'The women's game is growing rapidly'

Police are urging members of the public to stay away from the West Hoe area of Plymouth following a "serious assault".

According to reports, Devon and Cornwall Police said it was "dealing with a serious assault at the scene" and that "members of the public are being asked to stay away".

Posts on social media suggest there is a major police operation under way in the city.

The BBC has contacted Devon and Cornwall Police for more information.

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

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

At least 11 people have been killed and five injured after they fled rumours of a fire on board their train in India, only to be hit by another train.

Railway officials said the passengers got down from the Mumbai-bound train in western Maharashtra state after someone pulled the emergency cord, causing it to stop.

They were hit by a train on an adjacent track. It was not immediately clear whether there had actually been a fire.

India has launched a $30m (£24bn) programme to modernise its railways in recent years but this has been marred by a series of accidents, including a major three-train crash in 2023 in the state of Odisha which left nearly 300 people dead.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said in a post on X that he was "deeply saddened by the tragic loss of lives" during the incident near Pachora in Jalgaon district, about 400km from Mumbai, India's financial capital.

He said eight ambulances had been dispatched and hospitals were on standby.

The crash will be seen as a setback for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has called for modernisation of the railways to boost the economy and connectivity.

There are plans to boost spending on the programme in next month's budget, Reuters news agency reports.

The new EU trade chief responsible for post-Brexit negotiations with the UK has told the BBC that a "pan-European [customs] area is something we could consider" in reset discussions due to start this year.

Maros Sefcovic was referring to the idea, pushed by some UK business groups of Britain rejoining the Pan Euro Mediterranean Convention. The PEM allows for manufacturers to use parts or ingredients from dozens of countries, from Iceland to Turkey in tariff-free trade.

The previous Conservative government chose not to pursue PEM as part of it's post-Brexit trade deal, but some businesses say it will help Britain rejoin complex supply chains that have been hit by Brexit customs barriers.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr Sefcovic said the idea has not been "precisely formulated" by the UK yet and the "ball is in the UK's court".

The BBC understands that the UK government has begun consultations with business over the benefits of the PEM plan that could help cut down on red tape and improve trade. No final decision has been made yet.

Mr Sefcovic also said that a full scale veterinary agreement that helped reduce frictions on farm and food trade would also require review.

The EU-UK fisheries deal expires next year. "A solution for fisheries is very important for the EU, again, we communicated this on multiple occasions".

Single market treatment for UK food and farm exports would mean "we would have to have the same rules and we have to upgrade them at the same time, we call it dynamic alignment".

Mr Sefcovic said that he was surprised that the Commission's offer on youth exchanges had been "spun". "It's not freedom of movement. It's a bridge building proposal. We do not want to look like the demanders here, because we believe this is good for the UK," he said

The Trade Commissioner said UK-EU relations were "definitely" in a better placeand his UK counterpart Nick Thomas-Symonds was "on speed dial".

The Prime Minister will attend a defence and security focussed EU summit next month.

He acknowledged that the EU needed to be "extremely cautious and responsible" in addressing trade relationships with Donald Trump's America, but that he was willing to negotiate. He said while the EU did have a surplus in goods such as cars, the US had a surplus in services

People who lost thousands of pounds after the collapse of a pre-paid funeral firm have hit out at the "tiny" sums they are set to be repaid after three years of waiting.

Some 46,000 people invested in a fund to cover the future cost of their funerals with Safe Hands Plans Ltd before the company fell into administration in 2022.

The administrator for Safe Hands, FRP Advisory, has said planholders could receive initial repayments - of between 8.5p and 12.5p for every pound they lost - by the end of June.

"Getting some money back is better than nothing - but it's a slap in the face," Denise Hudson, who shelled out nearly £2,500, said.

The 58-year-old, from Derby, paid for a Safe Hands plan in 2017 after seeing the firm advertised on television, and said she thought her investment was "foolproof".

She is among planholders who are owed an estimated £70.6m in total.

A major fraud investigation into the dealings of Safe Hands, and its parent company, SHP Capital Holdings Ltd, was launched in October 2023.

In October last year, in an update to creditors, FRP Advisory said there would be repayments.

Then, on 3 January, administrators confirmed planholders will get some money back - adding what people will get back is above the rate of 1p to 10p per each pound lost in typical administration cases.

But Ms Hudson said: "We paid in full. We need the full money back.

"We put our trust in people and we have all been let down.

"Everyone will still lose an awful lot."

'Just anger is left'

Ms Hudson said she had to deal with the death of her mother Daisy and brother Rupert in 2024 as she was trying to get her money back.

"[Mum] had a brilliant funeral plan and that saved us a lot of time, everything was set out," she said.

"I thought that is what would happen with me.

"Nobody would have had to go to any trouble, everything would have been sorted out - but that wasn't to be."

She accused Safe Hands's bosses of doing "an underhanded, ruthless thing".

"It's appalling they could take people's hard-earned savings," she added.

"I did think I had done everything right. I did do my homework.

"I felt embarrassed more than anything else - that I'd handed my money over and lost it. Now just anger is left."

Since July 2022, pre-paid funeral providers have required approval to operate from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Safe Hands was one of dozens of companies operating in the previously unregulated sector, and collapsed four months before the measures came in.

In 2017, Sandie and David Beatty, from Bingham in Nottinghamshire, paid Safe Hands £3,395 to cover the funeral costs for the first of them to die.

Mrs Beatty, 73, said they felt "angry, disappointed, sick" when the firm collapsed.

"Compared to what we put in, what we'll get back is a tiny amount," she said.

"When we get it, it might be enough to buy a pizza, and we'll have a little party.

"For us, it's not about the money now. We just want someone to be held to account.

"Our money went somewhere."

Mr Beatty, 80, said: "There's nothing we can do about it. We want justice but realistically we won't get our money back.

"People have been taken for a ride and that stings."

Aimee Geary, 50, from Anstey in Leicestershire, paid £3,000 to Safe Hands in 2017.

The NHS worker said she took out the plan because she thought funeral costs would rise in the future.

"I felt quite happy," Ms Geary said. "Other people thought I was young [to be planning my funeral].

"They thought I was mad. I'm very organised, and I didn't want anyone else to have a job when I'm not here.

"It's sad that you try to plan something and it has been taken away from you."

She was told, in 2022, she would probably get £1 out of every £100 back.

"I'm disappointed," she added. "Somebody else has to now find the money and arrange my funeral when I'm not here because I would never buy another [funeral plan]."

Heather Mould, 77, and her partner Mike took out Safe Hands plans in 2017 - each paying £3,500.

Mrs Mould, from Allington in Lincolnshire, said: "It was quite a loss when you are on a pension.

"We were told we might get back 10p in the pound. It's something, but it's not a lot.

"I felt let down but we were pleased to find out before either of us had died so we could arrange something else."

FRP told the BBC the Safe Hands administration case had been "complex" and had required extensive legal action both in the UK and abroad - including in the Cayman Islands - to trace funds that are due to creditors.

'Significant loss'

It said it had so far recovered £11.4m for planholders and was focused on getting the best return for them.

FRP said it was "working towards" making an initial distribution to planholders before the end of the second financial quarter in June 2025, and had ringfenced a minimum of £1.6m to that end.

"While we understand the current estimated return of 8.5p to 12.5p in the pound still represents a significant loss to planholders, it's important to note this exceeds the typical returns in administration cases, where unsecured creditors usually receive between 1p to 10p in the pound," a spokesperson said.

The administrator said its continuing efforts were running parallel to the ongoing Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation.

The spokesperson added: "We fully understand and deeply sympathise with the distress Safe Hands planholders are experiencing.

"The loss of funeral plan savings has created significant worry for many families, and we take our responsibility to recover funds for planholders extremely seriously."

The SFO confirmed it was progressing an active criminal investigation into alleged fraud by Safe Hands Plans Limited and its parent company SHP Capital Holdings Limited.

A spokesperson said: "We recognise there is significant public interest in this case and are committed to sharing further information as soon as possible."

Both former owners of Safe Hands - David Milson and Richard Philip Wells - were contacted for comment by the BBC but have not responded.

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A new fast-moving wildfire has erupted in Los Angeles County, triggering evacuations in a region already reeling from the most destructive fires in its history.

The Hughes fire ignited north of the city on Wednesday afternoon, near Castaic Lake in a mountainous area that borders several residential areas and schools.

The out-of-control blaze has grown to more than 5,000 acres in just two hours fuelled by strong winds. No homes or businesses have been damaged.

The new fire is burning north of the two mammoth blazes - which are still burning - that destroyed multiple neighbourhoods in Los Angeles County earlier this month.

Two other fires have ignited further south near San Diego and Oceanside, officials said.

They are both smaller - 85 acres for the Lilac fire near Oceanside and 3.9 acres for the Bernardo fire - but were burning in populated areas. Fire crews appeared to have a handle on both of the blazes and evacuation orders had been mostly lifted and forward progress stopped.

In Los Angeles County, local news showed those near the Hughes fire hosing down their homes and yards with water and others rushing to evacuate neighbourhoods.

Orange flames lined the mountains as aircraft dropped water and flame retardant.

The region is once again under a red flag warning, which cautions of a high fire risk due to strong winds and dry, low-humid conditions.

Winds in the area are blowing around 20 to 30 mph but are forecast to strengthen throughout the day, which could allow the blaze to grow and make it harder for air crews to continue their battle from above.

One woman who evacuated her home told NBC 4 that she was stuck on Interstate 5, a major highway that cuts through the area and runs north and south through California.

"It looked like a cloud, but as you got close, it looked like we were driving into hell," she said of the dark smoke and red flames she saw. "It was pretty terrifying to be honest with you."

She acknowledged being on edge after watching the Palisades and Eaton fires burn nearby, killing at least 28 people and decimating more than 10,000 homes and businesses.

"I don't know why they keep popping up," she said. "It's definitely a scary time in this area."

"We're killing a priest!" says Minah, dressed head to toe in a dark green cloak. "I know. Oh my God! Lord have mercy," giggles Charlotte in a soft Welsh accent. Only Charlotte, a contestant in gameshow The Traitors, isn't really Welsh and their "victim" was pretending not to be a priest until episode five.

There's another twist, too - because although Minah thinks she and Charlotte are a rock-solid team, Charlotte seems to be preparing to throw Minah under a bus.

The UK, it appears, can't get enough of betrayal, backstabbing and all-out duplicity. The first episode of the latest series of The Traitors - the finale of which airs on Friday - has been has been watched by over 10m viewers to date.

In the latest series a group of 25 strangers set out to unmask so-called traitors in their midst to win a prize fund of up to £120,000; the traitors, in turn, "murder" the others (known as faithfuls) each episode, in their attempt to keep the winnings for themselves.

It's an engaging concept. But could the popularity of this show, based on deception and double-dealing, tell us something fundamental about the contemporary British psyche?

Last year Dr David Shepherd, a criminologist at the University of Portsmouth, led a study on the UK public's tendency towards dishonesty - it suggested that the nation was becoming a more dishonest place where disapproval of various underhand activities had fallen noticeably.

He argues that this showed that "overall, there has been a decline in honesty" across the UK.

Is the UK becoming more dishonest?

This isn't the first time that it has been suggested that the UK is becoming more dishonest. The British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey, an annual statistical study that has been running since 1983, also offered some insight.

Given a scenario in which unemployed person on benefits took a casual job that he did not declare, leaving him £500 in pocket, some 53% of respondents in 2022 believed that this was wrong - down from 68% in 2016.

Asked about a scenario where the sum was £3,000, the percentage who said it was wrong fell from 80% to 66% in the same period.

Wilf Webster, 32, a former charity worker who was a contestant on the first UK series of the show - and won popularity among fellow contestants despite being cast in the role of a traitor - says that he has observed an increased prevalence of lying in day-to-day life.

"We all have this little bit of deceitfulness inside us," he argues. "It's become a lot more acceptable. If you tell your friends, 'Oh I've just pulled a sickie,' people laugh about it."

The average Briton lies 2.08 times a day, according to a study from 2014. But there is no recent equivalent study to compare this to. And dishonesty can be very difficult to measure. After all, people might not want to admit too readily to lying.

"Where you're dealing with deceitfulness or lying, or things that are potentially morally wrong, it's a little bit more difficult than subjects that are less contentious to get people's unequivocal view," says Alex Scholes, research director at the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen).

Measuring serious dishonesty

Nonetheless, in 2023 Dr Shepherd and his team attempted to quantify the extent to which the UK's tendency towards dishonesty had changed over time.

They revisited a study published in 2011 about the UK public's attitudes towards various acts that could be considered errant or dishonest. These included keeping excess change that was given mistakenly in a shop; lying in one's own interests; and committing benefit fraud.

The original respondents had been asked to what extent these behaviours could be justified on a scale of one to four and given an "integrity score". Twelve years on, Dr Shepherd's researchers repeated the exercise with 1,000 British adults.

They found that when it came to relatively minor dishonest acts or those which were not illegal - such as lying in one's own interests, dodging a fare, falsifying a CV, or having an affair while married - the proportion who said they were never acceptable was much the same in 2023 as in 2011.

However, when it came to more serious dishonesty of a criminal nature, the 2023 survey observed there had been a noticeable fall in the number of people who said particular acts were never acceptable. These included buying stolen goods, accepting a bribe and falsifying a benefits claim. The latter saw the biggest decline, dropping 18 percentage points from 85% to 67%.

And this large drop in the British public's disapproval of these more serious acts was steep enough for Dr Shepherd to conclude that honesty across the UK had declined overall.

"We can see a change in dishonest disposition over that decade or so," he says.

Old vs young, men vs women

Dr Shepherd believes it may be relevant that the shift in attitudes towards more serious acts of dishonesty was driven principally by "young people, especially younger men".

"Younger people are more dishonest, and males are more dishonest than females", he adds, based on the findings of his study.

As for older age groups, the scores of those aged 55 and above had not noticeably shifted. "The dishonesty of younger men has shifted more than any other age category," he argues.

In all, 28% of males aged 18-25 were found to have "high-honesty dispositions", compared with 98% of females aged 66 and above.

"In other words, dishonesty is prevalent amongst 72% of young men compared to 2% of older women," concludes Dr Shepherd.

From politicians to social media

Given this sharp age divide, Dr Shepherd speculates that social media may have had a role in encouraging toxic behaviour, offline. But in his view that is not the only factor.

"Look at the bad behaviour of some corporations. Look at the bad behaviour of our politicians, even sports people - and how those behaviours are lauded in certain circles."

Wilf Webster agrees. "Years ago, we'd look up to politicians," he says. But high-profile scandals have, in his view, led more people to conclude "if they're doing it, I'm doing it too."

"I remember looking at politicians very differently [after leaving The Traitors," he continues. "I remember thinking, when they go into Parliament it's as though they put on these green cloaks. It's like being in the castle, you don't know who to trust and whether people are telling the truth."

But whatever the underlying causes, any rise in deceitfulness would be a troubling one. A modern market economy like the UK depends on a basic assumption of truthfulness, points out Dr David Hugh-Jones, a social scientist formerly based at the University of East Anglia.

"If you have an advanced capitalist society, it kind of runs on trust to a certain degree. You can't have a stock market without a basic level of trust in the accounts of the companies you're investing in," he says.

"If I take my car into the mechanics, I've got to trust that he's not just going to bash it with his spanner and charge me a grand."

A troubling trend for society

There are certain reasons to be cautious about the extent to which we can say with confidence that the UK has become more dishonest.

Take the BSA figures showing a decline in the proportion of people who think £500 worth of benefit fraud is wrong. This is a "notable trend", says Alex Scholes of NatCen, which carries out the survey, but he argues that there are certain caveats.

Firstly, defrauding £500 from the system in 2016 was a different matter to doing the same in 2022, simply because of the rate of inflation.

There are also indications that attitudes have become "a bit more sympathetic" towards benefit claimants in general, Mr Scholes says - and in turn, this, rather than a rise in dishonesty, could be driving the change in responses to the £500 question.

Paul Whiteley, emeritus professor of government at the University of Essex, who authored the 2011 study that Dr Shepherd and his team later revisited, points to a separate research project about values and beliefs, conducted by social scientists, which found much less of a change over the years in answers to certain questions about honesty. This included some scenarios also involving government benefits.

That separate study also indicates that "cheating on taxes and accepting bribes has become more unacceptable", argues Prof Whiteley. "So there isn't really a uniform trend."

How Japan, China and Turkey fared

There is at least some evidence, too, to suggest that the UK is fairly honest compared with other countries.

In 2016, a study compared the honesty of people in 15 different countries by asking more than 1,500 participants to take part in two tests - a coin flip and an online quiz - after which it was possible to determine if they had cheated.

With the coin flip, the estimated rate of dishonesty ranged from 3.4% in the UK to 70% in China. In the quiz, Japanese respondents were the most honest, with the UK in second place and those from Turkey coming last.

The person behind the study - Dr David Hugh-Jones, a social scientist then based at the University of East Anglia - determined that Britons, like most other nationalities, typically think their fellow countryfolk are more dishonest than they actually are. "People tend to be very pessimistic about the honesty of their own country," he says.

"If you ask them 'Will people in your country be honest?' they are usually rather pessimistic but they naively believe that people in other countries are much better."

So even if the British are becoming more dishonest, they might not necessarily be any worse than their neighbours.

A more dishonest future?

As for the future, Prof Whiteley speculates the UK may be about to become somewhat less honest. He puts this down to crime incidents rising 10% in the year to June 2024, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.

This, he says, is "going to make people less trusting and possibly more dishonest".

If he's correct, there will be plenty of worthy candidates for future series of The Traitors.

The show has some echoes of a party game called Mafia - also known as Werewolf - which is generally acknowledged to have been invented in the 1980s by Dmitry Davidoff at Moscow State University's psychology department. Invented amid the paranoia and mistrust of the crumbling Soviet system, the game quickly became a huge hit.

So while it's tempting to look at what The Traitors phenomenon tells us about the state of contemporary society, there's another possible explanation - that it speaks to an eternal truth about humans' disposition to dishonesty down the ages.

As Wilf Webster puts it: "We all have an instinct to be deceitful.

"Probably not one person I've spoken to in my life has never told a lie for their own benefit."

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'The women's game is growing rapidly'

Major infrastructure projects like nuclear plants, train lines and wind farms will be built faster under new planning rules, the government has pledged.

Prime Minster Sir Keir Starmer said Nimby (Not in My Back Yard) "blockers" of major infrastructure projects will have fewer chances "to frustrate growth" through repeated legal challenges.

Currently, infrastructure schemes can be challenged in the courts up to three times - ministers intend to reduce that to once in most cases.

Tory shadow levelling up secretary Kevin Hollinrake accused Labour of "taking forward Conservative initiatives" but warned their efforts would fail unless they stopped "blocking our attempts to cut EU legacy red tape".

Existing rules open up projects approved by elected officials to years of delays and hundreds of millions of pounds of additional costs, the government said.

Opponents of schemes currently have three opportunities to secure permission for a judicial review of a major infrastructure projects in England and Wales: writing to the High Court, attending an oral hearing and appealing to the Court of Appeal.

Under the government's proposals, the written stage would be scrapped - meaning campaigners will have to convince a judge in person.

Additionally, any challenges deemed "totally without merit" by a High Court judge would be unable to go over their heads to the Court of Appeal.

Scotland has its own legal and Judicial Review system.

Ministers said overhauling the rules, via the upcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill, would send a strong signal to global firms looking to do business - that the UK is a "great place to invest".

Sir Keir said it was time to fix "a broken system that has slowed down our progress as a nation".

"For too long, blockers have had the upper hand in legal challenges – using our court processes to frustrate growth," he said.

"We're putting an end to this challenge culture by taking on the Nimbys and a broken system that has slowed down our progress as a nation."

Labour has placed planning reforms at the heart of its mission to drive economic growth, also promising to deliver 1.5 million new homes in five years.

During the election Sir Keir's election pledged to back "builders, not blockers" and promised Labour would prioritise infrastructure to boost growth and expand green energy.

The government has promised to make 150 major infrastructure project decisions by the next election.

The latest announcement follows a review by planning lawyer Lord Charles Banner, who recommended streamlining the judicial review process so claimants had "fewer bites of the cherry" when seeking permission to bring a case.

The review found that around a third of applications for judicial review of major projects were refused permission to proceed entirely, although it was not clear how many had been deemed "totally without merit".

Welcoming the changes Lord Banner said "reducing the number of permission attempts to one for truly hopeless cases should weed out the worst offenders".

"I look forward to seeing these changes help to deliver a step change in the pace of infrastructure delivery in the months and years ahead."

According to the government, more than half of decisions on nationally significant infrastructure projects are taken to court - causing an average delay of 18 months and adding millions to costs.

Officials pointed to cases including the approval of Sizewell C in Suffolk, where campaigners spent 16 months seeking permission for a judicial review despite their case being described as "unarguable" at every stage.

However, only some of the grounds in the Sizewell C case were deemed "totally without merit", meaning the remaining grounds could still have been reconsidered by the Court of Appeal.

In response to the government's proposals Hollinrake said: "While we welcome the government taking forward Conservative initiatives to streamline the planning system, Labour's blocking of our efforts to cut EU legacy red tape, such as nutrient neutrality, so they can align more closely with the European Union will hold Britain back."

The world's largest iceberg is on a collision course with a remote British island, potentially putting penguins and seals in danger.

The iceberg is spinning northwards from Antarctica towards South Georgia, a rugged British territory and wildlife haven, where it could ground and smash into pieces. It is currently 173 miles (280km) away.

Countless birds and seals died on South Georgia's icy coves and beaches when past giant icebergs stopped them feeding.

"Icebergs are inherently dangerous. I would be extraordinarily happy if it just completely missed us," sea captain Simon Wallace tells BBC News, speaking from the South Georgia government vessel Pharos.

Around the world a group of scientists, sailors and fishermen are anxiously checking satellite pictures to monitor the daily movements of this queen of icebergs.

It is known as A23a and is one of the world's oldest.

It calved, or broke off, from the Filchner Ice Shelf in Antarctica in 1986 but got stuck on the seafloor and then trapped in an ocean vortex.

Finally, in December, it broke free and is now on its final journey, speeding into oblivion.

The warmer waters north of Antarctica are melting and weakening its vast cliffs that tower up to 1,312ft (400m), taller than the Shard in London.

It once measured 3,900 sq km, but the latest satellite pictures show it is slowly decaying. It is now around 3,500 sq km, roughly the size of the English county of Cornwall.

And large slabs of ice are breaking off, plunging into the waters around its edges.

A23a could break into vast segments any day, which may then hang around for years, like floating cities of ice cruising uncontrollably around South Georgia.

This isn't the first huge iceberg to threaten South Georgia and Sandwich Islands.

In 2004 one called A38 grounded on its continental shelf, leaving dead penguin chicks and seal pups on beaches as massive ice chunks blocked their access to feeding grounds.

The territory is home to precious colonies of King Emperor penguins and millions of elephant and fur seals.

"South Georgia sits in iceberg alley so impacts are to be expected for both fisheries and wildlife, and both have a great capacity to adapt," says Mark Belchier, a marine ecologist who advises the South Georgia government.

Sailors and fisherman say icebergs are an increasing problem. In 2023 one called A76 gave them a scare when it came close to grounding.

"Chunks of it were tipping up, so they looked like great ice towers, an ice city on the horizon," says Mr Belchier, who saw the iceberg while at sea.

Those slabs are still lingering around the islands today.

"It is in bits from the size of several Wembley stadiums down to pieces the size of your desk," says Andrew Newman from Argos Froyanes, a fishing company that works in South Georgia.

"Those pieces basically cover the island - we have to work our way through it," says Captain Wallace.

The sailors on his ship must be constantly vigilant. "We have searchlights on all night to try to see ice - it can come from nowhere," he explains.

A76 was a "gamechanger", according to Mr Newman, with "huge impact on our operations and on keeping our vessel and crew safe".

All three men describe a rapidly changing environment, with glacial retreat visible year-to-year, and volatile levels of sea ice.

Climate change is unlikely to have been behind the birth of A23a because it calved so long ago, before much of the impacts of rising temperatures that we are now seeing.

But giant icebergs are part of our future. As Antarctica becomes more unstable with warmer ocean and air temperatures, more vast pieces of the ice sheets will break away.

Before its time comes to an end though, A23a has left a parting gift for scientists.

A team with the British Antarctic Survey on the Sir David Attenborough research vessel found themselves close to A23a in 2023.

The scientists scrambled to exploit the rare opportunity to investigate what mega icebergs do to the environment.

The ship sailed into a crack in the iceberg's gigantic walls, and PhD researcher Laura Taylor collected precious water samples 400m away from its cliffs.

"I saw a massive wall of ice way higher than me, as far as I could see. It has different colours in different places. Chunks were falling off - it was quite magnificent," she explains from her lab in Cambridge where she is now analysing the samples.

Her work looks at what the impact the melt water is having on the carbon cycle in the southern ocean.

"This isn't just water like we drink. It's full of nutrients and chemicals, as well as tiny animals like phytoplankton frozen inside," Ms Taylor says.

As it melts, the iceberg releases those elements into the water, changing the physics and chemistry of the ocean.

That could store more carbon deep in the ocean, as the particles sink from the surface. That would naturally lock away some of the planet's carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate change.

Icebergs are notoriously unpredictable and no-one knows what exactly it will do next.

But soon the behemoth should appear, looming on the islands' horizons, as big as the territory itself.

When Zhang Junjie was 17 he decided to protest outside his university about rules made by China's government. Within days he had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital and treated for schizophrenia.

Junjie is one of dozens of people identified by the BBC who were hospitalised after protesting or complaining to the authorities.

Many people we spoke to were given anti-psychotic drugs, and in some cases electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), without their consent.

There have been reports for decades that hospitalisation was being used in China as a way of detaining dissenting citizens without involving the courts. However, the BBC has found that an issue which legislation sought to resolve, has recently made a comeback.

Junjie says he was restrained and beaten by hospital staff before being forced to take medication.

His ordeal began in 2022, after he protested against China's harsh lockdown policies. He says his professors spotted him after just five minutes and contacted his father, who took him back to the family home. He says his father called the police, and the next day - on his 18th birthday - two men drove him to what they claimed was a Covid test centre, but was actually a hospital.

"The doctors told me I had a very serious mental disease… Then they tied me to a bed. The nurses and doctors repeatedly told me, because of my views on the party and the government, then I must be mentally ill. It was terrifying," he told the BBC World Service. He was there for 12 days.

Junjie believes his father felt forced to hand him over to the authorities because he worked for the local government.

Just over a month after being discharged, Junjie was once again arrested. Defying a fireworks ban at Chinese New Year (a measure brought in to fight air pollution) he had made a video of himself setting them off. Someone uploaded it online and police managed to link it to Junjie.

He was accused of "picking quarrels and troublemaking" - a charge frequently used to silence criticism of the Chinese government. Junjie says he was forcibly hospitalised again for more than two months.

After being discharged, Junjie was prescribed anti-psychotic drugs. We have seen the prescription - it was for Aripiprazole, used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

"Taking the medicine made me feel like my brain was quite a mess," he says, adding that police would come to his house to check he had taken it.

Fearing a third hospitalisation, Junjie decided to leave China. He told his parents he was returning to university to pack up his room - but, in fact, he fled to New Zealand.

He didn't say goodbye to family or friends.

Junjie is one of 59 people who the BBC has confirmed - either by speaking to them or their relatives, or by going through court documents - have been hospitalised on mental health grounds after protesting or challenging the authorities.

The issue has been acknowledged by China's government - the country's 2013 Mental Health Law aimed to stop this abuse, making it illegal to treat someone who is not mentally unwell. It also explicitly states psychiatric admission must be voluntary unless the patient is a danger to themselves or others.

In fact, the number of people detained in mental health hospitals against their will has recently surged, a leading Chinese lawyer told the BBC World Service. Huang Xuetao, who was involved in drafting the law, blames a weakening of civil society and a lack of checks and balances.

"I have come across lots of cases like this. The police want power while avoiding responsibility," he says. "Anyone who knows the shortcomings of this system can abuse it."

An activist called Jie Lijian told us he had been treated for mental illness without his consent in 2018.

Lijian says he was arrested for attending a protest demanding better pay at a factory. He says police interrogated him for three days before taking him to a psychiatric hospital.

Like Junjie, Lijian says he was prescribed anti-psychotic drugs that impaired his critical thinking.

After a week in the hospital, he says he refused any more medication. After fighting with staff, and being told he was causing trouble, Lijian was sent for ECT - a therapy which involves passing electric currents through a patient's brain.

"The pain was from head to toe. My whole body felt like it wasn't my own. It was really painful. Electric shock on. Then off. Electric shock on. Then off. I fainted several times. I felt like I was dying," he says.

He says he was discharged after 52 days. He now has a part-time job in Los Angeles and is seeking asylum in the US.

Or watch on YouTube outside the UK.

In 2019, the year after Lijian says he was hospitalised, the Chinese Medical Doctor Association updated its ECT guidelines, stating it should only ever be administered with consent, and under general anaesthetic.

We wanted to find out more about the doctors' involvement in such cases.

Speaking to foreign media such as the BBC without permission could get them into trouble, so our only option was to go undercover.

We booked phone consultations with doctors working at four hospitals which, according to our evidence, are involved with forced hospitalisations.

We used an invented story about a relative who had been hospitalised for posting anti-government comments online, and asked five doctors if they had ever come across cases of patients being sent in by police.

Four confirmed they had.

"The psychiatric department has a type of admission called 'troublemakers'," one doctor told us.

Another doctor, from the hospital where Junjie was held, appears to confirm his story that police continued surveillance of patients once discharged.

"The police will check up on you at home to make sure you take your medicine. If you don't take it you might break the law again," they said.

We approached the hospital in question for comment but it did not respond.

We have been given access to the medical records of democracy activist Song Zaimin, hospitalised for a fifth time last year, which makes it clear how closely political views appear to be tied to a psychiatric diagnosis.

"Today, he was… talking a lot, speaking incoherently, and criticising the Communist Party. Therefore, he was sent to our hospital for inpatient treatment by the police, doctors, and his local residents' committee. This was an involuntary hospitalisation," it says.

We asked Professor Thomas G Schulze, president-elect of the World Psychiatric Association, to review these notes. He replied:

"For what is described here, no-one should be involuntarily admitted and treated against his will. It reeks of political abuse."

Between 2013 and 2017, more than 200 people reported they had been wrongfully hospitalised by the authorities, according to a group of citizen journalists in China who documented abuses of the Mental Health Law.

Their reporting ended in 2017, because the group's founder was arrested and subsequently jailed.

For victims seeking justice, the legal system appears stacked against them.

A man we are calling Mr Li, who was hospitalised in 2023 after protesting against the local police, tried to take legal action against the authorities for his incarceration.

Unlike Junjie, doctors told Mr Li he wasn't ill but then the police arranged an external psychiatrist to assess him, who diagnosed him with bipolar disorder, and he was held for 45 days.

Once released, he decided to challenge the diagnosis.

"If I don't sue the police it's like I accept being mentally ill. This will have a big impact on my future and my freedom because police can use it as a reason to lock me up any time," he says.

In China, the records of anyone ever diagnosed with a serious mental health disorder could be shared with the police, and even local residents' committees.

But Mr Li was not successful - the courts rejected his appeal.

"We hear our leaders talking about the rule of law," he told us. "We never dreamed one day we could be locked up in a mental hospital."

The BBC has found 112 people listed on the official website for Chinese court decisions who, between 2013 and 2024, attempted to take legal action against police, local governments or hospitals for such treatment.

Some 40% of these plaintiffs had been involved in complaints about the authorities. Only two won their cases.

And the site appears to be censored - five other cases we have investigated are missing from the database.

The issue is that the police enjoy "considerable discretion" in dealing with "troublemakers," according to Nicola MacBean from The Rights Practice, a human rights organisation in London.

"Sending someone to a psychiatric hospital, bypassing procedures, is too easy and too useful a tool for the local authorities."

Eyes are now on the fate of vlogger Li Yixue, who accused a police officer of sexual assault. Yixue is said to have recently been hospitalised for a second time after her social media posts talking about the experience went viral. It is reported she is now under surveillance at a hotel.

We put the findings of our investigation to the UK's Chinese embassy. It said last year the Chinese Communist Party "reaffirmed" that it must "improve the mechanisms" around the law, which it says "explicitly prohibits unlawful detention and other methods of illegally depriving or restricting citizens' personal freedom".

Additional reporting by Georgina Lam and Betty Knight

On 14 October 2023, an unusual event was held in Ukraine's most prestigious venue, Palace Ukraine in Kyiv.

Anton Tymoshenko became the first Ukrainian stand-up comedian to give a solo performance there.

"I grew up in a village with fewer people than Palace Ukraine can hold," he said after the concert. "So many people had told me: It's not going to happen... stand-up comedy has not reached that level."

It has now, to a large extent because of the full-scale invasion launched by Russia.

The invasion turned many Ukrainians away from the previously popular and lavishly promoted Russian acts and triggered a renewed interest in Ukrainian culture.

Key Ukrainian comedians say they are now making jokes to help the public deal with the grim reality of war and also help the army by raising funds.

"Stand-up comedy is a budget version of psychotherapy," Anton Tymoshenko tells the BBC.

"I like to relieve social tension with my jokes. When that happens, that's the best thing."

Another popular performer, Nastya Zukhvala, says Russia's full-scale invasion in February gave stand-up comedy in Ukraine "a boost," albeit for darker reasons.

"The demand for comedy looks totally natural to me now because comedy supports and unites.

"It can also make reality look less catastrophic. It is a tool which can help us process this stream of depressing information," she tells me.

"To stay optimistic or even sane, we've got no other choice."

So what are the jokes that are making Ukrainians laugh?

This kind of humour is grim, says comedian Hanna Kochehura, but making fun of the danger makes it easier to cope with.

"It looks even darker from abroad, and it's clear why. Anyone who's in Ukraine knows that there are no safe places here," she says.

"You never know if this air raid is going to be your last. You don't know if a Shahed drone is going to target your house or your family's house.

"Naturally, all our themes are related to the war. Because it's our life now. Stand-up comedy is a frank genre where comedians speak about their own experiences or thoughts," Ms Kochehura says.

Here's an example - a joke from Anton Tymoshenko's performance at Palace Ukraine:

"I never worried about a nuclear attack because I know it would mean death for rich residents of Kyiv. I live on the outskirts - but the nukes will hit central parts. Before fallout reaches me, it will have to make two changes on the metro.

"More realistically, I'll get killed by Iranian Shahed drones. The sad thing is - did you hear the noise they make? They sound very demotivating, like the cheapest kind of death."

"People can laugh at the news," Anton tells me.

"If we're not allowed to use [Western] missiles against targets in Russia — yes, that is funny because it is absurd. I build upon this absurd fact, and it becomes funny.

"Of course, Ukrainians find it funny."

Western allies were initially reluctant to allow Ukraine to use their missiles against targets in Russia for fear of escalation. But the permission was granted after months of pleading by Kyiv: first shorter-range weapons in May 2024, then long-range missiles in November.

Joking about the war is fraught with pitfalls.

Anton Tymoshenko says he is trying not to "trigger" his audiences or add to the trauma from which they may already be suffering.

"Stand-up comedy in wartime is the most difficult type. Making jokes without offending anyone is possible to do, but that would be like joking in a vacuum," he says.

But, it is usually possible to see where the line lies according to Nastya Zukhvala:

"I feel what other Ukrainians feel. If I find something sad or tragic, I don't see any need to turn it into stand-up comedy."

There's also a very practical side to stand-up comedy in Ukraine - helping its army.

"Almost all of the comedians I know have been helping the armed forces. All of us are involved in raising funds [for the Ukrainian army]. We hold charity shows and many perform in front of the military," says Hanna Kochehura.

Some, like Nastya Zukhvala's husband Serhiy Lipko, a comedian himself, are in the army.

"Culture, humour or psychology - that's all fine and well, but everything must be of practical use to the military. When so many missiles are on the way to hit you, you're not as interested in talking about art alone," says Mr Tymoshenko.

"My main task is holding concerts so I can raise funds for them."

He says he has donated more than 30m hryvnyas (£580,000; $710,000) since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

A song recorded for Tina Turner's blockbuster album Private Dancer, that was presumed lost, has been rediscovered and will receive its first play on BBC Radio 2 later.

Hot For You, Baby, was cut at Capitol Studios in Hollywood and originally intended to be an album track.

But it was ultimately jettisoned in favour of era-defining pop hits such What's Love Got To Do With It, Better Be Good To Me and the album's title track.

Presumed missing, the master tape was recently rediscovered as her record label compiled a 40th anniversary re-release of Private Dancer.

An up-tempo rocker, full of showboating guitar chords and an extremely 1980s cowbell, Hot For You, Baby is a prime example of Turner's raspy, physical style of soul.

The track will receive its first play on the Radio 2 Breakfast Show on Thursday, between 08:30 and 09:00 GMT.

Produced by John Grant, the record executive who masterminded her mid-career comeback, it was written by Australian musicians George Young and Harry Vanda.

It had already been recorded once by Scottish-Australian singer John Paul Young, the voice behind disco classic Love Is In The Air.

However, his version largely flew under the radar when it was released in 1979.

Private Dancer, released in May 1984, launched an unprecedented second act in Tina Turner's career.

She had escaped an abusive marriage to musician Ike Turner at the end of the 1970s, but the divorce left her penniless, living off food stamps and playing ill-conceived cabaret shows to pay her debts.

The music industry had largely written her off - but in England, where pop was in thrall to American R&B, she still had some heavyweight fans.

In 1981, Rod Stewart invited Turner to play with him on Saturday Night Live; and the Rolling Stones asked her to be part of their US tour. More importantly, perhaps, David Bowie told Capitol Records that Turner was his favourite singer.

A landmark album

But the turning point came when she hooked up with British producers Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, of the band Heaven 17, to record a synth-pop version of the Temptations' 1970 hit Ball of Confusion.

A huge hit in Europe, its success persuaded Capitol to let her record an album, but they hardly threw their weight behind it.

The budget only paid for two weeks in the studio, and many of the songs Turner recorded were other artists' cast-offs (both Cliff Richard and Bucks Fizz had turned down What's Love Got To Do With It).

But she used her time wisely - recording all but one of Private Dancer's songs in the UK with five different British production teams.

With the country in the grips of new wave and the new romantics, Turner was steered away from raw, fiery soul that first made her famous. But somehow, her electrifying vocals were a perfect fit for the chilly, programmed grooves she was given.

"Turner seems to completely understand the touch that each of these songs needed," wrote Debby Miller, in a contemporaneous review of Private Dancer for Rolling Stone magazine.

In the New York Times, Stephen Holden described the record as "a landmark, not only in the career of the 45-year-old singer, who has been recording since the late 1950s, but in the evolution of pop-soul music itself".

The album went on to sell more than 10 million copies, and earned three Grammys, including record of the year for What's Love Got To Do With It.

Turner also performed the song on the live TV broadcast, wowing audiences with her vocals despite fighting a bad case of the flu.

A support slot on Lionel Richie's US tour in 1984 reminded audiences of her ability to tear the roof off any venue she set foot in.

By 1985, Turner was one of the world's biggest acts in an era of stadium superstars like Michael Jackson, Madonna and Prince.

The decision to withhold Hot For You, Baby from the original tracklist of Private Dancer makes sense. It sounds a little cheesy next to the sultry, sophisticated material that eventually populated the record.

But fans will welcome the chance to hear Turner let rip, back in her prime, with a promise to "love you all night long".

Mark Goodier, who is currently covering the Radio 2 breakfast show, said: "To have something new to hear from Tina Turner is a treat for fans of all generations and a reminder of her unique talent.

"I'm lucky enough to have both interviewed Tina and seen her perform live. She was an outrageously good performer and at the same time a remarkable graceful lady, whose every note was shaped by her incredible life."

As well as being released as a single, the track will feature on a new five-disc deluxe edition of Private Dancer, which is due for release in March.

The collection will also feature B-sides, remixes and live tracks, as well as a film of Turner playing Birmingham's NEC Arena in March 1985, featuring guest appearances by David Bowie and Bryan Adams.

Turner died in 2023 at the age of 83. No cause of death was given, but she was known to be struggling with a kidney disease, intestinal cancer and other illnesses.

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Sandra said she used to depend on her winter fuel payment, but when it became means tested her pension pushed her £20 a week over the threshold so she lost it.

"I've had to take out a credit card, overdraft and a credit account to be able to pay for things this winter," she told the BBC.

Sandra is one of the 11 million pensioners who lost the payments, worth up to £300, just as temperatures dropped.

The government said it was committed to supporting pensioners but charity Age UK said it had seen a 60% increase in calls to its advice line during the worst of the cold snap.

"I have £4 in my [bank] account currently," said Sandra, 66, who lives alone in County Durham. "I'm paying off my credit [card] account month by month, something that is a direct result of losing the winter fuel allowance.

"Psychologically, it makes you feel a bit of a failure.

"We're still in the middle of winter, so I'm just hoping and praying we don't get another cold snap because I don't have anywhere to go if I can't pay my bills."

The winter fuel payment is a lump sum of £200 a year for pensioners under 80, increasing to £300 for over 80s. It is paid in November or December and used go to all pensioners regardless of their income.

Last year the government announced it would be restricted to those who qualify for pension credit and other means-tested benefits.

Age UK said the number of calls to its Advice Line increased by 50% in the first full week of January, rising to 60% the week after.

A spokesperson said: "The cold weather is one of the biggest topics callers are worried about at the moment.

"Even though the date to claim pension credit by, to be awarded the winter fuel payment this year has now passed, we are still seeing enquiries for benefit checks due to the increased worry of meeting the cost of living."

'A lot of money to lose'

Earlier this month, temperatures dropped so low in the small village of Sedbergh in Cumbria that cold weather payments were triggered.

The one-off £25 sum is paid to those on benefits during prolonged cold weather.

Next door neighbours Rosemary, 93, and Marjorie, 92, have known each other since primary school. Neither of them qualified for winter fuel allowance or cold weather payments this year.

"It's a lot of money to lose," Rosemary said. "It makes a big difference. You shouldn't rely on it but you did rely on it, I though 'oh well I can get a bit of extra food I can get another bag of coal in'."

Marjorie's home is old and poorly insulated. "I find it difficult to heat my home because I've got all outside walls and they're stone," she said.

Data from the Department for Levelling Up shows that the area to the north of Sedberg is the worst in England for energy efficient homes.

17.7% of homes in and around Penrith have the lowest EPC ratings – F or G.

'They're not turning the heating on'

At the Grange Community Centre in Blackpool, Rachel Denby advises pensioners on how to make their homes more energy efficient and keep their bills down.

"An elderly person might pay all the bills, stay on top of payments and not be in any debt so from the outside it doesn't look like there's an issue, but in reality they're not eating or they're not turning the heating on," she told the BBC.

The government said it did not want to see anyone suffer this winter and was committed to supporting pensioners with millions set to see their state pension rise in April.

When Zhang Junjie was 17 he decided to protest outside his university about rules made by China's government. Within days he had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital and treated for schizophrenia.

Junjie is one of dozens of people identified by the BBC who were hospitalised after protesting or complaining to the authorities.

Many people we spoke to were given anti-psychotic drugs, and in some cases electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), without their consent.

There have been reports for decades that hospitalisation was being used in China as a way of detaining dissenting citizens without involving the courts. However, the BBC has found that an issue which legislation sought to resolve, has recently made a comeback.

Junjie says he was restrained and beaten by hospital staff before being forced to take medication.

His ordeal began in 2022, after he protested against China's harsh lockdown policies. He says his professors spotted him after just five minutes and contacted his father, who took him back to the family home. He says his father called the police, and the next day - on his 18th birthday - two men drove him to what they claimed was a Covid test centre, but was actually a hospital.

"The doctors told me I had a very serious mental disease… Then they tied me to a bed. The nurses and doctors repeatedly told me, because of my views on the party and the government, then I must be mentally ill. It was terrifying," he told the BBC World Service. He was there for 12 days.

Junjie believes his father felt forced to hand him over to the authorities because he worked for the local government.

Just over a month after being discharged, Junjie was once again arrested. Defying a fireworks ban at Chinese New Year (a measure brought in to fight air pollution) he had made a video of himself setting them off. Someone uploaded it online and police managed to link it to Junjie.

He was accused of "picking quarrels and troublemaking" - a charge frequently used to silence criticism of the Chinese government. Junjie says he was forcibly hospitalised again for more than two months.

After being discharged, Junjie was prescribed anti-psychotic drugs. We have seen the prescription - it was for Aripiprazole, used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

"Taking the medicine made me feel like my brain was quite a mess," he says, adding that police would come to his house to check he had taken it.

Fearing a third hospitalisation, Junjie decided to leave China. He told his parents he was returning to university to pack up his room - but, in fact, he fled to New Zealand.

He didn't say goodbye to family or friends.

Junjie is one of 59 people who the BBC has confirmed - either by speaking to them or their relatives, or by going through court documents - have been hospitalised on mental health grounds after protesting or challenging the authorities.

The issue has been acknowledged by China's government - the country's 2013 Mental Health Law aimed to stop this abuse, making it illegal to treat someone who is not mentally unwell. It also explicitly states psychiatric admission must be voluntary unless the patient is a danger to themselves or others.

In fact, the number of people detained in mental health hospitals against their will has recently surged, a leading Chinese lawyer told the BBC World Service. Huang Xuetao, who was involved in drafting the law, blames a weakening of civil society and a lack of checks and balances.

"I have come across lots of cases like this. The police want power while avoiding responsibility," he says. "Anyone who knows the shortcomings of this system can abuse it."

An activist called Jie Lijian told us he had been treated for mental illness without his consent in 2018.

Lijian says he was arrested for attending a protest demanding better pay at a factory. He says police interrogated him for three days before taking him to a psychiatric hospital.

Like Junjie, Lijian says he was prescribed anti-psychotic drugs that impaired his critical thinking.

After a week in the hospital, he says he refused any more medication. After fighting with staff, and being told he was causing trouble, Lijian was sent for ECT - a therapy which involves passing electric currents through a patient's brain.

"The pain was from head to toe. My whole body felt like it wasn't my own. It was really painful. Electric shock on. Then off. Electric shock on. Then off. I fainted several times. I felt like I was dying," he says.

He says he was discharged after 52 days. He now has a part-time job in Los Angeles and is seeking asylum in the US.

Or watch on YouTube outside the UK.

In 2019, the year after Lijian says he was hospitalised, the Chinese Medical Doctor Association updated its ECT guidelines, stating it should only ever be administered with consent, and under general anaesthetic.

We wanted to find out more about the doctors' involvement in such cases.

Speaking to foreign media such as the BBC without permission could get them into trouble, so our only option was to go undercover.

We booked phone consultations with doctors working at four hospitals which, according to our evidence, are involved with forced hospitalisations.

We used an invented story about a relative who had been hospitalised for posting anti-government comments online, and asked five doctors if they had ever come across cases of patients being sent in by police.

Four confirmed they had.

"The psychiatric department has a type of admission called 'troublemakers'," one doctor told us.

Another doctor, from the hospital where Junjie was held, appears to confirm his story that police continued surveillance of patients once discharged.

"The police will check up on you at home to make sure you take your medicine. If you don't take it you might break the law again," they said.

We approached the hospital in question for comment but it did not respond.

We have been given access to the medical records of democracy activist Song Zaimin, hospitalised for a fifth time last year, which makes it clear how closely political views appear to be tied to a psychiatric diagnosis.

"Today, he was… talking a lot, speaking incoherently, and criticising the Communist Party. Therefore, he was sent to our hospital for inpatient treatment by the police, doctors, and his local residents' committee. This was an involuntary hospitalisation," it says.

We asked Professor Thomas G Schulze, president-elect of the World Psychiatric Association, to review these notes. He replied:

"For what is described here, no-one should be involuntarily admitted and treated against his will. It reeks of political abuse."

Between 2013 and 2017, more than 200 people reported they had been wrongfully hospitalised by the authorities, according to a group of citizen journalists in China who documented abuses of the Mental Health Law.

Their reporting ended in 2017, because the group's founder was arrested and subsequently jailed.

For victims seeking justice, the legal system appears stacked against them.

A man we are calling Mr Li, who was hospitalised in 2023 after protesting against the local police, tried to take legal action against the authorities for his incarceration.

Unlike Junjie, doctors told Mr Li he wasn't ill but then the police arranged an external psychiatrist to assess him, who diagnosed him with bipolar disorder, and he was held for 45 days.

Once released, he decided to challenge the diagnosis.

"If I don't sue the police it's like I accept being mentally ill. This will have a big impact on my future and my freedom because police can use it as a reason to lock me up any time," he says.

In China, the records of anyone ever diagnosed with a serious mental health disorder could be shared with the police, and even local residents' committees.

But Mr Li was not successful - the courts rejected his appeal.

"We hear our leaders talking about the rule of law," he told us. "We never dreamed one day we could be locked up in a mental hospital."

The BBC has found 112 people listed on the official website for Chinese court decisions who, between 2013 and 2024, attempted to take legal action against police, local governments or hospitals for such treatment.

Some 40% of these plaintiffs had been involved in complaints about the authorities. Only two won their cases.

And the site appears to be censored - five other cases we have investigated are missing from the database.

The issue is that the police enjoy "considerable discretion" in dealing with "troublemakers," according to Nicola MacBean from The Rights Practice, a human rights organisation in London.

"Sending someone to a psychiatric hospital, bypassing procedures, is too easy and too useful a tool for the local authorities."

Eyes are now on the fate of vlogger Li Yixue, who accused a police officer of sexual assault. Yixue is said to have recently been hospitalised for a second time after her social media posts talking about the experience went viral. It is reported she is now under surveillance at a hotel.

We put the findings of our investigation to the UK's Chinese embassy. It said last year the Chinese Communist Party "reaffirmed" that it must "improve the mechanisms" around the law, which it says "explicitly prohibits unlawful detention and other methods of illegally depriving or restricting citizens' personal freedom".

Additional reporting by Georgina Lam and Betty Knight