Thirteen children have died in falls from windows in their rented or temporary accommodation in England since 2019, according to a study into fatalities of very young and primary-school age children.

Such deaths are "entirely preventable", says the authors, the NHS-funded National Child Mortality Database (NCMD). Landlords must prioritise fixing faulty windows and ensure appropriate locks are in place, they say.

The findings come as a second report, from England's housing watchdog, likens the scale of window safety defects in social housing to known issues with damp and mould.

The BBC has visited families living in blocks of flats in Leeds and west London who say they are "terrified" of young children falling out of "unsafe" windows.

A paediatric consultant in Manchester has also told us she has treated an "unusually high number" of children who have fallen from windows in recent months.

Most attend with "significant injuries", she says, from broken bones - including to the skull and jaw - to internal damage to organs like the liver.

The National Housing Federation, which represents England's housing associations, told us that social landlords have increased the number of checks they do to make sure buildings are "compliant with current regulations and safety requirements".

The 13 children in the NCMD report were all aged under 11, and died between April 2019 and the end of May 2025. In some cases, families had reported broken windows, it says.

In four cases there were no locks or restrictors (which limit how far a window can open), in four more cases a lock or restrictor was present but broken, and in another four they were not in use or had been disabled.

One of the children who died was Exodus Eyob, who was a year old when he fell out of an open window from the seventh floor of a Leeds tower block in 2022. The restrictor on the window had been disengaged because it was a hot day.

The lawyer who represented his family at his inquest, Gareth Naylor, tells the BBC that in a "split second" of an adult leaving the room, the toddler climbed on a bed and fell.

Exodus's family had complained about how wide the windows could open, the inquest heard, but the coroner ruled the death had been "accidental" and the windows were not defective.

The family lost their child in "terrible circumstances", says Mr Naylor.

"What they ignored during [Exodus's] inquest is that these apartments are tiny, and the bed can only go under the window." If children are housed in towers, believes Mr Naylor, "a mesh or a guard" should be added for protection.

Other fatalities include five-year-old Aalim Ahmed, who fell in May 2024 from the kitchen window of a social housing flat on the 15th storey of an east London tower block - and two deaths this year of two-year-olds, one in Gloucestershire and the other in south London.

The number of deaths in the NCMD study is "very distressing" says the social housing watchdog, the Housing Ombudsman Service.

Its own report highlights 34 cases of "severe maladministration", where complaints were dealt with badly. More than half involved children, where windows had not been repaired. The cases are not "one-offs" and landlords should urgently address safety concerns, says the report.

It is "alarming" how some window complaints have been handled by landlords and how reports of children at risk of falls are being ignored, adds housing ombudsman, Richard Blakeway.

Examples from the watchdog's report include a mother unable to close some of her windows properly for four years, a window coming loose from its frame in a baby's room, and residents using duct tape to hold windows together.

Duct tape is also how one council tenant in west London told us he had tried to make his windows safer, because he was so worried about his nine-year-old daughter. The tenant, who lives on the Lancaster Court Estate in Fulham, also says at one point, broken handles, which the council said were unfixable, meant a window was stuck open for a week during the winter.

In total, we spoke to a dozen residents on the estate, which is owned by Hammersmith and Fulham Council, and saw that visibly broken windows without handles were a widespread problem, as well as mould around window frames.

The windows are a "death trap" says Tracey McGurk, who has lived in her flat for five years and is worried for her grandchildren's safety.

The day after we contacted the council, it sent a team to survey the windows and found six urgent repairs were required.

"We're investing more than £1m every week to refurbish and repair our ageing housing stock," a spokesperson for Hammersmith and Fulham Council said, "part of a bold, three-year strategy that includes replacing every window that has reached the end of its life."

The council is "not just meeting the housing ombudsman's window safety standards, we're exceeding them," they added.

According to the ombudsman's report, some landlords are delaying temporary repairs for years because it is "most cost-effective" to wait for major works.

"Replacing windows can be complex and costly," says Richard Blakeway, "but there can be no justification for the conditions some residents have endured."

Rise in hospital admissions

At Manchester Royal Infirmary, more than double the number of children attended with major trauma from a window fall between April and June this year, than in any similar period since 2020, the BBC has been told.

There have been some 14 cases this spring, "almost one a week", says Dr Noellie Mottershead, a paediatric consultant at the children's emergency department.

"It's the highest number we have seen, which is worrying us," she says, adding that the majority of patients were pre-school age.

The doctor says she cannot explain the high number of incidents, but the UK recorded its warmest spring on record.

A lot of the families said they knew the window was broken, or would not lock, and that no action had been taken despite reporting it to a landlord, says Dr Mottershead.

Pre-school children are particularly susceptible to falls because of their lack of awareness of danger - and because their bodies are top heavy - says the Child Accident Prevention Trust says.

Its advice to parents includes fitting window locks and ensuring furniture is away from windows.

Buildings with "at risk" individuals like hospitals, schools and care homes are required to fit window restrictors, but such rules do not currently apply to rented accommodation.

A government consultation on how to improve standards in both private and socially rented homes is currently taking place - and it is looking at how to ensure that all rented homes in England have child-resistant restrictors on any windows that present a fall risk.

The current proposals would make it possible for adults to override the restrictors to ensure fire safety, but lawyer Gareth Naylor says that's not enough. He wants restrictors installed that cannot be opened.

"If you fall out of one of those tower block windows you are going to die," he says. "It's as simple as that. Deaths will keep occurring as long as you have these window restrictors in place that can be deactivated, because it's just too easy."

We went to the estate in Leeds where Exodus died, and to several others where there have been child deaths, and saw that many windows were wide open.

One father told us he has them open because it gets "so hot" living in a tower. Another mother of two small children living on the top floor of one block said she has to be "constantly" careful on hot days.

The National Housing Federation told us it welcomed the review into requiring window restrictors on upper floors of blocks of flats.

"Housing associations are dedicated to making sure all residents are safe in their homes," said its director of policy and research, Alistair Smyth, and they "recognise the crucial importance of secure windows in ensuring children's safety in particular".

The government also plans to change current UK social housing regulations so a window has to be replaced if it has fallen into disrepair, irrespective of its age.

Under current rules, windows in flats only have to be replaced, rather than repaired, if they have fallen into a state of disrepair and are over 30 years old.

Councils need adequate and sustained funding to deliver the quality of housing that tenants rightly expect and deserve - according to the Local Government Association, which speaks for local councils. Any new requirements must be fully funded by government, a spokesperson added.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in England told us that "no child's life should be at risk because of poor quality housing, and we are determined to prevent future tragedies".

Rolls-Royce's plan to power artificial intelligence (AI) with its nuclear reactors could make it the UK's most valuable company, its boss has said.

The engineering firm has signed deals to provide small modular reactors (SMRs) to the UK and Czech governments to power AI-driven data centres.

AI has boomed in popularity since 2022, but the technology use lots of energy, something which has raised practical and environmental concerns.

Rolls-Royce chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic told the BBC it has the "potential" to become the UK's highest-valued company by overtaking the largest firms on the London Stock Exchange thanks to its SMR deals.

"There is no private company in the world with the nuclear capability we have. If we are not market leader globally, we did something wrong," he said.

Tufan Erginbilgic has overseen a ten-fold increase in Rolls-Royce's share price since taking over in January 2023.

However, he has ruled out the idea of Rolls-Royce seeking to list its shares in New York as British chip designer Arm has done and the likes of Shell and AstraZeneca have considered in the search for higher valuations.

This is despite the fact that 50% of its shareholders and customers are US-based.

"It's not in our plan," said Mr Erginbilgic, a Turkish energy industry veteran. "I don't agree with the idea you can only perform in the US. That's not true and hopefully we have demonstrated that."

AI investment

Rolls-Royce already supplies the reactors that power dozens of nuclear submarines. Mr Erginbilgic said the company has a massive advantage in the future market of bringing that technology on land in the form of SMRs.

SMRs are not only smaller but quicker to build than traditional nuclear plants, with costs likely to come down as units are rolled out.

He estimates that the world will need 400 SMRs by 2050. At a cost of up to $3bn (£2.2bn) each, that's another trillion dollar-plus market he wants and expects Rolls-Royce to dominate.

The company has signed a deal to develop six SMRs for the Czech Republic and is developing three for the UK.

But it remains an unproven technology. Mr Erginbilgic conceded he could not currently point to a working SMR example but said he was confident in its future potential.

There are also concerns about the demands on water supplies from the data centre and SMR cooling systems.

In response, companies including Google, Microsoft and Meta have signed deals to take energy from SMRs in the US when they are available.

Next generation aircraft

Rolls-Royce sees SMRs as key to its future, but its biggest business is aircraft engines.

Already dominant in supplying engines to wide-bodied aircraft like Boeing 787 and Airbus A350, it plans to break into the next generation of narrow-bodied aircraft like the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320. This market is worth $1.6tn - nine times that of the wide-bodied .

Rolls-Royce is a bit player in a market that has powerful and successful leaders, and that rival Pratt and Witney lost $8bn trying and failing to break into.

The market is dominated by CFM International – a joint venture between US-based GE Aerospace and French company Safran Aerospace Engines.

Industry veterans told the BBC that market leaders can and will drop prices to airline customers long enough to see off a new assault on their market dominance.

But Mr Erginbilgic said this is not just the biggest business opportunity for Rolls-Royce. Rather, it is "for industrial strategy... the single biggest opportunity for the UK for economic growth".

"No other UK opportunity, I challenge, will match that," he said.

Share price up ten-fold

Although Rolls-Royce sold its car making business to BMW nearly 30 years ago, the name of the company is still synonymous with British engineering excellence.

But in the early part of this decade that shine had worn off. The company was heavily indebted, its profit margins were non-existent, and thousands of staff were being laid off.

When Mr Erginbilgic took over in January 2023, he likened the company to "a burning platform".

"Our cost of capital was 12%, our return was 4% so every time we invested we destroyed value," he said.

Two and a half years later, the company expects to make a profit of over £3bn, its debt levels have fallen and shares have risen over 1,000% - a ten-fold rise.

So how did that happen? And is Mr Erginbilgic right to think that Rolls-Royce's roll is only just starting?

'Grudging respect'

The timing of his appointment was fortunate according to some industry veterans.

Rolls-Royce's biggest business – supplying engines to commercial airlines – has rebounded strongly from the Covid pandemic.

The company's most successful product – the Trent series of aircraft engines – are at the sweet spot of profitability as the returns on investment in their development over a decade ago begin to pour into company coffers.

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 arguably made it almost inevitable that its defence business would see higher spending from European governments – which has been confirmed by recent announcements.

Unions have not always been fans of Mr Erginbilgic's hard-charging approach.

In October 2023, one of his first major move was cutting jobs, which drew criticism from Sharon Graham, the boss of the Unite union.

"This announcement appears to be about appeasing the markets and its shareholders while ignoring its workers," she said at the time.

However, overall global headcount has grown from 43,000 to 45,000 since 2023 and union sources say there is "grudging respect" for Mr Erginbilgic.

Those sources give him one third of the credit for the turnaround around in the company's fortunes, with a third credited to market conditions and a third to his predecessor Warren East for "steadying the ship".

So does Mr Erginbilgic really believe that Rolls-Royce can be the UK's most valuable company – overtaking the likes of AstraZeneca, HSBC, and Shell?

"We are now number five in the FTSE. I believe the growth potential we created in the company right now, in our existing business and our new businesses, actually yes – we have that potential."

Rolls-Royce is undoubtedly a company with the wind at its back – and Tufan Ergenbilgic certainly believes he has set the sails just right.

Drive three hours north of Perth, and you'll arrive in Eneabba.

This is Western Australia mining territory - the landscape is barren and desolate, just the odd hill in the distance.

Buried in this vast terrain is a massive pit, full of what looks like mounds of worthless dirt.

But appearances can be deceiving: in fact, this pit is home to a million tonne stockpile containing critical minerals, and Australia's bet on the future.

Earlier this year, carmakers and other manufacturers around the world rushed to their war rooms, alarmed that China's tight export controls on rare earth magnets – crucial for making electric vehicles, wind turbines and defence equipment – could cripple production.

Ford was forced to halt production of its popular Explorer SUV for a week at one of its Chicago plants - a bold move for a major automaker already grappling with pressure from Trump's tariffs.

A month later, CEO Jim Farley revealed the pause was triggered by a shortage of rare earths, admitting the company was still struggling to secure reliable supply of the critical minerals.

"It's day to day," Mr Farley told Bloomberg TV.

Beijing has since agreed to let rare earths minerals and magnets flow to the United States, which eased the disruption.

But without a trade deal between the US and China, the fear is that the rare earths bottleneck could return, creating a massive supply chain shock.

It's triggered a realisation amongst policymakers and manufacturers everywhere: Beijing's control of rare earths has the world in a chokehold.

"The West dropped the ball – that's the reality. And China was in for the long run – it saw the benefit and was willing to invest in it," says Jacques Eksteen, chair for extractive metallurgy at Curtin University.

Why rare earths matter

The phrase "rare earths" - referring to 17 elements on the periodic table which are lightweight, super strong and resistant to heat, making them useful in small electric motors - is something of a misnomer.

"Rare earths are not rare or scarce. Gold is scarce, but it's not a critical material," Professor Eksteen explains.

Rare earths are critical, however. Take the average electric vehicle – there might be rare earths-based motors in dozens of components from side mirrors and speakers to windshield wipers and breaking sensors.

The problem is therefore not amount, but the fact "somewhere in the supply chain you've got one or maybe a few countries controlling that bottleneck", Professor Eksteen adds.

In the 90s, Europe and France in particular had a prominent rare earths industry. Today, almost all these minerals come from China, which has spent decades mining and refining at scale.

China now accounts for more than half of global rare earth mining, and almost 90% of processing.

The US sources 80% of its rare earth imports from China, while the European Union relies on China for about 98% of its supply.

"China has since very deliberately and overtly sought to control the market for the purposes of supporting their downstream manufacturing and defence industries," says Dan McGrath, head of rare earths for Iluka Resources, in between driving us around the company's vast Eneabba site.

But Mr McGrath, and Iluka, are hoping to make a dent in that control - even if it wasn't necessarily in the company's original plan.

For decades, Iluka has been mining zircon in Australia - a key ingredient in ceramics, and titanium dioxide used in the pigmentation of paint, plastics and paper.

It just so happens the byproducts of these mineral sands include dysprosium and terbium - some of the most sought-after rare earths.

Over the years, Iluka has built up the stockpile, and is now worth more than $650m (£440m).

This was the easy part, however. The processing or refining is another matter altogether.

"They're chemically very similar so to try and separate them requires a huge number of stages," Professor Eksteen explained.

"Also, you've got residues and wastes that you have to deal with out of this industry, and that's problematic. They often produce radioactive materials. It comes at a cost."

And that is one of the reasons why the Australian government is loaning Iluka A$1.65bn ($1bn; £798m) to build a refinery to meet demand for rare earths which Iluka sees growing by 50-170% by the end of the decade.

"We expect to be able to supply a significant proportion of Western demand for rare earths by 2030. Our customers recognise that having an independent, secure and sustainable supply chain outside of China is fundamental for the continuity of their business," says Mr McGrath.

"This refinery and Iluka's commitment to the rare earth business is an alternative to China."

But the refinery will take another two years to build and come online.

"Without the strategic partnership we have with the Australian government, a rare earths project would not be economically viable," Mr McGrath says.

A strategic necessity

China's recent willingness to turn supply of rare earths on and off has spurred trading partners to diversify their suppliers.

Iluka says because automakers for example plan their production years in advance, it is already fielding requests for when its refinery does come online.

Rare earths are critical to the green transition, electric vehicles, and defence technologies – making their control a pressing national priority.

"The open international market in critical minerals and rare earths is a mirage. It doesn't exist. And the reason it doesn't exist is because there is one supplier of these materials and they have the wherewithal to change where the market goes, whether that be in pricing or supply," Australia's resources minister Madeleine King says.

Canberra sees government intervention as necessary to provide an alternative supply, and help the world rely less on China.

"We can either sit back and do nothing about that... or we can step up to take on the responsibility to develop a rare earths industry here that competes with that market," Ms King adds.

But there is something that Australia will have to contend with as it invests and works to expand a rare earths industry – pollution.

In China, environmental damage from years of processing rare earths has led to chemicals and radioactive waste seeping into waterways - cities and people bearing the scars of decades of poor regulation.

With rare earths, it's not so much about the mining footprint, rather the processing that is a dirty business – because it involves extraction, leaching, thermal cracking and refining which produce radioactive components.

"I think there is no metal industry that is completely clean... unfortunately, it's a matter of picking your poison sometimes," Professor Eksteen says.

"In Australia, we've got mechanisms to handle that. We've got a legal environment and a framework to work with that to at least deal with it responsibly."

The EU has in the past accused China of using a "quasi monopoly" on rare earths as a bargaining chip, weaponising it to undermine competitors in key industries.

The bloc - which is home to hundreds of auto manufacturers that so desperately need rare earths - said even if China has loosened restrictions on supplies, the threat of supply chain shocks remains.

Even if building a brand new industry will take time, Australia seems to have a lot going for it in the rare earths race, as it tries to be a more reliable and cleaner source.

And one that - crucially - is independent of China.

Additional reporting by Jaltson Akkanath Chummar

As thousands of students across the UK open their exam results, many are getting ready for the next big step: university.

But that path isn't for everyone - and it doesn't have to be.

BBC News spoke to four former pupils who chose a different route and still landed their dream jobs.

From working with animals at Chester Zoo to photographing Harry Styles on tour, their stories show that skipping university doesn't mean missing out on success.

'Don't rush it'

When 29-year-old Lloyd Wakefield was growing up in Stockport, he didn't imagine his future behind a camera, and certainly not on tour with one of the biggest pop stars in the world.

"Up until college, my only goal was to be a footballer," he says.

"I'm not the most academic. I didn't click with any lessons outside of PE. I'm a hands-on person."

When football didn't work out, he took a job at Aldi.

"It took me two years to adjust, to find any kind of direction or purpose outside of football," he says.

He "caught a bug" for photography through a friend's film camera, spending their days off going out and taking photos together.

Teaching himself through YouTube and lots of trial and error, Lloyd began messaging agencies and chasing opportunities. That led him to a backstage gig at Fashion Week, and eventually to photographing Harry Styles' Love On Tour.

"If you told me when I was working in Aldi that I'd be in the music world, on a tour, it was so polar opposite of where I thought I was going to be."

His work at Love On Tour landed him the title of favourite tour photographer at the 2023 iHeartRadio Awards. He has also worked with other celebrities and brands such as Dua Lipa, EA, UFC and Arsenal FC.

Today, Lloyd runs Lloyd's Workshop, a creative community for young photographers without connections or formal training.

His advice for other young creatives is to take their time.

"There's no shame in getting a normal job," he says.

"Use it to fund your passion. Don't rush it."

Looking back, he says choosing not to go to university was the right call for him.

"I learned way more by just kind of putting myself in those situations on set. The benefits vastly outweigh the negatives."

'Just go for it'

Frazer Walsh's journey to working with lions didn't begin in a lab or lecture hall - it started with a job advert he spotted by chance.

"I applied for three different universities but I didn't want to go - it was just because I felt I had no other option," he says.

"Then I saw a Chester zookeeping apprenticeship listed and thought: 'Oh my god, that's my dream, it's something I've always wanted to do.'"

The 21-year-old, from Widnes in Cheshire, was "obsessed" with animals from a young age, he says, driving his mum "insane" with his love of David Attenborough.

But he had no idea how to turn that into a career.

"You don't really hear of many zookeepers, or if you do, you don't really know how they got into that position in the first place," he says.

Now a qualified keeper, Frazer is thriving.

"About a year into the apprenticeship, I was finally able to work with the lions by myself. They're your responsibility then, you're looking after them, and you take a lot of pride in it.

"That is something that I'll always keep with me."

Frazer's advice to school leavers is similar to Lloyd's.

"Just don't rush it, because it's your life, isn't it?" he says.

"A job like this is really once in a lifetime, so just go for it."

'It's okay not to have it all figured out'

For south Londoner Thaliqua Smith, film-making was always the dream, but going to university to get there just didn't feel right.

"I just felt like school should be done," she says.

"They were saying the only way for me to get into [directing and producing] was to go and do further studies. But it just wasn't something that I was particularly interested in."

After her dad suggested she look into an apprenticeship, Thaliqua found the Channel 4 production training scheme.

"It just sounded really cool," she says.

"I thought, 'Wow, this is great. I'm working, I'm learning for a year. I'm earning money for a year in a field that would be amazing.'"

Thaliqua was one of just 10 people selected for the first year of the scheme. From day one, she says she knew she was in the right place.

Now 25, she's worked on shows like The Apprentice, Naked Attraction, and Rich Flavours with Big Zuu and AJ Tracey. She's filmed abroad in Spain and New York and has moved up to the role of assistant producer.

"I didn't travel much as a kid, so to be flown to amazing places, staying in beautiful hotels, meeting insanely cool people - it's a dream come true."

Now she says she's passionate about spreading the word.

"Apprenticeships are amazing, [but] I had to dig through Google to find mine. They should be promoted way more."

Her advice is to "not let anyone convince you you can't do something".

"It's OK to not have it all figured out," she says.

"Even people who act like they've got it figured out probably don't."

Turning a hobby into a career

Faye Husband's school years were far from typical.

Diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, as well as Pots - a condition which causes dizziness - and hypermobility, she struggled with attendance and anxiety.

"I had a lot of time off and it was hard managing being off and then coming back to school and teachers and friends not understanding," the 19-year-old says.

She eventually left mainstream school and was homeschooled before joining a support unit called Strive.

"That literally gave me my GCSEs - I probably wouldn't have managed them if I wasn't there," she says.

After going to college and earning A-levels in criminology and psychology, Faye still wasn't sure about university. That's when her parents suggested turning a hobby into a career.

"I'd done my own nails for years and my mum and dad said, 'Why don't you do a course and do it for other people?'"

Working from a converted garage at home in Redcar, she now runs her business Phaze Nails which is often booked up to a month in advance.

Being self-employed has given Faye the room to thrive despite her health struggles.

"I've met so many nice people and made really strong friendships from it," she says.

"That's usually stuff I don't get the opportunity to do, because I don't go out a lot."

Faye says young people should not put too much pressure on themselves.

"Be kind to yourself," she says.

"Don't rush yourself into doing something that you're not ready to do."

A report produced by the Trump administration says the human rights situation in the UK has "worsened" over the past year.

The annual report, which looks at global human rights, specifically pointed to what it said were restrictions on freedom of expression and threats of violence motivated by antisemitism in Britain.

The criticism echoes comments previously made by members of the US president's senior team, including Vice-President JD Vance.

A UK government spokesperson said: "Free speech is vital for democracy around the world including here in the UK and we are proud to uphold freedoms whilst keeping our citizens safe."

The report also describes the human rights situation as having "worsened" in France and Germany.

On freedom of speech in the UK, it said "specific areas of concern" included restrictions on political speech deemed "hateful" or "offensive".

It said the response to last year's Southport attacks had been an "especially grievous example of government censorship", adding, "censorship of ordinary Britons was increasingly routine, often targeted at political speech".

Three young girls were stabbed to death at a Taylor Swift dance class by 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana in July 2024.

A peaceful vigil was held in the town the next day, but misinformation spread online about Rudakubana led to violent protests.

Posts claiming he was an asylum seeker, who had arrived in the UK on a small boat, were shared widely.

In the wake of the rioting, action was taken against internet users who made the false claims and urged revenge. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer promised that those involved would "face the full force of the law".

The US state department report said local and national government officials had "repeatedly intervened to chill speech".

State department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce, without naming the UK specifically, said online restrictions had targeted "disfavoured voices on political or religious grounds."

"No matter really how disagreeable someone's speech may be, criminalising it or silencing it by force only serves as a catalyst for further hatred, suppression or polarisation," Bruce told reporters.

The report also pointed to buffer zone laws which prohibit protests outside abortion service centres and Public Spaces Protection Orders, powers local councils can use to ban certain anti-social activities.

Scotland implemented 200m (656ft) buffer zones in September 2024. A month later, 150m buffer zones were put in place around abortion clinics in England and Wales.

When they were introduced, safeguarding minister Jess Phillips said: "We will not sit back and tolerate harassment, abuse and intimidation as people exercise their legal right to healthcare."

In April, a woman was convicted of holding a sign reading "Here to talk, if you want" outside a clinic in Bournemouth.

Livia Tossici-Bolt's case was highlighted by Vance and the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour - a bureau within the US state department.

The bureau said it was "disappointed" by the ruling. "Freedom of expression must be protected for all," it added.

On a more positive note, the report also highlighted how "the government effectively enforced laws protecting freedom of association, collective bargaining, and the right of workers to engage in a strike or other industrial action".

US National Guard troops have begun appearing on the streets of Washington DC, a day after President Donald Trump deployed the troops to the city and took control of its police force as he argued violent crime was out of control.

Armoured vehicles were spotted at urban centres and tourist sites around the US capital on Tuesday evening.

Officials have said that 800 National Guard troops are expected to be deployed, as well as 500 federal law enforcement agents.

Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, who has denied crime is out of control in her city, described the troop deployment as an "authoritarian push".

Trump, a Republican, has also threatened similar deployments against New York and Chicago, two other Democratic-controlled cities.

The camouflaged troops have been trickling into the US capital since Trump's announcement on Monday.

They have been seen erecting barricades outside several government buildings, and taking photos with tourists.

Twenty-three people were arrested by federal agents on Monday night, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. The agents are aiding local law enforcement.

She said the arrests were for homicide, gun offences, drug dealing, lewd acts, stalking, reckless driving, and other crimes.

"This is only the beginning," said Leavitt.

"Over the course of the next month, the Trump administration will relentlessly pursue and arrest every violent criminal in the District who breaks the law, undermines public safety, and endangers law-abiding Americans."

FBI Director Kash Patel later said FBI agents were involved in around half of those arrests.

Both the mayor of Washington and the city's police chief said earlier in the day they shared the same goal as the federal agents.

"What I'm focused on is the federal surge and how to make the most of the federal officers that we have," Bowser said after a meeting on Tuesday with US Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith said: "We know that we have to get illegal guns off of our streets, and if we have this influx of enhanced presence, we know that it's going to make our city even better."

But at a town hall on Tuesday night, the mayor sharpened her criticism of Trump.

Bowser called on community members to "protect our city, to protect our autonomy, to protect our home rule and get to the other side of this guy and make sure we elect a Democratic House so that we have a backstop to this authoritarian push", according to the New York Times.

It comes as a manhunt was launched for an armed assailant who killed a man on Monday night in Logan Circle, one of Washington DC's trendiest neighbourhoods, just a mile from the White House.

It was the 100th homicide recorded in Washington DC this year, according to local media.

Police say the suspect was last seen wearing a black shirt and carrying a rifle.

The shooting prompted US Secret Service to bolster security outside the president's home as a precaution.

According to crime figures published by Washington DC's Metropolitan Police, violent offences peaked in 2023 and fell 35% last year to their lowest level in three decades.

But DC Police Union chairman Gregg Pemberton has disputed those figures, previously accusing the city police department of "deliberately falsifying crime data, creating a false narrative of reduced crime while communities suffer".

FBI data has also indicated a drop in crime in Washington DC last year - a more modest decrease of 9%.

Studies suggest the capital's homicide rate is higher than average compared with other major US cities.

The number of people surviving cancer has improved hugely in the past 50 years, but experts warn progress has been uneven with some of the cancers with the worst survival rates falling further behind.

For some, including melanoma skin cancer, 10-year survival is now above 90%, while for all cancers, half of patients can expect to live that long - double the figure in the early 1970s.

But a study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said there had been little improvement in those affecting the oesophagus, stomach and lungs - and less than 5% survive pancreatic cancer for 10 years.

The government said it was committed to making more progress with a new strategy due soon.

The researchers said advances in treatment and earlier detection were behind the improvements in survival seen for many cancers.

Breast cancer is a perfect example of this, with 10-year survival rates rising from 42% to more than 76% between 1971 and 2018 in England and Wales.

The period saw the introduction of an NHS breast screening programme, plus targeted therapies for different types of breast cancer.

In comparison, the cancers with the lowest survival rates tend to be the hardest to detect and have the fewest treatment options.

Alongside pancreatic cancer, the study says these include oesophagus, stomach and lung cancers, which all still have 10-year survival rates below 20%, after only a small amount of progress since the 1970s.

This has meant the gap between the cancers with the best and worst survival rates has nearly doubled.

'Amazing job'

Matt Black is someone with first-hand experience of how the type of cancer you get makes a huge difference.

In 2019 the 60-year-old lost his sister, Harriette, to pancreatic cancer, 20 years after his father-in-law died of oesophageal cancer.

Five years ago he was diagnosed with bowel cancer which has above average survival rates. Soon after developing symptoms he had surgery and was given the all-clear.

"NHS staff do an amazing job, but it's such a difficult time to be a cancer patient, especially for those with cancers which aren't easy to spot or treat.

"It's so important that there is more research and support for cancer services here, so that more people can be as fortunate as me," says Matt.

The researchers also warned that, while overall survival was still improving, the rate of progress had slowed during the 2010s. Longer waits for diagnosis and treatment are thought to be partly to blame.

Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, which funded the study, said: "Thanks to research, most patients today are far more likely to survive cancer than at any other point in the past.

"But the reality is that this progress is slowing – and for some cancers it never got going in the first place."

The charity wants the government's forthcoming strategy to focus on:

• cutting waiting times
• early detection, including full introduction of a lung cancer screening programme
• investment in research, particularly targeting the most deadly cancers

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said cancer care was a priority. with some progress already made on waiting times.

"The national cancer plan will set out how we will improve survival rates further and address the unacceptable variation between different cancer types," he added.

The wife of South Korea's jailed former president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has been arrested over a raft of charges, including stock manipulation and bribery.

Former first lady Kim Keon Hee denied all charges during a four-hour court hearing in Seoul on Tuesday. But the court issued a detention warrant, citing the risk that she may destroy evidence.

South Korea has a history of former presidents being indicted and imprisoned. However, this is the first time both the former president and former first lady have been jailed.

Yoon was detained in January to face trial over a failed martial law bid last year that plunged the country into chaos and eventually led to his ouster.

Prosecutors say Kim, 52, made over 800 million won ($577,940; £428,000) by participating in a price-rigging scheme involving the stocks of Deutsch Motors, a BMW dealer in South Korea.

While this allegedly happened before her husband was elected the country's leader, it continued to cast a shadow throughout his presidency.

"I sincerely apologise for causing trouble despite being a person of no importance," Kim told reporters.

She allegedly also accepted two Chanel bags and a diamond necklace as bribes from the controversial Unification Church in exchange for business favours.

Among other charges, Kim is also accused of meddling in candidate nominations during the parliamentary by-elections in 2022 and the general elections last year.

Kim appeared solemn as she attended Tuesday's hearing wearing a black suit and a black skirt.

"I sincerely apologise for causing trouble despite being a person of no importance," she told reporters.

While he was president, Yoon vetoed three opposition-led bills that sought a special counsel investigation into allegations against Kim.

He issued the last veto in November, a week before he declared martial law.

A special counsel was set up in June this year after Yoon's rival Lee Jae Myung became president.

More live facial recognition (LFR) vans will be rolled out across seven police forces in England to locate suspects for crimes including sexual offences, violent assaults and homicides, the Home Office has announced.

The forces will get access to 10 new vans equipped with cameras which scan the faces of people walking past and check them against a list of wanted people.

The government says the technology has been used in London to make 580 arrests in 12 months, including 52 registered sex offenders who breached their conditions.

However, campaign group Big Brother Watch said the "significant expansion of the surveillance state" was "alarming".

Live facial recognition was first used in England and Wales in 2017 during the Uefa Champions League final football match in Cardiff.

Since then its use has largely been confined to South Wales, London and Essex including at a Beyoncé concert to scan for paedophiles and terrorists.

The government is now funding ten vans equipped with LFR to be shared between seven forces, approximately doubling the number of vehicles.

The seven forces are Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Bedfordshire, Surrey, Sussex, Thames Valley and Hampshire.

The technology identifies people by taking measurements of facial features including the distance between the eyes and the length of the jawline and then comparing the data to to an existing watchlist.

Each van will be staffed with a trained officer who checks the matches identified by the technology.

Simultaneously, the government is holding a consultation on what safeguards are needed to "ensure transparency and public confidence", ahead of drawing up a new legal framework.

Big Brother Watch is bringing a legal challenge against the Met Police's use of the technology, alongside Shaun Thompson, who was wrongly identified by an LFR camera.

Rebecca Vincent, interim director of Big Brother Watch, said: "Police have interpreted the absence of any legislative basis authorising the use of this intrusive technology as carte blanche to continue to roll it out unfettered, despite the fact that a crucial judicial review on the matter is pending.

"The Home Office must scrap its plans to roll out further live facial recognition capacity until robust legislative safeguards are established."

Charlie Whelton, policy and campaigns officer at Liberty, said: "It's welcome news that the government will finally develop a statutory framework on the use of facial recognition, but this should be in place before more facial recognition technology is rolled out.

"There's no reasonable excuse to be putting even more cameras on our streets before the public have had their say and legislation is brought in to protect all of us."

The government says officers using the LFR vans will need to follow the College of Policing's guidance on the technology and the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice.

It also says independent testing of the facial recognition algorithm by the National Physical Laboratory found that "the algorithm is accurate and there is no bias for ethnicity, age or gender at the settings used by the police".

Chief Superintendent of South Wales Police Tim Morgan said: "We understand the concerns which are raised about the use of live facial recognition technology and we use any new technology ethically and spend time and effort making sure it's deployed in line with all legislation and guidance."

The Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents police officers, said: "The government must also invest in comprehensive training programmes for officers to accompany this technology rollout, particularly as police forces face an unprecedented officer retention crisis."

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government would "provide police with the tools they need to do their jobs".

"Facial recognition will be used in a targeted way to identify sex offenders or people wanted for the most serious crimes who the police have not been able to find."

The Home Office has also announced that it has fulfilled a manifesto pledge to ensure there is a named, contactable officer in every neighbourhood in England and Wales.

It said people can search for an officer on the website of local police forces, who have signed up to a commitment to respond to queries within 72 hours.

The type of contact method provided will be up to individual forces.

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A gleaming white Vivaro van drove slowly off the production line at Vauxhall's factory in Luton, beeping its horn, while workers cheered and crowded around taking photographs.

Behind it, the production line came to a halt – forever.

The Luton plant began building cars in 1905. It kept operating for the next 120 years, taking time out to build tanks and aircraft engines during World War Two. But on 28 March, that came to an end.

The factory shut down, a victim of cutbacks at Vauxhall's parent company, Stellantis.

Justin Nicholls, a production shift manager, was one of the 1,100 workers there - he had worked at the plant for 38 years. "It was devastating, because it came out of the blue", he says. "It was a complete surprise."

It followed the closure of Honda's car factory in Swindon in 2021, and Ford's engine plant in Bridgend the year before.

Together, they have come to symbolise an apparent long-term decline in the UK motor industry.

In all, just 417,000 new cars and vans were built in the UK in the first six months of 2025, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) - the lowest for that period since 1953.

Output for the year is expected to be around 755,000 vehicles — lower even than during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The SMMT's chief executive, Mike Hawes, described the situation as "depressing".

The sector contributes some £22bn a year to the economy, according to the SMMT, and as recently as 2023 automotive manufacturing employed some 198,000 people in the UK.

Andy Palmer, who was previously chief executive of Aston Martin, believes the ecosystem - and the sum it contributes to the economy - can only survive if the industry maintains its current scale.

"There is a critical mass of employment," he explains. "Once you go below that, you see it all fall apart.

"You don't have the university courses, you don't have people coming across from the aero industry, you don't have the pipeline of skilled engineers that allow the luxury firms to exist, and so on."

And the knock-on effect of this could affect regions already facing challenges.

"If we think about parts of the UK that have automotive plants, they're often disadvantaged regions," says David Bailey, professor of business economics at Birmingham Business School.

"Losing these good quality jobs would have a big impact in terms of wages for workers and also a knock-on effect in terms of the multiplier on the local economy."

He is concerned about what has already been lost. "I'd argue that actually we've let too much of this go already. I think once it's gone, it's really gone."

The question is, can the industry recover - or is it too late?

A concealed deeper problem

The UK car industry is sprawling. Alongside large factories run by the likes of JLR, Nissan, BMW MINI and Toyota, there is a network of suppliers and high-tech specialist engineering firms, along with a number of smaller, luxury car firms, such as Aston Martin, Bentley, Rolls-Royce and McLaren, plus bus and truck manufacturers.

In 2016, the UK produced 1.82m new vehicles – more than at any point since 1999. Yet even at that point, storm clouds were already gathering. And the industry has suffered further over the past decade.

Factory closures have had an impact, but other factors have been at play as well, including uncertainty over US trade policy, which has hit exports to a major market.

Then there was the role of Brexit.

"Obviously, Brexit had a big impact", says Santiago Arieu, senior autos research analyst at Fitch Solutions. "It created uncertainty and complicated future visibility."

As a result, experts say new investment suffered – just as the industry was gearing up for the massive changes being brought by the transition to electric vehicles.

The agreement with the EU to guarantee continued tariff-free trade soothed the industry's concerns when it came. But by then, there was another challenge to contend with.

The pandemic caused havoc within the industry globally.

In 2020, output dropped by nearly a third, hitting levels not seen since the mid-1980s. It also threw finely tuned global supply chains out of kilter and created shortages of vital parts.

Although demand for new cars was spiking, manufacturers simply couldn't build them quickly enough.

All of this caused short-term disruption - but the impact concealed a deeper, structural problem for the UK industry.

Quite simply, it has become an expensive place to build cars.

Part of this is to do with labour costs. Although lower than in some other Western European countries, particularly Germany, they are around twice the level seen in Central European nations such as Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.

Then, there are energy costs. British manufacturers currently pay some of the highest electricity prices in the world.

"Car makers operating in the UK also have factories in Europe and elsewhere, so it's not hard for them to find a replacement for their UK production," explains Felipe Munoz of JATO Dynamics.

The former chief executive of Stellantis, Carlos Tavares, has previously criticised the cost of manufacturing cars in the UK and northern Europe – while holding up the company's Kenitra factory in Morocco as a model of efficiency.

The investments starting to bear fruit

When the Luton plant shut last year, it was estimated by Luton Borough Council that the move could cost the regional economy £300m per year.

A small part of the workforce relocated to Stellantis' other UK plant, at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, where the company is in the process of investing £50m in expanding production.

Of those who have not relocated, some retired. "[Others] are taking quite a reduction in pay", says Gary Reay, who was a representative of the Unite union at the plant.

The factory site has been bought by a property firm, Goodman - it plans to create more than 1,700 jobs at a new industrial park.

Mr Reay is unimpressed. "The problem for the workforce… is this is years down the road… It's too far away for most of our workers."

Yet there is hope in some quarters: it is possible this year's output may turn out to be a low point, as recent investments start to bear fruit.

In 2024, for example, Nissan stopped building its ageing electric Leaf model at its Sunderland plant — having previously been building about 30,000 a year. But it is due to begin making a new version this year and will start building an electric version of the Juke in 2026.

Nissan is also one of the manufacturers set to benefit from investments in gigafactories. Nissan's battery partner AESC is building one in Sunderland, which will be able to make power packs for 100,000 electric vehicles a year.

JLR's parent company, Tata, meanwhile, is investing in its own plant in Somerset, through its subsidiary Agratas.

The government says it wants to increase the number of cars and commercial vehicles built annually to 1.3m by 2035. The SMMT believes 803,000 vehicles will leave the production lines next year but bringing that up to 1.3m looks like a very tall order, according to Mike Hawes.

Greg McDonald, the CEO of Goodfish Group, is also circumspect. "I don't think many people think there's going to be a resurgence," he says.

His business makes injection moulded components for carmakers and has four sites across the UK. It also has a base in Slovakia.

"Suppliers like us are used to being constantly bid at for price and cost reductions, and there's a limit to how much you can do."

Diversifying or Chinese investment?

One way of mitigating this is for businesses to diversify - something more viable for smaller businesses in the sector.

Burnett's Manufacturing, based in Northampton, is one of many automotive suppliers clustered around the Midlands Corridor. A manufacturer of specialist rubber and plastic parts, it relies on the motor industry for about 40% of its business. But it also provides components for shipbuilders and oil and gas firms.

According to technical sales manager, Rich Dixon, smaller companies are more flexible and able to adapt to changing circumstances.

"I think we're lucky in some ways, because 60% of our business is diversified across many different industries," he says. "The last thing you want to be is 100% automotive.

"The difficulty is that higher up the food chain, there are some big companies that are very reliant on automotive."

Some argue there is another way forward. Chinese giants such as Chery Group and Dongfeng want to expand their international operations – and see the transition to electric vehicles as an opportunity to do this in the European market.

"If you embrace the move to electric vehicles and become a leading light in attracting Chinese investment, then you can do what China did to us in the past, which is essentially use collaboration to rebuild your industry," argues Andy Palmer, who now owns and invests in clean energy companies.

This would, he adds, require significant government action, including negotiations with Beijing.

The question is, is it already too late?

One senior executive, who has spent decades in the European industry, doesn't believe the UK will become a major player in the EV market.

"I don't think governments have spent the necessary time and energy preparing for the shift to EVs.

"I don't see much opportunity for new players to come in," says the executive, who asked not to be named. "It's all about encouraging those who are already here to stay, and if possible to expand."

Another option, Felipe Munoz believes, is that the UK could double down on its position as a key player in the market for high-end cars.

This could mean becoming a hub for the production of luxury Chinese designs, while allowing cheaper mass-market models to be built elsewhere.

"I think people globally are willing to pay a premium for a British-made luxury car," adds Prof Bailey.

The Great British 'brain drain'

There is plenty at stake here, and it goes beyond the impact on local communities when factories are lost or suppliers stop trading.

"I also worry about it in terms of impacts on productivity, exports, and research and development," says Prof Bailey.

"Part of the reason why we've got poor productivity performance in the UK is that we have allowed too much manufacturing to go."

This is where we differ from our European counterparts, argues Steve Fowler, EV editor for The Independent. "We tend not to support our homegrown industries in the same way that other countries do".

What is harder to assess is the loss of national prestige. When MG Rover collapsed in 2005, there was an outcry, not just because thousands lost their jobs, but also because it was perceived as a symbol of the wider decline of British industry.

This became even more marked when MG – a classic British brand – became a boutique badge for cars made in China.

Many of the upmarket brands that still build cars in this country deliberately trade on their British identity. Think of Rolls Royce, Bentley, McLaren and Lotus. Even BMW-Mini, a mass market manufacturer, is more than willing to wave the Union Jack – or rather, have it painted on door mirrors and roofs.

If those cars were no longer built in Britain, it might well be perceived as a national humiliation. And for some, the decline of the auto industry would almost certainly be perceived as a symptom of a much wider loss.

"I do think people are [becoming] much more aware of where things are made," argues Mr Fowler. "This isn't necessarily a nationalistic thing, but more a sustainability thing. Do you want your car to have travelled halfway around the world to reach you?"

Ultimately, he says, there is already "a bit of a brain drain of talent, because the opportunities, bluntly, aren't here in the UK.

"[But] the UK is a great place to make cars, we have incredible expertise, we have some of the best engineers and people who can build them better than anybody else."

Top image credit: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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Rolls-Royce's plan to power artificial intelligence (AI) with its nuclear reactors could make it the UK's most valuable company, its boss has said.

The engineering firm has signed deals to provide small modular reactors (SMRs) to the UK and Czech governments to power AI-driven data centres.

AI has boomed in popularity since 2022, but the technology use lots of energy, something which has raised practical and environmental concerns.

Rolls-Royce chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic told the BBC it has the "potential" to become the UK's highest-valued company by overtaking the largest firms on the London Stock Exchange thanks to its SMR deals.

"There is no private company in the world with the nuclear capability we have. If we are not market leader globally, we did something wrong," he said.

Tufan Erginbilgic has overseen a ten-fold increase in Rolls-Royce's share price since taking over in January 2023.

However, he has ruled out the idea of Rolls-Royce seeking to list its shares in New York as British chip designer Arm has done and the likes of Shell and AstraZeneca have considered in the search for higher valuations.

This is despite the fact that 50% of its shareholders and customers are US-based.

"It's not in our plan," said Mr Erginbilgic, a Turkish energy industry veteran. "I don't agree with the idea you can only perform in the US. That's not true and hopefully we have demonstrated that."

AI investment

Rolls-Royce already supplies the reactors that power dozens of nuclear submarines. Mr Erginbilgic said the company has a massive advantage in the future market of bringing that technology on land in the form of SMRs.

SMRs are not only smaller but quicker to build than traditional nuclear plants, with costs likely to come down as units are rolled out.

He estimates that the world will need 400 SMRs by 2050. At a cost of up to $3bn (£2.2bn) each, that's another trillion dollar-plus market he wants and expects Rolls-Royce to dominate.

The company has signed a deal to develop six SMRs for the Czech Republic and is developing three for the UK.

But it remains an unproven technology. Mr Erginbilgic conceded he could not currently point to a working SMR example but said he was confident in its future potential.

There are also concerns about the demands on water supplies from the data centre and SMR cooling systems.

In response, companies including Google, Microsoft and Meta have signed deals to take energy from SMRs in the US when they are available.

Next generation aircraft

Rolls-Royce sees SMRs as key to its future, but its biggest business is aircraft engines.

Already dominant in supplying engines to wide-bodied aircraft like Boeing 787 and Airbus A350, it plans to break into the next generation of narrow-bodied aircraft like the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320. This market is worth $1.6tn - nine times that of the wide-bodied .

Rolls-Royce is a bit player in a market that has powerful and successful leaders, and that rival Pratt and Witney lost $8bn trying and failing to break into.

The market is dominated by CFM International – a joint venture between US-based GE Aerospace and French company Safran Aerospace Engines.

Industry veterans told the BBC that market leaders can and will drop prices to airline customers long enough to see off a new assault on their market dominance.

But Mr Erginbilgic said this is not just the biggest business opportunity for Rolls-Royce. Rather, it is "for industrial strategy... the single biggest opportunity for the UK for economic growth".

"No other UK opportunity, I challenge, will match that," he said.

Share price up ten-fold

Although Rolls-Royce sold its car making business to BMW nearly 30 years ago, the name of the company is still synonymous with British engineering excellence.

But in the early part of this decade that shine had worn off. The company was heavily indebted, its profit margins were non-existent, and thousands of staff were being laid off.

When Mr Erginbilgic took over in January 2023, he likened the company to "a burning platform".

"Our cost of capital was 12%, our return was 4% so every time we invested we destroyed value," he said.

Two and a half years later, the company expects to make a profit of over £3bn, its debt levels have fallen and shares have risen over 1,000% - a ten-fold rise.

So how did that happen? And is Mr Erginbilgic right to think that Rolls-Royce's roll is only just starting?

'Grudging respect'

The timing of his appointment was fortunate according to some industry veterans.

Rolls-Royce's biggest business – supplying engines to commercial airlines – has rebounded strongly from the Covid pandemic.

The company's most successful product – the Trent series of aircraft engines – are at the sweet spot of profitability as the returns on investment in their development over a decade ago begin to pour into company coffers.

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 arguably made it almost inevitable that its defence business would see higher spending from European governments – which has been confirmed by recent announcements.

Unions have not always been fans of Mr Erginbilgic's hard-charging approach.

In October 2023, one of his first major move was cutting jobs, which drew criticism from Sharon Graham, the boss of the Unite union.

"This announcement appears to be about appeasing the markets and its shareholders while ignoring its workers," she said at the time.

However, overall global headcount has grown from 43,000 to 45,000 since 2023 and union sources say there is "grudging respect" for Mr Erginbilgic.

Those sources give him one third of the credit for the turnaround around in the company's fortunes, with a third credited to market conditions and a third to his predecessor Warren East for "steadying the ship".

So does Mr Erginbilgic really believe that Rolls-Royce can be the UK's most valuable company – overtaking the likes of AstraZeneca, HSBC, and Shell?

"We are now number five in the FTSE. I believe the growth potential we created in the company right now, in our existing business and our new businesses, actually yes – we have that potential."

Rolls-Royce is undoubtedly a company with the wind at its back – and Tufan Ergenbilgic certainly believes he has set the sails just right.

Under-22s in England should be given free bus passes to help them get into work and education, according to major a report by MPs.

The number of bus journeys taken in England has dropped in recent years, while fares have risen faster than inflation, it said.

This was a barrier to opportunity and growth in some areas, MPs found, recommending a pilot scheme of free bus travel at any time of day for under-22s.

The Department for Transport said it was providing "£1bn in multi-year funding to improve the reliability and frequency of bus services across the country".

Since January 2022, everyone in Scotland aged between five and 22 has been entitled to free bus travel.

In England, the number of bus passenger journeys had dropped from 4.6 billion in 2009 to 3.6 billion in 2024, the report by the Transport Committee said.

Some smaller towns and rural areas have no bus services at all, or buses that run so infrequently that "they do not meaningfully add to people's transport options", it said.

A 2019 study found that some 57% of jobseekers lived in areas where they could not reach a centre of employment within 45 minutes by bus.

"High bus fares and limited local provision can severely restrict young people's access to education, employment, and other opportunities," the report said.

'We rely on public transport'

Alex Mustafa, 19, says she uses the bus all the time as she can't drive due to health and financial reasons and would benefit from a free bus pass.

"It would also help poorer young people like myself who rely on public transport to better plan for social connections without needing to worry about bus cost on top of how expensive it is to go out as it is," she said.

Alex says she has been left waiting for a bus for over an hour before and has been late to work and missed social events due to cancelled buses.

"It's very difficult to live life according to plan when you have to plan around an unreliable schedule. Trains are sometimes better, but they also come with a higher cost and they're more limiting with location," she said.

Roman Dibden, chief executive of youth charity Rise Up, said it sees young people turn down job interviews and training all the time because they can't afford the bus fare.

"Free bus passes for under-22s would remove a huge barrier, opening up access to jobs, apprenticeships, and training - especially in communities where opportunity isn't on your doorstep."

'Support people who struggle costs-wise'

Dylan Lewis-Creser, 21, is a student in town planning and also stood as a Green Party candidate for Walkley Ward in the local elections in May 2024.

They told the BBC they use the bus quite a lot to travel around Sheffield as driving is too expensive.

"A free bus pass would mean I could get to and from university and work without paying £10 a week, which adds up significantly as a student on a low budget," they said.

"That cost is amplified when considering changing buses to get to other job opportunities and elsewhere, like hospitals."

Dylan thinks there needs to be more discussion around "making transport accessible, affordable and reliable."

"Part of that would be supporting people who often struggle costs-wise to do that, such as young people," they said.

"We've seen how it's boosted young people using buses in Scotland, and it only makes sense to extend that policy."

Bus passengers spend £39.1 billion in local businesses every year, according to research from KPMG.

But experts told the Transport Committee that the bus sector's contribution to the economy declined by around £8.9 billion between 2011 and 2023.

The report said: "The current deregulated nature of the bus sector can encourage commercial operators to "deprioritise" less profitable routes, often leaving vulnerable communities without a service."

'Social exclusion'

The committee heard that older people were particularly deterred from using the bus if they felt unsafe at bus stops.

The report recommended improvements to bus stops and shelters such as screen showing real-time information.

Jane Bishop is the chief executive of North Norfolk Community Transport, a charity that provides low-cost dial-a-ride services in the local area. She says for some people bus services mean the difference between being able to stay in their homes or having to move into assisted living.

"Most of our passengers are older people, but not all," she told the BBC. "A lot of people, we're the only people they see every week."

"They become friends with the other people on their route so it's a great tool for combatting loneliness," Ms Bishop said.

But, she added, "it's a lottery whether there is a community transport in your area".

Fare cap

The cap on bus fares outside London was increased to £3 last year.

The committee said fare caps were most beneficial to people in rural areas, as they tended to take longer journeys or had to use multiple buses for one trip.

But the report was critical of the short-term nature of funding for bus services, saying it has "hampered local authorities' ability to improve services".

"Five-year settlements in other transport sectors like rail and the strategic road network have enabled greater certainty and promoted strategic planning," it said. "Bus services, the most widely used form of public transport, require a similar commitment."

Bus services are devolved in England, meaning they are the responsibility of local authorities. Individual councils could choose to offer concessions to under-22s.

The Local Government Association (LGA) welcomed the committee's recommendation to end "stop-start funding" for buses.

A spokesperson said: "Bus services provide an essential mode of public transport in local communities, relied upon by millions of people.

"More work is needed to attract them back onto buses to ensure services are sustainable for our communities. Stop-start funding risks losing passengers, with patronage difficult to recover if and when money is found."

Steff Aquarone, a Liberal Democrat MP who sits on the Transport Committee, said the report shows the need for "a different model for rural public transport".

He said local councils cannot heavily subsidise bus fares as in other countries, but "if you put buses on at the time people want to travel, going to places they want to go, people will use them".

Additional reporting by Kris Bramwell.

Police will be encouraged to disclose the ethnicity and nationality of suspects charged in high-profile and sensitive investigations under new guidance, the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) says.

It is hoped the change will reduce the risk to public safety where there are high levels of misinformation about an incident or in cases of significant public interest.

Decisions on releasing such information will remain with police forces, with wider legal and ethical considerations also considered, the NPCC added.

It comes after a series of high-profile cases including that of two men, reported to be Afghan asylum seekers, charged over the alleged rape of a 12-year-old in Warwickshire.

Welcoming the new guidance, a Home Office spokesperson said: "Public trust requires transparency and consistency from the authorities that serve them."

The guidance, which comes into immediate effect, forms part of a wider review of the College of Policing's professional practice for media relations.

The NPCC said the guidance would reaffirm that verifying a suspect's immigration status was not the police's responsibility.

"It is for the Home Office to decide if it is appropriate in all the circumstances to confirm immigration status," the council said.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC last week that there needed to be "more transparency in cases" over the background of suspects.

The NPCC said the new guidance aimed to ensure policing was more consistent, fair and transparent, as well as addressing possible mis and disinformation.

The change was in recognition of public concern and ensured police processes were "fit for purpose in an age of rapid information spread", the council added.

Before 2012 police forces made decisions on what information to give to the media on a purely case-by-case basis.

But after Lord Leveson published his report into the ethics of the press, police forces became much more cautious abut what information they released.

As it stands, there is nothing in the College of Policing's guidance on media relations that prevents police giving information about the nationality, asylum status or even ethnicity of someone who has been charged.

However there is nothing that specifically mentions them either which is why the information released to the media largely comes at the discretion of the police force. Hence the very different measures taken in recent cases.

In May, when a car ploughed into crowds celebrating Liverpool FC's winning of the Premiership title, Merseyside Police were quick to reveal that the man arrested was white and British, in order to quash rumours of a terrorist attack in the public interest.

Conversely, the forces decision not to release information about Axel Rudakubana - the man jailed for murdering Alice Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, in Southport last summer - allowed false information to spread.

That misinformation was deemed at least partly responsible for the riots in England and Northern Ireland between 30 July and 5 August 2024.

Referring to the riots, Deputy Chief Constable Sam de Reya, the NPCC lead for communications and media, described it as the "real-world consequences" of the information the police release into the public domain.

He said: "We have to make sure our processes are fit for purpose in an age of social media speculation and where information can travel incredibly quickly across a wide range of channels."

He added that "being as fair, consistent and transparent as we can will improve confidence in policing".

Chief Constable Sir Andy Marsh, CEO at the College of Policing, added that the interim guidance would "bring consistency" and that "information can be released for all ethnicities and nationalities when it meets the right criteria."

The guidance has been developed following consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Home Office and the College of Policing will update its current authorised professional practice for media relations later this year.

The Home Office spokesperson added: "The public, and police forces themselves, want greater clarity on when, why and how information is released and the legitimate and compelling reasons it may need to be withheld.

"The Home Office will support that effort by authorising the release of relevant accompanying immigration information in future cases, where it is appropriate to do so, and where the police have requested it. All cases will of course take account of consultation with the police and CPS.

"The government also asked the Law Commission at the end of February to speed up the elements of its review around the law of contempt in relation to what can be said publicly ahead of a trial."

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine would reject any Russian proposal to give up the Donbas region in exchange for a ceasefire, warning it could be used as a springboard for future attacks.

Zelensky was speaking ahead of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.

Trump has insisted any peace deal would involve "some swapping of territories" and could see Russia taking the entire eastern Donbas region and keeping Crimea.

Meanwhile Moscow's troops have continued their summer offensive, making a sudden thrust near the eastern Ukrainian town of Dobropillia and advancing 10km (six miles) in a short period of time.

Zelensky admitted the advance had taken place in "several spots" but said Kyiv would soon destroy the units involved in the attack.

No official details have emerged on what demands Vladimir Putin could make when he meets Donald Trump in Anchorage on Friday.

The Donbas - made up of the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk - has been partly occupied by Russia since 2014.

Moscow now holds almost all of Luhansk and about 70% of Donetsk but speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Zelensky reaffirmed that Ukraine would reject any proposal to leave the Donbas.

"If we withdraw from the Donbas today - our fortifications, our terrain, the heights we control - we will clearly open a bridgehead for the Russians to prepare an offensive," he said.

In his nightly address on Tuesday, Zelensky also said Moscow was preparing new offensives on three parts of the front - Zaporizhzhia, Pokrovsk and Novopavlov areas.

Last week Trump said there would be "some swapping of territories to the betterment of both" Russia and Ukraine - sparking concern in Kyiv and across Europe that Moscow could be allowed to redraw Ukraine's borders by force.

Russia currently controls just under 20% of Ukrainian territory.

The White House on Tuesday said the Alaska talks would be a "listening exercise" for Trump and added having him and Putin sit down in the same room would give the US president "the best indication on how to end this war".

It follows Trump describing the summit as a "feel-out meeting" on Monday, seeming to tone down expectations that Friday's meeting could bring Ukraine and Russia closer to peace.

When he announced the summit last week, Trump sounded positive that the meeting could result in concrete steps towards peace.

"I think my gut instinct really tells me that we have a shot at it," he said.

But Ukrainian President Zelensky once again expressed serious doubts that the talks could result in a positive outcome for Kyiv, which has been excluded from the summit. "I don't know what they will talk about without us," he said.

Zelensky has steered clear of criticising Trump but in recent days his frustration at being sidelined has become apparent, and on Tuesday he said the choice of Alaska as a location was a "personal victory" for Putin.

"He is coming out of isolation, because they are meeting with him on US territory," he said.

On Wednesday, Zelensky is due to join a virtual meeting with Donald Trump, EU leaders, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Nato chief Mark Rutte.

All sides will try to convince Trump of the need not to be swayed by Putin when the two meet at the hastily-organised summit.

Heat health alerts are coming into effect for the whole of England later, with amber warnings for most southern and central areas - meaning there could be travel disruption or increased demand on health services.

Following a warm night, temperatures are set to rise across the UK on Tuesday when the heat will peak for most.

Much of England and Wales will see 25-28C, reaching 34C in some areas, meaning heatwave thresholds are likely to be met in a number of regions this week.

Meanwhile, the national drought group - which includes the Met Office, regulators, the government, and water companies - has warned that England is now suffering from "nationally significant" water shortfalls.

The group said England is experiencing widespread environmental and agricultural effects from the shortage of water, which is hitting crop yields, reducing feed for livestock, damaging river wildlife and wetlands, as well as increasing wildfires.

As high pressure has pushed eastwards, the UK has been drawing in some very warm air on a southerly to south easterly wind from the European continent, where temperatures have been particularly high.

On Monday, Bergerac and Bordeaux in France set all-time records at 41.4C and 41.6C. There are red warnings for the heat in France and in Spain.

• How do heat health alerts work?
• What should you look for when choosing sunscreen?
• What are UV levels and how can you protect yourself?

The amber heat health alert – issued by the UK Health Security Agency – begins across the Midlands, East Anglia, London and South East England at 09:00 and continues until 18:00 on Wednesday.

North East England, North West England, Yorkshire and Humber and south-west England have a yellow alert for the same period.

Yellow alerts warn of possible impacts on health and social services.

Temperatures across Scotland and Northern Ireland could reach 23-26C, maybe 27C in eastern Scotland and the Borders.

Much of England and Wales could see 25-28C, but the low 30s are again likely for central and southern England, and south-east Wales. Anywhere from the south-west Midlands to west London could see 34C.

This would still not make it the warmest day of the year so far, although the year's top temperature in Wales may be threatened.

Highest temperatures of 2025

• England - 35.8C Faversham, 1July
• Wales - 33.1C Cardiff Bute Park, 12 July
• Scotland - 32.2C Aviemore, 12 July
• Northern Ireland - 30C Magilligan, 12 July

Some could see a fourth heatwave of the summer this week, the official criteria for which is when locations reach a particular threshold temperature for at least three consecutive days. That varies from 25C across the north and west of the UK, to 28C in parts of eastern England.

Conditions will stay warm for a third day for most areas on Wednesday, though temperatures could dip a little in the west.

There will be more cloud and it will feel more humid. There will be a slight shift in wind direction to more of a south-westerly meaning the highest temperatures could be across parts of East Anglia, again in the low 30s.

The heat will ease for most on Thursday with some thunderstorms and some cooler, less humid air into Friday.

However, as high pressure builds in once more it is likely temperatures will rise again into the weekend to the mid-to-high 20s, with 30C possible in southern England and south Wales.

This year saw the warmest and sunniest spring on record across the UK.

June and July saw the second and fifth highest average temperatures for those months respectively.

There have been 13 days so far this year that have seen temperatures of 30C or more in the UK this year.

That number will rise further this week, but is still low compared with the 19 days above 30C in 2022 and 34 days in 1995.

Rainfall for August has been very variable. Despite it only being 11 days into the month, some parts of northern Scotland are not far from recording their average August rainfall already, while some parts of southern England, such as Heathrow and Kew Gardens, have yet to record any measurable rain.

The Trump administration has significantly rewritten and downscaled the US government's annual report on global human rights abuses.

The document, previously seen as the most comprehensive study of its kind by any government, significantly reduces criticism of some US allies such as Israel and El Salvador while escalating disapproval of perceived foes such as Brazil and South Africa.

Entire sections included in reports from previous yeas are also eliminated, dramatically reducing coverage of issues including government corruption and persecution of LGBTQ+ individuals.

State department officials say it has been "restructured" to "remove redundancies" and "increase readability".

The report also describes the human rights situation as having "worsened" in major European democracies including the UK, France and Germany.

The language used echoes previous criticism by the Trump administration and some US tech bosses who oppose online harm reduction laws in some European countries, portraying them as attacks on free speech.

Uzra Zeya, a former senior state department official who now runs the charity Human Rights First, accused the Trump administration of "gutting" decades of highly respected work on human rights protections and an "abandonment of core values" to the US.

"It sends a signal that there's going to be a free pass from the United States government, that it will look the other way if a government is willing to cut deals or do the bidding of this administration," she told the BBC.

The report accuses the UK of "significant human rights issues", including "credible reports of serious restrictions on freedom of expression". It also describes prosecution and punishment for human rights abuses as "inconsistent".

Brazil, which the Trump administration has frequently criticised, was singled out for "disproportionate action to undermine freedom of speech".

Both the UK and Brazil have previously rejected similar criticism from the US.

In the section on Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, the report says the ongoing war "led to a rise in reports of human rights violations". However, the report continues, "the government took several credible steps to identify officials who committed human rights abuses". It also accuses Hamas and Hezbollah of war crimes, charges both have denied.

The report omits reference to the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former defence minister Yoav Gallant and a Hamas commander, Mohammed Deif. ICC judges concluded there were "reasonable grounds" the men bore "criminal responsibility" for alleged war crimes. Both Israel and Hamas have rejected the allegations.

El Salvador has has been accused by Amnesty International of "arbitrary detentions and human rights violations" as well as "inhumane" detention conditions. However the state department report concluded there were "no credible reports of significant human rights abuses".

Trump has a close relationship with El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, who he lauded in April as "one hell of a president" who was doing a "great job".

The document was published following a months' long delay amid reports of significant internal dissent at the state department over its contents.

It follows internal guidance issued by political leaders earlier this year reportedly advising staff to shorten the reports to remove some references to issues including corruption and gender-based crimes, and follows some executive orders on related issues issued by President Trump.

During a visit to Saudi Arabia earlier this year Trump berated "Western interventionists" and said the US would no longer be "giving you lectures on how to live or how to govern your own affairs".

The White House is set to a host an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event next year as part of 4 July celebrations in the US to mark the 250th anniversary of the country's founding.

The octagon cage fight event was announced by UFC boss Dana White, whose friendship with the president dates back to the early 2000s when Trump hosted some of the first ever UFC events at his business properties.

"It is definitely going to happen," White told CBS Mornings.

White said he planned to meet with the president and his daughter Ivanka at the end of the month to finalise the plans. A White House official confirmed the event to the BBC.

It will mark the first time a UFC fighting competition would be hosted at the White House.

It's unclear where the event would be hosted. UFC fights typically draw tens of thousands of people and are held in large arenas, with the sports trademarked eight-sided octogen cage in the middle.

"When he called me and asked me to do it, he said: 'I want Ivanka in the middle of this,'" White said of his discussions with Trump.

"So Ivanka reached out to me, and her and I started talking about the possibilities, where it would be and, you know, I put together all the renderings."

Trump had teased the idea of hosting a fight at the White House during an event last month in Iowa.

He indicated that there were ideas to build a cage for the fight on the grounds of the White House and suggested the event could host up to 25,000 people.

"We're going to have a UFC fight, think of this, on the grounds of the White House," Trump said at a 4 July Salute to America event in the state. "We have a lot of land there."

He told supporters at the event, which he said would kick of a year of celebrations for the nation's 250th birthday, that national parks and historic sites across the US would also host special events.

The UFC fight is the latest move by Trump to place his mark on the White House.

He has made renovating the entire complex of the White House a priority for his second term. So far, he's redecorated the Oval Office with gold decor, paved over the grass lawn in the Rose Garden, erected two large flagpoles on the north and south lawns, and announced plans to build a $200m (£151m) new ballroom in the East Wing.

Last week, he walked on the roof of the West Wing, saying he was looking at "another way to spend my money for this country".

The plans for the fight come shortly after Paramount, which owns CBS, announced a seven-year, $7.7bn deal to stream UFC fights.

The Trump administration recently approved a heavily scrutinised merger between Skydance and Paramount, which included promises and commitments by the companies to the administration before it was approved.

Courtney Subramanian contributed reporting from the White House.

Heat health alerts are coming into effect for the whole of England later, with amber warnings for most southern and central areas - meaning there could be travel disruption or increased demand on health services.

Following a warm night, temperatures are set to rise across the UK on Tuesday when the heat will peak for most.

Much of England and Wales will see 25-28C, reaching 34C in some areas, meaning heatwave thresholds are likely to be met in a number of regions this week.

Meanwhile, the national drought group - which includes the Met Office, regulators, the government, and water companies - has warned that England is now suffering from "nationally significant" water shortfalls.

The group said England is experiencing widespread environmental and agricultural effects from the shortage of water, which is hitting crop yields, reducing feed for livestock, damaging river wildlife and wetlands, as well as increasing wildfires.

As high pressure has pushed eastwards, the UK has been drawing in some very warm air on a southerly to south easterly wind from the European continent, where temperatures have been particularly high.

On Monday, Bergerac and Bordeaux in France set all-time records at 41.4C and 41.6C. There are red warnings for the heat in France and in Spain.

• How do heat health alerts work?
• What should you look for when choosing sunscreen?
• What are UV levels and how can you protect yourself?

The amber heat health alert – issued by the UK Health Security Agency – begins across the Midlands, East Anglia, London and South East England at 09:00 and continues until 18:00 on Wednesday.

North East England, North West England, Yorkshire and Humber and south-west England have a yellow alert for the same period.

Yellow alerts warn of possible impacts on health and social services.

Temperatures across Scotland and Northern Ireland could reach 23-26C, maybe 27C in eastern Scotland and the Borders.

Much of England and Wales could see 25-28C, but the low 30s are again likely for central and southern England, and south-east Wales. Anywhere from the south-west Midlands to west London could see 34C.

This would still not make it the warmest day of the year so far, although the year's top temperature in Wales may be threatened.

Highest temperatures of 2025

• England - 35.8C Faversham, 1July
• Wales - 33.1C Cardiff Bute Park, 12 July
• Scotland - 32.2C Aviemore, 12 July
• Northern Ireland - 30C Magilligan, 12 July

Some could see a fourth heatwave of the summer this week, the official criteria for which is when locations reach a particular threshold temperature for at least three consecutive days. That varies from 25C across the north and west of the UK, to 28C in parts of eastern England.

Conditions will stay warm for a third day for most areas on Wednesday, though temperatures could dip a little in the west.

There will be more cloud and it will feel more humid. There will be a slight shift in wind direction to more of a south-westerly meaning the highest temperatures could be across parts of East Anglia, again in the low 30s.

The heat will ease for most on Thursday with some thunderstorms and some cooler, less humid air into Friday.

However, as high pressure builds in once more it is likely temperatures will rise again into the weekend to the mid-to-high 20s, with 30C possible in southern England and south Wales.

This year saw the warmest and sunniest spring on record across the UK.

June and July saw the second and fifth highest average temperatures for those months respectively.

There have been 13 days so far this year that have seen temperatures of 30C or more in the UK this year.

That number will rise further this week, but is still low compared with the 19 days above 30C in 2022 and 34 days in 1995.

Rainfall for August has been very variable. Despite it only being 11 days into the month, some parts of northern Scotland are not far from recording their average August rainfall already, while some parts of southern England, such as Heathrow and Kew Gardens, have yet to record any measurable rain.

A scorching heatwave is fuelling dozens of wildfires across parts of southern Europe, forcing thousands of people from their homes and pushing temperatures above 40C (104F).

Red heat alerts have been issued in parts of Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and the Balkans, warning of significant risks to health.

Spain's weather service Aemet said temperatures could reach 44C (111.2F) in Seville and Cordoba, while authorities in southern Portugal also warned of possible 44C highs.

In Italy, a child died of heatstroke on Monday, and in Tres Cantos, north of Spain's capital Madrid, a man who suffered serious burns died in hospital, officials said.

Hundreds of Tres Cantos residents were forced to leave their homes amid Spain's wildfires and the regional environment minister described the fire as having "explosive characteristics because of a dry storm that has brought winds of more than 70km/h (43.5mph)".

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez posted on X on Tuesday and said that rescue services "are working tirelessly to extinguish the fires". "We are at extreme risk of forest fires. Please be very cautious," he added.

In Spain's north-western region of Castile and Leon, almost 4,000 people were evacuated and more than 30 blazes were reported - with one threatening Las Medulas, a Unesco World Heritage site renowned for its ancient gold mines.

Another 2,000 people were evacuated from hotels and homes near the tourist hotspot of Tarifa in the southern region of Andalusia.

Almost 1,000 soldiers were deployed to battle wildfires around the country, Spain's national military emergency unit said on Tuesday morning.

In neighbouring Portugal, firefighters battled three large wildfires, with the most serious near Trancoso contained in the centre of the country on Tuesday.

More than 1,300 firefighters and 14 aircraft were deployed, with Morocco sending two planes after Portuguese water bombers broke down, Reuters reported. Authorities warned southern regions could hit 44C, with the temperature not expected to dip below 25C.

One child died of heatstroke in Italy on Monday, where temperatures of 40C are expected to hit later this week and red heat alerts were in place for 16 cities including Rome, Milan and Florence.

The four-year-old Romanian boy, who was found unconscious in a car in Sardinia was airlifted to a hospital in Rome but died due to irreversible brain damage, reportedly caused by heatstroke, medical authorities told AFP.

Almost three-quarters of France was placed under heat alerts on Tuesday, with temperatures forecast to top 36C in the Paris region and 40C in the Rhône Valley.

French Health Minister Catherine Vautrin said hospitals were braced for fallout from the country's second heatwave in just a few weeks. On Monday, 80 weather stations broke August records, 58 reaching all-time highs.

In Greece, gale-force winds fanned fires on tourist islands Zakynthos and Cephalonia, prompting village and hotel evacuations. Another blaze near the western Greek town Vonitsa threatened homes, while four areas of the mainland also faced evacuations.

Turkey's northwestern Canakkale province saw a major fire force hundreds from their homes. Canakkale Governor Omer Toraman said in a post on X that seven planes and six helicopters were tackling the blaze on Tuesday.

He added the Dardanelles Strait, a waterway linking the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara, was closed to allow water-dropping planes and helicopters to operate safely.

Wildfires in Albania forced people to evacuate their homes on Monday, while in Croatia a large fire raged in Split and was contained on Tuesday. A major wildfire swept through Piperi village near Montenegro's capital Podgorica, devastating houses in the area.

Parts of the UK are sweltering in its fourth heatwave of the year, with amber and yellow heat health alerts in place for all of England and potential highs of 34C forecast.

Scientists warn global warming is making Mediterranean summers hotter and drier, fuelling longer and more intense fire seasons.

Millions of pounds worth of luxury vehicles have been seized by the Metropolitan Police to curb dangerous driving in central London.

Police seized 72 vehicles worth an estimated £6m, including identical purple Lamborghinis, in a three-day operation across Hyde Park, Kensington and Chelsea.

Drivers were issued with tickets for a variety of motoring offences, including driving with no insurance, no driving licence, disqualification, false documentation and the use of fraudulent number plates.

Officers also recovered several stolen vehicles and made eight arrests for a range of offences including a man who was wanted for actual bodily harm (ABH) and criminal damage.

One car was stopped by officers over a discrepancy with the vehicle's insurance. But after routine checks, officers had enough information to arrest four people for immigration offences.

The force said uninsured driving was often linked to broader criminal activity including drink and drug driving, disqualified driving, stolen vehicles, money laundering, drug running and organised crime.

Luxury vehicles seized included Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Bentleys that were either unroadworthy or being driven illegally.

A pair of uninsured purple Lamborghinis were also seized after they were flown into the UK for their owner's summer trip.

One of the two drivers had been in the country for two hours and had been driving for 15 minutes before the car was seized, the Motor Insurers' Bureau said.

Several of the seized vehicles had been brought to the UK from abroad, with drivers using motor insurance from their home countries without verifying whether the policy provided coverage in the UK, the organisation added.

Andy Trotter, from the Motor Insurers' Bureau said: "Someone is hit by an uninsured driver every 20 minutes in the UK, someone is seriously injured by an uninsured driver every day and one person will lose their lives to an uninsured driver every week."

One driver who was stopped by police officers told BBC London: "Apparently the car came up without insurance on this registration.

"It was my mistake because I changed it two days ago.

"On DVLA it wasn't automatically swapped from the original reg number to the personalised one, and my mistake was not to call the insurance and declare the new reg with them."

Special Chief Officer James Deller, from the Met's Special Constabulary, said the operation was in response to concerns from residents and businesses that high-value vehicles were "causing a nuisance" in central and west London.

Seven men and one woman were arrested during the operation:

• A 22-year-old man who was arrested for ABH and criminal damage
• A 25-year-old man, who was later charged for possession of a Class B drug
• A 27-year-old man was arrested for theft of a motor vehicle and released under investigation
• A 23-year-old man was arrested for theft of motor vehicle, dangerous driving, failing to stop for police, no insurance, no driving licence and drug driving
• Three men, aged 26, 35 and 39, and a 23-year-old woman, were arrested on suspicion of immigration offences.

Last year's operation saw £60m worth of vehicles seized, including a McLaren, Bentley, Rolls Royce, Ferrari and Lamborghini, mostly due to a lack of insurance.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk

Gaza City has come under intense air attack, the territory's Hamas-run civil defence agency has said, as Israeli forces prepare to occupy the city.

Mahmud Bassal, a spokesman, said the residential areas of Zeitoun and Sabra had for three days been hit by bombs and drone strikes that "cause massive destruction to civilian homes", with residents unable to recover the dead and injured.

Meanwhile the UK, EU, Australia, Canada and Japan issued a statement saying "famine is unfolding in front of our eyes" and urged action to "reverse starvation".

They demanded "immediate, permanent and concrete steps" to facilitate the entry of aid to Gaza. Israel denies there is starvation in Gaza.

It has accused UN agencies of not picking up aid at the borders and delivering it.

The joint statement also demanded an end to the use of lethal force near aid distribution sites and lorry convoys, where the UN says more than 1,300 Palestinians have been killed, mostly by the Israeli military.

Separately, the World Health Organisation on Tuesday appealed to Israel to let it stock medical supplies to deal with a "catastrophic" health situation before it seizes control of Gaza City.

"We all hear about 'more humanitarian supplies are allowed in' - well it's not happening yet, or it's happening at a way too low a pace," said Rik Peeperkorn, the agency's representative in the Palestinian territories.

"We want to as quickly stock up hospitals," he added. "We currently cannot do that. We need to be able to get all essential medicines and medical supplies in."

Israel's war cabinet voted on Monday to occupy Gaza City, a move condemned at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council later that day. On Tuesday the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was "at the beginning of a new state of combat".

The Israeli government has not provided an exact timetable on when its forces would enter the area. On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's forces had been instructed to dismantle the "two remaining Hamas strongholds" in Gaza City and a central area around al-Mawasi.

He also outlined a three-step plan to increase aid in Gaza, including designating safe corridors for aid distribution, as well as more air drops by Israeli forces and other partners.

On the ground, however, residents of Gaza City said they had come under unrelenting attack from the air. Majed al-Hosary, a resident in Zeitoun in Gaza City, told AFP that the attacks had been "extremely intense for two days".

"With every strike, the ground shakes. There are martyrs under the rubble that no one can reach because the shelling hasn't stopped," he said.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said that 100 dead had been brought to hospitals across Gaza over the past 24 hours, including 31 people who were killed at aid sites. Five more people had also died of malnutrition, it added.

Israel has faced mounting criticism over the 22-month-long war with Hamas, with UN-backed experts warning of widespread famine unfolding in the besieged territory.

On Tuesday members of an international group of former leaders known as "The Elders" for the first time called the war in Gaza an "unfolding genocide" and blamed Israel for causing famine among its population.

Following a visit to the Gaza border, Helen Clark and Mary Robinson, a former prime minister of New Zealand and a former president of Ireland, said in a joint statement: "What we saw and heard underlines our personal conviction that there is not only an unfolding, human-caused famine in Gaza. There is an unfolding genocide."

The statement mirrors those of leading Israeli rights groups, including B'Tselem, which said it had reached an "unequivocal conclusion" that Israel was attempting to "destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip".

Israel strongly rejects the accusations, saying its forces target terrorists and never civilians, and that Hamas was responsible for the suffering in Gaza.

On Sunday, the IDF killed five Al Jazeera journalists in a targeted attack on a media tent in Gaza City, sparking widespread international condemnation. It said it had killed well known reporter Anas al-Sharif, whom it alleged "served as the head of a terrorist cell in Hamas", and made no mention of the others.

Media freedom groups said it had provided little evidence for its claims. Al Jazeera's managing editor said Israel wanted to "silence the coverage of any channel of reporting from inside Gaza".

Hamas killed more than 1,200 people and took 251 hostage in its attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. Israel's response in Gaza has killed at least 61,599 Palestinians, according to the health ministry, whose toll the UN considers reliable.

US Vice-President JD Vance is meeting Conservative shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick at the house where he is staying during his holiday in the UK.

The BBC has been told Vance's team invited Jenrick to a private meeting with the vice-president in the Cotswolds on Tuesday.

Vance and his family are visiting the area in south-west England for their summer break away from Washington DC.

The BBC has approached a Vance spokesperson for comment.

Vance arrived in the UK last week and met David Lammy for talks about Gaza and other international affairs at the foreign secretary's official residence, Chevening House, in Kent on Friday.

The vice-president is not due to meet Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who was speaking to business owners in the Isle of Wight on Tuesday.

A Conservative spokesman said aides for Badenoch and Vance had been discussing a meeting but "just couldn't make it work with schedules".

Badenoch met Vance last year when she was in Washington DC and had dinner with the vice-president.

Jenrick, who was defeated by Badenoch in the Tory leadership contest last year, will be meeting Vance for the first time in the Cotswolds.

The Tory shadow secretary of state and Vance have taken similar positions on a range of policy issues, from immigration to free speech.

Vance's trip has included several official engagements, meetings and visits to cultural sites.

Over the weekend, Vance and his family enjoyed a guided tour of Hampton Court Palace, the former home of Henry VIII.

Residents in the hamlet of Dean in Oxfordshire have faced disruption, with police closing roads for the vice-president's visit.

The village and a manor house in the area have been under heavy security since Vance's arrival on Sunday evening.

The vice-president has been pictured at a farm shop, near Chipping Norton, close to the home of the former UK Prime Minister Lord David Cameron.

Vance's trip comes before US President Donald Trump, who travelled to Scotland for a private visit in July, is scheduled to make a historic second state visit to the UK next month.

Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to keep up with the inner workings of Westminster and beyond.

Starbucks customers in South Korea have been asked to stop bringing "bulky items" into cafes to do their office work, after some brought printers and desktop computers.

Others had brought in partitions and more than one computer to mark their office territory.

As many people choose to work from home, cafes like Starbucks have been trying to strike the balance between being a casual coffee place and welcoming customers choosing to work there.

Starbucks said laptops, iPads, and mobile phones are still welcome but not items that "impact the shared space" and limit seating.

Starbucks's announcement comes as the growing trend of those studying and working at cafes - cagongjok - becomes a subject of intense debate in Korean society.

Since the pandemic, as the trend towards working from home escalates, many have started using the term cagonjok in not-so-friendly terms, showing irritation at those who use the seats for hours after only buying one drink.

Some users in Korea on social media have said cagonjok are also freeloading electricity.

"If you can't afford an office space and Starbucks is silly enough to let you run your office there for the price of their less-than-mediocre sugary caffeine beverage, go for it," said one user on Reddit.

'Bad manners'

Koreans on social media have been reacting to the announcement from Starbucks.

"Good job," said one Korean user on social media. "Now that Starbucks has started, other cafes should follow suit".

Another said that people working from cafes made him stop going to Starbucks, and that the announcement is a "measure against those who've crossed the line with their bad manners".

"It feels like there are way too many people without common sense these days," the user wrote.

A spokesperson for Starbucks said: "Starbucks Korea has updated its policy so all customers can have a pleasant and accessible store experience.

"While laptops and smaller personal devices are welcome, customers are asked to refrain from bringing desktop computers, printers, or other bulky items that may limit seating and impact the shared space".

"Starbucks remains committed to being a welcoming third place for coffee and connection, and where community thrives in every cup, every conversation, and every visit", Starbucks concluded, though its mild-mannered response hides the derision many feel for those seen to be hogging seats at cafes.

Starbucks's in South Korea move echoes sentiment in cafes across the world, including in England where some coffee shops have introduced policies aimed at stopping remote workers from "hogging" tables and limiting turnover.

Additional reporting by Hosu Lee.

Madonna has urged Pope Leo XIV to visit Gaza and bring his "light to the children before it is too late".

The US queen of pop shared her plea on social media, saying the supreme pontiff was "the only one of us who cannot be denied entry."

Her intervention came as the UK, EU, Australia, Canada and Japan issued a statement saying "famine is unfolding in front of our eyes" and urged action to "reverse starvation".

"Most Holy Father, please go to Gaza and bring your light to the children before it's too late," Madonna posted on Instagram. "As a mother, I cannot bear to watch their suffering.

Israel denies there is starvation in Gaza.

'Please say you will go'

"The children of the world belong to everyone.

"You are the only one of us who cannot be denied entry."

The Like a Prayer singer added: "We need the humanitarian gates to be fully opened to save these innocent children."

She signed off by saying: "There is no more time. Please say you will go. Love, Madonna."

In July, the new Pope renewed his call for a Gaza ceasefire after three people sheltering in the Catholic church in Gaza City were killed in an Israeli strike.

According to PA News, he said: "I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations."

Madonna - who last month released her long-rumoured remix album Veronica Electronica - has made impassioned speeches on stage about Gaza since the war began.

This includes while performing at London's O2 in 2023, when she told fans: "It breaks my heart to see children suffering, teenagers suffering, elderly people suffering - all of it is heartbreaking, I'm sure you agree.

"But even though our hearts are broken our spirits cannot be broken."

She urged fans to bring "light and love" into the world - both individually and collectively, via words and actions - in order to "bring peace to the Middle East" and beyond.

In the caption of her latest online post, she noted how it was her son Rocco's birthday and "the best gift I can give to him as a mother - is to ask everyone to do what they can to help save the innocent children caught in the crossfire in Gaza."

The star, who also asked for donations to three different organisations, continued: "I am not pointing fingers, placing blame or taking sides.

"Everyone is suffering. Including the mothers of the hostages. I pray that they are released as well."

U2's solidarity statement

Madonna's comments come as U2 frontman Bono - along with the rest of his bandmates - also released a statement letting fans know where they stand on the matter.

While condemning the actions of both Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas, the Irish frontman offered: "Our band stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine who truly seek a path to peace and coexistence with Israel and with their rightful and legitimate demand for statehood.

"We stand in solidarity with the remaining hostages and plead that someone rational negotiate their release."

Hamas killed more than 1,200 people and took 251 hostage in its attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. Israel's response in Gaza has killed at least 61,599 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, whose toll the UN considers reliable.

Israel has faced mounting criticism over the 22-month-long war with Hamas, with UN-backed experts also warning of widespread famine unfolding in the besieged territory.

On Tuesday the health ministry said five more people had died from malnutrition, bringing the total number of such deaths to 227 including 103 children.

Last week the UN's humanitarian agency said the amount of aid entering Gaza continued to be "far below the minimum required". It said it continued to see impediments and delays as it tries to collect aid from Israeli-controlled border zones.

Israel has continued to deny there is starvation in Gaza and has accused UN agencies of not picking up aid at the borders and delivering it.

HMRC has confirmed it uses artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor social media posts as part of criminal investigations into suspected tax cheats.

It said the tech would not replace "human decision-making" and was subject to legal oversight.

"Greater use of AI will enable our staff to spend less time on admin and more time helping taxpayers, as well as better target fraud and evasion to bring in more money for public services," it said in a statement.

However, experts warn there are risks with using AI in this way.

"AI could help HMRC to streamline its processes and make it easier to compile all the available information about an individual," accountancy firm RSM UK partner Chris Etherington told the BBC.

"There are of course risks with automating this and there could be cases of mistaken identity, particularly with fake or hacked social media accounts.

"There will clearly still need to be a human touch in the process to ensure appropriate decisions are made and all the relevant information is reviewed."

The tax authority said it had used AI for several years to support its work, though it first emerged it was being used to monitor the social media accounts of suspected tax cheats when reported by the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday.

A spokesperson clarified AI was only used this way as part of criminal investigations - not on the everyday tax payer.

Government investigators have for years looked at the social media posts of people suspected of wrongdoing in relation to tax and benefits.

In one famous example, a woman who claimed benefits citing her ill health was exposed through her social media posts about long distance running.

It is now known that HMRC is now partially automating the process through the use of AI - with human oversight.

This does not appear to be coming at the cost of jobs, with the government announcing the tax authority will gain 5,500 compliance staff.

'Make life easier'

Nonetheless the disclosure comes at an uncomfortable time for the government, which is currently facing allegations from insiders that its national institute for AI is at risk of collapse.

The technology secretary has threatened to withdraw its funding, and wants it to focus on defence research.

Meanwhile, HMRC has already announced several efforts using AI which could streamline its operations.

"It is not yet clear how far and fast HMRC has got with its AI developments, but it has already been successfully using software that compiles and analyses data for years," Mr Etherington said.

"The primary focus at HMRC appears to be on using AI to make life easier for taxpayers."

He said he expected the tax authority to look into developing tools which would help people get their tax returns right, as "a lot of tax revenues can be lost through errors and mistakes".

"It has also been announced that HMRC will be using AI to help taxpayers access over 100,000 pages of guidance on its website," he said.

"Anything that can help on that front is likely to be welcome news to taxpayers as HMRC's current online guidance can be bewildering to many."

Gladiators star and Olympic sprinter Harry Aikines-Aryeetey is the first celebrity contestant to be announced for the Strictly Come Dancing 2025 line-up.

Aikines-Aryeetey, known as Nitro to Gladiators fans, appeared on the BBC's Newsround on Monday to announce he will be joining the dancing show.

"I'm so excited to be part of the Strictly family this series and I'm ready to give it all I've got," he said.

Strictly Come Dancing airs on BBC One and iPlayer from September through to December.

Aikines-Aryeetey is a former Team GB sprinter and was the first athlete to win gold medals at both 100 and 200 metres at the World Youth Championships.

In 2005, aged 17, he was won the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award.

He has competed at two Olympic Games and is a three-time European champion and two-time Commonwealth champion.

In 2023, he was unveiled as Nitro in Gladiators, and took part in last year's Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special partnered with Nancy Xu.

Aikines-Aryeetey said the Christmas Special "was so nice I just had to do it twice".

On Monday, he appeared live in the Newsround studio disguised as "world-famous choreographer Nicky Trott", there to talk about a scientific study into the benefits of dancing every day.

He then revealed his real identity and told viewers how excited he was to be joining the dancing competition.

"I'll be bringing tons of energy to light up the dance floor," he said. "Let's hope I'm as quick picking up the routines as I am on the track."

The next three celebrity contestants joining the new series of Strictly will be announced on The One Show on Monday evening.

Two new professional dancers are also joining the line-up this year - Alexis Warr, who won US dance series So You Think You Can Dance in 2022, and Australian-born Julian Caillon, who has appeared as a professional dancer on three seasons of Australia's Dancing With The Stars.

The show, which has been airing since 2004, has faced multiple controversies over the past year relating to the behaviour of some of its professional dancers and celebrity guests.

Professional dancers Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima left the show last year following allegations about their behaviour towards their dance partners.

The BBC announced new welfare measures for Strictly last July. These include having chaperones in all rehearsal rooms, adding two new welfare producers and providing additional training for the professional dancers, production team and crew.

The Real Housewives franchise has spread around the world, with viewers lapping up the partying and catfighting of wealthy socialites in locations from Orange County to Sydney to Nairobi. But there hasn't been a series based in London - until now.

"Go back to Paddington."

On its own, it sounds harmless enough, more like directions than an insult. But for Belgravia's gilded set, being told to leave the rarefied streets and return to a supposedly less desirable part of the English capital cuts deep.

It's Amanda Cronin, a former model and now skincare founder, who makes the remark in a clip from The Real Housewives of London.

For Cronin and her five co-stars - Juliet Angus, Karen Loderick-Peace, Juliet Mayhew, Panthea Parker, and Nessie Welschinger - it's just one of the many dramatic moments as the international franchise arrives in the city.

Speaking in a West End hotel, Cronin laughs about how quickly the insult went viral and stands by the fact that her co-star Angus, an American socialite who also appeared in Ladies of London, should be banished from SW3.

Cronin says she "didn't hesitate" when she was asked to be on the show. "It's just a massive opportunity and such a blessing - to be a housewife is huge so I grabbed it and ran with it."

Parker, an Iranian-born north London socialite, admits she had her doubts about joining, but didn't want to live with the regret of turning down such a big franchise.

And the brand really is huge - there have been 11 US editions and more than 30 international ones.

The London version's cast claim their exploits put the rest in the shade, with producers cutting the cameras and telling the women to dial down the drama at times.

'Too much drama'

Angus says producers of other reality shows often bemoan that everyone is getting on and there isn't enough drama. "But that did not happen once" on this series, she says.

Cronin says: "The producers came to my room one day and said 'You're too strong, your blows are too low and there was too much drama'."

Parker adds that producers told her they were doing her a favour by cutting out parts of an argument in the first episode.

"I don't think anyone has seen anything like this before," says Welschinger, an award-winning cake designer whose creations have graced Buckingham Palace.

Perhaps the reason for so much friction is the fact that the group of six women weren't friends before the show.

They knew of each other, but the links are tenuous - some share a dentist, others mingled in the same circles, while a few attended similar exclusive soirées in the capital.

Emotions certainly did run high when they came together for the show, and many of the women admit to having regrets about saying certain things, or feel embarrassed about how they acted when the cameras were rolling.

But Loderick-Peace, a Housewives veteran from Jersey UK and Cheshire, says she doesn't dwell on her mistakes.

"You cannot live your life looking in the rear view mirror, you're going to stress yourself out. You just have to own it and life is about making mistakes, rising up, brushing yourself off and starting all over again."

The group grew closer "because we spend so much time together filming", she adds.

"Filming feels like a year, so you get to know each other on another level. We even got to know each other better than how we know some of our closest friends."

Before stepping in front of the cameras, the London housewives sought advice from women who had previously been in their positions.

Mayhew, an Australian-born former Miss Galaxy Universe, jokes that Taleen Marie from the Dubai show advised her to take lots of Valium. Welschinger says Lisa Barlow from Salt Lake City told her to "enjoy every second because a lot of women want this but not everyone can get it".

Loderick-Peace adds that several existing housewives told her the most important thing was to "just be yourself" - and all the London cast insist they have put their authentic selves on screen.

"You can't curate a persona because audiences realise that," she explains.

Most of the housewives are no strangers to reality TV, and as a result tend to forget the cameras are rolling after a while.

But that's not always the case for their families. We meet spouses and children, some of whom are more enthusiastic than others about being tangentially pulled into the Real Housewives vortex.

"I sat down and discussed the pros and cons with my family, and after three weeks everyone said yes," Parker says. Except one, that is.

"My eldest son didn't want to be in it at all and I begged him to be on a FaceTime so he did. Then he was regretting it, but I said he was giving himself too much importance and it was probably only going to be two seconds."

Cronin and Loderick-Peace's children chose not to appear, but Welschinger says her whole family, particularly her husband, enjoyed the experience.

"I think it was because the production team made you feel safe and they know what they're doing so you can trust the process."

The husbands, usually dressed in suits as they leave for work or take business calls, appear fleetingly in the first episode.

For some of the housewives, their lifestyle is made entirely possible through the salaries of their spouses.

Loderick-Peace, whose husband is the former chairman and owner of West Bromwich Albion football club, says that's not the full picture. "Behind every successful man there's a strong woman and men can't do it on their own," she says.

Parker reveals her mother-in-law wanted her son to marry a woman who also worked. "My husband said, 'Why would I do that if I have a woman that's going to be making my home amazing, treating me like a king and making sure there's no stress when I come back from work?'" she says.

Some critics claim the Real Housewives franchise is inherently anti-feminist - an exercise in pitting women against each other for entertainment.

But the cast push back on that narrative. As well as the heightened drama we see on screen, the friendships, mentoring and mutual support have emerged, they say, and continued after the cameras stopped rolling.

The Real Housewives of London is available to watch on Hayu from 18 August.

US woman Aimee Betro has been found guilty of attempting to shoot a man dead in the UK. But the investigation into the Wisconsin native revealed her to be "fairly unexceptional" with virtually no "criminal footprint". And it remains unclear why she became a would-be contract killer.

On an autumn night six years ago, Betro pointed a 9mm gun at Sikander Ali in a suburban cul-de-sac and pulled the trigger, as she had been hired to do.

But instead of firing, the weapon jammed - saving the man's life.

It marked the mid-point of a plot more suited to a television drama, and one that eventually ended several years later and thousands of miles away with Betro's capture in Armenia.

It started, however, the year before the botched shooting in 2019, at a clothes shop in Birmingham's Alum Rock.

In 2018, Mohammed Aslam and his son Mohammed Nabil Nazir were injured during a fight at a shop owned by Mr Ali's father, Aslat Mahumad.

The clash sparked a violent feud between the families, Birmingham Crown Court heard, which "clearly led Nazir and Aslam to conspire to have someone kill Aslat Mahumad or a member of his family".

The pair, from Derby, turned to Betro - a woman not known by police "to have a huge footprint criminally" in the US or anywhere, according to Det Ch Insp Alastair Orencas from West Midlands Police's major crime unit.

"[She was] a fairly unexceptional individual," he said. "On the face of it, a normal-looking individual [but] prepared to do an outrageous, audacious and persistent murder."

Betro, a childhood development and graphic design graduate from the US city of West Allis, arrived in the UK in August 2019 to carry out Aslam and Nazir's vendetta.

The court heard she had previously met Nazir via a dating app and slept with him at an Airbnb in London's Kings Cross during a visit to the UK between December 2018 and January 2019, although it remains unclear how she came to be hired to carry out the shooting.

Prior to the attack on 7 September, she stayed at hotels in London, Manchester, Derby and Birmingham and met her co-conspirators at various points, jurors heard.

This included an incident three days before the attempted murder when footage found on Nazir's phone showed a gun being fired and jamming.

Scoping out house

On the day of the shooting, Betro - wearing a summer dress, hoodie and flip-flops - bought a second-hand Mercedes from a garage in Alum Rock under the name Becky Booth.

Later that day, she was seen "driving in convoy" with Nazir and Aslam "scoping out" Measham Grove, where Mr Mahumad lived.

She then waited in the cul-de-sac for her victim and disguised herself with a niqab, jurors heard.

When Mr Ali pulled up, she got out and fired the gun directly at him but it did not discharge, prompting him to jump back in his car and flee.

The distance between the firearm and Mr Ali meant there would have been little-to-no chance of survival had it gone off, according to Det Ch Insp Orencas.

"It was absolute pure chance this didn't culminate in a murder investigation," he said.

Betro initially fled the scene but returned by taxi just after midnight and fired three shots at the family home.

By 13:30 BST, she was at Manchester Airport and flew to the US, prosecutors said.

Days later, Nazir followed and according to Betro, the pair rented a car and drove to Seattle "just for a road trip" with stops at an amusement park, Area 51 in Nevada, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

She told jurors she did not know there had been a shooting in Measham Grove and Nazir had not mentioned it during his time in the States.

The investigation to find Betro and bring her co-conspirators to justice not only spanned several years but was hampered by the pandemic and involved the FBI, National Crime Agency and two UK police forces.

Eventually, she was traced to a housing complex on the outskirts of Yerevan in Armenia and apprehended by police before she was extradited to the UK.

From the start, Betro denied her involvement and told the trial it was "all just a terrible coincidence" that she was around the corner from the scene of the attempted assassination six minutes later.

She claimed it was in fact the work of "another American woman" who sounded similar to her, used the same phone and wore the same sort of trainers.

Jurors found her guilty of conspiracy to murder by majority verdict after almost 21 hours of deliberation.

Det Ch Insp Orencas described Betro as someone who was "extremely dangerous and extremely motivated to cause the worst harm to people".

Nor was her involvement "off-the-cuff... madness" but pre-planned with others across continents, he added.

"I think [she] has had a somewhat problematic relationship with the truth in not accepting what she was accused of."

Asked if he believed Betro was paid or had acted out of loyalty to her partner Nazir, the officer said: "We've not seen evidence of payments.

"They met on a dating site, whether this is a partner doing something for another partner, again, there's no clear evidence of that. I see it as a criminal association and a murderous plot."

Aslam, 56, and Nazir, 31, were jailed for conspiracy to murder in November 2024.

Betro will be sentenced on 21 August.

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