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BBCA funeral director has admitted preventing the burials of 30 bodies and stealing donations made to charities by mourners.
Robert Bush, 48, was arrested after police investigated Hull-based Legacy Independent Funeral Directors following a report of "concern for care of the deceased" in March 2024.
Bush, formerly of East Yorkshire and now living in West Yorkshire, pleaded guilty at Hull Crown Court to 30 counts of preventing a lawful and decent burial, and one of theft relating to charitable donations.
He previously admitted presenting families with the ashes of strangers and fraudulently selling funeral plans. He will be sentenced at a later date.
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日本时间4月1日18时起，约2小时10分钟内，日本首相高市早苗与作为正式工作访问宾客访日的法国总统马克龙举行了日法首脑会谈。随后，双方举行了日法首脑联合声明签署仪式、联合记者会以及工作晚宴。
针对法国拒绝运送针对伊朗军事行动的军需物资的美军飞机飞越其领空，遭到美国总统特朗普批评一事，马克龙于1日对记者表示，美国并未就该行动事先征求法国的意见，法国也未参与其中。
两国领导人在讨论目前的伊朗局势时没有直接批评美国与以色列，但在联合声明中对约旦河西岸以色列定居者针对巴勒斯坦平民的暴力行为的急剧增加表示严重关切，并表示反对包括约旦河西岸定居活动在内的一切违反国际法的单方面行为。
两首脑在联合声明中指出：两国领导人就中东局势进行了磋商。双方重申，伊朗绝不能拥有核武器，并强调通过对话解决该问题的重要性。
两国领导人对该地区局势恶化表示极为严重的关切，包括人员伤亡和财产损失在性质和地理范围上的扩大，以及对能源稳定供应造成的重大影响。
此外，双方再次确认，为促使局势尽早降温，持续开展外交努力至关重要。
在此背景下，两国领导人强烈要求伊朗立即停止对波斯湾非武装商船的攻击、对包括邻国石油和天然气设施在内的民用基础设施的攻击，以及威胁通过霍尔木兹海峡航行的民用船只安全的行为。同时，双方表示愿意为确保霍尔木兹海峡安全通航作出适当贡献。在这一背景下，双方回顾了2026年3月19日发表的有关霍尔木兹海峡的法、英、德、意、荷、日六国联合声明。
关于黎巴嫩问题，两国领导人表达了防止局势进一步升级，并支持政治解决，以避免黎巴嫩人民被进一步卷入其并不希望发生的战争的意志。双方重申支持黎巴嫩政府为加强主权所作的决定，并呼吁以色列尊重黎巴嫩的领土完整。
两国领导人还重申，将根据相关安理会决议及《纽约宣言》，致力于实现全面、公正和持久的和平以及“两国方案”。同时强调，在整个加沙地带，有必要通过联合国及其机构和国际组织等渠道，依据国际人道法，迅速、安全、不受阻碍且持续地大规模提供人道援助。双方再次对针对巴勒斯坦平民的定居者的暴力激增表示严重关切，并反对包括约旦河西岸定居活动在内的一切违反国际法的单方面行为。
4月1日， 正在访日的马克龙在接受NHK采访时表示：“关于美国和以色列发起的这项军事行动，法国事先没有被征求意见，也没有参与，这是毫无疑问的事实。”他并补充说，这一立场自对伊朗军事行动开始以来一直没有改变。
AFP via Getty ImagesAt least four people have been killed by a series of powerful explosions at an ammunitions depot in Burundi's largest city, Bujumbura, local residents have told the BBC.
The blasts erupted late on Tuesday at the facility, located in the suburb of Musaga, due to an electrical fault, an army spokesperson said.
Shrapnel and debris were propelled more than 5km (three miles) and several houses in nearby districts were destroyed by the force of the explosions.
The authorities have not yet provided any casualty figures but family members and eyewitnesses told the BBC of four separate deaths in the city. The AFP news agency quotes security sources as saying that dozens of people had died.
One woman told BBC Gahuza that a relative, who had been detained at Mpimba Central Prison, had died after a bomb hit the facility.
Numerous inmates at the prison, which is located near the ammunitions store, are reported to have been injured.
In the north-eastern neighbourhood of Gisandema, witnesses told BBC Gahuza that a bomb had destroyed a house and killed a domestic worker.
The authorities have said they cannot yet comment on the number of casualties as they are still assessing the extent of the damage.
The explosions sent plumes of smoke rising above the city, sparking panic in the city of more than a million people.
President Evariste Ndayishimiye, in a message on X, expressed his condolences to all Burundians, adding that the authorities are "here to help".
Getty Images/BBCGo to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.
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美国总统特朗普在周三（2月3日）晚的一次新闻发布会上再次讽刺法国总统马克龙，并对双方之间的通话表达不满。
这次发言发生在他向全美发表讲话数小时前。特朗普声称这位法国领导人“被妻子欺负，而且刚刚从挨了一记打在下巴上的耳光中恢复过来”。特朗普此言显然是指2025年5月马克龙在东南亚访问期间，马克龙和第一夫人布丽吉特的“家庭纠纷”事件。
当时，马克龙的专机在越南河内机场停机坪上打开舱门时，美联社拍摄的画面显示，马克龙的身影出现在机舱内。就在这时， 布丽吉特的双臂突然出现（虽然她并未完全露面），她迅速抬起双手，似乎轻轻地打了总统一巴掌。马克龙似乎有些惊讶，微微后退，但很快调整情绪转身挥手致意。随后，法国总统夫妇走上舷梯，马克龙按照惯例向妻子伸出手臂，但她没有挽住马克龙。这一视频曾在社交媒体上疯传，随后马克龙被迫否认与妻子存在任何“家庭纠纷”，他还指责是“俄罗斯人”和“极端分子”不择手段地攻击他。这位美国总统频频发表颇具争议的言论，这一次他再次公开提起这件事讽刺马克龙。
值得注意的是，在同一次发言中，特朗普还表示，他曾请求法国协助缓解霍尔木兹海峡的紧张局势，截至目前，该海域仍然处于封锁状态，油价飙升导致全球经济承压。特朗普说自己曾这样询问法国总统：“埃马纽埃尔，我们希望你们能在海湾地区提供一些帮助，即使我们正在消灭坏人并摧毁弹道导弹。你能立即派遣军舰吗？”然后他在白宫的这次新闻发布会上表达了对这通电话结果的不满。
特朗普还暗示，美国为保障这条关键航道安全所做的努力并未得到欧洲盟友足够支持。他讽刺说：“他们很多人都说：‘等战争结束我们会在那里。’我就是这样认识北约的。如果真的发生重大危机，北约是不会出现的。”
这些言论延续了特朗普一贯对欧洲盟友的批评立场，认为他们在防务方面过度依赖美国。
Republicans once saw Georgia as the crown jewel of their Senate pickup opportunities. They’re now blaming each other as the GOP primary unravels into an intraparty brawl that could cost them their chance of defeating Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff.
The party is grappling with a crowded field, no dominant front-runner, no endorsement from President Donald Trump — and the reality that the May 19 primary will very likely extend into an expensive, bruising mid-June runoff.
Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.), a close Trump ally, leads in public polling, with fellow Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) and Gov. Brian Kemp-endorsed former football coach Derek Dooley battling for second. But a large share of voters remain undecided, underscoring how fluid the race is. Meanwhile, incumbent Ossoff — who faces no primary challenge of his own — is keeping his powder dry and has amassed a formidable eight-figure campaign war chest ready to deploy in the general election.
“If Ossoff could write a playbook for how he wants this primary to go, this is exactly it,” said a GOP operative, who, like others interviewed for this story, was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the race’s dynamics. They said that Georgia is like a "red-headed stepchild" not getting any attention from Washington.
Republicans point to several unforced errors that got the party to this point. Some say their current challenges were set in motion last year, when they failed to convince the state’s popular outgoing GOP governor, Kemp, to run for Ossoff’s seat. Others point to a lackluster effort by the National Republican Senatorial Committee to recruit a stronger crop of candidates or unify the field. Many also fault Trump and Kemp, who have had a sometimes-testy relationship, for failing to agree on a candidate they both could support to avoid a costly primary.
“It's not ideal that it looks like it's going to runoff,” said Cole Muzio, president of the conservative Frontline Policy Council. “There was so much talk about Kemp and Trump getting together and finding a nominee together, landing the plane on one person. I'm not going to try to sort out what happened with that, but a unity nominee would have been ideal.”
The early finger-pointing that has emerged in conversations with a dozen GOP strategists and officials in Georgia reflects their deep frustration with the state of their primary — and their chances of holding onto the Senate majority. The party is fending off competitive Democratic candidates in several red states as voters sour on Trump's agenda, making flipping Georgia even more of a priority.
"It's a mess that could have been much less messy if they had figured this out six months ago," said a second Georgia-based Republican strategist unaffiliated with any campaign. "Everybody's resigned to this going to May and then a June runoff and then pick up the pieces after that."
Early general election polling shows Ossoff leading all three potential GOP candidates in a head-to-head matchup. After five years in the Senate, he has built a formidable political operation, churned out razor-thin statewide wins and amassed a sizable fundraising cushion.
“Jon Ossoff has $24 million. Jon Ossoff is on TV all of the time, carefully articulating his positions, grilling Tulsi Gabbard — really being methodical,” said Ryan Mahoney, a GOP strategist unaffiliated in the race. “He has tons of resources — great name ID, a lot of exposure — while the Republicans are fighting against each other, trying to see who can break out and ultimately be the nominee.”
“He's just in a great position,” Mahoney noted.
Still, several Republicans say they’re confident about their prospects in a state that Trump won in 2024, and they expect money and outside support to dramatically ramp up once their nominee is decided.
“Republicans created this problem. We created this problem and it's not any one person,” the second GOP strategist said. "I still think a Republican can win, I just think we're making it way harder.”
With around 40 percent of likely GOP primary voters still undecided, according to recent public polling, the Senate candidates have been jockeying for Trump’s blessing — an endorsement that could be pivotal in deciding the future of the race.
All three candidates have engaged with the White House directly. In an interview with conservative host Clay Travis’ Outkick podcast, Dooley said he met with Trump in the Oval Office last year and had a “very engaging conversation.” Carter, for his part, told POLITICO in a brief interview that his campaign continues “to talk to the administration” about the race. Collins and the president have also met and discussed the race, according to a person familiar with the conversation. In February, Collins appeared onstage with the president during an event in Rome, Georgia, focused on Trump’s economic agenda.
Collins’ campaign recently released a lengthy memo outlining his argument for why the field should coalesce him around the primary. “[Democrats] are watching Republicans turn what should be the best pickup opportunity of the midterms into a needless intraparty squabble that wastes time and resources,” the memo reads. “Instead of spending the majority of 2026 focused on defeating Jon Ossoff, Republicans are on track to not be unified until late June, after a runoff, leaving the Republican nominee only four months to raise money and campaign across the largest state east of the Mississippi to unseat the Democrat.”
Most outside groups have been waiting to line up behind a clear front-runner, though Club for Growth PAC, a major conservative super PAC, has already endorsed Collins’ campaign — an unusual step for a group that usually acts in lockstep with the White House’s political strategy.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment regarding Trump’s thinking about the primary or his conversations with the three candidates.
Then there’s the Kemp factor.
After the governor declined to run, Republicans feared the primary could become a proxy war between himand Trump, who’ve previously clashed over Trump’s insistence that the 2020 election in Georgia was fraudulent. That hasn’t quite played out, with the president staying out of the race so far. But Kemp’s decision to back Dooley, the former football coach, means it’s unlikely they’ll find common ground.
Dooley has no prior experience in politics. State voting records show the former coach did not vote in presidential elections in 2016 and 2020 — attack fodder for his opponents as they seek Trump’s endorsement. (He did vote for Trump in 2024.)
“It's no secret that the profile of a candidate that President Trump would prefer is much different than the profile of a candidate that Governor Kemp would prefer,” said a third local GOP strategist, who is unaffiliated in the race. “The nexus between those two just made it very hard, if not impossible, to come out with a consensus candidate.”
Garrison Douglas, a spokesperson for Kemp, doubled down on the governor’s support for Dooley in a statement and said he isn’t “wasting time worrying about the complaints of anonymous consultants.” Dooley spokesperson Connor Whitney said he’s confident Georgia voters will “choose the only political outsider in this race — not another stale D.C. politician.”
Carter spokesperson Chris Crawford rejected the criticism of running a messy primary, saying that “only in Washington do consultants think voters choosing their nominee is a problem.”
Collins, in a statement, expressed confidence in his ability to win the primary, and added that his campaign “would welcome any help to ensure we could wrap this up in May and get on to the main event."
With Georgia in a holding pattern, some local Republicans worry that Washington’s attention is drifting toward Michigan, where former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers has unified the party — and the president — around him in the state’s key battleground Senate race as a trio of Democrats battle it out in their own messy primary.
“There's offense and defense. I think on offense, [Georgia] is still a top race. I think the only difference is that Michigan is a clear field. Rogers is ready to roll. He's raising money. Dems have a mess on their side over there,” said one national Republican familiar with the party’s midterm strategy, who was granted anonymity to discuss behind-the-scenes planning.
Still, the person said they believe Georgia remains competitive, particularly if Republicans unify.
In a statement, Nick Puglia, a spokesperson for the NRSC, said Ossoff “is the most vulnerable incumbent on the map” and Georgia “has been and remains a top state for Republicans to expand President Trump’s Senate Majority.”
But Republicans in the Peach State are skeptical.
“I sense from some Republicans a feeling that maybe Michigan is a better opportunity, and of course, one of the reasons … for that is, ‘well, the field’s been cleared,’” said a fourth GOP strategist in Georgia.
“It feels like D.C. is shifting to Michigan because of a problem that they could solve today,” said the second Georgia-based GOP strategist.
© Getty Images
Nasa's Artemis II mission thundered away from Florida's coast, taking its four crew members on their historic journey to circle the Moon.
There was a deep rumbling as a sheet of brilliant white flame suddenly erupted, momentarily engulfing the whole launch pad as the mightiest rocket Nasa has ever built rose into the sky.
Nasa's Space Launch System (SLS) majestically crept upwards - slow at first, then gathering pace, riding on two blinding pillars of flame that crackled and roared with increasing volume until the rumbling was almost deafening, a sound we could feel in our bodies as we watched on in amazement, three miles (4.8km) away from the launch pad.
There were small cheers from those in the know as the rocket past the moment of maximum danger - one minute and 10 seconds into the launch. This is where the pressure hits the rocket the hardest, and when engineers know that even a small structural weakness can be disastrous.
There was no weakness, and SLS arced out over the Atlantic like a fiery white angel, leaving a white smoky trail as the sound subsided and the spacecraft disappeared from view, shrinking to a single bright star as it chased the Moon.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesAfterwards, there was a giddy euphoria among staff at the Kennedy Space Center.
One person told me they felt quite emotional and another said they wanted to cry – no doubt a release of tension built up over the past few months when Artemis II came close to launch, but ended up being scrubbed for various reasons.
Tonight, though, Nasa employees were laughing and clapping - this is the moment that they have spent years working towards. There is still work to do, but for now they are bathing in the moment of triumph.
In the hour before take-off there were issues which threatened the launch.
They concerned the launch abort system, which enables Nasa engineers to eject the astronauts and blow up the rocket if there is a malfunction.
The countdown clock was held at 10 minutes while engineers resolved the problem. They worked quickly, but it was an agonising wait to see if the launch could still go ahead.
Then came the staccato rhythm of the calls by each engineer responsible for the rocket's critical systems: "booster, go", "GNC, go", "range, go" – each reply, a tiny release of tension and a build-up of expectation.
"Artemis II, this is launch director," said Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, the first woman to hold the position at Nasa.
"You are go for launch," she told the crew. "We go for all humanity", Commander Reid Wiseman responded.
Cheesy words in normal circumstances, but that was the moment our spines began to tingle and we knew we were about to witness history.
Gerardo Mora/Getty ImagesThe Kennedy Space Center was built to send astronauts to the Moon, but that hasn't happened since 1972 when Apollo 17 blasted off. Today, the centre was back in business, doing what it was made for.
The press corps headed outside, where clouds that had threatened to cancel the launch had evaporated.
As the countdown clock restarted, the atmosphere turned to electric anticipation.
The four RS 25 engines and twin solid rocket boosters lit up, driving more than 8.8 million pounds of thrust into the Florida evening sky.
"God Speed Artemis II" Blackwell-Thompson said in another echo from the past. The same words were used in a launch from here in 1962 to send John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, on his way.
NASAI have been lucky enough to see launches of the Space Shuttle to the International Space Station from the Kennedy Space Center. Those launches are almost as impressive in flight, surging into space with an enormous bang and rising at the speed of a bullet.
But the SLS launch was not only more beautiful, it meant much more: a moment full of emotion for all those who saw it, perhaps because it reminded us of what humanity can do when it comes together, or perhaps because we may be entering a new era of space travel.
In the 1990s, I had the opportunity to speak to Neil Armstrong, who, in 1969, became the first person to ever walk on the moon.
Our discussion came at a time when the dream of human space travel seemed to be over. I asked him whatever happened to that dream? He smiled and said "the reality may have faded but the dream is still there and it will come back in time".
Today was the day the dream returned.
President Donald Trump's address from the White House on Wednesday evening was - despite some speculation beforehand - largely a rehash of what he has been saying for days about the Iran war.
In a 20-minute primetime speech, he said the "core strategic objectives" of the US-Israeli military operation were "nearing completion" after a month of war and projected it would last another two to three weeks.
There were the usual threats against Iran, too, including a repeated pledge to bomb the country "back to the stone age".
If you were to copy and paste his posts on Truth Social over the last week or so, you would not be far off this address to the nation.
The president did attempt to persuade Americans of the merits of this war. There is good reason for that, as polls suggest a consistent majority of voters disapprove of the military operation he launched on 28 February.
Trump urged Americans to see this war as an "investment" in their future, and suggested it was nothing compared to other conflicts over the past century or more in which the US has ended up being involved for far longer.
But there was little here for those hoping for clear answers on where this war is heading or potential exit ramps for the US. There were glaring omissions which leave a plethora of questions unanswered.
Firstly, Israel is still attacking Iran and taking incoming drone and missile attacks – including earlier on Wednesday in Tel Aviv just hours before the beginning of Passover.
A key question is whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government agrees with the timetable of a few more weeks that was provided by Trump. We simply do not know at this point in time.
Secondly, what happened to the 15-point peace plan the White House was urging Iran to accept just days ago? There was no mention of it by Trump on Wednesday night. Is Washington now ditching many of those demands, including the retrieval of its stockpile of enriched uranium?
That, too, is unclear.
The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's busiest oil shipping channels which has been effectively closed off by Iran, is a central issue in this conflict.
The president, however, does not appear to have a settled view on it.
One moment he is demanding Iran allow tankers through, and the next he is telling allies to go and sort it out for themselves. "Go to the strait and just take it, protect it, use it for yourselves," he said on Wednesday. "The hard part is done, so it should be easy."
He then simply said, without expanding further, that the strait would reopen "naturally" when the war was over. That is unlikely to reassure those concerned about oil prices.
Trump's pointed criticism of some allies - he said at one point that they should "build up some delayed courage" and lead an operation to reopen the strait - came after he floated the idea of pulling out of the Nato military alliance in an interview earlier on Wednesday.
But that rhetoric was completely absent from this speech, despite briefings suggesting it would be a key part of his words tonight.
Another key unanswered question relates to ground troops. What are the thousands of marines and paratroopers actually going to be doing in the region as they continue to arrive?
The truth is that after this national address, we are really none the wiser about what the president sees as victory in this war.
And given the often conflicting nature of his statements from one day to the next, everything could change at any time.
Meanwhile, the average price of gas in the US has topped $4 for the first time in nearly four years and the president's approval ratings are cratering, just months before the crucial midterm elections which will determine control of Congress.
This is a US president looking for a way out of this war – and he is still casting about to find one.
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