At least 15 Palestinians, including eight children and two women, have been killed in an Israeli strike near a medical point in central Gaza, a hospital there says.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said the strike hit people queueing for nutritional supplements in the town of Deir al-Balah. Graphic video from the hospital showed the bodies of several children and others being treated for their wounds.
The Israeli military said it was checking the reports.
Another 26 people were reportedly killed in strikes elsewhere in Gaza on Thursday, as Israeli and Hamas delegations continued negotiations for a new ceasefire and hostage release deal at indirect talks in Doha.
Despite optimism expressed by the US, which is acting as a mediator along with Qatar and Egypt, they do not so far seem to have come close to a breakthrough.
On Wednesday night, a senior Israeli official told journalists in Washington that it could take one or two weeks to reach an agreement.
The official, who was speaking during a visit to the US by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also said that if an agreement was reached on a 60-day ceasefire, Israel would use that time to offer a permanent end to the war that would require Hamas to disarm. If Hamas refused to disarm, Israel would "proceed" with military operations, they added.
Earlier, Hamas issued a statement saying that the talks had been difficult, blaming Israeli "intransigence".
The group said it had shown flexibility in agreeing to release 10 hostages, but it reiterated that it was seeking a "comprehensive" agreement that would end the Israeli offensive.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 57,680 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
Most of Gaza's population has also been displaced multiple times. More than 90% of homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed; the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed; and there are shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter.
Gugu used to collect her antiretrovirals from a USAID-funded clinic in downtown Johannesburg.
But when President Trump's cuts to aid funding were announced earlier this year, she and thousands of other HIV-positive patients across South Africa suddenly faced an uncertain future.
Gugu was lucky, the clinic where she got the medication that helps suppress her symptoms contacted her before it closed down.
"I was one of the people who was able to get their medication in bulk. I usually collect a three-month prescription. But before my clinic closed, they gave me nine months' worth of medication."
She will run out of antiretrovirals (ARVs) in September, and then plans on going to her local public hospital for more.
A former sex worker, the 54-year-old found out she was HIV-positive after she'd quit the industry.
Ten years ago she got a chesty cough, and initially thought it was tuberculosis. She went to a doctor who told her she had a chest infection and treated her for it.
But when the treatment failed, she went to a clinic to get an HIV test.
"By then I already assumed that I was HIV-positive, and I told the nurse this."
She was right, and she has been on ARVs ever since. We're not using her real name at her request.
She currently works as a project coordinator for an NGO.
"We help pregnant sex workers get their ARVs, to ensure their children are born HIV-negative. We also do home visits to make sure that the mothers take their medication on time, and to look after their babies when they go for their monthly check-ups."
Many HIV-positive sex workers in South Africa relied on private clinics funded by the US government's now-defunct aid agency, USAID, to get their prescriptions and treatments.
But most of the facilities closed after US President Donald Trump cut most foreign aid earlier this year.
In a report due to be released on Thursday, the UN body in charge of fighting HIV/Aids does not single out the US, but says that drastic cuts from a number of donors have sent shockwaves around the world, and the "phenomenal progress" in tackling the illness risks being reversed.
"New HIV infections have been reduced by 40% since 2010, and 4.4 million children have been protected from acquiring HIV since 2000. More than 26 million lives have been saved," UNAIDS says, warning that if the world does not act, there could be an extra six million new HIV infections and four million Aids-related deaths by 2029.
Gugu believes that many sex workers could be discouraged from going to public hospitals for their HRVs..
"The problem with going to public hospitals is the time factor. In order to get serviced at these facilities, you have to arrive at 4 or 5am, and they may spend the whole day waiting for their medication. For sex workers, time is money," Gugu says.
She adds that she recently went to her local clinic with some friends to register her details and build a relationship with staff.
"The nurse who attended to us was very rude. She told us there was nothing special about sex workers."
She thinks this could lead to many sex workers defaulting on their medication, "especially because their hospital files contain a lot of personal information, and the concern is that sometimes the nurses at these local clinics aren't always the most sensitive in dealing with this kind of information."
According to the UN, the US cuts to HIV funding could reverse some of the gains made by what has been called one of the most successful public health interventions in history.
Scientists in the UK-based Lancet medical journal last month estimated that USAID funding directly reduced Aids deaths by 65%, or 25.5 million, over the past two decades.
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Former US President George W Bush is widely acknowledged for his commitment to tackling HIV/Aids
Then-US President George W Bush launched an ambitious programme to combat HIV/Aids in 2003, saying it would serve the "strategic and moral interests" of the US.
Known as the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), it led to the investment of more than $100bn (£74bn) in the global HIV/Aids response - the largest commitment by any nation to address a single disease in the world.
South Africa has about 7.7 million people living with HIV, the highest number in the world, according to UNAIDS.
About 5.9 million of them receive antiretroviral treatment, resulting in a 66% decrease in Aids-related deaths since 2010, the UN agency adds.
South Africa's government says Pepfar funding contributed about 17% to its HIV/Aids programme. The money was used for various projects, including running mobile clinics to make it easier for patients to get treatment.
The Trump administration's cuts have raised concern that infection rates could spike again.
"I think we're going to start seeing an increase in the number of HIV infections, the number of TB cases, the number of other infectious diseases," Prof Lynn Morris, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Johannesburg's Wits University, tells the BBC.
"And we're going to start seeing a reversal of what was essentially a real success story. We were getting on top of some of these things."
Gugu points out that treatment is a matter of life and death, especially for vulnerable populations like sex workers.
"People don't want to default on their ARVs. They're scared that they're going to die if they don't get access to them.
The cuts have also affected research aimed at finding an HIV vaccine and a cure for Aids.
"There's the long-term impact, which is that we're not going to be getting new vaccines for HIV," Prof Morris adds.
"We're not going to be keeping on top of viruses that are circulating. Even with new viruses that might appear, we're not going to have the surveillance infrastructure that we once had."
South Africa has been one of the global leaders in HIV research. Many of the medications that help prevent the virus, and which have benefitted people around the world, were trialled in South Africa.
This includes Prep (pre-exposure prophylaxis), a medication which stops HIV-negative people from catching the virus.
Another breakthrough preventive drug released this year, Lenacapavir, an injection taken twice a year and that offers total protection from HIV, was also tried in South Africa.
South African academic Prof Abdullah Ely is concerned that research will be affected by the US funding cut
In a lab at Wits University's Health Sciences campus, a small group of scientists are still working on a vaccine for HIV.
They are part of the Brilliant Consortium, a group of labs working across eight African countries to develop a vaccine for the virus.
"We were developing a vaccine test to see how well that works, and then we would trial it on humans," Abdullah Ely, an Associate Professor at Wits University, tells the BBC in his lab.
"The plan was to run the trials in Africa based on research carried out by Africans because we want that research to actually benefit our community as well as all mankind."
But the US funding cuts threw their work into doubt.
"When the stop order came, it meant we had to stop everything. Only some of us have been able to get additional funding so we could continue our work. It's set us back months, probably could even be a year," Prof Ely says.
The lab lacks funding to carry out clinical trials scheduled for later this year.
"That is a very big loss to South Africa and the continent. It means that any potential research that comes out of Africa will have to be tested in Europe, or the US," Prof Ely says.
In June, universities asked the government for a bailout of 4.6bn South African rand ($260m; £190m) over the next three years to cover some of the funding lost from the US.
"We are pleading for support because South Africa is leading in HIV research, but it's not leading for itself. This has ramifications on the practice and policies of the entire globe," says Dr Phethiwe Matutu, head of Universities South Africa.
South Africa's Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi announced on Wednesday that some alternative funding for research had been secured.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust have agreed to donate 1m rand each with immediate effect, while the government would make available 400m rand over the next three years, he said.
This would bring the total to 600m rand, way below the 4.6bn rand requested by researchers.
As for Gugu, she had hoped that by the time she was elderly, a cure for HIV/Aids would have been found, but she is less optimistic now.
"I look after a nine-year-old. I want to live as long as I can to keep taking care of him," she tells the BBC.
"This isn't just a problem for right now, we have to think about how it's going to affect the next generation of women and young people."
John Kerry says Democrats made a mistake on immigration
Former US Secretary of State John Kerry has told the BBC his fellow Democrats allowed the US-Mexico border to be "under siege" during Joe Biden's presidency.
In sometimes sharp words, Kerry - who was the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004 and a US senator from Massachusetts - said he told Biden the party had "missed" on the issue of immigration for years.
He said this had Republicans like Donald Trump to gain political advantage.
The comments, made during an interview with BBC special correspondent James Naughtie, underscore an ongoing debate within his party over whether their pro-immigration policies cost them in recent elections.
Democrats have also wrestled with how they should handle Trump's recent nationwide attempts to detain and deport undocumented migrants
"The first thing any president should say - or anybody in public life - is without a border protected, you don't have a nation," Kerry said. "I wish President Biden had been heard more often saying, I'm going to enforce the law."
Such words have been a familiar refrain for Trump during his time in national politics and were included in the 2024 Republican Party policy platform.
But Democrats - many of whom advocate more relaxed immigration laws and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented migrants - attempted to portray Trump's positions as harsh and discriminatory.
According to Kerry, that was a mistake.
"Trump was right," Kerry said. "The problem is we all should have been right."
In the first six month's of Trump's second term in office, illegal crossings at the US-Mexico border have dropped to near record lows - although the downward trend began during the last year of the Biden presidency, after the Democrat tightened some asylum rules.
The Trump administration has now shifted its focus to identification, detention and deportation of documented migrants across the US, expanding its efforts to include those who have resided in the US for years.
The move has prompted mass demonstrations in some US cities, including Los Angeles, where federal officials have been carrying out some of the most aggressive action.
Over the weekend, armed federal agents and 90 California National Guard troops conducted an operation in the city's MacArthur Park - a gathering place for nearby immigrant communities. The officials swept through the park on foot, horseback and in armoured vehicles.
"To me, this is another example of the administration ratcheting up chaos by deploying what looked like a military operation in an American city," Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, said at an impromptu news conference near the park.
"You can spin it anyway you like, but in my opinion, it's a political agenda of provoking fear and terror."
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On Tuesday, Los Angeles and seven other California cities joined a lawsuit against the Trump administration, alleging that the federal immigration enforcement actions are unlawful. The state of California has filed a brief supporting the lawsuit.
Rob Bonta, the California attorney general, issued a statement denouncing what he said was a "cruel and familiar pattern of attacks on our immigrant communities by an administration that thrives on fear and division".
The denunciations, and the legal battles, echo the tactics Democrats relied on during Trump's first presidential term, when the Republican policy of separating migrant families that crossed the US-Mexico border generated widespread national outrage.
Such concerns faded, however, and by 2024 stringent immigration enforcement once again became a top Republican talking point.
The Trump administration appears to continue to welcome debate on immigration - an issue where, despite some declining support in recent public opinion polls, they believe they still have the upper hand.
When asked on Wednesday about a push by Democrats in Congress for legislation prohibiting immigration enforcement officers from concealing their identities, Trump said the opposition party had lost its way.
"This is the problem with the Democrats," he said. "They have a lot of bad things going on in their heads. They've lost their confidence and become somewhat deranged."
Democrats are used to derisive criticism from Trump, of course. But some - including party elders like Kerry – are becoming increasingly vocal in arguing that they given Trump an opening to land his political punches.
Reflections is on BBC Radio 4 on 10 July at 09:30 BST.
Watch: Donald Trump ducks after loud bangs heard during Pennsylvania rally
The US Secret Service issued suspensions for six personnel over failings at one of Donald Trump's rallies last year, during which a gunman attempted to assassinate the Republican, an official has confirmed.
Matt Quinn, the service's deputy director, told the BBC's US partner CBS News that the gathering in Butler, Pennsylvania, when Matthew Crooks fired at Trump and killed another attendee, was an "operational failure".
One of Crooks's bullets grazed the ear of Trump, who was then rushed to safety. The attacker was shot dead.
It is not clear when the staff suspensions were formally issued, and US media reports differ on whether or not they have already been served.
Speaking to CBS, Quinn said the staff were given penalties ranging from 10 to 42 days of leave without pay or benefits.
"Secret Service is totally accountable for Butler," he explained. "Butler was an operational failure and we are focused today on ensuring that it never happens again."
Quinn, who was appointed to his role in May this year, added that he was "laser-focused on fixing the root cause of the problem", but his organisation would not "fire our way out of this".
Quinn told CBS a number of improvements had already been made, involving military-grade drones and improved mobile command posts that could now be used by agents in the field.
The identities of the suspended staff and their roles on the day of the attack have not been disclosed.
The news comes just days before the anniversary of the attack on 13 July 2024. Rally attendee Corey Comperatore was killed and two other people injured.
The incident prompted the resignation of the service's then-director, Kimberly Cheatle.
The Secret Service has been under intense scrutiny for the last 12 months, and has faced sharp criticism from US Congress members.
Last September, a 94-page Senate report found that security failures and lack of communication within the US Secret Service "directly contributed" to the incident, and that many issues remained unaddressed two months later.
The attack was also described as preventable in another report, published in December, by a House of Representatives taskforce. That paper identified the main lapse as being a failure to secure the rooftop from which Crooks opened fire.
Trump, who was successfully re-elected in November, was provided with heightened security in the aftermath of the attack - ensuring that he received protection at a level above what is typical for a presidential candidate.
In September, he was again rushed to safety by Secret Service agents after a second would-be gunman lurked in bushes at Trump's golf course in Florida. The FBI described this, too, as an apparent assassination attempt.
The suspect in that second incident was detained.
Watch: 'I see it every time I close my eyes', says widow of man killed at Trump rally
Four people have been arrested by police investigating the cyber-attacks that have caused havoc at M&S and the Co-op.
The National Crime Agency says a 20 year old woman was arrested in Staffordshire, and three males - aged between 17 and 19 - were detained in London and the West Midlands.
They were apprehended on suspicion of Computer Misuse Act offences, blackmail, money laundering and participating in the activities of an organised crime group.
All four were arrested at their homes in the early hours on Thursday. Electronic devices were also seized by the police.
Paul Foster, head of the NCA's National Cyber Crime Unit, said the arrests were a "significant step" in its investigation.
"But our work continues, alongside partners in the UK and overseas, to ensure those responsible are identified and brought to justice," he added.
The hacks - which began in mid April - have caused huge disruption for the two retailers.
Some Co-op shelves were left bare for weeks, while M&S expects its operations to be affected until late July, with some IT systems not fully operational until October or November.
The chairman of M&S told MPs this week that it felt like the hack was an attempt to destroy the business. The retailer has estimated it will cost it £300m in lost profits.
Harrods was also targeted in an attack that had less impact on its operations.
A wave of attacks
M&S was the first to be breached. A huge amount of private data belonging to customers and staff was stolen.
The criminals also deployed malicious software called ransomware scrambling the company's IT networks making them unusable unless a ransom was paid.
The BBC revealed that the hackers had sent an offensive email to the M&S boss demanding payment.
A few days after M&S was breached the Co-op was also targeted by the criminals who broke in and stole the private data of millions of its and staff.
The Co-op was forced to admit that the data breach had happened after hackers contacted the BBC with proof that the firm was downplaying the cyber attack.
The BBC later discovered from the criminals that the company disconnected the internet from IT networks in the nick of time to stop the hackers from deploying ransomware and so causing even more disruption.
Shortly after Co-op announced it had been attacked, luxury retailer Harrods said it too had been targeted and had been forced to disconnect IT systems from the internet to keep the criminals out.
The UK faces a "rising" and unpredictable threat from Iran and the government must do more to counter it, Parliament's intelligence and security committee has warned.
The call comes as it publishes the results of a major inquiry which examined Iranian state assassinations and kidnap, espionage, cyber attacks and the country's nuclear programme.
The committee, which is tasked with overseeing Britain's spy agencies, has raised particular concern over the "sharp increase" in plots against opponents of the Iranian regime in the UK.
"Iran poses a wide-ranging, persistent and unpredictable threat to the UK, UK nationals and UK interests," said Lord Beamish, committee chair.
"Iran has a high appetite for risk when conducting offensive activity and its intelligence services are ferociously well-resourced with significant areas of asymmetric strength."
He added: "Iran is there across the full spectrum of all the kinds of threats we have to be concerned with."
The committee accuses the government of focusing on "crisis management" and "fire-fighting" with Iran, as well as on its nuclear programme, at the expense of other threats.
It says the national security threat from Iran requires more resourcing and a longer-term approach.
"Whilst Iran's activity appears to be less strategic and on a smaller scale than Russia and China, Iran poses a wide-ranging threat to UK national security, which should not be underestimated: it is persistent and – crucially – unpredictable."
The report was published on Thursday as part of the committee's inquiry into national security issues relating to Iran. It covers events up to August 2023, when the committee finished taking evidence.
It has previously been read by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who was sent a copy in March, and circulated among UK intelligence organisations to give them the opportunity to check accuracy and request redactions on national security grounds.
According to the committee, the government is required to provide its response within 60 days of publication.
The committee examines the policies, expenditure, administration and operations of UK intelligence organisations including MI5, MI6, and GCHQ.
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At least 15 Palestinians, including eight children and two women, have been killed in an Israeli strike near a medical point in central Gaza, a hospital there says.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said the strike hit people queueing for nutritional supplements in the town of Deir al-Balah. Graphic video from the hospital showed the bodies of several children and others being treated for their wounds.
The Israeli military said it was checking the reports.
Another 26 people were reportedly killed in strikes elsewhere in Gaza on Thursday, as Israeli and Hamas delegations continued negotiations for a new ceasefire and hostage release deal at indirect talks in Doha.
Despite optimism expressed by the US, which is acting as a mediator along with Qatar and Egypt, they do not so far seem to have come close to a breakthrough.
On Wednesday night, a senior Israeli official told journalists in Washington that it could take one or two weeks to reach an agreement.
The official, who was speaking during a visit to the US by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also said that if an agreement was reached on a 60-day ceasefire, Israel would use that time to offer a permanent end to the war that would require Hamas to disarm. If Hamas refused to disarm, Israel would "proceed" with military operations, they added.
Earlier, Hamas issued a statement saying that the talks had been difficult, blaming Israeli "intransigence".
The group said it had shown flexibility in agreeing to release 10 hostages, but it reiterated that it was seeking a "comprehensive" agreement that would end the Israeli offensive.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 57,680 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
Most of Gaza's population has also been displaced multiple times. More than 90% of homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed; the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed; and there are shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter.
Caster Semenya won the Olympic 800m title twice and the world title three times
Published
Caster Semenya's right to a fair hearing was violated by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court when she lost a 2023 appeal against World Athletics regulations that effectively barred her from competing, Europe's top court has ruled.
The double 800m Olympic champion won a partial victory at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in her long legal battle over athletics' sex eligibility rules.
Semenya, 34, was born with differences of sexual development (DSD) and has been unable to compete in the 800m since World Athletics brought in rules in 2019 restricting testosterone levels for track events from 400m up to the mile.
The South African middle distance runner believes World Athletics has shown discrimination against athletes with DSD by insisting they reduce testosterone levels in order to be eligible.
Athletics' governing body insists the rules, which in 2023 were expanded to cover all female track and field events, are needed to ensure fair competition and to protect the female category.
Semenya was the Olympic champion over 800m in 2012 and 2016.
In 2019, she unsuccessfully challenged World Athletics' rules at the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).
The case at the ECHR was not against sporting bodies or DSD rules, but specifically against Switzerland's government for not protecting Semenya's rights and dates back to a Swiss Supreme Court ruling from 2020.
Switzerland's government requested the matter be referred to the ECHR's Grand Chamber, which has now found that the Swiss ruling "had not satisfied the requirement of particular rigour" under Article 6 (right to a fair hearing) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
However, the Grand Chamber found Semenya's complaints under Articles 8 (right to respect for private life), 13 (right to an effective remedy) and 14 (prohibition of discrimination) inadmissible as they "did not fall within Switzerland's jurisdiction".
As the case concerns the Swiss government and not World Athletics, it will not immediately affect the current restrictions on DSD athletes.
Semenya said the outcome was "great for me, great for athletes" after leaving the court in Strasbourg, France.
"This is a reminder to the leaders [that] athletes need to be protected," she said.
"Before we can regulate we have to respect athletes and put their rights first."
Decisions made by the ECHR's Grand Chamber are not open to appeal.
Semenya's case could now go back to the Swiss federal court in Lausanne.
World Athletics declined to comment.
Who is Caster Semenya?
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Media caption,
I'm not ashamed to be different - Caster Semenya
Semenya is a two-time Olympic champion and three-time world champion over 800m.
Between 2009 and 2019, the South African dominated her sport, sealing a 30th consecutive victory when she won the Doha Diamond League 800m in May 2019.
She was given a hero's welcome in South Africa after picking up her first World Championship gold in 2009, with thousands of jubilant fans turning out at Johannesburg airport to greet her.
However, her rapid rise from unknown teenager to global star was also accompanied by scrutiny over her gender and possible advantages in her biology.
It was later revealed she was born with DSD, one outcome of which means she has an elevated level of testosterone - a hormone that can increase muscle mass and strength.
It was in the Cas ruling that Semenya's specific DSD was confirmed as 46 XY 5-ARD (5-alpha-reductase deficiency). People with this particular DSD have the male XY chromosomes. Some are recorded as female or male at birth depending on their external genitalia.
Semenya said in 2023 she was turning her attention to "winning battles against the authorities" rather than collecting medals.
Cas said athletes such as Semenya with 5-ARD have "circulating testosterone at the level of the male 46 XY population and not at the level of the female 46 XX population", which gives them "a significant sporting advantage over 46 XX female athletes".
In an interview with BBC Sport in 2023 Semenya said she was "born without a uterus" and born "with internal testicles" and said: "I am a woman and have a vagina".
Temperatures will increase across the United Kingdom over the next few days, rising above the official heatwave threshold. They are likely to peak at 34C on Friday and possibly Saturday too.
This heatwave, for many the third of the summer, will persist into early next week.
Yellow heat health alerts from the UK's Health Security Agency are in force across central and southern parts of England.
Thursday is set to be a warmer day for much of England and Wales with temperatures widely getting up to 24 to 28C.
The hottest areas are likely to be in the south Midlands, central southern and south-east England with temperatures of 30 to 32C.
By Friday, the heat will move into Scotland and Northern Ireland where we could well see the hottest day of the year for both if the temperature exceeds 29.1C and 29.5C respectively.
This is very likely, especially on Saturday.
Across England and Wales, the heat will be widespread on Friday and Saturday with highs of 27 to 33, perhaps 34C.
While this latest heatwave will bring hotter weather for more of us, the highest temperature is unlikely to exceed the highest UK temperature of the year so far of 35.8C set on 1 July in Faversham, Kent.
Image source, Getty
Image caption,
After the hottest opening day to Wimbledon on record, the Finals over the weekend will also see temperatures in the low thirties
After the hottest opening day to Wimbledon (32.2C), the women and men's finals over the weekend will also see temperatures exceeding 30C.
But it is likely to fall just short of the hottest Wimbledon finals day which occurred in 1976 when the temperature reached 34.1C.
By Sunday, a cooler north-easterly breeze will develop and which will shift the hottest weather into more central areas of England and east Wales.
Temperatures across the UK will be in the high twenties to low thirties for most.
We will start to see temperatures fall in Scotland and Northern Ireland on Monday as showers and cooler air moves in from the north-west.
Cooler weather is forecast to spread to all parts of the UK on Tuesday meaning temperatures will fall below the heatwave threshold.
Image source, BBC Weather Watchers / SantaSusie
Image caption,
Tuesday should see the UK temperatures fall below the heatwave threshold
How unusual is a third summer heatwave?
Comparing heatwaves each year is a little tricky because they are location dependant and the current Met Office heatwave definition has only been in place since 2019.
A heatwave occurring a some point during the summer is fairly common.
And while this heatwave is being highlighted as the third, Scotland and Northern Ireland missed out on the heatwave at the end of June and beginning of July.
The last time we experienced three heatwaves in the UK was 2022. This was also when the UK saw the highest temperature on record with 40.3C at Coningsby.
In terms of 'number of heatwave days' - when at least one UK location met the current threshold temperature - up to 10 July, there have been 25 days in 2025.
Only 1989 and 2018 had more 'heatwave days' up to this point at 26 and 34 days respectively, according to data from weather website Starlings Roost Weather, external.
While we might expect hotter weather for at least a time during the summer, temperatures over the next few days are around 7 to 10C above average for mid-July.
Climate scientists are clear that heatwaves will become more frequent, more intense and last longer with climate change.
Watch: Beverley Morris flushes her toilet using a bucket because of low water pressure
When Beverly Morris retired in 2016, she thought she had found her dream home - a peaceful stretch of rural Georgia, surrounded by trees and quiet.
Today, it's anything but.
Just 400 yards (366m) from her front porch in Fayette County sits a large, windowless building filled with servers, cables, and blinking lights.
It's a data centre - one of many popping up across small-town America, and around the globe, to power everything from online banking to artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT.
"I can't live in my home with half of my home functioning and no water," Ms Morris says. "I can't drink the water."
She believes the construction of the centre, which is owned by Meta (the parent company of Facebook), disrupted her private well, causing an excessive build-up of sediment. Ms Morris now hauls water in buckets to flush her toilet.
She says she had to fix the plumbing in her kitchen to restore water pressure. But the water that comes of the tap still has residue in it.
"I'm afraid to drink the water, but I still cook with it, and brush my teeth with it," says Morris. "Am I worried about it? Yes."
Meta, however, says the two aren't connected.
In a statement to the BBC, Meta said that "being a good neighbour is a priority".
The company commissioned an independent groundwater study to investigate Morris's concerns. According to the report, its data center operation did "not adversely affect groundwater conditions in the area".
While Meta disputes that it has caused the problems with Ms Morris' water, there's no doubt, in her estimation, that the company has worn out its welcome as her neighbour.
"This was my perfect spot," she says. "But it isn't anymore."
Huge data centres are being built across the state of Georgia
We tend to think of the cloud as something invisible - floating above us in the digital ether. But the reality is very physical.
The cloud lives in over 10,000 data centres around the world, most of them located in the US, followed by the UK and Germany.
With AI now driving a surge in online activity, that number is growing fast. And with them, more complaints from nearby residents.
The US boom is being challenged by a rise in local activism - with $64bn (£47bn) in projects delayed or blocked nationwide, according to a report from pressure group Data Center Watch.
And the concerns aren't just about construction. It's also about water usage. Keeping those servers cool requires a lot of water.
"These are very hot processors," Mark Mills of the National Center for Energy Analytics testified before Congress back in April. "The surface of each chip is hotter than the surface of the sun. It takes a lot of water to cool them down."
Many centres use evaporative cooling systems, where water absorbs heat and evaporates - similar to how sweat wicks away heat from our bodies. On hot days, a single facility can use millions of gallons.
One study estimates that AI-driven data centres could consume 1.7 trillion gallons of water globally by 2027.
Few places illustrate this tension more clearly than Georgia - one of the fastest-growing data centre markets in the US.
Its humid climate provides a natural and more cost-effective source of water for cooling data centres, making it attractive to developers. But that abundance may come at a cost.
Gordon Rogers is the executive director of Flint Riverkeeper, a non-profit advocacy group that monitors the health of Georgia's Flint River. He takes us to a creek downhill from a new construction site for a data centre being built by US firm Quality Technology Services (QTS).
George Diets, a local volunteer, scoops up a sample of the water into a clear plastic bag. It's cloudy and brown.
"It shouldn't be that colour," he says. To him, this suggests sediment runoff - and possibly flocculants. These are chemicals used in construction to bind soil and prevent erosion, but if they escape into the water system, they can create sludge.
QTS says its data centres meet high environmental standards and bring millions in local tax revenue.
While construction is often carried out by third-party contractors, local residents are the ones left to deal with the consequences.
"They shouldn't be doing it," Mr Rogers says. "A larger wealthier property owner does not have more property rights than a smaller, less wealthy property owner."
Tech giants say they are aware of the issues and are taking action.
"Our goal is that by 2030, we'll be putting more water back into the watersheds and communities where we're operating data centres, than we're taking out," says Will Hewes, global water stewardship lead at Amazon Web Services (AWS), which runs more data centres than any other company globally.
He says AWS is investing in projects like leak repairs, rainwater harvesting, and using treated wastewater for cooling. In Virginia, the company is working with farmers to reduce nutrient pollution in Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the US.
In South Africa and India - where AWS doesn't use water for cooling - the company is still investing in water access and quality initiatives.
In the Americas, Mr Hewes says, water is only used on about 10% of the hottest days each year.
Still, the numbers add up. A single AI query - for example, a request to ChatGPT - can use about as much water as a small bottle you'd buy from the corner shop. Multiply that by billions of queries a day, and the scale becomes clear.
Gordon Rogers takes regular water samples to monitor the health of Georgia's Flint River
Prof Rajiv Garg teaches cloud computing at Emory University in Atlanta. He says these data centres aren't going away - if anything, they're becoming the backbone of modern life.
"There's no turning back," Prof Garg says.
But there is a path forward. The key, he argues, is long-term thinking: smarter cooling systems, rainwater harvesting, and more efficient infrastructure.
In the short term, data centres will create "a huge strain", he admits. But the industry is starting to shift toward sustainability.
And yet, that's little consolation to homeowners like Beverly Morris - stuck between yesterday's dream and tomorrow's infrastructure.
Data centres have become more than just an industry trend - they're now part of national policy. President Donald Trump recently vowed to build the largest AI infrastructure project in history, calling it "a future powered by American data".
Back in Georgia, the sun beats down through thick humidity - a reminder of why the state is so attractive to data centre developers.
For locals, the future of tech is already here. And it's loud, thirsty, and sometimes hard to live next to.
As AI grows, the challenge is clear: how to power tomorrow's digital world without draining the most basic resource of all - water.
Referring to the effort to counter internet fakes, the Danish minister of culture, Jakob Engel-Schmidt, said, “Technology has outpaced our current legislation.”
People at higher risk of HIV, such as gay men and people who inject drugs, are facing record levels of criminalisation worldwide, according to UNAids.
For the first time since the joint UN programme on HIV/Aids began reporting on punitive laws a decade ago, the number of countries criminalising same-sex sexual activity and gender expression has increased.
In the past year, Mali has made homosexuality a criminal offence, where the law previously only banned “public indecency”, and has also criminalised transgender people. Trinidad and Tobago’s court of appeal has overturned a landmark 2018 ruling that decriminalised consensual same-sex relations, reinstating the colonial-era ban. In Uganda, the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act has “intensified the proscription of same-sex relations”, and Ghana has moved in a similar direction with the reintroduction of legislation that would increase sentences for gay sex.
The crackdown on gay rights comes as the fight against HIV/Aids has been hit by abrupt US funding cuts, which have combined with “unprecedented” humanitarian challenges and climate crisis shocks to jeopardise hopes of ending the global epidemic this decade, UNAids said.
Several groups of people, known as “key populations”, are more likely to be infected with HIV. They include sex workers, gay men and other men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, transgender people, and those in prisons and other enclosed settings.
In 2025, only eight of 193 countries did not criminalise any of those groups or behaviours, or criminalise non-disclosure of HIV status, exposure or transmission, according to the report.
The number of people infected by HIV or dying from Aids-related causes in 2024 was the lowest for more than 30 years, according to the UNAids annual report, at 1.3 million and 630,000 respectively.
Progress was uneven – ranging from a 56% fall in infections since 2010 in sub-Saharan Africa to a 94% increase in the Middle East and North Africa. But coupled with scientific advances – such as twice-yearly drugs to prevent infection – the world had the “means and momentum” to end Aids as a public health threat by 2030, an internationally agreed goal, it said.
The report highlights HIV-prevention services as an area of concern, with many particularly reliant on donor funding. The reported number of people receiving preventive drugs in Nigeria in November 2024 was approximately 43,000. By April 2025, that number had fallen to below 6,000.
Activists say access to prevention will be a particular issue for key populations, who may not be able to access mainstream healthcare due to factors such as stigma or fear of prosecution, but relied on donor-funded community clinics that have now closed.
Key populations were “always left behind”, said Dr Beatriz Grinsztejn, president of the International Aids Society (IAS).
The report is being released before an IAS conference next week in Kigali, Rwanda, where researchers will share data on the impact of cuts.
Modelling by Bristol University calculated that a one-year halt in US funding for preventive drugs in key populations in sub-Saharan Africa would mean roughly 700,000 people no longer used them, and lead to about 10,000 extra cases of HIV over the next five years.
UNAids modelling suggests that without any replacement for funding from US Pepfar (president’s emergency plan for Aids relief), an additional 4m deaths and 6m new infections could be expected globally by 2029.
However, Winnie Byanyima, executive director of UNAids, said 25 of the 60 low- and middle-income countries included in the report had found ways to increase HIV spending from domestic resources to 2026. “This is the future of the HIV response – nationally owned and led, sustainable, inclusive and multisectoral,” she said.
Makers of the most advanced artificial intelligence systems will face new obligations for transparency, copyright protection and public safety. The rules are voluntary to start.
A survey of transit riders found that a majority have had issues with New York’s new tap-and-go system, months before its predecessor is expected to be retired.
Overall, respondents to a recent survey said they were mostly satisfied with OMNY, the tap-and-go method for entry to New York City’s transit system. But some had complaints.
Flattery and pressure — coupled with President Trump’s growing dissatisfaction with President Vladimir V. Putin — have helped build momentum for new economic punishments.
Senior government figures believe they are on the cusp of achieving a breakthrough with Emmanuel Macron on a deal that would see France take back at least some of those who have crossed the English Channel on small boats.
In return, the UK would take asylum claimants from France who wish to come to the UK and are believed to have a legitimate reason to do so.
It's being called a "one-in-one" out deal, although the numbers will be greater than that.
But the key word to watch out for, when the deal is announced later, is "deterrent".
Sir Keir Starmer has said both he and the French president agree on the need for "a new deterrent to break the business model of the gangs".
The big question is the extent to which what is agreed to amounts to that, particularly in the short term.
Will it put people off getting in a small boat?
The pilot scheme is expected to involve around 50 migrants a week being returned to France, in return for the UK taking the same number of asylum seekers in France who are deemed to have a legitimate case to move to the UK.
Critics, including the Conservatives, say this would amount to about 5% of those who are attempting crossing currently, and so would be an inadequate deterrent.
The Tories point to the deterrent they planned but never got started - the idea of sending migrants to Rwanda. This scheme was scrapped when Labour won the election.
But it is true to say this agreement, albeit limited in scale initially, marks a new moment in Franco British diplomacy on this issue - the willingness of France to take back some of those who embark on the cross Channel journey.
The test, in the months and years ahead, can it be scaled up sufficiently to make a noticeable impact on the numbers?
Or, to put it more bluntly, do the numbers attempting a crossing start to fall, or not?
Because unless they do, the scheme, on this side of the Channel at least, is likely to be seen as a failure.
Royal Mail can deliver second-class letters on every other weekday and not on Saturdays to help cut costs, the industry regulator has said.
Ofcom said a reform to the Universal Service Obligation (USO) was needed as people are sending fewer letters each year, so stamp prices keep rising as the cost of delivering letters goes up.
The current one-price-goes-anywhere USO means Royal Mail has to deliver post six days a week, from Monday to Saturday, and parcels on five from Monday to Friday.
Ofcom said Royal Mail should continue to deliver first-class letters six days a week but second class will be limited to alternate weekdays.
"These changes are in the best interests of consumers and businesses, as urgent reform of the postal service is necessary to give it the best chance of survival," said Natalie Black, Ofcom's group director for networks and communications.
However, just changing Royal Mail's obligations will not improve the service, she said.
"The company now has to play its part and implement this effectively."
The regulator is also making changes to Royal Mail's delivery targets.
The company will have to deliver 90% of first-class mail next-day, down from the current target of 93%, while 95% of second-class mail must be delivered within three days, a cut from the current 98.5%.
However, there will be a new target of 99% of mail being delivered no more than two days late to incentivise Royal Mail to cut down on long delays.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's regime does not typically respond to claims of abuse made by North Korean defectors
A North Korean defector is filing civil and criminal charges against the country's leader Kim Jong Un for abuses she faced while detained in the country.
Choi Min-kyung fled the North to China in 1997 but was forcibly repatriated in 2008. She said she was sexually abused and tortured after her return.
When she files the case in Seoul on Friday, it will be the first time a North Korean-born defector takes legal action against the regime, said a South-based rights group assisting Ms Choi.
South Korean courts have in the past ruled against North Korea on similar claims by South Koreans but such verdicts are largely symbolic and ignored by Pyongyang.
The case names Kim and four other Pyongyang officials. The rights group, the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB), says it also plans to take Ms Choi's case to the United Nations and the International Criminal Court.
"I earnestly wish for this small step to become a cornerstone for the restoration of freedom and human dignity, so that no more innocent North Koreans suffer under this brutal regime," Ms Choi said on Wednesday, according to a statement by NKDB.
"As a torture victim and survivor of the North Korean regime, I carry a deep and urgent responsibility to hold the Kim dynasty accountable for crimes against humanity," she said.
Ms Choi fled North Korea again in 2012 and settled in the South. She said psychological trauma from the ordeal remains and that she continues to rely on medication.
For years international rights groups have documented alleged human rights violations by North Korea, ranging from the abuse of political prisoners to systematic discrimination based on gender and class.
Hanna Song, executive director of the NKDB, told BBC Korean that the lawsuits were significant because they were pursuing criminal charges "in parallel" to civil cases.
Previous court cases against North Korea had been "limited to civil litigation", she said.
In 2023, a Seoul court ordered North Korea to pay 50 million won ($36,000; £27,000) each to three South Korean men who were exploited after being taken as prisoners of war in North Korea during the Korean War.
In 2024, the North Korean government was also ordered to pay 100 million won to each of five Korean Japanese defectors. They were part of thousands who had left Japan for North Korea in the 1960s and 1980s under a repatriation programme.
They said they had been lured to North Korea decades ago on the promise of "paradise on Earth", but were instead detained and forced to work.
North Korea did not respond to either of the lawsuits.
But Ms Song, from the NKDB, argued that the rulings offered much-needed closure to the plaintiffs.
"What we've come to understand through years of work on accountability is that what victims really seek isn't just financial compensation - it's acknowledgment," said Ms Song.
"Receiving a court ruling in their favour carries enormous meaning. It tells them their story doesn't just end with them - it's acknowledged by the state and officially recorded in history."
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