

The idea is that it makes these goods so expensive that US businesses will choose to buy them cheaper from elsewhere, resulting in lost revenue for India.

That, in turn, is supposed to deter India from buying Russian oil. And if Russia is left unable to sell its oil elsewhere because other countries face the same predicament, it will have less cash to finance the war in Ukraine.

One way in which Americans could experience higher prices as a result of new secondary tariffs is in their purchase of mobile phones from India.

• India calls Trump's tariff threat over Russian oil 'unjustified'

US firm Apple is moving much of its iPhone production to India - in particular the manufacturing of handsets that it wants to sell in the US.

If these products are subject to the new tariffs, prices could double for US consumers. That is because tariffs are paid by the companies that import goods - and those companies tend to pass most, if not all, of their cost increases on to their customers.

Imports to the US from India are already facing a 25% tariff as part of President Trump's broader trade shake-up, and he told CNBC that number could be raised "very substantially".

India's government has accused the US of double standards, pointing to Washington's own continued trade with Russia.

The vast majority of that trade is made up of US imports from India which amounted to just over $3bn (£2.2bn) last year - although that's just 10% of 2021 levels.

That trade is dominated by US purchases of raw materials for nuclear energy and fertilizers. Russia is a major global supplier of both.

Derailing trade talks with China

China is buying the most Russian oil, and a decision by President Trump to impose secondary tariffs on Chinese goods would be much more challenging to fulfil.

That's because US imports from China are worth five times as much as those from India, and a lot more of those imports are consumer goods such as toys, clothes and electronics.

Secondary tariffs aimed at Beijing would also risk upsetting a much broader renegotiation of trade between the world's two biggest economies that Trump has been pursuing since his first term in office.

"This type of over-escalation is unlikely to impress the Chinese," says trade expert Professor Simon Evenett of IMD Business School.

He explains that it would be "very difficult" to peel the Chinese away from the Russians without a good reason, given how closely Presidents Xi and Putin have worked together in recent years.

On top of that, the last time Trump tried using triple-figure tariffs against China, he found it did not work - as it almost cut off all trade between the two countries.

Another move like that could add to inflationary pressures in the US, which Trump has long pledged to tackle.

It could also cost huge amounts of manufacturing jobs in China, at a time when its economy is already struggling on several fronts.

Further harm to US-EU commerce

Analysis by the Finland-based Centre for Research and Clean Air shows that the EU and Turkey are also still amongst the biggest buyers of Russian energy.

Before 2022, the EU was the number-one export destination for Russia, although that has been vastly reduced since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Brussels recently agreed to buy a lot more energy from the US, but some imports from Russia remain.

In June, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, acknowledged the problem, saying "Russia has repeatedly attempted to blackmail us by weaponizing its energy supplies" as she laid out plans to end imports by the end of 2027.

The US-EU trade relationship is the biggest in the world, and the pair have just negotiated new trade terms which will see a 15% tariff be applied on most EU exports to the US.

Many in the EU criticised that deal, saying the tariffs would harm European exporters.

Now they also fear that secondary sanctions on the EU could do even more harm. Adding 100% tariffs for buying Russian energy could significantly reduce the amount of goods sold by the EU to the US.

However the biggest sellers include pharmaceuticals and machinery, which may be hard to source from elsewhere - meaning Americans have little choice but to pay more.

Potential Russian recession

Russia's own economy has so far proven remarkably resilient since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, growing 4.3% last year.

However, Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov recently warned that the country was "on the verge" of recession after a period of "overheating". The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is forecasting growth of just 0.9% this year.

If the secondary sanctions are successful in reducing demand for exports, they will push Russia closer to recession.

The exact impact of the war on Russia's economy is hard to know, because Moscow has prevented a large amount of economic data from being published since the full-scale invasion - including on oil and gas production.

About a third of Russian government spending is funded by oil and gas money, but exports have been falling.

Meanwhile, Putin is directing a bigger share of spending towards defence than at any time since the Cold War. Defence spending is believed to have reached 6.3% of GDP.

By contrast, Ukraine has been spending a huge 26% of the value of its far-smaller economy on the war. The difference explains why its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has repeatedly asked for external help from his allies.

Trump's tariffs are intended to help Zelensky by cutting the amount of money flowing into Russia, and he hopes bring an end to the death, suffering and destruction in Ukraine.

Dreams of Glasgow 2026

A forecast is just a forecast, but the significance of today's pessimistic analysis by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr)is that it does reflect scenarios being considered in the Treasury ahead of the Budget in the autumn.

As I wrote last month, it is not just the accumulation of U-turns, and sluggish economic news which is driving the framing of another important Treasury moment in the autumn.

The Chancellor Rachel Reeves may choose to make a strategic decision to reflect the current global uncertainties by establishing significantly greater room for manoeuvre to hit her borrowing limits.

Currently that buffer is a very tight £10bn.

The Niesr report points to the need to re-establish what it calls "a large buffer" against missing her fiscal rules.

The absence of this has led to what Niesr called "piecemeal policy tinkering" that had given rise to "prolonged economic uncertainty".

So there could be a move towards getting more bad news out of the way now, to break the doom loop of people constantly expecting policy changes and tax rises.

The borrowing rules stipulate that day-to-day government costs will be paid for by tax income, rather than borrowing and debt should be falling as a share of national income by the end of this parliament in 2029-30.

Niesr does not recommend changing the new borrowing rules, which have only just been established, at this stage.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and others have floated the idea that the Treasury should only really make Budget changes once a year to stop the uncertainty.

The IMF also suggested bigger buffers as the best idea.

All this matters because it could mean that earlier estimates of a need to bridge a budget gap of £15-20bn a year with tax rises or spending cuts in the autumn, are a material underestimate.

Niesr's forecast of a £40-50bn gap is on the pessimistic side, and there are still many moving parts before the Autumn, but it does show that the scale of the challenge is not easing for the chancellor.

With most spending now fixed, and political challenges over welfare cuts, that would leave tax rises as the main lever.

While the government promised not to change the main rates of tax, Niesr points to scope to further raise revenue through changes to the scope of VAT, pensions allowances, council tax and prolonging the freeze in income tax thresholds.

If Niesr are right, it could be all of the above.

Of course, economic news has been mixed in recent weeks.

We'll get further information on Thursday when the Bank of England is set to decide on a further interest rate cut and issue its new economic forecasts.

And next week, the important GDP figures for the second quarter are due to be released and they're expected to show the UK is no longer the fastest growing economy of the major G7 economies.

MasterChef has returned to TV screens with both of its sacked co-hosts, Gregg Wallace and John Torode, in it.

The pair were both sacked last month after a report into conduct on the cooking show upheld allegations against them.

The BBC decided to still show this year’s amateurs series - filmed last year - saying it was “the right thing to do” for the chefs who had taken part.

But it faced a backlash from some groups, including the broadcast union Bectu which said bad behaviour "should not be rewarded with prime-time coverage".

Both presenters appear within the first minute of the new series but there are fewer jokes than usual, and less chat between them and the chefs.

One of the chefs has also been edited out after asking for the new series not to be broadcast following claims against the two hosts.

• MasterChef crisis: Wallace and Torode were 'never friends'
• Gregg Wallace sacked as 50 more people make claims
• John Torode sacked as MasterChef presenter

The first three episodes of the new series were released on iPlayer on Wednesday morning, with the show starting on BBC One later at 20:00 BST.

In previous years, Wallace and Torode have been a near-constant presence throughout the episodes.

And in the first episode of the new series, both presenters appear from the outset and throughout.

They welcome the new contestants, introduce the challenges, interview the chefs while they cook, announce when "time's up", and taste the dishes.

But there are fewer jokes, with the usual banter between the presenters and the chefs appearing to have been reduced.

It is thought there would have been limitations on how much Wallace and Torode could be edited out, but that the focus would be placed on the contestants.

Six chefs feature in the first episode, with the next episodes set to introduce a new set of contestants.

This year's series is starting much later than usual, in August, compared with the last few years which began in April, which could have an impact on viewing figures.

The series runs for three days a week until the finals.

‘Not an easy decision’

Last week, one of the contestants on the new series of MasterChef said she was edited out after asking for it not to be broadcast.

Sarah Shafi told BBC Newsnight that "in an ideal world, what would have happened is that it would have been axed" out of respect to those people whose complaints had been upheld.

Her comments came as the BBC faced mounting pressure to reconsider airing the series.

Bectu said that freelancers whose complaints had been upheld would "undoubtedly be triggered" by the decision to air the series, while a leading women's rights charity warned many people would feel "deeply uncomfortable" to see the show on their TV screens.

Some of the women who made allegations against Gregg Wallace have also told BBC News that they didn’t think it should be aired, with one saying it showed "a blatant disregard for the people who have come forward".

The BBC previously said it had not been "an easy decision" to run the series, adding that there was "widespread support" among the chefs for it going ahead.

“In showing the series, which was filmed last year, it in no way diminishes our view of the seriousness of the upheld findings against both presenters,” it said.

"However, we believe that broadcasting this series is the right thing to do for these cooks who have given so much to the process. We want them to be properly recognised and give the audience the choice to watch the series."

The controversy over MasterChef started last year, when BBC News first revealed claims of misconduct against Gregg Wallace.

In July, a report by the show's production company Banijay revealed that more than 40 complaints against Wallace had been upheld, including one of unwelcome physical contact and another three of being in a state of undress.

He has insisted he was cleared of "the most serious and sensational allegations".

The upheld complaint against Torode related to a severely offensive racist term allegedly used on the set of MasterChef in 2018.

The presenter said he had "no recollection" of it and that any racist language is "wholly unacceptable".

Additional reporting by Emmanuella Alausa.