Co-op narrowly averted being locked out of its computer systems during the cyber attack that saw customer data stolen and store shelves left bare, the hackers who claim responsibility have told the BBC.
The revelation could help explain why Co-op has started to recover more quickly than fellow retailer M&S, which had its systems more comprehensively compromised, and is still unable to carry out online orders.
Hackers who have claimed responsibility for both attacks told the BBC they tried to infect Co-op with malicious software known as ransomware - but failed when the firm discovered the attack in action.
Both Co-op and M&S declined to comment.
The gang, using the cyber crime service DragonForce, sent the BBC a long, offensive rant about their attack.
"Co-op's network never ever suffered ransomware. They yanked their own plug - tanking sales, burning logistics, and torching shareholder value," the criminals said.
But cyber experts like Jen Ellis from the Ransomware Task Force said the response from Co-op was sensible.
"Co-op seems to have opted for self-imposed immediate-term disruption as a means of avoiding criminal-imposed, longer-term disruption. It seems to have been a good call for them in this instance," she said.
Ms Ellis said these kinds of crisis decisions are often taken quickly when hackers have breached a network and can be extremely difficult.
Speaking exclusively to the BBC, the criminals claimed to have breached Co-op's computer systems long before they were discovered.
"We spent a while seated in their network," they boasted.
They stole a large amount of private customer data and were planning to infect the company with ransomware, but were detected.
Ransomware is a kind of attack where hackers scramble computer systems and demand payment from victims in exchange for handing back control.
It would also have made the restoration of Co-op's systems more complex, time-consuming and expensive - exactly the problems M&S appears to be wrestling with.
The criminals claim they were also behind the attack on M&S which struck over Easter.
Although M&S has yet to confirm it is dealing with ransomware, cyber experts have long said that is the situation and M&S has not issued any advice or corrections to the contrary.
Nearly three weeks on, the retailer is still struggling to get back to normal, as online orders are still suspended and some shops have had continued issues with contactless payments and empty shelves this week.
An analysis from Bank of America estimates the fallout from the hack is costing M&S £43m per week.
On Tuesday, M&S admitted personal customer data was stolen in the hack, which could include telephone numbers, home addresses and dates of birth.
It added the data theft did not include useable payment or card details, or any account passwords - but nonetheless urged customers to reset their account details and be wary of potential scammers using the information to make contact.
Co-op seems to be recovering more quickly, saying its shelves will start to return to normal from this weekend.
Nonetheless it is expected to feel the effects of the cyber attack for some time.
"Co-op have acted quickly and their work on the recovery helps to soften things slightly, but rebuilding trust is a bit harder," Prof Oli Buckley, a cyber security expert at Loughborough University, told the BBC.
"It will be a process of showing that lessons have been learned and there are stronger defences in place," he added.
The same cyber-crime group has also claimed responsibility for an attempted hack of the London department store Harrods.
The hackers who contacted the BBC say they are from DragonForce which operates an affiliate cyber crime service so anyone can use their malicious software and website to carry out attacks and extortions.
It's not known who is ultimately using the service to attack the retailers, but some security experts say the tactics seen are similar to that of a loosely coordinated group of hackers who have been called Scattered Spider or Octo Tempest.
The gang operates on Telegram and Discord channels and is English-speaking and young – in some cases only teenagers.
Conversations with Co-op hackers were carried out in text form - but it is clear the hacker, who called himself a spokesperson, was a fluent English speaker.
They say two of the hackers want to be known as "Raymond Reddington" and "Dembe Zuma" after characters from US crime thriller Blacklist which involves a wanted criminal helping police take down other criminals on a 'blacklist'.
The hackers say "we're putting UK retailers on the Blacklist".
US President Donald Trump says that Iran has "sort of" agreed to the terms of a nuclear deal with the United States.
Trump described the latest talks between the two countries, which ended on Sunday, as "very serious negotiations" for "long-term peace".
Earlier, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader told NBC News that Tehran was willing to make concessions on its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
The US has insisted that Iran must scrap its uranium enrichment to prevent the country developing nuclear weapons - though Iran insists its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful.
Speaking on Thursday in Qatar, on the second stop of his multi-day Gulf tour, Trump said that a deal was close on Iran's nuclear programme and suggested a military strike on Tehran's sites could be avoided.
"We're not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran," Trump said after a meeting in Doha with business leaders.
"I think we're getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this.
"You probably read today the story about Iran. It's sort of agreed to the terms."
The president did not specify which remarks he was referring to, but an adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ali Shamkhani, said in a US media interview that Tehran was willing to accept far-reaching curbs on its nuclear programme.
Shamkhani told ABC News that Iran would give up stockpiles of highly enriched uranium as part of a deal in which the US lifts sanctions.
The latest talks over Tehran's nuclear programme finished on Sunday, with both sides agreeing to meet again.
US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff said they were encouraging, while Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described them as "difficult but useful".
Trump pulled out of a previous nuclear agreement between Iran and five other world powers in 2018.
He previously warned of possible military action against Iran's nuclear facilities if the fresh set of talks, which began in April, did not succeed.
A senior US official said the latest discussions lasted more than three hours, adding: "Agreement was reached to move forward with the talks to continue working through technical elements.
"We are encouraged by today's outcome and look forward to our next meeting, which will happen in the near future."
Sir Keir Starmer has said that he is "determined that we will retake control of the borders," as he begins a visit to Albania.
In his first official visit to the country, the prime minister is expected to announce further measures to crack down on organised crime and illegal immigration.
The UK is to step up intelligence sharing with Albanian law enforcement and provide funding for forensics, as part of the plans announced.
The number of people crossing the Channel has passed 12,000 since January, putting 2025 on course to be a record year.
Speaking in Albania, Sir Keir said: "The last government lost control of the borders. I am determined that we will retake control of the borders.
"That means that we have got to have a concerted effort to smash the gangs that are running this vile trade."
He said greater co-operation with Albania had "driven down those numbers" and that he wanted to "see more of that".
Immigration has been a strong focus of the government this week - on Monday it set out plans to reduce the level of legal migration in a White Paper.
The government said there has been a 95% reduction in Albanian small boat arrivals in the last three years, and that the number of Albanians returned has doubled in the past two years.
The prime minister is expected to announce the expansion of the Joint Migration Task Force - which shares intelligence and carries out operations against people smugglers in the Western Balkans - to include North Macedonia.
The enhanced co-operation with Albania set to be announced will include measures to tackle a "revolving door effect", of migrants returning home, evading law enforcement and leaving the country again, the government said.
The plans will also include:
A new programme to help young Albanians reintegrate into society and find employment
Funding a new forensic evidence programme to share and track DNA of criminals in Albania to solve crimes in the UK
A further £1m investment to upgrade Albania's forensics, biometrics and digital capability
Greater intelligence sharing to allow local law, using UK-funded drones, to "snare gangsters" transporting migrants through the Western Balkans corridor
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp described Sir Keir's visit as "pure theatre".
He said: "The returns deal with Albania was decisive action taken by the previous Conservative government."
"So why is Starmer now flying out for a handshake in Tirana to claim credit? If the scheme is already working, what exactly is this trip for?" he added.
To the blast of a trumpet and the beating of drums, Fatima Hazzouri has come home.
Thirteen years after civil war forced her to leave, she's back in her native city, Homs in Syria, blinking in the sunshine as she steps off a bus crammed with returning women and children, part of a long convoy of coaches and trucks.
In a central square, they're greeted ecstatically by musicians and dancers in embroidered silk shirts.
More than 100 displaced families spent more than eight hours on the road to return to Homs from the north
Buses bringing familes back to Homs were greeted by musicians and dancers
Fatima is one of the seven million Syrians who were displaced within their country by the conflict between the government of former President Bashar al-Assad and rebel forces. It began in 2011 and finally ended with a rebel victory in December 2024. A further six million people fled abroad in those years. In total, more than half the population was forced to move.
Fatima Hazzouri has returned to Homs after 13 years
"I'm overjoyed to be back," Fatima says. She shrieks in delight. The 124 families returning in the convoy have come from the north of Syria, where millions of displaced people live in tents and makeshift shelters. They've been on the road for eight exhausting hours - but it won't be an easy homecoming.
Homs, Syria's third largest city, saw some of the fiercest fighting of the war. Whole districts are still in ruins. In 2012, two rockets fired by government forces slammed into Fatima's house, largely destroying it.
Fatima jostles to get free food and clothing provided by the private Dubai-based charity Waqf al-Farah, which organised the convoy. Then she heads for the flat her family is renting until they can repair their old home. Like the other men in the convoy, her son-in-law Abdulrazaq has gone ahead, riding on top of the family's possessions piled high on a truck.
When Fatima arrives, mattresses, carpets, pots and pans are already being hauled through an upstairs window.
At Fatima's family's house only two rooms are habitable. She says building a new roof and tiling the floors will cost thousands of dollars
In the north, Fatima got occasional work picking grapes or olives. Abdulrazaq was a teacher. But he doesn't know whether he'll get work in Homs to help pay the rent for the flat.
"I don't know what our future will be," he says. "We'll wait for the new government to decide."
"The biggest problem we have is lack of jobs," says Khalifa al-Hakmi, who helped organise the convoy. "People have nothing to do when they come back."
Providing work is just part of the huge task faced by Syria's new rulers, the former Islamist rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), as they try to rebuild the country.
Three million homes were destroyed. Essential services are lacking in many places. Homs, like most parts of Syria, gets only a few hours of electricity a day.
So far neither the government nor international agencies have put forward any comprehensive plan for resettling refugees. But the end of the crippling sanctions originally imposed on Syria by the US under the Assad regime means the country can again become part of the international banking system – and the economy can start to revive.
Carpenter Yasir al-Nagdali has replaced the windows and ceiling in the house he shares with his mother and pet bird
For now, though, returnees still have to fend for themselves. Yasir al-Nagdali and his mother Siham returned to Homs three years ago. Their house was a shell. But now they've replaced the windows and the ceiling and Yasir - a trained carpenter - has made their flat homely again.
There's even a canary in a cage. Keeping birds is Yasir's hobby. He can't forget how they escaped at the height of the battle for Homs. They crawled on their hands and knees as regime soldiers raked their street with machine-gun fire.
But Siham also remembers happier times in the house – such as when she got married at the age of 14. In those days, she says, there were belly-dancers at weddings – and she wore 12 different dresses, singing a song each time she changed.
For others in Homs, there's no happy return. Artist Samira Madwar sees no prospect of repairing the flat she grew up in. It was shelled, then burned, and looted by government forces.
Samira now lives on the outskirts of the city. She bursts into tears when she sees the state of her beloved old home. Amid the rubble and broken plaster littering the floor, she finds old family photographs – and the remains of a book she wrote, that falls apart when she picks up.
"In my brain, there is a hole," she says. "My paintings, my books – everything - they took it, and left us without a memory about our life."
Despite everything, Samira stayed in Syria throughout the war. But many of her friends left the country. One was Ammar Azzouz. He trained as an architect in Homs and now researches at the University of Oxford in the UK. He's overwhelmed with emotions after coming back to his city for the first time since 2011.
"I was aching for this day when I can walk the streets, touch the stones, meet the people, look at their faces, struggling to understand the scale of loss and grief," he says.
But like many other Syrians who've successfully started new lives abroad, he's thinking of dividing his time between his native and adopted countries, rather than returning permanently.
"Many people are describing it as the honeymoon period," Ammar says, talking about the first months after the fall of Assad.
"There's a new energy and excitement and hope and optimism. At the same time, the reality is harsh. But I think building bridges between those who are outside and inside would be fascinating, because they bring in new skills, opportunities, networks and knowledge that we need so much."
For some returning to Homs there is no prospect of repairing their homes
Rebuilding Syria will require all those things - and huge financial input. The United Nations estimates that 90 percent of Syrians now live below the poverty line – that's less than $2.15 USD a day.
After the family's belongings have been unloaded at their new, temporary home, Fatima goes back to visit her old house. Only two rooms are habitable, and two of her children are already living there. Just building a roof and tiling the floor would cost about $6-7,000 USD, she says. She can't imagine where such money would come from.
But today, after 13 years away, she just wants to celebrate.
Diane Sindall, 21, had been due to get married when she was ambushed by an unknown killer
The real identity of the man who brutally murdered Diane Sindall was known by people on the estates in Birkenhead, a charity set up in her memory has claimed.
Peter Sullivan, now 68, was acquitted of her murder at the Court of Appeal on Tuesday thanks to new DNA evidence after spending almost 40 years in prison.
RASA Merseyside was set up to help victims of sexual violence after the 21-year-old was beaten to death in August 1986 as she walked home from a shift behind the bar at a Bebington pub.
Josephine Wood from the charity told the BBC they had been approached by several local people who told them police had the wrong man, but they would not reveal the identity to detectives.
These people did not share the name of the man they suspected was the real killer, and were unwilling to come forward as sources to help the investigation.
"I know that we were approached on occasions by people who felt they could come to us and talk to us because we'd been set up almost in memory to Diane and as a tribute to her," Ms Wood said.
"We were told on several occasions that the police had the wrong man.
"But we didn't have evidence, we didn't have anything to offer, we just knew what we'd been told and the people are adamant that you've got the wrong person.
"But without any evidence, without names, without people willing to come forward which is a really big deal, seriously what could be done?"
Josephine Wood said RASA Merseyside had been told on a number of occasions that Peter Sullivan was the wrong man
Ms Wood said some deprived areas around Birkenhead at the time had "tribal" and "tight-knit" communities that made it difficult for people to come forward.
"If something had happened in that estate it would be really hard for someone to actually come forward and say 'we know who this is', for fear of repercussions, for fear of what might happen," she said.
"I would like to think that maybe 40 years down the line we can actually now go back to those people and say 'come on tell us what you know'.
"Tell us what happened, you must feel safer now, you must feel a way that you can come forward, because if this guy hasn't done it somebody else has and we need to find out who that was."
After Mr Sullivan's acquittal, Merseyside Police issued an urgent appeal for anyone who had any suspicions about someone they believed could have committed the crime in 1986 to get in touch.
Det Ch Supt Karen Jaundrill said the force was desperate for information
Det Ch Supt Karen Jaundrill, head of investigations at the force, told the BBC she wanted the communities of Birkenhead to "try and reflect on any individuals that you weren't happy with at the time".
"It may be that somebody has passed away and you weren't happy with their behaviour at the time and you think they were linked," she said.
"My ask would be please contact us, regardless of how insignificant you think the information is, and let us judge where that fits into our investigation."
'Cannot admit'
Det Ch Supt Jaundrill said the force had been notified in 2023 that a new DNA profile had been extracted from semen samples preserved from the crime scene.
More than 260 men identified as part of the original investigation had been tested and eliminated as potential suspects.
Mr Sullivan's solicitor, Sarah Myatt, previously told the BBC that Mr Sullivan had "never lost hope" that he would be acquitted.
She said he continued to maintain his innocence despite the fact he would have had a much stronger case to be freed on licence if he had told the parole board he accepted what he had done.
Ms Myatt added: "He said 'I cannot admit to something I haven't done', even though that meant that the parole board would consider things in that way."
Fresh flowers have been left at a memorial to Diane Sindall
Both the Crown Prosecution Service and Merseyside Police said they appreciated the impact of the miscarriage of justice on Mr Sullivan, but said the technology to get a DNA profile from samples like the ones recovered did not exist until very recently.
The government runs a compensation scheme for victims of miscarriages of justice, which is capped at a maximum of £1m for those who spent more than 10 years in prison.
The Miscarriage of Justice Compensation Scheme is separate to any civil legal action that could be brought against any public authority.
Ms Myatt, from law firm Switalskis, said she and her colleagues would support any compensation claim Mr Sullivan wished to bring.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "We acknowledge the grave impact miscarriages of justice have and are committed to supporting individuals in rebuilding their lives.
"We are actively considering options to ensure any compensation properly supports people and will set out next steps in due course."
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The average cost of a place at a private school has increased by 22.6% in the last year – more than government estimates – after the introduction of VAT on fees, the body representing most UK independent schools says.
The Independent Schools Council (ISC) says it expects a reduction in pupils applying for private school as a result but that it is too soon to know the full effects of the policy, which was introduced mid-year.
The average termly fee for a day school in January was £7,382, which includes 20% VAT, according to the ISC. In January last year the average was £6,021.
But an HM Treasury spokesperson says the increase in fees are not only down to VAT and the data "misrepresents reality".
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the money raised would help "provide the highest quality of support and teaching" in the state sector.
At the time, the government predicted fees would increase by about 10% as a result of the changes, saying some schools would be able to absorb part of the cost.
The ISC says that many schools were able to reduce their fees, excluding VAT, in January to "cushion the impact" on parents.
But the ISC chief executive Julie Robinson says the sector has been hit a "triple whammy" of national insurance changes, an end to charitable business rates relief and "the blow of 20% VAT on fees".
"It seems clear to us that the government has underestimated the effect," she said.
"We know parents have already left the sector because of the threat of VAT coming in so we do expect the reality of this to lead to further decreases but the full effects will only become apparent over the next few years," Ms Robinson added.
The 22.6% increase in average fees compares with an 8.4% rise in 2024 and a 6.4% rise in 2023.
The figures were provided to the BBC by the ISC, which represents about 1,400 private schools across the UK. Its annual census, which looks at fees and pupil numbers, is conducted in January and is due to be released next week.
Kath decided to remove her 12-year-old son from his private school in October after she was made aware the fees would be increasing in January.
"We worked it out and it was unaffordable. Within two terms the cost was going up by 26% to almost £8,000 a term, " she says.
Her son has special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and she originally choose the private sector due to the small class sizes and support offered.
"We are a typical middle class family, we are not rolling in it, we have one second hand car and few holidays, we watch our money. At the very least I believe they should have brought it in at the start of the academic year."
"Moving him mid-year was a traumatic experience but we only had 15 days to take a place once we were offered one", she explains.
Kath has now started the process of applying for an education, health and care plan to help her son get the support he needs in his new school.
"The state system is stretched and underfunded. He is a happy and resilient boy and now we have to fight for his needs to be met."
Martyn Poynor
Headmaster at King's School in Gloucester, David Morton, says the increase in fees has been very hard on some parents.
David Morton, headmaster of The King's School in Gloucester, which charges pupils between £3,725 and £9,050 a term, says the policy is "misjudged".
"The government is trying to tax the more affluent areas of society in order to support the least affluent, but the wealthiest people have been affected the least."
"It's low to middle income families and those children on bursaries where the impact of VAT is being felt most," Mr Morton adds.
Given overall student numbers are set to fall by 700,000 in England by 2030, the government is confident that schools in the state sector will be able to accommodate any additional pupils moving from private schools.
Research by the think tank, the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS), says it would be possible for the state sector to easily accommodate extra pupils as the number leaving is bigger than the total number of children attending private schools.
The government says average fees in private schools have risen over the past 25 years and pupil numbers have remained steady.
Average fees have risen by 55% in real terms since 2003, even without VAT, according to the IFS.
"Ending tax breaks for private schools will raise £1.8 billion a year by 2029-30 to help deliver 6,500 new teachers and raise school standards, supporting the 94% of children in state schools to achieve and thrive", an HM Treasury spokesperson said.
US President Donald Trump and Qatar's Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani at a signing ceremony in Doha on Wednesday
In his eagerness to accept a plane from Qatar, Donald Trump has achieved a remarkable feat, uniting many partisans across America's bitter political divide.
The problem for the White House is that unity is happening in opposition to it.
Predictably, Trump's opponents in the Democratic Party slammed the president after he indicated he would accept a luxury jet from the Qatari royal family.
More noteworthy – and potentially more troubling for the president – is that some of his strongest supporters also have serious reservations about the deal, even as it's not yet finalised.
Maga influencers have described the move as a "bribe", grift, or an example of the high-level corruption that Trump himself has consistently promised root out.
The Qatari royal family plans to give the luxury Boeing 747-8, estimated to be worth $400m (£300m), to the US Department of Defence to be used as part of a fleet of planes dubbed Air Force One – the president's official mode of air travel.
The White House says that the new plane – which could require years and millions of dollars to refit and upgrade – will be transferred to Trump's presidential library at the end of his term.
Reuters
The Democratic National Committee flew its own aircraft over Trump's Florida resort on Wednesday, towing a mocking banner reading "Qatar-a-Lago"
"I think the technical term is 'skeezy'," deadpanned conservative Daily Wire commentator Ben Shapiro on his podcast.
"Qatar is not allegedly giving President Trump a $400m jet out of the goodness of their sweet little hearts," he said. "They try to stuff money into pockets in totally bipartisan fashion."
He and others pointed to allegations that Qatar has funnelled money into terrorist groups – allegations the country has denied – and called Qataris "the world's largest proponents of terrorism on an international scale."
Although she said she still supports the president, she called the plane deal "a stain" and posted a cartoon of the Trojan Horse, redrawn as a plane and filled with armed Islamist militants.
Watch: Qatar's luxury jet is "a nice gesture", says Donald Trump
Trump found little support for the plan in more mainstream outlets as well.
The New York Post, which usually can be counted on to back much of the populist Maga agenda, ran a blunt editorial: "Qatar's 'Palace in the Sky' jet is NOT a 'free gift' - and Trump shouldn't accept it as one."
And Mark Levin, a consistent cheerleader of the president on Fox News and his radio talk show, posted on X accusing Qatar of being a "terror state" and wrote: "Their jet and all the other things they are buying in our country does not provide them with the cover they seek".
When contacted by the BBC, the Qatari embassy in Washington pointed to an interview Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani gave CNN about the plane.
"It is a government-to-government transaction. It has nothing to do with personal relationships - neither on the US side, nor the Qatari side. It's between the two defence ministries," he said.
"Why would we buy influence in the United States?" he added, arguing Qatar has "always been a reliable and trusted partner. This is not a one-way relationship."
In response to criticism of the deal, the White House has doubled down. Trump's press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the administration was "committed to full transparency".
"Any gift given by a foreign government is always accepted in full compliance with all applicable laws," she said.
Getty Images
One of the ageing planes in the Air Force One fleet, pictured here taking off outside of Washington in 2024
Although there has been nothing offered in exchange for the plane, many commentators said it would be naïve to expect that that Qatari royal family would hand out such a large item with no strings attached.
"They very obviously see that if you reward Donald Trump with gifts, that may pay off down the road," Doug Heye, a political strategist and former communications director for the Republican National Committee, told the BBC. "Flattery gets you somewhere with Donald Trump, and we've seen that time and time again."
The US Constitution includes a clause preventing officials from accepting "any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State."
But the White House has pointed out that, at least to begin with, the plane is being gifted to the US government.
Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly investigated the legality of the deal and determined that because there are no explicit conditions attached, it would not amount to a bribe.
Conservatives and others were quick to point out that Bondi was registered as a lobbyist for Qatar prior to joining Trump's cabinet, at some points earning up to $115,0000 (£87,000) a month from her work for the Qatari government.
The Trump Organisation also continues to maintain links to Qatar and last month announced a deal to build a luxury golf resort in the country.
Getty Images
Attorney General Pam Bondi is a former lobbyist
During a news conference at the White House on Tuesday the president berated a reporter who raised questions about the ethics of the transaction.
"What do you say to people who view that luxury jet as a personal gift to you?" asked ABC reporter Rachel Scott.
"You should be embarrassed asking that question," Trump replied, after using his standard "fake news" jibe.
"They're giving us a free jet," the president said. "I could say 'No, no, no, don't give us, I want to pay you a billion or 400 million'… or I could say 'thank you very much'."
On Truth Social, the president later reposted several messages pointing out that the Statue of Liberty was a gift from France, and wrote late Tuesday: "The Boeing 747 is being given to the United States Air Force/Department of Defense, NOT TO ME!"
"Only a FOOL would not accept this gift on behalf of our Country," he wrote.
However even some within Trump's Republican Party were expressing concern.
"I think it's not worth the appearance of impropriety, whether it's improper or not," Rand Paul, Republican senator from Kentucky, told Fox News.
"I wonder if our ability to judge [Qatar's] human rights record will be clouded by the fact of this large gift," Paul said.
Another Republican senator, Ted Cruz of Texas, said accepting the gift would pose "significant espionage and surveillance problems".
Trump did find some support within his party. "Free is good. You know, we don't have a lot of money right now to buy things like that," Sen Tommy Tuberville told CNN.
Doug Heye, the Republican strategist, suggested that the deal might not hurt Trump's popularity with his base in the long term.
"Trump has been able for years now to turn scandals that would otherwise be debilitating for other politicians into things that we forget," he said. "He's very skilled at that."
A family unearthed more than a thousand vintage bottles in their back garden
Scratching the surface of a planned vegetable plot in a back garden has been a journey of discovery for one family.
Underneath a mound of earth and nestled away for decades on a property in Pontypool, Torfaen, were more than 1,000 vintage bottles.
Some beer bottles and medicinal glass jars have been brought to the surface - but their existence in just one spot is "puzzling", said mum-of-two Zoe Brown.
"We started digging and found there's loads of rubbish - we went a metre down and found a whole bottle and thought this is really cool - maybe there's more stuff.
Zoe said after they moved the family decided to "do the house up a bit at first" but there was a nice outdoor space to decided to work on that, and "maybe grow some veg".
Upon finding the bottles she said she emailed a lady who told her that before the war people had to get rid of their own rubbish, and said "if you go any deeper you will find out more".
Zoe Brown
Zoe Brown found out there used to be a rubbish tip in the area
"There's quite a lot all over the place, we found an old wall there as well. Glasses were popping up we were picking them out, there's over 1,000 bottles altogether - we picked loads out but some of them are still in the garden."
After using a mechanical digger and finding more than they anticipated - Zoe decided to call it a day.
"I washed hundreds of them out and my boy Reg and my little girl Tilly chose the ones they liked."
Zoe Brown
The Brown family found more than 1,000 vintage bottles after they started digging up their garden
As well brewery bottles from Abersychan, Rhymney, Newport and Cardiff there were also vintage bottles featuring Abergavenny's Morgans and Evans.
"There's loads of brewery ones - and little jars like the ones from Boots the Chemist with little tablespoon marks on the side, and one find was like a bottle of hair gel with a comb marking on it - where you dip the comb in and wash your hair.
"I emailed some auction places but there's too much to go through. We wheeled them up to the back of the garden - some of them had liquids in them so we had to be careful."
Zoe added: "We've got loads of flowers there now- rather than grow veg because of the liquids we found. We knew the area had glass in it because when it rains glass keeps on popping up.
"Part of you wants to keep going but where do you cut off? It got to the point where it's level and that's enough.
"There's easy 1000 little jars and bottles which have come out."
Watch: BBC joins Gazans airlifted abroad for treatment after 19 months of war
We were flying through the warm light of the setting sun. There were villages and small towns where the lights were coming on. It was a peaceful landscape where people walked and drove without constantly looking to the sky.
We were over the suburbs of Amman when Safa'a Salha held up her mobile phone so that I could read a message she'd written.
"Oh my God," this Gaza mother wrote, "Jordan is so beautiful."
The evacuees had come to the Jordanian border by road. I joined them there for the final part of the journey by helicopter to Amman.
Safa'a spoke very little English, and in any case the noise of the helicopter made it impossible to converse.
She showed me another message. "We used to see this [helicopter] every day and it was coming to bomb and kill. But today the feeling is totally different."
Next to her sat her 16-year-old son Youssef who showed me the scar on his head from his last surgery. He smiled and wanted to speak, not of Gaza but ordinary things. How he was excited by the helicopter, how he liked football. Youssef said he was very happy and gave me a fist bump.
Beside him was nine-year-old Sama Awad, frail and scared-looking, holding the hand of her mother, Isra. Sama has a brain tumour and will have surgery in Amman.
"I hope she can get the best treatment here," said Isra, when we were on the ground and the noise of the engines faded.
I asked a question which had been answered for me many times by looking at images, but not face to face by someone who had just left.
What is Gaza like now?
"It is horrible. It is impossible to describe. Horrible on so many levels. But people are just trying to get on with living," Isra replied.
Thirty-three children have been evacuated in total to Jordan from Gaza to receive medical treatment
Four sick children were evacuated to Jordan along with twelve parents and guardians. They left Gaza by ambulance on Wednesday morning and travelled through Israel without stopping until they reached the border crossing.
The plan to evacuate children was first unveiled during a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Jordan's King Hussein in February.
Jordan's stated aim is to bring 2,000 sick children to the kingdom for treatment. So far only 33 have been evacuated to Jordan, each travelling with a parent or guardian.
Jordanian sources say Israel has delayed and imposed restrictions and this - along with the resumption of the war - has impeded the evacuation process. Sick Gazans have also been evacuated to other countries via Israel.
We put the Jordanian concerns to the Israeli government organisation responsible - Cogat (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories) - who told us that since "the beginning of the year, and especially in recent weeks, there has been a significant increase in the number of Gazans evacuated through Israel for medical care abroad."
Cogat said thousands of patients and escorts had gone to countries, including Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, the US and others. The statement said that "the ongoing hostilities in the Gaza Strip pose a challenge to the implementation of these evacuation operations."
Israel broke the last ceasefire in March launching a wave of attacks on what it said were Hamas positions.
Gaza remains a claustrophobic zone of hunger and death for its residents. Those who get out for medical treatment are the exception.
According to the UN the population of 2.1 million is facing the risk of famine. The organisation's head of humanitarian affairs, Tom Fletcher, has appealed to the UN Security Council to act to "prevent genocide" in Gaza.
These are strong words for a man trained in the sober traditions of the British Foreign Office and who has served as an ambassador and senior government advisor.
The Israeli blockade is preventing essential aid supplies from reaching the population. That along with the continued bombing explain Isra Abu Jame's description of a place horrible beyond words.
The children who arrived in Jordan on Wednesday from Gaza will join a small community of other wounded and sick youngsters in different Amman hospitals.
Since January we have been following the case of Habiba Al-Askari, who came with her mother Rana in the hope doctors might be able to save three gangrene infected limbs - two arms, and a leg.
But the infection - caused by a rare skin condition - had gone too far. Habiba underwent a triple amputation.
Habiba Al-Askari's mother hopes she will return to Gaza one day.
When I met Habiba and Rana again this week, the little girl was using the toes of her remaining foot to scroll, and play children's games on her mum's phone. She blew kisses with the stump of her arm. This was a very different child to the frightened girl I met on the helicopter evacuation five months ago.
"She's a strong person," Rana said. Habiba will be fitted with prosthetic limbs. Already she is determined to walk, asking her mother to hold under her armpits while she hops.
Some day, Rana hopes, she will take Habiba back to Gaza. Mother and child are safe and well cared for in Amman, but their entire world, their family and neighbours are back in the ruins. Concerns about Habiba's health make Rana reluctant to contemplate going back soon.
"We have no house. If we want go back where will we go? We would be going back to a tent full of sand…[but] I truly want to return. Gaza is beautiful, despite everything that has happened. To me Gaza will always be the most precious spot on this entire earth."
They will return. But to war or peace? Nobody knows.
With additional reporting by Alice Doyard, Suha Kawar, Nik Millard and Malaak Khassouneh.
Siblings Harry (left), Roman (right) and Elsa were all abandoned as newborns
Police searching for the parents of three newborn babies, all abandoned in east London minutes after their birth, say they are now focusing on about 400 nearby houses.
Despite police appeals, the parents of the three babies have still not been identified.
Over the last five weeks, detectives searching for the parents have given BBC News access to part of their operation.
They allowed us to follow officers going door-to-door asking residents to provide DNA samples to see if they are connected to the babies.
They are also contacting people they have found using the national DNA database who may share familial DNA with the children's mother.
Officers who recently met Elsa told the BBC the toddler is a bright girl who is curious and engaging.
PA Media
Baby Elsa was found inside a carrier bag near the Greenway footpath, on January 18, 2024
It was on 17 September 2017, when the first baby, Harry, was found, over a mile to the west of the spot Elsa was left - just north of the Greenway, a four-mile long footpath and cycleway in Newham. He'd been left in a bush in Plaistow Park, wrapped in a towel.
Sixteen months later, his sister Roman was discovered on a bench by a dog walker in the small children's play park, in Roman Road.
She was found on a freezing evening, at about 22:15. Roman was wrapped in a towel, inside a Sainsbury's shopping bag.
The babies' names were given to them by emergency staff who helped them - they have all since been changed.
DNA tests revealed that Harry and Roman were full siblings, however, that information wasn't initially made public.
It was only when Elsa was found five years later, and the case came before the family court, that we were able to report all three babies had the same parents.
Det Insp Jamie Humm, who became the case's senior investigating officer after Elsa was found, says "it wasn't a huge shock" when DNA confirmed she was the sister of the other two babies.
Elsa had been abandoned just a few minutes' walk from where Roman was found.
For the first 12 months after taking on the investigation, Det Insp Humm assumed the babies' mother was able to contact police, but had been reluctant to do so.
His team scoured the area, knocking on doors, talking to local people, but no-one had seen or heard anything.
"Now my strong feeling is that [the mother is] not able to come forward," says Det Insp Humm.
He believes the babies' mother may be restrained in some way - or she may have mental or physical health problems.
Police have been working closely with experts from the National Crime Agency (NCA), as well as psychological and geographical profilers.
They assume the mother left the babies herself. Paediatric experts advised that in war zones, for example, mothers have given birth then "got up and walked" immediately.
Police also believe the mother knows the local area well.
She avoided CCTV cameras and witnesses, yet placed all the babies in locations where they were likely to be found quickly.
Analysis of CCTV footage led officers to rule out the mother using a car to get to the sites - instead they believe she walked along the Greenway.
There is now CCTV where Elsa was found, however, there was none in January 2024, when she was abandoned.
Police are door-knocking in an area near the Greenway, an open space where Elsa was found
Det Supt Lewis Basford, who has taken on strategic oversight of the investigation, acknowledged that conventional techniques have failed to identify the parents so far.
Now, he says the Met is putting a lot of emphasis on the investigation to open up new lines of enquiry.
To do that, they're using DNA testing, often used in homicides, in a novel way.
First, they have searched the national database to find partial matches. That throws up many thousands of names. They've used other information to focus on people who might be related to the parents.
Det Insp Humm and his team are focusing on about 300 names, and are planning to see them all in person.
Working with the NCA, they have also identified about 400 homes close to the eastern section of the Greenway, from where the mother could have walked with a baby and avoided CCTV.
They're cross-referencing those addresses with information from the electoral roll and other agencies to find the most likely locations, for someone who may be connected with the parents.
In teams of two, officers knock on doors to request DNA samples. Det Sgt Laurence Dight says they generally receive a warm response. People have heard about the babies and want to help.
He says people are often happy to take the test. Some have refused, which is within their rights.
Once they have collected samples, they analyse them, and decide on the next steps.
In the local community, many are mystified. The congregation of East Ham Baptist Church brings together people from all over the world.
They regularly hold prayers for the mother and babies. Pastor George Tikum, originally from Cameroon, said it is possible that the parents are here illegally, and left the babies because they'd have a more secure life if adopted.
He says the mystery has turned many locals into amateur detectives.
"I still think the answer lies with one person coming forward and just giving those answers to Elsa and her siblings as to what happened to them and why it happened," says Det Insp Humm.
His concern is for the babies' mother - and any future children. Officers describe the survival of the three newborns as "miraculous" and worry a fourth child might not be so fortunate.
PA
Baby Elsa was found inside a Boots bag on the Greenway, in Newham, east London
Elsa is now just over one year old and is toddling and bright.
Det Insp Humm says he met her a couple of months ago, with police colleagues. She was "very curious" he says. "Very engaging. No fear."
Hospital staff called her Elsa - found, only an hour old, on the coldest night of the year - after the character in the Disney film Frozen.
Now in foster care, Elsa has made what family court judge Carol Atkinson calls "astonishing progress".
Det Insp Humm says when officers recently met her "everyone was struggling to keep their emotions in check".
"The one who wasn't was Elsa, she was just the happiest, coolest," he said. "I think she's going to make everyone proud - she'll make her mum proud as well."
The average cost of a place at a private school has increased by 22.6% in the last year – more than government estimates – after the introduction of VAT on fees, the body representing most UK independent schools says.
The Independent Schools Council (ISC) says it expects a reduction in pupils applying for private school as a result but that it is too soon to know the full effects of the policy, which was introduced mid-year.
The average termly fee for a day school in January was £7,382, which includes 20% VAT, according to the ISC. In January last year the average was £6,021.
But an HM Treasury spokesperson says the increase in fees are not only down to VAT and the data "misrepresents reality".
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the money raised would help "provide the highest quality of support and teaching" in the state sector.
At the time, the government predicted fees would increase by about 10% as a result of the changes, saying some schools would be able to absorb part of the cost.
The ISC says that many schools were able to reduce their fees, excluding VAT, in January to "cushion the impact" on parents.
But the ISC chief executive Julie Robinson says the sector has been hit a "triple whammy" of national insurance changes, an end to charitable business rates relief and "the blow of 20% VAT on fees".
"It seems clear to us that the government has underestimated the effect," she said.
"We know parents have already left the sector because of the threat of VAT coming in so we do expect the reality of this to lead to further decreases but the full effects will only become apparent over the next few years," Ms Robinson added.
The 22.6% increase in average fees compares with an 8.4% rise in 2024 and a 6.4% rise in 2023.
The figures were provided to the BBC by the ISC, which represents about 1,400 private schools across the UK. Its annual census, which looks at fees and pupil numbers, is conducted in January and is due to be released next week.
Kath decided to remove her 12-year-old son from his private school in October after she was made aware the fees would be increasing in January.
"We worked it out and it was unaffordable. Within two terms the cost was going up by 26% to almost £8,000 a term, " she says.
Her son has special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and she originally choose the private sector due to the small class sizes and support offered.
"We are a typical middle class family, we are not rolling in it, we have one second hand car and few holidays, we watch our money. At the very least I believe they should have brought it in at the start of the academic year."
"Moving him mid-year was a traumatic experience but we only had 15 days to take a place once we were offered one", she explains.
Kath has now started the process of applying for an education, health and care plan to help her son get the support he needs in his new school.
"The state system is stretched and underfunded. He is a happy and resilient boy and now we have to fight for his needs to be met."
Martyn Poynor
Headmaster at King's School in Gloucester, David Morton, says the increase in fees has been very hard on some parents.
David Morton, headmaster of The King's School in Gloucester, which charges pupils between £3,725 and £9,050 a term, says the policy is "misjudged".
"The government is trying to tax the more affluent areas of society in order to support the least affluent, but the wealthiest people have been affected the least."
"It's low to middle income families and those children on bursaries where the impact of VAT is being felt most," Mr Morton adds.
Given overall student numbers are set to fall by 700,000 in England by 2030, the government is confident that schools in the state sector will be able to accommodate any additional pupils moving from private schools.
Research by the think tank, the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS), says it would be possible for the state sector to easily accommodate extra pupils as the number leaving is bigger than the total number of children attending private schools.
The government says average fees in private schools have risen over the past 25 years and pupil numbers have remained steady.
Average fees have risen by 55% in real terms since 2003, even without VAT, according to the IFS.
"Ending tax breaks for private schools will raise £1.8 billion a year by 2029-30 to help deliver 6,500 new teachers and raise school standards, supporting the 94% of children in state schools to achieve and thrive", an HM Treasury spokesperson said.
Harvard Law School paid just $27.50 (then about £7) for the document in 1946
A manuscript once considered an unofficial "copy" of the Magna Carta is now believed to be a genuine version and ''one of the world's most valuable documents'', according to UK academics.
Harvard Law School paid $27.50 (then about £7) for it in 1946 and for years it has remained tucked away in its library, its true identity unknown.
But two medieval history professors have concluded it is an extraordinarily rare and lost original Magna Carta from 1300, in the reign of King Edward I, that could be worth millions.
''This is a fantastic discovery," said Prof David Carpenter from King's College London, who began analysing it after seeing digitised images of it on the US university's website.
"It is the last Magna Carta... [and it] deserves celebration, not as some mere copy, stained and faded, but as an original of one of the most significant documents in world constitutional history; a cornerstone of freedoms past, present and yet to be won."
He said he was "absolutely astonished" that not only had he discovered this authentic version, but that, over the years, no-one seemed to know what they had and that it had been sold "for peanuts".
According to Harvard's library accession register, the document catalogued as HLS MS 172 was acquired in 1946 and was described in an auction catalogue as a "copy made in 1327… somewhat rubbed and damp-stained".
Nicholas Vincent/UEA
The auction catalogue said the document was from 1327
The Magna Carta is a charter first issued by King John in 1215 that guaranteed the liberties and rights of his subjects and also placed the Crown under the authority of the law.
Considered a key step in the evolution of human rights against oppressive rulers, Magna Carta has influenced the framing of constitutions around the world.
The document - which was circulated across the counties of England - was reissued after 1215 by successive kings through the years to 1300, meaning "there may have been 200 originals", said Prof Nicholas Vincent of the University of East Anglia, Norwich, who helped Prof Carpenter establish the Harvard document's authenticity and provenance.
Today, 25 of these originals survive from the various editions between 1215 and 1300, most of which are in the UK.
There are two more in Washington DC's National Archives, and one in Parliament House in Canberra, Australia.
King's College London
Prof David Carpenter is "astonished" at the discovery he made
"It is an icon both of the Western political tradition and of constitutional law," said Prof Vincent.
''If you asked anybody what the most famous single document in the history of the world is, they would probably name Magna Carta."
MB Toth/RB Toth Associates
The document was tucked away in the archives for decades
The professors, who spent a year researching Harvard's document, believe it is from the town of Appleby, Cumbria.
They think the trail from Appleby to Harvard involves the Lowthers, a land-owning family who gave the Magna Carta to Thomas Clarkson, a leading abolitionist of the 1780s.
Clarkson's estate passed through a series of heirs to the Maynard family, then at the end of 1945, AVM Forster Maynard sold it at auction at Sotheby's.
A London bookseller paid £42 for the document, months before Harvard bought it for a fraction of that price.
As for its value today, Prof Vincent said: "I would hesitate to suggest a figure, but the 1297 Magna Carta that sold at auction in New York in 2007 fetched $21m [about £10.5m at the time], so we're talking about a very large sum of money."
Phil Barnes Photography
Prof Vincent says the provenance of Harvard's charter is "particularly wonderful"
MB Toth/RB Toth Associates
The document known as HLS MS 172 underwent extensive testing
Because HLS MS 172 is in places badly faded, the academics worked not from the original but from pictures obtained using ultraviolet light and spectral imaging.
They discovered that the handwriting and dimensions were consistent with those of the six previously known 1300 originals.
They also did a detailed check of the actual text. Because the wording of Magna Carta evolved over the years, the words and their order needed to be identical to that found in the other 1300 originals.
It passed this test "with flying colours". The identity of the text was "the crucial proof", explained Prof Carpenter.
Lorin Granger/Harvard Law School
The writing and word order of HLS MS 172 matched originals of the charter from 1300
Congratulating the academics for their discovery, Amanda Watson, Harvard Law School's assistant dean for library services, said this exemplified what happened when collections were opened to brilliant scholars.
"Behind every scholarly revelation stands the essential work of librarians, who not only collect and preserve materials, but create pathways that otherwise would remain hidden," she said.
The professors are hopeful Harvard's Magna Carta will soon be displayed to the public so its message and significance can be more widely known.
Ulrich Janse van Vuuren has made it his passion to share and showcase some of South Africa's best features with his legion of social media followers.
The 38-year-old white South African often takes snapshots capturing scenes such as a cold Johannesburg morning, the purple Jacaranda trees famously associated with Pretoria or Cape Town's popular beachfronts.
"Promoting South Africa is something I am passionate about - I have no intention of taking up [US President Donald Trump's] offer because South Africa is my home," the proud Afrikaner tells the BBC, days after a small group of his fellow white compatriots left South Africa for their new life as refugees in the US.
The US president, and his South-Africa born ally Elon Musk, says that white Afrikaners are being persecuted in their home country, and that they are being subjected to a "genocide".
Although some white farmers have been attacked and killed, South Africa has one of the world's highest murder rates, so this is an issue that affects all of its citizens, whatever their race.
"For me, South Africa is home. It's a place where my roots and heritage are, where I can contribute to the story of our nation and make a meaningful impact," said Mr Janse van Vuuren, who has more than one million followers on social media.
"I'm deeply invested in South Africa's success and I am proud to be part of its journey."
And while he wished those who have taken up Trump's offer all the best in the US and urged them to "not look back", he insisted that none of them were refugees, but rather "opportunists".
"They've enjoyed more than their share of South Africa's resources and privileges, and none are fleeing racial persecution," he said.
Thirty years after the end of the racist system of apartheid, average living standards among South Africa's white community remain far higher than for the black majority.
Mr Janse van Vuuren said that the debate about the status of Afrikaners in South Africa had only served to make him "more determined than ever to step up and contribute to South Africa in every way I can".
Four centuries after the first group of Dutch settlers arrived in what is now South Africa, most Afrikaners regard themselves as fully African – as seen in the name – and no longer identify with their European roots.
But many are unhappy both with the high crime rate and the government's policies aimed at reducing economic inequality in the country – especially a law passed earlier this year that allowed the government to seize land without compensation "when it is just and equitable and in the public interest". White South Africans are 7% of the country's population, but own half of its farmland.
Some Afrikaners are farmers and see the law as being aimed at them.
Trump said the legislation prompted him to offer to help resettle "Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination".
The status of white South African farmers has long been a rallying cry on the right and far-right of American politics.
But despite numerous claims in the past of the systematic targeting of the country's white Afrikaner minority group, local crime statistics figures paint a different picture.
South Africa does not release crime figures based on race but the latest figures revealed that 6,953 people were murdered in the country between October and December 2024. Of these, 12 were killed in farm attacks. Of the 12, one was a farmer, while five were farm dwellers and four were employees, who are likely to have been black.
Getty Images
The first group of 59 Afrikaner refugees are looking forward to their new lives in the US
The arrival of the group drew dismay and outrage across South Africa, as the country's civil society and leadership sought to dispel the claims that the white minority was being persecuted.
"They are leaving because they don't want to embrace the changes that are taking place in our country and our constitution," said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The president's sentiments were echoed by many South Africans, including Mr Janse van Vuuren, who is proud of his Afrikaner origins.
While he was not raised in a farming family, he has relatives and friends in agriculture who have been victims of crime.
He said that while it was undeniable that some farmers faced "genuine threats and hardships", it was important to be cautious "when discussing claims of persecution or discrimination that portray an entire group as victims of targeted violence or systemic oppression".
While many white South Africans echo Mr Janse van Vuuren's sentiments, there are also those who see themselves as a persecuted minority.
Among them is Ilse Steenkamp, who along with her family, has applied for the programme but has not received feedback. She did not want us to use her real name.
Ms Steenkamp, 47, and her husband, both Afrikaners, were commercial farmers but said they had lost their land recently after it was invaded by people who "took over the whole farm" just as they were about to sell it in order to "downscale".
She said they had bought the land two decades ago, after the end of apartheid.
The people who invaded destroyed critical infrastructure, making it impossible to sell, she said.
Despite efforts to have them removed through the courts, Ms Steenkamp said they were forced to abandon the land as it was repossessed by the bank.
Ms Steenkamp said that while she and her family were familiar with South Africa's high crime levels and often tried to "not let it get us under", this latest attack "was the straw that broke the camel's back".
Even though her family were eager to embrace Trump's offer when it was first announced, the mother-of-three told the BBC that the decision to leave "was very difficult because you're... leaving a whole way of life".
Asked whether it was unfair that Afrikaners were being granted refugee status at a time when the US was cracking down on refugees and asylum seekers from everywhere else in the world, Ms Steenkamp said she "completely disagreed".
She pointed to assaults on farmers, saying there was a "hatred that seems to go with these attacks".
"Any farmer that has gone through that [kind of] attack and is now wanting to flee, I think should be treated as a refugee because they are fleeing from a government that will not even admit that these things are happening," she said.
EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
Afrikaners make up about half of South Africa's white community
Sam Busà, 60, is another white South African who has applied for the refugee programme.
She is the founder of Amerikaners, a platform aimed at providing information to white South Africans interested in the US resettlement offer.
While Ms Busà, who is of English, not Afrikaner, descent, and her three sons have submitted their applications, they have not been interviewed yet.
While it was initially believed that the executive order, vague in its original wording, only applied to white Afrikaners, Ms Busà said it "clearly is targeting white South Africans".
On Monday, the US embassy in South Africa released a statement clarifying the criteria for those applying for resettlement, which said applicants need to be:
Of South African nationality
Afrikaner or from a racial minority
Able to cite an incident of past persecution or fear of persecution in the future
Responding to the criticism that they were not genuine refugees, Ms Busà said: "When someone strips away your hope for the future, even though you're not in a warzone... someone ripping away your dreams and hope for the future, that is very dramatic. It's a mental anguish and emotional abuse in a sense."
But Dr Piet Croucamp, an associate professor in political studies at South Africa's North West University, disagreed, echoing the view that those taking up this offer were not refugees as "South Africa does not persecute people".
Rather, he speculated that it may be those who have been victims of a crime and "could define their existence as an unsecure one".
Dr Croucamp, who is an Afrikaner, said that while he did not expect a significant number of white South Africans to follow suit, there would always be "opportunistic" people taking advantage of the situation.
"This is a small group of people leaving – the vast majority of Afrikaners are going nowhere and they have expressed themselves. Even the right-wing Afrikaners… [like] AfriForum and Solidarityhave said they are not going anywhere. So even within Afrikaner circles, this is a small group of people," he said.
Despite their criticism of the government and its race-based policies, prominent Afrikaner lobby groups AfriForum and the Solidarity Movement have both reiterated their intention to remain in South Africa.
AfriForum said that while the government was to blame for the departure of the group granted refugee status, they would stay and continue their "efforts to help create a future for Afrikaners here at the southern tip of Africa".
This is a view with which Mr Janse van Vuuren agreed.
"While some may choose to leave as refugees, the majority of us are here to stay, working together to build a better future for all in South Africa."
MPs looked at the cases of Philippa Day (L) and Errol Graham (R) who both died after DWP errors in managing their benefits
MPs are calling for a change in the law to prevent benefit claimants from suffering harm at the hands of the government department that is meant to help them.
Several people have died in recent years after failures by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
A cross-party committee of MPs says new legislation and "deep-rooted cultural change" at the DWP are needed to protect vulnerable clients.
A DWP spokesperson said the government was "currently consulting on a new safeguarding approach" which "genuinely supports vulnerable people".
In recent years, the deaths of Errol Graham, Philippa Day and Kevin Gale have seen the DWP widely criticized for its handling of vulnerable clients.
Kevin Gale died by suicide in 2022, having been diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety, exacerbated by his universal credit application
In Mr Gale's case, the coroner highlighted "that current DWP procedures may not be practical for those with mental health illness and can exacerbate symptoms".
The inquest heard of the number and length of DWP forms that claimants were required to complete, the length of telephone queues for DWP advisers, and the requirement to travel long distances for appointments for people affected by mental health illness.
Thursday's report, from the Work and Pensions Select Committee, reveals the deaths of at least 274 people have been investigated internally by the DWP in since April 2015.
Such inquiries - Internal Process Reviews - are launched when there is an allegation that a case has been mishandled by the DWP which has potentially contributed to serious harm or a safeguarding concern.
During the same period, 58 reviews were opened into cases where customers suffered harm - but the MPs said the scale of the failings was likely to be greater.
"That people continue to face harm after dealing with the DWP is a self-evident failure of safeguarding in the system," said committee chair Debbie Abrahams MP.
"Until recently, getting people back into work to cut costs had been prioritised over providing support and care for vulnerable people," Ms Abrahams added.
"We heard evidence that the process of engaging with the DWP... too often led to mental distress.
"Deep-rooted cultural change of the DWP is desperately needed to rebuild trust and put safeguarding at the heart of policy development.
"Introducing a statutory duty to safeguard vulnerable claimants for the department is a fundamental part of this."
A new law, holding the secretary of state accountable for safeguarding clients, would ensure that everyone saw it as their responsibility to protect claimants, says the committee.
'Nasty and traumatic'
Carl, 44, a former roofer from Croydon, south London, said his first interaction with the DWP "felt quite a nasty and traumatic experience".
He had struggled for 18 months with a degenerative back condition that had left him with mobility issues and constant pain, requiring strong painkillers.
In 2018, after trying a variety of less manual roles, such as plastering and carpet fitting, he realised he could no longer hold down a job.
He applied for universal credit, his first ever benefit application, which led to an appointment at his local job centre.
Carl says the work coach was "very dismissive and patronising".
"He said: 'If you want money from us, you're going to have to jump through these hoops.'
"It almost felt like he was trying to imply that I was being dishonest and I was putting it on.
"It was a very uncaring response. I wanted support to get a non-manual job."
'Absolutely life-changing'
Former rough sleeper Sharon Johnstone, now a charity worker, welcomes the MPs' recommendations
Shannon Johnstone, 28, who found herself sleeping rough about seven years ago before turning to the DWP for help, said the recommendations "are going to be absolutely life-changing for people... if they're done right".
At the start of her claim, she remembers the DWP told her: "We can't help with your homelessness," which she says was understandable but off-putting.
She does not know if they referred her case to homeless organisations as she was never told. Now she welcomes the recommendation to include the views of people with lived experience in the design, planning and implementation of DWP policy.
"People who have gone through the system understand what it feels like to be interviewed by a [DWP] inspector," says Shannon who now works for the charity, Expert Link.
"They understand what it's like to gather lots of paperwork, so by including them in the design of the system, it's going to work so much better."
In a statement, the DWP said the government was committed to protecting the people who use its services "and fixing the broken welfare system we inherited so it works for those who need it".
"That's why we are currently consulting on a new safeguarding approach and our reforms will improve people's lives and rebuild trust, by establishing an approach that genuinely supports vulnerable people."
The spokesperson added that the government was encouraging people to have their voices heard in the consultation and help build a system "that works better for all".
Israel is preparing a series of sites in Gaza that could be used as distribution centres for humanitarian aid in a controversial new plan, satellite images show.
The Israeli government suspended food and medicine deliveries into Gaza in March.
Ministers said the move, which has been condemned by UN, European and Middle Eastern leaders, was intended to put pressure on Hamas to release its remaining hostages. Israel also accused Hamas of stealing aid – an allegation the group has denied.
The UN has said the blockade has caused severe shortages of food, medicines and fuel, and an assessment on Monday warned that Gaza's population of around 2.1 million people was at "critical risk" of famine.
The US confirmed last week that it was preparing a new system for providing aid from a series of hubs inside Gaza, which would be run by private companies and protected by security contractors and Israeli forces.
Images analysed by BBC Verify show that land has already been cleared, with new roads and staging areas constructed at a number of locations in southern and central Gaza in recent weeks.
Israel has not publicly said where the hubs will be, but humanitarian sources - briefed previously by Israeli officials - told BBC Verify that at least four centres will be built in the southern section of Gaza and one further north near the Netzarim Corridor, a strip of land controlled by the military that effectively divides the territory.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation - an organisation set up to support the plan - initially said food, water and hygiene kits would be supplied to 1.2 million people, less than 60% of the population.
On Wednesday it announced it would start operations before the end of May, and appeared to call for Israel to allow aid through normal channels until its distribution centres were fully operational. It also called for aid hubs to be built in northern Gaza, something not envisaged under the original plan.
UN agencies have insisted they will not co-operate with the plan - which is in line with one previously approved by Israel's government - saying it contradicted fundamental humanitarian principles.
A spokesperson for the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) accused Israel of seeking to use "food and fuel as leverage, as part of a military strategy".
"All aid would be channelled through a handful of militarised hubs," Olga Cherevko told BBC Verify.
"That kind of arrangement would cut off vast areas of Gaza – particularly the most vulnerable, who can't move easily, or are otherwise marginalised – from any help at all."
Meanwhile, Bushra Khalidi of Oxfam described the new plan as a "farce".
"No logistical solution is going to address Israel's strategy of forcible displacement and using starvation as a weapon of war. Lift the siege, open the crossings and let us do our job."
It is understood that the proposed new system has not yet had final sign-off from the Israeli government.
'Secure distribution sites'
BBC Verify used satellite imagery to identify four potential sites based on the limited available information about their locations.
The sites are similar in size, shape and design to existing open-air distribution sites inside Gaza, such as at Erez, Erez West and Kisufim. The largest site we've looked at is bigger - more comparable to the area inside Gaza at Kerem Shalom crossing.
Our analysis of the imagery shows significant development at one of the sites in south-west Gaza, close to the ruins of a village that is now an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) base.
Satellite photos since early April show the construction of a road there and a large staging area, surrounded by berms - large defensive barriers made of piled sand - about 650m (2,130ft) from the border with Egypt.
A high-resolution image captured on 8 May shows bulldozers and excavators working on a section of land spanning about 20 acres (8 hectares). IDF armoured vehicles are at a fortified building nearby.
A photo taken on site, geolocated by BBC Verify, also shows lighting being installed on the perimeter.
Further imagery from 11 and 12 May shows this, along with three other sites, continuing to expand. One site is about half a kilometre from a collection of eight UN warehouses, and 280m from another large warehouse.
Stu Ray - a senior imagery analyst with McKenzie Intelligence - agreed the sites were likely to be secure distribution centres. He noted that some of the facilities are in "close proximity to IDF Forward Operating Bases which ties in with the IDF wishing to have some control over the sites".
Analysts with another intelligence firm, Maiar, said the facilities appeared to be designed with separate entrances for trucks to move in and out, and with other gaps in the berms that would be suitable for pedestrian entrances.
The IDF did not comment on the potential aid centres when approached by BBC Verify, but said that its operations in Gaza were carried out "in accordance with international law". Cogat - the Israeli body responsible for managing crossings into Gaza - did not respond to a request for comment.
Three of the four sites located by BBC Verify are south of the IDF's newly created Morag Corridor.
What is the Morag Corridor?
This is an Israeli military zone that runs across the Gaza Strip and separates the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah.
Since the IDF established a security zone there in early April, a six-mile (10km) road has been built covering two thirds of the width of Gaza, bordered by defensive berms and dotted with IDF outposts.
This new road leads directly to one of the development sites visible in satellite imagery, and a pre-existing road connects it to two more.
This entire area has been subjected to extensive land clearance by the IDF. BBC Verify has geolocated video and images of areas throughout the Morag Corridor, and south of it, filmed by Israeli forces, which show controlled demolitions using explosives and heavy machinery, and extensive destruction of buildings.
Humanitarian sources said Israeli briefings indicated that aid would enter Gaza via Kerem Shalom crossing.
Satellite imagery shows ongoing construction work happening there too over the past few months, with the apparent expansion of its storage areas, and new roads added.
Since Israel stopped new aid supplies in March, the UN has reiterated that it has an obligation under international law to ensure that the basic needs of the population under its control are met.
Israel has insisted that it is complying with international law and that there is no shortage of aid in Gaza.
Many Palestinians displaced from other areas are sheltering in Gaza City
Israel has issued one of the most sweeping evacuation orders for civilians in Gaza yet seen in this war.
Large swathes of Gaza City, a conurbation already partially destroyed by bombing, have been declared unsafe, the residents taking shelter there told to leave for their own safety ahead of "intense strikes" by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Among the buildings highlighted by Israel are the Islamic University, Al-Shifa Hospital and three former schools.
While Israel alleges that the buildings are being used by Hamas as "command and control centres", local authorities and aid agencies say there are thousands of civilians sheltering there.
Evacuating these areas would require time, they say, and there could be huge numbers of casualties.
It's an ominous sign of Israel's threat to significantly expand its military campaign in Gaza.
The former Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, has been one of very few senior Israelis so far to speak out against expanding the military campaign in Gaza.
In an interview with the BBC, Olmert said: "Most Israelis are against what is happening, large numbers of the [army's] commanders are against expanding the military operation and want to end the war right now."
Olmert is a frequent and increasingly vocal critic of Israel's current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and his views reflect growing concern about the impact of the 20-month-long war on the country's morale, economy and international standing.
Olmert was also outspoken on the humanitarian impact of the war on the residents of Gaza.
"It's totally intolerable, unacceptable and unforgivable, it needs to be stopped right away," said the former top official, who has been accused by pro-government outlets of "lobbying for Palestinians".
He added: "We have to provide all of the humanitarian needs of the population. We can't allow morally the beginning of famine in Gaza. That has to stop."
Such opinions are rarely reflected in the Israeli media or in public opinion polls but they've been urgently repeated in passionate speeches in recent days by UN organisations, aid agencies and by some of Israel's allies abroad – French President Emmanuel Macron called Israel's actions in Gaza "shameful". Netanyahu accused him of "standing with Hamas".
There's growing evidence of profound suffering across Gaza after a 10-week blockade, during which Israel has prevented the entry of any food, medicines or fuel into the Palestinian enclave.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer insisted to the BBC that "Israel is certainly not starving Gaza".
"I don't dispute that there is hunger in Gaza, but we believe that it is hunger caused by Hamas. There is food in Gaza, that's our information. There is no famine," he said.
Israel also resumed its aerial bombardment of Gaza on 18 March and its attacks have killed 2,799 since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, including 80 people on Wednesday.
Israeli 'bunker buster' bombs used in Gaza hospital strike, experts say
There are faint hopes that an updated US-sponsored ceasefire proposal could still be accepted by Israel and Hamas. It reportedly would see the release of some remaining hostages in exchange for an unspecified period of calm.
However Netanyahu has said Israel will expand its military offensive in Gaza and that nothing will stop the war. Hamas meanwhile has refused to release the remaining hostages unless Israel agrees to a permanent ceasefire and withdraws from Gaza.
On Wednesday evening 67 former hostages signed a letter urging Netanyahu to reach a "comprehensive deal" for the return of all captives still being held by Hamas.
"The majority of Israeli society wants the hostages home - even at the cost of halting military operations," the letter said.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said the letter was written to build on the "historic momentum" after Edan Alexander's release. Hamas said it freed the 21-year-old as a goodwill gesture to Donald Trump, who is visiting the region.
The ex-hostages letter appealed to Trump not to "let this historic momentum stop".
A poll for Israel's Channel 12 at the end of April suggested that 68% of respondents supported signing a hostage deal with Hamas even if it meant ending the war, while just 22% supported continued fighting in Gaza.
So far Netanyahu remains unmoved.
"Despite American determination, there is no change in the PM's position - we will not allow an end to the war," an official in Mr Netanyahu's entourage said, according to diplomatic sources.
Israel launched a military campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 52,928 people have been killed in Gaza since then, the health ministry says.
Co-op narrowly averted being locked out of its computer systems during the cyber attack that saw customer data stolen and store shelves left bare, the hackers who claim responsibility have told the BBC.
The revelation could help explain why Co-op has started to recover more quickly than fellow retailer M&S, which had its systems more comprehensively compromised, and is still unable to carry out online orders.
Hackers who have claimed responsibility for both attacks told the BBC they tried to infect Co-op with malicious software known as ransomware - but failed when the firm discovered the attack in action.
Both Co-op and M&S declined to comment.
The gang, using the cyber crime service DragonForce, sent the BBC a long, offensive rant about their attack.
"Co-op's network never ever suffered ransomware. They yanked their own plug - tanking sales, burning logistics, and torching shareholder value," the criminals said.
But cyber experts like Jen Ellis from the Ransomware Task Force said the response from Co-op was sensible.
"Co-op seems to have opted for self-imposed immediate-term disruption as a means of avoiding criminal-imposed, longer-term disruption. It seems to have been a good call for them in this instance," she said.
Ms Ellis said these kinds of crisis decisions are often taken quickly when hackers have breached a network and can be extremely difficult.
Speaking exclusively to the BBC, the criminals claimed to have breached Co-op's computer systems long before they were discovered.
"We spent a while seated in their network," they boasted.
They stole a large amount of private customer data and were planning to infect the company with ransomware, but were detected.
Ransomware is a kind of attack where hackers scramble computer systems and demand payment from victims in exchange for handing back control.
It would also have made the restoration of Co-op's systems more complex, time-consuming and expensive - exactly the problems M&S appears to be wrestling with.
The criminals claim they were also behind the attack on M&S which struck over Easter.
Although M&S has yet to confirm it is dealing with ransomware, cyber experts have long said that is the situation and M&S has not issued any advice or corrections to the contrary.
Nearly three weeks on, the retailer is still struggling to get back to normal, as online orders are still suspended and some shops have had continued issues with contactless payments and empty shelves this week.
An analysis from Bank of America estimates the fallout from the hack is costing M&S £43m per week.
On Tuesday, M&S admitted personal customer data was stolen in the hack, which could include telephone numbers, home addresses and dates of birth.
It added the data theft did not include useable payment or card details, or any account passwords - but nonetheless urged customers to reset their account details and be wary of potential scammers using the information to make contact.
Co-op seems to be recovering more quickly, saying its shelves will start to return to normal from this weekend.
Nonetheless it is expected to feel the effects of the cyber attack for some time.
"Co-op have acted quickly and their work on the recovery helps to soften things slightly, but rebuilding trust is a bit harder," Prof Oli Buckley, a cyber security expert at Loughborough University, told the BBC.
"It will be a process of showing that lessons have been learned and there are stronger defences in place," he added.
The same cyber-crime group has also claimed responsibility for an attempted hack of the London department store Harrods.
The hackers who contacted the BBC say they are from DragonForce which operates an affiliate cyber crime service so anyone can use their malicious software and website to carry out attacks and extortions.
It's not known who is ultimately using the service to attack the retailers, but some security experts say the tactics seen are similar to that of a loosely coordinated group of hackers who have been called Scattered Spider or Octo Tempest.
The gang operates on Telegram and Discord channels and is English-speaking and young – in some cases only teenagers.
Conversations with Co-op hackers were carried out in text form - but it is clear the hacker, who called himself a spokesperson, was a fluent English speaker.
They say two of the hackers want to be known as "Raymond Reddington" and "Dembe Zuma" after characters from US crime thriller Blacklist which involves a wanted criminal helping police take down other criminals on a 'blacklist'.
The hackers say "we're putting UK retailers on the Blacklist".
Scott Mills took over from Zoe Ball, who hosted the breakfast show for six years, in January
The BBC Radio 2 breakfast show lost more than 360,000 listeners following Zoe Ball's exit, new audience figures show.
The presenter hosted her final breakfast programme in December after six years in the slot, and recently took up a new role fronting Saturday afternoons on the station.
After her departure, DJ Mark Goodier covered the show for most of January, until new host Scott Mills took over at the end of that month.
Radio 2 still comfortably has the most popular breakfast show in the UK, attracting an audience of 6.45 million between January and March, a 5% drop on the previous quarter, according to industry ratings body Rajar.
Ball had added more than 200,000 listeners during her final three months on the programme.
After taking over the breakfast show, Mills was replaced on his former afternoon slot by Trevor Nelson, whose evening programme was taken over by DJ Spoony.
Vernon Kay attracted an audience of 6.73 million in the first three months of 2025, meaning his mid-morning show retained its crown as the most popular radio programme in the UK.
The show is down, however, on the audience of 8.2 million achieved by his predecessor Ken Bruce, who left in 2023.
Trevor Nelson (left) took over Mills' afternoon slot, while Vernon Kay hosts the station's popular mid-morning show
The station's weekly audience fell by about half a million compared with its previous total of 13.65 million in the final quarter of 2024, Rajar said.
Radio 2 chief Helen Thomas said: "In a quarter which saw Radio 2 launch a new daytime schedule in late January, host some of the world's most loved musicians in the Piano Room throughout February, and celebrate country music in March, I'm thrilled that Radio 2 remains the UK's most popular radio station with 13.11m listeners each week."
Listening figures often drop after major schedule changes, and Ball herself lost nearly 800,000 listeners in 2019 after Chris Evans' departure.
The breakfast show regularly attracted more than nine million listeners during Evans' tenure. That figure has not been matched since, although radio audiences have become increasingly fragmented in recent years.
The BBC, and Radio 2 in particular, went through a tumultuous period around 2022, which saw several high-profile figures leave the station, either by choice or through schedule shake-ups.
Elsewhere, Heart's breakfast show, hosted by Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden, has seen its audience rise by 250,000 listeners.
It attracted a record audience of 4.3 million in the first quarter of the year, cementing its status as the most popular commercial breakfast show in the UK.
Meanwhile, Gok Wan's first three months co-hosting Magic Radio's breakfast show, alongside Harriet Scott, saw the programme marginally increase its audience to 862,000.
However, it is still significantly down on the 1.2 million listeners it had a year ago, when it was fronted by former Boyzone singer Ronan Keating.
And after a loss of more than a quarter of a million in 2024, Kiss Breakfast, hosted by Jordan Banjo and Perri Kiely, climbed by 80,000 in the latest quarter.
Some soldiers like Kozak believe too many people have been killed to hand over land to Russia
Big plumes of smoke are visible on a screen that's providing a live feed from Ukrainian drones hovering over the outskirts of the eastern city of Pokrovsk, one of the most intense front lines in Ukraine.
A few seconds earlier, Ukrainian artillery strikes Russian positions, places where we'd seen Russian soldiers moving about as they try to advance towards a key road going into Pokrovsk.
At least one Russian soldier is injured, possibly dead after the strike.
It's chilling to watch the live footage. It drives home the bloody consequences of the war that Russia started, in which hundreds of thousands have so far been killed, a "never-ending bloodbath" as US President Donald Trump calls it.
We are in a rural house converted into a command centre for the 155th mechanised brigade of the Ukrainian army. It's a few miles from front-line artillery positions.
The scale of the devastation that we see on the screens, homes and buildings completely flattened, is far greater than what we saw six months ago.
It is evidence of the fierce battle that has been fought over the past several months to defend Pokrovsk, a crucial transport hub in the Donetsk region.
This week, there's cautious optimism, even among sceptical soldiers who have witnessed hopes of a ceasefire being dashed over and over again, as diplomatic efforts from the US, Europe, Turkey and others have pushed Russia and Ukraine to direct talks for the first time in three years.
"I think something should happen since Russia was the first one to push for these talks. I mean since 2022, they have refused to go into any contact," says an officer who wants to be referred to with his call sign "Kozak".
"I want to believe this would be the beginning of the end of the war.
"But now I see, we have been successful in destroying their rear positions and their supply lines. Russia does not have the same strength and power it had at the beginning. So I think that something will happen."
Yurii (R) does not believe Russia will stop if Ukraine gives up territory now
Yurii, 37, used to work in a technology company before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. "They (Russia and Ukraine) have to start talking. Us soldiers, we wish this war would end. But it's important to remember that we cannot stop it because we did not start it," he says.
He looks up at the screen and spots Russian soldiers moving again. He and his colleagues calculate the co-ordinates of their positions and pass them on to their artillery unit.
Watch: BBC's Yogita Limaye joins Ukrainian soldiers on the front line
We drive from the command centre to the artillery position, on mud tracks running through a wide expanse of open fields. Clumps of mud fly in the air, our car slips and slides, as we move as fast as possible. The speed is a mitigation against strikes from drones, which have sharply increased fatalities for both Russia and Ukraine since they were deployed in large numbers in 2023.
And war technology keeps evolving. Now there's a new threat – drones equipped with a real fibre optic cable which unrolls as they fly. "We cannot detect them or neutralise them, so there are probably a lot more drones in the area right now than we know," says Yurii.
As we drive into the artillery position hidden under trees and bushes, soldiers are already loading the gun. It's a French made self-propelled artillery gun called the "Caesar". Scores have been deployed in Ukraine since the start of the war, and France has been trying to ramp up production.
France has been sending dozens of Caesar self-propelled artillery guns to Ukraine since 2022
"I'm very impressed by its accuracy, and we can use a large range of ammunition. The most important thing is that bringing it into combat is very fast. It is much more effective than the old Soviet equipment I've used," says Kozak.
Ukrainian soldiers fire four rounds, each one emitting a deafening sound. From around us, we also hear the sound of incoming shells. The battle rages on.
"As you can hear, there is a wave of assaults from the enemy and we need a lot of ammunition to suppress that. We hope our international partners can give us as much ammunition as possible, because if we have to start choosing priority and non-priority targets then the enemy will be successful," says Kozak.
We ask the soldiers how they feel about suggestions that Ukraine will have to make concessions, that it might have to give up land to secure peace.
"It's painful to hear that. Even I want to go home to my family. My daughter is eight and I miss her so much. But we need to be strong. I don't believe that if we give up some territory, they will stop. In a couple of years, they will return and start over," says Yurii.
"A person who has not come here, who hasn't felt the consequences of Russian aggression, those armchair commentators say you can give up land and everything will be over. They will never understand how many brothers and friends we have lost. We shouldn't give up a single metre of our land," says Kozak.
The impact of three years of war can be seen everywhere across Ukraine
The cost Ukraine has paid to defend its land is visible everywhere, most acutely in the photos of smiling, young soldiers posted by the side of highways, on memorial walls in central city squares, and on rows and rows of freshly dug graves in the country.
Yana Stepanenko lovingly buys her son's favourite treats - a cup of steaming hot chocolate and a chocolate roll.
Then she drives out to a cemetery in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, and places them neatly by 22-year-old Vladislav's grave. She and her daughter, 13-year-old Nicole, wipe the grave with wet tissues. Before long, they break down inconsolably into each other's arms.
Vladislav was a drone operator with the Ukrainian military. He was killed in combat in a Russian strike on 21 February this year.
For Yana, news of direct talks resuming bring no hope.
"It seems to me that this war is eternal. Of course, I hope they will find a solution. Because people are dying here and there (in Russia). But Putin is greedy. His hunger for our land is insatiable," says Yana.
Yana, whose son was killed earlier this year, says she cannot live in land taken over by Russia
Parts of the Zaporizhzhia region are currently occupied by Russia, the front line less than 40 miles from the city. But Russia has on more than one occasion demanded control of the full regions of Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, Donetsk and Kherson as part of any peace deal.
"No way. I want to live in Ukraine, not Russia. We have seen what they do under occupation, what they did in places like Bucha – their cruelty and torture," says Yana. "Can you imagine, they've not even spared this graveyard," she adds, pointing to a big crater nearby where a bomb exploded some months ago.
Tears rolling down her eyes, she adds.
"I hope my child did not die for nothing. That there will still be a victory and all of Ukraine will become free."
The blackbird is one of the UK's most common and familiar birds, known for its cheerful song
A mosquito-borne disease freshly arrived in Britain has spread large distances, with scientists racing to understand the risks to wild birds.
Infected insects can spread the deadly Usutu virus to blackbirds, raising fears for the famous songsters.
New data shows Usutu has spread across much of southern England in five years, and has been linked to declines in some blackbird populations.
Scientists are monitoring its spread amid warnings that mosquitoes and the diseases they carry may expand their range under climate change.
"We've seen that the virus has spread further than we thought it might do, and it's persisted," Dr Arran Folly of the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) told the BBC.
Getty Images
Culex pipiens, the common house mosquito, has been found to carry and transmit the Usutu virus
Scientists at the APHA in Weybridge, Surrey, have been tracking mosquito-borne diseases in wild birds for decades, amid warnings that climate change is turning Europe into a potential breeding ground for the insects.
Longer summers, hotter temperatures and heavy rainfall are creating conditions for the nuisance insects to move into areas that were previously inhospitable to them.
Until 2020, all results came back clear. Then, after the summer heatwave of that year, Usutu was detected in several blackbirds in Greater London.
"Blackbirds specifically are quite susceptible to the virus and since 2020 we've found a decline in blackbirds of approximately 40% in Greater London," said Dr Folly.
"It gives an indication that in the future we might get other viruses that are transmitted by mosquitoes emerging in the UK."
Diseases such as Usutu are a growing threat to wild birds, amid a host of other pressures, including habitat loss, climate change and pesticide use.
What is Usutu?
Usutu virus was first detected more than half a century ago around southern Africa's Usutu River
It has since spread around the world, reaching Europe three decades ago, and was picked up for the first time in the UK in 2020
Blackbirds are particularly susceptible to the virus, which can also infect horses and, from time to time, humans.
The latest data shows that Usutu has spread further than the scientists expected.
It has now been detected in wild birds across much of southern England, at least as far west as Dorset and as far north as Cambridgeshire.
How big a risk Usutu poses to wild birds is uncertain. The virus has been linked to mass die-offs of blackbirds elsewhere in Europe, though that doesn't seem to be the case in Britain.
And the blackbird remains one of the commonest garden birds with numbers holding steady in many parts of the country, especially in rural areas, and in the north.
Getty Images
In May, blackbirds are nesting and rearing young, with fledglings eventually leaving the nest
To untangle the puzzle – and gather more data on blackbird numbers – the scientists have joined forces with the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO).
They are calling for volunteers to count blackbirds in their gardens over the summer months to find out more about the comings and goings of the birds.
Around now blackbirds are breeding and raising their young, frequently seen hopping along the ground and singing from the branches of trees on summer evenings.
Gwyndaf Hughes/BBC
Lucy Love in her garden within metres of the sea near Selsey, Sussex
Lucy Love, a garden birdwatch ambassador for the BTO, knows the blackbirds in her gardens by sight and has grown fond of them.
"They're beautiful birds – intelligent, friendly and they have the most beautiful song with a lovely melodic tone to it," she explained.
"And we cannot lose them – they're a vital part of our ecosystem."
The Bayesian, pictured sailing near Palermo, in a photo released by manufactures Perini Navi
A luxury superyacht that sank off the coast of Sicily, killing the tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch along with six others, was knocked over by "extreme wind" and could not recover, according to an interim report into the disaster.
The UK's Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), which has led the international investigation, said winds of over 80mph "violently" hit the vessel, causing it to flood within seconds.
The Bayesian sank near the town of Portofino on 19 August of last year during freak weather, with reports of water spouts.
Seven of the 22 people onboard were killed, including Mr Lynch, 59, and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah.
Investigators say the yacht was knocked to a 90-degree angle within 15 seconds at 04:06 am local time, causing people, furniture and loose items to fall across the deck.
"There was no indication of flooding inside Bayesian until water came in over the starboard rails and, within seconds, entered the internal spaces down the stairwells," the report says.
The MAIB's chief inspector of marine accidents Andrew Moll said the situation was "irrecoverable" once the yacht tilted beyond 70 degrees.
The Bayesian was also "vulnerable" to lighter winds, according to the report, with speeds of 73mph able to tip it over.
The owner and crew of the yacht were unaware of this, as it was not included in the onboard stability information book, it adds.
The MAIB is investigating the incident as the Bayesian was registered in the UK. No date has been set for when its final report will be published.
It said its report was based on "a limited amount of verified evidence" as a criminal investigation by Italian authorities has restricted access to the wreck.
The recovery process is expected to take several weeks
The report lays out more detail as to how the sinking unfolded.
Investigators say the yacht sailed to the site where it sank on the previous day, in order to "shelter" from forecast thunderstorms. The sails were furled at the time.
Wind speed was "no more than eight knots (9mph)" at 03:00 - about an hour before the incident. Some 55 minutes later it had increased to 30 knots (34.5mph), and it had accelerated to 70 knots (80.6mph) by 04:06 when the yacht capsized.
As the storm intensified, several crew members were working in response to the conditions. The deck hand went onto the deck to close the yacht's windows.
Five people were injured "either by falling or from things falling on them" and the deck hand was "thrown into the sea", the report says.
Two of the yacht's guests used furniture drawers "as an improvised ladder" to escape their cabin, it adds.
Dr Simon Boxall, Oceanographer at the University of Southampton, said the Bayesian was in "the wrong place at the wrong time".
"The priorities for the crew would have been to shut the hatches and the doors, which they did," he told the BBC.
This means speculation about water flooding in because everything was open is "obviously not the case".
"The next priority would have been to start the engines - so they would have some manoeuvrability to position themselves within a storm - and to then lift anchor, which the crew did, but this takes time," he added.
"It's not like a car where you jump in and turn the key. It would take 5 or 10 minutes before you can start the engines with a vessel of this size."
Survivors escaped on the Bayesian's life raft and were rescued by a small boat dispatched from another nearby yacht, the report says.
Getty Images
Mike Lynch pictured in 2014
Mike Lynch was a prominent figure in the UK tech industry, where his backing of successful companies led to him being dubbed the British equivalent of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
But the latter years of his life were consumed by a long-running legal dispute which resulted in him being controversially extradited to the US.
Inquest proceedings in the UK are looking at the deaths of Mr Lynch and his daughter, as well as Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy Bloomer, who were all British nationals.
US lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo also died in the sinking, along with Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, who was working as the yacht's chef.
Fifteen people managed to escape on a lifeboat, including Mr Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares.
Icelandic boyband VÆB were the first act to perform on the Eurovision stage this year
Thirty-five seconds. That's all the time you get to change the set at Eurovision.
Thirty-five seconds to get one set of performers off the stage and put the next ones in the right place.
Thirty-five seconds to make sure everyone has the right microphones and earpieces.
Thirty-five seconds to make sure the props are in place and tightly secured.
While you're at home watching the introductory videos known as postcards, dozens of people swarm the stage, setting the scene for whatever comes next.
"We call it the Formula 1 tyre change," says Richard van Rouwendaal, the affable Dutch stage manager who makes it all work.
"Each person in the crew can only do one thing. You run on stage with one light bulb or one prop. You always walk on the same line. If you go off course, you will hit somebody.
"It's a bit like ice skating."
Watch a 30-second set change at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool
The stage crew start rehearsing their "F1 tyre change" weeks before the contestants even arrive.
Every country sends detailed plans of their staging, and Eurovision hires stand-ins to play the acts (in Liverpool 2023, it was pupils from the local performing arts school), while stagehands start shaving precious seconds off the changeovers.
"We have about two weeks," says Van Rouwendaal, who's normally based in Utrecht but is in Basel for this year's contest.
"My company is around 13 Dutchies and 30 local guys and girls, who rock it in Switzerland.
"In those two weeks, I have to figure out who's right for each job. Someone's good at running, someone's good at lifting, someone's good at organising the backstage area. It is a bit like being good at Tetris because you have to line everything up in a small space, in the perfect way."
As soon as a song finishes, the team are ready to roll.
As well as the stagehands, there are people responsible for positioning lights and setting pyrotechnics; and 10 cleaners who sweep the stage with mops and vacuum cleaners between every performance.
"My cleaners are just as important as the stage crew. You need a clean stage for the dancers - but also, if there's an overhead shot of somebody lying down, you don't want to see shoeprints on the floor."
The attention to detail is clinical. Backstage, every performer has their own microphone stand, set to the correct height and angle, to make sure every performance is camera perfect.
"Sometimes the delegation will say the artist wants to wear a different shoe for the grand final," says Van Rouwendaal. "But if that happens, the mic stand is at the wrong height, so we've got a problem!"
SRG / SSR
Construction of this year's stage began in early April, three weeks before rehearsals kicked off
Spontaneously changing footwear isn't the worst problem he's faced, though. At the 2022 contest in Turin, the stage was 10m (33ft) higher than the backstage area.
As a result, they were pushing heavy stage props – including a mechanical bull – up a steep ramp between every act.
"We were exhausted every night," he recalls. "This year is better. We've even got an extra backstage tent where we prepare the props."
Getty Images
Spain's giant staircase is one of several props that Richard (pictured, inlay) and his team have to build in the middle of a performance at this year's show
Props are a huge part of Eurovision. The tradition started at the second ever contest in 1957, when Germany's Margot Hielscher sang part of her song Telefon, Telefon into (you guessed it) a telephone.
Over the intervening decades, the staging has become ever more elaborate. In 2014, Ukraine's Mariya Yaremchuk trapped one of her dancers in a giant hamster wheel, while Romania brought a literal cannon to their performance in 2017.
This year, we've got disco balls, space hoppers, a magical food blender, a Swedish sauna and, for the UK, a fallen chandelier.
"It's a big logistics effort, actually, to get all the props organised," says Damaris Reist, deputy head of production for this year's contest.
"It's all organised in a kind of a circle. The [props] come onto the stage from the left, and then get taken off to the right.
"Backstage, the props that have been used are pushed back to the back of the queue, and so on. It's all in the planning."
'Smuggling routes'
During the show, there are several secret passageways and "smuggling routes" to get props in and out of vision, especially when a performance requires new elements half-way through.
Cast your mind back, if you will, to Sam Ryder's performance for the UK at the 2022 contest in Italy.
There he was, alone on the stage, belting out falsetto notes in his spangly jumpsuit, when suddenly, an electric guitar appeared out of thin air and landed in his hands.
And guess who put it there? Richard van Rouwendaal.
"I'm a magician," he laughs. "No, no, no… That was a collaboration between the camera director, the British delegation and the stage crew."
In other words, Richard ducked onto the stage, guitar in hand, while the director cut to a wide shot, concealing his presence from viewers at home.
"It's choreographed to the nearest millimetre," he says. "We're not invisible, but we have to be invisible."
Reuters
Sam Ryder's performance in 2022 included a stylised space rocket and a magically-appearing guitar
What if it all goes wrong?
There are certain tricks the audience will never notice, Van Rouwendaal reveals.
If he announces "stage not clear" into his headset, the director can buy time by showing an extended shot of the audience.
In the event of a bigger incident – "a camera can break, a prop can fall" – they cut to a presenter in the green room, who can fill for a couple of minutes.
Up in the control room, a tape of the dress rehearsal plays in sync with the live show, allowing directors to switch to pre-recorded footage in the event of something like a stage invasion or a malfunctioning microphone.
A visual glitch isn't enough to trigger the back-up tape, however - as Switzerland's Zoë Më discovered at Tuesday's first semi-final.
Her performance was briefly interrupted when the feed from an on-stage camera froze, but producers simply cut to a wide shot until it was fixed. (If it had happened in the final, she'd have been offered the chance to perform again.)
"There's actually lots of measures that are being taken to make sure that every act can be shown in the best way," says Reist.
"There are people who know the regulations by heart, who have been playing through what could happen and what we would do in various different situations.
"I'll be sitting next to our head of production, and if there's [a situation] where somebody has to run, maybe that's going to be me!"
Sarah Louise Beennett
British act Remember Monday perform on top of a giant fallen chandelier during their song at this year's Eurovision
Sarah Louise Bennett
French star Louane poses a particular challenge this year, as her performance involves several kilograms of sand being poured onto the stage. To compensate, she performs on a large canvas that can be folded over and carried off stage.
It's no surprise to learn that staging a live three-hour broadcast with thousands of moving parts is incredibly stressful.
This year, organisers have introduced measures to protect the welfare of contestants and crew, including closed-door rehearsals, longer breaks between shows, and the creation of a "disconnected zone" where cameras are banned.
Even so, Reist says she has worked every weekend for the past two months, while Van Rouwendaal and his team are regularly pulling 20-hour days.
The shifts are so long that, back in 2008, Eurovision production legend Ola Melzig built a bunker under the stage, complete with a sofa, a "sadly underused" PS3 and two (yes, two) espresso machines.
"I don't have hidden luxuries like Ola. I'm not at that level yet!" laughs Van Rouwendaal
"But backstage, I've got a spot with my crew. We've got stroopwafels there and, last week, it was King's Day in Holland, so I baked pancakes for everyone.
"I try to make it fun. Sometimes we go out and have a drink and cheer because we had a great day.
"Yes, we have to be on top, and we have to be sharp as a knife, but having fun together is also very important."
And if all goes to plan, you won't see them at all this weekend.
A mix of stories lead Thursday's papers, but several focus on new plans to address overcrowding in prisons announced by Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood. The government is going "soft on criminals", the Daily Mail writes, after announcing that some inmates who are recalled to prison for breaking the terms of their release will be released early after 28 days. But Mahmood warns of a "total breakdown of the justice system" if the issue remains unaddressed.
Jails are "on brink", leads the Times. It says the early release of sexual offenders will put the public "at risk", according to the government's victims' commissioner. Justice Secretary Mahmood had "no choice" but to take action, the paper also reports, with space in male prisons due to run out in November.
Plans for prisons also feature on the front page of the Guardian. But the paper leads with an exclusive on accusations that Science Secretary Peter Kyle is "too close" to US big tech firms. Kyle led a 70% "surge" in meetings with people in or close to firms like Google, Amazon and Meta, compared to his predecessor, the paper says. A spokesperson for his department told the Guardian: "We make no apologies for regularly engaging with the sector - one that employs nearly 2 million people in the UK."
Fresh criticism of another Labour policy - cutting winter fuel payments for pensioners - leads the Daily Express, after a new poll found more than 81% of over-65s could not afford basics on the state pension. Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately says the government is "punishing pensioners and pushing them to the edge".
Images of US President Donald Trump's milestone meeting with Syrian interim president Ahmed al -Sharaa top the Financial Times. But the paper leads with a "stall" in talks between the UK and EU ahead of a summit next week, after Brussels "demanded further concessions" over fishing rights and youth mobility. As part of a post-Brexit "reset", the EU wants its students to pay the same fees as British students and long-term fishing access to UK waters.
Sealing a deal on food safety standards with the EU could help bring food prices down, the i paper reports, as rising prices "threaten" Labour's pledge to boost living standards. Higher national insurance contributions and levies on packaging are to blame to soaring costs, according to the Food and Drink Federation.
The Daily Telegraph reports the NHS is treating nursery-age children who believe they are transgender, after removing an age limit on access to specialists. The children are not given "powerful drugs such as puberty blockers", according to the paper, but "are offered counselling and therapy". "Fewer than 10" children have been referred to the service, according to a Freedom of Information Act request.
A "family feud" fronts the Sun, which reports on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex "secretly supporting" Brooklyn Beckham and his wife Nicola Peltz. Beckham's absence from his father's 50th birthday celebrations fuelled speculation of a fallout, but according to an unnamed source, Prince Harry offered his "unwavering support as someone who has been through similar".
Metro leads with the jailing for 14 years of Reece Galbraith, a drug dealer whose cannabis sweet factory exploded last year, killing seven-year-old Archie York, and decimating several homes. Katherine Errington, Archie's mother, told the dealer in court: "You killed our beautiful boy... we'll never forgive you".
Photos of a handcuffed 18-year-old Bella May Culley at a court in Georgia lead the Daily Mirror, as details of her "dream hol to jail hell" story continue to emerge. The British teen was arrested on suspician of drug offences. "She's not a drug trafficker... She must be terrified," her grandfather William, 80, tells the paper.
Bare-knuckle boxer Paddy Doherty says Universal Studios will have to "battle" travellers for the site of a new theme park, according to the Daily Star. The My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding star warned Universal that residents of a caravan park near the proposed 476-acre site "won't be moving for anyone".
Russian President Vladimir Putin is not among the names listed by the Kremlin as due to attend peace talks on the war in Ukraine in Istanbul on Thursday, despite calls from Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky for him to attend.
Russia's delegation will instead be headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinksy, according to the Kremlin statement.
Zelensky had previously said he would attend the talks and meet Putin in person if the Russian president agreed, and said he would do everything he could to ensure the face-to-face meeting took place.
The Ukrainian president will be in the Turkish capital Ankara on Thursday to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Putin and Zelensky have not met in person since December 2019. Russia and Ukraine last held direct negotiations in March 2022 in Istanbul, shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbour.
Fighting has raged in Ukraine since then. Russian forces have slowly expanded the amount of territory they control over the past year, mostly in the east of Ukraine.
Putin had initially called for direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in Turkey's largest city "without pre-conditions", before Zelensky announced that he would go in person and expected the Russian president to travel as well.
Putin's suggestion of direct talks in Istanbul followed Western powers' call for a 30-day ceasefire, after European leaders met in Kyiv on Saturday.
After Trump called for Ukraine to accept the offer on Sunday, Zelensky said he would travel there himself.
"There is no point in prolonging the killings. And I will be waiting for Putin in Türkiye on Thursday. Personally," Zelensky wrote in a social media post.
Earlier on Wednesday, Donald Trump floated the possibility of joining the meeting himself if Putin did.
The US president, who is currently in Qatar, told reporters he did not know if his Russian counterpart would attend "if I'm not there".
"I know he would like me to be there, and that's a possibility. If we could end the war, I'd be thinking about that," Trump said.
The US is expected to send a high-level delegation to the talks, including the country's top diplomat Marco Rubio.
Since returning to the White House, President Trump has sought to broker a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
He ended a years-long Western boycott of Russia's leader by speaking to Putin over the phone in February, and his envoy Steve Witkoff has met Vladimir Putin for talks in Moscow.
Trump has previously said Russia and Ukraine were "very close to a deal".
On Sunday, when Putin proposed the direct talks, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: "A potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine!"
Donald Trump and Ahmed al-Sharaa met in Riyadh on Wednesday
Donald Trump has said his administration is now exploring the possibility of normalising relations with Syria - his comments coming shortly after he met Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose forces ended the decades-long dictatorship of the Assad family.
The extraordinary encounter, unthinkable just months ago, was short but significant.
"I think he has got the potential," Trump remarked after his meeting in Riyadh, 37 minutes long, with the former Syrian fighter formerly linked to Al-Qaeda.
The $10m US bounty on his head was only lifted in December.
Video footage of their conversation in a lavish Saudi royal palace showed some initial awkwardness as they spoke through a translator.
A beaming Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammad bin Salman, sat next to them. The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined them by telephone.
Trump acknowledged it was these two leaders who had convinced him to also lift the US's punishing Syria sanctions.
His sudden announcement on Tuesday night at a major US-Saudi investment forum in Riyadh won him a standing ovation. It was a volte-face after his many previous posts on social media that the US had "no interest in Syria".
Reuters
The meeting took place on the second day of Trump's four-day tour of the Gulf
"Tough guy, very strong past," is how Trump later described Sharaa to journalists travelling with his high-powered American delegation on his first official four-day tour.
It was a very Trump gloss about Sharaa's old links to al-Qaeda. His Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), was al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria until he severed ties in 2016. HTS is still designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN, US and UK.
Since assuming power in December, Sharaa has been wearing Western business suits and trying to present himself as a president for all Syrians.
"It's a new light at the end of this tunnel," exclaimed Hind Kabawat, minister of social affairs and labour, in the interim government.
She told the BBC's Newshour programme they had been calling for sanctions relief ever since their "Liberation Day".
The US decision sparked celebrations across a county where 90% of Syrians are said to be living in poverty, after more than a decade of civil war and profound suffering.
Removing restrictions which cut Syria off from the international financial system will enable greater engagement by aid agencies and encourage foreign investment and trade.
"We are the North Korea of the Middle East," a hotel receptionist in Damascus told me last December when I asked for another electronic hotel key.
He tearfully lamented that "we don't have enough cards, we have shortages of everything".
It may also help convince some of the millions of Syrians living in exile to think more seriously about returning home. And it could help a fledgling government to pay salaries, begin to rebuild, and address the growing discontent over the privations of daily life.
But dismantling the vast web of sanctions now strangling Syria will take time.
"Some sanctions can be removed immediately using presidential waivers," commented Dina Esfandiary of Bloomberg Economics.
"But lifting the multi-layered sanctions won't be easy and will require real commitment by the Trump administration."
I remember travelling to Tehran in the wake of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and the Obama administration's commitment to ease sanctions there.
At the news conference with the visiting EU's high representative for foreign policy, Iranian journalists kept asking, with palpable anguish, why it was still impossible for them even to open a bank account.
Syria's new friends, including regional powers like Saudi Arabia and Turkey, now positioning themselves to shape the new Syria, will need to ensure Trump and his team stay interested.
But he's made it clear he expects something in return if there is to be a full normalisation of relations. The first item on his list is "join the Abraham Accords".
The US president regards this process of normalisation with Israel, which several Arab states including the United Arab Emirates has joined, as one of his foreign policy achievements in his first term.
Sharaa, praised by his friends as pragmatic, has already signalled that he understand the importance of building a working relationship with his neighbour, even though Israel continues to bomb what it calls "terrorist targets" – air bases, military installations and weapons depots – insisting they could "fall into the wrong hands".
Last month, the Syrian leader reportedly told a visiting US congressman, Cory Mills, that Syria was prepared to normalise ties with Israel and join the Abraham Accords under "the right conditions".
Israeli media have reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had urged President Trump not to lift sanctions. He remains suspicious of Sharaa and his HTS forces, as well other groups which include foreign fighters in their ranks.
Removing foreign fighters is another of Washington's demands; it's one of the very many challenges now facing Syria's leader.
President Trump hailed this moment as "a chance at greatness". Millions of Syrians just welcome a greater chance that their lives will finally start changing for the better.
Archie York was killed in an explosion at a block of flats in October
Seven-year-old Archie York was killed in a blast in Newcastle caused by his neighbour's illegal attempts to make cannabis sweets. As one of his killers is jailed, Archie's mother says her son's death should serve as a warning to other criminals.
Shortly before 01:00 BST on 16 October, the slumbering streets of Benwell were rent by the roar of an enormous explosion.
Katherine Errington had been asleep in her bedroom with her seven-week-old son Finley, when the pair were suddenly bombarded with and buried beneath the walls and contents of their flat.
She initially thought she was having a nightmare, but the taste of blood in her mouth quickly confirmed this was all too real. The utter panic and confusion was replaced by a realisation she was trapped beneath the debris of her home.
She could hear her baby son crying but could not find him in the darkness and destruction - his cries soon gave way to a chilling silence.
PA Media
The explosion obliterated several homes on Violet Close
"I closed my eyes," Katherine recalls. "I thought 'if my son's gone, as in unalive, I'll close my eyes and whatever happens I'll not remember it, I'll be asleep'."
Then she heard the shouts of her partner Robbie, desperately searching for her and their baby, and she called back to him so he could zero in on her voice.
Katherine managed to push her foot through the bricks into the dust-filled air, Robbie seizing it gratefully and starting to frantically dig her out, also, miraculously, finding Finley alive and pulling him to safety.
"I got out and looked at where my flat was supposed to be," she says. "There was nothing left of it."
Northumbria Police
A pile of rubble was left by the blast
The street outside had rapidly filled with neighbours and emergency services, with Katherine and her baby quickly rushed away for medical treatment.
It was at the hospital where police officers told her the explosion had been even more devastating than she had imagined. Her eldest son, Archie, was "gone".
The last time she had seen him, her "perfect little boy" and Robbie had been asleep on the living room settee.
Family handout
Archie York loved superheroes and school, his mum said
Seven-year-old Archie had been the dictionary definition of a "mischievous cheeky boy", his mum says. "He was just a normal, happy little boy."
He loved superheroes, computer games and school, where "everybody loved him", Katherine says.
Archie had been overjoyed at the arrival of Finley almost two months earlier, wanting to feed him and change his nappies, maturing overnight into a proper big brother.
"It was just how a family should be," Katherine recalls. "It was the best seven weeks of my life."
Family handout
Archie was delighted to be a big brother, his family said
Within seconds, several houses on Violet Close were practically demolished and a huge fire was raging, with more than 100 people having to be evacuated from their homes.
Initial suspicions were that it was a gas leak, a faulty boiler somewhere, but investigators quickly honed in on the activities of Katherine and Robbie's downstairs neighbour, 35-year-old Jason Laws, who was also killed in the blast, and his associate Reece Galbraith.
Katherine Errington says her son's death has been devastating
"The scene was hell for almost two months," Det Ch Insp Katie Smith of Northumbria Police says, detailing the "harrowing" finger-tip searches officers had to make in the rubble in the days and weeks after the blast.
A suspiciously large number of butane cannisters were discovered scattered throughout the debris which, along with other industrial items such as a vacuum oven, indicated a factory making so-called shatter - a glassy-type substance used to form cannabis sweets - was operating in one of the flats.
The blast was caused by a build-up of the highly flammable butane, the gas used in the production process, which was taking place while the neighbours all slept peacefully nearby.
Northumbria Police
Police found dozens of butane cannisters in the rubble
"The dangers go without saying," Det Ch Insp Smith says. "[Galbraith and his associates] knew about the risks that night, it says on the side of the gas cannister how highly flammable it is.
"They disregarded that to make some money from drugs.
"It caused utter devastation."
Det Ch Insp Katie Smith said Galbraith and his associates knew the danger they were posing
For Katherine, finding out her son had been killed because of the illegal activities of a criminal neighbour only worsened her grief.
"It sickens me that it could have been prevented," she says. "You are supposed to trust your neighbours.
"This is more upsetting for us because someone chose to do that, it was their choice, not ours."
The day she was burying her boy, 33-year-old Galbraith was in court denying being responsible for his death.
Northumbria Police
Reece Galbraith initially denied manslaughter before changing his pleas
It was only later, when confronted with the wealth of prosecution evidence against him including DNA, finger prints and mobile phone data, that Galbraith changed his plea and admitted manslaughter.
His initial denials caused further pain and consternation for Katherine.
"He's got no compassion whatsoever, no remorse for anything he has done," she says.
She says her life now is indescribable, the shock and grief at the loss of Archie still all-consuming.
Katherine never would have thought the routine of kissing her son goodnight and laying out his school clothes for the next morning would be obliterated in such a violent manner.
Family handout
Archie York will be remembered for being a happy cheeky boy, his family said
But she is also keen to ensure he is remembered for being the "funny little cheeky boy" who "touched so many hearts" rather than for the way he was killed.
Katherine is also keen other criminals heed what happened.
"This should be enough to stop anyone trying to do any illegal activities," she says.
"[Galbraith] has now got a seven-year-old's death on his hands from his choice."
Neither Katherine nor Robbie ever saw a future without Archie.
Their son was going to be a rock for Finley, but the baby is now an only child with no memory of the brother who doted on him.
"I don't think we will ever move on from this," Katherine says.
"That day is going to haunt us to the day we die."
A tribute left to Archie at the scene of the explosion as it stands today
Evri will merge with DHL's UK parcel delivery businesses to create a combined courier firm handling more than a billion parcels and a billion letters a year.
DHL focuses on faster, secure higher-value deliveries of items such as computers or phones, whereas Evri handles much larger volumes of lower-value goods such as clothing.
Evri's deliveries are handled by self-employed couriers using their own vehicles, while DHL's parcels are delivered by a combination of couriers and the company's own fleet of vehicles.
The companies hope that combining the two operations will offer "greater choice" and "cost-competitive solutions" in the UK.
Evri said the deal will also expand its international delivery capacity by giving it access to DHL's global network.
DHL's e-commerce business will be renamed "Evri Premium – a network of DHL eCommerce".
DHL delivers a billion letters a year in the UK, mainly for businesses sending out bulk mail to clients – and the merger will see Evri offer a letter service for the first time.
It hopes to use this service to handle deliveries of smaller items as well as letters.
The group said its combined operation will have access to a network of 15,000 out-of-home delivery points in shops and lockers.
With about a billion parcels a year, the merged business would get closer to Royal Mail's parcel volumes. It delivered 1.3 billion parcels and 6.7 billion letters last year, according to its annual report.
Martijn de Lange, the chief executive of Evri, said that over the last decade Evri had "grown ten-fold in size".
He added the merger would "further expand our access into the European and global e-commerce markets".
After the merger DHL will acquire a minority stake in Evri - financial terms have not been disclosed.
DHL's other services in the UK, such as the DHL Express international delivery service are not included in the deal.
The merger is still subject to approval from the Competition and Markets Authority.
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